A few threes

I got in three three milers this week. Felt stiff and slow, but that's to be expected after all the time off. I'm taking a long view of my running now, using this time for foundation building. Slow, steady and without injury. The goal is to be in shape enough and with a solid enough base to start marathon training in earnest at the start of the year. Not sure which marathon yet, but I'll be looking into that in the coming weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

Release

I headed out the door in foul mood this evening, just before dinner. The day sort of caught up with me and I think I said something like I need to get out of here. So... I got my stuff on, headed out, sat on the front step for a bit and then went out for a quick 3.3 miler. It felt good and I can home refreshed and recharged. Unplanned. Very much needed.

Mellow Sunday

Way to go FA! Sounds like you had an awesome experience in your half. Way to finish strong! Congratulations!

Took a mellow Sunday run with PR. It was a gorgeous day and fun to run with a friend. He wore an old pair of my shoes, and soldiered very nicely despite the fact that they were too narrow.
It was just a nice run on a nice day with a good friend. Afterward, the families headed out for a nature walk around a pond and next to the Charles. Good day.

Official Results

Finished 207th out of 431 runners.

First half split, 1:03:27

Finish, 2:15:04

10:21 pace

ADK 1/2 Marathon

So I'll say that the ADK 1/2 went mostly as I planned it. I am very pleased with the experience, and would do it again.

I had this plan for the race: Stay at a steady 10 minute pace for the first seven miles to keep some gas in the tank for the last six, which are mainly uphill, with some flats and downs, and then run the hills as I find them. Pre-select my lines, and stay in them. (I observed the course again by car last night, before picking up my bib. I selected lines along the course that looked flat, not tilted to one side.) Take shot blocks (margarita flavored, thanks for the good steer from VTR) for miles two, four , six, and eight. Grab water at every station.

The first 5 miles or so run along Schroon Lake, one to the prettiest big lakes in the ADKs, in my view. I hit the halfway point at 1:03:27, which was right on plan, and I was psyched.

It was a gorgeous day, cold at the start and crystal clear with a beautiful blue sky. I hit mile markers seven through 10 at 10 minute intervals. But something about how I was shortening my stride on the hills was causing some bad IT band pain on the right side. I took two hills walking with long strides, which made the bands feel better. I still hit mile 11 a little past around 1:53, which was not far off my plan.

The roof sort of caved in just past mile 11. I suddenly had bad pain in my groin on the left side, and my right IT bands were getting worse. I was having trouble lifting my legs. I fell into a run/stagger for the last mile, perking up a little with the Japanese drumming at mile 13, and again when I saw the girls about 40 yards before the finish line. I must have been grimacing; there was a lot of encouragement being shouted at me by strangers in those last 40 yards. I crossed the finish in 2:15:04, ground to a halt and almost fell over. Someone handed me a gatorade, steered me towards a chair and took the chip off my sneaker. I sat there for a good 10 minutes, a little dazed, before I limped off to find Mrs. FA.

Walking around the post-race festivities was difficult and painful. I got a banana and a brownie and four bottles of water and sat in the lake for about 20 minutes, and had a massage, which was nice but not as helpful as the Alleve I swallowed in the car.

The good surely outweighed the bad. It was something, really something. It was a very friendly race on a beautiful course. I saw people I know. I am proud of the Adirondacks and of myself. And now I am going to spend some time away from running.

Talk with you later, fellas.

Go, go, go

Good luck FreeArtist!

13.1 is no match for you. Run your race. Have fun.

Then blog. I want details.

Cheering from the VT side of the lake,
VTR.

Ramping Up

Starting back into the training after a summer of goalless running. Weight is still down and pace is up despite running not more than 2x per week. Going to ease into it this fall so as not to repeat last years over training injuries. Ran 4.5 today at 8:31 (PR for the route). I'm getting much better at maintaining an even pace during the runs. Each split today was +/- 1 second. Not bad!

Part of the new plan is to work in riding on the weekends to help reduce the pounding on the legs. I've been going for 20+ mile rides on the new bike on the weekend. Rides are good for the legs (less pounding), good for the lungs (hills are brutal) but bad on time as it takes longer to get a good workout in. As an aside, I'm selling my old road bike (below). Let me know if there's anyone you know who might be interested.

