A hard workout inspired by a movie

Hey Hollywood, I have an idea

Today's workout (Elliptical): 40 minutes

I never think that elliptical sessions are as difficult as running, but occasionally I'll finish a workout that has my legs vibrating like a tuning fork. That was my experience today, although I didn't plan it that way. We had early morning plans that threw off my run schedule and I almost took today to rest instead of tomorrow. I felt off-cycle most of the day and by mid afternoon I was ready for some type of activity.

The temperature had risen measurably since yesterday and I considered doing a neighborhood run. But the convenience of the treadmill drew me upstairs. Before I reached it, I was distracted by the elliptical. It's been a while since I've used the machine and since I'm tapering for next Saturday, I thought it would be good to work on a few different muscles. I set the resistance to medium and hit start.

It took me a few minutes to start sweating and that inspired me to work a little harder. About halfway through my session, I noticed the display metric that indicated the amount of energy being expended. I decided then that I would not let it drop below a certain number (a la the movie Speed). Happily, maintaining that level distracted me from the effort I had to expend to do it.

I set an even higher target for the last five minutes, hoping to simulate the anaerobic experience that comes at the end of a race. The last two minutes felt endless, but I kept the effort meter above the danger zone. After I finished, I moved to the treadmill to cool down for a few minutes at an easy pace. My legs were definitely worked out and I was glad to have completed a vigorous training session. I'll go out for five or six miles either tomorrow or Tuesday before stepping down my taper before the weekend,

Heat, treadmill and potassium

Electro-like

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

Fall isn't here yet, but it might as well be. The pool's been closed and the kids are back in class. The morning had a different feel with new early schedules and I'm already feeling more energy coming from the business side. As for the fall bringing better running weather, it looks like that will have to wait for the real fall.

The morning was surprisingly busy. By the time I wrapped up my early work, a thunderstorm was moving through the area. If I was going to get a run in, it would have to be on the treadmill. It felt extremely humid and I was glad to have the big fan. I set the speed high from the start and hoped for the best. The first mile went by quickly, with little problem from either the heat or the pace.

Pretty soon after that, the humidity started getting to me. My wife thoughtfully turned down the AC, but the heat was draining. I told myself, "Less than two miles to go" and focused on CNN to distract myself from the tedium. The trouble with the treadmill is that there's no place for subtlety in your pacing. You're locked in and unless you play with the speed controls, it's a monotonous experience.

I thought I'd never reach my targeted "distance" but finally it came and I recovered with a tall glass of water and some dried apricots. I noticed the other day that they're high in potassium so I thought, why not? That seemed to work and now I have a nice alternative to gels for those long weekend runs.

An object of neglect provides the perfect workout

Today's perfect choice

Today's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes

Yesterday's run affected me more than I realized, and I found myself exhausted by the end of the day. This morning I woke with a pressure headache that was quickly dispatched by my standard cure of aspirin and Sudafed. Unfortunately, pseudoephedrine and running don't mix well, so I decided to put off my workout until later.

Once the day got going, I started to doubt whether I could fit in a workout. I generally dislike afternoon running, especially when I plan to run again the next morning. I remembered that tomorrow is my weekly rest day, so even with a late day run, I'd have plenty of recovery time. All I needed to do was figure out a workout. Given yesterday's tough going, I didn't think a speed run was advisable. I also didn't want to do a recovery run outside, in conditions that matched Saturday's oppressive humidity.

Then it hit me - the elliptical, that I've neglected for months, would be a perfect workout. I decided that a hill simulation, done at  moderate speed, would provide a good a balance. I set up the floor fan, put the speed on high, and set the machine's resistance to 80%.  Once I got past the first few minutes, it was smooth sailing and the time went quickly from there.

It's often hard for me to focus on cross-training, because I always prefer to run. But after today, I won't be so quick to dismiss the elliptical, especially on the day after a really difficult run.

Workout pending...

