Training Log Archive: Kat

Jogging in Central Park before and after the road race with Greg and Aleksey.

Fred Lebow Classic 5-mile race in Central Park. Nice weather, 38 degrees F.

Overall place was 317 out of 2892 people entered. I was also the 48th female and the 2nd place 15-19 year-old female. (The first place female went 28:02, which is extremely impressive, especially given that she's 37 years old. The first place 15-19 female beat me by 11 seconds.) Just for the record, Aleksey beat me by 22 seconds.

Mile splits and heart rate: time, average HR, then max HR.

1 - 7:24 - 172, 179
2 - 7:22 - 176, 178
3 - 7:23 - 176, 178
4 - 7:25 - 177, 179
5 - 6:47 - 180, 185

Average mile pace was 7:16.

I think I was definitely a bit conservative with my pace at times (especially on the second and third miles today). I certainly could have pushed more, but I didn't want to die in the beginning (or even worse, the middle), so I aimed for a controlled pace. It's definitely easier to run faster surrounded by so many other folks!

This was a really fun race! And Greg did an awesome job of running with me. He didn't really pace me so much as provide company, which made me feel more stable. But I never felt that I had to run faster/slower because of him. I sped up when I felt I could/should and slowed down when I needed to and he followed me. I finished the race feeling quite good about life in general. And now i'm totally psyched to train and beat Aleksey next time we race!

Crunches.

To Forest Park and back.

Running a course in Forest Park set by Greg. 25 controls, quite close together. I made some mistakes, mostly due to losing my place on the map. (I'd glance up for a second, then have to spend time figuring out where I was on the map. I have to work on that...) I was also thrown off a bit on one control because Kseniya went too far left and even though I went right at first, I hesitated (not enough confidence) and then thought maybe she found the control there, so went left too. We ended up finishing in right about the same time, taking turns holding the lead.

6 strides in Pine Grove with Greg and Kseniya after the course.

Crunches.

Crunches.

C • Sunday's Race 2

It's a bit hard to log only minor strength training, but I figure that it's a good thing for me to take a break now before starting another intense and crazy term at Oxford.

It's been a while since i've looked at a map (or at least it feels this way), so I spent some time analyzing old maps on the subway. I guess I was so focused on figuring out the contour detail that I missed my stop and wound up in the Bronx instead of Manhattan. This made me remember all of the countless other times I have missed my stop because of reading, sleeping, or just zoning out. New York has that effect on me.

Crunches, push-ups, dips, and some other stuff

Crunches

Crunches.

Weights and 5 minutes of crunches.

I decided today to do a test run in Fort Tryon Park for speed so Aleksey and I ran to the park and did an easy loop, then stretched and did a fast loop for time. Then we did one more easy loop and ran home.

11:23 easy running
6:40 fast loop
12 minutes easy running

The conditions for running weren't perfect since it was dark, it was raining, my legs weren't fresh because of hills yesterday (although they weren't particularly sore either), and because we had to watch out for cars (so we couldn't completely focus on just running). Nonetheless, since I decided before I left the house that I would do a test loop around the park today, I was determined to follow through. The first section was pretty much all downhill and the last section was pretty much all uphill, so I never felt comfortable. I felt uneasy running downhill hard and tired running uphill. But as crazy as it sounds, I enjoyed the uphill. I was tired, for sure, and I was definitely going at a pace above my comfort level, but I also wasn't sprinting and I felt in control of my breathing. I actually felt quite strong the entire way.

Although I certainly ran downhill almost as fast as I could, I saved some energy on the uphill so I could sprint the last 15 meters or so. So I ended the loop thinking that I still had energy left and could have gone faster.

Aleksey did the loop 20 seconds faster than I did. I was right behind him for 2 minutes of the way, but then fell back a bit. I always saw him ahead of me though, which motivated me to keep going.

My legs felt quite tired after the run. Amazing that only 6:40 minutes of running can bring about such an effect!

It was dark and raining when Aleksey and I left the house, but after Sweden, I feel much tougher when it comes to weather conditions. I feel I can run through just about any crap, at any time of day, in a variety of temperatures. The only way I wouldn't go out to run now would be for safety reasons (for instance, I wouldn't go run in the park late at night by myself).

C • Good 1