Runnin' Around Uptown

Winter Running Gear

2012-01-16T19:32:00.000-05:00

I have been searching for the best winter running gear since my college days on the University of New Hampshire Crew team. The winters there were frosty, several weeks went by without the temps rising above 10 degrees and it was awfully dark most of the time. Once the river froze we moved indoors for most of our rowing (erg) workouts, but we still did some road running and stair running outside if it wasn't too icy. I was in the early stages of becoming a gear collector and acquired several warm layers that I still wear to this day. You see, rowing is all about spandex and technical fibers. You can't be wearing a baggy hoody in the boat, the chances are too high that you'll catch your oar on a sleeve and get launched from the boat into the icy waters. It happens, but usually because someone catches a "crab" by getting their oar stuck under water. Around 39 secs, you'll see what I mean.

I digress. So since college I've been slowly building a collection of what I'd consider the best gear for running outside. The hardest thing for me to find was the perfect pair of running gloves for really cold weather. I tried gloves with a windproof mitten feature that you can tuck away when not needed and that is great for cool or windy weather, but not warm enough. I tried layering thin gloves with large mittens over them, but that was too bulky. FINALLY, on our trip to Calgary over Christmas, I was able to visit the outdoor junkie Mecca, aptly named "MEC" short for Mountain Equipment Co-Op, where I found the perfect mittens for cold weather! I was beyond excited when I spotted these on the large wall 'o gloves and even more excited when I saw that they were only $24.00! They are advertised as waterproof (yet to be tested), windproof and fleece-lined. They are the perfect combination of weatherproof material over a thin fleece with a nice stretchy wrist covering and a terry cloth nose wiping thumb. I wore them on a very chilly run (sub 30) this weekend and was so happy with them that I couldn't wait to get home and write about them. I will admit that my hands got sweaty during the run and I took them off once to let them air, but I would rather have them be a little sweaty than a little frostbitten. My hands never got the slightest bit cold on that 6 mi run, I was thrilled.
You can see all of the specs here: MEC Glide XC Mitts They come in a ton of sizes and are technically made for XC skiing. Mine are XS because I have wee hands and they are unisex.

Next is the Bula Microfleece Gaiter. I have to cover my mouth and nose in the cold weather to keep from irritating my Asthma and this gaiter is the best thing I've tried in years. I tried various scarf, bandana and mask type contraptions to cover my mouth, but none work nearly as well as this simple little bugger. I think mine is even a child's size, but it is very similar to this Turtle Fur brand neck gaiter at REI. They're super cheap too, mine was maybe $10 and this one at REI is even less. I highly recommend this hands-free fleecy lifesaver. As with most gaiters this one gets damp after a while of breathing through it, but you just rotate it around or flip it inside out and you're good to go.

My last favorite thing for this post is by my favorite sock people, Smartwool, but it is not a sock! I discovered this headband/earwarmer when I was browsing at the brand new REI in SoHo and I HAD TO HAVE IT. I have an Under Armour headband that I like, but it is red and doesn't match most of my running gear and sometimes the fleece gets too warm. Yes, I said it- it doesn't match! At least I'm honest. Anyway, this headband has really come in handy lately on breezy days for keeping my ears warm. I hate having cold wind on my ears, but this doesn't get too warm because it is made from a double layer of thin Merino Wool which is wicking so you also don't get too sweaty. It is also tiny and light so it's easy to stash in a pocket if you want to take it off. I lurve it. No one is paying me to say this, by the way. It's $18 at REI here: SmartWool Headband

There are plenty of other pieces of gear on my "favorites list" that I'll try to get up throughout the winter, but these are my favorites this week as the temps plummet.

2012, what lies ahead.

2012-01-11T19:27:00.000-05:00

I wanted to write a 2011 End of Year recap post, I really did, but I had trouble with my blogger app on the iPad during our trip to Canada and I couldn't muster the enthusiasm once we returned. I keep thinking about it though, so maybe I'll get to it at some point because it was not an entirely wasted year, even though it felt that way at times. Instead I am looking forward at 2012 with lots of excitement and anticipation. Looking back on 2011 I realized that with the exception of my massive ankle injury, the only thing holding me back from kicking ass was ME. I feel like I've been a wimp, I've taken too many recovery days when they weren't really necessary, and I simply did not push myself anywhere near my potential. Maybe this is why I need to do a recap, to remember the times that I was training really hard and pushing myself (think: Spring and early summer and one last hurrah in July) but I feel like I slacked and should have raced more so that I wouldn't be sitting here now with that "I really should have done ____ race."

So 2012 will involve better planning, more racing (of all different varieties!) and stronger training. It is that simple.

What do I have to look forward to, you might ask, well I am starting off the year with plans for a Spring marathon, though I haven't chosen which one just yet. I'm thinking something small and low key in April, just to get the year going strong. I have never done a Spring marathon because the winters here can be horrific, but this mild weather tells me that is may be my year! I survived the really treacherous weather last year without running on a treadmill once, so if this weather keeps up I can definitely do that again (if necessary). Before April I have two half marathons planned and a 5K, all building blocks for the marathon.

Here's a rough plan for the year ahead:

January
21st- Manhattan Half Marathon. Not an "A" race by any means, but I'd like to run a solid, sub 1:48 or so.

February
I have no race plans for February, just lots of training in the pool, on the road, and building strength in the gym. I'll be slowly adding mileage and seeing how my still-defunct ankle reacts. I also may go on vacation.

March
4th- Coogan's 5K. I have run this race several times, but I rarely get to RACE it, so I think I'll be blazing the hills this year.

18th- Shamrock 1/2 Marathon in VA Beach. This is an "A" race for me, I PRed here two years ago with a 1:40 and while I'd love to crush that, I will probably be deep in marathon training and will have to see where I am at that point.

April
Insert Marathon Here. Wherever I end up running, I'll be shooting to crush that 3:46 from NYCM '10.

May
I don't have anything planned for May just yet, I will probably take a few weeks to recover from the marathon and begin serious swim training for the summer. Stay tuned.
Also, the NYRR calendar doesn't go past March yet and I haven't checked the NYCRuns website yet to see what is going on in our area.

**I just noticed that the NY Tri in Harriman State park is May 20th!

June
3rd- Central Park Challenge, trying to keep the streak alive from 2009, 10 and 11 and win another award. I'd also love to break 21:00...by a lot.

16th- Stars&Stripes Aquathlon (1.5K swim and 5K run) I skipped this race last year because it didn't fit into my training plan, but that was dumb and I still regret it. These are my two strongest events and I can't wait to try it.

23-24th- Green Mountain Relay in Vermont (200 miles, 12 people team) See my posts from 2010.

No Chesapeake Bay Swim for me this year, it is an expensive and HOT race, so I'm taking the year off and may do it again in 2013.

July
22nd- Grimaldo's Mile, CIBBOW's swim in Coney Island.
28th- Governor's Island Swim 2.0 miles
July will probably be a lot of swimming and prepping for the A race of all A races in August...

AUGUST
4th- Manhattan Island Marathon Relay Swim! 28.5 miles around the island, alternating with 3 other amazing swimmers. I can't wait!

12th- (Possibly, date isn't updated yet) Fire Island sound swim in Long Island, NY (Stonewall Swim).

I would love to do a few more sprint triathlons in August, but I haven't planned that far out just yet.

September
8th- Aquarium 5K swim, CIBBOWS in Coney Island
OR Pageant Swim in Atlantic City, NJ

Mid-Sept Swim for ALS- date not set yet for 2012, http://www.macangelsevents.org/macangels/default.asp

15th- NY Triathlon, #2 of the series.

22nd- Little Red Lighthouse swim by NYC Swim. 10K swim down the Hudson. I am still kicking myself for missing this race last year and I will NOT miss it this year. I already registered!

Oct-Dec
The final 1/3 of the year remains wide open. I think I'll be considering the Brooklyn Marathon since it was so well done this year, as well as maybe doing some 10K racing here and there. Who knows...

Christmas in Calgary

2012-01-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

This year for Christmas my husband and I spent the week with his family in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I've discovered that most people don't have a grasp on Canadian geography so here's a little map. I usually say that Calgary is above Montana and Idaho, but let's face it- no one really knows where they are either.

Calgary is the third city from the top of the map, in the plains just east of the Rocky Mountains.

Typical December weather in Calgary is just below freezing, or -1 C, but we got really lucky and had cool, crisp days around 4-6C (40 degrees F) and all of the sunshine Calgary can muster at that time of year (which isn't much). When we arrived on the 23rd, I had airplane cabin fever and needed to get outside and run. Luckily we were staying in a downtown hotel located right along the Bow River running path! The temperature was in the 30's F and I simply had no idea what to wear because it had been 60 degrees F at home the day before. I layered up because the wind was blowing and I'd be running along the river, but I think I was a little overdressed in the end. Lesson learned. The sun was shining but it was low in the sky so it felt like it was 5pm and I was all out of whack, it was actually only 1pm and I couldn't figure out why the sun was setting in the SOUTH. Apparently that happens there during the winter. Talk about throwing off my sense of direction!

I did have a really nice, wandering run along the icy Bow River and around some of its little islands, including the one that contains the Calgary Zoo. I was a little concerned when I realized that the strange bins along the path were trash cans designed to keep bears out, is this a problem in the city? There are tons of little bridges and a beautifully maintained running path along both sides of the river, so I give Calgary two thumbs up as a runner friendly city!

While Calgary sits at roughly 3,400 ft of elevation, it is still FLAT.

My next run in Calgary was a dark, cold Christmas morning run along the same path but in the opposite direction. We had to leave for my Sister in law's house by 8am, so I got up to run around 6am which might as well be midnight because sunrise isn't until at least 8am. It was cold, definitely below freezing and the air is DRY so I threw my Bula gaiter on around my neck to help me breathe. I felt pretty safe out there in the dark, but for no particular reason. I guess I was just counting on the politeness of the Canadians to keep me safe, but I brought along a phone just in case. I snapped a few dark photos along the way, but the one of the snow hare didn't come out so well. I saw two large, white bunnies while I was running on the very small Prince Island and neither were afraid of me. I guess they're the Canada equivalent of squirrels.

I took my time on the Christmas run, just wanting to get in a few miles of cardio before sitting inside and eating again all day. I ran 4.06 miles in about 37:00, stopping here and there to snap photos that didn't come out very well. It was still pitch black when I returned to the hotel, but I enjoyed running across the bridge to Prince Island because it was wrapped tightly in red christmas lights with trees decorated in green on either side. During the day there is music playing from speakers mounted on the bridge to entertain the folks ice skating on the river down below, how cute. It ended up being a 4 bridge run!

I knew it was flat, but damn.

The day after Christmas in Canada is typically a big shopping day, but we decided to hit the road and head to Banff National Park for some skiing at Lake Louise, a gorgeous ski resort in the Canadian Rockies. The drive was gorgeous with the mountains growing before us as we drove across the plains and into the park. After spending the last 6 months rehabbing my injured ankle and nursing a still-sore knee, I was in no shape to be downhill skiing and I had no desire to re-injure myself, so Erica and I went Cross-country skiing while our husbands hit the slopes for downhill. We thought we'd simply walk over to the trail with our skis and get going, but it turned out that we had to take the gondola UP one side of the mountain and take a chair lift DOWN the other side before we could get to the trail. This provided plenty of entertainment for the folks doing the normal thing- going UP a chair lift. They all giggled at us as we held on for dear life to our skis and gear on the way down. The views were incredible, even if the wind chill was not. When we finally reached the trail, much of the first few Km were uphill which is trickier than I'd imagined on XC skiis. Erica had been concerned that I'd leave her in the dust because I'm a marathon runner, but I'm certain that those fears melted away after my first 3 falls in the first 5 minutes. I spent much of the way cracking up at myself and trying not to fall too far into the 8 ft deep snow around me. I have no idea how far we went, maybe 5K, but it sure was a lot of fun once we stopped climbing uphill and could just glide along. Of course going uphill on the way out meant that we'd be going downhill on the way back.... but not on downhill skis which are wider and secured to your foot, but on XC skis where you have little to no control over your direction and speed, at least that's how it was in my case. I managed to fall backwards off of the path (I was wearing the heavy backpack!) into deep, deep snow several times but I always managed to maneuver my way out and back onto the path. It was highly entertaining for Erica who is a pro on skis.

Here are a few pictures she took with her cell phone along the way; you can assume that most of them occurred right before or after I face or ass-planted in the snow.

We turned around as the sun started to set, just in time too.

That mess in the snow on the right is probably from me falling

Finally on my feet. Gorgeous views behind me.

Oof. Man down.

It was so quiet and peaceful.

Coming down the final stretch!

I was wearing my Garmin, though I forgot to turn it on until we headed back and I managed to hit "stop" during one of my falls, but check out the path and the elevation- it is pretty cool!

Another day, another 15K.

2011-12-19T22:52:00.001-05:00

Less than 6 days after I toed the line at my last 15K, I found myself or my way to another one this Saturday morning. The Ted Corbitt 15K, formerly known as the Hot Chocolate 15K, is usually a freezing cold race with icy water stops, but that was not the case this year. The weather was colder than it has been all season (I think I heard it was the coldest day since March) but temps still hovered in the middle 30's and it felt even warm in the sun.
My same running buddy from last weekend, Charlie, drove me down this time in his toasty car. Seat warmers, people, they're life changing after a race.
I had no real race plan for this one, I knew my knee and ankle were sore so I had no plans to race or shoot for a PR, so I just went out and let the race unfold. The first mile was so crowded that I ran a full minute slower than my second mile. It was okay though, I was happy to warm up slowly. From the first turn I could feel my soleus in each leg start to burn. Ouch, what is up with that? I need to get to the bottom of that pain because it lasted the ENTIRE RACE. Somewhere around mile 6 or 7 I was really hurting in my lower legs and slowed down quite a bit, ~7:50 compared to my earlier miles which averaged around 7:30-7:35. I guess the GU kicked in shortly after and I stopped whining to myself and pushed myself to pick it up a bit. I don't remember where it came from, but I got 1:10 in my head as a sort of unofficial goal (my PR is 1:08) but as many runners know, math doesn't come easy when oxygen deprived. I finished with a strong push, running the final mile in the 7:30's (ouch, my legs still hate me) and the final 0.4 at a 7:03 pace. Yow.
I finished in 1:12 and was happy with the effort. I'll aim for a PR in the spring, but right now is just about seeing where I am and where I need to improve. I definitely need to get back to strength training for my lower extremities and to be more consistent with core work in order to bring myself back to racing shape. We're heading to Canada this week for the holidays and I know it's going to be COLD, but as long as it isn't icy I should be able to get in a handful of good runs at altitude and keep my fitness up. I've been thinking about looking for a yoga studio or a pool while I'm there too, but I don't know if I'll be able to swing either of those, running is so much easier when traveling.
Have a great holiday, whatever you celebrate, and look for my Year in Review post soon. I also need to get myself in gear and put together a 2012 race schedule, there are some exciting events coming up next year!

posted from Bloggeroid

Pete McArdle XC 15K

2011-12-14T21:40:00.001-05:00

As Sunday approached I checked the weather forecast regularly, expecting to see the usual rain and wind for this annual race. You may remember my drying rack from last year or in 2009! I was dubious, surely the weather would change at the last minute and I'd get soaked again, but no. There wasn't a cloud in the sky on Sunday as I drove up to the Bronx with some of the other Inwood Hill Runners crew.

We arrived just in time to register ($10 for a NYRR race? You can't beat it) and get a tongue lashing from the nasty woman from packet pickup at NYRR. Yeah, you know who I'm talking about.
The race went off in the usual cross-country fashion, a herd trampling across the grass. It is always fun to start that way instead of shuffling along in a tight corral. I hadn't raced since my last tri in July, so I took off like a novice. I usually have the same approach to this race every year, push the hills as much as I can without dying and run the flats fast to make up for time lost on the nasty uphills. I pushed pretty hard on the first set of hills and my running buddy, Charlie, suggested that he was going to scale back a bit once we hit the back hills. I decided that might be a good idea too, but still went a bit ahead. We met again on the way back down and stayed together for most of the race until I waved him on in the final miles. It was great to have company even though I was too winded to talk unless we were on the flats.

Lap 1 went by really quickly once we got off of the squishy,uneven grass, that stuff was killing my ankle and knee. The hills were just the way I remember them from the 5K summer series- relentless and steep. I saw a handful of people I know, including Hilary who won her age group. I passed some folks going up the hills who had gone out fast but couldn't keep up the momentum. By the time we hit the flats again, Charlie and I were both holding our gloves and wishing we'd tossed them at Jonathan to hold as he cheered us on with his daughter.

Lap 2 is a bit of a blur, I remember my lungs being my biggest obstacle on the hills. My legs still had plenty of life in them, but by the time we reached the highest hill I was gasping and wishing I'd taken a hit of my inhaler before the race. Charlie and I also figured out that if we made it to the start of the final lap without getting lapped, we'd be safe. Somehow the math made sense in our oxygen deprived heads. I gagged down a Gu as we passed the finish line for the 3rd time (of 4) and we began lap 3.

From the start of it, I knew lap 3 was going to hurt. I felt like I was on pace for a possible course PR (2009 1:17:57) and I was hoping I could keep it up. I kept up the pace for the first mile, but began to slow just a bit in mile 2 (the toughest of the 3) and told Charlie to go ahead. I knew I'd make it, but didn't want to slow him down. The nature of the course lends itself to lots of passing in the 3rd loop and I found it to be a mixed blessing. I like passing people as much as the next guy, but it is less fun and motivating when the people ahead are a full lap behind you. I prefer the stalk and kill type of passing, so I simply wished them luck when I went by and many of them offered words of encouragement. It was nice. If I couldn't have cutthroat competition, I'd settle for nice. I glanced at my watch and saw that I was at 8.38 miles and had about a mile left to go with 8 minutes to PR. Parts of the final mile are still uphill so I pushed ad hard as I could and let myself fly on the downhill (my quads can confirm this, even today). I played the "go get a PR!"/"Nevermind, it hurts too much and I don't care about the PR!"/"Yes I do, it would be stupid to miss it by a few seconds!" game in my head for a bit until I saw Jonathan again and snapped out of it. It helped that he was on the last downhill and I was flying. I hauled ass onto the flats and pushed as hard as I could to the finish and saw it turn to 1:17:00 as I closed in. Woohoo, now where do they keep the oxygen around here?

I had a weird conversation with a woman who congratulated me and asked what time I arrived to register. I was in no state to chat about that, but I remember her saying she arrived too late and couldn't run. Ok, thanks for sharing. (And you're welcome.)

I managed to place 7th in my age group, 26th female overall and something like 136th overall out of maybe 360. Cut me some slack, I'm writing this on the train and there's no Internet to look up the exact numbers. Who cares anyway?Best of all, I ran my ass off and had a lot of fun and at the end of the day the numbers mean nothing if I had a shitty time.

Afterwards we stuffed our faces with pancakes and hash browns from the Garden Café in Inwood and I spent most of the rest of the day whining about how much my legs hurt already. I guess I have a way to go before I'm back to my old running self. This Saturday is my next try at the same distance, but on the road and a comparatively flat course in Central Park. I hope I'm not still sore.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Brooklyn Marathon (or half)

2011-11-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Sunday was an idyllic November day. Perfect in every way and just ideal running conditions, especially for the Inaugural Brooklyn Marathon in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Before I forget to mention it, congratulations to Steve and his entire crew at NYCruns on a really well done race.

The morning started early, I was up at 5:30 and out the door to meet Ari (from Run Ansky Run) who was driving me down to Brooklyn for the race. Neither of us were actually running the entire race, nor were we registered for it. We've both never run as bandits, but to be fair, Steve did offer us free race entry as fellow NY Running Show hosts, so we didn't skip out to avoid paying. Anyhow, Ari and I were on our way down to join our good friend, Joe, as he tackled his second marathon this month. Joe (from Run Big Joe run) ran NYC Marathon on Nov 6th and was on his way to becoming a full-blown Marathon Maniac (see criteria for this title here) and Ari and I offered to join him for part of his journey.
I only ran 13.25 miles of the course, but saw the entire course more than once. The first ever Brooklyn Marathon was held entirely inside Prospect Park due to permit regulations, red tape, etc. Let's not forget that the very first NYC Marathon was held entirely inside Central Park back in 1970 and now look at it!
The morning was sunny and the temps were comfortable in the low 50's when we arrived. It was a bit breezy so I'm glad I left my long sleeve shirt on for hanging out at the start. The starting area had a very, very different feel from most races I've done. There were people milling around, but not thousands of them, and I ran into a handful of folks that I knew and some that I knew of but had never met before. Emmy, a fellow NY Running Show member and friend of friends was there, despite having run the NYRR Knickerbocker 60K on Saturday. Oddly enough, she was one of MANY there who had done that. Wow. I felt like such a bum, I wasn't even running the full race!
Here are a few photos from the start area:

Cool race tee !

Cruising by the lake on one of our first loops

Joe and Ari

I think this is going up THE HILL for the first time (of many)

The guys chasing the chick in the sports bra. It wasn't THAT warm.

We had a really good time, running, chatting, joking and seeing the same cheering faces on each loop. Friends of ours, Claire and Majo, were out there cheering and volunteering and keeping us motivated. We saw Steve, the race director and a friend as he rode by and yelled out the window that I was a bandit in his race. :) Sam (Push Through Philly) was also out there cranking out the miles AND A PR! The first two loops of the race were "smaller" loops of ~2 miles each and then we began the 6 "full" loops which included the big hill on the north side (right?) of the park. Ari and I only did the hill 3x, Joe still had 3 more big loops when we left him.

I reached a point sometime during mile 10 or 11 where I started to feel really hungry. I knew I had it in me to run another lap, but not without a snack. I peeled off at the SW corner of the park, ran into a bakery called Connecticut Muffins and snagged a bagel, a cup of water and a banana (for Joe or Ari in case they were hungry). I munched for a minute and then took off into the park with hopes of running a shortcut to meet up with Ari and Joe again for the last of our hills. As I sprinted by the finish area Steve insisted that I grab a race shirt so I snagged one for myself and Ari. Now I was carrying a bagel, a banana and two tee shirts, I was like a sweaty homeless person sprinting through the park. Luckily I met the guys just as they reached the bottom of the hill and I jumped back in with them for the final mile and change. It was SO much fun, but I knew I wasn't up for much more than 13 miles. In fact, the longest run I've done since before my injury in July was my 8 miler in Highland last weekend!

Here is my final photo of Joe as we peeled off and he continued on to his 4th big loop.

HUGE Congratulations to Joe, Sam, Emmy, Frank and everyone else out there on Sunday! I'm totally inspired to run another marathon ASAP (aka in the spring) because of you guys.

Here's an official race photo from Todd Schweikert photography:

< -- I call this the sherpa runner look. Get your Bagels! Tshirts! Bananas!

The Hudson River Rail Trail

2011-11-17T07:02:00.001-05:00

A Rail Trail Marker at one of the many bathrooms along the way

The walkway was breathtaking as the sun rose and lit up the trees.

