Band on the run. IT band that is.

Strike up the band

Today's run (treadmill): 3 miles

It was cold and rainy this morning, as expected, so I wasted little time deciding between an indoor and outdoor run. I had things to do this morning, so I got on the treadmill earlier than usual and set my usual starting pace. This pace, which feels like 9:00/mile, can seem either easy or hard, depending on the day and circumstances. Today it felt relatively easy, but the soreness near my hip came back in a big way.

I wasn't really concerned about the pain. It was there, but my tolerance to pain is fairly high. I was troubled that the soreness persisted even as I ran. It made me wonder if this was a bonafide injury. Running on an injury is never a good idea, but I wasn't ready to cut my workout short. Instead, I dropped my speed back about 5% and my hip began to feel better.

I finally called it a run after reaching three miles and noted that my hip still felt tight and uncomfortable as I stepped off the treadmill. I did a little research online to see if I could identify the muscles or tendons that were causing this pain. I think that it might be my IT band. The pain is localized near my lower hip but the pain does travel a little. It's not as intense as sciatica, but the symptoms seem to coincide with Iliotibial Band Syndrome.

I'm continuing to ice the area and I took Aleve which helps the pain. The practical next step is to rest a couple of days before I run again. Maybe I'll do that, or substitute an elliptical session for my Wednesday run. I'm also thinking about resuming my Uechi-ryu (Okinawan karate) workouts now that I have a little more time. That will provide another cross-training option and also provide me with some much needed upper body exercise. 

Time for new shoes or just wishful thinking?

Ready and willing to test again!

Mondays are rest days and that's what I did today - sort of. I didn't run (or cross train) but I did get all around the city on foot. I'm happy to report that, even with all that walking, my hip is feeling much better. I'm hoping the pain won't come back tomorrow when I go out for a run. Of course, running outside may not even be an option in the morning. According to weather.com, we'll be seeing showers throughout the day.

I've been thinking about my hip pain and wondering if this a warning that my Kinvaras are beginning to break down. I haven't been wearing these shoes much lately, so it's not clear to me if there's really a correlation. I've been fortunate to get close to 500 miles on the Kinvaras and they still look good, but I've noticed some pronounced wear on parts of the outsole. I just got an email from Brooks asking that I update my testing profile. Perhaps I'll be getting another pair to evaluate, just in time.

NYC Half coverage: it's time to give me the mic

image courtesy of abclocal.go.com

Today's run (treadmill): 4.25 miles

Last year, NBC surprised me by actually covering the NYC Half Marathon. Running is so invisible on television that I'm thrilled whenever it is shown. Still, I was critical of the 2012 broadcast because the NBC folks failed to make the event interesting for viewers. It so happened that both the men and women's races featured two runners fighting it out for the win, while the rest of the field followed far behind. NBC had a chance to cover the experience of fifteen thousand people, but it barely covered four.

This year, it was the local ABC affiliate that covered the race. I was hoping that, this time, the focus would be on the event, not just the lead runners. Unfortunately, channel 7's execution was just as disappointing as last year's. Races like the NYC Half are rare, because they are both a spectator event and a shared experience. If there were 15K people on the course, there were undoubtedly more than 100K friends and relatives looking for them during the race. Not only were 99.99% of participants ignored, the elite runners who finished second and third were barely acknowledged.

I thought about the race as I ran my distance on the treadmill this morning. With so many knowledgeable people writing for running magazines, websites and blogs, the opportunity to hire compelling broadcasters is there. Think about the level of detail and background that's provided by qualified announcers for every MLB, NBA and NFL game. Today's race announcers were so inept, they didn't even know the names of the two elite women who were bearing down on eventual winner Caroline Rotich as they approached the finish line.  

Running will never gain traction on television unless the networks commit to treating the sport like an event, instead of a news story. People won't tune in if the coverage is dull and the focus is so narrow that they'd be better off skipping the broadcast and waiting for the recap to be published. If channel 7 had given me the mic this morning, I would have done it a whole lot differently.

Stillwell trails and a mystery solved

My Stillwell Loop x 2

Today's run (Stillwell Woods): 4.2 miles

The Garmin power loss mystery was solved this morning when I uploaded my week's runs to Garmin Connect. The duration of Thursday's treadmill run was recorded at sixteen hours and forty-one minutes. I had forgotten to turn off the timer after my run, and it dutifully recorded time until it ran out of juice. I was happy to see that it was my lack of attention, and not an issue with my battery, that caused the power drain.

