“Training” Recap

Hmmmm, it’s hard to write a recap, considering that I’m not really training for anything. Maybe, I need to say that I’m training to lose some freaking weight. 

Honestly, last week was a bit of a haze. I believe that I did four runs, including NYRR’s Run as One 4M race. I guess that my “training” runs last week were not that memorable.

Oh wait, I lie. 

Last week, I had to attend a conference at the Education Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey. You know, the company that administers the SAT, the GRE, AP exams, etc. Quiet as it’s kept, I did not really get that much out of the conference. One morning, I decided to skip the breakfast session and do a three mile run on ETS’ campus. Since there really is not anything out there, the run was quite pleasant. I mean, it was kind of weird running and breathing clean air and not hearing a whole bunch of city noises. The campus even had a couple of trails that I wondered off on. I wish that I had got up earlier in the morning (or skipped the second session) so I could explore the trails a little more. Oh, this reminds me that I need to send my travel receipts for my reimbursement. 

Seriously, where is EVERYTHING?

Kind of funny, but sad story.

I spent pretty much $30 bucks on cigarettes. Cigarette prices in NJ are substantially cheaper than in NYC. Rather than buying a pack in NYC, I figure that I would “save” 8-9 bucks and buy a pack in Jersey. Unfortunately, there were some train delays, and I was running late for the conference. No biggie, I’ll just buy a pack in the conference center or someplace nearby. Get to ETS’ campus, attend the morning and afternoon sessions, ask the front desk clerk where I can buy smokes (assuming there was a gas station nearby). She tells me that I would have to drive into town to buy cigarettes. Yeah, I don’t have a car (I took an Uber from the train station). Basically, I had to request an Uber to drive me into town ($9.50), buy the cigarettes ($7), then take another Uber back to the damn conference center (surge pricing, $13). Yup, $29.50 for smokes. Another annoying thing. Since I was in town, I decided to get sushi for lunch. Mainly because there was a Chinese & Japanese restaurant across the street from the 7/11 where I bought my cigarettes. Goddamnit, the waiter tells me that the restaurant doesn’t serve sushi on Tuesdays because the sushi guy doesn’t work on Tuesdays. You mean to tell me that the sushi guy cannot teach anyone how to make a freaking tuna roll?!!! Well, my Kung Pao Chicken wasn’t that bad. Actually, I may get sushi on the way home. 

Kung Pao Chicken

Also, my damn fortune cookie did not come with a fortune. 

Ha! randomly searching for these pictures in iPhoto, I came across my some notes from one of the sessions. I don’t know if my handwriting has gotten worse or stayed the same since undergrad. As long as I can read it, right?

The first line says “Mitigating Sigma Panel”

The second line says “Blacks may view tests as a reflection of negative stereotypes.”

Wow! I went off on a HUGE tangent.

During one of my crosstraining workouts, I really did not feel like listening to music so I decided to listen to a podcast from the Marathon Training Academy. I randomly selected the podcast about “Finding the Joy in Running”. This episode was right up my alley because I have been pretty nonchalant about running. Running the Run as One 4M race kind of changed that sentiment. The episode provided some reasons why one may fall out of “love” with running and tips to overcome this feeling. 

• Systems vs Goals: One will not see the results of maintaining a system compared to completing a goal. For example, directly seeing the results of cleaning a room over keeping it constantly clean. 
• Run fun races. Actually, I have never been too much of a fan of themed races (e.g. costume races). It takes me too much work just to get my regular running clothes together and make it to the start of a race on time. You mean, I gotta put together a costume?! No gracias. Well, I could be down for a race that involves beer. 
• Join a running group. I’ve completed the first step (back in Jan.), now I just have to run with the running groups.
• Switch up the types of runs/race (e.g. road races vs trail races). 
• Hire a coach. Nope, I’m too cheap. 
• Sign up for a destination race – maybe a full or half-marathon somewhere in Europe, probably Espana. 

There were a few more things, but the ones listed are the ones that I remember. Maybe I will listen to the podcast again during my bike ride to the gym home. 

Happy running (or whatever), y’all. 

