So I had really planned not to go to bootcamp this week. I have a 6 miler, 10 miler (8 miles tempo), and 20 miler for the next 3 days. But, the thought of not going to boot camp for 2 weeks was so sad to me, that I decided ehhh, I'll rearrange my workouts, suck it up and do the thing I love. So I did. I ran 4 miles down to class and then spent some quality time getting tortured.
So I arrived like a minute late, and Alex denied me water and gatorade because apparently, I need to get up earlier and get there on time. Now, you would think I'd get some points for running down to class and doing more than the class has done by the time I arrive. Not with these crazy marines. No sir--despite the fact that if I just took the subway down I would have arrived on time, I deserved punishment for putting in my extra 4 miles. *sigh*
Today Ruben was teaching class and he, per usual showed no mercy on me for having super sore legs. We started by running laps around the room (no freaking jumping jacks even) then up to 12. When we returned, Ruben had bars for us to run around with and then back up the stairs with. He gave me a gray bar, which is one of the heavier ones though I have no idea how much it weighs--enough that it's no fun carrying it up any stairs or running around the room with it. There was hopping around the track on one leg after that. More laps, more stairs, and finally some jumping jacks. I thought I was in the clear.
Nope, now it was time for the ab set from hell. Crunches, jack knives, leg lifts, hold the legs 6 inches off the ground, repeat. repeat. repeat. OUCH!
More laps, more stairs then finally water. By this time I was sooo thirsty. After all, I starting running over an hour before and it was crazy humid out! After our very brief water break, I was in Ruben's group for the smaller group workout. On deck--squats with a kettlebell (75 of them I believe), deadlifts with the kettlebell, more laps. Repeat. Throw in some skullcrushers. Repeat entire circuit. More laps. More OUCH!
Finally we finished up our sets and went back to do our planks and standard warrior call outs at the end of class. As usual, I was soaked from head to toe like I had jumped in the shower with my clothes on. Oh no, that's just sweat. Clearly, I'm super sexy sweaty during WFBC.
So, could Ruben have picked a worse day to wage war on my legs? Not likely. My mileage over the next few days is the highest it's been so far this season. Do I regret choosing to go to boot camp? NOT A CHANCE!! Only sad part is I have to wait a whole week to see my 6:30am warriors and Ruben and Alex again!!
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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
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
Thursday, February 24, 2011
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!!
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!!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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
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
Friday, February 4, 2011
Remember when I did 8 mile tempo runs
Apparently my body does not.
Today I meant to meet the terrier group (yes, I am zero for three on terrier instruction this week) for a tempo run. I am sorta trying to follow the 1/2 marathon program that they are doing to get myself prepared for the NYC 1/2 in March. I thought they were meeting at 23rd and the West Side path but apparently I was wrong and I was standing out there alone at 6am. Nonetheless, I decided I'd do a tempo run on my own. My schedule called for me to do 5 miles. I only got through 2 miles at an 8:20 pace before I stopped. Tragic. 3 weeks out from the marathon, I did 8 miles at about that same pace.
After walking for about 2 minutes, I started up running again. I did 3 more miles--2 @ about a 9:20 and then the last one at 8:30. It was incredibly not easy and really kinda sad. Spencer (our terrier tri running coach) says that I will see the work I did last Fall sometime this season and that I need to be patient. Based on today's run, I'm not really convinced, but I guess I'll take his word for it.
On another note, it was ridiculously cold this morning. 16 degrees with a windchill of 9 or thereabouts. But, it turns out that if you dress warmly enough, you really don't feel it. Today, despite running on the West Side, where the wind off the river basically assaults you, I felt no colder than any other winter day. However, I had on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts (one lined with fleece), a fleece headband, and big funny looking gloves with hand warmers inside. Running creates a lot of laundry...
Today's Workout:
5 miles (44 minutes)
Today I meant to meet the terrier group (yes, I am zero for three on terrier instruction this week) for a tempo run. I am sorta trying to follow the 1/2 marathon program that they are doing to get myself prepared for the NYC 1/2 in March. I thought they were meeting at 23rd and the West Side path but apparently I was wrong and I was standing out there alone at 6am. Nonetheless, I decided I'd do a tempo run on my own. My schedule called for me to do 5 miles. I only got through 2 miles at an 8:20 pace before I stopped. Tragic. 3 weeks out from the marathon, I did 8 miles at about that same pace.
After walking for about 2 minutes, I started up running again. I did 3 more miles--2 @ about a 9:20 and then the last one at 8:30. It was incredibly not easy and really kinda sad. Spencer (our terrier tri running coach) says that I will see the work I did last Fall sometime this season and that I need to be patient. Based on today's run, I'm not really convinced, but I guess I'll take his word for it.
On another note, it was ridiculously cold this morning. 16 degrees with a windchill of 9 or thereabouts. But, it turns out that if you dress warmly enough, you really don't feel it. Today, despite running on the West Side, where the wind off the river basically assaults you, I felt no colder than any other winter day. However, I had on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts (one lined with fleece), a fleece headband, and big funny looking gloves with hand warmers inside. Running creates a lot of laundry...
Today's Workout:
5 miles (44 minutes)
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