The surprising power of raw clams

Given that I rise at 3:50 AM most weekdays my interest in late night business dinners is fairly low. I made an exception last night because the situation warranted it. My hosts were in a generous mood, their business is based in New Orleans and after attending the Superbowl on Sunday they were still in a celebratory mood. Before I knew it the waiters had constructed a large three-tiered serving platter covered with every kind of fresh seafood that you could imagine. It was indulgent but great and I ate more than I normally would. Many find raw cherrystone clams unappealing but to a New Englander who spent his summers on Cape Cod, it was a rare treat. Although the wine was well selected and ample I avoided alcohol and my head and body thanked me when I stepped on the treadmill at 4:00 AM this morning.

As I've been doing throughout my recovery, I began today's run at a fairly modest pace. I'm finding that a slower start really helps me later as I pick up speed. I expected my protein-rich dinner to bog me down but the effect was fully opposite. Even as I moved the speed control faster on the treadmill I felt like I still had a lot more in reserve. When I came to the end of my running time I felt great, no pain with some real gain. I felt so good that I kept going longer than I'd planned. The energy and strength I had this morning has made me wonder whether my diet that's high in vegetables and whole grains is not balanced with enough protein. It's hard to know how much last night's dinner really affects your morning performance. If fresh shellfish, mussels and clams give me a boost like that again I'm going to rethink my strategy for pre-race meals.

Reflecting on a great weekend of running

It was a good weekend for running and I was fortunate to have two new experiences: running with my friend KWL on Saturday morning and taking on the trails at Muttontown Preserve on Sunday. Muttontown pretty much chewed me up and spit me out - the challenge was much greater than I'd anticipated. You'd think after so many rough experiences at Stillwell Woods my going-in position would be less naive. Muttontown is more than twice the size of Stillwell, a fact that surprised me when I read that the Muttontown Preserve has 550 acres of grounds.

As I inspected my badly scraped knee and the various scratches on my body that came from bushwhacking through trees and brush, I realized how lucky I am to have a choice of interesting and challenging trail areas less than ten minutes from my home. My wife looked at my knee yesterday as I changed out of my running clothes and said it looked awful. She then looked at my face and said "You really think this is great don't you? You're grinning like a big kid." My wife was correct, of course. I was thrilled by the workout (I covered about 4 miles yesterday) so I'm progressing well for my March 7th trail race. I'm looking forward to this race and I'm really excited about a delivery we'll be getting in the next few weeks. More on that later!

Great adventure on the Muttontown Mystery Trail

 Warning: Long post!

It was truly an adventure on the trails this morning. In a little more than an hour I managed to take a header into frozen rutted mud, lose the trail at least a half dozen times, get trapped multiple times in thorny brush and trees and scale a barbed wire topped fence. It was great fun except where it was no fun at all.  I'll start from the beginning.

It was 17 degrees early in the day but Weather.com showed that the temperature would begin to rise by mid-morning. I decided that I'd wait until after 9:00 AM, when the Muttontown Preserve opens, and go for an easy trail run. I eagerly anticipated this run because I was zero-for-two in terms of successfully getting into the place. The first time I simply couldn't find the entrance and the second time I was there too early. Today it was easy getting in. The gates were up and the parking lot was empty.

The trail head is inviting and the trail out looked perfect for a scenic and pleasant run. I took off along this wide path and rounded a few lefts and rights. The elevation was slowly rising but I was fresh and I figured I may out-and-back the trail so I'd have some nice downhills to enjoy on my way back. Soon the track narrowed and I encountered some icy snow covered patches. I had on my NB trail shoes which can handle some technical terrain but the trail had frozen and rutted making it hard to find many flat spots to land on.

I was worrying about turning an ankle when, at around the 1 mile mark, I caught a root and flew forward, landing on my left knee and wrist. I decided to double back to a section of the trail that branched off about a quarter mile before this point. The branching trail seemed better groomed and I was looking to avoid a repeat of my fall.

As I made my way there I stopped to take a couple of pictures some fallen trees that had caught my eye.  One was covered with whorling branches that gave it a view from the front like a wheel hub and spoke.

There were two other trees that had fallen in opposite directions, their roots and trunks prominently displayed, that opened enough room for the path. I wondered if the trees were felled to allow passage along the trail (unlikely) but I'm curious what it looked like when those trees were still standing.

