Would the Tarahumara run with a cold?

Despite what felt like a recovery yesterday I am still very much battling a cold. It's really a shallow dry cough that I am finding most annoying.  I ended up getting about four hours sleep last night so my morning has been a series of short naps that I'm hoping will get me through the rest of the day. In a strange way I blame my conditioning for the way this cold is playing out. It's like my immune system is refusing to give into illness and, consequently, I've remained in this stasis of mild symptoms over the past three days. I actually feel strong enough to run, as I did yesterday, but I'm going to hold off on that until later. If I'm noticing improvement later I may try a workout of some type. I'm a firm believer in powering though colds while respecting fevers.

I've finished McDougall's "Born to Run" and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in physiology, anthropology,  native North American culture, adventure, nutrition and (of course) running technique. The book features many interesting people (US ultrarunners and native Tarahumarans) with fascinating stories. The main focus of the book is on how these amazing people gathered together in a dangerous and obscure part of Mexico's Copper Canyons for a unique and incredible 50 mile race. I cannot recall any book I've read in recent years that interested me like this one.

I'm anxious to get out and run if makes sense to do it later. The focus I've given to front/midfoot striking, upright form and higher cadence has been an interesting experiment that I hope will lead to a successful re-engineering of my running style. A point made often in the book is "If it feels like work, you're working too hard." I believe there's something to that.

Mystery solved in Muttontown

After purchasing the book "60 Hikes within 60 Miles: New York City Guide Book" I made another attempt to run at the Muttontown Mystery Trail. I headed out to the Muttontown Preserve this morning anticipating the experience. The trail is a 3.3 mile loop with (per trails.com) "A vast network of trails and old estate lanes [that weave] through swampy swales, miniature savannas, a rhododendron jungle (that transforms in July into a fairyland of pale pink blossoms), some glacial deposits, and even a few ghostly ruins." They had me at "vast network of trails." When I arrived at the location I was very pleased because, in my last attempt to find this preserve, I was unable to navigate to the entrance. I didn't see anything marked for parking so I drove past the entrance on a very muddy road that led to the adjacent Chelsea Mansion and parked in that lot. I ran back to the Muttontown entrance only to see that the entrance gates were locked. I decided to run back to the parking lot to see if I could get to the trails from the grounds of the Chelsea Mansion and I saw a trail that I followed as far as I could. As I approached the Muttontown woods I saw a tall chain link fence that prevented me from going any further. I ended up running about 3/4 miles on the Chelsea grounds before I found that I'd circled back to the parking lot. I saw later, when I went to the website that the preserve opens at 9:00 and I was there too early.

I decided to head over to my old friend, the Stillwell Woods Preserve, that never disappoints. With the weather hovering around 40 degrees I was concerned about mud so I stuck to the dirt trail that loops around the open field that abuts the wooded part of Stillwell. I was glad to have my Helly's because conditions were rough with some frozen grooved mud and patches of snow on the trail. The other weather condition that affected my progress was a stiff wind that came from the west that made it feel a lot colder. All the same it was very manageable and I was able to try the "Tarahumara" technique on both dirt and uneven surfaces for the first time. I worked hard to maintain my cadence and averaged 84 SPM, not too bad for the trail. Overall (If the Garmin is accurate) I averaged 9:23/mile which again is not a bad pace for me at Stillwell. After I finished my run I drank a can of Goya coconut water with a couple of electrolyte capsules I got at the Runner's World booth at the NY Marathon Expo in November. The water was interesting with small chunks of coconut in every sip. It was too sweet (22g of sugar per the label). I'm going to look at the performance brands of coconut water to see if they have less sugar.

It was great to get back on the trails after a day off. I'm still a little fatigued but I won't spend the rest of the day wishing I had run.

The voice of unreason

Although it's great running weather outside and most of the snow has melted away I have not yet gone out for a run today. I've been feeling tired, as though I am fighting off a cold, although I don't really have any cold symptoms. There's a voice in my head that is screaming "Go run the trail loop at Stillwell!" and I'm listening. I'm just not taking action. I'm waiting to to see if some strength returns. If so, I'll take a ride over there later. However, if I don't get to Stillwell today there's always the option of a quick run in the neighborhood or even on the treadmill. Perhaps my body is telling me to rest and I should listen to it instead of listening to the voice in my head that's encouraging me to do a trail run. What I really need is a voice of reason to convince me that resting today can prevent me from feeling even worse. I'll be disappointed if I push too hard today only to find myself too sick to run much in the coming week.

