week 4 wrap-up

First 40-mile week I’ve thrown down since Chi-town training last year.  And as today is the last day of July (duh)…logged 168 miles for the month of July.  More than in 2008 (good NYCM year) but less than 2009 (bad MCM year) so I’m taking this as a good sign, actually, since things have netted out well so far.  (fingers crossed it stays that way!)

So where did I leave off…oh yeah my remaining 2 missions for the week.  The first being a VO2 max workout of 7 x 800s (@ 3:20) which I had to get done in the morning before work on Thursday as I had plans afterwards.  And honestly, getting the workout in wasn’t the tough part, no it was trying to figure out where to do it!!  The first suggestion was the Great Lawn oval, but I nixed that as I found out the hard way a coupla years back that most likely my workout would be derailed by unleashed dogs.  All the tracks would be too much of a trek from midtown.  There’s always the flattish stretch between Engineer’s Gate and Cleopatra’s Needle, but again a little far.

Finally, on a suggestion from a teammate, I settled on the measured half-mile on the lower loop between just south of Tavern and the carousel.  Warmed up for about a mile to the park, did some strides, and got to work.  Was tough keeping my head in it going about it solo, and there were some points where I had to dodge others (read: not always a perfect tangent.)  Then again, having other parkgoers may help…I do remember on the third one, the guy who passed me and said “good job” and I tried to keep him in sight for the rest of the interval   And I saw other Flyers in passing too, so I definitely couldn’t look like I was slacking   Anyway, how it went:

Split	Time	Distance	Pace
1	3:15	0.50	6:33
2	3:22	0.53	6:19
3	3:17	0.51	6:31
4	3:25	0.52	6:32
5	3:23	0.51	6:43
6	3:25	0.51	6:39
7	3:17	0.50	6:34

All in all, I was pleased. This was the wrap-up that I sent my coach (and his reply indicated he was pleased too):

“Yes, I know #1 was too fast I think the clockwise ones (2, 4, 6) may have been net uphill-plus those I was running in the “wrong” direction, therefore not really being able to go close to the curb and run the tangents. But pretty good considering I was flying solo and didn’t have the group to push me or pace off of. (and still better than any 800s workout I did last year. yeah.)”

Next “hard” workout would be today’s long run-12 miles, first 9 easy, last 3.1 on the rez @ 8:30-8:35.  And the first 9 were pretty easy, kept it on the CP roads, between 9-9:15.  Saw quite a few of my favorite Flyer guys in passing too   The “progression” part at the end…the story told by me.

“good news-long run done and feeling good
bad news-i was a bad girl during the last 5k

splits for that last 5K-8:12, 8:12, 7:55, 1:15 (for .16 mile-or so Garmin said.) 
estimate the 2 rez loops were 12:58/12:37.

i did truly intend to target 8:30s…I think given the rez is a slower surface than you think (it seems like whenever I do workouts on the reservoir, my times turn out to be slower than target)-I may have misgauged effort a little in the early going.  the first loop really did feel easy though (so i just decided to go with it instead of slowing it down) and I think the last .75 mile I was getting annoyed with the tourists on the rez so I wanted to be done “

Yes, I was one of those people I hate.  But I owned up to it.  Only good take-away from this was that my legs really didn’t feel spent from it.  But just in case, I spent some quality time with the foam roller today and am wearing my compression socks as I speak (type.)  Onward!

Oh and today during my run I wore what I think may be my new favorite shorts ever-Lululemon Speed Shorts.  The fit and the length could not have been better (or more flattering!) and they have 2 gel pockets in the waistband and a zippered pocket in the back!!  And nothing too revealing like the infamous “naked shorts”   Could possibly be my new go-to long run short…and marathon race day short too?  We shall see

So this coming week, the highlight is obviously gonna be the Club Champs 5-miler on Saturday.  This will of course mean I will not be partaking in the Underwear Run on Friday night, but hey I gotta take one for the team, right?   (BTW-whoever it was this past week who found my blog by googling “nyflygirl underwear”…I don’t know whether to say “thanks” or “you perv” )  No set time goal in mind just yet…let’s wait and see, shall we?

lightning crashes

And this post title has been brought to you by a song that brings back a lot of memories of the spring/summer of 1995…

(Oh and I may add that with this post, I have posted more times in the month of July than I have in all previous months of 2011, combined.  Guess I have my blogging mojo back?)

