that’s what i did this morning. 9 training weekends ( + 1 taper weekend) to go until half marathon. ive got the distance aspect down, time to start working on speed in a few weeks…

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So the Chase Corporate Challenge begins tomorrow in Central Park, with another race following on Thursday.  I am running the Wednesday edition, which I just heard may involve some rain.  That’s ok, I’m not breaking any records tomorrow anyway.  Last year I ran a 21:25 over the course of 3.5 miles which is pretty amazing now that I look back in retrospect.  6:07 splits!

I did some mile splits on the treadmill the other day, a 6:31, a 6:23 and a 6:15.  So assuming I don’t have too many beers at the Yankee game tonight, I’m going to set the bar at about 23:20 (6:40 splits) but maybe slower if it rains or if I over do it (or both).

Overall, I think I’m on a pretty good course for Half Marathon goal date of Sept 12th.  I did 8 miles this Sunday (on the treadmill) at a 7:31 pace which I was pretty content with.  This weekend might be sort of a throwaway in terms of a long run since we’ll be down in the Florida Keys for my best friend’s wedding.  But with 11 or 12 weekends to go, there’s plenty of time to ramp up to 13+ miles.

J

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Half marathon training is moving along really well.  I woke up Thurs morning and did an hour and a half bike from the FiDi up to 135th on the west side.  Was real nice to see they’ve completed some work on the hudson river greenway starting in the 80’s thru the 100’s. 

On Friday after work, I killed it with the speedwork, primarily 800’s at the east river track.  If I recall correctly splits were 2:53, 2:47, 2:53, 2:57 and 2:50 which is pretty quick for me. Followed up with two 400’s a 1:17 and 1:23. Then sunday I did a 7+ mile long run that included both the brooklyn and manhattan bridges, a crosstown jaunt across canal and a straight shot down the west side.

So far I’ve found myself gravitating towards the FIRST training cycle I’ve found great success with in the past. Each week for the last 3 weeks I’ve found time for a long run, a tempo run and some speedwork, with a fair share of biking/swimming interspersed. Its about time to start thinking about what I want to do for my mid-september half-marathon. I would love to PR but I’m not sure that’s in the cards considering I was knocking out 6:55’s for 13 miles straight back in march ‘08.

Assuming I don’t sustain any injuries, or let my training fall apart due to summertime vacation eating/drinking, its certainly possible to PR… But I know those are two big wildcards.

J

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Time to get back into the game.  After taking it super easy for the last couple months, I’m ready to start rocking again.  Did a few mile splits on Friday morning… a 6:54, 6:38, 6:11.  Then on Sunday, Lauren and I ran the Ironton Rail Trail, in Allentown, PA.  5.25 miles at a 7:36 pace, followed by a 1.25 cool down.  Today I went out at lunchtime to do some tempo running in central park: 4.25 miles at 7:03 with a short warm up and cool down.

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It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted an entry so here goes nothing.  My running life has been relatively uneventful, but I’ve been enjoying the art of running for fun.

One day last week I ventured out on a jog through central park. but instead of following the main outer loop, i went all over the place.  I ran the trails that weave all throughout the interior of the park.  No watch, no idea how far i went, lots of fun.

Another day I did speedwork.  I haven’t done mile splits on the treadmill in forever.  Again, no real pace in mind.  But they felt easy enough so that by the time I did the 3rd and final mile, I rocked a 6:20 mile. 

On Monday, I ran home from work.  I was feeling guilty about working late and missing out on the gym.  So rather than deal with a 40 minute battle through the nyc subway system, I threw on my gym close and tempo ran down the east side, enjoying the newly rennovated waterfront.  And I stopped at my favorite fitness park for the obligatory circuit of pushups, pullups and dips.

In addition to the running, I’ve been enjoying my new bike.  One day after work last week, I rode from the FiDi up to the 80’s on the west side.   Last Sunday I biked from the FiDi to LaGuardia airport.  Today I did a trip out to Brooklyn and wound up down by the Ikea.

I even did some kayaking this weekend (which ended in a Coast Guard rescue) and some swimming yesterday morning.  So the other nice thing has been the variety in my routine.

At any rate, I’ll be enjoying the last few days of freedom before trying to adhere to a more fixed training schedule in anticipation of September’s VIA Lehigh Valley Half Marathon .

J

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Trek FX 7.1

It’s $439.99… is that a good bang for my buck?

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/bike_path/fx/71fx/

Thanks for your help!

J

Popularity: 34% [?]

Long time no post.  I was in Costa Rica all last week for vacation… which of course lent itself to some unique running opportunities.

