Random Thursday – Small Rant

Man folks are PISSED!!!!

New York Road Runners (NYRR) Update

Yesterday (or was it the day before), NYRR sent an email updating folks about options for the cancelation of this year’s NYC Marathon. We have three main buckets: 

1. Refund
2. Complimentary entry for a future marathon (2021, 2022, 2023)*
3. Donate the value of your entry fee to support NYRR’s free youth and community programs.

However, it is a bit more complicated for option two. 

* If you select complimentary entry for a future marathon (option 2), you will participate in a future marathon selection process in 2021 to choose the year for your complimentary entry (either 2021, 2022, or 2023). You may not be guaranteed your preferred year due to potential limitations to future field sizes. 

What gets me is that people are really upset that they cannot choose their complimentary entry year. Actually, they can choose the entry year, but NYRR is not guaranteeing that they will run their selected year. This feeling is somewhat understandable since 2021, instead of 2020, will be the 50th anniversary of the NYC Marathon. In one of my marathon FB groups, someone said something like “I’ve been waiting all my life to run the 50th NYC Marathon.” Yeah . . . sure . . . whatever, Buddy.🙄🙄🙄  Your entire life?!!! I guess the 50th anniversary of anything is a huge milestone, but I think folks are really being a bit extra. Clearly, we have other more important things to worry about. Then again, maybe worrying about next year’s marathon is a legitimate distraction to take our minds off of our ‘new normal’. Selecting a marathon entry year is one of the few things that folks can control during these times of uncertainty.  

But C’mon! No one could have predicted the devastating effects of COVID-19. Perhaps, we could have predicted this if Dionne Warick’s Psychic Friends Network or Miss Cleo were still around.

Since NYRR cannot guarantee a runner’s preferred year, multiple groups feel like they should have top priority for 2021 (e.g. folks who deferred in 2019, folks running for charity, time qualifiers, international folks, 9+1 entrants, and the list goes on). I know that people want answers and feel NYRR is being unfair or evasive, BUT NO ONE KNOWS WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN OVER THE NEXT YEAR. I rather the NYRR mentions some possibilities, rather than saying this what’s going to happen, then having to renege next year. 

Depending on where we are in subsequent waves of COVID-19 and the development of a vaccine, NYC Marathon might be limited to a field of 1, 2, 10, 500, or 5,000 (instead of the 50,000+) runners. No one can or should make any predictions right now. Also, there are other things to worry about right now. Let’s see where we are in terms of this damn pandemic at the beginning of 2021. 

Speaking of folks working on 9+1 Guaranteed Entry during 2020

NYRR had this to say. 

Due to potential limitations to future field sizes, completing the 9+1 program in 2020 will provide guaranteed, non-complimentary entry to the marathon in either 2021, 2022, or 2023. Qualifying runners will be contacted in 2021 regarding the selection process for the entry they earned through the 9+1 program.

The funny/sad thing for me. I’ve already registered for all of my 9+1 race races (10 if you count 2020’s marathon); however, I am unable to run any of them because of COVID-19 pretty much canceled this year’s racing season. NYRR has given 9+1ers the option to receive race credit for future 2020 races that have been canceled. 

Looking ahead to the marathons of 2021, 2022, and 2023. I’m in an interesting situation: 

• Guaranteed entry for one of these three marathons because 2020’s marathon is canceled
• Guaranteed entry because of my race credits from the 9 + 1 program for 2020
• I’m not sure if this applies. I deferred my 2019 registration for 2020. Remember, I was flying back from Hawai’i the day before last year’s marathon. Looking back, I guess that I should have forced myself to run/walk last year’s marathon. Does this mean, I get another entry in addition to the two above?

I’ll admit that I probably will be a bit upset if I cannot run 2021’s marathon. However, based on these extenuating circumstances, I think that I will get over it pretty fast. Again, there are other pressing things to worry about. 

What do you think? Should be people be upset about NYRR’s decision or should they just get over it?

