rain over me

Wow, for awhile this week I almost forgot what the sun looked like…this week was just rain, rain and more rain.  Thankfully it didn’t affect me as much as it did the US Open-2 full days of washouts meaning once again  (3rd year in a row?) the men’s final is on Monday!  (time to install a roof somewhere at Flushing Meadows…?)

As for me, the only day the rain really affected my workouts was track nite.  I kept monitoring the hourly forecast, hoping for the best but still expecting a wet evening.  (that’s what she said.)  And sure enough, once 7:15 rolled along, the rain hadn’t really let up.  But me and a few others still decided to show up to the track.  Crazy?  Maybe.  Not sure what the intended workout was gonna be, but the “plan B” was a 2-mile time trial.  Uggghhh…why do time trials always seem to happen in the rain?  I had a feeling it wouldn’t be my best, but at least I’ll get some kind of speed workout in tonite.  And so off we went, with the only obstacles in lane 1 being puddles, as the track was empty and the usual soccer balls and bikes were nowhere in sight.  I was over 7 minute pace at the 1200m mark and knew this was gonna be a slow one…but just tried to hold on.  The 2 miles were done in 14:24, estimated mile splits 7:11/7:13.  So I basically did this at my 5-mile race pace.  Blame it on the rain I guess…

As for my recovery run the next day, I thankfully didn’t head out til after a brief downpour and my run was just drizzling and/or misty.  I hit up the bridle path and with the exception of some puddles, it actually was not that bad.  It however got too dark at one point so I had to take it to the roads…guess cooler days bring darker nights…

Last nite was tempo with the distance upped once again…instead of the normal 1200s we did 1800s.  Only 2 of them, but still, as we had to do the same pace we did for the 1200s.  And I was pretty consistent with this workout, ran 7:49 for the first and 7:50 for the 2nd but I still say that it was not a whole 1800 as there was no way I was running 7 minute pace  (Mar. Garmin said the 1st was  1.05 miles, the 2nd 1.03 miles.  And I believe 1800 meters should be closer to 1.1 miles…?)  So I guess this was closer to 7:30 pace which seems more realistic for me.

And the next challenge will be the long run this weekend…13 miles with 8 at marathon pace.  Getting nervous thinking about it… 😮

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 🙂

t-minus 9 days and counting

Yikes.  The countdown to race day is now in the single digits.  And I will actually be in Chicago exactly one week from now.  When did this happen?

So taper week #2 almost comes to a close.  Unlike Lam (don’t worry Lam-we can definitely agree to disagree! 🙂 ) I’m actually not minding the taper too much.  The way I see it, my legs worked hard for 3 1/2 months and need this time to bounce back in time for race day…as was shown this summer, racing on tired legs does not lead to optimal race performances!

And one last week of speedy workouts.  Thankfully cutting mileage means that there is no need to pad my mileage before/after workouts!!  Tuesday-thankfully the predicted tornado didn’t show up, so that meant lower loops at MP/tempo were on…

	Time	Distance	Pace
MP loop 1	14:14	1.73	8:13
MP loop 2	13:52	1.72	8:03
tempo loop	13:21	1.73	7:42

I was happy with the MP loops, the tempo loop felt a little sluggish but I wasn’t too worried about that (especially conisdering the humidity that nite!)  Coach DC even said during the second MP loop that I could just do the 3rd at MP if I wanted…decided to play it by ear.  My group was going a little fast but I let them go…told DC that I wanted to stick to my own pace, that “my marathon pace is not their marathon pace” (they were probably doing sub-8s, if not a little faster)  Just like race day…especially in the early miles, run my own race-not someone else’s!!

Wednesday I learned maybe it was not the best thing that I was slacking on the yoga front…as my flexibility had definitely lessened.  Unfortunately during the month of August, when I was dealing with moving stuff, something had to give…and it couldn’t be running!!  And then September was just a jam-packed month, dealing with peak mileage…but my body definitely appreciated some good stretching.  And I was able to sorta multitask-instead of taking the subway uptown, just ran up there instead!!  Once again, luckily the forecasted rain held off…

Thursday was to be my last hard workout, and given that the forecast was saying 90-100% chance of rain, I thought I’d have to be doing it on the dreadmill indoors.  But somehow that chance of rain lessened to 10-20% (with the higher percentages not til I’d be home lounging on the couch)…so to Urban I went, to do some 600m intervals…

Interval	Time	Distance	Pace
1	2:30	0.37	6:43
2	2:31	0.38	6:40
3	2:34	0.38	6:41
4	2:28	0.38	6:33

My group was supposed to do between 4 and 6 of them, but I cut myself off at 4-that was really all I felt I needed.  Was just glad to get it in before any rain…though once again the humidity was killer-I probably looked like I was caught in a rainstorm after the workout!  And afterwards I succumbed (sp?) to the lure of a nicely chilled glass of Riesling…so much for limiting my alcohol consumption!!  (though I only did have one glass.  And that was the first drink i have had since Sunday-as a matter of fact, I passed on drinks after the workout Tuesday nite because I needed rest and wasn’t in the mood to drink.)

So that’s it-the hard work is done…nothing but easy stuff til 10-10-10… (and I’m not obsessing about the weather yet.  Too soon!)

too late in the game for this

At this point of training…days away from tapering, a little over 3 weeks to go…not only are the legs feeling fragile but the mind is too.  At this point, all I want is reassurance, that the training is coming together, that I will get my goal.  The last thing one needs is a bad workout.  Yeah I know bad days happen…but I feel it’s too late in the game for it!

