Cheaptriathlete: A Blog

Why We're Doing the Goggins Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 16:01:00 +0000

What it is: the Goggins Challenge entails running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. We are beginning at 8pm EST on June 8.

Why we're doing it: Doesn't matter! While we have your attention, though, we ask that you take one of the actions below every time you visit this post. We will update the bottom of the post with a short summary of each of the 12 runs. Comment if you know something that should be added to the list!

Edit: We finished all the running. Growing into better citizens and allies is ongoing, so I have updated the list and moved it to its own page. Thanks for tuning in!

Katie and Alisa

Run Updates

Run 1 - 6/8 @ 8pm

Katie - Nice run down to South Ferry. It was a little warm but the weather was perfect otherwise.

Alisa - Very sweaty. Legs fine just a little boring. Jealous of picnicers in the park.

Run 2 - 6/9 @ 12am

Katie - I got to run on my favorite side of the street for the first time since Covid struck! Now it's naptime.

Alisa - Interesting to see midtown empty at midnight. Ran in the middle of Madison. Looking forward to sleep. Glad for the reduced heat.

Run 3 - 6/9 @ 4am

Katie - I always imagined I disliked seeing the sun come up because it meant that I'd have to wake up soon, but watching it come up while already awake was nice. I changed from my Adele t-shirt to my Janelle Monae t-shirt. Now I'm out of concert t-shirts.

Alisa - The temp at 4am is ideal. Beginning of the run hurt weird parts like my neck. Went away. Legs are still okay but run was slower.

Run 4 - 6/9 @ 8am

Alisa - Waking up still sticky from the previous run is gross. First morning run is back to the usual route since traffic is picking up. Super hungry now since didn't eat after any of the night runs.

Katie - I wanted to do something other than my usual out-and-back but didn't plan ahead and that was annoying. I tried doing some laps around a park but I don't think my watch was picking up GPS well, so abandoned that plan for a mini out-and back through East Village.

Run 5 - 6/9 @ 12pm

Alisa - The chafing has begun. Glad I froze a couple bottles in advance, it's getting hot. Taking the pace easy. Who are these other people running at noon??

Katie - It was hot but the activist art I saw was worth it. Phoebe has been an excellent, if occasionally apathetic cheerleader.

Run 6 - 6/9 @ 4pm

Alisa - Had a bike escort to Union Square. Most entertaining run so far. Reunion with Katie and Austin was fun. Brought a frozen water bottle that melted immediately.

Katie - Agree, we had a fun, socially distant reunion in Union Square. I had a running escort from Union Square. Wiped out on the way home. Pride wounded most of all.

Run 7 - 6/9 @ 8pm

Alisa - Rotating sneakers. Taking mini showers after each run to cool down. Ate a ton of noodles for dinner. So rewarding, hope I won't regret it in the morning.

Katie - Also starting to chafe. I didn't plan a route in advance, so I fell back on my old standard out-and-back to South Ferry. Weather was beautiful.

Run 8 - 6/10 @ 12am

Alisa - Construction site jackhammering woke me up as usual. Joke's on them this time. Climbing down stairs hurt for the first time. Ran north on south streets and south on north streets.

Katie - I mapped a route north through the East Village and back south through the West Village but was worried I would forget all the turns so I wrote them on my arm in Sharpie. Unfortunately I wrote them on the inside of my arm and they subsequently smeared on my shirt. Let's chalk it up to post-32 miles brain.

Run 9 - 6/10 @ 4am

Alisa - This night never got cooler. Ran south, weird to see Chelsea so empty. Quads are getting really tight, feels like mile 21 of a marathon.

Katie - I changed back into my Janelle Monae t-shirt thinking it would be cooler since it was dark outside but I was wrong. Had to dig deep for this one.

Run 10 - 6/11 @ 8am

Alisa - Unlocked a new Garmin status: "Overreaching"

Katie - My friend Emily joined me for this one by phone, though she did her 4 miles up in Rye, NY. My route was a mess, but I did manage to get myself over a bridge a couple times and I'm proud of that.

Run 11 - 6/11 @ 12pm

Alisa - The heat's been the hardest part. And the daytime runs on the same route over and over are mentally taxing. Had some GI issues just to keep things interesting.

Katie - I was emboldened my my mini-bridge adventure this morning and decided to run the Brooklyn Bridge. Took me awhile because I stopped in the shade a couple times and to buy Gatorade. After I finished I was sitting drinking the rest of it and a kid gave me a few bagels? It was unexpected but I ate one so can't complain.

(Final) Run 12 - 6/11 @ 4pm

Katie - I was joined (by phone) on this run by my friend Elana. It was hot and eventually I told her to just talk at me because I didn't want to talk anymore. Also now we're finished and I got a margarita to celebrate.

