Let the sunshine

Ah yes. Earlier in the week I was layering like crazy to stay warm, staying on the sunny side of the street to stay warm, side stepping ice patches and snow drifts left by Monday's snow storm.

Yesterday I was dodging kids, baby carriages, nuns on bicycles, clueless dog walkers and fair weather outdoorsy types. Not to mention yelling "go back to Jersey" to a gaggle of meat heads out of frustration late into my run in Central Park, every NYers back yard. The thing is, to me, it my back yard all year round no matter the weather. In my deep and rich fantasy life, I'd like the first spring like day to have the park reserved only for those of us who are out there no matter what. All the rest of you should be relegated to your beloved treadmills for one more day. 

Ok, exiting soapbox.

So yesterday, as noted, I ran in the park. 

Today, since the weather is almost as nice, I wanted to avoid the park. I did a 14 miler up and over the George Washington bridge to River Rd on the Jersey side. I've cycled over River Rd countless times, I've only run over there maybe twice. It's nice and secluded and gives a beautiful view of the Hudson and NYC.  During the wet winter months, it's prone to rock slides. There's a pretty big slide over there now that wont be cleaned up for a while. Traffic, car and cycle, is pretty non-existent since you can't pass all the way through. It was lovely. Their were a few cyclists, people walking, and some other runners.

About a mile before my turn around, I noticed the very distinct figure of a dead bird on the road. I stopped to take a look at it. Broken neck. Can't imagine how that happened. Hunt gone wrong by a hawk? I'd think it would still eat it. Hit by a car? Doubtful. A mystery not to be solved. It was a beautiful woodpecker with a very long beak and beautiful feathers in all shades of brown. I got a stick and moved it off the road so it could rot in piece or become lunch for someone and continued on.

This coming week is my longest running week, milage wise, of this cycled. I dreaded it last time. I think I'm in much better shape for it this time.

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.

Working for the weekend

Oh faithful readers, you know I am coming off about 10 days of killer running. It comes as no surprise when I headed out for my 14 miles of fun yesterday that I was tired. So tired in fact, I cut my run short to 12.7 miles. I know, a real slice off the milage. No worries though, there was brunch to be had.

I am happy to say I finished Feb. with 195.2 miles. If it had been a normal month with a normal amount of days, I would have hit 200. Ok, if I hadn't chopped a few miles here and there I would have hit 200.

Moving on!

Today was the Coogan's 5k up in Washington Heights. People have this idea that NYC is flat. People who have this idea have never bean above 96th st., I'm sure of it. So yes, this 5k has a few hills along the way. My mom was slated to do this race as her first 5k. This was not to be however, as she twisted her ankle a few weeks and sidelined for today's race. I know she's bummed out this, Loren and I are as well. She'll been working hard! I have no doubt once she's all better, she'll be back on the horse.

On to the race...

It was a bit chilly this morning. The weather was calling for all sorta of wintery stuff that just didn't happen. We got some flurries which was nice. In years past, this course has been an out and back with a nasty little turn around. This year it was changed to go through Ft. Tyron park, home of the cloisters, which was a huge improvement.

Front Runners had 99 people out there today! A Great showing! Loren came through first, followed by  uptown running pal, Rachel, hitting a sub 7 pace. Soon, she will be too fast for me to run with.

But enough about everyone else, this is my blog. There's a big hill right before mile 1 that I didn't hit all out but benefitted from the downhill on the other side. Once I got to the mile market, I hit my watch. I hit STOP on my watch and not SPLIT because sometimes I am a moron and forget how a watch I've had for 2 years works. Oh well. All by feel now. I started it again having no idea how much time I lost. I hit split a mile 2 even though I knew it was wrong. So now I have that hill to go up again, this time I'm not holding back since I know there's not much more than a mile to go and some nice downhill. 

I get to mile 3 and manage to hit split this time 7:24. Cool, I think I'm close to PRing but really not sure. Ran the last .1 in 38 seconds. 

When I started this morning, my legs felt heavy. As I said, I've had some long and hard miles lately so I'm tired. Next week is  a cut back week and I am happy about that.

I had to wait until the official results were posted to see my final time: 23:17. A PR at 7:30 pace. It's been my goal to go under 23 minutes for some time now. I knew today wasn't the day with how I felt and the course. I am really happy about the PR however. Maybe some day when I'm not training for a marathon I'll actually train for these short things.

So let's see, this year I've done 4 races, I've PR in all of them. Not a bad start! Of course there's only 1 race that I really care about PRing and that will be in 2 months.

