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Monthly Archive for July, 2008

13 miles — Bay Ridge to Coney Island and back

Published on July 27, 2008 in brooklyn, food and running. 0 Comments

For my long run this week, I decided to take the Shore Road path from Bay Ridge to as far as it would get me towards Coney Island, then switch to the streets to get all the way there. It was great to have new scenery, and the run felt good and went by quickly.

Splits-wise, I was right on track. Average pace was 8:44, and most of my miles were within about 10 seconds of this pace– nothing too fast (not even mile 2!). That is an unheard-of level of consistency for me.  There were a couple of 9+ plus miles, when I was navigating the boardwalk and the streets leading back to the trail, but all in all, each mile was within the 90 seconds of my marathon pace I was shooting for. The only downer about the whole run was getting splashed with gutter water by a minivan on Cropsey just after I reached Coney Island.

Kelly met up with me about 2 miles before I finished so we could go get bagels from 5-Star together, and we finished running just in time to be caught in a downpouer. Literally at 12.96 miles, the sky opened up and ruined most people’s day. Once I finished, we found shelter and waited fo a bus that took us to the bagel shop. Delicious.

I was already soaked with sweat before the rain came down, and my feet were sloshing in my shoes. I’ve never had this much of a foot-sweat problem, so I’m hoping it’s not my newish shoes. I have no complaints about them or the toe-socks otherwise. Not a single blister since I started using them.

Also, today was one of my safest runs– the Road ID that mom bought me arrived yesterday and I broke it in today. Let’s hope I never need it. Getting ready for the run last night, I laid out all my gear, and realized how much stuff I have when I run. I’ll post a breakdown of this soon; it’s kind of funny how much I take with me… I always think of running as this free-and-easy, no-equipment-required sport, but I’m loaded down with junk on these long runs.

Subconsciously taking Beth’s advice; mile two’s still a problem; why I love Prospect Park, but am planning tomorrow’s run to the beach

Published on July 26, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

So, Beth’s answer to my “i’m running to fast on my marathon pace days” was that my marathon pace is too slow. Perhaps she’s right. 7:30 feels about right, it’s a bit tough, but not a stretch at all. Almost my automatic step-it-up speed. So, from now on, I’m gonna take my pace runs at about 7:30, which, if my training works out right, puts me at about 3:20– faster that I actually see myself going, but a good goal I s’pose. If my plan breaks down, and I can’t hang at this rate, I can always go for 3:30.

This morning’s run, which was nice but hot, broke down like this:

7:51, 7:00, 7:32, 7:58, 7:14, 7:29.

You’ll notice, mile 2 was again, the very fastest. I didn’t walk to the park like I mentioned before, but I also consciously tried to go slower. A very nice breeze kicked in at the end of my first mile, and I guess that lifted my spirits, so I just rode it on out. Like these splits otherwise, though. Funny how my faster miles always come after my slowest, then I hit the right pace. Whatever.

These 5-days-a-week runs have had me in Prospect Park more than usually, and I have to say that, despite the trafficky late-day runs and the ho-hum trail, I love it. Kelly and I have been there even more lately– multiple nights the last few weeks– for Celebrate Brooklyn events.  Last night was Phillip Glass & orchestra for a live performance of the score to Powasqquatsi, along with the actual movie. It was great. Couple of weeks back we caught old fave Beth Orton, Spoon a couple nights later, and Deerhoof last week. Tonight we’ve planned to take the grill to cook up some dinner to the sounds of Bear Hands, The Jealous Girlfriends, and Austin-natives Ghostland Observatory, who we saw years back at a party at Factory People in Austin. They seem to have really picked up steam since then– see below.

Much as I love Prospect Park though, tomorrow I’m planning to reach the beach, via the Shore Road path in Bay Ridge. Should be about 13 miles out-and-back to the beach at Coney Island. Kelly’s going to meet me in Bay Ridge after her run so we can enjoy my favorite bagels ever, from a no-name place on 86th street.

Ghostland Observatory – Sad Sad City

Nice weather returns, but for how long?

Published on July 25, 2008 in austin, pain, running and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Some boring-borderline-incredible thunderstorms and showers interupted my schedule this week, but an early 3 miles this morning in about 70-degree breezy made up for it. Here’s the rundown of this weeks’ runs:

3 miles in Prospect Park
6 miles in Prospect Park
3 miles in Prospect Park

I seem to be getting better at slowing down, and things have felt pretty good. I’ve made it to three yoga classes this week and have done some leg strengthening, and I’m pleased to report that the soreness in my calves seems to be subsiding. I think I need to be warming up a little more before I begin my runs so I don’t have the lower-leg weak feelings when I bust into my run. Spending an hour at yoga this morning before my run got rid of that weird feeling, but it’s not realistic to think that I can do that most days.

Something strange that I did notice: my 2nd mile is always too fast, maybe a reaction to all the traffic and people evasion I traditionally have to do on my first mile. Kelly suggest walking to the park before I start my run, and I think I’ll start doing that.