Alisa - Managed to negative split the last 4 miles. Only because some biker was yelling at me. Ending during the day was smart. Have been anticipating the post run protein shake and shower since about run #3.

Brief(ish) Surgery Retrospective

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 06:33:00 +0000

Nearly exactly one year ago, I had surgery to reattach all my hamstring tendons to my butt bone. This is also known as proximal hamstring reattachment surgery. Before I started writing this I was trying to do a little research to refresh my memory, though now that I've done the research, I have a hard time believing this is what actually happened.

I'm pretty sure it did, though. I believe I damaged my hamstring many years ago while doing speedwork on a treadmill. My big mistake was not resting and treating it correctly, so that many years later after a decline in my running and also while playing basketball, my hamstring(s. we have multiple different hamstring muscles!) gave up on everything and separated themselves from where they belonged. This is also what my test results from 1 year ago confirm.

The surgery took place on a Monday, and after that I had to stay home and barely move for two weeks. During quarantine times, this seems like not a big deal, but one year ago it was a huge deal. It was so huge a deal that I bought a Vespa immediately after the two weeks, because that time being immobilized was more than I wanted to endure in the future.

I feel very fortunate that I have recovered well, and am even running better than I have in a couple years. Wednesday was the actual anniversary, but I ran to celebrate it on Thursday. If it wasn't for a bootcamp I started on Monday, I would've been running to celebrate it every single day this week. Alas, life has all kinds of ideas about how we should be living it.

If I had to pick something to say in the year since surgery, it's that I hope you're finding as much joy in your ability to run as I have found in mine, however redeemed it may be.

What a Difference Two Weeks Makes

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 05:54:00 +0000

At the beginning of last week, I was planning to write a whole post about what a great previous training week I'd had. I'm still in what I'd designated as my "base phase" for the year, which is supposed to last through April. My strategy going into the base phase was just to get the miles in, so I didn't have many expectations of it being especially effective. I thought it was just important to get back into the rhythm of running regularly, even if it meant plodding along at 11:30 minutes/mile.

And yet after a little over two months of getting the miles in, I have started to get faster with minimal speedwork. The week before last, I ran 3-4 times and averaged under a 10 minute mile for each of those runs. It seemed like such a dramatic and sudden improvement that I thought maybe there was something wrong with my watch.

Yet as we all are very aware, a global pandemic somewhat dampened my excitement. Originally I had two races scheduled for last weekend, and both were long. Since I'm still feeling hip pain, I didn't run for the whole week so that I could run both as pain-free as possible. Didn't matter though! Both were canceled.

Make no mistake, on the list of tragedies the coronavirus has caused, canceled races are nowhere close to the top. But I think it's important to record this event from all angles, and I would be remiss if I didn't write a bit about how it's impacted running and runners.

There will be plenty more time to muse about that. For now, at least in NYC, we're all relegated to solo runs. For many of us often, running is already a solitary endeavor so maybe it's also the closest thing to normalcy that life has to offer right now.

Aborted Runs and Core Building

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 06:09:00 +0000

I have been trying to work on Phoebe's barking in an effort to be a better dog parent and neighbor. Unfortunately, this means that when I get more than one bark alert (from the Furbo) after I've started a run, I turn around and go back home to make sure there isn't something wrong. In one case, building management started some construction upstairs and it was probably good that I came back home, because it continued ALL DAY. In the other case, though, I was probably just being paranoid. One way or the other, a couple runs have been cut extremely short. I'm confident it's just a big puzzle and I'll keep refining my solution.

My hip has been bothering me during runs. It feels painful at the top of the hip bone, so I consulted Dr. Google, as one does. Consensus of several online forums (and this one Runner's World article) is that it could be related to a weak core. I have decided to try strengthening my core before consulting an actual doctor. Please send along all your helpful core exercises.

Finally, I signed up for the OSR 30 like a chump. It's a competitive race, but I will be lucky to finish it in 7 hours. I applied (again) to do the Empire State Building Run-Up and didn't get in, so figured I needed something else dumb to do. Please send along all your encouragement.

Early February Déjà vu

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 05:52:00 +0000

I'm sure I've written about this before, but when I was around 8 I asked my dad for a pair of Nike Air Max Triax running shoes for Christmas. That was his brand of choice and I guess I thought they might make me like running as much as he did. Boy was I wrong. Running sucked in spite of my fancy shoes.

When I was 12 a treadmill dropped into my life and I began to develop a love/hate relationship with running. To this day, I'm impressed remembering the different treadmill runs I concocted for myself, which I now know were rudimentary interval workouts. During those early years, I started to think of a 10 minute mile average pace as a decent baseline.

