I finished last week with a 12.1 mile run, which is the longest I’ll go before the race on Labor Day. I felt good at the end of it, so I’m feeling confident about race day. My goal is to finish in 2 hours, which I’m on-track for.
Over these next two weeks I’ll be toning it down a lot to give my legs a break.
The fun thing about keeping track of all of my runs is that you get to look at trends over time and come up with some metrics on how you’re doing.
The average mileage has obviously been trending up, which is great! Average speed seems to be going slightly down, which I suppose is expected. I hope that will stabilize over the next month so that I’ll have the confidence to run the 20K at a decent pace.
I hit another milestone: during the month of July, I ran 100 miles. It wasn’t a goal I explicitly had in mind, but when I tallied up the miles it worked out pretty well. Over the past several weeks I’ve just been sticking by the book to my training plan (which ramps up to 12 mile runs in a few weeks!). My one goal for the race, of course, is to just finish!
Who cares about my 20K time. 3 years ago, I could barely run a mile, and it took me 11 minutes! Looking back at where I was always gives me motivation to keep going.
This week, my training schedule toned down the mileage a bit in preparation for another 10-miler, which I did today. My pace was almost a full minute slower than the last time I did it, partly due to the brutal weather:
I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, but a long portion of the run goes by walkways near the water which don’t have many trees nearby.
I knew full well what I was getting into, and remembering last week’s mistake, I decided to bring Gatorade instead of water and brought more of it. I also took a shot of Gu before leaving and brought another one for the halfway mark. I was out of Gatorade about 8 miles into the run and refilled my bottles at a water fountain, which were both empty again by the time I finished the 10th mile. And that was *barely* enough! My breakfast, all that stuff I ate/drank on the run, and the food I had when I got back adds up to 1110 calories.
I hope to be on my bike tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. Next week also has a “shorter” 8 mile weekend run, but also features another 8-mile run at my 10K pace.
I’m still alive (see the graphs on the right).
Haven’t had time to really post anything (nor is there much to post about) but I did sign up to run a 20K a few weeks ago. The day of the race is Labor Day, and I’ll be in New Haven to run that. The plan is to then sign up for the NYC Triathlon (which will happen in July 2011).
I have the confidence that I’ll be able to do the 20K. I ran a 10-miler last week and felt good. These last 6 weeks will see my training ramp up a bit more, eventually going up to 12 miles. A hydration belt and energy gels REALLY help for these long runs.
Today was brutal. High 90s and really humid — I went out to do 6 miles (and I did), but came back completely dehydrated and tired as hell. The hills didn’t help. I thought a “short” run like that would be safe to do without worrying about carrying around water and gels, but I now realize I should always bring them just in case. Phew!
And to think that 6 miles is a “short” run now! 3 years ago I couldn’t even run 1 mile in under 10 minutes without passing out. If I can do this, anyone can.
As the weather’s started to get better I’ve been exploring new routes. I sometimes feel like bringing my smartphone around so I can keep track of mileage more easily and not worry about losing the trail I had planned out but it’s too bulky. Anyway, it’s been fun exploring NYC as a runner.
Today I ran across 3 bridges: starting from Astoria Blvd, I ran up the RFK (Triboro) bridge into Randall’s island, then over the Ward’s island footbridge to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, then down the promenade along the FDR drive to the Queensboro Bridge and back home. It’s the most hilly path I’ve ever taken (that’s just how bridges are). Honestly the RFK bridge is a bit boring and Randall’s island kinda smells, but running along the east river is pretty cool. I got a little lost on Randall’s island and I almost accidentally wandered into the fields around the psychiatric ward…
Anyway this was a pretty good weekend.. ran a total of about 13 miles and I went hiking about 15 miles somewhere upstate on Sunday. I kinda expected my legs to be destroyed, but I’m feeling surprisingly good after all that with no pain, soreness, or fatigue.
Here’s a new route I’ve been taking, which goes from my apartment, passes the Socrates sculpture park, goes through another park, across the bridge to Roosevelt Island, up to the lighthouse at the northern tip, and passing under the Queensboro bridge twice. (It also passes a power plant, which is kinda cool I guess). It’s just over 8 miles long.
Great views all around, especially along the west edge of Roosevelt Island where you can see the Manhattan skyline.
My previous version of the Sunday run would be a trip to Astoria Park and then a lap around it, going along the river and under the RFK bridge, which is just shy of 6 miles. Again, great views all around. I’ve also been wanting to run across the Queensboro Bridge and around Central Park, which shouldn’t be too bad I think (6-7 miles?). Maybe I’ll do that next week.
I think the next version of the route will include a run to Astoria Park (along the water), then back down for a lap around Roosevelt Island - that’s close to 10 miles. I hope to be doing that in a month or so.
The graph on the right is starting to get a bit wonky. Between surgery, vacation, and travel over the past couple of months, there’s been a lot of 1- or 2-week break periods. It’s amazing how much you lose after only a short hiatus. I feel like not running for a week sets me back a month, so I really just need to make a habit out of it and keep things going.
Finding an open treadmill (or open anything at the gym) is the hardest in January. Right before and right after, though, it’s easy.
I noticed this trend last year too. The gym is always crowded in January because that’s when people make resolutions for the new year. The first two weeks are the worst, and then it sharply drops off. This past week, the gym was empty every time I went. The gyms take advantage of this, too, by letting all of their deals and sales expire right before the new year.
I ran about 16 and a half miles last week at a comfortable pace. It might take a couple weeks to get back up to 21, but I’m back on a regular running schedule after LASIK recovery and other personal matters. It’s amazing how much progress you lose in a short amount of idle time. I feel like every week of missed running kills 3 weeks of progress. If you get discouraged easily, this makes for a slippery slope. I hope I can keep up the regular schedule and continue making slow and steady progress.
I’ve made good progress in my quest to run continuously without stopping, well on my way to 7 continuous miles. My last run (4mi @ 8:33) looks rather disappointing on the graph to the right, but I took it easy on purpose since I was scheduled for laser eye surgery the next day. My recovery is going well, but I probably should stay away from running for a week or two. I hope to get my running shoes back on as soon as I my doctor says I’m safe to do so. I’m at least glad to know that I can run a continuous 10K at a decent pace without getting tired.
Anyway, I’ve set a modest goal this year to increase that counter on the right-hand side to 1200 miles by the end of the year, which amounts to about 700 miles this year. I should easily beat it if I keep my current pace, but I think the challenge will come in running regularly throughout the year and not getting lazy. I’m also hoping to increase my distance to half-marathon level during the summer. We’ll see how it goes.
My right knee has been in a little pain, which led to about a week without running. It was more than just some soreness (I probably would just run through soreness), but some sharp pain. I kept off of it for a little while and it’s much better now.
The past several weeks, I’ve been running the “Freeway to 10K” series, which is an interval training program that culminated in that 7-mile run. Despite my average pace hitting my target, it still involved a single 60-second walking segment to catch my breath and take a swig of water. It makes a pretty big difference when it comes to timing. This past week I’ve decided to see how I can improve how long I can run without having to stop to catch my breath, so I’ve started with 5-mile runs, which seems pretty doable. I finished the week at 5.33mi @ 8:25 and felt in good shape to keep going (but decided not to as I want to avoid further injuries). Removing that 60-second break, of course, makes my average pace go up a lot.
I’m going to do this for another couple weeks until I know I can run a 10K easily at a good pace without stopping. After that, I’m probably going to vary the routine a bit, doing long runs every now and then and mixing it with shorter interval runs for speed, so expect those graphs on the right side to go a little crazy. I’m easily on track to hit 500 miles by the end of the year though!