powered by pizza

Author: Jake

This morning was my first race, in what seems like ages. It was also the first time that I have run in about a week and a half. I was feeling pretty sloppy when I woke up this morning, and actually dreading getting over to the park. But, once I picked up my number and I started to relax a bit, and really get excited to run. I initially planned on taking it easy, since I had taken so much time off. However, I have learned about myself that it is almost impossible for me to take it easy on race day, even if the race is just to boost my 9+1 stats. I was definitely happy with my time. I finished 111 out of 1883. I could see the pace truck for the first mile (which I clocked a 6:02 by the course clock/6:11 by my watch). My pace was only a few seconds slower than my fastest recorded race at New York Road Runners (which I admit is really not that fast [but it feels fast for me, ok!?]). I’m going to chalk it up to my lucky number 44. Kind of cool, right? .. finishing a 4 mile race as number 44, in 111th place. I’m no numerologist, but I’m amused by the repeating digits.

One good thing that came from this race, is that I remembered how magical it is to run in the fall weather. I spent the whole summer sweating and slugging it out with the heat and humidity. I almost forgot what it feels like to breath that chilly fall air, and the way it makes my lungs tingle. This race definitely lifted me out of my mental running funk (for today, anyway) and got me really excited about my fall running.

weekly running evaluation– week 13

Author: Jake

That stickman image that I drew of myself sort of looks like I’m running, no? Well, I should have drawn it of me eating or sitting instead. This was another terrible week. I should have known that it would be, as number 13. But whatev. Pressing onward. I give myself a C- for the week. I made the mistake of doing a very intense core workout after my 10 mile run yesterday. As a result, I was having a terrible run this morning. Instead of slugging it out for 20 miles, I called it quits after less than half of that.

Totals for the week:

Count: 5 Activities
Distance: 37.02 mi
Time: 04:26:16 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,504 ft
Avg Speed: 8.3 mph
Calories: 4,940 C

Next week’s schedule:

weekly running evaluation– week 12

Author: Jake

I didn’t post a running evaluation yesterday. It was because there was nothing to evaluate. I earned a hard F- for the week. I could blame it on the fact that I was insanely busy. I could blame it on the weather or a million other things. But it was really just because I didn’t make it a priority, and I feel like crap about it. I decided to post this today, just for the sake of continuity (and so I can remember what my upcoming schedule is).

I did run today, so I’m on track for another good week. I hope that I can stick to it over the holiday weekend, especially since we will be traveling. Come on will power. Here is the schedule for the rest of the week–

Is distance running making us lose muscle and get fatter?

Author: Jake

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In the Sept. issue of Details, there was a fitness article that kind of freaked me out. The gist of the article is that long workouts don’t always equal burnt fat and muscle gain. In fact the article goes onto say that the exact opposite could be occurring.

Normally I don’t pay much attention to the fitness advice that comes along by way of Details. Mostly because the magazine usually has 2 to 3 fitness articles, occasionally contradictory articles in the same issue. Anyway, the reason that this one grabbed my attention was because of the studies that were cited. The article starts out talking about distance runners versus sprinters. It points out that “marathoners” come in all shapes and sizes, some of them don’t appear to be in shape, at all. While sprinters, on the other hand, are almost always lean and cut. This totally grabbed my attention. I have also made that observation. My immediate reaction was, “I need to start sprinting.” Who doesn’t want to be lean and cut?

Next the article cites a study that was conducted to compare the effects of short intensive workouts vs, longer/lower impact workouts-

Participants were separated into two camps. Members of the first group ran as hard as they could for 30 seconds and then rested for four minutes. They repeated this three to five times for a total workout time of 18 to 27 minutes. The second group ran for up to 60 minutes at 65 percent of maximum capacity (think moderate-paced jogging). Both groups ran three times per week for six weeks. Despite exercising for a much shorter time, those in the sprint group saw their total body fat decrease by 12.4 percent, while the other runners lost less than half that much.

