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Review: The Plant Based Runner

On Reading

Yay, I can start a Weekly Run Down post with something other than PT, although I am still in and loving PT. This week I wanted to share my review of Jonathan Cairns’ The Plant Based Runner. Note: I received a copy of this book for review, but all opinions are my own.

Running, reading and relaxing in the lead up to the #NYCHalf Click To Tweet

Two main takeaways I loved from this book:

  • Know your why
  • Change the plan, don’t change the goal

Cairns is an overweight, divorced father turned wannabe vegan ultra runner. This book explores his journey between those points.  Although I don’t subscribe to the full extent of his beliefs and dietary choices, I really appreciate the path he took to them. He read a lot and read the information presented with a critical lens to arrive at the place that worked best for him and his progress as an athlete. He’s 100% correct, there’s information out there to support whichever side you wish to follow, you need to know your body and your why. And realize that nothing will change until you do.

I’m still surprised at how I ended up virtually giving up soda almost accidentally. We got more seltzer in the office and I found so long as I had the fizz, I’d drink. You can still pry the diet root beer from my cold, dead hands. I’ve mentioned a couple of times here that what I eat definitely has an impact on how I feel/run, but I’m not yet compelled to give up sugar, dairy and meat. I did love his advantage of Irish (or at least not American-English) slang for this poetry when it comes to refined sugar: white is shite.

Changing the plan vs. goal has been a huge part of this half marathon training cycle for me. I wanted to run three in three months (well really eight weeks!) and while the achilles injury changed the training plan, the goal is on track. The larger goal of the marathon remains on track.

While I have no desire to or interest in running an ultra, I enjoyed following his journey and the interspersed quotes and race recaps. Read more from the author on his blog or enjoy his amazing Instagram photos.

Physical Therapy

When I spoke with my PT about the hip pain on Monday morning, he decided to work on that first and decided it’s not the hip flexor, but rather the TFL. Per google (and LIz who was quicker than I was, “Tensor fascia latae“. Per my PT, it’s common in compensating for stability issues. This whole Achilles issue is similar to when I had a knee injury back in high school. Back, hip. We really are all connected like that old childhood song: leg bone connected to the foot bone. Not to mention all the muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Monday night he gave me the homework of working on breathing, activating my core and pressing my back into the floor. We’re working toward the Dead Bug and since I know I have the coordination of a dead bug, that isn’t going to end well. But we’ll get some laughs in as I try. Monster Walks on my toes are my new favorite.

That said, I still feel like I’m making progress and the Achilles is in a good place for the NYC Half, which is somehow less than two weeks away. It will be a week away by the time this posts. Plan is & remains to have fun and enjoy every step.

NYC Half Goals:

  • Have fun
  • Don’t re injure the Achilles
  • Finish smiling

Yep, that’s literally it. No time goal other than finishing. I may be one and done without some lottery luck, so want to make the most of it.

Weekly Run Down with Deborah and Kim:

  • Monday: snow day PT and a museum press event. The snow was a complete non event, but I’ll take the work from home day to review some documents that are hard to get to in busy open plan office. Capped it off with a lovely sunset walk with Darlene. When we could see the Verrazano Bridge it was surreal to think that in almost eight months exactly we’d be standing on the far side ready to run the city. Fitbit calls this 9.46 miles, I call it: never miss a Monday complete.
  • Tuesday: Darlene and I decided to meet and test our injuries. While it was too cold for a selfie, we got another gorgeous sunset. The weekend’s snow had done a number on the non-paved parts of the park and neither of our legs were doing well with the cold and hills so we took it easy in a three mile run/walk. Slow and steady better than crash and burn ahead of the NYC Half.
  • Wednesday: PT and talk about graduating out after the Half. More work on core and trying to figure out whether I can do Dead Bug. No formal exercise, dinner with friends.
#nevermatch, and proud of it
  • Thursday: as I dressed for our Office Run Group, a friend/colleague mentioned her admiration for my aggressive non-matching. This wasn’t even intentionally bad-I wanted a shirt with thumbholes and the black one is too hard to find sometimes in the dark of my closet and these tights were on top. What’s not pictured as much is the bright orange buff from Liz and neon yellow base layer. Beheaded to get full effect of colors without skin autocorrect. I’m a fan of comfort over matching, but this was some next level nonsense. Alas my coral shoes aren’t running shoes. On the actual run, it was a nice rebound from Tuesday. What I love about running with this group is that it pushes the pace. I know I give up on pace too early when I’m running solo, so this is a nice way to push it. He doesn’t push me beyond what he knows I can do, especially with the injury. Even slowing up as we crossed the pot-holed reservoir track, we had a good time and although I was sore after, I think that was the bitter cold. Post-run was a quick zip to the last open Payless in Manhattan to acquire a backup pair of the Mary Janes I love so much.
  • Friday: plan was to workout before a meeting, but meeting got moved earlier so this was replaced with a quick row and abbreviated PT exercises after work and before seeing a show. Patricia Kalember as Gloria Steinem is amazing and a behind-the-scenes tour of NYPL was pure magic. It’s rare that I see a piece of theater twice in a short window, but this was magic and resonant.
heaven is a place on earth
“A dream is like a river ever changing as it flows and a dreamer’s just a vessel that must follow where it goes.”
  • Saturday: that thing I said about what I eat impacting how I run? Yeah. It was a planned off day but the weather was remarkably decent and I wanted to go out so decided on a riverside shake out. I could not figure out why I had absolutely nothing in the tank. I’ve fueled many a run on cheerios and coffee. Why not this one? Oh self? You had a brownie for dinner last night. Turned this into a walk and some outdoor PT.
Happy drowned rat in Sidewinder Lotta Breeze capris
NYRR goodie bag
present to myself
  • Sunday: NYRR/New Balance hosting a shakeout run ahead of the NYC Half. Also a shakeout for my new capris which I want to wear for the Half. PURPLE! The weather was horrid and we lost an hour of sleep due to the clock change? What do I do? Play hopscotch to avoid puddles and had a blast for ~4.5 miles. It was windy too and sometimes wasn’t clear whether we were being hit with rain or river spray! We set off in 5M increments and I quickly realized the one I set off with wasn’t happening so ran on my own for most of miles two and three before dropping back to run with a duo of coach and runner who had run DC yesterday! and were moving way more my “speed”. Proud of myself for approaching strangers in the group run and we had a fun chat. Could I have finished faster? Absolutely. Was it more fun not to be alone? Yes. The ponchos I bought ahead of FLL were perfect and other than the neck area where rain got in because I couldn’t keep the hood up in the rain, I was dry. Was so glad for dry socks and shoes back at the Run Center though. Also awaiting us there was a free goodie bag that included the mug, fuel above and a 20% off coupon with which I treated myself to a hat. It’s purple! I never thought about a running hat as I so rarely wear ballcaps but the Yankee one I wore for Lebow and FLL is too hot for summer and gets gross, so curious to give this moisture wicking, performance one a go. Especially if I follow my current whim and wack my hair off in a few weeks.

