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.

Still in the 'Ham

Today in the Ham it was 75 degrees with 400000 percent humidity. Much warmer than I've run in in a while with NYC's 30 degree weather and icy streets. Today we hit the track again with my mom. She's being a real sport about it. Even when she bitches. I think she wants to do this though doesn't want to come right out and say it (and I know you sometimes read this mom). Loren and I have both seen her looking over the training plan.

Mean while, Loren took me around to some of her HS running haunts. No wonder she's so friggin fast. Everything here is hilly. I put in 8.5 miles of hills. I felt terrible, though I know part of that was the heat.

Tomorrow we're heading home. All in all, this has been a pretty good trip.

sweet home alabama

I spent xmas down in Alabama with Loren and her folks. This year, we brought my mom who has never meet Loren's parents.
So far so good.
Yesterday, on xmas day, we went to Loren's HS track to run while her parents walked.
And...
To start my mom on the couch to 5k.
I gave her the program for xmas and today we went and got her some proper running shoes. I'm going to have her come run the Cogan's 5k on March 1st. She did her first workout with little complaint and pretty easily.
While my day was an uneventful 6 (hilly! Birmingham is hilly!), one of the best runs I've had all year was the minute on, 1.5 minutes off with my mom.

Ice ice baby

When I woke up this morning, there were big, fluffy flake of snow falling from the sky. Before long, it turned to rain turning all of yesterday and last night's snow into a big big mess.

I hate running on the treadmill, esp. since it takes just as long to get to the gym on the bus as it would for me to run there.

Loren and I decided to go to the movies early in the afternoon. We went and saw Milk (which I believe should be required watching for everyone in this country). Since we went near the bottom of Central Park, I decided I'd run home. I figured the park would be clear, they're usually really good about that.

When we came out of the movie, the sun was out and it had totally cleared up.

I had a great 4 mile run. It was clear out, not too cold, and the park was full of people walking,  running, sliding down the hills of snow on just about everything you can imagine.  I saw another Front Runner out there as well, we high fived as we passed each other. The only real downside was lots of black ice. It was a bit slick.

Winter running so far hasn't been that bad.

hell no we wont snow!

This morning, NYRR had the last race of the year slated, a 15k. I ran my ass off during this race and was sorta maybe hoping to do the same this year. Well, mother nature had other plans. NYC got hit with a mild snow storm yesterday leaving everything an icy slushy snowy mess. In interest of preventing broken ankles, NYRR turn the race into a fun run. Usually I go do these things anyway but this morning I was feeling lazy.

Instead I waited til almost 10am and headed out for an 8 miler in the park with Loren. It was 24 degrees with a windchill of 14. Dressed properly, I didn't mind at all. I wore a winter cycling jacket and stuck a fuel belt bottle in the pocket so I'd have some water. All the fountains in the park are shut off. A little more than a mile into the run, we ran into another Front Runner. The 3 of us had a lovely run around the loop. I saw a hawk fly by with it's breakfast dangling from it's beak and land in a tree. I saw several red cardinals sticking out brightly against the white snow. Central Park has amazing birds.

I love running in the park in the snow, clearly so do many many other NYers. Many braved the conditions and did the 15k anyway while others were simply out there on their own.

Except for the first and last hilly/icy miles, I was clipping off miles around 9:10 pace. I felt really good. 8 miles for the day.

In other news, I went back to PT Pete yesterday. He thinks I'm in fairly good shape I just need to get back on the program. I plan on it, I dont want to go into a new cycle hurting.

memories

Yesterday, someone from the RWOL forum sent me this message:
I hope this doesn't sound weird, but I was kind of going through some of my old marathon photos & I noticed one from the Philly 07 marathon that had some "Front Runners" in it. I looked at it a little closer & thought - hey, that looks like dogpound from the BQ thread! My husband was taking some pictures of random runners in anticipation of me arriving at the spot he was waiting at.
Then emailed me the above picture.
I love this picture. I am running with my friend and coach, Kelsey. From the looks of it, this is just after the half way mark where the half marathoners finish and the rest of us continue to go at it. As many of you know, I did not finish that race. At the time this photo was taken, I had been running in pain for at least 3 miles. I would run another 4 with the pain in my ITB increasing with every step. I'm almost certain Kelsey and I are talking about that in this picture. He never flat out said stop running but he hinted at it in a way that I knew it would be ok. If I had been by myself I would have muscled through to the end, finished with a crappy time and most likely really hurt myself. Instead I stepped off at mile 17, crying like a baby with him insisting I keep telling myself that I'm a 3 time Ironman and this doesn't matter.
Philly was a huge turning point for me. If I had tried to finish that race, I would not have gone on to a 17 minute PR in Phoenix 2 months later. And PR again in Oct.
While I haven't hit my goal of qualifying for Boston, I know I'm on my way. I'll either get faster or I'll just get older!

As for Kelsey, he finally hit his goal of a Sub 3 hour marathon, and in NY no less. And he did it stride for stride with Chris, another fabulous team mate who has also been gunning for sub 3.

(awesome photo by Alex Kristofcak)

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.

everyday is like sunday

In an attempted to up my milage for the rumored upcoming marathon cycle, I went out for a lovely 4 mile run this morning.
I felt really really good.
I ran with music for the first time since I sweat fried my ipod in August. That was a nice change. I ran the hills of Harlem and felt fresh coming off my 8.5 mile from yesterday.
If I keep this up, this spring marathon thing may actually happen.

I need a finish line

So much for my resting...
Every year, my team does an in house competition, based on how NYRR does it's team points competition, but based on age. I've won twice and this year was like, eh, whatever.
Then the latest result were out and I was in the lead, but barely. Then I started to care. So I raced today to hopefully hold off the competition. I wasn't really planning on racing until I saw how close it was. Next week I was planning on doing the 15k (still am!).
Long story longer, I ran a 4 miler this morning. It was COLD. It was also the best 4 miler I've run all year. Granted all of my running time has been devoted to the marathon not this short distance stuff. I ran 31:41, 7:55 pace. I'm happy about this for a few reasons:
1. I haven't run sub 8 pace since about March in a race.
2. I get to stay seeded sub 8 pace with NYRR for now. I am, however. planning on running faster in the spring!
Since rumor has it I will jump back into marathon training fairly soon oh and yea, I'm doing a 15k next week, I wanted a few extra miles. After the race, I met up with Loren and ran 4 more. I'm not sure I've run that much since NY.
Even though it was cold, I felt really good. Which is good, need to get use to this cold!

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.

bbbrrrr

Well today was the last team points race for the year,the Joe Kleinerman 10K. This race usually has a big turn out since it's the last teams points race and a double points race to boot. Not to mention people are trying to get their required races in for the NYC marathon.
Last year, I ran this race really well, pacing a team mate and PRing in the process. This year...not so much. Coming off of 2 weeks of sitting off my ass and still being jet lagged, I didn't have a whole lot of expectations. I ran a 51:10 and I ran pretty consistently. I'm happy with that. It's good to know I can phone it in and still run fairly well.
And the team did awesome. The men's and women's open teams both placed 8th, the first time the women broke the top 10 all year. Our master's teams were both 6th. Men over 50 7th and men over 60, 2nd (all posting faster times than me! Do not mess with our older guys!). So great running everyone!
I think tomorrow I will be stiff. Not sore, but certainly feeling it.

insert Toto song here, just for Flo

Well, I'm back from Africa. As promised, I did not run at all. That's the longest break I've had since March. I felt like every little thing I ate added pounds. I'm still processing my trip, it was an amazing experience on so many levels. Once I sort it all out, I'm sure I'll have more to say about it. My thoughts are all over the place. In the mean time, take a look at my photos.
I look at these and I think yea yea, the animals were totally cool to see, which is true, but the really cool thing to me was the experience of the people.


So now that I'm back in NYC, I'm back to running. After 2 weeks off to let my body get some rest after the marathon craziness of the fall, I ran 4.5 miles today. Didn't feel too bad. I'm surprised my ankle's a little stiff after the fact. Tomorrow is a 10k which I'm doing just for team reasons. As I've said to a few friends, I'll be running 10 minute miles with a cup of coffee. Of course we all know that's not true, but I wont be out there running any PRs. Plus the weather is suppose to suck.

There a small band of chicks on my team who are planning for the NJ marathon in May. A few people were very close to BQ times in NYC and have something to prove. While I myself have only verbally committed, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into the grind again. I'm sure I'll come around.

Baby it's cold outside

I've had a few short runs this week out in the cold.
4 wed. night, 6 yesterday. We've gone from nice fall weather to BBBRRR in a hurry!
I feel for all those folks running philly today, it's a bit chilly for that!
Anyway, I'm now off to Africa. As I said before, I'm not running while I'm gone. This should be intersting, it'll be my longest break since I had the flu of death last winter.
I think my body will be glad for it after this crazy training cycle.
Ok faithful readers, I will return to you soon.

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.

