Getting it in gear

My tuchus that is, and this is woefully overdue.

I finished the 5k to 10k training pretty strong on February 19th and then just sort of... petered out. Life, the universe and everything (and by that I mean my Kindle) intervened, and so my mileage, endurance, and ability to fit into my wardrobe went kaput.

So what am I doing to fix this?

Well, in about an hour I'm heading out to do the first race of the NYS Parks Summer Run Series in  Heckscher State Park (and potentially intermittent thunderstorms) with Gigi of Running On Candy. That will be a  five mile run and the first of eight weekly runs of differing lengths across different regional state parks.

I'm really looking forward to this! (and not just because it's NOT at eight in the morning) so I'll get back to you on how it went soon.

I've also started using Jeff Galloway's half marathon trainer app on my iPhone in the hopes that having a more rigid training schedule will keep me on track. I think I just have to face the fact that I'm not working consistently without some sort of goal or guideline. I don't really have a problem with this, it really just means I have to focus a bit more on what goals I'm looking to achieve.

I suppose you can call it a comeback if you really want to.

Do you find that there specific are things you lean on to make it easier to get out there?

LIMA 5k race report and the hotly contested Instead Giveaway winner

The Long Island MacArthur Airport 5K Run for Veterans Race Report

Last Saturday was the LIMA 5k and I ran it in at a blazing 37:53!

And by blazing I mean of course the temperature of 79 degrees at 9:30m in the morning on an unshaded airport runway, not my running. This was not the most awesome experience ever; but I have learned some things and knowing is, as they say, half the battle.

No lasers at the race, but plenty of real Vets and to them I owe thanks.

Primarily: it's little secret that I am NOT a morning person, but I can usually muddle through to do early morning things if properly motivated. However I think I finally have to accept the reality that morning races are not for me.

The less sleep I get the less settled my stomach gets, and that is not a recipe for a happy race experience. Add on top of that really bad traffic driving in (I was 100% sure we were going to miss the race until we were literally in our corral), zero caffeine, too jittery for food, not enough time to properly hydrate, and not bringing my own water I'm kind of amazed I ran as much as I did (which was probably about three quarters of the race). In the end I was fine and pretty glad I did it, but I suspect that if I had pushed myself any harder I probably would not be.

I have a couple of AM races on the docket over the next several months (i.e. The Color Run and The Diva Half Marathon) and I'll figure out how to handle those, but in the interest of my general well being I am going to limit morning races severely in the future.

As a side note: It was hot, the sun was relentless, and I was not wearing sunscreen. The slight burn I got across my neck and nose seems to have turned into tan, but honestly that was just stupid. Despite my sun loving complexion (I can get tan looking at pictures of sunny days) I do need to start wearing sunscreen and protecting myself better.

If nothing else I am going to have a heck of a time balancing out the resultant farmer and sock tans!

I'm the one that looks just about short enough to pull off a Jawa costume. I also rock neon something fierce.

I did get to meet up with Gigi of Running On Candy and some mutual co-workers and friends, and there is a certain satisfaction to having run an entire race (*cough* and returned home, showered, and eaten) before I'm normally even up on a Saturday, so I definitely can't say it was all bad.

It was also pretty darn humbling to think of the people I was there to benefit and the experiences that they had signed up for. It's hard to get too worked up about how hard you're having it at a 5k when there are uniformed Veterans cheering you on from the sidelines.

Softcup Challenge Winner!

After extensive work to ensure that the results would be random and fair given the overwhelming response - the winner of the Softcup Challenge giveaway is...

 

Linda of Frickin' Fabulous at 40!!!

I wish I had put a bit more thought into things as I actually got to meet Linda briefly after the above mentioned 5k, but sadly my very pale, heat intolerant fiancee (hint, he's also in the picture above) had just run his first 5k race and despite appropriate sunscreen was about two steps from immolation by that point, and this was BEFORE the mile or so walk back to the car - so we had to scoot.

Linda: Please email me via gothamcostume at yahoo dot com with your snail mail address and I will send those out. Alternately let me know if you are running the Color Run or any of the New York State Parks Summer Run Series races and I will meet up with you there.