Plan for the Week:

  • Monday: off, dinner with a friend
  • Tuesday: run?
  • Wednesday: PT
  • Thursday: run
  • Friday: volunteer at the Expo, maybe cross train. Finally saw the shirt & medal. I like the medal, and think I like the shirt color. Since I didn’t like the one for Poland Spring and won’t wear it on race day, I likely will not be wearing green for St. Pats.
  • Saturday: off
  • Sunday: NYC Half Marathon
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2019 Goals

 

Chess, running. What’s the difference?

As has become custom, I’m writing up my 2019 goals before I’ve hit my 2018 totals.

Prior Goals:

As I mentioned somewhere, I’m simplifying them. Last year was way too crazy and ultimately frustrating. So building on what I started:

Running

  • 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)

Even though it’s six goals, definitely simplified. 2,3 and 4 are really related. 800 will be an increase of approximately 125-130 on 2018 depending on final numbers. That should represent the increased mileage in training for my first full marathon (eek!) hopefully without getting injured. I should finish 2018 ~ 200 miles more than 2017.

The plan element is why I’m not including 5K PR in this. I have only one in the hopper and it’s early Feb and I’ve done no speed work, so it’s not happening. The 10K will probably also be the Women’s Mini, as I rarely do a 10K workout and if I do, it’s avoiding hills so doesn’t count. Half may be Florida as I’m undertrained for Lebow and want to just enjoy my first NYC Half.

I’m doing Run the Year for the 3rd year, tracking only running mileage.

Walking

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

I’m doing #GoTheDist again in 2019. Here’s the link if you want to sign up as well. I realized that February 2019 will mark four years of Team Fitbit. What an amazing motivational tool as was the Jawbone before it. Prior to that I only tracked intentional mileage, I think. As of December 26, 2018 I’ve walked 21,319,116 steps according to my Fitbit. Whoa. Last one is a question mark only as I’m not sure whether schedule will have me in town on May 4.

Weight

  • 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.

Other

  • 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.

Do you set yearly goals? If so, do you have any goals for 2019?

Running Coaches’ Corner

I’m also linking up with Lora from Crazy Running Girl, Marc from Train With Marc and Debbie from Coach Debbie Runs for Coaches’ Corner!

 

 

 

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NYC Marathon Week

I runfess that I completed my 2,018 miles run/walked on the year and didn’t even realize it. For some reason my brain was reading it was 2118 and I thought I was about 30 miles away. Whoops. So belated wahoo. It’s so surprising to realize that as recently as 2016, 1600+ was my mileage on the year. Even though I feel like my walking has suffered for my running, it really hasn’t.

Celebrating #NYCMarathon week with some miles of my own Click To Tweet

I’d like to say I’ve always enjoyed the week of the marathon, but that isn’t true. There are some years I’ve enjoyed cheering and others I was cranky because the cowbells woke me up, or I couldn’t get around the neighborhood to do errands I needed. But since I started running? I love it as I touched on in the Coffee post. Last year I watched Shalane win on TV as I was out of town, so I was glad to have the opportunity to watch live again this year. Such a wonderful environment. Cannot wait until I’m a part of it next year. Yes. I’ve officially decided I’m going to run New York if I don’t chicken out before reg opens. I don’t think I will – I’m excited for the challenge. Thinking of making it part of a 40 before 40 bucket list, but we’ll see if that happens.

NYRR Night of Champions: food, sponsor and honorees

One of the things I most enjoyed this year was NYRR’s Night of Champions fundraiser for Run for the Future. The honorees were Cathy Lasry, Shalane Flanagan and retiring Race Director Peter Ciaccia. What a night to celebrate some living legends. The borough themed appetizers were wonderful with Brooklyn a clear winner with a pickle bar and pretzel dogs. If you’re a fan of Peter Ciaccia and podcasts, his episode of the Morning Shakeout was a great listen.

October was a challenge to hit my goals, especially topping October 2017’s steps. I knew this would be the case because I was out of town two additional weeks this year. I ultimately fell short despite a solid last day of the month. On the plus side, should make November’s goals easier to exceed even with the Gala a few weeks earlier. More on that below.

I’m giving some serious thought to run commuting in November on some days I can’t get to the gym, so this post from Charlie was timely.

Weekly Wrap with Wendy and Holly. Oops, Marcia. Missed that swap:

