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February 2, 2020February 3, 2020

2020 PT Week 3/4: Return to Racing

Previous post topics when I thought I’d get this posted sooner:

I’m taking my talents to South Florida

Yep, that made the rounds after the NFC/AFC Conference Championship Games with the Super Bowl in Miami. I can’t believe Lebron’s decision was ten years ago this summer. Where did the last ten years go?

While it wasn’t Miami, the cold snap had me looking very much forward to a long weekend in Florida. To be honest, deferring the Half didn’t bother me at all. It’s not a dream or bucket list race, and I’ll be back stronger in 2021.

and

Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie

was on Wednesday 1/22 at PT and can’t say how true that was. So many of the exercises focus on the hip. I swear I need glue to hold mine in alignment.

The PT is really helping to the extent I was able to run back to back days twice. That’s something I typically don’t to and probably shouldn’t generally, but I was able to. The PT student I was working with just graduated & finished her internship, and I will miss her. The one she was working under is the same one I saw this time last year, so I know he’s wonderful, I’ll just miss the one on one focus on how bad my coordination is.

This year’s candidate for dead bug‘s I Can In No Way, Shape or Form Do This status is this shift into running stance from Stork. Nope, one too many steps.

and finally

Hamming with Palm Trees, for reasons you’ll see later.

Pleased to learn that I was selected again as a Skirt Sports ambassador this year. Among the many things I learned from this wonderful run/blog group is how running clothes need pockets as much as dresses do. As I said to Elizabeth when we ran, it was nice to have on my windbreaker for all the pockets, but Skirt spoils me. I was home a few weeks ago and the random leggings that live at mom’s don’t have pockets. I can run without my phone (and honestly usually do) – but I didn’t have where to put a key.

In the odd event you don’t already have a Skirt Sports ambassador you shop with and/or aren’t one yourself, use SS15Car75 to shop with me.

Skirts for Florida and NYC running. Pleased to return in 2020 as a #SkirtAmbassador. use SS15Car75 to shop with me Click To Tweet

Linking up with Deborah and Kim for an abbreviated two week Weekly Run Down:

never miss a Monday: office closed due to MLK, but the day started off with PT. One of the many ways running has changed me. In the past I’d have rescheduled this and slept in. Instead I was there at 8a for a fun session of single leg squats and other oh so fun things. Hurts so good! I opted out of running there due to a frigid wind chill and after coffee with a friend who’d recently moved back, I headed to the gym. I saw a really awesome speed workout that Birchwood Pie did and knew I needed to try it. I warmed up for a mile at 5.5 and then alternated 5.2, 5.8 for 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 with two minutes easy between. The end was a little crunched as I a ) lost track and b) had the start of a blister. Still it was a good nearly 5 miles. I think those sneakers are getting binned though – they’re also the ones I’m blaming for the IT Band issues.
Tuesday: worked late. Nothing else to speak of.
Wednesday: PT. Lots of work trying to keep my hips in alignment. Run commute home as I worked from home before my flight. I love the backpack, although it’s going to force some minimalism in what I haul around. My shoulder thinks that’s a good thing.

Thursday: one of those back to back runs. Couldn’t resist a beach visit before we went to Manatee Lagoon.
Friday: no running, but a wonderful visit to the Morikami Museum & Gardens.

Saturday: wanted to try six, and I got six running along A1A to Atlantic and back. I like Delray, but one reason I prefer Lauderdale is the beach side isn’t built up and there’s a better breeze. Run felt good. We followed it with a visit to Flamingo Gardens, which was amazing.

Sunday: it was “chilly” which is actually perfect beach weather for me because I don’t get too warm. Perfect Florida farewell. I didn’t run because I wanted to run to PT Monday and knew running three days in a row would be Bad.

Week of 1/27:

Monday: spoiler, I didn’t run to PT. I didn’t even get to the gym because of two end of day meetings. PT means I didn’t miss a Monday though.
Tuesday: some fun Lunar New Year art to and from a meeting. Gym after work for PT, yoga.
Wednesday: I don’t remember. Oops. Probably worked late.
Thursday: return of the office run group. We’ve done this route seventeen times. This was probably our slowest as we’re both in PT for various injuries. It was a cold but manageable evening.

Friday: yoga ball taming! AKA, PT and yoga and bib pickup for Saturday’s Frozen Penguin

Saturday: my fourth Frozen Penguin, and first with Elizabeth. It was so (relatively) warm & foggy it was nuts. More on this Tuesday. It was great.

Sunday: Super Bowl Runday! My Garmin had a bit too much beer, but it was a lovely day to be in Central Park. More on both of these races Tuesday.

Plan for the week:

Monday, Thursday: PT
Run when I can, rest & PT when I can’t
Sunday: Manhattan 7 Miler. Nervous about Harlem Hills, although I had no issue with Cat Hill this week.

