United NYC Half Marathon Training Week 4 (Jan. 14th 2019)

61 Days Until the United NYC Half Marathon!!!

Planned mileage: 18.75 miles

Completed mileage: 16.3

It felt nice getting in a full week of running and getting back on track for the United NYC Half Marathon. I will say that I kind of missed it over the Christmas and New Year break. Oh, I would have completed all of my planned mileage, but all of the treadmills were occupied for my three-mile run on Sunday. I did 30 minutes of elliptical work instead.

This will have to be a quick report because I have to start doing some work. Actually, this will be quick because I cannot remember much of what happened this week. I guess that my mind was still in vacation mode for most of the week.

Monday:

Planned: 40 min X-train

Completed: 3 mi run, 25 min elliptical, and stretching

Basically, I did a morning run and an evening workout that consisted of elliptical work and stretching.

Tuesday:

Planned: 4 mi run

Completed: 32 min on the rowing machine and 30 min stretching

I do not really remember why I did not run on Tuesday. Maybe it was raining in the morning.

Wednesday:

Planned: 1.75 miles (7x400 meter speed intervals)

Completed: 3 mi (7x400 intervals) + warm up and cool down

Ok, now my mind is back. I really enjoyed this workout. I performed the 400-meter speed runs followed by 128-meter cool off. I am quite proud that I managed to run sub 2min for all seven of my intervals. Hopefully, I can extend a similar trend once I start doing Yasso 800m intervals in the upcoming weeks.  Oh shoot, I need to start doing some hill work soon too.

I really love Marcus Garvey park because it has a path that is very similar to a regular track. Oh, and the park is like one block away from my apartment. One loop is a little more than 500 meters, so it is perfect for running 400m intervals with a track vibe to it.

Actually, the folks smoking cigaweed first thing in the morning is a little annoying, but what can you do? I guess you could call the police, but snitches get stitches.

Thursday:

Planned: 3 miles

Completed: Nada

Eh, I overslept and missed my morning run. Then after work, I decided to get much-needed after work cocktails.

Friday:

Planned: Rest

Completed: 3-mile treadmill and strength training

What KOS doing a workout on a Friday night?!!! I guess that one has to do what one has to do.

My local Crunch fitness installed new treadmills that are supposed to closely mimic outdoor running.

Honestly, I did not really see/feel a difference between this type of treadmill and the regular treadmills. Maybe I did not play around with all of the "fun" features. It seems as if the person who authorized this purchase for the gym may have gotten scammed. Great, so Crunch fitness will probably raise the membership fees for this waste.

Saturday:

Planned: 7 miles

Completed: 7.23 miles

This run made me feel like such a whiny baby. Well . . . the pre-run made me feel like a whiny baby. Saturday's temperature was around 31 F, and as most know, I cannot stand running in the cold. I knew that I needed to get this "long" run out of the way. Also, I knew that I needed to do it because I need to start getting used to running in the cold. After bitching and moaning for most of the morning, I decided to get my act together and do the dumb run. And then, the cold weather was not THAT bad. For my upper body, I wore a short-sleeved tech T, a long-sleeved tech T, and very light hoody. Within 200m of the run, I had to take off the hoody.

I will say that I really enjoyed the run. Aside from the 28 F weather, it was a very lovely day. My run pretty much consisted of running to Central Park and doing loops around the Harlem Meer, which is about 0.8 miles. I really need to decide if I want to report my distance in miles or meters because this back and forth is really annoying me. 

During my one of my loops, I ran in and around Central Park's Conservatory Garden. In all of my 16+ years in NYC, I have never visited the Conservatory Garden. The garden is quite nice, but I think the views would have been better in the spring and the summer.

Sunday:

Planned: 3 miles

Completed: 30 min elliptical and strength training

Without going into great detail, Sunday was pretty much a leg day.

Although I did not get into it in this update, I have been trying to do daily stretching and core exercises at home before going to bed . . . except on those cocktail nights.

That's it out of me. I hope y'all are having a great start to your week.

Catch you in the streets.

