Personal Best – a Sub 9 Minute Mile!

I just got back from my excellent Saturday “long” run (just a smidge under 6 miles). It was quite cold and very windy today but luckily the forecasted snow managed to miss us completely (our neighbors to the South are not so lucky). My Saturday routine always includes a nice long weight lifting session so we headed to the gym first. It was so windy on my walk to the gym that I contemplated hitting in the dreadmill instead. But, I knew that getting in 6 miles on the treadmill would be pure torture so I decided to suck it up and run outside. 

As usual I’m glad I headed outside. I warmed up pretty quickly and there was really only one other time where I felt cold and that was really just my face when the wind was blowing so hard that I couldn’t hear my iPod.  

I started doing this route in early January and now that I have my Garmin I can easily track my progress.  I’ve done the route four times in the last month and my times and splits have improved immensely! Today I even had my first split under 9 minutes! After seeing 8:48 for Mile 1 I was worried I was really going to pay for it on the next mile. Well, I held steady with 9:02, 9:05, and 9:02. On Mile 5 I was getting tired and there was a steep grade so my split slowed a bit down to 9:34 an the final .9 miles was 8:51.

	1/9/10	1/17/10	1/23/10	2/6/10
Mile 1	9:12	9:15	9:09	8:48
Mile 2	9:42	9:43	9:37	9:02
Mile 3	9:43	10:00	9:31	9:05
Mile 4	9:10	9:21*	9:03	9:02
Mile 5	9:31	9:24*	9:10	9:34
Mile 6 (.91)	8:51	10:19*	8:55	8:51
Total Time	56:13	55:56	54:57	53:31
Pace	9:27	9:39*	9:14	9:04
AHR	175	172	167	176
MHR	181	182	179	184

*It started to rain after mile 3 so I put my watch in my pocket and it messed up my splits & average.

While I am thrilled with these improvements I don’t really know what has caused them! I do think that overall my running has greatly benefited from adding regular core training. I now do core exercises 5 times a week for about 10 minutes.  I can hold better running form for much longer and I don’t start hunching over and shuffling my feet like this in the last mile of the Massachusetts State Triathlon last summer: 

I also think that having the Garmin to track my splits has helped motivate me. I really like being able to see how fast I completed each mile and it motivates me to keep pushing! Did you notice a difference with your running after getting a GPS or heart rate watch?

The "Fastest" Lane

Telling the blogosphere of my plan to go swimming this morning was just the motivation I needed to roll out of bed at 5:45 on a Friday morning. I showed up at the "new" pool (new to me, not actually new) right at 7am for the start of lap swim. When I walked out to the pool a few lanes were claimed so I grabbed a middle lane and started right in. I was alone for the first few minutes but it quickly started to fill up and within 15 minutes there were four people in the lane. Even though it was a bit crowded everyone seemed to be segregating themselves well, letting people pass and generally being good pool citizens. Nothing like the hell that is the Flushing Pool.

I had tapped a couple people in my lane on the foot and they kindly let me pass at the wall. I went to pass another guy, kindly yet firmly tapped his toes and made my move to pass. Well, it was just like the highway. When I made my move he sped up and when we got to the wall he turned back and plowed me over. Technically it was my fault for attempting to pass so when we both stopped I quickly apologized. He proceeded to scream, "What the hell is your problem? Learn how to swim." (What is it with yelling before 9am in this city? I cannot handle aggression before my morning coffee.) So, we resume swimming and I immediately kick it up a notch and zoom by him.

The next thing I know I see the lifeguard at the end of m

y lane. I figure I'm going to get reprimanded for attempting to pass so I just keep swimming, and swimming, and swimming... The lifeguard never moves from the end of my lane. I must have done about 600 meters and finally I had to stop because of some lane crowding. At this point I brace myself for a tongue lashing but luckily I've spent the last 600 meters forming the perfect response.

Lifeguard: "You're like a superwoman. You should move over to this lane (pointing to the other lane). It's the fastest lane."

Me: "The what?"

Lifeguard: "The Fastest Lane."

Me: "Oh... Okay."

I moved over to the next lane with the "fastest" swimmers.

Fastest Swimmer 1: "Good morning."

