Yeah, I'm still here.

Yeah, so, I haven't been so much for the running and exercising lately. It's not (entirely) intentional; I've had a busy couple of weeks. I have to take this class in New Brunswick twice a week after work, and I used most nights other than those to do homework for it, and that's going to be going on for the next 4 weeks. I have not been getting out anywhere near as much as I hoped, but I tried to make up for it the past few days with the great weather we had here.

Beth said Chicago had crummy weather all weekend. I say she was just looking for an excuse out.

Since my last post up to this past weekend, I think the only exercise I did was 6 miles at the gym, so after basically doing nothing for a couple weeks (although more than Beth if I had to guess), and with the temperature in the high 70s to low 90s (yes, 90s) all weekend, I went to make up for it. Saturday I circled around Lake Success. My goal when I went was 5 or 6 miles, but after about 3 and a half I ran into my grandmother (not literally) and stopped to chat for a minute, and when I started up again I got that stitch in my right abdomen and it kept me from going past four.

Here's my question: what's with runners not acknowledging other runners' existence when they pass from opposite directions anymore? It used to be that there would be a little nod or maybe a hand raise, creating some sort of a silent "yeah, I'm feeling it too...keep it up" moment between the two of you. Nobody does it anymore, at least not around Great Neck. It's a shame. Camaraderie is a positive motivator.

Sunday I took the bicycle out for the first time this year and rode up the path next to the Cross Island Parkway for the first time. There's a jetty at the end (a bunch of rocks jutting out into the water) so I sat down on that for a little while and then headed back. Great view of the Throgs Neck Bridge. It was 10.14 miles round trip, with an average speed of 12.2 mph and a top speed of 22.3.

Tonight when I got back from work I put my running shoes and went out to try that 5 to 6 miles thing again, because it worked so well the first time (see above). I started running up Bayside through Great Neck Estates. I've always made a right on Cedar, but today I went further north to Old Mill (or "Temple Row," if you prefer) and then came back down Middle Neck. I kept an eye on my pace the whole time but I took the distance information off the screen, so I didn't know how far I had gone, but when I was getting close to home I figured I had to be at about 5.5. I was close....I was already up to 4.25. Clearly I had my work cut out for me. I did the one mile loop near my house that I used to do all the time with a few twists and ended up finishing with...6.5 miles done. New longest distance this year. I finished in 1:03:35, a 9:47 pace (6.1 mph). I have to say, I was very pleased with that.

Then I went to get dinner, and right in line with the 1100 calories I burned running, I had...Wendy's. Yeah, it probably wasn't the best choice, but come on, you know you're thinking about a spicy chicken sandwich now.

Oh, I have a new pain. I was just barely starting to feel it when I got home from my run, now a couple hours later, it hurts a decent amount whenever I step with my left leg. It's on the outside of the top half of the leg. Dunno what it is, hopefully it's fine tomorrow.

I probably won't be posting much for the next month because of that class, but training (and fundraising) for Delaware starts only a month or two after that. In the meantime, don't get swine flu!

Time? What time?

Monday and Tuesday, I went straight to New Brunswick after work for a three hour class and didn't get home until after 11. Thursday I went to happy hour and dinner and didn't get home until midnight. Friday I went home, packed, and headed back to the city to watch a ballgame and borrow my friend's apartment for the weekend. That left only Wednesday to work out, which I took full advantage of, by becoming what I can only describe as a regular 6 mile runner.

I was a little offended, though. No less than three consecutive girls got on the treadmill next to me, walked less than a quarter mile, and left. I'm taking it personally.

I'm going home after the Mets game to get pants to run in at the 4 mile race tomorrow and to get my Mets jersey because I got tickets to Citi Field tomorrow afternoon, and while I'm there I might go for a bike ride outside because it's really nice out. It depends on how late it is. Or, I might nap. Could go either way.

10k and a little more

Been a while since I logged in, but that's not from a lack of working out. Like Beth, I'm a little lazy about posting. Unlike Beth, I'm not quite that lazy about getting to the gym. Here's what I've been doing since last week.

On Monday I did 5 miles on a treadmill, starting at 6.1 mph and going up .1 for each mile, with a sprint at the end. It was my first day back to working out after a few days off, and I felt surprisingly loose. That was fine, until Tuesday night, when I went back to do some circuit training and a few other random exercises. Same as last time, the leg exercises were fine, but man, my arms are out of shape. I only got through one set on each of the arm machines, so I'm really going to have to start incorporating that more often. But on the plus side, I did more than double the number of crunches I can do in a day. The workout was only 45 minutes, but the soreness lasted for days and days and days...

