Significant improvement over the last week. My ankle was still sore but the strapping helped. My hormones had stabilized. Managed to do all the runs in my schedule, and at 10-11 mpm pace!
The long run was on the Park Ave route. This was the last of the Saturdays when Park Ave was closed to traffic in the morning. I ran with some people from the Asha training group. We started from CP, got off at 72nd St, crossed over to Park Ave, ran all the way to Union Sq, down Lafyette St all the way to City Hall, crossed over to the Brooklyn Bridge, and all the way back. The round trip was slightly over 13 miles, the halfway mark. Yayyyy my first ever 13-miler. I am feeling a lot more confident about running the LA half this weekend. Wish me luck!
Mileage = 5 + 4+ 13 = 22 miles
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Week of 8/10-8/17
Week of Les Miserables. I started this week's run with a stiff left ankle. I was limping more than jogging and was quite frustrated and miserable. After stretching a few times in the span of the first mile, my muscles felt much better. Then I made the mistake of doing interval training with Laukik. I did 4 thirty second laps of running fast and slow. The sprinting made my ankle much worse and I was limping for the rest of the week. At the same time my hormones were playing games with me, I was truly PMS-ed and miserable.
Skipped the Thursday run, rested until Saturday. I was scheduled to do 12 miles that week. On Sunday late morning, I strapped up my ankle in elastic bandage and set off from Riverside Park. The initial 2 miles were agonizing. I was taking walk breaks every few minutes and stretching my leg muscles desperately. It became easier after that. I ran down to 60th st and crossed over to Central Park. Ran part of the big loop, passed the Asha tree, reached the south end of the reservoir. Did 2 rounds of the reservoir (the track is soft and kinder to the knees). Laukik joined me at that point and we proceeded on the outer loop towards Harlem Hill.
By then my foot had expanded and I could feel the bandage squeezing at my foot tightly. At the Northwest corner of CP, we abandoned the plan of completing the outer loop and got out of the park. We rewarded ourselves with Chipotle Burrito Bowls and OJ flavored protein shake :)
Mileage this week: 3 + 10
Skipped the Thursday run, rested until Saturday. I was scheduled to do 12 miles that week. On Sunday late morning, I strapped up my ankle in elastic bandage and set off from Riverside Park. The initial 2 miles were agonizing. I was taking walk breaks every few minutes and stretching my leg muscles desperately. It became easier after that. I ran down to 60th st and crossed over to Central Park. Ran part of the big loop, passed the Asha tree, reached the south end of the reservoir. Did 2 rounds of the reservoir (the track is soft and kinder to the knees). Laukik joined me at that point and we proceeded on the outer loop towards Harlem Hill.
By then my foot had expanded and I could feel the bandage squeezing at my foot tightly. At the Northwest corner of CP, we abandoned the plan of completing the outer loop and got out of the park. We rewarded ourselves with Chipotle Burrito Bowls and OJ flavored protein shake :)
Mileage this week: 3 + 10
Monday, August 11, 2008
Week of 8/3-9
Took last week off from running although we did quite a bit of walking and swimming during our vacation. My legs felt rather stiff and calves were cramped when I resumed running this week. I should have atleast stretched last week, lesson learnt.
This week was a slow start. I did my scheduled runs and even compensated for Sunday's missed run.
Saturday's run was particularly interesting. Park Ave was closed to traffic on Saturday mornings in August 2008 and converted into a summer street. NYTimes article. The route was from Central Park East side across on 72nd street and the Park Ave south all the way to Brooklyn bridge. The summer street is about 6 miles long. NYRR had water stations on the way. There were bike rentals and yoga/martial art classes in the street as well. It was a lot of fun running upto the MetLife building and right through it on to Union Square, through Chinatown, City Hall all the way across Brooklyn Bridge. My target was to do 10 miles but ended up falling short of it because of the erroneous mileage advertised by NYRR (6.9 when it was barely 6 from CP 72nd upto BB).
Mileage: 4+4+3+9=20 miles
This week was a slow start. I did my scheduled runs and even compensated for Sunday's missed run.
Saturday's run was particularly interesting. Park Ave was closed to traffic on Saturday mornings in August 2008 and converted into a summer street. NYTimes article. The route was from Central Park East side across on 72nd street and the Park Ave south all the way to Brooklyn bridge. The summer street is about 6 miles long. NYRR had water stations on the way. There were bike rentals and yoga/martial art classes in the street as well. It was a lot of fun running upto the MetLife building and right through it on to Union Square, through Chinatown, City Hall all the way across Brooklyn Bridge. My target was to do 10 miles but ended up falling short of it because of the erroneous mileage advertised by NYRR (6.9 when it was barely 6 from CP 72nd upto BB).