  • Monday: planned off. Mom was supposed staying with me, a work event that stretched into evening and a ticket for the 24 Hour Plays meant there was no gym time happening. Mom didn’t end up staying with me, but I did get step goal.
  • Tuesday: quick and dirty better than nothing workout crammed into a short window I had available. Lunch was too heavy for a quality workout, but it was booked before I had this week’s runs planned. Finally remembered to take base speed up to 5.7mph and did the intervals at 6.2. I only needed two tenths of a mile recovery, which is a major gain.
  • Wednesday: was absolutely beautiful and I decided to run Central Park. I couldn’t do our exact office group as some of the marathon setup was in the way, but I did a version thereof. No great shakes speed wise as I’m coming down with a cold, but I got what I needed: 3 ish miles to cross 50 for the month. 700 probably won’t happen, but I’m going to get as close as I can. Was too dark by run’s end to get the photos, but I loved seeing the Marathon’s blue line and the signs on the barricades leading up to the finish. So inspiring.
  • Thursday: knew our office run group wasn’t happening in part due to schedule and in part due to our loop being broken up by the marathon staging and finish line. I wanted to run elsewhere outside but there was no time to get somewhere and have time to run before it got too dark. While there are almost always other runners about, I do’t generally feel comfortable running solo after dark. I knew I want/needed to run so I hit the gym and went PR chasing through intervals of 5.7/6.2 with a 6.4 closeout. I missed it by about six seconds. I’m actually totally fine with that since I have a slight cold and had I realized I was off math wise, I could have adjusted pace earlier to get the PR.  What I was most pleased about was that until the last two, I only needed .2 miles walk to recover and those last two were as much a factor of being super congested as actual fitness.
makeup, and a dress. Steps count double, right?
I goof, therefore I am
  • Friday: no time to get to the gym and I knew steps would be a challenge with the NYRR event after work. Luckily I opted to wear shoes I can walk in and the rain held out until I was at the event so I could walk to the marathon pavilion at 67th. Although part of West Drive was already closed, I could take in some of the parade of Nations, which is always fun. And then we could hear the fireworks from within the cocktail hour. Luckily speaking program was once they were done: and Peter Ciaccia had time to change. The rain started by the time I left but wasn’t heavy enough that I couldn’t hobble (dress shoes are for the birds) to 72nd to grab the subway back to the office to grab my bags and head home barely eking out my steps goal.
fall colors under the Hell Gate
Looking north to the former History Channel Building
  • Saturday: lazy lazy lazy until about 3:00 when I went to pick up my laundry and 3:30 when I headed out for a run. I didn’t really have a plan other than to avoid the marathon chaos and hopefully go long. I headed north along the esplanade and decided to head over the bridge to Wards Island to do the run I wanted to before heat got me a couple of weeks ago. The run was feeling good so I decided to see if I remembered where the pedestrian bridge back to Manhattan was. Much better marked than 2013. I then wiggled (so apparent in the map) down 1st/Pleasant/Manhattan Center for Science & Math Schoolyard/back to the Esplanade. lt in all it ended up coming in at 7.75 miles. I think I’m finally learning my different run paces, although this one was slower than a flatter course would have been as I had: stairs to the esplanade, ramp and bridge to Randalls Island, ramp and bridge to Triborough, and ramp and bridge back to the esplanade. By run’s end I was done with bridges and stairs so I took the road route back to Carl Schurz vs. the stairs again. Other than my left Achilles being annoying, it felt good. We’ll see how my stairs feel Sunday.
in the company of legends
    • Sunday: spectating the Marathon from Central Park. A couple more pics on IG. There are no words. Second fastest times in both fields and Mary Keitany’s second half splits are just mind-blowing. So happy to be right there to see all of it. Was too busy watching to remember to take pics when the victory lap was steps from us. It was a picture perfect day to be in Central Park and knowing I couldn’t cross 1st Avenue, I took the long way home walking from 65th & Central Park West via York & 57th. Briefly contemplated a run, but near walk’s end my Achilles was saying hi and I decided a day “off” (still walked 6.17 miles) was the smarter move.

 

  • Monday: Run or cross train
  • Tuesday: morning run or off
  • Wednesday: run
  • Thursday: office run group
  • Friday: off
  • Saturday: long run
  • Sunday: off. I know, I’m weird. But I much prefer Saturday long run so I have Sunday to relax.

Go The Dist Update:

I love this challenge, even if running mileage has meant less of an exact focus on steps. I’m also still truly a Fitbit addict

October

  • 433,684 Steps
  • 50.96 Miles Run
  • 190.08 Miles Run/Walked

I think it’s the first time I fell behind beating the same month the prior year. It’s about 11K steps off it. Disappointed, yes. But not in a bad sense. I managed the best month I could. Steps are just hard in suburbia, and the n’oreaster last weekend meant I was essentially sedentary Saturday as we couldn’t walk into town or play in the backyard with the kids,  never mind go for a run. Fall is challenging. I did what I could. Miles run was a factor of actually looking at the spreadsheet Monday and knowing I could get 50. I’m happy with this as I was essentially not around for any weekend long runs.

November is going to be another challenge as 2017’s total was 468,583 steps and there was no gala that month last year. It was also 63.83 miles run which is a more attainable challenge. Should be doable with December 15K / January Half training, but gala. I’m actually really looking forward to seeing whether I can do that.

2018 To Date

  • 4,745,593 Steps
  • 566.95 Miles Run
  • 2076.29 Miles Run/Walked

The goal was to hit 2,019 miles run/walked sooner than November 30 and to run/walk 2,500 miles on the year. I literally did not realize I’d already hit it until I was trying to workout why the spreadsheet said I needed negative mileage. Fail and as a result somewhat anticlimactic. So I’m not sure when I actually hit it, but it was at least a month ahead of schedule. WaHOO! Not sure on 2,500 but like October 2018 steps a and 700 miles run on the year, I’ll get as close as I can.

Time to start thinking about 2019 goals. Nuts.

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Training and Recovery, Week of 6.24 and #GoTheDist mid-year

You know those runs that are just absolute perfection in every way? That happened on Wednesday.

This was an interesting week, running wise. The original plan earlier in June was to take this week off as I had a feeling I’d be slightly burned out from all of the June races. In some ways, being sick last week and taking it easy cleared that and come Tuesday I was antsy to run. Antsy in the sense that I was sitting in a meeting and wanted to be outside. The mid 70s, zero humidity weather certainly helped with that, and I was glad to feel restored.

I realized in June that I really liked training for something, which I’d been doing in some form since October of last year. I want to take advantage of this window with no double digit races on the calendar, although I might do a ten mile in September. One challenge I really enjoyed last year was Run the Year’s 4x5K challenge when during June you were meant to run a baseline 5K and then three more to see if you improved. I did! Since one of my goals is to eventually get to sub 30 5K, I decided July would be perfect for it since heat would very likely mean a lot of indoor treadmill runs. I don’t have a final 5K planned as checkout, although this NYRR 5K is a possibility. More on the “check in” race below.

Weekly Wrap with Wendy and Holly.

