Training Update, Fred Lebow Half Marathon: Week 1

Ok, we are back at it for another half marathon.

I have registered to run the Fred Lebow Half Marathon, which is scheduled for Jan. 19. I think this is the only NYRR half marathon that I have not attempted. I've been a bit scared to run this half because it's smack in the middle of January, and New York is quite cold in January. I have seen post-race pictures of guys with icicles in their facial hair. I'm not a huge fan of running a half marathon in Central Park, which is about two loops. I guess that I have gotten over this because I have completed NYRR's 12, 15, and 18 mi training runs for the NYC Marathon.

I mainly signed up for this marathon because of my FOMO from sitting out TCS NYC Marathon. It's NYRR's first long race after the marathon. Actually, I lie, NYRR has a 60K right after the NYC Marathon. 

Another reason that I signed up for this Half Marathon. I think this race will put me at a decent baseline to prepare for and run the United NYC Half Marathon (if I'm selected for the lottery) in March and start training for Madrid's Rock n Rock Marathon in April.

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Sunday: 3 mi

Lordy, it has been a while since my last run, and boy did I feel it. The plan was to run to the gym and lift before heading to a bottomless broozy brunch. I was annoyed after completing this run because my gym is renovating ... once again so it was a cluster f*ck of gym equipment everywhere. Plus, there is no longer any place to stretch and foam roll. Every time my gym "renovates", there's less and less space. CAN I HAVE SOME SPACE TO STRETCH?!! So annoying. Perhaps, this the push I need to cancel my membership and join NYSC.



 
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Monday: 3 mi

Easy run to and from the Bronx. Actually, one of these days, I think I'll do a run to Yankees Stadium. Aside from the Bronx 10 mile, which I have only run two times, I really do not run in the Bronx.

Tuesday: 4.07 mi

I had a nice little run that incorporated one of my favorite running spots in Central Park, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

Fortunately for me, I finished the run just as it was about to rain. Phew!

Wednesday: Rest

No run since I was traveling to Anaheim, California for a conference.

Thursday: Completed 4.01 mi

A nice little run around a section of Disneyland. Man, the traffic lights in Anaheim are super long.

 I did a loop of Disneyland's perimeter.

I wonder how much Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears go for these days?

Man, some families don't mess around when it comes to Disneyland. I started my run around 6:30 am, and there were large groups heading to the park.

Friday and Saturday: Rest

Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and was a bit tired from traveling, conferencing, and getting caught up with time change. On Friday, I woke at 3 am PST; I guess that I was still on EST. Although I did not run, I did walk to Denny's (0.2 mi) and eat an All-American Grand Slam Breakfast. So the walk to Denny's counts, right?

 
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That's it for my first week. I'm a little bummed that I am sick, and I hope my cold will not get any worse. Right, now it's a head cold, but I feel that the green, gross mucous is coming in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

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NYC Marathon Training Update (Week 1)

General housekeeping: 

-I think training week 0 really did a number on me because I was quite tired most of this week.

-Man, the heat was no joke this week.

 
I'm all sweated out after walking 6 blocks (~12 minutes).

I'm all sweated out after walking 6 blocks (~12 minutes).

 

Monday: Planned, 5mi easy; Actual, 4mi

With temps in the 90s, there was no way that I was going to run with my running group so I did a treadmill run at the gym. Ain't nobody got time for all of this heat.

Tuesday: Planned, 6mi hill repeats; Actual, yeah right

I woke up all prepared to run in Central Park, but I was super groggy. I just could not get it together for this run and decided to go back to sleep.

Wednesday: Planned, X-train; Actual, X-train, lap swim

I finally made it to an NYC's adult open swim program. Many of the outdoor pools have FREE open swim either from 7 am to 8:30 am or from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. I opted to swim from  7 - 8:30 am in a pool that is about one mile away from my apt. Knowing NYC's planning for these types of programs, I was expecting a complete sh*t show, but the program was managed very well . . . at least on my first visit.

 
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Breath-holding contests back in the day were one of the things that made swimming fun as a kid. What are they going to get rid of next, Marco Polo?

You know what? Swimming laps can definitely show a runner how out of shape he/she really is. I was pooped after continuously swimming for 45 minutes . . . well, maybe it was closer to 30 minutes. Also, my flip turns are now quite atrocious.

