I wish my run training worked like the movies

Another day, another 3.64 miles

There's a common trope in film, where the lead character goes all out training for a major challenge. There is usually one scene, played out in a series of quick cuts, showing the overwhelmed hero progressing beyond his or her physical limits. Typically, this is all done to the tune of "Eye of the Tiger." Two minutes later, the protagonist is ripped and ready to make something big happen.

I thought about that on my run this morning. Since I'm the hero of my own personal movie, I've set my sights on returning to performance levels I haven't seen for a few years. I'm not completely delusional. At my age, I know I'm not going to match my best times and that's okay. My issue is that I'm not where I feel I should be for my age range. In competition, I would usually finish between the 25th and 50th percentile (I placed best in 5Ks and worst in halfs). I'm not sure I'd even show up on the bell right now.

So my equivalent of this cinematic convention is the work I'm doing to build up my monthly mileage. In my movie, you would see a series of shots of me taking off on my daily runs, with a calender showing the day of the week superimposed transparently over my disappearing silhouette. In one shot, I'd pull up at the finish, look at my Garmin, and gasp at the evidence of improvement. My legs would bulge with muscle tone and I'd resemble one of those ectomorphs who start races in the front row and finish before most runners reach the halfway mark.

Well, in the 50 days since I rebooted my running approach, I've made some gains, but it's nothing dramatic. I've doubled my monthly distance in that time and my average run is a half a mile longer than it was in April. Despite all this running, my average pace has improved zilch. However, in the same period, my average heart rate during runs has dropped 8 bpm. That's telling me my fitness is improving, but I'm not taking advantage of it. I'm going to try to focus on that tomorrow to see if it's that simple. In the movies, the hero turns their hard work into victory. I'd settle for a mid-pack pace.

Hope for the Warriors, but not for my speed

Flag dedication at Hope for Warriors race

Today's run (street): 5.4 miles

This morning was spent at the Hope for the Warriors race in Lindenhurst, NY. For the first time in four years, I didn't participate, but I came to support my family who served again as race volunteers. Last year my wife and kids manned the registration desk while I ran the 10K race. I decided to skip the race this time, for the same reason I missed the 2014 Dirty Sock, Cow Harbor and TOB Supervisor's run. I've lost interest in competing.

I don't know exactly why the thrill of racing is no longer there for me. I used to love the experience of training for a race and reaching the point where I knew I could hold my own. Between 2009-2012, I generally finished in the top 25-30% of the field in 5Ks and usually in the top 50% at other distances. My performance has been steadily slipping since then. It's hard to get motivated to race under those circumstances.

The frustrating thing about it is that I can still run fast when I really try, but it takes much more effort than it used to. I'm sure my speed decline is partially due to training easier than in the past. When I was commuting into the city I would get up and run at 4:00 AM just about every day. Those runs focused on speed for practical purposes. I had only so much time to run my route so that I stayed on schedule to make my early train.

My weekly volume at that time was about 20 miles a week and I would regularly break 9 minutes a mile. Today, I am covering 15-20% less distance per week and 60% of that is done as longer, slower runs. Except for those rare times when I do a speed workout, I haven't broken 9:00 per mile in over a year.

Today, after we'd returned home from the race, I did a neighborhood run and pushed especially hard on my last mile. My split was 9:37 and it felt like I was running at 5K pace. In fact, 9:37 was my pace at my last 5K.

Due to the earlier activity, I didn't get out for my run until 10:30 AM this morning. While I ran, I thought about the experience of being at the race but not participating. At one point, three young guys had walked by me talking about the 5K they were about to run. I'd forgotten the 5K race was an option and, for a second, I regretted that I didn't just sign up for that.

Being among the runners this morning did not rekindle my excitement for racing as I'd hoped, but it did motivate me to try to train a little harder so I could put in a credible performance in a 5K before year's end. It's been a lot of months since I ran the Brooklyn Half, which is the last race I've run in 2014.

Congrats to TPP, who absolutely rocked it at Hope for the Warriors today, attaining a 10K PR and (yet another) age group placement!

Brooklyn Half: The calm before the storm

7 miles around the park then five straight to Coney Island

The Brooklyn Half will happen in less than 24 hours. This will be my third half marathon and my first NYRR race. My training for Brooklyn started well and stayed on track until I accepted a full time position on top of my consulting practice. This caused my training program to go off the rails. However, until this week, I did manage to maintain my targeted weekly mileage.