Today started early and was spent in the city. Last night I'd considered pulling out my headlamp and reflective vest and doing a 4:00 AM run, just like old times. But reality prevailed when I got up and I decided to forgo my workout. While nostalgia has its place, so does sleep.

By the time I got home, it was a sunny 86 degrees (according to my car's display). That discouraged me from going outside for an afternoon run. I'm still considering a climate controlled workout on the treadmill later, but then again, it may be better to wait and resume tomorrow. With my friend Chris coming by for a Stillwell run tomorrow, I'm going to need to conserve some energy. His idea of an easy run differs greatly from mine.

An eight mile workout on top of another

Supremely lucky

Today's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes + 8 mile walk

It's another beautiful day in NYC, but I ended up doing my workout indoors this morning. No matter what, time always seems to influence action. I needed to make a mid-morning train and I'd squandered the early morning hours putting the final touches on my new business website. The elliptical made the most sense in terms of time efficiency, so I picked that over the road and the treadmill. If I'd known how much walking I would do today, I may have skipped my workout altogether.

My travels took me all around NYC today. With exception of a subway ride from Penn Station to Chamber Street, I walked up, down and all around. When I got back to Penn at the end of the day, my Fitbit showed 18K steps and 8 miles walked. My feet were fairly sore, but that's what recovery shoes are for. I put on a pair the second I got home.

The purpose of my trip downtown was to visit the Manhattan County Clerk's office at 60 Centre Street. I needed to do some legal work related to my new business. The Clerk's office is located in the basement of the Supreme Court building, and it looks like it hasn't been renovated since the 19th century. Seriously, go there and see for yourself.

It turned out that the filing (and its sizable fee) was unnecessary. Except for the cost of a subway ride, I came out well ahead. I walked from Centre Street to midtown, and eventually, back to Penn Station. Today showed that not every workout needs to involve aerobic intensity to make an impact. Sometimes it's a matter of taking some steps - maybe eighteen thousand or so.

Sixteen staircases on the Bethpage trail

This morning it was full

Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 4.2 miles

The next couple of days look to be windy and wet, so this morning I figured I'd go someplace where I could enjoy the outdoors. Although the warmer weather has melted most of the snow, I didn't want to deal with the muddy trails at Stillwell just yet. I decided to go to Bethpage and hoped that the gates were open.

When I arrived, I saw a large maintenance truck parked in front of the gate and feared that access would be restricted. I then saw that the gates were open, and as I made my way in, I noticed a couple of people running on the path. The trail head was blocked off with a webbed fence and a sign saying "entrance closed."  Like everyone else, I ran around the sign and headed up the hill toward the original trail.

Despite seeing two runners as I drove in, the trail was almost empty. That wasn't a surprise, as it was a Tuesday morning, not the weekend when I usually run there. I liked the quiet but I wasn't loving the run for the first mile. My legs felt leaden and I wondered if I should have taken an extra day's rest after my race.

I started the day with my Fitbit and was curious to see what data it would capture during my workout. After I reached the one mile point, I turned around and headed back in the other direction. I wasn't looking forward to running up the big hill, but at least I'd be doing it while I was relatively fresh. Once I made it to the top, I continued east and reached the entrance to the new section.  I had covered two miles and my legs still felt like they were carrying ankle weights.

Bethpage is hilly and the route is rolling. Most of the time you are either running uphill or down. The first segment of the new trail has a series of hills that are individually short, but collectively challenging. I ran down these hills until I reached three miles, where I turned around and went right back up. Once I got past the worst of it, I noticed that my legs were feeling a little more flexible.

Once I finished my run, I looked at the Fitbit and saw that I'd covered about 7,000 steps and climbed the equivalent of 16 staircases. The activity meter on the Fitbit (a flower) was full to the top. It also captured my distance accurately, along with calories burned. I liked that the Fitbit, unlike the Garmin, is always on and ready to capture activity at any time. But the Garmin provides valuable data that the Fitbit doesn't record, so I'll use them together.

