Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Sunday, August 25, 2019

The Emerging Runner origin story

Perfect weather for running in circles today
I returned to running just about eleven years ago, mostly out of impatience. I didn't make any great decision to run. I just started doing it during the walks I'd began taking to lose weight and reduce cholesterol. After a month or so, I grew restless walking and began to fold in short runs along my route. What started off as a sprint to the next corner quickly turned into quarter mile runs. One day I just stopped walking entirely.

Prior to 2009, I had a few brief episodes of running, but I never made it stick. When I lived in Manhattan in the early '90s, I had a friend who encouraged me to run with her. I agreed and even went to Paragon in Union Square and bought a pair of yellow and blue Nike Cortez shoes. I'd dutifully rise, put on my running gear and go out for a few miles along Third Avenue, dodging people and stopping every block or so for lights.

I would occasionally trek up to Riverside Park to meet my running friend where I could run free of traffic, strollers and other obstructions. I put little thought into the way I ran and mostly went out full tilt every time. Part of that was due to my friend being faster than me and my fragile ego not allowing me to be left behind. I no longer have that issue, just ask any of the Runsketeers!

I continued to try and even entered my first race, the Manufacturer Hanover Corporate Challenge, in 1991. I have no memory of how I did, but ironically, it was probably the fastest 3.5 miles I ever ran. I have no records of my performance from those times and it was long before data tracking via GPS or foot pods, but I was 28 years younger. So probably.

Running hard without any conditioning plan or progress strategy led to a lack of motivation. I was tired of coming back from every run feeling terrible. When my running friend went on a two week business trip to LA, I had no daily accountability and started sleeping in. And that was that.

So in late summer 2008, as I walked up Underhill Avenue, I decided to run the 100 yards or so to Cheshire and that's how it started. Or restarted. As time went on, these runs grew longer and more frequent. I thought about the circumstances that undermined my running in the '90s and committed to a different tactic:
  • Run only at a pace that provides an enjoyable experience. 
  • Have a route plan.
  • Keep to sustainable distances.
I knew that if I struggled every time I ran I'd grow tired of the whole thing. The trick was finding a balance between comfort and effort that I could advance as my conditioning improved. As most runners know, it's possible to make dramatic progress when you are just beginning. Discipline, structure and performance targets reinforce gains. By 2009, the internet provided tools like MapMyRun and the Nike+ system that gave runners a way to capture, record, visualize and analyze their workouts. I was hooked.

When I started Emerging Runner in November of 2008, I wondered if history would repeat itself and I'd find myself shutting it down after a couple of months. Somehow it stuck and, after 2,186 posts and counting, I'm still at it. I've had my ups and downs but I have never lost my love for the run. 

Sometimes I get tired of running my neighborhood (I am reasonably sure I have run down Lenore Street at least 2,500 times) so I'll go out on the Bethpage trail or (like today) take 13 laps around the track of a nearby high school. But I never get tired of putting on my running shoes and heading out the door.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

The Runsketeers discuss their interesting ancestors

L to R: KWL, PM, SIOR, TPP, ER
Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 3.1 miles

It has been a month and five days since I've posted anything on this blog. I can't really say why I'd stopped. I've continued to run, following the same schedule and covering the same distances, but my interest in documenting those runs had waned. It wasn't until today that I felt compelled to resume my posting and that's because the mighty Runsketeers all came together this morning for the first time since July. That's just crazy.

The last time we all got together, I ended my post with, "I'm looking forward to our next Runsketeer outing. Hopefully the humidity will be a little lower than yesterday's 89%." Well, my hopes were realized, because no one was complaining about the humidity today. We were supposed to get a lot of wind but it wasn't a factor this morning. A little chilly, but overall good running weather.

Shady shot along the trail
We agreed to meet at the Bethpage lot at 8:15 AM. Then it was between 8:30 and 8:45. Then it was 9:00. I won't say who kept changing the time, but it wouldn't be hard to guess. SIOR was probably frustrated that the park wasn't charging an entry fee because she likes to fight with the toll taker there. I always get my fee waved because I'm not pugnacious. Everyone arrived on time and we quickly made our way up the hill, turning left to follow the northern trail. SIOR and TPP took off in a flash while KWL and I ran a lot easier. We kept it to 3.2 miles and had great conversations on the path.

