mmmmm.....COOKIES!

I think I had about ten cookies today. Two after lunch, and another eight dark absolutely divine chocolate chip with walnuts (from a Jacques Torres recipe) that my wife made after dinner. I think that's why I'm still up at 1am. At this point in my training, I know I probably should be eating better fuel. I usually put together a bowl of spinach, carrots, mushrooms, 1/2 hard-boiled egg and some dressing along with my main course, and I think that has worked pretty well for me, but my kryptonite is sugar in the form of baked goods. I find it practically impossible to resist cookies, muffins, brownies, blondies, whatever, around this time of year. My rationalization is that I need the energy for all my training. Give me lots of pasta, lots of veggies, but also give me lots of cookies :-)

This is definitely not a complaint. I know I won't be able to eat like this forever so I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

NYRR speed workout and celebrities in Central Park

Last night's NYRR speed workout consisted of a 2m, 1m and 1m intervals. My times were as follows: 12:45 (6:33 & 6:12), 6:26, 5:51. I thought we were going to do another 2m interval so I paced myself for 2m...thus the 6:26 time. I felt a little bad about that, so I did the last interval hard. I was most interested in getting my heart rate into the 190's but managed 189, which shows that I worked pretty hard. Since I've started running, I think I've hit 191 twice. After my warm-up and cool-down, I managed to log just over 11m.

On the way to the workout, I ran into Elliot Spitzer. This was actually the 2nd time I've seen him around the park. He looked to be enjoying some banter with a lady I'm guessing to be his wife. This got me to thinking which celebrities I've seen around the park. Here's my very short list...

Serena Williams
Bobby Flay
Ming Na
Joan Rivers

Weekend training

According to my Garmin 405, I did 22.01m on Saturday around and through Central Park. That brought my totals for last week to 53.34 miles. I looked at my training log last year, and I had three 20+ mile runs. This year, I'm hoping to do 5-6, and complete at least two 60+ mile weeks. I think that should put me in good shape for a 3:15:xx finish.

Now, about the 22m on Saturday, miles 4-8 was a race. I didn't really want to race, but to qualify for next year's marathon, I have to do nine races and volunteer for one race. I had only done four so far this year. Anyways, I wanted to just run at goal pace of about 7:30. I did that for the first mile, but then I got caught up in the spirit of the race. My splits were 7:34, 7:04, 7:12, 6:34 for an avg of about 7:02/mile. I don't like racing combined w/ long training runs because it usually hurts more, but one thing I'm doing this year is to ice my legs after long runs and hard workouts. Seems to be working really well.

The other thing about Saturday was the humidity. I expected to run in driving rain because of tropical storm Gustav. Instead, NYC got the prestorm humidity. Surprisingly, my body help up okay...that is, I didn't cramp up due to excessive sweating. I think it may also have been due to the energy drink I had at around mile nine.

I went to Jamba Juice at 53rd and Broadway sans shirt and looking like I'd just come out of a pool. I stood outside to look at the menu, and the girl at the counter was making a huge waving motion with a huge smile for me to come in. That was very nice of her.

I Don't Know How Michael Phelps Does It

I'm not comparing myself to Michael Phelps as an athlete by any means. What I'm wondering about is the 12000 calories he eats (ate?) per day while training and competing. I took today off, and found myself eating huge meals today after a huge dinner last night. All in all, I think I've had about 5000-6000 calories over the last 24 hours. Most of it has been carbs in several different forms to refuel after 23 miles the last couple of days, and to load up for my long run this weekend. One of these marathon training days this year, I'm going to try to consume 12000 calories in one day and blog about how it affects me.

Don't You Ever Stop?

That's what a woman at Central Park told me yesterday as I was jogging with a friend. She had seen me jogging in downtown during the lunch hour, and I'm guessing she's seen me out there more than once. It did make me feel good to hear that :-)

So I did run twice yesterday, traversing a total of about 15 miles, but 3 of those were walking with a friend. Regardless, I'm not as tired as I expected to be today. What's making me tired is the gross amount of food I had for lunch...spinach salad, lots of pasta for this weekend, slice of chicago style pizza with gr. beef topping and a brownie for dessert with a pint of milk. Eating is definitely one of the favorite things I love about running so much. I'll probably take off today to go on a date with my wife, do an easy run tomorrow during lunch, and then do 22+ this Saturday. That should bring me to about 52+ this week. Woohoo!

Speed classes while tired

I don't feel like working out today. Hadn't been home all weekend, and got to bed about 2:30 last night. Even though I woke up at 8:30, I'm quite tired. Not too tired to workout, but I don't like going to my speed workout classes feeling weak and generally tired. But this is all a part of training and working out. I've run a marathon on less sleep, as I'm sure we all have. I've never been able to sleep much before any race. I have to run off the extra calories I consumed this weekend, and then some. Boston, here I come! :-)

On another note, I managed to finally figure out an application development problem today. I was trying to figure it out most of last week. Maybe it does do good to come to work tired?

Happy training!

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Okay, my workout wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Fortuitously, it always turns out that way when I'm dreading any workout. 6x600's up to the NYC marathon finish line from Columbus Circle entry to Tavern On The Green. I still definitely wasn't pushing as hard as I have in the past. I had a max HR of 186. When I hit 190, I know I've pushed really hard.

About 9.5 weeks left to the marathon, and I worry a little bit about my mental state. I'm just not into it right now. I'm pretty sure I'll continue to do the miles and the speed workouts, but my mind is just not into it yet.

Short(ish) Long Run, Then Off To Vacation!!

Here's my holiday training weekend wrap: Did about 14 miles Saturday morning at about an avg of 7:45 pace, then took off for New Jersey with my wife to stay at a friend's place. Went running for an easy 4 miles today just to stay loose. In between, we did a whole day of shopping at Woodbury Commons on Sunday, and ate great food at every opportunity. Even better, it was with terrific company. To say the least, I had a great Labor Day weekend. With this binge of a weekend and a recovery week behind me, I have to prepare for my longest week for this training season so far. I should cover about 52 miles or so this week, with a 22+ mile run on Saturday.

I forgot to mention that one final thing that I'm really excited about is that I finally placed an order for my laptop. An HP HDX model! Woohoo! I've been waiting the last 3 weeks or so to order because I felt that I should wait until Labor Day weekend to place the order. It's a good thing I did because I received a free upgrade to a Blu-ray disc drive. :-)