Yom Kippor "Marathon" & A Crisp Morning Run

Yesterday was the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippor. One of the traditions of Yom Kippor is to fast from dusk the night before until it is dark the next day. It ends up being about a 26 hour time period of not eating.

Sometimes the fast is really difficult, however, this year it wasn't so bad. First of all, I slept a lot more than normal (I was asleep by 9:30pm and stayed in bed until around 8am!). The worst time for me was around 1pm or 2pm as we were finishing the morning prayer service - 19 to 20 hours in. Sound familiar?

I started speaking to a congregant who has run a few marathons and we were discussing how this was "the wall" and once we break through the next hour or so we should have smooth sailing to the end. Perhaps this is the time when the body finishes burning the calories of the last meal before the fast and starts burning stored energy (just like "the wall" during the marathon).

I'm not sure about this, but I tried to convince myself that this was good psychological training for the marathon. Get over "the wall" of feeling totally ravenous - and then after that feeling just focus on getting to the finish line.

We had a bunch of neighbors/congregants over to our house to break the fast last night. I think we may have had about 40 people in and out of our house between 7:30pm and 9:30pm - eating bagels, blintzes, kugels and deserts. I likely ate a full day's worth of calories in that meal (which I guess was fine as I hadn't eaten the rest of the day).

What I really needed after that was a run this morning!

What a great morning for a run. When I opened the front door to place my Garmin 305 on the stoop to search for satellites, I felt the crisp chill of an autumn morning. I started to rethink my choice of clothing - shorts and a running t-shirt. Should I go with long-sleeves??? I decided to stay in what I had on and just be a bit cool...after all of those runs in the summer, I must say I was ecstatic to not feel hot while running.

I ended up pushing the pace just a bit since the temperatures were cooling me down. My average HR was 151, which for an easy run is a bit on the high side - although not so high that this would constitute speedwork. It was nice to see my average pace also at a much faster level - 9:51/mile - to go with the higher HR.

I took a look back at the beginning of my training and saw I ran this same route on June 30 - avg pace of 10:36/mile and avg HR of 157. Whoa! This marathon training stuff has really kicked me into shape!

One other random observation from my run - over the summer I saw a house on my route with a big dumpster on the lawn (it was under renovation), and one of the people that was working on the house was sleeping in the back seat of his car just up the street from the house. The dumpster and the guy sleeping in the car had disappeared for a few weeks, but they were back this morning. Poor guy. I'm really close to knocking on his car door the next time I run by the house and offer him a bed in our house to sleep in. I'm not sure if Sherry will go for it, but I just don't feel right having this guy sleeping in his car.

20 Miles - And An Improvement Over Last Year!

Today was my penultimate really long run before the NY Marathon.

I remember from last year that I didn't feel too bad after my 20 mile run - it was the 18 miler (and the penultimate really long run) that had me almost limping around that day. Today, I don't feel that bad. Yes, I'm sore - but I'm not gimpy.

My legs actually started to feel a bit sore after mile 9. At mile 18 I the back pain that I got earlier in the week came back (luckily, this pain disappeared when I stopped running). Even with this, I ran strong to the end - my last two mile splits were 10:14 and 10:28. Compare this to my first two splits of 11:04 and 11:17...how nice to get faster at the end of such a long run!

And while we're on the subject of comparisons, since I ran the same route in preparing for the Frederick Marathon, I actually have a good gauge as to how I am doing compared to last year. Today, I ran the route in 3:35:05 (avg pace of 10:33 with avg HR of 152). Last year I ran the same route in 3:46:42 (avg pace of 11:19 with avg HR of 157).

I was thinking perhaps the weather may be more favorable this year - this morning was 60 degrees and overcast. However, last year was 57 degrees and also cloudy. No...I can't attribute the improvement to the weather.

Here's the route:

Rest day tomorrow. Then Yom Kippor on Monday, so I'll need to squeeze my weekly runs in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

My Attempt To Get On To The 59th Street Bridge - From A Garmin's Perspective

It took me three tries to actually find the pedestrian path of the 59th Street Bridge this morning - I took two paths on the 59th Street side (which I found very quickly to be wrong) and then finally went over to the 60th Street side and found it.

Here's how my frantic antics looked from the Garmin satellites:

Team R2R Meeting and 59th Street Bridge Run

Continuing where I left off with my quick trip up to New York...

I had planned to meet up with two friends from my High School trip to Israel in the late afternoon. LH was going to be in the Chelsea area of town, BS was on Houston Street and I was in midtown. Hmm... It looked like Chelsea was the most centrally located, so I picked a coffee shop for us to meet at and let them know where to meet (interestingly enough, neither of the locals wanted to pick the spot to meet...so leave it to the guy who has never lived in NYC to pick the place??? thank goodness for Google Maps!).

I got there about 3:45pm, but I had a conference call at 4:30pm. I had hoped that the two of them would get there around 4 or so, we would all hang out together, I would take my call outside and then come back in and join them. What ended up happening was that both of them let me know that they would be late, I took my 4:30 call in the coffee shop and once it finished around 5pm they both showed up.

The three of us hadn't been together in over 21 years (it makes me feel really old saying that). However, there was no awkwardness to us being together again - it seemed so natural hanging out. Unfortunately, we only had an hour to spend together and it went really quickly. I hope to see them again the next time I'm in the city!

I head crosstown on the subway to get to the Alzheimer's Association meeting. I get on the train, and sitting there is my cousin's husband - what are the odds! (luckily I told my cousin that I was coming into town for a quick visit but was not going to have time to get out to Long Island to see them...otherwise I would have been busted!)

I made it to the Alzheimer's Association's office in time for the meeting. On the agenda was a guest speaker - Liz Robbins a NY Times journalist who wrote the book A Race Like No Other about the NY Marathon. I decided to go buy the book on my lunch break, and I started to read the Prologue and Chapter 1 after work. I haven't been this excited to read a book in a while - even though I have tons of things going on right now, I should be able to find some time to read this and get through it quickly (or at least quickly for me!).

Liz Robbins was great! You could tell that she really enjoyed covering the marathon, going to the neighborhoods and meeting many of the special spectators that make the crowds so amazing for this race, and diving into the stories of both the elite runners and also the everyday runners with not-so-everyday stories behind why they were running the NY Marathon. I had her sign my copy of the book and she seemed genuinely interested in why I was running (actually, it seemed like she took the time to speak to everyone who was there). She was also VERY excited to hear that I went to Barnes and Noble that afternoon to buy the book!

I was expecting there to be a bit more to the meeting - details on the pre-race pasta dinner? the bus to pick us up marathon morning? the post-race party? They gave us some of the information, but I guess not everything is finalized yet. We'll be getting more information in the next week. Since this is the first year the Alzheimer's Association has a team, I guess they are working through all of the details.

After the meeting, I went up to the 92nd Street Y for Israeli Dancing. This meant that I was getting even more exercise, but also meant that I would be going to sleep much later. Ends up that I got back to my friend's apartment at 11:30pm. I quickly crashed.

This morning, I was up before the sun. Not sure why my body thinks 5:30am is a suitable time to wake up - I guess my kids and my running schedule have trained me to be an early bird. If I'm up at that time, I might as well run, right?

I headed out on 69th to Central Park West, down Central Park West to 59th Street and then across 59th Street to the Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge.

I had told a few people that I intended to run over this bridge and back - it is on the marathon route at about mile 16 - so why did no one tell me how to get onto the pedestrian path???? I saw a sidewalk leading up from 59th street onto the bridge, but that became a dead-end. Then further down I saw what looked to be a little ramp, but that lead to the shoulder of the lower-deck of the bridge. I decided to go back up 2nd Ave to the 60th Street side. I asked a policewoman there and she pointed me to where the path starts down on 1st Ave. Finally!!!

I'm glad I ran the bridge. I've heard "The NY Marathon is flat except for the bridges and a few hills in Central Park". Well, now I know what to expect on the bridges - and it's a pretty significant hill. Maybe not the steepest of hills, but it's constant uphill for a good 1/2 to 3/4 mile. Of course the good thing about going uphill on the bridge is the coasting downhill after the crest of the bridge. Nice!

After going over the bridge and back I headed up 1st Avenue, trying to imagine this street lined with crowds cheering the runners as they exit the bridge. Up to 69th and back west to Central Park, through Central Park and finally stopped at Columbus Avenue. I looked at my clothes and they were drenched. What a great way to start the morning :-)

I'm now on the Tripper Bus back home. The WiFi on the bus is great - I've participated in three conference calls for work - and of course I have been able to blog!

It was great being in New York, but it will be really nice to be home with Sherry and the boys. Next trip to NYC is October 16-17 to run the last 10 miles of the marathon with Team Run To Remember!

Show Me The Money!!!

OK...not me. The Alzheimer's Association!

According to the Team Run To Remember Fundraiser page, the team has raised over $120,000 now. Woo hoo!

