Random thoughts about my runs and anything else that comes to mind.
So there are two major things going on in my life right now, and running is taking a back-seat to that. I expect my weeks to be mostly fake-zeros with a weekend long run until things settle down.
... and that includes blogging. I finally sat down, went through my log, and got caught up with six weeks worth of logs. Two ultras occurred in theses six weeks, and reports for both of them are in draft.
Still slacking off with a lunchtime SPAGR (Shortest Possible Atkins Glen Route) with Ami. 2.56 in 30:42. We walked from the end of Atkins back to the office.
1 mile at the track again. Under 9 minutes if that's any consolation.
Friday April 25
Early lunch 1.2 miles in 10:40, before leaving to drive to Worcester and back.
Saturday April 26
I was supposed to run a marathon today, but the drive to Worcester and back got my home at 1am and then I had to wake up at 5:30 to finish the job that I was doing. I wrapped up at about 8am but by then there was no way I was driving down to South Mountain Reservation for a late start. Very tired all day. My run was in the afternoon, and I tested out a short loop around the block by the house we're in the process of buying. I was hoping that it'd be long enough to count for a streak-fake-zero run but it's about a quarter-mile short. There's a longer loop with a decent hill that will definitely count though.
My new place is on Blue Ridge Lane. Adding in the Lydia Lane part, This run was 1.16 miles in 9:52.
Sunday April 27
Since I missed the marathon, I drove up to Connecticut to catch the 6:30am start at the 40th annual Lake Waramaug 50K. I finished in 5:30, enough for a 77-minute PR. More details at my race report, coming soon.
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| At Lake Waramaug on my way to a 50K PR |
Monday April 28
Damaged goods! Pretty sore this morning after my hardest effort in quite some time yesterday. Ran a mile at lunchtime in about 11 minutes with Ami, who did awesome at the NJ Marathon yesterday with a 4:12 result. We both credit the long runs we did together for our mutually awesome results: 12, 12, 15, 15, 18, 18, 21, 12 in February and March.
Tuesday April 29
Suffern fake zero. Ran "around the block" one last time, 1.12 in 10:42 (9:34).
Wednesday April 30
1.2 miles in 9:42 (8:05) on the treadmill. I bought a house today!!
(And because I bought a house today, I ran a lot of fake zeros for a few weeks. Things have been pretty busy.)
April Total: 129.2 miles in 22:22, 10:24 per mile.
Thursday May 1
4+ laps at the track (1.08 miles) in 9:51.
Friday May 2
Ran the loop around my new neighborhood for the first time, and, as expected, I came up a tad short - so I ran up and down my dead-end street a couple of times. 1.1 miles in 9:57 (9:04.)
Saturday May 3
Four laps at the Mahwah HS track, with a lead and a tail, totalling 1.15 miles in 10:31 (9:10).
Sunday May 4
Four laps at the Indian Hills HS track in 10:01.
Monday May 5
SPAGR (2.59 miles) in 27:17 (10:33). Probably with Ami.
Tuesday May 6
Joey had a lacrosse game at North Rockland High School, so I ran around there for a bit. 1.77 in 16:29 (9:20).
Wednesday May 7
Atkins Glen Run, not a SPAGR but close. Showing it to some coworkers who were unfamiliar with Atkins. 2.88 miles in 36:12 (12:35).
Thursday May 8
Was going to run a single mile with Ami, but we added a bit at the end to make it 1.62 miles in 14:48 (9:09).
Friday May 9
Did the full loop "around the block" at my new house for the first time, which turns out to be 1.41 miles with 150+ feet of gain. I'm not sure I believe the 150 feet number but there is a good hill in it. Did this in 13:08 (9:20).
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| My new neighborhood fake zero loop, including elevation profile. Click for larger view. |
Saturday May 10
Out on Long Island this morning. Had a few minutes to spare in the morning, and it was quickly getting hot out - so I ran around a park once. 1.38 miles in 12:53 (9:21).
Sunday May 11
Quick out-and-back (With Alex and Joe doing their own O&B) on a sunny afternoon at Rockland Lake. 1.78 miles in 14:30 (8:10).
Monday May 12
Checking out the gym at my townhome complex, I ran for ten minutes on the treadmill in the evening. 1.18 miles (8:29). These treadmills weren't great quality, but are still nice just in case. They'll be a last resort option in the future.
Tuesday May 13
Social run with the lifetime group. 3.68 miles nice and easy, in 42:05 (11:27).
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| Social Run fun |
Wednesday May 14
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| Reverse Single Loop at the Fairgrounds! |
It's 3-Days-At-The-Fair weekend! Ran a loop at the NJ state fairgrounds on Wednesday - backwards! I don't think I've ever run this loop backwards before (I've run it forwards over 550 times.) 1.06 miles in 9:24 (8:53).
