Tri Tri Again

The Lowdown

2011-02-10T16:12:00.001-05:00

I literally sighed before I started writing this. I feel like so much has been happening, but it's all been the same boring stuff and I just didn't feel like writing about it. So, to recap, I've still been watching what I eat and trying to work out more than I was before. Last week was a bit of a slip-up, but that was mostly due to work factors beyond my control than anything else and this week I'm back on the bandwagon. See?

That's a screen shot of my Daily Burn calendar listing my exercise calories (calories out) and eating calories (calories in). I've still been losing weight and I've got less than 10 pounds to go now until I reach my "goal weight". It seems to be a slow, but steady, process, but I'm thrilled to see the scale keep going in the right direction.

So, if you look closely at Monday, February 7, you'll see that I only burned 36 calories. That's because I've started something new! A Hundred Push-Up plan! Which is crazy to me. In the initial test, I did 10 push-ups. Drew estimated that I'd be able to get 4 and when I got to 6, he announced that he was officially surprised. I kind-of wanted to die after those first 10 and it made me think that there is no way that I'll be able to do 100 all in one sitting. However, I know that every time I've ever followed a plan, I've made it to the finish line, so I'm hoping that this will be just like that. I even downloaded the fancy iPhone app to record my progress. Yesterday I did 35 push-ups (in 5 sets), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get there.

I also found out on Monday that I got a spot to the NYC Half-Marathon on March 20! Which is soon, but I'm not too worried. Somehow all these races seem a lot less daunting now that I've done them once already. I've figured out a fairly loose training plan that will ensure that I get my long runs in and I'll sort-of wing the rest of it. I'm not an injury-prone runner, so I don't forsee any issues with upping my mileage although now I can really see a new pair of shoes in my future.

Last Saturday Drew and I did a challenge that his trainer, Billy, gave to him. It was to run one mile on the treadmill at an incline of 10. Which doesn't sound too hard until you're actually doing it. Drew finished his mile in about 10:30 and I finished mine in 12:57. I did a mix of jogging and walking because I knew that there was no way I'd ever be able to run the whole thing and stay on the treadmill, so I alternated back and forth. I was a sweaty disaster by the time I finished. I'm hopeful that the next time I try it that I can get a little bit faster.

I've also been going to Pilates on Thursdays with Nicole. I decided this morning that it's getting easier and harder at the same time. Harder in the sense that I feel like Nicole keeps pushing me to do more difficult exercises, but easier because I'm getting the hang of things now. I'm also 100% sure that the Pilates that I've been doing helped me with my push-up quest. So, in that regard, I don't imagine giving up on Pilates any time soon!

I know I've been a bad blogger recently. I'm struggling with the monotony of going to the gym all the time. I either need to toughen up and get outside or the weather needs to get better. Or maybe both would be ideal. I just haven't felt like writing about going to the gym. I think it's boring. Mostly because it seems like when I'm outside, I notice something interesting to mention or have a conversation with a stranger. I've realized that no one talks at the gym. Ever. It's a world of headphones, which is sort-of sad, in a way. The weather is looking up for weekend, so I'm hoping that means that I can get outside again!

Weight Lifting Alone

2011-01-25T22:05:00.050-05:00

I've been trying not to get too burned out on doing any one thing every single time I go to the gym. I'm hoping that this makes me want to go more often since there will be more of a variety. I'd like to do some spinning one of these times, but with our current gym still in the remodeling process, that's not the easiest thing to arrange at the moment, but I'm keeping my eye out for when it gets better!

Since I had run and stair-milled yesterday, I decided to get my elliptical on tonight. It wasn't that exciting. I read my book and tried to push myself harder than usual. Mostly I do this by making the resistance really high while doing intervals of varying resistance. I have to say that it's a little disheartening when I feel like I'm working really hard, but going slowly because of the higher resistance to look over at the people next to me who are going really fast, but only at resistance level 1. I like to tell myself that my workout is harder than theirs, but I'm not sure that's true. I only think that the varying levels of resistance keep me from dying of boredom on the elliptical.

After the elliptical, I decided that I'd venture to the weight room and do some weight lifting on my own. Normally I'd wait until I was with Drew, just because I like it better when he's there, but since he's traveling for work, I was left to my own devices tonight. However, I did most of the same things that we did on Saturday together, except I threw in a seated row because I actually really like that lift and I've been wanting to do it for a while now.

I was a little nervous while doing the arm curls alternating with the jumps because another guy had put his water bottle and towel on the jumping box while he was using the cable machine. So, I had to ask him to move it in order to get my jumps in. I'm sure he thought that no one would use the box, so I can't be too upset, but is it really that hard to just keep your things on or beside the piece of equipment you're actually using?

The worst part was that when I was doing my first round of jumps I noticed in the mirror that I was wearing my shirt inside out. Sigh. I was wearing a shirt I don't even like and the fact that I didn't even notice when putting it on that it was inside out made me like it even less. Might be time to just go ahead and get rid of that one?

I felt pretty good doing the bench presses. I didn't want to add too much weight since I didn't have a spotter, so I just used the bar. By the third set, I was really feeling it and could barely get 6 reps out. All in all, not the worst weight workout in the world for doing it on my own, I think.

Stand up shoulder presses
3 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs per arm

Arm curls
3 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs per arm

Jumps
3 x 10 (short box)

Bench Press
2 x 10 @ 45 lbs
6 @ 45 lbs

Seated row
10 @ 40 lbs
10 @ 50 lbs
10 @ 60 lbs

So, I realized that I haven't mentioned how the weight-loss is going, even though I've been doing a lot of talking about the workouts. This past Saturday I weighed in and had lost just about 5 pounds from my max weight, so I've got just over 10 pounds to lose to meet my goal weight by April. I have to say that I've been doing a really good job of eating right and making good decisions, with the small exception of having splurged on Saturday night. But, truly, one night out of the month isn't going to make or break me. Plus, it was tons of fun and totally worth it. In an ideal world, I'd work out 6 days a week, but it truth it's been more like 5 days a week. Which I'll take. Even on days where I don't work out, I still seem to have a calorie deficit for the day, so I think I'm still on the right track. Hopefully as long as I stick with it, the rest of this weight will come off!

Elliptical
Time: 34:58
Distance: 3.00 miles
Calories: 262

Weight Lifting
Time: 16:29
Calories: 100

Switching Rest Days

2011-01-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

Normally I like to take my rest days on Mondays, but this week it worked out better for me to switch and take Sunday as a rest day and work out on Monday. (In truth, that means that it worked out best for me to stay out late Saturday night, brunch on Sunday and then be lazy the rest of the day Sunday! But it was a really fun weekend!). Of course, I had to make-up for some of that over-indulgence at some point and today seemed like the perfect day.

I ended up going to the gym after work tonight. Normally I'd leave work, walk to the gym by our apartment and then go home, but today was so cold that I opted to go to the gym in our work building and then take the subway home so I didn't freeze while walking home. Turns out that Monday nights are quite popular at the work gym around 6 pm. Noted for future reference.

I ended up starting out on the only available cardio machine ... the stair mill. Hey, works fine for me! I love that thing! I spent a sweaty 30 minutes on the stair mill on Level 11. Truly, the only reason I bumped it up to Level 11 (from Level 10) is that I've been annoyed that I couldn't get over 3 miles in my 30 minutes of stair climbing. I wanted to see how far I could get if I bumped it up one level. Turns out that gets you to 3.2 miles. Whoo hoo! Maybe after a few more tries at Level 11, I'll have to bump it up some more...

After the 30 minutes on the stair mill, I walked around trying to find something else that was open, which wasn't easy. I actually started stretching thinking that I might have to just give up and go home when a treadmill opened up. I checked to make sure that no one else was waiting for it and I hopped on and got going. By that point, though, I wasn't 100% into it and was thinking that I might cut it a bit short. Especially since right after that a very long line formed of people waiting for the treadmill and I felt bad that I was on it and they were all waiting.

I ended up doing 2.5 miles, which was really 2.0 miles running and 0.5 miles walking. I have to tell you that I felt like people were staring me down with death rays when I was walking and doing the cool down, but since I hadn't exceeded the 30 minute time limit, I tried not to let it bother me too much (or any more than it already was).

I couldn't believe how crowded the gym still was at 7:30ish on a Monday night. Must still be a lot of January joiners. Which I'm glad to see them at the gym, but maybe I'd be more glad if they didn't come all at once?

Stair Mill
Time: 30:48
Distance: 3.20 miles
Calories: 275

Running
Time: 27:56
Distance: 2.50 miles
Calories: 251

One-Legged Jumping Super Star!

2011-01-22T11:14:00.003-05:00

This morning I went to the gymnasium with Drew. We had a lot of stuff to get accomplished today, so we got to the gym pretty much right when they opened at 8. I started off on the Elliptical as a warm-up. After that, we went to the weight room and did some weight lifting.

I wanted to try to redeem myself after last week when I dropped the bar on the bench press and my trusty spotter saved the day. I think I definitely did that today. I even managed to go up 5 pounds from last week. The 1.5 reps is because I did the first one all on my own and then Drew said that he thought I could get one more. I brought the bar about half-way down and realized that there was no way, so I pushed it back up on my own, so it was really only half a rep. Anything is better than dropping the bar, right?

Bench press
10 @ 65 lbs
5 @ 75 lbs
1.5 @ 90 lbs

Butterfly
10 @ 60 lbs
6 @ 60 lbs
8 @ 70 lbs

Stand up shoulder presses
3 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs per arm

Arm curls
3 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs per arm

Jumps
10 x 3 (short box)

I actually did the jumps while alternating the arm curls. It was a really good way to keep my heart rate up. However, as I've mentioned before, I'm really NOT a good jumper. Or, more specifically, I'm not a good two-legged jumper. As Drew said, "You're a one-legged jumping super star!". Which is sort-of true. I'm just missing some sort of balance or something that makes me able to be good at jumping with two legs, but I gave it my best effort!

After that I finished up with a run on the treadmill. Between the frigid temperatures and the snow we keep getting here, it seems almost impossible to run outdoors (at least to me). My hat is off to those of you who are doing it! I decided that in the spirit of keeping up with this speedy 5K plan, I should do some pick-ups during today's run.

I ran the first half-mile at 5.4 (11 minute pace) and then bumped it up to 7.5 (8 minute pace) for the next 0.25 miles. I then went back to my slower pace to recover. I ended up doing a total of 4 pick-ups throughout the run. Two of them were at 7.5 (8 minute pace) and two were at 8.5 (7 minute pace). All four pick-ups were for 0.25 miles. It wasn't always easy, but I'm pretty proud of myself for hanging in there! I ended up doing the 3.1 miles in 29:20 and then walked for another minute to cool down.

I know I need to get some longer runs in, too, but the thought of doing them on the treadmill is slightly daunting/boring/annoying, so I'm holding out for better weather...

Elliptical
Time: 33:59
Distance: 2.80 miles
Calories: 269

Weight Lifting
Time: 26:43
Calories: 148

Running
Time: 30:58
Distance: 3.20 miles
Calories: 307

You Make It Look Easy

2011-01-20T16:55:00.013-05:00

This morning I met Nicole for our regularly-scheduled pilates session. Luckily, this week wasn't nearly as crowded as last week, which made it a little easier for teaching, I think. Nicole had me start off on the foam roller again, which isn't all that easy to balance on it while doing different exercises. Of course, Nicole had to say that since I wasn't moving all over (I take that as a sign that my core muscles are actually in decent shape) that I was making it look easy!

Ha! That was the first 10 minutes or so of our session. It only gets more difficult from there. I think if I only had to do 10 minutes of pilates, I could be a rock start. It's doing all that core work for 55 minutes that's really the killer! Of course, I'm still loving it. It's a nice change from the gym once a week and knowing that I have to meet Nicole and that I paid for these sessions is a huge motivator in keeping me going!

Gym, Gym, Gym

2011-01-18T21:38:00.018-05:00

That's all I ever do anymore, I think. Well, that's not really true. But it's all I seem to be doing in terms of working out. I'm not the biggest fan of the gym, but if going there will help me reach my weight loss goal by April, I'm going to keep on going. Of course, I'm secretly hoping the weather will magically get more spring-like, but I don't think that's really going to happen anytime soon.

Tonight I went to the gym after work. I did what is quickly becoming my fall-back routine there. But that's okay because I don't hate it (or at least I don't hate it yet). It lets me read my book while I'm there and I'm all in favor of more reading time in my life. I read a lot (even outside of the gym) and if you're really curious about what I'm reading, I could start posting it here, but I don't give book recommendations because they make me nervous. I mean, how do I know what kind of books you like to read?

So, at the gym today, I did 30 minutes on the stair mill followed by 20ish minutes on the elliptical. I tried to hang on for as long as I could on the elliptical, but truthfully, I was hungry and wanted to get home and make myself some dinner. I forced myself to stay on until my heart rate monitor said I had burned 200 calories during that part of the workout, which I thought was a good compromise. A lot easier than a time goal, I think.

I've noticed that I actually don't mind going to the gym after work. Even if it is more crowded then. However, I don't really like getting home later and still having to figure out some sort of dinner. I also feel even less motivated than usual the next morning to get up and go to the gym in the morning, so it's like some sort of really bad cycle I've got myself on. I know I should just suck it up and get up earlier. I'm a work in progress, what can I say?

Stair Mill
Time: 30:57
Distance: 2.95 miles
Calories: 265

Elliptical
Time: 24:40
Distance: 2.20 miles
Calories: 200

Running To The Dentist

2011-01-17T17:52:00.011-05:00

This morning I had a dentist appointment at 7:30. Which normally would be a little early for my taste, but when I scheduled the appointment, I forgot that I didn't have to work today. Which meant that it was really early for my taste! But, I went anyway. I figured I'd combine my workout for the day with the dentist appointment.

So, I literally ran to and from the dentist's office. It's just about a mile and a half each way, so even though there was a 30 minute break in the middle there, it seemed like it was better than nothing! I was worried that people would give me funny looks for being there all decked out in cold weather running gear, but no one seemed to really notice or say anything. Since it's such a short distance, I wasn't sweaty or anything sitting in the dentist's chair, so I guess it wasn't the weirdest thing I've ever done.

Mostly, I was glad to have it done with so that I could go see The Kings Speech with Nicole this afternoon!

Running
Time: 27:40
Distance: ~3.00 miles
Pace: 9:13/mile

A New Max

2011-01-16T15:18:00.014-05:00

This morning Drew and I went to the gym together and that meant that I'd have a spotter in order to try to test out my bench pressing abilities. The last time I tried, I felt like I maxed out at 80 pounds. A couple days ago I was able to do 90 pounds on the chest press machine, so I was hoping for something around there. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, since I always think the machines are easier.

We started out with 30 minutes on the stair mill before hitting the weights. I was pretty nervous, but we started out at 65 pounds and that was fine. Then I moved up to 75 pounds and it was definitely getting harder and my right pectoral muscle was a tiny bit tired. I decided that we should just go for it and try 85 pounds. I did one really easily. The second one I managed to get up and then that was it. My right pectoral muscle had had enough. I can't say I really blame it. And, um, as a result, I dropped the bar. Right into Drew's hands. Lucky thing I have such a great spotter, huh? It's not quite as bad as it sounds. I kept my left hand on the bar the entire time and I'm sure I just surprised Drew more than anything else. Thanks to him, I was never in any real danger.

After that, we finished up with some more weight lifting, which looked a lot like this:

Bench Press
5 @ 65 lbs
5 @ 75 lbs
2 @ 85 lbs

Skull Crushers
3 x 10 @ 25 lbs

Butterfly
6 @ 60 lbs
8 @ 60 lbs
7 @ 60 lbs

Shoulder Press
2 x 10 @ 12.5 lbs (per arm)

I have to say that I'm pretty proud that I beat my previous best. Especially since I really haven't been lifting weights all that consistently (or at all) recently.

We finished up our day with some time on the Arc Trainer. I still don't understand the appeal of that machine. Drew loves it, probably with a capital L. And I think it's super boring. His response? "Yeah, but I go faster and push myself more than you." After thinking about that for a while, it's probably the reason I love the stair mill so much. Because the machine pushes you automatically. Plus, it's really easy to read a book on the stair mill. Which probably makes it the best machine of all time. Maybe I don't like the arc trainer because I don't automatically get pushed in the same way?

Stair Mill
Time: 30:00
Distance: 2.95 miles
Calories: 275

Weight Lifting
Time: 32:05
Calories: 144

Arc Trainer
Time: 30:00
Distance: 0.70 miles
Calories: 248

Baseline 5K

2011-01-15T14:56:00.036-05:00

So, Friday I ended up taking as a rest day. I know I've mentioned it a million times, but I really don't like to get up in the morning. So, I slept in instead. And Drew and I had dinner plans after work, so I skipped working out then, too. Which brings me to this morning!

Drew had left for the gym earlier than me, so I just went and did some running on the treadmill. I thought I would try to do some other stuff, but when I got to the gym, I wasn't all that into it and wanted to go home rather than hang around the gym all day long.

I decided to run a 5K on the treadmill and just see what my base time would be without any real effort on my part. Basically, I wanted it to be an "easy" run. As opposed to whatever my "speedy" time will be for this race in March. I thought it would be good just to have some sort of baseline when starting out to see what I'm working with.

I started out running at 5.6 MPH and just kept bumping it up little by little as time went on. I ended up sprinting to the finish, but that seemed pretty realistic to me. I finished in 30:49 (or 9:56/mile pace). I feel good about that. Especially since I compared this to the last time I ran this 5K course and ran at a 9:48/mile pace. And it's a fairly hilly 5K course!

I really think I've got a good start and I can only go down from here. I'm going to have to start incorporating more speed work into my routine, but I'm okay with that. I also keep having some calf soreness in my left calf, so I'm really wondering if it's time for a new pair of shoes. I'm going to give these that I've got now a couple more tries, but it seems rather suspicious to me.

I ended up cooling down and running one more mile around a 10:20 pace before heading home. And as far as being hardcore? I weighed myself yesterday and there is no change. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed by that, but I'm just going to keep on going. No change is better than going in the wrong direction!

Running
Time: 41:09
Distance: 4.10 miles
Pace: 10:02/mile
Calories: 365

7 Days

2011-01-13T15:52:00.000-05:00

Today marks one week of counting calories and starting to be more regular in my workouts. I have to come clean and say that today's blog post title was brought to you by this video:

I don't know if I've seen any difference on the scale yet. I'm waiting until tomorrow to weigh myself. I'm feeling more in the groove, so even if there isn't any loss, I'm just going to keep going with everything as I have been.

Yesterday after work I headed to the gym to do some more cardio. My left calf was still a little iffy from last weekend (I think that today it finally feels back to 100%), so I decided to skip running again and just go for the "other" types of cardio. I ended up doing a half an hour on the stair mill and a half an hour on the elliptical. I definitely burn more calories on the stair mill, but I'm not sure I could stand doing that for more than 30 minutes.

I ended up going to the gym on the ground floor of the building that I work in. The gym I belong to has branches all over the city and with the membership that I have, I can go to all of them. I'm pretty sure my membership is up in March and I've really been toying with the idea of switching gyms. And then something like yesterday happens and I remember how nice it is to be able to go to the gym anywhere I want. It's really something to consider. It's just so gosh-darn expensive! Being healthy should be cheaper!

This morning I had pilates with Nicole. Pilates is not a huge calorie burner (not shocking), but I really like it. A lot. It is sort-of fun because I never really know what Nicole will throw at me on any given day. This morning we sort-of had to shuffle around the studio because there was a very full house, but it worked out just fine.

We started out on the reformer using a foam roller, but not in the typical way. I was laying on top of the foam roller and then had to balance on that while doing some other exercises. There was a moment where I was sure I was going to roll off the reformer, but I guess my ab muscles caught me, because I was fine!

We ended up working on the tower and I realized today that Nicole has a thing for my hamstrings. As in, she likes to torture them. Or maybe she's trying to make up for the fact that I tortured them myself while marathon training. Either way, they definitely get a lot more (and better) stretching on these pilates days than they do on a regular day. It's both good and ouchy at the same time.

I've got one more day of waking up early before work and then three days in a row when I can get up as I please! Hooray for long weekends! I'm just a little too excited about this one coming up. I'm planning on trying out running again tomorrow and also doing some more weight lifting. Last Saturday when I did some weight lifting, I had to use the plate-loaded machines instead of free weights and I was doing the chest press at 80 or 90 pounds. I really don't think I could do that on the bench press, but I might want to test it out just to see if I could do it once (or maybe even twice!).

Stair Mill & Elliptical
Time: 1:00:42
SM Distance: 2.80 miles
Elliptical Distance: 2.50 miles
Calories: 500
Max HR: 176 (83%)
Average HR: 158 (75%)

Pilates
Time: 54:00
Calories: 115
Max HR: 118 (56%)
Average HR: 90 (42%)

Being Hardcore

2011-01-11T18:05:00.000-05:00

I might not have been keeping you perfectly up-to-date on my workouts, but I can assure you that they're getting done and I'm actually glad to be back at it. I'm sticking with my plan of working out 6 days a week and having one rest day. I've also been working on keeping my eating in check, which is a little bit easier when you're not on an extended vacation at Drew's mom and dad's house where they keep feeding you delicious food all the time!

I've decided to try to keep up my new (and slightly improved) eating habits until April. My goal between now and then is to lose 15 pounds. Or, technically, 12, since I think I'm already down 3. In April we're going to San Francisco and going to the Giants opening day and then on to wine country for 5 days and I want to be able to do wine tastings and eat yummy vacation food without worrying about anything else!

I'm eating probably 85-90% of what I was eating a week ago, but this time I'm counting calories (using Daily Burn). I've used a couple of Basal Metabolic Calculators to figure out that my BMR is probably somewhere around 1475 calories a day, so my calorie goal is to eat more than that and is somewhere in the 1500-1700 range each day. I've successfully done this for the past 4 days and I have no reason to think that today would be any different. I don't feel like I've denied myself anything, I just don't need to eat as often as I was when I was training for a marathon and I got sort-of used to the extra food!

The good news for me is that I eat pretty well no matter what. Now I'll just be a bit more tempted to cook at home (which, if you saw our counter space, you'd wonder how anything was possible) and have leftovers for lunch than I will to go grab something at the myriad of options within a 2 minute range from my desk. But, that will be good for my wallet as well!

Drew and I have called what we're doing (because he's in on this, too) until April "being hardcore". This involves me actually getting up and going to the gym, which is a huge change of pace for me over the last month or so. I think I'm doing pretty well so far. Here's the quick breakdowns of all the workouts:

Saturday, January 8
Drew and I went to our "old" gym. It's the one I was used to going to and it has a pool, which is nice, since not all gyms in NYC have one. However, it's been undergoing renovations for the past couple months, so we haven't been going there (or, really, I should say that Drew hasn't been going there). I wanted to go and see how everything looked. It seems like they're still about a month away from being completely done, but it's looking pretty nice so far. Of course, I should mention that the equipment hasn't changed and Drew managed to break a treadmill while we were there, so it looks fancier, but I'm not entirely sure it is fancier.

I started out on the elliptical to warm-up before heading to the treadmill. I only did two miles on the treadmill before going to do some weight-lifting. I feel like these gym workouts are a little scattered because I don't do any one thing for very long, but if this is what it's going to take to get me to keep going, so be it. I finished up the weight lifting with some ab work before going back to the treadmill for another round of cardio. I was going to try to do some intervals on the treadmill the second time around, but after the first one, I felt really pukey. I could have lived through that if I hadn't gotten a big side stitch. I took that as a sign that I should ease back into this whole thing and so I spent 15 minutes doing some stretching and more ab work. All in all, a pretty good workout for the first day of being "hardcore".

Sunday, January 9
In my original plan, I had wanted to run three days a week, so I figured I might as well start now! I've got this Speedy 5K plan in my head for March and I thought that I'd try to incorporate a little speed work into my run today since it hadn't worked out so well the day before. I put on lots of warm clothes and a hat and gloves and my new Garmin and headed out the door to the Westside Path.

Wow. It's cold out there in January. Luckily, it didn't take me too long to warm-up. I ran two miles down to Chelsea Piers and then turned around and headed back home. I figured that my muscles were probably warmer now so I could try to run a faster mile for mile three. And I totally did! It was pretty hard, though. I also think I need to change some of the settings on my Garmin because right now I have the auto pause feature for when I'm totally stopped. I had to stop a couple times today to blow my nose and I noticed that each time, it took at least 10 seconds to register that I'd stopped. I can't really blame it, I'll just change some setting and then I'll feel better about my times not being skewed by nose blowing or stopping for a traffic light. But, I can include these fancy mile splits for the very first time:

Mile 1:         10:17
Mile 2:         10:28
Mile 3:           9:36
Mile 4:         11:02
Mile 4-4.10: 1:14

Monday, January 10
Rest day! Mondays are going to be my "normal" rest day, so I figured I should just go ahead and get into the routine early!

Tuesday, January 11
This morning I managed to get up and out of bed, even though Drew said "you could just go after work", but I wanted to make sure my workout was done and over with. My left calf muscle has been a little sore, which I'm sure is the result of running too fast (oops). That meant that I wouldn't be doing any running today. Instead, I did 30 minutes on the stair mill and 30 minutes on the elliptical. Not a riveting workout, but a workout nonetheless. And I feel great about it. Mostly I felt great that I'm still sticking with it. It's a lot easier to get up and go to the gym at 9 or 10 on the weekend than it is before 6 on a weekday!

Tomorrow it will likely have to be after work unless we end up with another huge snow accumulation in NYC tonight/tomorrow morning. I am planning on a dentist appointment at 8 am before work and since the gym doesn't open until 6 and there should be a lot of snow on the ground, which would make working out outdoors dangerous, I think I'll stick with the after work option!

