Last run before the Cow

Today's run (street): 5 miles

Training is over and now it's time to rest. Everyone has their own way of finishing a taper and mine is to put two full days between my last workout and race day. Some people I know don't even take a rest day before a 5K. I learned my lesson a few years ago that running close to race day doesn't yield a benefit. But pushing too much will definitely hurt you.

Today's run was an easy semi-base run done a minute slower than targeted race pace. I had a deadline to meet in the morning and didn't get outside until after 10:00, so I had more warming sun than usual. At that pace, it didn't matter. Aside from running face first into an overhanging branch that looked like it should have easily given way, it was a pleasurable experience. I felt a little guilty for not pushing my speed, but there was no upside to doing that.

I didn't use GPS to track my performance because I didn't want to be conscious of my pace while I ran. I didn't Gmap the route until an hour later and was hard pressed to remember all the streets I covered on my route. I did finally figure it out, and it was interesting to see the distance. I checked my time and saw that I'd met my targeted pace to the exact second.

I got a note that Cow Harbor online registration ends tonight and the site shows that over 5,000 people have already signed up. Participation is capped at 5,600 runners. Between now and 8:30 AM on Saturday, I'll be thinking about this race and its unique challenges, along with the experience of being joined by thousands of runners and tens of thousands of spectators in Northport. I look forward to seeing my friends and I can't wait to cross that finish line once again.

Technology saves an operational goof

XML salvation

Today's run (street): 4.25 miles

I did the unthinkable after finishing my run today and failed to properly stop my Garmin. While I happily traced the driveway on my cool down walk, my Garmin continued to count the seconds, obscuring the actual time I'd finished. By the time I discovered my error, at least a couple of minutes had gone by, so my calculated pace was way off.

I really envy people who tell me they run without a watch or track their performance in any way. I think about how liberating it would be to run without regard to time. Unfortunately, I've never been able to do that. On the plus side, I've compiled an online record of every run that I've done over the last five years. Despite my failure to operate my watch today, I was able to reverse engineer my finish time by reading the XML output file.

The run itself was nothing special, 4.25 miles at around 9:30 a mile. The weather was downright chilly, low 50's with strong winds coming from the northeast. When I wasn't heading directly into the wind, it was extremely pleasant. I had considered doing either a long easy run or a short, faster run and I ended up doing something in the middle. I'm not sure what today's run accomplished or what I'll do tomorrow. But Wednesday's run will be the last one I do before Cow Harbor. I hope that one counts.

Tracking well through the taper

4 minutes of intensity

Today's run (track): 3.1 miles - 1 mile warm up, 10 x 100m, 1.6 mile recovery

Nothing like 52° weather to make speed work bearable. I went to the track early this morning to run intervals, but I didn't decide on my workout until I got there. I started with a mile warm up and followed that with 10 x 100 meter repeats. I finished with six more laps around the track, three at an easy pace and the last three somewhat faster.

Overall, it was a decent workout and I managed to run my 100 meter splits at 6:50 while maintaining a heart rate around 80% of max. I would have like to see better paces after the repeats, since my leg muscles were theoretically "activated." Residual fatigue was the likely culprit and my overall pace for the full distance run was 8:58.

Tomorrow will be a busy day in the city for me and I'll forgo my workout, since Mondays are my usual rest day. I'm thinking I'll do one more easy base run, one more short fast run and then rest. I had two good race-oriented workouts this weekend with acceptable results. I'm not sure I pushed as hard as I could either day but I didn't want to invite injury less than a week before the race.

Running the hills on Sunnyside Boulevard

The ups and downs of hill training

Today's run (street): 5.3 miles

There's a time every day when runners have to face up to their workout. You know you're going to do it, but until you do, it remains unresolved. My plans for running this weekend were set: hill and speed practice, but I wasn't sure what I'd do on either day. My wife was already finishing up her treadmill run this morning when I decided to take on the challenge of the last section of the Greenbelt bike trail. A few miles running up and down the hills on Sunnyside Boulevard would be good preparation for James Street and Waterside Ave next week.

After a mile on relatively flat roads, I reached the start of the bike path. Soon enough, the road began to rise. The temperature was 57 degrees and humidity was a moderate 67%, so the level of effort felt manageable. The span of Sunnyside becomes steeper as you go south, and I kept a watch on my Garmin to see how it affected my heart rate. I managed to keep it between 80 and 86% of max for the climbs, even after two cycles.

I would have liked to follow the trail further, to the point where it parallels the LIE access road. It's there that the path undulates into a series of difficult, but useful hills. I didn't feel like negotiating the traffic to get across Sunnyside today, and I was concerned that doing too much might wear me out. I think the workout and the distance I covered today were just what I needed.

