Threshold

Last night, the point of our workout was to push beyond our lactic acid threshold. The actual workout really didn't sound that bad (40-45 minutes of Cat Hill repeats). Especially when Coach Steve told us that he expected "the fast guys" to get 5 or 6 repeats in. (Really? Last year I remember doing a hill workout on Cat Hill where we did 10 repeats!) The rest of us he said would get in 3-5. But this is an instance where the devil is in the details.

The hill repeat was a good .5 miles long (and Steve was really exact on this...my Garmin logged each uphill portion at .5 miles exactly!) and all uphill. The first 200 or so feet, from the 72nd Street Transverse to the Boathouse was supposed to be done at 80% effort. From the Boathouse to the Cat Statue we were to pick it up to 85% effort. As we crested the hill, we were supposed to take it all out all the way to Cleopatra's Needle. After that we recover all the way back to the start and repeat.

Even writing down the workout makes it seem lame, but it was really truly tough.

The point was, that when you crested the hill, that since you were going at such a quick clip (and UP) you would have built up a significant amount of lactic acid in your legs. Sprinting to the finish helped us work PAST that lactic acid and hopefully, would increase our tolerance.

And boy did I sprint those last portions. So much so, that when I started climbing that hill the second time my legs felt HEAVY.

My first split was 3:55, but it pretty much went downhill (haha) from there. But, that means I was actually doing the workout right. Believe me, I gave it my all. And the thing about our hill repeats? There is no stopping! I remember doing repeats with my Roncker's team in Cincy, and we always ran up the hill, recovered down the hill, and then had a few seconds to collect ourselves before the next repeat. Uh-uh, no stopping here.

So I was pretty happy when my next split was 3:57. But my third repeat yielded a 4:10. Whoops. The fourth was a 4:11. And I thought that was my last one, because when Steve was heading down on the downhill as I was heading up it he yelled "Great workout!" to me, which I thought meant it was my last one. But then as I was coming back down, he was standing by the Boathouse and was like "Just one more, then you're done."

Uh, I was running out of gas.

I managed a 4:07 on that last one, and I have no idea how. But I was ecstatic that I took 4 seconds off after feeling like I did.

I also looked like I had taken a shower.

Once again though, I was quite happy with my workout. I had given it my all and proven to myself once again that I am tougher than I think :)

Bum Run

After 3 years of running, I feel like some days you are just bound to have a crap run. Mine was Saturday.

I should have known when I got up at 6:15 am and was really contemplating taking the 8:30 practice instead of the 7am. But since I could already tell it was going to be an extremely unbearable muggy day I hauled my butt to practice anyway.

On the schedule for the day? 14 miles.

14 miles in Central Park is pretty boring (I can't wait until Summer Streets when they open up Park Avenue for running. I need some variety in a bad way!) but Coach Christine suggested a very do-able lower 5 mile loop, plus an upper 5-mile loop going the other way and then a four mile loop in the middle. I was the only one pacing at 9:30s since Lauren had to make the later practice.

As soon as we started I was like "OUCH!" Yes, I had contemplated getting a new sportsbra after Tuesday nights practice, and was painfully reminded of this at the beginning of the run. I have no idea what the lifespan of lycra/spandex is, but I do know that I have some running gear that dates back to my cross-country days in high school. Whoops. There is no excuse for still having that.

I had also been plagued with stomach problems all week and that little jolt into my morning run was NOT helping. Oh yeah, and I also didn't have my GPS because I decided to drain the battery of it since it's been acting wonky. So I had Bill's low-tech $9 Walgreens watch and was basically pacing "by feel". But I felt like I was doing a 9:30. Besides, the 9:00 group was about 50 feet ahead of me (and steady) and the 10:00 milers were about 50 feet behind me (and steady).

I was feeling very blah though and had to keep mentally on track by reminding myself that I could stop for a long water/Gu/bathroom break after 5 miles.

