Making Some D*mn Fine Lemonade

If there's one thing runners don't like to do it's sit around. We're an active bunch and when you tell us not to run that only makes us want to run that much more. That has certainly been evident since Friday.

As you already know from my Sunday post (not to mention about a million other bloggers, running magazines, and traditional media), runners in town for the New York City Marathon didn't let the race cancellation stop them. Instead they created impromptu marathon courses, gathered in Central Park with donations in toe, or headed to places like Staten Island and Red Hook with shovels, canned goods, water, and a host of other needed items to aid in relief and recovery.

In addition to these events many runners also looked for alternate marathons. A small number managed to get to one of the other races held this past weekend (a big shout-out to my teammates Kirby and Sarah, both of whom ran their first marathons on Sunday), while others looked for ones in the coming weeks. A lot of small town races have seen a boost with Richmond and Harrisburg (both this coming weekend) setting record participant levels.

Something else really cool is happening too. Other races are taking this opportunity to help NYCM registrants and the victims of hurricane Sandy: The Soldier Marathon in Columbus, Georgia is offering FREE entry to NYC runners; the San Antonia Marathon is offering NYC runners a 20% discount and donating 20% of their registration fees to hurricane relief; the Malibu Marathon is offering NYC runners their early bird rate and donating 25% of their registration fees to AmeriCares; and the Myles Standish Marathon in Plymouth, Mass. is donating half of its registration fees to food banks helping with Hurricane Sandy relief. These are just a few of the races taking big strides to help runners and hurricane victims.

So now you're probably wondering what I'm doing. Well, I've decided to run the Philadelphia Marathon for Covenant House's Home Team. Covenant House is the largest privately funded organization in the U.S. dedicated to helping homeless youth. These kids are at the margins of society in good times and so when natural disaster strikes it's more important than ever to make sure they're not forgotten. I'm really excited that I have the opportunity to do some good with this run.

If you're interested in helping me meet and surpass my fundraising goal, there's a link at the right side of the page. If not, I still encourage you to get involved somehow. If you live in the tri-state area, there are still plenty of people in need of assistance and the Red Cross is in desperate need of blood donations.

I can't wait for some things to return to normal (like the L train and the heat in my office), but I hope this sense of community and togetherness that we've discovered over the past few days (as long as we ignore all of yesterday) doesn't go away.

Understanding

Knowing that a tough decision was the right decision doesn't necessarily make it easier to deal with. By the time Friday afternoon roled around I knew that cancelling the New York City Marathon was the right move, a move that should have been done on Tuesday or Wednesday. That doesn't mean that waking up this morning to no race was any easier.

Yesterday I went to Hoboken with two runner friends to find a way to help with the recovery. First, it was truly incredible to see how different the scene is just a few miles away. While Harlem looks as though nothing happened,* Hoboken suffered serious water damage, with as many as 20,000 residents initially stranded by flooding. Walking to Hoboken High School which was serving as a donation collection center, my friends and I struggled to comprehend the magnitude of the damage. Much of the town is still without electricty and heat, many of the streets still choked with debris.

Second, it was also truly incredible to see the outpouring of warmth and kindness by so many people. Homes that had power put power strips on their stoops, many also providing hotwater and food. Restaurants and other local businesses that could offered free hot foot in front of their darkened store fronts. Volunteer sites were so packed that my friends I and were turned away from two before finding one where we could be of use (I can only hope that with this manpower at the city's disposal, my two college friends who live in Hoboken and who are getting married next weekend can concentrate on their upcoming nuptials).

Given this scene in Hoboken, I can only imagine what things look like in coastal Staten Island, the Rockaways, and Coney Island, areas directly exposed to the Atlantic Ocean. I just don't see how a marathon held in the backyard of these disaster areas could be justified.

Those who read this blog (or the blog of any runner who was planning to run today's race) knows how much time was spent training over the past four months. You also know how much runners were looking forward to what for many is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For many runners, committing to New York is also a big financial decision as well. For those coming from out of town, the hefty race fee combined with hotel, travel, and dining costs amounts to a sizeable chunk of disposable income. Yes, cancelling the race was without a doubt the right move, but that doesn't diminish any of the sacrifices runners made in preparation for the race that wasn't.

