Cow Harbor 10K -- it's about the experience

On September 25th there will be 5,300 people in Northport, NY, lining up for the Great Cow Harbor 10K race. To date, besides the Cape Cod marathon relay, the biggest fields I've run against have been measured in the hundreds. Cow Harbor has a staggered start to keep things manageable but with that amount of people, all crammed together, I'm wondering how long it will be before the runners in my corral spread out enough for me to run at my planned pace. I imagine that the hill on James Street serves as a natural filter point to hold off the crowds but I could be wrong. Friends who participate in NYRR events in Central Park tell me how the sheer density of bodies often disrupts a well paced run.

The huge field of runners also negates any hope of an age category placement. I've placed second in my category in a total field of 300, but statistically, I have no chance of doing that in Cow Harbor. Last year there were almost 300 runners in my age group and the winner ran a sub-6:00 minute pace. My best hope is to finish within the top 50% of the pack. I don't mean to imply that I'm already giving up or that I'm in any way negative about this race. It's really the opposite. I'm in awe of the scale and thrilled to be.part of it. I love that truly elite runners will be pounding the same pavement as me on that day and will similarly dread the challenge of Widow Hill. My leg muscles are a bit sore this morning and that's telling me that hill practice will be on my training menu next weekend. All the same, I'm looking forward to revisiting the Great Cow Harbor course, surrounded by thousands of others who feel the same way about this event.

The Great Cow Harbor practice event

Cow Harbor 10K challengers (left to right), Ocha, BJS, me, Dave

Today's run (street): 6.41 miles at 9:23 (per Garmin)

Some runs are so tough that from the moment you start all you can think about is finishing. Other runs are just the opposite -- you'd run forever save for the practical need to meet the day's schedule. Today was much more of the latter. I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed a challenging workout as much as today's Great Cow Harbor 10K practice run.

BJS, Dave and I met near the dock in Northport and BJS drove us to the starting point of the race on Laurel Avenue. We began by running south on Laurel at a decent clip. The first mile has a small hill but is predominantly flat to downhill, and by the time we reached the end of Main Street we were moving along nicely. It was at that point where we ran into Ocha who was also doing a practice run for the race and he joined our merry band as we made our way up Bayview Avenue that led to James Street (aka, "Widow Hill"). There's a famous runner's quote that if a hill has a name it's probably a pretty big hill. I'd say this one certainly deserves a name and we made slow but steady progress toward the top. The hill crests and then serves up an extra steep portion before flattening at the 2.5 mile mark. I didn't think that was the biggest hill on the course because I'd thought Widow Hill came later than that. When BJS, who played pace master and course guide for our group said we'd completed the worst part I didn't believe him.

At around the three mile mark I ran with Ocha who had never raced a 10K and claimed to only run 6 miles a week. If that's the case I'd like to see what he'd be like running 20. He led the way during our practice run, including the end when we scaled the final hill challenge, ("Pumpernickel Hill") and then finished the last mile's mostly downhill path. BJS and Ocha both showed some good speed and I watched them grow increasingly smaller as they headed for our endpoint. I came in about thirty seconds behind them with Dave following me closely. We then walked over to the dock area where Ocha ran into a couple of runners he knew and we asked them to take the above photo. It was a great day for running and there were many others out on the road this morning. I was very happy to run with BJS, Dave and Ocha and learn the course. I'm better prepared for what lies ahead two weekends from today, Widow Hill notwithstanding.

9/11

Today's run (street): 5.35 miles at 9:20

Yesterday morning I felt run down so I decided to forgo my run. I thought about a city run later in the day but since I planned to leave the office early I deferred that too. I thought about sneaking in a short run when I got home but ultimately decided that resting when I felt tired was the best thing to do. We had an early obligation this morning so I had to wait until 9:30 before I could go out for my run. I wasn't there mentally and I was still feeling a little tired but I was determined to cover at least five miles.