GoTheDist

I meant what I said. No goals for January or even 2020 as I focused on healing.But I did track my numbers because it has just become habit:

400,508 steps
175.31 miles run/walked
43.78 miles run

I didn’t even think about daily step goal other than Friday, January 31 as my spreadsheet told me that if I hit goal that day I’d get 400K for the month. Not chasing pointless steps was a smart move.

12 gym visits; 49 for September – February cycle. Whee. On track.

No goals for February. Just continuing PT/prehab/yoga and running when I can. Bermuda is going to be amazing whether I run or walk the Half, or some combo thereof.

January 19, 2020January 19, 2020

PT 2020 Week 2: Runners are the Best People

subtitle prior to Saturday: making time for all the things, which is also true.

A few weeks ago, Deborah mentioned that she’d be in New York and I had a bad feeling that I wouldn’t be — while Darlene and I almost always catch up when she’s here, I’ve missed blogger visits all too often when I’m out of town myself. The stars aligned this time and we met for drinks on a snowy Saturday afternoon.

We had such an amazing time. I’m pretty sure we didn’t shut up once and would still be nibbling on popcorn if we didn’t need to get to other evening plans. Runners really are the best people. While I always do better in very small groups or one on one, I never even got nervous thinking about this-mainly because I felt like I already knew Deborah from nearly two years of reading each other’s blogs and social media. Yep, Cherry Blossom marks two years of starting to meet most of you. WOW.

As an aside, while we did manage to run together last week, Darlene and I have not run together way more than we’ve run together lately. #RunnersNotRunning really is or should be a thing. This is also pretty much why I’d default to Friends v. Running Friends. We all may have met through running, but there are so many amazing people here that I dare say we’d be friends no matter what we were doing.

This was making the rounds in some of the running Facebook groups and I had to laugh. Here’s my board

There was a runner who had a game and BINGO was her name-o

I guess I could claim a DNF in my DNSes, but to me that’s different. Of the ones I didn’t get I’d say it’s a mix of possible: costume, DNF, lose a key and an impossible/not likely: stroller, dog, Disney, Boston, winning age group, streaking. And let’s just say I hope I never poop my pants, but I wouldn’t be the first or the last runner to do so.

Weekly Run Down with Kim and Deborah:

never miss a Monday: while I was eager to run to PT with my knew running backpack, I was not about to run three days in a row. PT was a mix of balance and strength training. The balance work really needs to be an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos, but my main PT swears I’m getting better. I definitely feel like the strength training is helping. I went to the gym after work to get in some of the stretches and other exercises that there just isn’t time for during a one hour session, especially when some time is spent working on my IT band.

Tuesday: well technically another chapter of running friends, although it wasn’t the ducks. I was just fascinated by them all sleeping in a near straight line. I had a late start to work due to an exhibit preview in Queens (go see Kubrick at Moving Image!) so Elizabeth and I met up to run the reservoir. We were too tired & forgot to take a photo, but the run and miles happened. I swear 😀
Wednesday: one of the days that lead to this post’s original subtitles. PT, a luncheon, some training, a metric ton of email. A good chunk of the PT session was her working on the hip/knee/tendon as it was tender to the touch putting on leggings and a little swollen. Her work helped and walking wasn’t sore the rest of the day – which was good because I had a meeting in a location where the trains didn’t really help. You can do many things in Manhattan – going diagonal isn’t easy.

Thursday: had all the things to run outside after work, but the temperatures were dropping and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be a good workout, so after stopping by NYRR to get Darlene’s Lebow bib and checking out the spring “fashion”, I headed to the gym. Knee was feeling better, but the treadmill pounding wasn’t, so I headed to the elliptical for 25m. I really really love that evil workout. Followed this with a full set of PT.
Friday: another late night at the office. But I got through the inbox ahead of the weekend. No step goal. No gym. Although there are always days like these, it overall feels good to be active again. The two weeks of running combined with the general sedentary element of the suburbs were hard.

Saturday: snowy snowy Saturday. I’d take the hit for it, but it was already snowing when I opted to wear the wonderful Brooks shirt. I had a late start due to a real feel of 16F and headed to the gym. The original thought was a semi-long run, but the reality was two miles of speed work since I wanted to be sure I had time to do my stretches to keep the hip from tightening up. I alternated 5.5 and 5.8 for .2 / .1 / .15 intervals and it felt good overall. Hard, because I’ve done no speed in a month, but a good hard. The time felt familiar and it was about twenty seconds faster than my July time trial. On the down side, treadmill is more climate controlled, but on the plus side, I’ve done virtually no speed work since the marathon and coming off injury. So it’s neither an improvement nor a fall off. Nice to see I can hit these paces when the runs of late have deliberately been jogs to heal. I forgot to tell Runkeeper I deferred. Not to worry, it told me.

