Getting Back Into Shape

Getting Back Into Shape
by Papa Bear

The  summer of 2015 was rather disappointing from the point of view of my running. I did the same two sets of 5Ks in alternate weeks, one set in Van Cortlandt Park on alternate Thursday evenings and the other set in Riverside Park on alternate Wednesdays. But the times were consistently slower than the previous couple of years and I just didn't have the drive. Now you might say "Hey, you're just getting older dude!" Yes, I'm well aware of getting slower with age, especially upon entering the 70+ age group,  but it was more than that. The big factor was that 2015 was the first year since 2011 when I did not run a marathon. And I was coasting, as it were, on 3 days a week of training. My mileage base was just not enough. It was time to ratchet things up a notch: add another day, do some cross training and increase my mileage. 

So in November just after the NYC marathon, I wrote down a weekly schedule: 

Weekly Training Schedule
Day	Training
Monday	Medium Run	6 miles
Tuesday	Gym Workout
Wednesday	Tempo Run	2 + 1 + 2 miles
Thursday	Easy Run	4 - 5 miles
Friday	Pool Workout
Saturday	Long Run	7 - 10 miles
Sunday	– day of rest –

This gave me 4 days of running and two days of cross training and the mileage ranges from about 20 to 25 miles per week. This is hardly heroic, and is well below the level of marathon training, but it would give me more consistency and with the combination of the tempo run and the long run, would help with both speed and endurance. What's a tempo run? It starts and ends as an easy run, but in the middle you run fast, like at a 10K pace. So "2 + 1 +2" means 2 miles easy, 1 mile fast and 2 miles easy. 

So how am I doing? Well, adding the 4th day of running was probably the most important, even if the mileage was low. And I didn't change my Wednesday run to a tempo run till sometime in December. And of course, once in a while I'd skip some planned workout due to weather or a schedule conflict. The Thursday run was originally done in Central Park with Melissa, but that became tougher as the weather got colder and the days grew shorter, so by January, those 5:00 PM evening runs became mid day runs. By and large the schedule was quite doable, and (as I had hoped) it gradually became easier. 

And lest I forget, I religiously did an exercise routine EVERY morning after breakfast. This consisted of a thorough workout with "The Stick" on my legs, dynamic stretches of the main muscle groups (hamstrings, quads, adductors, hip flexors and both kinds of calf muscles), foot drills and a stair climb to my apartment (elevator down, climb up stairs 8 floors). This took about 30 minutes and I didn't skip it come hell or high water (which did come a few times ). 

But in addition to getting my training in good order, I picked a target race in which I hoped to do better than last year. That race was the Cherry Tree 10 miler held in early February in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and I had just under three months to get ready. Last year I did a 1:40:33 (10:03 pace) and that, I would beat! 

As most of my runs (3 out of 4) were down along the East River and back, things got a bit boring. So I worked out several alternate routes back, basically veering west from the river and returning through various parts of the East Village. Here's a few maps — if you live near me (Stuyvesant Town) you might try these and add some variety. And you'll discover Tompkins Square Park, a largely ignored gem of a park in just great shape! The maps show routes going along side of it, but in actuality I went through the park whenever I had the chance. 

Down along the River and Back via Avenue C

Down along the River and Back via Avenue B

Down along the River and Back via Avenue A

Down along the River and Back via First Avenue

Feb 6th: The Riverside Park 5K – a "Warm Up Race"

Saturday, February 6th was the date of the NYCRUNS Cocoa Classic Riverside Park 5K, my first race in months and a "warm up" for the PPTC Cherry tree 10 Miler the following weekend. If the date "February 6th" sounds familiar, it should. It was the day I got up at friggin 5:30 AM, went down to the East River and got those great pictures of Venus, Mercury and the crescent moon in the cold, pre-dawn February 6th sky (Check this out). I highly recommend you read that post. The success of that venture, set me up for a "double" if this race also turned out well. Read on ... 

After returning from my astronomic adventure, and quickly looking through the NY Times over coffee, I actually took a nap AND IT WAS ONLY 7:30 IN THE MORNING. But that gave me a little extra energy as down I went for the L train about 8:30, then connected to the #1 train at 14th Street and got off at 103rd Street. After a short walk I got to the race HQ in Riverside Park a little past 9:00. I got my number and visited the facilities and then said to my self "So now what the hell do I do for the next hour?" It was cold, but it was 9:00 AM cold, not 6:00 AM cold. I scouted out the race route and it turned out to be different from the summer Riverside Park 5K route I've done numerous times, but I was not sure what the differences were. Then I bumped into Flyers Jodie and Peter. They said John was also here and was scouting out some icy spots along the route. 

