Great Running Weekend and a Race Report

After the session with the running coach, i had a couple of unmemorable workouts.  But I knew I had a pretty big weekend lined up...the Team Championship on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.  The Team Championship is for really fast runners.  It is 5 miles around Central Park, and to put it in perspective, I ran this race in 2009 at 7:02 pace  -- and finished in the bottom half.  So I didn't have any expectations on the run, just a fast tempo workout.

Race day was fine -- 70ish, humid, but no rain during the race (that came later). And i welcomed a new friend -- my new Garmin 410!  I bought a refurbished unit, and it arrived the night before.  After a charge up, was ready to go -- maybe my old one was defective, but the new one is light years better.  the buttons, the battery everything is better.  And it seems like it just works.  After a suggestion from DC Rainmaker, I used the heart rate strap from my Polar HRM with the Garmin receiver snapped on front.  It worked great -- much better and more consistent data than the Garmin strap.

Race was pretty standard -- Mile 1 downhill, two and three rolling but basically up hill and 4 and 5 flat with the exception of cat hill (about  400m long) at end of Mile 3.  My goal time was...40 minutes.  A strong 8:00 pace on the hilly course, humid morning.  I don;t remember much about the race except it seemed like EVERYONE passed me.  My race number was in the 7000's, which is highest I can ever recall, so i started way in the back.  And it still seemed like everyone passed me.  To cut to the chase, I ended up at 39:11, for 7:50 pace, so I was quite pleased, AG of 60% -- and I finished in the 75% percentile.  That's right, basically bottom quarter.  Running can be humbling.

After the race, I walked back to my car, and stopped to get cash at a little deli.  Inside was a Cuban kitchen making homemade, from scratch food.  I never eat in places like that, but I thought, eh, why not?  A plate of scrambled eggs, with green pepper, onion and ham, smashed green plantains and a slice of bacon.  Beyond delicious. 

Then Sunday, I need a long run.  I thought I would just go around my typical route around home, and then I decided, why not go back to Central Park?  My family is gone for the weekend, I had nothing to do, so why not run in a truly great place?  I geared up (packed a bag with water and Gatorade to leave in the bushes, found a perfect parking spot) and set off.  Goal was 10 miles at 9:00 pace.  It was the afternoon though, a quite a bit warmer -- 82 or so, and the day after a pretty good "tempo" run in the race from day before.  And the hills of Central park.  But I hit my paces pretty well, and heart rate wasn't crazy, so was a good long run -10.25 miles at 1:31. After running though, I was really wiped out.  I stiffened up, but really felt pretty good.  And another gorgeous day in Central Park.

All in all a pretty gosh darned awesome NYC running weekend.  Weekends like that make me love the city and being a runner.

The descent into Hades...

It has been three weeks since I stopped running because of the stress fracture in my right foot.  I tried to run over the weekend, and no go.  None.  Since then it has been 3 weeks of food, spring and drink.  It will take at least a month to recover from this and be back in form.  Maybe I should hit the gym and just bike or row. Ugh. Who knows.

That is also why I have not posted.  I have not had any running news or insight to share, and all of my blogs would have been about food.  And I have consumed enough food lately, so writing about it would have made me even hungrier.

But I will pass on something I did last weekend that was FANTASTIC.  I barbecued baked potatoes on the grill.  I coated them in veggie oil, Lawrys salt, and wrapped them in aluminum foil.  And then on the grill, on the side opposite the fire for about an hour.  Wonderful.  I also added smoke chips, for "smoked" potatoes but I am not sure that had any effect; they were wrapped in foil after all. But when they were done, they were firm, moist and just wonderful.

Congrats to all those Boston folks!  That is my inspiration to come back and run again!