Running down underground to a dive bar In a West End town

Over the last 7 days, my legs have seen some hard miles. Friday I did my 20 so I could race 10 on Sunday. I found out this morning that I placed 2nd in my age group on Sunday! I am very excited about this. I take an age group place from time to time in small xc races but this was a bigger race (not a huge NYCC race, but a nice size). This weeks big work out calls for 15 miles, 12 at marathon pace. With my fast race on sunday, I went to the McMillan calculator to see what my new, faster paces should be. Now granted, I use this all as a guide, but according to mac, I should be able to run a 3:42:15 marathon, which is 8:29 pace. I decided to use that for my run today. 

Over the past few months, a small and steady group of girls have been meeting for runs at my house at odd hours during the week. We all have flexible schedules, so this has been great. Me, Ishii, Rachel, and Hilary headed out together. It was like having my own personal peleton. Hilary and Rachel went 1 loop of Central park and then were done with their work out. Ishii stayed with me until the bottom of the park and then off she went. I still had 4 more marathon pace miles to do on my own. I was 10 miles in. I never felt like OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO DIE NOW, I actually felt pretty good. Sure, the last few miles were a bit of a challenge. 

When my preset Garmin workout buddy beeped to tell me I was done, I had done 12 miles 1:41:09, 8:26 pace, well ahead of my set 8:29 pace. My garmin did it's little beep with the WORKOUT OVER YOU WON thingie. I am so glad when I don't hit my pace it does not say WORKOUT OVER YOU LOOSE, cause that would suck.

I'm tired. The rest of my week should be much easier. I have a 14 miler and some easy 6s. I'm doing a 5k on Sunday that will just be part of my 6. 

My mom is coming to do the 5k. She's been on the couch to 5k since xmas. She did twist her ankle a few weeks ago which has thrown a wrench in the plan. I'm hoping she'll be able to get through it. If not, we'll get her healed up and looking ahead to another race.

Cherry Tree

Well this certainly has been an interesting week. I had a bit of a cold that's been going around early in the week. I was hoping to do my 20 miler earlier in the week because of a 10 mile race I wanted to do today. That didn't work out, I just wasn't up with it so I did 12 on Wed, hoping I'd feel better by Friday to do my 20. HHMMMM, running 20 Friday, racing 10 Sunday. Not ideal but oh well. My idea was to run the 10 as my tempo, warm up 3-4 run the rest tempo.

But I'm jumping ahead. Friday rolls around, I am feeling better. The weather, however, has turned back to it's wintery windy self. It was about 26 with a windchill of 15. This is not what I want to go out and do 20 miles in. Oh well. I loaded up the ipod, put on the Garmin and decided to go out with out a route. I ran around Central Park until I hit 20. I averaged 9:36s. Not bad. It didn't feel bad. I was a bit tired by the end, but that's to be expected, it is 20 miles, the weather is crappy, I'm getting over being sick, and I hadn't run that far since the NYC Marathon. 

Today's 10 miler was out in Prospect Park. It can be done as a 3 person relay or you can do the race of the hardcore and do the whole thing. For those who don't know, Prospect park has no flat areas. At all. It's like a roller coaster which if you do 10, you get to ride 3 times. I love this race. It feels like my whole team comes out to do the relay with more and more people opting for the whole 10 (I sure did miss Muffy's Diving Team this year I must admit). Plus it's small. No chips, nothing fancy, just fun. 

Like I said, my plan was to go out easy and do the last 6-7 miles like a tempo run. Well, plans are meant to not be followed. After a spastic start where my friend Sharon and I couldn't seem to find each other so I could get my number, I was ready to go. I was pretty much pinning it on about 10 seconds before the start. 

And we're off. I looked down at my half assed pinned on number, it was 113. I though, huh, that's cool, my birthday is 1/13, maybe this is a good sign.

 Granted, the first mile is pretty much down hill, I really thought 8:05 was a little fast for what was suppose to be a warm up mile. The big hill would come on mile 2 so I eased up a bit. Up the hill, mile 2 8:32. Ok, that's more like it, for now. Once over the hill, the course goes to rolling. Mile 3 7:53. Ok, so much for warming up, I guess I'm warmed up. Just after mile 3, there's the transition for the relay. I see all the Front Runners there, cheering. 

1 down, 2 to go. 

Our uniforms have a star in a circle on the back. It's a great way to recognize each other from behind. Or it can look like  a target. I see 2 ahead of me. One I know is my friend Les, I'd know that anyway. A 6'3" black man is hard to miss. Next to him, Lynn. Lynn and I consistently run very similar paces. I'm wondering, how on earth is she that far ahead of me? Then I decide I want to catch her. From the looks of it, maybe in the 3rd lap. 

Mile 4 7:36. yea, that's fast, but I did just run that nice down hill that I saw in mile one. Plus now, there's someone I want to catch. 