2001 Trek 2200 56cm
Shimano 105 Components
Shimano Flight Deck Computer
Aluminium Frame / Carbon Forks

Winding Down

Ran from my apartment to Columbus Circle last night, then took the subway home. The run was 26:26. It is warm in NYC, mildly humid. I really stank up the train. Que sera, sera.

Hale Reservation Triathlon

I did my second triathlon yesterday, Sunday 13 September, 2009. It was a blast. The swim felt longer, my run was significantly slower than last year (something in the neighborhood of 42 seconds/mile!) but I still managed to finish in the top third, even if I did drop off of the first page of results -- though this year I am tops on the second page of results at 51 out of 157. Here's the breakdown of the race.

SWIM
I got stuck behind a couple of wide-body clydesdales right off the start. I couldn't go around them because there were a couple of other dudes to my left and right. I ended up stopping an treading every few strokes just looking for space. I eventually did get around them but the damage was done. The adrenaline was my enemy, I got mildly nervous and panicky and ended up breast stroking pretty much the whole thing. thought I did pass guys even swimming breast stroke I lost at least a minute or more in the opening 150 yards trying to get around those guys (9:59 -- ugh! yet everyone felt like it was longer this year). I did OK on the transitions, sub-2 minutes, but need to work on those (1:54)

BIKE
Bike is what I think is my weakest -- especially mountain biking with clip-in pedals. When I was younger I used to just go out and ride and didn't worry too much about anything. Now I'm a bit more cautious though adrenaline on my bike was my friend. The ride was fairly punishing, and fairly tricky but very fun. There was a monster climb in the first mile or so that I rode the first time I rode it, but walked it during the training and the race. People were dropping off left and right and it made it hard to navigate (those clip-in pedals make me uncomfortable at low speeds). So I hopped off half way up and ran it up the hill hopped back on, rode one more crest then hammered it down the backside back into the woods (it was asphalt actually in this part). The eventual women's winner powered by -- 50, fit, and driven -- up the steep. I was jealous. The rest of the ride was largely uneventful -- I got stuck in a line of guys, one in particular and along the single track portions I just followed. I rode things yesterday that I'd walked or fallen off in training and stayed on the bike generally better. There were other climbs where guys were coming off the bike so I came off the bike too -- it's a chain reaction on rocky treacherous pieces. I ran the bike up each of those sections though and got back on as quick as I could. There was one sick rock garden that I had walked both training runs, but sort of half rode half walked yesterday -- I made up some time there. Generally I attacked and had fun and see the bike as a place where I can get significantly better. Running CV totally helps biking and I find it easier to recover on the bike. I ride a 20 year old hard tail, hard fork Trek and I did OK: 5.3 miles 34:50, 9.5 MPH. I did a 1:24 transition out of bike shoes into running shoes. Actually moderately happy with that. Oh, and it was muddy and mucky in many parts of the track and that made it super fun.

RUN
The run was solid for me. I pushed it hard on the bike and took a bit longer to come back on the run. The eventually second lace woman passed me in the transition. I stuck with her for the first little bit,up a nasty climb and then she started to pull away. I kept in her sight the entire run but could not catch her. I walked one little stretch, about 5 paces to collect myself, then started to reel back her in, though I never lost sight of her. I started sort of slow and that transition, from bike to run, not just the legs, but the breathing even is very tricky. I think though that I was negative splitting, because I was reeling her in and closing the gap over the last half of the course. I was also passing some other guys as well so that was good. About 150 yards from the finish, on basically one of the smoothest, easiest stretches of the run I stepped on something, I don't even know what, and tweaked my left ankle. It hurt but I powered on, and finished with a nice kick. It was ironic because I was running over rocks and rots and up and down rock and rot strewn climbs and hopping off of some rocks and I tweak myself on the most mellow part of the course. the ankle is a bit tender today, but nothing catastrophic. So, the race details said 2.3 for the run but people in the field said that it was 2.5, I don't know who to believe on this but if it was 2.3 then the race clocking at 20:39 and 8:59/mile is my time. If it was 2.5 then I ran a bit better than that at about 8:15-16/mile. Not sure which, I have no real way to judge it. Eight fifteens though are better than 8:59s.... I don't totally remember last year's course but there was a section I walked briefly last year that we didn't run this year, and in that section it cut a chunk of the race off that we had to cover this year (with one more nasty climb), so I do actually think that we ran further which would make sense to me.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I'm not as fit this year as last but I got better on the bike and about the same on the run if it indeed was 2.5 miles. I was happy with the negative splits on the run though (or what seemed like negative splits). Swim was tricky. I didn't freestlye-swim as much this year, and I'm not sure why. I need to work more on my swim (though I feel like I did this year and it didn't help me). Anyway, it was a blast, and totally amped me up for the whole day. Fun, fun, fun!