Race to Deliver

SO with all this recovering I've been doing, I actually haven't been running too much. I've been loosely following the Pfitz recovery program, but really, I've been running when I feel like it. Last week I ran 13 miles. This week I think it's been 16, 7 of that was today.
My team set a goal for the Race to Deliver of 50 runners and raising $1000. At last count, we raised close to $1800 and had 77 people run. This was a NYRR race and the corrals were all screwed up. I wont even go into that. I figured I'd run just for fun, not really be concerned about time since this was really about the cause. And I spent 3 hours getting my arm tattooed yesterday (I know people have asked about it, I'll show pictures when it's healed up. I had things added to my pumpkins/flowers. Now there's a humming bird and insects like bees and dragon flies).
I ran 3 mile to the start as a nice slow warm up.
I got to the start, which was total chaos. I found Hilary and we jumped into a corral about 4 ahead of what our bibs said. In fairness, this is where we usually start. She wanted to race all out. I wanted to see hat would happen with little expectation.
I ran 32:01, 8 minute pace. I'm pretty happy about that! I did feel better today than I have the last few runs so that's a really good.
Next week, I'll continue with my recovery schedule. Then Loren and I leave for Africa. I've decided not to run at all while away. This will give me time to have time off my feet, let all the little nagging things have a rest.
When I come back, I think I'm going to start indoor speed work with the team. This will be a first! I dont mind track running, but I'm not really crazy about a 200m indoor track. After some consultation, I'm willing to give it a shot. I have tons of endurance, now I'm going to try for a bit more speed.

on the road again

So I have been following Pfitz' recovery plan. It's a good thing too since I can not physically run much faster then 10 minute miles. In fact, of all my post marathon runs, today was the first one I averaged under 10, a whole 9:59. Not that it matters, I'm recovering!
I dont know if I mentioned here the deep down body tired I feel since doing 2 marathons in 3 weeks. I spoke to a couple of other like minded insane team mates who did the Chicago NY double and they feel the same way. So nice to know it's not just me.
Things are slowly coming around, which is good.
I'll keep following this plan then when I go to Africa in a few week, most likely not run at all. I asked a friend who spends a lot of time in J'burg about it and was advised it's just not safe. And boy do I hate tredmills! I think the time off will do me good.

You stand at the edge while people run you through

Here's Lynn and I about 2 minutes after finishing NY. I was 2 seconds ahead of her. Lynn, I have no idea how you ran in long sleeves! I dont look too terrible for having just finished something utterly stupid. For the record, I was one of 10 Front Runners who ran 2 marathon in 3 weeks. We've got a nice club of crazy.

I ran for the first time last night. A nice slow 4 miles in the warm drizzle. My quads were still a little sore, feeling a bit better today.

I'm starting to look a head a bit. I know I'll be doing 3 more races this year. The Race to Deliver, a 4 miler. This is a fund raiser and I'm not sure how I'm going to run since I am gettng tattooed he day before. Really, I shouldn't run at all after that.
The Klinerman 10k, which is a club points race, the last of the year. It's 2 days after I get back from Africa so I may be totally messed up. The Hot Chocolate 15k on 12/20. Last year I hit this one outa the park, running 1:15:18 (8:05 pace) on a hilly course in Central park about 2 weeks after DNFing in Philly. I'd like to try and do the same this year.

Then there's the spring. I am thinking of doing the Jersey Marathon in May. It's close by, it's cheap, I can take the train. I think I'd follow Pfitz again. Only issue is the 18 weeks. That would start the end of Dec. I'm not sure I'm ready to go back into 18 weeks again. I want to rest a bit, I want to be on my bike again, and I'd like to spend some time in the pool. The other side of that is I'm not sure the 12 week plan is enough. I'm guessing I could jump into 18 weeks a little further along with the right base. Comments from the peanut gallery?

We are family

I dont even know where to start with the NYC marathon. It was such an over all amazing experience for me. I said in a previous post that I have never run NYC well.
I ran it well yesterday. I ran it the best I have ever run it, by 17 minutes. And I did it just 3 weeks after PRing in Steamtown. I am pretty happy about my marathon season even though I have not hit my ultimate goal of qualifying for Boston.
Yet.
This whole week was really amazing. I went to the expo on Friday with a buncha the FRNY ladies. Then team dinner Fri. night followed by the big traditional team breakfast on Sat. So many of my team mates worked so hard this year, it was very exciting.

Race day, I woke up at 5:40 am. It wasn't too bad getting up with the time change. I met 2 neighbors who were also running and we split a car down to the ferry. The ferry ride is so relaxing and beats the bus in every way possible.
Once on Staten Island, I hooked up with team mates, about 8 of us all huddled up together, just waiting. As time got closer to the start, I packed up and headed over to my corral alone. I needed a few minutes.
I lined up near the 3:50 pace guy and standing right next to me was Ela, one of my on line friends from the Runner's World forums. As we moved up towards the start, I quickly lost site of the pace group, before the race even started.
No worries, it'll be what it is.

Then the cannon went off and a huge cheer from all the people in wave 2. As we got on to the bridge, Frank sung New York New York and we all sang alone. Then Born to Run came on, a song I've always loved.
I hit my watch as we went through the start. For this race, I decided to go old school and where ye old timex ironman watch. The garmin just makes me nuts.
Ela and I ran the first 2 miles together
mile 1 9:48 nice and slow up the bridge
I see my team mate lynn, ask if she's seen anyone else. Tells me Hilary started with the 3:50. Hilary ran Chicago 3 weeks ago and was not happy about her race so she was out here too.
mile 2 8:17
cruise down the bridge and into Brooklyn. Ela was gunning for her Boston qualifying time and I lost her in the crowd.
mile 3 8:38
mile 4 8:48
mile 5 8:14
Some where around here, my team mate Ishii caught me. Our uniforms really stand out so it's easy for us to spot each other. We chatted for a few minutes as we ran together. Then off she went. I wanted to stay steady as I was in unknown territory. I took my first shot at mile 5.
Mile 6 8:45
mile 7 8:38
I felt like it was a little crowded here even with the wave starts. Every one is about to merge.
mile 8 8:57
Now my legs have that feeling. That getting tired and getting heavy. Oh no. Not already. I still have 18 miles to go, if this is happening now, what's in store for me later? I guess I'll find out.
Should I stop to pee? I hate peeing between cars. I dont wanna look for a portopotty. Really, I just dont want to stop. I'll just go away on it's own.
mile 9 9:04
oh boy, we're in 9 land. it's ok, still holding on, legs are still heavy but the effort is pretty steady. You shouldn't take advil while running. Well, it hasn't killed me yet, so here goes nothing.
mile 10 8:46
There we go. 16 miles to go. When did I get to the point where I'm like, ok! 16 miles to go!
mile 11 9:10
and there goes the pace band. I'm off and I'm fine with it. The thing was driving me crazy. While we're at it, off with the arm warmers and I'll take another gel thank you.
mile 12 9:06
Somewhere in this mile, my team mate Sharon caught me.
How you feeling?
Like shit.
Oh no!
Yea, my legs feel like anchor
Yet, I keep moving and I'm not slowing down too much.
mile 13 9:07
Over the Pulaski bridge and into Queens.
I see team mate Annie on the side of the road (spectating not running) but she doesn't see me.
mile 14 9:06
How the hell am I run so evenly? I feel terrible!
mile 15 9:45
And here comes the 59th st bridge. The dreaded 59th st bridge. It's long. It's dark, it's up hill, and it's really quiet. All you hear are foot steps. No spectators, everyone just trying to get over this damn thing. As we hit the end, you start hearing the crowds on first ave. A down hill off the bridge spits us out into riotous cheers of East side NYers brunching.
mile 16 9:44
First ave. Oh man, we're gonna go by Sloan Kettering with all the cancer people and I'm gonna think of my dad and choke up like I do every friggin time
Mile 17 9:19
I start looking for Loren. She said she might come over to first ave so I'm scanning the crowded for her traditional green Ithica t-shirt she wears every NY marathon. I dont see her anywhere, but the crowds here are crazy.
Mile 18 9:27
Mile 19 9:21
Here we go onto the Willis ave bridge that brings up to the one mile in the Bronx. It also brings us to that half way point in the marathon known as mile 20.
Mile 20 9:27
This is it. 10k to go. A very familiar 10k. Let's keep steady, almost home. I see 2 cheering team mates in the Bronx
Mile 21 9:15
Over the Madison Ave bridge. There's a DJ screaming WELCOME TO HARLEM! This is where I live. I am really on home tuff now.
Gospel choirs and hiphop music. Thank you Pdiddy for running and getting people in the Bronx and Harlem to love the marathon.
Mile 22 9:26
I have run these last few miles so many times over the last few weeks. I see it in my sleep, I know this hill.
Mile 23 9:25.
Lynn passes me screaming. I'VE BEEN HOLDING BACK ALL DAY! LET'S GO! LET'S GET TO OUR PEOPLE! Our people being the team that mans the 24 mile water station and has done so since 1982. It's a great boost knowing you'll see people you know, and a lot of them, so deep into the race.
Mile 24 9:55
I go back to my Steamtown mantra: NO TEN MINUTE MILES
I know I'll see Loren in her spot at the water station, end of the water, on the right.
And there she is. She asks how I'm doing. I dont even answer, I just kiss her and keep going.
I know I'm close to 4 hours. Someone hit my watch and it stopped early on and I'm not sure for how long.
Cat hill, a long down hill, I'm going to throw myself at it.
As I'm flying down, I pass Ishii. I say come one, stay with me! She tells me she can't. I scream YES YOU CAN and try to get her to come with me, but she really can't.
Mile 25 9:18
It's getting so thick in here, this roadway usually used for horse carriages that takes us out of the park on to 59th st.
People are walking, in the middle of the road. I shove them. I'm on a bit of a mission here and not a lot of time left.
There it is
ONE MILE TO GO
Of course this one mile to go sucks. it's up Central Park south, and I do mean up. Not that it's a mountain but in the last mile, the incline is tough.
I see Lynn and pass her.
Hit Columbus circle and turn back into the park.
Mile 26 9:14
Oh so cruel this last .2. Leading to the finish at Tavern on the green, it goes up even more. I am gutting it out. My legs are going to explode. My lungs are going to remove themselves from my body. I dont even remember seeing anything but the finish line as I am in an all out sprint.
last .2 1:45
I hit my watch exactly at 4:00.
I know it's off a bit because it was stopped.
My official time:
4:00:30
I am really happy about that. Given that my legs go tired so early on I was able to hold on. Oh yea, and that little 26.2 mile jog I took a few weeks ago.
Today I actually feel better than I did after Steamtown.
I really had so much fun yesterday. It was hard but it really showed me the kind of runner I've become.
And my team.
Holy crap, I can not say enough about these people. 9 guys went under 3 hours. We had about 7 people who ran 3 weeks ago, all but me in the heat of Chicago. They came out here and made up for the rotten weather they were given out there. So many friends hitting goals they'd been chasing for years. 77 Front Runners finishing, 9 under 3 hours. 48 under 4 hours, the 2nd year in a row we've gotten the honor of 40 under 4. Almost everyone under 5 hours. Another 30 or so manning the water station. A truly amazing day for the team.

