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,

Walking the walk because of the work

Love the concept

I'm wondering if my intense focus on work this week is what's causing my leg heaviness when I run. Last week, all my runs had good energy leading me to believe I was heading in the right direction in terms of race readiness. Both Tuesday's and Thursday's runs were disappointing and uncomfortable. I blame this week's work process because, in terms of activity, the past two weeks have been very different.

Last week  I spent every day moving, with a couple of high mileage days walking in the city on top of my running. This week it's been mostly conference calls and working on my laptop in my home office. It's important that I do it, but it's terrible in terms of movement. After a few days of tense muscles and not enough exercise, it's no wonder that my legs feel this way.

This morning I took a mid morning break and used the treadmill (it was cold and rainy outside). Instead of running, I set the speed to 4 MPH and walked about 40 minutes. No stress and no sweat, but it was a good way to shake out my leg muscles without straining them. The day grew intense after that, so I'm glad I took the opportunity when I had it. I'm thinking of doing another 30 minutes as I wind down the work week. There's a fine line between conditioning for fitness and honing the fitness that you have. I'm hoping that this taper strategy works for me on Sunday.

Hill grinding on the Bethpage trail

Not much happening at Bethpage this morning

Today's run (Bethpage trail): 6.4 miles

I've been keeping busy on a big project that's required long days on the laptop and phone. A combination of meetings and deadlines on Wednesday related to the project stole my scheduled window to run. I'd planned to go out for six miles as a final base workout prior to Sunday's race. The idea was to end my taper with this run and spend today focusing on core or upper body. Losing my run window yesterday meant moving my last taper run to today. It was probably for the best, as I probably wouldn't have done that core work anyway.

Running a six mile route around my neighborhood was not appealing, so I headed off to Bethpage to hit the trail. The weather was really cold when I arrived (29° degrees per my car's display). I'd definitely dressed for freezing conditions, so I was comfortable at the start. As expected on a cold Thursday morning, the park was mostly empty. I took off south to start and noted that I felt good, but my leg muscles were a little tight. I hoped that would work out along the run but unfortunately it just got worse.

Despite yesterday's break from running, my legs began to feel like lactic acid containers. I ran a mile south and then turned back the other way, reaching the big hill at around the 1.5 mile point. I'm sure it was due to my uncooperative legs, but climbing that hill seemed especially tough today. Once I passed the point where I started, I continued north to the newer extension.

I often complain about hills, so much so that a friend once told me to do more hill training and less whining. It was a little mean, but good advice. I like to think when I run at Bethpage I am training on the hills. On good days it feels rolling. But on other days (like today) it grinds me down. I went as far north as Old Bethpage Rd. before turning back toward my start and covered 6.5 miles in the process.

I don't know why my legs were so unresponsive today. I was glad that this was practice and not a race. If I can I bounce back by the weekend, I may be able to improve on my performance at the Hope for Warriors 10K two weekends ago. Tomorrow I'll try to do some walking to shake out the built up lactic acid that made today's run so tough. I'm glad I put in some real mileage today. Hopefully it helped reinforce my 10K base for this Sunday.

Taper breaker on an off week

Hard to resist

Today's workout (elliptical): 35 minutes

This has not been a good week for running, but that doesn't mean I haven't been active. After taking my usual rest day on Monday, I spent all of Tuesday in the city. I Gmapped my walking routes and it came out to eight miles. I got a run in on Wednesday, but Thursday started too early and ended too late to get my workout done. However, I did cover another eight miles on foot. Normally I'd have taken today to rest so I'd be fresh for Sunday's 10K. With just one run this week, I felt like I needed to do something today.

That something turned out to be a mid-morning elliptical session that I did at 90% resistance. Every time I use the elliptical, I'm reminded how beneficial this workout can be. Even done at a moderate pace, the resistance taxes under-exercised muscles and the no-impact motion gives your knees a rest. The lack of motor noise (compared with the treadmill) is also appreciated.

What started out feeling like an easy workout got tougher as the minutes passed. Our elliptical is a pretty basic unit so the amount of data on the display is limited. Unlike our old BH Fitness unit, our ProForm doesn't report distance. Along with displaying elapsed time, the ProForm shows total number of revolutions as well as a metric that indicates level of effort (in watts?). I tried to keep that effort number as high as I could. Despite the high resistance, it didn't drop much near the end.

So tomorrow I'll rest. My wife and kids are volunteering at the race so we need to be there by 6:30 AM(!). That will be a lot of waiting for me, since the 10K doesn't kick off until 9:45 AM. But it's a great event and I'm happy that my family will be there to support me.