I consider 2008 to be the year I decided to start running as an adult, at 21 in my last semester of college. I signed up for a 10k back in the days of folding up a check in a registration form and mailing it away to the race directors. It shouldn't have surprised me that after a few years of no running and eating like a college student, 10 minute miles were way out of my reach. And yet, it did surprise and disappoint me!

But hey, I'd already mailed off my $20 (honestly it was probably less). I accepted the harsh reality of grinding out 5 miles on the treadmill at a 12 minute per mile pace. I did this at Anita Newman Hall, after I finished work at the dining hall around 10pm. It sucked, but I did it for days, weeks, months, because what choice did I have? $20 was on the line.

Somewhere in that mess of late night, post dining hall turtle miles, 12 minutes per mile became easy. I graduated myself to 10 minute miles and never looked back...Until I did. Two-ish years ago, 10 minute miles had become hard again! Back to square one.

ALL THIS to say that I ran some effortless 10 minute miles on the treadmill today, and 10 minute miles haven't felt that good since 2008. Then and now, it was less about achieving a certain pace and more about rediscovering what it's like when running feels good.

First Long Run of 2020

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 05:43:00 +0000

In terms of regularity, February has been less strong than January, but is starting to pick up a bit. I did my first long(ish) run of 2020 this weekend. It was right around 10 miles in Manhattan and a little in Queens. Pace was a bit under 11 minutes per mile. This is what Garmin had to say about it:

Rude.

I also collided with a slow-moving pigeon and accidentally kicked it into my friend Emily, who also kicked it out of her way before it flew off. I apologize to the universe for my mistreatment of its idiotic child.

One thing I haven't done yet but need to do soon is sign up for the popular 9+1 races I like. Some of them will probably sell out soon if they haven't already. I've already signed up for the NYC Half, Brooklyn Half, and NYC Marathon so that's 3/9. Ideally, I would also like to do the Queens 10K, Bronx 10 Mile, Staten Island Half and I dunno three more I guess. The 18 mile tuneup is convenient training for the marathon, so probably that one.

I'm also mulling over doing an ultra in mid-summer. I have one in mind, but I'm not ready to commit to it here yet even though I'm already excited about it.

Okay, Here's the Plan

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 06:15:00 +0000

I'm trying to stage a comeback, which I know I've said in the past.

This time feels different somehow? Maybe it finally feels easier to let go of having been able to do this much, much better. I'm back to square one, baby. Maybe even farther back because I'm over ten years older than I was the first time around. Scarily, those things matter now.

So I've decided to dedicate the first four months of 2020 to getting out there regardless of pace. So far, I have mostly succeeded. Thoughts still creep in from time to time about not running fast enough, but I can't win 'em all.

Here's the Garmin view of the month. Green is working out (mostly running with one day of riding only). I can live with this for the first month.

Cautious Optimism

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 03:04:00 +0000

It's possible my physical therapist sensed my restlessness shortly after my last post. I went to PT on Tuesday a couple weeks ago and I didn't get cleared to run that day exactly, but it pretty much would have been except I forgot to bring shoes.

I say that so you'll understand why I then booked a class at Mile High Run Club the day after. I was PRETTY MUCH CLEARED. Basically cleared. Plus, I had run up and down the hall of the office under Caroline's (the PT) supervision.

I was nervous about the class, but my plan was to walk/run (this is basically what happens anyway because it's intervals) and to stop immediately if anything felt bad or wrong. But...it didn't! The fastest I ran was 5mph (12 minute miles) and that was for one two-minute interval. That Friday, I was officially cleared.

Fast forward to Saturday, when I did my first post-surgery outdoor run. Again, I tried to just run comfortably and pay attention to how my body was feeling. This was the result:

!!!

I do not exaggerate when I say that, next to helping pace Elana to a 5:00 marathon in 2017, I am most proud of this running achievement in the last 2-3 years. I still can't go crazy with running, but this is a better start than I imagined was possible, so let's see how it goes.

I still can't run so I'm reading a lot about antitrust legislation and trying to walk 20k steps a day and starting a new raspberry pi project is that bad

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 05:11:00 +0000

For reference pay attention to Kristen Wiig's last line.

It's pretty much all in the title. I still can't run or do cardio related exercise. Could I do upper body strength? Yes. Do I want to and/or have I been doing that? No.

Even though I've been trying to fill the holes with other hobbies I enjoy, I am going mildly stir-crazy. My next follow up appointment is on July 12, though the physical therapist has given a tentative go-ahead for me to try the bike or elliptical pending the surgeon's approval.

My surgeon hasn't given a whole lot in the way of guidance, so I've been looking online for documentation that various hospitals publish. This has been helpful and also indicates I should be able to resume several activities soon.

On the bright side, I did walk the Queens 10K a few weeks ago. It was more fun than I expected, and I did meet and walk the last few miles with a man who has walked the entire New York City Marathon a couple of times. I was heartened by that.