Another Road . . . Another Adventure

Perhaps, the title of this entry should be "Be Prepared". I know that it has been a while since posting here, but I have had a couple (positive) life transitions over the year. That said, I plan to give weekly updates in the near future. 

This is supposed to be a running blog; but to be honest, I really have not ran much during the past year. Once again, my lower back was giving me problems through most of the year. I was quite upset that my injury prevented me from running the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon, which had a brand new route. Additionally, I just was not really interested in running, so I took a bit of a break. 

Now, I am back and ready to do this running thing again, because I plan to run TCS NYC Marathon . . . once again. Fingers crossed for a better marathon than last year's. As of today, there are "only" 149 days left until the marathon, which will be held on Nov. 4th, 2018, so it is time to get moving on a training plan. 

The first step (no pun) of marathon training is to make a plan. I have decided to use Hal HIgdon's Novice Training plan II ( *** ), as a starting point for the next five months. Basically, I will follow the plan's distances and running days (four runs per week), but I will incorporate my own tempo, pace, intervals, and recovery runs. 

Since I am pretty much live by Google calendar for work, I have created an NYC Marathon calendar and scheduled all 80 or runs. 

General advice from the plan:

Each topic had a paragraph of info, so I'm quoting the aspects that meant the most to me.

Long runs: You can skip an occasional workout, or juggle the schedule depending on other commitments, but do not cheat on the long runs.

Run slow: [their] long runs anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds or more per mile slower than their marathon pace.

Walking: It’s best to walk when you want to, not when your (fatigued) body forces you too.

Strength training: For gym rats, continue to work out, but you might want to cut back on the weights as the long run mileage moves into the double digits.

Midweek training: How fast is “comfortably easy?” That might vary from day to day.

Race pace: duh

Rest: Coaches also will tell you that you can’t run hard unless you are well rested.

TCS NYC Marathon Training - Week 8

Theme for this past training week was "Change of Scenery"

This week was pretty productive in my opinion. In my last training summary (***), I mentioned that I was somewhat frustrated with my lack of enjoyment training for this marathon. This frustration could have been the result of boredom, lack of motivation, and/or burnout. To fix some of those issues, I decided to mix up my routine a little bit, and I think that it may have worked. Yay, me!

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: Planned - 5 miles | Actual - 5 miles

Change of Scenery #1

For my treadmill recover run, I visited another Crunch Fitness just for a change, in terms of the gym facility and the members of the gym. Actually (and "secretly"), I made plans to meet a friend for drinks in Williamsburg after my run, and the gym is really close to the bar. Although it was a recovery run, I pushed myself during the last 400 meters of each mile, and it felt grrrreat.

I treated myself to a couple of drinks with my friend. At Sweet Science, one of the restaurant's most delicious beverage is the frozen slushy. They normally come in one color, but you can ask the bartender to give you a tri-colored slush.

A nice frozen treat. 

 

Wednesday: Planned - Zumba and Weight lifting | Actual - Zumba and Weight lifting

Change of scenery #2.

Last week, I mentioned that I wanted to mix up my Zumba class because the routines have been come too predictable in my Tuesday class. I visited another Crunch Fitness in Crown Heights to attend a different Zumba class. Man, that class was so much!!! It's not that the Zumba class in Crown Heights was better than the one in Ft. Greene. The classes were just different in terms of music, choreography, and instruction. The Crown Heights class has some abdominal components to it, because my obliques were sore the next day. Going forward, I think that I will alternate Zumba workouts between Crunch Fitness in Fort Greene (Tuesdays) and in Crown Heights (Wednesdays).

Speaking of Crunch Fitness. Although I liked my Zumba class, weight lifting was not a productive as I would have liked. I think that this Crunch Fitness Express is so poorly designed, because there is no room to lift. Plus, the equipment is so close together that you are literally on top of each other; it scares me to death doing bench presses. During prime time hours, you have to work in your sets with 3-4 other people. It makes no sense when you have three people waiting for a single incline bench. I'm one of those folks who likes to do supersets back to back, targeting two muscle groups while lifting (e.g. bench press set followed by back row, dumbbell curl followed by tricep dips). Doing these supersets is pretty much impossible at this Crunch location. During that workout, I lifted for only 20 minutes because I was getting annoyed and frustrated.

