The Emerging Runner risk mitigation policy

What's wrong with is picture (see rule #1)?

Running after Hurricane Sandy (though I think we're supposed to call it a "post-tropical cyclone" now) has become a little more complicated and dangerous. I do everything I can to avoid risk when I'm out on the roads, but two weeks after Sandy hit, my local streets are still covered with debris. In addition, some roads still have hanging or fallen wires, along with electrical cords running across the street from neighbors sharing generator power.

I got a comment from Running On Candy who expressed concern about the dangers of the road under these conditions. I was horrified to read that she had some close calls with cars due to limited room on the roads that she runs. I'm a low risk runner and, even under the best conditions, I'll never cross a busy road on a run unless traffic is sparse. I'll only run on a main road if there's a sidewalk and most of my runs happen within my neighborhood or at parks and preserves like Stillwell and Bethpage.

I occasionally see a hostile dynamic with drivers who don't like the idea of sharing the road with runners. Ask any runner and they'll tell you the same. I also don't trust that drivers are paying attention or consider stop signs anything more than a suggestion. For what it's worth, this is the The Emerging Runner's risk mitigation policy:

1. Always run on the left side of the road (facing traffic).
2. Assume that every driver is distracted, drunk, high, texting, on the phone or incompetent.
3. Do not run on main roads that don't have a sidewalk.
4. Keep in single file formation when running with others on the street.
5. Wear bright, colorful, reflective clothing no matter what time of day you run.
6. Wear a reflective vest when it's dark, at dawn and at dusk.
7. Wear a headlamp or some type of light when running in dark (too be seen as much as to see).
8. Avoid crossing four-lane roads, even those that have traffic lights.
9. Don't listen to music at a level that will drown out the sound of approaching cars.
10. Always have an exit strategy for cars (run up on the lawn, prepare to dive into a snowbank).

It's also a good idea to bring a phone and carry ID of some kind for emergencies. Accidents can be avoided as long as runners consider their safety as importantly as the do their workout.

DIY 10K as November's race schedule shrinks

Today's run (street): 6.25 miles

Hot to Trot

For the past two years, November has been a big month for racing. Starting mid-month, I've run the Hope for the Warriors 10K and then the Long Beach 10K Turkey Trot the next weekend. A few days after that, I've run the Nissequogue River Turkey Trot (5K) that's held on Thanksgiving day. This race is really a fun run for me. I run it at my daughter's pace, while my wife run/walks the course with my son.

This year, things are very different. Hope for Warriors was moved back to October for reasons that I don't quite understand. It usually coincides with Veteran's Day but not this year. I was unable to make the new date this year because of a conflict in my schedule. That's unfortunate because I really like that race.

Long Beach, New York, took a beating during Hurricane Sandy. The boardwalk and the beaches were destroyed and the storm left thousands of people homeless. It's a tragic situation and the race has (of course) been cancelled.

So this leaves the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day and I'm happy to be running with my family. My kids are excited about it and even bought turkey hats to wear when they run. The Nissequogue course runs through the old former Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital that is being torn down. I'm curious to see if they'll change the route this year.

Since I wasn't able to run the Hope for Warriors 10K race today, I decided to do a symbolic run of the same distance. I first planned to run at Bethpage, but I saw on the website that the park is closed until further notice. I imagine that Sandy brought widespread destruction to the trees, paths and golf courses. I was left with little choice but to run locally and  set off in my neighborhood to complete my run.

I didn't run very well yesterday, but I managed to stay within my normal pace range. I felt much stronger today, but the numbers showed that my average pace was 15 seconds slower than yesterday's outing. The reason for that isn't obvious. While I wished I'd run faster, I was pleased to have covered my intended distance feeling great throughout my run.

I spent the first half of my run on the familiar roads of my main neighborhood before heading south to neighborhood #2 where I surveyed the damage from the storm. The LIPA trucks were scattered about, attempting to get the last 7% of homes back on the grid. I feel great sympathy for Sandy's victims, including those who remain without power two weeks after the storm. I'm hoping they'll get it back soon. Personally, I'm still  excited when I walk into a room, flip on a switch and see something besides the dark.

Selfishness, empowerment and running

People are suffering, but ya gotta pay us first!

Today's run (street): 3.8 miles

Let's start with the good news -- the power to our house was restored yesterday and the Emerging Runner family has finally returned home. We are grateful to our hosts for seven (!) days of heat, lights and hot water. That was especially appreciated after enduring the first four days of Sandy in a cold dark house.

