So this week I’m trying something new – morning runs. I really don’t like getting up early to run. It’s especially hard since W isn’t sleeping very well these days. I’m hoping he’ll start sleeping better and I’ll get used to it. I’m writing it down so hopefully that’ll help with the motivation at 6am tomorrow morning when my alarm goes off…

I don’t think it helps that I have no real running goals to speak of these days – It’s hard to set any goals since I’m so much slower than I used to be and I feel like I have no time to train anyway. I’m signed up for the Mini 10K in June but since I’ve let the past couple of months go by with hardly any running, I know its not smart to try and push that one and I won’t get good results even if I try. Ideally I’ll get in some sort of shape and run a halfway decent 5k towards the end of the summer. But in order to do that, I need to run more than once a week… Plus, I’m a much happier person when I get regular exercise. So I’ve got to find something that works for me. Sheesh, keeping up a running routine was so much easier before having a baby to take care of!

And then there it was! (Can you see the little white dot of a space shuttle approaching Manhattan? It was much more impressive in person…)
W didn’t care, but I thought it was pretty neat. It actually went past us, up the Hudson and then turned back around and did another loop around the Statue of Liberty area before heading to JFK so we saw it up close twice and then two more times from a distance. This is definitely one of the most interesting things I’ve seen on a run and I was glad to have shared it with W even though he won’t remember. We’ll have to go to the Intrepid Museum in a few years so I can tell him that he saw the Enterprise flying over Manhattan when he was 10 months old.

I headed out to do a hill nearby that I’ve done many times before. The hill goes by a dairy farm which also has fields for feed corn. I knew I was in trouble as I neared it… Today was manure spreading day in the field so I definitely wasn’t sticking around there for longer than I had to. Luckily (or not…) its very hilly around here so I headed in the opposite direction to a pair of hills. There is a little stream in the middle and then it goes up on either side, so I did the pair of hills 3 times for a total of 6 repeats. One side took around 75 seconds while the other took 60. 6 hills doesn’t sound like a lot but these were big hills! I was exhausted by the end and slowly jogged the 7 minutes home. Glad I finally got out for another run before we head home this afternoon. Still, 2 runs in a week isn’t bad by my recent standards…

The mile – This was my first race and I wasn’t too confident going into it. The day before I did some race pace 200′s to get a feel for it and they did not feel so great. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to run 45′s for the full mile. But I felt alright on my warmup and just decided to go out and see how I felt. I ran the first lap in 85. The pace felt alright but I was a little worried going out that fast would end up costing me later. Fortunately that didn’t happen. I held 90′s for the rest and managed to finish up just under 6 minutes, in 5:58, good enough for 2nd place. Not bad given the lack of speedwork and volume I’ve had over the past 18 months.

Next race was the 800 leg in the sprint medley relay. Since it was the last leg, I tried to pay attention to the splits on the clock at the finish line and just run how I felt. I felt smooth through the whole thing, guess I didn’t forget how an 800 is supposed to feel. I think I ended up coming in at around 2:42, again, a solid time given my training.

Last was the 4×400. I ran anchor and it hurt. There were only two women’s teams in this one and we were in second when I got the baton but not by much. I tried to focus on the woman ahead of me and I think that made me go out a little too hard because I was really hurting in the last 100. Finished somewhere around 76, not great, but I’m definitely happy with my performance. When I ran track I was used to racing multiple track events in a single meet but it’s been a long time since college and I haven’t done any significant speedwork in months so I’ll take it!

Even though it was hard, I’m glad I came out for this event. I tend to avoid the big NYRR races in Central Park so its nice to head someplace different for a small race once in awhile, definitely glad to have that option, thanks NYCRuns!

I wasn’t sure about timing getting to the park since the train wasn’t stopping at the nearest stop so I left with plenty of time. I ended up arriving about 45 minutes prior to the start time which should have been plenty of time to get ready (check my bag, bathroom stops, no warmup though since this was going to be a long run for me anyway). However, I ended up running into lots of teammates that I hadn’t seen in quite a long time so the time got away from me. All of a sudden it was 15 minutes before the start and I still had to drop off my bag and use the bathroom. Bathroom lines were especially long (it doesn’t help that this is a relay so lots of runners that didn’t need to be at the starting line were in the bathroom lines and I didn’t feel like begging to cut in line b/c I had to run) so I headed to the starting line knowing I’d have to stop at a bathroom along the way. I figured this was OK since I was starting out easy – this would force me to stick to my plan.

After saying hi to more teammates as we lined up for the start, the race was underway.

Here’s what my splits ended up looking like:
7:28
7:57
7:19
7:12
7:36
7:37
7:07
7:15
7:30
6:39

This doesn’t look like I started out too easy but it actually wasn’t bad. The first mile was downhill so it was a little faster than it should have been. I stopped at a park bathroom right along the road during mile 2 and stopped my watch. My official time was about a minute slower than my watch time, so it didn’t cost me too much time. This second mile also had the whole uphill in it. I really like the stretch along the top of the park in the 3rd mile so that was a little faster but it still felt good. Then I got into my groove and just tried to keep a steady comfortable pace the rest of the way. By the time I got up to the top of the hill the 3rd time and I was still feeling good, I decided to push it in and see what I had left. Apparently I had a lot left, because that last mile was way faster than I should have been able to run at this point in the race.

