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‘Tis the Season

December 16th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (5 Comments)

Although Christmas is just 8 days away (what!?!) I’m only just now feeling in the spirit. It hasn’t been terribly cold or snowed, I haven’t thought much about Christmas shopping, work has been crazy busy to even think about a break, and I don’t have any big holiday travel plans to look forward to besides home in NJ.

My new couch and little Manhattan christmas tree brings joy, too.

But yesterday, I donned my holiday best and joined thousands of others to roam the city in festive garb for Santacon. It’s my fourth year doing Santacon (whoa, time flies) and my fourth year being a reindeer. Ho ho ho! And all the sudden, Christmas started to feel a little closer.

Despite barhopping yesterday for 12 straight hours (seriously how did I last that long?), I woke up this morning feeling not-too-terrible and decided a hangover-clearing run would make me feel a little less gross. It was misting/raining and I didn’t have any mileage/time in mind, just wanted to sweat it out.

A few minutes in, my mind wandered and I started feeling pretty crappy about myself and my running. I still feel off and I’m tired all the time. While it’s starting to get easier to get in my mileage especially when I meet up with friends to run, I just want to feel like my old fit competitive self. I know it’s still early and I don’t need to start killing myself, but I do need to start sucking it up and getting in some basic workouts and pushing myself on runs a bit more.

So I headed into the park and to my favorite trusty solo workout, Central Park’s lower loops. (No really, I’ve professed my love here, remember this awesome workout last winter, and here’s one of the 1st times I ever did this workout, early blog/pre-Garmin days.)

Consistency is my strong suit. While the pace was nothing special for me and actually I thought I was going to die or my legs were going to fall off, I’m proud that I completed it all without stopping short. It felt good to push, even though I wasn’t really able to drop the pace at the end.

Still, doubt creeped into my mind at the end. “How are you going to run 13.1 miles under 6:25 pace in just 3 months?” Honestly, I don’t know. That felt hard, guys. But I need to start somewhere; this is where I am today, but it doesn’t have to be where I am in a few months.

What else have I been up to? This past Thursday was our company holiday party. Even though it was just at our office, it ended up being a blast! The highlight was by far the food and drinks (oh, maybe too many drinks…), talent show, and watching this amazing Rock Center with Brian Williams segment live, alongside Hamdi himself.

Click to watch!

If you know me personally, you know I can talk about yogurt for days and days and think my job is the coolest. BUT I really encourage you all to just watch this video. And then you’ll get it. The company went from startup to a $1 billion business in only five years. It’s a crazy story, but really not so crazy when you get to know Hamdi. He’s an incredibly humble yet visionary Founder and CEO, and sharing the moment to watch the clip alongside my colleagues was truly special.

And last weekend, I kept busy through friends’ holiday parties on the Upper West Side and Brooklyn, a friend’s bridal shower in NJ, and volunteering at the Girls on the Run 5k on Randall’s Island.

Ely, in the middle, is getting married 2 months from today!

This was my first time volunteering as a running buddy, and it was amazing. My girls finished strong and happy, with a bit of a ‘sprint as fast as you can and then get too tired and walk’ pacing strategy, often linking arms to run 3 across. They were both too cute (and knew the Gangnam Style dance, whaaaa?), and one said “I never thought I’d actually be doing this. I just thought it’d be a dream! But this is real!” She repeatedly called us ‘Thunder and Lightning’. Girls on the Run is an incredible organization and I really wish I could commit time to coach. I hope I’m free to volunteer for the Spring 5K, too!

And now, I’m going to go curl up on my comfy couch, bask in my Christmas lights, and try to fall asleep at a ridiculously early hour to get ahead of a busy week. Sunday funday.

How are you getting in the holiday spirit?

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<1 Week!

April 10th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (11 Comments)

It’s race week! And oh goodness, what a relaxing weekend will do. This sounds silly, but I haven’t woken up well-rested, without an alarm, or without some semblance of a hangover both weekend mornings in …a long time. Between working or traveling on weekends, rising early for long runs, and going out late, it just hasn’t happened. A week before the marathon is enough time to reset and refresh, right? Right.

Sunday Easter brunch & Central Park walk w/ Mom: The key to happiness!