I have raised a little over $3,400 of that total. (if you would like to add to that, please donate on line here) I had set my goal at $5,000 and I'm pretty much on pace to get there.

Where has the money come from? Well, the math nerd in me decided to break it down. The categories with the most - 26% has come from my Immediate Family (parents, siblings, in-laws, aunts and uncles, etc.), 12% came from my Star Diner fundraiser, and 10% have come from college friends, from synagogue friends and from Israeli dancing friends.

I decided to crunch it down a little further into three categories - Family (both immediate and extended), Communities I Am Active In (Shaare Torah, Israeli Dance, Work, Running Community, etc.) and Social Networking Contacts (friends from High School, BBYO, when we lived in Dallas, etc. - most of whom I only speak to a few times a year or just recently got back in touch with them via Facebook or LinkedIn)

It wasn't so easy to do this, as some people are part of multiple categories - friends at synagogue who also go Israeli Dancing, friends from High School that are also neighbors, etc. In cases like these, I just chose the category that I though fit best.

Here's the results:

Active Community	Fundraiser	12%
	Shaare Torah	10%
	Israeli Dancing	10%
	Work	9%
	Neighbors	3%
	Running Community	2%
	Community At-Large	2%
Active Community Total		48%
Family	Immediate Family	26%
	Extended Family	7%
Family Total		33%
Social Networking	Friend - UofM	10%
	Friend - Dallas	4%
	Friend - BBYO	3%
	Friend - High School	2%
Social Networking Total		19%
Grand Total		100%

The bottom line - all of the time "invested" in being active in the community - going to synagogue on a weekly basis, leading Israeli Dancing, speaking to my neighbors and other runners, etc. - and all of the "lost time" keeping up with Facebook has actually helped me significantly in my fundraising efforts.

Central Park Loop and Late Night In New York

Yesterday, I got into New York City around 2:30pm and immediately went to the Regus day office that I had reserved at 11 Park Plaza. It's nice to have the flexibility to work from anywhere most of the time!

My last conference call of the day ended a little after 5:30pm, and then off I went - with bags in tow - to the subway and up to my friend's apartment on 70th and Broadway. I was surprised at how quickly it took - I was in his apartment before 6pm.

I quickly changed into running clothes and then I walked over to Columbus Circle for the group run. It took much longer than usual for Garmin to pick up a satellite...it wasn't until I got to Central Park West and stopped to stretch that it finally locked in.

I was surprised to see so many people congregating into different running groups. There were even more running groups (some which were probably 50-70 people!) that we encountered while running the loop.

The Alzheimer's Association team had about 15 runners. Immediately from the get go (and without any prompting), the group split up into three groups running at different paces. I hung back with MM - who I ran with the last time I was in Central Park. We ran together for close to 2 miles when we stopped for water. Uur pace was somewhere in the 10:00 to 10:20/mile range which was an OK pace for me but a bit fast for her. At that point she decided to walk a bit and then slow down.

I decided to pick up the pace since this was my mid-week run where I sometimes do my speedwork. At first I was trying to do a fast 1/2 mile and then slow down for a 1/4 mile - like the Yasso workouts. However, I wasn't timing my 1/2 mile intervals...I was just going on feel. In the middle of my 2nd "interval" I saw the second pack of runners from my team. I caught up with them and decided to run the rest of the way with them. At that point they were doing closer to a 9:15 - 9:30/mile, which is about the pace I was running my Yasso intervals at. Except that I still had about 3 miles to go!

I ended up doing fine with this group. I think the last two miles we ran closer to a 9:00/mile pace (mile 6 may have been sub-9). The entire run was a little over 6 miles and for me a little over 57 minutes. I thought to myself that I should be able to kick some major behind in this year's Turkey Chase. Even though it's a hilly course, I'll definitely be able to aim for a course PR (current course PR is 1:00:33) and perhaps even a new 10K PR (current 10K PR is 56:14).

After the run, I went back to my friend's apartment for a quick shower and then met a high school friend for dinner. (I spoke to Sherry on the way and her remark was "it's almost 9:00 at night - you haven't eaten dinner yet???") I hadn't seen him in a few years and we had a lot of catching up to do. Things went much later than I had planned and I didn't get back to the apartment until close to midnight - whoa!

Today, I reserved an office at the Chrysler Building. I thought it would be really cool to work there - plus, the Alzheimer's Association office is a few blocks down Lexington Avenue - and I have a team meeting there later this evening. As I went to subway station, I was told that there was a track fire on that line so none of the trains were moving. Great! I decided to walk cross-town - through Central Park - and then take the subway on the East side. It's kind of ironic - at home, I never would consider walking a mile and a half to get to public transportation to get to an office...but in New York City it seemed extremely appropriate!

New York City - Here I Come!!!

I'm on the Tripper Bus right now - we're crossing over the Delaware Memorial Bridge on the way to New York City! There is wifi on the bus, so I've already finished one conference call and listened in on an internal webcast on the Nortel-Ericsson transition. Ain't technology grand!

My back is still sore, but feeling better this morning. We'll see how it goes this evening when I run in Central Park with the folks on Team Run 2 Remember. I can't wait!!!

Back Pain :-(

I went out for a 5 mile run this morning - 5:30am and all is dark. It was a cool and comfortable morning, but I felt a bit tight trying to start up.

At around mile 3 or so, I felt a twinge in my mid-back on the left side. Sometimes this will happen and then go away, but this one stayed...and it continued to get worse.

I made a chiro appointment at lunch today - ends up the muscles between the last two ribs had "locked up". After some cracking, massaging and electro stim, it's still hurting me - especially when I do any type of twisting action. The chiro told me to ice it this evening and by tomorrow it should feel better.

I hope so, since tomorrow I'll be on a bus for 4-5 hours on my way to New York! And tomorrow evening is a group run in Central Park with Team Run To Remember!!!

13 Miles - And On Pace For 1,000!

Today's run was a 13 miler. I had planned to run with HH - meeting at a nearby coffee house at 6am. I ran up there with a few minutes to spare and started waiting. A few minutes after 6, she pulls up and comes out of her car in jeans and a sweatshirt - oh no! She had been up all night with a stomach issue and couldn't run (I told her she didn't need to drive over to tell me, but she said that she was already up and wanted to get out of the house anyway).

So my run was solo. And since it was supposed to be with someone, I didn't bring my iPod. I guess it's good practice for the big day, right?

I hadn't run this route since training for the Frederick Marathon. It was a bit odd running it again, as I was used to running it in the winter - with tights, gloves, beanie and jacket. This morning had a slight chill in the air - but the welcome kind that comes just as autumn arrives.

I felt really tight at the beginning of this run, so I took it nice and easy. Luckily, my body got into the groove eventually. Since there was no music, I was able to concentrate on me and how my body felt - 7 of the first 10 miles had average HRs under 150 (the other three were 151s and a 152). Mile 11 and 12 were quite hilly (I didn't remember this route being so hilly, but it definitely was!).

During my last mile, a neighbor who is a lot faster than me came up behind me. I decided to be neighborly and strike up some conversation for a bit....which meant I needed to go a bit faster! I took a look at my Garmin stats and found that I was doing around an 8:00/mile pace at that point - and I lasted a little more than 1/4 mile, that's it (OK...I already had 12.5 miles in the tank at that time).

All and all it was a nice run - 13.25 miles in 2:21:19 with an average HR of 149. If I can run the first half of NY in that (and keeping my average HR in the first half under 150), I should be in very good shape.

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When I put my run in my RunningAhead log, I found that I am now ahead of the Pace Bunny for 1,000 miles for 2009!!! With the marathon training I'll definitely surge ahead for a few weeks. I just hope that I can stay consistent with my running (and not get sick) through the end of the year and hit 1,000 this year. I just missed it last year.

L'Shana Tova!

...or Happy New Year! in Hebrew. Tonight starts the Jewish holiday of Rosh HaShana - which is the start of the new calendar year for the Jewish people. We are having guests tonight (honey turkey has been in the oven for the past few hours - yum!) and we have big meals on tap both tomorrow and Sunday. I need to remind myself to eat in moderation...

It is a step-back week in terms of long-run mileage. So tomorrow morning I'm going out for a 13 mile run before going to synagogue. I'll be meeting HH again - but this time in the neighborhood, not in Bethesda. For the third week in a row I won't be running alone...I can get used to this!

Actually, next week I will also be doing one or two non-solo runs. I'll be going up to New York on Tuesday afternoon - and the Alzheimer's Association team has a group run on Tuesday evening in Central Park. Then I may be meeting up with another running blogger for a run on Thursday morning. Sandwiched in that is a meeting with the Alzheimer's Association NY Marathon team on Wednesday evening. It will be a lot packed into a short amount of time, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I got two other follow-ups from last weekend's race - my Brightroom photos came in, and I won a $25 gift certificate to a local running store for predicting my finishing time! I had predicted a 2:19:45 (shooting for 2:20 and thinking I'd be hoofing it at the end) and ended up with a 2:18:59 chip time. It's definitely the start of a sweet new year!

