Week Threee

First: check out this article from last week's NY Post (the paragon of fine journalism):

Team For Kids Article

And now for the week three training update:

So far, so good. I've finished my third week of training and am still standing, so I'd say that's a positive. On Tuesday evening I ran with the team in the park. This was my first run in the 9:30 pace group, I definitely kept up the new pace. Met an awesome woman, Ellen, who is training for her second marathon and somehow makes time to train with a 7-9 work schedule and a two hour commute each day. Huge shout out to Ellen for that!

Thursday was another wonderful 5:30 AM run along the East River. Despite being extremely sore from yoga the night before, I somehow got out of bed and managed to get in my hour run without passing out. I must say though, it's totally worth getting up that early to see the sunrise over the brooklyn bridge (and all the chinese women doing their exercises that I don't really understand, apparently walking backwards and swinging your arms like you are flying is all the rage these days).

Couldn't make the long group run on Saturday morning as I was volunteering all day at Super Saturday for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. (I mean, really, who volunteers in the Hamptons?) So I got in my 9 mile run on Sunday evening in Central Park. Thankfully by 6 when I started it had cooled off a bit and I managed to finish on pace and feeling good. Best part of thea run was totally dominating the Great Hill which I haven't run in a while. It's a nice confidence booster when the people that passed you a hundred yards before the hill have to start walking half-way up, while I'm still trucking along at my 9:30 pace. Especially when, hypothetically, it's a super skinny girl and her cute boyfriend.

Bring it on, week 4. It's gonna be a HOT one.

oh!

And I finally met moira of http://mrunsforfun.blogspot.com!!

Week Dos

ahh... monday... a time to reflect on the past week's training and prepare myself for the cycle to begin again tomorrow.

I think i'll go with a top ten list or highlight reel of sorts of last week's training:

10. Waking up at 5:45 AM on Tuesday morning for a run down on the east river. (I think it was about 90 degrees already)
9. The things I witness on a Tuesday at 5:45 AM in the east village.
8. The sweet bright red shirt I bought at JackRabbit on Sunday, I am totally going to fool everyone into thinking i'm a good runner with this one (as swedish goggles taught me, it's all about indimidation)
7. My new running shorts (see above), and no longer having to wear shorts from freshman year of high school, although I must say they have held up surprisingly well.
6. The arrival of a case of Gatorade and two cases of Propel courtesy of my mama and the fine folks at CostCo.
5. Deft maneuvering on my part to avoid horse "presents" on the Central Park Bridle Path during Thursday's training run.
4. A delicious post-training run snack courtesy of Dave. (chocolate and caramel are good post-running fuel, right?)
3. Moving into the 9:30 minute group post-Saturday's run. Although I am sad to leave Albert and the 10 minute-rs.
2. Rocking out an 8 miler (the longest run with the group thus far) AND getting a free membership to the central park conservatory all in one day!
1. Sleeping in on Sunday.

I exist!

first, i'd like to give a shout out to my good friend dave and encourage everyone to check out his blog:
http://daverunsthecity.blogspot.com/

dave: i take the physical challenge. game on.

To all those who thought I didn't exist and was just a figment of dave's imagination (although I wouldn't be surprised), I hope my appearance on the training runs on Thursday and Saturday proved otherwise. I swear I wasn't just a mirage due to the heat and humidity.

I bought a bad ass bright red shirt yesterday, so you certainly won't miss me at tomorrow's run.

TFK Training Week #1

Starting my Team for Kids training last Saturday with a 5 mile run in Central Park to determine which pace groups we will be in. We were instructed to run at a conversational pace (one at which we could hold a conversation). I finished the 5 miles in 44:18, and ran the whole time with an awesome fellow TFK-er who I met that morning, Jen.

Then we were assigned a pace group based on our time, and I will start my training in the... wait for it... 10:00/mile pace group. This is the pace (called the "Commute" pace) at which we will run most of our endurance runs.

I met some great people, the team is HUGE and the coaches are so enthusiastic. It's going to be tough, but will definitely be a great time!

During the week I did my two mid-week runs on my own, 3 miles Tuesday morning, and 5 miles Thursday afternoon, with a power yoga class on Wednesday as my cross training. The most difficult thing for me was trying to stay at my Commute pace as I am used to running as hard and as fast as I can and being super-competitive with myself (I call it the Northern East-Coast syndrome). I managed to stay close to my pace, but ended up running closer to a 9:30 mile. My "conversation" consisted of me singing along to my music while running, which I managed to do for most of the two runs, much to the dismay of the ears of those around me!

it's getting HOT

over this fabulous holiday weekend I went for two exceptionally hot runs, all I have to say is thank goodness this thing isn't until november. saturday i ran the 6 mile loop around central park plus the 1.5 loop around the resevoir, and it was quite warm to say the least... thank goodness for the trees which provided somewhat ample amounts of shade.

monday the 3rd I ran down on the track on the east river in the direct hot, hot sun. did some sprint work and interval training and had some wicked flashbacks to field hockey pre-season. although I didn't run that far, i was certainly feeling those sprints the next morning!

first training run with my team this saturday in the park!