Close call for Sunday

Last night I supplemented my morning workout with an easy 30 minutes on the treadmill. Whether that will help my leg conditioning is unclear. I'll know better tomorrow morning as I try to generate speed along the course. About halfway through my second treadmill session, it occurred to me that I may have forgotten to register for Sunday's race. I'd never signed up for October's TOB Supervisor's 5K and needed to use my emergency cash to pay on race day.

I was concerned that not only had I forgotten to register for Sunday's Turkey Trot, I might have missed the opportunity to do it. Once off the treadmill, I looked for a confirming email from Active, but came up short. I was relieved to see that registration was still open and quickly signed up.

The cost of the race was still $20, no penalty for being late to the party. It's a great deal, especially for a 10K. This race is well managed and almost half of the course is run on the boardwalk parallel to the ocean. Compare that to the LI Festival of Races 10K that totals over $40 with "convenience fees" tacked on. On top of that, the LI 10K's course is as dull as dishwater.

The Long Beach Turkey Trot was cancelled last year due to hurricane Sandy. With the newly restored boardwalk, I'm guessing there will be a record number of participants this year. It's supposed to feel like 12° tomorrow morning, so I have to think about what to wear for the race. I checked the Active site this morning to get the proper start time and saw that registration was closed. Good thing I thought about it last night. I'm excited that I'll get to participate, but I may regret my good luck once I'm standing around in freezing temperatures.

Walking the walk because of the work

Love the concept

I'm wondering if my intense focus on work this week is what's causing my leg heaviness when I run. Last week, all my runs had good energy leading me to believe I was heading in the right direction in terms of race readiness. Both Tuesday's and Thursday's runs were disappointing and uncomfortable. I blame this week's work process because, in terms of activity, the past two weeks have been very different.

Last week  I spent every day moving, with a couple of high mileage days walking in the city on top of my running. This week it's been mostly conference calls and working on my laptop in my home office. It's important that I do it, but it's terrible in terms of movement. After a few days of tense muscles and not enough exercise, it's no wonder that my legs feel this way.

This morning I took a mid morning break and used the treadmill (it was cold and rainy outside). Instead of running, I set the speed to 4 MPH and walked about 40 minutes. No stress and no sweat, but it was a good way to shake out my leg muscles without straining them. The day grew intense after that, so I'm glad I took the opportunity when I had it. I'm thinking of doing another 30 minutes as I wind down the work week. There's a fine line between conditioning for fitness and honing the fitness that you have. I'm hoping that this taper strategy works for me on Sunday.

Hill grinding on the Bethpage trail

Not much happening at Bethpage this morning

Today's run (Bethpage trail): 6.4 miles

I've been keeping busy on a big project that's required long days on the laptop and phone. A combination of meetings and deadlines on Wednesday related to the project stole my scheduled window to run. I'd planned to go out for six miles as a final base workout prior to Sunday's race. The idea was to end my taper with this run and spend today focusing on core or upper body. Losing my run window yesterday meant moving my last taper run to today. It was probably for the best, as I probably wouldn't have done that core work anyway.

Running a six mile route around my neighborhood was not appealing, so I headed off to Bethpage to hit the trail. The weather was really cold when I arrived (29° degrees per my car's display). I'd definitely dressed for freezing conditions, so I was comfortable at the start. As expected on a cold Thursday morning, the park was mostly empty. I took off south to start and noted that I felt good, but my leg muscles were a little tight. I hoped that would work out along the run but unfortunately it just got worse.

Despite yesterday's break from running, my legs began to feel like lactic acid containers. I ran a mile south and then turned back the other way, reaching the big hill at around the 1.5 mile point. I'm sure it was due to my uncooperative legs, but climbing that hill seemed especially tough today. Once I passed the point where I started, I continued north to the newer extension.

I often complain about hills, so much so that a friend once told me to do more hill training and less whining. It was a little mean, but good advice. I like to think when I run at Bethpage I am training on the hills. On good days it feels rolling. But on other days (like today) it grinds me down. I went as far north as Old Bethpage Rd. before turning back toward my start and covered 6.5 miles in the process.

