Fitbit fits and multicolored running

These colors do run

Today's run (street): 3.6 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

I really liked my Fitbit yesterday, because it showed that I had reached 6,500 steps after my morning run. I really despised my Fitbit this morning when I checked post-run and saw that it didn't record a single step. What a waste of exercise. The saving grace is that my Garmin captured my run and, using the SPM metric and elapsed running time, I estimated that I ran about 6,400 steps. My Fitbit will never know this. Adding insult to injury, I expect the Fitbit to put a message on the display tonight shaming me for moving so little today.

After eight straight runs over my vacation break, I had a long layoff. My return to the office resulted in no running until yesterday. I was able to determine that my average step count during a work day is about 5,500 and I've been adding about 5,000 more when I got home. If I can't fit in runs Monday through Thursday, I need to generate more steps at work. I've been using a stand up desk in my office for the last year and that's better than sitting, but it's impolite to stand during meetings and worse to pace around the conference table.

The weather this week has been cold and rainy. Yesterday I stayed inside and used the treadmill. As I ran, I thought about how much I dislike the treadmill experience. I tried to think about the positives - the softer surface, no wind resistance (except for the fan), no broken pavement, no cars, and no hills. I had the TV to distract me and I could just set my pace and zone out. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work that way for me. I usually turn off the TV after a few minutes because it starts to annoy me. The lack of true forward progress feels futile. My only thought is that every step gets me incrementally closer to finishing.

This morning started with rain, but I had to bring my son to the high school and wouldn't have been able to run before then anyway. By 9:00 AM the skies had cleared, and I got outside for a neighborhood run. There was a lot going on for us, so I wasn't able to cover that much distance. I appreciated the cool air and the cloudy skies. My run almost felt automatic. It was as if I was riding along, rather than doing any work.

While my son was getting through his SAT and I was running through my neighborhood, my wife and daughter were at Citi Field participating in the Color Run. This is a non-competitive run where participants get sprayed with colored corn starch along the way. The "race" starts in the corridors under the ball park and winds through the playing field and then around the stadium area. It was a fun pre-Mother's Day activity and definitely more fun than taking the SATs.

Tomorrow is officially Mother's Day so I'll need to get out early. I hope the rain will stay away long enough for me to get a few miles in.

Running eight days running

Crowded lanes

Today's run (street): 3.6 miles
Yesterday's run (track): 3.5 miles
Thursday's run (street): 3.2 miles
Wednesday's run (street): 3.4 miles

Today is the eighth day of my vacation and I've run every day since it started. I've covered 28 miles since last Saturday, including today's 3.6. The last time that I covered over 25 miles in one week was during my training for the 2014 Brooklyn Half. On top of my running miles, I've also managed to fit in a couple of hikes, the second one happening yesterday. I'll credit my new Fitbit for motivating me to move more.

I planned to do at least one run at Bethpage this week, but I ended up staying local, except for when I ran at the track. I've purposely kept my run distances in the three mile range because I knew I'd be accumulating mileage through the break. Saturday to Friday's total was 40% higher than what I'd typically run within seven days. I've heard that training volume really shouldn't increase by more than 10% in a given week.

Wednesday and Thursday were neighborhood runs and the streets have been quiet because it's school vacation. I've seen a couple of news articles this week touting the idea that ten minutes of high intensity exercise is as beneficial as a moderate 45 minute run. That may be true but I prefer running. I'm not ready to trade that for Tabata-like workouts. Still, I have been incorporating more anaerobic effort into every run I've done this week.

Oval by Garmin

There was a lot going on when I arrived at the track on Friday. The Syosset baseball team was practicing on the adjacent field and they were blasting country music from a big speaker. I was concerned that it might disrupt my peaceful run. The music itself was weirdly anachronistic for suburban Long Island but somehow it worked. There were a few track teams taking up the inside lanes while I ran, but we managed to peacefully co-exist.

Later in the day, my son and I went to Trailview State Park for a hike. Trailview has a hiking trail and another that's supposedly reserved for biking. On our way back we followed the bike trail and found it much more interesting. It wound around in different directions and seemed to go on forever. Just at the point where I thought it was taking us farther away from our starting point, the trail head came into sight. It was a nice second workout of the day and helped me get to almost 14K steps on Friday.

I considered taking a rest day today but we have plans for an end-of-vacation breakfast tomorrow. If I'm going to run on Sunday I'll need to do it early. Knowing that, I decided to get out again today to keep the streak going. I ran okay and covered some streets I haven't run in months. I wasn't under time pressure and thought about adding a few extra miles, but I didn't want to tempt fate and invite injury. My sciatica returned earlier in the week, this time it was on my right side. I was concerned that my herniated disc had been re-aggravated, but I've been pain free over the last three runs.

I'm happy to have the Fitbit and I'm curious to see how much distance I actually travel during a typical work day. I'll find out next week. My work calendar will be even worse than usual because I had the audacity to take a week off and that means lots of catch up meetings starting Monday. I'm hoping that all the walking I do in between meetings will add up to more than 10K daily steps.

Run, hike and Fitbit

ER and ER Jr taking on the trails at Bethpage

Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 3.25 miles
Sunday's run (street): 3.5 miles

It's nice to be out of the office this week. We've had some great days so far. Since work often gets in the way of my weekday running, I try to take advantage of off days to fit in extra workouts. That's been the case so far on this vacation. I've been able to run every day since Saturday.

I can barely remember Sunday's run around the neighborhood, other than that it was windy and a little cold for the short sleeves and shorts I wore. Like Saturday, I had good energy and I felt I moved well. Yesterday I got out fairly early and enjoyed the quiet roads, courtesy of school vacation that kept both buses and parents off the roads.

Yesterday afternoon, my son and I decided to do an impromptu hike in the woods at Bethpage. We parked in the northeast corner of the lot and entered at the trail head at the far end of the picnic area. We followed the main trail that parallels the bike trail and then cut to a path that led us to the big field. We ducked back into the woods and began to take side trails, one of which led us to the paved path where the short but very steep hill begins.