Today is dark and gloomy and heavy rain is predicted for a good part of the afternoon, going all the way past midnight. Better that happen today than tomorrow. I'm working from home today, which will involve a busy morning. Later in the day I'll turn my attention to preparing for the race.

The increased security practices that have been put in place after the 2013 Boston Marathon are restricting what can be carried to races. I need to figure out my gear strategy since the only acceptable bag for race transport is being distributed today at the pre-race party that I cannot attend. Fortunately, SIOR and her entourage will be able to hold our stuff and hopefully get it to us at the finish.

I'm looking at tomorrow with a combination of excitement and curiosity, although I'll admit to being a little nervous about the logistical complexities. I also need to run 13.1 miles in the morning. I've done it before, and my weekend base runs should have prepared me for that distance. The last time I ran a half marathon was in 2012 and I managed to meet my performance goal. Unless I find some unexpected strength and energy that will allow me to maintain a competitive pace, I will be running this race purely for the experience tomorrow.

A large part of the excitement tomorrow is the shared experience. The Runsketeers (SIOR and TPP) will be there, plus friends LS, KWL, FS (among others). I've only run in Brooklyn once, when Adventure Girl and I crossed the bridge through DUMBO and then north to the water. I've always wanted to run in Prospect Park and, from the course map, it looks like I'll be spending more than half the race in and around it. Once we leave the park, it's a straight shot along Ocean Parkway. I hope the wind is coming from the north on Saturday!

Until then it's waiting time. Morning will come soon enough and my friends will be at my house by 4:30 AM as we begin our journey to Grand Army Plaza. This should be fun.

Runsketeers weekend, dinner and a Mother's Day run

Me and the moms (minus SIOR's chin)

Yesterday's run (street): 5.7 miles
Today's run (Bethpage trail): 9.6 miles

This has been a Runsk-terrific weekend. Yesterday, our queen of speed, SIOR, hosted a great dinner for our small group, including grownups and kids ranging in age from 2 to (almost) 16. The food was great, the company was great, and the energy level was high. TPP and I finally got to meet Mr. SIOR, who was a personable and welcoming host, and their fantastic, adorable kids. It turns out that Mr. SIOR and I have some friends in common. What are the chances of that?!

Earlier in the day on Saturday, I went out for 5.7 miles around my neighborhood. My new schedule makes it difficult for me to run during the week, so I needed to cram some mileage into the weekend. The run itself was unremarkable, though I worried that a mid-length run on Saturday might affect my running performance today. There are a number of reasons why I fell short of my planned distance of 12 miles today, and that could have been a factor.

Today's Mother's Day long run started in different places for the Runsketeers. TPP and I met along the bike trail north of Haypath Rd with the goal of eventually meeting up with SIOR, who was starting her run at the southern end of the Massapequa Preserve. TPP and I ran north and turned around when we reached the point where I'd calculated that our southern direction would get us to the Bethpage lot in time to rendezvous with SIOR.

For different reasons, the timing had us at Bethpage earlier than expected. Me and TPP waited about 10 minutes before resuming out southern direction with the intention of intercepting SIOR along the trail. We all met up at the bottom of the big hill right before the lot, and ran north, making a brief stop at Bethpage. We all got water from the fountain because, while it was relatively cool, it was extremely humid. The two "rests" along the way may have contributed to a degradation in my ability to maintain pace. In retrospect, I think it was my failure to bring a water bottle that made my last miles very difficult.

We ran further north and I watch SIOR grow steadily smaller as she opened up space between me and TPP. TPP was able maintain a better pace than me and I followed about 30 feet behind her until we met up with SIOR who was waiting for us at Old Country Rd. SIOR suggested taking a picture at that point, which was a good idea since we often forget to do that. It would have been great to get a selfie at dinner last night, but we never got to it. I think that's because we were having too much fun to think about it.

Shortly after we took our pictures, I reached the point where I needed to stop running. SIOR continued all the way to Sunnyside Boulevard (mind blowing, considering all the miles she'd already covered and the challenging hills north of Washington Ave). TPP ran another mile and met up with me where I'd stopped. After she returned, we started walking back to our cars knowing that SIOR would eventually catch up. That happened about a mile north of where we parked, so the three of us got to have a nice talk without anyone worrying about finding an oxygen tank for me.

I ended up covering 9.6 running miles, plus those walking miles at the end. I wanted to finish my Brooklyn training with 12 miles, but I didn't quite get there. I think with a resting taper, carrying water and maintaining a consistent pace next Saturday, I'll be able to get through the distance. There's no way I'll PR and there's a good chance I won't beat my original half marathon time when I ran with an injured knee. But Brooklyn is about the experience and being with friends. I hope they won't mind waiting for me at the end.

