A Pair of Aces: Yankees Introduce CC and AJ

It's finally official! Today the Yankees formally introduced a pair of aces, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. CC (short for Carsten Charles) will wear #52 and A.J. (Allen James) will wear #34. I wanted to share my thoughts about both pitchers.

There's no doubt about it, CC is up there as one of the top pitchers in baseball. He is a workhorse, averaging about 7.2 innings per start last year with Cleveland and Milwaukee. He is that pitcher the Yanks have needed for a while now. No offense to Chein-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Phil Huges, Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain,or Mike Mussina but none of those pitchers scare me. CC is the guy at the top of the rotation that make opposing teams say "oh s*&$! CC's Pitching! He's the guy that you want on the mound in a game 7 of a playoff series. At 28 years old he makes the team younger. My concern this: he's a big man with a lot of innings on his arm. With that said, he must be doing something right because you never hear him spending a lot of time on the DL. Milwaukee getting eliminated in the first round of the playoff last was probably the best thing that happened.

A.J. Burnett is coming off his best season in a while, winning 18 games in Toronto. Many experts have said that when he's healthy, he can be overpowering. The key for him is staying healthy. Unlike CC A.J. is someone who has spent a lot of time on the DL. He said at the press conference today that when he was younger he threw hard to impress people and he paid the price for that. He said that he's learned a lot about himself and his body over the years. Will he be the pitcher he was last year in Toronto or another Carl Pavano? Stay Tuned.

Personally, I would have been happier signing Derek Lowe instead of Burnett. While not as overpowering as A.J., Lowe is consistent. You know what you're going to get with him.

The rotation definitely looks formitable: CC, AJ, Wang, Pettite (hopefully), and Joba (I think he should be in the bullpen). Nothing is in the bag, baseball is a marthon (there's my running reference) not a sprint. More about the Yankees later.

Keeping Things Interesting

Since I was unsure of this morning's weather, I packed my bag with both outdoor gear and indoor gear. As I was doing this, my wife, knowing that I might have to run inside today, asked me if I enjoyed running on the treadmill. The TM bores me to death, even if there's something good on TV. I would much rather go for a run in sub-freezing temperatures than run on the TM. If you are forced inside, there are ways to keep it interesting. My wife is used to seeing people walking or running at the same pace on the TM. so these are 3 examples I gave her on how to keep things interesting if you're ever forced inside on the TM

1) Progression Run: this is the workout I did today. I started my run at an 8:20/pace for the first 2 miles. the next mile I ran at an 8:00 minute pace. the last mile I ran at a 7:53 pace followed by 5 minute cool down. I wanted to do a 5th mile at a 7:45 pace but time didn't allow today.

2) Intervals: If you can't get out to the track, you can use the TM to simulate your speed intervals. Start with a 2 mile warmup and a comfortable pace. You can then do 400m (1/4 mile), 800m (1/2 mile), or 1600m (1 mile) intervals just as you would on the track. Make sure you recover enough in between intervals.

3) Hill Training: The TM is also great for simulating hill training. One of my favorite hill workouts (courtesy of Men's Health Magazine) on the TM is run at pace slightly slower than your 10K pace and do the following:

• 1st half mile at 1% incline
• next half mile at 2% incline
• next half mile at 5% incline
• next half mile at 2% incline
• next half mile at 8%. If you can't do this right away, don't worry. Try and build up to it.
• next half mile at 2% incline
• next half mile at 5% incline
• last half mile at 2% incline.

Feel free to extend the distance of the run by following the same pattern. If the speed feels easy, by all means increase the speed.

Feel free to share your favorite TM workouts.

Sunday Run

I had to get out early because of other life obligations. My wife is a Lia Sophia jewelry consultant on the side and she is showing her wares are 2 different synagogue boutiques today. I was also running a program in our synagogue today so I had to be showered, dressed, and out the door by 9:15 a.m. Fortunately, there were 2 other friends who needed to run early. We met at Saddle River Park at 6:15. The first few miles were slow because we were running in the dark and there was some ice on the paths. Once it got light out we picked up the pace on the way back to the Dunkerhook parking lot. We took a short break at the parking lot to pick up some more runners. Knowing that I was under some time constraints, I decided to do 8 miles total. Others in the group were running between 10 and 12. Here is a link today's run: Early 8+ Miles

I put a poll up the on the blog about how other runners deal with group runs. If you don't run with a group but run with one other person, please reply based on that experience.

