Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Effortless Thanksgiving run, but not in a good way

Today's run (street): 3.6 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 3.2 miles

Happy Thanksgiving! I worked from home yesterday and have been feeling the holiday spirit since wrapping up work on Wednesday afternoon. SIOR is shaming encouraging everyone to do the Thanksgiving to New Year's streak that involves running at least a mile every day. So far, I'm good. I even ran yesterday, and I'm wondering if I can apply that to a day during the streak when I can't run.

Yesterday's run was fairly textbook. Usual route, usual pace. I'm hard pressed to recall anything interesting about it except that the roads were almost completely free of cars. Neighborhood running is much better when schools are out. No buses or parents doing drop offs. I enjoyed having the streets to myself.

During that run, my heart rate was hovering around 75% of max, which did not match my harder perceived effort. I found it interesting that I matched my usual pace with a 6% lower heart rate. Is that an indicator of improved fitness? If so, then why did it feel so challenging?

If you look carefully, today's route resembles a turkey
This morning I went out fairly early when the real feel temperature was 31°. I wore two top layers and track pants. At the last minute I added a fleece vest. That helped a lot, because running directly into the wind was pretty unpleasant. I originally thought about going to the track this morning but decided that a Thanksgiving run should happen closer to home. I chose a different route than normal and looked forward to another traffic free experience.

Like Wednesday, my perceived effort on today's run was greater than my actual heart rate indicated. I was puzzled to see that the Garmin showed my HR at around 71% of max. I felt like I was working a lot harder than that, closer to 80% range. By the time I finished, I'd managed to push it to 79%. My pace confirmed the data and I saw that I ran 50 seconds per mile slower than yesterday.

I'm not sure why my running is feeling a little tough right now. Last night we went out to dinner and saw a good friend. It was a big meal and maybe that bogged me down a bit this morning. If that's all it takes, tomorrow should be more of the same. We had quite the Thanksgiving feast today, put together with the team of Mrs ER and ER daughter. Feeling sleepy now, but I'm sure I'll get my second wind soon.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Turkey day run before the turkey

Time to ring the dinner bell
Today's run (street): 3.5 miles
Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes

My Thanksgiving day run is done, but there's no turkey trotting for me this year. Hooray for Runsketeer buddy TPP who had a 5K PR this morning in Oyster Bay. Had she finished ten seconds earlier, she would have averaged sub-8:00. TPP just keeps getting faster and I'm at the point where I'm happy that I'm not getting any slower.

I have day confusion due to the mid-week holiday and keep thinking it's Saturday. I worked from home yesterday and kept confusing it with Friday. But it isn't and it wasn't and I'm happy to have a nice string of days off where I'll get some workouts done. Yesterday was a busy morning at the office and that required me to participate in a few Google Hangout meetings. I sneaked in an early elliptical session to kick off my week's activity.

Despite the fact that today will be a major meal, we went out for a get-together dinner last night. It was really great, but social rules forced us to all order dessert. I felt like a stuffed turkey by the end and decided that I'd skip dessert today. Ya, right. There's homemade bread pudding, pecan pie and turkey cupcakes (happily not made out of turkey) in the refrigerator. Those are just the treats I know about.

In the spirit of burning calories, I went out this morning in fairly chilly (39°) weather. I'm not the biggest fan of running in my neighborhood, but it's a very civilized experience on holidays. No aggressive drivers dropping off their kids, road-hogging school buses, landscaper rigs or sanitation trucks forcing me onto the sidewalk. Just the quiet of a late fall day.

According to my Garmin data, my first mile and last half mile were my fastest this morning, even though I'm still plodding along for the most part. Despite that, my run seemed shorter than the distance I'd covered and I was thankful for the hot shower that followed.

Dinner will be served soon and I was excited to see what my wife and daughter cooked up for today's feast. I would have helped them, but there's a perception that I tend to get in the way. Besides that, I have to entertain. A lot of people are out of town this year, so our guest list is fairly moderate and I'm glad for that. You could even say thankful.

Tomorrow is Black Friday but I will avoid the stores and take advantage of another (hopefully) quiet morning. I keep thinking about the trails and may go out early to Stillwell or Bethpage. Happy Thanksgiving to all and good luck to all you turkey trotters and streakers (I mean you SIOR). I'd write more, but dinner awaits.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Turkey day morning run

Today's run (street): 4.3 miles

Happy Thanksgiving! It's so nice to be on break from work and being able to spend time with friends and family. It's also a treat to have time to go out for runs (weather permitting) every day. Yesterday's running plans were disrupted by the freezing rain, but this morning's conditions were much more favorable.

