Head tubes, trail running and pigs feet

Post-run at Stillwell

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 3 miles
Thursday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes

Another busy work week is over. I needed to go into the office for some important meetings on Friday and didn't get my usual run in that morning. I did fit in an elliptical session on Thursday. This morning our friend KWL came by to run and have lunch with us at Beijing House, a new and very authentic Chinese restaurant in our town. By authentic, I mean that many dishes featured tongue, tripe, intestines and pigs feet. We stuck mostly to vegetarian options.

In the buff

KWL generously brought gifts for us and the kids, including "head tubes" made by his sister Hetty. These cylinder-shaped items are similar to buffs that I've seen sold on running sites. You can use it as a hat or a thin balaclava, something I plan to do when I run in 20 degree temperatures. The material is soft and stretchy and I can tell it won't obstruct my breathing when I wear it across my face.

When KWL arrived, he was wearing running tights and a half zip, That prompted me to change out of my running shorts in favor of my Opedix. I later regretted that, because it got pretty hot by the time we were done. We ended up going over to Stillwell Woods to run among the throngs of mountain bikers who were there when we pulled in.

I had my Cascadias but KWL had his Hokas, so we kept to the hard packed single track. I led the way, pointing out roots along the path. Fortunately, many of these hazards were painted red from the recent Rob's Run 5K. I was running well -- KWL actually suggested that I slow down a little -- and I realized that I'm doing better on trails than roads these days.

We followed my usual loop that has a couple of modest climbs, and took a different path back to the trail head. We encountered some bikers, including one that almost ran us down when our paths crossed. The temperature seemed to rise by the minute and we kept it relatively short. It still felt like a good workout.

It was great seeing KWL today and the ER family appreciated having him with us to identify western-friendly choices at lunch. Although it's mid-December, it felt like early fall today. I'm going for more than three tomorrow. I don't know where but I do plan to wear shorts.

Feeling low and staying low

Declined to incline

Today's run (street): 4.2 miles

There are days when I know when I'm in for a good run and other days when I strongly consider other workouts. I wasn't feeling it this morning and my instinct was to explore options such as strength training, elliptical or core. Rather than decide, I took the easier path and ran. Not that the running was easy. It was not.

Yesterday's difficult run could be blamed on overdressing or overeating (or both). I had a decent night's sleep and chilly weather in the morning. Both are positive conditions for a good run. However, I lacked my usual energy and that accounted for a change in plans from my original route.

I was going to run to the top of the Bethpage bike trail at Woodbury Road and follow the path to the LIE overpass and back (red highlight on map). By the time I reached that road, I decided that I wasn't up for that long incline and elected to follow Woodbury Road to Meyers Farm and back. My run along Woodbury Road turned out to be harder than expected as the path was covered in a thick layer of leaves.

Despite lacking energy, I was able to hang in for a couple more miles. Like yesterday, I was pretty worn out by the end. Not a great week for mileage, but I did manage to get in four workouts. I'm hoping I'll rebound by next weekend.

Runs interrupted, for different reasons

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

Yesterday's workout (run): 1.6 miles, (elliptical): 30 minutes

Yesterday's run did not go according to plan and I ended up cutting it short. I like to work from home on Fridays because -- after four days of commuting to my office north of NYC -- I need a break from the road. Every Friday I naively go out for a run before the start of my work day. And almost every time I'm out, I get work call on my cell. Yesterday was no exception.

After spending an hour catching up on email, I geared up and headed outside to do my usual loop. I struggled initially, but started gaining strength near the end of my first mile. I thought I was in for a decent run but, like clockwork, my phone began to ring. I fished  it out of my SPIbelt and saw it was a call I needed to take.

I work for a media organization and the caller was the Editor and Chief. She loves to call me while she's driving into the office because she knows I'm at home on Fridays. I always tease her about sabotaging my running routine. She offered to wait for me to call her back, but we usually cover things quickly and I figured I'd be done and running again in few minutes. Yesterday the conversation went longer. Much longer. I stood on the corner of a random road in my high visibility running clothes, talking on my phone and nodding to my neighbors as they walked by.

Once that was done, I saw that my window of opportunity had slammed shut. I made my way back home as fast as possible to ensure that I'd be showered and ready for my first meeting. I ended up 50% short of my targeted distance and felt so guilty that I did an elliptical session after I'd finished my work day.