10 Miler

Well, 9.4 miles anyway, according to MapMyRun. I started at Columbus Circle and headed onto the Park Drive with traffic, counter-clockwise. After about 3.5 miles I approached my apartment and took a pit stop for water, the bathroom, and to drop off my cap, into which I was sweating heavily as it prevented my body from ventilating. I got back out on the Park Drive after about 10 minutes and had a rough 4 miles, slowing to a crawl at some points just to keep moving. But the last two miles were inspired. I found a guy running just a short distance ahead and stayed with him from the Met back to the Great Hill, where I turned for home. It was a real grind of a workout -- start to finish, with pit stop and crawling, nearly two hours end-to-end. Nipples are raw. (Agricola, I picked up some BodyGlide for the race.) I'm feeling fairly well worn this morning but pretty confident about next Sunday.

Given the flat course for the first eight miles, I am aiming to maintain a steady 10 minute mile pace for that distance to keep some gas in the tank for the long climbs and sharp drops in the last 5 miles.

I am planning to run 35 to 45 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday this week, then sit tight for the race. More later.

Run To Remember

I know I've said this a million times: we ran the Brooklyn Promenade about 30 minutes before the planes hit the towers. The attacks were underway as we ran. The day was crystalline. I've run every September 11 since that day with one exception when I was sick. I headed out today, late afternoon, in a drizzle. I did 3.3 miles. I don't know how fast.

I run in honor of the dead and hope to honor them thusly as long as I can.

I say this each year, more or less. It does not change for me. It is immutable. September 11 is a major motivator of my running. I'm sure there is some crazy psychological thing tied up with this but I feel that as long as I run I honor the memory of all of those who died.

Tri, Trails & Steak

Last weekend we were at a family wedding outside of Portsmouth, NH. My brother and his family were in town. The day after the wedding he and I went for a brief -- 25 minutes, I think -- trot through Newcastle, NH. It was lovely, rolling and scenic. Frequent ocean views to our right on the way out and a nice little turn around down by Portsmouth harbor with a view of an old fort. The weather was beautiful and it was great to run with my brother. We also saw a couple of deer in somebody's yard (I saw one on last week's trail run, at the edge of an orchard and the woods).

Sunday I didn't do much except eat a massive meal at Capital Grill. My brother and I headed out Labor Day afternoon and took a rocking trail run through the Fells Reservation in Winchester/Medford. It ended up being more than I'd bargained for (see massive meal, Capital Grill, Sunday night) at about an hour of up and down, side stepping and root hopping. The air though was gorgeous piney and clean. We ran around the Winchester water supply and the presence of basically a mountain lake was really amazing. It was a butt kicker of a run, but I'm better for it. Again, it was awesome to run with my brother who is really a gazelle.

Wednesday night I did a full run through of the tri that I'm doing this weekend. It was fun even though I had a splitting migraine during the day and I sort of felt like I was in slow-mo all along the course. The swim went pretty well, but it felt longer and I felt slower than the advertised 400 yards. I was more comfortable on the mountain bike last night and found some lines that I'd not see the first ride last week that I hope will help Sunday. It's a fairly punishing ride at 5.3 miles with some big climbs and some tricky descents. The run went well once the leg wobble stopped. I just shifted into an easy lope through the woods and felt good throughout. I'm looking forward to Sunday, and am going to have the family come out and watch. It should be around an hour, perhaps more -- the swim is longer, I think... -- and it's supposed to be a beauty of a day.

Don't Run After Pizza

I had two slices of pizza tonight around 5:30. When I got out for my run at about 7:45, I started out hard and the agida quickly shut me down. I thought I was gonna die. SUCKING wind. So I slowed to a walk for a few blocks and started up again at a more moderate pace and headed out towards the resevoir and looped it. I was back at the apartment in about 31 minutes, which is not bad. When I hit the resevoir track I felt that I needed a pacer, so fell in behind a couple out having a social run, chatting away, and stayed with them until about 3/4ers 'round, then pulled ahead and that was that. Heading to the shower now. 10 mile run in the plan for Saturday.

