Training For My First Next Marathon

Number 4

2011-10-19T11:11:00.003-04:00

(Has it really been a year?)

I ran another marathon on Sunday. The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. I wasn't in as good shape as last year, and it was really windy, but I finished in 4:03:31.

I would really have liked to get in under 4, but overall it was a good performance. I stopped for the portapotty at about 5 miles in. I shouldn't have waited for it, but there were only 2 people (guys!) in front of me, and I knew my time wasn't going to be great anyway. In the end, that break took 4:16 and was really annoying. (As a comparison I took another pit-stop later in the race, and I was only off the course for 0:46.) I'm not sure that doing something different (bushes?) would have led to a sub 4 finish, but when I ended up missing it by less than that bathroom break it was frustrating.

I crossed the half at 2:03:15. I knew that didn't bode well for a sub 4, but I felt I had more in me. Around mile 15 (I say around - the course was measured in Km which was confusing), I picked up the speed. I was finishing Km's in just under 5:30 and I started doing the math. I could see that I was still going to miss by a minute or two, but I had a fantasy of really burning through the finish.

As it turned out, I couldn't make up the lost time. Even though I wasn't going to make it, I pushed myself to keep running hard, even though my quads were hurting. I slowed a tiny bit, finishing Km's in about 5:40, but for the most part hung on through to the finish. I thought I could get a sub 2 second split, but even missed that - coming in with 2:00:16 for the second half.

I'm still pretty proud of that negative split. (Although if you take away the bathroom stops both splits are pretty even at about 1:59!) I had put in the miles for this race, but not the hard work of speed workouts or enough tempo runs. It was also a tough day to race, although not really a tough course. The mental toughness to keep going is something that I didn't really have earlier on in my racing experience.

Just recovering now, and haven't thought about the next one yet. I have been thinking about moving down to half's and concentrating on speed. But I've said that before...

The Aftermath

2010-11-11T21:23:00.006-05:00

Well the video is online:

You can see me on the right of the screen, wearing my trademark marathon outfit (see above). Notice the cramping at the end, and then the limping away. Ouch. I limped forward to get my medal, heat sheet, and food. Then began the long walk to the baggage.

They start the baggage trucks in reverse order, and so truck 62 was first. I had to walk back to 29, and then to about 14 to get out of the park. Mile 27! As I limped along, people kept asking me if I was alright. On the 5th guy, I said I was really cramped, which meant he started walking with me to the medical tent. He handed me off to another volunteer, and by the time I was at the medical tent, I decided to just keep going. I didn't want to stop - I just wanted to get out of the park.

I was not in as bad shape as after my first marathon, but not in as good shape as last time. As I exited the park I tried to stretch but found that I couldn't really do it. It either hurt too much, or I physically couldn't get into the right position. It's now been 4 days, and I can still feel pain in my calves and the bottom of my hamstrings. Last time by this time I had gone out for a short run. I may try tomorrow morning - but it will be a gameday decision.

I need to analyze how the run went, but I think I'll leave that for another post...

The Race

2010-11-09T12:01:00.007-05:00

Mile 1: Over the Verrazano we went. It was crowded, but I tried not to do too much dodging. But I had to a little, just to keep some space to run. I tried to keep in mind that iwas a long day ahead. I ended up running the first mile (which is uphill) in 9:29. Nice slow pace, I thought to myself.

Mile 2: I kept up with what I thought was a slow and comfortable pace. Until I passed the marker, and hit the Garmin. 8:18. Fast, but I figured it had the downhill part of the bridge.

Mile 3: Still keeping a steady comfortable pace. I wasn't wearing headphones so I could concentrate on my breathing - which was totally fine. Finished the mile in 8:07. I was concerned that it was too fast, but I felt really good. Who knows, maybe it was a good day for a PR. Definitely the perfect weather for it.

Miles 4-8: I felt like a machine. 8:07, 8:07, 8:04, 8:04. Nice and steady. I'd forgotten how enthusiastic the crowds in Brooklyn were. They were amazing, cheering each runner like they knew them. (I found myself looking at the fans sometimes to see if it was someone I knew - they called my name with such excitement!)

Miles 9-10: The various starting colors merged here, and it got a little crowded. Not terrible, just a little less space. 8:18 and 8:08.

Miles 10-12: Ran through Williamsburg, home of many Hassidic Jews. Always interesting to see their reaction, and there were a fair amount of people cheering - albeit in a much more subdued fashion. 8:08, 8:18, 8:03. (That included a re-tying of one shoe.)

Mile 13: I'd been thinking about the bathroom at eah mile marker when I saw the portapotties. I remembered from reading my old report that I went at mile 13 last year. Part of a scheme to add the time to my first half, in order to get a negative split. I did the same thing this year - though I actually used a portapotty this time. :) 9:07 for the mile with the break.

Mile 14: Over the Pulaski Bridge. I heard someone complain how the bridge was ugly and in such a weird place. I said "look to your left" and as she did she say the Manhattan skyline. "I feel much better" ws the response. I passed the halfway point at 1:49:15. I was feeling really good. I definitely kept in my mind that the race really starts at the end - but I wasn't tired. I made some calculations in my mind and figured out that even if I slowed down in the second half, I could still set a PR. Unexpected, but it would be really cool. I finished the mile (which included the bridge) in 8:24.

Mile 15: This includes the beginning of the Queensboro Bridge - the real monster of the NYC Marathon. I managed to keep running even as many people slowed to a walk. But it's a long bridge. Only about a third of this mile included the bridge, and my split was 8:45.

Mile 16: The bulk of the bridge. I felt like I was putting in the same effort, but my Garmin was showing my a pace of over 10 min/mile on the uphill. The distance measurement was passing noticeably slower. After thinking about the PR in the morning, I could feel it slipping away here. 9:06 for the mile.

Mile 17-18: A little surge of the downhill ramp, and the entry into Manhattan. Tons of crowds at this point, and it really energizes a runner. I was supposed to see a friend here - but way too crowded and I never saw him. 8:34 and 8:40. Not bad splits, but I could feel that it was harder to get these splits.

Mile 19-20: The crowd thins out as we moved higher up on 1st Avenue. And then the Willis Ave Bridge. I remembered stopping to stretch here in 2005, and I just kept pushing on. 8:54 and 9:10. I had no ability to speed up and this point, and the PR was clearly gone. I had a secondary goal which I'd been saying all week, and that was to finish in under 9 minute miles. That's what I was shooting for now.

Mile 21: The Bronx. My home borough, though not really in that neighborhood. They had pumped up music there and a giant video screen where you could see yourself. It was exciting, but I was really tiring. 9:14

Miles 22-23: I was really struggling. I was calculating in my head how likely it was to reach my goal. I was counting on 10 minute miles, and my chances were looking good. My main motivation at this point was just to keep running - I didn't want to stop and walk. That had really been devastating to me in 2005, and I just forced myself to keep going. 9:16 and 9:25.

Miles 24-25: I saw the first friend here after missing all the others. Was really nice, but I was in bad shape.

(I faked the smile for the picture.)

I entered Central Park at 90th and tried to energize myself. There were small rolling hills, and I had nothing left. I was cramping every few minutes. Nothing that made me stop running, but it was altering my stride and I was very uncomfortable. I was grimacing, but I wasn't going to stop. 9:49 and 9:36.

Mile 26: The last mile. In my previous effort, this was my fastest mile of the day. But this was a different day. I was not doing well, but kept focusing on continuing to run without stopping. I had serious cramps in my calves, particularly on the left. It had been bothering me all week, and was really making its presence known now. I soldiered on to Central Park South where I heard someone call my last name. Too crowded to see who it was at the time, but I just wanted to finish. I saw the sign for 1/2 mile left and was really getting excited to be done.

And then, BAM, I got a major cramp just as I was heading back into the park. This was about mile 25.9. This time I had to stop and grab my leg as I hobbled a few steps. One runner ran into me and I apologized as I tried to move to the side. A race volunteer came over to me and put her arm around me, and asked me if I needed to stop. I was so close. I really didn't want to stop, and I said no thanks and hobbled away. After ten or twenty feet it subsided and I continued on. Even with all that drama, I still hit 9:47 for the mile.

Mile 26.2: The big finish. I knew I had nothing left for a sprint, but I guess I tried to speed up just a little. I had reached my goal of continuing to run, I had reached the 9 minute mile goal, and I had reached my next arbitrary goal of getting in under 3:50. I had nothing forcing me to sprint except wanting to finish strong. I just kept up the pace and raised my hands as I came into the finishing area.

And then just for fun, I got another major cramp as I crossed the line. (Should be interesting to see that in the pictures.) I crossed the line hobbling, and only stopped my watch a little later. My official time, I later found out, was 3:49:04.

The Lead Up

2010-11-08T11:25:00.008-05:00

I started earlier this year way out of shape. I'd put on about 20 pounds over the winter, and was the heaviest I'd ever been. Through February I'd run a grand total of 2 miles. I started off slow with 30 miles in March, and then 72 in April. I continued to build a base until starting marathon training in earnest in July. By the time the marathon came I'd run 829 miles for the year. And I was 25 pounds lighter.

I'd been real careful through the whole cycle and felt no pain in my legs at any point. I slowly added distance, and then only added in speed in the later months.

Unfortunately, in the last week I've had some trouble. I started feeling cramping during the day, particularly in my left cramp. I wasn't sure if it was from pushing too hard in my last track workout, or just "taper madness" as I eased down on the running. (And started obsessing about the marathon!) Either way, I didn't feel so confident in the last week. Well, I wasn't going to cancel at this point...

Saturday I carb-loaded. (Like I do every day!)

I spent Saturday night trying to figure out what to wear. I ended up finding my old marathon shirt from 2007, with my name on it. I got a good idea for "sleeves" to use knee socks. (Or what I'd call tube socks.) I cut off the tips so my hand could go through, and used gloves for my hands. But these stayed up much better than sleeves cut off from another shirt.

I obsessed about socks and shoes. I ended up using a new pair of Asics Nimbus socks, and went with my old Nimbus shoes. I was worried that the new ones had caused me problems - and I still think they may have hurt me. So I went with the old ones which had just under 350 miles on them.

Sunday morning I got up at 4:45. Showered, had coffee and oatmeal, and got ready. It was a new month on the Jewish calendar, which calls for longer morning prayers. There were actually services in the Athletes Village, but I didn't think I'd get there that early. The earliest I could pray at home was at 5:41 and so that's when I started. I was out of the house shortly after 6.
I should mention that I was assigned to a 6:15 ferry to Staten Island. I remembered from last time that the ferry situation is a complete mess, with nobody checking what time you're supposed to be there. (How could they anyway? It's public transportation.) Also, for me to get to the bottom of Manhattan at 6am is very difficult. The subways don't run so frequently at 4am. (And c'mon, 4am for a 10 o'clock race!!) As it turns out, even at 6am the subway was a mess. I drove into the city to miss all the local stops in the Bronx. I ended up still requiring 3 trains, and then a shuttle bus to the ferry.

At the ferry station I overheard people saying that it was so crowded at 6, the people had to wait over a half hour to get on a ferry. I smiled inwardly as I got on a ferry in less than 5 minutes.
On the other end there were shuttle buses taking us to the start line. Once again it was so much better doing this at 8:20 versus 7:20 (or 6:20!). I still had to wait in the cold exposed area, but it wasn't too long.

I ended up getting to the athletes village about 8:50. It had taken me about 2 hours and 45
minutes to get there from home. (It would end up taking me just 5 minutes longer to get back to the Bronx by foot.) I was very happy with that, since it was a cold morning.

A little hard to see, but it was in the 30's at 7 - which is when they wanted me to get there. It was around 45 degrees by 9, and the sun was out. Much more comfortable.

I hung out by the baggage trucks and had a second Clif Bar. Within a short time it was time to head to the corrals. I checked my bag and went to the portapotty. There was an announcement that there were 5 minutes left to the corrals being closed. I was next in line. I went in, and thirty seconds later they announced the corrals were closed. Damn. I rushed over anyway.

Well, there was a line extending out the back of each corral. That was good enough for me. I ended up merging with my corral. I was in a lead corral (for the second wave) but ended up being behind a couple of thousand runners. Fine with me - I wanted to start slowly.

I had on a sweat suit, which was good because it was cold. I saw some snuggies there - still not sure if that was a good idea. Easy to get off, but they're open in the front. I had cut up the seams of the sweatpants to make them easier to remove with shoes. It worked out well for me.

Anyway, at 10:10 we headed up towards the start line. After a few announcements, the canon went off, and the familiar strains of Sinatra's "New York, New York" start playing. We were off...

29247

2010-11-05T10:12:00.003-04:00

Marathon day is almost here. And I'm going crazy.

I ran my last track workout on Tuesday, and it called for 6 x 400m. It was my last interval workout, and they were such short intervals, that I couldn't help but push myself. I could tell I was pushing hard, but it didn't feel like I hurt myself. But since then my legs haven't felt quite the same. Occasional twinges and cramps which I haven't felt for 8 months. Maybe it's just "taper madness" but I'm kind of freaking out a little bit. I don't want to limp this thing through. Anyway, still a couple of more days.

I kept track of the weather forecasts, and it has become clear that it will be sunny but cold. Some say that's good for running - but I really don't like the cold. In the insane way this race goes, I'm supposed to take a 6:15 ferry to Staten Island - for a 10:10 start time. And during those few hours before the start, the "real feel" temperature is going to be in the 20's! Forget heat stroke here, we have to worry about frostbite!!

Anyway, I'm rushing to work like usual. Not sure if I'll get another chance to post, but you can track me via my number above. Thanks for the all your support!

New Shoes?

2010-10-26T18:19:00.004-04:00

A little late, but I finally got another set of Nimbus 12's. I used them today on the track, and they were ok. I think. I got new socks as well, and didn't like those. Anyway, I'm not sure whether I should wear these or the old ones for the marathon.
The old ones have 350 miles on them. They don't bother me, but they're old. I figure the new ones will have better cushioning, and maybe help me feel stronger at the end of the day. But maybe they're too stiff, and I don't have enough time to break them in. (If I wore them for all my remaining runs scheduled, I'd have less than 30 miles on them at the start.)
So... any advice?

In other news, I've gone over 800 miles for the year. Considering that I didn't start until March, that's pretty cool. I'd love to break that (arbitrary) barrier of 1000 for the year - but it will be tough to do that after the marathon. I'm kind of burnt out as well.

And just to keep up with the obsession, here's the latest extended forecast.

If you compare this to how it looked a few days ago, you'll see that Marathon Sunday looks about the same. Of course, the three days before it have turned from sunny to rain - so you can see how inaccurate this is at this point.

Not so fast...

2010-10-24T22:09:00.003-04:00

Alright, I spoke too soon. I thought I was getting faster, but then I looked back at my 2007 times, and I'm not that fast.

Yes, I'm faster than I was 25 pounds ago, and at the end of this training cycle. But starting from a bad place means I didn't end in as good a place as I could have. I do seem to be running my interval runs well, but my tempo runs - which I think are clutch for marathon training - are a little off the pace.

In a way I'm kind of happy, since it helps me set some more realistic goals for the marathon. I'll discuss these at a later date.

In the meantime, the 15 day extended forecast has finally hit marathon day. Yay! It's time to obsess about the weather! (Even though I know they're not nearly accurate. They're generally not accurate for the next day, and at this moment, they're not even accurate about what's going on outside my window! But hey, I feel like this is part of the whole marathon process!)

Getting Faster

2010-10-14T22:26:00.002-04:00

Lately, my training runs have been fast. Or what I consider fast. I looked back at where I was in 2007, and in fact, I've been running slightly faster as of late.

Now I'm annoyed. For the majority of this training cycle, I've felt that I was nowhere near where I was in 2007. I started out 20 pounds heavier, and much slower. And so I assumed that a PR was out of the question. Actually, I kind of felt that my 2007 performance would likely be the best ever for me. It was an hour faster than 2005, and I felt I was in really great shape then.

And now, suddenly I feel as though I could actually better my time. Only, that I really haven't trained appropriately. I've run some of these last training runs fast, but I could tell that I wouldn't be able to keep it up. One thing I definitely don't want to do, is crash and burn during this race. I don't want to start too fast, and then suffer through the last 10 miles. (Been there, done that.) And so I'm not certain how to run this race...

It's interesting for me to realize that I have a lot more running potential in me. Quite honestly, I'm tired now and can't really think about doing this again. But I can tell that if I started the training season in good shape, and trained as if I was going to run a 3:30, that I could definitely do it.

I think I'll try and start at a comfortable pace, and then gauge how I'm doing at about 10 miles. Easier said than done, but that's what I'm thinking right now.

(Of course it could be a torrential downpour, or 75 degrees, and all this will go out the window. But it's still too early to obsess about the weather at this point!)

Update - 1 Month to go

2010-10-07T19:35:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I'm not so good at posting anymore. I guess facebook has kind of taken over. Just a lot quicker.

In any case, I've definitely been running. Let's see...

July 109 miles

August 151 miles (PR!)

September 133 miles

Total for the year so far: 717 miles. (Not bad, considering that at the beginning of March I was up to 2!)

I've been using the FIRST method, though a lot of my tempo runs haven't been too exact. I'm sure that will hurt my time, but I'm ok with that.

Also, I was away for the Jewish Holidays in Israel. Really tough to run there with all the hills and high heat. Between the location and the holiday schedule, I'm a little off. Today I ran for only the second time in 9 days: a 20 mile long run on Sunday, and a 10 mile tempo run today. I was pretty fast, but my knees hurt towards the end. I didn't want to stop, but it's concerning a little. And I'm supposed to run a speed workout tomorrow. We'll see...

Today marks 1 month to go until the marathon. I'm actually pretty tired of the training. It's been a big stress finding time for the runs, and making sure I do them. It's been good for me, no doubt. I've lost over 20 pounds and I've gotten much faster than when I started. But it's hard to fit it all in. May move back to the half after this one. (Though I'd have to eat less - which is a problem.) Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the taper.

100 miles

2010-06-30T23:04:00.003-04:00

I reached 100 miles for the month of June. First time since before the marathon - in October 2007.

The weight is kind of stagnating, if not going up a little. A little frustrating. Seems as if I'm going have to give up eating the way I do. (i.e. out of control!) Not happy about that...

I started to work on a training plan for the marathon. I've been good with the long runs, and even doing a little tempo here and there. But the thought of driving out to the track to do intervals is less appealing. Hard to do it with all my early hours these days. And the evenings on the track are impossible - too packed with people going for strolls!

In other news I went for a bike ride today. First time in three years I believe. I need to get a bike...

Upset

2010-06-22T11:07:00.006-04:00

I've been really good, and yesterday my weight had reached a milestone I've been waiting for. However, it was the morning after my Sunday long run, and I refused to count it until I was there for two days in a row. Unfortunately, last night I had a family wedding...

Once the food is in front of me, I have no control. I specifically did not come early, so as to avoid the pre-ceremony "shmorg". I was kind of counting on the actual dinner being unimpressive, as it often is at these events. Nope. When I want the food to be bad, I'm of course disappointed.

Dessert didn't help either.

Part of this weight tracking is this obsession with weighing myself. Since I showered before the wedding, I stepped on the scale once I was in the bathroom. Over the course of 4 hours I was gone for the wedding, I gained 4.5 pounds! Ugh. The next morning's official weigh-in was three pounds up from the day before. So upsetting...

Sigh...

In iPod news, since the shuffle seemed to be working I took it out for my run on Sunday. I had a few things going on in the hospital, so I had my phone with me. The shuffle was working until about 3 miles in, when I got a phone call. I paused the shuffle, and then couldn't get it restarted. So annoying, since I had another 9 miles planned! In the end, I plugged my headphones into my blackberry, and was able to listen to music at least.

