Out and about time

Granger's "safer" waterproofing spray

Today's workout (street run): 5.6 miles at 9:29 pace

The rain finally stopped this morning and I didn't waste any time getting out for a neighborhood run. For me, the experience of running on the treadmill versus running outdoors is very different. In that running outdoors actually provides enjoyment. There was still a fine mist in the air when I set out around 7:00 AM. I headed directly to neighborhood #3 because I haven't run there in a long time and I needed a change of scenery. My original plan was to run neighborhoods 2 and 3 and then cover a couple of miles in my own neighborhood. There was a lot of traffic on the service road that needed to be crossed to get to the other areas. Crossing over to #3 is safe because there's only one direction for traffic and it's easy to see cars long before they reach the crossing point.  The light rain was burning off by the time I hit the first mile but, despite 40 degree temperatures, there was some humidity fogging my sunglasses. With a slight breeze it was still pleasant and once the mist stopped it felt drier and cooler.

Once through neighborhood #3, I headed back to my main neighborhood, skipping 2, because the traffic I'd need to cross on the service road was too heavy for comfort. On weekend mornings it's much different to run along that section. I dressed exactly right and felt increasingly stronger throughout the run. This didn't translate into a fast pace but it felt great and I got some good mileage in on a weekday, always a bonus. It looks like the sun may actually make an appearance this afternoon and if it does I'm planning to experiment with Granger's G-Max Universal waterproofing spray on my Helly Hansen Trail Lizards. I bought this spray because it appears to be safer and more environmentally responsible (according to the label) than the solvent-based sprays that come with warnings that take up an entire side of the can. It will be great if the spray provides a moisture barrier on these shoes because I often have to step around large puddles on the trails at Stillwell. I know the shoes aren't engineered to be waterproof so they will likely let in some water. However, the spray may help keep things a little drier.

With all the rain we've had since Saturday, the trails will surely be soaked for the next few days. It would be great to have a little extra protection should I head to Stillwell or Muttontown this week. It's great to finally run outside.

Pre-run dynamic stretching has its merits

Today's workout (treadmill): 2.5 miles at 9:05 (2% incline)

Ugh. That describes the wet weather outside and my experience on the treadmill this morning. Long Island is getting 4"-6" of rain over the next 24 hours on top of all the rain we've seen since Friday night. Yesterday was a nice break from exercise and I really needed some rest. I had been experiencing some slight pain in my right knee and intermittent pain in my left abductor muscle that may have been related to extra mileage on hills over that last two weeks. With any thoughts of an outside run washed away with the steady rain, I turned to the treadmill for my run.

I had just read in Running Times about dynamic stretching. This method differs from static stretching in that it activates muscles rather than relaxing them. As it happens, my pre-run stretching is already dynamic. Using a couple of of exercises that AG taught me I usually do a few leg swings and knee cradles before I start. I decided to add a few more to the mix today and I did feel very loose before I started my run. The treadmill belt is still unstable and we're waiting for a new motor that will theoretically resolve the slipping and jerking issue. I am able to avoid that for the most part by keeping to the left but the possibility of a slip is definitely an unwanted distraction during my run. I spent a couple of minutes warming up at a slower pace and then hit the start button on the Garmin after pushing the speed to 6.6 MPH. I'd also set the incline to 2% and the combination of a relatively brisk pace (9:05 on the treadmill feels like 8:40 on the street to me) and the slight elevation made my first mile difficult.

I settled into the run and managed to tough it out long enough to cover 2.5 miles at speed before I switched off the Garmin and cooled down for another ten minutes at a slower pace with no incline. It wasn't an enjoyable experience but it was a good workout. Additionally, I finished the run with no knee or muscle pain. The air was especially dry and I really appreciated the coconut water that I used for re-hydration. I'm really hoping that by tomorrow morning conditions will be favorable for an outdoor run. Much as I like the new treadmill, it doesn't provide the satisfaction of running outside.

Rain, rain (don't) go away

Today's workout: Rest day

We changed our plans for a short vacation in western Massachusetts when we saw that the current torrential rainstorm's duration would coincide exactly with our scheduled time away. Instead we stayed local and amused ourselves with distractions that included a Wii tournament. I was soundly whipped at tennis by my daughter and out boxed by my son. Well at least I got a little exercise. Very little.

Tomorrow's weather looks to be equally stormy but I'm hoping that there will be a window of time when the rain stops long enough for me to get in a neighborhood run. Barring that, I'll return to the new treadmill and work around the slipping belt by staying farther to the left side. I got a notification that the new parts have been shipped so it shouldn't be long before the treadmill becomes more of an asset than a liability.  Thursday, Friday and the weekend days look to be much more running-friendly than today, tomorrow and Wednesday so I'm sure I'll still get plenty of miles in on this vacation.