Once we got back to the lot, we convoyed to Starbucks for coffee and second breakfast (for me anyway). You'd think we would have spent time catching up on everything that had happened in the last five months, but we went right to what was on our minds at the moment: politics, races, racing t-shirts, running magazines, and KWL's and my long history working together. We also collectively agreed that Yonkers is a dump.


The usual suspects at the usual place
About halfway through our coffee time, we were joined by Professor Mike who had competed in Rob's Run this morning while we were at Bethpage. Rob's Run is a trail race that happens at Stillwell Woods. It's a grueling run but PM looked as refreshed as the rest of us. He had a Rob's Run thermos that was a giveaway to participants. That's what started the conversation about race shirts. TPP uses her old race shirts as cleaning rags (blasphemy) and PM raffles them off to his students. I've kept every one I've earned, even the hideously ugly ones.

At some point conversation turned to almost naked fathers and grandfathers. This started when PM showed us a picture of his dad from the 40's wearing little more than a loincloth. His muscles had muscles. KWL pointed out that was long before steroids. PM's dad was a circus performer who was once on the Ernie Kovacs show where he swung on a trapeze while eating pizza. Then SIOR showed us a picture of her half naked grandfather who was a professional wrestler back in the 30's or 40's.

Capping that off, TPP told us about her dad who is an amazing engineer who invented the jet ski and developed a bunch of other cool stuff while working for an avionics company. He still creates stuff like 3-D printers and robots. He does all that fully clothed. Amazing accomplishments from the Runsketeer lineage.

It was great to see my buds and get in my fourth run in a row, starting with Thanksgiving day. I may have run on Wednesday, but that was a lot of turkey and pie ago and my memory is shaky. I'd like to continue my streak but the work week makes it tough. I hope the Runsketeers don't go months again before we run together. We can't allow that. At the very least, we should all do the Hangover Run on January 1.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Part 2 - The Emerging Runner: A look back at 2015

The Glorious Runsketeers
Today's run (street): 3.2 miles

2015 - A look back from July to December

The second half of 2015 had a lot more runs with friends, starting in early July when SIOR and I met up on the Bethpage trail to run a few miles together before heading to Starbucks. TPP was with JC in Connecticut that day and was unable to join us. I ended up covering six miles, my longest run of the year at that point.

Missing TPP
Two weeks later, I met SIOR again, this time to run another six at the Massapequa Preserve that extends the Bethpage trail to the south. I'd run through the northern Preserve before, but had never started a run there from the south. I met up with SIOR once I was three miles in. It was super humid that day and the route seemed to defy physics, with both directions appearing to be uphill.

Massapequa Preserve: up and up
In early August the Runsketeers got together to run the Dirty Sock course at Belmont State Park. KWL joined us on this route that is primarily dirt trails. I stuck to the classic 6.2 mile course and added an extra third of a mile because SIOR forced us to start running before the trail head. The top of the route is a circle around beautiful Belmont Lake. I circled it once, TPP twice and KWL and SIOR did it a third time because they're the cool kids. We regrouped afterward at a Starbucks that we found in the area. It had really comfy furniture. One of my best running days ever.

Starbuck'n after Dirty Sock runnin'
After over-thinking my running shoe portfolio for months, I finally dropped $52 on a pair of Kinvara 5s in September that I bought through a startup app called Shoekicker. It was love at first footfall. I also did a trail run with my financial whiz running buddy Steve at Stillwell Woods. No one bought my theory that one trail mile equals 1.18 road miles.

❤ my Kinvaras
Me and CrossFitter Steve
In mid October, the Runsketeers returned to Bethpage. SIOR and TPP were both recovering from hard races and ran slowly. That allowed us to all run together the whole time, something we haven't done in a while. Later, SIOR drove TPP and I back to where we'd parked on Colonial Road. I figured out that five minutes is probably the maximum amount of time SIOR and I can spend together in a moving car.

