Run To Work Day

Friday was run to work day. See I had missed my speed workout on Tuesday due to a bad sinus headache. I did a recovery run on the treadmill because of icy roads. That left me with Thursday and Friday to try and fit in one strength workout, my speed workout, and Friday's regularly scheduled run (10 minute warm-up, 5 minutes in zone 3, followed by 30 minutes in zone 4). Since I don't roll on Shabbat, I asked Coach Jeff if I should skip the strength training and do both runs or do the strength and skip one of the runs. He replied back  and suggested a 10 mile run with miles 1-3 in zone 2, 4-6 in zone 3, miles 7-9 in zone 4, and 1 mile cooldown.

Initially I thought to myself, how the heck am I going to get in 10 miles before work? Then it came to me, I would run to work Friday morning. I packed a bag with clean clothes and left it in the office on Thursday. I caught an early bus to George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal in Washington Heights. I had a choice to make, to pick up the West Side Greenway this far north or to stay on Riverside Drive and pick up the Greenway at 96th. I decided for Riverside  primarily for saftey reason. The northern part of the Greenway is quite isolated and for reason I didn't feel safe running there so early in the morning. It was also a wickedly windy morning so being away from the water, where the wind always whips around in every direction, seemed liked a good idea.

The run itself went well. Before I knew it, it was time for my fast 3 miles. I increased my pace until my Garmin confirmed that my heart rate was in zone 4. My average pace dropped from around 8:40 to around 8:27 thanks to splits of 8:06 (mile 7), 7:50 (mile 8) and 7:42 (mile 9). I was quite pleased that I was able to crank out some faster miles deep into a longer run. I stopped the run around the World Financial Center and walked the rest of the way to my office. I was on a runner's high for the rest of the day.

With the possibility of significant NJ Transit rate hikes on the horizon, it's not out of the realm of possibility that I'll be running to work more often. It's a great way to start the day.

Mr. Mojo Rising

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If you recall, I lost my mojo last Sunday. Well it's officially back! I decided to follow Chris Russell's lead and make up my long run by running to work on Friday. I live approximately 6 miles from George Washington Bridge. However, it's not an easy 6 miles, it's basically all uphill. I'm not talking about rolling hills or "goofy little speed bumps" it's a significant climb. To get a better sense, check out the route and view the elevation profile.

I therefore decided to take a short bus ride to Fort Lee and start my run at the NJ side of the GWB. My adventure started at 5:30 am. I'm happy I brought my rain jacket because it started to rain, not hard but enough to be a pain. I don't usually stop during my runs to take pictures but I felt compelled to. For a moment, I thought about getting on the A train at the GWB Bus Terminal due to the weather but I kept going. For safety purposes I ran down Ft. Washington Ave. until 165th and headed down to Riverside Drive. I stayed on Riverside Drive until 96th St. Daybreak arrived in NYC around 120th as I was passing Grant's Tomb. At this point, the rain had stopped and people were starting to come out to walk their dogs, get their miles in, or going to work. I knew I had many miles ahead of me so I took out my Ipod and decided to catch up on some of running podcasts. I picked up the West Side Rec Path at 96th st. From there it was straight run to lower Manhattan. I stopped to take picutres of the 72nd Boat Basin, the Intrepid, Circle Line, and Chelsea Piers. At Styvestant High School, I took a right and passed the World Financial Center. I caught my first glimpse of Lady Liberty shortly after that. She gave me the motivation I need to keep going. The rain picked up as I looped around the Staten Island Ferry Terminal on to South St. I decided to run past Maiden Lane and try and get as close to 20 miles in as possible. I continuted up the East Side, past the South St. Seaport, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges. I turned around at the E. 10th st. Track where I've been doing speedwork with the Nike Pacers since Janaury. At this point I'm completely soaked as are my shoes. I hit the stop button of my Garmin at South St. and Maiden Lane at 18.64 miles.

I walked into work soaking wet, picked my clothes from my cubicle and headed up to the showers. After that I treated myself to big breakfast of oatmeal, a bagel with peanut butter, chocolate milk, and some fruit. I went on with my day as if nothing had happened.

As I started sharing what I did with co-workers, on Facebook, and Twitter, I got 2 totally different sets of reactions. My non-running friends called me insane, crazy,etc.. while my running friends totally got it. A bunch of people asked me if I would do it again. Without hesitation, I replied yes. I can totally see myself doing this every so often if I have a busy Sunday planned. I'll leave you this faithful readers, if you are able to run to work, try it you might like. If those of you in NYC, seeing the city on foot during the early morning hours is fucking awsome.

Enjoy some pictures:

Update: I totally forgot to share the run details. My splits were all over the place because of the weather and because I stopped to take pictures.
Rainy Run to Work