Realistic goals?

Quick post - maybe I will post more later. Another 5 miles this morning, was hard to get going, but finished strong - had a great conversation with Sara which kept me going.

So I have been giving thought to what my goal time for the Philly half should be? I would like to run it sub-2:00, which translates into 9:09 miles. I ran a 5-miler on Sunday in 42:11. Is that a realistic goal. Any help in trying to pace the miles would certainly be appreciated.

This is the song that never ends...it just goes on and on my friend.

Today was the Poland Spring 5-mile Marathon kick-off run. It was the lower loop in Central Park. I had been planning on a 45 minute PR (my first 5M so anythign would be a PR :)). We got to the Park a few minutes before the start time of 9:00AM. It was cool and windy, though last night we had heard that they were predicting 25MPH winds (thankfully, they were not that bad). I had picked up the packets for the three of us last week - so we dropped off our bags and were ready to go. The start point was at Tavern on the Green - Danny and I lined up with the 9minute/mile group and Sara lined up somewhere behind us.

Danny and I ran the first mile together in about 9:30. We met up with a friend of Danny's who runs bangitout.com. He's organizing a memorial race for his father in a three weeks - if you want more information drop me a comment and I will get you in touch. We ran together for a little while. It was quite crowded and I had to focus a lot of energy on running between people. I think people just lined up and started wherever the wanted to, rather than with their pace groups. The loop in the Park was open for regular foot/bicycle traffic during the race - most people run the loop counter-clockwise, we were running it clockwise. They wanted us to stay to the right but there were so many people that we were spread out. There were a bunch of orange cones down the middle of the path and I managed to trip over one of them while talking to Danny - but I recovered and managed not to hit the ground, thankfully.

At about a mile and a half I was cutting in and out to avoid people - I put some distance between Danny and me. I didn't mean to take off, but by the time I turned around and tried to find him, I couldn't. So I just gave up - figuring that he would come zooming by me at the end just to show me up (a la New Haven). We took the 102nd street transvers, cutting out the big hill, and I looked at my garmin and noticed it said that we had reached 2 miles. I hadn't seen the 2 mile marker and it felt too early for it. Turns out somehow the garmin picked up 3/10ths of a mile and I hit the 2 mile marker around 18:30. I had gotten down to my target pace but still needed to make up about half a minute. I think the garmin was having some difficulty with all the trees, because I couldn't get a good read on pace. I passed on the water station at 2 miles, thinking I would grab a quick drink at 3 miles. I was feeling mostly good, with some mild right shin pain - but I was annoyed that I couldn't really figure out my pace. I spent most of the 3rd mile trying to catch up with my goal time of 27 minutes. I was definitely running harder than I normally do - I felt that. There was no water station at the 3rd mile - had to wait to grab a quick drink of guess what? Poland Spring water! at a little before the 4 mile marker. As I got to about 1/2 a mile left I passed a woman who was breathing really hard - I looked at her and said "We're almost there!" She smiled at me - I felt like part of a community, it was cute.

I finished in 42:11 I don't know how much more I could have run. I am really happy with that pace - gave me a 8:27 pace, but my last 3 miles were at 7:50 (roughly, it's hard to get a great estimate because my garmin was off a little and I forgot to hit the lap button). I was able to edit the run on sports tracks a little - but still only able to get it to 5.2 miles. My garmin read 5.5 when we finished. Estimated splits are below:

1 - 9:30
2 - 9:12
3 - 7:55
4 - 7:44
5 - 7:50

As Danny said - there is something really cool about the environment of a race - a certain comraderie. As we were waiting to get our medals and take our pictures I schmoozed with a girl standing next to me who's running ING next Sunday. I was talking about Philly and how there's supposedly a couple of miles of cobblestone - she told me she ran a marathon in Alaska that had 11 miles of rock. I was like wow!

We met up with a friend of Sara's who's also running ING next sunday and we got some breakfast/early lunch.

I am amazed, why do my posts end up being so long - Sara's will read something like this: "Went to Central Park to run a 5-mile race. Ran it in about 48 minutes, then went out to breakfast."But somehow mine turn into a 2 page post. But hey! no one is going to answer that question - b/c no one reads this far down into my posts.

But I was very happy with my run - felt good. Some more mileage this week. Pictures to come...

Ah....Fresh Water!

Tomorrow's Poland Springs 5 mile race. Here's my bib!

Running for the Gang

One of my classmates, Ryan, is running this year's NYC Marathon to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Gang, an organization that runs summer camps and other programs for kids with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Please support him if you can.

Zoom Zoom Zoom!

So today was a speed training day - not sure what excatly the point whether it is to push yourself for better speed or to learn how to pace yourself or a combination of the two - but Sara and I were off to the track today to work on all of that. Unfortunately Danny couldn't join us - I hope he made it to the track - but not sure. We were set to do 9x400 with jog/walk laps between each lap. I was aiming for 1:45 laps or so - not sure where that number came from. I remember reading somewhere that your estimated full marathon time was your 800meter speed - so, even though I am not preparing for a full marathon - a 3:30 pace seemed like something that could eventually be a realistic goal. I kept most of my laps between 1:32-1:36. I walked laps between each run, I don't think I could have kept up that pace if I was jogging between - but I think I will try that the next time I run. It was really hard - at the halfway point, I remember on each lap that the wind was blowing really strongly in my face - that definitely made it harder. It was also the first time that I basically ran all out. I know that I was supposed to do it at 5k/10K pace and I ended doing it much faster - but for me, especially today, it was about building up some stamina for faster speeds. I really want to get the half marathon in under 2-hours.