Once around the neighborhood

Today's run (street): 3.6 miles at 9:15/mile

Today's weather has turned dark and gloomy and I'm expecting to see the predicted cascades of rain starting at any time. The morning's skies were brighter but the temperatures were colder and I made the mistake of putting on too many layers for my run. I have been pushing myself more than usual over the last couple of weeks but I haven't focused as much on my speed as I have on hill training. I'm racing the Marcie Mazzola 5K in two weeks and I want to tune my conditioning for the killer hill at the start of the race. At least the race organizers were kind enough to design the course so that the hill is at the beginning rather than making it a dreaded obstacle near the finish.

Last night we got together with friends for dinner. Our hosts are fantastic cooks and this led to some untypical overindulgence at mealtime. Adding to that, I had my monthly beer (a Budweiser of all things!) and more calories came later when we all celebrated my wife's birthday with homemade desserts. Due somewhat to that, I wasn't exactly raring to get out and run this morning. We're traveling tomorrow and I probably won't have a chance to do a workout before we leave so I needed to get in a run today. I decided to start by running the three mile perimeter of our neighborhood. Along the northern road (Jericho Turnpike) there is a hill that goes on for a third of a mile. I thought that would provide a good challenge within a fairly low key run and I was pleased by how easily it went compared to the last time I tried. After reaching the apex of the hill I turned into the neighborhood proper and finished with a total distance of 3.6 miles. I was sweating quite a bit by the time I got home, having broken the cardinal rule about dressing for the second mile rather than the first.

9:15 isn't exactly burning up the road, but given that I completely ignored any thought of pace I was happy with where I ended up. It was a successful weekend of running and I'm glad to have done a good series of hill workouts over the last nine days. I look forward to my rest day tomorrow and I hope to get in at least one trail run as we visit the Berkshires for a few days next week.

If I'm on vacation why am I working so hard?

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 4.75 miles

Winter showed up again on Long Island this morning - 28 degrees with a steady breeze from the east. This is my first day of vacation and I decided to start things off with a trail run at Stillwell Woods Preserve. I have no issues running in weather like this because my body temperature usually regulates after a few minutes and that was the case today. After a week of workouts that focused on inclines, (both on the treadmill and elliptical) I thought that Stillwell would be a nice change of scenery.

The morning sun was very bright at 8:00 AM when I set out for my run and as I made my was past the trail head I noticed a number of frozen puddles on the main path. I maintained a moderate pace to conserve energy that I knew I would need once I encountered the many steep inclines along the trails. I took a different route than I normally take to get into the interior of the Preserve and was rewarded by about eight minutes running on relatively flat, narrow singletrack. Shortly after that I hit a cross point and I needed to decide which way to go next. Using the position of the sun to help navigate east worked well until the trail switched back and forth a few times. I ended up on a path that terminated south at a fence. I had a pretty good idea from previous runs that this path was going to end but I wanted to attack the steep hill that led up to the end of the trail. Once I got to the top I saw a path that led east. The trail was steeply banked and it twisted around a ledge. I imagined that only a serious mountain biker would dare take on that narrow ledge, one false move would result in a quick drop about 20 feet below. Once I made it down I immediately encountered another steep rise that went on for a while. I gave up any pretence that I could run the whole thing and hiked the last hundred feet until it leveled before rising again.

Once I got past this and a few other challenging hills I returned to the mostly flat trails and headed west, guided by the shadow from the sun. I was pleased that I was able to navigate today without really getting lost and I confidently found my way out to the open field. I did one lap around on that path and then headed out to the athletic fields and finished by running around three of the baseball fields before returning to my car. As usual, Stillwell provided a tough challenge and it forced me to consider my true level of fitness. Don't tell anyone, but I think I did more work today than I did all week in the office!

It's all uphill from here

Today's run (treadmill): 2.4 miles, 4-6% incline

The rain kept me inside this morning but I had anticipated bad weather and planned to run on the treadmill. I recently looked at a chart that compared equivalent paces based upon running speed and inclines. It gave me the idea that I could run at a slower pace (for safety given the treadmill's belt slips) and still get the benefits of a faster pace by increasing the elevation. My run started roughly when my Garmin refused to set correctly. I nearly lost balance when the belt slipped while I was messing with the controls on the watch. Once I got that settled I pushed both my pace and the incline to a point where I was working fairly hard. About six minutes into the run I noticed that the belt would slip most often when I ran closer to the right edge of the tread belt. Moving closer to the left, the belt becomes more stable. Given that the tread belt is barely two feet wide, the range of positions is limited. However, an inch or two makes a big difference in terms of stability.