Wednesday was the first night of Passover. I got out of work early and caught the train home, and had a little more time before the Seder than I expected. I knew I wouldn't be able to work out on Thursday because of a Seder in New Jersey, and I wanted to get at least a small run before the 10k this morning, so I went to the gym and did 2 miles. After all, 2 miles is better than zero miles. Since it was a short distance I upped the speed a little and finished in under 19 minutes.

On Thursday, I went to another Seder straight from work, so exercising was out, but it was OK, because I was planning to go for a nice bike ride at the gym on Friday.

Friday I bailed on the gym.

Today I had a 10k in Central Park, my second qualifying race for the 2010 NYC marathon. My friend loaned me her apartment for the night while she was sleeping somewhere else, so I woke up an hour before the start, got dressed, and walked out...into the pouring rain and 44 degree weather. Perfect. I'm so glad I brought my brand new running shoes that I've only used twice for that. The mud pit where the bagels were after the run was especially helpful to keeping the sneakers looking good.

Other than the cold and the rain, which truthfully I didn't mind after I had warmed up in the first mile, the run went very well. Officially, I completed 6.22 miles in 1:02:38, a 10:06 pace, and the furthest distance I've run since the Soldier Field 10 Mile last May. Luckily, I braved the rain for a good 15 minutes before the race waiting for my GPS watch to get a signal, and according to high-tech satellite technology, I actually ran 6.37 miles, making it a 9:50 pace. Obviously, I'm going with the latter. I also burned over 1,000 calories.

Tomorrow, I'm sleeping late. I probably will work out, because starting this week, for 5 of the next 6 weeks, I have an awful schedule that gives me no time to do anything but work and class 2 days a week and also gives me an extra hour of work 2 other days. I'm reeeeally looking forward to it.

Missing some Beth blogs

So, I havent blogged in a while. Mostly cause I am lazy. I have however, been getting my work out on. I have been running on the track instead of the treadmill. I dont even track the time I just run and think about how awesome I am doing. In reality I just keep forgetting to check the time when I start and finish. I am guessing I am at about 46-47 minutes for the 5 miles, but thats pretty much conjecture.

I am sure all of you know at this point that today was opening day! So I was all wicked psyched to watch the game while running on the treadmill. However, the game today was on Comcast Sports Net and neither of the accessible gyms had it. Needless to say, it made me really sad, but it also motivated me to run faster to get home. Luckily my Cubbies pulled out the W. A certain other team with some pretty hideous orange and blue color, and a creeper baseball mascot also won, but hopefully this is a good season.

I lost 10 pounds in just 10 days!

Obviously that's not true. See, I'm not really weighing myself all that much. I have a goal weight, and it'd be nice to get to it, but the fact of the matter is, I'm planning to train for 2 marathons in the next 19 months, so I figure I'll get to that goal regardless of how much I track it. So from time to time, when I feel like it, usually once or twice a month, I'll get on a scale, but I'm not really paying all that much attention to it.

The thing is, I always weigh myself on the scale in the bathroom at our house. Today I was at the gym and figured I'd weigh myself on the scale in the locker room. I lost an amazing 10 pounds in just 10 days by switching scales. I recommend you do it if you're trying to lose a lot of weight fast.

At the gym today, after 5 or 6 days off, I remembered that I'm signed up for a 10k this Saturday and a 4mi a week from Sunday, so I went for 5 miles, starting at 6.1 mph and increasing by .1 each mile, with a sprint in the last quarter mile. I think it took about 47 minutes, but I was stuck on a treadmill that was facing a TV with one of my biggest peeves.

First of all, with a couple of exceptions that are for some reason different, you can't watch the individual TVs on the treadmills and bikes unless you plug in a pair of headphones, and while I'd like to watch TV while listening to music, I always forget a second pair of headphones. That means I'm basically running while facing a reflection of me. I know that bugs Beth on the small percentage of times when she's facing her reflection out of the few times she actually exercises, but every gym I've belonged to has something like that, so I'm used to it. The problem is, the treadmill was at a very slight angle to the treadmill. I don't know if this is normal or if it makes me really, really vain, but when that happens, I have a tendency to run towards my reflection, which is a problem for my ankles, because that is not where the conveyor belt is going. But somehow, I managed to make it through

Then, I had Wendy's for dinner. But I got a small meal, and I got iced tea with sweetener instead of Coke, so I figure it worked as a followup to the gym.