Which is of course a roundabout way of saying FLRRT finally cashed my check and I will be running the Summer Series! After the LIMA run I think that might be a sure mark of masochism but I'm hoping the fact that they are all evening runs will help.

The right choice, in lieu of any GOOD choice.

The 2012 NYC Marathon has been cancelled.

I deeply appreciate the respect for the needs of the city, and feel terribly for those who are missing out.

I can only hope that the various vendors and organizers involved have respect for the efforts of the runners who will lose out on their race and that every effort will be made to pave the way for their return (rather than just their dollars).

Bloomberg however?

After reading the statement from the mayor's office on the subject, Bloomberg can take a long walk off a short pier.

If he can find an intact one that is.

The Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, New York, was stripped down to the piers by Superstorm Sandy.Click image for link to original posting article

I don't pretend to know the best ways to offer and ask for help, but here is a link to USA.gov's Hurricane Sandy recovery page which I hope will be a helpful starting point.

Running on a torn city - The NYC Marathon

I am so divided on this.

As a stubborn New Yorker I so desperately want to call out "The Show Must Go On!" 

As a proud New Yorker I want you to see the gritty, fast paced, art deco glories of my home.

As a fledgeling runner I want to bask in the excitement of the first NYC marathon that's really been on my radar.

But as a fellow human being looking at the devastation around me I really wonder if it's actively irresponsible to shoulder another burden so soon. Especially one which will directly pull so many necessary resources.

The New York City skyline darkened after millions lost power on Monday. Click image for link to original source

This image makes me want to cry a little bit. Ok, more than a little bit.

People keep talking about the money this will bring into the city... as if that somehow balances out all of the expected downsides. As wonderful as it is that people want to help the situation with their money, we can't even get the access to many of these resources with OUR money and that puts us in direct competition for our own resources.

That money would be an incredible boon in one week, or two, or a month from now, but all it is doing right now is buying resources AWAY from the people that need them.

We're not talking about a shortage of I♥NY shirts, FDNY baseball caps, dirty water dogs, and commemorative Lady Liberty statuettes.

Image via LouiseHB on flickr - Click image for link

People are already without shelter, transit, food, electricity, police protection, cleanup crews, and from what I'm hearing access to clean tap water is going away as well. It's BAD, and now with the VERY rapidly descending gas shortage it's only getting worse for many people.

Yet these are all of the same things that the marathon goers will need.

Is this fair to us? Patently not.

Is this fair to THEM? Nope, not fair there either. I assure you that their experience here will NOT be the one they signed up and paid good money for.

I Love this NY, but we've been together a long time and I've had a lifetime to embrace all of her aspects. But this is not the NY I want you to meet, much less fall in Love with. This is a scraped up distracted NY who would love to spend time with you but the insurance adjustor will be here any minute, and anyway she had to skip lunch to get here in time and coffee is a distant hazy memory so please bear with her a bit.

I count myself among the EXTREMELY lucky few who did not suffer direct property damage. My family is safe and I have a lot of support, but by the same token the situation is still pretty grim for the coming days and I wouldn't recommend it as a lifestyle personally. There is a lot at stake.

Would you run a marathon on a torn tendon? 

Would you run a marathon on a torn city?

I do not blame anyone who is still psyched on the idea, but I do recommend having a look at the page below, there are some very compelling statements here.
https://www.facebook.com/CancelThe2012NycMarathon

This post came out of my thoughts regarding this post on the NYC Marathon by BlistersandBlackToenails.

It's official! I'm an... um... something?

I'm not entirely sure what exactly is it that has become official, but running The John Theissen Children's Foundation Freaky 5K: a for-real brick-and-mortar 5K in Wantagh, NY (my old stomping grounds) sure does feel officially SOMETHING. And so in celebration I have added the giant magenta DailyMile 5K badge over there on the right side of this blog. Woo!

I totally get the appeal of races now, though I'm still roundly unsold on the "waking up at butt o clock in the morning to go make myself sweaty and tired and sore in the cold... and also a bit nauseous for that one stretch there, but hey at least I didn't actually throw up!" aspect.