By mile 3 a chatty girl from the group caught up with me to be chatty. I wasn't much in the mood to talk, so there were a lot of "uh huhs" and "totallys" but not much contribution on my part. I could also feel us picking up, and sure enough, by the end of the 5 mile loop we were on Coach Christine and the 9:00 milers tails. I was mean and cut across the transverse when we hit 72nd to take a bathroom break without telling anyone. I know this was crappy, but I didn't want anyone to wait for me because I just wanted to take it easy, not talk, and make it through the last 9 miles.

As I was heading up the east side again I started feeling really really tired. It was almost like I had been drugged or something. I felt like if I closed my eyes I would have fallen asleep right there, running. The first thing I thought was "Uh oh, symptoms of heat exhaustion." But I have had that before, and this was not it. This was more like I took some Tylenol PM and forgot that I did it, and went for a run.

Crazy.

I took a long walking break.

I started running again. (Each time I started after stopping I was reminded to buy a new sports bra.)

Then my stomach started being mean to me again...right as I was climbing Harlem Hill. That's when I threw up the white flag. In my mind I was like "Forget it. Forget it. Just do what you can. Finish the 5 mile loop, go back, get water, go to the bathroom, go home and go to bed. You can make the last mile and a half."

And I did. Run/walking for sure, but I made it.

10 miles in 1:40.

I have no idea how I maintained a 10 minute pace with all of those issues but I did. I'm actually ok with how my run netted out, considering. But I'm definitely looking forward to a GOOD 15 miler next Saturday.

Playing in the Mud

Once again, it was raining this Tuesday night. But I'm actually not complaining. This summer has been incredibly mild and if I have to deal with a few Tuesday night runs in the rain because of it, I'm okay with that.

Besides, this run turned out to be pretty fun (okay, maybe not the actual run, but definitely the rain part).

For once, the advanced group got to run on the bridal path. Hurrah! I get so sick of running on the road in Central Park. It is SO BORING after awhile. The workout was pretty tough, but what else would I expect from a Tuesday night practice.

We were supposed to do 4 loops around the bridal path (which is 1.7 miles). The first loop was supposed to be nice and easy. The next loop was an 85% effort. When we got to the start of the third loop we had .5 miles of recovery and 1.2 miles at 85% effort. The last loop was a repeat of the third.

Oh yeah. And the bridal path is mud city. Especially since there are these huge puddles, that sometimes take up the entire width of the path. Steve told us that we'd probably take the first loop dodging all of the puddles but then after that we'd be like "F this" and just go through them. Which is pretty much what happened.

I have to say though, I have GOT to keep my own pace when I am warming up with the advanced group. We all start out nice and easy, then the group sort of divides into two; the guys and faster girls, a big space, and then the rest of the girls. The guys start to take off about a minute or two into the warmup, but they do it so subtly that you don't notice. Eventually Lauren either asks me our pace, or one of the other girls is like "Did we speed up?" or "Are we going fast?" It happens every Tuesday. I guess I can't blame the guys. In the last race most of their splits averaged around 6:45s. But the 5 girls who are always up with them are so competitive that we won't slow down. (OK, I'm speaking mostly for myself here, but no one else seems to slow down either and from what I've seen at practice all of these girls are as competitive as I am).

Anyway, as a result, all of us girls were huffing and puffing by the end of the "warm-up". I don't know that any of us really picked up our pace too much for that first lap. But we all managed to stay together. One of the girls was like "It's so unfair. If we were boys we would be fast too." And another girl was like "No, we'd be faster if you took everything into account, because look, they're not that far ahead." Then we were like "Uh, why are we talking when we can hardly breathe?"

I was not having the best workout. Normally I can keep up with the pack, but as we ended the first fast loop I was starting to lose them. I lost Lauren too, and we stick together ALL the time. :(

But then I did catch up with her on the recovery. This was pretty much our conversation.
"That blew."
"I hate Tuesdays."
"I just feel like crap. And my legs are HEAVY."
"Yeah, mine too. Like sacks of flour."
"I am totally taking advantage of this slow part."
"Me too."

