He's racing and pacing and plotting the course,

This is a bit of a delayed report about my first XC race of the spring. I'm sure I've talking about running xc in Van Cortlandt before. It's great to have such a great course so close to home. I like xc because I ran it in HS and that was my first foray into any kind of distance running. Funny, these days I think of 5k as very very short. Also, it's like trail running light and it takes me out of my usual routes and routines. The gang at VCTC who put on the races are really nice and it's a laid back evening. Oh except for the running. The course has changed a bit this year due to construction in the park. I like the change, it takes us away from a very long flat start that I always run too fast and pay for later. Once in the woods, we have about 1.5 miles of hills, up and down. It's challenging, but gets easier the more you run it.
I had a good start, I marked a woman who looked to be a bit older than me and decided to run with her. Then I looked down at my Garmin and saw yes, in fact, I was going too fast, so I eased off. Normally I wear xc spikes on this course but with my PF problems of late, I opted for racing flats that have a hair more support. It was dry so I didn't think the spikes were needed.
Well low and behold once in the woods my shoe came untied. At the bottom of a hill. I was so pissed. Honestly, I do not remember the last time this happened. A quick stop to retie, but that costs time, esp. in such a short race. I didn't want to risk leaving it and going ass over teakettle while barreling down hill.
Ugh.
I made up time lost someone, or position anyway.
Coming down the final down hill and out of the park, the guy directing people told me I was 6th woman. It's a deceptive 700m or so to the finish from here. Woman #7 came right up on me. We sized each other up. I looked at her and said "I'm not going" and she chuckled. We really pushed each other. A glance down at my garmin told me I was going sub 7. The course finishes on a long straightaway which seems endless. With in the last 100m, she went and I couldn't hold on.
23:24. 3 seconds slower than I ran last year. Stupid shoelace.
I did finish 7th woman and won my age group, so I took home a nice carrot muffin.
Luckily, they do this every 2 weeks so I can try again. I hope to get under 23 on this course this year.

In other news, since I was so close to a 10k PR right before Boston, I've been going out and doing speed work on sections of the 10k course for the Mini 10k. It's a course they only use for this race and there are sections that traditionally slow me down. I'm hoping to avoid that this year.
I'm also relearning to balance working out in 3 sports for my upcoming triathlons. And ya know what? I'm finding myself just wanting to run.
Interesting.
On that note, I have a beautiful new road bike that was just built up and keeps whispering to me when I walk by "ride me", so that's what I'm going to do.

To tell you the truth I've said it before tomorrow I start in a new

So tomorrow, the Philly Distance Run. I had to miss this last year because I sprained my ankle at Reach the Beach. This year, Reach the Beach is this weekend and I am sitting it out. After 5 years of doing it and running a team, I really needed a break. But a shout out to the Ladies Tea Society who as I speak, is on leg 25.

My running this week has been like a cut back week, but not bad. I went and saw Pete on Monday and he told me what I knew. I have some bursitis in my heel and if I want it to stop hurting I have to stop running. Well, we all know (including Pete) that's not going to happen. So he ultra sounds it, workout my calves, ice, stim, on my way. It felt much better after. Ran Tues with Loren, ran Wed with Bea. Not too much pain for consecutive days. Took Thurs off, ran and awesome awesome 7 yesterday and saw Pete again. He's got a new laser toy so he added that to the mix. And ya know, my foot feels SO MUCH BETTER. I'm hoping I've turned a corner.

I'm feeling something I rarely feel about races: I'm feeling a little nervous. Quite a while ago I set a high goal for myself for this race. I'm pretty sure that'snot going to happen but I really dont know what is. I love this course, it's flat and fast. It was my PR for a long time. I have had an amazing transformation in the half. For a very long time, it was my goal to break 1:50. I did that in Feb in Da Bronx. Then I set my goal to break 1:45. I did that in May in Brooklyn, 3 weeks after the NJ marathon. Now my goal is to go under 1:40. Will it happen tomorrow? I dunno. The half may be my favorite distance. If I could let myself not marathon for a while (and I really should. Maybe after Boston), I think I could run this distance really well. But that's for later to think about.

