Today’s run (treadmill) 3.2 miles
I’ve been swamped since yesterday and that’s why I didn’t post on Monday. In fact, I barely have time to post today. I wanted to get my run done before a morning meeting, so I tried to go out early. My timing couldn’t have been worse. The rain started falling, just as I was ready to go outside. So another treadmill run was in order. Better luck tomorrow, I guess.
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| This must be the place |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.6 miles
This morning was very busy, especially for a Sunday. My wife and daughter went to an early cooking class and my son and I had planned to go to the high school to run intervals at the track. Instead, he completed his weekend homework and I ended up doing a treadmill run. We finished our tasks, only to discover that our freezer was failing. So our morning time together involved salvaging food and trying to (unsuccessfully) restart the refrigeration process.
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| Ripped from the ground |
Yesterday afternoon, my son and I returned to nearby Trailview State Park for another hike. I had run close to five miles in the morning, but I still had lots of energy. My son was also anxious to go. We took a different trail than we had last time, and we saw some new tree damage. One tree, measuring over 30 feet, had been pulled up from its roots. Another had broken off near the four foot point. Other than those trees, the trail was mostly clear of obstructions. We went off trail once, just to see where it led, but the thorny brush discouraged us from traveling too far into the woods.
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| You’ve learned well, grasshopper |
It was a hike, not a run, but my son attacked the steep sections like an ultrarunner. He said he prefers hiking to trail running, and I’m good with that. With the rate he’s growing and the speed he already possesses, I know I’d have trouble keeping up with him. We’ll probably head to Stillwell Woods next time so he can get a bigger challenge. There are some sections on Stillwell’s trails that make Trailview’s tough climbs look mighty easy.
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| Correlation or coincidence? |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.1 miles
I’ve been catching up on my Runner’s World and Running Times issues going back to January and I’m saddened to see so many items and stories that reference the Boston Marathon. Who could have anticipated what happened at 4:09:43 in the race? I’ve wondered about the time the cowards picked to set off the bombs. Was it a coincidence that the highest number of people typically cross the line around the 4 hour point? My anger continues.
Today’s schedule has me on the phone much of the day, and my window to run this morning coincided with some rainy weather outside. I ended up doing a typical treadmill run while I watched the news on TV. It was mostly a repeat of the Boston story. How many ways can you talk about something like that when there’s no new information to share? Apparently, there are many.
The London Marathon happens this Sunday and, of course, there’s a heightened concern for safety after Monday’s bombings. The good news is that the London Olympics went off without any terror attacks last summer and they will probably use those same tactics to keep the crowds safe this weekend. The bad news is that the safety concerns for the race are now a bigger story than the race itself.
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| Ran it in spirit |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.25 miles
Today was the scheduled date of the Marcie Mazzola 5K that was postponed last week. I’m not into racing as much as I’ve been the last few years, so I didn’t look for another race to run in its place. While I love the whole experience of racing, I tend to put too much time and attention into the preparation. Lately, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to run without having to focus on either distance or speed training.
I’m still feeling guilty for not running one of the RXR LI Marathon races. A quick check on the site shows that registration is still open. But the price to run the LI Half is almost $63 (including “convenience” fee). I’ve run it the last two years, and I think I’m ready for a change of half marathon scenery. Frankly, I would rather put the $63 toward a pair of Saucony Virratas, that are high on my wish list.
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| Virrata – just a credit card away |
In deference to the Marcie 5K, as well as a lack of time to run this morning, I picked the treadmill over the street. I figured that if the race was still happening, today would been a fast run. Instead of playing with the treadmill’s controls, and increasing speed as I went along, I gunned it from the start. There are times when this tactic doesn’t work, and I need to back off a bit. Today the fast pace felt sustainable, and I even increased my speed over the last mile.
By the end, I felt like I’d run a 5K. It may not have been the Marcie 5K, but it was no ordinary treadmill workout either. I could have made it even more like that race by ramping up the elevation of the treadmill (to simulate the big hill on Woodhull Road), but that seemed a little much. After all, I didn’t even get a tee shirt for doing all that hard running.
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| The soggy price of procrastination |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
All of today’s business related activities could be managed by emails, calls or virtual meeting rooms, so I didn’t need to go into the city. Knowing that, I took my time getting ready for my planned outside run. The weather was cold and the skies were overcast, but the local news channel was saying we’d see no rain until noon. I waited until both kids had gone off to school and headed upstairs to change.