All smiles after Bethpage
My work schedule did not help my running schedule and I found myself limited to three or four workouts a week. My typical run length had fallen to 3-4 miles and I decided to do something about that. In November, I ran 7.1 miles on the Bethpage trail which turned out to be my longest run in 2015.  I intended to do base runs in increasing lengths, but I failed miserably. In fact, I didn't do a single run longer than 5 miles for the remainder of the year.

Later that month, the group got together on a chilly post-Thanksgiving morning to support TPP and her sister NIMC who were racing at Stillwell Woods. KWL, SIOR and I ran laps on the track before heading across the street to the start of the race. We all ended up at Starbucks where the five of us didn't shut up for a second. When we finished, we grouped together for a picture that was taken by a metal column.

A Runsketeer Thanksgiving
In December, KWL visited the Emerging Runner household for a morning of running and food. Me and KWL headed over to Stillwell for a short but invigorating trail run and later he and the ER family had lunch at a new restaurant in my town that featured intestines and pigs feet. Tempting as those choices sound, we opted for vegetarian offerings.

Stillwell done well
I did 155 runs in 2015 but the best ones were those I did with friends. January started off great with the 2016 Hangover Run with SIOR and TPP and I got in a few more miles this morning. I've run every day this year. Let's see how long that streak lasts!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The Emerging Runner: A look back at 2015 - Part 1

Today's run (street): 3.25 miles
Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes
Monday's run (street): 3.4 miles

As the year comes to a close, I thought I would take a look back at my 2015 running year. Okay, it was really SIOR's suggestion. She's doing one as well. For the record, when we are both writing about the same thing, my version is the correct one.

2015 - A look back from January to June

Hangover course
The year begins with the 2015 LIRRC Hangover Run, a timed "fun run" with a suggested length of five miles.  Me, TPP, SIOR and her daughter, SIOR Jr met up in Eisenhower Park before the run and shivered until the 9:30 start. We circled the one-mile course five times and then regrouped at the start/finish line. I was dealing with a herniated disc which slowed me down a bit. That problem got worse before it got better, leading to a week of non-running in the middle of January and a few other non-running periods in the months to come.

Sole F63, kicked to the curb
It snowed a lot in January, leaving me no choice but to use the treadmill. That was until the treadmill finally stopped working in early February. I recorded its final moments for posterity but the Sole F63 wasn't finished torturing us, gouging holes in the wall as it was carried away by the installers of our new machine.

This was not real fun
I loved our new treadmill so much I managed to aggravate my then-undiagnosed injury to the point that I needed to switch to elliptical workouts for the next 23 days. I saw an orthopedist who put me through x-rays and an MRI and determined that my problem was, in fact, a herniated disc. I ellipticaled a lot over the next few weeks.

Reunited with the 'sketeers
After some bad winter weather and abstaining from running most of February, the Runsketeers got together for a Bethpage run in April. It was a tough run for me due to the disc related pain, but hanging with my buddies more than made up for it. SIOR gave me a SPIbelt as a birthday present. That was very sweet of her. I use it on every run.

We did most of the testing in space
While I continued to recover, I shifted from running to running-like workouts and was part of a panel at Consumer Reports that tested and evaluated "Alternative Cardio Running Machines." These units seemed like weirdly mutated, expensive (one unit was priced more than $10K) elliptical machines. The timing of this testing was perfect. I got to do all my workouts during office hours and benefited from the no-impact "running" motion. I also got a stand-up desk for my office that I like so much I haven't used my chair in months.

Love this thing
Me, TPP & SIOR after all the unpleasantness
Mid-May was the time for our next Runsketeer outing, again at Bethpage. I ran far better than when we got together in April, but I was still hurting from my disc problem. SIOR may have been off her meds during the May run, because she was hallucinating friends on the Bethpage trail and later started a fight at Starbucks. That may be a slight exaggeration of what actually happened.