After lunch, my wife and I went to a local park for a walk and I picked up enough steps for me to modify today's goal to 13,500. My wife already has me beat, and I can see it will be hard to keep up with her. But today was a great start.

Housebound, but still pushing race pace

Today's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles

Warming trend

 The roads have been cleared but they're still too narrow to run. The sidewalks are completely inaccessible. So, once again, I hit the treadmill this morning. I wasn't very excited to do another indoor run but I had little choice. Yesterday I went for 5 easy miles, but today I needed to step it up.

We had late morning plans so I had a limited time to run. I figured that I'd go about 30 minutes, a pretty short workout for a Sunday. To get over 3 miles I knew I needed to push my speed. That meant starting at a pace close to where I normally finish and building speed further through the last mile.

Despite yesterday's restful workout, my return to speed went seamlessly. I had no trouble maintaining a brisk pace throughout the 30 or so minutes that I was on the treadmill. I ran hard, covered my distance and finished feeling like I'd been racing. The difference between today's effort and a race effort was about 20 seconds per mile. I didn't want to go all out, but I did want to get my heart rate up into zone 4. I ended up just about there by the end.

With this snow, I'm not sure when I'll feel comfortable going back to the streets to run. I'm hoping for warmer temperatures and sunny skies over the next few days. According to the weather reports, I may get my wish.

Debating "You'll never regret a run"

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

I often quote the line, "You'll never regret a run" to make the point that the effort to exercise is always worth it despite how you might feel. Just this morning my wife said the same thing to me about her workout. Ironically enough, I may have found the exception to the rule today, having completed a treadmill run and suffering the consequences of that decision.

It's hard to differentiate between feeling tired because you've just woken up and feeling fatigued for other reasons. This morning I went through my routine of preparing for the treadmill (30° outside temps made that an easy decision). Though I felt groggy, I expected that feeling to pass once I got going. That happened, but soon after I'd cooled down I was ready to return to bed for more sleep.

Since my schedule is tight on weekday mornings, I had to ignore the dizziness and feeling of weakness. I left for the train, hoping that I could get a decent seat and take a nap. The LIRR is running less trains due to Sandy-related issues and the cars get very crowded, but I managed to secure a good spot and slept for 20 minutes.

I'd hoped that would solve the problem but my fatigue continues. Despite some strong coffee and analgesics I'm still hurting. I don't know if running on the treadmill was best thing for me this morning. Had I not done that, I could have taken an extra 30 minutes to rest and avoided the physical impact of running. If I skipped my run, I'm wondering whether I'd be feeling any better. Or would I feel worse due to the guilt of missing a workout? I'm taking solace in the thought that while I may regret today's run, I would definitely have regretted skipping it.

Benefitting from the indoor option

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

There was a period in 2010 when I avoided the treadmill for a period of months. It didn't rain most mornings when I planned to run and, if it did, I'd use the elliptical instead. I hated the treadmill because it was tedious, hard and a little bit scary to use. In spring of 2011 we replaced our twelve year old machine with a Sole F63 and I began to view treadmill running somewhat more positively.

It seems like the frequency of rainy mornings has increased since that period in 2010 and there's no elliptical option because the machine has been down for parts throughout most of the year. That has put me on the treadmill one or two times a week. Today's iffy weather put me there again this morning.

I didn't really enjoy yesterday's run that took me over a mile to find my stride. Today's was much different, even though I was very tired when my alarm jolted me awake. I briefly considered taking another rest day but reason (i.e., guilt) prevailed. This morning's progressive speed run landed me within my desired heart rate zone and the time went by quickly. A good workout is a good workout, no matter what the surface.

