This stick is a real pain in the neck

Great gift indeed

Today's run (tempo): 3.2 miles

Yesterday's workout wasn't that intense, so I decided to step it up a little this morning with a tempo run. I woke up with a neck ache that I'm sure was caused by my Brookstone Shake Weight. This is a weighted balanced stick that you shake to (supposedly) build muscle via "dynamic inertia." I used it a couple of years ago but started getting back aches. I grabbed it out of the closet the other day thinking it might be a good way to work on arm strength without weights.

Whether it was the shake stick or something else, my neck was in pain. It felt like a pinched muscle but it didn't hurt so bad that I couldn't do my run. In deference to the discomfort, I decided to keep it fairly short. I started the tempo about a minute slower than training pace and held that for about 15 minutes, gradually increasing every quarter mile until I finished near my current 5K race pace.

After I'd completed my run, I took an Aleve. Even after putting some heat on it, the pain is still there, although it's not as intense as it was this morning. I'm hoping that a good night's sleep will get rid of it for good. I'm excited to be doing the GLIRC Clubhouse run tomorrow morning with my running friends, the Petite Pacer and SIOR. I'm really excited about that. As for the Shake Weight, it's either back to the closet or bound for the trash.

Another run on that thing

 

Today's run (treadmill): 40 minutes

Not long ago, I was having lunch with some business friends who also said they ran. I espoused trail running and another friend mentioned how much he loved running in Prospect Park. Our other colleague said that he did a five mile run every day on his treadmill. I asked him if he ever ran outdoors. He said that he lived adjacent to a wooded bike trail, but still preferred running on the treadmill. I couldn't understand that at all.

To be fair, my wife does 45 minutes on the treadmill almost every day and it works for her. Time is important and the treadmill is very efficient. No ten minute process to put on layers and other gear when it's cold outside. There's even a timer to help her keep her schedule to the minute. Knowing this, I should have been more understanding of my friend. But he has a trail in his back yard.

Yesterday was devoted to meeting a tight deadline and that meant starting at 5:30 AM to ensure that I'd complete what was needed by 5:30 PM. There was no time for a run and I was okay with that. This morning I had more flexibility and planned to go out in the 24° cold, but my wife warned me that the roads were extremely icy. I have enough concerns about sanitation trucks, school buses and bad drivers in my neighborhood that I don't like to increase my risk with slick roads. So it was back to the treadmill.

 

I think the treadmill seems harder because it forces a higher cadence relative to stride length. In other words, if I require 174 SPM to maintain a nine minute pace on the road, I may need to run 177 or more SPM to manage the same pace on the treadmill. It's a lot of extra work to get to the same speed. Still, training at a higher cadence might yield a benefit that I can leverage outdoors. Until they put a bike path through my backyard, I guess I'll be stuck on that thing from time to time.

A little snow can't stop a run

My view from the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 3.3 miles

This is the season for snow, although we really haven't seen too much this year. We knew we'd see some snow today and I planned to get outside before things got out of hand. My schedule was tight with some deadlines looming. By the time I was ready to run, there was a coating of snow on the road and I opted for the treadmill.

I hadn't run since Sunday when I went out for an easy four miles to recover from Saturday's race. The treadmill is my least favorite workout but I knew I had to step it up today. I decided to start fast and see how long I could sustain it. I was surprised how easy it felt and wondered if my legs were still tuned for racing speed.

Even with the TV to distract me, the run became increasingly tedious as time went on. My perception of easy running gave way to wishing I could get off the treadmill. I helped things along by increasing my speed for the last five minutes. It was a good run and a fairly hard effort. By the time I finished there were at least two inches of snow on the ground. With lots to do on Wednesday, I'm not sure if I'll have time to run tomorrow. I'm glad I got in a decent run today, even if was on the dreaded treadmill.

I swear I didn't run through my neighbor's houses

I love data visualization

Today's run (street): 4.2 miles

The sky is as white as paper and the temperature is dropping. We're supposed to get two inches of ice and snow by late afternoon. Nothing so far, but I can tell it's coming. For that reason, I made sure I got outside early to get in a few recovery miles before conditions got worse.

I had no intention of running as hard as yesterday and had to throttle my speed a couple of times. A recovery run is supposed to be done well under anaerobic threshold to help flush lactic acid from leg muscles. I used my heart rate monitor to guide my pace, averaging 75% of HR max throughout the run. It was a nice relaxing workout, although my (gloved) hands got surprisingly cold.

No actual yards or living rooms were entered

I've written a lot about the variability of GPS as a measurement tool and today's margin of error was particularly egregious. Not only did the Garmin show me starting the run three blocks from my actual beginning point, the accuracy was laughably bad throughout the entire route. The Garmin route map (see above) makes it look like I ran through many people's yards and houses.

