This past Sunday I started my New York City Marathon build up with a 20 miler in 2 hours and 26 minutes. Nothing fancy yet it was a start. I got out the door at 5:45am by myself (I would have loved to have gone up to Davidson) and ran the sidewalks the whole way with a steady tempo while stopping at every water fountain (there were 4) and taking a Shot Block every 5 miles to work on my caloric intake. This loop takes me up to Colony Road, to Sharon, to Queens, to Morehead, to Euclid, to East, to Queens Road West, to Selwyn, to Park, to GlenEagles, to Quail Hollow, back to Sharon, to Fairview and back home.
I was junk the rest of the day yet I did not fall asleep at church! I continued to eat the rest of the day and chilled for the most part. I took the kids to the pool at night and just read Best Efforts by Kenny Moore for the umpteenth time. I am excited about my training block for this marathon.
My 7 day cycle will include the following: M- 8-12 miles easy, T.- Interval/repeat day (mile repeats, 800 meter repeats, 2 mile repeats, etc.), W.- Medium Long Run day of 14-16 miles, Th.- 8-12 miles easy, F.- Tempo day of 5 to 15 milers, Sa.- 8-12 miles easy, Su.- Long Run of Easy, Firm, or steady with a firm/ up tempo finish. I know it's aggresive and I know that my body will tell me if I can or cannot do a workout that day. This is just an outline. As I was telling Mark Hadley, while I would love to do a 10 day cycle, a 7 day one fits my schedule better.
2 comments: If anyone is interested in any one of these workouts (like I had company just this morning on my mile repeats) please feel free to join in. Conversely, if I see a tempting workout somewhere on Facebook or e-mail, I may show up...I'm easy!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Blue Points 5k Race Recap
Warmed up with Brian, Billy and Mike Moran. Also picked up Bill Shires en route which was a bonus! My plan was to be competitive with the usual suspects which only happened for the first mile. Clearly, I was working too hard. After an opening 5:25, I followed that with a 5:35 on the rolling portion and then a 5:45 on the uphill portion. I pride myself on being a negative splitter and that did not happen on Saturday morning. 2nd Master and 17th overall. Back to the drawing board (or in my case, the cement sidewalks!)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
"Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey!"
Who says you can't go home?
I just combined Springsteen with Bongiovi...I know, they're both Liberal!
All right, so I just got back from my annual pilgrimage to New Jersey to visit my family and we had a blast. My parents are awesome to host me and the kids and my 5 siblings do a wonderful job of spoiling them...Love it!
Since this is my running blog I won't bore you with the details of the Jersey shore and all the calzones I had...
I will tell you about all of my runs:
After a solo 7 miler early Friday morning, my wife got up early to make us breakfast and then we were on the road by 6:45am...good start!
Saturday
I met my good friend Gary Rosenberg who reps for Garmin at 8am @ Madison High School for a track workout. Since it is so close to my parents, I just ran there. It was good to see him. Since it was so hot, we decided to do 8 quarters with a 200meter recovery. A short and sweet workout that we did in 74 seconds for each lap. Gary is 40 years old and he ran for Morris Hills back in the proverbial day!
Sunday
I met a group of guys at River Run Park off of 287 and I bonked on this run last year! I was determined not to have that happen again. This group consisted of former all-state cross country champions from New Jersey. One runner, Brian Harris, was a teammate of Brendon Heffernan who was the national champion in 1992. That was a really good year for New Jersey running as you had Heffernan, Ryan Grote, Chris and Tim Lear, Bob Keino, Brian Walsh and a host of others.
The run started off at 7 minute pace and since I was feeling good I didn't mind being aggressive even though the weather was oppressive as we STARTED running at 8am...these guys like to sleep in! I was on vacation so whatever...The course took us on Black River Road, Lamington Road, and through Donald Trump's new golf course...good stuff! I ended up finishing the run about 10 seconds behind Brian. I was both pleased and spent at the same time...
Monday
At the Kitchell Road entrance to Loantaka Park, I met up with a friend of my father's named Philippo Polcara who is from England, Italian descent, and has been living in the States from about 20 years or so. We enjoyed a nice and easy 8 mile run chatting about all things in general. "Phil" is 55 and he was lucking enough to run a half marathon in San Antonio recently where he received a VIP pass from his cousin to have dinner with the likes of Frank Shorter and Mebraton Keflezighi to name just a few...
