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60 miles!

March 5th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (14 Comments)

Although last week’s cut back week was pretty nice (and much needed!), it felt good to hit 60 miles this week with a decent workout and long run. My legs are feeling a bit heavier and my calves are a bit tight/sore making my shins hurt just a tad, but otherwise I’m feeling good.

Here’s how the week played out for 60 miles total.

  • M: 8 miles easy
  • T: 10 miles in afternoon before flight, felt good! 7:10 pace
  • W: OFF, meeting in Charlotte
  • R: Solo workout on WSH, 2 w/u, 8 tempo (53:41, 6:43 pace), 2 c/d
  • F: 6.25 easy recovery
  • S: 18 long run over GWB & back w/ Alex & Veronica, ~7:45 pace
  • S:  5.75 slow, hungover

Tuesday’s run was pretty awesome. I had a flight down to Charlotte for work in the afternoon so I worked from home in the morning. I’m extremely lucky to have some flexibility in my job, so I got an earlier start to my workday from home and opted to push my run to around 12:30 vs. first thing in the morning. I’ve definitely transitioned into being a morning runner over the last few years as I enjoy having the rest of my day and night to work & be social. However, I definitely have much better runs in the afternoon/evening when I’ve given my body and mind some time to wake up and get in a good meal and a few cups of coffee. I was pleasantly surprised with how good my 7:10 average pace felt for 10 miles…while it wasn’t ‘easy’, it felt smooth and strong. And I crossed paths with the Columbia guys team out for their afternoon run which made me miss having practice at 1:30 every day with my college team…sigh. Despite the massive difference, I’ll still stick with morning runs so I can be a normal person and work as late as I need or go to happy hour & dinner post-work. Trade-offs?

I was a bit nervous about Thursday’s workout as I had to squeeze it in by myself before the NYRR Club Night Awards instead of going to practice. Again, I am extremely lucky to have flexibility in my job so I left the office around 4:30 for a little run commute/workout home along the East River & WSH. After a quick 2 mile warmup across Houston St and the tip of Manhattan, I took off on an 8 mile tempo through the Seaport, Battery Park City and the West Side Highway.

As I mentioned, my calves have been realllllly tight lately, in turn making my shins hurt a ton. I first started to notice it during this workout as my legs weren’t tired and I wasn’t struggling aerobically, but I couldn’t really get my stride going because my shins felt so off. Unfortunately there was a headwind basically the entire time…hard to avoid when running in one direction along a river.

Workout, 3/1

Not bad for a solo effort feeling a bit ‘off’, but I wish I could have gotten closer to 6:40 average given the flat terrain. Did I want to run an 8 mile workout by myself? No. But I got out the door and finished without too much mental struggle, which was a nice confidence booster. Once I got home I quickly showered & changed (and didn’t stretch- I wonder why my legs are sore?) to go NYRR Club Night. While I didn’t win my age group category, and honestly I didn’t think I had a shot, it was pretty cool to have been nominated at all :)

Saturday’s long run was my first time going over the George Washington Bridge! I’ve run over practically every other bridge here but for some reason the GWB seemed daunting. I was afraid of getting lost finding the onramp. I met up with Alex and Veronica and we made the journey over and even added on a bit in a little park right over the bridge. It was drizzling when we first started around 10am, but turned out dry and sunny by the end of the run! Overall, the pace felt good & easy despite the huge hills getting up onto the bridge…though my quads kinda wanted to die the last mile.

On Saturday night I went to the lovely Sofia’s apartment for a low-key party where she stirred up a mean margarita…meaning I had two or three and was pretty extremely tipsy. I may or may not have fallen asleep on the subway home, woken up at 137th street, quickly hopped on a downtown train, polished off a few cups of dry cereal, and woken up at noon on Sunday utterly exhausted and a bit sick. Long runs + drinking don’t always mix well, apparently. Maybe I should start being a more responsible marathoner?

…Maybe. I decided an easy, slow run in the fresh air would help cure the hangover. Plus I’m extremely stubborn and wanted to hit my mileage goal, no matter how slow. Though I spent the better part of 3 miles convincing myself not to get sick mid-run, I felt 10x better once it was over. And then I proceeded to head down to midtown to meet up with my CPTC teammates for an afternoon of more drinking. Oh, Sunday sunday…

Highlight of your weekend? Do you prefer morning or afternoon/evening runs? Checked out any new running routes lately?

