The Crooklyn Half

Second race of the year is scheduled for Saturday, May 21st. The Brooklyn Half Marathon, part of the NYRR Grand Pre. Recently I had an unexpected PR for the half at the 13.1 Half Marathon series in Flushing, Queens. Unexpected because I was hoping to not run slower than a 1:50 finish, I crossed the finish line at 1:41:29, about a minute faster than my last half in October of last year.

So, with a 1:41 on the board I want to shoot for a sub 1:40 finish in Crooklyn next month. No, no typo, I spelled it Crooklyn. That's stolen from an old Spike Lee joint, but is a good term for my current feelings toward the hipster playground south of my beloved Queens.

What was missing from my first leg of training was the same thing missing from most oft training, dedicated speed work. By that I mean track work outs. Intervals. It's a dirty, pain in the ass word. Even if you half ass speed work your lungs still burn some, but man does it help make for faster mile splits. I jumped bak into track work last week with 8 X 800's. This week it's 6 X 1200's. Ouch. I felt a cold burn at the bottom of my throat just typing that. It'll be worth it I'd can run sub 1:40. Goodness know the time would mean a lot to me. I just turned 40 and though I had a doable goal of racing a full 26.2 in 3:15 ( + 59 seconds grace period) to qualify for Boston. Bit the a-holes at the Boston Athletic Commission decided to add FIVE minutes to each age group, meaning I would now need to run 26.2 in 3:10!! With no grace period. Anyway. That topic is for another more angry blog to be posted on the future.

Right now I have to focus on shaving at least one minute and thirty seconds off my current PR. Coney Island, be good to me.

Rusty Mondays

The goal for Monday runs is to shake off the rust from the weekend. these runs are usually done in the mornings when Ella is in UPK, two glorious hours for working out, writing, or watching House! Well, NYC kids get a 'Winter Break' in February, just a few short weeks after their long xmas break, were I bale to get a teaching job I would love this relaxing approach to education, however, I can not get a teaching job, so my feelings about the breaks are that they STINK! I forgot to mention in that rant that Universal Pre-K also enjoys this break. This means that I miss out on my two hour window of alone time, leaving me only the evenings for runs. Not only is it colder, but that cuts into time set aside for my girls. Curse you NYC Educational System. Curse You!

Anyway, Rusty Mondays. Last night I headed out for a six miler but cut it short due to an achey right knee.   Maybe it was the lack of dynamic stretching before hand, or the new shoes I'm trying out. Whatever it was it went away soon after heading home. So maybe it was all in my head. The run ended up being 8:30 miles, it was a 3.5'er. This is my current average, I ended last season running 7:30 average or faster. I don't think I'll be that fast for 13.1. I'm hoping to be at that speed for the Crooklyn half in May, and maybe even run a sub 1:40 half sometime in 2011.

In a side note I have been entertaining myself with other running blogs, most of which have some pithy closing phrase like "Gotta Run". So here are some ideas for my closing line. Let me know what you think, or if you have a better one.

Lace em up
Daddy's gotta run. 
Run 'til you puke
That's a lap (ties into the actor thing)
Mmm...Fartleks
Stay on Tempo

The Race Calendar

Well, I have my next two races on the Cal. First up is the 13.1 Series in Queens on April 2. This race benefits World Vision, however, my support is limited to the entry fee. Next up is the Crooklyn leg of the NYRR Grand Prix. This is a series of half marathons ran in each of the five boroughs. I've done the Queens half, my first race ever, and the Staten Island half, my fastest race ever.

My goals for these two races are vastly different. For the 13.1 I just want to finish sub 1:50, I'm not looking for a PR. The weather in the city has been crazy, making both Hill workouts and Track work next to impossible. Last week both runs were still covered in slick ice. We had a couple of warm days since, in fact, I ran in shorts twice last week, but then a fresh white blanket was laid out last night. The roads are fine but the city doesn't much care about the track, or my hill loop, JERKS!

Lisa and my folks went in on a Garmin Forerunner 110 for my xmas gift and it makes the ole' Timex Chronograph look like a hand full of boogers. No more laborious plotting of routes before runs, or, laborious remembering what exact street I took at mile 9 of a 15 miler. 'Cause if you know me, you know I probs don't remember. Lisa calls it not being "mindful" I call it trapped in a flashback.

The boring Daily Training Log is gearing back up, I'll try to throw in some humor along the way. First up; Rusty Mondays.