Kayaking on the Hudson

For YEARS I've been wanting to get over to Inwood Canoe Club for a paddle on the Hudson during one of their Sunday Open Houses (10am-12pm Summer Sundays), but I'm always away on Sundays racing or beaching or paddling Upstate. This weekend we had plans in the city so I told myself this is THE weekend I will get out on the river and support our local paddling club. Dave was a trooper and came along for the ride even though kayaking isn't his favorite activity. It was a hazy morning with temps rising into the 90's later in the day, so I was really happy to be getting as close to the water as possible without swimming (don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have been swimming!) so I could cool off with a little splash here and there.

We were greeted by a friendly group of folks from the Club when we arrived and we payed our insurance fee of $4 and dropped a donation in the box, otherwise it was a free event. We were fitted for life jackets and then relaxed on the deck for a bit while the first wave of paddlers made their way back to shore. The views are really magnificent there, the George Washington Bridge just down the river to the left and the Palisades looming across the water, I just love this area. I snapped a few photos and a nice guy from the club took a great photo of us in front of the bridge.

 Pretty soon the first group returned and we climbed into (or in my case on) the kayaks and hit the water. I chose a sit-on-top kayak because they're my favorite. I learned to paddle when I was lifeguarding and we always used a sit-on-top kayak because it is easier and safer for rescuing distressed swimmers, you just fling them over the front and hop back on! I haven't used this type of kayak in years and I missed it, so I was happy for the opportunity to do it again. At one point during the trip one of the guides mentioned that I should used a sea kayak next time because they're faster, but I was as happy as a clam on top of the water. Besides, spiders hang out in those things...ick. We had a nice paddle up along the shore past Dyckman Fields towards Spuyten Duyvil before turning around and FLYING back downstream. Going against the current with the wind at our backs on the first half of the trip was pretty sweaty, I wished I could just jump in and cool off, but it seemed like the guides might not like that. Had it been my boat, I'd have been right in the water. 

It was a really nice way to spend a little time and talk with some nice local folks. I met a few swimmers and even more people who do kayak support for many of the NYC Swim races including my upcoming Governor's Island swim, my relay and the Little Red Lighthouse swim. It is always nice to meet new people who are a part of this great NYC swimming community. Many thanks to the Inwood Canoe Club for a great morning- I hope we can make it back again before the summer is over! 

Oh and the new bathrooms on Dyckman Street just around the corner from the marina are open. The parks dept renovated a really cool old building and I think it looks great! Be sure to pack your own toilet paper though... :) 

The 2x2

Last night I ventured back up to Van Cortlandt Park for the relay portion of the Summer Series, but it didn't go quite as planned. I'd planned on running with Julie (raceslikeagirl) and we'd been chatting about the race for the last week or so. I was excited to run with Julie for once rather than against her in a race, but during her warmup she noticed some bad tightness in her hamstring and made the wise decision to sit the race out. I was bummed, but I'm glad she was able to make the decision before the race and not DURING. Knowing Julie and her competitive spirit (much like my own) she would have hobbled through the race, causing further injury. So there we were with 10 minutes til race time and my team consisted of me. Luckily, fellow Inwood Hill Runner Jason had stopped by to say hi and I was able to rope him into running with me. This changed our division to co-ed and put our combined age at 65. Jason took Julie's spot like a trooper and ran his heart out on the first leg while I warmed up a bit and bounced excitedly at the starting line for him to tag me. He came flying in way ahead of lots of teams and I took off along the flats towards the Cow path. Unlike the 5K races which runs the trail along the side of the golf course and around the back hills, this race turns left and weaves up to Cemetery Hill which is a total bitch. Man, that hill is steep and long and left me whimpering this time. My GMR teammate and 4th of July birthday boy was waiting at a point about 2/3 of the way up the hill where he accidentally told me I was "at the top... Oh.. Well, almost" as I huffed up the hill after getting passed by a familiar VCTC runner. He's lucky I didn't have the extra energy to strangle him for his "this is the top" comment because it was definitely not! :) When I finally reached the top, I was thrilled to see the familiar downhill leading to the top of the flats. I did my best to keep up with the guy who passed me on the hill and the woman right in front of him, but there was no chance of catching them with only 0.25 mi or so left. It turns out they were both on teams in our division and AG and took the top 2 spots and the only muffins. Sigh. For the first time in a long while, I left VCP hungry. Oh well, both Jason and I ran REALLY hard and beat my previous 2x2 time by nearly 2 mins. It was a fun night, as VCTC summer nights always are, and the Inwood crew had fun showing off our team shirts to curious folks who peered at our chests to find out just who "runs this park".
I'll be back to VCP in two weeks for the next 5K, I hope it cools off a bit for the next race - this one was brutal.
Thanks to Jonathan Stenger for the photo of me charging up the hill in the worst possible shoes for this race.

