Running – Page 9 – East Coast Appetite

Brooklyn Half 2017 Recap

June 19, 2017Posted in Race Recaps, RunningTagged Brooklyn Half, Half Marathon, Races, Running18 Comments

Spoiler alert: I got a PR and did it under 2 hours with a time of 1:58:54.

I was hoping for more course photos but there were only a few of me from the finish from GameFace plus a couple more that teammates took along the way.

This was my 7th half marathon and my 3rd in 2017 (I did 3 in 2015 and 1 in 2016). My first was 2:10:08 and some along the way were during injures (Nike San Francisco Women’s Half Race Recap) or lower training periods where the race wasn’t a goal race (Weekly Mileage (and food) recaps 1/16 – 2/19) but I’m glad to finally be in the 1:50:00s.

Getting in the corrals:

It’s definitely harder to write about this so many weeks later, but the splits tell the story. I held back a little up the hills but tried to keep a steady pace. My splits averaged out to be just about 9:09 or under and I knew I was on pace when I exited the park.

I was still rolling on Ocean Parkway, even when the cheering crowds thinned out substantially. I was pretty sure I had a PR in the bag and sped up to lower 9 minute miles, then was able to drop below 9 for the final few miles. That last mile got to be painful but I felt like that meant I was doing it right. My struggle up the boardwalk was apparent and my final “0.2” was at an 8:23 pace.

I collected my medal, got a bag with yellow Gatorade that I traded some dude for because he had blue Gatorade (best flavor). Then I tried to get my stuff. Well, turned out the truck with my stuff had broken down and it wasn’t there yet. They gave us heat sheets and vouchers for a free hot dog but eventually it pulled up so I could put my jacket on. Then the rain started, just as I finally pulled up to our club’s beach picnic.

18619910_10154760430074538_7313756224171844073_n — Relieved to finally get our bags

Eric photo

The Week in Workouts and Food 5/8 – 5/14

May 18, 2017May 17, 2017Posted in ClassPass, Desserts, Food, Running, TrainingTagged Running, Training2 Comments

5/8: After a triumphant Broad Street Run on Sunday, we got some Tony Luke’s on the way out of Philly. Cheesesteaks, roast pork, and fried cheese curds.

Then I had tickets with some Californian friends to see the SF Giants play the Mets (my NY team of choice). Obviously, I got Shake Shack at Citi Field. I love trying the different concrete flavors at all the different Shake Shack locations (ok, so I’ve only been to a couple of non-NYC spots) and the Citi Field one is solid. I should really take more photos, though.

5/9: 4.5 miles at The Distance at Mile High Run Club. I was hoping to beat my old best in this class of 5.5 miles but my calves were screaming. I ended up hopping off to foam roll after the first mile or two then taking it slower overall. I finally felt warmed up by mile 3 and got some of my sprints closer to usual (~8.0 miles per hour or higher). This was my one ClassPass class for this month since I put my membership on hold to focus on running. Go figure I used it on a running class.

5/10: Rest day and I went to Trapizzino then Soft Swerve with my (Yelp) friends Allison and Lori. I had the chicken and oxtail trapizzinos and a broccoli arancini at Trappizino. At Soft Swerve, I had the Jersey City, which is their ube and coconut ice creams swirled, then topped with toasted coconut, dotted with mochi, and a free waffle chip with Yelp check-in.

5/11: 5 miles total of Speedwork at Red Hook Track. I got about 1 mile of warmup, 3 x 1 mile repeats, then 1 mile of cooldown. I tried to take it easy since my calves/shins were still tight. Due to the track and me still being bad at pressing lap then stop, my splits were 100m off from where my watch beeped. First mile split was ~9:20, second was ~8:40, and third was ~8:30. I want to try to do future workouts like this in the lower-to-mid 8’s.

5/12: Rest day.

5/13: Was hoping for an easy 3 but it was pouring all day. Scrapped the idea of going to the gym by 11am and just foam rolled. And ate almost an entire pint of birthday cake Halo Top ice cream.

5/14: Last long run before Brooklyn Half and I forgot to pack a gel and also just wanted to take it easy. Calves were STILL feeling tight, but felt better after the first few miles. Ended up doing 9.2 total. Of course I felt great on the final 1, but to be fair, it was all downhill.

