O Canada and fitting in some running

Land of maple leafs, moose and fun

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles
Sunday's run (treadmill): 20 minutes
Friday's run (street): 3.25 miles
Wednesday's run (treadmill): 30 minutes

My running over the last week has been a blur. The only clarity being today after we returned from a trip. I worked from home on Wednesday and did a treadmill run. I got outside and around the neighborhood on Friday. I needed to fit those workouts into busy work days and didn't do a good job of tracking my treadmill mileage.

View of the Green Mountains

We headed to Montreal on Saturday and made a stop in northern Vermont to see my brother and his family, along with my mother who was visiting from Florida. We were only passing through for a few hours, but we made the best of it and the kids loved spending time with their cousins. All too soon we were on our way to Canada.

Cool happenings at Place des Arts

We stayed near McGill University in area that was adjacent to a lot of nice restaurants and close to the Place des Arts. I did a treadmill run in the morning on a machine that was not up to my standards for a fitness center unit. I was tired from travel and struggled to get through 20 minutes at an easy pace. Well it looked easy on the display, but it felt much faster. I ended up covering 16,000 steps that day, so I didn't mind the short workout.

Swim, Bike, Run in the Old Port

We met up with friends who live in the city and had a great time with them. While we were in the Old Port we stumbled into the middle of the Montreal International Triathlon. There were runners and cyclists flying along sectioned areas and swimmers in the St. Lawrence River. We needed to sprint to get past at the cross points.

Montreal has a lot of energy and it reminds me so much of Europe. My brother had mentioned that Les Habitants "didn't get the memo" that smoking is pas bien. Unfortunately that proved to be true. On the positive side, we covered a lot of interesting ground and had some great meals. We were sorry when we had to head back home.

When we got back, I went out for a run around my local streets to cap off a really nice mini vacation. My running was back to where it was prior to that hotel run and I did well considering the heat and humidity of the day. I really would have liked to run outside when we were away, but the timing didn't work out. The next time we go back - and we will - I'll definitely do my running on the rue.

No runs or posts, but plenty of excuses

Reston runners Tom (left) and Ryan (right)

Last run (Sunday 7/14): 5 miles

Hey, remember me? It's been a long time since I've posted and this is due to two things. The first is the distraction of being on the road for nine days, as we traveled to various places between Long Island and Florida. The second thing is my failure to notice that I'd left my laptop in the hotel in Virginia Beach. Despite the fact that my laptop bag is bright red and I'd actually gone back to the room to look around "one more time", I still managed to miss it. Thanks to UPS, we were reunited today.

I didn't do too much running while on vacation, so my guilt meter is at an all time high. I did get a couple of great runs in while I was in Sarasota. However, with a different destination almost every day and a full schedule of daily activities, I couldn't coordinate around hotel treadmill availability. That said, I did manage to rack up 18K steps the day we visited Universal Studios, so at least I got some exercise.

We returned home this afternoon, and our last stop was Reston, VA where we visited some friends. While in Reston, I stopped into Potomac River Running, a really nice store that's located in Reston Town Center. I chatted with Tom, and told him about the Dirty Sock and Great Cow Harbor races that are held on Long Island. So even if I didn't run, at least I paid homage to the sport.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, as I catch up on business. But before I do any of that, I plan to revisit the streets of my neighborhood for the first time in ten days.

Travel trumping training

It's been a great few days in New England, but I'm working on my third day without a run. We left Vermont yesterday (mountains below) and we're in the Boston area today. It looks like we won't see the snow that's hitting the Midwest, but we may encounter some rough weather on the way back to New York.
I considered heading to the fitness center to run on the treadmill when I got up this morning. Today is my wife's birthday, so I'm opting for a family breakfast instead.  My hip has improved a lot since Friday and I'm planning to try a street run tomorrow.  I really want to do a test run today, but one more day of rest seems like a better idea.

Defining a long run

Goodbye Boston, hello vacation 

Today's run (street): 5.6 miles

For all intents and purposes, my business year has ended. I finished things up with a trip to Massachusetts on Thursday and Friday and I'm now - officially - on vacation. It was a necessary excursion, but the travel logistics and schedule were tough. Shortly after leaving South Station, I took this shot of the gloomy conditions that I was leaving behind.

I wasn't able to run during the time I was away, so I looked forward to getting outside this morning. We have plans that will prevent my running on Sunday and Monday. I wanted to get in at least five miles before taking my next break. The other night I was asked whether I considered five miles to be a long run. I wasn't sure how to answer that, but I finally decided that five miles represents the dividing line between short and not-short.

I went to bed early and took the opportunity to sleep a full eight hours. My wife and kids had early morning activities so, after they left, I got ready to run. The temperature was in the low 30's when I stepped outside. Although I wore layers to stay comfortable, the five minutes it took to acquire a GPS signal forced me back into the garage to stay warm. I hoped that the first few minutes of my run would help me generate some body heat.

