For the Love of the Road

Race Recap – Boomer’s Cystic Fibrosis Run to Breathe (10K)

Mike — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:32:01 +0000

Saturday’s race was probably the hottest conditions I’ve ever raced in. 70 degrees didn’t seem so bad when I woke up, but then I stepped outside. It was incredibly humid. 70 degrees isn’t so bad, but pair that with 93% humidity and that creates some awful running conditions. Unfortunately that wasn’t the only challenge I experience during race Saturday. Traffic on the George Washington Bridge was terrible. Go figure, 6am on a random Saturday. Anyway, I got to the registration tent about 20 minutes prior to the race starting. I essentially had 20 minutes to put my bib on, adjust my gear, warm up and head to my coral. Yikes!

After getting through a quick warm up, I got to my coral with about 3 minutes to go. As the race began, I quickly felt the humidity. After about 2 miles of the race, I wanted no part of the remaining 4 miles. The heat was unbearable and for some reason the Central Park course seemed much more hilly than usual. For the first time I ended up hitting up every single water station and even ran under a misting station. I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t exactly acclimated to this kind of heat.

After struggling to get through it, I ended up with a personal best 10K time. I finished 42:43, which is a 6:53 pace. While I was happy with a PR, I did want to break the 42 minute barrier. Although I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t the best racing conditions. So while I struggled to get through the race, it still was a productive race.

While this was my last 10K of the year, I’m looking forward to running a few next year. I really enjoy the 10K distance. While it’s not an incredibly long distance race, you still have to pace yourself somewhat.

Daniels’ Running Formula

Mike — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:33:38 +0000

Not that Jack Daniels, this Jack Daniels has been deemed the “worlds best running coach”. Now that I’m comfortably back in training, I figured it would be a great to start learning more about the science behind running and looking at some more in-depth training methods. After scouring the web, I came across Daniels’ book and the reviews from runners were outstanding. The man clearly has accomplished a ton in running, both on the competitor side and the coaching side. I’m already a chapter in and have learned a great amount. Hopefully I’ll be able to relay some important learnings I learn from the book on my site for others to learn!

Stay tuned…

The City of Brotherly Love

Mike — Thu, 05 May 2011 23:01:57 +0000

Well, today I finally decided on running the Philadelphia Marathon after I was thwarted by the evil New York City Marathon lottery. The race is late November, so I’ve got plenty of time to get into race shape.

I’m planning on concentrating on sub half marathon distances until sometime in August, when I’ll begin to dial up the distance to get ready for the big one in Philly. More to come!

Injured – IT Band Syndrome

Mike — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 04:28:09 +0000

While in San Francisco this past October I injured myself doing some speed training on the hotel treadmill. It was a classic case of over training. I felt the most discomfort on the outside of the knee. After visiting my Orthopedic, the injury was being diagnosed as ITBS. The Dr. gave me a shot of cortisone in the pain area to reduce the inflammation so I could keep training for the Marathon. However, running a day later brought back the pain after 2 miles. It’s clear, I aggravated my ITB very severely and the only thing that will help me now is rest and eventually rehab.

Jersey City Half Marathon

Mike — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:28:51 +0000

I’m happy to report I did indeed finish the Newport Liberty Half Marathon. A very stellar run in my opinion. I got off to a sluggish start with some cramping , however I kept plugging along. I figured if I could get to mile 10 at my training pace (around 7:50), I could run off adrenaline on the final 5K and put up a competitive time I was happy with. It turns out I was right. When mile 10 came, I pushed a little harder and put up my best 3 miles from 10-13. My final 3 miles, I ran a 7:24, 7:15 and 7:11 mile pace. In the end I ran a 7:38 pace for a finish of 1:40:12.

Very happy with the results. I finished in the top 15%, so that’s something…