Me, Jodie, Peter and John

I still wasn't sure if we would even run over those spots. The NYCRUN's guy said it was the "long route", but I didn't know what that meant. In the end, it wasn't a big deal: the first mile or so was the same as the summer route (up the big hill and along the top of the park), then it veered down towards the Hudson around 100th Street and went down to about 92nd Street where it turned around and snaked back to rejoin the old route, but skipped the last big hill. And yes, there were two or three icy spots which added maybe a good part of a minute to my time. 

We all got a good start and I took it really easy up the big hill and then settled into a strong pace. The first icy spot was about a quarter mile past the hill and I had to walk around it. Then when we got to the part along the Hudson, there was another bad spot just after the turn-around and maybe one more spot later. The finish was easier — no repeat of the big hill — and I finished well. I was just a smidgeon over 29 minutes, but that was actually faster than any of my Riverside Park 5Ks I did last summer. Considering the icy spots and the difficulty of running in cold weather, it was by far the best Riverside 5K I'd done in several years. I got an age group award — and so did the other Flyers (hint: next time you should come out for one of these smaller races). 

Final result: 29:05 9:23/mile 1st in the 70+ age group. And what is more I had a "double" for the day! Was I ready for my target race the following Sunday? Bring it on! 

Feb 14th: The 2016 Cherry Tree 10 Miler – My "Target Race"

The PPTC Cherry Tree 10 Miler, a race put on every February by the Prospect Park Track Club, has always had the nickname "The Race for the Hard Core". Well, this year with temperatures between 0° and 4°, it truly was for the hard core. I had been feeling high all week since my good 5K race the weekend before, but this weekend the temperatures were forecast to be record-setting lows. Saturday was the coldest February 13th on record, and Sunday had a Central Park temperature of -1° at 6:00 AM, also a record. By race time the temperature had risen to 0° (what a relief! ) and we had bright sunshine. Several of our friends had decided to skip this one, but Susan and I decided we would soldier on and meet in the subway for the trip to Prospect Park. 
 
The race start had been moved this year to be near the new skating rink, about a half mile further along the park road, and this was just inside the park from the Prospect Park Q train stop. At one point the MTA had scheduled a string of stations on this line for repairs to be replaced by a shuttle bus from Barclays Center. Luckily this was cancelled and the trains made their ususl stops; a shuttle bus would have been a disaster in this weather. So we decided to meet inside the Union Square subway station on the Q line platform for the 9:02 train, but although we were both there, we managed to miss each other and missed our train. We finally found each other and got the next Q, which got us to the park about 9:40. Normally this would have been cutting it close, but in this frigid weather it was fine. 

Susan and I Before the Start

We found our way to the skating rink cafe, literally packed with runners, changed into our running stuff (I had 5 layers) and waited till the very last minute before moving outside to the start. We all quickly got in the corral, but I decided to take some pictures of the start. I took 4 or 5, one of which is below,  but this resulted in freezing my hands since I couldn't manage the camera with my gloves on. My hands, even with fancy Nike gloves on, took me about 2 miles to warm up. 

After the "gun" (actually an air horn), I stashed my camera in a pouch, walked back behind the starting line and got into the moving stream of runners. I probably crossed the starting line about 30 seconds after the "gun" (the final results gave my start delay as 35 seconds). So with 5 layers, a face mask, sunglasses and frozen fingers, I was off! 

And They're Off!

The start: The course was three loops of the park road and the start and finish were at the same point, so somehow they measured the loop to be exactly 3⅓ miles. It was USATF certified, so I'll take their word for this lucky coincidence. Unlike previous years, the start was just at the beginning of the mile long hill to the high point of the park at Grand Army Plaza. I always found this to be a tough stretch, particularly since it comes three times, but this year it seemed relatively easy. Perhaps the enforced slowing down that the temperatures and all my layers had on my pace was the reason. Whatever the reason, I didn't dread coming back to this hill twice more as I had in the past. 

1st loop: As I got moving, I made a conscious effort to really ease into my pace. It was easy, easy, easy for the first half mile or so to let my muscles warm up. The last thing I needed was some kind of muscle strain due to cold-induced tightness. 

I love the point in the race route where you are almost to the top of the long hill and you can see the runners across the park turning down the other side of the hill. I kept my pace strong but sustainable — but I wasn't clocking the miles. In fact there were no mile markers out at all and I had a feeling that in this weather, no one really cared. The topography on the east side of the park from Grand Army Plaza to Bartel-Prichard Square is a gradual down hill with a few dips along the way. Then we turn left and follow the loop down a slightly steeper hill, past the old finish line and finally reach the lake. I knew the skating rink was on the lake shore about half way around the lake, but still on each loop, it seemed further and further to make that last half mile. When I finished my first loop, the clock said about 33:30, so subtracting my guess of 30 seconds start delay, I was under my goal pace (to break 1:40:00 or 10 minutes per mile). I stopped for water and Gatorade and got moving again. 

