On biking...

I took the longer (10mi) route to work this morning. I wish I could spare the time to do it every day. The weather is so fantastic right now--crisp and autumny (although it's supposed to hit 80 again today)--and it's nice to get off the busy roads.

Just out of curiosity, I plotted the profile of the first hill on my normal climb out of Tarrytown. It's short, but kind of steep (about 8% average grade for the first mile; the steep bits are 15%+!)

Main St Irvington

Wanted to keep today easy. Came home straight after work to try to catch the end of the sun, and set out over the Tappan Zee ramp to the OCA South. Turned onto the trail at Lyndhurst (and clicked on my headlamp--it was dark already), and followed the dirt to Irvington Main St. At Irvington, I looped back and returned on Broadway. Picked it up a bit on the way home, and really picked it up for the last .5 mile. 24min out, 20.5min in for just under 45min total.

NYSC 8

Ran 8mi @ NYSC Hawthorne. Started at 7:30 pace, and went slowly up the ladder to 6:44 during the first 6. Kicked it up for the last two miles and finished in 57min = 7:07 pace. Jogged an easy .5mi cooldown. The shoes? Still awesome.

NYSC

A weird workout at NYSC. Was going to do 8, but it was clear after a few minutes that my legs weren't up for that. So I shortened to 3mi warmup in 22 even, then 3x1mi at 6:40, 6:30, and 6:20 with ~1min recovery between... enough to break a sweat. Then lifted upper body.

(The shoes are still awesome.)

Birthday Weekend

Had a fabulous birthday weekend in Tarrytown.

Friday night DNR: wanted to take a rest day with the weekend I had planned, and was throwing a dinner party for John, Bill+Jeri, and Katie.

Saturday: Long run down to The Bronx. New shoes are awesome! I think it was 17-18mi, and except for some annoying heartburn in the first 5mi, I wasn't even tired until 2hrs in. Discovered The Right Way through Yonkers, and the Old Put trail. Great stuff.

Sunday: woke up early and did the Golden Apple ride with the Westchester Cycling Club. Total mileage for the day was 94: 19 getting to/from White Plains to catch the other arm of MetroNorth, and 75mi on the ride.

Now, as per usual, tea, radio, and refueling.

Did I mention the new shoes are awesome?

Well shit dogg...

I was supposed to meet Pete and Marianne for dinner + pesoi, so did a quick workout at NYSC Hawthorne instead of going outside (which would have been fantastic on this crisp fall day). I was even stiffer today, so did a nice long (3mi) warmup in 22 flat, then 5x800s at around 3:15 pace, then a quick upper body. Was ready to bike down to Dobbs, but Pete's car crapped out on I-287, so he had to cancel! Shit indeed.

ps. Beeauuteeeful new orange and black 2120s arrived today!! They are noticably lighter than previous models, and supposedly stiffer. I loved the 2100s I owned, and the 2110s have always seemed squishy to me. Hoping these are like that first pair.

NYSC, Irvington

Monday: did 4mi on treadmill at NYSC + upper body circuit.

Tuesday: 7mi on treadmill (50:1x) + legs circuit.


Wednesday: exceedingly stiff (especially with my new longer ride to work); evening run to Irvington on the OCA with (depicted) torch).

T-minus 4 weeks

Finally getting my butt in gear, just in time to ... taper. Hrm. This race will be interesting.

Monday: had C drop me at Cook County and ran back to her place via UIC and Halsted. A nice 5-6mi recovery run.

Tuesday: zonked from the early AM flight back to NYC; worked late and got home after dark. Took my headlamp and ran to Lyndhurst, which I think is around 3.5mi at a pretty good pace, but still a bit shorter than I would have liked.

Wednesday: can't remember. I think I did 5mi at NYSC?

Thursday: also at NYSC. 4 or 5mi.

Friday: same 3mi out-and-back as on Tuesday.

Saturday: OCA to Rockefeller State Preserve. Got lost, so have no idea which trails I was on, but the run was about 50min, so hopefully 6-7mi.

Sunday: ran OCA south from Tarrytown to the Bronx. By my watch, and this crude map, around 16mi.

Debrief: well, I didn't break 50mi this week. Honestly didn't have the time to get in any quality workouts during the week and some weeks will be like that. On the other hand, the long run was easy this week (at least, compared to last week's bonk.)

Another big catch up

Let's see... I can't actually remember all the way back to this last post. I think I did 7mi on one day, and one day of speedwork (something like 2mi warmup, 6x800s @ 3.15ish, 1mi cooldown). I ran every other day that week, but none were remarkable. Weekend was Colin's wedding and DNR either day, although was in Boston near first love (the Charles) and would have been great to say hello to her (her? are rivers feminine?)

Last week was a blur. 5mi on Monday, 5 more on Tuesday, I think I did 8 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday, and only had time to sneak in 2 on Friday before rushing off to JFK. Friday in ChicagoLand did the SurfHaus <-> Bean Loop, Saturday did 5-6ish down to Oak St Beach, and today did a 2h20m long run. Not exactly sure of the distance--I bonked in the Loop on the way home so didn't finish what I'd planned. But I think 17 or so?

And now, enjoying a breezy Sunday evening in the SurfHaus with SymphonyCast, chicken/portobello/marsala thingee, Tita's fabulous squash salad, good tea, and some rest. What's missing is C: she is covering nights this month ...and also Sundays, and so is at the hospital all night.

Monday

Did a study for Iqbal that involved me wearing a few monitors while running for 10 minutes on a treadmill. Started slow, but decided to crank it up to break a sweat for 1.41mi.