Running uphill at speed becomes difficult after a while so I decreased the incline for a few minutes to recover and then moved through some different combinations of slower paces and higher inclines (and vice versa). I ended up covering about 2.3 miles at an average pace of 9:50. Considering the amount of effort I'd needed to get through this workout I was surprised to see that my pace was still in the nine minute range. I'm hearing about more rain this weekend but I'm hoping to get out both days to run on real hills that don't slip unexpectedly under your feet. In a way the new treadmill simulates running on technical trails - but not in a good way.

Back to 4:00 AM street runs

Today's run (street): 2.35 miles at 9:18/mile

After about three months of weekday morning runs on the treadmill I returned to the outdoors for my 4:00 AM workout. I'll admit I was a little nervous about going back to the dark streets as I laid out my gear last night. Before, when I was doing these runs daily, it became a familiar routine. This morning it was almost like doing it for the first time. I much prefer to run on ground that isn't moving and our new treadmill is exhibiting some erratic behavior (more on that below) so my best choice right now seems to be running outdoors.

My run went well. I recently read in an article in Running Times magazine that early morning runs like this will yield slower paces. I ran in the lower 9:00 range but, as I've said in the past about these runs, it felt faster than that. I tried to run on streets that have higher inclines because my upcoming race is all about a big hill and I want to be ready. Along the way I encountered a person walking their dog, a surprise to see at 4:15 AM. It really was nice to be back outside and, unless we get rain, I plan to do it again tomorrow.

After a disappointing conversation with a cranky customer service person at Sole yesterday I was concerned about how the company would handle our issue with the slipplng belt tread. After submitting an online form my wife was contacted by the Sole support person who told her that our machine was part of a group that had bad motors (lucky us) and it will be replaced. I can't wait for that to happen! My wife continues to use the machine without much problem and until the motor is replaced I will too. But only if it rains.

Polly Pocket, your running shoes are here!

Today's workout (elliptical/high resistance): 25 minutes

This past weekend I stopped into our local bike store, Bicycle Planet, which was displaying big signs in their windows that said "Clearance Sale." But I wasn't looking for bike gear. This store carries performance apparel from makers like Sugoui, Pearl Izumi and Craft along with other quality brands that specialize in cycling. I was hoping to find a bargain on long sleeved tech shirts that I could use on cold morning runs but even with the sale the clothes were pricey. There were some heavier jerseys with zip fronts that were well priced. Since cyclists ride 3-4X faster than I run they clearly need the wind protection. These jerseys were nice but they didn't meet any current needs so I ended up leaving empty handed. I'll be back soon with my Trek bike which needs a serious tuneup.

The next day we paid a visit to the outlet stores and I did my usual rounds at Adidas (poor selection of running clothes, no bargains on running shoes) and Nike. Nike had little running apparel on display and, for what they had, the prices weren't compelling. I don't care for Nike shoes but I was curious to try a pair of Zoom Equalon 3's that were on special for $80.00. I didn't like the fit and I guess I'm a little biased since my last experience running with Nike shoes was fairly negative. I stopped in at Reebok because it was there (did you know Adidas owns Reebok?) and, again out of curiosity, tried on a pair of their top of the line stability shoes.

Every time I try on Reeboks I understand why no one I know runs in them. The shoes I tried on Sunday felt clumsy, with an awkward transition from heel to toe. As I was leaving I noticed a display for the new ZigTech shoes. They only had smaller sizes to try but I looked at the display models and wondered what the fuss was about. The shoe is bizarre to begin with - a weirdly shaped boot with a strange wavey-springy out sole that doesn't seem fully attached to the shoe. In pictures the shoe looks interesting. In real life it looks like something you'd find on a Polly Pocket doll. I left the outlet stores without a single purchase but with a renewed respect for the gear and for shoes from the real players like Brooks, ASICS and Mizuno.

Jerked around by my treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 2.3 miles at 9:12/mile

The hill work I did over the weekend caused great tightness in my leg muscles on Monday. This morning that tightness was even more pronounced so I decided that the "hair of the dog" approach with more hill climbs would be the best way to deal with it. I had played briefly with the inclines on the new treadmill on Saturday and thought about running one of the built-in programs that included variable elevations. I had not read the treadmill's instructions to learn how to start a speed or elevation program so after a few tries I gave up and used the manual method to set my inclines. A few minutes into my run I began noticing that the tread belt slipped every twenty seconds or so. These slips felt as though the belt was jerking and suddenly pulling forward for a second. It wasn't so pronounced that it threw me off balance but it was concerning. The worst part was waiting for the next slip - nothing like feeling stress while running!

