More maintenance – blogroll
July 20, 2009
Made some major changes to my blogroll. Removed a few stale entries and added a bunch of the active ones that I’ve been reading faithfully. Welcome:
Housekeeping and race planning
July 19, 2009
Been doing some cleaning and housekeeping today, and took some time to finish up my Race Results page. Added my marathon, biathlon and triathlons to the bottom.
Regarding marathons, on Nov 1 I’ll be running NYC for my 7th time. Sort of decided to branch out in future years and run some of the other great fall races, and add to the 5 states I’ve currently run marathons in. Would love to do an out of state spring marathon, out of state fall marathon and local summer triathlon each year. With 45 states to go, and 2 races a year, will hit all 50 states in time to turn 60!
Time to starting thinking about spring 2010…
NYC Running Blogger Meetup
April 22, 2009
If you run and blog and are in our fine New York City, let’s meet up on May 14 – Go here for more details!
Vacation is fun…
April 16, 2009
…but I have not exercised a lick in days. And, eaten like a pig, of course. So, looking forward to getting back home and getting my be-hind in gear, pronto! Weather in NYC looks great for the weekend, so reason not to get in a good run and bike ride.
First up, though, is the long drive back home from Asheville, NC. Gonna cover the whole distance today so will be home in my comfy bed tonight!
Nice weekend
March 8, 2009
My original plan was to bike on Sunday, which was forecasted to be the warmer day. But Saturday was so nice, and the forecast for Sunday ended up being cooler and possibly rainy, so I decided to get my bike ride in on Saturday instead. As my first ride of the year, had a good time dusting off the gear.
Was able to expiriment with a new toy. I have an iPhone now, and MapMyFitness has a great iPhone app that uses the GPS device to track your route on the fly. I have elected not to use this for running because I don’t want to run with my iPhone, but I don’t have an issue with biking with my iPhone in my saddle pack. The app worked really well – you can see the route it mapped here. I’m really looking forward to using this on my bike rides. Routes on the bike tend to be really long, and sometimes it is hard to map out exactly where I went. This will make it much easier to estimate my total distance. Only problem is that the GPS drains the iPhone battery really quickly. Seems like it won’t run for more than 2 hours.
Anyway, had a great bike ride. Went up to Central Park and then did a full loop of the park. First bike ride since 10/15/08. The park was really crowded and I had to slow down a couple of times to let throngs of people cross the road. Even with the slowdowns, finished my loop in 20:02, my 2nd fastest of my training runs in the park.
On Saturday night, I was supposed to go to the gym to work out and swim in the pool. However, before my bike ride, I noticed a twinge in the left side of my back. It was not lower back, and not neck or shoulders, so I was not very concerned and went ahead with the bike ride. However, I will not lift weights or swim with any back problems. Still bothering me a little today, so skipped the gym again. In addition, my neck and shoulders were really sore from the bike ride yesterday. My next good chance to get to the gym is Thursday, so I’ll hopefully be all better by then.
Instead, I went for a nice run this afternoon. 6.2 miles – out and back down East River Park and part way down the East River path. It was warm, 61 degrees, so was able to run in shorts and short sleeve shirt. Took it easy and finished in 57:30.
Also had some good family time this weekend. Went to the New York Botanical Gardens this morning to see the orchid show. The orchids are from Brazil this year, and they were spectacular.
The challenge the next couple of weeks will be how to get going with swimming and biking without hurting myself, and reduce the need to take multiple days off between workouts. As best as I can tell, I need to work myself up to 6 workouts per week to properly prepare for an olympic distance triathlon, which doesn’t allow for many rest days. I refuse to push too hard and get injured early in training…
Highway robbery
January 22, 2009
Just felt like I needed to vent a little. It is the little things like this that make me so mad!
Last Sunday, before my long run, I was on the upper east side, and wanted to fuel up. Headed into a bagel store on the east side of York Ave, around 76th St or so. Picked up 2 bagels and a Poweraid. I was very suprised to see that they were going to charge me $2.50 for the Powerade. I’m sorry, but even in NYC, that is highway robbery. Maybe this was an honest mistake on their part? I made a big stink and made sure everyone within earshot knew I thought they were crazy. I told them I’d go to another store to get it cheaper. Went to a gourmet fruit stand across the street and picked up a Gatorade for $1.50. (Note: as far as I’m concerned, and as far as I can tell, Gatorade and Powerade are generally the same price). I’ve paid $1.75 and even $2.00, typically in midtown, so when they tried to charge me $2.50, it just really made me mad. I felt completely validated when, during my run, I stopped at H&H on 2nd Ave and they charged $1.50 for the same bottle of Powerade – no fuss necessary!
