My better half

Another long stretch has passed since I’ve had the time and interest to make a post.  Life seems to pretty much consist of the same old stuff each day, and my running has left a lot to be desired.  For the past ten weeks, I’ve been training for the NYC Half-Marathon, and most of my training runs have been below my target pace and definitely lacking energy.  To be sure, I’m thankful for the 30-60 minutes I get three or four times during the week, and for the almost two hours afforded for my long runs every Sunday (thanks entirely to my amazing husband).  But I haven’t been very proud of what I’ve been able to achieve during these runs, and most of the time I’ve finished feeling woefully unprepared and like I’m actually getting in worse and worse shape, if that’s possible.  So by the time last Saturday rolled around, I found myself feeling both nervous and hopeless on the eve of the race.  Fast forward to Sunday post-race, however, and I was basking in the glow of what actually turned out to be one of my most memorable and enjoyable weekends in a long time.

On Friday night, Zdenek and I hobnobbed with the likes of Kara Goucher, Meb Keflezighi, and Desiree Davilia at one of New York’s swankiest residential buildings.  Though I probably drank three glasses of wine too many, it was a wonderful night that served to remind me how much I love this sport and admire those who do it so well.  I also managed to corner Mary Wittenberg, head of the New York Road Runners, and promptly tell her that I would like her job (she didn’t offer it, unfortunately).  

The night before the big race, Zdenek gave me a heartfelt and much-needed pep talk.  I didn’t feel super confident when he was done, but at least I knew that my biggest fan was still there no matter what happened on Sunday morning.

And then, on Sunday morning, I ended up running what I would consider to be one of my best races.  Sure, I didn’t crack 1:40 like I was hoping, but I came awfully close.  I knocked 90 seconds off my half-marathon PR (and all four of my previous times have been within 30 seconds of each other, so this was a big step for me).  But the best part was that I took the first six miles easy (just as my pep talker advised), and I flew (as much as I can fly) for the last half.  From mile nine onwards, I passed 99% of the runners ahead of me.  Several things kept me going:

• I  thought a lot about the 14 mile treadmill training run I did back in Mexico in January -- two hours in a stifling hot gym, all alone, facing the window with the blazing sun in my eyes.  It was the most unenjoyable run I had over those ten weeks, and no run down the west side of Manhattan could feel worse than that!

• With four miles to go, I thought, "It's just one middle loop of Central Park."  With three miles, "It's just once around the bridle path from home and back."  With two miles, "Just a little more than one jaunt around the reservoir."  Thank goodness for Central Park and the thousands of runs I've done there over the years!

• I thought about Zdenek and how much support he offers, and Ryder and how cute he is (because he's not yet that supportive), and the fact that becoming a mother hasn't completely taken running out of my life as I had once feared.

And it worked.  I eeked out 7:10-7:15 minutes/mile for the last four miles, and my last mile (which included an uphill!) was my fastest of the race: 7:08!!   Most amazing of all, I felt strong and fast at the finish, and almost as if I could have cranked out another mile at that pace (fortunately, I didn’t have to find out whether that was true or not).  And as I crossed over the finish line, who was there to say, “Congratulations,” and give me a hug?  Mary Wittenberg!  Amazingly, she recognized me from Friday night among a sea of 15,000 other runners.  I felt like Kara.  Kind of.

I’ve always thought that half-marathons are 75% of the training effort and only 50% of the reward of a full marathon, and so not really worth it.  But last weekend’s experience changed that for me.  I learned that it is possible to run a hard, fast half; that a full marathon probably won’t afford you the chance to finish feeling strong and energetic, which is  a special feeling at the end of a race; and that a great race is 100% of the reward, no matter the distance.  A few days on, I’m left wondering whether I went out too slowly and perhaps didn’t leave it all on the road – after all, if I had energy to run another mile, perhaps I didn’t run hard enough.  Maybe I could have broken 1:40?  Or maybe going out any faster would have backfired in the second half of the race, as it almost always does?  It’s hard to say.  I think  I need to run another one soon to try to figure it out.