Weekday Runs - Done!

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to fit in my weekday runs this week. I needed a rest day on Monday, after Sunday's 18 miler. I wanted to run this weekend's long run on Saturday, and given that the long runs are getting to be longer, it would have been nice to rest on Friday as well.

That meant running Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Lucky for me - running wise that is - work is a little slow right now :-) This may change, as one of the other accounts is looking for some Project Management support. I should find out more about this tomorrow.

However, this week was slow enough that I was able to get mid-day runs in on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead of 5, 8, 5 I did 5, 6, 6. I could not get a mid-day 8 miler in because of meetings I had on Wednesday afternoon...instead I did a 7x800 Yasso workout on the treadmill.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of running outside. It was overcast, a bit breezy, temperatures in the low 60s and threatening to rain...seemed perfect for a run! For some reason I was craving a trail run - probably after last week's half marathon which is mostly run on the Rock Creek Trail. I decided to run up to Great Seneca Park and on the roads in the park...one of my favorite local runs is around Clopper Lake, but the last time I went there I almost wiped out 2 or 3 times and I promised myself I wouldn't run it alone again. I did run right past the west end of the lake and was able to look across and soak up the beauty.

On my way into Great Seneca Park, there were four deer standing in front of the path. They heard my footfalls and looked my way. When they realized I was coming toward them they all leaped back into the woods. I felt bad to interrupt them, but it definitely added to the beauty of the run.

Once I entered into the park, the threatening rain delivered! Luckily it only came down as a light steady stream - just enough to cool me down and bring a smile to my face. I thought about how I haven't run much in the rain this go around so this was good practice - just in case Nov 1 is rainy in New York.

I finished out the run with a bang - most of my splits were in the 10:40 range, however mile six was in 9:44. Nice! Final stats - 6 miles, 1:03:18 - 10:31/mile pace, average HR 145.

Five Miles At Dark O'Clock

I guess I better just get used to this as it's not going to get much better over the next few months: when I left this morning for my run - a little before 6am - it was still dark outside. My new training partners are Venus and Orion. Deal with it.

Since Sherry leaves to drive carpool by 7:15am most mornings, if I want a morning run it needs to be early. As a result, I'll need to try to get to bed earlier - so no Monday Night Football last night (I did end up winning my fantasy football games in both leagues that I am in - so my only team that did not win this weekend was the Redskins...3-1 for the weekend is not bad).

This schedule will not be so bad for the 4 or 5 milers...but I'm wondering what I'm going to do for the 8 mile mid-week longer run. My calendar is starting to fill up this Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, so a long lunch-break run may not be in the cards. I may have to wake up at 4:30am to get 'er done...UGH!

This morning - 5.5 miles in 58:20; a 10:31/mile pace with average HR of 148. My muscles still felt a bit stiff and sore from Sunday's run, but still I was able to keep a nice pace and my heart rate below and average of 150 for the entire run. Of course I would hope for a lower HR on an easy run (the first 5 miles on Sunday I had an average HR of 140 and my pace per mile was only 11 seconds slower), but it still felt pretty good.

One other tidbit - my weight is now at the pre-Disney vacation level. This is still 3 pounds more than I ran last year's marathon at - and about 7-12 pounds more than my doctor wants me at. I'll definitely focus on losing those last pounds after the marathon. I really don't feel like counting calories while marathon training - my body is a furnace right now and I'll feed it when it needs it!

My Marathon Gear Has Arrived!!!

The Alzheimer's Association sent some running "uniforms" and other goodies to the members of Team Run To Remember, and I received mine this evening!!!

In the package was a short sleeved tech shirt, a tech singlet, a jacket, running sleeves, a mesh bag that I can use as a race bag (when I don't want to bring my favorite race bag along...) and a DVD copy of the movie Run For Your Life.

I will have a huge grin plastered on my face for the rest of the evening. I even want to go out for a run now (but it will have to wait until tomorrow morning).

I requested a Medium for the three pieces of clothing. The shirt fits great. The jacket is a little on the big side and the singlet is a bit snug. When I had the singlet on, I kinda felt a little like the grape from the Fruit of the Loom commercials, but my wife said I look fine. We'll see how it feels when I wear it for a long run over the next week or two.

18 Mile Long Run / Parks Half Marathon

For my 18 mile run today, I parked 5 miles from the start of the Parks Half Marathon, ran to the starting line and then ran the race.

My plan was to treat this as a marathon pace run. A little faster than a long run, but slower than I would normally run a Half Marathon. My target pace was 10:40/mile - which corresponds to a 4:40 marathon.

I set my alarm for 5:15am, but thanks to my younger son, I didn't need to rely on the alarm. He came into our room at 4:45am needing to go to the bathroom (which he can do on his own, but for some reason likes to wake us up in the middle of the night anyway...). I decided to get out of bed then and get an earlier start. I got into my running gear (including my UofM Alumni tech shirt - which was a great conversation piece during the run, especially after our big win over Notre Dame yesterday...GO BLUE!), made some instant coffee, went to the bathroom (the reason for the coffee, right?), ate a pre-run banana and headed out to my car. As I left my door, I saw a brightly shining moon and Orion up in the night sky....beautiful!

I parked at the Rio shopping center. As I was pulling into the Kohl's parking lot, I saw someone walking on the sidewalk in shorts and a t-shirt. Another crazy runner, I thought. However, I soon realized that this guy was actually heading home for the night - not heading out for the morning like me. Oy!

Since I was wanting to watch my pace today, I changed my Garmin main screen from 3 fields to 4 - adding average pace to my normal trio of elapsed time, current HR and distance. Later on I found out that by doing this, the elapsed time will only show HR:MIN and not HR:MIN:SEC when you go over 1 hour. It shouldn't really be that big of a deal, but I'm just so used to seeing the seconds on my elapsed time. If it continues to bother me, I may have to just leave average pace off the main screen and make myself hit the up button to see it on the next one. I'll need to make this decision in the next few weeks - I don't want to tinker with this during the NY Marathon.

I started my run - nice and easy. Average HR for the first three miles were 137, 138, 138 (the other two miles were 145 and 144, so they weren't so bad either). The Garmin showed an average pace over the 5 miles of 10:40...perfect! Except later on, when I downloaded my stats into RunningAhead, it shows my pace as 10:42/mile. Not such a biggie, but I'm started to get a bit frustrated about the accuracy of the Garmin....especially when I am using it to keep me on the right pace to reach my goal!

A few comments about the early run - it was definitely dark, and there were some areas that were not well lit (and one point where the sidewalk goes into the woods for a bit - woods where I know coyotes have been seen). I must say, I like running early in the morning, but I'm not such a fan of running in the dark alone.

The other thing is that although the coffee had it's desired affect before leaving home (and thus, not needing to use the port-a-john while on my run), it also gave me some pretty bad acid reflux. I was hoping this would go away at some point, but I was still feeling it towards the end of the half marathon as well.

I got to the starting line of the Parks HM about 25 minutes before the start. I bumped into a few people I knew - my running buddy from last week's 17 mile long run - HH - two "virtual" running buddies from RunningAhead who I knew would be at this race - Trent and Jellyfish - and my sister who was running her second half marathon.

I lined up with my sister and we left in the wave that was for the 10:00/mile and slower group, which started at 7:06am. I ran the first mile with my sister - hitting another 10:40 pace and average HR of 141. Mile 2 started to get downhill and I was trying to not get boxed in the crowd, so my pace was much faster - 9:50. After that, I made myself slow down and got into a rhythm.

I pretty much ran this race on feel - I was trying to watch my pace and HR, but didn't pay too much attention. At the half-way mark, my average pace was around 10:30/mile and my HR was in the high 150s. But I felt really good.

I actually felt so good, that around mile 9 or so, I was still chipper as ever while thanking the volunteers for volunteering for the race. One of the other runners made a comment that I was in way too good of a mood this far into the race! I ended up speaking to her for the next mile and a half - she was starting to get really tired and needed a little push to keep her going (or at least someone to speak to and keep her mind off of how much she likely wanted to stop...).

By the time we got to the last 2 miles - on the gravel Georgetown Branch Trail - I was still feeling really good. My average pace was at 10:39/mile - and even though I had already run 16 miles that morning, I felt that I had enough in the tank to put it into a higher gear and go. The Garmin shows that I ran the last two miles in 18:32, but it did lose the satellite while under the Air Rights tunnel so that may have messed up the distance part of the calculation (actually, it shows I did mile 13 in 8:04 - which I'm sure is not right). Either way, I was able to finish up strong with a chip time of 2:18:59.

