Thursday, September 07, 2006

Work with me, People!

So, the weather in NYC post-Ernesto has been fantastic. I went for my Tuesday run and the first thing I thought was, "Gee, it's a little nipply out here." (OK. That was the second thing. The first thing was, "Why did I not run the day after that 21 miler? My quads are killing me.) And although this fantastic weather makes me want to run fast and far . . . traffic's been killing me! I may have to rethink some of my routes, because with NYC schools back in session, I can't recall when I've spent so much of my "run time" waiting for lights to change. For example, I counted off over 4 minutes of downtime in today's 12 miler waiting on lights. Geez! See, the problem (at the risk of sounding like NY Flygirl discussing Central Park) is that I get slowed down by the extra school traffic and buses pre-7:00, and then I don't make it home before rush hour picks up. Come on! The weather's great people! The kids can freakin' bike to school!

Let's see . . . I feel like complaining today, but the only other thing I've got's work. As I've said before, doing 12-13 hours and getting home at 10:15 makes getting up at 5:30 for 12 miles tough. (Speaking of Nyflygirl, looks like she's joining me on having life winnowed down to office and running.) It was somewhat disconcerting to, after realizing that I've run 29+ miles for the past three days, which is pretty good, to also realize that I've been in the office waaaay more hours than that. On the other hand, it's pretty cool the inbox is overflowing; at least it makes it less likely I'll be downsized. ;)

On to running . . . As I mentioned, the quads were killing me Tuesday. Good it was a recovery day. They were still tender on Wednesday, so I decided to take a page from Ryan and Mouse's handbook and skip Pfitzenger's proposed 7 mile tempo run, replacing it was a G.A. run instead. Really, a 7 mile tempo run? I'm not too shabby, but that'd take me well over 45 minutes at the fast end of McMillan's tempo range (based on my 5 mile time). That means that for a lot of folks, if tempo pace is approximately the pace that could be maintainted for an hour, a 7 mile T-Run is pretty damn close to a full out race! Perhaps someone with a little more physiology knowledge can explain this one to me? Today was a scheduled rest day, with 12 scheduled for tomorrow. Switched those so that I can (hopefully, assuming work doesn't interfere) do 20 with the Flyers in the Palisades on Saturday. Although all the runs the past few days have been slower than normal, leg soreness, lingering fatigue from Sunday's 21 and heavier vehicular traffic account for enough of a difference that I'm not concerned about it. But you better believe some of my routes are going to change!

TuesdayWednesdayThursday
Billy Br. O&B
+McCarren Park
Queensboro
Loop
Prospect
Park 12
6.1 miles11.3 miles12.15 miles
49:2091:0699:30
8:05/m8:04/m8:11/m

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am pretty sure you should be doing tempo runs of that length a bit slower than T-pace, as in 5-15s per mile slower. At least, that is what Pfitzinger and Daniels have been saying, from what I recall. Tempo runs shouldn't leave you /needing/ a rest day afterwards.

nyflygirl said...

dude, can't you just enjoy the fact that you have the luxury and privilege to run on city streets? suck it up at stoplights!! stop the watch and jog in place :-p

and oh yes, i guess misery loves company on the workfront. however, i bet that my Outlook inbox these days is more packed per day than yours. yet somehow that job "security" doesn't make me feel so secure, if you know what I mean...