Dogsled route
June was a hot and humid month and I mostly kept to local roads. In order to fight the tedium of neighborhood running, I switched up my routes and discovered that some of the GPS maps looked like pictures. Around the same time, TPP was starting to run some routes in her neighborhood that resembled bunny rabbits. I wanted to do a run that spelled out a word but I never got around to it.

That's it for the first half of 2015. I'll post second half highlights soon!

Sunday, May 25, 2014

The history of my running speed

Directional declines
Today's run (street): 3.6 miles

I decided to do some data mining on Garmin Connect to compare my historical averages with my current performance. In order to keep the information consistent, I only used data captured from one source, my Garmin 210 that I bought in 2010. I know I've lost a lot of speed over the past year and my interest was in seeing whether my recent history is an aberration, or if it merely reflects a long term decline.

Charting the trends reveals a changing relationship between race speed and overall speed. My average pace has followed a linear decline, but my race paces have dropped measurably since 2012. Up to 2012, I generally paced 7.5% better in races compared to my overall average. After 2012, that gap has closed and is now almost equal to my training run times.

As I often say when working with business data, these findings are only directional. The Garmin data, acquired by GPS, has a variable margin of error. I tried to correct for that as much as I could, but the numbers do have some skew. I only selected runs I'd tagged as "street running" to filter out slower trail paces and faster track paces. It's also important to note that the 2014 data is only through May 25, not a full year.

In terms of these findings, I'm not happy to see declines, but at least the drop-off has not been as sharp as I'd suspected. I did today's run as a tempo, taking it easy through the majority of the distance and picking up the pace more at the end. The last mile was a minute faster than the prior few, and I finished feeling great. I wish I could tap into that speed more often, but based on my recent race performances, it's a little more complicated than just trying a little harder.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

History shows that January is treadmill month

 
Today's run (treadmill) 3.25 miles

Today has been an interesting day, due to an odd combination of business and non-business related happenings. Amidst this jumble, I managed to work in a treadmill run. Although the roads are fairly clear, we saw snow overnight that made street running dangerous and sidewalk running impossible.

I've been somewhat frustrated by this January's weather that has forced me off the road and onto the treadmill so often. I looked at Garmin Connect and was a little surprised to see that 70% of my runs this year have been indoors. Curiously, a search of last January showed that I did the same percentage of treadmill runs in 2013. That made me feel slightly better.

The good news about frequent use of the treadmill is that it eventually becomes a manageable routine. I've found myself getting more comfortable with the different cadence and a more restricted stride. It's always a good workout and a safer way to get my miles than the road these days. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm liking these workouts, but I have started to appreciate them.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

2013 running goal scorecard


Today's workout (elliptical): 35 minutes

Every January I like to post my running goals for the year and review the results in December. This has been an interesting year, starting with a big lifestyle change in February that affected my ability to hit a couple of my goals. Here's my assessment of 2013.

1. More weekday running diversity.
Goal: Run outdoors at least once a week before work. Establish at least one alternate route to take every other week.
Result: Not having a regular morning commute has meant more options during the week. Most of my weekday running still happens in my neighborhood, but the route often differs and my average distance has increased 20% this year.

2. More NYC running.
Goal: Monthly runs in Central Park, with or without a partner.
Result: While I regularly travel into the city, there are few opportunities to run there and there is no "home base" to change between business and running gear. No NYC runs happened in 2013. Perhaps this should be a 2014 goal tied to a specific event.

3. Break the neighborhood running habit on weekends.
Goal: One run outside of my neighborhood every weekend (weather permitting).
Result: I'll consider this goal met, with one and often two runs away from the neighborhood every weekend. 2013 has seen many more runs at Bethpage and Stillwell, along with local runs that expand outside my immediate neighborhood.

4. Return to racing.
Goal: Run at least one race prior to April's event. Bonus: Run a different half marathon than the RXR LI.
Result: Success, but no half marathon bonus. Race date changes and disruptions from Hurricane Sandy led to a diminished race schedule in late 2012. I participated in the 2013 Hangover run, and the February Snowflake race before the Marcie race that was rescheduled to June. A full race schedule followed for the remainder of the year.