We stayed on the bike trail for about three quarters of a mile before going back into the woods. We followed a winding path that eventually brought us back to where we'd started out. It was a good hike with some nice climbs and I was glad to get a second workout in on Monday.

Post-run selfie, Sunday or Monday. I've lost track.

We had buckets of rain this morning starting at around 4:00 AM, but conditions cleared up by about 9:00 AM. Even though the rain had stopped, I decided to save a little time and stayed inside, covering 3.3 miles on the treadmill. It was a good progression run and, like the three before it, I finished my last mile running a fairly fast pace (for me).

I'd given my wife my Fitbit a couple of years ago because I got frustrated with it. Not that it didn't work, it was just that I'd frequently leave it on my dresser instead of transferring it to my next pair of pants. And everyone knows that a run or walk that wasn't captured by a device technically never happened.

My company just did a wellness challenge and every participant got a Fitbit to track their contribution to their team. I didn't participate, but I became envious of people when they'd announce their step count. I decided to get back into the Fitbit game and ordered a new one. The building where I work is humongous and every meeting I'm in seems to be as far from my office as physically possibly.

I'll be curious to see how much I actually travel during the workday. I wish I had it now so I could track my progress during this vacation week.

A blooming good run

Where have all the flowers gone? In my mouth.

Today's run (street): 4.5 miles
Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 21 minutes

Today is day one of my vacation. Eight days, plus what's left of this one to do whatever I want everything my wife needs me to do. Actually my list is fairly light and I like having projects. I'm happy to avoid five days of commuting and excited to have more time to run during the week.

I worked from home on Friday and would normally have gone for a 3+ mile run in the morning. An exhausting work week left me low on energy so I ended up doing a short elliptical session rather than doing nothing. That turned out to be a good compromise, because that short targeted workout helped my energy level throughout the day.

This morning I was feeling ready to run, but the wet weather was encouraging me to stay inside. We had early plans and I wanted to get my workout started as soon as possible. The clock was ticking and my wife was doing her treadmill run. The rain started to let up, so I put on a short sleeve shirt and running shorts and got the heck outside.

Today's route

I had no route planned so I picked a random direction and took off. That direction took me around the middle school and then through the northern part of my neighborhood. I headed south from there and followed a few roads that used to be the main part of my daily run. I felt great and, although it wasn't an impressive performance, everything (breathing, stride, energy level) was working well.

The wind picked up near the end of my run and that caused the only problem I encountered. The breezes were shaking blooms off the sycamore and dogwood trees and the effect was like white and yellow snowfall. It was pretty, but the tiny flowers kept getting in mouth. I forced myself to breath through my nose and that worked fine. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have an allergic reaction to all this flora.

I was glad to cover almost five miles today and I hope to go a little longer tomorrow. If the weather stays good, I'm going to try to get out for a run every day of this vacation.

A detour on the path and a pain in the knee

Detour at mile 3

Today's run (Bethpage bike trail): 5.1 miles

I headed out to Bethpage this morning around 7:45 AM. It was a little later than I'd hoped to run, but I needed to stick around the house and help my son get ready for today's science fair. I didn't help with the actual project, that is so complicated and sciency that I can't understand anything in his research reports and display board except his name. My contribution was to help him tie his tie before he boarded the bus to Great Neck.

I don't have an Empire Passport this year so I didn't go to the park to start my run. I probably could have got in for free because the guy who works the entry booth sometimes lets me park without paying. He's a great guy and a really good judge of people. Instead, I parked on Colonial Road which is located about a mile north of the Bethpage lot.

My plan was to run north so that worked out fine. I usually start on the bike trail at Haypath and run to the LIE overpass on Washington Ave and back. That's just about five miles. Today I decided to get my five a different way with a detour up Old Country Road.

I did not get off to a good start. My legs felt heavy and my stride felt awkward. I really hoped it was something that would change as I warmed up. I loosened up eventually, but it took a couple of miles of running for that to happen. There were many runners out today, mainly groups. At one point I saw so many people running that I thought there was a race going on.

I turned around after two miles and ran south until I reached Old Country Road. I then ran west almost to Plainview Road and then back to the bike trail. I ended up covering my targeted five and got to see other sights off the beaten path. Actually the path on Old Country was pretty beaten. So much so, that I feared I'd trip on the many torn up slabs of concrete sidewalk.

Profound statement from CaptionBot

When I got back to my car I noticed some pain at the top of my knee. It only hurt when I put pressure on it or turned it when pushing up to stand. I looked up the symptoms online and they seem to match something people call patellofemoral pain. One site suggested ice, elevation and compression. I put on my ACE knee brace that got me through a meniscus tear without surgery many years ago.

I'm fortunate to work with experts in health and physiology and I plan to seek their advice tomorrow. I'm hoping that the brace and a couple of days rest will help in the meantime.

Running in circles while my friends ran at Bethpage

I forgot to mention the invisible airplane on the track

Today's run (track): 4.1 miles

Due to a science fair scheduling conflict, I needed to run extra early this morning. That was fine, as I'm trying to go back to early day running. The downside was that I missed SIORs run-palooza at Bethpage this morning. This was another Life Time Run Club adventure and today's group included both TPP and KWL. Long before they all went out, I was at the Syosset HS track getting in 16 laps. The Runsketeers had a great time and I'm very jealous.

I always hope that the track will be empty when I arrive, but there's usually someone there before me. That was case today. It was mostly walkers, but there were a couple of guys running intervals and one person run/walking wearing a pair of big studio headphones. I tuned everyone out for the most part rather than construct back stories of every person on the track like I usually do. I just wanted to get through the workout and stay on schedule.

I'm going to need to go out early again tomorrow. I'd like to do at least five miles so I'll probably run somewhere outside my neighborhood. I can't go too far or too long, because I need to be ready for yet another science fair. But no such problems next weekend. After Monday, science fair season will be over.

