Snowed out at the track, but not at the park

On February 10, 2014 By Emerging Runner7 Comments

Track was snow go

Today’s run (street): 4 miles

I ended up wimping out of the GLIRC run today. I debated whether to head over and see the condition of that route (it would have been a five minute drive), but finally decided to pursue a different workout. I haven’t focused much on my speed lately and the Bethpage trail relay is next week. A track workout would be ideal so (after much preparation and stalling) I made my way to the high school track.

I was hoping the track would be clear, but when I arrived I saw that it was covered by at least three inches of snow. It would have been perfect conditions for Yaktrax or snowshoes. I was dressed for a cold outdoor run and didn’t want to return home to the treadmill so I thought about my other options. First was the paved area at Stillwell that was right across the street. I knew that I could run a .6 mile loop there. Similarly, I thought about running the half mile route around the driveway loops at the middle school in my neighborhood.

Neither choice appealed to me, so I started to head toward the GLIRC office. I figured that I could park around there and pick up the northern end of the bike trail where the Clubhouse runs start. On my way there, I swung through the local business park and saw that it had clear roads and sparse traffic. I pulled into one of the lots and started a run going clockwise around the loop.

I had put on a lot of layers and immediately noticed how it restricted my stride. The 1.2 mile loop rises and falls with the clockwise direction, providing about 40 feet of elevation gain within a .4 mile section. I usually run it that way, rather than going in the opposite direction where that elevation stretches across 3/4 of a mile.

After so many treadmill runs in the past few weeks, I found the pavement a little jarring. I thought about my blogger buddy SIOR who goes out for runs in the double digits a few times a week (20 miles yesterday!) while I struggled to get my road legs back. Soon enough, the snow will leave us and I’ll begin my base training runs for the half marathon that will culminate with 12+ mile runs.

At 2.8 miles I needed to stop at an intersection where a few cars were taking a left toward Jericho Turnpike. I hit stop on the Garmin while the cars went by and (apparently) did not properly restart it. About five minutes later, I heard a beep and saw that the Garmin was shutting down to preserve battery. I restarted the watch and tried to estimate how much further I’d need to run to cover four miles.

Round and round the park

I figured that a side route towards the Route 135 underpass would gain me the distance I’d need to make four miles. I would have aimed for more distance, but my right knee was feeling slightly sore. I finished up fast, with my best pace of the run on the last quarter mile. I knew it was the right time to stop when I reached the lot where I parked. I Gmapped my route when I got home and confirmed my distance.

I only covered about eight miles over the weekend, despite my goal of doing ten. That was fine because my legs got a good workout, especially today. I do need to dial up the speed to help prepare for next weekend. With snow falling tonight, that will probably have to happen on the treadmill.

Seven miles of fun on the GLIRC Clubhouse Run

On December 14, 2013 By Emerging Runner9 Comments

Group shot just before the start

Photo courtesy of SIOR and GLIRC

Today’s run (GLIRC Clubhouse run): 7.4 miles

Well the snow came a little earlier than expected, but it didn’t interfere with today’s club run in the least. I arrived at the Greater Long Island Running Club (GLIRC) office just before 8:00 AM this morning and saw that I was almost late to the party. My friends TPP and SIOR were there among the assemblage of colorfully dressed participants. After some quick hellos and a group picture, we were all off and running.

The three of us followed the group and headed out of the business park onto the bike trail. It’s a hilly section from that point to the turn onto Washington Ave. Although I had good energy at the start, I worried about how I’d be feeling after many more miles. SIOR and TPP are both speedy runners, but they maintained a pace that I could sustain with some effort.

We chatted with other runners as we made our way south and came under the LIE overpass at Washington Ave. We crossed the road and found ourselves on a wooded trail that roughly parallels the bike trail. The snow had covered the sidewalk that led to the paved path, so it was confusing where to go. A little diversion into the woods was unexpected and appreciated at different levels by the three of us. The ice and roots on the path made the going treacherous.

We came out at Old Country Rd and continued on the paved path that rose for a while and proved a little challenging for me. Unlike the last time we ran together, today was more of a workout (though not much of a challenge to my friends). I found it hard to maintain a conversation at times, but we did have our moments. We took the run past Old Bethpage Rd and as far south as Haypath. As we drew close, many of the returning runners warned us of black ice further down.

I struggled to keep up with my friends who were gracious about waiting for me to catch up from time to time. They were probably running one or two minutes slower than their normal training pace, except for periods where they opened the throttle for a few minutes. I was challenged but I didn’t reach the point where I felt I was over matched or wished the run was done.