Distribution of pace times through the year

Reflecting back on 2013's racing season, I charted my race paces to see if there were any obvious patterns. The data doesn't show any trends that would explain my performance, as times were all over the map. I'm hoping that next year will yield faster times and more consistency. At least I finished the season in a good place.

Race report: 2013 Seaford Hot Chocolate 5K

Post-race with SIOR

Today's run (Seaford Hot Chocolate 5K): 3.1 miles (8:54 pace)

Today's Seaford Hot Chocolate 5K was my last race of the year and I wanted to make it count. After some disappointing racing experiences throughout 2013, I was happy to cap off the year with some decent results.

I had never run the Hot Chocolate race before, but I heard it was big. With over 900 participants, numerous volunteers and a large group of Seaford HS band members playing in the main hallway, it felt like an event. I ran into a few people I know along the way and found my buddy SIOR at the registration area that was set up in the main auditorium.

The plan was for the "Three Musketeers" to run this race together, but unfortunately the Petite Pacer was dealing with both a bad cold and an overheated car. We were disappointed that she couldn't make it today, but after running four races in the last month, resting was a smart move.

SIOR and I got to the starting line and before we knew it, it was 9:00 AM. I was so caught up in our conversation that I didn't experience my usual starting line race jitters. Soon enough, the start was called and we were on our way. I tried to match SIOR's cadence for the first minute, until she disappeared into the distance like a royal blue apparition.

I felt good at the start and hoped that I would be able to maintain a decent pace throughout the run. The Hot Chocolate course is a big rectangle and the first mile comes up near the corner of Mill Rd and Washington Ave. I was a little surprised to see the first mile clock showing 10+ minutes when I passed it. For a moment, I questioned my ability to judge my own performance. A look at my Garmin showed I'd covered the mile in 8:33. Apparently that clock time reflected the earlier start of the physically challenged participants.

Washington Ave seemed to have a slight slope and I tried to take advantage, but lost about 20 seconds on mile two. I was surprised to see us passing the rear of the high school so soon, until I remembered that this was a 5K. After two recent 10K's, it was nice to know that I'd be getting through this course a lot quicker.

I did something today that I've rarely done this year - pass a lot of people. I was able to maintain my speed fairly well and, before I knew it, I came to the turn onto Seamans Neck Rd. At that point I said to myself that SIOR had probably just crossed the line. Still, it was the last, straight shot to the finish line and I worked hard to stay on pace.

I thought I was tracking toward a 27 minute finish when I saw the chute far off in the distance. I stepped up my effort and even passed a few people as I drew closer to the line. Once I could see the clock, it was already reading 27:xx. I thought I had a chance of keeping it under my targeted 27:50. I was pleased when I crossed the line and saw that the timer read 27:37.

Post finish "action" shot

Photo courtesy of She Is Out Running

SIOR greeted me after I'd crossed the line. She finished four minutes earlier than me and picked up yet another age division podium spot. We looked at the readouts posted on the timing truck and then headed into the high school to get some hot chocolate, the real purpose for running this race. We were hoping that the award ceremony would begin soon after so she could collect her medal while I cheered. Unfortunately, we both had family obligations that required us to leave before the ceremony started.

Nice race shirt

I had a really nice time this morning and was happy with my performance today. It was great to hang out with SIOR and to experience a new race under good weather conditions (I'm still slightly traumatized by the Long Beach Turkey Trot experience). My next event will be the LIRRC Hangover Run that takes place in Eisenhower Park on New Years Day morning, followed by the Long Beach Snowflake run in February.

Is 93% of max the magic number?

Not far from 180spm, so where's the speed?

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

I'm a little disappointed with today's run because I could not generate any speed. Despite clocking my first mile in 8:57 (easy for many, but hard for me lately), I ended up averaging an unremarkable 9:29 pace over 3.5 miles. After a good start, I'd lost time on mile 2 and then tried to make up for it over the last 1.5. I felt like I'd made a good effort, but according to Garmin Connect, my heart rate across the whole run ranged only between 77-85% of max.

I took a look at my race history and compared my pace performance with my average heart rate. Since I've only run about a dozen races using a heart monitor, this wasn't a statistically significant representation. Directionally, it seemed to indicate that my best times happened when my heart rate averaged 93% of max HR or greater.

Does this mean that I'm somehow holding back, even as I work to push my speed during a run? The numbers seem to point to an opportunity to unlock some speed by adding even more effort. My cadence rate has actually improved over the 5+ years since I've starting daily running, but that hasn't translated to speed. I will do my best to hold the effort on Saturday. I'm not asking for much, but beating 27:50 would be nice.

The little workout that could

Today's workout (treadmill): 35 minutes

A little resistance

Work distractions prevented me from getting out this morning and the busyness continued throughout the day. By midday I'd resigned myself to missing any kind of workout. Around 5:30 I was fully caught up, so I decided to do something that resembled activity. The treadmill provided an easy, quick and low key alternative to a run on the street.