Later on that morning (after showering and changing of course!) I met up with Trent and Jellyfish at the Silver Diner for brunch. It was nice to meet these folks in person and hear their running stories. Their take was that if I was able to run this course in less than 2:20 - and after running 5 miles already - that I should have no issues running a 4:40 in New York. The NY marathon is flatter and the weather will be cooler. However, I definitely need to ensure that I pace myself well - as it is in any longer distance race, if you go out too fast you are doomed at the end.

In summary - it was a great run capping off a week where my runs didn't feel so great. Still, I had my highest mileage week of the year - close to 37 miles - and I have two more really high mileage weeks before the marathon. I'm getting more confident that I will be able to reach my goals in New York - running a more balanced marathon and running it in 4:40.

Bringing It Inside For The Rain

On the plan today was 5 miles. I was hoping to get 'em done early, however, it was a dreary, wet and rainy morning - and my pillow called me to return.

I was able to get the 5 miles in at lunchtime. I decided to go to the gym even though when I left the house there was a break in the rain. I had checked the radar map and it looked like rain was returning - and I didn't feel like getting a soaked today.

I dialed in a 11:00/mile pace with a 1.5% incline. According to my running log, this should have been pretty easy - but for some reason it didn't feel that easy today. My heart rate was fine - started in the high 130s/low 140s - but it just felt like work instead of gliding along.

Luckily, I had some good tunes with me. The other day I had my iPod on shuffle albums, and Styx's Paradise Theater came up. After listening to that, I really wanted to hear Kilroy Was Here - I had this on cassette when I was in middle school and I listed to it so much that the tape wore out! I hadn't listened to this album in a good 10 years (maybe 20???), so I wasn't sure how I would react. Would I still enjoy it? Would it be totally cheesy? Well...yes and yes ;-)

What I found pretty remarkable is that parts of this concept album resonated very similar to recently released concept album Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown. Themes of "the establishment" pushing their view of morality on the masses and the anti-establishment youth shunning their propaganda in order to create a better world. I almost forgot that in the world of the Styx album - released in 1983 - the "establishment" was that of the Communist bloc (one of the lyrics in the song "Double Life" talks about the Berlin Wall...which was still standing at the time!). Kind of ironic given what is being said (see #11) by the "establishment" that is referred to in Green Day's album. I'll stop here as I don't want this to become a political blog...
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I have a really busy weekend to look forward to. Shabbat dinner tonight and then once the kid-os are asleep, Sherry and I will get to watch Glee! Tomorrow morning I'm reading torah at synagogue, we're hosting our "lunch bunch" group for lunch, the Michigan/Notre Dame game is on and I have an Israeli Dance gig in the evening. Sunday morning, I'm getting up dark and early (I'd say bright and early, but the sun will still not be up yet...) to get 5 miles in before the Parks Half Marathon. After the run, my son's school has a picnic and later in the afternoon we're going to watch the Redskins! I am ready for some football!!!!

More Yassos

Today was my mid-week, longer, speedwork run. I did a similar workout to last week - 8 mile Yasso 800s on the treadmill. I set my recovery speed to 5.5 mph and interval speed to 6.5 mph today (last week was 5.4 and 6.4).

The workout was no issue in terms of exertion - 8 miles, 1:19:47 (9:59/mile pace) and 153 bpm average HR.

However, I'm just not feeling as awesome as I did last week. I'm not 100% sure why. I'm not getting any less sleep this week (with the number of times my kids woke me up in the middle of the night last week, I'm likely getting more sleep this week!).

Perhaps I'm not eating as well? I did have a really strong beer yesterday evening (Dogfish Head Alehouse Palo Santo Marron - 12% abv) - and a bunch of beer over the weekend.

Perhaps it's the weather? This week is a bit more humid that last week - but still not hot like it was before. And should that really impact a treadmill workout?

Maybe it's just the ups and downs of training. Some weeks are kick ass and some weeks your ass is kicked.

One more 5 miler on Friday and then Sunday is the Parks Half Marathon!

I'm Getting Some New Gear!!

Courtesy of Team Run To Remember and the Alzheimer's Association...the team is getting singlets, shirts and jackets!

I can't wait for these to arrive!!! :-)

Looking Back At Last Week And Ahead To This One

Last week was my highest mileage week so far this year - 34 miles - and included my longest run of the year so far, 17 miles. The best thing was that all of the runs felt great!

The great feeling was partially due to the wonderful weather and partially due to the fact that my conditioning is improving.

This morning will be another bump-up. I'm scheduled to run 36 miles - 5, 8, 5 and 18. I went out for the first 5 miler this morning, and although I didn't do poorly (10:48/mile pace with an average HR of 149), I wasn't feeling the same way as last week. The weather was a little more humid this morning, so I hope that's the issue.

My plan this week is to run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with my long run on Sunday. I have signed up for the Parks Half Marathon this Sunday, so I will park my car about 5 miles from the starting line, run to the race and then do 13.1 miles of the race. My goal here is to run an even-paced 2:20 Half Marathon. It doesn't seem too difficult to do, however, I need to remember that this will be miles 6 through 18 and not miles 1 through 13 :-)

Bethesda To The Lincoln Memorial And Back!

I went for my 17 mile long run this morning. I planned to meet HH, a running friend who runs about the same pace as me, at the Bethesda Avenue entrance to the Capital Crescent Trail at 6am this morning.

That meant I had to leave the house about 5:40am...yikes!

I was up early enough - I was in bed before 9pm last night and somehow woke up before my 5:15am alarm. I grabbed a banana and had some instant coffee (our coffee maker is pretty loud and I didn't want to wake the entire house up) and left the house a little late. I got to our meet up spot around 6:07am...luckily HH was still there waiting for me.

We started right away down the tree lined path. The sun still had not come up, so it was quite dark on the trail. The pace seemed a bit quick, but we were still able to converse, so I didn't try to slow us down. As my Garmin chirped out the 1st mile split, my hunch was confirmed - we ran our first mile in 9:54. Wow. I asked, "Are we running 17 miles today?" and said we should likely slow down a bit.

We didn't really slow down too much over the first 4 miles. Splits of 9:54, 10:05, 10:04 and 9:53 - however, my average HR splits were 142, 137, 141 and 144 so I know that I wasn't stressing my body out too much. I guess the trail from Bethesda into the city is a slight downhill, so perhaps that also helped with the speed boost.

We stopped for a restroom break after 4.5 miles at Fletcher's Boathouse. After that we slowed down a bit - all of our splits for the next 5 miles were in the 10:20 to 11:00 range. This part of the run was really cool for me. The trail runs along the C&O Canal and Potomac River - and I ran by many landmarks that I have driven by many times in the years that I have lived here. I ran on the bridge that goes over Canal Road at Arizona Ave, I ran by the Key Bridge, under Whitehurst Freeway, past the outdoor seating at Sequoia's, next to the Watergate Hotel and Kennedy Center and finally up to the Lincoln Memorial. We had run a little over 8.5 miles and now it was time to go back.

We finally slowed down on the way back up to Bethesda. Partially due to the fact that the trail is uphill on the way back, and partially due to the fatigue that starts to set in as the miles pile on. The next few splits were 11:15, 11:13, 11:32, 11:33, 11:52, 11:29 - this is about the pace that I thought we would be running most of the long run. Even better was my average HR for these miles which were all between 147 and 156. Normally by 14 miles into a run my HR is starting to elevate, but today I was fine.

At mile 14, my running partner started to really get tired. She wanted to walk a bit, so we agreed to walk one minute and run six. The last two splits were 12:30 and 12:23.

Final stats - 17.21 miles in 3:09:22. A 11:01/mile pace with an average heart rate of 148.

At the end of the run, my legs were a bit sore, but I felt like I could have continued running. I hope that my long runs continue to feel as good as this! It also did not feel like three hours went by...that's definitely attributable to running with someone else.

Here's the map of this morning's run. I will definitely want to do this one again :-)

I Need More Sleep

My younger son has been congested and coughing this week, and he's been waking up (and waking us up) around 2-3am every night. Last night he actually slept through the night (thank goodness), however, when I woke up this morning I felt completely sleep deprived. I guess it is catching up with me.

That tired feeling didn't stop me this morning, though. I woke up at 5:40am - it was dark and I was tired but I got myself out of bed and I was out the door and running by 6am.

Another wonderful morning for a run! I didn't feel as great as my other runs this week - likely because I'm so tired - but still I did nicely for an easy run averaging a 10:28/mile pace and 147 bpm as my average heart rate.

I will NEED to get to bed early tonight. I'll likely need to wake up around 5:15am tomorrow morning to meet up for my long run at 6am in Bethesda.

Time for some caffeine to keep me up today!

A Few Non-Running Thoughts On A Non-Running Day

I have one more weekday run this week - 4 miler. I would have liked to have done it this morning, however, I went to bed too late and my younger son is still waking up in the middle of the night with a cough. So no run today. I'm going to try to get in bed earlier tonight...