The not so good news is that our phone service, that stayed up during and after the hurricane, suddenly stopped working yesterday afternoon. Verizon is saying it will be nine days until the service is restored. It's annoying, but we all have cellphones. And compared to losing your power, it doesn't even register.

Now that things have returned to normal I am able to look at LIPA without the lens of anger and frustration. My view has not changed and after two consecutive years having lost power for multiple days (and with no communication from LIPA throughout), I'm advocating for a regime change.

Signon.org is collecting electronic signatures with a goal of delivery a petition with 10,000 names to the New York State House, the New York State Senate, and to Governor Andrew Cuomo. The petition is entitled "Hold LIPA Accountable for Poor Preparedness and Response to Hurricane Sandy." Click this link to sign it: http://signon.org/sign/hold-lipa-accountable

In today's Newsday there was an article about how LIPA's workers forced out-of-state workers to join their union (and contribute 22.5% of their pro-rated pay) before the could begin to help storm victims. The level of selfishness, negligence and incompetence coming from LIPA and this union is astonishing. There's a reason why the Department of Justice regulates the performance and behavior of monopolies. Too bad that LIPA is a New York State authority. The only way to effect change will be to vote the LIPA leadership out.

Since this is a running blog, I'll mention that I got out this morning for my first run since Wednesday. I'd hoped that two days rest would result in an energetic effort, but my performance was decidedly average. As I ran, I saw many homes in our neighborhood that are still without power. Even after 12 days, the scars from hurricane Sandy are starkly visible. I could see many tree and line trucks along the street, a rare sight until recently. I'm hoping that our neighbors will finally get their power back today.  

The Powerless Runner

Should I make this my new logo?

Okay, time to put another X on the calender because my house is still off the grid. We are slightly encouraged to see that a traffic light on one of the outlet roads is finally working. Rumor has it that a couple of of neighborhood streets got power yesterday. It's been eleven days with no power to our house and no communication from LIPA. Governor Cuomo is suitably angry about the situation, but in his press conference yesterday, he made it seem like the solution was out of his hands.

The disruptions caused by temporary living quarters, 2+ hour commutes standing in a packed LIRR train and other stressful forces have cut into my already too short sleep cycle. I went to bed intending to do a treadmill run this morning, but I decided to forgo it when I woke up. This isn't the first step towards the slippery slope of skipping morning workouts however. Power or not, I'll be doing my first weekend long run tomorrow. Where I'll be doing it will be determined by LIPA.

LIPA's failure has ruined my motivation to run

#LIPAfail

Yesterday's promise by LIPA that they'd reach 90% restoration of power for Long Island customers has been broken. We remain without electricity for the tenth consecutive day. The Nor'easter that came through yesterday was bigger than I expected, and it surely impacted LIPA's ability to meet its service target. Still, for all those affected, it's cold comfort to see @LIPAnews brag about its thousands of deployed workers while providing a completely useless outage map and no information about crews or restoration times. 

After an almost three hour commute home last night and facing even worse conditions in the morning, I decided to forgo my workout today. Between the weather, the loss of electrical power, storm damage and a significant scarcity of gasoline, Long Island living is not too great right now. At least the storm is moving out. Perhaps a miracle will happen and our power will return today. That could happen, but something tells me I'll be putting another X on the calendar tomorrow.

Running election scenarios on the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

This is a running blog and not a platform for my views on politics. However, today's treadmill run had me thinking about the scenarios that would play out based on the results. In an effort to get going on my run as quickly as possible, I resisted the temptation to flip on the TV or look at my smartphone to see the election outcome. So at 3:45 AM I was distracting myself from my run, wondering whether we'd have a new president or a shift in the control of Congress or the Senate.

I finished my run by 4:10 and a few minutes later I had my answers. I'll admit that I was pleased with the results, and especially happy that both Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock lost their respective races. That's not a partisan view, plenty of my Republican friends feel the same way as me. 

My positive perspective from the election and a pretty good treadmill run was dashed when I reached my local train station. I discovered that the train that I'd planned to make was canceled due to equipment problems. That meant a half hour's wait in the cold, followed by a train packed like sardines. 

It's day nine and still no power to my home, long lines at gas stations and the LIRR running on a "modified" schedule. But in the long run, everything will return to normal. Although for the LIRR, normal is never all that great.