Korean Spicy Chicken Bowl

There are a thousand places in New York that are lunch delis, food stores, buffets, etc. And I like one of them, Cafe Duke.  I am skeptical about all of these places, figuring it is low quality food kept in unsanitary conditions. (A side note. In a building I was once lived in, there was an inexpensive and popular Chinese restaurant on the ground floor. They kept their food in the basement of our building, where our laundry was. It was disgusting. Bins of raw chicken and fish just laying out.) If you visit New York, do not think I am urging a visit or that you eat at Cafe Duke. If you live in New York, make no effort to find this place or eat here.

They have everything to eat here.  EVERYTHING.  A grill, sandwiches, salad, pizza, pasta, sushi, a buffet (which I have not sampled), noodles galore cooked to order (ramen, udon, soba, rice, etc.).  Every kind of energy bar imaginable, including every Cliff Bar flavor known to man.  British candy bars, which even the NY Times agrees are much better than American ones. Japanese Hy-Chews.

My dish of choice here is the deceptively simple sounding Korean "Spicy Chicken Bowl." One day I was a little under the weather and wandered in here and thought, what the hell. It is mushrooms, onions and scallions tossed in a stir fry pan. Some precooked chicken bits. And then some magic red sauce and one minute later, spicy chicken, served with rice, pickled daikon radish, ginger and sesame seeds. A picture:

I was blown away.  It is wonderful, really.  The secret is the sauce, spicy, flavorful, and I don't even know what.  I asked the guys what was in it and they said:  Korean pepper paste, chili oil and garlic.  It is spicy in a way that is different than Chinese or Mexican spicy.  I can't describe it really.  I have tried to duplicate it at home by hunting down Korean pepper paste and experimenting.  I have not even come close.

And this place is efficient.  The service is not polite or friendly; just brutally efficient.  They serve hundreds of people at lunch, and they have people ready at the food stations and at the cash registers.  I think they should be put in charge of the US health care system.

So, a shout out to one place that does something deceptively simple incredibly well.  

And no, I haven't been to the doctor yet.  What is he going to tell me?  Stop running, ice and rest.  As the Paper of record said today, tough it out.

Thanksgiving Runs...

We are in Florida on the annual Thanksgiving migration.  Compared to New York, Florida is hot, flat and humid.  And a welcome change.  Unfortunately, one thing that did not change was the one constant in New York over the last several months: rain.  The day before Thanksgiving, we got almost an inch and a half of rain.  I managed to run in a light drizzle and ran a neat 5 miles.

Thanksgiving, though, I was determined to put in a good run before turkey, pie and mashed potatoes.  I actually made the mashed potatoes based on a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis (basics: potatoes, butter and cheese.  What could go wrong with that?).

So, anyway, got up and ran about 8.5 miles.  I had wanted to do a turkey trot, but the St. Pete trot was about an hour and a half away.  Eh, so I just ran around here.  8.5 sunny miles, with a distinct wind.  I went with a comfortable pace, with an eye on my heart rate.  First mile 7:28; second mile: 7:28; third mile: 7:28.  I have never, ever, run three miles in exact same pace as measured by Garmin.  I mean they were within 0.3 seconds of one another.  I couldn't do that again if I tried.  Next 5 were all within a band of 7:31 to 7:22 per mile.  That is a fantastic pace and still a little freaky in terms of consistency (I didn't realize that I had run 3 straight at 7:28 until I got home and looked at the data.)

That made my decision to eat well yesterday an easy one.  Sadly, the highlight of the meal was not my potatoes.  Rather, my sister in law made the pie on the cover of the November Southern Living:  a pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crumb crust and pecan strudel on top.  That was delicious.  And I am sure low fat.  Calorie wise, I bet it accounted for 7 of the 8 miles I ran in the morning.

That is what Thanksgiving in Florida is all about.  Today is Auburn/Alabama, and another day of gluttony (burgers, beer for lunch; stone crabs and wine for dinner.)  And today it is sunny and bright.  Ahhh, vacation.

20 Miles Fueled by Taco Bell...Not

Before I embarked on my long run, I had already thought about what I was going to post. Friday I had a business trip and ended up getting stuck in an airport for about 5 hours to get home. Thankfully I was in the airport club, so not a bad place to be.. and free drinks! But I didn't touch one because I knew I was running the next morning. That was hard. Finally got home about midnight, and set alarm for 6:30 to get up and go. My Garmin also died suddenly - battery completely drained, so I had to make some strange arrangements to get my charger, which was in my office.