So as I mentioned yesterday, I knew Tuesday’s tracky workout was gonna consist of repetitions.  Which I normally dread because they’re usually short stuff like 100s, 150s, 200s and I really suck at those.  However, when I was told the workout was gonna be 8 x 400-and when I was told to target 1:38 per rep, I actually felt a little better about it?  Maybe since being able to hold that for longer intervals makes it less scary…

Interval	Time	Pace
1	1:35.42	6:23.91
2	1:38.87	6:37.79
3	1:38.19	6:35.05
4	1:37.51	6:32.32
5	1:37.12	6:30.75
6	1:34.79	6:21.37

Started off a little fast, but settled in, and actually was able to pick it up a little for the last one (and it may have been a second or 2 faster had I not needed to hurdle over a soccer ball around 200 meters in.)

Oh but wait a minute!  This workout was supposed to be 8 reps, why were there only 6?  As the title says, lightning crashes…and in this case, cut our workout short-we were done after 6 and went right into a cool-down.  Little disappointed that we weren’t able to go the full 8-as I really felt I could have done it well-but good that the coaches were looking out for our safety.

And as it turned out, we were lucky that the workout ended right then and there…the wind was ridiculous (knocking over signs, trash cans, etc) as we were heading to the L train…you can say we made up for the missed quarters as we were booking it as the skies opened up a coupla blocks away from the station.  And if the night couldn’t get any weirder, the L train had problems just as we hit Manhattan and was sitting in the 1st Ave station for quite awhile.  Finally it was revealed it wasn’t going anywhere any time soon so we all escaped the train and grabbed a bite and a glass of wine in the East Village while waiting out the storm (not to mention our transportation options!)  So a crazy evening ended well.

As for tomorrow, I got 800s on tap bright and early…oh boy I’m gonna need lotsa caffeine to get through the workday tomorrow

week 3 wrap-up

Just shy of 40 miles this week, was one week where I was glad to get everything in, even if it involved some rejiggering and holding back the pace.  Originally I had Sunday as a rest/XT day and a short easy run w/ strides on Friday, but given that it was 100 degrees outside (and as I was taking a summer Friday, why get up early if I don’t have to)…you can sorta understand why my preference was a yoga class in the nice, air-conditioned gym and saving the run for Sunday, where the weather broke just a little.  Of course you may question my sanity when it comes to sitting outside on Friday nite in said heat wave…but I was not alone there

Thursday’s tempo workout was indeed a bit of a struggle.  Was yet another “Triple T” workout…tough, topless, tempo. 4 x 1200 cruise intervals on tap (though if I believe Mr. Garmin, it definitely was not a full 1200 meters)…was told to target 5:20 and I was determined not to repeat the idiocy of 2 weeks prior, where I went out too fast and died during the last 2.

Distance	Time	Pace
0.7 mi	5:19.92	7:38
0.69 mi	5:24.20	7:50
0.7 mi	5:21.08	7:39
0.68 mi	5:15.73	7:45

Yeah, I guess on the slow side for a tempo.  But given the conditions (in the 90s, felt like in the 100s)…i’m just glad I kept things together, and its just another workout in the books.  However, I’ve been feeling lately like I’ve really been struggling with these tempo workouts…whereas I’ve been nailing the VO2max/track workouts-and it used to be the other way around!  Like my workout earlier in the week, my target for the 1200 was 5 minutes-and my target for this was only 20 seconds slower yet it felt so much tougher to keep my head in it (and has been the case in previous weeks too.)  Do you all find that you struggle more with tempos as opposed to intervals during the summer months?

On tap this week…the dreaded “R” word tonite (repetitions), 800s on Thursday (to be done before work, yay!) and latching some speedier miles to the end of my long run.  Piece of cake, right?

lotsa hotties, running long

and it was getting to be that time again…time for another installment of paceleader goodness in NYRR’s Long Training Runs.  My mission, should I choose to accept it…lead the 9 minute pace group for 16 miles.

9 minute group?  What, what?  Yes, I know I previously have been the self-proclaimed “queen of the 9:30 pace group”…but I finally felt I was ready to move up a group.  Of course, it also helped that Coach T told me in response to “well I usually lead the 9:30 group”…”no you’re not! “

double fistin'

However, what I didn’t expect for this initial run in the 9 minute group was for it to fall during Heatpocalypse 2011.  But then again, I have had experience paceleading during unseasonably hot weather.  Remember the 2009 More/Fitness Half-marathon Fun Run?  Where actually I didn’t finish too far off the 2:00 target?  Plus-and this was truly a blessing-NYRR made it clear that pace restrictions were going to be relaxed, up to as much as 30-60 seconds per mile.  Very glad they did that…no need risking training on a run early in the going, right? (in my case, 15 weeks out.)

