Wuss

Yes, I am a wuss. Actually, Im not. But, today I wussed out. I prefer to blame it on the 60-90 minute commute I have to get home after running group. It made skipping out on a run in a thunderstorm with pouring down rain really easy. I hit the treadmill for 30 minutes of intervals (likely much less strenuous ones than Shelley would have done) and another segment of a movie (whose name escapes me at the moment).

No running wisdom to share tonight.

Though skipping out afforded me a few very nice things. I got to make an excellent stir-fryesque dinner with CSA share sugar snap peas and broccoli. YUM. And I will get to read more of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince once Im done with this post. I think it’s my third time through it. But, I have to re-read again before the movie comes out!

Bronx River Pathway – Scarsdale/Hartsdale Missing Link

Some digging around on the web provided me with the answers that eluded me for a year. Until the Bronx River Pathway is officially connected between Scarsdale and Hartsdale…how do you keep on runnin’?

You have 2 options. Note that these directions are written as though you are running north (from White Plains).

Option 1

• When the trail ends, turn right.
• Run over the overpass (above Bronx River Parkway and the train tracks that run parallel).
• Follow the sidewalk as it curves right. Enter the Hartsdale train station.
• Bear right (you’ll now end up running UNDER the overpass you just ran across.
• Continue along Aqueduct Pipeline Road. Note: This road has no sidewalk or shoulder, but is not heavily travelled – be sure to run against traffic.
• About 1 mile down is Edgemont Place. Continue past.
• Follow the S-curve. About halfway through the turn is a small opening in the guardrail on the left.
• Head south and look for the path on the right as it enters the woods behind some apartment buildings.
• The BR Pathway picks up again at Harney Road.

Option 2

• When the pathway ends, turn left.
• Run up the hill. Turn right on Walworth Ave (first traffic light).
• At the next light (Fennimore Rd) Walworth becomes Fox Meadow Road.
• Continue for a couple of miles through this residential neighborhood. No sidewalks, but plenty of room to run and the naitives are friendly.
• Fox Meadow runs out (T-intersection). Turn right onto Crane Road.
• Bear left onto East Parkway. This becomes Scarsdale Ave.
• Pass through Scarsdale train station parking lot.
• Turn right onto Popham Road.
• Turn left on Garth Road.
• The path picks up at Harney Road.

Pyramid

I like to name my side stiches the way I name my blisters. I’d like to introduce you to Louie Left Stitch and Reba Right Stitch. Sally Shoulder Cramp was also in attendance this evening. Good times getting used to the heat. This being the first day of actual summer-like weather (miracle).

Overheard before class: Some chick called Shelly “that lady with the bushy hair”. Haha. As if. Umm….sweetie…that’s Shelly. SHELLY. I don’t know why, but that really tickled me.

Workout: Pyramid intervals. 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1 mile plus warm up and cool down of 1.4 miles each (total milage – 4.86, but see note about GPS watch below). For the Advance group, they had to do an extra 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile intervals. Eek. Sometimes it’s good to not be in the fast group.

Very good workout. According to my watch, we did the warmup at 8:15 pace. Nice one, Shelly. No idea about time for the 1/4 (of which the recovery felt exactly the same as the interval). 4:48 for the 1/2 mile. 10:37 for the mile (minus 1 minute off the time to account for the insane hill course).

Buckets of sweat. Swoob, swack, swass, swace, you name it.

I miss working so hard to keep breathing that I don’t close my mouth and drool on myself. Awesome.

Note about GPS watch. Coaches say the warmup we did tonight (school to 99th street) is 1.25 miles. However, my watch said 1.43 miles. Laurel says her dad’s watch freaks out in Central Park, too. Must run a measured area that I know well to compare the watch readings. Another question is the pace readings. Is it the pace Im running right at that moment or an average of my pace for all of the mileage I have run. Over about 1/8 mile length, I read my pace 3 times and it was all over the place (and before you ask – I was running steady). I also need to figure out how to program intervals into my watch. And also how to just start the timer to record time/mileage without setting up a workout first. Or rather…I need to get Eldar to figure out all of this stuff for me

P.S. Laurel – Saw Paula tonight. I would have given her the evil eye if I hadn’t been using all my physical resources to not have a heart attack after that damn hill. But good news – it’s officially summer in the city. And you know what that means!

And a $10 cab ride and 30 min train ride and 6 min car ride later I was home. Nite!

New Shoes and a Partial Solution

8 miler today. I was a bit apprehensive going out since it’s the longest mileage in a good long while. And Eldar’s shin splints have him sidelined at the moment. So, it was up to me to entertain myself.

Thanks to Barry at Westchester Road Runners for hooking me up with new running and walking shoes (plus insoles) on Friday night. Yes, that’s my exciting evening…spending an hour picking out new running shoes. Though, I watched Deadliest Catch, too.

Anyway…new shoes broke in without incident. Well, no more incident than a few grandiose mud puddles. So far, I am blister free.

And I rocked it at 10:15 pace! Which is stellar for me these days. Felt terrific until the last mile. Though I think my fatigue was more mental than physical. But it does remind me to start rethinking my breakfast strategy now that I’m upping the mileage. I don’t think Newman’s Own Sweet Enough cereal is really the breakfast of champions (though it is one of the only cereals you can buy that isn’t filled with science experiments- and even it’s not perfect…but I digress.)