posted from Bloggeroid

How to trash your legs in two days.

I don't do a lot of double race weekends, but this past weekend I had 2 "must run" races back to back. The first on Saturday, the Central Park Challenge, is a big fundraiser for the organization I work for (YAI) and the 5K has become a favorite race to try to win an award. I have now 3 trophies and 1 age group plaque from the 4 years that I've been working there. Now, to be honest it isn't a super competitive field and my trophies are for placing first in the Staff category, not overall or even age group (the plaque is AG). The field has definitely grown, this year had almost 1000 racers according to the announcer at the finish, but many of the racers are non-competitive or adults with disabilities or parents with children who attend YAI schools, etc. I had a good race numberswise, but it felt awful. I had a few glasses of wine the night before and that left my stomach in a delicate place for the race. I moved to the front of the race to avoid getting trapped behind the folks who don't understand that they shouldn't be in the front without any intention of running fast. This probably contributed to my first mile in the 6:30's. Deja vu, I did the same thing a few years ago. I got gradually a little slower as the drizzle stopped, the sun came out and the park became a steamy jungle. Yuck. Mental note: remember my inhaler for races.

They had us link arms in the front row before the start.

 I look happy because we haven't started running yet.

Overall I placed well, though I got smoked in my age group this year (7th/175) . I thought I might have been in the top 10 for women, but I was 12th. I felt terrible and ran a poorly paced race, so I went home feeling yucky and hot and unsatisfied. I had less than 24 hours to recover and get rested up for the next race.

Sunday morning was much cooler and less humid as I drove up to Riverdale with the Inwood Hill Runners crew in tow. I love the atmosphere of the Ramble and it was so nice to see a ton of uptown friends. I mingled, did a little warmup with my very sore legs (they loosened by mile 2 or so) and tried to stay in the shade and relax. The race started on a big uphill, but one I'm really familiar with from our group runs up to Riverdale so I took it easy and chatted with my friend Charlie. Yep, same race buddy from A Mild Sprain. We settled into a rhythm and took the hills one at a time, picking off the folks who started too fast. Around mile 3 we turned around and things got difficult. Wave Hill took the air from my lungs, dangling it in front of me, but not letting me get enough of it with each breath. Oof. Charlie gave me some encouragement and just let me catch my breath as we started to descend into mile 4. Finally I started to get my second wind and he told me I was in 4th place for women overall. I hadn't noticed, but he was counting the women coming back after the turnaround. The 3rd place woman was a good 30 seconds ahead of me and although I could see her at times, I simply didn't have the legs to catch her that day. Oh well, so I missed out on some free Sketchers shoes. Haha. We were gaining on an older guy for a while during the final miles and we finally caught him with less than a mile to go and chatted a bit. As we made it to the top of the final hill, I knew I had it in me to finish strong and Charlie surged ahead for a really strong finish. We were both really happy with the results and the fast miles we mixed into the race. I finished with a 6:56 for the final 0.98 mi (the course was short) which is crazy fast for me, but it was a steady downhill for the last 1/2 mile or more. I finished 4th overall female and 1st in my age group with an unofficial time of 45:40 or so. I haven't checked the results yet, but I some of the top 3 women might have actually been in my age group as well. (note:1 of them was)

Action shot courtesy of Sharon. 

BIG thanks to the great folks at Van Cortlandt Track Club for a wonderful race- as usual! 