It was impressive to see so many runners in Central Park this morning, but it was even more impressive to see so many runners and their families in other areas of the city and region this afternoon, putting their presence to use. I can only hope that when next year's race rolls along, people remember the positive efforts of runners, the donations made by NYRR, and the other ways in which the city came together, rather than the two days of controversy between Wednesday's premature decision and Friday's attempt to rectify an grave mistake.

With that, happy running and rebuilding everyone.

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* If you live in Harlem and suffered damage from Sandy, I apologize profusely. I simply mean that in my neck of the woods, the streets look virtually the same post-Sandy and they did before. No one that I know of in the area lost power, though there were plenty of downed tree limbs and even some toppled trees and shrubs.

An Unscheduled Rest Day

Well, Frankenstorm is fully upon us here in Harlem and after taking today off, it doesn't look like I'll be running tomorrow. Normally I would be freaking out about two days without running but for once the taper crazies are working in my favor.

On Saturday I did my final pre-NYC double-digit run, 12.4 miles including the final 10 miles of the marathon course. I had planned to take Sunday as a rest day but since it seemed unlikely I'd be running the next two days  I snuck in an easy 5 last night. Again, I worked it the final miles of the course, getting in one of the last runs in Central Park before the Parks Deparment shut it down.

Right now NYRR expects everything to go on as planned and so do I. Last year they had to deal with the aftermath of a freak Halloween snow storm that damaged nearly 400 acres in the Park, leading to the loss of approximately 1000 trees. The Central Park Conservancy worked around the clock and by the time runners began to arrive for the festivities later in the week the Park was ready to greet the world.

As for me? I'm keeping myself busy with cleaning, reading, and cooking. Oh who am I kidding? I'm glued to the TV watching images of the carnage around the tri-state area. Stay safe everyone!

The Infamous Underwear Run

Friday night, a perfect time for blowing off some steam and running in your underwear. Huh? That's right. Last Friday was the NYC Triathlon's annual underwear run in Central Park. It's a fun run to kick off the weekend's festivities with the actual NYC Tri on Sunday.

The event is extremely fun but also well-organized. Although it's free to run, participants are supposed to register and the event fills up very quickly each year. This year's theme was "Celebrate America" so there was tons of Red, White, and Blue on the course.

The race is at 7:30 but participants tend to get their closer to 6:30 so they have time to strip and strut their stuff take photos. I had a ton of teammates running so we met up before hand to take photos in front of the newly reopened Cherry Hill fountain.

The whole time there were a couple of corny announcers making bad puns about underwear which helped make the event feel even more relaxed. Shortly before 7:30 we all made our way to the start. The "race" (it's really just a fun run) is 1.7 miles--the lower loop in Central Park. I ran with a bunch of teammates until the very end when I decided to pick it up a bit, mainly because it was hot and I wanted water.

At the finish they had salads from Qdoba, ice-cold water bottles, and Muscle Milk. Not too shabby for a free event!!! Oh yeah, one of my teammates came in second. The prize? Self-respect.

This is Gong to be Repetitive - Hill Repeats

I always look forward to Tuesday nights. They mean speedwork in Central Park, usually a tempo or some other crazy long(ish) workout. Occasionally, though, we do hill repeats. Hill repeats are great because they're strength training in disguise but hill repeats also suck because, well, they're strength training in disguise.

Last night was a hill repeat night. Since my team is hosting a track meet on Saturday,* we focused on short repeats last night. The workout was 15-25 100m hill repeats--run up at around 2-mile effort, and jog down. Repeat. The jog down is the only rest during the repeats.

These short, tough repeats are great because they work your core, your hip flexors, abductors, adductors, lower back, and hamstrings. They also help you to activate your fast-twitch muscles, something a tempo run doesn't do. I'm going out of town this weekend so I'll be missing the track meet but I have my first road mile of the summer next week so I figure the short speedwork will help with that too.

I might as well enjoy these short bursts of speed now because soon it will be marathon training season with its longer intervals and heavy dose of tempo runs.

