Month: September 2010

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.

I didn’t know what distance I wanted to do today. My last run was on Sunday–a 20-miler–and I had been unable to run these last three days because of long hours on set. (Tuesday was nearly a 16-hour day!) I felt I probably needed to do something more than 8 miles today, but I wasn’t sure if my body–well, my brain–would reject that. Early in my run I settled on running a loop in Central Park, then to keep things interesting, to continue along 60th St. to the Queensboro Bridge and run it home. I did. And I discovered that doing that (with a little adjustment) equates to a 10-mile run. And no added return-subway time! Here are the deets:

It was a cloudy 67 degrees today. The weather felt good, though a little blustery. Humidity was around 66% but nothing to speak of. My body was alright–more on the sluggish side than on the speedy side, but my laps don’t show it. I did this run in 1:15:04 (7:28s) without much exertion. At times I pushed myself a bit more but never really too hard. I was guarding against burnout.

The bridge was nice. Going from Manhattan to Queens, the uphill wasn’t really that hard though it looks steep. I passed someone from far away. After the short climb, the bridge is flat for a nice bit, then there is a long, long downhill. This long, long downhill is a long, long uphill the other direction (the same direction on the NYC Marathon route!). It looked like a challenge. I want to run it someday.

I turned off 31st St. onto 34th Ave., but next time I think I should turn onto Broadway instead. If I do that, I’ll carry over to Coldstone Creamery, turn right onto 35th St., and basically hit 10 miles just a few doors away from my home. That would be perhaps the ultimately convenient 10-miler. These stats also suggest that routewise I live just about 4 miles from Central Park. I’ve long wanted to know that. 🙂

Had a Naked Juice Protein Zone and edamame after my run, much sooner after my finish than I would usually.

I’m looking forward to next week. Next week I begin work on Nurse Jackie‘s third season as Peter Facinelli’s stand-in. Work will be a mere 2-minute commute walking, which means I’ll have more opportunity and time to run. I’ll need to feel out how it all works out, but if I balance my sleep and energy right, I should be able to train well and work long.

Today’s 20-miler had a nice little boost. A breast-cancer awareness walk was finishing in the park when I was in it. In my second lap, one of the trucks driving and cleaning up stuff had a guy in the back throwing bottles to runners who caught up to him. He threw me a bottle of Propel in Peach flavor. I thought I might have been getting regular water, which probably would have been better because I would have avoided the synthetic aftertaste, but it was a little boost of hydration during a run when I didn’t stop for water! After my third lap and onto my lower loop, I caught the truck again and this time another guy passed me an Aquafina bottle. That was definitely refreshing and helpful when my performance was really dipping.

Not bad today, though. I was working a couple days on a film and while I tried to get out late Friday night for a run, I walked a few houses before I turned around, my face tired, telling me to get to bed. The fear was the calltime would be another punishing hour. I ate pasta for lunch both days, and I think that helped me to have a fairly decent first couple loops. I did the 20 miles in 2:32:00, or 7:35s. Here are the deets:

My splits got considerably better in the second loop compared to my first. The reason was likely that I had amongst me a runner just a little faster than me, with whom we traded the lead maybe a couple times before I eventually passed him. It is seeming that a little competition makes a good difference on my time, and it has seemed that way before, too. However, come the third loop, I was really starting to drag. I started to bargain to try to stop at 3 loops but I got myself to continue. It seemed I was pooping out inside the 17th mile. I noted, but resisted having one, that PowerGels are given out around Mile 18 in the NYC Marathon.

The temperature and overall weather was definitely favorable. The whole run was cloudy with the threat of rain. It did sprinkle for maybe a few minutes but it stopped and never resumed. The first 3 loops were 65, and the thermometer climbed to 66 for the lower loop I did at the end. Humidity was around 60% but really negligible. Since there was no sun, I probably lost less weight than I would have were it sunny; I started around 176 lbs. and got to about 171 lbs.

After I finished, my calves did not feel good. I was hobbling a bit and they were sensitive. I think I simply worked them, that’s all, and they didn’t feel injured. The ice bath I took afterwards, though, hopefully helped.

I’m happy with my improved pace in the first 12-13 miles, though. I would like to be faster but I also want to be patient. Looking ahead this week, finding time to run looks to be a challenge. I wonder if there’s something I can do in place of it if I can’t get out to Central Park and get adequate rest, too.