My fastest 5K ever*

Today's run (track): 1 mile warm-up, 8 x 200, 1 mile cool down

I knew I needed to get in some speed work so I headed to the local HS track this morning. When I arrived I noticed that the adjacent lot was almost full and saw that the high school team was playing a pre-season game against another town. There were people up in the stands and standing alongside the track that circles the football field. There were also people walking around the track, seemingly oblivious to the action taking place a few feet away.

I started my workout with a brisk mile warm-up that I completed in 8:13. That wasn't bad for a cold start. I followed that with eight 200 meter intervals, with one minute recovery periods, and averaged 6:54 for that mile. I finished my workout with a 1.1 mile cool down run that I did in 8:52. I ended up averaging 8:01 for the 3.1 miles (24:39).

*This can't really be counted as my fastest 5K because it wasn't a continuous run. Knowing that you can stop after 200 meters, or even after a mile, helps keep you moving fast. However, I will say that every second on that track was focused on performance. At the end, I was satisfied that I was doing my best to prepare for the Cow Harbor race.

Fast and furious today - could it have been my diet?

The Garmin missed it big on first lap

Today's run (track): 4.25 miles (3 mile tempos plus 8 x 200)

My running experience on Saturday was disheartening and my poor performance caused an alarm after I started reading the July issue of Runner's World. This issue's theme focused on people who use running to raise money for cancer research and on those runners who are coping with the disease. One story quoted a runner whose running performance was unaccountably slipping and a checkup revealed some horrible affliction that is (happily) now under control.

I'm not really a hypochondriac so I didn't take any of that to heart, but I was still puzzled by my bad run. Paul, a local runner who I met at the NHP 8K, suggested that my diet may have left me depleted of needed carbs as an explanation for my failure to generate speed during yesterday's run. He knows his stuff and suggested trying more complex carbs the night before a long run. He competes a lot and tunes his pre-race meals according to distance and time of the day.

I took Paul's advice and (for dinner) had a modest portion of Garden Delight Penne Rigate with roasted chicken, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower mixed in. Earlier that day, I had a recurrence of the sinus headache that plagued me a couple of weeks ago. Around 4:00 AM this morning I got up and took two Pseudoephedrine and went back to bed. I woke up at 5:30 feeling great. After a couple of cups of coffee, I headed for the track.

My plan for today was to generate some speed after yesterday's tough run. It was humid, but not too hot, and the cloud cover was thick. I started with a mile warm-up at a brisk pace (7:50 min/mile) and then ran 8 x 200's averaging 6:50/mile overall. For me these were blistering paces. The Hattori's performed well on the track, my landings were much more front than mid-foot and neither my feet, ankles nor calves balked at the strain.

I followed the speed work with two miles of "easy" running, maintaining an 8:20 pace through that distance. I haven't managed that pace over two miles in a long time, clearly the speed work had activated those fast twitch muscles. What a difference a day makes. I'm no longer feeling that I'm on an unstoppable performance decline and I'm thinking that I need to do speed work more often than once every three weeks. Perhaps a trail run tomorrow will be a great coda for this 4th of July long weekend. Speed's not an issue on Monday -- I have nothing left to prove.

Karhu Fast 2's live up to their name

Today's run (track intervals)

You know those movies where the mousy librarian takes off her glasses and the leading man suddenly notices how beautiful she is? That was akin to my experience today with the Karhu Fast 2's that I'd damned with (very) faint praise in my recent review. In testing these shoes I thought I'd done an adequate job of assessing their capabilities, both on long runs as well as short speed bursts and tempos. What I didn't do - and shame on me for that - was put them to the test on the Tartan track. This morning, along with my daughter (who served as my running partner and coach), I used these Karhus in their natural environment.

Our plan was to run multiple short intervals to help build fast twitch muscles and anaerobic base. After a trip around the track at a moderate pace we headed to a side track that had sand pits on either end. That gave us about 45 meters of useful track length for our short, fast sprints. My daughter and I took turns running on this track beside some high school boys who were practicing their long jumps. We did multiple runs, going in both directions and were pleased with our speeds. My daughter (age 12) was able to match me or come within a second of many of my times.

