The downside of minimal running shoes

On July 4, 2014 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Minimal shoe with maximal wear

Today’s run (street) 4.1 miles

I was looking at the latest Runner’s World shoe guide and noticed that the average weight of running shoes has begun to rise. The recent minimalism movement prompted most running shoe companies to develop lighter, lower and more flexible shoes to meet the new demand. I was an early adopter, switching from my heavier Brooks Adrenalins to the then-groundbreaking Saucony Kinvara. I went even more minimal with the Hattori and a pre-production pair of Brooks Pure Drifts.

The pendulum has swung the other way and new companies like Hoka are building market share with 12+ ounce ultra-cushioned models. These trainers remind me of 70’s era platform shoes and I wonder about their stability. I like to stay as close to the ground as I can when I run. The downside to staying in the minimalist camp is that, when you buy less shoe, you’ll likely wear it out faster than a conventional model.

I just noticed that my year old Saucony Vittaras (now with 425 miles on them) are starting to show some serious heel wear. These are low platform running shoes, with a 4mm drop and are very lightweight because the out-soles are mostly soft EVA with a small amount of carbon rubber. I love the shoes, but I’m concerned that this wear will lead to a shift in the way that the shoes land. That could affect my stride and possibly lead to injury. I’ll need to replace them soon, but I’m not going to move to the Hokas.

I ended up working from home today which allowed me to get in a rare Thursday morning run. I didn’t get out as early as I should have, and it was 80° and very humid by the time I set out. I could tell from the start that this would not be a performance run. Although the air was thick, I had no trouble breathing. I didn’t feel weighed down, but I couldn’t generate the will to push very hard.

With hurricane Arthur making its way up the east coast, I’m not sure what my options will be for running on Friday. I can always use the treadmill, but the machine (like my Virratas) is wearing out quickly. Since the treadmill is my wife’s running method of choice, I don’t want to contribute to its demise. With such a limited window for running, I may be forced to use it.

Spring into summer, all in one run

On June 21, 2014 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

One run, two neighborhoods

Today’s run (street): 6.4 miles

This morning’s workout was either the last run of spring or the first of summer. Summer officially started at 6:51 AM EDT, so I crossed over seasons at some point. Either way, it was perfect running weather.

I wanted to cover at least six miles and considered doing a long trail run at Stillwell Woods. Even though I’d be getting there early, I was concerned about parking because of all the Saturday soccer games. I wasn’t in the mood to drive to Bethpage or to Babylon, where I’ve been wanting to return to run the Dirty Sock course. I settled on my neighborhood, even though I prefer to run 6+ mile distances outside of its tight boundaries.

Mindset is really important when starting a run. It is much harder to run six miles when your original intention was to run less. I like to think out my route ahead of time to set an expectation of progress as I move along. It’s difficult to cover more than four miles in my neighborhood before I begin repeating roads. I pre-planned a side route into neighborhood #2 to extend the distance. It’s all houses and cars, but by going into another neighborhood at least the houses and cars are different.

I enjoyed today’s run because it was cool, dry, sunny and quiet. I saw a few other runners, some walkers and a couple of cyclists along the way, but it was still too early for most people to be out on a Saturday morning. Tomorrow’s weather should be just as nice and I’m still thinking about a trail run for tomorrow. I just don’t know where to run.

The elusive convergence of speed and distance

On May 1, 2014 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Today’s run (street): 6.4 miles

I was channeling Chicken Little yesterday as I made my way through my 4:00 AM run. All the hard training I’ve done up to this point seemed to be for naught and I struggled to get through 25 minutes of moderately paced treadmill running. Some of that was likely due to the very early hour and fatigue from my abrupt change in daily routine. Today’s run was far longer, and much better than yesterday’s, but it wasn’t particularly fast.

My new work engagement provides a lot of scheduling flexibility and today I was able to work from my home office. That let me fit in a medium length base run and cover my longest distance since last Friday’s 9.7 miles. This spring weather is puzzling, but I won’t complain because there’s no snow on the roads and temperatures haven’t yet reached oppressive levels. However, my decision to wear shorts and short sleeves made me feel chilly throughout much of today’s run.

