Jersey, baby! The 1/2 way mark.

• Sat, Nov 21: "Lane Silber" Half Marathon! 13.1 miles, 2 hrs 49 mins 20 seconds.

So TNT put on an all teams training race for us.

The good things: We started on the Manhattan side of the George Washington Bridge, and ran across the bridge into New Jersey's portion of Palisades Interstate Park. It was beautiful, with the trees and the river and weather that was really quite nice. Also, I finished! And did it in about the same time it took me to run 12 miles last week.

The not so great things: It HURT. There were hills upon hills in that park, and the steep hills took it out of me. I was at an ok pace in the beginning, but really slow in the second half. Hence, I was the 3rd last person to finish. I was hoping my time would be more like 2.5 hours, but then I was just hoping to be done under 3 hours. I was so exhausted and fed up, that I stared down the bikes on the bridge, who had to get out of MY way, lol. Note: I was in my lane, just not hugging the side like on my way out. (Bikers and runners tend to have some hostility between them, I've found, as bike and running paths are right next to each other and bikers don't like runners in their bike lane.)

Anyhow, I did it. Just have to do this twice in a row on race day. :)

The long winding road

• Wed, Nov 18: Hills #3. Got a bit lost, did poorly. Sigh.

So, let this be a lesson to me to (1) not be late, and (2) if I'm going to be late, at least have the sense to memorize the email about practice. Since I did neither, when I got to the park and saw noone from our team in sight, I started off in the wrong direction. And by the time I knew that it was the wrong way, it didn't seem to make sense to turn around. So silly me ended up having to run (well, figuratively speaking) all around the park to find the group.

I started to get a bit nervous that I wouldn't make it all around the park before it was time to leave and pick up our bags. Plus, every other runner was heading in the opposite direction. It was dark, I was worried. But thankfully, I ran into the group with 23 minutes left.

What was funny, though: Everyone goes "Janine! Where did you come from? Were you here, but I just didn't see you?" (The coaches went, "My, my, where did you turn up from?!") My response: "I went left. I was here, just on the other side of the park!"

So, funny experience to tell, but a poor practice for me. Think I made up for it the Saturday?

Round and round and round we went

• Sat, Nov 14: 12 miles, 2 hrs 48 mins.
  

We stayed in the park today, which was a little disappointing. But at least it didn't pour with rain like we thought it would. And I learned the "five mile loop". Since I wasn't here the first time it happened, I guess it was appropriate that I got to do it twice, eh?

Here's the thing. This hurt. Like the dickens. My feet - SWOLLEN. I was running on my own padding. lol Plus, I forgot to eat breakfast so I had to fine chew a granola bar right before I started. Maybe that's why my stomach was upset for more than half the run. And I was so slow. And the legs were so heavy. But I was a souljah. I toughed it out.

Even tougher. The cold bath. Yes, people. The lower half of my body submerged for 20 minutes in a tub of cold water. Cold. I had to hysterically laugh and scream with my mom on the phone while the tub was filling (I sat first - no dipping the toe in and punking out). But coach Lisa was right. It helped a whole lot. I could actually bend my knees after! I think of it like a full ice pack for the lower body.

Hills #2

• Wed, Nov 11: Cresting hills with high, continued effort. Good job, Janine!!

A far cry from my previous hills workout. I really worked, too! Five times up the hill and then on to the flat with the same effort level (and therefore greater speed). On my last effort, I even received a good job from Captain Robyn (who I outran for a couple strides, heh heh! :) I was trucking! lol. Plus, I'm very pleased that it was the breathing, not the legs, that was the real effort. Also, that despite the breathing being tough, I made it through a lot better than I thought I would. I'm definitely a bit fitter!!!

On a different, interesting note (maybe). I seem to really take recovery jogs more seriously than other people. I mean, on the way back down the hill, I was the person taking it the slowest, lol. Why does everyone run down the hill? lol. Ah, well. As long as I stay healthy.

To Manhattan and back!

