My First Swim Workout!

...And what a doozy it was! I finally made my way to the aquatic center (which membership I signed up for a couple weeks ago) to start my training for the swim portion of the DC Tri, which is 2 months away from this coming Tuesday (yikes!).  It was....interesting.  I went into the session having a goal of going for just 30 minutes, regardless of the distance, and that actually ended up totaling 400 meters (pool length was 25m, so 8 laps, 16 lengths of the pool).  I tried to take it easy, but I apparently don't know how.  I took a brief breather after 200 meters, then completed another 200, which coincidently took the 30 minutes I had intended to spend on training that day. I must say that at my first break after 200m, I was rather dizzy, presumably from the frequency in which I was breathing. So I tried to make that movement less jerky and more fluid for the second 200m, and it eased the dizziness. Though I think it was too late, as I changed and left, I felt rather queezy and maybe even a bit nauseous. All I could keep thinking to myself was, "what have I gotten myself into?!" But looking back, thats what I thought when I went for my first run last year, after having signed up for the Half.

Yesterday was another run in the park. Temps were in the high 60s and was just a beautiful spring day. I took the opportunity to do some hill training.  Again doing the hill by the boathouse (or the "Cat Hill"), for 8 repeats. I was thinking of doing 6, but it went by quickly so I added an extra 2. I didnt go up to 90th like I usually do this time though. I just finished the 8 repeats and returned back to where I entered. Entire workout was about 3.5 miles. The hill felt pretty good, and I tried to really push toward the top.  Strangely, it seems I would get up to the same point of the hill, and completely have nothing left in the tank. It didnt seem like it mattered how hard I was pushing at the bottom of the hill.

My heel is in some serious pain today, from the plantar facsiitis. I did make an appointment to see a podiatrist on Monday.  I fear he may give me bad news. I guess we'll see.

Scotland Run Recap (another PR!)

It was a calm, clear 52 deg in Central Park for this race. Pretty good conditions for me. The race reached capacity, so it was no surprise that it was going to be a crowded race. Not to mention my 10041 race number! I checked my bag and trotted all the way to the back of the corrals, and to my amusement, they technically didnt even have a corral for my number! So in full celebration of Scotland, they had guys playing bagpipes at each mile marker, and a handful of runners wore kilts! Still wondering if the guys who wore them were wearing them the "proper" way (read: nothing on underneath!).

Anyway, another big PR for me! Finishing in 1:01:48 with a pace of 9:58. Which was also about 2.5 minutes faster than my race simulation the other night.  The race felt good overall, and I probably could have done just a touch better had it not been so crowded. There were definitely several instances where I felt a little slowed down by the runner in front of me, and I had trouble trying to get around them. I'm glad I did those hills in the northern loop a few time in the past couple of weeks, so I knew exactly what to expect, and exactly how much to push and when. Its interesting to note that I could feel myself hitting a wall right around the 5 mile mark, since thats where the bulk of my training has been. That final .2 miles was probably the worst after you pass the 6 mile marker. Must be longest .2 mile, ever.

So not much time before the next one, the NYRR 4 miler on 4/23, which is now in just under 2 weeks. Will try to better my time from the Gridiron, for another PR. Should be good.

Missed it by a swimcap!

It's hard to believe both the NYC Half (March 20) and the 13.1 World Vision Half (Apr 2) have both passed, both of which I had thought about doing, but did not. And I also just recently let go of hopes of doing the LI Half, simply because I'm not ready, and I do not want to attempt something like this without proper training. Which really turns my attention to the DC Tri in June. I have about two and a half months remaining to train. I know I have the run part down, so its just a matter of the other TWO sports.

First, due to the piss poor forecasting at weather.com, I failed to do a second run last week after the awesome 8 miles on Monday. And due to my laziness, did not do Yoga (or any other workout) in its place. Ugh.

So on Saturday, I set out to finally sign up at the Flushing-Corona Park Rec/Aquatic Center. I park, walk about 2 blocks to the Rec Center, wait in line for 20 min to register. Finally register, only to find out the pool is in another building. Walk back to my car, drive about 10 min over to the pool, park, and hike into the building. Go up to the second floor, where the pool is, only to realize that swimcaps are MANDATORY. Now, they sold them there, and I was more than willing to purchase one of theirs, the only thing was, I left my wallet IN THE CAR. I wasn't parked too far away, but it also wasn't like, just outside. So I thanked the lady, turned around, got in the car, and drove home.

