Another Sunday another long run, this one was an organized run by the NYRR, the ING NYC Marathon Tune-Up and 18 mile long run around Central Park.
The weather was perfect early in this morning for the 7am start, which is not really a fun hour to be out and ready to run. This meant a 5:45am wake up this morning and walking out to a neighborhood with people still coming home from the night before. Man do I miss those days and plan to have one after November 4, 2007, in the meantime it is early to bed and early to rise.
At the starting line I met up with on my training partners Mario and we took off through the crowds. Even though this was not a race it was chip timed and it still took me over 2 minutes to get to the starting line after the gun. This is due to huge crowds who just line up in the front of the pack and not according to their planned by per mile pace. This is a huge pet peeve of mine, worthy of its own post.
Mario and I took off with the plan to run easy and make sure to keep a conversational pace, which for us is 7:45 -8:00 per mile for an 18-20 mile run, about 1 minute slower than our race pace. Thanks to timers on the course and a Mario’s Garmin GPS watch we were able to maintain this pace mile after mile except for the first 2 miles which we had to run 8:45 and 8:30 due to the crowds. After that it was smooth sailing with me talking/yapping the whole way to our mini pace group that we put together of 5 guys, including a guy with the sweetest dreadlocks I have seen on a runner in a long time.
We completed the run in 2:22 about an average 7:55 pace and then I took off for another 2 miles to round it out and get my 20 miles in.
This run was a really morale booster for me because of my time but more important was great to see over 3,000 people out there for this 18 miler, which for many is the longest they have ever run in their lives.
Today the Dukes of Flatbush came out for a one mile race down 5th Avenue in NYC, the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. This is a nice quick race that surprisingly takes a lot of you. Try running a mile flat out and see how you feel after.
The race starts on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue near East 80th Street, in the heart of “Museum Mile.” From there it heads one mile south on Fifth Avenue to the finish at East 60th Street.
I did not get a chance to see the world class athletes compete, which I regret because I would have loved to see Alan Webb win the race in a blazing 3:52.7. Under four minutes for a mile is just mind FAST.
Up for tomorrow - ING NYC Marathon Tune-up - 18 mile organized run with another 2 miles on the end just to get the 20 miler in
| Last Name | First Name | Sex/ Age |
Team | City | State | Overall Place |
Gender Place |
Age Place |
Net Time |
||||||
| E | J | M35 | DOFB | NEW YORK | NY | 543 | 511 | 193 | 05:45 | ||||||
| F | E | F32 | DOFB | NEW YORK | NY | 1602 | 275 | 96 | 06:50 |
Every few months work calls and I must travel to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, which I may not love due to the distance and the food, but happens to be an incredible place to run.
Here is a map of Nova Scotia for those of you who have no idea where Yarmouth is
Running in Yarmouth is not a regular activity as people slowed down to gawk as I ran down the road and shook their heads in amazement. What is amazing about it is that Yarmouth has some of the best running conditions I have ever experienced. Beautiful trails along the harbor that lead into an old railroad path in a wetlands preserve. Along a 15K run I saw deer, rabbits, birds and beautiful flowers and not a single human being.
For those looking to run in Yarmouth give me a shout and I will happily give you directions to some of the best running around.
So I am about to get a little technical here, but we are all adults so I think it is safe. The item for today is VO2 Max and this can be defined as follows:
VO2 max is properly defined by the Fick Equation:
where Q is the cardiac output of the heart, CaO2 is the arterial oxygen content, and CvO2 is the venous oxygen content.
In English this means in sports where endurance is an important component in performance, such as long distance running, world class athletes typically have high VO2 maximums. World class male athletes, cyclists and cross-country skiers typically exceed 80 ml/kg/min and a rare few may exceed 90 ml/kg/min for men and 70 ml/kg/min for women.
What my VO2 max is a mystery to me as I have never been tested, this what the testing looks like this:
I am working to increase it through specific training runs. The ideal is to run intervals of 1200 meters at a 5K pace with 2 minute “jogs” in between to cool down. Well I ran 5 intervals of 1200m at a 7:00/mile pace after warming up with a 2 mile run and then another 2 miles to cool off. It was a great workout and felt great right after, what I did not count on was the next day.
