Hot slog

On July 29, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

No matter how hot a summer day can get, running conditions at 4:00 AM are usually fairly comfortable. I’ve experienced mornings when it was downright chilly even though the day’s high would reach the mid 80’s. Yesterday morning was cool and humid but today was hot and very humid. As I stepped out for my warmup I could feel the moisture in the air and I wondered how this might affect the quality of my run.

I took off and randomly chose a street to follow. I like to choose my path through the neighborhood in real time rather than map it out ahead of time safety purposes. I don’t want anyone noticing that I run past here or there every day at 4:15. Despite the oppressive conditions I pushed somewhat at the beginning to help accelerate my transition from anaerobic to aerobic breathing. I’ve been thinking a lot about cadence lately and wondering if I could increase my running speed by increasing my steps per minute. Soon I started feeling the heat and hoped the run would go by quickly. When I checked the Garmin I saw that I had only been outside for seven minutes. It seemed longer than that and I could tell that the next 2/3rds of the run would be a slog.

I ran with my Brooks this morning and they were fine so this was a good test of their performance compared with the NB 460’s that seem to enable my best paces. There was a lot more activity than yesterday including the first time I saw another person, not a runner, but someone coming home very late. There were three or four cars which is also unusual. One was tossing the NY Times onto people’s driveways and the other was tossing Newsday. On my short ride to the train station this morning I counted five runners along the way. I wondered how they were dealing with the heat, humidity and sun. No one was smiling. I ended up running about 22 minutes at 9:19, certainly unworthy of a contribution to the Garmin fund. All the same I was happy to have toughed it out on a brutally warm morning. Every bit helps.

Morning Glory

On July 28, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Time to add another $20 to the Garmin fund for todays’ early run. I was hoping to beat 9:05 and continue my steady improvement in pace during these morning excursions. I went out fast from the start encouraged by the fact that, right now, I am not suffering any injuries that would mitigate my efforts. I knew I was moving well and I thought about how running with others can help improve speed so I imagined I was trying to keep up with a fast paced crowd. In truth it was just me and lots of rabbits. I decided to run hard for as long as I could and throttle back if I got tired. I knew I could run one mile fairly fast (compared to my average pace) so I was curious to see how far I could go before I started to feel depleted.

It was cool but already humid and those conditions worked for me. I felt like I had a fair amount of glycogen on reserve as I passed the 12 minute mark. I didn’t look at my pace or distance and I was very curious to know if I was really doing well or if I was experiencing a 4:00 AM delusion. I returned home after covering 2.5 miles in about 22 minutes and was very pleased to see I’d averaged a pace of 8:40/mile.

I think today’s $20 was well earned but lately I’m wondering whether I want the 405 or if my new 3GS iPhone will provide adequate utility for GPS and elevation mapping. But that’s a subject for another post!

Short and sweet

On July 26, 2009 By Emerging Runner1 Comment

I had hoped that today’s run would be the longest of the weekend and I was aiming to cover 5 miles. I was happy with my weekend runs with AG at Stillwell and around the neighborhood and looked to cap things off with a slightly longer Sunday run. The weather was not looking good and there was thunder but no rain. I was anxious to get out to run before the storm and I hit the street anticipating a fast return at the first sign of lightning. I pushed the pace and went west on Jericho Turnpike so I could make a loop around the neighborhood and cut in towards home if necessary. I decided to run with my NB 460’s today to compare them to the Helly Hansen Trail Lizards and I was once again impressed with the versatility of the New Balance shoes. About ten minutes into the run the sun came out along with the heat and humidity. It quickly became clear that I wouldn’t be covering five miles under those conditions so I made my way back having run a total of 3.7 miles at 8:46/mile.