I don't know why my legs were so unresponsive today. I was glad that this was practice and not a race. If I can I bounce back by the weekend, I may be able to improve on my performance at the Hope for Warriors 10K two weekends ago. Tomorrow I'll try to do some walking to shake out the built up lactic acid that made today's run so tough. I'm glad I put in some real mileage today. Hopefully it helped reinforce my 10K base for this Sunday.

Light the candles and go for a run

 

Today's run (street): 3.1 miles

Five years and one day ago, the Emerging Runner was launched with this post. 1,826 days and 1,663 posts later, I'm still running and writing. I don't know what's more amazing, that I've continued to blog and run, or the fact that I've managed to write so much about something as simple as running down the road. My goal for the blog was to keep a simple running journal, but it's turned out to be much more than that.

I thought about all this on today's run which was, by any definition, unremarkable. I was on auto-pilot for the most part, but I did manage to cover the distance slightly faster than expected. My time was limited due to my schedule, but I got my workout done. 3.1 miles in a little over 29 minutes isn't really worth mentioning. But had I done that on November 18, 2008, you can bet everyone would have heard about it.

Running and blogging have been pathways to great friendships and experiences. The two disciplines drive each other. When I run, I think about what I'll write about. When I blog, I think about my running life. I know people who have run for decades that still get excited to talk about their training and their hopes for another PR. Half a decade after declaring myself an emerging runner, I wish for the same.

A typical run, except for the walrus

Today's run (street): 4.75 miles

After yesterday's social run that was high on fun but low on performance, I felt I needed to go out faster today. My Saucony Virratas were still damp from Saturday morning's rain, so I opted for my Brooks Pure Drifts that have sat dormant over the past couple of months. I'm trying to decide what shoes to wear for next Sunday's race: the Virratas, the Brooks or my Spiras that I wore the last time I raced in Long Beach.

Once I had the rest of my gear selected, I was off. The temperature was 58° but it felt colder than that when I got outside. I started off running about a minute a mile faster than yesterday and I maintained that pace for the next 30 minutes. I stepped it up further for the remainder of my run, the last mile being predominantly uphill. Well, if not uphill, then at least "upslope."

I did today's run in my neighborhood and it was business as usual until I suddenly came across what looked like a large naked walrus standing on the sidewalk in front of a house. On second look it wasn't really a walrus, but an overweight shirtless man with a long walrus mustache. I didn't understand why he was standing there or (un)dressed that way in 58° weather, but I didn't bother to stick around and find out.

With my next race happening next Sunday, I need to figure out my workouts from now until the weekend. I'm thinking that a speed session and perhaps another 6 mile run, followed by two days rest, is a good taper plan. I'll also try to pick a route that's free of walruses, human or otherwise.

My favorite running club

From left: ER, SIOR, TPP

photo courtesy of the Petite Pacer

Today's run (Eisenhower Park): 6.1 miles

This morning I had the pleasure of running six miles with two great people who I've gotten to know through the running blog community. I joined the authors of She is Out Running (SIOR) and The Petite Pacer (TPP) at Eisenhower Park, under cloudy skies and light rain. I'm no fan of running in the rain, but I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to spend time with these two fun people.

I'd met TPP in October at the Oyster Bay 5K and saw her again last Sunday at the Hope for Warriors 10K. Neither of us had met SIOR in person before today, so it was exciting to finally get together. You can tell a lot about a person by their blog, so I was not surprised to find them both to be fun, smart, thoughtful, interesting and kind.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the time we set off on our run. TPP had suggested that we start at my pace and then switch it up to hers followed by SIOR's. Since the idea was to run together (I would have had trouble keeping up with them), we agreed that it was better to follow the most common denominator (me). We ended up running an overall pace that even I'd consider slow. But taking it easy helped us freely converse. And converse we did.

Eisenhower Park is under construction, so we needed to reverse direction once we reached a fenced off area. We ran the planned route backward and turned around at the southern side of the construction zone. Usually when I run six miles on my own, the tedium  starts early. I was genuinely shocked when I looked at my Garmin and saw that we'd covered 1.68 miles. At that point I was checking to see if we'd completed the first mile! Time (and distance) flies when you're having fun.