  • Monday, planned off day from running and the gym. My legs were tired and slightly sore from the weekend’s races and while I’d have loved a date with the foam roller, I had a work event that culminated in this phenomenal sunset. Mother Nature truly is pure magic.
  • Tuesday, I had an end of day meeting near Blink NoHo, which I’ve come to quite like. I don’t go there often as it’s not convenient, but I thought I would. And then I realized I’d forgotten my watch and my headphones. As much as I don’t mind the treadmill, I mostly cannot do it without music or another distraction. Luckily, it was beautiful outside and I decided to hit my favorite part of Central Park. It was initially tough going as the bridle path had seen a lot of traffic that day and the dust & gravel was pretty stirred up. None of that helped the lingering cough so I walked the final hill and headed to the reservoir where I knew there was a water fountain. Wetting my lungs helped as I turned southeast and headed back to the start. Mileage is iffy as I was running Strava on my phone and it had some signal issues. But comfortable calling it just shy of 3.5 miles. A wonderful run. Sometimes it’s nice to be relatively electronics free.
really coming to love shorts. Forever terrible at selfies
  • Wednesday I wanted to run outside again but when I left the office it was threatening rain so I decided to head to the gym. I didn’t really have a plan in mind and hadn’t settled on the speed work I mentioned above yet, so just turned the treadmill on at 5.7 and went. It felt really, really good. I ended up a second off the 5K PR but what was awesome was that it felt almost easy aside from the residual coughing. While I said I’d realized I wasn’t regressing, it was nice to see that in results. I could have gone longer, but decided to give my lungs a break. I followed it up with some strength training. At 32:41 that is my July baseline 5K
when Keelie asks for a squat selfie and the plank is feeling solid. Plankie!
  • Thursday, planned off day due to medical appointment. That’s a good thing as the flooding was kind of crazy. Oddly I’d planned for the worst after this appointment (nothing super serious, but like many I’m paying for prior skin damage: love how Deb put it. And follow her advice too.) I love my dermatologist and ahead of taking off this mole she gave me a bunch of surgical consent forms and aftercare warnings. Guess it wasn’t getting frozen off. I planned to have Wednesday be my last run in case. It was relatively painless, with the only bothersome thing being the snipping sound so close to my ear and of course trying to keep a bandaid stuck in sweaty area with hair complicating matters. Better safe than sorry, and I’ll know whether it was something to worry about when I go back in two weeks. Curious about what the scar is going to look like, though I doubt it will be more prominent than the mole.
if you have to wear a bandaid on your face, might as well have fun on Summer Friday
  • By Friday I felt completely fine so after work I headed to the gym. The speed plan was firmly in my brain, coupled with reading the intervals chapter in Amby Burfoot’s Run Foreverand I decided to start there. After a .25 mile warmup (I have no patience), I alternated 6.2 and 5.5 with a less than .1 mile recovery break at 3.3mph after each 6.2. I made a game of it to use as little of that .1 mile as needed and got it as low as .07. The splits looked pretty funny as the walk recovery ate into the 5.5mph intervals. Totaled 3.25 miles of intervals and 3.51 overall. Math much? 6.2 was random, it’s my usual closeout speed of workouts but I wasn’t sure I could sustain repeat intervals at .25, so I decided I’d start there and drop to 6.0 if needed. Nope. I’m not sure yet whether my goal is to eliminate the walk intervals or raise base/fast speeds by month’s end. Thinking through that now. On the heels of a successful run, I hit the beach with a book or three. Summer Friday goals indeed
  • Saturday, completely off day. Too hot and I needed a mental health day. Still trying to kick the last of this cold, and although it was too hot to sleep in, I got some lovely rest.
  • Sunday, maybe run* (see below), probably row. Definitely play in a splashpad

GoTheDist

I cannot believe we’re at the mid-year point of #GoTheDist/Run the Year. Where has 2018 gone?

June

  • 479,755 Steps
  • 59.82 Miles Run
  • 210.39 Miles Run/Walked

Runfession, I saw the running mileage Saturday morning when I entered Friday’s run into my spreadsheet. I actually thought I was closer to 58. Why did I let it go? I’m having a (minor and hope to keep it that way) PF flare and decided it was going to be a rest day. Could I have gotten .18 miles without hurting? Probably. Would I have stopped at .18? Probably not. I also could have picked that up had I run home from one of the two races where I opted to walk. The PF said hello when I walked barefoot on the beach. I know better, but sometimes you just have to. I went to JackRabbit and got a new roller ball and will be better at my stretches. I also think I need to lay off the planks a bit as those don’t feel so good in the foot. Determined not to let this be a major flare and will ease into July as needed.

210 is just above what I need to hit my stretch Run the Year goal, so that’s perfect.

Q2

  • 1,467,553 Steps
  • 174.99 Miles Run
  • 642.22 Miles Run/Walked

OK, that running one is way more annoying than 59.82. But as I predicted at the end of Q1 when I was slightly off pace, spring/summer would be better.

2018 to Date

  • 2,825,182 Steps
  • 344.32 Miles Run
  • 1236.75 Miles Run/Walked

overall, I’m thrilled. I’m slightly off pace on the running, and 2,500 miles run/walked but I knew both to be stretch goals and they’re still in play. I’m 100% confident I’ll get 700 miles run on the year even though I won’t have the half marathon training I had in the first part of the year. This is insane compared with the midway point last year, and I really love the progress I’m making. 2018 goals are well in sight, although I switched to running mileage only for RTY so the team ones don’t quite make sense. Oh and a year into Amerithon, I’m in Missouri! I didn’t enjoy that as much as RTY, and I really dislike that RTY went to their tracker as I forever need to re-sync.

Gym Visits:

38 for the March – August window I was trying to get ahead this month while also catch up from May’s time away as I know I’ll be away in August.  I need 50 overall so should be in good shape. There’s been a lot of outdoor running followed by gym to stretch

Reading:

I’ve read 61 books on the year and will likely finish 62 today, which would mark Book 5 in #20BooksOfSummer. Overall, 17 ahead of schedule. WOW. Maybe 100 will happen?

 

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Cleaning up my diet

Running wasn’t/isn’t about weight loss, but I’d still like to end the year down a few (more) pounds.

I’ve come to realize that what I eat definitely drives how I feel on a run. I’ve been aware of this since last summer in the short term and know, for example, I can’t have salad for lunch if I’m going to run after work. More recently I realized that what I ate for dinner impacted morning runs. Just this weekend I realized that was used to be my standard is now too much food. Recent example, even with only having had a post-race smoothie, I couldn’t finish two slices of buffalo chicken pizza. I also know that despite how much I think I want a caffeine sugar bomb, I’m usually much worse for the wear after. There really are lots of lessons to be learned from listening to your body. Still battling the PCOS, of course, but feel like it’s more under control.

I’m also trying to save money, so three months in this has been a fun endeavor.

MealPal Monday: spicy tuna from MakiMaki
and again on Wednesday!

On the lunch front, I finally joined MealPal (referral link) at the end of March and so far have had 28 meals. I went with the twelve meal plan with the exception of May when travel made the six meal plan more prudent.

A look at my history tells me: lots of poke and sushi. Makes sense on two fronts: I’m part fish and would happily eat it at every meal if I could afford it and because sushi and poke tend to be more expensive, they’re an insane value for MealPal’s ~$6.90 / lunch. The carb/protein mix is good for getting me through the 3-4P snackies that inevitably follow a $10.83 salad for lunch. I’d love to say I’m going to make my own lunch, but it isn’t going to happen in summer with any regularity. While I generally prefer temperate weather (I don’t care for either winter or summer’s extremes), I can’t wait for crockpot season because that’s when I’m very good at “cooking”. That said, a recent Peapod order involved stocking up on Uncrustables so those will happen on my MealPal off days. Yes, there have been a few days where neither MealPal nor my lunch from home appealed, and I fell into a $10 salad, but on the whole I think I’ve made better choices. More on that below.

