A Winter Treat

Today we were blessed with one of those rare warm winter days. When I turned on the TV to check the weather, I couldn't believe my eyes 53 degrees at 7:00 a.m. I had to check a few channels just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.All the local channels confirmed the mild weather. I layed out a cold weather outfit the night before so I had to go upstairs quietly, so not to wake the family, and pull out a pair of shorts and a long-sleeve tech shirt. It's always a treat being able to run in shorts during the winter. We don't get too many of those days so I wanted to take advantage of it and run long.

I chose a particularly hilly course so my legs would be used to the hills of Central Park when I run the Manhattan Half Marathon on January 24. I had no pace in mind and all I knew I wanted to run more than 10 miles. My only mistake was not bringing a GU with me. I had 20oz. of Gatorade with me but a gel might have made to run a little less painful. My quads were hurting from the hills but I expected nothing less.As I got close to home I took a peek at my Garmin and saw that I was a few tenths of a mile short of 13.1. I ran up and down some local streets until I hit 13.1. Stats for today's run: 13.1 in 1:50:08 (8:23/mi). I'm pretty thrilled about this considering I haven't run this far since August 2.

I haven't started working on my training plan for the Pocono Mountain Marathon on May 16. I know I will have a good base since the Manhattan Half is the first official day of my 18 week training cycle. I'll talk about this more later but I know I will have train my legs for a net downhill race. It should be interesting and challenging. Bring it on!

1,000

While many of you were sleeping soundly or unwrapping presents Friday morning, this Jewish running addict ran his 1,000th mile for 2009. I consider this a pretty big accomplishment considering I took a week off in January (family vacation), a week off to find my mojo, a week off to get over the summertime blues, missed 6 weeks in September and October with a fractured rib, and missed other runs because of religious observances. I also only ran 1 marathon in the spring so my weekly mileage was not as high during the second half of the year.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. I can't wait for 2010.

2009: The Year in Review

At the end of 2008 I laid out some goals for this year. Let's see how I did:

Stay healthy through the winter so I can run the New Jersey Marathon on May 3.
CHECK! Aside from a minor calf strain 4 weeks before the marathon I did stay healthy, no other injuries or illnesses to speak of. My training went very well. I started doing winter speedwork with the Nike pacers and got to race day feeling strong and confident.

I would like to race more.
CHECK! In 2008 I ran no more than 5 or 6 races. This year I ran 8. All but the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5 miler were non-NYRR races. A secondary goal was to run more local run races, so CHECK to that as well. I set new PRs  in the first 4 races that I ran: Fair Lawn Sunrise Rotary 1st Day 5k (22:46, 1/1/09), Prospect Park Track Club Cherry Tree 10 Miler (1:19:50, 2/22/09), New Jersey Marathon (3:52:54, 5/3/09), and the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5 miler (36:55, 6/28/09). In September I bested my 10 PR by 2 seconds at the South Nyack 10 miler (1:19:48, 9/13/09).

Continue to focus on nutrition and overall good health.
CHECK! With the help Mrs. Ansky, RD I practiced better eating habits (the occasional bowl ice cream included). I learned what foods work for me before a race or long-run (whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter) and for recovery (oatmeal, choclate milk, omlets).

Get faster
PUSH. I did set 4 new PRs this year but...I didn't run a sub-1:50 half or a sub 3:50 full. I'm hoping that I'll be able to accomplish both in 2010.


Other Highlights and Lowlights of 2009
Excluding the PRs, the highlight of 2009 was my run to Yankee Stadium. I decided to have some fun on that Sunday in August. Rather than going with my buddies in the car, I traveled to the Stadium on foot and met them in the parking lot.

The other highlight was meeting some amazing new people.At first we were all like minded runners writing about our running in and around New York City.We only knew each other in the virtual world, Blogspot, Wordpress, Facebook, and Twitter. Then we decided to meet up in person, at Nike Speed, at races, and then at Tweet-up runs. Now, we are not only fellow runners, we are also friends.

The big lowlight of 2009 was my fractured rib. I missed about 6 weeks of running and had to drop out of my fall half-marathon. I learned a lot during that time. I was beyond frustrated that I couldn't run but my time off the roads allowed me to help others accomplish their goals. Trea was training for her first half marathon during this time and she was very nervous about being to finish what she started. This was a way for me to stay involved in the running community while not running myself. BTW...Trea ROCKED her first half marathon, finishing in 2:00:xx.

