Wisdom of the (running) crowd

 

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

I found it interesting that three knowledgeable runners (Carla, Karl and SIOR) have all recommended a mid-week long run as part of a half marathon training plan. I generally run shorter distances in the middle of the week. My excuse has always been a lack of time. But people with schedules busier than mine seem to get them done. Here are strategies I heard this week that I will take to heart for my training:

Carla: "The key for me ended up being doing at least two 15+ milers. and another 7-10 mile run during the week. Plus a 10k, 15k, and 10 mile race, and progression runs in the buildup phase. In effect, more overall mileage. And more of it at hoped-for race pace."

Karl: "It's all about stamina and endurance. Speed is largely innate. The stamina (tempo and progression runs) and endurance (long and easy runs) workouts allow us to maintain whatever speed that we have over longer period of times."

SIOR: "I would run speed work on Tuesdays, a longish run on Wednesday (7-9 miles), and easy runs on Thursdays and Saturdays. Then when all is said and done, I would sign up for a fall marathon." [Editor's note: SIOR is a troublemaker who knows I will never run a full marathon.]

Right now, seven mile mid-week runs are a challenge, but once I get my base closer to double digits it could be managed. If I'm going to go out for four miles anyway, what's another half hour? And now that I'm comfortable with using the treadmill for speed work, I won't have the excuse that I can't run weekday intervals due to restricted access to the track.

Today's workout was another treadmill run. I had planned to run slowly in deference to yesterday's speed session, but I ended up doing a more intense workout. I hope that by resting on Friday, I'll be properly recovered for Saturday's relay. I keep telling myself that it's only a two mile leg, but going all-out for 17 minutes (if I'm lucky) will seem like a very long time.

Again with the treadmill repeats

Today's run (treadmill repeats): 3.1 miles 
(10 x 340m plus 1 mile warm up/cool down)

I'd like to thank everyone who commented on my post and sent me emails regarding my Brooklyn Half training plan. The consensus is that my weekly long run schedule is fairly solid and that speed work should integrated throughout the training cycle. I'm anxious to return to Bethpage and excited to be able to begin this training, with the additional six miles of paved bike trail that was completed last year. If I chose to do it, I could run an entire half marathon distance from my house to the Massapequa Preserve along that trail. But somebody would need to pick me up at the end! 13 miles is one thing, 26 is quite another.

My friends FS and SIOR both pointed out the Hal Higdon training plan and I found it realistic, accessible and very close to mine in terms of weekly long run schedule. Following months of complacency, I'm getting excited about performance again. After Monday's speed session, I opted for a moderate elliptical session on Tuesday. This morning it was back to speed work with another set of repeats done with a little less intensity.

Like Monday, I started with a half mile warm up before moving to intervals. I wanted to go a little longer on each repeat, so I bumped up the distance from 220 to 340 meters and set the speed about 3% lower than on Monday. I also capped  it at 10 repeats, although it worked out to almost the same distance. I finished again with a half mile cool down.

I'm not sure if this late stage speed work is going to translate into better performance on Saturday, but I hoping for the best. It's supposed to be very cold on Thursday, so I may have to do tomorrow's run on the treadmill. I would prefer to run outdoors, ideally on trail, so I could simulate trail race conditions.

Half Marathon training, your opinion is requested!

 

Today's workout (elliptical): 40 minutes

According to Athlinks, I've run thirteen 10K's, eleven 5K's, four 4 milers, four 8K's, two half marathons and a 5 mile race. There are a couple of other races that Athlinks doesn't list, but for the most part, that's my racing history. 10K is my favorite race distance because it requires both speed and stamina. Unlike 5K's that allow me to go all-out because I know that it will be over inside of 30 minutes, 10K's require a much more strategic approach.

10K, or 6.2 miles is also a friendly distance. Even if I've slacked off on my base training runs (likely), I can generally get through a 10K without much race specific training. In those cases, I don't come close to PR'ing, but I can manage through the distance. Half marathons are a different story. There's something about double digit distance running that requires me to really focus on my training. The toughest run I ever had was my first half marathon. It was so bad, a race volunteer offered to call a doctor as I crossed the line.