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Race Report: Run as One (4M)

Date: April 20, 2019; 8:30

Distance: 4M

Place: Central Park

Weather: 62 F; 100% Humidity with rain

Finishers: 6,108 total (3,245 men / 2,863 women)

Office time / pace: 37:49 / 9:28 min/mi

This race’s major sponsor’s, the Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation, main goal is two raise awareness for lung cancer. 

BTW, how cute were the bibs for this race?

It was a struggle getting to this race. One thing that most may not know about me is that I hate running in extreme heat and in the rain. “Extreme” can mean anything above 75 F. 😉 I really debated running this race; but by 8:05am, I finally decided that I would go through with the race. . . keep in mind that the race started at 8:30 am. I pretty much had to “speed ride” from Harlem to the start, about 3 miles. According to Strava, I started my bike journey at 8:21 am. Fortunately, NYRR races have stagged starts. By the time I arrived to Central Park (~8:45 am) many of the runners had not started the race. 

 

Since I would like to get faster at some point in my life, I wanted to employ a strategy of sprints and recovery during the race. The plan was a general easy jog (Mile 1 and 2); fartleks (Mile 3); recovery for 0.5 mi and full “sprint” for 0.5 mi (Mile 4). Yeah, none of that crap happened. Well, I did fartlek during Mile 3. By the time, I arrived at the start, I was kind of pooped because riding a Citibike to the start (there were a few inclines in my route). Also, between my leg work out on Thursday and Citibike’s big ass seats, my ass was pretty sore. I do not have too much to complain about this race or my performance because this was my first race in a month and I recently started running again. I did notice that I was a bit winded on some of Central Park hills but I think the humidity had a bit to do with that (or maybe the cigarettes are finally catching up to me, no pun) Also, with my recent runs, I have not really been pushing myself that much. Hopefully, that will change starting this week. 

 

One of the worst things happened to me during this race. No, not an injury, but my freaking headphones died. This probably was the first time that I’ve ever run a race without any music. Well . . . I had music for the first quarter mile It was a very weird experience; however, I definitely prefer listening to music. I was getting quite annoyed hearing people huffing and puffing down my damn back. 

It was quite nice to actually race, and I’m glad that I decided to run in the rain. Oh, after the race, I had planned to do a recovery run home. I only made it 1 mile in the recovery run before saying fuck it and hopping on a Citibike. 

A couple of questions:

1. Where the hell was the Gatorade after the race? 
2. Why don’t walkers move to the outer edges of the racing pack?
3. For Strava users: Why does the time change when you record a run as a race rather than as a workout?

I’m looking forward to my next race: Japan 4M; May 12. Let’s see if there can be an improvement in time in a few weeks. 

Monday Training Update

Although I am not actually training for anything, I guess that I can provide some updates of what I have been up to. 

I tried to do a 7-day running streak. Unfortunately, I only ran 5 days in a row, rather than the full seven days. 😦 I did not run the two last days because I had to work late a couple of times this week and I could not wake up early. It’s the thought that counts, right?

I will say that I actually enjoyed these easy runs (~3 miles). It was quite nice just to run (or in my case, jog) just for the sake of getting out there. Plus, the weather has been lovely over the past few days. Also, it was helpful that I did not use a GPS tracker on these runs. Well, I used Strava,  but I did not really pay attention to any pacing information. As a side note: a few weeks ago, I cracked the screen of my Apple Watch, and it does not work very well. I’m on the fence between purchasing another one or not. Maybe I’ll get another one when I start actually training for stuff and running races. I think my first race of the season is this Sunday (or is it on Saturday?).

Going forward for the near future, I think that I’m going to alternate between weeks of 3 runs/week and doing 7-day streaks. We’ll see how this will play out. 

Over the past week, I have been hitting the gym and I even attended my first Zumba class in God knows how long. Why do I manage to stand behind the most struggling dancer in the entire class? It never fails.

        

It was nice to see my old “acquaintances” and my old hater fans in Zumba. 😉

Oh, wait. Since today is/was the Boston Marathon, I saw this article ( *** ) from the Washington Post about cheating in marathons in my Facebook feed. I still do not understand why people feel the need to cheat to gain entrance in this marathon. I guess that running the Boston Marathon is an honor, but how is it an honor if you cheated to get in? And, is it really THAT big of a deal?