A rude awakening

While home in Canada over the Christmas break, I purchased a lottery ticket as I do, for some reason, every time I am visiting Canada. I never purchase lottery tickets here in the U.S., and I never purchased them regularly when I lived in Canada. But once or twice a year, I shell out $2 to play my chances at winning millions (tax-free). I never win. I did, however, win a different kind of lottery over the holidays: the New York Road Runners lottery for the NYC half-marathon, March 18.

Hooray?

It's now just over nine weeks until race day, and though I am running 30-40 miles per week, most of those miles are slow, and about half of them are lumped into the weekend. Proper training for a half-marathon demands speedier, longer runs mid-week, and I currently don't have much time for more than four miles before work.  Frankly, I'm not sure I have the energy, either.

In a determined effort to launch my half-marathon training this week with a speedwork session, however, I set my alarm for 5 am on Tuesday (so that, hopefully, I'd be home in time to look after Ryder while Zdenek got ready for work). But my Tuesday morning workout ended up sucking for a number of reasons:

1. I was totally exhausted. 
2. I had no time to make/drink coffee, and no time to take an, ahem, "natural break" before leaving the apartment. 
3. The Park was pitch black and kind of deserted. 
4. I couldn't run on the reservoir where the distances are marked because it was so dark, so I ran on the road with all of the other hardcore nuts who are out there at 5:20 am.  This meant that I had no idea how far/fast I was running. For all I know, I worked too hard or not hard enough (the latter is more likely). 
5. About 20 minutes in, I had to take a natural break -- and speedwork is possibly the worst thing to be doing when you have to take natural break -- but the Park's public restrooms weren't yet open and I'll be damned if I was going to go back home after I had gotten up so early. 
6. I finally headed to the reservoir to finish some of my shorter intervals. Though I could barely see the distance markers, it was far worse that I could barely see the ground, and that path is not completely even.  I was literally fumbling in the dark, and am lucky I didn't twist an ankle. 
7. I finally returned home, and then Zdenek had to look after Ryder while I took a shower, anyway, so really we didn't save much in terms of time.

I know that I will run 13.1 miles on March 18, but after Tuesday's experience, I'm not holding out hopes for any PRs.  I probably have a better chance of winning millions.

An (almost) announcement

I have a lot of difficulty finding time to make a post these days, and I've considered a few times just shutting down this blog altogether.  I actually poked around for 90 seconds on Blogger.com trying to figure out how to do this, but because it wasn't immediately obvious, I opted to make another post instead.  Might as well keep the blog active in the time it would take me to figure out how to close it down.

It's not that I don't have any free time these days -- indeed, there are usually a few minutes each night between the time that dinner has been eaten and cleaned up (8:30 pm) and when I need to think about getting ready for bed (9:00 pm).  But I have a hard time summoning any creative juices in that window.  (I'm not, of course, suggesting that this blog is at all creative, but composing an entry takes slightly more brainpower than, say, eating a bowl of ice cream while watching a previously recorded episode of "Modern Family.")

Moreover, my life really isn't that interesting these days.  Work is work.  I'm running simply to get in the miles.  I don't go anywhere other than to the swings, the Manhattan Children's Museum, or Whole Foods.  I've had a "date night" with Zdenek but once in the last 11.5 months.  I'm not reading any books, unless you count Your Child's Brain or Toddler 411 (the former actually is pretty interesting, at least to a science nerd such as myself, but the latter reads more like a horror story of what is to come in 2012 and beyond).   I really haven't accomplished anything of significance, and my days are pretty much limited to just trying to get through them.  Besides, Ryder's transition to a straw cup this weekend doesn't really seem to be that important to anyone other than Zdenek, Ryder's nanny, and me.

I do, however, have one small item to report.  I have just entered my first application for a race since 2010: the New York City Half Marathon, March 18, 2012.  I've run this race before, but the first few years I took part it was held in August, so I think I might actually enjoy a March race day.  Indeed, I only remember feeling like part of a herd of sweaty cattle moving through a too-cramped Central Park before pounding the pavement in the blistering sun down the West Side Highway, and that's not an experience I'm anxious to repeat. 