Mid-Hudson Bridge from the Poughkeepsie side

This past weekend was a mix of fortunate and unfortunate events. Starting on Thursday night, I raced down to Lincoln Center to see War Horse with Dave, my anniversary gift to him. Unfortunately when I arrived I got a text saying he couldn't make it, work was too busy. I was bummed about missing the show, but we can use the tickets another day, I was more upset about missing my group run for nothing. Oh well, a rest day isn't a bad thing.

Friday brought the usual routine of yoga class, swimming a couple thousand yards, typically around 2,500 yds or so. I was beat up from yoga, but we snuck in 2,200 before I had to leave for an early PT session. Friday evening I left the city and headed north towards New Paltz and a small neighboring village called Highland. Unfortunately I wasn't accompanied by my hubby on this postponed anniversary weekend because work got in the way again. I invited a couple of different friends and my Mom, but it was such short notice and they were all busy, so I took off on my own. While I'd have preferred the company over being solo, I'm pretty used to being on my own. I packed lots of running clothes and a few snacks and planned on having a little running vacation.
In a rather fortunate turn of events, I noticed a sign with a picture of people hiking as I turned onto the road that led to my Bed& Breakfast. The owner of the place informed me that The Hudson River Rail Trail was practically a stone's throw away and it led directly to the Walkway over the Hudson! The walkway was one of the main reasons I chose that B&B, but I didn't realize just how perfect the location was. I went to sleep that night giddy with anticipation of running OVER the Hudson.
The sun was shining and the air was crisp on Saturday morning, the temps dipping down in the low 30's. I'd packed tights and various light layers and I found this myself perfectly dressed for the weather. CWX tights, smartwool socks, a longsleeve tech shirt, vest and gloves were the right combo. I threw a headband into my pocket and was glad I did because the wind was chilly on my ears.

I headed out for a planned 8 miles or so and wasn't prepared for just how good that run was going to be. Like I mentioned last week, I have been happy with my splits no matter what, but I actually thought something was wrong with my Garmin for most of this run. I was running 8:00's and under and feeling like I was just trotting along. It was fantastic, I felt so good and the foliage and views of the Hudson river were so gorgeous. The fall colors were so vibrant, those late fall goldens, reds and browns, the world looked so alive and I was happy to be there.
I stopped a handful of times to snap a picture and once to use theg cleanest port-o-potty I've ever seen, but each time I slipped right back into a quick rhythm that felt really natural. When I finally crossed the span of the 1.28mi bridge, I turned around into the wind and thought "ohh, that's why I was running so fast, my second half is going to suffer", but once I got back on the trail there was no wind. My second half was just as strong as the first and I only struggled for a few minutes to regain my stride. I cruised back to the B&B where I sat by the fireplace and stretched and showered before devouring some delicious french toast. Yum.
The rest of Saturday was spent exploring the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park and exploring the surrounding area, by the end of the day my feet and legs were aching. I slept well that night!
I haven't been in the habit of running two days in a row since my injury, but I couldn't pass up another perfect morning on Sunday, so I headed out in the other direction on the Rail Trail for 2 miles before turning back. I didn't have to force myself to slow down on Sunday like I had on Saturday because my hips and knees were creaky and my calves and hamstrings weren't speaking to me. Ouch. I felt great by the end of the run, but it took until now, Monday, to feel really better. I took in the colors and smells of fall before heading in for breakfast, a pumpkin hotcake, and hitting the road for the gorgeous ride home. It was a gorgeous weekend to be outside enjoying the weather and fresh air before winter comes knocking. I had a nice time, but I'd have enjoyed myself even more with Dave by my side.

Beautiful golden foliage

Sunday breakfast- Pumpkin Hotcakes! YUM!!!

Cool, I ran OVER the Hudson River!

Just Running

2011-11-08T17:45:00.000-05:00

That's all I've been doing, just running. For several weeks now I've been hitting the pavement 3x a week and averaging 15-18 miles per week. I tried running two days in a row a few weeks ago and my ankle was extra sore so I backed off of that for a bit. I did do a Monday morning and Tuesday night back to back and that seemed to be alright, but there is really nothing exciting happening from week to week. It is time for a shake up. I need a race to aim for and I need to switch it up on some easy, dirt trails or I'm afraid I'll just get rusty and complacent. I think I've been afraid to race because I don't want to put up a crappy time because I'm not trained enough. I don't know if that's what will happen, but I've come to my senses and remembered that running isn't just about fast times for me. I was also afraid that if I tried to just "run" a race instead of "racing", I'd push too hard and hurt myself again. I think I'm past that point now and I'm ready to get out there and set a baseline for myself to improve on. I've been tracking my runs up to this point, but not really paying attention to times *that* much. I've been happy with my splits at times when I noticed I was running under 8:00/mi, but not unhappy when I saw 9:30 either.

Enough of this post-injury state, it's just an excuse to not move forward and push myself - it is time to move forward.
Here's what I'm thinking loosely for the next few months:
-I just discovered the Navesink Challenge 15K in Middletown, NJ on the Sunday after Thanksgiving which is only 35 minutes or so from my Mom's house, so that's an option.
-In Dec I'm running the Pete McArdle 15K in Van Cortlandt Park so I need to start easing back onto the trails. There's also another NYRR 15K in Central Park that I may run if I can't find another good 10 or 15K in the area.
-In January I'd like to tackle a half marathon, not a goal race (too damn cold for asthma girl), but for the distance. I have a strange attachment to the always-below-20-degrees Manhattan Half Marathon, but we'll see.
-Ultimately I'm looking to maybe do a spring marathon in 2012. I always thought I'd never run one because winter training scares me, but I feel like I missed my entire season this year and I want to get an early start next year so I can dive right into open water swimming season in the summer. If you know of any good marathons in April, perhaps in the MD, VA or NC area, please let me know!
The other big thing coming up is registration for the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim Relay! We submit our application for a 4-person team on Dec 1st! The race is August 4th, the day before my good friend's wedding... which I'm in! Talk about a busy weekend! I passed up my automatic entry for the NYC Triathlon next year though, the price just keeps rising and it seems silly to pay almost $300 for an Olympic tri when there are plenty for less that are also smaller. We'll see if I have time for an Olympic next year, I may be doing so much swimming and running that I'll just have time for a few sprints.
Speaking of running, I'm headed home to do some speedwork with my Inwood crew tonight. Thank goodness for this amazing weather! Congratulations to all of my rockstar friends on kicking ass at the NYC Marathon this past weekend, it was a blast to finally get out there and spectate! Just watching gave me the marathon bug, I want to RUN!

New training shoes.

2011-10-15T11:50:00.000-04:00

When I started running 2 weeks ago (that's right, I'm a 2-week runner now!) I had to make a decision about what shoes I wanted to use. I felt strange just hopping back into my old Asics Gel Nimbus for some reason. Maybe it is because so many of my team members have downgraded to lighter shoes or maybe it is because I haven't the slightest idea how many miles are on them. I'd been rotating two pairs for a while, but I couldn't remember which pair had been giving me a blister on my first metatarsal head when I stopped running. Was it the pink pair? The white ones? Both? Crap.
Either way, I decided to start fresh with a new pair, but a new pair of what? I can't help but read the studies about heel-to-toe drop and how it affects your stride, etc. I'm not getting into the details of that here, you can find a million other more informed sources elsewhere, but I'll just mention what I was thinking. I did my first run in my lightweight Saucony Fastwitch racing shoes. They aren't flats, but they're super light and comfortable for short distances. They were fine for my second mile, which I ran outside, but I was reminded on my first "big" run (2.5mi) that there simply isn't enough cushioning for my foot. Also, they're getting old. They wear out quickly because of the lightweight nature of the foam on the soles. This is one of the main reasons that I knew I couldn't use them as my training shoe, I didn't want to have to replace them so often. I think I'll stick with them as racing shoes, but there's a new shoe in town now-The Saucony Cortana.

After lots of asking around, just to get ideas about what lightweight shoes were out there, I went to Paragon Sports and NY Running Co. in search of something good. NY Running Co. didn't have any of the New Balances I wanted to try, but they did have the new Brooks Pure line of lightweight but still techy shoes. I tried and really liked the Connect, but I kept looking. I've never worn Brooks, other than wear-testing for them, and I would need to research and bit more. Their drawback was also that they are "low mileage shoes" (read: replace often). At Paragon Sports I described my ideal shoe to the gentleman assisting me and he was less than helpful ("those Fastwitch shoes are for overpronators." Wrong) but I'd done my research and tried on a handful of NB and Saucony shows without finding a winner. When I spotted the Cortana I asked what it was and he listed its features, they were exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for not suggesting them, doofus. I tried them on the treadmill at the store, twisted, poked and prodded every detail and said thanks, but handed them back. I never buy shoes at full price. I went home and read up on them, there are plenty of glowing reviews suggesting that they are long-lasting, lightweight and fit very well in the heel. I found them on my favorite gear site, Holabird Sports for $15 less than retail and they came with a $15 gift certificate and a free pair of Saucony arm warmers (which I will save for the bike or very cold weather when they can be covered up. Arm warmers are the dorkiest things ever. Don't say no, you're only kidding yourself.)

The shoes came really quickly (and shipping was free!) and I wore them to PT and on my 3 mi run Tuesday evening. I think I love them, they're like running on clouds, but really light ones. The heel to toe drop is only 4 mm vs traditional 8-9mm so they're sort of a "transition shoe", not that I'm headed towards any type of funny looking shoe with toes. I figured if I'm going to take my heel to toe drop down at any point, I might as well do it while my mileage is low and I can build up slowly.

So far they have about 7 or 8 total miles on them and I'm very satisfied. (Ok, I added 6 more this morning before posting this, so we're up to 13-14 miles on them)
I'll add a few pictures and a silly video...

Watch the tongue of the shoe closely:

They have a cool "Sauc Fit" feature on the medial side of the shoe, I just discovered it this morning. The top three lacing holes are separated from the rest of the holes by a gap near the center and a stretchy material (the black/silver vertical stripe on the left photo) which allows the shoe to be tied tight without cutting off circulation. I have a hard time tying my shoes because my feet go numb. I've had no trouble with that in these. There's also a funny little pocket in the tongue of the shoe.

posted from Bloggeroid

Back at it

2011-10-11T08:46:00.002-04:00

I thought about blogging many times this past week about my return to running, but it didn't seem like there was much to write about. I'm simply running again. I'm increasing mileage slowly and listening to my joints and tendons and all of the other little pieces that creak and whine when I do something "new". I'm still having soreness and knots in my Peroneal muscles (the ones that run from your foot up the outside of your lower leg.) That's been annoying, but not a huge deal and it doesn't bother me while I'm running. My ankle gets a little sore after I run, but nothing like before my rehab.

The truth is that nothing ankle related hurts when I run. It's funny because other parts are squeaking, like my knees, because I couldn't properly keep them prepared for the return to pounding the roads. Normally I might initially stick to softer surfaces when returning from injury, but the dirt and rocks are more likely to cause re-injury by their uneven nature. I do have plans to run on a soft trail in NJ next weekend, one that I know is pretty even and smooth. I'll be extra careful about watching my footing.
For now I'm out running the roads and sidewalks (Inwood is no place to run in the road, seriously) and enjoying every minute of it. I'm wearing my Garmin, but just to keep my mileage in check. We were curious about the group pace last night because it felt quick to me and another friend returning from injury, but it was actually around 9:30's! Haha, we had a good laugh about it because we felt like we were pushing close to 8:00 or something around there, but we were happy to realize that we'd been talking comfortably for the whole way. We were both thrilled that we maintained our aerobic fitness during the recovery. Thanks swimming.

Last Thursday I ran 4.5 miles (I should pay attention to the Garmin distance once in a while, oops, too far) and it felt really good. Simply put: I feel really wonderful when I'm putting one foot in front of the other and the wind is blowing in my face. I love the steady rhythm of my footfalls and my breath and the feeling of pushing myself through the world with my own strength. I'm sure plenty of people get that same feeling from cycling, but for me the bike gets in between me and the earth. It's not the same. Luckily for me, moving through the open water with the strength of my own arms and legs provided a good alternative this summer.

Yesterday was Columbus Day and I had the day off so I spent Sunday night at Mom's and got up for a very familiar 4 mile run. I didn't pack the best shoes for the run, I had my North Face trail shoes, but it was fine. I started off at an easy pace, letting my legs warm up naturally and I ran mile 1 in 8:57. I felt great, the weather was perfect - 55 degrees and sunny. I decided that I'd just let myself find a natural pace for the next two miles and if I felt okay then I'd push a little for the last mile. I eased into and 8:28 pace for miles 2& 3 and I was happy with that. That's my usual "I'm just going for a run" pace. As I pushed towards the telephone pole that marks the end of the 3rd mile I got excited at the prospect of picking up the pace. I let myself ease into it because the first 75 yds or so are uphill followed by a gentle downhill for much of the mile. It felt harder than it normally would have to run at and 8:10ish pace, but I realized I was running into the wind. I let myself go for the last half a mile or so, like loosening the reins on a horse in the final stretch. I didn't sprint, that would be stupid this early in the game, but I cruised and finished up with an 8:04 for mile 4. That felt good. So good.
The best part is that my Peroneals aren't sore today at all. My soleus (solei?) are tight again, but I worked them out with a little yoga this morning. I've noticed that my footstrike is a little more on my forefoot these days so I attribute the soreness to that.

I'm curious how many people know the difference between their calf and soleus. I am always surprised when a seasoned runner says something like "wait, which one is my hamstring again?" while pointing to their quads with one eyebrow raised. I think I may begin a little "what's this muscle?" series to help folks out with the basics of running musculature.

posted from Bloggeroid

Run Woman Show

2011-09-28T21:37:00.007-04:00

"What if the race of your life is your life?"

After the 5th Avenue mile was over and done with on Saturday afternoon, I headed down to Brooklyn with fellow runner and cat-lover, Maria , in search of The Old Stone House and a highly praised show called Run Woman Show. We chatted about our expectations of the show on the subway ride down, but neither of us really knew what to expect even though we'd both read the website and seen the trailer. All we knew was that our friend Julie (aka Races Like a Girl) had been talking about this show for months and she'd so kindly gotten us some free tickets.

When we got to the Old Stone House and saw the "check-in" tent for the show, I recognized Hilary, who I didn't know at the time, but I had mistaken her for a friend at the race earlier in the day and taken her picture. It was probably a bit creepy when I said "oh hi, I'm Amy and I took pictures of you today at the race." After pinning on our race bibs (also your program) and listening to quick instructions on not breaking the iPods lent to us, we were putting our headphones in and following the lead of one of the producers who would escort us to Prospect Park for the performance. It was very fun and mysterious, just walking along with really great music in my ears and other runners walking on either side of me. What were we getting into? We followed Suchan along the most beautiful, green, alive blocks of Park Slope until we entered the park and found our narrator, Melanie Jones.

I would do the performance a complete disservice if I were to try to explain what happens during the hour or so that you walk, run, climb and explore Prospect Park with Melanie's words in your ears and her emotions crashing into you and tossing you like ocean waves. I will say that what I experienced in the park during Run Woman Show is like no other performance I've ever been to (though it is in the same family as Sleep No More). You're not just watching, following and listening but you're a part of it, and not in a honeymoon resort talent show sort of way. From the first few minutes of Melanie's story, and there's a story, you're invested in it.

I was rooting for her from the very first step of her marathon journey; as a runner, as a woman, as a fellow ponytailed athlete. You don't need to be a marathoner or even a runner to enjoy this show, but as a marathoner I was able to laugh at myself as I related to nearly everything she said in regards to training and obsessing over training. Melanie takes you from the starting line to the finish line in detail that made me ache for the exhaustion and elation that comes from running 26.2 miles. She reflects on the things that lead up to this day, this race, this point in her life where running this race is more important than anything else because this is not simply a race, it is a metaphor for her life. She means it when she asks "What if the race of your life is your life?" You'll probably raise an eyebrow at this if you aren't a marathoner, but at some point early on during the show I thought to myself "running a marathon changes your life, people think we're crazy but it really does make you a better person." Melanie's words and performance will definitely make you think about your own running, and the running of those friends and strangers around you, in a completely new light, but the show really is not about running at all. The show is about life's ups and downs, challenges and scary, difficult parts. The show will make you reflect on the reasons that you lace up your shoes on a frosty winter morning and make you think, "shit, what am I running from?"

As you make your way towards the finish line, kilometer by kilometer, Mel's words will probably remind you of some of your own running experiences, one that really made me laugh was when she talked about the joys of mile 8. I have distinct memories of mile 8 from the NYC Marathon in 2010 and they are pretty close to what she describes and I thought "oh thank god I'm not the only one who thinks this ridiculous shit when I'm racing."

"I pass mile 8 smug in the knowledge that I am on track and I will make my top secret goal time. I am 30 seconds fast. Shouldn't think about that, but it is impossible because the endorphins are here and I still have glycogen left in my muscles and I am on pace, so as far as I'm concerned- I'm the athlete of the year... When I begin my pro career I will do workshops with young people and homeless, unemployed, amputee Cancer patients and I will teach them my secrets of success and how happiness is easy- you just go for a run. "

The show is designed for everyone, not just speedy marathon runners or elite milers, there was a slower walker in our group who enjoyed the show equally and at her own pace. There are plenty of opportunities for the group to run after Mel as she darts into the trees or across the green meadow, but I enjoyed the performance with my cranky ankle without any problems. I recommend that you buy tickets for your best friend, the girl you pass while running in your neighborhood, your sister, your kid's 1st grade teacher, your mom, your personal trainer, your entire running group and yourself because while I can't guarantee you'll want to run a marathon by the end, I can guarantee you'll enjoy yourself. Heck, you might even learn something about yourself as a runner, as a person and as a self-critic. The show starts at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, NY on 3rd St and 4th Avenue and ends in Prospect Park. You can get tickets for the upcoming Sat/Sun 10am and 3pm shows in October on Mel's website RunWomanShow.com for $25.

The trailer:

Endure from Rachael Harrington on Vimeo.

5th Avenue Mile- Elites Edition

2011-09-25T12:13:00.004-04:00

I forgot these in the last post, but I don't mind having a separate post for the locals and the elites. I'm an elitist, what can I say? I didn't have my camera ready when the local elite women went by, oops. Again, if you use one of these photos, don't forget to give credit. Thanks.

The Men

Local Elite Men

Lagat won the race in 3:50.5 with Laalou in 2nd (3:51.7) and Torrence in 3rd (3:25.4)

You can see from this photo that Fam (in blue) was really pushing the pace. I was standing just shy of the 1/2 mi mark. Lagat and Garrett were stride for stride at that point.

The Women

Jenny Barringer Simpson was just steps behind Sally Kipyego at the 1/2, but was able to out kick her for the win in 4:22.3. Kipyego was 2nd (4:22.6) and Hanna England was 3rd ( also 4:22.6).

There is such a difference in the kick of a professional runner, so many of the "regular" runners barely get their knees flexed beyond 60 degrees behind them. I enjoyed watching these amazing women fly by.

5th Avenue Mile

2011-09-25T11:44:00.003-04:00

I'll try not to jam this post up with too many words and just let the pictures do the talking. I had a really great time out there watching the 5th Avenue Mile. Many friends ran and kicked ass and I was really happy that I could be there to watch. Watching the elites fly by was incredible, they were gone in a flash but I managed to capture them in action. Enjoy and please, if you use a photo from this blog don't forget to give credit where credit is due. Thanks.

I wondered how many of these women did not belong in the front row. My $ is on Capris with her hair down over on the right.

Women 30-39

Mary Wittenberg, CEO of NYRR, ran back and forth several times during the course of the morning including during her own heat of women 40-49. (She ran 6:11).

Men in their 30's (there were two heats) and some random women

Those quads are no joke

The Vannie on the right is figuring out which bus to take to brunch. The M4? The M1 Limited?

This guy pulled a major John Landy while Tall Guy blew past him

That's my friend Julie in black on her way to kicking sub-6:00 in the ass

And a new friend, Hilary, that I thought was someone else. I ended up meeting her later in the day at an entirely different event.

Keyword Search Fun

2011-09-23T20:10:00.003-04:00

Wow, I draw a weird crowd. Here are some of my favorite Google keyword searches that led you weirdos to my blog:

-barefoot stab torture (mm hmm, yes, of course)

-"just fucking stay inside" image (alright..there were several more similar ones too)

-Alliteration about thanksgiving (Turkey Trot Tragedy anyone?)

-Barefoot bike

-Barefoot bike pictures (oh, now we're talking)

-Houston Heatwave joggers shower (Ok, seriously- WHAT?)

-Inwood white runners (We typically go by Inwood HILL Runners, fyi)

and one last gem:

-destroyed building (who searches for things that broad?)

Please keep 'em coming, you made my night.

Bicycle Sunday and progress with my ankle

2011-09-23T18:05:00.009-04:00

Last Sunday I ventured up to Westchester County for a new adventure and really, really enjoyed myself. Thanks to a blog post by JT over at Races Like a Girl where she mentioned Bicycle Sunday and some tips from the very generous and helpful Joe Garland, I found this great event. In the early summer and then again in Aug/Sept a 7mile section of the Bronx River Parkway is shut down to cars and opened to bikes, rollerblades and runners. I even saw a man on an Elliptigo at some point. Those things are so bizarre and awesome. I can really see my friend, Matt, riding one of those someday.

At the south end where I started

I set out in the late morning for the Village of Bronxville which is a mile or so south of where the highway portion starts. I've been to Bronxville before and really loved it. It's a charming and fun little town with a main street that is lined with restaurants and shops. I had a 30 mile ride in mind, so I set off on the serene and beautiful tree-lined pathway that runs parallel to the highway. Upon reaching the Bikes only section of the Parkway, I was thrilled to see so many other people out and about. The highway is two lanes wide in each direction with a guard rail between them and though there were hundreds of people out and about, many with children, everyone was following the rules of the road. The slower folks and those with kids stayed right and I was able to zip by in the left lane without anyone cutting me off. It was a whole new cycling experience after riding the west side of Manhattan with the rental bike morons. I was working hard and pushing north up the hills, but I was having a great time. I was in shorts and a short-sleeve jersey, but some folks were decked out in their fall and winter gear. I'd worn long tights on a ride on Saturday and nearly melted, so I knew better. I was sweating as I headed north through Scarsdale and was happy to turn around at exit 22 to head south with the wind at my back. It took a lot less time and effort to make the return trip. There were still some good hills going south, but there were great downhill sections too. I recall seeing 28 mph a few times on my bike computer. Whew. I stopped for a snack when I reached the start again and then set off for another loop. My neck and shoulders were really tight and I had a numb foot for much of the second loop, but the weather was so amazing and the road was so smooth that I hung in there and had another great loop.

Somehow I got grease inside my helmet and I noticed this when I got back to my car.