Yikes! The sprinters were losing twice as much body fat by working out for less than half as long. This was the part of the article that really freaked me out. Apparently limiting workouts to longer/lower impact activities not only reduces the amount of fat burnt, but it can also reduce existing muscle mass. According to the article,

Researchers at West Virginia University wanted to see how two different routines, plus a very-low-calorie diet, would affect weight loss. One group of participants engaged in resistance training on weight machines that progressed from one to four sets of up to 12 exercises three times per week. The second group performed 50 to 60 minutes of walking, stair climbing, or biking four times per week. At the end of the 12-week study, the aerobic group had lost 19.4 percent of total body weight, while the strength group had lost 14.7 percent. But when body-composition measurements were taken, researchers discovered that one fourth of the weight lost by the aerobic group was muscle.

This is crazy! But I seriously think that I have fallen into this trap. This is me in 2008, when I was first getting into distance running. This is me one year later at the same race. Where did my upper body go?

Anyway, this article has totally motivated me to switch up my workout routine, to include some heavier impact cardio. Who’s with me?

weekly running evaluation– week 10

Author: Jake

Week 10=FAIL

I was super lazy this week. Ok, well not all of it had to do with laziness. I have been experiencing some knee pain after my longer runs. So, I decided to take it down a notch and rest after my Tuesday run, so that I could be at full mast for my weekend runs. The Saturday morning pace run went awesome. I was shooting for 7:15 and actually ended up doing about 10 seconds per mile quicker than that. We ended up going to the beach afterward (above [by: Reagan]). On the drive down, the knee pain started setting in again. This bummed me out big-time, especially since I had a 19 mile run scheduled for this morning. As it turns out, a storm rolled in Saturday night, and it still raining as I type this post 20 hours later. I think that if I would have had a shorter run lined up for today, I would have just gone for it. But 2 hours of sloshing feet is a bit much. I have a pit in my stomach about missing one of my “long” runs, since they are the real confidence builders. I’m still debating on whether or not to just wake up at 5 tomorrow and knock out my 19 miler then. Either way, I think that I’m going to have to visit the orthopedic Dr. later this week to get the knee situation checked out. I’ll keep you posted. Here are this week’s results–

Here is the plan for next week:

Lately

Author: Reagan

Jake and I have been really working on our relationship lately. I’m trying to think before I say and Jake is working on things too. It’s been really good, we love each other again!

Jake has been organizing and decluttering, and I’ve been obsessively searching craigslist for items that better suit us visually and practically. Jake and I are going on 5 years of marriage, and I still feel like our apartment is in newlywed mode. We have things that aren’t either of our tastes, and things that are cheaply made that we thought would tide us over until we could afford nicer and prettier. We still can’t really, and that’s where craigslist comes in. If you spend enough time on there, you are bound to be able to find exactly what you want in your price range. I found this gorgeous antique mirror for a steal. I think this thing is well over a hundred years old, and it is so detailed and perfect. But it took a week’s worth of emails and getting lost in Yonkers to finally have it in our posession. I do love Craigslist though, I do.

I’m doing my yearly tango with running. I am so out of shape right now. Each mile is pure agony and I am trying my hardest to enjoy it. I have two marathons lined up this fall, one is only about 9 weeks away! I am barely able to run 5 miles, so……this should be interesting! haha.

We just booked flights to go to Palm Springs for Labor day weekend. I’m excited since I’ve never been there and a friend of mine who lives there just had a wee baby. We will also be there to celebrate a friend’s 40th birthday. I’m so excited to be staying at the Parker Hotel, which was designed (I’m sure just the interior) by Jonathon Adler himself! Can’t wait. I hear Palm Springs is an estate sale/thrift store treasure trove, anyone know of the good places?

Weekly running evaluation– week 9

Author: Jake

[photo: Me and my teammate Sam pre-race (by: Reagan)]

This weekend was the New York Road Runners team championship race. Our team didn’ t have the best turnout, but for those who did show, it was a great time. The race kept me from knocking out my 9 mile pace run that was scheduled for this Saturday. But I’m ok with that because I just chalked it up to speed work. I didn’t break any land speed records or anything, but I was reasonably happy with my race.

Training went pretty well this week. Monday and Wednesday I ran with a partner, which is something that I probably haven’t done since last summer. It was really nice. Being able to chat with someone definitely breaks up the monotony of the filler runs. I was either over or under every day this week, on the suggested mileage. But that’s ok. I was pretty pleased with my runs this week, overall. I think that running in the mid 6′s on Saturday gave me a lot of confidence for today’s run. I kept my average well under 8 min/miles. It helps me feel like I’m making progress.