The reported temperature was 43 degrees, but it felt colder than that. I put on two long sleeved shirts and a pair of medium weight running pants. I took my time getting dressed, including HRM strap, GPS watch, RoadID and SPIbelt. I was just about to head outdoors when I heard my wife call from upstairs, “Do you know it’s raining!?” I looked outside and saw the water coating the back deck. Ugh. I headed back upstairs to implement Plan B.
Some people don’t mind running in the rain, but I really dislike it. Besides the visibility issues that come from wearing glasses, the experience is worsened by soaking wet pants, jerseys and socks. Plan B is usually the treadmill, unless I feel like a change and use the elliptical. Today I wanted to run, so after a quick change into running shorts, I was on the treadmill once again.
There’s never much to say about a treadmill workout unless something unusual happens, and today nothing did. If I had spent less time on my laptop this morning, and instead, headed out by 7:00, I would have enjoyed a refreshing outdoor experience in dry conditions. And if that was the case, I’d probably have something more interesting to write about today.
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| Be the treadmill |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
Rainy weather put me on the treadmill this morning, but I was fine with that. I’m way behind in my magazine reading (I blame the lack of a daily commute) and have been catching up on recent Runner’s World issues. I came across an article about meditation and running, and was curious to learn how the two might be linked. Were they suggesting that runners should meditate during a run? If that’s the same as zoning out, I guess it could make sense.
Much of the article covered mental preparation for a run, but the writer also suggested some specific meditative running techniques. One example was taking a breath every three steps and exhaling for two. I tried that on the treadmill this morning with mixed results. Just like when I tried to calculate cadence by tracking my steps per minute during a run, I found it extremely hard to keep my counts. The challenge was maintaining synchronization between my steps and my breathing. I gave up fairly quickly.
The one idea in the article that proved viable was simply acknowledging the tedium of the run and the pain and fatigue that may come with it. Instead of relying on TV or music, the meditative approach is to understand the discomfort and appreciate what’s good about the experience. As I ran today, I thought about how I felt (strong, mentally energized), how the floor fan was keeping me cool, and how nice it was to have a schedule that didn’t involve 4:00 AM workouts. I may not have reached the highest mode of consciousness today, but meditation did do a fine job of distracting me from the damn treadmill.
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| Wheel of redemption |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.1 miles
I thought that leaving my job might profoundly change my life. Actually, it has, but not exactly in the way that I expected. I’d imagined myself taking leisurely runs on the trail each morning, followed by a variety of activities that I’ve put off for years. Despite those expectations, my running schedule hasn’t really changed. Highly anticipated activities, like returning to playing my classical guitar, have been put on hold. I may not be getting up at 3:30 AM anymore, but I’m working harder than ever.
Much of my attention has been diverted to a consulting practice that I recently started. Creating a business requires many steps, ranging from setting up legal and business resources, to selling services to clients. So far it’s been energizing, but all the meetings, calls and proposals can wear you out. That became evident this morning when some work I was doing distracted me past my scheduled run time. After forcing myself to stop, I realized staring at web code for hours had given me a pounding headache. Instead of a run I felt like I needed a nap.
We were up late last night, but I’d found it impossible to sleep past 6:00 AM. I’d planned to go to Stillwell for a trail run. Soon enough, I started self-negotiating to shorter distances on local roads. The wind was blowing hard outside, further eroding my motivation to do my run. I started thinking about forgoing my workout altogether.
In the meantime, my wife who was similarly tired from our late night, had completed her workout and taken a shower. She said it made her feel better, although she felt her run was harder than usual. Inspired by her, I made my way to the guestroom to face the treadmill. I made no pretense that I’d make it a speedy run. This workout was far more about maintaining commitment than improving fitness and conditioning.
I started by running a pace that was 15% slower than usual, and stuck with it until the display showed one mile. From there, I began to increase the treadmill speed every couple of minutes. By the time I’d reached two miles, it was feeling like five. The experience of watching the readout slowly tick toward three miles was torturous, especially since I’d increased my speed to a relatively brisk pace by then.
Considering the short duration, I haven’t had many runs that felt as hard. I was thrilled to kick down the speed after 3.1 miles for cool-down. Although I was wiped out, I was also energized, and my headache was gone. This workout felt like redemption and I was very pleased that I didn’t skip my workout. On the downside, I realized that I’d failed to transfer my Fitbit to my running shorts so I didn’t capture all those steps and distance. I may have lost all that data but I gained back some self esteem.
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| Green light, please proceed with speed |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
This week is going by fast. I cannot believe tomorrow is Wednesday. Yesterday was a blur, involving much work that would contradict the notion that I have retired. The good news is that I’m liking the situation, especially since it only involves dealing with the Long Island Railroad a few times a week. Monday is my usual rest day, and I greatly disappointed my Fitbit by falling short of my daily goals by a substantial margin. I made up for that a little today.
