Check marks the box

Snow

Week 3's goal board was pretty extensive and a little more specific. Now that indoor season's on the verge of starting up and I will likely be racing my first race of the season in 4 or so weeks I'm starting to go into crunch mode. One of the big things I want to get in check is my weekly mileage. I've never really been one to fret over how many miles a week I'm doing, I'm a sprinter it doesn't really matter as much. But my plans are changing and that means I need to make changes. I really want to concentrate on going a little longer indoors, and improving my 800 tenfold, this all to hopefully help out my endurance for the hurdles outdoors. I had a great improving season for my 8 last year but I want to continue that. Even though I'm a 400-800 800 runner (for those who don't know what that means, it basically means I train better with speed than with volume. I'd go deeper into the nitty gritty of training of the half mile but it's pretty complicated) I realized that my 5-10 mile a week regime probably isn't going to cut it to go much faster than my 2:19 PR.
First goal up 24 miles for the week. Although that might sound like a paltry number, it is quite the task for me to hit. My track workouts at best hit 3000m which it's only 1.89 miles, usually only one of my days of 3 hit that high, typically the rest are between 1000-2000. Combine that with a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown I'm ranging from 2.5mi to 4mi, times 3 that doesn't add up to be much. I have 2 rest days that leaves me with 2 days to make up a lot of miles to get to 24. I can take away one of those rest days but still quite a bit of ground to cover and as I get older my recovery time lengthens so that 2nds day is often necessary. All logistics (or we could say excuses) I need and will find a way to get it done.
Lucky for me funky weather has had it's eye on NYC (not so lucky for those still out of power and such from the hurricane that hit only a week ago. My heart aches for them). Wednesday threw in a Nor'easter with a dumping of snow. What do I love more than running, running in crazy weather. I've said it before and I continue to say it, I'm weird. This helped my mileage out for the sake that Wed was one of my off days and Tues track workout was super fast super short stuff (no real mileage there). I ended up going for a 3 miler in the snow, getting me closer to my goal.
By the time Sunday rolled around my days had added up perfectly for the 7 mile long run I planned (the 2nd goal) to equal out my 24 miles. The 7 miles def was no easy feat either, by my lonesome nonetheless, but I proudly chomped through it.
As for the rest of my goal board, I faired pretty well. I missed another stupid lift day, still mad at myself for that and really it's just me being lazy. The nutrition end I missed 8oz of water the 1st day but then rallied back the rest of the week never missing my min mark. And my sweet tooth got me an extra day. Overall I'm not too disappointed with my week. Baby steps to progression.

HurrIcan(e)

My stormy run

This week started off with a (for lack of better description) bang, New York City and the eastern coast were set to be pummeled by Hurricane Sandy. With the subway shut down, carless, on a tight budget that does not allow cabs, and friends not living close by I was stuck in my house by myself for the duration. I might add I don't sit still very well and LOVE storms. I'm that crazy person that wants to be outside experiencing crazy mother nature, I envy the weather people. I'm weird I know this. I think I make a lot of people worry because of my fascination with awry weather, but I am not completely reckless in thinking I'm invincible from the wrath of MN. Anywho around 1 pm I couldn't take the sitting and waiting so I turned on the tv to check out the prognosis of where and when this hurricane was supposed to hit the NYC area the hardest, it was still 6ish hours away. I couldn't take it so I weather proofed myself laced up the kicks and journeyed out for a run. It was pretty windy, not as wet as I thought. On my journey to crazy land, I learned I was not the only screw loose person out for a run in the madness (this even more solidifies runners are a different breed of people). I stayed on the high line route of the Hudson (see I used my smarts and didn't sneak under the police tape to go down near the water) and went with an out and back 4 miler with a brief stop to capture a quick photo to catalogue. The 2 miles out I had a huge tail wind, so much that mile 2 was a blistering 5:50, I was flying. Mile 3/4 brought me the head wind, a few times with the gusts I thought I was running in place. Then when I was done strangely the rain and wind stopped, seriously, it was an eerie quiet calm. I took that moment to stretch and enjoy it since I knew after that point I'd be stuck in my house again.
The rest of my week just kinda went by. Tuesday I went on a walk/jog to survey the damage, upper manhattan was spared, from the look of news and photos lower manhattan was not. Wednesday parks were still closed which meant tracks were closed, though I stumbled upon Riverbank track open when I went for my run later in the evening. I stopped mid run went into the track did some drills in the infield then did a couple r150's then went back to my run. I was having track withdrawls since I hadn't done a track workout in almost a week. Thursday Columbia was back in the game so I went up there to do a workout by myself with the mid distance folks in the background. Then my schedule kinda went awry. I picked up a few extra shifts at my restaurant, since no one could really train due to transportation being uber limited. Of course the more hours I work there the harder it is to get my own workouts in, standing 6-8 hours holds unconducive to training. Going before leaves me in pain during, going after it's either too late or my body is completely shot. It's my best excuse and I fell trap to it. Sadly it left my board missing a link. One run shy, one lift shy. I will give myself credit for procuring a 6 mile run in my mix bag week. On to a new week of goals

