The elusive convergence of speed and distance

 

Today's run (street): 6.4 miles

I was channeling Chicken Little yesterday as I made my way through my 4:00 AM run. All the hard training I've done up to this point seemed to be for naught and I struggled to get through 25 minutes of moderately paced treadmill running. Some of that was likely due to the very early hour and fatigue from my abrupt change in daily routine. Today's run was far longer, and much better than yesterday's, but it wasn't particularly fast.

My new work engagement provides a lot of scheduling flexibility and today I was able to work from my home office. That let me fit in a medium length base run and cover my longest distance since last Friday's 9.7 miles. This spring weather is puzzling, but I won't complain because there's no snow on the roads and temperatures haven't yet reached oppressive levels. However, my decision to wear shorts and short sleeves made me feel chilly throughout much of today's run.

I was concerned that I'd suddenly lost some endurance, but I could tell from the first few steps off my driveway that I would easily cover my targeted miles. That was good news. What isn't so good is that once I go beyond 85% of HR max, my stamina starts to slip. I can handle endurance or speed, but not both together. With only a couple of weeks until the Brooklyn half, I should be farther along in terms of performance. I don't expect to PR on the 17th, and I'm not even confident that I can break 2:10. I'm going to continue to focus on base because, while speed is desirable, endurance is what gets us over the finish line.

Cadence increasing, visibility high

Artist's rendering using Google Maps street view

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles

I missed Tuesday's run and needed to make it up today, although the Higdon plan called for a rest day. I felt ambivalent about today's workout and whether to go easier this morning after yesterday's semi-fast run. My motivation for speed was low, so I decided to let my level of intensity play out as I ran. Once I got the door I noticed the cold, but the winds that made Wednesday's conditions feel like 24°, were no longer a factor.

My Garmin hasn't performed well lately in terms signal accuracy, making my real-time pace data suspect. I've been running by feel and heart rate which seem to provide more useful feedback. The type of workouts that I've been doing over the last five weeks have helped me increase my cadence. As a result, I'm finding it easier to hold a decent pace on shorter runs. I kept my heart rate around 85% today and ended up running my distance in the high 9's. That's exactly what I wanted to do.

Today's run was unremarkable, except at one point when I was running down a long road near my house. I spotted my wife's car heading in my direction. She and the kids were going out to do errands and when they passed me, the windows were down and they were cheering for "The Emerging Runner." They saw me from a distance because I was wearing a bright orange running shirt. High visibility isn't just for safety!

Introducing some speed into Brooklyn Half training

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

I skipped Tuesday's speed workout due to a timing conflict but I put it back on the schedule for today. According to my training plan, this was supposed to be a tempo run that peaks at 10K pace. I've gotten out of sync on my speed work and thought I'd do intervals instead. Although this morning's weather was very nice, I was running behind schedule and elected to save time by staying indoors.

It wasn't until I got on the treadmill that I decided which workout to follow. Thinking at first that I'd run intervals, I began with a warm up at half marathon race pace. I wanted to go into the repeats with a harder than usual effort to prime myself for speed. Once I got going, I considered the tempo idea. I then thought about SIOR's suggestion that I introduce some sustained speed into one of my weekday workouts for a couple of miles. I decided to continue with this half marathon pace for the duration of the run.

Except for intervals, I have not done many runs lately at sub-10 paces. This is because I've focused on endurance and distance rather than speed. I was surprised to find myself comfortably running at a mid-9:00 pace this morning. I wondered if I could keep this pace the entire way through and it turned out that I could. All this distance and hill running are clearly helping my stamina.

It's scary to think that I only have four more training weeks before my taper week. The longest run I've done so far this year is eight miles, but I did fairly well with that. I'm hoping that I'll continue to progress as I move into double digits. My average HR finally exceeded 85% of max today. If I can push a little harder and sustain it, I should start seeing my speed improve as well.

Wind induced Turkey Trot flashback

Wind chilly

Today's run (neighborhood): 5 miles

This morning I saw that the temperature was 33°, but the wind was making it feel like it was 19° outside. I weighed the pros and cons of going out or staying inside. I decided that I'd rather endure challenging winds than five mind-numbing miles on the treadmill. In retrospect, I'm not sure that was the smartest way to go

One of the reasons I chose to run outside was to confront this cold weather breathing issue straight on. By coincidence, the first three base runs I've done since starting my half marathon training have happened on the three coldest days. The theory I'm exploring is that cold air is affecting my ability to breathe efficiently and causing me to struggle far below normal lactate threshold. Interestingly, I found something online that said facial cooling triggers the vagus nerve (grow up, it's located in your face) which can slow up heartbeat.