I'm going to focus on speed tomorrow and I'll probably head over to the high school track in the morning to run intervals. After that, it's more about cross training, core and at least two day's break from running. I may do a final base run on Wednesday, but if I do, it will be at an easy pace. Cow Harbor is less than a week away. I'm hoping for weather as good as today's.

Controlled conditions can't control humidity

Yesterday's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles 

One syllable sums up yesterday's run - ugh. I've been focused on a project this week, and days of intense viewing on my laptop created fatigue that was exacerbated by yesterday's brutal humidity. By the time I was ready to run, it was too hot and humid to be outside. I figured I'd do better in the controlled conditions of my workout room. That wasn't quite true.

I set the CAC to 76 degrees, cranked up the floor fan to high and turned on the puny treadmill fan. My plan to start fast was a miscalculation. After a mile run at 6.7 MPH, my heart rate was approaching 90% of Max. I dialed back my speed and, even at 6 MPH, I was sitting at 80% Max. I slowed down even further, until things came more into line. I eventually worked my speed back through the last mile, but by the time I reached my targeted distance, I felt exhausted.

I was glad to get my workout done, but with the relentless humidity, I may have pushed too hard. I felt worn out the rest of the day. Conditions are less humid today, but I'm going to run easy to prevent a recurrence of that fatigue. I'll do my last race training over the weekend and will then start my taper and rest during the week. I hope I still have some speed left in my legs.

9/11 weekday run

 

Today's run (street): 3.1 miles

I've been off the blogging grid for the past two days, and most of today, because I've been consumed with a work project. After taking my usual Monday rest day and Tuesday as another recovery day, I was back on the street this morning. I wasn't psyched to go out at 8:00 AM, as the news was reporting 78 degrees and a dew point of 71.

I tried to set a strong pace but, felt frustrated with my turnover. The good news was, despite the hot and humid conditions, I wasn't tempted to tone down the effort. At around the one mile mark, I recalled that today was September 11. Except for when it fell on the weekend, this was the first time I didn't need to commute into the city on that day. It always made me nervous to be in Penn Station on 9/11.

20 minutes into the run, I was looking forward to finishing up. Still, I kept up the effort and wondered if it would translate into a credible time. My heart rate indicated that I was holding about 80% of MAX, so even if I wasn't moving very fast, I was trying. I ended up averaging 9:14 a mile. Given the weather, that was more than satisfactory. It was good to be back on the road, but I'm really looking forward to the fall weather.

Arduous base run and an impromptu trail

Lots of cross country teams on the trails today

Today's run (Bethpage bike and dirt trail): 6.1 miles

Tough run today. I went to Bethpage to get in some base miles and a little hill practice. From the start, my level of energy told me that this would not be a high performance workout. My intention was to make it a variable run: 20 minute easy warm up, 20 minute tempo and a moderate pace to the finish. I even intended to cap the workout with a couple of runs up the big long hill at the start of the older bike trail.

As I made my way the hill leading to the north trail entrance, I knew that I'd be hard pressed to manage the planned tempo. I felt a buildup of excessive lactic acid in my leg muscles and I tried to keep my form correct. I hoped that my stride would soon loosen up. I picked up the pace around mile one, where the biggest downhill section starts. I gained more speed down the hill, but soon encountered the two uphill sections that come just before the Haypath crossing.

Once I got to the other side, I made a split second decision to duck into the woods and follow the dirt trail that runs roughly parallel to the paved trail. I was surprised by the number of twists I encountered along this path. It went on much longer than I thought it might. As expected, the dirt trail terminated at a point on the paved trail, just south of Old Bethpage Rd.

The run in the shady woods invigorated me, and I ran the last of my northern route to Old Country Road. Instead of crossing the street to continue on the bike trail, I followed the sidewalk south about a few tenths of a mile before turning back toward the paved path. At the point, my energy level had dropped to the point where I struggled to maintain speed. I decided to dismiss the plan to do hill repeats at the end of the run.

Th only thing left to deal with were the three consecutive hills that come a mile north of the trail head. I locked in a cadence, shortened my steps and made it through the first one, and was grateful for the slight slope that comes before the next one came. I knew I was less than a mile from the end, so I maintained the fastest pace I could until I reached the end.

Today's run felt far harder than the 7+ miler I did last weekend or yesterday's hilly workout. I suspect that today's difficulty was driven by too much hard effort over the prior six days. I've decided to take both Monday and Tuesday off from running this week to help me recover a little. I'll probably do another core session on one of those days and/or some upper body exercises. I didn't love the run today, but I'm glad I put in the miles.

Can you really improve your running speed?

Looping the loop

Today's run (Business Park): 4.8 miles

I'm beginning to wonder how much one can actually do to optimize running speed. When I first started running, I was averaging 12 minute miles over the first full month. Two months later, I was breaking 10 minutes a mile. When I completed my first full year, I was averaging 9:15 per mile, with occasional dips below 9:00 on shorter distance runs.