After shower and foam rolling, I baked some marshmallow chocolate chip cookies.

Total: 19.1 miles out of a predicted 27. Harumph. Let’s just pretend I’m very well-tapered.

The Week in Workouts and Food 4/24-4/30

May 4, 2017May 4, 2017Posted in TrainingTagged 5K, Bronx, Running, Training1 Comment

4/24: I donated platelets, which turns out takes a lot more time than whole blood donation. I was starving during and after and finally got to Junior’s for a pastrami reuben, disco fries, and a shared slice of red velvet cheesecake. Ate it all so fast that no pictures exist.

4/25: I was fairly prepped and ready for an easy 3 on the treadmill since it was pouring outside, but stopped by the Book of Mormon lottery and was successful. So we scrapped the gym plan, stopped by City Kitchen for ilili box gyros and Dough donuts, then caught the show. Book of Mormon was great and made me psyched for Hamilton on June 3rd. So soon!

4/26: I made it home from a long work day in the Bronx (after spending Tuesday in Staten Island) and had plans to do a park loop but just could not bring myself to get out there. I put my GPS watch on and everything but had to take it off around 7 and admit defeat.

4/27: I had evening plans for Book Club instead of guided Speedwork, so I did an ‘easy’ loop around the park in the morning, about 2 hours later than usual. Holy humidity. 5.4 miles,

4/28: Rest day, but I was introduced to the below Austrian cookies (well, there’s no cookie part really, so not sure what they count as) and now have requests to bring them to Book Club and work. I’m going to try to pop them in the freezer to make mini Bluth’s frozen bananas.

4/29: Bronx Zoo Run for the Wild “5K”. So a 5K is the remaining distance I have left to PR this spring (10K, 10 Mile, Half Marathon, and 4 Miler done). I wisely decided not to make this race my attempt based on the humidity and the company and I’m so glad. The course was pretty boring at first (a lot of parking lot out and back in the first mile), then we saw some zebras and giraffes. There was a smattering of other animals. All the money raised went back into the zoo and conservation efforts.

My goal was to run at a pace that kept my heart rate down and didn’t get me too sweaty. We stayed conversational the whole time, but with high humidity and climbing temperatures, sweat was unavoidable.

The post-race spread was amazing (apples AND oranges, bagels AND muffins), then later there was pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches and ice cream. We dropped stuff off at the car then puttered around another good chunk of the zoo to see some lions, bears, and red pandas (oh my).

At night, I joined some teammates to cheer on the Red Hook Crit 5K and some of the bike races. It was so much fun to cheer this because the energy of the runners and the crowd was great (we were given cowbells and also brought our own). I could only stay for some of the women’s cyclists but witnessed the pileup right in front of us. I plan to make a full evening out of it next year (but will probably not run it if we’re being honest).

4/30: Church of the Sunday Long Run. I got lucky that Carly had joined and also wanted 10 miles in my pace range of 10:30. We ended up going a little slower then had to pause a couple times while I once again tried to figure out the best route from DUMBO to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I accidentally cut the route a little short from going up Kent Ave. so we included 2/3 of a park loop and ended at Juice Press for our free juice.

Brooklyn Navy Yard — Somewhere way above and over from my hand is the Williamsburg Bridge

Total: 18.9 miles out of a planned 22-27.

The Week in Workouts & Food 4/17 – 4/23

May 1, 2017May 1, 2017Posted in ClassPass, Race Recaps, Running, TrainingTagged 4 Miler, Running, TrainingLeave a comment

4/17: Rest and recuperation after my half marathon the day before. I slumped home after work then did my taxes. I should have foamed rolled while doing them.

4/18: Cafe Boulud with a friend. We saw Chef Boulud making the rounds to the VIP tables and I had a lovely conversation with the sommelier about young reds and fish pairings. Every dish was amazing. I had gone to Bar Boulud after the NYC Marathon and stuffed myself with oysters, cheese, and terrine. Cafe Boulud was a step above.

4/19: PureBarre in the AM and restorative yoga in the PM. I really wanted to get a few miles done in the evening but my left Achilles tendon was a bit tender. It started drizzling as I left yoga (which got out late), so that was even more impetus to skip. I’ve never done two classes in a day before, but this was the last day in my ClassPass cycle. I took my membership back down to 1 a month because 5 will be too much while I’m trying to increase the volume of my mileage more into the 20’s.