That experience taught me a lesson about being prepared. I'd thought I'd be okay running my usual 6 miles or so on Sundays, then upping that distance to eight and nine miles the two weekends before the half. It didn't help that I'd also acquired a knee problem at that time, but I blame my poor race performance on my failure to plan.

My Plan

I fared much better the next time. I realized that building a proper base was the key, so I dutifully headed to Bethpage every weekend and ran increasingly longer distances. I ended up improving my time by 15 minutes the second time I ran a half. The chart above shows the Sunday long run distance plan I created and followed. I updated the schedule to coincide with this year's dates leading up to the Brooklyn Half.

NYRR "Moderate" Plan

NYRR's does a good job sending updates about the Brooklyn Half to people who are registered for the race. The last email redirected me to their site where they'd posted three free half marathon training plans. The categories are Conservative, Moderate and Advanced. I'm not apt to follow a plan that prescribes training through the week, but I was interested in the weekly long run distances. I created a second schedule around the Moderate guide to compare it with my current plan (see above).

I did well the last time by increasing my long run distance about a mile a week, topping out at 12 miles the weekend before the race. The NYRR plan steps up and down, with a decided taper near the end. I assume NYRR knows a lot more than I do about this stuff, so there must be a reason for reducing the long run distances near the end. I'm reluctant to change from what worked for me last time, but maybe I should consider following the Moderate plan.

I will take advice on this, so please share your opinion.

Treadmill 220's, surprisingly fun

220m intervals with 70 second recovery jog

Today's run (treadmill intervals): 3.2 miles (16 x 220m, 1 mile warm up/cool down)

Although you wouldn't know it by looking at my Garmin data from my weekend runs, I have turned my attention back to performance running. It isn't without irony that, despite my now-clear neighborhood streets, I did my first speed workout this year on the treadmill. My preference would have been to do this on the track, but I was reluctant to risk being hauled off by security for trespassing at the high school.

I normally take Mondays as my rest days but I really needed to focus on my readiness. If the weather holds, I'll be racing on Saturday with the Runsketeers. I didn't intend to take as much time as I ended up needing for today's workout, but it was good that I did. My plan was to start with a half mile warm up at about 9:30 a mile and then run 12 x 100m before finishing with a mile cool down. I discovered that running intervals on a treadmill can be difficult. This is because the machine lacks the hard start/stop precision of the track. I had to account for the time it took the treadmill to get up to full speed each time.

As a result, I decided to run 220m repeats instead of 100's. I'm not confident of the accuracy of the speed displayed on the treadmill, but I set it 25% faster than what I usually run on the machine. I averaged 67 seconds for the 220's (about an 8:10 pace), after factoring in the starting lag.

I started and ended today's session with regular running. I bumped up the speed on the cool down to take advantage of the fact that 6.5 MPH feels a lot easier after pushing close to 8 MPH for twenty minutes. I was surprised that my heart rate averaged only 81% of max overall. Perhaps 67 seconds isn't enough time to go up from 64% (heart rate during recovery cycle). I'm sure that if I was doing 400's at that pace I'd be in the red zone by the end of each repeat.

Treadmill intervals were more fun than I expected and I hope this was a good way of reactivating my speed. I may do another speed session on Wednesday before my mini taper. Running fast is fun. I wish I could remember that more often.

Retroactive run

Old faithful - Brooks Adrenalin 10's

Today's run (street): 4.5 miles

This morning I was looking at the the spring shoe guide in the March issue of Runners World. I've always liked running shoes because they are technically designed and they look cool. Most runners view a new pair of trainers as a reason to get excited about a run, which is why so many new pairs are sold every year.

As I looked at the 2014 models, two trends occurred to me. One was that most manufacturers have moved away from minimal models but are still maintaining the concept of "low drop." This means that the height difference between the heel and forefoot is typically less than 10." The other trend is toward super-cushioned running shoes. Models like the Hoka One One have huge out-soles that resemble the old running shoes from the '80's and '90's.

 

I was an early adopter of minimal running shoes, beginning with the first Kinvaras, followed by the Grid Tangents, Hattoris,  and the Brooks Pure Drifts. Before that, I used to run in conventional shoes, my favorite being the Brooks Adrenalins. The Adrenalins are built to last. I got over 700 running miles out of my GTS-9's before I switched them to being weekend casual shoes. I had a similar experience with the 10's. In fact I still wear those every weekend.