5. Participate in a group run (club organized or otherwise). 
Goal: find a an open meet-up, local club run or organize one myself.
Result: Success. Participated in Hangover run in January and started an informal running group with two great people. Ran the GLIRC Clubhouse run and will probably join GLIRC in 2014.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Light the candles and go for a run

 
Today's run (street): 3.1 miles

Five years and one day ago, the Emerging Runner was launched with this post. 1,826 days and 1,663 posts later, I'm still running and writing. I don't know what's more amazing, that I've continued to blog and run, or the fact that I've managed to write so much about something as simple as running down the road. My goal for the blog was to keep a simple running journal, but it's turned out to be much more than that.

I thought about all this on today's run which was, by any definition, unremarkable. I was on auto-pilot for the most part, but I did manage to cover the distance slightly faster than expected. My time was limited due to my schedule, but I got my workout done. 3.1 miles in a little over 29 minutes isn't really worth mentioning. But had I done that on November 18, 2008, you can bet everyone would have heard about it.

Running and blogging have been pathways to great friendships and experiences. The two disciplines drive each other. When I run, I think about what I'll write about. When I blog, I think about my running life. I know people who have run for decades that still get excited to talk about their training and their hopes for another PR. Half a decade after declaring myself an emerging runner, I wish for the same.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Can you really improve your running speed?

Looping the loop
Today's run (Business Park): 4.8 miles

I'm beginning to wonder how much one can actually do to optimize running speed. When I first started running, I was averaging 12 minute miles over the first full month. Two months later, I was breaking 10 minutes a mile. When I completed my first full year, I was averaging 9:15 per mile, with occasional dips below 9:00 on shorter distance runs.

Four years later, despite holding consistently to a six day running schedule, I'm still averaging about those same paces. The good news is that I've managed to keep my performance at the same level. The bad news is that it now takes a lot more effort to do that. My goal has always been to average below 9:00 a mile and I'm wondering if I'll ever get there.

As I focus on speed, I'm realizing how difficult it will be to get to my targeted pace. After taking a break from performance to run the trails on Friday, I headed over to the local business park to run the big loop. This route provides a lot of elevation gain and loss (+/- 1,040 feet), which I thought would be helpful training for Cow Harbor.

The temperature was 59 degrees when I went out 8:00 AM, and that provided great conditions for taking on the hills. I did two laps around the park before ducking into an adjacent neighborhood for another mile. With the great weather, I was surprised to see only two other runners out this morning. One woman was circling the park counter-clockwise while I ran it the other way. She was running with traffic and we passed closely. I wonder if these people ever connect the reason why I run on the left with safety. I'm guessing they don't.

I made it back home in time to make an early obligation. When I mapped my run, I saw that I'd averaged 9:27 a mile. Despite my focus on speed, my performance is still lagging on longer runs. Tomorrow, I'm planning on doing a fairly long tempo run, followed by hill repeats. Only one more weekend after this to train for Cow Harbor before I taper. I'm doing the best I can to prepare, but there may not be much more performance to gain.

Monday, December 3, 2012

My first 100K (it's not what you think)

A unique feeling
When I started this blog four years ago, my only goal was to document my experience as a runner. I'd run in the early '90's but never documented my progress and I regretted that. I thought a daily journal might motivate me to get out and run so I'd have something to write about. Although I felt committed to both, I couldn't help wondering whether I'd tire of writing or running and, if so, when.

I noticed that the Emerging Runner site odometer has recently passed 100,000 unique visits. I used to look at hits, pageviews and other metrics and even thought about going beyond the rudimentary SEO that I'd set up for web discovery. After a while I decided to just focus on the content and let the audience build organically. Still, I appreciate every one of those 100K visits.

At some point I'll go through my large collection of posts and select some favorites that I will share. I've found a lot of value from this archive as a gauge of my running progress. But more than that, it's been a great way to capture the daily occurrences of my life (albeit with a running bias) that would normally be lost over time.

