Oh Brooklyn

There was so much I wanted this half marathon to be. It was, after all, my 15th half marathon and that’s a pretty big milestone.

After not coming any where near a PR in Miami I had set my sights on Brooklyn. I had such optimistic thoughts but then my body just decided it was not going to happen. I knew this about a month ago but I still had hopes for a miracle on race day.

The weather cooperated but the miracle I was hoping for just was not going to materialize. For the most part, I am ok with that.

The race was fun and I’m glad that Brooklyn was my 15th half marathon considering that it was also my first. That seems just about right in my book.

I also have a good idea of what happened to cause my training to be so off. In one word — exhaustion. I had just a great year last year but I was also dealing with my mother’s illness and going to the hospital or PT rehab facility for nine months with only a few days off for myself. Running is what kept me going since that was the only time I was able to carve out for myself. I was running on pent up energy and anxiety.

Now that my mother’s health is in check and everything has settled down my body started to give me those signals that I needed the rest. But I ignored them and ran three half marathons in three months, normally that would have been ok but I took an aggressive approach to that training with little rest days in between.

Now that I know that I have to make some changes in the training. I don’t start training for the NYC Marathon until July 1. I’ll still be running races but I won’t be racing them. There will be no time goals and I’ll just be running for fun and making sure I take my proper rest days.

But when training does start up again I know I have to make some changes in order to improve. With NY in November I have also decided to run the London Marathon in April 2014 and upgrade my training plan from novice to intermediate. It’s time to run like a big grown up runner.

The new plan has two 20 mile long runs and I’ll be running more weekly miles than ever before. I know I can no longer pretend that XT/Rest means extra rest but cross training. I intend to do that. I’ve also gotten back onto a proper nutrition plan, something I lost track of during the past year.

So Brooklyn may not have been the big goal race but the training process for it has gotten me back in the right frame of mind for my new goals.

Thank you, Brooklyn.

What a Week

I have been wanting and needing to write a blog post since the 15th. I’ve started writing it in my head several times but just couldn’t get the words out for the blog. Forgive me in advance if this goes a bit all over the place.

In remembrance at the starting area of the NYRR Run for the Parks 4 mile race. (c) Stacey Cooper

Here’s a quick recap of my connection to the Boston Marathon. I know several people who have run it in the past and I knew about 12 people who ran it this year and several more who were cheering and even volunteering at the event. Some missed the events (that’s all I can call it right now is an event) by minutes and others by an hour. Thankfully, everyone I know is safe and sound.

I am not fast enough to run Boston but I respect it from having run the NYC Marathon. The marathon is sacred in the running community and Boston is our Holy Grail if you will. While all of us were attacked on that day, it was personal for runners.

We may not know each other by name but if you run a lot of races in New York City you recognize the faces. We are a community. A community that supports one another. Seriously, I have never seen such a supportive group of people whether it’s cheering each other on during a race or standing in a very long line at NYRR headquarters to buy a “I run for Boston” shirt. I recently read that approximately 50 percent of the funds raised for the One Fund Boston have come from the running community.

It was no surprise then that the NYRR Run for the Parks four mile race on Sunday Central Park was going to be big. Yes, it was going to be the first major running event with new security measures (more on that later) but it was really our chance to get out and run to show people how strong our community is.

I’ve said before on this blog that running helps me maintain the status quo on the normal days, celebrate the great days, and heal on the bad days. I don’t know a runner who didn’t feel that this past week and running in this race certainly helped us on our path to healing.

It was great to see everyone wearing the “I run for Boston” bibs on the back of their shirts and to see the sea of BAA blue and yellow along the course. Our community has united, like it did by volunteering in Staten Island after the NYC Marathon was canceled, in tremendous ways and I believe we will always continue to do that — hopefully for less tragic events.

