11 miles of fun and friends on the Bethpage trail

On May 4, 2014 By Emerging Runner13 Comments

This was the best shot of me (out of 3) so imagine the others

Today’s run (Bethpage bike path): 11 miles

This morning I set out to cover 11 miles on the Bethpage bike path. It was the company of friends that helped me manage so well and made the experience great. Prior to today’s run, my longest run in 2014 was 9.7 miles. This was a 12% mileage increase, but I felt fine throughout the run.

We were hoping to make this a full Runsketeer run, but SIOR had to attend the soccer games and track meets for her dozens of children (4 really). TPP and I met up near the Bethpage trail and started our run north. We were hoping to run into Jonathan who I met on the bike path a couple of weekends ago. Our hopes were met when we saw he and his wife Katherine running in our direction. We quickly fell into formation running south.

Jonathan and Katherine are training for an upcoming marathon in Vermont and they have been training a lot on this bike path and the dirt trails that run close by. Bethpage provides a lot of hills and that’s probably good since they’ll be racing in Green Mountain country. We ended up running about two miles together before our friends, who’d started about three miles north of our starting point, turned back. They are great people and I look forward to running with them again.

TPP and I continued our run, going beyond the north trail head, passing through Bethpage State Park and then further south past Hempstead Turnpike. We turned around at 6.25 miles. On the way back, TPP unleashed her inner greyhound and began to insert 100-200 meter bursts of speed. She’s very quick and I can see why she was a sprinter in high school. If she was the hare, then I was the turtle, maintaining the same pace throughout most of the run. I did pick up my speed a few times as we got closer to the finish point, when I felt I could spend some energy.

TPP, in living color

The trail wasn’t as crowded with runners as it normally would be on a pleasant Sunday. Perhaps everyone was off running the LI marathon, half and 10K today. Still, there were cyclists and some runners. TPP, with her vivid attire, got her share of admiring looks. TPP felt that today’s run was a good affirmation of her current conditioning and I felt the same. After covering 11 miles and feeling great, 13.1 miles in Brooklyn feels far less intimidating.

Our next Runsketeer event will be very different (more to come on that) and SIOR will definitely be a big part of that. We really missed her today. I’m very pleased with today’s run and I owe much of it to my friends who make me a better runner.

The elusive convergence of speed and distance

On May 1, 2014 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Today’s run (street): 6.4 miles

I was channeling Chicken Little yesterday as I made my way through my 4:00 AM run. All the hard training I’ve done up to this point seemed to be for naught and I struggled to get through 25 minutes of moderately paced treadmill running. Some of that was likely due to the very early hour and fatigue from my abrupt change in daily routine. Today’s run was far longer, and much better than yesterday’s, but it wasn’t particularly fast.

My new work engagement provides a lot of scheduling flexibility and today I was able to work from my home office. That let me fit in a medium length base run and cover my longest distance since last Friday’s 9.7 miles. This spring weather is puzzling, but I won’t complain because there’s no snow on the roads and temperatures haven’t yet reached oppressive levels. However, my decision to wear shorts and short sleeves made me feel chilly throughout much of today’s run.

I was concerned that I’d suddenly lost some endurance, but I could tell from the first few steps off my driveway that I would easily cover my targeted miles. That was good news. What isn’t so good is that once I go beyond 85% of HR max, my stamina starts to slip. I can handle endurance or speed, but not both together. With only a couple of weeks until the Brooklyn half, I should be farther along in terms of performance. I don’t expect to PR on the 17th, and I’m not even confident that I can break 2:10. I’m going to continue to focus on base because, while speed is desirable, endurance is what gets us over the finish line.

Angry workers and the endless trail

On April 25, 2014 By Emerging Runner9 Comments

My view of the trail today

Today’s run (Bethpage bike trail): 9.7 miles

With the Marcie Mazzola 5K happening on Sunday, I needed to figure out a way to get my long run done this week. On Wednesday I logged six miles and was planning to run 10 or 11 on the weekend. I didn’t want to run that much the day before a race, so I decided to cram it in today. I’m wrapping up a lot of things as I prepare for a new role on Monday, so my schedule was tight.

