Pictures Finally!

Running along the bay in Sea Cliff 

with The Petite Pacer

The Brooklyn Bridge at Mile 8

Relaxing on a sandy beach outside City Hall.

Giant slide downtown.

The 59th Street Bridge

Our view with a room in Niagara Falls.

Niagara run.

The Allegheny River in Pittsburgh.

Black and Gold, baby!

The Monongahela River

St. Matthews Road, 

Chester Springs, PA

...and the sidewalk ended.

She Is The Ubiquitous Runner

Sunday (8/16/15) - 8.05 miles, 1:11:29, 8:53 pace


Monday (8/17/15)- 6.05 miles, 52:15, 8:38 pace


Tuesday (8/18/15)- 6 miles, 49:04, 8:11 pace. This was supposed to be 4x1.5 miles with 800m recovery.  I didn't start until 5pm when it was 850 degrees and 1000% humidity. Because of the unfavorable conditions, I thought I would run at the gym where it turned out to be only 750 degrees and 900% humidity.  Was the AC not working?  Were they deliberately trying to boil everyone? Or just me.  Whatever the case, I failed.  My "warm" up was just 800m and I only completed 3x1.5 miles with the recoveries because it sucked and I sucked right there with it.


Wednesday (8/19/15)- Off


Thursday - (8/20/15)10 miles, 1:20:58, 8:06 pace. 9 mile tempo run with a 1 mile warm up. This was a cool run, literally.  I ran along Niagara Lake above the Falls on the Canadian side.  Beautiful! After my warm up, it started to downpour.  I toughed it out, but after 6 miles (and a couple of bathroom emergency stops...yeah, I know) I decided to finish up at the hotel gym rather than risk drowning my iPhone. I actually enjoy running in the rain, especially in this heat.






Friday - (8/21/15) 5.98 miles, 58:22, 8:56 pace.  Another gorgeous run, except this time along the river in Pittsburgh. My first time in the city. I ran a couple of blocks from the hotel and down a flight of stairs next to the 9th Street Bridge down to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail along the Allegheny River.  I saw the PNC baseball park across the river where the kids watched the Pirates beat the Giants the night before.  A couple of blocks west I saw the Steeler stadium. Growing up, my brother was (and still is) a huge Steelers fan so when I saw the stadium it was like seeing the Taj Mahal. I went around the Point State Park Fountain until the trail ended.  I went up and over the Smithfield Street Bridge to the other side of the Monongahela River.  There were a couple of restaurants and a soccer field where it looked like a game of college aged men were about to play a team of women.  That would have been fun to watch. I turned around at three miles and headed back to the hotel. I loved touring this new city on foot and hope to return again soon.


Saturday - (8/22/15)10 miles, 1:24:41, 8:28 pace. Okay, this is my last scenic route for the week.  Friday afternoon we left Pittsburgh for Chester Springs PA to visit our friend Leonard. Saturday morning I got out the door around 10am. I ran out 5 miles and back on a rural road lined with sprawling stone farmhouses and rolling hills. I saw and smelled a lot of cows and horses. I think I ran faster than I should have because the family was waiting for me to get on the road and head back home.  At mile 7 when I peaked my last hill, I actually almost got sick on the side of the road.  I think it was the cumulative elevation (total gain 768 feet which is a lot for this south shore LI runner), the heat, and probably running too fast.  Even still, I enjoyed it.  I love using my runs as a way to explore new places.



Total miles - 46.1, at least 4 miles shorter than what was scheduled.


Again, I'm unable to post my pictures.  I will get them all on here once I solve my computer problem.

 

Summer Streets in NYC

Sunday - (8/9/15) 10.01 miles, 1:28:50, 8:53 pace


Monday - (8/10/15) 7.96 miles, 1:18:56, 9:55 pace - I did this run with The Petite Pacer (TPP) in her neighborhood. The course was scenic with steep hills along the water on the north shore of the island.  TPP gave me some priceless tips on how to run downhill properly.  Basically, instead of pumping my arms forward as I would running uphill, I pumped them behind me for downhill.  It felt awkward at first, but it worked!  I felt no quadriceps soreness in the following days.  It's nice to run with an experienced physical therapist who also happens to be a fantastic friend.




Tuesday - (8/11/15) 10.18 miles, 1:23:59 8:15 pace - I ran 1.5 miles to and from the gym so in the end I was "surprised" to have run over 10 miles.  That morning when I glanced at the Hanson schedule which called for 6x1mile/400 recovery, I had it in my head that I was only going to run around 7.  I forgot about the warm up and cool down.  My mile pace alternated between 7:19 and 7:24.