 

’tis the season for green drinks again

 

Dinner is the real opportunity to tackle. Salt-laden take out made for thirsty nights and swollen hands, and I was just wasting too much money. Plus it was harder to find “healthy” dinner choices than lunch where there are endless salad bars near the office. Evenings were way too much pizza or 16 Handles. Smoothies have always had a part in my weight loss windows since they satisfy the sweet tooth and give me a relatively healthy option. After being back on the smoothie kick for a few weeks, I decided it was time for an early #GoTheDist mid-year reward since my NutriBullet had seen better days. I love my Ninja so far.  It gets smoothies to a consistency that the NutriBullet no longer could, it’s easier to clean and I love the smoothie pre-set so I can hit the button and go do something else. I’m also enjoying experimenting with different protein powders. Any favorites? Finding frozen strawberries a little too sweet, so it’s always fun to find the perfect balance. Can’t go wrong with peanut butter banana. Any favorite recipes?

So, how is this doing with saving money?

Jan 1-March 31

  • Weekday Lunch: $149.96
  • Weekday Dinner: $123.42
  • Weekend Lunch: $396.46
  • Groceries: $146.23
  • Dessert: $126.79

April 1 – June 30

  • Weekday Lunch: $351.06 (includes April MealPal billed in March)
  • Weekday Dinner: $136.67
  • Weekend Lunch: $252.33
  • Groceries: $392.66
  • Dessert: $41.42

Whelp! But this has happened before, although I can’t find the blog post about it. Fresh fruit & veggies are expensive, but I’m feeling better. I think I’m closer to busting the plateau-ish I’ve been on since February and ready to make the second half of the year mine, food wise.

 

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Women Run the World, 2018 edition

Grandma always asked, “What, do you want a medal?” “Yes. Yes I do”

I love the Mini!

As I thought about a goal, I knew it was going to be a weird one. My 10K outdoor PR is from Rockland Lake, flat as a pancake on a beautiful November afternoon. On the other hand, I knew the race would be a personal course record because I wasn’t trained last year and was injured. On the other other hand, I haven’t touched the Harlem hills since January. I finally set my goal at 1:15:00 with a dream of 1:10:00.

Old friends = big smiles

 

OK, I may love the Mini in theory, but I hated it today and I still hate the 10K distance. I noted the latter when re-reading last year’s recap, but I thought that was probably a thought coming from being undertrained. Nope. Running it as part of a longer run or even a training run? Fine. A race? No thanks.

Rewinding.

Rachel and I worked together in the first half of my time at NYC & Company and she’s been an invaluable help as I try to figure out this whole running thing. We were messaging this week and realized the stars might align for pre and post-race meetups.  I’m so glad we did this photo pre-race as I don’t think I was smiling this much after.

I had a whole bunch of nerves leading up to today, and I had no idea why. They weren’t based in anything identifiable. I think they were part of what lead to an extra snooze or two. Despite a later start than I wanted, the trains cooperated and I was in my corral by 7:30.  It’s weird starting outside the park, but I loved listening to the starts of the professional wheelchair & elite race(s) before the corrals started to go off. This was slightly odd too in that rather than corrals collapsing and a general rolling start, each moved up to the start and then started as a group.

The first mile felt weird. I felt oddly wiped, and my Achilles were achy. I realized why on the former when I saw my watch at mile one. 10:12 (watch), 10:15 (Strava) was way too fast. I didn’t actually feel like I was running that quickly though, and I realized it was warmer than I expected. Although I was dreading the Harlem Hills, miles two and three were pretty decent and I was pleasantly surprised by the West Side rollers not being terrible “in reverse” and even the evil hill behind Lasker Rink didn’t seem as evil as I remembered it. I actually ran a pretty solid if unspectacular 33:30 5K.

As I said on Strava, though, I ran a good 5K and then I hit a wall.

I’m not sure if that wall’s name was heat/humidity, sun, hills or disorientation. I think it was a little bit of all

  • the weather was swinging wildly all week, both day to day and in its predictions for today. By yesterday morning it had changed from rain to partly cloudy. By the time this morning dawned, it was full sun and while seasonable for June, we’ve had a relatively unseasonable spring so it was a quick transition to summer, and I haven’t run in heat since Fort Lauderdale, last Saturday’s jog to the gym notwithstanding. I had water in my belt, and stopped at all aid stations, but I was definitely thirstier than I’d liked. Time to recalibrate my water breaks to the right amount of fluid for summer, and probably switch to carrying Propel. And as was the case last year, I was oh so grateful for sprinklers at the last two water stations and at the finish. As much as I don’t like Gatorade, I mixed a dash of it with the water at the finish line to get something besides water into me. I had a brief flare of the “goose bumps” that hit me during Squirrel Stampede, but I was able to run through them
  • Disorientation is probably the wrong word, but I have muscle memory for the turns and landmarks when running counter-clockwise in Central Park. That doesn’t work so well in reverse. Apparently I should run in this direction more than once a year.  Once I got through the Harlem Hills I was expecting Fred and Cat Hill to come much more quickly and once I got through Cat Hill I thought the bottom of the Park would come more quickly. I think part of the latter was that I was just done.

During mile six I’d pretty much decided I wasn’t going to run Queens. The 800m to go signs were not helping, nor was the peekaboo view of the finish when I knew I still needed to round the bottom of the park, and it was taking all I had in me not to walk it in.  And of course the finish is atop a (small) hill. There’s no rational reason for this. I can do 10K, it’s just brutal in a race when the mind wants to be done at 5 miles. Time for some mental training to go with the physical? It doesn’t help that three of the four 10K races I’ve done were in warmer weather than I’d like, I’m sure.

chilling out, literally, post-race

Debriefing with Rachel at Naumberg Bandshell was helpful as was running through the aforementioned sprinkler. The race didn’t (just) suck because I haven’t trained on hills in five months. The heat was a thing. If a way more experienced runner can struggle, it’s OK that I did too. And I know what I need to do to make it suck less. Go back to Mile High Run Club and hit the Hills instead of doing my favorite 15K loop that avoids them. Alas, I don’t think that will happen before the next run that features them-surprisingly for a 5M. And yes, I’m absolutely running Queens next weekend. Haven’t decided whether I’m actually going to do the NYC Half next year, but I’m so close to 4/6 that I want the guaranteed entry in case I do run it.

NYRR Finish Data
NYRR 10Ks

And although I hit a wall, my second 5K wasn’t terrible at 37m. It’s a sixteen minute course PR and I nearly hit my dream goal despite running 30 seconds per mile slower than last weekend’s race. So I’m happy, despite not being satisfied if that makes any sense?

