Random Acts of Running 2

I’m away on Monday (July 2)!

Hey guys it’s HOT out there.  Be careful when you are running, even if you consider yourself a “hot weather runner” like Xena.

Hot Weather Adjustments:

When running or racing in hot weather, your body needs to work double to cool your core temperature AND keep up with the running part.  Here’s a fancy pants calculation on how to adjust your pace for hot weather.  

Case in Point.  These two Garmin readings are my personal data from Coach Terry’s famous 20 minute West Drive Out-n-Back Negative Split.  The workout is simple out and back on the West Drive.  The objective is to run out at a “10K Effort” and come back at a pace at about “5K Effort”.  So you go out for 20 minutes, but come back at maybe a minute or so faster, something like 19 minutes give or take a few seconds.  Here’s data from perfectly fine January evening.  And here’s a data from perfectly awful humid morning (today).    
Note the pace, distance, and HR difference between the two.  The summer time run includes a 0.2mile cool down in the end, so take that in to mind when comparing.  Now, the winter class was with a group.  I always seem to go faster and harder when there's someone to chase after.  But again, if you look at the HR, I was working pretty hard as "solo" this morning.  Interesting, isn't it?

Now if you are crazy enough to go nuts-fast in this heat, don’t forget sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and dress appropriately.  I don’t care if you are training for a world record.  Long sleeve cotton shirts and sweat pants are not a good idea, unless you are under legal drinking age, and have a name like Meraf.

Survey Results!

Thanks for all those who participated in our Team Survey.  We had 14 respondents.

Here are the results!

92.9% of you didn’t care for Equinox Membership.  2 people had membership through their employers, while 7 of you declared it was too expensive.  3 people said that they didn’t live near an Equinox, so found the membership useless.

For Team Activities, 64.3% (9) wanted to do something close to NYC, while 35.7% (5) declared anywhere in the US would be great.  As for type of activities, we had a big spread.  Top choice was a Team Relay (38.5%, 5), followed closely by Boston Marathon Course Training Run (30.8%, 4).  15.4% (2) each for a non-running event and a winter vacation that may include a race.

Most of you didn’t care Saturday or Sunday for Long Runs (57.1%, 8) with 2 people preferring Saturdays and 1 person preferring Sundays.  But 3 of you declared that you were lone wolf type and preferred to run solo, in quiet mind trips of their own.

Membership Dues was a mixed bag, probably because we didn’t clarify what we’d use this money for.  I think Captain Chris’ primary goal is to generate money for team promotion (like banners at races!), registration with USA Track & Field, and have some cash for activities.  35.7% (5) of you wanted to know what the money was for, 28.6% (4) super rich folks declared unconditional love and threw in $100.  2 people each for $10 and $25 category, and 1 person said $50.  Oh, and I forgot to create a special $10,000 category for the Maharaja.  oops. (sad face)

Some comments included getting free team uniforms, cheaper training, and refreshments in exchange of membership dues. 

We’ll take these responses to heart and come up with some awesome activities soon!!

Lisa, Xena & I would be running Queens 10K this weekend.  Captain Chris will be in Queens as well, but with his other lovechild.  (or I think this is...apologies if I'm wrong!)

Everybody have a safe weekend!

Proud and Pretty (Pride Run)

This race is a can’t-miss race because the FrontRunners have the best taste in swag.  This year, they didn’t disappoint.  Tech shirts in TWO colors to chose from!  (I got the coveted BLUE SMALL hehehehe!)  Popsicles at the end of the race!  Drag Queens!  Hot Cheerleaders!  Rainbow flags!  Now if all the hot FrontRunner men ran topless, it would make it the PERFECT race, but hey, we can’t have it all.

But even with thier singlets on, it was enough to make Captain Chris pay extra attention to his shiny locks. Oh yea.  He made sure his hair was perfect and pretty - the right amount of product to ensure the best style even in high hummidity.  As Xena, Lisa and I huddled around him at the start line, we could feel the excitement in the air.  Lots of people smiling, lots of people in costumes.  Lisa noted several Tootoos and kindly pointed them out to us…we both made sure we beat all but one or two with Blue Bibs.

This Pride Run is like a big prom ball party for my favorite anonymous rivals, the FrontRunners!  I try to run this race, as it’s a chance to thank them for involuntarily “pulling” me through hard patches of numerous races.  There’s ALWAYS at least one Frontrunner queen in front of me, you see.  Well this race, there were a TON of them (naturally)!

Most noticeable this time was a guy in a one of these...  Queen, I get it.  I used to wear them too when I was 19, at Roxy or Limelight or Tunnel.  I get you, girl.  We’re all trying to reclaim our youth a little.  …or at least that’s what I thought to myself as the Propeller Cap Queen sped by me.  But I caught up to him towards the finish, and I decided to pass him.  See, FrontRunners ALWAYS helps me go faster and further.  I don’t know what to do without them!