And how did I prep for this long run?  By hydrating at Studio Square with other Flyers…hey sangria is one of the less evil drinks, right?  Red wine is good for you!!  As is the (alcohol-soaked) fruit in there!  But no worries…for each cup of sangria consumed, there was also a big-ass cup of water too…plus sitting outside in 100 degree weather…yeah, I was feeling no effects of the liquor consumption.  For realz.  Quite a change from the last coupla times I’m indulged in what I have lovingly referred to as “liquid crack” at Studio Square…

Up early, ready to go.  Oh but of course the MTA must throw a wrench in things…waiting 20 minutes for a train-not fun.  Yep, this was the first LTR I’ve done since moving to midtown…and it was either add on 3 more miles, MTA it, or cab it.  (I have a feeling for LTR #2, I’ll be cabbing it…)By the time I got uptown, I hustled over to the staging area, my singlet already ditched.  We did get new pretty orange paceleader singlets to wear (yay for no see-through-ness), and I obliged-both so I can look all official-like, and also because I’d scare the whole population of Central Park if I went “topless” for this one.

niners ready to go!

So me and the other “niners” went to line up…and I think there was a little confusion going on between what group we’re leading, and what we’d actually be running.  Were we running 9′s or 9:30s?  What was the official 9 minute group?  Why are we even doing this?  Are we all insane?   But not enough time to dwell on that, much sooner than I anticipated, we were given the cue to go.

And as always, as the first half-mile is down Harlem Hill, it started off a little quick but we made up for it on the uphill.  That first mile was right in the 9-9:30 range as I was thinking “ok perfect.”  But for the rest of this loop, the other paceleaders really pulled ahead…and I just let them go (though another Flyer who wasn’t pacing kept me company for this loop-thanks BK!)  If NYRR was giving us the blessing to take it a little easier, you can bet I was taking advantage of it.  No need to be a hero and say “oh yeah, I kept 9′s even when we were told to go slower!”  If it happened, it happened, but I had 16 miles to get through, and I was gonna get through them feeling strong at the end.  And with the exception of Cat Hill, looks like I actually wasn’t too far off?

takin' a breather inbetween loops

One loop down, hit the transverse to gel, hydrate…and grab a sponge at a sponge station that NYRR provided for this run.  GENIUS.  I kept mine with me to re-soak at the water stations and that-plus the eventual cloud cover-did a helluva job helping keep me cool for the remaining loops.  Maybe loop 2 was a little slower, but still not bad?  (Part of it was slowing at the water stations-where I prefer to “grab and go”, a lot of others took a cup and walked with it…understandable given the conditions!)

Another 5 miles down, and as we were at 102nd long before 9:30, we were given the go-ahead to do the 5-mile loop (as the cutoff time was 10 AM, I believe any group who didnt get there before 9:30 either had to do the 4 mile loop, or were stopped from proceeding further.)  And going out conservative on that first loop helped, as I was able to finish the last 5 miles pretty strong and I didn’t feel like I was gonna die once…what a difference from the previous weekend!!  As we approached the transverse to finish off the 16, “Empire State of Mind” was playing over the loudspeaker…kinda appropriate?

By the numbers:

So even with relaxing things at the beginning, I wasn’t too far off with the pace, especially at the end…encouraging!  (And given that I was dancing around to the music that the DJ was playing in the staging area, some probably felt I didn’t run hard enough )  And I survived my first stint in the 9 minute group.  I’ll be back next month for LTR #2, let’s hope there isn’t a repeat of Heatpocalypse 2011 for that one!   Though seriously, given the conditions, I think things went very well…for myself, for my other co-leaders and for everyone involved!!  The organizers-both in the NYRR and the NYF camp…outdid themselves as usual

the heatpocalypse has come to town

Yep, this is how you know there is a heat wave in NYC…on Foursquare, “Heatpocalypse NYC” is swarming or trending or whatever.

The mercury’s been in the 90′s or higher all week, which of course makes running not as much fun.  But I’ve dealt with it, so far…Monday was a recovery run from this past weekend’s activities, and I was smart enough to run along the West Side Highway…besides the fact I was desperately craving a flat surface, I figured running along the water would make things a little cooler.  Which it did…run went fine, plus I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile so we caught up over a coupla miles…which was cool!

Tuesday was track workout time, and us gals were emailing back and forth as one was a little concerned about the heat and wanted to know if the rest of us were going…my thoughts were “I was still planning on going…if I raced in this heat last Tuesday, I should be able to handle a track workout…Hopefully it will cool down a little by 7:30, and I’m hoping target times/paces will be heat-adjusted? “  And it did feel a little cooler by the time the workout started (or is Williamsburg just cooler/colder than Manhattan?  I noticed that during the colder months too…)  We had been teased with the prospect of 1200s for weeks…this time the coaches delivered.  Though thankfully only one-but we had to follow up with a 1000, and 800, a 400 and a “surprise” at the end.  I thought the coaches were gonna make my target splits more aggressive, given my PR the past weekend, but the targets remained the same…maybe that was heat-adjusted?   I was also a little concerned about if I had recovered or not from the weekend, but as we got going, the workout went fine…came in a little ahead of the targets for the first 3!  The 400 was a little fast, but I had a feeling everyone was gonna blow that one out.  The “surprise”?  An all-out 200.