Later on in the day, I told myself I'd make up for missing out on swimming, so I'd go take the bike out. I got all suited up, went to grab the bike, only to find that my tires HAD NO AIR IN THEM! Not a huge deal, one would think to oneself, thing was, I dont have a pump! Dejected, I changed out of my workout gear, and trotted back in the house and ploppled myself in front of the TV. I did head out shortly after to buy the pump, but by the time I got back, and given the track record for the day, I simply gave in and called it a day.

So on Sunday, I finally got something done. I did my first brick workout. I did 3 repeats of bike to run. First repeat was about a 2 mile bike, got off, locked the bike up, and ran for a quarter mile. Not bad. Got back on the bike, went about 3 miles, got off, but this time, since locking up the bike was a serious hassle, I just ran with the bike, for another quarter mile. Third repeat, another 2 miles on the bike, going hard this time, then got off and did another quarter mile run. All in all, not a bad workout for my first brick! I actually kind of enjoyed it, and felt I ran better after the bike. But it was only a quarter mile. We'll see what happens when that gets upped to 1, 2, 3 and eventually 4 miles.

Plan for the week, as long as the weather is what they say it is, is simply a race simulation tomorrow (wednesday), and then the Scotland Run 10k on Sunday. Let the race season begin!

8 miles

Completed the planned 8 miles, and thought since it was kind of a milestone, it deserved its own update. I mean, its certainly not the first time I've done this distance, but it surely has been a very long time. The stats:

Distance: 8.07
Time: 1:23:05
Pace: 10:21
Weather (at start): 45 degF, sunny and breezy

Thats actually better than the 10:30 I was shooting for. This also included 2 walk breaks of about 1-2 min each. To think if I didnt have to walk?? I think what was most killer was doing the upper portion (from 102nd to 110th) of the loop, twice. Ironically though, one of my better splits included the second time around that loop. Perhaps it was a result of the uber generous couple who were handing out bottles of water! I re-fueled with Jelly Belly's Sport Beans around mile 4, near Lasker Pool. I went against my better judgment getting a fuel source that wasnt liquid (or at least a gel), and I paid for it. I should also mention that my quest to find some Gu energy packs was unsuccessful, which is why I ended up with the jelly beans.  The note on the package even said to take it with water, which is what made that couple handing out water even more of a Godsend. But asides from the slight cramping and other gastric issues from the beans, it did help me push through the final 2 miles of the run, which were basically unchartered territory.

I felt myself struggling just shy of mile 6. Heck, I want to even say in the beginning of mile 5, and I thought to myself, "whats going on?! I do 5 miles all the time, and I did 6 last week at a sub 10 pace!" Thats when I realized it was doing the upper loop twice that took a toll. I also thought I took a wrong turn, and ended up doing less than 8 miles, and was a bit dismayed when I finished in the time that I did. But a quick recalculation in my head, and I realized I DID do the full 8 I had planned, and my night was much better.

All I can say was, I was TIRED. Tired and sore. My legs are incredibly sore, especially in the lower calf on both legs. Hip flexors, hammies are both sore as well, but tolerable.

Looking to do a hill or interval run on Thur, maybe a bike/run combo over the weekend, and then tackle 9 miles next week. 'Till next time!

Where did the warmth go?

As quickly as it came, the nice warmer weather has disappeared. So, back in the brisk 40s (10 or so degrees lower than normal) we are, for the remainder of this week at least. Only got in one run this past week, but did get in another Yoga X session in lieu of a run.

Last Tue (3/22) was a quick 5 miler going in the clockwise direction. I think its was my best pace for that distance, clocking in at a 9:42 mile. It was tough going from the start, probably from Yoga two days prior, but was pleasantly surprised when I realized what my pace was at the end. The plan was to hit 7 miles on friday, but that was put on hold due to extenuating circumstances. I did Yoga X in its place, and thankfully can say it was a touch easier than the previous session. Hope I can keep Yoga in the rotation.

The plan tonight is 8, since I missed out on the 7 last week, and my previous long run was 6 miles, I figure its not too crazy of a jump. Hoping I'm not upping it too quickly, lest I injure myself again, or, further injure myself.  I'm going to take it easy, maybe look to do around 10:30 miles. I did 7 miles back in January, at a 10:51 pace. And lets hope I'm in better shape than I was back then! The planned route: Enter CP at 59th, heading north on the east side. Cross over to go west at 72nd, continue north on the west side, all the way up and wrap around on 110th, repeat that upper loop (from 102 to 110th), then come down the east side to 72nd, cross over again to the west side, then head south on the west side, and complete the loop at the 59th street entrance. I think the exact distance is around 8.04 miles. Wish me luck.