This week I’m focusing on sleep, sleep, and …more sleep. By nature of my job, I’m ‘on’ and connected to social media all day long and find it hard to disconnect at night and fall asleep. Not complaining, just how it is. I’m trying to make a concerted effort to focus on work but shut down a bit earlier. Some things can wait until the next day. This week, sleep cannot.

But more important than sleep, I’ve been working to mentally prepare myself for next Monday. I touched on this last week, but given the successful training cycle I’ve had, I kinda expect to show up in Boston and break 3:00. I really have no right to be so cocky, so I’m trying to shake that mindset because I know it’s going to be hard as hell and I’m going to have to earn it. Marathons are extremely humbling and if I don’t prepare myself for it, I’m going to fall apart.

I wrote about this in my third Boston.com post yesterday, but at this point it’s really all mental. Grinding out a fast pace over 26.2 miles is hard and there’s going to be highs and lows. Each low point is going to wear down that mental layer bit by bit. I need to be sure I’m equipped with strategies to overcome those trying times and keep everything in tact and push through.

Last Thursday was a good time to practice staying strong mentally. We did a continuous 6 miles: 2 at marathon pace, 2 at half-marathon pace, and 2 back at marathon pace. For a final workout with the majority of it at marathon pace, this probably should have felt easier, but I was right on mentally. Yeah, our paces were a little faster than they should have been, and I think my watch was off a bit from Alex’s, but it’s interesting to see my heart rate didn’t drop back down much once we transitioned back down to marathon pace. Figure this will be similar to the final miles in the race…oof.

While this weekend is a busy one between work events, I’ll make sure to find a way to keep my head above water and rest up. Oh, and don’t worry. I’ve got the carboloading part down pat.

I’ll be nibbling on this all week. This speedy bunny surely has transformative properties. Right? Thought so.

Best mental strategies to prepare for a race? Anything else I should be doing to prep this week? Help! Advice! 

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Peak Week (72!!) & Taper Time in SC

March 28th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (14 Comments)
Greetings from Charleston, South Carolina! Yup, traveling again. No surprise, this week has been busy and I am TIRED. Last week, I hit my peak mileage week before Boston and spent the weekend celebrating (and recovering from) 25th birthday festivities. I think my body is just now catching up and telling me to sloooooow down. My quads are incredibly sore and tired, but I’d attribute that to dancing in heels until after 4 am, not running. Ouch.

Not one of my finer moments.

Last week I hit 72 miles for the week! This is a new weekly high for me, as I only capped out at 70 before NYC. Go, Lindsay! I’m also extremely happy that I did it with 1 day total rest, a hard workout, long run, and without doubling (with the exception of one short easy morning shakeout).

To some marathoners 72 miles is nothing, and to others it’s a ton! For me, it was a perfect peak. Maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll get to 75-80+ miles per week, but only if i can stay healthy and sane while doing it. I’d also like more hours in the day…still working on that one. How do you people do it?!

And now, I’m ready to taper. Honestly, I looooove the taper. I am NOT one of those people that gets antsy on rest days or wishes I was running longer and harder during this time. No thanks, I got my fix of that over the last 4 months. To you people who hate the taper: I’m sorry, I just don’t understand you. Aren’t you utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally, and begging for a break? Or, am I just a lazy runner who wants my legs to feel normal again? Give me rest now.

Besides a final long run, the highlight of last week was Thursday night’s workout: a simple 5 miles (well, 5.17..) at half-marathon pace. I don’t know what it is about half-marathon pace, but it freaks me out. It seems fast (because it is!) especially compared to marathon pace.

Workout, 3/22

But we had a good group and nice weather, and most of my splits were under 6:20. I fell off the group a little on the last mile, but I need to do more of these workouts to get comfortable going faster. And then I refueled with 16 Handles.

Speaking of going faster, have I mentioned I’m racing a 10K on Saturday while I’m down here in Charleston? Yup, I am! I’m down here for the Cooper River Bridge Run, as Chobani is a sponsor at the expo and finish line of the race. As sponsors, we received a few entries so I figured I’d wake up even earlier and race….because that’s what normal people do, right? I don’t know much about the course except that it’s up and over a bridge so it’s probably got a steep incline. And that world-class runners race this, so I probably won’t win. Darn you, 33 minute 10k runners!