SparklySoul race prep

Speaking of the aforementioned next run featuring the hills, SparklySoul was at the post-race festival and a little retail therapy goes a long way. In the clearance bin I found this, which will be perfect the Pride race. I don’t always run in headbands, but sometimes you just must. The festival had a meet & greet with Desiree Linden, and if I ever did a runfession, I’d say that I had no interest in standing on that line. She’s amazing, a force of nature, but there was no way I’d come up with an interesting thing to say and the line was just too long. I’m sure they’ll be an NYRR Run Center opportunity.

2017 and 2018

I didn’t have it in me to run home so I walked, and by the time I got to some shade near Conservatory Water I was a little more smiley than the finish, and maybe a hair more mature than last year? Err, the sprinkler might say otherwise.

Training This Week:

remarkably close to what I laid out last week. Higher mileage than recently due to Saturday race following a Sunday one. I have come to like Saturday races giving me Sunday to sleep in. Linking up with Wendy and HoHo as per usual.

  • Monday, I was a little sore so I decided rather than cross train I’d just stretch well at the gym and walk home.
  • Tuesday, escaped on time for a Central Park run. Calves were whingy, so I didn’t push it and had a good stretch after.
  • Wednesday, #GlobalRunningDay. So much fun. I did one of NYRR’s happy hours and I didn’t lose the group! We did the bridle path, which I’d somehow never run before. I love it and will absolutely be doing it again. So zen! I was a bouncing fool at the end and got to chatting to some fun folks. Dana was the coach and while I doubt I could actually do Tempo Tuesdays, I liked her style. Maybe in the fall. Also learned, butt kicks and high knees make for a fun and silly warm up, way better than aerobics which I cannot do. Also cool, Team for Kids ambassador Molly Huddle was at the Run Center just before all the runs headed out.
  • Thursday, wanted to run before a morning meeting but I overslept and just got in a quick 20m run. I love how morning runs make me feel and wish I could convince myself to do them more often
  • Friday, complete rest day. I went to the beach with a book or three after work. Hit my step goal, but that was it.
  • Saturday, the 10K. I didn’t run to or from the race as I wasn’t feeling it before hand and it was too hot after.

Total Mileage: 20.3 and I hit 300 on the year.

Plan for Week:

(aka, why I need to get back on a training plan)

  • Monday, run of undetermined length
  • Tuesday/Wednesday -off, most likely, due to work
  • Thursday, run of undetermined length
  • Friday, short shakeout or cross train as I really don’t want to run three days a in a row
  • Saturday, Queens 10K
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#GoTheDist April 2018

August 2017 marked my first month with 500K steps. I missed a repeat last month by 700 steps :(. Yesterday morning I realized I was less than 14K steps away and decided it was going to happen. 14K is iffy proposition on weekdays, but rain sent me to the gym.

April Totals:

  • 501,524 steps
  • 219.94 miles run/walked
  • 62.34 miles run

BAM!

March was insane, April was just awesome. No doubt spurred on by a 50K+ step day the day of the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, but other than Easter and a day with an evening event after which it was too cold to walk even part way, it was just an overall solid month. I’m happy with and proud of it. I’m glad I’m comfortable with some of those high volume days, because my spreadsheet tells me I’m going to need some high step days to hit my goals after accounting for travel days.

ye olde handy spreadsheet

Definitely some catastrophizing in there, steps wise, but it’s basically a worse-case scenario on days I’m out of town and therefore steps below my normal. Don’t want to lose my 400K step streak, and would like to top last year’s, especially since it was low-ish even with the Saunter. (Oh how glad I am I simplified my spreadsheets).

Sixth month in a row of running 50+ miles, and second going 60+. Wow. A lot clicked this month. I’m one mile off the pace I need to run 700 miles on the year, wow.

Overall run time ended up just shy of 40m goal at 39:28 but I don’t mind that as it included cherry blossom photo pit stops and hill repeats. I wouldn’t trade either for a better average run time.

In many ways #GoTheDist has been eaten by #RunTheYear for me personally, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. I’m using Run the Year to be a better me, ergo achieving GoTheDist goals. My RTY tracker is runs only for this year, but I’m using GTD for the dual run/walk goals.

On to May.

 

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Training, week of 3.26, 2018 Runs, and March #GoTheDist

March marked my fifth month in a row at running 50 or more miles, and my first ever crossing the 60 mile marker at 62.68. A lot of that had to do with one hell of a close to the month that started with last Saturday. The rest of the week:

  • 5 miles in Central Park on Monday. My legs were dead, but I was desperate to run outside. I tackled Cat Hill, but rather than the West Side Rollers I did a loop around the reservoir so mileage still came in where I wanted it to. This was my first real test of the plan to use Cherry Blossom as a training run for Brooklyn, would my legs rebound after the race or would I have to rest like after the Halfs? Verdict, iffy, but better.
  • A quick 20m gym run on Wednesday. Had a bunch of after work activities and needed to get something in. Nothing special but better than nothing
  • #RunTheDate is becoming a thing in this weird training cycle. Friday 3.30 on the treadmill before heading home for Easter. Rather than the days where 5.5 feels impossible, it’s starting to feel easy so I did some flying sprints at the end. Maybe time to try 5.6 or 5.7 as a base. inSANE given a look at last April’s logs where I was in the 13s. Makes it easier to feel better about my lack of speed progress, but I know I need to get back to Mile High know that the knee is in better shape.
  • Saturday, I really wanted to go back to Rockland Lake, but two people and one car meant that wasn’t possible so I hit the South Nyack trail. I like that trail. I’ve had some good runs on it. But it’s only one mile long and there was a whole lot of do not wanna going on when I realized I’d have to run eight x the .7 mile spur to get to 10K. Nope. Luckily on the 2nd out and back I realized that the Grandview spur/Hader Park/Old Erie Path had opened. Whee. While breathtakingly gorgeous along the Hudson, it’s not a finished trail the way the South Nyack part is. It was definitely my first true trail and although I only realized it only halfway through, my legs were pretty tired from Friday. It was the first back to back of real distance, and a test. I almost bailed at 5 miles, but pushed through to get 10K. It didn’t feel great, but was good to get it done. I needed an advil when home, but was otherwise OK and new to me scenery was wonderful.
  • Sunday. True rest day. No run, no walk other than home from train. It was needed. I’d run 23.5 miles the week of 3.18 (almost positive my highest volume due to off days after both Halfs) and the drop to 16.6 was needed as a non taper taper.
Snow my god! It’s April
  • I thought I’d run outside today like last Monday. And then I woke up. Nope! On the plus side, the shoes I ordered during New Balance’s VIP Night came in and I got to take them out for a 4 mile (yep, #RunTheDate again) spin on the treadmill. Miles 1-2 were deadly, mile 3 felt like 3 seconds and 4 was good. I good have gone further but decided not to push it since the plan is to run tomorrow. Finished with a flying spring at 6.0 and 6.2. Knees feeling good. I’m ready for Sunday. I’m also loving my new headphones. After killing  yet another pair and another bout of swimmers’ (err, runners) ear, I went with some open ears. I can see why everyone raves about Aftershokz. They’re pricy, but oh so good. Mine are red.