After looking at the shoe guide, I wondered what it would be like to take the 10's out for a run after treating them as sneakers for the last three years. I love my Saucony Virratas, but I felt like a change today and figured the nicely cushioned Brooks would provide a good break. I laced up the 10's and they felt as good as ever. From the first steps off the driveway, I knew that they'd be fine, despite having over 1,000 miles on them.

I haven't run outdoors too often this year, so I'm re-acclimating to pavement. The purpose of today's run was to nudge my comfort beyond the 3 mile base that I'd defaulted to over the past two months. The shoes felt fine, but there is a difference between the 11.1 ounce Adrenalins and the 6.5 ounce Virratas. I don't know if that extra weight slowed me down compared to yesterday, but something did.

Forgetting that for the moment, I did appreciate the well cushioned feel of the classic Adrenalins. I wondered if there is a happy medium between the two types of shoes. Apparently some of the 2014 models are leaning in that direction. New materials that perform better than EVA are being used, resulting in softer cushioning and lighter weight.

I'm not sure if I'll include the Adrenalins in my primary shoe rotation, although I see no harm in using them for long easy runs. I'm remembering the foot issues I had when training for the half marathon in 2012, when I'd do 9-12 mile runs on the Bethpage bike trail every weekend. That might be a good way to build up my long base without going through that painful stage again. I also wonder if training in those heavy shoes would give me a performance boost when I return to the lighter Virratas.

Road running reunion

On the road again

Today's run (street!): 4.2 miles

Spring must finally be coming. I looked in the backyard and could actually see parts of our deck that weren't completely covered in snow. It was 41° this morning when I prepared to run in my neighborhood for the first time since January 12. This winter's snowfall has not been good for outdoor running. In the nine and a half weeks since New Year's, I've only run outside seven times, including today.

Spring is on deck

Running indoors is mostly about fitness while outside running widens the experience to include far more stimuli. The smell of a backyard barbecue in summer or new construction on a house a few blocks over can positively distract from the rigors of the run. Not to mention the great sensory overload you can get from trail running. I was excited to be able to run outside today, but I'll admit to being a little nervous about breaking from the comfort of my normal routine.

It was an easy transition to my neighborhood streets and I felt stronger than I expected as I came up on my first mile. Unlike many who perceive the treadmill as an easier workout than running on the road, I have the opposite view. I suspect my treadmill speed is actually faster than what is shown on the display. I fell into a comfortable pace today and every once in a while it would occur to me to add a little speed. At one point I was overtaken by another neighborhood runner, but that didn't bother me too much.

I ended up averaging a little under ten minutes per mile. Not good compared to my normal outdoor pace, but far better than the speed I struggled to maintain when I ran with my friends at Eisenhower Park a couple of weeks ago. My cold is gone, but some chest and sinus congestion still remains.

I want to go out and do another easy run tomorrow and try to push the distance a little more. I may put that off until Monday and take advantage of having access to the high school track on Sunday. Last time I tried the track it was covered with snow. I hope today's thaw helped to clear it. If it looks like my backyard deck I'll head back to my local streets.

Feeling the run, but not the runner

Thursday's city walking

Today's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles

My schedule on Wednesday and Thursday prevented me from running, although I did cover close to seven miles on foot yesterday. I've managed to get free of my cold, but I still feel like I need to build back some fitness. I've read that taking a week off from running (as I just did) should not affect your your level of conditioning. That's probably true, although I'm finding it harder going when I push to my anaerobic threshold. I really need to do some speed work.

This was a busy morning and I was down to business by 6:30 AM. Around 10:00 AM I took a break and got on the treadmill for my first run since Tuesday. Knowing that I'm not back to 100% in terms of fitness, I opted for just a slightly faster speed than the last treadmill session. I managed to hold that pace without difficulty and, after a time, began to increase speed every quarter mile. By the end I was fairly tired, but not exhausted.

My activity record over the first two months of 2014 looks very similar to prior years. The big difference is where I did my workouts. All the treadmill running that I've done this year has created a level of detachment that I never get when I'm running primarily on the road or on trails. Yes, I'm maintaining (more or less) the same weekly mileage, but I don't feel much like a runner these days.