Now Xena, with her broken toe and respiratory condition came in THIRD in this race!  She won $25 bucks!!  CONGRATULATIONS!

This Week's Housekeeping:

Xena’s Annual Van Cortlandt Park Invasion (Saturday, July 7, 8AM)

A great change to run with your favorite Warrior Princess, Xena.  You don’t know who Xena is?  Well, you better show up, then.  The course will be 7.5M out and back on a path next to an old railroad, then 3.75M on trail for some hill workout.  First half of the trail is slight uphill, then it’s flat and downhill.  It should be a fun change of pace for those looking for something different to do.  If you would like to come, please e-mail Xena.  We will also send out reminder e-mails as well.

How to get there:  Take the 1 Train to the last stop in the Bronx.  We will meet at the Burger King 2 minutes from the stop. You can’t miss it.  We won’t wait for stragglers, so please be prompt. 

Team Survey

Please take a quick moment to answer simple 6 question survey about the Team, commissioned by our Captain Chris.  We want to make sure that you are happy with us, so we are looking for more ways to make the Team fun, fab, and fantastic!

Next Team Race

Central Park Conservancy Run is on July 14.  If you are running and haven’t responded to Race Director Mr. Tom, please do so soon.  We need FIVE brave men, and FIVE awesome women.  We always seem to have issues getting the men to run…Dudes, step it up!

Friday Night Run

This Friday, we’ll do a Fast-Tempo Negative Split run on West Drive (yea, the side with the hills).  We’ll start at 6:15pm meeting at Columbus Circle Central Park Entrance.  If attending, please respond to reminder e-mail which will go out on Wednesday.

New York City Marathon

Jenny From the Block reminded everybody that the Bus/Boat reservation for NYC Marathon has opened.  If you haven’t signed up for one yet, don’t forget to do so!

Injured, Hung Over, and Kicking Butt

The dudes of Agony really like Agony.  The Maharajah was injured.  Another was presumed hung over.  Another sacrificed his lovers in his Tennis team.  Yet another endured Spartan Cat Hill Repeats on Friday on top of Tuesday's Muddy Hill Repeats, and still showed up.  And the fastest guy wore long sweat pants and a sweat shirt…in 80% humidity. 

What’s wrong with these guys??

Well, lemme tell ya.  They are dedicated!!  And we salute you.  We are certainly proud to have you as part of this awesome team!  Six dedicated, hard working men showed up and gave the Portugal Day Race their all this past Sunday!!

Speaking of awesome, Gio has designed our brand new webpage.  It’s full of gorgeous pictures and videos, so when you have a chance, do stop by.  You’ll get to see butch Xena’s raw abs.

Some Housekeeping: 

Coach Alem is back from his winter retreat, so please remember to bring your class payments to him on Tuesday.  Remember, he doesn’t like monopoly money, so bring either check or cash!  Information on the class is posted here.

Next Club Points Race is July 14(Saturday) Central Park Conservancy Run.  Please let your friendly Race Director, Mr. Tom know of your participation.  This is only 4Ms and you get a tech shirt, so it’s a no-brainer good race.  Besides, we should all try to give back to our backyard a little bit, right? 

More Club Points Race – 8/4: Team Championship; 8/25: Percy Sutton 5K; 9/22: 5^th Ave Mile; 9/29: Grete’s Half Marathon.  These sold out fast, so get them while it’s open and cheap!

Finally, if anyone is interested, I’m hosting Friday Night Run, (around 6:30pm, but time varies) based on race schedule.  Basically, if there is no race on Saturday, we will do different workout runs on Friday nights.  We’ll do some workouts I’ve done in the past, picked up from other classes and different coaches.  Some times it’s hard, some times it’s easy, some times it’s long, some times it’s short.  Besides, it’s a GOOD WAY to burn some calories before your weekend cocktails!  I will send a group e-mail day or two before the run. 

Ladies Show Force!

The women of Agony brought full force to Women’s Mini10K this weekend.  11 of us ran the race, and Hirut came in third in her age group!  Followed by 3 of us (Kathy, Louise and me) having the exact same time!  It’s strange that we’re not all tied…I guess they rank the place by gun time?

This was the 40^th Anniversary of Mini10K.  Which means, 40 years ago, women weren’t allowed to race a road race or something.  That’s just 1972!  It’s hard to imagine what women did back then for sports.  Synchronized Swimming?  Hoola hoops?

Now for the race recap.

It’s hard to recap a 10K because it’s so short and I’m concentrating so hard that I don’t really “take notes” like usually do for longer distances.  I’m not a short distance runner, so it takes everything in me to push hard.