My Lame Attempt at a Workout

 

Conclusion:   I will visit this particular gym only for Zumba and simple cardio work. 

Thursday: Planned - Six 800 meter intervals with 90 second recovery | Actual - Five 800 meter intervals. 

Man, how do early risers do it? I woke up at 5 AM to do my 800 meter interval run, and it was very "painful". I woke up early to do this workout, because I had plans to see "Aladdin" on Broadway later on in the evening. It felt nice doing some speed work again, but it was not so nice at 5:30 AM. Since I am not used to waking up that early, my body was super exhausted and I could not finish the last interval set  - my body was "one and done". After this workout, I realized that I really have to stop skipping out on these interval and hill workouts. During the racing season, I know that my body will thank me for these workouts.

Slappy the Seal and I

Clearly, the early start affected me later on, because I feel asleep during "Aladdin." Do not worry, I am pretty sure that I know how the show ended ;)  Yes, money well spent.

Friday: Planned - Static Stretching | Actual - Not a d*mn thing.

I kind of had a "fat boy" day on Friday. After a very long (and useless) day at work, I had a HUGE craving for fried chicken and made a nice trip to Popeye's. One just "reopened" in the neighborhood!!! I kind of lost my mind, because I ordered chicken tenders, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, AND french fries. Yes, I ordered two sides of potatoes . . . and I'm not ashamed for doing so.

Saturday: Planned - 5 mile race | Actual - 5 mile race.

NYRR  Team Championships - I will post a race report later.

Sunday: Planned - 12 miles | Actual - 12 miles.

Change of scenery #3.

I decided to mix up my long run by running over the Brooklyn Bridge and through the West Side of Manhattan. Originally, I wanted to run 6 miles into Manhattan and 6 miles back to Brooklyn. OMG. I feel in love with this run so much that I decided to keep going along the West Side for the entire 12 miles. It has been a while since I have ran along the West Side Highway. I believe running the Manhattan Half-Marathon, two years ago, was the last time I did this.

Brooklyn to Manhattan

Brooklyn to Manhattan

This run was so amazing, I felt strong and energized. I did not think that I would have been able to pull it off, because of the 5-mile race the day before. I think the combination of the nice weather (mid 70's) and the scenery of lower Manhattan and the Hudson River really made the difference.

Some pics from the run:

After my run, I rewarded myself with a nice pint of Shocktop ale and a burger (I passed on the fries) at McKenna's Pub. My beer tasted like pure nectar from the gods, but the burger was not so great. ;) McKenna's is a somewhat shady bar, BUUUUUUT it has 2-4-1 drinks all day and music from the 90's and early 00's rule the jukebox.

 

Favorite tunes from the run: 

Goals for the upcoming week:

  1. I do not know, I think that I may do a trail run next weekend.
  2. Core work, because the folks at Runtastic sent me this email. 

 

 

Marathon Training Week 3 - "Getting There"

I think this is the week that I have finally gotten into the grove of my training program. The attitude for this training weeks is - GETTING THERE

Monday (5.5 miles):

I did a nice 5.5 mile in and out run across the Manhattan Bridge. For some reason of all the bridges (Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, 59th Street Bridge, and Robert Kennedy Bridge) that crosses the East River, the Manhattan Bridge is my favorite.  I do not know exactly why? Maybe because you get nice scenic, iconic views of Manhattan and Brooklyn with a bit of an incline challenge. Random, the East River technically is not a river in the pure sense, it's actually a tidal strait because it changes directions throughout the day.

 The run was pretty fun and it did not feel too intense, because I forgot my Fitbit for the day. There was a different mental aspect for this run, because I ran after work. Normally, I like to run early in the morning, so I can get it out of the way for the day (plus, I never know when I will be invited to a random Happy Hour after work). I'm trying to run at different times of the day, so I can get use to variety.

 

Tuesday:

I finally made it back to one of my favorite Zumba class. I think that I added a couple of blisters to my feet, because I went out a little too hard. I will say that it was nice returning to this class after a 4 week hiatus. Also, I was kind of happy that I still remembered many of a dance moves and sequences.