This morning I had an early dental checkup and didn't feel like going for a run at the crack of dawn. I made the poor decision to have lunch rather than do a late morning run. I finally got out around 2:00 PM. It had been chilly in the morning and I neglected to check the weather before I dressed for my run. I wore track pants and a long sleeve shirt, too much clothing for the 52° conditions that I encountered.

Worse than the heat was running so soon after lunch. I quickly realized that I hadn't given myself enough rest time. I developed a cramp after about 15 minutes and tried to remember what I'd read in Runners World about dealing with them. Nothing came to mind, but I wasn't going to cut another run short. I took down the pace and pressed on. Eventually the cramping went away.

Things didn't get much better after that, but I finally got through it. I felt ready to hit the sack when I got home but recovered well after a quick shower. I hope today's experience was due only to bad timing and bad decisions. I plan to go out for more distance tomorrow and I will do my best to keep cramping off the menu.

The Runsketeers induct a new member

The Run Crew: ER, KWL, TPP, NIMC, SIOR

Today's run (track): 3.25 miles

Today was a Runsketeer reunion run that coincided with TPP and her sister NIMC racing Rob's Run, a 5K trail race that takes place at Stillwell Woods. SIOR was considering racing, but she was dealing with a head and chest cold. She decided instead to run with me and KWL across the street at the high school track.

KWL, SIOR and I met up at the tennis courts on Southwoods Road and did a warm-up jog to the track. Warm-up was the operative phrase because, according to Garmin Connect, the "feels-like" temperature was a chilly 34°. I'd brought a fleece vest to stay warm before my run and ended up wearing it the whole time. We reached the track and ran a few laps together before spotting TPP and her sister heading our way. It was the first time we'd met NIMC who was instantly inducted into the mighty Runsketeers.

NIMC lives in Minnesota and came to LI to spend Thanksgiving with family. She's a very active person, an accomplished runner and frequent racer. It's clear that speed runs in the TPP family. The two racers made their way back to Stillwell and the non-racers continued to circle the track. I decided to run clockwise after a while, because I do so much of my running on the left side of the street and I thought that might counterbalance it. I also did it because it gave me an opportunity to communicate with KWL and SIOR at least once a lap.

I ended up covering 12 laps, plus an additional .25 miles at the beginning. We then headed over to Stillwell to meet up with TPP and NIMC and watch them start the race. It was freezing and I could tell that TPP was anxious to get moving. I tried to manage her expectations that the huge crowd of runners (600 estimated), combined with narrow single track, would produce a slower time than a typical 5K run on pavement. Turns out I was wrong. NIMC PR'd and TPP ran sub-9:00 pace.

Rob's Run start

SIOR, KWL and I headed to Starbucks after the racers took off. We managed to find a place to sit despite it being somewhat crowded. Soon after, TPP and NIMC joined us, looking like they'd barely broken a sweat. We had lots of discussions about running form, destination marathons and running at high elevations. SIOR wants to do the Maine Coast Marathon in Kennebunkport, KWL and his wife are going to run London and Berlin, and NIMC wants to run Athens. TPP and I are not hopping on the marathon train.

Selfie courtesy of  magnetic theory (and TPP)

Perhaps the funniest moment of the morning was at the end, when we were getting ready to go our separate ways. TPP was leaning her iPhone on the ridge of a column outside Starbucks to do a timed group shot. The column turned out to be metal and TPP has a magnetic gadget on the back of her phone for a car mount. That made it possible to stick the iPhone right on the column at the perfect height for a perfect selfie. That's our TPP!

It was great seeing my buddies and meeting TPP's sister today. Thanks to working at home on Wednesday, I was able to string together an elliptical session and four runs. SIOR has organized her army of friends to do a running streak (at least one mile a day) from Thanksgiving to New Year. So far, I'm on track, but unfortunately my streak will end tomorrow. I do hope to do at least four workouts per week whenever possible. That should count for something.

Pre-run generator attack

Now I have two reasons to hate this thing

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

It's never a good sign when you get injured before you even run. That was the case this morning when I was preparing to go out for a few miles. I stepped outside and turned on my Garmin to get a GPS signal before walking to the end of my driveway to get the empty recycling bin. As I put the bin back in the garage, I caught the edge of my reviled generator, opening up a 1" gash on my knee.