The Garmin was back to full power this morning when I headed over to Stillwell Woods. It was freezing cold at the start and I expected the dirt paths to be rock hard. Surprisingly, the ground had plenty of give. As I traveled further, I even encountered some muddy sections. My hip did not bother me like yesterday, but I could still feel some soreness.

I followed my usual loop, a route that I favor for two reasons: I don't get lost while on it and it doesn't subject me to the extreme inclines that exist further to the east. I was careful not to push too hard and further aggravate my hip, so I locked into a comfortable pace and enjoyed the scenery as I ran.

I saw a few groups of high school-age runners moving rapidly along the trail and figured they were training for cross country. There were some mountain bikers as well, and one rode behind me for a while, but didn't pass. Knowing he was there made me nervous. I moved far to the right, hoping that he'd take the hint. At that moment, the rider turned onto a connecting path and my problem was solved.

I ended up covering my route twice and even added a little extra distance to make sure I made my targeted distance of four miles. So far my hip is still behaving and I'm hoping the residual soreness will go away. It was nice to be back in the woods and I look forward to more trail running as winter turns to spring. You can run the trails all year round, but it's far better when the paths are clear.

Today's fifty step run

No power, no problem, today

I originally thought the theme of today's post would be about my discovery that my Garmin was out of battery and that would force me to run outside without capturing any data. But that wasn't the way it played out. Instead, I ended up stopping my run almost as soon as it started. Nothing to do with technology this time.

I was actually looking forward to running free of big brother NAVSTAR as I geared up for the cold morning temperatures (29°). I'll admit that I wimped out and put on my Garmin 60 to use as a stopwatch, but I didn't connect the foot pod or the HRM. So technically I was running free. However, between elapsed time and Gmaps, I could still calculate pace and distance. And you know I would have.

After running fifty steps from my house on my way around the neighborhood, I realized that my hip soreness had not gone away. In fact it was fairly painful and I worried that continuing my run might only exacerbate the problem. I decided that getting in a routine run was not worth the possibility of further injury so I stopped, turned around, and headed home.

I iced the spot for about 30 minutes and then continued my day that included lunch with a good friend. I considered doing an afternoon run if my hip felt better (it does) but decided instead to give it additional rest until tomorrow. I may go for a trail run at Stillwell on Saturday. In the past, the dirt surface has provided a good, softer alternative to pavement. It's a good surface to run on when dealing with an injury. Of course, if the temperatures are still below freezing tomorrow, the dirt may be just as hard as pavement.

Echos of schedules past

Yesterday's workout (elliptical): 25 minutes
Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

It's been a very busy week and my schedule has interfered with my ability to publish my posts. I've had to resort to using the Blogger app on my phone in between engagements. I'm not sure how this will work, but here goes!

I've been going into the city the last two days for some industry meetings. The early morning wake-ups and commuting on the train were great reminders of my former daily grind. On both days I added long walks between Penn Station and Columbus Circle on top of my morning workouts.  I'm hoping I've impressed the Fitbit enough to earn another I LIKE U.

Yesterday morning I had one more go on the elliptical. I'm still not loving its rickety build, but it does provide a decent workout. I woke up this morning with some hip pain and I'd hoped that it would pass when I started my run. It didn't, and the pain continued throughout the day. The three additional miles I walked later in the morning probably didn't help it.

My hip's not bothering me too much at this point and I'm hoping to get back outside for a run tomorrow morning. I'm also hoping that the freezing temperatures and stiff winds are gone by then. I'm truly looking forward to a less intense day on Friday. How did I used to do this city thing five days a week?

Fitbits don't work across the room

Ouch

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

About halfway through this morning's treadmill run, I spotted my Fitbit sitting on the guestroom bed. I'm really into capturing my activity through that device, so I was a little nonplussed by the situation. While I was still capturing metrics like time and heart rate on my Garmin, all those steps would be lost to my daily and weekly totals. I considered stopping the treadmill to retrieve the device but decided that it wasn't worth the disruption.

Years ago, when my first Garmin failed during a run, I felt frustrated and asked myself, "If the run didn't record, did it really happen?" I know it sounds silly, but I once felt that way. A documented run is a tangible entity. Something that happened. Something to look back upon. A run performed independent of a watch or device doesn't become part of recorded history. I'll admit that on the rare times when I've gone out "watchless" on a run, I later Gmap'd my route so I could at least capture my distance.

Even without a device, running data on the treadmill is always available via the display. I don't fully trust the accuracy, but at least it provides ballpark metrics. I maintained a challenging pace through the workout and that took my mind off forgetting my Fitbit. So it looks like I'll need to wait a little longer to get my next Fitbit badge. Further, today's totals won't approach my daily goals. But I got a good run in today, despite the lack of evidence.