Not running it, but silly fun still mandatory

Sunday: Elizabeth and I cheered on Darlene and the other Lebow runners. I love having the chance to do this and still be a part of my favorite race. It was a beautiful January day. Followed it with PT and some overdue sushi

Plan for the week:

Monday: office closed; run to and from PT?
Tuesday: off/cross
Wednesday: run to PT before my flight?
Thursday – Sunday: fun in the sun. No race, but there will be some beach runs. I already sent my foam roller on ahead with mom’s husband who drove down and am packing my bands to keep up the PT.

January 14, 2020

Tuesday Topics: 2019 in Review and 2020 Plans

Yeah. This has been marinating for a bit. Between the injury that spanned 2019-2020 (some things never change) and the uncertainty around it, I wanted to wait until a place when I was more settled. Yep, running/training is a head game.

Joining up with Kim and Zenaida to talk 2019/2020 in running. And in my delay, I’m accidentally on topic.

—

so I don’t have 2020 running goals-yet- but I am thinking about what I want from the year. I also haven’t done a proper 2019 in running because it could be summed up as HOLY SHIT, I RAN A MARATHON!!! Given that I successfully completed the NYC Marathon, I was happy with 2019 but wanted to take this chance to look back on my 2019 goals.

But first I had to actually go back and put my 2019 steps since injury in my log. Yep, major ostriching there because not hitting goals, even with a legit reason, really bothers me.

Running: B

Mark two years running in some fun way: January 6 ☑
Run 800 miles.☑
Run the NYC Marathon ☑
Don’t get injured
PR in the Half Marathon: 2:34:35 (Brooklyn)
PR in a 10K: 1:10:11 (Women’s Mini 2018)

I’ll be honest, once June and marathon training started, I didn’t care about anything but 3/4. Three of my four Halfs were while I was walking wounded and fourth was in the leadup to the marathon, so wasn’t risking anything. I didn’t PR in the Mini, but the 2019 race was so much better than 2018’s struggle bus. And the injury well, better now than during marathon training. More on the PRs below in 2020.

Walking: A

5.75m steps on the year ☑
Run/Walk 2,600 miles ☑
Do the Great Saunter?

Had both of these well in land before the IT band issue rendered me somewhat less mobile. I opted not to do Saunter as it seemed risky coming off the Achilles, so calling that choice a smart one. It’s not something I missed out on as it was always TBD.

December Totals

351,623 steps
154.66 miles run/walked
38.73 miles run

9 gym visits/37 September – February cycle

2019 Totals

5,898,830 steps
2640.71 miles run/walked
862.97 miles run

December steps were were my lowest since I started running, but hard to be disappointed in the year. Although yeah. That .03 miles. LOL.

While I’m not officially doing #RunTheYear this year, I’m continuing on with GoTheDist. Re-thinking the challenge and my goals has been a fun hard as it has always been a version of Beat Yesterday with yesterday being the prior month, or that month the prior year, but that’s not going to work so well without another year of marathon training. More on that below in 2020 goals.

Weight: A

I can’t count the number of times I’ve said that the coming year was the last I was going to start overweight. I’ve failed each time. But I’m happy with what I did this year even if it wasn’t perfect. I can do way more than I ever thought my body could and the scale is headed in the right direction. So keep it up, and buckle down a little.

I’m down year on year and lost weight during marathon training. Calling that a victory.

Other: B

New states. None new in 2019 but 50 before 50 still a possibility. Maybe my old southern road trip that hasn’t happened for three years running. ☑
Read 100 books again. Probably not doable as I don’t have two beach vacations in the plans, but it’s something to shoot for. Mid 80s would be acceptable. I’ll finish 2018 with 105, probably.
Upgrade my wardrobe. I have some pieces I love, but also many I don’t and some that don’t love me. Bless Poshmark for this. ☑

Marathon training killed my reading. Got 70 read. Got four new states though, and that trip was amazing. Wardrobe is a work in progress, but I’m getting there.

2020 Plans

I need to get away from the numbers, since missing number goals just frustrates me. Usually unnecessarily, but why ramp up the anxiety? Similar to ceasing to live and die by the scale, I want to look at my 2020 goals differently this year.