• Sat, Oct 7: 11 miles, 2.5 hours. From Prospect Park, across the Brooklyn bridge to West St in Manhattan and back. First time out of the borough. First time in the double digits!!!
  

Considering that last weekend was the first time out of the park, these next milestones came very quickly. lol

Wow, it was cold that morning. I'm glad I took multiple pairs of socks. But the day warmed up some, and it was beautiful. My slow run/jog across the Brooklyn bridge was quite something. Yosi, Nasser and I stayed together for most of it, for which I'm quite grateful, as I definitely had to take it slowly. The legs hurt, alright, and it was slower on the way back. But it was the legs, not the breath, that was the fight, which is amazing to me. I mean, I was quite slow, but still.

As an aside, I am now a huge fan of frozen peas as icepacks (thanks janieane :). Doing my best to stay healthy and keep running. Thanks for all the support!!!

The bad and the ugly.

• Wed, Nov 3: Hills 1. I crashed, I burned.

This is a difficult blog to write. I suppose I should give some history/context. I've been working lots of late hours, early mornings at work, 2:30am mornings some days for the last couple of weeks. Monday, I was in the office until 1:15 am on Tuesday, got home just before 2 am, and had to wake up at 5am so I could be at the site of the event we've been planning at 7am. Through it all, I've not missed a practice or a run. I've made it all happen, and in fact, figured that the running was saving me in it's own way by giving me something else to focus on and destress from work.

However, I guess you can't push yourself that hard without expecting to pay in some way. And now that I think about it, it's been coming to a head for a few weeks. After my 9 mile run, I could barely walk for a couple minutes. My legs have been hurting, so much so that I spent 40 minutes foam rolling on Tuesday evening. And my practice this day was not good at all. We were starting hills training for the first time, to build our strength. I started out ok, but then I got really down and frustrated. To be ok, I was running really slow, but this was getting to me because I felt that I was too slow and would therefore be running for too long come race day. I was slower than the walkers! And I didn't want to be last or left!

Even worse, it was clearly obvious to everyone else that something was wrong, which made it even worse for me, as I just wanted to crawl off by myself. In the end, I kept going, slowly, by myself, but I just wanted to cry. And shockingly, I did. As the last person finishing my last hill, our coaches Luis and Robyn waited for me to ask me if I was ok, and didn't take my weak "I'm fine" for an answer. And despite my best efforts, it just all came crashing down. I sobbed. In public. And they did their best to console me, but once the dam was burst, that was it. And once I found out that apparently I had been limping the whole time, it was all over. Now I was unhappy, pathetic, slow and limping? Once I told them where it hurt, now it was possible prolems with my IT band? Sigh. I refused to rejoin the group. I just couldn't. Tried to call my mother but couldn't talk to her. Stayed in the park for a little while, then just headed home instead of to the after-practice nutrition clinic. Cried all the way to the station. Cried so much, in fact, that I woke up with puffy eyes the next morning.

Now why am I sharing this? I'm not sure, but I remember what my friend Marielle told me after I commented on my blog probably not being that exciting. She basically said that it was fine to be honest, put my real feelings out there, not sugarcoat the struggle. And that's what this is. Despite everything that may be noble about this, I work for every mile, I fight an ongoing mental battle. And I need to fight the physical one too. Or, at least, figure out how to make this happen without hurting myself.

Robyn asked me if I was going to be at practice on Saturday, and I will be. Funny enough, there's no question in my mind that I'm going to do this. I didn't think for a moment that I was giving up or quitting. I just don't know how to do this yet and be ok. How to take away the frustration and be healthy physically, as well as happy with how I'm doing.

That's it. The bad and the ugly. I'm trusting that next time there will be good.

First time out of the park!!!

• Sat, Oct 31: 9 1/3 miles. First time out of Prospect Park!!!

And where did we run to? Ikea!!! lol (For anyone who doesn't know, I loooove Ikea).