We followed that first set of runs with another lap around the track and then ran additional sprints on the main oval. Again our speeds were good and I was happy that most of my running (besides the recovery jogs) stayed well below a 6 minute pace. The Karhus really shined today. I finally got the "Fulcrum" concept and ran on my forefoot, practically on my toes, bringing my knees up higher than I would on an aerobic run. The Karhu Fast 2 will be my speed shoe going forward and it even felt good at a sedate pace today. I'm still committed to a lower profile shoe like the Saucony Mirage and Kinvara as a daily trainer but the Karhu is a true sprinter. That made for a great practice today with my favorite running coach and partner.

Back to the track

Good conditions for speed work on the newly redone track

Today's workout (track intervals): 6 x 800 (ave. pace 8:23) plus 1.62 miles of recovery runs (4.62 total miles)

Along with all the distance training that I've been doing over the last few weeks,  it was important to fold in some speed work to my training for next week's race. I headed over to the high school track this morning with the intention of following a Runner's World plan for a race week taper. The track was redone over the summer and recently painted and it looked brand new as I stepped onto the pristine surface to start my warm-up laps. The plan was to run six 800 meter intervals with 2:30 recovery jogs. I was pleased with my energy level at the start. Considering my 8 mile run on Saturday, I was still able to maintain a mid 8 minute pace on the speed sections. As time passed I saw more people on the track, mostly walkers, but a few runners showed up near the end. I ran through my segments, not pushing too hard, but keeping my pace below 8:30.  I wore my Kinvaras and they felt great. I averaged 8:52 overall, with the interval segments averaging 8:23. In the end I felt satisfied with the workout.

In the afternoon we headed over to the outlets and I visited the Adidas store where I tried on a pair of Marathons. The fit was good and they reminded me a little of the Kinvaras but I actually prefered the Sauconys. At the Reebok store I tried on a pair of ZigTech's that just felt awful on my feet. I'm no fan of Nike but since I was at the Nike store I tried the LunarGlide + (not for me) and the Moto 5's that actually felt very good. The wrap at the arch was excellent as was the heel to toe transition. They also had the the 6's and 7's at the same $75 price point. I tried on the 7's and didn't like the fit or the feel at all. That's the problem with Nike's, not a lot of consistency between the fit of the shoes from update to update.

Tomorrow I plan to run in Central Park with my friend CK to put in five hard miles. Tuesday I'm running with another colleague, JQ, who is looking to get back into running. We'll take that slow and I'll look at that as my penultimate workout before the Great Cow Harbor 10K.

Hurtin for certain

Yesterday afternoon we all headed over to the high school to do some running. The kids had fun running on the track but they wore themselves out pretty quickly. Mrs. Emerging Runner, who's a dedicated walker, has been integrating running into her daily workouts on the treadmill. She wanted to see how track running compared to the treadmill and we ended up doing a couple of miles (in total). We kept it to a moderate pace but it was still 30% faster than she normally runs on the treadmill so she occasionally switched over to walking. In all, it was a impressive beginning run on terra firma and she set a goal to double the amount of distance during her next visit to the track.

On the other hand I had a tough start. After running 5.2 miles in the morning, my muscle injury felt better but the pain returned by afternoon. My first few minutes on the track were uncomfortable but the pain reduced after I'd warmed up. On top of this pain, I've started to experience a sore throat. I'm hoping it's the start of a cold, rather than a throat problem like strep. When I woke up this morning my throat was even worse and my muscle pain was sharp. A little Ibuprofen seems to have helped but I skipped my usual morning run. If I'm feeling up to it later I may run a couple of miles but I'm not going to try again for the three miles under 9:00 goal this weekend.

Back on track, literally

I began this Valentines Day with an early run at the local track. It was the first time I'd run there in over a month and it was a nice change from my other venues. I tried an experiment using both the Nike+ Sportband and the Garmin 50 on my run. I wanted to compare their relative tracking accuracy against a known distance.