So we'll see what tomorrow brings. I'll be out there with Flo and Loren. Who I know will both be far ahead of me. This is Loren's 2nd half. I love that she's stepping up the distance. And will still kick my ass.

Vacation all I ever wanted

Ya know, it's really lovely to wake up early on and august morning in NYC and have the weather say it's 68 degrees outside. I mean really, who doesn't love that? So up  I was. Have to take advantage of the day. Long Run.

As you all know, I'm running every other day and keeping the miles low for now. So I headed out for 14. Foot felt fine. A twinge for the first mile but an ok twinge. 

This morning I ran down the West Side Highway instead of in the park. Figured I'd go flat and give my legs, which are a bit tired from Tues' workout a break from the rolling of the park. Ya know what? I was bored. I really was. I dont do a whole lotta out and backs and this felt endless. Even with This American Life and Dan Savage keeping me company. I keep the pace easy.

Tomorrow Loren and I are headed off for a much needed VACATION. We're kicking it off by running the Bridge of Flowers  10k in MA with some friends of mine that I've known longer than I'd care to admit and haven't seen in longer than I'd care to admit. I am very bummed that I will not be in NYC running the Club Team Championships with my team but alas, Loren and I actually did plan our trip around the date of that race and then NYRR moved it. And they moved it for a big money making race. But anyway, all ye Front Runners know I'm running with you in spirit (and I'm running farther than you are damn it!)

Then it's on to NH and Mt Washington! I'm so looking forward to this. It's going to be so nice to leave the city behind for a while. 

So my dear readers, updates will be few and far between for the next few weeks. Good running to all!

HOT HOT HOT

This is what water board running looks like. Yes, it's not the heat it's the humidity!

Right then, right there I feel this burning pain

Yesterday was the Run for Central Park 4 miler. Let me just say, I do not enjoy racing in this hot sticky weather. If this wasn't a team points race, I would have been home with my feet up, drinking my morning beverage, watching the Tour. 

A little background story on why I run these team races: when I joined Front Runners in 1999, we couldn't field a women's team (a team is 5). It took a few years before we were able to. It was a goal of mine and a few others to get a team of women out there. Now, 10 years later, we have no problem doing that. We are by no means the best out there, usually finishing somewhere between 10-14th each race. But we're out there! And that's important to me so I always try to be out there too.

Now on to the race. The heat wasn't the problem, it was as it is often said in this part of the country, the humidity. The official race site says it was 70 degrees (I dont believe that, MAYBE at the start) with 94% humidity. You need a snorkle to run through that. I warmed up by running to the start, 3.2 miles. 

I lined up with team mates RayK and Megan. Rachel is running the SF marathon next week, so no running hard for her (oh except her 6:32 last mile!). Megan and I hemmed and hawed about what we were going to run. I suggested trying to break 30, she was game for that.  The first mile has the biggest hill of the race, Cat Hill. This is good, it keeps me from going out too fast and then it's out of the way. We went through mile 1 in 7:36. Mile 2 has some fast down hill but I didn't want to go crazy. Mile 2 7:26. Mile 3. Oh mile 3. I've had long meaningful conversations with people about mile 3. I hate mile 3. Here's mile 3 and mile 4:

So mile 3 is a bit uphill. Really it's not killer, but at that point in the race, most people seem to slow down. I'm not exception. Megan pulled ahead of me a bit and I couldn't really stay with her. Mile 3 7:50. UGH. Luckily, on mile 4 I was able to bridge the gap a bit. Mile 4 is mostly down hill so it's fast. The final turn to the finish is in the 72 st transverse. It can be a total night mare with all the tourists trying to get to Strawberry Fields and having no idea how to cross the street during the last quarter mile of a race (hint: don't). I could see Megan just ahead of me. I figured she had about 10 seconds on me and I wouldn't be able to catch her. Mile 4 7:15.  Finish time: 30:10. Megan finished 30:08. I have no idea how it was only 2 seconds. Ugh. Right past the finish, she turned to me and said that was HARD. It was. It was like running while being water boarded. We finished 13th out of 26 with Megan first and me 2nd.(Rachel with her "easy run" still finished 4th for the team).

