One of these days I’m going to convince SHE to run a half marathon with me regardless of the pain it might cause. I have offfered to carry her! So as I stated in a previous post, my original half marathon schedule all changed the day after the Boston bombing. I decided not to run The Historic Half Marine Run in VA and instead not only run the Brooklyn Half but one week later run the “Run to Remember” Half Marathon in Boston. The race, Sunday April 19, in its 9^th year, honors Massachusetts Law Enforcement Officers killed in the line of duty by celebrating their lives. This year specifically, the race was particularly sad with the recent death of MIT police officer Sean Collier, who was killed by the Tsarnaev brothers as they tried to flee the city after the Boston Marathon bombings. Collier’s badge number 179 was displayed proudly on each runner’s back in the race.

Now to say I was a bit nervous running this race would be quite the understatement. I have really only scratched the surface with my running escapades and I had already run the Brooklyn Half one week earlier. The week leading up to the race I would keep it quite simple and not push the body too much. I worked out at SoulCycle Monday and Tuesday with Madison Lari and Sydney Miller, SLT on Thursday with my yoda Jamie Lugo and wrapped up the week with SoulCycle on Friday with Ben Turshen. The basic idea was to keep the legs loose and fresh all week while adding the usual Soul mantra into the mix to clear the head. My last couple races I had done Pilates two days prior to but this time chose three days since Jamie is not exactly the easiest class in the world.

I was quite excited for this race from a PR stance. I have gone from 2.00 to 1:54 to 1:53 over my past three races with a goal of 1:52 for this race. That was until I checked the weather forecast and saw 40 something and rain. I had never run in the rain before. I had no clue what to wear. Were my sneakers going to be rain durable. Was my iPhone going to get soaked. Do I layer up? I think I read hundreds of blogs that week to carefully prepare for this race. Thank you running blog world!

The clouds and rain added to a very solemn beginning of the race. There was just something sad in the air that did not give me any other choice but to have a moment of reflection during the pre-race speeches. There were police officers from all over the country running in this race. Two in particular were charged with carrying the American flag throughout the entire race. I mean what an honor that must have been! BTW, yes, my time would probably improve if I stop taking pictures during the race

I worked my way up to the front corral as there was no real order to where one should start other than pace time flags. Here is where it gets fun. I decided to use my Nike running app for this race. The gun goes off and after Mile one, the app does its “you have run one mile at a pace of”. And what do you know. I ran my first mile at a 7:30something pace! My second mile? Still sub 8! Maybe it was the rain. Maybe it was the 10 hours of sleep the night prior to. Either way my energy level was at an all-time high. The next couple miles crept into the 8 something range but it was already in my head that I should easily beat the 8:40/pace and accomplish some sort of PR. That was until the rain started to come down a bit heavier and the wind along the water picked up. And to make things worse. At about mile 5 the calves in both my legs started to tighten up. And this was with wearing compression socks. The positive energy was starting to suck its way out of my head as I started wondering to myself if I was even going to finish the race let alone top 1:53.

But then came my favorite part of the race. Instead of fans sprawled out on either side of the road to cheer us on, we came to a portion where the street was lined with Boston police officers and Massachusetts State police. They were lining up to cheer us on, to thank us, the runner. Giving us high 5′s as we ran past each and every officer. WTF! They are the ones who put their lives on the line every day and they were taking time out to push us, to cheer us, to thank us? If this didn’t motivate the runners to power through for the back half of the race, I don’t know what would because it certainly lifted my spirits! Pain be gone, nothing was going to stop me now!

The Nike App mile after mile kept alerting me to my time and I was still well under the 8:40 goal pace I had set prior to. The last couple miles were by far my hardest as I think my body just was in 9^th inning mode and wanted it all to be over with. I was right around the 8:24 pace so with any luck I would stay the course and end up with a PR. Little did I know I would end the race running 1:50:10! I was happy and mad at the same time. 1:50 at an 8:24 pace was 3 minutes faster than just a week earlier. But if only I just pushed myself I would have safely cleared 1:50. Oh well, next time.

All in all, this was a fantastic race that reminded me of so many things. What is important in life. What isn’t. And better yet, that I truly can now consistently run half marathons. I am in the process of sitting down with one of my favorite running and nutritional personalities in all the universe that is going to allow me to train properly, eat properly and get me to a level I have only ever dreamed about. I have a goal of 1:39 at some point over the next year. The plan is if I can get to 1:39, I will register for a marathon. Paris anyone?!