The wound looked serious and I ran inside to dress it. After dousing it with rubbing alcohol and Calahist lotion, I put on a large bandage and secured it with surgical tape. My wife had just finished her treadmill run when I came upstairs to get the tape. She saw my bandaged knee and said, "Did you trip again?" I explained that it wasn't running related and headed out the door.

The temperature was mild and the sky was overcast, nice conditions for this time of year. I wasn't motivated to do a long run today, so I did a variation of my regular route. I had initially thought about heading to the high school to run the track, but I didn't want to deal with people clogging up the lanes. Happily, my neighborhood streets were quiet and I only saw a couple of walkers and one cyclist.

My knee held up fine and I ended up with my third run this week, along with Wednesday's elliptical session. While they were all under four miles, there's something to be said for frequency. Later in the afternoon, my son and I did a long walk around the neighborhood. By then the weather had turned rainy, but we wore our hooded running raincoats and stayed dry and comfortable.

We wrapped up our walk by cutting through the middle school and came upon the scene of an accident. A minivan must have hopped the curb and taken out a street light. I don't think anyone got hurt (just a bored looking cop, tow truck and no ambulance) but it was a weird thing to encounter. Tomorrow is the last day of Thanksgiving break. If I feel up to it, I'll put in some longer distance.

Stillwell Woods: good running and bad parking

Standing in the Field of Dreams

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 3.3 miles

I had a tight morning schedule but I really wanted to run the trails this morning. As soon as I was able to break free, I headed over to Stillwell Woods hoping that everyone was out Black Friday shopping and I'd have the place all to myself. When I arrived I saw that some cars were parked near the trail head. It wasn't crowded, but there were two SUVs whose owners had randomly parked sideways, taking up seven spaces between them. Obnoxious.

Nice parking buddy

 I'd dressed for cool weather and wore my Zensah calf sleeves although it turned out to be mild. Still, I appreciated the compression on some of the steeper sections. I said hello to a few mountain bikers who were getting their bikes ready for their rides and then slipped into the woods.

The temperature was in the low 50's but the single track was relatively firm except for a few places that had direct sunlight. In those places, the dirt was rutted with tire tracks and I carefully ran along the edges to prevent a slip in the mud. I followed the path along my regular loop and crossed paths a few times with groups of runners from the local high school.

I kept it relatively short and enjoyed the change of pace from running on hard pavement. I finished with a loop around the "Field of Dreams", a large open area that sits west of the woods. Although I didn't cover much distance, I still felt pounded by the terrain. Stillwell's trails can be tough on the legs.

Shortly after I returned to my car, the owner of one of the carelessly parked SUVs rode up after finishing his ride. I stared at him, watching him struggle to get out of his now-tight spot between me and another car that was parked closely on the other side of him. I'm sure he wished I'd back out to make it easier for him, but I wanted to teach him a lesson.

Once I got ready to leave, I noticed this sign was posted in front of me. SIOR and TPP will be at Stillwell on Sunday for Rob's Run, a 5K cross country race that is staged there every year. 700 participants battling along the same narrow path is a bit too tight for me. I raced the Xterra Run at Stillwell about five years ago. With only about 90 runners, that seemed like Stillwell Woodstock.

Turkey day run before the turkey

Time to ring the dinner bell

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

My Thanksgiving day run is done, but there's no turkey trotting for me this year. Hooray for Runsketeer buddy TPP who had a 5K PR this morning in Oyster Bay. Had she finished ten seconds earlier, she would have averaged sub-8:00. TPP just keeps getting faster and I'm at the point where I'm happy that I'm not getting any slower.

I have day confusion due to the mid-week holiday and keep thinking it's Saturday. I worked from home yesterday and kept confusing it with Friday. But it isn't and it wasn't and I'm happy to have a nice string of days off where I'll get some workouts done. Yesterday was a busy morning at the office and that required me to participate in a few Google Hangout meetings. I sneaked in an early elliptical session to kick off my week's activity.

Despite the fact that today will be a major meal, we went out for a get-together dinner last night. It was really great, but social rules forced us to all order dessert. I felt like a stuffed turkey by the end and decided that I'd skip dessert today. Ya, right. There's homemade bread pudding, pecan pie and turkey cupcakes (happily not made out of turkey) in the refrigerator. Those are just the treats I know about.

