Run 4/5/09 and Some Pics

Hey y'all. How was your weekend? Mine was cool. I went out Friday night. Had a few drinks. Listened to some good music and just chilled.


So yeah. More random photos because I'm really loving my camera. I'm snapping pictures of everything. I'm no where near being a photographer, so I'll spare you all the entire contents of my memory card. You can thank me later.

I've learned to zoom in






and zoom out.

This is the type of hill I imagine when people say they are hill training. Please tell me that hill training isn't that ridiculous.

And the best part is that I haven't cracked open the instruction booklet yet. I feel that if I have to read an instruction booklet to figure out the basics, then the damn thing isn't user friendly and I'd be better off without it anyway.

So on to the run...


I love my Adidas. Aren't they cute?

I have no idea why it was so fast (especially with feminine issues). Maybe I was just really diggin' today's music selection (It came highly recommended by a DJ acquaintance. This album is HOT HOT HOT!!). Maybe I loved running in short sleeves and a skirt.


With the sun all in my eyes. I didn't even realize he took the picture.


So we took another picture. This time, I could see.

It's about time Spring made an appearance. The weather has been sucky lately.


Daffodil outside my house.

Or maybe because it was warm enough to run sockless. Socks just don't agree with me. Who likes a hot foot? I don't. It's just more comfortable to me. And I can feel the breeze go through my sneakers.


Sockless running is hardcore!

But whatever the case may be, it turned out to be a good run. 5mi at a 8:53 pace! And get this, it was fairly consistent too. Check my splits when you get a chance. Anyway, I'm truly amazed. There's no other way to put it. So my fast day is your slow day, but still. It's an improvement.

In other news, guess what I did? I joined New York Road Runners and registered for two 10k races. Michelle talked me into it (If someone's looking for a negotiator, look her up). For one, I don't live in NY. Two, I don't live close either. Three, but I love NY and have family there and was born there. So why not race there? The first race is scheduled for May 16th, and the other is June 7th. Both are in Central Park. Maybe if I run the hill in the park near me, I'll be prepared for it. I hear Central Park is hilly. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Oh, and I did mention some months ago about possibly running the Brooklyn Half (again Michelle's doing). Brooklyn Represent! But they have yet to pick a date. So I'm still waiting on that one.

Anyway, I've done enough rambling and picture posting. And I am starving. So yeah, I need to work on that. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

Run 1/3/09

When I stepped out, I felt under-dressed when the air hit me. My arms were cold. My arms are never cold. But once I got started, I felt okay. Once my core was warmed up, having cold arms was actually refreshing. I really wasn't expecting this run to go well. That's mostly because I don't care for leaving a warm house for the cold outdoors. Oh and I decided to attempt 5mi instead of last weekend's 4mi. I haven't run 5mi in what feels like ages (since 9/15/08). I just checked my previous stats. And oddly enough, this looks like my fastest 5miler to date. Go me! And just think, the first time I ran 5mi it took me about an hour. So maybe, just maybe if I don't punk out for the rest of the winter, I can knock out 5mi in 45min about time Spring rolls around. Oh wait, that means a 9:00/mi pace. Okay so maybe not. I'll just do what I can. So back to the actual run. I stopped in the beginning of mile 2 for a bit to change my music. I started out listening to an artist/album I had never played before. I scanned the tracks briefly beforehand. I thought it was pretty decent, but it just didn't agree with me. So I switched to old, faithful 4hero Presents Brazilika. Maybe that's why mile 3 was such a pleasure to run. It was like the planets were in alignment. But I'm sure it helped that it was going downhill. I was hoping for all negative splits, but not so much. Oh well, it still worked out. In case you've forgotten, THIS IS MY FASTEST 5MILER TO DATE! So it's all good. Well, I'm off to lay up and such. I'm having tummy issues. Not sure why, but whatever. Enjoy your weekend, everyone! Activity Route: Park Elev. Avg: 28 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -30 ft Date: 01/03/09 Up/Downhill: [+193/-223] Time: 02:14 PM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 37 F temp; 40% humidity 37 F heat index; winds NW 9 G 16 Performance Distance: 5.00 miles Time: 0:47:56 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 35 /mi Heart Rate: 173 bpm (Avg) Calories: 560 192 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .42mi HR Monitor issues the first half mile in. Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 180 - 200 0h 31m 64% 3.28 mi Zone 4 160 - 180 0h 12m 24% 1.22 mi Zone 3 140 - 160 0h 01m 3% 0.16 mi Zone 2 120 - 140 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi Zone 1 100 - 120 0h 03m 5% 0.26 mi (none) out of range 0h 02m 3% 0.19 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 52 +0' 17 6.1 -0.2 135 -46 ft 2 9' 47 +0' 12 6.1 -0.1 178 +16 ft 3 9' 24 -0' 09 6.4 +0.1 184 -19 ft 4 9' 32 -0' 03 6.3 +0.0 188 +16 ft end 9' 20 -0' 15 6.4 +0.1 189 +4 ft Versus average of 9' 35 min/mile

