Uh, okay. This is working.

Posted on December 7, 2008 by threlkeld

Today marked the end of my third week of coach-assisted basebuilding. I’m officially convinced that working with a coach was the right thing to do.

I’ll post my usual recap of the week’s training tomorrow morning, but I wanted to post about a few things specifically.

I’ll start by saying that I was initially a little worried when I saw the plan Kevin gave me. I knew I could handle the workload, but it seemed a bit intense for just the basebuilding phase. Specifically, it looked more like marathon training, not basebuilding. I no longer feel that way after having spent three weeks easily being able to handle the buildup in mileage and doing three hard runs a week.

Dang. This really works. Witness:

  • My resting heart rate has dropped from 48-50 to 46. You can’t argue with that.
  • My recovery runs are getting faster with no change in effort.
  • I am hitting my paces for all faster sessions. Don’t get me wrong — they are not easy. But they are doable.
  • The dreaded 3:00AM DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) has been minimal.
  • I feel recovered and ready for each hard session.

But today’s run is the one that sold me. It was the last run of an 80 mile week and one that I’d been, well, not dreading, but ruminating about during the latter part of the week: 18 miles “steady” pace, which translates into an 8:15 pace (or about 90% marathon effort). That is a long way to run at that effort.

To prepare, I did a two day mini carbohydrate load (not a ton, but basically making sure I had enough stored away) and made sure I was well hydrated. I also took care to get adequate sleep.

I did a leisurely warmup for the first three miles (9:17, 8:53, 8:27). Then I got down to work. For the next six miles I average 8:11. Then I backed off for two miles (hills and headwind), running around 8:25 each — I also took in some carbohydrates at mile 10, which gave me a lift shortly thereafter. Then I ran the next seven miles at an average 8:07 pace, finishing up with an extra half mile for which I motored along at 7:48.

I felt great during the entire run, despite brisk, shifting winds and a face full of snow in the last two miles, and had no problem picking up the pace. Despite the slow early miles, my average pace for the run was 8:17. Pretty much right on the nose.

Side note: In addition to having a great run, I also was a good Samaritan today. As I was pausing at my car at mile 10 I witnessed a woman take the paint off the side of a Volvo with her Mercedes SUV during a botched parking attempt. She proceeded to park in another space about 30 feet away. I waited to see if she would post anything to the windshield of the car she’d just done significant damage to. Not surprisingly (but no less appallingly), she didn’t, although I did notice her take the time to see what the damage was to her own car (minimal). So I posted her  make, model and license plate number to the damaged car myself. I’ve had damage done to my car by people like this and it really pisses me off.

Filed under: basebuilding, coaching, drinking, eating, everyday life, training | 9 Comments »

Childhood obesity PSA

Posted on November 28, 2008 by threlkeld

Saw this great little PSA from the creative minds at ACT this morning on Euronews.

Filed under: eating, everyday life, humor | Leave a comment »

Fookin’ chilly!

Posted on November 21, 2008 by threlkeld

As in 2007, winter has arrived a month early in an instantaneous, nostril-freezing blast over the last couple of days. We had one of the longest winters in the quarter-odd century I’ve lived in New York last year, and I’m wondering if this year will be a repeat.

No matter. Except for the problem of ice and the demonic drivers who hurtle over it with aplomb in their two ton deathmobiles (we have precious few sidewalks in our suburban hamlet), I love winter training. The colder the better.

Racing in cold weather is even more delighted squeal inducing, and I’ll have a chance to race in wind chills of around 13 degrees tomorrow morning. I ran my measly five recovery miles this morning at embarrassingly slow pace in anticipation. Race report to come.

For now, it’s almost 4PM on Thanksgiving Week Eve, which means everyone I work with has ceased to care about anything, a situation that I happily embrace. I’m technically working today, but it consists of cleaning out my email inbox and addressing the 14 inch high stack of crap that’s accumulated on my desk over the last 11 months. My manager at Massive Nameless Corporation just dragged me into gifted me with two more months-long projects, so I’m feeling fairly confident that I’ll be able to continue to pay for running shoes, quality beer and interesting cheeses for another year.

Filed under: drinking, eating, everyday life, racing, training | 3 Comments »

Life, and a little running

Posted on November 13, 2008 by threlkeld

Not much posting of late as I’m playing host to my sister and niece as they tour some NYC area colleges for said niece to attend in about a year and half. It seems like just yesterday that my sister was visiting me while five months pregnant with Annie. Gads, how did I get so old so quickly?

I skipped the Barnard walkthrough yesterday in favor of a 12 miler, some shopping and a few hours of work. But today I went in with them to tour NYU. I went to NYU for my grad degree in the mid-nineties and it was interesting to see how differently they market to teenagers vs. adults. Teens (and parents) get an emphasis on safety, social/club opportunities, studying overseas and the ubiquity of free food. Graduate school prospects (at least in my dept.) were sold on professional networking, potential for good incomes and more professional networking. Snacks were never mentioned.