Creepin

Not Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Tue, 28 May 2019 04:13:00 +0000

I got into such a great routine earlier this year of going to morning running classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They all started between 6:00 and 6:30am, got me into work by 8, and allowed me to balance a baseline amount of running with work and graduate school. Along with basketball and a weekend long run, this was as ideal a scenario as I could expect.

Early on in surgery recovery, fitting in workouts was pretty simple in that I just didn't. I could not think of a cardio workout that didn't involve legs. Now that I'm entering later stages, it's become a more pressing concern to start thinking about what my routine might look like in a few weeks to a month. I know it can't be what it was early in the year. Not yet, at least. But it has to be something because doing nothing is starting to get to me.

One thing that feels pretty good and has not been terribly restricted by the surgeon or physical therapist is walking, so on Saturday I went for a nice, long walk. Walks are probably what I have for the next month-ish, so I guess I should get used to it. The silver lining in all this is I have a NICE view on my walks.

It's something!

Brooklyn Half Blues

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Mon, 20 May 2019 21:45:00 +0000

Less than 4 weeks after hamstring surgery, even I am smart enough to know I should not attempt something like a half marathon. So, I didn't. And it was a big bummer. My hope, though, is that if I sit out now I can run later. But like, sooner rather than later hopefully.

My wonderful friends all seemed to have killed it, so at least there's that. Look at what Morty did!

I'll see you next year, Brooklyn Half!

It's not all bad news. I got my leg brace off last Wednesday! Freedom! I'm also well into physical therapy now, which seems to be going well. I'm not doing any weight-bearing on the hamstring in question, but most day-to-day activities are very doable. the only exception so far is going up stairs, which I still have to do only with my right leg (and then I pull my left leg up to the step after). This is technically my third week of PT. Three more to go until weight bearing starts and maybe some exercise? I can dream.

Surgery Recovery 2: The Self-Socking

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Fri, 10 May 2019 15:00:00 +0000

As you may have guessed, I learned how to sock my own foot! Just in time too, because I stopped working from home this week after going for my follow up last Friday. After that, I was able to do the following things:

Take off the brace during showers
Take off the brace while sleeping (though I haven't been doing that)
Work from work
Schedule a physical therapy appointment

Getting around New York City in crutches is annoying, which is why I was dismayed to hear that I might have to do it for another 2-4 weeks. Fortunately at my PT appointment today, I was told I can stop using one crutch now and hopefully take off the brace next week if all goes well. Apparently my range of motion and strength are good. Things I have learned in phase 2:

Sitting for too long at a desk is a little painful, but being able to alternate with standing is very helpful.
I've been using an overturned trash can to elevate my leg while sitting at my desk.
My left leg is much sadder and smaller than my right. Who knew muscles could atrophy so quickly?

The thing I was not able to solve for a lot of the week was how to bring coffee back to my desk with 2 crutches. I came up with 2 solutions: I got a clampable cupholder for my crutch and also started using only one crutch before getting official instruction to do that (oopsie).

I also took my first longish subway ride without sitting. Surprisingly, the most uncomfortable thing about it was my right leg getting tired of supporting all my weight.

That's all for now!

Moons Over My Hammy - Surgery Tips!

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Mon, 06 May 2019 15:00:00 +0000

As an aside, I forgot how much I used to enjoy coming up with fun names for my entries. I've begun to think about them with renewed vigor, so I hope you like this one. Now, gather round, children. Let me tell you some of what I learned about hamstring surgery.

I also want to acknowledge in advance that I've mixed first person ("I did") and second person ("you should") in this post. In the immortal words of Whitney Houston, it's not right, but it's okay.

Prep
In the week beforehand, I tried to do as much internet research as possible. According to the hospital rep, the surgery and ensuing recovery would be long, but not especially difficult. According to the internet, it would be the worst experience of my life. I decided the real story was somewhere in the middle. This guy's blog was extremely helpful. Some things I did to prepare include:

Canceled travel plans. I had a work trip and high school reunion scheduled less than a week after surgery.
Canceled my monthly gym membership. I'd started running at a running gym and got into a good rhythm but obviously didn't want to keep paying for a membership I won't use for a couple months.
Got pre-surgery authorization and tests done. This included a check-up and bloodwork.
Made arrangements with my dogwalker. My building has 3 flights of stairs, so I had her walk Phoebe for all three walks through the middle of the week, at which point I was able to make it downstairs and take her out for quick bathroom breaks (not long walks, though).
Deep-cleaned my apartment. I wanted to have a clean and orderly place since I was going to be stuck. This included doing a lot of laundry.
Bought a lot of groceries. I was concerned about eating too much and not exercising at all, so I tried to keep it as healthy as possible. I got a lot of spinach and carrots, some frozen dishes, and enough bread, peanut butter, and jelly to make a whole stack of PB&J for easy consumption.
Made a spare set of keys. This was one of my better ideas, and allowed me to leave keys downstairs for my guests, since my building doesn't have a buzzer and I otherwise would've had to go up and down all the stairs to let them in.

