Training

This week has been relatively quiet after all of the excitement of last week. The weather has turned bitterly cold, the kind that chills you right down to the bone. My electric blanket has been a welcome comfort each night.

A funny thing happened when I returned to my running schedule for the week. After completely shocking myself with the times I posted last Saturday, I realized I had absolutely no idea how I ran that fast; therefore, I had no idea how to continue training to keep my times down.

I had no training plan and no time goals for this race. In hindsight, my "training" had been rather unorganized, which is somewhat of a shock given my type-A approach to life. Although I tried to run 3 to 4 days a week, I did not always accomplish this. During the week, I mostly ran low mileage on a treadmill; sometimes running at a decent pace, sometimes struggling to finish two miles at an 8:45 pace. I usually managed to get in one long run on the weekends, although my times were usually a mystery, given my talent for unknowingly pushing the wrong buttons on my watch.

In fact, the only real consistency was incorporating strength training once a week. I also really started listening to my body, where in the past I would usually just ignore it. I thought that's what good runners did. But, maybe there was some benefit in adjusting my mileage and speed when my body was sore or not running at all when my body was exhausted and needed rest.

I tried to take these lessons and incorporate them into my running goals for the first part of the year. As I would like to start running and racing longer distances, I am looking to run a half-marathon in April. I would need to start training in mid-February and I could incorporate a 15K race in March. My worry, of course, is that my schedule will become hectic in March and I have not quite figured out how my running will fit into everything.

For the time being, I have registered for the Gridiron 4M Classic on Super Bowl Sunday. I am hoping to keep or improve on my times from last Saturday. Since I would not need to start training for the half-marathon for another month, I plan on researching training plans and continuing to increase my mileage during my long runs on the weekends.

I think each race provides a little insight into what works, and doesn't work, for us as runners. Just like in life, this insight never seems to completely prepare us for the next time we run, let alone race. It's just important to keep going.

Fred Lebow Classic 5M

This race wasn't supposed to be anything special. Like I've said earlier, I only signed-up to continue running over the holiday season. I didn't have any goal times in mind. But somehow this was a recipe for success. Not only did I set a personal record (PR), but also recorded my fastest split time to date.

There was some question as to whether this race would actually take place - a snowstorm was predicted to hit NYC early Saturday morning. I'll admit, a tiny part of me secretly hoped the race would be cancelled. I mean, most sane people do not wish to get up at 6 AM on a Saturday morning. But the weather pattern changed and the snow storm was later predicted to hit Saturday afternoon. The race was on.

At 6 AM, I was in my pajamas checking the weather again, just to be sure. I tried to ignore the fact that it only felt like 13 degrees outside. Nobody likes bad news in the morning. I dressed in multiple layers, ate a banana with peanut butter and stretched my lower body. I was out the door at 7 AM.

I made it to the starting line about fifteen minutes too early and tried to keep warm with butt-kicks and knee-highs. At 7:45 AM, the announcer asked runners to report to their assigned corrals, which were determined by runner's most recent average split time. My previous average split time had been a PR (08:08 per mile), so I stood at the back of the corral. I knew my splits wouldn't be as fast for this race.

At 8 AM, we were off! My legs tingled as I suddenly demanded they start moving. The first mile always goes by quickly; for me, my body only runs on adrenaline. But still, I couldn't believe it when I clicked my watch to start the time for the next mile: I ran that first mile in 08:06?! I expected the times to drastically increase from there.

During the second mile, I realized my face was frozen. I couldn't feel my nose running. Gross. But otherwise I felt good; cold, but good. This was the first race I've ever run with my iPod (as it just became legal for runners to do this). I was enjoying the music and still passing people. I passed the sign for the end of mile two and clicked my watch for the next split. I couldn't believe it! I ran mile two in 07:37?! I had never clocked a split time that fast!

During mile three, my legs started to get heavy. My hands were frozen solid - these new running gloves were not living up to my expectations. Runners, including myself, had settled into their pace. Some runners started walking. But I still managed to finish the third mile in 07:45.

By mile four, I was frozen. I started shaking my arms and hands in attempts to get the blood flowing again; it did so, but not happily. My body was tired. The music was helping, but I needed to focus on something else. Last night, Mike unexpectedly said he wanted to come watch me race. Even though I told him to sleep-in since I wasn't going to do that well, he said he wanted to see me. I started looking for him along the course. Mile four was finished in 8:06.

Last mile. I'm usually running on fumes during the last mile. Even though my legs were heavy and my arms and face were frozen, my breathing felt good. I flipped my iPod to "I Run For Life" by Melissa Etheridge - the song that gets me through many a tough mile. I started recognizing the landmarks on my right - the Met, the Guggenheim - I knew I was close to the finish line.