It was 33° and cloudy when I got my gear organized. My daughter decided to join me for the first part of my run and I was excited about that. We waited outside in the cold while my Garmin locked in on its GPS signal. It has been taking longer and longer to acquire a connection and I hope that doesn't mean that I'm going to need a new watch. Actually it would be great to get a new toy, but I've been very happy with the FR210. Once the display came ready, we were off the driveway and on the road.

Our route was a clockwise loop around the roads adjacent to my house. We moved along at an easy pace and chatted away. Once we completed the circle I left my daughter at the house and continued on to complete my run. A few minutes later I began to notice some snowflakes fluttering down and I loved the effect. That, combined with the crisp air, the scent of wood burning and the aroma of Thanksgiving cooking made for a very pleasant experience.

There weren't a lot of people out at 8:00 AM, but those I saw were in a friendly mood. I wasn't the only person in the neighborhood who was trying to get in a holiday run. I crossed paths with three other runners by the time I wrapped up my workout. The rest of the day has been filled with holiday activities and LOTS of food. Still more fun to come on that.

I plan to get out tomorrow to burn off the all these calories. I'm not sure what I'll do, but the weather is supposed to be sunny and cold. Congrats once again go to TPP who put in yet another great race effort today at the Town of Oyster Bay turkey trot. One of these days I'm going to return to the track and work on speed. Maybe tomorrow will be that day.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Running and thinking at Stillwell

Stillwell: Mind and Body
Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 4.25 miles

It occurred to me that I haven't run the trails in a while, so I looked it up on Garmin Connect and saw that my last Stillwell run was eight weeks ago. After thirty runs on pavement and treadmill, I thought it was time to head back to the woods. Trail running is far different than street running, both in terms of experience and expectation. On trails, the terrain underfoot can change by the second and the hills and drops are frequent and occasionally treacherous. Not all trails are as technical as Stillwell and that's probably a good thing.

A trail run was the ideal way to burn some extra calories after last night's Thanksgiving dinner. We had fun and were given the choice of both normal people food and vegan offerings. Another guest cooked most of the vegan dishes and I give credit to my sister-in-law (who hosted) for preparing excellent vegan acorn squash stuffed with toasted quinoa and cranberries. I had tofurky for the first time and thought it was really good, like well marinated seitan.

Stillwell Woods Park was fairly empty when I arrived. A group of men were assembling to play touch football and a few others were busy preparing mountain bikes in the lot. There were light winds that made it feel like 26° but I had prepared for that. The trails were clear and the ground was frozen for the most part. I enjoyed being back on Stillwell's paths and its ever changing surroundings.

I'd recently read an article that said, "If I am thinking at all when I run, this is a sign of a run gone wrong." I think the writer's point was that if you can think, you haven't given yourself fully to the effort. I strongly disagree with this and suggest the opposite. I feel that when you reach a state where you are thinking about anything except for the run, you have succeeded. When I'm running in the woods I am able to detach from the physical world in a way that's nearly impossible to do while running on the street.

I enjoyed every foot of the 4+ miles I covered today and thought about many things, all of which I've since forgotten. I know I need to work on my speed this weekend and should probably have gone to the track today, instead of the woods. After all, there's always tomorrow and Sunday to do that. Today was about the mind, and tomorrow I'll worry about the body.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Turkey trot not

Today's run (street): 3.9 miles

Happy Thanksgiving. This is many people's favorite holiday, mine too I guess, because it is so inclusive. No divisive factors such as religion, culture or politics at play. As long as you don't think about what really happened on or around the first Thanksgiving (SIOR recently made the point that the original dinner was anything but inclusive), you can enjoy a middle of the workweek break. We're heading out for Thanksgiving dinner soon. Rumor has it that our hosts are cooking a lot of vegan food, but there WILL be turkey.

Thanksgiving time is a runner's paradise, because of all the local Turkey Trots that happen around the holiday. I had a good time, under miserable conditions, while running the Long Beach Turkey Trot last Sunday. We were signed up for this morning's Nissequoge 5K, but we decided to forgo our plans in favor of doing something else. We've run that race for the past three years as a family, at a very easy pace. I've never run a competitive race on Thanksgiving day, but I'm thinking of changing that next year.

Instead of a Turkey Trot, I settled for a neighborhood run this morning. With 12 MPH winds, it felt like 21° outside. I probably overdressed for the run, but the Long Beach experience was still fresh on my mind. Even so, when the wind hit head-on, it seemed to pass through every layer I was wearing. I was feeling okay about my progress until I encountered another runner coming from a connecting street who turned onto the road behind me. He passed me a few seconds later, before taking a right while I kept going straight.