Getting my life back on track

Now, that the excitement of the United NYC Half Marathon is over, it’s time to get back to business. Buuuuut, what is my business? I really have no idea of where to go to next in terms of running and general fitness. Well, actually, I would like to drop a few pounds by the end of summer. I’m thinking around 10 – 15 pounds. Wasn’t that my plan at the beginning of the year? 😉 Over the past couple of months, I have been a little a lot laid back with working out and watching what I eat/drink, which have manifested itself into a larger beer gut.

Although I do not have anything major to train for. Note: I need to register for some NYRR races so I can do 9+1 for 2020’s NYC Marathon. I do have a long-term goal of becoming a better marathon runner. I mean, can a brother become a sub 4-hr marathon runner? I have an entry for the 2019’s NYC Marathon, which gives me about 8 months to become a better marathon runner (hopefully, no injuries will derail me). The plan for this week is to come up with a couple of preseason workout regimens (and actually stick to it/them) before I start my marathon training in the summer. Although I did not perform as well as I would have liked in the United NYC Half Marathon, it is a nice feeling to know that I can run 13.1 miles without much training.

Please hook me up with any long-term marathon training plans that you may have. All suggestions are invited and welcomed.

Personal Health:

I have a couple of things that I need to take care off.

I got a new tooth. So that is off the list. 😉

Visit a goddamn podiatrist. Actually, once I finish this entry, I am going to find one. For the past year or so, I have been dealing with a soft corn (technically a heloma molle) between my pinky and ring toes on my right foot. I did not want to put the images in this post, but you can check out what they look like here ( *** , *** ). This issue is caused by the constant rubbing/friction between my fourth and fifth toes. Yes, I know that I should have gotten this taken care of while ago, but I did not want to miss the NYC Marathon or last week’s Half-Marathon because of foot surgery. You know, it’s better to “ignore” an injury than dealing with it, which is a Y chromosome thing. Also, the pain is pretty manageable depending on the type of shoes and socks that I wear. The most common way to fix a soft corn is to have some bone shaved off of the fourth and fifth toes to provide move space preventing the two toes from rubbing on each other.

I have been trying to cut back on the cigarettes. Before going to work, I leave my smokes at home so I will not smoke during the day. It has been going ok for the past 1.5 weeks. It’s actually getting to the point where it’s going to be impossible to buy cigarettes in NYC.

Random Thoughts Thursday: NYC Half Marathon Edition

Ok, I’m trying to get back to my normal blogging ( and yelping) life.

Here are a few things that have been running around my head (no pun) about this past half-marathon.

-I’m glad that I went for it, and the half marathon has jump-started my interest in getting my ass (literally) back in shape. Hopefully, I’m gonna follow up with some goals in upcoming posts. Once I submit this post, I’ll sign up for a few races to start my 9+1 journey to the NYC Marathon in 2020.

-Since my Apple Watch has a crack in the screen, it was kind of cool running a race without focusing on time. Actually, it was quite freeing.

-Speaking of my Apple Watch, that fucker is going to cost to $300 to fix. The damn watch was $350; I guess that I should have purchased the extended warranty.

-Seriously, where were the crowds? Now that I think of it, I finished the Half Marathon around 10 am, so maybe the race was too early for the crowds to come out and cheer for folks.

-I found out that many folks did not receive a medal. Ummmmmmm, wouldn’t NYRR know how many people registered for the United NYC Half Marathon? Perhaps, NYRR assumed that many of the registered folks would not show up to the race or not finish. You know something like, ordering 10% less food than the number of people that you invite to an event. Here’s the other thing (purely my opinion), I really do not see the point of receiving medals from races. Usually, the day after the race, my medal will go in a random bag or drawer, and I’ll probably not see it again until I move. I’m more interested in the technical tees. 

–What an inspirational story. Thomas Panek is the first blind runner to complete the half marathon with guide dogs (Westley, Waffle, and Gus).

-I wonder if this guy ran the half marathon with this basket from the security checkpoint?