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NYC Marathon (???) Training 2020 Week #1

Ok, I’ve finished the first week of training for a marathon that probably will not happen. Man, oh man, my how has my running fitness has significantly gone downhill during this COVID-initiated quarantine. Not that I was in top running shape before this COVID mess stated. Also, I really need to cut down on the smokes. You know, this struggle may be the calling that I need to actually quit . . . again. I’m turning 40 in a few days. Ugh, celebrating a milestone birthday during a pandemic will probably suck. At this point, I have been smoking on and off (mostly on) for 19 and 4 months, and I’m kind of over it.  

Monday:

Planned: Rest day

Completed: 4mi hike

Last week, we took a trip up to Lake George, NY (about a 3-hr drive north of NYC), which is absolutely beautiful and had wonderful weather. Although It has a little bit of everything for everyone, a lot of the outdoorsy activities were closed because of the pandemic. That said, I would not mind visiting again once things open up again. 

We decided to hike up Prospect Mountian, which was a lot harder than I thought. I mean, it was quite a steep incline the entire way up. But it was fun being in nature for a bit. 

A thought that was going through my mind as we were going down the mountain. 

Tuesday:

Planned: 4mi run

Completed: Rest day

Did not do anything because the lower half of my body was still sore from walking up and down Prospect Mountain. 

Wednesday:

Planned: 4mi run

Completed: 4mi

Eh, basic run. 

Thursday:

Planned: 4mi run

Completed: Rest

Friday:

Planned: Rest

Completed: Xmi bike ride

The hubby and I went on a bike ride from Harlem to Chelsea. 

Saturday:

Planned: 7mi

Completed: 5.5mi run

This is where crap gets real, and I realized that I am very out of shape. It was such a struggle running because I had to walk quite a few times during this run. Maybe it’s a good thing that NYC Marathon probably will be canceled because I doubt that I will be ready to run 26.2 miles by Nov. 1. 

Sunday:

Planned: Rest

Completed: Rest

Upcoming:

I definitely need to up my cardio/fitness game. Since my marathon distances are quite low at this point, I’m going to incorporate some BeachBody on Demand workouts for my marathon training.

I plan to do a combination of Shaun T’s Insanity, Cize, and Hip Hop Abs

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The die is cast for NYC Marathon training

Although in my heart of hearts, I know that NYC Marathon will not happen. I’m not being negative or a hater, but let’s keep it real.

• NYC has been a major COVID-19 epicenter, and we’ve just started our first phase of getting back to normal.
• Many epidemiologists believe that the next wave of infections will happen in the fall. NYC Marathon is scheduled for Nov. 1.

Oh, and the Daily News just published this article.

Argh!!!! I CANNOT go through another 3 months of this quarantine mess.

Ok back to the training stuff.

The 20-week plan that I have chosen is not super aggressive with about four training runs per week plus the standard weekend long run. This time around, I going to try to incorporate better eating and nutrition habits. Then again, I say this at the beginning of each marathon training cycle. Oh, I plan to cut down on the amount of smoking because I have been smoking way too much during this pandemic. Since I’m about two weeks shy of my 40th birthday, I need to start getting together this aspect of my damn life.

Then again, minutes after seeing this sign, I got a cup of ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s.

Ben & Jerry’s Salted Caramel Blondie

If you have any major races this fall, are you going to train for them even though there is a high possibility that they will be cancelled?

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Random Thursdays

-I’m saying it. I don’t think NYC Marathon is happing. As a matter of fact, NYRR just should call the fall racing season a wash. That said, I would not mind a spring NYC Marathon, but I realize that the logistics of postponing a marathon of this magnitude would be a nightmare. 

-#WFH. It looks like my office will not open before July 15. 

-Not sure how much of this quarantine I can take. Well, I don’t mind working from home, but not really being able to do anything socially is the annoying part. Y’all know that I do enjoy a nice brunch and general late weeknight slorin’. Also, y’all know that my pessimistic a** will continue social physical distancing until Feb. 2021 because we have a couple more of these COVID-19 infections coming our way. 

-Why would Mel’s do this to me?