Me: "Morning"

Fastest Swimmer 2: "You'll fit in just fine in this lane."

Me: "Thanks"

Fastest Swimmer 1: "Yea. That guy is a bone head. He yells at everyone."

I took off swimming and cruised through the rest of my workout. I don't know exactly how much I did but I imagine it was around 1800 meters. After my swim I was getting ready in the locker room and some of the regular ladies were discussing the life guard. Apparently the life guard today goes easy on people but there is another guy who doesn't take any crap. Apparently he will even take a picture on his phone of people swimming down the middle of the lane so when he asks them to stay to the right he will have evidence when they insist that they are not swimming in the middle. Isn't that awesome?! I'll be back to the "new" pool next Friday. This time I'll be sure to start out in the "fastest" lane :)

Dear Mr. UPS Man...

Dear Mr. UPS Man,

It was just another day at the office until you came to visit. You brought me a very special package. What could it be? I shook the package... Hmm... Could it be? I just ordered them on Tuesday... I open the package and found this...

Disregard my triathlon wallpaper :)

And it was - my brand new pair of running shoes. Thank you Mr. UPS Man. You made my day.

Love,
Krista

Commitment is Liberating Mish-Mash

Shoes
At a recent trip to Jack Rabbit I noticed a display with a number of last seasons shoes on sale. They didn't have my shoe (New Balance 1224) but when I got home I looked online and found my shoes on sale for $71 - nearly 50% of the list price of $135. I really like these shoes so I bit the bullet and bought another pair. If you have a good pair of shoes from last year it might be worth looking around to see if you get a good deal on a clearance pair.

Speaking of shoes, City Sports has partnered with Soles 4 Souls to collect shoes to donate to Haiti. Today through February 7th customers can drop off gently worn men’s, women’s and children’s footwear to any City Sports location. When you drop off a donation of footwear, you will receive 10% OFF your next pair of footwear.

Six More Weeks of Winter...
Yesterday morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which means we have six more weeks of winter to look forward to. This was confirmed by the snow we woke up to this morning and the weather forecast predicting another storm on Saturday. Have I mentioned how tired I am of winter?
Timex Watch Giveaway
Mark at Journeys of a Triathlete Father of Five is giving away a Timex Triathlon Race Trainer Kit. You have until February 14th and there are four ways to enter and you can enter to win here.

Swimming
I didn't go to the pool last Friday even though I planned to. It was cold and my apartment was warm and I just could not motivate myself to go back outside. This Friday I'm going try a different NYC pool that is near my new office and I'm going to go before work instead of after work.

I have a very diffcult time getting myself to the pool in the winter. I was on the swim team in junior high and high school and I think all the dark nights of waiting for my dad to pick me up with frozen hair have seriously traumatized me. After I go swimming in the winter I cannot warm up - no matter what I do I am freezing for the rest of the day...

I Won!
I enter a ton of blog giveaways but I never won anything, until now! TK at Pigtails Flying did a giveaway to celebrate her blog turning two. She was giving away cupcakes and mixed CD's. I won a mix CD! Woohoo! My blog turns one later this month... I might just steal this birthday giveaway idea :)

Weekend Fail

We headed down to Annapolis on Saturday morning to participate in the MSP Polar Bear Plunge to raise money for the Maryland Special Olympics. I graduated from college in Maryland and I planned to attend the event with one of my close friends. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The temps were in the teens and what was supposed to be 1-3 inches of snow turned into 6-7 inches. In a region not accustomed to cold or snow it turned into quite the disaster.

We did make it to the plunge site at the Chesapeake Bay but just as we were getting ready to enter the water at 3pm they canceled the plunge. An earlier group had gone at 1pm and apparently they spent so much time treating people who had adverse reactions to the cold that they did not want to put anyone else at risk. We were all secretly relieved pretty bummed that we wouldn't have the chance to jump into the bay when it was 18 degrees and snowing. The day wasn't a total bust though because we did get a chance to have dinner with my friend at an awesome Thai restaurant outside Baltimore. I hadn't seen her in over a year so it was wonderful to catchup.