4/20: Speed Training, Week 2. I ran a hair over 2 miles to get to the meeting spot, another 2 mile warmup, then 3 1-mile repeats around tempo pace (8:54, 9:03, 8:39). My splits were super uneven because I took the second one too easy in the first 800, but my third was closer to my 5K pace. Then I jogged up the hill to get to a pizza party.

4/21: Rest day, as my Fridays almost always are.

4/22: I slept in past 8am (a first for many weekends) then had to hustle to bake Funfetti cookies for a baby shower, so I missed my opportunity for a shakeout run.

4/23: NYRR Run As One 4 Miler in Central Park. I DNS this race last year and haven’t raced a 4 Miler since the Japan Day Run almost a year ago (thanks to DNS Al Gordon in February), so I was pretty sure it was time for a 4-mile PR. My friend Jay who is normally in the E corral ahead of me generously offered to pace me. I didn’t have enough time to do a warm-up mile, so my first mile was really slow. I was hoping to get it at 9 but it was pretty congested going up Cat Hill. I let loose on the 2nd mile, then tried to rein it in just a bit on the 3rd mile. Then Jay helped me go all out on the 4th mile. For the last 800, I saw sub-7 on my watch. Very exciting stuff!

Afterward, I waited for my friend who’s training for the Buffalo Marathon and we ran an extra 4 miles.

Total: 16.9 miles plus yoga and barre.

Non-Race Workouts & Food 3/20 – 4/9

April 15, 2017April 16, 2017Posted in ClassPass, Food, Race Recaps, Running, TrainingTagged 5K, ClassPass, Running, Training2 Comments

3/21: After running a PR in the NYC Half two days before, I did a few post-work recovery miles in LIC along the water, then met my friends for happy hour and a Cuban sandwich. General soreness and DOMS, but nothing too bad.

3/23: A couple easy miles to and from my friend’s place for catsitting.

3/24: I hosted my 3rd annual wine, cheese and charcuterie party, with the added bonus desserts of Cronuts, Nerds Jellybeans, and Peeps Oreos.

17492797_10155085488528490_1914024543726331532_o — Photo credit to Lori

3/25: Gaza 5K and Susan’s Goodbye. I ‘paced’ my roommate for here first ever 5K. It was a beautiful springish day. Turns out it was not a 5K, but a full loop of the park! But that’s ok because we had a great time and raised money for mental health services for Palestinian refugees.

17523576_10100227175425892_2229339226931714280_n — Photo Credit to Murray who won 1st Place Senior Male

I then added on a few extra miles after the race to say goodbye to a running club member the only way we know how: running and food. We ran to Bensonhurst to eat at Cafe Lily, which specializes in Korean-Uzbek food. We ate a feast and I got to take home some delicious kebab leftovers. I made the mistake of getting a huge taro bubble tea for the road and was so full it hurt. I’m wearing my favorite pair of tights ever, the cosmic dot print from Lululemon. These are more yoga/barre pants for me normally, but I wanted something festive.

17434504_10212673629466251_2776078672654794091_o — Photo credit to Jay

3/26-3/28: I had a sore throat on Saturday night, then got progressively more sick on Saturday. I’d hoped to do a medium run but skipped it. After a sleepless Sunday night, I had to miss work Monday. I finally obtained some Claritin D and felt much better but wisely took Tuesday off as well.

3/29: I went to Barry’s Bootcamp for the first time ever. The most popular times fill up super quickly on ClassPass, so my friend introduced me to Barry’s Buddies program where you get a free class for referring a friend (and the referee does as well).

We started on the floor for 10 minutes (that day was chest/back/abs), then 10 minutes on the treadmill for flat speed intervals. 10 minutes back on the floor, then 10 on the treadmill for hills. Then back to the floor for a quick 5 (my arms were dying), then a final 5 on the treadmill. I got up to about 8+ mph by the end but was afraid to take it fast because my form suffers. The treadmills were Woodways which were super nice (they also have those at Mile High Run Club).

Chaya is a semi-regular and is being coached by the instructor so we went back in after for a quick pic.