I eventually made my way to the southern end and though there was lots to see and very different terrain to explore I did not see the relics of old mansions that made this the "Mystery Trail." I used my iPhone compass to help reorient me north but I found so many switchbacks I didn't know what to follow. Worse than that, some trails seemed to close up until they disappeared so I needed to bushwhack my way over to new trails when I could find them. Eventually, with further help from my compass and the direction of the sun I was able to head north on a clear trail. I even passed by the remains of an old mansion but didn't stop to explore because it was getting late and I wanted to finish the run by 11:00 AM.

The north trail terminated at a point where I needed to take a perpendicular trail either east or west. I guessed west and was rewarded to see it bend north so I stayed on course. This happened two more times. I eventually reached the most northern point in the Preserve but I needed to make my way west to the exit point. Easier said than done. There were chain link fences with barbed wire tops that obstructed me from getting out in any easy way. I bushwhacked my way west until I got trapped between a fence and a shallow frozen river but at that point I could see the building that sits next to the trail head.

I tried to find my way past the fence but the tree growth was becoming more dense. There were lots of branches on the ground and thorny branches snagging my clothes as I attempted to find a break along the fence. I was standing twenty feet from my car that I could see through the chain link fence but I had no easy way to get there. I decided to make my way south instead. I figured the fence would eventually end or I'd come to an open gate (after all, how did I end up on the other side?). Before I found that I saw a section of the fence that was bent down at the top with the barbs facing frontwards instead of straight up. Helping that were some logs and branches piled along the fence and I decided to climb up and jump off to get back inside the Preserve. The drop was about four feet and I was careful to avoid landing hard on my recently bruised knee. I landed well but my running mitten got snagged on the top of the fence and came off. I was able to reach up and snag it back. I was very happy to run the last quarter mile back to my car.

It was quite an adventure and now I know some of the mysteries of the Muttontown Trails. I'd like to run it again but I think I'll do it with a more user friendly compass and perhaps a running companion to give me a boost over the fence because I know I'll eventually get us lost.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it's probably a duck

Despite a relatively busy schedule on Friday I was bound and determined to make the trek to JackRabbit in Union Square at lunchtime. A friend of mine, who is looking for a new pair of shoes for an upcoming marathon, was planning to join me. He was working on a close deadline so he couldn't go. I decided to go anyway and hopped on the F train for the quick trip downtown. I was greeted by the sales staff and mentioned that the Brook's customer service people told me Brooks had sent a shipment of Green Silence shoes to the store. They said that was true but unfortunately the shipment had not yet arrived. They were as curious about the shoe as I was but they set my expectation that it wasn't likely to be a shoe that I would use as a daily trainer.

The Jackrabbit people are the real deal. They understand running and running shoes and we quickly moved to the subject of mid-foot striking. Mark, one of the managers, told me that he was working to transition to that style and he suggested that I try the Brooks Ravenna. This shoe replaces the Axiom and is lighter than the Adrenalin GTS 10. The Ravenna also lacks some of the stability controls of the GTS 10 so it's more of a light trainer. I tried on a pair and they felt good but, understandably, they were not as plush as the new Adrenalins. After that Mark had me try on a pair of neutral cushioned shoes (ASICS Cumulus) and put me on the treadmill to see if I pronated. The reason for using a neutral shoe is to negate any gait correction. Mark captured me on video and much to my surprise I saw that I'm still heel striking (though Mark said I move very quickly off to the toe) and that I pronate to the point where my gait is indistinguishable from that of the AFLAC duck. I clearly need stability shoes so I'm debating whether to just get the GTS 10s or buy the Ravennas which will be a better choice for mid-foot running. I'm coming back next Friday and Mark said he'd put me in some Mizunos and Saucony shoes to compare with the Brooks.

This morning my friend KWL stopped by to pick up some computer gear. We'd planned a run but were concerned about the foot-plus of snow that was predicted by morning. When he arrived there was no snow  whatsoever so we headed out and covered three miles in around 27 minutes. It was a faster pace than I've been running, helped along by KWL's energy. He reminded me a little of how it was to run with AG who was always a slight step ahead  - like a greyhound on a tether. It was a great run and great fun to have a buddy to talk to along the way. It certainly made the time go by fast. We're getting snow now so I'll see what conditions are like by tomorrow morning. I'm prepared to use my snow treads if I have to. That could be kinda fun.

I fear the worst for my treadmill

I started the day with an unremarkable 21 minute treadmill run. In the morning time seems elastic. The time I take to pour coffee and prepare for my run goes by very quickly. Each time I glance at the clock it seems like another minute or two has passed and I see my very short window for exercise slipping away. Once on the treadmill time seems to stand still. I have a television on in the room for distraction but it's of limited benefit because the treadmill motor drowns out the sound. I'll often run for a while while thinking about things before I steal a glance at the clock only to see that I'm on the same minute as the last time I looked. Back when I was focusing on my speed this would be very discouraging because it meant hard effort without apparent progress. At least now, as I maintain a more moderate pace for my recovery, it's more about boredom than pain.

