Recap: Maine Edition and the Home Stretch

Wow, we're down to single digit days until the half. Cue the anxiety!

Its been 2 weeks since the last update, and I've done only three *gasp!* runs! BUT! (there is a but), I did rack up about 60 miles worth of bike riding! So it's not as bad as it seems.

So I was in Bar Harbor, ME from 8/21-8/28, and only got one run in, on the first full day there. A moderately hilly 5 miles, which entered Acadia National Park. The hills were challenging, and once I got into the more level portion of my route, I was able to challenge myself by doing extended intervals. The temperature was in the lower 60s, but since it was gloomy and on the verge of rain, meant 100% humidity. Overall, it was an "okay" run.

For the next 3 days, as mentioned earlier, we did a lot of biking, to the tune of over 50 miles. The first day was the biggest challenge. Riding up Cadillac Mountain. From the house, it was just over 6 miles, and a 1500 ft. climb to the top, with the bulk of the climb coming in the final 3 miles, taking just under 2 hours. A far cry from the estimated "30 minutes" which the guy at the bike shop advised. Honestly, it was an amazing accomplishment, and had it not been for the running, I think I would have passed out.

Fresh off the 1500 ft climb, I did about 15 miles the next day, with moderate hills. A very scenic ride through Acadia National Park, down to Jordan Pond. Nothing too challenging, at least when compared to the previous day's feat.

The third and final bike day was a doozy, totalling 30+ miles on a rainy cold day. Thing was, it only ended up being 30+ miles due to a couple wrong turns! On some pretty hilly terrain to boot. Rode from Bar Harbor down to Sand Beach, then Thunder Hole, which was about 9 miles. Then the return trip would have taken us back through Jordan Pond, repeating the previous day's return. One swift wrong turn, then another, tacked on a bunch of needless HILLY miles. But hey, in the end, it was a GREAT workout.

Took the next 4 days off to recover (though I should mention that I did kayak one of those days), and did a 5 mile run, in 90+ degree weather. Though hot, humidity was down. First half of the run went great, then deteriorated quickly as the heat caught up with me. Last night's run, though a touch cooler (89 degrees?), the humidity was up, so was cut short after one lap around the southern
loop.

So its been an interesting past 2 weeks, and should be even more interesting next 10 days. The plan is to hit 10 miles tomorrow, and will cap the training there. Two shorter runs for the upcoming week before the race, and then it's showtime. Man oh man, here we go. Hope to have an update before then.

Running Recap (8/13 - 8/19)

Looks like its just about crunch time, 3 weeks left until the Half!

It was a pretty decent week, which included two 8 mile runs. One short 1.7 mile (which was shortened by heavy downpouring rain, yes, got drenched!), and an early morning 3 miler (this morning!). Both 8 milers came on relatively cooler and very low humidity days, which made them possible to begin with. What I realized from those two runs is that, given similar weather conditions, its not my conditioning and/or lungs that will prevent me from finishing (or at least finishing with a respectable time), its my legs. Anytime I surpass the 6 or 7 mile mark, everything starts to ache. From the balls of my feet, ankles, knees, and the newest one, my right hip flexor. This is what I get for not being as diligent with yoga as I had planned. But I completed both 8 milers in about 1:30, so that realistically puts me in the 2:30 range to complete the Half. Not what I wanted, but hey, as I have said before, I'm just looking to finish (in one piece!) at this point!

I cannot believe I actually peeled myself out of bed to run this morning. Got up around 6:15am, washed up, got dressed, and started around 6:30. All the experts recommend that you run in the morning, but man, it was tough. Even though the weather seems nice now, the humidity was around 75% this morning, which is trouble for me, despite the cooler temp.

So now its off to Maine for the week. No plans on slowing down the training though! Hopefully I'll get a long run in there somewhere. We'll be doing  a bit of biking, so at the very least, I know I'll stay active through the week.

Here is the route from this morning, courtesy of MapMyRun.com

Running Recap (8/6 through 8/12)

I ended the last post saying I may be ambitious and do 7 miles. Well, I didnt, I did 7.5! Hah! We've been having some great weather, and that day in particular, felt really good. So I did the full 6 in central park, and when I got back down to 59th, I decided to do a bonus lap on the southern loop. But right as I got to the 7.5 mile mark, my legs were completely exhausted.  I could not take another step, even if i wanted to.  And to my surprise, my lungs were actually ok. If my legs would have cooperated, completing the southern loop at the end would not have been a problem.  I'm still at a snail's pace, hovering around an 11 min-mile for the longer distances. But hey, at this point, I'm just looking to finish this half-marathon. Which, by the way, is in exactly a month from yesterday!!