Surgery
This is the boring part, since I wasn't awake for any of it. I found what seems to be a surgical procedure paper for what I had. If I'm being honest, I didn't understand most of it but what I did understand was pretty cool. As far as timelines go, my surgery happened around 12pm, finished a little after 2pm, and I got home between 7 and 8pm.

Recovery

Attire:
I went into this thinking I would be living in sweats the whole time, because that's the only thing that fit over this brace. Quickly, though, I realized that was going to be extremely cumbersome and so my uniform became running shorts and t-shirts. In hindsight, I wish I'd thought about what I wanted to be wearing so I could dig up my favorite running shorts and shirts for easy access.

I figured out a lot of things, but how to put a sock on my brace foot was not one of them.

Helpful Items:

Slip-on shoes - convenient for when you can bend almost not at all
Grabber - same. Helpful for light switches, dropped phones, trash, etc.
Extra pillows - I devised a pillow system. There are work pillows, sleeping pillows, and leg pillows. I urge you to think about your pillow system.
Power outlet - It's 2019 and everything needs to be charged. Get a power strip that's within reach of your arms or your grabber.
Food - Trader Joe's is your friend.
Baby wipes - You'll thank me later.
Shower chair - I think everyone probably has their own shower system. Mine required use of a chair I wouldn't have otherwise expected to purchase for another 45-50 years.
Paper towels - Optional except if you have a neurotic pet.

These are my early impressions, but I intend to be back with more.

Bonus pic of Phoebe keeping me company

Surgery summary

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Fri, 03 May 2019 02:20:00 +0000

The surgery was initially scheduled for 12:45 and they told me to be there 2 hours early. If you've read this blog and/or if you know me at all, you will not be surprised to learn that I arrived pretty late, for which I have no excuse. I wore very comfortable clothes and brought my slip-on shoes (see below sections).

A scheduling thing happened so that everything was expedited, and as soon as I got to the hospital there was a flurry of paperwork and meeting people like the surgeon and anesthesiologist. I was attended to by a Russian nurse named Stella who had a spectacular pre-surgery comedy routine and a large male nurse named Vlad, who was "the flipper" since the anesthesia took effect while I was facing up but the surgery had to be face down.

Lessons Learned

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Thu, 02 May 2019 04:15:00 +0000

I spent 2012 running 2012 miles and training for an Ironman, which left me in the best shape of my life. Sometime in the spring of that year I remember doing my favorite speed workout (half mile intervals) on a treadmill at New York Health & Racquet Club. The usual structure of this workout was a half mile warmup at 10 minutes/mile which led directly into a half-mile sprint at a 7-730 min/mile pace and then alternated with quarter miles at 10 minutes/mile. I tried to repeat this 5-7 times.

Looking back, I now acknowledge that this was a pretty intense workout. It should have come as no surprise, then, when on this particular evening I felt a pop in my hamstring and immediate pain after. I stopped the treadmill for a bit and tried walking, and then stopping it to figure out what might have happened. I even had my friend Jared, who was a personal trainer there at the time, stretch me out (in retrospect, ouch and why).

Taking care of things like this properly is something I've only started learning in the last year or so. If it had happened today, I would have immediately made a doctor's appointment and gotten it checked out. Alas, my solution in 2013 was to KEEP ON RUNNING, BUT SLOWER. This is dumb and I urge you all to take better care of your injuries.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2019. Between 2013 and 2019, my hamstring has continued to hurt at various levels of intensity but the general trend has been that it's increasingly difficult to run at any speed that feels remotely fast. Since January, I'd actually done a great job of getting better about running regularly and devising systems and strategies that made it easier. I signed up to play rec basketball on Saturday mornings, began Citibiking to Mile High Run Club on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and resuming somewhat regular weekend long runs.

But my old hamstring was having none of it, and flared up in a serious way after the 10k track relay in February. During a basketball game about a month ago, I fell and again felt a popping sensation, and felt immediately like it might be something serious.

A few doctor's appointments and some tests later, I learned I had a complete 3-tendon tear of my hamstring and I was going to need surgery! So that's what I've been up to the last two weeks. I plan to follow up with more thoughts, tips, and tricks that I've learned about hamstring surgery but we'll see!