This coming Sunday is the last Bicycle Sunday of the season, which is really sad because October is typically the best weather month of the year, but I will definitely be putting this on my calendar for next year in the spring. I am keeping my eyes on the weather for this weekend, but it looks like it might be raining on Sunday, otherwise I'd be making a second trip up there for another 30 miles or so. I'd like to really explore that whole area, hopefully with a guide (ahem Joe, ahem Julie) because I can tell that it is an amazing place to run as well. As soon as I'm cleared to get back to training I'm taking a trip up to run the path along the Parkway. I bet it is incredible when the leaves start changing.

A sweet 30 miles

I stopped in the Bronxville Running Co. after my ride, they were really nice.

Speaking of getting back to running, there is a glimmer of hope in my recovery! I went to PT today and after trying some new "running-like" drills on Wed and today without pain around my ligament my PT suggested that I bring my running shoes next week!!! He thinks I'm finally ready for a trial run on the treadmill. I don't even care that it is on the treadmill, which I hate, because I can try RUNNING!! By next week's session I'll have been off of the road for NINE WEEKS. Whew. It has been a long road, but it has been a good stretch too; I've started doing yoga twice a week; I've been working twice a week or more on my core; I've also been really diligent about strengthening my hips and keeping them limber. Some good has come of this whole ordeal and I'm happy about it. I also think I might try to play matchmaker with my PT and a good friend, but not until after my PT is finished...just in case.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me next week, I hope the trial run goes well and doesn't lead to any swelling or pain!

The elevation profile for the ride:

The map:

posted from Bloggeroid

It's dead.

2011-09-14T17:19:00.001-04:00

I've finally admitted defeat, my ankle has beat me once again and I am canceling my plans to do the Pocono Mountain Half Ironman. I signed up for the race nearly a year ago and had been really looking forward to it for most of the season. I planned my year around it, not starting the tri season too early in an effort to avoid peaking before October 2nd. I have now bagged two races and plenty of $$ as a result of my injury, but the $ wasted isn't worth racing on a *nearly* healed ankle and throwing away the 12 weeks I've spent trying to get this thing better. In the end it could cost me several more MONTHS if I re-injure it and it would probably require surgery. The reality is too obvious to ignore anyway, I haven't run in 6 or 7 weeks and even if I were cleared to run today that isn't enough time to train for the half marathon after the swim and bike.
Yes, I'm bummed that I can't do the race and that I still can't run, but there is literally nothing I can do about it. There isn't even anything I could have done to push my rehab along faster. It is out of my control and I have simply accepted that. There will be another race next year and the year after that and the year after.... Right now I'm focused on getting stronger and staying fit for the moment that I can run again! I'm going to go back to the ankle specialist later this month with my fingers and toes crossed that this thing shows improvement on the big screen. It doesn't really feel that much better, unfortunately, but I am hoping that most of the pain is attributed to the tendinitis around the joint and not the ligament itself.
In other training news, I've been working hard at all sorts of other aspects of fitness including strength and flexibility. You know, those things most of us runners skip over and avoid like the plague. I've been doing two-a-day workouts twice a week with cardio early in the morning and core/strength in the evening with the Inwood Hill Runners DL. I'm feeling strong and beat up at the same time. I'll also be back at that yoga class on Friday morning, making a pretzel of myself in an attempt to get stronger, longer and more balanced.

posted from Bloggeroid

How to find out you're not in good shape, aka Try Yoga

2011-09-12T08:23:00.001-04:00

I have been trying to get into a routine that includes a day or two of yoga a week for a year or so now. I've done it here and there, but not at all consistently. This past week I saw a post by a friend on Facebook that was a small list of her goals for the month of September and #1 was to do yoga twice. It made me realize that instead of feeling overwhelmed by the idea of doing yoga 2x a week, I could set a small, attainable goal like that and actually have a chance to achieve it. I did just that and I've already done it twice in 4 days!
I took a small yoga "awakening" class on Friday morning at the gym at 8am. I like the classes at my gym because they're not crowded and I had plenty of personal space. The teacher was cool and casual about things, which I prefer over a very serious, new-agey class. I am just getting into this and I'm really tight and uncoordinated so I need to be able to laugh at myself when I topple over. The class was an hour and 15 mins and it was really tough! I had done a new core and upper body workout the night before in the park, so I was a little sore to begin with. By Saturday morning I was really sore, but I felt great! I had accomplished what I really wanted to and it was nice to feel sore from working hard at something new. I swam after yoga to help loosen my arms, shoulders and back and it was really tough at first but I finally found a rhythm. I think it ultimately helped shorten my recovery time because by Sunday morning I was feeling good again. The best news is that it didn't hurt my ankle too much so I have the green light from my PT to keep going with it.
I did learn some things though during that 75 mins of sweating and grunting: my old knee injury is still there, just quieter, I am so, so tight in my hips, my quads are weak, and I need to focus on activating my deep abdominals throughout the day to retrain them because they're half asleep.
There's nothing quite like trying something "new" to keep you honest.
I did two different yoga videos (sunrise and core) this morning before work while the sun was rising red outside my windows. It took a few minutes to shake off sleep, but then I felt great. If I can't get out and run, this is the next best way to wake up.

posted from Bloggeroid

A good week

2011-09-08T17:46:00.001-04:00

Labor Day weekend always comes too soon, but the one good thing about getting back to work is getting back to my routine. While I was able to get in several good bike rides and swims each week of my vacation, I truly am a creature of habit and I like my weekly routine. This week also reminded me just how much physical activity my job requires. Whew, I'm beat! I woke up this morning with a sore ankle and realized that it wasn't from my swim yesterday morning or my balance activities last night, but from a full day of work. I spend my day from 9-4:30 doing lots of lifting, chasing, kneeling and getting down to and up from the floor, sometimes with a kid in my arms. No wonder my ankle was sore! The 2000 yds in the pool before work were just a warmup for the rest of the day!
I did manage to have a great workout week and lose a few of the lbs I brought home from our holidays in August. I had a fun 17.5 miles on the bike Monday morning, a good workout at PT on Tuesday, a solid and speedy 2000 yd swim on Wednesday morning and I just left the gym after a very sweaty elliptical and bike workout! It hit me sometime today that maybe I should try the elliptical for some variety in my cardio routine so I emailed my PT and he said it was a great idea. I rarely go to the gym for that kind of workout because I'd rather run or bike outside or swim, so today was kind of fun. I sweat all over the elliptical for 20 mins or so before making a quick transition to the stationary bike for another 20. I was drenched from head to toe as if I'd been doing Bikram. The man on the bike next to me actually blurted out, "wow, you sweat a LOT." Haha. I'd almost forgotten how great it feels to sweat like that, you don't get that same sensation from swimming (obviously) or from biking, because of the wind. I'm heading home tonight to meet up with the rest of the injured list from the Inwood Hill crew for a little something we like to call "CORE-ture." I'm also looking forward to my first Friday morning off of the school year because I am going to hit the gym for a yoga class and a swim before PT and work. I have been trying to get to yoga for months, but I just can't seem to get there so I'm really looking forward to it. I NEED to regain some flexibility and balance in my muscles, I can tell that one side is stronger than the other around my hips and pelvis. Hopefully this class is good, otherwise I'm going to need to find another class that is also at a convenient time either at my gym or elsewhere. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to move on Saturday morning, but hopefully swimming after yoga will help ease some of the DOMS headed my way.
How was your Labor Day week?

posted from Bloggeroid

The 83rd Annual Pageant Swim

2011-09-05T15:59:00.001-04:00

This past Friday morning I woke up a bit late and was feeling a bit sorry for myself. Not being able to run is really starting to get to me. I wanted to just roll out of bed and get in a quick run before going to the beach, but no, I couldn't. Instead I had some coffee and sort of just slumped around a bit, thinking that I'd like to go for a bike ride but didn't have enough time. At some point my Mom yelled from the front door that she'd be back in an hour (what?! I had just put on my bathing suit for the beach!) so I took a look in the mirror and said "that's an hour on the bike- GO!" So I did, I got in a 40 minute ride or so and felt much better for doing so. It was no run, but it helped me feel a little more productive before lounging on the beach for the rest of the day. I can't even walk on the beach with Mom because last time I did my ankle swelled up and was sore. Lame.
Anyhow, sometime during my moping and whining that morning, I got a tweet from a fellow NJ ocean swimmer and Chesapeake Bay swimmer, Sarah (@rosemarymint) suggesting that I come down to Atlantic City on Saturday morning for a 1.5 mi ocean swim. I thought about it and instantly knew that it was exactly what I needed to snap me out of my funk. I somehow convinced my Mom and husband that it would be a fun day trip and we all piled into the car Saturday morning for the ~1hr drive down to AC.

When I got to the beach on Saturday the ocean looked lovely and gentle, like it was just waiting for us to get in and kick some butt. I was excited and nervous about the swim, so I wasn't thinking about the tide or the current much at all, but in hindsight I should have known that the tide was coming in quickly. I met up with Sarah and another friend of her's before the swim and we chatted and laughed until they finally blew the horn. We were to swim way out from the shore, far enough to clear the Steel Pier just to our south, and then continue on south parallel to the shoreline until we passed 2 other piers (one small, one very large) and turn right to swim back to shore. I was cautious during this swim to really give myself plenty of room to clear the piers because the waves had already doubled in size and let's face it, no one wants to get washed under the Pier in the surf. I probably swam closer to 1.75-2.0 miles because of that, but I didn't care because I'd been warned about the underwater pilings at the 3rd pier and definitely wanted nothing to do with those.

The actual race was pretty wild and really, really fun. The current was pulling us south from the minute we touched the water so I was really grateful for that. As I swam out from the shore I could see the Steel Pier on my right and the vast sea on my left, I stayed pretty far north for a while because the current was so strong, but I probably didn't need to be that far away from the pier.

Better safe than seagull food. When I reached the end of the pier I had allowed myself to drift closer to it and I simply turned my body to swim parallell to the shore for the main part of the swim. It was BEAUTIFUL swimming out there, the towering, glittering casinos along the shore were shining bright in the morning sun and the water temp was perfect. I was happily churning along, mostly alone but occasionally I'd encounter another swimmer and make it my mission to pass him. The waves were pushing me all over the place, up and down and side to side, but I just kept on moving. A few waves started out so far that as they rolled over me I was worried that I was in too close to shore, but I was way out there and the waves were just getting bigger. At some point I passed one of the lifeguard rescue boats that was trying to stay straight in the surf but nearly (or did) whack a swimmer with his oar. They were trying to keep us from swimming too close to shore, but their intention wasn't entirely clear to us in the water. It was hard to see and nearly impossible to hear, so I just tried to steer clear and stay out as far as I felt I needed to. It was really fun seeing the casinos and the boardwalk every time I took a breath on the right side, but less fun getting clobbered in the face by a wave every couple of breaths on the left. Oh well, I was having a blast. Someone asked me after the race if I ever get nervous or panic in the ocean, and thinking about being out there far from shore in the rolling waves makes me anything but nervous. There's a sort of peace and calm out there surrounded by the sea. That said, I'm well aware of the dangers of the ocean and don't recommend that inexperienced swimmers go out in search of what I'm talking about here. Respecting the power of the ocean is of the utmost importance whether you're floating in the waves lapping at the shore or if you're half a mile out.

As I approached the last pier, a looming glass structure, I was passing a few more guys but I seemed to be swimming stroke for stroke with a woman in a pink cap and suit. Despite my very wide turn around the pier, I found myself right next to her again on the way in to shore, both of us swimming hard to get to the beach. I had the good sense to take a glance behind me with every other breath to look for oncoming waves to ride in and I caught a sweet ride. I bodysurfed a great wave from halfway out to the point where I could stand up and gained a lot of ground. I always forget how painful it is to stand up after a long swim and I winced a bit as I tried to run up the shore. I know I'm not supposed to run on my sore ankle, but I had to run through the finish line! I looked back and saw that I'd put about 3 guys between myself and the other woman in the pink cap. Victory! I crossed the line with a smile on my face, seaweed in my suit and tucked in my watch, and a tingly tongue from the salt water. Just like everyone else who crossed the line, I had a "sea beard" from the sand and sea water gunk. Thanks Mom for wiping it off for me.

I crossed the finish line in 42:30 ish (results aren't up yet) which was 89th place out of ~185 swimmers. I was 5th out of 8 in my age group. I was really happy with the results, especially given that the waves ended up being 6ft high and very choppy. Sarah's friend Hillary put it best when she said "Now I know how my clothes feel in the washing machine!" Ha! Sure we got tossed around, but I remember at some point actually thanking the ocean for giving us such an awesome day with a current and tailwind in our favor, despite the big waves.

It turns out I was right, that swim was a nice kick in the butt for me. I was really sore and tired the next day, a type of exhaustion that I haven't felt since I had to stop running. I'm really motivated by this swim to start looking for a swim in the early spring (someplace warm) so that I have something to train for over the winter.

Finish photos coming soon...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

August in a Nutshell

2011-08-28T15:14:00.001-04:00

Like many of my other running blogger friends I haven't taken the time to post much this summer, but since the hurricane is raging outside and I don't have much else to do today I thought I'd catch up on blogging. The last time I posted was right after I'd gotten my MRI results for my ankle sprain which threw a wrench into my plans for the NYC Triathlon and any other races I'd hoped to do this month and probably through September. Plans for my Half Ironman in October are completely up in the air at this point so I won't even talk about them for now.
Despite my inability to run for the last (almost) 5 weeks, I have been keeping very active and I'm still pretty sane. When the summer session at work ended on Aug 12th my husband and I took off for the beautiful waters of the 1000 Islands in Ontario, Canada where we spent a really great week with family and friends. I invited my good friend and swim buddy, Sally, to come up for the weekend and enjoy the islands with us. We had a beautiful weekend with calm water and bright sunshine so she and I were able to get in two truly gorgeous long swims from our Canadian island over to the US side of the St. Lawrence river. On Saturday we thought we'd swum far enough to cross the border, but we spotted a map that evening that suggested that we'd turned around too soon and had not actually hit US water. Oops. We set back out again early Sunday morning with the GPS and made sure that we swam to the border and over before turning back. On Saturday we'd only gone about 0.86mi before turning around, but on Sunday we hit 1.2mi before swimming back. After a long hiatus from the water due to awful wisdom teeth complications, it was tough hop in and swim that far, but I was so happy to be out in that crystal clear blue water. At one point during the swim back to Canada on Saturday I stopped swimming, popped my head up and just said something about how happy I was feeling. I had my sweet hubby paddling his kayak alongside on my right and one of my favorite people swimming right next to me on the left. Sally's boyfriend was also paddling on the other side of us to keep us safe from passing boats. Those swims were so wonderful, I finally began to feel normal again after the really painful ordeal with my teeth. I was still in pain for most of the week away, but it was tolerable with some Tylenol and ice.
My goal for the 9 day vacation was to get in two bike rides, but I only managed one between swimming and some laziness. I did have one really nice 22 mile ride along the 1000 Islands Parkway bike path while we were in Canada with a few little rolling hills. It was a nice change of scenery and I actually enjoyed the ride, but I still wasn't that motivated to get in the saddle again because my butt was sore for a few days. I may need a new seat..ouch.
After we left Canada we headed down into the Adirondacks to finish out our vacation at Sally's house. The weather and a late-sleeping husband thwarted my plans for a Friday morning swim and an afternoon canoe/hike, but we did manage to get in some canoeing on Putnam Pond between thunderstorms, which was entertaining. Sally and Chuck weren't home until Friday night, but Saturday was a fun, outdoorsy day with some more great swimming in a secret, crystal clear pond surrounded by untamed woods. Sally and I swam the length of the pond, about a mile, while Dave and Chuck bushwhacked around to meet us at the other side for lunch on a big ol' rock. After lunch we sat around and enjoyed the sunshine and peace & quiet before hopping back into the cool water to swim back. We beat the guys back to the other shore and had to hike around in our speedos and sneakers until they arrived with our clothes. Other than being eaten alive by mosquitoes (one bit the center of my forehead!) we had the perfect day. I couldn't get enough of those long open water swims, hopefully I still have a few weeks of open water swimming ahead before the water gets too cold and summer melts away.
Upon returning home to NYC for a day or two, I decided that I really needed to get on the bike more often if I'm going to maintain some leg strength while not running. Now I know that you use muscles in a different way when biking vs running, but cycling is still a great way to keep up leg strength when you're banned from running. I was extremely proud of myself this past week for getting in two rides in two days. Wednesday morning I met up at 5:30 am with a tri group in Point Pleasant, NJ for a long ride up the NJ coast to Asbury Park and back. It was really nice for motivation to link up with some other folks for a ride because I was having a really hard time getting out the door with the bike. It always seems like such a production at home to lug my bike down the stairs and get to a safe place for riding when I'm in the city, so I was really grateful for the group ride in an easy, safe location. We got in about 27 miles that morning and I actually enjoyed every minute of it. The next morning I pushed myself to get out the door and just go for a ride right outside Mom's front door. I told myself I'd shoot for a short 10-12 mile ride just to get it done, but I ended up riding 17 miles around the area and really having a nice time exploring the farther reaches of the neighborhood. The only reason I turned back towards Mom's house was because I hadn't packed enough water and snacks and I was getting really hungry and my butt was killing me from the long ride the day before. I did some of my ride around this beautiful Ocean County Memorial Park, which is dedicated to the soldiers from OC who died during various wars. It is a really quiet and peaceful place so I rode slowly and took in the view because I wanted to be respectful of the few folks that were standing near the plaques of their loved ones in small huddles. I snapped these few photos before I left the park:

In ankle news, I'm finally starting to notice some progress! I went to PT three times this week and spent the rest of the week doing work on my own to keep my foot and lower leg loose and I had my first pain-free swim on Friday afternoon! I was so thrilled, it has been 9 weeks since my injury and I was so happy to be able to push off of the wall with both feet, kick hard for a boost and just enjoy my swim. It has been way too long since I felt completely normal in the water. I didn't have to worry about injuring the fragile wounds in my mouth from breathing out too hard, or injuring the newly formed fibers in my ankle ligament, it was so freeing.
For now I'm hiding away from the hurricane in the Poconos with the intelligent and amusing Pigtails Flying and Races Like a Girl. Hurricane Irene has toyed with my plans for a long bike ride up here, but there's nothing I can do about it so I'm just going to relax and watch the trees blow outside the window with my ankle wrapped in ice. I'm making progress towards healing and that is something I'll raise my glass to. Cheers.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What a week.

2011-08-06T10:02:00.001-04:00

It has been a rough week! The past 8 days felt more like 3 weeks between a million doctor/dentist appointments and lots of pain. I'll give you the short version because I'm sick of the full version from living it. Last Thursday evening I had my 3 wisdom teeth extracted, all were impacted and one was extra complicated. I ended up with something called Dry Socket which means that it isn't healing properly and there is exposed bone in my jaw. To sum it up, it fucking hurt. It is okay now after 3 days in a row of visits to the oral surgeon for quick treatments. Apparently this is really common because tons of people have told me that they also had it. It felt like the worst thing ever a few days ago, but now everything just tastes like cloves from the medicine in my socket. It'll be fine in a few more days. Whew.
In the middle of that mess, I had an appointment with an Orthopedic Dr to check out this nagging ankle injury that I got 6 weeks ago. It happened with a traumatic blow to the ankle during my first (and last) soccer game of the season. A girl twice my size kicked me on the lateral side of my foot while my foot was in the air. I scored a goal that game, for the record. The doc insisted on an MRI and Xray, but I thought that was excessive. Keep in mind that I was still on heavy painkillers from the teeth and had forgotten how much my ankle had been hurting. The imaging was Wednesday and my wonderful Dr emailed me the entire report to read today. He knows I'm a PT. Here's the exact wording:

1. High grade partial tear of the Anterior Talofibular ligament without retraction. (ATFL=ligament on the outside of your ankle, mine is halfway off of the bone)
2. Contusions versus reactive edema of the posterior, medial and lateral talar dome without a fracture or osteochondral lesion. (oh my poor Talus- a bone, is really beat up. It's a major component of the ankle joint)
3. Large tibiotalar joint effusion. (aka fat ankle)
4. Possible reactive edema versus Contusions of the lateral malleolus ( what most people think of as their ankle bone). Mild Peroneus brevis and longus tendinitis. (those are the tendons attached to the muscles that move your foot outward)

So, what now? This week I go see an ankle surgeon who will set me up with some sort of brace to keep the ligament in place so that it can heal itself. I'll wear it for several weeks. If it doesn't help, I'll have to get it surgically repaired, but it should work. Then I'll have weeks or months of PT to retrain my ankle to work properly because the ankle plays a major role in balance and it's going to get lazy in that brace. I actually really appreciate having all of this knowledge in my head, it makes the whole thing manageable. Of course it sucks that I'm out of the NYC Triathlon this weekend and possibly (probably) out of my Half Ironman this Oct, but I always knew I was risking injury by playing soccer and I didn't care because I love it. Don't we all risk injury when we train for our marathons, trail races, triathlons, swims, etc? Someone remind me of this in a few weeks when I'm cranky: It is only an ankle injury, you're still a healthy, strong athlete with wonderful friends and family and there will be many more races in the future.
I'll know more after I see the surgeon, but for now I'm thinking that I'll have lots of time in the next few weeks to work on strength, core and everywhere else. I need that anyway,hopefully I'll be ripped come Fall.
I wonder if I should tell the Doctor that I won two Age Group awards on this ankle? Hmm, maybe it's best for my karma not to be boastful.

posted from Bloggeroid

New Jersey State Triathlon

2011-07-25T20:15:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was the NJ State Sprint Tri in Mercer County Park, also my first race of the season. It was a busy, whirlwind weekend that started on Thursday night with a heat wave 5K in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
All summer long I've been taking part in the Van Cortlandt Track Club summer series, but I've missed the last two due to my ankle injury (I got kicked by a big girl in a soccer game and may have sprained it) so I was really happy to be back. I went into the race with absolutely no expectations because of the heat (it was 100 degrees out) and I knew I should save my legs for the upcoming tri on Saturday, not to mention that I've not been running much in order to heal my ankle. I took it pretty easy because of the heat, or so I thought. I really held back on the final stretch, even letting some goofy looking guys pass me close to the finish. That is NOT my style, but I needed fresh legs for Sat. In the end though, the field was small-ish and I walked away with another carrot muffin for placing 2nd in my age group! It was my worst time ever in that race, somewhere close to 24:00. I was really happy to have the muffin though, I was starving! If you haven't yet checked out the VCTC 5K Summer Series, I suggest you get up there one of these Thursday nights. The next one is in 2 weeks.
So after a late night drive to Jersey to stay with my Mom on Thursday night, I caught up on some sleep and just tried to stay cool in the A/C. Friday I spent some time playing with my nieces, but I mostly tried to hydrate and keep cool and rest up for the morning. Friday night I spent with a good friend that I grew up with but haven't seen in TEN years! We met at Marcer County Park in the heat of the evening for packet pickup and to check out the course. This was going to be Mandy's first tri and she was understandably nervous about the whole process. I was really glad that I could be there for her first tri and help her with all of the little details like someone did for me last year. Looking out at the swim course I was able to see the open water through her eyes, the eyes of a new open water swimmer and it helped me really appreciate how lucky I am to be part fish. :) Mandy introduced me to some really cool folks at the Ryan's Quest tent, RQ being the charity that she and I were racing for, some of them had even read my blog! How cool is that? Ryan is a little boy with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy who I actually met the following day, he was precious and completely worth the sweat and hard work. I highly recommend you consider checking out and donating to this really wonderful charity, you can find them here: Http://www.RyansQuest.org
We spent the evening catching up and preparing for the race and before I knew it, it was time for bed. Of course neither of us slept very well because of the pre-race excitement/nerves and I was still sleepy when the alarm went off at 4:45. It was already 86 degrees out when I strapped my bike to the car rack at 5:15am. Holy crap.
The ride to the park was quick and easy and we had a beautiful but ominous bright red sunrise, it was going to be a killer day. Transition setup was smooth with the exception of me setting my stuff up on the wrong rack at first, the numbers changed right near mine (#675) and I had to move all of my stuff across the aisle and away from Mandy. I remembered to take a step back, take a breath and make sure everything was there and in order.