I decided that the bike trail was my best option, so I drove to the small lot that sits on the bike trail north of Old Country Road. I quickly started running north until I reached Washington Ave and turned around to run south. My target was 10 or 10.5 miles and I felt great. The weather was perfect and the setting serene. I must have seen thirty cottontails along the path and countless birds. Not too many people though.

I did fine through the first five miles despite the hills that came about every quarter mile. My only concern was time, because I needed to be home (and hopefully showered) before a business call that was happening mid morning. Once I’d traveled south of the Bethpage lot and down the big hill, I started to feel a little fatigued. I’d swapped the sock liners in my Virratas for gel insoles and that turned out to be a good idea. However, the softer landing probably made me work a little harder on the hills.

By the time I reached seven miles, I became concerned that my progress was not fast enough to meet my timeline. I was really feeling fatigued and the trail seemed endless. I also realized that I did bad math in terms of turnaround point and I wouldn’t quite make ten miles. Oh well, it was only a 3/10th of a mile difference. The only disruption to this placid experience was when I reached Old Country Road near the end of my run.

Before I’d rounded the corner to the street, I heard loud male voices screaming at each other. It was mostly expletives. These were town or county workers who were fixing the bike trail at the point where it met Old Country Road. I was mildly concerned because I needed to run between them to get across the street and more concerned when I saw that one of the arguers was driving a huge front loader.

I think they realized the danger of interfering with a civilian, so they stopped while I passed through. Immediately after, the guy in the front loader started yelling, “I !@#$% quit!” By then I was on the trail on the opposite side heading to my car.

Even though today’s distance was almost the same as last Sunday’s, today’s run was far tougher. I’m hoping it had to do with running almost ten miles after running 6 just two days prior. For some, that would have been a non-issue, but it was only about five weeks ago when I was struggling to complete 4 miles on this same trail.

Tomorrow I will rest and Sunday I’ll race. What I’ll do for training next week is still up in the air. I’ll have to see what my schedule holds.

Bethpage run: Making friends along the trail

On April 20, 2014 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

I really want that chocolate bunny

Today’s run (Bethpage trail): 9.5 miles

Today is Easter and I hope it’s a good one for those of you who celebrate this holiday. I don’t, but I’m certainly celebrating the great weather we’re having this weekend. Sunday is when I do my longest run and the distance gets extended each week as I build up to half marathon distance. Last Sunday I ran eight miles and today’s plan was for 9. Depending on the training schedule, today could have been a ten miler, but I was reluctant to jump 20% from week to week. Though it was an accident, I ended up with a good compromise distance.

My Runsketeer friends are both in Boston for the marathon that’s being held tomorrow. SIOR will be running it and we are really excited for her. She trains really hard while taking great care of her family (4 kids!) and she has the athleticism to make it a memorable performance on Monday. No pressure, just qualifying for Boston is a victory. TPP is there to support her sister T, who is also running tomorrow. T is another high performer. That, of course, is a prerequisite for getting entry into Boston.

As a native Bostonian, I would have loved to be there to watch them run through my old home town of Natick, but I’ll be here on Long Island tracking their progress through the baa.org site. In the meantime, I have my own race training to do with the Brooklyn Half coming up mid-May and the Marcie Mazzola 5K next weekend. I’m very curious to see how I do in terms of speed in the 5K and whether all these hills I’ve been running will provide a performance payoff.

Today’s run was split into two experiences, one being a pleasant but uneventful solo effort for about five miles and the other a highly enjoyable almost-five with an other runner on the path. I parked near Haypath Rd. again and got right on the bike trail going north. I followed the trail up to Washington Ave and turned around once I reached the underpass of the LIE.

