My Garmin lied and the truth hurts

My Garmin made up most of this route

Today's run (street): 3.75 miles

Halfway through today's run, I glanced at my Garmin and saw that I had covered two miles in about 17 minutes. That would have put me on track for my best training run in memory. I was puzzled because my perceived effort was nowhere near what I'd expect for that pace. I tried to rationalize the reasons for such a dramatic improvement in my performance compared to yesterday. It was 10 degrees cooler and cloudy, but could that account for running over a minute per mile faster?

When I got home and saw my time and mileage on the Garmin, I thought I'd rocked it. Maybe I was turning a corner with my training. After all, I used to regularly average 8:45 paces on my daily runs. Breaking 9:00 minutes on a run these days is a notable achievement for me. I hoped it was accurate and not some weird Garmin fail.

Despite that wishful thinking, it did turn out to be a badly confused GPS. For some odd reason, the Garmin put my starting point 3 miles north of where I began my run. Looking at the run data through Garmin Connect, my course appeared to have frequent 50-foot elevation changes. That's definitely not the case for my relatively flat route. I'm guessing that the low cloud cover may have interfered with the GPS signal and caused it to skip.

I Gmapped my route and was disappointed to see that I'd only covered 3.75 miles, rather than the 4.35 that the Garmin said I'd run. I wanted to run 4-5 miles today and thought I'd met my objective. The good news is that I beat yesterday's pace by 42 second per mile. The other good news is that it's a long weekend and tomorrow we're hosting a Runsketeer pool party. If the weather reports are accurate, the skies will be clear and I'll be able to get in a longer run in the morning.

Taking on hills and challengers at Bethpage

Halfway there on Sunnyside

Today's run (Bethpage bike path): 6.4 miles

It was back to Bethpage this morning, where I went for my longest run of the week. I arrived early and parked in my usual parking spot near Haypath Road. It was the beginning of another beautiful day and there were already plenty of people out on the trail. My Garmin acquired its signal very quickly so I was off and running seconds after locking my car.

The Bethpage bike path is isolated, but in a good way. With trees on both sides of the trail, it sometimes feels like a paved path through the woods. I felt good, but I wasn't sure how I'd hold up through my 6+ targeted miles. I have an aversion to hills and, as a result, I tend to avoid certain sections of this path. I originally planned to run to the route 495 underpass and turn around there. Instead I decided to take on the worst of it by following the trail all the way to the top of Sunnyside Boulevard.

Rise along the bikeway north of Washington Ave

What's tough about the section from Washington Ave to Sunnyside Boulevard is the roller coaster-like changes in elevation over a mile and a half span. I figured that if I wasn't going to burn up the trail with my speed today, I might as well challenge myself with some hills. I kept reminding myself to run the mile I was in instead of dreading the other hills that I would soon encounter.

I was about a mile away from finishing when a runner came off the road and fell in behind me on the trail. I felt a need to step up my pace so I wouldn't get overtaken. It was a good test of my fitness and I was determined to hold him off. After a while I stopped hearing his footsteps. I don't know if he fell back or went off trail (most likely) but he never passed me. No surprise, that was the fastest mile of my run.

We had guests coming midday, so I needed to wrap up quickly and head back home to take care of a couple of things. Today's experience went a long way towards restoring my running excitement. Too bad I probably won't get back on the road until late next week.

Winter running in mid April

Thick frost on the lawn this morning

Today's run (street): 6.25 miles

Yesterday's schedule was rough and it involved an early morning drive to a client north of the city. This meeting and other obligations disrupted my training schedule and they caused me to miss my weekly speed work. I considered doing those repeats today and moving my long run to Thursday, but I didn't want to space my base training runs too close together.

I was surprised to see that the temperature was only 32° when I got up. At least yesterday's driving rains were gone, so it was just a matter of bundling up. I've gotten used to running in 40 degree weather so I was concerned about a possible recurrence of cold-related breathing issues, but they didn't materialize. I dressed for the frigid temperature and set out to cover 6 miles or so.

Complex route

Longer runs in my contained neighborhood are hard to do unless you don't mind covering the same streets multiple times. I mentally mapped out a route that would minimize these redundancies and took off running at an easy pace. I knew that it would be cold, but I didn't count on the stiff breezes that accompanied it. According to my Garmin data, the winds were at 14 MPH, making it feel like 24° outside. Nothing like pushing your way up a long sloping road with freezing wind buffeting you the entire way.

The run itself was fairly easy. I have no doubt that the Brooklyn Half training is contributing to my endurance. I picked up the pace on the last mile and ran it almost a minute faster than the previous 5. That told me two things: I can run faster when I need to do it and I can find speed at the end of a middle-long distance run. Speed is a relative term of course. My "fast" pace today did not match race target. But it is progress and I'm all for that.

I swear I didn't run through my neighbor's houses

I love data visualization

Today's run (street): 4.2 miles

The sky is as white as paper and the temperature is dropping. We're supposed to get two inches of ice and snow by late afternoon. Nothing so far, but I can tell it's coming. For that reason, I made sure I got outside early to get in a few recovery miles before conditions got worse.