After dinner we headed down to Washington, DC. It was our first trip back since we moved from DC to NYC in December 2007. Our original plan was to go for a run on the National Mall in the morning and then have brunch with some of Sam's family. After much deliberation we decided to pass on the run because of the snow and ice on the streets and sidewalks. We still had brunch with family it was excellent to catch up with them as well (we had not seen them in over two years!). After brunch we made a stop at Eastern Market and drove past our old apartment building. DC really is such a beautiful city and absolutely wonderful running. It made me wish that I had gotten into running when I lived there!

On the trip home we decided for the 100th time this winter that we are ready to move South. No more snow!

10 Happy Things

I'm headed down to Baltimore to do The Polar Bear Plunge today. It's supposed to be a high of 25 with a chance for snow... Wish me luck!!


Stephanie at The Princess Runner tagged me to answer a simple question: Name 10 things that make you happy. My 10 things in no particular order:

A Hot Mug of Coffee
I love starting my day off with a mug of coffee. I usually make my own coffee at home but a special treat is a cup from Dunkin Donuts with cream, no sugar.

Having my own lane at the pool
'Nough said.

My husband
He is awesome. He is always making me laugh with the silly nicknames he makes up for me and the songs that go with them. He takes good care of me but he doesn't spoil me which is actually a good thing. On Wednesdays he finishes swimming at 8:30 and he waits for me until I am done with spinning at 9:30.

Riding the NYC Subway
I hate driving and I love public transit and the NYC subway is the best I've ever seen. Some days it gets on my nerves, it is always warm fuzzies (like when a kid threw up on my feet or when a homeless man exposed himself to me) but for the most part I really enjoy it.

Traveling
I really enjoy traveling and exploring new places. We always took family vacations growing up. We always went West to places like Montana, Washington, California, Colorado, and Alaska. Sam and I are making an effort to visit every state in the US. If my count is correct we are somewhere around

A really good book
I just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo after a recommendation by Leah (Because I Tri) and I can't recommend it enough. It was the best book I have read in a very long time.

Peanut Butter
I love peanut butter. I think it tastes good on everything. Apples, bananas, toast, pancakes, chocolate, and the list goes on. On Wednesday I ate English Muffins with PB&J for breakfast, a PB&J sandwich before spinning, and a piece of toast with PB&J as my post spinning snack. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Moving
I know that 99% of people think that this is crazy but I love moving. It is so cathartic! Getting rid of all the junk, sorting through your things, setting up a new place.

My Job
For the most part my job is a happy thing in my life. The work I do can be emotionally draining but it is very rewarding to and honestly I think I am quite good at it. I respect my boss a lot and I generally like my colleagues too.

Fresh Fruit
I love, love, love fresh fruit. If fruit was free I would eat and endless supply of grapes, peaches, apples, pineapple, clementines, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries... Except bananas. I got very sick after eating bananas about six years ago. The sickness was unrelated to the bananas but the smell of ripe bananas still makes me queasy.

What makes you happy?

Mental Toughness

I went for a run yesterday morning. It was my regular 4 mile run around the park in my neighborhood. I've been feeling a bit off this week and the run seemed to bring up all my problems. My legs were sore and tight from strength class, my head was pounding, I was tired and my stomach hurt. To sum it up, I felt like sh*t.

I wanted to stop and walk so, so badly. Negative thoughts were running through my mind...

"What difference would this run really make in the long run?"
"Who will know if I stop early?"
"If it hurts I shouldn't push it - it's the off season anyway."

I wanted to just go home. At the 2 mile mark I thought about the Suffer Section from a post by Carol at Triathlon Training Blog (her post was inspired by Go Sonja, another great blogger). This was by no means a long run, however I was suffering. So I told myself:

Self, this run sucks, I feel slow and I want to go home. So this run is not about speed or form it's going to be about mental toughness. I will finish the four miles because I know that my body is capable. I will not enjoy it but I will be all the more proud when I stop in front my apartment building. Later today I will not regret that I wimped out and cut my short run even shorter. And next time when my run sucks I will know that it is possible to push through and keep moving forward.

I finished the run in 40:25. It was slower than my runs have been lately but it was faster then my average time a few months ago. I walked into my apartment tired, sweaty and smiling.



What was the last workout that you had that required mental toughness?