Too Fast, Too Soon....As Usual. The NYC Half

Today was the New York City Half Marathon. I had big plans of running a good race even though I haven't been focused on my running as much as I should be. I planned to aim for a 1:45 but would have been happy with a 1:48 or really anything under a 1:50. I started strong with an 8:15 min/mile, then did an 8:05 and 8:06. Then came harlem hill. I took it a bit easier on that and averaged an 8:23. At that point, I thought to myself, this is a little hard but I just have to get out of central park and then I'll be home free. FALSE.

I got through the 8 mile point at which point you exit the park onto 7th ave. I then thought it was time to kick into gear, with 5 miles to go. Unfortunately, I didn't have any gears left. I did an 8:03 and then it's unclear what my pace was because the gps on my watch doesnt work in times square and it was acting all crazy. When I got to mile 10, I felt terrible but still tried to push. All I had left was 9 min miles so I did 3 and finished the race feeling pretty defeated.

I ended up finishing in a disappointing 1:52:34, 8:36 pace--a few seconds slower than my race in DC exactly a year ago. During that race, I went out way too fast, faster even than today, but perhaps it was comparable given that in Central Park I was working against some tough hills. The only time I've ever paced correctly was the NYC Marathon last fall when Spencer sent me splits to follow. Apparently I need that kind of guidance all of the time. I also just need to get faster. I've been running since 2007 and ran my first 1/2 in 1:55 averaging a 8:47 pace. 3 marathons, multiple half marathons, and countless other races and I haven't even improved by 15 seconds per mile. Sometimes I wonder why I keep running.



3.20 NYC Half Marathon by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Dark, Cold, Rainy and.... Awesome

I mentioned in my last post that I've been trying to take it easy this week to prepare for the 1/2 marathon on Sunday and that it has been incredibly boring. Enter Justinia, stage west coast. Justinia or "Stin" as I've grown to call her inspired me to run back in 2007 when I was a summer associate at my law firm. While I had always been a fitness enthusiast, running really wasn't my thing except to drop unwanted pounds in a hurry. Unfortunately, Stin moved to San Francisco last year and left me short one running buddy and lots of inspiration.

Lucky for me though, she makes frequent visits to NYC. Yesterday, she got in for work and we made plans to run this morning. I almost canceled--literally, I sent the text saying we should go another day b/c it was forecasted to be miserably rainy. But Wednesday was her only available morning for a run so I agreed to meet her at 6:45am at the entrance to the park near me.

So, I wake up this morning, look outside and not only was it raining, it was pouring, super wet out and still dark because of the daylight savings change on Sunday. Ugh!! I was seriously dreading this run. Nonetheless, I got ready and headed out the door. When I got to our meeting spot, I complained that it was miserable and my feet were wet. Stin even agreed--she's not used to the cold yucky NYC rain anymore. But we went on our way just the same.

About 10 minutes in, while catching up on each others lives I realized I was having an awesome time and the rain wasn't even bothering me anymore! We were moving along at a good pace despite constant conversation (well slow for Stin, since she's a speed demon, turned trail runner, turned ultramarathoner) We head up the west side to 102nd street, crossed the transverse to the east side and then headed to the bottom of the park and back up the west side. We parted ways at 72nd street, when she headed back to her hotel which was in midtown east.

Stin is one of my favorite running buddies and still my inspiration for running. When I first started in summer '07, I couldn't even make it up harlem hill and she stopped and walked with me and was patient and didn't even seem to mind that it was probably messing up her run. I'm still totally sad she moved to SF but she seems to like it out there, so that's good enough for me. As long as she keeps visiting, and running with me when she does!!

Rainy run with Stin by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Taking it easy, harlem hill and running with friends

In preparation for the NYC half marathon coming up on March 20, I've been trying to get some more runs in. I've gotten pretty wrapped up in my bootcamp and triathlon training and haven't been logging quite as many miles as I should. So, my last few workouts have been runs.

On Thursday 2/24, I did a nice easy 4 miler. Alanna and I met around 7:15 and ran down to 72nd street on the West Side and then back up the east side. Around 86th street I left Alanna and headed up to 102nd street and then back home. Nothing too exciting or crazy. As Spencer says, in order to recover you just need to take it nice and easy.

2/24 Easy 4 Miler with Alanna by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

On Friday 2/25, I woke up looked outside and it was pouring rain. I had told Spencer that I was going to go to the hill workout but I considered reneging on that given that he was in sunny Miami and wouldn't know if I didn't go. I sucked it up though and headed out. I really hate hill workouts. I showed up at the meeting spot and the marathon group was already leaving to head up north. Uh oh! I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be the dreaded Harlem Hill. The ridiculously hardcore folks who actually made it out Friday are wayyy faster than I am so I ran behind them and hoped I wouldn't lose them before we arrived at our destination. About 1/2 way from the top of the park, our other coach Kevin came and joined me. He broke the news that, indeed Harlem Hill was the workout today. *sigh* So, Harlem Hill in the pouring rain. It really doesn't get worse than that. Surprisingly, the 40 min workout went pretty quickly. I think the rain distracted me from the hill climbing and the hill climbing distracted me from the rain. Once I was done, I felt pretty awesome about myself so I decided it was all worth it after all. And, by the time I added up all the miles to/from Harlem Hill and up and down Harlem Hill, I got almost 8 miles in Friday morning!