Times:
1:32
1:36
1:30 (The last 150 meters or so I flew - made up a bunch of time and was going at least 12MPH).
1:47 (still recovering from the prior lap)
1:34
1:33
1:32
1:33
1:23 (I gave it all I had - but I was petering out by the last 100-150 meters. I think I could probably do a lap in 1:15 or so if I was fresh)

By the way - the picture of the track here doesn't do justice to what's there now. The track is really nice, really soft on my knees - and except for the few areas where people felt the need to spit on the track - it was clean. As Danny posted during his last speed run - I can't figure out why people feel the need to walk on a track. Obviously they have the same right as I do to be on the track - but I think they should be considerate enough to stay on the outer lanes, since I think most runners prefer to run in Lane 1. They wouldn't even move when I was running - I had to run around them - ws a little annoying but not so bad. But the track was really nice. However, the picture must be a couple of years old. Now the track is very nicely (I don't know what the word is for putting down a soft track) and the inside of the track is a football field. There were a bunch of guys playing some sort of league game - we couldn't figure out why these guys (who I think were in their mid 20's) weren't at work or at school. Also, there are a bunch of a few hundred foot poles, I don't remember what they were - maybe lights - that Sara pointed out to me all had birds' nests in them. What was totally cool was that these birds were a lightish green. Were they parrots? Unfortunately, unlike Danny I was not prepared with a camera to take a picture. Maybe the next speed day.

Yesterday Danny and I did a 5 miler. It definitely started out rough. First of all it was 40 degrees (I know that's not so cold, but this was the first time I have ever run in weather that cold. I got to wear some of my new winter running clothing. (All I have to say is that thank God runners are not judgemental because I don't think I looked all that cool in my running clothing) I was sore from Sunday and the first mile really hurt. Danny started about 3/10ths of a mile before me so he paused at 2.5 miles while I continued to my 2.5 and doubled back to him. We did the first 2 miles or so at about 10 minute pace. The next mile which I ran most ofby myself I picked up the pace. By the third mile my knee was aching a bit and I had to continue at a faster pace (I am sorry Danny). Average pace time was 9:08, but I was getting tired by the end. I don't know that I can keep that up for 13.1 miles - we shall see.

Final splits times:
Mile 1: 9:53
Mile 2: 9:50
Mile 3: 8:42
Mile 4: 8:34
Mile 5: 8:41

In really great news, hopefully, I got my schedule for next month. I will be starting my sub-internship in internal medicine at Jacobi Hospital. Basically I function as an intern on an inpatient floor. I have my own patients - I round on them every day, write their notes, orders and lab tests. I am quite nervous about it - it's going to be a big change and responsibility. It seems that the weekend of the Philly Marathon is the one weekend that I have off - so I will be able to run the race with Danny and Sara - and meet Shore Turtle afterwards. Also, thankfully - my knee has been holding up - it seems the ITB brace is working well (thanks ACE).

Friday is an easy 3-mile run - should be nice and relaxing. I am looking forward to it as my body is a little sore from all the running this week.

And now for totally unrelated thoughts:

1) One of my favorite Simpsons episodes is on as I write this. Bart is recruited to join a boy band (NSYNC spoof) and they sing a a song Drop Da Bomb - with the chorus YVAN EHT NIOJ (or JOIN THE NAVY) backwards. They are making a subliminal recruiting video for the navy, lol... Now followed by the Scrubs episode where Turk fights off all the Asian surgical residents while "Everybody was Kung Fu fighting" so realistics - that's what always happens during surgical residencys. And why is the x-ray backwards in the beginning of the show - Situs Inversus?

2) Did anyone see Lost tonight! How crazy is that show - it's awesome - but I still can't figure out what the heck is going on on the island. I know there are a million websites, last year I was more into all these theories - now I am just enjoying it episode-to-episode.

3) A quote from an e-mail from Running Shorts (I mean Shorts Running): "i WOULD like to meet you all and cheer everyone on-but i am so busy. and poor" I wanted her to come meet us in Philly - but no! How lame! :( Would've been nice to meet ya.

Go go gadget legs!

(Isn't the picture cool? I love how you can almost see the entire Manhattan and the park in the middle. Somehow it seems like our run was so much longer than if we had done a couple 5 mile loops in the Park - but I guess that's just an optical illusion).

Yesterday - the highlight of my running career - my first time breaking 10 miles. For me I felt as if I jumped over a huge hurdle. I was nervous going into the run because my prior long run was 7.2 miles and I had to stretch in the middle of that run. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make a 10-miler, even though my shorter distances had gone well last week. We debated between running in Central Park or down the West Side Highway and the clincher was that we found parking at Riverside park - which is 96th street on the water. After some stretching we were off...

