Scoops the Blog

I’m headed west on Thursday, I can’t believe it is here so soon. This idea I had about running in the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon started last summer when I read about the event in Runner’s World Magazine. I floated the idea to my friend Ed and he was immediately on board. Then there was the waiting game for registration to open. The event is only open to about 3,000 to 4,000 people and it sells out quickly so both Ed and I put ourselves on the email list so that we could be the first ones to register. As it would happen to be registration opened the week of the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November.

After that half my training took a tumble and it has been a challenge to get back to where I was for the Philly Half which currently holds my half marathon PR. The Philly Half was one of the races where everything just went right from the training to the actual race. Then came Thanksgiving, then winter and so on. After dismal NYC Half this March I knew I had no more excuses and it was make or break time for Napa. I plotted out the training plan and thankfully was able to do all but one long run and most of the runs in between and mother nature cooperated for most of them.

Last weekend I had to get my last big long run in the books — 14 miles and this one I knew I was going to have to do on my own. Being July 4th weekend I knew that if I wanted to head out along the Hudson River and avoid the impending heat wave I had to get this done on Saturday morning. For many people you may be find it surprising that it is only seven miles from West 14th Street to approximately West 141st Street give or take a few since it’s a bit curvey and not a straight line at all. Knowing that it would be hot, humid, and long, I made sure that I followed strict rules from my running coaches and all of the books I’ve read about long runs and made sure to pace myself at about two minutes slower than my usual race pace. That’s slower than slow in ‘Mo terms! I hydrated well the day before, the morning of, during and after and of course I had plenty of gels and tunes on the pod. It was a challenging run on a challenging day (Hey cyclists please stay out of the pedestrian path and I’ll stay out of yours!).

The humidity hit crazy hard this past week which left put one of my last six mile runs out of the picture completely. Tomorrow is my last long run, but the is only an eight mile run (I love how that sounds, only eight miles!) and then finally my favorite word of all time “taper!” I only have to do two easy three mile runs, one of which will be in California and then the big day on the 18th.

Ed and I are adding a few days before and a couple of days after allowing us to fully acclimate to the time change and well have a vacation. This will be first summer vacation in about four years, maybe even longer. Just know that it has been such a long time I can’t remember when I last took a summer vacation that involved traveling. I’ve got the usual last minute errands to run and laundry to do but it’s still hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that I got this little fruit (grape of course) of an idea about heading our west to run in a half marathon.

Good news I’m still training. I haven’t gotten lazy and put off any of my runs. I’m slowly feeling stronger and that is a good thing. As of today my total mileage is a little over 17 miles, if I do an easy recovery run tomorrow I’ll hit 20 for the week. This makes me very happy.

What also makes me happy is my team of Mo’s. They are not training for the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon but they are doing long runs with me. That is pure awesomeness! Today we ran in the NYRR Mini 10k, it is a full 10k for those not in the know, and added a mile before the race and a mile after to get my long run in the books. Again this is my long run, they’re coming along for the ride.

This week my schedule gets thrown out of whack a bit but I’ll still be able to get my runs in. I’ve got a fuel cell conference in Brooklyn that I need to attend a committee meeting for onTuesday and then the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge on Wednesday. but I do have Thursday and Friday off again. Team Mo is also planning on doing 10 miles with me on the weekend - more pure awesome!

After many starts and stops with my running all through winter and spring I have finally gotten to the point where enough is enough. I actually had enough during the Healthy Kidney 10k a few weeks ago. I have enough of a base where doing a 10k should be nothing but the thing is you still need to actually run on a somewhat regular basis. Running once a week wasn’t cutting it and during that 10k as I was huffing and puffing my way through it I knew there was no way I could do the Brooklyn Half Marathon. This was probably one of the smartest decisions I have made.

With the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon coming up in July I knew it was time to get serious or else. I sat down and plotted out my training plan. It’s basically the one I used for the Philly Half where I have three focused runs during the week. These always include a long run on the weekends with various runs that feature speed work, hill work and recovery runs during the week. You can view the schedule here - http://ical.me.com/scoops1227/Napa%20to%20Sonoma%20Training. I didn’t include the notations for heat is a tempo run etc. but you get the idea about the plan.

My first long run was last weekend. It was tough but you have to start somewhere. I was able to keep up with the running plan during the week which was awesome and today I ran in the Japan Day four miler in Central Park. Today I felt more like a runner and if there was better spacing of the water stations and not so much humidity I would have done better. But I am happy with how I did.

Tomorrow, I get my new shoes from JackRabbit delivered to the office and you know what that means - I’ll automatically start running better and faster!

Apparently I do.

As much as I tried to be really good about training for the NYC Half Marathon it just didn’t happen. I got derailed by rain, snow and a stomach bug. In fact in the two weeks preceeding the half I ran once and that was the day before race. Any smart person would have backed out but not me.

So a few brave SloHoMos decided to see what would happen if we actually ran this thing. We sort of, kind of, maybe proved that one does not need to do any real training. Meaning, we finished. The lask of training however, was reflected in my time. I finished about 25 minutes slower than normal. Call it SloHoMo in SloMo.

My body felt it for two days afterward. Let me tell you something, walking down hills and stairs with a sore quad hurts like a mother fucker! Perhaps I missed the early warning sign when the race was followed my a Motrin and two mimosa chaser.

But now it is time to get serious and I mean it this time! The weather is finally getting better, there’s more daylight, and I have run out excuses.

