Happy trails

On February 16, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Yesterday afternoon we set out to find the Muttontown Mystery Trail which is located about five minutes from our house. I wanted to try out my new Kutu trail runners and my wife and kids felt like hiking. I found it very difficult to find information about public access to the MMT but, based upon Google Maps, I thought I found the proper way in. Turns out the Mystery Trail is a mystery. Aside from the equestrian entrance there was nothing marked as an entrance for the general public. While we looked for that entrance we came across the Planting Fields Arboretum that was also located nearby. We’d been there before for an outdoor concert but had never explored the grounds. This seemed like as good a time as ever to check them out.

Upon arriving we discovered that the Planting Fields has a very large span of trails. Some are paved, some have pea gravel and some are dirt. There are many buildings on the 409 acre grounds consisting of historical mansions (this, after all, is part of LI’s Gold Coast). There were many smaller buildings, some containing flower collections. There was even a covered bridge and lots of places to sit and (based upon the signs) view birds.

My son is still recovering from his foot injury but my daughter was keen to run. She and I ran a number of times while my wife and son followed. The Kutus felt good and I really liked the feeling of running on ever changing surfaces and elevations. I didn’t run any long distances and didn’t track my run but I would like to try a long run on these trails at some point.

We loved our visit to the Planting Fields Arboretum but we’re still hoping to solve the real Muttontown Mystery which is “how do we get to the trails?”

Future trails and Garmin travails

On February 15, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Yesterday afternoon we hit the local outlet stores in search of a few needed items. My goal was to find some trail shoes and I tried on a bunch including the Adidas Kanadias, the Timberland Vaporate and the Nike Assail. Many runners I know eschew Nike and I’m not really sure why that is. I run with Nike Turbulence 13’s and I find them to be very comfortable. I didn’t really like the fit of the other maker’s shoes and I ultimately chose a pair of Nike Tri-D Kutus which fit differently than the Turbs but feel very good. Later today we plan to do some running/hiking and I’ll have a chance to test out the Kutus.

I did my first solo run with the Garmin 50 this morning covering 3.26 miles at an average pace of 9:00. It seemed accurate as I ran by my measured benchmarks and I liked how easy it was to toggle between distance and other real time metrics with a push of a button. I’ll check the accuracy against Google Earth and adjust accordingly if necessary. I did have another negative experience with the Garmin software when I uploaded the data and it didn’t hit the Garmin Connect site or show up on the dashboard. I wasn’t upset because the watch retained the data but it seemed odd that the ANT wireless linking app didn’t acknowledge the watch at all though I meticulously repeated the the TxPairing process a couple of times. I finally discovered the problem which is that the ANT app uploads the run to your PC but only sends the data if you are already logged into Connect. The work around (which took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out) was to pull the uploaded data from my file system and send it to Connect using the “Manual Upload” feature. Okay, I get it now but Garmin could be a little more clear about what the user should expect.

The good news is once Connect has the data the presentation is excellent. It shows a length of run graph that details pace, heart rate and cadence and even has a play feature that shows this combination of metrics at every stage of the run. I’m going to try to upload this file to MapMyRun a little later.

The trail shoe conspiracy

On January 27, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Of all the running gear that I own my least understood (and probably most important) items are my running shoes. I started my return to running with a pair of New Balance cross trainers and soon discovered that they were clearly the wrong tools for the job. I started researching running shoes and was quickly intimidated by the many options I had in choosing a shoe.

There were shoes for people who were (regrettably dubbed) pronators and supinators. There were also shoes for neutral runners, front foot strikers and for other types of runners who possessed other seemingly important afflictions. I had purchased the Nike+ Sportsband to track my performance so I decided to look for Nike+ shoes that would allow me to properly place the RF chip below the sole instead of atop my foot as I did in my New Balance shoe. My salesperson at the shoe store recommended Nike Turbulence 13’s because they had good cushioning. As a new runner she thought I would want a more comfortable fit. It was a good recommendation and I’ve never had a problem with them.

I hadn’t thought about running shoes for months until I started becoming interested in off road running. As much as I like the track it does get tedious running in circles. I’m beginning to outgrow my neighborhood in terms of the distances I can cover without doubling back on any streets so it would be nice to have another option. I looked at trail shoes online and in places like Sports Authority and figured on paying about $50-$60 for a pair. Given the mix of choices I had seen for this type of shoe I decided to pay a visit to a local running store to get the scoop on the best trail shoes for my type of running.

My salesperson was a young guy who was clearly a serious runner. I told him that I run on the road but I wanted to try running trails as well. He asked me what type of trails I planned to run on and I told him I wanted to start with actual running trails as opposed to paths in the woods. He surprised me by saying that I didn’t need trail shoes unless I planned on running in fairly rough terrain. He showed me some shoes from various manufacturers and while the shoes were different the thing they had in common was the price. Every shoe he had was over $100 and I asked him why their shoes were so expensive compared to the ones I had seen at Sports Authority. He said they only carried top lines but he also said that trail shoes with Gore-Tex were priced higher than other shoes because of the additional Gore-Tex licensing costs. He said that in many cases the manufacturer’s own water protection and breathability systems were better than Gore-Tex but people wanted – and paid for – the higher priced brand.

I decided not to buy any shoes because I still wasn’t sure what I really needed. I know now that I can use my Turbulence 13’s on trails but I don’t want them to get too dirty or beat up. I’ll take a look at the more modestly priced shoes at the sporting goods stores to see what they offer – or don’t – in terms of weather protection. So I’ll add trail shoes to my list of other running gear, like a GPS watch, that I want but don’t necessarily need. I’d rather pay more to get a good shoe but I don’t want to buy more shoe than I need.

Trail running – the Emerging Runner’s next frontier?

On January 4, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I was looking at a magazine called Trail Runner which focuses on running in more rugged terrain. AG, one of the Emerging Runner advisers, had told me about a good running trail near where I live and I was looking for information about running trails in the area. There was another running trail, about three miles south of my town, listed in the magazine’s directory of races as well. I’m going to try the Muttontown Mystery Trail because it’s very convenient to my home. My wife and kids like hiking so perhaps I can mix a run with a hike. The only downside to trail running is that the shoe requirement is different and I don’t have trail shoes. Yet.

Today is the last day off from holiday break. Although it hasn’t even been two full weeks I feel like I’ve been away for a month. I had a great time with my family and many great opportunities to run under many different conditions. I’m very pleased with the progress that I’ve made. After yesterday’s difficult run I was concerned that today’s would be hard but I got an early start and ran 3.2 miles through the neighborhood. I felt great from the first step and although it was over ten degrees colder than last night there was little wind. I wasn’t going for speed and my pace reflected that but I really enjoyed the experience. Tomorrow will be a return to 4:00 AM running and shorter distances until the weekend. I plan to map my distance progress to see what adjustments are necessary for proper conditioning for the 4 mile race.