Run Smart. I learned in 2019’s physical therapy that dem bones isn’t just a childhood song. Our bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and beyond are connected in so many ways. I’m using 2020’s physical therapy to fix my running forms (my hips are never aligned!)
Heal. Part of the reason I sat on this until mid January was I didn’t want to rush it. I have no step/distance or other goals for January/February other than follow PT and (hopefully) be able to run without pain. I don’t want to rush anything and risk the balance of the year..
After the marathon, my goal was to PR in the Half in 2020. I’m putting a pin in that right now. Not for good, but for the first half of the year. While I have started running since being cleared by my PT, it’s just jogging and no workouts, and I don’t want to put pressure on the knee. I also don’t really want to do treadmill speedwork coming off this, which is the best winter solution. So I’m going to enjoy Bermuda (which, to be honest, was always the plan for that one) and maybe think about a fall half. Any suggestions (besides Mohawk Hudson, Darlene/Judy, that’s on the list) and Staten Island?
Summer or Fall racecation? this was on here before I decided to do Cherry Blossom in lieu of the deferred Fort Lauderdale. I might find the budget and PTO to do another. Any favorite US races? With Spain and Bermuda on the calendar, an international racecation will have to wait.

January 12, 2020January 12, 2020

PT 2020 Week 1: “I Like Hard”

This week marked my third running anniversary. With it falling on a weekday and my not running that day due to PT, I didn’t mark it in any special way. I will… just haven’t decided the form it will take. I’m the worst at doing things on the actual day anyway.

I officially deferred Fort Lauderdale. The deadline to do so was January 15 and I figured rushing back up and/or doing this undertrained was a recipe for further issues. I’m completely fine with this decision and am on to Bermuda. In the interim I look forward to the Frozen Penguin (! yay, my favorite) and Gridiron on Super Bowl weekend.

With morning PT appointments again, I look forward to run commuting there as a warmup. Yes, somehow in the last year I’ve become a morning person. I look forward to building back sustainably. Because I’m giving up Lauderdale, I’m pretty sure I’m going to do Cherry Blossom. Yes, the Amtrak 40% coupon helped with that.

Linking up with Kim and Deborah for a Weekly Run Down with more running than in the last few weeks:

never miss a Monday was back, with my PT intake appointment. I love Greg, Spear and the PT student who was working with him to assess me. There were no surprises. I have some tightness and imbalances, but my flexibility is better than it was a year ago. This is part of why I wanted to go back to the same one – he knew my normal. Even better, they gave me the all clear to run if it doesn’t hurt, and she’s determined to get me into a Prayer Squat, which I haven’t been able to do since I caught softball in high school. This was followed by a wonderful dinner with Darlene and Elizabeth.
Tuesday: PT encouraged me to run and who am I to disagree with my PT? A gorgeous East River runrise that felt really good.
Wednesday: first full PT session, and the inspiration for this post title. Wall sits and single legged squats are a bitch, but I want to be stronger, not just fix the pain. My glute at one point was wiggling with fatigue. Ever grateful for Skirt hiding that from general view.

we must do what the JackRabbit sign says!

Thursday: in an anti-preview for what was to come at the weekend, it was FREEZING. Neither this nor our respective injuries kept Darlene and I from run/walking the lower loop in Central Park. First use of my light vest in a while and was pleasantly surprised how well the batteries held out. Post-run was some retail therapy. Shoes for her, the beautifully ugly Brooks Run Merry ugly shirt for me.
Friday: off. Headed to Mom’s after work.

Saturday: not much time for running since I slept in a little (7), but there was no way I was missing out 60s in January. A quick two mile shakeout before a quick trip to Albany to see my niece for her 2nd birthday. I focused hard on my PT so I didn’t tighten up due to four hours in the car and an hour on the train, and while I was a little stiff it wasn’t bad.

Sunday: 66 degrees + January = Central Park. I headed to the reservoir for the relatively flat terrain, but did some wiggling. I didn’t have an exact mileage plan, just to see how it felt. Ended up about 5.5 miles and I was happy with that. Early on I had to pause some to stretch, but knee never felt worse. And no, I wasn’t remotely cold in the Skirt and tee, even walking home after coffee. And yes, I was wearing a buff and hat in the same park on Thursday. Could I have gone longer? Sure. Was it smart to stop? I think so. No reason to exacerbate this.

Plan for the Week:

Monday: PT
Tuesday: run
Wednesday: PT
Thursday: run?
Friday: off
Saturday: run? Mischief with friends
Sunday: run? depending on Saturday.

January 5, 2020

Physical Therapy 2020: Week 0

I was working on a post to closeout 2019 and share my 2020 goals, when a wonderful thing happened. I realized I could run a little!

Linking up with Deborah and Kim to share this week.

Had an amazing weekend in the Rochester area with my college roommate and her kids. We share an obsession with all things buffalo so the food to accompany endless board games were: buffalo chicken dip, a keto BLT dip that was my hands-down favorite and dessert was a Keto cookie dough dip. The latter was much better the next day once we doctored it a bit with more cream cheese – the called for sweetener was way too much.