Better late than never

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles

Things are heating up with my new job and I've been a little concerned that my training schedule would suffer. That was the case yesterday. In order to avoid traffic that makes a 45 minute drive take an hour and a half, I've been leaving the house around 6 AM. I used to run on weekdays at 4:00 AM to get in my daily workout, but I'm not looking do that anymore.

I was resigned to the idea of, once again, missing a run. After a stressful morning I stopped feeling resigned and started feeling guilty. Once I had things in order, I decided to hit the road early to avoid traffic. I debated the idea of doing an elliptical workout when I got home, but the weather was perfect. I quickly changed and headed outside.

I'm definitely a morning runner, so going out in the late afternoon felt a little off. I'm sure my 11 miles on Sunday had something to do with that, along with a tiring day at the office. Getting through these miles was easy, but I wasn't particularly fast. I'm clearly behind the curve in terms of performance and I have no expectations of a PR at Brooklyn. I hope to get in another run in before Saturday, even if I have to do it in the afternoon.

11 miles of fun and friends on the Bethpage trail

This was the best shot of me (out of 3) so imagine the others

Today's run (Bethpage bike path): 11 miles

This morning I set out to cover 11 miles on the Bethpage bike path. It was the company of friends that helped me manage so well and made the experience great. Prior to today's run, my longest run in 2014 was 9.7 miles. This was a 12% mileage increase, but I felt fine throughout the run.

We were hoping to make this a full Runsketeer run, but SIOR had to attend the soccer games and track meets for her dozens of children (4 really). TPP and I met up near the Bethpage trail and started our run north. We were hoping to run into Jonathan who I met on the bike path a couple of weekends ago. Our hopes were met when we saw he and his wife Katherine running in our direction. We quickly fell into formation running south.

Jonathan and Katherine are training for an upcoming marathon in Vermont and they have been training a lot on this bike path and the dirt trails that run close by. Bethpage provides a lot of hills and that's probably good since they'll be racing in Green Mountain country. We ended up running about two miles together before our friends, who'd started about three miles north of our starting point, turned back. They are great people and I look forward to running with them again.

TPP and I continued our run, going beyond the north trail head, passing through Bethpage State Park and then further south past Hempstead Turnpike. We turned around at 6.25 miles. On the way back, TPP unleashed her inner greyhound and began to insert 100-200 meter bursts of speed. She's very quick and I can see why she was a sprinter in high school. If she was the hare, then I was the turtle, maintaining the same pace throughout most of the run. I did pick up my speed a few times as we got closer to the finish point, when I felt I could spend some energy.

TPP, in living color

The trail wasn't as crowded with runners as it normally would be on a pleasant Sunday. Perhaps everyone was off running the LI marathon, half and 10K today. Still, there were cyclists and some runners. TPP, with her vivid attire, got her share of admiring looks. TPP felt that today's run was a good affirmation of her current conditioning and I felt the same. After covering 11 miles and feeling great, 13.1 miles in Brooklyn feels far less intimidating.

Our next Runsketeer event will be very different (more to come on that) and SIOR will definitely be a big part of that. We really missed her today. I'm very pleased with today's run and I owe much of it to my friends who make me a better runner.

Liked my run and loved my park

Been there, didn't do that

Today's run (street): 4.6 miles

I'm working through my new work schedule and trying to find the time to fit in all my training runs. I caught a break on Thursday by working from home. That was good for over six miles, something that I couldn't have done if I was driving to my office that morning. I was back to the drive on Friday morning and couldn't fit in a run before that. The saving grace is that my new office is in an enormous building and I cover a lot of ground on foot during the day.

This morning I targeted 4 miles around the neighborhood. I plan to run as close to 11 as I can on Sunday. Just for a change, I wrapped my run around the neighborhood, following Jericho Turnpike west to South Oyster Bay road and then onto Terrahans going east. The change of scenery was welcomed and I figured that this new route would distract me for the first two miles and make the overall run feel shorter. That sort of worked, even though I added another 2/3 mile to my distance.

I feel that I'm running exactly the same way and expending the same amount of energy that I did a year ago. Now my typical pace is now almost a minute slower. I used to be able to sustain sub-9 paces with a focused effort. These days I'm happy when I see that I've averaged mid-9's. Today I didn't even break 10:00. I'd hope that my weekly speed workouts would have moved the needle, but I've seen little payoff from it.