I’m going to go ahead and give myself an A for this week’s efforts. Here are the totals (including cycling to and from work one day):

Count: 8 Activities

Distance: 64.88 mi

Time: 06:53:51 h:m:s

Elevation Gain: 2,869 ft

Avg Speed: 9.4 mph

Calories: 8,421 C

Here is the sched for next week

I threw in a couple of additional shots from the race, below:

On tap this weekend

Author: Jake

[above: Banksy's latest commentary, via]

So glad that it’s Friday again. We have a pretty busy weekend lined up. But it should also be pretty low key, considering that it is a weekend full of elective activities, rather than obligations. Early tomorrow morning is the NYRR club championships. Reagan and I will be representing our team, New York Running Club, in a 5 mile race in Central Park. It is set up so that the men and the women race separately. So we will both be able to cheer each other on at the finish of our respective races. I’m really looking forward to it. It has been too long since I last ran a race.

I’m also going to make some time this weekend to do some long overdue spring cleaning. I mean, it’s not even spring anymore, it’s summer. And late summer, at that. There is a lot of stuff that I don’t use anymore, but have been too lazy to put on Craigslist or whatever. I’m thinking about doing an online garage sale, like Reagan did last year with a lot of her old wardrobe. So, I’ll keep you posted on that one. In the mean time, enjoy this video of Nick Walker stenciling Paris. Have a great weekend!

Random phone piccies.

Author: Reagan

Last Saturday Jake and I went to a break dancing battle in Soho. It was for nationals, and the winner was going to go on to the next battle in London. We only stayed for a few hours, but it was really fun. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to an actual bboy/bgirl battle before (besides a dance party), but they are quite silly. The breakers are insanely talented, and tough looking, but it is so cheesy how they act. It’s basically two teams battling each round, with one person at a time on the floor. While the one representative is on the floor, the whole other team is heckling, and bopping to the music, grabbing their crotches, flipping the bird, but in a really strange playful way. Everyone is buds at these things, and the heckling is more part of what you do instead of actually trying to offend the other team. You heckle to the beat of the music, see? Cheesy. But it was reallllllly fun too.
It’s kind of crazy that I’m posting phone pictures when Jake got some awesome actual pictures of the event.

Once over the weekend I realized my hair and Pippy’s hair matched. I love a deep part with a bow. Some say it’s for little girls, but I’ve always done it and always will.
On Wednesday I had a random day off. I had a very full day and it was a blast! I woke up early, went running, made myself a smoothie, went to therapy, talked about my feelings, went on a walk, went to Washington sq. park, finished Jane Eyre on a park bench, took myself to a movie at the Angelika theater (it wasn’t that good, it was this one), ate an apple, wandered around doing nothing for a few more hours before going home and having subway for dinner.
Here I am at the park all giddy to have a day alone with my bad self.

Also, last weekend I checked an item off of my summertime list! Jake and I went to the Highline at sunset and it was glorious. I’ll post pictures! Hooray!

This weekend we are running a 5 mile race in Central Park, picking up a craiglist find, hanging out with a pip, hopefully going to smorgasburg and whatever else we can cram in. The end!

weekly running evaluation– week 8

Author: Jake

As promised, here is the dreaded first installation of my weekly running blah on Jake’s Mag.

I’m currently working through one of the Hal Higdon training programs (below).

This week, was week 8, of 18. I can’t believe that after next week I will be half way through. It’s kind of crazy/frightening, especially considering the fact that I have been fairly half-hearted about training this year. I left off after week 5, since I missed both of the long runs for weeks 6 and 7. Anyway, here is a recap of this week’s efforts:

Overall, I have to give myself a grade of about a B, for this week. Even though I skipped Monday, and came up short on Tues (I forgot to check how far I was supposed to go), I made up for it on Wed, with a handful of extra miles. I was also pretty happy with the way that I was able to do as Hal suggested and instead of zoning out for the tempo run, do some “associating.” Associating basically means that instead of just throwing it on autopilot and shuffling along at an 8m/m pace, pay attention to my speed, my body, etc.. By taking Hal’s advice, I was able to do my tempo run at a pace that is close to what I want to be running in Oct. I has similar results on Saturday. I capped off the running week with a change of venue, and did some laps in Central Park. The weather was mid-70′s and the early morning shade made for a super pleasant run.

Here is what is on deck for next week: