Even though I didn’t update my blog at all last week, it was still quite productive. As I recapped in my last post, last Sunday I ran 15 miles, mostly flat, and and at a nice slow touring pace. Definitely some aches and pains during the run, but all in all, it was great. Looking forward to a faster and more challenging 15 miles in the next 2 weeks. Gotta pump up the miles if I hope to beat 4:30 in the marathon!
48 hours after the long run, on Tuesday night, I was back in action. The speed workout in class this week was 1.25 mile repeats along the East River, starting at 82nd St. I cut the workout short (2 repeats instead of 4) since I was recovering from the long run, but I was glad I was able to get out there and run hard without pain only 2 days after the 15 miler. Covered the 1.25 mile repeats in 9:53 and 9:50. Not bad – better than 8 min per mile pace.
On Thursday night, I intended to run 5.2 easy miles. The 5.2 mile course near my apartment comprises of 2 loops around Stuyvesant Town, using the service roads and hitting each of the 4 loops, running against traffic. This is a common run for me when I don’t feel like leaving my neighborhood, especially in the wintertime. Got a very late start, about 10:15 PM. It was a clear night and I was able to see a very cool looking 2/3 moon rise over the East River! When I finished the first 2.6 mile loop in a pedestrian 25:30, I kicked it up for the 2nd loop and finished that loop in 23:15. Total for 5.2 miles was 48:45, about 9:22 pace.
On the injury front, I’ve had lots of minor ones over the years. One of my recurring themes has been tendinitis in the right knee (others are back pain and plantar fasciitis). For me, the trick to solving knee tendinitis is finding the exact pain point and applying ice. A few months ago, I started feeling the tendinitis coming on again, but could not pinpoint the exact pain point (easier said than done – most of the time, the pain point is NOT in the knee). Interestingly enough, with this bout, I did not feel any pain at all while running, only when resting and flexing the knee. So, I kind of ignored it. Finally, on my Thursday run, the knee was bothering me a little during the run, so decided it was finally time to take care of it. I was able to locate the source of the pain (back of leg about halfway up between the knee and the hip) and have started a regiment of ice. Hopefully, the pain will melt away in the coming days!
Finished the week off with a great bike ride today. Total of about 28 miles, up the Hudson River and over the George Washington Bridge to Palisades State Park. Ended up at the Ross Dock section, which is the first stop point when you enter the park from the GW Bridge. I look forward to exploring more of the park in the future, all the way up north to the NY State Line and the New York section of the park.
Upcoming race: 9/6 is the fitness Mind Body, Spirit Games – this is a 4 mile race, and I intend to use it as a time trial. My NYRR start time is based on 8:15, my fastest pace per mile for any race over 1 mile. I did this about 1 year and a half ago in a 5k race. I’m hoping the weekly speed workouts will help me finish somewhere between 32 and 33 minutes. My fastest 4 mile run was 33:44 back in December 2001.
Looking ahead, the following week is the Queens Half Marathon, where I finished in a disappointing 2:06 last year. I’ll be looking to get under 2 hours this year.