A little love for the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

I've been running well lately, but I found yesterday's workout disappointing. It may have been my mental state at the time of the run, but I didn't enjoy the experience at all. I usually associate tedium with the treadmill and prefer the changing conditions that happen when running outdoors. Thursday's run felt like a maintenance effort, nothing more. But, as the saying goes, "I've never regretted a run."

Knowing that heavy rains would be sweeping over Long Island by morning, I planned for a treadmill workout and actually looked forward to a change from the road. As I've written, the treadmill provides two advantages over street running (along with numerous disadvantages): instant availability and the option to introduce variables at the touch of a button.

I like that the time I take between waking and running on the treadmill is almost half of what it takes to gear up and get outside to run. I can sometimes save as much as ten minutes, which becomes ten more minutes to relax after my workout is completed. The treadmill allows me to custom design my workout by varying incline, and speed. The speed flexibility is key. If I want to run slowly outdoors, I need to either shorten my route or risk getting behind schedule. On the treadmill, I can jump off when I get behind and already be home.

I still prefer the trails and the road to the treadmill, but I liked my workout this morning. I followed my usual practice of starting easy and working my way up to race pace using my heart rate as a guide. The best part was when I finished. One minute after after hitting the stop button I was downing my coffee and preparing for another long day.

Track challenges, real and virtual

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

Since it's a long weekend, I thought I'd forgo my usual Saturday distance run in favor of intervals. I'm running the New Hyde Park 8K next weekend and felt that I needed to put in some speed work before winding down my training. It's been months since I've been to the track, so I was looking forward to a change of scenery.

I started my workout at around 8:00 AM with a mile warm up that I completed in 8:53. The humidity was high and the sun was already hot by the time I'd started. I followed my warm up with 8 x 200's, averaging 6:26/mile and I finished with a mile cool down that I ran at around 8:50. About halfway through that last mile I realized my Garmin wasn't recording properly, so my time so the cool down is an estimate.

The toughest run on the web

As tough as that workout was, I found an even bigger challenge on a different track with QWOP - a video game that you can play online. In this game, the user is challenged to move a track runner 100 meters by controlling only his thighs and calves. It's deceptively difficult, so far the best I've done is 17.4 meters. Before you judge that as lacking, try it yourself!

Upper body ignorance is no longer bliss

Getting pumped

Today's workout (light upper body): 25 minutes

Mondays are typically my rest day and I had no intention of running this morning. I felt some energy and that inspired me to try a little upper body work. I've read many articles about the benefits of strength training, not only to improve running performance, but also for the way it helps maintain bone density. Many runners ignore their upper body thinking that it's all about their legs. But there has to be a reason why Usain Bolt has arms that would make most gym rats envious.

In terms of upper body development, I'm about as far opposite to Mr. Bolt as one can get. I'm not without muscle or (surprisingly) definition, but I have much room for improvement. That improvement did not come today, but it was a start. Instead of counting reps, I selected something distracting on the TV and did bicep curls with alternating arms (8 lb. each arm) for 10 minutes. I followed that with 10 minutes of reverse curls and finished with some isometric exercises.

It wasn't a lot of weight and my workout was hardly difficult, but I did break a sweat. After ignoring my arms and wrists for so long, I wasn't about to injure myself by over-training. If I can do this workout once a week, I'll bet I'll see some results, after a while. I know that arm speed relates directly to cadence, and if stronger arms will lead to more steps per minute, sign me up.

We'll be in Montauk for a few days and I'm hoping to get some runs in near the water. Fast running with an ocean view. Sounds good to me.

Did I really experience fat-to-energy alchemy?

Botero's Man on Horseback

WCB Preserve's Trails

Today's run (treadmill): 6.1 miles

Daylight savings time took away an hour of our morning, so I decided to save a little time and run indoors. My wife was doing her workout on the elliptical machine, so I accompanied her on the treadmill for the last 35 minutes of her session. My plan was to run for an hour or for 5.7 miles, whichever came first.

