Cruel recollection

In the pantry in my kitchen there's a section I reserve for energy bars of all types. Some I use prior to my pre-dawn run as a device to jumpstart my metabolism. Others contain more calories and are higher in protein and work well after a run or a light meal. What's in common with all these bars is the predominant ingredient - peanut butter - that I prefer over other types. Peanut butter is a perfect food for runners with its high energy density, zero cholesterol and good fat providing many benefits. This all worked out pretty well until the FDA announced a sweeping recall of products manufactured with peanut paste supplied by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Among those products are many of the energy bars that I buy such as my favorite type of Larabar from General Mills, Peanut Butter Cookie.

After a quick review of my inventory I realized that I probably have just enough non-peanut butter based bars in reserve to carry me through until the next visit to Trader Joe's. I'll stock up on safer choices until this all passes. It shouldn't cost me much to do that since, sadly, I'll be bringing back all of my recalled peanut butter Larabars. But maybe I'll keep one and take my chances...

Aging backwards

This past weekend my mother-in-law declared that I look ten years younger since I've returned to running. I appreciated the compliment although I think she was just being kind. Either way it was nice to hear, better than the more common statements of concern that I get from friends: "You're losing too much weight" and "You look like an underfed prisoner.” That is certainly not the image I'd like to project. Even my wife has pointed out that since I've hit my goal I should start eating again like a normal person. I told her she should listen to her mother.

I agree that I have reached my desired level for weight but I’m not going back to my old habits. I’m in far better shape than I've been in over a decade and I’d really like to stay that way. Besides, I’ve already had my suits tailored. Although I don’t do many upper body workouts I've noticed that muscle definition in my chest and arms is much more noticeable. Results like that add to the motivation to run and cross train. I'm not looking to reverse the aging process except to help ensure that I can ably run in the decades ahead. I’m in an unusual place compared to many runners my age who, despite dedicated training, will soon begin to see performance declines every year simply due to nature. Since my starting point is different (I’ve had lots of room for improvement since returning to running last August) I’m actually gaining in both performance and endurance. I don’t know how long it will be until I hit my peak and then start to lose ground but I’m not worrying about that now. It’s great to be told that you look years younger (especially if it were true) but I much more prefer the way it feels.

Inauguration run

Today is an historic day and regardless of your political viewpoint you have to admit it's nice to have this much positive energy around a national event. But the Emerging Runner doesn't cover politics so instead I'll mention something I heard on the news this morning about the venue. As the reporter described the scene of the swearing in ceremony she mentioned that people would be congregating in the space between the Capital Building and the Lincoln Memorial, a distance of 2 miles. Despite my interest in the event my reaction was "what a great run that would be!"

I've written before about the benefits of running outdoors and how the changing view (even on the track) is preferable to staring at the wall, out a window or even at a TV set. I mostly run outside in my neighborhood but on some occasions I've been fortunate enough to run in various cities while traveling on business or vacation. The next time I go to D.C. I would love to run the National Mall from end to end (and back). I'm sure there are hundreds that do that every day.

Last fall we spent a weekend in the Old Town section of Philadelphia and I ran through that historic area very early in the morning. It was a little scary actually because it was eerily quiet and the only people I saw during that run were homeless. I've run in other cities like Cambridge where you can run from Kendall Square over the Longfellow Bridge to the Esplanade and back in under 30 minutes, with most of the run alongside the Charles River. In my past running life I ran through the streets of Salt Lake City on a Sunday morning for an hour and didn't see a single person. Of course I also used to run in NYC but that wasn't an ideal experience.

Now that I've reached a point where I can cover some distance I will try to run in every city I visit on vacation or business. However, I am a sucker for hotel fitness centers and can be easily seduced by a Precor M9 if it's a little chilly outside.

The Sedentary Man talks nutrition

In this week's column the Sedentary Man explains that the way he eats is likely due to the way his mother fed him growing up. Still, for a guy with an Ivy League degree you'd expect Sedentary Man to have more sense about nutrition. But I'm only saying that to get back at him for nodding off during our meetings. Read his column here...