Ran south on the Bronx River Pathway even though E doesn’t like me to run that way alone (thanks to a few darkish underpasses where we have seen random discarded clothing lying around). But lots of folks out to run so I did it anyway. And I thought it time to solve the mystery of the disappearing trail.

We know the trail continues further south, but it dead-ends in Hartford and we can’t figure out where it picks up. Even shows a break on the “official” map. But I asked a guy who had passed me on the way out if the trail picked up. He says there are 2 ways-one through the neighborhood and another down the access road of the Hartford train station. I opted for the latter since my helper didn’t know the street names to use on Route #1.

Peaches at the train station farmer’s market!! Yippee-maybe it’s summer after all.

Anyway, found MOST of the route, but didn’t see the semi-hidden access point he mentioned and I was already halfway through my mileage so needed to get back. But the good ‘ol Internet provided the solution. Now just need to figure out the neighborhood route.

All in all…a good morning and a much needed confidence builder!

Pacing

3 1-mile intervals
9:10
9:20
9:08

Ran with the 10/10:30 group today. Was a great workout! I miss just running. Don’t have to plan a route or set the pace. I just have to keep up. Which isn’t always easy, but I just do NOT work that hard when Im on my own.

Lesson for today was pacing. The idea being that if you want to run 3 miles at a 10 minute pace, you won’t run each mile in 10 minutes. But the average will equal 10 minutes. Because you will run slower uphill.

Typically, I can maintain my same pace while running uphill. Then I tend to use the downhill as a recovery and go a bit slower. I have said before how I LOVE passing people going uphill and people who sprint downhill really annoy me. This is, apparently, bass-ackwards from what I should be doing.

But, if I start slowing down when I go uphill, Im afraid I will crap out altogether and have to walk. Which is just not acceptable.

So..I will be a rebel and go against the grain on this one. Or maybe I will be a convert by the end of the session. Stay tuned.

6 miler – Take 2

Ran in Atlanta today.

I love running in new places. It usually makes the run much less painful. Familiar trails are great, too. But, after that craptacular run from last week, I needed to do my 6 miler in a different place.

Plus, we got to come home and jump in the pool. Marvelous!

Along the way, we ran through the parking lot of a Baptist Church. Or rather…Baptist Compound. I keep forgetting that everyone in the south smokes and goes to church on Sunday. Though, the size of this church was a little bit scary. NEVER seen so many cars or such a big building in my life! I managed to run the heck outta there before being struck down for being a heathen.

Welcome Back

First time back at NYRR in a year.

Mission: The ever-hated, ever-dreaded East River run. With a bonus of running across the footbridge. Awesome. In impending rain. Awesomer.

Goal: Don’t be last (and I chose to run in the last group since Im lame these days).

Result: Achieved (finish time of 10 min mile pace both ways)

Likeness: Using the stairs to wade into a cold pool instead of being thrown in.

Class lesson: Run tall and running downhill
Personal lesson: Buy new running shoes ASAP!

Things I missed:

• Stretching on the dusty gym floor.
• The rhythmic and unexpectedly soothing cantor of Shelly calling out stretches – point and flex and point and flex and point and flex, twice more, last time
• Listening to people’s random conversations during the warm-up and cool-down
• The coaches (Laurel – Doug sends his love!)
• Laurel, my fellow runner complainer. Who am I supposed to complain to about annoying people?! (see section below)
• Other people with ridiculous and awkward strides like me. These are my people!
• Picking off just…one…more…person…before the finish line

Things I didn’t miss:
Annoying people (new this year: aviator sunglasses girl, ya know? girl, and people who don’t understand how much space they take up in the world or their trajectory and cut you off)

All in all it was not too bad of a day. Im not commenting on how Im running with the slow group. It’s just a temporary glitch and systems will be back online shortly. Or in a month. Or two

Haiku

Six mile run done
Heavy miserableness
Nothing more to say

Getting a Grip

I am in the process of getting a grip. I was on vacation a mere 4 days ago and you would never know. Im sure most of my poor attitude and general malaise is due to work – blah. But, Eldar and I were chatting about all of the stuff we have going on in the coming weeks and I had a bit of a meltdown.

I need structure in my life. Of course, I have some…wake up. commute, work, commute, do stuff, bed. But, I am training for a half marathon in August and a marathon in November. And all the travelling and running around we have planned just does not go. I don’t do the fly by the seat of my pants thing while training for a race.

When I did my 2007 marathon, my Friday/Saturday schedule was leave work, go to Trader Joe’s and do grocery shopping for the week, home by 6:15/6:30, cook and eat dinner (usually some variation of pasta with veggies and soy sausage), watch As Time Goes By on PBS while having a cup of hot tea with cinnamon graham crakers, bed at 10pm, wake up 5:30am, breakfast, exercise, run at 7am, shower, eat a ginormous salad.

Seriously. Down to the food I ate! That’s just my Friday/Saturday schedule.

But I find the structure soothing when Im tackling something as overwhelming as a marathon can be. You need to be disciplined and for me to do it and not be overwhelmed, I need the structure.

So, we had a nice chat about how we can train for these races by buckling down, but not raining on his parade (which tends to be much more relaxed, beautiful, and free than mine! Bless him for loving me and my neuroses).

So, Im feeling much better about the running stuff. Time to buckle down and do this thing. Yippee!! What the heck to do about work and that part of my life can be dealt with another day.

Loved this blog post from Kristen Armstrong:
http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com/2009/05/getting-a-grip.html