So last nite’s workout was a downward ladder on the roads…600m, 500m, 400m, 300m, then 4 200’s.  When I was coming home from work, it was totally a torrential downpour (though apparently Brooklyn and Queens had it much worse!) and I was seriously considering bailing on the workout.  But then I decided that I had to go uptown anyway to get my bib for Sunday so I can play it by ear…just means I can’t frontload.  But when I walked outside it had actually stopped, so I ran the 3 miles uptown.  And it did wind up holding off for the workout, though it was humid as hell.

So anyways.  The workout…

Distance	Target Time	Actual Time	Pace
0.36	2:27	2:30	6:55
0.31	2:02	2:02	6:40
0.25	1:40	1:35	6:27
0.18	1:13	1:08	6:25
0.12	0:48	0:43	5:51
0.12	0:48	0:44	6:03
0.12	0:48	0:44	6:02
0.12	0:48	0:44	6:09

I know for the most part-by the numbers, it doesn’t look so bad.  Except for the 600…not sure what happened there, I remember not feeling great during that one.  But as I couldn’t really remember most of my target times (looked at them again after the workout) what bothered me more than anything was how badly I was getting dusted by the rest of the group.  I mean, these are people that I definitely can and have been able to stick with in workouts and races, if not finish ahead of them.  But tonite I was getting my butt kicked and the legs just weren’t responding.  My mind was saying “stick with them!” but the legs were just saying “f*ck you”…ugh, the whole workout was very demotivating for me.  Wasn’t what I needed at this point in the game…

I’m not sure what this all means in this point of my training.  Sunday is gonna be key.  As I am gonna try and run the last 6 miles at MP…and praying it will go well.  I really need the running gods to hand me a performance that tells me that I’m not kidding myself thinking I can run a 3:40 marathon!  3 weeks to go…gotta find some way to get it together.

#trackmeetmilemajorfail

Well if there is anything last nite’s “NYRR Tuesday Night Speed Series” revealed to me-it’s that I am not cut out to race crazy short distances.

So I mentioned before what the dealio was for last nite-mile time trial, on the track at Icahn Stadium.  Sounds like fun, but no one anticipated the crap weather.  I still decided not to bail, as the forecast did say that the weather would clear up around race time (7:30-ish)  Unfortunately, I decided to pass on trying out my brand-spankin’ new racing flats, as I figured a slick track surface would not be ideal to try them out…went with the DS-Trainers instead.  (The Adidas Tempos are resting up for Saturday 🙂 )

So I actually got to leave work “early” (aka 5 pm) for this (and my boss said “is tonite the Corporate Challenge?” when she saw me in my running gear.  a month too early…)…headed up to Urban, then whoever was there divided and conquered…or in other words, split up into small groups so the very nice peeps who volunteered to drive could, well, get us there 🙂  Unfortunately we hit a LOT of traffic….man, who knew so many people would be heading to Randall’s Island…this meet is really drawing a crowd…oh wait, the traffic is actually heading to the Bronx and most likely Yankee Stadium…my bad!!  And the Google Maps on the CrackBerry actually had no clue where we were…said we were in the Bronx when we were actually still in Manhattan 😛  Finally, the traffic cleared up once we got past the toll plaza, and we got to the stadium not too long later (though had to drive around in circles to find out where to park!)

yes, this was what we had to run in.

So luckily, there was a covered part where we could warm up and hang out til the mile race started!!  And there was a possibility it would start earlier than expected…the rains drove the crowds away, meaning 1 combined-gender heat for the other events.  And during this time, I changed the shirt I was gonna wear for the race 3 times…had a singlet on originally, but changed to short-sleeve, then eventually to long-sleeve.  Pin the tag on the shirt and put the bracelet on so we can get our happy hour drink specials…I mean to show that we were not bandits 😛

Before we knew it, was time to split up into heats….I think usually they separate by gender, this time they just did mixed-gender heats, separated by predicted time.  Not surprisingly, I would be in the 2nd heat…so 5 more minutes to warm up…all the good that would end up doing.  The first race finished (with some exciting close races in there!) then our heat lined up.  A coupla words of wisdom from the coaches, then the gun sounded.  All I could do was run hard, but not too hard that I’d choke at the end…I was getting passed, but let them go.  I think I finished the first 400m in 1:40…so around pace for a 6:40 mile?  The 2nd and 3rd laps felt harder, and I was really feeling the head winds…I wasn’t taking splits (I had Mr. Garmin set to take automatic .25 mile splits, but they didn’t look accurate)…but from what I heard being called out as I passed by the start each time, I was definitely slowing down.  (ugh, and to hear the gun for the “bell lap” before I’ve even reached the last turn of my 3rd lap!)  I was able to pick it up for the last lap (estimated 1:42)…I heard the announcers counting down, and knew I had to hustle or I wouldn’t even make it in under 7 minutes!!  Made it by the skin of my teeth-6:56.  Estimated splits:

Lap time	Cumulative time
1:40	1:40
1:46	3:26
1:48	5:14
1:42	6:56

Update 5/25/10-to add more insult to injury, the official times are posted and mine was actually 6:57.7.  Ugh.

