Category: Races

Ming!!!

This morning I pounded out 13.1 miles in the Queens Half-Marathon. The heat was lugubrious, with a start time temperature of 86, and the assurance that it would hit 90 degrees during the race. Despite it all, I made a decent showing. I did the half-marathon in 1:40:46, which equates to doing 7:42s.

Here are my unofficial results per Garmin, which I forgot to stop after I finished (but it may have stopped on its own when I finished):

Unofficial Race Results per Garmin

As you can see from my splits, my performance started to diminish inside the 5th mile. There, we were faced with concrete streets and slight rolling hills, plus limited cover from sunlight which drove up the body heat a bit. My performance really started to deteriorate around the 10th mile, even though I took in water and Gatorade nearly every station. Around mile 10 I had a PowerGel with 1x caffeine. Per the splits, it didn’t seem to help me unless its payoff is 2 miles later when it may have helped me sustain increased speed as I tried to catch up to two fast girls, one of whom took a bathroom break then caught back up to me!

I never caught them but I finished just behind them. Last year I did “this race” in 1:27:30, or 6:40s. The thing is, “this race” last year was a) in September, b) substantially cooler, and c) on a completely different course. That course was quite a bit hillier but I was in two months’ better shape, too. It’s good to note I pulled off a 6:35 first mile in this race, but I couldn’t sustain it very long. Heat heat heat. I decided I’d tried for 7:05s in this race, or maybe pulling a 1:35. Neither happened, but that’s okay. The heat made me take a minute longer per mile relative to last year’s race (which isn’t a fair relation because I’m not in that kind of shape yet).

I ran shirtless for this race–my first time doing a race without a shirt. There were no problems to report. I do wonder, though, what the difference might be between running mit oder mitaus a shirt. Does the sopping wet shirt keep me cooler and allow me to perform better? Or does the wetness weigh me down? I can’t say. But I did feel freer and more comfortable without the shirt.

And I saw Ming in this race! Ming is an Asian guy with glasses and a ponytail on the Warren Street team whom I saw walking one race last year who eventually beat me. I’d asked him how he finished so strongly and he said “hillwork,” and explained what he did. Around the 10k mark he moved ahead of me. I eventually caught him and talked to him, then (as expected) he left me in the dust a little bit later. It was cool to see him.

As for injuries, nothing to report. My left calf is still very sore but not when I run!–just when I walk. No stabbing ankle pain. I imagine the heat allowed me to “warm up” those areas. I started off this race tipping the scales at 180 lbs., but I ended the race 5 lbs. lighter. That seems pretty standard when I run this distance in this kind of heat. I’m glad I got this race over by 8:45am because I had heard it was supposed to get up to 98 today with a heat index of 103. Egad! Apparently now it’s “only”going to get up to 94.

Gonna take a nap with circulation socks on to recover. I had coconut water and chocolate milk, plus some yogurt with granola and agave nectar for additional protein. I also popped some ibuprofen and 1,500mg magnesium to deal with any restless leg issues. (I also took my morning vitamins upon getting back home.)

Someone Didn’t Tell Me It Was Opposite Day

Wow! I did the Central Park Conservancy Run for Central Park 4-Miler in Central Park this morning, and I did it fast! It was going to be a scorcher today but for some reason it didn’t feel as bad as I was expecting. It was 82 degrees with 53% humidity at the start. I say “Wow!” because I was not expecting wow. It was almost like Opposite Day, my results compared to my expectations . . .

I worked until 3am-ish last night/this morning, and only ended up with about 3.5 hours of sleep. While I did get pasta last night around dinnertime, I wasn’t eating that well and I was on my feel for hours at a time the last two days. I took a short jog to get my number but I was feeling dead. I figured, Maybe I’ll do this run in 32 minutes (an 8-minute mile) … I won’t push myself … I have nothing to prove here … this is just to run a marathon qualifying race …
Garmin Unofficial Results:

Well, well. I started off at a decent pace but realized I had just a little bit of speed with me. I figured it would leave or just taper and it did a bit, but not too much. In fact, my first two miles according to my Garmin were 6:40 then 6:46, which are quite excellent miles for me right now! I then ran a 7:09 through the hilliest part of this race, then didn’t keep track of my 4th mile, which ended up on my Garmin as a 6:33! (I had no idea I was that fast for that mile!)

The official results said I finished in 27:22. That’s a 6:50. My Garmin put me a little faster, but no worries: This is much, much, much faster than I thought I would run today. To think I would run 8:00s and then I go and run 6:50s!! And in this weather!!! With so little sleep!!!!

These 6:50s are a) a sign that I am improving in my running, b) a sign I’m getting faster, c) signal that I don’t need to worry so much about missing a couple of runs because of difficult work scheduling, d) make me happy and proud, and e) yea. I felt my left ankle a bit around the first mile marker but it never gave out. And the side of my left knee was a little sensitive, but more after I hit the gym for abs, glutes, arms, back, pecs, quads, calves, then abs again. I’m going to try to get a few hours of sleep now in order to catch up. But this is a nice achievement after a hellish couple of days of work. Woohoo!

Pushed & Gained

This morning I completed the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5-Miler in Central Park. It was 77 degrees at the start, overcast, and about 65% humidity. I tried pushing myself today to do better than last weekend’s 5-mile race. The course was a different direction than last weekend’s course, and that course may have given me an advantage with a beginning fast downhill. Despite that boost, I felt I raced faster, a push that showed in my official results: I ran the 5-miler in 35:07, equating to doing 7:01s.

Unofficial Results per Garmin:

Since I completed my long run a little more than 12 hours before, I was still a bit sore. My right leg felt a little injured but warming up helped it. By race time, it seemed ready to go.

With a lot of disabled athletes on the field, the race was a bit like an obstacle course. There were runners in wheelchairs, runners with blades, blind runners, and runners with an assortment of disabilities, and passing them made me a little nervous out of fear I might knock one down or trip one up. In the end, a older blind runner with his 3-man guide crew overtook me in the last couple of miles and I never caught him. That’s a testament to just how disabled a disabled runner may be: Not very! 😀

But today’s results showed a gain in my training. I pushed myself and maintained a better pace over the course. I got my first mile out in 6:38 (N.B. there was a downhill beginning), and other miles were pretty fast, including two other miles done in sub-7:00s. My official pace is slower than the pace my Garmin measured (6:59s), which is a little disappointing but what can you do but get better. After the race was finished, I set to my mind to hit the gym, but mounting the subways steps, I decided against it given how tired my legs and brain felt. I eventually grabbed much-needed nap.