A return to the darkness

Enlightening

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

In my last post, I mentioned a Runner's World web post that was similar to one that I wrote a couple of years ago. The subject matter, gender equality in racing, was provocative enough to prompt a reader to leave a long, thoughtful comment. The funny thing about that is the reader left it on She Is Out Running's (SIOR) blog.

This was no accident. The commenter said that he views SIOR, The Petite Pacer (TPP) and this blog as a set. I now pronounce us the United Blogs of Long Island! Feel free to leave comments for any of us anywhere. We'll figure it out.

Today is Friday and that means working from home and finally being able to run outside. This morning I decided to get in gear early (pun intended :) and go out for my run. This wasn't a 4:00 AM adventure, actually closer to 6:30, but still dark outside. I put on my reflective vest and started my headlamp. It's hard to tell how strong the beam is until you are outside, but since I haven't used it in almost a year I didn't expect too much illumination.

Stepping outside in the darkness brought back a lot of memories of when this was a daily occurrence. I acquired a signal quickly on my Garmin and off I went. The neighborhood was still quiet except for the town recycling trucks that are driven by maniacs. I always try to avoid the streets along their route. If I can't, I'll stick to the sidewalks.

The batteries in the headlamp will need to be replaced as the light was fairly weak. There was plenty of light from the full moon, so the lamp served mostly as a way to make me more visible to cars. A little before 7:00 AM, I could see the sun starting to rise. By then, the middle school buses were on the road, the streets began to fill with cars and I was done with my run.

Even though some elements of this morning's run were similar to my 4:00 AM running days, today had a different feel. Back then, everything was timed to the split second and I ran the same route every day at around the same pace (9 min/mile). A minute's slip could impact my whole morning routine that included making an early train. I only needed to commute as far as my home office after today's workout.

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be rainy, so I'm not sure what I'll do. Sunday's weather looks better and SIOR, TPP and I are planning to get out for a few miles. It will be a momentous occasion for the United Blogs of LI.

Adventure running is where you find it

Adventure starts here

Today's run (treadmill): 26 minutes

I used to be an adventurous runner. By that I mean I didn't do 90% of my runs within two miles of my house. I'm far less adventurous nowadays, because I have far less time and fewer opportunities to try new experiences.

My job used to be located in mid-town Manhattan and that opened the door to my love of city running. At least once a week I'd run in Central Park, across the Brooklyn or GW Bridge or up and down the West Side Highway. I'd often run around cities that I would visit on business trips. I ran wooded trails whenever I could find them, and I found a lot of them. I even did a marathon relay race on Cape Cod as part of a family vacation.

My frequent running partner (Adventure Girl) introduced me to a lot of different running venues. After she moved to Montana (where she does trail running in the woods with real live bears) I was left on my own to run in the city. Although I found other running buddies, I pretty much stuck to Central Park. On weekends I'd venture out to Belmont Lake to run the Dirty Sock race course or to other local but interesting places. Now it's mostly just Stillwell Woods or the Bethpage Bike trail.

This morning I was able to fit in a short, humid treadmill run before I started my day. As I was taking out my heart rate monitor, my long dormant running headlamp fell to the floor. I picked it up and thought about my daily adventures running the streets of my neighborhood at 4:00 AM. Not an exotic locale, but in the 300 or so runs I did in the dark, I saw a lot of very interesting (and occasionally scary) things on those runs.

This past weekend, my Runsketeer buddies had a Facebook discussion about an adventure marathon that takes place in Utah, with a course that starts at 4,000 feet above sea level. Before I knew it, they were talking about flights, rental cars and accommodations. I think they are serious about doing this race. While that race is not for me, it made me think about broadening my horizons. I think I'll check the batteries in the headlamp and see where that takes me.

Headlamp failure saved by the treadmill

Light's out

Today's run (treadmill): 4 miles

I spent the day in the city, so I'd planned an early morning run. It's been nine months since the last time I ran in the pre-dawn darkness and, not unexpectedly, my Black Diamond headlamp wasn't working. I put in new batteries but the lamp kept going off, just like my old Petzl unit. I don't understand why it's so hard to make a headlamp with a stable battery housing.

While I wasted time trying to get the lamp to stay on, my daughter told me it was raining outside. Running in the dark, in a mix of rain and snow, was not going to happen. Instead, I got on the treadmill and hammered out 4 miles at a fairly good pace. I worried that I'd pushed too hard, considering all the NYC foot travel I was facing later in the day. I ended up doing fine.

I ended up walking pretty far today and the result was a substantial blister on the bottom of my left foot. I'm hoping it will miraculously heal overnight so I can get out on the road tomorrow (weather permitting).

Nostalgic for those self illuminated runs

Need to spend some time with my Tikka Plus

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

I'm up every morning at 5:00 AM, but I usually don't run until the kids have left for school. I've thought once or twice about getting out on the road earlier, like I did when I commuted. I considered doing that today, but by 5:30 AM, I was already in work mode. Maybe tomorrow.

I wasn't sure what effect (if any) yesterday's flu shot would have on my run today. To be on the safe side, I planned an easy workout. To be even safer, I left the foot pod and heart rate monitor home and didn't turn on my Garmin's GPS. I didn't want to see any evidence of my pace or effort I was expending, lest I be influenced to pick up my speed. I did capture my time, so if I really wanted to know how fast I ran, I could calculate pace based on my distance. So far I haven't been tempted to do that. Okay, maybe a little.

Besides waking up feeling fatigued, I don't think I'm suffering much from the vaccination. Today's run was a pleasure because I wasn't thinking about speed and effort. I did experiment a little with my form at times, but it was an easy run. Tomorrow I may step it up a bit more.

