Good Long Run

I feel great! I just came back from my longest run ever! The last time I ran was on Sunday (a week ago) when I did the run for the parks. I had a long week with many evening plans and tennis matches, which then meant that I took Monday through Friday off of running. We didn't have tennis practice on Friday, so my plan was to get home early and run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a total of about 13 miles so that my mileage this week wasn't lower than last week.

Yesterday (Friday), however, my colleagues in the college office and I went out for lunch. It ended up being a late lunch and I had a few beers, so by the time I got home at 5:30 or so and walked the dog, I didn't feel much like running. (On a side note, we went to a cool little place for lunch called the Boat Basin Cafe. It's located right on the water at the 79th Street boat basin. The food was mediocre, but it was a fun place to have lunch.) So instead of running, I ate too many leftovers for dinner, followed by too many Thin Mints (we are FINALLY done with the girl scout cookies I ordered), and drank too many beers. I ended up falling asleep in front of the Yankee game. (In case it's not clear from my Friday evening activities, I'm bachin' it this weekend - Sara's in the ATL with her family).

Today I woke up and felt a little annoyed with myself for eating and drinking too much in my lonely bachelorhood, and so decided I would go for a long run today. My goal was to run 54 minutes along the path (27 minutes out and 27 back) which would be at least 6 miles (assuming I kept up at least a 9 min/mile pace). I ended up running 61 minutes for 7 miles (an 8:42 pace). I felt great. I was breathing well and my legs were feeling really good. I was even able to run up the hills all the way back to my front door. This was fabulous. I have never run 7 miles before and my run today really felt great. I know that not all my runs between now and the marathon will be this good, but accomplishing this today was a huge mental leap for me. I can now see myself running the long training runs more easily than I had expected. I worry sometimes that because I'm doing this by myself (not that I don't have support, but I don't really have a training buddy) that I'll lose motivation, but today proved a huge accomplishment for me. This run was also important b/c in May I'm running a 10K race, which I've never done, so I wanted to be sure I got some longer distances in before then. It was also really nice to set a goal for myself today and then to totally break it easily! Next time, I'll set a harder goal.

Speaking of goals . . .

If you'll remember, in my first two posts of this blog I set 7 goals for myself. This seems like as good a time as any to revisit those goals and to check in on my progress.

Goal number six, to run the NYC Half-Marathon Grand Prix, is already out of the window. I have already missed at least two (maybe three?) of the half-marathons (there are five, one per borough) so there's no way I can meet that goal.
But what about the other goals?

Goal 1 - To get my weight down to 178. - Who knows. It's not there yet, but the intense training has yet to begin . . . still not out of the question.
Goal 2 - Run More - I'm doing that. I will have to run at least 5 days per week when I'm training, so that's not a problem.
Goal 3 - Finish the marathon - still on track here.
Goal 4 - Finish the marathon in under 3:45. - What was I thinking?? This is absurd. I will be thrilled if I can finish at all! I'm going to revise this to say under 4 hrs.
Goal 5 - Run one short race at a sub 7 min/mile pace. - I will have to do some serious speed training to get this done, but I'm still going to try. This summer I'll be able to devote lots of time to running.
Goal 6 - See above
Goal 7 - Become more regular. - Done

I'd also like to add another goal.
Goal 8 - Become more flexible and stretch more. If I'm going to be doing all of this running, I really need to stretch more, so my goal is to build time for stretching into my running time.

Finally, I'd like to point out a few features of my blog. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you'll find my running calendar which has runs I've completed in green and runs I've scheduled in red. Also, along the right hand side of the page, at the top you'll find the total number of miles I've run as well as a countdown clock to the marathon. Enjoy!

Run for the Parks (v. 3.0)

Today was my first race of the year. Until today, I hadn't run a race since Thanksgiving of last year in Indianapolis. I have a particular fondness for the Run for the Parks because it was this run that first really spawned my interest in running races two years ago. In the spring of 2006 I had been running more than I ever had before. Sara saw an ad in the subway for this race and asked if I wanted to try, so I did. This was my first experience with an NYRR race or any race at all for that matter. I trained hard for that race because I was unsure how to run a race, or what to expect. My only goal for that year was to run at an 8:30 pace or so. I ended up running my best race ever that year, 30:40 for 4 miles, a 7:40 min/mile pace.

Two years later, I was again nervous. I haven't run a race in a while, my running has been sporadic at best lately, my legs were still pretty sore, and my watch has been on the fritz. Nevertheless, I ran my second best race ever today, running 31:11 for the race, a pace of 7:47 min/mile. The other great thing is that I'm confident that if my legs weren't so sore, I would have been able to beat my personal best of 7:40. My breathing today was not terribly labored and it was mostly my legs that [again] were the limiting factor in my pace. I felt strong coming into the last couple of hundred yards, and I felt good going up hills today.