It was a little strange to see such an extensive increase in security for our little four mile race. The procedures put in place were somewhat similar to the larger NYRR events like the marathon, NYC Half Marathon, and Brooklyn Half Marathon. Everyone received a clear plastic to put items in to check and no one was allowed in to certain areas without their bib. I have never seen a more secure porta potty section at a race in my life! On one hand, you are grateful that NYRR and the NYPD have extensive history on providing this type of security but saddened that we have to do it at all.

But even with all that, as NYPD Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly mentioned, it is almost impossible to completely protect open road races. One such incident did occur on Sunday when someone tried to ride their bike through a secure area of the park. The person did not stop when told and was eventually tacked. As I was running by at about the 3.5 mile mark we were moved off the road but told to keep running along. As I looked toward the policy activity I saw a police officer testing the cardboard box inside the guys back back for explosives. THAT IS NOT COMFORTING AT ALL! Thankfully it was just a timing gadget for kayaks. But nonetheless, I could have done without that.

Nothing is going to stop me from running because I need to run and I have more faith in humanity than I do in deranged evil people. In fact, I was reminded of a line that Hugh Grant’s character says in the movie Love Actually.

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.

Yes, that is an underrated movie but applies in so many ways. After the event at the Boston Marathon I saw more love, kindness, and compassion than anything else. And to tie this all back into running, that is what I have always felt when I have run the NYC Marathon. All those amazing people cheering us on, wishing us well, and providing the occasional cookie or orange.

Later today I will register for the NYC Marathon and next week for the 2014 London Marathon. I will keep running, perhaps with a slightly heavier heart, but I do know that the running will make it light again.

Pride and Joy

On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to run with some of the women in my running club’s beginners running clinic. All of the women had their reasons for wanting to run but there was one who struck a chord with me. Her reason wasn’t to lose weight or get in shape, it was to find discipline.

She had talked about how many of the people she admired for their discipline also happened to be runners. She has a point and if you are a runner you know this. Just think about all the work we have to put in to train for a race. All that time we spend plotting out a training plan, taking the time out of our schedules to log those miles, and then completing the race.

Heart, Commitment, Gut, Strength, Discipline, and Pride. I need one that says Joy. I’ll be wearing these until the Brooklyn Half as a reminder of what it will take to run well. (c) Stacey Cooper

But as we all know maintaining the discipline every day can be hard and our discipline can leave a lot to be desired. That is exactly what has been happening with me these past couple of weeks. I have been slacking and letting the flimsiest of excuses get the best of me. I am not proud of this.

Thankfully, this past week has been a step down week in my training plan for the Brooklyn Half Marathon so this downturn won’t hurt my training too much. But now we are getting into the meat of my training. The weekly mileage will start building up and there won’t be a single digit long run in my future.

It is time to recommit myself to this training plan and in order to do it I’ll need to dig deep and get out of this rut. But there is one other thing I’ll need to remember to get through this rough patch.

That same woman who spoke about becoming more disciplined also displayed pure joy when she finished our run. We ran two loops of the Central Park lower 1.7 mile loop giving us a total mileage of about 3.46 miles — the farthest this woman ever ran. She was elated and high-fived us and kept thanking us for running with her.

As I’m training for my 15th marathon and start thinking about training for my third marathon it’s easy to forget that joy of completing a new distance for the first time. Her joy reminded me about how excited I was when I completed my first 3.5 mile race without walking and that for the first time I felt like a runner.

Brooklyn is just about a month away and these reminders couldn’t have happened at a better time. I’m going to take them to heart and try to never forget them again.

The RunChat Hunt

On Friday I learned about the #RunChat Scavenger Hunt that they were holding and this seemed like a fun thing to do to help me make this week’s long run a little more fun.

Welcome back to NY. (c) Stacey Cooper

When I get into the nine and above mileage distance I usually head into New York City and run along the Hudson but while scanning the list of things I needed to look for I knew I could do this where I live here in Westchester.