Although my Bday is June 25th, there’s no that this bar will be open by that date. That said, $40 for a 4-hour all you can drink is a pretty damn good deal. 🤷🏿‍♂️ The bar probably sent this because they know there’s no way that they’ll be able to honor the deal. Sneaky, sneaky. 

-Or just anything in general during this quarantine. 

-I’m glad (I think) that my back is fine. It does feel nice not to fear sneezing. However, I am a bit scared to start running again because it seems like I get an injury every time that I get into a nice running groove. It does feel nice not to fear sneezing. 

-Oh yeah. Last week was the 9 year anniversary of my hooding ceremony. 

Looking back at this, I wish that I was not “too cool for school” and purchased the damn digital pics of the event. The picture above is one of the proofs. Actually, I think my parents did buy a package. I’ll have to check on that. 

An LOL at the hooding ceremony. NYU hosted a little breakfast before the ceremony for the PhD and MS/MA folks who were getting their hoods. At first, I was not going to attend bc the breakfast was at 8:30 am and figured that breakfast was going to be bagels, pastries, stale a** coffee, and watered down a** juice.  Oh boy, was I surprised when I arrived at Lincoln Center for the breakfast. By “breakfast”, NYU meant COCKTAILS . . . at 8:30 am. They were serving champagne, mimosas, screwdrivers, and bellinis. Although I’m a bit of a lush, I will say that the quiches and crabcakes were pretty tasty. Also, the bartenders had very HEAVY pours for the booze. No wonder NYU is considered the party school of the elite NY schools. I got my drank on . . . at 9am. After receiving my doctoral hood, here was my internal dialogue

Me {After receiving my hood}: I gotta pee. Ok, my last name starts with the letter O, and they are announcing S’s so we should be done soon.

Me {again}: F*CK! Thy still have to hood all of the MS/MA folks.

{Looks back and sees a sea of folks in purple waiting to be hooded}

Me: Why did I have all of those damn screwdrivers before this thing?

Me {random}: Where will my family and I have lunch after this thing? I guess I can distract myself from peeing by finding a decent restaurant on the Open Table app that will accept last-minute lunch reservations for a party of 10.

Let’s just say that I could not WAIT until the 3 hr ceremony was over because homeboy had to p*ss like nobody’s business. Then, finding the stupid restroom was a whole ordeal.  

-I wonder if I should show up to my Zoom meetings like this?

The epitome of over it.

What randomness are y’all up to?

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Geez, can’t I catch a freaking break?

Last week, I wrote a post about getting back into my running groove (link to old post, ***), which sounded all great. So . . . um . . . yeah, I screwed up my back AGAIN. Maybe this is message from some divine entity telling me that I should give up running during this quarantine. 

The general plan was to start running my 6 miles a day, which was going well on Monday and Tuesday. 

Wednesday, the hubby and I ventured outside of NYC to go on a hike. 

Random:

It looks like we left the city right in the nick of time on Wednesday. 

Back to the story:

I must have some bad footing during the hike because my lower back has been hurting since the hike. It was not an “Oh, my back hurts” kind of pain; it was more like an “Oh crap, do I have to the ER for this sh*t” for this kind of pain. Except for stretching, I guess there is not much that I can do about it. 

Well, I did have fun on the hike and the weather was perfect  . . . too bad I screwed up my back for the rest of the week. 

A few pics from the hike

Random II:

Not too sure about this piece of advice, NYRR. How does this work running in NYC?

There’s no way in HELL that I will ever leave a water bottle unattended anywhere in NYC. 

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Is the NYC Marathon becoming too popular

Like many folks, I’ve done the following: registered for a marathon, then joined a couple of Facebook groups to connect with other folks about said marathon. For the last two weeks, all three of my NYC Marathon Facebook groups have had 80 million comments about waiting for NYC Marathon lottery results. Actually, it was getting on my nerves. Geez, you’ll find out when you find out.

Although the NYC Marathon’s lottery is over, the pages are now full of folks asking 80 million questions about where to stay in NYC. How close is so and so hotel to the finish line? (Haven’t y’all heard of Google maps?) Maybe I’m just an introvert runner.