Unless we get some unexpected snowfall overnight, I plan to return to the road tomorrow. This will be my first neighborhood run in over a month. I really feel the need to reconnect to running. My interest in racing is at an all time low. With the Bethpage relay, Marcie Mazzola 5K and the Brooklyn Marathon on the schedule, it's important that I get back on track. And back to the track.

Return to a real workout

 

Today's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles

Colds are funny. No matter their severity, they all seem to follow the adage, "Three days coming, three days staying, three days leaving." An impending cold signals the start of an uncomfortable week. Bad decisions are often made (certainly by me) about how far to push myself after the first symptoms appear. I questioned whether it was wise to run 6.7 miles two Sundays ago, when it was clear that I had started a cold. But if that had an effect on this cold's duration, it was a minor one.

Aside from some residual stuffiness, this cold has pretty much passed. I decided to ease back into running during the "leaving" phase, with extremely easy workouts. This morning I felt close to full strength and went back to my usual routine. I'll admit that I picked a program on the lower end of the performance scale, but it was a legitimate workout.

My concern was that resuming a normal training pace too soon would tire me out before I could finish the run. I had a moment around the first quarter mile when I wondered whether I'd taken on too much too soon. Happily, that didn't last long. Although the rest of the run felt long, it was completely manageable. My other concession to recovery was forgoing the anaerobic sprint I usually do for the last quarter or eighth of a mile.

The best thing about today's workout was knowing that I'm ready to train again. I'll take it fairly easy over the next week and hopefully see some pavement this weekend.

Missing an experience that I used to call mundane

Miss you

Today's run (treadmill): 35 minutes

After so many days away from running, it was hard to justify taking my usual rest day today. This hiatus was necessary to get me through the past week. One thing I've learned is that running while ill is a zero sum game. Benefits gained through a hard workout may be canceled out by the strain put on a weakened body.

Before I could consider a run this morning, I needed to consider the driveway. A foot or more of snow had been predicted over the weekend, but that number was lowered to 2"-4" for our area. We ended up with barely an inch. I didn't want to leave it to freeze into a sheet of ice (supposed to get into the single digits tonight), so I went out early and shoveled. My level of required effort compared to Saturday's ice-moving exercise was fairly low.

I had a number of items on today's schedule, so I carved out 35 minutes for a treadmill workout that was similar to yesterday's, except I set the incline to 2% today. This was not intended to be a difficult workout (see first paragraph). It was more about moving, getting my heart rate going and preparing for what I hope will be a higher performance run tomorrow.

After I'd completed my workout, I drove to the bank to deposit a check. I inspected my local roads and thought about how I'd often complain about the mundanities of neighborhood running. I looked up and down these long strips of open pavement and wished I could return to them. There's still too much ice and snow to do that now, but soon it will all melt away. At least that's how it's supposed to work.

Back to the run, six days later

 

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

I had high hopes for my 2014 running the morning of January 1st. I'd finished out 2013's racing season with a credible performance in the Hot Chocolate 5K and (unlike recent years) I'd come through the holidays with neither a cold nor the flu. Me and my running buddies met at Eisenhower Park on New Year's morning to do our first running event of the year, The LIRR Hangover Run. We had fun that day and I felt great afterward. I looked forward to winter running and a return to my old form.

Although my running year got off to a great start, it quickly stalled. The snow rarely stopped and the temperatures rarely rose high enough to melt it off. My choices were to compromise safety and run on narrow icy roads, or stay indoors and use the treadmill. Safety prevailed and, as of today, I've only run outdoors four times in the past two months.

This morning I did my first run in a week. It was a treadmill workout done at a very moderate pace. I believe that this was the first full week (since recovering from pneumonia in early 2010) where I didn't record a single mile of running. What I had wasn't the flu, but it sapped my strength and I knew that pushing myself would not be healthy.

I made the mistake of chipping down the icebergs at the end of my driveway on Saturday so I'd have some room to put the new snow we're supposed to get this week. That 40 minute exercise would have normally counted as a bonus cross training session, but yesterday it felt like I'd logged a long hard run.

