Happy 2018!

I am resolving to post here more regularly this year and if my training thus far has been any indication, I just may follow through.

I realized just now before starting this post that I never updated my goals for 2017! I'm going to have to mull that over. One that I can tell you about is that I would like to run 1,500 miles this year. I've had years of running more (2012, 2013) and certainly years of running less (all the other years) and I think all things considered, this goal is ambitious without being overwhelming.

At the end of last year and to some extent, this year, I've made do with runs home from work to get in some mileage. That's all well and good, and if you've been around these parts awhile you'll know that no one appreciates a good run commute more than I do; HOWEVER, I keep telling myself that one of these days I'll avail myself of more sophisticated training resources and/or plans or even just bother following some sort of schedule. Perhaps this is the year.

So far, I've gotten into something of a rhythm. Saturday/Sunday is long run day, Monday is speedwork day, Tuesday is hills. That's more workout regularity than I've followed in a long time. I don't want to tout it too much because the year is still very young. Let's see where I am with this in June before I claim it as habit.

PS - I am behind schedule technically, but not by a lot and only because I had a bad first week. Onward!

Speeds MacKenzie

Yay for puns and dated topical references! Since I've been trying to figure out the best approach to qualifying for Boston, one thing I've implemented into my training is speedwork. Now, if you've read a bit of the blog you might remember that I have done speedwork in the past. The type I've probably mentioned most of all is Yasso 800s, a training technique that involves half mile repeats at a pace in minutes that supposedly reflects the overall time you'd run in a marathon. This is worth discussing at length in a later post.

Over the last four or five weeks, Amortya and I have been doing at least one speed session per week. Instead of half mile repeats, we've been doing mile and two mile repeats. Another key difference between these workouts and the half mile repeats I've done in the past is that these have been outside. I've typically done my speed workouts on a treadmill. My logic has always been that I'm much better able to push myself hard on a treadmill than I am outside. Though this is true, the problem I then encounter is not being able to maintain those paces when I run outside for almost any length of time. Chalk it up to differences in terrain or weather, but I have never been able to do quite as well outside as on a treadmill.

That would be fine and good if I ran my races on a treadmill, but I don't. When it comes time to attempt a Boston qualifier, it'll do me little good to believe I can run a certain pace because I've gotten used to it on the treadmill. Instead, I figure I have to start emulating race conditions as well as possible. This is not to say I never run on the treadmill, I've just tried to do it a little more sparingly.

In terms of the paces we've been running during these workouts, Amortya is making much bigger strides than I am and frequently runs mile and two-mile repeats under 6:30 per mile. I've been running a little over 7:30s, which is not quite good enough, particularly considering I've held that pace for an entire 5 mile race before. Oh, well. It's still a work in progress.

Birthday Weekend - Part 2 (Fifth Avenue Mile Race Report, News from Newport)

When we last left off, I'd thoroughly enjoyed some non-triathlon birthday festivities. I got home late-ish and was tired from the century ride, two hours of singing and two drinks. And lots of food. And cronuts. I fell asleep answering a text but fortunately woke up and was able to set my alarm for the 5th Avenue Mile on Sunday morning.

My heat started at 8:55, which is decently late for a race. I calculated that I needed to leave my apartment by 7:55 to get to the race with a little time to warmup and not be rushed. I'm sure it all seems very well planned out, the only problem is that I wasn't able to wake up until 7:47, 8 minutes prior to my predetermined departure time.

I'm sure it surprises no one to discover that changing into running clothes and walking Phoebe required more than 8 minutes. I, unfortunately, didn't leave home until 8:20. I sensed I would probably not arrive in time for my heat, but also remembered that there's some flexibility with which heats runners can join.

I arrived at 77th and Lexington at about 8:50 which is pretty shocking. I didn't expect for there to be any chance at all that I'd make it in time. If I'd been so motivated, I definitely could have jumped in just as the gun was going off and run with my proper heat. I was not inclined to do that and decided instead to run at 9:25 with the 30-39 women. In the meantime, I found Michelle and we cheered on the next heat.

At around 9:10, I walked over to the start and lined up. Even though I've run this race a number of times and had made peace with the fact that I (as usual) hadn't really trained for it, I started to get nervous. Although I had some awareness that I've improved (even if marginally) as a runner since last year, my only goal was to break 7 minutes. I therefore planned to run each quarter mile in 1:45.

After some introductory words, the gun finally went off. It took about 20 seconds to reach the start and at that point, I started weaving around slower runners. Finally, I settled into the far right side of 5th Avenue, where I knew Michelle was cheering. Once I passed her, I put on my dead face (no emotion, just staring straight ahead) and focused on the race and how I was feeling.

I finished the first quarter around 1:35. My arms had begun to hurt, but they usually do. It's probably a form thing I should work on. I finished the second, uphill quarter a couple seconds before 3:20, still putting me ahead of pace. Once I was there, I knew I could finish strong because I still felt really good.

Finished the third quarter a little after 5 minutes and tried to push the rest of the way. When I crossed the finish line, my watch read 6:50. By the time I finally fumbled around enough to properly press the Stop button on my watch, it had gotten to 6:52. It was a decent time, but I felt I could have done better.

Me and Michelle in our respective heats. Love that flying look. 

Upon looking at the results, I saw that I'd run a 6:47 and Michelle had run an 8:42, which is fantastic for her first time!

After the race, I texted Amortya to see how he'd fared at the Newport Half Marathon. Get this, he ran a 1:33. For those of you keeping track at home, that works out to a 7:09min/mile pace. This guy is a talented runner and I'm really looking forward to seeing how well he does in the rest of this season. I'm convinced that if he ever starts running outside of the NY/NJ area, he's going to start taking age group awards every time.

In other great news, my friend Allison also ran the Newport Half. It was her first half marathon and she did it in 2:12 and change! Amazing job, Allison!

Nice job, guys!

Happy New Year - Brief Catchup

Yes, it's taken me a little bit to get back. I had to take a little blog break after the challenge. I also have some maintenance to do with my 2013 goals, calendar, poll question...okay, everything. My entire blog needs a refresh.

I've been doing a lot of speedwork in the last few weeks. Additionally, I've probably done more strength training in the past month than I have in the rest of the now five years that I've been running. I'm interested to see whether or not it will have an impact on my racing.

So, coming up I have Thursday Night At the Races this week. I tried showing up to this a couple of weeks ago but arrived too late for the 800m, and then figured I'd wait until this week. There's also the Manhattan Half Marathon coming up in two weeks. Hopefully I'll write more about both, but I wanted to throw those out there as things coming up.

I have a hard time believing that this will be my 5th Manhattan Half. It makes me feel a little old but also like I've really grown into the NYC running community. I'm grateful to be a runner here, and I hope there are more Manhattan Halfs in my future. For this one, I'm looking for a PR, which would indicate if the speedwork I've been doing (half mile and mile repeats) has been effective. I need to see some progress there to feel like I'm heading in a good direction for a BQ this spring.

2012 in 2012: Sandy Relief Challenge - Day 40

Miles to run as of beginning of Sunday, 12/16: 107.49

Miles to run on 12/16: 6.55

I knew after my  2.5 on Saturday, I really had to shape up for the rest of my time here in Texas to make sure I finished all 2012 miles. I calculated that I needed to run around 6.5 per day to finish on time (up from the normal 5.5) but resolved to run more than that whenever possible.

I split this one up into multiple pieces. The first was a 2 miler on the treadmill at the Tom Muehlenbeck rec center in Plano. It was a dreaded Precor 956i, which is apparently the most popular treadmill model in the history of ever even though I hate it.

After that, I did some weights using the workout Chris was kind enough to write out and send me over email.  I was the only woman in the weight room for quite some time, and it was earning me funny looks. Honey badger don't care!

I got in another two miles on the indoor track. I love that track almost as much as I hate the Precor 956i. I ran the remaining miles running to and from a couple of errands Matthew and I had to run anyway.

Miles to run as of beginning of Monday, 12/17: 100.94

Fundraising link!

http://www.crowdrise.com/2012in2012forsandyrelief/

2012 in 2012: Sandy Relief Challenge - Day 35

Miles to run as of beginning of Tuesday, 12/11: 133

Miles run on 12/11: 5.81

My quest to try various New York Health & Racquet clubs continued on this day. Chris met me at the one on 56 just west of 6th Avenue. I beat him there by a little, so started doing half mile repeats until he arrived. I ran 3 total miles before he got there and then we did weights for about an hour.

I would love to have stayed longer, but Tuesdays are Chupacabra Conspiracy nights. I left around 7:30 and ran to our meeting, which was a little over half a mile from the gym.

I intended to run home as well, but it was really cold and I lost my nerve. Instead, when I got home I took Phoebe for a short loop run before going out for one more on my own. I ran up from home and took a right on Delancey, turning around once I reached the 7-Eleven. As I passed the Bowery Ballroom, I saw a number of photographers and bystanders crowded around the sidewalk. It wasn't until I got closer and heard someone yell "Beyonce! Beyonce!" that I realized what was going on.

In short, I saw Beyonce leave the Bowery Ballroom, which is a pretty decent story.

Miles to run as of beginning of Wednesday, 12/12: 127.19

Fundraising link!

http://www.crowdrise.com/2012in2012forsandyrelief/

2012 in 2012: Sandy Relief Challenge - Day 31 (More Speedwork)

Miles to run as of beginning of Friday, 12/7: 154.93

Miles run on 12/7: 6.7

I did another round of mile repeats at lunchtime. What I've read about this is that they help increase one's VO2 max threshold. I used a Runner's World race pace calculator to figure out what that was for me. It was something like 7:15 per mile. I wish I could link it here but I was having a hard time finding it. Anyway, I did 3 miles at 7:13 minutes per with quarter miles at 10:00 minutes/mile in between. Plus a little something at the end, which gave me the extra .15.

After work, I met Chris for a gym date at the New York Health & Racquet club in Cooper Square because we both still had our week-long passes from the Ironman. I ran there (because I was running late) and then had to run back home and back to the gym because I forgot a photo ID. All that running brought me to about 2.5 miles, 6.7 in total.

Also, Chris showed me a strength workout that he recommends I do a few times a week during the offseason. It was really hard. I am 99% certain my abs have never been that sore and that lasted until Wednesday. Guess I have a lot of progress to make in that area!

Miles to run as of beginning of Saturday, 12/8: 148.23

Fundraising Link!

http://www.crowdrise.com/2012in2012forSandyRelief/

2012 in 2012: Sandy Relief Challenge - Day 23

Miles to run as of Thursday, 11/29: 191.66

Miles run on 11/29: 9.39

After the lackluster previous day, I got some good mileage in here. This came in the form of two separate runs, one during lunch and one on my way home from work. Even better, the first run was actually a really good workout! I did three mile repeats at a 7:13 minute/mile pace with a quarter mile in between. All that totaled out to 4.12 miles. The additional 5.27 was done on my way home with a stop at Whole Foods.

Miles to run as of Friday, 11/30: 182.27

Fundraising link:

http://www.crowdrise.com/2012in2012forSandyRelief/

2012 in 2012: Sandy Relief Challenge - Day 2

First things first. Here's the fundraiser link!

Miles to go as of beginning of Thursday, 11/8: 356.74


Miles run on 11/8: 7.55

This 7.55 miles truly was speedwork, as I did half mile repeats at a 3:29min/half mile pace and alternated with half miles at a 5 min/half mile pace. The last half mile I did at 3:22. It should be noted that these half mile repeats should be done with less time between (maybe alternating fast half miles with slow quarter miles) but I was interested in boosting the overall miles total. The extra .05 was to finish strong.

Miles to go as of beginning of Friday, 11/9: 349.19

Let me know (via this blog, twitter, email, text, etc) if you ever want to join in on a day's run (or join the fundraising team). I'd love the company. Plus, the more people who are involved, the better this effort will be.

Special Thanks to Amortya, Sharon, Jeremy and Vicky for donating!

It's Almost Time

That's right. One of my favorite days of the year has almost arrived. I am, of course, talking about the ING New York City Marathon, which I'll be running on November 4th with my good friend Sharon, who will be coming all the way from Dallas! This will be her very first NYC Marathon, though she's done close to twenty in her career and has qualified for Boston multiple times.

Running has been good in the last couple of weeks, though I didn't get in a long run last weekend and I really should have. I think I'll be okay without it, but it's bothering me a lot. Aside from that, though, I've been able to get a few days in of 800 sprints and tempo runs. Those are the kinds of workouts I'll need to increase my overall speed.