Thursday May 15 - Sunday May 18
Details about my race at Three Days at the Fair will be in my report, currently in draft. For this post's purposes, my daily mileage was: May 15 (9am-midnight), 51 miles; May 16 (midnight-midnight), 49 miles; May 17 (midnight-midnight), 52 miles; May 18 (midnight-9am), 4 miles. 156 miles total in 72 hours (PR) (27:42 per mile, including sleep and other downtime).
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| Three Days, Day 3. Post-100 mile Steve. |
Monday May 19
Corporate loop with Ami. 2.34 miles in 29:35 (12:39). Walked about the last mile of this.
Tuesday May 20
A variation of my local neighborhood loop, which is flatter and closer to exactly one mile, but involves running on the major roads so I'm not crazy about it. 1.05 miles in 10:05 (9:35).
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| Home loop fake zero variation. I prefer the longer hillier option. |
Wednesday May 21
Happy birthday to me!
Quick run around the field at Joey's lacrosse game. 1.09 miles in 10:33 (9:42).
Thursday May 22
Easy run down Alberon and up Leach with Ami. Walked the last mile. 3 miles in 34:20 (11:27).
Friday May 23
Normal around the block loop at my house. 1.41 miles in 12:34 (8:56) - which is fast considering I'm still recovering from the big weekend.
Saturday May 24
Saturday morning run with lifetime group. Hung in the back with a woman who was almost dropped. She was wearing headphones so we didn't talk but I don't like seeing people running alone. When I was slower, people were always generous enough to run with me far below their ability and this is how I pay it forward. But the sad thing is we weren't that slow. 5.23 miles in 53:13 (10:11) - but even at this very respectable pace, she was getting dropped.
Sunday May 25
Figuring we should probably start pretending we're distance runners again, Ami and I met at Rockland Lake for a longish run. I was hoping for 12 miles but I felt pretty crappy and was ready to bag it for 9. We compromised and ran a half-mile longer third loop for 9:55 miles in 1:42 (10:43).
Monday May 26
Normal hill fake zero loop at my house. 1.41 in 13:19 (9:32).
Tuesday May 27
Normal hill fake zero loop at my house. 1.41 miles in 13:16 (9:26).
Wednesday May 28
Hertz fake zero loop with Ami. 1.08 miles in 11:57 (11:04). We were both kind of hurting.
Thursday May 29
Did a weight workout today. Ran from Hertz to my gym (via a round-about way) to get a mile in - actually 1.14 miles in 10:17 (9:02). After my weights workout I ran back directly - 0.4 miles in 3:33 (8:55).
Friday May 30
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| Run to Ramapo Res |
Today I thought I'd try something different. Sick of my daily fake zeros, I've been considering what it'd be like to run from my new house in Mahwah NJ to Ramapo Reservation (one of my favorite running spots, 6 miles from where I used to live in Suffern NY), do something on the trails there, and then run home. It turns out that the parking lot at Ramapo Res is 2 1/3 miles from my front door - nice! But with a couple of dangerous roads on the way - bummer. (If any Mahwah township planners come across this, Darlington Road could really use a sidewalk, especially under 287 where there's a blind curve for cars.) Anyway, I ran to the reservation, and then the short hill (it's about a mile long) to the dam at MacMillan Reservoir. Then on the way back I cut through the Polo Grounds neighborhood and returned via 202 and then up Ridge Road (which turned out to be longer than my to-route.) Had some foot pain towards the end and walked the last mile+, but it still was a solid run for me where I ran 7.93 miles in 1:24:42 (10:41).
Saturday May 31
On my Friday run I felt a little twinge in my right hip - the kind of twinge every runner feels almost every day and ignores. On Saturday morning at 2am that hip woke me up and the pain was enough to keep me awake for a couple of hours until Advil helped me back to sleep. This kind of thing worries me. I woke up limping - actually spent most of the day limping. And my run that day - that was also limping. I went to a track and hacked out four laps during Joey's Lacrosse game. My 400-meter splits were 3:18, 3:06, 3:06, and 3:00 - giving me a net distance of 1.01 miles in 12:39 (12:40). It hurt like hell and I sat down unhappy.
May totals: 217.8 miles in 82:39 (22:47 per mile.) 156 out of 217 miles, and 72 out of 82 hours, were at a single race.
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| doh. |
Sunday June 1
Went to the gym. Ran on the treadmill. 1.19 miles in 10:00 (8:25). Then I went swimming. My hip - not 100% but a lot better. What was that all about?
Monday June 2
Ran with some different people than normal today. Found a potential new running partner in Christina. She is tough and can definitely hang. Would love to run with her more, because I think that when trained she'll bury me no problem. 3.29 miles in 34:20 (10:27). And the hip? 99%.
Tuesday June 3
It was hot and shitty outside all day, and with a thunderstorm forecast I decided it was high time to do a solid tempo run on the treadmill. 7.31 miles in 1 hour (8:13).
