TRAINING UPDATE, FRED LEBOW HALF MARATHON

Holy crap! I have really been neglecting this thing because I wrote my last post during the last week in November.

Without going into the week-to-week details of my training for the Fred Lebow Half Marathon, I can give an overview of my ups and downs. Actually, I do not feel like giving an overview right now. Well . . . most of the month of December has been full of downs in terms of training for this thing. Also, the half marathon is a week away so there is no need to go into great detail about each week. Perhaps at a later time, I will retroactively write about my training progress.

For the most part, I stuck to my training plan, which called for 3 - 4 runs per week. Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of injuries in my back and right toe during the month of December. These injuries, along with the holidays, impacted my running speed. :( Going forward with this sport, I really need to come up with some plan to get faster because I’m a bit tired of running 10-minute miles. Rather than focusing on running, my first step (no pun) should be on losing a few pounds. Actually, my first step really should be modifying when and how I eat so I can lose a few pounds. In a perfect world, I would like to lose at least 20 pounds during 2020. Actually (part II), once I hit the post button, I’m going to revisit my food tracking app and schedule intermittent fasting days on my calendar.

Although my half marathon is next week, I probably will be only 30% ready. My longest training run, which I completed the week before Christmas, was 10 miles. Of course, this run occurred before my back and toe injury so I feel like I’m starting from scratch again. Even though I am nowhere near 100% ready for next week’s half, the Fred Lebow Half was supposed to serve as a general baseline for my half marathon fitness. Back in December, I came up with this crazy idea to run a half marathon every month in 2020 . . . unless I am running a full marathon. So far, I have registered for a marathon in Madrid (April) and New York City (November).

Hopefully, I will get back into the habit of updating this blog on a weekly basis.

Race Report: Ted Corbitt 15K

Date: December 8th, 8:30 am

Distance: 15K

Place: Central Park, New York, NY

Weather: 29 F, 54% humidity

Finishers: 4,971 total (2,553 men / 2,418 women)

Official time / pace:  1:31:02 / 9:46 min/mi

Swag: Long-sleeved tech shirt



This 15K race honors the life of Ted Corbitt, who was the first president of New York Road Runners (NYRR) and the first African-American to compete in the Olympic marathon. During his life, he ran over 223 marathons and ultramarathons, so many cool achievements!!!

Going into this thing, I was not really feeling the race because the weather report called for mid 20 F temperatures. I don't mess around with super cold or super hot weather; however, I am glad that it did not rain or snow.

I was not feeling mentally strong going into this race, because of a couple of struggling short runs during the week. I did a (near) 5 mile run on Thursday, and it was so much of a struggle to finish. WTF? I just ran a marathon last month, but I was struggling to finish a 5-mile run. I guess that’s the life of a (slow) runner. Since this race takes runners through two loops in Central Park, the plan was to run the first loop and do 400m and/or 800m walk/run intervals for the remaining distance.

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Getting to the start was a little of a struggle because I did not set my alarm the night before. Why do I self-sabotage myself so much? I woke up at 6:30ish in the morning and was like “I can sleep for about 15 more minutes.” Yeah, I guess that 15 minutes became 60 minutes. Well, why did you do that? The race starts near 102nd St. in Central Park, and I live in Central Harlem in the low 120s. Basically, the distance is about a mile or so from the start so I thought that I plenty of time to get to the start. I am so glad that I laid out all of my clothes the night before. At 7:30 am, I started preparing the coffee, took a poop, threw on my clothes, hopped on a Citibike, and biked to Central Park just as the race was starting. I did not mind starting near the back of the pack (even though I was assigned to the B corral) because I knew that I was going to be a little slow for this race. Come to think of it, I did not stretch before starting.

Ok, let's get to the race.

The race started off really slow even for being near the back. I think the cold made folks a little cautious about slipping on the small patches of ice. Also, I think many folks are still coming off of the marathon and were doing this race to finish up their 9+1 requirements for next year's NYC Marathon. I think that I had the perfect amount of clothes for this race/weather. I never felt too cold or too hot.

Head: a Baseball cap and a head/ear band

Upper body: A singlet, two long-sleeved technical tees, and a very, very light hoodie

Lower body: A pair of shorts, tights, and over-the-calf socks

Hands: I only needed my gloves for the bike ride to and from Central Park

The crowd was pretty packed for most of the first loop (~4 miles). I decided that it would be too much work to zig in and out of the pack to pass people, so I figured that I would just "enjoy" the race. Although the weather was below freezing, I'm really glad that it was a sunny morning. Actually, it was a very picturesque run. Too bad that I could not take many pictures . . . dumb iPhone. I remember last year that it snowed a little bit towards the end of the race so this year's race was leaps and bounds better than last year's.

Finishing the first loop, we were able to see some of the elite runners finish. Man, they were so freaking fast. Ok, the annoying part of the run where I wasted some time.

I wanted to shoot a quick video of the top three runners, but my phone died. It's getting that time of the year when my phone does not do well in cold temperatures. Before shooting the video, the phone's battery was at 60%. After the quick, five-second video, the battery went to 2%, and the phone died. I am so glad that I brought my iPhone’s case/external battery

I think that my second loop went better than the first. Although I have not really investigated my splits, I definitely was passing folks and did intervals between two light posts starting at mile 7.

Interesting randomness:

• I ran a better marathon this year.

• I ran a faster Ted Corbitt last year.

What's the point of this info? I figured since I was in better shape this year, based on my marathon finish, I would do a better job for this year's Ted Corbitt run. I guess that you can never use one metric for predicting your finish for a run.

This year's Ted Corbitt 15K

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Last year's Ted Corbitt 15K

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Eh. Oh well . . . what's done is done.

With the conclusion of this race, I earned my 9+1 guaranteed entry for next year's TCS NYC Marathon. 

Man, there were so many people waiting in a line to take a picture with the 9+1 sign. I swear, NYCers love to wait in lines for the most random things. I pretty much took a selfie and kept it moving. It was far too cold to be hanging around in a line.