Distant thoughts

I'm back to the office today after being away for almost four days. It felt like a mini vacation as we said goodbye to summer. We put away the pool furniture and the kids did their final preparations for returning to classes today. Over the Labor Day weekend I covered 19 miles, the longest distance I've run within 48 hours. When you begin to accumulate distance you start to notice the amount of time it requires. Covering 19 miles took me three hours, plus prep and recovery time. I now wonder how people who train for marathons manage to fit in all the long runs necessary for training. Despite the time it took cover my distance I was pleased by the way I recovered from each subsequent run. No next day aches and pain even though I was running two or three times the length of a normal morning workout.

Running five times a week, averaging 4 miles per run, has been a good formula for building an aerobic base and for keeping me in decent shape. I know now that these shorter runs have prevented me from suffering the injuries that often befall  higher mileage runners. I may have stepped into dangerous territory yesterday when I went for almost an hour wearing my minimalist Kinvaras to cap off my weekend of running. A twinge of heel pain revealed how unready I was to cover so much ground, especially when wearing shoes that provided so little impact protection. It was in that moment that I fully appreciated the statistic that 66% of runners suffered a related injury in 2009. I had thought I was somehow immune to common injuries and that my running style or my shoes would prevent them. My heel pain is almost gone today but it's not forgotten. I'm still going to focus on distance as I train for my next race but I'll be far more respectful of the problems that can come from higher mileage running.

Need some time for my heel to heal

Today's run (street): 5.52 miles at 9:38

Long weekends are always welcome, especially when the weather is as nice as it's been over the last three days. Today is Labor Day and, among other things, it signifies the spiritual end of summer and the emergence of fall. My kids return to school on Tuesday and they're ready for anything. I'm back to work tomorrow and looking forward to taking a rest day from running. Between Saturday morning and this morning I've covered over 19 miles and I fear I may have pushed a little too hard.

The running plan for the weekend was distance and I think I succeeded with that goal.  However, I may have injured the heel of my left foot this morning and I'm hoping that a day's rest (or even two if necessary) will be enough time to restore things to normal. My morning run started well with an easy loop along the service road that borders my neighborhood to the east before heading west and then south until I re-entered along the eastbound service road. I had no particular distance in mind but two miles went by very quickly so I thought I'd keep going for a while. I reached four miles still feeling fresh despite the 13+ miles I'd put in the previous day. Almost as soon as I checked my distance I felt a pain in the heel of my left foot that I hoped would pass quickly. I knew right away that this was more than a temporary jolt due to a misaligned landing and I thought about walking the rest of the way home, a distance of about 1.5 miles.

The pain remained but it got no worse so I maintained my route feeling surprisingly strong. With about half a mile left to go I experienced an interesting dichotomy -- my legs felt tied down with sandbags but my overall energy level was still very high. I forced my speed and picked up my cadence enough to attain my first negative split since mile 1. At the end I still felt fine and if not for concern for my heel I knew I could have gone on for a while. I iced my foot when I got in the house and wore my Brooks with a pair of Smartwool socks for the rest of the day's activities (today's run was in the Kinvaras).  My heel is feeling much better as a result but I'm going to watch it carefully and continue with ice and rest for the next day, at least. Overall I'm very pleased with my Labor Day weekend running and I think I've turned a corner on my stamina issue. This bodes well for the Great Cow Harbor 10K but I still need to do some speed work if I hope to reach my timing goal.

10K morning at Stillwell Woods

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 6.2 miles at 9:35

As soon as I got up I started debating my strategy for today's run -- go out long again or keep it short and treat it like a recovery run from yesterday's 7+ mile workout? I decided that length would still work if I ran on a softer surface like the Stillwell trails and maintained a moderate pace. Still, I didn't intend to run 6 miles, 4 to 5 was more my target, but conditions were perfect and I wasn't under any time pressure today. I wore my old ASICS 1130's that I've used mostly on the elliptical over the last year because I intended to keep away from the technical trails. The 1130's did fine over the root-y and rutty sections and it made me realize how well road shoes work on most trails (as long as you don't mind getting them dirty). Even during some close encounters with fast moving mountain bikers the shoes allowed me to agilely shift to the right without breaking stride.