The rest of the day was spent at a display of gothic fashion at the Fashion Institute of Technology (which was a great show, actually; I have a new appreciation for haute couture). Then a trip to TKTS to get them tickets to a show and then a stop at one of my all-time favorite places in the world (after the Swiss Alps), the Oyster Bar in Grand Central, where we ate very expensive oysters and I had the rare martini.

Tomorrow I’ll tag along on a tour of Sarah Lawrence, which is just down the road from us. Then the academic vetting is behind us and we can go have some more fun. Fortunately, my sister and niece share my morbid genes, so we have not one but two graveyard visits on the agenda (the Hartsdale Canine Cemetery AND Woodlawn!), as well as some more typical touristy stuff, like Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, et al.

Since this is a running blog, here’s the relevant running portion of this post: I ran around 48 miles last week, including two easy runs of nine miles (8:45ish pace) and a delightful 11 miler on Sunday that started slow and ended at an 8:00 pace). Not exactly hard running, true, but enough to feel like an effort. I expect I’ll have around the same mileage this week. My legs feel good and I’m looking forward to gearing up for the next training cycle as well as doing some winter racing.

In other notes, I’m always reading a running-related book. On Ewen‘s recommendation, I picked up an out of print copy of “Guide to Running” by Grete Waitz and Gloria Averbuch. This book is utterly charming. It’s a combination of memoir, training guide, cultural criticism and “lifestyle” guide (which has the effect of making me wish I lived in Norway, at least circa 1980). There are even recipes for making Norwegian snacks (although you’ll need to find gjestost).

English is not Waitz’s native language, obviously, but that’s part of what makes her writing voice so appealing. She is also remarkably frank when talking about what it was like to be thrown into world-stage competition as a teenager, the pressure to medal “for country,” and her discomfort with fame. As an added treat, you can pick up lots of great little Norwegian sayings (“It’s so secret; it’s no secret” and “Hurry slowly”). Maybe it’s having a distant Norwegian heritage that makes me slightly biased, but this is a great little read.

Filed under: eating, elites, everyday life, inspiration, reading | 3 Comments »

Recovering nicely

Posted on October 22, 2008 by threlkeld

I’m taking a very casual approach to post-marathon recovery this time around. Although I’m loosely following a recovery schedule from Advanced Marathoning, I didn’t run at all for six days post-race, then did five on Sunday and Monday, and seven yesterday, plus a little time on the stationary bike. I ran too many miles too soon and too fast in April; I won’t make that mistake again.

It’s been difficult to run slow, since my legs feel really good and — coupled with the cool weather — it’s a lot of fun to be out running again. But I’ve kept things at avg 70% max heart rate so far. I will do a 10 mile easy run (75-82%) on Sunday, which I’m so looking forward to.

I have gained weight from eating and drinking too much of the wrong things. No surprise there, but it is a little distressing. Hence, the time on the bike. I’ll do a longer ride this evening.

Now that it’s cold, I’ve rediscovered the pleasures of eating oatmeal. I started buying McCann’s Irish Oatmeal from Trader Joe’s. This stuff rocks.

I’ll be planning out my spring training this weekend. I’m pretty much sold on the idea of returning to the plan I used from Advanced Marathoning (the 18 weeks at 70+ mpw plan), with the same modifications I made the first time around. The biggest difference this time around will be that I’ll start out with a much bigger mileage base (100+ mpw vs. 80 mpw last year) and I may shorten the plan to 14 or 16 weeks.

Lots to look forward to.

Filed under: eating, recovery, training | 1 Comment »

3…2…1…

Posted on October 11, 2008 by threlkeld

The start is nigh.

At least for now, the stars are aligning in my favor. The weather report is near-perfect (although I’d prefer overcast to full sun, but whatever): cool, dry and with a 1-3mph wind tops. I had a great night’s sleep last night thanks to Lunesta. I am carboloading and drinking water to beat the band and have gained 2 lbs. — bad for my ego, but an excellent sign of good hydration and glycogen storage. I have no aches, pains or other niggles. And, despite lots of exposure to public places (and, hence, germs) in the past two weeks, I have made it to marathon weekend without having caught a cold or other bug.

I’ll go out for a little 2-3 mile run in a few minutes. Then I pack up my running gear and pre- and post-race food and libations. I was buying post-race treats at Trader Joe’s yesterday and the woman at the register said, “Are you having company this weekend?” I lied: “Yes! How did you ever guess?” It seemed freakish to say, “No, I’m running a marathon on Sunday, after which I plan to lie on a bed in a hotel room Scranton, Pennsylvania, consuming all this food along with lots of wine, ideally while watching a mindless three hour Lifetime movie starring Melissa Gilbert, Cheryl Ladd or Meredith Baxter-Birney.”