I was concerned that I’d suddenly lost some endurance, but I could tell from the first few steps off my driveway that I would easily cover my targeted miles. That was good news. What isn’t so good is that once I go beyond 85% of HR max, my stamina starts to slip. I can handle endurance or speed, but not both together. With only a couple of weeks until the Brooklyn half, I should be farther along in terms of performance. I don’t expect to PR on the 17th, and I’m not even confident that I can break 2:10. I’m going to continue to focus on base because, while speed is desirable, endurance is what gets us over the finish line.

Barely okay, but better than the last one

On March 28, 2014 By Emerging Runner6 Comments

Ready for some speed play

Today’s run (street): 3.4 miles

My definition of an okay run has changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. If not for the intervals I ran on Tuesday, I’d be convinced that I’ve lost my ability to run at any speed but tepid. Wednesday was a difficult experience, made worse by the wind. I did manage to get through my five miles that day, but it was rough. I hoped today’s three miles would be easier, and they were. It was…okay.

The warmer temperature this morning seemed to help, and I improved my pace by over a minute compared to Wednesday’s. I was supposed to do today’s workout at half marathon race pace, but I fell short by about 35 seconds per mile. In truth, I wasn’t going for speed as prescribed, I really just hoped to have a decent experience.

I think about my friends who frequently run long distances at paces that I cannot match (except when I’m running 400’s and, in some cases, 200’s). Are they working that much harder than me? Probably, but I suspect it also has to do with being better disciplined about their workouts and putting in the necessary miles. I understand that running 18 to 20 miles a week is not going to build enough endurance get me to a competitive state, but I don’t think I can fit many more into my schedule.

I knew I wasn’t pushing as hard as I could today, but it wasn’t a leisurely effort. There’s a certain amount of energy that I’m willing to expend during a race that I seldom bring to my daily workouts. I’m always concerned about running out of energy on a training run and I tend to hold back to conserve what I have. Tomorrow I plan to add some fartleks (Swedish for “speed play”) to introduce interval level running into a continuous run. If I run out of energy, I can always take down the pace. Or take a recovery rest on the sidewalk.

Wind induced Turkey Trot flashback

On March 26, 2014 By Emerging Runner16 Comments

Wind chilly

Today’s run (neighborhood): 5 miles

This morning I saw that the temperature was 33°, but the wind was making it feel like it was 19° outside. I weighed the pros and cons of going out or staying inside. I decided that I’d rather endure challenging winds than five mind-numbing miles on the treadmill. In retrospect, I’m not sure that was the smartest way to go

One of the reasons I chose to run outside was to confront this cold weather breathing issue straight on. By coincidence, the first three base runs I’ve done since starting my half marathon training have happened on the three coldest days. The theory I’m exploring is that cold air is affecting my ability to breathe efficiently and causing me to struggle far below normal lactate threshold. Interestingly, I found something online that said facial cooling triggers the vagus nerve (grow up, it’s located in your face) which can slow up heartbeat.

I’ve had trouble getting my heart rate above 80% of max on these cold runs, so the answer may be in there somewhere. My plan this morning was to run fairly easy, since I did intervals yesterday. I started out feeling okay, but not speedy (which was fine). I was also wearing more layers than a pâte feuilletée and that was probably slowing me down. The wind was brutal and running directly into it practically stopped my forward progress. It was like a flashback to the Long Beach Turkey Trot last November, but happily without the sandstorm.

Race fitness: It’s just a matter of Venn

The two main objectives to my training are to increase my endurance well enough to cover 13.1 miles and improve my stamina to allow me to maintain a targeted pace over that distance. I’ll be honest and say that today’s run did not provide any sign of improved speed, but I was able to handle the mileage better than on Sunday.

Tomorrow’s weather is supposed to be much like today’s. If that’s the case I’m going to stay inside and run my three miles at “pace” on the treadmill. I’ll plan to run longer distances outside and keep the speedier workouts indoors until the weather gets warmer. If that’s what it takes to bridge stamina and speed, I’m willing to spend a little time on the treadmill.

