Musings

The quality of my workouts has been too sporadic recently. I really need to get started on my half Ironman training plan ASAP. Bearing that in mind, I will cover my last two streak runs. Also, earlier in the week I considered why I don't write about my runs every day. The truth of the matter is that I don't always have time! I know it shouldn't be too hard to come up with a few words and the MapMyRun map, but I still have difficulty not posting something at least somewhat thought-out and cohesive.

Since this whole streak thing began, I've gotten much better about planning what I like to call a functional commute. This simply means running somewhere I have to be anyway, where I would normally either walk or take the subway. On Friday, this happened to be a friend's apartment.



The run itself was interesting. Again, I had my backpack as we were going out afterward, but I'm getting increasingly comfortable with doing that. It wasn't so bad.

Yesterday the quidditch team went up to New Haven for a scrimmage against Yale. They were very gracious hosts and it was a really good, albeit long day. Just before we left, the weather took a turn for the worse and didn't let up, even in the city. Although I probably ran a mile while playing quidditch, I'm always a little insecure about that and how much running actually took place. For good measure, I ran home from the train station:

Thank Goodness

This is a shorty. Just a quick record of my run today, which was a Phoebe loop because I had other things this evening as well. Today is technically Friday, so everyone enjoy!

Guinea Pig Workout

Today I went for a workout with Jared, who recently began working as a personal trainer. He wanted to try out a workout he created for a client tomorrow and I was more than happy to be the guinea pig. The workout ran long, so I didn't do all of it, but the idea was that it simulated a triathlon. My warmup was as follows:

10x up and down a flight of stairs
20 jumping jacks, jumping jack squats, and twist mountain climbers
8x up and down a flight of stairs
18 jumping jacks, jumping jack squats, and twist mountain climbers
6x up and down a flight of stairs
16 jumping jacks, jumping jack squats, and twist mountain climbers


After that we began the swim portion, which was a series of core exercises, mostly focused on the plank. After that we did some pull-up and push-up exercises. The last thing was a ride on the bike, which alternated sprints at a really low resistance (1-4) and a steady pace at a massive resistance (20-25). While I was sprinting, I also had to do exercises with a 10lb weight in each hand. It was pretty tough.

The workout was great and lasted just about an hour. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do the run, so I had to get my streak run in by running home from the gym. I was even wearing my backpack! By the way, I love my backpack because it's ginormous and has Tony the Tiger on the front.

Unfortunately, it's not long for this world because one of the straps is about to detach from the top. I'm toying with trying to fix it, though, because I love it. Anyway, here's my run home:

Today's Streak Run

It occurred to me that I might be more transparent with my streak runs. Also, why wouldn't I post my run every day? It's an automatic daily entry for me. So here is today's run. It's a Phoebe loop extended to the Upper East Side. I managed to get out and in while it wasn't raining, which I consider a victory.



I also forgot to mention that yesterday was the second installment of NYRR's Run and Learn series. This week we did the usual 3ish mile run and then learned some yoga for runners from an instructor at lululemon. It was interesting. I'm still not ready to do yoga on the regular, but it's always cool to do something interesting. The run was fast, but maybe not as fast as last week.

Lastly, I want to congratulate all my friends who have recently completed a couple of half marathons. Congrats to my boot camp buddies who completed the Big D half marathon this past Sunday and to my friend Meghan who ran the Great Bay Half Marathon the Sunday before. Great job, guys!

PS - A new poll is up. Cast your vote!

Natural Movement: Sounds Weird But Is Really Cool

Saturday brought yet another full-length day of running and quidditch. At 10:30 in the morning I met Jared, a few members of the team, and the Barefoot Running club, which now gathers with a Natural Movement Meetup group that I've now joined. We met at the southwest corner of Columbus Circle. I was running late, unfortunately, so didn't have time to put on my Vibrams. It was fine, though. The whole idea behind natural movement is that you do a lot more running on trails and natural surfaces than on concrete. Maybe it was better that I wore regular shoes for my first time doing this. Aside from the running itself, the natural movement group incorporates nature into its workouts in other ways as well. These include climbing trees, walls, rocks; jumping over or on benches, etc. In Central Park I suppose it's a strange mixture of parkour and natural movement, but still. At various points, we were climbing trees, playing tag, bouldering, passing logs back and forth, lunging across a field, etc. It was a great workout and so enjoyable because it involved doing things I hadn't done in years. Quidditch was good too, as usual, even though we played with modified rules that involve less running.

