Eisenhower = Eisnowhower

Well, this being Saturday means an early morning wake-up and drive to Chaminade to get James to swim practice by 7 am.  I dropped him off and headed to Eisenhower with the hope that maybe the fitness trail was plowed out.

I pulled into the deserted lot right around 7 and was glad to see the plow piles along the path by Lot 1.  I did a quick stretch, noting that the PITA has now located itself squarely in my right hamstring.  I set off at an easy pace along the path, hoping to be able to do the 5k loop -- actually, determined to do the 5k loop.  The bottom half was manageable, and I kept my fingers crossed as I followed the path north of the aquatic center.  Unfortunately, in the lot by the ampitheater the path ended in an abrupt low pile of snow.  I imagine sometime in the last few days a plow driver said to himself "well, that's far enough.  I think I'll just stop here and go back."

Undeterred, I continued on through the knee-deep snow.  It was absolutely pristine...no footsteps, XC ski trails or anything that might make the going a tad easier.  Against my better judgement (again!) I turned right and went down to the duck pond.  It was about this point that I really began missing the red blood cells I dropped off yesterday.  I had gone from running to doing some sort of highstepping quick march.  It was like trying to run through the ball pit at Chucky Cheese, only colder and without small children that might provide some sort of traction (kidding!).  By the time I got to the 9/11 memorial I was cooked.  I somehow made it up the hill to the driving range and back onto the plowed road.  I continued on and had to make a few detours to avoid the snowed over areas.  The loop was still about a 5k.  I adjusted my route for the rest of my run, opting to stay on the plowed path even though I mostly ran in circles through ice and slush.

By the time I got back to the car, there were a group of beginning runners milling about, waiting for a training program to begin.  I wished them well, told them where it was sorta clear and silently wondered how many of them would hate running after today.  Hopefully they all managed ok!

115 miles down, 385 to go... 

6 More Miles and a Pint of Blood

With Thursday's snow behind me, I went back to Sunken Meadow to do a loop out to the golf course and up to the toll booth.  I set out hoping maybe the boardwalk was clear (ha!) and instead turned around and cut across the unplowed parking lot.  Snow was about up to my knees and as I was nearing the main road I was huffing and puffing pretty good.  I hit the snowplow pile along the road and immediately sank up to my waist.  I fell forward, landed in the road, rolled up onto my feet and kept on going.  It was truely graceful.

At lunchtime today, I dropped off a pint of blood at the donor center in Melville.  Actually ran into a fellow runner friend doing the same thing and we joked to see who could fill up a pint faster.  No idea who won as he was still waiting as I was leaving.  Not sure why I'm donating in the middle of marathon training, but he had a theory it makes your body recover stronger over the coming weeks.  Sure, why not...I'll go with that.

108 miles down, 392 to go...

Busy Day Ahead

Lots going on today between work, swim meets, and yeah, more snow.

I did manage to get out for a quick 4 miler down to Crab Meadow Beach and back.  I've mostly been avoiding the roads since shoulders are few and far between with all the snow piled up.  The run was a bit dicey on the main roads, but otherwise ok.  Most significant point of this run was it put me over my first 100 miles...later than I had hoped...but with enough days left in January that I hope I can make a dent in the next hundred.

102 miles down, 398 to go...

Oh Gee...More Snow...

What a surprise.  The snow was falling again this morning, with a forecast of anywhere from freezing rain to another foot and half of snow over the next 36 hours.

I toyed with the idea of heading back to Makamah Woods, but opted instead to return to Sunken Meadow, figuring Makamah would be just too big of a pain to run.  With more bad weather forecasted, I also wanted to get in a few extra miles, and Sunken Meadow offers plenty of options.

I parked in the main lot and set out along the boardwalk.  I was surprised to see a fair number of people out...I must have passed at least a dozen or so.  I headed east to the far parking lot, figuring I would do a loop around there and set off for the toll booth.  Just for kicks I decided to take the moat trail instead of the road.  "C'mon," I said.  "How bad can it be?"  It was pretty snowy, slippy and slidey, but I managed to survive.  I headed up the trail to the toll booth.  The path was finally cleared all the way to the top so a minimum amount of running in the road was required.  I came down the other side and turned at the bottom to set off for the golf course.

You know those cartoons where the character slips on ice (or a banana peel) and his arms and legs start flailing wildly?  Yeah, that was me as I made the turn.  The only think missing was the drum roll soundtrack.  Somehow I managed to keep my balance, but that still didn't deter the "you're an idiot for running on this" look from the walker passing from the other direction at the same time.

