Entries from March, 2010

The Streak is over.  Huh?  More specifically, the consecutive days blogging streak is over.  I’m too lazy to count the actual number of number of days, but I’ve had something to share, for better or worse, every day since I launched in August 2009.  It’s not like I did not have anything to share yesterday.  Rather, I simply ran out of time … got home late after a workout.  Anyway, I never intended to start or continue any kind of blogging streak.  It just happened. Continue Reading

I originally planned today as a rest day (following yesterday’s 13) and to run again on Monday.  When I looked ahead at the week’s forecast, I called an audible at the last minute.  Rain is expected from late Sunday until Wednesday night.  Ah, yes … Springtime in NYC.  Since I have no desire to work particularly hard next week, I decided to run today.  Tuesday will be indoors (I think) and hopefully, Thursday is clear again. Continue Reading

Running is the kind of sport where you can progress over long periods of time and see great results, which reinforce that you are on the right track.  Then you have a subpar run and shivers of panic rifle through your mind.  What’s wrong?  What did I do differently?  What kind of impact is this going to have on me?  How do I fix this?  Etc.  Or at least that’s how my feeble mind works.  On the neurotic scale of 1-10 with 10 being a sneeze away from Bellevue, I’m probably an 8 or 9.  I tend to be a worrier, paranoid, whatever you want to call it.  If you have been a long time reader of this blog, this is no revelation.  I’m the guy if good luck comes my way, I am already looking around the corner for the bad luck to even it out.  Not great, but I do deal with it without the aid of pharmaceuticals or meaningful levels of booze. Continue Reading

Thanks for all of the encouragement/reinforcement about last night.  I feel good about my decision to go into early taper mode.  Even walking home last night I felt a sense of relief that I recognized an issue and put the ego aside to address it.  I woke up this morning feeling slightly better than yesterday at sunrise.  Hopefully, a full day off today will help recharge the batteries.  Tomorrow I’m planning a long run of 12-13, but will certainly dial it down on pace – 9:00-9:15 per/mile minimum and will make a decision on mileage based on how I’m feeling at the time.  I promised myself if I start feeling the urge to jack it up to stop, regroup and regain the long slow distance pace. Continue Reading

Ian who is a heck of an athlete, offers terrific advice and is truly a British gentleman recently complimented me by saying that “when the minor niggles come, which they always do, you take some action. Brilliant.”  Well after tonight, he will put me up for a Nobel Prize.  No injury or anything, but I tonight surveyed how I was feeling and took immediate and decisive action. Continue Reading

Before I get into the meat of the workout, I’m happy to report that my budget remedies (rolling-pin, ice)  for my quad seem to have worked.  Granted, I was on a softer surface last night, but it felt 100% normal.  Today is a rest day, so I am hoping the rest is doing the trick. Continue Reading

I’m not sure what I expected when the alarm went off at 6am this morning.  Subconsciously, I must have assumed that the stunning weather we experienced over the weekend would just continue.  I probably should have checked the forecast.  Not that the result would have changed the plan or anything.  I was a bit bummed when I was greeted with darkness until nearly 7am (well into the run).  Then reality finally hit me.  Today (and much of the week) is expected to be overcast with a chance of rain.  This morning it was foggy (dreary) for most of my run with a few droplets following me inside when I finished up.  Enough with the weather report … Continue Reading

As promised, my camera failed in my attempts at snapping pictures at the NYC Half Marathon this morning.  I added a link to the race below.  So many teammates put in work that I can’t go into detail.  Larry who is a frequent contributor to this blog, banged out a PR as well as a goal with a 1:41:18!!  It was a terrific showing by CPTC all around … incredible PRs including a jaw dropping performance by Carl Dambkowski of 1:09:44.  To put that into perspective, the woman’s winner, Mara Yamauchi, clocked in at 1:09:25.  The men’s winner was Peter Kamais of Kenya at 59:52.  For Carl (or any other human) to be inside of 20 seconds of an elite/world-class man or woman is insane.  Racers had great weather to support the effort … 54*, sunny with a slight breeze. Continue Reading