This week's Sedentary Man

In this week's column Sedentary Man talks about his first golf outing of the season. This should prove once and for all that SM and I are not one in the same since I dislike golf as much as he seems to like it. Hey, whatever makes him happy. At least it seems like he's getting some exercise. Read this week's column...

Core for the common cold

As strange as it may sound I was happy to see that my sore throat was just the first sign of a cold. Having had a few bouts of strep in the past I take sore throats pretty seriously. Colds are annoying but relatively easy to ignore. I don't consider them an excuse not to exercise and, in fact, I believe that powering through a cold actually speeds recovery.

My biggest concern right now is an increasingly noticeable stiffness and pain in my upper right leg. As I have mentioned, this discomfort disappears while running but it always returns. I should be icing it more but it was a busy weekend. Yesterday we returned to the track and I ran a little more than 3 miles at a 9:07 pace. I purposely held back to protect my injury but I did push the speed a few times. There was another runner on the track who was pacing (I'll guess) around 7:30/mile and I didn't want him to lap me.

This morning I decided to skip both running and elliptical and instead did 15 minutes of core followed by 10 minutes of upper body work. That was a great combo. My leg felt a lot better and I got my heart rate up a little. I'm thinking of doing core again tomorrow before running. It seems to help but it will cut into my running time. I guess I'll just have to run faster!

Hurtin for certain

Yesterday afternoon we all headed over to the high school to do some running. The kids had fun running on the track but they wore themselves out pretty quickly. Mrs. Emerging Runner, who's a dedicated walker, has been integrating running into her daily workouts on the treadmill. She wanted to see how track running compared to the treadmill and we ended up doing a couple of miles (in total). We kept it to a moderate pace but it was still 30% faster than she normally runs on the treadmill so she occasionally switched over to walking. In all, it was a impressive beginning run on terra firma and she set a goal to double the amount of distance during her next visit to the track.

On the other hand I had a tough start. After running 5.2 miles in the morning, my muscle injury felt better but the pain returned by afternoon. My first few minutes on the track were uncomfortable but the pain reduced after I'd warmed up. On top of this pain, I've started to experience a sore throat. I'm hoping it's the start of a cold, rather than a throat problem like strep. When I woke up this morning my throat was even worse and my muscle pain was sharp. A little Ibuprofen seems to have helped but I skipped my usual morning run. If I'm feeling up to it later I may run a couple of miles but I'm not going to try again for the three miles under 9:00 goal this weekend.

36 darn seconds

This morning, with the temperature in the high 20's, it didn't feel like much like spring. My right side soreness was better but I was concerned about aggravating it with a long run. As I prepared to start, my next door neighbor (a CPA) was preparing to head to his office to deal with corporate tax filings. He said he'd rather be running than doing that (who wouldn't?) and I said "Cheer up April 16 isn't too far away." For me it was time to run.

I decided that I would run a minimum of 5 miles today and planned my route on Gmaps to help me stay focused on the goal. My secondary goal was to stay under 9:00 per mile but I knew that running 5+ miles puts me at the edge of my distance capability. I set out on a road with an incline to help me get my heart rate up quickly. It was cold and I dressed with a minimum of layers anticipating that I would build heat as I ran. I was running an 8:55 pace as I reached my first mile and I started wondering how long I could maintain that rate. As planned, I cut over to neighborhood #2 and did the big loop. Not being fully familiar with that area I made a navigation error and I ended up running about half a mile away from my planned exit. I didn't mind, miles are miles no matter where you take them.

Around the 4.5 mile mark I started struggling and I had another episode of hyperventilating. What was different about this is that I was relatively far from home when it happened. Like last time, I simply held my breath and ran until I felt rebalanced. I took a couple of slow deep breaths and soon returned to my previous rhythm.

I'll admit that the last leg, about 1/3 of a mile, was a struggle and I tried to generate as much speed as I could but I knew I was near my limit. I Gmapped my actual run and compared it to the Garmin and was happy to see that they were within .01% of the distance of 5.22 miles. I calculated my overall pace at 9:07 which meant that if I'd run 36 seconds faster over 47 minutes I would have averaged 9:00 min/mile. Later I'll look at my split times to see if I'd held pace under 9:00 for the first 3 miles which was the original goal.

