Adventure running is where you find it

On September 30, 2014 By Emerging Runner6 Comments

Adventure starts here

Today’s run (treadmill): 26 minutes

I used to be an adventurous runner. By that I mean I didn’t do 90% of my runs within two miles of my house. I’m far less adventurous nowadays, because I have far less time and fewer opportunities to try new experiences.

My job used to be located in mid-town Manhattan and that opened the door to my love of city running. At least once a week I’d run in Central Park, across the Brooklyn or GW Bridge or up and down the West Side Highway. I’d often run around cities that I would visit on business trips. I ran wooded trails whenever I could find them, and I found a lot of them. I even did a marathon relay race on Cape Cod as part of a family vacation.

My frequent running partner (Adventure Girl) introduced me to a lot of different running venues. After she moved to Montana (where she does trail running in the woods with real live bears) I was left on my own to run in the city. Although I found other running buddies, I pretty much stuck to Central Park. On weekends I’d venture out to Belmont Lake to run the Dirty Sock race course or to other local but interesting places. Now it’s mostly just Stillwell Woods or the Bethpage Bike trail.

This morning I was able to fit in a short, humid treadmill run before I started my day. As I was taking out my heart rate monitor, my long dormant running headlamp fell to the floor. I picked it up and thought about my daily adventures running the streets of my neighborhood at 4:00 AM. Not an exotic locale, but in the 300 or so runs I did in the dark, I saw a lot of very interesting (and occasionally scary) things on those runs.

This past weekend, my Runsketeer buddies had a Facebook discussion about an adventure marathon that takes place in Utah, with a course that starts at 4,000 feet above sea level. Before I knew it, they were talking about flights, rental cars and accommodations. I think they are serious about doing this race. While that race is not for me, it made me think about broadening my horizons. I think I’ll check the batteries in the headlamp and see where that takes me.

I’m bound for the Brooklyn Half

On January 28, 2014 By Emerging Runner10 Comments

Got my ticket

Today’s run (treadmill): 3.25 miles

I love the idea of running adventures, but nowadays I rarely venture more than a few miles from my house for a run. This is mostly due to time constraints and schedules. I’m fortunate that I live in an area that offers numerous nearby options, especially for trail running. But over the 5+ years since I’ve become a serious runner, I’ve only run two races outside of Long Island (NYC and Cape Cod, MA).

Last year was not my best in terms of racing. I only ran eight competitive events and I wasn’t particularly competitive in most of them. Unlike the prior two years, I didn’t run a half marathon, just three 5Ks, three 10Ks and a 4 mile race. Looking back, I wonder if the half marathon base training I missed last year correlated to my mediocre race times throughout the rest of 2013.

Well that won’t be an issue this year because I have registered for the NYRR Brooklyn Half. This is new ground for me and I’m really excited to participate. I tried to get into this race the first time I was ready to run a half, but I was locked out. Subsequent to that, I’ve run the uninspiring Long Island Half a couple of times. Runner’s World called the LI Marathon & Half a “Golden Oldie” that has aged well. I now have to question everything I read in that magazine.

The things that excite me about the Brooklyn Half:

1. It’s in Brooklyn.
2. I get to run past the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Grand Army Plaza.
3. I’ll finally get to run in Prospect Park.
4. Five miles of the race is a straightaway down Ocean Parkway through the heart of Brooklyn.
5. It finishes on the Coney Island boardwalk.

Both my Runsketeer buddies are running this race along with 20,000+ others. This will be the biggest race I’ve ever run and my first NYRR event. I’m also excited that I’ll have motivation to do those 10+ mile runs on weekend mornings at Bethpage to prepare for the distance. The race is in May so that training will start before spring.

Central Park, eight months later

On June 16, 2012 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Friday’s run (Central Park): 3.3 miles
Today’s run (Stillwell Woods): 3.3 miles

I thought it had been a while since I’d run in Central Park, but I was shocked to see on Garmin Connect that the last time I’d run there was last October! I had assumed I’d been there more recently but after checking the blog history I confirmed that was accurate. Knowing that, I am especially happy to have returned to Central Park.