I maintained the easy pace that I need to cover long mileage while I rebuild my endurance. I got to the five mile point and had stopped at Haypath to watch for cars when I saw another runner to my left. We exchanged hellos and crossed the road. I suspected that he was faster than me and was surprised that he hadn’t taken off and passed me at that point. Instead, he (I’ll call him J) pulled alongside me and asked how many miles I was doing. He was planning to do about the same, we’re both training for different long races and his will be in Vermont.

Today’s elevation profile

J turned out to be a very good and interesting guy who also works in the media technology space, but not in publishing like me. He set a slightly faster pace than I was running and I was very surprised that I was able to hold up my end of the conversation. J is a tall athletic guy and I’m somewhat older than him. He could have easily run two or three minutes a mile faster than the pace we held and I was grateful that he didn’t. He really pulled me along, especially on the hills.

The time spent with J went by much faster than the previous five miles. Just like when I have group runs with SIOR and TPP. Good company is a runner’s gift. I left J to finish on his own once we returned to Haypath and I felt remarkably good after covering almost ten miles today. All this focused training is making a difference and it demonstrates that there is no substitute for putting in the work. When the work is made easier with friends, it’s simple to understand why we do this.

8 miles at Bethpage, but parking was the toughest part

On April 13, 2014 By Emerging Runner8 Comments

X marks the parking spot (map and picture)

Today’s run (Bethpage bike trail): 8 miles

Today was my longest run of the week and I knew I’d be doing it somewhere on the Bethpage bike trail. I just didn’t know when or where I’d start. GLIRC had a clubhouse run scheduled for this morning and I considered joining them for that. Those runs start at 8:00 AM sharp in the parking lot of the GLIRC office in Plainview. I wasn’t in the mood for running with a big group, so I decided to skip that event and do my long run solo.

TPP was also doing her long run at Bethpage today and I’d hoped to cross paths with her at some point. We did end up finding each other on the trail (she was easy to spot in her vivid pink running gear) and we ran together a bit. TPP was having a tough time this morning and decided to head back to her starting point. Despite that, she ended up covering almost 8 miles.

The Hal Higdon plan called for 8 miles today, although my ER plan had me down for 9. Since I ran 7 miles last Sunday, I decided that eight was enough today. I recall from my last half marathon training cycle that the challenge of going from 5-6 miles to 8-10+ took some acclimation. I was concerned that I’d hit the wall after 45 minutes or so, but I never felt depleted. I stayed around 80% of max HR throughout the run, largely due to maintaining an easy, but steady, pace.

Before I took my first step on the Bethpage bike trail, I had a frustrating experience trying to find a place to park my car. I’m planning to get a 2014 Empire Passport so I didn’t want to pay the Bethpage parking fee today. I was hoping that they weren’t charging for entrance this morning, but when I arrived I saw that the toll house was open for business. I thought about other options and turned around. I then drove to the small lot that is located off E. Bethpage Rd near Old Country Rd.

When I arrived at this lot, every one of its ten or so spots was filled. So much for that. I was 30 minutes past my planned start time and still had no place to park my car. I was going to park along Haypath Rd. but I wasn’t sure that was okay. I then noticed some cars with people who looked like runners parking along Colonial Rd and found a spot near them. I took care to see any signs restricting parking along the street. Seeing none, I parked and crossed the road to the bike trail.

It was only a few minutes after that when I saw TPP. Despite her claim that she was struggling, she looked strong as I watched her coming south in my direction. I wanted to follow the trail north all the way to Sunnyside Blvd. After a few minutes of running in that direction, TPP decided to head back to the lot where she’d parked. She’s really cut down on simple carbs and sugar and has been having trouble maintaining her targeted performance levels. I’m confident that will soon change.

I wasn’t thrilled about covering the section of trail north of Washington Ave because it has a series of long hills. It was no picnic, but I did better than expected. I’m sure last weekend’s hilly workout helped prepare me for today’s. The only difficult times were when I was coming up steep hills against 12 MPH winds. I maintained the best pace I could, shortened my stride and got through those situations fairly well.

