Written by The New Year is just three days old and the cold weather back. With temperatures in the twenties and the dreaded wind chill in the low teens, it’s time to break out the winter running gear. Tis the season to set the race calendar for early 2012 — or as I like to think of it the runner’s equivalent to Hot Stove Baseball. It’s a time for searching websites and race calendars and signing up for cold-weather races.
Once upon a time it was easy, I went to the New York Road Runners website, signed up for a few races, and was all set. However since Brooklyn, Long Island and Westchester County have running groups and organizations offering quality races my teammates and I searched websites like Active.com and NYC Runs looking for new races to run. We found gems like, the Cherry Tree Ten Miler, the Hook Half Marathon, and the Riverdale Ramble.
The Manhattan Half Marathon capped before I could sign up for it. It was my fault but I didn’t think a January half would cap over a month before it was scheduled to run. I underestimated the passion of hard-core runners training for early spring challenges. Getting locked out of the half had me scrambling for alternatives.
I started with a 10K, the Joe Klinerman 10K this weekend in Central Park. My training has been a bit uneven and I figured a 10K race is the challenge to get me going without the intensity of a half marathon, even though the half is my favorite race distance. Next I found a 10 miler on Long Island, the Run for the Brewery 10 miler in Patchogue. From the description on Active.com the race looks like a flat (we’ll see how flat on race day) course.
I then logged into NYC Runs and signed up for the Cherry Tree 10 miler in Prospect Park. I’ve run this race twice, and the challenging course of three loops of Prospect Park is truly a Race for the Hardcore. Training runs are important but racing gets the blood flowing, it’s like a pianist playing scales during rehearsal to be technically precise but playing with soul when it’s time to play concerts. Hopefully these early races will prepare me for the hilly course of the Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon on March 24th. I’ll know soon enough, but with a few races on the calendar I have some work to do to prepare for them.
Today’s 30 Minute Club Update – Day 3 - After running outside for three straight days we decided to go inside tonight and cross train. The 18 degree temperature with 4 degree wind-chill outside as I type this update had no bearing on our decision to work out in a climate-controlled gym.
Esther and I did 90 minutes of cardio tonight. We started with a 30 minute warm up on the stationary bikes before moving to the elliptical machines where we did another 60 minutes. The machines in the cardio section at New York Sports Club have TVs on them so you can run, push or pedal and be entertained, or distracted, while you sweat. It doesn’t seem like you’re working so hard. Esther and I watched The Biggest Loser. For me tonight’s highlight occurred with ten minutes left, we shared a look and nodded heads towards each other. After running together for almost four years I knew exactly what she meant and we opened it up and finished strong. It was a great way to end a workout.