Saturday
Elliptical: 15:25 / 1.25 miles / 145 calories / 179 max HR (84%) / 172 avg HR (81%)
Running (Treadmill): 20:49 / 2.00 miles / 200 calories / 198 max HR (93%) / 180 avg HR (85%)
Weight Lifting: 22:24 / 155 calories / 166 max HR (78%) / 143 avg HR (67%)
Running (Treadmill) 2: 10:00 / 1.00 mile / 93 calories / 181 max HR (85%) / 172 avg HR (81%)

Sunday
Running: 42:37 / 10:23 pace / 481 calories / 192 max HR / 173 avg HR

Tuesday
Stair Mill: 30:48 / 2.53 miles / 245 calories / 166 max HR (78%) / 155 avg HR (73%)
Elliptical: 31:40 / 2.75 miles / 270 calories / 172 max HR (81%) / 162 avg HR (76%)

Christmas, Yoga & An Extended Holiday Break

2011-01-07T17:22:00.000-05:00

So, as I did last year, I traveled to Wisconsin on December 18-19 to make cookies with Drew's family. I'm pretty sure we made even more cookies than we did last year, including mixing in our new Star Wars Cookie Cutters to make some non-Christmas themed cookies! Somehow we were much more efficient this year, even given the additional cookies made, that we made it to yoga class on December 19 and after baking for a few more hours that day, I even helped Drew's parents decorate their tree!

It must have been the season for yoga, because I ended up going back to yoga on Christmas Eve Day and the day after Christmas! And then there was a blizzard in New York City. Which meant that instead of flying home on December 26, we were going to be extending our vacation by a few days! So, I made the most of it by enjoying hanging out with Drew's parents and living the retired lifestyle. This entails having fancy lunches, getting mani/pedis, knitting, and more yoga! I'm happy to say that I made it to yoga a total of 5 times when we were "stuck" there over the Christmas holiday. And I even went to the local Y with Drew one morning, too!

The only downside to being in Wisconsin longer than planned was that it was sort-of like doing the Wardrobe Challenge all over again! Having so few outfits that you have to then spread out over 10 days is a little interesting, but I managed to make it work with some help from Drew's sister! We spent the New Year in Chicago, which was always the plan and managed to make it home on January 2.

It's been great to be home, but other than doing Pilates with Nicole yesterday, I'm totally slacking in the workout department. I didn't even take my running shoes with me to Wisconsin, which meant that doing a marathon tomorrow is totally out of the question. So, I'm bowing out of that one. Which is probably okay since I got an e-mail today saying that the trail is a little iffy due to all the snow we got before and the snow that we got today!

Now that it's 2011 and I've read blog post after blog post about resolutions or goals for the New Year, I figure I should take a long look at my own fitness (or lack thereof, currently) and get back on the wagon. I'm feeling like I'm in a bit of a slump and I need to get over this in order to get back to the shape I'd like to be in. Which also means that I need to pay a bit more attention to what I'm eating, too. I don't know that I have the discipline to take a photo of everything I eat (and, frankly, I eat a lot of boring stuff, so I don't think you'll want me to anyway), but I do think that I might post some sort-of progress along the way so that I can keep myself more accountable.

In terms of racing goals for the new year, I still want to have a speedy 5K race in March. I even printed out a plan on how to get there. I think that for the rest of this month, I need to work out some sort of a "plan". I think it might look something like running 3 days a week, pilates 1 day a week, strength + other cardio 2 days and resting 1 day. Or something sort-of similar to that. The biggest goal for 2011 is the NYC Marathon. I've got no triathlons on tap as of right now, but I think that'll change eventually. I just need to get my act together and really look at the calendar before I make any decisions.

I'm going to be posting more regularly once I get back to it. Drew and I are going to San Francisco in April and our goal is to be "hardcore" until then. Just to see what kind of shape we can get ourselves into in the next three months. Should be a fun ride!

The Pass Book

2010-12-17T21:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a big mix-up and I ended up not having pilates in the morning like I thought I would, so that meant no workout for me and my stomach has now been saved until after the Christmas holiday! Truthfully, I think the rest was best for my cold anyway, so it all worked out. Plus I got to have a nice egg and potato breakfast at my desk yesterday morning.

This morning Laura and I had made plans to meet at the JCC for a swim. Last year, we both deemed it to be in the top two pools in the city. Even though it doesn't even have a hot tub! This year, we had saved up our passes from our fitness book for the JCC until the end of the year. This was partly on purpose, I think, and also partly due to the fact that Laura and I both broke bones this year.

I got there first this morning and the guy at the desk told me that the JCC no longer accepts these passes. Oh, and they haven't accepted them all year long. Which was bad news for me & Laura. But, he was really nice and let both of us go in on a guest pass today. Disaster averted!

We got out to the pool deck and there was no one swimming in the Fast lane, so we both grabbed that before anyone else could. We started by just splitting the lane, but the lifeguard came and yelled at me by the time I had finished my first 25, so circle swimming we went. It wasn't a big deal or anything, it just most likely would have prevented anyone else from coming into our lane. Which is exactly what happened near the end.

While I was swimming today, I was thinking that swimming in an Olympic distance triathlon is a long ways. And even when you're swimming in a pool where the sun is shining directly in your eyes, it's still a lot easier to swim in a pool than open water. That being said, however, I feel like I should get a triathlon on the books for 2011. I'll have to do some research on that.

As preparation for this unknown triathlon(s) in 2011, Laura and I decided today to buy the passbook again for next year. We didn't get as much use out of it this year as we did in 2009, but we have a plan to change that next year!

Tomorrow I'm off to Wisconsin to have Christmas Cookie Extravaganza, Take II. I'll be back with a full recap after the weekend. If last year was any indication, it should be a lot of baking and candy-making and a whole lot more fun!

Swimming
1000 Free
100 kick
100 free/breath control (zero breaths x 2)/breast stroke

Time: 26:31
Distance: 1200 meters = 0.75 miles
Pace: 35:21/mile

Merry Christmas To Me!

2010-12-15T13:57:00.000-05:00

On Monday I had the first part of my Christmas present to myself. My friend Nicole became a Certified Pilates Instructor last year. I took lots of other pilates classes with her when she was going through her certification. I was really nervous to start again since I've been neglecting my core so well during marathon training. However, I had really enjoyed pilates when I did it before, so I'm starting up again. For now, I'm doing 5 classes, but I have a sneaking suspicion that will turn into more!

When I got there and Nicole asked if there was anything specific I wanted to work on, I just laughed and said my stomach since it hasn't been doing much work. I figured that it wouldn't be a problem. I mean, after only like three or four exercises, I was already shaking. It was really nice to be back and I'm glad that I signed up for classes with Nicole. Having one-on-one attention is nice so that she can make sure I'm keeping my form up while doing all the exercises!

Tuesday Laura and I had made plans to meet in the morning before work, except that it didn't work out and we ended up not meeting. So, I headed to the gym after work instead. I started coming down with a bit of a cold and I knew that it probably wasn't going to be my best effort ever. Plus, the small gym by our house was pretty much jam-packed.

I got the very last treadmill available and the whole time I was running there was a bit of a line forming, so I felt like I really had to adhere to the 30-minute time limit that our gym has. So, I ran three miles in just over 30 minutes and called that good. I followed it up with 15 minutes on the stair mill, something I haven't done in a while. Boy oh boy, did I forget how sweaty that machine is!

After all that, I spent a lot of time stretching. I know that I need to be doing this every time and there's no time like the present to start. My legs were a little tired from pilates on Monday and some of the stretches that Nicole had me do then, so I figured that more stretching was probably a good thing.

Today I'm taking a rest day. From work and working out. I woke up feeling even more congested and with a sorer throat than earlier this week, so I knew that if I wanted to feel better sooner, resting would be the best thing for me. I'm flying for the next three weekend and that never helps me feel any better, so I thought this would be the best opportunity. I've been planted on the couch sleeping and drinking lots of fluids and taking lots of Vitamin-C to try to nip this cold in the bud!

Running
Time: 31:27
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:28/mile

Stair Mill
Time: 15:00
Distance: 1.25 miles
Pace: 12:00/mile

The Best Treadmill

2010-12-11T13:07:00.033-05:00

This morning I knew I needed to get a decently long run in. That didn't mean that I wanted to do it. Drew had to pester me repeatedly to get up and all I wanted to do was press snooze. I'm not sure how I feel about running in the cold and dark in the mornings on the weekend, so I opted to go to the gym instead.

Our regular gym by our apartment is under renovation, so I went to the 24-hour gym fir the first time in quite a while. It's pretty small and they only have one of the best kind of treadmills, so I was lucky to grab that before it got really busy.

I ran 3.00 miles before I had to take a quick bathroom break.

I was really excited about the treadmills at this gym because instead of having a 60-minute limit like usual, they had a 97-minute limit. 97 seems like a really random number, but whatever it was, I was glad for the extension.

I ran the first 3 miles at 5.6 speed, which felt easy and relaxing. After re-starting, I ran the next 4.4 miles at the same 5.6 speed. I had a Gu around mile 5, just like how I've been training. After that, Drew left the gym and I wanted to finish up and get home myself, so I decided to bump up the speed.

At first I thought I'd just do some intervals, so I bumped it up to 8.0. Funny thing was that it felt relatively easy. So I ran at 8.0 for the next mile and a half. Which was a longer interval than I had been planning on. And then I bumped it up to 9.0 for most of the rest of the run. I finished the last quarter mile at 10.0. I pretty much felt awesome after that and walked for a few minutes to cool-down before heading home.

It also made me realize that although I don't have a lot of races planned for 2011 yet, it doesn't mean that I can't start thinking about what my race goals should be.

So, with that said, I'm still planning on this marathon in January. After that, I think I want to focus on running a speedy 5K. There is a NYRR 5K (it might actually be the only one) in March. I did the race last year too, and it is a bit hilly, so I think "speedy" is something that is yet to be determined, but that's my next race goal.

It seems pretty reasonable to me to think that if I can run comfortably at a 7:30/minute pace or faster after running 7 miles already, this should be something I can achieve. Although it's probably also a good reminder that a good warm-up is really important.

I have to say that it's sort-of nice to have something else to look forward to. I do much better when I've got goals or races to train for.

Running
Time: 31:59
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:39/mile

Time: 64:54
Distance: 7.00 miles
Pace: 9:16/mile

Too Much T.V.

2010-12-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Apparently watching TV at the gym isn't my strong suit. Last night after work I headed to the gym to get a couple quick miles in. Except that instead of just listening to my iPod as usual, I just happened to end up at a treadmill where ESPN was playing on the TV. I was happily running along going nowhere watching the ticker scroll by with all sorts of interesting sports news when all of a sudden ... I had to get off or risk barfing. It pretty much came out of nowhere, but all of a sudden, I felt really sick to my stomach.

I started walking for a minute to see if I could start running again, but it just wasn't in the cards. I only really had 45 minutes at the gym and wanted to use them wisely, so I went to check out the other cardio equipment. I thought maybe I'd do the elliptical, but they were all taken so instead I did the Arc trainer for all of 15 minutes. I still wasn't feeling that great, so I ended up using my last 10 minutes for stretching. Which is probably something I need to do more of anyway.

I was really bummed that I wasn't feeling so hot, especially because Drew and I had tickets to the Knicks/Raptors game last night, which ended up being a really exciting game! After eating some pretzels and drinking lots of soda, I finally was coming around and feeling back to normal.

All of that was probably a big sign that I need to get out of the gym and back outside! Even though it was 24 degrees outside this morning (with the windchill, felt like 13), I got up and went for a run. I finally got to test out my new Garmin, which was exciting. Although it did take a while for the satellites to find me. Or me to find the satellites. I'm not sure which way it works. Finally, after telling the Garmin that I was not indoors or hundreds of miles away from my last location, it started working!

It started working at just about the perfect moment, too ... right as I was walking into Central Park (I started walking instead of running in the hopes that the satellites would find me more easily if I was moving slower). I decided to run on the Bridle Path for a number of reasons. First, because this marathon I'm signed up for is partially on a bridle path, so I thought I should get used to it. Second, because I've never been sure how far it is since Gmap Pedometer is lacking the Bridle Path route in Central Park.

The funniest thing about today? Turns out I've been properly guessing the miles all along. Who needs this fancy technology? Either way, I think I liked the watch. I still need to upload the software to my computer and see all the fancy stuff it can tell me, but I liked it. I had set it to auto-lap after each mile, so it was nice to have that beep at me. I did notice, however, that it's not so great at auto-pausing when you're totally stopped. It takes it a while to catch up to the fact that you're stopped. Which isn't a problem unless you're running on streets (like from the Park to my apartment) and you get caught at a lot of lights. I'm wondering if I change the auto pause from stopped to a very slow pace if it'll catch on more quickly?

Either way, I've got a lot of tinkering around to do still before I can really say what I think. For now, I'm glad I have it and I'll leave it at that! The one very basic thing that I've forgotten the last two times I ran outside is my Road ID. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just strap it to my shoe so that I can't forget it! Something about not having it on my wrist makes me more nervous when I'm running. But I never remember until I'm already far enough away from home that I can't just go back and grab it.

Wednesday Gymnasium
Running: 2.0 miles in 21:30 (10:45/mile)
Arc Trainer: 15 minutes

Thursday Central Park Running
Time: 56:09+5:00 = 1:01:09
Distance: 5.06 + 0.50 = 5.56 miles
Pace: 10:59/mile

Randoms

2010-12-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've got plenty to blog about, but I just haven't had the time to do it.

1. Friday I ran 3.50 miles at the gym at lunch. I wanted to run more, but I didn't feel like running more. So I just did what I felt like. I did the 5K portion in under 30 minutes, which I was happy about and then walked the remainder as a cool-down.

2. Saturday I worked all day and then went to a holiday party. Fun, but exhausting.

3. Sunday I went for my long run. I used my new Camelbak. Turns out that there is only one way to use a Camelbak and get water to come out of the straw. I didn't have it that way for the first half of the run, which was perplexing at the time. The second half was much more enjoyable with all the water I could ever want!

4. I liked the Camelbak. I'm reserving final judgment for later since I really liked the Fuel Belt at first and now you'd have to pay me to want to wear it (although I'm sure I will wear it again, I just don't want to do it right now). So far, I didn't notice any bouncing around or anything, but I'm also sure that because I was so bundled up from the weather that I might feel differently about it in the summer.

5. There are very few people out running now. It's like a society of hard-core people out there running and biking. Actually, I think the bikers are totally crazy. They must be freezing on their bikes. Running is cold enough.

6. My Garmin arrived on Monday. I was thinking that I would go for a run with it this morning and try it out, but that didn't happen. I'm going to go ahead and hope that happens tomorrow. Getting out of a warm bed to run in 30 degree weather with wind isn't all that appealing, to be totally honest.

In short, "training" for this second marathon is going just about the same as the first. Doing most of the running, but skipping some too. Best part? I'm not nearly as worried about it this time around as I was the first time. However, I do think I need to keep getting myself outside and acclimated to this cold weather running.

Treadmill Running
Time: 29:48 (5K)
Distance: 3.10 miles + 0.40 miles walking
Pace: 9:36/mile for the 5K

Running
Time: 2:40:42
Distance: 14.20 miles
Pace: 11:19/mile

They Don't Make A Tennis-Ball-Head Size

2010-11-30T21:24:00.000-05:00

Since this second marathon is only 6 weeks away, I don't really know how to prepare for it. I'm sure that some people think it's awfully soon after my first marathon, but I'm really just doing this for fun. There is a good chance that this marathon could be on a snow-covered path. As far as the path, part of it is bridle path and hard packed and the other half is single-track and more technical. Should be a good mix, I think.

As far as having a "plan", my plan is to do the last 6 weeks of the first marathon training plan that I used. Which is basically three build weeks followed by three taper weeks. I figure if it worked the first time around, why mess with success?

I've been on the fence for a while now about whether or not I need/want a Garmin. And tonight I'm biting the bullet and buying one. I'm assuming that this marathon course won't have mile markers, so I think that I'd like to know how it's going during the race. Technically, it's a Christmas present from my mom, I'm just getting it for myself early! So, let's hope the quick Amazon shipping will get here soon! I'm really looking forward to seeing how I like it and I'll be sure to report back.

Tonight I headed to the gym after work. I had forgotten my own headphones at home, so I asked Drew if I could borrow his. He was gracious enough to say yes. He can't use the iPod headphones because they fall out of his ears. I never really understood that. He has the other kind of headphones. You know, the ones with those little rubbery things on the end?

Well, my ears are quite happy with the iPod headphones. Those little rubbery ones? Not so much. In fact, I wanted to quit running after 0.10 miles today because I was so annoyed with those headphones. I also knew I'd never make it on the treadmill staring at a white wall at the gym (really, there should at least be a mirror) without the headphones. That meant that I spent 55+ minutes pressing the headphones back into my ears.

Let me be the first person to tell you that pressing headphones into your ears for more than 50 minutes is not fun. And starts to make your ears hurt. I really wanted to quit, but I also knew that I wanted to run 5 miles today. If I wasn't so gosh-darn stubborn, I would have given up earlier, but I toughed it out. It wasn't really all that fun, but when is the treadmill ever that fun? It sure was sweaty, too. I've got to get back to running outside!

I met Drew when I was done at the gym to return his "defective" headphones. He said that the problem was that they don't make a tennis-ball-head-size headphone. It's true. I have a child-sized head. It's really small. I have a lot of issues with hats. But who knew it translated to my ears, too? Either way, I'm glad that the free iPod headphones work marvelously. I'm going to have to remember not to leave home without them.

Running
Time: 55:05
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 11:01/mile

More Marathoning

2010-11-29T15:41:00.004-05:00

I was hoping that it wouldn't take me this long to get around to doing this post, but due to some technical issues beyond my control, it's taken me this long to get the pictures that should have been ready to download instantly.

So, here are my Official Philadelphia Marathon Photos:

I've actually never bought race photos before, and after this experience, I'm not sure I'd do it again as I'm still not sure it's worth it, but I did it and it's done and I'm actually pretty happy with some of these! Although, it should be mentioned that if you're wearing a green shirt and then stand in front of a green screen, this is what happens:

Right. I have no arms. Just a weird hand holding a cup of water. The truth is that I actually have arms. You can almost see them in the last photo. I actually don't even mind the arms so much as the neck part. It's weird to see something other than my neck/chest where skin should be. Oh well. At least I've got a good smile after running 26.2 miles!

In other Philadelphia Marathon news, they finally updated the split times, so they're fixed.

First half: 2:19:37 (10:39/mile)
Second half: 2:21:51 (10:49/mile)

To put this in perspective, my stand-alone half-marathon in Atlanta was a time of 2:22:32, so I ran both halves of the full marathon faster. The first half was almost three minutes faster! I slowed down by 2:14 from half to half, but I'm still pretty happy with all of those times. I also think that if I wanted to, I could easily get down to 2:15:00 for a stand-alone half.

Except I don't think I'll be working on that just yet. My big news (that I've saved for last) is: I'm running another marathon! And it's in January. On January 8 to be exact. I found a trail run in New Jersey that looked fun. It costs $20 so I'm sure that there is little to no aid for this race, so I just invested in a Camelbak in the hopes that it will be better than the Fuel Belt that I have.

I don't have any hopes and aspirations for this marathon other than wishing that the weather isn't dreadful. I think it'll be a good way to keep me running over the holidays (although weekend commitments from now until the race will make this an interesting challenge). I also know that since this is a trail run, it'll likely be a lot slower than Philadelphia, so again, my main goal is to finish. I think it should be a blast and I'm really looking forward to it.

I went for my first post-Philadelphia run on Saturday with Drew. It was good. Not great. It was colder (and windier) that day than any other day that I've run this fall/winter season and although my legs felt 100% fine, I was having trouble breathing. I sort-of refuse to believe that I could have possibly lost that much cardio fitness in 6 days, I'm going to go with the cold weather. Obviously, I'll need to work on this before January!

Running
4.20 miles

Philadelphia Marathon Race Report

2010-11-22T21:15:00.000-05:00

This post could have easily alternatively been titled "I Only Heard 'Eye Of The Tiger' Once".

I really have to start this with Friday night. I had packed my bag for Philly on Friday night so that I wouldn't be running around forgetting something on Saturday morning. I had a dream that night that I forgot to put my wetsuit and my bike helmet in the bag. When I woke up on Saturday morning I was relieved to realize that I hadn't forgotten to pack anything. I wasn't going to be swimming or biking before this marathon!

Saturday morning Drew and I took the train down to Philadelphia and got in around 10:30. We took a cab to the hotel and dropped off our bags. The room wasn't ready and they told us we should check back later in the afternoon. We then walked over to the Convention Center to the Expo where I picked up my race number and stood in a ridiculously long line to buy a new running hat with the Philly marathon logo on it.

After that we went next door to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. We did some walking around before heading back to the hotel around 3, where we were told that our original room wasn't ready, but we were being upgraded to a room on the 12th floor (original room was on the 5th floor). I'm not sure it was a huge upgrade, but I was glad to have a room. We also found out that the hotel offered late check-out at 3 PM for a fee of $35, which I was ecstatic to find out. It meant that I'd be able to take a shower after the race on Sunday!

We had an early dinner at Olive Garden (go ahead and judge if you must, but I dare you to say that you don't think the salad is good...). That was nice because it meant that I was in bed and asleep by 10. I woke up once, at 2:37, but fell right back asleep until my alarm went off at 5:15. I also found out in the morning that there was some sort of party going on on our floor around 2:30, so I'm sure that was what woke me up. It was the most restful sleep I think I've ever had before a big race like this. And probably just further proof that I really wasn't all that nervous about the race.

I got up when my alarm went off at 5:15 and started getting dressed and getting ready. I was really excited to see that at 5:15 it was 41 degrees, so it was well above freezing! I ate two Clif bars as my pre-race breakfast. I wasn't all that hungry, so getting it all choked down wasn't as easy as it sounds. I also had some water to chase it down. I was all ready to go and left the hotel at 6. I got into the elevator with another woman who was running the marathon and we walked to the race start together. It was nice to have someone to chat with on the way there. It was her 8th marathon, 2nd time at Philly, and she said that it was a great race.

I made my way to the port-a-potty line and had to wait in line for a while (which I had anticipated). And then when I got to take my turn, there was no toilet paper (another thing I'd anticipated). I'd just like to suggest that perhaps they could plan for this? I mean, it's not like 20,000 people just showed up randomly to use the bathrooms! After that I made my way over to my corral, which wasn't clearly marked or anything. I think that organization and information on this race weren't that high.

I had only been standing in my corral for about a minute or two before I heard someone yell "Amy!". I looked around because I knew that Meggan was going to be in my corral and I thought it was her. But then the person yelled my last name and I turned around and it was Laura! She had come down from New York to cheer for me! We talked for a few minutes and she told me that she was planning on seeing me again at Miles 6.5, 14 and 25. It was really nice to know where to look for her!

Finally, it was 7:00 and the Elite athletes were off and running. And I thought the rest of us would be soon, too. I had taken off my sweatpants at 6:55 and took off my fleece when the Elites started running. That was a mistake. Because what wasn't in the informational e-mail that they sent out was that this was a wave start and it took my corral 25 minutes to cross the start line. Luckily, I had kept my hat, gloves and hand-warmers, so I wasn't freezing, but I was definitely cooling off waiting for us to get to the front!

And then it was our turn! Within the first quarter mile, I could just tell that it was going to be a good day for a run, and I was ecstatic about that prospect. After about a half-mile, I took off my hat and gloves. I put everything inside my hat and carried it until I saw Drew around Mile 1.5. I threw it to him and I think it ended up working out well since he was able to use the hand-warmers throughout the rest of the day. I guess he didn't want to wear the Hello Kitty hat. Which was too bad since I only wore it running for a very short time and got a lot of compliments on it. Maybe it's a good thing to hold onto?

I crossed Mile 2 at 21:05. In my race plan I wanted to cross Mile 2 no sooner than 21:00, so I laughed that it was only 5 seconds after that. Either way, everything was going according to the plan. Also around Mile 2 was when I ran into what I'll call "Loudest Runner Ever Girl". It was insane. I mean, I'm running with at least 50 other people in a nearby vicinity and she was the only person I could hear clip-clopping along. Of course, she was listening to an iPod, so she couldn't tell how loud she was. I decided that I couldn't take it so I'd either have to speed up or slow down. I chose the former. I was not going to make it listening to her run for another 24 miles.

I followed my strategy of taking water at all the water stops and walking through them so that I didn't spill water on myself. It was working out really well and lots of other people were stopping as well at the early stations, so I didn't feel out of place. At Mile 5, I had my first Gu just as planned. I saw Drew again shortly after that around Mile 5.5 and then Laura was there at Mile 6.5! (I should really give Laura credit as Drew got the top picture and Laura the bottom one. It's obvious who was the better photographer).

It was nice to know that I'd be seeing them again later on, too. I continued on my way and it was pretty uneventful until Mile 8. That was when someone must have stepped on a full Gu packet because I heard the noise of it exploding and then felt it all over my right leg. One thing you don't really want is a packet of Gu running down your leg. I can tell you that. Luckily, there happened to be a discarded t-shirt on the side of the road shortly after that, so I wiped it off as quickly and as best I could and continued on.

I had made my own marathon pace bracelet. I had done it for a 5 hour marathon and it was nice to see that as the miles passed by, I was slowly gaining on the times posted on the bracelet. It went from one minute to two minutes and kept growing from there. I felt really comfortable running and knew it was a pace where I could really sustain it in the long run. I'm also glad that I didn't go any lower on the pace bracelet that I wrote down because it was my ultimate goal to finish in less than 5 hours and I never really felt any pressure to make up time since I had so much leeway.

Miles 11 to 13 were a bit hard for me. Not physically, but we were running directly into the sun and I wasn't wearing sunglasses or a hat. I felt like I was squinting and so I tried running in the shadiest parts whenever possible. If I had to re-do this exact race again, knowing what I know now, I think I would have done two things differently: (1) worn a cheap pair of sunglasses and thrown them away at the half-marathon point and (2) picked up a pair of the Philly marathon gloves I saw (I saw at least 5 complete pairs, but just didn't feel like stopping to pick them up). I really just wanted them as a memento because they looked so nice. Not because I actually wanted to be wearing gloves.

