Time is like a clock in my heart

Taper week 2. 

Yesterday was my last real speed workout. 8 miles with 3x1 mile thrown in there. I went to the track with RayK who was doing 800s. Man, it was humid, though not warm so that's ok. I was aiming for around 7:15s. First one was 7:16, the next 2 were 7:06. Ooops. Though I felt fine, wasn't killing myself. 

The taper madness is starting to set in a bit. 

To quote Green's FB status:

"The Tapering Marathoner will be irritable, anxious, nervous, overly emotional, short-tempered, restless, tired, cranky, depressed (even more than normal). Sounds like a great three weeks doesn’t it? It is not unlike the addict going cold turkey. This is a span of time where most Marathoners go a bit crazy."

Yup. Sounds about right. And there is only one cure for taper madness.

So as I spend these days muttering to myself and thinking over my race place and avoiding anyone who even looks like they might be thinking about having a cold, I try to keep my eye on the prize.

I am surrounded by people who all believe in me, who all believe this is my race, this will be the one where I qualify for Boston. And I am so lucky and grateful for that. I do, however, still have to run the thing. Marathon days, anything can happen. Though I too believe this is my race. I'm very excited about it.

Stick with me for just another week and a half! We're almost there!

four seasons in one day

Today's workout: 10 miles with 4x1200. I must say, my least favorite workout so far. Normally, I would think this is not so bad (I dont hate intervals as much as I use to. In fact, Loren said to me the other night: "remember when you HATED intervals?"). It's true. She'd lead me around the track like a stubborn puppy on a leash. I really hated it. Now it's not so bad. 

I warmed up for 4.5 miles then met Rachel at the track. Clouds were rolling it. It was COLD. Wind, I'm pretty sure I saw an old lady on a bicycle fly by. It was the worst off of turn 2, total head wind or the whole stretch. Oh and to add to all of this: snow. I was worried we might get rained on, but no, we got snowed on. Yes, it's April. Luckily that didn't last.

I did .75 mile,which is a hair longer,  instead of 1200m.

Times:

5:28 (7:18 pace)

5:21 (7:08 pace)

5:25 (7:14)

5:25

I was hopping for a hair faster, but with the wind. Oh well. Still with in the Mac range of 5:18-34.

We cooled down by running home. I was treated to a lovely sight (this is gross so you might want to skip ahead).  Running, home, we go over this stretch that's a long overpass. I see more dog shit than you can imagine there and usually every 5th car has been broken into.

Well, today, I saw a guy in his car pleasuring himself into a Dunkin Donuts cup. 

WOOHOO! NYC throw back special. All I need now is a hooker breaking into my apt. and it'll be 1989 all over again! (shout out to Lisa re:hooker).

Run away train

For something new and different, I did my track workout during the day today. Since mother nature decided to really turn the screws on the East coast and give us another snow storm yesterday AND drop the temps back down into the teens, I thought this might be a nice change.

So my official work out for the day was 8 miles with 5x600. McMillan is a bit odd about 600, he lists them as sprint workouts though the pace called for was 5k pace. I knew I wasn't going to run them at 5k pace. I'm sure others reading along who have run at the Armory will agree: if difficult to NOT run fast there. It has the reputation of being the fastest track in the country. What makes a track fast? Well, I'm not really sure. I'm guessing several things. The surface, the banking, the temps. inside, mostly though, I think it's the idea that it's a fast track makes people run well there.

But anyway...

I decided to do my run during the day because I can. Also, I figured it wouldn't be very crowded. Mostly importantly, it would get me out of the house during the day, into the sunshine even it's like 20 degrees out. Rachel met me to run up there. It's a nice uphill warm up. Once there, I was on my own.

It was fairly empty. Some Columbia and NYU kids were having practice. It's a strange sensation, running out there alone, knowing a pack of college kids is about to barrel by you. It's like a freight train coming. First, I feel the vibration in the track as they approach, then I can hear them and it's loud, then they pass me like a tornado. And for me, I'm running pretty fast. To them, I'm standing still. 

I looked up my times from August, about the time I did this work out in my training cycle for Steamtown. My times ranged from 2:39-2:46 (nap lap!). I did them outside when it was 72 degrees. I'd say it was about the same temp. at the Armory, maybe a hair cooler.

