So its been a while. I know this for two reasons. 1) I haven't logged in about a month, & 2) my friend Carey called me out yesterday about not posting anything for so long. So Carey this one goes out to you.
To recap the last week or so well, its been hot. Real hot. Like this kinda hot:
But the nice part is its not that hot any more so back to the grind. Training is starting to fall into place. I'm not feeling too terrible on most runs right now and as long as I'm hydrating right most are pretty good despite the weather. But as other have mentioned its mid July and it gets really hot in mid July. So just like every summer we drink some more water and we run early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and dream of the fall.
On tonight's run
Tonight's run was 10 hill repeats on cat hill. Cat hill for those not familiar, is in my opinion a pretty solid hill to do hill repeats on. Its steep but not too steep, and long but not too long. All in all it gives you some pretty good options if you are looking to shake up your standard hill workout. Tonight's run was good. I have some work to do but I've been saying that for a while and I'll probably keep saying that till 2 weeks before race day when I can't do any more work towards this marathon that's only 17 weeks away! Anyway, there were a few things that stood out in my mind about tonight's run.
- No turn over. I really have lost some significant leg speed. I have like 2 gears and when I push for one more its just not there yet.
- Recovery: I need lots of it. On hills its usually full recovery, and tonight I needed as much as I could get. My fitness just isn't there for me to get up and down the way I'm used/ would like to.
- This is gross but I still feel like I'm coughing up a lung on my recovery. Usually when I've taken some time off or had a cold I feel this way, especially after a big cold. I've had no colds recently just a lot of time where I sat on my ass. I guess this all translates some way to lung capacity, mainly how I don't have as much as I want.
- Then there was the entertainment:
But there's more!
Cat hill has lots of traffic. Runners, bikers, and cars. This being NYC there naturally is a mutual hate among all three of these groups. I get the runner vs cars, and the biker vs cars. And I see the Biker Vs Runner animosity. Its crowded in the park and the city and accidents happen and people get pissed.
So on my recovery from hill #4 there is a woman who is running dangerously close to the edge of the bike lane. She might have even stepped into it for a hot second when from behind her a woman on a bike (more a beach cruiser than a road bike) came up right behind her. I must note before I go on that she had more than ample room to safely pass on the right of this woman and there was a break in the car traffic since the light a the bottom of the hill was still red. So as the woman on the bike gets within 3-4 feet of to the woman who is probably running outside of the designated running area at this point, she rings her bell on her bike 3 times and then darts around the woman while riding as close to the runner as I've ever seen a biker ride intentionally in the park and as she passed the runner she yelled out " BIKE LANE"! To which the runner promptly replied, "Oh F--- You!" And flipped her the bird. (naturally) And of course the biker replied "Get a life!" before riding off. (naturally)
Maybe it was the hill that stretched their patience or just the fact that the people of NY like to yell at each other. Regardless of which it was I can't help to think that there were 100 better ways for that simple moment to unravel. None of them, would have been as entertaining for me nearing the middle of a solid hill work out. Thanks ladies! Any distraction from the speed work at hand is always appreciated!