Just before reaching the point where the half-marathon split from the full marathon, I heard someone cheering for me (louder than the other cheering I had heard) and I looked and saw that it was Krista! I knew she would be there somewhere and I was so glad that I got to see her! It was a nice extra boost! I saw her husband running later on and cheered for him. He probably thought I was crazy, but I felt like I had to do it! I saw Drew again after the half-marathon point. I was shocked to discover that I beat my previous stand-alone half-marathon time by at least a minute and a half (real results unknown thanks to ridiculous split times from Active.com). I also had a much easier half-marathon in Philadelphia than I did in Atlanta. Guess all that extra running paid off!

I saw Laura again somewhere between 14 and 15 and then headed off for a long stretch of running. The second half of the marathon course is a mostly out-and-back course that takes the runners out to the town of Manayunk. It was pretty quiet on the run out there. Once the half-marathoners left the course, you're sort-of left wondering where everyone went. It was pretty much right then that I decided that my next marathon will either be a marathon only event or one where the half-marathoners split from the full marathoners a lot sooner.

I had kept going with my strategy of taking Gu every 5 miles and had them at Miles 10 and 15 as planned. I still kept having water at every aid station along the way. They were handing out Gu packets just before Mile 10 and I saw that the flavor was Vanilla Bean (my preferred flavor) and I grabbed one and tucked it into my pocket just in case. I also cut my finger on this same free Gu packet around Mile 18, so in the end, I'm not sure it was worth the trouble. Especially since I didn't need it!

It was probably because of this cut on my thumb (actually under my thumb nail) that I noticed that my hands were really swollen. I couldn't even move the ring I had on my right ring finger, which is normally easy to move around. I was sure that this meant I didn't have enough salt, but my hands didn't hurt, they just looked like clown hands. I guess I know what they'll look like if I get really fat.

I thought it would be until I got back to Mile 25 that I would see anyone that I knew again, but it turned out I got really lucky and saw Katie at Mile 20! She had told me that she had made a neon-yellow sign that said "Go Runners - Kick Asphalt". Knowing in advance what the sign was going to say made it really easy to spot her! Believe me, I had just spent the last 20 miles looking for that sign! We exchanged high-fives and I continued on my way back out of Manayunk and into Philadelphia.

To my marathon brain, my swollen hands meant that I should eat more Gu. To my Monday post-marathon brain that actually bothered to look at the nutritional stats on Gu, I realize that there is very little sodium in a Gu packet. So, even though I ended up having all 6 Gu packets that I had originally brought with me, I don't know that it did my hands any favors. Somewhere around Mile 21 there was a guy handing out soft pretzels. I decided to take one, not to eat, but to lick the salt off. Boy oh boy was that tasty. I felt a little bad wasting the pretzel, but I did get what I wanted out of it.

When I passed the mile marker at Mile 20, I just felt like screaming to everyone, "this is further than I've ever run before". And, truthfully, I wanted to scream that after every single step. I was so excited that I was that far along in the race and that I was still running and feeling great!

Somewhere on the way back into Philadelphia, another girl came up to me and asked what pace I was running. I told her I didn't really know, but something faster than a 5 hour marathon. She said that she had been behind me for the entire race and that I had been amazingly consistent in my running (which was awesome to hear). She said that she thought she was on pace for a 4:35:00 marathon. I hope she made it. She ran ahead of me at the next aid station when I stopped for water. Either way, it was nice to think I was being consistent from mile to mile.

It wasn't long after this that I heard "Eye of the Tiger" for the very first time. Frankly, I had expected to hear it all the time. I was actually a little bit disappointed that I only heard it the one time! Don't worry, though, I totally sang along to myself even after I couldn't hear it anymore. As a total aside, I've loved this song since I first heard it in after-school care when I was about 8. If I had known then that it'd be played during my first marathon, I'd never have believed it to be true.

When I saw Laura again at Mile 25, she got up and ran with me for a minute or so. She said I was looking great. I still felt really good, which was encouraging. I was actually shocked by the number of walkers out there on the course. And, truthfully, I was really glad that I wasn't one of them. I never ever felt like I wanted to stop and walk (other than at an aid station) and I never had to convince myself to start running again after drinking my water. It was what I wanted to do.

I saw Drew one last time at Mile 26-ish before I crossed the finish line. I definitely tried to pick it up toward the end for the finish. I finished the race with the exact same look on my face as I had when I started - a smile. It was awesome. I loved, loved, loved the marathon. I want to do another one. I'd sign up today (provided it was a few weeks away).

Things I learned:
1. Having my name on my shirt made a big difference in the amount of cheers I got, even though everyone had their names on their bibs. I would 100% recommend this and do it again myself.
2. For my next marathon, I'll only run 3 days a week. Keeping the same rough mileage, but fewer days running. And also maybe mix in some cross-training in there. It would have been nice to feel like I had to do some biking instead of feeling like it was an optional rest day.
3. I loved it. I know I'm not fast, but I think something about these longer distances I'm just suited for. I finished running and immediately thought that I can't wait to do another one.
4. I want my next marathon to be a marathon only so I can experience that without feeling the loss of the half-marathoners.
5. I trusted my training and it carried me to the finish line. I am so proud of myself to have finished my first marathon well ahead of my goal time. It was better than my wildest expectations.

I ended up seeing people I knew a total of 9 times throughout the race, which was awesome. Couldn't have asked for anything better. Even though it probably would have been more fun for Laura and Drew to hang out together and cheer for me that way, it was a lot more fun for me to know that it would be two separate events.

My post-marathon legs were slow. After getting my medal and mylar blanket (which was a lot warmer than I would have ever given it credit for), Drew and I made our way back to the hotel. The curbs were definitely the biggest challenge for me on the walk home. When I finally stopped moving and was standing still, my legs felt like they had just gotten off a treadmill and I should keep my forward motion.

Moving from a standing to a seated position seems to be the hardest thing for me (both after the marathon and today, Monday). I could feel my quads getting tired somewhere around Mile 23, so I'm not surprised that they're taking the brunt of this the day after. I'm quite proud that I actually walked to work today, instead of taking the subway, but I think it's good for my legs to keep them moving whenever possible.

The best part about it? I think I'm now 100% officially a runner!

Running
Time: 4:41:28
Distance: 26.20 miles
Pace: 10:44/mile
Calories: 2689
Maximum HR: 188
Average HR: 173

Splits
10K: 1:06:26
Half-Marathon: 2:46:59
30K (18.6 Miles): 3:46:10

These split times cannot be correct. At least the last two must take into account the 25 minute difference between when I crossed the start line and the total clock time. I mean, I don't think I really ran the last 7.6 miles of the race in 55 minutes (which would be 7 minute miles). I'm beyond disappointed that I don't actually know my half-marathon time because I'd really love to know how much I slowed down for the second half.

What To Look For

2010-11-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

OK, so I'm done running now! Well, until Sunday, that is. Then I've got the longest run of my life ahead of me! This morning it was 41 degrees and I wore shorts and a thicker long-sleeved shirt. I was a little bit cool at first, but I warmed up really quickly. That makes me think that my outfit for the race will be just perfect. I just ran to the Park, did a quick run around the Lower Loop, and headed home. I didn't even bother wearing a watch. Just running to shake out the legs and any nervous energy I might have.

A couple people have asked what I'll be wearing so that they can try and look for me, so I thought I'd post some pictures. Before the race, in the corral, I'll look something like this:

Yes, that is a Hello Kitty hat. The clothes that are collected at the start are donated to the Bethesda Project and I'm hoping that it'll make it's way to a little girl and make her day! I also thought that it could be a conversation starter in the corral (OK, really, Drew said that, but I'm hoping he's right). Either way, it's actually pretty nice with fleece-lined ear flaps!

As far as the actual race goes, I'm hoping to be looking something like this (smile and all!):

Except I'll have a lot of Gu stuffed in my side pockets, which does nothing for the hips! And I'll have a bib on too. I've heard that they have your names on them, but I figured wearing a shirt with my name on it would be more clear and hopefully more people will cheer for me. I'm thinking that I might need the encouragement (especially towards the end).

I'm also including the information for runner tracking. You can click here to sign-up if you feel like stalking me while I run. My bib number and information is listed below (which I think you need to get the updates!).

We leave for Philadelphia early tomorrow morning. I'm excited to get there and pick up my number and just have everything all set! Hopefully I'll see some of you there!

Running
Distance: 2.90 miles

I Am Not A Runner

2010-11-18T11:44:00.000-05:00

It's true. I'm not a runner. I was always one of the last kids in gym class to finish the mile. I don't feel like it's anything I've got natural talent for. I'm not fast. Some people probably consider what I do jogging. I can't keep up with any of my team mates. I can't keep up with my boyfriend. Of all the blogs I read (and there are a lot of them), I don't know anyone who runs as slowly as I do. I am not a runner.

Yet, here I am about to embark on an endeavor that seems to me like the epitome of being a runner. Running a marathon. How did I end up here? About a month ago I was talking to Drew about the marathon and I asked him this question, "Do you think I have the mental stamina to finish the marathon?" His response was silence, followed by, "Well...", followed by at least another minute of silence.* Which just proves my point. I am not a runner.

I used to hate running. The very first time I went running with Drew, I wanted to trip myself less than a quarter-mile into the run so that hopefully we could stop running. I've come a long way since then. I can now really appreciate running for its simplicity. It's so easy to just throw on your shoes and head out the door and not have to think about all the details that come with biking or swimming.

I've been planning on running a marathon for a while now. I just thought it would be in 2011 and in New York City. That's still the case, but I guess I'm just throwing in the 2010 Philadelphia Marathon as a warm-up? This is what happens when you break your arm and can't bike for a long time, I guess. The funny thing is that this marathon was exactly what I needed. Once it was clear that I wouldn't be able to do Timberman this year, I needed something else to push me to continue working out. I needed a goal.

Now the marathon is just days away and I'm left pondering my race plan. It almost seems funny to have a race plan for a running race. I mean, the plan is to run and not slow down, right? That's sort-of my plan, but of course, it seems more detailed than that. My real plan is to start slow. Really slow. Like 11-minute miles slow.

I've learned that if I go out too quickly, I can't sustain that sort of pace over a long distance. Sure those 4 and 5 miles races in Central Park it's possible, but I'll never make it in the marathon if I do that. If I make it to Mile 2 before 21 minutes (in total time), I'm going to have to force myself to walk early in the race so as to try to avoid walking late in the race. I'm going to have to try not to get swept up in the usual race-day enthusiasm or feeling cold from standing around outside.

After the 2-3 mile marker, I think I can just run at my regular, natural pace. I think by then everyone will have settled down and I shouldn't feel like I'm trying to keep up as much (or warm up) as I will at the start. The other really important thing of note is that I'm going to stop at every aid station and walk through them. Even the early ones. Although I might not think I need a sip of water at Mile 2, I'm going to be wishing at Mile 23 that I had taken the water early in the race.

As far as calories go, since I had a bad experience mixing Gu and Gatorade in my stomach once, I'm going to pass on the Gatorade and just go with Gu and water. I'm planning on having a Gu every 5 miles for Miles 5, 10, 15 and 20 (or near those mile markers depending on where the water stops end up being). I'm going to carry at least one extra Gu (probably two, because I worry) in case I get hungry or think I need one for the last 10K of the race.

That's pretty much it as far as the race plan. Other than I should have fun and I hope to finish smiling. Oh, and time goals? Yeah, I've got one of those too. I'm going to be happy with anything under 5 hours. I think anything under 4:30 is totally unrealistic this time around. I think if I go over 5 hours I'll be disappointed and think that I probably didn't do enough training.

However, I realize that this is my first time at this distance and there is pretty steep learning curve to be had. So, with that in mind, my first goal is to finish. The second goal is the whole timing thing. In just three short days, I'm going to try to prove to myself that I am, in fact, a runner.

* I have to be fair here and say that although it took Drew a painstaking amount of time to come up with a response, when he did respond it was to say that he thinks that I'm really good at setting limits for myself, so even if I had to walk for a minute in the marathon, I would always be able to force myself to run again, which is something that he's not so sure he can do for himself. So, I guess that was a really long way of him saying "YES!", which was what I was really looking for.

Are You Excited?

2010-11-16T20:31:00.000-05:00

That seems to be the question of the day. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited for this marathon. The quick answer is no. I think I'd be worried about my sanity if I was jumping up and down with excitement at the prospect of putting my body through the most physically taxing thing I've asked to do so far. The thing I'm most excited for is that in 5 days the waiting will be over!

Of course, on the flip side, I am excited to see what I'm capable of and how my training works out in the end. I know I've put in the miles, but was it enough to get me to the finish line in the time that I want? I'm hoping that the answer to that question is yes.

The funny thing about this marathon is that I'm not really nervous. Maybe it's the difference between triathlon and just running races, but I'm really not nervous about this. I know I'll get to the end one way or another and something about the fact that there aren't three sports involved makes it a lot easier to somehow just instinctively know that.

I decided this morning that there wasn't any point in getting up early to go running. If this week is about resting up, I might as well sleep in and go running after work since I'd be up then no matter what. So, I went running after work. I didn't wear a watch tonight. I just wanted to go for a nice relaxing run.

That's not exactly how it went. It had sprinkled right before I left so there were a lot of wet (slippery) leaves on the road in the Park, which made me nervous that I'd slip and fall. I also seem to be having some sort of phantom knee pain. I know it's fake and that it's a taper pain, but it's annoying nonetheless. But, I made it home safe and sound and without any lingering knee issues, so it probably did me some good to get out there and shake out my legs!

Running
Distance: 4.20 miles

It Says 8, But...

2010-11-15T13:07:00.000-05:00

The workout for this weekend was supposed to be an 8 mile run, but I really wanted to run further south and run to the end of the island. The last time I ran that far south, it was dark and I wanted to check out the nice looking park there in the day time. And, truthfully, I also wanted to check out the Irish Hunger Memorial that's there as well. I've run past it several times before always thinking, "hey, I should check that out" and decided that Saturday was the day to actually do it.

I wore tri shorts, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt and the tank that I'm planning on wearing over another shirt for the marathon. Basically, I wore one version of my marathon outfit. The weather was about 52 and sunny and at first when I started running, I was worried that I'd be too hot, but as soon as I got into the shade, I was grateful to have the extra layer of the tank on!

The run was great. I was feeling like I wanted to be running a marathon and was bummed I still have to wait one more week. I had a couple of failed drinking fountain breaks (some of the fountains are shut off for winter, I guess?) but otherwise my strategy of Gu + drinking fountains is still working out great. That's definitely my strategy for the actual marathon, too.

As I ran south, I kept a look out for the Memorial, but must have run past it without paying attention. (The truth is that it's further north that I remembered it being). So, on my way back home, I kept looking for it. When I got there, I paused my watch and went for a walk around the monument and then up the path to the top. It's nice. I think I would have liked it more if I wasn't in the middle of a run, but it is a very nice little spot in this city and I'm glad that I stopped. Definitely worth the break. Of course, my legs weren't so happy to have to start running again after the break.

I made it back home in time to eat a delicious breakfast (made by Drew) before tackling lots and lots of chores for the day. Including a trip to Goodwill. I needed to buy some throw-away clothes for the start of the marathon and ended up finding a pair of sweatpants and a hat for $8. I already have an old fleece that I can wear and throw away at the start, so I think I'm all set now.

Sunday I didn't workout, but I did go and get a deep-tissue massage. It definitely wasn't all that relaxing, but it did feel nice. Nice in the foam-roller way, but probably good for my muscles no matter what. The woman did tell me that I should work on stretching (something I used to be really good at) after running. I've gotten pretty lax since starting marathon training. I'm going to try to work on that over the winter.

This week I've got a couple of short runs on tap and I'm going to eat all the carbs I could want in preparation for the big day! I can't believe it's almost here!

Running
Time: 1:53:42
Distance: 11.0 miles
Pace: 10:20/mile

Forgetting

2010-11-12T17:39:00.000-05:00

I find it really interesting that it's taken all this time during marathon training for two things to happen:
1. To go for a run with Drew
2. To realize that running is hard

Those two things may or may not be related. And to be totally fair, the last time I did run with Drew was in August and technically I was marathon training, but those were the early days! I'm actually not even sure I was officially signed up the last time we went running together.

So, the two of us went for a 4 mile run last night, which was Drew's idea. I have a good 3-mile loop in the Park, plus running back and forth from our apartment makes it right around 4 miles. Drew works out a lot, but he doesn't actually run all that often from what I understand (I don't actually know. To be honest, I don't love the gym, as you may have gathered, and that is where he likes to do the vast majority of his working out).

We started out running from our apartment to the Park and then off on my little route. There were a couple times where Drew asked if he was running too fast for me, but I felt like we were going along at a pretty decent pace. I must have sighed one times too many because he kept asking if I was okay, which I really appreciated, but also sort-of made me feel like I was a bad runner. I have to tell you, this is not a feeling that you really want to have leading up to a marathon.

However, it really seemed like the tides turned when we were getting closer to finishing the Park portion of our run. I could tell that Drew was definitely getting tired (and maybe tired isn't the right word, but just tired of running). The funny thing to me was that I was just starting to feel warmed up and like I could actually pick up the pace by a good bit and he was slowing down. Then, of course, I started asking him if he was okay. I realize now that it might have made him feel like a bad runner. Oops.

It's taken me all this time to realize that running is hard work. I don't consider myself a runner. I don't even really consider myself particularly good at running (there will be an upcoming post on these things). It just really made me take a step back and realize that running even one mile is a lot. Running four miles is really a lot. Especially when you don't do it that often.

I am really glad that Drew suggested running last night. I had a great time. I mostly wanted to go running because I got a new tank for running that I'm going to use in Philly (stay tuned) and I wanted to test it out prior to the race. I'm glad to say that it works amazingly well and I fully plan on wearing it. The weather was 52 when we were running last night and I wore shorts, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt and the new tank and was just about perfect. I didn't even wear a watch, because at this point there isn't anything I can do to help my marathon training. All those miles are in the bag. Now I'm just running to keep myself from going crazy waiting for race day!

Running
Distance: 4.20 miles

It's Like You're Missing A Digit

2010-11-09T21:17:00.000-05:00

This morning I was telling Drew that I had a 4 mile run on tap and that this weekend's run is only 8 miles. He said that it sort-of sounds like I'm missing a digit in all the runs for this week. I have to say that I agree. Running only 4 miles seems like it should be a piece of cake.

Except it wasn't. I ran at lunch again on the treadmill and I sort-of hated it. Which made me question the whole marathon thing. I have to say that I really really wish that this tapering stuff didn't make you a crazy person. So far I haven't had any phantom aches and pains (thank goodness), but I'm left questioning whether or not I can actually complete a marathon, which isn't the best feeling.

I know that it's all silly and I'll get to the finish line one way or another, but I can't help questioning things when I'm running on the treadmill. I will say that I wasn't able to use my favorite type of treadmill at the gym today and somehow felt all thrown off as a result of that. Normally I take a photo of my final stats so I can remember my time, but today's treadmill didn't want to show you your final stats. So I don't even really remember my final time. I think it was 43-something, but I'm unsure on the something.

The other reason I don't think that today's run was so great is that I've actually been running pretty quickly (for me, at least during marathon training) on the last couple runs, and today's was slower. I've got to remember that is okay and more likely my marathon pace and I absolutely cannot go out too fast during the marathon! On my remaining runs this week, I'm going to try to remember that and run accordingly.

Also, I found out my bib number and corral for the marathon today. Of course, I had to look it up on active.com myself (they haven't sent out an informational e-mail to race participants yet), but it makes it all more real!

Running
Time: ~43:30
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 10:52/mile

NYC Marathon Weekend Recap

2010-11-09T21:14:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning Laura and I got up bright and early, fueled up with bagel breakfast sandwiches and headed out to spectate the NYC Marathon. We started in Brooklyn around Mile 7.5. We were able to see the pros run by, which is pretty amazing. I don't think I could run that fast for 50 feet, even if I tried really really hard. I don't understand how they can do that for 26.2 miles.

I also made some signs and this is the one that I held up at Mile 7.5:

After seeing several of our friends run past us, we headed to the Upper East Side to watch at around Mile 23. We were able to see a lot of the same people that we had seen in Brooklyn. I have to say that we had a much easier way to get from one point to the other (the subway versus foot!). I had made a second sign to have at Mile 23:

I got a lot of comments and points and laughs at my sign, which was really fun! I really did my best to cheer for lots of the runners that went by. Obviously, people who had their names on their shirts were easiest to cheer for and it made me realize that I really want to have my name on my shirt for my marathon. I'm going to work on that. If anyone has any idea where to buy iron-on letters in NYC, please comment!!

I also made a rule about cheering. If you're wearing headphones, I'm not going to cheer for you. It's a waste of my breath. I know that some people think that they can't get through running without them and I know that a lot of people were hurting at Mile 23 (saw several people in tears), but I still wanted to cheer for people who I thought would have a better chance of hearing me!

After cheering for about 5 hours, I headed home. It was getting cold standing out there (although it was probably the perfect day for running) and I also needed to get my own run in. I decided to avoid all the craziness of the Park and headed over to the Westside Path. I ran south and used my same drinking fountain and Gu plan that I'm hoping to implement during the marathon.

My run ended up being 12.8 miles, but I took the first Gu around Mile 3 because I was feeling hungry. Then I took the second one around Mile 8. I think it worked out perfectly because I ended up having a really nice run. I don't know if it was because of the cooler temperatures or if I was inspired by the Marathon runners or what, but it was just a really nice run. Although since the time changed, it was dark really early, which I wasn't a huge fan of!

I have to say that watching the Marathon made me both excited and nervous. I'm excited to be doing it myself. Seeing people crying made me really hope that I don't look like that at Mile 23. Mostly I'm just excited to prove to myself that I'm capable of doing this!

Running
Time: 2:14:24
Distance: 12.80 miles
Pace: 10:30/mile

A Fake PR

2010-11-05T17:12:00.000-04:00

I was really going to get up this morning and go running. Really. Except I didn't. So I brought stuff to run at work during my lunch instead. The funniest part? I actually got to work earlier than usual so that I could take a slightly longer lunch if needed. Why I couldn't get up early to go running instead of getting to work early is beyond me. Sometimes these things just don't make sense.

When I started running, I sort-of had it in my head that I'd do 4 or 5 miles and then go back to work. Except I started running and something about that hour-long treadmill limit was just taunting me today, so I figured I should go ahead and see if I could do a 10K in less than an hour. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I thought I would be able to do it.

I started out running at 5.8 (10:20 pace) and held that for about 2 miles. Then I just kept bumping up the pace from there. Of course, I had to finish with a bit of a sprint and I kept getting really nervous that I had somehow not sped up early enough for it to come in under an hour, but somehow, I did it!

Basically, I shattered my two previous standalone 10K times. I shaved 1:15 off my last time of 1:01:11! Except that I don't really think that this counts as a PR because it was on the treadmill and not in a race. Doesn't mean that I'm not happy about it all the same, though!

Truthfully, maybe wasn't the best idea to run this speedy 10K today, but it's done and I'm actually really happy about it. Of course, on the flip side, all I could think about today while I was running was that I will have to run 20 miles and then a 10K in order to complete the marathon. Which seems crazy. And really made me doubt my decision to sign up for this race at all. I think tapering has already started to get to me and make me a little bit loopy.

The other big news is that I signed up for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. You can click on the button on the right side of my blog for more info -- and think about signing up yourself! The more the merrier! It starts on November 20 and runs through January 7, so it's 7 weeks of keeping yourself active through the holiday season. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I think it'll be what I need to not give up entirely on working out after the marathon.

However, I have to say that I feel like I'm cheating a little bit with this whole challenge. I mean, it starts the day before my marathon. Which gives me an early lead on the competition! Living in NYC also means that I walk at least two miles every day (walking to and from work). All those points sort-of seem easy to me, but I'm sure that there will be a lot of stiff competition, so I'm really eager to see how things pan out after 7 weeks. Just because I have an easy go of it on Day 2 of the challenge, doesn't mean I'm a guaranteed winner! (I also cannot believe that I just typed that running a marathon would be "an easy go". Tapering really must have made me loopy!)

Running
Time: 59:56
Distance: 6.20 miles
Pace: 9:39/mile

The Blame Game

2010-11-04T11:21:00.000-04:00

I had a feeling that this morning would be a bad weather morning and I was right. It was pouring rain. Which meant that it was probably a good thing that Laura and I had made plans to meet at the Columbus Circle Equinox and use some free passes that I had gotten when Drew and I did the Gay Pride Run. They were three day passes, but I knew that there was no way we'd actually use all three days since we weren't going to go back tomorrow. We also have several other passes from our Fitness Book that we need to use up before 2011!

Laura called ahead and found out that they didn't have a hot tub, so that was a bit of a disappointment. We had planned to meet this morning at 7:15 and this was our text exchange before we even met:

Amy - 6:34: I hate you.
Laura - 6:47: I hate you too. And I almost canceled. Twice. First just because it's too early, and then due to the rain.
Amy - 6:48: Oh, I know. Really don't want to go outside.
Laura - 6:49: I hate your job too. This morning thing was never a good idea. We should live in a world where we can hit the gym at lunch or after work.
Amy - 6:50: You should just come to our apartment instead and then we can all go back to sleep.
Laura - 6:52: Don't tempt me. I'm seriously tempted.
Amy - 6:52: Do it. It's a way better idea anyway.
Amy - 7:03: Yup, I hate you. This weather blows.
Laura - 7:10: I blame you for this.
Amy - 7:13: No!!! You!!!

I'd just like to say that while all of this was going on I was slightly concerned that Laura wouldn't be on time since she obviously also had cell service (which doesn't normally happen on the subway), but we both got there at the exact same time, so she must have some sort of secret. When we met in person, Laura said that she not only blamed me for getting up early, she also blamed me for the weather. I thought that was taking it a bit further than necessary.

The gym looked nice. I'm not sure it was nice enough to justify the costs involved with Equinox, but it was nice. They had very fancy Kiehl's products in the showers, which was a nice touch. The pool was just okay. Three lanes and it could have easily been five with the traffic that they had for the pool. But I know that they're a big expense and it's nice that gyms have them at all.