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*Quick plug: if you're in town you should come out to the Whippet's track meet. It's only $10 and should be really fun! Details are here: Dashing Whippets Track Meet

The 3-2-1 Workout

My team's coach is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet--he's super supportive during races and workouts. I'm also convinced he's pure evil. Okay, maybe he's not evil, but he sure comes up with some tough workouts! Last night he introduced a new one to our repertoire, the 3-2-1.

What is the 3-2-1, you ask? It's 3 miles at marathon pace, followed by 2 miles at half pace, followed by 1 mile at 10k to 15k pace. It doesn't sound so bad in theory but a couple things made it especially tough yesterday:

3) There are no breaks in this workout--you are running the full 6 miles without any rest or recovery.

2) The 2 half-marathon pace miles were done on Cat Hill (you know how much I love Cat Hill) with 800m up, followed by 800m down and then repeated.

1) As an added bonus, it was incredibly humid last night.

That final mile at 10k pace was definitely a killer, but I have to say I felt great after the workout. There's nothing like that post-speed work feel, something you have to remind yourself during the workout when you feel like quitting.

Since today is supposed to be a killer with highs in the mid-90s, I'm off for a morning run with some teammates. It may be warm and sticky now, but it's only gonna get worse. Ah, summer.

Give a Little, Get a Lot: My Portugal Day Race Report

Last weekend was the Mini 10k, a women only race. To help pump the women up, most of the men from our team got together to cheer at the 5 mile mark. We had signs, balloons, and vuvuzelas. We were loud and definitely had a great time cheering the women-folk on. Well, this week's race, the Portugal Day 5 Miler was a men's team point race (women could still sign up, but they weren't trying to earn points for the team) so the women came out to cheer us on--more on that in a minute.

I woke up at 5:30 on Sunday for my usual peanut butter and bagel and read the newspaper before heading to the subway at 6:40 so I could get to the baggage area by 7. The race was in Central Park so it was easy to get to. After a nice warm-up with teammates I made a final pit-stop and I have to say that the lines were much shorter than at a normal race--amazing what happens when most of the women aren't running...

My plan was to run seriously but not to kill myself. I had talked with a couple other guys about running somewhere in the 6:10 to 6:20 range and that sounded good for the day. After a stirring rendition of the both the Portuguese and American national anthems it was time to race.

The gun went off and I was surprised at how crowded the field was. Initially I managed to run with a couple teammates but we lost each other quickly in the mass of people. I managed a 6:12 first mile and felt surprisingly good. The best part of mile 1 was seeing one of my teammates, Elizabeth, cheering from the sidelines in a polka dot bikini!

I still felt good for my 6:14 second mile. At this point we'd gotten the bulk of the hills out of the way so I was hoping for an easier time but mile 3 just felt off. I did it in 6:24 at which point I knew I wasn't trying hard enough. Mile 4 had more downhill and I knew I had to be approaching the women's cheering station. Sure enough, a huge contingent of lady Whippets were stationed just before the mile marker. I actually heard them well before I saw them which shows how loud they were cheering. That helped make for 6:14 mile 4.

Of course, as soon as the women were out of ear shot I realized I had taxed myself with all my fist pumping at their cheer station--I felt a little dizzy. I started to slow down a little bit even though the end was so close. I concentrated on running the tangents since the field had opened up and I knew I didn't have much hope for extra speed. With the finish in sight I tried some kind of kick but couldn't do better than 6:21 for my final mile.

I ended up finishing in 31:25, or 6:17 pace. To put things in perspective, my half PR, almost two years old now, was set at a 6:18 pace and my 4 mile PR is a 6:01 pace. One thing I know I have to figure out after today's race is eating. That bagel proved too heavy. The bagel breakfast works great for halves and fulls where I'm (a) waking up with more time before the start and (b) not trying to go so fast, but it's too much before short runs.

The good news is, while it wasn't a fast race I didn't feel "sluggish." I think I've managed to shake off some of the fatigue that was affecting me post-Boston and Brooklyn. Hopefully with careful training this summer I can regain some speed.