CaptionBot sums up my run experience

 

Today's run (street): 3.2 miles

I used to be very disciplined about my running and would usually get out before the sun came up. In recent years I've slipped from typical 6:00-ish start times to a more indulgent 8:00 AM. Later starts led to later finishes that cut deeply into my weekend mornings. I've been thinking it would be good to return to earlier runs, starting today.

Although earlier starts were already part of the plan, I needed to be back in time for an 8:00 AM video call today. Having my running done by 7:00 AM gave me more time to get things done this morning. And I can always use extra time.

Being out at 6:30 AM was a different Friday experience for me. No recycling trucks or parents speeding down the road on their way to dropping their kids off at school. It was a chilly 38° and the glare from the rising sun was blinding, but I enjoyed being out there. I ran okay and covered my usual 5K Friday route. When I got home I took a selfie on my driveway to memorialize my multi-colored outfit.

After I downloaded the picture I stumbled upon Microsoft's CaptionBot site where you can upload a picture and it captions it for you using artificial intelligence. The results are above. For the record I wasn't exactly feeling "grinning emoji."

The data behind the pace

Open the stride and quicken the cadence

Today's run (street): 5.5 miles

Conditions were chilly this morning and I had to dress like I was going out for a winter run. I feel like it's payback for all those weeks of unseasonably warm weather that we had in March. Somehow I picked the right combination of gear and set out for a run in a nearby neighborhood. I started out with a loop around a local business park that has one hill that I always dread. I did another half loop before moving on to run in what I call neighborhood #3.

Once around the park

My run was fine and, although I thought I was doing a good job introducing speed at times, I ended up running fairly slowly. When I looked at the data from today's run, I noticed that my current pace hasn't degraded that much since mid-2014. It was interesting to see that my training paces were often 2 minutes per mile slower than my race paces. That gave me hope that I could get back into race shape if I wanted to start focusing on performance.

I decided to do an analysis that compared three data points from my run history: pace, stride length and cadence. I randomly selected thirteen runs between 2013 and today that had data captured via my Garmin foot pod. Pace is measured in xx:xx time format, stride length is typically between .8 and 1.1 meters and cadence usually falls (for me) between 160-180 SPM. Those disparities required me to index the metrics so they could all be displayed on the same scale.

My first reaction when the data was visualized was that faster paces are clearly correlated to longer stride length and faster cadence. Not a surprise. I know that 13 data points doesn't yield statistically significant findings, but it's enough information to be directional. It shows that if I want to get back to 9:30 training paces, I'll need to average between 172-176 SPM and stride lengths between .98 to 1.0 meters.

I have work to do to get to those numbers but at least it's a baseline target. I need to decide whether to focus on cadence and let my stride adapt as needed, or if I should try to open my stride before taking on the tougher metric. I'd prefer the latter, but messing with stride length is tricky because over-striding is the gateway to injury.

Fashion backwards at Stillwell Woods

At the top of a rise

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 3.6 miles
Yesterday's run (Street): 3.2 miles

Hot couture

This morning's run was delayed due to a fashion-related protest by the female representatives at Emerging Runner Inc. I have long been in the camp that men aren't meant to wear running tights without shorts. I've done it a few times during races, but that's different. There are numerous shorts/tights posts in online forums and Runners World did a survey that favored the more modest combination. I wanted to run at Stillwell today and the weather seemed too cold for trail shorts and too warm for track pants. I decided to go with some lightweight running tights.

I knew I'd be running in the woods and thought that would be a situation where shorts-over-tights wouldn't be necessary. After seeing my outfit, my wife and daughter insisted that I add shorts or lose the tights. I was fine with that except that it added an unnecessary layer. I don't think it improved my look. When I got ready to leave, it felt much colder than the 42° that the local news station reported.

Once I adjusted my outfit to match the temperature, I headed over to Stillwell. There were baseball games going on, but the parking area near the trail head still had spots. As usual, there were a few mountain bikers preparing to ride and I zipped in before that happened.

I usually cut left toward the Black trail but decided to run the CLIMB bikeway trail instead. I soon encountered a couple of high school age girls coming from the other direction. About five minutes later I heard them coming up fast behind me. I sped up, mostly because that part of the trail was so narrow that passing would have been difficult. I managed to stay ahead of them until the trail split and I went right while the girls went left.

The downside to going right was that I had to scale a 50' rise at a steep angle to get to the next section of trail. I've taken on that hill many times in the past and was grateful to be wearing my Brooks Cascadias because the surface is mostly sand and loose rocks. People say that you can run trails in road shoes, but this hill is nearly impossible to manage without good trail runners.

Today's route

Once I passed that point, I was on my usual loop. The decision to wear shorts may have made me more presentable to the critters in the woods, but they did restrict my stride. After the initial encounter with those girls I saw few other runners or bikers today. I didn't run well or get into a comfortable rhythm until I was close to finishing. However, I did enjoy the experience of running in the woods.

Later in the afternoon my son and I watched The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young on Netflix. The race involves running five 20 mile loops (that are actually closer to 26 miles each) in some of the most rugged terrain in North America. The total course has more than 54,000 feet of vertical climb (and vice versa). Many years there isn't a single finisher. After seeing what those people went through, it's hard to complain about the 50 foot challenge at Stillwell this morning, even though I was forced to wear shorts.

A great treadmill experience (finally!)

ER and SIOR take the indoor option

Today's run (Lifetime Fitness treadmill run): 4.5 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles
Friday's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

I continue to battle a tough work schedule that makes it hard for me to fit in a fourth weekly workout. This week was no exception. There's a lot happening at the office and it's causing more meetings to push me past my usual departure time. I don't get home as late as I did when I worked in the city, but post-dinner running doesn't generally work for me. So it was three runs this week. All three on the treadmill.

