Tired of being tired

On November 12, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

This morning was only a few degrees colder than yesterday but the dry air made it seem much chillier when I stepped out to run. The winds were back and particularly biting when they hit straight on from the north. I put my head down and headed out despite the feeling that, once again, I could use rest more than exercise.

I was talking to a friend at work on Tuesday about an ex-colleague and highly accomplished runner who used to take a full week out of every month off from running. It clearly worked for him but I suspect that in the other three weeks of the month he trained far harder and covered far more distance than I do in four. Since I ran this morning I’ve felt a little tired, head-achy and slightly dizzy. I’ve tried the coffee cure (double shot from the Keurig machine, repeat as necessary) that has resulted in a slight improvement but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m coming down with something.

A number of years ago I frequently caught colds and at least once a month I was taking cold medicine to battle the symptoms. At that time I was single, living in NYC and keeping crazy hours. My sister gave me some vitamins and told me to take them for 30 days to see if I saw any improvement. The result was 30 days without a cough or the sniffles and I’ve taken a daily multivitamin ever since. The combination of that plus being in very good condition has helped me ward off most everything over the last year. I’m concerned that my immune system is just delaying the inevitable and what feels like something small is really the flu trying to take hold. I’m probably making more of it than I should but I was disappointed to feel weak and tired today after taking two rest days on Monday and Tuesday. I may take another rest day tomorrow if I wake up feeling the same way. Maybe my colleague had it right by folding much more rest into the mix. It seems worth a try.

Good rest: Good run

On November 11, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

I’m hoping I’ve finally broken out of my fatigue cycle and that I’m finally in balance in terms of early morning and late day energy. I got to bed at a reasonable hour last night and woke up seven hours later feeling rested. It took me a little longer than usual to get ready for my run but I hit the streets by 4:05 AM feeling okay. The local news was posting a temperature of 54 degrees so I dressed accordingly. I included an extra top layer that came in handy within the first 30 seconds when I turned up a street and was hit with a wall of wind. It felt slightly humid outside and I expected to sweat. Accompanying the strong wind was a fine misty rain. It actually felt nice to be outdoors and I made my way around the neighborhood, keeping a moderate pace.

I try to vary my routes daily and the trick is managing the time and distance so that I finish up at home, on schedule. I occasionally find myself a little too far away when I’m reaching my time limit and this requires me to really push for the last half mile or so. I ended up covering 2.5 miles this morning in around 23 minutes. Not my greatest run but a credible effort that told me my energy levels have been fully restored. After really crashing at the end of the day yesterday I’m less of a believer in FRS although I probably need to give it more time to provide tangible benefits. Without a doubt, I’ve found a good night’s sleep to be the best energy supplement for running.

Going for distance

On June 15, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

After covering almost 15 miles since Friday afternoon I decided to skip my usual Monday elliptical workout and give myself a rest this morning. Between Friday and this Sunday I ran a total of 15 miles, the longest distance I’ve run within that time period. I’ve definitely increased my weekly mileage in the last couple of months but I’m still averaging about 2.75 miles per day. I try to do a couple of longer runs (right now defined as 3 miles or more) on the weekends and my weekday schedule limits my morning workouts to less than 25 minutes. I typically average around 2 miles for those runs.

I’m getting better at running longer distances but the work week doesn’t provide too much opportunity for that. Through city running I’ve been able to incorporate a longer weekday run into my schedule so between that, a rest day and my elliptical workouts I only have two “short run” days. I would be interested in expanding those two milers into three milers but I refuse to get up any earlier than 4:00 AM to do that. The only other way to do it is to run a lot faster!

In terms of distance I’m looking ahead to October when I hope to compete in the Cape Cod Marathon in Falmouth , MA. I’m in no way capable of running a marathon or even a half but they offer a five segment relay and I can probably handle 11 miles when it’s broken up in some way. I have a friend who runs marathons (he did Boston in April) who could possibly join me. AG is game to run some longer routes and she has other friends that are likely to compete. It’s supposed to be a beautiful course. More to come on that.

I’m happy with my decision to forgo exercise today. I don’t want to over-train and I’m expecting to do another Friday through Sunday long distance span. Tomorrow I plan to hit the road at 4:00, headlamp on.