It is however pretty funny to realize that the only thing that varies from my usual run experience in the above statement is the morning part. Me and the predawn hours are none too friendly, that is of course unless I'm meeting up with them from the back end.

This was an especially bad weekend for it as I helped throw a Halloween party on Friday, slept VERY late afterward, and then lived underneath (and attended) a Halloween party Saturday. I left the party early, but by six am on Sunday my body had pretty much given up on the idea of a cohesive sleep schedule.

Luckily for me my boyfriend is a walking, talking, Hey Girl meme and got up with me, made sure I was properly nourished, and then drove me out to the race; all on even less sleep than I had gotten.

We got to the race with plenty of time to spare, and then we parted ways so that he could park and I could get my bib and snazzy commemorative long sleeve tech shirt. I met up with some friends and we spent the half an hour or so before the race stretching, chatting, and wondering where my boyfriend had gotten to (McDonalds, as it turns out). Start time snuck up on us before he got back so we ended up stashing our gear in Purple's car and scootching for the start line, which I like to think provided that last necessary bit of warmup.

Here I am (in the Batman themed gear) in a pre-race photo with my friend Purple (ironically NOT the one wearing purple, she is the one dressed as a Star Trek Red Shirt) and Gigi of Running On Candy (The Motley Shues Proud Momma Bear as she put it. Her impression of the race is in this post). This was my first 5K race, Purple's first 5K where she planned on running, and Gigi's first weekend back after a foot injury.

We moseyed up to the start *mob* and I tried to find the right pace group, but before I knew it the race started. I got my Nike+ and watch going but the start was slooooooow and I didn't see where the actual line was so my personal device times and distances are pretty far off. I also completely failed to set up my running playlist so I was stuck with whatever came up on shuffle from my iPhone. Luckily it never went too off the rails, though I think I'll pass on running to Captain Beefheart or one of the slower Editors songs again if I can avoid it. 

Due to the confusion of the mob at the beginning I started out on my own. I caught sight of Gigi pretty early so I followed along behind her for a while just sort of keeping her in view. I caught up with her sometime a bit before mile one and we kept pace for a bit, but then she apparently slowed for a water stop and I lost track of her for the rest of the race. She later reported that she spent the rest of the race following my butt as it was *ahm* rather easy to find in the crowd.

I love these shorts, but I'm REALLY glad I opted for the leggings

From that point on I just sort of trucked along, tried to listen to my body, and did what I could to avoid careening wildly into others. It's pretty humbling to be struggling along and seeing eleven year olds and women with double strollers flying past you, but if this was all about ego I think I would have been out months ago. It was cool to have different scenery, people in costumes to watch, and that one family toward the end that gave me a well timed "Woo, Go Batman Wooooooo!".

The race situation had me pretty disoriented and my phone was giving me mile marker updates at some really bizarre points. I had this weird moment pretty early on where I totally lost track of how far in I was and pushed it a bit more than I should have so early, which caught up with me at the end. According to my Garmin I spent a LOT of this race paced between 9:00 and 10:00 though I had a lot of short recovery slowdowns which took my overall pace to 10:35 (chip time). On a whole I felt really good though, my legs were really happy with me and though I definitely was aware of the effort I was putting in, for the most part my stamina kept up with whatever I asked of it.

My main issue I think was in the disconnect between the course distance and the distance shown on my personal devices. My Nike+ was giving me mile marker alerts a good quarter mile early and I really wasn't sure how off my Garmin watch was reading. This was mostly an issue at the end because I knew I wanted to give a final kick but I wasn't sure when I could reasonably do that and still have enough juice left to actually get over the finish line. 

True story. My boyfriend for-real rocks the way people PRETEND Ryan Gosling rocks.

I actually think is Ryan Gosling is faintly weird looking... except for his torso, that part's pretty okay.