I brought my PT bands and a small roller ball to Rochester. Having a large space (aka house in the suburbs sized living room) to do the four pages of knee/hip exercises was wonderful. My college roommate’s kitchen counter was the perfect height for the calf stretches that go back to my Achilles PT. By week’s end it was starting to feel better and I was curious whether that was seven days of PT exercises, or generally walking way less (and way fewer stairs) than when at home.

Those two and an aerial view of the marathon route were my welcome home. Although my knee was sore from sitting (you don’t sit much when spending time with an eight and three year old), the commute back from the airport on Thursday wasn’t bad. I noticed on Friday that my leg/hip was tightening up as I sat at work all day. While I got out briefly for lunch, I didn’t go far so made the decision to walk to the gym after work.

As I was in the middle of an amazing book – seriously, loved Scott Fauble & Ben Rosario’s writing about Fauble’s 2018 NYC Marathon training – I was curious to see if I could cycle without pain. Victory! I followed that with the full complement of PT exercises including the ever indecent ball squeeze.

face of someone happy that running wasn’t too painful

I had a slow start on Saturday as I was tired and much as I wanted to run, I was afraid it was going to hurt. I finally got out the door around one and decided to run in the direction of the gym as I wanted to do PT anyway and this route had buses if it went pear shaped. I mixed walking and running as up/down hills felt worse, but it was overall OK. After most of the PT (didn’t bring band for clamshells as there’s a limit to Skirt pockets) and a short cycle, I ran back home. It was a busier road so I had many light breaks, but no walks. This felt great, mentally.

Sunday I expected the knee to be sore, and it was, but nowhere near as bad as it had been before the PT exercises. I had some errands, including Urban Athletics’ going out of business sale, and then went back to the gym for the PT. Yes, gym is the easiest place for PT as I just do not have the room at home (bucket list, Deborah’s in-home yoga space and the space for one!) It felt so good to purposefully walk at a speed that felt closer to exercise, even if I didn’t get step goal. Baby steps!

Plan for the week:

PT consult Monday. Run when I can, strength train when I can’t.

December 29, 2019

Oh my right knee, you old frenemy

Not a Weekly Run Down, as there was a strong lack of running, but linking up with Deborah and Kim to talk about my knee diagnosis and some other 2019 odds and ends.

Am I disappointed in the injury? I think frustrated is a better word. I ran 862.97 miles in 2019. Four half marathons and the NYC Marathon this year, I met some amazing people. I wish it had ended differently, but disappointed doesn’t work for me.

This week’s exercise:

Monday: stretch and foam roll
Tuesday: tried to run, made it 50 feet
Friday: went for a walk after ortho, it wasn’t bad. PT after
Saturday: stretch, PT and foam roll. Realized rowing didn’t hurt, so 2K row
Sunday: literally running errands. Run / walk. Ice and PT after.

On the Knee:

I was able to get in to see the orthopedist on Friday afternoon. It was a new to me doctor, although I knew the practice. As is their normal, they had me do x-rays first and then a metric ton of paperwork. There is nowhere else I feel handwriting/penmanship is a use it or lose it more than doctor’s forms.

I was glad to have a good book (hi Book of Life and the amazing All Souls Trilogy, 1600+ pages still 1.99 on Kindle) as there’s often a wait. I can’t say I minded too much as getting me in with less than 24 hours notice didn’t do much for their schedule.

Dr. Lopez is a welcoming face – such as you ever really want to see a doctor. As he listened to symptoms, onset and examined the scars of a 20+ year ago surgery on my right knee, he began to manipulate that leg as well as the other to compare. I didn’t tell him of my thoughts of the IT band but knew he was thinking the same when he began to palpate that area of my thigh.

He had me turn to my left side and brought out the ultrasound. Since I couldn’t see the screen, he narrated what he was looking at as he continued to touch, bend and adjust my leg. After confirming that my knee wasn’t pregnant he said the ligaments looked good, no arthritis or bursitis. We then reviewed the x-rays, which were clean aside from a possible spur, which has been a possible spur for five or so years. AKA no worse.

He gave me a prescription for PT and some home exercises. Due to some travel this week, I can’t get in for my first appointment until 1/6, but I’ve packed my bands, small ball and will stretch as much as possible. I’m not even packing my sneakers, which feels weird. But I think the break from running will be better for the knee.

Next up:

2019 Recap: so many good things. Maybe for Friday coffee.
2020 Goals; I want to think about this some while traveling this week, and maybe wait until week one of PT to hear his assessment

December 26, 2019December 27, 2019

Runfessions of a sidelined runner

Today I’m linking up with Marcia at Marcia’s Healthy Slice for her monthly Runfessions linkup. Be sure to check out her blog and those of the other great bloggers linking up.

My primary topic? The first injury that has kept me from running.