Tuesday
Over the past weekend, I had received an e-mail from a guy who's wife is friends with 2 of my sisters. He was wanting to run with me. First of all, I think that's awesome when someone reaches out in that way. His name is Brian Bill who ran for Ocean Twp. and who now resides in Florham Park...my hometown! (yet another Springsteen reference) Anyway, we decided to meet up on the roads that Tuesday and he had mapped out a 14 mile run that would take us into the Great Swamp. And you thought I was kidding with my swamp reference! When I tell you that it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to run with Brian and to hear about his desire to break 3 hours in this years NYC Marathon, it was a treat!
Wednesday
Wednesday had me back on the track. This time at Morristown High School with Gary Rosenberg. We actually saw Nick Vena, National Shot Put champion, walking into the school.
Gary is a lot faster than me yet since he is coming back from over training and I am relatively fit, we are currently very compatible. We decided on 7 x 800's. Our times were: 2:43, 2:42, 2:41, 2:39, 2:41, 2:37, 2:34...nice! A cool down and we said our goodbyes...
Thursday
Since we were down the Jersey Shore in Spring Lake, I had set up a run with my cousin's cousin TJ Langella for our annual 8 miler that takes us through Belmar, Spring Lake, Sea Girt, Brielle and Manasquan...all nice shore towns! TJ was planning on competing in that Saturday's River to Sea relay race. He asked me to be on his team yet we were leaving on Saturday so I had to decline...next year for sure!
Friday
Back to Loantaka Park for another easy 8 miler with Phil and Gary. Gary, who reps for Garmin, was very helpful to Phil in helping him set up his GPS as well as letting him know the benefits of upgrading. Sweet tea all around.
Saturday
Since we were leaving to head back to Charlotte this morning, I didn't want the run to take a long time. What I decided to do was run an 8 mile progression run from my parents house. I felt relatively strong the whole way but that was probably because I didn't run that fast. Still enjoyed it.
I was very fortunate to have the company of great runners and quality people...thanks guys!
I just combined Springsteen with Bongiovi...I know, they're both Liberal!
All right, so I just got back from my annual pilgrimage to New Jersey to visit my family and we had a blast. My parents are awesome to host me and the kids and my 5 siblings do a wonderful job of spoiling them...Love it!
Since this is my running blog I won't bore you with the details of the Jersey shore and all the calzones I had...
I will tell you about all of my runs:
After a solo 7 miler early Friday morning, my wife got up early to make us breakfast and then we were on the road by 6:45am...good start!
Saturday
I met my good friend Gary Rosenberg who reps for Garmin at 8am @ Madison High School for a track workout. Since it is so close to my parents, I just ran there. It was good to see him. Since it was so hot, we decided to do 8 quarters with a 200meter recovery. A short and sweet workout that we did in 74 seconds for each lap. Gary is 40 years old and he ran for Morris Hills back in the proverbial day!
Sunday
I met a group of guys at River Run Park off of 287 and I bonked on this run last year! I was determined not to have that happen again. This group consisted of former all-state cross country champions from New Jersey. One runner, Brian Harris, was a teammate of Brendon Heffernan who was the national champion in 1992. That was a really good year for New Jersey running as you had Heffernan, Ryan Grote, Chris and Tim Lear, Bob Keino, Brian Walsh and a host of others.
The run started off at 7 minute pace and since I was feeling good I didn't mind being aggressive even though the weather was oppressive as we STARTED running at 8am...these guys like to sleep in! I was on vacation so whatever...The course took us on Black River Road, Lamington Road, and through Donald Trump's new golf course...good stuff! I ended up finishing the run about 10 seconds behind Brian. I was both pleased and spent at the same time...
Monday
At the Kitchell Road entrance to Loantaka Park, I met up with a friend of my father's named Philippo Polcara who is from England, Italian descent, and has been living in the States from about 20 years or so. We enjoyed a nice and easy 8 mile run chatting about all things in general. "Phil" is 55 and he was lucking enough to run a half marathon in San Antonio recently where he received a VIP pass from his cousin to have dinner with the likes of Frank Shorter and Mebraton Keflezighi to name just a few...
