Archive for the ‘Runner's High’ Category

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June 10th – NYC Chase Corporate Challenge

10, Jun 2009

Tonight was a great night to race in Central Park and I think the 3.5 mile Chase Corporate Challenge went off without a hitch. It was a slightly humid 70 degrees which made for pretty comfortable conditions. I had a good race, coming across the finish line at 21:25 with 6:07 mile-splits. I’m going to guess that puts me in the top 150 or so.

The journey to the starting corrals seemed a little less hectic than it’s felt in previous years. I began the race 7 or 8 rows back from the start line and never felt like it was too congested. I heard from people further back in the corrals that the start went pretty smooth for them as well.

I like the course. Although there are a few rolling hills, I think its actually a small net decline. I’ve never seen so many water stations in a three mile race, but I guess that a lot of people do this as a fun run and are therefore out on the course for a while.

There are also some pretty fast runners that come out for the Corporate Challenge. I heard the winner was a JP Morgan employee and that he ran a 16:45-ish race. That’s really freaking fast. Like 4:45 mile split fast.

There’s also a lot of runners that go out really fast and then die after the first mile. I was passing people left and right starting at the 1.5 mile point. There were also a lot of people that finished around me looking pretty strong, whereas I know I was completely spent running a 21:25.

There was good food in the tents for those with access. The beer tickets at the end were a nice treat as well, thanks JP Morgan Chase!

J

2009 Healthy Kidney 10K Video

9, Jun 2009

This year’s Healthy Kidney 10K video is finally up on YouTube, check it out…

You can also find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs7MZVfINCQ

Yours truly makes a dramatic appearance, somewhere between 41.5 and 41.7 seconds into the video (mostly because i started off a little too close to the lead pack)…

healthy-kidney-10k-video

Looking forward to racing in Central Park twice in the next 3 weeks, with Wednesday’s Corporate Challenge and the June 28th Hope & Possibility 5-miler.

Thanks for reading, make sure to bookmark my site and come back often. Feel free to email me at Jason@nycin310.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NYCin310.

J

Training Recap, LA Marathon

26, May 2009

It feels great to be back on a training schedule. I ran an easy 4.5 miler on Friday, a moderate 8 mile long-run on Saturday, biked for 2.5 hours on Sunday and did a fast 6 mile tempo on Monday. It’s the most consecutive days of outdoor running I’ve done since training for last year’s NY Marathon. Somehow my joints and muscles, which normally give me trouble, are feeling great. Goes to show how a little time off can improve your outlook.

5-25-run

Yesterday, Lauren and I started off from John St gym on the corner of Gold St and ran alongside the FDR into the East River Park. Modeled along the same lines as the battle-of-the-sexes “challenge” in Monday’s LA Marathon, we wagered bragging rights over who could complete their run first. This “challenge” was for me to run a 5 mile tempo in the time it took Lauren to do 4 miles. Same course, I would just tack on another half mile before turning around. I must have bit off more than I could chew, Lauren seemed to have finished with plenty of time to spare and cashed in her bragging rights a few times since.

Whoa, 1:23 Half Requires Serious Training

23, May 2009

First things first, some of the Healthy Kidney 10k pictures from Brightroom are up on their site. http://www.brightroom.com/view_event.asp?EVENTID=47214. Here are mine. So far, the only thing I’ve been able to deduce from viewing various race photos, is that I was in excruciating pain throughout the entire race…

healthy-kidney-10k-31

healthy-kidney-10k-1

healthy-kidney-10k-2

I ran about 8 miles this morning, with the middle four at a quicker pace (just under 7min pace) and the bookends at around 9 min. By 11am, it was just plain hot out, probably mid-70’s but it felt hotter because of the sun, which made for less than favorable conditions. Still, a good run while I’m getting back into the swing of things.

I just did a little research into what it would take to pull off a NY Marathon qualifying half on Aug 16th (13.1 miles in 1hr 23min)…

Race Recovery Lessons and the Next Goal

22, May 2009

I finally got back out on the road today for 4 and a half miles along the East River. With all the tempo runs, interval sessions and long distance runs been I’ve been doing it was great to be out on a run with no real pace or distance in mind other than to run until I felt like turning around and then run back.

east-river-running-1

Aside from a quick trip to the gym on Tuesday morning, I didn’t train at all between Sunday and Thursday which is a few days longer than I wanted to wait. Next time I race a 10k, I want to be able to recover more quickly and probably taper a few days less as well. I also acknowledge that this was an especially busy week for me so the extra days off couldn’t have come at a better time…

Recovering from Under-training

20, May 2009

Want to know what my running has been like since the Healthy Kidney 10k on Saturday? Non-existent.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday my legs were just torn up from the race. Completely sore with no relief in sight. The massage I got on Sunday kind of helped… for all of 20 minutes afterwards. On Tuesday morning I hit the gym bright and early for some strength training and 20 minutes of biking. I would have liked to have gotten a run in on Wednesday, but in the process of recovering from a really fast 10k, I’m also locked into what may be the absolute busiest week of my life.