My second fast part wasn't too bad, but I still felt heavy and my calves were really really tight. I just kept telling myself that it was only 1.2 miles instead of 1.7 this time. But when I hit 86th Street on the west side I felt like I should be finished. In reality, I had a looooooong way to go.

When I passed the police precinct I stomped into a puddle that looked like all of the puddles I had been stomping in. But. It was like 3 inches deep. Yuck. Shoes totally soaked. And heavy.

It was okay though, because in a funny way, I liked getting mud all over me. I also liked looking at all the runners with mud caked all over them. It reminded me of all of those Pearl Izumi ads ("Run Easy is an Oxymoron.") It made me feel like a toughie, like they were my war wounds or something. Kind of funny, but in the midst of a speed workout these are the things that go through my mind.

On the last loop I hit the exact same puddle AGAIN (not on purpose).

I did catch up with about 3 of the other girls though, which made me feel good, and Lauren was just a little bit behind me, so I guess I ended up holding my own for the workout even though it felt crappy.

And it was fun to play in the rain, even though we were freezing cold walking back home. :)

(Oh, and I had mud caked all the way up to the back of my knees. But I think the reason that the bus stopped for me and Lauren when it was way past it's stop was because we looked so soaked and mudcaked and probably miserable-looking to the driver. So, it all worked out for the best. :)

Whoo-hoo! PR!

This weekend we had one of my favorite races in Central Park...the Run for Central Park. I like this run so much because it is a 4 mile race, which means: it's short (duh), it skips the upper loop and therefore, Harlem Hill, it skips the lower loop, which I hate AND it starts on the east side in the 60s, so you get the worst hill over with in the first mile.

Despite this, last year, I most certainly did NOT PR this race (I did a 36:36). This year I totally did, despite the fact that it was 72 degrees with 96% humidity (yuck).

I had figured out all kinds of combinations of splits on Friday to get me where I wanted (which was around an 8 minute mile). I had hoped that I could start out the race with a nice and easy 8:30 pace, but in order to make my goal, I REALLY had to make up for it in the next three miles, and I didn't know if that was possible. I know this sounds stupid, but this is also why short races are hard...you just don't have a lot of room/time to do anything other than even splits. So in my mind, I was hoping to hit an 8:05 for the first mile, but I kept telling myself to take it easy and do an 8:30.

Well, I guess sensible/logical Emily won out, because I clocked my first mile at 8:33. But I think a lot of this was due to the fact that it was super crowded (the race had reached capacity at 5,000 runners earlier in the week). I was stepping on peoples' heels, which I know is really great for them. :( (I did apologize.)

This slower first mile probably saved me though, because it was a lot hotter and more humid out than I thought. I settled into what felt like a comfortable pace for me and clocked a 7:52 on the second mile. I had skipped the first water station, but when I hit the second one I decided to take some water, even though it was a short race. I even walked through it to make sure I was getting enough fluids even though I knew it would add to my time.

The third mile was the trickiest, but I knew it would be going into the race.

While I complain about Cat Hill and Harlem Hill, at least you go up them and they are over with. The west side is comprised of lots of tiny rolling hills. None of them is significantly large, but you can definitely feel them in your legs after running fast for 2 miles. It doesn't help that there are LOTS of them too.

My third mile was 8:17, and (surprise!) I was actually okay with that, seeing as that this was supposed to be our slowest mile (due to the hills) by 5-10 seconds, plus I had taken 5-10 seconds at the water stop.

Before the race, Coach Christine had told us to give it our all on that last mile because it was all downhill. LIAR. :) Right at the mile marker there was actually a significant UPhill. I was pushing anyway, but it took loads of energy. I felt like I was going fast but running on empty. Slowing down. Slowing down. Or at least it felt like it. But I was still actually passing lots of people. When I saw the huge group of coaches cheering at the end (they were in the last 5 yards or so) it gave me a burst of energy and I really started kicking. I could tell I was fast, but I felt like I was going to die!!!

