Ready to be One with the Fitbit

"Be healthier & get more fit."

Today's run (street): 3.25 miles

I was excited to see that my Fitbit One came in the mail today. It's a great device, but the packaging copy writers should work on their grammar. My wife has been using hers for almost a year and she finds it an invaluable tool for documenting her activity. It's also a great motivator to reach her daily goal of 12,000+ steps. I love measuring my performance and I'm looking forward to analyzing the data. The software offers lots of features and even a smartphone app. I'll report on my experience soon.

Now that I'm no longer commuting into the office every day, my morning routine has changed. I'm usually up at 5:30 AM instead of 3:30, and the pressure to complete my run on a tight schedule is gone. I now enjoy my morning coffee at my leisure and I spend a little time with the kids before they leave for school. I haven't wanted to run while the middle school and high school buses are on their routes, so I've been waiting until 8:00 or 8:30 to get outside.

Today's run was my first workout since Saturday's race and, despite yesterday's rest day, my legs still felt heavy. I moved along comfortably, maintaining my equilibrium pace. My distance target was three miles and I followed a different route for a change of scenery. I hoped that my race-day speed would carry over to today, but that wasn't the case. In terms of performance, it wasn't all that bad, just not especially fast.

I wore my Kinvaras this morning and tried to compare them to the Spiras that I wore in the race on Saturday. I chose the Spiras because I thought they'd provide more response on toe-off than the softer Kinvaras. I didn't find that racing in the Spiras (for the first time, BTW) provided that much advantage. I probably need to start thinking about replacing the Kinvaras that have 455 miles on them. I'm wondering if I should start looking at performance trainers.

Shakeout run postponed

One of my favorite types of runs is the "Day after race shakeout", when I go out easy and rid my muscles of built-up lactic acid. Weather conditions were better this morning than they were yesterday, and I looked forward to a few recovery miles. I had a rough night's sleep and woke up with sinus headache this morning. These headaches are annoying, because they make me feel draggy and tired. I considered downgrading my neighborhood run to an easy treadmill run, then realized that skipping my workout was the best choice of all.

I've never liked taking medication, but when these headaches come the only thing that helps is the "Sudafed" cure. That's 60 mg of pseudoephedrine, along with a dose of ibuprofen. When the cure takes, it's a night and day improvement. It took a second dose later in the day to eradicate the pounding and dizziness and I'm feeling much better now.

I read recently that runners should take a day off after a race for every mile they ran. That seems extreme, but one day's rest after a race makes good sense. I've just preferred to do my easy runs instead. Now that I have no time pressure to make my train in the morning, I can go on longer runs during the week. I will hopefully sleep better tonight and make up some mileage on Monday.  

Race report: Long Beach Snowflake 4 Miler

The finish line

Today's run (Long Beach Snowflake race): 4 miles - 35:00 (8:45 pace)

This morning I ran the Long Beach Snowflake 4 mile race for the third consecutive year. After the devastating effects of hurricane Sandy, I was sure the race would be postponed this year. But the spirit of the city was evident today and the race went on. The course was different than prior years, but the experience felt similar. Weather conditions were far from ideal, but it could have been much worse.

The view beyond the finish line

The race was staged at the Lindell Elementary School, nine blocks north of last year's location. I arrived at 7:45 AM, hoping to beat the crowd in case parking was an issue. The school actually had plenty of parking and I found a spot close to the building. There were 129 less participants this year than last year and I was especially glad that I'd signed up. Although I live 30 minutes from Long Beach, I felt an obligation to participate and support this city that has been through so much.

Pre-race crowd keeping warm

 After picking up my race bib and shirt, I took in the sights and sounds of the growing crowd as we moved closer to start time. Every race is different, but the pre-race energy always feels the same. The school gym kept everyone warm and comfortable until a member of the race crew ushered us to the line ten minutes before the start. I was glad that it was almost race time, but the cold winds made me wish I was back in the gym.

