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NYCM and the strangest holiday gift for a runner

November 7, 2011 by Kristy 11 Comments

Like most of you I was glued to both Twitter and live coverage of the NYCM yesterday. My butt didn’t leave the couch until noon. My random musings:

If Mary Keitany bottled up some of that blazing speed she had early on in the race (sub-5:10 pace in the early miles?!?!) and unleashed it during the later miles, she could have won. I’m shocked that she held the lead as long as she did (even surging a bit when Dado and Deba were in her sight). Even elites go out too fast!

Apolo Ohno (Olympic medalist and Dancing With The Stars winner – did you forget that one?) ran his first marathon in 3:25. Damn, that’s impressive. Speed skating must be excellent cross-training.

Ethan Zohn ran his second NYCM despite recently finding out that his cancer had returned. Extremely impressive. I’m a huge fan of Ethan and his hair 🙂 and have been since he won Survivor years ago.

Lauren Fleshman tweeted this post-race: I’m a marathoner! BonktASTic last 3 miles. If it didn’t hurt so bad I’d have been laughing at the loss of body control! I love her attitude and that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

Congrats to everyone who ran the NYCM! I hope you refueled last night with lots of food and beer!

A few days ago I was looking through my latest Runners World (page 55 if you want to see for yourself) and saw this:

It’s called a SWIH (So What It’s Hot –> I kid you not). Apparently it’s a personal water bottle holder. I can’t imagine how that is even feasible (it doesn’t bounce around?) OR comfortable. Not to mention it looks ridiculous.

Did you watch the NYCM on TV or (even better) in-person?

Is a SWIH on your holiday wish list?

Running On Fumes

November 5, 2011 by Kristy 8 Comments

11/5/11
14 miles / 2:01 / 8:39 avg pace

I’m a creature of routine. Every night before my long run I do the following (don’t mock me):

check the hourly forecast on weather.com
lay out my running clothes near my bed
lay out my hair bands, headband, Body Glide, sunscreen, Aquaphor (winter only), and contacts in my bathroom
lay out towels, ShotBloks, water bottle, and chocolate milk in the kitchen
set my alarm for some ungodly early hour

This sounds involved but I’ve been doing it for so long now I can easily pull everything together in 5-10 minutes. Then I literally roll out of bed the next morning and go. I don’t have to think about anything nor do I forget anything.

Last night Matt and I watched a movie (Crazy, Stupid Love – it was good) and then a few episodes of House Hunters and I was feeling lazy and tired so I just went to bed – no long run prep. I also slept in since it was freezing out (the later I go running, the warmer it is!). After rolling out of bed at 7:30 (unheard of for me, I’m usually a few miles into my run by then), I slowly got ready and started running at 8:30.

I knew what was coming. And cursed myself for staying in bed so long. My stomach growled at mile 2. Crap. I don’t eat before any of my runs (read why here) and since I’m generally done running at 8:30 and about to eat breakfast, I never get hungry during a long run…even 22 miles. So not good. I ate 3 ShotBloks and felt a little bit better. Thankfully, I brought a few extra with me just in case.

Two and a half packs of ShotBloks later, I was done and booking it back to my car for some chocolate milk. I eat that many ShotBloks for a marathon! Too many for such a short distance. Ugh.

I also forgot to put on sunscreen and Body Glide. Damn chafing and sun damage!

Moral of the story: get your butt out of bed early and lay out everything ahead of time.

Do you have a long run routine? Do you find yourself sleeping in a bit more now that the weather is colder? I’m so guilty of this, especially since I’m not technically training for anything right now.

Best of luck to everyone running the NYC marathon tomorrow, especially Meggie, Kelly, Keri, Katie, and Susan!!!!!

November Race Goals

November 3, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

I have 2 races scheduled so far in November: a 12K on 11/12 and the Philly HM on 11/20. I’m mulling over running this Turkey Trot for fun on Thanksgiving Day. And I’m scoping out a low-key 5K in early December. Low-key = not many fast runners, so I have a chance to place in my AG. I have no shame.

Back to the 12K and HM. The only reliable, recent race time I have is my 1:19 finish at the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in April. Since the 12K is a little under 10 miles (7.45) and the HM a little over, this should be a good predictor. And…bonus, I know my speed has improved since April 🙂

My goal for the 12K is to start just under 8:00 pace and drop it down from there. I know I’ll be hating life early on from oxygen deprivation. I don’t want to be too balls-to-the-wall about my pace in the beginning cause I’ll just end up crashing. It’s an interesting distance, 7.45 miles. It’ll be a PR regardless of time since the 12K distance is new to me.