4/1: D.C. I finally got to try Astro Donuts & Fried Chicken but didn’t get to snap a photo of my beautiful Cherry Blossom decorated donut or my less attractive but delicious and juicy fried chicken. Or my gone in 30 seconds maple bacon donut.

After a couple of years of failing, we finally got to see the Kite Festival on a beautiful spring day. Ro’s friends had bought an octopus kite that we named and flew for over an hour.

I had dinner at Nando’s which is the 3rd time in as many DC trips and now sort of a tradition. Macho peas and cheeky bants.

4/2: Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. Race report to come!

4/6: Spin at SYNC Studio again and Sweetgreen after. I got the Beets Don’t Kale my Vibe (sigh) bowl and it was amazing.

4/7: Finally went back to Rolf’s for drinks with my work team to take in the Christmas lights and belatedly celebrate a holiday birthday.

4/8: Storm King day trip. I had wanted to get a shakeout run in but just wasn’t feeling it. We walked over 6 miles and saw so many great pieces of art.

Prior, we had lunch at Brothers BBQ and I got the pulled pork sandwich when I read that they had North Carolina roots. It did not disappoint. The sauce had the right amount of vinegar, the cole slaw was plentiful, and my side of collard greens was full of ham.

4/9: UAE 10K. Race report to come!

My mileage wasn’t as high as I would have liked, but overall these were some fairly solid weeks of fitness and food.

Mileage Etc Recaps 2/20 – 3/19

March 18, 2017March 18, 2017Posted in ClassPass, Running, TrainingTagged Mile, Running, Training1 Comment

Well, I did it again. I spent more time running and less time writing. This is a good thing overall, though. Also, this entry is including the ASSUMPTION that I’ll be running the NYC Half on March 19th. Fingers crossed, knocking on wood, etc.

2/20 – 2/26: 18.8 miles, which was a definite cutback plan from the prior week’s 24 miles. I wanted to squeeze in more but I DNS that Al Gordon 4 miler on 2/25 and was bedridden (with a hangover, stupidly) all day, so missed all those miles and the to and from. Lifted a little with a friend at the gym but had to skip kickboxing class. Serious Al Gordon/missed running opportunity FOMO that haunted me for days.

My penance however was a very cool long run with some teammates down to DUMBO to see one of the new pieces of public artwork, which is of course right along the north edge of the park squeezed next to brand new luxury condos. The sign lights up and changes to different colors if you tweet at it and also does a traffic report for the bridges every 10 minutes. None of these tricks are captured in the below photos.

I also baked funfetti donuts during my lost hungover day to bring to book club:

2/27 – 3/5: 29.3 miles or 5 hours and 9 minutes of running according to Strava. I wish I had hit 30 miles even, but am mainly proud that I squeezed in 5 days of running, plus a class of Total Body Conditioning in lieu of Kickboxing.

I received my order from RunningWarehouse.com that included a pair of the Brooks Launch 3 (to be my new speed shoe), a Brooks hat (free with shoe purchase and I now have 4 hats too many), and a Moving Comfort Vixen Sports Bra (only $20 and so comfy). I tested out the Launches for a 2-mile morning jaunt and they felt pretty good. To kill time between work and a Yelp event, I stopped by my local Jackrabbit and ended up picking up new gels and chews since I finally ran out of the last batch I bought before the marathon. I obviously have only done a handful of double-digit runs or other excursions requiring gel fuel since then (checking Strava weekly mileage again…yep). I had tried and failed to find Brooks Ghost 8s in my size online for weeks, but it looks like I missed my shot when they were available in January, so I ponied up for a pair of the new Ghost 9 while at Jackrabbit, figuring that at least I’m supporting a localish business in the process (even though they just got bought by a CA-based investment firm). They also have a rewards program, so I hit the next level for $20 off my next purchase. Once the 9’s go on sale, I will try to stock up wherever I can. I’m very pleased with the colorway of these since my 8’s had a bit too much hot pink in them.

I did an 11 mile long run by myself in very windy sub-20 degree weather on the 4th so I feel like I now have the mental fortitude to tackle whatever the NYC Half throws at me. I ended this one at Starbucks and tried their new Cascara latte. It was delightful and much needed since I ran from 2pm-4pm, which is normally my prime coffee time.

