Running bargains, get them while they last

On March 13, 2016 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Friday run: note the runner on right side of picture

Today’s run (Bethpage bike trail): 5.2 miles
Yesterday (street): 3.2 miles

I got out early on Friday before my day started and covered my minimum distance for a run (5K). When I stepped outside, I noticed the scent of spring in the air. The temperature was 59° with a steady breeze that energized me from the start. It seemed quiet for a Friday, perhaps because I went out early. No recycling trucks or buses, just me, the road and a surprising number of people out walking. I also saw a runner (see picture) who decided that the middle of the road was a smart place to run.

Today’s route

This morning the weather was cooler, high 30’s according to News12, and I dressed for it. I wanted to cover five miles and headed over to the Runsketeer rendezvous point on Haypath Road. My route plan was to start at Haypath and run to Washington Ave. as my turnaround point. I had plenty of company on the bike trail, including some people walking with large dogs. I was careful to leave a lot of room each time that I passed by.

Later in the day we went to the Gallery at Westbury and saw (as I’d predicted), that the SA Elite store was closing. This used to be my favorite place for running clothes and shoes. In the beginning it was a beautiful store with most of its merchandise related to running. I’ve bought a lot of shoes and running clothes there over the last few years.

My bargain jackets

I ended up buying a duplicate of my dog-bitten ASICS rain jacket (discounted to $13!!) and a high reflectivity ASICS jacket for $23. We also got some old-school Onitsuka Tigers for my son for $30, a yoga mat for my daughter and a couple of shirts. The whole thing came to less than $100. There’s still a lot of merchandise, so I recommend a visit soon. They say the store will close when there’s nothing left to sell.

One last thing – I want to give a big shout-out to Runsketeer SIOR for running a great 15K race on a very hilly course in King’s Park this morning.

Me and the Tartan track personnas

On March 6, 2016 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Counter clockwise and counter-counter clockwise

Today’s run (track): 4.1 miles
Yesterday’s run (street); 3.4 miles
Friday’s run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

It was a busy week and I didn’t manage to get a workout in before Friday. My Friday schedule was jammed with meetings from 9:00 to 5:30, so I needed to get my run done fairly early. I worked from home on that day and was lucky that I didn’t have to do my long commute in falling snow. But outside conditions were slippery, making the treadmill my only option for running.

No surprise to anyone, I found Friday’s run almost unbearable and was determined to get outdoors the next day. The snow on the roads had melted, but conditions were still pretty rough. The local news station showed a temperature of 30°, so I dressed for moderate cold. It was sunny when I stepped outside and I was concerned that I’d overdressed. A few minutes later I was wishing for another layer.

Saturday frozen face syndrome

Feels like freezing

The moment I turned the first corner on my run, I was hit with a blast of numbingly cold air that gave me an instant sinus headache. I quickly thought through my intended route to determine whether I should change streets to minimize the wind. By the time I’d reached my first mile, I’d heated up enough to manage through the cold. It was a low performance run overall, but I managed to get through my miles and I didn’t get bit once.

I usually reserve my longest run of the week for Sunday, but this morning I had a serious motivation problem. None of my favorite venues seemed appealing (Neighborhood: ho hum, Bethpage: too many hills, Stillwell: too many mountain bikers) and I wasn’t going near the treadmill again. My wife suggested the track and I couldn’t find an argument against that. So off I went.

Although running around the track can be viewed as monotonous, I find it much much more pleasant than the treadmill. At least the track provides sensory stimulation through forward movement. On top of that, I always encounter a different cast of characters as I circle the Tartan track. By the end, I’ve usually monitored their workouts and made up names for each of them.

This morning, it was just me and walking man, a big middle aged guy who was wearing air buds but no hat or gloves. Walking man and I were soon joined by high school running girl who eventually lapped me. But while high school girl had speed, I had endurance, and I noticed her slowing down and eventually talking walk breaks. So I won. Walking man started running, slower than me if that is actually possible. A young guy also joined us, running his laps pretty fast.

I did my first two miles going in the traditional counter-clockwise direction and then did two more clockwise, allowing me to see the faces of the other runners. Most importantly, running that way prevented the humiliation of being lapped by young running man and a young running couple who came by a little later. I did manage to lap the walking-to-running man and a bunch of miscellaneous walkers who’d also come by.

