Speed Ladder

Today: 9 miles

Week: 9 miles

Workout: 4 miles on bridle path and reservoir, 1 mile YMCA to West Side Hwy bike path, intervals of 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400, and 200 meters with 2 blocks jog in between each. 1 mile cool down back to YMCA.

16 weeks until the NYC Marathon!

The 4 miles I did before the speed ladder made a huge difference. I was warmed up and ready to go on the first interval. Usually I'm trying to get warmed up on the first interval, and it's always my slowest. The distances of each interval were only approximations. We had to judge the distance using blocks, using the scale of 20 blocks = 1 mile. Before we head out on the run, we tried to go over how many blocks each interval would be. For example, our first interval was supposed to begin on 59th Street and end at 44th Street. Then, we were supposed to jog to 42nd Street. Some people wrote the streets on their arms.

I thought I had memorized where we were supposed to begin and end each interval. However, I missed the end of one of the intervals because I didn't see the street sign and ran one block too far. These were my times for each interval: 1200 (4:20), 1000 (3:22), 800 (3:06), 600 (1:42), 400 (1:19), 200 (0:46). The rest between each interval was about a minute. I think the 800 was the one where I ran a block too far. Anyway, it was a really good workout. I probably would not have run as fast as I did if I hadn't been chasing Bruno for most of the workout.

After everyone finished the intervals, we were all resting and Stacy described this new plank workout she has been using. I thought she was just sharing it. But we ended up DOING the workout on the grass! There's nothing like doing planks after a hard interval workout.

800 Meter Intervals

Today: 8 miles

Week: 8 miles

Workout: 4 miles from West Side Y, around lower loop of Central Park to Engineer's Gate, bottom of reservoir back to West Drive, to the Y. 1 mile with WSYRRC from Y, around lower loop to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 4 x 800m. 1 mile cool down

17 Weeks until the NYC Marathon

The 800s were on East Drive from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, running north to near the end of the northern part of the reservoir. The first "800" was actually too long. Mine was done in 3:20.

My next three 800s were done in 2:44, 2:48, and 2:45. My rest in between all of the intervals was 4:07, 2:48, and 3:37. (The rest was supposed to be 2:00) It was a tough workout. I felt good on my second one, but on the 3rd and 4th ones, I struggled. It was one of those workouts where I was expending so much energy that I was having a difficult time staying relaxed and maintaining my form. I was hoping that runners coming the other way would move out of my way because I didn't have the energy to move out of THEIR way. I felt that, at any moment, I was going to quit. But my legs and arms just kept pumping away and wouldn't let me stop.

After the last 800, I had to hold onto a fence to remain standing and catch my breath. I was bent at the waist, and when I raised myself upright, I felt all of Central Park swirl around me for a second. I felt wobbly and had trouble focusing on people's faces. The feeling lasted the rest of the night. Gotta love interval training!

When we were done with the 800s, Denie, Greg, and I went with Farbod to do some pull-ups. I could only managed a set and barely managed to jog the mile back to the Y.

Stacy unveiled her marathon training program today. It's nice the way all the workouts are laid out for us, and how it figures out your pace for each workout.

MILE REPEATS

Today: 6.5 miles

Week: 6.5 miles

Workout: One mile warmup. Mile repeats (4 of them) around the lower loop of Central Park, clockwise. Recover to starting point on 72nd Street Transverse.

18 weeks until the NYC Marathon!

5:54, 6:12 recovery, 5:46, 6:07 recovery, 5:54, 6:57 recovery, 5:43. I think I was taking too much time on the recovery, but it certainly didn't feel like it at the time. It was a good thing Farbod showed up. I wasn't looking forward to running this workout by myself. I could not get my pacing right. I thought the first and third miles were faster than they were.

Before the workout, Stacy shared her training plan for the NYC Marathon. It consists of running "only" three days per week. If her plan works for her, I may use it for Boston, assuming I qualify for Boston. I've never run less than 5 days per week when training for a big race, and it's difficult to imagine running only 3 days per week.

I received an email that was meant for another person today. It was an offer of employment. The position was for a Director of Nursing Rehab. It paid $101K! I was tempted to reply that $101K was an insult and that I wouldn't take the job for anything less than $130K, but I did the right thing and let them know they sent the email to the wrong person.