The first couple miles weren't bad - but then my knee started aching a little - I ran through it. It was cool running down the West Side Highway as you can count blocks watch the goings on - it is more exciting than running in the Park. There were all these sports games going on - there was a bunch of little kids having soccer practice. I think that it would be nice to live in that area and be able to go for runs and walks on the water - it seems so pretty (cute?). The only hitch was that at the end of the 2nd mile we ran under the highway for a good 3/10ths of a mile, longer on the way back and both of our Garmins stopped picking up a signal which messed everything up. Up to that point Danny and I had similar distances after that point mine was behind by about 0.1-0.15 miles, which was annoying.

Around the Lincoln Tunnel we passed under the watchful gaze of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Z"L - smiling at us as we continued our run. At 34th street/near the Javits Center we passed a procession of police cars with their sirens on - not sure what it was but I liked to imagine they were there to cheer me on as we were now a quarter of the way done. (Hmmm...did the procession have to do with the billboard?) We passed Chelsea Piers where we planned a quick stop for the restrooms on the way back (I think it was just leaving ourselves an option for a stop to prod us on). At some point between the Piers and the halfway point Danny's Garmin fell behind mine. We got down to Clarkson avenue which was a drop over 5 miles on my Garmin and turned back.

The first 5 miles were tough - I don't think I was physically drained but mentally, I am not sure why, I felt that I really had to push myself. Something clicked, though, in those last 4-5 miles. Danny and I had been running together with Sara consistently a few paces behind us. I am not sure if it was me or Danny who picked up the pace and we cut all our miles to below 10:00. The 5 mile pace was 10:04, the 2nd 5 miles were 9:30, with a negative split (50:22/47:34). I think it just took the first six miles or so to really get into it. Once we hit that 6 mile mark I felt like I was just cruising, looking forward to the end - but I knew that we could make it. 7.2 miles came and I thought to myself - woohoo! longest run every without a stop!

Danny's Garmin fell even further behind mine, we knew that the first leg was more than 5 miles - we discussed stopping at 10 miles and walking back to the tennis courts at 96th. In fact, if I was alone I think I would have done that. They are doing some construction around 86th on the water so the running path that normally runs straight is closed and you have to cut a little bit east and there was a significant uphill. It didn't seem so bad on the way down - but at the end of the run it seemed downright daunting. I turned to Danny and asked him if we were stopping at the 10 mile marker and he said no! I wanted to kill him. That uphill, even though it was short, really took a lot out of me and I was a little out of breath - both from the uphill and the pace. The last mile we did at 9:07 pace, our fastest mile. But I am glad Danny forced me to keep on going, once we flattened out it was much easier and then I saw those beloved tennis courts - I sprinted the last bit to cross the finish line where I was showered in flowers and champagne. A great run!

Splits:
1 - 10:12
2 - 10:18
3 - 10:07
4 - 9:47
5 - 9:57
6 - 9:49
7 - 9:40
8 - 9:34
9 - 9:24
10 - 9:07
10.5 - 4:06

Follow-up: got home, iced, showered and went to friends' wedding. It was a really lovely wedding - mazel tov to them. Danced up a storm and the knee held up. Today everything is sore but in that good way where you feel you did it! Think tonight will hopefully be a pig out night! I am really hungry!

In more running news I signed up to be a member of NYRR today and signed up for the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff next sunday - only 5 miles, I think I am aiming for 45:00, I think that's attainable - need to figure out a playlist. It would be cool to meet some more RBF peeps at the race, we'll see - Danny and Sara are running it. The NYC marathon is in 2 weeks and we are scheduled for 11 miles that day and Danny wanted to make it to the marathon - hopefully we will.

Good luck to all those training for NYC 2006 and 2007 :)

Busy...busy...busy

Couldn't resist posting this - I wish someone would do this in my library. It's from the group Prangstgrup, they have some cute videos. Found out about the group from my friend Shev - thanks :).

I haven't posted in 3 days! 3 DAYS! I think that's the longest that has gone by without posting since I started this blog just over a month ago. Anyway, been kinda busy the last few days. For those of you who don't know me I am graduating Albert Einstein College of Medicine this year. I took last year off to do a Masters in clinical research methods with my thesis on cervical cancer. I am currently applying for a residency in Obstetrics/Gynecology - my interviews start in about a month. After the 4 year residency I hope to start a fellowship in Gynecological Oncology (a specialty that treats cancers of the female reproductive tract: ovaries, uterus, cervix, etc...). My mentor asked me to coauthor a chapter on cervical cancer and HPV(Human papillomavirus - the virus that causes the vast majority of the cases of cervical cancer). I accepted knowing that this was a great opportunity for me but not realizing how much work it was going to be. I spend my days in the library reading articles and trying to figure out how to write this chapter. So it has kept me busy - though I have to admit I have played a lot of games of solitaire since I started working on this chapter.

On the running front - I ran for the first time on Wednesday with the knee ace bandage I bought. I ran 3.25 miles and I had some mild discomfort during the run, but the good news is that I didn't have to stop at all to restretch my IT band. Also - even more importantly I had very minimal pain the couple days after the run - which is not something I am used to - so almost no Motrin this week since wednesday. Today the Q and I are scheduled for 5 miles - that's the big test for me. Sunday they are scheduled for a 10-miler, I don't think I am ready for that - since I missed last weeks 9-miler. I will definitely go as far as I can without injuring myself - if I can make it all the more power!