Yep, I ran through plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonosis. This knee pain that I think/hope is just a big IT band flare is impossible to run through. I got in a mile on Sunday but couldn’t get more than a few feet on Tuesday. ~~Hopefully by Friday afternoon I’ll have an answer as to whether it’s ITB, or something else and a course of treatment~~. ETA: Confirmed, IT Band and Patellafemoral Pain Syndrome. Back to PT on 1/6, but home exercises in the mean time. I <3 my orthopedist. As he ran the ultrasound on my knee: I promise, your knee isn’t pregnant.

Hopefully, because not running is driving me nuts. I know it has been a great release for me, but I really, really missed it over the holidays. I runfess that If I physically could without pain, I would. But I’m listening to my body. While at mom’s I stretched as much as I could and when I got home tonight I foam rolled for about an hour. Hurts so good.

It’s super confusing as I have no idea why it started hurting. I ran last Wednesday and the only memorable event was catching my foot on uneven sidewalk. I didn’t think anything of the knee when it started to hurt as that sometimes happens. But then it got worse or at the very least didn’t get any better. The good news is, walking is less painful and stairs are fine. I could take Advil and make it “better”, but I hate relying on that.

I runfess that this week of being sidelined has put a damper on my 2020 goal planning. I wasn’t likely to be able to run on Jan 1 anyway as I’m going to be out of town, but I wanted to have a plan for running into the new year, and I can’t do that as I don’t know when I’ll be able to run pain free. So I’m ostriching. Not making 2020 plans and not thinking about the races I’ve registered for, but (might) not be able to run.

I runfess that I know it will ultimately be fine. I’m in a city of world class doctors, I know a great physical therapist and I’m lucky to have excellent health insurance. But I’m very disappointed to end the year hobbled and possibly not be able to mark my running anniversary running.

Lest it sound like all is bad, it isn’t. I had an amazing holiday with my family. I’m looking forward to New Years with a dear friend and her kids. I just wish my knee wasn’t so painful.

What do you have to runfess?

Ever dealt with IT Band or other knee issues?

December 22, 2019

Dashing through December with Jingle Bells

Where on earth did this month go? How is it already Christmas week? Apologies for a comments blitz of late. I’m trying desperately to catch up. One of these days I’ll either put email on my phone or figure out how to blog. Not gonna happen.

It’s not even technically winter yet as I type this on Wednesday, but I’m already smelling spring as I got into the Cherry Blossom 10M. I ran this in 2018 and this was when I first “met” some of you when Coco found my recap. While I’m not sure I can actually go in April due to some travel on either side.

First I need to get my cranky IT band back to 100%. Baby steps.

If you celebrate something this time of year, enjoy it.

Race recap: Delray Jingle Bell Jog.

I eyed this race last year when I was in Fort Lauderdale but I decided it was too far for a 5K. Hmm, sounds like the reason I haven’t done Brooklyn’s. This year I was actually staying in Delray and the calendar worked, so I signed up. Rather than a tee shirt, this race provides you with a Santa suit. I’m 5’2 and it’s sized to fit someone a foot taller and wider, so it never was practical. Luckily Delray has all the chains and I hit up TJ Maxx, Ross, Stein Mart, two running stores and Target to find a red shirt to run in. Spoiler, I should have just gone to Target first.

The race begins (and ends) in Anchor Park so I had a nice two mile run from the condo to the start. I left a little later than planned, because 6:30 is early and as a result I hit Delray “traffic” aka the drawbridge. As we waited, I met another runner out for a morning run and we got to chatting. While Delray isn’t a particularly small town, the running community felt it — everyone chatted or waved. Due to the bridge and generally late start, I got to the start just before we set off and I lined up with all the other Santas, elves and winter holiday finery.

We set out at the sound of a loud jingle bell and were off, up Casuarina and onto AIA where we ran for a mile and change before turning around and coming back to Anchor Park. The lead / escort vehicle was a surfing Santa in a red sports car. Awesome! There was one water station that served the out and back and really, is there a better combination than palm trees and Santas?

When we got back to Anchor Park there were medals – I won’t lie, the main reason I did this race – beer and ice cream. Not typically a breakfast beer person, but this was cold and refreshing. I also won an OrangeTheory water bottle. Once I’d cooled down, I didn’t want to start running again so I walked back to the condo via a delicious breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe.

I’d do this race again if I was in Delray that weekend, but it’s not (nor is it meant to be) a destination race. However, it has multiple locations and I’d certainly try another location too if that worked. A fun, local fun run.

Double Weekly Run Down with Kim and Deborah:

Week of 12/9:

I missed a Monday, but I knew I would with the gala. It went well.