Then it was time for brunch and my post run Coke. Post run is the only time I drink soda, I dont even really like it but right then it tastes so good.

Today, long run day. I wanted to get out early so I could get home to see the end of today's Tour stage. I started at 7am. I figured I'd run easy and do 16-17. I ran down the West Side hwy to meet up with the Front Runners doing this week's long run. I was in no hurry. I had no intention of running hard at all. Today was such a better day. Touching the upper 60s, almost no humidity. I did 16.6 miles at 9:39 pace. My average heart rate? 140. (my max is 200 for you geeks out there) 140 is about what I hover around on recovery runs so I'd say this was a very good run for having raced yesterday. I end this week with 45 miles on the nose.

stroke me stroke me

This weekend, I headed down to Philly for the Strides to Stroke 5k. I blame this entirely on Flo (also known in internet circles as Girl In Motion). I don't remember the last time I ran a flat 5k. Honestly, I may have been 12. In NYC, I run a lot of cross country 5ks which are anything but flat. I do, however, enjoy running through the woods and know the course here very well so even though it's very hilly, I always have fun. So I figured I'd go to Philly, run a flat 5k, and see how fast I could do it.

Here's the thing: I ran a marathon on May 3rd. I ran a half marathon 2 weeks ago, I ran a 10k last week. Adding this 5k makes it 3 races in 3 weeks. And ya know what? That's dumb. It's dumb because I RACED all of them. I'm usually good at pinning on a number and going for a run. I didn't do that here. The Brooklyn have I wanted to run all out and PR. The 10k was a team race and I raced it like a moron and blew up. 

Anyway, on to this one. I dont know how to race a 5k. It's too short. So we walked over to the start from Flo's house and got our numbers. We met up with Judy (a gal from the RWOL Boston girls) and warmed up. My intention was to warm up for 3 miles. I really need to go for a while before something short. Loren and Bea came with me for most of it. I'm so use to NYRR races where there are thousands of people and you need to be in your corral 10 minutes before the start time that I was worried about getting back to the start in time. I ran a bit over 2 miles with some striders. 

The course is flat and out and back. I've run here before, but not since I dropped out of the Philly marathon. That feeling of being hurt and not even being half way done came back to me as I ran behind the art museum.

I lined up with Flo and Judy close to the front. I was really hoping NOT to go out too fast. If last year was any indication to who shows up for this race, I should be up front with only a handful of women.

And we're off. I felt pretty good to start. I knew Flo was going to run a lot faster than me so I intentionally stayed away from her so I wouldn't blow up.  I was figuring my first mile should be between 7-7:10. I hit the marker at 6:58. Ok, maybe a hair too fast. I had 2 women pass me in the first mile and one right in front of me that I was working on catching. When I did catch her, she sped up and passed me back. I let her go. I wasn't going to spend a whole lot of energy going back and forth with her. 

As we got to the turn around, there was water. I went to grab it but the woman holding it didn't let go. Oh well. Oh and the woman who passed me pretty much came to a stand still to drink so I passed her back and never saw her again.

I started running with this boy who looked like he was about 12. He was working hard and I just sorta stuck with him. When I got to the mile 2 marker, I was pissed. 7:38. Are you kidding me? I totally fell asleep at the wheel. I dont know what happened. That's part of the reason I dont like these short races, there's not a whole lot of time to make up for a mistake. 

I left the kid behind. I went into this race with a goal of 22:30. I've wanted to break 23 minutes for years. Earlier this year I came close with a 23:17 on a hilly course when it was 30 degrees out.

I was sorta in no mans land. There were a few guys strung out ahead of me and as far as I could tell, no one too close behind me. Then I heard footsteps. I took a quick look back and it was a woman. 

Crap.

I didn't want to be passed. I knew I was maybe 5th at this point. She passed me. I kept her in my sites. Man, this last mile feels like forever! It shouldn't feel this way! This race is only three miles!

