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I ran seven miles today. I’m trying to get back into a more intense running schedule. Plannig for swimming, karate and weight-lifting tomorrow, then a ten mile run Sunday morning.

1. 8:13
2. 8:07
3. 8:05
4. 7:52
5. 8:00
6. 7:55
7. 7:47 

As I was off from work, I ran from the house past the NJ Department of Motor Vehicles HQ, along Lower Ferry Road to the NJ D&R Canal Path. I ran a few miles along the canal, then returned home.

It was nice and cold today, and most of the canal was frozen over.
Weather.com for Ewing, NJ: 16°F; feels like 2°F.

After the run, I curled up with a nice cold chocolate Muscle Milk shake.

Six days after setting my PR at the ING NYC Marathon, I did the Mud Run at McGuire Air Force Base with a group of avid runners.

Thanks to Bill for suggesting this race!

This is a first for the event and it was great – 6.2 miles of mud and sweat.
The 10K course encompassed different types of terrain, including asphalt, dirt, hills, water hazards, a jaunt along the tarmac, and of course, mud! There were mud pits, rope climb walls, belly crawls, a tire course, wall climbing, creek traversals and more. It’s the most fun I’ve had at a race.
I am definitely doing this again in 2009!
Here are some pics I took of my teammates along the course: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sconzof/sets/72157609922432845/

I completed the ING NYC Marathon yesterday with a finish time of 3 hours, 16 minutes and 58 seconds. This is my best finish time for a marathon, an improvement of about ten minutes over the last NY Marathon I did in 2006.

In the spring of 2008 I ran the NJ Marathon in Long Branch with a finish time of 3:46:28, so my time in NY is actually a 30 minute improvement in a harder race, just seven months later.

Next time I run the NY Marathon, I must remember to bring a sleeping bag and/or thermal foil. Waiting in the cold at the base of the Verazzano Narrows bridge for four hours before the start of the race is quite a task. Unfortunately, there is no way around this since runners in the first wave must catch the mid-town bus at 5am to get to Staten Island before 7am when the bridge is closed off to traffic. There are a few large tents which fill to capacity very quickly. But they are not heated; they just help block some of the cold wind. I snapped a few photos of the staging area with a disposable camera, since it’s an experience I don’t think is fully appreciated 🙂

It’s finally here. Tomorrow at 9:40am is the start for the first wave competitors in the ING NYC Marathon. I’m running in the first wave, race number 8025. My progress can be monitored real-time here: http://fanalert.ingnycmarathon.org/Alerts.aspx.

My goal is to finish in 3:10, which is 16 minutes faster than my last New York marathon finish time. It will certainly be a challenge, but I’m ready to take it on! Thanks to a co-worker at Dow Jones, Michelle LaRoche-Gould, who tracked down an even-effort pacing chart, I know exactly what pace to run each mile. The spreadsheet is truly a work of art. Check it out here: NYCMarathonPacing.xls

I believe this has been my best training season. I ate much better this season (including more protein). I did every training run on my schedule and really worked hard during the speed workouts. I also did lots of cross training on my non-running days — much of which was core training. I also stayed mostly injury free. I have a minor shin splint which I’m hoping won’t affect my performance — usually I don’t feel the discomfort until after the race.

The weather looks good for tomorrow and I’m all packed. I’m heading off to the train station now.

ING — here I come.

Tomorrow is my last 20 mile training run before the NY Marathon on November 2, 2008. The remaining two weekends consist of shorter and shorter “long runs”, as part of my scheduled taper. I believe the last two long runs include a 12 mile run on the 19th and an eight mile jaunt on the 26th.

I decided to travel to Long Beach Island for my training run tomorrow. I’ll compete in the 18 Mile Race. Once I cross the finish line I plan to double back to mile marker 17, then make my way back to the finish to complete the full 20 miles. My training schedule calls for a 7:38 pace, which is 23 seconds slower than my target pace for the marathon. It will be a challenge, but I’m ready for it. I did this course last year with a finish time of 2:53:05; I remember it was very warm that day for a 10:30 am run.

This past week I ran eight miles on Tuesday, did six miles of speed work on Thursday, and ran seven miles on Friday. Thursday’s speed work included a warm up, followed by a three mile fartlek run at a 6:18 pace, then a cool down. I did this on the treadmill. To make the speed work more challenging, I did a 45 minute core workout just prior to the run. This included the regimen below. Yesterday I ran the seven mile course (gmap-pedometer is great) at a 7:29 pace with the last mile at 7:07. Then I left work at a reasonable hour for the first time in many months to make it to my evening karate class.

What follows is the core-body workout I did on Thursday. The first part I like to call “Don’t put down the plate.”

Holding a 25 pound plate, repeat the following exercises three times:

1. Front raises x 12
2. In place forward lunges with twist x 12
3. Squat and tap the plate on the ground, lift and press the plate overhead x 10
4. Reverse raises x 12 (Standing position, start with plate overhead and arms locked, slowly lower the plate until the arms are parallel to the floor, and return to overhead position)
5. Side bends (hold plate at right side, left arm over top of head, bend at waist to the right, lowering the plate to the ankle and return; after 10 switch sides); each side x 10
6. Overhead tricep extension x 12
7. Hold the plate directly in front with arms locked for as long as possible (I try to do this in front of a mirror so I can keep my eyes trained on my reflection through the hole in the plate)
8. Between each set, put down the plate and do six pull ups, then hold the pull up position as long as possible.