-Added insult to injury. Thanks a lot for the reminder, Facebook. I was so close to meeting my goal (a sub 1:45) for the NYC Half back in 2016. I had to take a stupid poop during mile 3 three. 

-Oh, I’m not a fan of Honey Stinger Energy Gels; they are way too viscous for me.

Race Report: NYC United Half Marathon

Date: March 17, 2019; 8:00 am

Distance: 13.1 mi

Place: Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

Weather: 34 F; 46% Humidity  

Finishers: 24,666 total (12,312 men / 12,354 women) 

Official time / pace:  2:11:18 / 10:01 min/mi 

You get the race that you train for. 

Going into this race, I really had no true expectations or goals aside from finishing. Although I did not run as well as I wanted to (due to lack of training on my part), I am glad that I went through with it. The night before the race, I was on the verge of not doing the race

For this entry, I guess that I could break this up in a few parts. 

Pre-race

Although I was assigned to Wave 1, I knew that I was not in Wave 1 shape. Plus, I did not want to have to arrive to Prospect Park by 6:25 am to check my bag. Then, it hit me. Do I really need or want to check a bag?  If I did not check a bag, then I could run in any wave, thus setting back my start time from 7:30 am to 8:40 am. Aka, I could wake up later.

My plan was to leave the apt. at 6:00 am so I could run in the second wave. Yeah, that did not go so well. The idea was to take the A train to Metrotech and the F train from Metrotech to Prospect Park. First, the A train, which does make any stops from 125th street to 59th street and runs express, was running local from 125th street. Second, the F train was severely delayed so I had to take another A train future into Brooklyn, then take the G train (really, the G?) to Prospect Park. By the time I walked the mile or so from the subway to the security checkpoint, I knew that I would not make Wave 2. That said, I was not too bothered since I was kind of easy breezy with my start plans. At this point, I really wished that I had prepared a sandwich or something because I was kind of hungry before starting. 

Miles 1 – 4:

Grand Army Plaza

The first third of the half-marathon gave us a bit of a tour of Prospect Park and took us through the streets of Brooklyn. During these miles, I started off pretty slow because I did not want to risk injuring anything or running out of steam during the first part of the race. Late January was the last time that I ran anything over 8 miles. Plus, I was concerned that the first three to five miles were going to be pretty hilly. I probably could/should have pushed myself harder, but I did not want to risk the end of the race. Looking back at my experience, I am glad that I did not push myself any harder during this part because I probably would not have finished the run. 

There were not really too many crowds out during this part of the race, which was kind of weird, but we did spend some time in the less popular sections (to me) of Prospect Park. 

Miles 4 – 8:

Manhattan Bridge. Probably the least popular of the bridges that span the East River.

This part of the half-marathon took us through downtown Brooklyn and into Manhattan. Crossing the Manhattan Bridge was one of the things that I looked forward to . . . and feared. I was surprised that I did not struggle too much with the Manhattan Bridge. I do not know why, but I thought that we were going to be running on the pedestrian and bike paths, which have very steep inclines. However, we ran across the upper level of the bridge, which had a gradual increase in steepness. I thought that I would have to walk the incline of the bridge so I was quite happy that I managed to run the entire bridge. 

Arriving in Manhattan was so lackluster. There were hardly any crowds. Then again, I am comparing the experience of crossing a bridge into Manhattan from my NYC Marathon experience. In the NYC Marathon, you can hear the crowd’s cheers on Manhattan’s 1st Avenue roaring from the Queensboro Bridge. In last weekend’s half, you barely heard a peep. There was someone with a loudspeaker telling us that we had seven miles left.  I guess something is better than nothing. 

This portion of the race took us through Chinatown and along FDR Drive, which was also pretty quiet. Also, the beginning part of FDR Drive was very sticky; it reminded me of a nasty movie theater. It was like a glue truck had dumped glue along a 1 – 1.5 mile stretch of the route. 

Miles 8 – 12

This portion of the half marathon took us through some great and iconic NYC sites: the UN, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central, Bryant Park, Times Square, Carnegie Hall, and Central Park. 

The first part of the segment was kind of nostalgic because we ran past NYU School of Medicine, which is where I completed my graduate studies. We actually past my old apartment building and old laboratory. 

