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August 31, 2005
Fall weather, please come back!
I sound like a broken record, but I'm so sick of this humidity! Since I was running on tired legs this morning, once I realized how heavy the air was, I knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant run. Plus, I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat. It hasn't gotten worse throughout the day though, so I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a full-blown cold.
Anyway, Alison and I met at our midpoint meeting spot this morning and I was already sweating bullets after less than 10 minutes of running. Always a good sign. I was glad to have her company though, and it helped keep my mind off how bad I was feeling. But I was feeling pretty bad, both in terms of having heavy legs and just feeling dehydrated and tired from the humidity. We ran a loop that included one lap around Fresh Pond and ended up back at my place instead of the midpoint because I was done for the day. I came upstairs, did my situps and just lay on a towel on the floor until I felt like I could move again. My right ear was completely blocked, which happens from humidity, but usually not on non-long runs. It stayed that way for hours and I just never felt that great otherwise until later in the day. I don't know why it took me so long to recover from a run that wasn't that long, but I'm assuming it is the combination of the workout last night and the humidity this morning.
In the afternoon, I went shopping for about an hour to buy a couple of birthday presents for Matt and pick up some other household things that were on my list. Then I went to the gym and lifted. You can tell the MIT students are returning because the gym has been more crowded and they are all hugging and asking each other how their summers were. I felt better while lifting than I did earlier in the day after my run, but I didn't do a very long set.
Tonight I had an interview with an elite runner who will be running the (Continental Airlines) Fifth Avenue Mile in NYC in a couple of weeks. We decided to meet in person since she lives in the area, so that was cool. I had spoken to her on the phone but never met her face to face, so it was neat. She's super-sweet and so modest about her running ability! Then, I met a friend from school for a quick dinner at Whole Foods. It's nice to be back hanging out with school friends. My third activity of the night was another interview, this time a couple who have run more than 100 marathons together! They are three-year veterans of the NYRRF charity team and are great spokespeople for the organization. They rock!
I just turned on the US Open and they were replaying the Andy Roddick match from last night, which probably means there was a rain delay. That's a sign that I should be more productive tonight instead of watching TV!
Posted by becky at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2005
Love that new track surface
This morning Alison and I figured out a meeting spot that is about equidistant from both of our apartments. I guessed where it would be by looking at the map and I was honestly shocked that I was pretty much correct about it! I'm not usually good at those things. Anyway, I was only running about 4 miles since I was going to the track workout tonight, but it was great to have company for that! Our run wasn't very scenic, since it was so short, but I showed Alison where my apartment is and we might even be able to figure out a more direct route between our places. I have an idea, but it involves a large hill. Hmm.
I had a quiet day, mostly at home, while Matt was orienting first year students at some adventure/Outward Bound type place in the 'burbs. I got the car inspected, and it passed, which made me very relieved. I also watched some of the early rounds of the U.S. Open, some of which were surprisingly exciting. I always feel bad for the big sweaters during the Open since the weather tends to be so humid.
Finally it was time for my return to my old club's workout at Tufts. I jogged up to the track and it was nice to see some old friends, but no one from my indoor crew was able to make it tonight. There were only a handful of people there tonight, which is much different than what I'm used to from the Central Park Track Club's workouts I went to this summer. And most people were doing an "alternate" workout because there are a lot of races this weekend, so I was one of the only ones doing the longer workout, which was 400,800, 1,200, 1,200, 800, 400. Everyone else was doing a bunch of 400s, so I had company for my first 400. I was surprised because it felt pretty easy and it was a few seconds faster than what I had been doing in NYC. I quickly realized that this was probably due to the fact that the NYC track is crappy and it has a big bump on the backstretch! The Tufts track was just resurfaced last year. So nice...
Since I was on my own for most of the intervals, my biggest challenge was staying on pace. It was hard for the longer ones, but I did fairly well. On the last quarter, I stuck with a woman who I never was able to hang with in the winter and felt very smooth running my fastest time of the workout. The jog home wasn't too speedy, but I was glad with how the whole thing went.
OK, time for more Six Feet Under!
Posted by becky at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2005
Low-key Monday
It was very humid today when I was running, and we all know how much I love that. At this point, I know that relief is at least in sight, if not around the corner, whereas a humid day in April or May totally throws me for a loop :) Still, I felt the effects of my long run today more than yesterday. It was one of those days where I felt like time was crawling by and I just never felt comfortable. I ended up running about a mile or two less than intended because I just felt crappy. I did a loop that I used to do a lot on Mondays last year; it goes around Fresh Pond but on the streets, not the path that circles the reservoir.
That's all I'll say about my run because it was just pretty blah. But so long as nothing hurt, I'm happy. (I have noticed that as I've increased my mileage over the past weeks, the first few strides of a run are getting tougher as I'm pretty stiff and a little sore.)
I spent a few hours today doing some Foundation work and have to finish it up tonight. I meant to get the car inspected (it is up at the end of the month) but I totally forgot. I did remember to take a nap! (I only have so many days of freedom left so I feel like I should take advantage.) I met Matt at the gym in the late afternoon so that we could renew my membership (both of us had to be there; I doubt Matt will step foot in the gym too many times after this) and then I biked and lifted. I was glad to see that they got a couple of new stationary bikes as the old ones were pretty rickety, but I had to deal with the new stupid towel policy and that put me in a bad mood. Basically you can only get one towel and to replace it for a clean one you have to go to a complete other area of the building. If you want more than one towel, you have to purchase a "towel card" for $5. It really pisses me off because I actually need more than one towel when I bike to absorb the sweat that pours off me. It's not like I'm being a baby about it; if I don't get a dry towel when I'm done biking then I can't sit on anything when I'm lifting and the benches get wet. I'm hoping I'll annoy the gym people enough by dripping all over everything that they will take pity on me. We'll see...
Tonight I joined Matt at a lobster dinner with the first year business students. The food was much better than it was at this event last year, which always makes me happy. But then we left to go back to where I had parked the car and got completely soaked by the rain. Still, I'll take rain over palpable humidity any day!
Posted by becky at 8:45 PM | Comments (1)
August 28, 2005
As windy as I remembered
I definitely was tired this morning, and my knees were a little achy, but nothing out of the ordinary for the day after a long run. Neither Matt nor I slept all that well, so I got out a little later than I wanted this morning and it was pretty hot and humid by that time. First I had trouble falling asleep because I had napped kind of late in the day yesterday, and then Matt woke me up at about 2am because I was whimpering from a nightmare. I also woke up one other time before the morning, too. Weird.
Anyway, I ran to the Charles and of course it was windy over there. I never noticed much wind running by the Hudson this summer--I guess Boston is windier? I don't mind it in the summer, though, it actually cooled me down some today. I also noticed that there is construction going on near the Esplanade path on the Boston side of the river near the hospitals. You can no longer run on the part of the path that goes right next to the water. They are building some ballfields or something and now you are forced on to the ugly part of the path that parallels Storrow Drive, one of the busiest roads in Boston. Now that I know, I probably will avoid that section of the Esplanade!