I started off at a very easy pace, because I'd run long on Saturday and didn't want to push my already tired legs. I moved along feeling great, but after 25 minutes I began to noticeably weaken. I realized that it would be a struggle to complete my full hour and I started to reevaluate when I would stop. After my wife finished her workout, I thought I would continue, but only for another ten minutes.

I'd wished that I'd had a gel to give me a boost at that point, but as it happened, I didn't need it. When I reached 43 minutes, I started feeling stronger. My urgency to stop had completely gone away. It suddenly felt easy, for no reason that I could explain. The only thing I could think of was that my body had depleted my glycogen stores and had started using stored fat as an energy source.

Everything I've read tells me that this transition doesn't happen until you have run for an hour or more. Before you feel good, you're supposed to feel very bad. I hadn't been comfortable for a good amount of time, so perhaps that explanation is plausible. All I knew was that, suddenly, the run became as easy after 45 minutes as it was after 5 minutes.

I decided not to stop and took advantage of my rebound by bumping up the speed and focusing on my form. I reached my goal (originally 5.7 miles so that I would surpass 13 miles this weekend) but kept going until I passed 6 miles. It was a tiring run but, hours later, I still feel energized.

Later in the morning we went to the Nassau County Museum of Art and walked the grounds before we went in. The museum has 39 large sculptures located within its grounds (AKA, the William Cullen Bryant Preserve). There are many trails to follow and we plan to return just to do that.

I'm pleased that I met my goal of covering 13 miles this weekend. That will help me push my base as I train for the LI Half Marathon. Best of all, I get to rest tomorrow. But it all starts again on Tuesday.

Going a sustainable 60

Today's run (treadmill): 60 minutes

The overnight rain extended into morning drizzle, so I debated whether to wait for it to stop or head to the track in hopes that it would let up. I chose the latter, but needed to run a last minute errand on the way. That turned out to be a fortuitous delay, because the skies opened up before I got to my workout. I didn't want to wait around for the rain to stop, so I headed home.

Since I couldn't run outside, I thought I'd spend an hour on the treadmill. Sixty minutes on the treadmill is far different than an hour on the road. Not just from the tedium of an unchanging view, but also due to the increased effort from running at a higher cadence (necessary to make up for a shorter stride).

I maintained my pace for 50 minutes and then stepped up my speed every minute until I finished my planned time. In a way, it's like a 10K, where you stay on pace then push past your comfort zone for the last mile. I was glad to find plenty of fuel to get me through the fast finish and I stepped off the treadmill as soaked as if I'd already showered.

I was happy with my compromised workout, and though I wanted to do speed work today, I'm pleased with what I did. Tomorrow's weather should be clear, so I will have my choice off outside options. I think I'll pass on the speed work though. Another six mile run may be exactly what I need.

A four minute workout that beats an hour's worth of exercise

4 minutes a day - only $14,000!

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

The skies were clear when I got up this morning but I decided to take the easier road with an indoor run. Part of it was due to time. I'd slept up to my alarm, giving me only 15 minutes to prep, get outside and run. I'm sure that 15 minutes sounds like a lot but, in the early morning, time goes by like a freight train. That is, until you are on the treadmill, where every minute feels like three.

As I ran through my workout this morning, I thought about an article I read on Active.com about Tabata training. This training method involves a short duration program (< 5 minutes) consisting of 20-second maximum-intensity sprints separated by 10-second recovery periods. According to the article, a study compared stationary cyclists doing hour-long, moderately intensive, workouts (control group) to another group that did the Tabata training.

Both groups did five workouts a week for six weeks. The control group's weekly duration was 5 hours while the Tabata's totaled just 20 minutes. The control group improved their VO2 max by 9.5% with no change to anaerobic capacity. The Tabata group improved their VO2 max by 14 percent and improved their anaerobic capacity by 28 percent!

