pumped up kicks

And on the topic of pumped up kicks, I haven’t had a shoe post in awhile!

Well first off, a warning out to those who love the Adidas Adioses as much as I do.  I heard awhiles back that the “upgrade”-the Adios 2’s-would be more of a lightweight trainer and less like a racing flat.  Not wanting to deal with having to deviate from the perfect racing flat, I immediately stockpiled a few pairs, which should last me til next year I think?  And it was a good thing, because I actually got to try out the Adios 2’s a coupla weeks back when an Adidas rep came to our workout.  My suspicions were confirmed-felt like a totally different shoe…more substantial and not as flexible.  (of course, this was also 2 days post-NYC Half…)

And my marathon shoe?  Well even though I talked about the Brooks Launch here as being my marathon shoe…i dunno, for whatever reason I fell out of love with them.

Enter the Brooks PureFlows.

I had heard very good things about Brooks’ PureProject line, and I actually had my eye on these shoes even before NYCM (but figured it was too late to switch then)  These felt awesome from the minute I tried them out-like how they had the feel of a racing flat but are substantial enough for a marathon.  And yes, these will be my Boston shoes.  Well not this pair exactly…as I had to get a fresher pair for the big day and so I had to go with the color update…

I guess these shoes won't clash with the hot pink socks? 🙂

And of course, one of those shoes will be wearing my lucky Yankee charm on race day 🙂

Shifting to running fashion-I got to give a shout to lululemon for my new favorite shorts-their Shorty Shorts.

yeah, this obviously ain't me.

These have the stamp of approval to be my marathon short-I wore these on my Palisades 20-miler and they worked liek a charm-I had wanted a pair of fitted shorts with pockets, and these have 5!  (well actually 7, but I don’t quite trust the 2 on the front of the legs)  Plus they did not ride up once (thanks to some grippy silicone at the bottom.)  So I got the shorts and shoes-jury is still out on the pink socks-if it’s warm I may ditch them, just gotta decide on the top.

And I have my post-race apparel all ready to go…right now just hanging up in my closet, waiting 12 more days to be worn 🙂

adios part dos

So as mentioned previously, I was looking into getting another pair of Adidas Adioses…whether I was gonna stick with the watermelon candy color or try the new one was to be determined.  Which one did I go with?  Without further ado…

this pic doesn’t even do justice to how neon-y these shoes are…

Yep, I decided to go with the pink…or as I was informed, the color was called “turbo.”  OK, maybe that doesn’t scream “look at me, look at me” as much as “neon pink” does, but “turbo” does sound fast.

And believe me, these do get noticed.  I broke them in at my track workout and when just waiting around some random stranger says that she spotted my shoes halfway down the block.  Plus just walking to/from the subway I felt they were getting looks.  I like it though!  Glad I went with these instead of the greens.

Last nite had short stuff on tap-10 x 200.

Interval	Time	Pace
1	0:45.30	6:04.52
2	0:45.89	6:09.26
3	0:44.70	5:59.69
4	0:45.03	6:02.34
5	0:44.40	5:57.27
6	0:44.55	5:58.48
7	0:44.17	5:55.42
8	0:44.28	5:56.31
9	0:43.69	5:51.56
10	0:43.32	5:48.58

Given my target was my normal VO2max pace of 50 secs per 200 (with the blessing to take it down to 48-49 if need be) I guess these were a bit on the fast side.  But still felt good, and hey at least I was consistent, and didn’t blow out the first interval and get significantly slower for the rest of them.  200s may sound easy (especially compared to the previous week’s 1200s!), but the quanitity, plus the short rest, makes it hard.

So glad the shoes are still working for me…I’m actually debating whether to wear them for my upcoming half.  Or do I stick with my performance trainers (the Brooks Launches)?  Decisions, decisions…

And though it may be just the middle of my running week, thankfully my workweek is over!  Yay for 5-day holiday weekend.  Tomorrow I’m hitting up some hills…then hitting up the US Open!  It must be love… 😛

it’s gotta be the shoes…

OK, I don’t really think the shoes are to thank for my running lately, but I realized I haven’t had a running shoe post in quite awhile and since this time last year, most of my rotation has been pretty much overhauled.  So I present to you, the the footwear that will get me through this NYCM training season:

Brooks Defyance 4 (8.8 oz)-the “workhorses” aka my go-to training shoe.  God bless Brooks for not messing with a good thing (yes, I’m looking at you, Asics!) as this is the third model of Defyances I’ve worn and they still work and work well.  To be used on easy/recovery days.

Brooks Launch (7.5 oz)-my “in-between” lightweight trainer.  Pretty much a lighter version of the Defyance, I’m really liking these so far.  Great for longer tempo runs and I’ve used them on my last 2 long runs as I’m hoping on making these my marathon shoe.  (and didn’t those last 2 long runs go very well?  hmmmm)

Adidas Adizero Adios (6.1 oz)-my wicked fast and flashy racing shoes, also used for track workouts.  LOVE THESE.  If you remember correctly, i did try these on last year and they didn’t fit right, well what a difference they make with a women’s-specific fit.  Minimal but stable-perfect!!  And unlike any of the previous racers I’ve used, I’m already looking into getting another pair-now the only question is do i get another watermelon candy green pair like the ones I have now or the flashy neon pink (on the shoes in the link?) 🙂

So this terrific trio of shoes are working very well together-and I can only hope they stay in perfect harmony for the next 3 months and longer!! 🙂

And of course, I gotta give some credit to the recently retired shoes that are gone but not forgotten…

Brooks Defyance 3-I went through several pairs of these and they did me good.  These aren’t completely “retired” just yet, I have one pair that’s used on bad weather days (or if I’m running on muddy terrain)

Adidas Tempo-I don’t know why, but this year I kinda stopped liking them.  I wore them in the Brooklyn Half and honestly wasn’t feeling the love for it.  They have since been replaced with the Brooks Launches but still have a place in my shoe closet as the shoes I wear to the gym 🙂

Saucony Fastwitch 3-my first pair of racing shoes.  Good for my first pair of racers, but I always felt something better was out there.