Today is September 11 and as I ran through the streets of my neighborhood I thought about my experience nine years ago, sitting around a table in my office and seeing my workmates stream by the door on their way to the corner conference room to watch the events on TV. A colleague popped his head in and said "Do you know what's going on right now?" Later I stood in an office on the 40th floor and looked downtown at the surreal clouds of smoke covering the southern end of the Manhattan skyline. I also remembered how sad we all felt a long time after that day. I didn't think things would ever feel normal again.

I wish I was a runner back in 2001 because running would have been a perfect method of sublimating those emotions. I certainly appreciate running today, and no matter how well or difficult a run may be I almost always get something out of the experience. Today was tough from the start but I focused on my form, my stride (using Kenley's can stomping concept to help maintain a mid foot landing) and my pace. I didn't feel very strong so I conceded some speed in the middle of the run. I picked up the pace over the last half mile and was happy at the end with my result. Tomorrow I'm doing a practice run on the Great Cow Harbor 10K course with BJS and Dave, both of whom are veterans of this race. I hope I have my normal energy restored by that time because there's a lot of challenging hills to face.

2010 running goals -- progress report

Today's workout (elliptical): 26 minutes

Somehow it's already September and it has been months since I've done a check in on my 2010 running goals. My year started out tough with my recovery from pneumonia through most of January. I still feel like I lost a month but I'm certainly back into the fold these days. A quick review of my goals that I set in late January shows I'm fairly well on track. I think there's a good chance that I'll make most of them.

Progress report on 2010 goals

1. Fully transition to mid/front foot running style.
I've been spending more time with my Saucony Kinvaras, shoes that help me land on my mid-foot rather than off my heel. Still, I prefer my Brooks for longer distances as well as my Grid Tangents that have a more conventional build. I'd say that my style is generally mid and forefoot oriented but a full transition has not happened and may not by year's end.
2. Raise at least $200 for charitable causes by donating per race mile.
So far I've raised $130 (I've also had an anonymous donator) and I should be adding $30 more after Great Cow Harbor. That will leave $40 to raise (eight more race miles) between then and New Year's. I believe this is highly possible.

3. PR in a race - preferably in a longer distance than 5K (but I'll happily take a new 5K PR!).
Well, technically, my XTERRA trail race in March was a PR because it was a new distance but I won't take credit for it as a PR. This is because the race distance was modified just prior to the start and it's almost a given that I won't run a race with that unique length again. I had my chances on the Marcie Mazzola 5K, the New Hyde Park 8K and the Dirty Sock 10K but didn't do better than last year. Cow Harbor will provide an opportunity to beat my 10K PR although the deck may be stacked because my prior 10Ks have been on a dirt course.

4. Run trails at three or more NY state parks that I have yet to visit.
I guess I can't take credit for my Colorado park running so I'm 1 for 3 having run in Muttontown Preserve. I have my eye on Caleb Smith this fall so that leaves one more -- Bear Mountain or the Gunks in New Paltz would be awesome.

5. Run a continuous 10 mile route under 9:30/mile.
My personal distance record is still 8.15 miles although I have been working toward more frequent long runs that will prepare me for an eventual 10. Ten under 9:30/mile? That's another challenge.

6. Participate in at least 5 races. Bonus points for running one in NYC.
So far it's four with one on the calendar and another planned for November. I'm looking for races in October and December to make it 8 for 2010. Maybe one in NYC?

7. Finish the year as excited about running as I am right now.
Definitely on track for this one!

Memo to self: Check elapsed time on the Garmin

Today's run (street): 3 miles at 10:14

I don't know how it happened but I ended up running for much longer than I'd intended this morning. My heel problem seemed much less noticeable last night and I gave little thought to it this morning until I took my first steps running. Once again I felt the pain -- not sharply -- but there it was. I briefly considered turning back but I chose to keep going at a much slower pace than I normally run. I wore my Brooks that offer great protection and focused on landing on my mid foot and avoiding direct heel strikes. This is easier to do with the Kinvaras that are almost the same height between heel and forefoot but I'd chosen to wear the Brooks  this morning for their superior cushioning.

