week 13 wrap-up

hmmm maybe it’s appropriate that I wore an A-Rod shirt to the game…he’s #13, the game ended week #13 of training…

so last week was jam-packed, between holiday festivities with la familia and my highest mileage week so far, capped off with 20 miles.  No wonder by Saturday I was exhausted.  I had every intention of getting out to spectate and cheer at Grete’s Great Gallop half marathon in da park, but the snooze button definitely won out.  I needed it though…as Sunday was gonna be a long day…

So once again, I would be pacing a group for the Flyers‘ famous 3 Bridges Run, definitely one of my favorite runs.  Was definitely disappointed to have missed it last year due to its proximity to Chicago!  Anyway, I’d be co-leading the 9:00 group, whereas in the past I did the 9:30’s.  I was definitely fighting some tired legs, but “well I did 9’s during the Heatpocalypse…”  I did have 2 strokes of good fortune.  First, the run was gonna have a wave start of sorts, and my group was in the last wave.  Yay for 40 extra minutes of sleep.  Second, the Yankee playoff game I was supposed to attend Saturday night?  Kinda got postponed to Sunday afternoon due to rain…something you don’t see much around here these days…yes I’m being sarcastic 😛

So thankfully there were no MTA fails, and and it looked like the weather gods were gonna be kind to us as well.  We actually had a pretty small group-around 10 peeps, but that would make it easier to work together.  Flyer RA was a great co-leader (though I did have to tell him at a coupla points to rein it in when we seemed to be speeding up a little 🙂 ) and in general it was a very nice group-hopefully they will all join for the next run in 2 weeks! 🙂  As for me, it took a mile or 2 to loosen up, but as I settled in, all was well.  Made sure to not commit the same fueling error as a week earlier-took a gel every 5 miles (so 3 total) and Gatorade every so often and still felt good at mile 20…what a difference from the previous week when I felt horrible after 12 miles and just barely made it to 14.  So it’s established…minimalist fueling just does not work for me, for whatever reason.  All in all, Mr. Garmin said I did 20.39 miles in 2:58:24…8:45 pace.  Not sure if we really were that fast or if Mr. Garmin was just flukey (I think everyone’s Garmins in our group had a different reading!) but I’m taking it. 🙂

So afterwards, headed back to the UES JackRabbit which was the meeting place for the run…while most were shopping, trying on shoes and mingling, I just grabbed a quick bite to eat, chatted with Coach T about the run, and then had to head out to get cleaned up and meet up with JW to head up to the Cathedral in the Bronx!!  Though I wish the end result had been better-my perfect record this year has ended-it is still amazing to be there for the playoffs…first time I’ve been there for a playoff game in 10 years!  And awesome seats too!

And so begins another week.  But at least I got something cool in the mail to make my Monday a little bit better! 🙂

week 12 wrap-up

Boy, this week was actually a tough one.  Couldn’t rest on my laurels from the half, still had work to do.  Lotsa mileage up in here!

So track this past week was a ladder.  2 x 200, 400, 800, 1200…then repeat in reverse.  I was granted a little bit of mercy and was allowed to swap the second 1200 with an 800, as long as I did the one 1200 under 5:05.

Interval	Time	Pace
200m	0:46.97	6:17.95
200m	0:47.22	6:19.97
400m	1:38.22	6:35.17
800m	3:19.47	6:41.27
1200m	5:03.10	6:46.49
800m	3:19.37	6:41.07
800m	3:19.32	6:40.97
400m	1:37.61	6:32.72
200m	0:47.08	6:18.84
200m	0:45.06	6:02.59

So all were under target, except for the 1200, the original target was 5:00 but I’ve had trouble hitting that as of late…especially with legs that just ran a half 2 days earlier!  Hence the deal that was made 🙂

Thursday was the total opposite…as I had a Flyer event in the evening and had to miss the group workout, my assignment to do in the morning was a 4-mile tempo at 7:35-7:40 pace.  That definitely did not go as planned.  Yeah, it was dreadfully humid, but my legs were definitely tired…I knew it when I tried to do a couple of strides and my legs weren’t responding.  But I threw myself into it anyway, and wound up with 7:53 pace…the first 3 miles barely under 8, but picked it up for the last mile, which was 7:43.  And my heart rate data even backed things up-was much lower than it should be for a tempo effort, meaning the legs were tired.

So the legs felt better for today’s 14-miler, which I did in the park while running in the opposite direction from the 18-mile Tune-Up race…and it was good to cheer for and chat briefly with other teammates and friends, but boy the humidity was deadly.  Even though I took my gel somewhere between miles 7 and 8, by mile 12 I felt under-fueled and my legs felt shaky-had a feeling it was a fueling error I had committed before.  With the humidity, I probably needed 2 gels instead of 1, or I needed to have taken Gatorade and not just water.  But really, I hope this humidity takes a hike soon-so glad I did my half last weekend instead of this one!

But got it done, and had the afternoon free to enjoy the Yankees game…ah a nice victory over the Sawx!!  But oh boy, crazy how the Sawx’s playoff hopes really lie in the Yankee’s hands this week-literally!!