Final time was 32:15, which means that my last mile was 7:32!!!

My average pace was an 8:03, which, while that doesn't beat my practice record, it is definitely a race PR!

The List

I have this list above my desk that details all of the race results from when I started running. I noticed earlier this week that I hadn't updated it in a long time, so I decided to do that.

I think that whenever I am feeling down about my running I am going to look at this list and remember how much I've improved.

Here are some example pace improvements.

For my 10K:
11/24/05 10:38
11/23/06 9:09
3/3/07 9:35
11/22/07 9:06
6/2/09 8:33

or for a 4 miler:
7/1/06 9:45
6/30/07 9:09
7/19/08 9:09
9/6/08 8:35

or perhaps my half marathons, which I just started running last year:

9/14/08 9:29
10/12/08 9:15
2/8/09 8:45

I think the 10K is the most impressive jump. :)

EDIT: Whoops I forgot the marathon list because I was rushing to finish this before I was meeting Bill for a lunchtime shopping trip!

Marathon:

5/6/07 11:55
10/7/07 13:21 (but that's ok, considering the circumstances...the whole marathon being cancelled in the middle)
5/4/08 10:55
10/26/08 10:01
5/4/09 10:12

Aiming for a 9:06 pace this time (fingers crossed).

Pacing/Negative Splits

I have been really working on negative splitting my long runs lately.

On the 4th of July we had a "timed run" instead of our usual mileage run. We were running along the West Side Highway and the goal was to do 60 minutes out and 60 minutes back. I had been going out a lot more than usual that week because my sister was in town so I was really hoping to just do 10 minute miles. Lauren said she was going to do the same thing, so we decided to stick together. We started out with two other (fast) girls though, and I had to hold back from the group at about mile 3. They were doing 9 minute miles and I just didn't feel up to it. So I ran alone most of the time. When we got down to the Financial District (almost the bottom tip of Manhattan) the girls had all passed me on the way back. Pttt. Disheartening. But oh well.

Then, when I had about 4 miles to go I see Lauren just about 100 feet in front of me. What?! No way! She was WAY ahead of me. She pulled off of the trail to get water and I passed her, assuming we would catch up before we hit the park. Nope. She was no where in sight even as I was waiting at stop lights to go across town.

I actually finished with a 1:55! (A whole 5 minutes faster on the way back!) I was pretty impressed with this because I had walked for water breaks 4 times on the way back and didn't stop my watch. I felt great and had a lot of energy.

So, when I had set out to do a 10:00 pace I actually finished with a 9:23 pace. Nice.

So this weekend I set out to do a 9:30 pace. I really do think that I am going to benefit from going nice and easy on these long runs. I think I just need to get the long miles in and worry about time on Tuesday night speed workouts.

Once again, the group broke away from me. But you know what? I actually finished in front of them. I had a ton of energy at the end of my run. I could have done 5 more miles on pace, no problem. I did my 12 miles in 1:48 (a 9:00 pace flat). I was impressed with myself. :)

I guess I needed to listen to my coaches all along about long SLOW distance and negative splitting. But, in my defense, if you want to get a 9:00 pace, would you REALLY want to start your workout doing a few miles at a 10:00 pace? It doesn't seem like it would make sense, right? Besides, I am just stubborn. I am one of those people who needs to figure these things out for myself.

I have a 4-mile race this weekend. I am going to concentrate on getting a ton of sleep this week and trying to NOT let my mental state get the best of me on race day.

Is Ramon Going Soft? :)

Last night it was POURING when I left work to go to running practice. It was pouring so hard, that in the short time (about 5 minutes) it took me to walk from the subway station to the park I was completely drenched. I'm talking absolutely soaked through, clothes clinging to every bit of fat drenched.