I'm hoping things calm down soon so I can start getting some quality double digit long runs in. I think sometime around Christmas is when I would need to start the training cycle for the NJ Marathon. I would hate for other life obligations to be the reason why I can't run a spring marathon.

Chancin' It

This morning when I left the house at 5:20, it was raining and quite mild out, probably close to 60 degrees. I started cursing the weather gods because it would have been the perfect chance to take my morning run in shorts. I started my trip to the office resigned to the fact that I'll be running on the treadmill this morning.

I got off the subway and lo and behold, it wasn't raining. I thought to myself, this can't be true, the weather gods are just playing with me. I'll start out for my run and the skies will open up forcing me back inside. I decided to chance it. I changed into my shorts and long sleeve tech shirt (I probably could have worn a short sleeve running shirt) and ran towards the Brooklyn Bridge. For once the weather gods were on my side. I was able to get my run in outside and not get rained on.

Since I can't get a good Garmin signal downtown, I've been using my Polar 200SD. The functionality is similar to the Nike+ system where you attach a footpod to your shoe to measure the distance. According to my Polar, I ran 4.83 miles in 36:51 which comes out to a 7:33 pace. According to MapMyRun the Brooklyn/Manhattan Bridge loop is 4.63 miles. That translates to 7:49. At some point, I'll go to a track an recalibrate the footpod.

The forecast is for rain tomorrow as well with much colder temperatures. Maybe the weather gods will be cooperate again.

Exploring

I expected snow on the ground this morning when I woke up and had planned to run locally in Votee. To my delight there was no snow and temps were in the mid-30s. I got in the car and drove out to Saddle River Park and once again met up with my new friends that I met last week. One of them told me they planned to run slow today so he pointed me in the direction of the park that I did not see on last week's run. Because of other obligations, I did not have that much time run so I planned on 6 or 7 miles today. My route took me around 2 ponds, past a small waterfall, and some very peaceful wooded parts of the park. I finished the 6.4 mile run in 52:30 (8:11 pace). If you're interested you can view the run details here: 6+ miles in Saddle River Park

They forecast rain a few days this week. That might move my morning runs to the treadmill. I don't mind snow or cold weather but I always get sick when I run in the rain. One of my goals for the winter is to stay healthy so I can train for a potential spring marathon. If that means moving a few runs inside so be it.

An Extra Day Off

Today is one of those days where I would wake up at 5:00 and head out the door around 6:00 for a quick 7 or 8 miles before taking my daughter to the bus stop. Last night I was feeling very tired and run down so I decided to go to bed early and not run this morning. I'm not regretting the decision, clearly my body was telling me not to run today.



Besides, we are having a bunch of people over for Shabbat dinner tonight so there is a lot of cooking and preparation to be done in a short period of time. Shabbat starts around 4:15, that's when I need to make sure everything is ready to go. Since Shabbat starts early, we like to have friends over for dinner. During the summer months we have company for lunch. Tonight's menu is:

Yellow and green split pea soup with barley and rice
Moroccan spiced carrot salad
Homemade humus with toasted pita chips
California roast
Confetti chicken
Asparagus terriyaki
Roasted potatoes with garlic, onions, and olive oil
Trader Joe's Harvest Mix cooked in chicken stock

Do you think I have enough food?

2009 Plans

I started to give some thought to my 2009 plans. My plans for early 2009 revolve around me running the NJ Marathon on May 3. I haven't signed up yet but I'm leaning in that direction. I'd like to able to enjoy my summer with my family and not have marathon training on my mind. I'm going to start the training cycle and then make a firm decision once I know what kind of winter we're in for.

Here are some of the winter races that I'm looking forward to:

1st Day 5K - Fair Lawn, NJ

I will be on vacation on Jan. 25th so the Manhattan Half is out of the question.

Gridiron Classic on Feb. 1 - this is one of my favorite races. Nothing like starting Superbowl Sunday with a 4 mile race then chowing down later in the day watching the big game.

Bronx Half on Feb. 8.

Coogan's Salsa and Blues - I like this race because it's was nice to run a short distance race outside of CP. I also don't have to drive to the race. I can take bus over the GWB and the walk to the start.

Beyond that, I'd like to try and get my 9 races and 1 volunteer in for 2009 to get a spot in the 2010 NYC Marathon.