New PRs, 11 days and couting

Staten Island Half - Rain & Wind

It's less than 2 weeks until my very first marathon. 11 days. And I am injured again. So close. I am still hoping that not running for as long as I can afford it will fix it as much as possible. This time it seems to be my right hip flexor. You see, my right hip has always been cause for trouble - just see many of my previous posts. This is especially annoying because it all went very well the first two thirds of the training program. I was doing great! Then came the Fifth Ave Mile which caused a bit of trouble. especially with the 10K just a couple days later. I recovered rather quickly, though, and kept on training just fine. Then the Bronx 10M happened and while I was doing my miles over the following week I felt my right hip to become more bothersome by the day. It was still ignorable and I just took an extra day or two of rest here and there but kept on training. It all started to go really downhill after the Staten Island Half. I ran my biggest PR ever but I was not able to do any more running for the following week. I popped a few Ibuprofen and just rested, knowing that the biggest challenge was still to come: a group 20M training run which I so not wanted to miss because of all the really long runs I still have to finish one successfully. I ran it. I felt great right after and on the way home. Then it became radically worse to a point that I wasn't able to walk without pain. That's where I let it be and I haven't run for over a week. It is getting better and I am positive that I will get to a point where I can run the marathon I just have to adjust my expectations and be prepared for a lot of pain and quite a bit of PT right after. I am mentally ready and I am convincing myself that I will be physically ready just enough to get through. Just two weeks ago I was confident that I could finish in around 3:16 hours (first marathon and BQ!) but now I am scaling this back to somewhere more around 3:30 or 3:40. I will try something like this: first 10 miles in 8mm, next 10 miles in 7:45mm, and the last 10 kilometers in 7:30mm. Negative splits but still quite conservative. The other strategy I am considering is 10-10-10 which prescribes to run slower than goal pace the first 10 miles (around 8mm), faster than goal pace the next 10 (maybe around 7:30mm), and then doing the utmost best, i.e. trying to keep the current pace, go faster, or whatever your body can manage at this point for the last 10K. I'll let you know in a couple weeks how it actually worked out, what I did exactly, and how soon I limped to the doctor. Running is crazy!

So, what happened since the last posting? I ran the Bronx 10M and kept my pace under 7 minutes per mile (6:51 to be precise). I PR'ed by 2:05 minutes. That was my goal two years ago which I missed. Thanks to the marathon training, though, I was able to pull it off this time! I thought I could repeat something similar for the Staten Island Halfmarathon a few weeks later but thanks to the brutal weather and possibly my hip I ended up finishing it up with a 7:13 miles per minute average pace which still gave me a PR of 6:28 minutes! I am not complaining! You can find the details of those two runs in the sidebar or here for the Bronx 10M and here for the Staten Island Half. There is a funny fact about marathon (or any kind of distance) training: you go through all the long and speed runs and you don't really know what they do until you go and race. If there is one thing that I am taking away from this season of training (besides three PRs) is that you just have to trust your coach. Trust your training. Line up and race and you will be rewarded. This was my first time ever that I feel confident that I am actually prepared to run something longer than 10 miles. No, not run. Race!

So, let's talk NYC Marathon. I got my corral assignment a few days ago. I will be starting in wave 1, corral B, start time is 9:50am. Unfortunately I will start in the green lane which runs on the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge, i.e. goodbye great views. I am scheduled to use the ferry that leaves at 6:45am which means that I will be in the start village at least 2 hours before start time. Here is to some hoping that the weather will be great and we don't have to huddle together for hours just to stay warm and dry. I am planning to bring an old long-sleeve shirt that I can discard and a heat blanket (if I still have one at home; otherwise just a trash bag) to sit on. My phone will probably be my source of entertainment in form of an e-book to read and pictures to take. I keep telling myself that this is just like any other race. This time I just have to be a lot earlier than usual. For the race itself I have an idea about how to pace myself (see above) and I have my strategy for nutrition and hydration all figured out (first gel @ 45 minutes and then every 30 minutes; I will pack 8 pouches). I will probably bring a refillable bottle for water but I may change my mind in the very last second about this and rely on the cups that are provided on the course. I am so bad at running and drinking from those cups but I recently read about the "pinch the cup" trick and I may just try that instead. I am okay with running with any kind of bottle (I am just too lazy and especially too cheap to buy anything special plus I like that bottle my daughter got from one of her school events - maybe it's for luck!) in my hand. Phone goes on my forearm and my Garmin on my wrist. I opted out of baggage transport so I can see for myself if those ponchos at the finish line are indeed as sweet as I read everywhere. I think I am ready. It's just that darn hip!