I was hoping that we wouldn't do our hill workout, which consisted of mainly hills on trails for my group.

When I was standing under the bridge by the Bethesda terrace I was talking to Ramon about one of my mentees and saying that she wanted to talk to him but was coming a little later and he asked how much later, because he wasn't sure we were even going to have practice. I passed this onto my running buddies in disbelief and they were like "are you sure?" I mean, Ramon NEVER cancels practice unless there is a huge lightning storm. He says it's good practice. And it's true. I mean, what are you going to do if it is raining on marathon day?

Anyway, our workout did get reduced to a "fun run" of 4, 5 or 6 miles...our choice.

I decided on 6 and Lauren was begrudgingly going to join me, but then we had to wait around in the rain for what seemed like forever for Steve to start our group, so we decided 5 was just fine. When I couldn't find my satellites I was like "Screw it. I'm not even going to time this one." Lauren was like "Yay! Fun run!" While running with Lauren IS fun, I think we both still push each other. So fun turned into fast, but how fast we have no idea since I had turned my Garmin off.

Let's just say fast enough that when we got back to the transverse at 4 miles we were really tired (I also contribute this to lack of sleep from the night before and just overall feeling crappy all day. Plus, I think running in the rain is somehow harder, sort of like how running on sand is harder. Especially when it is pelting you majorly.) We were losers and decided to do 4. We were such losers that we actually had to TURN AROUND to do this.

Oh well.

Did I mention it was raining really hard? At some points I couldn't see where I was going :)
On the plus side, I think the TNT team were really the only people in the park.

AND we all got kudos in Ramon's email to the team today:

"Thing#3

A BIG shout out to all those that showed up to yesterday's super awesome practice !!! You have showed us your committment to training, and THAT' my dearest is what will take you to the finish line.

You have earned the respect of this coach! and at the same time help us realized that we are all a bit crazy !!!!

I just hope those sneakers get dry before saturday's run !! :))"

Maybe he is going soft :)

All I know is I am NOT looking forward to 12 miles at 7am on Saturday. Blah.

Yay! Team San Francisco!

Last week we had a TNT social at The Park, which is this great bar in Chelsea. Here's a pic of some of the San Francisco runners with Coach Ramon and Coach Steve.

The Weekend of Races

This weekend I had two races.

The first was the Pride Race on Saturday. Even though I knew I was running again on Sunday, I decided to do this race because:
1. It is a qualifier for the NYC marathon, and my Sunday race was not
2. The t-shirts are usually a lot better than the other race t-shirts you get (they are usually navy with some kind of rainbow, not white with some kind of lame logo)
3. You get a rainbow popsicle at the end
(When you run a lot of races it's the little things that make the difference :)

I decided to run this race at my long, slow distance pace, seeing that I knew our coaches would not be looking at these results, but they WOULD be looking at Sunday's results, so I was saving my energy.

As I told Lauren the next day, running a race instead of racing a race is so enjoyable. I had a lot of fun, never felt like I was dying (even though Cat Hill was at the end) AND I learned how to drink and run at the same time!!! (which I have never been able to do). I averaged a 8:42 pace, which I was happy with...right on track with my long runs!

Sunday was a different story.

I was going for a sub 8 pace. I was not too worried about this, because my "test" from 2 weeks ago yielded a 7:58 pace and I felt like I could go a smidge faster then. The strategy was to go easy on the first two miles and kick it up for the last three, keeping in mind that Cat Hill was in the second mile and would therefore be the slowest mile. (It was the same course as the Pride course, just starting and ending at different points).

First mile was a 8:04. PERFECT! Second was an 8:36. Not incredibly bad.

I don't know WHAT happened after that. For one, my legs felt like LEAD. Now I know this is a symptom of lactic acid buildup, but I really didn't feel like I took it out too fast. My breathing was under control and I felt really good. I started throwing up in my mouth, which is just awful. I was overheating. I decided to walk the next water stop, even though I had just perfected running through them. I could use the break.