My 3rd mile is always the slowest in these races, so one thing that I know I need to work on is more consistent pacing. My watch farted about mid-way through the first mile today, unexpectedly resetting, so I only had a mile by mile breakdown for the last three miles on my watch. To make it even harder, there was no clock at the starting line to tell me when I crossed the start (starting my race time) which means that when I got the first mile and saw the clock reading 8:38, I didn't know how close that was. It was only once I got home and check my official results that I could figure out that my first mile ended up being 7:43. The next three miles were 7:43, 8:07, and 7:36 respectively. I ended up placing 1503 in a race of 5863 people and 1246 out of 3054 men in the race. I felt really good today and am pretty psyched about how well I ran.

This race brings my week's mileage up to 12.5, the best so far this year. I'm hoping that I can find time to get 14-15 miles in next week. Increasing my mileage will be hard until tennis is over, but it's important. Who ever said that training for a marathon would be easy? I'm watching a fascinating NOVA special on people training for marathons and I'm finding it very cool, but I'm reminded what a task I still have ahead of me! Today, however, I really felt great about my run and for the first time could really see myself running a marathon.

After the race today, I went the Museum of Natural History for the first time since my mom got me a membership for my birthday (Thanks mom!) and then went to lunch with Asher and Diana! It was a good weekend, and I'm going to take tomorrow off!!

Spring has Sprung in NYC

Wow!! What a week in New York. It has been warm and sunny all week long . . . which is the greatest! At school, this means that the kids are all wearing next to nothing (not so great!) and sitting outside playing frisbee, lacrosse, soccer, etc. I have mixed feelings about the spring fever the kids at Riverdale get this time of year, but it's hard to stay mad or annoyed when the weather is so nice. What's made this week even better, though, is the fact that I get to spend large chunks of time outside every day with the tennis team. This has contributed to my tan and to my overall good mood. I have been loving the weather! Incredible.

Speaking of the tennis team, we are now 7-0 (the only undefeated varsity team in the school) and we are on a roll. I'm psyched for the boys on the team and we're all having a great season! The extra time outside is great and as the days get longer, and the weather nicer, I get happier and happier that I decided to coach again this year.

Today the weather has continued to be spectacular and I took a short run up to the farmer's market to do a little shopping. I'm still pretty sore from my little exercises the other day, so I took a slow jog for a little over two miles at a leisurely 9 min/mile pace up to the market and bought fresh bread, cheese, turkey sausage, apples, onions and some beautiful oyster mushrooms. I can't wait to dig into the mushrooms. It was really nice to have a short, easy jog to get a little of the sore out (it seems to have worked) and I'm really excited for my race tomorrow. I woke up this morning really dehydrated, so I'm drinking tons of water today and taking it easy so that I can really run well tomorrow and finish in under 32 minutes! I really love the Run for the Parks each April b/c it was the first race that I ever ran with NYRR and tomorrow will be my third time running it. I'm hoping for the weather to continue. Sara and I are going to take it easy today, maybe go for a walk in the park, and really enjoy the weekend.

Last night, we kicked the weekend off right by ordering a pizza and taking it, along with a few beers, up to the roof deck of our apartment building. At about 7:30 the sun was setting and we were a slice or two into the pizza and in heaven. It was incredible. For any of you who haven't yet visited our roof, there's nothing better than going up there with a beer or a glass of wine on a beautiful spring evening and watching the sun set. Wow.

Sore is Good

Well, it's been a few days since I last posted, but I'm pleased to say that it's only Friday and I've already run 6.25 miles this week (at least). I'll do an easy run on Saturday and then I have my race on Sunday. I'm still a little worried about the race b/c I haven't been running that much and I want to keep my races under 8 min/mile, but we'll see.

Yesterday (Thursday) I ran a quick quarter mile with the tennis team, but then did a bunch of plio-type exercises with some kids from the track team. I worked on abs, quads, and did some push ups. The quad stuff though, really got my legs sore, so when I went home and decided to go for a run, I realized that I was more tired and sorer than I had expected. Yesterday I barely legged out three miles and it was an interesting experience in that for the first time in recent memory, the limiting factor for my run was my leg strength, not my breathing. My breathing was fine for the whole run, which felt great. Today, I'm pretty sore, but I feel great. I like being able to feel the results of the work I did yesterday and though I know it's not entirely true, there's something satisfying about the "no pain, no gain" style of training.