This sounded...not good

Well Sometimes I Go Out By Myself

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 05:27:00 +0000

Okay, so the thing is I've had Valerie by Amy Winehouse stuck in my head for like a week and I don't think it's coming out until I get to sing it at karaoke. And thus we have this somewhat nonsensical title. This evening I was running along the east side of Manhattan as I often do and this was stuck in my head, as I have mentioned and so I listened to it on repeat for all 5.56 miles and I even Snapchatted (snapped? I don't know what the kids are calling it these days) a picture of the river and two bridges with this as the caption. I will probably read all this in 3 years and be full of regret.

I decided on some goals and I added them to my spreadsheet and that tab. One of them is just to go to the Monday night speed workout I've been attending all year. That's all the Mondays in 2018. I'm sure it'll be challenging but my plan is just to take it one week at a time. The other goal is to run the Brooklyn Half in under 2 hours.

9 years ago, the idea of running a half in under 2 hours seemed damn near impossible because I couldn't conceive of running that fast for that long. Then some stuff happened and I got better and faster and 5 years ago, the idea of running a half over 2 hours seemed like something barely worth mentioning because I could do it so easily and regularly.

And now I'm back somewhere in between which sucks a little bit, although I've accepted it. Until next time!

Happy 2018!

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 06:22:00 +0000

I am resolving to post here more regularly this year and if my training thus far has been any indication, I just may follow through.

I realized just now before starting this post that I never updated my goals for 2017! I'm going to have to mull that over. One that I can tell you about is that I would like to run 1,500 miles this year. I've had years of running more (2012, 2013) and certainly years of running less (all the other years) and I think all things considered, this goal is ambitious without being overwhelming.

At the end of last year and to some extent, this year, I've made do with runs home from work to get in some mileage. That's all well and good, and if you've been around these parts awhile you'll know that no one appreciates a good run commute more than I do; HOWEVER, I keep telling myself that one of these days I'll avail myself of more sophisticated training resources and/or plans or even just bother following some sort of schedule. Perhaps this is the year.

So far, I've gotten into something of a rhythm. Saturday/Sunday is long run day, Monday is speedwork day, Tuesday is hills. That's more workout regularity than I've followed in a long time. I don't want to tout it too much because the year is still very young. Let's see where I am with this in June before I claim it as habit.

PS - I am behind schedule technically, but not by a lot and only because I had a bad first week. Onward!

Joy!

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 06:08:00 +0000

I had such a run tonight. It was the kind that was hard and easy at the same time. Hard because the route and pace were a little challenging but easy because I found so much wonder and fun in it. During my best running days, runs like this were rare and continue to be and maybe that's a good thing. If I derived no joy from the rest of my runs (and I do derive a more slow and measured amount of joy or general enjoyment from them), these once every few years runs would be enough, I think.

There's something about a clear, fall night and friends and running fast (or at least faster than I typically run) which is perhaps a recipe for elation and I had all these things. It was a perfectly crisp fall night and I met up with my friends Elana and Emily at the Queensboro Bridge for an 8 mile run. Even leaving my apartment and walking into the night was lovely. Maybe because I had an unexpected night off, I was less burdened by my usual anxieties and more able to be excited

Hello Hi

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 00:46:00 +0000

Just blowing the dust off over here. I am happy to report that I'm a lot less lost than I was in March! Hooray. I haven't even gone back to read that post because I sort of don't want to. Upon further reflection, I'm not gonna. Not right now.

I've been busy since then. I'm seven races into 9+1 for 2018, which will be (if all goes well) my tenth New York City Marathon. I've been biking a whole bunch, and I also completed my third Ironman. Look, here's a picture of my medal and bib.

It was a whole thing. Normally, I would attempt to put up a race report and inevitably I would be too ambitious and try to break it up into like five different parts and only get through three or four but I'm getting back into all of this very slowly, which maybe has been my saving grace.

I've also been trying to balance comedy and storytelling and switching careers (and trying to get into graduate school a little bit). It's been challenging, but in a necessary and good way. Tomorrow I'll run my 8th Staten Island Half Marathon. Maybe I'll write about it after and maybe I won't.

Hopefully I will.

Night Runs and

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 01:15:00 +0000

Unlosing Myself

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 23:46:00 +0000

In the time since I first started running as an adult, I have never felt quite as lost as I have in the months since I last posted. In fact, that post maybe indicated better than anything else that I wasn't feeling the same about running as I always have. The runs I used to do (the marathon, the 60k, running around Manhattan) felt empty. I thought I would remember how I feel about running by just diving in and doing those things, but nearly 100 miles and a few weeks later I was scrambling to return to the mindset I had when I loved them.

I catch glimpses occasionally, so I know my love of running is still lurking somewhere under the surface of all my anxiety about everything. Running, like New York City, feels like an old friend who's giving me space to find my answers without disdain or judgment. I know it'll be waiting for me with open arms and happy trails when I'm ready.