Currently, there are a few ways to run 26.2 miles through the five boroughs of NYC

• 9+1 Guaranteed Entry. You resister for and complete nine New York Road Runners sponsored races and volunteer for one event.
• Time entry
• Charity entry
• International Tour Partners
• Lottery

Since this is the 50th anniversary of the NYC Marathon, there were way more 9+1 entrants than in previous years. But, isn’t this always be the case? I wonder if we’ll see a dramatic increase in 2026 since this will be the 50th anniversary of the NYC Marathon that we know today. The original 1970 NYC Marathon’s course was entirely in Central Park; whereas, the one in 1976 hit all five boroughs. 

This year, the acceptance rate via lottery was 2.3% compared to 4% last year. Of course, folks who were not selected are saying that the lottery is unfair. I doubt that the lottery would have been unfair if they were selected. Here’s my take: oh well, feet smell. For example, I tried to enter London’s marathon by lottery. I wasn’t accepted and was bummed for about a few minutes. Rather than complaining about how “unfair” the process was, I found another marathon in Europe around the same time. Now it turns out that this stupid coronavirus may prevent me from running Madrid’s marathon. Folks should do the same for NYC. We have a bunch of other fabulous cities in the U.S.; NYC is not the only one. I guess this is easy for me to say this since I live in NYC.

Of course, folks came up with ideas to raise the 2.3% lottery acceptance rate.

Modify 9+1

I can actually see NYRR doing this in the near future by raising the number of races one must complete for guaranteed entry. The 9+1 program is a huge cash cow for NYRR so it makes cent$ sense. Having folks run more races means more $$$$ for NYRR. Folks against the 9+1 entry plan say that it’s unfair and gives NYCers an “unfair” advantage. Well . . . duh. I think that’s kind of the point. I saw a couple other commenters complaining that people who run nine 5Ks during the year do not deserve to have an automatic entry into the NYC Marathon. At the end of the day, those folks are going to train to run the actual marathon. Who cares about which races they run during the year? I know many folks (including yours truly) who are trying to gain 9+1 entry will make the 5K races part of their long runs. 

Charity Entries

It was kind of telling how some folks are a bit selfish and actually said (technically typed) the NYRR should reduce the number of charity spots to accommodate more lottery entrants. Although there are different levels, I believe $2,500 is the minimum amount to be raised for each person running for a charity. Many of the charities raise money for cancer research, children’s illnesses, neurological disorders, youth athletic programs, NYC public schools, etc. Yes! Lets take money from those good causes so I’ll have a higher chance of getting into the marathon by lottery.

LOL. My friend’s husband really wanted to run NYC Marathon a few years back, but I guess that he was too lazy to raise money so he just paid the charity his minimum $3000 bucks. I guess that he really wanted to run 26.2 miles to pay $3K. Then again, he probably wrote off his donation for his taxes.

International Tour Partners

Perhaps, this is the place where the numbers of lottery entrants can be modified. I’m not sure how many spots each tour operator has for the marathon. Perhaps, some of the ITO spots can be moved to the lottery bucket.

I forgot one

I just realized that there is a veteran option. If you run 15 NYC Marathons, then you are set for life. Shoot. If only I had started running marathons when I first moved to NYC, then I would be done by now. I guess that I have nine more NYC Marathons to go. 

Last year NYRR report that there were 53, 627 NYC Marathon finishers. I wonder how many folks entered. I guess going forward, NYRR will have to make some modifications to the number of folks entering and running the marathon. As marathons become more and more popular, these numbers are sure to increase.

Random Thoughts Thursday

-For some odd reason, Celine Dion’s “That’s The Way It Is” has been on constant repeat in my head.

-Why do I poop so much in the mornings? Three is the average number of poops that typically I have. Maybe I drink too much water and/or coffee after waking up. It really screws with my attempts at running in the morning, and it’s annoying having to poop after putting on all of my running crap. I guess it’s not that big of a deal during the summer months when I do not have to wear multiple layers. 

-The folks at Rock n Roll Madrid just unveiled the medal for the marathon. 