She Sweats (solo): So you may have noticed, HE has been signing up for more and more half marathons! HE has become addicted to running. HE loves the feeling of crossing that finish line. I’m proud of HE for signing up for half after half after half all over the country. I would LOVE to be joining but unfortunately, since running the NYC marathon in 2009, I have been unable to run long distances. I still go for my 3, 4 and occasional 5 mile run a couple times each week but I just don’t think I’m built for long distance running. My legs don’t seem to like it. That being said, while HE is off racking up those half marathon trophies, I’ve been trying to find other things that only SHE’s can do. This is what brought me to Uplift Studios! That and the fact that I took Stephanie Nieman’s class at Revolve (http://www.hesweatsshesweats.com/he-she-take-on-some-of-soulcycle-flywheel-and-revolves-best/) and knew instantly that I needed to go visit her at Uplift ASAP. Also, HE has been a little sad about the fact that HE can’t go to Uplift because it’s women only (Stephanie is one of HE’s favorites) so I figured I should go while HE was tied up in something else

First of all, I’m obsessed with Stephanie’s energy. She takes it to another level during her classes and it gets you so excited you just don’t ever want to think about giving up. There are two classes you can sign up for at Uplift, Strength or Cardio. I signed up for Cardio because we had gone to Pilates Proworks the day before (http://www.hesweatsshesweats.com/pilates-proworks-with-jenn-seracuse-can-be-summarized-with-one-word-hard/) and I had a feeling I was still going to be pretty sore from it. Let me just say, good choice on my part.  The Uplift studio is really nice. One side of the studio looks like a small gym where they do personal training.  The other side is a room where the group fitness classes take place. We set ourselves up in this room with a mat and a set of 3lb weights and 2lbs weights. I was told that in the Strength class, you use a minimum of 5lbs and a maximum of 15lbs weights so I’m very interested to take that class and compare it to Cardio. Stephanie explained to me that there would be 6 intervals of high intensity cardio in this class. Each interval would consist of about three 30 second high intensity bursts with 30 second recovery periods in between. The 30 second bursts were intense! The first one was squat jumps, another one was burpees (I pray on my way to every class that I won’t have to do burpees that day but I honestly don’t remember the last time I went to a class and I didn’t have to do them) one interval was star jumps, ballerina jumps and the last interval consisted of a run through of the previous 5. Aside from the burpees, the hardest interval for me were the star jumps.  This is where Stephanie’s energy came in. She runs around the class cheering and jumping in to do the exercises with you. I was SO tired out half way through the jumps but she came over and we started doing them together and I knew I had to finish out the interval without quitting. It was awesome. After each interval she runs around high fiving and you can’t help but be as pumped as she is that you just made it through! In between the cardio intervals we worked out our arms and abs. We used the light weights for the arms portion and we did ab exercises on the mat. In the very middle of the class we did 5 minutes of yogaesque moves. Downward dog, chair pose, etc. It was a really nice break and a good way to stretch it out before jumping right back into the second half of the high intensity class.

I LOVED this class, I loved Uplift and I think Stephanie is amazing. I can’t wait to go back and try Strength. I’m also very excited that Stephanie will be sticking around NYC this summer to teach at Revolve and Uplift!

http://stephnieman.com/

http://upliftstudios.com/

HE and SHE split up over the weekend to take on some of the fitness world’s best. While SHE was getting all sweaty at Uplift Studios, there will be more on that in a separate write-up, HE decided to go for a little run. One of my main 2013 goals was to run not one but two half marathons this year. But ever since I took down the NYC half marathon back in March, and getting to know more and more of the running community via twitter, I had decided to add a number of half marathons to the 2013 schedule (six to be exact). Originally I was planning on making the drive down to Fredericksburg, VA for the Historic Marine Corps Half Marathon on May 19. But then unfortunately the Boston attack happened. So I decided to change things up a bit and really push myself. So subtracted from the half agenda was Virginia. In its place I would run the Brooklyn Half this past Saturday and The Boston Run to Remember a week later. 

Once again my training for this half marathon would be a bit unorthodox. And as with my past runs, I do admit outright I’m playing with fire not running outside more with a calculated well prepared running schedule. I will get to that in a moment though. I was actually really worried heading in to this run. Due to work and family commitments outside New York, I have not been able to get my desired number of Barry’s Bootcamps on the weekly calendar. I honestly feel the runs on the tread specifically with the added incline, is what enabled me to run at a consistent pace for the NYC half. This time it had been basically indoor cycling (SoulCycle, Flywheel and Revolve) with some pilates here and there. I did run once in Colorado while visiting the family. A 6 mile run at a 9.15 pace. A 9.15 pace staring me in the face a week prior to running 13 miles was not exactly what the Dr ordered. My sister and brother in law insisted the altitude in Colorado was the reasoning for the 9+ pace. Unfortunately for this race I had been out a number of times mid week for some work and play. Hence not exactly the healthiest of weeks either. Basically this run had disaster written all over it prior to. But not being one to shy away from a challenge, regardless of the aftermath, I would go through with the run and see what happens. If anything I would learn what worked for next time and what didn’t if my pace would in fact drop off or I would not make it the full 13.