I started out sharing a lane with one other person, so we split the lane. I liked the first 50 yards and then hated the next 100 and remembered that swimming is hard work. After that, I sort-of settled into a bit of a rhythm and just kept swimming. With about 5 minutes left of our pool time, a third person got in our lane, so we started circle swimming. I wasn't too excited about this fact since I was in the fast lane, but it was nice that it actually pushed me a little bit more because I didn't want someone to come up and tap me on the toes!
I wanted to keep my place in the lane, so it worked out pretty well.

We cut our swim a couple minutes short to go in the steam room, which we ended up not loving. Then we sat in the sauna for a couple minutes before heading to the shower. Why couldn't they just have a hot tub instead? We headed off to work and I got this text:

Laura - 8:47: I still blame you.

Swimming
Time: ~25:00
Distance: 1200 yards / 0.68 miles
Pace: 36:45/mile

I'm Being A Wimp

2010-11-03T20:22:00.000-04:00

It got cold here in New York. And I don't like it. I'm really being a big wimp about it and don't want to go running outside in the cold. It's just the idea of putting on so many clothes, going running, getting hot, coming home all just seems like too much effort. And extra laundry. I know that I have to get over this ... quickly. I mean, I'm running a marathon outdoors in two and a half weeks and I'm pretty sure it's not going to get any warmer.

So, in the spirit of being a wimp, I didn't get up this morning and go running outside. Instead I packed a bag to go running at lunch at the gym. Totally wimpy, I know. I'm not overly proud of it, but I have to say that I'm glad I at least went running instead of skipping it all together, which was what I actually wanted to do.

I started out running at 5.8 pace for a mile, then 5.9 pace for a mile, then 6.0 pace for a mile and then I played around with the speed, getting up to 8.0 at the end for the next 0.75 miles. I decided to use the last 0.25 miles to try to cool down a bit, so I walked at a 4.0 pace.

Really, I think the lesson from today is that not all runs have to be a big deal, but I'm really glad that I didn't wimp out and skip it entirely. And I really am going to get out there and brave the cold ... maybe even tomorrow!

Running
Time: 41:07
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 10:16/mile

Wishing For A Marathon

2010-11-02T10:43:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning I defied all the odds and woke up really early and set out for my long run for the week. I had mapped out a 15 mile long route to do and then I would do a 5 mile race in Central Park. I figured getting cups of water at the end of the route was probably a good plan. I also knew that it would be best for me to finish the day with the race since I didn't think I'd really want to run too much after that.

The race started at 8:30, which meant that because I'm not the speediest runner, I wanted to get out the door around 5:30 in order to make sure I wouldn't feel too pressured to get to the race on time. I actually ended up starting a bit late, which of course made me nervous, but it worked out perfectly in the end.

The first part of my run was from our apartment to the Westside Path and then South to the bottom of the island. It was totally dark and pretty lonely out there while I was running. I saw about as many people as you could count on one hand that were exercising. There were some people who hadn't quite made it home from their Halloween celebrations, though! Really, the only company I had were the 4 rats I saw out and about. I learned that if you stomp your feet, they run away. That seems like a really important thing to know.

I have to say that normally when I run south I run to Chambers Street and then head back. Today I went further south and ran along the esplanade in Battery Park City. I'm not sure that was the right call since it was dark and I wasn't 100% sure where I was going or where to turn around, but it ended up being okay. I was a little bit nervous there since there were some Parks Department people patrolling the area, which made me wonder if it's a high crime area? I wouldn't have thought so, but the patrolling didn't do anything to make me feel more confident.

I knew that this run was pretty much the make it or break it day when it came down to nutrition for the marathon. I decided that I would do what I'm planning on doing for the marathon, which is to have water only and then take a Gu a miles 5, 10, 15 and 20. I skipped the last one, but had the 5, 10 and 15 mile Gus and I have to say that it worked perfectly. I pretty much stopped at every drinking fountain I saw and it worked out great.

The truth is that the whole run was great. The first 15 miles were awesome. I was sort-of wondering if part of that was due to the fact that it was dark and a little bit chilly and I knew I had to be done by a certain time for the race? Whatever it was, it was great. I ended up timing it almost perfectly because I snuck into my corral for the race at 8:28, for a race that was supposed to start at 8:30. I will say that NYRR is pretty darn good about starting on time, but they were running just a couple minutes late on Sunday. Which meant that I didn't cross the start line until 8:40. When I started running again, I wasn't overly enthused, but I pretty much just told myself to run to the next cup of water.

I got water at all the aid stations and walked for a few steps to drink my water instead of have it splash down the front of my shirt. That's pretty much my marathon plan as well. I knew that I was doing a pretty good job pacing myself in the race. I started out a bit slow and really, really picked it up towards the end. It was great to know that I could still have a tiny bit of a kick left after 20 miles!

All in all, I just kept thinking that I was wishing the marathon had been on Sunday instead of in three weeks. Although I think I'm ready to scale back on the running, I'm also now paranoid that maybe I peaked too early and wasted all my efforts in getting ready for the marathon.

Running #1
Time: 2:38:39
Distance: 15.00 miles
Pace: 10:34/mile

Running #2 (Poland Spring Marathon Kick-Off Race)
Time: 52:22
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:28/mile

Two Out Of Three

2010-10-29T11:12:00.001-04:00

This week has been a bit up and down. I've gotten two of the three 5-mile runs in that I had planned and that's how it's going to stay now, until the big 20 miler on Sunday. I ended up running on Wednesday and Thursday this week. I had planned a longer run for Wednesday, but ended up keeping it shorter and trying to follow the plan.

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently, partly with the marathon, and I think I'm more ready than ever to get out there and do the race. I've already promised myself that once it's over, I'm going to take some time off from all of this endurance sports business. I think I just need to re-group and figure out what's next. I actually decided not to sign up for the NYC Triathlon for 2011. I figure there are a lot of other races out there that I'd like to do and I'll give those a shot first.

Wednesday my run was pretty simple. Run north in Central Park to the Harlem Hill and then run home. I was thinking originally that I'd do some hill repeats, but then I realized that the plan only had me running 5 miles instead of 8 for a reason and I should stick with that. Of course, now that it's Friday and I didn't run today, I'm a little upset I didn't just do the 8, but I'll take it and be happy with it.

Both Wednesday and Thursday were nice and warm here in New York (in the 70s). And it's really weird to be wearing shorts and a tank top while running at the end of October, but I'm not going to complain. Wednesday was especially humid, which I sort-of forgot how it feels to run in such humidity. I am, however, a bit grateful that the weather will cool off for my long run over the weekend. I'm now terribly nervous that the day of the Philly marathon will be the coldest one we've had yet, but that will probably only help with running!

Thursday I ended up running in the evening because I needed to run to NYRR to pick up my race number and D-Tag for Sunday's 5-mile race in the Park. It's really a marathon kick-off race for the NYC marathon, but I figure I can use it as my marathon kick-off race too! I always thought that it would be a good idea to do one more race before the marathon, so this works out well.

I knew that I didn't have the best run ever on Wednesday, so yesterday I decided not to time myself. All I know is that it took 59 minutes to run from our apartment to NYRR, pick up my race number, and run home. I don't really know how much time was spent at NYRR or at stop lights, so I'm just guessing on the time below. It was actually sort-of nice to not be checking my watch all the time and feel slow!

I'm really nervous about this weekend's last long run. I've got the first 15 miles all mapped out and then I'll do the race as the last 5 miles. Of course, that means I have to get up ridiculously early in order to run 15 miles before the race starts at 8:30, but it also means that I'll be done running 20 miles and home by 10 am! Not too shabby for a morning's work!

Running - Wednesday
Time: 1:03:15
Distance: 5.60 miles
Pace: 11:15/mile

Running - Thursday
Time: ~52:00
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:24/mile

The Giants Win The Pennant! Weekend Recap

2010-10-25T15:14:00.001-04:00

Friday night we stayed up late to watch the Texas Rangers beat the Yankees to clinch their spot to the World Series. I'm not really sure I had a really big opinion one way or the other, but Drew has season tickets to the Yankees, so it would have been fun to go to another World Series game in New York this fall. The biggest reason I actually stayed up to watch the end of the game was that because Texas won, it meant that Saturday's Giants/Phillies game was moved from a 4 pm start to an 8 pm start. Which meant that we had to try to rearrange all of our travel plans and find a hotel at 11:45 the night before.

Because ... we went to Game 6 of the NLCS and watched the Giants beat the Phillies! Which was totally awesome! I think that it would have been a little bit more fun if we had been in San Francisco instead of Philladelphia, because a few people were not the nicest to us when we were wearing our Giants gear, but for the most part, the fans were pretty nice.

Anyway, this is a workout blog, not a baseball blog, but my whole point in the baseball business was to tell you that (1) I'm really excited for the World Series now and (2) watching baseball games until very late at night and then getting up at 5:45 am to take a train back to NYC makes you a little bit tired. I ended up falling back asleep for a while once we got home from Philly. In the whole 16 hours I was in Philadelphia, I just kept looking around and wondering "will I be running on this exact street again in a month?". Sort-of a crazy thought.

Obviously, because of the baseball game on Saturday, I planned my long run for Sunday. I had planned out a 21 mile route and I was convinced that I would make it this time. It involved another run across the George Washington Bridge that was a bit of a disaster the last time I attempted it. This run also ended up being a bit of a disaster and not at all the 21 miles I was expecting, but I finished. I think I learned some things. Those two facts are really all I can hope for at this point.

I decided not to take my Fuel Belt with me. I've just hated it too much the last couple times and I didn't want anything to interfere with my run. I decided to take two Gu packets and $20 and rely on drinking fountains. I'd also have money if I needed to buy anything. Everything was going along really well until one of the drinking fountains I was counting on wasn't working. Which meant that I wasn't going to make it across the bridge and back without that drinking fountain.

My only choice at that point was to turn around and go back the way I'd come from. I decided when I got back to Fairway that I'd stop in and buy myself a Gatorade. Which was $99 + tax. I can't tell you how annoying it was to carry around $18.92. Well, really, it was the $0.92 in change that was annoying jingling in my tri-short pocket the whole way home!

By the time I got the Gatorade, I was pretty thirsty. I tried not to gulp it all at once, but I think I drank it in about 5 gulps (it was 20 ounces total). The Gatorade plus Gu that I'd had earlier did not turn out to be such a winning stomach combo. The second I realized that, I was about a mile from the nearest bathroom. And I physically could not run without something devastatingly embarrassing happening. While I might be able to permit myself to have some sort of accident during a race, I just can't allow it to happen while on a training run. Which is how I found myself walking painfully slowly to the nearest bathroom a mile away.

After making it there successfully, the rest of the run was quite nice. So, now I'm left wondering what to do about the marathon. Gatorade or Gu? The combination of the two doesn't seem to work. Or maybe it really was the Gu again ... I've only had luck with it twice, and those were both much shorter runs than today. I've got one last long run planned for this coming weekend and I'm hoping to try Gu (with no Gatorade) again and see what the results are. If it doesn't work so well, I'm going to scrap the Gu entirely for the actual race. But I'm hoping it was just the combination of the two.

This is what my schedule looks like for the next month. Crazy that I have 87 miles to go until the marathon itself ... which gives me the total of 113.2. Also, these runs during the week seem really short now.

I've also realized that if I do all of those miles above, I'll end up right where I predicted I would at the end of my marathon training mileage wise. Which is sort-of a nice feeling. And more motivation to make sure I get all the miles in and not skimp out. The weather this week is supposed to be a bit above normal, so it should make for some really nice running conditions. All the more reason to get out there and keep going!

Running
Time: 3:35:00
Distance: 18.00 miles
Pace: 11:56/mile

I'm totally fine with this pace. Throwing in the horrible walking mile plus some drinking fountain breaks and slow running to begin with, I'm not really worried.

What To Do On A Thursday Night In NYC?

2010-10-21T21:49:00.000-04:00

Run, of course! I slept in this morning, but it ended up working out just fine. I got out of work on time, went home, changed clothes and then went for a run. I was planning on running about 7 miles today, which is the distance from my apartment, once around the Park loop and then back home again. The weather was just perfect tonight for a great run.

I guess I wasn't the only person who thought that! I saw lots and lots of other runners out tonight. It seemed like there were lots of groups of people, but I saw a couple I know who are training for the NYC marathon out running. Thinking about how close the NYC marathon is just reminds me how close my marathon is. Which makes me a little bit nervous, if I'm being totally honest. I'm also 99% sure I saw Megan out running with her CPTC buddies.

I felt pretty good, but my feet and my Achilles felt a little bit off today. I actually thought that it might have had something to do with my socks (I was wearing some new ones that I've never worn before), but then I realized it wasn't my socks, it was my shoes. Traditionally, I never get as many miles out of them as some other people do, but I'm actually at the higher end of the miles, so I'm actually a bit surprised I didn't have any other twinges over the past few runs.

The worst part about all this is, well, two things. First, the new shoes are pink. REALLY pink. Embarrassingly pink. A little bit fluorescent pink. I will admit, there might have been a stage of my life where I really liked pink, but not any more. I'm hoping to get these shoes really dirty really quickly to take some of the edge off. Second, I was planning on taking tomorrow off and then doing a long run this weekend and I'm not sure I want to do that in my new shoes. I don't really have any concerns about the shoes not being broken in or anything like that, but I'm also not sure I want to spend the first several miles out of my long run adjusting my speed laces.

Today's run was really great. I don't know if it was that I saw so many other people out there running. Some running group was obviously doing Harlem Hill repeats and as they passed each other they were calling out "great job" to everyone else they passed, including me. So that was a nice little boost! The weather was perfect and aside from my shoe issues I felt great.

As I got towards the end of the run, I really tried to pick up the pace. In fact, I ran the last half mile (in the Park)at a 8:14/mile pace. Not too shabby, I think! I actually wore my heart rate monitor again tonight for the first time in about three weeks. My heart rate was definitely highest toward the end of the run, a good sign that I was pushing myself with just about everything I had left in the tank for the night.

I know that running at night isn't always the right option for me, especially since I feel like it's hanging over my head all day and I worry about getting out of work in time, but sometimes it's just a really nice change!

Running
Time: 1:12:53
Distance: 7.20 miles
Pace: 10:07/mile
Calories: 683
Average HR: 193
Maximum HR: 170

I Run Alone

2010-10-20T19:34:00.000-04:00

I'm still trying to figure out the best plan for myself and running. You'd think by this late in the game that I would have figured out what was working and what wasn't, but I think I've finally figured out that four runs a week isn't ideal for me. Even though I skipped running in the cold dark rain yesterday morning I did bring stuff to go to the gym after work. Except I ended up having to work late, so I skipped the gym too.

I tried to make up a little bit this morning by doing 8 miles instead of the scheduled 5. I actually had a great run this morning. I ran to the Park, ran north to the Harlem Hill and did two repeats on the hill (from 102nd Street Transverse to the Adam Clayton Powell entrance to the Park). That meant that miles 2.80-5.20 were all up and down hill. Which looked pretty familiar. I'm thinking that I need to do this run again with some more hill repeats than I did today as preparation for the marathon.

While I was running today, I was noticing a lot of groups or pairs of people running together. I was thinking about how I almost always run alone. Even at the Terrier runs that I go to, I tend to run alone. I was trying to figure out how I feel about that. I never feel lonely while running, but I think that sometimes if I had someone else to push me more than I'd push myself it could be nice.

Truthfully, I don't even really know who I would run with even if I was dying to have a running buddy. Everyone I know that runs is oodles faster than I am (especially with this slower running I've been doing while marathon training). I think I decided this morning that I'm pretty okay with running by myself. That's how all the races are, so I guess it's good to train how you're going to race.

I had another Gu today (vanilla bean flavor again) while running. I had it about 52 minutes into my run while running downhill. I noticed that it definitely slowed me down to eat and run at the same time, but I was able to do both without stopping to walk. I did then stop at a drinking fountain shortly after I was done to wash it all down. I also noticed that if you're trying to get the end of the Gu packet you should not stick the whole thing in your mouth in an effort to get the last of it out. Turns out that makes me a bit gaggy.

I'm pleasantly surprised to report that this Gu trial went over well. I forgot to buy them before my last long run on Saturday, so this was only my second attempt. I didn't have any stomach issues, so that's another win. I don't necessarily think that I needed the Gu today, but I am glad to keep trying them out before attempting it with a long run. I'll be interested to see how it goes on my long run this weekend.

Running
Time: 1:23:27
Distance: 8.00 miles
Pace: 10:25/mile

30 Days and 10 Items of Clothing

2010-10-19T20:13:00.052-04:00

Unbelievably, today is the last day of the Wardrobe Challenge! I can't believe how quickly 30 days went by. Especially since it's just over 30 days to the Philadelphia Marathon (eek!).

Saturday evening, Day 27: I had said in the very beginning that I was giving myself one bye outfit when Drew's parents and sister were visiting us this weekend. I imagined, however, that we'd be going out to dinner and I'd want to wear something new. However, we ended up going out with Drew's dad to a sports bar and watching the Giants game, so I used my bye to wear a black turtleneck and Giants t-shirt that were not part of my 10 items. I wore the same jeans as usual, though! As a totally unrelated side note, it was the right call since the Giants won the game!

Sunday, Day 28: Wore jeans, black v-neck sweater, gold necklace that Drew got for me in Germany and Dansko mary-jane clogs.

Monday, Day 29: Long-sleeved purple shirt, black pants, and a gold necklace I've had since I was a kid. I think it might have actually been a hand-me-down from my mom, but I'm not sure.

Tuesday, Day 30: Black mini-skirt, black v-neck sweater with gray t-shirt underneath. Worn with black tights and black mary-jane heels. No jewelry other than diamond earrings. This was a new outfit though, so I'm glad I had one on the very last day!

I have to tell you, I loved this challenge. It really made me think about my (clothing) spending habits and I really don't need as much as I think I do. It was fun to think up new combinations, although I frequently had to look back at this very blog to make sure that I wasn't wearing the same thing too close together! It also really made me realize that with simple clothes, you can really dress them up or down with accessories and shoes. And that no one really notices what you're wearing ... at least not as much as you think they are.

I will also come clean and tell you that I did buying something during the course of the Challenge. I bought new running shoes (which I actually didn't need, but they were on sale for $15 less than I normally pay, so it seemed wrong not to buy them at the time). Tonight I also bought tights on my way home. Which was good, because while I was walking around the store looking at tights, I noticed in one of the mirrors that my current (one) pair of plain black tights was now threadbare in the knees. So, they went promptly in the trash when I got home.

I think that I would 100% do this again. It'd be fun to do in a different season, like summer perhaps? Especially since I think there is a bigger disparity between my work and casual clothes in the summer. I also did some window shopping while Drew's family was here and it really makes you think twice about buying something when you put it in the Challenge framework. I think that's the biggest part that I'll take away from this ... would I really want to wear this item for 30 days straight?

If any of you give this a shot, let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

So That's A 40-MPH Gust

2010-10-16T17:12:00.000-04:00

Today I was planning on a 13 mile run. I walked to the Westside Path and started running north. My plan was to run to the base of the George Washington Bridge and back to where I started, which would be just about exactly 13 miles. It was cooler than it has been, but extremely windy.

I have to say that it just seemed like everything was going against me today. Including the wind. It was so strong a couple of times that it physically moved me along. I also almost lost my hat. It blew off my head and I had to run after it and track it down. I had to tighten it as much as it could go (which I was surprised was possible since I already had it at just about the tightest setting). I also realized that maybe it's not the best idea for me personally to run 4 days in a row and expect good results on the longest run of the 4.

Also, I hated my Fuel Belt today. I don't know what the issue was, but it was horrible. The real issue was that it was hurting my stomach and making me feel crampy. I tried to run holding it in my hand. I seriously considered trying to stash it on the side of the path and then just not caring if I had to buy a new one. Then I thought if I was going to do that, I might as well just throw it away. Which I also seriously considered. More than once. I finally ended up with it right under the bottom of my sports bra, which was the only place where I could tolerate having it on. I'm sure it made me look even more awesome than I already looked in my tri short / compression sleeve combo that I had going on!

I really didn't eat or drink anything along the way. I'm wondering if that's a direct result of the cooler weather and just not feeling as thirsty as usual? I also decided, because of the misery of this run, that I would just cut it short and try not to care about it. After some walking and a stern talking to myself (which I did out loud in case you're curious), I told myself that I had to run from where I was (at 125th Street) back home. Without stopping, except for street lights once I left the Path. And, somehow, that pep talk managed to get me home.

About the only good thing I can say about the run is that even though I hated it and even though I was slow (even slower than I usually am) the pace is still exactly what I'd need to maintain in order to have a 5-hour marathon. Which might also sound slow to a lot of you speedsters out there, but that's really my goal and it's good to know that I can have a mini melt-down and still maintain the necessary pace.

Running
Time: 2:01:24
Distance: 10.60 miles
Pace: 11:27/mile

Can't believe how close to the end of the Wardrobe Challenge things are getting!

Friday night, Day 26: Blue sweater (worn earlier in the day), jeans, gold bangles and Dansko mary-jane clogs. You'd think I have an affinity for mary janes or something!

Saturday, Day 27: Jeans, long-sleeved purple shirt with black short-sleeved sweater. Worn with diamond earrings and Dansko mary-jane clogs.

Same Temperature, But Colder

2010-10-15T13:06:00.000-04:00

Normally when I'm a bad blogger, it means I've also been a bad exerciser. Not so today! I'm actually doing really well with my mileage so far this week. Funny how that works when you actually stick to the plan. I keep looking back on my past weeks and feeling down on myself about lots of missed miles. But, let's get to the actual workouts...

Yesterday I was supposed to run 8 miles, but I wasn't quite sure I'd have enough time for that. The past few mornings have involved some version of the following events:

1. Alarm goes off
2. I press snooze
3. Alarm goes off
4. I press snooze
5. Drew wakes up and says, "You should get up!"
6. Alarm goes off
7. I press snooze
8. Drew pokes me and says "You need to go running!"
9. Alarm goes off
10. I press snooze

So, you know, I've been waiting until the last possible second to get out of bed and actually get some miles in before work. Hoping to do a better job on that next week, but in truth, I'm just bad at waking up.

Yesterday it was 50 when I was leaving and I threw on a long-sleeved shirt and capris. I wasn't really sure that I needed to be wearing capris, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I might want to wear them for the marathon, so I figured I should get in some practice runs. I headed to the Westside Path and had a nice run down and up the island.

The big news from yesterday is that I ate a Gu. And it didn't even give me any stomach issues like it has in the past. I had a free Gu from the swag from my Central Park Biathlon and wanted to try it on a shorter run so that if I did have any issues, I wouldn't be ruining a long run. The flavor I had was Vanilla Bean and I wasn't sure how it would taste. Tasted kind of like frosting and as soon as I ate the first bit, I wasn't really sure I wanted to be eating frosting while running. But then my tummy seemed okay with it, so maybe I actually do want to be eating frosting while running?

I'm hoping to give this another shot on this weekend's "long run", which is actually a step-back week, so long is only 13! I'm hopeful that the added calories will help me feel better (and maybe less thirsty?) at the end of these runs.

Today was also 50 and since I was a bit warm yesterday, I wore a slightly thinner long-sleeved shirt and capris again. Except that the wind today was a bit crazy and I was really glad to have on as many clothes as I did, especially while starting running and waiting to warm up! This morning I decided to go to the Park and was thinking I'd do the same run I did on Wednesday.

Except that when I got to the Reservoir, I realized that I haven't run on the Bridle Path in quite some time, so I decided to do a loop around there and then head back home. It rained like crazy last night and the puddles on the path were pretty huge. I felt like I added on an additional half mile just running back and forth around all the puddles!

When I was running today, I was thinking about marathon and those missed miles that I have. I can't go back and redo those weeks and I certainly don't think I can try to make up for them. So, I just decided that I'm going to try to take a new outlook on the situation and say that every mile I run from now on will make the marathon a tiny bit easier. We'll see how long this lasts.

Thursday Running, Westside Path
Time: 1:15:00
Distance: 7.10 miles
Pace: 10:35/mile

Friday Running, Central Park
Time: 54:40
Distance: 5.10 miles
Pace: 10:48/mile

I can't believe how close to the end I'm getting of the Wardrobe Challenge. I know that being busy with work and running have really helped time fly by.

Wednesday night (Day 24), I went out after work to the Ingrid Michaelson concert and felt obligated to take a photo to show you my after-work outfit. Purple long-sleeved shirt, black v-neck sweater, jeans, silver circle earrings and gray Converse:

Thursday, Day 25: Gray skirt, green turtleneck, gray tights, green and silver earrings. Worn with black flats (my right pinky toe is sore and the flats were the most comfortable shoes).

Friday, Day 26: Black pants, blue sweater, diamond earrings and two gold bangle bracelets. Worn with the high-heeled mary janes, of course!

Jingle Jangle Morning

2010-10-13T13:26:00.000-04:00

This morning was a chilly one here in the Big Apple. I'm thinking that Fall might finally be here to stay, which is a bit of a bummer. Even though the summer was brutally hot, I really prefer that to fall and winter. Oh well. I dragged myself out of bed this morning to go running. In truth, I actually got up yesterday, put on running clothes and then got back into bed wearing all my running clothes, including socks and hat and went back to bed for another hour and a half. So, I guess that just proves that getting dressed isn't half the battle. Getting yourself out the door is!

I managed to get out the door today, so that seems like a good first step. I think I'll still be okay in the miles department. I was always sort-of planning on having a step-back week this week since Drew's parents and sister will be visiting starting tomorrow. On tap for today was 5 miles. I don't really have a good 5-mile route. Which is funny because there is a really good 5 mile route in the Park, but I've been including the mileage running to and from the Park and I can't quite get it to work out perfectly yet.

So, I ran to the Park and was wearing shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. I had been thinking of wearing a thin one, but when I realized that it was still pretty chilly, I decided on a thicker one that had a back pocket. I stuck my keys in there and they jingled along the whole time I was running. Which, I'm going to be honest, was sort-of annoying. And immediately this song got stuck in my head. While I really like the song, I could only think of the phrase "in the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you". It's a lot better when you can think of more words to repeat, I think.