It was 28 degrees but it felt colder. There was the usual strong wind for half the loop but I got used to it pretty fast. There were four other runners on the track including a couple I often see running in the morning. I passed the husband, which made me feel great until I was passed by another runner who must have been running about a 7 minute mile. The Garmin and the Sportband remained within a few 100ths of a mile of each other and, ultimately, both under reported the total distance traveled compared to the known distance. I varied my speed throughout the run and ran a total of 4.16 miles at 9:24/mile.

The Garmin vs. Sportband experience had its good and bad components. On the plus side, the 50 was a dream to operate. The HRM appeared to be accurate (yes - finally - a HRM worth a damn!) and it was easy to toggle between pulse rate, speed, cadence, elapsed time and distance as I ran. Finishing the run I simply hit stop instead of fighting with the overly sensitive Sportband button. Saving the run was easy too. Now for the bad part. After a run is captured into history you cannot review the metrics on the watch. The data must first be uploaded to Garmin's Training Center. The badder news is that you can't do this with a Mac even though they're touting new Mac capability on the Garmin website. I fell for it and installed the app and "uploaded" my run. The only problem is that the Mac compatibility only extends to the ANT USB link that allows for data transfer. So the data can be transferred but IT CAN'T GO ANYWHERE. Furthermore, the factory default setting is to delete history from the watch once data is sent so my run went away forever. Happily I also had the whole run recorded by the Sportband.

I installed the Training Center on my XP PC in my guestroom and was able to upload a test "run" to the system. I also switched the transfer program to "DON'T DELETE after sending" so I should be okay for tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Way off track

As I backed out of my garage this morning to head to the track I noticed that the temperature display in my car said 42 degrees. In the seven minutes it took to reach the track the reading had dropped ten degrees and with strong winds I figured the chill brought that down at least ten degrees more. I was prepared for the weather but not for what I saw when I arrived - the entire track was covered in icy snow. I got back in the car and headed straight back home.

It's been a couple of weeks since I'd run outdoors due to snowstorms that seem to happen every weekend. I was determined to get back on the track or street so I hit my neighborhood roads which were sandy and dirty but mostly clear of snow and ice. After a few weeks on treadmill duty it was disconcerting to encounter freezing cold winds but it really felt like running. I thought about some of the runners I've heard from recently in places like Michigan where it's been 5 degrees. If they're out there running I really can't complain. I ran 3.6 miles and felt strong throughout the run and finished better than I have in a long time. Maybe my conditioning has improved.

I was happy that my starting struggles did not follow my return to road running. I thought the wind resistance and hills would slow my speed but I was surprised to see I ran 20 sec./mile faster than I'd been averaging on the treadmill. I'll do another neighborhood run tomorrow to see if I can exceed 4 miles, a distance I'm hoping to achieve at least once a weekend until my April race.

Two miles the hard way

After a very full day I decided to do an early evening run at the track. It's near the end of our vacation so we've tried to pack a lot in over the last few days and I didn't get an opportunity to run in the morning. Today was cold and I dressed for the weather but the wind chill was tough. I was only planning to run a couple of miles today but at a faster pace than normal.

As I've mentioned before, the wind at the track really comes in hard at certain angles and it almost feels like running uphill. The wind picked up greatly after the first ten minutes and the effect was palpable. If not for passing a couple of people walking the outside lanes I would have thought I was standing still. My splits were pretty wide with the first mile at 8:39 and second at 9:52 for an overall pace around 9:25. I had to push hard to maintain a sub-10:00 pace for the second mile and when I finished the back of my throat was really burning. I was happy that I ran but today's run was much more work than fun.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional

My wife got me Haruki Murakami's book "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" and I started reading it yesterday. I am a fan of Murakami's novels and short stories and I've read many of his books. Unlike his fiction, WITAWITAR is a memoir about his running life. It would be delusional (on my part) to compare this book to my daily posts but there is similarity in that he wrote the book in "real time", recording his daily experience without the usual filter of book writing. Murakami is very quotable but I was amused by a sentence he attributed to another runner: "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." What's meant by that is when you start every run it's a given that you will reach a point of discomfort or pain. But how you choose to proceed (or not) after that is your choice.

