East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers Project

Last week, I followed Mayor Mike on Twitter, when he spent the day posting his own tweets.  Yeah, it was a gimmick, but it got me, and am I glad it did.  Today, this tweet caught my eye: “A Waterfront Project as Cool as the HighLine”: Announced plan to refurbish 2 piers & build esplanade along East River http://bit.ly/11EZIR

As a resident of Stuyvesant Town, and a frequent runner down East River Park, and the entire esplanade down to the SI Ferry terminal, I’m always interested in hearing about improvements that will be made.  Of course, I’m hugely skeptical as well, as I know that most of the East River Park Esplanade has been closed since July 2001, and is only now, 8+ years later, starting to near completion.  I most recently commented on it here.  I also remember about 4 years ago, passing a Fox 5 reporter on my morning run taping a segment in East River Park talking about all the amazing improvements that would be made to the park and the entire stretch of the East River below the park.  Years later, and still nothing. 

Until now?

About 2.5 months ago, on a run, I noticed a new area of construction near South Street Seaport, and wondered what it was.  Well, according to New York City Economic Development Corp (from here), it is the first step in rebuilding the entire esplanade, and the official groundbreaking was today:

“For reasons of design, schedule, and cost, and as a result of the large project size, the ERW project will be constructed in stages. Construction of the esplanade from Wall Street to Maiden Lane is the first construction package, which began in Spring 2009. This portion of the project will showcase the Esplanade design including the seating, planting, paving, railing, and lighting that are proposed for the entire Esplanade. In these two blocks, there will also be unique amenities including steps that lead to the water’s edge at Wall Street.  Future construction stages will begin throughout the rest of 2009 and into 2010, including Pier 15 and Pier 35.”

The overall plan sounds, and looks, very exciting – a 2 level pier, rebuilt piers 15 and 35, Class 1 bikeway, urban beach (phase 2), etc.  While it looks overly ambitious, I will try to be optimistic here and think that they could get this done, and in our lifetime!  Of course, by the time it is all done, I’ll probably be moved out of Stuyvesant Town and won’t be around to enjoy it.

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Perfect end to a perfect weekend

Had an awesome weekend.  Was off on Monday so spent almost 3 days down at my weekend house in New Jersey.  Topped it off with a long 8.7 mile run Monday night – more on that below.

Friday, kicked things off with an early morning run to East River Park.  It is notable that it was my 3rd early morning run in the last week and a half, not counting an early morning trip to the gym.  Starting to make a habit of getting up at 5:30 to get a nice workout in before going to work.  Friday morning was a little rough because of the humidity, still trying to get used to the warmer weather.  My splits for the 4 mile run were 18:22 and 18:23, pretty darn consistent if you ask me!  I think negative splits are too much to ask for in the humidity, so nice consistent efforts will have to do.

Friday night, went to Citi Field to watch my beloved Mets get pounded by the Yankees.  Despite the score, I had a great time.  Citi Field is such an upgrade over Shea.  It was nice to experience batting practice from so many outfield vantage points, and to enjoy Blue Smoke and the other great food options, and just be able to wander around the stadium during the game.  Was even very comfortable during the massive thunderstorm that blew through before the game.  Plenty of under cover areas to stay dry.  The place also just has so much more character than the old dump…

On Saturday, dragged all our stuff out to New Jersey (lots of laundry), including my bike.  Had a simple BBQ (just burgers and hot dogs) and then went out to the beach.  On Sunday, started my day with a 23 mile bike ride (see course here), followed by a more complicated BBQ (steak, chicken, corn and hot dogs) and then another trip to the beach.  The bike ride was really fun.  It is nice being able to leave my house in NJ, and immediately go into long ride mode as there are few traffic lights to stop at and the traffic is light.  I’m preparing for the New York City Triathlon, so was aiming for a 24-25 mile ride to approximate the race distance, but turned around a little too early, and settled for 23 miles.  This ride used to seem a little hard to me, but after recently biking in Vermont and then at Harriman State Park, where they have real hills, this ride seemed like a piece of cake!

