Running on ice is (not) good for you.

I find out how good my Microspikes really are.

Scott and I decide to slide down the ice!  Note: the trail is actually a lot steeper than it looks.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Workout Types(s): Hiking trails

Miles ran: 12ish

Where: Harriman State Park

Temperature: High teens, low 20s

What I wore: Elita turtleneck, Northface fleece, random vest, and random windbreaker, elita thermal leggings, Adidas leggings, random ankle socks, Bondi Band, microspikes

Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

How I felt: Happy

What I thought about while running: I wish I could go to a real trail every day.

Food consumed: Zico coconut water, two zone bars, oatmeal

Notes: Mileage was low, but that was because the terrain was difficult with all the ice.  We spent at least four hours on the trails.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Workout Types(s): Recovery, Roads

Miles ran: 13ish
Where: Central Park

Temperature: 30ish
What I wore: Elita turtleneck, Northface fleece, elita thermal leggings, random ankle socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

How I felt: Solid.  My neuroma acted up half way, but it was fine.
What I thought about while running: Felt like I could run forever.

Food consumed: Zone Bar

Notes: Didn’t feel cold – hooray!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Workout Types: Physical therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractor work

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Workout Types(s): Trails, 6 a.m. and midnight workouts

Miles ran: 7ish
Where: Neighborhood, Flat Rock

Temperature: 20ish
What I wore: Elita turtleneck, Northface fleece, elita thermal leggings, random ankle socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

How I felt: Solid. 

What I thought about while running: Gosh, I’m tired.   

Food consumed: Zone bar.

Notes: I should go back to doing my midnight runs in Manhattan.  Jogging after midnight in the suburbs is kind of scary.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Workout Types(s): Tempo running, climbing, strength training

Miles ran: 7.5 miles of tempo running, 1 mile of climbing.
Where: The Gym
What I wore: Honolulu Marathon tshirt, elita thermal leggings, random ankle socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315, Dr. Scholl’s foot bad for my neuroma issues.

How I felt: Solid.  Wearing the foot pad gave me a blister.  The funny thing, it's been so long since I've had blister issues that I wasn't sure what I was feeling at first.

What I thought about while running: I wish I could run faster.

Food consumed: Zone bar.

Notes: My weird neuroma needs to go away.  Stat.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Workout Types(s):  4:30 a.m. run. 

Miles ran: 6ish
Where: Road/Flat Brook

Temperature: 50ish
What I wore: DWG 50K Shirt, elita thermal leggings, random ankle socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

How I felt: Sleepy. 
What I thought about while running: I think I am a morning person.   

Food consumed: Nothing.

Notes: I think running at 4:30 might be better for me.  Less stress in the mornings in terms of getting ready for work and such.  In this case, I only got up because I had to drive my parents to the airport at 6 a.m. and by the time I got home, I had fifteen minutes to shower, dress, and book it to work. 

Friday, January 31, 2013

Workout Types(s):  Normal morning run.

Miles ran: 6
Where: Road/Flat Brook

Temperature: 30s
What I wore: DWG 50K Shirt, Northface fleece, elita thermal leggings, random ankle socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

How I felt: Worried.
What I thought about while running: Where should I run this weekend?   

Food consumed: Nothing.

Notes: Friday morning runs are the way to go.    

It's been a busy week, so I did not much time to post this.  But as busy as I was, I still had time to train, so train I did.  

My only cool training day was running the trails at Harriman State Park last weekend with Scott Martin and Garth, two ultrarunners from New York.  For those who know me, I have a natural talent of getting lost and following imaginary trails.  But thanks to Scott and Garth, they kept me on track, so I had a good, but slightly cold time along various sections of the park.      

Our run was generally uneventful, but I did have one moment of hilarity.  We had to do some ice/water crossings and most of the time, I was cautious and avoided the ice like I was playing the lava game.  Unfortunately, towards the end of the run, we came across this ice section that had dog foot prints.  I saw the dog a bit earlier and he looked sizeable, so I figured the ice was safe for me to walk on.  However, I neglected to consider that he was on all fours and was able to distribute his weight on a greater surface, and I was tromp, tromp, tromping on my Microspike-clad sneakers.  So my feet fell through, but fortunately the water wasn't deep and the ice water felt great.  Bonus: My Roc-Lites did a great job at shedding water, so my feet were dry by the time we got back to our cars.  

That's all I have time to write for now.  I still haven't decided where to run this weekend, so if you have a cool idea, let me know and I will be happy to join.  I just found out yesterday that I have time to do some long runs this weekend.  As of now, I will probably do Harriman super duper early tomorrow and the Long Path in the Palisades on Sunday.  Or maybe the reverse, I don't know.  We'll see what happens when I get up in the morning.   

Where my foot fell through the ice.  Tee hee hee.

