The Return of the MWMLR!

[Note: For those of you who don't care about training principles and just want to hear about why my run was awesome, skip the first three paragraphs]

If any of you read the title to today's post and are scratching your head, it may be because you're not familiar with marathon training guru Pete Pfitzinger. He literally wrote the book on marathon training, okay, he wrote a book on marathon training, Advanced Marathoning.

While I'm not using his plan this training cycle, I have taken elements of it and incorporated them into the plan my team is using. One big part of Pfitz' weekly schedule is a mid-week medium long run (I'm just abbreviating it as MWMLR to save some keystrokes). I found this to be a particularly beneficial component.

Marathon runners often obsess over the importance the weekend long run. There's evidence that a single weekly long run might not be enough to bring your aerobic capacity to a new level, but in my opinion, the true benefit of the mid-week long run is psychological. If you run 12 to 15 miles in the middle of the week, that weekend long run doesn't seem so intimidating, and if that weekend 22 miler doesn't seem so bad, then it follows that maybe even 26.2 miles sounds a little more doable.

Photo from Flickr use: Norikuroda

Anyway, that was plenty of introduction to bring me to the part where I say that I finally got in a true MWMLR this week after a long time off. While I've been doing mid-week runs of 9 to 10 miles, there's today was the first time in at least 6 weeks.

I did my favorite standby route: over the 59th Street Bridge into Queens, along Vernon Blvd, over the Pulaski Bridge into Brooklyn, along the Greenpoint and Williamsburg water fronts, around the Navy Yard, and over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Park.

Today's iteration was particularly awesome because it was extremely foggy this morning. Running through Central Park to get to the Queensboro, I couldn't see or even really hear any cars. It truly did not feel like I was running in the middle of the city. Then, going running into Queens, I could see the lights of some of the taller buildings cutting through the fog, but since it was still dark, I couldn't make out the buildings themselves. It was as though the lights were simply suspended in the clouds.

By the time I arrived in Downtown Brooklyn it was light out, but the fog was just as thick. Running under the Manhattan Bridge (so I guess that means I was in DUMBO) I couldn't see the top of its towers. The Brooklyn Bridge looked ethereal, quite a feat for such an imposing masonry structure. I didn't get to see the sunrise, which is usually my favorite part of an early morning run, but I experienced the city in a new light--a wonderful start to the day.

Dumb Ideas: Running the Brooklyn Bridge at Lunchtime

Yesterday I decided to go for a lunchtime run. Things aren't super busy this week at work and the extra hour or more of sleep that I get when I don't run in the morning sounded nice. All would have gone well but I overlooked one crucial fact--as soon as the weather turns nice, the Brooklyn Bridge walkway turns into a clusterf***.

Photo credit: Streetsblog.org

While the iconic bridge offers some of the best views in the city and is tantalizingly close to my office, it is no place to run at lunchtime on a nice day. Early morning? Okay. Raining outside? Should be fine. Warm and sunny? You'd have better luck traversing the seventh circle of hell. Of the three East River bridges that connect Brooklyn to Manhattan none draw tourists like the Brooklyn Bridge which unfortunately happens to have the narrowest walkway. It's divided by a white line between bikers and walkers, but few tourists manage to stay inside the line. I'm hardly the first person to document this phenomena (check out Vincent Mounier's post from last year for some great photos on the subject).

I have nothing against these tourists but the moral of the story is clear: if you want to quickly traverse the East River during peak hours, you are better off going north to the unloved Manhattan Bridge. The extra distance is more than made up by the time you save dodging oblivious tourists and the occasional angry biker. I think I'll save the Brooklyn Bridge for my crack of dawn commute runs from now on.
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Yesterday's Run: 5.2 miles at 7:48 pace.

What Recovery Run?

The day after a long run I usually like to do a recovery run. I know many people take a rest day after a long run, but for me, getting a recovery run done the day after feels better. With this in mind I decided to meet up with Dashing Whippets folks for my run yesterday. On Sundays the group meets at Grand Army Plaza. It's a bit of a trek, but it's always nice to run with other people and to get a change of scenery.

There were two groups yesterday--the group doing a recovery run of about 3 miles at a 9 minute pace, and the group doing a long run at around 7:30 pace. Three miles sounded too short and 9 minute pace sounded too slow so naturally I went with the long run group. Initially the run felt tough but doable. I asked one of the guys with a Garmin for our pace and he said 6:50! We slowed it down later but I felt pretty good for being able to keep up the day after my Boston 21.