I finished the three day period with 11 miles, a little short of what I’d done on recent weekends. All the same I felt that Friday’s trail run and today’s brisk pace were worthy of contribution to the Garmin fund. I’m up to $100, a third of the way there. My next goal is to break 9:05 on a 4:00 AM run next week. I may help myself out by running again with the New Balance 460’s. They may be made for trails but they do darn well on the road.

The one after 9:09?

On July 22, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

You might recognize the subject of this post as an old Beatle’s song. For me it’s a question of how I’ll do the next time I go out for a run at 4:00 AM compared to the last two days. This early morning outdoor running has been a great enhancement to my overall workout program. I cannot remember the last time I got up at 4:00 knowing that I would need to endure the tedious and percussively loud whine of the treadmill. I appreciate the machine and respect that after more than a decade it still does the job. I built my running fitness with this treadmill over many months. However, respect and affection can be very different things.

Moving from a seven-day-a-week (five on the treadmill) routine to five days running outdoors, one day of elliptical and one rest day schedule has been a big improvement. I’ve never been much of an outdoors person (ask my wife) but running has changed that. Give me the road and the trails (or, worst case, the track) and I’m happy. I get up excited at 4:00 AM knowing cool conditions and quiet streets await me. The only downside has been that my pace seems to suffer early in the morning, especially compared with my past treadmill experience. Where I was running 8:50 miles on the treadmill I was running 9:30 or slower outdoors. I guess it has to do with the machine providing more help than I thought.

This morning I went out fast and tried to maintain a fluid pace. I knew from experience that feeling like I was moving along quickly can be deceiving at that hour. I ended up covering almost the same distance as yesterday, 2.4 miles, but my pace had improved to 9:09. This is definitely the direction I want and I’m wondering if I can maintain this progress going forward. In the meantime it’s another $20 into the Garmin fund for breaking 9:10 before the birds are up.

Banking on a Garmin 405

On July 21, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I’ve decided to target $300 for my Garmin 405 fund. As I’d mentioned previously, I’m going to contribute $20 to the fund every time I achieve a goal or perform a notable run. The goals are quantifiable but the other criteria are objective so I’ll serve as both the banker and the judge. As long as I think I’ve earned the contribution I’ll award the cash. Last Friday’s 4.7 mile Central Park run was on the bubble because I didn’t break 9:00/mile. On the other hand it was almost five miles, somewhat hilly with 90+ percent humidity and temperatures in the high 80’s. So 9:04 overall for that distance earns the first $20. Sunday was 3.7 miles under 9:00/mi so that gets the prize as well. $40 banked.

This morning I was questioning whether to attempt my early morning run. The rain was coming down hard moments before I dressed to run. With the 4:00 AM darkness, despite my headlamp, I had concerns about visibility. I opened the garage and saw that the rain was very light, barely there in fact, so I took off hoping for the best. It really turned out to be the best, the cool breeze and the light moisture in the air felt great. It wasn’t too dark and I felt limited only by the amount of time I had to run.

I ended up covering 2.4 miles at 9:16/mile. It was the fastest I’ve done at 4:00 AM but the judge is not awarding any prize money for that. Considering that it’s tougher to go fast minutes after awakening from a sound sleep I’ll concede to a goal of 9:10 for an early morning pace. Once I reach that I’ll bank the money and revise the goal closer to 9:00/mile.

In praise of the NB 505

On July 19, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

At the time that I resumed running almost a year ago I only owned a single pair of athletic shoes. Those shoes were New Balance 505’s; cushioned cross training/walking shoes that I’d had for years. I started my return to running by walking, covering two or three miles on the treadmill or in the neighborhood a few times a week. Up until then the 505’s had served me well as the shoes I wore every weekend for almost any activity except for formal occasions.

Even with four of five years of use they still looked brand new and felt great whenever I wore them. They were perfect walking shoes and despite my assessment that I’ve put more than 600 miles onto these shoes they still serve me well since I don’t use my many pairs of running shoes for anything but running. If my wife says we’re going to Target or to the market I still reach for my 505’s.