Happy Birthday… to me!
January 9, 2009
Turned the big 38 today.
Since I have no willpower at all, I started my day with one of those sinful cinnamon rolls you get from the corner coffee/pastry street vendors. But it’s OK, I had a good run last night! Yum, yum!
Happy New Year!
December 31, 2008
Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year… And, hoping you meet all your 2009 running goals!
Shin splints gone, but still had a bad run :(
December 29, 2008
First off, this article really spoke to me, as I know I’m carrying around at least 5 pounds of excess fat these days. I won’t know for sure until I get home from my vacation and can weigh in, but I feel fat. I’m sure it caused the shin splints that ruined my run yesterday.
I almost didn’t go out for a run today, afraid that the shin splints would come back. But, when it is 75 degrees outside (I’m on vacation in South Florida), how can you resist. So, I dragged my lazy ass out of bed at 9am, dilligently executed the preventative shin splint rubs and stretches, and was out on the road by 10am.
I could tell right away that it was much hotter than yesterday. Yesterday, I was out in the 7am hour, and 3 hours makes a huge difference in the sun becoming a factor. Otherwise, the weather seemed really nice – 75 degrees and little wind.
After the first mile, I could tell that the shin splints would not be recurring today. Great news! At least I know I can ward it away with a little up front prevention. So, now just needed to focus on getting through the rest of the run.
At about 1.5 miles, started feeling the sharp pain of a blister on the back of my left foot. Damn. The pain was sharp and clearly would not be a small nuisance. This is also familiar to me. It is funny – when this last bothered me, it was 6 weeks before the New York City Marathon, when I was running in my 2nd long training run. Right now, we are approaching 6 weeks before the Austin Marathon, and I’m going to run my 2nd long training run later this week. Exact same timing. I have no one to blame but myself though. My running socks are old, starting to develop holes, and are very thin. My shoes are also starting to build holes on the fabric on the inside of the back of the shoes. This is a dangerous combination. When I get home from vacation, my first order of business will be to get my feet assessed at JackRabbit and get a new pair of shoes and a new set of socks. The Saucony Grid Hurricane’s I have now have been nothing but trouble.
Anyway, decided to push ahead with the full 5 mile run. I knew from my last bout of the blisters that the pain would eventually subside. And, subside it eventually did. Then I hit my next problem, the heat. In the summertime in NY, I hate (with a capital H) the heat. The heat and I do not get along. I thought I could deal with it for a couple of runs in the middle of winter, but it turned out I could not. By 4 miles, I had to stop to walk. My mistake was not bringing a bottle of water along. In total, I walked 3 times in the last mile. Unfortunately, while the blister pain subsided while running, to add insult to injury (no pun intended) it actually hurt a lot when walking.
Overall, my time of 48:06 (9:26 per mile) for 5.1 miles is not bad at all considering the blister and walking.
When I got back to the hotel, it was time to tend to my injury. By coincidence, last night, my 7 year old fell in a parking lot and skinned both her knees, so I had peroxide, cotton and Hello Kitty band aids available. When I took off my shoe, my worst fear was realized as a saw my very bloody sock. I was hoping it was just a simple blister that did not open up, which is easier to deal with and faster to heal. But no, blister was deep, and will likely take 2 weeks to fully heal – see picture below. My kid got a big kick out of my howling from the peroxide (boy does that sting), and the Hello Kitty band aid I sported the rest of the day.
Tomorrow morning, hitting the road back to NY. Guess I’ve got a good excuse not to run along the way!
Blister
Skipped it
December 20, 2008
Decided to just skip the Ted Corbitt 15k this morning. With the nasty weather, they ended up changing it to a fun run. Also, I already have my 9 races for Marathon eligibility, so there was really no need to run. With the slippery conditions, I could not have gotten the quality run I was hoping for. Finally, my older kid turned 13 today. She was supposed to be out all morning at a test prep class, but was a little sick this week and ended up skipping it. So, stayed home and had a nice morning with the family. Despite the cold, I’ll try to get out and run this afternoon – 23 degrees right now at 12:30 – brrrr.
