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.

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.

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?

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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United NYC Half Marathon Training Week 7 (Feb 2nd 2019)

Planned mileage: 17.5mi

Completed mileage: 18.5mi

Actually, with this training update, I think that I may be on the right path for training for the United NYC Half Marathon. For once, I completed all of my planned training goals, and my back did not bother me as much . . . for the most part.

Let’s get this started.

Monday:

Planned: 50min X-train

Completed: Elliptical and strength training

Unfortunately, I arrived at the gym kind of late and was unable to do as much as I wanted to with my strength training (arms and chest). But something is better than nothing.

Since I did not do much on Monday morning, I had planned to run with Harlem Runs. In a previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to run with a running group. Harlem Runs has weekly Monday and Wednesday runs so I figured it would be a good start. I arrived home from work to change into my cold-weather running clothes, but the BF informed me that he washed our clothes AND the dryer was broken. No run for me because my cold-weather clothes were all wet. Oh well, there’s always next week.

Tuesday:

Planned: 4.5mi

Completed: 4.5mi, 10min stair climber, 35min stretching

Man, I hate treadmill running.

Wednesday:

Planned: 8 X 400m intervals

Completed: Rest. I think that I went out for drinks with friends after work. 

Thursday:

Planned: 3mi

Completed: 8 X 400m intervals; broken up 3mi run; 45min strength and weight training

What polar vortex? Since the temperatures were around 4 degrees, these runs were obviously done on a treadmill. One cool (no pun) thing about this polar vortex was the gym was virtually empty. Score.

Since I skipped Wednesday workout, I combined the intervals with my “3mi” run. I say “3mi” because I did a 0.5mi warm-up followed by the eight intervals and a normal 2.5mi “recovery” run. Actually, my workout was kind of awesome. Aside from the first two intervals, all of the other ones was sub 2 mins.

Friday: 

Planned: Rest

Completed: 20min elliptical and 30min stretching 

Saturday: 

Planned: 9mi

Completed: 9mi 

This run was kind of make or break for me, especially after what happened with last week’s long run. Last week, my back really started to hurt within the first two miles of my long run. I managed to complete this run in Central Park; unfortunately, I had to walk a couple of times. But, 9 miles are 9 miles. I really noticed that I need to stop relying so much on the treadmill because it gives me a false sense of security when I eventually start running outside. In my defense, it has been really cold. Although I walked a few times (those damn Harlem and Sister Hills), I managed to eek out fartleks for a mile or so during miles 7 and 8. Or was it during miles 6 and 7?

Sunday: 

Planned: Rest

Completed: 20min stair climber, 60min strength and stretching, and a couple of bike rides through the city.

All in all, I had a GREAT training week, which is something that I have not been able to say in a VERY long time. I just hope that I did not overdo it, making this training week a hot mess. My back pain has greatly reduced; I think taking out the glute extensions was a major factor. Today after work, I was thinking about going to Zumba class, but maybe I should sit it out and actually take a REAL rest day.

Goals for this week:

-Definitely go running with the Harlem Runs crew. I’m thinking that I will go on Wednesday since that is the group speed workout day.

-Begin increasing the distance for my interval runs (800m or 1600m intervals).

-Although this may not happen this week, but I need to start introducing more hills into my runs. The first part of the new half-marathon’s course is somewhat hilly, and we have to cross a bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan. For this Saturday’s long run (10mi), I think that I will incorporate the Manhattan Bridge, which on the United NYC Half’s course.

Why do I run?

Running for me was a bit of an accident.

Back in the day, the late 90’s to be exact, I used to run track and cross country in high school. In high school I did the long distance races, 1600 and 3200 meters. I liked running track and cross country but I was no elite athlete by any means. I mainly did these sports to become a well-rounded student that everyone says you need to be in order to give you the competitive edge for your college applications. It is kind of interesting that now it seems that colleges are interested only in the academic aspects of a high schooler’s application. But, that is another story for another day. Matter of fact, once I received early admissions for one of my top choice school in October of my Senior year, I pretty much did not participate in any extracurricular activities for the rest of the year.

Pretty much from Senior year of high school to my first year of my postdoctoral fellowship (a good 12-year span), I did not run at all. Actually . . . I lie. I think that I may have ran five miles once in graduate school.  Too be frank, I used to get quite annoyed hearing about friends rambling about training for half- and full- marathons. Also, the NYC Marathon used to be a big thorn in my side, because of all of the street closures.

So what caused the change in my feelings towards running?

In 2010/2011, I used to ride my bike to work everyday. It was a short commute  (about 4 miles from Roosevelt Island to the Upper East Side) but I had to cross two bridges, so it was a decent 25-30 minute workout.  However, my road bike has very thin tires, so I would get flat tires constantly, which are a pain to change. One day in February 2011, I get up, put on my cold weather (it gets cold in NYC in February) gear to ride my bike, and I see that I my bicycle had flat tire. Since I was ready to go, I  rolled my eyes and grabbed my allen wrench to start changing the flat. Then, I thought to myself “Screw this, you can just run to work”. I may have used other choice words than “screw”.

After that day, I became a runner . . . again. I started to run to work almost every other day, unless the weather was below 32F. I am a scientist in Academia, so I really did not have to dress too nicely . . . jeans and a T-shirt is appropriate dress code in my line of work. My coworker, a runner, noticed that I was running to work and suggested that I participate in some of the races that the New York Road Runners (NYRR) sponsored. Then, I was really hooked. My 5K races became 10K races and my 10K races became half-marathons. Then, I was a like if I can do a half-marathon, why not train for NYC’s marathon. It is interesting that while training for the NYC marathon, I told myself that I would never to do another marathon again. However, when I finished the marathon I made a bucket list of running marathons in  other states and other countries.

It is kind of cool for someone who was not that interested in running became more involved in the running community all because of a flat bicycle tire. The interesting thing is that I think that I am a better runner as a 36 year old man than when I was a 17-year old “kid”.