I was able to use it for an hour trip to Brooklyn yesterday, and a 45 minute trip back. Today, it worked fine on my run. So temperamental. I'm hoping to get the clip plus delivered tomorrow (super-saving delivery from Amazon is super-slow!) and so this might have been my last run with the shuffle.

Since I know you're all dying to know what happens, I'll keep you posted. :)

Running "Naked"

2010-06-17T18:57:00.002-04:00

I've had iPod troubles. My last 5 or so runs have been "naked", that is without any music or podcasts. It hasn't been too bad, but on several of those occasions I had been expecting the entertainment, and it failed at he last second. That's kind of annoying.

I had a 2nd generation shuffle, which just stopped working out of the blue. I couldn't charge it for days, and then suddenly one day it charged. (I have a replacement charging connector, and I wasn't sure if it was the connector or the shuffle.) Anyway, once I charged it up, I took it out for a run. Nothing. I assumed the battery was dead.

So I order a new player. (Sandisk Clip Plus. I'm Interested to try a non-iPod out.) In the meantime, I've had an old first generation shuffle sitting around the apartment. I bought it as an extra gift many years ago, and then never ended up using it. So I charge it up, load up some songs, and charge it fully overnight. The green light was on. Today I took it out for a run - nothing. Couldn't get it to start.

Strange this is, that when I get back home, the thing works fine. I'm so intrigued that I check out the original shuffle as well. Wouldn't you know, that works fine too. I even took it with me to work, listening to it on the commute both ways. No problem. So weird.

In the meantime, to make things even worse, my amazon order for the new player has been delayed. Halfway through my order being filled, my credit card account was compromised. They closed the account and sent me a new card. The credit card people said the amazon charge would still go through, but today I get an email that there's a problem. Sigh...

Anyway, now I have two players that work. At least in the house. And hopefully the new one next week - which I'm looking forward to. It comes with 2gb for 29 bucks, and I have another 2gb microSD card hanging around. And so, I'll quadruple my current mp3 capacity. This will allow me to put podcasts and music on the same player. I just hope it's not too much of a pain using a non-iPod. I've been using iTunes all these years...

In other news, I put in two short runs this week. 4 on tuesday, and 5 today. I ran today as a slow tempo, just under a 9 minute mile, but no stops. Felt pretty good.... Hope to go nice and long on the weekend. On call Saturday, so hopefully that won't be on no sleep like the last time.

Diet was looking good early in the week. (I skipped the all you can eat!) Took a bit of backward step today, but I ate a lot last night. I weigh myself in the mornings, and so eating at nght really hurts me. (At least it kept me from eating the M&M's in front of me at work today.) I hope to be hitting a major milestone soon, so I'm still sticking to things most of the time.

Sauna Suit Stupidity

2010-06-13T22:50:00.004-04:00

My legs have been sore lately. I think trying to "catch up" my long run after I missed it for the race, was a bad idea. In any case, I took an "easy" day and only ran 10 miles. Feels funny to say that, but the last few weeks have been 11, 12, and 13. Each week the last few miles have been tough, and so today's 10 actually seemed relatively easy. I think it was a good move.

Hypothetically, if I would be starting the FIRST program in a few weeks, I'd start out with a 13 miler. I can already see that I'm not up to snuff to start out the program as prescribed. I don't recommend modifying it, but I may have to do that myself - though I don't expect the same results.

The diet has stalled a little as well - this wasn't a good week for me. I'm trying to get back on track, and at least I haven't really gained much.

Speaking of weight loss, I have noticed this this increasing trend lately of runners wearing these "sauna suits".

This is one of the most idiotic ideas I have seen. The fact that people believe this is helping them is insane. The only use for this is for a weightlifter or boxer to (temporarily!) get down to weight. I don't think any of the overweight "joggers" I see are using it this way. They actually believe that sweating more will lead to more weight loss. It makes me want to stop and educate each one. Firstly, it's dangerous. Second, in all likelihood it leads to less exertion, with the dehydration and overheating leading to earlier exhaustion.

For the record, in these hot summer days I try to run with as little as possible, often wearing sleeveless tops. Even with drinking I get dehydrated. On today's 10 mile run, even with my water belt, I still lost 4 pounds on the run.

I changed the title of this post, on the off chance someone will find it in a google search. If you're considering getting one of these for weight loss, don't do it! To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in. Sweating more does NOT burn calories. It only dehydrates you - which is dangerous and not lasting.

End of rant...

Bad Habits

2010-06-01T11:09:00.003-04:00

I've been going to an all-you-could-eat sushi & chinese place for quite a few years. It's a weekly deal on Mondays. Most of the week I think I'm not going to go, but Monday afternoon I start to feel the pull.

I've tried a few tricks. First I would tell myself I'll only have sushi, which is healthy (healthier?) right? But I'd always give in to the chinese. Then I decided to try the takeout offer. Same deal, except it's not all you can eat, but rather all you can stuff into the plastic container they give you. So I took only sushi. Trouble was, it's a lot of sushi!

For a couple of weeks I was good, and managed to eat the sushi over two days. But the last two weeks I've eaten this ridiculous amount of sushi in one shot. Last night I don't even think I wanted the last few pieces. But I couldn't throw them out either.

Combined with all the soy sauce causing me to retain water, I felt terrible when I was done. This morning, I was 3.5 pounds up from yesterday, and I didn't eat that much else during the day. I can't even put that on my graph, it's so ridiculous.

Since I didn't get a long run in on the weekend, I planned to run 12 this morning. I left early, so it wasn't too hot. (Though it was still pretty hot.) I felt terrible. The first few miles were really a struggle - which I blame directly on last night's dinner.

I was going to shorten the run to 10, but by 5 I felt a little better and so I forged on to about 6 before turning around. In the end the last 2 miles were killer. I was pretty slow all day, running about 10 min miles, a little above or a little below. And I took plenty of walk breaks. But the last two miles were rough. It could be because I was back in the heat again, but I felt wiped. And so with all those calories last night, I still didn't have the energy needed for this run. It was depressing.

And for the record, though I drank 40 oz of water on the run, I was down 3 pounds just from the run. Obviously some dehydration, but I like to think that I was sweating out some of the salt as well. Actually didn't feel that thirsty when I was done, so we'll see what happens.

Anyway, old habits die hard. I'm not ready to swear off this weekly treat of mine, I just think I need to adjust a little. Maybe not stuff the container so full that I can barely snap the lid on? It's a work in progress.

I'm away from my scale tomorrow morning, so the next weigh-in will be Thursday morning. I suspect that might impact how I feel about this Monday extravaganza...

L'Chaim 5K 2010

2010-05-31T12:19:00.004-04:00

This is a small race I've run before. (See here and here.) I was 4th in my age group the first time, and 2nd the next year.

In the signup area I saw a lot of the old crowd. Kind of funny to see the same people each year for this race. We were all talking about past performances. It made me think that this is how the elites must be at races. "Remember last year when you out-kicked me at the end?" At a typical NYRR race I'm well within the pack and much more anonymous. Anyway, I've just recently started adding in speed, so I didn't really expect to compete this year.

The race started at 10:30, and as I had expected, it was really hot this year. Like every year, people always take off at full speed. For the first few minutes there were about 100 people in front of me. These guys fade away within minutes.

I crossed mile 1 at 7:01. Ummmm... that's fast. I ran an 8:12 tempo mile last week and it was hard. And it was at least 10 degrees cooler. Looking at past reports I've thought the first mile was short. With a better quality GPS watch I can definitely see that it's not. Maybe it's all those people in front of me pushing me to run faster. In either case this was too fast for me. I had to slow down. I didn't think I could keep up this pace for the whole race. (Did I mention it was hot!)

I took it down a notch, though it was still tough to keep going. By this time there was only a few people in front of me that I could see. There was one guy who was staying close to me, passing me on the downhills, and falling back on the uphills. Eventually the course flattened out more, and he went up ahead. I hit mile 2 with a 7:44 pace.

The third mile I was really struggling. I didn't want to let up the pace, but it was really a struggle to hang on. I was determined to keep pushing - that's really the purpose of racing, isn't it? I was also starting to think of winning some hardware again. (Not many small races, with 5 year age groups, and 3 trophies per group!)

There was a kid in front of me for about half the race. I later found out he was 12. Obviously not my age group, but I was amazed at his endurance! I had no extra gear to catch him, but at about 2.6 miles he stopped to walk a little. (He ended up finishing 45 seconds behind me. And there were another two kids aged 11 and 12 within the next minute after that. Incredible!)

There was one other guy within reach. I ended up passing him at around 2.8 miles, but he seemed too comfortable. I knew he'd catch me in the end. And he did. At about 3 miles he went right by me. He had a little cheering squad for him yelling out that there was somone (me!) behind him and to leave me in the dust. He didn't have to worry. He only beat me by 3 seconds, but I had nothing left in the tank.

I finished mile 3 in a 7:43 pace. And though I usually finish up the last 0.1 in a fast pace, I couldn't this day.

Total time 23:20 for a 7:31 pace. Age group placing? 4th. Again. I was happy anyway. I hadn't expected to run anywhere near this fast, so it was a really good effort from me.

What's funny is that when I looked at previous reports, I also took a picture of the results. I hadn't remembered doing that, but it was there in the blog. This year I didn't bring a camera, but my blackberry has a pretty good camera. Comparing the results, you can see the same people up there on the list. Most of the people are remarkably consistent. (I guess if I hadn't gained 25 pounds after the last race my time would look more similar to the previous effort. I'm 15 pounds down, and working my way towards the next 10!)

Here's my pace during the race. I definitely started too fast, but I'm happy with my effort to maintain the pace for the rest of the race. It wasn't easy, and half the battle was mental toughness.

I've been thinking of running a race on Father's Day next. It's the tenth anniversary of the first race I ever ran, and so I had sentimental reasons to run it. The downside is that it kills my long run for the weekend. Since I don't run on Saturday, I've only got the one day to run long. There's really no reason for me to run a 5M race in 3 weeks, other than the sentimental one. I'm now leaning against it. Price goes up June 5th so I'll decide soon.

Finally, since I'm not going to run today, I'll summarize May. 87.55 miles, up from 71.98 in April. (Which is up from 30 in March, and 2 in February!)

Diet Update

2010-05-27T22:08:00.003-04:00

Still going strong. The exercising motivates me to keep eating healthy. And the progress is encouraging.

I had set a preliminary goal to lose 15 pounds in 3 months, and I just hit it in about 2 and half months. (As an aside, I just looked up my last major diet and saw that I lost 19 pounds in 2 and a half months that time - and I started and finished at a lower number.)

And so, I've set my next goal. Which is to lose 11 pounds in the next 2 months. I really should aim for 1 pound a week, but it would be nice to hit goal weight in the summer. We'll see. The curve looks do-able, though I know it will get tougher near the bottom.

In running news, I started adding in a little speed. So far just a couple of tempo runs, mostly because I've been too lazy to go to the track. I 'm scheduled for a 5K this Sunday. I had hoped to use it as a test of my current running speed. Unfortunately, the forecast is for 88 degrees. And this being only a semi-serious event, they're starting the race at 10:30. Kind of sucks. I'll probably still run the Father's Day Race in Central Park. It's a 5 Miler though, which is a little different. I'm using the FIRST book that I've talked about in the past. A lot of their tables are based on your 5K time. So I was hoping to get a good idea of that on Sunday. And it won't happen in 80 degrees...

Have a good (long) weekend!

Back Online

2010-05-17T09:10:00.008-04:00

My computer was down for a few days - quite difficult to live without. Ended up having to replace the motherboard, and I'm back in business.

Keeping up the running, and I'm really happy with that. I've been really disciplined with the build up of miles, and I've managed to get a significant amount of base miles in that fashion. I've been running a little over 20 miles a week the last month. Not a crazy amount, but enough to get me ready to start formal marathon training in a month. Also, I've built up my long run in a slow progression: 6, 4 (race), 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

The consistency is what I'm most proud of. Compare my running in the first few months, with the last few months. (Running days in bold.)

This has all helped with the weight loss too, though I think watching what I eat is even more important. Combined though, I've been doing well:

The weekends have not been good for the diet, mostly because of the large Sabbath meals. Tomorrow night begins another 2 day religious holiday, full of food - including religious significance to eating cheesecake. (And I'm not making this up!) I'll try and stay strong...

5KK

2010-05-07T17:43:00.002-04:00

No time for a long post, but if you go to "life time" in the training log section of my sidebar, you will see 3106.13 miles. And this only represents the amount since I started keeping track less than 5 years ago.

Anyway, that number represents 5000 km. Or 1000 5K's. (Or 5KK!)

In the meantime I'm keeping up the running and the weight loss. More updates on that when I have time.

Happy weekend!

Kosher Gatorade Update

2010-04-29T19:32:00.002-04:00

I tried the lemon-lime G stuff. Not that great. Today I had to do some shopping. I decided to run and end up at the drugstore. I ended up buying a fruit punch G2. Pretty good. Tasted like a melted freeze pop.

Bigger problem is that the stuff at the marathon won't be kosher anyway. As a result of a question in the comments here I realized that not all Gatorade products would be kosher. I emailed them, and as it turns out, the Endurance formula will not be kosher at this time. And of course, that's what they serve at the marathon.

So now there's no incentive for me to use it - or get used to it. Unless I carry my own Gatorade for the marathon - which I won't - I'll be stuck drinking water anyway. So I might as well stick with that.

At least I can save $1.69 for a 20oz bottle...

Battling the Elements

2010-04-27T19:54:00.002-04:00

I've been so good at keeping up the running lately, that I was kind of down about all the rain on Sunday. I was planning on running in the morning and heading to the hospital in the afternoon. But it was really pouring in the morning, and I decided to just head to work early.

I think in the end I probably would have blown off the run. But when I got back I saw a whole bunch of facebook status updates from people who had run the More Half Marathon that morning. 6,360 finishers in the pouring rain! Well even though I didn't have the commitment of already having paid a entrance fee, I was still inspired to head out and run in the drizzle.

It was mildly annoying in the beginning and my neighbor even suggested I bring an umbrella. But in the end it really wasn't bad at all, and I was so glad I did it. Got in a little more than 8 miles.

Today it was super windy when I started. Couldn't hear my ipod - just wind. I thought it was going to be really tough, but I had no intention of quitting. In the end, once again, it wasn't bad at all.

So I'm happy with the running so far. Really just base miles - no speedwork or anything else. Maybe in a few weeks, but I want to be careful not to get hurt.

The diet is going well as well. Skipped all-you-can-eat sushi/chinese last night, and all-you-can-eat bbq tonight. (You can see how I gained all the weight previously!) The weight doesn't seem to come off as easily as it did 5 or 10 years ago, but it's coming.

Progress

2010-04-22T19:40:00.003-04:00

This is my weight goal and progress. (Courtesy of fridegraph.com) Though I started over a month ago, I've really focused more on my eating the last week or so. It's nice to see a little progress. (2 pounds per box in that graph, so I'm down 7 so far.)

I also checked my cholesterol this week. Not great. (Not horrible, but should be better.) I hope to keep up the weight loss and exercise, and then recheck it in the summer. In the meantime I had an avocado for dinner. (Lots of garlic and salt - nothing wrong with my blood pressure!)

In other food related news, Gatorade is finally kosher. For the first time I went to buy some. My preference would have been to get the G2, which is less calories. But my guess is that the stuff they'll give at races will still be the original, in lemon-lime flavor. So that's what I went with, and I'm interesting to see how it goes. I'm planning on running 86 miles on Sunday now that I've got this stuff...

Anyway, I'm still running. Did some traveling last week, but managed to get in 3 runs for 17 miles. So far this week I've run twice, so I'm hanging in there. I'm just trying to build up some "base" miles before beginning marathon training in earnest a few months from now. (I'm also trying to be careful not to overtrain and get hurt.)

Now back to NHL Playoffs...

Race Day!

2010-04-11T14:35:00.006-04:00

My first race today in over 6 months. Man, was it good to be out there.

The weather was absolutely perfect. Like usual I got there 2 minutes before the start. The officials were actually going to let me in to the red section, up near the front. (Usually, if you're not there 15 minutes early you have to head to the back.) I told them I was way out of shape and needed to go to the back anyway. I ended up joining in a few sections back. It seemed to work out well as I had plenty of space to run.

Not to bore you with details, but basically I ran without music, and just paid attention to my breathing. I was able to keep things controlled the entire race. (Actually interesting to hear people huffing it out right from the first mile.) I've been running about 9:30 pace lately, and I just tried to stay comfortable out there.

I hit the first mile marker at 8:52 and was somewhat surprised. I still felt pretty good. The second mile didn't have the hill that the first did, and I hit the mile marker at 8:33. Wow. The third mile had some slow elevations, and I started to feel a little tired. I could see my HR heading into the 170's. (First time I've worn my HR monitor in who knows how long.) I think I slowed down just a touch to make sure I'd have enough left to finish strong. Third mile went by in 8:50. As I headed into the last mile I felt ready to take it on. I started pushing a bit, but not too much. At about 3.5 miles I was really feeling it, but was determined to finish strong. I held on until I turned the last corner and really poured it on for the finish. Final mile went by in 8:17.
Final time was 34:34 for an 8:38 pace. Not close to my PR (not even in the same ballpark), but much faster than I've been running in training. It's just incredible how a race can help you do that.

Anyway, here's the pictorial representation:

Comfortable start, fast second mile, slowed a touch for the third, strong finish to the end.

HR controlled until mile 3, somewhat steady in the low 170's and then a climb in that last push. I was back to 140 within a few minutes of the race, but above 100 for at least an hour. Will need to keep an eye on that.

In the end, it was a great day. Nothing triumphant, but a good reminder of what it's like. I probably won't do a lot of races in the next few months, until I get in better shape. But here and there I'll do a few. In the meantime I need to get back into better shape.

I'm Back

2010-04-07T23:38:00.006-04:00

Well, I made it back from the holidays. Over the 10 times I managed to run 3 times. (Which is not bad considering that 5 days were religious holidays with running not an option.) The first two were as previously mentioned, on the treadmill. The last one was a beautiful 6 mile run on the "Belt Line". I didn't bring a camera, but it's a really nice place to run. Here's a couple of pictures I found online which gives you a sense:

I guess there weren't too many leaves yet, but it felt like the first picture, since it was a really sunny day. I also ran with my brother which was pretty cool. He really only got into running recently, having run a half-marathon in the winter. (And I'm not sure he would say he's "into" running - but I'm working on it.) I knew I was keeping him back for most of the run, and so in the last mile I let him finish up on his own. He ran ahead, but came back to finish with me anyway. It was a really good run.

Today I did a little shopping, and it was right next to a pizza store. I must admit I tried to get some pizza, but the post-Passover rush was on. It wasn't worth waiting in line. I ended up going home and putting in another 4 miles, and had a smallish dinner later.

Tomorrow morning is my official weigh-in after the holidays. I think I did well, and I'm curious (anxious?) to see the number.

Bad Math

2010-04-01T14:48:00.004-04:00

I'm visiting my parents for Passover. Never managed to get a run in before I left on Sunday, but did run on Monday before the holidays, and a short run today. 6.4 + 4.55 = 10.95 miles. For my weight I'm guessing that's about 1200 calories burnt.

On the intake side, I've had about 20 pieces of matzoh (2400 calories), ten cups of wine - eight official, two recreational - (~1500 calories), and three days of my mom's cooking (20,000 calories). See the problem here?

Seriously though, I'm doing my best to keep a handle on things. And there's practically a full gym in the basement here. We'll see what happens when I get back and weigh in...

Short Post

2010-03-26T11:22:00.002-04:00

Yeah, another post. I'm sure to burn out...

Just did a quick run, and it was really hard. Had to walk after 1.5 miles (and was thinking about it at 1)! Was a little disappointed, but when I got home I could see that I was running faster than I thought. 9:32 per mile. Sadly, this used to be ridiculously slow for me. But now it's faster than I've been running, so at least I can tell why I struggled.