Matt and I finally got working on putting our wedding pictures in the new album we purchased just before we left New York. We were looking for something that perfectly suited our picky specifications, and we finally found one that came close. We've done about a third of the pictures and have vowed (good word choice) to finish tonight and reward ourselves with Six Feet Under (we didn't have HBO this summer so we missed the final season and are catching up with HBO On Demand.)
I lifted a bit in the late afternoon today, but I just felt kind of blah and low on energy. I tried to eat a good lunch but I should have had more of a snack before I left to go to the gym. I usually eat an energy bar or something while I'm lifting, but I forgot to bring one. My fault!
I can't believe there are only 3 days left in August. Where did the summer go? (Yay!)
Posted by becky at 7:27 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2005
Solo long run improved by technology
I'm sure that in the pre-Google days, runners planning long runs did just fine using paper maps. But as many of us have found, it's nice to know exactly where you are going (and how far) using the Gmaps Pedometer. Most of my long runs last winter and spring training for Boston were done on the marathon course, so I'm less familiar with the mileage starting from my place. Mary wasn't able to run with me this morning (she has a tri tomorrow) so I was on my own for my long run, something I (fortunately) haven't had to do by myself in weeks. I used the pedometer to figure out a 21ish mile route and almost made it without taking any wrong turns. (I missed a road I was supposed to go out and back on and didn't feel motivated to retrace my steps up a big hill, so I ended up with about 19 miles instead of my planned 21.)
I didn't run anywhere I hadn't before, I just put the pieces together differently. I even went by my grandparents' house about 5 miles into it. (I should plan a Gatorade/bathroom stop there in the future.) I also went around the Mystic Lakes one and a half times, and I had forgotten how nice and quiet and pretty it is over there--I will have to incorporate that now that I'm doing some longer morning runs. I got started fairly early and didn't have too much trouble with the heat, which was great. I was a little concerned that I was going slowly without anyone to pace with, but I think the point was to get the miles in today. I stopped at CVS at about halfway through the run to refill Gatorade (just because I wasn't dying in the heat doesn't mean I didn't drink two bottles by that time) and the cashier looked like she had never seen anyone sweating before. I felt like telling her this was a light sweating day for me!
I definitely missed having conversations on the run, but having my iPod (first long run with it) helped immensely. I thought I would get sick of it, which happens sometimes, but today I didn't. I was glad to have something to take my mind off how many miles were left.
Matt had an all-day training for his role as an orientation leader today, so I did a lot of errands and things I've been meaning to do around here. I briefly thought about lifting, but I decided I had done enough today and watched a movie instead. I hardly ever watch movies during the day for some reason, but there was something I had wanted to see for a couple of years on and it was worth watching although it was incredibly sad. (My Life Without Me, about a woman who finds out she has two months to live and tries to accomplish a list of 10 things before she dies.)
No big plans for us tonight, which is just fine with me!
Posted by becky at 9:16 PM | Comments (1)
August 26, 2005
Old Friday loop revisited
This morning, Mary wasn't working but had to be up on the early side to go somewhere, so the timing worked well for us to run together. It was a nice reunion! We hadn't seen each other since the end of June when we ran in Tuxedo Park together. I ran up to her house (5 minutes) and then we did one of my old standby, shorter Somerville/Medford loops. My IT band was pretty sore (probably from sitting in the car) but other than that I felt okay. We chatted the whole time and had fun.
I was wearing my usual summer running uniform of shorts and a sports bra, and to my shock and delight, I was a little chilly when I started out. So exciting! It is supposed to be more late-August like in the coming week, so I'll take what I can get.
Later in the day, I met with the MIT cross-country coaches to discuss the possibility of me volunteering some time to coach this year, or at least help out in some capacity. The program is undergoing a lot of (coaching and other) changes, so we're not sure if it will work out, but I hope it does.
After that meeting, I swam for just a bit to re-acquaint myself with my old pool. I was flailing along in there, but it felt good to be back in the water. I need to start slowly though so I don't drown! :) I also found out about a new Nazi-like one towel rule at the MIT gym, which obviously is not suited to my needs and which I will complain in full about at a later date. Got to go watch a show with Matt!
Posted by becky at 9:52 PM | Comments (1)
August 25, 2005
Back to Boston, slowly
Well, we sure didn't have the smoothest trip up to Boston today, but it was mostly because of traffic and other little annoyances, not because of anything major. But I like to be chronological, so I will start at the beginning of my day. I had been looking forward to my run this morning because T. was finally back from Martha's Vineyard just in time for one final run together! We did a longish one, two loops of Prospect Park, and caught each other up on our last couple of weeks. My legs felt a little heavy, but the weather was excellent ("humidity creeps back up this weekend," says the weatherman) and as usual, having company helped a ton. T. has been battling some nagging injuries but held up well today and hopefully he can get back on track with his ING NYCM training.
Matt had a mid-morning meeting in midtown today and we planned to pack up the car when he got back. We did a great job bringing the bags down to the lobby (I knew all my lifting would pay off sometime!) and then I went to get the car. Of course, I get to the car and a cable truck is triple parked right next to it! The truck had a ticket on it, too, meaning he had probably been there awhile. No one on the street seemed to know which apartment building the cable guy was in, so I went back to our building to find Matt and he called Time Warner to try and get them to send a message to their guy. Not surprisingly, that didn't work all that well so Matt just sat in the car and honked until the cable guy finally came out!
Anyway, that set us back a bit and then we had lots of trouble fitting everything in to the car. Neither one of us (especially me) is a light packer, and we brought WAY too much stuff for the summer. We did eventually fit it all in, but I had to hold some things with me in the front seat.
Before we could go to Boston, we had to go to my parents' house to pick up my bike and some other things we had there. We hit a ton of traffic on the way to their house and didn't end up leaving there until about 4. Then, Matt decided to take I-84 to avoid the usually heavy traffic on I-95 and we ran into a huge jam. Still, we made good time once we got on the Mass Pike and pulled in around 8.
We've done most of our unpacking but I hope to get things more in order tomorrow. I must go to sleep though as I am meeting Mary early for a run, hooray!
Posted by becky at 11:17 PM | Comments (1)
August 24, 2005
Busy and productive
Neither Matt nor I slept all that well last night because I accidentally turned off the air conditioner right before we went to bed (I thought I was increasing the fan speed, in fact.) We both woke up sweating and thirsty and were tossing and turning a bit for a while after that. I had intended to try and run at around 7 so I would have more time to pack up, but I couldn't get out of bed that early. Luckily, it was still cool enough out that my extra hour of sleep wasn't such a bad thing.
My legs weren't as tired as I expected after a fairly hard track workout last night, but my side stitch was still around. I stopped to stretch my stomach and side muscles (not easily done) but the only thing that seemed to help was going UP hills. I'm sure I must have tweaked a stomach muscle the other day. So strange! I was also SUPER thirsty today, maybe from being so hot during the night. I wasn't particularly hot since the weather was so nice, but I couldn't get enough of my Gatorade (and then I had to buy another one for the last couple of miles!) I did about half of Prospect Park today but I approached the Park so that I would hit a lot of hills, just to change it up (and be nice to my side stitch.) I ended up enjoying the second half of the run a lot more than the first half, which is good because it allows me to finish happy!