Thursday: Planned, 5mi easy; Actual, Rest

I think Wednesday's swim took it out of me because I was quite exhausted. Although I planned to run after work, I received some bad financial news and did not care about running. Instead, I was all mopey and went to McDonald's for my comfort food of a Quarter pounder with cheese combo meal. Ugh, is it me but are most McDonald's in NYC riff-raff as hell? Some of these folks act like you are bothering them when you ask them to do something that is part of their job. 

Friday: Planned, Rest; Actual, Rest 

Eh, nothing to report.

Saturday: Planned 10mi race; Actual Rest

Due to the extreme heat conditions, NYRR decided to cancel the 10mi Marathon Training Run. Good, because I did not want to run outside in 100-degree weather.  Although the run was canceled, I had planned to run my 10 miles at the gym. That did not happen because I kept putting it off. "I'll go to the gym at 8am" became I'll go to the gym at 10 am, 12 pm, 3 pm, and so forth. Long story short, I did not make it to the gym. However, I did get a lot of housework and professional work completed.

Sunday: Planned, Rest; Actual, 10.5mi easy 

Although this week literally has been HELL in NYC, I knew that I could not let a week go by without doing a long run especially this early in my training plan. I think other folks had the idea of running indoors because I had to wait about 30 minutes for a treadmill. I was a bit selective with my treadmills because I wanted a treadmill that was near a fan. The run was just eh. I typically get really bored with treadmill running after 7/8 miles, but I powered through.

Because of the weather, this week was a bit tough for running. I thought I read somewhere that your body needs 2-3 weeks to acclimate to summer running. I guess my body needs two acclimation periods - one for 80-degree weather and the other for 90-degree weather.

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TCS NYC MARATHON TRAINING WEEK 4 - Getting IT DONE

Word on the street is that we have a little less than 16 weeks until the TCS NYC Marathon. Woo hoo  . . . I think. For the most part, this week of training went well - this week was a low mileage week. I have been doing well with my three run per week training plan. But I think after this week, I will increase my runs to four times a week.

Monday: 

Planned: 5mi | Actual: 0mi

I received some bad news, so I opted out of my run for the day.

Tuesday: 

Planned: Zumba and Weight Lifting | Actual: 3.2 miles, Zumba (45min), and Static Stretching.

I tried to do Monday's run at the gym, but it was hard to get to the gym with enough time to do the 5 mile run and the Zumba class (Damn you, MTA). So, I just did 3.2 miles on the treadmill and the Zumba class. As normal, Zumba class was excellent and I had a blast.

Wednesday: 

Planned: Strength Training | Actual: Did it

I have not lifted for quite a while, and it felt great to finally pump some iron. Although I love this Crunch gym for my Zumba class, the weight room kind of sucks, because it is so small. For this workout, I did a 30 minute chest workout, which included: bench presses, dumbbell flies, barbell bent-over rows, dumbbell shoulder presses, biceps curls, and cable triceps pulldowns. The workout called for calf raises and squats. I decided not to do those, because I was going to do interval work the next day, and I did not want to overwork my lower body.

I was really glad to incorporate this training into this week's workout, and I hope to continue in the future.

Thursday: 

Planned: 6K Ladder Intervals | Actual: 6K Ladder Intervals

I remember doing these types of ladders back in my high school track days with a love/hate relationship. For this workout, I ran consecutive intervals of 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m with a 100-200m recovery jog/walk and repeated these three more times.

The workout was a little tough, because I think that I ran too fast for the earlier "rungs" of the ladders. Although it has been so annoyingly hot over the past few weeks, the rain during this workout made it very pleasant and manageable.

Since I have been really stressed at work, I go on a couple of 10-15 minute walks during the day. On one of my walks, I found a track (at Wingate Park) a few blocks away from work. SCORE!!!

The track is not an official track, because 5 laps, rather than 4 laps, is equal to a mile. But hey, at least it's something.

*Random Trivia: This park honors George Wingate - one of the cofounders of the NRA. Now, I feel kind of conflicted about using this track.*

Earlier, I had mentioned that I decided to start attending the Brooklyn chapter of the NY Front Runners for it's Thursdays interval workouts. The group was planning to do 1 mile speed intervals and I did not think that I was ready for that, so I opted for a solo workout.

After the interval training, I did some body-weight training using the bleachers.

Friday:

Planned: Strength training |Actual: DRANKS

I was supposed to do strength training and static stretching, but I decided to meet up with a friend, whom I have not seen for while, and grab some drinks. Since I live AND work in Brooklyn, I really like to seize any social opportunities to go into Manhattan.