Anyway, I hope to get a "long" run in on Sunday before heading home for Passover.

Tech Shirts

2010-03-23T20:30:00.002-04:00

I signed up for the race on 4/11 even though I'm on call 4/10. Not a guarantee I can make it, but I signed up for instead of the 4/18 race for one reason. In previous years, this race has given out technical shirts. Curiously, although last year's site mentioned the technical shirt, this year's site didn't. I thought it had to do with the economy, and maybe the tech shirt was a thing of the past. But thankfully, in today's email the Road Runners did mention that all registrants will get a technical shirt.

I do happen to have a ton of these shirts. But they start to smell after a while and need to be thrown out. (Not to mention I could use some more in my, uh, new size.)

Anyway, since I rant about the rising costs of races, I'll just say that a tech shirt can make it more worthwhile. The cotton shirts are just a total waste. They should either give tech shirts, or cancel the cotton ones and lower the price. In the meantime, I'll be happy for the few races that give the tech shirts out.

(By the way, the Healthy Kidney run is good about this too. But for the last few years it's been on Saturday. And long time readers will know "I don't roll on Shabbos.")

Hard to Start from Scratch

2010-03-21T19:22:00.003-04:00

I'm kind of back in the game...

The weather got a little better, and I have tried to start running again. I'm way out of shape, both in terms of my weight and my fitness. And it shows.

Let's review:
August - 85.44 miles
September - 37.02 miles
October - 29.85 miles
November - 11.44 miles
December - 6.10 miles
January - 0 miles
February - 2 miles

Well, no mystery why I'm having such a hard time. (I hadn't really seen it in such black and white before. It's pretty pathetic...)

So far in March, I've run at least once in the last 3 weeks.
Week 1 - 2.07 miles
Week 2 - 3.41 miles
Week 3 - 10.30 miles

Hmm... I can see why my knees might be a little sore. The longest I've run continuously is only up to 3 miles, but the mileage buildup might be a problem. Always an issue when you're starting from zero or close to it - as I've posted in the past. Maybe if I broke it down by run, the progression looks better: 2.07, 3.41, 4.13, 6.17. (And the last two were 5 days apart!) The overall numbers are a little deceiving anyway, since there's a fair amount of walk breaks in there.

I'm sure I should add some cross-training in there, but I'm not really set up for that at this time. I'll probably just play it by how I feel.

Anyway, I've signed up for my first race in half a year. Might be some scheduling issues, but I hope to make it. It's a 4 miler on April 11th. So wish me luck.

(Oh. And I signed up for the marathon too. But that's a long time away.)

NYRR sucks

2010-02-09T22:14:00.003-05:00

I don't really blog (or run) anymore. Though I'm hoping to change both of that soon, as the weather gets warmer.

However, I thought I'd break my radio silence to give another annual rant about the rising prices at NYRR. See last year for why this bothers me so much.

For the routine 5K's and 10K's the price has only gone up by $1 for members and $3 for nonmembers. Not such a big deal, except they just raised them last year.

The marathon? $149 this year. Up from $138 last year, and up a whopping 75% from the $85 they charged only 5 years ago!

And let's not forget the ever-present $11 application fee. Over 100,000 applicants paying that fee to apply (online). They've even added a new tactic this year, by moving the application deadline earlier. In 2008 the deadline was June 1st. Last year it was moved to May 1st. This year? March 15th! What is the reason for that? Hard to believe it's to give more time to train, since about 99% of starters will finish the race. I believe it's to get a higher percentage of people to sign up who will eventually drop out. A lot of people have good intentions to train for the marathon each year. However, by June a lot of them will have realized that the marathon is not in the cards for them this year. Call me cynical, but I believe the NYRR wants to capitalize on those early feelings of optimism. They already have more than enough applicants to fill the race 3 times over. But if they can cash in on a few more $11 applications, then all the better for them. I don't believe they even send you a letter confirming your application. For $11 all you get is an email or two.

Why does this bother me so much? I feel that the NYRR always talks about spreading the love of running. You know, National Running Day and all that stuff. But then it's $33 in advance, or $40 on race day, if I want to convince a friend to run a 5K with me. They all think it's insane to spend that much when they can run for free themselves - and they're right.

Not that I have the time or energy for it, but I wish someone would start a competing running group here in NYC. I don't need to go to races where "prize money will be offered to the top three male and female finishers". I certainly don't care if the marathon winners finishing two hours before me collect over $100,000 each. All I want is a little water on the side, and no cars in my way. I don't think it should be free, but it could certainly be a lot cheaper.

Bad Blogger/Runner

2009-11-16T23:31:00.001-05:00

I ran 5 miles yesterday, and it was my first run in 3 weeks.

My quads are sore.

Annual Event

2009-10-22T22:18:00.000-04:00

Giving Up

2009-10-19T22:58:00.002-04:00

I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I will not be running the marathon in a couple of weeks. If you've been reading this blog over the last few months, you could probably see this coming. I've been deluding myself into thinking I'd just kind of "do it". I knew I wouldn't do well, but I would finish. Now I'm realizing that even that would be hard. And what would be the point? When the weather sucked yesterday, I thought of spending 5 hours trudging through that, for what? And the injury/recovery afterward. And not to mention the chance of this.

I'm still struggling with it. I haven't canceled yet. (Sound familiar?) But I know I will.

Sigh...

New Haven

2009-09-08T09:38:00.004-04:00

Now that I was back to work, I didn't run all week. And so it had been 8 days since I ran, when I went up to New Haven for the 20K.

Got there a little later this year - but could still find parking on the street less than 5 minutes away. So different than NY. And as always, it was absolutely beautiful weather. Even though it's a little bit of a trek, I really do love this race. (Though I wish it was a half marathon, not a 20K. And a medal would be nice - I could entice some more friends to train for it I think. But anyway...)

(Is it just me that sees the heart in the course map? As in "I <3 New Haven Road Race"!)

With my run/walking I've not been able to get below a 10 minute mile. My goal for today was to try and get below a 10 minute pace. To do that I'd have to keep my walk breaks short.

The first few miles were ok. I tried to stay slow, but as I always do in races, I was a little faster than I thought. Under 9 minute miles. At 3 miles I took a break at a water station. After walking for about 30 to 40 seconds, I started running again. I think the little break helped, and it didn't really slow me down much at all.

I can't really remember when I took walk breaks, but I think it was something like 3 miles, 6 miles, 9 miles, and 11.5 miles. All were under a minute. This is way better than what I've been doing in training. Ok fine, I feel it today. But it was good to know that I could do this in a race situation.

One thing I have to admit, is that about 4 or 5 miles in I couldn't imagine making it to the end. Let alone twice the distance for a marathon! But somehow I made it through. And I felt a little better as time went on. (Though I still wouldn't have wanted to run another 14 miles!)

My splits ended up as:
9:03
8:51
8:45
8:49
8:43
8:54
9:02
9:35
9:09
9:46
9:17
9:12
3:30

It's hard to even see the walk breaks in there. I think after each walk break, I picked up the pace a little. Not on purpose, but the time seemed to almost work out for each split. I was very proud not to have any split over 10 minutes.

Final time was 1:52:42. For a 9:04 pace. I was really happy with this performance. I'm not even close to the shape I was in 2 years ago, which is a little sad. (For comparative purposes, I ran a 1:34:02 in 2007, for a 7:34 pace. Hard to believe.) But for the condition I'm in now, I was happy with my performance. And I feel a little better about running a marathon in 8 weeks. (Though not completely comfortable with that idea yet either.)

After the race we hung out with some of the old blogger crowd. Still kind of funny how a few years ago everyone seemed like "internet people" only. Now we can find each other in the crowd and hang out. It's nice.

Training over the next month will be hard. Next week I have a wedding, and then 4 weeks in a row of Jewish Holidays on the weekend. I'm a little worried about how to fit in the long runs - particularly since I don't really do short runs! It's going to take some more sacrifice than I've been making. That's for sure.

Good week (but sore legs)

2009-08-30T12:32:00.005-04:00

Since I was off I managed to get my 3 runs in this week. I ran 5 miles on the hot streets of Washington on Wednesday, 5 on the treadmill on Friday, and just slogged out 14 miles back home.

As per my little calendar, I probably should have put in 16 or 18 today, but my legs were sore. Part of it is from recent ramp up in running. But I actually think a bigger problem was all the walking I did in D.C. I don't have good tourist shoes, and at the end of the day that really hurt me. So today I started heading back home just after 6 miles. When I was close to home I felt I can stuff another 2 miles in, so I went on a detour. (I actually felt like doing another detour to get the mileage closer to where I thought I should be - but I didn't want to tempt fate anymore.)

I did much better than I've done the last few weeks. I left earlier in the morning, and the weather wasn't as bad. At the end I could feel the sun coming out - and I was glad I was almost done!

I finished off the month with 85 miles. I haven't run that much since before my last marathon 2 years ago. (To be fair though, there were 5 weekends in August!) It's left with me with a nice gentle ramp over this year. (A slight jump this month - but remember, 5 weekends!)

Of course, if you look at it near the training for my last marathon, you can get a better sense of where I stand.

June/July/August 2007: 317 miles.
June/July/August 2009: 203 miles.

It's ok. My expectations are lower as well. I'd just like to finish it feeling well this time.

Still weekend warrior-ing

2009-08-23T16:07:00.008-04:00

...and it's not a good thing.

So from my last run of 12.19 2 weeks ago, I ran once in the first week 3.69 miles. Then 13.30 on the weekend. This week I did nothing. Zero. And then 15.77 miles today. I wonder why it's so hard!!

Anyway, here are some graphs for the purpose of analysis.

Last week's run:

In the first graph each bar is a "lap". And so the short bars are when I was running. They all kind of seem the same height, but over time I was walking more and taking longer walking breaks. The second graph shows the splits by mile. You can see how the time for each mile increased as the run went on.

It was really hot last week, and very hard to stay out there so long. This week I tried to get out earlier. I ended up waking up early, but I just can't get out the door. I watch the end of the marathon in Berlin today (too bad about Kara Goucher) and just futzed around until it was late. Within about 5 minutes of running it started drizzling - which was actually nice. Most of the run was bearable, but the last hour was really hot and unbearable again.

Three graphs this time. The first one is the laps. The second one shows the running laps in closer detail. You can see that I was able to keep the running time even up until those last few "laps". In the third graph you can see I was doing pretty well through about 14 miles. (The dips on 10 and 12 was when I was feeling a bit stronger and went a little more than a mile without a walk break.) The last two miles was when the heat got to me and I was walking about as much as I was running. I couldn't keep up the running for more than half a mile at a time - even though I was only a couple of miles from home.

Anyway, I was happier this week, but I definitely need to get some mid week running in. I'm taking a few days off this week, so it looks a little more promising.

In other news, Shoreturtle celebrated his 5th year of running anniversary (and 1000th post!). This made me look my first post up, since I knew it was in August. Well, it turns out my first post was on his 1st running anniversary. And so this blog is officially 4 years old. ( I'm only up to 335 posts. Like many other things, this blog has become a little less productive as it aged. But hopefully it still has some value!) In any case, Happy Blogiversary to me!

Weekend Warrior + One

2009-08-10T09:13:00.004-04:00

Since my last post, I've just been kind of winging it. I made a schedule, but can't seem to stick to it. Definitely a bad thing, but I hope to get better in the weeks to come. It's hard though, with the weather and work conspiring to get in the way. (And laziness too.)

I see to have become a weekend warrior + one. That is, I run one long run on the weekend, and seem to only get one short run in during the week. In the last three weeks, this is how it went.
Week 1: 5.65 on Friday (treadmill), 3.08 on Sunday (too hot, had to call it quits!)
Week 2: 6.18 on Monday (kind of a make-up), 4.1 on Friday (treadmill), 10.15 on Sunday
Week 3: 5.35 on Friday, 12.19 on Sunday

I really need to get in more mid-week runs. So today I'm kind of resting from my 12 mile run yesterday. Tomorrow I'd like to go to the track. But I was on call over the weekend, and now have a case in the operating room tomorrow morning at 7:30. Which means I can leave my house the latest at 7. So I can definitely make it to the track - but I have to go around 5:30 at the latest. Hard to get that motivation when I'm tired. And then in the evening I run out of time or it gets too hot or I'm too lazy....

Anyway, one more rant. Weather.com is totally inaccurate. Last Sunday it projected rain starting at 10. Not rain, but "isolated thunderstorms". This was the forecast Saturday night, so it was less than 12 hours in advance. And so I made myself get up early so that I was running by 7:30. It was really dark as I headed to the park, and by the time I was about 30 seconds in it started raining. No isolated thunderstorms, just heavy rain for 2 hours straight. (I was walking back around 10, and that's when it stopped!) My running shoes were wet all week.

Fast forward to yesterday. Forecast says rain. I make the decision to run anyway, and since I'm on call I head out early. I pack my hospital-issued phone in a ziplock bag and take it with me. Beautiful perfect weather. About 3 drops of drizzle over a 2 hour run!

Somehow it makes me feel in control to check the weather online. But perhaps I'd just be better making up the weather in my mind. Anybody else have the same experience?

Finally, I've been doing the run/walk thing for most of my runs lately. I think I'm just not in shape enough to keep running all that time. I never really liked this in the past, but it's what I've got now. One thing I'd like to work on is shortening the breaks. Right now they can be from 2 to 4 minutes in length. I think if I get it down to 1 minute or so, I'll be a little happier.

This is yesterday's run. My pace for the running segments was 9:44, 9:36, 9:33, 9:32, 9:13, 9:27. Overall, my pace for the run was 10:18. Not horrible, but not great. I think I'd like to get that below 10:00. At least for the marathon.

12 Mile Marathon

2009-07-20T07:44:00.000-04:00

Once again yesterday, I procrastinated getting out of the house. I woke up early, but then watched the Tour de France. (3 hours of boredom, for ten minutes of excitement. Should have left for the first three hours.) I almost got sucked in to the British Open as well, but didn't fall for that. (And wouldn't you know it, still a playoff going when I got back.)

And so, there I was running in the middle of the day again. Bad idea. First of all, I'm not in great shape. Second, I missed my second mid-week run do to other responsibilities. So 12 in the heat in this condition was not smart.

The thing is, that the first half went pretty well. I got a 30 second break waiting for a light at about mile 1.4 or so. After that, I thought about a walk break at mile 4, then pushed it to 5, and the finally pushed it to 6.

And that is when the problems started. I walked for about 2 minutes before picking up the pace again. I had a hard time, and ran really slowly. Almost immediately I wanted to stop again. I pushed through for 2 miles, and then took another break. This time a little longer. When I started up, the same problem occurred. As the rest of the run went on, the breaks got closer and longer.

(It's right there in blue and white.)

Anyway, I don't think it was the stopping that caused the problem - but it did help me notice it. It was really hot. I went a different route for more shade, and I brought water, and even Sport Beans. But I'm pretty sure I was dehydrated. At least it seemed that way the rest of the day.

The thing about out-and-back's is that you have to get back. I wasn't sure I'd do 12, but the first 6 went surprisingly well. And then I had to get back. It really felt like the end of my first marathon - where I was suffering just to finish.

Next week I have to run earlier.

Stats and Graphs

2009-07-13T09:56:00.007-04:00

I've been meaning to post these for a while. As a runner and a geek, I'm constantly recording and monitoring and analyzing my runs. It's a little bit of a problem, but it does lead to some cool numbers. For your geeky enjoyment, I include them here.

Running miles through first half of 2009: 195
(To compare, that was 352 in 2008, and 384 in 2007.)

Graphically, here is the last few years.

You can see I haven't had a series of crappy months like the beginning of this year, since the beginning of 2006.

I've been playing around with these numbers recently. It started when I was thinking about how quickly to pick up running again. I've questioned the old 10% rule in the past. What happens if you blow one week and run 0 miles. If you increase that by 10% the next week you're still at 0! Also, just looking at the past week doesn't take into account your overall conditioning.

And so, I thought it would be interesting to look at running averages of over different periods of time. For example, what was the average amount of miles per day over the last week, the last month, the last 3 months???

For me, the "last week" didn't work out because there were too many zeros, depending on which day I'd run. So I created a graph with running averages of the last 10 days, the last 30 days, and the last 90 days.

You might have to click on it for more detail, but you can see that there's a lot of noise in the 10 day (yellow) curve. The 30 day (red) curve makes a little more sense. The 90 day (blue) curve really puts the whole thing into perspective. You can really see when I was training well and when I wasn't. Without letting a good (or bad) week or two cloud the picture.

I tried longer ranges (180 days) but I'm not sure it adds much.

I haven't come up with a better "10% rule" but I think it has something to do with how quickly one ramps up the running average. That is to day, that the slope of the blue or green curve shouldn't be too steep. (Calculus, anyone?)

This takes into account what you've been doing the last few months, and allows for one bad week (e.g. if you have a cold).

What do you guys think?

Marathon Training Begins?

2009-07-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

I finished off June relatively strong with a 3 run week. Then the monsoons hit. Non-stop rain around here, and I didn't run much. By July 4th weekend it got a little nicer. But by then I was too busy relaxing, watching tennis, going to weddings, etc.. Either way, I picked it back up this past week with 24 miles.

That included a 10 miler yesterday with a few breaks. I could barely make it through the first mile. I wanted to stop and rest after about 3 minutes. Knowing that I had 10 miles in store, I pushed through to the 2.5 mile mark before resting on a convenient bench. It got a little better after this, but I took walk breaks around 5.5 miles and about 8 miles.

This is the week I'm supposed to begin my training program for the marathon in November. It's clear that I'm in no shape to do the FIRST program I did last time. I'm considering the run-walk method. Not too excited about it, but it may be my only option.

This actually makes it a little hard to train. My first marathon, the goal was to just run a marathon. The second one, the goal was to run it fast and beat my time. This time around, I have no chance of setting a PR. And so what's the big deal to just drag myself through another one. I'd like to say it will get me back into shape, but I'm not so sure about that. My eating seems to go up in relationship to my running. That is, to lose weight I need to stop eating, regardless of my running. Sigh...

Anyway, I haven't given up yet. Perhaps if I do stop eating, my weight will come down, and the running will get easier. If I can run a marathon without feeling as crappy as I did the first time, I think I'll be pretty happy.

Mid-Week 5M

2009-06-25T08:39:00.003-04:00

I've gone from complaining about rain to complaining about the heat. (hard to make me happy!)

I went for a run earlier in the week, but waited until too late in the day, and it was too hot. As opposed to the race situation, i wasn't able to push myself to go 5 miles straight. I took a (long) break in the middle, and even with that it took me 48 minutes. (Compared with under 43 for the race).

I often get asked what the point of running races is. If you're not going to win, you can just run on your own. This is one of the reasons.

In other news, I actually crosstrained yesterday. Some stationary bike and weights. Definitely need to do that more.

Father's Day 5M

2009-06-21T12:48:00.002-04:00

Ran another race this morning. Still not in race shape, and in fact was thinking of not going if it was raining. But the rain cleared up (sort of) and I went.

I spent the first mile wanted to stop and walk. Then I decided to push to mile 2 before stopping. Then at mile 2 I said to myself I'll force myself to get to 3.1 miles (5K). This is the anniversary of my first race ever. Back then it was a 5K and so I wanted to compare.

Like usual, I forgot to check my old time before leaving. So when I passed 3.1M at 26:26 I had no idea how that compared to my past. (Actually, it was better. That first race 9 years ago has no net time, but the official time was 27:59. There weren't that many runners back then so I probably took less than 1:33 to hit the start line.)

Well, I really wanted to stop and walk then. But then I decided to just slow down a little instead. I tried to take it a little easier from then on. Looking at my mile splits it doesn't really seem that I was successful, but I felt a little better during the fourth mile.