I'm going to be the city late tomorrow, so I may not try to do an early run after all. Still, it would be fun to go out again with my headlamp and run the empty streets of my neighborhood. I don't miss doing that at 4:00 AM, but with no need to catch a 6:20 AM train, 5:30 running might provide a nice change.

Running with the Black Diamond

New and improved?

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Today's run was my first time back on the road at 4:00 AM since mid November. It's gotten a lot colder since then but I dressed warmly enough to stay comfortable. I wore my new Black Diamond headlamp that I bought to replace my Petzl Tikka Plus. The Petzl unit had been giving me trouble with the lamp refusing to light unless I opened up the assembly and reset the position of the batteries. I thought the Black Diamond's design would prevent that in the new unit.

Unfortunately, I had the same issue with the new headlamp when I got it ready for the morning. I opened it up, pushed the cells into place, and it lit up fine. I questioned whether I am any better off with this new unit but I think the Petzl was generally wearing out. I got outside and felt the chill but my hat, gloves and layers were sufficient, even when I ran in the direction of a fairly stiff wind.

I started off feeling like I was working hard. The first road I follow is a small incline so I expected a little challenge but this seemed a bit more. Once past that street I settled into my pace and moved along fine. The headlamp threw off a lot of light but I hadn't adjusted the beam to focus on the road ahead. I've learned my lesson about hazards in the dark and, happily, I had no missteps.

I ended up clocking my normal time for the route I ran, helped along by some faster strides as I got closer to the end. It was good to be back on the road again. It's not that I don't appreciate the treadmill, but it's a fuller experience when you're dealing with all the elements.

Running through the clouds

Still foggy two hours later

Today's run (street): 2.6 miles

For me, the appeal of running correlates directly to the conditions at hand. 40° on a bright Saturday morning with no time restrictions is very appealing. Running in the dark at 4:00 AM just minutes after waking from a sound sleep is far less appealing. In some cases, after I've begrudgingly prepared for my run, something happens to change my outlook. That was the case today.

It seemed a little humid as I dressed for my run and I left off a top layer thinking it would be warmer than yesterday. Again, I had trouble getting my Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp to work. The batteries get easily unseated within their housing and this prevents the lamp from switching on. As well as it has served me, I think the Tikka is due for replacement because these problems are costing me precious time.

I stepped out and watched the garage door rise, revealing my neighborhood shrouded in heavy fog. The street lights projected ethereally and the density of the fog kept visibility to about 30 feet. I thought it looked amazing and suddenly looked forward to starting off on my run.

The run itself was unremarkable. I'm still working through some mechanical issues but it was fun to see the world through this haze of distorted light. Running is a physical activity, but so much about it is enhanced by the experience itself. A four mile run in the woods, where your view and conditions change constantly, is far more interesting than a four mile run on treadmill. Today's route was similar to the course I run every day. But what I experienced this morning was much more interesting and different than normal.

Gear gremlins and going gloveless

A great headlamp when it works

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

My Petzl headlamp has served me well over the years but this morning I was ready to toss it into the trash. This unit (Tikka Plus) is extremely lightweight and I often forget that I'm even wearing it. But the light weight comes at the cost of fragility. The plastic assembly doesn't secure the three AAA batteries in position very well and slight movements will occasionally disrupt the connection and cause the lamp to go dark. This morning it took me over five minutes to get it operational, time that's much too precious to waste in the morning.

Once I was confident that the lamp was working properly I set out for my run in temperatures that felt far colder than the reported 45°. I immediately regretted not having gloves, but I had a long sleeved jersey that I pulled over my hands. That helped a little, but it caused my shirt to bind around my shoulders and I soon abandoned that solution. I'll plan to bring gloves tomorrow unless it truly warms up as expected. The run itself was great and I nearly broke 9:00/mile which is hard for me to do at that early hour.

I'm toying with the thought of running in Central Park tomorrow. It's been a long time since I've done a city run and since Friday's the lead-in to a holiday weekend, my afternoon schedule is light. I'll decide tonight so that I'll have time to pack gear for the morning. If Friday is as cool and bright as today a CP run could be a great pre-weekend workout.

An illuminating run

Today's run (street): 2.4 miles at 9:40 per mile

Not quite this bright!

I know I've already made too much of Sunday's long run but this morning my legs were really sore. I tend to feel the effects of a tough workout a couple of days later and that was the case today. My first thought upon awakening was to give myself a break and take another rest day. I dismissed the thought and considered an easy elliptical or treadmill session instead. Once I saw that the temperature at 4:00 AM was in the high 60's I decided to run outside.

The last few times I'd run with my Petzl Tikka headlamp I noticed that the intensity of the LED beam seemed low, even on the brightest setting. It had been a year since I bought the Petzl unit and had not yet changed the batteries. I corrected that on Sunday and this morning I was amazed by how well the lamp illuminated the streets. I had obviously become used the diminishing beam and had actually done an early morning run recently without the headlamp and didn't notice until I returned home. It was fun seeing my neighborhood lit up this morning, the bright blue-tinged light again creating illusions of evil faces reflected off the front of BMWs and Acuras. More importantly I could see the road better and was able to avoid a torn up stretch where a gas line was recently installed.

I didn't run fast today but I really felt great while I was out there. The air was cool enough to keep things comfortable and my legs, though tired, were fine once I hit the street. It may not have been my most rigorous workout of late but it was one of my most enjoyable early morning excursions. Today I plan to visit Jackrabbit with a friend who is looking for a new pair of running shoes. Between this morning's run and an opportunity to visit a running store during the work day, I couldn't be more pleased.