Nike LunaRacer 2-they may have looked pretty, but after awhile I felt like my legs/ankles were too wobbly when i was wearing them…not enough support, even when wearing my orthotics.  (you can sorta tell in this photo…especially on my right side)

Saucony Kinvara-oh man….I really, really wanted to like these shoes.  After they’ve gotten such great reviews from teammates and friends.  They have less than 30 miles on them and yet…I have no desire to put them on any time soon.  Just another one that I wasn’t really feeling the love for.  That said, when I was wearing them it was wintertime and I wasn’t in the best of shape…wonder if I should give them another try?  (but why mess with the equation if I don’t have to…)

I sorta feel like Carrie Bradshaw, talking in such depth about the merits of all my different shoes! 🙂

Finally, this is blog post #800!!  This time it took me a year and 3 months to get from #700 to 800…maybe I don’t need a life as much now than I did when I went only a few months between century posts? 🙂

testing, testing…is this thing still on?

Oh hi there!!  Yep, I have been MIA in blogland for the past 2 weeks…even better than my recent slackerdom of one post a week 😛  Between the holiday craziness at work (2-day workweek before Thanksgiving?  Still have to do 5 days worth of work since the show must go on, even on Thanksgiving when almost every office is closed!) and running blahs, just hadn’t had much to report.

Oh yeah, that thing…running.  I feel like I really haven’t had consistent mileage since Chicago.  It’s getting tougher with the colder weather, more darkness and people choosing to stay indoors.  (I actually made it to a Flyers group run in Central Park last nite-first one since moving to Midtown…and only 2 other people were there!)  Plus apparently speedwork is on hiatus in December.  I guess I understand the need for a break but part of me is like “well I already had my break in October…I want to keep going, build back up!”  And speaking of speedwork, the hill workouts I’ve had the last coupla weeks showed me that I have committed a serious training error the last few months-too many West Side Highway runs, not enough Central Park runs…hence I am not hill trained.  So even though the West Side Highway is closer to my place now (and has less crowded streets to run through to get there, unlike Central Park where I have to run up 8th or 9th ave…which can be a zoo at times) I’m gonna have to limit those runs and run more in Central Park.

And I hope this doesn’t hurt me too much in the Joe Kleinerman 10K on Sunday.  At the very least, we get Harlem Hill out of the way in mile 1, but Cat Hill in mile 5 may give me trouble.  We’ll see what happens, I’m really not expecting to PR, I’ll be happy to get under 50 minutes.  But I actually have a bottle of Blue Point Blueberry Ale in the fridge…maybe I should drink that Saturday nite.  As I did have that the nite before the Kleinerman 10K 2 years ago…and I didn’t have a bad race at all.  Still deciding on the attire as it looks to be chilly Sunday morning.  Shoes-it’s a toss-up between my Saucony Fastwitches or the Lunar Racers.  Yeah…don’t think I’ll be utilizing the Kinvaras on Sunday-sorry, Kinvara Mafia 😛  Even though they felt good on a regular easy run, I haven’t really loved them in speed workouts, therefore sorta iffy about using them in a race.  Maybe I should just use the Kinvaras on short, easier runs…?

That’s it for now…want to save material for other posts!!  But before I go, I just had to post this:

My dog brother’s first visit to my apartment!!  And he was incredibly well-behaved.  Amazing how much he has grown since you all saw him last about 6 months ago…but he’s still the cutest dog I’ve ever seen! 🙂

shoe porn

(prediction-spam comments will go through the roof after this post.)

Ahhhhh nothing like a brand new, snazzy pair of new shoes.  Aren’t they beautiful?  Such a guilty pleasure sometimes…umm all the time 😛

So I guess I was gonna join the Saucony Kinvara bandwagon eventually.  Though I didn’t think that was the case back in June, when I tried them on and wasn’t crazy about them.  But over the past few months I have heard more rave reviews about them and last weekend when I stopped by the downtown Urban Athletics store after the race I decided to give these a second chance, and for whatever reason, they felt better.  Maybe the orange version is a better fit than the originals (which I have read may be the case), or maybe the legs felt better trying these on in cooler weather instead of after a hot humid run.  Either way, I liked em, and took them on their maiden voyage this past week and passed with flying colors (no pun intended.)  Looking forward to integrating them into some speedier workouts in the next few weeks, in addition to whenever I race again.  (And my next pair will definitely be these hot pink ones…hehe!)