I knew I was running slower than usual but I didn't want to exacerbate my injury. I mapped out (in my head) the route I would follow and figured that I'd cover a little less distance than usual given my slower speed. Somehow I got caught up in the rhythm of my run and didn't pay any attention to my time or distance. When I finally arrived home I looked at my Garmin and saw that I'd covered 3 miles in a little over 30 minutes. This actually shocked me because I didn't notice that I'd run eight minutes longer than usual. I was not surprised to see that my pace was a minute slower than average. It was the trade-off I made for protecting my foot this morning. I was disappointed that I lost eight minutes of recovery time between my run and my shower but I still had enough time to finish my coffee. I'll probably do an elliptical session tomorrow. That will be kinder to my foot and hopefully I'll recover from this heel problem before the weekend.

Distant thoughts

I'm back to the office today after being away for almost four days. It felt like a mini vacation as we said goodbye to summer. We put away the pool furniture and the kids did their final preparations for returning to classes today. Over the Labor Day weekend I covered 19 miles, the longest distance I've run within 48 hours. When you begin to accumulate distance you start to notice the amount of time it requires. Covering 19 miles took me three hours, plus prep and recovery time. I now wonder how people who train for marathons manage to fit in all the long runs necessary for training. Despite the time it took cover my distance I was pleased by the way I recovered from each subsequent run. No next day aches and pain even though I was running two or three times the length of a normal morning workout.

Running five times a week, averaging 4 miles per run, has been a good formula for building an aerobic base and for keeping me in decent shape. I know now that these shorter runs have prevented me from suffering the injuries that often befall  higher mileage runners. I may have stepped into dangerous territory yesterday when I went for almost an hour wearing my minimalist Kinvaras to cap off my weekend of running. A twinge of heel pain revealed how unready I was to cover so much ground, especially when wearing shoes that provided so little impact protection. It was in that moment that I fully appreciated the statistic that 66% of runners suffered a related injury in 2009. I had thought I was somehow immune to common injuries and that my running style or my shoes would prevent them. My heel pain is almost gone today but it's not forgotten. I'm still going to focus on distance as I train for my next race but I'll be far more respectful of the problems that can come from higher mileage running.

Need some time for my heel to heal

Today's run (street): 5.52 miles at 9:38

Long weekends are always welcome, especially when the weather is as nice as it's been over the last three days. Today is Labor Day and, among other things, it signifies the spiritual end of summer and the emergence of fall. My kids return to school on Tuesday and they're ready for anything. I'm back to work tomorrow and looking forward to taking a rest day from running. Between Saturday morning and this morning I've covered over 19 miles and I fear I may have pushed a little too hard.

The running plan for the weekend was distance and I think I succeeded with that goal.  However, I may have injured the heel of my left foot this morning and I'm hoping that a day's rest (or even two if necessary) will be enough time to restore things to normal. My morning run started well with an easy loop along the service road that borders my neighborhood to the east before heading west and then south until I re-entered along the eastbound service road. I had no particular distance in mind but two miles went by very quickly so I thought I'd keep going for a while. I reached four miles still feeling fresh despite the 13+ miles I'd put in the previous day. Almost as soon as I checked my distance I felt a pain in the heel of my left foot that I hoped would pass quickly. I knew right away that this was more than a temporary jolt due to a misaligned landing and I thought about walking the rest of the way home, a distance of about 1.5 miles.

The pain remained but it got no worse so I maintained my route feeling surprisingly strong. With about half a mile left to go I experienced an interesting dichotomy -- my legs felt tied down with sandbags but my overall energy level was still very high. I forced my speed and picked up my cadence enough to attain my first negative split since mile 1. At the end I still felt fine and if not for concern for my heel I knew I could have gone on for a while. I iced my foot when I got in the house and wore my Brooks with a pair of Smartwool socks for the rest of the day's activities (today's run was in the Kinvaras).  My heel is feeling much better as a result but I'm going to watch it carefully and continue with ice and rest for the next day, at least. Overall I'm very pleased with my Labor Day weekend running and I think I've turned a corner on my stamina issue. This bodes well for the Great Cow Harbor 10K but I still need to do some speed work if I hope to reach my timing goal.

