Entries from February, 2010

Wollman Rink, Central Park

I am so glad I banged out my tempo workout yesterday.  Unlike this morning, yesterday I actually had traction and the confidence that when I started I could stop without a face meet pavement experience.  Yesterday was above freezing for most of the day, so the snow began to melt a bit leaving the roads wet, but still in great condition.  Overnight, it was windy and the temps dipped below 32* and the result was black ice greeted early morning Central Park runners.  Thankfully, I never bit it, but I certainly felt like I worked much harder than I should have on a recovery run. Continue Reading

I cannot remember the last run I’ve had that was not influenced by weather conditions.  That’s not entirely true.  Monday morning was probably a decent workout out and it was before the white out.  Tuesday was pouring rain.  Thursday was a mess and in the eye of the storm.  Therefore, to say I had some pent up energy is an understatement.  That extra juice was a double-edged sword this morning. Continue Reading

In the continuing saga of the never-ending winter, NYC was hit by yet another Nor’easter. I don’t even keep up with the total inches anymore, but it was enough to put my night run at risk. At the office, I was grumpy all day and kept looking outside to see if the snow was sticking. (BTW – if you have not gathered, I am not normal.) At least in midtown, there was no accumulation on the streets or sidewalks. I held out hope on the way home as the sleet eased up considerably. That hope was dashed as I drew closer and closer to the park. The temps were pleasant (for winter) at 38*, but the streets were a mess. Slush, puddles, more slush, more puddles. At no point did I feel “hardcore” or anything like that during the run. My mood brightened when I connected with the team, but until then, I was more pissed off that the snow/sleet dared interfere with MY workout. Rational or not, that’s exactly how I felt. Continue Reading

After nearly 2.5 years of happy marriage, I am breaking up with my training log at Runner’s World. You can attribute the split to the famous George Costanza bit, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Two events have brought about divorce. Continue Reading

The Armory was closed last night for a high school track meet.  How dare young whippersnappers interfere with my favorite workout of the week.  Therefore, our normal Tuesday night intervals would move outdoors to Central Park.  All things considered, given the winter that we have experienced in Gotham, the conditions could have been much, much worse for late February.  Still, they were not conducive to optimal speed work.  As a result, Coach switched up the program from intervals to fartleks.  Ok.  When you combine the fact that I have never done a fartlek workout before, with my fledgling confidence (except indoors) with the club and the weather conditions, last night had the makings of a tough evening.  Nonetheless, it did not matter.  I am never passing on the opportunity to run with these guys, ever.  Also, the weather could be crappy on race day, so … suck it up and run Continue Reading

Unlike Saturday’s mini-LR, I definitely earned a recovery run based on the effort expended on Sunday.  After hills plus a hard last mile, I felt sufficiently worked and looked forward to this morning’s easy run.  It’s been a couple of weeks since I have done a pre-dawn run (last week was President’s day and I ran later in the morning).  Guess what?  I don’t anticipate any more pre-dawn runs.  Not that I won’t be waiting up at 5:45 am every Monday.  Rather, by the time I hustle out the door at 6:15am, daybreak has already occurred!  No more dark for the first 40-50 minutes of a run.  Spring is coming!!!! Continue Reading

First, thank you all for the words of encouragement regarding yesterday’s lackluster mini-LR.  Like I said, I never really considered the effect a hectic travel day might have on a run the next day.  I guess I’m just so used to the tunnel vision of “you wake up and run, no excuses” and ignored the possibility that a 12-miler might be challenging under those conditions. Continue Reading

I can’t really call the effects of a day trip to the Midwest “jet lag” but the following itinerary would seemingly have some negative impact on a planned mini-long run the next day: (1) 4:35am wake up preceded by less than 4 hours of very poor sleep, (2) jumping on a 6:10am flight, (3) back-to-back-to-back meetings, and (4) hopping back on a return flight. Continue Reading

So I finally did it. I took the plunge on a Garmin Forerunner 405 (the one that resembles a watch and not at car battery on your wrist ).  I have been noodling on this idea for at least 6 months. My reasons for hemming and hawing are varied: price, actual vs. perceived benefit, following the lemmings/cool kids, would it fundamentally advance my running, etc. Continue Reading