DST run with KWL at BSP*

*Bethpage State Park

Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 6.25 miles

Daylight Savings Time (DST) starts today and (for this one) we "Spring" forward. I wasn't thinking about that yesterday when I committed to a 7:00 AM run with a friend. In DST world, 7:00 AM is really 6:00 AM. By the time I got to bed, it was almost DST midnight. I somehow miscalculated all that and got up at 4:50 DST. So I ended up getting less than five hours of sleep.

My friend KWL arrived a little before 7:00. It was still dark when we headed over to Bethpage but it had lightened up in the ten minutes it took to get there. As I feared, the gates were up at the park so we quickly headed to Haypath Road. We were able to park the car in a spot that was adjacent to the Greenbelt trail head. This southern entrance put us on the newly paved section of the Bethpage bike path.

KWL and I started our run in 30° temperatures. We'd both dressed for the cold so we were comfortable as we made our way through the first mile. Our plan was to cover 10K easy, but easy is a relative term. KWL is a triathlete, accomplished cyclist and 1:40 half marathoner, so his "easy" pace is somewhat challenging to me. We happily compromised and settled into pace that worked for both of us.

The new section has some hills which I tackled easily, using my early run freshness to power through.  KWL loves inclines and I don't. On the other hand, he dislikes running downhill and I can do that all day. So in the rare times when I held the forward position, it was usually on a downward slope.

Along way we encountered a group running in brightly colored outfits. Both times we saw them they were about to run up a hill as we were running down. They were a cheerful, talkative bunch, undaunted by the challenge. KWL and I reached the 3.1 mile mark and immediately turned around to complete the out and back route. I was feeling a little tired at that point and wasn't looking forward to scaling the upcoming hills.

A few minutes after we'd met that challenge, I began to feel stronger. We picked up the pace with about 2K left to go. I'd thought that the trail extension would be easy, since (this time) we'd be on the better side of the hills. I'd forgotten that there were still some inclines going north. Before long, my Garmin chirped for 6 miles and we picked up the pace as we completed final quarter mile.

KWL and I both found the run exhilarating. Despite the DST change, we still had plenty of morning left. Today's experience reminded me how enjoyable it can be to run with company. I really should do that more often. Perhaps it's time to do something about joining a running club.

Searching for NAVSTAR and my next running shoes

Today's run (street): 3.1 miles

Wait time: 8 minutes

We had a late night last night and I didn't get up until 6:15 AM. That threw me off this morning's very tight schedule. By the time I went outside, my window for running was only 40 minutes. It was sunny and bright and I was glad to see that the roads were clear and runnable. This was somewhat surprising, since the temperatures were hovering around the freezing mark.

When I started the Garmin it looked like it would acquire a signal right away. Despite the clear skies, it took almost eight minutes before it finally locked in all the NAVSTAR satellites. This narrowed my running window down to 32 minutes. I'd watched the progress bar go almost to full, only to pull back to the middle. I had considered heading back inside to run on the treadmill, but I ended up waiting it out.

I set off on a rapid pace to help ensure that I'd make my minimum distance of three miles. A slight wind made the first half mile a little chilly, but it disappeared at the first turn. I felt fairly strong and figured I could maintain a low 9:00 pace without much trouble. I chose a set of roads that I expected would get me around the neighborhood and back in three miles and I ended up covering 3.14. It was an invigorating run and I made it back home a with a few minutes to spare.

While we were out this afternoon, I had the opportunity to satisfy my curiosity about two pairs of running shoes that I've wanted to try. I put on a pair of Brooks Pure Drifts that were one-half size up from the ones I'd tested for Brooks. My biggest criticism of the pre-production Drifts was the tightness on my toes on the lateral side. The toe box on the production shoes felt roomier, but I felt some ridging from the mid-sole on that side.

The other pair I tried was the new Saucony Virrata, a zero drop trainer with a surprising amount of cushioning. The shoe reminded me of the original Kinvara, but with even better response on toe-off. The shoes fit perfectly and I wanted to them on the spot. I decided to wait it out a little longer as my Kinvaras still have some life left in them.

Brooks Pure Drift production model

Saucony Virrata with zero drop mid-sole

My verdict on the two was that I'd run in the new Pure Drifts if I had them, but I would still want to compare them further with the NB Minimus, the newest Hattori and, just for fun, the INOV-8 Road X-Treme. The Virrata is another story. It's not a question of if I'd buy them, only when I'll do it. I'm hoping that the Kinvaras will last me another 100-150 miles. But if the stability of those shoes changes sooner, I'll be going Virrata shopping that day.