When the gun went off, I wished Kathy a good race and took off.  I know speeding away at the sound of the gun is super dumb thing to do.  But I decided that for Mini10K, my strategy is going to be to cut much time as I can during the first half 2 miles, where it’s flat or downhill.  OH, DON’T ASK ME WHY.  I KNOW IT’S LAME STRATEGY.  So I’m speeding at sub-7 minute mile, when I suddenly see something on the ground.  It takes about 2 seconds for me to register what it is.  It’s a smooshed dead rat carcass.  WAAAAAAAAAA  I can’t avoid it, I can’t stop, I can’t change course by the time I figure out what it is!  SQUISH.  I step on it and I’m about to cry.

Another thing I noticed is that when you’re in the blue corral, you don’t see much silly outfits.  People are all PROS here…with the exception of two tootoos.  There’s a rainbow one, which Lisa noticed and declared war, and a pink one, which I noticed and declared war.  Unfortunately, the pink one was worn by a CPTC person,  so I lost that war easily.  But Lisa won her battle against the rainbow tootoo!  GO LISA!

Was it me, or was the race generally slower this year?  I lost concentration some where after Coach Alem’s hut and noticeably slowed down.  I only picked it back up when I saw the “Sun Woman” again…

Who is Sun Woman?  It's this lady in a pair of funny looking shorts I noticed at the start of the race.  The shorts had a big yellow sun (?) motif on her bum area.  She was all in red except for this giant yellow circle. She was with me during the first few miles then I lost her at around mile 3 or so.   All the while she was running around me, I kept on thinking how wired it looked.  When she reappeared a little before Cat Hill I was bat-sh!t angry about it.  I think it was because it started to look like this at that point.  I made it a point to pass her.  But as I goaled in, I immediately felt bad because she tapped by shoulder and asked me if I was OK (I sprinted last 400m, and was completely breathless).  NOTE:  People in strange outfits can be nice people. 

Post-race, NYRR decided to give out POPSICLES this year.  I hope this doesn’t mean we’ve used up our annual allotment of free popsicles because Pride Run without popsicles would suck.

Next up is the dudes’ Portugal Race.  I hear Xena is getting her sexy on to cheer.  Although for some members, I believe Hercules is preferred over Xena.  But I guess it's the thought counts. 

Random Acts of Running 1

We’re trying to make the blog update every week so that we can get into a habit of checking this site! 

Summer is here and that means Summer Speed Work is here.  Be sure to check out our class schedule for details.

Berries on the Run:  Unless you’re Xena, summer is hard to run.  Which is really odd, since Xena is from northern Japan, equivalent of being from VT or ME!  But during summer runs, there are some sweet treats in Central Park to help you stay focused.  Raspberries, Blackberries and Mulberries.  And it  looks like the Village Voice is about to spill my fun.  There are Mulberries all over Central Park and lots and lots of Raspberries and Blackberries in the Rambles.  There’s a rather nice Raspberry bush up by Cleopatra’s Needle (much needed fuel after Cat Hill).  Unrelated, but there are even Raspberries on the East River running course, on the way to “Track with Terry”.

“Sometimes, it’s just not worth it”:  Two years ago, I took a running form & technique class from Coach Mike Gavin.  It went from June to August, and boy, was it awfully hot.  At one point, he had to change our workout due to the heat.  And he gave me the most valuable advice.  “When it’s too hot and humid, it’s not worth it to go out do ‘the workout’.  There are 365 days in a year to run”.  Sometimes, it’s better to not do the run/race rather than to push through it…because it’s not worth risking your health.  …an advice I knowingly set aside during Boston 2012 – and I almost paid for it.  By the way, this advice works for those who don't like extreme cold as well!  Just change hot & humid to cold & icy.

Thoughts on the Harlem Pool:  My project this summer is to find proper gear to go from running to swimming, then back to running.  I’m thinking of ways to keep on going on my long runs, even if it’s a bit “not worth it”!  Unfortunately, in Triathlon, people transit from Swim to Bike, not Swim to Run…so there really isn’t appropriate gear.  Perhaps a super wicking sports bra and a pair of shorts will do?! 

Team Activities/Trip:  Would anyone be interested in going on a Agony Trip to something other than running?  Like maybe TUBING?  Perhaps we can get some driver volunteers and we can all share a van!  We can do it post long run (since all long runs in the summer starts at 7AM) or a race!  Let me know if this interests you.  We're still looking for a good team relay to do too!  No one liked my ultramarathon relay idea...

Final Words:  June means JPM Corporate Challenge.  This year, it will be on June 13 & June 14.  Stay away from Central Park if you can!  Massive crowds are expected!