2nd loop: I did not dread the long hill this time and this probably helped my confidence. And surprised as I was, my hands were now too warm and my gloves were getting wet from perspiration, so I actually took off my gloves, tucked them into my wind breaker pocket, and just kept my hands inside the ends of my sleeves, where I could regulate my hand temperature by moving the tips of my fingers slightly out, or slightly inside the sleeve. I'm sure most of you have done something similar over the years. 

This time around I paid more attention to the sights along the loop: the Lichfield Villa, the Picnic House, the view across the Long Meadow, the Band Shell, the Lake with the Parade Grounds across Parkside Avenue and the Peristyle (where did they get that name?). Then came that never ending half mile to the skating rink and the loop was done. This time the clock showed about 1:06:30 (66:30) so I knew I had done another loop in 33 minutes — very good pacing — but now the hard part was to sustain it for one more loop. 

3rd loop: The first thing I did after passing through the finish line after the 2nd loop was to take off my wind breaker and tie it around my waist, as well as getting another drink (the only water station was here at the start/finish line). This took maybe 15-20 seconds off my time but probably helped keep my body temperature in balance for the 3rd loop. Without the wind breaker I lost some heat through evaporation, but as long as I kept plugging along I was not cold. There were, however, a few spots near the top of the park where the wind was fairly chilly. My pace was harder to keep and now those same landmarks became not interesting sights, but rather markers of my progress. Of course, it seemed to take longer than before to get from one to the next, but my pace was still pretty strong.

Finished:	1:39:41
Gun Time:	1:40:16
Pace:	9:58

The finish: I knew that because the start delay, my time on the clock might be a little over 1:40:00, but if it was not more than about 30 seconds over (my start delay) I would break the 10 minutes per mile target. As I crossed the finish line it was about 1:40:15, so I knew I had made it — it was a great feeling of accomplishment. The official time is shown on the left. 

But one unwelcome reappearance of and old nemesis of mine showed up in the last mile. This is numbness and eventually pain in my right forefoot that sets in after a certain number of miles in my runs — the exact point may vary from 5 to 10 miles into a run. This time it started to bother me by about mile 9, and by the finish it was actually hurting my foot, but not to the extent of slowing me down. Let's just say this was one more reason to be very glad to cross the finish line. And as is usually the case, the numbness / pain subsided a few minutes after I stopped running. 

I spent a few minutes at the finish line and I soon heard a voice call "Papa Bear". It was Heidi who had just finished a few minutes after me, and about a minute after Heidi, there was Susan. All of us felt it was a great day and a great race and much (but not all) of the hype about the low temperatures ("Polar Vortex!", "-30° wind chills!") was unwarranted. In fact both Heidi and Susan said they have had worse times out skiing. 

I could not stay long out there in the cold so I said I would meet them in the skating rink cafe where we had changed. I stopped at the van on the way and asked the timing guy about our age group places. I found I was first in the 70+ group and Susan was 2nd in the 60-64 group. Good news all around. 

I got back inside, picked up my age group award and bumped into a few folks I knew, such as this group enjoying the warmth: 

Kenny, Ray, Charlotte and Me with my Age Group Award

But it turns out I was waiting in the wrong spot to meet Heidi and Susan. I had inadvertently gone not to where we had changed before the race, but to another part of the cafe one door away. So I had managed to not meet Susan at a rendezvous both before and after the race! 

But reunited again, we shivered our way to the Q train and about a half hour later said our good byes at the Union Square station. BUT before parting company, we chose a bench where some folks were sitting next to the stairs down to the Q train, and agreed THAT is where we'll meet next time. Now, if we can just manage to remember that when the next time comes along.  

That night I got my final results from the NYCRUNS (which managed the race for the PPTC) web site: 

	Rank	Split	Pace
1st Lap	343	32:59	9:54
2nd Lap	334	33:03	9:55
3rd Lap	330	33:38	10:06
Finish	330	1:39:41	9:58

The splits certainly were pretty even but with a falling off for the 3rd loop. But on each loop I passed a number of other runners. Given the temperatures and other delays, I had certainly met my goal for this race, and then some. 

So what's my next target race? The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in Washington DC on April 3rd. And the target pace? To do better than this one, but of course.

This post is adapted from Papa Bear's Blog:
Running & Stuff for 2016