11.something

I am so, so, so glad I did this run. A few people commented on my Tuesday post that I didn’t really need it. And there’s some truth in that- one can run a half marathon with 10 miles as your longest long run. But I don’t know if I can. Running is so mental, and if I don’t feel prepared I’m just going to set myself up to fail.

Fortunately, I feel good and prepared now.

With how great I felt, I really thought I was going faster, but this is still very good for me. (If I can repeat that in the half next Saturday, I’d have a time of 2:19:18. I’m hoping for 2:18 or faster, so hopefully race day adrenaline (and not having to stop/start at lights) will get me there.

I took an espresso Gu right before running (it was gross.) The weather was beautiful- about 60-65 degrees, sunny, no rain, nice breeze off the river. Perfect running weather, in my opinion.

I had half a pack of Gu chomps around mile 5- I’ve found that I really prefer chomps/shot bloks to Gu, but the only downside is that I have to walk to eat them. But Gu has a tendency to mix with my water and bounce back into my throat so I never stop tasting it, which I do not enjoy.

My only complaint is that literally every bathroom on the Hudson River Greenway, from 96th st down to the World Financial Center, is closed. Are they doing construction? Do they close at 6? I have no idea. I tried to duck into a ferry terminal near my turn-off point for the bridge, but the women’s room was out of order. Just the women’s. Are you kidding me?

The other half my chomps on the bridge, and I was back in my own borough. It was a bit of a bummer to get to the end of the downhill off the bridge and realize I actually had to use muscle to move my legs instead of just gravity. By this point my legs were pretty sore. I think it’s my IT band, which I don’t normally have issues with, sore because I took way fewer walk breaks than usual.

From there it was just slightly uphill for a mile and a half to get home to my burrito. It waited for me while I stretched and foam rolled a bit, and has since been devoured in my bed while I ice my knees.

TL;DR, this was the strongest I’ve ever felt on such a long run. I really only stopped to walk 3 times (2 of those were for eating my gummies) and had good luck with lights so I only stopped for those a couple times.

Playlist:
Butch Walker & the Black Widows “Every Single Body Else”
We Are the Fury “Now You Know”
Mann f/ Jason Derulo “Text”
Young Statues “Pretty Girls Make Raves”
Sugarcult “Daddy’s Little Defect”
Thee Armada “Magnet to Misery”
Fountains of Wayne “Stacy’s Mom”
Take Cover “Escape Artist”
Kelly Clarkson “Mr Know It All”
Take Cover “Back Pedal”
Take Cover “The Whole Story”
The Starting Line “Decisions Decisions”
Amy Winehouse “Tears Dry On Their Own”
Tokyo Police Club “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)”
We the Kings “Heaven Can Wait”
The Starting Line “Somebody’s Gonna Miss Us”
Zebrahead “Jag Off
Something Corporate “Straw Dog”
Vinnie Caruana “Somehow The World Keeps Turning”
Valencia “Spinning Out”
One Direction “One Thing”
311 “Don’t Stay Home”
The Starting Line “Hello Houston”
Jessie J “Abracadabra”
Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”
Timbaland f/ Fall Out Boy “One and Only”
Sum41 “Motivation”
Wiz Khalifa “Roll Up”
Thee Armada “Lala”
The Starting Line “Up & Go”
Beyonce “Love On Top”
Young Statues “Spacism”
You, Me, and Everyone We Know “The Puzzle”
Kate Nash “Kiss That Grrl”
Suicide Machines “What I Like About You”
Something Corporate “I Want to Save You”
Straighter Than Pete “Centerfold”
Valencia “The Space Between”
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer “How Bout It”
The Starting Line “Island”

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Brooklyn Half Marathon

brooklyn

playlist

4.4 miles

I posted this on instagram earlier.

It served as a picture of my shoes (which I think are not as ugly as I originally thought. They’re definitely less ugly than my LAST pair of these same shoes.) and also to brag about my splits.

I thought that for once, Strava had my mileage correct because I’d mapped the route out beforehand and it was actually LONGER than 4.5.

Unfortunately, I took a slight shortcut at the end (actual route pictured above) that cut me off at just under 4.4, which killed my super awesome splits. In my defense the shortcut was straight up a hill. My original, longer route was actually lazier because I looped around instead of just running up the damn hill.