Was I disappointed?  Hells yeah.  I just felt rain or no rain, it should have been faster.  I mean-I ran a 6:58 final mile in the 4-miler last month, I ran 6:33 in the 5th ave mile in 2004 and supposedly am in better shape now-yet all I could come up with last night was 6:56?  And even said 4-miler predicted a 6:31 mile.  Several peeps (including the coaches) said that the times were most likely 10-25 seconds slower than normal.  But then there are those who say I shouldn’t be using the weather as an excuse for a crap race!!  Devil’s advocate, I hate you.

The head coach did write us all a nice email today saying how proud he was of all who showed up, that it “spoke volumes to your dedication and toughness”…and yes the times were slower but “for the real results, see above.”  Made me feel a little better.  Just a little though.  You all know me, I don’t like to “just show up”, I want to run my best and yesterday just was not it.  What will make me feel better?  Running a nice, easy half-marathon in Brooklyn this Saturday.  Don’t get me wrong, I will be racing it, but it will seem nice and easy compared to racing a mile!!

Changing the topic briefly-one good part about the rain meant I got home in time to watch Dancing With the Stars (while having 1 1/2 glasses of nicely chilled Riesling…meaning watching Evan Lysacek dancing the encore for the week, the one that got him the perfect 30 (and definitely my favorite dance of his this season!)

Yum.

Evan FTW!!! You heard it here first 😛 Next week’s final will be interesting…will it be the golden boy or the ringer Pussycat? 🙂

dear weather gods…

…please cut the crap this week.  xoxo, nyflygirl

Yes, I am not happy that both days that I am supposed to race, or put forth a good effort this week, the weather looks to completely suck.

First, rain is predicted for Tuesday.  Which for an outdoor track meet, ain’t good…it’s not like you can just show up, run and go home.  There’s all the waiting around through all the different events, and all the heats…and me being the slowpoke that I am will definitely be in one of the last heats.  Honestly, my heart isn’t in this one, but apparently the time trial is needed to base what my workout times/paces should be for the next coupla months…

But even worse is the forecast for Saturday and for the Brooklyn Half.  Overnight low of 64 on Fri, high of 80 on Saturday with scattered thunderstorms.  Which means most likely during the race, it will be in the 70s and humid.  I know the race start is 7 am, but will that help enough?  I don’t know, my body cannot handle this type of heat and humidity.  I’ve tried these past few weeks to acclimate, but not sure if I did enough.  And if any of you are thinking this is just mental, I can assure you it’s not-my infamous choke job at the 2008 Mini 10K is proof of that.  No matter how hard I tried, my body decided at mile 4 that it couldn’t run hard anymore-and it was only 71 degrees during the race!!

So now I don’t know what to do.  Is there anything more I can do between now and Saturday to acclimate?  Or should I just scrap this one and pick another goal race?  Unfortunately “just finishing” is not good enough for me…I really want a race to show me where I’m at with Chicago training starting very soon, and to show me that I’m not kidding myself thinking I can run a 3:40 marathon.

And I’m kicking myself right now, that Saturday’s Healthy Kidney 10K was perfect weather and that I wasted a good race opportunity.  I thought I did the right thing-looking at the times, I wouldn’t have scored for the team and it was probably better that I was out cheering instead (plus it was cool to run by the start/finish and hear the announcement that the leaders were on course record pace-which did end up falling that day too, by I think 7 seconds?)  But now I look back and wonder what could have been..

wet singlet contest

Wow, I don’t think I’ve seen a race as cursed, weather-wise, as the More/Fitness Magazine Half-Marathon.  I seem to remember it being really cold two years ago.  Then of course, the infamous “fun run” last year.  And what would the weather gods serve up this year?  Constant, pounding rain…very similar to the 18-mile Tune-Up last year.  I thought we were getting off easy only doing 13.1 miles.  Boy was I wrong!

So the Flyers were acting as paceleaders again, and I signed up to help lead the 2:00 group…there would be 4 or 5 others in addition to myself, so that group would be in good hands.  Hit up the expo on Friday…picked up my nice paceleader singlet (though as it turned out, white would not be the ideal color to wear on Sunday? 😉 )  Got my swag bag which actually had some decent stuff in it this year (e.g., a Lululemon headband, a box of Barilla Plus pasta)…and thankfully, no weird stuff like the dog food and Astroglide that were in last year’s swag bag.  Carbed up Saturday night while with la familia for mom’s bday…but an early bedtime wasn’t quite happening, thanks to me not being able to tear my attention away from the old-school episodes of “The Hills” that MTV was showing nonstop 🙂

The alarm the next morning sounded at 5:30 AM…and all I could think about was the nap I was going to take later.  Was really debating what to do in terms of the attire, as yes it was raining, but cool.  I thought about capris/tights but nixed that as I was hopeful it would stop raining…and the less cold, wet clothing I had to deal with, the better.  Plus I wanted something with pockets to hold gels (the singlet had a pocket, but was a little on the small side.)  So decided to go with a skirt and the singlet, with arm warmers and my black Flyers cap…thinking that once we get started running, will be just fine.    And even poked holes in a trash bag and put it over my outfit just to keep the rain off til then.  But little did I know.