Do U really like me or is it just the code talking?

 

Today's workouts (treadmill): 3.2 miles + 1 hour shoveling 

My Fitbit likes me. I know this because it told me so. Right on the display it said, "I LIKE U." Every once in a while it will tell me something like "LET'S GO!" or "MOVE IT." It's kind of pushy. I think the reason it was liking me right now relates to my double workout, courtesy of today's snowfall.

Believe it or not, this is a color photo

The neighborhood was already covered in snow by the time I woke up and it hasn't stopped yet. I went out early to shovel and was surprised to see 4" of the heavy stuff already on the driveway. It took almost an hour to clear both the drive and the walk. By the end, my Fitbit showed I'd covered over 4,000 steps and almost two miles of distance. I did go back and forth and up and down quite a few times.

After taking a break for a cup of coffee, I changed into running clothes and started a treadmill run. I decided that my morning effort gave me license to set an easier pace than normal. Shoveling all that snow had provided a nice (and well needed) upper body workout and running took care of the balance. By the time I finished my run I was almost to 10K steps and approaching 6 miles for the day. I didn't do it so my Fitbit would like me. But I'm glad that it does.

Spinning companies and flywheels

Getting dizzy

Today's workout (elliptical): 35 minutes

There is a (supposedly) ancient Chinese curse that goes, "May you live in interesting times." Interesting is usually considered a positive word, but the curse implies otherwise. 2013 has already turned out to be an interesting year for me and for many of my ex-colleagues. Yesterday, Time Warner announced that it was spinning off its publishing division into a separate company. I worry about my friends who remain at this division and may be affected by this change. I am merely a spectator at this point, but I'm happily watching the stock's price rise.

Speaking of things both interesting and spinning, I decided to use the ProForm elliptical machine for only the third time since we've got it. My wife and kids use it all the time, but I've preferred to use the treadmill for most of my indoor workouts. The biggest reason I've neglected the elliptical is that I haven't liked the ProForm's user experience compared to the prior unit (BH Fitness X1). As disappointed as I was when the X1 broke a main part (and couldn't be fixed), the unit itself had been solid as a rock.

Today, I found no issues with the ProForm. I started at light resistance and increased that every few minutes until I reached my targeted heart rate. I liked the relative quiet compared to the treadmill that allowed me to focus on other distractions, like the television. The ProForm reports distance as revolutions, so you don't get a great sense of progress. I was primarily concerned with getting my time in and, by the 35th minute, I was satisfied with my workout.

Today has turned out to be an interesting day. Between company spin-offs and spinning flywheels I had plenty to think about. The snowstorm, part 1, has been a non-event. We're supposed to see 2"-4" inches overnight and into morning. If it's on the low side, I may go for an outdoor run tomorrow. If there's any accumulation, I'll want to avoid contention with snowplows. That would make things just a little too interesting.

The persistence of memory (non-Dali version)

Today's run (treadmill): 3.1 miles

You know the feeling you get when you think you're forgetting something? It's frustrating because you can't put your finger on it, yet you can't leave it alone. It was like that for me today. I had an early start with some business calls (this "not working" thing is turning out to be a lot of work). Before I knew it, I lost my window for my morning workout. All throughout the morning, I kept thinking something wasn't getting done. By noon I realized what it was: my run.

I'd been sequestered upstairs in my home office until midday. When my last call was finished, I came down to see that my wife had cooked up a mixture of fresh veggies and turkey burgers. Any ideas of getting in a run before lunch were dashed. The aroma of the food was just too seductive. Unfortunately this only added to my concern that today's workout would be lost to afternoon obligations.

I waited 30 minutes after lunch to start of my run and used the treadmill to save time. I was happy to finally be running and thought I'd go easy since it was right after a full meal. That plan was soon ignored and I found myself running a more aggressive pace that allowed me to hit my targeted distance within half an hour. It was a tough workout but, by the end, I was happy that I'd taken a bigger challenge. Best of all, that feeling of missing something was no longer there.

Close to greatness, but only by coincidence

One of my celeb hangouts

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

I didn't post yesterday. When that happens it usually means one of two things: either I didn't run or I had no opportunity to write during the day. In yesterday's case, it was both. I was in the city most of the day and had some good meetings. I met an industry friend for coffee at Bouchon in Time Warner Center and we shared a table with John Lithgow and his wife. Later, I had lunch with another friend at the Harvard Club where Bill Clinton was (supposedly) holding court on the third floor. In any case, I didn't see him.