The answer to that by the way is that per my Garmin I hit a 5:37 pace at roughly 2.95 miles and varied wildly between there and about 8:30 maintaining a HR of 206 until I finished (except for that one blip at 207, which I'm pretty sure is when I caught sight of my boyfriend at the finish line. Yeah, we're gross). This was rapidly followed by a good two minutes of "Yes, I know you're there my Love, but leave me alone to walk this off or I'm going to puke on you" during which I apparently forgot to turn off my devices for a bit and also missed Gigi's finish. 

Once I settled my system (and stopped my devices) we went back to the finish to wait for Gigi and Purple. Purple finished a few minutes later, and Gigi came back from the medic area with an ice pack while we were trying to figure out if she was still on the course. 

Look at us all upright and not about to puke or anything!

My Nike+ listed me as running a 28:49??? at a 9:36 pace (a total of 34:33 over 4 miles???) and my Garmin had a full 3.29 distance at 34:43 and won't let me trim off the extra bits so my averages are completely off, though it's still showing my overall pace as 10:21, even listing the average pace for my last split as 12:00.

I got my clock results from the FLRRT bus and they listed me as running a 32:53 with a 10:35 pace which was a PR for me by about 8 seconds! Gigi said later that morning that since the slips we got were clock time only she thought that may be off by about 30 seconds based on her watch. She texted me later in the evening to tell me that the chip times were up on FLRRT.com. I looked myself up on the site and found my chip results...

Sunday's run: The John Theissen Children's Foundation Freaky 5K
3.10 miles at an average of 10:35 per mile -  total time of 32:17

Which makes it a PR by nearly 45 seconds!

Sorry this post was a bit delayed, there was this hurricane thing going on and I've been a mite distracted.

Both my neighborhood and my office are without power but luckily my landlord has a generator so I'm sitting things out pretty nicely all things considered.

Bonus for you: my totally bizarre race playlist - welcome to the bizarreness that is shuffle on my phone.

Puscifer - The Rapture (Fear is a Mind Killa Mix)

Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better

Daft Punk - Around the World/Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007)

Editors - Life as a Ghost

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Call On Me

The Doors - I Looked at You

Black Sabbath - Lord of this World

Marilyn Manson - GodEatGod

Primus - Puddin Taine

Alice In Chains - I Stay Away

Freaky5K - In the bag!

Chip Time

Clock Time

Yay another PR!

More on this later, now I'm going to go get some of the sleep I failed to get last night.

Sorry, did I say that I PR'd Friday?

What I meant to say is that I PRd today!

Okay, so it was only by thirty seconds, but that's practically geological time scale for some runners.

After Friday's run I decided to see what would happen if I looked at my watch as little as humanly possible. I listened for the mile beeps and watched the distance for that last .10 mile, but I completely ignored all other sources of data beside what my body was telling me.

I felt good overall, but I was definitely pushing myself a bit harder today to get just about the same output as Friday. My first mile and a half was a bit too fast and I could really feel that for the next mile and slowed down between 1.5 and 2.5 miles to conserve some gas. Once I knew I was in the home stretch again I broke into a run to finish out, hitting 7:02 min/mi at one point near the very end!

Yes, I know, that's probably something along the lines of your "easy going marathon" pace, but I'm a beginner and I'm excited. *stamps foot*

Added bonus: not only did I finally get to try out my Batman Bondi Band for a run (that being my C25K completion gift from my amazing boyfriend), but I got to see more than one bat flying around in the early dusk!

They see me rollin'. I can't think of anyone that would be hatin', but that's beside the point.

I could feel some muscles still being creaky from Friday, and if I do run again before Sunday (I hope so!) it certainly won't be at the same pace. I'm hoping to do something fairly laid back Wednesday and rest up for Sunday's John Theissen Children's Foundation Freaky5K which will be my first official meat-space race evar.

Looking forward to getting both my Halloween and my run on at the same time with Running On Candy and our friend Purple.

Not looking forward to that 8:30am start time though.

Today's run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks.
3.10 miles at an average of 10:39 per mile -  total time of 33:01

I was all of two seconds off of getting negative splits across the board today too :p

Splits:
       Time         Distance  Pace
1    10:55.0     1.00          10:55
2    10:56.3     1.00          10:56
3    10:19.8     1.00          10:20
4    00:50.4     0.10           8:16

Bears, and headwinds, and pumpkins, oh my!