Progress made on Boxing Day

My wife suggested that I should rest today since I still have eight more days away from the office for doing long runs. Her point would be better made if she herself didn't work out every day for 45 minutes, especially today when she is battling a cold. I figured if she was going to maintain her routine under those conditions so would I. Maybe I'll take a break on Monday.

One reason I really wanted to get out and run is that I'm driving myself (and everyone around me) crazy with my curiosity about the Tarahumara running technique and the best shoes for that style. I mentioned that I tried on some ASICS 2150s and Kayanos on Wednesday that felt really good. Exceptionally good in fact. Now I'm understanding the best way of strengthening the arch and the forefoot is to run with shoes that don't surround your foot with soft cushioning. Instead it's better to force yourself to adapt to shoes with less support. The impact of running on your legs can be up to twelve times your body weight. In the book "Born to Run" the author Christopher McDougall says""[it's] preposterous to believe a half inch of rubber is going to make a difference against, in my case, 2,760 pounds of earthbound beef. You can cover an egg with an over mitt  before rapping it with a hammer, but that egg ain't coming out alive." I get that completely.

So this morning I went out to run about 3 miles and I wore my lightest, least cushioned shoes (NB 460s) and continued to focus on cadence and landing front and mid foot. It was warmer than yesterday, around 39 degrees, with a slight rainy mist that left after a few minutes. I tried to stay conscious of the number of steps I was taking and I also worked to maintain my pace more evenly than yesterday. For the third time in as many days I returned home to see that I had run much faster than usual on recreational runs. Today I covered 3.17 miles in slightly longer than 27 minutes for an 8:36 pace. That's a 5K/4 mile race pace for me and I wasn't even working that hard. I'm having a really hard time justifying an investment in new shoes if I'm going to run like this. But you can't argue with the results, I'm not going back to my previous style. Of course that doesn't mean I won't try the Brooks GTS 10s out of curiosity. It just may mean that my next pair of Brooks is more likely to be the Green Silence.

What Christmas means to me

Today is Christmas day and for me that meant something very special: I could run in my neighborhood on a Friday morning without a single car on the road. While I love the energy of the holiday season where everywhere you go there are fun decorations, happy shoppers, and holiday music I also love the fact that for one day of the year (Christmas) most businesses shut down and the world becomes a very quiet place. I'm enjoying this quiet for the most part today, although I did have to sit through a two hour Alvin and the Chipmunks movie this morning.

I decided to continue my experimentation with a more upright form, shorter strides and striking with the front of my feet. I ended up running 5.6 miles at 8:59 per mile overall on this morning's run. Like yesterday, I was taking more steps per minute (averaged 85 today) but it seemed an easier effort than when I was running at 80 SPM. Although I was pleased to have broken 9:00 per mile on a 5+ mile run without working up much of a sweat I saw in my Garmin reports that I'd slowed down at around the 20 minute mark. It may be that I just need to build up my calf muscles to make it easier to increase my stride frequency. I finished my run with a final push, covering the last third of a mile at around 8:00 per mile. It felt good and again I was surprised to achieve a decent pace while feeling so relaxed.

Yesterday I spent an hour trying some shoes and I had a chance to try out the ASICS 2150s. I thought they felt much better than the 2140s that I'd considered prior to choosing the Brooks GTS 9s. I also tried both the ASICS Kayano 16s (new) and the 15s. They felt the same to me - fantastic. I'm going to give the new Brooks GTS 10s a try but unless they feel significantly better than the GTS 9s I might just pick up a pair of the Kayanos. The 15s were selling for $99, the same price as the new 2150s and GTS 10s. Of course, now that I'm running differently I may want to consider a different type of shoe. Perhaps it's time to give the Newtons a try!

The Tarahumara have made me a faster runner

I've been enjoying the book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall for a number of reasons. First, because it's about ultrarunning, a subject that fascinates me. Second, because the author takes amusing pot shots at Dean Karnazes, whose book I just finished. Mostly I like it because it centers on the Tarahumara - the indigenous people of Mexico's Copper Canyons. The Tarahumara society is represented very positively, almost utopic, with running as the core activity of their lives. The Tamahumara are incredible runners who can run a hundred miles or more without resting. There is a lot of discussion in the book debating the benefits of modern running shoes compared with the purer technique of these people who run with simple rubber bottomed sandals. I believe that the growing interest in minimalist running has been fueled by this book.  I'm not ready to give up my stability running shoes but I am interested in some of the techniques mentioned in the book.