I've had trouble getting my heart rate above 80% of max on these cold runs, so the answer may be in there somewhere. My plan this morning was to run fairly easy, since I did intervals yesterday. I started out feeling okay, but not speedy (which was fine). I was also wearing more layers than a pâte feuilletée and that was probably slowing me down. The wind was brutal and running directly into it practically stopped my forward progress. It was like a flashback to the Long Beach Turkey Trot last November, but happily without the sandstorm.

Race fitness: It's just a matter of Venn

The two main objectives to my training are to increase my endurance well enough to cover 13.1 miles and improve my stamina to allow me to maintain a targeted pace over that distance. I'll be honest and say that today's run did not provide any sign of improved speed, but I was able to handle the mileage better than on Sunday.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be much like today's. If that's the case I'm going to stay inside and run my three miles at "pace" on the treadmill. I'll plan to run longer distances outside and keep the speedier workouts indoors until the weather gets warmer. If that's what it takes to bridge stamina and speed, I'm willing to spend a little time on the treadmill.

The crossroad of speed and volume

My overall time at last May's LI Half Marathon was 2:08, which translated to a 9:49 pace. As race paces go, that was fairly slow (even for me). But my 2012 finish time improved almost 14 minutes over the year before. I would have liked to break two hours on the half, but my stretch goal for that race was to break 2:10, and I did that.

To prepare for this year's race, I'd looked at the challenge of running the half marathon as one of stamina, not speed. Interval training can be an effective way to prepare for a 5K, but I knew that the only way I could achieve a credible time for the half would be to train for distance. A lot of distance. Between mid-March and and May, I spent almost every Saturday morning at Bethpage State Park, doing progressively longer runs until I was satisfied with my conditioning.

This volume training was the key to managing my effort across more than two hours of continuous running. There's obviously a big difference in training for a 5K versus a half, but what about a 10K? A 6.2 mile race is double a 5K, but not quite half of a half. There's speed involved, but also enough distance so that endurance can become an issue.

For my upcoming 10K, I've decided to focus on pace during my shorter runs, but work primarily on volume and hills during my longer weekend runs. Hopefully, both strategies will meet somewhere in the middle to allow me to run my best at Cow Harbor.

Hitting my goal with a rebound run

Today's run (street): 5.8 miles

I had two running goals coming into the weekend: a run on the trails, and covering at least 10 miles overall. Happily, I succeeded at both, although last night I was on the fence whether I'd even do a Sunday run. Throughout the day on Saturday, my throat became increasingly sore. By evening I felt very tired and I feared that I was coming down with strep throat. I put odds below 50% that I'd be in shape for a run when I got up today.

In the morning I felt a little better, and I took stock of  my illness. My throat was still a bit raw, but I decided that I had enough strength to go out for a few miles. My wife had been planting flowers in the backyard since 6:30 AM (we're early risers). When I went out to see her progress, I noticed that conditions were ideal for a run.

I had no route in mind for today, though I hoped to cover at least five miles. I was concerned about pushing too hard, as I was was wary of a relapse. I took off and knew right away that I'd have no issues with stamina or energy. I charted a course that wound through every part of the neighborhood.

It actually bothered me that, by the two mile mark, I was hardly sweating. I don't subscribe to the "no pain, no gain" school of exercise, but I want my run to feel like a workout. I stepped up my pace using arm speed to drive cadence, and by mile four I was feeling the effort. I stretched out my route to ensure I'd cover at least five miles, and I added another .8 by the time I made it home.

My base training has certainly helped me cover middle length runs with little fatigue. Perhaps I'll put a base run at Bethpage into my monthly rotation to preserve some of that base. It will be helpful as I go into 10K season near the end of summer. Next weekend I'll start focusing more on speed as I get closer the the New Hyde Park 8K. There's always something to train for. I guess that's the point of racing.

Today I ran like a Kenyan

As if...

Today's run (street): 5.4

Don't be impressed by the headline of this post, I wasn't channeling Geoffrey Mutai winning the ING NYC marathon this morning. Quite the opposite, actually. While Kenyan runners regularly hit five minute miles in competition, they tend to do their long recovery runs at an extremely slow pace. That was my plan today and I kept to it.

The training schedule that I've followed over the last few years has been to run five days a week, with additional cross training on a 6th day. I rest on Mondays unless I'm not feeling well or if I'm tapering for a race.