Tuesday: I had full blessing from my boss to sleep in and show up when I wanted to given the long hours/late night for the gala. Not only could I not fall asleep, but I was wide awake at 5:30. Luckily I have a dear friend who is also a morning person and was happy to go out with me. We walked, ran and forgot to pause the Garmin while we chit-chatted on a beautiful December morning in Central Park.
Wednesday: bupkus. Much delayed flight to Florida.

Thursday: new location, old running habits. Had to find the shortest route to the beach that didn’t involve running on US1. Check!
Friday: lots of walking errands to try and find a red shirt for the Jingle Bell Jog as the Santa suit was way too big.

Saturday: Delray Jingle Bell Jog. So much silly fun that started off with a gorgeous sunrise over the intracoastal and ended up with ~1200 Santas. This should have been a longer run with the beginning of half marathon training, but determined not to get injured again.’

Sunday: would have been a beautiful morning to run, but my Achilles were feeling the hills and not enough (OK, any) stretching, rolling or PT so I walked to the beach and sat there four a couple of hours before watching Eli Manning’s amazing swan song.

Week of 12/16:

never miss a Monday: one last Florida run with some crazy birds before a return to reality.
Tuesday: aforementioned icy rain reality. Digging out of my inbox and a lovely evening catching up with a friend over sushi.

Wednesday: beautiful winter morning and the last day before it turns to the teens so I scooted out for four wake up miles. Knee cranky after standing during holiday party and more no stretching so I hit the gym after for some PT.
Thursday: holiday lights, long foam roll.
Friday: time to start shopping
Saturday: long foam roll
Sunday: tried to run, knee wasn’t great but walking was better than it had been so taking that as good sign.

Plan for the week: run if I can, foam roll a lot.

December 8, 2019

Ted Corbitt 2019

Original post title: Trying not to run on caffeine and sugar.

That was before this became a pointless weekly run down due to a wonderfully crazy work week. My office has our annual gala on Monday and I wear a lot of hats for that. On the plus side, I made relatively good decisions for real food and not venti sugar bombs and as a result, I slept except for some Monday night insomnia. I’ll touch on what little running actually happened after my Ted Corbitt recap, but first…

What I said last week about only two things for Black Friday was true, and then Cyber Monday hit. Still on the running theme, I got:

Project Repat T-Shirt Quilt. I’ve been dithering on this since Kim mentioned a quilt she had made a few years ago. The 55% off gift card made me pull the trigger.
JackRabbit sale and coupon on sale for my 1080s. I hate the new ones, so glad to stash a pair of the v9s especially as my “new” ones are already 100+ as I ended up wearing them for the marathon. Oddly the ones I bought were the runners up in August.

Ted Corbitt 15K recap:

At one point, I wasn’t going to run Ted. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel a month out from the marathon – the rest one day for every mile run adage can be confusing for a first time marathoner. And then as I got further into training and wasn’t trashed after 20 miles, I realized I’d be able to run 15K just fine and I signed up.

Ted is one of my favorite races (2017, 2018 recaps) and running it in his centennial year just seemed right. The giveaway was a pair of gloves, which I like. As someone who is forever losing her gloves, can never have too many.

I’m not a huge weather stalker – but found myself peering at it this week. It looked like it was going to be a downright balmy 20/30s. Sold. I didn’t get a good Flat Cari as I’m still using my stepstool as a staging post. That’s the 2017 shirt, which remains one of my favorites. It’s a vivid blue. I layered the NYC Half long-sleeve tee under it. Bottoms were my favorite LBCs, Black Winterland. It was so nice not to need all the layers. I was partially still marathon Cari with my Run NYC hat and marathon gloves.

I left between 7:45 and 8 to run to the start. I saw a message on NYRR’s Facebook Friday night that mentioned the new start. I’m glad I saw that otherwise I totally would have run to 102. This was somewhere I’ve never seen an NYRR race start so there was some zig zagging to find the start line. While I don’t like rushing-and getting a bit of pedestrian rage – it had the added benefit of not having to wait at the start and not cooling down.

Just shy of mile two, I was lapped by the eventual winner who was passing mile seven. A fellow runner and I just looked at one another and said WOW. .There really is no other reaction possible. I feel badly for the local runners who might otherwise have won without a sponsored athlete going sub 5 minute miles.

Me? I finished ahead of 400, not 4000 others. I had so much fun. I really like the new course and one amazing benefit of marathon training is that Cat Hill or the first round of Three Sisters didn’t faze me. Second set did, but that was more tired legs 11 miles in.

I didn’t look at my prior times before this week, so I really had no idea how I was running vs. prior years. I need to find the switch from long run to race, but this wasn’t really the run to figure it out. That I had enough in the tank to kick it up a notch in the final mile means I could have gone faster, but PR chasing wasn’t a goal.