running up that hill

Ok, here's the short of it. Longer race report later when I'm not full of the marathon stupids.
But here are a few fun facts:
-this was my 10th marathon
-4th NY, best time at NY
-2nd marathon in 3 weeks.
-finish time 4:00:30

Take on me

For everyone not running tomorrow (ok, and for those of you who are) come with me.

But without your love I wont make it through

EVERYTHING hurts.

Running this marathon has to be the dumbest idea I've had in a long time. 

Really, it's not a good one.

I picked up my number.

standing on the edge of it in a cool thick sweat

Another chilly night.

I ran a short 5 with a team mate who wanted to run the last few miles of the course. I pointed out where are team is at mile 24, the 25 mile marker, where the ONE MILE TO GO sign is, explained how the slight incline on 59th street will feel like a mountain since it's the last mile.

Truth is, I love this race.  I always have. I've never run it well and I dont really care.

The NYC Marathon is so different for NYers. If I were an outa towner, I dont think I'd like it very much. But I sleep at home, run, then go home. I see all my running friends. The whole weekend is one big crazy running party, even when I dont run.

But that's enough about that, I have to go watch the Phillies, my childhood love, win the World Series.

My life will be forever Autumn

When I ran on Sat, I nearly stripped down to my bra is was so humid and nasty.

Today is a whole new nasty. It's 40 out and feels like 25. It's raining and it's really windy. 

I went and ran 4 miles. It's that kind of day, the park is empty except for dog walkers and a few of us trying to dodge the next downpour.

I've been in the house all day and just needed to get out. I wore tights and a jacket, first time since I'd guess March or April. 

I ran easy though my HR rate seemed higher than it should have been for the effort, I'm guessing it's the weather.

My plan for this week was to follow the last week of Pfitz, race week. I'm going to modify it a bit and cut the miles a little. I ran 4 instead of 6 today. Tomorrow is dress rehearsal day which should be 7 with 2 at marathon pace. I dont even know what my MP will be. I might do 5-6 with 2 faster miles. It should be nicer out tomorrow. I'm also  seeing PT Pete. I'm looking forward to that, I haven't seen him since before Steamtown and my ankle's been a little stiff.

And now for a bath, of the warm variety. I think the only ice bath I'll be taking for the rest of the year will be Sunday afternoon.

Maybe.

there's no need for you to fear me if you take your time to hear me, maybe you can learn to cheer me

I wanted to run 12 today to see how the double digits would feel 13 days after Steamtown. My plan was to run the last few miles of the course then do it again, running the last 3-5 miles at 8:30-8:35 pace. 

I thought the humid days were behind us. I was wrong. Man, it was nasty out there today. I stopped at mile 7 (chased by a bear!!!!) And the minute I stopped, the sweat just started pouring out of me like it was summer.

The week before the marathon. The bleachers are going up at the finish line. People are starting to come to town. It's like the whole city is caught up in taper madness. There were several groups of people running down 5th ave and back into the park and out again, not a usual running route but that's how the marathon take us.

I felt really good. My legs got a little tired towards the end. I think that was a combination of the humidity and I had some trouble eating this morning. My stomach was a little unsettled. Oh yea, and I ran a marathon almost 2 weeks ago. Minor detail.

Tomorrow will be an easy recovery run. I'm heading down for some good food and some hangin out.

Off to work I go, back to this 8 Mile Road

Did I just quote eminem? Yes I did.  Do I like him? Why no I dont.

Did I run 8 miles this morning? I sure did. I ran 8 miles, and within that, I ran the last 4 miles of the NYC marathon. This by no means means I will RUN NYC in just a few short days. 

I actually felt great. This was the best run I've had since Steamtown.

While I was out on these 4 miles on the course, I remember the first time I saw the NYC Marathon. I had moved to NYC in 1989 for school. I had a standing date with my friend Jen, we went to the Met every Sunday to draw. I lived on west side and would cross the park to get to the east side. That meant, crossing the marathon. Where I crossed was around mile 24. Little did I know that the people out manning that water station would later be my team mates.  FRNY has been manning the 24 mile water station since 1982.

There is a great image of the early days here.

That day, I stood there watching people chug by. Mile 24 things aint pretty. The thing that sticks out in my mind about that day was the 1 legged runner. We're talking almost 20 years ago, long before fake legs were made for running. He was out there gimpin through it and I was totally amazed.

I never though I'd run a marathon. I remember in HS my cranky cross country coach talking about NY and Boston and I stood there going, no way, 5k is about all I can take thank you.

Oh how wrong I was.

IF I run NYC, it will be my 4th time. It will also be my 10th marathon. I know I am lucky living here are far as the marathon goes, I have home court advantage. I dont have to go with the lottery of over 100k people trying to get one of 40k spots. NYRR, for the most part, is good about giving NYers an easier way to run the hometown race.

This wasn't always the case. The first year I ran, 1999, you still had to get an application and it was pretty much first come first served. Everyone went to the 24 hour post office on 34th st to wait til midnight to get their application  postmarked. It was crazy, a total scene. Like tax day for runners. Lucky for me, I got in that year. That might have been the last year they had all that craziness.

I keep saying I will make my decision about running the day before. Well, maybe 2 days before. I keep checking the weather and I want to make sure I feel recovered enough that I'm not suffering for 26.2 miles. I know that's all relative. Until then, I'm running as if.

I really wish I could remember where I got that phrase. I know it was from my hippie time out at Esalen, I just can't remember who said it.

Act as if________

So, I'm acting as if I'm running.

And I'll let you all know if I actually am.

On the road again

After 2 days of not running, I hit the road again last night. A nice easy 4 mile recovery run with my club. I ran with a few old friends and 2 women, I swore to them I dont usually run like I have  a poll up my ass.

The amazing thing about recovery runs:

They work.

Yes, I was sore when I started and sore after but I woke up this morning and I'm not sore anymore. My toenail is still oozing, but oh well.

I'm excited to be running again. 

Though I am getting nudges from people about running NYC, I'm sticking to my plan of not making any decisions yet. I wanna see how I feel the next few days and maybe do a 12 next weekend.

baby we were born to run-steamtown 08

So this is it.  The Steamtown Marathon has been my goal race all year. 18 weeks of training leading up to this. I cut my tri season to 2 early season races and then just focused on running, something I think I have only done for 1 other marathon, my first in 1999.

This was a new challenge for me, only running, and upping my milage to a peak of 55 miles a week (I know, sounds crazy to run for a marathon right?).

So the time was now. Or this weekend, or you know what I mean.

I left for beautiful Scranton, Pa late Sat. morning. Due to logistical issues, Loren couldn't come and I caught a ride with an on line pal, which was a life saver.

we went right to the expo where I finally met long time internet penpal Girl In Motion (also known as Flo). Flo and I have been chatting on line for months, had the goal for the race, and even though had never met in person, decided to give running together a shot.

I also met up with my mom, race support expert. After the expo, we headed to my friend Bob's house. I ran into Bob on a run last Friday, when he heard I was going to running in Scranton, he offered up his house. Totally awesome to have a little getaway. 