As the weekend was winding down last night, I was completely exhausted and my legs were creaking and screaming despite the ice bath, lots of rolling with the Stick and Biofreeze. I was really satisfied with Sunday's race, but disappointed by my lack of pacing on Saturday. I know the 5K is not a specialty of mine, but I continue to barrel through. My next one is Thursday night at Van Cortlandt Park. I'll be running for a muffin as long as my legs are recovered. Right now they're on the mend and I'm definitely taking a rest day. I need to live closer to a very cold body of water for more frequent ice baths!
Now, on to more swimming as the season approaches quickly!

Elk/Beaver Lake, British Columbia

This Memorial Day weekend wasn't spent the usual way, lounging on the beach in South Jersey or swimming across lakes in the Adirondacks, instead we spent it out on the far west coast of Canada. My husband's parents live in Victoria, BC which I've only visited during the cool, rainy week around Christmas. Visiting in late May was a treat, the weather was beautiful -cold at night, 70's during the day and the city was in full Spring bloom. I've never seen such enormous and colorful rhododendrons. Wow.
On Saturday morning, the day of my usual long run, I woke up at about 5:30am ready to go. Of course most people don't get out of the house quite that early to take the dog for a walk so I bounced around for 3 hours waiting to go run. The time change made the days seem really, really long out there. My stomach would tell me it was lunch time, but my watch said 9:00. Oops.

Finally, we reached Elk/Beaver Lake where the family was going to take Finn, the old but loyal dog, for a walk while I ran the 10K loop. I was as excited as the dog to get out of the car and be unleashed. The trails around both lakes were well-groomed, wide and completely covered by archways of leafy green trees. It was beautiful and green and the sun reflecting on the lakes made them shimmer. I was in trail heaven. Until I got lost, but even that little 1.5 mile detour was along a pretty residential road shaded by tons of trees. I was following the km markers along the path when suddenly I couldn't find the next one. When I finally turned around and backtracked to where I lost the trail, I looked for a sign and confirmed that there was none. Oh well. I ran into a pair of guys running with their black standard Poodle and ran behind them for a while before passing the dog (she tried not to let me pass, it was funny) and joining them. As you would expect with Canadians they were friendly and helpful and had funny little accents. I told them I'd gotten lost and they said "It's impossible to get lost here". When I told them where I got lost they said "oh, except for that spot, oops". I stayed with them for the rest of the run until we hit the parking lots and we went separate ways. I love running (really athletics in general) because it's so easy to make quick friends and have easy conversation with total strangers. There's that instant "we're in this together" bond. Anyhow, the 10K loop turned into about 8+ miles which was great for me.. I could have run another loop if I'd had the time.

So if you ever find yourself out in Victoria, BC be sure to check out Elk/Beaver Lake - the most Canadian name they could come up with.
Here's the map of the trail and then the map of where I ran. Oops.

posted from Bloggeroid

Running the Rockies

Don't be confused by the title, I didn't take a trip to Colorado or Calgary for the day. "The Rockies" is the nickname given to Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Westchester County, NY. The Rockies has a winding network of trails which intertwine with the OCA, the Old Croton Aqueduct trail. My good friend Joe Garland is a big advocate for people getting up to run the Rockies and maintains the very useful http://www.westchestertrails.com/

The Inwood Hill Runners have been looking to shake things up a bit on our long runs, so a few weeks ago we took the train to Dobbs Ferry and ran down the OCA back to Inwood. This week we carpooled up to Sleepy Hollow High School and tackled 14 miles of hills, views and nature. It was the perfect day for such an adventure with sunny skies, warm sunshine and a nice breeze. In addition to the great weather, we had a nice little map and route from Joe to follow. The route was easy to follow and we enjoyed the hills and flats and bridges along the way. Our group of 8 stuck together for the most part, stopping just a few times to keep everyone together and once to ask a man with a dripping wet dog if we were headed in the right direction. He told us we weren't and sent us back towards the visitor center, but after talking with Joe about it I realize we we're going the right way.
After our gorgeous run, we ate lunch at The Horseman in Sleepy Hollow and filled up on ice cream in Tarrytown before heading back to the city. It was a full day with some really fun running friends. We even picked up two stragglers, haha, friends who had run the OCA down from Croton-Harmon earlier in the morning.
If you haven't been up to Rockefeller State Park, I highly recommend it. There are always groups up there running on the weekends, including a group from the Bronxville Running Company store on the last Sunday of the month.

