Machine made speed run

 

Today's run (treadmill speed run): 3.2 miles

The weather report this morning confirmed my decision to keep my workout indoors. The wind chill would bring temperatures down to the low 20's and the local track has plenty of wind. While I got ready to run I debated the level of intensity that I'd put to the task. I had looked up treadmill intervals online and considered doing that, but I settled on a more moderate speed session.

The online workout specified a brief warmup followed by five minutes at 7.1 MPH, the next five at 7.3 and then a .2 MPH step up every three minutes until you reached the 20 minute mark. Though short in duration, it was a bit more than I was willing to take on today. I decided to start at 6.1 and blip up my speed every few minutes until I was running in the low 7's. If the treadmill's display was accurate, I ended up averaging under a nine minute pace, despite starting out at 9:50.

I find treadmill running harder than street running, yet I tend to push myself harder on the treadmill. I suspect it has to do with the shorter stride that probably increases my cadence. A treadmill speed workout is a good start towards re-honing my performance edge, but I really do need to get back to the track. Still, with temperatures heading toward zero, you won't see me there this week.

Ready to fight the slowdown

Command performance tomorrow?

Today's run (street). 5.3 miles

Today's workout was typical for a Sunday run, although I did follow an untypical route. In an effort to break out of the neighborhood, I crossed Rt. 25 and did my run along Jericho Turnpike. I turned north up Jackson Ave. and then headed east, past the train station. Once I reached a natural endpoint, I retraced my route with an additional segment going west on Jericho. This allowed me to reach my targeted distance.

It was a perfectly pleasant run and the weather seemed milder than yesterday. The route provided some hill challenges but the wind was less intense. Despite the nice weather and what felt like an efficient stride, I was shocked to see that I'd clocked a pace over ten minutes a mile. Usually I can blame the terrain, the weather, or simply fatigue for a slow run. Yes, there were some hills, but my net elevation gain was only 250 feet over five miles.

Sometimes I worry that I'm slowing down. Four years ago, I could count on at least a couple of runs in the 8:00 range every week. Nowadays, except for races, I rarely break 9:20. I know that some of this is due to a lapse in competition since October. I can't remember the last time I did speed work, although I often run the last five minutes of my treadmill runs in the eight-minute range.

I'm thinking about returning to the track to run some intervals. It will be a nice change from the local roads. While I don't love the work, I usually feel great after a hard workout. It's supposed to be extremely cold on Monday so I may rethink this decision in the morning. Our treadmill can go 12 MPH so I could always do my intervals in the comfort of my own home.

Late start, stiff winds and some different roads to run

Today's run (street): 5.25

It took a while, but I finally got myself out the door for a run this morning. All week long I'd looked forward to getting a couple of extra hours sleep. I slept well last night and still got up up relatively early. Somehow the time slipped by and I found myself standing outside at 9:30 AM, waiting for my Garmin to acquire its signal.

I wasn't thrilled to do another weekend run in the neighborhood, but my procrastination had limited my options. My plan was to run a nearby loop and then head over to neighborhood #2. I set off running north and quickly encountered stiff winds coming from that direction. The weather report said that these winds would make it feel like 27 degrees and they were right. A slight change in direction made a huge difference. Without the wind, the warming sun made it quite pleasant.

Before long, I was running through the southern neighborhood, battling headwinds in one direction and appreciating the tailwinds when going the other way. Halfway through, I checked my distance and saw that I hadn't made as much progress as I'd liked for the time I'd been running. I picked up my speed from there and finished within acceptable range for my overall pace.

It's supposed to be even colder tomorrow so I'll need to give some thought as to where I might run. It was nice to get out of the neighborhood today for a slight change of scenery. Perhaps I'll find a more interesting route tomorrow.

Paleo and juicing may actually be a good idea

Caveman no like grain!

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

There's lots of talk these days about the Paleo or caveman diet. When I first heard about it, I dismissed it as a macho re-branding of Atkins or the South Beach diets. I've always felt that the best diet (in the sense of ongoing lifestyle, not a short term weight loss strategy) aligns with USDA guidelines. This means a balance of fruits, grains, vegetables and protein. Humans are omnivores and the idea of eliminating grains in favor of  much higher protein levels strikes me as a path toward unintended consequence.

I have a friend who adopted juicing (not steroids!) as a primary nutritional model. He and his wife would stock up on very healthy items like spinach, kale, beets and carrots that they'd put through a juicer and use in place of meals. My friend is smart and he recognized that juicing separates the fiber, so they'd spoon that back in to their smoothies. Soon after, they began to experiment with their solid diet and have also adopted the Paleo method.

As a runner, I'm interested in nutrition for both health and performance. At the same time, I have no patience for those who aggressively proselytize about Paleo, vegan-ism or any similarly restrictive lifestyle. I'll admit that I'm intrigued with Paleo and juicing because there is some rationale to their concepts.

Juicing, done right, seems to be a legitimate nutritional model. Fresh fruits and vegetables, free of process, have got to be good for you. That is, unless those ingredients are carrying salmonella or similar toxins that won't be eliminated by cooking. But most of us eat salad and that seems to be okay most of the time. The toughest part for me would be drinking a green frothy milkshake that tastes nothing like a milkshake.

The Paleo thing is interesting because of the primary concept. Unlike Atkins, that allows grains, artificial sweeteners and processed oils, Paleo sets the bar to how humans lived tens of thousands of years ago. In caveman days there was no way to create flour or to bake, so those products are excluded. In a similar way, all processed foods, meat or vegetable, are also left out. The diet is balanced between protein, fruit and vegetables, plus seeds or grasses like quinoa.

The science behind Paleo is that eliminating grains reduces the production of sugar in our body and that forces ketosis, a process that uses fat for energy, rather than glycogen. I am no expert on how this works, but it does make sense in theory. In terms of adopting the Paleo diet, I'll wait and see if my friend grows a unibrow and hair on his knuckles before I partake. But there's no harm in choosing less processed foods when possible. No one can argue that reducing sugar intake (via carbs or sweets) is a good idea.

How pounding headaches lead to base building

There's something about daylong meetings spent in airless conference rooms that causes me to experience pounding headaches. Tuesday's meeting was intense. I lead an industry group that focuses on some fairly technical subject matter. After the sixth hour of intense debates and discussions, it became exhausting. A different meeting followed on Wednesday, and by 10:00 AM I knew I'd be in for a rough day.

I went to bed last night hoping I'd wake up feeling better. I set my running clothes up for a morning workout,  but the need for additional rest and the slight presence of a headache dissuaded me from getting on the treadmill. I think it was a good decision. This is the second or third week in a row where I took Thursday as an additional rest day, but in every case I felt the rest was justified.

The difference between running five days a week versus six isn't great, but it does put me a little behind against my weekly mileage target. So far, I've managed to make up for the loss of weekday miles on weekends. In a way, it has motivated me to extend my weekend long runs a little further than normal. I've been looking to build my base back up and that's a way to do it. I just wish the process to get there this week wasn't so painful.