Treadmill beggars can't be choosers

Slipping and squealing but soft underfoot

Today's run: (treadmill): 2.6 miles

When LIPA announced that it could take seven to ten days to restore power after Sandy came through, I thought they were setting up expectations so they could exceed them. After the criticism LIPA took about its response to Hurricane Irene last year, I wondered if their projections were exaggerated so they'd look good when they beat them. I'm obviously naive.

We are still without power eight days after losing it. I'm used to keeping our cars in the garage but we are parking outdoors while we stay with our hosts. That meant five minutes of scraping ice off the windshield this morning in 27° weather. Earlier this morning, the steam from my shower set off the smoke detector, waking everyone up at 5:30 AM. We miss our house.

I used my mother-in-law's treadmill this morning because I wasn't comfortable running in their neighborhood at 4:00 AM. The neighborhood itself is safe, but I didn't want their security people to be alarmed by a crazy person with a headlamp running around this community. The treadmill is a Nordic Track and the tread platform has a little give compared to our Sole's. The Nordic Track machine was in need of maintenance, judging from the occasional squealing and slipping of the belt. The slipping did decrease after a few minutes.

I discovered that the machine would not go any lower than a 1% incline, but in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, I took it as a challenge on top of just pushing my speed. I ran faster on this treadmill than I usually run on our home unit, but you can't compare machines that may be calibrated differently. With any luck, our power will come back tomorrow and I can return to the road. That is, if the coming storm doesn't force me indoors, once again.

2:03 is fast for a marathon but not for the LIRR

LIRR, eat my dust!

It has been a while since I've been in the office and it's nice to be back. Our building is running at half power so it's a little chilly, but it isn't so bad that you can't work. My commute seemed to take forever this morning. The Long Island Railroad is running on a modified schedule and this morning it stopped in places that I didn't even know existed.

It usually takes me an hour and twenty minutes from the time I leave my house to when I walk into the building where I work. Today it took me two hours and three minutes, exactly the same time that it took Geoffrey Mutai to finish the 2011 Boston Marathon. Fifteen of those minutes were spent walking uptown from Penn Station, a distance of one mile.

Out of curiosity, I Gmapped the straight-line distance from my temporary home to my office building and came up with 30.7 miles. That meant that my commute this morning - car, train and brisk walk averaged 4:00 per mile, while Geoffrey Mutai pulled off his marathon record at 4:41 per mile. Practically outrunning a train is pretty impressive, unless you're talking about the LIRR.

Still no power, but the running hasn't stopped

Gas lines: the downside of using generators

Today's run (street): 5.4 miles

It's day three in our temporary home and our quality of life between today and last Friday morning is measurable. We stopped back at the house to get some needed items and though we hoped to find the power restored, our house was still dark and cold. We are probably (at least) three days away from getting our power back. That's created some strain on the gasoline supply and we saw long lines of people queuing up to fill portable gas containers (above).

I'm concerned about having a much longer commute to work tomorrow. At least I'll have a hot shower to start me off. I certainly appreciated having hot showers after the three runs I have done since we've relocated to "The Greens." This morning I went out with a plan to cover about five miles. Just for fun, I decided to run yesterday's route in the opposite direction.

The temperature was in the mid-30's when I started out, but my City Sports running pants and two layers on top kept me comfortable throughout my run. I felt strong from the start and maintained that energy as I made my way through the neighborhood. The hills were in different locations today, but the net elevation was the same. When I returned to the house, my mother-in-law presented me with a couple of slices of challah french toast, fresh off the griddle.

The work week starts tomorrow and I hope that the trains are running on time. I'll probably do some treadmill runs over the next few days. With any luck, we'll be back in our house before the end of the week.

Running in the Greens

Verdant

Yesterday's run (street): 4.5 miles
Today's run (street): 5.2 miles

We're staying at our in-laws for what looks like the duration of the power outage. The accommodations are first rate and we're appreciating the heat, hot water and electricity. My running schedule has been disrupted this week by the storm, but I've managed to cover almost 14 miles, with 9.7 of them on the streets around our temporary location.

Yesterday's run was a nice change from my neighborhood streets. Our hosts live in a gated community called "The Greens" that is meticulously landscaped. While the homes are fairly similar, the colors and architectural features vary throughout neighborhood. There are a couple of long roads that bend around, creating an approximately two mile loop. I ran variations of that route over the last two days for different distances.