I planned to run outside on Friday and put on my new running raincoat due to the misty conditions. As I prepared to go out, the skies opened up and my options switched to the treadmill or the elliptical. Since I didn't do a mid-week workout, I opted for running.

I hadn't run since last Sunday and I expected to have a tough time getting going. I was surprised to quickly find my stride and the minutes rolled by faster than my usual treadmill experience. I had limited time and cut it short after 3.2 miles. I played with tempo over the last mile and was able to get down to a decent pace.

Saturday's weather was equally miserable, so it was back again on the treadmill. I didn't have the same energy level as I did on Friday, but I pressed on. The minutes ticked by more slowly than on Friday and I didn't start my progressive paces until I had 3/4 mile left to go. Still, it wasn't as bad as some recent indoor runs.

This morning's plan was to meet SIOR at Bethpage where she would lead the Lifetime Fitness group run. Unfortunately, the weather had gone from wet to worse overnight and plans were changed to running on the treadmills at Lifetime. As much as I dislike treadmills, there's something I like about fitness center models and something I really dislike about running outside in 50 MPH winds.

When I met SIOR at the gym, she'd already completed a few miles. While she alerted the front desk that the workout was happening upstairs, I went to the locker room to take off my non-running layers. SIOR and I headed upstairs and I saw the huge gymnasium that had basketball courts and a rock climbing wall.

We found side-by-side Life Fitness treadmills and started them up. SIOR resumed watching a Netflix documentary about the Barkley marathons while I tried like heck to navigate to a watchable cable station on the monitor. I really didn't need my screen because there was so much else to look at. The gym is enormous with lots of opportunities for people watching and lots of video screens that provided good distraction.

Treadmills as far as the eye can see

If Friday's running felt easy, then today's run felt effortless. Some of that was due to starting slowly. But even as I blipped up my speed every tenth of a mile, the run never felt difficult. I stopped when SIOR finished her planned ten miles and I ended up covering 4.5. SIOR had more training to do and I had to head out for a brunch. Before we said our goodbyes. SIOR showed me more of the gym, including the area with all the weight machines.

I wouldn't have expected a treadmill workout to be so enjoyable but it was nice to be able to run along with SIOR. I really hope Lifetime gives her more resources to publicize these weekend events because it's a great way to showcase the gym and attract new members. If our schedules work out next time, it will be fun to have the other Runsketeers on the run.

Of running and furniture

A metaphor for running

Today's run (street): 4.1 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 3.2 miles

“The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” ― John Bingham, No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running.

I always liked that quote because it sums up the fear so many people have about going out for their first run. Or maybe it's about their first race. Either way, it's about overcoming fear related to running. I have my own, similar quote, but it's not about running. It's about assembling a Danish modern dresser with directions that contain confusing illustrations with no words.

“The miracle isn't that I managed to assemble this overcomplicated bunch of furniture parts that came with indecipherable directions. The miracle is that I had the courage not to ship it back to Denmark and ask for a refund.” ― The Emerging Runner.

Also, I haven't finished assembling it.

Besides spending time on that project, I've actually gotten out for a couple of runs. I'd hoped to complete four workouts this week but my hopes for an after work elliptical session were dashed by a late day meeting on Wednesday. Thursday night I had to attend a business dinner and didn't get home until 10:00 PM.

Friday was Mrs. Emerging Runner's birthday and I took it as a vacation day. My kids were off from school so we celebrated the day together. I got out fairly early and did my usual 3 mile neighborhood loop. Despite some misty rain at the start, 94% humidity and 10 MPH winds, I was comfortable in shorts and a single shirt layer. I ran okay but I was impatient to get through it. No miracles on that run.

This morning I got out a little earlier and faced much colder conditions. I've been trying to be better about selecting running clothes that will keep me comfortable through my run rather than only at the start. The 16 MPH wind was more than I bargained for and I regretted not having an over the ears hat. I broke away from my local streets and ran over to an adjacent neighborhood in Woodbury after covering a little more than 4 miles.

I went back to dresser assembly in the afternoon and made some progress. I've discovered that putting this unit together works better when I just focus on one challenge at a time. Just like the expression, "run the mile you're in",  my approach is to assemble this thing one confusing instruction page at a time.

Run with SIOR for a Life Time of fun

Where the elite meet to run

Today's run (street): 6 miles

After weeks of  unseasonably warm weather, our luck finally came to an end on the first day of spring. Yesterday's  conditions were brisk but comfortable, but we woke up to a temperature that felt like 24° today. Although it was the first day of the vernal Equinox, I went to Equinox's competitor: Life Time Athletic in Syosset. I was there for the Life Time group run led by the one and only SIOR.

I met SIOR in the lobby of the Life Time Athletic building. This is not to be confused with the Time Life building where I spent most of my career. Life Time is huge and opulent and and there were lots of people streaming in at 8:00 AM. As I mentioned, it was freezing outside and apparently everyone preferred to run on treadmills rather than join me and SIOR on the road. They missed out, because group running is fun and it makes long distances seem a lot shorter. At least that was the case for me today.

SIOR and I took off at 8:15 AM and tucked into an adjacent neighborhood that had long, straight and wide roads. SIOR's phone app wasn't telling her which roads to follow so we used our sharply honed innate navigation that pretty much kept us on the same two loops. We did branch off onto another loop for our last two miles. We'd both dressed for cold but it was really chilly. I managed to warm up about two thirds through, SIOR not so much.

I loved the run and the opportunity to chat which made six miles feel like I was only running three. I'll admit that I ran extremely slowly, as I do these days, but my run coach didn't complain about the slow pace bothering her knees. She did one-step me most of the run and I was really hoping that would produce a faster pace on my part. Nope. Closer to the end, SIOR picked up her pace but she never went so far ahead that she was out of sight.

Today's route

We'd intended to run five miles but ended up covering six. If other people were brave enough to leave the temperature-controlled fitness club, they would have had their choice of 5, 10 or 15 mile distances. The group run is open to anyone, and you don't have to be a Life Time member to participate. I really hope more people show up next time because it's a good workout and you can learn technique from a certified running coach.