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Will Run For Waffles

February 27th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (12 Comments)

It’s not news that marathon training makes you hungry. Being able to have a healthy, hearty appetite is one of the things I like best about running. A meal always tastes better when you’ve worked up a real appetite, right? This is also probably the reason I tend to gain a few pounds during marathon training, but that’s besides the point :)

So when I found out about an all you can eat & drink brunch at Brooklyn Brewery, you bet I was in. Unlimited waffles, toppings, bacon, beer and coffee? Game on. I also had to get in a long run, and a few of us were in the same boat so showing up in running clothes was totally cool. I <3 runner friends.

Brooklyn Brewery is located in Williamsburg, and getting there by foot seemed the best option to squeeze in 18 miles before 10:30 am, especially considering the L train wasn’t running over the weekend. Plus, it’d be something different to mix up the long runs..love a good destination run. Alex and I met up in Central Park for a quick loop around the bridle before heading down the West Side Highway and over the Williamsburg Bridge.

18 miles, 2/25

18 went by much quicker than we expected! We averaged around 7:45 pace, with miles ranging from 7:25 to 8:00 depending on terrain and ridiculous gusts of wind along the river. The pace felt comfortable and relaxed, and I didn’t start totally hating my life until the last mile or so when we added on a bit around the brewery.

Alex and I met Nicole, Kristan, Susan and Ben when we got there and immediately changed into dry clothes and hopped in line! Which.took.forever. I was hungry and felt a little tipsy after downing a beer. Oops? Megan, Sofia and Leslie arrived a bit later so our groups got split up in the line waiting. Despite the painfully slow line, we still went back for seconds. And then I swiped a jug of maple syrup on the way out. Delicious.

After a few subway transfers (ever taken the G line? I can now say I have…), I arrived home and lounged around for the rest of the afternoon before getting ready for a night out. A burger & fries, many cocktails, jello shot syringes (??), dancing until 3am and staying up until you can see the sun rising through the blinds may not be the best way to recover from an 18 mile run, but damn it was fun.

I enjoyed a leisurely rest day on Sunday, totaling 3 rest days (woohoo!) and 40.5 miles for the cut back week. It was nice and necessary, but now we’re back to business. 60 miles for the week shouldn’t be too bad despite traveling to Charlotte on Tues/Weds and missing the CPTC workout on Thursday night. Make it work.

And for now, sleep.

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Time to Chill

February 18th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (6 Comments)

Ah, after a busy week I’m finally enjoying a semi-lowkey weekend to relax and catch up on a few things I’ve been putting off, like sleep (!!!), putting away my laundry from Wednesday, and writing here.

I would like to post more frequently during the week, but I can barely find enough time to check things off my ever-growing to-do list at work, continue to increase my mileage, hang out with friends, and sleep. So for now, I’ll do what I can. I hope you keep coming back to read anyways :)

This week has been pretty blah & basic in terms of running. I was in Toronto for work from Wednesday thru yesterday, and so I front loaded my mileage earlier in the week as I wasn’t sure if I’d have time to get in runs while I was there.

Hello from the CN Tower in Toronto

Week of 2/13

  • M: 10.5 slow, felt awful & dizzy
  • T: 10.5 relaxed, better after first few miles
  • W: OFF
  • R: 6.25 miles in morning along Toronto Waterfront
  • F: 8 miles in morning along Toronto Waterfront
  • S: Planned 4
  • S: Planned 18, including Cherry Tree 10 Miler in Prospect Park
Planned mileage: 57.25

On Monday, I got blood drawn in the morning to get my iron levels tested. I don’t feel any symptoms now, but I like to get it done about once a year as I’ve been anemic in the past and want to keep healthy while marathon training. I struggled through 10.5 miles in the afternoon feeling drained and dizzy, likely due to the blood test. Oh well, miles in the books.

Tuesday’s run was equally as tiring, though it got better after about 3 miles. After a weekend of late nights out, I think my body was trying to tell me to slow down. It probably wasn’t necessary to clean my entire plate of chicken parm sandwich and fries at a diner at 5 a.m. on Saturday night (Sunday morning?), but it sure was delicious and fun.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with going out, drinking, and staying out late, in fact I prefer to as it keeps me sane and happy..as long as I can rest and recover from it. I’m a firm believer that sleep cures all, but sometimes there is just not enough hours in the day. Since I opted for morning miles over extra sleep while in Toronto, I promptly passed out when I got home last night. But I fell in love with Toronto’s waterfront running path, especially as the sun rose…definitely worth digging myself further into sleep deprivation.