Tuesday
Over the past weekend, I had received an e-mail from a guy who's wife is friends with 2 of my sisters. He was wanting to run with me. First of all, I think that's awesome when someone reaches out in that way. His name is Brian Bill who ran for Ocean Twp. and who now resides in Florham Park...my hometown! (yet another Springsteen reference) Anyway, we decided to meet up on the roads that Tuesday and he had mapped out a 14 mile run that would take us into the Great Swamp. And you thought I was kidding with my swamp reference! When I tell you that it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to run with Brian and to hear about his desire to break 3 hours in this years NYC Marathon, it was a treat!
Wednesday
Wednesday had me back on the track. This time at Morristown High School with Gary Rosenberg. We actually saw Nick Vena, National Shot Put champion, walking into the school.
Gary is a lot faster than me yet since he is coming back from over training and I am relatively fit, we are currently very compatible. We decided on 7 x 800's. Our times were: 2:43, 2:42, 2:41, 2:39, 2:41, 2:37, 2:34...nice! A cool down and we said our goodbyes...
Thursday
Since we were down the Jersey Shore in Spring Lake, I had set up a run with my cousin's cousin TJ Langella for our annual 8 miler that takes us through Belmar, Spring Lake, Sea Girt, Brielle and Manasquan...all nice shore towns! TJ was planning on competing in that Saturday's River to Sea relay race. He asked me to be on his team yet we were leaving on Saturday so I had to decline...next year for sure!
Friday
Back to Loantaka Park for another easy 8 miler with Phil and Gary. Gary, who reps for Garmin, was very helpful to Phil in helping him set up his GPS as well as letting him know the benefits of upgrading. Sweet tea all around.
Saturday
Since we were leaving to head back to Charlotte this morning, I didn't want the run to take a long time. What I decided to do was run an 8 mile progression run from my parents house. I felt relatively strong the whole way but that was probably because I didn't run that fast. Still enjoyed it.
I was very fortunate to have the company of great runners and quality people...thanks guys!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
PMain & the Kinley's!
Spada's playing catch up!
So 2 weeks ago Paul Mainwaring sent the e-mail out that called for a workout of: 3 miles, 800m recovery, 2 miles, 800m recovery, 1 mile. This would all be done at McAlpine with a Dew point we'll get to later! Paul knew that I would take the bait since I'm game for just about anything! What he didn't know was that the Kinley's (Jordan and Meagan) would commit. What a group we had...
We met at 7am and set off for a 3 mile warm up which left us drenched. Everyone except Jordan was concerned about the paces that we set for ourselves so we tempered them. That comforted Meagan. Lets face it, you can only run what pace you can run that day. Your body tells you what you have on any given day so take it! For Meagan and I, the first 3 miler would be run in 17 minutes and when we hit 5:50 on the first one I was pumped. Mile 2 was hit in 5:48 and we held that to the tape to get 17:26. Good start. I took off on the second segment and put a gap on Meagan which she proceeded to close and we ran the last 800 meters in lockstep. She is awesome to train with!
No water for Meagan...so now what? Proceed to drop a 5:40 last mile and leave me 2 seconds back at the line! Very cool...
Cool down and we were done!
Got an invite from said Kinley's and since my family was up north, I headed over to their pool at noon and stay there for almost 4 hours and had a blast. Strait out a Compton showed up before heading to the airport to pick up KFill and it was nice to hear all about the California running scene in the late 90's on from Jordan himself not to mention his Brown days...
Dew Point: So after the run I get the text from Meagan stating that the Dew Point was really high...stay thirst my friends!!!
So 2 weeks ago Paul Mainwaring sent the e-mail out that called for a workout of: 3 miles, 800m recovery, 2 miles, 800m recovery, 1 mile. This would all be done at McAlpine with a Dew point we'll get to later! Paul knew that I would take the bait since I'm game for just about anything! What he didn't know was that the Kinley's (Jordan and Meagan) would commit. What a group we had...
We met at 7am and set off for a 3 mile warm up which left us drenched. Everyone except Jordan was concerned about the paces that we set for ourselves so we tempered them. That comforted Meagan. Lets face it, you can only run what pace you can run that day. Your body tells you what you have on any given day so take it! For Meagan and I, the first 3 miler would be run in 17 minutes and when we hit 5:50 on the first one I was pumped. Mile 2 was hit in 5:48 and we held that to the tape to get 17:26. Good start. I took off on the second segment and put a gap on Meagan which she proceeded to close and we ran the last 800 meters in lockstep. She is awesome to train with!