Scott and Garth! Garth said he has been using those same gloves for two decades now.  Now I don't feel so bad for wearing the same thermals for fifteen years.

My silly iPhone decided that it was too cold to behave and kept on turning off even though it had more than enough battery, so I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked.  Next time, I am bringing a real camera.  

   

My new rule: I may read the latest Wheel of Time book only while climbing the stairmill faster than 8 floors a minute.

My new rule: I can only read the latest Wheel of Time book while climbing the stairmill faster than 8 floors a minute.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Workout Types(s): Tempo run; core workout; heat training

Miles ran: 7.5

Where: The Gym
Temperature: Room temperature 
What I wore: North Coast 24 Hour shirt from 2011, Adidas leggings, ice breaker socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315
How I felt: Kind of faint towards the end.  I think I need to drink more water when I am in the sauna.
What I thought about while running: I should do my taxes.
Food consumed: None.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Workout Type(s): Climbing on the stairmill; heat training

Miles ran: 1.09; 575 floors

Where: The Gym

Temperature: Room temperature

Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

Miles ran: 1.09; 575 floors
What I wore: Cotton tshirt, Adidas leggings, ice breaker socks
How I felt: Okay.
What I thought about running: How much I want the Last Battle (http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Tarmon_Gai'don) to finally happen.  I've been waiting nearly twenty years for this.

Food consumed: Zone energy bar.  They was a sale at Costco and I bought fifty of them.

Friday, January 25, 2013

None, yet.

Training Notes:

This will not be so much of a running post, but a reading post. 

On my very first day at geek camp when I was in middle school, I picked up a free edition of Robert Jordan’s, The Eye of the World, The Wheel of Time series’ first volume.  The free edition had perhaps only the first ten chapters or so (I think the characters reach Shadar Logoth) and was entertaining, but I felt that Robert Jordan was too long winded and so I decided not to buy the full book right away.  At around this point of my life, I was more into Battlefield Earth, Ender’s Game and the Foundation series-type books; I was ambivalent about fantasy as I wanted to read about science, not magic. 

Then a couple of years later, while at the bookstore, I saw the complete version of The Eye of the World, all 782 pages of it.  I was well over my fantasy grudge; my biggest gripe with books was that they ended.  And here was a large-ish book that promised not to end right away!  So I took it home and devoured it.  I may have gone to school and slept and ate, but by the time I was twelve, I had perfected the art of reading in class without being caught, reading while eating and showering, and reading instead of sleeping.  All I remember was just being incredibly caught up in this fantastic, fantastic story about Rand al’Thor and his Two River friends.  The writing was still as long winded as ever, but for whatever reason, I didn’t care so much this time.  I needed to know what was going to happen.  I bought or borrowed all the available books in the series until I caught up with the author and then waited for the next one to come out.  The books were published every two or three years, and on each day of their release, I rushed out to the bookstore and all productivity ceased for the next day or so.

Then Robert Jordan died and I thought that was the end.  Thankfully, Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series, was chosen by Jordan’s estate to complete The Wheel of Time.  (Incidentally, Brandon Sanderson was also college roommates with Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame.)  Although I was initially hesitant about continuing the series with a different author, I decided to give Sanderson a try and found that . . . this new guy was better.  Sanderson produced better content in one book than Jordan did in his last three. 

Anyway, this is a running blog and not a fantasy novel blog, so how does all this tie in to my Grand Slam training?  Well, the very last book in the series, A Memory of Light, was published two weeks ago. 

And I did not order it right away. 

Not that I didn’t want to.  I really, really, really, really did.  When the book was released, I initially told my boyfriend that I was going to be MIA for the next couple of days, just so that I could spend every evening after work, reading and savoring the last volume without any interruptions.

But then reality set in.  I have a life.  I have a job that I enjoy.  And good golly, I have to train.  So I didn’t order the book until last week and when it arrived, I kept it in its box.

Until last night.  I made the decision that I am only allowed to read A Memory of Light when I am on the stairmill, climbing at least 8 stories a minute.  I think this is a solid rule because:

(a) Multitasking is good. 

(b) This will encourage me to climb a lot more.  Although today is supposed to be a cross training day, I really want to climb stairs.

(c) I will read slower.  Reading on a stairmill is a lot tougher than say, reading magazines on an elliptical. 

So after last night’s climb, I am on page 120.  800ish pages to go.  I do hope I manage to stick to this rule.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Anyone else a science fiction or fantasy novel fan?  

My poor niece is as addicted to books as I am.
She recently announced that she was going to be an ultrarunner, too.

My long run involved a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

@ Laurel Hill: Splendiferous morning for a jump!  Thanks Wams for
taking such a great photo!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Workout Types(s): Long run and core workout.

Miles ran: 20ish

Where: Laurel Hill, all along the Hudson waterfront, Jersey side.