I felt great on both runs, the roads varied in pitch all along the route. I wouldn't call them hills, but some roads provided rolling elevations for short periods. The tough part of the run came during times when the wind was hitting me head on. Between the chill and the force it was hard to maintain a smooth stride. I ended up averaging mid-9:00 paces both runs. Without the wind I probably would have gained 10-15 seconds per mile overall.

I plan to head out again tomorrow for my second weekend run. There's a chance that we could regain our power by the time I have to return to the office, but I'm not counting on that. If we need to stay longer I'll use the treadmill during the week because I forgot to bring my headlamp and reflective vest from home. Oh well, using a new treadmill is always a fun experience.

In other running news, I was surprised to learn that the NYC marathon was canceled. I completely understand the reasons behind the decision but I feel badly for my friends who were planning to participate. It's easy to second guess someone else's timing, but I think it would have been better to call it off a few days earlier. That way more out of town runners could save their travel expenses and free up hotels for displaced residents. I'll miss watching the race, but I respect the organizers and the mayor for doing the right thing.

Hurricane damage assessment run

Yesterday's run (street): 3.5 miles

Hurricane Sandy has left most of Long Island a mess. Our neighborhood sustained a lot of damage.Yesterday, I went out for a run for the first time since Sunday and saw the damage up close. A number of roads are blocked by safety tape due to fallen trees or power lines. We, like hundreds of other families in the neighborhood, still have no power and it's not likely that we'll get it back until next week.

My run was interesting because of what I saw, but the run itself, in terms of performance, was not very good.  Without the ability to charge my Garmin, I used my old FR60 as a stopwatch and timed my run which I was able to Gmap at 3.5 miles. I'm hoping to get out for a run today but I'm working remotely and today is (unsurprisingly) busy.

We're planning to stay with my in-laws tomorrow so we'll get to enjoy hot showers, access the Internet and not worry about draining cellphone batteries. This is very much like what we experienced last year with Irene. That took far longer to resolve than we ever expected. Hopefully, LIPA will surprise us and restore our power before we overstay our welcome.

Running, storm prep and 5,000 pumpkins

Today's run (street): 5.25 miles

We're counting down the hours until the hurricane hits. Fortunately we've had a few days to plan and prepare. The kid's schools are both closed on Monday and it looks like the LIRR will stop running after 7:00 tonight. Looks like I may be working from home. If there's any upside, it's that the timing of Sandy allowed me to get in a couple of nice runs this weekend.

My original plan was to run at Stillwell Woods this morning. I got as far as preparing my bag that holds water and recovery snacks for when I run in places outside of my neighborhood. Before I left, my wife and I brought in the pots of flowers and the pumpkins that sit outside our house. With predictions of 70 MPH winds (and higher), we wanted to eliminate any loose items from around our yard.

By the time we finished storm proofing, I'd decided to stay local and do another neighborhood run. Rather than duplicate yesterday's route, I starting picking streets at random and just let the run flow. I ended up running west along Jericho Turnpike and then took a turn onto South Oyster Bay Road. I followed the road south until I could tuck into neighborhood #2 that sits directly to the south of my neighborhood.

I continued around neighborhood #2 on my way to covering five and a quarter miles, just as I did on Saturday. The temperature felt far colder than the 56° that was reported on the news. I'd planned to run a little slower than yesterday (and I did), but I was still surprised to see my pace come in ten seconds per mile faster than how it felt. Even after missing my workout on Friday, I still managed to come close to my weekly goal of 20 miles.

One of the many groups on display

Last night we went over to Old Westbury Gardens to see the Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns. It's an event where over 5,000 carved pumpkins are illuminated with color and arranged along the paths within the garden grounds. We were in the 9:00 PM group and even under a full moon the effect was amazing. The above picture does not do justice to the experience, but it's the best I could do with my smartphone. This would be a great place to run, though I don't think they allow people to do that.

Getting in a run before Sandy shows up

Ready or not, here it comes

Today's run (street): 5.2 miles

Long Island is abuzz with talk about hurricane Sandy that is due to hit us some time between Sunday night and Monday. The power companies seem to be expecting the worse, and there's only so much we can do to prepare. I'm expecting to face some commuting issues on Monday, though my company has told employees they should stay home if conditions warrant it.

After hurricane Irene in 2011, I fully expect that we'll lose power to our home. Last year our electricity was cut off for almost a week. LIPA is saying that 7 day outages are expected. I hope they learned something from the Irene debacle. My level of confidence is low.