Here's the map of the approximate course we ran, it was beautiful!

The elevation was pretty nice too, a gain of 967 ft according to my Garmin.

posted from Bloggeroid

Urban Environmental Challenge 10K Trail Race

I write this with sore legs and a still tired body on Monday morning, but with a bag containing the rest of a delicious carrot cake resting on the floor between my feet. This will make sense soon, if you aren't sure how carrot cake and sore legs could possibly be related.
Yesterday morning, April Fools jokes aside, was the annual Urban Environmental Challenge 10K held in Van Cortlandt Park and organized by the friendly folks of the Van Cortlandt Track Club. They always put on a great race- low key, well organized, fun and challenging. You may remember them from the VCP Summer series 5k's where I try desperately to bring home a carrot cake muffin every other Thursday evening.

This was my first time running the UEC 10K and my advice is to listen to people when they tell you it is a tough race. I ran into several familiar faces from the summer 5k's and the Uptown running community which is always really fun. I was warned ahead of time that much of the course is single track and so I tried to put myself in a good position early on and I was glad I did.

As we turned into the woods and onto the cow path, everything felt familiar until we took a sharp left onto cemetery hill, the most evil of VCP hills, but near the top we turned into deeper woods along a leafy, rooted, rocky trail marked by little orange flags. The course was easy to follow and there were tons of marshalls out directing the runners, so I doubt anyone got lost. The course weaved through northern parts of the park I'd never seen before and the changing terrain made the miles seem to go by faster than usual. The course was two loops, but not identical loops so we had to stay on our toes a bit. I was definitely working really hard the whole way, but I could hear the folks around me wheezing and huffing just as much. It was almost nice getting stuck behind someone else on narrow track because it gave me a chance to slow down a beat and catch my breath. It felt like the whole course was either uphill or steep, rocky downhills, but there were also a few sandy stretches. The trails weren't very muddy, despite the wet weather on Saturday and the stream crossing was lacking the stream! We've had an incredibly dry 3 months, so whatever moisture there was on Saturday soaked right into the ground.

So, back to the carrot cake. VCTC races are known for their fantastic prizes for overall and age group winners-carrot cake or muffins from Lloyd's bakery which is directly across the street from the park. I am always motivated by the possibility of a muffin when I run these races, knowing that if the field is small enough, I might catch a slot in my age group top 3. When I crossed the finish line, red-faced and out of breath, I spotted a stack of boxes from Lloyd's and wondered why they were so big. These didn't look like muffins.... Hmm. I peeked at the results sheet as I caught my breath and I caught a glimpse of my name in the 3rd place slot. Wahoo! It turns out that Lloyd's delivered carrot CAKES instead of muffins this time!

Like good sports we waited around for the awards before and after mine and cheered for the folks who nabbed cakes for their hard work. I was beat by a man from FRNY who won his age group too, 60-69!! Damn, he was breathing down my neck for a half mile or so before passing me with less than a mile to go and I simply couldn't catch him for fear of injuring my already sore hamstring. Oh well, I'll get him next time! There was an awesome Dad & son team out there too, they finished in a spectacular 65:00- the kid is 11! As usual it was a really supportive, fun crowd and everyone had fun, I really enjoy the relaxed feel of VCTC races.


My results- Now I haven't done this race before so I have no comparison time, but my time was 54:43.  Garmin says that's an avg pace of 9:11 with the slowest mile (2) a 10:10 and the fastest mile (6) at 8:11 pace. I was 58 overall out of 202 and 3rd for my AG and 10th female overall.

 Gripping my prize

YUM!

My feet and legs were so sore yesterday from running old, clunky trail shoes that I went right down to EMS and used my birthday gift card on a new pair of Solomon Missions. They're super light and comfy, I can't wait to try them out...once my ankle stops aching.

