On the heels of including the Queensboro Bridge in my run, I ran 15.52 miles today, starting and finishing at my apartment in Astoria and climbing the Queensboro Bridge not once but twice. I did 7:38s in 67-degree, mostly cloudy weather with 60% humidity. Apart from the bridge mountings, I did 8+ miles in Central Park. I went from 175 lbs. to 170 lbs., losing 5 lbs. in this run and a little bit of steam but generally feeling pretty good. Here are the deets:
The biggest obstacle was not so much the bridge but the roadway on E. 60th St., which is very uneven, as is the roadway in the Queenboro Plaza area. I pretty much stayed off of cement sidewalk and stuck to asphault in order to care for my joints, a thought that Elizabeth had reminded me about. Turns out, the bridge is actually asphault; however, it is just a thin layer and underneath is cement (I saw in one place). At one point in the park I felt a shin splint in my right leg (fear of cement came to mind), but it left after less than 5 minutes later.
I seemed to have a pretty even pace. There were a number of paces from 7:38s to 7:42s, mostly after hitting 7 miles. Before 7 miles, I was faster. I could feel a bit of tiredness once I was in the park. I was passed by maybe 3 people but generally I was passing people, and consider that I’d just mounted a bridge! By the way, mounting the longside of the bridge was a challenge but not ridiculously so, at least not in this temperature. Going back home, mounting the shortside was a bit of a pain but at least it was short.
Garmin seemed to spaz out a bit in Manhattan along 60th St. You can see on the map that it seems to think I ran through some buildings. Plus, Garmin seemed to do just as bad with elevations this run, especially on the bridge. It basically sends me to sea level when, um, on the bridge. Also, it has the slow hill after Great Hill higher than Great Hill, which just doesn’t sound right but maybe it is.
After getting home, I relatively immediately had coconut water, Nake Juice Protein Zone Double Berry, and edamame with salmon sushi. No ice bath today–curious what that will mean for my legs. Still experimenting.