And now I’m enjoying coffee and breakfast in bed, which is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I need to get out the door for an easy 4 miles or so this afternoon before an afternoon of shopping with some lady friends. And simply staying in and making a nice dinner tonight, as I’ll be up early for tomorrow’s Cherry Tree 10 Miler in Prospect Park.

My plan for the “race” is really to combine a long run and workout. Hopefully I’ll net 18 miles between the race and my warmup/cooldown. I’ll aim to do the 10 miles around marathon pace (~6:52-7:02) with Alex, but might speed up or slow down depending on how I’m feeling. I’m just looking for a bit of an excuse to get out the door and run a bit of a harder effort, even if it’s 3+ loops of Prospect Park.

How do you recover/slow down from a busy week? Plans for the weekend?

 

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50+ miles, Hot Chocolate & Super Bowl Dip

February 6th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (12 Comments)

Happy Monday! Looks like I’m getting on a weekly posting schedule…though I’d like to write more frequently, I’ll start by recapping this past week. It was a pretty awesome one largely because it felt like spring for the majority of it. Any week in late January/early February I can wear a dress without stockings, have a work meeting outside in Bryant Park and run in shorts most days makes me happy. It’s the little things.

And, I finally cracked 50 miles for the first time this training cycle with a pretty solid workout, too. Exciting…

  • M: 7.5 in Riverside, easy (~8:15 pace)
  • T: 8 miles on Bridle, felt good (~7:44 pace)
  • W: 6 around reservoir/bridle (~7:39 pace)
  • R: Solo workout: 3 warmup, 2 cooldown, 7 mile tempo (4+ lower loops) in 46:30. (6:50, 6:49, 6:50, 6:39, 6:33, 6:21, 6:25)
  • F: OFF
  • S: Hot Chocolate run! 15 total (10 through WSH/Riverside/CP ~7:15 pace, 5 easy down WSH to City Bakery)
  • S: 3 miles easy around Riverside to Whole Foods

Total: 51.5 miles

Thursday’s workout was a bit of a confidence booster. I’ve professed my love for doing solo workouts on the lower loops before. I set out to do a little over 4 loops to hit 7 miles, starting out easy and bringing it down at the end.

Workout, 2/2

Kept it around goal marathon pace the first three miles and felt pretty relaxed. Around the 5th mile, I got into a groove and felt confident to push the pace a bit under 6:30. The last mile was pretty tough and uncomfortable though, yikes.

I did this exact workout on September 15th in 47:11. I thought it was a pretty great effort and strong fitness indicator before NYC. Well, Thursday’s workout was almost 45 seconds faster, and while I definitely pushed much harder in the last miles than September, I still felt strong. While there’s still a lot of work to be done between now and April 16th, maybe Boston won’t be so bad after all.

The weekend was plenty of fun, too! Enjoyed a delicious Restaurant Week dinner at The Hurricane Club, with fiery drinks (meant to share between 4, but easily polished off between 2). And then we were wasted, good work team.

Woke up on Saturday morning without tooooo much trouble to hit the roads for 10 miles before meeting up with the New York Rogue Runners (yes, Rogue) to run another 5 miles down the West Side Highway to City Bakery for the annual Hot Chocolate Run. While I anticipated taking the first 10 miles pretty easy, suddenly we found ourselves around 7:10-7:15 pace…oops? The weather was nice and I felt good and once again, I had some great company to pass the miles :)

I was so excited to finish the last 5 miles with the group and spend some QT on the roads and sippin’ delish hot chocolate with the Sweat Squad contingent of Ali, Megan, Susan and Meggie. Definitely a great Saturday morning/afternoon. Thanks for organizing, Baker!

This is our 'look intimidating' pose. Nice.

Delicious food

Nothing says refueling like Banana Peel hot chocolate, caramelized french toast, mac and cheese, and fruit. I was more than happy to get my long run out of the way, and spend some time catching up with great friends. And just check out that marshmallow!

I’m not a huge football person, so I was mostly excited to get to whip up some delicious food to eat while watching the game last night. On the menu, buffalo chicken dip and spinach artichoke dip complete with veggie dippers and chips. Oh, and of course beer & two pints of Ben & Jerry’s. Both the dips were super easy & tasty, and we totally polished off the buffalo chicken dip. And now I’ll be eating spinach artichoke dip for lunch this week…yum.

I made this spread...go, Lindsay!

The ‘not-so-secret’ ingredient in both the dips is Chobani. Should come as no surprise because 1- I despise sour cream & it makes an excellent sub, and 2- Even though they may pay my salary, it’s awesome and I’d spend my hard earned dolla bills on it any day.

What was the best part of your weekend? Best run of the week?