Then went to NYSC and did 5mi more in 35:20.

Weekend

Friday: did 3mi to stretch my legs at NYSC

Saturday: 4mi in Philly!

Sunday: 14-15mi in Philly; East Falls Loop with extension into the Wissahickon.

Big Catchup

I haven't felt like blogging in a while... but I have been running. At this temporal distance, I can't remember the details of every day, but it should go something like this:

Present minus 3 weeks: was doing NYSC workouts during the week. C flew out to White Plains and we drove down to Philly to take care of some shit. Took a rest day on Saturday and then did the East Falls loop on Sunday.

Present minus 2 weeks: did two-a-day NYSC workouts during the week for 7-10 miles / day, although split into a morning 3 and an evening whatever. Did 6x800s on Thursday. Drove up to NH for the weekend and did a 10mi out-and-back down to where Rt 10 hits 25C. Then did 6mi from the VT side across at Newbury(burgh?) bridge and down to the common.

Present minus 1 week: ran outside during the week including a few longer runs north towards Ossining and south to Dobbs. Went to Chicago on the weekend and did the run from SurfHaus down to the bean, about 9mi. Rested the other day.

Present week: have been doing 5-8mi runs on the OCA, strictly north. Ran 10mi at NYSC today.

So I've been doing 40-50 miles a week, but my long runs are not long. I am worried. My race is less than two months away and I have not run more than 15mi in longer than I can remember. I need to ramp up, but the next two weekends are busy with weddings. I will try to squeeze them in. Really there is no excuse. The biking has made it harder to recover, but my body should be used to it. The traveling has been exhausting, but I should deal with it and insist on more sleep. I am not worried about finishing the damn thing, but it could be ugly. And my time goals are out the window. Let's hope for an improvement on number one.

Tues, Weds

Went to NYSC both days. A mirror workout of Monday's 5mi yesterday, then 7mi today in 51min (30min easy, then iFartlek for the last 3mi). Had a nice spindown on the way home: 9a to 117, to 448 down into Sleepy Hollow. Saw a few other bikers around Blue Hill Farm.

C is coming to town this weekend, so I need to try to get my 16 in tomorrow. Dreading it a little...

NYSC Hawthorne

I bought a student membership to a swanky gym, NYSC. At first the guy was going to make me buy a full membership (at $80/mo) but when I balked and said that I'd seen the summer offer on the website, he said "OK, I'll pretend you're 22" and gave me the cheaper membership.

Ran 5mi in 36:1x on a good ol' LifeFitness 95-series treadmill.

Catchup

It's been a long couple of weeks. The last push to get the POPL paper out took all of my energy last weekend and I biked on Friday (Loop), but then did nothing until Tuesday.

In between, I moved to Tarrytown, so that run was on the OCA Trail. I didn't map my runs yet, so they're almost not worth blogging. But I think I did 3 x 5-6mi runs on the OCA last week, plus a number of bike rides: from HPN to TTown, over to White Plains, down to Manhattan.

This week I must get back on track with running. CM looms just under 9 weeks away. Yikes.

Thurs-Sun

Thursday: 5mi treadmill run. Very slow warmup, then progression up to mid-9mphs? 35:xx

Friday: Pottruck to 34th to Mantua to W Fairmount Park to Girard Bridge to River Trail to Pottruck. This is between 4-5mi.

Then, a fun weekend:

Saturday AM: out-and-back run to Columbia Bridge @ pace; around 7mi.

Saturday PM: biked SuperLoop, betweeen 13-14 flat miles.

Sunday PM: ran SuperLoop, same 13-14 miles. Accidentally ran through Philadelphia Women's Triathlon.

Sunday PM: 24mi bike ride with Chuck. Went through the park, past the Mann, through to Wynnewood, Ardmore, then into Upper Merion. Fun part by Old Gulph Rd, back by Conshy St Rd, Belmont bridge to Manayunk, then Kelly Drive.

Presently enjoying a quiet Sunday night; am ensconced in my lantern-lit room with tea and Hélène Grimaud on NPR (and cranking on a POPL submission).

Attacked!

Ran Sweetbriar, but not without incident. Just after coming through the tunnel of the Girard St bridge, I felt claws grabbing at my scalp. A small bird had swooped down and was picking at my head! I swooshed it off, but was quite surprised!

Other than that, an uneventful run. Ran through 4th festivities near the PMA, then back down 19th, and walked to TJs from Rittenhouse for good company and good burgers.

Tuesday = Monday

This whole week is going to be staggered. It's an odd week anyways -- worked from Chicago yesterday and flew back today, and tomorrow is the 4th (but no holiday for the Harmony guys).

Ran an easy 4mi at Pottruck, then lifted upper body and spun down on the bike. Looking forward to more miles on home turfs tomorrows.

Monday = Long Run

This whole weekend got staggered by Saturday's rest day. Ran long
today, about 1h45m. Not sure of distance, and don't have time to
GMap, but hoping it was around 12-13mi.

Catching up

Wednesday: I think I did 3mi (can't remember?) on the treadmill, then lifted legs.

Thursday: 5mi on the treadmill in iFartlek style (plus .2mph on each
song change). 35:15 or so? FULL Upper body circuit, biked.

Friday: 3mi, again iFartlek. 20:4x.

Saturday: rested.

Sunday: Ran this

9mi loop in Chicago.

Have not had any caffeine in two days. Yesterday was rough and I slept about 16hrs. Today is much better, and I'm thinking of trying to kick the habit (but maybe after POPL deadline).