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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Where Does The Time Go? A Recap of the last 2 Weeks!

As promised, here is my update via bullet points.

  • I ran 16 miles two weekends ago. It was rough. Really rough. Wilson and I started out together, but he was only planning to run 12 miles. Being an idiot, I forgot to bring my keys with me and didn't realize it until we were over a mile into the run. In an ideal world, I could just buzz my apartment when I got home, and Wilson would let me in . . . but our buzzer is broken. Thus, the only option really was to stop back into the apartment when Wilson finished up at the 12-mile mark, grab my keys, and head back out again to finish up the final 4 miles. This? Was torture. But I got 'er done. Right around a 10:00/mile pace.


  • My parents, older sister, brother-in-law and 3 1/2 year-old niece were in town for the week leading up to Memorial Day, and my younger sister and I both took three heavenly days off from work to hang out with them and play tourist for a bit while they were here. Despite the (sort of annoying) fact that the fam isn't so into planning ahead (it wouldn't be quite so annoying but for the fact that they were all staying on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a 45+ minute subway ride away from my BK apartment). Anyway, we had a lot of fun, ate a lot, drank a lot, and walked about 15 billion miles while they were here. Despite a missed key run (speed intervals), I DID get a helluva lot of cross-training in.

  • While the fam was here, I managed to squeeze in an 18-mile long run . . . or well, a 17.5-miler, as it turns out. I accidentally stopped my garmin at some point in the run and forgot to restart it, so all tracking abilities were out the window. It wasn't until later that night that I mapped my run out, and realized I had fallen a half-mile short. Whoopsies! I averaged just under 10:00/mile for the run, and picked up some sexy tan lines, despite the fact that it was mostly overcast out. Oh, and can I just mention that humidity is a b*tch? It was only in the high-sixties during the run, but you could cut the air with a knife, it was so thick. Yuck. I followed the run with an ice bath, a quick shower, chocolate cake (my mom's 60th birthday cake!) and a full day of sight-seeing. It was all EXHAUSTING. And then my parents and I babysat my niece while my sisters and bro-in-law went out to dinner. Um, let's just say that if high-schoolers had to babysit my niece for a night, there would probably be far fewer teen pregnancies. As much as I love little Iris, she helped me to realize that I am SO not ready to have kids anytime soon!

  • As much as I loved getting to hang out with the fam, and especially enjoyed getting to see the city through a 3 1/2 year-old's eyes, I am a bit relieved that life (in particular, my diet and training) are back to normal! My stomach hurt throughout the entire time they were here, thanks to all of the crap food we ate and all of the beer and wine we drank (I must be healthier than I thought, because my tummy was seriously FREAKED)!
  • Last week, despite the short work-week, work was SERIOUSLY a b*tch. I was forced to skip my tempo run, much to my dismay. But it was probably a blessing in disguise, considering I had a half-marathon to run this weekend. I DID get a killer 10 x 400m (at a 7:30/mile pace) workout in (it was blissful) and some decent cross-training as well.

  • I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon (part of the NYRR Grand Prix series, which consists of a half-marathon in each of the five boroughs) this past weekend. I had planned on taking it nice and easy from the get-go, considering I only had 10-miles on the schedule, and the race was conveniently sandwiched between last weekend's 18-mile (eh, 17.5-mile) long run and next weekend's 20-mile long run. I planned to start out at around a 10:00/mile pace and see what happened from there. I started the run out feeling GREAT . . . I was maintaining around a 9:45 - 9:50 pace, and was struggling to keep my pace that slow. I felt like I was in slow motion! Somewhere around 8.5-miles, though, everything went downhill. I was suddenly insanely fatigued and was getting some pretty crazy chills. The heat had risen to somewhere around 70 degrees by that time, and I have a SERIOUS sensitivity to the heat, as a result of having suffered from heat illness on multiple occasions during my childhood. I knew I could probably push through it, considering there were only 4.5 miles left . . . but I also knew (again, just like with Long Branch), that I might be jeopardizing my health and Seattle Marathon performance by pushing it. Thus, I slowed to a walk for a while. I walked on and off for the remainder of the race, trying my best to just enjoy the experience. I'm a little bummed that I went so quickly from feeling AWESOME to feeling like crap, but oh well. One of these days, I swear I'm going to train for a half-marathon without any other race on the horizon, and I'm just going to go all out! By far the best part of the race was that it finished on the boardwalk in Coney Island! Wilson and I met up after the race (he finished in 1:50:xx, scoring himself a nice, new PR), hung out on the beach for a while, stuffed our faces with Nathan's hot dogs and fries (yum), and then finally boarded the F-train back home to Brooklyn Heights. Despite my problem with the heat and issues with some of the aid stations, it was a GREAT day. I'll definitely be running this race again next year (hopefully without another race overshadowing it!)
Alright, I think we are officially caught up now! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update. Great to hear that you had such a lovely time with the family. Seeing sights in your own home town is great fun (and always surprising to see the tons of fun stuff you usually don't see).

You got in an awesome number of miles. Great work! And the race, though tough, sounds like a lot of fun (not in the least because of the post-race trip to the beach).

Have a great week!

Running and living said...

You've been a busy girl! I have a hard time doing races when I train for a marathon because I worry that if I push too hard I'll jeapardize my marathon training. I think it was smart you took it easy. There are plenty of 1/2s after Seattle and you can go all out then and have a great PR. Ana-Maria

EmLit said...

Wow, what an eventful two weeks it has been for you! I always feel the same way you do about taking care of my niece--I love her to death, but I am *so* not ready for children of my own. Also, thanks for your comment on my blog- we should definitely chat about this, maybe we can help each other find a NYC area program! And I added trials of training to my reader at your recommendation :)

Rachel said...

Wow...you have gotten some serious miles in lately! Sounds like a super busy couple of weeks. Glad you had a good time with family. I love it when my family from out of town comes to visit...they almost always want to visit the Mall of America which means fun shopping for me!!

Spike said...

I, like you, do not do well in the heat! why can't every race moning be in the mid 40s and up to mid 50s? sounds like you and the fam had a great time, diet issues aside. and never fear, one day you will rock a half, but the don't mean that much when they are just a race before a race.

Lindsay said...

that's a lot of running! i would've been too tempted to cut that 16-miler into 12 :) i don't even need to babysit kids, i know i'm not ready! i'm not sure i'll ever be ;)

Laura said...

Brooklyn was pretty hot last year as well... kudos to you for recognizing that and not pushing it. I can be bad about ignoring the conditions and still going after my goal (on the rare occasions I'm not feeling easy, that is).

I'm off to Sunburst this weekend - any advice for that one? I still remember your great report from last year :)

Marathonman101108 said...

You've been busy girl, in more ways than one. Thanks for the update. Glad you are still alive and well, and were able to get some serious running in around your friends and family time. Is there a way to stalk/follow your blog? Half the time I fall behind reading your poats since I haven't figured out how to follow your blog yet.

Heather C said...

Whooa! Two long runs AND a half-marathon?! You're legs have been busyyyy! Good times with the fam too :) It's been the same way over here (minus the toddler! Just my 25 yr old bro :) haha, ok not quite the "same") - and I looove them but need things to calm down a little bit over here. woof.

happy June!!!

Heather said...

yay. great little summary. I think you were right to be conservative in the half. Great thinking!!