By the last mile I was hurting again. But now it was too late to stop! I just forced myself to keep going through to the finish line.

Final splits:
8:40
8:24
8:34
8:35
8:34

Final (net) time: 42:28, for an 8:33 pace.

I spent the first few miles thinking how this race was going to be crappy and make for a depressing blog post. In the end, I'm happy with it. No, I'm not in good shape at all. And yes, it's way off my PR. But it was good to push myself again. Most of my long runs lately include a break. I just can't tough it out these days. But forcing myself to just make it through this race - even at a slower pace than in the past - is good mental training. Because of the pricing change (and my overall conditioning) this is only my second race of the year. I'd done 10 by this time last year! So it was good to be out there again...

By the way, for those into numbers, it's been 9 years since that first race. And this is road race #63 for me. I wish I'd also kept track of all the miles since day 1. Unfortunately, I've only done that the last few years. But all my recorded miles so far come to 2730. That's more than running from NYC to LA. (Yeah so my 9 years is like 1 summer for Dean Karnazes. It's still cool!)

Another 10

2009-06-14T21:21:00.007-04:00

Real busy at work this week, and didn't run at all during the week. Doing the once-a-week weekend warrior thing is really a killer.

Anyway, I did go out for another 10 this week. Thanks to a friend who went running with me, I left earlier in the day and so it wasn't so hot. We stopped at 4.4 miles to rest for a few minutes, and then about a minute after starting back again, we came upon an injured cyclist. She was literally lying in the woods at the side of the path and we waited with her until the ambulance came. Her friend thanked us for helping out, but I was thankful for the chance to really catch my breath!

I love having these graphs. Here's how you can analyze this run. There are basically two parts: the first 4.4 miles, and the second part. In each one I start off slow, then speed up, then taper off as I get tired, and then speed up when the end is in sight. You can also see my HR gradually climbing in each segment. Not nearly as high as last week, but did hit 172 at the end. (I'm not sure about the wavering up and down which seems pretty regular. I'm not sure if it's real, and I have to play with the "smoothing" a little more.)

Anyway, I've still got work to do, but this was better than last week.

6 + 2.5 + 1.5 = 10 ?

2009-06-07T22:29:00.005-04:00

Tough run today. Wanted to wake up early to run and be back for French Open. Instead I woke up at a normal time, watched tennis, and then went for my run. Bad idea. (Though I did enjoy seeing Federer get the trophy!)

It was really hot out there. I think it was 81, but "feels like 89". I managed to keep running for the first 6 but had to take a break then. My heart rate had gone as high as 180 - which I've never seen before. Considering that my resting heart rate last week was 54, that's quite a jump!

I took a long break - like 5 minutes. Including sitting, drinking, and catching my breath. I started out again slower, but didn't have it in me to run the whole 4 miles I had left. Maybe I should have eaten first, but more likely it was the heat. I was really struggling.

I stopped again for a long break at 8.5 miles. I'd wanted to stop earlier, but wanted to have as little left as possible for my last push. Even then, I could barely finish the 1.5 miles. I really slowed down, and started breathing slower to settle myself, and was able to finish.

Anyway, I'm glad I did the ten miles. With the two long breaks I don't think it's the same as running 10 miles straight. But it was a good workout, and I'm sure I gained from those last 4 miles. It certainly took a lot out of me. I was wiped the rest of the day. And even after a nap, my heart rate was still 74. (It's 66 now -10 hours later.)

Strangely, I didn't feel the need to eat a lot afterward. I ate a normal dinner tonight, and though I'm a little hungry now, I look forward to weighing myself tomorrow morning. (I'll deal with my weight in another post.)

How dedicated am I?

2009-06-04T22:27:00.004-04:00

I ran during Hockey. The Stanley Cup Finals. In one of the most entertaining games.

I woke up this morning to run, but didn't feel like going out in the rain. Tonight, I got home from work at 7:45. I was tired and hungry, and the game was starting at 8. I ate a little and started watching.

In the meantime, I looked up the weather and saw that it was really supposed to rain tomorrow. Sigh. I really got to get over this rain thing. I sed to run in the rain, but until I really get back into the schedule thing, it's hard to do. In any case, I decided to go out during the second period, so as to be back for the third.

So there I was running a planned 4 miles. I felt pretty good the first couple of miles, and was surprised to see my pace in the 9:40's. I felt faster, but chalked it up to running after eating. After a few miles, I decided that since I was going so slow, I could up the pace for a mile, and run this like a tempo run. I picked it up, and noticed the pace to be 9:56. Ok, I figured it would take some time to recalculate. And then it went to 9:57. What the...??

Oh yeah. I changed the corner field to "time of day" on Sunday. D'oh! Turns out I was going faster.

First couple of miles at 9:22. The tempo mile at 8:13. Then back to 9:12 for a bit, before a cooldown at the end.

All in all a good run. It was worth it.

"National" Running Day

2009-06-03T07:13:00.002-04:00

This doesn't even make the news. Basically, it's only being promoted by running web sites - read by people who already run. It's a start though. Maybe the 2nd annual will be bigger....

(I actually thought about wearing running shoes to work. But I have a big seminar to give, as well as office hours for new patients.)

Graduation

2009-06-02T21:29:00.004-04:00

I went to the medical students' graduation today. For once they gave me the right hood - as in the same one I had when I graduated myself 10 years ago.

I know. I haven't changed a bit. :)

Need to be less lazy

2009-05-31T21:43:00.006-04:00

So after posting my schedule last week, I ended up screwing it up in the first week. I had 3 runs scheduled: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Problem was there was little room for flexibility, since Thursday night to Saturday night was a Jewish holiday.

Thursday morning I woke up early to run, but it was drizzling and I just didn't feel like going out in the rain. I thought I'd have time later in the afternoon. In the end, I ended up staying late at work (yet again!) and by the time I came home the holiday had started. (And I don't run on these holidays.) And so there went the opportunity for 3 runs in the week.

I did run my scheduled 8 miles today, but again I was lazy in getting out the door. I woke up early, but procrastinated getting out to run. By the time I was out there, it was already pretty hot. That, combined with my missed run, meant I had to stop twice during my run. Once at the halfway point, and once just after 6 miles.

With my Garmin 305, I really get these great graphs. You can see that even though my pace was slowing, my heart rate was rising as the run went on. (You can see how I was really exhausted at the end, and significantly slowed down.)

Still Running

2009-05-24T16:01:00.005-04:00

So I managed to run 3 times this week. Only the second time all year that I've done that. Also, since I was too lazy to run in bad weather last Sunday, I swapped my long run to Tuesday, which became Wednesday. And so I ended up running 16 miles this week. Doesn't sound like much, but it's been about 5 months since I've been running this kind of mileage on any sort of regular basis.

This brings me to a question I've always had. (I may even have blogged about it in the past, but it's not worth looking for to link to it!) "They" always talk about the 10% rule, where you're not supposed to increase your mileage by more than 10% a week. I never really understood how that works at the very beginning of one's training.

For example, if one has only been running 4 miles a week, should this be the progression?
4, 4.4, 4.8, 5.3, 5.9, 6.4, 7.1, 7.8, 8.6, 9.4, 10.4
(10 weeks from 4 to 10)

Or is something like this ok?
4,5,6,7,8,9,10
(only 6 weeks from 4 to 10)

The second approach increases by more than 10%, but only by one mile a week. That really doesn't seem like much to me.

Now that I've said that, I'll point out that I've put a new training schedule at the bottom of the page here. This is what I've scheduled for the next few weeks while I try to re-build my base:
16, 16, 16, 19, 15, 16, 19, 19, 19

Now that I'm looking at it like this, I think I'll have to work on that. I kept it slow at first, since that 16 mile start is somewhat arbitrary. As I mentioned, I haven't been doing that for a while. But for whatever reason, I can't really start lower than that. But that's why I don't increase too quickly.

The last few weeks I had planned to introduce the speed and tempo runs. But I may need to get the mileage up a little more. As per the FIRST book I love, my base (for 3 months!) should be "closer to 25 miles per week". I'll probably see how I'm feeling - as I already feel it in my legs. Most likely I won't be able to really stick to the FIRST plan to closely this year. Which is too bad, really.

Birthday Post

2009-05-18T09:11:00.003-04:00

Um, yeah. It's been a while. Thanks for the few people out there who keep me honest.

So... I haven't really been too good with the exercise thing this year. Up until today, I've run 109 miles for the year. (By this time last year, I'd put in 263 miles. In 2007, with an injury, it was 294. So I'm a bit behind...) I've basically been running about once a week - which is pathetic. In related news, I weigh more than I ever have in the past. Ugh.

In good news, I've signed up for the NYC Marathon this year. It's hard to imagine getting back into that kind of shape, but I need to have something discrete to train for. It's not really reasonable for me to try and beat my PR, but I'd like to get sub-4 hours. (That's a 9:09 pace, which I have a hard time maintaining for 3 miles now, let alone 26.2. But I've got almost 6 months.)

Finally, today's my birthday. (Hard to forget when you're on Facebook!) A good time to turn over a new leaf. I hope to make a lot of improvements in my running, my eating, and my blogging. :)

Rant: Rising prices at NYRR

2009-02-16T21:20:00.004-05:00

(Edited to update the official cost for this year's marathon.)

Ok, first of all I've become a weekend warrior. I run once a week, and then suffer the next few days. Not a good plan, but 8 and change yesterday. Need better weather, and less laziness.

Now on to this rant, that's been coming for months.

It wasn't that long ago that running a NYRR race cost $11 for members in advance. Now it's going up to $17, up to $25 on race day. Non-members took a much bigger hit, and they pay $30 in advance, up to $40 on race day.

At the same time, the amount of people running these races has gone up dramatically. I took a few races that they have every year, and looked at the amount of finishers for three random years:

(And I know they'll be limiting the Central Park races to 5,000 this year. That's still quite a bit up from a few years ago.)

I imagine that there are certain costs that go up with more runners (e.g. water, shirts, etc), but then again many of the costs will be fixed (park permit, timing mats, etc.). Also consider that new this year, in order to qualify for the marathon, you have to volunteer at one race as well. And so the workforce has increased without any added costs.

Oh, and let's talk about the marathon? Including transportation which is now mandatory, it was $85 in 2005, $100 in 2007, $125 in 2008, and $138 in 2009! In addition, there is a non-refundable processing fee of $7 in 2005, $10 in 2007, and $11 in 2008 and 2009.

It's common knowledge that the amount of applicants for the marathon has increased every year. Last year there were 105,000 applicants! Which means that for the over 65,000 people that didn't get in, this $11 "processing" fee was charged. ($715,000 if you're counting.) I'm quite certain I never even got a mailing from the marathon until I was accepted. So how much processing is there for an extra email??

And so, in a few short years, the Road Runners have rapidly raised the prices, even as they have more than doubled the amount of paying customers.

Now, let's talk about membership. Last year, I became an annual benefactor for the first time. What that meant is that I paid a higher price - some of it a donation to their foundation - and was able to run most of the races for free. (I blogged about it at the end of this post.) That allowed me to never think about the cost, and just sign up for any race I felt like running. But this year, this option has become unavailable.

(Initially, the price was released with yet another dramatic increase. Up from $199, of which $103 was tax deductible, the new rate was set to be $250 - of which only $75 was tax deductible.
Reading between the lines, they raised the actual price from $96 to $175, about an 80% increase! Since I don't run in the Saturday races, this was definitely not worth it to me. After a few emails trying to figure out what happened, the option to be an annual benefactor was removed the site. Instead, a note was left saying that membership packages were under review.)

And so now, I have a regular membership. And I have to pay for each race. And quite frankly, I'm quite disgusted by the Road Runners. There are many people who feel the need to run the 9 races in order to get automatic marathon entry, and so they sign up for all these races, regardless of the distance. But for me, I'm done with that. I may run the marathon this year, but I've given up on running races just for the sake of "getting my 9 in". I'm only going to run a race if I'm trained for that specific race, and if I'm in condition to make a run at a PR. Otherwise, I can go for a run in my neighborhood for free.

I used to get asked this question all the time by non-runners. Why do you pay to run, when you can do it for free? Well there's certainly an added experience to running with a number and a timing chip, and with other runners. But what price is that worth??

Look, I can't give advice to the Road Runners. Obviously in spite of the rising prices, the amount of runners has gone up. I hear everyone talking about this recession all day long on the radio, but it doesn't really seem to apply here in Manhattan. (Maybe when all the Wall Street executives get limited to $400,000 things will change!) And so why would they make it cheaper? They'll probably continue to raise prices. But for me personally, I find it appalling and consider it price gouging. How much of the cost is necessary? (Much of the cost is supported by whomever is sponsoring that particular race.) Do we really need those stupid T shirts? Maybe they could charge less without a shirt? Maybe members could reuse their number and their chip for each race. Maybe they can come up with their own ways to control costs.

What do you think? Am I being unreasonable?

Back to the Park

2009-02-09T09:18:00.002-05:00

One glorious day for running yesterday. (And by glorious, I mean in the 50's for an hour or two. Back to freezing now!)

I went out to Central Park, and it was packed! Actually kind of nice to be out there with everyone. To be short, I ran the loop in a little over 55 minutes. Slow for me, but not as bad as expected. Considering, that I've only run 6 times in the new year.

Later in the day I realized it was the Bronx Half. I remembered how cold it was last year, and it was kind of shame not to have run it this year. Seeing how I felt after 6 miles, I definitely could have finished the whole thing. Oh well.

Not that it's a good excuse, but I really can't wait for the warm weather again. I'm so sick of winter...

Trying to Climb Back on the Wagon

2009-01-26T08:23:00.003-05:00

I totally fell of the wagon. After such a good December, I've run 4 times in the last 4 weeks. :-(

What actually happened is that I got sick right in the beginning of January. Just a cold, but the worst one I've had in probably 10 years. I was bedridden for a few days. Even as I felt better, my core muscles were so painful from coughing, that running was not an option.

I finally got myself out on the treadmill on the 11h. The next few days I didn't have access to a treadmill, and it was just way too cold here. I know you guys in Minnesota thing 13 degrees is warm, but I just couldn't do it. (Maybe if I was training for something.) I was away over the last weekend with little free time, and I'm trying to get back into it this past week. But I'm out of shape. And it's still too cold for long runs outside.

Interestingly, I haven't gained weight. It's possible that being sick contributed to that, but I didn't really lose weight that week. I just don't get it. In a way, it's kind of depressing that not running had no effect on my weight. It makes it a little harder to get out there to run. I think my eating habits have more to do with my weight than running. At least at this point in time.

Anyway, I appreciate the people who commented and asked me what I've been up to in 2009. As you can see, it hasn't been great. But I like that you guys out there keep me honest, and will help me get back on track.

(Also, to respond to comments again: Obviously I didn't run the Manhattan Half. I'm thinking about Bronx, but I haven't run 13 miles in, oh... 5 months. Not sure of the point of just slogging through 13 miles - except maybe to force myself to put in a lot of miles. I'll think about it over the next week.)

2008 Wrap Up - 2009 Kick Off

2009-01-05T17:25:00.010-05:00

I never did get that last run in because the weather on New Year's Eve sucked. Nonetheless, I had a very productive December, running 12 times for 63 miles. Maybe a little too much, since my right knee has started to bother me a little. But I never really felt like I was pushing too hard, so we'll have to see on that.

Total numbers for the year:
Runs: 101
Miles: 652

In comparison, I'll provide the previous two years.
2007 Runs: 136
2007 Miles: 1005
2006 Runs: 91
2006 Miles: 423

And so, I've slipped, but I'm not totally off the wagon. I'm definitely still ahead of where I used to be.

By the way, I love that I have all this information saved. I guess people kept running logs before the computer was around, but you couldn't get nice graphs like this:

You can see how 2006 started pretty slow. (It took me a while to recover from that first marathon.) Than at the end of the year I started training for a spring marathon. Dipped down in mid 2007 because of an ankle injury, and then back up towards the end as I trained for marathon number 2. I was able to keep up some okay numbers through the first half of the year, but then let it slip away towards the second half. Except for December, which is supposed to begin my upswing.)

There's 3 years of blogging in one paragraph!!

And so here we are at 2009. Well, it didn't start great. I did go for a treadmill run on New Year's Day. But since then, I've gotten pretty sick. It's "just a cold" but I've had fever, and total body aches. And now after all this coughing, my core muscles are killing me. I'm in no shape to run for a little while.

(Strangely, I continue to feel my right knee bothering me. Feels exactly the same as when I noticed it last week - even though I haven't run in 4 days. It's going to be a few more days off, so we'll see what happens to it with a little more rest.)

As for my 2009 goals, I guess I should come up with some. I think not having goals last year, really hurt me. I'll lay some out here - even though I might be behind the eight ball on some.

1) Get back to 1000 miles on the year.

2) Run a sub 7 min mile 5K. That's only 5 seconds off my PR - but that was a really fast race for me. This one might be tough because the local 5K's are in the beginning of the year. Later in the year are more 4M's. I might have to sub-7 one of those!

3) Run the NYC marathon. 3rd and probably final time, before moving on to others. (Or maybe just half's. Still undecided about that.)

4) Get back in shape. I need to lose about 13 pounds. I've lowered my expectations a little here, but that would have me weighing what I did at my last marathon. I've set my birthday in May for this goal.

But first, I'd just like to stop coughing....

New Garmin!

2008-12-25T15:19:00.015-05:00

So the gf tried to get me a gift in October. After it didn't come for a while, we found out from the company that the product wasn't stocked. We canceled that order, and I set about thinking of a good replacement. I finally decided on a Forerunner 305, and it came a few weeks ago. After much excitement, the battery inside was dead, and it wouldn't work off of the cradle. So that one was sent back, and a new one eventually shipped out. And so today, more than 2 months after the beginning of the saga, I got to try out my brand new Forerunner 305!

Interestingly, I was also contacted by another company to try out their GPS watch, called MyTach. It took forever for them to send it, and so in the meantime I ordered the Garmin. They ended up coming 1 day apart. If it turns out to be amazing, the Garmin will be a waste. But we'll see about that.

In the meantime, I tried to run today with the old and new Garmins, as well as the MyTach.

Unfortunately, I'd left the MyTach on accidentally, and there was no charge left in it. So I'll have to review that another time. (Hopefully, they'll be some nice outdoor running weather again. That's been scarce lately.)

In any case, I went for a short run. A litle over 3 miles, but I had a really tough time. I wasn't speeding, but I felt like I was putting in a hard effort. Now that I had a heart rate monitor I can see that my HR went up to 172. (Started from 80, which is high. Maybe from coffee?) Anyway, using the old standard calculation, my max HR should be 185. So I was up at 93% of my maximum, which would explain why it felt so hard.

In terms of comparing the two Garmins, I was initially upset. After a quarter mile, the 305 lost the satellite connection. What the??? In retrospect, I think it's kind of a learning process, since it was perfect on the way back. Also, perhaps reading the instructions and fiddling with the settings will help.

Take a look at these maps.

This is from the 201.

This is from the 305.

You probably have to blow up the pictures to see the details. The 201 kept the basic path, but there are less GPS data points, and it wavers off the course quite a bit. For the last few years, I've been modifying the GPS data after each run. (Big pain!) The 305 was definitely confused in the beginning. See how it veered off towards the left right from the get go? However, once it got back on course it was perfect for the rest of the way, and perfect the whole way back. There are way more data points, and the course is pretty much right on, without requiring major editing.

I have a feeling that now that the 305 has learned where I am (and maybe locked on to more satellites) that it will be better next time. I'll let you know.

Of course, the 305 has the added feature of keeping track of my HR (as long as I wear the strap).

I probably won't wear this for every run, but I think it will give me some useful information over the next little while.