Okay, enough obnoxious name dropping. Yesterday's time in the city did remind me of what an interesting place New York can be. I love having more time now, but I do miss the energy of the place. I've been going into the city a few times a week and it's a nice balance, rather than the daily grind of a 6:26 AM commute.

This morning I was not at all excited to go out running. In fact, I used every excuse to stall before I finally made it outdoors. The 30° temperature made me seriously consider the treadmill or the elliptical. Knowing we'd be getting some precipitation tomorrow and Thursday, I decided I needed to run outside while it was clear.

I bundled up so I wouldn't be too uncomfortable as I stood waiting for my Garmin to acquire its signal. The roads were clear of buses and there were few cars. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing hard from the northwest. I cringed every time I moved in that direction, but I lucked out a few times when the wind was behind me while I ran along a road with an incline.

I'm not achieving particularly fast paces on my daily runs, but that doesn't bother me much. I factor in the bulk of having additional layers of running clothes and the prevalent headwinds. After the Snowflake race in February, I figure I can generate some additional speed when I really need it.

Trailview fun along the "Danger Zone"

Greetings from Trailview

Today's run (treadmill): 3.25 miles

Yesterday morning I went out for a 4.8 mile run that took a lot more out of me than I'd expected. I recovered quickly from that, and a few hours later, my son and I headed to Trailview State Park for a hike. The weather was chilly and we did our best to dress for the cold while planning for the heat we'd generate during the hike.

We chose the path on the left and followed the winding trail up a few steep rises. The maintenance that was done after hurricane Sandy left many sections of cut-up tree trunks along the way. My son stopped to count the rings from one tree and determined that it had stood about 35 years before it was knocked down by the storm.

Sandy's impact was everywhere

My son and I continued north until we reached the point where the trail overlooks the road separating Trailview from the southern end of Stillwell Woods. We followed the trail down to where Woodbury Road and Syosset-Woodbury Road intersect. We then crossed the street and entered Stillwell where we negotiated some difficult hills covered by gnarly roots and sharp rocks. We reached a point on the trail that had a substantial drop and decided to double back towards Trailview.

We crossed Syosset-Woodbury Road and re-entered Trailview through the western trail head. We followed a different path for a while, stopping a few times to explore interesting rocks and large branches. We found ourselves at a place marked "Danger Zone" and I asked my son if we should continue. He's a 13 year old boy. Of course he said yes.

Double diamonds mean danger

The danger zone required some deft footwork but we made our way through it without incident and eventually picked up our original trail. It was there that we found a flat square rock that my son decided to keep as a souvenir of our hike. We finished our walk and went over to the Stop & Shop that's located adjacent to Trailview's parking lot. We bought some goodies in the bakery section to surprise my wife and daughter who were waiting for us back home.

Souvenir rock on the trail head sign

Between my morning run and the hike I covered close to ten miles outside yesterday, exceeding 17K steps. The best part, for me, was spending time with my son. We had great conversations and took on some tough hills. I slept eight hours last night with 97% sleep efficiency. Gee, I wonder why.

Correlating my sleep time and run fatigue

Frozen Fitbit

Today's run (street): 4.8 miles

Yesterday afternoon I checked my activity progress on the Fitbit only to discover that the readings hadn't changed since morning. The numbers displayed at 5:00 PM were almost the same as they were at 9:30 AM. I took some steps to see if they would record but the numbers didn't change. I connected the Fitbit to my laptop using the USB charging cable and that seemed to jolt it back to life.

I was happy that the device was working again, but disappointed that I wouldn't get "credit" for the steps, miles and flights of stairs that didn't get captured yesterday. I'll watch the display a little more closely, now that I've had that experience. It was working fine this morning and I took it along during my run.

I again recorded my sleep pattern overnight and saw that I'd slept a total of six hours. The good news was that I "only" woke up six times instead of twelve. The Fitbit site assigned me a sleep efficiency rating of 96%, far better than the first time I tracked my sleep cycle.

Perhaps it was a lack of sleep time that factored into the fatigue I felt during today's run. I'd averaged 40 more minutes of actual sleeping time prior to last night. After yesterday's rest day, I expected to feel slightly more energized than normal, but a few minutes into the run I knew something was missing. I set the best pace that I could, determined to cover my distance target of 4 miles.

When I run, I often think about racing and how I'd feel if I was in a race in that moment. I'll often tell myself that I could manage more speed, if needed. Depending on the distance, I can usually muster enough energy to pick up my speed and sustain a better pace. Today I hoped I had enough in the tank to get me through the route I'd planned.