So here is my real life pace, which is still good. New shoes felt good, like my old shoes but more supportive. I’ve had sore calves and shins for about a week, so hopefully that’s all shoe-related and will go away as I transition into the new ones and actually remember to wear my compression socks.

Playlist:
Tokyo Police Club “Favourite Colour”
We Are the Fury “Now You Know”
Valencia “Spinning Out”
Young Statues “Young Statues”
You, Me, and Everyone We Know “Do It Again!”
Frank Turner “I Still Believe”
Thieves & Villains “I Want a Friend Like You”
Jessie J “Do It Like a Dude”
3oh!3 “Starstrukk”
This Providence “That Girl’s a Trick”
Kelly Clarkson “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)”
This Providence “Certain Words in Uncertain Times”
You, Me, and Everyone We Know “The Puzzle”
Valencia “Holiday”
Hey Anna “Love Love Baby”

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playlist

Music

Hill repeats.

I wrote this whole post already, but then I tried to make something bold and my computer decided that meant “delete everything.”

This morning I did hill repeats. I’ve never done hill repeats before, because I don’t hate myself.

That nastiness is Prospect Park hill three times.

I’d pre-mapped out my run as a 4-miler, but ended up cutting it short at the end by what I guessed was bout half a mile. When I went back to re-map it based on my phone GPS (which usually has the right idea, but over-measures my distance) it turns out my earlier route had underestimated how long the hill was. Instead of 3.5 miles, I actually ran something more like 4.5.

Hooray for being wrong!

(I still think this might be overestimated a little. Maybe more like 4.3?)

Anyway, since this wasn’t as torturous as I thought it would be, I guess I’ll do this a few more times before the Brooklyn half so I’m very very used to the hill by the time I hit it in the race.

Playlist
Phoenix “Girlfriend”
Flo Rida f/ Timbaland “Elevator”
Steel Train “Bullet”
Hanson “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’”
Kelly Clarkson “Never Again”
Bio Boi “Shutterbugg”
B4-4 “Get Down”
Self “Out With a Bang”
Beyonce f/ Andre 3000 “Party”
LMFAO “Party Rock Anthem”
I Am the Avalanche “You’ve Got Spiders”
Fefe Dobson “Black Haired Boy”
Taio Cruz “Higher”
Bruno Mars “Runaway Baby”

(notes on this playlist: More from the same 167 song “running new” playlist from the other day. I have zero memory of listening to that B4-4 song. I guess that’s ok? The slow intro to “Out With a Bang” mid-hill nearly killed me. That Fefe Dobson song is not good. I thought it was Ashlee Simpson for most of it.)

running

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Brooklyn Half Marathon

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6 miles

6 miles usually ends up being the threshold where it’s no longer a distance I would run “just to run” but starts to actually sink in that I’m training for something. Like if I run 5 miles, no one is going to say “oooh what are you up to?” But if I say I ran more than 6, people usually react by asking what I’m training for.

I ran this to/in the park, so I only had to stop for lights twice, in the first 3/4 mile- other than that I got a good look at my pace. I made it up the whole hill without stopping, which rarely happens for me, but in the last mile and a half I got too excited to be done so I tried to speed up to get it over with. As a result, I ended up having to stop to walk for about 10-20 steps, twice. Disappointing, but I got the miles in and didn’t short myself in the end.

It does freak me out a little that I can’t even hit my goal pace (10:30) on a training run that’s less than half the distance of the race. I guess that’s good motivation to be even more dedicated to training?

I came home and stretched and actually iced my knees for the first time in a while. They haven’t been giving me trouble, but I know ramping up my distance for the first time in a year is asking a lot of them so I’m trying preventative care.

