Eleven miles at Bethpage, without fuel nor water

Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 11.2 miles

I had plans to run with my buddy Dave today, but he had a scheduling issue and needed to postpone. The plan was for Dave to accompany me on his bike while I ran. Last February, I wrote a post about Dave's racing nightmare when he suffered a heart attack during a 10 mile race. Since then he has responded well and has been cleared for runs in the 2-3 mile range. It shows that even if you suffer a heart attack, being otherwise fit will certainly accelerate your recovery.

The temperature was in the high 30's when I went out at at 8:30 AM, and I'd purposely under dressed knowing I'd be generating heat over my long run. I wasn't that uncomfortable, even at the beginning, and by mile two I was glad to be in running shorts.

I wore the Spiras thinking they would minimize the possibility of foot problems, but I detected the slight pain in my left foot that I'd assumed was specific to the Kinvara 3's. After a few miles the pain decreased and I thought I had it licked. Turned out it wasn't so simple. By the end my feet were very uncomfortable.

The only nutrition I took for the entirety of my run was a GU gel that I had prior to the start. I took along a GU Roctane for refueling later in the run, but I didn't feel as though I needed it. I also brought a water bottle but didn't take a sip during the run. I wasn't being macho by denying myself nutrition and hydration, I just wanted to test whether I needed it. Did my body use fat as an energy source after glycogen depletion?

After many weeks running the Bethpage bike trail, I've become familiar enough with the route that I know how far I've gone without looking at my Garmin. I also separate the course into stages, based on landmarks. That helps me psychologically, especially as I increase my distance each week. Today I ventured within a mile of the bottom of the trail, located in Massapequa Preserve. I may end up doing an end to end run next time.

On my way back I was happily surprised that my energy level never fell too far and when it dropped a little, I quickly rebounded. I saw many runners, walkers and cyclists today and one sap who was walking along the trail, smoking a cigarette. Why do something healthy like that and smoke?

I did experience a drop in energy with about 2 miles to go. I knew I was facing the toughest part of the route and resigned myself to the work. Running the penultimate hill was easier than I thought it would be, but the final hill was a bear. Still, I finished 11.2 miles feeling in better shape than I did when I ran 9 miles a few weeks ago.

I'm on vacation this week and next weekend is the Marcie Mazzola 5K (on Sunday). Due to that, I'll skip my base run as I taper. From now until then, speed will be my focus. I'm curious to see if all this base building will help me push the pace over a decidedly shorter distance.

The declining accuracy of my Garmin FR210

I'd add 3% just to be safe

Today's run (street): 2.53 miles (Gmaps measured)

I'm not sure why, but my Garmin FR 210 has been under-performing lately. It was especially bad this morning. I generally run the same route every day at 4:00 AM and, after careful measurement, I know that the distance is exactly 2.53 miles. The Garmin's margin of error is generally -3%, which means that it under-counts to that degree fairly consistently. Since it is consistant, I accept that variance and correct for it in my pace calculation.

It's no mystery why this happens. Looking at my run captured in Garmin Connect, I can see that the watch will vectorize corners and straighten out curves. This is due to the capture time between GPS signals (approximately one sample per second). If the signal was captured continuously, the course would be displayed accurately, with no corners cut, etc. When it's cloudy, the signal can get interrupted. When that happens, the watch interpolates the distance between signals as a straight line. Enough of those and your accuracy really suffers.

Lately my FR210 has been under-reporting by about 5% and this morning it came in at -7%. It was cloudy, but clear enough to see some stars. My run could only be described as slow, and with the under-counted distance, my watch recorded my pace as glacial. Correcting for the true distance, it was still the slowest 4:00 AM run in memory.

I'm puzzled as to why my Garmin's GPS has become less accurate of late. Perhaps it's just going through a bad spell. The GPS accuracy tends to be better when I run a mostly straight course like at Bethpage. I'll see how it does tomorrow.

Tedium reducing treadmill technique

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

As unlikely as it sounds, I was looking forward to doing a run on the treadmill this morning. I usually break up my training week with an elliptical session on Thursday's, but our machine is down. Our treadmill, that had been down for the last nine days, was put back into service yesterday. At least we have one indoor option as we wait for the repair person to get the elliptical working again.

With a new motor and tread replacement, the treadmill felt like a brand new unit. While this model (Sole F63) isn't whisper quiet, the sound level was noticeably better than the last time I'd run on it. I'm assuming the repair person performed a calibration because I felt that my perceived effort matched the speed that was displayed.

I followed my usual treadmill routine, starting at a moderate pace and increasing the speed every couple of minutes. Speeding up the pace actually made it a better experience because it broke down the activity into two minute periods. Focusing on the intervals between speed increases helped reduce the tedium of the experience. The time went by quickly and before I knew it, I was done. As much as I liked today's workout, I'm planning to go back outside for tomorrow's run.

Of all my running shoes, these were the best

GTS-10: like chicken soup for the sole

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

My feet have been bothering me lately and I'm not sure what to do about it. My wife suggested that my tendency to switch shoes, rather than sticking to one pair, may be causing the issues. She may be right. The question is which pair to use? I've struggled to find my perfect running shoe and I haven't been too successful. But is the act of trying different models undermining the process?

I've tried a lot of shoes in the three-plus years since I've been running. Most were fine, some awful and a few great. But the great shoes also had their flaws. My two pair of Brooks Adrenaline's have never disappointed (I retired the GTS-9's after 700 miles, still using the GTS-10's), but they are old school in design, with a high platform and ramp angle. I run with the GTS-10's for recovery or if I detect a knee problem. A few runs in them seems to correct any issue.

The original Kinvaras were my second great model. They felt like the perfect shoe from the first time I tried them on and maintained that feel, almost to the end. But something happened and my last few runs resulted in knee pain that coincided with last year's Half Marathon. I'm hoping the new Kinvara 3's are sufficiently improved to ward that off after I've covered a few hundred miles in them.

Surprisingly, the best shoes, day in and day out, have been my Saucony Hattori's, a shoe so minimal it lacks a mid sole. But they are incredibly runnable, comfortable and responsive. The downside is that the uppers are ripping after 300 miles. I can still wear them, but time is running out. My second pair of Hattori's, that should feel and perform identically, don't fit correctly on my left foot and I've given up on them after 67 miles. It makes me wary of getting a replacement pair for my good Hattori's.

Right now I'm really pleased with the Spira Stingers, but I am experiencing this foot pain. I really don't think it's coming from these shoes and I'll run with them exclusively until Sunday. If my foot problems improve, I'll credit the Spiras. If they don't, I'll do a few runs in the GTS-10's and hope for a quick recovery.

This passport will get you places

Oh the places you'll go...

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Over the weekend I purchased my 2012 Empire Passport that allows me entry into any one of dozens of state parks in New York. I was looking at the pamphlet that was attached to my receipt and read the listing of places on Long Island that honor this pass. Besides some of my favorite venues, like Bethpage and Belmont Lake State Parks, there are arboretums and botanical preserves like the nearby Planting Fields. At $65 per season, it's a bargain. I'll get my money's worth just from my visits to Bethpage, so everything else is a bonus.

It's been a while since I've done any trail running, but I'm on vacation next weekend and will take the opportunity to do some off road training. This morning I did my usual run after taking my weekly rest day on Monday. It was 35 degrees outside at 4 AM and that motivated me to move along briskly. Even with a slow start, I ended up pacing a bit faster than normal. The Kinvaras performed well, but I still felt slight pressure under my left foot. I'll try them again on Wednesday and see if there's any improvement.