Why MTA is the bane of my existence

This past Sunday, Kim and I put on our gamefaces and braved New York's northern most borough for the NYRR Bronx Half Marathon. The race itself went remarkably well. The weather calmed itself down to the mid-70s, Kim didn't die of an asthma attack, and I restrained the urge to run fast, keeping a consistent, slow pace throughout all of the very hilly 13.1 miles. The course was a little...interesting. Took place mainly in residential neighborhoods, some sketchier than others, with quite a few turn-around points and unexpectedly lots of hills. Overall, it was solid training run and I would have given the whole experience a gold star if it weren't for the SUBWAY RIDE OF DOOM.

Now what should have been a straightforward, albeit hour long trip, to the Bronx turned into a two-hour one way ticket to transportation meltdown. Efficiency is not MTA's strong suite it seems. Things started off poorly when Trip Planner blatantly lied to us and left us stranded in the sweltering Union Square stop, waiting close to 30 minutes for the 4 train. Of course upon arriving, the 4 train is 1. packed and 2. going local. Yessssssss, nothing better than a 30 stop trip to the hood. At this point, my inner punctuality freak was stressing slightly that we'd be cutting it close to the start, but I reassured myself that as long as the rest of the trip went smoothly we'd have a few minutes before the gun went off to hit baggage check and stretch.

False. Two stops and 20 minutes away from the race's start, the train conductor announced that due to MTA's epic timeliness fail they were going to expedite the train's route and skip the next couple of stops. WTF. There were maybe a handful of non-runners on the train at 6:45am. So a few hundred NYRRs were forced to chill out on the platform waiting for a new train that would deign to stop at Bedford Boulevard. End story, Kim and I missed the start by 20 minutes and were just 10 minutes shy of them shutting down the starting gate.

Oh, and post-race there were no Manhattan bound trains at our station. Silly me, why ever would I want to go back to the island. So we had the "privilege" of going to the end of the 4 line. I'm just glad we're still alive.

To best express my RAGE towards MTA, I'm offering you a little photographic homage to Sunday's misadventures. Or I'm just looking for an excuse to dabble in Paint after reading waaaay too many Hyperbole and a Half posts. If you, haven't seen this blog, stop what you're doing immediately (well after you finish reading and commenting on my post) and go to this site. Guaranteed hours of procrastination.

1. Chaos after ALL the runners were kicked off the train two stops away from the race with less than 15 minutes till the start. Not okay, MTA.

2. Kim really didn't want her face in this one for some reason. And I was haterading on the world/SO SAD that we missed the start of the race.
3. Awww we've pulled ourselves out of the hate spiral enough for a loveydovey photo.

4. No idea. Whatever, bet this luchador knew better than to trust MTA to deliver his spandex clad ass to the race on time.

These shoes are made for running

Saturday morning Kim and I dragged ourselves out of my bed and sleepwalked up to 110th St. (UGH) for NYRR's Splash and Dash 10k. Given the pea soup like humidity, there was very little dashing occurring; most of the run took on the form of a slow plod up and down hills. Regardless, I finished comfortably without feeling like I exerted myself too much, which was the goal of this particular race. As I discovered today (yay first day of training!), the majority of my marathon training runs are mind numbingly slow, so I need to get reaccustomed to running very relaxed pace . I mean seriously, 11min miles?! Rationally it makes sense - slower miles means decreased chance of overtraining, injury, and builds critical mental capacity to get through multi-hour runs. Guess it's time for me to invest in some good books on tape. Very tempted to get a subscription to Audible so I can zone out on easy runs while listening to the New Yorker.