Next mile was a 9:07. Oooh. Not so good.

I wanted to pick it up but was doing the mouth throw-up thing again. 8:36. Ptttt. With my sub-8 no longer possible I decided to just finish the thing.

I walked a long time through that next water stop.

My legs REALLY felt like lead now. I just kept thinking 'Form! Form! Form!' But it wasn't in the cards. Even Bill said that it looked like my form had fallen apart at the end. That's crazy because even when I feel like I'm dying people usually say that my running form looks good.

I felt bad, but when I passed the happy cheering huge squad of TNT coaches yelling "Go Emily" I must have looked REALLY bad because one of them was like "uh, oh."

I was mad. I had a 42:17, which I knew was not that much faster than yesterday, when I wasn't trying. I also had this gut feeling that this time was slower than last year's Hope and Possibility run, which had been a PR for me at the time.

It wasn't. Last year I got a 43:25. But it still ticked me off. I am running so much faster this year, so I feel like my times should be a lot faster.

My average pace was an 8:27. According to my chart of all of my races this is still a PR for a race, but I was not happy with it. :(

Oh well. I decided to chalk it up to a bad day. An hour later, when I was eating my favorite McDonald's breakfast, I was already over it. ;)

P.S. My resting heartrate is usually 64-68 bpm, but before the race on Saturday...remember, the one I was not trying to race...my resting HR was 80. Bill thinks this is proof that I get worked up before races, even if feel calm. I would have to agree with him. I'd hate to have seen what my resting HR was Sunday.

If Only It Were That Easy...

Words of wisdom from Ramon about our upcoming race this Sunday:

I understand that you may be a little tiny bit nervous, and it is ok, but I think I can help you with that. How? Easy!! I just gonna remind you that you have no chance of winning the race, sooooo....why should you be nervous??
Just relax, enjoy it!! A race is nothing more that a measured distance run, with lots of people with numbers on the chest, a clock at the finish, people running in the same direction, people lining up under a banner that says 'Start' and people spending minutes looking for this thing that says "Finish" ...simple... just look for that finish thingy and then you are done,
no pressure !!!

If only I can keep that in mind, everything will be good :)

Love Those Lampposts

Last night was my first time running again since last Tuesday and boy, could I tell! I had taken the week off because my knee was in some major pain, which I think has to do with me pushing so hard.

It's crazy how taking a week off can totally throw you off, though.

I was huffing and puffing at the beginning of the workout and it just didn't feel right.

I had decided to run with the Intermediate group last night because I knew that just being in the environment of the Advanced group would make me push too hard and just make me injured again. It sort of drove me crazy mentally to do this, but I know it would have been bad news if I ran with them.

So OUR workout was a pacing workout. We ran from the Indian Statue in the Park all the way up to the Reservoir loop (a little over a mile) going effort level 4 (not a sprint, but darn close) for 6 lampposts and effort level 1 (recovery run pace) for 3 lampposts. Repeat repeat repeat. When we got to the reservoir, we did 2 loops doing the same thing. The posts here were closer together, which meant that your fast part was over so much faster, but then again, so was your recovery.

I tried not to sprint (like I would have in the Advanced group) but keep a good pace and effort. Since the intervals were so short I didn't really time them. Besides, Coach Christine told us not to do this. We were supposed to be going on an equal amount of effort...so our later ones would probably be slower if we were doing the exercise correctly.

I was monitoring my heartrate though. My resting HR is between 64-67 bpm. When I finished an EL4 portion my HR was consistently 174 over and over. During the way short recovery period it went down to 164-166.

I didn't realize how hard this workout was until I got about 3/4 of the way around the first loop. I was dying for my 6th lamppost and when I reached it there was no EL1 running for me. I slowed that baby down to a walk for three lampposts and hoped that the coaches didn't see me.

