New Flash: Heat Makes Running Harder

Those of you living along the eastern seaboard have probably been experiencing the same heatwave that struck us this week in New York. We went from temperatures that were slightly below average for June to temperatures that are slightly above average for a pizza oven. I don't mind running in the heat so much, but doing speed work in the heat is a whole different story.

When it comes to speed work in the heat, there are several options. The first one is: don't do it. But, any of you who read about my Boston race know I refuse to let heat stop me. You could also take your run inside to the treaddreadmill (but then again, you could also put a sharp metal object in your eye--that doesn't mean it's a good idea). Another option is to do your workout in the pre-dawn hours or after sundown. This is what I did last summer, but now that I'm running with a team, I have to run when they do.

Alright, so I just laid out three ways to cope with the heat and shot each one of them down. Why? Because there's a fourth option--adjust your workout. You can still get a great workout by either slowing the pace a little, reducing the number of reps or total distance, or doing some combination of the two. If you want to know how to adjust your speed for the heat, this handy calculator lets you plug in your normal speed and what equivalent speeds are as the mercury rises.

I used the adjustment strategy in my workout last night. We were scheduled to do 6 sets of 4x200 at 5k pace. Rather than adjust the pace too much, I cut the final set (so 5 sets of 4x200) and increased the rest in between sets. That way I was still able to get in a decent workout without killing myself. And then of course, I had my secret weapon lined up, a post-run ice cream from Ample Hills Creamery.

Random Friday Post: I Scream for Ice Cream!

Normally I'm not a huge ice cream person. I never buy it at the grocery store (seriously, it's been at least two years since my freezer saw a pint of Ben & Jerry's) and I rarely go out for ice cream. That doesn't mean I dislike it--I'm not a communist after all--I just don't usually crave it. Well, I found a place that may change all of that. Let's just consider this post a PSA for all of you who haven't found this the paradisaical epicenter of ice cream joy that is Ample Hills Creamery.

This A+MAZING ice cream parlor is in Prospect Heights, just blocks from Grand Army Plaza where I often begin and end my weekend long runs. There are a lot of things to love about this place: they use local ingredients; they make everything in house (right down to the peppermint patties and cookies in their ice cream); and they serve all their treats in compostable containers.  

Alright, I hear you saying, those are all things that help restore karmic balance to the universe, but we're talking ice cream here. What makes this place so special?Do they lace their ice cream with opiates?

Salted Crack Caramel

Here's my three-word answer: salted. crack. caramel. Seriously, that's one of their flavors. It's a salted butter caramel ice cream laced with "crack cookies," buttery chocolate-covered Saltines. Eating it is like finding religion: Thou shalt not worship other ice creams!

In addition to the SCC (my abbrev, not theirs), there are plenty of other awesome flavors. Ones I've tried and enjoyed? Stout and Pretzels--a Guinness-chocolate ice cream with chunks of chocolate covered pretzels stirred in. Ooey Gooey Butter Cake--a super-rich vanilla creme dripping with pieces of St. Louis Ooey Gooey Butter Cake.Oh, and their Father's Day special that I tried last week, Daddy's Sundae. It's Maker's Mark bourbon vanilla bean ice cream with homemade fudge brownie pieces and swirls of their homemade salted fudge caramel.

If you're not drooling you're either a vegan, you hate puppies, or you just finished a Vermonster and simply can't stomach the thought of more ice cream right now. I can't recommend this place highly enough! And here's how this post ties into running: with all that full fat goodness you're gonna need to log some serious miles after a visit because I guarantee you'll be ordering more than one scoop.

An Incomplete History of the Brooklyn Half

This Saturday is the much anticipated (don't ask me why) Brooklyn Half-Marathon. New York Road Runners has been doing this race since 1981 and even though it's changed in many ways over the past 30+ years, this year includes what are likely the most sweeping changes in the event's history. What follows is not so much a complete history as it is a collection of random facts about the evolution of the race. Enjoy!

The 2006 start on the boardwalk from NYRR.org

In 1981 the inaugural race, which ran along Ocean Parkway, had about 1800 finishers. Back then the race was held in March, a tradition that lasted for more than 20 years. This meant that some years the runners had to deal with snow and ice instead of the heat that is sometimes a problem these days.

In the early days the Brooklyn Half was particularly competitive, attracting world-class runners like Dick Beardsley in 1983 (though he was forced to drop out at the 9 mile mark due to an Achilles injury). 

In 1996, after a showdown between the Mayor's office and then-Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden, the race returned to city streets for the first time in 5 years. The almost 2,250 finishers began on Coney Island, ran up Ocean Parkway, and ended the race in Prospect Park.

In 2002 the registration cost for members was $14, $20 for non-members.

In 2004 the race was moved from March to April and it included an out and back on the Boardwalk before heading up Ocean Parkway. Since 2008 the race has been held in May with it falling as late as Memorial Day weekend in 2009.

In 2009 the direction of the race was switched, with the start on Prospect Park's Center Drive and the finish on the Coney Island Boardwalk near the Parachute Jump.

Will any of this information help you run a better race this weekend? Probably not, but it may help you appreciate the race as a living breathing thing. Good luck to all of you running!

Previewing the Brooklyn Half

I'm a firm believer in the benefits of knowing a course before you race it. There are tons of variables on race day--the weather, how you're feeling, etc.--so anything you can do to make things more certain is a plus. By checking out the course before race day you can get a better sense of the terrain and adjust your pacing accordingly. You can also get a sense of what the tangents are (more on this in a late post). Obviously, when a race is in another city you may only be able to look at maps of the course before race day. When it's in your own backyard, however, it's worth doing a little pre-race recon.