Pre-race rest

On June 4, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I’m still a racing newbie and while I have competed a couple of times in the last two months I’m not convinced that I have figured out the best strategy for optimizing my readiness prior to race day. I’d decided to take two rest days before my 4 mile race in April. The idea was to aid my recovery from the harder than normal training program I had been following. I ran a good race that day and despite a few killer hills I kept my overall pace at 8:50 per mile. The second race, in May, was a 5K on a flatter course and I decided to push my training a little more and my rest a little less. I only took one rest day the day before and ended up averaging 8:33 which pleased me to no end.

This Sunday’s race is my longest yet, 8K/5 miles on an unknown course. I have not had too many sub 9:00 runs at distances greater than 4 miles so I’m not really sure how I’ll do. My goal for the 4 miler was to break 9:00 and I did. My goal for the 5K was to break 8:40 and I did. My goal for Sunday is to do better than 9:07 which seems to be the best pace I’ve attained for 5+ miles in the last couple of months. If I can beat 9:00 I’ll be happier still.

I’m enjoying a rest today although I could easily have run a couple of miles. I woke up with little leg and knee soreness (icing and compression helped that) and thought one more day of rest can’t hurt. Saturday will also be a rest day if you consider back to back appointments at the eye doctor and dentist restful. Then it’s race day. I’m hoping for the best.

Under a rest

On March 13, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Last night I had a conversation with my wife and kids about alarm clocks. They were mentioning how annoying it is when my alarm goes off at 4:00 reverberating loudly through the house. Hey, with the split second timing of my morning routine I need that jolt to get the day started. So I guess you could call it irony that I forgot to set it last night and by the time I woke up this morning it was too late to run.

Right now I’m debating whether I’ll accept my fate and just call it my first rest day of 2009. I actually considered bringing gear to work so I could run at lunch but, without ready access to a post-run shower, it’s not a practical option. I also have the option of running when I get home but I prefer to spend evenings with my family. Taking a real rest day is probably a good thing to do. I’ve been dealing with a sore tendon on my right side that hasn’t affected my running but it makes walking uncomfortable. A rest day can only help that and this is a good opportunity to see if my performance on Saturday will be improved because of this extra recovery time. This is important to know as I plan my strategy for the week of my April race.

I did take the time to weigh in this morning and was mystified to see that I am continuing to lose weight. I thought I’d stabilized but apparently I’m consuming less than I’m burning off. I should be happy about this, I’m certainly not emaciated, but I do need to build back some muscle. Perhaps some weight training needs to be added to the routine. That’s a good goal for this weekend.

Easy like Friday morning

On March 6, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I woke up this morning and noticed that my big toe on my right foot was hurting. I’ve felt some discomfort with it throughout the week but this was a little worse. I had just read in Runner’s World about foot afflictions and this appears similar to their description of “Runner’s toe.” It didn’t help that I walked a lot on it yesterday after a 2+ mile morning run.

This has been a challenging week and while I love what I do I’m really looking forward to the weekend. Spring weather is predicted and, with sunrises coming earlier, I think I’ll be okay running outside at 6AM. Every weekend I set a running goal, usually related to distance. This weekend I’m hoping to continue my speed work and finish one or both of my long weekend runs under 9:00/mile. I may trade some distance to do that but I’ll cover at least 3.1 miles (5K) on Saturday and more than that on Sunday. I need to total at least 8 miles every weekend until my first race.

Since today is a TGIF day and I’m worried about my toe I decided to do an upper body only workout this morning. I used the technique where I face the front of the elliptical and work just the arms. I did this for 21 minutes and was glad I took some time to work on arm strength. It wasn’t as hard as I’d hoped and by the end I was only mildly sweating. I didn’t want to overdo it and strain a muscle but the next time I try this workout I’ll turn up the resistance a few levels.

It was an easy session, not quite a rest day, but close. I’ll see if today’s rest from running will pay off for me tomorrow.