I'll decide tomorrow whether I'll try for another long run or shorten the distance and turn up the speed. My injury seems no worse for the long run and I'm hoping the pain doesn't return later.

Spring training

Today is the first day of spring, marking the end of my second season (fall and winter) as an emerging runner. I'm pleased with the progress I've made in the past six months and now, with 29 days to my first race, it's time to get serious about training.

It's interesting to think about the benchmarks I've passed since last September. Not long ago I struggled through my first mile and I'm proud to say I can now run more than five. My training approach has been anything but scientific but I like the way things have worked out. Back in December, when I signed up for the May 5K race, I was barely able to run three miles. Before I do that race I'm facing a 4 miler in April with no concerns about the distance. The goal now is pace and that's where the training comes in.

Two of my running advisors, CK and CMC, have given me great guidance on using speed work to increase fitness. I read blogs from other runners who are much more disciplined about these methods and this explains why they run 6 and 7 minute miles and I don't. I just like to run and by integrating some faster paces into my normal pacing I've been able to improve my overall pace. I'll start stepping that up this weekend and will try again to run over four miles at under 9:00 per mile.

This morning I achieved that pace at half the distance, running 2.01 miles at 8:46 per mile. I felt like I could have sustained or even exceeded that pace if I had time to run a couple more miles. Some of that comes from conditioning and some comes from the fact that I only did upper body exercise yesterday. I'm beginning to appreciate rest days as a training tool.

The fitness of my elliptical machine

This week we closed a chapter in the saga of my BH Fitness elliptical machine when the manufacturer sent their own service tech to replace a number of parts. The retailer, Fitness Showrooms, abdicated responsibility for the machine after a few failed attempts to fix its numerous ills. I've crossed Fitness Showrooms off the list of stores I'll ever patronize again.

BH Fitness replaced everything (some parts for the fourth time) and the net result remains disappointing. The HRM is still completely inaccurate and the display is difficult to read when operating the unit. I would have been better off sticking with the original unit with a bad HRM. I'm not sure it's the machine itself, design engineering flaws or tech incompetency (this last round my wife had to point out to him that he'd installed the arms backwards) but I'm not going to endorse this unit.

I was going to use the machine this morning but my muscle soreness on my right hip made me rethink doing a lower body workout. I ended up doing about 20 minutes of arms and upper body work. My HRM readings showed it wasn't much work at all so I can hardly count it as a conditioning day. If I feel less sore tomorrow I'll consider a run. Otherwise I'll try a round with the elliptical which will hopefully put less strain on my injured area.

If the Emerging Runner developed products

It was great to do an outside run yesterday but it was back to the treadmill this morning. I'm still struggling a little with soreness around my right hip and it took a few minutes of warm-up for that to dissipate. Once I felt more comfortable I increased my speed and ended up running about 2 miles at 8:52/mile. I want to get these shorter runs closer to 8:30/mile but I'll take some pleasure in knowing that an 8:52 pace is a full minute faster than what I was doing four months ago.

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While I ran today I thought about treadmill running vs. street, track and trail running. I am a fan of the treadmill but I'm not a fan of its limitations. If I created my own treadmill I'd do the following:

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- Build the tread wide enough to move laterally. I don't know if there are limits to how wide the tread can be relative to factors such as power and weight capacity but most treadmills are narrow to the point of claustrophobia. I like when I get to run in hotel fitness centers because some high end units provide a wider track.

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- Speed sensing. I know from tracking my performance with Garmin Connect that my running speed varies from minute to minute. On the road it's no problem as the speed of the runner is relative to a static surface. On a treadmill you are running variable paces and the treadmill is running at a steady pace. This translates into constant subconscious adjustment by the runner to regulate to the speed of the moving tread. Plus the constant concern that you'll either overrun the unit or fall back so far as to pull the safety cord. It would be great if the treadmill could detect subtle changes in cadence or pace and adjust the tread speed accordingly. If the runner wanted to sprint the treadmill would follow. Sure you can accomplish the same by constantly adjusting the speed control but that's tedious and imprecise.