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Quick 3

I'm feeling better today so I made up Tuesday's 3miler. I have a slight headache now but nothing crazy, so that's good. It's getting darker sooner so I decided to go without music. It's not a huge deal. I can't see a long run without music though. I'm not that hardcore yet. Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going to cook something real quick and spend time flipping back and forth between the US Open and the DNC. Night all. Activity Route: Park Elev. Avg: 34 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -43 ft Date: 08/28/08 Up/Downhill: [+75/-118] Time: 07:12 PM Difficulty: 1.5 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 72 F temp; 57% humidity 72 F heat index; winds SE 3 Performance Distance: 3.00 miles Time: 0:27:18 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 06 /mi Heart Rate: 169 bpm (Avg) Calories: 331 191 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .67mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 0% 0.02 mi 2 111 - 130 0h 00m 2% 0.06 mi 3 130 - 148 0h 02m 8% 0.24 mi 4 148 - 167 0h 05m 19% 0.58 mi 5 167 - 185 0h 15m 56% 1.70 mi (none) out of range 0h 03m 13% 0.43 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 27 +0' 21 6.3 -0.3 149 -53 ft 2 9' 04 -0' 02 6.6 +0.0 176 +3 ft 3 8' 45 -0' 21 6.8 +0.2 184 +6 ft Versus average of 9' 06 min/mile

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Racing Myself

So my schedule called for a 5k race. I had no 5k to race, so I just ran the scheduled mileage in the park. Let me just say that I ran it like a race. When I saw my time after the first mile, I spent the next mile trying to slow myself down a bit. For the most part, the first mile of most of my runs are a 10:00+ pace. It takes a bit for me to get warmed up. Then the next mile is significantly faster. If I was going to have negative splits, I needed to slow down. It's weird because I felt like I did, but Garmin said I didn't. In any case, these past couple of weeks, I've learned that my legs are stronger than I thought and that the real test is making sure my lungs are up for the challenge. Today, both my legs and my lungs were in agreement. Activity Route: Park Elev. Avg: 35 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -42 ft Date: 08/16/08 Up/Downhill: [+72/-114] Time: 06:24 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Weather: A Few Clouds 81 F temp; 36% humidity 80 F heat index; winds W 7 G 18 Performance Distance: 3.11 miles Time: 0:28:06 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 02 /mi Heart Rate: 172 bpm (Avg) Calories: 345 195 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .59mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 1% 0.05 mi 2 111 - 130 0h 01m 3% 0.10 mi 3 130 - 148 0h 01m 4% 0.14 mi 4 148 - 167 0h 06m 22% 0.67 mi 5 167 - 185 0h 08m 30% 0.96 mi (none) out of range 0h 11m 39% 1.24 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 23 +0' 21 6.4 -0.2 150 -49 ft 2 9' 00 -0' 02 6.7 +0.1 180 +30 ft 3 8' 49 -0' 13 6.8 +0.2 189 -29 ft end 8' 08 -0' 54 7.4 +0.8 194 +6 ft Versus average of 9' 02 min/mile

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8 on the 8th Race on the 9th