Interval	Target	Time	Pace
1200m	5:00	4:57.75	6:39.32
1000m	4:10	4:09.62	6:41.72
800m	3:20	3:16.52	6:35.34
400m	1:40	1:32.00	6:10.15
200m	fast as I can!	0:41.54	5:34.26

Like whoaaaaa!!  Especially that last one.  And I’ll admit to being a little nervous about that target time for the 1200.  If you remember last summer, when doing four all-out 1200s, my target was pretty similar.  And this time, I had to leave something in the tank to complete the rest of the workout.  But here is a situation where I think doing intervals on a track are much better than a measured stretch of road…having intermediate splits makes pacing much better (and I was pacing pretty well for the entire workout.)  All in all, not bad for a hot and sticky nite at the track…

So tonite? I don’t know what the exact workout is yet, all I know is it’s gonna be a scorcher…or maybe not, the mercury may make it below 90 by the time we get going But I’ve done this all before…all I can do is be smart, adjust if necessary, etc. And will also have to keep that in mind on Saturday when paceleading for 16 miles at the LTR…

Oh, and the only pictorial memory I have from my great race Saturday…

they can't all be smiles and sunshine.

week 2 wrap-up

So, 2 weeks down in my quest towards the NYC Marathon.  So far, so good, but I am keeping in the back of my mind that it’s still early and anything can happen in the next 16 weeks…

So obviously I did some other running besides those races on Tuesday and Saturday…

Wednesday was just meant to be a chill recovery 5.  Since I wanted to sneak in a yoga class too, I decided to do what I’ve done before-run uptown on the West Side Highway to get to the NYSC.  Great idea in theory, however about 2.5 miles in I felt what at first I thought was maybe the waters of the Hudson River being blown sideways (was very windy!) but soon enough it turned into an all-out downpour, complete with hail.  But the fortuitous part was that I was not far from the gym at all…so what do I do?  Get to the gym and finish my run there…drenched and all.

Thursday was hills, and me and others who were racing on Saturday got let off the hook a coupla repeats early…I just focused on form…

Sunday was long run day, and I had 15 on the agenda.  The Flyers were having an organized long run up at Van Cortlandt Park, so I decided to join in on that.  I’ve only run in VCP once before, around 5 years ago…and took a tumble on the trail.  So obviously I was hoping to stay vertical this time!!  However-I underestimated how much a hard race effort can take out of me.  That plus I got my first taste of the hills on the XC course…oh boy, those were so not a good idea.  I opted for loops of the flats instead of a 2nd hilly loop…but that was right in the sun and the heat was definitely getting to me.  Coach T ran with me for the last 6 miles on the flat trail portion which was much better…being shaded, plus downing a bottle of Gatorade faster than a shot helped too.  Wouldn’t you know it, I almost took a fall on the trail again!!  However, I managed to stay upright…maybe all the dodging the soccer balls at the track helped my reflexes?   However, I think VCP and I really don’t mix…

I wound up with 11 and change, and Coach T gave me the blessing to cut this one short, given the race effort the day before.  You know I don’t like cutting long runs short, but it’s still early in the going, and I can just chalk this past week up as more of a “quality” week than a “quantity” week.  Maybe that’s a sign that I’m actually maturing as a runner…a few years ago I’d be panicking if I had to cut a long run short, now I’m actually OK with it.

Another week in the books.  This week looks to be a battle against Mother Nature, as every day (including planned long run day!) looks to be a scorcher.  But I raced decently in the heat…and actually had a good track workout today (to come in another post)…maybe I actually am acclimating?

she’s fire burning, fire burning on the race course (run for central park 4m report)

This post title has been brought to you by one of quite a few songs that rocked the summer of 2009…

So…originally the Central Park Conservancy Run for Central Park 4-miler wasn’t really on my radar.  Yep, it’s a club points race and being a good little Flyer, I should run it, but I had Hoboken on my agenda earlier in the week and felt my chances were better with a flat 5K than a hilly 4-miler.  But with Tuesday being an inferno, I thought this race could be a good backup in case I have to dial back the effort, or if the organizers made Tuesday a fun run.  But you know how Tuesday went-seconds from a PR in non-ideal conditions with me not feeling like it was an all-out effort.  So I took a coupla days to decide if my legs felt OK enough to give it another go on Saturday…and by Thursday I decided they did and I was gonna go for it.  (Oh and I did have a coupla Blue Moons the night before…I may have to have one the night before all my short races!)

