Out and back: 5 hard miles

On May 31, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Continuing my goal of getting close to 15 miles this weekend I set out to Bethpage State Park yesterday to run the bike trails. I originally thought I might continue to the wooded trails afterward but the effort to cover 5 miles on pavement was plenty. I got to the park at around 5:30 and was able to drive right in without paying a parking fee. It was in the low 70’s and while there was plenty of sun it was not as intense as midday.

Starting on the bike trail is psychologically challenging because the first eighth of a mile seems to go straight up before leveling off. I thought about how nice it was last time I ran there since the last leg is eased by a this downhill segment. I mapped the route I followed (2.5 miles out and back) and also mapped the elevation. I was surprised that it showed the hills are not much greater than 2%. Near the end they feel like mountain ranges. There were plenty of bike riders along the way but I didn’t encounter any other runners. As I become familiar with the paths I have context for distance covered (plus the fact that distance is marked periodically on the paths which I compare to what the Garmin tells me). Like last time, I turned around after 2.5 miles and headed back. The first half mile back was all uphill and my legs were tired but I kept telling myself that I had to keep going regardless of pace. When I encountered downhill segments I appreciated the respite and used them as mini recovery periods to prepare for the next hill. I kept thinking about the final hill that comes at about 4.5 miles and when I reached it I simply gritted my teeth and pushed, all the time searching for the crest and then the final run ending downhill.

By the end I was so spent that I couldn’t consider a short run in the woods so I got in the car and headed home quickly so I’d still be hot by the time I hit the pool. I only went in for a couple of minutes but it was enough to cool me down. My right hamstring was really hurting and my knee was also a little sore so I put ice and compression on them. This morning there’s still some residual pain around my hamstring but it’s not intense. I’m going to try a short run and spend some time in the pool today. I’m sure I won’t make 15 miles but I’ll do my best.

Getting up to speed (literally)

On May 30, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

I was thinking about my upcoming race on June 7, 8K (5 miles) in New Hyde Park, NY. This will be my longest race to date and it will certainly push me to the limit in terms of effort and conditioning. After dedicated focus on running for the past nine months I have reached the point where I can handle the distance but not necessarily at the pace that I’d like to run. I am satisfied with my performance on the 4 miler and the 5K but while I was consistently running below 9 minutes per mile a month or two ago my speed seems to have regressed to the point that I’m still in the 9:00 to 9:10 range on most of my better runs. It’s possible that I’m doing better than I think. Since I changed the battery in my Garmin 50 foot pod its distance accuracy has been questionable. The other variable is my shoes. I switched from My Nike Turbulence 13’s to the Brooks GTS 9’s after the 5K. The Brooks feel great and my hip and leg problems have gone away for the most part. Could it be that I just don’t run as fast in them?

I am excited about the race but I’ll admit my anticipation is different now that I know more what to expect for the most part. I’m trying to pick up as many miles earlier in the week and taper near the end of the week possibly running a slightly shorter but faster course next Friday.

Yesterday AG and I did our weekly city run down the bike trails along the West Side Highway. We did this run as an end of the week recreational run rather than a business update. We started close to our building and went west about a mile before heading south along the path to the park behind Stuyvesant High School on Chambers Street. In total we covered close to 5 miles and after we returned to the office we Gmapped the route to calculate our pace. It was hard to determine the true pace because I only timed the longer southern route but it appeared as though we ran around 9:30 or so per mile. I kept the pace relatively slow because I wasn’t feeling strong enough to work on speed. At one point she turned around to look at something we had just past and ran backward for short time at the same pace I was running forward! I’ll blame some of my slowness on the fact that I just run better in the morning. I’m also not feeling all that great this morning and I’m wondering if I was fighting a slight fever. But it’s easy to make excuses.

My plan today is to run about 5 miles and I think I may do that later in the day. I also want to work in some speed drills. I’m sure doing that helped me achieve a decent pace in the 5K. Eight days and counting to the 8K. It’s coming fast.

Memorable Memorial Day

On May 23, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

We had an event that took up most of our day today so I got an early start to my run. I took off around 6:30 AM with no planned route or distance. I figured that I’d do at least 30 minutes and let my location relative to home determine my full distance. I got off to a good start navigating through my neighborhood for a couple of miles before crossing over to neighborhood #2. The weather was cool and I wasn’t having any issues with my leg so I figured it would be a fairly smooth run. I did a loop through neighborhood #2 and by the time I exited into the far end of my neighborhood I was starting to feel some fatigue. Throughout the run I was thinking about pace and I was a little frustrated that I wasn’t getting an accurate read from the Garmin foot pod. The pace it was showing was about 9:47 yet I knew I was running close to race pace at that point. I really have to do a focused calibration on the Garmin this weekend.