Speaking of racing, thanks for all the comments on my last post-I’m glad to know that I’m not alone and that there are others who have been/are in the same boat as me 🙂  In terms of the last few weeks, I have trying to build back up…I have done 2 speed workouts, but as the workouts catered more towards those tapering for NYC, it was tempo and not really anything that would benefit shorter races.  It’s possible my legs have also been in long distance mode for so long that they don’t know how to do anything but distance, speed-wise…

And speaking of long distance (again, love all the transitions, hehe!) I actually got another email back from the B.A.A. which looks like a form email that they’ve sent to anyone with an inquiry about 2012:

Thank you for your email and your questions regarding the 2012 Boston Marathon. Following the unprecedented interest for the 2011 Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. has begun a full review of entry procedures. While it will take some time to consider our options, please be assured that the B.A.A. is giving the comments and questions that we have recently received full consideration. We are currently working on the qualifying and entry procedure for the 2012 Boston Marathon. We feel confident we will be able to announce our plans by the beginning of the new year. Feel free to contact us again at that time or refer to our web site a http://www.bostonmarathon.org for further details.

So. That’s where that’s at, hoping that they are true to their word about when the 2012 guidelines will be announced so that I could salvage a spring marathon if need be.  And actually, a plan just may be in the works but I will not divulge any details now…very beginning stages.

And speaking of marathons, it’s NYC Marathon weekend!!  The city will be one big party celebrating all things running 🙂   As for me, I plan to hit up the expo after work today since even though the expo has had better years, its such a candy store for a runner.  (And plus, I need to get compression sox that coordinate better with the Kinvaras.  The hot pink ones just won’t do.)  So of course, will be dropping money on stuff I probably don’t need but really really want 🙂  And I’m sure my neighborhood is gonna be filled with the out-of-towners with their UPS bags (as I’m within walking distance of both the Javits Center and the NYC Public Library.)  Tomorrow, I plan to run in Central Park so I can see the finish line and some of the mile markers up 🙂

Race day?  Once again, will be at the PowerGel station with the Flyers (exact flavor TBD.)  I hope to see a lot of you bloggers and other readers out there!!  Gimme a shout so I know to look for you!! 🙂

And best of luck to all on Sunday!!  Trust your training…you got this…now go get it! 🙂

flipping quarters

Nope, not calling “heads” or “tails,” but more what Thursday’s workout was.  The theme for this week with the heat wave coming back was to cut the volume but keep the effort level as high as possible.  So Thursday would be “quarters”…about .25 mile with full recoveries, and I was cut off after 5 intervals (which was definitely a good thing!)  And it was…

Distance	Time	Pace
0.24 mi	1:29	6:10
0.24 mi	1:33	6:31
0.24 mi	1:32	6:24
0.24 mi	1:32	6:26
0.24 mi	1:31	6:25

Way too fast at first, but settled into some consistency. I still don’t like short intervals!! I can honestly say I’m looking forward to running a “nice, easy 20K” on Monday…that pace seems much more to my liking.

Went home to recover with a beer and the US Open (skipped Shake Shack unlike Tuesday nite though-grabbed a burger and fries after Tuesday’s workout since, well, I do pass it on the way home 😛 )

And tore into my “bag of goodies” that had arrived for me a day earlier…

OK I have to say, Running Warehouse rocks. Great prices, great customer service, super-quick free shipping and they throw in this cool bag for me to carry the goods home from work 🙂  So what did I have to buy?  First off, I was well overdue for a new pair of Brooks Defyance, as my current ones are over 400 miles and are close to retirement…plus I need to start breaking in the pair that I will be running Chi-town in (sorta leaning towards the Defyance instead of the Adidas Tempos, which I wore in the half)  And as for the other…

Ahh, a pair of awesomely obnoxious hot pink compression socks.  I have seen these CEP Compression Socks around before, and Shelby gave these a glowing review on her blog last month too.  And they felt absolutely awesome on my legs after the workout.  They are gonna get a test run during my last 20-miler…as they may very well be part of my Chicago Marathon “costume.”  More to come on that!

And in my next post…the last weekend of summer fun!!

love at first sight

“And everything went from wrong to right…It was love at first sight…”

Hmmm…there hasn’t been any Kylie Minogue on the bloggy for quite some time, so figured I’d bring it back for a post.  And how, you may ask, does that tie into things?  Obviously it doesn’t refer to me meeting Mr. Right (not holding my breath on that one), but actually refers to these pretty little things:

Ah, the Nike LunaRacer 2’s. I’ll admit it. I’ve had my eye on these for awhile.  And last week I finally gave in and snatched up a pair (nothing wrong with my Saucony Fastwitches, but the model I had has been phased out…so ya know.)  Of course, the burning question…will they run as good as they look?

Running the mile over to Urban…so far so good.  Now how will they handle a combo VO2 max/tempo workout?  As it turned out, very well!

2 x 600 @ 5K pace:

Split	Time	Distance	Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
1	2:33	0.37	6:58	147	171
2	2:32	0.37	6:51	151	173

Maybe a little fast for “5K pace”, then again the one chance I had at 5K was in almost 100% humidity…but the good thing was that I felt like I had to hold back a little.  Save the legs for the tempo portion…

	Time	Distance	Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
Lap 1	5:13	0.68	7:40	153	173
Lap 2	5:01	0.68	7:24	168	172
Total	10:14	1.36	7:31	161	173

Still felt like I was running within myself, felt a helluva lot better than the previous week’s tempo.  Despite last week’s fiasco, I actually like tempo work, I feel like I can run at that pace forever (well not really forever but you know what I mean.)  So I was a little disappointed when the 2nd tempo interval got swapped for an all-out one…but gotta roll with it anyway. 