I was determined to get in a full workout and, after making a few loops through my immediate neighborhood, I crossed into neighborhood #2. I had this dual sensation of feeling tired yet ready to cover my distance. There were a few points where I could have cut the run short, but I didn't. In fact I ended up running almost a mile longer than I expected. I was plenty tired by the time I got home and a little puzzled that my heart rate didn't reflect the perceived effort I was experiencing.

Tomorrow I may keep it short, as I'm close to reaching my weekly mileage goal. If my energy returns I may even do some speed work. I'll try to extend my sleep time 40 more minutes and get back to average. I think that contributed greatly to my tiring experience this morning.

Falling short of daily goals

I'd been thinking about taking another rest day this week because I ran Monday through Thursday. This morning I needed to get into the city for some meetings and I figured today would be as good a day to skip a run. I'm tempted to get on the treadmill and do a quick three miles this afternoon, but I'm sticking to my plan.

I only covered 10,000 steps yesterday and fell short of both my daily distance and flight (staircase) goals. I'd hoped that walking in the city would get me close to today's step goal, but I've still got a ways to go. Even though I rested both Sunday and today, I'm still slightly ahead on weekly mileage. I'll target a couple of longer distance runs this weekend and get my Fitbit stats back in line.

Second tier race with a first tier price

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles

I got an email this morning from the organizers of the Long Island Festival of Races urging me to register for the events that will happen in early May. I've run the LI Half Marathon the last couple of years, so I'd consider doing it again. However, registration for that event closes in a week and I don't know if that's enough time for me to decide. I was thinking that the 10K may be fun to do as an alternative. I can always find another half to run later in the year.

When I looked at the Long Island Festival of Races website to register for the 10K, I was both surprised and amused to see that the cost is $37.00, plus a $3.53 convenience fee. What the heck is a convenience fee? Together, it will cost me $40.53 to run a second tier race. I apologize to those who disagree with that viewpoint, but the LI Festival 10K is just not in the same league as some other Long Island 10Ks. For example, The Great Cow Harbor 10K, Long Island's best race, has a registration fee of only $25. And no "convenience fee". I rest my case.

All of this was going through my mind this morning during my run around the neighborhood. The skies had cleared by the time I went out and the temperature had just nudged past 40°. I had plenty of energy, but I still felt a little stiff-legged. I wondered again whether I should have rested more after the race, or at least done some leg stretches. I enjoyed the workout, but never reached the point where my stride felt flexible. 

I'll give it a couple of days before I decide to spend the money for the Long Island 10K. I'll look for other 10K's around that time to see if there's a better choice. I only have a week left to register for this race. Considering the event doesn't happen until May, I don't find that very convenient.

Overnight surprise, courtesy of the Fitbit

Early to bed, early to rise. And rise and rise...

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

There was no question that I'd run inside today. It poured overnight and throughout the morning, so I headed upstairs to the treadmill after the kids left for school. Every time I use the stairs I think about the fact that the Fitbit is recording that metric. Yesterday I recorded over 14K steps, climbed 28 floors and traveled 7.4 miles. More interesting than that was what I learned about last night's sleep pattern.

The Fitbit has a wristband that holds the device while you sleep, allowing you to record your sleep and wake time. It also records the number of times you woke up during the night. According to the numbers, it took me 12 minutes to fall asleep and my total sleep time was 6 hours and 36 minutes. Now for the surprise: the data said I'd woken up 13 times between the time I put the device into record sleep mode and when I got up for the day. Strangely enough, the readout said I'd had 91% sleep efficiency. Really?

Perhaps we all wake up multiple times during the night and don't realize it. I do recall waking up a few times and looking at the clock before quickly falling back to sleep. The histogram shows that wake patterns seem to be grouped together, so that three or four "wake-ups" could happen in as many minutes. Either way, I didn't come close to sleeping through the night.

Despite the intermittent waking periods, I seem to be getting sufficient rest. Perhaps that speaks to the efficiency rating. Compared to my "pre-retirement" schedule back in January, I'm probably getting at least one hour's more sleep every night. In the days of 3:30 mornings, I used to have to steal naps on the train. With the 7+ hours of bed rest I've been getting overnight, I feel I have good energy throughout the day.

Sixteen staircases on the Bethpage trail

This morning it was full

Today's run (Bethpage State Park): 4.2 miles

The next couple of days look to be windy and wet, so this morning I figured I'd go someplace where I could enjoy the outdoors. Although the warmer weather has melted most of the snow, I didn't want to deal with the muddy trails at Stillwell just yet. I decided to go to Bethpage and hoped that the gates were open.