There was actually a second jingle jangle incident this morning. I'm running down the west side of the road in the Park and I hear someone ringing and ringing a bike bell. I didn't really think anything of it because I was in the running lane. But, a guy comes up behind me on his bike and yells, "HEY!" and then proceeds to keep riding in the running lane. I know I'm a pretty big stickler on the rules and while that is the bike lane when cars are allowed in the Park, in the early morning and at night when there are no cars, it's for pedestrians! Of course, I felt obligated to yell after the biker and tell him the rules, which only makes me look crazy, I think.

I decided not to run all the way home since I knew that I'd already gone well over 5 miles and it was getting late and I don't do well with pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks, so I just walked home from the Park. Worked out pretty well overall, though!

Running
Time: 59:01
Distance: 5.65 miles
Pace: 10:26/mile

Still enjoying the Wardrobe Challenge. Pretty sure that both Monday and Tuesday's outfits are new ones (combos not yet worn), which seems impressive to me this late in the game.

Monday, Day 22: Black short-sleeved sweater, gray skirt. Worn with black flats (although I did bring heels to work, I never changed). I also wore the new necklace Drew got me in Germany, but again didn't take a close-up.

Tuesday, Day 23: Gray t-shirt and black pants. I wasn't actually planning on wearing this shirt again so soon, but I forgot that it was flu-shot day at work and it seemed best to be wearing short-sleeves. Only accessory today were glasses. And I'm standing in the other direction because Drew made fun of me recently for always having the same pose, so I switched it up!

Wednesday, Day 24: Purple long-sleeved shirt and black mini skirt. Worn with black fishnet stockings. I was going to wear different tights, but when I put them on they had a hole the size of my fist, which didn't seem ideal, so these got second prize. And, although they're not pictured, I am wearing my elephant hair earrings. I also brought the black v-neck sweater to wear over this as a "jacket" to work. I'm going out later and didn't actually want to have a jacket, so that's the reason for the layers.

The Almost 23 Mile Weekend Recap

2010-10-10T19:08:00.000-04:00

Saturday I knew I had to get a long run. A really good long run. And my longest long run yet. I had mapped out what I thought would be the perfect 19 mile run. It would take me across the George Washington Bridge, just into New Jersey, and then back home. I've been biking across the bridge several times, but never running and I figured that it couldn't be that hard to figure out how to get there.

So, I did my usual run up the Westside Path and when I got to the base of the bridge, instead of turning around and heading home, I kept going up the hills to the pedestrian bridge at 181st Street. The first hill wasn't so bad. The second hill, I made it up and practically doubled over trying to catch my breath. Holy cow. That's a steep climb. The only thing that made me feel good about this is the biker I was chasing up the hill, I caught on the second hill and the second hill the biker walked and I ran up! So, at least I've got that going for me.

After I got across the pedestrian bridge and was at the corner of 181st Street and Riverside Drive and I made a fatal error. I headed south right away towards the bridge, which was a really big mistake. I basically ended up getting lost and running along the side of the entrance to the freeway not on any sort of sidewalk, but under the bridge and under the road (sort-of) and all I can say is that I was scared.

I eventually saw a staircase that should have taken me where I wanted to go, so I started up the stairs and took a spill up the stairs. I wasn't too worried about this until I realized that I fell into a bunch of drug paraphernalia, which wasn't ideal. I made my way up the rest of the stairs only to discover that there was a wall at the top, which I couldn't get over. So, I made my way back down the stairs. I decided to turn off my watch because obviously I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't running and in fact I was blinking back tears.

Finally, I made my way back to the sidewalks and regular roads, started my watch and started running again, and couldn't decide if I should just go home and be okay with a shorter run or if I should make my way back to the bridge and do the original run plus a little extra. I was bound and determined to figure out this whole bridge thing, so I made my way across the bridge and back.

Holy cow, it's windy on the bridge. But the views are pretty awesome. It was almost worth getting lost to see it. It reminded me of the first time I rode my bike up the bridge and got lost getting there. I would have thought that on foot (since I theoretically knew where I was going) it would have been a lot harder to get lost. Not so much. So, here's a word to the wise: if you're running on the Westside Path and get to the 181st Street pedestrian bridge, head East for a couple blocks before you head South. Your run will be much more enjoyable!

After getting back to New York from my very brief visit to New Jersey, I made my way back to the Westside Path, now that I had a much better idea of where I was going. And then I ran home. I had a pretty good nutrition plan for this run and it worked really well up to a point. Starting at around 35 minutes, I had a sip of Gatorade every 10 minutes. At one hour and two hours I ate 4 jelly beans each time followed by some water. I had my third set of jelly beans at 2:45:00 because it just seemed like a good time.

After that, I was pretty much parched. So, I'm still not doing something quite right because at some point on all these long runs, I basically feel like I cannot drink enough. The only problem? I have no idea what to do about it.

After about 3:15:00, I had pretty much had it. I was tired of running and tired of having my Fuel Belt around my hips and just wanted to be done. It was at this point where I think I hit my mental wall and I'm not really convinced that I came out ahead on this one. I just kept thinking that if I was tired now, how would I ever finish a marathon? I would still have so many miles left to go. So, I just did the best I could getting home. I definitely took several (quick) walking breaks. I would mostly count to 5 or 10 in my head while walking and then start running again. I also took my Fuel Belt off and wore it around my neck/shoulder. I got a lot of funny looks, but I didn't care.

When I got home, I just laid down on the ground for a while, before figuring out that my 19 mile run was a 19.75 mile run (plus a little extra not counted for getting lost). I've never felt so discouraged after a long run. The funny thing is that I actually did pretty well on the pacing. I think the problem really was getting lost. If I had just made it to the bridge and done the run as planned, I think (I hope) I would have felt a lot better in the end. The good news is that I've still got a couple more long runs to go before the race!

Today I needed to put that discouragement behind me. I was on-call at work from 12 to 4, but ended up not having to go in, so at 4:00 I changed into running clothes and headed out for a really short 3-mile run. I went to the Park, where I knew I couldn't get lost and where I've done this 3 mile run on several occasions. It seemed almost fool-proof. Plus, there were so many people to look at, it couldn't be boring! On my walk to the Park, one of the bike rental guys looked at me and said, "Running is overrated, you know." On some days, I couldn't agree more!

I also decided not to wear my watch or any other gadget. Of course, I had to look at the big CNN clock at Columbus Circle on the way into the Park and the way out of the Park and it turns out that I ran the 3 miles in 31 minutes. I'll take it. The most important thing was that I enjoyed the run and my legs felt good, so I must have still had something in them yesterday, too. Makes me feel a lot better overall.

Saturday Running
Time: 3:34:20
Distance: 19.75 miles
Pace: 10:51/mile

Sunday Running

Time: 31:00
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:20/mile

Wardrobe Challenge is still ongoing!

Friday, Day 19: Black pants and black short-sleeved sweater with glasses and a necklace from a sidewalk guy in Barcelona. Oh, and Drew says hello!

Saturday, Day 20: Jeans, gray short-sleeved t-shirt paired with silver headband and silver bangles. Wore gray Converse with this outfit.

Sunday, Day 21: I have to confess, I've been cheating a little bit. Drew is a huge San Francisco Giants fan (as a result of being a huge Will Clark fan as a kid) and the Giants are currently in the playoffs. I've been wearing various Giants gear, but up until today, it was all pretty much in the "pajama" category since until now, the games pretty much started at 10 pm. But, today's game started at 4:30 and so I'm wearing a Will Clark t-shirt with jeans. However, I did not wear this out of the house, so it's borderline debatable that it's a real outfit and if the Giants weren't playing, I probably wouldn't have really gotten dressed at all today, but I felt I needed to come clean on my cheating:

The Breakdown

2010-10-07T10:46:00.001-04:00

In the last 72 Hours I have spent my time as follows:

35.5 Hours At Work
3 Hours Commuting to and from work
3 Hours Getting Ready For Work
22 Hours Sleeping

2.2 Hours Running
3 Hours Watching TV

That left me with 3.30 hours that I've somehow wasted not blogging, so I apologize for not getting this up sooner! I'll just do a quick run down of the past three days and then hopefully we can get back to regular around here.

Monday was my usual rest day and of course the whole Marie Claire article discussion. Tuesday morning was awfully dreary and I didn't feel like getting up, but knew I couldn't let last week's bad running schedule follow me into this week. Enter the lunch-time run! This is only possible because there is a branch of the gym that I belong to in the lobby of my work building. I did a quick change, hopped on the treadmill, pounded out my 5 miles, and was back to work in just over an hour. I was embarrassingly red-faced when I got back to my desk, but I got the run in and that was the most important thing!

Wednesday was another lazy day in the running department. Thinking more and more that I might not be cut out for running 4 times a week and that 3 seems to be working well. I might want to kick myself in the face about that come November 21, but I think that I'm doing okay overall. I had lunch plans for Wednesday, so I couldn't squeeze in another lunch time run and working from 9:30 to 9:30 doesn't leave you a lot of other free time to hit the gym if you don't go before work.

This morning, I got back in the game. I'll admit that it took every ounce of willpower to actually get up and out of bed. And even once I did that, I still got back in bed to eat my pre-workout breakfast before hitting the road. But, eventually, I did in fact hit the road. I ran down the Westside Path, which was actually really nice. I've never really run there on a weekday morning before and I was worried that it would be a bit desolate, but there were a lot of people out there.

The most exciting things I saw? A cruise ship being pulled into dock by some tug boats and a rainbow. Apparently this rainbow was more exciting than I gave it credit for because I noticed it and forgot about it 5 minutes later. About 20 minutes after that, a guy came up next to me on his bicycle and told me I should look at the rainbow. Which I did, again. I mean, it was nice, but it wasn't a double rainbow or anything.

I definitely felt like I was pushing myself more than usual today and it showed in the numbers when I got home, so that was nice to see that it wasn't a mis-perception. Actually, both my runs so far this week have been faster than usual. Maybe it's that I was trying to get them over with faster? I am, however, looking forward to a nice long and slow run this weekend!

Tuesday Running (Treadmill)
Time: 50:33
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:06/mile

Thursday Running
Time: 1:23:26
Distance: 8.40 miles
Pace: 9:55/mile

Wardrobe Challenge has still been going along just fine.
Tuesday, Day 16: Blue sweater, black pants, belt and silver and black earrings worn with high-heeled black mary janes (these seem to be the default shoe of this challenge!).

Wednesday, Day 17: Black v-neck sweater, gray skirt, black suede boots and worn with my new necklace that Drew got me from Germany (which I didn't take a close-up of). Just means I'll have to wear it again!

Thursday, Day 18: Gray shirt, black mini-skirt, tights and black flats. Worn with three silver bangles and silver earrings. The bangles are from my grandma and the earrings are just cheapies. I was actually planning on wearing pants today, but I seemed to have tweaked my knee (this actually isn't running related, I noticed it yesterday evening and think I must have been sitting oddly at work) and thought I should wear flats instead of heels, so mini-skirt it was!

Half-Way There

2010-10-04T09:51:00.000-04:00

I'm now at the half-way point of the Wardrobe Challenge, and I thought I'd write down some of my thoughts about this whole experiment so far. At the start, I found myself wishing that the weather was a bit cooler. There was really only one day where I was wishing I had one more short-sleeved shirt. However, it now seems like the weather has turned and it will stay a bit cooler, so I'm excited to do some other combos I thought of with layers.

I've found myself unsubscribing from a lot of "junk shopping" e-mails that I get. I figure if I don't know that some store is having a sale, I'll be less likely to go to that store's website and I'll certainly be less likely to browse and buy something. I actually don't do a whole lot of shopping in stores, I tend to shop on the internet, so this was a way to cut out some of the temptation. It was also something that I had wanted to do for quite a while, but this experiment was really the push that I needed to actually take the time to unsubscribe.

I actually don't mind it as far as wearing only 10 items of clothing. I love the fact that I'm wearing more of my jewelry. I have a lot of it and it's nice to show it off. The big negative for me is the increase in laundry. Maybe if we had laundry in our actual apartment, I wouldn't mind quite as much, but we have it in the basement and something about dragging stuff down there feels like more work. Before, I used to wait until I was running low on clean underwear or Drew was running low on clean gym clothes before I would do laundry, but now it's a weekly affair.

There is really only one thing I've realized that I actually need to buy once this is over and that is plain black tights. I only have one pair right now and I'll never make it through the winter like that. Other than that, I think I could happily get through the winter with what I've already got.

Today's outfit, Day 15: Black mini-skirt, purple long-sleeved shirt with black patterned tights. Jewelry is an amethyst necklace that was my mom's, which she gave to me and a signet ring that was my great-grandmother's but was passed down to me from my grandma. Shoes are black mary-jane heels. And there's a message for Drew! (He's away in D.C. again. He doesn't normally travel this much).

Central Park Biathlon

2010-10-03T21:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I did nothing except work. Not overly happy about this, but I can't go back in time and get up earlier and go running before work, so I'm over it. I always knew that this time would be rough with work and I can't stretch myself too thin otherwise I'll never make it through with my sanity in check, so I'm doing the best I can for now.

Today Drew and I had signed up for the 26th Annual Central Park Biathlon. Just to be clear, I did not ski or shoot. I would have classified what I did as a duathlon, consisting of running and biking, but I didn't title this race, and I think it's a bit confusing. Unfortunately, I ended up having to do the race by myself since Drew had to be on a plane to D.C. this morning and couldn't do the race as well.

This morning was a bit cooler than it has been recently, so I wore tri shorts, a long-sleeved shirt and my Terrier bike vest to keep myself warm on the bike. As soon as I got on my bike to ride to the Park, I felt pretty cold, but knew I'd warm up as time went on. I got to the race site and racked my bike and then went to check in. Funnily enough, the person checking me was Krista! Both her and her husband were volunteering at the race. I only got to say a quick hello since there were other people waiting to get their race numbers also.

I put my number on my bike and on my race belt and still had plenty of time to kill before the race started, so I decided to go for a quick warm-up run. I decided that I'd run for 8 minutes out and then run back. It actually worked out perfectly, because right when I got back, the race director had just started giving out instructions about the race and the race course. He also mentioned that if anyone was seen using headphones, they'd be disqualified. This fact was also in the official rules listed on the website.

As we were lining up for the start, I saw my friend Lisa. We chatted for a couple minutes before the gun went off. It was definitely nice to see a friendly face. The race started pretty much on time, which was nice. The running course was from the Central Park Boathouse up to 96th Street and back again. Pretty uneventful.

Of course, I ended up seeing two people wearing headphones. Both people only had one earbud in their ears, but I don't really think that makes a difference. I told both people that they were breaking the rules and if they didn't take them out, they would be disqualified. Even if that meant that I had to tell an official myself. Maybe that's mean of me, but it was in the rules and the race director had told us about 10 minutes before that it was against the rules. I don't think I was out of line. Especially since everyone else was following the rules. I don't think they should get a free pass.

I had told Drew yesterday that my only goal was to finish this race in under two hours. Even with my normal slow pace, that was more than doable, so I wasn't in any sort of rush on the run. I was a little bit warm with the biking vest on while I was running, but I knew it'd be good to have on the bike.

When I got back to transition, I changed shoes and grabbed my bike and headed out. The course was to do two loops of the Park. I have to say, I would have been happier only doing one loop, but of course I did both. During the first loop, I had a near accident with a guy walking his dogs. I actually was a bit upset with both the guy (for not looking) and the volunteer who was standing next to him (for not saying anything). I know the volunteers have a hard job, but it was really close call!

The second loop wasn't quite as eventful. I was really glad the whole time that I was wearing the biking vest. Every time there was a big gust of wind, it was really nice to have on. There was a girl in front of me on a mountain bike and was wearing tennis shoes. I was bound and determined not to let her beat me in on the bike. Even though I only came in about 1 second before her, somehow that made me feel better. When I went into the second transition, I took off my bike vest for the second run.

When I was on the bike, I noticed that the run course was a bit longer than a mile. I even came home and checked Gmap Pedometer, and it also says that the run course was long, so I actually feel pretty awesome about my run times now. It turned out to be a good thing because as I was finishing, Lisa and her other Asphalt Green teammates were cheering for me, but they had mixed emotions about cheering for someone wearing Terrier gear, which I wasn't wearing when they were cheering for me! I have to say that it was really, really nice to have someone cheering for me at the finish!

After the race, I chatted with Lisa for a few minutes, grabbed half a bagel and an orange slice and headed home. I had to work again today, which was probably the only reason that I actually got dressed in real clothes today! Otherwise I would have been quite content to stay in pajamas. I also had been thinking that perhaps I would be able to get a few more running miles in before heading to work, but it wasn't in the cards for today. All I can say is that tomorrow is a new week and I'm going to start fresh then.

Running (pre-race)
Time: 15:54
Distance: 1.60 miles
Pace: 9:56/mile
Calories: 138
Maximum HR: 175 (83%)
Average HR: 163 (77%)

Biathlon
Run 1: 21:30
T1: 1:10
Bike: 51:05
T2: 2:26
Run 2: 21:34
Total Time:1:36:31
Calories: 894
Maximum HR: 191 (90%)
Average HR:170 (80%)

I measured the runs as 2.25 miles each and the bike as 12.18 miles. That gives me a total of 6.10 miles running for the day.

Saturday, Day 13: Wore jeans, black v-neck sweater and gray Converse. We thought that the cat needed a redeeming photo after her alien eyes from before, so she's making an appearance again. Not that you can see it, but I started out wearing a silver necklace and ended up changing it in the evening for dinner to a new one. I'll be wearing the new one again, so will take a photo later.

Sunday, Day 14: Wore jeans and green turtleneck with gray Converse. Jewelry consists of pearl stud earrings from my grandma. My grandma didn't have pierced ears, so I actually had the earrings changed from clip-ons to studs.

Heavy Rain / Wind

2010-10-01T11:18:00.000-04:00

I had this really great plan for this morning. But I woke up to this weather forecast on my telephone:

Right. That looks bad. It wasn't even so much the rain, it was the 30+ MPH winds that had me worried. But, I couldn't afford to skip another day of running this week, so I got up and dressed and went back to the gym. Which I had pretty much vowed never to do again. But, I sucked it up and got on a treadmill and started running.

I have a speed issue on the treadmill. Meaning that I think I need to run really fast on them. But, the truth is, I don't. I just need to run. So, I set the treadmill at 5.5 (which is a 10:54 mile) and started running. And running and running and running some more. It was totally mindless. The TV on the treadmill next to me was stuck in the on position and it was also stuck on ESPN, so I watched more of the Ryder Cup's rain delay from this morning than I ever would have otherwise and I obsessively watched the ESPN ticker to see if any new sports information would show up.

Even though this wasn't my plan for today, I'm glad that I just got up and did some running. I know I'll end up coming up short this week in the running department, so it was good to get any miles under my belt. However, I don't understand how the treadmill told me that I was running a 10:54 minute mile and when I add up the times (the treadmill times out after an hour), I end up with an 11:01/mile pace. Not that it's a big difference in the long run, but it's still perplexing.

My current plan for the weekend is to go running again tomorrow morning before work, do the duathlon on Sunday (4 miles running) and see where I end up. If I have to work on Sunday after the race , that'll be all I can do. If not, I might consider adding some more onto that duathlon, but it's sort of a wait and see thing at this point.

Running
Time: 1:10:36
Distance: 6.40 miles
Pace: 11:01/mile
Calories: 722 (according to treadmill)

Because of the rain, went with a skirt today. Day 12 outfit: Gray skirt and green turtleneck, pearl earrings and black suede shoes. The earrings are actually the bridesmaid gift from my friend Ann's wedding and the shoes were not worn outside in that monsoon that we're having today! They were carried in my bag to work for safekeeping! (But, obviously, I couldn't be bothered to put them on for the photo...sorry!)

23 Miles From The Goal

2010-09-30T16:53:00.000-04:00

Well, all I've got today is a bunch of excuses. Drew came back from Germany last night and I didn't go running this morning. I don't even really think the two things are related, but it was raining and I wanted to stay in bed. So, I didn't go running. That's two days in a row now. And I'm getting very very close to a crazy and ridiculous time at work, so that's not going to be helping matters any.

My September running total for the month was 108.3 miles in 19:02:00 for an average pace of 10:32/mile. I was feeling awesome and warm and fuzzy about that until I realized that in the month of September, I was supposed to have run 132 miles. Which means I fell a whopping 23.70 miles short. The funny thing is that despite that fact making me upset, I actually still feel totally confident about completing the marathon. Does that make me crazy?

Wardrobe Challenge, Day 11:
Truthfully, I had trouble remembering what I've already worn this week, so I had to peek back at my blog to check. I wore black mini-skirt and blue sweater. Topped it off with tights and a black headband with a bow. Diamond stud earrings. I normally wear these earrings every single day, so I think I've really liked (and I know Drew really has) how this challenge has forced me to shake it up a bit!

After we took this one, Drew asked if the cat should be in the photo, too. I agreed and this is what we got:

I cut Drew's head off and our cat appears to be crazy-eyed. In self-defense, however, I'd like to say that I had to set the self-timer with the cat in my arms and at least I actually got her to look at the camera, so even though it's not the best, it's actually a very funny family portrait!

Germany Is 6 Hours Away

2010-09-29T10:50:00.000-04:00

I can't even really explain why Drew was awake when he was, but since he was still in Germany yesterday, we ended up spending what was my evening and his sleeping time talking on GChat. Except that I stayed up way way way too late as a result and when my alarm went off this morning, I cursed it and went back to bed.

Which means no running today. Oops. I've been trying to be better about this whole bedtime thing, but sometimes I just suck at it. I'm accepting that and moving on. It's not like I don't have work and a 18 mile run and a duathlon hanging over my head for the weekend. I'm sure I can fit everything in! (ha ha ha).

Anyway, on to today's outfit. Day 10 - all black. Truthfully, if I thought it would have been okay, I would have chosen all black items to wear with a pair of jeans thrown in the mix. But then I thought it'd be harder to see that I was actually changing my clothes on the internet, so I didn't. But I normally wear a lot more black than I've been representing in this challenge!

Wearing black pants, black short-sleeved sweater and gold necklace and earrings from Drew. I think these are some of my favorite earrings from him. He really likes dangly earrings and I really love post earrings, so these are a good combo of both. Topped it off with black mary jane heels.

It Could Be Raining

2010-09-28T12:05:00.000-04:00

This week is looking like rain, rain, and more rain here in the Big Apple. I have to say, rain is my least favorite weather. I think I didn't have this bad attitude until I moved to New York and had to walk to work. But there's just something about being wet all day long as a result of it that makes me a bit surly. It's also why I tend to wear skirts when it's raining (so my pants don't get all wet). I might complain about the cold, but it just doesn't seem like as big of a deal to me as rain.

Which is why it was crazy that I excitedly woke up at 5:18 this morning to get dressed and go running in the pouring rain. I will say, however, that I did drag my feet a tiny bit while getting ready to head outside. Not because I didn't want to go, but I didn't want to be standing around waiting for the workout to start. I pretty much wanted to get there and just go to the back of the line and if I missed a stride or two, it wouldn't be the end of the world!

That's exactly what happened. I arrived just a minute or two late, but I think I only missed one (at the most two) strides, so I still got a decent warm-up and didn't have to stand around in the rain. There was a very small group of Terriers this morning (not surprising), but the majority of the people who were there are part of the specific marathon program, so even though I'm not part of that group, I guess it shows that marathoners are probably the only people crazy enough to get up and out there!

Because we were such a small group today, Spencer had us all do the marathon plan workout instead of having just a few of us do the regular Terrier workout. The "beginner" marathon workout today was 4 x 1000 meters. I have to say I wasn't overly enthused about this, but I know the speed work stuff is good for me and it's a nice change from "regular" running, so the only thing to do was start running.

I ended up doing the intervals with another girl on the team and it was actually really nice to have someone there at my same pace. We chatted a little bit, but mostly it was nice because it gave me a reason not to drop my pace. I felt like I had to keep going and I definitely pushed myself a bit harder than I would have if I'd been doing it on my own.

The rain definitely let up as time went on and of course by the time I was heading home, it had stopped completely. I don't mind. I figure there could be rain the day of the marathon, so I might as well get out there and practice a little bit. After getting home I promptly took my orthotics out of my shoes and stuffed newspaper in my shoes so that they'd dry out quickly. I'm hopeful they'll be all ready for tomorrow morning!

Running (Run There / Strides / Run to the S)
Time: 24:11
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 9:40/mile

Running (4 x 1000 meters)
Time: 21:00
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 8:24/mile

Total Distance: 5.00 miles

So, since the threat of rain is still out there, although it wasn't actually raining on my way to work today, I wore the grey skirt and purple shirt. With purple heels. Yup. That's right. I actually think it works okay, too. Which might mean that after only 9 days of this challenge, I'm off my rocker a bit?

They really don't look all that purple though, so it's probably not quite as bad as you were imagining in your head!

I'm also wearing my elephant hair earrings. Drew got them for me in Namibia. The left one is what they look like from the front, but I took a picture of the back so that you could see it better. I have a matching necklace, but that just didn't work with the neckline of the shirt today.

Rainy Start To The Week

2010-09-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

This morning I had to get up and at 'em earlier than I normally would on a Monday since I had an appointment with my eye doctor. Glad to report that my eyes are mostly okay, but when he was taking some photos of my eyes, he said that I seem to be under a lot of stress and I should try to do some sort of daily aerobic activity as a stress reliever. When I replied that I was training for a marathon, so I'm not sure what else I should be doing, he agreed that was probably enough in the activity department. Good to know that your eye blood vessels are capable of showing your stress level, though.

I finally got around to wearing my last item of clothing today, the black v-neck sweater. I paired it with the black mini skirt and some patterned tights. I also wore some gold and silver earrings. Of course, since it's raining here today, I wore my rain boots and carried my colorful umbrella with me. I switched into black mary jane heels at work. The kitty tried to get in the photo this morning too, but she sort-of missed getting her head in the photo. Just her ears!

