Goodbye foot pod, hello Garmin 210

Not sure what I want more, the watch or the displayed performance

Today's workout (elliptical): 20 minutes

I'm thinking again about buying a GPS watch. My frustrations with using a foot pod are rising due to accuracy issues and, except for treadmill runs, a GPS solution may be preferable. I started using the Nike sensor back in 2008 to track my performance. It worked fairly well once I got the hang of calibrating it but this technology was only accurate when paired with Nike shoes (that have a well to secure the chip). I don't like Nike shoes and, besides that, the wristband that captured the feed via RFID link was poorly made. After replacing it twice I asked for a refund and bought a Garmin FR50.

The FR50, and later, the FR60 are a great design. I truly love the watches and their easy synchronization with Garmin Connect. My key issue is with the foot pod that uses an accelerometer and needs to be tuned for every shoe. Since I'm a bit of a shoe freak and often switch between pairs it usually creates issues with calibration. I manage these issues through ad hoc adjustments that never quite coincide with my true distance. I've done my share of runs using GPS apps on the iPhone and the results are universally bad, although they offer some good features other than tracking.

With all that I'm reading good things about the Garmin 210, a less complex version of their 400 (and now 600) series GPS watches. The 210 lacks some of the features that the higher end watches have but the 210 does support a foot pod sync (for indoors) and wireless connectivity to a heart rate monitor. I'm going to start pricing out this watch. Father's day is coming!

First post-half marathon run

Today's run (street): 2 miles

This morning I returned to road running for the first time since Sunday's half marathon. Yesterday's elliptical session yielded good results and it gave me the confidence to push  a little more today. I'd already tested the soundness of my knees and legs with some strides up and down the corridors of my office yesterday morning. It was just after 7:00 AM and there were few people around so I didn't feel ridiculous running the few hundred feet in my black oxfords. That "running" confirmed my belief that I was ready to do it for real.

Although the temperature was showing 58° on the local news channel it felt colder than that when I stepped outside. The driveway was wet and I thought it was raining but that turned out to be runoff from my neighbor's sprinkler system. I started easy with short strides and a relaxed cadence but everything seemed to be in working order. The first half mile was run deliberately, but with a runner's form. As I ran that first segment I thought about my last half mile on the race course and how hard it was to simply propel my legs as I came through Eisenhower Park toward the finish line. My stride felt much more natural this morning.

I ran the second mile 1:20 faster than the first and this further validated my belief that moderate activity after a long run helps restore muscles, speeds recovery and increases performance. I'll go out for a long run this weekend and then take some time to run intervals. I'm curious to see if building my base and also training for speed will yield the performance that has eluded me lately.

Hair of the dog

Today's workout (elliptical): 15 minutes

I know what's good for ya!

It was no surprise to experience a recurrence of knee pain yesterday after covering so much ground on Sunday. On top of that, my quads, hamstrings and calves felt uncomfortably tight every time I went from sitting to walking. I'd read an article about recovering from a half marathon that suggested that a short amount of moderate activity the second day after this long run would help restore flexibility to muscles. I think there's something to that claim.

Yesterday KWL and I went out for lunch and, afterward, walked over to SBR, a triathlete shop on 58th Street. KWL is riding the 100 mile Grand Fondo NY challenge on Sunday. This race starts on the GW Bridge in Manhattan and goes all the way to the top of Bear Mountain and back. He's thinking about participating in a run-bike-run duathlon the following weekend. After we'd covered some distance around midtown I noticed that walking made my legs feel much better.

With that reinforcement I elected to do a moderate elliptical session this morning. I kept my speed in check and set resistance to the low-middle range. After 15 minutes I felt like I'd accomplished the goal of activating my leg muscles, raising my heart rate and generating a sweat. I could have gone longer but I decided less would be more. I'm feeling very good after that. If this continues (and the rain holds off), I may go for an outside run tomorrow morning.

The day after 13.1

Okay, another new race distance has been crossed off the list and I look forward to returning to my normal training schedule. I'm not surprised that my legs feel a bit stiff and sore this morning. It's a nice reminder of yesterday's effort.

The winner of yesterday's half marathon probably crossed the line just a few minutes after I'd reached the 10K point at around the 60 minute mark. It struck me that while 13.1 miles is a long distance to cover, my bigger accomplishment was pounding the pavement for over 140 minutes. That's 2+ hours running at more than double my resting heart rate. Daily Mile calculated that I burned about 2,000 calories during the race. That's like going a day without eating!

I need to get my knee back in shape but soon after that I will resume my long distance training. Even if I don't run another half marathon this year, base building will certainly help me be more competitive during my 10K races. The pain of yesterday's last few miles is already fading. I'm starting to think about the next half that I might run.

2011 LI Half Marathon race report

Minutes before the start

Today's run (LI Half Marathon): 13.1 miles (10:50/mile)

Today's race was a new experience for me in two ways. It was my first half marathon and the longest distance I've ever run. My performance was nowhere as good as I'd hoped it would be, with an overall pace of 10:50, but I don't really care about that. I expected to do better because I thought I'd done all the right things to prepare. I didn't run for the seven days prior to the event, followed my hydration and fueling plan to the letter, started slowly to reserve energy and worked to maintain good running form. But the results speak for themselves.

