55 degrees and sunny both Saturday and Sunday? I’ll take it, and you better believe everyone else in NYC will too!
Coach had me queued up for a 2 hour trainer ride, but after running an errand outside I was like, “Stay inside and ride? No way, I’m terrorizing the town on my bike!” and with that I was off.
I chose to ride my track bike as I figured that would simulate the trainer best as I can’t coast. I also have no brakes, and since you never brake on a trainer ride that seemed logical too.
Any time I take a ride in the streets and avoid Central Park (especially since al the police have been ticketing bikers as of late) I like to say that I am ‘Saying hello to all the neighborhoods’ and seeing what’s going on in each one. The Garmin map below shows where I visited.
Pizza is a common theme for this post and halfway through my ride I popped over to Nino’s drive by window for a slice.
SIDENOTE: I have very strong opinions on the best food in NYC. Nino’s happens to be one of top 3 pizza joints.
Later that day I had swim instruction. We went over my form and worked on some drills that will improve my speed over time. Very exciting stuff!
Saturday night? Yeah I was tired.
I was really looking forward to Sunday. Maura, Bryan, Matt6 and I were to cheer on Maura H., Erica Sara and Steph (long with countless other women) in the More Fitness Half Marathon for Women.
I was supposed to wake up at 7AM but instead woke up at 6AM because my ‘smart’ alarm clock from 1998 still thought ‘Spring Forward’ was April 2nd. Save the Robots? Maybe.
Arriving just after the start, Matt, Bryan and I… ‘The High Five Station’ were on fire. We were obnoxiously loud with Thunder Stix, Cowbells and a sign made by Bryan and Maura. (Maura and Robin K. arrived shortly after, they were getting a run in first… Runnerds!)
There were somewhere around 7,000 runners and probably 1,000 of them high fived Bryan. It was awesome. We saw Maura H., Steph and Erica Sara a couple times before we headed out to get some breakfast, celebrating the gals running achievements. Both Erica Sara and Steph PR’d! Nice work gals, well done!
After the race I was supposed to run a 1:45 minute aerobic threshold run. Arriving home at 1PM I was in some kind of a funk. Maybe it was all the bad walkers cutting me off? Anyway, me being in a funk is a rarity. I pretty much swore the run off.
At 3PM I had the craving for some pizza. I embarked out to my favorite Upper East Side location on 79th and 1st, acquiring a slice of hot cheese pizza. After thoroughly enjoying it I had the secondary craving for Pretzel M&Ms. This may be due to the fact that there is a huge bowl of them on my coffee table. I had 20-30 and they were everything I had dreamed they would be.
Slowly, my attitude was changing. Inside, energy was forming.
30 minutes after my feeding… I was like “Hey, it’s nice out. I haven’t missed a day of Coach’s super charged plan (see image below) so why stop now?!”
It was an amazing run at a 147 HR Average. This means I was running 8 minute miles. On occasion I pushed into the high 7s which is great because it means I’m progressing!
I wanted to kick out some speed a few times as people passed me but I held my ground. Then, I heard these footfalls coming up behind me like a bat outta hell… I was like “Who? What?” As the runner passed they patted my back looked back and gave a shout. It was Antonio, one of my running partners from early on!
Gotta love Central Park… it’s the Runner Army’s backyard.