Repeat three times:

1. Jump from the floor onto the rounded side of the bosu and do a squat; jump back to the floor and back to the bosu with no pause, x 12
2. Push-ups with one arm on the bosu, switching arms between each push-up x 10

Repeat three times:

1. Suitcase squats with the kettlebells, standing on the bosu, x 10
2. Bent over rows with kettlebells, standing on the bosu, x 10
3. Upright rows with the kettlebells, standing on the bosu, x 10 

Repeat three times:

1. Static hold for as long as possible in a modified push-up position; hands positioned away from the body making a 30 to 45 degree angle with the floor 
2. Double-arm dead cleans into push presses with the kettlebells, x 10
3. V-sits with feet on the stability ball, x 10

One week ago was the Philadelphia Distance Run. I improved my time from last year by a bit more than three minutes. Finish time was 1:36:18. I expected better, but wasn’t really tapered having run 20 miles seven days prior and having done seven miles of speedwork just three days prior. Unfortunately, if this half-marathon is an indicator of my performance on Nov 2 at the ING NYC Marathon, I won’t hit my 3:10 mark. I need to dig deeper with my training.

And so I think I have — all my runs were outdoor except for the speed work. I ran an eight mile “easy run” on Tuesday (two days after the half-marathon) in 61 minutes. On Thursday I did speed work: 6 miles total, 4 x 1600 at 6:07… only possible because I was on the treadmill. On Friday I ran 7 miles in 51:27 — in the rain. I felt great though and think the rain helped.

This morning I started my 16 mile long run just before 6am. 20 minutes into the run, the rain came. And the rain never stopped. Sure, it keeps you cool but ’tis a bit of a drag running 16 miles in the rain. The sun never peeked through the clouds during my run. My performance was good — first four miles at an 8 minute pace, then slowed the pace to about 8:20-something.  I haven’t uploaded my garmin stats yet but I finished in 2:13. That’s two runs back to back in the rain. Yesterday I trained twice — an hour of karate at Gold’s and two hours of karate at the dojo. And my core training during the week is really making a difference – I feel more solid during my runs.

I tried something new today — I carried gatorade with me. In the past when I drank gatorade on the race course, it sat in my stomach like a rock. But I think I’m finally ready to take advantage of all the positive things it supposedly does for you during long runs. I plan to use gatorade in the NYC Marathon so I need to get used to it. The first few drinks I took today were unwelcome, as I’m used to simple water, but I adjusted. I carried a 24 ounce bottle of grape G2 and came close to finishing it. After the run, I downed two servings of muscle milk, finshed the gatorade, and drank another 20 ounces of water or so. I wasn’t dehydrated (as evident by my “color” during elimination) — I was just very thirsty. Through the remainder of the day, my hunger was insatiable. I think I may have consumed too many calories, but the bulk of them were good calories.

Next week’s training schedule is a relatively light one, but I have some extracurricular runs squeezed in. The sked calls for 8 miles on Tue, 8 miles on Thursday, 7 miles on Friday and 7 miles on Sunday. I’m running the JP Morgan Championship run (3.5 miles) Saturday with the News Corporation team. The race is on Park Ave in NYC at 9am. And tomorrow I’m doing a performance test, which includes two one-mile sprints. It will be interesting to see how that goes, the day after a 16 mile long run.

On June 18, 2008 I ran the J.P. Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in NYC Central Park. I finished fourth in my group from Dow Jones with a time of 23:29 for 3.5 miles.

It started raining just as the race started, which kept 15,000 runners cool on a June day.

I’m looking forward to improving my time next year. In the meantime, I have my sites set on these next few races:

Belmar 5 – July 12, 2008
Philadelphia Distance Run (half marathon) – September 21, 2008
Long Beach Island 18 Mile Run – October 12, 2008 (if I’m not in Milan)
ING NYC Marathon – November 2, 2008

I ran the St. Paddy’s Day race in Bordentown, NJ yesterday. It’s a 3.1 mile course and is relatively fast and flat. My finishing time was 20:17. This is a record for me, by just a few seconds. My pace was 6:54 per mile.

The weather was perfect for running — the morning rain had stopped and the temperature was in the high 40s or low 50s.

Matthew and Peter did the one mile children’s run before the 5K began. Matthew placed 16th with a time of 7:19 and Peter finished with a time of 9:19. Nice job guys!

I ran the E. Murray Todd Half-Marathon on March 2, 2008. The weather was good for running – just cold enough for your hands to turn red, but not need gloves.
I finished in 1:34:51, which is a 7:15 pace. Considering the hills in this course, I’m am pleased with my finishing time.
I didn’t train specifically for this race. I simply used it as a training run for the New Jersey Marathon which I am doing on May 4, 2008.
My training schedule called for a 20 mile run on Sunday March 2. So after I crossed the finish line of the half marathon, I turned around the ran another seven miles.

Jan 1 – Hamilton Hangover Run
Jan 2 – Jan 5 – Karate Special Winter Training
Feb 5 – Feb 9 – Karate Special Winter Training II
Feb 23 – Polar Bear Plunge, Seaside, New Jersey
Mar 2 – E Murray Todd Half Marathon
May 4 – New Jersey Marathon
May 4 – Broad Street Run 10 Miler – Can’t do this as it’s the same day as the NJ Marathon.
Mar 15 – St Patty’s Day 5k in Bordentown
May 24 – Spring Lake 5
Sep 21 – Philly Distance Run – Half Marathon
Nov 2 – NYC Marathon