Wall Street Run Recap

Last night was the American Heart Association's Wall Street Run. A 3-mile race through the heart of NYC's financial district. And man, what an interesting race. First, it was nice to do a race outside of Central Park, even if it meant giving up the familiarity of the course.  It seemed like people were more frantic in this race more than anything.  It comically resembled the running of the bulls! I mean, you're there running a race, and it is amusing to see various runners dodging things like cones, cars, garbage and even some pedestrians. What makes this race different also is that its not corralled. Meaning normally, you're placed in corrals with people who are running at a similar pace as you, and logically, the faster runners are in the front, the slower in the back.  Not this race, which is what gives it that "running of the bulls" feel. Most of all, the weather forecast was all but bleak for this one, and I though it'd be a repeat of the wet and wild NYRR4, but as luck would have it, the rain held, and that big glowing ball in the sky we know as, the sun, even made an appearance.


So I arrived with about 15 minutes before the start, and as usual, I need to empty my bladder. Only thing was, there were no port-a-potties in site!  There was a Barnes and Noble, but I didnt think I'd make it back in time. So, I sucked it up and held it. The gun goes off and the crowd is off. I cross the start within minutes (if not seconds), which is quite unfamiliar to me. But about 100 ft. after the start was a right turn. And where was I? All the way to the inside, so as I reach the corner, traffic screeches to a halt, and I'm walking. Lovely. Make the turn and I'm back off.  I was being very vigilant for pot holes, last thing I want is a sprained/twisted ankle a month before the Tri. The course took you down various streets downtown, passing many eating establishments. As you're running, you get a nice whiff of delicious smelling food, where you almost want to stop and sit down for a bite! I guess I was being TOO vigilant for potholes, cuz, though I saw the first mile marker, I completely missed the second one. Felt good most of the way through, though somewhere in that last mile, I must admit I struggled a little bit. Slowed down just a touch, and as I reach the promenade, I hear someone say "you can see the finish!". I look up, and well, I could! So I turned it up for that last stretch and that was it. Finished in 28:50 (9:36 pace), which would technically be a PR, since I've never done a 3-mile race before (as I stated in my previous post). This was my fastest pace for a race so far, but again, it is the shortest race I've ever done.


Overall fun and entertaining race, not to mention only 3 miles for a marathon-qualifier. What I'm most upset about? I MISSED OUT ON THE FREEBIES! Apparently they were giving away goodie bags, which I guess I missed because I didn't head over to the "festival" area. I mean c'mon, this is the reason I do these races! Next year. Grrr...

Wall Street Run

Tomorrow's Course!

UAE Healthy Kidney 10k Recap

Just a quick background for those wondering what the UAE and Healthy kidneys have to do with one another. The race itself was to support the National Kidney Foundation, and was sponsored by the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and in honor of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, who was a beneficiary of a kidney transplant. With that, onward to the recap....

First thing first, another PR! Finishing about 34 seconds faster than the Scotland Run 10k, with a final time of 1:01:14, translating to a 9:52 minute mile pace.  It was a nice 60 degrees (though 78% humidity), mostly cloudy, and winds were calm, making it a pretty nice running day. This was a fairly crowded race, with over 7500 runners.  Again, being in the last corral, it took nearly 14 minutes to reach the start line. To think, the winner (who also set a new course and world record) had already completed 3 miles, since his splits were: 4:17, 4:23, 4:17 for the first 3 miles. Crazy. Anyway, its such a slow march to the start, I actually darted over to the port-a-potty for a quick potty break before the start! Jumped back into the march and finally got on my way.

First half of the race felt good. Legs were strong and was keeping a decent pace. Only problem, as stated earlier, was the crowd. I expended a lot of energy trying to get around people. This most likely caused by many who do not line up in the correct corrals. Its quite irritating! I was trying to find someone to pace with, but sadly could not. I usually am able to find someone to pace with at least for a while, but not this time I guess. Get to mile 4, back on the east side and I'm really starting to lumber a bit, the only thing keeping going at this point is knowing that I have Cat Hill (going DOWN!) coming up and that I'd get to recover there.  Turns out it didnt help too much, and I had to push through the last stretch on the east side, south of 72nd.  I reach the south end and see the "800m to go" sign. I kick it up a little. Then the "400m to go". I kick it up a little more. "200m to go" and I turn it up more. I feared that I may have turned it up too early and am really running on fumes at this point, had to really dig deep to keep it up until the finish.  Looking back though, this is probably where I gained most of the 34 seconds when compared to the Scotland Run, so I'm glad I kicked it up where I did.