The Art of Running in the Rain

I'm originally from Seattle which means I grew up with rain the way Upper East Siders grow up with nannies. Sometimes rain sucks. On a cold fall or winter day when the temperatures hovering just above freezing, rain can chill you all the way through, making it impossible to warm up post-run. During a race it can deter your friends from coming out to cheer and it can drench your change of clothes too. However, during the summer months (as Luke Bryan likes to say), rain is a good thing.

The way I see on warm summer runs you're either going to finish soaked in sweat or soaked in rain, and frankly, I smell better in the latter. Seriously, though, running in the rain can actually be quite enjoyable as long as you follow a few simple pieces of advice:

Photo Credit: Michael Dulle

Wear wicking fabric - Cotton gets really heavy in the rain and will cling to your skin. Wicking fabric doesn't soak up as much rain and so won't feel as heavy.

Make sure your shoes have traction - Sure you might want to wear your old shoes over your shiny new ones, but make sure the treads still work. Just like tires your shoes can slip if they're totally worn down.

Socks-wear them! - Hopefully you're already wearing socks, but wet shoes can equal blisters on a longer run if you don't have appropriate socks. I recommend Wrightsock and Smartwool, my two favorite brands.

Hat/Sunglasses - If it's really pouring wearing a pair of shades or a hat can help keep the rain out of your eyes. If you're wearing sunglasses, I'm a hug fan of Oakley's hydrophobic pen that you can apply to any sunglasses to prevent rain from leaving streaks--it just beads right off.

Anyway, with all the afternoon showers we've been having lately hopefully these tips will keep you from taking your runs inside to the treaddreadmill.

Tempo by Twilight

My posts have been a little sporadic this week because I'm getting ready to be sworn in as an attorney. Becoming a lawyer is like going through puberty: it seems to take forever, it's filled with uncomfortable moments, and just when you think it's almost over, there's another step. Anyway--barring any last minute surprises--I will be sworn in next Monday. 

Now back to running-related content.

On Tuesday night (boy does that seem like ages ago!) I met fellow Whippets in Central Park for our Tuesday speed workout. This week we had a tempo run on schedule. Out of all the different kinds of speed work, I find long tempo runs to be the hardest to do by yourself so I was only too happy to have other folks to run with.

The term "tempo run" gets thrown around a lot these days and folks seem to have very different ideas what it means. In my book (and by that I mean my copy of Daniels' Running Formula), a tempo run is a run done at a "comfortably hard" pace, something you could sustain for about an hour.

We didn't quite fit the Daniels definition on Tuesday, though we weren't far off. After an easy mile warm-up our goal was to do 6 to 8 miles at 15 to 30 seconds slower than half-marathon pace. The idea was that the pace wouldn't feel too difficult for the first several miles, but in the later miles it would be more difficult to maintain. It may be helpful here to throw in an alternate name for tempo runs: steady state runs. You're trying to maintain a consistent pace throughout the run even as fatigue sets in. [Note: Someone reading this blog might blow a gasket because some folks, like Greg McMillan, do not use these terms interchangeably.]

So, how did we do? I ran with three other guys and only one of us had a GPS watch. Since we were doing a four mile loop with no intermediate markers, we only had two chances to check our pace. That meant the run mostly went by feel. For the whole run we average around 6:45 pace. Our second loop was about 2 minutes faster than the first loop which probably isn't ideal, but it did serve as a confidence booster. Had I been running on my own one of two things would have happened: (1) I would have slowed down during the second loop, or (2) I would have called it quits by mile 6. All in all in was a great workout. Better still, it didn't start raining until after we had finished.

Getting Your @$$ Kicked By a Cat

Last night was my first speed workout since Boston and, as it turned out, my first set of hill repeats since last year's Boston training cycle (in my usual training I replace repeats with hilly long runs).  Anyway, on Tuesday nights my team--like so many others--meets for speed work in Central Park. With Brooklyn just over two weeks away I figured it was time to get my legs moving again.