As an aside, I want to point out that the above pictures are from a program I love for GPS watches, called SportTracks. It's free (donation suggested) and wonderful. Very customizable, and full of features. (Unfortunately, no Mac version as of yet.) As a comparison, the picture below is what you get from the Garmin Training Center.

Pretty crappy, in my opinion. I think there's something about using MotionBased. I don't know much about that option. (If someone does, let me know.)

Ok that's it for now. Tonight I'm hoping to fulfill the Jewish tradition of Chinese food on Christmas. (I'm probably skipping the movie, because I'm on call.) But for those of you celebrating tonight, you can perhaps enjoy what the cafeteria did in my old hospital.

I think outside New York, the "black and white" cookie is not so famous. But around here, they're ubiquitous. Except today, when they're "red and green".

Happy Holidays.

Happy Chanukah!

2008-12-22T18:59:00.009-05:00

Chanukah is here. One of the funnest holidays on the Jewish calendar. (Except when it falls out around Christmas, and you're the only Jew on the faculty. In which case it means you're taking 4 calls in 8 days. But anyway...)

One of the traditions is to eat fried foods. Can you believe that's a religious tradition! It has to do with a miracle relating to oil. (If you don't believe me, see Wikipedia.) Unfortunately, this coincided with me checking my cholesterol. Not a good idea... And I'm still dealing with trying to get back to marathoning weight! Yikes!

Anyway, I am making an effort. I ran 3 times last week. Twice short, and one long-ish run of 8.5 miles on the treadmill yesterday. I was hoping that would help offset the chanukah party we made, but as the photgraphic evidence will show, no way Jose.

In the workout clothes, but making cookies.

They're not as good as the look. They're better.

Latkes. Definitely better than they looked. But just as oily.

Lighting the menorah.

Happy Chanukah!

Speaking of Happy Chanukah, I definitely couldn't post my rant on the NYRR now. In fact, to bring joy to the world, I've posted my annual video up in the sidebar. I actually wasn't going to, but a few people specifically asked for it! (Weirdos, I know!) Enjoy.

Finally, for those of you who have made it to the end, I snuck in another funny video link. But you must watch to the end. :-) See it here.

Short Running Post

2008-12-14T22:51:00.001-05:00

In other news, I had a great run today. 8 miles in really nice weather. Hard to believe, but I haven't run that far since September! Yikes!

I was a little sore afterwards, but more of a "good sore" than a "something wrong sore".

I'm trying...

Overdue Product Review - Sofsole

2008-12-14T21:38:00.007-05:00

Right about the time I stopped blogging for four months, I got a few samples from Sofsole to try. My part of the deal was to review them, and I've always felt bad that I never held up my end. So even though I haven't heard from them in six months, I'm posting the review here.

I received two type of products: insoles and and socks. I'll review them separately.

Let's start with the insoles. They sent two types, one of which was their Adapt insole. This insole was supposed to have maximum cushioning, and be suitable for any arch. In fact, the idea was to mold it to your foot by heating it in the oven, before placing it in your shoe.

As you can see, I followed the instructions. The insoles felt comfortable while walking around my house, but when I ran they felt hard and unforgiving on my arch. To be fair, I had some plantar fasciitis at the time, but in any case, I switched over to the other insoles.

The other one they sent was their Athlete insole. These are supposed to provide maximum cushioning and be for a medium arch. I had always thought I had a high arch, which is what I told the company rep. (Having recently done the wet foot test, I'd say I have between a flat and a normal arch.) The insoles felt okay, but my shoes were old, so it was hard to say. I ended up using them for months, and only recently switched back. I'd say they are okay, especially given their low selling price. But after I switched back, I found I was happier with my old insoles. (Only problem with those is that I got them from an orthopedic surgeon, and I wasn't able to find them to get new ones.)

Socks. I got several pairs of their cushion socks. In contrast to the insoles which were just okay, the socks are great! I know it seems like a little thing, but I have running socks from several different companies, all of them in the 7$ a pair range. These socks, which sell 2 for $10 on Amazon, have become my favorite. I try to save them for long runs or races because I just love how they feel. I can feel the cushioning, even though they are not very thick. And also, they are very smooth without any seams.

And so in summary: Insoles - maybe nothing special, but probably okay for the price. Socks - amazing, and more than worth the price.

Early progress

2008-12-12T09:19:00.001-05:00

Did a tempo run on the treadmill yesterday, before my dinner plans. And I skipped dessert. Down a couple of pounds from earlier in the week. May not be "statistically significant" but it's better than up a few pounds.

A Better Week

2008-12-09T22:03:00.003-05:00

Managed to run those 3 runs last week, capped off by the 10K "race" on Sunday. I'm happy about that.

A little about the race. It was freezing Sunday morning. Not the "0 with the windchill" of Monday morning, but pretty cold nonetheless. Did that stop people from showing up? Of course not. 4,336 lunatics were out there freezing their butts off.

I spent the first few miles wondering why I do this. Why didn't I just run later in the day when it warmed up. Why didn't I just run on the treadmill. And so on.

Somehow by the end, I managed to remember why I do this. I put in a relatively terrible performance for me, but I still pushed harder than I would have done if I was by myself. So I was happy to get a good workout in.

My splits:
9:19
9:00
8:41
8:41
8:53 getting a little tired
8:37 pushing during the last mile
1:41

54:53 total. (Let's not think about the 47:23 I ran at this race last year.)

I still have some ranting to do about the NYRR, but I'm still waiting for their final response. I'll get to that later.

In other news, I bought a scale that actually works. I used to have a fancy scale that measured my body fat percentage and all sorts of other things. Only problem was that every time I got off the scale and back on, my weight changed. It was pretty annoying. So I bought a new scale for under 20 bucks, and it's perfect! Well not perfect, the result seems consistent, but 20 pounds too high. :-(

So I have some work to do now...

I Actually Ran Today

2008-12-01T20:57:00.005-05:00

Sigh... it's been over 2 weeks. I've been so lazy, and unable to fight the weather. Pretty lame... In November I ran 26 miles total - the lowest monthly total since August 2006.

Anyway, this morning I had to pick up my old dental X-rays. I've been holding off getting them because it's a pain to find parking there. And so I came up with this idea. (Actually I got the idea from ShoreTurtle, who seems to "run" errands now and then.) So I ran over to the dentist, signed the paperwork, ran out for a short out and back, came back for the films, and ran home.

One errand, done.

I'm tempted to run tomorrow morning, but I know I'll end up with shin splints. I always point this out to my friends who don't run for months, then go all out every day for a week, and then complain that their legs hurt. So I'm going to try and avoid this, but still stay on the wagon. Thursday looks good, and Sunday I'm signed up for a race. (And I use the term "race" loosely...)

Run for Harold 2008

2008-11-16T15:42:00.011-05:00

Last year, after the marathon, I was in great shape. I wasn't sure I was ready to race two weeks later, but it turned out I was. I had the best race ever, putting in 7:03 miles over 4 miles. Since that time the NYRR have instituted corrals for their races, and depending on your best historical time, you get put into a specific corral. It's because of last year's race that I continue to get put into one of the first corrals, even now that I don't really belong there anymore.

There were about 6,000 people at the race today, and there I was with #163. Ha! I actually got a lot of comments about it, but I started way in the back.

I've really been sick all week, and haven't run since last Sunday (and I was sick then too). I'd already signed up, and the rain had stopped, so I thought it would be good to at least run this as an easy run. Plus, it was the "Run for Harold" (see last year's post) and so I wanted to go for that as well.

So as I said, I started way in the back. And for today, that meant WAY in the back. The race was packed. I don't think the pictures give it justice, but it was more packed than I've ever seen it here.

It took about 7 minutes to get to the start. (People may have been distracted by Star Jones.) I took it slow, as I knew I wasn't feeling perfect. Over the course of the race, I kind of got caught up in the "race" aspect, though I never pushed as hard as I have in the past. I was running near one of the RFH guys for much of the race, and I had hoped to pass him in the last mile. Unfortunately (for me) he ran a great last mile, and I didn't have enough to keep up with him.

(This is actually before the race, but I think he already knew he'd beat me!)

I finished exactly 6 minutes slower than last year. But nonetheless, I was happy with some negative split action:
9:03
8:50
8:40
8:03

Plus, I was pretty sure I beat this guy:

Like last year, we gathered for a group shot. (Thankfully, not as freezing as last year.) Quite the crowd, which is really great. It's a great idea, and I was happy to see a big turnout.

After the race, the Running Skirt invited me back to her place, where her husband made us some post-race pancakes. I'm pretty sure I ate more calories than I burned - but they were worth it.

(And yes, I do love taking pictures of him in the kitchen!)

And tonight you ask? Another wedding....

I'm sick

2008-11-12T17:17:00.002-05:00

Got sick over the weekend (throat, cold, etc.). Managed to run on Sunday, but now I just don't feel like it. Hopefully, I'll be back out there before the week is up.

I'm signed up for a 4M race on Sunday. Last year at this race, I ran my best race ever. Kind of depressing to realize how far I am from that this year...

That's pretty much it for this post. I have a whole rant that I wrote up about the rising costs of running these races, but I'm waiting for a response to an email. I'll publish it later.

Post Election Day Blah

2008-11-05T17:18:00.010-05:00

I wish I could feel the same sense of elation that everyone else feels about the outcome of this election. I've long ago recognized that most of my blogger friends are liberal, and so I won't turn this into a long discussion. But suffice it to say I have a lot of concerns about the future of this country. I think the American Dream that I believe in, is in for a change. Sigh...

So what else....?

Let's talk about Marathon Sunday here in New York City. I still enjoyed all the build up to the marathon, even though it was tinged with sadness that I wasn't running. It's really amazing how the whole city gets geared up for the race. Also, a lot of people associate me with the race, and so I got emails from more than a few people wishing me good luck - if I was running it.

Instead, I woke up on the early side and went for a leisurely run. About 7.2 miles in the neighborhood. I was really struggling, and I couldn't imagine having to run a marathon that day.

Then I went to a wedding. Two good friends of mine here in the medical school, married each other. There was a really nice core group of friends there, and the dancing was therefore enthusiastic. (For those of you who have never been to an Orthodox Jewish wedding, think more along the lines of Hora, rather than So You Think You Can Dance.) In any case, I think I put in about 19 miles on the dance floor, and so at the end of the day I kind of did the whole marathon thing.

I didn't get a medal, but they did honor me with a blessing under the Chupah.

(Looks like I was the Rabbi. Believe me: I'm not and I wasn't!)

The next morning I felt worse than I felt last year after the Marathon. Maybe I should have worn sneakers...

Here's a series of shots that I just love:

Fun... wedding cake!

Yeahhhh!! (I admit: I was chanting "face, face, face...."!)

Don't even think about it....

Tuesday I went for a run before work. My plan was to run to the polls and check in there. If the lines were long, I had no intention of voting. Yeah, yeah, civic duty. But let's be honest: my vote in New York is completely worthless. The electoral college votes are pretty much decided already. And the people down the line? I don't even know who they are. I recognized the incumbent State Senator, but I had no idea if he's been doing a good job or not.

(And for the record I'm a political junkie who's wasted many hours reading about politics. I can't believe the other voters I saw there had any better idea. Certainly not the woman who walked into the voting booth before me. She had just walked straight in without registering, and started trying to pull the lever. I knew they hadn't activated the machine, so I was just watching with amusement. But when the poll watcher people figured it out, they went nuts. That alone was worth going.)

Anyway, as it turned out, the wait was less than 5 minutes. So I did my civic duty and went back out and ran. I put in 5.5 miles but struggled again. Part of it may have been heat. I was dressed for cold weather, but halfway through I had to take off a layer. Unfortunately I had a compression shirt on, and so it was the inner layer I had to take off. I ran back a little off from the side street, until I was basically next to the highway. Thankfully, nobody got into an accident.

Numbers wise, I finished October with 40 miles again, and I'm up 575 for the year. Not horrible, but a far cry from last year. As for the numbers on the scale, that's not going so well either. But I'm trying...

:-(

2008-10-29T16:48:00.004-04:00

Canceling

2008-10-28T22:25:00.002-04:00

I'm having a real hard time canceling my marathon entry. There's obviously no way I can do it, yet I can't actually cancel my entry.

The truth is, I don't really have to cancel. I don't get my money back, and I have guaranteed entry for next year anyway. I could just as well go down to the expo and pick up my number, my shirt, and goody bag. I'm actually tempted to do that, but I know I'll never wear that shirt if I didn't do the race. And I've found the expo to be annoying the last few years. Definitely no sales that were worth going for. So what's the point...

In other news, I did run 4 miles on the treadmill tonight. The Simpsons and Seinfeld helped pass the time.

Poland Spring 5M

2008-10-26T20:15:00.008-04:00

I've been running the 6 mile loop in the park with my gf the a while now. Over the last few months she's consistently been finishing a few minutes ahead of me. Since I used to be faster, I've found this depressing. Not that she's beating me, but that I've gotten slower. (This is definitely part of the reason for the diet.)

She, on the other hand, is loving the fact that she beats me. And so as the time for today's 5M race came closer she was doing some trash talking about how she was going to beat me. What could I say? I thought the same thing.

Like usual, we were there last second. And so although the races now have corrals separated by speeds, we were forced to start with slower people, leading to the old crush of people I'm used to. We were separated pretty quickly, and within minutes I could see that she was about 15 seconds ahead of me. Just after the 1 mile mark I lost site of her and assumed that she was pushing on way ahead.

And then, as I crossed the 2 mile marker I saw her on the other side of the road. A part of me was thinking that I should slip by her and not let her know, but then I decided to try and make it more fun. I called out to her and pushed ahead.

That was the last I saw of her, but I was never really sure where she was. I wasn't too concerned, as I was pushing as hard as I could anyway. I felt really good for the next few miles, until about the end of the 4th mile, when it started to get rough. I could sense that I was slowing, but I was trying my best to hold on. I think I saved just enough to put on a final burst before the end.

My final time was 40:10. Well off my PR from last year of 39:00, but better than I expected. And sadly for the gf, better than her. There's always next time....

I was pretty happy with my splits as well:
8:43 in the crowd
8:03 that's better
7:58 feeling good
7:42 how 'bout those negative splits?
7:44 worse than it looks, as it includes a burst at the end

So negative splits most of the way. I was happy enough. For now.

We met a few of our friends there and took some pictures afterward. Unfortunately, we all had busy days, and went our own way afterward.

One funny thing that happened is that during the 4th mile a friend tapped me on my shoulder. He said "whoa, what did you eat over the holidays?" I was feeling pretty good then, so for a moment I thought he was complimenting me - inquiring about what special fuel I had eaten. And then I realized he was talking about my physique. :-( To be fair, I think it was the stretchy shirt that I was wearing for the weather. But just to return the favor, I'm posting this picture of us comparing the babies, I mean bellies.

Don't worry though, the diet has just begun...

Diet

2008-10-23T18:28:00.002-04:00

I'm exhausted from the holidays, but I am trying to turn over a new (old?) leaf here....

I started the diet today. As per the scale, it's 13 pounds in 13 weeks. (But I think the scale was off today. Don't be surprised if I lose ground tomorrow.)

Instead of cookies today, I had an apple and a banana. And broccoli for dinner. (Ok it had oil, sugar, and soy sauce on it. But hey, it was broccoli!) Tomorrow morning I run...

Four months

2008-10-20T15:19:00.006-04:00

I don't know if this happens to everyone, but it happens to me. Every now and then I feel like I haven't spoken to an old friend of mine for a while. I'm tempted to call right then, but since we haven't spoken to each other in a while, I'm anticipating a longer and more involved conversation. And since I may not have time at that moment, I plan to call later. Of course I never do, and then the amount of time since we've spoken (and therefore the time necessary for a conversation) grows....

Do you see what I'm getting at?

I've been meaning to post a "catch up post" for the longest time. I can't believe it's been 4 months. It's embarrassing. So what's happened in 4 months? (Besides for the Dow losing over 3000 points.) Well...

There have been a few changes. Professionally, I've got a new job. It's a better job, but it comes with more responsibility, and takes more of my free time. Socially, I'm busier too. :-) It's a good thing, but it takes a lot of time I might otherwise be blogging. Not to make excuses... well actually, yes - those are my excuses. Take 'em or leave 'em.

In the beginning I kept up with the running, but over the last few months it's tapered down. Not to nothing, but to less than I should be at.

So after the marathon last year I settled into some 50 mile months for the winter. Then I brought it back up again as the weather got better, but you can see how I've come back down again. In September I ran 40 miles, and October isn't looking very good at all. (And that's including 12.75 miles this past weekend.)

I'd like to say that part of this has to do with the Jewish holiday season, but somehow I've managed to keep up my training in previous years when I was training for a marathon.

Oh, the marathon? Yeah, that's not happening. Actually, I have another wedding to go to on that day. When the wedding date became clear I was still planning on running New York this year. Then I started thinking about perhaps running Philly, and got invited to another wedding that weekend. (It doesn't stop there - I've actually got 3 weddings to go to in November!) I don't blame all the happy couples, but once I didn't have a set schedule, my training went to pot.

I actually just got my number in the mail. (Kind of depressing.) My first year I was 33474. Last year I was 25872. I had hoped for 4 digits this year, but I was going to have to settle for 18465. Not sure how my canceling will affect this, but I think it will still be a while before I end up with less than 5 digits.

Back on the Jewish Holiday schedule, two more days remain: from tonight until Wednesday night. Thursday morning, I weigh myself and begin my diet and exercise plan. I'm not sure of what it will be, but it will be something like "15 pounds in 15 weeks". (It might be "20 in 20" - depending on how cruel the scale is on Thursday.)

Finally, I just want to give a shout out to the few people who reached out to me in the four months of "radio silence". I've really come to think of many of you as friends, and not having the accountability to you guys has allowed my training to slip. And so to those people who refused to let me get away with it: Thank you!

(As for everyone else, I hope they find their way back to this blog. I've always enjoyed the sense of camaraderie here, and I hope I can get it back.)

Beantown

2008-06-17T21:27:00.013-04:00

First of all, I've come up with a rationalization or excuse for my last run. I had run a hard speedwork episode the day before, and even though it was only 4 repeats, I think it had more of an effect on me than I realized. I'm guessing this because my quads were pretty sore Friday afternoon. (Of course it's probably a little deconditioning as well, but this makes me feel a little better.)

Anyway, on the weekend I made a short trip into Boston. If any of you can remember the first time I was there, I had mentioned that I missed running on the Charles. So I did it this time.

10 miles along the Charles River.

I wasn't sure exactly of where I was going so I ended up running the same route a few times, and I went up and down this ridiculous ramp more than a few times. But all in all, it was pretty cool. Kind of a foggy morning, but there were enough runners out there to make me feel part of something.

Very picturesque

Slightly further along path

Museum of Science. (I ran out of path just about here.)

On the Cambridge side

That ramp thingy and a nice picture of Harvard Bridge

Finally, it was very cool to see a lot of the street names that I've heard before. There was one particular street name that I hear mentioned a lot on Phedippidations. I had to stop and take picture.

Boylston Street. Pretty close to the Boston Marathon Finish Line.

Although I don't foresee ever qualifying for Boston, I do plan to run it sometime, perhaps as early as next year. I'll have to do it through charity, but I think it would be really cool to have run New York and Boston. Now if only they had a charity option for the Olympics....

Struggling

2008-06-13T17:31:00.004-04:00

Went out again this morning, and I'm really struggling. I meant to run more but I could barely make it for 5 miles. I had to take a break halfway. And they weren't even that fast, about 9 minute miles.

Still not sure if it's he heat or deconditioning. (I also need new shoes.) Either way, I've got to get out there more often.

At least I'm doing better than this tree blocking my running path this morning:

We had a major storm a few nights ago, and there were trees down all over. Considering how old this tree looked, it's kind of sad. But I guess that's just nature...