When we turned north from Washington Ave I knew we were close, but I also knew the toughest hills were coming. I took on the first hill with a pace slightly better than a fast walk. SIOR had no trouble burning up that hill as well as the ones that followed. TPP stopped to walk and I stopped with her. She will occasionally do that for 30 second periods and it’s a good strategy. I probably delayed her a little, but once we saw SIOR at the top of a hill we returned to running form.

TPP and SIOR took on the remainder of the hills at a brisk pace and I followed. We reached Sunnyside Boulevard and made our way back to GLIRC HQ where they hosted an amazing spread of post race goodies. After indulging in some high carb treats, TPP, SIOR and I headed over to Starbucks for coffee and conversation. Given the greater effort on today’s run that made it less conversation-friendly, we still had a lot to catch up on.

Post run – (from left), SIOR, ER, TPP

Photo courtesy of SIOR

It was a really fun time and it’s the perfect way for me to do group running. The next adventure for “The Three Musketeers” will be the LIRRC Hangover Run at Eisenhower Park at 9:30 AM. It’s a timed five mile run that goes around a one mile route. No bibs, tracking chips, or winners. In this event, everyone’s a winner. I’m looking forward to this event as I do every year and it will be more special because my friends will be joining me.

Hill grinding on the Bethpage trail

On November 21, 2013 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Not much happening at Bethpage this morning

Today’s run (Bethpage trail): 6.4 miles

I’ve been keeping busy on a big project that’s required long days on the laptop and phone. A combination of meetings and deadlines on Wednesday related to the project stole my scheduled window to run. I’d planned to go out for six miles as a final base workout prior to Sunday’s race. The idea was to end my taper with this run and spend today focusing on core or upper body. Losing my run window yesterday meant moving my last taper run to today. It was probably for the best, as I probably wouldn’t have done that core work anyway.

Running a six mile route around my neighborhood was not appealing, so I headed off to Bethpage to hit the trail. The weather was really cold when I arrived (29° degrees per my car’s display). I’d definitely dressed for freezing conditions, so I was comfortable at the start. As expected on a cold Thursday morning, the park was mostly empty. I took off south to start and noted that I felt good, but my leg muscles were a little tight. I hoped that would work out along the run but unfortunately it just got worse.

Despite yesterday’s break from running, my legs began to feel like lactic acid containers. I ran a mile south and then turned back the other way, reaching the big hill at around the 1.5 mile point. I’m sure it was due to my uncooperative legs, but climbing that hill seemed especially tough today. Once I passed the point where I started, I continued north to the newer extension.

I often complain about hills, so much so that a friend once told me to do more hill training and less whining. It was a little mean, but good advice. I like to think when I run at Bethpage I am training on the hills. On good days it feels rolling. But on other days (like today) it grinds me down. I went as far north as Old Bethpage Rd. before turning back toward my start and covered 6.5 miles in the process.

I don’t know why my legs were so unresponsive today. I was glad that this was practice and not a race. If I can I bounce back by the weekend, I may be able to improve on my performance at the Hope for Warriors 10K two weekends ago. Tomorrow I’ll try to do some walking to shake out the built up lactic acid that made today’s run so tough. I’m glad I put in some real mileage today. Hopefully it helped reinforce my 10K base for this Sunday.

My favorite running club

On November 16, 2013 By Emerging Runner9 Comments

From left: ER, SIOR, TPP

photo courtesy of the Petite Pacer

Today’s run (Eisenhower Park): 6.1 miles

This morning I had the pleasure of running six miles with two great people who I’ve gotten to know through the running blog community. I joined the authors of She is Out Running (SIOR) and The Petite Pacer (TPP) at Eisenhower Park, under cloudy skies and light rain. I’m no fan of running in the rain, but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to spend time with these two fun people.

I’d met TPP in October at the Oyster Bay 5K and saw her again last Sunday at the Hope for Warriors 10K. Neither of us had met SIOR in person before today, so it was exciting to finally get together. You can tell a lot about a person by their blog, so I was not surprised to find them both to be fun, smart, thoughtful, interesting and kind.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time we set off on our run. TPP had suggested that we start at my pace and then switch it up to hers followed by SIOR’s. Since the idea was to run together (I would have had trouble keeping up with them), we agreed that it was better to follow the most common denominator (me). We ended up running an overall pace that even I’d consider slow. But taking it easy helped us freely converse. And converse we did.

Eisenhower Park is under construction, so we needed to reverse direction once we reached a fenced off area. We ran the planned route backward and turned around at the southern side of the construction zone. Usually when I run six miles on my own, the tedium starts early. I was genuinely shocked when I looked at my Garmin and saw that we’d covered 1.68 miles. At that point I was checking to see if we’d completed the first mile! Time (and distance) flies when you’re having fun.

