Looking Back At the Long Hot Summer

by 

Papa Bear 

If you take a look at the title picture of this post (above) you'll see two happy runners at a race in Van Cortlandt Park. It's me and my daughter Susan after both of us won raffle prizes (those hoodies) after the race. I had never before won a raffle prize although I have run every one of these races for the last 4 or 5 years. And my daughter Susan on the other hand, has only run in one VCTC summer 5K before — after all she lives in Portland Oregon. So it was a pleasant and unexpected happening that we would both win one of these prizes and the picture shows our delight. It was also my fastest race in the Van Cortlandt Park series this summer.

So why a title like "Long Hot Summer"? Well I didn't mean to imply it was not a fun summer or a summer when I didn't enjoy the races. It was and I did. But the problem, if you want to call it that, is that although I revamped my training in the hopes of improving my race times, I had very little success in doing that. And I think a major reason was the hot and humid weather that persisted across June and July and into August.

But it wasn't just the heat and humidity — it was an overloaded schedule of races that pushed my speed work efforts into the background. But first a word about that training schedule: in late May, when the summer series of cross country 5Ks was getting underway, I asked coach Joe, my massage guy, if I could fit two training workouts into the two week period between successive 5Ks (which are held on alternate Thursday evenings), perhaps at 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through the two week period.

Double Workouts

He said try something different: the recovery from a tough workout starts primarily on the 2nd day after the workout, not the next day. So do two workouts on two successive days focusing on different types of workout (say hill repeats, and intervals) and then take the next 4 days for recovery. So the double workout should be at least 4 days before the next Thursday 5K, e.g. Thursday/Friday or Friday/Saturday of the week before the race. The table below illustrates how this schedule would look.

	Date	Note
VCTC 5K #1	May 26st
Speed workout	June 2nd	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #2	June 9th
Speed workout	June 16th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #3	June 23rd
Speed workout	June 30th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 2x2 Relay	July 7th
Speed workout	July 14th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #5	July 21st
Speed workout	July 28th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #6	Aug. 4th
Speed workout	Aug. 11th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #7	Aug. 18th

So I started out doing just that: I would do hill repeats on Cat Hill (at first just 6 but building up by adding 1 or 2 repeats each time) and the next day intervals at the East 6th Street track (at first 200s with the same number of intervals as I did hills).

I was very tired after the 2nd day but I felt it was the "good" tired you get after you do a tough workout.

Oops! more races

But by the 2nd cycle of this routine, I realized that I had registered for a number of NYCRuns 5Ks, which happen usually on one of the weekends between the Van Cortland park 5Ks. See the next table. So some weeks I had to squeeze my double workouts in between the races, losing the valuable recovery time, and sometimes I had to do just a single workout, or none at all.

	Date	Note
VCTC 5K #1	May 26st
NYCRuns 5K	May 30th	Race: Roosevelt Island
VCTC 5K #2	June 9th
Speed workout	June 16th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #3	June 23rd
Speed workout	June 26st	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 2x2 Relay	July 7th
NYCRuns 5K	July 17th	Race: Roosevelt Island
VCTC 5K #5	July 21st
Club Team Race	July 30th	Race Central Park
VCTC 5K #6	Aug. 4th
Brooklyn Mile	Aug. 14th	Race: Brooklyn
VCTC 5K #7	Aug. 18th
NYCRuns 5K	Aug. 20th	Race: Governors Island

It's clear from the table that I was mostly going from race to hot and humid race without much in the way of training workouts between.

Just go with the flow

By the end of June I realized that I was trying to do too many things at once. And since I had no control over the heat or humidity, I just settled on doing whatever training workouts I could fit in without compromising the needed recovery period, and just wait for Fall to arrive with cooler weather and a much more reasonable race schedule. And that's where we are now, September 22, the first day of Fall.

Summer summary

The table below shows the results of the summer giving finishing times and age group awards. Although the times did not improve over the summer there was lots of fun races and good times.

	Date	Finish
VCTC 5K #1 Van Cortland Park	May 26st	32:22 2nd 70+
NYCRuns 5K Roosevelt Island	May 30th	28:42 2nd 70+
VCTC 5K #2 Van Cortland Park	June 9th	30:59 2nd 70+
VCTC 5K #3 Van Cortland Park	June 23rd	32:02 3rd 70+
VCTC 2x2 Relay Van Cortland Park	July 7th	Best costume award
NYCRuns 5K Shore Road, Brooklyn	July 17th	28:49 1st 70+
VCTC 5K #5 Van Cortland Park	July 21st	missed start 35:36 2nd 70+
Club Team Race Central Park	July 30th	51:19
VCTC 5K #6 Van Cortland Park	Aug. 4th	31:57 3rd 70+
Summer Streets Run Central Park to Brooklyn	Aug. 6th	Ice Cream
Brooklyn Mile Williamsburg, Brooklyn	Aug. 14th	8:37 2nd 70+
VCTC 5K #7 Van Cortland Park	Aug. 18th	32:36 3rd 70+
NYCRuns 5K Governors Island	Aug. 20th	29:56 1st 70+
NYCRuns 5K Roosevelt Island	Sept. 5th	28:40 2nd 70+

Susan and Susan with Me

The first photo shows me with my daughter Susan and my friend Susan at the VCTC 5K #2. This was actually my best finishing time at Van Cortland for the whole summer season and it was certainly a delight to have my daughter run one of these races during her visit to New York. Click for Slideshow.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow

The next photo shows Heidi and me at the 2x2 mile cross country relay. We won the best costume award, and as far as our race time is concerned, you don't want to know. It was lots of fun throwing those costumes together from odds and ends and thanks to Heidi, we looked pretty darn good. We won the costume contest (based on audience applause) in a landslide.