After our run, SIOR and I headed over to a Starbucks on Jericho Turnpike, a new location for a Runsketeer après-run coffee break. I am really glad to have covered six miles today. It was fun and I felt good. I probably could have - and should have - pushed a little harder. Warmer spring weather should bring more participants to SIOR's group runs. I think the weekend group events will be posted on the Syosset Life Time Facebook page with time details. Tell your friends!

Good run with a side of Danish

Bygge mig og være glad

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles
Wednesday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes

According to the World Happiness Report that came out this week (yes, this is a real thing), Denmark is the world's happiest country. I'm guessing that's because they spend their days laughing at Americans who buy their DIY furniture. A good chunk of my day was spent assembling an eight-drawer dresser. Actually I only had the patience to assemble the drawers today. And not all the drawers, just the ones that had parts that were manufactured correctly. hvorfor skal jeg det til mig selv?

Wrongly drilled piece on left. Thanks Denmark!

Earlier in the day I went out for a very nice run around the neighborhood. I resisted my tendency to overdress and braved the 40° chill until my body heat caught up. I felt great throughout the run and capped my distance in deference to my morning schedule. After lunch I turned my attention to building the dresser and got an impromptu upper body workout moving two heavy boxes full of dresser components up the stairs.

Yesterday I had an even tighter schedule and needed to get my run done before an early meeting. The only way to pull that off was to use the treadmill. It was fine and I was entertained by our new TV in the guest room. I started the run feeling like it would never end, but happily it did. I only subject myself to about three miles on the machine for sanity's sake and I cope by telling myself, "Only X more miles to go before I can hit stop!"

I did manage to get an elliptical session done on Wednesday and that will get me to four workouts this week. It's not quite where I want to be, but better than I've been doing lately.

I'm vertigo-ing to take Sudefed next time

Once again, pseudoephedrine saves the day

Today's run (street): 3.75 miles

I had a very nice Saturday until about 8:00 PM last night when I started feeling dizzy. I have very sensitive sinuses and big changes in temperature tend to affect me. It's usually in the form of a pounding headache. Occasionally, the only effect will be a feeling of light-headedness, which is far more tolerable. Unfortunately, the dizziness sometimes provokes it's evil twin, nausea, and then it's no fun at all.

By 8:30 I could tell that this would be more than a passing thing. I considered using nasal spray or taking a decongestant, but I was also starting to feel sick. Instead, I headed upstairs to go to bed in hopes that I could sleep it off.

Today is the start of daylight savings time, and when I woke up, I thought I'd slept until 7:00 AM. Actually I did, but my internal clock thought it was 6:00 AM. Still, I managed to get more than eight hours sleep and all signs of last night's vertigo were gone. I was concerned about overdoing it today, and decided to keep my run short.

The weather was pleasant and I dressed correctly for a change. I'd taken Sudefed when I got up in hopes of warding off a recurrence of sinus trouble. I expected to feel tired on the road. Instead, the decongestant had the opposite effect. My stride felt loose and my energy level was higher than it's been in weeks. I felt so good I wondered if pseudoephedrine is a banned substance.

I stayed in my neighborhood, but mixed up my route to keep things somewhat interesting. Unlike many runs, I wasn't thinking about how much more time or distance I had to cover. I was really enjoying being outside on a beautiful (if humid) pseudo-spring day. I never looked at my watch during the run, and was surprised to see that I'd exceeded my three mile target by 20%.

I didn't get in all the workouts I'd hoped for over the week, but I had some challenging days in the office that kept me late a couple of days. This week should be better and if I'm able to stay on schedule I'll aim to add a Wednesday and/or Thursday workout.

Running bargains, get them while they last

Friday run: note the runner on right side of picture

Today's run (Bethpage bike trail): 5.2 miles
Yesterday (street): 3.2 miles

I got out early on Friday before my day started and covered my minimum distance for a run (5K). When I stepped outside, I noticed the scent of spring in the air. The temperature was 59° with a steady breeze that energized me from the start. It seemed quiet for a Friday, perhaps because I went out early. No recycling trucks or buses, just me, the road and a surprising number of people out walking. I also saw a runner (see picture) who decided that the middle of the road was a smart place to run.

Today's route

This morning the weather was cooler, high 30's according to News12, and I dressed for it. I wanted to cover five miles and headed over to the Runsketeer rendezvous point on Haypath Road. My route plan was to start at Haypath and run to Washington Ave. as my turnaround point. I had plenty of company on the bike trail, including some people walking with large dogs. I was careful to leave a lot of room each time that I passed by.

Later in the day we went to the Gallery at Westbury and saw (as I'd predicted), that the SA Elite store was closing. This used to be my favorite place for running clothes and shoes. In the beginning it was a beautiful store with most of its merchandise related to running. I've bought a lot of shoes and running clothes there over the last few years.

My bargain jackets

I ended up buying a duplicate of my dog-bitten ASICS rain jacket (discounted to $13!!) and a high reflectivity ASICS jacket for $23. We also got some old-school Onitsuka Tigers for my son for $30, a yoga mat for my daughter and a couple of shirts. The whole thing came to less than $100. There's still a lot of merchandise, so I recommend a visit soon. They say the store will close when there's nothing left to sell.

One last  thing - I want to give a big shout-out to Runsketeer SIOR for running a great 15K race on a very hilly course in King's Park this morning.

Me and the Tartan track personnas

Counter clockwise and counter-counter clockwise

Today's run (track): 4.1 miles
Yesterday's run (street); 3.4 miles
Friday's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

It was a busy week and I didn't manage to get a workout in before Friday. My Friday schedule was jammed with meetings from 9:00 to 5:30, so I needed to get my run done fairly early. I worked from home on that day and was lucky that I didn't have to do my long commute in falling snow. But outside conditions were slippery, making the treadmill my only option for running.