Yesterday Danny and I went to Target to get winter running gear - I have been running in the C9 line by champion - may be exclusive for target - but I have been happy with it - so I got a few winter shirts and pants. Have never ran outside for a long distance during the cold of winter - so I may need to supplement with some extra warmth - though I do tend to like it cold and warm up quickly.

Getting pretty close to signing up for the Las Vegas half - that's going to be a momentous day for me. The bad news is that I am likely to have an interview on the East Coast the Friday before which means I am going to be stuck flying out 8PM or so on saturday night, getting in around 10:30 vegas time for a 6AM start time - not the optimum prepping for a race - but I can't miss this race - I have been focusing on this one since I started running.

Gotta go cook a little for shabbos - will try to post a picture of the 5-miler later - I want to change the route a little instead of heading toward city island - maybe continue for the extra 3/4 mile up into westchester - along the route that Danny and Q ran last week.

Q and I did 5 miles at 3:49PM today. Why 3:49, not 3:45 or 3:50? I don't know - Q is quirky like that. Anyway, had my knee brace on - run went decently - had some pain - but you guys don't care about that - I finished 5 miles, which is my longest run in about 10 days, also the first time that I have done that without needing a break in a long time - so it was definitely an ego boost.

If you guys pay any attention to my maps at all you will notice that the route we do crosses over the Hutchinson River - we cross the Pelham bridge. Just over the bridge we hit Shore Road and frequently we go southeast at that point toward City Island. Today we changed things up a bit - as mentioned above we continued North (similar to the 9 miler they did last week). It's so quaint as you head up toward Westchester. We passed the Bronx Equestrian Center - I was so impressed, so that's where all those champion Bronx riders train...very cool! Almost got run over by a car that decided that Stop Signs were merely suggestions. Our halfway point was just at the beginning of the Split Rock Golf Course. I actually played the front nine there about 3 years ago. I have been told that they hosted the US Open a long time ago - but couldn't confirm that online in the limited time I had.

Anway...more to come...

Pasta Fagioli --> The origin of Man

That's the type of soup that I had for lunch today - why do you care? I can't imagine that you do. But anyway, I have eaten this soup multiple times - seems that the cooks in the kitchen here take some sort of noodle (it's always different - today it was a large bowtie like noodle) throw it in a pot with some water, through in buckets of what looked like lima beans, a couple of kidney beans and just a tad of seasoning (wouldn't want people to actually taste their food). But I have always wondered what it really should taste like. Rule of thumb - many things in the cafeteria by me are based on a real dish - but execution often leaves much to be desired.

So anyway - Pasta e Fagioli is a tradiational Italian peasant dish made with beans, pasta and a tomato and seasoning base. It can range from a soup to a much thicker dish. One recipe I found for it. Both those sound good - wish I could have had that for lunch. But for more important things what does fagioli mean? Apparently it means beans, usually a white kidney bean, - which is a good thing - because there were a lot of beans in my soup. Fagiolini is the word in Italian for string beans. I have been trying to find the etymology of the word fagioli but having great difficulties - guess I am not a linguist. This is the extent of what I could find on etymology but I couldn't understand it. If anyone understands it - drop me a line. But what I did find that was cool was the Tower of Babel Project. They attempt to find connections between the world's 6000 different languages and finding the origin of these languages. See here for more information. I am humbled by the work they are doing - sounds pretty smart. If you read through that page what's pretty cool is that they learn about the hisotry and the advances of society through the availability of words reflecting different things in their lexicon. Pretty cool - makes sense when you think about it - but I didn't think of that.


Now I am hungry again....

Back and pounding

Danny and I went out for the schedule 4.5 miles yesterday. My legs felt better than they had in a couple of weeks with aches here and there. My left knee started acting up about a mile in - the pace was a little slow for me - I am not sure I understand why, if someone can explain to me - when I take the pace down from a 10 minute mile to a 9 minute mile my knee hurts less (or is it that I just don't think about it so much). I had to pause at about 2.5 miles to do a couple of quick IT band stretches, but I finished the run without too much trouble. Pace was just a drop over the 9 minute pace including the stretching time - a little less than that without the pausal time. I bought one of those Ace knee bands - that i am going to try out the next time I run. Shoreturtle said that he uses his IT band pain.

In other news I had the opprotunity to read Kite Runner over the weekend. It was an excellent book - couldn't put it down after picking it up. It was extremely thought provoking - I don't want to ruin the book for anyone who hasn't read it (I highly recommend it) but I would love to hear other people's thoughts about the book. Hmm...there's an idea - the running, blogging, reading family? Let me know if anyone else has thoughts about that.

Met up with a friend last night for dinner and a movie. The Illusionist - man oh man I have had luck with my arts lately (read a great book and saw a great movie).

More running to come...

:(

Quick update before the weekend holiday:

Yesterday morning, my foot was feeling better so I tried to run a 5k on the treadmill. It didn't go too well - I felt like I had hit a wall in my training, and was deconditioning, I only made it 2 miles. Danny said this wasn't uncommon and had probably been pushing myself too hard. Anyway, I lost a lot of confidence in my running so when Sara said she was going to do a 3 mile afternoon
run I decided to join her. The 3 miles were a piece of cake - map to follow - we averaged 9 minute pace and felt really good. I had no pain during the run and some of my confidence was returning. Unfortunately as we were driving to pick up dinner I noticed a lot of pain in my knee, felt something strange. I iced it and the pain went away, but my right ankle started feeling weird...