Meant to note earlier and I forgot, I filed for my gym reimbursement in February which marked the first time I’ve completed both halves of a year at 50 gym visits apiece. Would have been December, but I lost July/August to the gym closing. Still, wow.

GoTheDist

March

  • 499,338 steps (so close, so mad. But it was one hell of a sprint to try to hit it. If I could have gotten into my spreadsheet at home, I’d have found 700 steps. I thought I was further away. Still March remains an insane month.
  • 219.08 miles run/walked. This is probably a personal high.
  • 62.68 miles run

Q1

  • 1,357,629 steps
  • 594.53 miles run/walked
  • 169.33 miles run

I’m really happy with that. I’m not exactly on pace for 2,500 miles run/walked on the year, but spring and summer will be better, so I’m OK with this. I’ve stopped obsessing about pace and time spent running. The runs themselves are naturally longer due to running longer distance and I haven’t really done any speedwork to speak of. That will be after the Brooklyn Half and probably when I try for a sub 30 5K.

2018 races and goals:

Rest of my calendar is looking kind of (wonderfully) insane. Linking up with DebRuns for this one and expanding it so my goals are in one place:

April:

  • Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, April 8. First run at this distance though I’ve done a 15K
  • April 15 – Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium. This will be a run / walk as there are a ton of stairs. It’s also meant to be a fun run and I intend to enjoy it. Will be much better than July last year no matter what. I’m going to say 40m
  • April 22 – 9/11 Memorial 5K. I haven’t actually signed up for this, but I probably will. Great cause and community day
  • April 29 – March of Dimes’ Walk. I do this every year. Great cause. Last year I ran it, but it’s kind of annoying with the cross streets not closed, so I might just walk it.

May:

  • May 18: Brooklyn Half. I have no idea on timing as I’ve never run any of this course. I feel like I’ll be well trained, despite business travel two weeks prior. This is likely to remain my sole race for the month due to a conference that follows too.

June:

I had to go look at the NYRR calendar here as it’s nuts.

all the runs!

Basically, yes. All of those.

  • June 3 – Italy Run. Inaugural NYRR race and can’t pass on this one with my heritage. Some is going to depend on how I recover after Brooklyn, but I’m going to say under 57m and beat October.
  • June 9 – Mini10K. Have fun! I want to say 1h10, but it has the hills and I have done zero hill training to speak of, so maybe 1h15? Either way, it will be a PR over last year.
  • June 16 – Queens 10K. No idea, not at all familiar with the course. Going with 1h10 as above. This is purely because it was a free New Balance Reward and it will get me 4/6 if I want to run the NYC Half next year.
  • June 23 – Front Runners New York Pride Run. Another 5M. As of now I’m going with the same goal as for the Italy Run and I’ll reevaluate once I see how that goes.
  • June 24 – Achilles. Will be a test of back to back runs. Luckily this is only 4M. For the moment going with 43 per Gridiron, but my legs may well hate me by then.

July:

It’s too soon to set goals for these so just a list:

  • July 14 – Retro 4M – have fun, be silly.
  • July 21 – 12M run. I’m not running this November, but I feel like I might need some oomph for a long run and might decide to do this. Will likely depend on weather.
  • July 28 – Team Championships.

Anyone else running these and want to meet up? Looking forward to my first RTY meetup at the Cherry Blossom Expo Friday.

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#GoTheDist February 2018 and Training week of 2.25

I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t think I’d hit 400K this month. It was looking like an impossibility and I only pulled it off on the last day of the month thanks to two insane days on Monday and Tuesday.

February

  • 405,707 steps
  • 177.6 miles run/walked
  • 50.54 miles run

Year to Date

  • 858,290 steps
  • 375.45 miles run/walked
  • 107.04 miles run

I was so happy to hit 100 solo miles last weekend. My knee is finally feeling better. Even though I’m almost twenty miles off the 780 pace, I’m not going to adjust it down yet. Spring will mean more time to run and not being injured will allow longer runs. I gave back some of January’s gains, but that’s also to be expected with a shorter month, so I’m not particularly worried. March has always been good to me.

the realization that my first 400K month was in reach

A year of 400K months is pretty awesome and insane. I’m really happy it worked out.

A big part of that? Running this week. My knee felt good and I even managed to shed the brace. Workouts:

  • Sunday: off day
  • Monday: 2.28 miles at random incline. Tired legs, but no knee pain at all. I might have resorted to all caps there. This was the first time that happened since my first half
  • Tuesday: knowing I was off Wednesday and Thursday due to plans, I went longer. 4.07 miles at 5.5. Kept it at .5 incline since I know changing speeds and inclines hasn’t helped
  • Friday: decided to try without the knee brace and again kept it at 5.5 and .5 incline. NO PAIN. Distance was a factor of time (not wanting to push it), but I spotted this when I went to log it in my spreadsheet. WOW. What a difference a year makes
year on year
  • Saturday dawned dry and warm enough to run outside. I’ve only managed that a handful of times this year and while I don’t mind the treadmill, who doesn’t want to play outside? 5+ miles wiggling around Central Park. Could have gone longer, but decided to play it safe. If I’d realized how close I was to an hour, I’d have gone the extra ninety seconds. Knee a little sore so probably right call. I’m going to take tomorrow off.

In the US Road Running Facebook group someone asked how much we’d lost since beginning running. Running hasn’t been about weight loss for me, but it has definitely helped.

Jan 7, 2017 v. March 2, 2018, scale edition

 

Baby steps all around this month. On to the next

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Runners High meets #NYRRGridiron

Can you have a 48 hour runners’ high? That seems to be where this is going. This is also super long so TL;DR: I “raced” my first race today, and it was AH-MA-ZING!

Rewinding…

This was a(nother) weird week.

After Saturdays runs, I walked and went to the gym to use the bike on Sunday but then I took Monday and Tuesday off. I’d planned to go to the gym on Tuesday but I was at work way too late and wasn’t feeling it. I knew it wouldn’t be a good workout, so I went home.

I got to visit my graffiti!

