Let's hear it for New York

I can't believe I've been in NYC since Thursday and I haven't made it here to wax poetic about how much I adore running in this city. I've put over 30 amazing slow, easy miles on the flower-lined streets of Central Park. Running with the other people in the park, being in this beautiful place juxtaposed between nature and city, in what's been perfect spring weather to bring the trees and flowers into full bloom puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

Since Boston, my running has been pretty unstructured, purposefully so. I ran zip-zilch-nada from Boston Monday to Easter Sunday, when I got out for just over 2 miles before the Easter eating commenced. My legs were confused, sore, and sluggish. Monday's 5 went slightly better, but it definitely took a few days of easy running for my legs to feel any semblance of normal again. I didn't have a mileage goal in mind in the first week back running, so I was pleasantly surprised to hit 31.5 fairly easily, ending with a 10-miler on Saturday. I think the key was taking every run nice and easy, paying close attention to my pulse to make sure it didn't get much above 150.

With Grandma's fast approaching, and NYC on the horizon in November, I've decided to take this spring/summer to do some heart rate-based, Hadd-like base building before entering into a 12-ish week training plan for NYC. I've devised a "plan" to do so, based on some Hadd stuff, a typical week of 60-ish miles looking like this (mins @ HR):

60 @ 145

75 @ 160

60 @ 145 inc 30 @ 145

90 @ 145-150

85 @ 160

75 @ 140-150

120 @ 155

Hadd suggests doing a test of sorts as a way to monitor if all the sub-aerobic training is working. It basically involves running a series of 2400 meter intervals at increasing HRs: 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 with 90 seconds of rest in between. I think I'll plan on doing this sometime next week. This week my mileage should be at least 40, if not 45, and as long as I still feel rested and raring to go, this should be good timing.

I think it's going to be a challenge keeping myself in those zones, but I think it's a good way for my body to happily accept building up some mileage in order to hopefully get into a training plan next fall that peaks at 75-80 mpw. That being said, my legs are feeling absolutely awesome as I've been keeping my AHR below 155 on my recent runs. I'm at higher mileage post-marathon than I have been in the past, even though I took an entire week off. I can feel myself chomping at the bit sometimes, especially on gorgeous days like today when I'm being passed by people in the park and have to keep my competitive side at bay, but I think it will be good for me. It will also be a perfect way for me to have a plan that's flexible enough for me to do the "whenever, wherever" runs I don't get during a marathon training plans - at such low heart rates, adding miles when I feel good isn't such a disaster! I'm excited about this little experiment and to see how I feel during it!