I spent the rest of the morning packing and then I took the train up to Westchester to meet my mom for a hair cut (separate cuts by the same woman.) I haven't had my hair cut in many moons because it's so expensive and I don't ever do anything more than cut a couple of inches. But the place where we went is affordable and this woman gives fantastic hair cuts. I wear my hair up 99% of the time, but she gave me some advice on how to leave it down but prevent it from getting frizzy.
One of the reasons I went up to Westchester today was so that I could drive our car back to Brooklyn so we can pack it up tomorrow morning. My mom was nice enough to drive me over to Matt's mom's house where the car is parked, and then I drove it back to NYC (with a quick lifting stop at the NYSC closest to the highway I needed to get on!) I made it back without hitting TOO much traffic but it was definitely a long ride.
Tonight Matt, my sister and I met our cousin for dinner. She just moved to Brooklyn last week to start grad school in art therapy at Pratt. I honestly haven't seen her much over the past few years but she is really cool and we had a great time! Hopefully she and my sister will get a chance to get together this year. If all else fails, she can come watch me in the marathon in November!
Posted by becky at 10:19 PM | Comments (1)
August 23, 2005
Good workout on sore legs
It was cool and breezy when I left for my morning run today--how lovely. I definitely felt less sore and fatigued than yesterday, but I still had my side stitch and I was very thirsty considering the cooler weather. (I brought my Gatorade, of course, so it wasn't a big deal.) It's certainly nice to be able to stretch outside for a few minutes after running and not feel like I'm stifling in the humidity.
Matt and I were both around today, so we made a dent in our packing. I also did some Foundation work and my sister and I got yummy salads from a place near her school in downtown Brooklyn. I'm not really a salad person but this place has really good ingredients to choose from and they mix everything together. It only takes mandarin oranges and cranberries to make me happy!
I got to the track about 10 minutes earlier than usual today for no apparent reason (maybe I made more lights on my walk?) and chatted with some of the guys I've met doing workouts this summer. This one older guy was so cute--he gave me a kiss on the cheek and said he hopes I end up in NYC! So sweet.
There were a lot of people at the workout today because it was so nice out--cool and fall-like, for once. We were doing 6x800, which I prefer over the shorter stuff. On the first one, my group was going so slow that I decided to just bust out and set the pace. I ended up way in front for the whole interval, and ironically, that was my slowest one! I guess people were just starting out slowly. After that, other people in the group took turns leading and we pretty much got 1-2 seconds faster on each one. On the last one, we had to go out into lane 5 to dodge a team of rugby players, so I think our final time would have been even faster.
I was happy with the times I hit, although my side stitch bothered me almost the whole time. Maybe I pulled a muscle. Whatever I did, I hope it goes away soon. My mouth was also super-dry during the 800s, which doesn't usually happen to me. I drank a sip of water whenever I could, but nothing seemed to help. Despite these things, it was a good note to end on for my summer with Central Park Track Club.
Time to watch one last episode of Real World with my sister!
Posted by becky at 9:41 PM | Comments (2)
August 22, 2005
Better weather but not better me
This is going to be short (and maybe sweet) because I did not enjoy my run much today and don't want to think about it, plus I have to get something done for work. (While I am officially "done" working for the Foundation for the summer, I have a weekly deadline to meet at least until the ING NYCM.)
Anyway, I slept very well last night, still being tired from yesterday's crappy long run. When I woke up, I could tell that I was still dehydrated because I was super thirsty and I felt like I had a side stitch, which oddly enough happens the day after I have death march-type long runs. I don't know if it's from drinking so much, or what, but it's something that I first noticed after bombing my first marathon and it still occasionally happens. My heart was also beating a little fast. So I knew my run was not going to be excellent.
I did an extension of the Lower Manhattan loop, adding some out and back along the West Side bikepath. I felt decent until I turned around to go back there and then all of a sudden I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Of course I tried to still do my whole planned loop and it wasn't good. Several walking/convincing myself I wasn't going to die/buying more Gatorade breaks later and I was finally home, feeling like I had just run an ultramarathon other than an 8 or 9 mile run.
I took another nap during the day and did start to feel a little better. I went to the gym and lifted with my sis, and then Matt and I met some friends for dinner. I still have my side cramp though and I'm worried about my ability to get through track tomorrow. It's my last NYC track workout (at least for awhile) and I'd like to be able to end on a positive note!
Posted by becky at 10:13 PM | Comments (3)
August 21, 2005
Another humid day, another crappy run
To be fair, I have had some good long runs in the past few weeks. Part of the reason for that was undoubtedly the weather. Today's weather was soupy and sunny, and I melted, big-time.
The plan for today was to meet my co-worker Michelle to do about 5 or 6 miles in the neighborhood around Rockefeller before the Team for Kids 14-mile run began. We did about 5 since we had to stop a few times to direct people coming to the run (who recognized us from their cars) to the meeting spot for the TFK run. It was definitely humid, but the sun wasn't fully out yet and I felt like I usually do in those conditions—sluggish and incredibly sweaty, but okay.
Then we got to the TFK meeting spot, stretched, etc. and realized it was past the time we were supposed to start the run (8:45ish). It is logistically difficult to organize a run for 50 people with different paces in a place none of them know well, and the schedule just went out the window. The Team members were getting antsy, the coaches were getting antsy, but the main TFK coach wouldn't start everyone until he was 100% sure that all the course marshal volunteers were in their places. I should have realized that the best thing for me to do would have been to just get going on the rest of my run, mainly because it was getting much hotter. I didn't know what the exact course was, though, and I wanted to go with everyone else. By the time we left it was 9:50—way, way too late for someone like me, who is super-sensitive to the heat and humidity, to be setting out for the rest of a hilly run.
Michelle and I stuck together for about 5 miles, but then her ultra/trail running background kicked in and she started really picking up her pace on the hilliest parts of the park. (The first 3 miles or so were in direct sunlight on the streets surrounding the park.) I was carrying two Gatorades but I could feel myself getting more and more dehydrated. Soon, TFK members who are definitely not faster than me started passing me—not just passing me, but asking if I was okay. I knew I'd make it, but it wouldn't be pretty. I bought two more Powerades or whatever they had in the machine at the Rockefeller Visitor's Center to refill my bottles, but I never started feeling better. I'm sure that part of the problem was that I needed to eat something, considering that we ended up waiting around for so long between the two portions of the run. I tried to eat a Swedish Fish I had in my carrier but it made me gag and I spit it out. (Usually I can eat anytime on the run.)
The last 3 miles of the run were a true deathmarch, complete with a few Gallo-walking/type stops during which I cursed my proclivity to melt in the heat and the humid East Coast climate in general. When I got back to my car, Michelle (who had been there for a long time by then, I'm sure) said I didn't look so hot. I had my three Becky signs of dehydration: my ears were completely blocked (don't ask), my eyes were having trouble focusing and my legs were cramping up. It wasn't anything serious; I was just upset because I had such a bad run and couldn't even enjoy the "I'm done!" feeling. I probably got in 18+ miles today and felt worse than after most of my marathons. Ugh. I hope that the weather cooperates in the next few weeks so I can get some good (or just decent) 22+ milers in.
