Still On Track (Sort of...)

I'm not to sure how my recaps ended up on a Tues, but I guess I'll keep that going until it changes again. So I had volleyball last tuesday, worked up quite a sweat. Took Wed and Thur off (was significantly sore from Yoga!). On Friday, I went out to CP and ran 5 miles.  Being that its been about 2 weeks since I last ran (Cow Harbor 10k), it was a pretty good run. After using the first couple miles as a warm up, I actively tried to push the pace a little bit, to be just outside of my comfort zone, with my average pace being 10:30 for the entire run. Broken down into mile splits (which Nike+ now has), after my warm up mileage, I was actually closer to a 10 min-mile, which is much faster than I had been running.  So all in all, was very happy with that run.

Had every intention to bike at least one day over the 3 day weekend, but it was nixed by trips to Ikea! haha...so though I did not take the bike out on saturday, I did remain active. How you ask? By putting together Ikea furniture! Ok, a bit of a stretch, but it beats sitting around doing nothing.

"Day 1: Chest and Back (~50 min)
One word describes this work out, INTENSE. workout essentially alternates chest (push-ups) and back (pull-ups). and on top of that, after you're done with that, you tackle Ab Ripper X, which is 339 reps of various ab exercises. the key to chest and back? PACE YOURSELF. you think you're all manly and do as many reps as you can in the beginning, when you repeat the set, forget it, i was down to 3 reps because i ran out of gas."

As I'm trying to restart the X, I thought it'd be fun to revisit my first post, from 2 years ago, when I first started P90X.  I quoted it above. I thought I was more descriptive, but I was not. And that last part about being down to 3 reps, yea, that was ON MY KNEES. So Monday I did in fact jump into Chest & Back. and man, its every bit as tough as it was on that day over 2 years ago. I tried to take it easy, but even so, I was pretty spent, ALMOST thought about not doing Round 2, but was determined to. I did have to skip Dive Bombers cuz quite frankly, I couldnt even do 1 at that point. Hoping next week will be better.

and FINALLY, another pat on the back as I, WOKE UP EARLY TO DO PLYO THIS MORNING!! Go t up at 6am, washed up, changed, downed a protein drink, and got started around 6:20.  Overall, it went well, I was able to keep up and not add any extra breaks (thank you half marathon), and my legs did get a good workout. Jump knee tuck and Rock Star hops are still the 2 most exhausting moves, ever. But as of right now, as I write this post, my legs feel fine, and I'm not even really sore from the workout.  In fact, I'm tempted to even say it doesnt feel like I actually DID plyo this morning. Perhaps I dreamt that I did...haha. But no, I KNOW I did =).

Ok, hoping the rest of the week goes as smoothly as the last couple of days, and hoping that I continue to get up to workout in the morning. Thanks for reading, 'til next time!

A Quick Update

It has been about ten days since the Cow Harbor Run, and everything is still going as planned. Asides from volleyball the the tuesday after the race, I pretty much took the rest of the week off. As further proof of my lack of cross training when I was training for the Half, I was moderately sore after volleyball. And honestly, I dont find volleyball that demanding!

Saturday (one week removed from the race) I took the bike out and did 12 miles. I did take a mini break in the middle, so the first 6.3 miles took me about 29 min, then another 6.3 miles took me 27 minutes. This included some congestion due to walkers and/or cars, and not really busting it all out. So I'm thinking I should be able to do the bike portion (of the Sprint Triathlon) in around 40-45 min. Now that I'm thinking about it, if I can do each leg of the Tri in 40 min, and with a finishing time of about 2 hours, I'd be pretty darn happy with that!

Finally, I did Yoga X last night, and well, it left me pretty exhausted. I actually did the whole thing (sans the "ohmms" at the end). I was completely wiped out at one point, and actually had to pause for some hydration. I was able to do all the push-ups that are thrown in. Definitely lost a good amount of flexibility in my legs, especially the muscles which are in high demand when running (like the hip flexors).

Have volleyball again tonight, then hoping to hit up Yoga X again, maybe thur or friday. Take the bike out again during the weekend, then its X time.

The Great Cow Harbor 10k

Today was the Great Cow Harbor 10k Run! Warm, slightly humid day, but I was able to greatly improve my time from my last 10k from 1:20:37; 13 min-mile pace- to 1:09:19; 11:10 min-mile pace.  And that could have been somewhat better, had it not been so crowded at the start. Was at a walking pace probably for the first quarter mile. Overall, it was a good run, pretty scenic, and homey. The route took you through residential streets, and people were on the front doors and front yards cheering you on. Its very encouraging seeing people do that. I'm satisfied with my finish, but will continue to strive for a better pace.