I knew there was a bend in the road and then I'd see the finish line. And there it was. I was also pulling back the chick who passed me. Like usual, I was obsessively looking at my watch.  There were about 10 cones leading up to the finish line, I passed the chick in the cones to finish just ahead of her.

22:36

Ok, so 6 seconds off what I was hoping for. Not bad considering I didn't run the best race. 

The RWOL girls had a nice showing. Flo was 2nd over all and won her age group. I was 5th over all and won my age group. Judy was 2nd in her age group.

My mom, 2 of my nephews, my BFF Tracy and her kid all came out to the race. That was fun. My nephews had never been to one of my races before. I took Bea to do a cool down (which wasn't enough. My legs were sore almost instantly after this race, something that rarely happens. TOO MUCH RACING). As I was jogging along, I hear this little voice behind me "I'm coming with you!!!" and I turn around and there's my 6 year old nephew, Cole, running to catch up with me. He was such a sport. I slowed down so he could run with me and the dog, I bet we did at least a half mile. When we were done, he just sat on the sidewalk and said "Man, I gotta get use to this". SO CUTE!! I hope later in the summer I can go back down and find a race that has a kids race too so he can run.

So the short of it (ok, not so short, it's taken me longer to write this than it did for me to run the race) is I'm happy with my time, I'm happy with winning my age group. I'm not too thrilled with the way I ran the race. Oh well. I dont plan on doing a whole lotta 5ks that aren't XC. 

traveling twice the speed of sound, it's easy to get burned

I had a decent week of running. Tues night I went out and ran hill repeats/tempo with my team. I hadn't done a team workout in a while and it was great to see 30+ people out there working together. It was a weird balancing act to recover from last weeks half and get ready for this week's 10k. I wouldn't have run this race if it wasn't a team points race. 

The women's mini is the oldest all women's race in the country. It has a pro field and I haven't run it in years. I usually do a tri on this weekend. There are 2 things about this race, however:

1. It has an unusual course. It's the only 10k NYRR puts on that has the first mile out of Central Park. It's up Central Park West and it's a FAST mile. Too fast.

2. It's always hot as hell. Or feels like it.

1 and 2 were true today.

I'm not going to go into the messy details of the race except to say I knew I was in trouble when I hit mile 1 in 7:10. Rachel came past me not long after that and said YOU'RE RUNNING TO FAST! I said I know and tried to keep it under control. Honestly, I didn't feel well even before I started. Even though I knew I started too fast and it was totally stupid, I did try to save it a litte.

I finished 47:37, 5 seconds faster than I ran the last points race 2 weeks after NJ.

So not a total wash, just not really what I was hoping for (why I was hoping for anything is a totally different story).

So right now I'm going back and forth about running a 5k next week in Philly with Girl In Motion, mostly because it's flat. I never get to run 5ks. Plus, I like to watch GIM get smaller as she pulls away from me.

I guess we're at our best when we're miles away

Ok, I forgot to put the stats in from yesterday, I'll post them today because they're insane.

1270 out of 7603 (that is a ridiculous amount of people for a 10k in Central Park, if it hadn't been raining, I'm afraid of what it would have been)

172 woman out of 3584

17 outa 517 in age group. 500 women in my age group finished behind me!!! THAT'S INSANE! (Loren was 7th in our AG. oh and the woman who one the age group? 37:37)

Now on to today's run, my last 20 miler of the cycle. I had done 2 others this cycle. One, it was cold. Really cold, 26 degrees cold. I averaged 9:36s and a HR of 160.

My 2nd one was 2 days after we got Bea. I slept about 3 hours the night before, it was a total phone it. 9:52 pace (OUCH. Ok, still with in long run range, but come on. SLOW) 156 HR

Today, well...I did run a 10k yesterday. I ran it fairly hard...

9:09 pace 153HR.

I FELT GREAT

I didn't expect to feel so good, I sorta felt like I'd go out there and just get it done. And I did, and a pretty good clip I might add. Thanks again to RayK and Hil for the (TARDY!!!) run.

Here we go tapper here we go! 

People, please help me not loose my mind as I taper.

As far as my shoes go, I ran the 20 in my DS Trainers 14. I really like them, I think the decision has been made. Off to joisey they go.