Yeah, when I got outside…it kinda sucked.  And it seemed like once I got to the park and where the Flyers water station was, it was raining even harder.  Thank god for some NYRR-supplied ponchos and for Mr. President lending us ladies his umbrella.  I think we all shared the same sentiments…is anyone even gonna want/need pace groups today?  Are race plans going out the window with the weather?  Are we crazy for doing this? 😛  After what seemed like forever (we had to get there at 7, for an 8 am race start!)  we headed towards the corrals.  And unfortunately, once we hit the corrals, we had to hand over the ponchos.  And I cursed my attire selection.  Dear god, what was I thinking.  It’s freezing.  This sucks.

So we were all really really hoping that the speeches would be kept to a minimum, given the downpours…didn’t look like it was the case tho.  Race didn’t start til a few minutes after 8.  Oh and as we passed through the start chute, Kristin Davis (of SATC fame…oh and some may remember, Melrose Place too!) was waving to and cheering on the runners.

So the plan-a 2 hour (or sub-2) half…9:09s or better.  Easy, right?  Not so, the first mile was 10:09.  I think my legs were still warming up a little bit (when we were in the corrals, my calves were shaking from the cold) but it was also really really crowded.  Still crowded in mile 2, which was 9:24.  Mile 3 was a little better at 9:04…so hopefully once the crowds clear out, we could make up some time on the back end.  Oh, and this entire loop we were holding blue and white pace balloons, but the “2:00” had washed off because of the rain, so everyone was asking us “What group are you?  What pace are you?”  2 hours, give or take.  There were some who stuck with us throughout, like this one very sweet Italian woman (who said she loved NY so much that she thinks the lyrics of “Empire State of Mind” are so true 🙂 )  My co-paceleaders-CN, DM, DM (yep there were 2!), HM and JH were awesome…great company to help get me through the 13.1 miles.  Oh, and can’t forget the Flyers who were at the water station just north of Tavern on the Green!  (near the end of miles 6 and 12.)  Seeing them in mile 6 was a nice boost, almost made me forget I had another loop and then some to go 😛

in full paceleader attire, looking like a drowned fish.

So by mile 7, we had made up the time and were on pace…just needed to stick to it or ahead of it for the remaining 6.1 miles.  Which I was able to do, with the exception of the Harlem hill mile which was a 9:17.  But I had to deal with another annoyance…my skirt kept slipping down and I had to keep pulling it up.  If that sounds familiar at all, that’s because I had to do the same during the 18-mile Tune-Up in 2008…damn wardrobe malfunction!!  But I knew what was going on this time, all the rain was weighing the skirt down and causing it to slip.   So yeah…my singlet was probably see-through by this point, my skirt falling down, between those 2 things I was prolly giving everyone a free show.  The Flyer water station could not come soon enough, as it meant only a little over a mile to go, and still on pace!  Once we passed by mile 13, I yelled out that whoever’s still with me, we are gonna finish under 2 hours!!  And so we did…on the clock and on the watch too (just under 1:58.)  

Wow-SO glad that’s over!!  And everyone around me seemed to share those same sentiments.  The Italian lady gave me and one of the other pace leaders a hug and thanked us for doing a good job…which I thought was really nice and in a way, made toughing it out in the rain worth it.  remember?  what had I said before?  “nothing would make me happier than helping runners achieve their goal, cross the finish line in the time they dreamed of.” 

And like a cruel joke, the rain stopped once we crossed the finish.  And even though I had warmed up while running, now I was starting to get cold.  I saw women wearing those Mylar heat sheets but didn’t know where to find them…just keep moving forward.  I stopped by the Flyer water station to say hi and thanks, and then headed home.  And even took the subway to go one stop, thats how lazy I was.  And went without Starbucks in favor of a hot shower, my Snuggie and a nap.

And I kept the medal I was given at the end…figured it would be a nice memento of sorts…if I ever want to wuss out on a run, think back to this one!!  Though I hope Sunday has bought me some good weather karma for all remaining goal races of 2010! 🙂

“daylight, save me” time

So the Northeast was once again pummeled with precipitation…and for a change, it was not snow!!  Nope, instead it was at least 2 straight full days of rain, wind, nor’easter, you name it.  And you know that, i feel lucky that all I took away from it was a busted umbrella.  Some of my parents’ friends in NJ didn’t fare so well, being without power, and even though my parents still have theirs, they’re being told to stock up on bottled water…

So, not a weekend to be outside I guess?  Well according to someone at work, the fact that the weather was gonna be so crappy this weekend meant it was a perfect weekend to get some work done!!  Anyone surprised that no one laughed at her “joke”?  We were all either rolling or eyes, or IMing to each other about how that wasn’t funny, that we couldn’t believe she said that (well in a sick way, we could believe it)…hell, I bet she was cursing losing an hour this weekend to Daylight Savings Time because it meant one less hour for everyone to work!!

Me, it meant one less hour to sleep!!  After a crazy week last week, I sure was feeling that lost hour today.  (I was so out of it, I didn’t even hear my landline ring and a message being left on the answering machine!)  Don’t worry, I didn’t spend the entire weekend sleeping (though it would have been nice!)  Decided to suck it up and hit the gym yesterday and actually did a coupla dreadmill miles plus a yoga class…there was no way I was gonna run outside-those winds were scary!!  Looks like a lot thought the same I did, after looking at the stats from the NYRR 8000…I can’t remember the last time that the number of finishers for a NYRR race was in the 2000’s!  (exception being Club Champs, of course.)