The weather was almost perfect when I got to the park. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the 60’s. It took a surprisingly long time to acquire a signal on my Garmin. As soon as it locked in, I was on my way.

I began my run by going counter-clockwise along the Center Drive loop. I was surprised to see lots of runners coming from the other direction because that’s opposite of the direction arrows on the bike path. I was running strongly and staying just below a nine minute pace through the first mile. By the time I reached the top of Cat Hill I had slowed a bit, but I still felt strong.

The humidity was higher than I’d first thought and I decided to limit my run to the loop below the reservoir. I gritted my teeth through the hilly sections just below the Great Lawn and Terrace Drive and enjoyed the downhill sections that followed. I continued on some the paths off Center Drive and finished on Central Park South at 7th Ave. It was a great run and my overall pace was actually faster than what I achieved on the NHP 8K.

This morning I headed to Stillwell to run the trails. I downloaded the latest 3 Non-Joggers podcast to listen to while I ran. That helped me get through some very technical and steep terrain. I ended up covering almost exactly the same mileage as I ran on Friday, but the required effort was much greater.

On my way off the trail I encountered three women who were asking people to sign a petition that would limit mowing the big field. This would help protect the wildlife and aid conservation efforts to eliminate invasive species. I was happy to sign.

I’ve been on vacation since yesterday afternoon. Since then, I’ve had two really interesting runs. I’m hoping to do a distance run in the next few days. Tomorrow is Father’s Day so maybe I’ll give myself the gift of running the hills on the Bethpage bike trail.

TGIFAIRICP*

On June 15, 2012 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

*Thank God It’s Friday and I’m Running In Central Park

Some work weeks go by so fast that you almost wish for another day to get everything completed. Not this week. By Tuesday afternoon I was half-asking if tomorrow is Friday. I felt terrible on Wednesday and recovered through Thursday, although the day seemed to go on forever. TGIF indeed!

After a light morning schedule, I’m planning to head over to Central Park for a run. It’s been a long time since I’ve run there and the conditions are perfect for it. I was on the fence last night about whether I’d do today’s run in the morning by my home, or run in the park. My wife said, “Tomorrow’s weather will be great and next week you’re on vacation. A run in the park will be a perfect way to kick off the weekend.” She’s smart.

My plan is to run the eastern side loop below the reservoir and, depending on how energetic I feel, continue around the water and come back along the western side. That’s about a 4.5 mile run. Otherwise, I’ll follow the route I used to take when I ran with JQ, Steve, Adventure Girl and others. That run involves cutting over just north of the Great Lawn before heading south. It’s about 3.1 miles in total – a nice low key 5K.

It feels a lot like summer already, with empty trains and few people in the office. The sounds from the Today Show concert is reaching me a couple of blocks away. The sun is shining. I can’t wait to head for the park.

Lonely runner in the city

On August 26, 2011 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Today’s run (street): 2.5 miles

Today is my last “Summer Friday” in the office and I slightly regret not planning a run in Central Park. This would have been the day to do it, with moderate temperatures and partially cloudy skies. Unlike the last two summers, I’ve barely hit the city venues on Fridays. Instead I’ve opted to do my morning running in my neighborhood. Some of that is due to the high mid-day heat we’ve had this summer, but really it’s because most of my running partners are no longer in the city. I still enjoy running alone in NYC, but I didn’t feel like it today.

This morning I went out and followed my usual route, all the time thinking about the effort it will take to meet my predicted finish time for Cow Harbor. I covered the first mile at a moderate pace but picked up my speed to the point where I was running in the high eight-minute range by the time I finished. I know going directly from sleeping to running affects my performance so I was happy where I ended up.

As long as hurricane Irene waits until Saturday afternoon to come through the NY area, I should be good to go for a long morning run tomorrow. With only three weekends left to train for Cow Harbor’s challenging and rolling 6.2 mile course, I need to reinforce my base and work on those hills.

Return to Central Park

On February 10, 2011 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Coney Island, NY – start (or finish?) to 2011 Brooklyn Half

It’s almost mid-February and I have yet to run in NYC this year. That will change today when me and my running buddy JQ head to Central Park around noon. We had planned a run a couple of weeks ago but a snowstorm made that impossible. Conditions that day were so bad I wasn’t even able to get into the office. It’s cold out today (low 20’s) but at least there’s nothing coming down.