The problem of not having a day that starts at 3:30 AM is that I end up having less day to work with. Even though I’m getting up at 5:30 AM now, my workouts and runs are colliding with morning commitments. Much of that is my own fault. Instead of rolling out of bed and then right out the door for a run, I’m taking time to have coffee, watch the news and see the kids off to school. At that point, it’s a competition to see if I can fit in a run before my first call, meeting, or appointment of the day.
This morning I had an early call, but I had the flexibility to push it forward enough to allow a treadmill run. It was sunny outside and the temperature was in the 40’s when I was ready to start. Even so, I stayed indoors to save the precious fifteen minutes I’d need to stay on schedule. Today’s run was a bridge workout, where I would introduce speed in a way that would protect my recovering hip.
I started at a pace close to where I finished on Sunday’s run, and started increasing my speed once I’d been running for 15 minutes. I’ve had no issues with my hip since last Friday and, after two pain-free runs, canceled my orthopedist appointment that was scheduled for this morning. Today felt like just another treadmill run and I think I can go a little more aggressively tomorrow. I hope I’m not fooling myself into thinking I’m healed when I’m not. Listening to my body helped me recover fairly quickly. Now it’s saying, “Go for it.”
Today’s run (treadmill): 30 minutes
I spent the day in the city, so I got up early this morning and ran on the treadmill. I’d considered the elliptical, but I had some cognitive dissonance after yesterday’s run. I wasn’t sure that I was making much progress in my recovery and wanted to retest my hip. I’m not sure what that accomplished, because my experience on today’s run was exactly the same as yesterday.
As I ran on the treadmill, I thought about my decision to run, versus other alternatives. I knew I’d be covering a lot of ground on foot today, so I could have easily used city walking as my workout. I chose to run because I really wanted to gain some aerobic benefit. If my hip felt better today, I’d know I was on the right track.
I got through the run without much trouble, but my hip soreness remained. The pain was no worse than on Tuesday, but I wondered if I’d traded a recovery opportunity for some marginal conditioning. There wasn’t any post-run pain, so I don’t think I did any damage. Tomorrow I’m definitely returning to the elliptical for a lower impact workout.
The question right now is when to try another street run. The last two times I did that, my recovery was set back for days. I need to get back to race training mode, but I’ll need to be sure that I’ve passed the risk point for re-injury.
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| Ambivalence in Vermont (Go Sox, boo Yankees!) |
Today’s run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
The problem with vacations, even short ones, is that you often end up less rested by the end than you did at the start. This weekend was like that. We returned home exhausted, but for the best possible reasons. Our weekend started with a visit to Vermont, where we were excited to spend time with my brother, sister-in-law and their adorable 6 year old boys. They’ve recently moved to the greater Burlington area. Besides being visually beautiful (it’s adjacent to the Green Mountains) there’s plenty of places for trail running. Unfortunately, my injured hip disqualified me from doing any of that this weekend.
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| Green Mountain highway view |
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| Green Mountain Coffee HQ |
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| Minuteman Centennial statue, erected in 1875 |
After spending midday in Stowe on Sunday, we finished up with a visit to the Green Mountain Coffee visitor center in Waterbury. We said our goodbyes there and headed south through New Hampshire, bound for my home state of Massachusetts. The rest of our trip took us to Concord, where we visited the Old North Bridge and battleground and then to Plymouth. That brought back memories of my primary school visits there, many years ago.
I was hoping that I’d make up for a lack of running by walking longer distances while I was away. I fell short of my daily goals, but only by a small amount. My decision to skip my run yesterday morning worked out well. I still felt some residual muscle soreness today, but didn’t think an easy run would invite further injury.
I was a little gun shy about running on the road today, since my last two street runs had ended rather abruptly. I compromised by doing a treadmill run and closely monitored my hip for signs of weakness or pain. I set the speed to a moderate pace that didn’t cause me to sweat until I’d reached the 15 minute point. Performance was my least concern. I began to feel slight discomfort at the two mile mark and decided to limit my distance to about three miles. I planned to stop right away if the soreness increased.
The good news is that I completed my run without any additional discomfort. It was good to get an aerobic workout done after three days away. I’ll probably do an indoor workout tomorrow, either on the elliptical, or on the treadmill again. Either way I’ll take it easy. I’m hoping that by Friday I will be back to form. If not, I still have my appointment with the sports doctor next week.
Emerging Runner 