So let's see how I measured up compared to last summer shall we?

2:36, 2:37, 2:32, 2:31, 2:31.

A LOT faster! And my heart rate was about the same. And guess what Flo! I'm joining you in the sub 7 workouts!

They are pretty much where I wanted them to be. 

I cooled down by putting back on all my layers and running the 2.5 miles home, giving almost 8.5 for the day.

...but it's over now

Last night, I stayed up til midnight, I usually dont do that. Then I didn't fall asleep until 1. I woke up at 5. Coulnd't get back to sleep til 6:30. Slept til 8. This is not ideal.

I then went out in the very cold and stood with my neighbors in Harlem to watch Obama be sworn in and, even better, Bush be finally done for good. It took me several hours to finally warm up.

I really really thought about skipping my work out. I thought seriously about not running at all. It's tough to get going starting out tired.

The work out tonight was 5x1000 with 400 rest. Magic McMillan says I should be shooting for 4:32-4:41. Pretty generous range. I was happy for that. 

When I got up to the Armory, which is known for it's weird choice of music, there was just that. I then realized they were showing the Inauguration parade on the jumbotron. At the track. Now that's pretty cool.

First one: 4:35 

I thought, ok, if I can stay there, I'll be happy

two: 4:32 wow, even faster!

4:32 here I am being steady

4:32 AGAIN!

Last one. Now I know I've talked about the nap lap. It hasn't happened. I didn't want it to happen on the last one. By now, I'm tired mostly from lack of sleep not killing myself on the track.

Last one: 4:28!!!!!

Well, I certainly didn't fall asleep on that one! I was very very happy with my workout. Really tired and glad it was over when I was done, but happy with the result.

The Nap Lap

Whenever I do intervals, there's usually one that I seem to fall asleep during. I don't know what happens. I get tired or distracted or something and I look at my watch and think WTF happened there? After that, I'm usually back on track.

Tonight's track work out was 4x1600 with 400 recovery, to be done at half marathon pace. Right now, I have no idea what half marathon pace is for me so I figured I'd go out there and run hard but manageable and see how it goes. I also wanted to try to avoid the nap lap which is usually the 3rd or 4th interval depending on how many I'm suppose to do. Tonight I figured it would be the 3rd. 

1st 7:45, 2nd 7:45

and here we go with the third. First, let me say, while I was aware not wanting to snooze on this one, I wasn't out there like OH MY GOD RUN FASTER. I was trying to keep my effort consistent. 

3rd: 7:40

Well, ok, that was fast than the first 2. Where did that come from? Last one. Same thing, go out, run even maybe shoot for 7:45 again. Yea, I was tired but not going to fall over and die, I wasn't struggling.

4th: 7:40

Very happy with how that went. I dont think I'll be running a half marathon at this pace any time soon though I do have one coming up in a few weeks. I think it's reasonable to shoot for 8:15-8:20s. We'll see.

In other news, Hi Loren. I know you like to be mentioned in my blog.

Oh and I just added that counter on the side.

it's the end of the year as we know it.

I set a goal this year of running 1000 miles. I missed last year by not much. Now I know by hardcore running standards, this is not really all that much. Take into consideration I am usually training for triathlons as well as running, I thought it was a good goal. Tonight was what I believe will be my last run of the year. So I will be ending 2008 with 1270 miles in the bank. Not too bad, 270 above what I was shooting for. In 2009, I'd like to hit 1500. That should be doable.

So it's Tuesday, which means Tuesday night at the track. I really have decided it's better for me to go early. Yes, I miss out on the team workouts but if I do that, we don't start til 8pm, I don't get home til almost 10 and I am wired. So my routine now is to run up there  (2.5 miles, great warm up) and do the work outs. I'm done by 8pm.

Tonight was 8x 400 with 2 minutes active recovery then 4x200.

1:44, 1:40, 1:40, 1:44, 1:40, 1:42, 1:40, 1:39

pretty consistent.

200s:

44, 44, 43, 42

In other news, I got word today my HS XC coach died suddenly over the weekend. Bob Kiessling was his name and he coached for years all over South Jersey. He was my first real running coach. I remember him talking about running marathons my freshman year. I thought no way could I ever do that. Now I've done 10. Those of us who ran as kids all remember our coaches and the impact they've had on us. Mr. K is no exception to this. He will be missed by many.