While I wasn’t really all that tired or in any way winded as I approached 30 minutes I recall feeling like I was working harder to run 3 miles than I had in recent days. It was hot this morning but not oppressive. As I ran I kept thinking about how it would feel to jump into the pool when I got home. So much of running is accepting some pain and tedium and while last weekend’s runs seemed a lot like floating today’s felt less buoyant. Despite the way I felt I decided to run another 10+ minutes towards home. It was getting hotter as the sun rose higher and I decided to push the pace a few times to test my conditioning. As I reached the last couple of streets I began to feel some slight discomfort coming from my right inside leg. I held back a little concerned that it could be a groin related issue but I did push the last quarter mile. Knowing the Garmin is currently inaccurate for distance I Gmapped the run and calculated that my pace was 9:07 for 4.82 miles.

I gave myself a few minutes to get my heart rate down, quickly changed into swim trunks and jumped in the pool for the first time this season. I entered the pool hot and sweating and emerged freezing (which was a much better feeling). The rest of the day was spent at an event where the music was too loud and the high calorie food was too available. I certainly exceeded my calorie and fat quota today and didn’t much enjoy it. I know I’ll run it all off but I’m feeling a little guilty, especially about the sugar.

I saw AG’s tweet reports from the Patch Sprint 12 mile mountain race. Her team all finished the event and one teammate finished 2nd. Great going to all. I’m hoping the rain hold off tomorrow so I can try the Bethpage trails. I did 20.6 miles this past week and I hope to total at least 13 over the long weekend. 8 miles to go!

A weekend of joyful running

On May 10, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I’ve really enjoyed running this weekend and I’ll give much of the credit to my new shoes. The pleasure of running pain-free combined with the feeling of moving efficiently has often eluded me over the last couple of months. I am appreciating the Brooks although I do wish that the tongue extended higher past the throat to provide more padding when the laces are tightened. Other than that they are really great and they have quickly dispatched my leg soreness issues. I thought I might redeploy my Nikes as my office running shoes so I tried them again with the after market insoles I had recently purchased. Wearing the Brooks over the last seven days gave me an opportunity to compare the two pairs and the new insoles in the Nikes exaggerated the pronation and made me realize why I needed a stability shoe. I went back to the original insoles and that stabilized the Nikes enough to use them for another activity: a Mothers Day soccer game with my wife and kids.

As for running, I did more miles over a (two day) weekend than ever before. On top of yesterday’s near six I ran 4.6 miles this morning. Like yesterday, I did this distance feeling very strong and I wasn’t especially tired by the end. As I ran I worked on my form and stride and played with my pace a bit. I did the first quarter mile along a measured distance and noticed that the Garmin was tracking about 6% short. I knew I would need to Gmap my route against my total time to get my true pace but at least I knew that whatever the Garmin was reporting I had run faster and farther. I mixed up my route and covered some streets I haven’t taken in a while. The whole run felt great and, for the second time this weekend, I reached the “zone” that I had heard of and read about but had never personally experienced. Where was the noble suffering that I had come to expect? Was this some great breakthrough that has propelled me from the status of beginner to something more? Had the Emerging Runner finally emerged?

Well, not exactly.

I do think that I’ve made progress and I’m a far better runner than I was nine months ago but much of this weekend’s experience had to do with using the right gear and focusing more on duration and less on speed. My pace for today’s run was 9:17 which surprised me because I thought I was moving along at a better clip. But I now know through experience that I can integrate speed into my distance runs every few minutes and gain 20 or more seconds per mile. In the meantime I’ll be happy to have run 10.5 miles over two days and loved every minute of it.

So close and yet so far

On May 9, 2009 By Emerging Runner1 Comment

When I finished my run this morning I was excited for the fact that I’d set a personal distance record. I was even more excited by the distance that my Garmin had recorded: 6.17 miles. Prior to this I had only managed to cover about 5.5 miles so getting past 6 was a big psychological barrier to cross. I took it slowly and didn’t care about my pace. I felt very good throughout the run and my last mile felt about the same as my first. I only stopped because it was getting to be close to an hour and I didn’t want them worrying about me at home. As I often do after a run, I mapped my course using Google Gmaps and was stunned to see that my actual distance was 5.95 miles. Not even 6! I studied the course I’d mapped hoping I’d left a street or two out but it was accurate. Due to the weather I ran with my New Balance trail shoes (that performed great, best $49 I’ve ever spent) and I’m guessing that the way I positioned the foot pod on my shoe threw off its accuracy.