So everything is going as planned so far. Took a week off after the Half, and did 2 runs this week leading up to the Cow Harbor. First run, did about 3 miles, with 4 half-mile repeats at tempo pace (roughly 9 min-mile for me).  Good overall training run, and will hopefully try to keep that pace for now (tho not sure how often I'll go out, since, if all goes well, P90X will start soon).  Next run was for 3.5 miles in Central Park. Was simply trying to hit negative splits on that run, starting out at about an 11 min-mile pace. Was able to do that, and achieved a 10:26 min-mile overall for the entire run. Felt pretty good about that.

Ok, so, still aiming for Oct. 11 to start round 3. In the meantime, I'm hoping to Yoga it up a little, bike, and relax. Until next time...

Chicago Half Marathon Recap and Lessons Learned

Chicago Half Marathon 

I did it! I actually did it! Part of me is still trying to settle with the fact that I completed a half-marathon. Crazy. As expected, my official finish time was 2:38:15, which equates to just about a 12 min-mile.  The day started with getting up at 4:45am, getting ready, and boarding the shuttle to the race at 5:30am. It waited until almost 6am before it left, and with the traffic due to the street closures for the race, we didnt arrive until 6:45am, 15 min before the race. Due to their port-a-potty shortage and my need to use the facilities before I run, the gun actually went off as I was still standing in line for the bathroom. In fact, I didnt join the slow march to the start line until 7:10ish, crossing the start line a little more than 15 minutes after.

It was a beautiful day, 60 degrees, low humidity. We really couldnt have asked for better conditions. I started out really well, taking the first 2 miles easy to warm up. After that, I picked it up a little bit, and was really trying to achieve negative splits, at least for the next couple miles. Made it to mile 5 without a water break.  Was good until about mile 7, and thats where I started to struggle. Got through mile 8 and 9, slowly, then went into a stretch where I was alternating walking and running in 1 or 2 min intervals. Got to the mile 12 marker, and told myself to finish strong. Started running, but could barely make it another quarter mile, before having to walk again. Got to the 'half-mile to go' marker, and sucked it up, and ran to the end. What an experience. All the months of training, all for this one moment. The thrill of crossing that finish line and saying, "I did it".

Lessons Learned
As I look back at my training and all, theres a few things that I really do regret or wish I did, to which I'm certain would have allowed me to have a better finishing time.

1.  Lack of training structure- Since I had signed up for the race so far in advance, somewhere in the back of my head, I kept telling myself that I had plenty of time to train.  This caused me to never get into any kind of flow or structure in my training runs. I would just head out for a run, and say to myself, "oh, I think I'll run this amount today".  
2.  Focusing all my effort in mileage-  I concerned myself too much with just increasing mileage.  Little did I cross-train, nor increase the intensity of my runs. This is what caused me to go from a 10:30 pace in April, to a mid 11 pace later on, even though I had been steadily running about 15 miles per week up to that point. 
3. Lack of intensity- This kind of goes with the previous point, but not being diligent with tempo, interval and hill training really, really hurt me. I did it once in a while, but nowhere near as regularly as I should have.

What's to come
So, there you have it.  I've completed my first Half-marathon. It was a great experience, and was going to decide, based on this experience, if I'm going to do it again. Verdict? HECK to the YES! Haha....in fact, I've placed my name into the lottery for the NYC Half in March! Here's to hoping I get selected! And now that I've purchased a bike, I'm giving the DC Triathlon (sprint distance) in June some heavy consideration.

So here's the plan for the coming weeks: taking the rest of the week off to recover, do 2 training runs before the Cow Harbor 10k on the 25th, take another 2 week break (light training/biking, if I do anything at all), then shooting for Oct 11 for the start of: Round 3, P90X. Yeah, baby. 'Til next time....

One Last Hurrah

Well, we are 2 days away from the big race.  Everything is set, and even the weather is looking promising.  The only thing left is to get through all 13.1 miles.  Major development since last update? I bought a bike! A bicycle that is, so- may the triathlon training commence.

I did complete the planned 10 miles (10.5 to be exact...) mentioned in the previous update, in just around 2 hours.  Again, that realistically puts me at 2:30 to complete the half.  It was a pretty good run, with stops at the 5 mile mark, 7.5, and roughly the 9 mile marks.  And as previously concluded, its not my conditioning that will hold me back, especially if the forecast is correct (as of now, lower 60s, low humidity at race time).  It is my lower extremeties and how they will hold up.  At the end of the 10 miles, my ankles and feet were in some serious pain, to think, theres another 3 to go!! Fun.

Tonight will be either a quick once or twice around the southern loop, and that will be all she wrote.

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...