So Saturday’s conditions-low 70s, low humidity were like a dream compared to Tuesday…good sign #1.  Another good sign was that I got a red bib for this race!  When I am normally yellow for points races.  Red hot baby…i’m on FIRE!    Warmed up for a mile or so to the park, felt good to go.  Headed to my corral and of course found other teammates to chat and pass the time to the start with.  (And a blog reader was lined up next to me too-hi, H!) Until the pre-race announcements came on.  And I had to laugh…when Mary Wittenberg sounded disappointed that we weren’t sounding “more excited” to be out there that morning…OMG, she sounded like one of my bosses this past week!  Then the usual…national anthem, final pre-race announcements, starting horn!

Mile 1-little crowded in the beginning, but opened up by the time we got to…yep, Cat Hill.  Flyer JS and I were running together for this first part (she said beforehand that she was gonna try and stick with me this time!)…then GW passed by right before the hill…I don’t know why, but I thought I could latch onto him…which lasted all of 5-10 seconds.  But it did sorta help me power up the hill a little more.  Was expecting this mile to be somewhere in the 7:20′s-7:30′s, based on the effort I felt I was putting in.  But that was not to be-this mile was 7:17.  I actually said out loud “holy shit” when I saw that.  That’s a time I expect more to see near the end of a race, or on a flat/downhill.  But going up Cat Hill?  No way.  Was it legit, or is this gonna come back and bite me in a mile or 2?

Mile 2-nice flat/sorta downhill section…like the last mile of the Club Champs 5-miler.  BC passed by me and we sorta paced off each other for the remainder of this mile.  Definitely helped, and was still feeling good (or as good as you can feel while running a race!)  This mile split was another shock-7:02.  I’ve run this course several times, so I knew the mile markers were right…maybe it was just my day to be on fire!  Fire burning, fire burning on the dance floor race course… A PR was not just a possiblity, but could be a reality at this point as long as I don’t screw up the next 2 miles.  But still, I felt in a way, I was in a whole other world today….whole different level than where I normally am…

Mile 3-the West Side Hills.  Always my weakest mile in these 4-mile races.  I kept saying to myself “attack, attack, attack.  maintain, maintain, maintain.”  This was definitely not the time to make my move…just take one hill at a time to get through this mile.  With about one hill to go, I passed BC but he stayed right behind me til around the end of this mile when I went on ahead for good…he said something like “you don’t have to wait for me” and I said to him “dude, this mile is a bitch for me too!“  Relieved to see the water station near west 86th in the distance and the mile marker…this mile was 7:32-the fastest I have ever done this mile, I think, but still a little weaker than ideal…

Mile 4-definitely still on PR pace through 3, with one fast mile to go, one I know I can push it on.  However there was another number in mind that I never thought could be a possibility…could I go under 29 minutes?  I didn’t feel like doing the math in my head, but just give this mile everything and whatever happens, happens.  Flyer SH was cheering just past 86th…”great job!! you’re doing this, girl!“  Flew down the hill and time to take on the last half-mile.  A guy in a Front Runners singlet who was running near me was really trying to encourage me through this stretch (ahhh…why are all the good men taken or…)  I could see the turn for home and knew it wasn’t that much longer.  KG was cheering and yelling out form tips to me just as I turned onto 72nd…from there, I gave it everything I had til I hit the finish line!!  (if Mr. Garmin was to be believed, that last bit on 72nd was at a sub-6 pace!)  And I ran my fastest mile in a Central Park race-6:52!  (wow, how do you sub-3 marathon peeps do that for 26.2 miles?  that took so much out of me for 1 mile… )

Final time-28:43, 7:10 pace…PR by 52 seconds!!  (And new best pace for NYRR races…yayyyy!!)  And if that wasn’t enough, I was the 4th Flyer female…always such an honor to score for the team in points races!  Yeah, I know some of our faster women were either injured or away or perhaps having an “off” day, but I’m still taking it!!   Another tidbit-if I were actually 35 already…I would have been in the coveted top 10 in my age group!  One thing to look forward to about “aging up” in 2 months?

So caught up with Flyers and other friends afterwards…seemingly everyone I talked to was in good spirits, lotsa Flyer PRs up in there…including but not limited to GW, Lam, EF, DB, BC (guessed pacing off each other helped us both!), AK, CK, CO, HM (and hers was right after preps for a Flyer event!)  Needless to say, I was definitely walking on air after this one, and the good vibes followed me to a fun scavenger hunt that the Flyers had…I teamed up with CK and BC (and being dubbed the most competitive team of all!) and we had a great time running around the park in search of clues (yes we were still running, good thing none of us took off our racing shoes!)  We placed third with a good effort, and enjoyed a picnic after that.  Following the picnic, a couple of us toasted our PRs with beer…and me and another one did even later with margaritas!!  Fun day!