Time	Distance	Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
4:35	0.69	6:39	167	175

Oh this one was definitely hard, but just kept thinking to suck it up for less than 5 minutes and I’m done.  And had a decent kick at the end…of course that may have been helped by the coach yelling to “catch her up ahead!”  OK, I didn’t know if he was talking to me, or to the girl in front of me but whatever, at the very least it’s good practice for the last 200-400m of the Team Champs 5M next weekend 🙂  Cool down, run home, knock back a Honey Moon 🙂

As for the shoes-I know I seem to say this about every single new pair of shoes I obtain, but these are definitely the best I’ve had in a long time…I will admit for the longest time, I didn’t think Nike shoes were meant for “serious runners”-I sorta blame the Shox line of shoes for that.  But the LunarRacers definitely live up to the hype.  And how exactly did they feel during the workout?  Well I’m gonna borrow what a good friend said once last year about another kind of Nikes…because these words definitely apply in this case too:

“…it’s like riding on fresh bed of air.  It’s like the best first date you’ve ever had…ya know when everything is going right and you are saying anything and she is laughing…well, that’s this shoe…it’s perfect.  I felt like it gave back more energy than I was putting into it.   It seemed like I was already setting up my next stride without even thinking about it.   I will be interested to see how this shoe does a month down the road, but for today I can’t say enough good things about the Lunar Trainer.”

OK, change the “she” to “he” and “Lunar Trainer” to “LunarRacer” and you got my description of the shoe.  And gotta love that someone else does the running shoes/dating comparison too…hehe no wonder we get along so well 😉

Can’t wait to be sporting these sex-ay new racers at next weekend’s race 🙂

tempo in tempos

With a week and a half to go til the Brooklyn Half, last nite’s tempo workout could not have been better timed.  Perfect way for me to practice half-marathon pace, no? 🙂  But it seemed that this workout was also a lesson in patience…

Well first off was 2 x 600 with a little rest inbetween…to sorta gauge the pace/effort we should be running for the bulk of the workout.  Although I swear I was holding back, I ran the first 600 about 10 seconds faster than I was supposed to 😛  So I really tried to pull it back for the 2nd…hell, I was still able to chat!  OK, still a few seconds fast, but much better.

So the bulk of the workout was 1100 meter loops continuous…2 minimum with an optional 3rd.  Target per loop was 5:30, and the first 2 were dead on…I did have someone else to pace with, which was really good.  When I finished the 2nd loop, one of the coaches asked if I wanted to continue on for a 3rd and I was like “bring it on!”  And I was able to pick the pace up ever so slightly (hey dontcha always want to run negative splits in a workout? 🙂 ) and finish strong…of course, it may have helped being lapped by some of the speedsters near the end ;-)…maybe I was trying to stick with them?  (nahhh…)

The damage from last nite:

Again, it felt pretty comfortable…was even chatting during the 2nd loop and wasn’t breathing heavy.  So maybe sub-1:45 in Brooklyn is possible?  And if anything, this almost felt too slow for a tempo effort…or maybe this was just the coaches trying to save me from myself 🙂

Yeah, Brooklyn.  I think I’m ready.  Did my last long run this past Saturday…15 miles-7 hilly in Central Park, 8 flat along the West Side Highway.  Kinda sorta mimicking the half course 🙂  Felt pretty good, though fighting the wind tired me out.  And I apologize to everyone running behind me on the west side path, as I didn’t check the wind forecast and wore some very wind-unfriendly shorts (same shorts and effect shown here at Grete’s Half 2008).  So I guess I won’t be wearing those shorts on race day 😛  The outfit has not been decided yet, but I decided I will be wearing my Adidas Tempos…which I ran in to do the tempo run last nite (hence the post title 🙂 )

Though I did a little shoe shopping at Urban Athletics after the workout…as I finally found my gift certificate for free shoes for pacing the 3-bridges run last September (I didn’t redeem it right away due to the marathon and the injury, so I misplaced it for awhile…doh!) and I decided I wanted to buy a sweet pair of racing shoes for short distances.  So I tried on a couple and ran a little in them (even ran with a different shoe on each foot to compare and contrast!) and wound up with the Saucony Fastwitch 3…don’t they look nice?  (Lam, you will be happy with my decision 😉 )  And they feel nice too…I liked them from the minute I put them on-while I think the other pair I tried on, I was trying to convince myself to like because they looked cool (the Adidas AdiZero Adios.)

So my cool new shoes will get a debut performance on the track early next week…gonna be doing a mile time trial!!  Excited, but nervous.  On one hand, it’s gonna be hella cool running on the track at Icahn Stadium.  And I was assured that this would be a good tune-up for the half…hell if I run well, it will be a nice confidence booster heading into next Saturday.  But I’ve only run the mile once in my life…about 6 years ago.  And didn’t really feel the love for it.  But I guess I do have to remember that I wasn’t training smart back in 2004 and I am now…time and maturity has got to make a world of difference.  Or will it?  Guess I’ll find out in a week…

“nice package!”

okay, now that I have your attention… 🙂

So I actually showed up to three Flyer group runs this past week.  Three!  Who am I? 😛  In addition to Monday’s run, I also showed up Wednesday, knowing the leaders are pretty laid back and that there would be an option to do less than 6 miles, which was appreciated, and the pace was nice and relaxed.