Monday, October 8, 2012

October made me a runner

Burning up the treadmill four years ago
October has been a significant month for me in my history as a runner. Modern history I should say, because my running experience in the early '90's (and before that) is hazy and undocumented. But in August of 2008, I took my first running steps during my walking workouts. I steadily increased the ratio of time I spent running during my walks, all through September, and then into early October.

The reason I know the details of my early progress is because I'd used a Nike+ wristband and chip and I'm still able to look back at my workouts and see the histograms that show my pace and distance. It's interesting to see the first run/walks, where I traveled at about 15:00 min/mile, with short sections dropping into the 10:00 range.

A scan of the log shows that I averaged 9:34 per mile on October 21, 2008, making that my first full run over a mile with no walking. One year later I ran on a relay team at the Cape Cod Marathon where I achieved a then-personal record distance of 8.75 miles (over two relay legs). Two years after that, I took my big spill on the driveway at the end of a morning run that scraped me up so badly that I still have scars a year later. You have to take the good with the bad.

I guess the longer your running history, the more you'll have to look back on every month. Still, I'll always look at October as a most important month, because that's when I truly became a runner.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

My most important decision in the last four years

Four years and many miles
Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

This past weekend I realized that it's been four years since I took the results from my annual physical as a call to action. At that time, I weighed thirty pounds more than I do today. My cholesterol was very high, as were most other indicators. These results were no surprise to me at the time. I had become sedentary and, while I maintained a decent diet, I did not do a good job of regulating portion sizes or sugar intake.

With a wife and two young kids who depended on me, I could no longer ignore the truth. I got off the phone after speaking to my doctor's assistant and told my wife that I was going to change. I don't know if she fully believed me, but she supported my intention. My wife has always been active and she suggested that I use the treadmill in the morning before work and to really watch how much snacking I did after dinner.

In August of 2009 I began to walk, first on the treadmill and, on weekends, around my neighborhood. I pushed my walking pace and, within weeks, I was throwing in some short running segments. It took a while before I could comfortably run a mile but by the end of September I was doing that. By October, I had given over from being a walker to a full time runner.

Along the way, I lost those 30 extra pounds and by year's end, even more. Running is easier the less you weigh. It becomes more interesting when you can track your progress with devices that capture your speed and distance. I made a lot of progress in the first six months after I returned to an active life. Four years later, I'm doing even more.

This is the 1,300th post I've done on the Emerging Runner. I started the blog as a personal journal to help me record my experiences and share them with others. I wondered how long I would be able to maintain the discipline of running every morning and whether I would tire of the routine and the work that comes with it. But four years later, I feel exactly the same as I did the day that I completed my first continuous mile.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Embrace the hobgoblin

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Last Sunday I took a look at my running history on Garmin Connect. This dataset goes back to February '09, when I got my first Forerunner watch, the FR50. Although my modern running history starts a few months before that, the 750 recorded runs represent a statistically significant performance database. I ran a report of all my street runs and discovered that the pace and distances I ran in January 2012 are almost exactly the same as my all-time average.

I was happy to know this because it shows that my pace hasn't degraded in the three-plus years since I returned to running. A deeper look at the numbers confirmed that my paces in early 2009 were similar to today's, so this average isn't merely 1.5 early years of fast running, followed by 1.5 years of slowness.

This morning I had a slow start to my run, owing to my chronic pain above my right heel that may or may not be my Achilles tendon. The burning I feel when I start off tends to go away once I've warmed up a bit. The pain isn't bad. It's just that it's always there at the start.  Due to this, my first mile was slow -- over 10 minutes -- but I picked up the pace and finished with a time only 40 seconds longer than yesterday's.