I continued to watch for Mike; he would be distinguishable by his NY Giants hat with the pom-pom. Then I saw the finish line did something I've never had the energy to do at the end of a race - I sprinted to the finish line. I sprinted so fast, I didn't even see Mike. I looked at my watch, I ran the last mile in 07:49. I finished in under 40 minutes. To my right, I spotted a very cold Mike and exclaimed, "I just ran the fastest race in my life!!!". Despite my frozen face, I couldn't stop smiling.

On the walk home, we stopped at The Corner Market, my favorite bagel shop on 88th, to pick-up bagels for breakfast. Back at the apartment, Mike helped me stretch out my hamstrings, as my legs were still partially frozen. Then I enjoyed a well deserved whole-wheat everything bagel with peanut butter.

Official results were posted later in the morning and even more good news awaited me: I finished 12th in my age group (females aged 20 to 24). Here is the official break-down:

Finish Time: 39 minutes 27 seconds (PR)
Average Split Time: 7 minutes 53 seconds (PR)
Age Place: 12 out of 120
Gender Place: 158 out of 1434
Overall Place: 869 out of 3224

It's been a successful week; a great way to start out a new year.

Marathon

It is official - I am a Pastry & Baking student at the Institute of Culinary Education! Beginning March 23rd, Monday through Thursday from 6PM to 10 PM, I will trade in my work clothes for a chef's uniform and learn to create beautiful, edible works of art.

I'm not really sure if it has all sunk-in yet. I guess I thought it would really hit me when I handed over the check or signed all of the paperwork. Or maybe when I was fitted for my chef's jacket. I'm not sure what I expected to hit me, but it didn't. It just felt like this was the next thing life had in store for me.

I need to pick-up my pastry tool kit from a store downtown and my uniform will be mailed to me. Much to my Mum's delight, my name will be embroidered on the chef's jacket. Unfortunately, I won't receive my books until the first day of class and, no matter how much my Dad makes fun of me, I'm disappointed. I wanted to read ahead.

The program is nine months long and I know life will be insane. I will have no time during the week to relax. Weekends will be spent catching-up on sleep and preparing for the next week. I will be exhaused and getting in my runs will be more of a challenge than ever. My grandmother summed it up the best: "Your life is going to become marathon". I couldn't have described it any better myself.

While I would usually do speedwork on Wednesdays when I am training for a race, I took today off. I have been really sore from the new core workout, so I decided to do a lot of stretching instead. There is no sense in overtraining when I am not overly concerned about my finishing time. At least for this race.

Ice Storm

I do not like getting-up early to run; especially since this means running on a treadmill. I'm still too much of a wimp to run outside in the dark.

But, I didn't really have an option today - doctor's appointment during lunch and finalizing paperwork at ICE after work. If it wasn't for the race on Saturday morning, my alarm would not have played that awful sound until 6 AM and I would have hit the gym after work. But at 5 AM I was sleepily headed to the gym - and to the dreaded treadmill.

My plan had been to run anywhere between 3 and 5 miles, hopefully closer to the later. But somehow my quads felt like cement - I'm assuming thanks to that new core work out I tried last night. My body is also trying to fight off whatever Mike has been sick with lately; my throat feels like sandpaper. I struggled to finish 3 miles. When I run outside, I can almost always talk myself through a difficult run. But the treadmill is a whole different demon; especially this early in the morning. My split times weren't awful, 8 min 34 sec per mile, but I felt exhausted. Good thing it was only 5:45 AM.

When I got back to the apartment, I took the extra time I had left to do some yoga, in hopes of convincing my legs to run better the rest of the week. They are still stiff.

After the high of yesterday, being accepted to the pastry program, I absolutely couldn't wait until tonight to finalize everything and get fitted. But, because there is an ice storm coming through NYC later this afternoon, my admissions officer had to postpone until tomorrow. Boo.

Accepted!

I received a most welcome phone call today - I have been accepted into the Pastry Arts & Baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education.

Beginning in March, I will continue to work full-time and, again, become a full-time student. Classes will be held after-work Monday through Thursday for nine months. My schedule will undoubtedly become hectic and chaotic. And my disposable income will all but disappear while I pay for the program. But I couldn't be more excited to temporarily give up these luxuries - especially when I know I will be able to pursue my passion as a career at the end of it.

I go tomorrow after work to finalize the paperwork and get fitted for my chef's uniform. March suddenly seems too far away.

I do not typically run on Mondays and today was no exeption. Instead, I lift weights to help strengthen my upper body, especially my shoulders. I also tried out a new core program for runners. I think it will be a nice addition to my weekly workouts. T-5 days until the first race of 2009.