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Winter ain’t so bad…

January 30th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (12 Comments)

This past week was pretty good in terms of running, aided greatly by the not-so-awful weather we’ve been having this winter. Mother Nature, if we can make it to April 16th without anymore sub-20 degree days, I’d be your biggest fan.

I was reading through a few posts from last winter and remembered one of the mornings when it was 6 degrees (!!!) out and I thought it would be fitting to run exactly 6 miles. And then my hands almost froze off. Luckily, January hasn’t been bad and my fingers are crossed for a similar February. With my luck, it’ll snow all month…but here’s to hoping!

Here’s how the week panned out: 44 miles.

  • M: OFF
  • T: 8.5 in morning w/ Alex
  • W: 6.5 in afternoon, a bit stuffy/congested
  • R: Rainy workout night! 2 warmup, 1 cooldown. 5.14 workout in 34:10 (6:49, 6:44, 6:43, 6:43, 6:18), 1K at end in 3:45 (6:15 pace)
  • F: OFF
  • S: 14.5 long run w/ Alex & Alysia/Ambreleah. Warm, shorts run…felt really strong! ~ 7:25-7:30 pace average on CP bridle & Riverside
  • S: 5.5 easy + Total Body Conditioning Class

Thursday night’s workout was a pretty good one. It was only slightly drizzling on the warmup, but started raining pretty heavy into the workout and especially on our cool down. While I was a bit chilly at the end and cut my cool down short to only 1 mile (wimp), I typically love running in the rain and the workout went nicely.

Workout 1/26

Followed by a short recovery & a 1K which I did in 3:45. The first four miles were kept pretty relaxed and I never felt like I was working too hard, which felt good. While it was prescribed at half-marathon pace, which is closer to 6:26, that just isn’t happening right now. We were able to bring the pace down the last mile because it’s largely downhill and we were reeling in some people who had gone ahead at the start.

Right after the workout, I showered & headed straight downtown to our dodgeball game where we won (!!!) and I proceeded to play flip cup until midnight, without eating dinner. Great decisions as usual.

My long run on Saturday was one of the best runs I’ve had in a while. While it was my longest run of the training cycle so far, the warm(er) air and great company really made the run fly by. Alex and I ran into Alysia & Ambreleah and did a few loops around the Bridle before heading over to Riverside Park to add on before heading back to Central Park. It felt like spring, I felt fit and I (kinda) wanted to run forever.

Winter isn’t so bad, right? Looking to hit 50 miles this week which shouldn’t be bad if I go down from 2 to 1 rest day.

Amidst all this running, I’ve also been working towards my budding career in professional taste testing (wouldn’t that be nice?). Twice within the last few weeks, I’ve been a judge/taste-tester in food competitions. Lucky me!

Tonight, I headed to the SELF Magazine offices to be a taste tester for their annual Healthy Food Awards. I signed up to do this last year as well, so my taste buds and stomach were happy to head back for the 2nd year.

We sampled and judged the following categories: plain yogurt, flavored yogurt (sadly not Greek yogurt, ha), frozen waffles, unsweetened cereal, sweetened cereal, ethnic frozen dinners, and creamy dessert pops. Random? Yes. Delicious. HECK YES! I’m so full right now. Just wait for the June issue to see the winners revealed!

And about 3 weeks ago, one of the companies we share our office space with hosted their 2nd annual BagelOff. And needed judges to rate bagels from 5 different NYC bagel shops. Obviously I jumped at the chance. As my coworker said, I’m a marathoner- I can handle the carbs.

Murray’s was the hands down winner, followed by Ess-A-Bagel, Absolute, Russ & Daughters and Zaro’s. Love me some bagels & cream cheese. If you’re curious, here’s the official scorecard we used. My favorite was judging on overall taste: “Are all the flavors in perfect harmony, aligning the planets and exposing to you all that’s right with the world?” 

And this weekend was full of good eats as well. From a cute make-your-own Buffalo Chicken pizza and wine date night (did you know you can use pans as pizza dishes? Well, you can.)…

….to a Saturday night spent eating delicious Italian pizza, ‘Munchies’ ice cream and drinking beers on a patio (OUTSIDE!! in January!!) in Brooklyn, it was a fun-filled foodie weekend with friends!

Highlight of your weekend? How’s the weather been for you so far? Ever been a food judge..? It’s pretty awesome.

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Work Hard, Play Hard

January 24th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (20 Comments)

Lately I’ve been thinking my life has been a little unbalanced…I’ve been going out more, sleeping less, eating poorly, running too slow…Quite simply, just being a normal single 24 year old in NYC with a full-time job and active social life. Nothing wrong with that.