Today’s route, with out-and-backs at both ends

It takes a while to cover eight miles and I ended up needing to go south of my starting point to pick up miles 7 and 8. That took me close to the start of the north trail. I kept waiting for my energy level to drop but it never wavered, except when I was a couple of tenths away from my finish point. That was obviously a psychological response to almost being done.

This training program has been nudging my weekly mileage beyond my average of 18. The past couple of weeks were 21 miles and this week I covered 23. That was with two rest days instead of my usual one, meaning my average run length has increased measurably since I’ve started training for Brooklyn.

Treadmill repeats, a little faster and a little better

On April 8, 2014 By Emerging Runner8 Comments

Check this box ☐ if you are tired of seeing my HR charts

Today’s run (treadmill repeats): 2.5 miles – 6 x 400 plus 1 mile warm up / cool down

My Runsketeer buddy TPP has been focusing on cutting back on her sugar and carbs. Reducing your sugar intake is a good idea (provided there are no underlying issues related to hypoglycemia). Moderating simple carbs is always smart. Most of the time we don’t need that sugar, but our cave-person genetics force us to crave it. The one exception is when you are 40 minutes into a 10K and you need energy right now.

I used to use GU gels frequently on my runs, even when I ran relatively short distances. Now I rarely use energy boosters, or anything like it. I’ve now reached the point in my half marathon training program where I’m approaching double digit base runs. That means I’m running for 80 minutes or more at a time, long enough to (supposedly) deplete my glycogen stores. So far I’ve avoided using supplements during this training. I took a GU gel along on Sunday, but never felt like I needed it. Then again, despite all the hills, I really didn’t push myself that hard.

I’m not Brooklyn race ready yet, but I’ve definitely moved the needle in terms of endurance. Running seven easy miles, as I did over the weekend, would have been a struggle four weeks ago. But I felt great on Sunday. This morning I ran another set of 6 x 400 repeats, this time on the treadmill. I prefer to do this workout on the track or at least on pavement, but it was raining fairly hard outside this morning.

Considering the challenge I had running 220’s a couple of weeks ago on the treadmill (at a slightly slower pace), I can see progress. Today’s quarters were run at 7.2 MPH, book-ended with half mile warm up and and cool down runs. I was very pleased to see my HR reaching 85% of max by the final seconds of each interval. I plan to take the speed up to 7.3 MPH next time I do treadmill repeats.

Tomorrow is my mid-week base run, which by my formula (80% of Sunday’s long run) should total 5.6 miles. I’ll try to run at least two of those miles at Half Marathon target pace, per the advice of SIOR. This will be the first “bridge” workout where I partially combine a speed and distance run. I’ll be interested to see if I’ve restored my fitness well enough by now to manage through it.

What female runners like to blog about

On April 3, 2014 By Emerging Runner11 Comments

Image courtesy of MilesToBlog

Today’s run (street): 3.25 miles

In addition to my normal publishing channels and RSS, I post on a private Facebook group page called “Miles to Blog.” This is a group of active bloggers who write about their training, motivation and races. The writing is uniformly good and some of these people are very funny. I’ve found it interesting to read what’s important to this group of predominantly female runner/bloggers. Please don’t take this as sexist, but I’m amused by the one subject that seems to dominate. Is this a runner thing or a gender thing? Can you guess the subject?

Moving to a different subject, I got out today for my Hal Higdon prescribed 3 miles + strength run. The strength stuff is still pending. Does carrying the clean laundry upstairs for my wife count? I’m in the fourth week of Hal’s intermediate Half Marathon training program, the first formal training program I’ve ever followed. I’ve been wondering if it’s working and had an interesting experience today that answered that question.

