Week 13 - FATNESS TEST

Some elite dude ran Arizona Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon as his "Fitness Test" to see if how much damage the holidays had on him.

headed to Phoenix for a half marathon. Gotta find out how much fitness I managed to maintain over the holiday beer & cookie binge. #sub65
— Rob Watson (@robbiedxc) January 17, 2014

Well, he won this race!

Inspired, I decided that the little two-looper Fred Lebow Half Marathon should be my Fitness Fatness Test. 

Fit and Fat:  just a single letter difference but a whole world apart.

This week was awful week for running in NYC with snow, super cold, ice, etc. etc.  It went down like this:

Monday: 
Warmest day of the week, and since it was a holiday, ran outside - 6M.  Legs felt pretty weak from skiing the day before, but Garmin was saying I was going fast, until I noticed the guy was beeping mile laps at odd spots.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/433128738  ...yep, it's off.  I wonder why...
PM:  Spin.  Ladder endurance thingy.

Tuesday: 
AM: Sleep in!  yay!
PM:  Faster Finish was downgraded to Snowy Finish, so I took to the TM. 
10 min w/u.  3 min on, 2 min off; for 5M.  5 min c/d.  3 min parts accelerated from 7:00 to 6:38.  Take that, TM!

Wednesday: 
AM:  Still Snow.  So much Snow.  7M on TM. 
Lunch:  Pilates.

Thursday:
AM:  STILL ON TM.  w/u 1M, 4M with various inclines to mimic Central Park (5.5% max) @ 7:37, 1M c/d.
PM:  Pilates.

Friday: - NADA -

Saturday: 
AM:  Shake Up Run.  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/435434148
The sprints are at a pretty good pace, which makes me happy. 

Sunday:  RACE!
Surprisingly, the conditions were near identical to last year. 

Fred Lebow Manhattan Half
Distance:  13.1 miles, 21.1 kilometers
Date/Time:  January 26, 2014, 8:00 AM
Location:  Central Park
Weather:  18 Degrees, 41% humidity, 12 mph, Fair

Manhattan Half-Marathon Distance:  13.1 miles, 21.1 kilometers Date/Time:  January 27, 2013, 8:00 AM Location:  Central Park, NYC Weather:  20 degrees, 60% humidity, 17 mph, Fair

Last year, I struggled to keep it within marathon pace.   This year, I struggled from over speeding. I felt like I had to pull myself in over and over.

I should've just let it have it...because...at second half of mile 10, I had a heart attack.

I realized that I just might PR in Central Park. My previous PR for a half marathon is at Brooklyn Half, a much easier, flatter course. None of this crazy hills. So for me to realize that I just might PR, it was shittin' bricks time. I freak out, my heart rate goes crazy and I feel a throw up coming on. I literally choked - I had to slow down. When the heart attack finally went away, I was able to push harder. The last two miles wasn't as a struggle as last year. It felt "right".

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/comparison?activityId=436294190&activityId2=266536872
I wasn't very tired afterwards, but just really cold. So yea, it was much different feeling race than last year!

Week 14.

Another solid week done, although for some reason, I was extremely tired this week.  It could be because I'm recovering from a cold.

But here goes!

Monday:
AM: 6M on treadmill.  Nothing special.
Lunch:  Put in a solid leg work out, since half marathon is almost around the corner and going full speed up Harlem Hill, Middle Hill and Cat Hill twice is gonna hurt!!
PM:  Spin Class

Tuesday:
AM:  Workout said spin, but did not want to spin, so I illegally ran 4Ms.  Easy, though.
PM:  Faster Finish Week 1.  This was 8 min of Strawberry Hill Repeats followed by 2 min break, times three.  The repeats were to be easy repeat, followed by hard repeat.  Since they were so short, I recorded a PR.  6:11 pace going up. 

Wednesday:
AM:  This day was extremely icy.  It ran the night before, then the temperature sank to below zero.  It was super black ice along the roads, which forced me to run on Bridle Path.  I am not used to running on squishy dirt, and I swear this severely added to my fatigue. 
Lunch:  Pilates

Thursday:
AM:  Cat Hill Repeat.  It was 8 repeats with a twist.  Instead of hard up, easy down, it was hard up, hard down, then easy up, easy down.  It was strangely hard, probably because I didn't get to take a break after the hard up.  Some random dude actually cheered me on.  I must have sounded awful or something (._.)
These COULD be faster, but I say it's good enough right now.  At least they were all around 10K pace going up.
PM:  Pilates

Friday: 
PM:  TRX.  OK, this class is fun, but it's damaging to my long run.  I put too much energy into this class that I didn't get enough muscular rest before I went on the Saturday run.  Come to think about it, it's barely a 12 hour rest.  Having had weird bridle path run on Wednesday and Cat Hill on Tuesday, I should've rested.

Saturday:
10M Long Run.  Which shouldn't be this hard...  It was supposed to be relatively easy, with just middle 6M at MP.  It was hard from the get-go, and my legs felt like jelly.   It was super exhausting.

Sunday:
Elliptical...yuck.

K, I'm Back.

So I didn't run the California International Marathon.  I have been nursing Posterior Tibia Tendonitis, which seems to pop up whenever I don't want to go up a hill.  Funny, how things like that happens.

While on break, I managed to get certified by USATF as a Level 1 T&F Coach.  Insane.  I hated T&F when I was in elementary school.  Now, apparently, I'm good enough to coach it. There's something wrong.  You don't want this coach for sure!

I also managed to sneak in some runs in Hawaii, on the Kona Coast.  Yep, ran a small portion the Ironman Kona course and decided that these IM folks are insane.

ANYWAYS....

We're back to Boston training and back to getting that Unicorn at the finish line. Last year, I got my Unicorn, but some dumb asses ruined it for others.  I sincerely hope all those who missed it are able to get  their legit Unicorns this year.

So far, training has been tame.  Coach Terry has been slow to build me up because he thinks I'm old and fragile.  Well, I'm old.  He got that right.  But not so fragile. We are down to week 14 right now, with 2 weeks of training already under my belt.  I managed a real solid long run for this early in the season (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/428136133).  It's not reaaaaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy a long run unless it's 17+ miles, but I think it's good for now.

This week, things are still tame, as I prep for Manhattan Half at the end of the month.  I'm looking to set a personal course record, which means, I have to beat 1:42:35.  That's a 7:50/mile pace so it might be doable if I concentrate. 

I need to decide what my pre-Boston tune up race is going to be.  Originally, I was thinking NYC Half, but now that Mr. Watson is running it, I'd MUCH RATHER BE CHEERING than running.  hmmm.