The Length Of The Isle Of Manhattan

2010-09-26T23:10:00.000-04:00

I took yesterday off from running to spend with Drew. He left for Germany yesterday evening and I decided that instead of spending 3 hours running on Saturday, I'd wait until he left and do it today. We spent the day running errands. I wore the purple long-sleeved shirt and black mini-skirt. I was going to wear jeans and the shirt, but it was pretty warm here and I knew that I'd be way too hot if I wore long-sleeves and jeans. I dressed it down by wearing my "smiley-faced shoes".

That meant that today was the day for the longest long run yet. I don't really think that going from 15 to 17 was 100% my idea of a good time. I felt like there should be a more natural 15-16-17 progression. But, nevertheless, I mapped out a route that would take me exactly 17 miles and not a tad more.

I pretty much ran up and down the entire Westside Path today (or a good portion of the length of the island). I ran from my apartment north first. I hated the bikers on the way north. Maybe someone out there actually reads this blog and read my rant from last week about the runners on the Westside Path, because I felt like they were much better today. The bikers, however, left something to be desired.

All the south-bound bikers apparently felt like running in the pedestrian portion of the Path. I guess that perhaps they just didn't understand what those little pictures of bikers and walkers on the ground actually meant. Finally, I decided to just start yelling at people so that maybe they'd understand that they were riding on the wrong portion. I probably looked like a crazy person, but I just wish people would pay attention to the signs! There aren't even words! It's just little pictures!

It was much better on the way back south because I figure the bikers won't run me over if we're both going the same way. I'm not 100% sure I'm right on that one, but I haven't been proven wrong yet. When I got back to where I'd normally turn off and go home, I knew I had quite a way to go, still. I actually didn't wan't to turn off and go home, so I took that as a good sign and just kept on my way.

The rest of the run was pretty good. I ate 12 jelly beans along the way. I wore my Fuel Belt and took two bottles of Gatorade and two of water. I was really thirsty for water again today, instead of Gatorade. I felt like a Camel. I had to stop a couple of times and fill up my bottles with water at drinking fountains. I'm a little nervous about this. I don't know if I'm feeling that thirsty what I should be doing. And how will I ever have enough fluids during the actual marathon?

At some point, I couldn't get the Death Cab for Cutie Marching Bands of Manhattan song out of my head and I spent at least an hour trying to remember if they said width or length of the Isle of Manhattan. I was pretty sure it was length, but that seems like such a long arm span, I didn't possibly think it could be correct. It also seemed like a very appropriate song to have stuck in my head today. I guess the good thing about running for three hours is that you have a lot of time to think about funny things like that.

I wore tri shorts, which seem to be better for these longer runs. I also wore a long-sleeved running shirt. I was able to push the sleeves up just past my elbows. It might have looked a little funny, but I didn't have any arm chafing today, so it worked out just perfectly. All in all, today was a good run. It was two miles longer than I've ever run before, which is so surprising to me that I just did it. And it wasn't the biggest deal in the whole world. I'm also now at over 100 miles for the month, which feels just awesome!

Running
Time: 3:06:54
Distance: 17.00 miles
Pace: 10:59/mile

Saturday, Day 6: purple long-sleeved shirt, black mini-skirt and smiley faced shoes (which are really Jack Purcell Converse shoes)

Sunday, Day 7: Blue sweater, jeans with no accessories or jewelry. Wore white & blue shoes (and definitely thought about the fact that I was wearing white shoes after Labor Day). I definitely only got dressed today in order to go to dinner with Laura!

I Think There Are Hills In Philly

2010-09-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

This morning I really didn't feel like getting out of bed and going for a run, but Drew thought that it was a bad idea for me to stay in bed and kept pestering me, so finally I got up and at 'em. I'm actually really glad he did, though, because I seem to have gotten past my bad run and back onto the good run track.

I figured I should probably do some of those hill repeats that I skipped out on Wednesday. I mean, it looks like there are hills in Philadelphia, see:

I have to say that I'm pretty glad that the second half of the race looks relatively flat. I'm not sure why they want to kill our legs right from the get-go, though!

So, today, I ran from our apartment to Cat Hill and then did 6 Cat Hill repeats (each up and down is 0.50 miles), so it was 3 miles in total of hills. Oddly enough, I didn't even hate it. Although, it's funny because for the first 4, I was feeling great. By the 5th one, I could tell I was tired and I was so glad that time wasn't permitting me to do any more than 6 today!

My favorite part of doing these hill repeats is to see how many times I can pass walkers going up or down the hill while I'm running. Silly, I know, but I'll take whatever motivates me at this point. I know I need to throw in some more hill workouts in the upcoming weeks, but I'm glad I got this one under my belt. After the hill repeats, I ran home and after begging Drew to make a smoothie immediately, I hopped in the shower.

Normally the smoothie wouldn't be such a big deal, but in an effort to get in the longest run possible today, I skipped eating anything before going running. I know a lot of people out there don't eat before these shorter runs, but I tend to wake up hungry and while I felt okay during my run today, I think I would have felt better with a bite or two of something in my tummy. To each his own, right? I just know that being slightly more fueled makes me feel better.

Running
Time: 1:02:20
Distance: 6.00 miles
Pace: 10:23/mile

Today's Wardrobe Challenge is a repeat of the shirt I wore on Wednesday. But I only wore it for about 2 hours to go to the dentist, so I don't really think it was dirty. Although I plan on doing laundry this weekend, so don't worry too much about my cleanliness. Drew's in the pictures again. He made us take some funny ones and I couldn't figure out how to not cut his head off ...

I'm wearing the gray short-sleeved skirt and gray skirt. Today's jewelry was picked by Drew:

Those earrings are actually the first jewelry that Drew gave me and the bracelet is an Elephant Hair bracelet from his parents. (Although, it's not real hair, but I do have some earrings that are, I'll try to wear them soon). Today's shoes are really two pairs. Flats that I actually wore to work and then the heels are the shoes I'm wearing at work. Complicated business when you walk a mile to and from work each day!

Good, Good, Bad

2010-09-23T12:49:00.000-04:00

I keep feeling like I'm on some sort of weird cycle where I have a couple of really good runs, then a bad run, and then I just feel like if I'm only running 3 miles (like yesterday) I have no business trying to complete a marathon. Oh, maybe now is a good time to say that this post is going to be a downer.

So, in the spirit of having bad runs, I decided that I'd skip today's run. At least for this morning. Depending on how this evening goes work-wise, I guess there is still a chance. I've also got 17 miles looming over my head for this weekend, so that's something to look forward to as well. I'm a little stumped on a possible route for that run as I don't really want to do laps in the Park but I'm also reaching the end of my tolerance for doing the same Westside Path run all the time, too. I think I just need a week off before I resume my regularly scheduled Westside Path long run. This is definitely one time where I wish I didn't live in NYC and had some more running options.

Today and tomorrow are warm ones in NY. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today, so I'm saving a skirt for tomorrow. Luckily, I'll be able to wear short-sleeves both days. Here's Day #4:

Black pants, black short-sleeved sweater and I finally got my jewelry act together and am wearing a gold and silver necklace (and I even took out my normal diamond earrings!). I rolled up my pants and wore flats to work, but rolled the pants down and changed into my "work shoes" once I got here. They're a pair of sling-backs that have been living under my desk since 2003, if you can believe that.

Well, I Ran Further Than Them

2010-09-22T20:30:00.000-04:00

This morning I wasn't feeling 100%, so I decided to take the day off work. I did end up going for a run, but it wasn't anything close to the 8 miles I was supposed to be doing. I have to say that part of the issue was that it's warmer in NYC today than it has been in the past few days and since I'm stuck wearing these long-sleeved shirts, that didn't help matters any. Nor did the fact that I went later than I normally would.

When I was running around the Lower Loop, I heard a lot of loud cheering. I noticed that there were tents set-up on Dead Road along the Mall, but I wasn't sure what was going on. I decided that I would do one loop and then cut across and maybe do some hill repeats. As I was cutting across on 72nd Street, I decided that I would check out these tents.

It turned out that it was Regis and Kelly doing their show in the Park. They were having a High-Heel-A-Thon, so I decided to stay and check it out. While I was waiting, I saw Tim Gunn doing some interviews for the show. I have to say, I was more excited to see him than to see Regis, Kelly or Kristin Chenowith. The High-Heel-A-Thon was a 150 yard dash. The winner was really really fast and actually dove to the finish. Here's a video if you want to watch. It was pretty fun, but it was all over in seconds!

After the race, I headed home and skipped the hill repeats. Even though my run wasn't as planned (and apparently, I am a sissy since I didn't even run 4 miles), it was still a better than nothing effort. I've actually been wondering if I would be happier running 3 days a week instead of 4, but I'm not making any decisions yet.

Running
Time: 30:23
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:07/mile

As far as the Wardrobe Challenge goes, I spent the better part of the day in my workout clothes, while resting on the couch, so I figured I should take a photo:

I did end up showering and getting dressed since I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. I wore jeans, gray t-shirt and gray Converse to the dentist (shoes not pictured):

I'm a little worried about the Challenge because the next few days are supposed to be pretty warm, but I think I'll end up being okay. I'm really glad that I chose two short-sleeved shirts!

Even Sissies Can Do 4

2010-09-21T11:20:00.000-04:00

This morning I managed to set my alarm for 5:05 PM instead of 5:05 AM. Even though Drew had a conference call that he took from bed at 5:00, he didn't talk a whole lot, so I manged to sleep until he hung up around 5:30. We both got up and Drew headed off to the gym and I went out for a run. I was a little late to meet the Terriers, but I was fine skipping the fartlek workout they had planned!

As we were walking out the door, Drew asked how far I had to go today. I told it was just 4 miles. His response? "Even sissies can do 4". With that in mind, I started my watch and set off on my run! (However, I'd like to note that he did not go running with me). I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt today because I keep having some arm chafing issues wearing short-sleeved shirts. This chafing isn't an issue on these shorter runs, but Saturday's 15 miles sort-of did my arms in and I'm trying to let them heal. The only thing I like about this arm chafing is that it must mean that I'm actually moving my arms like I'm supposed to be doing!

It is a little bit funny to be outside for such a short amount of time. I definitely saw a bunch of my teammates out there running and I have to say that it looked like they were working a lot harder than I was. I didn't really see them until I got down to the Lower Loop of the Park and once I saw them, I just kept telling myself over and over, "run like Spencer is watching" because I know I concentrate on my form more when he's around.

I happened to be reading Caitlin's blog about her marathon training and she mentioned that she didn't hit 30 mile weeks when she was training in January until very close the the marathon. I am so intrigued by this because I've already had two 30+ mile weeks, with six more to come (including this week). I think it's good to know that she finished her marathon with her plan, so I'm hopeful I'll have the same result with even more miles under my belt!

Running
Time: 44:18
Distance: 4.15 miles
Pace: 10:40/mile

And, here's today's outfit (Day 2):

I asked Drew if he wanted to be in the photo too, and he said yes. He said if he'd known, he would have dressed up a bit more. I'm wearing the black mini skirt, green turtleneck, black tights, black high-heeled Mary Janes and a belt. I'll admit, once I had been thinking about doing this challenge, I went out and bought the belt. But it was only $10. And I'll definitely wear it after the challenge. Technically, I didn't break any challenge rules of buying things, but I probably went against the spirit. Today's jewelry: same diamond earrings as yesterday. I'll work on that later this week, I promise!

Basic To Start

2010-09-20T19:41:00.000-04:00

Wardrobe Challenge: Day 1

Went with a pretty boring and basic outfit to start. I don't want to wear all my accessories in one fell swoop. Wore black pants, blue sweater, and black patent leather heels. I haven't worn these shoes in quite a while (I actually don't know that I wore them at all in the past year) and they sort-of sound like the right heel is about to break off, but they survived today! The only other accessory was my diamond earrings. Gotta jazz it up a bit tomorrow, I guess!

Also, I'm noticing that perhaps I should work on my self-timer photography skills. Good thing is that there are 29 more days to go, so it can only go up from here!

Fitness & Fashion

2010-09-19T22:28:00.000-04:00

Obviously, fashion leaves something to be desired in the world of triathlon ... all that spandex! Case in point:

In case you're wondering, that's me being a running ninja. I think I do a pretty good job. I mean, for someone in spandex wearing a Fuel Belt, that is.

So, I recently stumbled across Katie's blog and when I was reading some older posts, I found out that she had recently completed a 30 Day Wardrobe Challenge. Immediately, I was intrigued by this idea and couldn't stop thinking about what I would do if I was forced to choose 10 items of clothing to wear for 30 days. I have to tell you, once you start thinking about it, it really makes you reevaluate your clothes and what is important! I really wanted to do it, but was a little afraid to bite the bullet, especially with the changing seasons. However, I'm committing to it and I'm starting tomorrow.

So, consider yourselves forewarned. If you're not interested in reading about it, you can scroll over those parts for the next 30 days. I'll still be writing about all the normal marathon training stuff as well!

The basic rules:
* Select 10 items of clothing from your wardrobe to wear for one month.
* The challenge does not apply to workout clothes, undergarments and pajamas.
* If there is a special event, you get a bye.
* Get creative with the accessories that you use - fun shoes, jewelry, belts, etc.
* Photograph each outfit of the day to see the evolution of the 10 pieces over the course of the month.
* Do not spend any money on new articles of clothing during the challenge.

My 10 Items:
1.   Jeans
2.   Black pants
3.   Grey skirt
4.   Black mini skirt

5.   Blue long-sleeved sweater
6.   Green turtleneck
7.   Black short-sleeved sweater
8.   Black long-sleeved sweater
9.   Grey t-shirt

10. Purple long-sleeved shirt

Obviously, my cat thinks that she should be wearing these clothes too!

I'm doing this challenge with two exceptions. First, there is a decent chance I'll need new running shoes during these 30 days. I will be buying them if that's the case. Under no circumstances will I be sacrificing marathon training for the wardrobe challenge. Second, I'm giving myself one bye. Drew's parents are coming to visit in the middle of October. I don't know our plans yet, but if we end up going to dinner at a fancy place, I'm giving myself a bye for that. Other than those two things, the ten items above are going to be what I'm wearing from September 20 - October 19!

Hopefully I can find some good and interesting combinations that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. It turns out I have a lot of jewelry that I tend to forget about and not wear, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also thinking that on October 20, I'll be quite excited to see my full wardrobe again! It seems like a fun experiment and really makes me think about my own spending habits on clothing in particular. Hope you all don't mind that I'm doing something non-fitness related here.

Finally, 15 Miles

2010-09-18T22:04:00.000-04:00

This morning I set out to do what I failed to do last week, run 15 miles. I recently read a guest post on Katie's blog where the person said that they always try to smile during the last mile of their long runs, because it's further than they've ever gone before. I definitely tried to keep that in mind today when setting out.

The funny thing is that my last mile was sort-of my first mile. I did the same route as my 14-mile run, but I tacked another mile on at the beginning since I didn't want to run any further north than I had before because there are some monster hills that direction, so I ran south to 39th Street before heading north on the Westside Path. I definitely tried to keep smiling during the last/first mile!

I had a pretty uneventful run. I wore my Fuel Belt and took three bottles of Gatorade and one of water since I knew I could refill the water if necessary. I also took something that's not new to me, but new to me running ... jelly beans! I actually have a bit of a jelly bean "problem". I love them. They used to sell these really awesome jelly beans at Grand Central Market, but they don't anymore, which made me go into a bit of a withdrawal. Turns out that Drew was able to find them in small over-priced bags at Cucina, but I'll take it even if it is over-priced for jelly beans!

I know that a lot of people use those Sport Beans, but I figured that my regular jelly beans couldn't really be that different than those fancy Sport ones. The first time I tried eating the jelly beans today, I ate three of them. Shortly after that, my stomach felt a little rocky. I had a mental battle with myself where I reminded my stomach that I eat these all the time ... mostly by the fistful if I'm being totally honest and that there really shouldn't be any issues! Interestingly enough, after that, everything was totally fine!

I ended up eating 8 jelly beans over the whole course of the run. I liked them. I'm not sure if they really did anything in helping me finish, but it was something fun to think about having along the way, so I think they did help in that way. I ended up feeling pretty thirsty today. But not for Gatorade, which I had in abundance. I was more interested in having water, so I did stop twice to refill and have more water. I sort-of wonder if the slightly cooler temperature today (62) meant that my body just wasn't losing as many electrolytes? I don't really know how all that stuff works.

So, the other thing of note today that I actually debated about writing about because I don't want to name names. I decided that I won't name names, but there was a large team of people out training today on the Westside Path for the marathon. I was running north when they were running south. Basically, they were trying to run me off the running path and push me into the bike path, because apparently they don't know how to interpret those little stick figures on the pathway. As someone who is part of a large group that runs together, I know that we are always told (and sometimes scolded) to watch out for others and to respect the rules of the road, which we do. I really don't appreciate that other groups don't do the same.

All in all, I'm really happy with this run. Nothing special, which is probably the point of these long runs. I definitely am glad to think that I am well over half-way there with this run today. Not that I think I'm quite ready yet, but I feel like I'm on my way!

Running
Time: 2:46:19
Distance: 15.25 miles
Pace: 10:54/mile

Hideous Horrible Treadmill

2010-09-16T22:12:00.000-04:00

I found myself working out at night again tonight. I have to say, even though I really liked it yesterday, today wasn't the best. I truly only have myself to blame. I woke up this morning at 4:50, put on my clothes to do the Terrier brick, realized that I had a horrible stomach-ache and crawled back into bed, fully dressed in workout clothes. I slept like that until 7:30.

Truthfully, I wasn't really feeling that much better today after work, but since last week was such a low running week, I knew that I have to keep going with the plan and suck it up. I was smart and packed clothes to take with me so that I could head to the gym right after work. I only went to the gym because I knew it'd be raining. I also knew that if I came home after work, changed clothes and tried to convince myself to go running in the rain, chances were slim that I'd actually go running.

So, there I was at the gym at 7:30. I told myself that I would not get off the treadmill before it hit 5.03 miles and I also would only give myself an hour to do get there (the treadmill time limit). The 5.03 is important because that running ticker over there on the right is annoying me. I'd like it to be at a rounder number than it was before!

I have to say, I was reminded once again that I do not like the gymnasium. I don't like going there, I don't like working out there. If I hadn't found endurance sports, I'm pretty convinced that there is no way I would ever be working out because I think the gym is hideous. And horrible. And they have hideous horrible treadmills there.

While running today, I was really trying to talk myself through it. The thing is, I normally can convince myself to keep running outside, but there is something about the treadmill that is just mentally defeating for me. I know that some people, like Brie, prefer running on treadmills. Frankly, I think that's a bit loco, but I do sort-of wish that I could like it.

All I did on my run today was either (a) force myself to run faster to get it over with or (b) wonder why I hate it so much. I actually think that it's sort of like running laps to me. I don't see a lot of forward progress while on the treadmill or running laps. Running really far away from home and then realizing that there is only one way home seems to be better mentally for me.

So, in truth, I only ran 4.03 miles today. I forced myself to stay on for the full 5.03 miles, but the last mile was a combination of walking and really slow jogging. I finished the 4.03 miles in 39:28 (9:47 pace). I don't know why, but somehow at the gym it seems more important to worry about speed than it does outside. Probably because outside it's easier to just go along with your body and not worry about the setting the speed like you do on the treadmill.

Overall, I finished the 5.03 miles in 52:12, which was still pretty good overall and faster than a lot of my outdoor runs. About the only positive thing I can say is that I did exactly what I set out to do today - complete a five mile run. Now tomorrow will be all about resting up in preparation for this weekend's long run!

Running
Time: 52:12
Distance: 5.03 miles
Pace: 10:22/mile

Not The Usual Way

2010-09-15T23:30:00.001-04:00

I thought my proverb on today's tea bag was especially fitting for me. In case you can't read it, it says, "He who would leap high must take a long run". I'd also like to point out that the thing in the background is my coffee cup, that really only ever sees tea. Don't ask what those color swatches are. This is the most ridiculous coffee cup, but it's a really good size, and it was free, which is why I continue to use it!

I was supposed to get up and go running this morning like usual, but I just didn't feel like it. Instead, I was thinking about last night when I was walking home from work and how I thought that it just seemed like a great night for running and that maybe I should go tonight instead of this morning. Which was really just a great way to rationalize sleeping in for a bit longer.

However, I was able to leave work at a decent time and came home, changed clothes and headed out for a run. Today I was supposed to be doing 7 miles. I've typically been running from home to the Park around the big loop and back again. That is a really good plan when it's early in the morning and there is no one on the sidewalk. That is a bad plan when it's 6:30 and the sidewalk is packed.

So, I decided not to make myself crazy from the get-go and I walked to the Park. I started running as soon as I got there. I decided to go against traffic and run north first, up the West Side of the Park. I always have a mental block about running this way, because somehow I always psych myself out about the backside of Harlem Hill (near Lasker Pool) and it being too steep or something. I was bound and determined not to let that happen today.

I wasn't in a big rush or anything, so I was just plodding along like usual. It was totally different to be out there at night instead of the morning and have the sun going down instead of coming up. When I got to the backside of the Harlem Hill, I kept repeating the same song lyric over and over again, basically telling myself that I couldn't give up. And you know what? I never stopped running!

After that, I just felt invincible. I ran the rest of the way downtown. I happened to see Coach Spencer while I was running. As soon as I saw him, I noticed that I became more conscious of my running form. After we passed, I kept telling myself to "run like Spencer was watching." It actually works!

When I passed the 72nd Street transverse, I was glad that I was almost done. I decided to see what I could do and see if I could pick up the pace a bit. I started running faster right around the time where the turn is and 6th Avenue sort-of comes into the Park (just above 65th Street). I hadn't looked at my watch at all, but I decided that I'd look at it then. I was at 1:00:30 and had gone 5.61 miles (10:47 pace).

I didn't know my mileage at the time, but I started running as fast as I possibly could that I thought was sustainable. Every time I passed a hash mark on the ground for speed work, I kept telling myself that I had 200 fewer meters to go and could I possibly go any faster? Turns out that I ran the last .69 miles in 6:11 (or 8:57 pace), which made me feel fantastic!

I finished running with a huge smile on my face and made a bee line to get myself some dinner. But I had a great run. I haven't been running at night in a long time and maybe that was the difference today. I made it up Harlem Hill with no complaints. I never took one walking/drinking break. I finished running faster than when I started. All in all, pretty happy with that!

Time: 1:06:41
Distance: 6.30 miles
Pace: 10:35/mile

That's Not What The Website Said

2010-09-14T18:19:00.000-04:00

This morning was the usual Terrier run. I often check the website on Monday nights or Tuesday mornings before leaving the apartment to see what is in store for the day. Last night, the website said that the workout was 8 x 200 with 1:30 rest intervals. So, I run to the meeting spot today, we do our normal strides warm-up and run around to the S in order to start the speedwork.

And then Spencer tells us that our workout is actually 10 x 200 with a 200 recovery jog. Which is more than double the website version of the workout! We're supposed to do the first five slower than the last five. I have to say that I'm never really the biggest fan of speedwork. But I'm less of a fan when these recovery jogs are involved. Mainly because I'd like to know how fast I'm actually going without factoring in the recovery jogs into the time and I don't want to have 25 numbers to add up if I time them all separately. Plus, I don't even know if my Polar will let me save that many workouts at a time?

So, I sort-of did what I was supposed to. I just got tired of doing the recovery jogs and I figured I'd try to push myself more on the sprints if I knew I could have 1:30 rest instead. I ended up doing 6 x 200 with recovery jogs and then legs 7 - 10 were done as sprints with 1:30 rest instead of 200 recovery jog. I have to say, it's really probably not all that different time wise jogging or standing still, but it feels so much better to be standing still and trying to catch your breath.

I definitely pushed myself today, even though the times below don't really reflect that for the speedwork portion (because of the jogging). I could just tell it was a much harder effort than usual, especially towards the end of the workout. I came home and was a sweaty disaster, which Drew can vouch for. Even though it was a nice and cool 62 this morning, it was also somehow really hot for running. I'm not even really sure how that is possible! When I got in the shower, even though the water was really warm, it felt cool on my (very red) face, which was funny!

Run There
Time: 13:23
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 10:17/mile

Run To S
Time: 10:59
Distance: 1.20 miles
Pace: 9:09/mile

Speedwork
Time: 19:51
Distance: 2.00 miles
Pace: 9:55/mile

Run Home
Time: 5:08
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 10:08/mile

Total Mileage, Including Strides: 5.50 miles

Washington, D.C. Weekend Recap

2010-09-13T23:03:00.001-04:00

I'd been alluding to being away this past weekend, but I couldn't reveal where I was going at the time. Drew and I took the train down to our nation's capital on Saturday morning to spend the weekend there. We were hoping to do some touristy stuff, but we had two real purposes:

1. Meet Kristin on Saturday
2. Surprise Laura as she competed at Nation's Triathlon on Sunday

After checking into our hotel and getting some lunch, we went to the Triathlon Expo to see if we could get any free swag. I actually ended up getting a tri top on a really good sale. Our real mission was to score some free poster board in order to make signs for Laura on Sunday morning. After dropping our swag off at the hotel, we started out on a tourist trip. We walked from our hotel at Dupont Circle down to the White House and Washington Memorial.

From there, we headed to the American History Smithsonian. I really wanted to see Julia Child's kitchen, which has been moved to the museum. After all that walking around, I was exhausted and Drew had some work to do, so we headed back to the hotel to take a nap and Drew did his work.

It turned out that it was a good thing that we rested for a bit because we met up with Kristin and her husband Curtis for dinner.

This is my first time meeting a blogger in real life. Of course I was worried that even though we've been reading each others blogs since March 2009 (read her first comment here), that somehow I'd be wrong and maybe we wouldn't hit it off. Totally turned out the other way around. We ended up staying out after dinner getting a few drinks and just generally having a fun time! Of course, that meant that Drew and I didn't get a lot of sleep before having to get up early on Sunday morning for the triathlon.