Here's some miscellaneous things going on with me over the past few days:

• I received my offer letter from Ericsson today! Ericsson purchased my division of Nortel a few weeks ago, so I knew it was inevitable, but it is nice to see it in print (or electronic print)
• For the first time in months I finished last month's issue of Runner's World before the next month's issue came in the mail! At points during the beginning of this year I was 2-3 months behind, so this is a big accomplishment for me. I should have no problem being caught up as I will have some reading time on the bus up to NY later this month and next month.
• We had to purchase a new toaster oven. No big deal, right? Well...we had bought a Black and Decker toaster oven about four years ago. We really liked it, but the toast function stopped working after 13 months. A call to customer service and they sent us a replacement, even though the warrantee was only 1 year. The next unit lasted about 8 months. They sent us our current unit in October of 2007. Well, this unit failed earlier in the week. I called Black and Decker's customer service again - this time they said that since the unit is 18 months old, it is out of warrantee. Basically, we're SOL. So, we bought a Cuisinart model. The best thing about this toaster - it has a 3 year warrantee!

8 Miles of Yasso 800s!

For my mid-week long-er run / speedwork session today, I decided on Yasso 800s.

Since the workout was 8 miles, I did 9 reps of these half-mile intervals on the treadmill. I set my recovery speed for 5.4 mph (about an 11:00/mile pace) and my run speed for 6.4 mph - a 9:22/mile pace which is equivalent to 4:41 for the half-mile (and in the theory of the Yasso 800 workout a 4:40 marathon).

It was a piece of cake!

It almost made me think that perhaps I'm setting my sites too low for a 4:40 time...should I aim for a better time?

On the other hand, a 4:40 would still be shaving 20 minutes off of my previous marathon time - almost 1 minute per mile off the average pace. That's a big improvement right there.

Also, I need to realize that I will have some great workouts and some not-so-great workouts. Don't rearrange my entire plan just because this workout was great (remember, I could barely run 7 miles during a long run three weeks ago...).

I'm not sure why I had such a great workout. It couldn't have been the weather (which I give credit for yesterday's great run) since I was running inside. Perhaps it was the music - Beethoven's 9th Symphony and then the beginning of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Or perhaps my conditioning is just getting better as my miles ramp up.

While on the treadmill, my prospective running partner for this weekend's long run hopped on the treadmill next to me for a few minutes. Our plan - to run the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda into DC and back on Saturday morning. It looks to be a 16.5 mile run...if we're feeling good, perhaps we'll add an additional half mile on the streets of Bethesda to make 17 even!

Hints Of Autumn

Walking out of the house this morning a little before 6am, I had to do a double-take. It was still dark outside, and it was crisp and cool. Not a cloud in the pre-dawn sky. 55 degrees. Great weather for a morning run!

I ran my usual 4.5 mile loop, however, I had a bit of a spring in my step due to the scrumptious weather. My overall pace was 10:09/mile - this is more in line with my average pace over speedwork sessions and not easy runs. My average HR was 152 which is definitely in line with other 4-mile easy runs.

I am soooo happy to be running in cooler temperatures and lower humidity!

Two observations from today's run. First of all, I had the pleasure of seeing our neighborhood great blue heron glide down for a landing in the woods at the entrance to our community. It's an awesome sight - I always love getting to see this heron!

One thing that I have not liked seeing over the past few months - there is a house that I pass on this loop that has been doing some renovation. There is a dumpster and port-a-potty on the side of their property, and every morning there is a 1990s-vintage Honda Civic coupe parked up the block - with one of the construction guys sleeping in the back seat. I always feel sorry for this guy. If he were doing work on my house, would I feel comfortable if he slept in his car every night??? I have a feeling that at some point I would likely find a place in my house for him to sleep - even if it was an air mattress in the space that was being renovated. I guess it's a positive sign that he has work, right?

That's all for today. I hope the weather holds! I'll be really bummed to have to run in hot and humid conditions again.

Week 10 Plan

After last week - where almost of all my plans went out the window - I'm wondering if I should even bother putting a plan together. However, my type-A, Project Manager self needs a plan...even if there is no follow through.

The training plan shows runs of 4, 8, 4 and 17. Yes...that's SEVENTEEN miles on the weekend. I think the last time I ran anything that long was when I ran the Frederick Marathon last May.

I will be playing a bit of "Mr Mom" during the mornings this week. Sherry's school started today, my older son starts tomorrow, but my younger son doesn't start until next week. Luckily, work is still a bit quiet and my boss is on vacation. I'll likely log into work in the morning while watching my younger son and then take him to the gym at some point so he can interact with other children and caregivers (i.e. babysitting!) and I can get my weekday runs in. Sherry will return in the early afternoon and I'll go back into the office.

For the long weekend run, I've asked a few runners in the area if they would like to run a 17 miler together. I'm hoping to find someone as I think the run will be a little more enjoyable. Not that I dislike running alone or with the iPod, but my run in Central Park seemed to go by so quickly due to the conversation. Anything that can make a 3 hour run seem a bit shorter will be welcomed.

An Awesome 11 Miler and 100 Mile Month Milestone!

Since my original long-run plans changed, this morning I was on my own with my iPod. Instead of the Rockville Millennium Trail, I ran a a loop from my house into Olde Town Gaithersburg which was 11.5 miles.

The weather this morning was lovely - high 60s and low humidity. I'm going to LOVE running in the fall!

My pace and heart rate are improving - I'm not sure if it is due to the better weather or if my conditioning is improving - or both. I ran the 11.4 miles in 2:02:57 - a 10:49/mile pace with an average heart rate of 153.

Actually, only two of my mile splits had an an average HR of over 160 - miles 9 and 10, and for mile 11 I slowed down a bit to a 156 bpm average. Also, only one of my miles was slower than an 11:00/mile pace - a hilly mile 2.

With how well this run went, I started to think about pacing for the marathon, and that I may use the Parks Half Marathon in two weeks as a practice for how to run the first half of the NY marathon. I will be running 18 miles that day - parking my car about 5 miles away from the starting line, running to the start and then running the 13.1 mile race. I'm hoping that I can finish the half marathon in a consistent 2:20 with energy left in the tank. I think this will be a good test on whether I'll be able to pace well for a 4:40 marathon. We'll see...

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Looking at my running log, I see that with my long run today, I have crossed the 100 mile milestone for the month of August! This is my first 100 mile month this year (although the next two months will surely go over 100 miles as well!)

I have run 618 miles for the year so far, which puts me about 44 miles off pace for a 1,000 mile year. I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up to that milestone. I'll see how I feel after the marathon and make the decision then.

More Plans Gone Awry

I was planning to do this weekend's 11 miler on the Rockville Millennium Trail with my sister. She is training to do the Parks Half Marathon in a few weeks and it would be a nice opportunity to go running with her.

Although I normally do my long runs on Saturday, she was free on Sunday so I decided to push the run out for one day and run with her.

I got a call this morning that she's under the weather and won't be able to run tomorrow :-(

I'm not sure if I'll run the same route tomorrow morning or not. And part of tonight will be spent trying to pick which music to put on the iPod for my run tomorrow. Oh well...

Sneaky Speedwork - And A Great Playlist

As the events of this morning unfolded, I knew that I could get my long run in this weekend. So, I can get my last weekday run in - a 4 miler - either today or tomorrow.

I decided to go for a late afternoon run today. Since it was 90-some-odd degrees outside, I hit the gym. And since I didn't do any speedwork sessions this week (I was trying to squish my longer runs in during the week, so I took it easy), I decided that I should do some speedwork.

The plan - 4.5 miles of "pyramid intervals". Set the jog speed on the treadmill to an 11:00/mile pace and the run speed to an 8:00/mile pace. Warm up for 3/4 mile and then run intervals of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 mile with quarter mile recovery jogs in between. Finish with a half mile cool down.

I did great today! It felt good - and even that mile-long interval 3 miles into the run didn't beat me up too hard.

One thing that helped was my playlist. It went almost perfectly with the run. My warmup was to "Overload" by Sugababes, "Waterloo" by ABBA (I will be working for a Swedish company in a few weeks...) and "Salamati" by Arash. As I started my first interval, the Theme from Rocky came on which definitely gave me a lift. After that was "Lose Yourself" by Eminem which took me through the second interval. The third interval started during "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Peas and then was run mostly through "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin.

As I started my mile-long interval, the Theme to Chariots of Fire started. Then "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix and I finished off the mile to "Desire" by U2.

Awesome tunes to keep me going at an 8:00/mile pace!

Plans Get Thrown Out The Window

My plan for this morning - do my 11 mile long run for the week since our plan for this weekend was to go up to the Poconos for a birthday/retreat/Israeli Dance bash that a friend of mine has organized.