The persistance of treadmill memory

My apologies for writing such a bad Dali pun as a headline but I have discovered something interesting about treadmill data. The cold weather and snow that we have experienced this past week has forced me to spend a lot of time running indoors. The treadmill is clearly a subject for discussion as most people view it either as an enabler or a necessary evil but you can't argue with its convenience. After using it as my third choice after street and track for months I realized that my basic assumption of its measurement accuracy is flawed. I've always assumed that maintaining a constant speed on the treadmill will accomplish the same for the runner. In other words, assuming the reading is accurate, when the treadmill says 7 MPH you're running 7 MPH.

The treadmill forces you to run (as long as the tread is moving you'd better be running) but there can be a measurable variance in treadmill speed and runner speed. I noticed this on Saturday when I had a strong start and after a mile my Sportband showed my distance about .05 miles ahead of the treadmill's. Throughout the run I saw that gap begin to close and at 2.7 miles the treadmill distance began to exceed the Sportband distance. This intrigued me and also annoyed me because I knew I'd need to run a little extra at the end to achieve my planned distance. After thinking about it I realized it makes sense. You don't have to run the same pace of the treadmill as you run on it as long as your feet are moving. There is a minimum speed you'll need to maintain lest you get swept off the tread but there's some latitude there. My experience showed me where I peak in terms of pace and where I begin to lose speed over time. Knowing this will help me better tune my performance by pushing my crossover time further and further into my run.

I was hoping to run on the track today but, like yesterday, we've received another few inches of snow. I ran about 3.5 miles yesterday on top of Saturday's 3.6. I may shoot for longer distance today or go the other way and cross train with the elliptical and the shovel.

Racing toward Spring

I have discovered that anticipating a race is a great way to focus on your training goals. Moving closer to pace and distance targets requires a re-thinking of training methods and priorities. The joy of running must give way, at least a little, to the rigors of training and conditioning. Everyone has a different method and I am fortunate to have heard from people who have shared theirs. The interesting thing about this blog is that those who read it are likely to be better and more accomplished runners than me. There are many articles on the web and in magazines about preparing for your first race, but when I hear about the experience directly from a fellow blogger or reader it seems more valuable to me.

Preparing for my 4 miler in April and then a 5K two weeks later is relatively easy right now since I have about 12 weeks to reach peak conditioning. I’ll need to figure out what methods I should maintain and what changes I should make to best prepare for these events. My new focus on core seems correct since it's about building running strength. I think my diet is pretty good but I wonder if I'll need to increase protein intake for strength as I approach my race dates. Established and accomplished runners do lots of interval training, uphills and tempo runs. I've done some but I have to admit it's tedious. Perhaps it's important to get past that perception if I want to hit my goal of running a 10K this year.

So what's the key advice to preparing for a race? How is it that most runners I know (online and off) are capable of running six to ten miles at any given time? How long does it take to get there? I've heard from someone who started running last September and is now preparing for a 10K in April. Even with a setback or two she has easily surpassed me in terms of distance progress despite my daily dedication. That tells me I should be doing something different but I don't know exactly what to change.

Today I will get out there and do my best against a 4 mile target. I'm hoping yesterday's 3.6 mile run won't be the best distance I can do this weekend. With the holiday on Monday I'll have an extra day to try. I'm hoping that the temperature will rise enough to allow me to hit the track. However, as we've all discussed, the treadmill is also a great resource for the dedicated runner.

Defending the treadmill - part 2

I've received a lot of comments and emails from my post on Thursday on both the Emerging Runner site and the Runner's World Emerging Runner blog. First of all, I am so happy to hear from people on this subject (and to hear from them in general). I hope people continue to share, it helps define the Emerging Runner experience and it reinforces that my experience is anything but unique. For those who read my posts on the Runner's World Emerging Runner blog, please note that I have additional content on http://www.emergingrunner.com/, including my guest columnist, the Sedentary Man, who (just to be clear) is not me. I value both channels because they serve different purposes, I look forward to hearing more from you.