In the spirit of burning calories, I went out this morning in fairly chilly (39°) weather. I'm not the biggest fan of running in my neighborhood, but it's a very civilized experience on holidays. No aggressive drivers dropping off their kids, road-hogging school buses, landscaper rigs or sanitation trucks forcing me onto the sidewalk. Just the quiet of a late fall day.

According to my Garmin data, my first mile and last half mile were my fastest this morning, even though I'm still plodding along for the most part. Despite that, my run seemed shorter than the distance I'd covered and I was thankful for the hot shower that followed.

Dinner will be served soon and I was excited to see what my wife and daughter cooked up for today's feast. I would have helped them, but there's a perception that I tend to get in the way. Besides that, I have to entertain. A lot of people are out of town this year, so our guest list is fairly moderate and I'm glad for that. You could even say thankful.

Tomorrow is Black Friday but I will avoid the stores and take advantage of another (hopefully) quiet morning. I keep thinking about the trails and may go out early to Stillwell or Bethpage. Happy Thanksgiving to all and good luck to all you turkey trotters and streakers (I mean you SIOR). I'd write more, but dinner awaits.

A run through the park and a stop at the Depot

Getting around

Today's run (street): 4.6 miles

I was feeling a lot better today and went out early to cover a little more distance than yesterday. I wasn't ready to take on seven miles, like I did last week, but I planned to break out of the confines of my neighborhood. After a loop around the local streets, I crossed through the middle school and made my way toward the adjacent business park.

I did my usual clockwise loop around the park and double-backed at the end to gain an extra half mile. I added more distance along a stretch that runs west of neighborhood #3 and finished up with a dash down the middle school parking lot. I haven't looked at the Garmin data to see how I paced, but I did throw in some fartleks throughout the run.

Later in the day I went out to take care of some errands and stopped into the Home Depot to buy a couple of small items. While I was there I became mesmerized by rack after rack of tools and I remembered that I needed a large pair of tongue and groove pliers. I felt extremely macho evaluating the selection and decided on a rugged Crescent 12" unit that I took home and fixed something on my to-do list.

I'll take the one in the middle

So, despite a bad start to the weekend, I managed a decent run today. And I got to play with a big wrench.

Pumpkin bread day run

Aromatherapy

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 2.25 miles

Once again the Emerging Runner household is enveloped with the aroma of baking pumpkin bread. Every year, since our kids were in kindergarten, my wife has set up a bakery to produce dozens of her (now) famous breads that she gives to family, teachers and friends. It's a sure sign that Thanksgiving is near when I see her and my daughter in the kitchen organizing the mixing bowls and ingredients.

I'm looking forward to having some later, even though I've felt ill since yesterday morning, I had a tough work week that continued through Friday. I worked from home yesterday and had an early meeting via Google Hangout. I was feeling pretty low and considered skipping my workout. My wife said the weather was perfect and that I should go out for a short run. So that's what I did.

It was warm enough to run in short sleeves and shorts and I did a couple of loops that totaled 2 1/4 miles. My minimum run distance is three miles, but I made an exception yesterday to accommodate my schedule and condition. Even though I only covered 70% of my typical Friday distance, it felt like a full workout.

This morning I still felt sick, but ignored that and prepared to run. It was more than a head cold and I considered the "neck up run, neck down rest" rule, This was not going to be a long run either, so I figured I was safe. A quick check of the weather prompted me to go with long sleeves and shorts. That was a good idea, as the 9 MPH winds made the temperature feel like high 30's.

I felt good throughout most of my run, but near the end I felt tired. I took a recovery nap after showering and that helped me rebound well enough to socialize with some visitors in the afternoon. I'm still feeling fatigued and wondering whether I'll be up for my Sunday long run. I'll play it by ear and see how I feel in the morning. I'm sure a little pumpkin bread will help.

Personal distance best at Bethpage

Hardly sweating after seven

Today's run (Bethpage bike trail): 7.1 miles

I was determined to make progress against my distance goals this morning and set my sights on the Bethpage trail. I targeted seven miles to make this my longest run this year. The chilly, high 30's temperature compelled me to pull my Opedix Knee-Tecs out of storage as well as a mid-weight quarter zip. All geared up, I headed out early because I knew it would take a while to get through this run.

I didn't bother to drive to the park because last week they were still charging to use the lot. I went to our regular rendezvous spot and immediately took off south. I do most of my Bethpage runs north of Haypath Road, but lately I've been missing the old trail. I took off south and quickly got past the short, steep hill that greets runners about a third of a mile into that route.