The run yesterday followed part of the new Brooklyn Half course before heading down to the Brooklyn Heights waterfront. I stuck with the group until we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. With 10 miles under my belt I called it a day and hopped on the subway back uptown (convenient because the ride to Harlem is much shorter from Chambers St than from Grand Army Plaza!).

It may not have been the best call for me to have pushed the pace yesterday but it did give me a nice confidence boost. If I could maintain a good clip on tired legs for 10 miles, hopefully marathon pace on race day shouldn't be so bad--at least not until Newton.
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Yesterday's Run:
10.1 miles at 7:26 pace. 

The Joys of a Brooklyn Bridge Run

Yesterday you learned that I am a teeny bit competitive. Well, today it's time for another confession: I've got a huge thing for bridges. Suspension bridges, drawbridges, cantilever bridges, lift bridges, you name it. I probably would have put "bridge" in the title of this blog if there weren't so many other similar running blog titles out there.

Now I just happen to be in luck because New York City has 2,027 bridges (makes sense when you have more than three dozen islands). The point is that quite a few of my runs involve bridges. I try not to play favorites but certain bridges get a lot more attention from me. One that surprisingly doesn't is the Brooklyn Bridge.

What?!? No love for the Brooklyn Bridge? No, it isn't that. It's that there's too much love for this beautiful bridge. On the weekends it's swamped with tourists who congregate on the Manhattan side of the walkway to take pictures and block the path. Because I don't like fight with all these gawkers, I usually opt for the Manhattan Bridge if I'm downtown and need to cross the East River.

Today, however, I did another commute run--a 15 miler--and had the luxury of being downtown early on a weekday. I was also coming from the Brooklyn side which can also make a difference. Sure, it's the "Brooklyn" Bridge, but a lot of folks who come to see it never make it to the other side, much to the chagrin of Marty Markowitz.

As I ran across the bridge this morning, I slowed down and looked up. Watching the beautiful cables climb up to the towers, each stone monument crowned by a flapping American flag, it's hard not be awed. I know I certainly was. I might have to start reintroducing this bridge back into my runs.

The Two Legged Commute

Today my schedule called for a 14 miler which meant getting up really early and struggling to stay awake at work--at least, that's what it usually would have meant. For the first time since this summer, I decided to make my run my commute. We have showers and a locker room at work which turns out to be a huge plus. Yesterday, I brought an extra set of work clothes and a towel with me and left it at the office overnight. That meant this morning all I really had to carry was my ID badge. The best part of this strategy is that it let me sleep in a full 45 minutes later! I felt almost guilty when my alarm finally went off: Am I cheating the system?

Photo Credit: Jessica Krause Smith

If I were to run the most direct route to my work it would only be about 9 miles so I had to be creative. to get those extra miles. I ran through Central Park (have you notice a lot of my runs involve Olmsted and Vaux?) and over 60th to the Queensboro Bridge and into Queens. By the time I got to the bridge, I could see the sun rising over Long Island City. I made my way to Vernon Blvd which runs along the East River and was amazed at how many people were out and about. There's a ConEd plant here and many taxi garages so it makes sense there was so much activity, but on weekends when I usually here this stretch is often deserted.

I crossed into Brooklyn over the Pulaski Bridge (the halfway point in the New York City Marathon) and turned onto Eagle and then Franklin. I don't usually run on Franklin so it was a nice change of scenery to pass all the cafes and shops that line the rapidly changing street. I continued onto Kent, this whole time running along the East River, watching the Williamsburg Bridge get closer and closer, passing new condo after new condo. By now it was actually light outside! Who knew you could run in the sunlight on a weekday? When I made the turn onto the Williamsburg Bridge pedestrian path I could feel the 9+ miles I'd already run in my legs. Still, seeing lower Manhattan in the early morning sun was more than enough to make up for any minor soreness.

The rest of my run took me along the East River and underneath the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges before turning into the Financial District and ending at work. It was a perfect day for a run and I plan on doing the whole commute-on-foot thing again soon!

Do any of you ever run to or from work? Let me know in the comments.

Below the jump there's a map of my route.