I did a day-trip to San Diego on Wednesday. Maybe I’ll get home on Thursday morning, go back to sleep for a few hours and then wake up and go for an easy run before I’m back to work. I’m a little paranoid that between the taper process and my lack of running this week, some of the fitness I’ve worked hard for could begin to fade. Two weeks is generally the point at which that starts happening…

Healthy Kidney 10K – Some Photos

18, May 2009

Here’s a brief photo series from the 2009 Healthy Kidney 10k…

  1. Me and my rocket fuel
  2. Tola finishing
  3. Tola being congratulated
  4. Tola being interviewed
  5. Me hobbling towards chip removal
  6. and celebrating victory w/ fiance and future father-in-law

Click Here: http://www.nycin310.com/?p=565

J

Healthy Kidney 10k: Race Wrap-up 2009

16, May 2009

2009 Healthy Kidney 10k – Race Wrap up

healthy-kidney-10k-2009

Getting There. Got off to a great start this morning. I wouldn’t say I slept like a baby last night, but I got a decent night’s sleep. Waking up at 7am, we gave ourselves about an hour to get dressed and fed, before heading out the door a little after eight.

Saw quite a few fellow Healthy Kidney runners on the 2,3 train and upon exiting at columbus circle, noticed the entire southwest corner of the park was overtaken by us. The 2,3 train goes local on weekends, so the commute from the financial district took entirely too long, but we made it into the park by 8:40am, with enough time to hit the port-a-potties and hop into the starting corral just in time to see…

  • the introduction of the elite runners
  • a brief statement by the NYRR’s Mary Wittenberg,
  • a briefer statement by some representative of Dubai
  • the singing of the national anthem
  • and the “runner’s on your mark… [air-horn blast]“

I had excellent starting position, per usual. Maybe a few rows ahead of my talent level, as this is a competitive club points race, but not by much… and whatever this was an important race for me. Right at about the time the horn sounded, a faint drizzle broke out.

I did a pretty good job at resisting the urge to go out too fast. I went a little fast, but I don’t feel guilty about it, clocking a 6:12 first mile when I was shooting for 6:30-ish. About a half mile later, the drizzle turned into a light rain. I passed the 2nd mile marker at about 12:36, which makes my second mile split at 6:24, much closer to my “early race” goal pace and also a nice average split of 6:18. Then the rain picked up quite a bit…

39:23

16, May 2009

That’s my new 10k PR from today’s Healthy Kidney 10k. Not exactly the time I was hoping for, but overall I’m pretty content. It was a nasty day out and I was probably almost over-tapered. Still, I think I kept it real with 6:21 splits! Also a top 3.7% finish was pretty solid. Here are my stats…

(thanks for the picture Matt @ www.nycrunningblog.com)Tadese Tola at 2009 Healthy Kidney 10K

Sex/Age M28
OverallPlace 279
GenderPlace 249
AgePlace 74
FinishTime 39:23:00
SplitTime 0:19:47
Pace/Mile 6:21
AGTime 39:22:00
AgeGenderPlace 411
AG % 68.10%

The good news is that I ran negative splits, which I’m proud of. I was just counting on them being a little more negative. But it was one of those races where the tanks were empty by the time I hit the last 800M marker, and I still finished strong, which is a great thing.

Here are some race wrap-ups, mine’s coming later on today…

Also a big congratulations to my lovely fiance Lauren, her coworker Salpi and her father Larry for finishing not far behind me! Job well done team.

Check back later today for more info!

J

So How Did My 10k Taper Work?

15, May 2009

I had an eventful day to say the least, but I still made room for a quick mile and a half on the treadmill at lunchtime. Mostly because I was curious how my legs were feeling. I wondered if they would still be sore and stiff from all the weeks of training that had piled up. I wondered if a 6:20 pace would feel overly challenging after taking so many easy days and days off this week. I wondered if I would feel awesome from all the resting and recouping…

And I felt like a million bucks.

Here’s what the last week looked like from a tapering perspective…

Sat 5/9 – 8 Miles: 2 slow, 4 fast, 2 slow
Sun 5/10 – Off Day
Mon 5/11 – Upper Body Strength, Core, 25 minutes of cycling
Tues 5/12 – Off Day
Wed 5/13 – 3.5 Miles: Slow jog, some bursts of speed
Thurs 5/14 – Off Day
Fri 5/15 – 1.5 Miles: Slow jog, some bursts of speed

The only other thing that’s weighing on my mind right now…


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