This morning I went for a run in the neighborhood and appreciated having at least one weekend day without torrential rains and gale force winds. I didn't run yesterday and hoped to make up some mileage today. I thought about going to Stillwell but those trails make for hard running that sometimes limits my distance. Conditions for my street run were near perfect, with temperatures in the 50's and partly cloudy skies.

If the weather holds I'll be able to get out for some more miles tomorrow morning. I ended up covering today's route 25 seconds per mile faster than I'd expected. That gave me a boost and it reinforced that my conditioning is in a good place right now. The Long Beach Turkey Trot is still a few weeks away. I'm hoping that hurricane Sandy doesn't wash out my training this coming week.

Anniversary walk on the Bethpage trail

Today is my anniversary and I didn't have time for a run this morning. I felt a little guilty about that until my wife suggested that we take a walk on the Bethpage bike trail. We headed over to the park shortly after the kids left for school and made our way to the trail extension.

I run at Bethpage almost every weekend. It's my favorite place for longer runs because the trail allows me to do distance training without needing to cross busy roads. The extension that runs north of the original bike trail has three segments. The first runs through an area that used to be an unpaved trail and terminates at Haypath Rd. That's the section we walked this morning.

It was fun showing my wife the route that I run on weekend mornings. The leaves have started changing and it felt a lot like fall. It was a nice change to cover this route at a walking pace. We covered about three miles on our out-and-back route. I still feel a little guilty for skipping my workout, but the bike trail proved to be a perfect choice for an anniversary walk.

Where JavaScript and running meet

JSON born

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

In my past life I studied programming languages and applied it at various jobs throughout my career. I liked the combination of structure and art that comes from programming. The structure was the syntax and logic and the art was the creation of an experience that came from typing many++ lines of code.

This blog allows me to do some fun stuff with HTML, but lately I've been playing with JavaScript. I've challenged myself to writing a process that will pull JSON data from Daily Mile that I can parse, query, calculate and display on the site. Daily Mile has widgets that do that, but they display more info than I want to show. With the work I've done so far, I can see that this will be a real challenge.

I was thinking about my approach to writing this process as I ran through my neighborhood this morning. It was a nice distraction and, more than once, I found myself further along on my route than I'd realized. I thought I was running faster than what the numbers showed, but perhaps thinking deeply and fast pacing are not compatible concepts. I ended up with a respectable time along with some new ideas about approaching my new coding project.

Benefitting from the indoor option

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

There was a period in 2010 when I avoided the treadmill for a period of months. It didn't rain most mornings when I planned to run and, if it did, I'd use the elliptical instead. I hated the treadmill because it was tedious, hard and a little bit scary to use. In spring of 2011 we replaced our twelve year old machine with a Sole F63 and I began to view treadmill running somewhat more positively.

It seems like the frequency of rainy mornings has increased since that period in 2010 and there's no elliptical option because the machine has been down for parts throughout most of the year. That has put me on the treadmill one or two times a week. Today's iffy weather put me there again this morning.

I didn't really enjoy yesterday's run that took me over a mile to find my stride. Today's was much different, even though I was very tired when my alarm jolted me awake. I briefly considered taking another rest day but reason (i.e., guilt) prevailed. This morning's progressive speed run landed me within my desired heart rate zone and the time went by quickly. A good workout is a good workout, no matter what the surface.

Dressing for cold when the running gets hot

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

It's often difficult to determine the right amount of layers to wear in cooler weather. On hot summer days we wear as little as possible (I stop at running shirtless in public, though many don't). When the temperature begins to drop, I find myself reaching for long sleeves and running pants but often regret those decisions some time into my run.

A check of the weather last night prompted me to go with short sleeves and running shorts this morning. I did lay out my calf sleeves that would provide more leg warmth, but I'd already put on my running shoes by the time I noticed them. I also put out some lightweight running gloves in case I felt they were necessary. I decided to forgo the calf sleeves and gloves and just ran with what I had.

The temperature was in the low 40's at 4:00 AM, and though it felt nippy, I was satisfied with my gear. As I waited for my Garmin to acquire a signal, I concluded that I was no more uncomfortable than I'd typically be lining up for a race on a cold fall morning. I hoped that the chill would prompt me to get to speed quickly but I had some trouble pushing my pace.