As I stepped out of my post-run shower this morning I heard my wife on the treadmill in the guest room. Nothing unusual about that except the noise emanating from the treadmill sounded like a helicopter that was attempting to land on the house. I couldn't understand why this was happening. I had just used the machine and it behaved the same as it had over the last 12 years. That could be the problem - 12 years is a long time for a treadmill, especially one that's been used daily (often twice daily) for over a decade. But every problem is also an opportunity and I can now feel good about replacing this venerable machine with something more modern and high-tech.

We're supposed to get some measurable snow overnight tonight so I'm concerned that I'll be constrained to indoor running. If the treadmill goes down completely I'll be forced to trade my weekend running time for the elliptical. I did buy some snow treads for my running shoes so it may be an opportunity to try them out. See? Every problem has an opportunity, you just need to look for it.

I'm proving that running beats pneumonia

I couldn't believe what I was hearing from my doctor. I had just gone through 30 minutes of tests with the respiratory therapist and my results were in my doctor's hand. "Your lung capacity is back in the normal range. When you came in on January 4 you were only at 50%. You're getting close to a full recovery. The running and exercise are helping. Keep doing that and steadily increase your distances as you see fit." I didn't tell him that I'd signed up for a grueling trail race that's less than a month away. I know enough to keep my mouth shut once I've made the sale.

Despite the encouraging words from my pulmonologist it wasn't all good news. Almost all traces of pneumonia are gone from my lungs but there's still some residual infection. My breathing capacity is far improved but I'm slightly below normal in terms of breathing efficiency, another metric they they use to gauge progress. I was assured that if I maintain the current recovery path the efficiency number will soon rise.

I took on the elliptical this morning thinking it would be an easier alternative to a treadmill run. From the start it felt hard. The effort required to maintain my usual pace, even at a lower level of resistance, was surprisingly high. Despite my recent respiratory problems my breathing has been rock solid since I started running again. However, this morning it took over five minutes to fall into a comfortable aerobic rhythm. I did a total of 25 minutes and stepped off the machine feeling like I'd run the equivalent time at a fast pace. My wife suggested that all the testing I did last night took more out of me than I'd realized. I'll buy that explanation. Back to the treadmill tomorrow and back to the headlamp and the road at 4AM (next week) if it feels right.

Running off the grid

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend CK. He's one of my running mentors, a terrific guy who has been at it for decades. CK asked me about my post-pneumonia running progress and I filled him in. I asked him what he thought about the big "mid-foot/barefoot/heel striking" debate that's going on now but he just gave me a bemused look and said that he doesn't pay attention to any of that. CK said, "I just run."

I've discovered that every runner has his or her own way of engaging with the sport. Some are into the performance aspects and some are completely focused on the experience of running. I'm probably somewhere in the middle. CK is a high performing runner who regularly beats all the neighborhood twenty-somethings in his town's annual Turkey Trot. He doesn't own a Garmin watch, a Nike+ device or anything else that tracks and records the various running metrics. When he bought some new running shoes I wanted to hear every detail. He couldn't even tell me which ones he bought (turns out they were NB 1225's). CK just runs fast. He sometimes carries a stopwatch but that's about it.

I have my two-week follow-up with my doctor tonight so I've kept things low key this week in terms of exercise. I decided to spend about 20 minutes or so running on the treadmill this morning since I've rested for the past two days. I really wanted to make sure that I kept to a moderate pace so, inspired by my talk with CK, I left my foot pod on the side table and ran for 22 minutes without recording distance, pace, cadence or heart rate. I felt no pressure to maintain a brisk pace and that helped me to limit how far I set the speed control on the treadmill. I started things out very easy but stepped it up after a few minutes. I stayed below the 6/7 MPH range and focused on mid-foot landing and higher cadence. I increased the speed for the last four minutes but didn't push it to the point of discomfort. It felt like a workout and without the metrics I had no regrets about whether I ran fast or far enough. This doesn't mean I'm done with recording my workouts. It just means that sometimes knowing less helps you more.