My greatest concern for today's race was whether my knee had recovered from my last long base run. I'd definitely hurt something on that 8.25 mile run and, even this morning, it was still a little sore.  My knee became a problem about a third of the way in. I'll get to that later.

I arrived early (6:30 AM) but Lot 6 in Eisenhower Park was already halfway filled up. I wore some layers over my race shirt to stay comfortable prior to the race which I stowed in a backpack at the starting point. UPS nicely provided bag transport to the finish line. I brought electrolyte drink in my hand bottle and added some extra salt. I didn't want to use that before the start but I couldn't find any water and I felt dry. Rather than keep searching for water, I got into the very long line for the Port-a-potty's. This is often an issue at races. It seems like everyone queues up behind a group of them but a few never seem to be used. It wouldn't be a popular job but race organizers could do better by managing the bathroom lines and resources. As a result, there were dozens of runners who took it upon themselves to use the fields that paralleled the starting area for relief (below).

Open sourced bathrooms

The race started on time. I brought my iPhone with me and used MotionX GPS because it has a feature that sends emails every 5 mins with a map and your current position. My wife and kids couldn't join me today but they were able to follow my progress this way. I also had my Garmin and I hit "start" as I stepped on the mat at the starting line. The Garmin's distance calibration was really off but the stopwatch feature was accurate. I followed the crowd, taking the first three miles in just over 30 minutes (actual). The crowd kept things tight but it was close to where I wanted to be at that point. I felt good.

I hadn't realized that the course wound back around Nassau Coliseum so I was puzzled to find us going opposite to the direction I'd expected. Before long we spilled out to Merrick Ave. which borders Eisenhower Park to the west. All was going well until I reached Old Country Road and turned right. My knee, which had felt perfect from the start, began to protest. The pains were sharp and I worried that, with nine miles left to go, I could be doing real damage to my knee. I considered dropping out but I slowed down and the pain was reduced to the point where I felt I could continue. I continued to moderate my pace to ensure that I wasn't doing damage.

We ran through downtown Westbury and it was fun to to see it by foot since I'm usually driving it. They've done a nice job revitalizing the storefronts. I had taken a GU Roctane 30 mins before the start and planned to take another gel at 5 miles so I consumed a GU Expresso Love just before we reached Jericho Turnpike. Along the way I'd been taking sips of the electrolyte mix and grabbing water at every station. I think this combination of fuel and liquids helped me most of the way.

I wasn't running fast but I never stopped throughout the entire race. My heart rate was where it should have been and that's another reason why I'm puzzled by my slow pace. I think I did fairly well for the first 10 miles but the last three were very difficult. The segment that we ran on Jericho went well enough and I was glad to turn onto Brush Hollow Rd. because I had fooled myself into thinking the hard part was over by then. We made our way up the on-ramp to Wantagh Parkway which was a tough hill at that point. We followed that highway for about a mile and a quarter and hit another hill before breaking off Old Country Road where the full marathoner's split off to follow their route.

We quickly turned on Carmen Avenue which represented the 10 mile point but less than a mile later I saw the 24 mile marker for the full marathoners and (in my race fog) deduced we were suddenly at mile 12. In fact it was mile 11. At this point I was fading and all the gels, electrolyte fluid and water stops were not helping me the way they had previously. We entered Eisenhower Park 1/4 mile before the real mile 12 and my calves started cramping painfully. I thought for a moment about stopping and decided "not now, not ever." There's nothing wrong with walking in sections but I didn't want to do that because I feared it would drop my heart rate and make it all the harder to resume.

My friend Brian had warned me that the 2+ mile run through Eisenhower Park would seem long and he was right. OMG it took forever to get to the finish line and the last mile felt like running in peanut butter. I kept telling myself "just go, just keep going" and eventually I reached the winding safety cone path that led to the finish line. My heart sank when I saw my finish time. I was hoping to beat 2:06 but I was nowhere near that time.

Oh, this? It's nothing really.

But I finished! I was fairly disoriented as I walked along the post-chute pathway, following those who had finished right before me. I must have looked bad because a race volunteer came over and said "are you alright?" I said yes but I wish she had given me some water. Our line wound past volunteers handing out finisher medals (my first ever BTW)  and into a tent where they handed out string backpack race bags containing fruit and a bagel. I explored the Finish Line Festival but was anxious to return home to see my family. I called my wife and she and the kids were hooting it up, congratulating me. They had just seen me cross the line minutes before on the latest MotionX update. Seconds later the iPhone died due to the GPS drain. Perfect timing.

I got home and was greeted with excitement by my wife and kids. The kids made me great cards commemorating the achievement. I noticed that on my pre-race "To Do" and checklist that my wife had added "Run 13.1 miles" and it was checked off. It was an amazing morning and a new and exciting experience. Will I run another half marathon? Possibly, some day. I have to forget how hard this one was before I do that. Will I ever run a full 26.2? I just can't imagine it!