Ran the Ridgewood and Tenafly 5ks this past week with Will. On Memorial Day in Ridgewood he took 1st place in the 9-year old and younger group with a 2 minute and 33 second PR of 22:58. On Sunday in Tenafly he took 1st place for 4th graders from Tenafly in 23:23. His goal had been to run under 24:00 this spring so he did it for both and even got under 23:00 for Ridgewood. His mile splits for Ridgewood were 7:40, 7:40, 6:46. It's a flat, fast course but it was very hot out. With better weather and more even pacing perhaps he could have gone even faster. The Tenafly course is a bit tougher with two non-trivial uphill sections and he didn't seem to be feeling as good as he did at Ridgewood but the weather was perfect. His mile splits were around 7:25, 7:50, 7:20, with a full out sprint at the downhill end.

May Update

Finished up my extended base-building period after having to take 6 weeks off in February and March due to illness and then back spasms. Feel like I am now back to where I was at the end of January. Got in my two hill sessions this week: first with 5 reps of high knees and then with 6 reps. Next week shooting for 7 and then 8. Then it's two weeks of bounding and then 2 weeks of springing before a transition week and then into 1-mile type training with lots of 400 meter repeats etc.

A couple weeks ago ran the Wednesday night XC 5K for a second time this year at took 42 seconds off my first effort for a course PR of 19:48. Last year my best (well, only, actually) time on that course was 20:30 in mid-July. So I seem to be well ahead of last year, which is the plan. A week later I paced Will to a 25:28, 1:42 below his course PR of 27:10 from the previous week. The course wasn't even that fast as it was soaked from rain all week but it was perfect running weather as it was a bit cool with a bit of a mist coming down.

Planning on pacing Will through the Ridgewood 5K on Memorial Day and then perhaps racing the Tenafly 5k on my own the following Sunday. If so would be shooting for sub 19:00 with 18:36 (6:00 pace) as a stretch goal.

Easter Run with Scott Jurek

Will and I did one loop (6.55 mile quarter marathon) around Van Cortland Park at the Easter Holiday Marathon. Scott Jurek was there jogging with the crowd. He jogged along with us for a bit and asked Will a bunch of questions. The course was mostly flat but had two hilly sections with pretty good climbs. Will did 1:07 (10:15 pace) for the loop.

Good Friday Grilled Cheese Run

A 10-mile figure-8 loop around the northern reaches of the Palisades Interstate Park starting and ending at the State Line Lookout Cafe at the State Line Lookout area just south of Exit 3 of the Palisades parkway and going as far south as the Park Headquarters and the Closter Dock Trail via the "Giant Stairs" and two ascents of the 0.3-mile 540 foot Forest View Trail.

Probably 40% hiking and 60% running.

The starting and ending point: the not-yet-in-service seasonal water fountain behind the State Line Lookout Cafe at the State Line Lookout area just south of Exit 3 on the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

On the way down to the Hudson along the Shore Trail just over the New York border at the northern most point of the loop.













Further down the Shore Trail just above the falls known as Peanut Leap Cascade.












Looking back north from the low point of the Giant Stairs with the Tappen Zee Bridge (and a random hiker) in the background.











Typical sections of the Giant Stairs.



Southern end of the Giant Stairs.



















View from the Women's Monument just south of the top of the Forest View Trail ascent.














The Women's Monument.














North-bound along the Upper Shore Trail.














The End.

XC 5K Series Begins

The NJ Trail Series Wednesday night XC 5K series started up again last night. Ran 20:30 -- exactly the same time I ran last year sometime in July the one time I actually raced. Probably went out a little too fast and was sucking wind almost the whole way. Hoping I can take 1:00 off of this time by the end of the summer. Will ran 1:10 faster then he did for the 1st race last year even though he wasn't feeling good and had multiple stitches pretty much throughout. He improved by almost 2:00 from his first race to his last last year and I would think something similar might happen this year.

Long Layoff and Lost Brook Trail Race

Had a somewhat long layoff for all of February and the 1st 2 weeks of March. Got sick for 10 days then had back spasm issues for 4 weeks. Finally got in 2 weeks of somewhat steady running leading up to the Lost Brook Trail Race that was held in the Tenafly Nature Center. Back in the fall I had harbored fantasies of running near 80 minutes for the 10-mile version of the race. As it was I ran the first 50-mile loop with Will and the second 5-mile loop on my own. Will did the 5 in 52:13. I did the second loop in 41:30. That would have been good for 6th place in the 5-mile race. (5th was 41:00... 4th was in the 37s... so might have been able to snag a top 5). Think a could have done 85:00 if had gone steady around 8:30 pace.

Muddy Marathon is at the end of the month so need to keep re-building the base and get in some big hills.

December and January Progress

Much of December was low mileage (20/week or so) but good progress in January.

Long runs so far...

12 Home to Allison Park in Englewood Cliffs & Back via TNC & PIP Trails
10 Around Pyramid Mt St Park
10 Around South Mountain with NJ Trail Running Group
10.7 One Loop of the Watchung Winter Ultra (conditions too tough for 2nd loop attempt)
9.7 On the Treadmill

Could be more of that treadmill thing as snow on trails now must be measured in feet!

Recent Week.. All on Treadmill at 2% incline...

Sat Off
Sun 90 Min Treadmill Long (9.7 miles)
Mon 50 Min Treadmill Recovery (5.3)
Tue 50 Min Treadmill 15-min warm up, 30 min Steady State, 5 min cool down (5.8)
Wed 50 Min Treadmill Recovery (5.3)
Thur 50 Min Treadmill w/ 3 x Hills (5.4)
Tue 50 Min Treadmill 15-min warm up, 30 min Steady State, 5 min cool down (6.2)

340 minutes / 37.7 miles

Goal of Steady State runs is to get HR in 155-160 range for the 30 minutes.

Tuesday's run was on a Woodway treadmill at the gym. 2% incline was too much on this one. I think this treadmill is actually harder even with no incline compared to running outside on road or track. It has a very sot feel and really absorbs a lot of energy. Friday's was on home treadmill and speed got up to 8.2 mph and HR up to 155 at end. So need to recalibrate for gym treadmill and can go a bit faster at home.

Goal is to get these Steady State runs down to around 6:35 pace (9.2 mph) by end of February.