That was a quick update. More to come in November. Good luck to everybody running the NYC Marathon with me. Keep on running, guys!

Half way through Marathon training

NYCRUNS Labor Day, 10K; photo by NYCRUNS

I thought it is time to give a little update on what I am up to. It's mid-September, the NYC Marathon is 7 1/2 weeks away from now, and I am almost 2 1/2 months into my training for it. Despite all the fears about getting injured again I signed up for the NY Flyers Marathon Training Program which follows Jack Daniel's (no, not the whiskey) training method. So far, I must say that while my ankle and my hip are still in need of some more fixing (which will wait until after the Marathon) it has been very successful and rather pain free. My fitness is approaching levels not seen since summer of 2014 and I am really excited to be able to race 26.2 miles down NYC streets. This is what has happened since the beginning of July:

• It all started with the NYCRUNS Firecracker 5K on Governors Island in which I surprisingly placed first in my age group
• As part of the marathon program I got a gait analysis by Finish Line PT which pretty much came to the conclusion that my current running form sucks. I don't use my arms to propel me forward, my feet roll a lot after they touch the ground, and my hip extensions are almost non-existent, i.e. I pull myself forward instead of pushing. Oh, and I do some kind of claw thing with my left arm while running. It's interesting to see yourself running in slow motion. Well, I got a few exercises prescribed (stretching) and if I can gather up the $150 or so that it would cost me per session I can get it all improved. For now, I just watch my form (swing those arms, lean forward a bit more, focus on these extensions) and I must say there is a lot of potential in me to run faster and longer.
• I ran a few more races to check that my form indeed is improving. I ran the NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile with a new PR of 5:43, I ran a 5K while on vacation down in Virginia where I placed once more first in my age group, and I ran the NYCRUNS Labor Day 10K on Roosevelt Island where I came in fourth in my age group (so close, or not; I was a minute behind the third place holder). I also ran this year's NYRR Team Championships.
• I've been running five times a week with very few exceptions and, as mentioned before, without injuries.

For the curious ones here is the training plan for this week:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 8 miles, easy

Wednesday: 6 miles easy, 3 miles threshold, 1 mile easy

Thursday (that's today): rest

Friday: 8 miles easy

Saturday: 5 miles easy

Sunday: 20 miles easy (my first 20 Miler)

My current weekly mileage is around 45-50 miles and I am filling up my months with 100+ miles. Not too shabby.

My take aways from the training program:

NYRR Team Championships
Photo by Richard Brounstein or Bob Cowin

• It is hard work. It is doable, though. Trust your coach.
• Don't fret if you mess up a workout. Once you do it again you will notice that it will get easier. My marathon pace long runs, for example, have always been really hard. I noticed, though, that the wall I keep hitting comes later and later, the more often I practice. It's mostly mental. If I take water breaks that are too long, for example, I am having a hard time to go back into my rhythm and the thought of calling it quit intensify.
• Doing hard workouts or long runs in a group is a lot easier than doing them on your own.
• Eat! Refuel! Get those calories, protein, and carbs in you. I have been scarfing down food like there is no tomorrow and I rarely feel like I ate too much. The good thing is that the next workout will burn another 1500 calories again.
• Refueling during a run is tricky. I still have to figure this out. Everything is going swell until it's time for a gel and some water. Maybe I still have to find the right flavor? I sure found plenty that I do not want to try ever again. Oh, and gels are nasty. They are sticky and the texture is just ugh. 
• You are not going to lose too much weight. You will eat and then run and eat again. It's pretty much a zero-sum game with very gradual changes. I am still a bit overweight and while the hard workouts are chiseling on my pounds it is very slow going. That's fine with me, though. I am going to run a Marathon and weight loss is really not my goal here.