10K morning at Stillwell Woods

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 6.2 miles at 9:35

As soon as I got up I started debating my strategy for today's run -- go out long again or keep it short and treat it like a recovery run from yesterday's 7+ mile workout? I decided that length would still work if I ran on a softer surface like the Stillwell trails and maintained a moderate pace. Still, I didn't intend to run 6 miles, 4 to 5 was more my target, but conditions were perfect and I wasn't under any time pressure today. I wore my old ASICS 1130's that I've used mostly on the elliptical over the last year because I intended to keep away from the technical trails. The 1130's did fine over the root-y and rutty sections and it made me realize how well road shoes work on most trails (as long as you don't mind getting them dirty). Even during some close encounters with fast moving mountain bikers the shoes allowed me to agilely shift to the right without breaking stride.

I reached three miles faster than I expected and felt strong despite the longer distance that I covered on Saturday. Perhaps the spate of 6+ mile runs I've compiled over the last few weeks are contributing to my conditioning. It's all a matter of what you're used to. The Running Geek, who wrote a great review for Runner's Tech Review, considers 13 miles a short run. I still haven't broken ten and when I do, I know I'll feel it for days. I was rolling along through the woods, not looking at my Garmin, but noting the chirp it provides at every mile. For some reason I thought I was at 5 miles and working on 6 (and deciding whether to go for 7) when I glanced at my watch and it said 4.51 miles. Whoops,  delusions of grandeur. No matter, I still felt like I could go for a while longer and I continued on until I reached six miles and added another .2 as I ran out the trail, back to my car.

A perfect trail 10K on a cool and comfortable Sunday morning. I watched a men's soccer game while I re-hydrated and then headed home to shower. Next weekend BJS, Dave and I are going to do a practice run of the Great Cow Harbor course and this distance training should help me keep up with them. They've both run Cow Harbor at speeds faster than I expect to run but perhaps my recent conditioning will make me a little more competitive on race day.

Stung by Honey Stinger's energy gel

Today's run (street): 7.4 miles at 9:52

As planned, I went out for a long neighborhood run today with a target distance of at least 6 miles. I've only covered that much distance a handful of times over the summer but I know I need longer sessions to build more stamina. This morning's route included my primary neighborhood, the nearby business park and neighborhood #3.

Hurricane Earl turned out to be a non-event for us and the morning brought in some cool winds from the west. It was neither humid nor hot when I set out for my run and after thirty seconds on the road I could tell that yesterday's rest day prepared me well for today. I purposely kept a moderate pace and I lost about ten seconds per mile between miles 2 through 5. At the five mile point I pulled out a Honey Stinger gel pack that my friend KWL had given me after his 10K race a few weeks ago. I was curious to see if I'd see any benefit from this carb blast and judging by my pace over the last two miles of my run I think it did provide a small benefit. Despite that slight energy boost I found the gel to be problematic as it burned my throat going down. I managed to recover from the shock of that experience but six hours later I'm still coughing from the irritation.

I felt pretty good when I finally reached home and thought I still had a couple of slower miles left in me if I wanted to keep going. It was great to cover the distance but I do regret my experiment with the Honey Stinger gel. After running and showering we headed to NYC to see the Blue Man Group to cap off the kid's summer break. Back to school on Tuesday. But Labor Day provides an extra weekend day for me and I'm hoping to cover 6 or more miles at least once more before I return to the office on Tuesday.

