Knock Knock

Who's there? Joe? Anybody else? The world wants to read our posts and I've been getting feedback from our viewers. One person said:

"Joe's posts are great but I really want to hear about Andy, Greg, and Dave" - Jon Kacobs from Boston, MA

So anyway. After reviewing some mail from our loyal readers (5 a day) I went on a run in Potomac, MD. I'm here to visit my love Kathryn while she's away for 2 weeks of training. I was nicely surprised by 2 mile long 6-7% grade hills and some interesting terrain. It's a beautiful area, saw lots of bikers. Posted a 2:14:00 for 15 miles for 8:55/mile. All in all a good good day despite the hills.

Love,
Joe

The Track

Moseyed on over to the track this morning for my speed workout. I was accompanied by at least 10 people running/walking on the track this morning. Shocker. Did:

10 min warmup
8x800 with 90 seconds of rest in between
10 min cooldown

Most of the 800s were at 3:30. Felt pretty tired by the end though. Another workout down. Approaching the halfway point to the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. I need new Saucony running shoes. I like my Apple iPod. My Adidas running rights are awesome and so is my New Balance top and Pearl Izumi vest.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Long Run

Ridiculoso run today. Did 21.7 miles in 3:19:40 or 9:12/mile. It was awesome. Hope everybody had good long runs today.

Oh and Angela was supposed to run 10 miles with me in Central Park but she didn't wake up until 7:02 PM. Ha.

Love,
Joe

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Kefir!?

Kefir.  Bless you.  What!?

Speed workout day.  Too lazy to put the times up but basically did 3 sets of:

1 x 1200 (10k pace)

0:30 rest

1 x 400 (5k pace)

2:00 rest

As always it was sandwiched by 10 minutes warmup/cooldown running to and from the track.  Had some Kefir.  I hear it's good for you.  It's basically yogurt.  I really can't tell the difference.  I hear its good for the stomach.  

Does anybody know who I can see to help me with assymmetry in my running gait, legs, etc.?  I think I have a significant leg length discrepancy.

Peace

The Chaffing Point

Realized a couple things after my weekend training run for the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon… 10 miles seems to be around the distance where a significant amount of friction builds up in certain, now uncomfortable, parts of the body. Will need a remedy for this if anyone has any suggestions. Vaseline? Baby power? And stretching is a lot like flossing, the importance of it doesn’t really sink in until not having done it. I’m feeling that importance in my calves right now.

Then 10 miler went well though, trying to add in some hills after looking at the elevation chart Dave posted for the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon.

Good luck to everyone’s endurance training tomorrow night,
Andy

18 Miles for Freedom

Today I celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a lovely 18 miler clocked in at 2:58:20.  This is calculated to be around 9:54/mile.

I was pretty happy with this.  I'm really getting comfortable running at these paces and I feel really on track with everything.

To reverse this I will be celebrating my Irisih heritage as of 3:41 PM.  I am starting with drinking a Killian's.  Wish everyone could be out here to celebrate this.  Should be a fun time with the roommates.

Thank you,

Joe

The Last 2 Days

So my new discovery of the track in Astoria led me there again.  There's something about running around a track that's relaxing.  Killed an easy run on the track; ran there, ran 4 miles, then ran back for an aggregate of just over 6 miles.  I ran into a running club there the Hell's Gate Road Runners.  I'll have to look them up and see what this is all about.  

Today, I had to do a 8.5 mile tempo run.  I was feeling lazy so I decided to take it slower.  The pace today was about 8:21/mile finishing the run in 1:10.56 and it felt awesome.  And in response to my bro's comment below is the satellite imagery of the track.  Hope everybody's enjoying their runs!

View Larger Map

Speed Workout

Did a speed workout today...

10 minute warmup

400 -1:35.75

800 - 3:40.43

1200 - 5:22.00

1600 - 7:15.94

1200 - 5:15.00

800 - 3:31.10

400 - 1:25.34

10 minute cool down.

Pretty fun.  Nice weater.  I also just found out using Google Maps that we had a track in Astoria at the park.  A very nice track.  That would have been useful a couple of speed workouts ago.  Anyways, hope everyone had a good training day.  The elevation map Dave posted looks interesting.  Rock and roll.

Joe

An Interview

The elevation chart. 

Ouch

Doing a 12 miler today reminded me that I like doing marathons --- I just don't like training for them.

I'm Fast!?