I did this twice more on the second loop because I just couldn't handle those intervals!

It was funny, though.

When we got back and were stretching as a group, Coach Christine said she saw some of us walking on the recovery. I was like 'Uh oh. Caught!' But she said that was ok, because it meant that we were really pushing ourselves on the other part, which is what we were supposed to do, and we SHOULD be tired.

Good.

I also talked to Ramon about my knee. He prescribed lots of cross-training and strength exercises, which I kind of thought. That's good though. I think the cross-training really IS helping my running. I will learn to love those 90 degree squats, I just know it.

Oh Yeah! Test #1

I think Ramon has it in for the advanced group.

Tuesday we had our first "test". Now, last year I missed the first test, but I was told that it was running 3 miles at 80% and then running 1 mile as fast as you can. That timed mile was your "base" for the rest of the season.

This year it was a five mile test.

I got very nervous when I read the email detailing the test and had to try not to think about it all day. Apparently, my running buddy, Lauren, felt the same way. We were both NOT looking forward to it.

Luckily, it was the first Tuesday that was not either unbearably muggy or rainy. Although, Lauren said, it almost made it worse because we had no excuse if we did poorly :)

We all met on the bridal path at 86th. Steve described the test as a "5-mile race" and we should treat it as such. Therefore, faster than a tempo run but without the crowd support or water stops of a race. Yuck. We were supposed to ditch our running buddies and run for ourselves. Oh yeah. And to save some for the end, because Cat Hill was in the last mile and a half. :( My goal was to not take it out too fast because that is my fatal flaw when it comes to running. We warmed up to 90th and then took off on our loop.

I didn't have to worry about running with my running buddy, because she took off and was maintaining about a 50 foot lead on me. I was thinking "Nice and easy, nice and easy." And I felt really good. I looked at my watch on the first mile. 7:28. Whoops. That's not exactly nice or easy. Who even knows what Lauren did! She was about 75 feet ahead of me now. I gave up on following her (this is a big deal for me ;) and concentrated on slowing it down.

Second mile: 8:28. (Lauren was too far ahead to even worry about). I have to admit, even though my plan was to get this pace, I was a little disappointed with myself. Coach Steve was standing on the path by W86th and said "Now's the time for you to pick it up, Em! But be sure to save some for Cat Hill!" I was very confused. Because he said to pick it up halfway. According to Mr. Garmin we were around 2.2. I was thinking "Whatever. I can't pick it up yet!" But I said "OK! Thanks!"

But I guess I did pick it up because my next mile was 8:01.

Now we were in the dreaded lower loop and coming up on what I call the "tricky hills" (they don't look like hills but they FEEL like them). I could swear that I was closing in on Lauren.

Then, right by the carousel, I passed her. I know that the only reason this happened was because she took that first mile out so quickly, but the competitive girl in me was like "Yay!"

But then karma bit me on the butt because my shoe came untied and I had to stop to tie it. My shoe has NEVER come untied. I soon passed her again but we had Cat Hill. She told me I was kicking ass (I didn't feel like it) but I couldn't respond because I was breathing way too hard. I tried not to psych myself out AND I tried to run like her. (Lauren has a super efficient short and quick stride and therefore flies up the hills, passing everyone. I am definitely trying to learn that from her.) No dice. Lauren, the hill killer, killed me on the hills. :)

Somewhere in there, my 4th mile was a 7:56.

I was all excited now. I love a challenge, AND I love running with Lauren. We are really good for each other because we are like, exactly the same pace, AND we are both competitive. My goal was to catch her again and finish together.

I caught her right around the bend. She was like, "6 blocks to go!" I said, "Thank God!" (I was eyeing those block markers on the lampposts too.) Those 6 blocks lasted forever. But we finished (pretty much) together (she finished like 2 seconds ahead of me.)

According to Garmin, my time was 40:57 for those 5.14 miles. That's an average pace of 7:58!

Yay!