I ended up running the first half of my route fairly slowly but made up for that on the second half. Although I was sweating when I walked back into the house I wasn't soaking wet. I think I guessed correctly in terms of layers. Once the temperatures drop into the 30's and 20's it will be more obvious what to wear on a run. One thing I know for sure: it's far better to error on the side of cold at the start than risk overheating later.

The trick to beating stress is remembering the obvious

Happy Monday. My morning started with water pouring through the kitchen light that came from an overflow from an upstairs shower. Despite that annoyance, I feel great today and glad to rest after yesterday's hilly run.

Monday rest days are perfectly timed for easing my way back into the work week. Although I'm the first to say that running reduces stress, I don't always see it as a way to blow off anxiety or tension. In fact, it's often the opposite. On mornings when I am particularly stressed, I'll think about skipping my workout. Part of that relates to getting extra rest, but some of it has to do with avoiding anything difficult.

The trick is to remember that the end of almost any run produces an endorphin response that leaves you feeling better. When I am able to overcome my reluctance to run on stressful morning, I always appreciate how my mental state improves after the workout. There are studies that show established runners sometimes achieve their "runner's high" while they are still running, because they can anticipate the rewards that follow. On those stressful mornings it would be great to start with the endorphins and go from there.

10K training run on the old Bethpage route

I'm going to stick with the SPIbelt

Yesterday's run (treadmill): 35 minutes
Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 6.2 miles

It's been a busy weekend but I did get in a few runs. Yesterday morning I had to get blood drawn as part of my annual checkup, so I elected to do a moderate length run on the treadmill. I've learned from past experience that losing blood, even small amounts like this, can effect your stamina. I didn't suffer fatigue at any point in the run but I capped my time at 35 minutes. I needed to reserve some energy for the day ahead.
 
The Emerging Runner family headed into the city to see my dad, along with my aunt and uncle who are visiting from France. Later, we were excited to meet up for dinner with Adventure Girl, who was in town this weekend for a friend's wedding. They are all great people and we had a great time with everyone. I was glad that I didn't push myself too hard in the morning, because I was exhausted by the time we arrived back home.

I headed over to Bethpage State Park this morning to get in some extra miles and to take on a few challenging hills. I love the new trail extension to the north but I had not run it in the southern direction in a long time. I headed down the bike trail feeling energized by the crisp fall air, but I was regretting my decision to take the RooSport to carry my phone instead of my SPIbelt.

The RooSport hangs over the top of your running shorts and stays secure with magnets that connect the inside and outside flaps. I had some issues the last time I ran with it, but I thought it was related to the shorts I was wearing. I had on different shorts today but, from the start, I felt like the pouch was slipping. I feared that it might disconnect and fall off, so I took it off and ran with it in my hand.

Other than that, my run went very well. I covered the first three miles barely breaking a sweat. My heart rate was only 84% of max despite the hilly route. On my way back I boosted my glycogen with half a GU Roctane that I had diluted 4:1 with water in my gel flask. The helped take the edge of the first of two challenging hills that need to be managed on the way back.

There were less runners and running groups today than I expected to see. Friends TC and FS, who are running the ING NYC marathon in a couple of weeks, are doing their 10+ mile workouts this weekend.. I thought I'd see more marathoners doing the same but it was mostly cyclists, including a woman who was riding a tall unicycle.

After last week's 14 mile total (due to running the 5K race and two less training workouts), I wanted to get back up to 20 miles this week. I think I might have made it but I'll have to check Daily Mile. I have a month to train for my next race, the Long Beach 10K Turkey trot. Today's 10K base run was a great start to that training.

A little love for the treadmill

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

I've been running well lately, but I found yesterday's workout disappointing. It may have been my mental state at the time of the run, but I didn't enjoy the experience at all. I usually associate tedium with the treadmill and prefer the changing conditions that happen when running outdoors. Thursday's run felt like a maintenance effort, nothing more. But, as the saying goes, "I've never regretted a run."

Knowing that heavy rains would be sweeping over Long Island by morning, I planned for a treadmill workout and actually looked forward to a change from the road. As I've written, the treadmill provides two advantages over street running (along with numerous disadvantages): instant availability and the option to introduce variables at the touch of a button.

I like that the time I take between waking and running on the treadmill is almost half of what it takes to gear up and get outside to run. I can sometimes save as much as ten minutes, which becomes ten more minutes to relax after my workout is completed. The treadmill allows me to custom design my workout by varying incline, and speed. The speed flexibility is key. If I want to run slowly outdoors, I need to either shorten my route or risk getting behind schedule. On the treadmill, I can jump off when I get behind and already be home.