I am still planning on writing about some of the races I have done this year, especially the ones that were the most fun, like the 5K in Virginia. I hope to get to do that soon.

I do not have many more races planned for this year. The NYC Marathon is the big one, and then there is of course the Bronx 10M and the Staten Island Half. I am really, really going to make sure I'll get into the NYC Half in 2017. I will also have plenty of races behind my belt to get into the NYC Marathon in 2017 as well. I am thinking of making this my two major races for the coming years: NYC Half in the spring and the Marathon in the fall. In between I do at least 7 more NYRR races, and some of the NYCRUNS events, especially the ones that are part of the club challenge.

That was a quick update. Keep on running, folks!

Good start to the new year

NYCRUNS Spring Fling 10K finish (photo by NYCRUNS)

It's not really a new year anymore but new enough for this to be my second blog posting. I have been taking it rather easy over the last few months. I am still running and competing but I take a lot more rest days than I have in the past. It's mostly just because I am afraid I would just injure myself again and I'd rather take two days off here and there than being forced to take a week or two off. At this moment, for example, my right ankle is acting up. It was pretty bad the day after the Spring Fling 10K and it is still lingering a bit. So far I have been taking a couple days of absolutely no running (or exercising at all) and debating if I should do a leisure 4 to 6 miles later tonight. I am leaning towards the latter but I will make the final decision pretty much the second before I lace up my shoes.

Without any real training runs I shouldn't expect any improvements in my times and that's exactly what's happening. My 5K times are hovering around the 6:50 and 10K around 7:00 (I am rounding down, ok?) minutes per mile pace. Far away from my performances during the summer of 2014 but I am thinking that I really should go for distance at this point and not worry too much about speed. I really like the 10K distance but I want to make the half marathon my distance of this year. I have signed up (and plan on signing up) to quite a few this year: all the NYRR borough series runs, the NYCRUNS Queens Half and Verrazano Festival. Training for distance should improve my short distance times a bit as well.

A few recaps. I think the last two races deserve the most words. The Washington Heights 5K was pure fun and I thought I did pretty well. For some reason I really like hills in short runs and hills were aplenty this time. I think the downhill part speeds me up enough to get through the next uphill rather easily or at least all the uphills make me mentally and to a certain extent physically numb to the fact that more uphills are coming. Just like any good Riverside Park race. The first hill there is so steep that all the others don't matter too much. I barely feel them. It seems that I give a lot more on hilly courses than on flat ones. The first hill in Washington Heights is the same. Up, up, up... then down a bit. Up again, and down, and up. The good thing is that it ended on a downhill and then a flat stretch (it's an out and back course). There is one thing that the NYRR has to manage a lot better: the course is really crowded. The streets are very narrow and getting thousand of runners on this course creates a few bottlenecks, especially in the last half when the uphills are coming and people are getting tired. Too many people slow down and it is hard to keep the momentum going. Nevertheless, I did rather well and all the details can be found on Garmin Connect.

Spring Fling 10K start
(photo by NYCRUNS)

Then there was the NYCRUNS Spring Fling 10K last weekend where I finally won an age award again. I am still far off from what I used to be able to run (speed-wise; I know, I keep repeating myself) but I still managed to place 2nd in the 40-49 age group. This reminds me of the Shore Road 10K in August 2013 where I placed 2nd out of the blue as well, but no awards were given out at that time. It's always nice to participate in smaller races. I must say, though, it was a rather easy race. I know Roosevelt Island inside out and at any moment of the race I knew instinctively how much I already ran and how much I still had in front of me. Not once did I have to dig deep to keep going. Maybe I could have done more? If there is one thing that I still haven't figured out in over three years of running is how to pace myself correctly. I usually have still too much gas in the tank at the end or I crash and burn too early. Very rarely does everything come together where I can say that I ran a smart race. Maybe that's a skill I will learn eventually when I race much longer distances more frequently. For anybody who is interested, here are the details on how it was.