It's raining men

Torrential down pours for a lovely Saturday morning hill workout.

Weather or not

Come rain, shine, sleet, snow, wind. hot or cold, you better believe I will still train. This might be area that most people peg me in the "crazy" zone. Though I guess they might be right, whereas most of the population tends to seek weather as their number 2 reason (time being #1) for skipping out on workouts, I on the other hand embrace it with open arms. The wackier the weather the more I want to stick my head in it and push to be in the thick of it. There's something so satisfying when I finish a workout in adverse conditions. Sometimes it's knowing that  most everyone else is avoiding it, that I take pleasure in knowing that I conquered it. Sometimes it's the blissful state it puts me in, because it's serene and quite during those times. And sometimes it's just the fact that I can't afford to miss out on a training session just because the conditions aren't favorable.  Though I thrive on adversity, don't get me wrong I do love when the weather is optimum, because I get to see what my body can really do.
My training this week was a tough one. I'm continuing to push my boundaries (in a good way). Monday I got to catch up with a friend who I was oddly thinking about a few days before but had lost her contact info. A used to be track runner turned road warrior we would occasionally meet up for longish runs when I moved to NY. She's a perfect balance to my gruff intensity, she slows me down to good pace. I needed to get in a 30min run and she was looking for someone to trot through Central Park with, perfect.
Tuesday we churned out 3 600's, I surprised myself with the 1st one hitting my target time, fell off on the 2nd, but was able to somewhat recover myself on the 3rd. Thursday was just as hard but in a different ballgame. The temperature had dropped to the 40's and it was pouring rain. While the short sprinters hung under the dry safety of the eves for some suicides, my training partner, a distance teammate, and myself endured the freezing cold rain (that I'm pretty sure was hail at some point) for rounds of 150's.

You can't see it but the rain was steadily coming down

 Saturday I was supposed to meet up with an old GBTC teammate for a workout, was planning on plyos but what started as rain caused for a change of plan as well as my unmindfulness to actually set a time to meet. I woke up to the sloshing of rain streaming down, no jumps today, so longish it run it will be. After sending a few text messages and not hearing back (no big deal, since I hadn't specified when I wanted to run) I decided I had to just get out there and do it before it gets too late and I skipout. I gear up for a wet run, then about at my halfway turn around spot low and behold I start to see white. Thankfully not the white where I'm about to pass out, but large honking white mounds. It's October and yes it's snowing. I was the only mad woman out there splashing away and slowly becoming a snowman. Alas it needed to be done and I got it done. Somehow though my frosted brain I was able to think ahead for Sunday's workout and plan a time to meet up with the visiting partner in crime. Since the ground was still covered in snow my plyo workout was thwarted yet again, jumping on snow covered grass is a little risky and an injury waiting to happen (I'm insane but not reckless). I opted to take my friend through Central Park, we had a good catch up, which meant that we clearly were not running near as fast as we probably should have. Eh either way we still managed to run at a semi decent pace for 4.5 miles so I can't complain and I did 4.5 miles(though as a distance-esque runner it may not have been optimum for her).
Another week on the books and I'm feeling like a kid waiting for Christmas, except my Christmas is track season (which coincidentally starts about the same time).