The Race
Before the swim start we watched a few waves go ahead and I was able to "cool off" in the lake before our wave. It was nice that they let folks take a practice swim while the other waves were starting and I really should have taken a few strokes to loosen up rather than simply wading in the muck. The swim start was a floating one so we waded and then swam out to two blue buoys and treaded water for about 3 minutes. I decided at some point the previous night that I was going to try to have a really good race, so I swam right up to the front row where it was not crowded and I knew I wouldn't be behind any slower swimmers. I took off at the horn, pushing the pace right from the start because I knew I'd be in the water for less than 10 minutes. Immediately I regretted doing that 5K on Thursday, my quads were burning, but I didn't have time to think about that, I wanted to get OUT of that hot, nasty lake as quickly as possible. The one million buoys along the course helped me to stay straight, but as usual I got tangled up with at least 5 swimmers from previous waves along the way. I am not an aggressive swimmer, I don't kick or claw at anyone on purpose, so I do thing some of the "sideways swimmers" slowed me down as I had to try to avoid them. Oh well, I was out before I knew it. 9:46 was my time. Room for improvement.

The first transition went quickly, though I think it took me around 3 minutes (what was I doing?!) but I did have the sense to take a hit of my inhaler. The air was thick and the warm water had left me gasping for air a bit. I grabbed my bike and ran for the road. Why were so many people walking? Don't they know it's a race? Anyway, the bike was really nice, I enjoyed the mostly flat, fast course. Several people got 2:00 penalties on the bike course for drafting and I'm glad too because I saw plenty of it. I think penalties were also given for riding on the left when not passing which I saw as a big problem during the ride. It was all of those Jersey drivers who think the left lane is for driving, not just for passing. ;) I was going back and forth with two other women in my age group for much of the ride, but I managed to blow by them on the last 0.5 mi when a ton of people just seemed to slow down and enjoy the view. I didn't understand that, so I just took off towards the transition area at full speed and I didn't see them again until the run when they were on their way out and I was on my way in. I'm always grateful that the run is last. The bike was 36:54 for the 11.5 or 12 miles.

T2 was much quicker than T1, I just changed my shoes, slipped on my visor and took off at full speed. Again, a ton of people were walking at the start of the run. Someone should tell them that the time you spend in transition counts towards their total time! I'm such a competitive jerk. ;)
The run was HOT. There is no other way to describe how I felt during those 3 miles trotting along the path towards the turnaround. While it was my best event of the race (I came in 130 out of about 1300+ people) it was my least favorite part. I never enjoy an out-and-back course because of the mental aspects of running over the same ground twice. I ran along pretty quickly at the start to loosen up my legs post-ride, happy to pass some folks I couldn't catch on the bike and get right into a quick pace. I didn't look at the pace on my watch until I felt like I was at a comfortable pace, even though it felt slow. That's the bizarre thing about running after the swim and bike, your legs feel so weird that they can't quite sense the pace normally, I thought I was just under 8:00/mile when I was actually at 7:22. I kept doing mental systems checks to make sure the heat wasn't getting to me, Am I breathing okay? No, but it is tolerable and just from the humidity. Am I dizzy or lightheaded? No. Am I still sweating? Profusely. Ok good. I noticed as I reached the turnaround point that people on the returning side were wearing little white towels on their heads or necks and I nearly leapt with joy, They were giving out cold towels at the halfway point! I happily frolicked through the giant firehouse at the halfway point, sloshing through the 3 inches of water, and grabbed my cold towel. Woo, did that feel good on my head, face and neck. I may have gotten a little too excited about the towel because I slowed down without realizing and had to pick the pace back up for the second half. I was having fun. I sipped water at each water station, pouring the rest over my head and running on. Lots of people were walking and I managed to pass everyone I encountered along the way. That's always my favorite part of a tri. My time was 23:52, or a 7:42 pace. I'm happy with that in the heat.

Overall I finished in 1:15:38, good enough for an astonishing 3rd place in my age group. I was completely floored when I saw my name in bold on the results sheet that was posted. I had been having this conversation in my head on the walk over to see the results that went a like this:
"I can't wait to see how I did, but there's no way I placed in anything."
"But what if I did?"
"No, there's simply no way so stop even thinking about it, you'll only be disappointed."
"Obviously. I'm embarrassed for even thinking it, I'm so cocky."

But there it was: 3rd place Females 25-29. I was so surprised and thrilled that I nearly cried. That's 3rd place out of 103!
Overall I was 186 out of 1362. I still can't believe that.
I was 33rd female out of 626.

The best part of the whole day wasn't getting my award though, it was definitely giving Mandy a big hug after she completed her first triathlon!!! Congrats girl, you did it! It takes a lot of guts and hard work to get into the open water and tackle it like you did, I know a LOT of people who are too scared to do what you did. The best part of doing your first tri is that it is a guaranteed Personal best and it is always a learning experience. I had a ton of fun being a part of someone else's first race and hopefully in the future she'll be the one passing on the little tips about how to put on the timing chip, how to put on a swim cap and where to put that race bib with two numbers on it. :)
MANY thanks to the Ryan's Quest crew for hooking me up with post-race beverages and a shady place to sit and recover. I hope to join you guys again in the future for another race.
Thanks to Mandy and her friends, I have a handful of photos from the race, but this post is really long already so I'll save them for another post. I have to include this one though:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tri training is in full force

2011-07-12T19:27:00.004-04:00

I have been keeping myself occupied away from the phone and computer lately with plenty of training, but with the heat wave in full force outside I thought I'd catch up on my blog. I finally got back on the bike at the end of June after a long hiatus and I'm actually happy to be back on it. The bike is not my favorite part of the triathlon, I'd be happy doing swim/run races forever, but the bike is there so I'd better get going on it. I am TRYING to get into a routine where I bike to work or just get out and ride at least once a week, so we'll see how that goes.

I got an early start on the weekend last week and hit the road with my bike strapped to the trunk of my car on Thursday night as I headed for the Jersey beaches. I always panic a bit for the first few minutes while driving with the bike on my car rack, but since the George Washington Bridge was the first part of my drive I was extra nervous. I made it down to Mom's without any problems after an hour or so of "omg my bike looks like it is coming loose!" which were all unfounded. I tried to make it an early night, but I didn't even arrive at Mom's until around 10 or 10:30 which sucked because I had to get up at 5 to swim.

Thursday afternoon I spent some time searching online for a swim club or tri team to join for their morning ocean swim and I stumbled upon the Jersey Shore Tri club. Someone from the group kindly emailed me back and let me know they'd be swimming in Bay Head at 6am. Perfect! I joined the group bright and early with a stunning view of the sun rising out of the sea a fiery magenta. It was gorgeous, I miss swimming in the ocean and any other open water during the week so it was great to hit the open sea. As frequently happens, I was the only swimmer out of the 8 or 9 of us there who was swimming in traditional swimsuit, everyone else was pulling on those horrid, sweaty wetsuits. People always have excuses too about why they need them, "I'm getting old" (bullshit) or "I need the buoyancy" (also bullshit, we're in the ocean) but no one in this group was like that, so I respected them for that. I still wish people would practice in traditional suits so they they could improve as a real swimmer and if they still felt the need to cheat in a race, then so be it. I digress.

The swim itself wasn't as beautiful as the sunrise had promised thanks to swarms of slimy, gooey salp which surrounded me, tried to get in my mouth and probably are growing families deep in my ear canals. Salp is a tiny planktonic tunicate, in other words it is a gooey sac-like filter feeder that eats phytoplankton. They look like this and travel in packs of like a billion:

Imagine fishing thousands of these out of your suit and hair.

The salp are supposed to hang out near Antarctica, but they appear to be lost and are hanging off of the east coast in the very warm water. People often mistake them for "jellyfish eggs" or "fish eggs". If you've ever seen caviar you'd know that they are not fish eggs, but from experience I can tell you that they taste about the same. Eww.

The group and I swam about 1.5 miles or so, swimming north a few jetties and then back to our starting point where we decided to keep going because the water was a nice ~73 or so and everyone felt fine. I liked this group. I don't regret doing the extra half a mile or so, but man was that the worst part of the entire morning. The clumps of salp were so thick that I had to put my head down and swim as hard and far as I could before taking a breath. I did not want to swallow any of those buggers. Yuck. Imagine yourself swimming in a pool full of chopped up gummy bears with little stringy bits between them. I made a vow right then and there to never complain about the weeds in the St Lawrence River again.

After the swim I changed into my bike gear (I always feel like a goober, how come some people look so COOL on a bike?) and headed out for a 30 mile ride. I picked 30 because it was my target distance a week or so before, but I only had time for 25. I'm not following any particular training plan right now, so I just hopped on and headed south. The shoulders along Rt 35 in Bay Head, Mantoloking and beyond could use a little smoothing, my hands and butt could attest to that for a few days post-ride. I enjoyed my ride for the most part though, and was happy for the nice weather and fairly light traffic since it was still really early in the day. I rode south through Lavallette and Seaside Park and Heights until I finally hit Island Beach State Park at the southern tip of the island. It is a great place to ride and I saw several other cyclists out, but I wasn't going the full 10 miles in and back out today. I hit the 15 mile mark, had a snack and turned around, I was really happy to finally have the wind at my back. I was able to kick it up and head back to the car much faster than the way down because the wind was pretty strong. Boy, I hope I don't have a headwind for my half ironman, that'd be a bitch. I managed to make it most of the way back before hitting a nasty pothole with 4 miles to go. Ouch, the thump reverberated in my hands for the final few miles. *mental note: get new cycling gloves* I finished 30 miles in 2:01:13 and I'm happy with that. I have no real concept of a great cycling time, but I felt good and I felt like I put in a good effort. I think at this point in my training I just need to rack up some time in the saddle. I should probably bring my bike Upstate with me this weekend to get in a few hills.

It was shortly after I posted my swim and ride on Facebook that I realized "Wow, I'm tri training!" I have three triathlons on the horizon, two of which are coming up pretty quickly! TheNJ State (sprint) Tri is on the 23rd, the day after what would have been my Nan's 88th birthday and I'm doing it with a friend that I've known since childhood. I'm really looking forward to racing again! The NYC triathlon (Olympic) is on August 7th, less than a month away! I also have the Pocono Mountain 70.3 in October, but lets not talk about that just yet. Yikes.

Tomorrow I plan on biking to work for the first time and I'm excited about it, but a little nervous about the logistics and forgetting something important like underwear. I'll be sure to post about my adventures soon.

Around Liberty Island

2011-06-25T10:41:00.001-04:00

Friday evening was the 3rd annual Liberty Island Swim, hosted by the nice folks at NYC Swim. The weather was grey and damp, but it actually only rained while we were in the water!
We arrived really early after skipping the line at the Liberty Island ferry (that's the way it should be, New Yorkers first!) and we spent a few hours puttering around the island, watching all of the ships and ferries go by. Wow, the harbor is so busy!
After some snacks, people watching and a quick change in the gift shop bathroom, we gathered with the other 250+ swimmers for a "pre-race meeting" where no one could actually hear anything. We knew where to start and finish so we figured we'd figure it out from there.
The race had an in-water start, which was kind of fun because we were all herded onto a party boat where we watched people jump out into the water below. We each got pushed into the water and ended up in a large herd of churning legs and arms until the countdown and horn. The start was completely insane, legs and arms flying and bodies everywhere. Ack. Sally and I had to fight to stay together with and the race never really opened up because it was so short. I was punched in the head, side, neck and back no less than 10x, but I'm sure I did my fair share of smacking too. The only really bad hit was the elbow to the face that left me with a fat lip and a cut over my eye. It knocked my goggles askew, but I emptied them and kept swimming. I wasn't going to lose Sally and have to swim this on my own!
I enjoyed the few minutes we were able to get into a rhythm and I was swimming along with a view of Lady Liberty when I breathed left and a foggy NYC Skyline when I breathed right, how cool is that?!
Miraculously, we managed to swim together the entire time, battling the waves, chop and whales (aka fat men in wetsuits). There were a bunch of folks in wetsuits, but as it should be in ALL swims the whales were not eligible for awards. I was happy to see that most people were in traditional swim gear, especially because the water was a PERFECT 70 degrees and the swim was not even a mile long.
We climbed the exit ramp around 24:46, good enough for 2nd in Sally's age group and 10th in mine. We were 93rd & 94th overall out of the 235 finishers! Wahoo!
I really enjoyed the whole event (including the BBQ afterwards) and I think NYC Swim did a great job, but in the future I'll be looking for their races that have a wave start. This was my second race this month with 250 people starting at once! Crazy.

As a great bonus, when I got home I was able to watch the live coverage of the NY Senate vote on marriage equality which I'm beyond happy to report PASSED! I am extra proud to be a New Yorker today.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Good.

2011-06-25T09:46:00.001-04:00

You already got the bad and the ugly of the Great Chesapeake Bay swim, but I've been wanting to write a whole post on The Good because there was plenty of it. I've had a week to process it all and reflect on what I enjoyed, which is what I'd like to remember.
This will also include some "what worked for me" for anyone reading this in preparation for this swim in the future.
1. The race was really well organized, I got there super early expecting a mob scene like the one prior to a big race in Central Park, but instead I found an organized, smooth check in system, plenty of parking and a short line to use the bathroom. I joked that the lines for the bathroom were short because people were just holding it until they got in the water. The start area was fun, I met veteran swimmers who were all willing to give advice on the course and I met one of my "virtual training buddies", Donna, which was great!
2. The bridges truly took my breath away when I saw them. The view across the bay was so beautiful and serene that I couldn't wait to get out there. This awe continued for the entire race. I love bridges and it was so cool to swim between these two. It also made sighting so much easier than say, in the ocean, because you had a marker on either side which meant I could see my progress every 3 strokes.
3. The water was pretty flat and considering some of the conditions I've read about from previous swims, we practically had a perfect day (minus the mile 2 current).
4. I definitely had the stamina for the entire distance. If it weren't for my back, I'd have cruised right through to the finish line and not gotten tired, I'm certain of that. At mile 2, despite fighting the current, I actually thought "this race is too short, I'm nearly halfway done!" Ha...
5. Even though the water was lava hot and I felt like it took days to cool down, I am grateful that it wasn't cold. It's way more painful to swim in cold water than warm, even if it's nasty.
6. I still passed people even though I was hurting. My competitive side keeps me going in any race, even when it gets tough. I also have too much pride to let someone in a wetsuit pass me, even if they were wearing a yellow cap and had a 15 minute head start. No freaking way.
7. I finished.
8. I loved training for this swim more than I ever enjoyed training for a marathon. It was hard work and lots of laps, but I never felt beat up from long swims the way that running 20 miles does.
9. Did I mention that I finished?
10. It was fun, really, really fun. I love swimming, especially in open water and no matter what the conditions are I enjoy myself when I'm suspended in the water, away from everything on shore, lost in my own thoughts.

posted from Bloggeroid

Great Chesapeake Bay Swim 2011

2011-06-14T18:33:00.007-04:00

Sunday morning I woke up excited and ready to conquer the Bay, I was awake for an hour or two before my alarm went off so I decided to shower so that I could braid my hair while it was wet and get it into a tight bun, but mostly I showered to kill time. Our hotel room rocked and I found a toaster in one of the kitchen cabinets so Dave and I were able to have toasted bagels (brought from NYC, of course) with PB which are infinitely better than untoasted bagels. Everything was going according to plan, I liked that.

The morning went smoothly and we got to Sandy Point State Park with nearly 3 hours to go before the start of my race. I'll say it here and I'll probably say it again, my husband is a trooper. He sat with me, calmed my nerves and killed 3 hours in the increasingly hot sun...all before the race even started. I did have a chance to meet and hang out with Donna, a virtual training friend who lives across the pond in London. Chatting with her for a while was a great way to relax and pass the seemingly endless time before the race. Sadly, I missed out on meeting the other Amy who I could see through the trees. Before I knew it she was in her black wetsuit and I couldn't pick her out from the rest of the crowd! Oops! I loved her race report though, you can check it out here (after you finish reading mine, of course). Donna's GCBS recap is here too. Now, back to the starting area...

I took a few dips in the water before the race to try and cool off, but the water was so warm (79 degrees!!) that it didn't help that much. Wow, that water was so warm and any doubts I had about wearing my regular swimsuit were quickly washed away, there was no chance that I'd get chilly during this race. During the pre-race briefing the race director Chuck Nabit announced that the tides were going to be "gentle" and in our favor today. This was met with applause and excitement from the nearly 600 swimmers on the beach. There would be a gentle ebb tide pushing north to south early on in the race, then we'd hit slack tide somewhere in the middle and possibly have to fight the flood tide at the end if we were still in the water at that time. I listened with some skepticism and munched on some more food. I snacked during the 3 hour wait on a banana, a powerbar and a packet of gel just before the start. I carried two more packets of gel in my suit and I never had any trouble with fueling during the swim, it was probably the only thing that went perfectly.

At 11:30 Wave 1 took off in their yellow swim caps, churning up the bay in a flurry of arms and legs. I watched to see where the best spot might be for me to stand on the wide shoreline and after kissing Dave goodbye I took off for the far shore. I tried to stand away from patches of really big dudes that could easily swim over me and attempted to position myself near some other non-wetsuit swimmers. I was definitely in the minority standing there in this:

As you can see, most people ignored the race director's warnings about the water being too warm for wetsuits...

Entering the water definitely lived up to the hype of a "Cuisinart Start" with arms and legs churning as if we'd all been tossed into a giant blender, but I wasn't seriously banged up until the first turn. We took off towards the bridges and made a right hand turn between two large buoys to enter the span between the bridges and then made a quick left to head East again, this time with two looming structures on either side. WOW, I wanted to take a second to look around but it was very crowded and I quickly got knocked in the face and my goggles were jostled and filled with water. I emptied them and settled right into a rhythm of long, easy strokes. I never saw the mile 1 buoy, but I could tell I was moving at a great pace. Sometime shortly after entering the bridges I noticed a man to my right swimming at the same speed and we latched onto each other, swimming side by side for more than half of the race. It was great having someone by my side, especially because when I couldn't see his face I could just pretend it was my friend Sally.

He made for great company, even as we hit the not-so gentle ebb tide in mile 2 and quickly realized we were in danger of being swept under the southern spans, a move that would get us plucked from the water and driven by boat to the DNF pier. It happened very quickly and I noticed it right away, quickly adjusting myself so that I was no longer aiming ahead, but to the far left. My buddy followed suit and we continued on for a very tough mile swimming at a 45 degree angle with some increasing swells. I never once got nervous or panicked about the strong current, I'm more comfortable swimming in a current than I am on land running into a strong wind. Luckily we had the continuous bridge supports floating by to help mark our progress because I couldn't see too much ahead. Suddenly a boat appeared in front of me with lots of yellow and red dots bobbing around the sides. I nearly giggled at the sight of it, it was like a floating pub in the bay. I held on to the side for a second, sucked down a GU and listened to the other swimmers discussing the crazy current. It was also at the boat that my buddy introduced himself as Frank (thanks Frank!) and he commented that we were keeping a nice pace together. I was happy, Frank and I were a team and we were almost halfway done!! This was going to be amazing.

We swam around the boat, passed the mile 2 buoy in exactly 1:00 and could instantly feel that the tide had gone slack. WHEW. We settled right back into our rhythm and stayed side by side. It felt so good to be swimming straight again, that 45 degree angle had been really tough. It wasn't until we were about halfway between mile 2 and 3 that I would find out just how much that mile at an angle had affected me. It started out with a little pain in my back along the right side of my spine. I thought "oh, that hurts a bit" but I've never had pain while swimming so I figured it would go away, wrong. My first attempt to make it go away was to do a quick couple of breast stroke kicks, but maintain my freestyle arms to make it look normal to my companion. Wow, I don't recommend that move after you've been swimming for 2.5 miles. It didn't help ease the pain, but shortly after the pain spread rather quickly straight up my back into my shoulder and neck. WOAH, something was definitely wrong. I tried to simply ignore it and push forward, but after a few strokes I was in excruciating pain. Still confident that I could do a quick fix and stretch it out, I stopped and curled up to lengthen my back. My very kind friend Frank stopped with me, a gesture for which I'll be eternally grateful. I mumbled something about my back and he said "ok, a breather sounds good." I pretended like it helped and we carried on, though at a slightly slower pace and with radiating pain in my back with each stroke. I tried all of the tricks too, kicking harder to give my arms a rest, pulling harder with the left and letting the right arm rest, but to no avail. This fucking spasm was here to stay and I was going to have to deal with it. I could see the mile 3 buoy ahead but I was beginning to slow significantly so when Frank turned to check on me, I waved him on with regret. We weren't a team anymore and I was going to have to do this on my own.

Mile 2 to 3 had been rough but when I FINALLY passed the buoy marking mile 3, I was so close to it that I could smell the plasticky material. I was in a lot of pain, but I put my head down and dug deep. Really deep. The water was hot but since I was in the shipping channel, there were pockets of cool water here and there, I occasionally stopped and caught my breath when I hit a cool spot. It was really hard to take a deep breath because my back and ribs were so tight, so I had to take really shallow breaths to avoid the stabbing pain. I moved along at what felt like a glacial pace, but I was finally able to gauge my progress when I emerged from the second shipping channel and the bridge supports were close together again. I was so happy to see them that at some point I decided to dedicate each span to someone else in my life. I was definitely losing my mind at this point, but thinking about other people helped to push me along. I can't remember everyone that got a stretch but I know I dedicated ones to my amazing mom and my grandmother who passed away in February and would have been so proud of me because she never knew how to swim, but always wanted her grandchildren to know how. I dedicated a big span to my truly wonderful husband. I dedicated a span to my brothers who are always there for me and to some of the kids that I work with who may never learn to sit up, no less swim. I dedicated a stretch to my cousin Karen and her husband Ted who passed away after a long battle with Cancer and to my friend Jodi's mom who also lost her battle with Cancer earlier this year. I certainly dedicated a stretch to my good friends Nancy and Elyssa and my swim buddy and very close friend Sally. I even remember dedicating a stretch to Sally's late husband Paul. Yeah, I was pulling all sorts of people out of my head to help take my mind off of the pain in my shoulder and make me forget how HOT the water was. I even took a few dives down into cooler water, hoping I wouldn't alert the kayakers. One already had his eye on me after I stopped to eat my second GU somewhere shortly after the mile 3 buoy and I didn't want to alert him. Despite the pain that came with breathing and taking each stroke, STOPPING WAS NOT AN OPTION. I never considered not finishing the race, I could SEE the 4th buoy and I was really almost there. I took a few backstroke/sidestroke/made-up stroke breaks along the way to try to ease the pain, but nothing was working so would just roll over and keep swimming. This paragraph is long, but no words can express how slow that mile felt. It was endless. When I saw the exit buoys that would take me out of the bridges and back into the bay, I was elated, but it took ages to reach them too.

