Track Tracks: The December Mixes

Posted on December 2, 2007 by threlkeld

One reason that I so enjoy my long runs and recovery runs is that it gives me a chance to listen to some music with very little distraction. And an MP3 player is a sanity saver when you’re stuck inside on a treadmill running for 3 hours.

I spent my “couch recovery time” yesterday putting together some mixes for these runs. I figure I’ll rotate these until I get tired of them, then make up some new ones in January. And repeat.

The key with these mixes is to keep my legs moving on the Easy/Long runs — and have something uptempo for the 10 very fast “striders” (quick sprints of about a hundred yards) that I need to do during the Easy runs.

And I always, always, always run the Recovery runs too fast. So I need music that would be suitable for a lobotomy. I’ve picked the softest, calmest, slowest stuff I could think of.

Easy/Long Run Mixes

Mix 1 (2 hours)
1. It Won’t Be Long – Alison Moyet
2. No Cars Go – Arcade Fire
3. It Ended On An Oily Stage – British Sea Power
4. Judas – Charlatans U.K.
5. The Bell And The Butterfly – Charlatans U.K.
6. Television Rules The Nation / Crescendolls – Daft Punk
7. Girls Talk (LP Version) – Dave Edmunds
8. Soul Meets Body – Death Cab For Cutie
9. Kashmir – Dread Zeppelin
10. A Little Respect – Erasure
11. Transmission – Gay Dad
12. Harder Faster – Gay Dad
13. Celebrity Skin – Hole
14. Directions – Josh Rouse
15. Little Favours – KT Tunstall
16. Wonders Never Cease – Morcheeba
17. Saddest Quo – Pernice Brothers
18. Last Post on the Bugle – The Libertines
19. Human – Pretenders
20. Lola Stars and Stripes – The Stills
21. Gender Bombs – The Stills
22. 12:51 – The Strokes
23. You Only Live Once – The Strokes
24. New Star In The Sky – Air
25. Space Maker – Air
26. Playground Love – Air
27. Fort Knox, King Solomon – Bob Mould
Playlist on Rhapsody

Mix 2 (2 hours)
1. Shallow End – Morcheeba
2. Wonders Never Cease – Morcheeba
3. Let Me See – Morcheeba
4. If Everybody Looked The Same – Groove Armada
5. Black & White New York – Tommy Keene
6. Alta Loma – Tommy Keene
7. Chorus – Erasure
8. Operator (That’s Not The Way It Feels) – Jim Croce
9. Heart – Peggy Lee
10. Sunny – Ella Fitzgerald
11. High Time – Michael Penn
12. Wild Things Run Fast – Joni Mitchell
13. Disappear – Blake Babies
14. Picture Perfect – Blake Babies
15. Popstar – Pretenders
16. Big Sur – The Thrills
17. Freetime – The Trashcan Sinatras
18. Prize Fighter – The Velvet Teen
19. Focus On Sight – Thievery Corporation
20. Warning Shots – Thievery Corporation
21. Currents – Tim Finn
22. Only A Fool Would Say That – Steely Dan
23. This Is How It Starts – Swell
24. Roam – The B-52’s
25. Good Morning Joan – The Cardigans
26. Do You Realize?? – The Flaming Lips
27. This Year – The Mountain Goats
28. Here Comes Your Man – Pixies
29. People Have The Power – Patti Smith
30. Looking For You (I Was) – Patti Smith
31. She Heightened Everything – Pernice Brothers
Playlist on Rhapsody

Mix 3 (3 hours)
1. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – The Ramones
2. Let It Blow – Richard Thompson
3. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? – R.E.M.
4. 1979 – Smashing Pumpkins
5. Incinerate – Sonic Youth
6. Master of Disaster – John Hiatt
7. Is It Any Wonder? – Keane
8. Run Into Flowers – M83
9. Beachcombing – Mark Knopfler
10. The Distance Between – Marshall Crenshaw
11. A Part Of The Woods – Matt Pond PA
12. Please Don’t Touch – Motorhead
13. Soon – My Bloody Valentine
14. Bled White – Elliott Smith
15. You Make Loving Fun – Fleetwood Mac
16. Cars – Gary Numan
17. Pathfinder – Gay Dad
18. Our Lips Are Sealed – The Go-Go’s
19. Ooh La La (Benny Benassi Remix – Extended) – Goldfrapp
20. Indictment – Jawbreaker
21. Cold Hard Bitch – Jet
22. Dony – Big Star
23. Cat People (Putting Out The Fire) – David Bowie
24. Babylon – David Gray
25. Some Cities – Doves
26. Words – Doves
27. Turn To Stone – Electric Light Orchestra
28. Relative Ways – And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
29. Wake Up – Arcade Fire
30. Black Wave / Bad Vibrations – Arcade Fire
31. Born In The UK – Badly Drawn Boy
32. Aerodynamic Beats / Gabrielle , Forget About The World – Daft Punk
33. Charlie’s Angels 2000 – Apollo Four Forty
34. Fortress – Pinback
35. Discover a Lovelier You – Pernice Brothers
36. Right Here In Front Of Me – Marshall Crenshaw
37. Retour A Vega – The Stills
38. Red Vines – Aimee Mann
39. Lovefool – The Cardigans
40. Trap – The Cure
41. Cannonball (LP Version) – The Breeders
42. Master of Disaster – John Hiatt
43. I Want You Now – The Feeling
44. Rock Me – Liz Phair
45. Shake Your Coconuts – Junior Senior
Playlist on Rhapsody