This morning's run started to unravel around 12:30am when my younger son appeared in our room. Unfortunately the game of trying to get him to sleep lasted a few hours - we would put him back in his bed and eventually he was back in our room, he would get into bed with us and then move around too much, etc. I eventually woke up at 6:30am and there was no way I was heading out for an 11 mile run. I stayed in bed until the munchkin woke up a little after 7am.

It actually won't be such a tragedy, as it looks like I should be able to get my long run in this weekend. With my wife's new job, the students arrive on Monday and there is still tons to do. So, it looks like we will not be going to the Poconos after all. At first we were kicking around scenarios where I would go with the kids and she would stay or she would stay with the kids and I would go, but in the end we decided it was best to stay together.

As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry...

A New Paradigm For The Fox Family - And A Facebook Faux Pas

DISCLAIMER - Anyone who is only interested in my running can stop reading now :-)

Life in the Fox Family has been shaken up a bit over the past few days.

My wife Sherry is a teacher by trade. Since the time our first child was born, she has been a Stay-At-Home-Mom - with a private tutoring business on the side. This has been great when the kids were really young - it gave her flexibility to be with the kids during the day, and then I would watch them after work in the early evening while she tutored.

Now that my older son is going into 2nd grade, and my younger son will be going to Nursery School 5 days a week until 2pm, Sherry was going to try and change the business model of her tutoring business. Many private schools in the area allow tutors to come in during school hours to work with their students, and my wife was hoping to line up her sessions while the kids were in school. She had done this with one of her students last year and it worked out great.

That was the plan...until Thursday morning.

We logged into our email at the hotel on our way back from Florida on Thursday morning and found that the private school where Sherry tutored last year had a teaching position open. They were trying to contact her to see if she was interested in the position.

She spent many hours on the phone (luckily I was doing most of the driving) getting more information on the position and trying to come to a favorable agreement for her and the school. Long story short - she started today!

Her employment does change a lot of things for us. First of all, I will need to drive my younger son to school each day (Sherry will drive carpool in the morning for our older son on the way to her school). Also, we need to work out coverage for the kids this week (while she is at the school planning and preparing) and for my younger son next week (his school starts a week after everyone else does). Coverage for the kids was rarely an issue in the SAHM days.

It also means that things are just less flexible around here. If I want to run in the morning, I need to ensure I'm up and out the door by a specific time to be back before Sherry leaves for work/carpool. Looking ahead, I have some 8 mile weekday runs on the schedule coming up...I'll likely need to get out the door in the 5:30am timeframe for those. Ouch!

On the flip side, it should ease things up for us financially. We should be able to chip away at some debt (Home Equity lines of credit always seem like a good idea when you first use them...) and even start to save more (maybe for another Disney vacation???)
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We had a Facebook Faux Pas last night.

My wife went to change her status to "I'm starting a NEW JOB tomorrow!". However, our shared computer in the kitchen popped my email address in the user login window instead of hers and she ended up changing my status to this.

An hour later I open my email to see about 20 comments about my Facebook status. When I started to read these comments I immediately knew what had happened. Sherry updated the wrong account's status!

I wrote a comment explaining that it was Sherry starting the new job, not me...that the computer signed in with the wrong account.

Luckily, I have not "friended" any of the colleagues in my group at work nor any of my customers (some of my work friends that I worked with before are FB friends, but no one in my current group). That would have been really embarrasing!!!

Marathon Pace Run - Sort Of...

I'm in week 9 of my training plan. It is a "step back" week on mileage and calls for runs of 4, 7, 4 and 11 miles.

Again, life takes over - there is no way that I'll be able to do a long run over the weekend, so I'm rearranging this to 7 today, 4 tomorrow, 11 on Thursday and 4 on Saturday or Sunday if I can get it in.

So...my plan for today was a 7 miler before work. I was going to attempt a marathon pace run - at around a 10:40/mile pace. It's not really a speed session - so I won't tire myself out for the rest of the day - but it is not as pokey as my long runs have been.

After this weekend's long run, I was thinking that a 7 miler would be a piece of cake. It's amazing what a 15 mile run can do for your perspective!

Once again, the weather this morning was great. Humidity not too high and the temperatures were in the mid-60s.

I started running - and I felt good. It's nice to have that feeling again :-)

The first mile I came in at 10:29. Then a 10:23. Mile three was 9:47. Oops!

I slowed myself down after that - but although none of my miles were sub-10:00, none of them were over 10:40 either.

I finished my run strong - totals of 7.12 miles in 1:12:28; a 10:11/mile pace with an average HR of 157.

Next time I do a marathon pace run, I'm leaving the iPod at home and I'll focus on trying to hit my pace. However, getting out there and running faster than I have been felt really good!!!

I Finally Completed A Long Run!

Three out of the last four long runs were not very successful.

At Riley's Rumble Half Marathon, I barely got in the 11 miles that was on my training plan (and basically walked in most of the last two), two weeks ago, the 9 miler in Central Park became a 7.5 miler (I'm pretty sure I could have done more but the group had finished at that time and I wasn't going to raise a stink about it!), last week's 14 miler in Boynton Beach, FL turned into a 7 miler due to the heat and humidity.

I was a bit nervous that I would meet the same fate this morning for my scheduled 15 miler.

Last night was my Fantasy Football Draft - which lasted until after midnight. (and where I consumed three slices of pizza and three bottles of Shiner Bock - not necessarily running fuel...) I didn't want to get out too late for my run so I could beat the heat...so I knew I wouldn't have much sleep to go on.

I ended up sleeping from about 12:30am until a little before 6am. No alarm, I just somehow woke up at that time. However, I didn't feel dead to the world - so this was a good sign.

The next really good sign is when I opened the door. It didn't feel like thick soup! The humidity had broken with last night's storms - so it was going to be a more comfortable morning.

I believe the lower humidity made all the difference. Even though my legs started to ache a bit after 10 miles in, I was able to continue and push myself through and finish out this run!

I ran over to the neighborhood where I grew up. I had my parents stow a water bottle in their mailbox so I could refill my water bottles mid-run and only carry two 6 oz bottles on my water belt. The extra water was very helpful. I ended up finishing up the entire 16.9oz bottle along with the 12oz that I started with.

I finished up the run in an 11:17/mile pace with an average HR of 156. My last "successful" long run - a 12 miler three weeks ago - I ran at an 11:23/mile pace with an average HR of 158...so there is a small amount of improvement here.

The best thing, though, is after finishing this run I feel "back in the groove" again. After being on the road for a week, my first few runs didn't feel right - I felt really lethargic. Not that I had a spring in my step for 15 miles today, but today's run felt more natural (even on 5 1/2 hours of sleep!)

I'm going to try to hit the sack early tonight. It's back to work tomorrow :-(

Disney Pics Up!

Here's a non-running post. I've put up a bunch of Disney World pics on our family website. Enjoy!

I'm Back - And Running Slow

We're back from Disney and the drive from Florida! It was great to be away, but it's nice to be home too. I'll post some Disney pics on our family webpage or on Facebook in the next few days...

I did get one run in at Disney this week - a 4 miler. Which means I had 11 more miles of week day runs and a big 15 mile long run...my longest run probably since last year's marathon.

I did the 7 miler at the gym on the treadmill yesterday. I took it nice an easy - set the treadmill at 5.3 mph with a 1.5% incline and went for 7 miles. Pretty uneventful. It was good to get the body moving again. Lots of rust.

This morning I did an easy 4 miles outside. When I stepped outside the air was still warm and humid - stale and disgusting. I also just didn't feel like running - not sure if was the red wine last night with dinner, or the fact that I'm still eating too much (I found that I made good choices with what I ate at Disney and on the road, however, the portions were just enormous that I surely put on some pounds...I'm just too afraid to step on the scale). In short, it was not going to be an easy run.

I ended up trudging through with an 11:25/mile pace this morning. My average HR was 145, so I definitely kept things easy. I thought I would feel better at some point during the run, but that never happened. I finally hit 4 miles and stopped running - and walked home the last half mile. I just didn't have any more in me.

I'm a bit concerned about tomorrow. I'm scheduled to run 15 miles. I know I'm not going to get a good night sleep because I have my Fantasy Football draft tonight (first of two - the second one in the day after Labor Day). Just what I don't need before a long run - a late night filled with beer and junk food. I may try to drink water or gatorade instead of beer tonight - and try to limit the junk. It won't be easy, but I'll try...I have a decent excuse.

Quick Post From Florida!

I don't have too much time to post - not much internet access in our digs down here :-)

We left on Thursday morning - hit the road at 7:15am and made it to the hotel in Jacksonville, FL by 9pm. This included three long stops (breakfast, lunch and dinner), a few short stops (bathrooms and gas ups), a traffic jam in North Carolina due to construction and a bunch of patches of driving rain in South Carolina and Georgia (and two glorious rainbows south of Savannah!). Only one major child meltdown in the entire 14 hours - I'm very lucky that the kids are great car travelers.