 

So many memories of boozing and cruising around Murray Hill. I mean, concentrating on my studies in immunology and molecular oncology. 

On our way to Times Square

Again, I was expecting more folks along the course. 

Grand Central

It was during this part of the half that I was becoming quite fatigued and a bit over the race. One cool aspect of the NYC Marathon is there were large crowds (maybe not in the Bronx) that power you through the race. For the NYC Half, you kind of had to power yourself through it. The large majority of this chunk of the race is pretty flat so that made life a little more simple, which took my mind off of my fatigue. I pretty much cranked up my tunes and kept saying “one foot in front of another.”

I’m running through freakin’ Times Square!!!

I started to overheat a bit and, at mile 11, had to walk a little. I think taking a bunch of selfies, pictures, and videos in and near Times Square kind of drained my mojo. The sad part is many of the Times Square pictures did not come out right so pretty much a bunch of time wasted. 

Miles 12 – 13.1

Absolute disaster. I totally forgot about the little hills sprinkled in Central Park. These hills are not super steep or difficult to climb, but my legs were pretty much done at this point. Around mile 10, I started to feel soreness in both of my quads, which was general pain from not running for the past 45 or so days. My bad. To get back into the groove and to finish strong, I tried to fartlek between light posts in Central Park, but after three or four fartleks, I had to walk again. I think this is the first time that I ever had to walk during the last mile of any race. But hey, I should be happy that I made to mile 12 without too much of a struggle. 

Although it was not my best half-marathon (and surprisingly not my worst), I still had somewhat of a blast. Well, a blast until the last mile. That last mile was a true killer. Since I did not do bag check, I could not take a picture with my medal and a cigarette.

The woman taking the picture was supposed to get a shot with the medal FACING the camera.

 Post Race:

I was so lucky because the finish is pretty close to the bus line that more or less drops me off in front of my apt. Although the bus takes longer than the subway, I do not think that I could have walked up and down a bunch of stairs for the 2 or 3 train. Once I arrived to Harlem, I treated myself to a splendid, yet simple, brunch at Harlem Shake. I even got myself a nice mimosa. Once the cashier found out that I ran a half-marathon, she really hooked me up the champagne portion of the mimosa. BTW, the grits with turkey sausage are AMAZING.

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, I managed to fit in a few more drinks with the BF husband. Actually, I would have had a few more drinks even if it was not St. Patrick’s Day.

Whiskey, Irish Carbombs (the husband never had one before), and Pisco Sours

A milk mustache from the Irish Carbombs.

I hope everyone had a great running weekend or a great chilling weekend. 

Running Questions and Answers a.k.a. Get to Know Me Better

Since this week’s half marathon training was not about sh*t, I borrowed the prompt for this entry from runningtotravel who borrowed it from The Writting Runner.

When did you start running?

I used to run in cross country and track in high school, but I stopped in college. Um, yeah, New Orleans was far too humid for running. Because of New Orleans’ weather, my college’s cross country team started practice at 5:30 am. Um, yeah, I’m not an early riser. My more recent running beginnings happened in 2010. My bicycle had two flat tires one morning, but rather than repairing the tires, I decided to run to work.

What do you consider to be the hardest distance to train for and/or race?

Definitely, a full marathon because you have to dedicate so much time to training. Also, it seems like there is never a perfect season for training – either it’s too hot in the summer or it’s too cold in winter.

Describe some of your favorite race courses.

Definitely, the Rock n Roll Series Montreal Half Marathon. Although I have visited Montreal several times, you really got a nice tour of the city’s (technically province’s) three islands. Unfortunately, the more recent Rock n Roll Series Montreal races do not include the other two islands (Notre Dame and Helene).

What is one weird/unusual thing you do as a runner that most other runners don’t.

Everyone knows this . . . I’m a smoker who runs marathons. Or a marathoner who smokes. 😉

Do you have a bucket-list race?

I would love to run a marathon in another country. Actually, the plan was to run the full marathon in Montreal; however, I injured myself and had to settle with running the city’s half-marathon. Outside of mentally converting miles into kilometers, I would not mind running a marathon in Paris or Madrid.