As I turned onto the 72nd St. transverse for the last tenth or so, I hear someone calling me and see this maroon blur streak in. It was so good to see Amy, one of the Rogue coaches coming off their Saturday run. Was glad to find her after the finish for a hug and hello. It was short as we were both freezing when we stopped moving.

It’s pretty safe to say that Ted is one of my favorites that I’ll return to every December. It’s a nice year-end since I’ve never done the Midnight Run. I was also reminded of why I truly love the half marathon distance and I’m excited to properly train for one.

Weekly run down with Kim and Deborah:

Monday: planned missed Monday due to Winter’s Eve with two of my favorite people. Too cold & raw even to walk to the bus at 79th, so no step goal.
Tuesday: couldn’t sleep, so after trying to fall back to sleep from 4-5, I headed to the gym to kickoff half marathon training with a treadmill lactate threshold workout since it was still snowing. 3x 10m at 5.4mph and 2m recovery at 5.0.
Thursday: I at least made it to the gym for some PT before it closed.
Saturday: Ted Corbitt 15K
Sunday: 25m row; yoga and PT.

Plan for this week:

Monday: off; gala
Tuesday: run?
Wednesday: run?/fly
Thursday: run? packet pickup
Friday: off
Saturday: Delray Jingle Bell Jog
Sunday: morning walk to the beach?

December 1, 2019December 7, 2019

Thankful for running

I’m the worst about doing those gratitude posts on social media. I always feel like I’d leave out someone or something, or I’d start strong and peter off because I’ve never been a daily poster. And after I’d started this on Monday, I realized it was the Tuesday Topics. Fail on me.

I know I’ve said this approximately eleventy billion times across the marathon journey, but I’m really grateful for the running community. So many amazing people.

Did you go bonkers for Black Friday? I really didn’t, but I bought myself two presents. The first, to no surprise, is the Skirt Sports’ 25% off everything on top of the month-long 40% off or more! I needed another capri and went with Lioness as there are no more LBCs that I need. And now I’ll have black in Gym Girl, LBC and Lioness. While I didn’t love running long in it, it worked for the Albany Half and puttering around on Marathon Monday. I love the freedom of thinking not everything needs to work for 18/20 miles.

The other purchase? I badly needed a new Keurig. Mine was a hand me down nearly three years ago. It no longer made a 10 oz cup, and never felt clean enough for my liking. So I’m the owner of a K Select in Oasis, because who wants boring colors? Of course I still had to buy coffee twice at the weekend because I hadn’t set it up. It will be ready for Friday’s Coffee Date… whether I will is another story.

Weekly run down with Deborah and Kim:

Never miss a Monday: Run/walk with Elizabeth. Still very much loving the NoxGear Tracer 360, getting the playing with it out of my system. We took a detour from the standard three-ish mile loop to say hi to Fred.
Tuesday: coffee with a friend

construction gates never looked that good

Ready for the parade Macy’s on the way out of the city

Wednesday: morning miles before work. My watch had some egg nog, apparently because I do not run nine or four minute miles. I ended the run and started a new one and it behaved. So glad to have East RIver path fully open for the first time in years so no more stairs!

Thursday: no Trots worked for my schedule, but I did get in three miles before we drove to Albany. Nowhere near a PR, but negative splits like I haven’t seen in eons.

Friday: walk around 5 Rivers with family, coffee with Darlene before driving home.

Running with Elizabeth and running into her friend

Saturday: my first without Rogue scheduled since June. Elizabeth and I met in the Park and ran into one of her friends while on the West Side. The wet spot? Her trying to teach me to drink from a water bottle spout v opening the bottle. I really, really love the impulse purchase marathon hat. All Skirt with Pocketopia and Watch Me Go, which worked well on a blustery day. One thing I don’t miss about marathon training – I can run just to run, don’t need specific miles. Half marathon training starts this week though.

Sunday: I wanted to run since I knew I couldn’t Monday. I woke to icy rain and ended up taking the bus to the gym. I didn’t have my headphones so couldn’t stay on treadmill, ended up with a swetball of an elliptical session.

Plan for the Week:

Monday: off; Winter’s Eve with Darlene and Elizabeth
Tuesday – Friday; crap shoot with work. I’ll get some runs in
Saturday: Ted Corbett 15K
Sunday: crap shoot, gala Monday.

GoTheDist:

November totals:

468,102 steps
213.97 miles run/walked
75.89 miles run

Year to Date:

5,547,207 steps
2486.05 miles run/walked
824.24 miles run

Note: 998,569 steps Q4 to date, I remember when that was a stretch quarter goal. I won’t lie, 825 miles run would have been nice albeit meaningless.

2018 step/mile goals are good, and I’d forgotten about the PR goals.

8 gym visits; 28 for September – February cycle.

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