I sometimes have trouble understanding why people run faster than me. This person seemed to be maintaining the same cadence as me and his stride was not particularly open. Yet he moved at a faster rate than me. Puzzling. I know that, in reality, his cadence was faster and his stride was longer. It just didn't look like that.

Today feels like Sunday, but the weekend is yet to come. I plan to address the speed issue on one of those weekend days by running intervals at the track. Perhaps that, and a continued focus on increasing my average distance, will help me achieve the elusive sub-9 pace that I used to expect when I raced. I like to think that I would have saved 30 seconds per mile on Sunday if I wasn't running into 29 MPH winds. But that may just be wishbone thinking.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Family run at the Nissequogue River Turkey Trot

Scene at the finish line

Today's run (Nissequogue River 5K Turkey Trot): 3.1 miles

It's Thanksgiving and, for the third year in a row, the Emerging Runner family ran in the Nissequogue River State Park Turkey Trot. It's an event that draws a big crowd. With some races canceled due to hurricane Sandy, even more people gathered for the race. Me and my daughter ran the course and my wife and son walked it.

Clearing the path before the Fun Run
After the 1K Fun Run for kids that was led by a guy dressed head to toe in a turkey costume, we all made our way toward the starting line. The race is not very well organized and the start often runs late. Much of that is due to the high number of race day registrants who are still in line at gun time. Today the start was only six minutes late, which was a nice surprise.

The size of the crowd prevents any fast running at the start, but it worked fine for me and my daughter. We fell into an easy pace as we made our way along the first, mostly uphill, mile. It's a different experience running easy during a race instead of pushing for a PR. I enjoyed having my daughter by my side and we were happy to reach the turnaround at the halfway point of the race. We saw my wife and son, who were moving along briskly, on the other side.

The last mile is mostly downhill and we cruised along until we reached the finish line. My wife and son came in about six minutes later and we quickly headed to our car. The exit line from the race gets backed up fast and we needed to get home in time to shower, change and head to our Thanksgiving dinner.

The rest of the day was spent with family and we're all a little beat, but it was great to participate in a race as family. Tomorrow I'll go out for a nice long run and burn off some calories from today's feast.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

A chilly run today and a Turkey Trot tomorrow

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Most big holidays start earlier than their date on the calendar because people often day before off to travel. That's certainly the case with Thanksgiving. The LIRR continues to be plagued by ongoing signal problems in the East River tunnels (due to Sandy) so there are less trains, more stops and big crowds. It was a pleasant surprise to board the train this morning and have my choice of seats. And for that I am thankful.

My office will be very quiet today because many of my colleagues are doing this day-before travel. I really do like my co-workers but, without any meetings, I'll be able to make good progress on some projects. We'll close the office early so I'll get a little extra free time as well.

Nissequogue course map
Tomorrow morning Team Emerging Runner will become Race Team Emerging Runner, as we run the Nissequogue 5K Turkey Trot for the third year in a row. We won't really be racing, but it's a race. Last year my daughter and I ran it while my wife and son did it as a run/walk. That's the plan for tomorrow as well. After that will be Thanksgiving with family and then more family arriving over the weekend.

I really didn't want to go out into the cold this morning, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I dressed warmly because I was concerned that the wind might make conditions even more uncomfortable. There was only a mild breeze but the warm layers were still necessary. I started out easy but picked up speed in response to the cold air. Once I get to a certain pace, between steady and brisk, I tend to hold it. I completed my route slightly faster than I normally run it.

The weather for the rest of the week is looking promising and I'm optimistic that I'll exceed my 20 mile average with some longer runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's been a long time since I've raced, so I'm really running out of habit and not training for anything in particular. I do have a 5K coming up in December but that seems a long way away. For now, it's about running for fun. Tomorrow's event should be just that.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Running in Sandy's spooky aftermath

The shadowy world of a 4 AM runner
Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Hurricane Sandy is more than two weeks gone but the after effects will remain for a while. People have been saying that it's just too soon for Thanksgiving to be happening. One of my favorite times of the year is the period between mid-October and early December. That's when the leaves turn, the air smells like fall, and Halloween and Thanksgiving kick off the holiday season. Hurricane Sandy interrupted that whole experience. On the other hand, having our power restored and not sitting in gas lines will be top of mind when we give thanks next Thursday.