So tomorrow will be the Wall Street Run (3 Mile), and it looks like it'll be another rainy one. I'm not looking for any kind of PR, since all that I've heard and read says its ultra crowded. Then again, whatever time I finish with will technically be a PR, since I've never done a 3 mile race before, HAH! Will catch a couple week break [from racing] after that, then the Celebrate Israel Run on June 5th. Will be back Wed. for a recap of the Wall Street Run.

Here is a map of the course (same course as the Scotland Run 10k, which is why it says "Scotland Run")

My Third Swim Workout!

Ok, this will be my last "My whichever-number-it-is Swim Workout" post, promise! Went for another swim last night, with a goal of going for 30-35 minutes. To my surprise, I completed a whole 850m in about 26-27 minutes!  I completely surprised myself!  I mean, unless I totally mis-counted how many laps I did, I'm very, very encouraged with last night's workout, especially since I'm just a little more than a month out.  I started out taking it easy, and just tried to keep that easy pace and cadence for the entire workout.  I'm slowly starting to learn how it feels to try to keep my legs near the surface of the water, but am still having a heck of a time keeping them there.  My one concern now is when I reach the end of the pool to turn around, since I dont do flip turns (I dont know how...), I'll just touch the wall, turn around and gently push off. But in that time, my head is above the water for a few seconds, which actually allows me to catch a few breaths.  I realize I will not have this "luxury" in open water, so will have to see if I can avoid it next time.

Looks to be a good training week. Another 6 miles tonight in preparation for the Healthy Kidney 10k. And plan on another swim tomorrow. Cheers!

My Second Swim Workout

So its been a couple weeks since my last post, so a quick rundown: This Saturday will be the UAE Healthy Kidney 10k in Central Park. Hoping for yet another PR.  Then the following Tuesday, 5/17, will be the American Heart Association's Wall Street Run (3 miler). After that, along with the 4 mile "virtual" run for Japan (due by 5/22), I will have completed 6 of my 9 for guaranteed entry to the 2012 NYC Marathon. I've also registered for the Celebrate Israel run (4 miler) on June 5 and the Fifth Ave. Mile in Sept.; which will bring my total up to 8.

On the training side- I did my second swim workout last week. Happy to report that it went better than the first one. Was not quite as dizzy afterwards, and I think I was a bit faster. My goal was to do 550-600m, and I ended up doing 550. But though honestly, since one length is 25m, I tend to lose count. I may have very well done 600m. In any case, I completed the workout in 25 min! Which is better than my first one, which I did 400m in about 30 min.  I was actively trying to be mindful of my form and trying to be as efficient as I can. My biggest problem at this point is trying to prevent my legs from sinking too much into the water, which I believe is what is slowing me down the most. I try to kick to counter it, but I also need to keep in mind that I need to save my legs for bike and run. Dilemma.

On the day of the last post, I did some hills. Temps were in the mid-70s and humid, making it a little more difficult. Did 8 repeats of the Cat Hill, which I think is the same as the last time I did hills. I let a week go by without training, a combo of both needing a break, being lazy, and my stomach not feeling 100%. So last tue, went out for one of my "shake off the rust" 5 milers.  Friday was a tempo run, which totaled 6 miles. Warmed up for 1 mile, then wanted to do 2 miles and 2 miles at tempo pace, but I ran out of gas in the first leg at around 1.7 miles, because it was the top of the hill up at 106th (going clockwise). Averaged about a 9 min mile pace, which is about what I was aiming for. Did another 2 miles, but not much better than my usual pace. Then did a final cool down of a mile. Was hoping to do a little better, but its been a while since I did any kind of tempo run, so I'll consider it a "success".  Last night I went out and just rolled for 6 miles, and completed it in my best time yet of 59:06 for a 9:44 pace. Not sure I've done this distance before at that pace. So very encouraging and meaning I most likely will PR again at the 10k distance.

So, one more 6 miler tomorrow, then the race. And hope to get in 2 swim workouts this week.

3+1 Down, 6 To Go, and another PR!

I awoke Saturday morning, around 6:45am, to the sound of raindrops. Thats how quickly my hopes were dashed that the weather people were wrong about rain that day. I proceeded to get ready for the race, somewhere in the back of my mind hoping that the rain would stop by 9am. But just in case it didnt, I decided I would run in my Bar Harbor wind breaker and left the house. I drove out to the race this time, rather than take the train, and it was a pretty good decision, otherwise, I would have been hanging out in Central Park for over an hour in the rain. I arrived at the start line around 8:30am and the rain was coming down pretty steadily. My shoes were doing pretty well given the conditions, until of course, I decided to step in a pretty deep puddle.

The race starts and as customary, being in one of the last few corrals, it takes some time to actually get to the start line. This one, though less crowded than the Scotland Run, seemed to take longer than normal. So much so that I forgot to glance up at the clock as I crossed the start line (it ended up being about 5-6 minutes only). So the race is under way and the rain actually was not feeling too bad. Other than my sneakers, it wasn't bad at all. My hat helped a lot as well, to keep the rain out of my face and eyes.

I get to the first mile marker and see the clock at around 16:00. At this point I'm hoping it was 6:00 when I crossed the start meaning I just did the first mile in 10 minutes. I had no idea how I was pacing, as I wasnt using Nike+ due to the rain. But I get to mile 2 and see that I'm doing sub 10min-mile. Feeling pretty decently despite my now sloshing shoes, I decide to kick it up a little as I reach the west side. At this point, I know there are a couple mini-uphills, and then its pretty much downhill from there. I get near the finish line, and want to sprint to the end as I normally do, but it was pretty crowded! It was hard to do so. What made it even more difficult were the people who stop as SOON as they cross the finish line! I was trying to hard not to mow someone over that I again forgot to look up at the clock. I quickly glanced back and lucky for me, they had a clock facing that way, and it was 44 minutes and change. Without knowing what the time was when I crossed the start, I had no idea if I PR-ed or not, but I knew it was close.

So it turns out, I did PR! Whoo-hoo! Final time was 38:48 (9:42 pace), meaning I PR-ed by barely 20 seconds, but hey, a PR is a PR! My previous PR at 4 miles was the Gridiron 4M in February with 39:05 (9:46 pace).  And this same race last year I finished in 42:10. So pretty nice progress all around. To think how I would have done had it not been raining.

So with this, I've now completed 3 of the 9 races towards my guaranteed entry into the 2012 NYC Marathon. Next up will be the UAE Healthy Kidney 10k on May 14th.

Surprise, its Plantar Fasciitis

So I saw the podiatrist on Monday, 4/18, and he basically confirmed what I had already somewhat self diagnosed. Plantar-fasciitis. He did take an x-ray, just to make sure there were no heel spurs, and there weren't, thankfully. He recommended that I get heel cups to put into my shoes. Since I have a multitude of heel inserts, I'm going to try one of the bunch that I have and go with that for now. In fact, since I started using them, though they still hurt after the run, they're not quite as painful the day after, today, for instance. That was it, he pretty much told me that in order for the pain to completely go away, I'd have to stop running. Something I may think about after DC. Not completely, just enough to let it heal a little!

Tomorrow is the NYRR 4, so got 2 pretty good training runs in this week. Did the 5-mile loop on Monday and Thursday. I had wanted to do a race simulation, but since the 4-mile course is pretty much included into the 5-mile loop route, thats what I decided to do. The two runs ended up being pretty good, Monday's run I think it was the fastest I have done that route, finishing in 50:36 (9:43 pace), and then bested that on Thursday, finishing in 49:55 (9:35 pace). Since that was for 5 miles, I'd really like to average a 9:30 for the race. Only problem is that it looks like rain all day. Not really sure how that'll effect me. I want to say it wont, but stranger things have happened! I should mention that was both in the counter-clockwise direction, which is clearly becoming my preferred direction.

No swim training this week. That'll resume next week, as there seems to be a lot of rain in the forecast.

Oh, and I've ordered and received my Tri gear! I always say, if I dont do well, at least look good doing it! 'Till next time....

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!