And the men’s marathon world record fell today in Berlin!  (and Haile falters once again…I think he’s done)  But wait a minute, they used pacers…so it shouldn’t count!!  Hey after all, women aren’t allowed to use male pacers.  Yes, I think this new ruling by the IAAF is ridiculous.  It’s one thing to do this going forward, but previous records should NOT be voided. That said, in my opinion…I don’t know why it matters if a record is run in a mixed or women’s only race…pacers or no pacers, their legs still had to do the work. A pacer can only do so much-they don’t run the race for the athlete.  And I’m not sure if the USATF is gonna follow suit, but if they do…I feel more bad for Deena Kastor than Paula Radcliffe-at least the best time in a women’s only race that can count for a world record does still belong to Paula…Deena would get stripped of a record entirely.  (Looks like the USATF does keep track of records set in women’s-only races as well as mixed races…though I think the time they have for the marathon is outdated, shouldn’t it be Kara Goucher’s 2:25 in NYCM 2008?)  I’m sure the Chicago marathon organizers are pissed about this too…their race is in 2 weeks, there is no separate women’s start, so now their race can’t count for any women’s records?  Anyone want to take bets on how long this ruling will last?

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…

joy and pain

Joy and pain
Like sunshine and rain
Joy and pain
Like sunshine and rain

Yeah, couldn’t resist digging up some old-school lyrics (if u call the 80’s old-school…hehe.) But I just had the song in my head, as “joy and pain” seemed to sum up this past holiday weekend…thankfully much, much more joy than pain! 🙂  Oh yeah-I love long holiday weekends!!

Holiday weekend doesn’t mean I get out of doing a long run tho, and I had 15 on tap this weekend.  Thankfully, I had some great company, as me, Bridges Runner and Maria took on the GWB, the Palisades and the West Side Highway.  Fun?  Yes!!  Easy?  No 👿

view of NYC from the GWB

Now I think the last time I trekked over the GWB on foot was 3 years ago with the Flyers…but this Palisades Run had a bit of a twist.  Yep, instead of heading out and back on River Road, we hit some semi-hidden trails instead.  Well I guess they aren’t really secret, but I never would have known about them otherwise…I almost felt like we were entering a secret passageway or something when I saw the entrance to the trails by one of the stairs on the NJ side of the bridge.  The trails were nice and shady, which was very welcome, even with it being relatively early and not that warm yet.  But we definitely had to watch our footing…remember that.  The trails were mostly flattish with the exception of two places…one being a steep decline on uneven terrain…was almost slowing to a walk there.  Surprisingly enough I stayed vertical there…which I couldn’t say the same for a few minutes after-yep I lost my footing and went down.  (yet somehow a certain reflex in me stopped my Garmin right away.  Guess I’ve done this before.)  Thankfully nothing was broken-just had a pretty scraped right elbow which really looked worse than it actually felt.  And thankfully Maria was prepared with a little package full of baby wipe-type things for me to clean up a little with, until I got to some water fountains and could do a better job.

So once I sort of got my bearings, we continued on, to the toughest part of our run-the “cliff stairs” heading up to where the approach to the bridge was.  Let me say, my quads are still feeling those things today….that shit was tough!!  I thought I was in decent shape before, but I’m not too sure now.  (Oh, and the height of those steps does not cater to those with short stubby legs like mine.)  Never thought I’d be so glad to run across the the GWB again…and boy I welcomed the flat road of the West Side Highway!!  The rest of the run flew by, and next thing we knew we were in the 50s and 15 miles were done.  We definitely earned those burgers and beers at Chelsea Brewery!!  Nice day to sit outside and eat, drink, chill out and gab about stuff like if Lady Gaga’s song “Alejandro” really does sound like Ace of Base, the new iPhone, and various other things 🙂

But that wasn’t it for the day…after a well-deserved nap, and watching the Prefontaine Classic on TV (did anyone else think the NBC coverage SUCKED?  No mention of Chris Solinsky’s time in the 5000 or Andrew Wheating’s time in the mile?), headed to the Boat Basin…wanted to take advantage of the fact that people were out of town and that it wasn’t too crowded to sit out back (where there is a good view of the river and sunset) and sip some margaritas 🙂

Sunday was the 4th and would be yet another fun day!!  Started it off with a short run on the bridle path, then headed up to Da Bronx for my first Yankee game this year 😀  Saw some awesome plays like Brett Gardner’s inside the park home run, but some heartbreaking ones like 3 Yanks (including Nick Swisher twice!) getting thrown out at home.  (I swear the home plate umpire must have gotten dismissed from the World Cup or something…)  Just one of them coulda prevented the extra innings…as unfortunately Mo blew the save and I had to leave at the end of the 9th 😦  But as it turned out, the Yanks did win in the bottom of the 10th-doh, I missed the usual pie in the face after a walkoff win! 😛  But I had to get home, cleaned up, and back out the door for a get-together that included some very good food and drink, and then staking out a spot on the West Side Highway to watch the fireworks!!  The fireworks show was great, and it surprisingly was not crowded-I remember the couple of years I lived in Murray Hill and trekked to the FDR to watch the fireworks and it was packed-and took forever to get out!!

And today being a scorcher-thankfully a running rest day!!  But was perfect to sleep in, get some errands done, do some stretching, foam rolling, lifting and ab work in the air-conditioned NYSC, then partake in Cilantro‘s Monday nite $10 fajitas!!  (Not to mention a nice refreshing margarita…yum!!!)  Do I really have to go back to work tomorrow?