Then this past Saturday, the Flyers were presented with an opportunity for some free swag of sorts, courtesy of New Balance.  All attendees got a free pair of NB’s new NP Shorts to try out for a run (and keep!) and give feedback on.  And these were pretty nice shorts!!  I know the mens’ version was a little long for some peeps’ tastes (kinda like basketball shorts), the women’s were a nice length-not too long or too short.  Unfortunately by the time I got there, they had run out of smalls…which I thought may not be that bad, as I thought that NB runs smaller?  (at least that was what I remembered with the first generation of their running skirts, and another pair of their shorts that I had a few years back)  But as it turned out, the medium was a little big, but I solved that by folding the waistband down-perfect.  So maybe NB tweaked their sizing since I last checked.  Material was very nice and lightweight (similar to my beloved Sugoi “naked shorts”) and there is a side pocket-always a bonus!! 

Of course free swag would mean record turnout for the Saturday morning group run (which I will admit I haven’t attended in a long time-partially due to injury recovery, partially due to not wanting to set the alarm if I don’t have to.)  So that meant lotsa company.  I ran the loop with Flyers CK, KM and KB and we had a pretty good run…pace maybe a little quicker than I would have ideally liked, but was still chatty.  And we were laughing about all the signs that New Balance put up around the park to advertise this new NP collection…guess they want to make their image “sexier” or something?  For god’s sake, one of the signs said something like “NP means Nice Package” or something similar, I kid you not.  And the free swag didn’t stop with the shorts, also got a free NP singlet-really nice material (though once again, no smalls left…but hey free is free, right?  It’ll shrink in the wash…)  Thanks to New Balance, and everyone in the Flyer camp who organized this-was definitely a treat!

And I was looking to use this as part of my long run for the week.  Initial plan was was to front-load beforehand…but the snooze button won out, so I was only able to get in one mile while running to the meeting place.  So afterwards, I ran home to drop off some of the stuff, grabbed the iPod, and did a 4-mile loop…13 for the day.  Rewarded with some ice, a nap, and a cookie (mmmm…Levain Bakery chocolate chip walnut!)

So this morning, I just wanted to get in a short run, nothing more than 4 miles.  So figured I could get it in while watching some of the 4-mile race in Central Park this morning.  And I also used it to try out my new trainers…the Brooks Defyance 3!  Which thankfully I liked as much as their predecessors, if not more.  (Which never happens with shoe “upgrades”!  At least that was the case with Asics…)  And wow, what it took to track these down.  I had gone to 2 locations of Jackrabbit Sports early last week and neither location had these in-apparently it’s been quite a hot item!  But was able to nab a pair this past Friday (and finally use the gift card that I had gotten for Chanukah!)  So anyway tried them out…thumbs up.  Watched a bit of the race and then had a nice brunch with a good friend 😉

So far, things are still on track…taking it week by week.  I had originally planned to race a 5K next Sunday, however a last-minute family obligation may throw a wrench in the works and force me to resort to “Plan B” and a different race…stay tuned!!

i pity the fool

And today’s post is brought to you by no other than Mr. T…yep “First name: Mister; middle name: period; last name T!”

Sooo it’s April Fool’s Day.  And thankfully, no one was able to pull one over on me.  Yet. 🙂 

But I’m sure everyone in the running community has seen the following link today…be it on Facebook, Twitter, Daily Mile, message boards, blogs, what have you…  http://mybaa.org/BostonMarathon/2011.html

And so when you click on the link…well looky looky here:

Oh wait…it gets better…here is that box that the arrow is pointing to, enlarged:

Now I really didn’t fall for this one (I think the fact that almost every other link on that website was broken is a dead giveaway of sorts) but I know others did.  But dear god, this would be my nightmare.  3:30?  No chance.  (Though I wish if the qualifying times are gonna be changed, that it be announced soon…I mean, I should know what marathon time I need to train for and target…no?)

Getting away from running, I wish that the results of this week’s Dancing With The Stars was an early April Fool’s joke!!  How the hell did Kate Gosselin not be in the bottom 2?  I really hope that the viewers aren’t keeping her around just to watch her be a trainwreck…someone deserving of staying around another week shouldn’t have to take the fall for her.  But Evan’s still around, so I’m happy…

And back to running just briefly…debating what shoes to wear for Saturday’s 10K.  Take a chance with the almost-new, once-worn Adidas Tempos?  Or stick with the tried and true Asics DS-Trainers?  Though this is not really a goal race for me, I wouldn’t cry or anything if I happened to run under 50 minutes…

feelin’ spring-y

Three days (and a possible fourth) in a row of spring weather, even before the official start of the season?  Hey, the weather gods owed NYC a lot after this past winter…

So Tuesday night was my first run in my new lightweight trainers…yep, after a coupla years, it was time to bid the Asics DS-Trainers farewell…as a matter of fact, seems like I’m moving away from Asics completely…I just don’t like what they’ve been doing to the shoes…making the heel units too “busy” or something…it just completely changes the feel of the shoe.  So last week, I had stopped by Urban Athletics before the Flyers‘ board meeting, and tried on a coupla pairs of lightweight trainers before ultimately deciding on the Adidas AdiZero Tempo.  Hey, I like the name already…and look nice too.  Now all I needed was a non-rainy day to road test them, which turned out to be Tuesday.