Later in the day, we all headed to Caleb Smith State Park in Smithtown for "I Love My Park Day." Last year we planted a tree and were looking forward to this year's tasks. However, when we arrived at noon, the event organizers were wrapping things up. Our information said that activities would go until 3:00 PM, but it was incorrect. We were disappointed, but it didn't prevent us for spending an hour hiking the trails.

If everything works out, we'll have a Runsketeer run tomorrow morning that includes a couple of guest runners (J who I met on the bike trail two weeks ago and his wife). I'm very curious to see how I hold up for 11 miles or more. Only two more Sundays before the Brooklyn half, and I need to make them count.

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.

Performance is down, but excuses remain high

Ready or not, here it comes

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

My running has slid back into the questionable range. I had a tough time running a very slow 5K on Sunday. That may have been due to over-training last week, shoelace malfunctions or something less obvious. This week was the start of my new job and, after taking my usual Monday rest day, I skipped Tuesday as well. This morning was a return to 4:00 AM running and it didn't go particularly well.

After 20 years of commuting on the Long Island Railroad into NYC, I had a break over the last year. I didn't miss riding the the train and I still don't. But instead of the train, I'm now driving 75 miles a day to and from my new office. Driving is not fun and I've decided to head out around 6:00 AM to minimize the amount of traffic delays on the LIE, Route 95, etc. Consequently, the window for early running before my commute is short. And unlike train commuting when I could take a seat and sleep, I need to be 100% alert when on the road.

I happened to have an all day meeting in the city today, so I got on the treadmill at 4:00 and ran for 25 minutes. It was one of the toughest workouts I've had in a while, and I'm wondering why. Since I'm making plenty of excuses about my sub-par 5K performance, I'll make more by saying that two days of driving on highly trafficked roads, plus full days in the office, have exhausted me. I'm hoping it's just that. Brooklyn will happen soon and my running confidence has taken a big tumble since last week.

Angry workers and the endless trail

My view of the trail today

Today's run (Bethpage bike trail): 9.7 miles

With the Marcie Mazzola 5K happening on Sunday, I needed to figure out a way to get my long run done this week. On Wednesday I logged six miles and was planning to run 10 or 11 on the weekend. I didn't want to run that much the day before a race, so I decided to cram it in today. I'm wrapping up a lot of things as I prepare for a new role on Monday, so my schedule was tight.

I decided that the bike trail was my best option, so I drove to the small lot that sits on the bike trail north of Old Country Road. I quickly started running north until I reached Washington Ave and turned around to run south. My target was 10 or 10.5 miles and I felt great. The weather was perfect and the setting serene. I must have seen thirty cottontails along the path and countless birds. Not too many people though.

I did fine through the first five miles despite the hills that came about every quarter mile. My only concern was time, because I needed to be home (and hopefully showered) before a business call that was happening mid morning. Once I'd traveled south of the Bethpage lot and down the big hill, I started to feel a little fatigued. I'd swapped the sock liners in my Virratas for gel insoles and that turned out to be a good idea. However, the softer landing probably made me work a little harder on the hills.

By the time I reached seven miles, I became concerned that my progress was not fast enough to meet my timeline. I was really feeling fatigued and the trail seemed endless. I also realized that I did bad math in terms of turnaround point and I wouldn't quite make ten miles. Oh well, it was only a 3/10th of a mile difference. The only disruption to this placid experience was when I reached Old Country Road near the end of my run.

Before I'd rounded the corner to the street, I heard loud male voices screaming at each other. It was mostly expletives. These were town or county workers who were fixing the bike trail at the point where it met Old Country Road. I was mildly concerned because I needed to run between them to get across the street and more concerned when I saw that one of the arguers was driving a huge front loader.

I think they realized the danger of interfering with a civilian, so they stopped while I passed through. Immediately after, the guy in the front loader started yelling, "I !@#$% quit!" By then I was on the trail on the opposite side heading to my car.

Even though today's distance was almost the same as last Sunday's, today's run was far tougher. I'm hoping it had to do with running almost ten miles after running 6 just two days prior. For some, that would have been a non-issue, but it was only about five weeks ago when I was struggling to complete 4 miles on this same trail.

Tomorrow I will rest and Sunday I'll race. What I'll do for training next week is still up in the air. I'll have to see what my schedule holds.

Run interrupted, for a very good reason

You just can't escape it

Today's run (street): 6.25 total

This morning I planned to go out for six miles, but circumstances caused me to break the run into two parts. I've been trying to run at least 6 miles mid-week to reinforce my base. The news was reporting 40 MPH winds so I went with running pants and two top layers, including a heavier weight half-zip. It turned out that the winds weren't anywhere as bad as reported.