So-was Saturday a fluke or a breakthrough?  I don’t know, but given the the frustrations I had racing last year during my training for Chicago, it makes me appreciate days like this even more…as you never know if the next one will be amazing or heartbreaking.  And this was the first race that had any similarity to my glory days of 2009.  Next race for me will be Club Champs and I’ll see if I can repeat the magic from Saturday there…but in the meantime, keepin’ on keepin’ on towards NYCM…

sibling rivalry (party with purpose 5k 2011 report)

OK, so despite the heat wave that hit the tri-state area earlier this week, my 5K race on Tuesday actually went better than expected.  How good?  Well I came within seconds of a PR in non-ideal conditions…and I beat my brother by over a minute!  Oh yeah, there’s a secondary plot line going on there…

So as I mentioned before, my brother was the more athletic one growing up, etc…and then as adults, those roles were reversed.  We did face off at the Corporate Challenge…I think about 7 years ago?  I remember it being ridiculously hot that day and I was relatively new to racing…plus my first mile sucked because I got a crap start (the days before chip times and corrals!)  Anyway, he beat me and gloated about it quite a bit the day after.  (though you could sorta say I beat him on an age/gender graded basis…)  We both toed the same line at a NYRR 10K (can’t remember which one offhand) a year later and I got him there…of course you can use the same argument that always seems to be used with me “i’m stronger in the longer distances.”

So today, game on.  The organizers thankfully didn’t make this a fun run…guess they figure everyone knows how to take care of themselves during a 5K   Escaped work by 5:30, got to Hoboken in plenty of time to do the pre-race routine…oh and they actually had tech shirts this year!!  Nice touch!  Only downside was by the time I got there, the smallest size they had was a woman’s large…maybe it will shrink in the wash or something?  Warmed up for a coupla miles…yeah I know it was really hot out but the legs needed to warm up!  I ran along the race course for about a mile and back…was still about 90 degrees but being along the water just may help a little bit.  Got back to the start area, met up with the brother and we hung around til it was time to line up…and as usual, no rhyme or reason.  You don’t put out the pace signs AFTER people start lining up!  Anyway, they told us to move back but you know not everyone obliges…but I did move back to the 7 minute pace sign to be fair (which actually wasnt too far back…and there was net timing anyways.)  So it was 7 PM and everyone was dying to get going…waited for the pre-race speeches and the national anthem…finally at 7:10 we were off.

So Mile 1…run it hard but be conservative if need be.  The usual, let the faster runners go, don’t get sucked in…and one of those runners who went by me was my brother, around a half-mile in.  My heart said “Stay with him!”  My head said “Run your own race…maybe you’ll catch him later!”  Make the turn to go along the water…oh wait we’re running along a pier…this is new.  Mile 1 and that’s at 7:16…and maybe I can maintain this…

Again, Mile 2 was a mental battle.  Hit the pace…don’t let things slide.  Oh hi leaders coming back the other way.  Quite a few turns amongst more unfamiliar streets…but they got rid of the hairpin turn on 15th St!!  I was strategically preparing for that one (since it always seems to mess with your speed unless you are on the outside) and thought this was a change for the better   Mile 2 was 7:23…hmmm still pretty good!!  The thought crept into my mind, that maybe, just maybe, I could actually PR?  Obviously I’d have to burn rubber on the last 1.1 miles, but I wasn’t falling apart just yet, so maybe I had a shot…

So I cranked it up a notch and was passing people who went out too fast…oh and who was one of those peeps that I passed early in this mile?  Yes, everyone, I chicked my baby brother.  I think I did say something encouraging as I passed but there became the new goal-stay ahead of him til I hit the finish!!  I did make the mistake of looking at my watch during this mile…but guesstimated that I had around 5 minutes and change of running left…OK think of running a 1200 on the track…hung in there, kept repeating “fighter, fighter” to myself.  I saw the turn to the finish up ahead and people who already made the turn finishing…as I approached the turn I could hear the announcer cheering for those “to get under 22 minutes”…so maybe by the time I got there it would be low 22′s (chip time)…oh boy this was gonna be CLOSE!

And in the end?  5 seconds short!!  Wound up with 22:30, 7:15 pace…missing a PR by 5 seconds!!  Last 1.1 miles done in 7:52 (7:09 pace)…so it definitely wasn’t due to lack of trying!  But still…to be just off my PR by seconds in 90 degree heat…like whoa!!  And to give you an idea of how competitive this race has gotten…this time got my 12th in my age groups (damn those 10-year groupings!) whereas 2-3 years ago, I would have been top 10, easily.