I took a long nap today and feel somewhat better now. Matt is staying another night in Westchester but I'm headed back to the city to rent a movie with my sister. We've gotten so used to being neighbors that we are sad that we only have a few more days together and want to make the most of them!
Posted by becky at 9:23 PM | Comments (1)
August 20, 2005
Hometown hills
I'm surprised I haven't run as much in my hometown this summer as I expected to. Since we keep our car at Matt's mom's house, we seem to spend more nights there. But last night I stayed over at my parents' and had dinner with my fam including my grandma. So this morning I did my run from there--and remembered how hilly it was. All my routes around there are basically combinations of (shorter) runs we did in high school. (We did not run much more than 3 miles in high school, I don't think.)
My legs felt a tiny bit looser after my massage yesterday, but my quad hadn't completely loosened up. It was also pretty humid again this morning, although it was drizzling a bit during my run so that made it a bit more comfortable. As I mentioned yesterday, I've been doing my long runs on Sat. for so many weeks now that I'm never sure what to do when I switch it to Sun. I think I was running a little bit faster than I should have, but I felt decent (except for the sweat that I had to keep wringing out of my shorts) so I hope tomorrow's run goes okay.
I should also note that I could not find my running shoes anywhere when I was ready to leave this morning. I took great pains to ensure that I would have at least a pair at every "home" this summer, so I knew they had to be somewhere. My dad was the only one up when I was looking for them and he thought about it for a minute and mentioned that he thought he saw some sneakers in the garage. I was like, "The garage??" but yup, that's where they were, with the bikes and old gardening equipment. I guess my mom found them so offensive that she stored them in there!
This morning I came over to Matt's mom's house for her very informal wedding, and then Matt and I hung out by the pool and read (and napped, in my case.) I also lifted a bit but made the conscious decision NOT to cross train (They have an elliptical here) to keep my legs from getting too tire. I seem to have scratched my eye in some way and wearing my contacts is very painful. I hope it gets better soon. Now we are headed out to a fancy Westchester dinner to celebrate the happy couple. I'm hungry, so I'm excited. :)
Posted by becky at 6:21 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2005
Heavy legs
Today was one of those runs that totally dragged. I was looking forward to doing the Lower Manhattan loop for one of the last times before we go back to Boston, but once I got over the bridge I decided to go a little shorter than I had originally planned (probably only by a mile, but I couldn't face running over the Brooklyn Bridge a second time) and come back via Chinatown and the Manhattan Bridge. As always, Chinatown is very busy in the morning--I had to weave my way along the sidewalks dodging people unloading massive amounts of fruits, vegetables and fish from their trucks. (Some things about Manhattan I won't miss.)
My quad wasn't bothering me quite as much as it had the last couple of days, but it wasn't great, either. I used the foam roller a lot when I got back because I knew I wasn't going to bring it with me to Westchester this weekend. I also got a massage today, but unfortunately it wasn't as good as I had hoped. Matt had gotten me a gift certificate to Equinox, a ritzy, upscale gym in NYC, because he heard from a co-worker that they give good sports massages. Well, the person I went to wasn't that great. Since it was only a half-hour massage, I asked her to focus on my quad and hamstrings. I felt like she was tickling me rather than working my muscles! She told me afterward that I should have made a longer appointment so that she could have really worked my muscles. Whatever--I've had perfectly fine 30-35 minute deep tissue massages. Anyway, I was disappointed.
My usual schedule of long run on Sat. and recovery day on Sun. is getting a little screwy this weekend because Matt's mom is getting (re)married tomorrow morning. That doesn't leave a lot of time for a long run. But it's actually okay because on Sunday, the Team for Kids group is coming up to Rockefeller for their long run. Michelle and I are going to run some more miles beforehand and then join them.
I'm pooped. I'm at my parents' tonight and I always fall instantly asleep when I'm in my old bed. I can't wait!
Posted by becky at 9:09 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2005
Company in the Park
Earlier this summer, I literally ran into Tara, one of my co-workers from NYRRF, running the opposite way around Prospect Park as I was. She is a really cool girl who works part time for the Foundation but her real allegiance is to the Burlesque dance troup that she and her two sisters founded. They are actually quite popular and travel around the country touring--awesome. Despite her busy rehearsal and work schedules, Tara is also training for the Philly Marathon.
So I convinced her to run a loop of Prospect Park with me this morning. She lives very close to the park, but on the complete other side from where I enter it. Basically, I ran to the park and then halfway around the loop to meet her where she comes in. Surprisingly, I timed it quite well. I joined her for a loop (she wasn't running too far as she had dance rehearsal an hour later) and then finished my second loop of the park on my own. I ran back home through a different neighborhood than I usually do because it was only yesterday that I did that and I'm kind of tired of it.
For a longish mid-week run, it went pretty well. My left quad was still sore--mostly on the downhills--but otherwise I felt all right. Just a little tired from mileage, but I'm starting to get used to that. I was really glad to have Tara's company, even if it was for only 30 minutes or so!
I was working on an article from home today, and as soon as I started to write (shortly after returning from my run) I started to feel sleepy. I knew I'd be more productive if I gave in to the urge to nap for a little while, and it worked. I was much more productive when I woke up!
When I had just about finished what I was working on, my sister and I took a walk over to Cobble Hill to have lunch and browse in some of the new trendy shops that have sprung up there. I've run by a million times this summer but now I know that some of them are pretty cool! I was restrained though and only got one thing. I quickly lifted after that since we were right near a nice branch of NYSC and then came home and promptly fell asleep again! I think my body is trying to tell me something!
Posted by becky at 8:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2005
Wednesday slog
Actually, my run today wasn't as bad as I expected it would be, post-workout and with no company from T. like last week. It just took me a mile or so to get into it. Sometimes I have to start out super-slow and loosen up. It's actually probably a good idea to do that most of the time, since I'm prone to weird muscle sorenesss and aches.
I headed out to Prospect Park and was glad to note that it was still pretty cool (i.e. not humid) out. By the time I left for work, the sun was very warm, and I think it was almost 90 today if not over that. But the lack of humidity makes it all bearable! Anyway, when I got to the park I knew my legs (quads and hamstrings most notably) were pretty fatigued from running yesterday morning and then last night pretty hard. I decided to run only about half of the park loop to give me a little more than 7.5 miles instead of 9 (the whole loop.) I intend to run at least one full loop tomorrow, if not two, so I forced myself to make today a bit shorter than that, if only for the mental break.
After work (nothing too exciting happened there except I got a Jamba Juice smoothie) I went back to Brooklyn to go to the gym there (I was short on time so I ran 2 easy treadmill miles and biked for just a little bit) and lift. I met my sis for a quick pizza dinner afterwards and then finally got to get the Italian Ice I've been craving for days but haven't gotten around to having (half pistachio and half vanilla chip, in case you were wondering.)
Now I'm home attempting to start packing up our things. I'm also washing my running clothes using a sample of this Penguin Sport Wash detergent that someone at work was giving out for us to try and evaluate. It's supposed to get synthetic fabrics cleaner than any other regular detergent. Considering my sweat level, if it works on my clothes, I will buy a case of it!