Stopped by the Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturday’s and checked out the Georgia O’Keeffe and Marilyn Minter exhibits. Then crushed a cochinita pibil burrito at Al Atodero. The bartender said that I murdered it, so I just had to casually drop that I had run 11 miles that day.

Then on the 5th, I met up with a teammate for a recovery run in the afternoon since the morning was still quite windy and cold. I was only planning on 5.5 but tacked on a little extra to hit 7 when we ran into another teammate. Almost stopped by Starbucks again, but had restocked my coffee supplies by then.

3/6 – 3/12: 17 miles plus a million other workouts. PureBarre Monday morning, StrongLifts Series A at the gym Tuesday night, spin class with a friend Thursday evening, then fascia release/stretching class Saturday after a shorter run. I skipped kickboxing.

7 of the miles were from a Wednesday night run for International Women’s Day. I chose to do the longer route and chatted with some great ladies the whole time. We ran to Butter & Scotch (ahem from my New Year’s Day amazing brunch AND that cake recipe I baked with friends) and this time, I got a slice of the birthday cake blended into a vanilla milkshake. Love a good cake shake.

17157556_10158355487850553_5530551223868665703_o — Waiting for the run to begin

17159200_10155042810211870_2546216734423144090_o — Rapturous about my cake shake

3/13 – 3/19: 6.4 miles before the NYC Half (race report to come), including a 1 Mile PR! New PR is 7:19, down from 7:24 at the 2015 Fifth Avenue Mile. I had about one mile warmup before trying it on an indoor track that’s 200m (so, 8 laps). My right shoe came untied after the 3rd lap, but I decided to just hang on. I was gasping for breath on the last 2 laps, but I guess it was worth it. They’re having this particular race again in 2 weeks and while I would love to whittle my time down, my calves have been tight for a couple of days after, so I don’t think it’s worth the risk right before the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. I did about a mile cool-down though my Garmin was totally off inside.

I officially withdrew from kickboxing even though I had only 2 classes left. The mid-week mid-day workout just wasn’t working for me and my calves were still tense from the Mile.

I went to the NYC Half expo and OMG it’s really happening.

See y’all on the other side.

Weekly Mileage (and food) recaps 1/16 – 2/19

February 21, 2017March 9, 2017Posted in Running, TrainingTagged Running, Training5 Comments

After the dessertapalooza the first two weeks of 2017 as mentioned in my last post (14 desserts in 14 days), I’ve tried to scale up the mileage while cutting down on some of the food. But some weeks have been a bit ‘off’. As you can see from the mileage below, I’d have a really good ramping up week then way too much of a cutback week. I think it helps for me to not get too obsessed with weekly mileage and think more of everything as part of the same cycle, but I do want to be more steady. It’s difficult to write about the runs/days/weeks that didn’t go well and can sometimes feel a little embarrassing to know that your mileage is so low. But for the most part, I haven’t been Instragramming much this year and doubt that anyone is pulling up my Strava and checking out my mileage. I’m trying not to fall into any comparison traps.

Week of 1/16 – 1/22: 17 miles (including Fred Lebow Half at long run pace)

Week of 1/23 – 1/29: 4.5 miles (treadmill workout)

Week of 1/30 – 2/5: 20 miles (including long run of 8 miles)

Week of 2/6 – 2/12: 5.5 miles (Mile High Run Club’s The Distance class)

Week of 2/13 – 2/29: 24 miles (long run of 8 miles, MHRC The Distance, race of 3.33 miles)

I had 2 different weekends with no long runs, one because I felt sick/lost my voice (January 28th and 29th) and one because my plans later in the day took precedence on Saturday the 11th, then I sat out on some pretty terrible weather on Sunday the 12th. The NYC Half is now only 4 weeks away, so that certainly puts my rear in gear a bit. I’m planning long runs of 10, 11, and 12 miles the next few weeks and am running the Al Gordon 4 Miler on the 25th. I’m shooting for a PR, which should be doable based on my 3.33 performance and 2 year old PR of 36:54.

Chocolate Chip Marshmallow cookies baked during the Super Bowl

I had some fun non-running workouts, including kickboxing at work (the instructor likes to end with burpees), Pure Barre, and good old-fashioned strength training. Amazing how one’s core can still be sore days later.