I did a little more than 16 laps and focused on my shortened stride which I’d hoped would enable a higher cadence. It did not, and the end result was an unprintably slow pace. That is, except for the last lap where I said “screw it” and ran about a 9:15. That was when I lapped walking-to-running man.

So, this week it’s been three very different runs with the common theme of low performance. I don’t really care about that, but I sometimes feel guilty for not going out with the, “All you need is all you got” attitude that I had a couple of years ago. I’m really going to try for four workouts this week and may even stretch it to five if my schedule isn’t as insane as last week’s.

A choice between boring and freezing

On February 13, 2016 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Today’s run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
Yesterday’s workout (elliptical): 30 minutes
Last Sunday’s run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

It’s cold. The real feel in my town is -5° and it’s going down to -16 tonight. I’m doing my best to avoid the freezing weather. I haven’t been in a blogging mood so I didn’t post anything about last Sunday’s run. Here’s my writeup for 2/7:

I got on the treadmill and ran 3.2 miles and then stopped.

I worked from home on Friday. I would normally do a neighborhood run before beginning my workday, but due to our tight morning schedules, my wife and I had the same time window for our workouts. She doesn’t care for the elliptical and I don’t mind it, so we divided up the machines and exercised together. It was like having our own version of Equinox in the guest room. The only thing missing was the juice bar.

This morning it was even colder. The sidewalks are still covered in snow so there was no way I was going to run on the street. I liked the change of pace using the elliptical on Friday, but I really felt I needed to run today. The heat in the house was not energizing and I stalled as long as I could before facing the treadmill. I didn’t expect to enjoy the run.

And I didn’t. Treadmill running would be tolerable if there was a way to turn off my brain or redirect it from a constant thought-stream that usually goes like this: “OMG is this boring…I can’t believe I’m still on the same minute…why do the news stations have so many commercials…” I find treadmill running very tedious without the sense of progress I get when running outdoors.

To distract myself and combat my treadmill frustration, I challenged myself and pushed my speed to the edge of tolerable. Actually, that was only true for the last half mile. Most of my run involved self pity. I ended up having a pretty good run which is different from have an enjoyable one.

The weather isn’t supposed to be much better tomorrow and we have a full day planned, I expect to be back on the treadmill in the morning. Yay.

Shoveling, shoeing and even some running

On January 24, 2016 By Emerging Runner5 Comments

ER (left), Mrs & ER Jr (right)

Today’s run (treadmill): 3.1 miles
Yesterday’s workout (shoveling and snowshoeing)

If I look back on the past seven days in terms of formal workouts and running mileage, it might seem like a low production week. My weekly workout schedule is, at best, a compromise, but I still aim to do at least three runs a week, plus an elliptical session. Occasionally strong weekly efforts come from different places and that was the case this week.

I try to work from home on Fridays, where I can do almost everything I do at the office (including participating in meetings via video chat). This past Friday I elected to go into work because there were a few things I needed to do face to face. I usually fit in a post-work elliptical session on Thursdays, but I got home a little too late that day. So it was all left for the weekend and a big storm was coming…

We awoke on Saturday to a substantial amount of snow and 20-plus MPH winds. I watched the local news at 6:00 AM in between storm related cable outages. I realized that we’d only just begun. Instead of doing my usual Saturday morning run, the Emerging Runner family was out shoveling the first 5″ of what ended up to be 23 inches of total accumulation. Our driveway gets much more snow than our neighbors, because of the unique way the wind channels through. The drifts added another foot of snow to our driveway in spots.

The winds were unrelenting and there was a layer of ice underfoot. I was able to stay on my feet and move what I’ve calculated to be 1.4 cubic tons of snow. Mrs. Emerging Runner probably moved even more than that, because I spent some time in the snow not shoveling at all. I should say near the top of the snow, in my new Tubbs snowshoes.

My wife gave me snowshoes in October for our anniversary, but this was the first time I’d had a chance to try them. After getting my Timberlands securely locked into the bindings, I bravely set out for a backyard adventure.

Tundra ready

The snowshoe kit included trekking poles that were helpful and gaiters that kept my boots dry. I stepped out onto the deck and sank about three inches into what was, at the time, about a 10″ accumulation. I trekked around the yard trying to understand if the snowshoes we providing a big benefit over snow boots. Sinking only a third of the way down was better than post-holing. In some spots, where the snow was less packed, it was easy to see how the snowshoes helped.