Finding it however...that's another story. Let it be known Scranton has the worst signage I have ever seen and I really didn't think it was possible to get so lost in a 3 mile radius. Every time you went anywhere.

We went to dinner Sat night, a little meet up of online folks who were doing the race.

Once Mom and I found the house again, it was early to bed.

For hours of tossing and turning. And a dream that I lost my shoes and someone told me "well, there's a reason for you to not finish again". My mind playing an evil trick on my about my DNF in Philly last fall.

I was up at 5:30. I met Flo at the buses to the start at 6:15. We rode over to the high school and did last morning pre race rituals. It was a really nice morning, the temps. hovering in the 40s. A perfect start. Before I knew it, we were lined up and ready to go.

The civil war cannon was fired, and off we went.

Flo and I decided to start together, with the clear understanding of we'll see how this goes and really let's all run our own races.

I did not want to go out to fast. While this course has a reputation of being hugely down hill, and it is, I didn't want to be trying to keep my legs from falling of at mile 12 because I ran the downhills too fast. I already know what it feels like to go out too fast.

So we were off. I kept saying "ok, nice and easy" out loud, mostly for my own benefit.

My goal was to qualify for Boston, I would need to run a 3:45:59, 8:37 pace. I wanted to take the first 3 miles slow then slowly pick it up. Nothing crazy.

All my mile splits are from my Garmin, they may vary by a second or so.

1 8:50

2 8:55

3 8:43

This seemed like a good start. Then we get to some real down hills. I'm all for working the down hills, I just told myself to stay in control

4 8:13

Ok, that's a little much

5 8:41

6 8:36

I was feeling good. I made sure to drink. It was my plan to take 4 gels. I knew there were plenty of water stations, I just wasn't totally sure where they were. I took my first gel between miles 4-5. The amazing this about this race, it had just over 1500 runner, so I think it's the smallest marathon (pure marathon, Ironmans are about that size) I have ever run. And the crowd support was amazing. Everywhere there were unofficial aid stations, people out with water, gatorade, bananas, oranges, candy, hoses, it was really awesome.

My mental dialogue continued. Somewhere around this time, Flo pulled a little ahead of me. Not far, I could always see here.

7 8:42

8 8:28

9 8:35

Things were feeling good. I was focusing on my form, on staying in control. I knew that all the stars would have to align and I'd have to run a perfect race to hit my goal. There were a few things that did linger in the back of my mind that I was trying to keep from coming to the front on my mind:

My ankle. I didn't hurt, but it did cost me a bit of training.

And since this seems to happen when I have big races, I got my period on Saturday. Always a leg drainer.

10 8:31

11 8:40

12 8:43

13 8:38

At half way, I was a little behind goal pace. I didn't panic or worry about it too much. This race would be whatever it would be, I would just have to run the best I could run on the day I had to run. I kept telling myself that, I didn't want to run a great race and beat myself up if I didn't BQ, I was still trying for it, I just want to run well.

Most of the elevation loss comes in the first half, while it is a lot of downhill, there are als a lot of rolling hills. I know there will be hills at the end and I feel like I've trained for them. I live on the corner of 3 hills. I end almost all of my runs, not matter what the distance, running up hill. There's also a section of trails. Now I love trails. I've heard people talk about this race and complain about them, I was actually looking forward to them. When I got there, I felt myself pick up the pace. It was like a mini cross country race in the middle of the marathon. It was cool and shaded and really beautiful. While I'm not one to care about how my surrounds look during a marathon, because, well, I'm busy running, I will say the fall colors were really putting on a show.

14 8:39

15 8:39

16 8:57

17 8:53

18 9:09

Oh boy, my first over 9 mile. I was slowing. Somewhere around 18 I realized I would have to run my ass off to hit 3:45. I stayed calm about it. I didn't calculate how fast I would have to run or if I could. I thought, well, maybe this isnt going to happen today, we'll see. I'm going to just run steady and do what I can do. If nothing else, I will PR.

19 8:59

20 9:05

20 miles. The marathoner half way mark. The point when I tell myself there is a lap of Central park to go. That's it.  A lap of the place you have run more than any place in your life, the place where you have logged at least 700 of the over 1000 miles you have run this year.

That's all that's left. I feel myself try to find another gear.

21 9:08

ok, so maybe I have to stay in the gear I'm in. 

The thing that amazes me, even though this race has 1500 people and only about a third of them are women, I am never alone. There are always people running near me and most of the time, they are women. And I think that is pretty cool. I read a stat that said last year, only 17% of women went under 4 hours in a marathon. I am surrounded by women who are going to go under 4 hours.

22 9:25

Come on legs. We're getting into some tiny hills. The sun is on full blast. I feel the heat rising, it's getting hot and it's getting hot fast. I take my last gel.

I'm now grabbing a lot of fluids even though I've been taking them all along. I've also had 2 salt pills and I feel the coating of salt on my skin. I'm like a running pretzel.

23 brings up a sharp steep though short hill. I charge up it no problem

23 9:28

I know I'm off pace, I wont hit 3:45, I will finish, I'll finish strong, I'll PR.

24, um, who put the hill at mile 24? Everyone talks about the hill at 23 and the hill at 25, middle child hill at 24 gets completely ignored, and believe me, that is NOT FAIR. We're on a nice residential street and everyone is out cheering, people are going wild.

24 9:46

Now I'm telling myself NO 10 MINUTE MILES.

I am also thinking of Loren and her telling me to run brave and all the other support she has given me. And believe it or not, I am thinking about Matthew Shepard, who has now been dead 10 years to the day.

25 9:09

I am running with everything that's left. I see the long hill that starts mile 25. I say to myself. Ok, this is like the North Hills, this is like running in Harlem, you do this all the time. Nice and steady, I'm pushing myself up the hill. I know when I get to the top, there will be a sign that says 26 and I will have a lovely fast .2 miles to go. There's cheering and yelling and chants of almost there (and this time it's really true).

26 9:42

I crest the hill. I start to fly. I can really push a down hill, something I was worried about doing too much of earlier in the race. I can also kick like hell. I am passing everyone in my sights to get to that finish line. Sometimes I think half way starts at mile 26, that last .2 is really what gets ya.

And boom, there's the finish line!

.2 1:41 (that comes out to a 7:39 pace!)

I hit stop, my watch reads 3:53:04, I bested my time well over 3 minutes. I can live with that. I tell myself, and repeat it several times to others: I ran the best race I could run today. And I totally believe that. 

I hear my name and look over to see Flo lounging in a wheel chair. She looks like she just had her ass kicked, and she did a bit. First time marathoner, be glad you only have to be that once. I'm feeling surprisingly good for what I just did. I gather her up and we go to hook up with our support crews.

Then we find Fran, who I rode up with. She also ran a PR of 3:59, gettin under that 4 hour mark for the first time.

Now I'm laying in bed, my quads screaming. I've decided not to make any decisions on what to do next. I have a spot for NYC in 3 weeks. I'm not doing to make that decision now.

Loren and I talked last night about the race, if I want to try and again and when, what it will take for me to hit 3:45, if I can run NYC and really pop one.  What happened and when that got me off my pace. Right now, I can't point to one specific thing. I think I ran smart. Like I said, I just need a day when all the stars align. No, yesterday may not have been it, but 3 minutes? I'll take it, it's 3 minutes closer than I was before.

Quickie

Ok, here's the low down.

I ran the Steamtown Marathon today.

I ran 3:53. While I didn't get my Boston Qualifying time, I did set a 3 minute PR.

There's a bunch of sushi coming my way, and I will give more race details soon.

Thanks again for everyone's support.

Running to stand still

Well...18 weeks. 

Wow.

All my running, save a couple of slow nerve calming ones in the AM, is done. I went out and did 5 this morning with a few striders. My heart rate was a bit high, but I think that's nerves and caffine.

I look back and can not believe race day is almost here. I'm very excited. I keep telling myself to go out slow, relax, run smart, I'm ready for this, all that self affirming crap. 

I just have to get through the next few days!

Think of me Sunday morning, and thanks to everyone for your support.

music

Ok, to keep myself busy, I made a running play list.

Songs about running, songs I listen to while running, all that

here

crap.

My run today, totally fine. 7 miles with 2 miles at marathon pace. No problem. I ran in central park and did my 2 miles on rolling hills, it felt nice. The pace was no problem.

But I do have a problem. Or what could turn into one.

My big toe. It's been bruising up for the last week and a half. That's fine. I'm pretty sure I'm going to loose the nail, not unheard of.

What I'm worrying about is it's starting to blister by the cuticle. It doesn't hurt and I hope it stays that way. I'm not sure if I should drain it. It did not hurt when I was running, I'll see how it feels when I'm walking around with shoes on.

UGH.

I'm seeing PT Pete for the last time before my marathon today.

That should be nice and relaxing.

fall on me

I am so glad  that fall weather is pretty much here. 

I just came back from a 6 mile recovery run. Boring. And at mile 1 I was thinking, this is boring, I wish I hadn't fried my ipod so I could at least get through this with an hour of This American Life. Then a cyclist friend of mine rode up to me and kept me company for a few miles so that made it better.