To be sure, this is an insanely popular race, and there's no guarantee that my application will even be successful.  But if it is (and I think I'll find out soon whether or not that's the case), I will have a decision to make in short order: Do I run it just for fun, and not worry about my time?  After all, I'm comfortably running 40 miles per week and finding time/energy (with lots of support from my husband) for 15-16 miles each Saturday.  Or do I actually train for this, and try, despite my usually exhausted state, to run anything approaching a PR?  Am I really willing to get up at 5 am to run intervals and hill repeats in the dark of the morning?  Would that make me happy / proud / satisfied / pleasant to be around?  Or is one more hour of rest the saner choice?  (Note that I didn't say "sleep," because I've found that the crazy mental changes of motherhood have basically rendered me incapable of sleeping past 4:30 or 5:00 am.)

At least for now, this is one decision that I can defer -- until I know whether the New York Road Runners has actually accepted my application and charged my credit card a non-refundable fee of $128.

Watch this space.  (While it's still around.)

A sweet surprise

This morning, Zdenek and I ran the Manhattan half-marathon.

We were intending to treat this as the practice "race pace run" that was in our training plan, anyway, and to run it about 20-30 seconds faster than our usual weekend long runs. Indeed, the course covers two loops of Central Park's rolling hills -- not exactly PB-friendly terrain. And we haven't really trained for a half marathon (we're only finishing Week Three of our marathon training plan), let alone tapered for a race. So this morning, Zdenek and I rolled out of bed at 6 am, tired from dinner and a few drinks the night before, not really expecting much out of our race. I was just happy to be running with 5,000+ other like-minded people in one of my favourite places.

For the first loop, Zdenek tried to run alongside me, but he constantly found himself several meters in front, looking back over his shoulder to see how far behind I'd fallen. But I refused to be pushed today and was determined to run my own race; my biggest concern was to finish strong with a steady pace. At the seven mile water station, Zdenek put considerable distance between us and then finally waved goodbye from up ahead. Now on my own and knowing that I had several big hills to contend with over the last 6.1 miles, I tried, as much as possible, to stay within my limits and watch my HR. Only when I was mid-way through the rolling hills of West Drive did I realize that I had only three more miles and plenty more energy to go; at that point, I decided to gradually bring it up a gear at every mile marker. About 1.5 miles from the finish, I became even more energized by the fact that I was passing everyone in front of me and only very rarely getting passed myself. I hit the 13 mile marker in a 7:20 pace and then made a sprint for the finish.

My efforts did not go unrewarded. I ran only seconds slower than my official half-marathon PB this morning (Zdenek, too, was only seconds off his half-marathon PB, but if he wants to gloat, he'll have to get his own blog), and I did it on a relatively tough course with neither proper training nor taper. I am immensely pleased with how this morning went (and think that training and taper may be over-rated).

Because I hope to both replicate and improve upon these results in the future, I have tried to derive a few valuable lessons from the experience:

• Know yourself. I didn't have any time expectations going into this morning's race, and for the full 13.1 miles I tried hard to tune into my body. It seems that my body knows what it's doing if I only give it a chance, and together, we make a pretty good team.
• Know the course. This morning's two loops of the Park followed hundreds, if not thousands, of such loops over the last four and a half years. I know every bump, every turn, and every incline by foot and by bike. I know where I can safely pick up the pace. I know where to move to the middle of the road to avoid the steep bank. I know the exact spot at which the grade of Harlem Hill suddenly increases by 3%. This morning, I was running in my own backyard.
• Negative split. It's the mantra of elite running, but I've always had a hard time believing that I could knock 15 seconds off my per-mile time halfway through a race. And yet, that's precisely what I did today. I can finally appreciate what it's like to finish a race fast, strong, and, most importantly, upright.

Earlier this week, I made dinner reservations for tonight at Dovetail (one of the nicest spots on the UWS), and Zdenek had joked that we better run fast if we are to earn that extravagant dinner. Mission accomplished.