Managing the pre-race energy

 

Why is it that I usually feel energized the day before a race? Could it be that I'm closest to my training peak at this point? I suspect it's related more to wanting to run because I shouldn't. I always take one or two rest days before a race and that seems to work for me. In the few times where I've violated my taper plan with a run or hike, I've regretted doing it the next day.

I'm sure it's more psychological than physical, because I should be able to do a moderate workout the day before a race without penalty. But a positive attitude about my state of conditioning on race day is almost as important as the work that it took to get me there. I need to ensure that I'd done everything I could to be prepared.

So even with this extra energy today, along with perfect fall weather, I won't give into the temptation to walk the hilly bike trail at Bethpage. It's been a low mileage week and even with the race I won't have covered ten miles. The good thing about a 5K is that I usually don't need to take the next day to rest. I can make up for the shortfall on Sunday. I hope that the energy I have today will still be present tomorrow morning.

Making my last taper count

A serious threat to pant-kind

Today's run (street): 3.1 miles

As much as I love running, business needs to come first. For that reason, I was unable to get in my workout yesterday. I was in the city all day for meetings so the opportunity for a run didn't surface. I'm temporarily boycotting my Fitbit because the holding clip has deteriorated to the point where I fear it will rip my pants when I wear it. Without it, I don't know how much distance I covered yesterday on foot, but I'm estimating it was between 4 and 5 miles.

Today I had no excuses. Without a commute into the city, I had enough time for one final run before Saturday's 5K. Although I've heard that I need to do weekly speed work in order to avoid embarrassing myself on race day, I think I've prepared well for the race. I decided that a good hard run over three miles would be a nice way to end my taper.

I took off at a brisk pace and tried to maintain that turnover throughout the entire run. The difference between this type of workout and a race centers on two factors: the influence of other runners and the psychology of competing in a timed event. Without those two things, my expectation was to see a very good, but not spectacular performance today.

That's exactly how it came out. I'd kept my heart rate around 85% max and covered the distance in a little over 28 minutes. For me, that was exactly on the mark. I could have pushed harder and dropped my pace into the 8:00 range, but I didn't see any reason to do that. 9:06 was a decent average under the circumstances. I'm making no predictions for Saturday. A lot of it will come down to how I feel on race day morning.

Minor taper violation at Bethpage

Today's workout (Bethpage bike trail walk): 4.4 miles

Tapering is harder than you'd think. Not hard in the sense that it takes any effort. It's really the opposite of that. Even someone who embraces downtime (like me) can find it difficult to be completely inactive. After focusing on training for a month, our bodies are tuned for action. At least they should be.

The morning was quiet on the business side, so my wife and I decided to head over to Bethpage State Park for a low impact walk on the bike trail. I figured that level of activity wouldn't significantly violate my taper, and it might just help shake out some built up lactic acid in my leg muscles. The weather was cool and sunny and we went south on the trail as far as the Beach St. exit. We're both brisk walkers, but we kept it at a comfortable pace today.

On the trail back, we talked about the number of cyclist we'd seen who weren't wearing helmets. I noticed the sign above that encouraged the use of helmets with the plea, "Do not lose your head." Good advice.

We'll be heading to the Laurel Ave school in Northport a little later today, so I can pick up my bib number and race bag. My family won't be joining me tomorrow, so I won't have any place to stow my race shirt in the morning. I could do the UPS baggage check but, with 5,700 other runners, the wait for pickup can take a while. It's hard to believe that it's just hours until the start of Cow Harbor. I hope I'm ready.

Last run before the Cow

Today's run (street): 5 miles

Training is over and now it's time to rest. Everyone has their own way of finishing a taper and mine is to put two full days between my last workout and race day. Some people I know don't even take a rest day before a 5K. I learned my lesson a few years ago that running close to race day doesn't yield a benefit. But pushing too much will definitely hurt you.

Today's run was an easy semi-base run done a minute slower than targeted race pace. I had a deadline to meet in the morning and didn't get outside until after 10:00, so I had more warming sun than usual. At that pace, it didn't matter. Aside from running face first into an overhanging branch that looked like it should have easily given way, it was a pleasurable experience. I felt a little guilty for not pushing my speed, but there was no upside to doing that.

I didn't use GPS to track my performance because I didn't want to be conscious of my pace while I ran. I didn't Gmap the route until an hour later and was hard pressed to remember all the streets I covered on my route. I did finally figure it out, and it was interesting to see the distance. I checked my time and saw that I'd met my targeted pace to the exact second.