Mile 5 7:57, starting on the hill. As we get near the top, I close in on Lynn. I call out to her as I pass and we chat for a second. Then I see another Front Runner ahead I ask her who it is but she says she hasn't been able to get close enough to know. Ok, now I have another rabbit.

Mile 6 8:05 with most of the hill.  

Going down the roller again towards mile 7. My other team mate is Meggie who's doing a relay.  In my mind I'm thinking who else on the team is doing 10? Is there anyone ahead of me? Meggie goes into transition and Jess comes flying out for their team's last leg. No way I can stay with her. No way, she's FLYING! 

Mile 7 7:38. Oh yea, that nice start of the last loop down hill! Only one more time up that big hill! I'm running along and hear someone shout GO FRONT RUNNERS! A team mate running the other direction. Not long after he shouts at me, I hear it again. GO FRONT RUNNERS! 

Crap. Who's so close to me?

I turn around, it's Lynn. 

Ok, I passed her once, now I want to hold her off.

Mile 8 8:04 as I start up the hill for the last time. This is it, this is the 3rd time, I dont have to come up this again, just get over it. I'm going through the park in my mind. There's a lot of down hill to come at the end of this. I look at my watch: 1:03:54. Can I get under 1:20? How awesome would that be? I was hoping to be last years time of 1:24:04, really just wanting to get near 1:22 and now I'm thinking about 1:20.

Mile 9 8:13. The big hills are done, one mile to go. 

Just after I pass the 9 mile mark, I see Kieran, another Front Runner, running the other way. He's already finished his 10. He turns around and asks me how I'm doing and what I'm aiming for. I tell him I want to get under 1:20. He looks at his watch and says, ok, let's go. Kieran ran a few feet away from me urging me to move my ass with his sweet Irish voice. Oh I was moving my ass alright, I'm pretty sure I was drooling. I passed a guy I had been yo yoing with the whole race and he let's out a cheer for me. I'm looking at my watch, I'm looking and the small rolling hills, knowing I have one more small corner to go around and it's all down hill. I am flying. As I come in, I can make out the blue and orange of FRNY in a blur. I see the finish and the clock which says 1:19:42 as I cross. I hit my watch which says 1:19:21 (no chip timing). I am dizzy with happiness. Right on my heels is Lynn. Not far behind her, my long time training pal, Claudia. I stumble around for a few minutes then go to thank Kieran.

I changed and hung out to watch everyone else finish before heading over to Sandi's for a huge team brunch. 

Since this is all paper timed, no official results yet. Oh how spoiled we are! Where is my instant gratification!

This race has given me a world of confidence. I can't wait to see what I do when actually taper for something.

The hawks alight till morning

As I've mentioned earlier in the week, I have some sorta crud that has invaded my person. Common running advise about running while sick is it's above the neck it's still ok to run. My sorta moves around. I am feeling much better, it's usually the worst in the morning as I wake up hacking up some interesting things. After that, I'm pretty ok. I have a bit of a cough but it doesn't seem too serious. It's just annoying.

I wanted to swap my week around and do my 20 miler today. I changed it back to the planned 12 with the creeping crud. Yesterday I did an easy 6 which was just that, easy and pretty slow. 

Rachel and I headed out this morning, while I was very tempted to do 18 with her, I was feeling good, I played it safe and left the park at 12.

If all goes well, the rest of my week will look like this:

PT tomorrow

20 Friday

5 easy Sat

10 race on Sunday in Brooklyn. I plan on running the first 3 easy and the last 7 at tempo. Its a hilly 3 loop course so this should give me a great workout.

It seems like we were given a tease of nicer weather. Now it looks like we'll have snow and rain tonight. Friday's weather is also calling for flurries. Another long run in the wintery crap.

The bright side of this is I'm still seeing tons of hawks out in the park (in case you haven't noticed, I have a real thing for large birds). Yesterday on the easy run, I saw a HUGE HUGE red tail on the ground sitting on his lunch. It looked like he nabbed himself a squirrel. I was surprised to see him on the ground with it, they usually high tail it into a tree. As the weather changes and the trees get their nice spring coating of leaves, they will be harder to see. They've been great running companions for this horrific winter we've had.

walk behind while you would run

I still dont feel great. Due to not feeling great, I did sleep like the dead last night so that's a good thing. And I am really glad I got my 18 outa the way yesterday. Weird thing, my legs are sore from that. I haven't been sore since the marathon. I didn't push hard and it's not too far for me, I did a 17 2 weeks ago. I think it's just being depleted from having this cold. I changed today from a 7 with striders to an easy 5.5. I just wanted to go out there get things moving and maybe try to sweat this thing out.

It leaves me just short of 50 miles. Oh well. I'll try not to get obsessive about my nice round numbers.

Next week is suppose to be a 54 miles week. Tomorrow I have off, Tues is an easy day. I should be all set to go by Wed.