No water for Meagan...so now what? Proceed to drop a 5:40 last mile and leave me 2 seconds back at the line! Very cool...
Cool down and we were done!
Got an invite from said Kinley's and since my family was up north, I headed over to their pool at noon and stay there for almost 4 hours and had a blast. Strait out a Compton showed up before heading to the airport to pick up KFill and it was nice to hear all about the California running scene in the late 90's on from Jordan himself not to mention his Brown days...
Dew Point: So after the run I get the text from Meagan stating that the Dew Point was really high...stay thirst my friends!!!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Nathan & the Hadley's!
So it was Saturday night a couple of weeks ago and I realized that I would be running solo on Sunday morning if I didn't get on my Blackberry. I reached out to Paul ('ol reliable!) and he said that Nathan Stanford would be at McAlpine at 7am. That was all I needed! I decided to run there and when I got there (4.5 miles later), in front of me stood Mark and Alana Hadley...along with Michael Kahn! This was a different group for me and I appreciated the company. It was nice to run with Alana and hear all about her meetings with some of her (and mine!) heroes of the running world. They included: Matt Tegankamp, Shalane Flanagan, Shannon Rowbury, and Kara Goucher to name just a few. Behind us I could hear Mark and Nathan going on about the different zones of training which is always interesting! On the other side of Alana was Mike Kahn just wondering why we all Marathon in the first place...good stuff! After we finished our 8 miles together, I headed home, Nathan still had 10 more miles to go, and Alana nailed her 3 mile tempo run in 18:30! Thanks guys...
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
"Easy on the eye, and hard on the ear!"
Today's post title is a joint-ventured reference to Maria Sharapova as supplied by Paul Mainwaring and Stephen Spada as she was getting ready to take on Petra Kvitoka in the Wimbledon final last Saturday morning.
We, well we were getting ready to take on Mike Beigay, Meagan Nedlo and Jordan Kinley in our own little 8 mile tempo run at McMullen Greenway. It was all about the mugginess.
Going into this, I was hoping that 6 minute pace would feel ok. After a 2 mile warm up and some dilly dallying, we were off.
Initially, Paul set the tempo yet after 1 mile of running, I was not happy with the pace, I felt as though we were not working hard enough. I did my best to keep the pressure on to the 4 mile mark. At one point I looked back and was pleasantly surprised to Meagan breathing down my neck! We all got to the turnaround in a tick under 24 minutes, and at that point Mike and Paul made a point to up the tempo as I tucked in behind and hung with them to the 6 mile mark. At that point, Meagan shut it down as she encouraged Jordan to go and catch the guys. Jordan goes by me with some kind words as he got right up to the other guys who were 5 meters up on me. At the finish they were about 50 meters up as I hit 8 miles in 47:38...I was pleased with the effort. 2 mile cool down for all of us with some easy conversation followed.
Thanks guys...
We, well we were getting ready to take on Mike Beigay, Meagan Nedlo and Jordan Kinley in our own little 8 mile tempo run at McMullen Greenway. It was all about the mugginess.
Going into this, I was hoping that 6 minute pace would feel ok. After a 2 mile warm up and some dilly dallying, we were off.
Initially, Paul set the tempo yet after 1 mile of running, I was not happy with the pace, I felt as though we were not working hard enough. I did my best to keep the pressure on to the 4 mile mark. At one point I looked back and was pleasantly surprised to Meagan breathing down my neck! We all got to the turnaround in a tick under 24 minutes, and at that point Mike and Paul made a point to up the tempo as I tucked in behind and hung with them to the 6 mile mark. At that point, Meagan shut it down as she encouraged Jordan to go and catch the guys. Jordan goes by me with some kind words as he got right up to the other guys who were 5 meters up on me. At the finish they were about 50 meters up as I hit 8 miles in 47:38...I was pleased with the effort. 2 mile cool down for all of us with some easy conversation followed.
Thanks guys...
Monday, June 6, 2011
King Tiger 5k...a race (worthy of a ) recap!
While I haven't been inspired to post in a while, Saturday's race gave me reason to. It is funny what a competitive race will do for your mentals!
Last Sunday I took my first running day off since December 22 simply because I was tired and didn't feel like running. Simple as that! I worked out Monday with Billy Shue as we did some minuters and felt reasonably well during the workout. I took another day off on Thursday and then ran easy on Friday for 10 miles.