I've been constrained to the treadmill over the last couple of days so I decided to run in the neighborhood this morning provided that conditions were safe. I'm home today so I waited until 7:30 AM to go out, thinking that the extra light would improve safety. The roads were almost completely free of ice and snow and I set off thinking about the Tarahumara method of running - smaller steps and upright form - and decided to try it out. I've read that increasing the number of strides per minute helps to increase speed. I usually run at around 80 steps/min but today I averaged 84 with the first half of my 3.63 mile run averaging slightly higher. The running felt easy, almost too easy, and I imagined that I would return home to discover I was pacing close to 10 min per mile. I had great energy on the run and I had planned to cover about 5K but took some extra roads near the end because it felt so good. When I completed my run I was surprised to see that I averaged 9:06 per mile. It was such an easy experience that I questioned the accuracy of the Garmin and immediately checked my route on Gmaps which verified the distance and pace.

I am still amazed that I maintained such a decent pace without working very hard. There could be many reasons for this: the time of day, the amount of rest I'd had or the perfect 25 degree weather. I'm hoping it was due to the new technique and I will try again tomorrow, perhaps pushing my speed a little to see how that works. I only averaged 81 steps/min when I hit my 5K PR in November so I'm very curious to see how that equivalent amount of effort would work with a cadence of 84. I'm optimistic that I've found a way to improve my speed without a lot of extra work. I've learned that nothing good is easy but in this case I'll happily make an exception.

Nearing the finish line

Today is the last day I'll be in the office until January. Like many businesses, my company effectively shuts down for the week between Christmas and New Years. We still have some staff in and we're producing content and closing the books but the feeling is different than other times of the year. I've always liked this end-of-the-year time. Until the economy tanked we always had office decorating contests and lots of holiday food from suppliers. I'm fine with the way it is now. Christmas treats, no matter how good, are one temptation I'm happy to avoid.

With the windchill adjusted temperature hovering around 10 degrees this morning I decided to do another treadmill workout. I smartened up bit and started slower than yesterday. That made a big difference in terms of experience. Instead of my run being a frantic and hard charging effort, today felt more like (dare I say it?) a jog. The minutes went by much quicker and around 2/3 through the run I stepped up the speed and really pushed it for the last three minutes. Still, I was almost a minute per mile slower than yesterday's overall pace. What really mattered is that I got my workout done and I had the sweat to show for it. I'm hoping to return to the street tomorrow if conditions turn favorable. Otherwise it's back to the elliptical or treadmill. They're not my first choice but it's nice, at least, to have a choice.

By the way, check out new stuff from Adventure Girl who is on a skiing tour of NY state, northern Vermont and eastern Quebec. Sedentary Man has a new column about Steampunk, a style genre that he explained to me at last weeks holiday party that I still don't quite get but there's some cool looking stuff!

Slowing down time the hard way

Time is elastic, at least when it comes to human perception. When engaged in an absorbing task, time seems to pass at an astonishingly fast rate. When we are anticipating something good, time seems to slow. A perfect example of this was this morning's workout on the treadmill. In this case anticipating something good was defined as doing anything but running on the treadmill.

I decided to be positive and look at the treadmill as a solution rather than a problem. The real problem was the icy streets with no sidewalks for escaping cars. I knew that if I wanted to run this morning I would have to do it indoors. Knowing it would be hot, I dressed in shorts with my new ATAYNE short sleeve running shirt. I began to nudge the slide control on the treadmill towards what I remembered to be a fairly fast pace. The control panel display no longer works (hey, the machine is older than my 6th grader) so I need to rely on perceived effort to gauge my speed. The first five minutes seemed to go fine and the second  five were less fine. As I stared at the numbers on the digital clock I was amazed by the time it took for a single minute to pass. At the 15 minute mark I just told myself that I can endure anything for 5 minutes and I finally finished up after 20 minutes covering about 2.4 miles.

I'm at a point where I can probably run ten miles under ideal conditions. I would not be doing that at 8:39 per mile as I ran today but I'd enjoy it a lot more. Whether I love or hate the treadmill, it looks as though it will be my primary work week running option. You never know, some day those passing minutes could feel like actual minutes rather than hours.

Planning for some indoor running

I supplemented my shoveling workout with 33 minutes on the elliptical yesterday. I like having the option of using that machine but, despite the resistance, I never feel like I work as hard as I do when I run. I had the television on and that did a nice job of distracting me for a period and the very dry air kept my level of sweating to a minimum. I tuned out the TV after a while and just zoned out as I worked. I recently finished Dean Karnezes' book Ultramarathon Man where he talked about how he fell asleep while running the Badwater Ultramarathon. I understood that a little better as I fell into the rhythm of the elliptical, although I suspect that if had I fallen asleep I would have quickly come to a stop.

