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Running, running, running

Yesterday was a big running day. I ran about 17.5 miles in the morning and went back out in the evening for another ten. Both runs went really well. For the morning run, I went up to Central Park. The New York Road Runners had a half marathon in the Park yesterday morning, so I decided to get up there an take advantage of their mile markers (to confirm my pace) and a little of their water (mostly to pour on my head to help cool off). I had thought about signing up for the race, but against it because I was worried that if I was in the “race” I would have a hard time not pushing it, which I didn’t want to risk given the amount of running I had to do yesterday. I ran up to the Park and once there, did one loop against the race traffic. After that (about 10 miles in), I finished the run on the bridle path and around the Reservoir. I finished my run at a gym on the Upper East Side and jumped into their cold plunge. Or, more correctly, I gingerly tried to get into the cold plunge. I’d like to say it felt good on my joints to get into the icy 40 degree water, but it really didn’t. I know it’s good for me though, so I tried. After getting home, I spent the afternoon hanging out with Charlie and Elizabeth, watching college football, taking a nap and eating a lot of food! Around 6PM, I got dressed again and headed out for my second run.

To mix it up a little, I ran downtown and across the Brooklyn Bridge and a mile or two into Cobble Hill. During my run across the Bridge on my way to Brooklyn, I had one of those “I love New York” moments. The sun was setting, the sky was totally clear and looking south, I had a stunning view of downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the East River, the New York Bay and the Statue of Liberty standing guard over it all. A little farther across the bridge, I looked back and in the distance could see a bright-red-glowing sun about half-way down. It was really beautiful. My legs were feeling great and I was running pretty comfortably. About 35 minutes into my run, though, I started feeling really hungry and thirsty. For my long runs, I’ve been wearing my fuel belt and been very careful about getting enough fluids and calories. For last night’s run, I didn’t even really think too much about it. I brought a gel and figured that if I needed it, I would buy a bottle of water; it was just a 10 mile run… I guess that I underestimated both how far 10 miles actually is (even if it’s not far compared to the 17 I ran in the morning) and how much of a toll the morning run took on my hydration and glycogen/calorie levels. So I stopped to buy a bottle of water and a Powerbar; a huge bite of the Powerbar and a few gulps of water and I started feeling good enough to get myself back home. I ran back across the Brooklyn Bridge and ran across to the West Side before heading north and back home.

The rest of last week was relatively uneventful. I got all of my scheduled training in and even added a yoga class. I found a great class on Monday evenings that I’m going to try to get to most weeks. Last week was my third or fourth time taking the class. It’s a very, very basic yoga class; one that I probably wouldn’t have liked a couple years ago when I was doing yoga more often. These days, though, it’s perfect. It’s slow-paced, doesn’t involve any “difficult” positions and the instructor is really good about walking around and helping people get into the proper position. For me, it’s much more like an hour of stretching than anything else. Hopefully I’ll make it back there tomorrow.

I found out this week that I’ll have an extra support crew member for the JFK 50. Assaf told me this week that he’s going to come and provide moral support and some pacing help during the middle of the race. He and his family moved out to LA in June, but they’re going to be in DC that weekend. I was pretty psyched to hear that news. As I’ve written in here more than a few times, he’s a great runner and ran with me in both of my New York City Triathlons and my New York Marathon. The JFK 50 was his first ultra last year. He had a great race – he ended up 40th overall, with a time of 7:28. Even though I’ll be lucky to come in within a couple hours of his time, it will be nice to have him out there with me on November 17.

One of my non-training – but training-relate – goals this week is to find a pair of trail running shoes. I’ve asked a few people if I should wear trail shoes at the JFK 50 and surprisingly, everyone told me that they’re really not necessary for this race. The reason is that while the first 16-or-so miles are on pretty rough trails, the rest of the race is on unpaved dirt roads and paved country roads. I’m really comfortable in my trainers and I’m hearing that the only reason that I might want to run in trail shoes would be if it’s wet and/or snowy that morning. If it is, I’ll plan on running that first portion in trail shoes and then swap out shoes and finish it off in my trainers. So, I want to be prepared for that contingency. I’d like to get some trail shoes this week and test them out next weekend on trails in Westchester or across the George Washington Bridge in the Palisades. Also, I’ve really enjoyed the trail running that I’ve done the last few weekends, so if I get trail shoes I’ll try to use them over the winter, in East Hampton, if no where else. I went to Jackrabbit and tried on these today:

The Brooks Cascadia 2 might not be the best looking shoes in the world, but they come pretty highly recommended! Jackrabbit didn’t have them in the right size today, but they’re getting some transferred from the Brooklyn store, so I can hopefully go try on the right size mid-week.

Less than six weeks to the JFK now.

Bike – October 1
Time: 1:00
Average heart rate: 122
Indoor ride

Run – October 1
Distance: 3.2 miles
Time: 27:30
Average heart rate: 143
Course: West Village
Conditions: Partly sunny, cooler

Yoga – October 1

Swim – October 2
Distance: 3,100 yards
Time: 1:00

Run – October 3
Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 25 minutes
Average heart rate: HR monitor in the shop
Treadmill run

Strength/Core – October 3

Run – October 4
Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 25:00
Average heart rate: HR monitor in the shop
Course: West Village
Conditions: Partly sunny, cooler

Bike – October 4
Time: 1:00
Average heart rate: HR monitor in the shop
Indoor ride

Runs – October 6
Run #1:
Distance: 17.5 miles
Time: 2:20
Average heart rate: HR monitor in the shop
Course: West Side Highway to Central Park, around the Park
Conditions: Hot (low 80’s) and sunny

Run #2:
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:25
Average heart rate: HR monitor in the shop
Course: Across Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, Soho, West Village
Conditions: Even run, still warm (high 70’s)

Run – October 7
Distance: 3.2 miles
Time: 25:00
Average heart rate: HR monitor in the shop
Course: West Village
Conditions: Sunny, warm