Monday was also very relaxing.  Was able to sleep in and take it easy until the drive back to the city in the early afternoon.  Monday was a beautiful day, with low humidity.

I had already penciled in a run for Monday night.  The decision was how far to go.  With the nice weather, I decided to go a little long.  Summer months are always lowest mileage for me, and my June monthly record was only 42 miles.  I noticed that 8+ miles would break that record.  My 6 and 6.5 mile runs would not be enough, and I really didn’t feel like my 10.3 mile 3 boro 3 bridge route.  So, settled for a route that I rarely run, and haven’t done in almost 2 years.  Down East River Path, up Hudson River Path, and across 14th St back home.  That route is 8.7 miles, and flat, so perfect.  Biggest problem is the trip across 14th St requires a lot of car dodging, and lots of stops at the avenues, but that is OK as I was not so concerned about time.

Even though the humidity was down, the direct sun bothers me and the heat bothers me, so I decided to wait until the sun was well on the way down before getting started.  Got out around 7pm, and picked up a bottle of Powerade to help me stay hydrated.  First part of the run was to and through East River Park.  It was so crowded with runners.  I typically run the park early in the morning or very late in the day when it is not that crowded.  Not sure if it was extra crowded because of the nice weather, but there were dozens of runners in the park, which was really nice to see.

Tried to hold back a little in the first few miles, but the pace was about 9 minutes per mile.  A little too fast.  At about 1 mile, I drank from the water fountain in front of the track at East River Park, conserving my Powerade.  Good thing because I felt like I needed to stop often to stay hydrated.  In fact, the Powerade only lasted until about mile 4.5, heading back up the west side.  It is still quite a ways up to 14th St from there and really wanted to find some water.  Luckily, I thought, there was a detour around the construction site just past the World Financial Center and I passed the Pick-A-Bagel in Battery Park City.  Perfect place to pick up a water.  First though, they did not have the medium sized squeeze bottle, just the regular small size and giant size.  I refuse to pay 1.35 for the small water, so kept going.  The Runners Station was closed, as they are only open till 6pm, but salvation was found when I got to pier 40, where they have vending machines outside.  Was able to buy a Gatorade and continue on my way.

While not overly hot or humid, it was hotter and more humid than I care for, and I was definitely starting to lose it as I neared 7 miles and 14th St.  Caught the light and crossed over West St at the bottom portion of 10th Ave before 14th St, then up 10th, to the turn onto 14th St.  I was quite suprised to see people standing on the high line tracks, as I forgot that it was open, and that it overlooked 14th St in that spot.  I was starting to get a little delirious at that point and decided to have a little fun with the tourists staring down at 14th St by pointing and waving to them.  I was also able to see the great improvements made to 9th and 8th Ave’s as well.  So much easier to cross 9th Ave, now that most of the intersection is a pedestrian square and car free.  On 8th Ave, there is now a protected bike lane.

Anyway, even though I was overheated and my belly full from too much Ade (Power and Gator varieties), I was aided by having to stop a couple of times at traffic lights across 14th St, and was able to finish strongly in just under 1 hour 26 minutes.  For 8.7 miles, this is just under 10 min per mile pace.  Not bad at all with all the stopping.

Yesterday, my groin injury was acting up so no running yesterday or today.  The pain that I have (which I actually DO NOT experience while running) seems to be migrating now to the pelvis area.  I think it is time to get it checked out by a professional!  In the meantime, will continue to build in trips to the gym and off days, and continue treating with ice and stretching.

East River Park Promenade

Thanks to The Lo Down, I see the next section of the East River Park Promenade is finally open for business!  This is the section behind the track.  Hopefully they can get on with the rest of it quickly.  I won’t use the promenade section much, as I use the main road for my runs, but the faster they get the promenade all opened up, the faster they can repave the rest of the main road, which is in a very bad state of dips, valleys and holes, and good for swimming after it rains.  I was ecstatic when they repaved the northernmost section in the winter, and hope the rest can be repaved by this upcoming winter.