Everyone who has done this swim warns you that you still have 700 yds to go once you exit the bridges and not to get excited too soon. I exited the bridges and thought "why the hell am I swimming in place?" The tide had turned and I was barely moving for a few minutes, that was disheartening after I'd made it through the mile from hell. I pushed on though and turned towards the shore, I could SEE the finish but I knew it was still several minutes away. Before the start I had promised Dave that I wouldn't bring shame to our family and walk in the shallow part that runs along the side of the road, but all bets were off. I began to worry about him though, knowing that he would be worried because I was well past my goal time of "as close to 2 hours as possible" though I hadn't looked at my watch since 2:15 when I was nearing the 4 mile buoy, I knew I was running a little behind. I put my feet down as soon as I realized the other folks near me were standing. I was surrounded by yellow caps, folks that had started 15 minutes before me, but I couldn't decide if this was a good sign for me or not. It didn't make sense either way. I stretched and told myself that if I could swim 100 strokes, I'd let myself stand up again. I made it 22 strokes before the pain made me stand up again. I wanted to cry a little bit, but I dove back in and pushed forward until I had to stop again. I repeated this cycle over and over. Normally at this stage in the game I'd be stalking the folks ahead of me and passing as many as possible, but I didn't have it in me. There was one guy who stood up next to me in his wetsuit and yellow cap and lifted his goggles up to his forehead. I told myself that he was a meathead (sorry bud) and I was going to beat him. I grunted and dove back into the sweltering water and swam the rest of the way in. I wanted to at least be proud of that and I am.

As I approached the beach and the finish line I wasn't elated as I'd hoped to be. I was in excruciating pain and wanted to lie down or do anything to stop my back from hurting. I took my medal, someone took off my timing band from my ankle and my bib number from my cap (which had nearly fallen off at one point, thank you to the girl who stopped me to tell me to fix it). I spotted a worried Dave ahead and tried to smile and wave. It came out looking like this:

The caption for that photo should be "Fuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkk." Pardon my French.

It turns out that my poor hubby was not only worried because he assumed I'd been injured, but also because the Coast Guard had announced that it was pulling all remaining swimmers from the water because of an approaching storm! In the end 62 people were pulled due to the storm, how devastating that must have been for them. I am glad that I managed to get in under the wire and finish before the thunder and lightning started, I was by no means happy with my time, but I would have been crushed.

In the end I crossed the line at 2:41, so far from my goal time that it almost didn't matter to me that I'd finished at all. The hot water, the currents and the pain had gotten to me and I was a zombie as I grabbed a few orange slices and shoved a giant chunk of ice into the back of my suit (see it below) and guzzled cold water. I was SO thirsty that at one point I saw a kayaker ahead and thought "I bet he has a water bottle in there...." but I managed to carry on without attacking him for his water. I stumbled through the crowds, rinsed off in a hose of more warm, nasty water and just followed Dave in the direction of the car. I did make him stop for a minute while I lay down on the grass, attempting to get my back to release its death grip on my ribs and maybe let me take some deep breaths. No luck. At one point I just couldn't walk any more and I sat down in the grass while he went to get the car. I remember realizing that it was pouring rain on me and I gathered my wits and walked in the direction that he had gone. Once in the car I sat in my swimsuit and flip flops until we hit a rest stop in Delaware where I changed into dry clothes. The inner layer of my swimsuit that had been white that morning was now a disgusting brownish color. Eww.

Makeshift Ice pack shoved in my suit.

I was happy on the ride home, calling family and friends to let them know that I'd survived (that really was the right word) and that I was fine. I was definitely in a lot of pain and couldn't get comfortable for much of the 5 hour ride, but I was happy that I'd finished. My friends, both online and in real life (most fall into both categories) have been so incredibly supportive and happy for me. I am touched, so thank you to everyone who tweeted, facebooked, texted, called or otherwise reached out to congratulate me!

While I will always be glad that I finished before the storm and was able to finish at all, I'm still fluctuating between happy and cranky about my performance. I really hesitate to use the word "disappointed" because I know it was out of my control, but I feel like I put a ton of training into this and didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. I want to rewind and do it over so that I can enjoy it and prove to myself that I had a much faster race in me. Unfortunately there is no rewind button, no do over, no way to go back because this is real life. I need some time to process it all, let my back, shoulder and ribs heal so that I can carry on because honestly, this is just the very beginning of my season. There is always next year for this race, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It was gorgeous, it was really well organized and very safe. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a real challenge in the water at a totally do-able distance.

Let's face it: 4.4 miles is NOT THAT FAR. Liz Fry swam a double Ederle swim today. That's 35 miles from NY harbour to Sandy Hook, NJ and back!!! THAT is a swim.

Oh, and I got this:

Meh.

Are You Ready?

2011-06-08T20:39:00.004-04:00

As the big day gets closer, I'm starting to get into the cycle of Excited, Panicky, Excited, OMG, Calm, Excited that comes before all big events so I started packing a little bit tonight. I brought home my goggles, suit and "lucky" cap today after my swim this morning and decided to make sure I have EVERYTHING I need. I won't be allowed to wear my Team Pink cap, but it'll be nice to have it in my bag for the weekend, like a security blanket. :)

The cool thing about swimming is that you need even LESS than you do for running, which can be a really minimal sport if you let it. All I need is my suit, goggles and asthma pump and a few packets of GU to munch along the way. Somehow though, my pile of crap includes the swimskin I borrowed from my Sister in Law (I don't plan on wearing it, I think the water will be warm enough), a towel, extra goggles, extra GU, warm clothes for afterwards, and a cool tshirt that looks like the ocean to hang around in beforehand. I'm sure my awesome TYR bag will be full of even more stuff come Saturday, but this is it for now. I was listening to some tunes while cleaning and packing and this song came on while I was packing:

This song will obviously be on my morning playlist this Sunday.

Central Park Challenge Streak continues....

2011-06-08T19:35:00.002-04:00

In case you didn't know this about me, I'm a Pediatric Physical Therapist and I work with children with developmental disabilities at a school run by YAI. YAI is an amazing, wonderful organization that provides services to people with disabilities throughout the life span. I really love working for them and am proud to be a part of their annual fundraiser, the Central Park Challenge. They hold a 5K run, a 3K walk and all sorts of other fun family activities every year in CP to raise money for the organization which is a non-profit. I've run 3 years in a row now and walked away with some sort of trophy/plaque every time so there's a little pressure to run well. Luckily we had a great day today with perfect weather and even though I haven't been training for the run, I managed to keep the streak alive!

The course is simple, two loops of the park drive along the bottom of the park. The start is by Tavern and the finish is on the 72nd st transverse. You run counterclockwise. At the start I took off quickly to push ahead of the dopes who hopped in the front but didn't belong and I rode the first downhill at a 6:10 pace until I had some space. I slowed to a surprisingly easy 6:40 pace, shocking myself at how casual it felt. Ahh, the first mile euphoria. I forced myself to stay steady and let a bunch of "sprint and die" folks pass me. We had 2.5 miles ahead and I was going to run a smart race. I stayed steady, clocking mile 1 at 6:51 and mile 2 at 6:49. "Whose Legs are these anyway?" I started to think. It felt really great and I let myself go at the mile 2 marker to start picking people off that had flown by earlier or just looked like a threat to my title. I pushed hard and clocked mile 3 in 6:46 and began sprinting to the finish which was uphill. My watch said 20:59 but the race results have me at 21 flat because the timing mats were past the finish. Either way I was really happy to break my previous PR and redeem myself after a crappy race last year in some evil humidity. I know that if I try a flat 5K in the future I can definitely break 21:00, even on little training.

I stuck around the post race and walk festival to collect my trophy because even though I didn't place in my age group, I was the first female YAI staff member to cross the line. Last year I was 2nd in my AG, but the field was definitely larger and more competitive this year, but that is a great thing for the CPC to have more folks running. I'll add this sweet little (ha! ) trophy to my collection now, a collection that is slowly growing as I race more and more outside of NYRR events and outside of the city.

Photos courtesy of YAI.org/cpc

The countdown and the taper are underway this week with the Great Chesapeake Bay Bridge Swim just 6 days away! I've turned a corner and finally feel like I'm getting over my cold and my appetite is back after a week of feeling stuffed up and like my tastebuds were asleep. Time to fill up on lots of good food and hydrate well. The water in the Chesapeake is looking warm and with a heat wave coming this week, I am closer and closer to just wearing my regular swimsuit and not even going with the swimskin. I'd be happy in just my suit, at least it won't chafe my neck!

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Memorial Day Swimcation

2011-06-01T21:20:00.002-04:00

The Gorgeous Paradox Lake

Last Friday I, like lots of other New Yorkers, headed for the Adirondacks for the long, holiday weekend. It was my chance to get in a few good open water swims before the Great Chesapeake Bay swim in 2 weeks. I've swum in the lake upstate for the last two years and I was really looking forward to it after a long winter and spring in the pool. Concerned that the water was a frosty 53 on Mother's Day, I brought a rented wetsuit as a backup in case the lake was too cold for long swims. I gave the salesperson at Jackrabbit an earful about how I hate wetsuits and how I would never race in one, she probably thought I was a nut. I tucked the stupid thing into my swim bag anyway, praying that I wouldn't need it. (I Didn't!)

When I got upstate to my friend Sally's place we went to the lake and checked the temp and we're pleasantly surprised to find it felt really nice and the thermometer told us that it was around 68! No wetsuit necessary! Whew.

I did two long swims over the weekend, a 2 miler on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday. Sally swam with me on Saturday for the gorgeous two miles around the lake. I was so happy to be outside in the open water even if it was overcast. I wore my swimskin and it kept my core nice and warm even though my hands and feet were cold. We did the two miles in about an hour with Chuck, Sally's boyfriend, as our kayak support.

Unfortunately I had caught a cold that began to really kick in around Friday night and gained momentum on Saturday. Luckily a lazy evening and some nyquil helped me sleep much better Sat night and I was ready to go on Sunday morning. We took our time getting to the lake in the morning, having some coffee and breakfast to fuel the miles ahead.

I hopped in the lake with both Sally and Chuck in kayaks flanking me as I made my way across the lake. It was fun seeing one of them on either side each time I took a breath, it gave me something to think about other than swimming. The sun came out and my arms stayed warm longer than they had on Sat and I was grateful for that. There was more debris in the lake after a late night storm and I stopped occasionally to avoid some big sticks and collections of debris. Thanks to my kayak crew, I managed to avoid getting hit by any boats or bumping into any major floating branches. I stopped for GU (eww the Cherry lime GU is nasty) 2x and had water a handful of times. There will be "snack" boats along the Chesapeake but I'm not sure where and if I'll be close enough to stop so I carried my own Gels in my suit. I tossed my wrappers on the kayak, but during my swim I'll have to tuck those into my suit as well. In case you're wondering, it isn't difficult to tread water and eat GU, but it doesn't make me want to gag any less than when I'm running. Darn.

Ahh, so I swam and swam and swam, not asking how far I'd gone until about 2.65 miles in. Boo, I was hoping it was closer to 3 at that point, but no. After a trip around the entire lake and 2 loops of an island near where we started Sally paddled to shore and hopped in to join me for the last 1.4 miles. Thank goodness she did because I was getting really chilly and tired and I let her be my guide so I didn't have to lift my head as much. We did an out and back and somewhere along the "out" portion, my arms got numb. I'm pretty sure it was from the cold, but it made for tricky swimming on that last mile. I snuck in a little breast stroke on the way back in here and there because I was losing steam. I somehow convinced myself to swim back to the dock despite a few thoughts of climbing onto the kayak. :) I was pretty sure that Chuck stayed close to me because he was certain that I was on the verge of drowning, or at least that is what my very tired body had convinced me.

When I hit the shore (the beach was underwater because the water level is way above normal) I stumbled up to the grass and plopped down. I was chilly and wiped out and I spotted someone eating cheesy poofs on the dock nearby, so I asked for some. They were the most delicious things I've ever eaten!! They were like Pirate's Booty, but a bright orange fake-cheesy color. Yum. I don't think I ever properly thanked them for their kindness...

My watch said 2:21 when I finished and the GPS said 4.04 miles. Whew. I was wearing my regular Ironman Timex and Chuck was wearing my Garmin (which died at some point) and using his own GPS on the kayak. He was nice enough to put the two swims on a map for me so I have that and the Garmin readouts! The splits aren't as fast as I'd like to be going on race day, but I never stopped my watch (and Garmin's auto-stop was off) when we stopped to chat or when we waited for Sally to switch from kayak to swimming, so I'm guessing I could have been a few minutes faster. I also know that I won't be stopping to chat on race day, so I'm perfectly happy with how it all went. I wouldn't have wanted to put in a race day effort two weeks before the race, my shoulders never would have forgiven me. They're currently still just thinking about forgiving me for swimming 6 miles in 2 days and then kayaking who knows how far on Monday.

With the overwhelming majority of my training behind me, I'm ready to take on the bay!!!

Chuck was nice enough to put these together for me: White is Saturday's 2 miles, Yellow is Sunday's 4.

My neck took a beating from my swimskin and the black flies: (ouch/eww)

Mmmm, what a beautiful day.

The furry company was awfully cute this weekend too:

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Great Chesapeake Bay Swim Info

2011-05-21T12:44:00.005-04:00

So as the day gets closer (3 weeks from tomorrow!) I am starting to gather more and more info about what to expect on June 12th when I dive into the Chesapeake Bay at Sandy Point State park and make my way along the bridges to the other side of the bay. I would do my own round up of the great sites out there, but Amy Reinink has already done it so well that I'm simply going to share her blog here: Chesapeake Bay Bridge Swim roundup but you should check out the whole blog because she's a wonderful writer and also a great runner!

I've booked the hotel (MAN is it cheap to stay in hotels outside of NYC!), put in several miles in the water and I am getting REALLY EXCITED! I have a few more weeks of serious training before I'm really ready, but I feel like I am READY to take on those bridges. Check out the pictures here: Rob Aquatics Race Report 2010 to get a glimpse of what I'll be looking at during the 4.4 mile journey. I'm awed by those bridges. Wow.

Isn't it gorgeous?!?

Waterlogged.

2011-05-19T18:58:00.001-04:00

It's funny how when you mostly socialize with runners, mentioning a long swim gets a "woah" in the same way that running 20 miles gets a "woahh" from a non-runner. Since I'm in both of those circles, swimming and running, I'm jaded when it comes to the distances of either. When I try to explain that swimming 5000 yds is "like running 13 miles" I still get baffled looks from my running friends. It might be the time equivalent, but it encourages a lot of questions. How do you keep count of your laps? (in the pool) - I just do. I count in sets when doing specific workouts like 10x150yds (that's 10x6 lengths). You learn at a young age as a swimmer to keep track of things like that. When we do our warmup of 1650,I count every length and try my best to keep track. It helps to have my stopwatch running and hit the lap button every 500yds because I know it takes around 8mins to swim that. If it sounds like torture to count that much, it's not. It's second nature after all these years. Also, just because I'm counting doesn't mean that I'm not also thinking about other things. "What Do you think about?" is a very popular question and the answer is simple: everything or nothing. It's no different from what I think about on a run, which means I mostly think about what I'm going to eat when I finish. :) You'd probably be surprised how much you can learn about people between sets. I have a bunch of pool friends that I've gotten to know simply from swimming in front of or behind them and chatting after each 200 or 1650 or whatever the distance may be.
All in all my swim training has been really fun and I'm racking up the yards this month. In the first week of May I swam almost 13,000 yards, just over 10,000 yards last week and I'm hoping to hit around 16,000 for this week by Sunday. Yes, that is a lot of yards, but I'll be ready for the Chesapeake Bay swim come June 12th!

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The Mother's Day double

2011-05-10T21:03:00.001-04:00

After an exhausting day at Bear Mountain on Saturday, I was zonked when I woke up on Sunday too. (I Realize this doesn't bode well for my plans to possibly run the half marathon next year). I lounged around trying to get my mojo back and trying to get myself together to go for a swim. I had lots of little projects around the apartment, one of which required a trip to the hardware store. The minute I stepped outside, I knew that I HAD to get out for a run. I missed my usual Saturday morning run because of Bear Mountain, and I would have missed my Sunday swim if I'd gone to NJ... There seemed to be only one thing to do: run and swim.
After some deliberation over how to organize my day, I finally decided to run to the pool (at first I dismissed this as crazy) and then swim. The plan was to take a very tiny bag with me so I could put on clean clothes after my swim and shower. It worked out perfectly once I worked out the details.
I was hoping for a somewhat speedy run down the west side Greenway because it is downhill from home and then flat as can be. I took off at a warmup pace around 8:00 and proceeded to pick up the pace to sub 7:30's for the remaining miles. I had to work at it a bit along the busier parts of the Greenway on the UWS, but it almost felt effortless. I racked up 7.5 miles in 56:00 or so and was really happy with the effort. I then rinsed off and hopped into the pool for a mile at a moderate pace. I decided this was good training for my swim to swim at mile while "tired". I didn't feel tired though, I felt great. I swam a total of 2000 yds before grabbing a giant coconut water and heading home. I felt awesome and was floating on endorphins until I got home and crashed. I was happy to have worked that hard and pushed myself instead of lounging on the couch all day. Ahh, tri season is approaching quickly.
It's Tuesday now and I still have some lingering soreness in my adductors and quads, but most of the soreness worked itself out in the pool Monday afternoon.
I'm putting in the miles and getting tips here and there regarding the Great Bay swim coming up in 5 weeks. My training has been steady and I'm feeling good about a possible finish in under 2 hours. I'll have a better idea after some open water practice at the end of the month.

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Return to Bear Mountain

2011-05-10T08:25:00.001-04:00

The North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain, NY kicked off my weekend nice and early Saturday morning. A 4:45 alarm woke me from a restless sleep and after flashbacks to Crew practice in college, I rolled out of bed and into some comfy clothes. Elyssa was snoozing on my couch so I flicked on the coffee maker and woke her up too. We slowly came to life as we drove down to Harlem to pick up fellow volunteer, Tracy and headed north on the Palisades Pkwy. The sunrise was beautiful as we rolled down into the Festival area at 6:30am, knowing that the runners started at 5am and we're already well into the race. I signed up to man the same aid Station as I did last yr, Camp Lanowa which sits at mile 27.7 in the middle of what is probably a bustling summer camp in the summer months. As the crew got things set up, a course sweeper arrived and told me about the vandalism he encountered while running the course earlier. Unbelievable, someone had gone out of their way to remove course markings from a 6 mile stretch of the trail in the middle of the night. Again! It happens every year, and I am blown away every time I hear about it. The sweeper had started running at 2:30 and spent hours running and re-marking the course. After he helped out all day, we broke down the aid station and he then ran the rest of the course and took down the markers! Wow. On top of his athletic abilities, he's also just a really, really nice guy. If I were organizing a race, I'd definitely want Russell on my team. Honestly though, the entire North Face team, headed up by Nick Moore, is like the Dream Team of race organizers. It is such a well run event, and I hope to at least run the half marathon on Sunday one year after volunteering at the 50 miler on Saturday.
The day went very smoothly at our station with the exception of terrible radio communication with the race directors, something we had to remedy by texting and calling for most of the day. We were lucky enough to have some pacers at our station who were all really great and helped us out tremendously until their runners arrived. One of them was pacing one of the lead men, so we lost him early but not without getting the scoop on what it's like at the front of the pack. The leaders were very spread out this year, and the lead runner was minutes ahead of the next guy, but by the finish #2 guy was almost 15 minutes ahead of previous #1 guy. That kind of uncertainty doesn't happen in road marathons. I had to keep track of each of the runners (all 195 that started) and was able to tell the leaders how far behind they were. Just like last year, families and crews gathered at our aid station, making it a busy and fun place to be. I recognized Nikki Kimball's crew (one older man in a wool sweater) from last year as he lined up her bottles of water, coke and other mysterious concoctions. Nikki wasn't in the lead this year though, Annette???? came through before her and ended up winning the women's race. I was happy to see that there were 4 women in the top 20 finishers. The trails are the ultimate levelers of the playing field.
Plenty of bloody, beat up runners came through during the course of the morning, most of whom were having a good time despite the crazy hills, rocks and technical trails. A few dropped out at our station after an injury or just plain undertraining knocked them down too many times. I was impressed by everyone who made it that far! 28 miles on a very difficult course is worth being proud of. I hope they're able to walk normally soon.
Thanks to everyone who made the day a success, I love this event and I'm grateful for my friends who came along at the crack of dawn for this adventure. Congrats to all of the finishers as well, wow that's an awesome accomplishment.
You ought to think about joining me next year!

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A Soggy Saturday

2011-04-23T18:14:00.002-04:00

The trouble with having only two runs scheduled per week is that when a run day comes along you have to get out there despite the weather. This morning I rolled out of bed to the sound of raindrops hitting the window A/C and I would have gladly curled right back up under the covers, but it wasn't an option. I swam Thursday and Friday this week and I'm swimming again Sunday, so instead of diving back into bed I got up, had a waffle and hit the road. I was afraid that I'd be alone, but when I got up to Inwood, there were 6 of us out there in the cool rain. I can't believe I thought the crew would bail because of the rain, ha! These are the same people that ran by my side all winter long, so I don't know what I was thinking. We squished along the Greenway down to Riverbank State Park before turning back towards home. If it had been a bit warmer, it would have been really great running weather. As we got close to 145th St I started to feel a familiar tightness in my calves. A week and a half ago I ran in my Saucony flats and my calves were sore for a few days afterwards, and I blamed the tired old shoes, but I was wearing my soggy Asics today so now I'm stumped. I have to look elsewhere for the culprit now. In the meantime, back to my foam roller. Ow.
8 miles in about 1:15, some slow puddle-jumping miles in there and some tough uphill miles at the end. The aftermath of the SOAKING WET run can be found in the living room...