Posted by becky at 8:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2005
Finally--temps I can deal with
It felt awesome to walk outside this morning and actually be able to breathe! I was especially surprised that the coolest day in some time came on a Tuesday, workout day. Maybe someone up there is listening to all my hot weather complaints!
We got our workout for tonight emailed to us last night and it was especially short because most of the team is preparing for the Club Championships (bragging rights for the NYC running clubs at stake.) I knew I would probably do a few more intervals than most of the others, but it would still be on the shorter side, so I did about 5 easy miles this morning. Because of the weather, I felt pretty good. I've been having some soreness in my left quad/IT area, despite working it hard with the foam roller, and that was bothering me in the morning. Oddly enough, T. is having a niggle in a similar spot, but he's attributing his to treadmill running done while in China.
After my run, I took care of some things I had to do for work, napped (I couldn't help it!) and read. I considered starting to pack up our apartment since we are leaving next week, but somehow never got around to it. My sister and I hung out a little bit in the afternoon since she's now back from vacation with my parents but not yet back in school.
Then it was time to go to track. Today while I was walking from the subway I was aware that I was going past an apartment building where two college students died from an apparent overdose this weekend (it's been in the news a lot here in New York.) When I got to the track, I warmed up with a woman who is a little bit faster than I am on intervals but has been very friendly. She spent the past few years working on her PhD in London and is new to running. She must have lots of talent!
The workout was only 8x400 at 5K pace, so I did those and then 4 more by myself. I was actually a little slower than I thought I would be given the better weather than in past weeks, but I was consistent. I didn't enjoy doing the 4 alone but was glad I did since I am not racing this weekend like the rest of the team.
That's all from me as I still have something for work to take care of...
Posted by becky at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2005
The Monday blahs
When we ran yesterday, Patrick (who accompanied me on my long run on Sat.) mentioned that his legs were sore. Apparently that soreness took an extra day to get to my legs. I'm sure sitting in the car for more than 6 hours yesterday didn't help, either. Whatever the cause, I was not feeling too peppy this morning. And despite the thunderstorms and rain that continued into the night, it was still very soupy out there (conditions have since improved.)
I did the longer version of the loop I did on Friday morning since we stayed at Matt's mom's house again. I didn't enjoy the Leatherstocking Trail part as much as I usually do because of my tired legs, but it was marginally cooler in there. On this run, I do the trail as an out and back, and when I turned around to go back, my stomach started acting up and I knew finding a port-o-potty would not be as simple as it is in Prospect Park. But that's what woods and large rocks are for! Coming from a family that never camped or did much no-frills kind of stuff, I'm pretty proud of myself for having evolved into such a flexible person. :)
Matt had a company golf and tennis outing in Westchester today, so I took the train back to NYC without him and went right to work. This is my last week of work so I'm not terribly busy, but I had enough to occupy me for most of the day. On Mondays, everyone in the office is usually especially chatty about their weekends, so it tends to be a fun day.
After work I did my usual biking/lifting thing at the gym, and it was very crowded, another Monday-ism. But at least there were two other buff-looking women in the free weights area! After I finished lifting I went to cancel my NYSC membership as of Sept. 1, since I'll be back at my beloved MIT gym, hooray! I guess this means I'll be getting back into swimming soon. I hope I am still able to make it across the 50 meter lanes!
Posted by becky at 8:34 PM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2005
Quick and dirty trail run
Even though I did have a solid week of running under my belt, I still intended to run for about an hour today--easy, of course. But time constraints got in the way and we were only able to run about 5 miles--all of it on challenging trails in Wyoming, NY. So I guess that's an okay way to end the week!
My friends Patrick and Claire, who stayed in the same B&B as Matt and I, met two other former Cornell track teammates (and one of their husbands, a Cornellian but not a runner at the time), who were also in town for the wedding, in Wyoming this morning. I was glad to note that the booming thunderstorms that came through last night had cooled things off a bit. We met at another B&B which has tons of trails on the property. Becky (not me--at the time I was on the team there were 4 Beckys) is an awesome trail runner and even though she is just coming back from an injury, she fearlessly led us through some tall grasses and muddy puddles. It was just like old times back on the trails in Ithaca.
When we got back to our starting point, it had only been 42 minutes and I wanted to run another mile or so. But we checked our watches and there was no way Patrick and Claire and I would make it back in time for breakfast if we ran anymore. So that was it for the run. The breakfast turned out to be quite grand, so I'm glad we didn't miss it.
Matt and I hit the road soon after breakfast and drove pretty much straight through to his cousin's house in Tuxedo, NY, which was almost on the way back to Westchester. His cousin just adopted a baby and we were looking forward to meeting him, as well as seeing Matt's dad, grandparents and great aunts and uncles that were all gathered there today. The baby was adorable (see below) and we had a nice time.
When we left Tuxedo, the sky was darkening and it was clear that a heavy thunderstorm was imminent. We got stuck in a ton of traffic going over the Tappan Zee Bridge and were basically sitting still as the first wave of storms hit. It was REALLY raining (and thundering and lightning.) We passed through a couple more bad patches before we got to Matt's mom's house, and as soon as we brought our bags in to the house, it poured there too. We felt like the storm was following us!
Tonight we've been chilling out here but I also did a little bit of ellipticalling while I watched gymnastics on TV. I felt like I needed to move after sitting all day, and I think it did the trick.
I saw that Paula came through in the WC marathon and am really excited about it, but now I need to go find out how it unraveled!
Posted by becky at 10:05 PM | Comments (1)
August 13, 2005
Not another runner in sight
I was really glad that I had mapped out a route using the Google pedometer tool, because I would have gotten dreadfully lost otherwise. I was also really grateful to have company this morning at 6am! My friend Patrick is trying to get in a marathon in all 50 states, so he's kind of perpetually training. Since I had run almost 3 hours last weekend and he's still in a building phase, we settled on doing about 16 miles.
It was (and still is) super humid out. We managed to follow the route I had mapped out for about 10 miles and must have encountered about 10 big hill climbs (and a couple of downhills, too.) We were probably running between 8's and 8:15s, maybe a bit slower at times, and I felt pretty comfortable. We made one wrong turn and had to backtrack a little, but it ended up being a good thing because we couldn't figure out how to do the second (shorter) loop I had mapped out and had to just do an out and back on the main road that goes between our B&B and Letchworth State Park, where the wedding festivities are taking place this weekend.
We didn't see any other runners, walkers, bikers or even people in their yards this morning. It's a very rural area and there aren't even that many houses, mostly farms. It was very pretty, though. Definitely different than the city running I've become accustomed to over the past 6 years. The rolling hills and wide shoulders on the roads reminded me of why I will always miss running in Ithaca.
We ran for about 2:18, so I'm hoping it was (at least) 16 miles. We made it back just in time for breakfast, which, as is the usual case at B&Bs, was huge. Now the two couples are just hanging out and will head to the wedding at about 2. I can't wait to see some old runner friends I haven't seen in almost a year!