So I had a hunch that the park was going to be a zoo, due to all the hibernators in addition to the teams who were regularly there on Tuesday nites.  Whatever, I’m running anyway 🙂  And I don’t know if it was the great weather or the new shoes, but this was the best run I had since before my injury.  Was listening to my playlist from Grete’s 2008…ahhh good songs, good memories.  I also worked in 5 x 1 minute fast (w/ 3 min recovery) to test the shoes and the waters with speed/pickups…paces for the pickups were 6:54, 7:15, 7:58 (had to do some dodging on the very crowded lower loop-slowed me down a little), 7:21, 7:04 (which included part of the hill by Tavern!)  Even a friend who saw me in passing during one of the non-pickups said it looked like I was “cruising.”  And once again, the (sh)IT band stayed quiet…maybe, just maybe have I turned a corner?

So yesterday, even though the weather was great again, I had planned to make it a gym day.  I think this is gonna be the toughest thing-forcing myself to cross-train indoors when the weather is nice but I gotta stick with it if I want to stay on the road to recovery.  So I planned to do a yoga class yesterday evening, as I didn’t have any St. Patrick’s Day plans-honestly I can take or leave it (unlike my brother, who took the day off from work-and he’s not even Irish!).  But the co-workers decided on an impromptu get-together at our usual favorite Brass Monkey…as it also was a perfect day to have beers on their roof deck.  So…compromise-I only went for one beer, and stuck with that plan…and was still able to make it to my class (well the fact that it was at 8:15 helped).  And surprisingly, the pint of Blue Moon consumed didn’t affect my balance at all…or maybe it wore off by then 🙂

And can’t have March without March Madness!!  Kicks off today (and my brother not only took yesterday off from work, but today and tomorrow…not just to nurse his hangover, but to watch the 1st round games!  talk about taking this stuff seriously…)  And yes, doing another pool in the office…and as it’s an even year, I hope to finish in the money once again 🙂

what to wear, what to wear…

No, I’m actually not talking about attire for a change, be it running/race/marathon apparel or “dress to impress” apparel.  Nope, I’m actually talking about running shoes…figure while I’m still 2 months out, I can ponder what shoes to wear on marathon day.

So in my first 2 marathons, I wore my regular trainers (Asics Cumulus 7 in 2006 and the Cumulus 9s) in 2008.  I do have a pair of lightweight “performance” shoes, which I use specifically for speedwork and races-up to the half-marathon distance and I love them (so much that I just got another pair, even though they got discontinued last year!)  But…I’m sorta thinking about wearing those on marathon day…

So without further ado, here are the contenders:

In this corner, weighing 9.1 ounces…the Brooks Defyance 2-my “everyday” trainer (which I do love as well!)
And in the other corner, weighing 7.6 ounces…the Asics DS-Trainer 13-my lightweight “performance” shoe

So I’d love some input from the masses…providing I do a 20-miler in them and it goes OK, is a lightweight shoe like the DS-Trainers OK for the marathon distance?  Or is it better to be safe and stick with the regular trainers, as the marathon distance would require a more substantial shoe?  I have a lofty time goal in mind for MCM, as you all know, so it may mean taking some chances (within reason, of course.)  Any words of advice one way or the other greatly appreciated…I’m sure there are quite a few of you out there who have more experience with this than I do!!

And I looked at my mileage for August…holy sh*t, I ran 198 miles in August!!  (to be fair, there were 5 weekends instead of 4, meaning 5 long runs.)  If I had run on Monday, I could have gone over 200 miles for August…but I scrapped a run (but moved it to Tuesday) in favor of a yoga class-as my bod desperately needed the stretching and the quads were still feeling last week’s race and the 20-miler a little bit…so decided to listen to my body instead of chasing a number which…how significant really is it?  Either way, still my highest monthly mileage total ever…

acclimating

With great, yet late nites on friday and saturday…I knew morning runs were not on the agenda this weekend :). But that’s quite alright…gotta continue my efforts to get used to the heat…I mean the method to my madness worked last year, right?

Lucky 13 great miles on the west side hwy yesterday…and I swear I am liking these Brooks Defyances more and more every time I wear them. If I were to keep with the dating theme…its like the guy that you just take a chance on…and it works for you better than you ever expected. Getting away from that, I just think I may have found my perfect shoe for MCM!

Followed that up with some easy, shady bridle path miles today to get me to 30 this week! With the exception of next week (“tapering” for the Mini 10K)-i hope to keep that up until its go time on June 22nd…

In other news, I discovered that no taxicabs like going from the UES to the UWS at around 5 pm on a saturday. That damn east side-west side rivalry I guess. Well cabbies, no fare for you. 😛

And I am writing this post on my latest tech toy…ditched the Treo and picked up a brand-spanking new BlackBerry Curve-and already I can say its a huge upgrade.

And closing out the weekend by helping a certain crazy bandanahead celebrate his b-day… 😉

"fun run" vs. "fun" run

Ahhhh what a difference 20-something degrees can make:
last Sunday-80-something degree hilly 13.1 mile “fun run”=torture.
yesterday-60 degree flat 11 mile “fun” run=awesome.

the unseasonable heat finally broke later in the week, however bringing rain with it. yesterday I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get a long run in…however after sleeping off my share of martini consumption from the previous night, I saw a window where I could get my run in and just went for it.