62 degrees was the magic number when I headed out.  68 is the magic number when I came out.  Today was the first official day everyone came out of their hibernation and ventured into Central Park. I could tell because the pain on everyone's face was evident.  Last week was around freezing and the majority of the people out running in these temperatures are elite and fast.

Hence, this is why I passed a majority of the people today with my mind-numbing 9:17/mile pace.  Did 14 miles in 2:10:41.  Beautiful day today in New York.  It's a taste of the San Diego Dream.  Manifest Destiny...

Take care,

Joe

Out of the sands

Today I was garnered with some wisdom from a man whose house is in a shopping cart and beds besides bus stops: 'you shouldnt run, it's bad for your joints'. Luckily I was past the point of no return, so to speak, and had some motivational words from Dwight Schrute in my head: 'In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, 'Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me. I'm dead.' Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead.' So better to keep on running.

8 miles down on the road to the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon, intermingled with frequent walks. Timed in around 70 minutes. Ive found that after warming up it helps to re-tie my shoes again. Not sure if this is because the feet start swelling up during the run or just the added rest, but it certainly relieves some stress. Also, if anyone knows some good calf stretches please lay them on the blog.

have a good weekend,
Andy

Non-Running Topic on the Day Off

Since I'm not running today I might as well blog about something not related to running.  I'll blog about the Biggest Loser - Montefiore Medical Center Edition.  Of course we call it the Weight Contest.

Anyway we had started this contest 4 weeks ago at the beginning of February.  With my work clothing (standard business attire) and after lunch I weighed in at 169.  In the mornings I have been weighing around 158, 159.  This makes sense since lunch and breakfast and tea are all in me plus clothing.

As of today I weight 166.5.  I'm in 6th place out of about 19 people.  Hopefully I can get into one of the top 3 because I think that person get's 100 or 150 dollars after the competition.

So that is my exciting topic for the day.  Rest days are nice.  Tomorrow's 14 will be even nicer.  Ahhhh... an easier run than last week.

Joe

Me and the Bathroom are Friends

"Milk, milk, lemonade, around the corner chocolate's made, stick your finger up the hole, and then you have a tootsie roll."

So I did my 8.5 miles worth of tempo run and I hate to be graphic but I've been to the bathroom 4 times in the last 2 hours.  All number 2.

I'm attributing it to my run today.  Went to Fatty's Cafe after running and they probably made the best burger I've had.  It was a mixture of ground beef and ground chorizo seasoned with cayenne pepper, paprika, and garlic.  Wowee was it good.

Anyway so back to my workout.  Let's hope that this makes the Rock and Roll Marthon San Diego easier for me to run.  So... format was the same as last week.  I did 4.25 miles with 30 seconds rest with another 4.25 miles.

1st - 34:14 ~8:04

2nd - 34:11 ~8:03

All in all a good day.  Take care y'all.

Joe

Another Day

ell yesterday I did some cycling in the morning because it was way to cold to run (13 degrees at 5AM) and today with more acceptable weather I did 6 miles (34 degrees at 6PM).

I really can't say too much about the run.  It was an easy 6, felt good, under an hour.  It was actually quite pleasant.  Lately I've been pretty fed up with working out in the cold.  I'm just not motivated to freeze myself so I am definitely looking forward to the spring, or at least daylight saving time (the s was purposely left out because I found out today its "saving" not "savings").

I was talking with Andy today it seems he's going to do a long run this weekend, which I am happy about.  Hopefully everyone is training well.  I leave you with a picture of me before I ran so you can peer into my life.

Joe

Cycling Again

40 minutes of cycling today.  Legs feel ridiculously sore.  Tomorrow hopefully the snow melts and I can run.  Very hungry.

Work and Workouts

Lately work has been interfering with training.  Hopefully I will find a way to fit my workouts in.  Saturday I did 7 miles - 2 miles easy and then 5 at "race pace."  It makes me nervous that the pace was not too easy.  One would think that 5 miles at race pace would be a cinch.

Looking Forward to a Light Week

So.  I'm sitting here on a Sunday night enjoying some TV.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this week.  It's a lighter training week.  Well, relatively.

Monday - Glorious 45 minutes on bike

Tuesday - 8 x 800

Wednesday - Easy 6

Thursday - 8.5 tempo

Friday - Rest

Saturday - 14 (thank you so much)

And that's it.  Hope everyone is doing well.