So that’s a disappointment but the fact remains that I covered more ground than ever before. Better yet, the LSD approach (pace was mid-9’s) allowed me to maintain a steady pace and enjoy the ride. I did increase my speed over the last half mile but with a run of that length it didn’t materially change my overall pace. The good news is that I could have run another two miles without much effort. I just wish I’d run another 230 feet.

Keeping my distance

On May 8, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Up until this March I was focusing much of my run strategy on building distance. As a relatively new runner I felt that I needed to establish a baseline for progress and that meant adding more length to my weekend runs. I was tracking very well through February and, though it’s the shortest month of the year, I totaled more miles than any previous month. Once March rolled in my strategy changed as I focused on my April race. I put more attention to speed and pace and less on distance. My weekend runs that were averaging between 4 to 5 miles became shorter and faster. Prior to March my average pace was about 9:30 per mile and since April it’s been under 9:00/mile. I’m pleased with my progress and with the results. My two races clocked in with pace times well under nine minutes.

Since my next race is 5 miles it’s necessary for me to refocus on distance training. I’m okay about giving up some speed to do this but I’m concerned about finding a training route near my home that allows me to cover 5+ miles without the tedium of repeating many of the same roads. The issue is psychological. The farther away I am from the finish, the easier it is for me to run distances. Once I come close to my home I begin to fade in anticipation of stopping. In the past I’ve been able to will myself to take a longer path back when I’m near home but lately I’ve just headed in, usually after 3 to 4 miles. I used to trick myself by running up and down parallel streets to build more distance in a tighter area that was relatively far from my endpoint.

The alternative is to go to the track and pre-establish a circuit with no stopping until I hit 20 laps. I have done this a number of times and while it is a solution it can also be mind numbingly boring. I’m thinking that, for tomorrow, I’ll map out a route in my neighborhood that will allow me to cover 5 miles without traveling the same road twice that won’t come close to my home until the very end. I’ll incorporate neighborhood #2 to gain an extra mile or two. As for pace, I’ll let nature take its course.

Not so Long Slow Distance

On April 26, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

I must have slept through spring because summer is here on Long Island. Actually the temperatures are very summer-like but happily the air is still spring dry. I’m a cold weather person and a morning runner but yesterday was busy and I wasn’t able to get out until 5:00 PM when the thermometer read 84 degrees. I ran late afternoon on Friday so this was similar in terms of timing. However, our Central Park run was much cooler.

I made the mistake of not properly wrapping my small toes prior to the Friday run. This is a technique I started over a decade ago when I lived in the city. Those days it wouldn’t be unusual for us to walk from Battery Park to the Upper West Side, across town and then home to Murray Hill, all in one day. I used to get tremendous blisters from this and discovered that wrapping a small piece of plastic wrap around my first and second toe would ward off most of the damage. I’m beginning to suffer from this problem with my Nike Turbulence 13’s and it’s making me think that they’re due for replacement after over 400 miles of excellent service. By yesterday morning my feet were hurting pretty good and although I wrapped them for Saturday’s and today’s runs they are a little raw. Tomorrow I’m planning to elliptical which has far less impact on my feet and I’m hoping they bounce back quickly.

My running over the past three days has been a mixed bag. I thought Friday was a very good run although the numbers don’t reflect that. Yesterday’s afternoon run was about the same distance (3.2 miles) with a pace just under 9 minutes. This morning, with only 15 hours separating me from yesterday’s workout, I took the LSD approach (you can argue whether 3 miles should be considered “long”) and my pace reflected it, closer to 9:20. But let me tell you it was hot and, in terms of conditioning, a real workout.

Overall, I covered close to 10 miles between 5:00 PM Friday and 9:00 AM Sunday. The weather reports are encouraging, predicting closer to 60’s than 80’s for next weekend. I’m pleased that I was able to manage some taxing runs late in the day with some heat and I’m happy that I’m only covering 5K and not 4 miles at Saturday’s race. I’m excited about this race because I know more about what to expect. After all, you only experience your second race once!

Bonus miles

On April 9, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I’m home from work today, which gave me an opportunity to run longer than I usually do on a weekday. It may be the full moon, the atmospheric pressure, a cold or an allergy but I woke up feeling tired, weak and headachy. I announced last night that I’d do my morning run outside at 6:15 AM (celebrating the fact that there’s now good light at that time) but that was over ambitious and I didn’t actually set out until after 8:00 having had more than a few of cups of coffee.