And what a 180 it was from the previous weekend…where I was struggling to maintain 9:15-9:30s. Maybe it was the cool weather, maybe it was the flat surface of the West Side Highway path, maybe it was the music on the iPod, maybe it was the bouncy new-shoe feel of my last pair of Cumulus 9’s on their 3rd run, but I was just clicking off very consistent 8:4x miles for the bulk of the run, without really pushing at all…just felt very smooth. Don’t plan on this being a habit…but hey I’ll take a good run where I can get it. Running can be heartbreaking like that, I don’t know if my next run will repeat the torture of last weekend or something like that…

And on the topic of last weekend’s “fun run”…there was lotsa heated discussion about that during the week…which included, but was not limited to…
If it was co-ed, would it still have been canceled? Uh…anyone remember Chicago 2007? (not to mention all the snowy, icy co-ed NYRR races that were made into fun runs…even distances as short as 4 miles!)
There was no notice…ok, I’ll give em that. As I said before, I think that as soon as the heat advisories went up, there should have been some notice that there could be heat-related adjustments to the race…live and learn.
NYRR should give them spots in the NYC marathon to “make up” for it…um…apples and oranges there.
Bottom line was that this was a “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t situation” for NYRR. Yeah, there were (understandably) a lot of upset women-but I’m sure that if the show still went on and if, god forbid, a runner died or something else due to the heat-NYRR would have been chastized for not making it a fun run. Hindsight is always 20/20….

Changing the topic a little-I got new shoes yesterday!! The Brooks Defyance 2, which will hopefully, hopefully be the perfect replacement for my beloved Asics Cumulus 9s…as I am on my last pair and both the 10s and the brand-spankin’ new 11’s are a no-go. (Anyone else feel that Asics have made the heel units on their trainers a little too…busy or something?) With MCM training starting near the end of June, I want to get the shoe situation squared away long before then. And I give a big thumbs-up to the new JackRabbit store on the Upper East Side…the person who helped me was great, helped me try on several pairs and come to an educated decision…was between the Defyance and the Mizuno Wave Rider 12s, but the Brooks just won out by a hair (was that close!) Now I just need a dry day this week to try out the new shoes on the road….

day 1: done!

Well this marathon training season started off rather uneventfully. Approx 7 miles last nite with the downtown crew-first run I’ve done with these guys in awhile (either usually recovering from something or had some kinda conflict on Monday or there were thunderstorms.) Rained a bit before the run, but stopped just as we were getting started. Wanting to save my legs for more quality workouts this week, I didn’t go with the rabbits and instead stuck with the “easy does it” peeps. Kept a nice, consistent 10 minute pace-well except for one mile where Mr. Garmin went flukey and said it was 8:02 and that I hit a max pace of negative 0:44 per mile…um yeah, right. All the “funny stuff” in the world wouldn’t make that happen. Heart rate averaged around 130, which is actually really low for an easy run!! Well, I guess this means I didn’t trash my body and it’ll be good to go for the rest of this week!! 🙂

And yesterday, I unfortunately noted one downfall to my fave running store in the city…no refunds. I brought back my Cumulus 10s yesterday, hoping for a refund but unfortunately got a store credit. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll use it eventually, but considering right now, I’m gonna have to drop some cash to snatch up a coupla pairs of the Cumulus 9’s, it would have come in handy right now. What can you do…

The Olympic trials are seriously messing with my sleep schedule!! Thank god they are not on tonite, and that I am off from work on Thursday and Friday and can sleep in!! Yesterday was definitely an exciting day in track and field…

• A “come from behind” sprint in the last 200 yards of the mens 800m for Nick Symmonds and Andrew Wheating to finish first and second…and third place-and the final Beijing spot-decided literally by a crash to the line.
• The women’s 800m, the 3rd Beijing spot coming down to who could get the A standard…the third place finisher didn’t have it, so the 4th place finisher got it-and she may not have even made the final had there not been a protest after the crash in the semis…
• The possiblity of the decathlon AR being broken in the trials…came down to the last event-so close!! Will it fall in China?

But-was not too thrilled about the coverage of the womens 5K semis and mens 5K final being interrupted for the field events…but I guess I do understand that not everyone finds watching running in circles as exciting as I do, and may prefer the field events. But it doesn’t mean that the breakaways weren’t poorly timed…like for example, they cut away when Jen Rhines took the lead near the end!! (did they take a cue from the 2006 NYCM coverage?)

But man…if this is any indication, I am gonna be useless during the Olympics if a lot of these things are being shown late at nite (on tape delay of course!) And it’s gonna be sooo tough to avoid spoilers…

the never-ending shoe saga

oy vey…here we go again.

So I decided to take the brand-spankin new Cumulus 10s for a 5-mile test run this morning. I really wanted to love these shoes. Would make (running) life so much easier, right?

But no…didn’t fall in love with them like I did with the 9’s. Didn’t really feel as responsive, felt a little heavier. But then again, that could have been my legs…even though I took yesterday off, it’s possible my legs still felt some tiredness from Tuesday’s workout…or maybe I was tired from all my wine consumption last nite 🙂

So, I wonder…do I give these one more chance? Or take them back to the store and start stockpiling the 9’s? Sorta leaning towards the latter…but man, I hate being dependent on a discontinued shoe!!