I leave you with a great pic of the fireworks from last nite (thx Bridges Runner!)  Happy 4th! 🙂

getting on base

And so we go from football to baseball in my post titles.  Funny thing, as I am typing this, on ESPN Classic is the infamous 1986 World Series Game 6…the one that broke the Sawx’s hearts…hehe.

So the title kinda refers to what I will be doing the next month or 2…base-building.  My PT is helping me with a game plan…nothing really crazy, still only running 3 days a week for the next few weeks, still with 1-2 strength train days in there.  Throw in the 2 short races this month…we’ll see how that goes.  Oh-and will also be getting a VO2 max test next week…will be very interesting to see what the results are.  I still use my HRM to train, but I’m sure right now, my max heart rate is no longer 188 (achieved at the end of a 5K-and the uphill end of a 10k-last year.)  So my ranges may need to change…

What else…oh yeah, found out another social media faux pas…never, ever friend a company bigwig on Facebook and then play Farmville during business hours!  I’m innocent tho…I blocked that app!!  (in addition to Mafia Wars.)  And a meeting earlier this week…all I can say is I don’t know how some people can sleep at night.  (or maybe they don’t.)

so yeah, crazy week.  thankfully good weekend…friend’s bday drinks tomorrow and then Saturday is my favorite event of the year-the Flyers awards gala!!  And again, more fun and more drama than the Oscars and the MTV awards combined.  Who will rock the red carpet?  Will someone pull a Kanye West during the awards presentation?  The excitement is mounting 🙂

second opinions suck

So where did I leave off…oh yeah…streak of drinking 9 nights in a row…not proud of.  Said streak stopped at 9 as I decided to give myself the night off on Tuesday, but was started back up again Wednesday between my company’s “Oktoberfest” celebration and heading out to a UWS bar literally within stumbling distance-not that I needed to stumble-to watch Game 6 of the World Series with Flyers YP and AH.  However, I was actually home sweet home when the actual winning moment happened-though on the phone with a certain special Yankee fan to sorta “celebrate” together 😉  And anyway, this latest drinking streak only lasted a day.  And no, I didn’t go to the parade downtown…way too much stuff to do here (i know, i know, why am I blogging then?) plus I had a feeling it would just be chaotic.  Case in point-when taking the 3 train to work this AM, a bunch of chicks dressed in Yankee gear were “pre-gaming” on the subway, drinking beer out of those clear plastic cups that you get iced coffee in…come on, how stupid can you be?  If you’re gonna drink from plastic cups, make sure they are not see through!!  I’ve had wine in Central Park enough times to know the drill 😉

So in effort to keep things sorta on topic, maybe I should explain the title.  I went to a different doctor yesterday to get a second opinion as to what was going on.  And in less than 5 minutes, was diagnosed as “classic (sh)IT band syndrome.”  Though it was good to hear the truth, I really didn’t feel like I was leaving with a real plan of action.  Yeah, I know its an overuse injury, yeah I know “our bodies are not meant to run 26 miles.”  Tell me something I don’t know.  I know it sounds crazy, but I had X-rays done and nothing was broken…I almost wish that was what it was-at least you know bones do heal in due time.  This thing…not so much!!  (Same deal when I had plantar fasciitis a few years back).  So I was sent home with a prescription for prescription-strength Motrin and advice to keep with the PT.

And I had been…doing the exercises daily, and even being able to add more weight/resistance to some of them.  Icing, rolling the shit out of the (sh)IT band, etc.  But the problem was I really didn’t know where I was at…I didn’t know how I was progressing in terms of recovery.  Well the fact that a spinning class the other nite caused the knee to act up again told me not too well 😦  So I can’t do that-which I was really, really depending on to help keep my sanity in terms of this downtime-pretty much just relegated to elliptical, yoga and weights.  Which I guess is OK and well, but what I’m more concerned with is that really does not have the same calorie-burning effect that a 40-mile week of running does and I’m really worried about putting on weight during this downtime.  I’m sorry, I don’t like myself when I’m too fat…I just don’t!!  (especially when I have a dress for the Flyers awards gala I need to still be able to fit into in less than 3 months)  Plus with the holidays coming up and feeling like I have to avoid everything…not thrilled about that.

But enough of that-I guess now that I’m finally over what happened on October 25th-I feel like I have no direction in terms of getting better.  Doctor #1 says its more a hip flexor problem than an ITB problem.  Doctor #2 says its strictly the ITB.  The PT says I need to be targeting both in terms of recovery.  I don’t know *what* to believe!  How do I kick this thing?   Is there anything more that I can be doing that I’m not doing?

marathon trumps yankees

Ah, baseball postseason and fall marathon season.  Why must you clash?  Yeah, considering I didn’t have the Yanks to watch in last year’s postseason, I’d be glued to the TV nonstop this time.  Not so…not only did I crash during Friday night’s ALCS Game 1, but I did the same thing during Saturday’s Game 2….now to be fair, it was an extra-innings “marathon” that went into the wee hours of the morning, and I had a run the next morning.  And I was told by a certain someone afterwards that I woulda gotten a scolding had I stayed up for the game…hehe. 