As I made my way to the top of the first street on my morning run, my headlamp revealed what looked like two cords of wood stacked on the curb in front of a neighbor's house. If I had a wood-burning stove or used our fireplace, this would be a good time to save money on firewood. Running through the neighborhood is a little eerie these days, especially on mornings like this when there's little moonlight. My headlamp and the occasional streetlights played off the huge trees, downed by the storm. In the dark at 4:00 AM, it looks like a scene from "Where the Wild Things Are."

In the days between Sandy and today, we've seen temperatures drop, especially in the early morning. I dressed accordingly and appreciated the extra layers as I made my way around the neighborhood. The cold air definitely helps motivate me to run a little harder and I found myself pacing faster than the day before. The spooky shapes created by the storm were a fun distraction and my run seemed to go by quickly, even though I only beat Wednesday's time by 32 seconds. Sandy overshadowed Halloween this year, but I got it back a little today.

Friday, November 25, 2011

From treadmill to Turkey Trot to trail

Yesterday's runs:
Treadmill:  24 minutes, 2% grade
Nissequogue River State Park Turkey Trot 5K: 3.1 miles
Today's run  
Stillwell Woods: 3.6 miles

Start of the 1K kid's run at Nissequogue River State Park
It's been a couple of days since I've been able to post on the blog but that doesn't mean I haven't been running. Wednesday, which should have been an easy morning, leading into an early close for Thanksgiving, turned out to be crazy due to some distracting business issues. Everything worked out fine, but I was so mentally exhausted by the time I got home I decided to skip my planned afternoon workout.

Yesterday morning I made up for that rest day with a double workout. I ran on the treadmill first thing in the morning with a 2% grade for 24 minutes. It was a good workout, I didn't push the pace but, by the end, I really felt it. Shortly after I finished that run, the Emerging Runner family headed to King's Park for the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation 5K.

This Turkey Trot takes place on the grounds of the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center, a compound of 15 buildings adjacent to the Nissequogue River. The buildings evoke a scary history as this center was considered an "insane asylum" where electro-shock therapy and pre-frontal lobotomies were commonly administered to patients. These buildings are due to be demolished so that the park can be put to better use.

The weather was very cold at 7:30 AM and we were glad to have dressed warmly. Even with wool socks my feet were very cold as we waited for the start. This event attracts a large crowd and they were still taking same day registrations minutes before the scheduled start time. I suppose that's a way to maximize revenue for the event, but it put us very behind for the start. The organizers also failed badly on their bathroom planning, providing only five Porto-Potti's for a crowd numbering well over 1,200.

This event is very family friendly, with as many walkers as runners, and it doesn't feel very competitive. After the kid's 1K race, the 5K runners were assembled along a long uphill section (this was also the route back to the finish line). After a long wait, the horn sounded and we were off. My daughter and I were going to run the course while my wife and son walked it.

The park's trail is rolling and the first mile and a half are mostly uphill. My daughter did great and I kept reminding her (as I remembered from the prior year) that the the course flattened and then goes primarily downhill for the last mile. We passed a water station around the 3K mark and I was very impressed that my daughter was able to maintain her running form and keep a good pace through that distance.

My wife and son cross the finish line
As we passed 4K it became easier because the downhill road helped us along and the people at the side of the course shouted encouraging words to the runners. Once we were a few hundred feet from the end, my daughter took off and I had a hard time keeping up with her. Seconds later we crossed the finish line. I congratulated her on a great run and, after getting some water, we waited for my wife and son to finish.

I was proud to see my daughter run so well. Last year she walked more than half of this course but this year it was a bona fide run, a full 3.1 miles. My wife and son also did very well walking that hilly course and we were excited to reunite at the finish line.

The rest of our day was filled with resting, cooking and baking as my wife prepared food for Thanksgiving. We headed over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house for an afternoon and evening of of food and conversation. We all held up well considering all the work we did that morning.

This morning I decided I had waited too long to do a trail run so I headed over to Stillwell Woods around 7:00 AM. There were no other people at the park and I made my way into the woods with no particular route in mind. It was cold (mid 30's) but I'd dressed for that and I wore my Helly Hansens because my intention was to attack some of the rocky hills. The Helly's do a great job over technical surfaces. Unfortunately their lack of a rock plate still produces some uncomfortable landings.