(And obviously the person at JackRabbit who helped me was new and I guess misinformed…according to her, nothing really changes with shoe model numbers and if one felt good, the upgrade should too. Um…yeah. What you said.)

bridges and arches-and celeb sightings too!!

This past Saturday, I participated in a annual Flyers tradtion-the “Bridges and Arches run”-an 8 mile jaunt over bridges, under arches, and discovering many hills that should probably stay undiscovered 🙂 I was tapped to be one of the “shephards”-cute name for one of the run leaders 🙂 I had done that 2 years ago and was glad to do it again! This is definitely one of my favorite runs and I was a little disappointed to have missed it last year when I was in San Francisco. And if the run wasn’t exciting enough, while at brunch we had a celeb sighting!! Check it out in the picture below 🙂

So…this run was the longest run of a 28-mile week (which also included 2 yoga classes and a spin class.) I will say though…the legs did feel tired by today!! Hope that is not a taste of things to come as marathon training begins one week from tomorrow!! In prep for that, I got new shoes…figured this week is as good as any to road-test the Asics Cumulus 10s…see if they feel as good on the roads as they did during the treadmill test run-or if I will need to stockpile several pairs of the 9’s. Better to know before training starts, right?

Non-running stuff in the last few days included…

• happy hour with the coworkers at Red Sky Friday nite to welcome the summer interns-oh, and an excuse for an open bar too…
• saw Altar Boyz today-absolutely hysterical. Go see it if you already haven’t. If you like boy bands-and/or mocking boy bands-you’ll like this 🙂
• Jury duty is over with, done with, won’t be buggering me for 6 years!! Came thisclose to getting picked for a case though…guess I said the right thing to not get picked! 🙂

One more week to go before it’s time to get to work…man, it’s so so close!! Though can the weather gods please spare NYC of the constant thunderstorms? 🙂

chase a guy, any guy!!

OK-after tonite’s workout, I am forbidden from running after guys in the first repeat of any workout. And here’s why…

Repeat number	Time	Pace	Comment
1	3:28	6:56	wowza!! was this really a half-mile?
2	3:42	7:24	ok-that seems more realistic
3	3:45	7:30	still on target…
4	3:50	7:40	i’m paying for that first repeat.
5	3:39	7:18	last one…give it all you got!

For reference sake-the workout was 5 x a half-mile…target around 7:30ish pace. What happened in the first repeat? Well-everyone started at once…and I think some of the faster runners “sucked me in” for at least the first minute…and well, it just happened that most of them were guys, so it probably looked like I was chasing the guys :-p I looked at my watch at the end of that repeat and was in disbelief-and hoped it wouldn’t bite me in the a$$ later…and as you see, it did for repeat #4…

But-on the other hand, that was the first time ever that I have ever done a half-mile in a workout at a sub-7 pace…and I was still able to kick it in at the end so not all was lost.

But honestly-it wouldn’t have been the first time i’d be “chasing guys” in the first repeat 🙂 I remember one or two Tuesday morning workouts with the 6 am crew, where I was clearly letting the guys pull me along, and the group leader even had to warn me to pull back. I guess some things will never change!! 🙂

And today was the maiden voyage for my brand-spankin new DS-Trainer 13s…were sitting patiently in the box for 3 1/2 months and finally got used today!! And I like em. I like em a lot. 🙂 Asics has been forgiven for messing up on the DS-Trainer 12s. Hey who knows, it could’ve been the shoes today as well…

oh asics…not again!!

so I’m surfing the various running message boards and came across a post previewing what Asics was gonna be debuting in a couple months…I had to check it out, as my lovely Cumulus 9’s are-unfortunately-due for an upgrade. Should I be concerned?

Well…here is a pic of the Cumulus 10:

And here is a pic of my current cumulus 9s:

I will admit I like the red-white-black color scheme…Flyers colors!! But honestly-it looks like a completely different shoe!! Methinks I may have to be stockpiling the 9’s shortly. And just when I thought I found the perfect shoe!! Goes changing on me (don’t get me started again with the running shoes/dating analogy…)

first in line

today I went to JackRabbit to do a little bit of shopping…and found out they had just gotten the new Asics DS-Trainer 13’s (so brand-spankin new that they aren’t on Asics’ website yet!) in that morning-and if I came back in a coupla hours I’d be able to try them on. Perfect, I had other shopping to do around Union Square. So I was back, probably first in line to try em on 🙂

I was really hoping these would feel OK, after absolutely loving the DS-Trainer 11’s…the fit of the 12s didn’t quite work for me. Last year I was still able to find 11’s, but now I can’t so it was time to upgrade. And thank god-these did feel good. The heel was able to accomodate my orthotics (the 12s couldn’t-they were too narrow) and they felt OK on the treadmill-next will be to try em out on the road. Only strange thing was that I really had to size up in these-needed a 9 1/2 (to put in perspective-I take an 8 in the Cumulus 9’s, and an 8 1/2 in the DS-Trainer 11’s.)

And I can’t seem to escape orange, right? As my 11’s were orange too…but these look snazzy. Nice little “XMas” present to myself 🙂

And on the topic of XMas-merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate!!