It made me think of that $14,000 ROM machine they've been advertising in the back of Popular Science since my college days. The claim is that this machine gives you a complete workout in four minutes a day. If Tabata is for real, then perhaps that's really true. But according to the article, any maximum intensity workout will do the job. You certainly don't need to spend $14K to get the same benefit as pushups.

The myth of the morning person

Although I struggled with a bad sinus headache most of the weekend, I did manage to get in a couple of good workouts. As planned, I ran a set of intervals on Saturday and then did a slow, easy run on Sunday morning. My headache caused some dizziness, and that was further exacerbated after viewing Madonna's Superbowl Halftime show. Despite the close game and my hopes for the Pats, I went to bed before 9:00. It was the right thing to do because I feel much better this morning.

Last week, my wife had breakfast with a friend that she hasn't seen in a while. Their discussion turned to exercise and my wife mentioned that she runs on the treadmill first thing every morning. Her friend said, "Oh, that's easy for you, you're a morning person." My wife responded, "True, but is anyone really a morning person at 5:00 AM?"

That's the thing about workouts. It's not the time of day that you do them. It's simply that you do them. A morning person will probably do better with a morning workout, and conversely, a night person will do better going for a run after dinner. But being a morning person doesn't make it any easier to roll out of bed in the early hours and hit the treadmill or the road. What it really takes is a commitment to staying healthy. That can work for people at any time of the day.

Where angels fear to treadmill

Today's run (treadmill intervals): 30 minutes

When two unpleasant things, like sodium and chloride, are combined, the resulting substance can be quite palatable (like salt). More often, combining two disagreeable things will just amplify their unpleasantness. One great example is running intervals on the treadmill.

My plan for this morning was to head out early to the local track to run 4 x 400's and 100 meter sprints. I ended up sleeping to 6:45 AM, which set my schedule back an hour, so I changed my plans to run 200 meter intervals at the adjacent middle school. Due to circumstances, my time got too tight to do even that, so I elected to do my speed work on the treadmill.

Honestly, I don't always find the treadmill disagreeable, but I far prefer to run outside. Intervals on the treadmill spook me because the faster the machine goes, the more concern I have for my safety.  When the Sole is cranking over 8 MPH, it provides a scary display of motion and power. A 7:30 pace on the road feels very mild by comparison. The whole time I'm running fast on the treadmill my primary concern is a misstep that will cause me to fly off the machine.

Since I don't really trust the recorded distance on the Sole's display, I went by time for my fast running. I started off with three minutes of easy running and then hit the 8 MPH button, holding on for dear life. I'm sure there are many people, some who read this blog, that might look at 8 MPH as brisk, but not especially fast. I guess it's all relative, because that first 3 minute cycle was a heart racing experience.

I switched between 3 minute cycles of 8 MPH (truth be told, I dialed back to 7.5 MPH after completing the second interval) separated by two minute recovery cycles. The first three recovery periods were done at 4 MPH, and the rest were at 6 MPH. I ended up running a total of 30 minutes and I stepped off the treadmill thinking:

• OMG I'm exhausted
• I need electrolytes
• I wish I was already in the shower
• I need to be ready to leave the house in 30 minutes and all I want is a nap

When I came out of the shower I was still sweating, and I knew I accomplished my goal of getting an effective speed workout completed today. I'll go out for a very easy run tomorrow and start my taper for next Saturday's race. Now that enough time has passed, I'm already forgetting how hard today's workout felt. Like sodium and chloride, treadmill intervals do yield some benefits when they're combined, but it's hard to appreciate that at the time.

This brick did the trick

Good training method and effective against big bad wolves

Today's workouts:
Treadmill - 30 minutes
Elliptical - 30 minutes

I may be using the term incorrectly, but the word "brick" is often used to denote a type of triathlon training. The idea is to perform two different workouts, back to back. This helps a triathlete acclimate from intense running to intense biking. This is also known as transitioning. I'm not sure if running to elliptical meets that definition, but it doesn't really matter since I'm not looking to train for a triathlon.