I'm currently reading a book called "The Competitive Runner's Handbook," which was given me by Laura and Avi and I'm finding their insights really helpful and interesting. I'm really excited for this summer when I'll be able to run most days and then work out on my off days. I'm also going to sit on the roof most days and read. My goal for the summer is to train well, get tan, and read lots of books! I can't wait!

Morning Run

Hello. Well, I ran this morning. I set my alarm for 5:15 and then woke up at 4:50 and decided I didn't want to run, so I changed my alarm back to 6am. But then I lay awake in bed agonizing over the fact that I ate a huge piece of ice cream cake yesterday (while watching the very exciting . . . needlessly exciting I'd say, Yankees game) and the fact that tonight I'm going to Riverdale 360, a huge tasting event at work. The school is bringing in a number of incredibly famous restaurants to serve food as a sort of fundraiser/community event. I can't wait! Rumor has it that Mario Batali will be here. Tim Zagat (a Riverdale Alum) will be hosting the event and I think I'll be eating a great deal of delicious food tonight.

In any case, I was in bed thinking about the race I'm going to run on Sunday, about the fact that I hadn't run much last week (a 2 mile week . . . this is really pathetic), the fact that by June 1st I need to be comfortably at a 20 mile per week base, and the fact that people have now started asking me, "How's the marathon training going?" so I got up to run. Sunday's race is only a four miler and I'm not at all concerned about finishing it, I've been running four miles plenty lately, it's more the fact that I've never run an NYRR event at a pace slower that 8 min/mile and it's not looking good for Sunday. I'm going to try, but I'm a little nervous about it. As far as the influence of my friends on my running, I have to admit, I'm glad people are asking me about it. After all, this was the whole point of the blog . . . to have a public record of my running so that if I was not living up to my goals, I would be really ashamed. In fact, I've already not finished one goal - to run the half-marathon grand prix . . . I have missed one, maybe two of those events already. I think I'll be better off trying to run the half marathons next year once I've already trained for and run a full marathon.

So today, I did a nice morning run. I ran up to Fort Tryon Park and ran around the paths there and up to the cloisters and back. It was a short run, maybe 3.5 miles, and only 28 minutes, but I felt pretty good and after today's run, I'm a little more optimistic about the race on Sunday. I also liked Fort Tryon. It was pretty dark, so I couldn't really appreciate the park's full beauty, but I did like the paths and the views of the GWB from the park. I also saw a skunk . . . that was kind of cool/worrisome. I really didn't want to get sprayed. I have managed to avoid getting sprayed so far in my life and I don't really want to start now.

So this week feels like an unofficial start to my real training. I'm going to increase my mileage somewhat this week (probably going to get to 12-15) and the weather will support me in this goal (it's supposed to be gorgeous this week) and I'm running my first NYRR race of the year, starting to collect my nine so that I can run the marathon again in 2009!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Hi! Today's my birthday and I'm having a good day! I started off with a very short two mile run up to the farmer's market today. My goal was to run it in under 16 minutes (aka under 8 min/mile) which I was able to do. Then we did a little shopping at the farmer's market in preparation for our huge party today!!! I hope we have enough food.
Not much else to say.
I haven't been running too much . . . which stresses me out a bit, but I'll get back into it soon! Laura and Avi got me a great book for my birthday called "The Competitive Runner's Handbook" which is all about training for races from 5K up to Marathon distance . . . so I'm getting excited reading the book, but I'm also realizing that I'm way behind in my training! I need to step it up seriously. I think that just means running mornings until tennis season is over!
That's all for now.

Back to School

Well, last week was the first week back to school after spring break. I had a good enough week, not too stressful, but being back in school makes it much harder to find time to run. I was able to get a short run in with the tennis team on Tuesday afternoon, but then I didn't run again until Sunday.

Saturday, I was in the city all day, first doing interviews for TEAK, but later I spent the afternoon picking up our new butcher block cart.

I'm a little frustrated about how little I ran this past week. The last three weeks, I've only run twice each week, but I was hoping to get at least three in this past week. I have only two more months before I have to be at my 20 mile/week base in order to by ready to start training. I have been running about 7 miles/week the last two weeks and I need to really step it up. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that soon.

Coaching tennis means that I have a lot less time after school, but once tennis season is over, I'll be able to increase my mileage fairly easily. The other problem is that I'm a little reluctant to run over on the path by the river by myself early in the morning. I've never done it, so I could be being ridiculous and it could be very nice and full of runners every morning, but it could also be dark, creepy and empty, which would make me a little uncomfortable. In any case, I'm going to give it a try this week to see how it is . . . who knows.