The Weeks in Workouts and Food 12/12-1/1

January 3, 2017January 3, 2017Posted in ClassPass, TrainingTagged Running1 Comment

Yeah, that’s right, I’m squeezing in the final 3 weeks of the year together. December absolutely flew by in preparation for the holidays and being busy at work and socially. Below are some fitness and food highlights, with many gaps. There were quite a few mornings where I skipped a run and regretted it and others where the biting cold took away my desire entirely. My weekly mileage is still lower than where I’d like it to be by anywhere from 5-10 miles a week. I got back into ClassPass but struggled to squeeze in all 5 classes by the end of the cycle on the 20th. Foodwise, I splurged hard and gained a couple of pounds to show for it. You know, the usual post-marathon eating like you’re still training for a marathon but your mileage is 1/3 of what is was.

12/13: Mile High Run Club High 45. This was my first time not doing The Distance, but I still squeezed in over 4 miles. Different instructors have different ways of describing the faster paces (the jump between half marathon pace to 10K pace to 5K pace to flat out sprint), so that took some adjusting. Overall, I ran faster than in The Distance to compensate for the lesser mileage and felt great. I wandered around in a hungry daze after and ended up at Panera in Union Square to grab a bacon egg and cheese on an asiago bagel. ClassPass Class #2 of the cycle.

12/14: Restorative yoga. This is my favorite kind of yoga because we usually do a few sun salutations (maybe) but then hold poses like pigeon for longer, then end in an extended savasana. Works for me. ClassPass Class #3.

12/15: Speedwork Week 4. Warmup was cut a little short because I was late. 1000m repeats x 6. I have them down as 3:04, 3:01, 2:57, and 2:52, but these could be off because I am still trying to get my lap-stop pressing of my watch down. Cool down nice and easy but my friend Chun squeezed one last super fast 200 out of me.

12/16: PureBYK at BYKlyn, which I hadn’t been to since before marathon training began. They added monitors to measure your RPMs and caloric burn, which is a nice addition. I’m excited to get back here more often. ClassPass Class #4.

12/17: I was planning to race the NYC Runs Cocoa Classic 10K on Roosevelt Island, but it was canceled due to snow. I was shooting for a PR, so I was bummed but also somewhat relieved. The snow turned to cold rain with a strong wind by 9am and I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to run in that (or have the volunteers and race staff stand around in it). They gave us a discount on future races, but no 10Ks that immediately appeal to me.

The good news is that I went back to Emily (3rd time in 2 months) and tried two new-to-me pizzas.

12/18: Cookie baking extravaganza! I made Funfetti cookies then took a stab at my childhood gingerbread cookie recipe (my Mom copied it down from a neighbor). Thanks to my trusty stand mixer (thanks, Carla!), the dough turned out perfect. Then my friends helped cut them into mitten, snowmen, and the letter H shapes.

12/19: My first PureBarre class in 4 months and my 5th ClassPass of this cycle, which I barely squeezed in. Needless to say, I was shaking during a lot of the seat work. Then my abs were sore for 3 days afterward. This was a much-needed welcome back to the barre.

12/20: Soft Swerve for purple ube ice cream with mochi and toasted coconut in a black chocolate cone. Yum. They can do a vanilla swirl with the ube and also make matcha and black sesame flavors that can be swirled together (similar to Taiyaki). I loved the crunchiness of the toasted coconut so much, plus they spooned some into the bottom of the cone before adding the ice cream.

12/22: Speedwork Week 5. 1.7 mile warm up to the track, then 6 x 800m. Roughly 4:10, 4:03, 4:11, and 3:59. I had lamb vindaloo as a late lunch/early dinner and it was not sitting very well, but I held it together (barely).

12/23: I had off work and felt recovered enough from speedwork, so I did a late morning outer loop of Prospect Park plus the to and from was 5.7 miles total. I mistakenly thought doing the outer loop would add on more mileage and that I would hit 6 even, but I was very wrong. I didn’t look at my watch for the first 3 miles and turns out I was taking them a little too fast.

12/26: At-home strength workout with resistance bands. I did a warmup, some planks, and push-ups then tried the recommended balance and lower body strength workout with the bands. I had been hoping to fit in a spin class, but it was waitlist-only when I checked Christmas night.