Once, a few years ago, I went for a run on a perfectly chilly fall evening the weekend before the marathon. It was a group run that I joined on a whim, though apprehensive about the fact that I hadn't been training as hard as I should have been.

It was glorious and exhilarating, and I ran it hard and fast in that way that is joyfully reckless and impervious to physical pain. The effort was ecstasy, not toil. If you've experienced it, you know it's the sort of run that makes you revel in your abilities and the circumstances that allowed you those moments of complete fulfillment. I remember being so deeply in love with the world, and grateful to be able to recognize it.

So. I know what I'm looking for and that I'll find it again eventually, and that has to be enough for now.

I Hit a Triple

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 03:32:00 +0000

Not literally. I am well past my softball days and hitting much of anything with a bat or otherwise. Every fall since I moved to New York City has presented an opportunity for endurance greatness (or maybe just suffering? Nah. Little of both) in the form of near-consecutive or consecutive weeks of marathon distance runs. I ran my first New York City Marathon in 2009. Only a couple weeks later, I made the foolish decision to tackle the Knickerbocker 60k, which is an ultramarathon (defined loosely as anything longer than 26.2 miles). I was not well trained for it, but I did finish. Thus began my annual marathon + 60k tradition. A double.

In 2012, after reading a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers chronicling his run around Manhattan, I decided to take the plunge. The distance around Manhattan is significant, somewhere a bit above 30 miles. I knew this endeavor would require a whole day, and I used my day off on Veterans' Day to accomplish it. This would have started my annual marathon + Veterans' Day Run Around Manhattan + 60k, only the marathon was cancelled that year. Another double.

In 2013, I was signed up for my second Ironman, Beach2Battleship in North Carolina (not then a WTC production, but since purchased by it). Late in the summer, I realized with a great degree of horror (maybe joy? Little of both) that this would result in four consecutive weeks of marathon+ events, the order of which was:

Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) on October 26, 2013
ING New York City Marathon (26.2 miles) on November 3, 2013
Veterans' Day Run Around Manhattan (31-34 miles) on November 11, 2013
Knickerbocker 60k (37.2 miles) on November 16, 2013

A home run! The 60k was (understandably) miserable that year, but overall I just did these things and didn't think much of it. In the years since then, I am increasingly impressed with myself for it, which is why I'm writing today with a 2016 update. This year, I ran the New York City Marathon, Veterans' Day Run Around Manhattan, and New York 60k. That's my first ever triple.

And it's so, so meaningful. The time I have to run is ever more squeezed by my comedic ambitions. In 2013, I thought relatively little of the home run, though I think a great deal of it (and me, for doing it) now. In 2016, the magnitude of the triple is, on an objective scale, less than the home run. But I appreciate it so much more and immediately. Hopefully for anything I've lost in performance, I've gained as much or more back in perspective.

Race Report: HITS Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Part 4!

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 23:19:00 +0000

Race Report: HITS Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Part 3!

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 23:13:00 +0000

Before we started swimming, a light drizzle had begun, and it had not stopped by the time I exited the water. I always like when there are volunteers who militantly order me onto my butt so that they can rip off my wetsuit...that sentence reads differently now that I can read it back to myself. Anyway, these guys make wetsuit removal easy, but I didn't see them when I got out of the water. Jessica said they were there, so I must have missed them. Getting a wetsuit off by yourself is difficult.

I succeeded eventually and I pulled on my bike shorts and running shirt over my wetsuit. Typically, I would wear triathlon clothes during a race, since you can swim, bike, and run in the same outfit, but the ones I have that fit are getting pretty worn. I think the shorts might be see-through at this point, so I was hesitant to use them as swim bottoms and then for another 6 hours after that.

I was finally all geared up when I wheeled my bike out past the timing mat and just at the start point. After ditching a bottle of water that was woefully small for my water bottle holder (sorry, kind volunteer who picked it up!), I was on my way.

I was one of the last ones out of the water for my distance, which is not unusual but was more pronounced on this day. Typically, the people who exit the water around the same time are either overall race stragglers, and therefore easy to pick off on the bike, or cycling dynamos who haven't learned to swim well yet who zoom past me from the start. That's pretty much how it broke down. The other people on the course at that time were racing the Olympic. It's sometimes obvious to see the difference between Olympic racers and sometimes not. Regardless, I was happy for the additional company while I had it.

The hilliest part of the course was the beginning (and end)! It seemed a little cruel to me, since that was the part shared by all distances. I don't know. I don't get paid to design race courses.

At the very end of that first 6 or so miles (the shared part), we climbed a steep hill. At the top of the hill, a woman told me something like "good for you". From what I could tell, it was completely genuine, but I was trying to figure out what she meant because we were both successfully climbing the hill. I like to think I did it with some style, even though I do almost nothing with style.