Today's run and Sunday's performance review both reinforced the fact that, most of the time, I run about the same, regardless of what I think at the time. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "...consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." That may be true, but I think consistency, when it comes to running, is a great way to validate your efforts.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

1,000 posts later and I'm still Emerging

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Almost three years ago I published my first post on the Emerging Runner blog. The subject of the post was "Yeah, I'm a runner", a tongue and cheek joke I have with my wife about things I did one time (rock climbing, sailing a 12 meter yacht, fly fishing) and then bragged about it for weeks. But, in running, I was determined to be more than a dilettante. I was ready to commit.

I started running after changing my diet in August of 2008, controlling portion sizes of my meals and making better choices with food. At the same time, I started walking, first on the treadmill and then out in the neighborhood. A month into it I started looking up the road and challenging myself to run to the corner. Soon it was a full street and eventually my walks became runs.

It took about six weeks for me to transition from fitness walking to running, and my commitment was helped along with the strong support of my family and friends. I liked I how felt after I ran and I was fortunate to begin to lose weight quickly. By the time I started the blog in November 2008, I had lost over 30 lbs. No magic diet, pills, shakes or fasts. It was simply eating less and doing more.

I started the blog as a journal to record my progress and as a way to tap into the community of runners. Over the last three years I've received many valuable suggestions, tried most, and adopted some. Even today, I welcome advice from runners like Paul, Dave, Adam and Brian who generously share their expertise and experience.

What have I written about in a thousand posts? A look at the "tags" list on the left side of the blog will answer that question. I mostly write about my runs, but I also like to share what I've learned from other runners. I'm out almost every day, and after three years, I've seen a lot of things on the roads and trails. I often wish I'd stayed with my running back in the '90's because I'd have all that experience to draw on by now. Then I think that I might have developed bad knees from all that running and I feel better for my more recent return.

One thousand post, hundreds of runs and twenty races later, I still feel like I'm an emerging runner. Every run is different and I'm still learning new things. Running gives me a reason to write and writing demands content, so I'm motivated to run. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and for connecting through email and comments. It's great to have friends who share this passion. I'll keep writing if you'll keep reading.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I stand corrected

Today's run (street) 2.4 miles

Yesterday I wrote how fitness and performance levels tend to decline in middle age. I believed that to be true and, absent proper training, it probably is true. Out of curiosity I looked back on my running history on Garmin Connect and compared my performance (street runs only) between April 1 and October 31 to the same period last year. Some things surprised me. It was almost uncanny that the number of runs, year over year, were virtually identical: 119 in 2009 and 118 in 2010. However, it was the differences that caused my surprise.

Gains for the period 4/1 to 10/31 (2009 vs. 2010)
  • 12.4% more distance overall, average distance per run was up 12.5%.
  • Cumulative running time was 9% overall, average run was 9% longer.
  • Average pace was 4.6% faster.
  • Average cadence was 3.6% greater.
  • Median distance per run was up 11.5%
The only thing that declined year over year was average heart rate, dropping 1.4% this year. I use the HRM intermittently so that one comparison isn't statistically valid.

So despite what I'd read I have seen some real improvement. Emerging Runner friend and contributor James suggested that I focus more on building a base with comfortably paced runs and using that conditioning to improve my speed. James is an accomplished and dedicated runner who structures his training well. I've already started doing what he's suggesting by focusing more on distance and less on performance. In addition, almost weekly, I'm running with a friend in the city where we pace minutes slower than my current goal rate. This weekend Dave and I are planning an LSD run in preparation of our first (of two) 10K's that we're running this month. If running slow and comfortably will help me on race day I'm all for that.

Friday, August 6, 2010

A year ago on The Emerging Runner

Dirty Sock 10K -- "I'm having some anxiety about how well I'll perform. I've run 6.2 miles and longer in recent months but that isn't a regular distance for me."

Frustrations with GPS apps for the iPhone -- "The MotionX was completely off with the path showing me running through people's homes and across lawns and through back yards. I thought in the early morning there would be far fewer things that would interfere with the signal."

Workplace running partners -- "It takes commitment to run during the workday because we don't have shower facilities and few people are willing to go at lunch and come back to the office soaking with sweat. I had hoped that our division Fun Run would surface some running partners but no one has taken the bait yet."
 

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