I started off well and I was looking forward to covering my distance at a comfortable pace. I was almost at my first mile when my cell phone rang. I always check to see who's calling, in case it's an emergency. I recognized the number as a big client, but I couldn't answer the phone in time. I listened to the voicemail and headed home to call them back.

Although my run was interrupted, it was worth it. I'm keeping my consulting practice, but now I'll also be taking on a full time position. This will be the first time I'll be commuting to an outside office since I left my old company in 2013. I'm very excited about this new opportunity, but I am concerned about how it will affect my training over the next few weeks. In order to be ready for the Brooklyn Half, I'll need to maintain my current mix of speed and base running.

Once all the paperwork was signed, I went out to complete the balance of my run. In between the first and second part of today's run I had lunch and I wondered how I'd do running on full stomach. The weather had turned cloudy and it looked like it might rain. I was grateful that my distance dropped to five miles, since I'd already done a mile earlier in the day.

There was more wind the second time I went out, but I appreciated it because I thought it might help simulate the effort needed to take on the first big hill at the Marcie Mazzola 5K on Sunday. I moved along fairly well, but the Garmin was showing paces that were at least 30 seconds slower than perceived effort. After calculating true distance, it turned out that I was running about 15 seconds per mile faster than what the display said.

Overall, I met my distance target, although not all at once. I recently read that two-a-days are actually a good training strategy, but I can't remember why. I'm supposed to taper at some point for Sunday's race although I'm not sure I can afford to reduce volume at this point. Maybe I'll rest tomorrow and go long again on Friday.

Bethpage run: Making friends along the trail

I really want that chocolate bunny

Today's run (Bethpage trail): 9.5 miles

Today is Easter and I hope it's a good one for those of you who celebrate this holiday. I don't, but I'm certainly celebrating the great weather we're having this weekend. Sunday is when I do my longest run and the distance gets extended each week as I build up to half marathon distance. Last Sunday I ran eight miles and today's plan was for 9. Depending on the training schedule, today could have been a ten miler, but I was reluctant to jump 20% from week to week. Though it was an accident, I ended up with a good compromise distance.

My Runsketeer friends are both in Boston for the marathon that's being held tomorrow. SIOR will be running it and we are really excited for her. She trains really hard while taking great care of her family (4 kids!) and she has the athleticism to make it a memorable performance on Monday. No pressure, just qualifying for Boston is a victory. TPP is there to support her sister T, who is also running tomorrow. T is another high performer. That, of course, is a prerequisite for getting entry into Boston.

As a native Bostonian, I would have loved to be there to watch them run through my old home town of Natick, but I'll be here on Long Island tracking their progress through the baa.org site. In the meantime, I have my own race training to do with the Brooklyn Half coming up mid-May and the Marcie Mazzola 5K next weekend. I'm very curious to see how I do in terms of speed in the 5K and whether all these hills I've been running will provide a performance payoff.

Today's run was split into two experiences, one being a pleasant but uneventful solo effort for about five miles and the other a highly enjoyable almost-five with an other runner on the path. I parked near Haypath Rd. again and got right on the bike trail going north. I followed the trail up to Washington Ave and turned around once I reached the underpass of the LIE.

I maintained the easy pace that I need to cover long mileage while I rebuild my endurance. I got to the five mile point and had stopped at Haypath to watch for cars when I saw another runner to my left. We exchanged hellos and crossed the road. I suspected that he was faster than me and was surprised that he hadn't taken off and passed me at that point. Instead, he (I'll call him J) pulled alongside me and asked how many miles I was doing. He was planning to do about the same, we're both training for different long races and his will be in Vermont.

Today's elevation profile

J turned out to be a very good and interesting guy who also works in the media technology space, but not in publishing like me. He set a slightly faster pace than I was running and I was very surprised that I was able to hold up my end of the conversation. J is a tall athletic guy and I'm somewhat older than him. He could have easily run two or three minutes a mile faster than the pace we held and I was grateful that he didn't. He really pulled me along, especially on the hills.

The time spent with J went by much faster than the previous five miles. Just like when I have group runs with SIOR and TPP. Good company is a runner's gift. I left J to finish on his own once we returned to Haypath and I felt remarkably good after covering almost ten miles today. All this focused training is making a difference and it demonstrates that there is no substitute for putting in the work. When the work is made easier with friends, it's simple to understand why we do this.