I didn't feel like a run that late in the day, but 35 minutes walking on the treadmill didn't seem like enough of a workout. I put on some ankle weights, grabbed some hand weights, and set the treadmill's incline to a 2% grade. I picked an easy running pace and ended up with a far more beneficial workout than I'd originally planned. Judging from the level of sweating I'd done, this was the equivalent of a much faster run done with no incline or weights. I didn't wear my HRM but I wish I had. I would have liked to see how hard I'd actually worked today.

Running through the neighborhood hive

The neighborhood was abuzz

Today's run (street): 4.25 miles

The Monday after Thanksgiving week starts like a cold diesel on a freezing morning. It's hard to get back into business mode after four days of leisure. My first meeting of the day wasn't until mid morning and that gave me enough time to ease into the work week after getting in a run.

Mondays are normally my rest days. Since I got a good workout done on Sunday, I could have stayed with the schedule but I'll be resting on Friday ahead of Saturday's race. Continuing my workouts and not taking the rest day seemed to make sense. If I'd been more focused on getting out this morning I might have had time to head to Bethpage. With only 90 minutes to run, recover and prepare, I was left with no choice but to stay in the neighborhood.

I rarely run between 7:30 and 8:30 AM because I don't want to deal with all the school buses. Today I had no choice and I discovered that buses were just one reason to avoid going out during that hour. My fun started as soon I stood on the driveway and saw two huge landscaping trucks pull in front of my house. These trucks discharged a small army of workers who were there to start our fall cleanup. I guess today was the day to do that, because once I was clear of my own road, I encountered at least a dozen other crews at work across the neighborhood.

Buses scare me and landscaping trucks really scare me when I run. I spent more than my usual amount of time running on the sidewalks today. It was amazing to see the amount of activity playing out before me. Who knew that 8:00 AM is when every car backs out of its driveway, every parent with a grade school kid congregates at a bus stop and every town truck (maintenance, garbage, recycling) is rolling and stopping along the street.

As I made my way towards home, it all played out in front of me. Cars stopped for garbage trucks, Bobcat loaders blocked school buses and people walked their dogs. The neighborhood was like a hive of activity and I was just trying to get through it unstung.

Considering all the hazards, I had no close calls. I was glad to get back home and away from the frenzied streets. I missed the days when I ran at 4:00 AM and the only vehicle I would ever see was the guy who drove around and threw the NY Times on people's driveways. Since I have more time flexibility now, I'm not willing to go out so early. But going forward, I'm going to do everything possible to avoid that 7:30 AM hour.

A hard workout inspired by a movie

Hey Hollywood, I have an idea

Today's workout (Elliptical): 40 minutes

I never think that elliptical sessions are as difficult as running, but occasionally I'll finish a workout that has my legs vibrating like a tuning fork. That was my experience today, although I didn't plan it that way. We had early morning plans that threw off my run schedule and I almost took today to rest instead of tomorrow. I felt off-cycle most of the day and by mid afternoon I was ready for some type of activity.

The temperature had risen measurably since yesterday and I considered doing a neighborhood run. But the convenience of the treadmill drew me upstairs. Before I reached it, I was distracted by the elliptical. It's been a while since I've used the machine and since I'm tapering for next Saturday, I thought it would be good to work on a few different muscles. I set the resistance to medium and hit start.

It took me a few minutes to start sweating and that inspired me to work a little harder. About halfway through my session, I noticed the display metric that indicated the amount of energy being expended. I decided then that I would not let it drop below a certain number (a la the movie Speed). Happily, maintaining that level distracted me from the effort I had to expend to do it.

I set an even higher target for the last five minutes, hoping to simulate the anaerobic experience that comes at the end of a race. The last two minutes felt endless, but I kept the effort meter above the danger zone. After I finished, I moved to the treadmill to cool down for a few minutes at an easy pace. My legs were definitely worked out and I was glad to have completed a vigorous training session. I'll go out for five or six miles either tomorrow or Tuesday before stepping down my taper before the weekend,

Short & sweet threshold run

Today's run (Threshold): 3 miles

This year's racing experience has been a mystery. After a decent start in February, my performance has really tailed off. I'm not sure if it has to do with my change to a less structured schedule this year or less intensity in terms of training. Whatever the reason, I haven't been satisfied with my results. November has always been my best month for achieving personal bests, but that's not been the case this year.

The Hot Chocolate 5K happens next week and I've hoped that the two 10K's I've done in November have put me in racing form. I debated whether to go to the track today to run intervals or do a threshold run. I decided a run in the neighborhood would more closely duplicate race conditions.