I'm not gonna lie, Sunday's run pretty much sucked.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I finished up happy and all, and my initial temptation was to use the smiling smiley on my Nike App, but it's easy to rate a run as good when the endorphins have already kicked in.

Nope, large swaths of it out and out sucked, and (now that it's over) I'm pretty darn glad for it.

It usually takes me a block or two to get into the rhythm of running but after that I can usually (thankfully) let my legs go on autopilot. When there is the usual lack of pain or fatigue in my legs I can focus on directing my energy toward pacing and getting more air into my lungs, so I can hopefully not puke or keel over into someone's prize azaleas. I did feel a touch less winded throughout than usual, for which I am HIGHLY thankful because otherwise I felt a bit like a confused drunken bear.

 

It took two and a half miles for me to forget my legs enough to just run, oh and also there was a headwind.

Since when do I care about headwinds? Since Sunday, apparently.

My ankle pain seems to have finally calmed down, but only to be replaced by a sort of dull pain in the opposite knee (probably after effects of compensating for that ankle)*, some sub-threshold shin splint action, and some good old general muscle fatigue. It's nothing I'd call deal-breaking, but it certainly wasn't fun and I had to sternly talk myself out of taking more than one walk break.

I had a lot of trouble with pacing at first and found myself edging up on 10:00 more than once very early on. I think my body was just trying to get it all over with, potential for exhaustion blackouts be damned! Still, with much cajoling, and more then a few "suck it up buttercup" type platitudes I got through an entire 5k without pause. I even beat Wednesday's overall pace by four seconds per mile.

Once I forgot about my legs I actually felt good enough to end with a bit of a kick, but getting there took far too long for my liking. I spent that half a mile swinging between 7:30 and 10:00 and still ended up with positive splits up around the 12:00s, which I think says a thing or two about how bad the beginning of mile three was.

Why am I so cool about this sucking so much? Because it actually kinda sorta counted for something. Sunday was when I chose to do RunningInSanity's The Great Pumpkin Race. Times aren't being entered, there are no official winners or losers (though the last time she did this sort of thing there were a whole lot of randomly picked schwag winners, so that's something to look forward to) and yet... and yet...

I feel like I solidly earned my very first medal (virtual though it be) and I'm going to be rudely shoving this run in my own face making "nyah nyah" noises for a while to come. I really struggled with myself, and I won out against my doubts, and you can bet I'll be dragging out those bragging rights out over the parts of me that want to walk it or go home early in the future.

Pumpkins are already a huge thing for me and I couldn't ask for more welcome addition to their symbolism.

On a more technical note: I find it's taking me longer to regain my equilibrium after running and despite it being an afternoon run I don't feel like I really got my brain back until after dinner. I think my cool down stretching is actually suffering a bit as I often find myself just sort of holding my toes and staring off into the distance for long swaths of time.

After something like the fourth "give me a rare steak now or forfeit your left arm" meal planning discussion with The Boyfriend this week I'm starting to think I am missing out on some essential cow vitamin and I have to wonder if that has something to do with my sore muscles and extended post-run space cadet time.

Once I had fortified myself with some shrimp fondue and a petite sirloin (it was medicinal fondue, I needed nourishment, don't you judge) we hit a dollar store for cheesy decorations and a Trader Joe's for pumpkins and then spent the rest of the evening watching cheesy 80s horror (House II and Night of the Creeps, in case you were wondering) and eviscerating gourds.

I do carve a sexy pumpkin.

How do you kick your own butt?

Do you have any personal symbols that work into your running?

Have you ever found yourself drifting a bit too far into LaLa Land after a workout?

******
My Sunday run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks.
Official running of RunningInSanity's The Great Pumpkin Race
3.1 miles at an average of 11:50 per mile -  total time of 36:43 max pace of 6:49 (?!?)

******
Next up is another virtual run - The Cupcake Classic. It is "open" now and runs until Sunday (click on the image below for more detail - registration is still open!). I have not yet decided which day I will be running this but signs point to, uh, not Wednesday or Thursday?