In good news, I think it's supposed to cool down a touch, into a nice weekend. (Although there may be some isolated thunderstorms.) Currently, it's "partly cloudy and 79". I'll take it!

Hot Hot Hot!

2008-06-12T21:59:00.006-04:00

It's been way too hot here!

After my uplifting last post, I started slowing down. I ran 5.5 miles on that Wednesday, followed by another race on the weekend. It was only a 4 miler and I wanted to turn it into a long run. Unfortunately, I had issues getting out of the house in the morning, and I didn't have time for much of a run. I ran a little less than 5 before the race, followed by the 4 mile race.

It was hot! I had a hard time even doing the slow mile before the race. I was keeping track of the time, and I knew I was tight for getting back to the start line on time.

This was the first race I'd be running since they started the corral system. When I picked up my bib I saw it was blue. It was only when I passed the start area before the race, that I realized that this was the first corral. I'm an elite! (Ha!) I guess because the race was capped at 3,000 runners I ended up in that first corral. As it turned out I got to the start area 5 minutes before the race, and the guy didn't let me into that corral anyway. Truth is I was wiped anyway and I didn't care, but that was the first of the several volunteers who yealled at me that day. Sheesh!

I ended up starting in the middle somewhere. AS you can see I started really slow, and was therefore able to run negative splits.
8:34
8:13
7:59
7:32
My final time was 32:15 for an 8:03 pace, about a minute off my best. Because of the heat though, I was happy enough with this result.

Pretty painful progression through the race!

The following week I didn't run the entire week until the weekend. I'd like to blame it on the heat, but I don't really remember when it got so hot. I was supposed to run a race at 5:30am on Wednesday. It was supposed to rain, but I laid out my stuff and got up at 4:30 anyway. When I looked out it was dark and wet, and I didn't really need the race. So I went back to bed.

I also remember getting up early on Sunday to run before it got too hot. I was up at about 6:45 and when I checked the temperature it was already 80 degrees. And heating up fast. I'm embarrassed to say, but I chickened out. Again. I did end up running a tempo run on the treadmill later, but even that was tough. In retrospect I could have been deconditioned, but I'd like to think it was the heat in the gym. I only peaked at 7.0 mph but I was totally drenched from the effort.

Today, I went back to the track. I've been fooling around with making a training schedule for the marathon, and it has me looking at the FIRST book again. My last 5K PR was so far ahead of where I was before, that I wasn't sure which paces to use as my training goals. In the end I chose the group based on a 22:00 5K - as compared to 23:00, which I used at the end of the last training cycle.

I decided to run 4 x 800m intervals today, mostly because of my time constraints. According to the book, my pace for the 800's should have been 3:16. I kind of remembered running 3:28's in the past, but I didn't look it up. (I was wrong.)

In any case, these are how my splits went for today's 800's:
3:07 (hey, this is going to be easy)
3:17 (whoops, not that easy)
3:22 (glad i'm only doing 4 of these)
3:25 (maybe if i start slower i can finish faster. guess not.)

So as you can see, I need a little more work in the speed department. Then again, have I mentioned that it's been really hot here? It was in the 80's and that's got to count for something!

This weekend I'm traveling, but I hope to get a run in on Monday. The following weekend I'm supposed to volunteer at a NYRR race, but I'm on call. I tried to sort this out in advance, but the help I got from the NYRR was suboptimal. (They took too long to respond.) I'm going to try and make the volunteering job, but if I can't, it's going to be a real pain to make up. We'll see...

L'Chaim Run for Israel 5K 2008

2008-05-26T14:38:00.015-04:00

So with my horrible performance at the Wall Street Run last week, I wasn't too optimistic about this race.

After the race I took Wednesday and Thursday off. Then on Friday I ran a 5 mile "tempo" run. It was about an 8:30 pace, but it felt tough. And my shins bugged me in the beginning.

On Sunday I made a deliberate effort to go slow for my long run. I ended up running somewhere around a 9:30 pace. My shins bothered me a little in the beginning, and I was thinking that I'd have to skip the race on Monday. In the end, my legs settled down, and I decided to see how I felt later. My legs felt a little tight Sunday night, but I really enjoyed this race last year, so I made the decision to go.

I saw a bunch of people I knew at the race, and recognized many of the people from last year. It was really hot and I felt dehydrated before the start. I ended up buying some water and tried to stay in the shade where possible.

Just before the race I moved up in front of the strollers and people with purses. (I learned from the last race!) I ended up only being a couple of rows back, but I was still talking to a friend when the shofar went off unexpectedly. I had enough sense to hit the start button on my watch, and set off.

Like last year, people took off at full speed, and I held back. At least I thought I did. I didn't have headphones and so I was trying to control my breathing. I knew I was working hard, but I was still able to keep control.

All of a sudden I was at the first mile marker, and the volunteer said something that started with a "6". I looked at my watch and saw 6:32. What?! Maybe the mile marker was short...

There were some hills around now, and I was starting to think that maybe I was going too fast. I didn't want to slow down, but I could tell I'd have trouble keeping up this pace. (Or maybe it was psychological.) I could barely see anybody in front of me, so I knew I was doing well. I ended up running the second mile in 7:07.

By the third mile I was really hurting. It seemed to last forever. In the first mile I had passed a lot of runners, but since that time my position had been stable. I could see the same kid in front of me, but I couldn't get any closer. By listening to the people on the side of the course I could tell
that there wasn't anybody right behind me. But I didn't know how far back the next person was, and I didn't want to give up any position. I missed a trophy by 8 seconds last year, and didn't want that to happen again.

I ended up just hanging in there for a 7:20 third mile, and 0:46 for the last 0.1 mile. I never caught the kid in front of me, but the person behind me finished 12 seconds back.

I'm just happy being on the first page!

My final time was 21:48.5, which is a 7:01 pace. That's a new PR by 1:35!! I was 11th overall, and 2nd in my age division. First time I ever picked up any hardware!

How awesome is that?

Ok, so what do I do with this thing now?

After the race, it took me a while to catch my breath and get my heart rate back to normal. Then I hit the "expo" there. Most races I've gone to have bagels, or at best donuts, and occasionally beer. Not so, this Jewish sponsored race. Pizza, knishes, and ice cream. (Some was for sale.) Needless to say, by the time I left I had lost any health benefits from the actual run!

At the expo. See the "Under Armor" kipah's at the right?

After the race. "Carb re-loading".

In other good news, my shins didn't hurt at all. I had a tough time from a cardiovascular point of view, but my legs felt good. So I was really happy with this race.

By the way, these were the overall winners. (I don't think I've seen them around Synagogue before.)

I'm scheduled to run another race this weekend, but I don't think I should race again so soon. Also, part of the new requirements for guaranteed entry into the marathon is to volunteer at a race. I signed up to volunteer later in the month, but I've since been scheduled to be on call that weekend. So if possible, I'm going to try and switch my volunteering into this weekend.

Wall Street Run 2008

2008-05-26T13:38:00.004-04:00

Last Tuesday was the Wall Street Run. (The name has gotten ridiculously long to "The American Heart Association Start! Wall Street Run & Heart Walk", but I still call it the Wall Street Run.) I had been looking forward to it, primarily because I was supposed to see ShoreTurtle again. I was also hoping to have dinner with a few other runners and friends. First the Turtle couldn't make it. (He had a good excuse.) Then pretty much everyone else pulled out of dinner. And then finally, it started pouring.

I probably would have just skipped it if the Running Skirt hadn't been so set on going. But there we were setting out on a rainy commute from the Bronx down to Wall Street.

The race sucked for a whole bunch of reasons:

1) The distance was 3.0 miles. I didn't realize this when I signed up, but it's such a stupid distance. The Road Runners didn't provide an age graded percentage score, because this is a non-standard distance. When I last ran this race in 2006 it was advertised as a 5K, but then after they race they realized it was only 2.9 miles. So if they already changed the course to add 0.1 mile, what would have been the big deal to add another 0.1 mile?

2) Walkers and runners start together. They made some announcements about having walkers go to the left or something, but people never listen. There was no actual separate starting area. The starting area is pretty cramped already, but with all the walkers it took me 6:43 to get to the start line. And then I had to spend a lot of effort dodging around people with purses and other people talking on cell phones! The walkers should start 15 minutes after the runners. It's such a simple solution that it's hard to believe it hasn't been put into practice. (Although you can be sure I'll be emailing them.)

3) The course is horrible. Ok, this I won't blame fully on them. The race is held in the Wall Street area, and this is worsened with all the construction going on. But it doesn't take away from the fact the course is cramped, and there are a million sharp turns. But come to think of it, why do they finish the run on the waterfront? Looks nice, but there's even less room to run. So just at the end, instead of putting in that last spurt, I was stuck slowing down behind people. Oh, and 5 feet after the finish line you had to turn to the right. So everyone just stopped sharply at the finish line, and I had to dodge people just to actually cross the line!

It's amazing, the race registration was capped off and sold out at 17,000. With the rain, there were only 4,301 finishers as per the NYRR. I imagine all these problems would have been a lot worse with good weather.

Anyway, if you haven't already guessed, I didn't have a good race. I finished in 24:15 for an 8:05 pace. My slowest pace since June 2007 (excluding races 13.1 miles or greater). I knew some of the points above had interfered with my performance, but I still felt like I had a put in a lot of effort. I was breathing hard, and had a shin splint in one of my legs. I was dejected.

I took the train back up town and went for dinner with "M". I had a grilled tongue sandwich and felt better. (Of course, those sandwiches are part of the problem.) I was glad to shower and get out of those clothes. Race #8 done.

Since the last episode....

2008-05-16T15:00:00.002-04:00

The weather has occasionally been nice, and I've occasionally run outside. Mostly the loop in Central Park. I've definitely had a hard time of running more than that.

4/30 - 6 miles in Central Park
5/2 - 5.25 miles on treadmill (tempo)
5/4 - 6.55 miles on treadmill (not tempo)
5/7 - 10.22 miles in neighborhood (nice. break at halfway point.)
5/9 - 3.3 miles on treadmill (intervals of 0.25. first time on a treadmill)
5/11 - 6.03 miles in Central Park

Earlier this week I went back to the track. I'm still not on a training schedule and so I made up a workout. 4 x 1200m with 400m intervals. I was terrible. It was about 70 degrees, but a little breezy, so it didn't feel too bad. I just kept running out of energy.

Here are my splits, with each of the laps.

4:59 (1:38, 1:40, 1:41)
5:01 (1:33, 1:40, 1:48)
5:05 (1:36, 1:43, 1:46)
5:18 (1:40, 1:50, 1:48)

I was so upset at how I just couldn't hang on. I looked up the last time I ran 1200's and it seems I ran them in about 5:04. But those were in sets of two, with only a short break in between. I can't get too crazy over it, but my fitness has definitely declined. AS opposed to my weight...

Fortunately, my down mood didn't last too long. My old roommate made the trip out for some tennis. First game of the season! After a long winter it was so good to be out there in the nice weather. (I've got to work on that as well. I let him take a set off me!)

Today the weather sucks again, and I skipped my run. I'll try and get a tempo run in on the treadmill later, though I'm feeling pretty tired.

Sunday's my birthday. Another year gone by. It's been a pretty good year, but I hate seeing that number creep up again. Not much I can do. (Even if I wanted to forget it I couldn't - my facebook wall is already attracting traffic!)

Next week is the American Heart Association Wall Street Run. I missed it last year due to injury, but I ran it the year before with ShoreTurtle. This year we're scheduled for another reunion, so I'm really looking forward to that. The race itself is sold out, and I'm sure will be a zoo. But it's always good to see the Turtle. (A turtle at the zoo... that's kind of funny. Eh, Maybe not.)

Have a good weekend all!

Toronto Running

2008-04-28T18:36:00.005-04:00

Well I'm back. 10 days gone, and only 1 run. Sigh. I did play paintball one day, so maybe that counts for something.

I ran long on a beautiful day in Toronto. Started out at home and ran towards Edwards Gardens, where there is a beautiful running path. I kind of got lost a bit, and I actually had to use the map feature of my Garmin. It's only come in handy a few times, but it's worth it for those times. My cell phone is too expensive to use in Canada, so I would have been really stranded out there.

10.09 miles in 1:34:41. A 9:23 pace.

On the way back, I took the bus. I was so far that I had to ride to the train station, take the train for 2 stops, and then take another bus. I could even have taken a third bus, but I walked the last 15 minutes instead.

My return trip was 7.91 miles in 1:05:00 for an 8:13 pace.

Happy Passover!

2008-04-18T09:57:00.002-04:00

No time for posting lately. Been doing slightly more running, but not enough. One more session at the track though. Also another 4M race at 7:27 pace. Whatever....

Anyway, I'm heading up to the folks for Passover, so I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Passover. (If you're not celebrating, just have me in mind when you're eating your delicious bread....)

Oh, and I signed up for the NYC Marathon. Better get back into shape...

Scotland Run

2008-04-01T22:45:00.004-04:00

I ran another 10K on Sunday. Another cold one. The day was nice, but at race time the temperature was 37 degrees. As Sara pointed out, we've been running races since December, and they've all been at the same temperature!

It was unbelievably crowded. 6,928 finishers! It's no wonder they'll be starting a corral system soon.

As I've mentioned recently, I haven't been feeling too fast. Workouts have been tough. When the race started I didn't try and weave too much as I wasn't too worried about my time. I ended up running the first mile in 8:12, which was faster than it felt.

By the second mile, some space had opened up. I hit the 2nd mile marker in 7:28. I was surprised. Right about then I realized that I had - of course - forgotten to check my PR before the race that morning. (Why do I always do that!) So I had no idea if that was good, or if I had a chance to set a new PR.

I kept up the pace for the next mile, and finished it in 7:26. I was really hurting, and my mind was trying all sorts of rationalizations to get me to stop and slow down. I refused to give in and just kept pushing. I felt really beat and couldn't speed up as I've done in previous races, but I refused to slow down.

I finished the 4th mile in 7:45. A little slower, but it didn't feel it. Maybe there was a hill there, or the mile marker was off, because I was hanging in there. In any case, I guess it spurred me on to pick it up. The next mile went by in 7:30. I was really wiped, but I knew there was just over 1 mile to go, so I picked up the pace. I hit the 6th mile marker in 7:11. Nice! At this point, I sprinted for the last 0.2 miles. It was really killer, but I pushed through. My watch said 1:27 for these last 0.2 miles, which is a 7:15 pace, but that makes no sense. It was definitely faster.

In any case, my final time was 47:00 on the button, for a 7:34 pace. Turns out, that's a 23 second PR! I know I can do better, but I'll take it for now.

Back to Old Places

2008-03-27T20:17:00.008-04:00

The last two weeks I've only run on Sunday. I've meant to get out there, but for a variety of reasons it hasn't happened. It's not very impressive.

This past Sunday, I went out for a long(ish) run near my apartment. While I was out there I realized I hadn't done this in so long. Many of my runs over the winter have been on the treadmill, and my long outdoor runs have been in races. The last time I went for a long training run in my neighborhood was January 6th. That was 11 weeks ago!!

It was good to get out again. I'm not in as good shape, but the weather was a bit warmer, and I enjoyed the run out to City Island.

To try and keep the momentum up, I went back to the running track on Tuesday. (Only 5 weeks since the last trip there. Sigh.) I randomly chose to do 3 x 1600m. I have a 10K race this Sunday, so I thought some mile repeats (or close to it) would be good practice.

I got busy at work, and didn't make it to the track until about 5. That meant it was packed with high school teams practicing relay transfers. (In addition to the usual groups of people walking in a group, kids dribbling basketballs, and people pushing wheelchairs while talking on their cellphone.) I might have been better off doing my speedwork on the street! It just makes me want to go earlier next time.

In any case, I warmed up a bit and did my intervals. I didn't feel fast, so I took it easy. Not too easy, but I was pretty sure I'd run these faster in the past.

7:01
6:45
7:07

That second one was tough, and I didn't have the energy to push through the third time. I was upset at myself for getting fat and slow.

When I got home I looked up the previous times I've run this workout. It was quite a surprise.

7/17/07 - 7:24, 7:23, 7:09
8/15/07 - 7:56, 7:13, 7:06
12/26/07 - 7:07, 6:50, 6:56

The first times were at the beginning of the FIRST training program. The one in July was before I started, and the August one was week 1. Clearly I'm faster now than I was then. The one in December is post-marathon, and that was the best running time for me. It's interesting to me that although I was faster then, in my mind the difference was a lot greater. I can definitely get back to my previous shape. (But I have to stop eating like I'm running 60 miles a week...)

On Sunday I have a 10K race. Unfortunately, I'm also on call this weekend. So the race may not happen. If it's not crazy busy I'll try and round really early and make it to the race.

In other running related news, I'm looking forward to two things coming out in May. One is the Nimbus 10. I'm still running in my old Nimbus 7's. I didn't like the 8's or 9's, and so I'm hoping the 10's will finally do the trick. There's a video review on the Runner's World website, and the written review comes out in May. (The June issue, which comes at the beginning of May.)

Also, the Forerunner 405 is coming out around then. My old 201 is still giving me problems, both with uploading, as well as holding its charge. It's really time for an upgrade. The 405 looks pretty cool, and the wireless syncing is really exciting. I have a few concerns. One is whether I'll be able to use it well with gloves. Their Q&A says yes, but I get the sense that it won't be so easy to switch screens while running. The other concern is whether I'll be able to wirelessly upload to SportTracks. Garmin has been pushing people to use Garmin Connect - which is just the old Motion Based. But I've been really happy with SportTracks. If I have wirelessly upload to Garmin, and then manually transfer the files to SportTracks, the advantage is kind of lost. I'm going to wait for some reviews of the device, and if I'm not impressed, I'm hoping that at least the 205/305 will be cheaper.

Unfortunately I'll have to live with some old Nimbus VII's and an old Forerunner 201 until at least May. (But my birthday does happen to be in May....)

Colon Cancer Challenge, 5th edition

2008-03-11T19:26:00.008-04:00

Damn, it was cold!

I got there at 8:50 so I didn't have time to meet the people running the 4 mile race at 9:00. I went over to the start line and said hi to Dr. Weber (the head of Partners in Prevention) and looked for runners I know.

After cheering the runners at the start, I went over towards the finish to cheer them on to the end. The men's race came down to a neck and neck finish, and the winner outkicked second place to win by a second.

I went over to the center area to meet up with friends, but between the crowd and the cold, I didn't meet up with too many people. Just a couple at the very end, right before the 15K starting at 10:15.

By this time, my toes were frozen. We headed over to the start and somehow ran into the VP of my hospital. 3,000 runners and I always run into him in these races. Strange.

The beginning was extremely crowded. I've been feeling slow lately, so I didn't push too hard, and just took it easy. Well, sort of. It gets really annoying being stuck behind groups of people running, so I occasionally stepped out on the side. But not as much as I usually do. The first mile went be in 8:31, which included "Cat Hill".

I settled into a comfortable pace. Mile 2 approached, and I checked my watch. 7:33! Wow! I wasn't even working that hard, so I started to think that a PR could happen.

I probably pushed a little harder after being energized by that time. But then as my lap time started reaching 8 minutes, the mile marker was still in the distance. I passed it at 8:24, and realized the 2nd mile marker had clearly been wrong. Sigh. Average pace for the 2 miles was 7:56.

I was still doing ok, but I was tired. I didn't have the energy to push harder, but I forced myself to keep steady. Like usual I found myself passing people on the uphill, and being passed on the downhill. I felt like I was slowing, but somehow my splits were hanging in there.

7:44
7:50
8:00 (Cat Hill again)

Ok, maybe I was slowing a little, but not like I thought. Once again, I'd forgotten to look up my old PR. Also, I wanted to get in under an 8 min/mile pace, but didn't bother to figure out what time that would require. Sigh. I started doing math in my head, and began to realize that this goal was possible.