Earl-y day

The weather is unsettled and so are my workout plans today. I decided last night to forgo a Friday morning run even if the skies were clear. For my upcoming race, I'm clearly better off doing more longer distance runs even if my run frequency drops to 4x per week (plus one day of cross training). I'll let the storm decide what I'll do today. I'm forgoing my usual Friday Central Park circuit but if conditions are favorable this afternoon I may go out for a long run nearer to home. If we are seeing driving rain and 30+ MPH winds I'll accept this as a rest day and use that recovery benefit tomorrow morning when I plan to go out for an hour or more.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about ways to facilitate longer runs. Routes that put me on a straight path for long periods seem to work better than those that force me to change course every quarter mile or so. You'd think it would be the opposite because change can help fight off boredom but those long straightaways provide an opportunity to "float" and focus on my surroundings. It would be great to live somewhere like Colorado, California or Oregon that enabled long runs that didn't intersect with traffic. The Bethpage bike path is really the only paved route around here that provides me the opportunity to just run straight ahead. for long distances. Belmont Lake State Park (home of the Dirty Sock 10K) also provides a fairly straight path and it has the extra appeal of being a dirt trail. I'm going to think about my options for longer distance runs over this weekend. Maybe I'll come up with something new to try.

One out of one doctors say running is good for your heart

Today's workout (elliptical): 25 minutes

I spent much of yesterday at doctor's offices. My appointments were routine (annual physical, etc.) but the process, especially the waiting, can be exhausting. I was glad I ran in the morning because the rest of the day was understandably sedentary. I asked my doctor about an article I'd recently read that said running could pose increased risk to the heart. I wasn't that concerned because the greater risks were with higher mileage, performance focused athletes. My doctor is a nationally ranked cardiologist and I trust his opinion over a newspaper columnist's.  He flatly dismissed the risk and said "running is the single best thing you can be doing for your health." That's good enough for me.

I followed my usual schedule this morning and did 25 minutes on the elliptical machine. It was hot and humid but I didn't mind it much today. I selected a higher than normal level of resistance and was able to maintain my usual pace even with wattage output close to 100 (vs my usual 80). I was well soaked when I stepped off the machine but I felt I'd worked as hard (or harder) as I do on my daily runs. It's nice to engage different muscles and to include my upper arms for a change. That's why I devote one day a week to the elliptical. I should probably use it more frequently but if the choice is between running and the elliptical machine it's rare that I'd choose the latter. I'm hoping to run tomorrow but we're hearing that Earl will come close to Long Island tomorrow and (hopefully) move well off shore by late Friday night. If conditions aren't good I may end up on the elliptical tomorrow after all.

Pre-hurricane run

Today's run (street): 4 miles at 9:20

I'm out of the office today and that allowed me a little more time to run this morning. We're back to seeing temperatures in the high 90's after a string of cooler days but, happily, it was still below 80 degrees when I went out at 7:00 AM this morning. If I had more time to run I would have liked to go out for 5 miles or longer. I'm hoping that the Labor Day long weekend will provide the opportunity for a few longer distance runs but hurricane Earl may get in the way of those plans.

My route around the neighborhood was similar to my daily course but I ran a little longer today and there was enough light to see without a headlamp. I saw many neighbors out walking or riding bikes and had to remind myself that it was the middle of the work week and not a Saturday morning. Although it was 77 degrees and rising, I didn't feel at all uncomfortable during my run.

I wore my Saucony Kinvaras as a change from the Brooks and I'm beginning to favor them over most of my other running shoes. Still, on runs greater than 6 miles, I'm concerned that the Kinvaras will provide enough protection for my feet. I'm still dealing with the effects of the Dirty Sock race from two weeks ago that left my feet swollen and the tip of my left-middle toe black. I've been primarily wearing the Brooks since then and that's helped my foot to recover. The Saucony's uppers are gossamer thin and the toe box has enough volume as not to create further problems on shorter runs like today's so I'm now rotating them with the Adrenalins.

I want to get in a few long runs between Friday and Monday but with the storms coming through I'm not sure that will be possible. I don't mind running in a little rain but I'm going to stay indoors if I see "Hurricane Warning"scroll across the bottom of my TV this week.