It was another cold morning with mid-20's temperatures. I was chilly at the start, because I wore fewer layers. If I was going for speed, I didn't want anything inhibiting my progress. I took off fast up the road, looking to get into high gear quickly. The street has a slight incline that gives way to an equally slight downward slope. I knew I was moving faster than I do on a normal training run and my Garmin shows I covered my first mile in 8:25.

I didn't have a set distance for this threshold run. It was more about running a short (but not too short) loop with some urgency. I lost some speed on the second mile, but came back fairly strongly by the end of the run. I wasn't paying attention to my distance, but after I'd stopped I saw that I'd covered three miles at 8:46. Not too bad considering my HR only averaged 85% of max.

A year ago I might have done that run 25 seconds per mile faster, but I won't complain about today's performance. I slightly regret not monitoring my Garmin and completing the full 5K distance. I doubt the numbers would have been much different. If I can hold my pace below 9:00 next Saturday, I'll consider it a successful effort. I'm hoping I'll do better than that and certainly no worse.

Running and thinking at Stillwell

Stillwell: Mind and Body

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 4.25 miles

It occurred to me that I haven't run the trails in a while, so I looked it up on Garmin Connect and saw that my last Stillwell run was eight weeks ago. After thirty runs on pavement and treadmill, I thought it was time to head back to the woods. Trail running is far different than street running, both in terms of experience and expectation. On trails, the terrain underfoot can change by the second and the hills and drops are frequent and occasionally treacherous. Not all trails are as technical as Stillwell and that's probably a good thing.

A trail run was the ideal way to burn some extra calories after last night's Thanksgiving dinner. We had fun and were given the choice of both normal people food and vegan offerings. Another guest cooked most of the vegan dishes and I give credit to my sister-in-law (who hosted) for preparing excellent vegan acorn squash stuffed with toasted quinoa and cranberries. I had tofurky for the first time and thought it was really good, like well marinated seitan.

Stillwell Woods Park was fairly empty when I arrived. A group of men were assembling to play touch football and a few others were busy preparing mountain bikes in the lot. There were light winds that made it feel like 26° but I had prepared for that. The trails were clear and the ground was frozen for the most part. I enjoyed being back on Stillwell's paths and its ever changing surroundings.

I'd recently read an article that said, "If I am thinking at all when I run, this is a sign of a run gone wrong." I think the writer's point was that if you can think, you haven't given yourself fully to the effort. I strongly disagree with this and suggest the opposite. I feel that when you reach a state where you are thinking about anything except for the run, you have succeeded. When I'm running in the woods I am able to detach from the physical world in a way that's nearly impossible to do while running on the street.

I enjoyed every foot of the 4+ miles I covered today and thought about many things, all of which I've since forgotten. I know I need to work on my speed this weekend and should probably have gone to the track today, instead of the woods. After all, there's always tomorrow and Sunday to do that. Today was about the mind, and tomorrow I'll worry about the body.

Turkey trot not

Today's run (street): 3.9 miles

Happy Thanksgiving. This is many people's favorite holiday, mine too I guess, because it is so inclusive. No divisive factors such as religion, culture or politics at play. As long as you don't think about what really happened on or around the first Thanksgiving (SIOR recently made the point that the original dinner was anything but inclusive), you can enjoy a middle of the workweek break. We're heading out for Thanksgiving dinner soon. Rumor has it that our hosts are cooking a lot of vegan food, but there WILL be turkey.

Thanksgiving time is a runner's paradise, because of all the local Turkey Trots that happen around the holiday. I had a good time, under miserable conditions, while running the Long Beach Turkey Trot last Sunday. We were signed up for this morning's Nissequoge 5K, but we decided to forgo our plans in favor of doing something else. We've run that race for the past three years as a family, at a very easy pace. I've never run a competitive race on Thanksgiving day, but I'm thinking of changing that next year.

Instead of a Turkey Trot, I settled for a neighborhood run this morning. With 12 MPH winds, it felt like 21° outside. I probably overdressed for the run, but the Long Beach experience was still fresh on my mind. Even so, when the wind hit head-on, it seemed to pass through every layer I was wearing. I was feeling okay about my progress until I encountered another runner coming from a connecting street who turned onto the road behind me. He passed me a few seconds later, before taking a right while I kept going straight.

I sometimes have trouble understanding why people run faster than me. This person seemed to be maintaining the same cadence as me and his stride was not particularly open. Yet he moved at a faster rate than me. Puzzling. I know that, in reality, his cadence was faster and his stride was longer. It just didn't look like that.

Today feels like Sunday, but the weekend is yet to come. I plan to address the speed issue on one of those weekend days by running intervals at the track. Perhaps that, and a continued focus on increasing my average distance, will help me achieve the elusive sub-9 pace that I used to expect when I raced. I like to think that I would have saved 30 seconds per mile on Sunday if I wasn't running into 29 MPH winds. But that may just be wishbone thinking.