Race Pace Running

2011-04-21T17:16:00.004-04:00

Coogan's 5K 2009

Folks trying to stay on pace up the hill

I was reading the "Pace Yourself" article in Runner's World magazine a few weeks ago when I came across some "secrets to pacing" that made me raise an eyebrow and say "reaaaally?" Now don't get me wrong, I believe in race pace training as something that creates muscle memory and physiological changes, but Dathan Ritzenhein wants to bullshit me and say that running race pace workouts "helped him get used to that pace so that it wouldn't feel so hard in the race." Cue eyebrow raise here. On what planet does any workout keep things from feeling hard in a race? Even Deena Kastor, a hero of mine, says that race pace runs make her "feel more comfortable on race day." Comfortable? At a 5:15 pace, is that the word we'd use, Deena?

I'm more willing to believe what Matt Tegencamp has to say on the matter which is this: "It's never one workout that tells me I'm ready to run at a certain pace. It is a consistent amount of work that takes months to teach the body." See what he said there? Teach THE BODY. That includes physiological changes that occur, but he says nothing about making it FEEL any different.

I'd been mulling these thoughts around in my head for a few weeks, occasionally making mental notes for a possible blog post on the subject. I don't want to seem like I'm doubting what these amazing, elite runners are doing to prepare for their races, but I can't come to terms with the way they describe the effects of a race pace run. I've come across plenty of articles in my years of reading Repeats World, I mean Runners World about race pace and "getting a feel for your pace" etc, etc. but I just don't buy the idea that it makes race day "feel" any different.

Here's what I mean: even if you train for a 10K in Central Park by running only the loop of the park for each of your training runs, on race day various factors will be different and ultimately you will FEEL different. I'm not talking about the crowds or the wind, I'm talking about your body and your perceptions of how you feel while you're moving. Never have I thought to myself during a run, "ooh this feels just like last week when I did those mile repeats here." My muscle fibers may be thinking that, but my brain isn't able to convey messages like that to my conscious self. I've certainly never thought to myself during a race "ooh I feel so comfortable at this pace after that training run I did last week." If words like "comfortable" come to mind while you're racing then you are going too slow. *smirk*

After thinking about this idea way too much for a few weeks, I experienced an example this week of just how different paces can feel on different days. Monday morning I went out for a little unscheduled run before the Boston coverage started because I knew watching the race would fire me up, and I ran 3 well-tread miles around my neighborhood that felt like absolute shit. I was pushing myself north on the greenway with so much effort that it felt like a 7:oo mile, but oh no, it was a 9:00 mile and that pace continued for the rest of the run, despite my efforts to improve it. If I hadn't worn my Garmin that day I'd have sworn I was moving much, much faster. I was practically shuffling. Luckily I had a much better swim that afternoon.

Tuesday evening rolled around and I laced up to meet the Inwood Hill Runners for some speedwork in the park and I found myself leaving extra time to get there because I was afraid of a repeat of Sludgelegs. As I hit the pavement and pushed north, I hit what felt like a similar effort level and resisted the urge to check my watch. I maintained that pace uphill for a bit and then started down the back hill of Fort Tryon Park when I heard the 1 mile beep. I glanced down, bracing for another disappointing split and saw 7:53! Ahh my legs were back*, but it confirmed what I'd been thinking all along on this subject- you cannot predict what a certain pace will feel like, you can only hope to put in enough miles at that target pace that your Actin and Myosin fibers will remember it and get you there on time.

*for the record, we hit some sweet intervals that night in the 7:20/7:30 range. It felt so great to move so quickly.

Grete Waitz, NY's Leading Lady

2011-04-20T10:00:00.004-04:00

Grete chats with the NYRR Young Runners before the Run with Champions 2008

Nine times she won the NYC Marathon, setting the world record for women 4 times, Grete Waitz really is New York's leading lady. The running world lost a marathon great yesterday and news about her death spread through the running community quickly, everyone expressing real sadness at the loss of such an inspiring woman. As a child born in the 80's, I was too young to remember the way Grete changed the sport for women, showing us that we could really do ANYTHING, but I know that I have her to thank for the running world we live in today.

The two articles in today's New York Times about Grete are really beautiful and capture her spirit well. Not only did Grete win the race 9 times on her own, but she always claimed that her run with Fred Lebow in 1992, when he was dying of brain cancer, was her 10th victory. I can't say it nearly as well as Lix Robbins, Bruce Weber and George Vecsey can, so please check out the articles here: Scandinavian Cool That Warmed New York and In Marathon and Beyond, a Graceful Champion I recommend having tissues nearby.

I had the great pleasure to meet Grete twice in my time here in NYC, and I can still remember the way my palms got sweaty and I became speechless at the thought of meeting a hero of mine. I consider myself lucky just to have been in her presence, not to mention seeing her interact with the kids I coached at an elementary school in the city. The first time I saw Grete in person was at the NYRR Run with Champions which happens every year a few days before the marathon. It is a big day in Central Park where all of the Young Runners teams gather and have a few races, eat lunch and then get to hear some marathon greats give their running advice. In 2008, the first year I ran NYCM, Grete was part of the panel of speakers along with some other amazing current marathoners. In her cool Norwegian accent, she told the kids to follow their dreams and work hard for what they wanted in life. I'm sure she told them other things too, but I was too starstruck to remember. The photos in this post are from that event. I remember explaining to some of the young girls on the team exactly who Grete Waitz was, and hopefully some of the awe in my voice conveyed just how important she was to opening up the world of running to them. I know they were impressed when they heard how many times she'd won the marathon, but then again who isn't?

I cannot for the life of me remember the details of where my second encounter with Grete took place, but I distinctly remember her wearing a rose colored fleece jacket and me standing behind her going "oh my god, it's Grete Waitz!!" I am almost certain that someone took a photo of the two of us, but I can't find it anywhere. It may have been at the marathon expo in 2008, it may have been at an end of year event for the coaches and staff of the NYRR Youth Programs, I simply cannot remember anything but her serene presence and the grace with which she greeted all of her many fans, myself included. I know I babbled something about running the marathon and running and her being an inspiration. It was truly an honor just to be in the same room with her.

What a woman. As Fred Lebow used to call her, she was "The Queen of the Road" and she will truly be missed. Thank you Grete for all you did for us girls.

For other great blog posts abour Grete, check out Races Like a Girl's post.

Making the runs count

2011-04-10T10:34:00.002-04:00

Fort Tryon Park, late April 2010

As I mentioned in my 15K race recap, I have made the transition to running only twice a week and swimming 4x a week in order to train for the Great Bay 4.4mi Swim in June. I needed to find a way to get in a long swim on Sunday which meant my day off would now be Tuesday. I have been doing speedwork with the Inwood Hill Runners on Tuesday nights through the winter, so it's been a hard habit to break. This Tuesday I couldn't quite take a day off because I'd been sick the previous week and missed 3 days of training, so I did some P90X workouts and called it a night. I was sore from those plyometrics until Friday morning.

I did manage to make my two runs this past week really count as good training runs which makes me happy and confident that I can maintain my running while swim training. Thursday night our group run takes us on a hilly loop through Inwood, Washington Heights and Fort Tryon park and this week was no exception. We had a special guest this week though, Steve from NYCRUNS.COM joined us at the top of Manhattan for a run. The group was in good spirits as we caught up with a friend we hadn't seen in weeks and we introduced ourselves to a new member. It turns out the new girl has the exact same name as one of our current members, first and last! Bizarro. We ran a solid 4 mile loop on top of the 1.5 miles it takes for LW and I to get to the meeting spot. In honor of our guest, we had some post run food and drinks at an Inwood favorite cafe. That was a lot of fun.

The other run I'm keeping in my schedule is the Saturday morning long run with the Inwood crew. This Saturday I ran to meet the group (go to Inwoodhillrunners.org to find out where/when we meet!) and we decided on an adventure run to and over the George Washington Bridge.
It was a beautiful day yesterday with very little breeze and nice, warm sunshine. The air felt cool and crisp, but there was a haze around the city so white and thick that we could only make out the outline of the downtown skyline as we ran across the bridge. As we reached the bridge one of our members who also cycles gave everyone a little refresher course on bridge etiquitte because there were many more cyclists out than we anticipated. We lined up single file and started across the bridge, I was somewhere in the middle of the 7 person line until Charlie started moving away at the front. I felt like we were moving a little slowly for how flat the bridge is, so I looked to make sure there were no bikes coming and I charged up to catch Charlie. We kept a solid pace up and chatted briefly between flying bikes as we made our way over to NJ. After touching the rocks on the mainland and gathering all of our troops we ran back to NJ at the same quick pace, Charlie and I laughed at all of the cyclists waving their hands behind them to signal that we were oncoming, it sure looked a lot like they'd farted and were waving the smell away. Haha. I guess you had to be there. As we reached Manhattan again we headed back up towards Inwood via Fort Tryon Park and I turned around at the top of the big hill to head back home. The park is on the verge of lots of spring blossoms and there were bagpipers leading a small procession through the park for the annual Shearing of the Heather. (Fort Tryon park has one of the largest heather gardens on the East Coast.) It is a tradition I always sort of "bump into" every year, but never actually participate in. It's almost become the official start of Spring for me, so I smiled to myself as I ran past the folks with their giant garden shears. Bring on the blossoms!!! I finished up the run just shy of 10 miles and felt a bit tight in my left ITB, but satisfied with another perfect Saturday morning run. I can't believe that everyone doesn't start out their weekends this way.

Colon Cancer 15K

2011-03-31T18:07:00.003-04:00

This is my third year doing the CC 15K in Central Park and it is a cause near and dear to my heart. In 2008 my cousin Ted died after a 5 year battle with Colon Cancer at the age of 39 with no family history and a healthy lifestyle. Raising awareness of the devastating effects of CC is a really worthy cause that can save lives, and I'm not being hyperbolic one bit. So if you're over 50 and reading this- get your ass checked. There is a lot of good info on the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation website too.

The race Sunday was unusual in a couple of ways as far as NYRR races go, there were 3 events scheduled including a 4 mile run, a 1.7 mile walk and the 15K. Also, the race didn't even start until 11:15 because a biathlon run by NY Tri happened that same morning and the racers needed time to get out of the park. I will admit that the 11:15 start was a mixed blessing, on one hand I enjoyed not waking up in the dark but on the other hand I wasn't sure how to structure my morning. In the end I think it was fun but I'd rather not have NYRR make a habit of late races. I met up with a neighbor and friend @mwaldman for the ride down to Central Park and we left ourselves plenty of time to get there, it being Sunday and all. Of course we arrived in record time and spent nearly an hour freezing our toes off in the park! At least it was sunny and I had good company.

Ahh the race:

On Saturday night I peeked at my old 15K time from 2009 to try to establish a goal for the race and I decided trying to beat my previous record of 1:10 was lofty but I was going to shoot for it anyway. I had no idea if I'd be able to hold a sub-7:35 pace for 9.3 miles, but I was willing to try. I snuck in a pre-race warm up with fellow Inwood Hill Runner Jonathan who was racing for the first time in his shiny new VCTC singlet. We lined up together in the blue corral (the first one, eee!) for my first time in that corral. I assumed this meant there were about 35 people running the race, but the announcer told us that the runners were lined up all the way to the bottom of the park! It was really a bit of a rush to be in the front corral and I took it as a good sign but also as a challenge. I was going to have to step it up and prove that I belong there.

The start was quick and painless and I just left myself go with the flow for the first few minutes, not caring that I might be swept into a faster pace than I intended. I like that initial first rush at the start of a race and I wanted to savor it, so I took off and got right into a groove. A few minutes into the race I did a systems check and all felt good, even that cranky left hamstring that had been irking me all week, so I carried on at a nice fast pace. I cruised through mile 1 in 7:26.

Mile 2 is that nice flat portion on the east side of the park where life is good and I clocked a 7:15, hmm. I was feeling really great, but that little voice reminded me that the east side is the EASY side and I should save a little for the west side hills. "okay, okay" I told myself. I literally felt like I had to pull in my own reins to slow myself down but I knew it was a good move. Mile 3 came in at 7:29 and I was happy. That mile FLEW by, I couldn't believe when I turned the corner and saw the mile 3 sign. As we made our way down the west side I set my sights on a woman that I'd left pass me in mile 3, she was wearing a Hell Gate singlet and I wanted to let her go ahead but I had plans to catch her later. I just got the sense that she was going out too hard and I wanted to run a smarter race than that. I let myself enjoy the downhills of mile 4 and brought it in at 7:12. Oops, that was probably too fast but it felt really good. I couldn't believe how easy and steady the sub-7:30's were feeling. I knew I had to really keep holding back until at least mile 6 or so, so I clocked mile 5 at 7:26 and mile 6 at a 7:33. I took a GU at the water stop before the mile 6 marker, right at the top of Cat Hill, and I spotted my friend in the Hell Gate singlet again. Ahhh, I'd caught her without even trying. For the next half mile or so we actually ran shoulder to shoulder (ok, shoulder to tricep because she was pretty tall) and as we made our way towards the 102nd St transverse again I looked over at her and said "deja vu, huh?" All I got in return was a confused look mixed with some strain. I knew that if I was able to chat at that pace I could totally beat her, my new nemesis. I pulled away slowly at first, not wanting to blow it too early in the race, but I could tell that she was fading quickly. I peeked back at one point as we made the turn back to the West Drive and she wasn't in sight. Excellent. Mile 7 in 7:20. I needed a little motivation to stay strong as we hit the hills again and I noticed a guy in a fleece vest next to me who I'd seen back when Hell Gate and I were side by side. We pushed each other up the west side hills as I thought more and more about Ted. At some point I felt a blister on my left foot swell up like a water balloon, ouch. It could have slowed me down as I finished mile 8 (7:31) but I kept telling myself "you may have a blister, but Ted had chemo. Many, many rounds of chemo and he NEVER slowed down." It worked, I let myself pick it up and pick off a few runners around me as I reeled in mile 9 in 7:08. Many thanks to the guys around me who decided they wanted to race that last mile. Booya, that was for you Ted.

I pushed the final 0.3 at a 6:33 pace to catch a woman ahead of me (every place counts, right?)

I had a big smile on my face as I crossed the line Sunday, not just because I killed my PR by 2+ minutes, but because I knew Ted would have been proud. He was such a passionate guy when it came to everything and while he thought my running was a little nutty, just like the rest of my family, he was always happy to support someone's passion. 2 weeks before Ted died I ran my first marathon and I sent him my medal, he deserved it more than I did for his marathon fight against Colon Cancer. Even though he couldn't outrun it, I'm just glad that I can run this race every year in his memory. He'd have been proud of these numbers too, I know I am:

9.3 miles in 1:08:30, a 7:21 pace

Overall 256/ 2768

Gender place 23/1486

Age Place 7/ 494

I've never made the top 10 list in a non-XC NYRR race before! Woohoo!

Good enough for 67.4% AG

I'm stoked with the results, especially because this race was the last race I trained for before making the switch over to swim training for the Great Bay swim in June. Way to go out with a bang! Of course in the back of my mind now is a voice saying "think how fast you could run a half marathon at that pace...." Someday legs, someday.

Running weekend

2011-03-16T18:43:00.004-04:00

On a normal weekend I tend to run Saturday morning with the Inwood Crew and Sunday morning hubby and I sleep in, read the paper, sip some tea and relax. So far March has consisted of 2 "abnormal" weekends with runs on Sunday morning on top of running on Saturday. Coogan's dragged me out of bed 2 weeks ago and this past weekend there was the important business of an overnight visit from Nancy from Philly and Elyssa trekking uptown to join us for a Heights Run. Mental note: I must return the favor soon and make the trip downtown to Brooklyn with E.

Saturday was a windy but sunny day which made for an excellent day with the Inwood bunch. Despite the southwest wind coming off of the river, we pushed our way down the Hudson path to Riverbank State park and turned back to head North. The wind at our backs on the run towards home felt great, it pushed us along at a nice clip, rounding the run out for me at 9 miles in 1:24. Thanks to Inwood Runner JS for the company and motivation to pick up the pace.

I spent the rest of Saturday wandering around the Multisport World expo at Columbia where I met some great people and potential coaches for the upcoming TRI season. I had a great time walking around the expo and listening to the lectures, but what I enjoyed the most was walking around the neighborhood where I spent lots of time exploring and studying when I was in grad school. Morningside has a really special place in my New York heart. I enjoyed an amazing sandwich at my old fav, Panino Sportivo on Amsterdam & 120th before heading home. It was a perfect early spring afternoon full of running, swimming and biking...or at least talking about it.

Sunday morning came and thanks to Daylight Savings Time making us "Spring Forward", we lost an hour of sleep and had a somewhat lazy morning before our run. We planned for a nice 7 mile run around the uptown area including a loop around the new Yankee Stadium (and its sign boasting 18 days til opening day!)and a trip over the Macomb's Dam Bridge. We looped back around the northeastern side of the Heights (sometimes known as Fort George), around George Washington High School with its accompanying hills and Yeshiva University which were both quiet and empty on a Sunday morning. It was a fun jaunt around the area and a great way to catch up with friends, we finished up with 7.6 miles in 1:11. It's no wonder I couldn't stop eating Sunday night... 16.6 miles for the weekend.

In addition to lots of fun with the girls, I got a belated birthday gift that is going to REALLY come in handy this upcoming year... an AWESOME tri-bag to schlep all of my goodies around to my upcoming races! I can hardly wait to use it later this season. Check it out- it's even in my favorite color!

Coogan's 5K Recap

2011-03-06T18:38:00.004-05:00

I never know what to expect the first weekend in March each year, the weather changes drastically from year to year and so does my fitness depending upon where I am in a training cycle. This year called for light rain, temps around 50 degrees and "in a lull" fitness-wise. I was okay with all of those things, though I could have done without the rain. You won't hear me complaining though, I've nearly frozen my toes off many years in a row at Coogan's so I'd take this cool drizzle ANY DAY.

I have no real reasons for why I didn't race today in my favorite race of the year, I could have told you 6 weeks ago that I wouldn't be racing, I just am not at a "race ready" point in training. That is OKAY too because I have a really big year ahead and I cannot get started this early and expect to last until October 2nd (see here my plans for that day). All that aside, here's how today went:

I love Coogan's for one reason: I can roll out of bed and trot down to the start on foot in less than 10 minutes. This morning I had company for the first time, EG spent the night at my apt (we're practically a B&B) and we trotted down together to pick up our race goodies. I knew that Coogan's was going to be a BIG race this year because it is the first race of the NYRR club points series, but I think I was in denial about how crowded it would be. In '06 when I started doing this race there were ~2700 people in the race but this year there were 5370. Wow, big change. I know if I'd wanted to race today I would have been fine by moving to the front of the red corral, but instead I just ducked in somewhere nearish to the start and hoped for the best. It was crowded but I was ready for that and had no intentions of weaving my way through the crowds so I settled into a comfortable pace and trotted along, waving to my husband and good friend SF along the way. I avoided big puddles as well as I could and stayed steady up the first round of hills. This was my turf, I know these hills like the back of my hand. The course runs by my apartment twice so it is fair to say I would have had "home field advantage" had I chosen to race.

Mile 1 flashed on my watch at 8:46 and I gently chided myself for slacking off as much as I was (My PR is at a sub-7 pace in the 5K) and I decided it might be fun to do a little progression run today. I entered the park and got distracted looking for Joe, Julie, Robert and anyone else I knew. I spotted my friend Kevin S-S from VCTC who looked really strong, as usual and I finally spotted Joe as well, shouting out some encouragement to them both. I scanned the crowd for Julie, but couldn't see her and gave up as the crowd of returning runners got thicker. I thought I saw a friend up ahead and picked up my pace to catch him, but as I pulled up next to him I realized that it was a doppelganger. Oh well, I figured I might as well keep up the quicker pace and I started to look for other friends as we finished the loop around the Cloisters. I spotted LW and her crew as well as a few other familiar faces, but I missed most of the people I was looking for. I continued my progression run as I hit 8:01 for mile 2. Perfect, nice and easy. I waved again to SF and hubby along Fort Washington as we headed back down to the finish and hubby snapped a few quick photos of me smiling and waving. I brought it home with a 7:46 final mile and would have kept on running right to baggage if it weren't for the crowds. I ran into a few friends that I went to grad school with at Columbia as well as Inwood Runner JS who was getting ready to cheer on his daughter in the 4-yr old race. In the end, it turned out to be a rather social day. Oh and I ran a 25:15 or so and while that's nowhere near a PR for me, it felt great and I had fun!

After the race EG and I ran back to my apartment (yep, back up the hills) which helped us stay warm and we went out for a nice little brunch with the Inwood Hill crew. What a great day in the Heights. The heavy rain held off until later the day when I was home, curled up on the couch with a few cats and my Kindle.

Be sure to catch the NY Running Show tonight live at 8pm where we'll definitely be chatting about Coogan's and other NYC running tidbits.

Cats make great handwarmers after a wet,cool race. They're thrilled about it too..

Waking up from Winter

2011-03-06T17:58:00.002-05:00

I haven't written in weeks and it isn't because I had too much going on, it's because I had nothing going on and there wasn't much worth writing about. February was a really difficult month for my family and while I usually hate to see my birthday month end, I was happy this year to put it behind me. I had some good training in the first half of February including some good swimming and running, then we took off on vacation to Mexico for a whole week. Ahh that was good stuff: sun, sand, SCUBA diving and good old fashioned relaxing. I needed that and I decided that I'll be taking a February vacation someplace relaxing and warm every year. I did a little beach and sightseeing running while we were down there, but we left really early for dives and it was too hot to run later in the day, so I just relaxed! It felt good too and by the time we got back, I was refreshed and ready to jump back in.

This first week back didn't go exactly as planned, but I got in some speedwork Tuesday night up in Inwood (brr, chilly) and that felt so good. My legs complained a little the next day, but I think they were mostly happy too. Wed I was sick but got in my morning swim anyway, hoping it would help shake whatever was wrong with my guts but I ended up resting on Thursday night and getting in a make-up run on Friday afternoon including some of the Coogan's course which I knew I'd be running on Sunday morning. I didn't feel great on that run but it felt really, really good to just get outside.

The weekend brought with it the threat of icky weather and the urge to stay in bed. I got out early on Saturday and met up with my friend LW to meet the Inwood Hill Runners for the first time in WEEKS for a Sat run. I was excited, but my legs were cranky and I was afraid I was out of shape. LW and I decided we'd cap the run at around 6 miles if possible since we had the race Sun morning and we set off heading north. The group decided on a West side- East Side loop of upper Manhattan/Harlem and we took off. I was struggling somewhere between mile 3 and mile 4 and actually pictured myself writing a blog post titled "struggling" or something else equally creative. LW and I shared this sentiment and considered the idea of hopping on the train once we crossed from W 155th over to E155th St instead of running up the East side back to Inwood, but when we got there we both felt good enough to keep going. That was a huge mental victory for me and I was happy that I kept going because I felt good and the sun was making a surprise appearance. Our plan to cap our run at 6 miles sort of flaked and we thought we'd be finishing up around 8 miles, but I may have miscalculated the route forgetting that we'd run an extra 1.6 miles from home to meet the group. Whoooops. Oh well, in the end we clocked 9.3 miles in around 1:25 with lots of hills, running along the railroad tracks and the sketchy trail south of Dyckman St. I was really, really happy with myself for finishing that run. With my avg HR in the 150's I also got a boost knowing that I haven't lost as much fitness as I let myself think.