Fire and Ice

Ok, today was...oh man, there are no words. Insane? Crazy? Stupid? Frozen? I do not think I have ever raced in such cold. When I lined up at the start, the clock over Central Park said 14 degrees. The windchill made it feel like 5.

People, that is not right. On so many levels. 

Today was the Manhattan Half marathon, the first in the series of 5 halfs in NYC. One in each borough. I've run all of them though never in the same year. NYRR capped this race at 5000 people and it filled. I though, ok,this weather is stupid maybe 3000 will show up. Well, NYers have a reputation for a reason. Even with this weather, 4506 people came out to run.

I got up a little after 6 this morning. Ate and met up with Rachel, a new woman in my club who lives 2 blocks away. So convenient. We split a cab to the start. I did a 1.5 mile warm up and to get a bit closer to my 15 miles for the day. I ended up running 14.5 today which puts me more miles than degrees. I think I've done that maybe once before a few years ago when I ran when it was 3 out.

Anyway, because my body has a sense of humor (those who have been reading along at home for a while know this) I have my period. This is very common for me when I have a race that I'm actually TRYING to race. Today, I was TRYING to race. Even in these crappy conditions.

Somehow, I sweat like mad even when it's below freezing. Mile one, off with the gloves, some where in mile 3, off with the hat. Even though I couldn't feel my face, I could tell sweat was freezing in my hair. By the time I was done, I have an icicle hanging from my head where once was a ponytail.

I thought the course was going to be the same course they used at Grete's. I was wrong. It went counterclockwise and ended on the east side in the transverse. I've run countless races in CP, and several halfs. I've never run this course. I didn't like it.

I started off with an ok mile 8:31, figured I'd ease into it. Mile 2 was the same with Cat hill. After that, I was hoping to pick it up. I would from time to time but never felt like my motor would really go. I think it was a combination of things. 

I finished in a time of 1:50:51, a PR by about 90 seconds. My goal was to run closer to 1:48. I know that is well within what I'm capable of but we have to run with what we've got on race day. I do think I'm on track for a good spring marathon and I'm happy about that.

A few other notes, Rachel ran a 1:42! 11 minute PR!!!! And I met internet superstar, Squirrel at the start. 

Race 2 of the series is n 2 weeks in Da Bronx. We'll see what I have on that day.

Da Bronx in da house!

Today was the Front Runner Cross Country meet. Now I love cross country. I have done about 4 XC races this year and run none of them well.

Well folks, this was no exception. While it wasn't very warm, in the 60s, it was so humid I felt like I was under water. Believe it or not, a gay event actually started on time much to my dismay. I got there, had to sign up and had no time to warm up. For something as short as a 5k, I usually like to run 1-2 miles. I ran to the start and that was it. I knew I wasn't going to run as aggressively as I usually do, esp on the down hills. I didn't want to take any chances with this ankle. I did go out a little fast. I ran the flats really well, on both ends. The hills, eh. Up, not so much, down, not like I usually do. I came in in 25:55, and 8:21 pace. Was hoping for faster but like everyone says, a 5k is not a good indicator when training for a marathon. And really, a tune up race 2 weeks out? What's that really going to tell you? If you're not in shape nothing can be done about it now. I'm not worried. I just wanted to blow the jets out a bit which I did.

I also managed 5th woman and Claudia and I were first female team.

FRNY also raised $600 for the Bronx Community Pride Center.

My ankle was a little stiff after, have some ice on it now.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Central park for the 18 miles tune up and what will be my last long run. Already? I know!

I'm planning on doing that at long run pace, run the hills hard and maybe have a few MP miles towards the end. Man, I hope it's not as humid as it is now. Where's this huge storm everyone keeps talkin bout?

hot 12

I did a 4 mile race this morning in Central Park, but it was the meat of a 12 mile sandwich so I ran it at an easy 8:45 pace. I ran 3.5 before and 4.5 after. I expected it to be a lot hotter than it was. I happy I was able to hold back my pace in the race and have a good over all long run.

My legs are a bit sore from PT, other than that everything feels pretty good.