And today, I wanted to get a longer run in…thankfully there was a window with no thunder and downpours!  I still wanted to avoid the park since it was a little windy, so hit the West Side Highway with a little time in Riverside Park too…wound up with 9.3 thankfully pain-free miles…my longest run since last October, so maybe there has been some progress made?  I know this is not as impressive as those who have done major mileage this past weekend, but this is big for me.  Weather wasn’t half-bad either…was able to wear shorts and the rain was pretty light…was a bit windy though, fought some headwinds running north and my running cap almost blew off at one point!  (and mental note…wear the IT band strap for long runs…vanity be damned.)

Thankfully, not feeling any afteraffects just yet, we’ll see tomorrow…not running tomorrow just in case.   But hopefully with the days getting longer, and with some races on the horizon, may help me be less of a slacker…we shall see!

And non-running related (sorry!)…but am I the only one who is addicted to all of “The Cutting Edge” movies…both the originals and the spinoffs that they show on ABC Family?  Even though those spinoffs are made-for-TV types, and they all have the same exact storyline…can’t help but like them.  (yes, I was watching today when those movies were on one after the other 🙂 )Though there is nothing like the original…

"toe pick!"

not a white singlet kind of day

With the exception of 2006, sounds like the NYCM 18-Mile Tuneup and white singlets do not mix (at least when I run it!)  Last year, the excuse being “with 93% humidity, you can bet the white one would not be a smart choice today!”  This year?  Rain, rain and more rain.  With a little bit more rain on top of that.  Whatever, I can deal, I’m tough, I ran my first 20 in the rain, remember!!  Plus it’s just a long run, not a race.  (Boy, oh boy am I glad that I changed my initial plans to do a half marathon this weekend instead of the previous one!)

So I awoke way too damn early with a “let’s just get this over with” mindset.  And waited til the last possible minute to leave…as I wasn’t frontloading and didn’t want to stand around more than I needed to.  I didn’t even bring a bag…whats the point?  It would just get wet anyway, and I planned on leaving ASAP when I was done.  So on my way over…and I realized that I did have to get to the start before the corrals closed…forgot about that!!  Let’s hustle a little.  I made it there and even though I had a red bib, I went to the green corral and met up with Runner26, as we were gonna try and run at least a little bit together.  So of course, before we could start, there was another Queen Mary speech about what a great day it is for running, what a great event this is, yadda yadda yadda.  (Personally I wish they’d ditch this and replace it with a 3rd LTR, but I know it’s a numbers thang, $$ wise…)  And we are off and running.

So I guess the first few miles were pretty uneventful…Runner26 and I kept a consistent pace of 9:20s (I even said after the 2nd mile “we are nothing if not consistent!” and Harlem Hill didn’t sneak up on us like it did last year 😉  However, the two of us got separated after the water station at mile 3…oh boy was that water station a disaster, i swear there needs to be some etiquette lessons.  I’m one who prefers to drink “on the fly” and not walk through the water stops, yet it never fails, there are always collisions or near-collisions with those walking who will not get out of the way…anyway, as I was saying, me and Runner26 got separated after here, but she wound up running a great race anyways-very consistant pacing and a sweet PR-and she did it on her own! 🙂  (v. proud of you, girl!) 

So I just settled into nines, give or take a few seconds…I feel the next 6 miles or so were pretty uneventful.  Well for the exception of Crazy bandanahead taking pictures (what else? 🙂 ) near Cat Hill…thank you bandanabrain 😛  Oh, and so after that same water stop, this time around mile 9, there was a way-too-enthusiastic volunteer…while I give her credit for trying, was just not in the mood to hear it…i actually said out loud “I want some of whatever she is on” and a coupla other runners by me laughed 🙂  And on that lower loop, I saw my friend BC volunteering as a course marshall and he called out to me…was good to see him.  And of course bandana-brain by Cat Hill again, and he even said “i’m gonna get you every time” or something like that! 

But around this time, I was wondering what was going on…I should have been lapped by now…either the field wasn’t as loaded today or the rain either kept the racers away or slowed the leaders down?  Well i guess I didn’t need to fret, sure enough the leader passed by during mile 11 🙂  And I was only lapped by 4 people total (actually just barely 4-the 4th place finisher made the turn onto 102nd right as I passed by.  hmmm so maybe that one doesnt count?)  So yeah, this was prolly like a record for me.  And since we passed near the finish, I heard music playing and “Celebration” by Madonna was on…and hmmmm guess I sped up a little for mile 12.

One more loop to go…I didn’t want to race this last loop but I was so ready for this to be over.  I had picked up the pace slightly, but I was still well within my comfort zone, which was good.  Saw BC again on the lower loop and was hoping to see bandanahead again…guess he left-smart guy 🙂  Going up Cat Hill, I pulled up alongside Flyer JW and we worked together to get up the hill (though surprisingly, Cat Hill was not a problem for me at all each time…in fact, I passed people there on each lap) before he took off once we got to the top.  Only 1 1/2 miles left, all downhill from here.  Thank god.  Flyer EA was cheering by Engineer’s Gate…crazy, but much appreciated 🙂  Finally, the finish was in sight…was great to see the “finishing lane” right before 102nd.  (Now does anyone else think this is sorta a recipe for disaster?  We’re told to stay to the right when lapping runners, yet the finishing lane is on the left and the passing lane is on the right…makes no sense, I tell ya!)