I think the combination of sun and sweat on that long run was me shaking off my Old Man Winter coat and waking up for what I hope will become a really great spring. Heck, baseball players aren't the only ones who get Spring Training!

Coogan's recap coming very, very soon. :) (like in the next half hour).

Progression

2011-02-13T08:32:00.002-05:00

It has been difficult to motivate myself to run alone lately, probably because 3 of my weekly runs during the winter have been with the Inwood Hill Runners and I've done very few solo since the fall. Over the last 2 months however, I've spent nearly every weekend with my family down in NJ because my grandparents were in the hospital which meant I had to run alone on the days I would normally run long with the group. Sadly, last week my grandmother passed away and I spent four days here in NJ and only managed a few miles here and there and one swim at the Y. It was so hard to get motivated to get up early and get outside alone. I did manage a quick run in the nice weather when we returned to NYC last weekend and I felt great afterwards and that made me a bit sad that I hadn't pushed myself to get out for more miles over the weekend. In times of stress and sadness, running is something I can turn to for solace.

This weekend I didn't make the same mistake of sleeping too late and only leaving myself time for 3 miles. The funeral was yesterday and I knew I needed a good run in the morning to clear my head and to try to stay relaxed. I headed out on a very familiar loop that starts and ends at my mom's house in sunny but cool weather at a moderate pace. When I hit a mile, I glanced at my Garmin and was disappointed to see 9:21 because I felt like I'd been moving at my "average speed" which is normally around 8:30, but I told myself that I needed to relax and loosen up. I quickly settled into a rhythm and hit a nice 8:35 2nd mile before beginning to pick things up a bit. I was progressing nicely and felt good, strong even. I reeled in an 8:14 at hardly any effort and was happy that the low 8's felt normal. I got thinking about the Coogan's 5K coming up in 3 weeks after my vacation and I worried myself thinking about whether or not the mid 6's were in reach for me for that race. I clocked an 8:04 for mile 4 and was content with the thought that for now, I was pushing a bit and could hit 8. I told myself then that the last mile and a half should be speedy with a really solid effort on the last 0.5mi. Mile 5 came in at 7:47 with only a 1 beat increase in my HR, cool. I pushed the last 0.5 mi in at a 7:16 pace and felt like I was moving fast but not sprinting. I was really happy with that run, I needed to know that I still had some longer distance speed in me after doing weekly speed sessions with shorter distance sprints. 5.56 miles in 46:01.

I thought a lot about my Nan on that run too, I ran past the funeral home we'd be going to later in the day, past my grandparent's development where much of my family was gathered, including my grandfather who is lost without her. Let's face it though, most of us are also lost without her. It was a really, really hard day yesterday and I'm extra grateful for running on days like that because it helps me sort things out and have some alone time inside my own head, even if my thoughts are sad and painful. Running is like a best friend when you need her most, always ready with open arms.

Rest in Peace Nan, I'll carry you with me on all of the roads that lie ahead.

The Sunshine cometh

2011-02-06T20:38:00.001-05:00

When we returned to the city this afternoon after a super stressful weekend, the sun was shining bright and temps were in the 40's. I have never needed a run some much in my life! I had a hard time deciding what to wear because it was 43 degrees, but the wind was blowing and the ground is still snow covered. I couldn't go on temperature alone, so I got some advice from friends who'd run earlier and set out in light tights, a short sleeve top under my long sleeve marathon technical tee, my favorite EMS baseball cap and my light headband around my wrist. I don't like cold wind on my ears, it's the worst so I wanted to be prepared. I'm sick of wearing my heavy trail shoes so I threw on a pair of Asics Gel Nimbus and headed out!
I may have forgotten that just because the weather was nice, there was still snow on the ground and ice on the paths. Oops, duh. I had grand ideas of frolicking down under the GWB, turning around after a bit and charging back up those hills, cruising up the Greenway to Riverside Dr. And back through Fort Tryon park. Nowhere in my head did I remember the ice storm we had last week, the cold temps and rain that followed. The run went a little more like this (with many laughs at myself along the way) : I frolicked down to the overpass leading to the Greenway, slid down to the path, which was clear, and headed for the bridge. I smelled fire at the top of the first hill and slowly made my way down the no longer clear hill where I smelled more fire, but couldn't find the source. I looked ahead to the train bridge and the mess ahead and decided to turn back. No Riverside run for me, I carefully ran back up the hill and headed north on the Greenway which was deceivingly clear for the first 200yds. The path quickly changed from clear to "death trap". Some of the ice had melted, but the path hasn't been cleared since the ice storm and it was slushy, soft and most of all WET! I hit a patch along "the narrows" that was at least ankle deep and brrrr! I was missing my gore-Tex shoes then! Wow, brr. I laughed at myself as I ran through the slop past the cars inching along the Henry Hudson next to me, knowing that they were probably laughing at me too. I made it back through the park, not the route I'd imagined, but fun nonetheless. Some punk boys were slipping on the ice and as I approached they said "heh heh let's see if she busts her ass." Nice kids. For the record, I did not "bust my ass."
In the end, I finished with a smile on my face, soaking wet feet, and that great feeling that comes with a sunny run.
Be sure to check out the most recent New York Running Show, I talked about the ESB run up and we discussed some other local races coming up as well as today's Gridiron 4 miler. Http://newyorkrunningshow.com/2011/02/05/episode-16-they-go-up/
I hope you were able to get out and catch some rays today too!

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To the top of the world

2011-02-02T08:15:00.004-05:00

Today was the 34th annual Empire State Building run up, consisting of 1,576 stairs to the 86th floor observation deck. I haven't run stairs like that since crew training in college and since that sucked a lot, I didn't train much for this race. I went out and ran the stairs on 187th Street one cold day in January but I was so sore for a few days afterwards that I decided it wasn't worth it to miss training days or injure myself.

This brings me to the first floor of the ESB this morning where I was able to chat and catch up with Robert and Antonio from my GMR team and a teammate from 2009 that I'd never met, Jeff. We hung out and killed the time before heading to the ground floor where we'd be jamming into the stairwell. I was nervous because what lay ahead was really the unknown. I only had a vague idea of what to expect and I was a little worried about being trampled.

Once the Invitational women's race lined up at the start, I looked around and saw that it wasn't all that crowded and I relaxed a bit. There were a total of 440 people who ran up, but there were so many different heats that it wasn't too crazy.

The race: We took off at the horn and I hung back just a bit instead of fighting my way forward to avoid being swept up into the folks who were starting (way) too fast. I settled very quickly into a steady pace, passed a few people who were really going too slow and tried to run my own race, not the race of those around me. By the 5th floor or so everyone was in a rhythm and breathing loudly. I followed the advice of a few people, EG told me NOT to fly out too fast and stay steady (check) and I ended up catching all of the girls who flew out before me at the start by the 21st floor. I'd also been told NOT to let myself look up at the signs on each floor to see where I was, I didn't look and was pleasantly surprised when we hit the water station at the 21st floor. The rest of the race went by really quickly. At the 43rd floor someone yelled out "halfway!!!" and I glanced at my watch and saw 9:10. That seemed like a good time, I was aiming for sub-20. At the 80th floor people started saying things like "almost there!!!" which made me want to punch them, that is the WORST thing you can say at any race, I don't care how close we are. The final 6 floors were all different lengths and it was hard to maintain a rhythm. I was struggling to breathe, but I really wanted to stay ahead of the chick in the orange shirt that I'd been leapfrogging every 20 flights or so during the whole race. When I hit the 86th floor and had to run on the flat ground I felt like a colt on new legs...eek. I could hear orange shirt chick behind me trying to eek ahead of me so I ran as "hard" as I could and we finished at the same time. The finish line was outside on the foggy, breezy, rainy observation deck which felt fantastic after running in the sweaty, funky stairwell and I was sad that we were ushered back into the building so soon. That finish area had more funk than Motown. We were herded quickly to the elevators but were stopped when there was some sort of medical situation in one of the elevators, so we all stood in a herd and coughed. And coughed. And coughed.

Finally we made it to the 61st floor for some post-race festivities and food. We had a nice time hanging out and catching a glimpse of Thomas Dold who won again for the men for the 6th time and Alice McNamara who won for the women. I even snagged a post-race photo and chat with NYRR president Mary Wittenberg!

I was feeling really great and I began reflecting on the race as we waited for the results. I had a LOT of fun! That was such a cool experience to tackle one of the iconic buildings of my beloved city and I felt great at the top. As the day went on yesterday I had thoughts about how I could improve on that time next year if I tried, etc, etc.

Believe it or not, my legs feel great this morning! I went for an easy 1000yd swim yesterday after the race and brunch to help stay loose and I think it helped. I could feel some tightness in my right arm already when I was swimming so I'm not surprised that my arms are sore today from "pulling" myself up with my arms during the race. That really helps save the legs, I was amazed (we weren't allowed to use the rails during crew practice).

What a way to kick off my birthday month!! Here are the results:

Overall place 178/440

Gender place 47/136

Age group 11/34

Final time 18:51

I'm happy with those results, but I do have some plans for improvement should I get accepted again!

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Riverdale Run by runamyswim at Garmin Connect - Details

2011-01-29T12:37:00.000-05:00

Riverdale Run by runamyswim at Garmin Connect - Details

A really fun and snowy run through the hills of Riverdale with the Inwood Hill Runners. We rock.

Learning to Tri

2011-01-28T09:43:00.001-05:00

Last year I dipped my feet in the Triathlon world, testing a toe at first with a sprint, then getting all wet in the Hudson at the NYC Triathlon. I was using an online coach at the time (turns out that's not for me) but to be honest, I really had no idea what I was doing. I put the 3 sports together, did pretty well and had fun but I don't feel like I can say that I took it as seriously as I take running.
Here's what I mean; I am fully immersed in the running world and have been for years. I know the terminology, the stars, the underdogs, the techniques that work for building speed vs distance etc. Running is my comfort bubble, it's.an old friend, a well worn sweatshirt. The time has come to step out of my bubble and get serious in the same way about the Triathlon. 2011 is my year to kick some triathlon butt, so I'd better start learning the ropes.
Here are some things I've learned so far from various sources :
-Us regular folks are commonly referred to as "age groupers"
-Chris McCormack aka Macca won Kona in 2010 and is hereby "the man! "
-Mirinda "Rinny" Carfrae won Kona for the women and therefore shall be my role model for the year.
-Both Of them have a LOT of sponsors, every other Ad in Triathlete magazine features one of them.
-Both Macca and Rinny are Aussies who appear to be kicking our butts in the tri. The first American male at Kona was 11th, first female was 8th.
-Doing An Ironman while working full time and raising kids gets some serious respect.
-There's A kids section at the back of USA Triathlon Life magazine. The stories about youth tris and the mini competitors are really great. It's awesome to see a sport embrace kids so much.

I know I'm barely scratching the surface of the Triathlon world with this, but it's exciting territory. Do you remember when you first started up something new like running? Everything is new, exciting and you want to learn all that you can. That's where I am right now with the tri.

As for my training, I haven't had the time or motivation to really train more than a few times for the Empire State Building run up, so I'm "winging it" on Tuesday. Training was painful and kept me benched for a few days afterwards, and I can't afford that. I'm too worried about injuring my knee training which would suck. There will definitely be a "race" report next week!

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Personal Record: A love affair with running by Rachel Toor

2011-01-17T09:40:00.003-05:00

When I first read the article in Running Times called "Resonant Routes" in the Oct 2010 issue, I was swept away. It was like a movie scene where someone remembers various scenes from the past in succession: I flew back to my old neighborhood where I ran in high school to stay fit for soccer, to the hilly and cold 10K loop in Durham, NH where I ran for Crew practice in college, the routes along the River Shannon when I studied abroad in Ireland, then to the longer loops I discovered when finally running for the sake of running and training for my first half marathon. It took me to the loops around my Mom's house in NJ, my in-laws house in Victoria, BC, the various routes I've run on vacation around the globe.Then came memories of the friends I'd run many of them with from everyday bagel runs in New York to the time we got lost in Dingle, Ireland and ended up in a herd of self-directed cows with diarrhea. Then I thought just about the runs I'm fortunate enough to have access to every week here in Northern Manhattan. My favorite hills and loops of my immediate neighborhood, those routes where you tend to know the exact distances, no matter how you piece them together.

I remember details of routes, small corners I like to hop over, ramps in the sidewalk made by giant tree roots that I soar over like a child on a bike, things like that. I like to run on one side of the street vs another because there's an apartment with a library I like to peek at or because I know the wind is less strong on that side. Whatever it might be, Rachel's words brought it rushing in. Wow did I like that article.

A few more times over the next couple of months I read more articles by Rachel Toor that made me laugh, remember something about my own running or simply made me smile. I hardly read bylines unless I really enjoy something, so I started to notice a trend. I think I even tweeted something like "Everything I've read recently that I really liked has been written by Rachel Toor." Now, maybe I'm beginning to sound like a stalker, but if you've read her stuff then you know what I'm talking about. Her work resonates with me as a woman and as a runner. After my friend Scott reviewed her latest book a while back (here), I knew I needed to get my hands on it.

I loved the book! Shocking, I know. After reading the articles by Rachel, I knew she was an author who speaks frankly, points out things that everyone has on their minds anyway, and does so with humor and fun. The book consists of 26.2 "chapters" that go from her days as a non-runner right through to her current ultra-running badassery. One of my favorite chapters, "The Closet" made me laugh as she describes the runner's habit of hoarding clothes, shoes, safety pins, etc. I even showed my husband and made him read a few paragraphs. He shook his head in recognition, especially the part about the ridiculous number of socks kept in an overstuffed drawer.

Chapter 3, "The Routes" brought my mind back to "Resonating Routes", the reason this whole girl-crush even started. It reminded me of the routes I run weekly with my Inwood Hill group, the nicknames we have for the different hills, flat stretches and the way we can describe places by mentioning something as simple as an odd feature of the sidewalk there.

I started reading Chapter 14, "Becoming a Marathoner" on the train to work one morning heading to Midtown, but I had to stop and put it away for a more private time. RT talks about running the 2001 NYC marathon right after 9/11. I can't read or watch anything about 9/11 without crying so I put the book down until I got home where I could dab freely at my eyes as I read. She managed to capture the heart of New York in those few pages, well done.

The rest of the chapters are fun, interesting, and just great reads for us runners. It's an easy, quick read and the chapters are short and perfect for squeezing into your day or sitting down and devouring in an evening. Rachel reminds me of my very best friend and running buddy, Nancy who has the same love for the trails and long, scenic races. She'll love this book too.

I'm more than willing to lend you my copy, or you can get your own here: Personal Record: A love affair with running

Snowy day in Fort Tryon park

2011-01-15T20:11:00.002-05:00

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Snow day extravaganza

2011-01-15T19:55:00.002-05:00

View of the Cloisters

Entrance to a snowy paradise

The text came later than I expected on Wednesday morning, but it finally popped into my inbox, bringing its joyful little message "NYL PRESCHOOLS ARE. CLOSED TODAY." I had a little 5:30am celebration and went back to sleep for a while. When I couldn't stand the excitement any longer, I flew to the front windows to see the snow. It was beautiful, the world was white and the sun was coming up. It was a perfect day: public school was OPEN, my work was closed (many of our kids are medically fragile) and 9 inches of powder lay like a blanket, waiting to be explored.

I pulled on my new Yaktrax, put a load of laundry in the wash only 187th st and took off towards the park. Fort Tryon park was breathtaking, all of the trees heavy with snow and the sun streaming in. I trotted up to the highest part of the park by the flagpole and frolicked around, buzzing around looking at the view from all sides. The snow was shin deep in many places, but the yaktrax did their job well. I looped around the Cloisters, by the river (windy!) and frolicked as much as possible. I was fluttering all over, arms circling to help me move through the deeper snow. I probably looked like a southerner seeing snow for the first time, just dressed like a ninja. I remembered my sunglasses and was glad as the yellow rays bounced off of the snow into my face. Running during daylight is such a treat at this time of year.
Sadly my run came to an end as I checked my watch and saw that the laundry would be done soon, so I ran back down the snowy street since the sidewalks were already cleared by this point.

I spent the rest of my snowday exactly the way I planned it: I took out my snowshoes and tackled the hills and untouched paths of Fort Tryon park on my way to and from the big sledding hill. I spent a few hours sledding which is a really good hill workout in the end. I flew down on my snowdisc sled and charged back up to the top about 100x before my feet started to get cold and my tummy began to rumble. I shared the hill with a few other families and their children, but since public schools were open, it was fairly quiet. What a perfect day.

I'm feeling the effects of all of my efforts today though.... Whew am I sore in all sorts of new places. I remember one missed landing off of the snow ramp we built where I landed on my right asscheek, how could I forget when it hurts each time I sit down?

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Going Up?

2011-01-13T17:27:00.002-05:00

So a while back I decided to apply for a spot in the Empire State Building run up, figuring I had a decent shot at getting in but not actually thinking about what would happen if I did get in. Well, it happened and I'm in! Right now my body is too sore from sledding to truly comprehend what I'm actually doing on the 1st of February, but I do know that the training period is short. I have a few weeks to prep, but I'm not too concerned because I schlep a lot of stairs every day to get home and on/off subways etc, but mostly because I have a solid hill running base. I'm hoping that will help with the aerobic fitness needed to get to the top. Here are some details:
There are 1576 stairs
The elevation gain is 1,050ft
There are 300 racers, chosen from 1200 applications
We're all nuts, every last one of us

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Salvaging the weekend

2011-01-09T18:04:00.001-05:00

I'm a creature of habit, I run on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and swim Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sunday can be a toss up, a gym day or a rest day. Instead of running yesterday morning though, I got in the car and headed down to visit my grandmother in NJ because she's recovering from emergency brain surgery that she had the day after Christmas. I told myself I'd just do my run Sun morning, but when I came back last night after a draining day, I knew it would be slippery and icy and I'm not looking for an injury. I had plans with friends for brunch and a movie today, so I pushed the run to the afternoon. That's always a risky move, I lose motivation after like 2pm. I managed to rally because I was getting cranky without any outside time this weekend, so I hit the roads. I had no route or plan in mind, just run til it got dark and end at the car so I could move it to a garage for the winter months.
I took off and hit the Greenway with the sun beginning to set behind old George. I thought about my Nan who told us that she walked 25 feet or so in therapy this week despite not having any desire to do so, but she said she bucked up and just did it. I looked at the road ahead of me and thought about how hard it must be for her to see a point to all of this. She keeps saying that she'd rather just die than have to go through rehab. Whew, that's hard to hear, but I understand what she's saying, the bumpy road ahead looks insurmountable and she doesn't know if she has the strength for it. Who are we to argue? I let out some tears and sadness along the way and felt better as I tackled the hills in Inwood and turned towards home. I took the hilliest route I could find and felt awesome. I flew up hills that slow me down on occasion as if they weren't even there. The stress melted away and I bounced home feeling lighter and so grateful that I'm healthy and can put one foot in front of the other every day.
I'm on the trainer as I write this (obviously not going that fast) to get a little spin in the legs as I contemplate the year of tris that lies ahead. Is it Spring yet? :)

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New year, new training log

2011-01-01T20:45:00.002-05:00

This is one of my best, most useful Christmas gifts and I'm so excited to start using it today!!! In the past it has been difficult to keep track of my running AND my swimming/biking all in one place because I couldn't get in the habit of posting to Daily Mile and my paper journal only had room for my runs so I'd have to squeeze in other workouts in the margins. It wasn't pretty. I'm really excited for this journal because it is perfect for 2011: Year of the Triathlon. Check out the fun features!

Each week is two full spreads with a tally at the end for EACH discipline. Yay!

There are training grids for every month to keep track of things like hours training, distances, heart rate, whatever you like to keep track of to help your training.

A race results page that can actually fit ALL of the info from race day!

Handy tips for a bike newb like myself.

2010 Year in Review

2010-12-28T22:10:00.010-05:00

A look back on a year in running, swimming and cycling.

2010 started with a bang as my husband, best friend and I all ran the New Year's Eve 4 miler to ring in the new year. All that I remember is a slow, slippery jog through the park with lots of excited folks. It was my only run with my husband all year long! It was an appropriate start to a year that topped out at 1300 miles last week before I came down with the plague and we got buried under 2.5 ft of snow in NJ.

We had a rough winter weather-wise, but I slogged through it with the help of many other great runners and new friends made via twitter.

January: The Manhattan half marathon in Central Park. I ran this one with Elyssa (Bridges Runner) and our friend Ansky who was looking for his first sub 1:50. The conditions were mild considering the date and we cruised in to a 1:48! This was the first of my 4 (out of a possible 5) Grand Prix races this year.

I also got in a fun training run in January with my brother and sister in law who came to NJ for a visit while training for their first half marathon. That was a first and it was great to have the company. They've since tackled half marathons, a full marathon and a few triathlons too!

February: This picture sums up Feb in a nutshell, lots of snow! We had the Snowpocalypse, the Snurricane and SnOMG. Through it all, I managed to get in a handful of quality runs to prepare for the "Run for Haiti" hosted in Central Park by the NYRR and also held virtually around the world. I was in NJ to get my car inspected that day, so I had to run it alone. Believe it or not: I set a new 4 mile PR on the nice square course near Mom's house. Was it the coffee?lack of crowds? I don't know but I came in at 28:27! 15 sec PR.

March: Looking back on my March blog posts I can see that the weather finally began to change because I am wearing shorts in all of my pictures. March was a good month this year, I'd been training pretty hard for the Shamrock 1/2 in VA Beach with a goal of 1:43 in mind. I had so much fun running that race and unleashing my new speed that thinking about it still makes me smile. I walked away with a 1:40 and a huge 6 minute PR. My brother and SIL rocked this race too, it was their first half and they are hooked! I'm not sure if this race is sold out yet, but if you're looking for a flat, fast half (or full) I recommend Shamrock!

Coogan's 5K is also in March, and it's one of my favorite races of the year! Passing by my apt and running "my hills" is always a blast. I made a math error this year, but I'm ready for it in 2011- I will get a new 5K PR!

April: This was a month of new things for me- I bought a road bike in April in preparation for the NYC Triathlon and I was hesitant but still pretty excited. I can still remember the nerves as I made my first ride around Fort Tryon park with my clipless pedals. I still have a lot to learn on the bike, but I have come a long, long way too. Hopefully 2011 will be the year that I get out of the middle of the pack on that bike.

April is the first time I considered a 70.3 Half Ironman, now I'm registered for one! I think it is safe to say that April was the beginning of an era: the triathlon was becoming a reality.

April brought yet another 4 mile PR, this time in Central Park with the crowds. This was my 4th "Run as One" for the Thomas G Labreque foundation and I went into it with no intention of racing, but the crowds got me excited and I took off, smoking those 4 miles in 27:48 which pushed my NYRR bib pace down into the 6:00's! Wow. I remember when I was running this race in 31:30 just a few years ago.