Four years later, despite holding consistently to a six day running schedule, I'm still averaging about those same paces. The good news is that I've managed to keep my performance at the same level. The bad news is that it now takes a lot more effort to do that. My goal has always been to average below 9:00 a mile and I'm wondering if I'll ever get there.

As I focus on speed, I'm realizing how difficult it will be to get to my targeted pace. After taking a break from performance to run the trails on Friday, I headed over to the local business park to run the big loop. This route provides a lot of elevation gain and loss (+/- 1,040 feet), which I thought would be helpful training for Cow Harbor.

The temperature was 59 degrees when I went out 8:00 AM, and that provided great conditions for taking on the hills. I did two laps around the park before ducking into an adjacent neighborhood for another mile. With the great weather, I was surprised to see only two other runners out this morning. One woman was circling the park counter-clockwise while I ran it the other way. She was running with traffic and we passed closely. I wonder if these people ever connect the reason why I run on the left with safety. I'm guessing they don't.

I made it back home in time to make an early obligation. When I mapped my run, I saw that I'd averaged 9:27 a mile. Despite my focus on speed, my performance is still lagging on longer runs. Tomorrow, I'm planning on doing a fairly long tempo run, followed by hill repeats. Only one more weekend after this to train for Cow Harbor before I taper. I'm doing the best I can to prepare, but there may not be much more performance to gain.

Freedom of speech and on the trail

Into the woods

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 3.5 miles

Those of you who also have running blogs know that the easier you make it for people to comment, the more you'll find people who'll take advantage of that access. Over the years I've changed the criteria for submitting comments. Now I allow anyone to post, because I just don't want to leave anyone out. As a result, I have to clean out a bunch of spam comments every day. But it's a small price to pay for freedom of speech!

This morning I decided that I needed to take my performance focus down a notch, so I headed over to Stillwell for an easy trail run. It was dry, cool and sunny and the trails were in great shape. A mile or so into the run, I realized how strong I felt. Stillwell tends to beat me up badly, and this was evidence that my conditioning has improved.

Besides a couple of mountain bikers and woman walking her dog, the trails were empty. I loved the feeling of running well and having the woods pretty much all to myself. There's usually a point in almost every run when you begin to feel the work. You start thinking about how much longer or farther you have to go. Today was different in the best of ways. Tomorrow it's back to road, the hills and the miles.

Stalling for time, but getting it done

Well, I did finally run

Today's run (Street): 3.9 miles

For no good reason, I just couldn't get myself out the door this morning. I finally did, but it wasn't for lack of stalling. I knew that every minute I spent taking care of "just one more thing", it was getting warmer outside. And yet I found plenty of distractions that kept me from starting my run before 11:00 AM.

We had a family dinner last night and got home late, but I still got up fairly early. I got right into  work and that delayed me from focusing on my run plan. I usually prepare my gear while my wife starts her treadmill run, and get back home around the time she's finishing up. I knew I was in trouble when I heard the treadmill's motor slowing for her cool-down while I wasted more time. At that point, I considered taking a rest day. Somehow, I found myself getting dressed for a run.

The run itself felt a little harder than yesterday's, and I wondered if I should allow myself a break with an easy recovery run. But I was committed to the tougher option, so I focused once again on my speed. I mixed up my route and even added an extra half mile to get closer to four miles today. In the end, I did good, but not great. The important thing is that I ended up getting the run in. Even if it took a while to get out the door.

Just me and the road, and the cars, and the buses

My worst nightmare

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles

After three consecutive indoor workouts, I was finally able to get outside today, and it was beautiful. The sun was bright and the temperature was cool. While I waited for the Garmin to acquire a signal, I noticed a breeze that actually made it feel cold in the shade. I knew once I got started that any feelings of being cold would disappear, but it was nice to start out that way. 

Due to a scheduled call, I had to get my run done in a certain amount of time. I could have gone out earlier, but we live close to both an elementary and a middle school and I didn't wish to compete with all the buses. By the time I hit the streets, a few buses still remained, but car traffic had picked up. You can't win, but you can run on the sidewalk. I ended up yelling at a guy who rolled through a stop sign as I approached the intersection. To his credit, he sheepishly said "sorry."

I continued my focus on speed and moved along, although I was having some trouble with my form. I didn't feel like I was getting good turnover and I was concerned that I'd end up with a disappointing time. Still, I knew that I was making the effort. Most of the time, that will yield a satisfying result.

I ended up averaging 9:05, which surprised me in a good way, because I expected I'd be about 15 seconds slower per mile. My speed described a bell shaped curve, with the first and last half miles being the fastest. So far my training strategy is working, but I still haven't put fast and long into the same run.

Heat, treadmill and potassium

Electro-like

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

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

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

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

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