Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania crosses the finish line first in 2 hours 26 minutes 44 seconds. (By Anja Niedringhaus -- Associated Press)

USA marathon runner Kastor breaks foot

Crossing the finish line!

This morning was the first 5k of the race season, the Track Shack Celebration of Running 5k.  I have been really pumped about this race for the past few weeks since I have been amping up my workouts over the past month and a half since I joined the Y/Run Club and I was anxious to see how much I had improved.

I was up early at 6 am, excited and ready to go.  It was incredibly humid this morning but not too hot thankfully.  There were over 2,000 runners lined up this morning which is a good turn out.  I had run this race last year and the course had not really changed, so I knew what to expect.

My goal has been to do it in 25 minutes or less, so I did feel a bit of pressure, but Jon kept assuring my that I could do it.  Fortunately enough, the night before the race included lots of great track and field events from Beijing so I was feeling extra inspired.

My first mile started off strong, I was able to hit the first marker in 08:05, which was a bit faster than I had planned on.  I was able to maintain the same pace for mile 2, so I knew I was capeable of stepping it up for the final mile and perhaps even beat my goal.

As I rounded the final stretch of the course I tapped into my adrenaline stores so I could push it as hard as i could the last 300 meters or so.  I hit mile marker 3 at 24:00 so I was pumped, i had sub-25:00 in the bag!

I crossed the finish line in 24:52!!!  My last 5k was the IOA Corporate 5k back in April where I ran a 27:30, which was my best time at that point.

I couldn’t be more excited, since I started running almost 2 years ago I have shaved off almost 8 minutes from my 5k time.  I can attribute that to a few things

- Consistent running, no matter what distance

- Trained for/Ran a marathon

- Added strength training and core work

- Started yoga

- Added speed workouts at the track

- Osmosis: Have been running with the Y club, the fastest runners in Central Florida

- Slimmed down, lost almost 10 pounds

This has definitely been a work in progress, but it goes to show that if you stick with something and make it a priority, you can see results.  Can’t wait for the next race, let’s see if I can pull of 24:30!!

My cousin Kate got married in Georgetown over the weekend at a beautiful historic church and estate home and I was so thankful I could make the journey up there as the last time I visited DC was in the fifth grade. We stayed in Alexandria which is roughly 10 miles outside the city and a 20 minute metro ride away.

Old town has a beautiful historic feel to it that lives up to it’s name, all the streets are brick and the main street in town, King St, is lined with boutiques, bakeries, and cuisine from every culture imaginable. King street runs right into the Potomac river which is a beautiful sight to see.

Friday morning I got up early, ate a quick snack in the hotel lobby and made my way out for an exploratory run through town. I didn’t really have a route mapped out, but got comfortable with the street grids the night before. It also really helps having an iPhone that has GPS and shows me where I am. The other great thing about the iPhone is that it allowed me to take some really cool pictures along the way (see below).

I could not have asked for better weather. It was probably 77 degrees and sunny which is exceptional for August in DC. It was a nice change of pace from the blazing heat and humidity in Orlando. Thankfully for me, and my cousin, it stayed that way the whole weekend.

The city itself is rather small, but it still has a city feel with lots of intersections and crosswalks so I made sure to stay off king street for the majority of the run so I wouldn’t have to make too many stops. The neighborhoods are lined with beautiful colonial homes and town houses that reminded me a little bit of Philadelphia.

I probably covered 3 miles or so on my run, it was hard to get an idea of time because I kept stopping to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. The terrain was all brick so I had to keep my eyes on the ground so I wouldn’t trip.

I always try to keep my eyes and ears open when i run in a new place because you can never be too careful when it comes to safety. I must say I felt safe the while time. I only came accross one block which felt a little iffy, otherwise it was nice. Maybe something to do with the cost of living being extremely high. I saw real estate ads for these shacks (if you will) selling for $750k!

I knew I wanted to run down to the Potomac and back so I could get a view of the river in the morning. Once I made it down there it was breathtaking. There is a nice spot in Founders Park that sits on the rocks that border the river and allowed me to take these great photos. My philosophy for running while traveling is to “run untill you find a reward” and what a reward this was.