Posted by becky at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2005
Long day on the road
We decided we wanted to leave for upstate at about 9 this morning, so I didn't have to go running super-early. Still, Matt and I stayed up kind of late last night looking at pictures of him as a little kid and I had a hard time waking up! I planned to take today as an easy/short day, so I ran one of the shortest routes I know from Matt's mom's house—I think it's a little more than 6 miles. Unfortunately it involves a large hill and my legs were pretty tired from my longish morning run yesterday. I was crawling up that hill, but I hit the Leatherstocking Trail after that and it was nice and shady. The rest of the run went without incident except for the sensation of running through a lot of spider webs. (I kept thinking that my sweat would make the webs disintegrate on contact.)
After eating a quick breakfast with Matt's mom and her boyfriend, we hit the road. I could tell that I was going to be sleeping before long. (Matt's used to my inability to stay awake on moving vehicles.) I woke up when we were pretty close to Ithaca, where we were making a stop for lunch at Collegetown Bagels, our #1 favorite lunch place when we were at Cornell. We opened the windows hoping to feel some cool Western NY air, but it felt even more humid than it was downstate! So much for that.
We had a quick lunch with Matt's thesis advisor and a friend from the track team who just happened to be at CTB at the same time. He just finished up business school at Cornell so he and Matt had a lot to talk about. I was just impressed that he's living with the Johnson brothers of Letsrun.com fame. ? After lunch, we picked up a baby present at the Cornell store and got back on the road.
We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast at about 5pm, just in time to shower and go to the rehearsal dinner at the park where the wedding will be tomorrow. It was a very casual barbeque and I saw a lot of Cornell tracksters I hadn't talked to in awhile. We are also staying in the B&B with a good friend of mine and her husband. He is a marathoner too and has volunteered to join me on a long run in the morning. Hope we don't get lost!
Posted by becky at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2005
Longish Prospect Park run
I met T. at his place this morning and he was not looking like he wanted to run the 12 or so miles we had talked about yesterday. He pulled something weird in his quad area when he was running sprints up the Great Wall in China a couple of weeks ago. (That'll teach ya!) But we decided to give it a try and as usually happens, his leg loosened up a little while into the run.
On our way to Prospect Park, we stopped by B.'s house to collect him. He, too, has been away so I haven't run with him since the Bronx Half in the beginning of July. He took us on a non-traditional loop of the Park, going mostly on the trails and through some tunnels that go under the main Park road. It was pretty hilly--B. had just spent 2 weeks running in the hills of France--and T. and I were both sucking wind on the steepest ones. After he did one loop with us, B. ran home and we set out for another (traditional/normal) loop. We ran home the usual way after that, making it probably about 12 miles. (Hard to tell because of the trail parts.)
My legs were feeling okay today, except for some general knee achiness, but my stomach was bothering me again. It wasn't like I needed to find a bathroom, it just felt heavy and annoying. Sometimes that happens when I get up even earlier than usual and my body isn't ready yet to be awake!
The humidity wasn't too bad yet this morning, but when I was walking around this afternoon and tonight it was getting back to stifling levels. Yuck. In fact, we are watching the news right now and the aptly named Storm Field (ABC 7 weatherman) just informed me that "the heat is on" and this summer in 2005 we have had 17 days of 90+ temps so far, compared to 1 (!) in 2004. It really is too bad I was injured last summer and not running!
We took the train up to Westchester after work tonight and are staying at Matt's mom's house so that we can leave in the morning for our NY State adventure. The wedding we are headed to is between Buffalo and Rochester (sort of), and there's even an XC race tomorrow afternoon to kick things off. (We won't make it in time.) We plan to make a slight detour to Ithaca and have lunch with Matt's advisor from Cornell, and then get back on the road to (hopefully) make it to the rehearsal dinner on time.
I'm a little apprehensive about running this weekend, especially my long run, just because I'm unfamiliar with the area. I've mapped out a route using the pedometer based on Google Maps(so cool!), but it always SEEMS so easy when you look on a map. I'm sure also that it will be extremely hilly. I'll do my best!
I also doubt I'll have much internet access this weekend, so I'll have to post when I return if need be. Happy (almost) weekend!
Posted by becky at 9:40 PM | Comments (1)
August 10, 2005
Not so bad
When my alarm went off this morning, I was NOT happy. I felt like I had just finished running and it was time to go again. I was really, really glad I was meeting T., especially since this will be the one of the last times we get to run together this summer as he is heading up to Martha's Vineyard for most of the rest of August. He knew I'd be tired from my workout and from not having enough recovery, so we started out nice and slow. We ran to Prospect Park and as soon as we got there, my stomach started acting up and I was grateful for the ubiquitous port-o-potties. :)
Once that crisis was averted, we ran a loop of the Park in the opposite direction from how we usually do. I think it's hillier this way, but I guess it's really the same, you just get the hills in different places. I was a little sluggish at times, but we stuck to an easy, conversational pace and I felt better post-workout than I have the past couple of weeks, that's for sure. (The weather helped--apparently the humidity will be back soon, but we were spared again today.) We ended up running for 1:15, but I'm sure we weren't going much faster than 8:30 pace for most of it. I was pleased with that, though, especially less than 12 hours after track.
Work was pretty quiet today, so I snuck out at 4ish and went to lift before meeting a friend (and Matt) for dinner on the UWS. For some reason, my head was pounding most of the time I was there. I ate well today, so it wasn't hunger. Maybe a little bit of dehydration? My headache disappeared during dinner but now has returned so I am going to take some Advil momentarily and hope that solves the problem!
Posted by becky at 9:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 9, 2005
Good weather workout
For once, it wasn't super-hot today for workout day. (Of course, I'll probably pay for it when the hot humid weather comes back on the weekend just in time for my long run!) T. was running short this morning anyway because his leg was bothering him, so I just did my pre-track run with him today. We went over the Brooklyn Bridge and came back over the Manhattan Bridge. I felt a little sluggish in the humidity but not too bad. No major incidents, just some good conversations.
I didn't sleep well last night so "working from home" today turned into some working and a lot of napping. I still feel a little tired, so hopefully I'll catch up tonight.
The workout tonight was short again, much more geared for 5K runners than marathon runners. But I still have time to get some longer intervals in before the marathon, so it's probably okay. Anyway, I warmed up for awhile with two women I haven't gotten to talk to much at track but really like. Then we did 4x400 at 5K pace, a mile at 5K pace and 3x300 at finishing speed. I negative split the mile, which is good for me, but it wasn't very fast. I guess it was supposed to be at 5K pace though, not mile pace, so I need to remember that. Since it was over fairly quickly, we cooled down for awhile and then I jogged back to the train. (One thing I won't miss about running in NYC: waiting in the hot subway all sweaty.)
Now I actually have some work to do before going to bed...I'm supposed to meet T. bright and early and he better intend to go slowly!
Posted by becky at 9:42 PM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2005
Reunion!
T. returned from China yesterday afternoon and to my delight was up for a run this morning! It was really fun to have company again. And since he had been away for 3 weeks in China, he had a lot of stories to tell. Of course, he was most concerned about how his marathon training was waylaid as he didn't run more than an hour during his time away. But I was impressed that he actually figured out how to run a little bit on the roads there. (Most of his running was done on the hotel treadmill, which is why I would go crazy spending that long in a country where I didn't speak tha language and couldn't read the road signs.)
