Progression

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

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!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

To the top of the world

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!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

Riverdale Run by runamyswim at Garmin Connect - Details

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

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!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

Personal Record: A love affair with running by Rachel Toor

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

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5