Temperature: Mid-40s.

What I wore: Northface black jacket, Elita turtleneck, North Coast 24 Hour shirt from 2011, Adidas leggings, random shorts, ice breaker socks, Bondi Band

Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315

How I felt: A bit stiff towards the end.

What I thought about while running: How much I love my new sneakers.

Food consumed: Bagel with cream cheese, half a bag of Gu chompers, half a bottle of Gatorade

My new Inov-8 Rock-lites!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Workout Type(s): Recovery run and Aerial Yoga
Miles ran: 10+

Temperature: High 40s/low 50s
Where: Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Manhattan; SacredSounds Yoga
What I wore: Northface black jacket, Elita turtleneck, Adidas leggings, ice breaker socks, Bondi Band.
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315
How I felt: Chill
What I thought about running: How much I love Kelly Clarkson.  She kept me company throughout most of my run.
What I ate: Banana, Seoul Food pork slider, Gatorade

Hello, Brooklyn Bridge!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Workout Type: Ice skating at Wollman Rink

Temperature: 30s

Where: Wollman Rink

Notes: Monday was my rest/cross training day.  I think I was feeling a bit out of sorts by not having a run scheduled; fortunately, Rob suggested we do some ice skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park and that perked me right up.  Both of us hadn’t been ice skating in years, but after a few rotations around the not-so-crowded ice rink, we fell into an easy rhythm.  After skating for more than an hour, we decided to call it quits because it was getting cold and our ice skate rentals weren’t fitting very well.  Note to self: Buy ice skates that fit. 

My ill-fitting ice skate. 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Workout Types(s): Long climb for 1.5 hours at 15% grade @ 3.7 – 4.0 mph and core workout; physical and massage therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractor work.

Miles ran: 5.6
Where: The Gym, in Englewood, NJ; Paramus Medical & Sports Rehabilitation Center
What I wore: North Coast 24 Hour shirt from 2011, random shorts, ice breaker socks, Bondi Band
Sneakers: Inov-8 Rock-lites 315
How I felt: Not great, but I enjoyed the workout immensely.
What I thought about while running: Work – I reread some court cases.

Food consumed: Nothing.

Notes: I decided to follow my running friend’s Thomas Wong’s suggestion of doing a 15 percent climb at 3.5 miles per hour.  Woosh, it was hard, but I think I need to include more of these to get ready for the serious inclines at Western States and the rest of its ilk.

Long Run Notes:

This weekend’s long run was half-organized, half-meandering.  My friend Ray organized a group run to Laurel Hill, a large rock outcropping in the Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey.  It is a well-known landmark; if you drive on the New Jersey Turnpike, it is the large graffiti-covered rock right next to the eastern spur by the Lincoln Tunnel exit.  You might know the area as Snake Hill and/or Fraternity Rock.  

Ray and I talked about doing this run for a while, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that we finally settled on a date.  There was a pretty good turn out – about fifteen of us met at the Journal Square PATH station, ready for a little bit of urban adventure.  I was psyched to see some of my other friends, including Leong, Wams, and Jerry.  After giving us a brief spiel about our route, Ray led the way on his bike and off we went.
 

Ray gives us instructions.

And we're off!

I ran mostly with Wams and Jerry.  I hadn’t seen Wams since we ran the Honolulu Marathon last month, and so it was good to catch up.  

Wams, running along little-used train tracks.

About three and a half miles of running on roads and on dirt and gravelly paths, we reached the bottom of Laurel Hill.  Since there were a few people still behind us, Ray told us to go ahead and just follow the trail.

Wams and Leong, at the bottom of the Laurel Hill.

And follow the trail we did . . . until we got to this open area and then we didn’t follow the trail, or rather, started following the trail-that-wasn’t-a-trail.  In our defense, it really looked like a trail.  Sure, there were some steep-y bits, but it was all fairly navigable. 

Jerry navigating the steep-y bits as Wams looks on.

Time for some multiple choice:

The best part of the trail-that-was-not-a-trail was:

a) It had rocks.

b) It was steep.

c) It had pretty views.

d) There were dinosaurs.

Correct answer?  D.  Yes, there were dinosaurs, or at least, life-size models of them.  My favorite was the Tyrannosaurus Rex, stalking its prey.  

I certainly do not see this every day.

The TRex is one my power animals, as I identify with its weak arm musculature.  Ever see that shirt with the TRex doing push ups?  That is me.  

This is me every Tuesday and Thursday, when I do my strength training.

We tried to see how close we could get to the dinosaurs, but soon realized that everything was blocked off and that the only open path was leading us off a cliff, which made us realize that we were going in the wrong direction as dying was definitely not in Ray’s general description of the trail.  Then again, Ray also didn’t mention dinosaurs, so that should have been our first clue.