My two challenges for the Brooklyn Half are: 1. Getting my endurance back to the level where I can cover the 13.1 mile distance and 2. Developing the stamina to sustain targeted race pace. The Higdon method involves increasingly long base runs, timed tempos, track intervals and shorter runs. Plus strength training which I’ll get to at some point. The idea is to bring the base and speed training together over the 12 week schedule so that the runner is at his or her peak on race day.

I was curious to know whether, in the fourth week of this training, I had gained any speed as a result of this long/slow and short/fast run combination. I was in the second mile of today’s run when I broke my rule about checking pace on my watch. My Garmin showed an abysmal pace that was disheartening because I felt like I was running much faster. I took up the effort a little, but a few more checks of the Garmin showed that I was still over 30 secs per mile slower than my target. When I checked my time and distance after the run, I saw that, overall, I’d exactly met my targeted pace.

One thing I learned was that I shouldn’t assume that the Garmin is providing accurate real-time pace information. The other thing I learned was that this training is helping (although it took that scare to get me to pick up the pace). Nothing motivates like progress. I just hope it continues.

Half training is coming together but I’m running out of road

On April 3, 2014 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Today’s run (street): 5.8 miles

Busy route

I had hoped that yesterday’s speed workout would spill over to today’s base run, but that didn’t happen. Right now I’m experiencing a gap between speed and distance. I can do one or the other, but not both. I’m trusting that it will eventually all come together. Today I focused on getting in my miles and had another good run. Good, but not fast.

Now that I’m getting beyond my usual training distances it’s becoming harder to plan longer routes in my neighborhood. I got around those limitations on Sunday by running the same loop multiple times. I couldn’t face doing that again, so I played it by ear and hit almost every road, some of them two or three times.

It wasn’t a particularly stimulating route but I did see lots of Town of Oyster Bay workers fixing roads. I guess it really is spring. I also ran by a woman sitting in her car brushing her teeth and spent the rest of my run wondering what that was all about. I ended up running longer than planned, but not by much. Tomorrow’s workout is 3 miles plus strength training. I may not be hitting my ideal pace on long runs yet, but I’m feeling good about my training right now.

Long run, short route

On March 30, 2014 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Dark blue: primary loop, light blue: last mile

Today’s run (street): 6.75 miles

I thought I had eight more weeks to train for the Brooklyn Half, but I discovered this morning that I’d mistakenly added an extra week into the schedule. I’m glad that I noticed this before it created a disruption with my plan. I had originally built in two 11 mile Sunday runs prior to my final 12 miles the weekend before the race. I needed to eliminate one of them to make the schedule work. I have two consecutive 10’s before that and could have reduced that to one. However, I think I’m better off going 10, 10, 11 and 12, especially with the extra long runs midweek.

Corrected Sunday schedule

I had early plans today, but was still able to get today’s base run done by mid-morning. Rain was threatening, so I decided to forgo Bethpage in favor of my local streets. I really dislike running in the rain and was concerned about getting caught in a downpour. I came up with the idea of running a set lap of roads that are close by my house. I figured, no matter how hard it might rain, I’d never be more than half a mile away. The thought of running the same one-mile loop 6-plus times wasn’t appealing, but it was a practical approach.

Coming into this weekend, my batting average for good Sunday training runs was .000. The last two week’s efforts resulted in difficult and demoralizing performances. I suspected the very cold temperatures on those days were the reason, and anecdotal evidence supported that. I had a miserable five mile run on Wednesday, but much of that can be blamed on the freezing winds. Today’s temperature was over 40°, even with wind chill. I felt more comfortable as a result.

I was prepared for a tedious experience running the same loop over and over, but it turned out to be fine. The route I designed began with a moderate uphill section that lasted for the first half mile. The only negative about that part was the noticeable wind that made progress somewhat more challenging. Once I got past the incline, I had a reciprocal downhill almost back to my starting point.

It never rained, but a constant mist coated my glasses and required me to occasionally clear the lenses while I ran. Not a big problem. I started slowly and that really helped. I tend to start too quickly on long runs and it sometimes accelerates fatigue. Today I maintained a steady stride all throughout the run. I was happily surprised to find my energy level increasing midway through my fifth mile (ketosis?).

