Month: June 2010

Dry, Wonderful Heat

Today’s run started out in 89-degree weather. It “cooled” to 87 by the second loop. But the humidity was only about 38%, so it was a very tolerable kind of heat. I ran a couple loops of Central Park with Elizabeth Corkum today. It was my first time running since Tuesday, partly because of work but partly because of other lovely developments.

This week tired me out so much that I actually skipped the race I was scheduled to do this morning; I got home from work around 4am and I just thought it would be stupid to race when a long run was more valuable to me. It happened to work out that Elizabeth was going for the same distance in the park around the same time so we coordinated it perfectly. Along the way we stopped for hydration and did PowerGels halfway through the race. We stopped once because of a knee problem Elizabeth was dealing with. Also, at one point I wanted to do a speedier mounting of a hill while she walked, then I reconnected with her by jogging back to her. In the end, this long run left me with plenty of energy left. I have a race tomorrow morning and that’s just about how I like today’s run, so I’m not pooped out.

I guess nothing more to say other than I hit the gym after hanging with Elizabeth for a bit. I did abs, glutes, arms, and a little bit of shoulders. I’m still a bit tired so perhaps that is why I left a little earlier than I expected to. Cheers for now!

Challenge to Go Fast

The temperature was 78, humidity 60%, and there was the threat of rain. I had a dinner to get to and had just awakened from a 4-hour nap, since I’d only gotten 3 hours of sleep between a production that wrapped around midnight and another production that started at 6:30am today. These were the circumstances that bore on today’s run. I’m very happy with the result: I challenged myself to go fast today, to see if I could run to get a good time, and I kinda did. In this heat that wasn’t screamingly humid, I did 7:25s over 6.25 miles. My pace was pretty steady, and I could feel that my stamina on hills had improved. Here are today’s stats:

As for injuries, I still have a quarter-sized blister healing on the ball of my left foot, with some mini blisters on the ends of a couple toes on that foot and a small blister on the fall of my right foot. They don’t seem really to affect my running much, though, other than being a nuisance. However, I wonder if the one on my left foot has affected my stride, though: Up the outside of my left leg, the tendons or whatnot are sore and made me walk a little funny, as if I’m trying to protect my blister. It affected my walk but not my run, which was nice to find out.

Not much more to say other than I’m pleased with today’s results. Afterwards, I surprised myself by hitting the gym for a quick set of arms, abs, shoulders, and even back. I think it’s my latissimus dorsi that are what’s troubling me right now–back spasmlike pain has been ravaging me the last few days.

Ming!

Today I ran the NYRR’s Annual Father’s Day Race Against Prostate Cancer Presented by ABC7. It was a 5-mile race in probably about 78-degree weather with about 65% humidity.

I didn’t do as well as last year (click here and scroll to June 21st), but last year was in 63-degree weather. While it was 97% humidity that day, it didn’t feel bad then. I also didn’t precede that race with a 12.3-mile run the day before.

What seemed to match today’s race was the speediness I had in the first part of the race, a negative split for the second mile, plus Ming. Who’s Ming? Ming was this Asian guy with a ponytail I remember from the race last year. I would trail him then he’d walk, then pass me when he ran again. After that race, I asked him about his training, and I incorporated some of his advice into my training last year. This year, he passed me and stayed solidly in front of me. I didn’t talk to him this year, but I almost wanted to!

Unofficial Results per Garmin:

So what were my official results for today’s race? I did this 5-miler in 35:26, which meant I averaged 7:05s. However, by Garmin, my first mile was in 6:44, and my second was in 6:40! After then, I started tapering a bit. My huge blister on my left foot wasn’t much of a problem, nor was my back, which is so messed up with inflammation I had to take ibuprofen last night to make it through the night.

You can see my finish video here. Click on the second video and around the 1:16 mark (about 36:00 on the race clock) you can see my having just crossed the finish and whip up my first to expose my stomach. I was so hot!

Last year I did this race in 34:03, or 6:48s. Considering my training level around this time last year, it seems my current shape is around the shape I was then despite the difference in performance today (which seems attributable largely to heat and humidity and maybe the long run yesterday).