Run to Harlem HIill 2/25 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Harlem Hill Repeats 2/25 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Run Home from Harlem Hill 2/25 by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details






On Sunday 2/27, I had my weekly long run--14 miles this week. Consuelo was in town so Alanna, Consuelo, and I all met to run together. They were only doing 6 miles in the park, so I decided to do my first 6 with them at a nice easy pace and then do the remaining 8 on my own. One thing that was irritating was that my heart rate monitor wasn't working. I wonder if it has something to do with the Garmin update I downloaded last week. I love running easy and actually keeping my heart rate at the level Spencer advises so it was disappointing that I didn't actually have my heart rate recorded for this run. For the last of the 6 miles (6 of my 14), Consuelo and I seriously picked up the pace. I knew she had some speed in her so I figured I'd try to bring it out. At W90th street, I said goodbye to my running friends and set off for another hour+ of running on my own. To my surprise, just a half mile down the road I ran into Rachel Swartz, another of my colleagues from Weil. She noticed that I had lost my running buddies and turned around and ran with me for the next 4 or so miles. Rachel is training for a 10 miler in 6 weeks. She wants to do it in at an 8 min/mile pace. I have the same lofty goal for my 1/2 but I'm pretty sure I have no chance of doing it quite that fast. It was good to have some company for miles 6.5-11 and it inspired me to not be so lazy and to run closer to a 9 min/mile pace. Once Rachel left, I finished up my run by heading towards home and doing a lap of the reservoir.

14 Miler with Alanna/Consuelo/Rachel by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details

Let's see if I can keep up this running volume for the next few weeks!!

Do you run in Central Park?

This morning I hopped on the subway at 6am to head to WFBC. I was pretty much half asleep still because I just haven't been getting enough shuteye. For example, yesterday I watched Dexter and went to bed around midnight even though I was supposed to get up at 5:45am. Anyway, I figured I'd close my eyes until I got to 34th street and faced the torture that would be sleep deprived WFBC.

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by a lady sitting next to me on the subway who asked, "Do you run in Central Park?" Apparently she recognized me. There are definitely some people who I see ALL the time in the park and have come to expect to see on my runs. Once we realized we were fellow Central Park runners, we launched into a conversation about how awful this winter has been for running, how on Monday, even though it wasn't that cold, the wind made it literally painful to run--I returned home from my 13 miler with my hurting sinuses, a bit of a cough and persistent sneezing--and each of our marathon histories and just how much we love running. One of the many things I love about running is the camaraderie between runners. During both the super coldest of months and the hottest, the hardcore runners who grin and bear it to get their runs in always will give each other nods of encouragement and recognition. When I was in both Hawaii and Japan last October, runners said hello even we spoke different languages. When you're on a hard run, it makes it just a little easier when you receive encouragement from your fellow runners.

That brings me to a recap of my running/other activities recently. On Saturday I did Billy's SWAT class. We did a number of timed circuits. I was paired up with Sarah Klein who kicks ass and helped me set the time to beat on one of the circuits---50 box jumps, followed by 30 squat to shoulder press, 30 pushups, and 30 mountain climbers; then 50 box jumps followed by 20 of each of those exercises, and then 10. Another challenge circuit we did was 3 1/4 mile sprints each followed by 50 reverse crunches. I was kinda disappointed by my time on that one--only managed to do it in 8:52. I figure I shouldn't feel too bad considering I had done a tempo run the day before and my legs were pretty shot. Once class was over though, I still put my fatigued legs to work with a little spin.

On Sunday, I had big workout plans. 13 mile run in the morning. Terrier tri swim practice in the evening. Instead, I went to brunch and took the day off. It was totally worth it.

On Monday I did a nice easy 13 miles in Central Park. My 13 miler felt wayyyy better than any of my long runs over the last few weeks even though I did it all alone. I'm not sure whether I'm getting stronger or my body was just happy to have a day of rest on Sunday.