And I did get a mini-lecture of sorts on Sunday from Runner26 for showing up to the ‘last 10 miler” in the cold, rainy weather (well maybe it wasn’t really a “lecture”, but thought I’d throw the teacher reference in.)  OK, maybe running outside was not the smartest thing that day, but I didn’t wanna do 8 miles on the dreadmill and I was honestly OK once we were moving…and I didn’t plan to be standing around in the cold in wet clothes when done with the run-made a beeline to Starbucks, then home for a hot shower and some quality time with the Snuggie.  Anyways, run was good, me and Runner26 ran together for the most part (I cut out after 8 miles) and Lam even joined us for a bit.  Was fun, though we got semi-lost in the Bronx trying to figure out the new course…and wound up running more of the old course.  Didn’t matter so much for me… 🙂

And yesterday the game started at 4:15 and of course I was working (though still following along via the Internet)…and by the time I got home and saw an inning or 2 it looked like it was gonna go into extra innings yet again!!  But I had plans to hit the gym to do a yoga class and foam roll the sh*t out of the (sh)IT Band™.  Once again, gotta prioritize and the priority is whats gonna make me feel better on marathon day, right?  And besides-NYSC had the game on all the TVs in the gym anyways…but all the good that did, as the Yanks dropped one to the Halos…

So Game 4 is going on right now and I am watching but multitasking…eating pasta, blogging, doing laundry…plus flipping to Dancing With the Stars during commercial breaks since I wanna see who gets eliminated tonite…I know The Hills and The City will get rerun a million times so I can live without seeing those 2 shows tonite.  But if this one goes into extra innings…sorry pinstripers, I do need to get my beauty sleep 🙂

And can it just be race day already?  I’m very antsy and nervous 🙂  But thank god, one more day of work and I’m free for a few days…then I can really concentrate on obsessing!!! 😛

pop-ups

No I’m not referring to those annoying things you see when browsing the web that sometimes those gadgets in your browser can’t block.  Or that show on VH1 that would tell everything you ever wanted to know, or didn’t want to know, about your favorite 80’s nostalgia videos.  Or what happens to male runners (or other male athletes, or hell males in general!) when they get, uh, happy and excited, especially if they are wearing tight shorts or pants…hehehehehehehe 😛

I tried to combat taper madness with retail therapy today and was pleasantly surprised that one of my favorite clothing stores, The Limited, which unfortunately I can only shop at online or when I am in NJ visiting the fam, had a temporary “pop-up” store in Soho through today.  And the retail mission was successful as once again, I got my dress for the next Flyers awards gala well in advance 🙂  That was easy!  Now the real tough part will be making sure it will still fit in 3 months!!

So it’s Saturday nite and I’m blogging.  I know I desperately need a life.  Well I’m not drinking right now, so I’ll need another 9 days before I can get that back.  Plus I just want to chill and watch the Yanks hopefully clip the Angels’ wings for a 2nd night in a row 🙂  (well…even though I crashed before the end of the game last nite.)  Plus I have my last “long run” on tap early tomorrow.  The Flyers are running their annual “last 10 miler” and I plan to join them for 8 of those miles.  Here’s hoping the weather isn’t too too bad…

Oh yeah and an update on that other thang.  Had my first PT session on Thursday, and the therapist’s assessment was that I was actually still pretty strong and just needed some fine-tuning in the hip area to take the pressure off the (sh)IT Band™.  So had 1 session so far, will have 3 next week, and have some “homework” exercises to do at least once a day if not more (I’ve been doing twice daily…can’t hurt, right?)  Seems like that, plus tapering has been helping.  I even threw an MP mile into my run last nite (7:50?  eek.  On that note, who are the 2 wiseguys who think I am gonna break 3:30?) and for that mile, I totally forgot that there were even any hip or (sh)IT Band™ issues.  As per usual, no probs when I’m running MP…guess that means I will need to run marathon pace for 26.2 miles then!!  hehe…OK that was bad!  But hey, I haven’t totally lost my sense of humor during this taper!!

the last dozen

So yesterday marked the last double-digit run til the big day…which was actually a repeat of the NYF Bridges Run that we did last month!!  But no need for me to do the full 20 so the perfect solution…meet up with the group at the downtown Urban Athletics store (which was the first water stop anyways) and run the last 12 miles!  And so I did.

Was well carbo-loaded thanks to a belated b-day dinner the nite before…and was nice and relaxed thanks to some, well, “relaxing” that nite too 🙂  So Sunday morning, go through usual pre-run routine, calculate what time the 9:30s will get to UA…leave myself enough time to get there.  Or so I thought.  Even though almost every single subway line had weekend service changes, thankfully the changes to the C would work for me…still stopped up by me, but went express from 59th to Canal St.  Perfect-best of both worlds there…uh, no.  We’re stopped for a few minutes just before 42nd st…”door problems” on a train in the station.  And finally we’re moving again…til the train stops again just before 14th st…this time “mechanical problems” on a train in the station.  It’s always something!!  We finally did get moving and made it down to Chambers St without any more “stops” but still left me freaking out about whether or not I will make it in time.  As always, gotta love the MTA…

And also gotta love that I have no sense of where the hell I am when I’m downtown (yeah, I seem to have this problem south of 14th St)…so I get out of the subway and not sure which way to go…I eventually figure it out but then I am afraid I am cutting it really close.  Well turned out no need to worry…only the 8’s and 8:30s were there so I was in time.  And soon the 9’s came along…which at first I was pondering joining them but they said they were going faster than 9’s so NEXT!!  Finally, my 9:30 peeps arrived…waited a few minutes for them to utilize the water stop, then we were off!