A quick observation about the people there: it is a very diverse mix of people hailing from all over the world. It also has a very preppy feel with most in some combination of plaid and polos. I also noticed 1 in 5 people walking around listening to their iPods, not sure what that means but it stood out to me for some reason. As you can imagine, images of McCain and Obama were everywhere being so close to the capitol. Im going to make the assumption that the majority will be voting for the latter. What I didn’t notice was a lot of runners. Maybe it was because it was a workday, summer vacations, or I just wasn’t looking in the right places. Although I did come accross the local running shop, Pacers, which was not open yet but I had to take a picture of this great shirt in the window “Virginia is for runners”. You get it right?

All in all it scored a 4 out of 5 on my rating scale for being runner friendly. Weather was great, everyone yields to pedestrians, beautiful scenery and safe.

Not sure where my next adventure will be, but I can’t wait. Running is the best way to get comfortable with a new city, get a feel for where things are, and observe the people. Make sure on your next trip, whether for business or pleasure, you carve out some time for a good run.

Click Here to view my MapMyRun route of this run: http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/VA/Alexandria/296839575979

Click here to view my facebook photo album with pictures from the rest of my trip to DC: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2308206&l=fddcc&id=5106143

Here are the highlights, click here for the full article: http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/microsite/article/0,8029,s6-239-473-0-12777-0,00.html

NUTRITION

Eat to Recover
“I focus on hydrating and eating protein immediately after a hard workout or race. I may have some leftover salmon or some cottage cheese. I do this to help repair my damaged muscles and replenish energy. Even if your stomach is feeling upset, you should still force yourself to eat something. If you are rushed to meet friends or go somewhere, then grab a spoonful of peanut butter and eat it in the car on your way. Don’t make excuses on recovery. Your workouts are only beneficial if you are recovering well from them.” –Deena Kastor 35, Mammoth Lakes, California; Marathon, 2004 marathon bronze medalist

TRAINING

Test Yourself
“By keeping track of my five-mile tempo run times, I can tell how I’m progressing. I’ll do those every other week, and it’s always on the same course, so I can really tell where I’m at endurance-wise. Early season, it’s about 26 minutes, later in the season maybe 25:25.”
—Nick Symmonds 24, Eugene, Oregon 800 meters

Take Advantage of the Treadmill
“I do my interval work on an incline on the treadmill. It keeps my body healthy because I’m going uphill, so my turnover isn’t as fast, which decreases my injury risk. But my cardiovascular system is still working very hard. I was susceptible to injuries when I was running a lot of intervals on the track, where I had to run turns.
“My coach, Jack Daniels, has a table in his book [Daniels' Running Formula] that gives combinations of pace and incline for different workouts. Here’s a sample workout that takes about a half hour: 3 x 3 minutes at 8 mph and 8.5 percent incline. Then 3 x 3 minutes at 8.5 mph and 7.5 percent incline, followed by 3 x 3 minutes at 9 mph and 6.5 percent incline. After each three-minute effort, I jog easily at zero incline for two minutes. Those combinations of speed and incline give me the same cardiovascular workout as if I were running five-minute pace on a flat surface.”
—Magdalena Lewy Boulet 35, Oakland, California Marathon

MOTIVATION

Make Each Day Count
“There are days when I definitely don’t want to get out the door. So I’ll have a training partner meet me at the gym or the track to help me get there. On days when it’s difficult for me to run, I remind myself that it feels a lot worse at the end of the day when I skip a workout.”
—Shannon Rowbury

INJURY PREVENTION

Circuit Train
“Being a better all-around athlete makes your body stronger. I had that going for me in high school because I played a lot of sports. Now I’m getting back into it. I do jumps and push-ups and squats, going really hard for two or three minutes at a time. I also do hurdles and medicine-ball work. My coach, John Cook, gives me some drills he used to do as a soccer player. They get your heart rate up without running fast, and I’m a lot stronger for it.”
—Erin Donohue

RACING

Repeat a Mantra
“I have a lot of different words that I say to myself. One is ‘fighter.’ I think that and all of a sudden things come into focus for me. Even if I don’t speed up, in my mind I calm down. I use my workouts to practice responding to these one-word cues.”
—Kara Goucher

I also have a new interest in the track and field competition since I can now really appreciate how talented these athletes are.  I am bragging about running a 7:47 mile, these guys are running 2 miles in that time!  Their sheet talent is mind-blowing.  To think that these individuals have spent, in most cases, their whole lives training for one moment to win is hard to wrap your mind around.  Dreams are fulfilled, but also crushed, during the Olympics and I think it’s one of the only times we can really see all the different types of human emotion wrapped all into one moment.