This morning I read an article in Runners World that encouraged hill-haters to embrace them for their conditioning benefits. I tried to keep an open mind as I encountered one hill after another. The Bethpage bikeway is rolling, with a few challenging hills and a lot of elevation changes. Sometimes these lesser hills seem like bumps and other times they seem mountainous. It may have been the mindset I got from the article, but none seemed that bad today.

Record breaker

My longest run in 2015 had been about 6.4 miles, so my plan was to turn around after 3.5 to guarantee my seven. Since I went out early, I had the path pretty much to myself. I appreciated the sights, sounds and maple-y smells of the late fall morning. The few who were out on their runs were friendly, although there were two teams of three cyclists who didn't quite get the concept of sharing the path. One of them passed me pretty closely and almost got the concept of my sharp elbow.

Despite my layers, I remained fairly comfortable as the temperature rose to low 40's. It struck me that today's run felt no more taxing than yesterday's, even though that was less than half the distance. With four workouts this week and my personal best for distance, I'll consider this a good week of running.

A good way to use a run

Je suis pissed

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles
Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 30 minutes

Were this was a political blog, I would be writing a few hundred words about how disgusted I am that a group of cowards killed a bunch of people in Paris last night. But this is a running blog, so I'll keep it related to that.

I worked from home on Friday and had an early call, so I opted for an elliptical session to save time. I set the resistance higher than usual and really felt the effect of the workout by the time I finished. Another reason I'd stayed inside on Friday was the very high winds that made outdoor running unappealing. I was glad to see that conditions were milder when I got up this morning and looked forward to getting out.

After a couple of cups of coffee and and an hour watching the news, I felt deflated and unmotivated to run. It's been almost 15 years since 9/11, but I felt the same way I did after all that happened. I got my act in gear just before noon and went outside. The winds had picked up, so I dressed as if it was 10 degrees colder. That turned out to be a good choice because I remained comfortable through the entire run.

Running is therapeutic and I appreciated how it distracted me from the news. I followed my usual Friday route (although it's Saturday) and, despite dealing with some wind resistance, I got through my miles fairly quickly. The post-run lift put me back on track, and that has carried me through the day. I really hope to get out early tomorrow so I have time to cover a lot more miles, although the today's three were really appreciated.

Be the first on your block to have a running Interocitor

L to R: Alien, Tom Servo, Mike, Crow, Interocitor

Today's run (street): 3.2 miles

Black Friday will soon be here, and it's time for the barrage of holiday catalogs to land in our mailbox. I ignore most of them because I don't really care about kitchen tools, home furnishings or women's sportswear. However, I came upon something called Hammacher Schlemmer, America's longest running catalog. This is not a running catalog, but rather a social experiment to see if people will pay $129 for a cotton bathrobe just because it's described as "Turkish."

As I read through the pages, I became increasingly appalled by these products that looked like Dollar Store rejects marked up 5,000 percent. That is, until I reached page 41 that featured the "Exotic Virtual Adventure Run." This item looks like the Interocitor from "This Island Earth" (a film famously mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000) attached to a treadmill. The description states that the system will provide a "virtual adventure in some of the world's most exotic locales."

Operators are standing by

The treadmill in the picture was a Matrix, so I wasn't shocked to see the $8,000 price. I was surprised to see that this silly looking product does not even include the treadmill. Assuming you have an iPad, that money would buy 2,000 different runs (assuming that many are available) for the Outside Active Virtual Runner app. This catalog also offers a $25 cheap looking plastic tire gauge with "digital readout" and an incredibly spindly looking Elipti-Go knockoff for $999.95.

I had no special gadgets on this morning's run, unless you count my Garmin. I went with short sleeve shirt under long sleeves along with running shorts, because the local news station was showing 50° in the lower right corner. I was afraid I'd overdressed, but once I stepped outside and felt the 14 MPH wind, I was grateful for the extra layer. It wasn't raining, but there was a lot of mist in the air, making for a cold and gloomy experience.

Today's run was a bonus for me, made possible by the Veteran's Day holiday. Due to the miserable conditions, I decided to cap my run at around 3 miles. I was glad to get in the workout and happy when I finished. I suppose I could have accomplished the same thing in the comfort of my own home, had I purchased the Exotic Virtual Adventure Run.