So yeah, familiar route, done it before…was really a pretty drama-free run.  Unlike last time, I didn’t have to consult the maps when we got to Brooklyn 🙂  And there was no losing PowerGels, no ObsceneCam™ taking pictures…thankfully no crazy bikers threatening to knock me down 🙂  And before I knew it, we were making the turn onto Madison Ave to finish up at the uptown Urban Athletics store.  A dozen miles, the last double-digit run-done!!  Stayed around to chat some people up 🙂  then me and Runner26, as per usual took the M96 back to the west side…during that time we chatted about lotsa things…like all of you 😛  Then usual SBux, shower, nap, ice…not so usual (ok maybe usual) being lazy and watching the baseball playoffs…was very entertaining-from the Red Sox game to the Yanks advancing…yep thats why the Yanks are the Yanks!!  Bring on the Angels…though I beg for no 10PM game starts when they are on the west coast!!

On another note, thankfully my cold has been kicked, but keeping with the “shit must hit the fan during the taper” theme, my IT band-or as I will refer to it going forward…my (sh)IT Band™  has been acting up and the mileage reduction did not seem to be helping-though I was stretching, icing and rolling the hell outta it as well.  So I took today off from running in favor of some yoga, foam rolling and more stretching…and I’ll get the (sh)IT Band™ checked out tomorrow so I can sleep better at night.  I am still optimistic-albeit cautiously-that I will be able to run in 2 weeks (encouraging thing is I feel absolutely nothing when I run at MP as opposed to slower speeds)…I’ll be damned if 4 months of hard work is for nothing.  So you see, this is why I’m not freaking out yet about the weather forecast, even though it is up… 🙂  First off, it’s way too early…not to mention I got more important things on my mind.  Keep your fingers crossed…

Congrats to everyone who ran and raced this past weekend…from mile to marathon!! 🙂

fragile girl

Wow, it’s been a few days…been busy busy busy!!  But thats ok, any posts would have been about taper madness…which I can just combine all into one post here! 🙂

Forget about last week, i think i am gonna have to handle myself with kid gloves from now until October 25th.  Seemingly everything that is supposed to be aching and/or going wrong during training decides to show up for the taper.

Like when running Monday nite downtown…my calves decided to cramp up…possibly due to dehydration?  My legs felt so fragile at that point, that one wrong move would put them out of commission…stopped and stretched and took it easy…and winced at any sign of bikes.  needless to say, I was glad when we finished the run and made it to White Horse Tavern where we had our burgers…and glasses of water!  Yeah, I am going to attempt yet again to detox during this taper.  So far so good-especially because…

….on top of it all, nursing a cold!!  arrrggghhh.  I took a sick day yesterday and would have loved to have taken one Wednesday, if it weren’t for the fact that I had meetings I couldn’t miss and a project that had to get done that day.  sigh.  one day off is better than nothing, right?  And lesson learned-never, ever joke about swine flu in a facebook status.  Anyways, I haven’t run since Tuesday…Wednesday was a planned day off to do some much-needed yoga but skipped yesterday’s run…and most likely will skip today to kick this thing.  Should I worry?  Or listen to my teammate who said “This is what’s called forced taper – and you’ll be better for it on race day!”

And because I must get in my reality TV fix to keep my mind off of other things….quote of the week from my brother regarding The City: “proof the city is completely staged and fake…how on earth would a dude selling counterfeit bags on Canal St have a mike on him???”  He has a point…

And glad to see the Yanks back where they belong-in the postseason.  Game 2 is tonite…GO Yanks!!  In a way, it feels like 1998…the year they were so dominant.  And I kinda look back at that year wistfully…when my life made some sort of sense and wanting to be that innocent college graduate again….

happy F33 day to me

my bib for tomorrow…my first NYRR event as an F33! 🙂  the real day is today, but started it off yesterday with a liquid lunch and some monkey business after work…included a run at the magical MP today and watching some speedy mile races!!  And maybe another yanks win today??

fun with numbers

Talk about being on the ball.  We’re 6 and a half weeks out and MCM has already assigned us our bib numbers!!  (I seem to remember around this time last year, still having to wait another month for my NYCM number…oh and back in 2006, they waited til the absolute last minute…)  Anyways, I am the proud owner of…Bib # 8092.  So of course, now it’s time to obsess about the number and see if there are and hidden (read: lucky) meanings there.  Hmmm…well 8 plus 9 plus 2 is 19…and 1 plus 9 is 10….perfect 10?  Or 1 plus 0…number one!!  Wow, I wonder what else I can come up with….