I was on the fence about whether I’d complete a full seven or cap the run at six. The lap I had charted was actually 1.05 miles, so I knew I’d get to 6.3 by default. I decided to go off route halfway through what would have been my sixth mile and added some distance. That ended up increasing my total by almost half a mile, not quite bringing me to 7. With the addition of an extra two miles on Wednesday’s run (compared to the Higdon plan), I was fine with that.

Next Tuesday I’ll attempt 6 x 400’s outdoors and aim for 5.4 miles on Wednesday. Next Sunday the long run total jumps to eight. With a trouble free, almost-seven run under my belt today, I’m feeling much better about my training.

Runsketeer training run at Bethpage

On March 23, 2014 By Emerging Runner6 Comments

Why am I smiling? I’m done.

Photo and artistic effect by The Petite Pacer

Today’s run (Bethpage State Page): 6 miles

Today’s run with my Runsketeer buddies had its ups and downs, and I’m not referring to the hills at Bethpage. The ups came from spending time with two of my favorite people, SIOR and TPP, who joined me on the trail this morning. The downs related to the struggles I had trying to cover 6 six miles today. It was the second Sunday in a row where I went out for a long run with great hopes, but ended up with a disappointing performance.

SIOR was running 17 miles today. She covered all but six of them before rendezvousing with me and TPP on the north trail at Bethpage. TPP and I took off in SIOR’s direction and we both noted that the pace felt challenging. This was not a good sign for me because we were running slower than our normal training paces and I feared that today would be a repeat of last Sunday’s performance. It turns out that it was.

We met SIOR at the one mile marker on the north trail. She had done an out and back from the parking lot and we all decided to head north from there. Both of my group-mates are speedy, although TPP has been hurting a bit and is still dealing with respiratory issues. She took a few moments for recovery (as did I) throughout the run, but when she was in “running mode” she did an impressive job of keeping up with our speediest run-mate.

Much of today’s run was spent watching my buddies progress from a distance. At first my gap was about 30 feet as they tried to keep me included. They both slowed or stopped so I could catch up and participate in the conversation. Unfortunately, I struggled to both talk and run and eventually encouraged them to open up and run their faster pace. They are great people and they followed a “No Runsketeer left behind” policy, so periodically I would spot them waiting for me to catch up.

I am still puzzled by my difficulties today. They started early and remained, just like last week. I had really good runs on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday where I maintained my targeted training paces. Wednesday’s run was 4.4 miles where I ran strong from start to finish. Yesterday I did a hard three miles near targeted half marathon race pace. The only variable that could explain it is the weather. Last Sunday’s run and today’s were both around 30° with wind-chill and I wonder if I’ve developed a cold induced breathing issue.

I managed to cover six miles per my training schedule, although there were a few stops for rest and to let traffic pass on Old Country, Old Bethpage and Haypath roads. It was a strange experience to be running with such a high perceived effort, yet not being able to keep up with the continually shrinking silhouettes of my friends as they disappeared over the many hills along our route.

Reunited in the parking lot

Photo by The Petite Pacer

SIOR made it to our end point first, followed by TPP who threw in surges at the end. I rolled in a couple of minutes behind her. One of the “ups” from today was when the three of us took a few minutes to chat at the three mile point of our run. We didn’t get a chance to go for our traditional Starbucks after-run coffee, so this was a nice substitute. We also took a few minutes once we finished, but the combination of cold, sweat and scheduled obligations caused us to cut that short.

I’m trying to look on the bright side. I got to spend time with my buddies and ran my planned distance. After last Sunday’s tough run, I did far better throughout the week. Hopefully that will repeat this week. Eventually I’ll get past whatever it is that’s making my Sunday runs so difficult. It may be something as simple as warmer weather. It’s spring, so theoretically that should come soon.