Even though I had done the Lower Manhattan loop yesterday, I let T. pick the route and that is where he wanted to run. I knew it would go by much faster with company. It did, but my ITB/knee was still a bit sore. It comes and goes during runs. I've had this for about year now, off and on, so I'm hoping my foam roller does the trick soon for this go-around. It was also super humid this morning. The forecast is for a bad week. We are headed to Western NY State at the end of the week so it may be a tad bit cooler, but probably not less humid.
T. and I ran a little more than an hour together and then I added on about 10 more minutes. Not surprisingly, I was making sweat puddles when I was stretching outside my building upon returning. Yes, I love summer!
Work was fun today because the office was packed and our boss is away! I did manage to get a lot done but I took a lot of breaks for conversations! After work I went to the gym to lift and bike as usual. My sister is finished with her summer job so she had already gone earlier in the day. I missed her! She's going away with my parents this week too so our afternoon workouts are coming to a close.
That's all for me--I'm going to go catch up on emails.
Posted by becky at 9:12 PM | Comments (0)
August 7, 2005
Day-after-long run legs
I wasn't feeling so in the mood to run when I woke up this morning, mostly because I knew that even though my legs didn't feel so sore from yesterday's long run, they would at least be heavy. I checked email, ate a little bit and procrastinated and then eventually got out the door. It was a little warmer than yesterday but thankfully the humidity was still down. I headed out over the Brooklyn Bridge and noticed that there were a lot of people wearing the same t-shirt. And there were cops handing out cups of water. (They tried to give me one.) Apparently it was some sort of NYPD-related run/walk. I didn't mind most of the people but the race marshals seemed to think I was part of the race and kept directing me off the bridge one way when I was really going the other! Why would they think I was part of the race if I wasn't wearing a number? Still, it made me smile and that is always a good thing.
I ran to the West Side and around the tip of Manhattan along the water. There were a lot of tourists and people walking their dogs, but it wasn't as crowded as I've seen that route on the weekends sometimes. My legs didn't feel horrible, but I was pretty tired. And my IT band hurt (knee), which tends to happen after long runs or hard workouts. I was glad to get back over the bridge and home to eat breakfast!
In the afternoon, I went up to my parents' house for the rest of the day and to have dinner. My dad and I went to our pool club in the late afternoon for a swim. I hadn't been there yet this summer and was disappointed to see that the pool isn't in the best of shape--the tiles on the walls are all cracked and the bottom is gross. Still, it was a place to swim, and I just did some easy pulling for about a half hour. I'm easing myself back into swimming since I've taken the summer off for the most part! It was nice to be in an outdoor pool. After the pool, we went back to my house for dinner with my grandma. I mentioned the marathon and she was excited to hear that she might get to see me run! It was cute. She's lived in the Bronx for her entire life, I think, and has never watched the marathon.
Now I'm back in Brooklyn planning out the classes I want/need to take next semester since online registration starts tomorrow...I'm looking forward to going back to Boston but not necessarily the classes!
Posted by becky at 9:40 PM | Comments (0)
August 6, 2005
Extra-cautious 20
I think my decision to cross-train yesterday (mostly) was a good one, as my calf was feeling good when I woke up this morning. Although maybe I was just groggy since I had to be out the door at 5:30 am! I managed to wake up on time, make a bagel to take with me and pack all my water bottles, post-run seltzer, etc. I made sure to leave extra-early because the subways are all screwed up on weekends--I had to take two different lines to get up to Central Park and one was a train I was completely unfamiliar with. But I did make it up there on time and there were lots of other runners on the train with me, so I didn't have to worry about finding the start.
When I got there, I saw lots of familiar faces at the Team for Kids area (the Foundation's charity runners were only doing 10 miles today, but they coordinated it so that it was done as part of the first official "long training run" for the ING NYCM. I met up with my co-worker Michelle since we planned to run together, and we got together with a pace group that was running 9 minute miles--we wanted to start out super-slow and pick it up later. Of course, after passing the first mile at 9:00 (almost to the second--those pace leaders were good!), we started speeding up some and ended up in our own two-person pace group! We settled in running very comfortable 8:30s or so.
The main loop of Central Park is 6 miles, but there are (as I learned today, not having run there much) 5 and 4-mile inner loops too. Today's 20 mile course was one 6 mile loop, two 5 mile loops and a 4 mile loop. As a rule, I don't like doing loops, but strangely today it helped break up the long run into manageable portions. Plus, l was able to drop my double water bottle carrier off for the last four miles--what a relief! The NYRR had an aid/comfort stop set up between each loop. They had bathrooms, bananas, Gatorade, gels, etc. (I brought my own but partook in the water along the course.) So Michelle and I stretched there a little bit in between each loop and that was a nice little break.
I struggled a bit on the third loop, but in general felt pretty good. I wondered if I could have run faster, but wanted to play it safe since it was my first 20 in quite some time. Michelle ended up picking up her pace slightly more than I did on the last loop, but otherwise we stuck together, and that was great. We talked and laughed a lot, which always helps pass the time out there!
It took a long time to get back to Brooklyn after the run, but I made it home before noon, just in time to have brunch/lunch with Matt. We've been chilling out here all day (and napping, in my case) and tonight we're going to have dinner in Park Slope and meet some people (if we can find them) for a concert in Prospect Park. Gotta go get ready!
Posted by becky at 4:23 PM | Comments (1)
August 5, 2005
Blogiversary
It's ironic that on the one year anniversary of my first blog entry, I don't have much running to write about. (Although I probably didn't last August 5 either, since I was getting over an injury.) Today I decided to take the day to cross-train because my calf was bothering me walking around last night and even during the night. When I woke up and it was still really tight, I decided it was dumb to try and run if I want to attempt a long run tomorrow.
So I jogged the 7 minutes to the gym (calf hurt when starting to run, then loosened up) and biked pretty hard for a little more than an hour. I was thinking about doing a half-hour or so on the elliptical, since it's been so long since I've done that, but it wasn't a particularly good motion for my calf. So I stayed on the bike. Too bad there wasn't even a good Who's the Boss? episode on.
I did my best with the foam roller and my calf before leaving the gym to jog back home. I really can feel exactly where the knot is, so hopefully the self-massage will be beneficial. Actually, later in the day at work it was still super-tight, but less painful. I've also been taking Aleve today so that could be part of it too.
If my calf behaves, I plan to stick with a very slow pace group at the run tomorrow. I need to get the miles in, not worry about the speed right now. Plus, if by some miracle I want to speed up, I can. This will only be my second experience with a pace group. The other was at my first marathon, the 2000 Pittsburgh Marathon, and that was an utter disaster. It can't be worse!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Posted by becky at 7:48 PM | Comments (4)
August 4, 2005
Scaring the kids again
I was glad to observe, when I left the apartment this morning, that it wasn't quite as unbearably hot as the morning radio people were warning. It was definitely humid, but so far this week has not been as bad as last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Still, it was already near 90 degrees (at least according to one display I saw) and my goal these days is to feel good, so I decided that rather than try and run 11 or 12, I would shoot for 9. I knew I'd be heading to Prospect Park, so I just did one loop of the Park and added on a tiny bit, instead of going halfway around the Park again like I did last week.