Wednesday - (8/12/15) Off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thursday - (8/13/15) 9.01 miles, 1:11:23, 7:56 pace - My last 8 mile tempo run!!! Oh wait, it increases after this... Here are my splits which are all over the place:




DISTANCE PACE ELAPSED TIME


1.0 mi08:35 min/mi00:08:34
2.0 mi07:53 min/mi00:07:52
3.0 mi07:54 min/mi00:07:53
4.0 mi07:47 min/mi00:07:46
5.0 mi07:37 min/mi00:07:36
6.0 mi07:52 min/mi00:07:51
7.0 mi07:58 min/mi00:07:58
8.0 mi07:56 min/mi00:07:54
9.0 mi07:40 min/mi00:07:39
9.0 mi10:04 min/mi00:00:07


I only do a warmup mile for the tempos only because by the end I am so thankful to be done!


Friday - 7.43 miles, 1:06:12, 8:55 pace - I did this at 5pm which was nice because I was able to catch some shady streets in the 84 degrees


Saturday - 16.56 miles, 2:34:24, 9:19 pace - Last Sunday KWL (aka, New and Improved ER) told us about  "Summer Streets" in NYC where they close off about 7 miles of Park Avenue/4thAvenue/Lafayette from 7am-1pm from cars for three Saturdays in August.  I couldn't wait to take advantage of this unique experience so I decided to switch my long run from Sunday to Saturday.  I met KWL at his house in Queens and he drove us to the Queens side of the 59th Street Bridge where he parked his car.  We ran across the bridge, feeling quite groovy (See what I did?), west to Park Avenue, up to 72nd, back down to the Brooklyn Bridge, back up to 72nd, east and south, and then over the Queensboro bridge again.  We added in a couple of intervals when some of the lights that were open to traffic were changing to red. My Map My Run app was acting screwy so I ran by KWL's GPS. I ran the last couple of miles at a faster pace than the 9s we were averaging because KWL passed me on the bridge while I took a couple of pictures (See Note below). I tried to catch him, but couldn't until he stopped at the end of the bridge. However, my time was probably about 3 minutes faster than his GPS because I finished ahead of him at the end. It was such a fun experience to be running the city streets like that, especially since I've never run the NYC Marathon! It was also great hanging out with KWL again.  Our paces are paces are right in line with each other.


Total - 61.1 (Yes, I like my .1s and .01s) - Highest weekly mileage ever for me!






Note:  I have some fun pictures from this week that I'm having trouble uploading because my MacBook is broken and I'm using Pete's computer.  I hope to upload them later, but I want to get this out since it's already past my self-imposed deadline.

Hanson Marathon Method, Week 10 - The Great Gatsby Run & Other Hijinks

Sunday (8/2/15) - 15.24 miles, 2:15:03, 8:52 pace - Long run up on the north shore.  I started at 12:30pm from my parent's house and ran up into Great Neck.  One big hill, Grace Avenue, from East Shore Road.  I made a right onto Middle Neck Road and headed into Kings Point, also known as The Gold Coast, where large mansions on the shore of Manhasset Bay are tucked in from the road.  No other runners were out, they were replaced by teenagers cruising in luxury convertibles.  They were nice enough not to run me over, and a couple even waved ("Ah, look at the peasant who can't afford to ride in a car so she must run in this heat.  Does anyone have a piece of bread to throw at her?").  By the time I circled back to Northern Boulevard in Manhasset, I had already hit ten miles.  I did the remaining five in the hills of South Strathmore.

DISTANCE	PACE	ELAPSED TIME
1.0 mi	08:55 min/mi	00:08:55
2.0 mi	09:19 min/mi	00:09:17
3.0 mi	08:40 min/mi	00:08:40
4.0 mi	08:56 min/mi	00:08:55
5.0 mi	08:56 min/mi	00:08:55
6.0 mi	09:05 min/mi	00:09:04
7.0 mi	08:45 min/mi	00:08:44
8.0 mi	08:51 min/mi	00:08:50
9.0 mi	08:56 min/mi	00:08:55
10.0 mi	08:44 min/mi	00:08:43
11.0 mi	09:18 min/mi	00:09:16
12.0 mi	08:44 min/mi	00:08:44
13.0 mi	08:49 min/mi	00:08:48
14.0 mi	08:38 min/mi	00:08:30
15.0 mi	08:28 min/mi	00:08:16
15.2 mi	08:32 min/mi	00:02:07

Monday (8/3/15) - 6.33 miles, 57:47, 9:08 pace - Local loop.  My quads were gloriously sore from the hills the previous day.  Yes, I actually love hills and will seek them out when I can.