When I arrived, I saw a large maintenance truck parked in front of the gate and feared that access would be restricted. I then saw that the gates were open, and as I made my way in, I noticed a couple of people running on the path. The trail head was blocked off with a webbed fence and a sign saying "entrance closed."  Like everyone else, I ran around the sign and headed up the hill toward the original trail.

Despite seeing two runners as I drove in, the trail was almost empty. That wasn't a surprise, as it was a Tuesday morning, not the weekend when I usually run there. I liked the quiet but I wasn't loving the run for the first mile. My legs felt leaden and I wondered if I should have taken an extra day's rest after my race.

I started the day with my Fitbit and was curious to see what data it would capture during my workout. After I reached the one mile point, I turned around and headed back in the other direction. I wasn't looking forward to running up the big hill, but at least I'd be doing it while I was relatively fresh. Once I made it to the top, I continued east and reached the entrance to the new section.  I had covered two miles and my legs still felt like they were carrying ankle weights.

Bethpage is hilly and the route is rolling. Most of the time you are either running uphill or down. The first segment of the new trail has a series of hills that are individually short, but collectively challenging. I ran down these hills until I reached three miles, where I turned around and went right back up. Once I got past the worst of it, I noticed that my legs were feeling a little more flexible.

Once I finished my run, I looked at the Fitbit and saw that I'd covered about 7,000 steps and climbed the equivalent of 16 staircases. The activity meter on the Fitbit (a flower) was full to the top. It also captured my distance accurately, along with calories burned. I liked that the Fitbit, unlike the Garmin, is always on and ready to capture activity at any time. But the Garmin provides valuable data that the Fitbit doesn't record, so I'll use them together.

After lunch, my wife and I went to a local park for a walk and I picked up enough steps for me to modify today's goal to 13,500. My wife already has me beat, and I can see it will be hard to keep up with her. But today was a great start.

Ready to be One with the Fitbit

"Be healthier & get more fit."

Today's run (street): 3.25 miles

I was excited to see that my Fitbit One came in the mail today. It's a great device, but the packaging copy writers should work on their grammar. My wife has been using hers for almost a year and she finds it an invaluable tool for documenting her activity. It's also a great motivator to reach her daily goal of 12,000+ steps. I love measuring my performance and I'm looking forward to analyzing the data. The software offers lots of features and even a smartphone app. I'll report on my experience soon.

Now that I'm no longer commuting into the office every day, my morning routine has changed. I'm usually up at 5:30 AM instead of 3:30, and the pressure to complete my run on a tight schedule is gone. I now enjoy my morning coffee at my leisure and I spend a little time with the kids before they leave for school. I haven't wanted to run while the middle school and high school buses are on their routes, so I've been waiting until 8:00 or 8:30 to get outside.

Today's run was my first workout since Saturday's race and, despite yesterday's rest day, my legs still felt heavy. I moved along comfortably, maintaining my equilibrium pace. My distance target was three miles and I followed a different route for a change of scenery. I hoped that my race-day speed would carry over to today, but that wasn't the case. In terms of performance, it wasn't all that bad, just not especially fast.

I wore my Kinvaras this morning and tried to compare them to the Spiras that I wore in the race on Saturday. I chose the Spiras because I thought they'd provide more response on toe-off than the softer Kinvaras. I didn't find that racing in the Spiras (for the first time, BTW) provided that much advantage. I probably need to start thinking about replacing the Kinvaras that have 455 miles on them. I'm wondering if I should start looking at performance trainers.

Shakeout run postponed

One of my favorite types of runs is the "Day after race shakeout", when I go out easy and rid my muscles of built-up lactic acid. Weather conditions were better this morning than they were yesterday, and I looked forward to a few recovery miles. I had a rough night's sleep and woke up with sinus headache this morning. These headaches are annoying, because they make me feel draggy and tired. I considered downgrading my neighborhood run to an easy treadmill run, then realized that skipping my workout was the best choice of all.

I've never liked taking medication, but when these headaches come the only thing that helps is the "Sudafed" cure. That's 60 mg of pseudoephedrine, along with a dose of ibuprofen. When the cure takes, it's a night and day improvement. It took a second dose later in the day to eradicate the pounding and dizziness and I'm feeling much better now.