Second important takeaway from Saturday - I needed new shoes like nobody's business. By the first mile, my toes were screaming for a toebox that didn't feel like stabbing knives into my nails. Not fun. Running shoes should be replaced every 300 to 500 miles as over times sneakers lose stability and shock absorption capacity. I've been overdue for a new pair for a month or two now, but far too lazy/cheap to go by Paragon's in Union Square to get fitted for a new pair. For any NYRR members out there, FYI - Paragon's offers a 10% for all running related gear. Definitely helpful when you're dishing out for a new pair of shoes!
Immediately tried on the latest version of Brooks GTS Adrenaline, which have been my go-to shoe for the past 6 years. However, after numerous problems with blisters and pain with my last pair, the running specialist offered me a pair of Mizuno's to try on that were in theory better suited to my feet. Despite my initial skepticism and loyalty to my beloved Brooks, the Mizuno Wave Inspire are AH-MAZING. So much lighter, springier foam, and a snugger fit. I feel horrible for cheating on Brooks like this (yes, I am that sentimental), but it was time for a change and I definitely felt like training started off on the right foot (pun entirely intended) with a new pair of shoes. Was enjoying my run so much today that I accidentally ran more than my prescribed six mile easy run. Whoops? Hopefully they'll keep me this fresh throughout all of training!

Pepita says time for a RACE RECAP!

Okay, sorry for the obnoxious inside joke title but had to give a shout out to Team Pepita (aka Kim, Tim, Mike, and I) for the great hustle at Sunday's Broad Street 10 Mile in Philly! Despite horrendously hot and humid weather, the race was fantastic and the perfect excuse for a Georgetown reunion. After fetching my hungover self from the Boltbus station on Saturday afternoon, Kim took me on my first real tour of Philly, making sure that we hit up all the important cultural and culinary sites. Mmmm Amish apple dumplings are definitely my new favorite way to carboload!

After loading up on food, Kim and I headed over to Lincoln Financial Field to pick up our bibs and packets from the race expo. Luckily by the time we arrived, most of the runners had already come through so we were able to grab our packets without a hitch and then spent a little time wandering around the expo searching for free schwag. Not much in the way of free goodies, but Kim and I did come out with our AWESOME NEW HYDRATION BELTS. These will be a much needed running accessory as we delve into marathon training this summer. Obviously we got them in matching colors, although we did restrain ourselves from purchasing them in highlighter pink. The ridiculously good looking photos of us modeling the belts will be posted shortly...

In order to get us PSYCHED for the race, Tim brought Without Limits, the 1997 cult classic that documents the short, but amazing life of famed American long distance runner Steve Prefontaine. Our viewing session on Saturday evening was cut a bit short due to exhaustion, but watching some of Pre's record-breaking runs definitely put us in the mood to dominate the race the next day! Scope it out for yourself:



As for the actual race, well, for what was supposed to be an "easy" ten miler, the Broad Street run turned into one of the most painful (albeit fun) runs I can remember. To put it mildly, I was woefully unprepared for the realities of running in 80degree, disgustingly humid weather. Yes, I am being a whining wimp but seriously, who actually enjoys running when the air has the consistency of pea soup?! No matter, Philly put on a great show for the race with spectators cheering us on along the entire length of the course, fire hydrants spraying down the runners, and, of course, the Rocky soundtrack blasting from more than one apartment window. While our times may not have been exactly what we hoped for, Team Pepita survived and managed to go enjoy the CcTC post-race tent party and keg. Win!

Which running conditions do you prefer - freezing snowpocalypse or humid hot mess?

Up next: NYRR Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon on May 22. Kim's heading back to the city to brave another NYRR race, this time on the opposite end of the weather spectrum. She, being an intelligent non-procrastinating individual, actually registered for this race. I, being total fail, missed the sign up. Minor details. So I'll be ghost running (i.e. sneaking) into the race. Sadly I won't get credit as part of the 9+1 to auto-qualify for 2011 NYC Marathon, but since I've already checked off six of the nine races, I'm not too concerned. Keep your fingers crossed it's an abnormally cool day!

Live and learn

After a week off the blogging train in order to pay a little attention to life/work/drinking (my liver was feeling a little too healthy), I'm back with running updates that are: a.) fun, b.) interesting, c.) intellectually stimulating, d.) psychotic or e.) all of the above. I'll leave it to y'all to decide.