Since it is Monday I took a scheduled rest day. As I drove to the train this morning I observed the plowed roads with their patina of ice and realized that tomorrow morning's workout will need to happen indoors. No escaping that unless the temperature rises by 20 degrees and stays that way. I'm okay with the notion of returning once again to the treadmill although I'll admit my reluctance to do it. If I felt that the elliptical provided the same benefit my decision would be simple. I may try my new Nike+ sensor that was a gift from my friend and colleague KWL while I run on the treadmill and compare my readings on the iPhone to the read readings on my Garmin 50. Almost any distraction is a good distraction. Better to be looking at running metrics than falling asleep on the treadmill. I don't think that I would have the same positive outcome as Dean.

Helly Hansen Trail Lizards are also good for snow shoveling

I fibbed a little in yesterday's post when I said I didn't like shoveling snow. I actually like it a lot. My technique is not unlike LSD running and when I get into the zone I often find the orderly progress relaxing. This morning my wife and I came out to a foot or so of snow that had accumulated after the 3" we'd shoveled last night. In about an hour we managed through it. The biggest challenge was finding places to put the snow that we lifted off the driveway and walk. There was a lot to displace.

We have guests coming over for brunch a little later this morning so I'm glad to have got some exercise in beforehand. I was happy to do some upper body work as well. I wore my Helly Hansen Trail Lizard running shoes while I shoveled and found them to be remarkably comfortable as well as very stable in the slippery conditions. The shoes don't have any water proofing but the snow is dry and fluffy so that wasn't an issue. I'm really tempted to go out later for a run in the neighborhood with the Trail Lizards. I'll hold off for now because there are still snow plows on the road and I don't want to have to dodge them, especially with no sidewalk escape route. If I don't make it outside I'll consider an elliptical session or perhaps a workout on the treadmill. I can always look out the window and enjoy the snowy scenery.

Racing the snow

My day started a little later than I'd planned when I woke up and realized that it was close to 7:00 AM. I can't recall the last time I slept later than 6:30 AM on a weekend day so that was very unusual. I was fairly exhausted this week and I obviously needed the rest. I had an early appointment so I missed my opportunity to get a run in before I left. I wouldn't have cared that much about missing the chance to run early but the weather report is calling for a blizzard and I really wanted to get out before that hit. Actually a run in a blizzard would probably be fun but I didn't want to invite injury from slipping.

I went out around 10:00 AM with a plan to cover 4 or 5 miles. I had hoped that my eight hours of sleep (I average six) would provide an enhanced level of energy. That was not the case. It was cold when I stepped out and the wind made it feel like a chilly 15 degrees. Soon after I took off I noticed that my HRM strap was working its way down from my chest. That has happened before for reasons I can't really understand. Perhaps it's due to a lack of humidity and no bottom compression layer. After removing the strap on the fly I headed back to my house and threw it on my lawn so it wouldn't distract me any further. Despite the dry cold air, and wind that was sapping my energy, I was determined to cover my distance. The effort on the hills seemed to be amplified from the cold air and this caused my breathing to become labored. The first two miles were a struggle but after that I adjusted to the elements and maintained a moderate pace. When I finally arrived on the road that connects to my street I felt like I'd accomplished far more than a recreational run.

I ended up covering 5 miles with a mid-9 minute pace. Not as fast as I wish I'd run but under the circumstances it met my needs. The snow is beginning to come down and in two hours the volume will be "severe." I love the snow but not the shoveling. I hope I saved enough energy for that fun activity later in the day.

ATAYNE(ing) running success and social responsibility

This week I received a couple of running shirts from a company called ATAYNE (pronounced attain) and I am very excited about it. The shirts are truly beautiful, well made and cleverly designed. What I like most about these shirts is that they are made from 100% recycled materials and function as high performance athletic gear. We'll be giving these products a thorough test and will report our findings on Runner's Tech Review when we do. In the meantime think about giving a socially responsible shirt to your favorite runner this holiday season.

I needed a little more than great gear to get me through my run this morning. I did an elliptical workout on Thursday and this morning I awoke to 18 degree weather and a headache courtesy of last night's work holiday party. Now don't get me wrong, it isn't like I had a lot to drink. I didn't. It's just that nowadays, if I drink anything I pay for it the next day. I love Chimay Blue but it will be a while until I have another. Even with the cold and the ache I hit the road at 4:00 and covered 2.25 miles at a comfortable pace. Today's run was necessary to reinforce that neither cold nor (self created) discomfort are excuses to skip a run. I'm hoping to put some longer miles on the road or trails this weekend. I also need to complete and post my 2010 goals. New Years is only 2 weeks away!