Prior to leaving I'd mixed a packet of chia seeds with an ounce of watered down coffee. I think that chia can make a difference. Chia seeds may not enhance performance, but they do seem to provide some sustainable energy. It could also be that, after taking two days off, my body was rested and ready for a run.

I covered the neighborhood as much as I could without duplicating too many streets. I kept waiting to feel fatigued throughout the run, but I felt almost as strong at mile five as I did at the start. My route took me to the northern part of my neighborhood so I extended the loop and finished with a little extra distance. I ran the last half mile briskly and that helped put my overall pace within normal range.

I felt great on today's run and I regret that I won't be back on the road until Tuesday. Still, I'll have some vacation days that will provide me the opportunity to run longer distances, leading up to the Hangover Run on January 1st. 5.6 miles may not be a long run, but it's the longest run I'll be doing for a while.

Running relief from my vacation

View of the Capital from the Newseum building

Today's run (street): 4.8 miles

The idea of needing a vacation from your vacation held true this week. After three days of visiting the sights of DC, including Arlington National Cemetery, the Smithsonian, the Spy Museum, the Newseum, Ford's Theater, the Senate and Capital buildings and Chinatown, I was exhausted. Following that was a day at Williamsburg Revolutionary City and then a day at Busch Gardens. After all that, we still had the long ride back to Long Island. I'm happy to have the weekend to recover!

In the past, I've tried to incorporate a little running tourism into my vacations. However, I didn't feel comfortable being alone on the streets of DC at dawn, so my only choice was to use the hotel's treadmill. Williamsburg offered a safer venue, but the streets didn't have sidewalks so, once again, I chose the treadmill. I didn't run every day but with all the ground we covered walking, I got a good week's workout.

This morning was my first opportunity to run outside since last Sunday, when I covered three miles before we left on our trip. It was no surprise that the humidity was high this morning, but I thought the low cloud cover would keep conditions tolerable. I think the miles of walking this week paid off, because I felt good from the start and covered my distance with little trouble.

Although it will be a low mileage week for running, it was great for conditioning and fitness. With the Dirty Sock 10K coming up in a couple of weeks, I may head to the Bethpage trails tomorrow morning to kick off my race training. That is, unless it rains. In that case, it will be back on the treadmill...

Heading to warmer climes

I'm sure I'll find someplace to run here

Tomorrow morning I'm heading down to Florida to give a talk at a conference. The weather in NYC is miserable and it looks like that may continue into Wednesday so I'm hoping I don't encounter too many travel delays. According to my colleague KWL who arrived there today, the conference resort has some great places for running. My friend CK will also be down there and we have plans to get together for a run. My schedule is so tight that I'm not sure when I can fit that in but I expect that we'll figure it out. The weather where I'm staying is mild, ranging between 60-78 degrees so I'm packing light. No long sleeve running shirts or cold weather compression gear. I'm not a fan of business travel but the chance to run someplace near the water gives me at least one reason to like it. 

Business travel provides a different running experience

Today's workout: Rest day

This will be a busy week. I'll be out of the office four out of the five days and traveling for the first three. Today will start with an hour and a half presentation that I have to give before I head to Penn Station to hop on the Acela to Boston. It's not a bad trip and I'm planning to see some great people and do some interesting things. I'm also hoping to get some city running in while I'm there. I've mentioned the Memorial Drive run that I love and I wish I had time to extend that run on the Boston side to include a loop around Boston Common. There's something great about running where the city meets nature. Running in Central Park is always interesting to me because there's so much to see with things changing all the time. Due to business conditions I haven't traveled as much in the last year as in the past but I have another trip coming up soon. My schedule will be tight so I don't know if I'll get to run there but I'm hopeful that I can. I don't enjoy business travel or being away from my family but running in new or different places makes for a far better experience.

Pre-travel run

I'm excited to be traveling to Boston this weekend to see friends and family. My kids are especially excited to see their two year old cousins (one of whom is a dedicated Emerging Runner reader). We were in Massachusetts just a few weeks ago for the Cape Cod Marathon relay event and it always feels like going home.

Since the day will be taken up with travel and social activities I decided to get out early for a run. Although the temperature said 53 degrees on the news this morning I've learned by now that the level of cold can be deceiving, especially with the strong winds we've been experiencing this week. It was dark when I went out so I wore my headlamp and took along my ASICS lightweight windbreaker/raincoat in anticipation of the cold and light rain. It stayed dry but the chill was there in force. It was an interesting experience in terms of wind, direction and effort. I had the strong wind at my back when going uphill on some long roads and the reverse on others. I was wondering if the two balanced out or if one condition was more of a factor than the other. All told I covered 3.5 miles in about 32 minutes at 9:20. I thought I was pacing a bit better than that so maybe the wind was more of a factor than I realized. The good news is that I felt great throughout the run. I may find myself on a hotel treadmill tomorrow morning. This would be the first time I'd run on a treadmill in memory. Seriously, I'd have to go back to my records to see the last workout marked "treadmill" because its been that long. Well, if I must go that way at least it will be on a high-end unit. A little change might be fun. That's what I'll keep telling myself.