Hills and valleys....
Sunday training was a 10K race - 6.2 miles, or a little more than one lap around Central Park.
It was 38 degrees and cloudy, a little cooler than my last run through the park and no sun. I was cold but that motivated me to get moving.
My uber-stretch goal was to run the lap in an hour, for me this would be an unheard of 6 mph pace, or 10 minutes a mile. My realistic stretch goal was 5 mph or 12 minutes a mile and the acceptable goal was to be done in 1 hour and 20 minutes to be on non-sweep pace.
I loaded the iPod with some new music. I made sure I knew which song was at the hour mark and which song was at 1 hour 20 minutes. I headed north on Park Dr. and I was doing OK on the slight uphill grade. (On my shorter runs I started setting the treadmill at an incline to get in some hill practice.) I kept setting short term goals - run to that stop light, I would hit the stop light and still feel OK so then I would run to the turn, or the ice skating rink and then it was the Great Hill. I made it at least half way up the hill before I had to take a break and walk. Much better than my first attempt on the hill. I hit my hour mark and knew I had around a mile and a half left to run. I finished the park loop (6.03) miles in just under 77 minutes (1 hour 17 minutes, 12.76 minutes per mile or about 4.7 mph). This is well under non-sweep pace - awesome!
Monday is strength training and stretch day, gotta give those leg muscles a break after a long run on Sunday. I passed the time in the gym being tortured by The Bachelor. How could he pick Vienna? I would like to say I won't watch that show again, but come on - I know I will so let's just move along.
Today the training schedule lists a 5 mile run. My plan was to run to the park (1 mile) do two laps around the Reservoir (just over 3 miles) and then run back home (1 mile).
I made it to the park but the path around the Reservoir was in horrible condition - it was either covered with slushy icy snow, mud, or puddles of water. I ended up going south on Park Drive to some point past 72nd (just over 1 mile), from there I turned around and went back up to 90th (about 1 mile), exited the park and down to 79th on 5th Ave (1/2 mile), across 79th to York Ave (1 mile) and then home (1/2 mile). I managed to get in my 5 miles but it took me longer than the 6 miles on Sunday. Bummer! I just didn't have the legs and having my route plan disrupted didn't help either.
On the positive side I learned that eating a handful of Reese's Pieces about an hour before a run doesn't give you the same amount of energy as Coach's Oats, GU gummies, or a protein shake. I'm glad I proved out this valuable research before race day.