I decided to finish my run despite this annoying problem. I found the incline feature useful and varied the incline between 2% and 4% but backed off on that when the belt slippage became pronounced. The slipping and jerking may be related to inclines because it had not happened before I had used that feature. Unfortunately the slipping happens without an incline so there's no safe condition although it seems to stabilize when the speed is lessened. I sent a note to Sole and I'll report on what happens. It's really too bad, prior to this problem I thought the F63 exceeded expectations.

Your mileage may vary

Today's workout: Rest day

Despite my meticulous efforts to capture my running metrics, I'm realizing that my perception of my overall performance differs from the hard facts. When people ask me about it I usually say I run 9:00 miles. I can run faster than that, but I don't. In truth, I only hit 8:00-something paces a few times a month and most of the time I average between 9:10-9:30/mile. Yesterday, after uploading my latest run into Garmin Connect, I noticed that my average monthly distance is 65 miles. This confused me because, when asked, I usually say I run 20 miles a week. I think part of that delusion comes from when I used MapMyRun to record my metrics and included the distance measurement from my elliptical sessions. In fact, I ran less monthly distance a year ago than today because I was limiting my morning weekday runs to no more than 20 minutes.

In order to really reach the 20 mile per week level I will need to average closer to 3 miles per day during the week (less one rest day and one cross training day) and 10 miles over the weekend. The gating factor is time, not conditioning. However, if I really could average 9:00 per mile I would definitely compile more distance in the same amount of time.

A day in the park (industrial version)

Today's run: 5.5 miles (road) at 9:19

After yesterday's tough trail run I decided to give myself a break and run on the road instead. I didn't let myself off easy though, my first destination was the industrial park that is located a half mile from my neighborhood. I'd been thinking about the Marcie Mazzolla race course knowing that I'll again encounter that hill that stretches for almost a mile. I clearly need to do more hill work and while yesterday was good start in that direction it was useful to duplicate the conditions of a road race. The streets in the industrial park form a 1.2 mile loop with a steady incline when running in the counterclockwise direction. I felt strong as I set out to run from my house to the industrial park. I'd dressed in a short-sleeved wicking shirt and compression shorts that turned out to be the perfect combination, but the first ten minutes of the run were a little chilly with the wind.

As I made my way around the park it occurred to me how similar this course felt to the lower loop at Central Park. Certainly not in terms of visual stimulation (although the density of Canada geese in the industrial park was far higher than in CP) but similar in the location of the elevations and downhills. I didn't know how I was tracking for pace and I didn't really care. It was about the hills and I felt I was holding my own. By the time I was on the third loop I noticed that I felt stronger than I did at the start. When I reached the flat part of the loop that leads to a downhill section I felt like I had done really well. Not only that, I felt like I could do more running, so I took a detour back to my neighborhood and stretched my distance to a total of 5.5 miles.

Next week I will use some of the treadmill's hill climbing programs in my weekday morning runs to help maintain the progress I made this weekend. My overall pace of 9:19 is acceptable to me considering that a good part of today's workout was done uphill. I'm very glad I'm resting tomorrow!

Stillwell printemps

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 3.75 miles at 9:53/mile

Given the way I felt during most of today's run, I was pleased with the outcome. I had a rare eight hour's sleep the night before and I went out to run at 9:00 AM when I'm usually at my best. Despite having pre-hydrated with coconut water I started out feeling a bit sluggish. I didn't feel weak but I lacked my usual morning energy as I made my way toward the Black trail at Stillwell. My hope was to accurately follow this trail so that I would not get lost. That hope wasn't fully met. I did better than normal in terms of navigation and I even recognized some trails well enough to understand where I was from time to time.

The one time I got lost was when I ran out of trail at the north of the Preserve where it terminates at Stillwell Lane. Soon after heading in the other direction I encountered steep hills and fast drops that tested my conditioning. I felt stronger as I went on but by the 30 minute mark I was fairly exhausted. I reached a crossroad and recognized the direction that would lead me back to the main open trail. I followed that path and did a final lap around the big open section before returning to the trail head. I then ran a lap around the athletic field to finish my run.

It was beautiful weather for outdoor activities and, along the way, I encountered hikers, people running their dogs, mountain bikers and a couple of other runners. Everyone I passed seemed to be in a happy state of mind and politely waved or said hello. Spring is in the air and it felt great today on the trails.