What do you think about all the drama surrounding the pollution in China?  I have watched numerous pieces on the news about the danger it poses to our athletes and how China is fabricating their success in reducing it.  Have you seen some of the footage from Beijing? You can’t see 5 feet in front of you!  To say this will disadvantage our athletes is an understatement.  It will defiantly prove to be a huge challenge to overcome, especially for those who compete outdoors, i only hope it doesn’t slow down the ability to break world records.

As the games get close next week i’ll post a guide to what sports are on and when, as it will surely dominate all TV coverage for the next 3 weeks.

Know of any great spots that I should see?  Run shops to check out?  Do tell!

I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and include a link to my “map my run”.

My new goal: Run the 10k in under 50:00 in 30 days….what do you think??

Wednesday night I went to my first track workout at the Howard Middle School track downtown and it was a lot of fun.  I have been meaning to get out there for the past few weeks but the weather has not been so accommodating.  While it was pretty warm last night as usual, it wasn’t raining!

They really have an organized workout which I like, because the track can be really intimidating when you don’t know what to do, and everyone is so freaking fast.  Last night we did “pyramids” which equates to this:

-2x 400 meters

- 1:30 break

-1x 800 meters

-2:00 break

-1×1600 meters (mile)

-2:30 break

-1×800 meters

-2:00 break

-1x 400 meters

You start with a short distance, build to a longer one, and then bring it back down.  They also had 2 separate groups going, one with runners training for a marathon, and the other for 5/10k’s.  I went out with the 5/10k group. They then had subset groups (1,2,3) based on speed and experience.  Since I was new, and not really that fast, I went out with group 3, which was thankfully the largest

I was able to get my 400 meter time to 1:36 at my fastest, which is a pretty decent time.  I was most impressed with my mile time though.  I have not really run for speed at that distance in quite some time, so I had no idea what to expect.  My strategy was to take the first two laps at a comfortable pace (1:48) and then pick it up for the last two, and I finished in 7:47!   That’s my best time for the mile ever!

Now i’m defienetly more motivated to get out to the track workouts.  If i can incorporate speedwork into my routine at least once a week, that will bleed into my longer runs for sure.

Only 4 weeks until the Celebration of running 5k…do you think sub 25 is possible??

When: August 17, 2008

Time: 5k starts at 7:30 am (but from expereience make sure you get there by at least 7 am!)

Where: Loch Haven Park (in front of the Orlando Science Center) 777 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803
Located ½ mile east of I-4 (exit 85) on Princeton St. in downtown Orlando. Parking will be available at the Orlando Science Center parking garage located on Princeton St. and the Florida Hospital garage at the intersection of Alden Road and Princeton Street.

Entry Fee Register online thru Thursday, August 14, 2008. www.trackshack.com
Entry fees are non-refundable.

Packet Pick-Up
Race information, race number, t-shirt, available at Track Shack

T-Shirt: Tech T-shirts!! Great bonus of running this race is the dri-fit top, register early to make sure you get your size!

Course Map: Click here http://www.trackshack.com/events/Course%20maps/08%20Celebration%20Map.pdf to view the course map.  Personal note: this is a very scenic course of Orlando, near the Winter Park border, it is easy, mostly flat, with a few areas of brick road to be aware of. 

Why: Proceeds from this race benefit the Orlando Science Center

Can’t wait to see you on race day!

Since my awesome run last Tuesday I have not had much to report, I was out of town in celebration of my roommates birthday last weekend, and that celebration managed to last 4 days, so needless to say running was put on the back burner.  It’s sort of sad, I’m only 24, yet a weekend of partying like i used to do 7 days a week in college managed to wipe me out completely on Monday.  I felt so exhausted and worn out, i didn’t make the Y group run on Monday night, which is a bummer because I heard they had a record turn out, 68 runners!!  I’m still learning how to balance my social life and my running life effectively, it seems like to be really good at one, the other suffers.  Lucky for my body I lean more towards running

Enough wining, the rain has put a damper on outdoor running this week so I have been in the gym, on the treadmill and doing strength training exercises to supplement.  I was poking around Runnersworld.com today looking for a good strength training routine to help build my speed.  From everything I have been reading, it sounds like the more strength training i build into my weekly routine the better off I am in the speed department, which is a plus.  I am researching a few different circuit workout routines as well, look out for these in upcoming posts.

Until next time…keep on running!