Also, I just need to learn to start pushing harder on long runs. If I can run a half marathon at an average pace of 8:15 minutes per mile, I can probably do the same for 14 miles and beyond if I made a concerted effort to work up to it. It's just going to take some conscious trying on my part.

I also decided to do the Brooklyn Marathon (I hope it hasn't sold out because I haven't registered yet) as at least one of my sub-4 attempts. There are a couple of options after that, but I'll focus on Brooklyn for now.

Woop!

Guest Race Report: The Brooklyn Half Marathon

Name: Szymon
Hometown: Port Washington, NY
Runner since: 2008
Favorite Recovery Food: Pizza
Favorite Recovery Drink: Water. Lots of it.

The past 5 months have not been great to me when it comes to running. In January, I had an epic cough and enough chest congestion to make me miss running for a month. Afterwards, in early April, I had shin splints, so again, my running volume suffered. On May 7th, I caught something while on little sleep, large running volume and travelling. I did not run at all until May 19th, the Brooklyn Half. Considering on Tuesday I was a definite “no go”, I am very happy that I came out and ran the half. Did fairly well, all things considered.

My half marathon goal has been 1:29:59 (~6:50 min/mile pace). A more conservative goal, I figured, was anything as long as my pace was below 7 minutes per mile. So anything below 1:31:54. Regardless, this was going to be the first half marathon that I actually raced to my maximum abilities. I did not hit either goal, but I did manage to lower my PR by 5 minutes. Here’s how we got there.

I drove from Long Island to Coney Island to park. I woke up at 4:45am, had a coffee, a pop tart, threw a GU into my pocket, but forgot to account for the clusterfuck that was happening at the entrance to the Aquarium parking lot. It delayed me by at least 10 minutes. That meant I’d probably not have time to visit the bathrooms since it put me in the starting area at 6:40am. Fine, I’ll warm up along the course! There must be porta-pottys along the course right? Wrong. Not on the roads around Prospect Park anyways. So I got to the starting line without using the restroom beforehand for the first time ever. Oh, did I mention I forgot to have anything to drink other than coffee in the morning? Rookie mistake. I haven’t raced in a while, but come on. I guess I was going to be drinking a lot in the fluid stations.

I knew all along I wasn’t going to be doing 1:29:59 and really wasn’t even sure what I shape I’d be in. I figure I could maintain a 7:05-7:10 pace all the way. I took my Chocolate Outrage GU (outrageously chocolaty by the way). Gun goes off and I start at 45 seconds on the clock. The first mile went well, I felt I was going a bit fast but felt good. Second mile went well too. I thought I was in a pretty good pacing area as I was going a bit hard but was convinced everyone around me was caught in that too. By the time I finished the first 5k, I felt strong. I was taking fluids, maybe a bit quickly but effectively. I hit 21:38, so an average pace of 6:55. A bit fast, but there were some downhill areas. I knew that inside Prospect Park I’d slow down.

I ran the next 5k in 22:14, that’s a 43:52 (7:02 min/mile) 10k. Not too bad considering. The pace for that split was 7:11 min/mile. Again, considering it was through the hilliest parts of Prospect Park, I was happy. However, this is also the split in which I first felt the shivers and goosebumps. Considering it was in the high 50’s/low 60’s and I was running mostly in the shade maybe this was expected, but I couldn’t stop thinking it was also an effect of my dehydration.

The next 5k took us down some hills and on to Ocean Parkway. I knew I was going fairly fast and expected some slowing down. I knew it was going to be hard because at mile 7 I felt the tiredness a bit. Not a good sign considering I was just half way there. I pushed on down Ocean Parkway, quite a boring part of the race. I ran with this one redhead-bearded dude running in Vibrams. We hit 15k at exactly 1:06. Overall pace 7:04. Split in 22:0 (7:05 min/mile).

After passing the 15k mark I started feeling my fast starting pace and dehydration catch up to me. The shivers and goosebumps continued. Again, I was unsure to the exact reason as this early in the race, I ran through the entire Ocean Parkway segment in the shade. It was a cool temperature but also I expected to be sweating more. Sweat was dripping off my hat so I guess I was ok…ish (I never felt dizzy or weak or lightheaded, so that’s good). Once I hit the 10 mile mark, it was only 5k to go. But each mile started feeling longer and longer. At the fluid stations for mile 10, 11 and 12 I walked for 5-10 seconds when I drank water. I knew I needed to keep on hydrating as I did not want to pass out right after the race. When I hit 20k, the clock said 1:29:04 (7:08 overall). Split: 23:07 (7:23 min/mile). I think mile 12+ was the real killer here as I was essentially jogging compared to my initial pace and people were passing me left and right.