I’m not creating any pressure for this race, but a PR would be pretty nice. Considering I’ve run two 10ks in my life and my 10k pace was slower than my half marathon pace, I’d say there’s a good chance I should break 40. Standing on my feet at the expo for two days straight and eating 7484926 cups of yogurt is perfect race prep, right?

And, don’t forget to check out my first post on Boston.com! I’ve got mixed feelings on the Polar RCX5 GPS/heart rate system, but I need to use it more to give it a fair analysis. Of course, I’ll be wearing it during Saturday’s race and can’t wait to see my heart rate go through the roof as I die for 6.2 miles in 80 degree humidity.

And now, shutting down and SLEEP!

What’s the most you’ve run in a week? Do you love or hate the taper? Things to do in Charleston during my brief stay here?!

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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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Cherry Tree 10 Miler & Cut Back Week

February 24th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts | Race Recaps - (8 Comments)

On Sunday, I trekked down to Brooklyn (/got a ride there so I wouldn’t have to take the subway, thanks Alex & Steve!) to run the Cherry Tree 10 Mile race. I didn’t really have a plan going into it beyond getting in at least 18 miles for the day and having the race be my workout for the week. I’m definitely not in racing shape and after traveling during the week, I was a bit beat.

The later 10am race start in Prospect Park was nice, so I woke up at 8, ate a decent breakfast & drank coffee (a must!) before heading down to the school to pick up our bibs and do a quick warmup.

We covered around 2.75 miles before heading to the start– my legs were really tired and just felt heavy. We started off the race a bit further into the crowds, with plans to start out conservatively and go from there.

Cherry Tree 10 Miler, Prospect Park Brooklyn, 2/19

Alex & I ran together the entire race until she pulled away from me the last time up the hill– it was so nice to have company! Our splits were relatively steady around 6:45, with a few quick ones on the flat/downhill miles and slower on the uphills. Honestly, I don’t mind Prospect Park at all, and don’t think the hill is that bad compared to Central Park. Sure, it’s long and I kinda wanted to die the 3rd time up it, but the rest of the park’s terrain is pretty forgiving.

My final chip time was 1:06:13, for an average pace of 6:38ish. I’m pretty happy with this effort considering how heavy my legs felt and that I wasn’t well-rested. But, sure does make doing 16.2 more miles just 10-12 seconds per mile slower sound really, really daunting.

A big CPTC crew ran back over the Manhattan Bridge, making the cooldown go by much faster than if we logged another few loops in the park. I covered 18.25 miles total for the day and rehydrated with the team a few hours later:

CPTC @ Loreley's

All the sudden I found myself extremely drunk before 8 p.m. on a Sunday. So much for taking it easy this weekend :)

I had planned this week to be a cut back week in terms of mileage, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to take it or not. I want my schedule to be flexible depending on how I’m actually feeling vs. what I planned, and what if my legs were feeling good? Well, my legs were still sore into Wednesday due to the race and wearing flats, so a cut back week it is.

I’d like to get in around 40 miles still including a long run of 18, with no workout this week. Someone asked why I don’t step back my long runs, too. For me, I’d rather gradually build up my long runs linearly (14, 16, 16, 18, 18, 20, 20, 20) instead of breaking them up with a scaled down long run. With only so many weeks ’till Boston, I want to try to get in as many long runs as possible, and stepping it down to a week would take away from that, you know? Instead for my cut back week, the long run is essential but I take a few more rest days and nix the workout to give my legs a break. Maybe that’s wrong, I’m open to suggestions :)

I also wanted to use this week to catch up on sleep and recharge my body to get me through the next 4 hard weeks until the taper. Unfortunately for my body, but fortunately for me, work has been keeping me super busy between meetings, projects, presentations, etc. so I haven’t slept and relaxed with ‘me’ time as much as I’d like. But I am so lucky to be doing something I love, and I definitely focus better when I’ve got more on my plate. No complaints.

After this cut back week, I hope to hit totals of 60, 60, 65 and 65 before backing off for the taper. Maybe more, maybe less. 4 weeks of hard work ’till Boston…April 16th, are you here yet?

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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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