It wasn’t until I began adding some runs within my walks last August that I realized that the cushioning and stiffness of the NB’s worked against me. I soon bought my first pair of running shoes (Nike Turbulence 13’s) and moved to full time running. The rest, as they say, is history. Funny that when I’ve tried on NB street running shoes a few times since then I haven’t loved the fit. However, my NB 460’s are still a great choice for the trails.

I had hoped to hit the trails at least once this weekend but since my weekend schedule was tight I needed to stick close to home both days. Yesterday I covered 3.5 easy miles and this morning I went out early and was ready to move a little faster. It was about 65 degrees with moderate humidity and light winds so I worked a little on my speed and looked for routes with hills or long inclines.

After spending some time within the neighborhood I moved over to the western edge road and then went east to attack the lengthy hill on Jericho Turnpike before I re-entered the neighborhood. I ended up covering 3.7 miles at an 8:54 pace. I thought that was great considering the tougher than normal course. A brisk and challenging Friday run in Central Park and a rigorous run on Sunday book-ended three miles of CFMs on Saturday. I covered a little less than 12 miles on those three days, a bit shorter than what I’ve been doing over that span but I’m definitely running harder these days.

LFD and CFM

On July 18, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

LFD = Long Fast Distance
CFM = Comfort Food Miles

My hope for yesterday’s run in Central Park was to cover four to six miles at a leisurely pace, accompanied by friends CK and AG. CK has been recovering from a stress fracture in his foot and the heat and humidity both provided a good case for an easy pace. We met at the statue of the Maine in Columbus Circle at the southwest edge of the Park and started off with this plan (suggested by CK):”Let’s just run.” Although it was hot and humid I felt energized and we covered the first mile at around an 8:30 pace. Pace is a relative thing and while 8:30 is a 5K race pace for me it wasn’t much of a challenge for my companions. While I thought about the difficulty of maintaining a mid-8 pace for another four miles, AG and CK were happily chatting away without breaking a sweat. I finally managed to croak out the words “Can we slow this down a little?” and they immediately backed down the pace to about 9:20.

I appreciated the respite and we moved off of the paved course and onto the bridal path and followed it along the reservoir for a while. Our pace picked up and I tried to slow it down but in the interest of keeping up it didn’t get much slower. I lost track of where we were and at one point I was concerned that we had miles to go and were still traveling north. I asked AG in an almost pleading way when we were going to cross over and go south and she laughed and said we already did that. That made me very happy. Around the 3 1/2 mile mark the odometer in my body reliably signaled the distance with some discomfort from my groin pull. I said that I couldn’t do a faster pace from that point on although we were tracking well below 9:00 on the downhills. We finished near the southern end of the Park after covering 4.7 miles with an overall pace of 9:04. Considering the conditions and the length of the run it was long and fast and I welcomed the break. It took me almost ten minutes to feel recovered with the help of a cold bottle of water. When we got back to the office we conducted a taste test of Fruit2O water that will appear soon in Runner’s Tech Review.

I had some good rest overnight but didn’t want to push myself so I decided to do a slow recovery run, not more than 3 miles or so. I didn’t care about pace and I didn’t want to go out much more than 30 minutes. The run felt great and I thought about how sometimes it’s hard (see above) and sometimes it’s the equivalent of comfort food – satisfying, effortless and fully enjoyable. I had to rein myself in and though I slipped passed my 5K goal I finished 3.5 miles at around 9:20, surprisingly fast considering I meant to go slow. I want to do a trail run tomorrow if I can but our schedule for Sunday starts fairly early so I don’t know if that’s realistic. Perhaps I’ll do it in the afternoon instead. A great thing about the trails is that most of the running is in tree provided shade. It may allow me to combine LFD with some CFM.