But kind readers, I have a bigger issue to discuss with you all here today.

A delicate subject some might say. The only adults I have ever heard talk about uncontrollably shitting themselves are runners, triathletes,  people with stock in depends, and adult babies. It's a bit of a joke in the running and tri world, the other two...well...I know nothing about.

Saturday was Grete's Great Gallop, a half marathon celebrating Greta Waitz, 9 time winner of the NYC marathon. 1 time accidental shitter. But hey, if there's a huge novelty check waiting at the finishline with your name on it and a lot of zeros, by all means, let go.

If not. Really. Dont.

I ran this race as my last long run in my training cycle. My goal was to run it as a long run, not fast, comfortable, and to cheer on my teamates as this is a team points race.

At mile 12.5, I passed this woman who was not young. Really not young. And guess what was running all down her legs.

Yup.

So I though, ok, maybe this happened at like mile 10 and she really wants to finish.

Nope, as I later found out, my friend Hilary passed her at mile 9. In the same condition.

I did noticed that she was also bleeding, mostly likely from the nasty chaffing. The whole thing was so not pretty.

I saw her a few minutes after crossing the finish line giving a half hearted effort to clean herself up.

About 15 minutes laters, I was in the baggage corral with my friend Ishii and we both just looked at each other. I was like oh my god what is that smell?

I turned around, there she was.

Now people, this is a big event as most NYRR races are. There's medical tents, there's volunteers every where. You've got HUMAN SHIT all over yourself, please get someone else to get your bag.

This morning, when I was talking to Hilary and found out that she passed her at mile 9, I also found out that she didn't just get her back and high tale it home, as, I would hope, most people who just shit all over themselves would.

Oh no, there were free waffles and lox to be had, so she just got her stinky ass right in line.

Come on people.

Come on.

singles

Last double digit day.

8 days left.

Let me go crazy on you.

First, the run. Easy recovery, 5 miles with 6x100.

Now, taper madness. It's here. At some point last night, the crazies crawled into my head big time. I blame the debate. I suddenly started thinking: I dont need to do this. In fact, I dont want to do this. Let's call the whole things off. Yea, I've trained for 18 weeks and gotten myself in good shape. So what? I dont feel like racing. I dont even LIKE Boston (ok, that part holds the most truth. I really dont like Boston). I guess this is typical. Honestly, I dont know why I keep running marathons.

When I did my first one in 1999, I thought, ok, I'll get this outa the way.

I've done one every year since*

*(I didn't finish last years, but I got one in within the first week of this year).

Anyway, I am trying to ignore the taper gremlins. 

So here's what I do during taper madness:

• Check the forcast

•Check it again

• talk to it and tell it what I really want

• review splits from last marathon

•promise self not to go out too fast.

again.

•look at others splits, see they went out to fast

•promise self not to go out too fast.

again.

•remember if I think I'm starting too slow, chances are I'm starting too fast

•wonder why the hell I picked this race

•over all freak out over everything.

So tomorrow is my last long run, I'm doing Grete's Great Gallop in Central Park, a half marathon, as a long run. Good thing too, I have never run this race well so being intentionally slow, I'll keep with tradition.

And now time to hit the showers.

1000

First, I want to say one of my goals this year was to run 1000 miles. I figured it was doable, I just missed last year.

Well, this morning, I logged my 1000th mile. Months early! Now I think 1200 is easily with in my reach. We'll see after all this marathon biz.

Anyway, as I mentioned yesterday, todays workout: 8 miles with 3x1600 (or 1 mile, just a hair longer than 1600 but easier to calculate). I had my typical sluggish warm up so I figured my intervals would be good.

WRONG.

I could tell on my first one, which I did not go out too hard on, that that just was not going to be the case. My goal was to be around 7:20.

WRONG.

7:30. Then 7:38, and let's be honest here, I knew things weren't going well, I phoned in the last one at 7:46. Eh. I finished them.

But can we talk about the 90% humidity? Cause that sure as hell did not help. Nope, not one bit. I'm ready for some more fallish like weather.

crazy...I'm crazy

Yes folks, it is that time.

The other day I was fretting about something and Loren was just staring at me.

I said WELCOME TO MY TAPER!!!!!

She's been through this before so she just shook her head.

I seem to have some bruising under my big toe nail. I dont know how this happened. In all my years of running, I've had 1 black and blue nail that I lost. 

ONE.

And it was after my first marathon in 1999.

It hasn't full on bruised and I hope it doesn't. I noticed it for sure when I was running but it was more annoying that anything.

And speaking of running, since that's what we do here, I just got back for a nice, generic 7 miles with 8x100 strides. Really nothing exciting to report there.

While the temps have dropped, it's still humid so I'm still sweating like  a pig.

Oh well.

Tomorrow should be an interesting work out, mile repeats, but we'll get to that tomorrow.

9999999 19

ok, so it wasn't really 19, I just wanted to go with the musical theme of my titles. It was 18.21 according to my Garmin. According to NYRR it was 18. Yup the 18 mile tune up race. For me, it was run with a number. A great one too, right in my own back yard, Central Park. Now 3 loops of Central Park can rarely be described as fun. Under any conditions. For those of you who dont know, Central Park is hilly. It really doesn't have any flat spots. 

When I got up this morning I checked the weather. 67 degress with 94% humidity. 

YUCK.

I rode my bike over to the start, stripped down, found my friend Claudia and got in the corral. My plan was to run the first lap slowly, attack the big hills, and pick it up each lap. At mile 2 I took my 1st salt pill. Claudia and I ran the whole first lap together. When we got to the North Hills for the 2nd loop I said I wanted to run the hill hard. I did. I dropped her (sorry!) I took gel 1 at mile 7. At mile 7.5, the lead man passed me.  I must say, I was surprise. The winner went on to finish in a time of 1:38:22. BLISTERING.

I think around mile 10 I took my 2nd salt pill and at mile 12 I took my 2nd gel. At this point, I was running with Bernie, another Front Runner. I hit the 12 mile mark and said, ok, I'm gonna see what I can do from here and planned on running the 3rd lap faster than the 2nd. I wanted to stay within my long run pace. North Hill again, I ran it well and announced at the top LAST TIME PEOPLE! Which got a cheer from those around me. I was feeling good. No real pain in my ankle. I would feel it from time to time but nothing that hurt. 

Did I mention the 93% humidity? Cause that was nasty.

Last time up Cat hill, I knew after that, it would be a little more than a mile. My garmin had it reading less. I really wore it for heart rate. I dont plan on wearing it during the marathon or my final longish run. It'll just make me crazy. 

I hit the 17 mile marker and it's pretty much down there. I felt so good. At no point did I feel like I was over doing it. It was a very controlled run. I ran my last mile in 8:45 and felt great.

This was a great race for me and possibly my best long run this cycle. I've got a ton of confidence for my marathon. I finished in a time of 2:51:55.

I also wanna give a shout out to the men of FRNY who were the 2nd team to finish today. Ryan Quinn, finishing 9th over all and 2nd in his age group in a time of 1:48:19, a 6:01 pace.

And especially Peter McGrane, our 2nd man to finish in a time of 1:54:28, 34th  over all, 6:34 pace. Peter, if you're out there, you are running you ASS off this year (really, he is, he ran over 40 miles as part of the Reach the Beach ultra team 2 weeks ago) and it's so exciting to see you doing so well!

And now, I have some serious plans with the couch.

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?

here comes the rain again

Today was an uneventful run, though I turned it into the biggest drama ever since it's been raining for hours. It wasn't really raining when I was running.

4 miles recovery pace with 6 (I did 5 oops)x 100 strides. Ankle started stiff, no surprise there. When I last ran with Loren she said my form looked fine so I'm not worried about it.

My HR was a bit high which I attribute to humidity, abnormal sleep, and maybe being a bit dehydrated this morning.

Tomorrow is my teams cross country meet. Now I love XC but I'm a little meh about this. For one, it's been raining like hell. While the course usually drains quickly, I want to be careful with this paw which sorta bumms me out since, I love XC. This is also suppose to be a tune up race. But let's face it...I'm a little over 2 weeks out from my race. What is a tune up really going to tell me at this point? If I dont hit it, I can't do anything about it. So, I'll see how I'm going to run it in the morning.

Then Sunday, 18 miles. The plan calls for 16 but since I missed my 20 last week and NYRR is being kind enough to throw an 18  miler right out my front door, 18 it is. I will run this at long run pace, maybe picking it up at the end or at least working the hills.

Gonna be a long night, it's gonna be all right on the night shift

With my freelance schedule, I dont run in the evening as much as I use to. I've really gotten use to running in the morning or in the afternoon and not waiting til 7pm to run with my club, Front Runners. Tonight was an exception. I do like to go and see my running friends and take care of club business.

The downside? It's 10pm, I just got home and I haven't had dinner yet. Ok, so this is a bit unusual. I just stood on my corner for 20 minutes chatting.