I had a great night's sleep and this morning I felt closer to full strength. I exercised caution on the treadmill and dismissed any thoughts about performance. Today's goal was to start the process of recovering any fitness that I may have lost during my downtime. Even at my easy pace, I felt a burn in my throat that I used to get in my early days of running.

I further reduced my speed after each mile. It seemed like the right move since my goal was simply to get through a moderate aerobic workout, not to maintain a challenging heart rate. I'm clearly still recovering, so I'm not sure of my true level of fitness. What I do know is that I'm nowhere near the level of race readiness that I'd expected on New Year's morning. I'll forgo my Monday rest day and, perhaps, take another step forward tomorrow.

Listening to my body, finally

 

My cold started on Saturday morning, leading to a terrible treadmill run later in the day. In the past, my position was to always run through a cold, but rest with a fever. This was clearly a cold, so I was surprised to have such a difficult time getting through my workout. I felt okay on Sunday morning when I joined the Runsketeers at Eisenhower Park, but the fatigue soon returned and I had trouble maintaining our very easy pace.

In retrospect, I'm happy to know that it was just a cold that was affecting my stamina and not something more serious. I took my usual rest day on Monday and, by Tuesday, it was clear that a run would do me more harm than good. However, I did cover five miles walking in the city that day. By Tuesday night I was officially exhausted. I spent much of Wednesday trying to rest and recover.

I'm still dealing with a full blown head and chest cold, so running is out of the question for now. I'm feeling a slight improvement today and I'm hoping that continues. I doubt I'll run tomorrow, so this may turn out to be my lowest mileage week in over a year. That's fine, since I run 5-6 days a week, it's probably good to take a long rest every once in a while. It took a bad cold to make me stop, but maybe all this rest will do me some good.

Runsketeer run in Eisenhower Park

Well at least I can drink coffee as fast as them

Today's run (Eisenhower Park): 6.7 miles

It took a lot of late night planning to choose today's running venue, but it paid off for the Runsketeers this morning. With Bethpage's trails still "out of operation" and the Runner's Edge Fun Run taking place on public roads, we decided to meet at Eisenhower Park. SIOR qualified for Boston and has been following a training program that required her to cover 14 miles today. She ran 7 miles around her local roads and then met me and TPP at the park to run seven more.

I've been dealing with the beginnings of a cold that has sapped a lot of my energy. Yesterday's run on the treadmill was very difficult and I wasn't confident that I could run the miles that my Runska-buddies were planning. I was also concerned about maintaining a pace that wouldn't bore them silly. Their support got me through the distance (I hadn't run more than five miles on pavement this year). As usual, they were extremely gracious about accommodating my pace.

I don't know why my stamina and performance have been so poor the last couple of months. I suspect it's due to my lack of focus and boredom from running on the treadmill. SIOR runs faster on the treadmill to get through her workout faster. I run slower so I can be more easily distracted by the TV. In less snowy times, when I'd run outside every day, it was easier for me to add speed into a run. I would also add chunks of distance by spontaneously choosing different roads to follow. I know I can easily add speed and distance when on the treadmill, but I don't.

All around the park today

Graphic courtesy of The Petite Pacer

Our route today went all around, due to construction being done to build ice rinks in the park. I lagged behind my buddies by a few feet much of the time, but they worked to adjust their speed to keep me within talking distance. There was one point when we followed the same route that we ran on the New Year's Hangover Run. This allowed me to rest a minute while my friends followed the end of the loop and met me on the other side. So in terms of total distance, I probably ended up covering fifth of a mile less than my running partners.

With the exception of a few parts on the path that required careful stepping (and a short walk) over icy snow, Eisenhower's trails were fairly clear. I didn't think I would be able to go more than four miles early on the run, but the fun of being with my little group made the distance fully manageable.

Despite another snowstorm predicted early tomorrow morning and the return to Polar Vortex temperatures, I am hopeful that this snow will soon be gone and I can get outside and resume performance-focused training. I'd like to be able to keep up better with the Runsketeers so I participate more in the conversations during the run.

The good news is that it takes no effort to sit in Starbucks and recount the experience after the run. We were all time constrained today, but we made the best of it. It was so great to see my friends and spend time doing something we all love to do. I almost ran seven miles today after weeks of treadmill 5K's. I couldn't have done that without the Runsketeers.