I am in the narrow part of my training cycle and I want to put in as many miles as I can before I go into my ‘quiet period’ two days before my race. I’ve had a few recent conversations with other, more experienced, runners and they have kindly provided guidance in terms of preparation for the event. What they don’t say (because they’re nice) is “Four miles isn’t a very long distance so you don’t need to do too much to prepare.” That is probably true but you only get one first race experience and they respect that.

I didn’t set a distance goal for today’s run but I’d hoped to do at least 5K. I headed quickly to neighborhood #2 to get a couple of miles down before circling back to my main neighborhood loop. I felt good as I ran but I didn’t quite trust it since I was feeling very low just a few hours before. I dressed well for the weather (low 40’s) but the sun did get warm near the end. When I reached one of my either-or points on my route (where I decide to take either a longer or shorter leg to the finish) I was happy to note that I had just passed three miles. I wasn’t running especially fast but it seemed to be a good pace. I ended up covering 4.1 miles and calculated that I’d maintained an overall pace of 9:06/mile. I could have easily broken 9:00 minutes if I’d paid attention to the Garmin and picked up the pace for a few segments. I’m pleased with the results and glad I traveled more distance than I’d expected to cover. I have the weekend to work on strength and speed and will probably do one more long run early next week while I’m away on business.

Off in the distance

On March 30, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Last night I uploaded my prior week’s runs to Garmin Connect and also updated my total workout history to MapMyRun. The Garmin Connect reports verified that my average pace has improved but, when I looked at overall monthly distance on MapMyRun, I noticed I was falling short of the previous month. This bothered me for two reasons. For one, I’ve never had a decline in total distance compared to the previous month. To date, I’ve gained about 3% each month over the last six months. The second reason was that March, a month with 31 days, will likely show a 7% decline against February, a month with 10% less days.

At this point, the only way I could end up even with February would be to run five miles tomorrow and that isn’t going to happen. I guess I could blame my leg injury because I have been very careful not to strain it. I’ve also been focusing more on faster paces rather than longer, slower runs. Yesterday and today I chose the elliptical to further help my leg recovery and I’m pleased to note that I’ve had the least amount of pain today than I’ve had in the past three weeks.

If less mileage and more cross training leads to better injury recovery I think I can take the hit on distance. If things continue to feel this good tomorrow I’ll try to run 2.5 miles and split the difference.

36 darn seconds

On March 21, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

This morning, with the temperature in the high 20’s, it didn’t feel like much like spring. My right side soreness was better but I was concerned about aggravating it with a long run. As I prepared to start, my next door neighbor (a CPA) was preparing to head to his office to deal with corporate tax filings. He said he’d rather be running than doing that (who wouldn’t?) and I said “Cheer up April 16 isn’t too far away.” For me it was time to run.

I decided that I would run a minimum of 5 miles today and planned my route on Gmaps to help me stay focused on the goal. My secondary goal was to stay under 9:00 per mile but I knew that running 5+ miles puts me at the edge of my distance capability. I set out on a road with an incline to help me get my heart rate up quickly. It was cold and I dressed with a minimum of layers anticipating that I would build heat as I ran. I was running an 8:55 pace as I reached my first mile and I started wondering how long I could maintain that rate. As planned, I cut over to neighborhood #2 and did the big loop. Not being fully familiar with that area I made a navigation error and I ended up running about half a mile away from my planned exit. I didn’t mind, miles are miles no matter where you take them.

Around the 4.5 mile mark I started struggling and I had another episode of hyperventilating. What was different about this is that I was relatively far from home when it happened. Like last time, I simply held my breath and ran until I felt rebalanced. I took a couple of slow deep breaths and soon returned to my previous rhythm.

I’ll admit that the last leg, about 1/3 of a mile, was a struggle and I tried to generate as much speed as I could but I knew I was near my limit. I Gmapped my actual run and compared it to the Garmin and was happy to see that they were within .01% of the distance of 5.22 miles. I calculated my overall pace at 9:07 which meant that if I’d run 36 seconds faster over 47 minutes I would have averaged 9:00 min/mile. Later I’ll look at my split times to see if I’d held pace under 9:00 for the first 3 miles which was the original goal.

I’ll decide tomorrow whether I’ll try for another long run or shorten the distance and turn up the speed. My injury seems no worse for the long run and I’m hoping the pain doesn’t return later.