I have so much to do. So I’d better get to it.

We’re going to try to drive the course so I can see what I’m in for. If I’m not in a state of catatonic shock as a result, I’ll post again pre-race.

Filed under: drinking, eating, everyday life, racing, travel | 2 Comments »

Eating candy and hitting “refresh”

Posted on October 10, 2008 by threlkeld

48 hours from now, I’ll be running into downtown Carbondale, PA, many miles from the finish line in Scranton. The weather forecast is looking very good indeed: mid-to-upper 40s at the start, mid-to-upper 60s at the finish and the little wind forecast would be a tailwind.

On the other hand, it’s only Friday morning. Everything can change. So I’ll bring my entire running wardrobe. Just in case. And keep checking the weather every hour or so.

In the meantime, I’ve discovered the value of candy for carbo-loading: Swedish Fish and Twizzlers both offer an excellent calories vs. carbs ratio. Oh, and Medjool dates are also jam-packed with happy carbs. I never get to eat this stuff.

There’s not much more to say. I’m just twiddling my thumbs and not running today. I’m gald glad I have work to distract me.

Filed under: eating, training | 4 Comments »

The hay is in the barn.

Posted on September 20, 2008 by threlkeld

Today was my last big training run: a 22 miler with 9(ish) miles in the middle run not quite at (desired) marathon pace; more like as fast as I could muster. Which means 15-25 seconds slower than (desired) marathon pace. I am now questioning my fitness to run my (desired) marathon pace in three weeks, considering I’ve barely run more than a few miles in any given training run at it.

Was it the dreadful summer heat and humidity? Not enough recovery? Failure to adapt to training enough to reach my desired level of fitness? All of the above? What speed I can reliably hold over 26.2 miles is anyone’s guess right now. And I don’t like that.

Perhaps I will undergo a miraculous regeneration in the coming few weeks and, with (I hope) cooler temperatures, I’ll pull a rabbit out of my hat (or shorts) on race day. But a part of me is thinking I need to readjust my plans and expectations. What I do know is that the first 10 miles of a marathon should feel ridiculously easy and slow. So I think my entire strategy is going to be built around that maxim: Find a pace in the first few miles that seems absurdly easy and stick with it through the halfway point. Then start turning up the heat and engaging in my favorite marathon game of chance: “Guess When Julie Will Blow Up!”

The weather was astonishing this morning. Perfect. It was in the low sixties and dry. It was, as always, very windy (both coming and going). But I felt good until around mile 18 when I started to bonk. But, with only four miles to go (and a Powerbar in the car), I was fine.

I parked the car at Hartsdale Station and ran down to Bronxville with an 8 mile warmup at easy pace. Then I turned on the jets (cough cough) on the way back and ran all the way up to the Kensico Dam in Valhalla. Availed myself of the Ladies Room, sat on a bench inwardly whining for awhile, and then hit the road again for the last 5.5 miles.

There was not one but two huge training groups out there. I think one was a Team in Training group, since about a quarter of them had their distinctive purple TNT singlets on. There must have been 30 people, judging by the collection of bags they left in the park in Hartsdale. The other group was operating out of a van in the North White Plains train station parking lot. They were all so young, fresh and enthusiastic. Not at all like me! I wonder if they’re training for the New York marathon. It was nice to share the path with so many friendly runners today.

I did my big run today because tomorrow we drive up to Connecticut for what my uncle’s wife, Diane, is calling The World’s Smallest Family Reunion, and I’d like to be able to display something resembling a lively personality (which is out of the question after a hard 22 miler). I’m meeting one of my two second cousins, (father’s side), Ann (and her husband, Greg) for the first time in probably around 35 years. My dad and his wife, and my uncle and his are also coming. Except for going to Iowa in the spring for my grandmother’s demise, followed by her funeral, I’ve not traveled at all this year. And I don’t exactly count those two trips as “vacations.” So, even though it’s just two nights away, I booked us a tony suite in a B&B. I have extensive family history, good food and wine, and the possibility of getting to help cook in a real restaurant kitchen on Monday evening to look forward to. And, I’m certain, a lot of great conversation and company.

Filed under: eating, everyday life, training, travel | 3 Comments »

Fall Training: Week 13

Posted on August 19, 2008 by threlkeld

A little late in coming, but it was quite a week last week and I’ve been sleeping when I haven’t been working (or propped glassy-eyed in front of the Olympics).

I had big miles again last week and three hard workouts: 99.4 miles with a tempo session on the track, a midweek long run and a big 24 miler in Central Park.