Today’s route

We’d passed five miles as we grew close to the parking lot, but we wanted to keep going. We decided to take our second loop around the pond and then finished after either 6.12 or 6.19 miles, depending on if you believe my or TPP’s GPS. My Garmin usually under counts by 2.5-3.5% so I’m guessing the actual distance was closer to 6.3 miles. Whatever it was, it seemed to go by faster than any six miles in recent history. That includes last week’s 10K.

The icing on the cake was our post-run coffee at a nearby Starbucks, where we continued the conversation for another hour. I don’t think any of us wanted to end our morning experience but the day’s obligations required it. We agreed to try to do this again, perhaps on a regular schedule. That would be really great because this would be the first running club I’d actually want to join.

Being a down to earth runner isn’t always good

On November 15, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Today’s run (street): 4.3 miles

This week has been a challenge, but I’m not complaining. I’m working on some interesting projects that have required me to spend long days in the city. I’m hoping all the walking I’ve done this week has provided some conditioning benefit. My running frequency has suffered a bit, but in terms of mileage, I’m not too far off track. Last weekend I decided to move my minimum training distance from three to four miles, so I’ve done over 8 miles coming into the weekend.

This morning I went out in 40 degree weather for my first run since Tuesday. I started easy and picked up the pace about midway through. At one point I started thinking about the way I run. Elite runners are fast because their form keeps them off the ground most of the time. In comparison, I find that I spend a lot of time on terra firma. In the moments that your foot is touching the ground, you’re not moving. That explains a lot about my speed.

I experimented with opening my stride hoping that it might make a difference. After reviewing my Garmin’s performance data, it looks like it did improve my pace from that point forward. Tomorrow I’m excited to run with the authors of two excellent blogs: She is Out Running and The Petite Pacer. They are both great runners and I hope I don’t hold them back too much. I’ll try to convince them of the benefits of long slow distance.

Data visualization drives a decision

On November 12, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Downward slope

I downloaded my Garmin after yesterday’s race to get a breakdown of my run. I’m a big fan of data visualization. When I looked at the cadence chart the data showed exactly where my base training had come up short. At 3.2 miles (almost the exact distance of my daily training runs) my average cadence had dropped from 89 to 85 SPM.

The shortcomings of my running routine could not have been clearer. I wasn’t putting in enough distance in my daily training. I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I usually run six days out of seven. While the frequency is high, the distance is middling. It’s a healthy routine, but not one that produces great race performances.

I’ll admit that it’s hard to break a running routine that’s been a way of life for five years. Clearly a change is due. I’ll continue to aim for longer runs on weekends, and try to increase my weekday distances. I’ll aim for the same 18-20 miles a week, but will only run three days instead of four. If I could get closer to a 5 mile average run, my performance might proportionately improve.

One of these routes is not like the other

On August 29, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Post run relaxing

Today’s run (street): 3.36 or 3.41 miles

It was another mid-high intensity run this morning. My heart rate (the only performance metric I’ll view while on a run) was close to target, and I knew I’d be happy with my finish time. A quick look at the Garmin confirmed that I’d managed another good run. I cooled down by the pool when I finished and tried mapping my route using the Gmaps web app on my phone

I was pleased to see that the Android OS was finally supporting Gmap’s functionality. That allowed me to record my distance and calculate my true pace. I liked what I saw: 9:05. Although I worked for it, getting there didn’t feel as hard as I thought it would be. Looking a gift horse in the mouth, I mapped the run on my laptop after I’d finish showering and discovered a surprising disparity in distance.

Distance: Android version

Web version, same route

For some reason, the route on my laptop registered 5/100ths of a mile shorter than the exact same map on my phone. Weird and disappointing, because that small disparity meant my average pace was actually 9:12. Not bad, but not what I wanted to see. I remapped the route to see if I’d somehow missed a street, but the distance came up the same each time.

So what if the phone mapping is actually the correct measurement? That would be nice. But I use the web version as the standard, so I’ll have to go with that. In the end, the difference is measurement is minimal. Unfortunately, the difference in pace is not.

Full contact running on the Bethpage bike trail

On August 25, 2013 By Emerging Runner10 Comments

Today’s run had its ups and downs

Today’s run (Bethpage State Park): 7.25
1,600th Emerging Runner Post!

Speed is one thing and endurance is another. I’ve made progress on my pacing over the past week, but that was with distances ranging from 3.1 to 3.4 miles. Doubling that distance reveals opportunities for improvement. This morning’s workout confirmed my need to focus on base mileage. The good news is that I’m not as far off from my target as I thought.