1st 70+ at the Shore Road 5K

On July 17th I took the subway out to Bay Ridge Brooklyn for the Shore Road 5K. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong stop and had to walk about ¾ mile to get to the start. Luckily I was in time to get my bib and warm up a little. But cooling off would have been better than warming up – It was bright sunshine, temperatures in the high 80°s and no shade. The 5K and 10K started together but the 10Kers had to do two out-and-backs vs. one for us. I managed a reasonably good race and went home with a 1st in the 70+ age group award. Click for Slideshow.

Crossing Brooklyn Bridge

Late July was miserable – I missed the start due to slow subways in VCTC 5K #5 and lost about 2 or 3 minutes as I spent the race trying to catch up with the back of the pack and the July 30th Club Team 5 miler in Central Park was a death march in extreme heat and humidity. VCTC 5K #6 was not much better but then came the August 14th Summer Streets Run. This is when they shut down Park Avenue and walkers, runners and bikers go down to the Brooklyn Bridge (or up the other way). I met the Flyers at 23rd Street and when we got to the bridge, we crossed over and ran through the recently built Brooklyn Bridge Park to the Ample Hills ice cream shop. Ice cream is the 2nd best thing (after beer) to enjoy after a long hot run. Click for Slideshow.

The Brooklyn Mile

Then came the August 14th Inaugural Brooklyn Mile sponsored by the Brooklyn Running Shop in Williamsburg. I had never run a 1 mile race in all my many, many miles of running so this would be a first. Coach Joe gave me some hints on this kind of race and it amounted to turnover and pacing. We calculated a target pace based on recent race (it was 8:36), and he laid out how to train with some intervals, how to warm up, etc. Well, the horn went off and I went out too fast by about 10 seconds for the 1st quarter. I slowed down down a bit but it was difficult since I had already "shot my wad" so-to-speak. Luckily the last quarter was slightly down hill so I came in at 8:37 and I was 2nd in the 70+ age group. Click for Slideshow.

But it was almost an embarrassment to recall that in my 1992 Grandma's Marathon (see this and this) where I first qualified for Boston, I RAN THE WHOLE DAMN 26.2 MILES OF THE MARATHON AT UNDER AN 8 MINUTE PACE! I know, I know, that was 24 years ago and age takes it's toll, but, but still ...

With Luiza and Pei at the VCTC 5K #7

Moving right along, the last VCTC 5K of the summer was rather more fun than usual, if not faster. Pei and Luiza from the Thursday night Flyers Group Run came up and ran the 5K. It's always nicer when there are friends and teammates there at a race. They give you encouragement and can join you at a post race get-together and of course join you on the long subway ride back to the city. Click for Slideshow.

Governors Island 5K

On the other hand, the last two races of the summer, the August 20th "Governors Island 5K" and the September 5th "Labor Day 5K" did get faster, if only slightly. I took the 7:30 ferry to Governor's Island with an absolute horde of runners. Due to some strategic planning, I was the first to get to the port-o-sans and had a chance to scout out the area. I had been to the island about 6 or 7 years ago when the Coast Guard gave it to the City but a lot had been done since. The race was well organized, as usual, by NYCRuns and went off as planned, if a few minutes late starting. It turns out they had only an hour to set up before the runners arrived.

The route was basically a clockwise circuit of the Island. Views were great in all directions although there was not much shade. But the weather was better than it had been for weeks and I had a credible race, just breaking 30 minutes, and 1st in the 70+ age group. I should note that this race was only 2 days after the last VCTC 5K and just under week after the Brooklyn Mile. Click for Slideshow.

Finishing the Labor Day 5K

The September 5th Labor Day 5K on Roosevelt Island had even better weather and I achieved, if ever so slightly, my best time this year on the Roosevelt Island course, a 28:40. As usual I took a cab at 7:00 to the Roosevelt Island Tramway stop at 59th and Second Avenue and I was at the race site on Roosevelt Island by around 7:40. I felt good in the race but in retrospect I should have pushed the 2nd mile harder. My 28:40 was satisfying, but remembering the 28:42 in late May before the summer weather kicked in, I knew I was back to just about where I started. Of course placing 2nd in the 70+ age group (out of 6) felt good. Click for Slideshow.

After the race, I took the tram back to Manhattan and the bus uptown to meet up with my friend Susan who had just gotten back from a 6 week visit to Switzerland and France where she did some alpine races in one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

We had a nice walk around Randall's Island and ended at Earl's Beer and Cheese for a couple of cold ones. And what better way to end a long hot summer than that!

Fall Arrives

Fall arrived yesterday and on Sunday I'll be back to Roosevelt Island with hopefully some new faster results. I did a solid interval workout this week and a tempo run last week so it's time to move into a productive Fall season.

This post is adapted from Papa Bear's recent post on his blog:
Running and Stuff for 2016