The more I thought about it, the more I realize it’s not unbalanced, it’s actually very well balanced. Between unhealthy, no-sleep, bad-for-training-but-awesomely-fun stuff, there’s still plenty of wholesome, healthy, good-for-running stuff. A healthy mix of both. And that balance is keeping me pretty happy, much happier than I’ve been in a while.

I’m not a model runner. Sometimes I take too many rest days, or run slower than I should in workouts. Some nights post-workout, I have a great protein-packed smoothie and get 9 hours of sleep, and sometimes I have 6 beers and no dinner while playing flip cup ’till midnight on a Thursday. Sometimes I spring out of bed at 6am to run 15 miles, and sometimes I close down bars and don’t go to sleep until 6am two nights in a row. Sometimes I eat healthy kale & veggie salads, and sometimes I eat scrambled eggs in bed off of a paper towel (this happens more than I’d like to admit…don’t judge me?).

While sure, a bit more sleep and healthier eats would help me feel a bit better on runs, it’s just not realistic for me. Yeah, I take running seriously and love it (duh, you’re reading a blog about it), but I also want to remind you that I’m not a robot runner. I do the best I can while striking a good balance. I love rest days more than anything, I rarely stretch or ice, I’d rather gauge my eyes out than run on a treadmill, but for all that laziness I also work hard when the time comes. My success doesn’t come from training and living like a maniac, eating a perfect nutrient-packed diet, doing all the ‘extras’ or not drinking. Instead, I’d say it’s a bit of hard work, stubbornness, some natural ability and keeping it enjoyable. Being if it’s not fun, why am I doing it? Nobody’s headed to the Olympics anytime soon around here.

Phew. Hope you enjoyed that ramble and glimpse into my (sometimes) mess of a life. This past week was actually a pretty good one, all things considered!

  • M: 6 slowwwww miles (like, 8:45 slow for me), still a little sick/achy
  • T: 8.25 in am w/ Alex around reservoir
  • W: 4.25 miles in morning + core/lifting
  • R: 2 warmup, 6.06 workout in 41:18 (splits below), 2 cooldown
  • F: OFF
  • S: OFF
  • S: 12.75 miles at night

Total: 41.25

The workout went pretty well on Thursday, I started feeling a bit back to normal after getting sick last weekend and was excited to return to CPTC workouts since I hadn’t been to one since the marathon. Our group wanted to start out at a conversational pace and bring the pace down, and I was happy I felt pretty strong in the last 2 miles. While it wasn’t completed at the prescribed half-marathon pace (really? who wants to run half of a half-marathon?), it felt like a good solid effort to me.

Workout 1/19

Post-workout, I kicked off the weekend fun a bit early by heading straight to my intramural dodgeball game and then to the bar to drink away our loss. A few beers, no dinner, and flip cup victories later, I was quite drunk. Ooops?

Friday night was also pretty fun, as a few friends from Villanova met up for a Restaurant Week dinner at Ajna Bar in the meatpacking district. It was delicious, especially the cocktails! Highly recommended for restaurant week.

Afterwards, we headed to Brass Monkey for “just a few drinks”. Suddenly, it was 4:15 am and we were outside in the snow hailing a cab in heels. And then Noelle and Kristen came back to my apartment and we ate apple cider doughnuts and peanut butter. Champs.

I woke up early on Saturday (probably still drunk) to head to the Villanova basketball game at MSG w/ a few more ‘Nova friends visiting town from DC. And we won, woo!

Saturday night was a date night, starting with dinner at Bubby’s in Tribeca…mmmm flaky biscuits, juicy burger, mac & cheese, key lime pie, and coffee. Love me some comfort food.

The night continued at Fat Cat, a super cool/hipsterish bar where unfortunately, we didn’t get to play ping pong due to the long wait. We ended up going up to the UES to meet up with my Nova friends who were visiting, which was really great! A few hours later, it was sometime after 6:30 and time to sleep.

After a very lazy Sunday in bed, my planned long run still loomed over my head. Luckily, I had some company to get me out the door and motivate me to finally lace up and hit the roads around 7:30 at night. We did around 12.75 together, and while our ~7:40 pace was probably painfully slow for him, I was glad to have a cute guy to help the miles fly by. Lucky me :)

This week I’ll look to hit 45 miles, which should be pretty easy. As always, you can follow along on my Boston Google doc easily found on the training tab above.

What’s your idea of balance? Highlight of the weekend?

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