-I have been a hot mess trying to meet up with my two running groups. Ok! I’m gonna do it next week. I did find a Run and Chug running group that has beers after its weekly runs. 

-Midtown Manhattan was so pretty the other night. 

-When am I going to get my act together and apply to this graduate program? Ok, I’m gonna spend all day (if I have to) on Saturday doing it. This means waking up VERY early to do my long run and dragging my a** to work afterward. Maybe, I’ll leave some fresh clothes at work on Friday, so I can do the run and go directly to work after Saturday’s run. 

-Although I’ve already signed up to volunteer for my 9 races + 1 race volunteer (9+1) for guaranteed entry into NYC Marathon 2021, I want to volunteer more with NYRR. I think that I’ll sign up for three more events. Just so I will not take a slot from someone trying to get his/her +1, I’ll volunteer for non 9+1 events. 

-It’s not a random thoughts day without hating on NYRR. 😉 On the volunteering section of the website, I think it would be more effective to set up races with multiple volunteer  (10+) opportunities as an accordion. For example, clicking on the Brooklyn Half would open all of the volunteer opportunities rather than having each opportunity as a stand-alone link. It’s quite annoying having to constantly click “load more” to see other volunteer opportunities. After four “load more” clicks, I’m still on the damn Brooklyn Half Marathon volunteer opportunities. Maybe it’s set up like this so the site will receive more clicks. 

-Ok, I REALLY need to get a hair cut. 

Training Update: Marathon Madrid Wk. 1

Alrighty, here we go. Time to train for another marathon and this one will be in Madrid.

Before I begin, I guess that I’m officially registered for NYC’s Marathon, which will be held on Sunday, Nov. 1st. It looks like, there will be no Halloween festivities for me this year. Man. Back in 2005, if you told me that I would pay over 200 bucks to run a marathon, I would have looked at you like you had ten heads. My how things have changed.

Although this was the first week of training for Madrid’s marathon, I have not 100% decided on a marathon training plan. I’m pretty much going to take bits and pieces from multiple training plans. Some from Hanson’s Method, Hal Higgons, and Front Runners of NY. Like most of my marathon training plans, we all know that this plan more than likely will go to sh*t by week 8 or 9. Why set myself up for failure? 😉

General Training Crap

-I’m still going strong with my stairs at work challenge. Just like it sounds, I take the stairs to and from my office, which is on the 12th floor, whenever I have smoke breaks or need to visit other folks’ offices on campus. Unfortunately, the challenge really has not reduced my smoking. Come to think of it, I’m probably smoking more. 

-This is probably a stupid idea, but I completed my first week of 16:8 intermittent fasting (IF). It seems a bit weird to do IF while training for a marathon, but I really need to lose some weight. It’s simple physics or mechanics; smaller things tend to move faster. My big ass needs to move faster. 

Tuesday was a bit of a fail because the office catered lunch from Dinosaur BBQ. I’ll be damned if I will turn down free BBQ. Oh, Dino BBQ’s creamed corn is SOOOOO amazing. 

 

Monday: Strength Training and 3.25mi

Tuesday: Strength Training

Wednesday: x-train

I was supposed to run 5 miles, but I was a struggle and a hot mess. Instead, I did a half-assed elliptical workout. I guess this should have been considered more of a rest day.

Thursday: Speedwork (Morning) + Zumba (Evening)

Since I obviously would to get faster at some point in my life, I definitely will need to incorporate more speed (and hill) work during this training regimen. Yeah, I’ll probably never return to my 8:30min/mi half marathon pace status from seven or eight years ago, but I can always try.

For my speed workout, I wanted to run twelve 0.25mi hard intervals with 0.25mi easy recovery. I was kind of excited to do this workout because I found a portion of Central Park that has a 0.25mi circular dirt path.

However, I think that I was too excited because I did not notice how cold (25F) it was on Thursday morning until I started to run the intervals. After running about 4 of these intervals, my fingers were quite cold, and I had to run to the nearest New York Sports Club. After the run, I jogged to the gym to stretch, but my fingers were still feeling weird for 30 minutes after the run. So I learned an important lesson from this workout – WEAR GLOVES FOR ANY OUTDOOR WORKOUTS BELOW 30F. Actually, I don’t even know where my running gloves are. 