By the time I finished, the entire backyard was covered with my tracks. I discovered that it was easier to move over the areas where I’d already trekked, because that snow was compressed. I tried to run with them, but it was akin to running on sand. I think I’ll do better with denser snow.

This morning we went out for our fifth round of shoveling and faced some big drifts. Once again, there was a wall of snow that the town plows deposited across the end of our driveway. We made short order of that and were happy to see the end of the blizzard.

I have my methods to minimize wasted effort when moving snow, but it still ends up being a lot of upper body work. I really needed to give that half of my body some attention, but I thought it would also be a good idea to run a few miles indoors. I headed upstairs and fired up the treadmill. After watching the news people desperately trying to fill air time talking about the snowstorm, I decided to shut off the TV.

Although I missed one of my running days yesterday, I feel like I put in the equivalent amount of effort (or more) throughout the weekend. My goal this week is to get back to routine with at least three runs – possibly four if I switch my elliptical workout with another run. It was hard work shoveling this weekend, but the effort was well worth it. I’m really looking forward to getting out on my snowshoes again under more snowshoe-friendly conditions.

Two-fer workout on a rainy day

On January 11, 2016 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Rainy day resolve

Today’s workout: (Treadmill) 3.1 miles, (Elliptical) 15 minutes

Rainy day and Mondays always get me down. While I’m not looking forward to this Monday, or any day this week for that matter, I had to deal with the rain today. I was optimistic that I would be able to get out this morning before the torrent. But even at 6:00 AM, it wasn’t a situation fit for running. I had little choice but to use the treadmill, something I hadn’t done since last October.

We’re coming up on our first year with our FreeMotion treadmill and I have to admit that it’s a pretty good unit. I had some bad experiences with it early last year, but that was due to pushing too hard during a run and severely aggravating my disc injury. The FreeMotion is far more stable than its predecessor, the Sole F63, and it feels more solid, like a hotel treadmill, than a home unit.

I was curious to see how it felt to run on the treadmill after so much time away. The experience of going from street running to treadmill running isn’t that pronounced, but it is different. I set the speed to my usual pace and set my mind on running three miles, the longest I can go on a treadmill before going insane.

Once I reached that milestone (get it?), I hopped on the elliptical for 15 minutes of cross training. It was a good workout on a day when I had no other option but to stay indoors. I got through my rainy day and tomorrow I’ll deal with Monday. I won’t get a chance to work from home this coming Friday, so this may be a relatively low mileage week.

Non-traditional Christmas day run

On December 26, 2015 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Wacky weather: roses on Christmas day

Today’s run (street): 3.75 miles

Nothing says Christmas like 94% humidity on top of 57° weather. That’s okay, at least it was dry and clear for my morning run. As expected, there were few cars on the road when I went out. I only saw one other runner and a few people out walking.

As I made my way around, I saw people packing cars with gifts or arriving at houses to drop them off. I could hear people’s voices and Christmas music coming from homes as I passed them by. The warm weather didn’t match the holiday, but everything else felt like Christmas. I pretty much floated through my run and was disappointed with my overall pace. This run was really more about the experience than performance, so I didn’t let it bother me too much.

Before the stir

Since we don’t follow Christmas traditions, like having a big family meal with turkey, ham or fish, we went a different way. My daughter and I made tofu stir-fry which is more modern vegetarian than old testament traditional. It was a big hit and we finished with homemade frozen banana sorbet with chocolate truffle sauce. Time to start watching calories again.

I’m not exactly streaking, but I have strung four nice workouts in a row and I plan to continue that through New Year’s, if possible. We have guests coming to stay this weekend and I’m hoping I can get in my runs without disrupting our plans. I just need to get out and back before everyone wakes up because I’m the only one who knows how to use the coffee machine.

A run in the brume

On December 24, 2015 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Can you see the oncoming bus?

Today’s run (street): 3.2 miles

As the song goes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. In terms of working, it really is. I worked from home both yesterday and today and my office will be shut down on Thursday and Friday, I’m also taking next week off. All that time translates into more time for running. This week got off to a good start with an elliptical session yesterday and a nice run this morning.

I knew we’d get rain today and it looked pretty gloomy at “sunrise.” I planned to do something but I figured I’d be doing it inside. At around 7:00 AM, I verified no rain was coming down. I dressed for the 49° temperature and headed outside. As the garage door rose, I saw that my neighborhood was enveloped in thick fog. Fortunately I’d worn high visibility gear.