The crowd assembled behind the starting line as the race director organized people so that the faster pacers could start at the front. I stood a few rows behind them, because I like to be swept along by the speediest runners for the first mile. After some inspiring statements about Long Beach's recovery from the storm, and a quick review of the new course, we counted down to the start.

The course went directly south for half a mile, turning east on Broadway for the next 1.5 miles before the turnaround. I didn't realize that Broadway was so close to the old boardwalk. I'd expected to turn left after passing a couple of blocks, not ten. I was being passed left and right, despite my attempts to keep up with the faster crowd. I felt some relief to make the turn at Broadway, but I knew I still had three and a half miles to go.

There's a point in every race when I feel that I failed to train properly for that event. It usually comes after the first couple of miles, when I begin to question my ability to sustain my race pace. Today was no different. I came through the first mile in 8:06. A good pace, but it was almost 15 seconds off last year's mile one split time. I hoped to stay below 9:00 for the remaining splits and I managed to do that, although mile three recorded at 8:59 on my Garmin.

It's always a fast crowd in Long Beach and getting passed can be disheartening. It wasn't until I made the turn at mile two, heading west, that I saw the large number of people behind me, still running east. Instead of feeling happy, I worried that they would all eventually overtake me. This race felt hard, probably because I haven't gone all out in race mode for months. Still, I felt that I could handle the pace I was running, and I ended up finishing in the top 35%.

I settled into my stride at three miles, coming through a few seconds under 26 minutes. It seemed to take forever to reach Lindell where we took a right, heading north for for the last half mile. By 9:30 AM, cars were trying to cross the course at some intersections. Traffic control did their best, but I actually saw a couple of cars impatiently cutting through with runners still crossing the box. I had no incidents, but a couple of cars made me nervous.

I finally saw the finish chute when I had a block and a half to go. I tried to muster more speed, but I was at my physical limit. It would have been nice to cross the line earlier, but I left nothing on the course today and ran the best pace I could maintain. I was very happy to cross over the line. I felt all four hard miles at that point, yet I also felt strong.

Why am I smiling? The race is over

After the race, I watched some runners come in before downing a Gatorade and taking a few pictures. I was disappointed that my friend Steve, who ran this race with me the last two years, couldn't participate today. I'll tell him what he missed. For me, it was a validation of my fitness and a pretty good effort. I may not have loved every minute of the run, but I sure loved the feeling when I finished.

Wondering how we'll weather the weather

Right now, Weather.com is saying there's a 30% chance we'll see precipitation tomorrow morning. That's the start time for the Long Beach Snowflake race. On top of that, the wind chill will make it feel like 32 degrees outside. Last year conditions were similarly miserable. Despite the weather, I still had a great race.

I've rested the past couple of days and trained fairly hard during the week. I have no real expectations for tomorrow, except that I'll do my best to be competitive. This will be the first time I'll race since last October, so I'm excited to be back in the game. I'm hoping all goes smoothly and that the odds stay in our favor, as running in the cold and rain isn't a great way to spend a Saturday morning. We can control many things in life, but there's not much we can do about the weather.

Coping well with my taper

 

Oh no! I'm done with my race training and I have to rest now! That is so awful! Instead of running outside in 20° temperatures, I am forced to stay in my warm house and drink coffee.

It's hard to believe that anyone would view tapering that way. According to a survey that I saw on Runner's World, there are percentage of people who hate the taper's rest period. To quote someone from a recent runner's forum, "[It's] biochemical, like withdrawal from an addiction." 

Hey, I like running. I'd better like it because I do it almost every day. But the opportunity to have a couple of guilt-free rest days is a gift, not a burden.  I'm going into the city later today for a couple of meetings and I'll probably cover 3 or 4 miles by foot in the process. While I am taking a rest from running, I don't plan to stop moving. Some good relaxing walks will be the perfect penultimate tapering activity. Tomorrow I can truly rest. You can bet I'll enjoy that coffee.