Wednesday:

Absolutely nothing. I've been having a rough time at work. When I get anxious, I do not sleep, so I got absolutely no sleep from Tuesday to Wednesday. However, I did enjoy a BK Whopper Jr. ;)

Thursday (7 miles):

Speed work!!! One of my training goals was to get more involved in the running community. The Brooklyn section of the FRNY has a Fun Run on Tuesdays and interval training runs on Thursdays in Prospect Park. This workout was nice and tough.

 

A one mile warm up, followed by six intervals of 800 m hard sprints followed by 800 m cool downs. I was a little disappointed that I had to walk for a portion of some of the cool downs. Perhaps, went too fast during the "sprints". Going back to my high school track days, I remember hating 800 m runs because the distance is like long-distance (for track runners) and a sprint. From this training, I realized that my running speed as gone to shit. I kind of knew this from my other runs but there is nothing like speed work to tell you that you have gotten slower :(

There were only 5 of us, counting the coach, and the folks were pretty nice. I was a little disappointed that the coach mentioned doing track work in the Gowanus/Red Hook section of Brooklyn. It's hard enough for me to get to Prospect Park after work but Gowanus/Red Hook may be a "no go" for me. It will be such a pain to get back to Bed-Stuy after the workout. But, we shall see how this plays out in the future.

Since the training is near Prospect Park, I visited the nearest Crunch Fitness and did a good 40 minutes worth of static stretches.

Oh random me: I went to Chipotle for dinner and received a BOGO free coupon. Yea!!!

Friday:

Not a darn thing. I believe that I was super tired and a bit annoyed with life in general. Of if you are in the Chinatown area and want to visit a nice rooftop bar, The Crown at Hotel 50 Bowery is pretty nice. Drinks are a little pricey (typical for most roof-top bars in the city) but the city views at night are AMAZING.

Saturday (7 miles, supposed to be 8 miles):

First real long run . . . for me, since last year. I had planned to run first thing in the morning (to avoid the heat) but I could not get myself up. Ok no problem, because I saw that it was supposed to rain around noon, thus cooling down the city. I grabbed my stuff and headed to the gym. I like starting my long runs at a Crunch Fitness, so I can return, stretch, and take a shower. Yup, no rain in sight . . . until I finished my run. This run was a real struggle because I overheated a couple (no, a bunch) of times during the run and I had to walk :(. Also, I made the mistake of running through Chinatown. Never again!!! Because of the heat, the smell was extremely horrible. I still can taste the outdoor fish markets in my mouth. YUCK. Once I got to the East River, the run was a little more tolerable, because of the shade that the overpass of the FDR provided.

 

This run is the reason for the theme, "getting there". I'm basically trying to regain my endurance and speed. It's gong to be a tough climb but I will get there . . . eventually.

Although I did not deserve it, I treated myself to a couple of tacos from El Luchador (South Street Seaport) after the run. After stretching and cleaning up at the gym, I was really craving a frozen drink. That craving led me to Dallas BBQ in Downtown Brooklyn, which is probably the worse place you can go if you are trying to watch what you eat. I swear, I do not think that restaurant has anything healthy on it's menu . . . Oh wait, I think the water is healthy. I tried on of those Frose drinks, because they were featured on the cover of Time Out NY last week and it seemed like a good idea.

Goals for the upcoming training week.

I had two goals but I have forgotten the other one.

Incorporate this training plan:

  • Mondays: Recovery run
  • Tuesday: Weight lifting and/ Zumba or FRNY Brooklyn Fun Run, if I skip Monday's run
  • Wednesday: Weight lifting/ static stretching stretching or Zumba, if Tuesday's Zumba is skipped
  • Thursday: FRNY Brooklyn Interval training. I may have to do this one alone because the coach was talking about training at a track in Gowanus, Brooklyn and ain't nobody got time for that.
  • Friday: Probably nothing . . . does happy hour count as a workout?
  • Saturday: Long run and static stretching
  • Sunday: Weight lifting and static stretching, if I'm not too pooped from the long run. I feel that as the long run distances increase, Sunday workouts will be skipped.