T-Shirt Time!

First, another quick events update: Registered for the American Heart Association's Wall Street Run (3M) on 5/17 as well as the annual JP Morgan Corporate Challenge (not a NYRR race) on 6/15. This will be my third year doing the JPM CC. Very disappointed with last year's time, even given the crowds. So, hoping it'll be better this year (time that is, it'll be crowded regardless).

So the last 3 weeks have been very consistent. Since the beginning of March, I've been able to get out twice/week, and have now re-established my base at 5 miles. So this past Tue I upped it to 6 (outer park loop). Finished in just under an hour, for an average pace of 9:53, which would be the first time I've done a sub-10 min/mile for that distance. Felt good doing it too. Funny thing now is, I used to prefer doing the loop clockwise (the "wrong" direction), but now, I think I actually prefer going counter clockwise, or the "right" direction. And my stats do show that I'm faster going counter clockwise. I should mention the Scotland Run (10k), will be in the clockwise direction. Hmmm...

My second run of last week was on Friday, when the temps soared into the upper 70s! It was such a welcome surprise, but the biggest thing was actually going out for the run in just shorts and a t-shirt. On my way out of the building, I almost felt underdressed without the under armour, running tights/pants, gloves, hat, hand warmers, etc. So on this fine day I tackled hills, doing 6x the hill by the Boathouse. I think it went pretty well, as the 6 repeats went by pretty quickly. I think the most challenging part of the run was trying to dodge all the people in my way, as the warmer temps drew out everyone and anyone. On the last repeat, I continued up to 90th street, took a quick breather there, and then head back down to where I usually enter on 59th. Overall, good run.

Was going to go out for another run yesterday, though not as warm, was still a very nice and sunny day. Laziness got the better of me, so I ended up staying in, but, I did do Yoga X in place of it. And it was a good thing I did.  It was TOUGH. I even had a hard time doing all the push ups in the routine. My hip flexors and groin were super tight, and it felt really good stretching them out through yoga. Moderately sore in my legs, chest and shoulders today. I wonder if it'll be worse tomorrow.

Thats pretty much it for now. Hope to keep the rhythm going, and to hit 7 miles this week. If I can do that, and then up it to 9 next week, I'm going to sign up for the LI Half. If not, then the focus turns to the DC Tri (aka- find a pool to train in!!). 'Til next time....

DC, Vegas and Maybe LI

I'll start with another events update. On top of the races I registered for in the previous post, including the DC Triathlon, I am now also registered for the Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon on Dec 4, 2011! I'm still deciding on the LI Half (I should probably check if there is still availability), and will probably make my decision by April 1, dependent on how my training goes. I'm leaning towards not doing it, so I can kind of focus my current training on the Tri. I dont want to take this too lightly, which I feel like at the moment, I am. Task #1: find a pool to train in. Will probably also sign up for the Wall Street run (3M), on May 17.

I attended a Tri clinic last night, sponsored by NYRR's Team for Kids. Provided some very basic information, so it was good in that sense. But they did gear it more towards the NYC Tri in August, which of course is not the one I'm doing. That one is also Olympic distance, as opposed to my Sprint distance. But got a lot of my questions out of the way. So I think I came out of it better informed. And knowing is half the battle, right?

Onto a little training recap, which I've been super lazy with, the recaps, not the training. Well, maybe the training too. Training has been sporadic, to say the least. Since the start of the new year, I would be good for about a week or 2, then drop off for a week or 2. Rinse, and repeat.  So now that we just started March, I'm trying to get back into some kind of rhythm. Goal for the past week or so was to just re-establish  my base at 5 miles. Went twice last week, and twice this week. Currently hovering around a 9:50 mile, which I'm satisfied with, at the moment. I think my plan now is to have one more 5-miler at about a 9:50 pace, then start cranking out the hills and tempo runs, along with the long runs. Then theres the more difficult part of trying to mix in the cross training for bike and swim. As I said all along, I'm not very concerned about the bike. But what I must concern myself with is the bike to run transition. Many say that is most difficult. I may give it a shot Sunday if the weather cooperates.