The decision to suffer played out in a low key way this morning when I went to the track to do a light run. I usually do a lighter workout on the elliptical on Mondays but I'm off from work this week so I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to run outside. The weather was perfect when I got to the track and after a good night's sleep I was expecting a strong start. However, starting off, I felt tight and a little tired and I questioned whether I should have taken this as a rest day. I did my usual self bargining ("Okay, just two miles and I'll see how I feel") and I really wasn't enjoying it. After about fifteen minutes I started feeling a little stronger and by then there was another runner who proceeded to follow me and then match me stride for stride until he pulled away slightly. I was happy to have him in front of me because I could follow his pace. He looked experienced and I thought I might learn something by watching the way he ran. I was able to stay with him but after a few laps he stopped. Maybe he was just warming up or maybe he wasn't feeling it today. Perhaps he chose not to suffer. I chose to keep going and ended up running 4.4 miles finishing pretty strong. That made me happy because I'm training for a 4 mile race and I've been wanting to extend my weekend and vacation runs to at least 4 miles and/or 40 minutes.

Man vs. Nature

Yesterday we spent time with friends, one of whom had turned his ankle running the day before. As we sat in my den my wife remarked what a pathetic group we were between his ankle injury, my hamstring pull and her still very painful shoulder injury. I pointed out that all three were sports related and that counted for something.

After five days of treadmill and elliptical workouts I was more than ready to hit the track but was concerned about pushing too hard with an injury. I took Aleve yesterday and iced it when I could and today it was better but not unnoticeable. I wore my new Merino wool socks (thanks again Adventure Girl) and they provided very nice support. The temperature on the news station said 57 degrees so I wore light gear but as I began my run I was hit by a stiff, cold wind. I'm learning something about that track: no matter what time or day you run there, half the time you will be running into wind. The effect was Sisyphean in nature and somewhat discouraging because I did not feel that strong to begin with. Around mile one I had warmed up enough to increase my pace and with the increased effort I actually started looking forward to the section of the track where I hit the cold wind head on. I did 5K but stopped after that to prevent further injury to my hamstring. I'm happy to say that after the run and stretching it feels very good. I'm going to increase distance in a few days to begin to train in earnest for the 4 miler. In the meantime I'm very pleased with my progress. Despite the winds I managed a sub 9:30 pace for over three miles.

The Emerging Runners hit the track

Yesterday afternoon, after I recovered from my early morning run, I went to the high school and ran with my son and daughter. They did great and my son was able to run 1/2 mile without a break. My daughter also ran well and she kept going much longer than the last time. We covered about a mile overall and everyone slept well last night.

This morning I returned to the track and ran about 2 1/2 miles. I have a slight muscle pull so I cut it shorter than yesterday's workout. There were other runners on the track and I passed a guy who was about a half lap ahead of me when I started. So that felt good. His wife was also running and she was faster. I didn't pass her but I was able to maintain about the same pace. My overall pace was 9:34 but I was doing an 8:13 mile at the 1 mile point. I was happy to see that my Sportband was recording accurately after yesterday's recalibration.

Fitness as a common language

Running and training provide benefits beyond physical fitness. I have discovered that many people in my life are runners, lapsed runners, dedicated walkers, cyclists or are just generally active. I have learned a great deal about nutrition, technique, training gear and even how to set expectations for progress through conversations with friends, co-workers and business colleagues. People have been universally helpful and encouraging about my efforts. I suspect a few people, after these discussions, are thinking more about their own training and fitness programs.

In addition I greatly enjoy training because it's an activity that I can share with my family. My wife and I frequently compare notes on our daily progress. We reinforce each other's dedication to training, help each other maintain a healthy diet and we often exercise together on weekends. My nine year old son has been running with me, first just around the neighborhood but today we went to the local High School and ran laps around the track. He did great and he wants to go back tomorrow. I like the track as well because it allows me to run outside (which I prefer) but it's much more cushioned than pavement. I'd like to try a regular run on the track and aim for a personal best for distance.