1000 Meter Repeats

West Side YMCA Road Runner Club

(WSY)

Today: 10 miles

Week: 10 miles

Workout: 3.5 mile warm-up in Central Park, run from the West Side Y to West Side Hwy bike path & 59th St, head north, 5x run 3:45 hard (a little more than 1000 meters, under 6:00/mile), and run a 1:50 recovery at a nice slow pace.

I ran the workout with Joe, Farbod, and Bruno. I thought I wouldn't feel too good because of the 19 miles I ran on Saturday, but I felt fine. Before the workout, we received our new West Side Y running singlets. I must say we looked pretty damn cool wearing them.

Mile Repeats

Today: 12 miles

Week: 12 miles

Workout: 3.5 mile warm up on my own in Central Park, 1 mile warm up with WSY Running Club counterclockwise from the Y to the middle of 72nd St Transverse, 3x1 mile repeats (2 clockwise, 1 counterclockwise), 3 minutes of jogging between the miles, 3.5 mile cool down.

The 1st and 3rd mile repeats going clockwise were slightly downhill, which makes the time on the 2nd mile surprising since we were going the opposite direction, slightly uphill. My times were 5:44, 5:25, and 5:34. Bruno, Farbod, Joe, and I were tightly bunched on the first two mile repeats. We got a little spread out on the last one. I was hurting on the last one. I thought that I was going to be around 5:50, so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at my watch. I could tell that everyone was working hard because there was very little talking going on.

I'm going to remember this workout when I start hurting in the Team Championship race in a couple of weeks. It will remind me to keep pushing through the pain, and good results will follow.

I did the cool down with Bruno and Farbod. I would not have gone by myself. I felt completely depleted of any kind of energy after the last mile repeat. Even now, as I sit here in front of my computer, I feel a little dizzy and nauseous. I wish I had a camera. Everybody looked like they had just run a muddy cross country race. The ground was wet, and there were a couple of muddy sections we had to run through.

Bruno's Beer Mile

On the roof of Bruno's apartment.

Bruno's Beer Mile (with a 70s theme) was a huge success. As someone who didn't participate, I can say that it was thoroughly entertaining. The people who dressed up in a 70s theme looked great. I thought I might regret not taking part, but after seeing how difficult it was for some people to finish, I am 100% sure I made the right decision.

A beer mile consists of running 4 laps on the track, but the runner (or should I say the drinker) must drink one can of beer before each lap. If I listened carefully, I could hear all that beer sloshing around in everyone's stomach. The winner finished in just over 7 minutes! Are you kidding me?! The people who finished in 10 or 20 minutes were just as impressive. If I had participated, I'm sure it would have taken me about an hour to finish. Everyone finished just in time. As we were cleaning up, two police officers on bicycles rode past us.

After the race, we walked over to Bruno's apartment and enjoyed the amazing view from the roof of his apartment. At some point, Farbod came up with the crazy idea to climb the water tower on the roof. When Farbod asked me if I wanted to go, a small voice in my head said, "Yeah, go ahead, it will be fun!" But a much louder voice in my head said, "WTF! Are you crazy?!" I took the advice of the louder voice. Bruno and Joe, on the other hand, took Farbod up on his offer, and the next thing I know, the three of them were scaling the ladder. I kept waiting for someone to end up IN the water tower. It looked rather old, and I wasn't sure it would hold three people. Fortunately, everyone made it up and back down without incident. When and where will the next beer mile take place? Who knows, but it will be tough to top this one.