WSY Relay -- Monday, June 22nd

Today: 5.5 miles

Week: 5.5 miles

Workout: 3.5 miles on my own. 3x600m around baseball fields by 63rd St and CPW, with about 4 minutes rest in between each 600m.
19 weeks until the NYC Marathon

I felt pretty good considering I raced yesterday. Those 600s were tough. It was a relay race around the baseball fields. There were 5 teams, and each team had 3 runners. Each runner ran a loop and then rest while his/her teammates ran their loop. Then the whole process would begin all over again. Megan and Jeanne were my teammates. All the teams were very spread out, which made it difficult to focus and really run hard. For some reason, these 600s felt much tougher than running on a track. Maybe, it was the uneven pavement, or having to dodge a few people that made it tough. Or, maybe, I just don't have fast twitch muscle fibers. Yeah, that's probably it.

After the workout, we went to the Boat Basin to celebrate Stacy's birthday and bid Alex a fond farewell. Will someone please tell me how the Boat Basin can serve hamburgers without french fries. That's just un-American!

Baseball Field Intervals

Today: 7 1/2 miles

Week: 17 miles

Workout: 3 mile warm up on my own, 2 loops of baseball fields with group, 3 sets x 2 loops of fields (4:27, 4:18, 4:13) , 1 loop recovery (3:00, 3:14), 2 loops cool down at end of workout.

I don't recall what my times were the last time I did this workout. I think I was consistently slowing down on the 2nd loop of each set. I kept passing through the first loop somewhere around 2:05-2:07. It was annoying to constantly run through the cigar smoke of some guy puffing away on one of the park benches. That had to slow me down a little. Other than that, I was surprised that I didn't have to dodge more people on the path. I love the slight downhill near the end of the loop.

There weren't too many people who showed up for the workout today. I wonder if people get intimidated by speed workouts. Maybe more people would show up if the workouts weren't sent out in an email, and then, when everyone showed up, Stacy or Bruno sprang the speed workout on everyone. HA! Stacy and Bruno, I was just kidding if you're reading this. I like knowing the workouts in advance.

After the workout, we went to the Boat Basin and celebrated David's birthday. It was definitely a nice place to hang out, but I could not figure out why it took so long for us to get our food. Also, why can't they serve fries with burgers??? Potato chips instead?! You can't be serious!

David took out his digital camera and placed it on the table. The table actually tilted to one side. I am not kidding! It was HUGE! I think David mentioned that it was one of the first digital cameras ever made, right David? Of course, I'm only kidding. I still have a 1MP Kodak digital camera that takes pictures that are so grainy, you can't identify the people in the picture.

Stacy related an interesting story about a member of the YMCA. I will have to keep an eye out for her and make sure I NEVER engage her in a conversation. Ask Stacy to do an impression of the woman speaking. Stacy, you need to break ALL contact with this woman. It's going to be a big waste of time! Although, it does make for some entertaining stories.

West Side Hwy

Today: 9 1/2 miles

Week: 9 1/2 miles

21 Weeks Until the NYC Marathon

OK. I'm a little shocked at the moment. Imagine my surprise when I saw that there were actually people who signed up to follow this blog! Suddenly, I feel a little pressure to make the blog mildly entertaining. Obviously, just blogging about my workouts is not going to be enough. I'm going to rely heavily on my fellow running club members for their witty conversations and suggestions for this blog.

Upon meeting everyone at the Y, one of the first things Stacy announced was that there would be a change in the Wednesday workout. We would not be doing mile repeats on Wednesday because of the Corporate Challenge. Yes!!! (I mean...DAMN! I was sooooo looking forward to that workout.)

Today's workout: run to the bike (oops, I mean running) path along the West Side Hwy, run 30 minutes downtown, turn around, and come back. It seemed simple enough before I started. I didn't want to run too hard because I intend to run the 1500 meter race at Randall's Island tomorrow. I figured I would settle into a comfortable pace. Bruno and Farbod were running a little too quick for me, so I ran solo. After turning around and heading back, I felt good and picked up the pace. Despite my best intentions, I ended up running a little too fast. Oh well. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Maybe it was the humidity or something else, but my legs felt drained after the run. Although, I don't think I felt as bad as Farbod who seemed to be limping a little and Denie who was complaining about his left buttocks. (Don't ask me about it. I only report what I hear.) Erika wasn't injured, but she shared her freakish shin muscle and her "tennis" muscle with us.

After everyone had finished with the run, Stacy decided that we would do some repeats around the baseball fields on Wednesday. Then, we will be going to the Boat Basin for a little relaxation AND to celebrate David's birthday!

In case you haven't seen Farbod's video of the Mini 10K on YouTube, what are you waiting for?! Check it out! I'm sure Farbod is a great doctor, but I think he has a future as a photographer or videographer.