The area our resort was located in (La Fortuna) didn’t really lend itself to casual jogging.  The roads were super narrow with no shoulder.  There was a fair amount of traffic and lots of twists and turns.  And of course we were staying at the base of a volcano, so the whole region was one giant series of steep rolling hills.  Oh and it’s the hot rainy season right now.

Tuesday morning, after a couple of false starts (aka Lauren telling me that I might be risking my life dodging cars/trucks) I set out.  I don’t do much hill work, so working my way up a quarter mile at 30+ degrees of incline required a tremendous amount of effort on my part.  Then the steep downhills mercilessly punished the quads.  Now repeat that process10x over the course of the run and you can imagine how it went.  Fortunately the scenery of running through a tropical rain forest was distracting enough to make it only mildly uncomfortable.  20 minutes out, 20 minutes back and I was spent.

The next day my legs were wrecked.  I haven’t been in that much pain from a regular workout in a long time, and even 48hrs later I was still feeling residual soreness.  I was ready to try the same course out again on Friday (4 days later) but this time was way different.  I knew what to expect and how to pace myself appropriately.

I may have trudged along at a slightly slower pace, but that was less out of caution and more the effects of over-eating and drinking for almost a week.  The big difference the 2nd time around wasn’t my pace though, it was the way I felt afterwards.  Whereas I was completely shot after my first attempt, the second time around left me feeling almost pain free.  Let’s hear it for supercompensation.

After getting back late Saturday night, I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather on Sunday by going for a bike ride.  I still don’t own, so I dropped by the bike rental spot in Battery Park and quickly discovered that Sunday was the 5 borough bike tour and that my odds of getting a rental were slim and none.  I decided its time to commit and get myself a decent bicycle.  In my next post I’ll tell you what I’m thinking about and hopefully get some feedback.

J

Popularity: 8% [?]

Today wasn’t exactly great weatherwise, but we took advantage of the partial sunshine early this afternoon and ran up from the financial district to the east river track (and a little beyond in Lauren’s case). Consequently, today was my first day of day of outdoor track work this season, and it went absolutely fantastic.

The East River Track is about 2.5 miles from our apartment, which makes it a nice warm up jog away. At the track I ran 4 individual 400M Splits. I started off planning to run them at 1:30 a piece, but after I busted out a 1:26 for the first one, I knew I’d be running them alot more quickly than anticipated.

I took a 1 minute breather then ran the 2nd lap in an easy 1:21. After the 2nd 400M I rested for 70 seconds. I knew I was feeling pretty good at this point, but I had no idea I had the potential to pull off a 3rd lap in 1:17 followed by a 4th in 1:11!

Today’s track work has me really amped to continue with the speedwork. I don’t know how I’m going to apply it yet, but hopefully I can build enough of a base to start chipping away at my 5k PR or maybe run a 1-mile race sub-5-minute.

Definitely looking forward to hitting up the track again on Wednesday after work!

J

Popularity: 9% [?]

Here’s an excerpt from a pretty interesting interview with Ryan Hall from MarathonNews.net where he offers up his thoughts on the upcoming Boston Marathon, setting the American Record in the Distance, a recent “poor performance” at the half, and a multitude of other things…

Interview: Ryan Hall before 2010 Boston Marathon

When the gun goes off in Boston on April 19, running fans will watch closely how Ryan Hall is doing. While the 27-year-old American had been somewhat under the radar for a while, his early announcement to go after the American record at the Chicago Marathon in October turned heads. After a solid but not overwhelming 2009 (that included 3rd and 4th place finishes in Boston and New York), Ryan Hall seems to be very confident about what 2010 holds for him. We talked to Ryan via e-mail about his final preparations for Boston, his Chicago announcement and strength through faith and giving.

MarathonNews: Ryan, with less than two weeks to go before Boston, how do you feel your training up in Mammoth has been going compared to last year’s build-up?

Ryan Hall: Every build up is different and yields different results in maybe a different way. My buildup for this marathon has been very good leaving me excited to get out on the race course and see what kind of results it yields. This buildup has been different in that I have spent the last three weeks down at sea level for optimal recovery and to be here in Boston to train on the course, get better acquainted with the course, and get all the adjusting and travel out of the way early.

You came down to sea level earlier than last year and actually went to Boston a couple of weeks ahead of the race to train on the course. In what ways do you think this is going to help you on race day?

I think the biggest difference will be not only my knowledge of the course in terms of how to spend my energy best over the many technical elements involved in running the Boston marathon but also my overall comfort on the course. I feel like it is important for me to know where I am at on a course and to even know what the lay of the land looks like so it feels like my home course. I am very comfortable on the course now.

Full Article at: http://bit.ly/97EiDC  

J

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