Made the loop around the golf course and came back to the park.  Headed up the hill to the tollbooth one more time and then back to the parking lot, skipping the moat trail this time.

I felt good.   Right hammie was tight from the PITA but I'm pretty much just dealing with that at this point.  But over all felt strong, with plenty of legs left to keep on going.

Headed to Chaminade early for a quick leg weight workout before James was done swimming.  All in all, a good day.

98 miles down, 402 to go...

Finally a Longer Run

Since today was Saturday, I woke up early to take James to swimming, then headed over to Eisenhower Park.  I figured there would be some way of navigating around the 5k loop there...even hoping that perhaps by some miracle the park workers felt obliged to plow the paths.  I planned on doing 4 loops, leaving me just enough time to get there and back from Chaminade.

Well, it could best be described as a mixed bag.  Some parts were clear, some parts were packed down, some were ice, and some were drifts of a foot or more.  The first loop took nearly half and hour, so I knew there was no way to get 4 done.  I ran three loops total, then a couple of extra laps around the first mile of it, part of which runs along the parking lot.

I stopped at the 1:45 minute mark, good enough for 11 or 12 miles.  While less than what I had hoped for in mileage for the day, a 1:45 minute run hit the spot for extending my effort level.

89 miles down, 411 to go...

Snow??? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Snow!

Well, actually I did take advantage of the snow.  But then it took advantage of me.

On Tuesday, I had one of those "hate this, but glad I did it workouts."  Instead of working against the snow, I decided to work with it.  Went to Sunken Meadow for a "Snow Duathlon".  I figured I would get a run in on my snow shoes before setting out on what was quickly becoming "yet another" loop out to the golf course.

A freezing rain was falling as I set out from the east parking lot through snow that could be best described as wet mashed potatoes.  By the time I had gone 200 yds, my lungs were burning, my thighs were barking and every step felt like I had a 10 pound weight attached to my foot.  Luckily, by the time I hit the moat trail, the snow was a bit more packed down and I was able to settle into a rhythm.  I did a loop into the picnic area, up Cardiac Hill and then took the longer back trail around to the picnic area and back along the moat trail again.  By the time I got back to my car - through 200 yards of mashed potatoes again - I felt as though I had run 10 miles.  Total time was 25 minutes.

I offloaded the snow shoes into the trunk of my car and set off for the golf course.  Talk about a difference!  Felt like I had shed my heavy snow boots for bedroom slippers.  Conditions were still miserable...by this time I was pretty soaked through.  But I finished the loop and hopped back into the warmth of my car.  I thought about taking a detour up to the tollbooth, but figured I would come back Wednesday and do repeats and try to keep from getting burned out on Sunken Meadow three weeks into training.

So Wednesday came and I headed back to Sunken Meadow to do those repeats.  I planned on doing 4 of them...that's about 6 miles in total, half up a steep climb.  It's another one of those "hate it/love it" workouts. Turns out, I'll do anything to get out of doing it, including inflicting $800 of damage to my car.  The Jetta started sliding on the ice on the little-used entrance ramp to SM, and my left wheels smacked against the curb.  I tried to drive it away, but it was a little like driving a bumper car.  You can turn the wheel and maybe the car would turn.  Or maybe it wouldn't.  My left front wheel was clearly out of alignment.  I called for a tow and spent the time waiting by doing a quick run down into Sunken Meadow and back up again.  By the time I got back, it was only another 5 minutes until the tow came, and Samantha, taking pity on me, met me with a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee.  Got a tow to the service station, got the front wheel fixed, only to learn there's damage to the rear  - "It's OK to drive if you don't mind the noise".  Yeah I mind it, need a new bearing.  Bit of a bust when it comes to running for the day too.

Today, without reliable transportation, I was forced to stay home.  The roads are still a bit dicey, not so much the surface, but the narrowness and ability to dodge oncoming traffic.  I figured I would go across the street into Makamah and see what the trail was like.  I figured it was probably trampled and hopefully runnable.

And it was.  Sure it was clunky and chunky and frozen into a morass of divots and wrinkles and ankle-twisting bumps and ridges.  But I was able to get around Ok and I was back in the woods where I am happiest.  I took the sidetrip out to Makamah Road, down to the beach and then back via Hayes Hill Rd.  Didn't pass a single car.   Back into the woods again for my return trip home.  Successfully avoided falling or twisting my ankle and very happy to have this option available to me.