I stuck around near the finish to see my brother finish…he was over a minute back…went out too fast (he thinks his first mile was sub-7…really, really glad I didn’t stick with him!) and died in the last mile…ah rookie errors.  Not that I’ve never done anything like that before   Once he could speak full sentences again, we met up with a coupla of my friends and enjoyed some well-earned beers while sitting outside one of the local bars…yep, perfect nite for sitting outside and drinking.  Running?  Not so much

So I’m actually happy with my time, if anything I really didn’t feel like I gave it my all (well maybe except for the end) as I really don’t feel like I raced at all.  But still, to put up a decent time in the heat (and MUCH better than last year’s fiasco!) and come so close to a PR…of course makes me wonder what could have been if it were 20 degrees (or so) cooler.  Maybe I’ll find that out sooner than I think…

And as for the sibling rivalry of sorts?  No gloating from me.  I’m satisfied just knowing how things played out.

one down, 17 to go…

So first week of NYCM training is in the books, and honestly it seems sorta anticlimactic…maybe because I know I still got a bit of work ahead of me, so one week ain’t even scratching the surface.

So this weekend I did something totally unlike me and got up early to get my long run early in the morning   But hey, I had 14 to get done, and as it was a busy weekend for me, really the best time for it was Saturday morning, knowing there was a NYRR race in the park and I knew a coupla Flyers would be in it, so I’d do my usual “run, watch and cheer” thang.  And given the conditions were tough, I’m sure they all appreciated the cheering…and I appreciated that I wasn’t racing and I was just taking it easy   If you call it easy…ugh, this one was tough.  Just getting the miles in and not cutting it short felt like a victory in itself.  Anyways, it was done and I got to get ready for the highlight of the day…

DJ3K!

Yep, I was there to witness Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit!! Was just total coincidence that I happened to be going to the game that day…was the annual day at the ballpark with la familia, but thanks to a stint on the DL for DJ, and a rainout on Friday night, I got to witness history…and oh boy, being there was just epic.  And the Yanks winning the game was just icing on the cake!!  Needless to say, the celebrating went on after the game too!

me and my friend JW celebrating DJ3K!

Yep, as we did after a game a coupla weeks back, we were dancing in the windows of Stan’s Sports Bar (and at a coupla points, even dancing on the windows!  )  Sooooo fun….

And even though this was definitely the highlight of the weekend, the remainder wasn’t too shabby either…roof deck action, mojito action, white wine action, BBQ action (where I totally lit it up like it was dynamite when some good music was on…lol.)  Another “do I actually have to go back to work?” day today…not to mention being expected to be all perky and all “i-love-werk! ” on a Monday morning…not even a venti latte could get me to do that…

So this week is supposed to have some 5K action tomorrow, but I’m thinking there may have to be a plan B…given that the highs for tomorrow are supposed to be near 100, who knows if the race organizers will make the decision for me and call the race a “fun run!”  Stay tuned…

topless tempo. tough.

OK, I couldn’t resist the title, and I’m sure some people being, uh…creative in what it means.  I mean yeah, I’ve run around Central Park in my underwear once…maybe twice?  But do you really think that I’m that much of an exhibitionist that I’d run around Central Park shirtless?

So with an air quality warning in effect and the warnings telling everyone to stay indoors, what do I do?  head to the park to run some tempo intervals.  And though it wasn’t that bad warming up, I still chucked my singlet before the actual tempo part, leaving just the sports bra on…and a coupla others did the same (as well as one of the male members of our group taking the last interval shirtless.)  Hence this being a “topless tempo”

And as for me, smart I was not.

Time	Distance	Avg Pace
5:17	0.73	7:15
5:31	0.74	7:29
5:37	0.73	7:43
5:39	0.73	7:43

Being told to keep it in the high 5:20′s, obviously I went out way too fast, especially given the conditions.  The second one I had to pull back a little bit…still OK, but the second half I started to lose it-feeling kinda light-headed after the 3rd interval and during the last one.  I finished, but it definitely was not pretty.  And even walking home, I sorta felt chills…amazing the difference from feeling like a million bucks on Tuesday.