We got to Boynton Beach around lunch time on Friday and have enjoyed being here in my parent's house here. The kids have slept much better than in the hotel (which gives me a bit of anxiety for Disney World the next three nights...)

Tomorrow morning we leave for Disney World! Hooray!!!

I got a run in this morning. Early. Like before the sun came up...thankfully.

The plan was to do 14 miles. When I stepped outside at 5:30am, it was hot and soupy already. I checked on the NOAA site and saw it was 84 degrees and 70% humidity. I was going to run a 7 mile loop twice, with a Gatorade stop at the house, but as I got started, I knew that was not going to happen. By mile 3 my shirt was already soaked through. By mile 5, I wasn't sure I would be able to make it through the first 7 mile loop without walking.

I eventually made it home. But there would be no 2nd loop. Instead of 14 miles, I settled for 7. UGH!

All I can say is that I'm happy the marathon is in New York in November - and not in Florida in August!!!

I'm not sure I'll be running at Disney. There's a fitness center at the hotel, but I may be too exhausted. If I don't run over the next few days, I'm going to have to re-build up my base again - especially as I'm supposed to get in some higher mileage weeks now.

I likely won't be blogging for a few days. Speak to you all when I get back from Florida!!!

Nice And Easy!

Since I'll be on the road to Florida tomorrow and Friday, I had to cram my 3rd and final weekday run in today. I was out late last night so it was a lunchtime run for me.

Despite being the 4th day of running in a row, my body felt good. I took it nice and easy on the treadmill at the gym today - set it at 5.2 mph for the first mile and 5.5 mph for the next 3 miles.

Ended up with 4 miles in 44:19 - an 11:05/mile pace with an average heart rate of 139!!! I don't ever recall having a run this long with an average HR under 140.

Tomorrow morning we're up bright and early (OK, we're always up bright and early) and hitting the road. I'm a bit nervous about doing a 14 mile run in Boynton Beach on Saturday morning. The overnight low on Friday night is 78 degrees. 14 miles in 80 degree weather? ICK! I'm definitely bringing my water belt...

I Forget How Hungry You Get While Training

Yesterday morning I ran 7 miles. I felt awesome the entire day - and it was great to know that my weekday longer run was behind me in this jam-packed week leading up to my vacation.

However, what I totally forgot about is that when my mileage ramps up - so does my appetite. BIG TIME!

I started out the day like I normally would. I had a bowl of granola with soy milk - and added a banana for some extra fuel. I had a small mid-morning snack and I ended up having an early lunch due to some meetings at my lunch hour.

About two hours after lunch I was hungry again. I had to run an errand, so I grabbed a smoothie at a yogurt place. An hour after that I was hungry again.

I was like a food burning furnace yesterday!

I just need to remember that I can't overdo it, because I will gain weight if I eat too much....even when running 30-40 miles a week.

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There were two incidents that happened to me yesterday that bother me a bit:

On my run yesterday morning, I saw a neighbor of mine outside (around 7am) entertaining her young son. She asked me if I was training for something in particular - I told her the New York Marathon - she seemed surprised and impressed..."That's Fantastic!" was her response. As I passed her though, I started thinking about this a bit more. I had invited her to my fundraiser via email and Facebook...and her husband was AT the fundraiser (he came at the end with a few other guys to drink a beer). Could she really not know that I was running the NY Marathon this fall? Was it really that much of a surprise to her? (or is she just tuned-out to the goings-on of acquaintances/neighbors? this could very well be...I know my wife seems to tune out some things when the kids activities get a bit overwhelming)

Later on, I was discussing my training and fundraising with someone. She made a comment like - "you should really keep a journal and write down all of this stuff...I would love to read about it". My response was that I'm keeping a blog - so, yes you CAN read about it. Her reply was that she was too busy right now to keep up with reading a blog. I smiled politely while I thought to myself, "Didn't you just say you would love to read about my training and fundraising???" It ends up that I deal with people like this a lot - they have great ideas and "should" you to death (i.e. you/we/I should do this or that), but then are very weak on the implementation of these ideas. As you can tell, it's a bit of a pet-peeve of mine...

First Marathon Pace Run - A Bit Too Fast

Since I'm cramming my weekday runs in this week so I can get them all in before Disney, today became my weekday "longer" run in which I usually do my speedwork. However, tonight is also when I lead Israeli Dancing for 3 hours...so I didn't want to tire myself out too much doing intervals or a tempo run.

So I decided to try a marathon pace run. That is, try to run at the pace that I think I will run the marathon in. This is a bit faster than my long runs, but slower than normal speedwork.

Last night I had to start contemplating what will my marathon pace be? I ran my first marathon last year in 4:59 - an 11:25/min pace. I'm pretty sure I can improve on that - but by how much? I took a look at what finishing times corresponded to what pace: an 11:00/mile pace is a 4:48 finishing time, a 4:40 finish is a 10:42/mile pace and a 4:30 finish is a 10:19/mile pace.

I'm thinking that a 4:40 finish may be an attainable goal. So I left the house this morning thinking to myself that I wanted to try and run a 10:40/mile pace.

Great plan. Poor execution.

I guess I had in the back of my mind that this was "speedwork" because most of my splits were 30 to 40 seconds faster than 10:40. The two miles that were close - mile 2 was 10:37 and mile 5 was 10:45 - are all pretty hilly (I looked at the elevation on the map and both have steady climbs of over 100 ft over the mile).

Or perhaps it was because I was listening to some upbeat music on my iPod? I've been known to space out and/or change my pace to the cadence of the music when I am listening to tunes while running.

Either way, I went way too fast. I had 4 out of the 7 splits at faster than a 10:10/mile pace. It's fine for a normal run - but there is no way I'm running a marathon in 3 months at that pace.

The final stats for the run were 7.1 miles in 1:13:27 - a 10:20/mile pace. My average HR was 159 with a max of 177 (I did not look at my HR for the entire run...I was trying to focus on pace instead).

Tomorrow is another easy 4 and then off to Florida!

Scheduling The Next Two Weeks and This Morning's Run

Last week was a "step down" week...now back to increasing miles on the training plan. This week will be a challenge - 4, 7, 4 and 14 miles. On a normal week it wouldn't be too bad.

But the next two weeks are not normal weeks. On Thursday we are driving to Florida - as the start of our week-long vacation which will feature 4-days and 3-nights in Disney World!

I will try to get my weekly runs in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll have two "rest" days on Thursday and Friday (driving down to Boynton Beach, FL). I'll try to do my long run on Saturday morning. Then on Sunday morning it is off to Orlando!

Next week will be just as challenging. I hear you do tons of walking at Disney World. Do I really want to run 7 miles one morning and then walk 15 miles around the park? The hotel I'm staying at has a gym with a treadmill, but we'll see how exhausted I am.
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My run this morning went really well. I remember last year that my easy runs that immediately followed the long run or speedwork runs went really well - and today was no exception.

4.48 miles in 46:47 - a 10:27/mile pace with an average HR of 150 bpm. I'm really excited about the pace - that's a full minute per mile faster than my run yesterday, at only a slightly higher average heart rate.

Finally, I'm seeing the benefits of my training!

Back From New York

I went up to New York this weekend with Sherry and the kids. The main purpose - to run with Team Run To Remember for a 7 to 9 mile training run in Central Park.

On the way, we visited my cousins in Central Jersey and a good friend of mine from UofM visited us with her kids at the hotel for a dip in the pool and for dinner. Unfortunately, after all the excitement, my 7 year old did not sleep well in the hotel room (so Sherry and I also did not sleep well either).

We got up early this morning and left the Newark Airport hotel around 7am, parked in the city and I dropped Sherry and the kids off at a bagel place near the park. She was going to hang out with the kids in the park - however, it was a cloudy and overcast day with a bit of light rain in the morning. Oy! It ends up that they did do the park (nothing else was open at 8:30am when they finished breakfast) and the kids finally settled in at a playground.

I met up with the team at the Columbus Circle entrance to the park. I spotted one of the team coaches who was holding one of the team's purple shirts and introduced myself. By 8:15, there were five of us there for the run - the two coaches, BH and JL, team members EE and MM and myself. In a team of 50 I was expecting a few more people to show up for the team run...oh well, I'll just have to meet the other members in the next few months.

Luckily, the team members who were there ran around my pace so we all stuck together. Our coach took us on a gravel/dirt trail around Central Park - past Tavern On the Green, up to the Reservoir, past tennis courts and softball fields, under a bunch of overpasses (every time we went under one of these MM would check out the echo!) and finally back to Columbus Circle. We ran about 5.5 miles together in about an 11:30/mile pace.