1. After over a month of responsible running, knee straps, ice packs, and an obscene amount of ibuprofen, my knees no longer drive me to long for amputation on every run. Victory! Knock on wood they stay this way. I'm restraining the urge to ramp back up to running 6 days, however. Until I'm forced to log killer mileage during Comrades training, I will be sticking to running a mere four times a week with crosstraining/yoga on the other 3 days.
   
   
2. As you can see (or probably not given the suboptimal quality of a BlackBerry camera), I busted out the old graph paper and charted my training plan for the next 9 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I love the Runner's World Smart Coach training plans, but since my schedule is so wonky and I have some traveling coming up in the next couple of months (Italy!!), it's often difficult to put together a plan that I can consistently execute. My new schedule sticks to the aforementioned 4 runs a week, focusing on quality miles over quantity. Each week includes a tempo run, speedwork, long run, and one recovery run. Mileage increases every week by 10% then drops back in the third week to allow for additional recovery or to accommodate a race. The goal for the next 3 months is to maintain a base mileage of around 30 miles/week, AVOID injury, and incorporate some good fast running to keep my times down and sanity in check.
   
   
3. Marathon training starts in earnest on July 12th!
   
   
4. "Running in Marathons: Facebook Made me Do It" - what is Facebook, the new excuse for every good/poor life decision? Possibly. Stumbled upon this article last week during my daily morning blog/newspaper run through. Although a bit simplistic in its analysis, the article raised some interesting points on the intersection of the Internet, social networking, and running. Little old blogging me is clearly in no position to judge. At least I haven't created a Facebook fanpage for this blog. Yet...
   
   
5. Oh. Umm. Lastly. About that race and long run this past weekend. First and foremost, I'd like to place full responsibility on Shaun Gregory Smithies for the massive consumption of hefeweizen that occurred on Saturday, April 10th. There generally is no way that 7 hours of daydrinking will bode well for athletic performance. Case in point, Sunday's Run as One 4 miler in Central Park. Despite massive hydration the morning of, I was clearly still in a tipsy/hungover state upon pitching up at the ungodly hour of 8am. Minor details. The course started off on the east side of 72nd Street and proceeded immediately up Cougar Hill in the first mile. After assessing my subprime running condition, I made the intelligent call to run conservatively the first two miles at a 9:30 pace then speed up a bit on the downhills for the final two miles if I was feeling up to it.
   
   Per usual intelligence was short lived. I bounded up Cougar Hill in the first mile, sprinted along rolling hills and passed the second mile marker in under 16 minutes. Against my better judgment, however, I grabbed a water cup at the aid station before mile three to take a tiny sip in order to soothe my parched mouth. Quite possibly the worst call ever. As soon as that ice cold water hit my injured, battered stomach, I thought there was no way I would survive, let alone finish that race. Enter boot and rally - very clearly not my classiest moment. Nonetheless, pulled myself together and finished the race in a skotch over 36 minutes (~9:15 pace). Not as great of a time as I'd hoped for, but the fact that I even crossed the finish line was enough of a victory for me and a legit excuse to skip my planned 8 mile run home. Win some, lose some?
   

Great success!

Highlights of a fantastic weekend:

1. Engaged in healthy decisions for once and pregamed the 15K with a trip to the Korean spa in Flushing with the girls on Saturday. Sweated out any residual toxins/alcohol and loosened up my muscles in the 195degree sauna! Despite a brief freak-out when forced to go into the naked only shower/bath area, yesterday was delightfully relaxing and a great way to rest up before a long race. On the way back, there was no way Dasha and I were going to pass up a return trip to the Golden Mall (aka the most amazing place in the world) to get some authentic Chinese food. Yummy hand-pulled noodles and stuffed pork bao buns were the perfect carboloading for today.