I reached three miles faster than I expected and felt strong despite the longer distance that I covered on Saturday. Perhaps the spate of 6+ mile runs I've compiled over the last few weeks are contributing to my conditioning. It's all a matter of what you're used to. The Running Geek, who wrote a great review for Runner's Tech Review, considers 13 miles a short run. I still haven't broken ten and when I do, I know I'll feel it for days. I was rolling along through the woods, not looking at my Garmin, but noting the chirp it provides at every mile. For some reason I thought I was at 5 miles and working on 6 (and deciding whether to go for 7) when I glanced at my watch and it said 4.51 miles. Whoops,  delusions of grandeur. No matter, I still felt like I could go for a while longer and I continued on until I reached six miles and added another .2 as I ran out the trail, back to my car.

A perfect trail 10K on a cool and comfortable Sunday morning. I watched a men's soccer game while I re-hydrated and then headed home to shower. Next weekend BJS, Dave and I are going to do a practice run of the Great Cow Harbor course and this distance training should help me keep up with them. They've both run Cow Harbor at speeds faster than I expect to run but perhaps my recent conditioning will make me a little more competitive on race day.

Stung by Honey Stinger's energy gel

Today's run (street): 7.4 miles at 9:52

As planned, I went out for a long neighborhood run today with a target distance of at least 6 miles. I've only covered that much distance a handful of times over the summer but I know I need longer sessions to build more stamina. This morning's route included my primary neighborhood, the nearby business park and neighborhood #3.

Hurricane Earl turned out to be a non-event for us and the morning brought in some cool winds from the west. It was neither humid nor hot when I set out for my run and after thirty seconds on the road I could tell that yesterday's rest day prepared me well for today. I purposely kept a moderate pace and I lost about ten seconds per mile between miles 2 through 5. At the five mile point I pulled out a Honey Stinger gel pack that my friend KWL had given me after his 10K race a few weeks ago. I was curious to see if I'd see any benefit from this carb blast and judging by my pace over the last two miles of my run I think it did provide a small benefit. Despite that slight energy boost I found the gel to be problematic as it burned my throat going down. I managed to recover from the shock of that experience but six hours later I'm still coughing from the irritation.

I felt pretty good when I finally reached home and thought I still had a couple of slower miles left in me if I wanted to keep going. It was great to cover the distance but I do regret my experiment with the Honey Stinger gel. After running and showering we headed to NYC to see the Blue Man Group to cap off the kid's summer break. Back to school on Tuesday. But Labor Day provides an extra weekend day for me and I'm hoping to cover 6 or more miles at least once more before I return to the office on Tuesday.

Earl-y day

The weather is unsettled and so are my workout plans today. I decided last night to forgo a Friday morning run even if the skies were clear. For my upcoming race, I'm clearly better off doing more longer distance runs even if my run frequency drops to 4x per week (plus one day of cross training). I'll let the storm decide what I'll do today. I'm forgoing my usual Friday Central Park circuit but if conditions are favorable this afternoon I may go out for a long run nearer to home. If we are seeing driving rain and 30+ MPH winds I'll accept this as a rest day and use that recovery benefit tomorrow morning when I plan to go out for an hour or more.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about ways to facilitate longer runs. Routes that put me on a straight path for long periods seem to work better than those that force me to change course every quarter mile or so. You'd think it would be the opposite because change can help fight off boredom but those long straightaways provide an opportunity to "float" and focus on my surroundings. It would be great to live somewhere like Colorado, California or Oregon that enabled long runs that didn't intersect with traffic. The Bethpage bike path is really the only paved route around here that provides me the opportunity to just run straight ahead. for long distances. Belmont Lake State Park (home of the Dirty Sock 10K) also provides a fairly straight path and it has the extra appeal of being a dirt trail. I'm going to think about my options for longer distance runs over this weekend. Maybe I'll come up with something new to try.