Mileage: 4+4+3+9=20 miles
Week of 7/20-26 Crete, Greece
I was attending a lecture series in Greece this week. I was staying in Heraklion, Crete close to the harbor. The harbor had a Venetian fortress and a breakwater, a barricade protecting it from the sea waves. It jutted right into the sea and had a 1.5 mile stretch of tar road which was out of bounds for motor vehicles. You would usually find tourists and locals strolling around. I was one of the few freaks who ran up and down this stretch for completing my scheduled runs. The road was pretty much flat and an easy run except that the heat and humidity in summer makes breathing difficult.
Mileage: 2+4+4+9=19 miles
I managed to do the long run 5-7 am in the morning. I deserve a pat on the back for it. 6 laps of that road with a bottle of water in hand. Laukik joined me for a major part of the run. He did 6 miles that day, the longest he has ever run. We had to get back in time to pack up, have breakfast, checkout from the hotel in time for our ferry at 9:30 am. Vacation time!!!
Week of 7/13-19
Google had blocked my blog for a few days suspecting it was a s_p_a_m blog :( Now I have a lot of catching up to do. I barely remember my runs in this week. I ran all 4 days. One day I ran with my officemate, Rebecca. On Saturday I ran about 8 miles in CP, 1 loop around the reservoir and the outer 6 mile loop. I also tried a mild version of icebath. Stuck my legs in cold water for about 15 minutes. It doesn't seem to help me outwardly. Stretching works best.
Mileage: 4+3+4+8=19 miles
Mileage: 4+3+4+8=19 miles
Thursday, July 17, 2008
7/12 - 7 miler in CP
Day of the long run. I am usually apprehensive of whether I will be able to do this much distance. I have never run 7 miles before.
I was hanging out with Bia the previous night and we got quite drunk on a mix of Sangria and champagne. The champagne was courtesy a generous patron at the neighboring table of the restaurant where we were having dinner. We managed to strike up a conversation with him and the guy asked the waiter to bring us dessert and wine when he left. Maybe he was glad to have some company while he was dining alone, maybe he was too tipsy. We were quite surprised and overwhelmed at his welcome-to-the-neighborhood gesture.
Bia promised that she would join me for the long run. I am glad she did because I slept right through the alarm and woke up when she called. We started earlier than usual to beat the heat. The course was the 6 mile loop in CP and a 1.5 mile loop of the reservoir on the way. Bia did the first mile and the reservoir loop with me. She ran surprisingly well inspite of being away from running for a few months. It was good fun to pace with her. After the loop I asked her to return to the Asha tree and I proceeded for to complete the 6 mile loop. I was running on my own (which is boring) and made frequent stops for water. I completed the run at a leisurely 12-13 mpm pace.
Tentative route flicked from mapmyrun.com
I was hanging out with Bia the previous night and we got quite drunk on a mix of Sangria and champagne. The champagne was courtesy a generous patron at the neighboring table of the restaurant where we were having dinner. We managed to strike up a conversation with him and the guy asked the waiter to bring us dessert and wine when he left. Maybe he was glad to have some company while he was dining alone, maybe he was too tipsy. We were quite surprised and overwhelmed at his welcome-to-the-neighborhood gesture.
Bia promised that she would join me for the long run. I am glad she did because I slept right through the alarm and woke up when she called. We started earlier than usual to beat the heat. The course was the 6 mile loop in CP and a 1.5 mile loop of the reservoir on the way. Bia did the first mile and the reservoir loop with me. She ran surprisingly well inspite of being away from running for a few months. It was good fun to pace with her. After the loop I asked her to return to the Asha tree and I proceeded for to complete the 6 mile loop. I was running on my own (which is boring) and made frequent stops for water. I completed the run at a leisurely 12-13 mpm pace.
Tentative route flicked from mapmyrun.com
7/10 - RP
So I have gotten lazy about updating the blog. 7/10, thats last Thursday I set off to do the regular 3 miles in Riverside Park. The run was much easier than the earlier 2 days except that my capris threatened to slide off every few strides. In an effort to minimize my frustration and embarrassment, I must have run faster and it was over in no time. Made a mental note to wear comfortable running clothes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)