Tuesday (8/4/15) - 6.72 miles 55:09, 8:12 pace - Ran 1.5 miles to and fro the gym for my 3x1600m intervals alternating between a 7:19 & 7:24 pace.

Wednesday (8/5/15) - Off (Thank God!)

Thursday (8/6/15) - 9.01 miles, 1:10:29, 7:49 pace.  The dreaded tempo run was successful, once again, despite two bathroom stops.  Wednesday nights I always fret whether or not I'm going to be able to keep my pace the next day.  After my warmup mile, I maintained an even faster pace than expected.  Whoo hoo!

DISTANCE PACE ELAPSED TIME

1.0 mi 08:39 min/mi 00:08:39
2.0 mi 07:51 min/mi 00:07:50
3.0 mi 07:38 min/mi 00:07:32
4.0 mi 07:44 min/mi 00:07:43
5.0 mi 07:30 min/mi 00:07:29
6.0 mi 07:24 min/mi 00:07:23
7.0 mi 08:01 min/mi 00:08:01
8.0 mi 07:55 min/mi 00:07:53
9.0 mi 07:37 min/mi 00:07:37
9.0 mi 08:06 min/mi 00:00:07

Friday (8/7/15) - 6.46 miles, 58:43, 9:05 pace

Saturday (8/8/15) -10.22 miles, 1:32:58, 9:06 pace - I met the Emerging Runner (ER), The Petite Pacer (TPP), and ER's buddy, KWL, at Belmont Lake State Park. We ran the Dirty Sock 10k course and added a few miles around the lake.  TPP and I started out together, then KWL joined us, while ER did his own ER thing (whatever that is...).  The path in the park is  mostly packed dirt and gravel (hence, the "dirty socks") which felt great on the bones, however it required more effort than pavement.  It was nice to be in a new venue.  Afterwards, we found a Starbucks and went about our traditional pow wow. KWL is an easy fit to our gang (That's right!  I'm in a gang.  Of course, our gang more resembles The Little Rascals than the Bloods).

Our socks after running the Dirty Sock course.

Go figure!

L to R: TPP, She Is "Fixing" ER's Hat, ER,

the New & Improved ER

Missed A Run, But Not That Much...

Sunday (7/26/15) - My first missed run during this training cycle.  I felt very guilty, but my soreness and sheer exhaustion from the Urban Mudder and lack of sleep superseded the guilt.  It was only a 10 miler, I told myself.  To feel better, I popped open a nice cold beer.  The guilt magically went away.

Monday (7/27/15) - 8.01 miles, 1:13:16, 9:09 pace

This is what I almost look like after a sweaty run,

except for the inappropriate smile, obviously.  

Tuesday (7/28/15) - 7.09 miles, 58:43, 8:17 pace - 6 x 800m intervals at 5-10k pace with 400m recovery.  I did this workout at the gym because it was freaking hot and I didn't wake up early enough to get outside when it was cooler.  Watching reruns until 1am is not conducive to marathon training.  Damn you, Golden Girls!  Just the mile and a half to and from the gym soaked me with sweat.  I looked like I took a shower with my running clothes on.

How can you pick a favorite

Golden Girl?  

I love them all.

Wednesday (7/29/15) - Off - I thought about doing an easy run to make up for Sunday's missed workout.  I couldn't decide how many miles would constitute an easy makeup run, so I stopped thinking about it.

Thursday (7/30/15 Happy 9th birthday, Santos!!!) - 9 miles, 1:11:56, 7:59 pace - 8 miles tempo run with a 1 mile warmup.  First of three 8 mile tempo runs.  Carbo loaded with giant buckets of popcorn and Milk Duds at the Pixels movie with a bunch of little kids.

Lord Tyrion, I mean Peter Dinklage, I'll watch you

in anything!  Even an Adam Sandler movie.

Friday (7/31/15) - 7.12 miles, 1:02:50, 8:49 pace

Saturday (8/1/15) - 8.05 miles, 1:10:46, 8:48 pace - Dropped the two little ones off at my mother's and ran through Manhasset. It was nice to get some hills in, finally.  I prefer running up there, the streets are quieter, the homes are nicer, the sun is brighter, the grass is greener, and it's fun to literally run down "Memory Lane".

The gazebo on Plandome Road.

Isn't it purdy?