I felt stiff (as usual) starting out, but better once I had run the 25 minutes to the main Prospect Park entrance. My upper calf--right below the outside of my knee, if that makes sense--started to feel sore after the 200s we did at track. Today it bothered me when I would stop for a light and have to start again. I'm pretty sure it's just a muscle strain but that area worries me (close to the back of the knee) because it is too close to where I had my second-to-last injury, popliteal tendonitis. It's also an area that feels better with massage, but it is extremely awkward to get at it with the foam roller. I just hope my icing and at least attempting to massage it is helping!
When I was on my way back from the Park, I stopped to refill my bottle with a cold drink. I unfortunately chose a tiny, unairconditioned bodega as my oasis. While I was waiting on line, I noticed this little girl, maybe around 4, staring at me. She stage-whispered to her mom, "Look at that lady! She is sweating so much! What is wrong with her?" or something to that extent. I laughed to myself, thinking it was a perfect blog anecdote!
I worked from home today because I was feeling too lazy to go up to the office and because I had scheduled an interview with one of the Foundation's charity team marathoners and I detest interviewing people in a crowded office area! The woman I spoke to is amazing--she spent the last year in North Carolina while her one-year-old daughter underwent a bone marrow transplant and other treatment for a usually-fatal genetic disorder. The family is reunited in NYC now and the daughter is doing well. The woman is running the ING NYCM in honor of her daughter and the Foundation. Even though she is daunted by the training she must do over the next few months (she's new to running) she is inspired by her daughter's courage and bravery.
We are going to a Cornell wine and cheese for members of our class who are in NYC tonight, so I took a break to go to the gym during the middle of the day today. I very slowly jogged over there since it was the heat of the day, and then lifted. It was blissfully quiet.
I hope we see lots of Cornellians we've lost touch with tonight--there's one person in particular I would love to reconnect with, but I'm not sure she's in NYC.
Posted by becky at 5:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 3, 2005
Recovery run, for real
Recently I've been thinking a lot about the purpose of recovery runs. Obviously, not every run can be done hard, and your body needs a chance to (actively) work out the soreness and tiredness that comes from doing long and/or hard runs. On the mornings after track workouts during the past few weeks, I've had awful runs, often having to stop and either walk a little bit or convince myself that I'm not going to combust of heat if I keep going and finish the run. I think it's mostly the heat and humidity that's making these runs awful, but I also have been wondering if I'm going too "fast" at the beginning (this is all relative, hence the quotes) of these so-called recovery runs. I also always push myself to do at least an hour of running the morning after workouts, when it might be defeating the purpose.
So this morning I was feeling super stiff and sore from the 3K pace stuff I did last night, and I was worried that the run would be a death march. I decided not to bring my iPod, partly because it was running low on batteries but partly because I really wanted to monitor how I was feeling and run super-easy. I also promised myself that I would only run about 6 or so and see if that helped me have better runs toward the end of the week.
It was hot, but there was thankfully a breeze. My initial stiffness and soreness loosened up after about a mile, and then I found myself speeding up on the downhill part of the Brooklyn Bridge. As soon as I realized, I slowed down to a very comfortable pace. And so it went. The last mile was tough because I ran out of watered-down Gatorade, but I finished the run feeling okay. I actually ran into Matt leaving for work as I neared our apartment, and he seemed surprised to hear that my run was decent, because he's heard much of the opposite lately! Hopefully I will continue to have more good runs than bad, but the weathergods are predicting a REALLY bad day tomorrow and I'm already nervous.
I also went to the gym after (a productive day at) work today for my usual biking/lifting routine. It was very crowded and this guy was glaring at me after I told him I wouldn't be done with the bench I was using for about 10 minutes. Whatever! That's what happens when you go at rush hour, dude.
Now I'm home and hanging out while I wait for Matt to come back from "grabbing a drink" with some of the MIT boys. I don't mind one bit as I am almost finished with yet another book, probably my tenth of the summer. I love the chick-lit!
Posted by becky at 8:48 PM | Comments (2)
August 2, 2005
Hot Tuesday
I love when I'm watching the 5-day forecast on Mondays and the weatherman says "We're gonna have a heat wave starting on Tuesday!" because Tuesday is track day. But when I went out for my morning run today, it wasn't too bad--there was a good breeze and it wasn't as humid as I feared. I did about 5 miles, very easy, going into Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge and coming back over the Manhattan Bridge. I did a longer morning run than I usually do pre-workout because we had already gotten the workout emailed to us and it was short.
I felt pretty relaxed on my run in the morning and my knee felt a little better (it hurt on the warmup and cooldown at track, though.) When I got back, I was stretching outside the building and ran into my sister leaving for work, which surprisingly hasn't happened yet this summer. I'm always impressed by how grown-up she looks when she goes to work, as opposed to me, since no one at the Foundation dresses up!
I spent most of the day waiting around for somebody to send me something and he never did. Love when that happens. It wasn't too bad, though, because I used some of the down time to take a nap and read!
It was definitely hotter than it had been in the morning when I left to go to the track, but it wasn't as humid as last week. Lots of people I hadn't seen in a few weeks showed up tonight, so I had plenty of company warming up. The workout was 6x600 and 4x200, another short one. (I need to make sure to start doing longer intervals as the weather improves.) Except for a little bit of knee discomfort (ITB), I felt surprisingly good tonight. I did each 600 a couple of seconds faster than the one before (we were supposed to go from 5K pace down to 3K pace.) The 200s were a struggle, as they always are for me, but I made it through. I cooled down with a bunch of people and then Lisa, who I met a few weeks ago, and I jogged back to the subway. Tonight was her last track workout before heading back to California for her senior XC season at Cal. I'll miss her!
OK, almost time for tonight's silly edition of Real World. I just can't help myself!
Posted by becky at 9:06 PM | Comments (1)
August 1, 2005
Another non-Brooklyn run
We didn't leave Washington all that late yesterday (around 2:30 pm after an enormous, but delicious, brunch) but we hit tons of traffic and didn't get to Matt's mom's house until almost 8:30 pm. Needing to eat dinner and tired from sitting for so long, we decided to stay the night in Westchester and take the train in to the city this morning. It was a good decision!
Amazingly, to be at work by 9 (Matt's constraint, not mine, but I of course went too), we didn't have to leave his mom's house until 8:10, practically the same time he leaves our Brooklyn apartment. So I had to run early, but not that early. I did a loop that includes many rolling hills and an out and back on the Leatherstocking Trail, which I discovered earlier this summer. It's a nice run and I enjoyed the fourth day in a row of running somewhere that I hadn't for awhile. My right (good) knee was hurting me a little in the ITB area, but I'm hoping that it has to do with the fact that my foam roller and I have been apart since Thursday morning. We're planning a reunion before I go to bed tonight.
Getting to work early meant that I was pretty productive--until mid-afternoon when I started to get sleepy. After a wake-up snack (which only partially helped) I went back to Brooklyn and met my sister at the gym. I did my biking before she even got there and then did most of my lifting routine by the time she was ready for me to show her a few new lifting moves. It worked out well.
And now Matt is watching wrestling as usual (at least on Mondays) so I am going to go hang out with my sister for a bit!
Posted by becky at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)