Local Running

During my training for the New Jersey Marathon, I spend a lot of time running in a county park. This park was one of the few spaces near my house that was usually clear of snow and had bathrooms open year round. I've been using the past few weeks to re-acquaint myself with some of the local routes I ran during my training for Marine Corps 2008 and New York City 2007. It's interesting to see how some things change. Houses that were previously under construction are now occupied, the public library re-paves its parking lot, a school installs field turf on it's fields, etc...

Today I ran a 7.66mi local route. Most local routes I run will have its share of hills. It's just the nature of where I live. I ran at a nice easy pace, finishing the run in 1:01:37 for a 8:02 pace. This coming Sunday I'm running the NYRR Father's Day 5 miler in Central Park. Even though, I've been doing my weekend runs at an easy pace, I know that I can turn it up when I have to. Last Thursday's JP Morgan Corporate Challenge is proof of that. Despite the crowds, I was able to average 7:04/mi. I'm looking forward to Sunday's race and what comes after it, a Father's Day BBQ!

Race Report: JP Morgan Corporate Challenge

Tonight approximately 70 (including myself) of my fellow co-workers participated in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. On the subway ride up a co-worker asked me if I was going to run at race pace or run easy. I replied that I was going to try race tonight but it will depend on the crowds. More on that in a minute......

Unlike other races in Central Park this one was chip timed. Most would consider it more of a fun run than a race. It's a time to hang out with co-workers outside of work and promote a healthy lifestyle. I wanted to try and run at race pace, so I headed over to the start pretty early to get as close to the front as I could. Being an experienced road racer, I always try to line up according to my pace. Except for this race. The further you are from the front the more frustrating you are going to get. I found a spot just in front of the 6 minute/mile sign. Anyone that reads this blog, knows that I can't run a 6 minute mile but I knew I could get away with it tonight. Most of the people around me probably have never run a road race in their lives. They were hanging out with fellow co-workers, prepping their Ipods, and talking about how they'll be happy if they finish in 30 minutes. I'm thinking to myself, "people, if you want to finish in 30 minutes, you shouldn't be up here. Move back!" A few people even had umbrellas. PEOPLE, THERE ARE NO UMBRELLAS IN ROAD RACING! After a few announcements, the horn went off.

This is where this event gets frustrating. Most of the first mile was spent bobbing and weaving around people who, again, never have run a race in their lives. They would shoot out like a banshee for the first half mile and would then start walking. A few times I was on the verge of yelling "Get out of my way slowpoke!" I thought better of it. Who am I to yell at someone for trying in his or her own way to complete a 3.5 mile road race. They should be in the back so that those who are faster can run at their race pace.

As for the race itself, I finished the 3.5 mile distance in 25:20 for a 7:05 pace. My splits were 7:25, 6:42, 7:09, and 4:02 (last .5). Every year I complain about this event and yet I'm back year after year. Like I said in the beginning of this post, it's nice to do something with co-workers outside of work. Congratulations to everyone on my team who participated tonight especially those who ran for the first time. I hope you stick with it!

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to my buddy MB who completed his first road race tonight in 42:20. Great work!

Chocolate Milk

This month's Runner's World had an article about natural drinks that are healthy, recharge muscles, and aid performance ("Natural Solution" by Matthew G. Kaday, M.Sc, R.D., Pgs 38-39). One of drinks discussed in the article is chocolate milk. According to the article chocolate milk is an ideal post-run drink because it has an ideal amount of carbs and protein that muscles need for recovery.

I have a mild case of lactose intolerance and drinking milk (regular or chocolate) does not agree with me. So my question is this, does chocolate soy milk have the same nutritional make-up as regular chocolate milk thus making it the same nutrient-rich recovery drink as regular chocolate milk?

Please chime in.

Fantasy Baseball Update

June is usually the time in a fantasy baseball season where the league settles down and managers begin to ask themselves "what do I need to do win this year." During April and most of May, teams can move up and down the standings on any given day. Case in point, my fantasy team. At the end of April I was in last place. As-of tonight, I am in second place, 2 points out of first place. Considering with how poorly my team started and all of the injuries I had, I'm very happy with how things are going so far.

Offensively, I'm being powered by Joe Mauer, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzales, and Carlos Beltran. Truthfully, most of my offensive players have been productive. The only disappointment right now would be Vernon Wells. I had a higher hopes for him. Ryan Theriot started off well but is fizzling out recently. Thankfully Jhonny Peralta is hot right now.