Last night's workout? 5x800m hill repeats on Cat Hill. For those of you who (a) don't live in New York or (b) don't run in Central Park, Cat Hill is located on East Drive between approximately E 75thand E 81st. It's called Cat Hill because of Edward Kemeys' bronze "Still Hunt" sculpture of a cougar.* At just about a quarter mile and an average of 3.7% grade it's not the longest or steepest hill in the park--those distinctions belong to Harlem hill which is a third of a mile at 4.4% grade--but it still makes for a good workout. To get 800m we kept going after the crest of the hill, enjoying some downhilll, another rise, and some flat to finish just past the Met.

Our goal was to do the repeats at 10k pace. I haven't run a 10k since last summer but my old pace was around 6:10. Several of the guys said they would be running around a 6:15 pace and that sounded good so I set off with them. The first one felt comfortably hard. Could I have kept running at the end? Yes. Did I want to? No. Turns out we had run it in a sub-6 pace. We jogged back down and tackled the next one--5:45 pace. I joked about doing the third one at 5:30 pace--we didn't, but it was still sub-6. By now I could feel the marathon in my legs.

After three I wanted to stop (the workout schedule did say 3 to 5 repeats) but one my teammates suggested I do the next one a little slower and at least get in an even 4. I heeded his advice and did a 4th, still under 6:00 pace. After that one I knew I had to do all 5 but I took the last one a little easier, right around 6:08 pace--probably my actual 10k pace these days. After the repeats (including a slower 6th one to pace a teammate who still had one to go) I jogged home making it 9 miles for the night. It was a tough workout but I was really happy with myself afterward. I can't say my legs were happy with this morning, but that's why they invented the recovery run.

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* Before Kemeys' statue was added in 1883 this stretch was called Cedar Hill.

No NYCM for Me (This Year)

First things first, I wasn't chosen in the  New York City Marathon lottery. That means that 2012 will be the first time since 2009 that I haven't done this race. Am I bummed? Yes and no.

Yes because this is an amazing event. There's really nothing like running over the Verrazano Bridge with 45,000 people while Sinatra's "New York, New York" is blaring at 100 decibels, or reading the creative signs along 4th Avenue, or making the turn off of the Queensboro into the 1st Avenue wall of sound.

No because, like last year, I'm signed up to run Chicago. While running two marathons a month apart is doable, the recovery period after the second one sucks. Last year it meant that my whole fall was either taken up by marathon training or by marathon recover (look at October which was a combination of both!).

When I first moved to New York I went to watch the race in Central Park and had an amazing time. This year I have tons of friends who will be running it so I'll have even more reason to cheer. As for next year, I'm working on my 9+1 so I plan to be back. 

Two Great Runs

Now that I'm not in marathon training mode anymore I also have more flexibility with my schedule so this week I've been trying to get in [easy] runs with other folks.

Last night there was a run from the Upper West Side Jack Rabbit Sports hosted by Baker (of Beyond Defeat), Erica (of Erica Miss America), Abbe (of the Lewis Report), and one of the folks from the owner of Zensah. I always love meeting new runners and it didn't hurt that there were giveaways too. I scored some new Zensah compression sleeves. Zeeve, their repowner, called them Carolina blue, but I'm calling it Columbia blue. (Maybe I'll post a review in the future). Anyway, the run was a nice four miler around Central Park and I got to chat it up with some new acquaintances. Hopefully they'll put together another one of these runs soon. I'm especially looking forward to one of Claire's infamous beer runs.

Image credit: CentralPark.com

This morning I met up with some Whippets for an early morning run in Central Park (can't tell you the last time I ran in the park two days in a row was). They meet every Wednesday morning at 6am and yet somehow I've never made it this group run. There were only four of us so we got to stray from Park Drive (always a plus), doing a loop of Harlem Meer, running through the North Woods, and along the bridle path. It was one of those mornings that reminded me why spring is my favorite season: the sun was out, the trees were green, the flowers in bloom, and the air crisp. It was definitely a perfect start to the day.

Now I just have to try and get some work done while I wait for the results of the New York City Marathon lottery drawing at noon!
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Yesterday's Run: 4.7 miles at 7:58 pace
Today's Run: 9 miles at 8:08 pace.

