Team In Training - Tougher than Nails

THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT, BUT WHEN THEY SIGNED UP TO JOIN
TEAM IN TRAINING,
THEY SIGNED ON TO BECOME HARDCORE RUNNERS.

On January 20 we held our Saturday morning practice at 8:30am in Prospect Park. It snowed, rained then froze over night. It's about 17 degrees at this point in the morning and windy. VERY WINDY!

The man in the center of this picture is Coach Steve. He ran from his apartment on the upper east side to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Streets were closed while de-icer could be laid down. I myself slipped and slid up to the park.







My fantastic mentee, Archie (click on his name, check out his site, look for the movie he's made the link is on the bottom of the page). Yes, he's smiling here, but that's only because his face is frozen.



Super Social Captain, Amanda dressed for bag watch. Her's was probably the toughest job of the day. She got to sit in the park in the freezing windy cold and watch bags while the group took off running.











Jen and Samantha, full of spirit on this very frosty morning.










I'd like to tell you that I joined them on this run, but I didn't. It was too damn cold. No just kidding. I took off this practice to rest up for a race the following day. But mind you, these pictures didn't "take" themselves. I was up there at 8:30am greeting everyone and telling them they were great for coming out.

-JP

Two Weeks in Review - Marathon Training

Holy Mackerel! Has it been two weeks? Don't think that I've been slacking, no sirree Bob! I've been out pounding the payment.

Let me break down the training in the past two weeks:

1/4/07 - nice easy early morning run in Prospect Park of about four miles
1/6/07 - Long slow distance run in Prospect Park - 8.5 miles
1/7/07 - Easy run in Brooklyn, 3 miles; hit Cobble Hill.
1/9/07 - Central Park Group Team Practice, 5 miles practicing effort levels 4 and 1.
1/11/07 - Early morning run in Prospect Park, 4 miles
1/13/07 - 10 Miles Long slow distance run in Prospect Park
1/15/07 - 2.5 miles little run through Brooklyn

Miles run to date since training began in December: 97.3

So then, that's all pretty dry and boring isn't it. A few days of running here and there.

Saturday January 6th, was incredibly warm, temperatures reached 70 degrees. Some said it was a freak of nature that swept through the five boroughs.

After practice I swept up the kitchen.

Sunday evening the 7th, I got together with some of my running buddies at Floyd for a little beer and conversation. It was a great way to spend a Sunday evening.
Melanie and Amanda taught the punters hanging around how to play bocce. Don't let the nice smiles fool you, they are killers on the bocce court. But knowing that they're TNTers you know they are also really good people.

When I got home I made a little Mexican food. I had some left over chicken, so I whipped up some rice and beans and had a burrito.

Oddly enough and this is PURE COINCIDENCE the city awoke to the smell of gas. Honest, IT WAS NOT ME. Sure I had a few beers the night before and some beans, but come on. Even on my best/worst day I couldn't evacuate buildings and call out national security. They evacuated Macy's for chrissakes! All over a little gas. As it turns out the great state of New Jersey was the culprit:
I don't know what's going with New Jersey. It's a nice enough state, heck I lived there for a while. There are some nice parts, and there are some not so nice parts. So essentially what happened is this: Just like a big brother, a couple of townships in New Jersey got together and held down Manhattan and basically farted on Manhattan's head. For this we all suffered.

Apparently, the fart that frightened Manhattan also broke a water pipe in my office. The water flooded the elevator shaft which has put the elevator out of commission until further notice. Five flights of stairs, up in the morning, down for lunch, up after lunch and down to leave the building. Thank you New Jersey!

This past Saturday was a 10 miler. When we got finished, Coach Michael had us do some squats, lunges, step ups a whole extra workout after the workout! My butt is killing me! Why is that? I can barely sit on the toilet. On the upside I tried a new food on the run:Oh man these things were really good. The taste was actually palatable. I didn't want to gag and wretch like I do with the sport gels (see my 9/23/06 post on Food and Nutrition). The only down side to these is they're kind of chewy and a little tough to get three down. Someone suggested to put a block in your cheek like a wad of chewing tobacco. I'll keep experimenting and I'll let you know.

Well tomorrow night we have our test number 1. I think it's timed mile repeats, but with these coaches you never know what to expect.

Next week is the Manhattan Gran Prix 1/2 Marathon-

I'll keep you up to date.

-Jim