By the numbers…

And the Flyer women came in 2nd and I was the 5th scoring female for the Flyers. Obviously a lot of the fast ladies slept in today because under normal circumstances, I would not be in the top 5 🙂

So as I said before, I didn’t want to stay around too long, but posed for posterity for the NYRR site with Bandanabrain (ah that’s where you went!) and Flyers AW and LZ.  By then I was freezing, so I got out of there…and yes I was lazy and took the subway one stop.  Oh and on the way to the subway, a couple of people recognized me from leading their pace group at one of the NYRR Long Training Runs (and apparently one of them was using me as a rabbit for the last 2 loops!)…and on the subway was someone who was in my group at the Bridges Run!  Kinda cool getting recognized like that 🙂  Anyway-home, hot shower, Snuggie, nap…in that order 😛

So even though the conditions were sucky, still a solid run in the books.  And based on my heart rate data, it is encouraging that an 8:30 pace for the last loop still fell in the easy zone, even after having done 12 miles before.  One more tough week to go…boy oh boy I can’t wait to taper!!  And I think my body agrees with that, I will be handling it with kid gloves this week…

whatever it takes

Even though I had a race a few days back, still no rest for the weary when you are in marathon training mode. Read: no rest day for me on Friday, still had to get some miles in…and even better so, in the morning before work!! I don’t know how, but I made it happen…

Then this weekend begins the 20-mile long runs for me. In the past, I made sure that my 20s were on weekends that had either organized long runs (e.g., Bridges Run, LTR #2, Palisades) or long NYRR races (i.e., the 18-mile Tune-Up.) Back in 2006, it meant having to do two 20-milers on back-to-back weekends…which in hindsight, was not a smart move but hey I guess I had to make that mistake to learn from it, right? I will have support for 20-milers #2 and #3, but was unsure what to do for #1. Thankfully, Flyers JM and DG organized a long run up the west side to the GWB and back for this past Saturday. Just add some miles in the park and that will get me to 20-perfect.

Yeah perfect except some idiot guy named Danny was threatening to make this past weekend a washout, Saturday especially. So what can I do? Two options-keep the 20 on Saturday and run in the rain but with company, or wait til Sunday and run it solo. I decided companionship was more important…you know, whatever it takes, I need to get these long runs in, especially the 20-milers. And it doesn’t hurt to be prepared in case of inclement weather on race day.

So that is what I did. I prepped well on Friday nite…carbo-loaded with some pasta and relaxed with some great company 😉 and watched the Yankee game-YAY for another walkoff win!! And hey, they got their game done in the rain, theres no reason I can’t run in it. And I did get up Saturday morning and tell myself I was gonna do it. Unfortunately I slept a little later than originally planned, meaning I would have to do the extra 5-6 miles after the main part of the run instead of before but I’ll deal with that when it happens. Eat, drink, get dressed, apply lotsa bodyglide, put on the Flyers running cap, fill up the fuel belt (catching raindrops in my mouth doesn’t quite cut it in terms of hydration!) and get out the door and run the mile or so to 72nd.

And thankfully, there were quite a few others who decided to brave the elements with me and get their long run in. We actually had a very nice group going of Flyers old and new. The conditions may have been crappy, but the run actually went by pretty quickly and went well. I was feeling strong and steady the entire time, never once felt under-fueled or under-hydrated (gelled every 5 miles and took water when I needed it) and it was nice to find a new route to do long runs on (whenever I run on the west side path, I usually run towards downtown-never have run up in the direction of the GWB before.)

Back at 72nd, main part of run done, 6 miles to go, thankfully JM was doing more mileage, so off we went…around the bottom of the park, up the west side, through the hills, and during that time the rain picked up even more…thankfully we were almost done!! We parted ways at 102nd street where I cut off to run back to the west side. Thanks JM, for pulling me along that far…I got a little over a mile to go…at that point, this was nothing, and I actually felt good enough to pick up the pace a tiny bit-if anything, just to be done quicker!! 🙂 Before I knew it, 20 miles were down and I was walking to Starbucks for a venti skim caramel macchiatto (recovery drink!) 20 miles-done and done!!! And here is how it went…

Pretty consistent, right? And I actually felt like I could have done another mile or 2…or another 10K! 🙂 I’m taking it as a good sign, especially considering my first 20-miler last year was a bit of a struggle. And with my short recovery run today-my weekly mileage climbed from the masters category to the veterans for the first time ever-let’s see if anyone gets that 😉 But it will be back in the masters this week…

And thanks again to my teammates who organized or showed up to the run Saturday-definitely made the wake-up call worth it!! 🙂

after the storm…

I know we’ve had our share of storms this summer, but this latest one was a doozy…

So Tuesday nite. Perfect nite to sip some drinks at the Frying Pan right by the Hudson River…next best thing to being on a boat…oh wait a minute, we were on a boat of sorts 🙂 Not to mention celebrating a certain someone’s “prime” birthday 😉 But then we saw the bolts of lightning. And heard the thunder. And why we didn’t leave right then and there, I don’t know…oh yeah, someone thought this would just be a “heat storm” and there would be no rain. Uh, famous last words, as the skies opened up like crazy. First things first, let’s get the hell away from the water!! Ducked for cover under an awning in front of a school and just tried to wait it out…which took about 15 minutes. And not surprisingly, no cabs were stopping so once it stopped raining, we just subwayed it home (wow, the subways were actually running?) Rumor has it the b-day girl enjoyed this so much she was singing and dancing…or was that the sangria talking? Let me tell you, I didn’t have a lot to drink but I sure sobered up quickly once the rains came…

But even though I didn’t know it at the time, i was lucky I was not uptown, as the UWS got hit majorly hard by the storm-especially Central Park. North of the reservoir, the park drives and bridle paths were just littered by fallen trees and tree branches…I was shocked to read about it and when I saw it with my own eyes yesterday…couldn’t believe my eyes.