Wednesday brought my tradition, of sorts. Ryan’s High45 at Mile High Run Club. We celebrated my finishing the Half and he asked my plan for the class. My knee was still a little tender so I wore my brace and said I’d take it on the easy side. He said he wouldn’t call it a “come back” if I wouldn’t.  I walked some of the active recovery windows and definitely slow jogged the others, but I took some of the flying sprints at 7.0 and that felt good. I iced it when I got home, but otherwise my knee felt good. I was so glad I got to see my piece of art, as by time class had ended she’s cleaned the wall of the 2018 Resolutions. I look forward to what Team MHRC runs and membership will bring as I really like the folks at NoMAD on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings.

I had after work plans on Thursday, so missed the gym but knew I’d go Friday. I was feeling good about the workout. Even though I’d needed to walk some of the active recovery windows on Wednesday I felt that my level 2, aka my usual pace, could move up so when I got to Blink, I hopped on the treadmill at 5.6 and off I went. At some point I looked at Runkeeper and saw what a 5K PR would be. So at minute 31 I cranked it up to 7.0, and subsequently realized that the problem wasn’t with running so much as math. Although I didn’t PR, it felt really good.

Running time machine. Feb 2, 2018 v. Feb 4, 2017

As I stretched after running, I had a scroll back through my Runkeeper to find out what the hell that PR was (this craziness with NYRR, so this is definitely a treadmill PR and longer distance) and because I thought early February was when I’d first run a full three miles. Indeed.

Other than chasing treadmill PRs, I really hadn’t had the chance to see running growth due to the frigid weather and running longer/new distances. I didn’t really have an exact plan for the Gridiron 4M because I was waiting to see how I was feeling after the Half, but now one was formulating. When I ran the 5M in late October I nearly got a mile “free” and I decided that was my goal for today. I wanted to either beat the run from the previous Feb 4, or my time  for the Boomer Esiason four miler, my only prior 4M with NYRR.

I took Saturday “off” and just did some errands. I was worn after a lot of late nights this week and needed some me time. I commented in one of the Run the Year sub Facebook groups that I was I was “surprisingly” more nervous about the four miler than I had been about the Half. I finally put it together when laying out flat me. It’s the first race where I  set a time goal (well 2).

I do a lot of reading about running, books and blogs and the use of the word “racing” always gave me pause. I didn’t really understand the difference between running a race and racing a race for non-elite athletes. I think I got it. And a stomach full of butterflies. I guess I was “racing” the Gridiron. I was nervous though, I’d only kept up that pace on a treadmill and I wasn’t sure I could do it in “the wild”

Flat Cari!

Speaking of Flat Cari, the “level up” to K before the Half was not a mistake, and shockingly I didn’t lose it after my pace during the Half. When I went to pick up my shirt and number for today I asked about that and the NYRR staff said it’s based on best pace in last window, converted to a 10K, not average pace. So I may hang onto it for the year. Some of yesterday’s errands include the NYG tee, pictured. Yes, I was violating “nothing new on race day”, but since it was atop two well worn layers I didn’t anticipate an issue (and it was fine).

And yes, I finally figured out how to attach the bib to the belt so I didn’t have to do shorts on leggings thing. Rest of flat Cari: black TekGear with thumbholes, good because I forgot my gloves, Ted Corbitt race shirt, which I love (don’t like today’s at all, it’s white). August shoes which are about out of mileage 😮 and spiderweb tights. Neck is the turtle fur muff I love. Was meant to try GU Chews, but they didn’t happen so I went without fuel.

morning dawned cold
but I was well layered

Starting at E. 102nd made it easier to get there, but I much prefer to hit Cat Hill on fresh legs. I didn’t exactly have a strategy for “racing” this so when we crossed the start, I just ran my race.

but did I run TomTom’s or Runkeeper’s?

Those splits are nuts for the first mile. While I’d love to claim TomTom’s, I’m pretty sure Runkeeper’s is more accurate based on the early crowds and what I saw of the clock at mile one. I could not figure out why this four miler felt so hard until I saw these splits. I’d maintained “that pace” (10:54) without the control of the treadmill.

Mile 3 includes Cat HIll and I’m impressed I kept it under 11 as that also included walking through a water station due to crowds. Beyond this, I don’t have any particular thoughts on today’s run. I felt as if I was zig zagging a lot more, maybe because I was in thick of pack through finish? I loved the run left or right on Bethesda to “vote” for which team would win tonight.

Done! DIdn’t know my splits, but I knew what watch said and thought I had a PR

The reason I chose the Lebow hat vs. one of my handmade ones was that I expected to ditch it when I got warm. While I took it off at mile 2-3, I held it and I was glad because I got cold going home. I was also so cold/tired I forgot to flamingo.

So how did it go?

vs. Feb 4, 2017: buy three miles, get one free!

 

vs Boomer Esiason, April 1, 2017
NYRR data. Officially on Team MHRC

WOW!
WOW!

I was on a runners’ high from how good Friday night felt, and then I was definitely on a runners’ high once I got home and saw this. While I can’t say that I trained for the four miler specifically, it’s clear that running and training has paid off. That’s even forty seconds per mile faster than the 5M at the end of October.

I’m really excited about what I’ve learned my body can do. I think I’m going to spend the weeks of 2/26 and 3/4 working on speed because I’m definitely going to “race” the Frozen Penguin. A PR isn’t a goal there, as it was my very first run and a brutal day, but I may set a time goal TBD. Why those weeks vs now?

Well based on the runners’ high from the Half, I signed up for another. It’s actually one I’ve been thinking of for some time as I knew I’d be away, but didn’t want to commit in case I hated Lebow. Luckily it didn’t sell out before I could. So here’s my calendar for the next few months:

  • February 19 – Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon. “Pancake flat” and on the beach. I’m also kind of nerdliy excited to go to my first Expo. Hoping fewer hills, less painful recovery. Hotel has a pool so I think that will help with post run stretching. Am I any more trained for this than Lebow? Not particularly, but I can do the distance. So maybe it will be another Half benchmark for one without insane hills
  • March 11 – Frozen Penguin 5K. More on this TK as I think it through
  • April 8 – Cherry Blossom 10M in DC.  I treated this week’s runs as week one of training so I’m only a week behind. Determined to be properly trained for this one and, knock wood, I think I will be.
  • May 19 – Brooklyn Half. That just happened this week. Ends at the Coney Island Boardwalk! That’s literally all I know about this one, so need to do some homework. Never run in Brooklyn before.

ETA: Just became aware of Deb Runs’ race link up. Love this idea. Always fun to have folks to say hi to before or after races

On to the next