Playlist: (I hit shuffle on the “Running New” playlist that I made probably 2 years ago and it was delightfully random.)
Kelly Clarkson “How I Feel”
B.o.B. f/ Rivers Cuomo “Magic”
Ozomatli “Nadas Por Free”
New Kids On the Block “Cover Girl”
Ne-Yo “One In a Million”
The Rocket Summer “You Gotta Believe”
New Edition “Candy Girl”
LMFAO “Sexy and I Know It”
Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious”
2Gether “U + Me = Us (Calculus)”
Justin Bieber f/ Jaden Smith “Never Say Never”
fun. “It Gets Better”
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals “Only Love”
Butch Walker & the Black Widows “Day Drunk”
KEF “Hottie Boombalottie”
Cee Lo Green “It’s Okay”
Hall & Oates “Maneater”
Jennifer Lopez “Play”
Panic! At the Disco “Stall Me”

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Brooklyn Half Marathon

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training

Belated Race Recap: Gridiron 4m

I haven’t written about this because it wasn’t a banner race for me like it was for my PR-ing pals Jenn and Petra.

I met up with Jenn pre-race because she was kind enough to pick my bib up for me. We headed to the corral together, dancing with cold, but fortunately she was wearing smartphone gloves so she could take a picture of us.

The race itself was pretty ‘meh’ for me. I hadn’t raced since Jingle Bell Jog, and I hadn’t run 4 miles since then either. I never really got back into running after being sick, so for the first time in a long time I had literally no expectations for myself. I didn’t know what I’d be capable of.

Mile one had cat hill, so naturally I struggled a bit. Mile two was easy peasy, and probably my fastest mile. Mile three/four had rolling hills that made me angry, and by the end I was dream-running (you know, when you feel like you’re moving through jello no matter how hard you try?) I just pumped my arms because I felt like I had control over them, and hoped that would force my feet through the finish.

Fortunately, it worked, and I got to stop running. Based on how little I’ve run in the last 6 weeks, this is the best I could’ve hoped for and I am satisfied. Not thrilled or pleased, but not annoyed or disappointed with myself either.

We met Petra at baggage claim and headed to go waste time before brunch (while killing time at Athleta, the salesgirl who helped us ended up being someone I went to high school with for a year) and then brunched.

I’d really like to get back to a good place with running, and it’s frustrating to feel like I’m so slow and out of shape, but I know the only way to get it back is to run more.

Playlist (I used to post these all the time but keep forgetting about them lately!)
Lucky Boys Confusion “City Lights”
The Movielife “Hand Grenade”
Panic! At the Disco “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage”
Katy Perry “Peacock”
Fastball “You’re An Ocean”
Goot “Change For Yourself”
Taio Cruz “Break Your Heart”
Frank Turner “Live Fast Die Old”
Anberlin “Day Late Friend”
The Graduate “Bet It All”
I Am the Avalanche “Is This Really Happening?”
The Movielife “Operate”
I Am the Avalanche “You’ve Got Spiders”
Acceptance “In Too Far”
Butch Walker “The Weight of Her”

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yogawarriornyc

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Sweat Session: Frustration Run

I turned my general pissiness into productivity and my best run in a while.

After work I changed, took the subway up to 72nd, then ran over to Central Park. I headed up the west drive, all the way around the reservoir, and back down the way I came. I stopped to walk every 2 1/2 or 3 songs, which is way less than I’ve been walking during any run since August. It felt good to run more and pound out my frustrations.

It was nice to have kind of an idea of where I wanted to go, but not really be sure how far or how long it should take me. I could just not look at my stopwatch and run how I felt like running, which was apparently really fast (for me.)

That might be my best pace since I hurt my knee! I’ve been feeling pretty shitty about most of my runs since my half, and thinking I’ll never be able to run more than 5 minutes at a time without stopping to walk, so this was a good morale-booster run.

Playlist:
Mathletes “Badstreet USA”
Dance Hall Crashers “Enough”
Farewell “Eighty-Eights”
You, Me and Everyone We Know “I’m Losing Weight For You”
Fireworks “Seasick”
Hanson “Kiss Me When You Come Home”
The Wonder Years “Hostels & Brothels”
Flo Rida f/ Akon “Who Dat Girl”
The Promise Hero “You’re Freaking Out”
Anthony Green “Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying to Reach You)”
The Motorcycle Industry “Everything Sounds Better With Drums”
Polar Bear Club “One Hit Back”
The Graduate “Don’t Die Digging”
Catch 22 “On & On & On”
Anberlin “Godspeed”
Bayside “Thankfully”
Allister “Radio Player”

I walked from the bottom of the park back to the office (about a mile and a half) to pick up my stuff and blog whilst stretching at my desk. Now I’m gonna head home and make/eat some sort of curry. I’m hungry!