I remember the uproar when they first closed down the promenade (Daily News Article), just before July 4, 2001.  Only been 8 years…

First hot weather run of the year

I was very naive at the start.  The humidity was not high, and the temperature didn’t seem too crazy, at 84 degrees, but it was still the afternoon and the sun was shining.  That, combined with not having run in anything higher than 72 degrees since early September (except for a couple of rough runs in South Florida in December), made this run very difficult.  I guess I’m just not ready for hot weather running yet.  I know it will get easier, with more practice, as the hot weather becomes entrenched.

Two mistakes, I think.  First, I tried to run too far, and second, I didn’t bring water or Gatorade with me.  I chose a 6.2 mile route, out and back through East River Park and down the East River a ways.  There is a water fountain in front of the track in East River Park, about a mile into the run, which I would pass at miles 1 and 5.

Could feel the heat pretty quickly, but the first half of my run was into the wind.  Running into the wind is good in the heat, because it helps evaporate your sweat, and keep you feeling cooler.  I did dial the pace back a bit.  With a quick stop at the water fountain, my first 2 miles were done in 18:21.  After another 1.1 miles, I hit the turnaround, and was then running with the wind.  There was less resistance here, so the going was easier, but it felt much hotter without the wind.  My pace was steadily dropping as the middle 2.2 miles were finished in 21:27.  

Then, things started to get really hard.  The sun started really bothering me, and I started feeling very dehydrated.  Did not stop before getting to the water fountain again at the 5 mile mark.  Drank a lot there, but could not continue running.  Was feeling dizzy and just very tired.  Alternated running and walking the rest of the way.  Probably walked almost half of the last mile.  Final 2 miles was done in 21:20, not bad considering the walking.  6.2 mile total was 1:01:09.

The hardest hot weather run is the first.  I’ll be better prepared the next time, and hope to be properly acclimated by the time we get to July and the New York City Triathlon.

Nice track workout

Inspired by Runners World, (although I still want to know how to properly run a true mile on the track) I set out to do a track workout at East River Park.  Needed to be sure I timed it just right.  If you go too late, and it is dark, the lighting is terrible.  If you go too early, the track is swarming with running groups, soccer games, and lots of people.  So, left my apartment at about 7pm.  Worked out really well.  Central Park Track Club was just finishing up, so there were hoards of people on the sidelines, but the running crowd was definitely thinning.

I’ve had a nagging upper leg / groin injury that is still not going away.  First started bothering me after the NYC Marathon last year, and was just a slight for awhile, but in the last 2 months has started to get worse.  I thought recently that it was getting better, but the reality is that the pain is still there.  In fact, while it only affected the left leg originally, it is starting to affect the right as well.  It doesn’t bother me so much when I run, so I will continue to run through it, hope I can make it past the NYC Triathlon in July and the NYC Marathon in November, and then take care of it properly, if it does not go away.  I’m again icing and stretching (the stretches really help, but I’m not at all diligent in doing this, which is part of the problem!) so maybe that will help.

Anyway, between the leg injury, and playing softball the night before (legs a little sore, and hip hurting after I had an ‘incident’ with the fence in the outfield), I was definitely not feeling 100%, but good enough.

My fastest mile ever on the track is 7:10, which i did in December.  Yesterday I did two 1-mile repeats, first was 7:24 and the second was 7:37.  Very happy with both.  Then I did 2 half mile repeats, in 3:39 and 3:41, very consistent!  Again, happy with both considering my leg issues.

Lots of activity in the park.  2 soccer games happening on the south end of the track, and a large group of women doing rugby drills, first ball handling, then hitting.  That is soooo cool…

Need to get a long run in this weekend in preparation for the Brooklyn Half Marathon, and then a long bikeride, in preparation for a sprint tri coming up in a few weeks.

Until next time…

Track workouts – Runners World

While I don’t do track workouts all that often, I do enjoy them.  My ‘home’ track is at East River Park. It is about 1.1 miles from my front door to the track, which is a perfect warm up / cool down distance. In the last year, my typical track workout is 2 x 1 mile and then 2 x .5 miles.  The last time I did this workout, in late November, I clocked an unbelievable 7:21 in my first mile.