I still prefer the trails and the road to the treadmill, but I liked my workout this morning. I followed my usual practice of starting easy and working my way up to race pace using my heart rate as a guide. The best part was when I finished. One minute after after hitting the stop button I was downing my coffee and preparing for another long day.

The habitual runner

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Daily miles

At some point in my life I became a creature of habit. Twenty years ago I'd vary everything in my life, from my morning routine all the way through to my bedtime. Marriage, kids and commuting by train necessitated an eventual compliance to daily schedules and structure. But when I began running in 2008, all bets were off in terms of where, how and when I would run. Even on the streets of my neighborhood at 4 AM, I would rarely cover the same route two days in a row.

That has all changed, and my running routine now contains less variability than a watch assembly line. Every night my running gear is readied for morning, and my process going from waking to running is done on a minute by minute schedule. Instead of mixing up my route each day, it's always the same roads run exactly the same way to cover exactly the same distance (2.53 miles).

After almost four years of competing, my race schedule has also become a bit of a habit. My expectations were upset this week when I discovered that the Run for the Warriors 10K has been pushed forward from mid-November to this weekend. I love that race but my schedule won't work with the timing. I feel badly about missing this race, because even though I've only run it the past two years, it's on my racing schedule.

I took to the streets again this morning and, like yesterday, it was cold outside. I dressed with more layers today and didn't get around my route as quickly as I did on Tuesday. In fact, it took me over a minute longer, which calculates to about 30 seconds per mile. One thing that remained the same was my route. Some habits are hard to break.

The quick and the cold

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

This time of year it's hard to judge the weather for running. Last night's report showed temperatures in the mid-40's that would seem positively balmy compared to the 35° conditions at last Saturday's race. This morning I dressed in a similar way to Saturday, with a long sleeve shirt, shorts and calf sleeves. When I stepped outside to start my run, I was hit with a wave of cold that made me consider going back inside to add another layer.

I decided to accept the cold as is, following the practice of dressing for your second mile. The cold can be a good incentive to get quickly up to speed in an effort to raise body temperature. It was odd to be running through the frosty air while lawn sprinklers were spraying water all along the street. I avoided that freezing mist as much as as I could.

A quick check of my heart rate motivated me to pick up my pace. I was starting to warm up, but sweating was beginning to work against me, amplifying the chill. I continued on at a moderate speed and was later surprised to see that I'd paced 30 seconds per mile faster than I felt I was running. My best race times seem to come in the colder months so clearly there's a correlation between cold and performance. I wonder if my pace would have suffered had I added that extra layer prior to my run.

Fastest running shoes? Oh, it's ON!

My pathway to six minute miles

Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me a link about the Kona Ironman triathlon that listed the types and brands of gear used by competitors this year. The shoe makers were mostly familiar, but 11th brand on the list was "On", worn by 23 competitors. I looked up On running shoes and discovered that they are a Swiss company that sells its shoes primarily in Europe.

What intrigued me about these shoes (besides their interesting outsoles) was how On characterized the performance profile of each of their models. The Cloudracer has a targeted speed of 6.4 minutes per mile, while the Cloudster seems to be the shoe for us 9:00 milers. But I was thinking, "Hmm, if I ran in the Cloudracers then I too could run 6 minute miles!" If only it worked like that.

During yesterday's unpleasant migraine, I wondered if I'd ever feel well enough to run again. By last night I had recovered enough to set up my running gear for a morning workout and when I woke up I felt surprisingly good. I didn't want to push it too hard, so I settled in with a moderate pace and slight incline and ratcheted up the speed as I progressed through my 25 minute run. But if I was wearing On Cloudracers, who knows how fast I would have gone?

Well timed rest day

I don't think I could have picked a better day to schedule a rest from running. I developed an intense headache last night that was probably triggered by an afternoon of working to recover data from one of our laptops. I had hoped that a good night's sleep would bring some relief, but that hasn't been the case. Just to top off my misery, I went for a company-provided flu shot this morning. I had a slight reaction to it last year and I'm concerned that it may cause me some problems today.

If my existing and anticipated ailments clear by tomorrow morning I'll be back on the road for a run. I've always found sleep to be the best medicine. But right now, it's hard to believe that I'll have the energy to do anything as strenuous as running.