Reply Hazy. Ask Again Later

******
*I had a physical today after writing most of the bits above and mentioned my knee pain, after a bit of manipulation he declared it tendonitis and basically said "rest it if you can, but as I'm realistic I'm going to say also hit it with anti-inflammatory meds as you must". 
I am quite curious to see what my iron levels look like.

September Blog Challenge Day 12 - The Scale

How often do you weigh yourself?

I tend to weigh myself in bursts.  Every day for three days, nothing for a month, weekly for a season. I've been seeing a lot of articles in passing lately indicating that weighing yourself more frequently may actually help with weight loss, which I kind of get. I find I do better with eating well if I'm eating for my day rather than eating for my week. I eat in a more balanced fashion rather than trying to bank calories for an expected splurge by practically starving myself.

Ultimately I judge my "success" by how my clothes fit and what my musculature is doing, rather than the number on the scale. I fit into clothes WAY better now at 125 lbs (124.6 as of last night actually, but who's counting?) than I did a year and a half ago at 115.

Yes, I know that's technically not a lot of weight. People tend to give me dirty looks when I give numbers, but I am five foot two with a very small frame and diminutive curves. That's shorter than the average 7th grade girl for pete's sake! Kind of like a small terrier... I simply don't have anywhere to put extra weight.

It's never been as bad as all that, but you get the point.


****
What active/fitness related things did I do today?

I signed up for my first virtual 5k!

WHAT: A virtual race is running a specified distance, timing yourself, without actually being present in a race location. A 5k equals 3.1 miles.
WHEN: October 14 - 21, 2012
WHERE: Pick your favorite local route or jump on the treadmill.
WHY: Fun, Fitness, Friendship... and PRIZES!
HOW: Register HERE with your email address (virtual race only!).  Official race bib and detailed information will be sent to that email address. Report back your completed run time before Oct. 23 and you'll be entered into the random prize drawing from the fabulous sponsors listed below. Earn a bonus entry into the prize drawing if you email me a photo from your Cupcake run!


For the sake of full disclosure... I don't actually like cupcakes (I know, weird hunh?) and so by the authority vested in me by the intarwebs you are fully empowered to eat a cupcake in my stead!

Why? Because it's my blog and I said so.
Maybe I can find some sort of gummy cupcake or perhaps... anyone got a recipe for savory Dorito flavored cupcakes?

Okay, now I'm ACTUALLY drooling.

Wobbly day

So on the one side there's this:

Notice the distinct lack of any send in order form part on the bottom there? That's because it's in an envelope with a check and and all that.

I know, whoop-de-do, a 5K, but it's my first 5K... so that's pretty cool!

Extra bonuses:

• it's a Halloween themed race (make anything Halloween themed and there's approximately five billion percent higher chance that I'm in)
• I have at least one friend who plans to be there. She is the consummate cheerleader and the main reason I'm even running at all now, much less training for a 5K
• it's in the 'hood where I grew up so good chance my Mom will be there
• the John Theissen Children's Foundation is a great charity with a big local presence in my hometown (seriously, go read how the charity started, it is the warm fuzzies)

On the other side I have some friends going through some devastating times right now and my heart was just not with me running today. I'm glad I ran for some reasons, but I really could have used that time better in light of the circumstances so I'm somewhat mad at myself for running too and I unquestionably carried that with me.

I had no focus to begin with, and to top it all off I had to take an extremely important call about 20 minutes into my run so any rhythm or flow I managed to build up went pretty much kaput at that point.

I did manage to pause my apps (eventually) and continued walking while on the phone, but obviously not an ideal day for either running or the measurement thereof.

Ever feel like you had to justify your run on a particular day (even if it's just to yourself)?
How do you deal with that?

******

My run today: C25K week 6 day2

2.65 miles at 12:25 per mile
(Nike+ says 2.3m at 13:59)

I did actually go at least two and a half miles but I'm not sure which time to believe more. In addition there was a good four minute walk in the middle of the second mile that totally wasn't supposed to be there. I'm going to continue on to day three on Friday and see how that goes.