The End is Neigh

Not the end of the world, as we seem to be chugging right along past 12/21/12, but the end of the year is certainly upon us.  This is for the week ending on December 30, 2012.

This week, as an experiment, we decided to tape up my Garmin.  Results were interesting. 

Tuesday:  Warm up to Central Park. Feel free to start on the east side of the Lower Loop. Main workout is 3 Lower Loops. First at 70%, second at 75%, third at 85%.

I entered Central Park at 72nd Transverse.  This really screwed me up, because I didn’t get my usual mojo on.  NORMALLY, I would….

Start at Columbus Circle lights, take that first have 0.75 mile of nice rolling hills as warm up, gradually speeding up.  Then you kick in to your top gear around the slope going down towards the transverse, then sprint across it.  Dig deep and go up the Annoying Hill by EX-Tavern on the Green Lights.  Then relax and coast back to starting lights. 

Not today.  I had to start at an awkward point.  So my pace wasn’t exactly fast, and it wasn’t exactly 70, 75, 85.  It FELT like it was, but I don’t know what happened.  Around the last bit of third loop, some supply truck with black diesel passed me, and that really got me coughing…I had to stop.  So much for 85%...

Thursday was 4X Harlem Hill Repeats.  Yep, sometimes, when you wish for more, you just get more. 

Split	Time	Distance	Elevation Gain	Elevation Loss	Avg Pace
Start to Cat Hill	09:15.1	1.03	19	17	8:58
Cat Hill	01:59.1	0.24	30	18	8:26
Cat Hill to top of Park	17:05.8	1.92	22	73	8:54
Harlem Hill 1	03:02.4	0.35	71	0	8:43
Recover	03:18.4	0.33	0	65	9:57
Harlem Hill 2	02:41.5	0.3	65	0	8:50
Recover	03:25.4	0.32	0	65	10:34
Harlem Hill 3	02:40.3	0.3	67	0	8:50
Recover	03:28.2	0.33	0	65	10:36
Harlem Hill 4	02:41.9	0.32	67	0	8:32
80% to 90th Street	07:13.0	0.9	54	43	8:02
Cool Down	15:36.8	1.66	36	84	9:24

Heeeey, not so bad.   I mean these are not spectacular numbers, but I think 8:32 pace on Harlem hill is pretty cute.  80% to 90^th Street involves 2 big-ish hills with short recovery downhill, so I’m mildly impressed.

Saturday Long Run – 14 Miles.

Well, I screwed this one up.  It was first 6 at 60%, next 6 at 75%, last 2 at 60%.  I thought last 2 was “recovery”.  OOPS.  The funny thing was, after doing Harlem Hill Repeats, all of the hills looked so damn flat!!  I mean, as a result, look at the splits.  I’m running by feel, so naturally 75% uphill is going to be slower than 75% on a flat, but the big parts that involve Cat Hill and Harlem Hill is not super slow.  Looks like at times, I’m going up hills at sub 8 pace.  I think this is good news!

I know my Coach probably wanted me to be a bit faster for 75%, but truthfully, my body was pretty tired.  While I resolved the breathing issue, now my legs wouldn’t hold.  My butt hurt.  These are excuses, but I really couldn’t get it past 8:00 mark.  I really wanted to run the second half at 7:45, but hey, maybe another day when I’m not so beat up.  (This week had a 10M Wednesday run!)

Oh, and guys, don’t forget to ZIP UP your tights.  …not that part…the ankle part!

BLOOD, SWEAT, and TEARS.

No Garmin.

Side Note. 

My Coach has banned Garmin. 

But I think you out-psych yourself when you see splits that are too slow, too fast, or seem to be out of sync with how fast you think you should be going.  (…)  Let's put a piece of tape over your Garmin face for Tuesday's run, and see what happens when you do a workout entirely based on feel. I'm also going to give the rest of the week in terms of a percentage of effort level, and we'll see if that's helpful.

I used to “Run By Feel” for a long time.  Then I got Garmin and start to run by Jean Claude.  (yea, I named it, Garmin is French, I think).  Which leads to just as many joys as well as just as many tearful let downs.  He's a bad running partner, me thinks.