No surprise to anyone, I found Friday's run almost unbearable and was determined to get outdoors the next day. The snow on the roads had melted, but conditions were still pretty rough. The local news station showed  a temperature of 30°, so I dressed for moderate cold. It was sunny when I stepped outside and I was concerned that I'd overdressed. A few minutes later I was wishing for another layer.

Saturday frozen face syndrome

Feels like freezing

The moment I turned the first corner on my run, I was hit with a blast of numbingly cold air that gave me an instant sinus headache. I quickly thought through my intended route to determine whether I should change streets to minimize the wind. By the time I'd reached my first mile, I'd heated up enough to manage through the cold. It was a low performance run overall, but I managed to get through my miles and I didn't get bit once.

I usually reserve my longest run of the week for Sunday, but this morning I had a serious motivation problem. None of my favorite venues seemed appealing (Neighborhood: ho hum, Bethpage: too many hills, Stillwell: too many mountain bikers) and I wasn't going near the treadmill again. My wife suggested the track and I couldn't find an argument against that. So off I went.

Although running around the track can be viewed as monotonous, I find it much much more pleasant than the treadmill. At least the track provides sensory stimulation through forward movement. On top of that, I always encounter a different cast of characters as I circle the Tartan track. By the end, I've usually monitored their workouts and made up names for each of them.

This morning, it was just me and walking man, a big middle aged guy who was wearing air buds but no hat or gloves. Walking man and I were soon joined by high school running girl who eventually lapped me. But while high school girl had speed, I had endurance, and I noticed her slowing down and eventually talking walk breaks. So I won. Walking man started running, slower than me if that is actually possible. A young guy also joined us, running his laps pretty fast.

I did my first two miles going in the traditional counter-clockwise direction and then did two more clockwise, allowing me to see the faces of the other runners. Most importantly, running that way prevented the humiliation of being lapped by young running man and a young running couple who came by a little later. I did manage to lap the walking-to-running man and a bunch of miscellaneous walkers who'd also come by.

I did a little more than 16 laps and focused on my shortened stride which I'd hoped would enable a higher cadence. It did not, and the end result was an unprintably slow pace. That is, except for the last lap where I said "screw it" and ran about a 9:15. That was when I lapped walking-to-running man.

So, this week it's been three very different runs with the common theme of low performance. I don't really care about that, but I sometimes feel guilty for not going out with the, "All you need is all you got" attitude that I had a couple of years ago. I'm really going to try for four workouts this week and may even stretch it to five if my schedule isn't as insane as last week's.

Some improvement running at Bethpage

Making strides

Today's run (Bethpage trail): 5.1 miles

I'm happy to report that I was not the dog's dinner on today's run. I wanted to break away from my neighborhood and headed over to Bethpage to run the bike trail. I know I should be running 6 or more miles at least once a week to raise my base, but that hasn't been happening. I wasn't prepared to do six today, but I thought five was reasonable.

With 9 MPH winds, the real-feel temperature was 42°, although it felt much chillier. If my running jacket hadn't been ruined yesterday, I may have worn it as a top layer. I was lucky not to have that option because I heated up a lot as I progressed. By the end, I was regretting my second layer, hat and gloves.

The run went okay, but the hilly route felt ponderous. I felt a little rough throughout the first half mile and realized that I'd only covered a tenth of my targeted distance. I hoped that my aerobic engine would soon kick in. I cruised along, tolerating the ups and downs of the rolling course and dreading the mini-mountain I knew I'd need to climb at the start of my last mile.

Most of the run was at my usual speed but, near the end, I began experimenting with different pacing. I shortened my stride and increased my cadence while maintaining the same level of effort. I didn't know this at that time, but this change provided a measurable improvement in my pace.

I don't know if I can permanently adapt to this running style, but if I'm successful, I should be able to improve on my current performance. I plan to try doing it for longer periods in hopes that it will begin to feel more natural.

Attacked on my run

Ruff running

Today's run (street): 4.25 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 3.2 miles
Thursday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes

This is not the post I expected to write today. I thought my theme would relate to our experience having dim sum with Runsketeer KWL this morning, or how much difficulty I had during yesterday's run. Instead, I'm going to talk about the curious incident of the dog in the run-time.

Earlier in the day, the Emerging Runner family got together with our buddy KWL for a delicious (and filling) meal at a cool place in Flushing, Queens. Dim sum (per Wikipedia) is a style of Cantonese cuisine prepared as small bite-sized portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. We had a great time, tried a lot of new foods and didn't need to eat again for the rest of the day.

Dim sum central

Our schedule was tight this morning and I wasn't able to run before we met up with KWL. Although I prefer running early, I was left no choice but to go out later in the day. As I'd mentioned above, Friday's run was tough. It was a combination of end of week fatigue, 19 MPH winds and real feel of 20°. Today was nine degrees warmer and the winds were somewhat less intense and I got off to a good start.

My goal today was to cover 3-4 miles depending on how I felt. I was inspired by something I'd read in Runner's World that suggested running your usual route backwards to keep things interesting, I did that for the first half and then settled back to my usual direction. It was shortly after I'd passed my third mile that I encountered my attacker.

There were a number of people walking dogs this afternoon and I saw group about a hundred feet ahead of me. As I got closer I realized they had two dogs, one small and the other a large standard poodle. They were walking with traffic on the right side of the road, on the same side as me. As I passed them by, the poodle jumped towards me and, although I shifted to the right, the dog managed to clamp its jaws on my left forearm.

Fortunately, I was wearing my ASICS running jacket that prevented the dog's teeth from breaking my skin. I pulled my arm away and yelled, "your dog just bit me!" The owner said "Sorry" and I went on my way, thinking that it was nothing more than a scare. About a quarter mile further I turned my arm and saw that the dog had ripped a big hole in my sleeve.