I ended up covering about three and a half miles and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I could have covered more miles but I decided to bank some energy and do a longer run over the weekend. It's been a lot of running over a short period of time. I got my Stillwell run in today so I'm probably not going back there on Sunday morning for the Rob's Run 5K race.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Over the river (East and Nissequogue) and through the neighborhood

Wednesday run (Brooklyn Bridge/lower Manhattan): 4.25 miles
Thursday's run (Nissequogue River Turkey Trot): 3.1 miles
Today's run (street): 4.5 miles

I took a holiday from blogging yesterday but I've had some interesting running experiences since my last post. Wednesday was a half day in the office and at noon AG and I headed downtown to City Hall Plaza and over to the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge where we crossed over to Brooklyn and back. It's always an interesting and slightly frustrating experience to run that route with so many people strolling along the side of the path reserved for two way pedestrian traffic. It can be tempting to cross the white line over to the bike path but that should be done with multiple checks to ensure no bikes are coming in either direction.

We stopped halfway across on our return to look at the views. Looking south we could see the Verrazano Narrows Bridge where the NYC marathon starts and then leads up the Brooklyn Bridge where we stood. On the other side we viewed the Manhattan skyline that I used to see from different angles; south when I lived on 31st street and later from 74st street with my wife, where we could see west to the Hudson. AG and I resumed our run after crossing back to Manhattan and we covered Chinatown and some of Little Italy until we came to our destination - 6th street - where we stopped into an Indian restaurant for lunch. It was a great kickoff to the Thanksgiving day break. Yesterday AG ran the Prospect Park 5 mile Turkey Trot with our friend FS and her husband. AG then went on to run the route two more times!

Yesterday morning was a big day for Team Emerging Runner. We headed to Nissequogue River State Park where we ran in the 5K Turkey Trot as a family. It was very chilly while we waited for the race to start but we'd dressed well. It was the first race for my wife and my son and the first non-cross country event for my daughter. Everyone was excited as we lined up with a field that was almost 800 people deep. When the horn sounded we trotted along with the pack for a quarter mile before things opened up enough to go a little faster. We all stayed together for the first kilometer and then my daughter and I edged ahead while my wife and son followed at their pace. Shortly before the 2 mile mark we came to a water station where we stopped to wait for the others and then resumed our run together.

My daughter and I were more in running mode than my wife and son so we put a little distance between them and had almost reached the finish line when we stopped to wait for our teammates. We had agreed that we'd all cross the finish line together and I was proud of my daughter who could have beaten 40 minutes but chose to wait for her mother and brother. Once they joined us we all came over the finish line together. My wife realized that her daily treadmill runs have prepared her well for outdoor running and now she knows she can cover that distance running on pavement. 3 miles was a new distance running record for my daughter and for my son who kept moving, both walking and running, until the end. Once we came home and showered we headed over to my in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a long but fun day.

This morning I decided to cover 4-5 miles at an easy pace, faster than yesterday but not as briskly as AG and I ran at times. It was raining slightly so I wore my ASICS lightweight rain jacket that was perfect for the conditions. The air was cold enough that I remained comfortable through the entire 4.5 miles. I followed a course that took me up and down lots of short roads and through one of my standard routes that I use on my 4;00 AM runs. I feel great and I'm hoping to get an 8 to 10 mile run in before the end of the long weekend. Yesterday I wore the Skecher Resistance Runners during the race and I remain positive about them as training shoe. I would never wear them if I was trying for speed. In fact the reason I wore them was to slow me down. I went back to the Kivaras today. Between the Skechers, my compression sleeves and the core exercises, my leg strength and flexibility has improved. That's good, especially if I attempt a personal distance record this week.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Asynchronous holiday week

This week has felt a little out of sync. It may be that many people are out of the office for Thanksgiving and the year end storm has temporarily hit a lull. I appreciate having some time to catch up on business but I know the storm will return in full force on Monday. Still, people are on edge, like the woman who blasted me with her horn this morning because I had the audacity to stop at a red light before turning right. Chill people!

I'm planning to run with Adventure Girl for the first time since we ran in Central Park back in May. She's running the Prospect Park Turkey Trot and is also considering extending that run to achieve a personal distance record. I've just come off two weekends of 10K races and I have an easy-paced 5K tomorrow morning. With all that, AG and I are not planning anything long or rigorous today. I'm pleased with where I am with my running right now. I did my best running last year in November and December only to crash hard after contracting pneumonia at the end of December. I'm going to try extra hard to avoid the flu or other seasonal viruses that always seem to attack me around New Year's. It would be great to be able to build on my current progress rather than lose conditioning through weeks of recovery. Maybe the healthiest thing I can do over Thanksgiving break is get a flu shot.
 

blogger templates | Webtalks