The rules were pretty simple; take a picture of the item on the list and post it to twitter. Each post is one entry for a bunch of cool prizes. The bonus round involves a blog post. So here it is that blog post.

Ugh, not a fun hill to run up. (c) Stacey Cooper

I’m glad I did this because last night a bunch of fun women to see Patricia Racette’s cabaret performance at 54 Below. It was a incredibly great evening, including the three glasses of wine. That alone usually makes for a difficult long run but I think I hydrated enough because I didn’t feel too many ill effects from it. Yeah, wine! You should also get a copy of Diva on Detour. You will not regret it!

The water tower at Water Baptist Cemetery. (c) Stacey Cooper

This RunChatHunt also gave me the opportunity to look around more and really take notice of things on my usual route and even change it up a bit.

One such detour took me to Comly Avenue in search of water, in particular the Byram River. There is a lovely downhill and it goes by Ward’s Castle, the former home of the Museum of

Ward’s Castle (c) Stacey Cooper

Cartoon Art where I spent many days during my summers watching cartoons in their viewing room. At the bottom of the hills I hit Byram River and remembered that we have a waterfall there. The unfortunate part about this is that I had to go back uphill to finish my photo gathering.

I of course went by Water Baptist Cemetery dating back to 1800′s with graves for the Merritt (think Merritt Parkway) and the Lyon family (think Lyon Park in Port Chester). Near the end of my run I went by the Bush Homestead,

It’s a bridge, a river, and a waterfall! (c) Stacey Cooper

a pre-revolutionary home, located right down the block from my home.

I’m so happy I did this RunChatHunt today if only because it made the run more fun and distracted me from staying in a target pace range or from thinking about what all that wine from last night did to me. It served as the reminder that we need these types of runs to keep from getting bored and in a rut. This may have cured my last bit motivational blahs I’ve had the past month.

Getting My Andy Pettitte On

Remember shortly after my marathon that didn’t happen (thanks Hurricane Sandy) and I had all that newfound speed? Well my body forgot all about it and has no idea where we put it.

Yeah, technically I know it’s still in me. I just have to run more consistently and do some speed work to get it back. Blah, blah, blah. That’s always so much easier to say than actually do but today was a positive step in that direction.

Look at Andy’s focus. That is FIERCE!

When I don’t run consistently one of the first things I lose is my ability to find a comfortable pace for whatever type of run I’m doing. For example, if I’m supposed to be doing a long run that is supposed to be a minute to two minutes slower than my race pace , I will run too fast and be out of breath by the third mile. Finding that conversation pace is hard then I try to run fast for some speed work or a tempo run and I just can’t turn it on.

During times like this, whether it’s on a long run or during a race, I do what I refer to as my Andy Pettitte. When Andy is on the mound and staring into the catcher’s mitt he pulls the brim of his cap down so that is all he can see. He zeroes in on the one thing he needs to focus on. When I feel things getting out of whack I do the same thing. I pull the brim of cap down so that I’m forced to keep my head up and look straight ahead and not get distracted by what is going on around me. (Best not to do this if you can’t see cars next to you. My public service announcement of the day.) Then I focus on my my form. My arms should be on the outside of my brim. You need to open up your chest. Remember your legs go as your arms go and it’s easier for those legs to go when your arms aren’t closing in on your torso.

I look more serious than fierce. Need to work on my fierce face.

That really did help get me through today’s long run. I’ve had such a bad tendency to start out too fast even when I know I shouldn’t I just somehow do. But once I got my Andy Pettitte on my pace started to even out and I felt better. The focus was where I needed it to be instead of thinking about cutting the run short or having to trick myself to keep running.

This was my first long run for the Brooklyn Half even though technically training started las week with the NYC Half as the first long run.

I start some of my two a day workouts during the latter half of the week and I’m oddly excited about that. If all goes well, it should really help me get closer to half marathon and marathon goals for this year.

I’m feeling like a runner again and I’m going to to thank Andy for that.

 

How Far Will You Go?