I was mad and decided to retrace my route in hopes of intercepting the dog's owner down the road. I really liked that jacket and I wanted these people to be accountable for the damage. The group wasn't where I expected them to be, and I kept running until I caught them on a connecting street.

Dog bite timeline

I was upset and told the guy that he owed me for damaging the jacket. He said, "Absolutely" and offered to pay, saying he'd bring me a check by that night. And he did! So now I get to buy another running jacket and that makes getting chomped by a giant poodle totally worth it.

The Runsketeers talk a lot about a supermarket

KWL, TPP, Stewy, ER

Today's runs (Bethpage and neighborhood): 4.6 miles total
Yesterday's run (street): 3.4 miles

I was not feeling too well on Friday morning and elected to postpone my run until after business hours. I had a busy day, but felt even worse by the end. I considered doing a workout at that point, but decided there would be no fitness benefit. I took sinus medicine before bedtime which caused much restless sleep. By morning, the pounding sinus headache was gone and I was excited to get outside for a run.

We've had a lot of snow and ice since late January and I hadn't run outdoors in over a month. I've made my peace with the treadmill but being on the road on Saturday was a welcome joy. Still not feeling 100%, I managed to get around the neighborhood without much problem. Unfortunately, I was not fully recovered and conked out by early evening. That was probably related to the rigorous hike my son and I did in Cold Spring Harbor later in the day.

Long climb to the top at Cold Spring Harbor

This morning I met my Runsketeer buddies for the first time since the New Year's Hangover run. Between schedules and weather it has been tough to find a weekend to get together. SIOR and KWL were looking to run about 10 miles and TPP and I were looking to do less, so we met them in the Bethpage lot after they'd covered five.

We decided to head north and things got off to a rocky start with a discussion about running pants that I still don't understand. That was the first of many discussions we had today that didn't make a lot of sense. TPP and KWL took the lead and SIOR and I ran and chatted until she stopped to walk because my pace was so slow it hurt her knees. We walked almost a mile where we caught up with the other two and ran together back to the lot.

I felt badly that my inability to run my friend's preferred paces interfered with their objectives for today's workout. But they never complain about that and supported the fact that I wasn't feeling great today. I had expected to run at least three miles today but, with the walk, I fell short of that. But I got to have a great conversation SIOR without my usual huffing and puffing.

I'm sure SIOR did this by accident

We decided to switch venues and went to a different Starbucks today. After coffee was ordered, we began the first of many interesting conversations. SIOR, TPP and I talked about strategies to restore my speed to previous levels before we got into some serious discussions. We began with the extremely complex subject of supermarkets. Actually a supermarket called Stew Leonards that recently opened in the area.

I am not kidding when I say that it took over a half an hour to successfully explain the following:

1. Stew Leonards is a supermarket.
2. There is also a Stew Leonards wine store.
3. They are not the same thing.

Once that bit of highly intellectual discourse was completed, we moved onto less challenging subject matter: whiskey appreciation and rock climbing walls. As usual, the time went by too quickly and we needed to start the non-running portion of our days.

Probably due to these energizing discussions, I decided to go for a couple more miles when I got home. Although I ran pretty slowly with my buddies, I did a little better on my second run, I'm sure that being warmed up with my earlier effort helped that.

Back to the work week tomorrow. I'm hoping to do at least four workouts this week and dedicate one of them to speed. SIOR made a point that adding distance is a good way of increasing performance. I should probably work on that. I reached my top performance when I was running six days a week and my speed has declined commensurate to the drop in run frequency. I don't have an easy way to get back to that schedule. But the point is, this is not easy.

Musically mindless on the treadmill

Rock on, but watch your back

Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.4 miles

Happy President's Day. While my Runsketeer buddies were doing 8-12 mile runs out in the freezing cold this weekend, I took the path of least resistance. That would be the treadmill, and it's probably more disinterest than resistance. I've bashed the treadmill enough this weekend, so no more complaining until next week.

I've determined that watching scripted TV shows doesn't work for me when I run indoors. I have a lot of trouble concentrating on the dialog and plot. I do better with news but they run the same stories over and over. That repetition eventually becomes tedious and the commercial breaks are frequent and long. However, I think I've found my solution: music.

Instead of watching the news yesterday, I switched to one of the cable music channels. I listened to 70's music which didn't require any concentration. Perfect. I occasionally switched to a different station when a slow ballad came on, because faster tempo songs better matched my stride rate. I did the same this morning and had to admit that listening to music made the time go by much faster.

I used to listen to music when I ran outdoors, but I stopped due to safety concerns. I also used to listen to Pandora, but the Sole treadmill would pass along big shocks through my headphones. Our FreeMotion machine is far better behaved and I can probably go back to doing that without fear of electrocution. Plus the treadmill has big speakers that would negate the need for headphones.

In the case of my source of music I'll probably end up following the path of least resistance once again and stick with the cable music station. It's easy and there's no commercials, unless you count the ads for geriatric home care and other products targeted to the 70's channel demographic.

A choice between boring and freezing

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes
Last Sunday's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

It's cold. The real feel in my town is -5° and it's going down to -16 tonight. I'm doing my best to avoid the freezing weather. I haven't been in a blogging mood so I didn't post anything about last Sunday's run. Here's my writeup for 2/7:

I got on the treadmill and ran 3.2 miles and then stopped.

I worked from home on Friday. I would normally do a neighborhood run before beginning my workday, but due to our tight morning schedules, my wife and I had the same time window for our workouts. She doesn't care for the elliptical and I don't mind it, so we divided up the machines and exercised together. It was like having our own version of Equinox in the guest room. The only thing missing was the juice bar.

This morning it was even colder. The sidewalks are still covered in snow so there was no way I was going to run on the street. I liked the change of pace using the elliptical on Friday, but I really felt I needed to run today. The heat in the house was not energizing and I stalled as long as I could before facing the treadmill. I didn't expect to enjoy the run.

