Queens Half

Ran the queens half on saturday. It was a morning race, so I thought it would be cooler. But nope, it was a temperature breaking day for new york in July.

The race was good though, I really appreciate running a NYRR race. They do a great job setting up the course with clocks at every mile, water stops with gatorade and a fire hose.

I started out with the chase pack, but everyone slowly got picked off and I had no idea what my position was.

I ran the first 5 miles at around 5:45 and then lost about 5 seconds each mile from there.

Ended up getting 4th, but was so delirious after the run and didn't have a clue what my position was I decided that there was no way I got 4th and it was really 14th.

Pretty tired on sunday night, slept 10 hours, a first for the summer.

Training for the marathon now!

you can follow my training log at

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As5N-IoIHISTdEZJRG00V3ZQcWtLSGVaVWJuby1CbVE&hl=en

Decided to go on a 13.5 mile run this morning.

After the recent heat wave I thought mid 80's would of been fine. But the sun destroyed me. Around mile 9 I had to slow significantly.

First time I've brought money on a run. Thank God I did.

around mile 10 I ran by ING cafe where they had $2 strawberry smoothies (no tax!). I might have destroyed my training if I didn't pass by that.

Great finish for the run. Nice and easy.

After the run I ate some cottage cheese pancakes (a friend's mom's recipe) and had a beer.

Went to a bar to watch the world cup where I had some coffee and a burger.

New Watch

Just ordered a Timex watch with heart rate monitor, from what ive read:
Heart rate is a good indicator of the onset of over training. To prevent over training adequate rest is needed between workouts. But you never know how long your body takes to recover, so if you measure your morning heart rate, and your heart rate on an easy runs weekly and then compare the them with the past week/month and if its increased/decreased (usually increased, decrease is an indicator of fitness) more than 10bpm you need to take a couple days easy.

Also, just learned that my iron stores are low. So not everything is because of the low testosterone
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Morning Heart rate: 38bpm
Physical exercise: none
Hours of sleep: 8

So I think my body has been storing everything I eat when I was training. I have been eating the same amount that maintained my body weight when I war running and have lost 3-4 lbs in about 2 days! Hopefully my metabolism can re balance itself along with my other body functions.
Here's a good website explaining the syndrome
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=1317287&pageindex=1#page

New Direction

So my original intentions of this blog was hindered by the winter here in NY. I've been hibernating and enjoying my spring classes. Most of them are more toward my enjoyed study of computer science. Check out my jezzball game for the iphone!
So the blog was started mostly because I was not enjoying my time at Columbia, even to the point of transferring. Since that time I have found enjoyment in the classes and with a few close friends.
One thing that has been hurting me though is my running. I am on the varsity track team and have been running awful this season. Since the beginning of the year (in fall) my workout and races have been short of my known peak performance. Running Freshmen year high school times, I made excuses for my shortcomings and tried not to care.
The other day my teammate made me realize that there is something wrong with whats happening, as I am doing all the runs, workouts, lifts and stretching that I should be doing a lot better than past years.
So I talked to the coach and he was very understanding and mystified by my burnout. So he started to cut my mileage. After a week, and one horrible race, I went to the doctor and got my blood tested. Everything was "normal" except for my testosterone levels.
That was Tuesday.
I now have stopped training and have a follow up on Monday, and then with the athletic doctor on Thursday.
As anyone now does, I googled what might be the problem, my diagnoses: over training syndrome, 3rd stage.
So I am converting this blog to the road of my recovery.

Testosterone level:84ng/dl..... Normal levels: 241-827 ng/dl
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Morning Heart rate: 39bpm
Physical exercise: none
Hours of sleep: 8