The last 1k was horrible. Took me 5:12 (8:19 min/mile). The 800m left to go sign really did not help me here. It felt like a mile before I saw the 400m left to go sign. Up the ramp to the boardwalk I saw the finish line. I crossed it slowly, raised my hands a bit to pretend I finished strong for the photo and walked on. I went straight for the water, taking it in as much as possible and went for a bagel as I was obviously depleted of sugars as well.

Unofficially, I timed myself at 1:34:30. But on the whole, I missed my goals. So how do I get to 1:29:59?

1. More Lactate Threshold runs. I have been doing a lot of tempo runs and I think they are the main  reason I can maintain a below 7 pace for a long distance. I’m currently running 4-4.5mi @ 6:40-6:50 pace. I’d like to continue that and do 1 weekly LT @ 6:25-6:40 for 5mi.


2. Longer long runs. This will come naturally as I am switching to marathon training, but before the half my longest runs were in the 14 mile range. That’s fine, but it did not really put me under considerable glycogen shortage and don’t think I trained my body to deal with it.


3. More tempo runs. 5mi LT runs are one thing, but maintaining a fast clip for 13.1 miles is not easy. Doing 8-10mi runs at HM pace a few times before the race should be effective to teach my body the pace and train myself to maintain it.


4. Drink much less alcohol. In fact, cut it out as much as possible. This is a tough one as I love a good beer. Maybe a good start is no beer during the week? The reasons for this are that I may lose a bit of weight, which will help my speed. But mainly, drinking less will help my recovery and allow me to run stronger during my training.

These principles stay true for the marathon so I’ll be working on that for the next 4 months. After the marathon, I’ll try for another half in the winter time. As long as I stay healthy and hydrated, I’m confident I’ll hit my goals then.

Speedwork: Necessary Fun

I'm trying to go chronologically through all the things I've wanted to write about since my trip home. This is one of them. As I think I mentioned before, I did a pretty decent job running almost every day while I was in Texas. For the few days around the 5k, I ran a couple of loops around my dad's neighborhood. Although it wasn't hot, per se, it was very muggy. But they were still decent runs. In San Antonio I did loops around my grandparents' neighborhood. While I was running I couldn't help but think that if I lived there I'd start a running club so fast...I was imagining the things I could do while I was running! Kids races, occasional 5k's and race series, it would be great. Maybe I should put those thoughts to use at some point.

For now, though, I'll focus on my own racing. Once I got to Dallas, I found a new, more exciting running experience. It wasn't that the scenery or the weather was better, it was that I found a place to run that energized me. I went to the Tom Muehlenbeck recreation center in Plano to work out. It's a gorgeous facility, and if you're ever in the area for one reason or another I'd recommend checking it out. Especially if there's a possibility that you'd move there.

One of the things I like most about it that I'd nearly forgotten about is their indoor walking/jogging track. It's not a regulation sized, indoor track, but it does provide a different running setting than I'm used to. There are 11 laps to a mile. Normally when I hear that sort of thing I roll my eyes because the thought of circling that many times to do one mile makes my head spin. But not this time. As I started running, I had the urge to just go fast. So, I did. I started doing impromptu speedwork which consisted of sprinting every other lap and just running the others at a normal pace. At times I'd switch it up and do two lap or half mile repeats. But what became even more evident to me during the few days I ran there was that I like running fast. When I started, I convinced myself that speed was not my thing and that I just did distance better. I almost felt like runs less than 6 miles in length weren't worth the time.

Throughout the course of this year, that perspective has changed drastically and it's beginning to show in my races. Not only can I go fast if I work at it, I LOVE going fast. That indoor track only inspired a greater love of it in me. Now I'm looking to do speedwork every chance I get. I should have been doing it the whole time, but better late than never, right?

My goal is to start racing short distances (10k and shorter) at close to an 8 minute per mile pace. After running as an adult for almost four years, I've come to the full realization that not only can I be fast, I love being fast and I'm excited about the prospect of getting faster in the coming months.