And I didn't. Treadmill running would be tolerable if there was a way to turn off  my brain or redirect it from a constant thought-stream that usually goes like this: "OMG is this boring...I can't believe I'm still on the same minute...why do the news stations have so many commercials..." I find treadmill running very tedious without the sense of progress I get when running outdoors.

To distract myself and combat my treadmill frustration, I challenged myself and pushed my speed to the edge of tolerable. Actually, that was only true for the last half mile. Most of my run involved self pity. I ended up having a pretty good run which is different from have an enjoyable one.

The weather isn't supposed to be much better tomorrow and we have a full day planned, I expect to be back on the treadmill in the morning. Yay.

Treadmill yes, shoveling no

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

Winter luck has run out for those of us who prefer to run outdoors. Unlike last year, January was remarkably snow free. We've had some measurable snowfall over the last two weeks that is forcing me to run on the treadmill. I'm no fan of indoor running, but I have to say our FreeMotion 850 unit is pretty darn good. Compared to the noisy and scary Sole F63 that we replaced a year ago, it's almost a pleasure to use. I say almost, because treadmill and pleasure should never be used in the same sentence.

Yesterday was a planned work-from-home day and that worked out well for me. We received about a foot of snow between early morning and noon and I was very glad to skip the slippery commute. Schools were closed in my town and everyone was home. My wife and son did a great job of clearing the walk and driveway during the day. I would have gone out and helped, but as it happened, I was extremely busy with work. Really!

Earlier in the day, I managed to get in some treadmill miles in between meetings. I was more impatient than time-pressed and I set the speed a little faster than normal. I was fine until I began to blip up the speed every 10th of a mile. By the time I finished, I was very much out of my comfort zone.

Between some intensive video meetings and that run, I was exhausted by late afternoon. I also felt like I was coming down with a cold. We had dinner plans and I managed to get through that, but it was a struggle. On the positive side, I got a great night's sleep.

This morning I went back on the treadmill with the thought that I'd get out again with my snow shoes. I didn't duplicate yesterday's intensity, but I pushed pretty hard. I had a lot more energy today and all signs of an impending cold are gone. I didn't manage to snow shoe today, but I did do a little shoveling to clean up the end of the driveway. All by myself BTW.

Middle school snow shoe adventure

Trekking along the glacial firn

Today's workout (snow shoeing): 1 hour (2.75 miles)

I decided to go straight for an outdoor workout today and headed over to the middle school for some snow shoe trekking. There's still plenty of snow cover, but the roads are free of it. Wearing snow shoes on pavement is a no-no because of the crampons, so I elected to take a short drive over to the school. It's difficult getting my boots into the bindings, so I put them in beforehand and then stepped into my shoes when I was ready to start.

Once equipped, I walked onto the field and headed out. The school field's perimeter is about a half a mile if you keep to the far edges. I thought I'd do a few laps around and see how it went. I started moving at a brisk pace but had to ease up a bit after a quarter mile. Like running, you need to anticipate that you will heat up over time. Unfortunately, I didn't do that. After ten minutes I was ready to shed my top layer and ski mittens.

ER was here

Instead of laps, I followed the snow where it drifted and where there were interesting areas to "explore." I criss-crossed in both directions and, just for fun, spelled out ER in honor of the eponymous blog. Going in a straight line over a period of time (versus the frequent slowing and turning required in my backyard) was ultimately wearying and certainly a good workout.

I tried to gauge my level of exertion compared to running and ellipticalling. Running in snow shoes felt comparable to hard track intervals, while brisk walking felt like a challenging hike. Overall, I'd position the effort of snow shoeing as somewhere between running and the elliptical. Of course, that comparison only applies to me. People who are elliptical maniacs may consider that a harder workout. Then again, those people would probably be snow shoe maniacs too.

Dealing with the white stuff -- snow and sugar

Backyard trekking

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles + snowshoe
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

I had lunch this week with a work colleague who told me he'd given up added sugar just before the holidays. He looked like he lost at least 20 pounds. I asked him if he misses sugar. He said if he wants something sweet he's happy to have a piece of fruit. I often think about the amount of sugar I consume and I know I often exceed the recommended limit of 50 grams per day.

I know that if I try to quit sugar cold turkey I'll fail. However, if I pay more attention, I can probably step down my sugar intake over time. I started watching sugar content on Thursday and substituted sugar laden stuff for more savory options whenever possible. I estimate that I cut back about 50% through Friday and through most of today, but our post-dinner ice cream was a setback.

I worked from home on Friday and managed to get in a few miles on the treadmill. I usually start my work-from-home days around 6:00 AM which is when I typically start my commute. Once my wife finished her workout, I jumped on the treadmill. While I find the treadmill mind numbingly boring, I appreciate that it's a better indoor workout than the elliptical. Still, my patience can only handle about thirty treadmill minutes at a time. Once I hit 5K I was done.

My schedule was tight this morning so I got on the treadmill early. I wasn't feeling very motivated and would probably have stalled another hour if I didn't have such a tight window. It was tough going at the start, partly because I set my speed about 5% faster than on Friday. I eventually adapted and felt far better through the second half of the run.

Later in the afternoon, I pulled out my snowshoes and spent 40 minutes going around my backyard. The snow was better than the first time I tried this during last week's storm. The temperature had risen and fallen over the freezing point over the past week. That resulted in a nice firm crust that kept me from from sinking in too deep. After a while the snow shoe-ing motion began to feel very natural and the drifts in my backyard created some mogul-like challenges. My friend FS said she likes that snow shoes allow her to get up and over rock faces. In my case this afternoon, that was my back deck.

Exploring new horizons around the deck and swing set

After I'd finished my snow shoe workout, my wife put them on and did her rounds in the back, followed by my daughter. I may go over to the adjacent middle school tomorrow and try them out on the athletic fields. I would be fun to to see what it's like to trek more than a quarter mile without having to make any turns. I'll probably end up on the treadmill in the morning, but I'll be thinking about snow shoe-ing and low sugar snacking to distract me from that tedium.