Pitching has been a challenge. I've had my share of injuries. At point I had Webb, Dice-K, Wang, Volsquez, and Soria all on the DL. During that time, I managed to pick up some 2nd and 3rd tier pitchers who have been pitching very well such as Jurrjens, Volstad, Edwin Jackson. Matt Cain and Derrek Lowe have pitched really well and Trevor Hoffman is pitching like the "Hells Bells" pitcher we knew in San Diego. I decided to drop Wang when he came off the DL. So far that is looking like a good decision. I'm holding on to Dice-K for now. Soria came off the DL this week so I'm hoping he can contribute right away. If Webb and Volsquez come off the DL and pitch well I should be in good shape.

National Running Day

Due to work conflicts, I had to reschedule my dentist appointment that would have prevented me from going back to Nike Speed tonight. Now that I didn't have my appointment, I thought it would be great to celebrate National Running Day by doing some speedwork. The last time I did speedwork was 6 weeks ago. I wanted to give myself a full month after my marathon before doing speedwork again.

Earlier in the day, Coach Kate posted the workout on the RUN NYC Facebook page, between 4 and 8 600m with a 200m recovery in between, with optional 2x200 at the end. I thought "good lord, how the hell I'm going do this?" Fortunately, the weather gods did not want us to go to the track tonight. When I got off the subway at Union Square, it was raining pretty steadily. My immediate reaction was to get back on the subway and go home but something was pulling me towards Paragon. I said "if I can run 26.2 in the rain, I can do some speedwork." And with that I went downstairs, checked my bag, and started to stretch. It was great to see all the pacers, especially Brad who was back after recovering from his 2:41:xx at the London Marathon. Anyway, Kate announced that instead of going to the the track we'd be doing a Fartlek run on the West Side Highway.

On to the workout... the goal was to run five 3 minute "pickups" with a 2 minute recovery in between. After a good warmup we began the workout. I was able to keep up for the first pickup but the started to struggle. My legs felt fine, the problem was with my breathing. Brad told me that it was going to feel hard since my body needed time to reacclimate itself to speedwork. I found myself in an unusual spot, I couldn't keep up with the group. A workout that once came easy to me was all of a sudden difficult. Brad sensed this and fell back to keep me company. He told me to relax, concentrate on my form, forget about trying to keep up with the group, and run my own pace. What he also did was keep me honest by making sure I didn't throw in the towel. On the way back to Paragon, other runners and pacers asked me how my workout was, I answered with one word "HARD." It's going to take me a few weeks to get used to speedwork again but it's well worth the wait.

Map, splits, and other stuff can be found here: Wednesday Night Speed Session.

Book Review: "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

I finished "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall over the weekend. For the most part, the book held my interest throughout. The book tells the story of the Tarahumara Indians, a tribe of super runners who live in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. Living among the tribe is a man knows as "Caballo Blanco (White Horse)." His dream is to put together a race involving the Tarahumara and an eclectic group of American runners. Without giving away too much of the plot, Mr. McDougall does a great job introducing the reader to the characters and how they came to be involved in this most unusual event. The climax of the book comes at the end when "Caballo Blanco's" dream is realized and the race is off and running. He does a great job putting the reader in the minds of the runners. He describes in great detail many of the highs and lows the runners experience during the race.

The story itself is great, but what is causing a stir in the running community is chapter 25, which after introducing you to "Barefoot Ted" in Chapter 24, goes on to talk about the evils of the modern running shoe industry. See, the Tarahumara run in these in flimsy sandals and their runners experience almost no injuries. This leads into a discussion about how since the invention of the modern running shoe, runners have been injured more because modern running shoes alter a runner's gait that is not natural and that the most natural way to run is barefoot.

While this part of the book is definitely interesting and food for thought, I don't think many runners will be giving up their Nikes, Asics, or Brooks to run barefoot or in Vibram Five Fingers. I know that Brandon belongs to the school of forefoot running and is thinking of experimenting with Vibram Five Fingers, but most of us will continue to be heel strikers and will run in modern shoes. This topic of shoes will be discussed on the Runner's Roundtable Podcast on July, 1. The topic of barefoot running will be discussed on August 21 with John Woodward and Mr. McDougall will be a guest on the show as well.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the evolution of this race. The paraticipants are so diverse and unusual. At the very end of the book the reader also learns the identity of "Caballo Blanco" and how he ends up living with the Tarahumara. This was my first foray into running books and it did not disappoint.

Totals for May

Can't believe another month has gone by. May featured a new marathon PR as well as a slow and steady recovery. Here are the stats for May:
Total # of Runs: 13
Total Time: 12:01:09
Total Distance: 87.1mi
Avg. Time: 55:28
Avg. Distance: 6.7mi
Avg. Pace: 8:16

I'm looking forward to June. I'll be heading back t o Nike Speed for my Wednesday night track workouts and running NYRR's Annual Father's Day Race Against Prostate Cancer.