Running, lately, and my first brick workout

Posted by Chen

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, mainly because I’ve been doing nothing that comes even close to resembling any sort of training. My legs are still very much in recovery mode from the Boston ‘thon, but I have managed to get in a few fun runs over the past few weeks thanks to lots of personal travel plans.

After Boston, I took a train down to NYC for the rest of the week to work remotely and visit my old roommate (we roomed together when I lived in NYC back in the day) and her husband. I love, love, LOVE getting to run in Central Park, and I stared wistfully at it on Tuesday and Wednesday after the race while my legs remained in a hostile “what-have-you-done-to-me” state.

By Thursday, though, after a couple of test strides in the apartment, I deemed myself ready to move again and headed straight to Engineer’s Gate and the main 6 mile loop. I purposely didn’t bring my Garmin because I wasn’t interested in seeing just how pathetically slow I was, but despite my shuffling, I was so happy to be surrounded by my old stomping grounds. Also, by that point in the week, I had run out of long-sleeve T’s that I had packed and was down to my new Boston shirts, which I secretly hoped would explain my granny-gear pace to everyone passing me. Amusingly, every time I spotted another runner sporting his or her Boston gear, we would give each other a nod of sorts, as if to say “Yes! My legs are super sore too, and it’s somewhat ridiculous that we're even trying to run right now, but look at us! We’re kind-of-sort-of moving!” 

Every time I go to NYC, I HAVE to get a real bagel, because they don’t exist in CA. I’m pretty sure bagels have increased in size since I left the city. Took this picture with a mouse for comparison.

After NYC, I hopped on a plane to head to Austin for an undergrad friend’s wedding. Austin is another one of my favorite places to run thanks to the miles of trails along Lady Bird Lake, so I was eager to get out there. What I wasn’t looking forward to, however, was going from 55 degrees in NYC to 97 degrees in texasTEXAS – that adjustment was really something special. While I was managing 7 mile runs in the Big Apple, 4-5 was all Brandon and I could handle in Austin before slogging back to our blissfully air conditioned Embassy Suites hotel room.

Despite the blazing heat, we had a great time catching up with college friends and visiting Austin’s many cool outdoor spots. We went to a sausage and beer place called Banger’s that had the most taps I’ve ever seen in one place:

Only in Texas… I couldn’t capture all of the taps in one picture. Not even close.

The wedding itself was a blast (what wedding isn’t?), and Brandon and I both took the next day off from work (it was a Sunday wedding) to explore Austin a bit more before flying back to the west coast.

I returned back to the office for all of three days before jet-setting off again, this time to Portland, OR for a reunion weekend with a couple of my high school friends. We started a tradition a few years ago to meet up every spring in a different city to catch up and explore – a brilliant idea, if we do say so ourselves.

While I was once staffed in Portland for three months working for my old consulting firm, I had to do all of my runs when it was still dark out, so I never got to run along the Willamette River that I’d heard so much about. This time, I woke up each morning during the three days I was there to get in 7.15, 5.4, and 5.2 miles, respectively, all around the river with some gorgeous views.

A beautiful riverwalk

I did wear my Garmin for all three of those runs, mainly because I was completely unfamiliar with distances there (and I HAVE to have accurate distances for my running spreadsheet or else the world will implode). I was keeping the effort easy all weekend, which translated into about an 8:45 pace. Not terrible, but also indicative of the fact that I was definitely still in recovery mode (Boston has an uncanny way of trashing my legs like no other marathon can).

Those riverfront runs were a great way to start each day, and I thoroughly enjoyed everything we did that weekend, which included driving out to Hood River to visit waterfalls, wineries, and breweries on Friday, visiting the food/crafts market and Japanese Gardens on Saturday, and walking around the Pearl District and Nob Hill on Sunday. Perhaps one of the biggest collective highlights of our trip, though, was all of the amazing FOOD.  Eating is what I do best, and Portland has some ridiculously good joints. Definitely looking forward to visiting that city again soon!

Best meal ever at Pok Pok: Clockwise from top left: Green papaya salad, fish sauce chicken wings, water spinach, and prawns with pork belly, Chinese celery, and bean thread noodles. NOM.

That brings us to this past weekend, when I completed my first official brick workout. Brandon and I met my old coworker down at the Bay Trail on Saturday morning. This route was completely flat, so compared to my other two rides so far, it was a breeze (aside from the major headwind in one direction). After 20 miles, I decided to hop off and go for a quick run while the other two continued on.

I only ran 4 miles, but holy hell – biking makes running feel SO WEIRD. I felt like I was dragging the whole time (probably because I was used to biking speed), but I was actually running marathon goal pace and managed to average 7:57 pace for the run (probably because my legs were locking into my cycling cadence rather than my typical, lazy, far-less-than-the-ideal-180-steps-per-minute running cadence). It was the strangest feeling to feel so weak but perform decently well at the same time.

The fact that biking managed to suck the fun out of my run did nothing to make me embrace this whole triathlon thing any further, but I suppose I’m willing to keep giving this sport a chance. In a weird way, it’s nice to be completely bad at something again, and I’m looking forward to (hopefully) making gains and watching myself improve over the summer.

I still need to get my @$$ into a pool, though. Coach Rachel – help!