12/27: 4 miles in Richmond around Belle Isle. I tried a couple new-to-me trail sections that were smaller or steeper. It was 60 degrees when I started (hello, shorts!) then it sprinkled/drizzled for the last 2 miles. There were lots of families with kids and dogs out, plus a few other runners. Major positive splits here! I’m planning to run more along the river next time I’m back in Richmond, especially in preparation for the Richmond Half (fall 2017 races still TBD but 90% sure that one is my goal race).

Then I ate super local oysters.

12/31: 5.5 miles along Brooklyn Bridge Park, not looking at my watch. Which of course means I was going too fast. 1.5 miles of this are downhill, then BBP is pretty flat, then of course one must go uphill to return anywhere out of DUMBO. But by the 4th mile, I had an endorphin spree and was feeling great.

1/1/17: 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym watching football, then strength and core work. I skipped a morning race in the park due to a late New Year’s Eve festivities, so I’m really glad I got a run in to kick off 2017.

2016 Running Wrap-Up and 2017 Goals

December 31, 2016December 31, 2016Posted in ClassPass, Musings, RunningTagged RunningLeave a comment

2016 is almost over and I’m about to head out the door for its last run, but I just wanted to do a quick review post. Also, I baked a lot this year and ate a lot of ice cream.

Q1: I started off the year in physical therapy, still unable to run without significant bursitis pain. I was taking a fair amount of barre and spin classes to try and keep my strength and cardio fitness up. I started a new job February 1st with slightly earlier hours, which definitely affected my desire for morning runs (once I could actually run), but which is otherwise great. I baked a LOT of cookies with all of that indoor time after getting a stand mixer in January and one of the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbooks as a Christmas gift (then buying the other for myself as well as a cookie dough scoop). And my first sour cream coffee cake. In March, I added some elliptical miles to the treadmill that were pain-free and figured I could try the Cherry Blossom 5K in April (since I couldn’t do the 10 Miler).

Q2: Cherry Blossom 5K went well (and we had a great DC weekend), so I slowly started upping my mileage. I skipped the Run As One but made it through the Japan Run and Healthy Kidney 10K. I went hiking in Shenandoah National Park and explored my old Virginia stomping grounds a bit. In mid-June, I ran a 10K PR at the Mini 10K. I kept baking and added Ooey Gooey Butter Cake to my repertoire. Oh, and my trivia team won a trip to Vegas. Said goodbye to Carla who moved to Chicago.

Q3: In July, I started marathon training. My ratio of parties I attended over parties I was invited to started to rapidly decline as I chose rest on the weekends before and after long runs. I met a lot of nice people in my running club during the weekend long runs. I dropped my ClassPass allotment from 10/month to 5/month then finally put it on hold in September after I struggled to get even 5 classes in. I ran a 5K PR at the Al Goldstein Speed Series in August, but wasn’t 100% sure it was a PR until I knew my time for sure and checked my old one from Memorial Day 2015. I went rock climbing weekly for over a month. I took trips to Vegas and Cancun and did my long runs on the treadmill, plus a quick trip to Richmond. I went hiking at Breakneck Ridge and managed to lose my train ticket on the ride up, but did not fall while hiking. Said Goodbye to Gabby as she moved to London.

My first take on the Fruity Pebbles version of Cornflake cookies

Q4: I ran the NYC Marathon! I also ran a Half Marathon PR in early October, then a 5-mile PR in late November, but 90% of my thinking and running effort was centered around the marathon. I ran my longest runs ever in October in preparation for the marathon and kept being struck by “I can’t believe I’m going to do this!”. I traveled to Chicago, DC, and then Richmond VA for the holidays and ran (outside, along a body of water) in each city.

Bib Pickup with Brittany who was volunteering

Chicago at night after Chun ran the marathon there

Pausing During my DC 11-mile Taper Run from the Jefferson Memorial

2017 Running and Fitness Goals:

PR in the 5K, 10K, 10 Mile, and Half Marathon. I’m running two 10 Milers in the spring (plus maybe Bronx in the fall) and have only done it once before in fall 2015 while injured, so I feel pretty good about my chances for that. I’d like to run a sub-2 hour Half Marathon, ideally at the NYC Half in March. I was hoping for that 10K PR in mid-December but the race was cancelled. I’ll see how I feel about scheduling a local 5K, but my current PR includes Zoo Hill, so I will look for a flat one.
Move up a corral in the NYRR corral system. I’m in G, but should be able to get to F, hopefully by the middle of the year.
Continue speed training classes as long as I remain uninjured.
Use all of my ClassPass classes every cycle, no excuses. Put it on hold again if I have to because I refuse to waste the money.
My 2015 strength goal that fell by the wayside in 2016 was to be able to do a pull-up. I feel like I’m further away than ever from this, but I think I can start to work toward it again.