I’m really happy with this effort – I went into it thinking I’d go by feel and that’s what I did. And, even though I ran faster than I thought I could, I felt strong and comfortable most of the way. I’ve been running the lowest volume I’ve run since I’ve started running longer road races (high school probably – thinking about it makes me feel old) and I’m still able to maintain a decent pace over 10 miles and still have something left at the end. All this bodes well for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in April!

I haven’t had the chance to get out for a run since Saturday, which means I missed a long run and a hill workout per the plan. So today, when I finally headed out for a run, I did the hill workout instead of going for an easy run. I managed 10x around 200m long hills, running along 3rd Street in Park Slope between 5th and 6th Avenues. I was consistent in my splits, running around 55-53 seconds for all of them, with the 55′s in the first half of the workout and the 53′s towards the end. With my run to and from the hills, it was about 5.5 miles for the day. I haven’t really done any intentional speed work in a month or so, so maybe this training plan will be a good thing for me, guilting me into a workout once a week or so. We’ll see…

And this Friday, I’m racing in a track meet at the Park Slope YMCA Armory. I’m signed up for the 3K and 800. There aren’t many women entered and registration closed yesterday, so I’m curious if they’ll combine races so I’ll have some more company. Today I did my usual pre-race routine of 200′s at goal race pace to try and get a feel for the effort level so I don’t go out too fast – I’m aiming for 6:40 pace for the 3K, just a guess given my 1500 race in December, and the 200′s felt good, so we’ll see how it goes.

I signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler lottery on a whim and I got accepted so I’ll be running in DC on April 1! I’m going to find training plan for some workout ideas and see what I can fit in as it gets closer. I’m already running up to 7 miles once a week, so I don’t think a 10 mile race in April will be too much of a stretch. I’ll see as it gets closer what kind of shape I’m in… I’ve also signed up for the PPTC Cherry Tree 10 miler in February to gauge where my fitness is and make sure I can run 10 miles before the race in DC.

Since I’m pressed for time most of the time these days, I’m also going to try and add in some strength work by way of the 100 pushups training plan. I picked this to have some structure since I won’t do it at all if I don’t have a plan and because it doesn’t take up much time. We’ll see how it goes – I tried it a couple of years ago and got stuck at 4 weeks in so hopefully I’ll get further this time.

2012 is going to be another challenging year for me with all I’m taking on, but I’m ready for the challenge. Hopefully at this time next year, I’ll have a happy healthy 18 month old at home, be done with my classes for my master’s degree, and still be able to run a 6 minute mile.

To prepare, on Wednesday I ran a short 400 workout – 6×400 with 2 min rest – mainly to see what my race plan should be for Saturday. The workout went well, with all of the 400s at around 88 and I was able to finish fast, with the last one in 84. I figured this meant I could go out and run around 90 for the first lap of the 1500 without having to worry about dying in the second half of the race.

So Saturday morning, I headed over to Pratt. It was an easy trip from Carroll Gardens on the G train. When I got off the train, 3 other women got off too and we walked outside and looked around wondering where to go. Luckily, another woman in running clothes came by, saw that we looked lost and asked if we were headed to the meet and then led the way for us. When we arrived, I checked in and got a goodie bag and headed into the track area. The stands were already filling with spectators and I found a spot for my stuff and got a warmup in. I ran for about 20 minutes and did some stretching and realized at that point that nothing was starting on time. I asked one of the women nearby who looked like she’d run here before and she said that the first one of the series each year tends to start late. She was right, the first heat went off about 45 minutes after the posted 9am start time. For my age group, the first heat was all women that said they’d run 5:00 and then the second group was all sub 5:20, so it was the last heat for me. Turns out, I could have stuck with the 2nd heat and been fine as I ran well and they were a little ambitious with the 5:20 predictions, but I didn’t know it at the time. So after lots of waiting, walking around to try and stay loose and some last minute strides on the track, we were on the starting line.

And then we were off… I followed my plan and tried to stay comfortable, running the first 2 laps in 88 and in 3rd place. I realized the two women in front of me were slowing down so I went around them and led the rest of the way, trying to pay attention to my splits. I was running 45′s for the rest of the time and feeling strong. The last two laps were tough, but I never felt like I was slowing down or that the distance I had to go wasn’t going to be manageable. They didn’t give times at the finish line, so I don’t know what my final time was but I left knowing I ran a smart race and that I was happy to be running 6 minute pace for a 1500 before W’s 6 month birthday.

This was a really great event and I’m hoping I’ll be able to make it to another one in the series this winter. Even though it didn’t start on time, it was free, and it got lots of girls and women out racing on a Saturday morning. I’m finding that being a new mom is all about balance. Since I don’t have much time to devote to running, getting in shape so I can run decent times in short distances is more practical than trying to fit in longer runs so I can get the endurance to race longer distances.