With a schedule like that, I shouldn't have issues with running strength or stamina but I sometimes hit the wall around 30 minutes into a run. Since my policy has always been, "Once I start, no stopping" I run through these low points and will occasionally rebound strongly. People have said that even though my frequency is high, my base is fairly low. This is true. My weekday running distances average 2.5 miles due to time limitations. On weekends I'll go longer, but the shorter runs play havoc on my base.

My monthly mileage numbers this past November and December were down about 10% from the prior year. I know it's because I wasn't consistently doing 7+ mile distances as I had in 2010. I've decided to work on my base with 5 miles being my lower limit for weekend runs. Last Sunday I ran the 5 mile Hangover Run and this morning I did a 5.4 mile neighborhood run.

Five miles isn't particularly long but I needed to motivate myself to get out today after suffering three tough runs since Sunday. I figured that running slowly would make it easier -- and it was --  until I hit 4 miles and started to suffer fatigue. I didn't fully understand why, since I'd run over a minute/mile faster last Sunday. Unfortunately, running like a Kenyan didn't yield the results that I'd hoped to attain.

A week of tough running has convinced me that I need to give myself a two-day break to restore my fitness to normal levels. Since I can't resist running on weekends, I'll target Monday (my usual rest day) and Tuesday as recovery days. I'll see if that does any good when I get back to it on Wednesday.

Forget the "shots", I'm happy with my GU

Today's run (treadmill): 5 miles

Such a deal

Somewhat related to Friday's entry, I saw an article this morning on nypost.com that reported that those ubiquitous energy "shots" that you often see on store counters near the register are "nothing more than slightly caffeinated, sour-tasting water."  It surprises me that so many people would pay $4 for 2 oz. of a product that has no FDA approval and (in some cases) doesn't list its active ingredients. It never fails to amaze me how people spend their money and use "herbal" medicines that lack clinically-proved efficacy or safety testing. My experience with Max Muscle Barracuda energy drink that came in a goody bag at one of my races was enough to dissuade me from trying any more products of that type.

I do believe in gels because I know what's in them and why they work. I had a GU "Expresso Love" packet 20 minutes before I started today's treadmill run. The extra caffeine would be a good boost for my planned 50+ minute workout. I started well and held an easy pace. This would be the first run of any distance since last weekend. The best effect of a gel is the way it helps me power through the first few minutes of a run while I transition to aerobic breathing. Before I knew it I had covered a mile and the effort to that point was low.

Five minutes later the treadmill abruptly shut down because I'd inadvertently hit the stop button. I managed to resume my run in less than 30 seconds and I upped my speed for good measure. By the time I reached three miles I'd started weakening due to the heat of the room and the small toe on my left foot was beginning to hurt from the friction of running. I decided that I'd cap my run at 5 miles so I increased the belt speed once more and powered through the next two miles before stopping the Garmin and reducing my speed to a walking pace so I could cool down and lower my heart rate.

This may be the longest run I'll do prior to my 4 mile race next Saturday. The snow has disrupted my access to the roads and trails and, with only the treadmill and elliptical as options, I haven't trained the way I usually do for a race. I'm hoping my conditioning and the short distance will help me get through the Snowflake Run. It will be fun to race for the first time since Thanksgiving week. Hard to know how I'll perform, but no matter what, I'll be glad to be running on something besides the treadmill.

Lesson learned: start focusing on stamina and distance

One thing that became clear to me during yesterday's race was my need to put more focus on distance. The performance gains I had made in prior weeks were seductive and they caused me to think too much about only one dimension of my performance. Four miles run in the mid 8's was a welcome improvement over the mid-9 minute paces I had been averaging over the summer. With everything I'd been reading about the importance of speed work and tempo runs it seemed logical to work on improving pace, especially when measurable gains appeared. As I faced the last couple of miles on the trail yesterday morning I began to regret the lack of longer training runs over the last month. Sure, I could run a decent pace for three or four miles but what happens to my mechanics when that distance is doubled?

After actively returning to running two years ago I've steadily increased my speed and distances to the point where I run mostly in the low 9's and do weekend distances up to about 8 miles. Due to time constraints I've rarely been able to run more than 20 miles per week, with most of my longer runs happening on Saturdays and Sundays. Having a whole hour to run is a luxury and using yesterday's performance as a yardstick that only gets me about six miles. So finding enough time for real distance running is its own challenge. I've really enjoyed the long slow distance (LSD) runs where length, not speed, were the goal. That may be one reason why I prefer trail running; the course and the terrain are so variable that pace becomes less relevant. This weekend I'm hoping to get in at least one long run to help prepare for the Cow Harbor 10K in late September. Distance should help my stamina and once that's improved I can again start thinking about my pace.