I read recently that runners should take a day off after a race for every mile they ran. That seems extreme, but one day's rest after a race makes good sense. I've just preferred to do my easy runs instead. Now that I have no time pressure to make my train in the morning, I can go on longer runs during the week. I will hopefully sleep better tonight and make up some mileage on Monday.  

Race report: Long Beach Snowflake 4 Miler

The finish line

Today's run (Long Beach Snowflake race): 4 miles - 35:00 (8:45 pace)

This morning I ran the Long Beach Snowflake 4 mile race for the third consecutive year. After the devastating effects of hurricane Sandy, I was sure the race would be postponed this year. But the spirit of the city was evident today and the race went on. The course was different than prior years, but the experience felt similar. Weather conditions were far from ideal, but it could have been much worse.

The view beyond the finish line

The race was staged at the Lindell Elementary School, nine blocks north of last year's location. I arrived at 7:45 AM, hoping to beat the crowd in case parking was an issue. The school actually had plenty of parking and I found a spot close to the building. There were 129 less participants this year than last year and I was especially glad that I'd signed up. Although I live 30 minutes from Long Beach, I felt an obligation to participate and support this city that has been through so much.

Pre-race crowd keeping warm

 After picking up my race bib and shirt, I took in the sights and sounds of the growing crowd as we moved closer to start time. Every race is different, but the pre-race energy always feels the same. The school gym kept everyone warm and comfortable until a member of the race crew ushered us to the line ten minutes before the start. I was glad that it was almost race time, but the cold winds made me wish I was back in the gym.

The crowd assembled behind the starting line as the race director organized people so that the faster pacers could start at the front. I stood a few rows behind them, because I like to be swept along by the speediest runners for the first mile. After some inspiring statements about Long Beach's recovery from the storm, and a quick review of the new course, we counted down to the start.

The course went directly south for half a mile, turning east on Broadway for the next 1.5 miles before the turnaround. I didn't realize that Broadway was so close to the old boardwalk. I'd expected to turn left after passing a couple of blocks, not ten. I was being passed left and right, despite my attempts to keep up with the faster crowd. I felt some relief to make the turn at Broadway, but I knew I still had three and a half miles to go.

There's a point in every race when I feel that I failed to train properly for that event. It usually comes after the first couple of miles, when I begin to question my ability to sustain my race pace. Today was no different. I came through the first mile in 8:06. A good pace, but it was almost 15 seconds off last year's mile one split time. I hoped to stay below 9:00 for the remaining splits and I managed to do that, although mile three recorded at 8:59 on my Garmin.

It's always a fast crowd in Long Beach and getting passed can be disheartening. It wasn't until I made the turn at mile two, heading west, that I saw the large number of people behind me, still running east. Instead of feeling happy, I worried that they would all eventually overtake me. This race felt hard, probably because I haven't gone all out in race mode for months. Still, I felt that I could handle the pace I was running, and I ended up finishing in the top 35%.

I settled into my stride at three miles, coming through a few seconds under 26 minutes. It seemed to take forever to reach Lindell where we took a right, heading north for for the last half mile. By 9:30 AM, cars were trying to cross the course at some intersections. Traffic control did their best, but I actually saw a couple of cars impatiently cutting through with runners still crossing the box. I had no incidents, but a couple of cars made me nervous.

I finally saw the finish chute when I had a block and a half to go. I tried to muster more speed, but I was at my physical limit. It would have been nice to cross the line earlier, but I left nothing on the course today and ran the best pace I could maintain. I was very happy to cross over the line. I felt all four hard miles at that point, yet I also felt strong.

Why am I smiling? The race is over

After the race, I watched some runners come in before downing a Gatorade and taking a few pictures. I was disappointed that my friend Steve, who ran this race with me the last two years, couldn't participate today. I'll tell him what he missed. For me, it was a validation of my fitness and a pretty good effort. I may not have loved every minute of the run, but I sure loved the feeling when I finished.

Wondering how we'll weather the weather

Right now, Weather.com is saying there's a 30% chance we'll see precipitation tomorrow morning. That's the start time for the Long Beach Snowflake race. On top of that, the wind chill will make it feel like 32 degrees outside. Last year conditions were similarly miserable. Despite the weather, I still had a great race.

I've rested the past couple of days and trained fairly hard during the week. I have no real expectations for tomorrow, except that I'll do my best to be competitive. This will be the first time I'll race since last October, so I'm excited to be back in the game. I'm hoping all goes smoothly and that the odds stay in our favor, as running in the cold and rain isn't a great way to spend a Saturday morning. We can control many things in life, but there's not much we can do about the weather.

Coping well with my taper

 

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

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

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