Seeing a pattern here? I am falling apart limb by limb.

This morning I noticed a black-and-blue mark on the outside portion of my right ankle, it looks like somehow I sprained it - don't remember doing that - certainly don't remember any pain.

But anyway - looks like I am going to be taking about a week off from running. No long run as planned today - gonna have to try to do some cardio/cross training next week so I don't decondition too quickly. I am pretty bummed by this development, also feeling that Danny and Sara are going to be leaving me behind as they cruise toward their half - but hopefully this will resolve soon and I will be back out on the paths.

Enjoy running - I am rooting all you guys on from the sidelines.

Homeward Bound?

I am currently sitting in Ben Gurion International Airport waiting for my flight back to Newark. The nice thing about this airport as compared to the NY airports is that there is free WiFi - so I can sit here blogging.

Everyday I have been getting a little bit better. After last night's elliptical workout (I can't believe I did a full hour and wasn't dying) my foot felt really good. THis morning it hurt less in the morning than it had yesterday and I did some walking, not too much on it and it's holding up. I definitely pulled something in the arch - but it seems that it's getting better. Thursday will probably be another rest day and I will see how it feels on Friday. I had a scary thought taht maybe it had something to do with my new sneakers. Granted I got the same pair that I already had - but they show up as 2 different shoes on the roadrunner sports website - so I am not sure, maybe they are basically the same with just something a little different. Anyway, been taking chronic motrin - and I am feeling a lot better.

Today I hit the elliptical again, 45 minutes - did it at a pretty brisk pace keeping my average HR in the 160's - I think I get a better CV workout from the elliptical than running - but nothing beats running. I packed - went to visit my brother and his kids. They are so cute! They are such happy kids - I really miss them when I am in America, though I don't do a good job at all of keeping in touch. Maybe I will try to be better about it this year. Got to say goodbye to them which was nice, last night my parents and I went to visit my sister and her kids.

For those who haven't spent time here before it's hard to explain, but I am really sad about leaving. It's more than just the leaving of my family and the end of a vacation. There is something special about Israel - it's the center of 3 major religions and it has so much history. I feel that this is my home and that everytime I leave I am really leaving my home. There is something incredible about walkign in a country where you know that your ancestors walked and lived thousands of years ago - just something you don't have in the US.


















I turned on my Garmin to record the trip to the airport. It was just over 33 miles from my parents' apartment to the airport. One of the things I was thinking was - Hey! There could be a marathon from the airport to the edge of Jerusalem - that's about 26.2 miles. It would be hard to run up to Jerusalem as the path decreases by about 2500 feet as you leave Jerusalem - and running from Jerusalem to the airport wouldn't be nearly as exciting.

On a side note: Congratulations to Darrell on finishing the Saint George Marathon (a PR for him - he has now finished 7 marathons in 7 states, only 43 states to go) and to Shoreturtle on running the 18 mile Long Beach Island Memorial.

Life doesn't end just because you don't run....does it?

Ok...hit a snag in my training (if you want to even call it that - more of just pseudo-training for a half marathon...hey! maybe that's the problem!). I am still in Israel and I last ran Sunday morning, not my best run ever. Since then I have been plagued with two problems: 1) my typical left knee problems, which have resolved mostly with stretching, 2) severe pain in my right arch. Not sure what it is - but I think it's either plantar fasciitis or a march fracture (I certainly hope that it's the former).

The foot pain has been so severe that it has pretty much curtailed my ability to ambulate which means that I haven't been able to do activities with my nieces and nephews while I am here (this stinks because I only see them once or twice a year). I have been reading up on plantar fasciitis and have tried to do some of the stretches that were suggested, but nothing seemed to improve it. (Yes! I am very impatient, I don't want to have to wait for things to get better - I want to be able to stretch the pain away in an hour). So I have been immobile - bummer!

Twas interesting, was listening to an early Phedippidations about the need for rest tonight and Steve was saying that a lot of people believe that the answer to running injuries is not rest - but rather getting back out there - unless the running is going to make the injury worse. (I told this to my Mom - who asked the obvious question - how do you know if it's going to get worse? Valid question, but I guess you just kinda figure it out). This is an interesting approach, maybe the best way to resolve the arch pain is to get back out there. I have a theory as to what happpened. The path was very bumpy, cracked and cratery and also about 5 miles in I started having some shin splints (damn you Osgood and Schlatter), I think I might have changed my stride, or repeatedly landed in a strange way on my arch over-stretching the plantar fascia.

So...I pigged out today - well not really, but I ate a lot more than I normally do - which of course made me feel lousy. So, I decided to try my parents' elliptical. I wasn't sure what to expect - I used to use it once in a while when I went to visit them for the weekend and I remember feeling like I was going to die after about 30 minutes. I knew I was in better shape now than likely I had ever been - so I planned on 30 minutes. Well 30 minutes turned into 60 - I probably could have gone further, but enough was enough - it's like a treadmill you get nowhere! I had my Garmin 301 on with the chest strap - had an average HR of 162 - which I think probably gave me a pretty good CV workout. Machine said I burned 900 calories - which I think probably got me to about even or negative for the day. Very importantly - no knee or foot pain (they say ellipticals are good for non-impact workouts) and my foot isn't hurting as much now (maybe it's the 600mg of Motrin I took before I started, maybe I stretched the fascia, maybe it's the placebo effect of getting back out there and exercising again. It feels great to exercise - I love it!