The tree by the fountain at 93rd st and the west drive…where we’ve all stopped for water quite a bit, where I’ve used as a start/finish point for West Side Hills repeats…

The Great Hill track, a popular speedwork place for many…

And yeah, that almost caused our crew to resort to a “plan B location” for speed yesterday but thankfully not the case. Just had to go shorter (length of repeats, that is) and sweeter…yeah it was sweet, as despite the humidity and fighting a cold, I felt I really nailed the workout. Of course I had a good rabbit-thanks so much, Moz! With the halfway point of MCM training approaching, the confidence is still there…

On the topic of lightning bolts…or Usain Bolts…the World Champs 200m today…wow. Just wow. He makes it look too damn easy.

rain again?

seriously. enough is enough!!

and stupid me decided to take yesterday as a running rest day and run tonite instead (well considering my legs were still a little tired from Sunday, I guess it wasn’t stupid.) but either I didn’t look at the weather forecast closely or it changed at the last minute, because torrential rain was not in the forecast. at least not 100% chance.

But I still wanted to get in some mileage tonite…rather than worry about cramming everything in at the end of the week. So I decided to try and wait things out…if it’s lessened up to light rain by 7 or 7:30, that’ll work for me. And wouldnt you know it, it stopped raining as soon as I started running…hows that for perfect timing?

And I had the running cap on…partially because I’ll wear it when it’s raining, but partially because…i dunno, I guess I just wasn’t feeling like being loved by the running public tonite and thought I could go incognito…ha, never!! That plan really worked…all you peeps saw through the disguise 😛

And I was even iPod-less for this run!! I know, I know…who am I? But I just decided to leave it at home just in case it started raining hard again. Honestly wasn’t too bad!! Maybe I’ll actually leave it at home occasionally for shorter runs??

All in all, was glad to have gotten it in. A lot on my mind these days…and sometimes I feel that these runs after work are the highlight of my day…the one thing that is keeping me sane, perhaps! 🙂

weekend washout?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sooooo over this weather…yeah, cool weather is great for running. But I’m sorta missing being able to wear all my cute summer dresses.

And the rain is another story…when usually the rain goes away for the weekend, doesn’t seem to be the case this time…and it’s messing with all my weekend running and non-running plans.

Will tonite’s happy hour be outside or will it need to be moved indoors? Tomorrow’s run with the Flyers, will it get called on account of rain (heavy rain-not a drizzle). Should I get in my longer run today instead? And not to mention my plans to watch the 5-miler race in the park on sunday and cheer…but I guess I really have no excuse to wuss out of that :).

So much for global warming, huh? 🙂

"suck it up, cupcake!"

i think i read that expression once on (the formerly) Uptown Girl’s blog….and just thought about it tonite…

So I ran 3 days straight-Saturday, Sunday, and our “First Monday” NYF downtown run. Nice, flat easy run that ended down by South Street Seaport and had us partaking in drinks at Jeremy’s Ale House…which was only worth it for the styrofoam “quarts” of beer. Next time, I will have to partake in one instead of sticking to the pints (right, Laminator?) Oh yeah, it was fun to hang out and chitchat too.

Obviously I was due for a rest day, which I figured I’d do the smart thing and take it yesterday and run today. Of course, I didn’t check the weather forecast and see that yesterday’s conditions seemed much more favorable…when walking home from work today I was thisclose to bagging it and cross-training instead…figuring I could make it up tomorrow or Friday.

But with MCM training starting in 2 1/2 weeks (eek!!) I had to get out of that mindset. I’m gonna have to get the miles in whether I like it or not, and may not be able to reschedule. So before I lost my nerve, I just threw on the running gear and hit the park. The rain had actually slowed to a drizzle…yet the park seemed empty, strange for a Wednesday nite, even stranger considering it was “National Running Day“! But I just felt like I had the park to myself and it was great 🙂

And oh yeah, even though I am kinda sorta tapering for a little 10k this weekend, I injected some speedy stuff in there…some quarter-mile pickups at 10K effort while taking it easy inbetween…felt pretty damn good, felt like I could do more but I know to quit while I am ahead…learning from previous mistakes 🙂

And is it me, or does it seem strange that the first week of June is unseasonably cool and rainy? 😉

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!

it’s tracky

It’s Tracky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time
It’s Tracky…Tr-tr-tr-tracky
(with apologies to Run D.M.C.-but I just had the song in my head and couldn’t resist the tiny modification)

Anyway-yesterday brought me to do speedwork at the East 6th St track, which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Actually-forget “becoming”-it *is* a favorite. And like last week-a tempo-paced workout was in order, and not to go all out. So with the help of a certain great pacing partner, we decided to aim for between 7:30-8:00 pace for the 800 meter intervals…then take it from there for the shorter ones, but not to push the pace too much. And how did it work out?

