Happy end of summer everyone! I hope you all had amazing holiday weekends! Well I'm back, I've actually been training this whole time but thought I'd wait until after the holiday weekend to send my latest update. T-minus 5 weeks until the race! Btw if you haven't already done so please donate to the cause, every dollar counts!
I'm actually writing this update on my phone while I'm at the physical therapist...but I'll get into that later. Since my last posting was on August 26th I'm going to hit you with some quick stories about what I've been up to on the training front. I'll do a summary "What Did I Learn About Running" at the end
Ok.....
August 28th: GWB
The Saturday after my last posting my team and I met up at Prospect Park and car pooled to the NJ side of the George Washington Bridge (GWB). The plan was to do a timed run which included a round trip across the GWB and a round trip into the Palisades Park.
Here high and low points from the run:
LOW - running across the GWB is a hot mess, plain and simple! First of all the traffic is literally right next to you. Secondly, the lane for runners and bikers is so small. I was almost run over by a biker twice! I swear these bikers act like runners ruin their whole day when they have to share a lane with us. How about this? How about you ruining my run buddy!?! Now i have to look over my shoulder every two seconds to avoid "death by a 10 speed." I could write a whole post about how bikers think they're superior to runners but that's for another time.
HIGH- running in the Palisades Park was so nice and the park is beautiful. I finally gained an appreciation for NJ beyond shopping malls and Great Adventure. But it gets better, remember a few weeks ago I write a post about meditation through running? I was struggling to clear my mind and be present in the run...well I did it that day in the Palisades Park! It was amazing all of the sudden I was running and the thoughts just stopped I was completely zoned out and it was as if my body was on auto pilot. When I came back to "consciousness" the first thought I has was OMG I did it!!! One mile of meditation down 25.2 to go. If I could do that for the whole race I'd good!
SIDE BAR COMMENT - there was a security guard posted on the GWB. I just want to know what exactly is he suppose to be doing up there, call for help if someone tries to steal the bridge? Which he wouldn't be able to do because he was too busy texting. Just seemed random to me.
August 31st: Broken Toilet = No GTS
If you really need details on this story you can email me. But the gist is my toilet wouldn't flush, I had to wait on the super to come fix it and I missed GTS....moving on
September 2nd: Lackluster Run in the Heat
Since I missed GTS on Tuesday I felt like I needed to run on Thursday and luckily this time I wouldn't be alone! My teammate Kat is my GTS running buddy, we're doing the same race and we run at the same pace so we usually pair up during our Saturday runs. Kat also happens to live across the river from me, I live in BK Heights and she live in the financial district. We found out that on our off days we were both running a long the water front but on opposite sides of the river, so we decided to do a water front run together one night. We had such high hopes for this run but it immediately turned into a Class A disaster! It was 95 degrees out and nearly impossible to get through the run. We threw in the towel about a mile and a half in and chucked it up as a loss. We decided that we would redeem ourselves during our Saturday run...wait until you read about that one.
September 3rd: Recapturing Euphoria
After my amazing run in the Palisades Park, all I wanted to do was to get back to that clear state of mind. I'd been craving it ever since. I've never experienced doing something so physically demanding with zero mental effort. I was like an addict trying to get my next high. So on Friday I set out to do the Promenade and a round trip on the BK Bridge. I'm not sure if it's because I was trying so hard to clear my mind that it wouldn't happen, but this run was a serious mental challenge. Just to get across the Promenade (which is the easiest part of the run) I found myself having to focus so hard. By the time I got to the middle of the BK Bridge on my way to Manhattan, I was spent. I was so frustrated, this was now my second consecutive failed run. I thought to myself, I don't have time for this! MIND, BODY get it together! The race is 6 weeks away! But, mind and body were like " Please! You should be happy that we brought you this far!" It was clear that my mind and body had an attitude and were done for the day, so I packed it in and went home.
September 4th: Praying for a Hit
I woke up on Saturday, just knowing I was going to have a good run. This was a long distance run, actually the longest distance I'd done to date 16 miles. The route was to go from Prospect Park, across the BK, across Chambers Street, up to W18th street and back...yikes! Once again I was chasing that clear mental space so I was pumped and ready to go. After all three times is a charm, right? So what if I had only run 10-12 prior to then? I had the eye of the tiger and was determined. Here are the highs and lows from the run
HIGH - Kat and I ran together as usual and we were running like champs for the first 10 miles! Our time was good (considering that we had to stop in a bodega twice to refuel). I couldn't believe but it felt like we got to the BK bridge in no time and then before we knew it we were at W18th!!!! As we were started running back tot he bridge, I started to hear whispering from my body....uh oh this was about to get ugly...
LOW - The out an back runs are mentally tough. You feel fantastic going out, but coming back is the worst. I felt like I was slowly falling apart. Around mile 14 I started to feel a clicking in my ankle, this was no bueno. I walked the last two miles of the route, which ended up being 16.7 miles. 12 to 16.7 is a big jump and more than I should have done, but I paid for it.
SIDE BAR COMMENTS - When I got home I commenced "Operation Heal My Legs!" I stopped by CVS and picked up thinks that I thought I'd need for this special Op. I basically stood in the First Aid aisle for about 15 minutes and dumped a bunch of stuff into my basket. I wasn't exactly sure how the medical tape was going to come into play, but it felt right at the time. When I got home I strategically ordered some food before I got in the shower. As soon as I sat on the couch after getting out of the shower the delivery guy rang the bell, perfect timing! After I ate, I tried to make sense on my First Aid purchases. I took the Ibuprofen, rubbed some Icy/Hot on my legs, slapped the ice pack on my ankle and bound it to me with the ace bandage. Still couldn't figure out how to give the medical tape some of the action. A couple of hours later I decided to go get a mani/pedi. Like many New York establishments the nail salon is located on the second floor. I managed to waddle up the stairs, pregnant lady style, but when it was time to leave I just stood at the top of the steps and almost broke into tears. My poor legs just wouldn't bend. I'm not going to get into it, but I had to get creative to get down the stairs.
September 7th: Something Aint Right
We were doing another 5K for our Tuesday GTS to see how our times improved, long story short, I couldn't complete the test because I had pain shooting up the back of my right leg and the outside of my left leg. I told my coach and he said two words that I wasn't trying to avoid throughout this process Physical Therapist....dammit! (that's me at the Physical Therepist)
What Did I Learn About Running Over The Past Two Weeks?strong>
1) I am capable of meditating while running, although I'm not sure how to get into that zone everytime
2) You're going to have some good runs and some bad runs, that's just the way it goes. You need to just put the bad runs behind you and focus on doing a better job next time
3) Never add on more than two miles to your distance at a time, that's how you injure yourself
4) Going to the Physical Therapist is far from a day at the spa it is brutal