Today (technically yesterday, but who's counting) is my third Runniversary. That is, it's been three years to the day since I ran the 10k that started me on my running and triathlon odyssey. It was called the Skunk Cabbage Classic and omg I just realized it's now a half marathon, too! You go, Finger Lakes Running Club. Anyway, it was a gorgeous run. And how could it not be, Ithaca is Gorges, after all (sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist). Here is a link to the route. It's a half marathon, but the 10k had much of the beginning portion in common. I finished in 1:06:56. And I'll tell you something else, I was damn proud of each of those six 11-minute miles. I still am. When I started training for that race in February of 2008, I struggled to run 3 miles on the treadmill, sometimes having to dial the speed back to under 5.0 mph. It was a humbling experience. I didn't really consider myself a runner until a good year and a half after that 10k because it wasn't something I thought I could claim until I had the numbers to back it up. I was absolutely wrong about that. Being a runner isn't about a certain pace or how many PRs you set in a year. It's about getting out there on the road or on the treadmill, putting one foot in front of the other, and pushing yourself a little faster or farther as time goes on, no matter what that distance or speed is.

Running is different things for different people. Exercise, a release, distraction, victory, pain, pride, vindication, glory. It's what it needs to be for those who accept it as a challenge. And those who do accept it find themselves in a community of people who not only care about their own success, but that of their fellow runners, as well. Part of the magic of the New York City Marathon is that the community unites with 2 million residents of the city in this spirit. On that day, 2 million spectators and 44,000 fellow marathoners, most of them complete strangers, are united in their desire for each runner to cross the finish line. And, even though it's an extraordinary example, this spirit typifies the one you'd find at any race, from the marathon to a local 5k.

These are just a few of the things I've come to understand in my three years as a runner. I'm hardly a veteran, but I'm not afraid to say I've been around the block a few times. Literally, of course. The Phoebe loop doesn't run itself, you know. To all you beginners out there, keep it up. Do your thing. You're a runner, and don't let anyone (including yourself) tell you otherwise.

Vote, Plz!

To the right, you'll see my poll about stretching. Please vote! If I get enough votes, I'll be able to plan posts around the results and I think that would be helpful. As workouts go, I'm approaching my 60 day streak mark. Yesterday I did a 5k along the Upper East Side. I think I did it in about 27 minutes but again, timing is fuzzy.

Another cool anniversary is also coming up! On April 11th, it will be two years since I ran my first marathon and three years since my first 10k, which was the first race for which I ever trained (aside from high school). I'll have to do some introspection on both of those things, as they were momentous occasions in my running career. For now, though, I need to take Phoebe for a walk.

Pillow Fight, Quidditch, and Awesome Run

I enjoy a good pillow fight as much as the next person, but I was not prepared for what awaited me on Saturday when I headed down to Union Square with six other members of the quidditch team. Feathers and fuzz swirled in the air; it was mayhem! Wielding pillows, we entered the fray to find a diverse pillow fighting crowd. Many people wore pajamas. Two guys even had on full body spandex suits, one green, one blue. And anyone wearing anything even slightly conspicuous dramatically increased the likelihood that they would be whacked. I'm definitely glad Jared convinced me to abandon my favorite post-quidditch locale, Toast, in order to broaden my horizons.

Practice was pretty decent, too. We warmed up by doing five repetitions of this massive hill in Riverside Park. For any of you Plano Boot Camp readers, I'm sure this workout would have been a walk in the park. Admittedly, my hillwork has been lacking in recent months, so I found it to be quite challenging. After the hill, we went straight into the usual out and back Dino Park run, which is slightly over a mile (thereby taking care of my streak requirement for the day). We then went straight into scrimmaging and did conditioning afterward. As usual, Jared had a fiendish circuit workout planned. He calls it Animal Crackers, though I know fearless boot camp leader T calls it Animal Kingdom. I'm including a diagram below. Please enjoy my super advanced Microsoft Paint skillz.

We did fifteen minutes of that. Most of it is fine for me, but the crabwalk KILLS me and it takes me forever to do it all the way down the field. OH, and we had to combat these things, which makes crabwalking and bear crawling quite painful if you're not careful:

Stupid spiky balls. To be fair, I was mostly able to avoid them.

So that was Saturday. Yesterday I did a 2ish mile run that was basically the Phoebe loop with a little distance added in. That was good, but today was even better. The NYRR are doing a free run series each Monday in April which consists of a short run and then a lecture or short class on a specific topic. today was stretching, but that wasn't the best part. The best part was that I, along with an older gentleman, led the fastest pack on the first half of the run! In my vibrams! DOUBLE WIN. The run was technically supposed to be 3 miles, but they didn't actually measure it out, they just said we'd go fifteen minutes running north and then turn around. Since we were running significantly faster than 10 minutes per mile, we probably ended up doing close to 4 miles in that thirty minutes and then a total of almost five with the warmup and cooldown segments. It was fantastic. I didn't keep up the same pace for the entire run, but we were definitely flying for the first half.



The stretching part was really good, too. I'm terrible about remembering to stretch and doing it properly and long enough, so I found it very helpful and informative. I'm also really looking forward to the next few Mondays!