Anyway, I am returning back to the US on a flight tomorrow night, will be back Thursday morning. Hoping to do a long run with Danny and Sara on Friday.

Wanted to give a shout-out to the new people who have visited my blog - thanks so much for your comments. You guys rule - I wish I was in the same league as you guys.

Also, a quick word - thanks to everybody who has played such important roles in my life, to my parents especially (I know you check out this blog even though you refuse to post), my family and my friends - especially the close ones. The support you have given me throughout my life has really made it possible to accomplish what I have.

One last thing - let me point out a new feature - in the right sidebar - the movie of the day/week/month - not sure how often I will change it, I find them funny - hope you do.

Running in the Holyland

I got up at 4:30 this morning - my dad was going to prayers and I was going to run. I had laid out all my equipment last night, shorts, running shirt, garmin, ipod, bandaids cut to size, body glide...he drove me about 5 minutes away to the entrance to Gan Sacher which is one of the big parks in Jerusalem. I got there at about 5:10 - and did some stretching at the entrance to the park and was off and running.

I was a little nervous about running in the park - when I first started there was no one else in the park - my father was nervous, but I had one of my parent's cell phones and I promised to be safe.

This time I paced myself a lot better - however, and I am not making any excuses (really I am) the running area was horrible. The asphalt was all bumpy, cratery and completely cracked. It was absolute hell on my knee. In addition at the end of the loop that I did 4 times there was a steep uphill which really knocked me down hard (I only did 4 complete loops of the park, after that I cut out that uphill part at the end and did 4 shorter loops). I was only able to complete 7.2 miles. At just over halfway through my left knee really started hurting and I had to stop for a little bit to re-stretch. I was afraid that I would have to call it a day - but I was able to finish up the last 3 miles or so. It wasn't the 8 miles that I had been hoping for, and it wasn't straight through, but it might have been the best that I could ask for. My final pace was 9:30, my fastest mile was a drop under 9 minutes and the slowest was a drop over 10 minutes.

I miss you Danny and Sara - running is just not the same by myself.

There is definitely something special about running in Jerusalem, it's hard to explain - it may be that I feel that I belong here - this is my home (no matter that I live in Da Bronx). I tried recruiting someone to come run with me this morning - but couldn't convince anyone, but I am scheduled to run 5 miles with my cousin Tuesday morning. The only thing that bothered me was that I am used to the early-morning runners being friendly to each other and wishing you a good morning. Here, it seems the custom is not to be friendly when running. Even when I said "Boker tov" (Good morning in Hebrew) I often didn't get a response and even when I did I don't think I ever got a smile. Guess that custom hasn't made it to Israel yet.

Afterwards, I went back to my parents' apartment and went with them and their friends for breakfast. Afterwards we went to the Herzl museum. Theodor Benjamin Herzl, for those of you who don't know (I will summarize from wikipedia) was the founder of Zionism. He lived in Vienna in the late 19th century and was greatly influenced by the Dreyfus Affair (a Jewish Captain in the French army was framed for treason) which he covered as reporter for an Astro-Hungarian newspaper. He organized the first Zionist Congress in Basel - one of the famous quotes from his speech is:
''Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word - which I shall carefully refrain from uttering in public - it would be this: in Basel I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say this out loud today, everybody would laugh at me. In 5 years, perhaps, but certainly in 50, everybody will agree.''

He spent the rest of his life travelling the world, speaking with different world leaders, trying to obtain the rights to then Palestine for the Jewish nation. He died in 1904 before realizing his goal.

The museum was nicely done, in an interactive manner. Basically they set it up as if they were training an actor to play the role of Herzl in a play - and it was the education of the actor on the life of Herzl that we watched. Couple of major mistakes in the movies they showed: 1) The actor playing Herzl writes from right --> left, even though Herzl never wrote in Hebrew. 2) There is a train scene where the director of the play and the actor playing Herzl are on a train playing chess. The director castles and then un-castles (if that is even a word, I don't know what to call it since it is an illegal chess move). But I am just being picky here. :)


He is buried in Jerusalem.
A picture of his tombstone.






Anyway, congratulations to Danny and Sara on completing their long runs - maybe I will be up for another one on Friday. My knee is sore right now - so I am going to rest it for a while, will have to see about that Tuesday run. Chag sameach!

Stupid rookie mistakes...

My flight to Israel was scheduled to depart from Newark Airport at 4:05PM today, which meant I needed to leave my apartment around 12:30. I am very anal about travelling and I need to get to the airport very early - I would rather wait in the airport than wait at home. Once I get in travel mode I can't seem to accomplish anything else - so I might as well be in the airport.