Lesson Learned
I learned to listen to my body this year. During the year, I lost my mojo and had the summertime blues. Both times, running just wasn't fun. I was going through the motions and felt like my running had no purpose. I took a week off both time to re-focus.

I also took a week off while on vacation with my family. I wanted to enjoy the time with my family and not worried about getting my miles in. Bottom line, it's OK to take a week off. Nothing will happen.

So there you have it. 2009 certainly wasn't perfect, it had its highs and lows. The important thing is, I'm ending 2009 on a high note. It took me a while to fully recover from my rib injury but I'm finally feeling strong heading into 2010.

Thank you all for reading and commenting on the blog. Best wishes for a Happy Holiday season. 2010 should be a safe, prosperous, and healthy year for all of us.

Happy Holidays!

To all of my readers who are celebrating, best wishes for a Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Safety First

Winter finally showed it's ugly face by dumping 8 inches of snow on my town (some place got a lot more) Saturday night into Sunday. Once the snow stopped, plows started coming through and pushing the snow to sides of the streets and many sidewalks were not yet shoveled. I needed to get some miles in, so rather than playing chicken with the plows, I moseyed over to the gym for a treadmill run. I wasn't looking forward to doing 7 miles on a treadmill but I took Matt's advice and kept an open mind. Thanks to the Run Run Live and Run Digger Run Podcasts, the experience wasn't so bad. I finished the 7 mile in 57:19 for an 8:11 pace.

Last night as I was walking home from the bus stop, I made sure to look at the conditions of the roads and sidewalks. There was still lots of snow on the side of the street and the most people did a bare bones shoveling. On top of that, people started to park their cars on the street again instead of in their driveways. WHY????? YOUR HOUSE HAS A DRIVEWAY PLEASE USE IT!!!!

All of these factors, coupled with the fact that I run in early in the morning when it's still dark, do not make for very safe running conditions. So this morning, I went back to gym for a 4.5 mile tempo run on the treadmill. Fortunately, I had Brandon's newest podcast to keep me company. I did today's run (4.5mi) in 34:55 for an 7:45 pace. I hope I'll be able to get out for my other mid-week runs, if I can't, it's OK too. I don't want to risk slipping or something worse. I am thinking about getting a pair of Yaktrax but they wouldn't solve this particular problem. The streets are in good condition, the bottom line is, it's not safe. Between the snow, the parked cars, and the cars on the road, there isn't enough room for me to run.

Chanukah Special: 8 Things I Love About Runing

Night 8: Camaraderie

I know, I know, on the first night I wrote about how much I loved the solitude of my weekend long runs and most of my early morning runs. I believe there is a place for enjoying the solitude of a weekend long and  for running with company. Whether it's a small local 5k or the New York City Marathon, there is no better feeling than race day. The energy on race day is amazing. After I ran the New York City Marathon in 2007, people asked me if I ran with anyone I knew. My response was, "I ran with 38,000 of my closest friends." I am sure that most us have made conversation with total strangers during a road race.

The Nike Speed sessions is another place where I've enjoyed the company of other runners. I just can't see myself being able to run intervals at the right pace if I were running solo. The coaches are great motivators and give advice about form and breathing. The other runners in my group were also great company. We would provide motivation during a tough part of the workout and high five each other afterward.

The popularity of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter have made it even easier to meet new runners. I've participated in a few Tweet-up runs in New York. It's a pretty amazing thing. Up until a few weeks or months ago, these were people I only knew in a virtual world. Now groups of us are meeting up on a pretty regular basis. Running on the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, from Midtown to Battery Park, and in Central Park.

As tonight is the last night of Chanukah, this will be the last post in this special series. I had a lot of fun putting this together. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment letting me know what you think or what aspects you love about running that I didn't write about. I hope to do more of these special series in the future. For now, it's back to writing my everyday running and whatever else comes to mind.

Happy Chanukah!

Chanukah Special: 8 Things I Love About Running

Night 7: You Can Do It Anywhere

Running is one of those hobbies you can do almost anywhere. I can walk out my front door and run, if I'm on vacation, I can walk out of my hotel room and run, and it's not weather or time dependent. Skiers need snow, scuba divers usually need to travel to exotic locales, golfers can only play on a course or at a driving range. In it's simplest form, all you need are shoes, shirt, and shorts. No bulky equipment to schlep.

Whenever I run away from home, I look forward to uploading the map of my run from my Garmin. I look at as a memento from my travels. It sure beats any t-shirt, snow globe, or other item that I would otherwise buy in a gift shop.

Happy Chanukah!