2. Made it through the 15K without blowing out my knees! Low standards, I know, but seriously, I was crazy nervous earlier this week about the prospect of running 9.3 hilly miles in Central Park without incurring (additional) serious injury. Think my awesome new knee strap helped quite a bit. Not exactly the foxiest look out there but the straps did their job and kept my patellar tendon slightly in place. The pain only hit hard around mile 5 when it was time to climb back up Cougar Hill for the second time. Gutted it out and came in at 1:31, around a 9:45 pace. Pretty much the same pace as the 10 miler a month ago, but aerobically I felt that I could have gone a lot faster. Good to know for when my knees finally heal!

3.. Greg ROCKED the race and left slow-poke me behind to finish in 1:21, a 8:40 pace. Very impressive, especially since he's only been seriously running for around 3 months. Gonna keep that up for 56 miles at Comrades?

Up next: long runs in Alexandria next weekend and the NYRR/JPM Run as One four-miler in the Park on April 11th. Greg's sitting this one out as he'll be too busy getting his blackout on at a bachelor party in Philly, but the GTS runchers will be turning up for a short run then our typical AYCD brunch.

Weekly revelation: Missed runs equal cranky Monica

Apologizes for being a total slacker at posting over the past week. A manic week at work devoured all free time and any motivation to even look at a computer at night after living in front of one at the office. Promise to inundate y'all with my word vomit at least a few times this week.

So. About that running. Forced myself to take last Monday and Tuesday off after the back-to-back races. My knee has been acting up a bit the past couple weeks so I figured it was best to give it a little rest before throwing myself back into training. 4 weeks till the 15K and given my recent times I think it's totally possible to hit a sub-8:45 pace if I stick with the training plan. Oh and don't blow out my knee. Last thing I need is a case of ITB syndrome. Unfortunately, speaking of injuries, Smithies was taking it easy last week and sat out Sunday's 4 mile race in Prospect Park as it's looking more and more like he's got a bad case of planters fasciitis, which does not bode well for his running mission. Hopefully with a little more R&R he'll be back out on the road! I don't know how he's holding up - literally two days sans running had me going bat shit psycho. More so than usual.

Fast forward to Sunday, which was the NYRR Al Gordon 4 miler in Prospect Park. Great turn-out with over 9,000 runners braving the cold and icy paths. Luckily no falling tree branches (several people were killed in Central Park this week...) but the sidewalk and asphalt were definitely slick with black ice. The race route followed the same loop from last weekend's 10 miler, but rather than starting on a slight downhill, the 4 miler threw us smack onto the steepest incline for the first mile. Didn't mind getting it out of the way early on, but probably started out a bit fast, especially for uphill, clocking ~8:10 for at the first mile marker. Mile two was a series of undulating hills and by that point my right knee was being pretty vocal that I need to start doing freaking FLAT RACES. No more of this hilly crap - Comrades, what? Pretty much straight downhill for the third mile and then climbed a long gradual hill to the finish line. Finished in ~35 minutes at a bit over a 8:45 minute pace. Not too shabby and my best race finish yet for a 4 miler!

After the race, my legs were feeling pretty fresh so I decided to go on a scenic tour through Brooklyn and run home. Not that I exactly knew where I was going or anything as is pretty clear from the meandering route on the map... Only intended to run 7 to 8 miles back, but I got slightly detoured on Vanderbilt Avenue so the long run came out closer to 10 miles. Oops? Had fun exploring Prospect Heights though and discovered some super yummy looking restaurants that need to be tested (Le Gamin anyone?). Of course by this point, everything looked tasty because I was STARVING. Really should have eaten more of the post-race bagel since I was definitely not fueled up enough to run 10 miles. Minor details. It was my first time running across the Manhattan Bridge - lovely view up the river of Manhattan and luckily the bridge wasn't too swarmed with touristas since it was still pretty early in the morning. Once back on the island, just popped over to my standard running path along the East River, waved goodbye to Brooklyn and pushed the last couple of miles up to 10K pace (~9:00mm). All in all, almost 14 miles for the day so more than made up for the missed runs during the week!