Daft repeats: longer faster better stronger

On March 25, 2014 By Emerging Runner8 Comments

Today’s workout (treadmill repeats): 2 miles
6 x 400m plus .5 mile warm/cool

Week 3 of half marathon training started better than week 2 finished off. After my second consecutive Sunday long run fail (only in the sense of performance, personally I had a great time) the evidence is pointing to cold induced breathing issues. Every run that I’ve done, either at temperatures above 40° or indoors, since my Brooklyn half training kickoff, has resulted in a decent performance. The two times I ran in high 20’s/low 30’s weather, I struggled mightily. Cold weather, J’accuse!

Or it could be the hills. Either way, the fact that I’m running decently more often than not is keeping me hopeful. Spring is here so chances are that one of these upcoming Sundays will provide better weather. That may help me turn the corner on my weekend base runs.

Today was speed day. It was 22° outside this morning, so I opted to do my workout indoors. Hal Higdon’s program prescribed a 3.5 mile run, but I decided that I know a little more about this stuff than he does. But seriously, I’ve modified the Higdon training program to start my week with speed on Tuesdays and a base run on Wednesdays. Hal puts speed work into the Wednesday slot and allocates only Sundays to long runs. I felt I needed a little more base than that, an opinion echoed by some knowledgeable runners.

Hal’s speed workout is 6 x 400’s at 5K pace (8:24) and that’s what I did this morning. In between repeats, I did 240 meter recovery jogs (.15 miles), which I may cut down to .12 miles next time. I also did a half mile warm up and cool down. I normally would have run another mile at my usual training pace to make a full three, but today I decided that 1.5 miles of speed stood on its own.

Tomorrow should be a 4.8 mile base/recovery run. The “feels like” temperature is predicted to be 19° when I plan to go out in the morning, so I’ll have to decide whether to endure this cold and its effects, or suffer the tedium of a longish treadmill run. We’re getting snow overnight, so that may help the decision.

Road running reunion

On March 8, 2014 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

On the road again

Today’s run (street!): 4.2 miles

Spring must finally be coming. I looked in the backyard and could actually see parts of our deck that weren’t completely covered in snow. It was 41° this morning when I prepared to run in my neighborhood for the first time since January 12. This winter’s snowfall has not been good for outdoor running. In the nine and a half weeks since New Year’s, I’ve only run outside seven times, including today.

Spring is on deck

Running indoors is mostly about fitness while outside running widens the experience to include far more stimuli. The smell of a backyard barbecue in summer or new construction on a house a few blocks over can positively distract from the rigors of the run. Not to mention the great sensory overload you can get from trail running. I was excited to be able to run outside today, but I’ll admit to being a little nervous about breaking from the comfort of my normal routine.

It was an easy transition to my neighborhood streets and I felt stronger than I expected as I came up on my first mile. Unlike many who perceive the treadmill as an easier workout than running on the road, I have the opposite view. I suspect my treadmill speed is actually faster than what is shown on the display. I fell into a comfortable pace today and every once in a while it would occur to me to add a little speed. At one point I was overtaken by another neighborhood runner, but that didn’t bother me too much.

I ended up averaging a little under ten minutes per mile. Not good compared to my normal outdoor pace, but far better than the speed I struggled to maintain when I ran with my friends at Eisenhower Park a couple of weeks ago. My cold is gone, but some chest and sinus congestion still remains.

I want to go out and do another easy run tomorrow and try to push the distance a little more. I may put that off until Monday and take advantage of having access to the high school track on Sunday. Last time I tried the track it was covered with snow. I hope today’s thaw helped to clear it. If it looks like my backyard deck I’ll head back to my local streets.

Missing an experience that I used to call mundane

On March 3, 2014 By Emerging Runner5 Comments

Miss you

Today’s run (treadmill): 35 minutes

After so many days away from running, it was hard to justify taking my usual rest day today. This hiatus was necessary to get me through the past week. One thing I’ve learned is that running while ill is a zero sum game. Benefits gained through a hard workout may be canceled out by the strain put on a weakened body.

Before I could consider a run this morning, I needed to consider the driveway. A foot or more of snow had been predicted over the weekend, but that number was lowered to 2″-4″ for our area. We ended up with barely an inch. I didn’t want to leave it to freeze into a sheet of ice (supposed to get into the single digits tonight), so I went out early and shoveled. My level of required effort compared to Saturday’s ice-moving exercise was fairly low.