The great mid-foot debate continues

After being told by the salesperson at City Sports that the store wasn't planning to carry the Brooks Green Silence shoe I contacted Brooks to find out where I could find it in NYC. The Green Silence is supposedly in stores this week and I'm curious to try it. With its low heel-to-toe offset and lighter weight I'm curious to see if it's the shoe for me as I adapt to a mid-foot/front foot running style. Brooks told me that Jackrabbit's in Union Square got a shipment so I plan to get down there this week if I can. This new shoe may not be ideal for me, after all it's a light trainer/racer, and it may be too minimal in terms of comfort. After all the anticipation for its launch I need to see for myself.

The current issue of Trail Runner has an article that posits both sides of the heel vs. front foot argument. They offer the fact that a study of elite runners in the 2004 Sapporo Olympics showed that 75% of these athletes land first on their heels when they run. To quote from the article, "There's no [scientific] evidence that heel strikers are injured more, no evidence that mid-foot runners are faster..." The article goes on to recommend that runners should do what feels right. They suggest that if adopting a front foot style is awkward it's probably better to run on your heels. The article did recommend some shoes specifically for mid-foot running: most inov-8 models, Newtons, NB 100s and 840s (The "ChiRunning" shoe) and the La Sportiva Skylite. Remember that this magazine covers trail running which explains why trail shoes are included in this recommendation.

I didn't run this morning because I felt like rest would do more good than exercise. I'm seeing my pulmonologist tomorrow and I don't want to overdo it lest he order me to stop running. I'll get back to it on Thursday after three days rest. I miss the experience but I know rest is the right thing for me this week.

Do running supplements actually do anything?

I mentioned in Saturdays post about visiting a health fair and sampling some food made with Chia seeds. Yesterday I was at Fairway and bought three types of coconut water to use for post-run hydration because it's been highly touted for that purpose. I have tried various foods and drinks that supposedly aid recovery from workouts or provide foundational nutrients that we may lack in our daily diets. I don't experiment with herbal remedies or energy drinks that contain dangerous ingredients like taurine or kava. I want to believe that fish oil and CoQ-10 really do provide a benefit but I really don't know how to tell. The cost for a bottle of these supplements can reach $50 or more and it may be worth it. Or maybe not.

Unlike medicines - like Ibuprofen or Sudafed - that quickly and consistently demonstrate their effectiveness, I really can't tell whether the green tea I drink is actively hunting down oxidants. I take a daily multivitamin and I don't get sick too often (save for when I get so sick that I'm hospitalized). Do my daily Centrum tabs give me the tools to fend off insidious colds and viruses? After 20 years of daily use I'd say they do help. Then again, I eat much better than I did in 1990 so I might now be getting everything I need from my food and the vitamins are superfluous. I experimented with FRS, a well-reviewed energy drink that is supposedly effective against free radicals. I used it as a recovery drink and it tasted fine but I wondered if the benefits of FRS at $2.00 a can was giving me anything more than an equivalent $0.30 mixture of water and pomegranate juice.

The price of the Chia-based food products I tried at the health fair was surprisingly high. A box of energy bars was close to $40. The Chia in these products is whole-seed which apparently does not provide any Omega-3 benefits. For $40 I expect to get everything. A small bottle of Chia capsules at Fairway was $36.99. Why? Are Chia seeds so rare that the market price is that high? If I bought that bottle and took the capsules daily would I feel better or more energized? Would my LDL and Triglycerides go down and my HDL go up? Would I be able to run longer and recover faster? I wish it was as clear as the cause-and-effect of taking an Advil at the first sign of a headache. It may not be especially good for you but it's sure worth the money.

Will I be ready to tackle The Stillwell XTERRA race?

I debated taking a rest day today after realizing I've run or elliptical-ed every day since last Wednesday. The workouts themselves have not been especially difficult but I am still rebuilding my strength and endurance daily. The process of recovery draws a fragile line between making modest gains and undermining progress through pushing just a little too hard. I'm happy with my progress and I'm okay with my relatively slow paces because I'm seeing that this program is working. I can definitely see myself returning to pre-January performance levels within the next month or two. This morning I made a decision that will test my recovery plan and I am happy for the challenge.

I was reading TrailRunner magazine and saw, in a letter to the editor, a mention of the website Eastern Trail Racing. It's a website devoted to east coast trail racing and I looked through the listings and discovered an upcoming race at Stillwell Woods. The information was on a website called triandduit.com that has lots of information about the LI XTERRA trail run series. I signed up immediately and looked at the course map that covers a good part of Stillwell Woods. 4.75 miles over some of the toughest technical trails on Long Island. I sure hope I'm ready.

