Summer Streets!

Today’s Workout: 4 Miles, Easy

Health Check: I've been feeling pretty tired on on "rest" days, so I've been taking full advantage of my couch on those days. Must mean I am working hard during my runs!

After this weekend’s heat, I am READY for the fall. Bring on the sweaters and booties please.

But until then, I’m trying to make the best of the heat. I’m trying to use a glass-half-full-attitude to convince myself that runs will be much easier come the fall, not to mention how grateful I am that I do not live an inch closer to the equator.

I had a relatively short long-run on the schedule this past weekend, and had Keith to accompany me on the trek (YAY). The weather report for our run? 8:57AM Saturday morning: 82 degrees. Yikes.

We headed into queens, starting our run chatty and energized. There were lots of runners and bikers already out, perhaps also trying to beat the heat, and by the time we got to the Queensboro Bridge, I was feeling nice and warmed up.

Cue the low point of the run - the slowww incline up the Bridge, where there is no shade and apparently no wind. Conversation subsided, and we took our time getting into Manhattan.

Keith and I made it to Park Ave, where pedestrians were in full force, and our endorphins kicked in.  We made it to Summer Streets!!!

We jogged several blocks and started picking off people we wanted to run past. That seemed to be working for Keith but I could only keep it up for about two blocks. Damn my slow-twitch fibers.

My favorite part of Summer Streets by far is Grand Central. You get to run through the cool tunnels that are often only seen from the inside of a cab. It makes you feel like Will Smith in “I Am Legend.” (Not that I’ve seen that movie or anything…)

This reference is a little obsucre, I admit.

The last few miles went by fast. There was a shirtless dude that was about 50 ft in front of us, and Keith and I made it our goal to pass him. So we picked up the pace and it was mission accomplished. Thus explaining the fast split at the end of a hot, hot run.

I was very impressed with Keith’s performance, since he’s more of a gym-goer than a runner. I was even more impressed with the amount of sweat we both produced. It was not a pretty sight.

During the last mile, I was seriously looking forward to the breakfast spot we were going to check out after the run. It was a cute little diner on 1^st Ave called the Ritz (not to be confused with the hotel chain. Absolutely no relation).

This fun run made me realize a few things about training:

Change is good.

I always run the same routes in Brooklyn – for anything under 10 miles (mostly weekday runs), I find it hard to change it up. But I’m going to make it a priority to try new running paths during my long runs, because Saturday’s run was awesome, and this city is worth exploring!

Mind over matter.

Keith usually doesn’t run over 3 miles when he hits the pavement. Yet on Saturday, he was able to finish 7, on a hilly and hot route with a smile on his face. I want to keep this in mind for difficult runs in the future (ahem, two 20-milers on the training plan sjflskjdfldskj). It’s a good reminder that working on mental techniques is just as important as the physical component. No matter the weather or the mileage, I can do it!

This week I will be starting to get into higher mileages, and I want to make sure I do all my runs, and at the required paces. I've been changing my plan around a bit because of my knee, and I want to get back on track. Begin Week 4 of Marathon Training!!!

Good Food, Good (and bad) TV

Today’s Workout: 5 miles, easy

Health Check: I feel awesome! But I need to add more veggies, and subtract greasy food from this week’s diet.

I headed home to the lovely state of New Jersey on Thursday evening. I had been looking forward to going home - the summertime, while kind to my social calendar, is unkind to my wallet. A few home cooked meals and some uninterrupted sleep was just what I needed.

My mom made an amazing meal Thursday night – pork chops and Spanish rice. It must have caused a food coma, since I began watching a movie with my family and fell asleep… at 9:45. Perfection (we were also watching Dante’s Peak, which I loved as a kid. But 13-year-old Kate did not, as it turns out, have Oscar-winning film taste).

Whatever. I still love this movie.

I skipped my run on Friday per Dr. Ngo’s orders, and was happy to take the day off. My knee was feeling loads better, and I’m not one to turn down time on the couch with my fam.

On Saturday morning, my dad and I hit the pavement to find unwavering humidity in the air. Papa Wyman was my amazing pit crew, as he biked next to me and handed me my water bottle at every mile. I took several walk breaks to minimize some of the impact on my knee, but overall felt great. I was scheduled to do 9 miles, and ran the first 7 with my dad, so the first hour or so flew by. I was solo on the last two miles, which seemed to drag on with intense heat. Anyone else ready for fall?

I started out intentionally slow, and picked up the pace in the middle. It started to get really hot by the end, so I slowed down a bit. I tried to speed up during mile 9, and even though I felt like I was going at an 8:00 pace, the heat fooled me once again.

I got the royal treatment after my hot run – I was allowed to stretch in my parents’ living room in the cool AC in my sweaty, sweaty clothes, almost immediately washed and dried aforementioned sweaty, sweaty clothes, and found an English muffin breakfast sandwich waiting for me right after my amazing shower. This is why I love doing my long runs at home.

They are too cute!

How is it possible I made it this far without once mentioning the Olympics? I’m not quite sure, but I'm about to change that.

I'm placing all my bets on you, Gabs.

MVP of the Opening Ceremony in pink

I watched the majority of the Opening Ceremony, and realized that I really need to work on my world geography (not quite sure about that pastoral/bedtime bit, but I do love that Kenneth Branagh was an MC of sorts). I also caught a fair amount of swimming, gymnastics, archery, table tennis, volleyball, and fencing. Gymanstics still remains the fave, and fencing is really boring. I don’t know how it works, and I can never tell who stabbed who first.

After Keith and I spent much of the afternoon watching the Olympics on Sunday, we headed over to a new cute diner in Williamsburg called Blue Collar. People have been drawing comparisons to In-N-Out Burger, which Keith and I tried in California, and I can understand why. It’s a no-frills counter-service restaurant, that has about 10 menu items, but everything is delicious and cheap. The cheeseburger was so good that I didn’t even need to eat it with ketchup (perhaps the second time that has ever happened in my life).

Mmmm...

To walk off our burgers, we decided to head over to the ferry dock in Greenpoint where you can catch a good look at the East River and Manhattan. We were lucky to see a storm that was brewing over the city, and obviously did some instagraming.

It was a good little weekend, and now I have my third week of marathon training to look forward to. It’s a “step-back” week, so nothing crazy to write home about – but I will be doing my first official “hill” training this week (and considering I’ve been running the flatlands of Greenpoint recently, it should make things interesting).

Here’s to a week of Olympic watching, and making dents in my couch. You're more than welcome to join me.