Enough is enough there.  I just gotta get myself to the start line without psyching myself out or something.  So far this week…my “First Monday” run with the Flyers…and I ran down from the UWS to meet up with the group, so I got 10 total miles for the nite.  Was actually a nice nite…just me and the guys 🙂  After a lovely sunset run on the west side (and thankfully no biker collisions this time!) we “toasted”…or mourned, depending on your take on things…the end of summer at Chelsea Brewery…great way to spend the evening of Labor Day, before having to get back to reality (aka work) the next morning…sigh.

Some easy miles in the park last nite, some hard stuff this morning.  I remembered doing this workout at this exact week last year, and remembering it went very well too.  So I decided to do the best I could to try and replicate it, being that I don’t have access to a track in the early morning (so envious of those who live near the east 6th Street track…)  So I improvised…what I decided to do is use the Great Lawn Oval and have Mr. Garmin take .25 mile splits (.25 mile, 400 meters…close enough.)  Unfortunately, it didn’t go as well as I would have liked….

I don’t know if Mr. Garmin was acting flukey (I know that at least the heart rate monitor was…some of those numbers make no sense!) or if that oval is actually part downhill part uphill, but as you can see my splits were all over the place, no consistancy…not happy with that (8:32 pace is not tempo for me!!  Or shouldn’t be.)  Part of the issue was that even at the early hour of 6:30 AM, the oval had quite the share of unleashed dogs, which I had to dodge more than once and threw me off once or twice or more!  (A friend of mine told me that the Great Lawn Oval is the only place where dog owners can let their dog off the leash before 9 am.  Definitely good to know for future reference.  Wish I had known before…doh!!)  And then for the last quarter mile…I was hoping to close strong and throw down better than the previous 1:37, but with around .05 mile to go, a truck was blocking the road…which forced me to take an alternate route and have to turn around, therefore slowing me down…oh well.

Well, what is worrying me is that this is the 2nd speed workout in a row where I’m not feeling great about it, didn’t have that “I nailed it” feeling that I’ve had before.  And being in the thick of training, it has me a little worried, especially hearing about a lot of other people having great workouts.  And I’m not sure what to do.  Am I overtraining and I should give myself a break from speed workouts and just concentrate on getting in the mileage?  Do something different?  This is where it sucks feeling like I’m going about this alone.  When I start to doubt myself and my training…and don’t know what the right path is to take.

Well, at least I have 2 “fun runs” in the next couple of weeks to look forward to.  This weekend will be a reprise of the “3 Bridges Run” that the Flyers and Urban Athletics put on last year.  Last year I led the 9:30 group-and wound up averaging a 9:31 pace overall, aren’t I the coolest? 🙂  So I was more than happy to step up and lead that group again this year.  Then next weekend’s half…and dear running gods, please be good to me that day and show me that my training is possibly on track.  That is all.

And ahhh…lotsa sports action tonite.  Derek Jeter tying the Yankees all-time hit record…and now the Federer match is on…the remote is being utilized a lot, flipping back and forth!!  And even though the Melanie Oudin match didn’t end the way I think a lot of people (including myself!) would have liked, this will definitely not be the last we see of her!!  And I can say I was there to witness her first upset at the US Open 🙂  I honestly don’t care who wins for the women right now but on the mens side…Nadal FTW!!! 🙂

"please do not fret"

Sometimes I curse the invention of the “reply all” button-mainly when it is abused and I walk away from my desk for 5 minutes to return and see 15 new messages from the same damn conversation to catch up on. (Do I really need to know that one of my colleagues has a 10-foot pole…OK, guess you have to see the email exchange to appreciate the humor :-P) But sometimes it can be a source of entertainment. Like this one exchange between two people in my group which grew a little heated and the one who had the final word told the other one “please do not fret.” (either that was the final word or “reply all” got changed to “reply” after that message) Anyways, don’t ask me why, but me and my fellow (now ex) group-mate just kept laughing about it…became one of our running inside jokes or something. 🙂

So why am I thinking about that? Well, because no less than 2 people have told me in the last coupla days not to “fret” about Saturday’s race…and you guys know who you are 😉 I look back at last year at this time and remember just feeling excited and optimistic about the race. I’m still excited about the race, don’t get me wrong, but I still feel like a bundle of nerves or something about every little thing. I’m in the yellow corral this time? But I was red last year for this race…damn, I’ve been demoted. 😛 Easy 4 on the bridle path today, felt a little better than Tuesday but I still feel like I will need a miracle to feel good on Saturday morning. And can’t forget the 10 AM start in the summer heat! Or maybe I just also have other stuff on my mind thats bugging me that may not necessarily have to do with running…

I don’t even know why I’m nervous, it’s not like this is marathon day! But I guess there’s nothing I can do at this point but rest up tomorrow (thank god for a summer Friday!) and just hope that once the starting horn sounds, that the legs will just know what to do…

But to end this post on a good note-8th inning and the Yanks have a 9-run lead on the Sawx…gotta love that!! (of course now that I said it I just jinxed them.)

corporately challenged

Well, with last week being a quasi-recovery week after last Sunday’s 10K race…the so-called exciting part of my running week was actually watching Wednesday’s Corporate Challenge in the park. Yeah, I know, normally I’d think to avoid the place, but then a light bulb went off in my head and I realized “hmmmm…maybe, just maybe, I can, like, get on the bridle path before the race even starts, so I don’t have to deal with crossing the park drives.” So that I did. And it actually worked out well, I was able to see the race around west 86th…then ran over to Engineer’s Gate to see the race on the east side, where hopefully it’d be a little bit more spread out and I could cheer and even spot people. And it was perfect timing, I got to East 90th a minute or 2 before the leaders passed by. And I stayed there for a few minutes, spotting friends and cheering them on 😉 Cuz, ya know, I’m nice like that.