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Sweat Session: Central Park Run

The weather was on my side tonight. I assumed the heat would be out of control again today so I packed a gym bag and figured I’d hit the treadmill after work. However, with the breeze the weather felt pretty nice, so I headed to Central Park around 7. I wanted to run around the reservoir, but I stupidly got on the E train and ended up having to get off at 53rd and 7th. I decided to just run part of the loop.

At first my legs felt heavy and I wanted to quit after maybe 1/5 of a mile. I am still not used to the concept of needing to warm up or loosen up your legs- the fact that I can feel so crappy at first and end up having a great run is so bizarre to me! It’s a good reminder that sometimes I need to push through it.

I managed to not stop to walk for at least 2 miles, probably closer to 2.5/3, but then my shoe came untied. I bent down to tie it, and for some reason it was really difficult to pick up the pace again after that. It was right around Jaden Smith’s rap part in Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” that I needed to stop for a minute to walk, but after that I ran again until I hit the starting point of my loop.

Muuuch better than my miserable death-run on Monday afternoon. I can’t say I’m 100% sure of the mileage because when I mapped out the run I couldn’t figure out exactly what path I took across the park under the reservoir, but even if my route was closer to 3 miles it’s still a better run than Monday.

Playlist:
Hanson “Waiting For This”
The Helio Sequence “Don’t Look Away”
Justin Timberlake “Like I Love You”
Four Year Strong “Flannel Is the Color Of My Energy”
End of Fashion “Too Careful”
Anberlin “Day Late Friend”
Reel Big Fish “Brand New Song”
Justin Bieber “Never Say Never”
3Oh!3 “Starstrukk”
You, Me, and Everyone We Know “A Little Bit More” (very appropriately titled song for the end of a run!)

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Sweat Session: 3.3 mile run

Sometimes when I’m feeling crappy about a run (mid-run), the only thing that keeps me going is remembering that I’m not going to get any better at running by running LESS. All I can do is plow onward and hope for continued improvement.

Today wasn’t actually bad, but I started off by lollygagging (just like I said I wasn’t going to!) I got home at 6:30, half-changed into running gear then lay down and napped for 45 minutes. Finally I dragged my ass out the door with a loose plan to get about 3 miles done.

Hooray! Mission accomplished. I ran to the track at the park, did 6 laps, then ran home.

Playlist: (in retrospect, REALLY random/eclectic…)
Christina Aguilera “Candyman”
The Format “Oceans”
The Bouncing Souls “Hopeless Romantic”
Flo Rida f/ Akon “Who Dat Girl”
The Bens “XFire”
Jonas Brothers “Burnin Up”
Something Corporate “Space”
The Cure “Friday I’m in Love”
Hanson “Waiting For This”
Fireworks “Again and Again”

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Sweat Session: 4.7 mile run

It’s been a week since my last run but for some reason it feels like it’s been a month. After walking around Hudson River Park with my parents on Sunday I felt the need to go for a run there. I planned to take the subway to the Staten Island ferry after work, then run 5 miles up the esplanade and west side highway to get back to work to pick up my stuff.

After finally leaving work at 6:45, I stood there waiting for a downtown 1 train for about 15 minutes. When no trains seemed to be leaving the station in either direction, I grew increasingly frustrated and pouty that I wasn’t going to be able to do my run before it got dark. Finally I realized that I could just run downtown and take the subway back up, so I headed to the street and walked to 28th and 8th to start my run.

I like when my runs don’t start at home or at work so I can post my route.

I ran, I walked, I enjoyed the view, I squeezed out a little extra daylight by running on the west side. Pleased with this pace- hoping to run a few more times this week so maybe I can improve on it for next week’s run/tumblr meetup!

A sampling from my playlist:
Brendan Benson “A Whole Lot Better”
Weezer “No One Else”
The Motorcycle Industry “Everything Sounds Better With Drums”
Christina Aguilera “Come On Over (remix)”
Ozomatli “Can’t Stop”
Boys Night Out “Medicating”
Acceptance “Breathless”
Allister “Racecars”
The Bens “XFire”
Jet “Rollover DJ”
Maxeen “Don’t Make No Sense”
I Am the Avalanche “Dead and Gone” 

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