Tonight's snow could have something to say about that though...here we go again!

78 miles down, 422 to go...

Whole lotta catch-up. And cross-training.

Turns out Wednesday's snow not only goofed up my running, but my posting too.

We got about 15" - 18" of snow last week, pretty much as expected.  I took Wednesday off to dig out my driveway and take the kids sledding for a bit late afternoon.  Working from home means no "snow days".  Oh well.

On Thursday, with the roads still a mess I pulled out the spin bike and began cross training.  Did a fairly intense 45 minutes, but seeing as it was my first time back in the saddle, so to speak, after several months, I figured I would ease back into it.

Friday found me back in Sunken Meadow for a fairly ridiculous 6 mile run.  The roads in the park were clear, but I was determined to run the boardwalk first.  I set out through the ankle to knee deep snow in the western parking lot in an attempt to get to the end of the boardwalk.  About half way across I gave up, and shot up an access ramp to the boardwalk, only to find myself in snow up to my thighs.  I eventually climbed out on to the boardwalk which varied from perfectly clear to two foot drifts.  Like I said, it was fairly ridiculous.  I eventually got to the end and proceeded from there to do a toll booth/golf course loop that was windy but routine.

Saturday was a day for enjoying the snow and some cross-country skiing cross-training.  I met Rick over at Caleb Smith park for a one hour skate through the park.  Conditions were great, the trail was in reasonably good shape, and if it wasn't so bloody cold that our fingers were falling off, we probably would have stayed out longer. Still incredibly enjoyable.

On Sunday, I headed back to Sunken Meadow, where I'm now concerned I'm getting burned out on Sunken Meadow quickly.  But with the roads still clogged with snow, I have little choice.  I mixed it up a bit by parking in the eastern parking lot, did another tollbooth/golf course loop and running the last mile back from the course in 5k pace.  Not too bad.  Felt a bit of life in my legs.

This morning was another spin morning since I need to be home.  Hopefully I'll get out this afternoon - figured I would check out the roads with a conservative four-miler down to Crab Meadow Beach.

Light miles these past few days, but good cross-training.  I'll be OK...

62 miles down, 438 to go

I Have a Back Like Marty Feldman

One of the recurring bits in "Young Frankenstein" involves Igor's hump.  At various points in the movie it inexplicably moves from one side to the other, confounding Dr. Frankenstein.  Igor's reactions are great.

I have knots in my back that come and go on a regular basis.  On Tuesday's run I set out with a humdinger of a one in my left side.  I couldn't take a deep breathe without feeling like someone was poking me in the back with a pokey thing.  By the time I was done it had miraculously relocated itself to my right side.  Same pain, same effect, but it had somehow managed to navigate across my spine like it was a French border.  Today?  Nothing.  Back to normal.

Maybe it had something to do with the clam stink?

Since I knew Wednesday's run would be snowed out, I set out for a slightly longer run Tuesday.  I did my usual loop around Cow Harbor, tacking on a couple of miles down to Crab Meadow Beach and back.  I have a few pairs of running gloves that I keep in rotation, and when those are dirty, I have a light weight fleece pair I'll use as my emergency option.  The last time I used these gloves was right after New Years.  While certainly not their primary purpose in life, the left one had served me well protecting my hand as I shucked a few dozen clams.  Shockingly, the 2.5 second rinse I gave it afterwards failed to rid it of all its new found clam goodness.  I realized this as I was running and wiping my face with my gloved hand.  Each pass by my nose resulted in an audible "ugh!" as I inhaled all its "dry aged" clam splendor.  The sad thing is, it happened more than once.  In fact, it happened half a dozen times before self-preservation kicked in and I switched to my right hand.

When I came home, I threw them into the wash.  When they come out, I'm throwing them in again...

50 miles down, 450 to go...

Back to Sunken Meadow

With all the snow and ice still on the roads, I figured I would head back to Sunken Meadow this morning.

If nothing else, I know I can always run on the roads in there, whether out to the golf course or up to the toll booth.  Today's run was a bit of a mish-mash.  I enjoyed a wind aided first mile along the boardwalk, before turning around and attempting a 3/4 mile tempo run back, into the wind.  Winter winds at Sunken Meadow tend to be of the cold, stiff, stand-you-straight-up-and-smack-your-face variety.  Rick and I developed the philosophy awhile back that all tempo/fartlek runs should be done into the wind to make them "extra" hard.  I hate this philosophy...