I’m excited to head back to the park, run outdoors and catch up with JQ. I’ve been hoping for a thaw that will rid us of the accumulated snow and open up more venues for running. My outdoor runs have been limited to a few neighborhood excursions plus last Saturday’s race in Long Beach. I love Central Park any time but I’m especially keen to run there again after so much time spent on the treadmill. I’m thinking about the NYRR Brooklyn half marathon as my first-ever race at that distance.

The Brooklyn half marathon routes through Prospect Park, another place (similar to Central Park) where I’ve always wanted to run. That race ends at Coney Island (or the other way around). I’m not really sure how they’re mapping the course this year. That would be a new adventure but today I’m just looking forward to running the loops again in Central Park.

Central Park work-year ender

On December 24, 2010 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Yesterday’s run (Central Park): 3.25 miles

We didn’t run too far or too fast but yesterday’s run with JQ was perfect in its own way. After a long year that started with a bout of severe pneumonia it was great to finish up with with an early winter’s run around Central Park. It’s been cold all week and Thursday was no exception, 33 degrees plus wind. JQ and I have run often enough that our route is assumed, starting from the southern end and following the eastern loop, crossing the top of the Great Lawn and then coming back down to our starting point. Running with others is a treat, with the conversation and the activity amplifying the positives of both. JQ is an extremely interesting person who is also a great listener. I always want to repeat our course when we come to our finish just to extend the experience.

I’m on vacation until January 3rd and I’m looking forward to some quiet time off. At the same time I’m a little anxious about getting sick because it seems like I always suffer some type of illness on this year-end break. I’m not concerned about pneumonia or the flu this year because I’ve been inoculated against both. That said, I’m not going to push too hard on my runs this week. I’ll probably go out for a short easy run today and attempt a longer distance run tomorrow or Sunday. I have all next week to run without the constraints of commuting schedules so I might try runs at Caleb Smith or Muttontown Preserve. I’m planning to try my new Karhu Fast 2 Fulcrum_Rides on today’s run. That should be an interesting experience.

Happy Holiday’s, my Karhu’s have arrived

On December 23, 2010 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

The Karhu Fast 2 Ride even looks fast

Yesterday’s run (Central Park): 4.5 miles

Although it’s technically not a holiday present, I did receive a package last night that made me very happy. The folks at Karhu, a Finnish athletic wear company, sent me a couple of pairs of their new Fast 2 Fulcrum Ride shoes. This model is Karhu’s entry into minimalist running shoes and the Fast 2’s, in vivid green and orange, are appealing and unusual. I haven’t run with them but after lacing them up and wearing them around the house I’m anxious to try them on pavement. Progress reports will come by way of this blog and a full review will follow on Runner’s Tech Review. Adventure Girl will also be testing a pair (the orange was for her) and we’ll compare experiences in the review. I’m extremely curious to see how the Fast 2’s compare to the Kinvaras. I have a good feeling about this.

Until I take the Karhu’s out for their first run my Kinvaras will remain my go-to trainers. I wore the Kinvaras yesterday on my Central Park run with my friend Steve. I had been wearing my Grid Tangents and SRR’s over he last week so it was a nice change. Prior to yesterday’s run I was concerned if I’d have the energy to cover 4 to 5 miles on that hilly course. That was not the case and things fell into place once we started. During the first half of the run I was a step or two behind Steve as we ran a 9:15 pace up the east loops and around the reservoir. By the time we reached our exit of the reservoir path I was cruising and Steve was starting to feel the effort. By the time we hit the southern end I was feeling stronger than when I started. We sprinted the last few hundred feet and finished 4.5 miles averaging a 9:11 pace.

Today I’ll end the workday, work week and work year with another Central Park run. This time it will be with another friend, JQ, and I’m looking forward to a less intense experience from yesterday’s.