On Track

Today was my last "hard workout" before Boston. I've used Pete Pfitzinger's training schedule for several marathon cycles now (although this was my first time using the 12-week plan instead of the 18-week one) so I know what to expect. That said, his final track workout always gets me a little nervous--it's mile repeats. 

I dread mile repeats. Last night I lay in bed thinking, Do I really need to do these? I know what a mile feels like... Couldn't I just run 800s instead? Or better yet, skip the speed work altogether? Well, I conquered that inner voice, though not until this morning when my alarm finally went off. (I'd probably been awake for at least an hour wondering when the misery would start.)

As with a lot of my speed work, I do mile repeats around the Central Park Reservoir. Because it has markings every 20 yards and is clearly labeled 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, and so on, it works pretty well. You don't get the same hamster feel that a track can sometimes give you and it's easier for me to get to than the nearest track.

As much as I was dreading today's run, it went pretty well. It was definitely brisk out this morning, but I got to enjoy the sunrise over Central Park about halfway through my run. Even before the sun comes up, the pre-dawn reservoir is a nice sight to behold:

Photo from Central Park.com (You think I do speed work with my camera?)

The repeats went pretty well. I started out aiming for 10k pace, but probably ended up closer to 8k. They were 6:07, 6:04, and 6:02. Those are better than I did last cycle and my legs felt pretty fresh. Hopefully after a week of easy running they'll feel even better.
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Today's Run: 8.3 miles at 7:28 pace (that includes the mile repeats and recovery jogs).

What Better Way to Celebrate St Patty's Day than with a Boston Simulation?

With less than a month to go until Boston, I'm running out of long runs. Though it's hard to believe, after this weekend, I have just one more 20 miler to go! This morning my running group put together a Boston simulation 20 miler for those of use who'll be heading to Hopkinton on Patriot's Day. 

We met in Washington Heights, right by the GW Bridge, where you'll find Manhattan's biggest hills. Since most folks are running tomorrow's NYC Half, the run wasn't very well attended but that didn't matter to those of us who showed up. After a quick detour of the GW and back (why? just because) we started a quick descent to mimic Boston's initial downhill miles. 

Our simulation profile

The weather was almost perfect, sunny and in the mid-50s. We ran along Riverside Drive and into Riverside Park, making our way to the Hudson Greenway at 103rd street. Given how empty the path is during the winter, it was amazing to see so many people out running and biking! We kept the pace pretty light for the first part of the run, around 7:50, although occasionally we found ourselves going faster and had to dial it back. 

Once we got to 59th Street it was time to turn east towards Central Park and the Newton-simulating hills. At this point we began picking up the pace, weeving through the crowds at Columbus Circle and entering the packed park. Our route took us clockwise, up around the west side of the park for two laps of the Harlem Hills. At this point we were down to two runners. Unfortunately I did something to my achilles on Wednesday and it still hasn't recovered. At mile 16 I decided it was better to slow down for my ankle's sake but I still managed to finish the run with 20.9 miles. 

I'm going to take the next couple days off for the sake of my achilles but I'm feeling pretty confident for Boston. Next week I head to Boston for a "real simulation" so then we'll really see. I can't believe how fast this training cycle has flown by!

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Today's Run: 20.9 at 7:39 pace.

WRONG WAY Runners

I read the NY Times daily but somehow I missed this awesome post from the City Room Complaint Box feature. It's from last week and the author zeros in on one of my running-related pet peeves: people who go the wrong way around the Central Park reservoir.

For those who don't run regularly in Central Park, the reservoir is ringed by a 1.58 mile dirt running path. The path is relatively narrow--wide enough for about three people to stand side-by-side--so users are restricted to running in one direction, counter clockwise. Strollers, dogs, and bikes are also prohibited. There are bright green signs every few hundred yards with instructions, arrows and pictures for the newcomers. Unfortunately, plenty of folks seem to ignore the signs.