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.

Winter running in mid April

Thick frost on the lawn this morning

Today's run (street): 6.25 miles

Yesterday's schedule was rough and it involved an early morning drive to a client north of the city. This meeting and other obligations disrupted my training schedule and they caused me to miss my weekly speed work. I considered doing those repeats today and moving my long run to Thursday, but I didn't want to space my base training runs too close together.

I was surprised to see that the temperature was only 32° when I got up. At least yesterday's driving rains were gone, so it was just a matter of bundling up. I've gotten used to running in 40 degree weather so I was concerned about a possible recurrence of cold-related breathing issues, but they didn't materialize. I dressed for the frigid temperature and set out to cover 6 miles or so.

Complex route

Longer runs in my contained neighborhood are hard to do unless you don't mind covering the same streets multiple times. I mentally mapped out a route that would minimize these redundancies and took off running at an easy pace. I knew that it would be cold, but I didn't count on the stiff breezes that accompanied it. According to my Garmin data, the winds were at 14 MPH, making it feel like 24° outside. Nothing like pushing your way up a long sloping road with freezing wind buffeting you the entire way.

The run itself was fairly easy. I have no doubt that the Brooklyn Half training is contributing to my endurance. I picked up the pace on the last mile and ran it almost a minute faster than the previous 5. That told me two things: I can run faster when I need to do it and I can find speed at the end of a middle-long distance run. Speed is a relative term of course. My "fast" pace today did not match race target. But it is progress and I'm all for that.

8 miles at Bethpage, but parking was the toughest part

X marks the parking spot (map and picture)

Today's run (Bethpage bike trail): 8 miles

Today was my longest run of the week and I knew I'd be doing it somewhere on the Bethpage bike trail. I just didn't know when or where I'd start. GLIRC had a clubhouse run scheduled for this morning and I considered joining them for that. Those runs start at 8:00 AM sharp in the parking lot of the GLIRC office in Plainview. I wasn't in the mood for running with a big group, so I decided to skip that event and do my long run solo.

TPP was also doing her long run at Bethpage today and I'd hoped to cross paths with her at some point. We did end up finding each other on the trail (she was easy to spot in her vivid pink running gear) and we ran together a bit. TPP was having a tough time this morning and decided to head back to her starting point. Despite that, she ended up covering almost 8 miles.

The Hal Higdon plan called for 8 miles today, although my ER plan had me down for 9. Since I ran 7 miles last Sunday, I decided that eight was enough <smiley face> today. I recall from my last half marathon training cycle that the challenge of going from 5-6 miles to 8-10+ took some acclimation. I was concerned that I'd hit the wall after 45 minutes or so, but I never felt depleted. I stayed around 80% of max HR throughout the run, largely due to maintaining an easy, but steady, pace.

Before I took my first step on the Bethpage bike trail, I had a frustrating experience trying to find a place to park my car. I'm planning to get a 2014 Empire Passport so I didn't want to pay the Bethpage parking fee today. I was hoping that they weren't charging for entrance this morning, but when I arrived I saw that the toll house was open for business. I thought about other options and turned around. I then drove to the small lot that is located off E. Bethpage Rd near Old Country Rd.

When I arrived at this lot, every one of its ten or so spots was filled. So much for that. I was 30 minutes past my planned start time and still had no place to park my car. I was going to park along Haypath Rd. but I wasn't sure that was okay. I then noticed some cars with people who looked like runners parking along Colonial Rd and found a spot near them. I took care to see any signs restricting parking along the street. Seeing none, I parked and crossed the road to the bike trail.

It was only a few minutes after that when I saw TPP. Despite her claim that she was struggling, she looked strong as I watched her coming south in my direction. I wanted to follow the trail north all the way to Sunnyside Blvd. After a few minutes of running in that direction, TPP decided to head back to the lot where she'd parked. She's really cut down on simple carbs and sugar and has been having trouble maintaining her targeted performance levels. I'm confident that will soon change.

I wasn't thrilled about covering the section of trail north of Washington Ave because it has a series of long hills. It was no picnic, but I did better than expected. I'm sure last weekend's hilly workout helped prepare me for today's. The only difficult times were when I was coming up steep hills against 12 MPH winds. I maintained the best pace I could, shortened my stride and got through those situations fairly well.

Today's route, with out-and-backs at both ends

It takes a while to cover eight miles and I ended up needing to go south of my starting point to pick up miles 7 and 8. That took me close to the start of the north trail. I kept waiting for my energy level to drop but it never wavered, except when I was a couple of tenths away from my finish point. That was obviously a psychological response to almost being done.

