Holy Humidity!

The air in the Northeast feels like a giant sponge right now! Uff da!

Last night I wasn't feeling brave enough to fit 3 miles in between claps of thunder, so I did 3 easy miles on the TM 3 miles in 27:46 (9:15 mpm)

This morning I headed out to the hill for 4 repeats! It was still incredibly humid, but the rain last night seemed to cut through some of it. And, the hill was thankfully shaded, which made a huge difference. I felt sort of sluggish on my way to the hill (about 1.5 miles) but as soon as I accelerated into the first hill, I felt much better. The hill was tough towards the end, but I sped each one up: 1:18, 1:16, 1:12, 1:11 (taking about 2 mins in between to run back down). My legs felt GREAT on the run back home, but I didn't push it and really tried to cool down (hard when I have to speed up to catch the green lights, but I tried!) 4.0 miles total in 34:16 (8:41 mpm average)

This week

M: 4 mile recovery run
T: 6 mile run
W: 3-4 mile recovery run
Th: 4xhill + wu/cd (4-5 mi total)
F: rest day
Sa: 6 mile MP
Su: 13 mile LR

I'm back

...from a busy few days!

This morning's run was the most humid of the summer, I think. At 7:30am it was already humid and hazy, although the temperature hadn't skyrocketed yet and the sun hadn't risen above the trees. This definitely was much appreciated as my legs felt sloshy with humidity! Overall I felt good, my legs and breathing didn't feel labored, but it's amazing what the humidity can do. 5.5 miles in 47:07 (8:32 mpm)

Schedule

And, for good measure, this week's schedule (with adjustments as indicated). It's supposed to be a cut back week, but since I had a surprise one last week, I'm sliiiiiightly tinkering to get in a few extra miles.

M: 3 mile recovery (doing 4)
T: 6 miles; 1 hr training session
W: 3 mile recovery (doing 4)
Th: 4 x 800m intervals
F: rest
S: 6 mile at M.P.
S: 8 miles (will do 9 with BF)

This weekend

Wow, lots to catch up on - guess that's what happens when the shoddy internet connection goes out over the weekend!

Today - An easy 4 mile recovery with BF. My legs were definitely tired and it was pretty hot, but it felt pretty good. 4 miles in 34:02 (8:34 mpm)

Sunday - Woke up early to get a 10-miler in before the heat set in. The schedule called for 11 but BF's called for 9 and I didn't really need to push my legs (especially after Saturday's disaster) so 10 it was. 10-ish, because we used the Manhattan Bridge as a turn around, and it ended up being 9.7. Oh well! I think the lack of food and a bit of dehydration was still in play from Saturday, as we both felt pretty sluggish, but it was overall a good run. 9.7 miles in 1:30:12 (9:18 mpm)

Saturday - spent the entire day on a bike and in the sun at the beach. Great day, but not enough food and certainly not enough water. When I finally got around to running my 5 miles, the weather was great but my legs were unhappy with me! I felt achy and crampy and couldn't tell if it was a lack of fuel issue, a too much sun issue, or a leg issue. I also think I started out too fast under the delusion that I had energy and was ready to go. I felt myself slowing down in the 3rd mile, for sure. Imagine my surprise, when I logged my run, that I actually hit an 8:20 minute pace - exactly my marathon pace, as I was intending to do! I felt more like I was running 10 minute pace ;) 5.5 miles in 46:21 (8:23 mpm)

Friday - rest day!

Right on Tempo

This morning, BF and I did a tempo run together. We slowly jogged to the park for a warm-up, then sped up for a 4-mile loop through the park. I found it harder to judge the pace the first mile than normal, because it's still taking longer than normal to find my stride. I took a minute to count my strides, and I was at almost exactly 180/minute, so I knew we were doing ok. The first mile was in 7:50, and neither of us were suffering, so it was comforting to know we were at a good pace. Mile 2 was more of the same, comfortable but hard. Mile 3 is always the toughest on this loop, because it is one rolling hill after another (next time, I think we should do the loop backwards to get these hills over with). All I can do during this mile is concentrate on my form and keep my effort and pace constant. The last mile started off fine, but with about 1/2 mile to go, I felt my stride get uneven, almost like I was favoring my leg, and I was tensing up because of it. I slowed down a bit, while BF finished fast, and we joined back up for a slow cool-down back home. Even with that decrease in pace, I still managed to finish the 4 mile loop in 32:00, which is a perfect tempo run pace. 6.3 miles in 53:00 (8:19 mpm) including 4 miles in 32:00 (8:00 mpm)

A Pleasant Run

This morning's run was a nice and easy 5.5 miles with BF. It was cloudy, rain threatened but never carried out its threats, and it was a very nice temperature. My leg felt better than yesterday from the first step, and I was actually able to find my stride again! We didn't push the pace, both as a nicety to my leg and to save ourselves for tomorrow's potential tempo run. I did try several stretches of picking up the pace a bit, and I felt more than comfortable at a faster pace, which bodes well for tomorrow's run. BF couldn't have said it any better when he called it a very pleasant run!