During peak hours, especially in the evenings or on weekends, the path gets so packed that it can be tough to navigate when everyone is moving counterclockwise. Throw in a few folks who feel entitled to go clockwise and it's gets downright frustrating. Unlike the post's author, I've also seen the occasional bike, stroller, and dog on the path too. The people with bikes are usually tourists with their Bike N Roll rentals and I'm sure some of them don't speak English and/or are genuinely confused. I've have a harder time believing that everyone else is. As the Complaint Box author says:

Is it really so difficult to heed the signs? It may be possible to miss sighting one of them. It takes some effort, or sheer indifference to the world and other people around you, to miss all of them.

I've talked to other runners who sometimes [knowingly] go the wrong way around the reservoir and they don't see it as a big deal and plenty of commenters who posted on the Times website seem to think the Complaint Box author is loopy for suggesting they follow the signs (actually something of them seem to think she's a whole lot worse than loopy...). Clearly this issue isn't as black and white as I had thought! 

 

Track Woes

I know President's Day was last week, but allow me to invoke our founding fathers for a moment (God knows the presidential candidates have been invoking them on an hourly basis). Our founding fathers recognized that we have certain unalienable rights--the right to due process of law, the right to just compensation in cases of governmental takings, the right to religious freedom--but it's obvious none of our founding fathers was a runner.

If there had been runners in that first Congress at Federal Hall in New York, surely one of them would have included the right to a track!

What am I talking about? It can be really difficult to find a good all-weather 400 meter or 440 yard track. In New York City, there are a handful of tracks, but most of them fall into one of four categories:

(1) Weird distance - It's hard to run 800 m repeats on an unmarked 330m track!

(2) Weird shape - It's tricky to maintain speed on a track with 90 degree angles (plus, these tracks usually also fall into category (1))

(3) Limited Hours - Some of the nicest tracks are only open certain times of day, times that don't really allow people with jobs good options for getting in a workout.

(4) Pay-per-use tracks - There are a handful of indoor tracks in the city, but these require you to pay each time you want to use them and they usually fall into category (3) and sometimes categories (1) and (2) as well.

There's also a fifth category for tracks that are just too far away for me to get to on a weekday. There are great tracks at McCarren Park, the Redhook Recreation Area, Van Cortlandt Park, and Forest Park, but there is no way I can get to those places before work. There are two tracks close to me, one that's approximately 320 meters with 90 degree angles and one that doesn't open until 6am. I guess when you have Manhattan real estate prices to deal with, tracks just aren't a winning proposition.

For now, I'll continue to make due with the Central Park reservoir loop but I'm not going to stop dreaming about a day where I can live across the street from a pristine all-weather track!

A Tuesday Night in the Park

I knew I was going to be sore yesterday after my Monday long run--in a three day period I managed to run over 45 miles! Given this inevitable fact, I decided to take yesterday easy. I skipped my morning run and told myself that if I needed to, I could take a rest day.

Midtown from the Reservoir at Night--I wish this photo could do it justice.

 Well, by the time work was over, I was itching to get outside. The run I was supposed to do, 8 miles with 10x100 at the end sounded doable so as soon as I got home I laced up and headed out the door. My quads felt exhausted so I was a little worried about the strides, but I figured I just go by feel.

Tuesday night is a big night for team practices in the park so there were a fair number of people out on Park Drive. When I passed the Road Runners Kiosk there must have been 30 people milling around!

After a circuitous route by the Great Lawn, I made my way to the reservoir for some strides, all the while praying: Please don't be too crowded! Thankfully, the reservoir was pretty empty (though as usual, about half the folks using it were going the wrong way!).

My strides ended up feeling great with each one faster than my set last week. It just goes to show you that sometimes even tired legs can still get in a good workout. I'm glad I didn't blow yesterday off because now I still have an earned rest day that I use another day this week...or not.

Bright Lights, Big City

Although I'm almost always a morning runner, sometimes I switch things up and run at night. Tonight was one of those times.

After yesterday's 20 miler, I had planned to take today off altogether. I spent the afternoon at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria (they've got a great exhibit on Jim Henson going on until March 4 which I highly recommend!). For some reason, though, when I got home around 6, I had an overwhelming desire to go for a run.