Anyway, I wanted to get a run in before I left, knowing that I wouldn't have time to run on Friday. I know...I know...too much running in too short a time - 4 runs in 3.5 days - I am overdoing it - but I am addicted, what can I do. Coming off the high of my fast treadmill 5k the problems were only beginning. Anyway - I got out the door a little after 8, leaving me just over 4 hours to get my run in, cool down, shower, finish packing and take care of the few things I had to finish up before I left for a week. Needless to say - I should have been smart enough and realized that I didn't have enough time to do all these things - and just accepted a little bit of defeat and called off the run. But I couldn't (I am still learning my limits). So, problem #1 - running too much without enough rest, problem #2 - I didn't stretch enough. As I have mentioned on this blog before I think I have IT band issues. Ever since I started stretching, while I have had mild aches during the run, in general I have been without any major issue - no pain after the runs. So I think those stretches have been working. Anyway, I didn't stretch properly before this run.

The only good thing about the run was that I finally got to try out my Garmin Forerunner 301 with the chest strap. The chest strap picked up a HR off and on - though the program afterwards didn't show so much drop out. Now I can finally pace myself, which leads to problem #3 - I totally did not pace myself - I was running 8:15 miles, something I had never done outside before and each time I thought I had slowed down I didn't. I was huffing and puffing by mile 2 and had to stop for about 10 seconds after mile 2 and a more than that during mile 3 (I didn't stop the Garmin timer for this one). By the end of the 4th mile I had been rocked. I was sore everywhere, my calves, my hams, my left knee. I was really upset. I had a pace of 8:15 - my splits were:

1st mile: 7:38
2nd mile: 8:03
3rd mile: 7:41
4th mile: 10:32 (looks like I walked about .15 mile).

I was mentally rocked - I totally hit a wall and it was just a really horrible run. In fact I am pretty embarassed to post about it - but part of my reason for this post is to learn from my mistakes. I was not ready for the pace that I pushed myself at, I didn't prepare properly and because of that I had my first really horrible run. The picture is a little off - but I used Sports Tracks to create it and exported it to Google Earth, need Danny to show me how to edit the path. GPS isn't perfect, far from it, but I still really like my Forereunner 301.

Anyway, now I am in Israel and have a 7-8 miler planned for Sunday. I left a couple messages for Mal James - I was hoping he might have some suggestions for a good run in Jerusalem - but I haven't heard back from him. If any of you have an e-mail address for him could you drop him a line and ask him to contact me - or if you could drop me his e-mail address. My goal for Sunday is a pace no faster than 9:30 for at least the first 6 miles, if on the last mile I want to pick it up a little - that should be ok. Sunday is about endurance, another step on the path of getting myself to tolerating a half.

More to come from Israel - I am going to post another soon - just a walk from my parent's apartment to my brother's apartment - it's so cool what the forerunner does.

Go Speedracer! Go speedracer! Go!

This is a quick post - I am in the middle of packing for my week trip to Israel. Today was the day that I had planned to do some speed training. I am not sure if it's a good idea - but what I envisioned for speed day was to run a 5k. The last 5k I ran was in New Haven, where I had a time of 26:38 (that's 8:35). Today I decided my goal was to run 8 minute miles. I know I cheated since I ran on a treadmill but I finished the 5k in 23:55 (7:43 pace). It didn't even seem that hard. My knee held up well and I felt like I could go further, but I didn't want to push it.

The only depressing thing about it, besides for the fact that it was on a treadmill, is that pace is still not good enough to qualify me for Boston. But! the run totally pumped me up - I definitely think a sub-2:00 half marathon is doable. That's all for now - I will post from Israel, hopefully I will have a map of the run there - that would be cool.

I like to move it, move it....

New shoes! Yay! Well new - but the same ones I have been running in...
Danny, Sara and I went to JackRabbit today to look at shoes. Sara recently got the Asics Nimbus VIII, so she wasn't looking, but Danny and I both needed a new pair. I think I only put about 250 miles on my shoes, but last year I probably put about 150 on them when I stopped running because my knee was hurting and then I used them recreationally - so the soles were pretty worn down. The cool thing about JackRabbit is that they have 3 treadmills, each of them have a videocamera on the level of your feet. They take a video of you running and then can analyze whether you overpronate or underpronate. Look at me running in my skydiving t-shirt (that's a story for another time), there's a message for life! "Shut-up and Jump!" The guy to my left who was watching my video, very intently, qualified in last year's NYC marathon for Boston in 3:03 - to which I was like wow! i can't imagine ever qualifying for Boston - though I think I may have to try at some point - I don't like failure.

It turns out that I overpronate a little - which I guess they must have seen when I bought shoes at Super Runner's Shop who sold me my first pair of Adrenalines. Turns out I still over pronate and I need my shoes to compensate. I tried on a few different pairs including a couple of Saucony's and one Mizuno, but I didn't really like how any of them felt. I really liked my Adrenaline's - but unfortunately they changed the colors so I think they are kinda ugly now - but I bought them because they feel good. Who cares if they are all going to laugh at me.

I also bought a few packs of sport beans: 3 each of orange, lemon/line and berry blue. I wish I could use GU or an equivalent but they are not kosher. Also, and perhaps more importantly I noticed a seasonal flavor of Cliff Bars - Caramel Apple Cobbler. Now, I love the Apple Cranberry flavor - and I had a feeling that I would really like this new flavor. But since it's a holiday flavor they were going to be limited - so I bought the store out. I hope I like them.