I had a number of items on today’s schedule, so I carved out 35 minutes for a treadmill workout that was similar to yesterday’s, except I set the incline to 2% today. This was not intended to be a difficult workout (see first paragraph). It was more about moving, getting my heart rate going and preparing for what I hope will be a higher performance run tomorrow.

After I’d completed my workout, I drove to the bank to deposit a check. I inspected my local roads and thought about how I’d often complain about the mundanities of neighborhood running. I looked up and down these long strips of open pavement and wished I could return to them. There’s still too much ice and snow to do that now, but soon it will all melt away. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Runsketeer run in Eisenhower Park

On February 23, 2014 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Well at least I can drink coffee as fast as them

Today’s run (Eisenhower Park): 6.7 miles

It took a lot of late night planning to choose today’s running venue, but it paid off for the Runsketeers this morning. With Bethpage’s trails still “out of operation” and the Runner’s Edge Fun Run taking place on public roads, we decided to meet at Eisenhower Park. SIOR qualified for Boston and has been following a training program that required her to cover 14 miles today. She ran 7 miles around her local roads and then met me and TPP at the park to run seven more.

I’ve been dealing with the beginnings of a cold that has sapped a lot of my energy. Yesterday’s run on the treadmill was very difficult and I wasn’t confident that I could run the miles that my Runska-buddies were planning. I was also concerned about maintaining a pace that wouldn’t bore them silly. Their support got me through the distance (I hadn’t run more than five miles on pavement this year). As usual, they were extremely gracious about accommodating my pace.

I don’t know why my stamina and performance have been so poor the last couple of months. I suspect it’s due to my lack of focus and boredom from running on the treadmill. SIOR runs faster on the treadmill to get through her workout faster. I run slower so I can be more easily distracted by the TV. In less snowy times, when I’d run outside every day, it was easier for me to add speed into a run. I would also add chunks of distance by spontaneously choosing different roads to follow. I know I can easily add speed and distance when on the treadmill, but I don’t.

All around the park today

Graphic courtesy of The Petite Pacer

Our route today went all around, due to construction being done to build ice rinks in the park. I lagged behind my buddies by a few feet much of the time, but they worked to adjust their speed to keep me within talking distance. There was one point when we followed the same route that we ran on the New Year’s Hangover Run. This allowed me to rest a minute while my friends followed the end of the loop and met me on the other side. So in terms of total distance, I probably ended up covering fifth of a mile less than my running partners.

With the exception of a few parts on the path that required careful stepping (and a short walk) over icy snow, Eisenhower’s trails were fairly clear. I didn’t think I would be able to go more than four miles early on the run, but the fun of being with my little group made the distance fully manageable.

Despite another snowstorm predicted early tomorrow morning and the return to Polar Vortex temperatures, I am hopeful that this snow will soon be gone and I can get outside and resume performance-focused training. I’d like to be able to keep up better with the Runsketeers so I participate more in the conversations during the run.

The good news is that it takes no effort to sit in Starbucks and recount the experience after the run. We were all time constrained today, but we made the best of it. It was so great to see my friends and spend time doing something we all love to do. I almost ran seven miles today after weeks of treadmill 5K’s. I couldn’t have done that without the Runsketeers.

Tuning up for an outside run

On February 21, 2014 By Emerging Runner4 Comments

Foggy view from the treadmill

Today’s run (treadmill): 3.3 miles

This has been a great week with the kids being off from school. I’ve had to work on projects, but I’ve also had a good amount of family time. My business in the city yesterday produced the need to do lots of work today. I didn’t get to run on Thursday, but I covered a few miles on foot. I’m loving those gel insoles.

I’d hoped that this morning would provide an opportunity for me to finally get outdoors and run. However, the snow hasn’t melted much and there was a thick fog that was produced by a rapid change in temperature. Both of these things made street running too dangerous, so it was back on the treadmill. I no longer curse my fate as I look outside at the still-icy roads. I know I’m fortunate to have the option to run indoors.

I’m planning to run with my Runsketeer buddies on Sunday, so I tried to up my game in terms of speed. I’ve been extremely complacent in terms of performance and I shocked my body a little by doing a progressive speed run. This treadmill regimen has taken me out of race shape so I hope I’m able to keep up with the “twin turbos” this weekend. I usually do better on the road than on the treadmill in terms of pace, but the last time I ran on pavement, my legs did not like it at all.