Moderation has its advantages

On September 30, 2010 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Yesterday’s run (Central Park): 3.1 miles
Today’s workout (elliptical): 24 minutes

I’d considered a run this morning even though I’d gone to bed thinking about taking a rest day today. Yesterday I had my second noonday run with JQ and found it energizing. My Central Park runs, especially those I run alone, tend to be intense. I’m usually pressed for time and have a distance goal in mind. The hills play a part, I try to run them as close to my overall pace as I can. All this adds up to a fairly vigorous workout and I return to the office wet and somewhat spent. It can also feel great but with an afternoon of business activities in front of me I occasionally face an energy crisis. Yesterday’s run was exactly what I needed in the middle of a busy day. Between the conversation, the surroundings and the moderate activity itself (I did generate a sweat) I came through the afternoon focused and refreshed. More importantly, I was motivated to do a hard run today.

This morning’s driving rain and blowing winds prevented any outdoor opportunities when I got up. I decided to follow my normal routine with an elliptical session rather than messing around with the treadmill. I set the elliptical for medium resistance and maintained a fairly good pace rate, exceeding 2 miles in around 24 minutes. Not my most intense session but like yesterday, energizing. I’m concerned that the rain will continue through tomorrow morning, giving me no option but to do a treadmill run. I’ll deal with that then. I’m really thinking trails for Saturday but I’m not decided on venue. My daughter has been running trails at Stillwell and Bethpage with her cross country team. She’s starting to really like trail running and we may do a run this weekend in the woods. I couldn’t be happier about that.

Two park runs: Central and Bethpage

On August 28, 2010 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Yesterday’s run (Central Park): 3.6 miles at 9:07
Today’s run (Bethpage State Park): 7.9 miles at 10:00 (approximately)

It had been over two weeks since I last ran in Central Park and I was looking forward to returning there on Friday. The temperatures in the morning were cool (60’s) but as the noonday sun moved overhead the heat came out with strength. I started my run at the 7th Ave crossing on Central Park South and followed the lower loop, moving along well despite the heat and the hills. Along the way the trees provided occasional shelter from the sun and, as usual, the park provided a broad array of stimuli: sights, smells (good and bad) and sounds. Touch too, if you count the feel of the hilly roads under my feet. I was so distracted by the experience that I continued to follow the lower loop until I reached the western side where I redirected north along the upper loop. I continued around the great lawn and followed that north and then east where I switched to the upper loop going south. That series of maneuvers added almost half a mile to my usual route so I was pleased at the end with the extra distance.

This morning I met my friend Dave at Bethpage State Park with a plan to run seven miles on the bike path at a leisurely pace somewhere between 10:15-10:30. Dave’s Garmin GPS watch and my Garmin FR60 with foot pod differed in terms of measurement. Mine showed us covering about .4 of a mile longer than his. I have a native distrust for GPS measurement of this type after measuring runs using AllSport, MotionX and other GPS apps on my iPhone. When the data from these runs is compared to the actual measurement (via Google Earth or Gmaps) the GPS usually under represents by a little (or often) by a lot. I can see on the MotionX maps why this is the case, the GPS works in straight line vectors that often cut corners that can add up to less distance. My Garmin has actually been under-counting when paired with my Brooks so we may have actually reached 8 miles today and broken 10:00. I wouldn’t be surprised because even though we weren’t burning up the road we were moving along well.

Unlike most of my runs at Bethpage, today the runners outnumbered the bikers, although there were a enough bikers to keep us alert when they came up quickly from behind. Dave ran on the inside lane and kindly took the brunt of the bike traffic. We are both running the Great Cow Harbor 10K next month and Dave provided some insight from his experience with that race. Between Dave and Brian I feel very fortunate to have so much prior knowledge of what promises to be a tough course. I’ll see for myself in couple of weeks when I do a practice run there with Brian. At the end of today’s run I felt very good and took to heart Dave’s advice that the best way to increase my stamina is to put in more distance. Distance first, speed second. I hear that. Tomorrow I’ll do less distance when I run with KWL. I’ve covered a lot of miles over the last few days and I need to be kind to my legs. I hope I have enough energy left for Sunday’s run as keeping up with KWL can be a challenge. I’m hoping his 10K/100 mile bike ride last weekend will even us up in terms of energy levels.