On Tuesday, I had my 2nd Terrier Tri cycling class. For the first time ever, I managed to get my heart rate over 170 during a spin class. We did two drills that got my heart rate way up. The first was that we would spin at 90 rpm and then bump it up to 110 for a period of time. The 2nd was that we did a 4 minute seated climb at 60 rpm and then added more resistance and did a standing 4 minute climb keeping that cadence. After a short recovery, we repeated this 2nd drill. It was no joke. I also managed to convince myself to jump on the treadmill and do an easy 3 mile run after cycling. I kept it nice and easy and to my surprise, it wasn't actually that bad. By the time I was finished though, my clothes looked like I had jumped into the swimming pool.

Finally, today I went to my WFBC. I got in trouble a few times for standing up during laps of bear crawls around the room. Gosh, I really hate bear crawls. Unfortunately, when you "get in trouble" it just means you end up doing more bear crawls so next time around I'm gonna just get it over with the first time. I was also put in the "slower" group today. This was pretty disheartening---I think I just wasn't giving it my all and I was a bit fatigued from Monday's long run and Tuesday's brick. The plan is to work harder next Monday when I head back, but to be honest, since it's the day after my 14 miler I have little faith in how hard I can actually work.

All and all, I'm pretty proud of my last few exercise sessions though!



5 day Exercise Recap:

Saturday 75 min SWAT class and 20 min spin
Monday 13 mile run @ 9:20 min/mile pace Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details
Tuesday 1 hr Terrier Tri spin followed by 3 mile run @10 min/mile pace
Wednesday 1 hr WFBC

Falling off the Blogging Wagon but driving the Workout Wagon

So, I'm still new to this blogging thing and I fell off the wagon. Rest assured though, I've been getting my workouts in. Here's what I've been up to over the last 5 days.

Saturday: Billy/Kyla's S.W.A.T. + spin
Apparently the initials of SWAT stand for something but I don't know what that is. I will get back to you next week with that information. Class was pretty awesome Saturday. I really enjoyed some of the circuits and drills we did. One circuit including doing 500 meters (I think) on the rower, and then a series of jump squats, situps, jumping lunges, and regular lunges. Another circuit had 30 squats, 30 stepups on the box, 30 jumping jacks with 7.5 lbs weights and then each of those exercises 20 times, and then 10 times. I actually think I'm missing something from that circuit but I can't remember. Other fun included jumping pullups, backwards bunny hops and sprints across the room, and of course, Billy's favorite--pushups. I was still pretty sick that day though so overexertion caused me some chest pain and coughing but I think I sweated out some of my germs. :) I also did 20 minutes of spin and some stretching once I was done with Billy's class.

Sunday: 11 mile run
The NYC Half is rapidly approaching and I honestly don't feel at all ready. Sunday, Amanda joined/helped inspire me to get another long run in. This week I did 11. The last 2 or 3 miles were dreadful. I've been cutting my calories pretty low and working out 6-7 days a week so I'm thinking maybe that has something to do with how hard it's been. Now for the route, I did my 2 miles down to meet Amanda at Columbus Circle then we ran clockwise around the Central Park loop up to 102nd street, crossed over to the East Side, headed back down to 72nd street, back to the West side, then up to 102 and East again, back down to 72nd and across to the entrance to the park at CPW and 72nd. At that point, I hopped on the M10 bus and headed home.

Monday: WFBC
The usual amazingness! Post long run though, man this class feels almost impossible! My favorite part of class today was this one circuit we did--20 Squat thrusts, 20 pushups-- where you take your hands off the ground at the bottom and then push back up, 20 of something else I can't remember, 5 laps around the room and the run up the stairs and come back and do the circuit again except doing 25 of everything. Then 30. I know, sounds like torture, but amazing.

Tuesday: First Brick, or actually just Spinning
I'm doing the Terrier Tri Beginner Triathlon program which started Tuesday. Our first session was at the Columbus Circle Equinox (which always makes me smile). Unfortunately it was rather unpleasant for me b/c I was a bit hungover. So, things I learned on Tuesday morning: 1) Spinning hungover, on an empty stomach when you had wine for dinner the night before may end poorly; 2) I need spin shoes 3) I need a foot pod for my Garmin 4)This whole "Brick" thing is going to be harder than I anticipated. I had planned to do an easy 3 mile run after our hour long spin class but well, it didn't happen. I was too tired and nauseous to do anything but go get an egg and cheese sandwich. I will try again next week.

Wednesday: Not WFBC but, instead a 6 miler, part of which with Alanna
I skipped WFBC today so I could get a nice easy run in. Nice easy runs have been somewhat MIA in my workout schedule but I need to add them back in to get ready for the NYC Half. I'm really finding that's it difficult to get all the runs in I need but get to do all of the fun other stuff--read bootcamp and boxing and do my triathlon training. Today, I met Alanna t 7:15 or so and did a part of the Central Park loop. Once we parted ways, I two laps of the top loop b/c I really haven't been getting any hills in. Ugh, Harlem Hill is terrible!! Check out my heart rate spike over the top of the hill here:

Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details


All in all, it's been a good week of workouts. I'm taking tomorrow off so I can get a good rested 6 mile tempo run in on Friday. I haven't been able to do a good fast tempo run in a while, so here's hoping the rest helps!