The Weeks in Workouts & Food 11/28-12/4 and 12/5-12/11

December 15, 2016December 15, 2016Posted in ClassPass, RunningTagged ClassPass, RunningLeave a comment

Monday 11/28: Off day. Delighted to say that the fruity pebbles cookies I baked on Sunday were gone by 4:30pm Monday.

Tuesday 11/29: Mile High Run Club “The Distance”. Got a later start than last time but squeezed in 5.5 miles in just under an hour. The different intervals include a warm-up/cool-down pace, marathon pace, half marathon pace, 5K-10K pace, then an all-out sprint. My half marathon pace is very close to my 10K pace now so I tried to take those intervals at the 5K pace. For the final minute of sprints, I decided to really crank it up and saw sub-7 minutes for the first time ever. That was thrilling. I was also proud of myself for keeping it consistent for the whole class and not fading (ahem like the girl next to me).

Wednesday 11/30: Gym time. I did 2000m warmup on the Erg, then some light lifting and strength exercises, focusing on my core and abs. Kettlebell swings, medicine ball situps, planking. I was in and out in less than an hour. Time to start squatting and doing pushups again, plus making sure my deadlift form is correct.

Thursday 12/1: Track night. We did a warmup, drills, 4 x 800m, then cool down. My splits were (if I remember correctly because I messed it up on my watch then gave up) 4:06, 3:58, 4:08 (coach said minus 10 seconds for tying my shoe after the first lap but it was a struggle after that), 4:01.

One of the coaches congratulated me on my 5-mile PR but said I needed to be running more miles in general (even though I’m “just” 10K training), closer to 18-21 a week. So that set the tone for my planning of the rest of the week/month/year plus my future spring half training. Also, I had Shake Shack for lunch which was delicious but not a wise decision before speedwork. Thought I was going to puke on the last one. It was great to be doing this with so many wonderful teammates.

Friday 12/2: Day off.

Saturday 12/3: Unexpected day off because I was hungover from several hours of happy hour the night before.

Sunday 12/4: Long run; I combined a ~4 mile run to DUMBO with my club with 3 beforehand to and around Prospect Park. This was my longest run since the marathon. It was a pajama run, so I tied my gingerbread man PJ pants around my waist for the first 3 miles (and felt a little ridiculous doing so), then wore them for the next 4 to a coffeeshop in DUMBO. Ended up walking home with pants tied around waist again.

Total miles: 16.5 miles.

12/5 – 12/10: No workouts except for some Friday night dancing at The Woods. I had to miss the track workout because I was hosting book club. I consumed some great cocktails, plus red wine and beer this week, which obviously did not lead to any morning workouts. #holidays

Sunday 12/11: My new longest run since the marathon, which was 9.6 miles to Levain Bakery from Brooklyn.If I had run from the original meeting point, it would have been over 10 miles and I’m still saying no freaking way to double digit runs, at least for a few more weeks. I stayed conversational the whole way but after we got a sub-10 mile for #7, I was so tired and hungry for the last 2.6. To be fair, it was after 12:30pm at that point since we had a post-10:30AM start.

Weekly total 12/5-12/11: 9.6 miles and some dancing.

Other things of note: I only booked and went to one ClassPass class (Mile High Run Club’s The Distance on 11/29), so I’m scrambling to fill up the last week of my cycle. This should be fun! I’m trying to incorporate more strength training and cross training, so I’m doing yoga (flow AND restorative), foam rolling and stretching class (heaven after I run there), plus my good old standby spin.

I got into the NYC Half AND the Fred Lebow Half, so I’m basically going to be training for halfs the next several months. Guess I’ll need some legit winter running gloves.

And my roommate and I put up the Christmas tree that was in storage above my closet. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.