Sunday 8/8 turned out to be a nice day, so went for a quick 3 miles at the Cross Island path. That turned out to be harder than I had anticipated, given the conditions. But I got the run in, and thats all that mattered. The next day, 8/9, I had planned to do just another 3 miler (twice around the southern loop, central park), since it was near 90 degrees and humidity was moderate. But as I head out, it seemed cooler and less humid than was forcasted. I still set out for my 2x around, but as I'm finishing up the 2nd lap, it felt SO good, that I did an extra 3rd lap, for a total of 5.2 for the day.  And really, I felt like I could have kept on going! Great run for the day.

And then theres Wed 8/11, I'm not even sure what my plan was, but it was a complete off-day. My legs felt the slight burn in the beginning, which is completely normal as I warm up. But, as I'm approaching the end of the first lap, the burn was still there, and I found it hard to breathe. It was warm and humid, and the sweat was dripping off my arms! So, I completed the loop and called it a day. There was really no point in furthering that run.

So, tomorrow (8/14) is looking to be a really nice temperate, low humidity day...so again, going ambitious. The plan is 8.  We'll see how that goes....'till next time!

Running Recap (last 2 weeks)

The weather has become more bearable as of late, so have somewhat been on track. Though still not going out as frequently as I like, the sessions are getting better. Since last update, I've only had 3 runs, of 5, 6 and 6 miles each, with no breaks in the second 6 mile day.  The second one was also run 4 min faster than the previous one, which I'm sure the lack of breaks had something to do with. Nothing really of significance to note....

Mixed in there was an all day softball tournament, which left me pretty sore (surprisingly) the following day or two. 

On my last run, I tested out the iMapMyRun app on the iPhone, and I really like it. It'll map your route as you run (using the phone's GPS), and record information such as time, pace, speed and your mile splits; it can also give live updates via twitter or facebook, which for a geek like me, I find to be a really nice touch. The splits is what was sorely missing from Nike+ (if it does tells have that information, someone please enlighten me!). I feel like thats such a basic yet important stat, and have a hard time believing that its missing from Nike+. iMapMyRun then syncs to your account on mapmyrun.com, and logs all your information. The site even shows the elevation of your route. I've only used it once so far, but I really like the app.  I'm still using Nike+, so it was a bit tricky starting both apps on the phone before starting my run.

Was planning on doing another 6 miles tonight, but as the weather is looking to be really good this evening,  I may be a little ambitious and up that to 7. We'll see.

Heat & Humidity!

Its been a month since my last post, and thankfully, the whole "no posts = no training" does not hold true this time! Though training has slowed in the past month for 2 reasons: 1) i was on vacation for 9 days and 2) it has been ridiculously hot and humid here in the NYC. Lets see how much I can recap.

First things first, I've reached the "GREEN" level on My Nike+ ! Meaning I've exceeded 155 miles run, this year alone! Thats probably more than I've run in my entire life up to the beginning of this year.

So I left off my recaps on a really good note, logging my longest run (7 miles!). Its been a bit downhill since then, no pun intended.  In my week before vacation, I did 2 runs, for 5 miles each. First one was a tempo run, and for the second, I had fully intended to do another long run (7 miles), but the heat/humidity was too much to bear, and I had to cut it off after struggling through 5.2 miles. Then, it was off to Aruba!  The resort actually had organized runs at 7am on a couple days, which I REALLY wanted to join. But of course, its in the AM, and well, quite frankly, I WAS ON VACATION. Though I missed those runs, I was able to make it to the gym (at about 10pm) one night. Did some lifting (half of P90X Chest & Back, actually), then hopped on the treadmill. Did about 3 miles, and it appears the workout preceding it had wiped me out a bit, as I was pretty maxed out at 3 miles.

So, upon returning (2 days later actually), was the Dash & Splash 10k in Central Park. How'd I do? Lets just say that it probably was not the best idea to sign up for a race thats 2 days after you were just on vacation for about 9 days.  We'll chalk it up to that, being extremely humid, and the fact that I probably wasn't properly nourished and hydrated for the race. I had to start walking around the 3 mile mark, and in fact, probably walked more than I ran in the final 2 miles.  I've never been so disappointed, ever! (ok, maybe I have, but just to give you an idea of my disappointment with my finish). I wont even get into my numbers, lets just leave it at, they were abysmal.

So since that race, it has been pretty hot and humid, so my performance and running has suffered significantly. Did a couple tempo runs, but had to keep most short, and as I saw during the 10k, could not really make it past mile 3. Finally, yesterday, we had our first low humidity day in a long while, and I was able to go out and do the 5.2 miles in Central Park, sans any breaks. What a wonder that did to boost my confidence again. OK! So thats my "brief" recap of the past month. Hope to be back to my weekly updates next week. 'Till next time...

Running Recap, week of 6/14

So I decided I'd try a run, a day after I did Plyo X. Simply put, my legs were having NONE of it. Dragged myself around the southern loop in Central Park once, and called it a day.  The muscles in my legs were just WAY too sore. In fact, they were sore until at least Thursday.