I had no intention of running as hard as yesterday and had to throttle my speed a couple of times. A recovery run is supposed to be done well under anaerobic threshold to help flush lactic acid from leg muscles. I used my heart rate monitor to guide my pace, averaging 75% of HR max throughout the run. It was a nice relaxing workout, although my (gloved) hands got surprisingly cold.

No actual yards or living rooms were entered

I've written a lot about the variability of GPS as a measurement tool and today's margin of error was particularly egregious. Not only did the Garmin show me starting the run three blocks from my actual beginning point, the accuracy was laughably bad throughout the entire route. The Garmin route map (see above) makes it look like I ran through many people's yards and houses.

Distribution of pace times through the year

Reflecting back on 2013's racing season, I charted my race paces to see if there were any obvious patterns. The data doesn't show any trends that would explain my performance, as times were all over the map. I'm hoping that next year will yield faster times and more consistency. At least I finished the season in a good place.

Independence Day run, but not quite as planned

Today's route - Happy 4th!

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

For some reason, this entire week has felt like a weekend. I was in the city on Tuesday and the whole time I was there, I kept thinking it was Friday. It probably relates to having a holiday midweek, with everyone anticipating an early break and long weekend. Today feels like a Saturday and that's fine with me. The weather is sunny, hot and humid. A perfect day for the pool.

After yesterday's midday run, I thought I'd go out early to beat the heat. I did get up early, but I didn't make my way outside until 9:30 AM, when the temperature and humidity were on the rise. I had considered heading to Stillwell Woods, where the tree cover helps block the sun. I like to do different types of runs on holidays and a trail run would have fit the bill. For practical reasons, I chose to stay in the neighborhood. So no early run and no interesting destination. Maybe tomorrow.

I did break up my usual route today, and that kept it moderately interesting. The weather was oppressive and I looked for shade wherever I could find it. I continue to deal with chest congestion that is finally breaking up and making me hopeful that I'm nearly through it. The downside to that is deep breathing prompts me to cough. Between that and the humidity, my time was sub-par. But a run is a run, and a good workout is valued, regardless of pace.

Lost on the run, but only for a moment

Dazed and confused

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

I got outside a little earlier than yesterday to try to beat the heat. As we move toward summer, I know that I'll need to get out even earlier. Unlike yesterday's sunny, humid and hot conditions, the morning sky was overcast and the air was cool. A slight breeze from the north made it even cooler, but still comfortable.

Back when I lived in Massachusetts, I would drive along winding, tree-lined county roads through nearby towns like Dover and Sherborn. It was quite scenic, but visually indistinct.  I'd sometimes be so focused on my thoughts that I'd zone out and lose track of where I was exactly. I was very familiar with the area, but the specific location context was missing. Eventually I'd see something distinctive and immediately reorient.

As I moved along this morning, my thoughts became focused on some new business and technology ideas. Somewhere around the two mile point of my run, I realized I wasn't paying attention to my location. I wasn't too concerned because I've literally run my neighborhood roads more than a thousand times and I know every street, house and car on it. But for 20 seconds, I had no clue which street I was running on or whether I'd missed taking a turn on my planned route.

I finally recognized where I was, happy that I didn't miss the approaching turnoff. It was fun to be in that moment, when my boring old neighborhood looked unfamiliar. It was also nice to disengage from the run and still make progress on my distance. I'm not looking to zone out like that all the time, but today it brought some novelty to some well trod ground.

The habitual runner

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Daily miles

At some point in my life I became a creature of habit. Twenty years ago I'd vary everything in my life, from my morning routine all the way through to my bedtime. Marriage, kids and commuting by train necessitated an eventual compliance to daily schedules and structure. But when I began running in 2008, all bets were off in terms of where, how and when I would run. Even on the streets of my neighborhood at 4 AM, I would rarely cover the same route two days in a row.

That has all changed, and my running routine now contains less variability than a watch assembly line. Every night my running gear is readied for morning, and my process going from waking to running is done on a minute by minute schedule. Instead of mixing up my route each day, it's always the same roads run exactly the same way to cover exactly the same distance (2.53 miles).

After almost four years of competing, my race schedule has also become a bit of a habit. My expectations were upset this week when I discovered that the Run for the Warriors 10K has been pushed forward from mid-November to this weekend. I love that race but my schedule won't work with the timing. I feel badly about missing this race, because even though I've only run it the past two years, it's on my racing schedule.

I took to the streets again this morning and, like yesterday, it was cold outside. I dressed with more layers today and didn't get around my route as quickly as I did on Tuesday. In fact, it took me over a minute longer, which calculates to about 30 seconds per mile. One thing that remained the same was my route. Some habits are hard to break.

A change of course, ever so slight

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

I've been working half days on most of the Fridays this summer. It's a great way to extend the weekend and since many people don't even come in on Friday, I find these mornings especially productive. The only issue I have is whether to run early or wait until noon and run in Central Park. We're having an impromptu pizza party at noon so I opted to go out for my run this morning.