Later in the day, I definitely made up for the lack of food with two lunches and then the Taste of 7th Street, where I snagged some arepas, a porchetta sandwich, lobster roll, two cupcakes, and a few beers for just $18. Amazing! If you haven't explored the ethnic culinary greatness of E7th St between Ave A and 1st Ave, do so immediately! It is a foodie's dream. And apparently a great place to get your eat on after long runs.

Up next: no races this weekend! Will do a long run on Saturday or Sunday and a few tempo runs this week to keep whittling away at my times. I have no doubt that work will give me plenty of frustration to pound out on a fast treadmill run...

Yes, we're just that hardcore

Overheard in Prospect Park
Random runner guy: So are you running the 3 mile relay or the 10 mile?
Spandex clad runner girl: Oh, just the 3 miler. I ran the Run for Haiti in Central Park yesterday so didn't want to overdo it.
Random runner guy: Good call. I saw the NYRR email about the Run for Haiti but didn't sign up since I had the Cherry Tree today. You'd have to be an idiot to do two races in a weekend.
Spandex clad runner girl: Absolutely - who would be that stupid?

Answer: Greg and I. That wasn't necessarily the most inspiring conversation to eavesdrop on as we waited in the cold to start the Prospect Park Cherry Tree 10 mile race this morning. 14 miles and a few minor/major injuries later, I'd say they weren't TOTALLY correct. Yes, I'll be quite sore tomorrow and probably should take the next two days off from running, but these were two of the most fun races I've ever done, not to mention both PBs.

Started off the weekend with NYRR's 4 mile Run for Haiti in Central Park on Saturdayy morning. Ah-mazing experience: 10,000 plus runners and walkers pitched up and raised over $400,000 for the Haitian Relief Fund. Smithies and I met up with Kristy to complete the GTS runner's trio. With lovely unseasonably warm weather and great energy from the crowd, it was hard not to get pumped up for the race. We all clocked in at a comfortable 36 minutes for the 4 miles. Despite being sick with NAIMUN plague, legs and lungs felt really solid and I'm sure I could have gone faster if the route hadn't been so packed with runners and I wasn't running another race the next day. Minor details.

Sunday morning brought far less running enthusiasm but a substantially longer goal. Total MTA malfunction meant that it was huge pain in the ass to get to Brooklyn. No F train equals 2 hour trip to Prospect Park. Not okay. Was definitely feeling more than just a little under the weather this morning and Smithies was sporting a very painful heel injury. Strike two. Of course, we were running the self titled "Race for the Hardcore" and the 900 runners out at the start line looked like they ate 10 miles for breakfast. Understatement of the week to say that we were feeling just a smidge intimidated.

Despite our trepidation, the race turned out fantastic! Neither of us had run in Prospect Park before so we were taken aback with the very hilly course. Let's just say by the third loop on the never ending stupidly steep hill, I had practically sworn of running for life and was intensely questioning why on earth we'd consider running 56 miles of hills at Comrades. I just concentrated on maintaining a consistent pace throughout the course and assumed that a great time was probably out of the picture given the course and my utter exhaustion.

False! Greg crossed the finish line at 1:32 (pace of ~9:11) and I followed shortly at 1:36 (~9:40 pace). Personal bests for both of us and also received super cute goody bags from the folks at Prospect Park Track Club. Very excited about Cherry Tree running cap and complimentary yoga class at Lulemon. Sadly we didn't stick around for the free massages since Greg had to go get his AYCD on and I had a bake-a-thon date with the girls. Perfect post race refueling :)


You can see us crossing the start line around 4:19. Wooo!

All-in-all, a fantastic weekend with a some pretty sweet running accomplishments. Definitely feeling much more confident that I'll be able to run March's 15K at a sub-9 minute pace and looking forward to next weekend's low-key 4 mile in Prospect Park.

P.S. photos of today's races are here!