And my other running buddy, Molly, was right behind us. Unbeknownst to me, she was doing the same thing I was doing. She said that she just kept looking for my pink shirt and trying to pace off of me and that I kept her on track the entire time. She thanked me for it, because she said she never would have finished the test like she did without me. I guess I paid karma back for the time that David did the same thing for me. :)

Long Run

OK. Enough of this humidity. I am officially tired of it.

Saturday we had an 8-10 mile run in the park. I had planned on 10 miles at a 9 minute pace since this was our long, slow distance run. We broke into groups and then further dissected into pace groups. Steve was leading our group and asked how many 9 minute milers there were. Since there were only like 8 of us (out of the 30 or so advanced runners) and the rest of the group was shooting for 9:30s or 10:00s we were the "fastest" group.

This kind of setup has gotten me into trouble more than once.

Why?

Well because since the 9:00 pace group is the fastest, it means that the faster boys have no other choice than to run with us. 9:00 is slow for them but they're leading the pack. Since I am still figuring out my pace (I am now getting MUCH closer to knowing what 9:00 feels like vs 8:30, but am still not there yet) I have a hard time with this. My running buddy Lauren and I dropped back from those boys within the first mile, but according to my Garmin we were still running fast.

Up at 102nd we lost the back of the group, and as we turned the corner we lost the fast boys.

So from mile 2ish onward it was just me, Lauren, the other Emily and Coach Steve.

I was feeling sluggish and I think it was due to the pace more than the humidity, although the humidity didn't help either. I was like "10 miles is sounding a bit ambitious to me today." Lauren agreed right away, so that made me feel like less of a wimp. We now planned on an 8-miler.

With 4 miles completed, we had an average 8:40 pace. I told the girls I was going to drop back a little. They were actually okay with dropping back with me. Steve went back to check on the girls behind us. It was just too gross out, and taking that pace 20 seconds faster than planned for four miles took it's toll on me.

We just planned on running the rest easy. Like, for real easy. I think it actually helped that Coach Steve was NOT running with us.

Turns out that my "really comfortable easy pace" for those next four miles was 9:20. So...

The entire thing average out to a perfect 9:00 pace for 8 miles.

Now we just have to flip it so that we negative split the thing. If we had done that, I bet we would have felt much better.

The X-Training Run

My friends and I are a little bit sick...

I say this, because we were really excited for Coach Ramon's cross-training run on Tuesday. I thought I was the only crazy one who liked this run, but as I was talking to the other advanced group runners in our warm-up I found out that I was not alone.

What is the cross-training run?

Well, Ramon puts all of the intermediate and advanced runners in a big circle and divides that circle down the middle. The first group (this was my group) goes on a 12 minute run (6 minutes out and back) while the second group does cross-training exercises. This consists mainly of lots and lots and lots of squats, some balancing exercises, some pilates and crunches, etc. But mainly lots of squats. We then switch groups. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. All in all, my group did 3 turns at running and 2 at cross-training. The other group did 3 cross-training and 2 running. (I wished I was in that group). Oh yeah, and it had rained all week, so the ground was nice and squishy and wet.

Ramon sort of reminds me of Jillian Michaels from The Biggest Loser during this workout.

He goes around and makes sure everyone has perfect form. He will push you into perfect form if you don't have it. And squats in perfect form HURT. Especially when you have to hold them for so long. Oh yeah, and no complaining. Because if you do complain either more seconds or more reps are added on.

My legs were shaking by the 6th round of squats (we did multiple rounds of squats in each 12 minute cycle).

Now, I will say, that since I do a lot of these exercises at home now on my cross-training days, that this WAS a lot easier than last year. But I also realized that at home I am not doing these exercises in perfect form (no 90 degree squats for me). So I will have to work on that. Even though it hurts.

We all left to go home on the subway covered in lots of grass and sweat. Three of us were headed to my neighborhood, so I didn't look like the only freak on the train. :)