Discovered At Work

“Excuse Me, Doctor, can I speak to you for a moment?” One of the other attending physicians asked me while I was visiting a patient of mine in the ICU this afternoon. Since I was the consulting endocrinologist working the hospital floors this week, I assumed he wanted to discuss the particulars of this case with me. Instead, once I excused myself and we were both out of earshot of the patient, he smiled at me and said, “I have a close friend who is an avid runner and blogger and he told me to say hi to the ‘Running Laminator’. I assume that is you, is it not?” I waited a while before confirming his suspicions with a sheepish nod. And with that, after thirteen months of anonymity within the walls of this hospital, my secret identity outside of the professional workplace was revealed.

To be honest, I fully prepared that I’d be ‘discovered’ one day. After all, in today’s cosmopolitan society where we are more closely tied to our e-mail addresses than our real addresses and everyone we work and associate with seem to have some connection to everyone else, it is impossible to maintain a virtual identity that is distinct and separate from the real-life counterpart for any length of time. (Didn’t someone famous once say that ‘you can fool all people some of the time, and some people all of the time, but you can’t fool all people all the time?) I just didn’t expect to be so blatantly exposed while I was on the job, in the middle of the pediatric intensive care unit!

It’s been a full twelve hours now, but I still haven’t figured out the proper reaction to this latest development. Am I supposed to be relieved now that the news is out and I no longer have to purposely hide the fact that I’m a decent runner and blogger from all my workmates or should I be frightened that I’m now more transparent to those that work with me than I’ve ever been? Should I be more cautious in my postings about what I see and what I do so as not to be politically or professionally ”incorrect” or should I keep my integrity as a responsible blogger and just write what feels right, to me?

I think I’m starting to feel a bit intimidated that my virtual ‘me’ has become somewhat more successful and more infamous than the real ‘me’. It is crazy to think that more people know of me as a running blogger with a hospital gig on the side than a professional kid’s doctor with a crazy running blog on the side. How weird is that?! I think I’ll need more than one long run this week to figure things out.

Marathon Training Update - Week 1

Now that I’ve started getting serious about marathon training again, I’ve suddenly become less serious in keeping this blog and my surplus of fans updated on my progress. Now, instead of throwing out the usual lame excuses about too much work, too much running, and too much sports this weekend (i.e. Mets-Phils, U.S. Open, NFL Kickoff Weekend…jeez, so much intrigue, so little time), I’m just going to announce that I’m posting weekly updates on my training, right up until race day. I figure this will be a good way to keep myself accountable (yes, you have my permission to mock me unmercifully if I don’t keep up with the schedule…) as well as keep my people informed of my progress. Feel free to motivate, comment, or ridicule at your leisure. Hopefully, it’ll be a win-win situation for everyone involved. We’ll see what happens.

Week #1 (9/1-9/7)

What I Planned:

Tempo Run: 7 miles with 5 miles at 6:35 min/mi pace

Hill workout: 6 miles with repeated loops at Harlem Hill

Double weekend run #1: 8 miles at long run pace

Double weekend run #2: 12 miles at long run pace

Total week 1 distance: 33 miles

What I Ran:

Tempo Run: 8.3 total miles with 5.2 miles at 6:30 min/mi pace

Hill Workout: 7.0 total miles at 6:53 min/mi pace over Harlem Hill

Double weekend run #1: 7.2 miles at 8:43 min/mi pace

Double weekend run #2: 12.9 miles at 8:15 min/mi pace

Total week 1 distance: 35.4 miles; avg pace – 7:47 min/mi

How I Ran:

Started week 1 with basic set of runs at low total mileage. Started off too fast on my tempo run and faded somewhat at the end (first mile – 6:19; last mile – 6:40…yikes!). Hill workout was my first attempt at hill training and also had trouble sustaining an early fast first loop effort into the second loop and third loop. Weekend runs were kept slow and easy because I was running with friends. Overall, this was a good steady effort week for me. On to week #2.

Labor Day Weekend Recap:Getting Serious About NYCM

For many, the passing of the Labor Day weekend symbolizes the official end of summer. For those of us who are runners however, the transition from August to September can signify much more. For one thing, it means waving goodbye to long hot, humid days and welcoming cooler and more comfortable climes. For another, it marks the peak of fall marathon training and the beginning of heavier traffic in running parks all over the country.

As for me, because I ran a marathon just a month earlier, I have been kind of lackadaisical on my running during the past month in the name of recovery. However, now that summer has mysteriously disappeared into early autumn, l took this weekend as a reminder to get my butt back in gear and refocus my training in preparation for my goal fall marathon, the 2008 New York City Marathon. Toward this end, I spent the bulk of my weekend carefully constructing a brief but intense nine week training plan that will average about 40-45 miles per week and pretty much guarantee that I’d be in the best running shape possible by November 2^nd. It has me running four or five days a week and is filled with interval runs, tempo runs and long runs with some hill work and marathon pace workout mixed in just to spice things up. I have built my training plan so that every run will be done for a specific purpose and toward a specific goal (i.e., there will be no junk miles) so each session of each week is built on something that has been worked on in the week before. It's something I've been implementing in constructing and revising the marathon plans of people that I coach so I figure it's about time I incorporate it into my own training as well. I’m trying to break 3:05 in NYCM this year (and maybe try for 3:00 next year) and in order to do that I really have put in a consistent effort out on the roads, not just talk a good game from the seat of my pants.

I’m not going to do the usual thing and publish the exact schedule because honestly, it’s not that fascinating or useful to anyone but me. But suffice it to say it has a long run every weekend including one 18-mile run, three 20-mile runs (one of which I did on Saturday just to kick things off) and a 22-mile run, two weekday runs with either tempo, interval, hill, or marathon training within them, as well as a rest day before and after each hard workout. I’ve also signed up for an 18-mile race in September and a half-marathon in October to track my progress.

I know I’ve neglected to discuss much running last month (other than impromptu race reports), partly because other more important tangential subjects (like the Olympics) came up, but partly also because my running lacked purpose for a while (even though I’d hate to admit this). So because I know how much you miss hearing about my marathon training and things I think about while I’m running (I can’t believe I got an-email the other day from someone complaining that I don’t talk enough about my training, Hah…), I’ll try harder in the next couple months to stick to the subject. Go ahead, be excited or be forewarned, depending on how you like my ramblings.