I got a note that Cow Harbor online registration ends tonight and the site shows that over 5,000 people have already signed up. Participation is capped at 5,600 runners. Between now and 8:30 AM on Saturday, I'll be thinking about this race and its unique challenges, along with the experience of being joined by thousands of runners and tens of thousands of spectators in Northport. I look forward to seeing my friends and I can't wait to cross that finish line once again.

Technology saves an operational goof

XML salvation

Today's run (street): 4.25 miles

I did the unthinkable after finishing my run today and failed to properly stop my Garmin. While I happily traced the driveway on my cool down walk, my Garmin continued to count the seconds, obscuring the actual time I'd finished. By the time I discovered my error, at least a couple of minutes had gone by, so my calculated pace was way off.

I really envy people who tell me they run without a watch or track their performance in any way. I think about how liberating it would be to run without regard to time. Unfortunately, I've never been able to do that. On the plus side, I've compiled an online record of every run that I've done over the last five years. Despite my failure to operate my watch today, I was able to reverse engineer my finish time by reading the XML output file.

The run itself was nothing special, 4.25 miles at around 9:30 a mile. The weather was downright chilly, low 50's with strong winds coming from the northeast. When I wasn't heading directly into the wind, it was extremely pleasant. I had considered doing either a long easy run or a short, faster run and I ended up doing something in the middle. I'm not sure what today's run accomplished or what I'll do tomorrow. But Wednesday's run will be the last one I do before Cow Harbor. I hope that one counts.

Tracking well through the taper

4 minutes of intensity

Today's run (track): 3.1 miles - 1 mile warm up, 10 x 100m, 1.6 mile recovery

Nothing like 52° weather to make speed work bearable. I went to the track early this morning to run intervals, but I didn't decide on my workout until I got there. I started with a mile warm up and followed that with 10 x 100 meter repeats. I finished with six more laps around the track, three at an easy pace and the last three somewhat faster.

Overall, it was a decent workout and I managed to run my 100 meter splits at 6:50 while maintaining a heart rate around 80% of max. I would have like to see better paces after the repeats, since my leg muscles were theoretically "activated." Residual fatigue was the likely culprit and my overall pace for the full distance run was 8:58.

Tomorrow will be a busy day in the city for me and I'll forgo my workout, since Mondays are my usual rest day. I'm thinking I'll do one more easy base run, one more short fast run and then rest. I had two good race-oriented workouts this weekend with acceptable results. I'm not sure I pushed as hard as I could either day but I didn't want to invite injury less than a week before the race.

Redemption run gives hope for Dirty Sock

The Garmin doesn't lie

Today's run (street): 3.25 miles

With the Dirty Sock trail race happening on Sunday, I had one more run to go before I finished my taper. Yesterday's run was disappointing and Tuesday's was similarly mediocre. I've recently committed to pushing harder on training runs and that paid off last week with a few decent runs. When I say decent, I mean closer to last year's average pace. Certainly not as fast as the paces I used to hit while training for a race.

The Dirty Sock is a tough course. The terrain isn't especially bad for trails, but the steamy weather conditions and muddy paths make the last miles difficult. My time expectation for this race is about 59 minutes, which is five minutes slower than my 10K PR. I'm usually happy to run it in under an hour. Actually, the way I've been running, I'm concerned about breaking 62 minutes.

Hope came this morning with a run that redeemed my spirit. The difference today was that I kept a steady focus on speed. It wasn't an impressive pace for many readers of this blog, but it was almost a minute per mile faster than what I "achieved" yesterday. I'm not going into Sunday's race with a string of fast runs under my belt, but at least I ended training on a good note.

A taper run in multiple parts

Finding hills all over

Today's run (street): 6.3 miles

Taper time has begun, and I kicked it off with my last mid-length training run, before focusing the next week on core, speed and rest. Although the Dirty Sock course isn't especially hilly, it can feel that way over the last few miles. I wanted to cover at least six miles today, along with some hill practice. The temperature was a cool 66 degrees, so conditions couldn't have been much better.

The route I'd planned took me first through the local business park where I did one clockwise loop so I could take on all the elevation at once. I heard a couple of runners behind me as I made my way up the steepest part of the hill, and I was determined to hold them off. I was successful, but concerned that I'd expended too much energy that early. I was soon headed downhill, so I figured I could reset and recover from that.

The next part of my run took me around neighborhood #3, where the roads are fairly flat. That helped me get back to a steady stride before reaching Woodbury Road and the start of the bike path. This paved trail is still under construction, so I needed to navigate around some temporary barricades and cross over three short, unpaved and rocky sections. From that point, the path begins to rise at about a 3% grade that becomes more challenging and steeper near the top. I focused attention on maintaining my cadence and shortening my stride.