The roads were clearer this morning, but the remnants of yesterday's dry fluffy snow have turned to ice. I decided that indoors would be a better bet, especially with 18 degree temperatures outside. Last Sunday I did an hour on the treadmill using elevation to make it even more challenging. I traded elevation for speed today and did my run around 30 sec. per mile slower than 5K pace.

Thirty minutes on the treadmill went by faster than I'd expected. Before I started my run, I hooked up my Android smartphone to the treadmill so I could play music through the built in speakers. I was dissatisfied with the selections coming out of Slacker so I switched to YouTube and started a video of NYC Marathon participants in their final stretch through Central Park.

I'd hoped that watching other runners would motivate me, but the fixed camera and low resting position of my phone's screen made for a boring distraction. When I tried to select a different video I received sizable shocks from my phone (I have a terrible static issue with the treadmill) so I yanked my phone out of the machine and ran with no visual stimulation besides my snowy backyard scenery.

As usual, I progressed my speed in regular intervals so that, in my last five minutes, I was running my targeted pace for a 4 mile race. I was more than ready to stop when I passed the 30 minute mark.  Three minutes later, I was set up on the elliptical and starting the second half hour of my "brick."

Starting a workout with an elevated heart rate and full coat of sweat is an interesting experience. I was used to those conditions when finishing a session on the elliptical, but never before I started. The first couple of minutes were tough but I soon realized that my fitness was there. By the time I reached 20 minutes the only things that bothered me were my feet because I was wearing my Hattori's. Those thin soles are not a good choice for an elliptical machine.

I was pretty tired near the end and I kept telling myself that all workouts eventually finish and this one would too. I stepped off the machine feeling like I'd put in a good morning's effort and I felt that the "brick" idea was sound. Workouts on the treadmill and the elliptical can grow tedious, but 30 minutes of each was a good plan for an hour of training. 

Workouts, PE and relax-outs

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles
Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 25 minutes

My wife and I were comparing notes on our workouts this morning. We'd both had hard runs and I said that's the reason why it's called a workout and not a relax-out. She and I have very different training methods and I would be challenged to follow her routine. In turn, she would probably say the same of mine. But each day we congratulate each other (and ourselves) for getting it done. It's great reinforcement and it motivates us to continue.

Without a running watch I would have guessed that I ran today's route a minute per mile faster than I actually did. My perceived effort was high but I clearly fell short on performance. No matter, I recently read an article that said that perceived effort (PE) is a better gauge of how you should be running than holding rigidly to a targeted pace.

Every workout that I've done since returning to work has generated a high PE but performance on the low end of the scale. It could have to do with my adjustment back to 4:00 AM running because I feel very good overall. Maybe a long slow base run this weekend can get me back on track. Perhaps a relax-out is just what's needed.

Faint praise for the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

I'm going to blame the transition from vacation to work for my sluggish performance this morning.  Even though I'm an early riser while on vacation, there's a big difference between waking up at 6:00 AM versus 3:45 AM. It probably didn't help that I set a 2% incline for the first 2/3rds of today's workout.

A year ago I probably would have braved the weather and gone outside, despite this morning's 11° temperature. My dislike of the treadmill experience used to outweigh the discomfort of freezing conditions, but I've finally accepted the treadmill for what it is. I even appreciate how I can change conditions like speed and elevation with a single touch. I'll reluctantly admit that, on an extremely cold morning, the treadmill can be the better choice.

Still, I far prefer the trails or the road, and I can't wait to get outdoors this weekend. I may have been better off resting today, but since I started the run I felt I needed to finish it. Around the 15 minute mark I realized I wasn't at full strength. I decided to drop the incline rather than hurt myself further. I did step up the speed a little when I did that, but not by much. Tomorrow, I will do an elliptical workout and (hopefully) on Friday the temperatures will be back in the 30's and I'll take to the streets once again.