For the HM, I want a sub-1:45. I won’t be happy with anything in the 1:45 range. Plain and simple!

I’m itching to race again but also dreading these races at the same time. The way I see it, there are essentially 2 types of race day pain: the marathon pain (my-legs-hurt-I-can’t-go-another-step-please-make-this-stop) and oxygen deprivation/lung pain. Personally, I’ll take marathon pain any day. I hate when my lungs are screaming and I’m in that “no talk” zone. Case and point why I would rather run 20 miles over a 5K.

Any November races? I know many of you are doing the Philly HM or Marathon! I hope to see you there!

Which race day pain do you prefer: marathon pain or oxygen deprivation/lung pain?

Smile

November 1, 2011 by Kristy 18 Comments

11/1/11
7 miles
*6 x 800m at 1oK pace (7:30 pace)

Things that are making me smile today…

1. An unoccupied track this morning! Last week there was a team there practicing at 6:30AM. Totally foiled my plans.

2. A great Halloween with Matt and Hawk.

3. Leftover Halloween candy

4. The Philly Half Marathon is 20 days away. I’m itching to race again!

5. Fall weather! Rumor has it by the middle of the week it’ll be back in the high 50s/low 60s. No more snow!

What’s your favorite Halloween candy? I would have to say Reese’s cups are the best. And 3 Musketeers bars.

How much candy did you eat? We only had 1 trick-or-treater (unreal!) and a bag of candy leftover. You do the math…

Winter in October

October 31, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

The title of this post is simply obnoxious. Just 3 short weeks ago I was laying on the beach writing a post called “Summer in October“. Snow in October is just wrong.

Thankfully, Saturday was a planned rest day so I didn’t have to brave the cold and snow for a long run. We did have 2 parties to go to. The first was a Halloween party for Hawk hosted by our dog walker. We decided to swing by at the last minute since it wasn’t too far away. Hawk got 3rd place for his costume. Personally, Matt and I think he was robbed. First place went to a lab dressed as a cop. Totally unoriginal. Coincidentally, the owner of the lab was also the mayor of our town (I had no clue we even had a mayor), so I think she swayed the judges. Come on, how cute is this little lobster? If you care, 2nd place went to a tiny poodle dressed as a clown.

We left the Halloween party, dropped Hawk off, and then headed out to Jersey. We had a mini-Mains birthday to celebrate! We got stuck in terrible traffic due to all the accidents caused by the snow (it took us 30 minutes to go 1 mile). We ended up turning around since the roads were so bad. I was bummed. I was so looking forward to seeing everyone. Happy 1st Birthday Michael! I hope you enjoyed your cake 🙂

The rest of the day was spent catching up on DVR…Amazing Race and Dexter.

On Sunday I went out for a 6-miler around 11:30am. I wanted some snow to melt and the temps to warm up a bit. I felt so bad for all the MCMers freezing at the start. It was probably good race weather once you got warmed up but I’m sure waiting in the early AM was agony. Congrats to everyone who ran the race!

Happy Halloween! We get to torture Hawk again tonight with his costume.

Thankful

October 28, 2011 by Kristy 9 Comments

10/28/11
8 miles / 1:10 / 8:45 avg pace
*Pure exhaustion. That sums up today’s run!

I’m thankful that Matt is coming home today. I didn’t mention this (in case there are any creepers that troll the blog) but he has been away for work for 2 weeks. Two weeks is a long time. I cannot wait to see him tonight.

I’m thankful for lululemon priiti crops. I bought them last weekend and wore them 3 times already this week – for yoga and running. They are amazing.

I’m thankful that Saturday is a rest day. Enough said!

I’m thankful to see the Mains tomorrow.

I’m thankful my hamstring, hip, and glute are starting to feel better on their own. I won’t begin ART until next week but this is a good sign.

I’m thankful that my family is healthy. A year ago my Dad had a double bypass. He is 100% recovered and good as new.

What are you thankful for? Big or small…

GOOD LUCK to all the MCMers this Sunday! I’m very jealous; it’s my favorite marathon. I cannot wait to read all your race recaps next week!