Core competencies

This month's Runner's World ran a story on core fitness that illustrated the various muscles that, when developed, enhance a runner's performance. The other side of this is the injuries that are likely to occur if a runner fails to condition properly. I decided to try the 15 minute workout to gauge the impact and to see if it isolated muscles that I've, ahem, neglected. I was pleased to see that not only was the workout (5 exercises) possible to do in 15 minutes it was more relaxing than arduous. The article had very clear illustrations and provided guidance on how to ensure you were doing it correctly. They even suggested ways to make it harder. Maybe next time for that.

After the core exercises I was very energized and decided to do a medium long run. We're going to a family event tonight and I didn't want to be too tired to socialize (admittedly, I have trouble in that area under any circumstance) so I cut my run a little short of 4 miles. The good news was the core exercises provided a great lead in for the start of my run. No "stage 1" struggles and the first mile came so fast I had to check twice to make sure I wasn't misreading the display. The bad news was I grew very tired around mile 3. I kept on telling myself the glycogen boost was imminent I just needed to hold on but the boost didn't come. Being slightly insane I constantly calculate my pace by looking at the time and mileage on the treadmill and the mileage on the Sportband. That's a lot of math to do in real time but it gives me a good distraction. I can tell if I'm losing steam when the mileage numbers on my Sportband (which is tied to stride and foot speed) and the mileage on the treadmill (a constant) begin to diverge. That happened around 3.1 miles (at least I hit 5K at intended pace) and I barely managed to run another half mile before I slowed to cool down.

So I think I will integrate the core exercise workout into my fitness program but it's going to be difficult to find the time to do it consistently. Perhaps I can do it at night although my time after I get home from work is already short. Well 15 minutes isn't a very long time so I can't make excuses. The energy boost you get is worth the effort.

Rage against the machines

I got a note from a reader who asked me about my experience with the Brookstone Heart Rate Ring. She had a similar issue and wanted to understand my specific problems with the unit. My experience with this device was similar to my experience with the HRM on my elliptical machine: inaccurate and inconsistent readings. It makes me wonder if any HRMs on the market are capable of performing their simple but important task of accurately reporting a pulse rate in real time. I have been frustrated lately by an astonishing number of technology failures running the gamut of high and low tech. A few examples are shade pulls so over engineered that breaking the cord requires a home visit by a company service rep. Other technology frustrations include my long term search for a programmable switch for my outside house lights that doesn't fail within eight months of installation and flush mounted clothing hooks that require the use of specialized Allen wrenches when a simple screw would do.

Bringing this back to running, I've found that my frustration with the technologies that quantify performance comes as a result of a need to measure progress. I've had the experience where I failed to trigger the start of a run on my Sportband (it requires about 1,000 lbs. of pressure to activate the button) only to discover the problem ten minutes into my run. My irrational response to this is that I wasted my time. If that part of my run wasn't recorded then it didn't happen. So the key issue is I subconsciously value the metrics of running more than the workout itself. When the technology fails to capture the experience or records it incorrectly, irrational or not, it diminishes the way I value the effort.

In defense of the treadmill

The temperature this morning was in the low teens with winds making it far colder. It was also snowing which surprised me a little since I've always thought it couldn't snow when the temperature dropped much below freezing. Adding to this was the 4:00 AM darkness creating the most inhospitable running environment that can be found in suburban NY. There was no question that I would run on the treadmill as the darkness alone is enough to keep me inside on weekday mornings. Also, I like the treadmill for reasons I'll address further into this post.

As a re-engaged runner I am interested in what more experienced runners think and what they do. I'm always curious to hear real runner's opinions about treadmills because I've found them to be a divisive subject. There are those who just hate them and won't use them unless every alternative is exhausted. I know a person who runs in every kind of weather and who won't even wear a hat or long pants unless the temperature drops below 10 degrees. A couple of friends that are well established runners avoid the treadmill because they think the motion of the tread throws off their technique. I respect them very much and I've learned greatly from them both but I don't agree with that perspective.