Then I headed north on the bridle path towards 102nd…figuring I can run in the other direction and watch the race that way. And besides, they’ll leave the bridle path alone, right? Wrong. 102nd was a mess, between runners cutting the course or deviating from the course on the bridle path. Jeez guys, stick to the roads, let the rest of us have our path for the night!! Where were the course marshalls? If I were a course marshall that nite, I would have taken down everyone’s number and made sure they were disqualified. OK, maybe I wouldn’t have the power to do that. But I wish I did. 😛

Ya know, I have not done the CC since 2006…the race/event, whatever the hell you wanna call it…I can take it or leave it, I don’t miss it too much. The last 2 years, my company participated in the Wall Street Run instead but this year…with budgets being slashed, wasn’t happening. It’s crazy, even though watching the runners, i didn’t envy them at all…in a way I sorta did. Maybe what I did envy was the whole “being part of a team” thing. Run the race, celebrate afterwards…well, I guess I can wait til until my favorite-est NYRR race, the Club Team Champs and party with my “other” (aka non-work) team 😉

Only other quasi-exciting part of my running week was my bridgey long run on Saturday…where I got semi-lost down in Soho/LES trying to find the Williamsburg Bridge (since I figured that would be the least crowded). Eventually did get back on track, but not without adding a little bit more mileage-meaning I wound up with 14 miles (instead of 12-13.) Which actually left my legs, as well as the rest of me, good and tired. I was gonna sneak in a short 3 miles on Sunday before the Yankee game…but the damn snooze button won out, and I figured I could just get it in later…but then there’s the game, then dinner in Hoboken with la familia, then getting back over the river…long day. And I decided it wasn’t worth fitting in a run…I wanted to hit at least 30 miles for the week, and 29.8 is close enough 🙂 And with go time in a week (eek!)-I’d rather hit it fresh rather than burned out already.

And speaking of baseball-OMG WHAT a weekend for the Yanks!!! Like Friday’s game wasn’t exciting enough…but witnessing that 15-0 rout of the Mutts was something else. 😀

"anything can happen"

Wow. One word to sum up the ending of last nite’s Yanks-Mutts game. The Mutts thought they had it won, but guess again!! Guess they weren’t expecting A-Rod’s fly ball to be dropped, letting the Yanks get another walkoff victory!!

But to me, the great story was not just in the dropped ball, but the go-ahead run. A couple of snippets from this article about the MVP from last nite’s game:

Mark Teixeira is not exactly known for his speed — that’s no secret around the Majors. He knows it and has no problem admitting as much. When the Yankees need speed, Teixeira is not one of the first players they want to see on the basepaths.That’s what makes his hustle in Friday’s stunning 9-8 win over the Mets even more impressive. Even though Alex Rodriguez’s popup to second baseman Luis Castillo appeared to be the game-ending out, Teixeira never stopped running. When the ball dropped, he managed to score all the way from first with the winning run on a hit that barely reached the outfield grass.

It was an improbable hustle play from one of the most unlikely sources. But Teixeira’s mad dash was an example of one timeless baseball adage — run hard until the play is over. When the ball is put in play, anything can happen.

(snip)

Like everyone else, when he saw Rodriguez’s popup loft quietly into the air, Teixeira was thinking the game was over. It was a routine play. Still, he found it in him to run. Though he assumed the Yankees were moments away from a disappointing one-run loss, Teixeira never sulked. He just kept running.Teixeira said it took him about 90 feet to reach full speed, but when he hit second, he never slowed down. After all, he said, “You never know what could happen.” This time, the cliche held some truth.

 

I know it sounds crazy, but I think remembering this could just help me in my next race…no matter what goes on in training, anything can happen on race day!! I may not be bringing a team home to victory, but finding that extra gear could result in a personal victory of my own…

Now the other question-I’m going to the game on Sunday, what are the chances that the ending will be just as exciting? Or you know what, I’ll take a not-so-exciting ending, just as long as the pinstripers win 🙂

can someone please end this week?

seriously, if there is any way I can skip over to Saturday night, that would be fabulous. thanks in advance.

i swear, it’s been a quiet year work-wise, why does all hell need to break loose around the most important day of the year for me? trying to wrap up loose ends, making sure all bases are covered since i plan on taking off thursday & friday to de-stress…yet I have been told that i may need to be reachable if a question comes up on a certain project…arrrgghhh… (even though apparently that is an absolute last resort…)

all this damn stress is not good for me right now…not good…and knowing how stress affects my running, i’m seriously afraid that it is gonna affect my performance on sunday…that i’m just gonna have to take it as a “fun run.” we’ll see…

did i also mention that it’s raining like crazy and i left my umbrella at home?

sigh.

and in other news-is it possible that we may be seeing november baseball once again? though for the sake of certain people (yes, all you Phillies fans 😉 ) i hope that is not the case!

yankees win…theeeeeeee yankees win!!