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- Use an electric eye or motion detector to control emergency shut off. Running with a cord attached to your shirt or shorts is another contributor to treadmill claustrophobia. Plus, based upon conversations I've had with people, many don't use the cord for this very reason. It's like seatbelts vs. airbags: active versus passive protection.

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- It's not the first time I'm mentioning it but how about a virtual reality screen to simulate outdoor running? The video can interact with the treadmill so that it automatically goes to inclines on hills, etc. I don't know how to simulate different surfaces (muddy trails, dirt, macadam) but I'm confident the Emerging Runner Laboratories would figure that out.

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It's possible that some of this technology already exists in the higher end units. To do what I'm suggesting above would likely add thousands of dollars to the cost. With advances in screen display and sensing technologies it's not unrealistic to think these features could be offered at a reasonable cost. Call now, operators are standing by!

NYC running: all is forgiven

This morning's workday started with a St. Patrick's Day run in Central Park organized by Adventure Girl as a kickoff to her Ragnar relay race in May. We gathered at Lululemon Athletica on 64th Street in Columbus Circle and after a brief review of our route we headed out for a 4K run. The weather was perfect for running and Lululemon provided a running trainer who guided us through the route and answered questions about technique. The course took us through Central Park where we encountered many other runners, bikers and some walkers. The run pace was about 9:00/mile but I got a little impatient and ran ahead for about a third of the run. I enjoyed running with other people, their pacing helped me regulate my stride and cadence and I discovered I can run and talk!

This wasn't a competitive run and considering that I had no shower option I fared pretty well. The combination of not wearing a running jacket and having moderately cool temperatures helped minimize the sweat level. AG and I considered a run back to the office but in the interest of time we hopped on the 1 train and made it in before many of our co-workers had arrived. It was one of the best running experiences I've had since returning to the sport and I hope to do more of this. I'm concerned about high temperatures as we move closer to summer. 90 degrees and no shower is bad combination for business...

My '90's running experience was not so good and I always blamed the inhospitality of the city for that. If I was exposed to conditions like this I might have viewed it much differently. What a great way to do a weekday run.

Low impact, high diversity

I've been taking it fairly easy over the past few days. A real rest day on Friday, a normal long run on Saturday (5 miles) and a shorter run on Sunday (2.5 miles) made a little more challenging via trails and mud. I do think there's something to resting but I also think it's important to get my heart rate up every day to maintain a good level of conditioning. This weekend I found mixing up the workout to be a good way to isolate muscles and give them a rest while staying true to my daily routine.

I felt as though yesterday's trail run provided a greater than average effort-to-distance ratio, meaning that I worked harder than usual to reach my distance. All the same I felt like I should have gone longer so later in the day, when my wife went upstairs to do the elliptical, I joined her by doing about 20 minutes of core and 15 minutes working my arms with free weights.

Keeping in mind that I had already exercised in the morning I didn't push too hard but I finished feeling energized and satisfied that I made some gains. This morning I continued the low impact routine with 15 minutes of elliptical set to medium resistance. The rest of the week will be more intense but I wanted to give myself a break for a few days. Tomorrow I'll be running in a 4K training session and I'm sure I'll appreciate the rest I've taken.

A fun new world very close to home

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I'm still experiencing some soreness off my right hip and, based upon reaction to pressure, I'm wondering if it's due to an aggravated sciatic nerve. This soreness makes walking and running uncomfortable for the first ten or so steps but it goes away after that. I almost decided to rest it but instead headed over to Stillwell Woods, a local preserve that sits across the street from the High School track. I figured that running trails would have a lesser impact on my injury and if the soreness continued I could just return knowing that I tried.

