Here is my training schedule for this year's marathon
Some things:
I'm vagabonding it this year. Even though I did enough qualifying races, I missed the registration deadline to take advantage of that (yes, I'm a dumbass). So I'll just show up and run the route. There's really nothing stopping you. I might even still get a medal at the end.
I put in more aggressive paramters from my training last year (I lied to the system, sayng I've been running 16-20 miles a week when I've been really sleeping a lot and not exercising).
Changes from last year:
I remember how how my legs gave out last year so, besides running harder I'm going to:
I am going to run 3 times a week instead of 2 like last year. The third workout will start as easy runs, but eventually include a lot of drills and hill repeats.
I'm really going to do strength training (legs, core and abs) weekly.
Concerns:
Last year, I gave myself 12 weeks to train, this year only 10. But, a month ago I was in very good shape (for the triathlon) so even though I've been chilling last month, I think I should still have a decent base. Oh well, we'll see what happens.
I still have not bought a car and am going as long as I can without one.
On my second tour of duty in Rhode Island I'm learning much more about RIPTA. I took RIPTA just once in three years at RISD. Between having friends with cars and being in the College Hill bubble, I didn't need the bus.
Last night, I went to a salsa social at The Spot, a yoga studio on Thayer street. Thayer street is my old college stomping grounds, the "hip" (I use this term loosely) strip of bars/restaurants and shops that cater to RISD and Brown students. It's over on the Eastside or Providence, next to the heart of Brown's campus, about two miles from me.
Quick background
I live in the "Armory district" (not a real neighborhood name, I think it's a real estate creation like "South Park Slope" instead of Sunset Park or "East Williamsburg" instead of Bushwick in Brooklyn).
It's the border of the West End (an economically depressed heavily immigrant neighborhood) and Federal Hill, Providence's touristy little Italy). It's a neighborhood in "transition." While it doesn't have the fancy history of the Eastside, there are beautiful homes here that people are buying and fixing up. It makes me think of the brownstones in places like Harlem and BedStuy.
I'll bike past Dexter Park down the street from me and I'll see on one side (mostly) white artsy hipsters playing in the Providence kickball league next to a weekly farmers market. Next to them, there's a regular pick-up soccer game played on a dirt patch of mostly Latinos next to my favorite taco truck.
Getting Over
Thayer street is two miles away and normally I'd bike it, but last night was pretty hot and I didn't want to sweat a storm so I took the bus.
Punch in Google Transit (note, ever since I found this service, I've cracked up every time Google tries to plan rational trips in RIPTA's system. I once wanted to get back from a dance class that ended at 9PM and it told me to take the 7AM bus the next day. Awesome).
Here goes:
50 minutes?? To go two miles??
Of course, there's a good reason. Kennedy Plaza, the center of the Providence (and Rhode Island) public transit universe, is about the midpoint of my apartment and Thayer street so I have to take a bus inbound to Kennedy, than another bus outbound to Thayer. I just walked the second leg rather than wait 30 minutes.
RIPTA doesn't just serve Providence, but the entire state. Kennedy Plaza is the hub where every (or nearly every) bus line meets. A system that has to take into account the entire state, might sacrifice some local convenience. Like being able take just one bus from one side of town to the other (I really tried to write that without a trace of sarcasm, honest).
All roads lead to Kennedy Plaza:
Of course, there's possibly something much more intentional at work here and that's the whole eastside/westside division which I've been getting a crash course on. I'm quickly getting the sense that Rhode Island is very provincial and that Providence (plus Central Falls plus Pawtucket and maybe some other nearby towns) is the colored chocolate chip of a very white cookie.Providence itself is cut in half by 95:
To the west of 95, is the West End, Olneyville and Manton Ave. To the south of 95, South Providence and Elmwood. These are Providence's low-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods. To the east of 95 is downtown and the Eastside which includes College Hill.
Peter Hocking calls 95 a "psychological barrier" which is a perfect term for it.
On the surface, it seems ridiculous that I can't take a bus that runs down Broadway, one of Providence's main thoroughfares, directly to one of Providence's "hotter" shopping and nightlife destinations. But then that bus, before coming to my apartment, runs down Manton Ave, a neighborhood notorious for gang violence and its housing projects. I doubt there's huge incentive for the city and eastside residents and college administrators to make that route more direct.
I'm not surprised at the compartmentalization/segregation, I grew up in New York City, in the 80s and 90s. There are tons of people in the outer boroughs who consider Manhattan a whole another universe. I grew up in Park Slope and went to camp with kids from Bed Stuy and Flatbush. We lived, maybe a mile or two apart, but in completely different universes.
I think I'm adjusting to the microcosmic scale it happens here in Providence. I walk two blocks and I'm in a different neighborhood with a different reputation. The eastside is two miles away from me and it's the "other side of town". I can't take one bus to Thayer street. Providence has about as many people as Flushing and, but it's cut in more ways than I can count.
Can't we just be one proud city?
Or maybe I should just get a car and stop bitching.
First of all, rest in peace to Esteban Neira. My thoughts and prayers are with your family.
I finished the NYC Triathlon this last weekend. Amazing experience, it was a lot of fun and all my training paid off. Some random observations from my first-ever triathlon: - [A lot of] triathletes have really good looking girlfriends.
- And really fancy bikes
- And really fancy wetsuits.
- Tight bike shorts+loose t-shirt+man=a terrible look
- Crotch pads are a great invention
I was pretty happy with my time, everything shook out as I expected. I turned in a pretty strong swim (one of the faster times in my age group and not bad overall), but I run and bike about as fast as molasses. The chart below outlines it pretty well. My swim time compared to my bike+run times look like they come from two different people. A tale of two athletes. There's something really gratifying about my chubby self out swimming giant muscle-bound athletes. Who then proceeded to crush me once we got on our bikes. Check out my times (Yoon) compared to other people around me. My swim (23:58) is buttressed by people who swam their mile in the 30s and 40s. The columns (sorry no headers) are: Last name, place in age-group (30-34), Total time, swim time, Transition 1 (swim to bike), Bike, Transition 2 (bike to run), run time.
Here are some pics.I hate Amtrak You might notice I'm riding a hybrid bike in the pics, not a regular road bike you'd use for a race like this.
I used Amtrak package express to ship my bike from Providence to NY Penn Station. Turns out, even thought their customer service agent told me I'd be able to pick up my bike on Saturday, the NY package office is closed on weekends. No bike for me.
The race was Sunday. I rented a heavy-ass hybrid cruiser bike at a local shop and used that for the race. The bike is a tank, great for tourists casually checking out the west side bike path or cruising Central Park. Embarassing in a race like this.
Anyway, good looking out City Bikes on the short notice rental, you saved my ass. Amtrak, you can kiss my ass. I shipped a bike to NY for nothing. I couldn't even ship it back to Providence. Turns out, NY Penn Station only receives, they don't ship, WTF??? another thing the agent didn't mention. So I had to lug the bike box to a cab to Port Authority and take it with me on the Peter Pan bus. Another close call, because the bus almost didn't have enough luggage room for it.
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