The ride was pleasant and not especially hilly except for the beginning and end. The only little thing that posed a tiny problem was that it poured torrentially for two thirds of the race. There were places where I went slower than I would have otherwise because I didn't want to fall. I was also wearing my sunglasses. It was a little bit like driving without windshield wipers.

The rain wasn't awful, though it certainly impacted my performance. I think worse than the rain itself was the fact that there were NO mile markers in the whole race. None. I was wearing my watch, so I had a good sense of how far I'd gone, but if it hadn't been for that I would have been extremely frustrated by this situation.

Additionally, there came a part of the race that felt like it was 5-10 miles long in which there were no signs and no volunteers, so I continually thought I was lost. There was no one visibly ahead of me and only one person occasionally behind. There would be stretches when I wouldn't see her for a long time and worry that I'd taken a wrong turn, so I would slow until she came into sight and then continue. At one point, I started to worry that both of us had taken a wrong turn and nearly came to a full stop to wait for her, when I finally saw a race vehicle waiting at an intersection ahead. None of this helped, either.

But finally I did return to the turnaround point, which was my signal that I was only 6-7 miles from the end. Unfortunately for me, this was also the hilly part and I appreciated it even less at the end of the 56 mile ride than I had at the beginning.

All that aside though, I was just happy to have made it to the run. The run is and will probably always be the most reliable part of any triathlon for me. I can always grind out a run.

Race Report: HITS Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Part 2!

noreply@blogger.com (cheaptriathlete) — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 02:45:00 +0000

When we left off, Moses and I had taken very different approaches to the pre-race routine. But we were finally ready, and Jessica and he got into their car and I got into mine and our tiny caravan started toward the race.

Jessica and I both wanted coffee and we stopped at 2 convenience stores before finding one that was open at 5am. We got our coffee and breakfast bars, and I got pretzel nuggets for my new during-race snack because, as you recall, my croissants were needed elsewhere and I'd tried pretzel nuggets during the Naked Bavarian in March.

When we reached the race, it was light outside, but the weather did not look promising and I was pessimistic based on the rain from the previous evening. Nevertheless, Moses and I were both very excited. He to be doing his first triathlon, and I to be just doing triathlon, which is something of a rarity because of its high cost in both money and time.

We unloaded the cars and walked over to the registration tent to pick up our packets. It's rare for a half or iron distance event to have morning-of packet pickup and it's something I appreciated here. After stuffing my envelope into my tri backpack, I did a tiny loop around the parking lot on my bike to make sure it was in working order, and then we went to the transition area to begin setting up.

This was definitely a low-cost event. I'm certainly not complaining because I am cheap, but it's worth mentioning that it showed. Typically, bikes are lined up on rails, but it looked like the race organizers had finagled some sort of system with particle board shelving units and folding footstools? It looked as strange as it sounds, plus it made knowing exactly where to park our bikes challenging. It took me a good five minutes just to find my number!

Once I did, I busied myself putting number stickers on everything (swim cap, helmet, bike) and putting all my gear in appropriate piles. Bike shorts, shoes, socks, sunglasses, and race bib belt made up the bike pile. Running shoes, running shorts (it was unusual for me to have two shorts-changes), and a running shirt (also unusual) made up the run pile and I always place my helmet on top of my aero bars. I stuffed some pretzel nuggets into the covered pocket of my saddle bag so they wouldn't get as wet.

When we first got there, almost no one was wearing or putting on a wetsuit, so I spent a good amount of time sussing out whether or not most people would wear theirs because the water was warm. 25-30 minutes until race time, the suits started to come out for half and iron triathletes (probably Olympic, too, but I didn't see them as much), so I put mine on. My wetsuit makes me look and feel like a sausage.

I chatted some with Jessica and Moses before realizing the pre-race talk was happening near the water's edge and I said goodbye and good luck as I walked off to listen and subsequently start the race. My swim would be two loops around the course. I knew this would be troublesome from the get-go. The more direction changes there are, the worse I swim because I can't swim in a straight line to save my life.

The gun went off and the swim started, ever a frenzy. I try to hang back as much as possible at the start, because I'm going to end up in the back anyway and want to minimize the number of times I get kicked and hit getting there. The water was warm. I knew it was supposed to be, but it was even warmer than I expected. This was the first time I'd felt too warm during the swim. The good news is that I'd actually remembered to bring lube for my neck, so didn't chafe the hell out of myself.

The actual swimming went even more poorly than I expected and I can't tell you how many times I had to change direction and overcorrect myself in some way. It was a mess and I think I did it in 1:02, which is abysmal.

Well, this has already turned into a novel, so I guess it's going to be a 4-parter. To be continued!