The treadmill makes great sense to me because it's a practical and enabling technology. It lets me run when nature doesn't cooperate. Perhaps more importantly, the treadmill gives me full control of my environment in terms of conditions, speed and effort. I often think about the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" where Keir Dullea runs within a space station as it revolves. This morning I realized that I would run out of time before hitting my minimum distance for my weekday run. I had about five minutes left and saw that I was about 3/10ths of a mile short of my goal. With reckless abandon I pushed the speed control to 7.8 mph which is close to a 7:30/mi pace. I ended up covering much more distance than originally planned. I know it's not the same as the street or track but that doesn't mean it's worse. One established runner I know tells me she finds the treadmill workout harder than the street. I know it's not ideal and will always prefer the view of the neighborhood, the athletic field or (I'm guessing) the trail to the static view of my backyard viewed through the guestroom window. But at 4:00 AM with snow and a freezing wind-chill I'm still running.

Racking up the miles

The subject of the first post I ever did on this site was "Yeah, I'm a runner." There was actually more to this statement than meets the eye because this was an expression I used sarcastically during my earlier running period to poke fun at my less than dedicated focus. Over the years I have been fortunate enough, through business, to participate in a number of activities such as rock climbing and 12 meter yacht racing. It's always been a joke between my wife and I that once I had these dilettante experiences I would refer to myself as such: "yeah, I'm a rock climber [...sailor, etc.]."

So what's the difference between being a runner and a wanabee runner? I think it's about choosing to do it. I know people who call themselves runners but when I ask them about their routine they tell me they used to run 6 miles four times a week but it's been months since they've done that. My wife isn't a runner and doesn't aspire to running but she is dedicated to fitness and has the potential to be a good runner. In fact, I am confident that if she took up the sport she would quickly surpass me in terms of speed and distance. So perhaps it's better to only have one of us doing that.

My focus right now is on distance and I want to exceed my mileage every month in 2009. Not by a lot but enough so that I will have a measureable improvement between December 2008 and 2009. Haruki Murakami talks a lot about distance in his book and he regularly exceeds 200 miles per month. I don't think I'd ever reach that level but as of now I'm tracking at about 70 miles per month. If I increase my distances 5% per month for the rest of the year I will be around 120 miles per month. The limiting factor is time so I have to build that in. But even if I can log 25 miles per week by the end of this year I will be very satisfied. At that point I can call myself a true runner.

Stages of my daily run

By this point in my return to running my conditioning has prepared me to run far longer than I ever have before. Running a full mile, an imposing goal back in August, has become just another part of my run. While the first mile is no longer an imposing challenge I've discovered that getting through it can still be pretty tough. My typical run experience goes through these stages:

1. Starting struggles
During the first three minutes of a run I often carry on an internal debate about whether I am prepared to run my targeted distance. If I haven't stretched properly (true 98% of the time) I tell myself I'm unprepared to go on any further.

2. Acknowledgment that I will continue
Despite the internal dialog I never actually quit. About seven minutes into my run I usually check my Nike+ Sportband to see my progress and note that I'm almost at a mile. This motivates me further.

3. Comfort
Some time after mile 1 I am properly warmed up and I have established a comfortable pace and stride.

4. Sweat
Before my second mile I'll usually begin to feel the workout. That's really the point. It's at this stage that I assess my progress and gauge whether I'll run more or less distance than originally planned.

5. Equalibrium
Depending on the length of the run there can be a point when I begin to feel stronger. This is sometimes described as a second wind. I find that this frequently happens around mile 3.

6. Negotiating the finish
Once I get closer to my planned endpoint I'll decide whether to extend my run. Nearing completion sometimes results in fatigue as I anticipate the finish. If I can convince myself to go on I'll try to append an extra quarter or half mile to my run.

As I run longer distances and improve my conditioning I'll be curious to see if my stage 1 struggles end. Although I do have these beginning run challenges I know by now that it's just a stage that I will get through.