I figured I would do one easy loop of Central Park and call it a night but somewhere along Park Drive I found myself transfixed by the Midtown skyline. I've been reading a book on the history of Rockafeller Center--which is really more of a history of early 20th century urban architecture--and I thought, why not go see Rockafeller Center right now?


As I approached Central Park South, I could see that the sidewalk wasn't super crowded--it was 7 o'clock on a Sunday, after all--so I left the park. I turned onto 7th Ave and headed towards the lights of Time Square, running in the street, hugging the parked cars. This is proof that you don't have to give NYRR $90 bucks to run through the Theater District!

At 50th I turned east and ran past Radio City Music Hall and the RCA Building to 5th before looping back to 6th along 51st. There were plenty of people out, but the traffic in the streets was relatively light so I stayed in the road the whole time. Finally I was back at 59th and I reentered the park.

The rest of my run was nice and quiet. I saw perhaps three other runners on my way home. It was a wonderful contrast to my brief foray into Midtown. The whole run was a wonderful experience, the kind you can only have in New York. Without even realizing it, my easy 6 turned into 9 but I felt emotionally refreshed by the whole experience.

Alright, now I have to go watch the season finale of Dowton Abbey!

Long Weekend? Long Run!

Early this week one of my favorite running bloggers, Megan over at Runners Kitchen, blogged about long run anxiety. I don't know if anxiety is the right word for me, but I definitely get where she's coming from. Long runs don't seem like such a big deal anymore--what's 20 miles when you've ran 15 a couple days ago? But, they take a lot of time and it's easy to talk yourself into post-poning it.


Oh, maybe I'll just read a little bit more of today's Times, or I really need to catch up 30 Rock...


The longer you wait to get started, the harder it is to get out the door. The first way I try to deal with this is by doing my long runs on Saturday, not Sunday. That way I get them out of the way early in the weekend. Back during school I often did them Friday mornings (although, let's be honest, that was partly so I could go out Friday night...).

It's still easy for me to push them off. Thankfully, this weekend for the second time I ran with members of the Dashing Whippets. That meant I had to be out of my house and on the subway by 8:30 to meet them at Union Square. This was great motivation. It wasn't too early so I felt rested but it kept me from post-poning my run.

I have to say, though, the route today was tough!!! I've posted it after the jump. It involved a relatively flat first 10 miles, but then we hit Central Park and had 4 loops of the Harlem Hills! It doesn't help that my apartment is just a couple of blocks north of the park. Every loop I thought

You could just run off right now. You don't have to do another loop.


Thankfully I was able to stick with it. This kind of mental training will really help me come April. The hills in the final miles of Boston require stamina that is as much mental and physical so it's important to be ready.

With 20+ miles under my belt, it's time to relax and enjoy a 3 day weekend!

Running with [New] Friends

I've been thinking about joining a team for a long time. There are literally dozens on running teams in the New York running scene and they definitely make up a large portion of folks at any given NYRR race. It was really difficult when I was in school to commit to any sort of team schedule since my hours tend to be all over the place, but now my schedule tends to be a little more regular.

On Saturday I tried my first run with a team, the Dashing Whippets.They're a relatively new club but I've heard some really positive things about them so I figured I would try joining them for their Saturday morning long run. By running to the meeting point (72nd St and Central Park West) I was able to get in the couple extra miles I needed since they were going to be doing 15 and I had 17 scheduled.

If there was ever a perfect day to run with a group, Saturday was it! It was cold, snowing and gray and not the kind of day where you want to do a 2+ hour run outside. When I showed up, though, there was a pretty good turnout of other runners. With folks running several different paces, I was able to find a couple of guys looking for more of a 7:30 pace.

During the run, along course specially designed to celebrate the birthday of one of the team members, I chatted with two other runners and learned more about the team. They seem like really great folks and I'm pretty sure I want to sign up to run with them. Perhaps the biggest upside to all this talking, however, was how it distracted me from how fast I was running. During our final lap of Central Park we had some sub-7 miles and at the end I even tacked on an extra lower loop with one of the guys (bringing my total mileage to over 19 for the day). My average pace was just over 7 minutes, much faster than if I had gone it along, and much more pleasant too.

How about you? Do you run with a team? What are some of the benefits you see?