Interval length	Time	Pace
800m	3:45.90	7:34.44
800m	3:44.10	7:30.82
800m	3:46.24	7:35.12
800m	3:48.49	7:39.65
400m	1:51.43	7:28.32
400m	1:51.49	7:28.56
400m	1:50.34	7:23.94
200m	0:54.20	7:16.13
200m	0:52.70	7:04.06

Pretty damn consistent, right? The pace actually felt pretty good the entire time-didn’t feel like I was “dying” once, even with the shorter recoveries than normal. I don’t know what it is about this track, I always seem to have a great workout here.

Oh!! But this workout is not without just a little drama…as the predicted thunderstorms actually did happen, with about 3 repeats to go. Was crazy-the sky looked greenish, the wind and rain blowing sideways, absolutely pouring, puddles forming on the track…at first we all thought this was crazy fun, but by the time we got to the 2 x 200, we just wanted to be done…hence shortening the last recovery and speeding up a bit!! (but again…still not all-out.) And I was grateful I chose to not wear a light-colored sports bra…you figure out why. :-p

And thankfully, some of us drowned rats were troopers and indulged in some “recovery beverages” (aka beer-Blue Moon for me, of course!) and good eats-thanking my lucky stars that I had dry clothes to change into…

Ahhhh…working from home in the AM, Yankee game in the afternoon, great track workout in the evening followed by after-speed drinks…if that ain’t a perfect day, I don’t know what is :-p

And shockingly-I was awake around 5ish this morning without having to use the alarm…that *never* happens!! Decided to take advantage and run this morning…some nice recovery miles on the bridle path…beautiful morning (but a bit humid!) Leaves me off the hook to squeeze it in tomorrow…since I’m gonna be out tonite as well, not sure if I’ll have the same fortune of happily rolling out of bed before 6 am tomorrow!!

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 🙂

workout. wednesday. wet.

(hehe certain person…i told ya about the title!!)

This post came later than I would have liked, but unfortunately the jury duty assembly room where I spent a good part of today-even though it had free wifi-wouldn’t allow access to secured sites-therefore no blogging. damn. (though compared to the last time I had jury duty in 2003-having free wifi is a blessing!!)

so yeah. wednesday’s workout. the plan was to hit the reservoir and/or the bridle path to avoid the mass of humanity known as the Corporate Challenge. How crowded was it in the park? Well, I had to cross the park drive just to get to the bridle path and even that was work. I actually had to mock-run with the masses for a tiny bit just to get across. yeesh. and it was raining, pouring!! ahhh…in true Corporate Challenge tradition (in the 4 years I did it with my company-either it was raining, or crazy hot.) And yet, I was crazy enough to do speedwork. Go figure. (I guess it was better than the other evil…at least it wasn’t 100 degrees.) So…it was a long-ass workout-a mile on the rez, then a bunch of pickups on the bridle path. The damage is below:

Guess starting off the workout with the fastest mile split I have ever done in a workout was not the best idea!! (OK, beat it by only 1 second. But still.) What happened was that I was in a pack with faster peeps than myself, and they sorta pulled me along (splits for that mile were 3:35/3:42…you get the idea.) I did feel like I was working hard for the rest of the workout (and the heart was definitely working hard), though the splits didn’t show it…though the consensus was that the GPS signal is weaker on the bridle path and I could possibly add .01 mile to those pickups (cuz as we know, that can make a difference when it comes to pace…)

But all in all, I guess not too shabby. And wouldn’t you know it, the minute we got over to the west side, it stopped raining…hmmm, maybe that’s a sign or something!! Though the bridle path was a mess…boy did I get dirty :-p

And funny moment of the night…we saw lots of Corporate Challenge people cutting the course, on the bridle path, on the reservoir, whatever….i jokingly yelled at one of those times “somebody get their bib number and DQ them!!” yeah right…like it’s possible for anyone to get DQed in that race…no chip timing, seemingly no rules as well!!

vanity miles

OK…upon hearing the initial forecast yesterday, at first it was gonna be solely a cross-training day. But the yoga class I was gonna take wasn’t til 8:15…I should probably try and sneak in some time on the dreadmill while I’m at the gym.

But I left work and saw that the sky really didn’t look all that threatening and thought “hmmm, maybe i can sneak in a lap or 2 of the bridle path before yoga instead of running on the dreadmill.”

And I was gonna do that. Had the running shoes on, the Garmin on, the whole nine yards…but I had barely gotten to the park when I saw the lightning and heard the thunder and turned around…really didn’t want to chance it. And once I got home…I was debating whether I wanted/needed to sneak in any extra dreadmill time. But vanity won out…I thought about jogbra season, the upcoming Underwear Run, and that forced me out the door and through the torrential downpour (SO glad I bailed on running outside!) to the gym and got in 2.3 vanity miles (all I had time to fit in!)-all I had time to fit in (rush hour at NYSC, gotta wait for a treadmill!) but better than nothing…right?

Yep, I guess just like 10 years ago, vanity was the motivator once again…boy do I need help!! 🙂

i need to stop checking the weather

Forecast for Sunday don’t look too good…

Yeah I know it’s still 4 days out and it can change…but I still don’t have to like it. Well if it does happen, I just hope my 15K and 2 half-marathons in the rain back in 2006 prepped me enough for this…

(or if there would be a window of no rain, say between 8 and 10 am, I’d love that too 🙂 )