Today I ran a nice, easy 10 mile run and my legs felt like they weighed 100 pounds each. I hope the intensity training is worth it because stairs are now my greatest enemy and cement blocks on my feet would be a relief.
After some experimentation with different running shoes I am going back to my favorites- Brooks Axiom 2. These are the shoes I ran last years marathon in and will run this years in as well.
They may not be the coolest looking shoe, but it is hard to find a lightweight trainer that has stability and feel really good. Did I mention these are about 10oz. compared to 13oz. for most shoes in this category.
Countdown to the start, November 4, 2007 NYC Marathon
54 Days
This is getting scary, but I think I am back near my training plan. Ran 40 miles last week including a 16 mile long run.
Here is what lies ahead
This morning was surprisingly hot and humid morning for the NYRR Fitness Games 4 mile run. The race was split into Men and Women and thankfully the men got to run first at 8:30am because by 9:30am the heat was on.
Since I am still coming off an injury, have a 16 mile run planned for tomorrow and trying to take it easy I decided I was not going full out for this race and run sub-7:00/miles. This hope was almost destroyed when I ran into Mario at the start, one of my Marathon training partners from last season and a fast runner. Mario has run Comrades Ultramarathon this year in South Africa (see earlier post) and is also training for this years NYC Marathon and did I mention fast.
Right then I had to make a decision to leave Mario as he was planning on running 6:30/miles and I was not ready for that pace. The field was not too crowded and I was able to run without the usual jostling at the start. First mile was run at exactly 7:00 minutes and I felt pretty good, the second mile was another 7:00 minutes and still feeling good but decided to dial it back. The course was coming into unshaded area and it was hot, so took a little gas off. Ran the next 2 miles at a 7:30 pace and finished in 29:06, pretty much what I wanted.
I have to give a shout out to Eve F, the only other DOFB member to make it this morning for this run. She had it worse than me starting an hour later and I know it was bad when her text just said “Hot, Ugh!”. Even with those conditions looks like she ran the race in 33:32, an 8:23/mile pace. Nice work!!
This message below is from DOFB member Birch Shambaugh who will be running the NYC Marathon this year with Fred’s Team, a worthy charity. Please read below and encourage you to click on the link and make a donation
__________________________________________________________________________
Dear friends and family,
Howdy all - I’m writing to tell you about my latest endeavor and to court
your support. I’m currently training to run the NYC marathon again and
this time will be running to raise money for Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s
Fred’s Team. Fred’s Team is an excellent program which helps raise money
to battle Cancer. While running the marathon is itself a personally
rewarding goal, running it for a larger cause makes the effort far more
meaningful.
Sadly, cancer is a personal issue for nearly everyone. If you don’t know
someone whose had to fight it in one for or another, you’re a very rare
and lucky person. Cancer research and treatment centers like
Sloan-Kettering in New York and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa (where
Fayth’s father Fritz was treated) are at the leading edge of laboratory
and clinical research and provide advanced treatments that offer hope and
can save lives.
Fred’s Team is raising money for the Aubrey Fund for Pediatric Cancer
Research which specializes in treating a number of types of cancer in
children, especially cancers of the blood and lymph system like acute
lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It’s my hope this small effort will help do
some good in the fight to save lives, buy time and reduce heartache. If
you feel like supporting the cause, please visit my donation web page
where you can also learn all you may want to know about Memorial
Sloan-Kettering and Fred’s Team.
https://fredsteam.mskcc.org
=38118&event_id=53
Thanks for your time and I hope this finds all well.
Love,
-birch
Well the summer if officially over and this is when the fall running season really kicks in. The weather is usually perfect for running and I know the Dukes are going to be out there and running. Our first run for the fall season will be this Saturday in Central Park - fitness® Mind, Body, Spirit 4-mile run: 8:30 a.m.
On a personal note, I am finally getting back into running form, even though I am still well behind in my training for the NYC Marathon. This past week I finally ran over 30 miles, and most importantly a long run of 13 miles.
The long run was done at the Dukes of Flatbush retreat and wellness center in Shelter Island. I wish I had been injury free this summer to take advantage of the great terrain and fantastic views out on Shelter Island and am happy I was able to get a final long run in before the end of the summer.
Here is the obligatory end of summer, sunset picture from Wades Beach on Shelter Island to close out this season. Hope to have pics from the race up next week
DOFB