Danny couldn't decide on shoes - read his blog one of these days when he gets around to posting - so he bought socks and beans. Sara got socks. So all-in-all I was the big winner. Afterwards we got some dinner - very unhealthy - and headed back to the 'stein (that's Einstein - our home base).

I wanted to run today because I am leaving for Israel Thursday afternoon and I was hoping to get 3 runs in before then - so it was either Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or M/W/R. I convinced Sara to come with me but Danny was still sore from yesterday's run. I have been giving a lot of thought to what my goal time for the 1/2 marathon is - and I think I really want to run a sub 2:00, which means that I need to run 9:09 miles. I haven't been running that fast up until now. I felt the need for speed tonight so I pushed us. We finished the first 3 miles at 9:30 pace (approximately, it might have been a drop more than 3 miles). By the last mile I was feeling a little more tired than I usually am at the end of a 4-5 miler, but as has become my custom I try to pick up the pace for the last 1/4 - 1/3 mile. I finished the last mile in 8:45 pace. Granted, these are all approximates since I didn't have a digital watch or a Garmin. Tomorrow (Wed.) my Garmin comes, I can't wait. We did about an extra 1/3 - 1/2 mile after the 4 miles, at a pretty slow pace, we were both tired. I am energized by tonight, I think it means that there is a decent chance I can get my pace down to 9:09.

Tomorrow Danny wants to go to the track to work on some speed training - we'll see how that goes.

Anyway - in other news, I had a paper accepted for publication last week - that I am pretty far down on the author list, but an author nonetheless. Today, I got comments back from the reviewers on a paper that I am second author on - they were very favorable and they wanted minor revisions. I am told that's a good sign - not counting any chickens, but hoping for the best. Gotta resubmit with the revisions.

Post-fast run - keeping the legs pumping

So as I have mentioned a couple of times over the past week - yesterday was Yom Kippur and was a fast day that started Sunday at sunset and lasted until yesterday at sunset. That means no eating no drinking - the eating wasn't that bad - but I got a headache at the beginning of the fast that lasted on/off for a good chunk of monday, I felt a little dehydrated even though I had hydrated pretty well before the fast. I stayed at Albert Einstein (my medical school) for Yom Kippur (many people my age tend to go home to their parents - but for the last five years I have been there).

Pretty much all day, yesterday, was spent in synagogue in prayers. Both Danny and I led the services. It was really a very moving and emotional prayer time. The idea of the prayers is to repent from the sins that you have done all year and to recognize that distance that you have created between God and yourself. The prayers were a really nice mixture of traditional tunes and more contemporary tunes with the congregation getting very into the prayer (which always makes it nice). My biggest problem with the services that I led was that for the first chunk I couldn't find a good key for the congregation to sing along - so I was singing much higher and by myself for a while. Danny on the other hand had no such problems and did a wonderful job.

Being that we now consider ourselves real runners - and I am certainly addicted to running - we broke our fast around 8:15 last night and the first question that we asked each other was - are we running tonight? I think that everyone that broke their fasts with us and were sitting around the table in Sara's apartment thought we were totally crazy - but we were loving it. By 9:15 we were on the road after doing some decent rehydrating and we did just under 4.5 miles. Did it in about 10 minute mile pace (according to Danny's garmin) - which is a little faster than we have been running up until now. The run definitely felt like we were going faster than that - but who's gonna argue with satellites. My knee only ached a little bit - no more repeat episodes of my knee giving out on me. I have been doing a couple IT band stretches which hopefully (at least psychologically) are helping.

We are nearing that date that I set for myself that if I was still running I was going to register for the LV half - getting really excited. The three of us were discussing it last night - the dates of the trip and other plans - I can't believe this may actually become reality (but until I do it - gotta keep that in check a little). On very exciting news I ordered my garmin 301 last night - gonna hold off on that nano for now - though we're discussing buying matching ipod shuffles and having them engraved something like "Einstein Road Runners 2006," we shall see.

I am off to Israel on thursday - my garmin is coming tomorrow - I signed up for a free trial of amazon prime - and they charge 4 bucks for next day shipping - I thought it was worth it. So I am going to take it to Israel with me for the long run that I have planned for Sunday morning - and then I can post a map from Israel - that will be so cool.

Last note for now: I have been running 3 days a week, 2 mediums and a long - I am thinking about adding a 4th day for a short run (maybe a faster run). I was thinking about running a 5K once a week and trying to get that time down - did about 8:36 at the New Haven road race - and it would be great to get that down to 8:00, if possible. I am hoping for a sub-2:00 half in LV. Don't want to overwork my knee - so we shall see.

Until later - to the library to finish up some papers.

Hmmm....fooled everyone! They think I am a real blogger.

For those keeping track, meaning me - this is post #10 on this blog. I feel like that's a big accomplishment - I am not sure why.

Anyway, Yom Kippur starts tonight, 25 hours fast - which means no running today or tomorrow - though Danny wants to run tomorrow night after the fast is over - we'll have to see, maybe - I think I am addicted.

Anyway, the main reason for this post was that I am finally part of the RBF family - check it out: RBF new blogs.

Now I have made the big time. Stay tuned....Thanks Daryl for pointing it out!

Tomorrow I am leading services, see post below - my throat is a little sore - I guess I should rest it a little - but I don't really need my fingers, so blogging is okay. Anyway - a lot to do and very little time left, this day has been way too busy.