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 6.1 miles recovery pace (AM); 6 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Tuesday: 6.8 tempo run (AM); 4.1 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Wednesday: 14.3 long run (steady pace) (AM); 4.8 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Thursday: 6.3 miles recovery pace (AM); 4.5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Friday: 6.1 miles recovery pace (AM); 5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Saturday: 6.4 miles recovery pace (AM); 5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Sunday: 24 mile long run (various paces) (AM)

Total mileage: 99.4 miles

Paces this week:

  • Recovery: 9:30 – 10:40
  • Tempo: 6:33 – 7:20
  • Marathon pace: Pffft!
  • Long: 7:40 – 8:30

The weather was somewhat better on a few mornings, but most days it was hot again. Too hot to hold desired paces. Again. If I hadn’t done some successful marathon pace running last week during a rare cool and dry morning, my confidence would be completely shot at this point.

Tuesday’s tempo run was an experiment with something I found called Frank’s Killer Tempo Run: 25 laps around a track, alternating between marathon and 5K race pace. I’m not sure how many runners’ deaths Frank is responsible for, but this workout nearly killed me. In fact, it was impossible to run at my (projected) 5K race pace of 6:30 for most of those quicker intervals. The usual problems: heat, humidity, blazing sun, and 8-10mph winds. *sigh*

Still, it was a good workout and I’m sure it did me some good because it basically wrecked me for the rest of the week. I’ll do it again, but next time I’ll run the faster loops at 10K race pace, which is closer to what I was able to do anyway.

Wednesday’s 14+ miler went very well. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, it’s that I can sometimes do good back-to-back days, with the fatigue delayed until after that second hard day. I usually feel great (and run well) after the first hard day, in fact.

But I do pay for it during the latter part of the week. I gave myself three days to recover and get ready for the longest run of this training cycle, a 24 miler. Because I hate myself, I decided to do this one in Central Park. I had planned to do 10 at marathon pace, but, alas, the tireness after banging away at close to 100 miles for three weeks — combined with the relentless hills, heat and humidity — meant that marathon pace running was not to be.

I did manage about 6 miles at marathon effort (although not marathon pace), which I was fine with. Hey, doing the other 18 miles at 8:30 pace is nothing to sneeze at, considering. So I made peace with my legs and with myself and looked forward to this week’s recovery period of low mileage and low intensity.

We went out to dinner Sunday evening (for the great caloric blowout a 24 miler calls for) at a newish place in Tuckahoe, The Tap House. Nice place, but unfortunately the food was mediocre. With the exception of Sammy’s Downtown in Bronxville (where we had a very nice dinner on Christmas Eve), the restaurant pickings up here have been slim. I always end up wondering afterwards why I bothered going out when I can cook great stuff myself at home. They do have some interesting beers there, though.

Next week begins the month long “peak” period, otherwise known as Julie’s Odyssey of Pain and Exhaustion. Four weeks of high mileage, high intensity work with lots of marathon-specific running. Including a 10 mile tuneup race* (pray for cool weather). So I want to make damned sure I’m recovered going in. I’ll be running somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 miles this week, perhaps less if I’m still feeling tired as the week progresses.

Coming up in Fall Training Week 14: Two full days off on Monday and Tuesday. Then recovery running all the way through Saturday, topped with a leisurely paced 14 miler on Sunday.

* This is the best race ever, as far as I’m concerned. The post-race party features fresh ravioli, ice cream — plus beer poured from a spigot attached to the side of a van. Now there’s a reason to run 10 miles fast!

Filed under: central park, drinking, eating, everyday life, training, westchester | Leave a comment »

Total news blackout

Posted on June 28, 2008 by threlkeld

Between the Euro 2008 and Olympic Track and Field Trials, I have had to avoid all news sources lately. That’s because I can’t watch any of this stuff while it’s actually on.

The football’s been on in the middle of the afternoon, which has necessitated waiting a few hours to make it the evening’s entertainment. The T&F coverage started last night at midnight, fer cryin’ out loud.

Little treasures await me in our Tivo box, but in the meantime I can’t go to LetsRun.com, or open my NYTimes “track and field” article alert emails, or turn on the news until my other, sleepier half rises to greet the morning and its pre-recorded sports coverage. I am dying to know what happened in the women’s 10,000m, for example. But I must be a patient grasshopper.

So, for now, I’ll content myself this morning with planning a trip to Oregon next year. I want to race the Newport Marathon* in 2009, but use that as a centerpiece to a giant loop tour of the state.

I am happiest while planning something elaborate. Since I’ve planned my marathon training for Steamtown down to the last detail, I’ve been bereft in the planning department lately. At last…something new to plan.

*How can you not want to run a race that provides fresh raw oysters at the aid stations?

Filed under: eating, elites, olympics, racing, travel | 1 Comment »

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