Anyway I had to eat dinner in the airport Friday night. My choices were a pizza from Sbarro, a Philly cheesteak or Taco Bell. Taco Bell had a big sign promoting their healthy choices -- basically the soft chicken fresca taco. OK, 190 calories, 6 grams of fat. It is chicken, a tortilla, lettuce and tomato. And Salsa and some kind of sauce. OK, give me 3. Tasted great, too. I kind of chuckled that would be last meal before my run.

In New York, the reason my flight was delayed was because of the terrible weather. It had rained all day Friday and was forecast to rain all Saturday too. That's Ok I have run before in the rain -- anyone living in New York this summer has. I thought about running on my treadmill, but I had been inside all week and just wanted to be outside. So outside I would go.

6:30 came early, but I got up, ate a slice of bread and away I went. First bad thing: Garmin had reset itself -- it had died, and all data lost. My profile, previous run, all of my settings, everything gone. Thankfully I had uploaded all my data so I didn't lose any data, but everything else had to be reset -- my profile (male, DOB, weight, etc.); my screens showing time, pace, etc.; Auto Scroll on/adjust senstivity, etc. Ugh.

And it was raining. Not drizzling, not misting -- rain. Yuck. Streets were also flooded, but not so bad. I actually looked at the weather and radar showed no major storms so I thought it would pass. It didn't. Off into the rain I went.

I felt bad, but struggled for several miles. And then it hit. A cramp in my stomach turned into an absolute I have to go to the bathroom NOW feeling. And not the kind you can duck into the woods and take care of. I had to find a bathroom soon, like immediately. I was running a series of loops, but I was at the exact opposite end of my loop from my home, so I would be back by my house in 3 miles or so. I tried to hang in there. Nope. I had to go. And I had to stop running -- just too much and made the feeling slightly less intense. Thankfully, my course also took me around by our tennis club, and I made an emergency 7:00 am pit stop, literally dripping wet, to the amazement of the cleaning crew. I just barely made it.

That feeling sucks, btw. It makes your gut just ache. And I knew it causes dehydration too. And it was 100% humidity. So I packed it in. I ran home and called it a day. 6 miles, I have no idea what pace. I'll just skip this run. No way am I going to suffer over 15 miles more in humidity, risk serious dehydration to run a 20 miler ..in the driving rain!

Thatis the first time I have ever bailed on a run before -- I may not make my goal pace, but always get to the end.

I have had this GI issue happen once before in my first long training run for my first marathon. I thought I would die. But I got over it, and it never happened again..until Saturday. Looking back on my sleep, hydration, etc., it was all ok. Why could it have come back? Umm, then I remebered...Taco Bell for dinner? What was I thinking?

Foods and Farmers Market

My little hometown has a farmer's market, and it opens on Saturday. I can't wait. I am not an organic, eat what you grow, raw foodie type. I like meat, potatoes, vegetables, and fruit, and probably in that order. But recently I have been eating less meat (of all types) and more vegetables, and can't wait for the summer.

What made me miss the market the most is strawberries. Through the magic of modern agriculture, we can get Driscoll strawberries 365 days a year at our local grocery store. My toddler loves them, so we feed them to her. Except I can't taste them. I will eat one that looks like a strawberry, smells like a strawberry, but has no discernible flavor. To make it sweet enough to eat in a shortcake or macerate into a sauce, I had to add sugar. I call them fauxberries.

But the little strawberries, grown locally, that we get at the farmers market? Wonderful. They taste great, and I can eat handfuls at a time. Same with blueberries. And the tomatoes. The carrots have so much flavor and color that they look like something from a cartoon, not the lifeless bag of orange stalks in the grocery store. We are now entering the time when all of that goodness is a short walk away. Mmmmm.