Tonight was an easy 5 recovery run, though I realized the first real run I've done on the road. Felt pretty good, my ankle is a little stiff which I guess is to be expected.

It was also nice to see all my team mate's concern since so many of them were at Reach the Beach and knew what happened.

SO now I taper. I hope this gives me enough time to really heal.

oh the road again

First of all, is  Hagan Daz bar good recovery food?

I say yes, yes it is.

Now moving on. I've pretty much been given the green light to resume training. I saw PT Pete yesterday and he really worked out my ankle. I was have a slight sensation of discomfort on the inside of the ankle I twisted. He said it was a tight calf and that my arch collapsed a bit from the twist. He suggested some OTC cheap arch supports to put in my running shoes. I did that this morning. They feel fine, just might take a bit of getting use to.

So on to the run. This morning was 8 miles with 5x600 repeats. I wasn't sure how these repeats were gonna feel. Loren told me to go out there and just let em fly. My 4.25 warm up felt crappy. Usually a good sign for intervals. No, really. My ankle was stiff. It usually is first thing in the morning then it looses up.

I got to the track and my intervals were GREAT.

The paces for each one:

7:10, 6:59, 7:00, 7:09, 7:05

These have been the fastest intervals I've run this cycle. I know the few days off really helped. The weather didn't hurt either. And no pain.

While I was out there, there was a group gathering. There was a table with trophies on the field. THis woman was putting up these TRACK CLOSED signs and telling everyone the track was closing. 

I kept going. I saw another guy doing a similar workout (much much faster than me!) doing the same thing. We'd do an interval, eye the parks woman, start another one. I really wanted to get these done on the track. I could tell he did too. 

Music was playing, Whitney Houston, The Pointer Sisters...and all the "special population adults" as the Park calls them were gathering and starting to dance on the track.

I finished my last interval just as the crowd was really starting to grow.

At first I was annoyed that the whole track was being closed for this small group of folks. I stood around and watched before my cool down run home. It was very cute to see them dancing on the track and wearin team shirts that said CHAMPION on them.

Sometimes it's far too easy to get lost in my own goals.

the ghost of the bear

Oh loyal readers, all 3 of you, I have no running news of my own today, but please adjust your sets and head over to Girl In Motion for an amazing story of the Philly Distance run.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you may need to change your shorts when all is said and done.

To run away from you is all that I can do

Ok, so PT Pete say I could try and go between 8-10 today if the 2 on Friday felt ok. It did, so I did 10. Loren suggested I start on the track to have a soft surface. I did 2 miles on the track then went and ran to the little red light house. I finished on the track for almost the last 3 miles. While that is a total snore, it was a good idea for this first real test. 

Like the other day, there wasn't pain, just some stiffness and maybe what I would say was a bit of soreness. I started with my brace on, but took it off before I even ran a half mile. It didn't feel any different with out it. I did some pick ups and that felt fine too. I did notice I wasn't getting total follow through on the injured foot. Not sure if that was stiffness or apprehension. Maybe a bit of both.

So this next week I should be able to resume with my schedule. I see Pete tomorrow and he's hoping it'll be the last time.

we do what we're told told to do

Yesterday at PT, PT Pete told me to run 2 miles today, either treadmill or soft surface. It's so nice out. I went up to the track and ran there. Lane 7, mild turns.  He suggested wearing the brace for the short run so I did.

I would say I felt a sensation of mild discomfort. Certainly not pain. If I picked up the pace, it felt the same. I could have gone on but I think 2 is a good start. Then I went to the weight room and did some strength and balance work on my foot. Now ice and stim.

Tomorrow will be a see how it feels day then Sunday I can do up to 10 miles.

I'm not looking beyond that.

you spin me right round baby

Whenever I look at my ankle, this is what I see. It's all sortsa colors. It actually looks like a dead person's foot attached to my leg. This morning, I went to the gym. I took the bus. Usually, I go up there to swim or run intervals on the track so I either ride my bike or run.

The bus, not so much fun. 

I did 45 minutes on the elip. machine. Closest thing I can get to running. I was so tempted to get on the treadmill, even for just a half mile to see how it would feel. I resisted. I wouldn't say it hurt. It didnt. There was an ache. I got a lace up brace which I think will be more supportive for WHEN I START RUNNING TOMORROW.

Ok, I really dont know if that's going to happen. PT Pete said he'd put me on the treadmill for 2 miles (I know I'm going to do at least 3 if I can run) and we'll see how it goes.

I'm not going to pretend this isn't driving me insane even though it's only been a few days...

I put the CAN in CANkle

Ok, so I just saw my PT guy, who is awesome.

He doesn't think my ankle is even sprained. He worked out most of the swelling and thinks I should be running by Friday. I'm going to see him 2 more times this week.

While not out of the woods totally, this is a big relief. If I miss 7 days of running, that's not bad. It's only 3-4 workouts really.

Oh and Loren reminded me after reading my last entry that when I said to her I think I blew my marathon, she said you dont know that, let's wait and see.

And she's right, I was too spazzed out to remember that.

Reach the Biatch

So this weekend was the 10th running of the Reach the Beach  relay. This was my 5th time doing it and 3rd as captan of the Front Runners Ladies Tea and Running Society. We pretty much load 12 people into 2 vans and run across the state of NH.

I was the first runner. My plan, to stay close to my marathon training plan was to run my first leg, 7.8 miles, like a tune up race. My 2nd leg was 3.8 so I figured I 'd let that one fly as well. My last leg, 9.3 hilly miles, well, I thought that would be good to do maybe on the high end of a long run pace. It would be good training for my marathon to run hills when I'm really really tired.

Well as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Things started out well. I was a bit stressed trying to get my team ready to go and being the first runner. I started at 11:40 am with 18 other folks. The pack went out too fast, I let them go and just settled in. I didnt have my garmin which wouldn't even turn on. It through me a bit but in the long run, I think was good. Forced me to run on feel and not be so information obsessed. 

I settled into a nice pace and started doing math in my head. It was cool, in the 60s and raining a bit.

Let's see, if it were 8 miles and I ran at 8 minute pace that would be 64 minutes and if I ran 8:30 pace....on and on. I figured I wanted to come in around 68 minutes. I stayed steady, kept my eye on a pack of 5 ahead of me. 

Then they started falling of the back and I passed one.

Then 2.

Then the last 3.

I was felling GREAT. I could see the transition up ahead. It was hard to gauge how far ahead it was with the road being slightly hilly. I picked up the pace a bit to finish strong. I passed off to my teamate and hit my watch.

1:03:20, about 8:07 pace. I felt awesome.

After running, there's a lot of time before you run again. But also a lot to do. 5 more people in the van to run, then drive ahead as 6 people in the other van run. Eat, try and take a nap.  The 2nd van on my team kicked some serious ass. At 10pm, their last runner was tearing up the road ready to pass off to me. It was a bit wet, warmed up a bit from my first run. I was waiting in my safety vest, blinking lights and headlamp ready to go. Running in the dark down NH country roads is great. It's surreal. No street lights, very little traffic, just the blinking of other runners. I actually couldn't see any. There was no one close enough in front of me to see.

I was moving. I was feeling good. This leg was 3.8 miles, my goal was sub 30 minutes. I could feel the road go up, even if I couldn't see the hill. I gave my self landmarks when I could look at my watch. I'd look down to see if there were any lights coming up on me.

I started seeing team vans making a right turn. I saw the race arrows pointing that was so I knew I was close. I also had the feeling someone was coming up behind me and I didn't want to be passed on my legs so I through it into another gear. I went to make the right hand turn.

And then it happened.

I was on the ground. I was pretty much on my face. I got right up with this streak of white hot pain in my right ankle.

Fuck.

I look down , there's blood running down my left leg.

Oh fuck.

The road sorta just ended. It had been paved recently and at the turn I guess it was pretty uneven.

A woman jumped out of a van and ran over to me making sure I was ok. I said yea, I'm fine and started to hobble.She offered to walk with me, I said no and started running.Cursing in my head as 3 people passed, offering encouragement as I went. I got into the transition and saw Loren, she could see I was hurt. I passed off and went right into the medical tent, which was of little use. At that point, the Front Runner's men's ultra team (6 runner instead of 12) had caught us. These boys were FLYING. So all of them, except the one running, plus another teammate who was their driver, were there. It was nice to have the support of so many familiar faces.  I washed off my knee, a team mate taped up my ankle and Loren carried me to the van.

Not only did she carry me, she scooped my up like the end of An Officer and a Gentleman and carried me while  singing Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong. 

This is a true story.

I got in the van and started cursing and crying, I was also in a bit of shock. I looked at Loren and said I think this is going to cost me my marathon. I was so mad and disappointed.  I knew I wouldn't be able to run my last leg, I couldn't even walk. My team mate said they'd take care of it. We figured out how to get the last miles run a person down. 

These girls are badass.

I spent the next few hours driving my team. When we got to the next van transition, I saw the EMTs.

This was about 7 hours after it happened. They kept telling me to go to a hospital, it might be broken. I knew it wasn't. It was feeling much better, I could walk. They iced it and rewrapped it. They said the same thing about my knee, I should get it stitched, but it might have waited too long, it was going to leave a nasty scar. I said I didn't care if it scared, please just clean it out.