Recovery Run Mixes

Mix 1 (1.2 hours)
1. Sexy Boy – Air
2. The Sea – Morcheeba
3. Aqualung – Morcheeba
4. Hands Of Time – Groove Armada
5. Suntoucher – Groove Armada
6. Edge Hill – Groove Armada
7. At The River – Groove Armada
8. Killing The Blues – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
9. Stick With Me Baby – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
10. The Pearl – Emmylou Harris
11. Come Rain Or Come Shine – Peggy Lee
12. Someone To Watch Over Me – Sarah Vaughn
13. Oxygen – Colbie Caillat
14. Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
15. Underachiever (LP Version) – Jill Sobule
Playlist on Rhapsody

Mix 2 (1.2 hours)
1. The General Specific (Album) – Band Of Horses
2. Roadmovies – Bettie Serveert
3. Brain-Tag – Bettie Serveert
4. Big Sur – The Thrills
5. In The Waiting Line – Zero 7
6. Finding You – The Go-Betweens
7. Architecture And Morality – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)
8. Our Time Has Passed – Pernice Brothers
9. The End Of The Rainbow – Richard Thompson
10. Dimming Of The Day – Richard Thompson
11. It Takes You There – Rickie Lee Jones
12. Across The Borderline – Ry Cooder
13. Solid Air – John Martyn
14. Knock Yourself Out – Jon Brion
15. Toxic Girl – Kings Of Convenience
16. Swingset Chain – Loquat
17. Be Natural – Manic Street Preachers
18. She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
Playlist on Rhapsody

Mix 3 (1.3 hours)
1. Place To Be – Nick Drake
2. Which Will – Nick Drake
3. One Of These Things First – Nick Drake
4. Pink Moon – Nick Drake
5. Naked As We Came – Iron & Wine
6. Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
7. Act of the Apostle – Belle and Sebastian
8. Thirteen – Big Star
9. Last Place – Broken Social Scene
10. Love And Mathematics – Broken Social Scene
11. Trapped Under Ice – Call And Response
12. Son-Of-A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield
13. The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen
14. Independence Day – Elliott Smith
15. Island – Autour de Lucie
16. Nurture – LFO
17. Dirty Secret – Grant-Lee Phillips
18. Some Sweet Day – Sparklehorse
19. Silver Springs – Stevie Nicks
Playlist on Rhapsody

Mix 4 (1.2 hours)
1. Driving Sideways – Aimee Mann
2. You Do – Aimee Mann
3. Flying Cowboys – Rickie Lee Jones
4. 6 Underground – Sneaker Pimps
5. Pets – Porno for Pyros
6. Sick Day (LP Version) – Fountains of Wayne
7. Son Of A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield
8. I’m Not In Love – 10cc
9. You’re Lost Little Girl – The Doors
10. Superstar – The Carpenters
11. Broken Places – Maggie & Terre Roche
12. Moonshadow – Cat Stevens
13. My Little Japanese Cigarette Case – Spoon
14. One Bright Summer Day – Yuji Oniki
15. Other Side Of The World – KT Tunstall
Playlist on Rhapsody

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Race Report: NYRR Hot Chocolate 15K

Posted on December 2, 2007 by threlkeld

We ran the Hot Chocolate 15K race in Central Park yesterday, organized by the New York Road Runners. And, man, was it cold! We drove in and managed to find a spot on 108th St, so we were really early. Better than being late, but we would have been smarter to kill some time in the car. The wind chill was around 18F and when the wind whipped around the corners, it certainly woke you up.

Fortunately, there was a bit more wind protection (or at least it wasn’t so channeled through the canyons) in the park itself. We ran around for twenty minutes, stood around in the sun, and lined up, teeth chattering, about five minutes before race time to benefit from the surrounding body heat.

The horn blew at 9:33 and the race was on: 9.3 miles counter-clockwise around the park starting at 102 Street on the East side. One full loop around the bottom of the park, and one shorter loop along 72 Street. I was somewhat familiar with the course from having run the More Marathon last year, although I’d run it in the opposite direction, so there were some surprises.

Since it was windy, I picked a conservative goal time of 1:12:00 or better, and I started slow to test the waters, again employing an “extreme negative split” strategy. Once again, it worked very well. I finished in 1:12:22. Had I known the course better, I think I could have easily bested 1:12, as I was expecting a bigger hill the last 2K when in fact it was downhill.

It was a lot of fun. I have to say that I enjoy running in the park. It’s a challenging course and a good place to practice racing tactics. I even tried out a very short finishing kick (about 50 meters), blowing past three women about 15 feet from the finish. That was a gas. People do it to me all the time and it drives me nuts. Result: 16th in my age group, and in the top 7% of all women finishers.

So I’m very happy with my time and, between the three recent races, I’ve got a good sense of what my initial paces should be when I start my marathon training (gulp) tomorrow.

As for Jonathan, he met his goal of finishing in under an hour: 59:20. And he took third in his age group, garnering what is quite possibly the world’s ugliest “hot chocolate” mug.

We were treated to post-race hot chocolate and bagels at a nearby school. And we struck up a conversation with friendly older gentleman named Andy who isn’t a runner, but seems to be a race junkie. He lives over the park on the north end and has been watching races since the first NY marathon.

Today we went for a short recovery run together in our first snow of the season. Now it’s time for a glass of wine and some tree decorating…

Yesterday’s splits:

Mile 1          8:11
Mile 2          7:47
Mile 3          7:52
Mile 4          7:49
Mile 5          7:37
Mile 6          7:44*
Mile 7          7:29
Mile 8          7:37
Mile 9          7:14
Mile 9.3        3:00

Finish time  1:12:22

Average pace    7:46

*I must figure out how to drink while running

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