NEW NEW NEW!!!

Ok tonight I tried a few different things for my track work out. First, I went early and ran alone and not with the team. I dont really have a problem motivating myself to doing this then I just do it and it's done. Yea, I miss out on the whole team aspect of things, but right now, I'm kinda ok with that. Also, HS kids have to outa there by 7 and the adults are just filing in so 6:30-7 is a really nice time.
For my warm up, I ran up to the track. It's exactly 2.5 miles from my house which is perfect since I tend to need a longer warm up. It's mostly uphill which is fine, I kept the pace easy.
It was also snowing when I ran up there which was pretty awesome. It hadn't started sticked yet. By the time I left it had so I'm glad I wasn't running home. I also love running up through Harlem. It hasn't turned into box store hell yet.

Tonight's work out was 4x1200 with 400 in between. The pace was "around 5 mile race pace". Honestly, I have no idea what that is for me right now. I ran them between 7:32-7:38 pace which felt pretty good. Can I run 5 miles at that pace right now? Doubt it, though I just ran a 4 miler at 7:55 pace.

It was also nice to finish before 9:30. I'm still toying with the idea of continuing to go early, we'll see.

Of course now it's past midnight since I got totally sucked into Whale Rider.

fun on the tarck

Over the last year, I have run mostly during the day. I'm lucky that my work schedule (or lack there of depending on how you look at it) has allowed me to do that.
Now it's winter. It's cold. We have sunlight for 5 minutes a day. I get more dramatic.
Anyway, I can still run during the day, though as I've mentioned before, my team does track work outs at night. This will take some getting use to. I missed a few weeks while away and was back at it tonight.
We did 1600, 2x800, 4x400. The idea was to get faster as you went along. I think I did a pretty good job:
1600=7:49
800=3:49
800=4:48
400 1:43, 1:41, 1:39, 1:36
I only hope I'm not sore tomorrow.

so much for recovery

Every winter, my team, as with many others in NYC, moves indoors to the Armory for speed work. The Armory has a 200m banked track, considered to be one of the fastest there is. What makes a track fast? Who knows. But anyway, I have alway been eh about doing these workouts. For one, it's far. This excuse doesn't really hold true anymore since I moved uptown. It take me no time to get there. Another, we start at 8pm. That I'm still not crazy about. I've gotten very use to running early or running during the day. Mostly, it's a track and it makes me feel like a hampster. I would almost ALWAYS just run outside.
Anyway, all this aside, after a few conservations with Kelsey who is the coach and Loren, who is my other coach, I decided this year I'm going to try it. Loren feels like the one thing lacking in getting me to my BQ is speed. Not a whole lot, just maybe a bit more. Perhaps this will push me over the edge. Or leaving me crying next to a very small rubber covered oval. I guess we'll see.
Last night was the first workout. I did not want to push myself. Luckily, I'm good at running within myself even if I'm with a group who wants to race the workout (for the record, this was not the case last night though it is known to happen). After a warm up and some drills, we got down to it.
8x400 with 200 active recovery. I started out on the conservative side, 1:57, and worked my way down to a 1:41.
spits:
1:57, 1:52, 1:50, 1:50
3 minute rest
1:45, 1:48, 1:48, 1:41
Last night was really just to get use to the track a lot of people are coming off marathons (some off 2, some off 2 AND a 60k. You crazy people). So I felt good about it.
No soreness today. A bit tired but that's to be expected. Did yoga when I got up and will run easy tonight.

NJ is looking more and more like a possibility since I know a few others who are game. That will make the long runs through the winter a bit easier.
And I'm close...so fucking close to my time.

Down the ladder

Track workout tonight. It was a bit tougher than I thought it would be.

1600

2x800 2.5 sec. faster that 1600

4x400 2.5 sec faster than 800

Thought tougher than I thought, it went pretty well. Everything under 7:50 pace (that was my mile) and I was pretty good at the 2.5 sec. faster thing. I'd rather go down than up. Running the mile last, ugh.

I also ran 1.3 to warm up then the same to cool down, which is to and from my house.

So 2 days of running in a row and all the little things that have been nagging me physically have stayed at bay.

Now it's 9:30 and I haven't had dinner yet.