May: The Riverdale Ramble kicked off the month with a steamy, sweaty 10K on the crazy hills of the Bronx. It was worth it though because I came away with a 3rd place AG medal and a gift certificate from the raffle despite having Strep the week before. I'm looking forward to that race again this year, I'd like to kick some hilly butt.

Later in May I volunteered with a group of friends and one weird guy at the North Face endurance challenge 50 miler on Bear Mountain. It was so much fun that I may do it again this year, but I'll be sure that I don't have plans the day after because I was exhausted!!

The end of May brought warm weather and the start of the Van Cortlandt Track Club summer 5K series. I walked away with the first of many victory muffins!

June: My first triathlon!!!!! The NY Sprint Tri in Harriman State Park is where it all began! I

did really well (4th in my AG!) and most of all- I LOVED IT!! I can still remember smiling as I rode along the hilly bike course because I was riding with confidence and I was really looking forward to the run portion. It was during the run that I realized so many of the folks who smoked me on the bike were practically standing still on the run. Hmm, I was on to something here.

In mid-June I did another new type of race: a 12 person weekend relay in Vermont. The Green Mountain Relay was more fun than I could have imagined spending a weekend in a sweaty van could possibly be. I met some really fun people that have become good friends, both virtually and in real life. A 200 mile trek through the hills of Vermont can bring out the best in a group of runners, and thanks to TK we had a great bunch of people and a really smooth weekend. We aren't doing the relay this year, but I have a feeling we'll be back in 2012!

July: Early July was training intensive as I prepared for the big event: NYC Triathlon! I was really excited leading up to the race and it went exactly as planned, despite the wicked hot temps. With a killer swim in 17:52, a decent bike in 1:30 and a rockin' PR 10K run in 45:52 I crossed the finish line in 2:46:34 and I was thrilled with the results. Again I passed a lot of folks on the run and wondered why they were going so slow. I never realized that most triathletes aren't runners, who knew? They're all great on the bike and a lot of people struggle in the water, but I didn't realize until I started reading more about tri's that a lot of folks don't come from a strong running background! I'll be using this to my advantage in the future.

The sweaty, disgusting Queens Half Marathon was also in May, it was the 3rd of the Grand Prix races that I did this year. The trend continued and I ran the race with a couple of girlfriends which made it fun and bearable. Sadly, NYRR's attempt to revamp the Queens course just resulted in a windy, out and back boring course.

August: It was a quiet month after a busy July, I slowly started training for the NYC Marathon and tackled my last triathlon of the season. I went back to Harriman State Park with a little more experience under my belt and a hunger for better than 4th place. I raced hard again and walked away with this baby ----->

It was so exciting and fun, but I knew I had to buckle down and get training for the marathon and put my triathlon dreams on the shelf for the time being. I managed a few more VCTC 5K races and a few more muffins to finish off the season.

September: The Philly half was my goal race this month, but as you may remember it didn't go the way Elyssa and I hoped. In hindsight, perhaps it wasn't reasonable to expect a half marathon PR while training for a full when we both have pretty solid HM PRs. September was also the month that I stopped trying to fix my knee injury on my own and sought outside help. I found an excellent Physical Therapist who treats this type of injury on a regular basis who really helped me strengthen my knee so I was able to run pain free. If you're looking for a PT, be sure to check out Finish Line PT in Chelsea, they're excellent.

My husband and I also took a trip to Germany in late September for the wedding of one of my dearest friends, I was sad that I wasn't able to sneak in a run because of my knee pain, but we had such a wonderful trip and made memories that will really last forever. Marathon training marched on.

October: The best race of the Grand prix series takes place in September, the Staten Island half marathon, which was a lot of fun. It was my first time doing the SI Half and I think I'll do it again in the future. Elyssa and I had a really good race which we saw as an indication of readiness for the marathon. We finished in 1:48 and were thrilled with our steady, marathon pace run. Despite fighting a knee injury, I was finally getting excited for the marathon. I kept on logging the miles both on the road and in the pool in an attempt to keep out of the marathon training slump. My swimming partner returned from her house upstate after many months away and it was great to have her back. It was around this time that we started discussing a long distance swim in the spring or early summer next year. I started looking and found the Great Bay swim in June, a 4.4 mile swim between the spans of two bridges that cross from Annapolis to a small island. I entered the lottery and got accepted just before the marathon.

Husband and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on Halloween and spent the weekend in Rockland County, NY which turned out to be beautiful and peaceful. We'll be back.

November: Finally, it was time to run the damn NYC Marathon! Everyone I knew was tired, mentally exhausted and just ready to get Nov 7th in the rearview mirror. There's a lot to say about the marathon, but I already said most of it here and here. In the end, I'm happy with a new marathon PR (3:46 from a previous 4:03) and another marathon under my belt. I had a great experience both training and running with Elyssa this year, I'm not sure I would have finished without her. I know now that the marathon isn't my passion and may never be. I'm ready to see what I can do in the triathlon next year at various distances. The remainder of Nov was recovery, swimming, trying new things at the gym and rehab. The knee remained stubborn and I ended up getting an MRI to see if there was anything significantly wrong with it. Luckily, there isn't.

December: I'm tired of writing, you're probably tired of reading (if you made it this far- kudos) and I only have one race to report on this month. Just like last year, I ran the Pete McArdle 15K in Central Park with TE from Inwood Hill Runners and Elyssa decided to join in the "fun" this year. In keeping with tradition, it was the shittiest possible weather and the wind was unbearable. Luckily we were armed with a secret weapon this year to prevent us from freezing to death again: my car. The weather being even worse than last year, I wasn't able to beat my time from 2009, but I had a great race and a lot of fun. Best of all, my wonderful hubby made us pancakes and tea after the race. A perfect ending to a great year.

I know it's the first day of winter but...

2010-12-20T20:08:00.002-05:00

I really love this photo that I took in early November and I am not yet ready to embrace winter. The new blog header photo will stay up until we get our first big snow of the season. I have some great photos from last winter, but I am also looking forward to snapping a few shots with our new camera this year. Damn George, you're a beauty.

Some more cold weather thoughts

2010-12-13T17:16:00.002-05:00

This week on the New York Running Show we talked about cold weather running and what to wear, where to shop, how to stay safe. You should definitely check it out for some good ideas on staying warm:http://newyorkrunningshow.com

Upon listening to the show, I realized that no one mentioned running shoes for cold/icky weather. I personally make the switch to my Gore-Tex Asics Gel Trabuco trail shoes. They're toasty and really keep my feet dry in sloppy conditions. I wore them last year (and now this year!) at the Pete McArdle XC 15K in VCP in some muddy, wet and cold conditions and fared really well.

I think it is worth the cost for a warm pair of shoes that will last a while because you'll only want to wear them in crappy weather conditions since they don't breathe as well as regular running shoes. The North Face and Solomon also have a few Gore Tex options in their lines. It's worth it. Paired with a nice pair of Smartwool socks and you're in business! No more excuses for skipping your run because it is slushy or rainy or even snowy!

Deja Vu: Pete McArdle 15K

2010-12-13T16:45:00.006-05:00

I didn't know that the second weekend in December was scheduled to be rainy and messy every year until I started running the Pete McArdle XC Classic 15K. Just like last year I woke up to pouring rain, mild-ish temps and wind. This year was a bit warmer but the wind was atrocious. The rain was about the same, on and off but never a heavy downpour except for 2 minutes before the starting gun.

For some reason, NYRR made the very odd decision to start us ON the grass for a very small 0.3 loop before beginning our 3 big loops of the 5K path. I can't imagine the parks dept was happy having all 165 runners thrashing across the very wet field they've spent months tending. It was a gross way to start because it meant our shoes were soaked right away. Or in some peoples cases, their socks. I was running alongside Bridges Runner when suddenly she disappeared. I looked back to see her hopping with one stocking foot held high in the air while TE, a fellow Inwood runner, rescued Elyssa's right shoe from the mud puddle where it had gotten stuck. I looked on in disbelief, then doubled over in laughter. We were a mere 0.2 miles into the race. We carried on, laughing as we pushed against a strong headwind from the south. There would be no advantage on the flats today.

The first loop went by pretty quickly and I felt really good. We were passing folks going up and down the hills and the wind was not a factor in the woods. The path was very muddy, but fun. We hit the windy flats and really dug in with our heads down. Wow, there would be no PR with this wind, I felt like we were standing still with sheets of rain stinging my face and legs. As we reached the southern tip of the flats and started to make the turn around the Tortise and Hare pole, E somehow lost control of her hat and it flew off into the mud. More laughing. We trudged through the muddy hills a second time and somewhere on the back hills E told me to go on without her. I wasn't going to leave her, but she slowed way down and waved me on. I carried on at a good pace with a few targets to pass ahead of me. I was feeling good and so was my knee. I hit the wall of wind again on the flats and really pushed to get south to the turnaround, I was definitely using a lot of energy just to make forward progress. The volunteers cheered me on and we laughed at my attempt as forward progress. The third lap came with an untied shoe just before hitting the woods again. 2 people passed me, but I managed to catch and pass them both. Whew. I ran a solid final lap, urging myself on with thoughts of finishing strong and getting in the warm car. I tried to sprint to the finish, but the wind was so strong that I could hardly run. I felt like I finished strong, but it may not be reflected in my time.

In the end I didn't beat my time, there was no way. I did finish 5th in my AG, 10th for women and 68th overall out of 168.

Final time: 1:22
Avg pace: 8:53 (ouch)
Splits:

The splits were pretty even for each loop which made me happy.

I felt fantastic, had fun and I'm sore today so I can say I'm completely happy with the effort and the results. I know it may sound awful, cold, wet and mind numbing, but I really enjoy that race. I'm already looking forward to my next VCP race.

I've always enjoyed the neatness of the elevation profile for this race.

Enjoying post-race pancakes and hot beverages thanks to my wonderful hubby

My clothes and shoes are still drying

No pants Friday

2010-12-10T10:21:00.001-05:00

Well the MRI was quick and painless. I took my pants off, got strapped in so I didn't wiggle my knee and we were off. Typical Friday morning really...
In the past I've had MRI's but only of my brain and spine so today I felt ass backwards going in feet first. I realized that today was either my 5th or 6th MRI, I can't remember if I got one or two when I had meningitis in '06. Either way, I'd say that's above average for someone who is only 27. Luckily for me, I find the clanging and banging to be soothing and I usually snooze. Today was quick and dirty and over before I could get in a proper nap. The tech was a nice guy who said I was a month late because usually the Marathoners come in November. :) He said he ran NCYM once as a "thing to do in his life" sort of thing. We agreed it was a party for New York and lots of fun. More fun than lying in a highly magnetic tube? Possibly.
Now we wait.

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My secret weapon

2010-12-09T22:11:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned my new foam roller that I love/hate? I was using the Trigger Point foam roller at PT and seeing/feeling good results. When I took time off from PT for the marathon I missed this devil. Finally I went back to PT and bought my own. It made my plain old white foam roller feel like a gentle rub, so there was no looking back. The Trigger Point foam roll has bumps and ridges that dig into knots and it has a hollow core made from solid plastic that makes a big difference. If you have tightness anywhere, I highly recommend it. They have a whole line of trigger point stuff to make you scream at http://tptherapy.com (For the record, no one paid me to write this, I just love this thing!!)

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New York Running Show

2010-12-08T20:12:00.002-05:00

Check out the NY Running Show at the new site: http://newyorkrunningshow.com/ and be sure to download it from iTunes. Tonight's topic was "cold weather running" with a special guest from North Dakota where they REALLY know cold. Also, I'm on the show.

Reflections

2010-12-08T16:01:00.001-05:00

With NYC marathon a full month in the rearview mirror, I'm having passing thoughts about the marathon in general. I mentioned to someone shortly after the event last month that one thing I learned through the training and race itself is the marathon is not my passion. I know plenty of folks who are always training for or dreaming about training for a marathon. They have oodles of races on a mental checklist and whether or not they "love" the training, they do it over and over. That isn't me. I can't see myself ever running more than one a year, maybe not even that many. I'm not sure if it's because my earlier training this year was tri training, but I found the marathon training especially tedious this time. I discovered the joys of varied training without feeling like you're "cheating on running" because your swim and bike workouts are just as important. If your ass is too sore to ride (it happens) today, you rearrange and swim instead of whatever. It is harder to do that with marathon training. I enjoyed that aspect of tri training and lot because I have a hard time with a rigid schedule.
That said, someone remind me to look back and read this when I'm wiped out from training for the 70.3 next year. :)

Things on the running front have been back and forth for me lately, I had 2 good runs last week and saw the Orthopedist who didn't have much to say. On Sunday I had a fun and beautiful run in West Philly with a good friend, but my knee started hurting and my quad got very tight. It eased up by the end of the run, but was very sore on Monday, even during my swim. Last night I did speedwork with the Inwood Hill Runners and felt ok. I foam rolled before and after and I think it helped because I'm tight but feel ok today. I'm going for the MRI Friday and I'm planning to run the Pete McArdle XC 15K in VCP on Sunday. If the MRI results show anything that requires some time off, I want to go out with a bang. :) I have no races planned after Sunday and feel reluctant to sign up for any others at this point. I'm in a weird place between training phases right now and everything I'm doing is either for fitness sake or for sanity or socializing. It's nice for now, but I know I can't last much longer without a plan.
Am I the only person in this position right now or are others also feeling like they're in limbo? December is a funny month that way, I think of it as the lame duck session of training.

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What's up doc?

2010-12-02T22:38:00.003-05:00

Well, I saw the orthopedist today for a very quick (but pricey) visit and he told me what I should have insisted he tell me over the phone: Go get the MRI. Damn it. What a pain, I schlepped over to the east side and all to be told what I originally asked for over the phone. Lesson learned: in the future insist upon talking to the doctor because he will more than likely just send you for the MRI. It helps that he knows I'm a PT and that I've been going to PT. That might not work for everyone.

Oh well, I'll continue to keep the mileage reasonable and keep the exercises up. I should be able to get in for an MRI pretty quickly. My fellow PT/runner friend and I tossed around more ideas tonight about what it could be and why it isn't getting better. I came up with a new theory that it might be tendonitis at the point of insertion on the distal patella rather than a chondral problem. I think it could be either, so we'll see what the MRI says. I've never had an MRI of a limb, only multiple ones of my head and spine, so this will be a backwards experience for me I think...

The good news is I can keep running for the time being.

November in a nutshell

2010-12-01T21:43:00.003-05:00

I'm terrible at doing these month recaps, but since I'm here and I was checking out the stats for my blog and they're good this month I decided to post them.

Blog readership is up 73.5% with 47% of them being new visits. Cool! My most popular post was my NYC marathon report, which is expected I suppose.

Running stats:

8 runs (including marathon and 10 days off following)

Total mileage: 63.87

Avg speed: 6.6 mph (was I asleep?)

I also swam 8 miles in November.

Not a high mileage month in any way, but a high recovery month for sure. I feel great.

Picking up speed

2010-12-01T20:46:00.002-05:00

As the 26 day mark approaches (post-NYCM) I finally felt ready to take things up a notch and fully participate in Tuesday speedwork in Inwood Hill Park with the Inwood Hill Runners crew. The past few weeks I've been holding back to let myself fully recover from the stresses and microtears that occur during a 26.2 mile journey, but this week I felt ready to MOVE. Monday night I was plagued with an obnoxious achey, twingey, restless, uncomfortable feeling in my legs when I was supposed to be sleeping. It was so bad that I actually considered taking a few laps up and down the stairs in our building in my pj's to try to work it out, but in the end it was too cold to get up. I stretched my legs as well as I could, squirmed around a bit, then tossed and turned for a while longer. Obviously my legs were trying to tell me that I needed to get out and run! They were begging to be beat up and exhausted.

Tuesday night speedwork was a lot of fun, we have picked up a handful of new people in the last month and as runners tend to do, they fit right in. Last week and the week before we did some intervals around our 561 m track with about a 200 m recovery, but this week we switched it up and did a "ladder". Essentially it was running speedy intervals with "100 m" recovery. For the sake of sanity, we'll say the cones along the track were 100m apart, but really they were about 90m. We did 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 all with 100 m recovery jog between. From the second 600 on we ran in the opposite direction (we can do that, no one else was out there) which was a totally different experience because what was a tough uphill in the first half became a sweet downhill. I felt awesome, I was cranking out the intervals with solid effort and no knee pain whatsoever. A friend and I added on an extra 3.4 miles or so by running to and from the group including a nice haul up the stairs at 187th St to top it off. Whew, it was a great workout and good news- no creepy leg sensation last night! I slept like a log.

Despite feeling awesome last night, I still have to take a trip to the UES to see my knee doc tomorrow because my PT feels like we're at a standstill with my knee. Initially PT took my pain level down quite a bit, but then we hit a plateau and it won't fully heal. It is still sore to poke (I know, I know, don't poke it) and it still hurts going down stairs and getting up from the floor at work. Sigh. I suspect the doc will send me for an MRI as my PT recommended so that we can see exactly what is going on underneath my patella. I've been really lucky that it doesn't hurt when I run (most of the time) but I am concerned that running might be contributing to the damage. While I'm willing to take some time off if necessary, I'm dreading the possibility of the doc telling me to stop running, even for a short period of time.

So tomorrow I'm off to the doc to see what he has to say, and if he tells me to back off running I will be disappointed, but at least I'll have gone out with a strong run! I know I have other options too..swimming, biking, etc. which I enjoy, so I'll survive.

Give Youth a Running Start this Holiday

2010-11-28T22:43:00.004-05:00

Young Runners of NYC need your help!

Above is a flyer for a program run by NYRR that needs your help! The holiday shoe drive provides running shoes for kids around the city who want to participate in youth running programs, but lack the funds to get a good pair of running shoes. I've been donating to this program for years, it takes very little effort on your part, but can make a huge difference to a child in need. If you can't get out to pick up shoes for a child (NYRR provides you with a child and their age, sex and shoe size) you can donate a gift card or $ at their website (https://webapps.nyrr.org/supportus/).

The program still has 44 children who need shoes this holiday season, please help if you can and spread the word! Thanks!

Thanksgiving alliteration

2010-11-27T18:55:00.001-05:00

The wind in the winter whips in from the west.

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Saucony Bullet

2010-11-22T21:55:00.004-05:00

In my neverending quest for cute but practical shoes for work and trekking around the city, I came across a new shoe that I couldn't stop thinking about. The Saucony Bullet. I spotted them the week after the marathon, did a little fishing around for reviews, and scored a brand new pair on ebay for 1/2 the retail price. How could I resist? Previous finds have included 2 pairs of Nike Free's and a pair of Puma Lillea's.

They arrived today and I have to say, I love them already. They're super lightweight, easy to get on and off which is important in my job because I work in socks most of the day, and really cute.

Saucony describes them in a way that should please even the most vehement of "chi running" advocates:

We took the original Bullet, a 1985 track shoe with spikes and all, and made it street legal. With a super low profile, these nylon/suede shoes with a rubber outsole maintain the original sleek silhouette.

I mean, what's not to love, they're from 1985. I was probably not even potty trained yet. While I'm not sold on the idea of barefoot running, I can appreciate a lighter, more flexible shoe for everyday use to let your feet do the work instead of your shoes. That said, I wont be running in these, they're too cute. Anyway, a few pics of my new toys.

New York Running Show

2010-11-21T13:32:00.004-05:00

Lead pack at NYCM, photo taken by hubby.

I'd plug it myself, but Julie does it better, so check out a post about last week's New York Running Show and then download the show and check it out for yourself.

Races Like a Girl's post on NYRS

New York Running Show Site (download and subscribe for weekly updates)

The show is a great addition to the NYC area (not just the city) running community and I'm happy to promote it here and hope to become a part of it in the near future. You're probably familiar with a few of the voices on the show including Run Westchester, Steve from NYCRuns, TK from Pigtails Flying blog, Julie from Races Like a Girl and Houston Hopefuls, and Brenn from Turfcaster, and Karla from Run,Karla, Run!

Getting back into the groove, slowly.

2010-11-17T21:07:00.005-05:00

The view from Inwood Hill Park last night of the Henry Hudson Bridge was beautiful.*

With many of the big fall marathons in the rearview mirror, a lot of people are tossing out their ideas about recovery and the best way to go about it. While everyone certainly takes a different approach, there are a lot of folks out there who (not-so) secretly believe that their way is "the best way" and will try to convince you that it will also work for you. Here's the thing: you may have run the exact same time or pace or slower/faster, but your legs are yours and only yours. Do what feels right for you, not what someone else is preaching.

That said, I decided that last night was the night to get back out there and get moving. I haven't run since the big day and have only been swimming and doing core work alongside my knee rehab strengthening. The mental and physical break has been great. At the end of last week I was jonesin' for a run, but I wasn't going to let myself back out too soon again. I got injured by running too soon after my last marathon and ended up sidelined for 6 weeks. Friday night I expressed my intent to run on Saturday morning and my husband promptly called me and said "no you're not going to run." I must have been one cranky bitch last time I got hurt. Instead I took a really (really) easy spin on the stationary bike and cranked out a solid swim before joining the Inwood runners for a celebratory pancake breakfast.

Last night, Tuesday, felt like the right time to try out the legs again though. Conditions were right, there was no rain and temps were warm so I headed out to meet my Inwood buddies for the first in a series of Tuesday night speed workouts. Obviously I had no intention of doing "speed" but I knew it would be great to see some familiar running faces. Captain T put up a few flyers around the neighborhood advertising the new Tuesday run and they attracted 2 new runners including a high school student looking for some way to keep herself active. We were stoked.

The workout consisted of a warmup, strides and intervals with a 200m recovery around a loop in Inwood Hill Park 560 meters in diameter. It's like having a large track with a small hill on one end. We consider it to be a topographical advantage. I of course trotted along at a super easy pace for the warmup and lagged way behind on the strides, but enjoyed the company. The nice thing was that J, the HS student I mentioned was running at my recovery pace for the intervals so I had company and so did she as we got lapped by the others. I tried my best to keep my Coach Amy hat off, but I hopefully provided insightful answers to her many questions, both running related and not.

I know I wont be able to fully participate in the speed sessions for a few more weeks because I need my knee to heal entirely, but I think these workouts are going to be a great addition to my winter running. I do love the Central Park crew on Tuesday nights, but having this so close to home makes a huge difference on those frosty winter nights. I can simply run home and avoid getting chilled on the subway ride.

All in all, I felt great out there. Running felt smooth and easy and I just felt right at home being back on my feet. I have no idea what my pace or mileage was, and don't care. I still plan on keeping the mileage really low and easy for another 2 weeks or so, but I'll be sprinkling a little more running into my schedule as time goes by. For now, I'm on a 3x week swim schedule and it feels awesome even though I'm having trouble finding my 2nd gear right now. It'll take time to get my swim speed back, damn you unforgiving water.

*photo from skyscraperpage.com