I just couldn't bear to run the same route that I've fallen into over the past couple of months. The advantage of repeating this course is that I can know instantly, after I finish, how well I did compared with other days. I also know that following this course will get me back home in time to stay on schedule. But after a while the same course grows tedious, so I set out on a different path and chose streets randomly.

I ended up covering just about the same distance as I do on my regular route but at least the scenery was different. I came home a few seconds later that I had on runs earlier in the week, but overall I was running the same. I'm looking forward to a run without time restraints tomorrow and I hope to cover at least 8 miles on one of the days. In the meantime, this morning's route was a nice change from the usual roads.restraints

Following a different route

Today's run (street) 2.35 miles

I've gotten into the habit of running the same route every weekday morning so I decided to break free of that today and follow some different streets. My normal course is a measured distance of 2.52 miles and it allows me to manage my time and compare known distances to the Garmin readout as I run. The problem with changing my route is that I lose all my benchmarks when I follow other roads. That's fine almost any other time but at 4:00 AM I only have 25 minutes or less to run my route. Taking the wrong street can put me way behind.

Today's run took me along some streets I rarely run so it was a nice change of scenery, not that you can see much with just a headlamp. I ended up hitting the one mile mark close to where I normally reach that benchmark but, instead of following the standard route for the remainder of the run, I followed a different direction. My ad hoc route brought me home sooner than usual so my distance fell short of normal. I ran the last mile fairly quickly, at around an 8:40 pace. One more training run to go before the race.

Good run on some roads less traveled

Today's run (street): 4.2 miles

After getting out for my run somewhat later than planned on Saturday, I focused on an early start this morning. The local and NYC news stations finally agreed on the temperature -- about 30 degrees -- and I went out expecting conditions to be noticeably warmer than yesterday. I dressed a little lighter but today actually felt a little colder. No matter, except for my hands that took 20 minutes to feel warm, (I wore running gloves instead of my ASICS glove/mittens) I was comfortable for the duration of my run.

I ran 25 seconds per mile faster than yesterday and this was because I focused on speed in certain segments. I've read that running a little faster than your normal, comfortable pace sometimes yields a more energetic response and actually enhances stamina overall. I think there's truth to that and I've noticed that running briskly on the treadmill and then dropping speed by 15-20% does not make my running any easier and it sometimes makes it seem harder.

I mixed up my route today, running streets that I normally avoid because they don't easily integrate into one of my standard loops. It was a nice change and the flow of the run was excellent. I ran the last mile faster than the first three and finished strong, averaging close to 9:10/mile overall. Two good runs in the chilly air have made this a great running weekend.

Finally, I heard from my running buddy Brian who told me about a friend (and Emerging Runner fan) who ran Cow Harbor while she was pregnant! That was the toughest race I've ever run and I can't imagine running it under those conditions. I'm sure that baby will be running Cow Harbor some day.

First run, then party

Today's run (mixed surfaces): 4.25 miles

It had been a very busy work week and it seemed to take a long time for the weekend to arrive. Today is also a busy day and it's going to get busier. We're hosting our annual holiday party that will start in the early afternoon. Final preparations are going on although most things are done. Happily, my wife doesn't leave too much for the last minute.  I took the opportunity to go out for a four mile run around the neighborhood this morning before I prepared for the day. I began by heading north and following the perimeter road that runs west. A good part of that road is downhill but most of the benefit that's gained through gravity was countered by stiff wins blowing east. After about a mile I headed south along another busy road whose sidewalks are covered with layers of dried leaves. I normally enjoy running on this type of surface because it's softer than pavement but the depth of leaves made the terrain unstable and I was concerned about slipping. I ran slowly and carefully through this stretch.

I turned into the neighborhood at the south end and began to follow most of my usual roads. At the 20 minute mark I looked at the Garmin and saw that I was running at about 9:55 per mile. I figured out later that the calibration on the foot-pod was off and I was actually running faster but my reaction was to pick up my speed for the second two miles. I ended up with an overall pace of 9:40.  I thought that was okay considering my slow start and the slower speed I maintained when running on the leafy sections. Today's run felt good and I know I could have gone on for a lot longer but I'm on a schedule today. Pretty soon our guests will be arriving.  If all stays on plan I'll get out for a true long run on Sunday.

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.

Out and back route (slow version)

Today's run (street) 2.35 miles at 9:45

I have a speaking engagement today and that usually means skipping my morning run in favor of an even earlier start. Today's talk is at noon so timing is not a factor. I did consider resting today because my sleep was interrupted by a midnight telephone call that turned out to be a wrong number. When I got up I felt no worse for wear and headed out on what was still a reasonably cool morning. I've been mixing up my routes as much as I can in the morning and today I ran some selected streets until my Garmin signaled that I'd reached a mile. I ran another fifth of a mile, turned around, and retraced my route back to where I'd started. I can't complain about my performance unless I do some speed work to improve my pace. Still, I was really surprised that I ran as slow as I did today because I felt like my form was good and my leg turnover seemed quick. You can't argue with Garmin and Gmaps though. Either way, I'm glad I ran this morning instead of taking the easy path and resting. There's something to be said for that.