After realizing we made a mistake, we backtracked completely to the bottom of Laurel Hill, thinking we would find people, but no one was in sight.  Fortunately, we saw Ray’s discarded bike, which let us know that he was still somewhere on the hill.  We ran back up the trail, got to the open space where we made the wrong turn and started looking for something trail-like.  Turned out the correct trail was partially blocked by some bramble-y things, but once we pushed the branches aside, the trail was readily apparent. 

After we ran for a few minutes along the real trail, we saw the rest of the group traveling across the ridge towards the top.  

Hooray, we found the others!

We caught up pretty quickly, and soon we were taking in the view, an interesting mix of urban and natural landscape. 

View from the top of Laurel Hill.

After taking a bunch of photos, I reluctantly headed back down with the rest of the group.  

Took this sequence of photos of Wams totally by accident, but I like how they came out!

I'm flying!  Thanks Ray for the picture!

Don't worry, I'm not planning on jumping.  Thanks again Ray for the fun pictures!

Ray led us back via a different route to Journal Square.  On the way back, I made some new friends: Helen, Mike, and Jitendra, to name a few.  

Time to head back home . . . 

After we made it back, Ray wanted to get some beers and while that was tempting, my legs were twitching to run some more.  Leong and Wams were planning to run to Hoboken to grab some lunch, so I tagged along with them.  When we got to the edge of town, we went our separate ways.  By this point, I had covered about 9.5 miles, so I continued to the waterfront and just kept running north along the Hudson River.  After running through Hoboken, Weehawken, Guttenberg, and then hitting the Edgewater border, I turned back.

Cute apartments along the Hudson River.

Random stairwell leading from the waterfront to the top of the cliffs.  

As luck would have it, when I returned to Hoboken and went to the restaurant where everyone was eating, I ran into Wams and Ray, who were just leaving.  Wams and I walked back to the PATH station together – she had to head back into the Manhattan and I had to go back to Journal Square, to pick up my car.

Twenty miles done!  Time to go home.  Thanks Ray for organizing the group run!

I drove straight to The Gym, did some core work and stretching and then hit the sauna for a well-deserved break and to get in some heat training.  Goooood day of running.

Sunday Funday: Recovery Run Notes

I got a late start Sunday morning, but since I only planned on running ten miles or so, I didn’t feel too bad about it.  I took the train to City Hall and as soon as I walked out of the subway station, I saw Seoul Food, a Korean food truck.  I was starving, so I ordered a pork slider.  Baaaaaad idea.  The food truck was parked in a total wind tunnel and IT WAS COLD.  Since I already ordered and paid for my slider, I started to jump up and down and say, “Oooga Booga!” to keep myself warm.  Either the food truck operator felt bad that I was cold or he didn’t want me to scare the customers away, but he asked if I wanted to step inside the truck while I waited for my food to cook.  My mother taught me not to step into random stranger’s trucks, but holy moly, the wind was bad, so I walked right in and basked in the heat.

The wait was totally worth it. 

I think I ate this in less than ten seconds.

The pork slider did such a great job of fueling me, that I was rewarded by being able to bounce back and forth on the Brooklyn Bridge.  Whee!  I even had some spare time to take photos of the locks along the Brooklyn Bridge.  

Story behind the locks on the Brooklyn Bridge: http://gothamist.com/2010/04/27/will_love_locks_take_over_the_brook.php

However, dodging tourists became less and less fun, so I gave up after eight trips (eight or so miles) and ran straight to the 14^th street station and then took the subway home.

A few hours later, Rob and I headed over to Sacred Sounds Yoga.  I met Sacred Sounds’ founder, Stephanie Tang at the JFK 50 miler, back in November.  The first time I noticed Stephanie was during the last eight miles of the race.  I was feeling really buoyant and after passing a bunch of runners doing the “death march” to the finish, there was Stephanie, who looked incredibly strong and happy.  We cheered each other on as we did the leap frog thing for several miles, until the very end, when she sped off like the wind.  We talked after the race, and it turned out we have a bunch of mutual running friends and that she runs her own yoga studio.  How cool!  I actually had heard great things about her studio from my friends Kino and Lisa, so I made a mental note to check it out.

Fast forward two months later, Sacred Sounds was certifying aerial yoga instructors and needed volunteers to participate in the certification classes.  So I signed up, cajoled Rob into doing it as well and we spent a very fun hour or so trying out familiar yoga poses, all while being aided with a large fabric hammock.  Our instructor was very experienced in teaching yoga, so I just shut off my mind and breathed and relaxed into the poses.  Good times. 

I was very tempted to swing on my hammock.

The best part of the class was doing the Savasana pose while completely wrapped in the hammock; I nearly fell asleep.  If you have never tried aerial yoga, I would recommend it just so you can experience Savasana in an aerial yoga hammock. 

Ahhhh.  Bliss.

All in all, a great way to end the week.