Bethpage at 7:30 AM is usually a quiet place, but when I arrived, the parking lot was 3/4 full. Judging from the streams of people with stadium chairs and kids walking with soccer balls, I assumed there was a tournament or clinic happening at the athletic fields. It didn’t look like they were charging for parking, so I was lucky to get there before the whole lot filled up.

According to News 12 Long Island, the temperature was 64 degrees and, at that hour, the bike trail was mostly in shadow. I wore my new Virratas for the first time on pavement (yesterday’s run was on the track), and they felt very good. I had none of the problems I’d experienced with the Kinvara 3’s (when new) during my half marathon training. Then again, those issues could have been with my feet, not with the shoes.

My first half mile was a little rough, and I wondered if I was pushing myself too much following three consecutive hard workouts. I decided to ignore the discomfort because the transition from anaerobic to aerobic breathing is sometimes difficult. Once I hit the first mile, I knew I would be able to manage the planned distance.

Bethpage’s bike trail is rolling, and the north trail is predominantly uphill, all the way to the end. Me and my friend KWL ran it all the way to Woodbury a couple of months ago, and that was brutal. Today, I viewed the hills differently, because I knew all the elevation I was experiencing on the way up would come back as downhills on my return. Yet there were times when the trail seemed to run uphill in both directions. While that was true, I had few troubles along the route.

My plan was to run as far as Washington Ave, turn around and come back, a distance of about 7.25 miles. I had the path more or less to myself on the way north, except there were some reckless riders zooming along without helmets. That’s a dangerous decision when you’re exceeding 20 MPH on downhills. By the time I changed direction for the return leg, there were numerous other runners, walkers and even more cyclists.

At around the five mile point, where the path is only wide enough for three people, I saw a man and two women running in my direction. They were running three across. As they came closer, I decided we had a math problem. I kept expecting the woman on the left (who was lined up with me) to drop back or move up to her right. But fifteen feet away, they were still spread out across the trail.

I moved as far to the right as I could go without spilling onto the shoulder, so I stood my ground. The woman tried to squeeze by, but she miscalculated the space and her arm caught the point of my elbow. I have very hard bones so I’m sure that hurt, although I didn’t feel a thing except contact. It was too bad that we’d bumped, but she saw me coming for at least 30 seconds.

The remainder of the run was contact-free and I felt like I was moving well throughout every section. I focused on shorter strides on the two final hills, and tried to maintain my normal cadence. In the end, It was my longest run of the year. I barely squeaked in under 10 min/mile but this run wasn’t done for performance. This week has been about speed, distance and a few hills. I’ll need to keep it up this coming week. After all, you’re only as good as your last run.

My Garmin speaks the ugly truth

On August 15, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

It’s a match

Today’s run (street): 3.25 miles

I’m incredibly annoyed with my Garmin today. I did this morning’s run and, as always, recorded my distance using GPS. I always assume the watch will under-count my distance, so I wasn’t upset to see the indicated time and pace. Usually, after Gmapping my route, I’ll need to add about 3% more mileage to the calculation. That often makes the difference between a good and mediocre pace. Today, both the Garmin and Gmaps said exactly the same thing, and what they said wasn’t good. I missed my targeted pace by 23 seconds per mile.

There’s no reason why I ran this slowly today. I’d tried to focus on form and turnover. The weather was perfect, so heat and humidity were not a factor. Perceived effort was on par with my better runs and I even ran the last quarter in a semi-sprint. But in the end, my performance did not match up to expectations. Tomorrow is my last run before Sunday’s race, so I need to make it count.

Zeotrope concept (left), example (right)

I took most of the day to be with the family and we spent it at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. The experience was great, and I even got to play with a nineteenth century zeotrope of a man running. But instead of marveling at this 100 year old wonder of technology, I was watching his form and thinking how he should shorten his stride.

City trek dwarfs morning workout

On April 18, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

And the day ain’t over…

Today’s workout (elliptical): 25 minutes + 7 miles city walk

I figured I’d be covering some ground today, but I had no idea that I’d travel over seven miles in the city on foot. My meeting locations varied between east 53rd Street and Spring Street, with a couple of other spots in between. I could have used the subway, but I didn’t see the point of that when I could just as easily walk.

Before I left for the city, I did an elliptical session. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I’d be getting a second workout later. The Fitbit recorded a couple of miles from the elliptical and, fortunately, I remembered to bring it with me when I left the house. I’d forgotten to take the Fitbit on Monday when I covered significant territory around Manhattan. The Fitbit recorded none of that, causing me to look like a slacker on the Fitbit dashboard. But today was a different story.

Should have that distance number over 10 miles tonight