So thats where we stand as of now. Many things ahead. Should be fun!

Events Update

4/10/2011: Scotland Run 10k- REGISTERED
4/23/2011: NYRR 4-Miler- REGISTERED
5/14/2011: UAE Healthy Kidney 10k- REGISTERED
6/19/2011: DC Triathlon (Sprint Distance)- REGISTERED (O..M..G!)

And just like that...

Another month has gone by! Its been cold...blah, blah, blah....its been snowy, I can't believe I let a month go by....etc...blah, blah....

In any case, the running has been sporadic, but somehow going well.  The NYRR Gridiron Classic (4M) was this past Sunday (2/6). That went pretty well, finished in 39:05 (9:46 pace)- which would be a PR for me! Since April is quickly sneaking up on me, I think I may have to opt for the LI Half-Marathon in May, rather than the 13.1 NY Half on April 2. That will still give me enough time to train for the DC Tri, which I'm still on the fence about.

So good news is that I've been running a sub 10 min/mile pace for the past several runs, except for when I do hills, of course.  Bad news also is that I've developed a case of plantar fasciitis in my right foot. It was really painful the day after the race. But last night I fashioned a splint for it and today, I'm almost pain free, which is super-encouraging. I've ordered an actual night splint for it, which I'm hoping will help with the pain.

So, this is it for now. Hoping to get another run in (plantar fasciitis permitting) on friday. An hoping to get some yoga in there too, to stay stretched out an limber.

Off the Wagon

Well, its been about a month since my last P90X workout. A month. Sad but true. Three runs is all I've done since the last post on 12/21 (well, 4, if you include the day of the last post, since I went for a run that night). Dec 12 was the last time I did a P90X workout. Now I could start listing the excuses or justifications for my lack of working out, but I won't. At the end of the day, I've just been lazy. No more, no less.

So, to recap a little....I did 6 miles the day of the last post, which is once around Central Park. It was a good run, 10:40 pace.  I went clockwise (the "wrong" way), which is my preferred direction to run in. Temps were right around 32, and was windy. Next run was on Christmas Eve, did a little over 4 miles, but did some hill training. I did the hill near the Boat House in central park. Its about a .2 mile round trip up and down, so I did 5 reps. On the final rep, I wanted to continue all the way up to 90th and come back down, but I was just too tired. So I stopped around 85th and came back down. Tired, but an overall good workout. The type of workout which I will not neglect this time!!

So, after a long layoff (11 days, I believe)- I went back out on Tue (1/4) for my usual 5 miles. My legs felt like bricks. I actually made it a tempo run, after a 1 mile warm up. Did 2x 2miles, and lets just say was probably a bad idea considering it was my first day back after an 11 day break. My feet hurt (arches to be exact), legs were sore. Not pretty. And I wasnt running as fast as I had liked, for a tempo run. Since there was supposed to be snow in the forecast again (which it did today), I went out again yesterday (1/6) and was able to do 7 miles! Legs felt a little better, but were still a bit sore from the previous run. I wanted to just make the 7 miles, so I made it an easy, long run. Conditioning was good, was not too badly out of breath, but my legs struggled by mile 5. Final pace ended up being around 10:50, which actually is not bad, compared to my 10k pace from Cow Harbor (11:10).

So the Mizunos have been doing good, and bad. The Good: my knees, ankles (and hips even) still feel really good after runs, even after the 7 miler. The bad? Well, my forefoot has been getting very sore, almost like a feeling that the bone will rip through the skin! I'm hoping this is due to the fact that I haven't properly "broken" them in yet, as I've only logged 30 miles after last night. Also, these arent quite as cushiony as the LunarGlides. I still like the support, a lot, and is much better than the "squishy" mechanics of the LunarGlides. But, I must mention, that I have again pulled the trigger on another pair- the Asics Cumulus 12. If I'm going to do as many races as I plan on doing, well, I'm going to need them!

Which reminds me, too, I've joined the NYRR. And MAY attempt to do the 9+1 guaranteed entry for the 2012 NYC Marathon. I just need to find the 9 races to do. And I've decided on option 1b from the previous post, which is to wait until the possible second lottery (Jan 15), and if that fails, go with the 13.1 Marathon Series (aka World Vision) on April 2.

Well, that sums up the last 3 weeks. I may have to come up with a hybrid program now to mix P90X and running, since either way, I'll be doing a half marathon in less than 3 months. YIKES! 'till next time....