While working through this month’s issue of Runners World, I came across their 4 page spread on track workouts.  I’m glad they covered the topic, as they provide great tips and information, and also, remind us of the fact that the track is there, and is a great way to do speed workouts.  As I mentioned, my last track workout was back in November, and I think I’ve been inspired.  I WILL do a track workout this week!

As informative as the article was, it did not answer a question I’ve had for a long time.  Exactly how do you run 1 mile on a track?  I know that a mile is 4 times around the track, but, is that measurement from the inside lane, or the center lane, or some other way?  The article points out that the outside lane can be 40-50 meters longer than the inside lane, and over 4 loops, that can be a significant difference.  At this point, I assume that the measurement is taken from the inside lane, but it would be nice if the article spelled out exactly how that works. I know the difference is negligible, but, 4 loops around a track is 1600 meters, and 1 mile is actually 1609.344 meters.  So, 4 loops would leave you 9.344 meters short!

I typically run in lane 2, giving me lanes 1 and 3 for passing,. Maybe this is just right, if you consider the 9+ meters you’d be short with 4 loops!  Inquiring minds want to know…

EDIT – I reposed this question to my DailyMile feed, and big thanks to Stephen W (http://whereswaldon.com/running/) for coming through!  He pointed me to this site, that allows you to do all kinds of calculations on all kinds of tracks! http://www.eracewalk.com/CalcTrac.htm

Created my own race

With races routinely selling out in Central Park now, I’ve resorted to creating my own race!  Well, not really.  I only had time for a short 4 mile run yesterday, so figured, why not make it a speed workout, and treat it as a ‘race’.

The course was my usual 2 mile out and 2 mile back through East River Park.  The weather was OK, not much of a factor.  The temps were cool, around 50, but it was very humid.  Humidity becomes a problem for me when over 65 degrees.  There was a bit of a headwind coming back north on the return trip, but that also wasn’t so bad.  On my mp3 player, I have a short playlist of my favorite running songs.  Those songs help to keep me zipping along.  It is only 10 songs, which neatly fits into a 4 mile run.

On the first half, I did something I had never done before, passing a biker!  Now, the biker was clearly not riding too hard, but I won’t let that get in the way of my accomplishment.  I passed by the biker in the narrow pathway by the Con Ed plant just north of the entrance to East River Park.  I figured once in the park proper, the biker would get going and pass me by eventually, but that was not the case.  When I turned around at the bottom of the park, it was a good .15 – .2 miles before I passed him going the other way.

First half was completed in 16:07.  8 minute per mile pace is about what I’d expect in a race condition, so I was right on track.  The question was whether I could keep the pace up or not.  Last year, in the Fitness Mag 4 mile race, I started out fast, at around 8 min per mile pace, and then died in the last 2 miles.  It was hot and humid that day, though.  Yesterday, I was able to keep the pace up, and finished the second half in 16:10, 3 seconds slower than the first half.

My overall time was 32:17, which would be a PR for me if it was a real race!  Normally, at my training pace, I’d finish that run in 36-37 minutes, showing me the stark difference between a training pace and a race pace.  In a normal training run, I would negative split the course, and in fact, in the last few years, (besides today) the only times I haven’t have been when I needed to stop to walk due to a side stitch or shin split, etc. 

Very excited about the run, and nice to see that I’ve retained some of the speed I picked up in my speed workouts during the winter.  My concern right now is a slightly pulled groin muscle.  I was hoping it would go away on it’s own, but it has not.  Lately it is hurting more.  It rarely bothers me when I run, which is probably a bad thing, since I feel like I can run through it.  Rest would probably be best for it.  I finally looked up some info online, so I feel like I now know the right stretches to do.  I’ll continue icing and stretching over the next few weeks and hope it goes away.

East River Park – A Star!

Last night was the big Red Bull Snowscrapers snowboard competition at my main running spot, East River Park.  I’ve seen estimates of 10,000 and 20,000 people in attendance.  Amazing, considering it was something like 15 F last night.