7:58
7:53

I knew my first mile was a little slow, but all my miles since then had been under 8. So I knew I was close, but I started pushing to make sure.

7:37 for mile 9! I was pretty sure I had it, but my math had come out to seeing 1:17 on the clock at the finish. It was still looking tight, so I really started pushing for the last 0.3. I didn't really kick it until the last 0.05, because I was really tired.

I finished the 0.3 in 2:13 (which about 7:23 pace). I missed the 1:17 by about 15 seconds, but when I finished I could look at the total time on my watch.

1:13:47. That's good for a 7:55 pace!! (And a 70 second PR over the only other time I raced this distance.)

(Actually, the NYRR calculates the pace as 7:56, but when I do the math it's 7:55. Which equals what the Cool Running calculator comes up with. There's often a discrepancy, and I have to email them about that.)

I was happy with my time, but I was wiped out for the whole day. I went out to lunch with a few friends, but that was pretty much it for the day. Yesterday I was on call, and did some late night operating. I'm only recovering today. It was a really nice afternoon, but I didn't feel like running. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get a chance to get back out there.

In terms of fundraising, I'd say we were quite successful. Personally, I raised $438, which is about where I've been in previous years. (Thanks so much to all who contributed. Quite a few readers joined in.) The team ended up with 32 runners, and together we raised over $3,600!

Now back to relaxing....

Fundraising

2008-03-05T21:22:00.003-05:00

Lots of recent activity. Up to $357! ($2,889 for the team!) And still a few days to go. Click here for details.

Coogan's 2008 - Race # 50

2008-03-02T13:07:00.007-05:00

Last year I set a PR at Coogan's and it was the fastest I'd ever run up to that point. I remember feeling great after that run. This year, the result was similar, but the feeling wasn't the same.

After struggling to find parking last year, and having to take a cab from my car (!) I learned my lesson this year. I parked about 10 blocks and two avenues away and took a leisurely stroll over to the start. I got there about 20 minutes early, which is about 20 to 25 minutes earlier than I usually get there. It was cold waiting around. It was supposed to be a little warmer today, so I had initially thought of running without a jacket. But the morning was just so cold. I wore my thick running pants, two layers on top, plus a jacket. And gloves and a hat, of course.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'd really wanted to get under a 7 min mile pace for this race. Last year I ran this race with 7:35 miles, but I've really gotten faster. I did a 4 miler in November with a 7:03 pace. So up until a few months ago, a sub-7 pace was definitely realistic. Unfortunately, I've really slacked off in my training this winter. I haven't done much in the way of speedwork or tempo runs, and a few extra pounds of winter weight hasn't helped either. I feel slower.

Before leaving this morning, I looked up last year's PR. (For once, I remembered! I actually came back in from the car to do this.) 23:32. Then I calculated what a 7 min pace would be. 21:45. Whoa! That didn't seem too possible. But I didn't give up yet.

So there I was at the start, hanging around the 7 min/mile pace sign. Just before the race started, the pack compressed a little, and I ended up starting between the 5 and 6 signs. I guess that only made me more annoyed that when the race started, I found myself passing people going for slow jogs, and even race walkers! I'm not denying race walkers the right to participate, but there is absolutely no way they should be starting in the front!

As an aside, the NYRR will be instituting seeded corrals starting in April. They actually tried using a wave start last year, and I had a horrible experience. One of my complaints was that since the corrals weren't seeded, I was constantly passing and being passed the whole race, making it feel even more crowded. I actually emailed my thoughts to them, and so I'm quite happy to see that they apparently listened to the feedback (from others as well I'm sure), and are now trying seeded corrals. I'm sure there will be some problems at first, but I think this is a really good idea. With 5,000 people running all the races in Central Park, things have gotten out of hand.

So anyway, I started the first mile pushing harder than normal. There was an uphill component, and I was really struggling. I definitely was not enjoying this as much as last year. First split was 7:30.

Mile 2 entered into Fort Tryon park, and I remembered feeling strong here last year. I stayed to the left (but still on the right!) and tried to pass people. I just didn't have it in me. I felt myself slow down, and I was upset that I let myself get out of shape. I also started thinking about having to race next week, and was not happy about that. The mile 2 marker took forever to appear, and when it did, my split was 7:49.

Mile 3 is a straightaway, with a downhill component. (It's an out and back course.) Now I was really hurting. I wanted to stop and walk, but I knew I'd be upset about it afterwards, so I kept pushing. I was looking at my watch frequently with "are we there, yet?" thoughts going through my head. At about mile 2.5 my right shoelace came untied. My shoe was still relatively tight, but I had trouble going faster, and I was worried about tripping and/or losing my chip. (This is the second race in a row this has happened, after never happening before. I noticed it didn't seem right this morning. Not sure what that's all about, but I need new shoes anyway.)

I knew sub 7 was out of the question, but for some reason a PR seemed to be a sure thing at this point. But then the 3 mile marker just never came. My watch had lost the signal, and since I was suffering, I thought I was further along than I was. Then as the time kept advancing, without having passed 3 miles, I knew it was going to be tight. I picked up the pace, and eventually passed mile 3 with a 7:21 split.

The time on my watch was about 24:40 with 0.10 miles to go. It was going to be close. I turned on the jets (as best as I could with one shoelace untied) and sprinted to the finish without looking at my watch. After the finish line I stopped my watch and knew that I had just beaten it. My official time was 23:23, for a 9 second PR.

I guess I should happy with a PR, but I'm disappointed because I now know I have more potential. I tried to blame the cold weather a little because it was 30 degrees, but I looked up last year and it was only 34 degrees. I think my fast start led to me slowing down, which always leads to a bad race experience.

Last year's splits were nicely negative:
8:01
7:49
7:11
0:35

This year, I started faster, slowed down, and then forced a faster finish:
7:30
7:49
7:24
0:39

Even though the mile 2 split is identical both years, in 2007 I was speeding up, and in 2008 I was slowing down. It really makes a difference in how you feel.

After getting home, I put this race into my database, and I realize that this is my 50th race. That's kind of cool. I still have all my race bibs, though I'm not sure where to put them in my new apartment.

Next up is the Colon Cancer Challenge next week. I'm tired of racing, but it will be good to get the miles in. I ran it last year with an 8:03 pace. I'd like to get in under 8:00, but I'm dreading that kind of effort.

In fundraising news, my own total is at $135, but I've recruited 24 team members so far, and we're at $2,100 for the team. Short of my goal, but still good. And there's still a week to go.

If only the warm weather will come already. The next few days are supposed to be better, but I'm really sick of winter. I need to move somewhere warmer...

Treadmill Running

2008-02-25T07:59:00.002-05:00

Too much snow and cold. (Even if I did see people running in shorts yesterday afternoon!)

I did a tempo run on Friday, where I pushed my speed up to 9 mph for half a mile. It felt like I was running faster than ever before, but really that was only because of the treadmill. I've run that fast for short distances before, but only outside. It's harder to run that fast indoors.

Sunday I wimped out on going outside, and did 10 miles on the treadmill. Although I was listening to Pheddipidations, Austin Powers was on TV. Oh behave!

There was another runner there who's been rumored to be training for Olympic trials. I asked her about this, and we chatted for about 10 minutes. She's quit her job and trains full time. I couldn't really understand that, since she doesn't really expect to make the team. But she felt that this was the only opportunity she'll ever have to train at this level, and so she took it. (I'm guessing she doesn't have too many of those things called "expenses"!)

In any case, now that I've chatted with her, and high-fived Meb, I like to say that I regularly hang out with members of the running elite. :-)

Special thanks to those that have contributed to my Colon Cancer Challenge fundraising. I'm still well behind previous years, but at least it looks respectable. I've also recruited a bunch of teammates, and together we're over $1100.

Back to the Track

2008-02-19T21:29:00.002-05:00

I finally made it back to the track for some speedwork today. It just doesn't feel right in the cold. Or maybe it's just that I'm out of shape.

I'm not on any schedule, so I kind of made up a workout. I did 5 x 800m with 400m rest intervals. My splits were as follows:
3:27
3:29
3:28
3:25
3:11

I actually didn't know how fast I'd been in the past, so I wasn't sure how I was doing. I knew I was being consistent. Until the last interval where I pushed harder, and ended up with 3:11.

Now that I'm home I looked up some old splits. Back in November I was doing these 800's in about 3:23. Well, but that was just after the marathon. How about before the marathon? Well in October I did eight 800's, ranging from 3:03 to 3:18.

So I'm definitely slower. Or out of practice. Which is kind of annoying, since I have a 5K coming up in 2 weeks. I had really wanted to break the 7 minute mile barrier. I'm not sure I'm up for it now, though I'll probably still try.

Bronx Half

2008-02-10T12:47:00.000-05:00

I'm kind of burnt out from racing, but I've been skipping midweek runs because of the cold. I figured signing up for this race would make sure I got my long run in this weekend. That was the primary goal.

I went with a couple of friends this morning, and we got there right before the race. 3,261 finishers as per the NYRR - quite a big turnout for a race that's hard to get to. Big traffic jam at the baggage drop off.

I started the race holding back, because I didn't want to push myself. By a few miles in, I was really struggling. I wasn't going too fast, but I was just dreading how much further I had to go. By mile 4 or so, I decided I'd take a bathroom break, and at the same time rest for a bit. By mile 5 I still hadn't seen a portapotty, and now my left shoelace was untied. Hmm, don't remember that happening before in a race. I pushed on, still planning to stop once for bothe the bathroom and my shoelace.

Just after mile 6 we passed the start area, with about 30 portapotties. Nice! I stopped, tied my shoe, used the facilities, and got back out there. I think the total time spent was about a minute, but I felt better.

For the second half of the race, I tried to work on keeping my breathing steady. I wasn't pushing to run faster, but I was trying to feel like I was not out of control. It kind of worked, and by mile 11 and 12 I think I felt the best I'd felt all day. My splits were faster on those miles than all the earlier ones!

The last mile we hit a lot of wind in the wrong direction, and it made finishing with a kick tough. I told myself I wasn't really "racing" so I didn't push too hard. I think I ran the last 0.1 mile a little faster.

My splits:
8:31
8:23
8:07
8:19
8:20
8:16
9:14 (bathroom break)
8:15
8:12
8:11
8:05
7:56
8:02
0:51

Total: 1:48:43, for an 8:17 pace.

I finished tired, but happy I'd come. I'm definitely looking forward to a 3 week break from racing though. Coogan's, which is in 3 weeks, has traditionally been a good race for me. I'd been looking forward to smashing my 5K PR. Now I've been skipping my speedwork, and putting on weight. I'm definitely slower than I was a few months ago. I'm going to try and reverse these trends and see if I can still pull off a 5K PR on March 2nd.

In other news, my Colon Cancer Challenge fundraising is not going so well. I've recruited a few new team members, but my personal fundraising total is stuck at $5. Pathetic. I definitely have to work on improving that.

Updating

2008-02-04T17:18:00.000-05:00

I didn't run all week, although I did do some other exercising. Sunday was a 4 mile race in the park. I had planned to do a long run on Friday but it was puring all day. I scrapped that run, but decided to put in some extra miles before the race. I woke up too early for a Super Bowl Sunday, but got 5.5 miles in before the race. I ran with a couple of friends, so it was nice. (3 trips to the bathroom in 5.5 miles. Maybe I shouldn't have had a coffee on the way to the park. But it was cold!)

The race itself was 4 miles. I started up close to the front and got off to a fairly quick start. A lot of people there, but I didn't feel too much traffic effect. I did however feel tired.

My splits:
7:38
7:38
7:39
7:10

Finish time: 30:05, for a 7:31 pace.

I had a little energy for a finishing kick, but not much. (If I had known at the time that I was 5 seconds away from that arbitrary number, I might have pushed a little harder.)

In other news, I updated my sidebar. I updated the blogs I read, as well as some of the links. I've also included a few new (or recycled) things. From top to bottom, they are:

The Colon Cancer Challenge. This is an event I run every year. It is a Road Runners event, which raises money for Partners In Prevention. This is an organization that supports public awareness, and increases availability of screening for colorectal cancer. Colon cancer is essentially a preventable disease, and instead, it affects 150,000 Americans a year. The organization is also involved in research. This is something that I see almost every day at work, and so it ties into two facets of my life, running and medicine. I've run all previous 4 events, and this will be my second year putting together a team of runners. I'm looking forward to a big turnout and successful fund raising. I'll be keeping a tab of my personal fund raising total, and posting it in the sidebar. Please consider making a donation here.

Next is my weight loss goal. Although I run almost 50 miles in January, it was a decrease from the previous months. And of course, I continued to eat the same as before. And so unfortunately, some of my pants have gotten tight again. Rather than get new pants, I've made a commitment to get the weight back off in the next two months.

Finally, a little lower down, I've added links to some of the products I talk about in the blog. I've become an Amazon associate. I don't expect to quit my day job, but I feel like I've referred a few people over the years to buy things here and there. If I get a check for 10$ from them one day, I'll have one more happy day.

Manhattan Half Pictures

2008-02-04T14:40:00.000-05:00

Can't you just tell how much my enjoyment of this race was just growing by the moment?

Training matters!

2008-01-29T10:13:00.000-05:00

So I haven't been running that much lately, but I decided to do the Manhattan Half anyway. I figured I could count it as a long run, but of course there's always the drive to run it faster when you're in a race situation. Even though I knew I wasn't going to set a PR, I still ran it faster than I would have otherwise. (Something about running with 5,000 other lunatics braving the sub-freezing weather I guess!)

Well, it hurt. After a few miles in, I didn't really know how I was going to finish. By 8 or 9 miles I really wanted to stop and rest. The only reason I didn't stop was to exercise my mental stamina. Again, I knew I wasn't going to set a PR. But forcing myself to go on was good discipline for future races, where I'm sure there will be times when I feel the desire to stop and rest.

As you'll see from my splits, I kept getting slower and slower. Perhaps I started a little too fast, and that was the problem. It didn't seem that way to me. I think I'm just out of shape from not having put in enough miles. I havn't run more than 10 miles since the marathon in November, and even 10 I haven't done since mid December. Not training definitely hurt my performance. (Just as training definitely helped it in November!)

7:52

7:50

7:51

7:48

7:57

8:04

7:50

8:08

8:16

8:10

8:26

8:30

7:56

0:47

Total: 1:45:29 (8:03 pace)

A couple of things to point out. Miles 2 and 8 are on the Harlem Hill. It's a huge hill, and most people have trouble with it. For some reason I'm able to stay strong on the hill. (My splits are fairly consistent compared with those before and after it.) I find that I pass a ton of people going up the hills. Unfortunately, I'm not able to pick up the speed on the downhill, and they all pass me back. I like the feeling of consistency, but I do think I should be able to take better advantage of the downhill.

Also, you can see that the slowdown is gradual, except for a few noticable bumps. Obviously mile 13 is because it was close to the finish and I was trying to get a 1:45:xx finish. Mile 7 is a different story.

At the start of the race, the race director introduced Meb Keflizighi. (For my non-runner friends, he was the Silver medalist in the 2004 Olympic marathon.) I thought it was pretty cool that he was there, but it was even cooler when I passed him on the course. Ok, I didn't actually pass him. He was running the opposite direction, but he was cheering on the runners, which was pretty awesome of him. When I saw him on the other side of the park I was ready. I stepped out of the lane for a second and yelled "High five, Meb!" He obliged with a smile, and I felt totally energized. I picked up my speed for the abovementioned mile 7 bump. (And then settled right back into my gradual decline...)

All in all, even though I'm still sore two days later, it was a good experience. I've become a benefactor this year, so I don't have to pay entrance fees to most races. That really helped because I wasn't well trained and I hadn't registered in advance. Knowing that it was free helped me decide to just sign up at the last second.

(For other New Yorkers out there, if you run enough races it's definitely worth it. The NYRR website says it's a good deal if you run 15 races a year. I think that's not updated for new prices. Regular membership is $40, and the benefactor price is $199, or $159 more. Regular races are $15, and so by 11 races you've made back $165. If you itemize your deductions, it's even better. $103 is tax deductible, giving you a tax savings of about $40, and so the cost is only about $159, or $119 more than a regular membership. By 8 races you've broken even already. And even if you don't end up saving money, there's some value to being able to sign up for races at the last second for no extra cost. I've been a NYRR member for years and never figured this out until now. That's why I'm passing on this information.)

Inspiration

2008-01-24T22:14:00.000-05:00

I saw "Spirit of the Marathon" tonight, and loved it. It was only in theaters tonight, but when I searched for it on Fandango, I saw that there was an "encore" planned for Feb 21st. So if you missed it tonight, go see it. (I guess you can also wait to see it at home, but it was kind of cool filing out of the theater with thin people all around you. Not the usual supersize popcorn and supersize coke theater goer....)

In terms of running, I'm slowly getting back on track. A couple of treadmill runs this week because it's so cold. And I signed myself up for a half marathon this Sunday. I don't think I'll race it too hard, but even if it's just a long run, I could use the miles.

10 days

2008-01-18T14:20:00.000-05:00

Way to celebrate 20,000 visits. I hadn't run for 10 days until I dragged my butt out for 3.5 miles today. I was sick, I was on call, blah, blah, blah. I had some excuses, but the bottom line is that I just haven't felt like it.

But I was out there today, and feel better for it. So there.

20,000!

2008-01-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

Thank you to someone in San Francisco for being visitor number 20,000.
(And thanks to Uptown Girl for the referral.)

As always, I appreciate all those who continue to read this blog.

Belated Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

I moved apartments last weekend, and didn't get around to blogging for a while. I also didn't get around to running either. I only did one more run after the last one, and it was speedwork. 3 x 1600 (7:07?, 6:50, 6:56). On the one hand I'm lucky to have reached my goal of 1000 miles early - as I didn't have to cram it in the last week. On the other hand, it was unfortunate, because I didn't have to cram it in the last week...

My total mileage for the year, according to SportTracks, ended up at 1007. I'm very proud.

Since the new year, I've run twice. 4.5 general purpose miles on Friday, and 9 miles yesterday as my "long run". I averaged an 8:23 pace for this long run, so it was kind of a "long tempo" run.

I'm still kind of tired, and not really too excited to be on a schedule again. If I'd like to run a May marathon, I'm about a week away from the 16 week period of training. Sigh. I'm thinking about it.

1000!

2007-12-25T13:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays to those celebrating.

I've been doing some treadmill runs lately. Ugh. I definitely need to move somewhere warmer...

My last run was yesterday, and it was outside. I didn't do my "long" run on Sunday because of the rain, so I did it yesterday afternoon. I knew I was near my goal, so I ran past the bus stop I usually stop at, and went almost all the way home.

When I got home, I uploaded the run, edited it, and added up the totals. Depending on where I look I get different totals. But the one in my sidebar is the one I've been going by. Take a look:

1000.07 miles.

:-)

Product Review - Airdrives

2007-12-24T08:20:00.000-05:00

I'm long overdue on this, but I might as well get to it...

Some time ago, I was contacted by this company. They offered to send me a set of headphones, and I'd review them on my blog. I've actually gotten a few of these offers over the years. Not many, but a few. In general, I've refused them, but this sounded interesting.

The concept behind these headphones - called AirDrives - is that they are the opposite of isolating headphones. They allow you to hear your environment. They're also designed for use during sports. In the setting of all the recent hullabaloo about headphones during races, I thought this might be a good alternative.

So I agreed, and they sent me a pair. They came in an attractive little carrying case. It was actually handy, since my shuffle could be squeezed into the case as well.

The style of these headphones is that they have a soft rubber hook that wraps around your ear. The actual speaker part sits over your ear, and not in it. I found that the ear hook takes some time getting used to. It's very flexible. I guess that's good because it will fit most people. But on the flip side, you can keep fiddling with it until you feel comfortable. Also, when you put it into it's case, it can get bent again. Until you get used to how you like it shaped, it's a bit annoying.