This run was very interesting. First off, I decided to use the public bathroom in Prospect Park for the first time. And for my bravery, what did I get? I was locked in the bathroom. I'm not kidding. The lock wouldn't turn and I couldn't get out. Worse still, I was alone in there and not about to slide out under the door on that um, rather dirty bathroom floor. What was a person to do but somehow McGyver myself over the stall? I totally climbed up on the toilet, hoisted my left over the top of the stall wall and let myself over the other side into the empty stall beside. There was a terrible moment where I thought, I'm up, but how am I going to come down? Lol. But I made it without hurting myself anywhere. I was a little dusty and shell-shocked, though. They must not dust the top of bathroom stall walls.

But back to the running. It wasn't bad. I gave a good account of myself. Running to Ikea and back was 6 miles of it - 3 miles downhill, then that 'lovely' long couple of miles up 9th street on the way back up to Prospect Park. Then it was once around the Park for the last 3 1/3. True, I felt a bit broken up afterwards (wasn't sure I'd be able to walk back to the station), but 9 miles! Coming from 6 the previous week (and 7 the week before)? Go, me!!

5K in the Bk!!!

• Wed, Oct 28: 5K in the Bk!!! 32 minutes, 1 (or maybe 7) seconds!!!

So our team had it's own little 5K race for practice. We followed the 5K route in Prospect Park, and were told to run as quickly as we could while maintaining an even pace. This was so they could have a better sense of how we were doing and how we would be on our 'real' race day. Also, after hills training, we should see improvement in our time.

For me, I try to keep with a 12 minute pace normally. So I was thinking that an 11 1/2 minute pace would be great. I started out ok, and then tried to speed up as I felt comfortable. I was breathing hard, and every time it started to hurt a bit I'd try to concentrate on form. I ended up running by myself for much of it, though I tried to keep my running buddy in sight whether in front or behind. And there were some nervous moments when it was just me alone, running along a dark stretch of Prospect Park.

I definitely started to slow down during the end, but when I heard teammates cheering, I was soooo happy to be at the end. And 32 minutes for 5K / 3.1miles is like a 10 minute mile! Wow! At this point, no way could I keep that up for 26 miles (boy, was I sick afterwards), but still. 3.1 miles in 32 minutes? I'll take it! :)

Nike Human Race 2009!!!

• Sat, Oct 24: Rocked the Nike Human Race 2009 in Prospect Park, NYC! Clock time 1:17'01" (chip time a couple minutes less? :) , placed 3068th! lol

What a great day!! I had my race gear ready to go from the night before! lol After all, I had to get up at a ridiculous hour and I really didn't want to get lost. Met a friend on the way, who told me all about his h.s. school training team, them going to nationals, what he eats, what he thinks while he runs.... it really helped to alleviate the nervousness for my first 'race' ever. I'll probably won't ever run into him again, but thanks all the same.

Did manage to get there on time. It was great to see all the other runners in their red shirts no the subway. We were like this massive wave coming out of the station and rolling into the park. After I met up with my team, took my pre-race picture and checked in my bag, I got ready for the big moment by.... taking a bathroom break! lol

And then it was time to run! I got myself in right at the back, since there was no 12-minute station (there were 5 to 9 minute flags to people could group themselves). I ran a ways behind Yosi and Nasser (my running buddies) for most of the race, but caught up and even got a little in front in the last mile. Turning that last corner, and seeing the finish line in the distance even closer than I thought it was going to be was probably the greatest moment in the entire race. Swiftly followed by crossing the finish line. lol And the third best thing, I wasn't last!

The before and after pictures might tell it all. :)

Making the effort

• Wed, Oct 21: Effort levels again. Better than the last time!

First time back with the group after my little vacation (not from running, just from NY). I missed them! Doing effort levels with my buddy Yosi next to me was way better than doing them on the treadmill by myself. And I was really proud of how I was doing. I was making it happen, even near the end of the workout session!

I think that the time at home, though challenging, was also good in a way. That increased mental toughness, no matter how slight, was making a difference as I ran up and down (or is it back and forth?). Now, onwards to the Nike Human Race NYC 2009!!!