Training without straining

On February 22, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

After yesterday’s long run I considered taking the day off from training. It’s the last day of our vacation and it made sense to relax a little. I had a headache when I got up (due to a sinus condition) and my wife suggested that we take a walk around the neighborhood as a low impact activity. We set out with my daughter and walked for 40 minutes but, in the end, I still felt tired and my headache was still there. After lunch I decided to do a light workout on the elliptical using only the arms. I have discovered that by setting the resistance to 3 or 4 and standing in front of the unit (facing the back of the display) I can get a very good upper arm workout that’s similar to the upper body effort of cross country skiing.

I did the upper arm workout for about ten minutes and then ran an easy mile on the treadmill, mostly to see how the Garmin distance tracking matched up to the treadmill’s. After yesterday’s long run I bumped up the Garmin’s calibration slightly in hopes of reducing the 3% variance from actual distance covered. I was pleased to see that both the Garmin and treadmill were in synch with the Garmin running slightly ahead by a couple of 100ths of a mile. This is similar to what I experienced when comparing the Nike+ Sportband to the treadmill’s distance tracking.

Today’s walk, elliptical and run activities didn’t add up to a highly taxing fitness day but after getting my pulse rate up on the treadmill, followed by a quick shower, I feel pretty good and ready to contend with the start of a new work week.

When doing less is doing more

On February 6, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

My son has had a tough week. Last Saturday he injured his big toe and he has been slowly recovering since then. He’s also been feeling under the weather and is staying home from school today. Many kids stay home from school when they’re sick but my son always plows through. He’s in 4th grade but, up until today, he hasn’t missed a single day of school. He won a perfect attendance award at the end of 1st grade and never looked back. I respect him for his dedication but I admire him more for deciding that his well being is more important than an award.

I wasn’t feeling great yesterday and left for home a little early in hopes of getting some rest. I went to bed fully prepared to take a real rest day today; no running, elliptical or any other kind of workout. I have not done that since mid September which was the last time I remember feeling ill. I rose at my regular time and felt a bit weak. I got some coffee and planned to go back upstairs and watch the news rather than run.

Of course I didn’t do that. Instead I decided that I’d run an easy mile just to get my heart rate up. Once I started I didn’t want to stop and ran my regular distance. I even tried a speed technique that was suggested by one of my more experienced runner friends..

It might seem like a noble thing to press on when you’re feeling ill but there are situations when pushing can make things worse. I’m feeling okay but not great after that hard workout. Running instead of resting could have backfired and put me out for the entire day. I think I can learn a lesson from my 9 year old son who understands that taking care of yourself is more important than an award or a goal.

Rest days and best days

On January 7, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

The early start of the work week caught up to me last night. After two weeks off from my 4:00 AM rise time I was exhausted. My wife (and chief Emerging Runner adviser) suggested that I take a rest day today since I’ve made it a goal to do that once a week. I decided to wait and see how I felt when I got up this morning after a (hopefully) good night’s sleep. This morning, after some coffee, I still felt a little tired but I just couldn’t put off my run. I’ve been at this long enough to know that sometimes the worst starts result in the best finishes. One thing I’ve learned over the past few months is that no matter how good I feel in the afternoon it rarely translates into a good running experience. Conversely I have experienced great runs when I felt like going back to bed and sleeping six more hours.

This morning was one of those times. I started at a moderate pace but felt energized so I stepped it up and ran a little over two miles in about 17 minutes. It was one of those rare runs where I finished much stronger than I started and I really wished I had another half hour so I could keep going. So today’s lesson is that while you should listen to your body you should also follow your instincts and push it at times. Not to the point of injury, but certainly out of your comfort zone. Mornings work for me and that’s good because my two upcoming races both start fairly early.

My routine

On November 19, 2008 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I’ve asked a lot of other runners about their running routines. Most say that they run three to five times a week and have stressed the importance of taking days to rest or cross train. I don’t take days off to rest because I’m afraid that if I stop it will be harder to resume. Plus I would feel guilty for missing a day. I run one to two miles every morning (on the treadmill) and then do longer runs outside on weekends. My longest continuous run so far is 2.6 miles and I’m hoping to go a full 3 miles in the next few weeks.

We’re getting an elliptical machine this week so I plan to switch between running and elliptical every day (but run Saturdays and Sundays). The elliptical is low impact and will help provide a rest from running.