Once I reached my turnaround point, it was downhill for about a kilometer before I leveled out. I followed the bike path back to its starting point and crossed Woodbury Road into the neighborhood. It was less than a mile to my house and I ran the last quarter mile at 10K race pace. I don't know if it was an ideal conditioning workout, but I felt strong throughout the run and far more ready than I did the weekend before my last race.

The day got busy after that, with an afternoon get-together and other activities. We're now preparing for a late night, where we plan to watch the Perseid meteor shower on the beach. With so much happening today, I hope I'll be able to stay awake to enjoy it.

Will what I do today affect how I'll do tomorrow?

Aspiration or underestimation?

I've only run once since last Sunday and this will go down as the lowest mileage week I've had in over a year. There's no one reason for this lapse, it's mostly circumstantial. Monday was my rest day, Tuesday was taken up with family activities, Wednesday I ran, and Thursday and Friday were days in the city that started very early and ended late. Tomorrow I'm running a 5K so I need to decide whether I should do any running or maintain my hiatus/taper.

I'm tempted to run some intervals to activate my fast twitch muscles (assuming I still have any after a week of sloth) or play out my extended rest and see if that produces a better than expected time at the race. There's an argument for both, although one involves  a lot more sweat and effort. I usually rest two days before a race, although I sometimes cut that to one day for 5K's. If I stay on the rest vector and do well, it might result in a new taper strategy for future races.

Given my utter lack of focused training for this race, my goal for tomorrow is to finish below 27:50. If I met that goal it would be the slowest 5K I've ever competitively run, but I'd still be okay with it.

I'm tapering my taper

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

I didn't run or post yesterday or Monday and this will hardly count as one. My schedule has been full this week and I'm still dealing with my cough, though that hasn't been the reason for skipping my workout on Tuesday. I did manage to get out this morning before getting tied up all day on work related items. This is a taper week and I'm certainly getting the "less running" part down.

The temperature was close to 80 degrees at 8:15 AM when I went out on my run. I knew that I should try to generate some speed since I'm going to be racing on Sunday, but I really didn't push my pace. Nothing to report except that I was glad to get back on the road.

Tomorrow and Friday will be early city days so I don't know when I'll get my final taper run in. I felt good on the run after a couple of day's rest, although I am still dealing with this annoying cough. My biggest concern right now is whether I'll have a voice by the time I make a presentation tomorrow afternoon.  This isn't going to be a big mileage week, but I hope to get back on schedule next week.

Coping well with my taper

 

Oh no! I'm done with my race training and I have to rest now! That is so awful! Instead of running outside in 20° temperatures, I am forced to stay in my warm house and drink coffee.

It's hard to believe that anyone would view tapering that way. According to a survey that I saw on Runner's World, there are percentage of people who hate the taper's rest period. To quote someone from a recent runner's forum, "[It's] biochemical, like withdrawal from an addiction." 

Hey, I like running. I'd better like it because I do it almost every day. But the opportunity to have a couple of guilt-free rest days is a gift, not a burden.  I'm going into the city later today for a couple of meetings and I'll probably cover 3 or 4 miles by foot in the process. While I am taking a rest from running, I don't plan to stop moving. Some good relaxing walks will be the perfect penultimate tapering activity. Tomorrow I can truly rest. You can bet I'll enjoy that coffee.

One last run before rest and race

Not exactly an ocean side paradise

Today's run (street): 3.65 miles

I'm no longer getting up at 3:30 AM. On average, I'm getting an additional two hours of sleep every night. That means seven to eight hours, versus the five or six I had before. I would often supplement my sleep with a 20 minute nap on the train in the morning, but all together, my net rest time is far improved. The downside is that I'm still getting to bed around the same time as before so it's been taking me longer to fall asleep.

Mornings feel very different these days. Instead of the blur of activities that began with the bleating of my alarm, followed by a fast change into running clothes (and then a run), I can enjoy the morning at a leisurely pace. The quiet darkness at 5:30 AM goes well with a cup of coffee and the local news. The only downside is that it takes me forever to actually get outside or on the treadmill if I don't have the pressure of the clock.

This morning I spent a long time preparing for what was my last run before my race. My wife couldn't believe how much I was stalling. It wasn't that I didn't want to run. It was just so cold and windy that I didn't want to go outside. I decided that I'd finish the taper with an easy run and I used that as license to wear extra layers to stay warm.