 

Plus, how can one turn down a prosecco happy hour until 7pm at Bar Veloce - East Village? This is where the evening kind of went nuts. My friend and I went to a happy hour that the Front Runners hosted on the LES (Bedlam), then we got margaritas at a Mexican place (Fonda), then some more drinks someplace else (The Wren). Although we had quite a few beverages during the evening, I was not "that" drunk because I managed to take the subway (not an Uber or cab) home. Also, I managed not to fall asleep on the subway and get urinated on. Believe it or not, this happened to a woman on my subway line last week. *Ok, I'm getting off topic. This is supposed to be a running blog.*

Saturday: 

Planned: 5mi | Actual: 0mi

Man, I was so hungover when I woke up at 6 AM to do my run. I pretty much stayed at home all day and did absolutely nothing but watch "The Office" (pre season 4) and Bad Santa 2. However, it did feel nice to have a lazy Saturday, so I did not feel too upset about not running. 

Sunday:

Planned: Strength Training | Actual: 5mi and Strength Training

Since I was a buster on Saturday, I decided to do my run with strength training. For my strength training, I focused on arms and I had a pretty good workout.

 

*Perhaps one day, my arms will look like the models in above gallery ;) * The workout was good and I felt kind of healthy . . . Then, I blew it by getting Indian food and having 4 beers at a local bar. In my defense, the beers were Bud Lights and the beverages were 2-4-1.

I dropped by the NYRR Run Center to pick up my race materials for tomorrow's Brooklyn F-U-N run (or whatever the hell it is called). I do have to say that I love the NYRR Run Center's location. Even though it is located on the West side, at least is near midtown and accessible by multiple subway lines. Unfortunately for me, the A, C, B, D, 2, and 3 trains were not going uptown, so the place was not really convent for me on that day. ;)

My top songs for the week.

 

Goals for the upcoming week

  1. Register for more NYRR races, so I can repeat 9+1 entry for 2018's TCS NYC Marathon.
  2. Finally, decide if I'm going to run Montreal's Half Marathon.
  3. Try not to get sh*t faced on Friday night so I can do my Saturday long run.

Excitement and Fear

Now that my taping "program" has begun, I am thinking more about the logistics of the Montreal half, which is in 16 days. Some of my questions include:

  1. Where should I stay in Montreal? I have to book my Air B&B TODAY.
  2. What should I bring?
  3. How will I get to the start?
  4. Will I have enough battery juice on my phone for pre and post race activities?
  5. What should I put on my race music playlist?
  6. Will I have to poop or pee during the race?

I have been somewhat spoiled by living in the "sometimes" great city of New York, because there are plenty of races here and I am an expert at navigating out metro system. Thus, I really never had to travel to far to get to a race, maybe except for the half-marathons on Staten Island and the start of the NYC Marathon. For the half in Montreal, I will be sure to give myself EXTRA, EXTRA time getting to the start by navigating Montreal's metro system. I will probably end up taking an Uber anyway ;).  This will be my first race outside of NYC, so it is kind of cool and scary at the same time.

I "Strava'd" the course so I will have a better feel for the turn-by-turn play.

The course looks pretty nice (at least in cartoon form), which has a lot of potential photo opportunities (maybe there leaves will have started to turn orange, red, and yellow), but the last 5 km are uphill, which I am not looking forward to. It could be worse, because the full marathon has 8 miles of uphill running after mile 10. That said, it will be nice to get a different perspective of Montreal, from a runner's point of view. One thing that I did not anticipate is that the locations of liquid stations are not too consistent because they are either 1.5 or 2 miles apart. Typically, I have been training to take a sip of water every mile after mile 5 during races. This means that I'm going to have to rethink my hydration strategy. However, it should not be that big of a deal because I am doing the half-marathon but it may have been problematic if I was running the full marathon.

I just remembered another goal that I have not completed for this race. When I decided to run this race, I really wanted to gain a better grasp of the french language. Enough of a grasp to have a basic conversation with some of the Montreal residents (I'm a bit of a chatter) in their native tongue. Last Christmas, I bought Rosetta Stone's program for French for myself and I kept at it for a few weeks but I never completed the program. :( Maybe I will try to learn French for next year's trip to Montreal.

For this weekend, I plan to do a 5-7 mile race tempo run and some cross training. Oh shoot, I need to register for 2 more NYRR races, so I can have guaranteed entry into NYRR's NYC Marathon in 2017.