I had some pretty big plans for this weekend like running the NYRR 8000 on Saturday and getting in my 12 mile long run on Sunday. But then on Friday right before lunch my stomach wasn’t feeling quite right. I thought maybe I was hungry so I got my soup but kept feeling worse as the day progressed. For some reason I stayed for the whole day. Barely made it home before lunch came up. I continued with the stomach stuff through Saturday morning. Solids finally stayed down mid-morning.

It is amazing how a stomach bug can zap all of your energy. There were moments yesterday when I was laying in bed and wondering if the NYC Half would even be possible. Well 24 hours later I’m feeling about 80 percent better and probably could even go out for a little run. But I’m not. I need to get the rest of my strength and energy back. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go for a little run.

I’m just happy that I never planned any big goals for this half. Now it really is just a long run to get me ready for my spring races but I’m also hoping that I don’t finish any worse than I did for the Brooklyn Half last May.

Not what I wanted to happen but somehow you just gotta deal.

The New York City Half Marathon is next weekend. Because of the crappy weather in New York this winter my running has been inconsistent at best. I have done exactly one long run with another planned for this Sunday. I feel like I’m cramming for a history test.

The good thing is that I have been able to get more regular runs the past couple of weeks and last week I hit 20 miles/week for the first time since November. Believe me that was a major accomplishment! I’ve also had a race every single weekend this month just help as extra motivation to get out the door on a regular basis. That first race in 2010 was the Cherry Tree 10 mile relay in Prospect Park. I didn’t have any real goals as my team was in the same position as I was. I ended up doing better than I thought I would and even felt a lot better than expected.

Last year at this time I wasn’t feeling so great about the running but this year is a different story. My pace has been improving with each race and I expect to get down to my average pace in the next month as the weather gets warmer. I’m also being smarter this year about what I can and cannot do.

I don’t have a time goal for this half marathon which is ok. I’m think about just using it as a kickoff for my spring races to get me back into gear and in the direction of training for the NYC marathon. While it will be nice to get a PR, I’m not putting that pressure on myself. That said I guess my goal is to just keep improving from where I am today.

Tomorrow’s race is the NYRR 8000 in Central Park. The weather calls for ark building.

Ok, five miles in the book, which is also my total for the week. Gotta start back on the road to consistency somewhere! Feeling pretty good though. I ran a consistent pace and that pace is improving. Should I set goals for the weekend races? Not sure. Charity races tend to be a cluster fuck of people and for those of in the pack of the back there will be people walking near by making it tough for a PR. Right now I think I’ll treat it as a training run.

That is also the main goal for Cherry Tree but I want to represent team SloHoMo well so if I run consistently this week there a chance I can PR for my leg of the relay. Either way I’m really looking forward to the relay and getting back into the swing of racing again.

The NYC Half Marathon is a little over than a month away and to be honest my training hasn’t been what I thought it would be. It’s not that I was over ambitious in the training schedule it’s just that winter happened. I don’t like winter as I have said many times before. Some weeks I have been good about getting out there and following the plan and other weeks I haven’t run. I think the one thing that has really saved me is the deep water running class I have been taking. That has been quite a workout and when I have been running consistently I have noticed the difference it has made, especially when I push myself up those hills. I will be sad when the class ends in three weeks. But now it’s time to get to work and thankfully I’ve got some races coming up that will help me stay in the training frame of mind.

First up are two races on the 20th and 21st. Not originally planned that way but they will be races to really get myself going again. The first is the Run for Haiti, a four mile race in Central Park. All of the entry fees go to the New York City’s Haiti Relief Fund and those who run in the actual race get two NYC Marathon qualifiers for one. On the 21st, I’ll be heading up to Prospect Park with Team SloHoMo for the Cherry Tree 10 mile Relay, a nice loop around the park for each member of the relay team.

On February 28, I head back to Brooklyn for the Al Gordon Snowflake 4 miler, On March 7th I’ve got Coogan’s in Washington Heights, the NYRR 8000 on March 13 and then the NYC Half on the 21st.

There will be long runs in between and I think this will put me in good shape for the half. I haven’t planned out any goals for the half yet, I’ll probably do that after Coogan’s. If I had to set a goal right now, it would be just to run a good race to get ready for the spring and summer and not go for any PRs. I’ll even be happy if that’s what I decide to do after Coogan’s. But I still gotta get the work in!

Well, we didn’t get the crazy blizzard that was predicted but it is still snowing here in scoopsville. We have about nine inches and should get about four more. I have some new snow plow guys and they have been here once already and are expected again once this thing is over. Yay!

No running today and probably no running tomorrow. Maybe Friday.

I don’t like winter and I dislike snow even more. So far this winter we have been lucky when it has come to the white stuff but the cold weather is a different story. This has affected my running quite a bit. Usually, I don’t need to be forced out the door but when the temperature drops below 30 degrees you better be prepared to pull me out the door. The past few weeks have brought the NYC area 20 degree weather with some crazy cold wind chills. I have not run that much. Last week it was warm enough where I got out pretty regularly but most of my winter running has been inconsistent and I feel it when I run.

We were lucky to avoid the snowmageddon last weekend but a whopper, snowmageddon: it’s for real this time is on the way. They’re talking about 12-18 inches as of this moment. But with the way the weather folks have been predicting things it could just be three inches. NYC schools have been closed tomorrow in advance of the storm which is rare. Even more rare is that my office will be closed tomorrow.

If we do get the totals they are predicting this will throw another wrench into running. I’m supposed to run nine miles this weekend and I’m really hoping that the sidewalks will be clear so I can get this run in. If not that means in addition to avoiding coyotes on my route I’ll have to avoid ice.

When is spring?