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Access to the trails is fronted by a large complex of athletic fields and as I ran past I saw many other early birds gathering to play football and soccer while others were unloading trail bikes. Those people scared me because I figured we'd be competing for trail space and they didn't look particularly courteous. As it happened I didn't encounter a single biker on my run but I did see a couple of other runners. I entered the trail and instantly found myself in another world. I'd run a little at the Planting Fields but that is a not really set up for trail runners and mountain bikers. There was nothing but high brush on the sides and a flat trail in front with other trails connecting right and left. The elevations varied every hundred feet or so and, in the narrow parts, it felt a little like riding a roller coaster. The trees prevented a line of site to give any true perspective on where I was relative to anywhere else so I just let the trail take me where it would. It was really fun.

The temperature was in the low 40's and I wore less layers so I had no issues with the heat. The trails were muddy but the cold kept me from sinking in. Any colder and it probably would have hurt to run on it, any warmer and some sections would have been just too mucky. Perfect. I learned that trails are harder to run than pavement or track and I know this because I could barely maintain a high 9:00 pace but my heart rate was showing that I was putting in a strong effort. When I finally came out at the other side of the athletic fields I was at 2.5 miles and I decided that, with respect to my injury, it was enough for today.

I'm looking forward to returning to Stillwell to explore the many trails not taken this morning. It's literally five minutes from my front door but it feels like it's a million miles away. I'm betting that this change from road running can only help with my training as I approach race day.

Training to train

This morning I did a 5 mile neighborhood run, including about 1.25 miles running around neighborhood #2. Considering the length of the run I am happy with my 9:17 overall pace although my target was to average under 9:10/mile and my goal was to stay under 9:00. I guess you could call that a stretch goal. Maybe if I did more stretching I'd have made it.

The Garmin 50 pulled a new trick, about 3 minutes into my run I noticed that while it was happily reporting time, speed, cadence and heart rate the distance stopped incrementing after .08 miles. I couldn't figure that out so my only recourse was to stop the timing and restart. Somehow it took that action as starting a new split but at least the Garmin was recording distance again. I felt really good throughout the run (gee maybe there is something to taking rest days) but in the final minute I experienced a reaction where I suddenly had difficulty breathing. This was hyperventilating and not related to being out of breath from the run. I had a similar experience the last time I ran over 5 miles. I recovered by forcing slow breaths and holding my breath until it re-regulated. I'm sure it's psychological. I just hope it doesn't continue to happen.

The reason I'm training hard this weekend is that I'm participating in a group run next week that's been organized by Adventure Girl to start her team's training for the Ragnar relay race in May. This relay is a 175 mile race from Woodstock to the Bronx with 12 members who each run three legs. I'm not participating in that race but I'm excited about this training run because it will be the first time I've run with people in over a decade. I have to admit I'm a little concerned about carrying a conversation while running but I'll do my best. My other concern is that I'm going directly to the office afterward without a shower. The run, which takes place in Central Park, is only 4K so if I under dress I might be abe to minimize the amount that I sweat.

I'm going to try some trail running tomorrow to take advantage of the weather and to exercise some different muscles.

Under a rest

Last night I had a conversation with my wife and kids about alarm clocks. They were mentioning how annoying it is when my alarm goes off at 4:00 reverberating loudly through the house. Hey, with the split second timing of my morning routine I need that jolt to get the day started. So I guess you could call it irony that I forgot to set it last night and by the time I woke up this morning it was too late to run.

Right now I'm debating whether I'll accept my fate and just call it my first rest day of 2009. I actually considered bringing gear to work so I could run at lunch but, without ready access to a post-run shower, it's not a practical option. I also have the option of running when I get home but I prefer to spend evenings with my family. Taking a real rest day is probably a good thing to do. I've been dealing with a sore tendon on my right side that hasn't affected my running but it makes walking uncomfortable. A rest day can only help that and this is a good opportunity to see if my performance on Saturday will be improved because of this extra recovery time. This is important to know as I plan my strategy for the week of my April race.

I did take the time to weigh in this morning and was mystified to see that I am continuing to lose weight. I thought I'd stabilized but apparently I'm consuming less than I'm burning off. I should be happy about this, I'm certainly not emaciated, but I do need to build back some muscle. Perhaps some weight training needs to be added to the routine. That's a good goal for this weekend.