NYCRUNS posted this question on their Facebook page today, “Finding your optimal distance is crucial to racing your best. What’s yours, and how did you find it?”

I think for me it is the half marathon. It’s a nice long distance race but not as taxing as a full marathon is — but I still love the marathon too.

Training for the full marathon requires a huge time commitment that not only you as the runner has to buy into but those who are close to you as well. If you have ever run one you know that you can’t fake it. You can’t cram for the marathon like you can a history test. What you put in is what you get out of it.

Look at me finishing my first half marathon in Brooklyn. That is an, “Oh thank god this is over” look. Also, I think I felt as though I were going to die. But look at how happy the woman behind me is. I beat her while she was being happy.

The half marathon is similar but doesn’t require the extensive training that the full does. I’ve proven on several occasions that with a solid base and consistent running you can make descent show of things. It may not have been pretty but I got them done.

The Brooklyn Half Marathon in 2009 was my very first half. I didn’t have a training plan just a vague idea that I should increase my mileage a little bit each week. This May I will be returning to Brooklyn for my 15th half and that seems like perfection to me.

Last week was supposed to be the start of my training for Brooklyn but yeah, I had to run another half marathon through Central Park, Times Square, the Battery Tunnel, and South Street Seaport. That made this week a well needed rest week.

I’m going to try for the half marathon PR again and that means I’ve got to stick to the training plan as much as possible. In order to do this I’ll be experimenting with my two a day workouts. If this works well I’ll be using that for the NYC Marathon training so keep your fingers crossed for me.

I’ll also need to refocus on my nutrition which tanked this winter. Everything about this winter really beat me up but I’ve got get things back in shape. I’ve pulled out all of my old nutrition plans from my former nutritionist so that I can things back in order.

Perhaps most importantly I’m excited about training again. (See note above about winter.) I’m ready to feel good about my running, to want to log all of those miles, and return to being that crazy person who says that they only ran 18 miles on a given day.

I am so ready to go the distance again.

NYC Half Marathon

So I ran a little half marathon today.

It was pretty darn cold this morning but running gets you warm right? Well maybe six miles into it.

This was going to be a tough for me no matter what the temperature was. Three half marathons each within three weeks of each other. It’s the first time I’ve done that and the only half that got consistent training for was the first one in Miami.

It was 28 degrees at the start of the NYC Half with a field of about 14,500. There were so many people in this race that we were lapped by the elite men before we were even near the start. The elite women lapped us when we were about 20 feet from the start.

The first half of this race is the always the most technically challenging due to the hills of Central Park. Then you throw in the cold weather and things just started off slow. I was worried about going out to fast but thankfully didn’t have to worry because just about everyone was slow.

Hello Times Square, I am so happy to see you after all those hills in Central Park. (c) Stacey Cooper

It was such a relief to leave the park where the course steadily goes downhill, but that didn’t mean it was going to be easy. The wind coming off the Hudson River as we turned onto 42nd Street.

I chose not to fight that wind and do my best to conserve my energy for the straight away on the West Side Highway and I am glad I did.

I felt pretty good the whole way on this stretch and started picking off people who had either been running close to me and then others who were ahead of me. One, I even picked off right at the finish. Sorry Nicole or Nicola, I’m not too sure which name the announcer said, but I was tired of all of the TnT coaches running onto the course to talk to you.

It is always a good feeling to pick people off during the late stages of a race and I’m glad that I was able to do that and not feel dead.

This was also the first major race in the city since Hurricane Sandy and it was nice to see the support for all of the runners along the course. It was even better to give some business to local restaurants in the downtown area that are still recovering from the storm.

Overall, this was the race I expected it to be. I knew it was going to be tough and I knew I wouldn’t have a great finishing time. But I am happy with how I was able to keep a steady pace and finish strong. It’s a good measuring stick for what I need to do to get ready for half marathon number 15 — the Brooklyn Half Marathon in May.