Back at the other end, I cruised out to the golf course.  It's a slow rising, subtle uphill stretch.  I toyed with the idea of peeling off and heading down the trail to the Christmas tree in the middle of the woods - seeing as I hadn't made it out there in December - but the trail was a mess and I opted for roads.

Coming back I did a loop up to the tollbooth.  Later on I'll do repeats up this 3/4 mile hill, but for today I was content for a leisurely run up and back.  Felt good, and outside of the lingering PITA, everything is still holding together nicely.


41 miles down, 459 to go...

Saturdays with Mikey

On most Saturdays I find myself doing 5k loops through Eisenhower Park.  I've gotten in the habit of dropping James off for his 7 AM swim practice at Chaminade and heading to the park, a short 10 minute drive away.   I like going back to Chaminade, having spent 4 years in winter and spring track running around its 5 lap to a mile loop.  I can't help but notice the similarity between his sport, swimming and my old track days.  Unlike other sports where you at least get to play when you practice, competitive swimming and running require you to basically push your body to the brink of exhaustion, until you're ready to collapse, puke or on those most memorable occasions, both.  The harder you push, the faster you get.  Rarely is practice fun, but you do it for the thrill of racing and to see just how fast you can get.  Meets were ALWAYS fun...

What makes these practices bearable are the people around you.  James has his friends to commiserate with in the pool.  I was lucky enough to share the track with some of my best friends at Chaminade.  We'd run mile after mile, interval after interval, ladders, sprints, you name it.  As distance guys we would stare longly at the sprinters doing 100 yard strides while we were in the middle of a half dozen 3/4 mile repeats.  One of those guys who would languish alongside me - actually, usually a step of two ahead of me - was Mike Cahill.  He was, like most of us back then, a carefree, happy go-lucky guy.  He was the type of kid who made track practice fun, and delivered a great balance to the insane workouts. In addition to our individual races, we usually ended up together on the 4x880 relay, where we were all business.  Unfortunately Mike found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time on 9/11.

At about the halfway mark of the Eisenhower 5k loop is a memorial to Nassau County residents who perished that day.  I always make a point of running by to stop and say "hello".

I hadn't seen or heard from him in years, but I'm glad I'm able to find a way to keep him involved in my running.  Besides, I like routine.

On Saturday, I ran 3 loops, good for 9+ miles.  It was right after Friday's snow, so the paths were still pretty messy.  And the bathrooms?  Well, they were downright freezing.  Next time I head to the warm, familiar confines of the pool building. 

Spent Sunday in the poolside bleachers at the University of Maryland, watching James qualify for JOs in the 500 free.  Like I said, racing and meets are fun, especially when the hard work pays off...

35 miles down, 465 to go...

Makamah Woods

If I feel like running trails but don't feel like heading to Sunken Meadow, I usually end up across the street in the Makamah Preserve.  It has a nice three mile loop with plenty of hills to keep them interesting.  It's easy to tack on more miles - about halfway through there's a path out to Makamah Road which provides a few different options.

I took off the last few days due to a lingering pain in my ass, that is, literally, a pain in my ass. I've had a muscle knot since October that is more annoying than anything else.  My plan was to take off November and December to get rid of it, but succeeded only in taking off enough runs to lose conditioning while still running enough to prevent it from getting the rest it needed - a double fail, if you will.

In any case, this morning I set out through the woods on a mostly peaceful, somewhat icy run.  I took a detour down Makamah Road to the beach, coming back via Hayes Hill Road, a moderately steep, sweeping climb.  It's not quite as long as James Street and has an added bonus of a nice downhill on the other side, heading right back into the woods.

Dogs and walkers are not uncommon to pass in Makamah and today was no exception.  I normally say a friendly hello to the pups and their owners as well as an occasional scratch behind the ears.  The latter I typically reserve for the dogs...

This morning I came across a Great Dane and two women walking him.  Now, I don't actually speak dog, but I believe the conversation went like this:

Me:  "Good morning!"

In dog language, apparently this means:

"I am a juicy slab of meat, with rich, delicious gravy running through my veins."

Dog: "Woof!"

"Oh good...I'm feeling a bit peckish."

I chose not to stick around for breakfast and hightailed it on my way as his owner reigned him in.  I really do need to work on my speed...

26 miles down, 474 to go...

Running Around Northport

Spent the last two days running local streets.