One out of one doctors say running is good for your heart

Today's workout (elliptical): 25 minutes

I spent much of yesterday at doctor's offices. My appointments were routine (annual physical, etc.) but the process, especially the waiting, can be exhausting. I was glad I ran in the morning because the rest of the day was understandably sedentary. I asked my doctor about an article I'd recently read that said running could pose increased risk to the heart. I wasn't that concerned because the greater risks were with higher mileage, performance focused athletes. My doctor is a nationally ranked cardiologist and I trust his opinion over a newspaper columnist's.  He flatly dismissed the risk and said "running is the single best thing you can be doing for your health." That's good enough for me.

I followed my usual schedule this morning and did 25 minutes on the elliptical machine. It was hot and humid but I didn't mind it much today. I selected a higher than normal level of resistance and was able to maintain my usual pace even with wattage output close to 100 (vs my usual 80). I was well soaked when I stepped off the machine but I felt I'd worked as hard (or harder) as I do on my daily runs. It's nice to engage different muscles and to include my upper arms for a change. That's why I devote one day a week to the elliptical. I should probably use it more frequently but if the choice is between running and the elliptical machine it's rare that I'd choose the latter. I'm hoping to run tomorrow but we're hearing that Earl will come close to Long Island tomorrow and (hopefully) move well off shore by late Friday night. If conditions aren't good I may end up on the elliptical tomorrow after all.

Pre-hurricane run

Today's run (street): 4 miles at 9:20

I'm out of the office today and that allowed me a little more time to run this morning. We're back to seeing temperatures in the high 90's after a string of cooler days but, happily, it was still below 80 degrees when I went out at 7:00 AM this morning. If I had more time to run I would have liked to go out for 5 miles or longer. I'm hoping that the Labor Day long weekend will provide the opportunity for a few longer distance runs but hurricane Earl may get in the way of those plans.

My route around the neighborhood was similar to my daily course but I ran a little longer today and there was enough light to see without a headlamp. I saw many neighbors out walking or riding bikes and had to remind myself that it was the middle of the work week and not a Saturday morning. Although it was 77 degrees and rising, I didn't feel at all uncomfortable during my run.

I wore my Saucony Kinvaras as a change from the Brooks and I'm beginning to favor them over most of my other running shoes. Still, on runs greater than 6 miles, I'm concerned that the Kinvaras will provide enough protection for my feet. I'm still dealing with the effects of the Dirty Sock race from two weeks ago that left my feet swollen and the tip of my left-middle toe black. I've been primarily wearing the Brooks since then and that's helped my foot to recover. The Saucony's uppers are gossamer thin and the toe box has enough volume as not to create further problems on shorter runs like today's so I'm now rotating them with the Adrenalins.

I want to get in a few long runs between Friday and Monday but with the storms coming through I'm not sure that will be possible. I don't mind running in a little rain but I'm going to stay indoors if I see "Hurricane Warning"scroll across the bottom of my TV this week.

Okay soldier, give five happy baby poses!

Today's run (street): 2.7 miles at 9:38

Most mornings I wake up before my alarm goes off and that makes it easier to get up. The vestiges of sleep are already gone by the time I make my way down to the kitchen for my coffee and I'm already thinking about the route I'll run. Today I needed the alarm and as I poured my cup, my still-sleepy mind lobbied for just another rest day. The thought of returning to bed was tempting but I view ad hoc rest days warily. Too many of them could lead to a permanent change to my running schedule. It's a slippery slope. I just called on my favorite motivator, guilt, and was quickly out the door.