This training program has been nudging my weekly mileage beyond my average of 18. The past couple of weeks were 21 miles and this week I covered 23. That was with two rest days instead of my usual one, meaning my average run length has increased measurably since I've started training for Brooklyn.

Low mo leads to slow go

GPS margin of error

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

Usually, after a rest day, I'm more than ready to get back outside for a run. Today was one of those near perfect running days with plenty of sun. The temperature was warm enough for shorts yet cool and dry enough to keep sweating to a minimum. Despite all these positive conditions, I found myself unmotivated. My half marathon training schedule only required a 3 mile race-pace run today, yet I was mentally unready to do it.

I didn't sleep well last night, and that probably explained the lack of drive I was feeling this morning. I didn't consider skipping today's workout, but time kept slipping by. We had people coming over in the early afternoon and I needed to get my run completed in time to shower and finish lunch. I decided to dial back the intensity and just do my mileage at whatever speed I could sustain. That got me out the door.

I set a pace that felt sustainable and changed up my route to keep it interesting. While I consciously avoided focusing on speed, I did successfully keep my cadence within my targeted range. I ended up running three minutes longer than I would have if I'd followed the race-pace plan. Although the skies were clear and sunny, my Garmin did a poor job of tracking my progress today (see comparison above). Further, I had no way to gauge my actual performance while I was running, because the readout was based on flawed data.

Tomorrow I'm due to run 8 or nine miles. I may participate in the GLIRC Clubhouse run in the morning if I feel up to it. Otherwise I'll probably head to Bethpage a little later and do it on my own.

Treadmill repeats, a little faster and a little better

Check this box ☐ if you are tired of seeing my HR charts 

Today's run (treadmill repeats): 2.5 miles - 6 x 400 plus 1 mile warm up / cool down

My Runsketeer buddy TPP has been focusing on cutting back on her sugar and carbs. Reducing your sugar intake is a good idea (provided there are no underlying issues related to hypoglycemia). Moderating simple carbs is always smart. Most of the time we don't need that sugar, but our cave-person genetics force us to crave it. The one exception is when you are 40 minutes into a 10K and you need energy right now.

I used to use GU gels frequently on my runs, even when I ran relatively short distances. Now I rarely use energy boosters, or anything like it. I've now reached the point in my half marathon training program where I'm approaching double digit base runs. That means I'm running for 80 minutes or more at a time, long enough to (supposedly) deplete my glycogen stores. So far I've avoided using supplements during this training. I took a GU gel along on Sunday, but never felt like I needed it. Then again, despite all the hills, I really didn't push myself that hard.

I'm not Brooklyn race ready yet, but I've definitely moved the needle in terms of endurance. Running seven easy miles, as I did over the weekend, would have been a struggle four weeks ago. But I felt great on Sunday. This morning I ran another set of 6 x 400 repeats, this time on the treadmill. I prefer to do this workout on the track or at least on pavement, but it was raining fairly hard outside this morning.

Considering the challenge I had running 220's a couple of weeks ago on the treadmill (at a slightly slower pace), I can see progress. Today's quarters were run at 7.2 MPH, book-ended with half mile warm up and and cool down runs. I was very pleased to see my HR reaching 85% of max by the final seconds of each interval. I plan to take the speed up to 7.3 MPH next time I do treadmill repeats.

Tomorrow is my mid-week base run, which by my formula (80% of Sunday's long run) should total 5.6 miles. I'll try to run at least two of those miles at Half Marathon target pace, per the advice of SIOR. This will be the first "bridge" workout where I partially combine a speed and distance run. I'll be interested to see if I've restored my fitness well enough by now to manage through it.

Runsketeer Sunday on the mountains of Westbury

The concrete roller coaster

Today's run (SUNY Old Westbury): 7 miles

What goes up must come down. That is an apt description of the loop I ran today at the campus of SUNY Old Westbury. SIOR, who discovered this beautifully torturous running venue, described the course as "hilly." She certainly wasn't kidding. With the exception of the short drive that connects the campus to Cedar Swamp Road, I don't think there was a level section on our route today.

SIOR was unable to join us this morning, so it was left to TPP and I to conquer this undulating beast. She wanted to run 11 miles today and I had had 7 scheduled. Our timing was almost perfect. I arrived a couple of minutes before our designated meet time and I could see TPP heading in my direction. She was probably half a mile away, but her neon yellow running jacket made her easy to spot. TPP had already run 30% of her planned distance and would cover the balance while I did my seven miles.