Running the neighborhood at 8:00 AM is a different experience than when it's still dark. There are far more cars and school buses to avoid. I took it easy from the beginning and ran my distance at a fairly slow pace. The battery in my HRM must have run out of power, because I wasn't getting any readings. I sweat a minimal amount across the almost-four miles, but that may be due to the near-constant winds. I am glad that I'd bundled up and worn a wind-blocking layer.

I'm finished with running until the race, and I'll enjoy resting until then. I may do a light elliptical workout and/or a core session during this period, but I'm done with hard stuff until I'm at the starting line. Right now, they're predicting 25 MPH winds and a 70% chance of rain in Long Beach on Saturday. Cold, wet and windy. Sounds like fun.

Following the primary rule of racing

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

It's probably overkill to rest two days before a 5K race, but that's what I'm planning to do. I have gotten away with a single day's rest before some races, but I've also paid the price for running hard prior to race day. The primary rule of racing is "Don't change what works." In the same way that you'd never try a new gel or sport drink or wear new running shoes for the first time on the day of a race, there's little to be gained by changing your preparation methodology.

Today was supposed to be my last training run for my taper and I looked forward to running the streets of my neighborhood. The weather report said clear skies by morning, so I geared up and headed downstairs, ready to hit the road. Unfortunately, as the garage door lifted, I could see the rain coming down hard. I would have run in a light drizzle, but this was not going to work.

I headed back upstairs and shed my outdoor gear before hopping on the treadmill to do my workout. I ran fairly hard yesterday, especially with the 3% incline, so I locked into a comfortable pace and resisted temptation to increase my speed throughout the run. Sometimes you get more out of an easy run than an intense one. After the hard training I've done over the past few weeks, I'm going to enjoy the next two days of rest. Hopefully, that will put me at my best on Saturday.

Business park taper buster

Today's run (street): 5.8 miles

The Saturday before a race usually means that I have 7 or 8 days (depending on if it's a Saturday or Sunday race) to finish my training. This week is different, because my upcoming race happens on Wednesday night, five days from now. I'd normally be finished with performance training this close to race day. 

The race is only 5K but it would be a mistake to dismiss that as an easy distance. I'm concerned that, after a full day in the office, at 6:00 PM my energy will probably be low. Although it's not hot today, there's every reason to think that we'll see high temperatures by Wednesday. I can't do anything about that but worry. And I surely will worry.

Since I'm pushing my training into my taper period, I decided to go for some extra miles today. My target at the start was five miles, and I ended up almost covering six. I headed to the nearby business park to run the loop a few times and carried 4:1 mix of Roctane and water which I consumed around the 40 minute mark. It helped me get through the last 15 minutes of running.

I was pleased with my performance today and the route provided some elevation changes that will prepare me for the race's rolling course. I listened to the 3 Non-Joggers podcast to pass the time and it helped alleviate some of the boredom that comes from running around an industrial park. Tomorrow I may do some speed work to wrap up my performance training. The thought of circling the track isn't too appealing, but as Juma Ikaanga said, “The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.”

Alarm clock rest day

Snoozing through my workout

I'm sure it wasn't a subconscious decision, but I forgot to set my alarm this morning and missed my opportunity to run. I wasn't too disappointed to see that I'd slept 30 minutes late, because I know I don't get enough sleep during the week.

I have meticulously planned this week's workouts so that I'll be close to peaking before Sunday's race. However, I don't think that missing today's run will make too much of a difference. I was planning to do core exercises or some light upper body work tomorrow, but I may swap that for a final pre-race run. The major training has been completed. I'll know on Sunday how well I prepared.

Ultimate booster may solve my gel problem

Today's run (street): 3.9 miles

4 ounces of energy

My new Ultimate Direction water bottle has arrived, and it came with a small gel flask (with a bite valve) that might fit into the pocket of the carrier. If it does, I may fill this bottle with G2 01 Prime, which would be easier to manage than a gel during the half marathon. Both bottles are in the dishwasher right now. I'll take the Fast Draw out on my next run to see how it feels in my hand.

I followed yesterday's long run with an almost-four miler this morning. I tried to keep my pace easy because I was out there for recovery, but my natural competitiveness prompted me to push a little harder over the first two miles. I finally settled down and ran slower, but I'll admit that it was more due to fatigue than anything else. I was definitely wiped out by the end.

Whenever I struggle on a run as short as this, I begin to question my stamina. Along the way, I realized that I was following a 12 mile workout with very little rest. It made perfect sense to feel tired. I'm officially on my taper and I hope to restore my energy level throughout the week. I'll rest on Monday, run on Tuesday, and refrain from running again until Sunday's race. I plan to do some strength training and core work between Wednesday and Saturday. One week to go. I hope I'm ready.