When I stepped outside I saw that conditions were good, with cooler air and low humidity. I'm not focused on speed right now so I felt no pressure to push my pace (and I didn't.) I did a variation to my normal route and that kept it interesting. At the two mile point I actually felt stronger than when I'd started and I took a slightly longer route to finish my run of 2.7 miles. The lengthy run on Saturday with 15 total miles over the weekend put me in a different state in terms getting through today's run. I found it easy to go on auto pilot and think about other things as I went along and this made today's run even more enjoyable. Tomorrow I am out of the office and I plan to run a little longer in the morning and build some more mileage.

There was an article in today's NY Times about the Army's new methods of training that involve less traditional exercise like sit ups and more yoga and Pilate's. It's not about the Army being more new age-y, it's a necessary change to accommodate the more out of shape recruits that are coming on board. The article also had this quote: “We haven’t eliminated running,” General Hertling said. “But it’s trying to get away from that being the only thing we do.”  I hope they don't continue in that direction. Yoga and Pilate's may be beneficial, but for a soldier, running is essential.

The incremental distance conundrum

I covered more than 20 miles last week, putting me about three miles ahead of my normal weekly total. The long run on Saturday accounted for almost a third of my week's distance and it really underscored the fact that while I run often, I usually don't run that far. I've concluded that the progress I've made on speed has not helped to increase my stamina. I really need to improve my endurance if I want to run well at my next race. Looking at my history on Garmin Connect I see that my average run length is about 3.5 miles but my median distance is slightly less than three. This is no surprise because many of my runs happen in the early morning hours when I hit the streets at 4:00 AM and have no more than 25 minutes to get in a run. Best case, were I to push my speed to 8:30 (a reasonably fast pace at 4AM) I would only cover 2.94 miles within that time. I do want to increase mileage and I think it will take some combination of the following:


- Earlier rising to get out sooner, providing more time to run.
- Sleeping in my running clothes to reduce amount of prep time before I run.
- Running faster.
- Giving up some post-run recovery time in favor of more run time.
- Running on my rest day (Monday).
- Running on my cross-training day (Thursday).
- Doing no less than 5 miles on my weekend runs.
- Focusing on adding a mile every week from my prior week's total.

I'm sure doing these things will help increase my weekly distance total but not every option is practical. In reality, it's not adding the incremental fractions of a mile that will make a difference, it's increasing the frequency and distance of my longer runs. My friend FS said that a focus on time running, rather than specific distance or speed, may be the key. That's good advice. I'm hoping to get three 50+ minute runs in this week. It's a start.

Running and sailing redux

The Emerging Runner runs along the pond at Eisenhower Park

Today's run (Eisenhower Park): 3.75 miles at 9:10

After putting in twelve miles of running between Friday noon and Saturday morning I went for the weekend trifecta with another run with my friend KWL. It's been an active couple of days. Besides my running, we spent a good part of yesterday at a waterfront festival in Sayville (where we met senator Chuck Schumer!) and the kids got another chance to sail KWL's RC boats this morning.

KWL and I got started early, first with a side trip so I could show him the trail head to Stillwell Woods, and then over to Eisenhower Park for our run. We'd both done a lot of running over the past two weeks and looked at today as a recovery run that we planned to do at an easy pace. We started off slowly but very soon defaulted to a faster pace. Our circuit included a few loops around the fields and finished with a couple of loops around the pond. On the last loop KWL picked up the pace and put some distance between us before he circled back and we finished our 34 minute run at the same time. The difference between us in the last lap was echoed in our overall pace: his, 8:50 and mine, 9:10. I was very pleased with today's run because it showed I could string together three runs at some length without any aches, pains or noticeable fatigue. Dave's advice about doing more distance runs is my strategy for now.

We finished the morning with more remote control sailing on the pond. My kids have become more adept on the controls which helped because there were a lot of other boats in close proximity on the water today. I know that I'll need to return my focus on speed at some point but for now I'm enjoying my training for the Great Cow Harbor 10K.