400 miles so far this year!

Published on July 21, 2008 in running. 2 Comments

I just missed it this week, but I’ve passed 400 miles for the year. This puts me way ahead of schedule to beat my 535 miles last year, even with a month of downtime. With some aggressive running after the marathon for November and December, I may even break 1,000. Not that I’m gonna push it.

A weeks’ worth of run updates

Published on July 21, 2008 in running. 0 Comments

Week three of my training is complete. While it was a step-down mileage week, the unbelievable heat and humidity made it rough. My calves are feeling a bit less tired in the mornings, perhaps because I spent some time doing strength work at the gym this week. Here’re the breakdown.

I’ve gotten a little more control of my pace– still a few too-quick miles during my long run– but I’m able to tell when it’s getting out of hand.
I also debuted my new iPod shuffle on Saturday and Sunday, and it promptly died near the end of my Sunday run. I was able to exchange it for a new one, but things look bleak for it lasting like my iPod nano that I’d used for the last 4 years. Otherwise, it’ s perfect. Looking for a water-resistant case for it now.

Change of scenery proves strangely problematic, though my splits are where they should be

Published on July 14, 2008 in nyc, running and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Rather than do 3 laps in Prospect Park for my 11 miles on Sunday, Kelly and I decided to head to Central Park (about a 3 minute ride on the Q train) for a change of pace. I did alright, staying between 45 and 90 seconds over my marathon pace… fastest mile was 8:02 (#11!), slowest was 9:18 (#8). It was only about 74 degrees, but the general lack of shade and the intense humidity really took its toll… I think the fast final mile was just me trying to get it over with.

Kelly came along and ran for about an hour, then greeted me with a cold lime Gatorade at the end. I wore a cotton shirt again, and ended up regretting it as I had to wring out about a gallon of sweat and ultimately finish shirtless. It was a while post run before I fully dried off.

Since it was a bit of a treat to go to Manhattan for a run, we decided to find a bagel for breakfast afterward, but being in midtown, it was ultimately expensive and unsatisfying. Why can’t everywhere be Brooklyn– land of delicious, cheap, and convenient bagels?

The change of pace was nice, but thinking I may hit the shore in Bay Ridge for next Sunday’s 8 miler. At least I can be certain to find great bagels there. Looking forward to the trip to Fredonia, though, in August, where I have at least on 10+ mile run scheduled.

Marathon Pace Saturdays — I need to SLOW DOWN

Published on July 12, 2008 in nyc and running. 2 Comments

So, my 5 miles on Saturday is supposed to be at my marathon pace. I’m aiming for about 8 minute miles, based on my performance in Buffalo and to get my PR in NYC. I’m planning to do these at around 7:50 just for safety’s sake and to learn what that pace feels like. Somehow, though, today I went way too fast because I wasn’t paying attention. I averaged 7:20 per mile, with mile 2 at 6:33. Way too fast. I can’t remember running a faster mile than that. Ever. The good news is that it didn’t feel that fast, but still. Heart rate was up pretty high, which is also good news… I’m usually a little fearful about getting into my higher zone at the beginning of the run, and I kept it up.

Once I realized how fast that mile was, I tried to slow waaaay down; eventually by miles 4 & 5, I was on track, but it felt like I was running 10 minute miles at that point. I don’t know if it had something to do with the heat, or with the low-key music I was listening to, but I lost all sense of speed. I’m going to research how to get more comfortable with my pace. I think a piece of duct tape over my watch display would be a good start…

3 week two runs, a stinky salad recipe, and why I’m sleeping late

Published on July 11, 2008 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Training is going ok in this fist half of the second week of my training:

Tuesday (3 mi)
Wednesday (5 mi)
Thursday (3 mi)

My shins have been feeling a bit tired after runs and in the mornings, but I’ve started a few new stretches to try and stop that, and I’ve been giving my legs a mini cold shower after runs. I think I need to get back to strengthening the fronts of my legs though, which I have kinda dropped off lately. Trying to get to 4 or 5 yoga classes a week, but it’s a bit hard with all these runs I have to get in. I skipped my cycling class on Monday because I ended up walking a lot and didn’t want to wear myself out too much.

I didn’t get too much sleep on Monday or Tuesday night (probably a combined 8 or 9 hours) because I’ve been hitting my qualifying paper hard, which involves sitting in coffeshops and reading, writing, thinking and drinking more afternoon coffee than I should. I’ve been erring on the side of getting too much sleep — that is, sleeping as late as I can and running in the evenings. This will likely change as the weather heats up; it’s much cooler right around sunrise. I can justify this because I read a quote from a famous running coach who said he’d never met a world class runner who didn’t get a solid 8 hours each night.

The increase in mileage doesn’t see too bad so far, but I am badly in need of some new scenery. I’m definitely going to try to s do some runs in Central Park and along the shore in Bay Ridge, maybe even this Sunday. It does seem a little silly to go out for just three miles, but I can’t complain about not being totally exhausted afterwards.