I felt good on Saturday morning driving to the University area as I thought about my plan for the race. I was very lucky to meet Kevin Ballentine and Allen Strickland and get a nice 2 mile warm up with them. I then ran back to my car and put on my flats, jogged back behind the shopping center and did some striders to get more mentally prepared.
I ventured over to the starting area with 5 minutes to spare and surveyed the other runners. Gun goes off and for some reason I saw Chad and Billy out in front of me and I just quickly decided to get right behind them and we formed a triangle. I was in to the flow of the race early. Proceeded to check my vitals and realized that I was ok. Jim McKeon proceeds to join our pack and then Mike Moran, Michael Creason, Richard Harris, and a few others. I'm thinking this is pretty cool AND I'm in control.
Up ahead it's Paul Mainwaring, Jason G. Holder, and some kid that I later find out is Vincent Arey and then us. At about mile 2, Moran gets flamboyant and shoots out ahead of us, I thought that was aggressive, yet neither Chad Crockford, Billy Shue or myself panics. We gobbled him up and then at about 2 and a half, I pull ahead and start gaining on Arey. I start doing the math and begin to realize that I'm going into 3rd place and even if 2 people (Chad and Billy) pass me, I'm still on the podium in a grand prix race for the first time in 14 years!
Right after I pass Arey, Chad catches me and then Billy and we are on to the finish. Chad puts 6 seconds on me at the finish and Billy 4. As I'm rounding the last turn I see the clock for the first time (I don't wear a Garmin) and it flashes 16:47 and I think gee wizz, I got a shot to break 17! Not to be as I hit the stripe at 17:01...I WAS JACKED!
Quick cool down to my car with Billy and I was home by 8:25am (remember, the race started at 7:30am and it's a half hour away...good time, no?)
Thanks: to Billy Shue for driving my trophy all the way out to my son's lacrosse tournament at Elon Park. Very nice. They won all seven games over the weekend and won the tournament. Proud Papa...
1. Paul Mainwaring, 2. Jay Holder, 3. Chad Crockford, 4. Billy Shue, 5. Stephen Spada
Last Sunday I took my first running day off since December 22 simply because I was tired and didn't feel like running. Simple as that! I worked out Monday with Billy Shue as we did some minuters and felt reasonably well during the workout. I took another day off on Thursday and then ran easy on Friday for 10 miles.
I felt good on Saturday morning driving to the University area as I thought about my plan for the race. I was very lucky to meet Kevin Ballentine and Allen Strickland and get a nice 2 mile warm up with them. I then ran back to my car and put on my flats, jogged back behind the shopping center and did some striders to get more mentally prepared.
I ventured over to the starting area with 5 minutes to spare and surveyed the other runners. Gun goes off and for some reason I saw Chad and Billy out in front of me and I just quickly decided to get right behind them and we formed a triangle. I was in to the flow of the race early. Proceeded to check my vitals and realized that I was ok. Jim McKeon proceeds to join our pack and then Mike Moran, Michael Creason, Richard Harris, and a few others. I'm thinking this is pretty cool AND I'm in control.
Up ahead it's Paul Mainwaring, Jason G. Holder, and some kid that I later find out is Vincent Arey and then us. At about mile 2, Moran gets flamboyant and shoots out ahead of us, I thought that was aggressive, yet neither Chad Crockford, Billy Shue or myself panics. We gobbled him up and then at about 2 and a half, I pull ahead and start gaining on Arey. I start doing the math and begin to realize that I'm going into 3rd place and even if 2 people (Chad and Billy) pass me, I'm still on the podium in a grand prix race for the first time in 14 years!
Right after I pass Arey, Chad catches me and then Billy and we are on to the finish. Chad puts 6 seconds on me at the finish and Billy 4. As I'm rounding the last turn I see the clock for the first time (I don't wear a Garmin) and it flashes 16:47 and I think gee wizz, I got a shot to break 17! Not to be as I hit the stripe at 17:01...I WAS JACKED!
Quick cool down to my car with Billy and I was home by 8:25am (remember, the race started at 7:30am and it's a half hour away...good time, no?)
Thanks: to Billy Shue for driving my trophy all the way out to my son's lacrosse tournament at Elon Park. Very nice. They won all seven games over the weekend and won the tournament. Proud Papa...
1. Paul Mainwaring, 2. Jay Holder, 3. Chad Crockford, 4. Billy Shue, 5. Stephen Spada
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