Running in the fog was an ethereal experience. Like freshly fallen snow, it made everything look a greeting card photo. I appreciated the visual effect, but I needed to be careful because visibility was measured in feet today. If I couldn’t see school buses, they couldn’t see me. The roads were reasonably clear, but I did need to detour over to the sidewalk a couple of times.

A year ago, I was doing my Christmas week run in much colder weather. It’s supposed to hit 71° on Friday. Me and the Runsketeers will be carrying on our New Year’s day Hangover Run tradition on January 1st. It’s really fun to hang with my buddies before the start, but we’re usually shivering up until the horn goes off. I won’t complain if this weather hangs around until then.

Running hot and cold

On December 19, 2015 By Emerging Runner1 Comment

Wool I buy more?

Today’s run (street): 4.5 miles

Yesterday’s pleasant weather gave way to freezing cold today. I happen to like cold weather running so I didn’t mind facing the chill. The 13 MPH winds weren’t inviting, but I dressed appropriately with windproof track pants and two layers on top. Plus gloves and an over the ears running hat. That outfit kept me toasty at the start and during periods when I was running directly into the wind. When the wind stopped, it was more like a sweat-suit in a sauna. You can’t have it both ways.

How dare we have December weather in December?

I was planning to run intervals, but I thought the wind might make that difficult. There’s something about the location of our local track that seems to amplify wind. I’ve had situations where the wind was so bad in the winter that I had to remove my glasses to avoid total face freeze. I elected to run locally, a loop around my neighborhood and a loop around the business park. I followed that with another loop around an adjacent neighborhood. My pace was disappointingly slow, but I’ll blame that on the wind.

This morning’s running ensemble also included some great Ballston wool socks that my wife picked up for me last night at Marshall’s. Great socks make a huge difference and nothing beats wool in the winter. They were a great bargain and I want to go back and buy five more pair on top of the two she bought. In the meantime, I’ll be wearing the other pair tomorrow. If it’s not too windy, I’ll be heading to the track.

Perfectly pleasant, yet forgettable run

On December 19, 2015 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Today’s run (street): 3.2 miles

I usually stall before I run on Friday mornings, but I got out early this morning, The rhythm of my neighborhood shifts from minute to minute. Leave too soon and you risk running into a caravan of middle school buses. Leave too late and you’re dealing with the maniacs driving sanitation and recycling trucks. I managed to time it just right today.

Someone described perfect racing weather as 50° and overcast. Those were the conditions this morning. I felt strong from the start, and enjoyed the peaceful experience running along quiet roads. Without the distraction of traffic, I was able to mentally prepare for my first video call of the day. It was just me, the sound of my footsteps and the bare December trees to keep me company.

I made my way around my route and felt as good at the end as I did at the start. It was a completely pleasant run, but so indistinct that, hours later, I’d forgotten whether I’d done my workout. I’m not sure where or when I’ll run this weekend, but I’m glad I got a few miles in today. It may be time to get to the track for some intervals. If I want to break out of my “easy does it” running habit, I need to work a lot more on anaerobic conditioning.

Warmer and slower one year later

On December 13, 2015 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Today’s run (street): 3.8 miles

I’m not sure what it was, but I wasn’t feeling too great this morning. I had a brief moment when I considered a lesser workout or even skipping it altogether. Then I remembered that I felt a little off before my run with KWL yesterday, yet I still ran okay. Encouraged by that, I dressed for my run (short sleeves and running shorts today) and headed out with no route in mind.

I took it very easy and thought about the fact that the last race I ran was exactly a year ago: the 2014 Jingle All the Way 5K. I had recently developed a disc injury, although I didn’t know it at the time, and ran a decent race. As I recall, SIOR and TPP both won their respective age divisions. They tend to do that. In fact, SIOR just became a certified trainer. Contact her through her site if you want to learn how to dominate your age group.

I also thought about the early fall-like weather today and compared that to a year ago when we had 9 MPH winds making it feel like 31°. We’d spent most of our pre-race time huddling near the large fire pits that were placed around the registration area. My objective was to cover a little more distance today than yesterday, but not at the cost of making myself feel worse than when I started.

I did not come close to the pace I ran a year ago this morning, but I wasn’t going for performance. I’m hoping that I can fit in a couple of extra runs this week. It’s almost Christmas week and, if things start winding down at work, I may be able to get them done.