MM left the group at that point and BH, EE and I went down 59th Street to the east part of the park where BH explained how the marathon ends - where the runners leave the park and re-enter, where the baggage pickup is after the finish line and where friends and family meet up with runners after the race. I hope he reviews all of this with me in a few months, as I'm not sure I'll remember all of it!

The three of us crossed the park at Terrace Drive and wandered over to Strawberry Fields (there's a nice hill going up that way...) before exiting the park and finishing our run down Central Park West. The complete run was 7.6 miles (according to Garmin - BH's Polar with footpod showed closer to 7.5 miles) in 1:26:47 - an 11:25/mile pace. Here's the map of our run.

The best thing for me was that my average HR was 146 over the entire 7 mile run. My splits were pretty consistent on average HR - only miles 4 and 5 had an average HR over 150.

Running with the group kept me going at a pace where I could keep up a conversation - and therefore I never got going too fast. It was a wonderful social experience as well - I really enjoyed my teammates company and I hope to run with them again soon. I totally get why many people run with groups or with running partners. I don't think I'll be trying to find a regular running partner or group yet, but perhaps I will try to do a few runs in the area with some of my running friends.

Going To New York!

Tomorrow morning, we're loading the family into the minivan and going up to New Jersey and New York.

The plan - get to my cousin's in Central Jersey around lunchtime and hang out with them for a few hours (have the kids play and get energy out!). Then go to the hotel near Newark Airport - a college friend of mine and her kids will visit with us there - hit the pool at the hotel and then find a place to eat.

On Sunday morning we'll go into the city. I'll get to meet some of my teammates from Team Run To Remember as they do a 7 to 9 mile run in Central Park. Sherry and the boys will explore the park on their own.

After the run, I'll find a place to shower and then hook back up with Sherry and the kids. At that point we'll grab some food and picnic in the park! Then back home to Maryland.

I've never taken a running vacation before...this seems like a good first step!

Great Morning For A Run!

Went outside this morning for an easy 3 mile run - and it was almost cool. 65 degrees - nice.

For the first time in a while I kept my average heart rate under 150. I looked back in my log and it was over a month ago (OK...if you don't count the crappy treadmill run I had earlier this week).

3.43 miles in 36:04 - a 10:31/mile pace with an average heart rate of 148 bpm. A month ago I ran at the same average HR but 30 seconds per mile slower...and it was about the same temperature that morning. Progress!

I was actually surprised I was able to reign it in this morning, as I was listening to some pretty upbeat music - The Black Eyed Peas.

The Results Are In!!!!

As I posted last night, the fundraiser at The Star Diner was very successful. Today I spoke to the owner of the diner to find out just how successful it was.

He told me he had a check for me to give to the Alzheimer's Association for $400!!! Wow!!!! I was expecting in the $250-$300 range - even with the larger number of people that showed up.

I had also received a few other donations at the diner last night which totaled a little over $100.

So, the final tally from last night was a little over $500!!!! This pushes me over $2,000 in fundraising now. Woo hoo!!!

(For those of you in the blogosphere who want to donate, please visit my page here!)

Now the question is... Do I do another one???

A few people who did not show last night told me to let them know if I do another fundraiser that they can go to. A few other people who were at the diner last night also told me to let them know.

Actually, there was a table of 20-somethings who were there that made the suggestion that I do a Happy Hour. I told them it was a good idea (and one of my teammates in NY is doing one next week), however, the majority of the people who were in attendance last night would need to line up babysitting in order to attend the Happy Hour. I guess we're just in different stages of our lives right now...

So, do I hold another fundraising event? Part of me thinks that I don't want to be too pushy and ask people to attend multiple fundraisers. But this one was quite successful, and some people were asking if I was going to do another one.

What do you all think????

Birthday Post, Part 2 - And Post #500!!!

First, a blogging note. This is post number 500 for me on this blog. Whoa! I originally started the blog to chronicle events leading up to my first marathon, but I guess blogging became a habit which was hard to shake :-)

I did end up getting my run in during an early lunch break. I did the same 6 mile Yasso 800 interval workout as last week. The one difference is that today I ran it without my heart rate monitor.

You see, I own two heart rate monitors - my old Polar (the watch went kaput last year, but the strap still works - and the treadmills at the gym read the signal from that strap), and the Garmin which I use when I run outside. When I packed my gym bag this morning, I made sure to put my heart rate monitor strap in the bag. However, when I went to put it on at the gym, I found that I packed the fabric connector strap of the Garmin, with the electrodes plastic strap of the Polar. And of course these two are not compatible. So no HRM for me on today's run.

After the run, I went to California Tortilla for my free birthday burrito! Then back to work...

Tonight was my fundraiser at The Star Diner. It was hugely successful - I had over 100 people there, and at one point there was over a 30 minute wait for a table (so much for Wednesday nights being slow!) I'll find out tomorrow how much money I made. I should have a few pictures to post as well.

It's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday. I'm now 38 years old. In only two years I'll be 40 - UGH!

I'm going to try not to dwell on getting older and things like that. My body reminds me of this every day :-)

It should be a nice day, though. My work schedule doesn't seem too hectic. I'm planning to run during my lunch break (although I just got invited to a conference call at 12:30pm - so I either need to take my lunch break early or late...). And tonight I'm holding my fundraiser at The Star Diner - so I'll see lots of friends and celebrate!!

Also, I got a nice surprise this morning. Sherry and the boys gave me an awesome birthday present - a race bag from Mile 22 which sports lots of my race bibs! Check it out:

A Not So Easy, Easy Run

This is a step-down week in mileage - runs of 3, 6, 3 and 9 miles this week.

The plan is normal during the week - Monday morning 3 mile easy run, Wednesday lunchtime 6 miles speedwork (likely on the 'mill as it is supposed to be 90 degrees that day), another 3 mile easy run on Thursday or Friday morning. Then we are heading up to New York for the weekend and I'll run the 9 miles with Team Run To Remember - in Central Park!!!

Unfortunately, Monday morning's run was affected by my work schedule. I had a maintenance window activity scheduled for Sunday night - so I worked from 11pm to 2am. I got up at 8am the next morning (my kids let me sleep - hooray!), but it was already hot and muggy out, so I opted for the gym.

My plan was a nice, easy steady run on one of the TechnoGym treadmills - set it for a heart rate program with a target HR in the mid-140s.

Unfortunately, the treadmill and my HR monitor were not on great speaking terms that morning. So my pace fluctuated from as high as 6.5 mph to as low as 4.0 mph. It was horrible.

I guess I'll set my own pace in the future and use the HR monitor as a guide.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow - another run (it has to be better than yesterday's, right?) and my fundraising dinner at The Star Diner. (oh...and it's my birthday to boot!)

Fundraising Update - 25% To My Goal!

Officially, my fundraising site shows that I have $1,150 in donations. I have also sent in two $50 checks, so that puts me at $1,250 once the money hits.

So, I'm 25% to my goal of $5,000!!!

I know a few family members told me they sent in checks - plus I have the Star Diner fundraiser this week - so I may be close to $2,000 by the end of the week.

Back Into The Long Run Groove

When I trained for my first marathon last year, I did most of my long runs early on Saturday morning - before the family and I went to synagogue.

This is week 5 of my training, and it is only the 2nd Saturday morning long run I have done. (actually, next week I am planning to go to New York to run my long run in Central Park with Team Run To Remember!)

I set out at 6:30am for my 12 mile long run. My plan - keep it slow. I was hoping to be somewhere in the 11:00/mile range and that my HR would stay in the 150s or below.

I put on my Amphipod water belt with two bottles of water, and took two GUs with me - one for 45 minutes into the run and the other for 90 minutes into the run. I also took my iPod - I let the Genius feature put together a playlist first based on Billy Joel's Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, and since that playlist was not going to be long enough, I supplemented it with another Genius playlist based on Simon and Garfunkle's The Only Living Boy In New York (yes, both songs with a New York theme...).

The beginning of this run went very well - my splits were all in the 11:00 to 11:30/mile range and my average HR was in the 150s or below. After mile 7, however, I started to lose steam - I kept up the same pace mostly (mile 8 was slower, but a large part of that mile is uphill), but my average heart rate started to climb into the 160s.

Also, around that time, I felt I needed more water. I rationed my water out until the end, but having a third water bottle would have been nice. Before my next run over 10 miles - especially given that this is summertime - I need to add the third water bottle to my water belt.

I finished the run in 2:16:24 - an 11:23/mile pace, with an average HR of 158. It's a tad slower than I would have liked, and my average HR was higher than I would have liked. However, I ran the entire 12 miles - no walking - which was a big accomplishment given my performance last weekend.

I also decided to check back in my running log to see how I did on my 12 mile run in last year's marathon training. I ran an 11:13/mile pace with an average HR of 153. It was definitely a better effort than now, but there are two main differences - that run was two weeks later into my program, and it was 31 degrees on that run - not in the mid-70s like today. With as hot and humid as it was today, 31 degrees sounds delightful!