I’ve eaten almost the same thing for dinner every night this week, which I’ll detail since Libby seemed interested.

P’s Stinky Salad that Kelly will not go near

Big handful of baby greens
Big handful of grape tomatoes
Tablespoon of chopped bacon
One big granny smith apple, chopped
Handful of crushed walnuts
2-oz-or-so hunk of Stilton cheese (aka foot cheese)
1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette

Put all that junk in a big bowl and mix it around. Then eat it.

It’s pretty strange and delicious; a recipe I adapted from my favorite salad that can be had at pubby places like Chip Shop and Telephone.

I’m thinking that I might try to keep track of all of the stuff I eat on this blog, just so I can see my habits. Maybe as a feed in the sidebar… that seems easy enough.

Longest run since Buffalo felt ok

Published on July 6, 2008 in running. 0 Comments

Closed out training week one with a 10 miler in Prospect Park this morning. The weather is still a bit eerie around here– seems like 6pm all day long, with a soupy grey layer of cloud covering everything. Probably shouldn’t have worn a cotton shirt during my run– it weighed about 5 lbs when I got home.

I’m supposed to be taking these runs pretty slow, but I was all over the place split-wise:

Fastest was 7:38 (mile 2) and slowest was 8:47 (mile 4). I’d have been happier if they were all in the 8:30 to 8:50 range… I’ll have to work on that.

Something else I’m working on is a training beard. I’ll post some pics of that as well as the weeks go by, if I choose to keep it. Makes me look old and grey.

I’m heading to a 90-minute yoga session this evening, and then tomorrow’s a cross-training day. I hope to get up early enough to get back to my strength training at the gym before work, then maybe a spinning class tomorrow evening.

Oh, the humidity!

Published on July 5, 2008 in politics and travel. 0 Comments

Ran what felt like a sluggish 5 today, but turns out my speed was right about what it needed to be. It was eerily cool out, but the humidity was so high that it seemed like raindrops were forming right above the ground. I can probably blame some of the sluggishness on the fact that Kelly and I were out late last night.

Anyway, my Saturday runs are supposed to be harder runs at marathon pace, and since I’m aiming for 8 minute miles at the marathon in NYC, my splits were pretty much in line (if you accept that mile one was slower due to negotiating the crowd and traffic on Union Street and the Prospect Park farmer’s market):

Mile 1: 8:25
Mile 2: 7:23
Mile 3: 7:52
Mile 4: 7:54
Mile 5: 7:25

I’d like to be more consistent, but I’d also like to bring them all a bit closer to 7:40. Once I get used to running at that pace, I think I’ll be less likely to go out too fast like I did in Buffalo.

Oh, and you’ll notice that I had no heart rate on this run– not because I died, I just forgot my HRM strap.

Official training begins, 3 California runs, and some other updates

Published on July 5, 2008 in food, music, running, travel and trivia. 2 Comments

I got back from California sorta late on Wednesday. I had a great time; squeezed in a few nice runs, some pool time, a couple of movies, and plenty of good food in between all of the ALA conference sessions I attended. .

The first run, a 7-miler finishing up the 21-mile week in my interim training plan. The next two, a 3-miler and a 5-miler, were the first two runs on the Hal Higdon plan I’m using; it starts with a 23-mile week, so I should be ready to go without risking increasing my mileage too quickly. I put all my runs in the program on my calendar this evening, and noticed that there are a few 50-mile weeks in there– a terrifying proposition for now, but I’ll work up to it. Even though these runs were on the street in high-traffic areas, they definitely broke up the monotony of the Prospect Park runs, which is about to begin again.

It was really easy to get up early and run in Pacific time, and the weather was generally low-60s when I was running. It is unfortunately a lot warmer and muggier back in NYC. Yesterday’s 3 miles were on the treadmill in the AC.

I walked a lot while in Anaheim, probably 8 or so miles a day, which I guess begins to justify all of the lavish meals, donuts, and hamburgers I consumed. I have to admit, though, it will be nice to get back on a regular diet of my own design this week. I got up early on the 4th to pick up tickets to see the Feelies reunite, one of Kelly and my favorite bands, in a Battery Park, and stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way home for most of the week’s groceries. I’ll make a produce run tomorrow to fill out the pantry.  I think I’m gonna share some of my sloppy recipes this week if anyone’s interested.

Saw Hulk and Wanted while in Anaheim, which were both better than I expected. Left my phone behind at the latter, and when I returned to the theatre (a 2 mile walk each way!) to retrieve it, it had been swiped. But I got a new phone now; the cheapest one in the store. Give me a call to hear me struggle with it.

For the 4th, we attended that free Feelies show in the afternoon, and then headed over to Union Hall with some Friends for the R&B-B-Q, featuring our faves the Sweet Divines. They get better every time we see them. The icing on the cake was that the show (and another buger) was also free, due to Kelly and I once again dominating at Name That Tune before I left for California (we took first at trivia the next night at the Black Sheep!).