I was pretty nervous about this one. It's been about 7mos since I've run this distance. I wasn't sure how my body would handle it. I had a small cup of chocolate soymilk. I waited until it worked it's way out of my system. Then I set out in yet another running dress (blue this time), a water bottle with a small sandwich bag of fruit and nut trail mix stuffed into the little zipper pouch on the side, and some tunes. I was good to go. I started out slow at 10:39 in the first mile. But after I saw that I ran 10:11 in mile 2, I began to wonder if I'd continue to have negative splits. I mean, I did have 6 miles to go. Could I keep this up? Heading into mile 3, I started to get a cramp in the left side of my stomach. Maybe the water was too much? I would take a gulp every so often. Not a big gulp but bigger than a sip. A lady I had passed a few times on the path told me that I make it look so easy. Yeah, holla at me 5 miles from now and tell me how I look then. Somewhere in mile 4 I decided it was a good idea to snack on a couple pieces of dried fruit. I did that again in mile 6. Mind you, I began to feel tired then. I was originally scheduled for 6 miles. So It would make sense that I'd get a little tired at this point I should be ending my run. Okay, so I'm in mile 7 when I damn near twist my ankle. There was a woman walking toward me wearing a sweat suit made out of what could be mistaken for a trash bag. I really think she distracted me and I ended up stepping where the asphalt met the dirt. I flexed my ankle a bit while running. By mile 8, my boo boo was long gone. At this point, I just wanted to get this over with. The good thing is that I set the display screen on my Garmin to just show my pace and the distance remaining. Really, that helps a lot. When you're busy looking at your time, you're thinking I've been out here for how long? Oh man, I've got such and such time to go. That's not a good way to be on a long run. In any case, I finished in 1:20:28 at a 10:03 pace. That just blows my mind. The first time I ran this race, I finished in 1:33:44 at an 11:43 pace. That's a huge improvement. So during the cool down, I ate the rest of my trail mix and finished my water. I'm surprised I didn't drink more during the run, but with the stomach cramping, I guess too much water or any liquid just doesn't agree with me. Remember a couple weeks ago the coconut water didn't agree with me. Anyway, I interrupted my cool down walk with a few minutes on the swings. There were a couple of kids at the playground with their dad (I think) but they were too small for the swings. So the swings were all mine. When I got home I did some yoga and completed Week 4 Day 3 of the Hundred Push Ups Challenge. Let me just say that it's not a good idea to do push ups after 8 miles of running. Yoga after running, though, I highly recommend. Now I'm just extremely thirsty. I definitely didn't have enough water. I weighed myself when I got back. Mind you, this is after I drank the water I brought and ate the trail mix. I was still down 1.2lbs. So yeah, I need to work on that. Hopefully while I'm working on that I won't be eating everything that's not nailed down. I had lunch with a friend at Baja Fresh a couple hours ago. And now I feel like I can go for another veggie combo at Norma's. But first, I need a nap. Music: 4hero Presents....Brazilika Activity Route: Park Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 08/09/08 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 08:45 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 71 F temp; 59% humidity 71 F heat index; winds NW 8 Performance Distance: 8.00 miles Time: 1:20:28 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 10' 03 /mi Heart Rate: 180 bpm (Avg) Calories: 905 198 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = 1.02mi At .60mi into my walk, I spent a few minutes being a big kid on the swings. Yoga: 30min Yoga For Every Body: Hip Mobility Girl Push Ups = 92 I rested in child's pose between sets. Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 0% 0.04 mi 2 111 - 130 0h 00m 0% 0.06 mi 3 130 - 148 0h 02m 2% 0.21 mi 4 148 - 167 0h 05m 7% 0.54 mi 5 167 - 185 0h 33m 41% 3.28 mi (none) out of range 0h 39m 48% 3.94 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 39 +0' 36 5.6 -0.4 151 -- ft 2 10' 11 +0' 08 5.9 -0.1 174 -- ft 3 10' 05 +0' 02 5.9 -0.1 177 -- ft 4 10' 05 +0' 02 5.9 -0.1 185 -- ft 5 10' 02 -0' 01 6.0 +0.0 185 -- ft 6 10' 00 -0' 03 6.0 +0.0 188 -- ft 7 9' 52 -0' 11 6.1 +0.1 191 -- ft 8 9' 31 -0' 32 6.3 +0.3 194 -- ft Versus average of 10' 03 min/mile

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If I were to run by feel...

I would have stopped and walked home. Morning running takes some getting used to. My body just didn't want to move. Well, at least it felt that way. And it's bad enough I forced my poor little (ha!) legs to do squats and lunges yesterday. That's right, I strength trained for the first time in two weeks. So yeah, I did push ups too. I picked right up at Week 4. I was prepared to punk out and go back to Week 3, but I did okay. I'm surprised I'm not really sore from them. But my thighs on the other hand, well they're feeling the squats. And I felt them on my run today. I really need to get back to my yoga. In any case, I made it through the run, and I wasn't as slow as I felt. I'm glad I didn't walk back home. Activity Route: Park Run Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 08/04/08 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 05:57 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 68 F temp; 72% humidity 68 F heat index; winds W 3 Performance Distance: 4.00 miles Time: 0:38:35 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 39 /mi Heart Rate: 169 bpm (Avg) Calories: 445 192 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .47mi 8/3 Strength and Stretch Girl Push Ups = 73 2x15 Crunches w/Twist 2x15 One-Arm Dumbbell Rows 2x15 Hip Flexor 2x15 Alternating Dumbbell Biceps 2x15 Forward Lunges 2x15 Squats Spark People Quick and Easy Stretching Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 1% 0.06 mi 2 111 - 130 0h 01m 2% 0.10 mi 3 130 - 148 0h 01m 4% 0.16 mi 4 148 - 167 0h 06m 15% 0.60 mi 5 167 - 185 0h 23m 60% 2.47 mi (none) out of range 0h 06m 15% 0.66 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 19 +0' 40 5.8 -0.4 143 -- ft 2 9' 38 -0' 01 6.2 +0.0 172 -- ft 3 9' 29 -0' 10 6.3 +0.1 179 -- ft 4 9' 04 -0' 35 6.6 +0.4 186 -- ft Versus average of 9' 39 min/mile

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