So with Garmin being taped up and made to shut up, we are testing out some effort level runs.   So far, Tuesday’s run by feel was a bit of a disaster.  First of all, I had to start at a wrong starting point.  Call it mental, but I must start my run at Columbus Circle entrance “starting” lights, or else all hell breaks loose.  Second, I just didn’t have speed.  PERIOD.

Spoiler Alert:   Hey, did you know that you think you’re putting in more effort, but sometimes, you’re just putting more effort to cling on to that certain pace? 

Also, that nagging butt pain won’t go away.  I rolled and kneaded my buns, but it’s so tight, it really prevents me from kicking asphalt.  Maybe time for a good bath…

Well, Hello There.

This story is for the week ending on December 23, 2012.

This week’s “hard” days featured a two speed tempo on a Tuesday and a 30 minute Fartlek on a Thursday.  My long run was to be 16 miles at 8:30/mile.

The two speed tempo was a hot mess.  Here’s what my coach wanted:

One full Central Park loop starting at Columbus Circle going counterclockwise. Start to 72nd easy, 72nd to engineer's at 7:50-8:00/mile. Engineer's to the start of Harlem Hill easy, Harlem Hill to 72nd on the west side (not that far - about 2.5 miles at 7:15-7:20/mile. Remainder cool down. Don't kill yourself too much on the hill. You'll need some juice for the remainder.

So obviously, I go super easy right up to top of the park, which I self proclaimed is the “start of Harlem Hill”.  Then all hell breaks loose.  You must note that my 10K PR a year ago is 7:20 pace.  I was leaner and a year younger.  For this old fat ass to go up Harlem Hill at 7:15-7:20 pace is near insane.  Or so I declared, and immediately chicken out LOL. I regroup quickly though, and suck it up.  I don’t care if I’m going slower than designated, it’s the effort that counts.

This mentality goes on for about 2.25 miles, with some serious kick ass speed towards the end, right near the nice down hill and flats past Delacorte Theatre.  I’m gasping for air by the time I reach the finish line, aka 72^nd Street Transverse on the West Drive.  Instead of walking it off, I decide to stop completely, which of course induces rainbow vomit.  Yum! Yum!  The cab drivers stopped by the lights look at me in horror.  Yea, dude.  This is what training is all about. 

If you ain’t pukin’, you ain’t workin’.

Now Thursday’s Fartlek Run is not really a Fartlek run in a traditional sense, but more like a HIIT for me.  Or at least I made the mistake of making it that way.  Sandwiched in between 10 minute warm up and 10 minute cool down is:

	Plan (Repeat 2 times)	Reality (Round 1)	Reality (Round 2)
3 minutes	7:30 to 7:20	7:36	7:51
3 minutes	8:55 to 8:04	9:04	10:25 (LOL)
3 minutes	7:09 to 7:00	7:12	7:36
3 minutes	8:55 to 8:04	8:25	9:18
3 minutes	6:42 to 6:42	7:11	7:31

I’m not reaching target pace AT ALL.  (sad face)  Also, there is a serious mistake in this planning.  Because I’m so dumb, I didn’t put any recovery after the last repeat.  So in order to do 30 minutes of these 15 minute sets, it goes from the hardest set of 6:42 pace right into another hard set of 7:30.  What a sad, sad, situation.  AND because I’m so special, this round 2 almost exclusively happened on the bumpy West Drive.  

My long run on the 22nd was not a good one.  I think I ran too hard during the week and by the time Saturday rolled around, I DID NOT WANT TO RUN.  My body kept on saying no, and I kept on pushing. 

Oh, hey, at one point, I had a dude drafting behind me.  OF COURSE I stopped…I’m a big girl.  I hate it when people use me as a wall.  It makes me feel even more gigantic.  Funny thing is, he asked me if I was OK.  I said yea, and then I drafted him - hehe.  Actually, he pulled me.  By following random stranger, I was able to run through some rough patches.  So sometimes, random strangers work.

I have been having issues with breathing going up hill.  This will be a challenge going forward, but looks like my coach has some thing up his sleeve to help me through…