One of the things I like best about living in Northport is the Great Cow Harbor 10k course that winds around town.  With top runners from around the country flocking here every September to challenge each other and the James Street hill, it's an opportunity to race and train on the same course they do.  I haven't raced it in years but volunteer instead...sorta creating good running karma for all the races I do that rely on volunteers.

On Monday I did one of my favorite short runs down to Crab Meadow Beach.  It's laid out perfectly for a tempo run...one mile warm up, one mile tempo, short recovery around the beach and parking lot, then reverse, ending with an uphill back to my house.  I've been mostly taking it easy in November and December so this was my first effort at finding some speed.  Apparently it was not to be found on this run...oof!

Today I ran the Cow Harbor course, something I'll do at least once a week, adding in excursions down side streets, into the woods and out to beaches to lenghten them as my runs get longer.  Over the years I've run this course 300+ times.  It never gets boring and I'm still noticing different things on every run.  One thing I don't notice though are names of streets.  For the life of me, I can't tell you all the roads I run on, nor the cross streets.  Not sure what this means...

Sidewalks were pretty sloppy with snow.  But all in all, a routine trip around town.

19 miles down, 481 to go...

Sunken Meadow

Without a doubt, Sunken Meadow is one of my favorite places to run on Long Island.  The miles of trails offer unlimited training possibilities.  Long flat stretches? Check.  Lung bursting hills?  Got 'em.  Twisty trails with spectacular views?  Yep...all that, plus access to the Greenbelt Trail for the inevitable 20 milers.  Oh yeah, there's also a Christmas Tree tucked away in the middle of the woods - a particularly festive offering this time of year.


This morning I met Rick at the Kings Park boat launch for a reverse run into the park.  We were a tad optimistic, throwing the snow shoes into the back of the car hoping for a snow run, but it quickly became clear that 40 degrees and rain really don't support that habit.  We did find ourselves running through snow drifts for a fair amount of the run, however.  Took the backtrails to the boardwalk and then out to the golf course.  Passed a group of Rolling Thunder kids on their way back from the course...good to see them out on a foggy morning.  Went straight to Cardiac from the golf course where I nearly had one of my own running up the hill, then back to Kings Park.


All in all, a sloggy start to my 500 mile quest, but a good run never-the-less, made even better by the homemade waffles when I got home.

8 miles down, 492 to go...

Happy New Year!

"Don't screw this up!"

The voice in my head was firm in its convictions.

"You're on target...don't do anything stupid!"

I had come through the half way point at the Disney Marathon at about the 1:40 mark.  Less than an hour later, the 20 mile marker went by at 2:34.  With just over 6 miles to go and nearly an hour to run them, I felt pretty good about my chances of finally qualifying for Boston.  Sure it had helped that by turning 45 I had gained an extra 10 minutes cushioning, moving my QT from 3:20 to 3:30, but as the last few miles dwindled by, my energy level was good, my legs felt strong and my pace was consistent.  And I was on track for a PR....

Still that voice in my head was pretty convincing.  So I listened.  For the last few miles I pulled back my pace, determined not to do anything stupid - like bonking, struggling to finish and missing the cutoff.  I became a tourist, noticing the scenery at the Hollywood Studio Park and the crowds along the riverside run through the resorts to the back entrance of Epcot.  Sure enough, they went by pretty easily and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I finished in a non-PR of 3:25 but didn't really worry about what could have been.  I had finally qualified for Boston, and had energy to spare to spend the rest of the day walking the parks with Samantha, James and Julia...stopping at Mexico first for a quick caloric reload. 

In the moments after the race, my plan for Boston was simple...I had qualified.  My plan was to run it for fun.  Not worry about the time.  Put in just enough training to finish.  Heck, I was tired...it all made perfect sense at the time.

One year later, naturally all this has changed.  I figure if I'm going to run Boston - and was one of the lucky few that managed to register that fateful Monday - I might as well throw fun to the wind and turn this into the torturous experience it was meant to be.  Which means instead of plodding casually up Heartbreak Hill, I'll be head down, doing my best to keep up my pace and hopefully hearing those same voices telling me not to screw up.  Afterall, I can't imagine a better course to call my PR...

January 1 is day one of my training.  Over the next 3+ months my plan is to knock off 500 miles in preparation for April 18.  I'm hoping they are entertaining enough to write about here.  If not, well, maybe it will at least keep me on track.  Either way I'm heading to the start line in Hopkinton.  It will be interesting to look back and see how I got there.