Since I did not do as much as I wanted to on the “track”, I decided to hit up a Zumba class, which I’ve been missing. Since joining New York Sports Club, I have not attended a Zumba class since January. I think that I attended my last Zumba a week before Christmas.

The Zumba class was just oooookay. I’m not sure if this was because I’m not used to this instructor’s method of teaching . . . aka the spazztastic method. I probably will not make this class a weakly thing. One of my biggest pet peeves with Zumba is when the instructor does not have his/her playlist together. We should not have to stop after every song so you can find the next song. 

Friday: HIIT and Stretching

Saturday: Long run (10.5mi)

The plan was to run 12 miles, but my strugglin’ a** was a bit tired. I think that I had one too many of gin tonics at one of my favorite Spanish restaurants (Tomiño Taberna Gallega) the night before. See, I’m already screwing up my marathon training. 

I guess old habits are hard to break.

For this long run, I wanted to try a completely different route so I ran to from Harlem to Fort Lee, NJ.

My run was just ok, but I probably put in about 70% effort on this run. I really was not feeling this run. It was one of those runs where you look at your GPS tracker and you are like: Wait! I’ve only completed 2 miles. I thought that I was at mile 4 or 5. After mile 2, I knew that the run was going to be a bit of a struggle. Going forward, there will be no hanging out on Friday nights . . . Well, very minimal hanging out on Fridays.

Oh one cool thing about the run: I found $10 bucks during the run. Dollar, dollar bills, y’all.

Upcoming Race: Rockapulcorun V-Day Half Marathon (Feb. 15)

According to the email that the organizer sent, it looks like there will be a brunch after the race. I wonder if there will be unlimited mimosas? 😉

we will be at Rogers Pub from 8:30 am on. Number pick up and race day reg. Then a nice Brunch after the Half. Sign up and our full calendar at www.rockapulcorun.com

How did your weekend go?

How do you decide on a marathon training plan? Do you follow published plans to the letter or kind of do your own thing?

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Race Report: Fred Lebow Half Marathon

Just a random note before I get into the report. I kinda wish that I never did those Shaun T Insanity workouts back in the day.

That exercise plan pretty much was the source of my back issues. I’m bringing this up (maybe I should make a separate post about it) because 4 years ago my best half marathon was a 1:48 (8:31min/mi), Now, I’ll be lucky if I run a sub 10min/mi pace for anything above a 5K. Part of the issue is I’m afraid to push myself really hard for fear of screwing up my back . . . again.

Ok, enough. Let’s talk about Fred Lebow and his half marathon.

Fred Lebow (June 3, 1932 – October 9, 1994) served as president of the New York Road Runners (NYRR) and was mostly responsible for starting NYC’s Marathon.

Fred Lebow in “the wild”

Date: January 19; 8:00 am 

Distance: 13.1 mi / 21.2 km

Place: Central Park, NY, NY

Weather: 41 F

Finishers: 5,272 (3,243 Men/2,029 Women) 

Offical time / pace: 2:19 / 10:37min/mi

Going into this half marathon, I had two main goals:

• Run a sub 2:30 half
• Run the Harlem Hill all three times

Because of my struggles with my last race, I wasn’t sure about either goal. As some may know, I struggled with digestive and back issues for the entire Joe Kleinerman 10K (***, race report).

Miles 1-4

I will say that NYRR (or maybe NYC) did a fantastic job of clearing all of the snow on the outer loop.

For the most part, I took this part of the race slowly (I guess the entire race was slow) because I was still nervous about my previous performance and knew that we would have to climb Harlem Hill THREE times and run the rolling hills on the west side of Central Park two times. 

Miles: 5-8

I admit that I had to walk for a little bit during Mile 8 because of the rolling hills following Harlem Hill along the west side of Central Park. Also, I lost some time because I had to pee during Mile 8 (or was it Mile 9). During this part of the race, I really took in the beauty of Central Park after a nice snow day. I was kinda jealous of all of the dogs that were fully enjoying the snow.