If the race was held today I would be staying home, my conditioning has a ways to go before I can tackle that distance under those conditions. My wife encouraged me to do today's run at Stillwell and I initially planned to run four loops around the field that would total about 3.4 miles. I took off feeling good, the 27 degree weather was no match for my layers of running clothes. The trail was a mix of frozen mud, icy snow and soft packed dirt. My Helly Hansen Trail Lizards gobbled up the terrain without complaint and the conditions were good until the loop cut north and wind hit head on. I felt fine running but I was aware of some increasing fatigue and while I could have pushed it I resisted the temptation and kept it to a couple of loops plus a short detour into the wooded paths to remind myself of what Stillwell is really all about. In all I only covered 2.25 miles in around 23 minutes. It wasn't what I'd wanted but it was exactly what I needed.

A good run despite the cold

The temperature has been holding steady below 20 degrees despite the prediction on weather.com that it would warm to 25 degrees by early afternoon. It was closer to 10 than 20 when I got up at 5:30 AM so I decided to wait until later to run. Our local high school had a Wellness Fair this morning and we headed over there. I was impressed by the number of companies and exhibits, most of them focusing on nutrition, safety,  medical care and mind-body activities. There were lots of yoga places, acupuncturists, orthodontists and karate schools but only one place - a local athletic shoe store - that had anything related to running. I did spend time talking with a person who sold chia-based energy products such as energy bars and snack mixes. I tried a couple of samples of chia energy bars which tasted okay. Chia was mentioned in "Born to Run" as a staple of the diet of the Tarahumara people who ascribed great benefits to the seed included heightened strength and energy. Before all this the only use we had for chia seeds was to grow vegetation on Chia Pets.

After lunch we stopped in at TJ Max, a great place for finding good sports apparel at bargain prices. I bought a Layer 8 thermal wicking zip top for less than $14, a New Balance long sleeved technical shirt for $7.99, a warm wicking winter hat for $8.00 and three pair of Keen Merino wool socks for $3.00 a pair. I also bought a pair of over-the-shoe traction devices (like YakTrax) for almost nothing. I couldn't wait to try it all out.

By 3:00 it was obvious that it wasn't getting any warmer so I set out into the cold with most of my new gear. Despite the cold I was doing well with three layers of tech shirts plus the thermal zip. Below I had a pair of compression shorts (a previous Layer 8 bargain from TJ Max) and over that my long Champion compression pants. I decided to run about 30 minutes, slowly, so I mapped out a route in my head and followed that path. The wind was blowing hard and I was grateful to reach a point where I could change direction. I had no problems running and I tried to focus on front foot landing. I did start to cramp up at the 5 minute mark but I promised myself that I'd eat a banana when I got back to restore my potassium levels. Eventually the cramping passed and I wound my way through the neighborhood, covering a total of 2.88 at 10:11/mile. When I checked my Garmin I saw that the footpod battery must have died midway through the run so I Gmaped my distance to calculate my pace against elapsed time.

Overall I was happy with the run. I wished I'd covered more ground in the time I ran but I did want to keep it slow to aid my recovery. I purposely avoided some side streets that would have added time because I knew pushing too hard would be trouble. My stamina seems to be pretty good overall. Tomorrow I'll go out again. I'd love to see it warm up so I can hit the trails once again.

Indoor running occasionally makes sense

So far, the toughest part of my morning was not from running on the treadmill but from standing on the platform at the train station. The super-chilled wind buffeted me and made me seriously consider going back to using contact lenses in the winter. The winds were hitting me straight on so the contact between my glasses and my face became pure torture. I was wishing I had my balaclava that I occasionally wear on the coldest and windiest running days. With this weather there's a big difference in tolerance depending on if you are stationary or in motion where your body can become a mini-furnace. I was looking at my posts from a year ago where I mentioned more than once about going out freezing and coming back hot, even when temperatures and wind-chills were in the low teens.

Running indoors is much warmer and I'm glad I followed through with another treadmill run this morning. In keeping with my recovery plan I took it fairly easy and covered about 2.25 miles at a moderate pace. So much of what I'm reading in ChiRunning and in online articles debate the "No pain, no gain" point of view. I far prefer the view that you can build endurance and improve performance by pushing to, and not past, your limits. My return to the treadmill has been fairly positive because I've taken the approach that time spent running (and not increasing my speed) is my primary goal. The trick is getting to the point where an 8:30 pace feels as easy as a 10:30 pace. I think it can be done but I have a ways to go in my recovery.

I'm hoping to hit the trails and report on that experience over the weekend. As long as I'm only dealing with cold and not snow I should be good to go.