Brian Brian Kelley, New Jersey, NJ, running, training

Back in Training: Worldwide WordPress 5k Edition

Automattic’s Worldwide WordPress 5k is taking place this week (it started Monday, Sept. 19, and runs through Sunday, Sept. 25), and it allows everyone to participate. All you have to do is do a 5k (approx. 3.1 miles) walk or run, and then share a post about it using the “WWWP5k” tag.

Since I’m currently training for the 2017 New Jersey Marathon, I planned on devoting one of my pre-work training runs this week to the WWWP5k…but I went on a 13.1-mile training run last Sunday morning and I needed a day or two to recover. And I caught a late train into work on Wednesday and didn’t get a chance to go for a run at lunch.

So that brought me to Thursday—and I had already written off going for a run today (Friday, Sept. 23) due to a whole bunch of things going on at work. It had to be Thursday morning, or wait until next year.

I wasn’t really sure what I could do special for Thursday’s WWWP5k run. Obviously, I thought about a live stream, but figured I would lose connection quite frequently over the course of a 3.1-mile run. So I decided to just take a few photos and create the simple slideshow video above to share my WWWP5k run with the world.

Of course, my run time suffered since I kept slowing down/stopping to take pictures…but I’ll allow for this exception.

Happy WWWP5k!

 

Brian Brian Kelley, NJ, running, training, triathlon

Back in Training: Hightstown Triathlon edition

14225506_10100622296400064_976653149545279483_nIn my last post, I mentioned that I was training for my first marathon, the New Jersey Marathon next April.

I had planned to solely focus on running and put any triathlons on hold. Well, just a few days before the Hightstown (NJ) Triathlon (sprint distance: 500-yd swim, 11.2-mi bike, 5K run), I decided to enter it for a third straight year — without any triathlon training since over a year ago.

In the weeks prior to last year’s triathlon, I broke my left hand, severely limiting my training time. In addition, I woke up the morning of the race with a severe stomach virus. I threw up twice before I left the house at 5:30 a.m. and threw up several times after I got home. During the triathlon? It was a near-constant nausea that I fought off, but I was really feeling it on the run and had to walk a lot of it. It was a bad experience and it had a lot to do with my initial decision to put off triathlons this year.

But then I started thinking that the best way to get rid of that memory would be to do the triathlon again — this time, hopefully, without the vomiting.

Well, as far as that goal was concerned, it was mission accomplished! But I also set a new personal record for that event by nearly 10 minutes. I finished in 1:24:36 (134th overall) — besting my 1:34:19 time in 2015 and my 1:34:05 time in 2014 (when the bike ride was 15.3 miles as opposed to the 11.2 miles this year and last). What really bothered me is that my stupidity cost me at least two more minutes as I completely lost where my transition station was coming in from the bike ride. I literally wandered around the transition area looking for my stuff. Now, this was primarily because I initially neglected to account for the fact that the bike-in brought racers in at the opposite side of the transition area from which we entered to set up earlier in the morning. But even when I realized this, I still couldn’t find my stuff. I had a bright orange shirt on top of my running stuff, but the person next me had his wet suit partially draped over it. So, yeah, it kind of sucks that I could have finished in closer to 1:22:36 if I hadn’t recorded a race-worst 4:46 T2 (2nd transition) time.

But, still, considering I had no intention of competing in a triathlon — and had not trained for one — until less than a week before the event, I’d have to say that shaving 10 minutes off my time last year and finishing with a decent run (27:53 this year, as opposed to a personal-worst 5K time of 35:18 last year) was a moderate success.

The next two events for me are the WXPN Musicians On Call 5K and the Trenton Half Marathon (which I’ll be doing for a third straight year after doing the event’s 10K race in 2013). There were two local races — a 5K and a 5-miler — that I did last winter; if they are held this year, I’ll probably do those, too. After that, I think the next organized race will be the New Jersey Marathon on April 30. Hopefully, I’m ready for it by then.

Brian Back in Training, New Jersey, NJ, running, training, weight loss

Back in Training: 2017 New Jersey Marathon

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Hi there…I know it’s been awhile. Although I haven’t posted here much lately and haven’t published a series of “back in training” posts in quite some time, I have very much been in training for a few weeks now — most of which is chronicled on my Instagram account.

What am I training for, you ask? Well, once again, I will be running in this year’s Trenton Half Marathon and a few smaller races before that. However, a couple of months ago, I decided that I was going to target 2017 as the year I run in my first full marathon. And I recently decided which marathon I will make my first…

It’s the 2017 New Jersey Marathon on Sunday, April 30, 2017!

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I grew up at the Jersey Shore and it seems the logical place to do something I never dreamed of doing until the the last two or three years. And this way, I hope family and friends and can see me accomplish this.

My primary goal is to, of course, finish. My secondary goal is a bit ambitious…I want to complete the marathon with a sub-4 hour time. To do that, I need to run at about a 9:10-per-mile pace. My training times have been kind of all over the place recently, but when the weather is just right and I’m feeling good, I’m right around that pace—or better. In a chilly rain back in early May, I completed Philadelphia’s 10-mile Broad Street Run with a 9:11-per-mile pace. Granted, that’s 16.2 miles short of a marathon, but I’m fairly certain I could have run another five miles, at least, at that pace on that day. I don’t know if the crappy weather inspired me to run faster than usual, but I felt extraordinarily good running that race.

Currently, I am carrying a few extra pounds (15 lbs. or so, to be precise) that I’m hoping to shed by April 2017. Obviously, it would help if I could reduce the load my legs are carrying for a 26.2-mile run.

Of course, I’ll see how I do in the Trenton Half Marathon in late October and adjust my marathon goals accordingly. With very little training last year, I finished the race in 2:15:43 (10:21/mile pace). In 2014, when I was doing much more training, I finished the Trenton Half Marathon in 2:07:12 (9:42/mile pace). I’m looking to finish this year’s Trenton Half in 2 hours or less and, based on my 9:11/mile pace in the 10-mile Broad Street Run earlier this year and my more regular training/conditioning runs, I strongly believe this is possible.

Stay tuned…