Two park runs: Central and Bethpage

Yesterday's run (Central Park): 3.6 miles at 9:07
Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 7.9 miles at 10:00 (approximately)

It had been over two weeks since I last ran in Central Park and I was looking forward to returning there on Friday. The temperatures in the morning were cool (60's) but as the noonday sun moved overhead the heat came out with strength. I started my run at the 7th Ave crossing on Central Park South and followed the lower loop, moving along well despite the heat and the hills. Along the way the trees provided occasional shelter from the sun and, as usual, the park provided a broad array of stimuli: sights, smells (good and bad) and sounds. Touch too, if you count the feel of the hilly roads under my feet. I was so distracted by the experience that I continued to follow the lower loop until I reached the western side where I redirected north along the upper loop. I continued around the great lawn and followed that north and then east where I switched to the upper loop going south. That series of maneuvers added almost half a mile to my usual route so I was pleased at the end with the extra distance.

This morning I met my friend Dave at Bethpage State Park with a plan to run seven miles on the bike path at a leisurely pace somewhere between 10:15-10:30. Dave's Garmin GPS watch and my Garmin FR60 with foot pod differed in terms of measurement. Mine showed us covering about .4 of a mile longer than his. I have a native distrust for GPS measurement of this type after measuring runs using AllSport, MotionX and other GPS apps on my iPhone. When the data from these runs is compared to the actual measurement (via Google Earth or Gmaps) the GPS usually under represents by a little (or often) by a lot. I can see on the MotionX maps why this is the case, the GPS works in straight line vectors that often cut corners that can add up to less distance. My Garmin has actually been under-counting when paired with my Brooks so we may have actually reached 8 miles today and broken 10:00. I wouldn't be surprised because even though we weren't burning up the road we were moving along well.

Unlike most of my runs at Bethpage, today the runners outnumbered the bikers, although there were a enough bikers to keep us alert when they came up quickly from behind. Dave ran on the inside lane and kindly took the brunt of the bike traffic. We are both running the Great Cow Harbor 10K next month and Dave provided some insight from his experience with that race. Between Dave and Brian I feel very fortunate to have so much prior knowledge of what promises to be a tough course. I'll see for myself in couple of weeks when I do a practice run there with Brian. At the end of today's run I felt very good and took to heart Dave's advice that the best way to increase my stamina is to put in more distance. Distance first, speed second. I hear that. Tomorrow I'll do less distance when I run with KWL. I've covered a lot of miles over the last few days and I need to be kind to my legs. I hope I have enough energy left for Sunday's run as keeping up with KWL can be a challenge. I'm hoping his 10K/100 mile bike ride last weekend will even us up in terms of energy levels.

Long runs and minimalist shoes

Today's run: Central Park (planned)

It's only been one day since I've run but two mornings in a row without a workout seems too long. Tomorrow's planned run will be relatively long but we'll be keeping the pace moderate. Today I'm going to Central Park to put in a few fast miles. The weather predictions are making me think it will be cooler and drier than my last CP run and I'm hoping that's the case. I'm not all that pleased to see the summer coming to a close but as a runner who prefers cooler conditions, I am looking forward to the fall.

I have my Brooks today but I may wear my Kinvaras tomorrow because I'm curious to see how they feel after seven miles. The longest run I've done with these shoes is 5.25 miles and I had no problems on that day. Adventure Girl ran a tough trail half marathon in Oregon earlier this month while wearing her Kinvaras. She liked them a lot, even over that long distance. Today on Runner's Tech Review we're posting an article from a runner who has been deployed in Iraq and has put many miles on a variety of minimalist running shoes. It's a great piece because his impressions are based on miles of running, not just the initial test findings you'd get from most shoe reviews.

Should be a good weekend of running starting today. Only 28 days to the Great Cow Harbor 10K so my focus is turning to distance and stamina.