8 Mile Run

I got out for eight miles today. Mrs. FA drove me 8 miles from the house and dropped me off. It was a very pretty run, on a plateau high above the lake, with wonderful views for most of the first five miles. I had to walk up the four brutal hills, but I completed the course in a shade longer than 80 minutes, so maintained, on average, my comfortable race pace. I was happy about that.

One downer, as I crossed in front of my neighbor's yard, a wasp hopped out of the grass and stung me, right through my sock. I used profanity. It was an inauspicious end to an otherwise encouraging run.

Less than two weeks to the big race. I'm feeling particularly fit. Since last Sunday, I've biked 26 miles, run 18 miles, rowed steadily for three hours, and mowed the lawn. Hoo-ah.

Peace, fellas.

Two New Runs, and Some Rowing

Had a GREAT run in Central Park on Wednesday and a so-so run on the Crown Point Peninsula on Friday evening. So-so, mainly I think b/c I'd had two cups of coffee and two beers and nothing else to drink all day, and felt the dehydration as I ran, in the sun to boot. I had some unexpected cross training this afternoon, rowing around Lake Eaton fishing with my cousin for about 3 hours. The upper body feels comfrotably fatigued. Planning to act like a slug tomorrow with a long run in the pipeline for Labor Day.

CCM - I am in...

Howdy all,

Very little running. Just P90xing it and some golf. Good summer, but now headed to winter school opening. Love to catch up soon and get a run in or two Agricola.

Hope everyone had a good summer.

Plugging Away

Gents. So the ADK 1/2 is just over two weeks away. I've been plugging away at my weekday training runs, and started feeling some of the work pay off in the last week. The longer weekend runs have been uneven and therefore not encouraging. I am aiming to go for 10 this weekend (Labor Day) and am strongly considering an out and back on the last five miles of the race course. (VTR, that would mean I park where we started out on the bikes last weekend, run the last five miles of the course backwards, then turn around and run the last five miles again, just as I'll experience them during the race.) I feel very calm about the race, though I'm not confident of a steady, consistent performance. My goals are to 1) finish; 2) finish without hurting myself; 3) stay in motion the whole distance; 4) experience the ADKs in a new way. The last is not insignificant, I am looking forward to participating in an ADK event.

I had a beaut of a run in the Park on Monday evening. The weather was dynamite, clear temps in the 70s and breezy. LOTS of runners were out there, soaking it up.

And THANK YOU to VTR for driving through the Valley to join me for a reconnoiter of the ADK half marathon course. The full course would make this marathon a significant accomplishment for any runner, I think. There were hills after hills in the first 1/2, and I was sucking wind on the bike after the first few. The second half of the course (the 1/2 marathon portion) is flat for the first 8 miles, then mildly hilly. It runs right along the lake for about the first six miles, too. It is doable, I think, and VTRs positive attitude and learned recommendations were super encouraging.

Running tonight and Friday before the long weekend run. Will update again then.

Peace, fellas.

Ride on

I forgot to mention that I did a 26.2 mile bike ride around Schroon Lake on Saturday with FreeArtist. He'll be doing a half marathon on that route later this month. I rode to get some exercise and check out the course. After riding with him, I predict he will crush it.

It felt good to go for a spin. Got a flat (two actually, but one was user error) with 7 miles to go and had fun changing the tire. I'll steal FreeArtist's thunder here a bit and say that gadgets are fun. We both had these little CO2 cartridge recharger/pumps which were very cool once figured out. I spent my cartridge by almost popping my tube (no auto-shutoff on the sucker). Luckily FA had an extra tube and cartridge, so we were back on track in no time.

Anyway, beautiful ride and fun to catch up with FA and (briefly) the FA family.

Later boys.

Trail Run

Took a big trail run today right around lunch time. I'd planned on a doing an out and back into the woods but ended up continuing on. I ran through woods and along the Charles River. I ran through some cool marsh land on raised boardwalks. It was fun and tough and fairly solitary although I did see a handful of other trail runners.

By and large the trail was really temded, not many rocks sticking out nor roots, though there were some rugged sections. I had fun and am feeling the flow. Not sure how long it was, but I think I ran for close to an hour. The transition from the trails to the streets was weird and I walked a bit after I came out of the woods but finished with two good climbs to my street (the ones at the end of my ypical 10K route).

Oh yeah, and the weather was gorgeous! Sunny, dry and 67 F. Perfect.