We headed west toward the loop running against traffic. There were a lot of cars on the route because the college was having an Open House. Fortunately there was plenty of room for the many other runners and cyclists we saw today. I followed TPP who is a very focused runner. I had to constantly occasionally remind her to get over to the left when cars were heading in our direction. Apparently her friends from the Selden Hills running club are frequently called on to do this for her during their group runs.

Elevation chart from today's run

We encountered the first of many hills soon after we'd started. We were running easy and took it on without much trouble. Every hill was followed by an equivalent drop, making it the least fun roller coaster ever. But the run was fun, because our pace allowed us to carry on a conversation most of the time. I've never been able to speak when running at my regular training pace, but I did okay today.

I had been concerned about being able to cover seven miles over what turned out to be 600 feet of elevation. We decided to walk parts of some hills, but I stopped my Garmin during those times because I wanted to make sure I recorded 7 full miles of running.

I'm looking at today's run from a couple of different perspectives. On the positive side, I had a great time running with a friend, made my targeted distance and ran a lot of hills. On the not so positive side, I probably fell short on effort, as evidenced by my heart rate that averaged only 75% of max. I think this is a signal for me to start pushing my speed a little more on my long runs. SIOR suggested running a couple of miles at targeted half marathon pace on training runs and I plan to do that during next Wednesday's run.

Raising HR should raise performance

I want to get my heart rate up to at least least 80% of max on long runs and average at least 85% on more speed-focused runs. This is a tough change for me because the harder I push, the less I enjoy the run. But I always feel great afterward.

What female runners like to blog about

Image courtesy of MilesToBlog

Today's run (street): 3.25 miles

In addition to my normal publishing channels and RSS, I post on a private Facebook group page called "Miles to Blog." This is a group of active bloggers who write about their training, motivation and races. The writing is uniformly good and some of these people are very funny. I've found it interesting to read what's important to this group of predominantly female runner/bloggers. Please don't take this as sexist, but I'm amused by the one subject that seems to dominate. Is this a runner thing or a gender thing? Can you guess the subject?

Moving to a different subject,  I got out today for my Hal Higdon prescribed 3 miles + strength run. The strength stuff is still pending. Does carrying the clean laundry upstairs for my wife count? I'm in the fourth week of Hal's intermediate Half Marathon training program, the first formal training program I've ever followed. I've been wondering if it's working and had an interesting experience today that answered that question.

My two challenges for the Brooklyn Half are: 1. Getting my endurance back to the level where I can cover the 13.1 mile distance and 2. Developing the stamina to sustain targeted race pace. The Higdon method involves increasingly long base runs, timed tempos, track intervals and shorter runs. Plus strength training which I'll get to at some point. The idea is to bring the base and speed training together over the 12 week schedule so that the runner is at his or her peak on race day.

I was curious to know whether, in the fourth week of this training, I had gained any speed as a result of this long/slow and short/fast run combination. I was in the second mile of today's run when I broke my rule about checking pace on my watch. My Garmin showed an abysmal pace that was disheartening because I felt like I was running much faster. I took up the effort a little, but a few more checks of the Garmin showed that I was still over 30 secs per mile slower than my target. When I checked my time and distance after the run, I saw that, overall, I'd exactly met my targeted pace.

One thing I learned was that I shouldn't assume that the Garmin is providing accurate real-time pace information. The other thing I learned was that this training is helping (although it took that scare to get me to pick up the pace). Nothing motivates like progress. I just hope it continues.

Half training is coming together but I'm running out of road

Today's run (street): 5.8 miles

Busy route

I had hoped that yesterday's speed workout would spill over to today's base run, but that didn't happen. Right now I'm experiencing a gap between speed and distance. I can do one or the other, but not both. I'm trusting that it will eventually all come together. Today I focused on getting in my miles and had another good run. Good, but not fast.

Now that I'm getting beyond my usual training distances it's becoming harder to plan longer routes in my neighborhood.  I got around those limitations on Sunday by running the same loop multiple times. I couldn't face doing that again, so I played it by ear and hit almost every road, some of them two or three times.

It wasn't a particularly stimulating route but I did see lots of Town of Oyster Bay workers fixing roads. I guess it really is spring. I also ran by a woman sitting in her car brushing her teeth and spent the rest of my run wondering what that was all about. I ended up running longer than planned, but not by much. Tomorrow's workout is 3 miles plus strength training. I may not be hitting my ideal pace on long runs yet, but I'm feeling good about my training right now.