The next race I am signed up for is the Spring Classic 10K but I may be skipping it because my ankle is still bothersome and I have my very first destination race, the Cherry Blossom 10M, the following weekend. I really don't want to spoil that. Car is reserved, hotel room is booked, I even signed up my boy to the children's race there. I am really looking forward to this experience and in that spirit I will most likely skip the 10K.

I will most likely be back with a recap of the 10 miler. Until then, keep on running!

The year in numbers / A retrospect / Another year...

Stolen from http://www.dreamstime.com/

I couldn't decide on a title so I took the lazy way out. Happy New Year! 2015 is over, a year that started out with injuries and a lot less running than I planned. C'est la vie. Let's move on and focus on the next year to come: 2016. Maybe it is going to be the year of my first marathon, that elusive goal of mine that keeps slipping from one year into the next? Here is hoping.

I have so many race recaps to do but I don't feel like doing them right now and so I defer to the table on the left side of this page for race results. I also put up the planned schedule for next year and there are a few gaps that will be filled in as they are decided on.

Here is a quick recap of 2015:

• Miles run in total: 562 (more or less)
• Miles run in races: 96.1
• Time spent running: 5148 minutes (that's a 9.2 minutes per mile run on average)
• Lifetime PRs: none
• Best paces during the year:
• 1M - 6:00
• 5k - 6:52
• 10k - 6.58
• 15k - 7:48
• 10M - 7:16
• Half - 8:00
• Awards won: none
• Pairs of shoes used and abused: 2

To illustrate how I spent the year here is a break-down of the mileage per month according to Endomondo and my now go-to activity tracker Garmin Connect:

The beginning of the year was spent on doctors, physical therapy, and races, that I idiotically ran. I also came to realize that my quads problem was probably misdiagnosed and I most likely suffered from a stress fracture in my left femur. At least that's what my googling came up with when I researched the pain that I had when I let my leg dangle over the edge of a seat. The dip in my November mileage was caused by the reoccurring of some similar, but not as intense, quads pain. It's all good right now. Oh, and I definitely will look for a different doctor. I will also put my knee injections on hold until I get a second opinion. They are just too expensive to be done "just because."

What's going on at the moment? Well, I am currently not really training for anything and follow an unscientific and entirely made up by myself weekly routine until later this year when I start a marathon training program where I will listen to a coach and hopefully not get injured again. This is what I am doing right now:

• Monday: rest or cross-training
• Tuesday: 4.5M easy
• Wednesday: 7M with 2x1 miles fast and the rest easy
• Thursday: rest or cross-training
• Friday: 7-9M easy
• Saturday: 4.5M easy
• Sunday: 10M easy

Every four weeks (around the Tuesday of the third week of the month) I want to increase my mileage by 10%, i.e. maybe upping the Tuesday and Saturday runs to 6 miles in January and then increasing the Wednesday and Friday runs by 1.5-2 miles each in February. By the time I join a coached program I want to be at around 45-50 miles per week with two days of speed training. After a race on the weekend I would take the next two days as rest days and skip all speed runs for the rest of the week. Again, this is entirely unscientific and just for fun and I hope I am unable to overdo this. I would also cut a longer run short if I feel that I am doing too much, i.e. things are hurting more or remind of injuries I had in the past. The biggest challenge is finding interesting routes for the Sunday long run. I can do two laps around Roosevelt Island for 7-8 miles just fine but anything beyond that gets way too boring. My usual Triborough Bridge (oops, sorry, RFK bridge), Randall's Island, Upper East Side, Queensboro Bridge (no, while I can get my mind around RFK bridge I just cannot do "Ed Koch Bridge"), and back to Roosevelt Island route is becoming a bit boring. Also running down to the Staten Island Ferry terminal lost its novelty effect. Maybe I should look into new routes out into Brooklyn or Queens. Stay tuned.

The next race I am signed up for, as you can see in the table on the side, is the NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K in Central Park. It'll be the entire loop including the Harlem Hill and all the other ups and downs that make running so much fun!

Keep on running hard and smart!