Well, it's going to really hurt.

Hurt? I've already run 2x, sprained my ankle and been awake for 20 hours, pour kerosine in it if you need to, I won't notice. (it didn't hurt when they cleaned it).

I caught about an hour of sleep then got ready to watch one of my team mates run my last leg. Since I couldn't run, someone had to run 4 times instead of 3. 

Did I mention I love my team? Cause I do. Every year I do this I'm amazed by the bad ass women that show up.

And away we go. 6 more legs, the last legs for out van. Entry into the done club. I drove so everyone else could get ready to run or recover. After we were done, we grabbed some lunch and headed to Hampton Beach to wait for our last runner to come in so we could all run across the finish line together. By then, I was well enough to hobble along with everyone.

We finished the course, roughly 208 miles in 30 hours and 16 minutes, about an 8:43 pace. 3rd in the women's open division. We all got fuel belts for the effort.

My ankle's feeling much much better. Swelling's gone down, I can pretty much walk on it. I'm going to physical therapy tomorrow, I think this will be a mostly off week. I see myself running by the weekend, though most likely not the Philly half marathon like I had planned (sorry Flo!).

I'll assess and see how I'm felling, but I think I'll still be good for Steamtown.

Over all, Front Runners had 4 teams

1 women's team (12 women)

2 men's open teams (23 men, one team ran with 11 guys)

1 men's ultra team (6 guys)

Women 3rd place women's open

men's ultra 2 place men's ultra division

Men's open (11 man team) 3 over all, 2nd men's open

Men's open  17th over all. THIS JUST IN 4th open men's team!

Ya know, there are a lot of stereotypes about gay folks. And a lot about gay folks and sports. We just had 43 gay runners kick ass across the state of New Hampshire. 

Did some say sissy?

If I only could, I'd make a deal with god and I'd get him to swap our places

How appropriate.I come home, turn on the radio and Running up that Hill is on.

I love Kate Bush and Hounds of Love, which 

Michele and Melissa Barry (identical twins) gave me for my 14th birthday in 1985 is still one of, if not, my favorite albums.

Oh what the hell, let's make this multimedia, since this also goes to my inner dancer, not be confused with my private dancer...

I also sent this to my friend Cory, my favorite dance partner ever

here's a lovely picture of us

I'm in the nice pink pants, he's in orange.

maybe I'll photoshop out that other chick...

ANYWAY.

Running, this is a blog about running.

So I went out at 5 and it was so nice. Cool, low humidity. Totally difference from yesterday.

My plan called for 11 but I did 8.6. I'm leaving for Reach the Beach and have a long drive. Then From Friday morning til sometime Sat, I have 21 miles to run on very little sleep, food or sanity. It felt really good.  A bit sluggish at first. Think the legs are feeling the work outs. I averaged 9:18 pace and my hr was 156, pretty good.

Now I have to pack, take a shower, have dinner...get away from the computer.

Repeat after me

So today's work out: 8 miles with 5x600. I always misjudge this. My total run ended up being 7.5.

Oh well, close enough.

When I was looking though my plan, I thought, what the hell is Pfitz thinking? We just did a marathon pace run and now 2 days later intervals?

Well ok.

I ran along the river and it was really windy. And very humid. At least there were clouds so I wasn't getting totally killed.

Wind on Riverbank track is fun...from turn 2 through the straightaway it's like a wind tunnel. Total headwind.

I was actually a bit nervous when I got to the track. I wasn't feeling stellar this morning and had some lingering doubts after my bonk.

I got to it.

First one: 7:07 pace. Felt good, felt easy. I Kept telling myself to not go out hard, to stay in control. 2nd one: 7:07 perfect. Funny thing is, I dont check when I'm running. I may look down at my Garmin to see where I am, but I dont check my splits til I'm done the whole workout.

3rd one: 7:04 COOKING. Maybe a bit too fast. I actually think this is he one where some guy out there downing basketball drills wanted to race me. I hate that. I'm doing my workout, do yours. The only time I'm ok with it is when it's a kid. Then I think it's funny. I had this little girl, about 8, try to stay with me for a lap a few weeks ago. I thought it was great. Even if I'm doing my workout, I'll take time to be encouraging and try to get them to stay with me even if I have to slow down. Last summer I had some JR high kid try and stay with me. At about 300m I looked at him and said you wanna stay with me that's fine, but you gotta work. And he just nodded. Maybe lasted about 200 more meters. I think they see this little white chick runnin around the track and think I CAN TAKE HER!

BRING IT!

I digress.

Number 4: 7:28

7:28? 

What the hell happened? I fell asleep apparently. And it seems every set has one like this. I go out too slowly and try to make it up. I stop paying attention. Maybe in this case, I start to get tired. My legs are heavy. Maybe now I'm understanding why this work out is 2 days after a MP run, so you do it tired and run through it.

5: 7:12 That's better.

Tired, heavy legged. Pretty good workout. There were slight raindrops as I left the track.

It started downright pouring about 15 minutes after I got home.

Everything I never wanted and more

So today: 17 miles, 14 at marathon pace. The last time I did a run like this it was 14 miles, 12 at pace and I ran it well.

Today was a bit different. I figure my marathon is going to be a homerun, because today was the day things went wrong.

I couldn't decided yesteday if I was going to run this in the morning or the evening. I woke up today and said I just want this over with. I got up, had one of Loren's homemade waffle (it is the best thing in the world to live with someone who's a great cook) with some yogurt. 

Why did I think this was going to be enough?

slipped on my running flats to see how they'd fair on the long run.

Not well, since they have this weird cross foot seam that hits me right where my toenail meets my toe.

Applied plenty of sportsheild, that was actually something I did right, no additional chaffing today.

Stuck 2 clif shots in my shorts, really, I should have had more, and out the door I went.

Not only did I not take a salt pill before I left, I didnt bring any with me. Nor did I bring any electrolyte drinking thinking I'd just rely on water.

Mistakes, all of them. And I've been running long enough to know better about all of them.

Warm up-fine

first 8 miles-great. I was hitting my pace (my marathon goal pace is 8:35) and feeling pretty good. There was some serious wind along the river, but it wasn't too much of a factor.

Once I met Loren about mile 8, I fell apart. And I fought falling apart and I failed. 

I just felt like shit and was really pushing to stay near pace. 

Blah blah blah, sob story sob story. 

Anyway. 

With a little less than 2 miles to go, I told loren I needed to finish alone and try and figure what the problem was. She went on her way and I stood on 125th st for a moment and thought abut it.

Then it hit me like an anvil from acme anvil company.

I'm bonking.

I'm usually really good about NOT bonking. At 15 miles into a run, there's really nothing I can do about it. Loren had suggested I run my last 2 miles like mile repeats and hit my pace. So that's what I did. Not ideal to stop so much, but will still make me work hard while fatigued. 

Was it how I wanted this run to go?

No.

Am I going to beat myself up over it like I usually do?

No.

I really had an epiphany while on the 125. This is fine, lessons learned, move on. 

I have run so much since June when I started this, I know I'm where I should be, this was just less than an ideal day with a lot of milage on my legs.

Move on.

recovery with number

Today I ran the Fitness 4 miler.

As a recovery run. 

I think it's easy to go out and run a race hard than pin on a number, try and keep my heart rate low, and run in a place I'm just not use to. Leave the ego at home, that was my lesson for today.

Funny thing is, when I got back into racing 10 years ago, that's where I was, back with the 10 mile pace. And those folks back there are working just as hard.

The weather was suppose to be shitty, and it was, though not in rain end of the world way everyone thought it would be. Just in the humid soupy way which is even worse.

In that regard, I am glad I didn't race.

I have a 17 mile run tomorrow with 14 at marathon pace. That's my key work out for the weekend so I can just get over myself for today.

hot humidy hazy hilly

The soup has returned. I knew it was too good to be true. I got up early and made myself get outa the house which I've had some trouble doing over the last few weeks. I was out the door at 7:20. It was about 73 degrees and 80% humidity.

YUCK.

Even though I used about half a stick of body glide, I chaffed. 

Badly.

Under my boob. For this reason alone, I want cooler weather. I'm soaked to the bone the first mile in.

Anyway, I decided to do the North hills 2x to start my run then I just ran around the park.

I averaged 9:43 pace with my last 3 miles being the fastest. I also ended by going up the hill on Morningside. 

Over all, I think it was a good run.

Tomorrow, I'm doing the Fitness 4 miler, only because it's a point race. I will, however, be doing it as a recovery run so really just a run with a number.

lather, rinse, repeat

Today: 9 miles with 5x1000.

It's warm again, maybe not as humid as yesterday and certainly not as nasty as it was earlier in the summer, but warm. Got spoiled by those cool days.

I was out the door by 8 am, even though earlier would have been nicer. Ran up towards the GWB, did 4 miles to warm up before the 1000s.

I live Riverbank track in the morning. It's not crowded, it's mostly older people from the hood out there walking. There is one guy I keep seeing when I do my intervals, he's doing them too. I've seen him in the park too. I think we might be on the same plan.