However, we did get up early. And we woke up to rain. Ick. We got dressed and got in a cab and headed down to the transition area. I was hoping that we'd get there early enough that we could find Laura before she got in the water. As it turned out, we actually saw a former co-worker of ours there! She was there to cheer her husband on in his first Olympic-distance triathlon. Not long after that, someone called out "Amy?". I turned around and it was Laura, who was standing there with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Honestly, I think Laura describes it best from her own race report:

"At one point as I was waiting around, I saw this guy from behind who looked exactly like my friend Drew. So much so that I started to call out his name. But I didn't get past "Dr--" before checking myself, because obviously my friend Drew lives in NYC, so that guy couldn't be him. Except that he was standing next to a woman who, from behind, looked like my friend Amy (Drew's girlfriend). But, again, it couldn't be them, because even though Amy is a triathlete too, she wasn't doing this race. But it looked exactly like them from behind...so I finally called out, "Amy?" And they both turned - it was them! They had come all the way down from NYC just to surprise me! I was more than surprised - and SO happy to see them - it was the best surprise I could have asked for!"

I was so glad that we actually pulled off the surprise. We'd been planning on going down to DC since July, so there was a really good chance that one of us would have spilled the beans before we got down there, but Laura had NO idea! Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, Laura managed to have an awesome race and even set a PR!

The other really funny part is that after we had been chatting with Laura and some of her other TNT friends, there was someone there who looked just like our friend Lisa. I asked Drew if it was her and he said that he didn't think that was possible. Except for the fact that she is a triathlete, so it definitely was possible. And, it was her! Very small world in D.C. this weekend!

After chatting for a while more, Drew and I decided that we should walk around and sort-of scope out where we'd watch the race. We ended up getting a really good spot on the bank of the Potomac River about 100 meters from the start of the swim. We watched a few waves before Laura and Lisa (they were in back-to-back waves) went off. It was really hard for me to watch the swim. It was almost excruciating in some cases. I've actually never watched the swim part of a triathlon in real life before.

I actually wanted to close my eyes. Or yell at the kayakers. I'm not sure which. Watching the leaders and the middle-of-the-packers was totally fine. Watching the back-of-the-packers was hard. Cringe inducing. I saw more than one person swimming kayak to kayak, which I did not think was okay. I saw one girl get out of the water (twice) and then get back in again both times to try to keep swimming. I saw people hanging onto the buoys (which were every 100 meters). I know that I'm a good swimmer, so it's hard for me to understand how horrifying it must be for some people, but I was concerned that those people weren't going to make it and probably had no business doing this sort of a swim.

I don't know how you go about fixing that, but I guess you can't underestimate the importance of knowing how to swim and feeling comfortable in the water. It's also a lot different to touch a wall every 25 yards or meters than it is to swim a mile straight without being able to hold on or stand up to rest.

I was able to pick out both Laura and Lisa in the water, which was pretty cool. Lisa was closer to the shore side than Laura was when I saw her, so we yelled out to Lisa while she was swimming. I don't know if she heard us, but we had fun cheering! After Lisa passed us, we went to stake out a spot to see Laura come out of the water and run into T1. Once we saw her do that, we ran across a field and waited for her to pass us as she rode by on her bike.

We actually ended up leaving after Laura headed out for the bike. The weather had sort-of taken a turn for the worst and the race had also started late, so we had to head back to our hotel in order to make sure we could check out on time. We took showers, had brunch and then did some more museum-going before Drew had to buckle down and do some more work. So, before we got on the train to go home to NY, we went to a Starbucks and hung out for a while so Drew could use the Wi-Fi there.

Even though Drew had to work a little bit, it was an awesome weekend! We had a fantastic time in our nation's capital! I always think triathlons are fun to watch and this weekend was no exception. Although I might steer clear of watching the swim in the future! It's too hard for me, I think. I sort-of wanted to jump in and help some of those people!

So, Drew and I debated before we left New York whether or not we should bring workout gear. We ended up not doing it and I'm glad we made that decision. We were on our feet so much as it was that my legs definitely got a workout even without running. That makes last week a really small marathon training week, but I'm okay with that. Just means I've got to make this week a good one!

Right Foot Forward

2010-09-10T11:10:00.000-04:00

I took the day off yesterday. I know it might not have been the best thing for my marathon training to skip a day of running in what is already going to be a shorter distance week, but I think it was the best thing for me to do. Sometimes you just need a mental health day, you know? Not to mention the fact that this marathon is still 10 weeks away and I refuse to believe that this is going to screw things up so fantastically that I don't finish.

So, I did get a good night's sleep last night. I'll admit that my heart still wasn't 100% in the game this morning when I rolled out of bed to start running, but by the time I actually started running, I was feeling much better. Even though I didn't really want to, I went back to Central Park this morning. I knew I just needed to tackle it and even make myself do a lap course.

I didn't do anything too crazy. Not two full loops of the Park or anything. Instead, what I did was one loop of the Lower Loop of the Park and then one full loop. I saw the Terrier marathon group doing hill repeats on Cat Hill and it made me really glad that I wasn't doing all that fancy stuff for marathon training. It's enough to just get out there and run, I think.

I did notice as soon as I put my right foot in my shoe this morning that my big toe was still sore. I'd take a picture and show it to you if there was anything to show. Except it looks exactly like my left toe, which is the frustrating thing. I decided to put a band-aid on before I left for the run to see if that would help cushion my toe a little bit. Um, maybe a little bit. Not really all that much. I could definitely still feel it the whole time I was running. But, even after running, it still looks the same. Just like a toe with a callus on the bottom. Same as my other foot.

Running today was okay. Not stellar. Not bad. I'm glad that I took yesterday off. I know that I wouldn't have been feeling as motivated as I was today and it was definitely the right decision. I did end up taking two 1:00 walking breaks somewhere in the middle of all that running today. Not because I really needed to, but because I happened to be by drinking fountains and thought that I should stop and take a sip of water.

The worst part of today happened somewhere around the 7-mile marker. I looked at my watch and realized that 70-something minutes had elapsed and I was still pretty far from home and I wanted to just sit down and cry. Because I had forgotten that I was running more than 7 miles today. I totally forgot that I had already done the Lower Loop of the Park and that was going to make my total around 9 miles. When I realized that, getting home was a breeze. I think I actually sped up for the last 2 miles as a result. It was just so frustrating when I thought I was running 7 miles and at 70 minutes, I still had at least 20 more minutes of running to do. Oops.

The really funny thing I noticed today is that somehow when it's 62 degrees outside, people dress for winter running in this city! I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and was really comfortable, but there were people in pants and jackets and long-sleeved shirts. Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't see people in hats and gloves. It seemed crazy to me that you'd need all that for 62 degrees when you're running! I noticed that some of the people I saw in the beginning wearing jackets ended up with them tied around their waists later on. Good to know that they didn't really need that stuff in this weather.

So, I'm currently at 16.15 miles this week and my target is supposed to be 30. Obviously, that's not going to happen. I actually can't guarantee that I'll get any more running in this weekend right now. I'm going to hope for the best, but if I don't add any more miles, I think I'm going to live with it. Maybe by next week my toe will be feeling better anyway!

Running
Time: 1:34:26
Distance: 8.95 miles
Pace: 10:33/mile

Only Marathon Training

2010-09-08T11:22:00.000-04:00

Can make you feel bad about running 7 miles. Why is that? Brie actually had a similar post about this recently, where she was supposed to be running 18 and managed 6.1. I was trying for 15 today and managed 7.2. Not even halfway there! In truth, I know I had several things working against me, but when I think about what they are, they just sound like big excuses as to why I didn't do the full miles today.

I'll go ahead and list off the big excuses anyway. This is my blog and even though they sound like excuses now, I think they'll be helpful later on in recognizing what I did wrong and why I was probably overly ambitious on this run this morning.

1. Didn't get enough sleep. I need to work on this in general. Working late, eating dinner when I get home, wanting to watch TV and read my book before bed doesn't add up to an early enough bedtime. Especially when my goal is to be running by 5 AM.

2. Ran in Central Park. Truthfully, I wanted to be up and at 'em pretty early and I figured the safest place to do that would be in the Park. After going there this morning, I'm not entirely sure that's the case. The lights were off in half of the Park and then they all turned off before it got light outside, so I'm not sure it really was the best place.

3. I ran 14 miles on Sunday and today is Wednesday. I tried to justify this by saying that I would normally be doing a longer run (read 7-8 miles) on Wednesdays anyway. What would be the big deal if I tacked on the same amount on the end of that? Turns out I might need a day or two more to recover all the way from 14 miles.

4. I should never run laps. Ever. Running might be a mental game, but I excel at telling myself not to keep doing it when possible. I know that I'm a bad lap runner. So why would I purposely set myself up to run laps this morning? I actually think I could have kept going, but I'm not sure it was in the best interest overall to get me to the finish line in Philadelphia.

So, obviously, today wasn't a winner. I ran to the Park, ran one loop and ran home. I keep telling myself over and over again that it's not a big deal. That even though I'll most likely come up short on miles this week, it's not the end of the world. It's one week. I think I made the right decision in heading home when I did. I was tired, my legs were tired and my toe hurt.

I'm slightly worried about this toe thing. I noticed it on Sunday on my long run, too. There isn't a blister or a start of a blister. There is actually a callus that doesn't seem to be doing its job and protecting my toe enough. It's my big toe on my right foot. I'm wondering if I wore a band-aid around my toe next time if that would be enough of a cushion? If not, maybe some moleskin?

Drew says I'm not allowed to wear my HR monitor for the next couple weeks, so that's annoying. He's convinced I'll get a permanent scar from where it's been chafing. I think I could live with that. I guess he's probably right and I probably already will have a mark, but it's harder to judge my pace without my heart rate. I knew that today was slow, which I was okay with, but it's good to have an idea of how slow!

Drew also says that I shouldn't beat myself up over this run. I know that's he's right and that if my goal for the week was 30 miles, I've still got 22.8 to go. I don't think I'll make it there. I think I'd be really happy if I got to 15 more this week. I'm just hoping that tomorrow will be better. That's really all I can do at this point.

Running
Time: 1:20:00
Distance: 7.20 miles
Pace: 11:05/mile

Labor Day Weekend Recap

2010-09-08T06:51:00.000-04:00

I've realized over the past few days that marathon training has now taken a turn and gotten more interesting. Mainly because my work schedule isn't going to be quite as 9:30 to 5:30 as it usually is. I'll be working more overtime, including weekends, which can put a wrinkle into training. This Saturday I had to work, so I knew that it would be in my best interest to push my long run to Sunday.

So, Sunday I woke up not so bright and early, which was fine since the weather here is much more comfortable now! I had decided not to run loops in the Park, but instead would head to the Westside Path for my run. I discovered that running from our apartment to the base of the George Washington Bridge and back is exactly 14 miles. I've realized that running as far away from home and then having to run back seems to work out pretty well for me so far.

I took along my Fuel Belt (three bottles Gatorade / one water) and two mini Luna bars and set off on my trek. I had barely started running when a guy came up to me and said, "Hey! Same pace!" I wasn't quite sure how I felt about this at first. We started chatting a little bit and it turned out that he was only running to 90th Street, so we ran together for just under 2 miles.

I wasn't sure I liked it at first, running with this guy Todd, but it actually turned out okay. It was clear that he was hitting on me a little bit, but that was not the worst thing in the world. Especially when you're running, sweaty, and wearing a Fuel Belt! I think because I didn't know him, it was almost easier to run at my own pace, especially since he had started off the whole thing by saying that we were running at the same pace. I probably sped up a little bit, but it ended up being totally fine.

We parted ways on the Upper West Side and I continued on with my run. After that, I decided that I would start taking a drink of Gatorade every 10 minutes and see how that worked out. It worked pretty well for the next hour. Somewhere around the 1:30:00 mark, I started to get more thirsty. I then decided that I'd take a drink of water every 5 minutes, so I'd be alternating Gatorade and water every 5 minutes.

I got to the turn-around point at 1:12:22, which I was really happy with and meant that I was running faster than 11-minute-miles, which seemed good. I stopped running at the turn-around point and took a two-minute (timed) walking break. I tried to eat one of the mini Luna bars that I had brought with me, but the first bite made me feel gaggy and the second bite even worse. I quickly ditched the idea of forcing it down and then just testing to see how far I can get on Gatorade and water alone.

I was actually really lucky because not long after the turn-around, Drew had agreed to meet me and run the last 4.5 miles back home with me. Right after we met, I ended up filling up my water bottles to keep up with my drinking every five minutes strategy. I actually felt bad while running with Drew because I was drinking so frequently, but he wasn't at all. I figure if he had been dying he either could have asked me for a drink or we could have stopped at a drinking fountain.

I sort-of wanted to stop at one point after running for about 2 hours. It was the first time that my right knee actually hurt. Mostly it's felt tired up to now on my long runs, but there was definitely something that was a little bit sharper this time around. Luckily, it didn't last long. Maybe I just landed a step or two funny, because about 3 minutes later, it felt back to normal.

As soon as we finished up running on the Path, but still had to run on some city streets to get home, Drew said that I picked up the pace a bit. I definitely had a time goal in mind for this run and I knew I couldn't beat my over-all half-marathon time, I thought I could have a faster pace than my half-marathon had been and I needed to push myself a little bit at the end to ensure that happened!

Turns out that my goal of 2:30:00 for 14 miles was totally realistic as I beat it by just over two minutes! (Ha! Soooo close!). No matter what, I'm really happy with that time. I only took one planned walking break, unlike the half-marathon where I took several unplanned walking breaks. I thought that today was a lot easier than that race had been. I don't know why. Probably because even though I had a time goal, it wasn't a race and no one would ever know.

My legs were pretty tired after running these 14 miles, but we did get out and do some walking around for the rest of Sunday, so I think that probably helped. I wore my compression sleeves Sunday evening and night and woke up feeling like I had regular legs on Monday.

I had been debating back and forth whether or not I should go running today or not. Because of my upcoming weekend schedule, I don't think I'll be running 15 miles this weekend. Which leaves sometime this week. I figured if I didn't run Monday or Tuesday, then I'd have fresher legs to tackle 15 on Wednesday. Then I could just try to make up the other miles after that. And if I don't quite get to 30 miles this coming week, I don't quite get to 30 miles this coming week. I'm trying to not overly stress about the totals and just worry most about long runs!

Running
Time: 2:27:58
Distance: 14.00 miles
Pace: 10:34/mile
Calories: 1488
Maximum HR: 191 (90%)
Average HR: 178 (84%)

Short and Fast

2010-09-02T07:15:00.005-04:00

This morning I wasn't really in the mood to get up and out of bed to go for a four mile run. I really wanted to talk myself out of, but I knew I'd feel much better if I did the 4 miles prescribed by Hal Higdon for today. As a "treat", I did something I don't normally do and wore my iPod Shuffle. I figured that since the run was so short (relatively speaking) it wouldn't make much of a difference if I wore it.

Once I got outside, I really felt like seeing what my legs were capable of today, especially after already logging 13 miles this week. Even though I'm really really happy with my long run pace, I wanted to see if I've got any running mojo left.

As a side note, I used body glide yesterday and today to try to help with the heart rate monitor strap chafing issues I've been having. The skin is still getting red, but it doesn't rub it raw like it did before, so even though it doesn't look so great, at least it doesn't hurt while I'm running. I'll take that. I think the big test will be this weekend for my 14-miler. (Can I just say that it seems crazy to me that I'm actually going to attempt to run that far?).

I ran my 4 miles to the Park, up the West Side, cut across the Great Lawn and then headed back down the East Side towards home. Once I got to 72nd Street on the East Side, I knew I was doing pretty well, but I was hoping to have a speedy last mile. I figured the best way to do that was to throw in some intervals.

The easiest way for me to trick myself into doing intervals is to use the lamp posts in the Park. I would run the distance of 4 lamp posts, recover for one lamp post, run 4 more speedy, etc., until I reached the end of the Park. And then I tried to run as fast as possible while dodging people on the sidewalk home!

I had a rough idea that my route today was 4.0 miles before I left, so I was pretty happy with my time (which would have been just under 10 minute miles), but when I used Gmap Pedometer and discovered that it was really 4.2 miles, I was SUPER happy!

I have no illusions of running my marathon this quickly, but it's good to know that even when I'm tired and my legs are a little bit tired on their third consecutive day of running, something like this is still possible. Of course, now I've gone and ruined it and will be hoping for results like this in future weeks, too.

Running
Time: 39:03
Distance: 4.20 miles
Pace: 9:17/mile
Calories: 346
Maximum HR: 179 (84%)
Average HR: 165 (78%)

If I Were A Loud Runner

2010-09-01T07:44:00.006-04:00

The schedule this morning was for a 7 mile run. I decided to tackle Central Park, since I haven't done a long run there in quite a while. I've been a sissy and been running on the flat Westside Path and avoiding the hilly Park. I'm not entirely sure what the hill situation is like in Philadelphia, but running up hills makes you a stronger runner, so I can't avoid it forever.

The run started off fine. I was thinking about what to wear to work and what to have for breakfast. Normally breakfast is a smoothie (courtesy of Drew), but today is Drew's birthday, so I suggested that we go out to eat for a fancier breakfast before work.

I ended up taking two quick drinking fountain stops for a sip of water at miles 2.5 and 4.5. For some reason today, I really noticed how loud a lot of runners are. There are some that are really stealthy and can sneak up next to you without you even realizing it (and I don't normally wear headphones while running). But there are also really loud runners!

I heard someone coming up behind me and it was one of the loudest runners I've ever heard. It practically sounded like a horse was coming up behind me, that's how loud it was and it definitely sounded like "clomp, clomp, clomp". It ended up being a girl who was pretty tiny. I don't know how she made so much noise. I actually tried to run loudly and it was uncomfortable and I think that if I was that loud all the time, I'd drive myself crazy. I'd probably have to listen to an iPod to drown out that noise!

Apparently there is some sort of movie shooting on the north end of the Park. There were orange-vested production assistants all over the place. One girl was really odd because she was standing in the forest-y part of the Harlem Hill staring into the woods. I kept trying to tell if she was looking at something in particular, but it looked like she was just staring off into space.

Everything was just going along swimmingly until just before 72nd Street. When it happened. A bathroom emergency. Which meant that I absolutely could not keep running without getting to a bathroom ASAP. I remembered that there are bathrooms near the Bethesda Fountain, but after walking over there, I found out that they were locked.

Eek. By this point, I was honestly looking at every single bush thinking, "could I?". I thought about collecting leaves off the trees to wipe. It was horrible. Then it came to me that there were other bathrooms nearby at the Le Pain Quotidien in the Park. Luckily, those were open and clean! The emergency was avoided, but there were definitely a few tense moments there where I actually wasn't sure.

After that, I still had about a mile to go to finish up the run and get the rest of the way home. I still couldn't decide what to wear to work or have for breakfast, so I didn't get a lot accomplished on this run today!

I ended up doing a bit more than Hal Higdon calls for, both yesterday and today. I think that's okay. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do tomorrow. I think the Terrier brick is canceled for the long weekend, so I'll probably just go for a quick run.

I also just wanted to share this quote that was on my tea bag today:
"Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." - Abraham Lincoln

That seemed like a good thing to remember when training for a marathon!

Running
Time: 1:17:17
Distance: 7.25 miles
Pace: 10:39/mile
Calories: 673
Maximum HR: 179 (84%)
Average HR: 163 (77%)

I Hate It, But It Works

2010-08-31T07:26:00.006-04:00

This morning was the Terrier run, which I hadn't been to in a few weeks because of vacation. I ran there and we did our usual strides warm-up. We typically do two stretching strides, but today we did two new ones. The first one was to keep both legs straight, bending down and lifting one leg up, while touching your toe with your opposite arm. The second was to do straight leg kicks out in front of you. It seems like the strides are taking longer than they used to, but maybe there are just more people there now since the marathon group is there as well?

After the strides, we all ran around to the S. I ended up chatting with a girl who was there for the very first time. I hope she had a good workout. I know that my first time at Terrier I couldn't keep up and do the entire workout and I think that this girl was in the same position. I hope that she wasn't too intimidated and she comes back!

For the first time in a while, I actually did the entire workout, although it was pretty short overall. Today's workout was 3x's the following:

600 meters / Rest 1:30
400 meters / Rest 1:30
200 meters / Rest 1:00

I noticed on the very first one that most people weren't giving themselves the full rest period, which is fine, but it also makes me look even slower than I really am because I did rest the whole time, mainly to make sure I could remember my times at the end. I've accepted that I'm the slowest person there, but I hate to be misrepresented!

After the first 600 and 400, I asked another woman who was doing the walking/resting if we were done yet. She said that she thought that the first 600 felt like 6 miles. I said that I hate this speedwork stuff, but it actually seems to work. I hate when stuff like that happens.

Even though I might have been complaining in my head, it was actually nice to be back with the team and have someone tell me what to do instead of just following along with Hal Higdon. Plus, the speedwork was a nice change from just long, slow running. Not that I'm speedy, by any stretch of the imagination!

Run To Park
Time: 13:37
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 10:28/mile
Calories: 111
Maximum HR: 173 (82%)
Average HR: 158 (75%)

Run To S
Time: 10:43
Distance: 1.20 miles
Pace: 8:55/mile
Calories: 111
Maximum HR: 192 (91%)
Average HR: 181 (85%)

Speedwork
Time: 20:25
Distance: 2.25 miles
Pace: 9:04/mile
Calories: 307
Maximum HR: 187 (88%)
Average HR: 172 (81%)

Run Home
Time: 5:06
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 10:11/mile
Calories: 46
Maximum HR: 176 (83%)
Average HR: 170 (80%)

Total Distance (including strides): 5.75 miles

You Have No Idea How Badly I Want A Hot Tub

2010-08-30T22:23:00.008-04:00

The title of this post is what Laura said to me tonight. I replied, " Right now, sitting in my apartment, I actually have NO idea. It's 90 degrees outside." Somehow, though, she convinced me that we should go for a swim and a hot tub because, "we'd be cold after swimming."

Laura had asked me yesterday if I'd be willing to swim with her today after work. I have to say that I was secretly hoping one of is would get stuck working late, and even though we had some guest pass issues, we both got to the pool.

Laura was dead set on going to a hot tub, which I thought was a little weird since it's 90 degrees outside and is going to be staying that way for at least the next couple days, but I didn't put up much of a protest at the idea of a good hot tub.

We settled on the 92nd Street Y, for their hot tub and decent pool. I was surprised when we got there at 8:15 how busy it was at night. It was probably almost busier than it has been in the mornings.

I still hate that this pool doesn't have anything to hold onto at either end. It's not that I need to stop at one end or the other to hold on, it's more that I need something to hold onto while I pull my legs around so that I can turn around. I'm not big on flip turns, although this would be a good pool for them. My solution today was to grab onto the small (unused) lane line anchor points in the tiling. I'm guessing that's not the normal use.

I swam in the fast lane today. When I first got in the pool, there was another guy in that lane. He wasn't so fast, so I suggested that we split the lane, which he agreed to. Luckily even after he got out, I was able to keep splitting the lane so it was never an issue for me.

Which is probably why I actually had a really nice swim tonight. I was trying to focus a lot on form, especially while doing the pulling and kicking. This was my swim tonight:

500 swim
400 pull
300 kick
100 swim

Nothing fancy, but it got the job done. The nicest thing was that I felt great in the water. Maybe not super fast, but it was nice to be swimming instead of running. I did have a contact issue while swimming, so I had to take them out, get out of the water and throw them away (luckily, I wear dailies), so that didn't help matters any, but it was a tiny fluke.

We finished up the swim with a good old-fashioned gab fest in the hot tub. I have to admit, it actually was nice in the hot tub, even though I wasn't cold after swimming. It was nice to catch up with Laura and just chat a bit. We got out when we were getting too hot and prune-like, hit the showers and headed home. Even though Mondays are for resting normally, this was a good change in plans!

Swimming
Time: 29:10
Distance: 1300 yards (0.74 miles)
Pace: 39:27/mile
Calories: 204
Maximum HR: 163 (77%)
Average HR: 144 (68%)

Please Follow Directions

2010-08-29T13:20:00.009-04:00

This morning I woke up and set out for my second run of the week. I knew that I'd never hit the total miles, but I also didn't want to be a complete slacker. Of course, I didn't really have a plan either.

I decided to head to the Park, wearing my Fuel Belt again. I have been doing a lot of flat running and I need to do some running on hills, which the Park is kind enough to provide.

I'd now like to take a few moments for some ranting. First up: the Fuel Belt. Still like it and I'm glad I have it. Not as much in love with it today (the second use) as I was after the first use. I felt like it rode up a LOT more today than it did before. At the end of my run, I wondered if that was because the first time I had tucked in my shirt and today I didn't, so it was riding up along with my shirt? Must test this theory out in future uses.

Second rant: Gmap Pedometer. I heart this service with a capital H. More than any of those Map-My-Run services. Except for one thing. The lack of the Bridle Path in Central Park. I wouldn't think it'd be that hard to just slap it on the map, but even in the satellite photos you can't tell because of all the tree cover. Gmap people, if you're out there, can you work on that?

End ranting (at least on technical issues). I decided to run up the Bridle Path and go from there. It was pretty warm here today and I figured the shadiness would do me some good. There were actual horses on the Path today, which was fun! I wonder where you get a horse or keep your horse to ride there? And do the horses get bored on such a short path?

After running all around the Bridle Path, I decided to do a loop on the Reservoir Path. Good day for path running, apparently. Except here's where I have to start ranting again.

No one was following directions on the Reservoir Path. Mainly in the direction that they were running or walking. I actually thought I was making this up, but then I started counting and it was true that there were more people going the wrong direction than the right direction. I tried to tell myself that a lot of them were probably tourists and I should give them a free pass, but I spent some time really looking at the signs posted an they're very clear with pictures even if you can't read English.

I pretty much got to my breaking point at the north-western corner when 12 people on bicycles entered the Reservoir Path. Um, no! That's just not okay. I just looked at them and yelled, "No, no, no!" I tried to tell them to take their bikes back on the road, but they all stared at me like I was crazy and kept on trying to head in the wrong direction, of course.