Miles: 9-13.1

Eh, the part was steady as she goes . . . I think. In my head, I wanted to try to push myself by doing fartleks (speed between two lamp posts and recovery between three lamp posts) from Mile 10 to the end of the race. My legs did not have any juice, so I started my fartleks at Mile 11. I think I was a bit hesitant because I knew that I would have to do the last Harlem hill at Mile 12. Surprisingly, I managed to catch up and pass people while fartleking. Yay me.

All in all, I did what I could, but I’m not that upset with my performance. Hey, we all gotta start at the start somewhere.

Some bling.

The best part of running a half marathon always is BRUNCH!!!

The next half, V-Day Half Marathon and Brunch (Rockaway Park, Queens, NY), is scheduled for Feb 15. I really hope that I make this one on time because Rockway Park is about 1.5 to 2 hours by train from our place . . . IF the MTA is not on any BS during that weekend. Fortunately, this half starts at 10 am. Actually, I better double-check because I’m not too sure about the time.

Question time:

• Since I’m planning to run Madrid’s Marathon (97 days away), what’s the best way to train considering that I’m planning to run a half marathon every month? For many training plans, the first long run is 8-9 miles. Should I just do speed runs and hills workouts during the week and run 13.1 miles for my long run days until my training plan surpasses the 13.1 mileage near the end of February?
• Should I start increasing my long-run distance, using this weekend’s half marathon distance as my base? For example, next week’s long run would be 15 mi and 17 mi the week after, and so forth. I like this plan, but I fear that I might do too much for the long runs in March/early April and injury myself. Also, if I proceed with the plan, I probably would end up running 30+ miles for my final long run. This may be better for Madrid’s marathon because the course is a bit hilly. 

It does not look that intense but this sh*t is in metric.

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We’re almost there – Fred Lebow Half

Now, we are a few days from the Fred Lebow Half Marathon, but I’m not feeling super confident about this half marathon. That said, this will be the 1st of (hopefully) 12 half marathons for 2020 . . . more on that for Thursday’s post. I’m pretty much going to use this half marathon as a baseline for my future half and full marathons in 2020. This means that I’m not looking for a PB (or even getting close to a PB). I’ll try to run the whole thing, but I will not beat myself up if have to walk for a bit. There will be some rolling hills with this one so we’ll see how that it goes. 

Interesting: Word on the street is that NYRR had to modify the course due to construction in Central Park. So far NYRR has not made an announcement; I learned about this change from my NYC Marathon 2019 Facebook group. 

Elevation for the original course: 

Elevation for the new course: 

I’m a bit surprised NYRR has not officially mentioned the course change, maybe they are planning to email runners later this week. 

Training week in review: 

Because of the struggles that I experience from last week’s Joe Kleinerman 10K (***), I kind of took last week pretty easy in terms of training. I did not want to further aggravate my back so I focused a bit more on stretching. Also, I have been actively trying to avoid slouching at home and in the office and stretch every night before going to sleep. 

On Saturday, I did do a longish run. Although I wanted to run 11 miles, I squeaked out only 9.5 miles. How crazy was the weather on the east coast this past weekend? Really, 65F in NYC during the second week in January?!!! Craaaaaazy. I had a nice run that took me from Harlem to Randell’s Island, Astoria, the Upper East Side, and Central.

Overall, the run was just ok. My back was a bit problematic during the first two miles of the run, but the pain disappeared after the second mile. Maybe, this is a sign that my back is getting better . . . slowly. With last week’s 10K, I had issues with my back for the entire duration of the race. I guess my longish run confirmed that I should spend more time warming up. Maybe I need to do an easy jog (~1 mile) with before my future races or just go into a race (10K and higher) knowing that I will have to take it easy during the first mile. 

 I wanted to do a quick loop in the lower part of Central Park so I could hit 11 miles, but there were just waaaay too many people in the park for my liking. This longish run was also an errand run because it gave me the opportunity to pick of my race bib and swag for this weekend’s half marathon. 

Happy running.

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