Wednesday was the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (3.5 miles).  Finished in 39:30, which quite frankly, I was very disappointed with, considering the amount of running I had been putting in, and knowing that I've done longer distances at  faster times. I suppose I'll chalk it up to still being sore from Plyo, and the simple fact that it was really, really crowded.

Reached yet another milestone on my third run of the week (on Friday); 7.2 miles, longest run to date.  Completed it in about 80 minutes, but I did stop once (planned), for about 2-3 minutes.  I realized that stopping is a really bad idea for me, unless I absolutely need to.  What happens is, though I didnt stop completely, I walked for those 2-3 minutes; but, I guess my body goes into this "shutdown" mode, where it thinks we're done. When I tried to pick it back up, it was mighty difficult, for the first few minutes, at least.  It's as if I had to re-do the warmup.

Another good three-run week in the books! 'til next time...

Ouch!

Ok, the DOMS has fully set in from Sunday night's Plyo session. For those of you who have started or tried P90X and done Plyo X; you should be familiar with the pain. Its been a while, and though I have been running, it has in no way primed the legs for the beating that is Plyo. Ouch. Ouch indeed.

Running Recap 6/7 - 6/13, 100 miles, Plyo X...

An overall good training week. And since, for me, it was a huge personal milestone, its worth repeating...

I have now ran over 100 miles for the year!!

Go me! In any case, since I made last week a recovery/taper week, I started the week off with a long run. 6.4 miles in Central Park- going in the reverse direction (clock wise). This direction seemed to be a touch easier, as the uphill wasn't quite as long as it is going the opposite way. Improved my average mins/mile, compared to the last long run.

On 6/10, I had intended on doing 4 miles. It started to drizzle as I started the run, and didnt think much of it, and thought as long as it stayed like that I would be fine. Well, it DIDNT stay like that. It started coming down in buckets at one point, so had to cut the run short to just once around the southern loop for 1.74 miles. And just as luck would have it, it cleared up as soon as I left the park. So to make up for the rain shortened run, I went back on the following day, 6/11, for a 4 mile run at the CIP path.  Made it a quasi-tempo run, where I averaged a 10:20 min/mile. The first mile I was able to do in under 10.

And as a bonus....I did Plyo X yesterday (6/13)! The first time in a very long while. And I'm happy to report, I was able to get through the WHOLE thing, bonus round included- WITHOUT ANY BREAKS. So it appears my condition is improving. Good stuff.

Coming up: This week will be the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. It will fill in good for one of my runs for the week. 'Til next time!

Running Recap 5/31 and 100 miles!!

So I decided to make it a taper/recovery week, only doing 1 run for 4 miles. On Monday (Memorial Day) 5/31, I did play some softball and volleyball, which was good and served as a bit of cross training. I was more sore than I expected to be.  On Wed, I did 4 miles in Central Park on a new route: entering at 59th, I went west/north along the west side, crossed over at 72nd towards the east side, then went north on the east side up to 90th. Turned around and reversed course.

Right calf and hammy were sore for the next day or 2, which is what ultimately led to just taking the next few days off. The heat wave didnt help it either.

After my run yesterday (which will be in the next recap), I broke 100 miles for the year! Thought I'd take a moment and celebrate the milestone =)

Running Recap: Week of 5/24

Third straight week of consistent running. I may be onto something here....

So here's the result of what was previously planned:

5/26 (Wed): Hills, Central Park, twice around southern loop, 3.5 miles.
5/28 (Fri): Long run (5, maybe 6 miles)
5/30 (Sun): Tempo

I had to alter my Wed. run simply because it was a 90+ degree day. It was hard to breathe, let along run. Scrapped the hills and just tried to go twice around the southern loop. Barely made that and had to walk near the 3 mile mark. Note to self: DO NOT RUN IN 90+ DEGREE WEATHER!

Friday's long run was a good one, for the full 6 mile outer loop in central park. Coolish day, in the upper 60s. The small 1 mile-ish section at the northern most part of the course had a humongo hill, which I went up at a snail's pace. Fortunately, humongo hills are usually coupled with fairly equal downhills, this one is actually named "the great hill". Which allowed me to coast down, for a short while at least. Completed the 6 in roughly 66 min; avg a 10:55 min/mile (according to Nike+).


Got my lazy butt out on Sunday afternoon (a big feat in itself!); to do my tempo runs at the Cross Island path. Jogged from home to the park (appx 1 mile) as my warm up. Entered the path and did half-mile tempo runs. Maintained roughly a 9 min/mile, but was pretty winded by the end of the half mile. Did that twice. Then on the way back, from the path back to 35th Ave., is about a .3 mile uphill. So I did another tempo run going up the hill.


Its looking good for now, need to plan a taper week soon. Legs are beginning to fatigue a little.