What a game!! Total opposite of last week’s game, it was!! Giambi earned my All-Star vote by RBIing in the 1st…and it took an extra inning, but the combined efforts of Mariano, Jeter and Bobby Abreu made the Yanks victorious and a lot of peeps very happy :-p Quite a few of our crew left after the 9th, I’m so glad I stuck around!!

Happy Yanks celebrating!!!

Oh, and in honor of the “support the ‘stache” campaign, there were lots of fake mustaches given out today :-p

what the hell is in the water?

seriously. is the marriage bug catching in my office or something? in the last coupla weeks there have been not 1, not 2, but 3 engagements (2 of the 3 just happening last week!) which i found out about yesterday and today. and my favorite part is being told “you’re next.” please. i’ve been hearing that for about 10 years, and it’s really getting old…seriously, what do you say to respond to that? “No i’m not!”

so yeah, i think that left me a little out of sorts yesterday evening. i did participate in the Flyers’ First Monday run…5 miles along the west side and around the bottom tip of Manhattan and ending at a great viewing spot to see all 4 waterfalls, then hitting up a downtown bar for drinks. Though I guess it was fun, I made sure to keep it a recovery pace…I dunno, my heart was sorta not in it…more emotionally tired, I think. (Legs surprisingly not sore-maybe there is something to those trail surfaces…) Hindsight, i probably shoulda just run solo and called it a day (night)

Wouldn’t you know it-this was my horoscope for yesterday…
“Today you may be too overwhelmed with emotions to get anything done. Instead of repressing your feelings, give in and have a good cry. You’ll feel better once you let everything out in the open.”

and today…
“Romance is on your mind a lot today. You want to have a fairy tale love affair, but you’re also unsure if you want to risk heartbreak. Keep in mind that a passionate relationship is attainable, but only through hard work, compromise, chemistry and a little luck.”

I swear, how do these people know?

Yankee game tomorrow with work! This should be, uh, interesting. And speaking of baseball, anyone else see those baseball-themed Statues of Liberty promoting the all-star game that are strategically placed around the city? I snapped this pic of the Detroit one thats in my building…wanna get a pic of the Yankees one! 🙂

rain, rain go away…

Seriously…enough already. I can understand once or twice, but every single friggin day…?

Brief rain patch during the Yankee-Sox game I was at on Thursday…not enough to warrant a rain delay though. Our seats were covered though, so it would not have affected us. But man, even the 5 beers downed during that game (yeah, got an early start…thanks to baby bro wanting to start pre-gaming a little after 4) did not drown out the fact that the Yanks did not show up to the game :-\ I’m going to the game this Wednesday, Andy better be dandy then…

And rain threatened to dampen (haha) plans for the 4th, but surprisingly, it really wasn’t so bad…yeah was still raining, but wasn’t the t-storms predicted, wasn’t really annoying. We had a great vantage point for the fireworks over on the Brooklyn side of the river-we got to see the fireworks to both the left and right of where we were-and according to this post on Gothamist, we had the right idea!! And even better…we had a great viewing point of not 1, but 2 of the “NYC waterfalls” 🙂 Of course, afterwards the entrance to the subway seemed to resemble the subway station at a Yankee game when everyone stays for the full 9 innings…but that was a good reason to grab a drink and wait for the crowds to lessen…right? 🙂

Rain again today…OK since my long run was planned for tomorrow, but damn…rain is predicted yet again for tomorrow!!! Yeah, nothing I can do, I’ll get the miles in. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it 🙂

hot and cold, less and more

another mishmash post!! sorry, just full of em these days 🙂

• UCLA kinda sorta broke my heart yesterday. And Kansas did give me a tiny but of a scare, but prevailed. If Kansas wins tomorrow nite, then I get 2nd place (and some $$$-actual amount TBD) in my office pool. I will be watching nervously while sipping on a pint of beer.
• Did my longest run in awhile yesterday, 10.1 miles (full 6, 2.5 mi bridle path, and 1 reservoir loop) and felt just fine-Philly I’m ready for ya (will sneak in one more beforehand though.) Was so nice out yesterday-shorts and short sleeve weather. Which of course crowded the park drives, bridle path-and especially the reservoir. No wonder each half-mile of the rez (which was the end of my run) got progressively faster-the last half-mile was at an 8:15 pace!-because I just wanted to get the heck away from the crowds so bad!! (I don’t intend to make a habit of doing that though.)
• The weather was the flip side today-chilly!! Good for those running the More marathon and half-yet a wee bit nippy for those volunteering, including yours truly. But did the water station thing for a coupla hours-this year got there early enough to see both the full and the half marathon runners!! And got in my volunteer requirement for next year’s NYCM guaranteed entry, yeah!! (now I just need to get in 7 more races this year…)
• And headed off to Yankee stadium after my volunteering stint (well, after I got some Starbucks to warm my hands up!) to watch my guys kick the crap out of the Devil Rays-I knew they would since I was there :-p Was a fun game, though a bit chilly. And oh man-the crowds were ridiculous when leaving!! Here’s hoping the new stadium will have more room to move…
• But I stopped by the Yankee clubhouse store yesterday because I didn’t want to wear my ARod shirt. While I was there-I was so glad to see that my team will never lose its sense of humor…