OK, done ranting again. But, really, is it that hard to follow an arrow? The run was okay. The weather keeps catching me off guard. It's cool and lovely at night, but hot during the days! At some point I'm sure I'll go back to complaining about it being cold, but this heat is a bit of a surprise. I was glad I had the Fuel Belt for that reason!

I haven't been wearing my heart rate monitor strap for the last couple runs since it keeps giving me this horrible chafing mark in the middle of my chest where the transmitter sits. I keep thinking that I'll try wearing Body Glide and seeing how that works, but I haven't wanted to test the waters yet. Maybe next week.

Running
Time: 1:29:10
Distance: ~8.00 miles
Pace: 11:08/mile

The Great Urban Race

2010-08-28T17:19:00.032-04:00

This morning was the Great Urban Race in New York City. The rules are pretty simple. Show up wearing matching outfits/costumes (there were some pretty good costumes there!), get your numbers, receive the clues and head out into the city for an adventure / scavenger hunt using only your feet and public transportation to get around. Here we are pre-race, showing off our matching Washtenaw Dairy t-shirts (here's a tip if you find yourself in Ann Arbor: good ice cream, great donuts!):

We milled about for a while after getting our numbers, but before they handed out the clues. We took a few minutes after getting the clues to take photos of the clue sheet and read over some of them. We had a "phone-a-friend", so we e-mailed the photos to Drew's friend, Jon, for his review and assistance! Luckily for us, Drew had been reading the clues pretty closely, because right as we were about to get on the subway, he spied someone with a skateboard and we needed to get a picture of us standing on a skateboard for a tic-tac-toe clue.

We first headed downtown from 79th Street to our neighborhood. That was very handy because in my efforts to clean my backpack before the race so I wasn't hauling around a bunch of junk, I took out the pens that were in my pack. Luckily, that meant that Drew was able to just run upstairs really quickly and grab a pen while I moved onto the first challenge. As we were walking from one clue to the next, we stopped and snapped this photo, which we needed for the tic-tac-toe clue.

We were sort-of surprised as to how much was in our neighborhood, but it was pretty handy since we needed to find a picture of a fountain (for the final tic-tac-toe) and I thought that there was one hiding about a half a block from where we were. Luckily, I was right and we asked a very nice lady to snap this photo for us (we had to be pretending to dive in).

After that, we jumped back on the subway and headed further downtown to Abracadabra (a costume shop) because we needed a photo of us in front of their body part display case. There was a line formed of other Urban Racers and luckily everyone was nice enough to take the photo of the person behind them.

We noticed pretty early on that some people were just sprinting from clue to clue. We decided that we'd rather hurry, but enjoy ourselves, so we mostly did brisk walking instead of running. The next stop was Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. We'd eaten here (both in the restaurant and from a street cart) and it's pretty tasty. We went to the back of the store, grabbed our sesame ball and headed outside. We noticed that a lot of people had something chocolate, but I thought we had gotten something different.

We had to take a photo of us both taking a bite at the same time and as soon as I sunk my teeth in, I heard this horrible squirting sound. Which meant that the chocolate on the inside of the ball mostly ended up all over the sidewalk. Oops. The sesame chocolate-filled ball was delicious, though! I'd definitely recommend it!

From there we jumped on the bus and headed to Chelsea Piers. We had finally figured out that Clue 10 meant that we needed to find a word with a double letter (thanks to Jon!). While we were on the bus, we took this (pretty bad) picture of us pointing at the word "door".

Drew wasn't sure that the picture from the bus would be the best, so I suggested that we take another photo pointing to access and businesses. Drew still wasn't convinced that we would get this clue correct since there were so many other words on the sign. He thought that we needed to find a sign with only one word showing. The search continued.

Once we got there, we had to do two things at Chelsea Piers. One person from the team was supposed to run a 200 meter dash and the other person was supposed to climb a bit of the smaller climbing wall that they have there. We decided I'd do the running and Drew would do the climbing. He's been wanting to take rock climbing lessons for a while now, I thought this would be a good thing for him. Because we didn't have to have a photo of the person running the 200 meter dash, a lot of people either didn't do it or sort-of clowned around and took fake running photos. I figured that I might as well follow the rules and really run! I ended up finishing in 41 seconds, which I think is pretty good (it would have been a 5:29 mile, in case you're wondering ... ha ha ha!).

After I was done running, we headed over to the rock climbing wall. Drew had to do this pose twice since the first time he jumped off (or maybe slipped) before I snapped the photo. I think being there confirmed the fact that he'd really like to take those lessons.

On our way back to the bus, we noticed this commissary sign. We decided that this would be the best picture for the double letter if we could find someone to take our photo with just that word and us in the photo. Luckily we happened across some tourists who snapped this for us!

After that, we headed over to the East Side to Dylan's Candy Bar. The clue said that we should take a picture of all teammates doing the action of the following French verb: oreilles de lapin. So, if you Google that phrase, this is the very first picture that pops up:

So, honestly, I'm thinking, "we have to make rabbit teeth in the photo?". That seemed weird to me. I then Googled oreilles de lapin translation and then it became clear that we actually had to make bunny ears. Which makes a lot more sense!

From there, we only had one clue left. To get to the Fuller Building at a quarter-hour and take our photo. We got there a bit before 3:15 and hung around with some other teams while we all waited for the clock to line up so we could snap photos and be on our way. Obviously, you can see some of those other teams in the background.

We rode the bus across town and north and then made our way to the finish line. Drew says that this picture is blurry because we were SOOOO fast!

I don't know our official results yet, but I think it was somewhere around 3:40:00. We knew we weren't going to win and we probably wouldn't come in last either. I had a great time and I'd definitely do this again. I think we could have been faster and if we had really strategized, I think we could have gotten around the city and the clues a little bit better than we did, but it was a lot of fun no matter what. Definitely a fun way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon!

It's Still Summer

2010-08-27T16:56:00.010-04:00

Well, we're back in New York now (from vacation in Michigan). And I'll fully admit that marathon training hit a bit of a hitch this week. Meaning it was non-existent until now. I think it'll be mostly okay though, since this was a step-back week anyway. Although I'm not really stepping back. Oh well.

Of course, I waited a bit too long today to hit the streets for my run. Something about not having to get up for any particular thing means that I really like to sleep in. I think I'm more of a night owl naturally and while I can get up early, it's not my natural sleeping rhythm. Of course, I knew that getting out and actually running today would be a big step in the right direction, unlike yesterday, where I just sat around all morning and then had a picnic lunch with Drew in Central Park!

Even though the computer says that it's only 77 degrees out, it's still really sunny and frankly, quite hot! I decided to run along the Westside Path before I realized the sun situation and there isn't a lot of shade or relief from the sun. I did find lots of drinking fountains I didn't know about before, mainly because I tended to run on the road part where it's really for bikes instead of the pedestrian part for runners and walkers. Turns out that the drinking fountains are "freeze-proof", which means that you have to hold down the button for a while before anything comes out. I hope that means that they're on in the winter too?

I definitely had to do some walking today. I'm not especially proud of that fact, but I was determined to go the distance I had mapped out ahead of time and if walking was going to get me to the end, so be it. I'm trying not to get too down on myself about the walking. I'm chalking it up to the heat and being slightly under prepared.

I had to buy myself a Gatorade on the way home. I'm not sure what I was thinking and why I didn't take my Fuel Belt along with me now that I've spent money and invested in it. The whole time I was carrying the Gatorade in one hand and running, I was thinking how dumb it was to (a) carry something like that and (b) spend $3 on Gatorade.

This week's total for miles is 21. So that means that after today, I still have 12.6 to go. Saturday we're doing this fun/crazy NYC Scavenger Hunt, so that will involve a lot of walking. I'm planning on another long run on Sunday, but I don't think I'll do all 12.6 remaining. I just can't do every mile every week. That's just not how my life seems to work. I'm just trying my best to make sure I do the "long runs" each week and if I come up short on some of the shorter runs, so be it. This marathon training is a process and it's my first time, so it's all on a huge learning curve.

Running
Time: 1:34:02
Distance: 8.40 miles
Pace: 11:11/mile

Two Hours Later

2010-08-22T22:57:00.008-04:00

First, I need to start this by saying that vacation hasn't been exactly what we had been planning on and therefore it turned out that we didn't get to spend much time at the lake, therefore I hauled around my wetsuit for no good reason since I did no open water swimming! The changes in plans meant that everything was just a bit screwy, so I didn't really do as much as I thought I would (which always seems to be the way with vacations).

So, this morning I woke up at 7:53 and told myself that I'd go back to sleep for "ten more minutes". Two hours later, I actually woke up again! Vacation is sleepy business. Drew and I got up and donned our running gear and set out for a run. I was out to try to finish up my mileage for the week. Drew had agreed to do part of the run with me, but not all of it (as he's not a distance runner).

The first part of the run (4.2 miles) with Drew was fine. I made sure we didn't start off too speedy as sometimes running with Drew makes me run faster than I really should be. After we parted ways and I kept going and he headed back to the house, things started to go a bit awry.

I think I've learned that if I'm going to be running for more than 5 miles or so, I need to go to the bathroom before I leave the house. Otherwise, it's just bad news for me. After Drew left, I slowed down even more because I was fighting with my stomach. I ended up having to do some walking while I thought about my bathroom options.

I eventually saw a (handicapped) port-a-potty in a city park. As soon as I saw it, I told myself that I could not get excited about it because I was sure it'd be locked. When I got there and it wasn't locked, I told myself that I still shouldn't get excited because there probably wouldn't be any toilet paper. Except that there was a full roll! And it even smelled nice inside. Honestly, it was like hitting the $100M jackpot!

After that, I felt much better and continued on the rest of my run. Even though the second half of the run definitely dragged my average down, I'm not too upset with myself. All this long distance running is good practice for the big marathon day and it's all a learning experience. I'm just glad I had company for the fun half of the run!

This means that I did 23.25 miles for this week's marathon training. I thought I'd be done and over the 24 that I was supposed to do, but I somehow miscalculated (which, if you know me personally, is a pretty easy thing for me to do). I don't think that 0.75 miles will really be the make it or break it, though, so I'm fine with how things ended up.

Running
Time: 1:26:30
Distance: 7.10 miles
Pace: 12:10/mile
Calories: 732
Maximum HR: 182 (86%)
Average HR: 164 (77%)

The Dorky Runner

2010-08-18T19:51:00.004-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I went to Jack Rabbit and bought myself a Fuel Belt. It looks like this:

I wore it running this morning and liked it. I didn't love it for the first part, but I think I got used to it and sort-of forgot it was there by the end of my long. I was definitely glad I had it with me. The one I got has 4 8-ounce bottles. You can buy bigger, 10-ounce, bottles, but I figured I'd test this out first and see how I liked it before I invested any more money.

I had read some reviews on Amazon about it the bottles in front being a problem and people were hitting their hands on them. I didn't have that problem at all. My main issue is that I wore the belt around my hips (since I can't stand having anything around my natural waist) and because the bottles hit against my hips, over time, the belt slid up slightly. It wasn't a big deal. I just pushed it back down a few times over the course of my run and kept going.

I actually really liked having the bottles in the front. I thought it was a lot easier to get to them than the ones in the back, so I ended up drinking the ones in the front first and then switching and putting the empty ones in the back. I'm sure that's all wrong, but it worked for me, so I'm just going to go with it. The other complaint I read in reviews was that the bottles leaked a little bit. I didn't have that problem at all, but I did notice that the condensation from the bottles dripped down my leg and made me wonder if it was starting to rain.

I liked having it in general. I definitely felt like a dorky runner. The only good thing? All the other dorky runners say HI to you! Well, that's not true. The other Fuel Belt people were very friendly. The Nathan people were semi-friendly. Everyone else was a typical self-absorbed New Yorker. (I was one of these people as of yesterday, so I don't think I'm being mean here).

For my long run this morning, I wanted it to go better than the last 12 mile run I attempted. I decided that in order to get that last 12-mile run out of my head, I should have a change of scenery and skip going to the Park and instead run on the Westside Path. I ended up leaving the apartment shortly after 6 this morning, so it was pretty quiet on the Western Front. (sorry, I couldn't help myself).

The last couple long runs, I've run South and I've liked that a lot. Running North on this path isn't that easy. I mean, it's fairly flat, so that's easy. However, it turns out that you have almost no markers to let you know where you are on the grid that is NYC. At one point, I was so distressed that I was only at 125th Street, only to look up and see that 132nd Street was the next street sign (turns out that 125th Street goes diagonally for a while there on the far West side, which is why it's possible to run the fastest 7 blocks ever).

I knew that I needed to get to somewhere around 165th Street for it to end up being 12 miles today. After I realized that I'd never really know when I was actually at 165th Street, I decided to just run for 70 minutes heading North and then turn around. At the turn around, I took a
3 minute walking and eating break and ate the mini Clif bar I had brought with me (stuck in my Fuel Belt pocket!).

And then it was back to running. I realized when I got almost home, this run was pretty mindless. I didn't really think of anything interesting - or anything at all, really. The only thing of note was that on my way North, I saw a dead rat in the pathway. When I came back South, it wasn't there. I have no idea what would have happened to it, since I can't imagine who would have wanted to touch it! I hope a dog didn't get it. Ick.

I guess that it's good that 12 miles ended up being pretty mindless. I'm still going with my slow and steady approach to these long runs and it's working out beautifully! We're off to Michigan tomorrow morning and Thursday will be spent flying and driving up North. That means a rest day in my books! Friday and Saturday it should be easy to finish up the 6.9 miles that I've got left for this week! Sunday will be another rest day before starting up again next week.

I'll fill you in on all the workouts when I get back to civilization next week! I'm hoping they'll include some good open water swimming too!

Running
Time: 2:16:44
Distance: 12.40 miles
Pace: 11:01/mile
Calories: 1195
Maximum HR: 175 (83%)
Average HR: 163 (77%)

Shouldn't The Short Ones Be Easy?

2010-08-17T10:37:00.003-04:00

This morning I set my alarm in order to wake up in time for the Terrier run. When my alarm went off, I looked at the workout online, saw that it was speed work, rolled over and went back to sleep.

I ended up sleeping until 8 and left the house with Drew at 9 (he was going to work). I probably shouldn't have waited so long today because it was really hot and gross out there. It's not the first time I've done this and it certainly won't be the last.

I walked up to the Park and then decided I would run on the bridle path because it's shadier than the regular road. I didn't love this run. I am trying to save my legs for my long run tomorrow, so I decided I would just run for 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back. However many miles that ended up being was fine with me.

The first 20 minutes were okay. The second 20, not so much. It was in those minutes that I was cursing myself for not having a lot to drink yesterday (the perils of vacations). I just kept telling myself that the faster I ran, the sooner I could get home and have my smoothie from the freezer (Drew makes them for us every morning, but I put mine in the freezer before leaving for the run). I admit my logic was flawed, since I was running for a set number of minutes, not miles, but it helped me pick up my pace.

I definitely needed a reason to do that today. I thought the short runs were supposed to be easy, but so far I think I like the longer ones more. I was counting down every minute of today's run. I probably should have done the speed work as it would have mixed things up a bit. I couldn't do it when I went later because there were cars in the Park then.

I never really know how far I've gone on the bridle path. Today's miles are my best estimation. I don't generally want a Garmin, but when I run on the Bridle Path, I do. Of course, maybe I don't since it might be sad to know that all my miles have been way off for a long time.

I'm going to look at nutrition belts this afternoon. Then the big test will be on tomorrow's long run!

Running
Time: 40:00
Distance: 3.75 miles
Pace: 10:39/mile
Calories: 361
Maximum HR: 182 (86%)
Average HR: 167 (79%)

Guest Post: Drew's Spartan Race Report

2010-08-16T17:53:00.024-04:00

Yesterday, Drew went and competed in The Spartan Race. I tagged along as the photographer and general supporter. He's had to play that role for a lot of my races, I figured it was the very least I could do for him! I had a great time spectating and taking photos, but I'm quite glad that I didn't have to participate. I think I'll just stick to triathlons and running races! Here's his race report:

I didn't really know what to expect, but I knew I could run three miles and I figured I was either fit enough to make it over the obstacles or smart enough to weasel my way around them.

While I love not having a car, sometimes it's a hassle, and this was one of those times. Amy got a Zipcar membership and we rented a car for the day. We only made one wrong turn and got to the race start about 90 minutes before my wave. A couple of our friends, including Laura, had registered for the race and their wave went off just a few minutes after we got there. It was pretty hard to see much of the race, as they went up and over a small dirt hill, but they sure kicked up a lot of dust and sand.

After seeing Laura's wave start, I got in line. Where I stayed for a long time. Like an hour. I know this isn't a "regular" race, but it's pretty crazy that it took an hour to check in. And it seemed like there were no more than 30 people in front of me. My wave started at 11:30. I almost always work out in the morning, starting sometime around 6 or 6:30. I'm not used to starting so late, so nutrition was a bit of a question mark for me. I had a Clif bar when I work up, then a Balance bar in the car. I snagged a free Raw Revolution mini bar in line and Amy grabbed a Muscle Milk. I wasn't sure that would be enough, but I also knew that I didn't want to eat a lot before the race. I wasn't really worried about it though, as it was only three miles.

I lined up a few minutes before my wave and we all got the proper pre-battle speech from the head Spartan. I'm not sure how it worked in Sparta, but in Brooklyn it's sort of hard to hear when the microphone was cutting in and out. We all yelled "A-rooo" a couple of times the head Spartan flashed his sword and we were off.

I didn't really have much of a plan for the race, so I just took off toward the first obstacle. We had to go up and over a sand hill that was maybe 15 feet tall or so. I heard someone say that the best plan was to hit all the obstacles as fast as possible, so that's what I tried.

There were a bunch of people and they all slowed down when they hit the hill, which made it a little tough. I didn't really have much trouble getting up and over, but my heart rate spiked like crazy. It might have been the change from a dead stop just a few moments ago, but I'm guessing that I was well into the 95% heart rate range. I sort of scrambled down each of the hills, which probably wasn't the fastest method. I should have tried to run down, but I was a little uncertain of the people that were in front of me and I didn't want to tumble onto someone just 90 seconds into the race.

After snaking up and over the hill three or four times we turned to a series of a dozen or so low hurdles. They really weren't hard at all, but my heart was racing and I tried to focus on calming down and relaxing a bit. A lot of people were already walking and I decided right there that my goal was to finish the race without walking between the obstacles. We finished the hurdles and then started on a fairly long, straight run. About a third of the way into that stretch there was a trailer filled with hay and covered by a blue tarp. We had to climb onto and scramble over the hay and underneath the tarp. Not too tough, but I did get slowed down a bit by the guys in front of me.

After that I really focused on slowing my heart and finding a good pace. There were a couple firefighters in front of me that I used for pacing. We reached a turn and a pair of walls that were about five feet tall. I'm 6-3, so the walls weren't too high for me, though I did get my foot caught on one for half a second. One of the firefighters hopped it really easily, though. I chalked it up to firefighter training, like Billy Baldwin from Backdraft.

As soon as we cleared the five footers, we turned to another long run and could see a much taller wall in the distance. That one didn't look like a lot of fun, and I figured it was in the eight to ten foot range. I thought about the advice to hit the obstacles with speed, and I pictured myself just running straight into it and going "splat!" I wasn't sure how fast I should (or could) be going when I got there, so I tried to not think about it and just keep running.

With all the obstacles, one of the most important keys was to pick the right spot. There was enough room for three or four people on the wall, and I saw one guy really struggling to make it over. Everyone else had moved to avoid him, but I calculated that he would either (a) make it over, or (b) give up and do his push-ups, by the time I got there. (If you can't complete an obstacle you have to do push-ups). I was right, and the guy gave up just as I was getting to the wall, which gave me a nice open spot.

I hit the wall at a medium speed and easily got my hands to the top. I stopped for a second with my forearms on the top of the wall while my legs scrambled and my arms and shoulders hoisted me over. I'm sure I wasn't the most graceful wall-climber, but I did make it in one try and it didn't take me too long.

By that point my entire body was pretty exhausted. It's sort of amazing, because the obstacles had not been super difficult, but the constant running meant my muscles didn't have the time to fully recharge with oxygen. Thankfully, there weren't too many obstacles for the next mile or two. The next obstacle was a fairly short, angled cargo net. This wasn't too tough at all and was about half as tall as the net we climbed in fourth grade gym class. So, thanks Mr. Coulsen for preparing me for the Spartan Race!

After that, we ran some more, finally getting off the concrete and into the woods. We had to crawl through the dirt under some ropes right as we entered the woods. It wasn't too tough, though my hands got really, really dirty. I saw other competitors that didn't have any dirt on their hands and I just didn't understand how they did it.

The run through the woods was pretty meandering, and I kept hoping that the next turn would be the last. We had to jump through a small "web" of barbed wire that was about two feet off the ground and there was a small pile of tree limbs and branches we had to clear. That reminded me that the Spartan Race website showed a fire jump, so at least I had something to look forward to.

I'm not sure how long we were in the woods, but it had to be a mile or so. There were several people that took short walking breaks, but I kept jogging along. I only passed a handful of people on the run, but I don't think anyone passed me. For most of the time in the woods I was sort of bored. Maybe they should have had some Huns jump out and attack us or something. If not that, maybe another wall to climb over. Something.

When we finally got out of the woods we had another six or eight short hurdles. They weren't any higher than the first set, but we all moved over them just a little bit slower. The guy in front of me had much better hurdle form than I did, but I decided that I didn't really care.

After the hurdles there was another run to a big dirt/rock/log pile that was maybe 20 feet tall. Remember what I said about picking the right spot? Well, apparently I didn't, as I picked the wrong spot and got stuck behind a girl that sort of stopped half way up. The guy I was running with flew past me and opened up a 15 foot lead on me. I actually caught him on the run to the next obstacle and he said that he had never run three miles before. I looked at my watch and we were at almost exactly 30 minutes with only a few more obstacles to go. I thought that was pretty good, as I knew we were just about to the home stretch.

The next obstacle was a rock climbing wall that we had to cross left-to-right. It was maybe 20 or 25 feet long and had wooden blocks nailed to it at random. If you touch the ground or the top of the wall you had to do 30 push-ups.

I didn't quite understand the instructions about how to successfully complete and "dismount" the wall, but I thought you had to go under the support beam and end up on the other side.

I got on the wall and seemed to be doing OK. I made sure to use my feet more than my hands and made steady progress, even thought it may have been a little bit slow. With about two steps left I sort of got stuck. I knew that I needed to take a step that I wasn't fully comfortable with, but I was also so close to the end that I figured I could make it. I took that step, and the next and I was right next to the end. That was when I lost it. I'm not sure what happened, but I found myself standing on the ground chanting "f$*%, f$*%, f$*%, f$*%, f$*% ." I moved to the end of the wall, dropped to the ground and did my push-ups.

Thinking about it now, I was so close to the end that I probably could have just jumped off the wall and assumed that I completed it successfully. There were Spartan Race officials there, but I doubt any would have made a big deal of it. I never even considered that, as I instantly knew that I didn't feel like I completed it, so I did the push-ups and got on my way.

Oh, this is probably a good time to say that I've been talking about taking a rock climbing class for a couple months now. I guess I should have gotten off my butt and signed up, huh?

After the wall I knew I was almost done. I jogged to the home stretch and saw about half a dozen people doing push-ups. Then I looked closer and saw some more trying in vain to throw a spear into a hula hoop about 20 feet away. I walked up, selected my weapon and gave it a heave.

Most people were coming up well short, so I put a lot of air under my spear. When I played golf we'd often say "never up, never in" and I made sure my spear would get to the target, whether or not it hit the target. Of course, my aim was way off and my spear fluttered to the ground. I dropped and did 20 more push-ups. In all honesty, these weren't the finest push-ups I've ever done, but I thought they were pretty good under the circumstances.

The second to last obstacle was a dirt crawl under some barbed wire. I guess my butt was a little high, as I caught my shorts and shirt on the first wire. Oh well. Next time I wear those I'll have a little reminder of the Spartan Race. I got a little lower and got to the end and made my way to the angled wall.

That wall was the one obstacle I got a good look at before my wave started. It was angled at about 45 degrees and had ropes that reached about half way down. Lots of people struggled with it, as it was coated in some sort of grease or oil. Others seemed to hit it at top speed and run right to the top. At this point I was pretty exhausted, but I knew it was better to go all-out for one try than to half-ass it two or three times. So, I took a wide turn and started running. I took a few steps on the wall without even thinking about the rope.

I thought I was going to make it to the top without needing to use the rope and then I sort of stopped moving. I quickly reached to grab the rope and hung on for a split second to reset myself. After that I was able to scramble over the other side and start the run to the finish.

Somehow I had forgotten about the two gladiators with pugil sticks. I had watched dozens of people make their run through the gladiators. Some were strong and took them head on while others made the run with more than a little reservation. I decided that I wanted to end strong so I found that last bit of energy and made my charge. I tried to juke the first guy a little bit, going from my right to left before sprinting to the finish. I guess my juke wasn't all that good and I caught his pugil stick straight in the chest.

It was a good shot, but I kept my feet and ran to the finish.

I was a little surprised at how exhausted I was at the finish. I collapsed in a chair and took off my timing chip. Amy came and gave me a big kiss and a hug and we found some coconut water to rehydrate.

I was muddy, banged up, exhausted and even bleeding just a tiny bit. I pulled a bit of skin off my left palm about 90 seconds into the race. I sprained my left pinky somewhere near the end (well, that's when I felt it, at least). I ripped my shorts and shirt. My shoes were a muddy disaster. My hands, knees and shins were black with mud and dirt. As I'm typing this the next day, my right forearm sort of hurts, so I'm assuming there's a bruise there, too. With all of that, I had a great time and would do the race again in a second. I was proud that I never had to walk and that I gave it my all at each of the challenges.

It was only after I finished that I realized there was no fire jump. I guess the site in Brooklyn didn't let the race organizers make any mud or fire pits. Oh well. I guess that means I'll have a reason to do the race again.

I think my time was about 35 minutes, which I think is pretty good. Amazingly, the overall winner was a sixteen year old kid. I'm not sure if that makes me feel old or slow. Probably both.
Either way, I know one thing:

I AM SPARTAN.