Things went well. I didn't go all out crazy and stayed in control. My HR maxed out at 186 and I dont think it was every there for long, or even close. Every time I looked down it was more about 181. For my intervals, I averaged about 7:14 pace. I'm happy with that. I didnt' kill myself and a few weeks ago when I did 5x600, that was my pace. So looking good hollywood. I think I may be recovered from the XC debacle on Sat. I ran home at an easy pace and now I'm wondering what I want to eat. I know I need to eat after my runs, it's just not always easy.

8 is enough

Boy I slept really well last night. I was pretty much asleep before Loren came to bed. Even though yesterday was an off day, I was really tired.

And because yesterday was an off day, my run today started out sluggish. THough when I left my house there was a different feel to the air.

A nervousness mixed with excitement and fear. Little kids looking some what lost. Parents looking some what relieved.

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

I live across the street from 2 schools so I got to see the little ones crossing the street and making their way. Poor things in their uniforms. To this day I can't look at a pair of knee socks without breaking out into a rash. Anyone who thinks school girl uniforms are sexy clearly never had to wear one.

I didn't cool down after my race on Sat which was a mistake. Everything was a little stiff this morning. I did a loop of Central park and it felt a lot warmer than 70 out.

8 miles at 9:29 pace. Fine with me. I made sure to run the hill on morningside on my way home, the last mile. And I ran it hard. I need to get back into that habit.

I believe in rebirth, for I have seen the cemetery twice

So today was a tune up race. I switched my schedule around so I wasn't doing my long run the day before a race. I did that on Friday. I figured oh good,  a nice 4 mile cross country race. This should be good, I should nail this one. 

I was hoping for sub 8, maybe just around 8 minute pace.

I was wrong.

Loren and I headed up to Van Cortlandt park for the race. I love running up there, I love cross country. I do not love the 4 mile course that has us see Cemetery hill.

Twice.

I much prefer the back hills, maybe because I am so much more familiar with them.

As we started, I kept telling myself to hold back and stay in control. Since this race starts on a flat straight away, people go bombin out like their pants are on fire, get into the wood, and fall apart. I kept it together. I ran my first mile just under 8. Then I got to the hills and, well, honestly, I dont know what happened. I didn't expect to run it all at that pace, I knew I'd loose a bit on the up hill but I'm a really good, fearless, downhill runner. I was hittin sub 7 coming out back to the flat. 

Again, I tried to stay in control on the flat part of the course. I knew something wasn't right when I HR stayed below 190. If I'm really pushing, I should see 190-194. I never got outa the 180s and I felt like I was really giving it a go.

2nd time up the hill, still wasn't feeling it. Granted, I have not done hill specific training this year though I have done a lot of hilly running. Once I got to the top, I tore down it again disappointed I was no where near my goal time. I just went all out out of the woods and back to the flat. My last mile i eeked out in 7:59.

When I crossed the finish line is 32:47, I was pissed. I had run a better 4 miler a few weeks ago after I ran 6 miles before. A woman from VCTC, who've I've had a friendly rivalry with for years, finished right ahead of me. She turned and said good race, not bad for this course on such a hot day. I was still so mad at myself I just sorta grumbled.

I found Loren, who ran sorta on a whim to see how she did.

She casually said 3rd. I said oh well it's a tough age group and she said no, overall.

So at least someone had a good race.

We had pizza and talked about why I didn't have a good race. I think it comes down to being dehydrated, it was hot (though not humid or it would have been so much worse) and since my HR wouldn't go up where I know it will go, being tired. Or maybe that's a hill of beans and I just had a bad day.

I'm over the big hump of my training. I can see the light to marathon day to the point of knowing all the long runs I have left. I know I'm tired so I'm just going to try and let this one go and have faith that come race day, I'll be ready for my 3:45.

FOUR!

Nothing too exciting today. 4 mile recovery done with the lovely ladies of Front Runners.

I will say this, I'm glad I did my 17 yesterday. Today was so friggin humid. All the boys came back from their long run looking like they just went on a death march.

I went forth...with an age old...desire...to please...On the edge of...seventeen

I told myself after my crappy run the other day that since I was moving my long run this week to Friday instead of sunday that I could cut it down. I thought maybe I'll just do 12. 15 at the most. Then I decided I want to not do it in Central park, or over the bridge, or anywhere hilly. I've been making myself do  lot of hilly runs. So today, I went flat down the west side highway. Flat flat and flat. Nice thing about running there is I can just turn around. I decided I would see how I felt. Loren advised I give myself time to get into it. So I did.

I ran the whole 17.

I felt really good. I went out with a couple of pretty slow miles. It helped that it was barely 70 degress and partly cloudy. The ever present humidity was there however. Man, I sweat like a pig. It doesn't take long time my whole head is soaked, a downfall of letting my hair grow out. I'm rethinking the monk look. My bra feel like I just went swimming and then comes the chaffing that I just can not seem to combat this summer.

I ran down to Sty High, turned around, and stopped at Christopher st for a shot.

I'm glad a I did the whole thing. My legs feel better than they did the other day. Now I should have a nice couple of easy short days.

In other news, last night I went up to the track and helped time my team's speed workout. I have been running 90% of my runs alone, something i haven't done since my Big Sur days. I've even stopped running with music. Still, it's nice to go and see my team mates and help out.

 Kelsey, who coaches us and who was with me when I made the decision to DNF at Philly last year, asked me how all my training was going. He said i he could, he's like to come to steamtown with me. I thought about it for a minute. I said I think I need to go out there and just run this. And he said, ok, but if you want me to go with you even just to be there I will. I want to be there when you do this.  I consider myself very lucky to be surrounded by so many talented and generous people.

this one goes to 11

Ah 60 degrees on an August morning. Perfect for running. Also perfect for sleeping.

And there is the rub. So hard to get going this morning.

But I finally did.

Again I started off feeling sluggish so I decided to take this as a general run/recovery run and just get the miles in. So really, nothing special.

Though I do love the start of school with all the high school and cross country kids out there for practice. I was near 2 HS boys for a few miles and hearing their conversation was totally hysterical.

Word of truth: 

Your HS runners. I dont think you're going to be seeing much action from the ladies since you're all knees and feet and geeky. So unless you get totally lucky and some girl gets all Juno on your ass, I would not count on gettin to 2nd with this natasha chick.

Please come to Boston for the Spring time

Every time I hear this cheesy song it get stuck in my head. I heard it Sunday after my 20 miler and I said to Loren is going to be in my head all week.

Yup, it's in my head. 

Maybe it should be my BQ training song.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

This morning I had 8 miles with 5x600.

It's very cool for August, it was 65 degrees this morning.

While doing my 4 mile warm up, I didn't feel recovered from my 20 and thought today should be a recovery day. Then I got to the track and started my 600s. 

I felt good. I know part of it is the weather.

My times were much faster than last time. I averaged 7:18 pace 2 weeks ago. Today I averaged about 7:08. PROGRESS!!!

It's a huge monkey off my back to have that 55 miler out of the way. It seems all down hill from here even though I know I still have a lot of work to do.

Ok, I have to hit the ice bath and get to work.

Take me to the River Road

This morning was my 2nd 20 miler of this cycle and the end of my 55 mile week. I set out early with Hilary over the GWB and along river road. I can not tell you how many times I have ridden this, but I have never run it. It's a very popular route for cyclin due to it's hilly nature and limited access to cars. I know other folks who have run it and since it's one of my favorite places to ride thought I'd give it ago.

While it was not hot this morning, it was very humid. I lubed up with bodyglide and decided to bring aquafor with me as well. I still chaffed like mad. Also, I thought 3 bottles on my fuel belt would be enough. I was wrong. By the time we got to the water fountain at mile 17, I was ready to take a bath in it.

Anyway, back to the run. I felt really good which is a good thing. After feeling so crappy on Friday and, although I had a good recovery run yesterday, I still felt fried after. It was still a tough run, but it was strong. Lots of hills and we ran them well. 

I finished with a 9:49 average pace. Not, not blistering but with all my milage this week, the hills, and the humidity, I thought it was good. And I finished strong. Looking back to my last 20 miler, which was done on a hotter than hell day and was also over the GWB, I was 13 seconds faster. So I'm right there.

When I got home...oh my god, my girlfriend is so awesome. She mixed me up a recovery drink right away. I took my ice bath and she had a cuppa tea waiting for me and lunch. She is truely awesom. Even other people think so. Ok, enough bragging.

Now, my 55 mile week is complete. I've never run this much in one week before. I must say, I'm glad that's done though it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

It's all down hill from here.

Park Ave Recovery

So today was a nice easy 5 miler. I felt much better than I did yesterday. After some early morning running club drama, I was off.

Park Ave has been closed to cars every sat morning of Aug. Today was the first day I got to take advantage of it. It was really cool. By the looks of how many people came out to enjoy it, it's clearly something the city needs to do more of.

I'm 35 miles into my 55 miles week. 20 miler tomorrow. It'll be nice when this is all over.