Shamrock Half Marathon, 2012 Edition

This past weekend, my Mom and I packed up and headed down to visit my brother, sister in law and my 3 nephews in Virginia. Heather and I were going back to VA Beach to conquer the Shamrock races, I was running the half, she the full. Two years ago this race was Todd& Heather's first half marathon. Now they've both run marathons and triathlons (including a 70.3 each!) and various other muddy mountain runs with those wild obstacles along the course. They're tough, so despite poor Heather's string of injuries I knew she would do just fine on race day. Even with one incident of falling off of the road, she still ran an awesome 4:02. It was a great weekend for everyone because I managed a PR in my race and I was more than happy to break the 1:39 mark in my race. My goal was to beat my time of 1:40:something   from 2010, but really I wanted to break 1:40. I was not confident in my ability to run that fast going into this race, not at all. I had a small confidence booster at the Coogan's 5K when I ran the hilly course at 7:01 pace, but that was short- could I maintain a speedy pace for 10 more miles? I get sweaty palms just thinking about it, even now. I was afraid of crashing and burning halfway through, but looking back I really did have a solid base and several long runs under my belt. All I kept thinking was that all of my training was too slow. In my head: My long runs were slow, my speedwork was too short, I didn't do much tempo, etc etc etc...  In reality: I'd run steady, progressively longer runs on Saturday mornings for months and I'd done so much inadvertent hill work that I was/am in really good shape. I even ran 16 a few weeks ago!

So, the race- Race morning was cool and cloudy and Heather and I were out the door at 5am with a sendoff from the dog and a sleepy Todd. We arrived early, parked and said our goodbyes so Heather could go claim a snoozing spot in the lobby of the Hilton since her race didn't start until 8:30! The half started before the sun was up at 7am but I warmed up quickly once I started jogging to the bathrooms and by the time I reached the corral, I had thrown away my long sleeve top. I was in Corral 1 which was intimidating last time I ran this, but this time I was ready for it because I knew I belonged there. My race plan was the usual: first 6 at goal pace (7:37) even if it felt easy, relax and evaluate my status from 6-8 and then if I was feeling good I'd let myself start to take the pace up through 11 and just go on feel for the last 2 miles.  I'm not sure if I'd say I was successful in following my plan or not, but whatever I did worked pretty well. I was trying not to get sucked into anyone else's race for the first 6 miles while I played a little leap frog with a girl in neon pink who was running around a 7:35-7:30 pace. I kept trying to slow down a touch and get away from her, but inevitably we crossed paths several times until the very end. She's in my finish line photos, a step ahead of me (damn her!), but for the most part I was able to just run my own race. Somewhere along the way I remember thinking that my body wasn't actually doing any work, I was just running along on auto-pilot and it felt smooth and effortless. That was fantastic, but I knew it couldn't last forever. Later that day when my Mom asked me "when does it start to hurt during the race?" I didn't skip a beat, "mile 8". I was struggling just a little bit during mile 8 and 9, but I only slipped to 7:39 for mile 8 which included a water and GU stop. Sometime in Fort Story (miles 7 to 9) I made a friend and he really helped pull me out of my tough spot. Some women ran by in the opposite direction and said there was a tailwind ahead, but he and I looked at each other and laughed when it became a headwind for about 1/2 a mile. We hardly said more than a few words to each other, but we stayed side by side until he saw his family with about a mile to go and he surged ahead about 20 feet. It is always helpful to have someone beside you, whether you know them or not, just to keep from feeling alone on your journey. There were plenty of other goobers around, but no one running as consistently as my buddy Richard. Thanks, man. 

As the race progressed, I began to get a second wind and I brought my mile times down a few seconds each mile from 8 on. I can tell that I was really running the hardest race possible because I couldn't pick up my pace any more in mile 13 to dip below 7:20 when normally I can bring my final mile down to 7:15 or so. I wanted to give up and die at several points during the final 1/2 mile stretch of the boardwalk too, so that's always a good sign. I was really happy knowing that I'd left it all out there on the course. My splits were not as consistent as usual, and I did have a rogue 7:25 in mile 2 after a crowded mile 1, but my slowest mile (1) and my fastest mile (13) are within 20 seconds and I'm happy with that. I actually didn't run one single mile at goal pace. Ha! 
I'm beyond happy with the overall results too, top 100 for women in a race this size is shocking. I hope I can translate this speed into some smaller races this summer and maybe take home a few AG awards here and there. 


Did I mention that they gave out finisher hooded sweatshirts at the finish?! Take that NYRR!!!