Race day arrived. I was slotted into Phase two of the run given my late entry so I was fortunate enough to get a 7:30am start vs the 7 am.  I committed to my normal routine of waking up nearly, demolishing a think thin protein bar at 5am with the added Balance Bar at 7am. No coffee, one water with the obligatory Hammer Endurolyte FIZZ packet addition. I also, for the first time, decided to wear Compression socks. I have since refused to take off my compression socks. I sleep in compression socks. I took pilates the next day in compression socks. Why oh why has nobody alerted me to the pure bliss of compression socks! You now all know what to get me for my birthday! The running sneakers for this half would continue to be my New Balance 890 V2s. I just love these sneakers although I am playing around with the idea of witching over to Saucony Kinvara 4s. I run in my 3s from time to time. We shall see. I cabbed my way out to Brooklyn for the start of the race. I thoroughly enjoy arriving to a race. The sea of colors always amazes me! The weather could not have been more perfect. Cloudy and probably in the 50s I believe.

I found my stall with a bib number in the 21,000s. The start of the race was more smooth vs the NYC Half. I felt like I had to baby step the first mile back in march vs. this race where we were able to run right from the start. You would think being born in Brooklyn I would have seen more of it but this was my first time running Prospect Park. What a gorgeous place! I think the weather completely added to the Robin Hood feeling that I felt while dashing through. Just a lot of green forestry surrounding the route. I also thought it was so cool we were running in the opposite direction from the Phase one runners. Everyone was cheering each other on as we were all passing like Porsches on a Highway. Colors everywhere!

One of my favorite moments occurred as we were on the Ocean Parkway at about mile 7. The running joke between HE and SHE is more often than not I am the only male in many of my fitness classes. Whether it be Chaise23, SLT or even The Fhitting Room, I am the only guy ever! So what happens at mile 7? A runner directly in front of me takes her headphones off, turns around and goes “Aren’t you the guy from Kira Stokes Primal class?”. 20,000+ runners and I get picked out of a line up. Guess she was impressed with my expert Bear Crawl performance during Primal. We both agreed Kira is an integral part to our training. Massive props to Kira Stokes! The other funny moment was a neighbor of mine coincidentally standing in front of me in my corral and not knowing until the exact start of the race. Now that was a definite WTF Kodak face moment!

I found the run on this day rather easy. I didn’t stop at a liquid station until halfway and even with that stop half the Gatorade spilled on my shirt so I’m not even sure if that counts. Four liquid station stops in all. As you can see with my time splits I was pretty steady eddy the entire race. My knees felt good. I didn’t feel tired at all. I wasn’t pushing myself as I have another half this coming weekend. But the time splits do have me thinking for the first time about hiring a running coach. I have really taken to running. I love the feeling of accomplishment when you finish. I absolutely have fallen in love with the running community. I have some further thoughts there but I’ll save that for a write-up on another day. I know working out nine times a week between indoor cycling, bootcamps, yoga and pilates is not remotely the safest way to truly train for a 13 mile run, let alone a 10k but I’ve stuck with that for the time being. But it is time to seek guidance from people that know better than I could ever. Especially with at least five more half marathons scheduled for 2013 (Boston, Hamptons, Wineglass, Toronto, Malibu). 

Splits

5K        0:26:54 8:39 Pace/Mile   10K  0:54:01  8:41 Pace/Mile

15K      1:20:44 8:39 Pace/Mile   20K  1:47:44  8:40 Pace/Mile

Finish   1:53:26 (NEW PR)    Pace per Mile    8:40

Post race I had to immediately subway it back to the city to DJ a charity event at Chaise23. I just loved standing on my feet for another hour on the subway with other runners and then another hour on top of that DJing! Yea right. But the cause was great and I would just have to power through. My calves post this race were a bit tighter vs past races. Most likely due to the lack of running outside this time around or on a treadmill at Barry’s Bootcamp. I have since done one pilates class on Sunday at Real Pilates and one indoor cycling class at SoulCycle with Madison, which helped my legs, get the blood flowing, muscle recovery. I’m at about 80% so well on my way to 100% recovery in front of this weekend’s half marathon in Boston. Like I said, I’m addicted now.