5.5 miles in 49:25 (8:57 mpm)

Slow and Steady

I am currently icing after my first run post-leg scare. I did 4 miles verrrry sloooowly. For the first mile, I was running very gingerly to test things out. After I got to the park, my leg had warmed up and felt much better than that first mile. It was very hard for me to find my stride because I don't think I was ever fully relaxed, and my leg was on my mind the whole time. My feet hit the ground harder than they normally do, and my shins ached a bit and my feet fell asleep. But I'd say the last 1.5 miles I felt 90% normal - at least my stride felt easier and less like I was thinking about it. I honestly never really found my "groove" during this run, but I think that was inevitable. All in all, there was just a little stiffness and no real pain, so that is a great sign! 4 miles in 36:40 (9:14 mpm)

Stupid Softball

I had a bit of a scare during my softball game on Friday evening. I felt a slight tweak in my knee/hammy during my sprint from first to home (a hella good job, if I do say so myself!). Nothing major, but enough to cause a giant lump in my throat and a giant bruise on my leg. I let my paranoia take over regarding the stiffness in my leg, so I missed my runs this weekend and took it easy on the elliptical before my training session today, and I think I should be back to normal for a run tomorrow. I'll do an easy 4 in the morning, and sort of play the week by ear - maybe do another 4-5 easy on Wednesday, play my scheduled Thursday tempo run by ear, perhaps do an easy run on Friday instead of a rest day, then be good to go for my 5 miles at MP and 10-11 mile long run this weekend.

The odds of me playing in the final 3 games of the season have just gone way down... I just don't think it's worth risking irritating what I did on Friday... priorities...

Hilly Thursday

Today's workout called for 3xhills. Translation: find a 200-400m hill, run up it 3 times. There's a hill in the park about 1.25 miles from my apartment, so a perfect wu/cd distance. It was such a nice morning that I was glad to be out in it! And, my legs felt absolutely wonderful - rested and strong and fast! I think the hill is at least 300m, as I ran each hill in about 1:10. There were actually quite a few other runners out, and I loved whizzing by them as they struggled up the hill. Regular park runners call this hill Cat Hill due to the presence of a large sculpture of a cat at the crest of the hill - during races, runners definitely give the cat a big ol' growl as they peak the hill!

The workout felt great, and I'm enjoying more and more running in the morning as a kick-off to my day. It feels great to have it done!

3.7 miles in 31:24 (8:34 mpm)

T and W's runs

Yesterday I wore my running clothes to work (the joys of no dress code, haha) in order to set up an experiment and run while I had some free time. It was a sticky day, but the heat wasn't too sweltering. My plan called for 5 miles, an easy loop to do from lab and around the reservoir in Central Park. I felt good from the beginning: legs were rested, I felt energized and strong. I tried to keep a consistent pace until I had about 2 miles left, and then I let my stride open up a bit and pushed the pace back home. I've been trying to count my steps and reach 180 strides/minute, and each time I counted during my run, I was pretty close! It helps me keep my feet going and really does help me go faster, I think. I returned to lab sweaty but not stiff, just a really good, strong run! 5.1 miles in 42:08 (8:14 mpm)

I also had a training session last night. Every year the trainers at my gym have a little contest between their clients - they sign them up and there's a weeks worth of events, with a couple each day, for the competition. My trainer wants to sign me up. It takes place the week of June 18, so because my mileage won't be too extreme yet, I said I would do it. I may have to be careful and take some of my easy run days as rest days, but I think if I concentrate on rest and fueling and listening to my body, I should be fine. It's only a couple of extra exercises each day, not like I'm doing a decathalon or something!

Today: easy 3-miler along the East River. Again had to watch my speed a bit, but my legs did feel a bit tight so it wasn't as hard to hit a slow-but-comfy recovery speed. It was a bit cooler this morning than it has been, so it would have almost been nice to put in a few more miles in this weather, but it's not worth compromising my legs for tomorrow's hard hill workout. 3.1 miles in 27:48 (9:01 mpm)

And she's off!

Monday's run was the first run to officially kick off my marathon training! It was kind of anticlimactic to start it off with an easy 3, but I figured I might as well practice what it feels like going slow, since something tells me these recovery runs will be much-needed as my training progresses. It was pouring rain much of the day yesterday, so I held off my run until the evening, hoping the rain would eventually subside. Thankfully, it did, so I was able to run outside rather than on the treadmill!

One problem I encountered was finding a decent 3-mile route. The shortest loop I can really do in Central Park is 4 miles, and considering I'm a mile away from the park, it hardly seemed worth dealing with 2 miles of city streets and traffic for 1 mile in the park. So I decided just to go on the path that runs along the East River. For much of the time, it runs directly beside FDR drive, so I try to avoid it as I don't think I'm doing my lungs much good breathing in all that exhaust, but at least I don't have to cross traffic or deal with double wide strollers, dogs on too-long leashes, or other crazy pedestrians! I had to guess about where the turn-around point would be to get to a total of 3 miles, and overshot by a bit, but not a huge deal. I also thought that I was running slooooowwwwww, but my time of 30:19 is still an 8:50 pace. I guess because I didn't really "need" that much recovery I was able to feel comfortable at that pace. I'm sure as my weekends get tougher, these Monday recovery runs will get much slower - both because my legs will want to go slower from being tired and I'll get better at gaging my pace.

This week's schedule

M: easy 3 (recovery run)
T: comfy-fast 5
W: easy 3 (recovery run)
Th: 3x hill repeats
F: rest day
S: 5 at marathon pace
S: 10 at long run pace