10K Claro

 Ya se acerca la fecha de el 10K Claro, la cual esta incorrectamente titulada en la imagen.  La carrera es de 10K y por ende no puede llamarse un maraton.  Sin embargo, este evento es muy especial en mi familia porque es la que mi abuelo ha corrido por 26 años consecutivo.  Este año sera espectador y correran sus hijos, nietos y hasta biznietos en su honor.  Yo tengo boleto ya comprado y espero que los demas familiares podran cumplir e ir y participar.

Con decir que estare entrenando por un medio-maraton que se dara la semana antes que la carrera 10K Claro.  Yo estare la semana antes, recuperandome para ir con las pilas recargadas.

HILL HIGDON

As you might know already I have been following Hal Higdon's Half Marathon training program.  The great thing about this program is that you can modify it to achieve your goal.  The Half Marathon race I am doing is in Central Park which from experience is filled with some challenging hills.  I will be modifying the training program to include one intense hill training.  I will be performing hill exercises in the video at Fort Tryon Park in Inwood section of Manhattan.  It has a great combination of short hills and long hills that are perfect for this kind of training. 

Course info

The course for Grete’s Great Gallop Half-Marathon in Support of AKTIV Foundation 13.1M is tough—two laps of Central Park adds up to a lot of hills—so some long-race experience and hill training are advisable. The start is on East Drive near 70th Street. You’ll complete two full clockwise loops of the park, after which you’ll start a third loop and continue for another 1.2 miles. The finish line is on West Drive near 67th Street. Almost all of the course is run over curving roads and undulating terrain, except for one straight, flat half-mile stretch along the East Side that you’ll run twice. Major uphills are at approximately 1.5, 3, 4, 7.5, 9, and 10 miles.  There are water stations approximately every mile, and Gatorade Endurance Formula is available at 1.25, 3.5, 5.75, 7.25, 9.5, and 11.75 miles.

Nosotros Somos Baban

Todo en la vida es un coge y deja.  Coges de lo que te brinda el mundo y dejas algo.  En este caso a los hijos, nietos y biznietos de Babán han cogido la disciplina del deporte y Babán ha dejado un legado que quizas no se vuelva repetir en nuestra vida.

Don Babán, mi abuelo, disciplinado corredor ha participado como algunos ya sabran en la misma competencia de carrera por 26 años consecutivos.  Una de las figuras mas esperada de la carrera 10K de Codetel/Claro.  Ya a sus casi 102 años de edad sera por primera vez un espectador.  La carrera 10K de Claro sera celebrada este año en 21 de Octubre, dia muy especial en la familia Nuñez-Ubiera.  En ese dia se celebra el cumpleanos mi Tio Isaac, que en paz descanse.

Se tomara esta ocasion para tener por primera vez la participacion de los hijos y nietos de Don Babán.  Vendra desde Miami, Omar (el hijo mayor) que ha participado en el Maraton de NY, Erick Jose (hijo menor) que siempre ha estado al lado de Don Baban en sus carreras, Dianny (hija) desde Tampa, desde NY, Ariel (nieto) que ya ha participado en 2 carreras 10k Claro/Codetel, Jose Abraham y Erick Adan (nietos e hijos de Erick Jose) y posiblemente Adelina (hija) que tambien participo en el Maraton de NY junto a Omar.  Todos tendran una camisa disenado por mi que representa Baban como corredor y atleta.  Este sera nuestra forma de homenajearlo y hacerlo sentir que su esfuerzo todos los anos no fue en vano.  YO SOY BABAN!! NOSOTROS SOMOS BABAN!!!

Extreme Training

Weather conditions made yesterday's race a challenge.  The Team Championships 5 mile race really tested my endurance due to the heat.  The good thing about running a race under these conditions is that you realize where you stand fitness wise.  The key for me was not to overdo it and keep hydrated, pretty basic tips.  Although it wasn't enough to just not overdo it and keep hydrated.  Proper gear is very important.  Wearing fabrics that wick sweat away.  Head gear that allow for heat to escape as well as keeps sun out of the eyes.  Now all that is left is rest before I pick up training again.  I was scheduled to run 3 miles yesterday and 6 miles today for a total of 9 miles.  I ran 5 yesterday and will make up the 4 remaining miles during week 3.  Tomorrow is strength training. 

Grete's Great Gallop

Grete Waitz was a Norwegian runner who won the NYC Marathon 9 times.  She died of cancer in 2011 and in her honor the New York Road Runners club named an annual race after her, Grete's Great Gallop.

This is the Half Marathon I am training for and will be running on October 14th.  Below is the course description and I tell you, having run a 15K (9.3 miles) already early in the year I tell you, the half is not easy.  But I didn't train for that 15k the way I am training now, so I am hopeful that it will be much easier.  I have to start adding some hill training into the program.

Course info

The course for Grete’s Great Gallop Half-Marathon in Support of AKTIV Foundation 13.1M is tough—two laps of Central Park adds up to a lot of hills—so some long-race experience and hill training are advisable. The start is on East Drive near 70th Street. You’ll complete two full clockwise loops of the park, after which you’ll start a third loop and continue for another 1.2 miles. The finish line is on West Drive near 67th Street. Almost all of the course is run over curving roads and undulating terrain, except for one straight, flat half-mile stretch along the East Side that you’ll run twice. Major uphills are at approximately 1.5, 3, 4, 7.5, 9, and 10 miles.  There are water stations approximately every mile, and Gatorade Endurance Formula is available at 1.25, 3.5, 5.75, 7.25, 9.5, and 11.75 miles.

Training modified

So, following the Hal Higdon Half Marathon training program, I get to rest on Fridays.  Saturdays are 3 mile runs until week 7 where it goes up to 4 miles.  But sometimes there are things that you don't foresee and you will have to just adapt.  In trying to complete the 9+1 for guaranteed entry to NYC Marathon in 2013 & I signed up for all the races I needed ahead of time.  One of all those races, Team Championships, is this Saturday.  So instead of my programed 3 mile run, I will be running 5 miles.  This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the 6 miles I have to run on Sunday.

PACE CHART

Its always good to have a set goal for this type of race.  Being that this will be my first Half Marathon I want to be realistic in my goals.  I am not a 5-6 min/mile runner, I am more of a 9-10 min/mile runner with room for improvement.  I just recently improved my 10k run by running a sub 10 min/mile pace.  For this half marathon I am aiming to run a sub 2 hour race, 1:57:90 which means I would have to run a consistent 9 min/mile pace.  I will be happy with anything near a 2 hour mark.

Today I am running my first Tempo-run of the half marathon training program.  Since I did a 3-mile run yesterday outdoors I might do this first tempo run inside on the treadmill.  This way I can control the speed I will be running at and keep it constant.

Definition: Tempo runs are an excellent way for runners to build speed and strength. They're runs that are done at a steady effort level, usually just a little slower than your 10K race pace. Tempo runs help you develop your anaerobic or lactate threshold, which is critical for running faster.