This weekend I had the chance to run the Brooklyn Half course with some fellow Whippets. Since the race is only two weeks away, this seemed like a good weekend to check it out. I've run this race before, back in 2009, but they've changed the course since then and even if they hadn't, three years is a long time.

After a late night in Queens on Saturday, I hauled my butt out of bed on Sunday morning to catch the train to Grand Army Plaza to meet fellow runners. We had a great turn out--probably around 20 people--so we were able to split up into pace groups. It was a little warm but nothing too bad. If it's warmer on race day I'll definitely pack some beach gear for after the race.

I'm not going to summarize the course since you'll get that as part of my race report when I run the darn thing in two weeks. Instead, I'm just going to offer a couple of observations that might be helpful to any of you running:

• The only "big" hill is inside Propsect Park around mile 5. Don't waste you energy here because you'll have plenty of downhill later to make up any lost time.
• Ocean Parkway goes on forever! Don't let that discourage you, just remember that it's actually a net downhill. 
• There's little to no shade in the second half of the course so sunscreen is a must.
• The stretch on the boardwalk is extremely short so don't fret if you've never run on that kind of surface before.
• It takes a long time to get back to Harlem from Coney Island so you might as well enjoy some hot dogs, ice cream, or pizza before heading back.

A Brooklyn-Based Long Run

I guess I ended up taking the weekend off of posting but don't worry, I didn't take off from running. On Saturday I picked up a new pair of shoes (I'll be posting about them soon with some kind of review) so I had to give them a test drive. What was supposed to be an easy 6 turned into an easy 10 just because I was enjoying the sunlight so much. That run also brought me to 67 miles, pretty close to my marathon mileage peak.

Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza

Yesterday was a long run day--20 miles on my schedule. The Dashing Whippets do Sunday long runs in Brooklyn so I decided to head to Kings County for a change of scenery. It was a little bit of a struggle to get out of bed with one less hour of sleep but I managed to eat my bowl of cheerios and drag my butt to the subway. The group met at Grand Army Plaza in front of Prospect Park and boy were there a lot of us, probably 25 in all. Although it was chilly when I left my house, by the time I got to the meeting place it had warmed up considerably and with plenty of sun it was the perfect day for a run.

A good group of folks were looking to do 12 to 20 miles at a 7:45 pace so I went with them. The route we ran was great, taking us through Park Slope to Red Hook then along the water passing through Brooklyn Bridge Park, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, the Navy Yard into Williamsburg. When we got to McCarren Park we turned around and did the New York City Marathon route in reverse which was fun--I realized the course has more hills than I thought.

Throughout the run we lost a person here or there as folks running shorter distances peeled off to catch the subway home. By the time we made it to Lafayette Ave in Clinton Hill we were down to 7 people and by the time we made it back to Prospect Park we were down to 5. Only two of us were looking to do a full twenty so we entered the park and did a loop. I was sore at the end, but I have to say the run went by pretty quickly. All the midweek 15 milers I've been doing seem to be paying off because yesterday I felt fresh until the final couple miles. With Boston exactly 5 weeks from today it's nice to have another quality 20 under my belt and it was even nicer to run it with such a great group of people.

Post-Run Pizza, or Food is the Best Motivator

I don't listen to music on my runs (except for the occasional treadmill workout), so my mind has lots of time to wander on my long runs. On Saturday, however, I was pretty focused the whole time. Was I focused on my pace ask? My form? My RPE (rate of perceived exertion)? No. I was focused on pizza! One of my running friends, Bobby, lives and trains in Brooklyn. Back in November he ran the inaugural Brooklyn Marathon. I had just run the New York City Marathon so there was no way I was going to run another 26.2 but I did volunteer. The race consisted of a series of loops around Prospect Park (7, I think). That many loops is enough to make anyone loopy so I had promised to run the final two laps with my Bobby. I talked and tried to distract him so he would forget that he had already run 20 miles.

Flash forward several months. As a thank you, Bobby offered to take me for to L&B Spumoni Gardens, a famous pizza shop in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood. I've always wanted to go, but it's quite a schlep from Manhattan. Bobby has a car, though, so I was able to meet him at Borough Hall and hitch a ride. Alright, now that you have the background (probably too much background), let's talk about the pizza experience! When it first opened, L&B Spumoni Gardens was basically an ice cream stand--they sold spumoni (an Italian ice cream) and Italian ices. They still sell these frozen treats, but they've expanded. What they're known for today are their Sicilian (square) slices which they been serving up since the 1950s.

Two delicious slices! Look at that nicely charred edge.

Even if you're a square slice connoisseur, you've never tasted anything quite like this before. The crust is very thick while simultaneously being light and airy. The bottom gets a nice char from the pan so there is a bit of crunch too. On top of the crust they sprinkle a layer of mozzarella which they then cover in their house made tomato sauce. The sauce itself is incredible--thick with fresh tomato flavor and just the right amount of sweet. Finally, on top of that, there's a dusting of Pecorino Ramano that ads a nice nutty and salty balance to the sweet sauce. I ended up having 3 and half slices of this pizza and would have eaten more if it weren't for the fact that I didn't want to go into a food coma. Long story short? If you're looking for the best square slice in the city, you've got to pay a visit to Spumoni Gardens. And when you go...take me with you!