Once you do have it on, I found that it stayed put during running. The earhook really works, and is fairly comfortable as well. I have to say that I generally like earbuds, but for people that don't, this is a really good alternative. Definitely better than regular foam pad headphones.

In terms of hearing the environment, they seemed to work. I felt very aware of all the sounds around me. But then I went back to my iPod earbuds, and I still seemed to hear the surrounding environment. I didn't do any scientific tests, but it didn't seem that different to me. I think that since I'm used to earbuds, when I used the Airdrives I just turned to volume louder. I think you can use it at a lower volume to be more aware of your surroundings, but I didn't.

In summary, I think they work ok. (They actually got a pretty positive review on CNET.) If you really like earbuds, you probably won't go for these. I personally have gone back to my iPod earbuds. If you don't like earbuds, this might be a good alternative - especially if you want to be aware of your surroundings. They sell for $99. More than I'd pay for any headphones, but perhaps there are some audiophiles out there that feel differently.

That's all I have to say.

Joe Kleinerman 10K

2007-12-11T11:08:00.000-05:00

I raced another 10K on Sunday. On the good side, I set a new PR. On the bad side, they didn't have donuts. :-)

I signed up for this race about a month ago, along with a bunch of friends. We don't actually race together, but it's fun to go through the experience together. We can talk about it before, go through it together, and then rehash it afterwards. I always try to draft new runners into running races with me. I'm usually asked "why do I have to pay money to run 5 miles, when I can do it for free myself?" Once they try it however, they're usually hooked.

So anyway, this race was in Central Park as usual. We met up just outside the park. I thought we started out pretty early, but by the time we got everybody together, used the portapotties, and put our baggage away, we were late. (The baggage was far from the start which is always annoying.)

It still amazes me how many nutcases there are out there who run races in the cold winter. The official race temperature was 36 degrees, and there were 4844 finishers. Coming late to a crowded race is a bad idea. We started way in the back which made for a very difficult race.

In the beginning I had no room at all. I ended up being one of those annoying runners jumping on and off the curb, just to find room to run. I know I'm not going to win the race, but on the other hand, I don't come to (and pay for) races to do another training run. And so it felt like a cross country race going up and down onto the side of the road.

I somehow managed to finish the first mile in about 8:12. (I'm estimating, because I forgot to start my watch until a couple of minutes in. Sigh.) That included the first part of Harlem Hill.

Mile 2 had the second half of the hill, but a little more room. I finished in 7:59.

I was actually pretty tired at this point, and wondering if I was pushing too hard. I think I backed off the intensity a bit, but with the hills behind me, my time improved. My next few miles went by in 7:33, 7:35, and 7:31.

As I headed into the last mile, I was pretty psyched with all of my last few splits. I knew I was going to set a new PR so I sped up a little. Mile 6 went by in 7:17. As I crossed the mile marker I turned on the jets for the last 0.2 and finished them in about 1:18 (or a 6:30 pace).

My finish time was 47:23, for a 7:38 pace, and a new PR. I'm excited to keep setting PR's, but I feel that I'm capable of more under better race conditions. (Which is good, because then I can set another PR next time!)

As for the donuts, I thought this particular race always had donuts. Something about Joe Kleinerman liking donuts. I was looking forward to them, because they're somewhat "guilt-free" coming at the end of a race. (Actually, the person who originally told me this was NYFlygirl. I saw her after the race, and we shared our disappointment about the donuts!)

In terms of my 1000 mile goal, I actually did get a run in on Friday. And now, depending on which log I look at it, I'm over 966 miles. It's definitely within reach.

In terms of the next running goal, I'm still not sure. Some friends of mine are running half marathons on January 27. Some in NY, and some in Miami. I did the Miami one last year, and I'm still considering a return. I'll have to make up my mind soon. My plantar fascia has actually been bothering me more, and I'm not sure I should do a half anywhere. We'll see.

Also in January are the Thursday Night at the Races. These are some short distance races on an indoor track. I'm kind of interested to see how fast I can bust out a mile. I always mean to do these races, but then have trouble getting there. I'm going to really try to make it this year.

Happy Hannukah!

2007-12-05T16:56:00.000-05:00

Hannukah has started, and so it's time for my annual video embarrassment to make its appearance in the sidebar. Enjoy!

I've been a little bad with the posting, but the biggest reason for that has been my Garmin. For the last year or so I have had trouble downloading my runs. First it seemed to be the serial cable. I would have to twist it a certain way to get it to work. I even marked out a spot on the wire which had to be face up, and that seemed to help. Eventually, I got tired of this and ordered a new cable. I had exactly the same problem.

Lately the problem got really bad, and was really frustrating me like crazy. I switched cables back and forth and it didn't help, so I finally figured that it must be the bracket. I took it apart and saw that the uploading part of the circuit board was loose. With the cap off, I was able to plug in the cable, hold down the components, and download my run.

Now I was psyched that I had figured out the problem. I called up a friend the next day who has a soldering iron, and headed over to solder the component down.

(blurry cell phone shot)

Long story short(er), it was now completely broken. Sigh.

I contacted Garmin. (Actually I had contacted them earlier, but when they didn't respond right away I had taken the thing apart.) I told them my story and asked them to send me a new cable. To their great credit, they did! My Forerunner was 2 years old, and they sell newer products that don't even use serial cables, but they still satisfied the customer. I've always been a Garmin fan, but this really put them over the top for me. Go Garmin!

Anyway, the new bracket came today. Actually a whole package came but all I needed was the bracket. I plugged in the cable, and like magic, the run downloaded without any trouble. (Makes me feel stupid for waiting so long.)

So... I want to take it apart to see where I went wrong with the other one, but the one screw in it won't loosen. Maybe it's for the best. The other cradle still works to charge, so I can keep that plugged into the wall.

If you're still reading by here, I did manage to get a few runs in lately. 6 mile tempo run on Friday. Sunday I was busy and didn't run, but I still snuck in a 10 mile long run on Monday afternoon. I ran between 8 and 8:15 pace for 10 miles without even realizing. Ridiculous. Today I went to the track for 4 x 1200m. 5:24, 5:07, 4:59, 4:55.

I bought Asics Nimbus IX's earlier in the week, but was never really happy with the fit. I tried them today and I really wasn't happy. I'm going to have to return them, and hope that I can still get the VII's online. (Why do they have to fix what ain't broke??)

I'm at about 955 miles for the year. I'm not sure I'll have time to run Friday, and Sunday I'm scheduled to race a 10K. I'll then have 3 weeks to run 39 miles to reach my goal. My knees have been a little sore and stiff in the cold weather, but I'm still planning on hitting the big 1,000.

Turkey Trots and Touchdowns

2007-11-23T14:27:00.000-05:00

What a beautiful day yesterday!

Just as I was heading out to the park I checked my email and saw that my friends were playing football there. I didn't want to cancel my run, so I tried to include it in. I ran 2.7 miles around Central Park until I saw them playing. I joined them for an hour or so, and then finished up the 6 mile loop.

I scored a few touchdowns, but they've come with a price. I am sore all over. My upper quads are killing, my arms are killing, and my nose hurts. (That's from slamming into someone's back. Or maybe that's from sliding on the ground - without even being tackled.) Either way it was a lot of fun, but I can see why professional athletes are usually retiring at my age.

Of course I ended up stuffing myself later in the day, but truth be told, I don't think I was too bad. My folks are in Canada so I don't usually go home, but I had a really nice dinner with friends.

I came in too late to see the turkey whole, but it looked amazing!

What a beautiful looking dinner! (Thanks Sara and Dan!)

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, and I wish you all a great weekend.

Run for Harold

2007-11-18T18:11:00.000-05:00

I got back to racing today. 4 miles in Central Park.

I started the day in a really special way. After I parked my car, I changed out of my winter coat and into my running jacket and light running gloves. It didn't seem that bad at the time, so I decided to leave me coat in the car. It was at the exact moment that my alarm beeped and automatically locked my car, that I realized my keys were with my coat - inside the car. Sigh...

There was nothing I could do about it at that point, so I went over to the park. Today's race was one of the regularly scheduled Road Runner races. However, I was part of a little sub-event. Some friends of mine run a fairly popular website in my little circle, and their father was both a doctor and a marathoner. (Sound familiar?) Unfortunately, he was killed by a reckless driver while running several years ago. Since that time, his family has always put on the "Run for Harold" event as part of this race. While they do raise money for charity, the primary goal is to get people out and running - as their father would have wanted. It's really a nice idea.

The "team" met up just outside the park, and they distributed t-shirts. It was really amazing how many people came out on this freezing cold morning. Anyway, after a few group photos we all headed over to the start area.

(The person I gave my camera to barely caught me in the frame!)

Like usual these days, the race was packed. Over 5000 finishers. I squeezed in about 1000 spots back from the front. It said "5 min pace" or something ridiculous there, but it seemed right based on the crowd. Joan Rivers made a little speech, and invited everyone back to her place for coffee. Then Miss Teen USA made a little speech - but didn't invite people back to her place.

The race started, and it was jam packed as usual. I ran most of the race on the outside of the course, trying to stay away from people. I didn't weave too much, but I did run a little extra being on the outside all the time.

I pushed relatively hard in the beginning, and was actually pretty tired by a mile in. At that point, I didn't really let off, but I didn't rev it up either. Looking at my splits, I did kind of sped up a little. But I felt like I was kind of just going at the same pace - until the end. My old PR was 30:57, and pretty quickly I knew that this was going to get beaten.

Splits:
7:22
7:05
7:00
6:47

Total time 28:14, for a 7:03 pace. And a new PR. (With very pretty looking negative splits I might add.)

I hung around for a little bit to socialize and freeze my butt off. I'd say it wasn't worth it, but someone did give me the idea to call roadside assistance. I was planning on taking a train both ways, and in the end I called GEICO and had it open in less than an hour. (I hadn't even finished my bagel and coffee.) So that wasn't too bad.

(Lou from "Pop-A-Lock".)

And so another PR gets smashed. I'm really looking forward to setting new PR's in the all short distances. Since I haven't set up a new training schedule, I'm not sure how many short races I'll be doing. But in the meantime, it's something to train for. I'm planning to keep up with the speedwork for now.

Final group shot of Team "Run for Harold". Pretty impressive, I think.

Onwards

2007-11-13T19:44:00.000-05:00

As I move on from the marathon, I realize I've never really analyzed my performance. I guess I should do that some time - but not now. Suffice it to day that I was very pleased, but I've also realized how much potential I have. I once thought I didn't have it in me to qualify for Boston. Now I know I can - but it would take a lot of work. (Quite frankly, I'm not sure I'm all that interested in putting in that work. But knowing it's within my potential is kind of cool in itself.)

Before I do move on though, I really want to say thank you for all the supportive comments in the last few weeks. For some reason, ever since the new Blogger came out, I don't get most of your email addresses forwarded to me when you comment. So even though I don't respond, I do want you to know that it means a lot to me. I was fortunate enough to have a lot of "real life" friends who were supportive during the marathon experience. However, they're not really along for the whole training period, and many of them don't really "get" it. So thank you for being there.

Anyway, I was back out there tonight putting in a few miles. I did two of them at tempo speed. I didn't really pace myself, I just ran hard, but definitely comfortable. As per Garmin when I got home, those miles were at 7:42 pace.

I don't really mean to brag, but wow! Last marathon it took months for me to run 2 miles, and here I am a week later running them at this speed. As I said above, I am just starting to get a sense of my potential.

In terms of future goals, I haven't yet come up with a new race to train for. (Although I'm kicking a few around my head already.) For now, my next goal is to hit 1000 miles for the year. (See David's blog, who posted the same goal recently.) I've been realizing over the last few months, that 1000 miles for the year will be in my grasp. I've always been jealous of those people that hit the "4 digit mark" for the year, and I've never even been close. It shouldn't be hard for me to reach it, but it will give me some motivation to get out the door, and not to totally slack off. Check the "Training Log" section in my sidebar to check up on my progress...

Marathon Pictures

2007-11-09T00:56:00.001-05:00

For those of you who are curious, I'm feeling pretty good. I ran 2 miles on Thursday which were a little slow and tough. Today I went back to Central Park for a 6 mile loop. Gotta keep moving...

After the Marathon

2007-11-08T23:53:00.000-05:00

After crossing the line I was totally psyched. I was tired, but not destroyed. I knew I'd done well.

I think the first thing I got was the heat sheet. Strangely, I knew the girl giving out the heat sheets. I remembered her telling me in the past how she really loved watching the marathon. I guess she signed up to volunteer this year, and there she was. It was kind of cool seeing a familiar face at that time.

A few steps later I got my medal, and then recognized one of the runners. 38,000 runners, and there's a good friend of mine ten feet in front of me! (This was the guy who took the late ferry. He'd gotten to the start area at 9:55, and since he had a blue bib, he still started the race way before me.) We made our way out of the park together, and met up with his family.

After chatting for a bit, I headed back to Akiva's apartment. I remembered going down the subway stairs in 2005 and was dreading them. But they weren't so bad. Not easy, but manageable. Another sign of how much better trained I was this time.

I got back to his apartment, and found this sign on the door.

Awww....

I took a totally awesome shower, and then relaxed for a bit. Then some great friends of mine went out for dinner with me. Last time I'd collapsed at the end, and was pretty much out of commission for a week. So it was nice to be able to spend the evening with friends this time.

I'm still on a high....

The Marathon

2007-11-06T17:04:00.000-05:00

(BTW, I don't have any pictures from the race. I hope to add some from Brightroom down the road. In the meantime, this guy took pictures of the race last year, and it really is a great photo-documentary.)

As a result of the wave start, there was only a few people ahead of me when I started. Within a few minutes I had some open space. That was the last time I'd have open space for the rest of the day!

My plan had been to run 9 minute miles until the Queensboro Bridge. I had in the back of my mind that Adeel had "okay"ed anything up to 8:30. (Sort of.)

The first mile went by in 8:32. Ok, a little fast. I had expected mile 1 to be crowded, and to take me 10 minutes. I didn't feel like I was pushing hard, but I at least tried not to speed up.

Mile 2 - 7:43. WTF? I think the downhill of the Verazzano Bridge did that, because it was way faster than I expected. Either way, I got nervous. I didn't want to crash on First Avenue like last time. Better. Slow. Down!

The next mile brought us into Brooklyn. I passed by a group of people running as Star Wars characters at this time. (I'd seen Princess Leah in Staten Island, but now she was with Darth Vader and Chewbacca. Chewbacca!!) 8:13 for this mile.

The next few miles continued through Brooklyn onto 4th Avenue. This is a really fun part of the course. The spectators are really enthusiastic, and you still feel good. I generally run towards the sides, although I was definitely doing a ton of dodging. Either way, people on the sides were constantly calling my name, and trying to high five me. I usually gave a thumbs up sign to these fans, but resisted giving high fives. (I had a long way to go.) These next miles went by in 8:16, 8:32, 8:25, 8:10, and 8:26.

I was still feeling pretty good, but I remembered my last marathon. I had felt great for the first 15 miles that time too.

Onwards through Brooklyn I went. First Downtown Brooklyn, the Williamsburg. As an orthodox Jew I really get a kick of seeing the Hassidim in Williamsburg. Some of the kids come out and cheer, and even give out candies. The older people are usually just staring in wonder as if they've never heard of the marathon. 8:38, 8:25, 8:30, 8:25.

One last mile in Brooklyn, through Green Point. ("Green Point loves you!" I remember someone shouting.) I saw the Pulaski Bridge ahead of me, signaling the halfway point of the race. Just before the bridge, I saw a por-ta-potty with a green door indicator. What luck!

Sadly, the indicator was broken, and the port-a-potty was locked. I tried to get into another one, but someone else beat me to it. I started waiting for a few seconds, but then got frustrated. At that point I kind of "made my own port-a-potty" -- just next to the last one. 9:13 for this mile.

My split at the half was 1:50:26. (It was 2:07:24 two years ago!) I was happy with that. I did some calculating in my head and thought that it would be pretty tough to end up with my proposed negative split. (I must admit though, it did cross my mind how clever I was taking my bathroom break just before the half.)

Onwards through Queens I went. There are only two miles in Queens, with a lot of turns, and through a lot of commercial type areas. There were still fans there, but it always seems short there. 8:25, 8:45.

And now the Queensboro Bridge. I remembered it as the "beginning of the end" from last time around. So I slowed down noticeably as I began the long climb up the bridge.

It is freaking long!! I've run this before, and driven over it, but it really seemed a lot longer than I could recall. I was going slower, but still having a tough time. A lot of people stopped to walk and stretch, and I definitely was passing people, but it was tough. 9:38 for this mile.

Mile 17 includes the end of the bridge and the turn into Manhattan. There were some cute signs on the bridge that said "If only ten miles left is easier, then welcome to easier!" Coming off the bridge and turning onto 59th street is so exciting, it's hard to explain. The bridge is so quiet, and all of a sudden you're in Manhattan surrounded by fans (again). Turning onto 1st Avenue you see a wall of fans on both sides of the street practically squeezing onto the road. (They're all held back by barricades, but it seems that way.)

I had some friends waiting by 89th street, so I was really pushing to get to them. I started to feel tired, but I was energized trying to get up to them. (Both Akiva and Sara were there.) 8:33, 8:16, 8:32.

At this point I was at the top of First Avenue, going onto the Willis Avenue Bridge and into the Bronx. Since I live in the Bronx it's exciting to get there, but I was really tiring at this point. I felt like I was pushing just as hard, but my times started to slow down. Mile 20 - 9:05.

At first I thought it was because of the bottleneck trying to get over the bridge, but then mile 21 went by in 8:51. A little better, but I felt as if I was running as hard as I had been for my earlier 8:20 and 8:30 splits.

As I headed back into Manhattan, I was really feeling tired. I knew I could finish, but I was trying to keep up the pace. This is really where the race gets to be mental. I refused to allow myself to stop or slow down. The next few miles went by in 8:54, 8:35, and 8:55. I was just hanging in there.

At this point I was starting to calculate things in my head. Maybe I could get under 3:45. Or better yet, maybe I could get under 3:43:50, and beat my PR by an hour! I started to push hard during mile 25, which was in Central Park. I was passing people left and right and ended up with just an 8:30 mile. I think that just goes to show how tough it is at the end of the race, and how tired everyone is.

Then came mile 26. The last mile. I was still trying to make mental calculations. I was pretty sure beating my PR by an hour was going to be tough, and 3:45 seemed reachable. I talked myself into running full steam - mostly to prove to myself that I could do it.

By then I was really flying past people. I was trying to dodge in and out of people, which I'd been doing all day. With 800m to go I tried to squeeze past this cop, who in their typical arrogant fashion, wouldn't get out of the way. Ow! I smacked into his bullet proof vest, and the loss of speed was enough to cramp up my calf. My first cramp of the day and I was almost finished!

Well guess what. I didn't stop and I don't even think I slowed down. I ran about 400m on what felt like a numb leg, and I remember going past the event photographer like that. I bet it looks like I have a drop foot or something in the picture. I didn't care, I wasn't going to stop. Amazingly, the cramp even disappeared before I got to the end. Ladies and gentleman, mile 26 went by in 7:57.

I sprinted the last 0.2 miles with whatever I had left. I knew my 1 hour goal was gone, but I was just pushing for the sake of racing at this point. I crossed the finish line with (what I later found out to be) a net time of 3:44:17. It the end of the day, it was close enough that I'm telling everyone I beat my old PR by an hour. (What's 27 seconds between friends?)

(For the record, the second half split was 1:53:51. Not quite a negative split, but not too positive either.)

Needless to say I was excited. More to come in the next post...