Does Terrier Practice= Precipitation?

So, I joined Terrier Tri at the beginning of January with high hopes of attending all of their Tuesday and even some of their Friday marathon/1/2 marathon workouts. So far, it's been a losing game. I went to the first Tuesday practice and thereafter, it seems like every Tuesday or Friday I try to go, I wake up, look outside and there's a blizzard or something. Today, we just got rain (heavy at times) but it wasn't quite so cold so I pretended to be hardcore and went out in it. It was pretty unpleasant at first, but eventually it only bothered me a little bit--mostly when I wanted to change the display on my garmin but the raindrops were throwing off the ultra sensitive touch bezel.

SUPER SHOCKING SPECIAL BONUS today! Despite the rain, Amanda came to her first Terrier practice since I harassed her to join the team. She basically told me she wasn't coming in the rain, so I was pretty stoked and also surprised when she made it. I think she just wanted to be featured in my blog again.

So one of the many things I like about Terrier is that we do a really good warmup before we start our workout. This includes high knees, butt kicks, lateral shuffles, karaokes, walking quad stretches, this stretch where you walk and grab your knee in front of your chest (I'm sure it has a name but I don't know it), and then we finish up with strides. Every once in a while, Spencer will throw something else into the mix, I think just to make sure we are awake. I realized this morning that this warmup is pretty effective, because by the time we were done with it, I wasn't nearly as tight as I was when I showed up.

Once we got done with our warmup, we ran down to the "S", which is where we start our speedwork. When we got there, Spencer told us we had 5-7 800s (depending on whether we are beginner/intermediate/advanced) with a 2 minute recovery between each one. I dreaded it and apparently so did everyone else because there was an audible groan among the very small group that was legit enough to come out in the rain. Spencer kinda got a kick out of it though.

I tried to keep up with Amanda for the first 2 800s but had to fall behind because I felt like I might have just died out there in that pitch black, rainy park. Apparently, the warmup loosened me up but didn't undo the shock to my system of the last 2 weeks of WFBC on top of my usual workouts. So clearly, I only did 5 800s--the beginner workout. Guess I can't be superwoman every day. Spencer tells me I shouldn't go to bootcamp the day before speedwork because I need to rest up for our hard workout. The problem is that I'm so obsessed with bootcamp and HATE skipping it. I'm really not sure what to do about this conflict.

So after getting done with speedwork and chatting with Amanda and Spencer for a bit, I ran the 1.5 miles home and almost immediately it stopped raining. Sooooo frustrating. I guess I will just cross my fingers that Friday's skies are clearer for our hill workout.

One last thing. I really need to kick the terrible habit I have of wasting the fact that I get up at 5:30am for Terrier. Today, like many other days, instead of getting ready for work after practice, I showered and went back to bed, only to arrive at work at 9:30am. What a waste!

Total Workout Today:

6 miles

Dear Amanda, thanks for the 10 miles.

Today, as I anticipated, I was incredibly sore from the last 6 days of exercise but I have the NYC Half coming up and I needed to get a long run in. Amanda and I agreed to meet to do 10 or so miles today. We were both pretty excited because finally it was a little bit warmer.

I got started around 1:45pm and ran from my apartment down to meet her at Columbus Circle. As soon as I started, I wanted to stop but I knew at the very least I had to get down to meet Amanda so she wouldn't be standing there waiting for me. Once I did make it down there, we headed into Central Park headed counterclockwise.

At cat hill around 79th street, it became apparent to me that I couldn't stay in the park for the whole run. My legs were screaming, my heart rate was elevated, and I wanted to go home--I just didn't think I could take the hills. So I suggested that we head up to 102nd street then cross to the West Side and down the West Side highway path. Thankfully she agreed (because otherwise I may have just gone home) and we made our way West.

From then on, I basically told my self I was going to stop at when I completed the next mile, but somehow when I finished each mile, I convinced myself that I should just keep going. I was so lucky that Amanda was there, because I for sure would have quit even before we got out of the park. Finally, we made it down to 14th street which was 10 miles for me. Amanda kept on running home and I hopped in a cab back to my apartment completely depleted.

Today's run made me question my decision to do quite so many hard workouts. It was supposed to be an easy long run but, I was so tired and sore that what would normally be an easy pace (9:20min/mile) kept my heart rate at an average of 171. I considered skipping Warrior Fitness Boot Camp tomorrow but I have no self control and am going to go anyway. However, I will take Friday off completely so hopefully I can be a bit more rested up for next week's 11 miler.

Total Workout Today:

10 miles @ an average 9:21 min/mile pace
1:33 of running

Untitled by kelila83 at Garmin Connect - Details