Onward!  To the weekend…

just short of a perfect six-pack

Wow looky looky here, me posting with less than a week delay…

So last nite was my first official speed workout of NYCM training, and was the usual Tuesday at the track.  Yep, you may remember in the past, track workouts were more of an occasional treat.  Now, thanks to a new group and new coach I’ve joined up with this year, tracky Tuesdays are a regular thing and I love it!!  Just something that feels so different about doing intervals on a track as opposed to a measured route in Central Park.  Yeah, the turns/loops on the track may slow things down just a tiny bit as opposed to a point-to-point interval, but I kinda like this better…sort of helps my pacing in a way, not to mention a finishing kick (helped at the Mini 10K!).  Worth trekking to Brooklyn for!!  Yep, I know what you’re all gonna say.  “OMG!!  Brooklyn?  It’s sooooo far!  You need a passport to get there!!  What if you get lost and never find your way back across the river?”   Not so!  First stop in Brooklyn off the L train, can’t get more convenient than that.  If anything, it was more of a trek to get to the East 6th St and Riverbank Park tracks!  Not to mention Engineer’s Gate on occasion…

So last nite was a simple 6 x 800m workout.  My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to hit 3:20′s or a little better.  Which I have been able to do in a previous workout, but last nite was kinda steamy out and obviously that time was not heat & humidity adjusted.  But let’s just check it out and see, right?

And I was on track (no pun intended) through the first 3, even the splits called out at each 200m mark told me I was pacing perfectly (one thing I love about having 3:20 as my target is that the intermediate splits are so easy to remember…0:50, 1:40, 2:30)

But for #4, the issue that always seems to show up at every NYC track made itself present…people in lane 1 that shouldn’t be there!!  In this case, bikers (even though there are signs that say no bikers…no one seems to enforce it!)  There was one that forced me and the other girl I was running with into lane 3 or 4 in the first 200…sorta disrupted our rhythm and cost us a few seconds.  Tried to make up for lost time, only to be forced into the outer lane once again with about 200 to go by not only a bike, but someone throwing a soccer ball.  The coach told us that he could tell that the effort was there, though the time for that split didn’t show it :-\

So 2 to go and hoping to bring the times down.  And what mentally went through my head during #5…thoughts of “well this is my track too…I can still salvage this workout…and run some kickass splits…because I can!”  The 400m split showed things were moving in the right direction, and I held it for the 2nd loop.  Last one, and made it my best (I think possibly the fastest 800m I’ve ever run!)

The damage was as follows:

Interval	Time	Pace
1	3:18.63	6:39.58
2	3:19.17	6:40.67
3	3:20.29	6:42.92
4	3:24.10	6:50.58
5	3:18.90	6:40.12
6	3:15.00	6:32.28

Overall I was pleased, but damn wonder what could have been with #4…hence this workout being “one short of a perfect six-pack!”

that race i may have signed up for

Well, with fall marathon training season already underway and in full swing, guess I need to sorta officially reveal my plans   And yes, my plans have been in the works…for almost 3 months already

Still guessing what I signed up for? Can’t figure it out? I can show you better than I can tell you

So November 6th…I’ll be toeing the line of the NYC Marathon for the 3rd time.  After having traveled elsewhere for my last 2 marathon attempts, there is something calming about being “home.”  And yes, I do intend to chase a BQ time of sorts…actual time goal still TBD.

And on the topic of that…I’m sure some of you are wondering why I chose NYC as opposed to a flatter marathon.  Believe me, I did put a bit of thought into it…and here is what I came up with.

• Home field advantage.  No having to deal with plane rides and hotel rooms, can just sleep in my own bed the night before.  Yeah, I know there’s the issue of waiting on Staten Island, but I’m a seasoned pro at it by now
• Another aspect of the home-field advantage…practicing on the course.  I can run Queensboro Bridge and 5th Ave repeats til I make them both my BFFs.
• I like the bigger marathons.  I thrive on crowd support.  And especially this one, knowing that there will be friends/family in almost every borough cheering me on.
• And it’s not like I’ve never tried to run an easier marathon.  I have.  Twice.  And neither of them resulted in the race I trained for, the race I wanted.  That magic has only happened in New York.

So 18 weeks to go and lotsa miles to run.  This time around I’m getting help from a coach-as I mentioned before I know I can’t really go about it on my own when it comes to pushing the envelope to get me those few minutes or more and still avoid what happened 2 years ago.  So something new for this time around as well.

And yes-there will be some racing inbetween…right now consisting of my usual lineup of a 5K in Hoboken this month, the Club Champs 5-miler in August, and the Rock ‘n Roll Philly Half (the latter being another reason why i wanted to go for a November marathon-I was a little bummed I couldn’t do the half in Philly last year, as it was way too close to Chi-town, date-wise!)

Not sure how often I will be blogging about training…yep, I do intend to write more than I have been, but not sure how much free time I will have.  Maybe I’ll do weekly updates or something like that.  We’ll see as the summer goes on.

So.  NYC.  You ready for me???