Check out this amazing picture of the snowboard ramp and the packed-in crowd.

Beautiful East River Park Morning

Actually went on a morning run today!  I needed to, because I’m heading out to my NJ house right after work and I didn’t want to miss another day.  For a true early morning run, I’d need to be out the door by 5:30 to be back in time to get my 7 year old ready for school.  I wasn’t that extreme.  But I was able to get myself ready for a run as I got her ready for school and was out on 14th St at 7:10, ready to head to East River Park.  Had just enough time to get the run in, get ready for work, and get to the office by 9.

I’m glad I went because it was quite nice out.  While it was only 32 degrees, it felt wonderful after all the recent cold weather.  And, there were so many people out running in the park.  Based on the number of people out there, you might think it was spring already!

Took it a bit easy as I just wanted to fill some miles between my speed workout Tuesday night and my planned long run on Sunday.  Covered the 4 miles in 36+ minutes.

It was pretty cool to see the setup of the snowboard ramps, in preparation for next weeks big Red Bull Snowscrapers event.  you can see a rendering here of what it will look like, although the ramps seems to be set up in reverse of what is shown in the picture.  A bit of excitement for our normally boring park!

Brrrr its cold

Countdown to Austin Marathon – 30 days.  Yikes!!

Boy is it cold here in New York.  Went out for my run at 8pm, and it was 11 degrees, wind chill of 0.  In scouring my records, which go back to 1999, I’ve only once before run in colder weather.  It was 10 degrees for the Fred Lebow 5 miler back on 1/11/04.  

I hadn’t run since Tuesday night and really needed to get the run in to be properly prepared for my planned long run on Sunday.  As it was Friday night and very cold, and I didn’t want to be bothered so badly by the traffic, I decided to run my 5.9 mile course over the Williamsburg Bridge and back.  Of the 6 miles, 3 would be on the bridge with no traffic and 1 would be in Williamsburg with minimal traffic.

Wow was it cold.  I was slightly underdressed, but figured I’d be fine for less than an hour.  I forgot to bring my neck gator thingy and my chin felt horribly exposed to the wind and cold.  Also I only had 1 layer of tights, which was not enough.  When I finished up and went into the shower, my legs were red, as if they had a deep sunburn.  I’m sure that’s not good.  Wonder how much exposure it would require to get frostbite?!?!

Run was a little rough.  It felt slow and heavy.  I should be running slow these days anyway as I shift into distance mode as I get ready for the Austin Marathon in 4 short weeks.  It was so cold that there was very little traffic on the path over the Williamsburg Bridge.  There is normally lots of walkers and bikers on the bridge, but tonight it was deserted.  On the way to Brooklyn, I saw only 3 bikers, 1 walker and 1 other runner.  On the way back, I saw 5 bikers and 1 walker.  This is significantly less than usual.  

From the bridge, had a clear view of the new snowboard ramp rising at East River Park.  It will be used for a big snowboard event in early February.  The ramp is going up in the lighted ballfield right next to Houston St.  I’ve played softball on that field before, usually in poorly lit conditions where at least half the lights were not working.  For this event, they have all the lights blaring.  I’m jealous – I guess the parks department can get it done properly when they want to.

Next up for me is another shot at a long run on Sunday.

Otherwise, made it to the gym twice so far this week.  Also, had a really nice speed workout on Tuesday night with the NYRR class in Central Park.  It was my favorite type of workout.  We did a fartlek workout over the Harlem Hills at the north end of the park.  We surged going up the hills and coasted on the downhills.  Quite an invigorating workout.  Do that a few times and you don’t notice hills in race conditions anymore.  I did 2 of the loops and bailed on the last one.  With long runs planned each of the next 3 weekends and then the marathon shortly after, I may not be able to treat the class as true speed workouts for awhile.

Finally, I’m really digging the Daily Mile website – see my profile here.  It is a very fun social network for runners.  It is really easy to post your workouts, and it is a lot of fun to get involved in the forum discussions.  I’ve been able to follow and connect with a couple of people that are running in Austin, which is cool.