I may be old but I’m slow

On July 9, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

During my Tuesday morning run in Central Park I spent time observing other runners that shared the path along the lower loop. There is no typical runner but there certainly are types: 20 something women running in pairs, weight challenged runners (joggers?) doing their best to move along, hampered by poorly chosen clothing (long sleeves, cotton jerseys) plus a mix of single runners, young and old, purposefully working their way around the path. That’s me.

I mostly held my position during this run and overtook a number of slower runners. At one point I heard footsteps coming up quickly from behind and before I knew it I was passed by two younger guys who were chatting away as they ran by. I tried to keep pace with them but they were tracking at least a minute per mile faster than me. I watched them disappear into the distance, their gait effortless, their nonchalance annoying. I soon forgot them and went back to my normal pace scoping out the other runners, hoping to find someone older and slower than me to pass. Minutes later a distinguished looking gentleman (he looked like one of those guys who plays the president on TV) flew by me going faster than the two young guys before him. Instead of being mad I was pleased. That guy clearly had some years on me and he was moving. There’s hope for me yet!

So the question is how do I do that? If I stay on the same path I’m on (approximately 20 miles/week – average pace around 9:00) will I ever improve? Or worse, will my speed decline as I get older? I know that Tempo runs and intervals can help my speed but I just want my running to be fun and enjoyable.

I was talking to a colleague before a meeting yesterday and he told me he was running in an NYRR corporate run that evening. I said that I ran and that maybe we should run together sometime. He said sure. He then told me he’s training for a marathon and runs 40-50 miles a week in the 7:00 range. I said I usually run between 8:50 and 9:20 so we probably shouldn’t run together after all. He looked at me, smiled and “Yes, probably not.”

Trading pace for pleasure

On July 8, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

I was woken up around 1:30 this morning and noticed that the rain was coming down hard. I went back to sleep hoping that whatever storm was passing through would be long gone by 4:00 AM. When my alarm clock went off my first thought was a concern that the rain was still there. If so, I’d have little choice but to remain indoors and run on the treadmill. Happily things were clear and I made way outside to run in the cool misty air.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done an indoor run. Between my early outdoor runs in the dark, weekly rest days and elliptical workouts I’ve managed to avoid the dreaded tread. The last time I ran on it I had a fairly pleasant experience but most of the other times it was near torture. Now that I’m doing all my runs on trails and pavement I’ve noticed my average pace has suffered compared with where it was months before. I’ll blame that on the treadmill too. Even though I disliked the experience the actual performance metrics were more impressive with most of my indoor runs clocking well below a 9:00 pace.

Still, I’ll take the tradeoff of loving the run versus loving the pace. I’ve always felt that treadmill paces were artificially low because the motion of the tread does some of the work for you. This morning I hit the streets at 4:09 and ran a little over 22 minutes covering 2.43 miles. Although I tried to push it and really felt that I did I only averaged 9:12/mile for the run. When I compare this focused effort on a relatively flat route to yesterday’s 8:49/mi Central Park run with lots of hills I’m a bit puzzled. No matter, 9:12 at is the fastest time I’ve done for a very early morning outdoor run. I’ll call that progress.

Helly and Moji

On July 7, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

In the last couple of days I’ve received some cool stuff to test. Yesterday I got the Moji-To-Go that, according to the site, is “a thermally insulated stainless steel canister that keeps the Moji Cold Cell at its optimal cooling state for 4 – 6 hours.” This solves a basic problem with the Moji Knee: how do you keep it frozen for hours while you are running in a remote area? AG is putting it to the test between soccer games and trail running and we’ll be reporting on that on Runner’s Tech Review soon.

Today we received our Helly Hansen Trail Lizard running/hiking shoes to test on the trails. They certainly look great and I couldn’t resist trying them on between meetings. They feel very responsive off the heel and I can’t wait to introduce them to dirt this weekend!

This morning I did a Central Park run around the lower loop and a couple of paths inside. Covered 2.15 miles at an 8:49 pace. Not a bad way to start a busy Tuesday!