Today's route

We'd passed five miles as we grew close to the parking lot, but we wanted to keep going. We decided to take our second loop around the pond and then finished after either 6.12 or 6.19 miles, depending on if you believe my or TPP's GPS. My Garmin usually under counts by 2.5-3.5% so I'm guessing the actual distance was closer to 6.3 miles. Whatever it was, it seemed to go by faster than any six miles in recent history. That includes last week's 10K.

The icing on the cake was our post-run coffee at a nearby Starbucks, where we continued the conversation for another hour. I don't think any of us wanted to end our morning experience but the day's obligations required it. We agreed to try to do this again, perhaps on a regular schedule. That would be really great because this would be the first running club I'd actually want to join.

Being a down to earth runner isn't always good

 

Today's run (street): 4.3 miles

This week has been a challenge, but I'm not complaining. I'm working on some interesting projects that have required me to spend long days in the city. I'm hoping all the walking I've done this week has provided some conditioning benefit. My running frequency has suffered a bit, but in terms of mileage, I'm not too far off track. Last weekend I decided to move my minimum training distance from three to four miles, so I've done over 8 miles coming into the weekend.

This morning I went out in 40 degree weather for my first run since Tuesday.  I started easy and picked up the pace about midway through. At one point I started thinking about the way I run. Elite runners are fast because their form keeps them off the ground most of the time. In comparison, I find that I spend a lot of time on terra firma. In the moments that your foot is touching the ground, you're not moving. That explains a lot about my speed.

I experimented with opening my stride hoping that it might make a difference. After reviewing my Garmin's performance data, it looks like it did improve my pace from that point forward. Tomorrow I'm excited to run with the authors of two excellent blogs: She is Out Running and The Petite Pacer. They are both great runners and I hope I don't hold them back too much. I'll try to convince them of the benefits of long slow distance.

Headlamp failure saved by the treadmill

Light's out

Today's run (treadmill): 4 miles

I spent the day in the city, so I'd planned an early morning run. It's been nine months since the last time I ran in the pre-dawn darkness and, not unexpectedly, my Black Diamond headlamp wasn't working. I put in new batteries but the lamp kept going off, just like my old Petzl unit. I don't understand why it's so hard to make a headlamp with a stable battery housing.

While I wasted time trying to get the lamp to stay on, my daughter told me it was raining outside. Running in the dark, in a mix of rain and snow, was not going to happen. Instead, I got on the treadmill and hammered out 4 miles at a fairly good pace. I worried that I'd pushed too hard, considering all the NYC foot travel I was facing later in the day. I ended up doing fine.

I ended up walking pretty far today and the result was a substantial blister on the bottom of my left foot. I'm hoping it will miraculously heal overnight so I can get out on the road tomorrow (weather permitting).

Data visualization drives a decision

Downward slope

I downloaded my Garmin after yesterday's race to get a breakdown of my run. I'm a big fan of data visualization. When I looked at the cadence chart the data showed exactly where my base training had come up short. At 3.2 miles (almost the exact distance of my daily training runs) my average cadence had dropped from 89 to 85 SPM.

The shortcomings of my running routine could not have been clearer. I wasn't putting in enough distance in my daily training. I've always prided myself on the fact that I usually run six days out of seven. While the frequency is high, the distance is middling. It's a healthy routine, but not one that produces great race performances.

I'll admit that it's hard to break a running routine that's been a way of life for five years. Clearly a change is due. I'll continue to aim for longer runs on weekends, and try to increase my weekday distances. I'll aim for the same 18-20 miles a week, but will only run three days instead of four. If I could get closer to a 5 mile average run, my performance might proportionately improve.

Race report: 2013 Hope for the Warriors 10K

Seconds before the finish

Photo courtesy of the Petite Pacer

Today's run (Hope for the Warriors 10K): 6.2 miles - 58:56 (clock time) 

I'm not sure that it signals a move toward improved performance, but I ran my fastest 10K of 2013 this morning at the Hope for the Warriors race. Although I'm pleased that I finally broke an hour, today's time was measurably slower than my two prior Hope for Warriors efforts. The upcoming Long Beach Turkey Trot will tell me if today's performance was positively directional.

Team ER on race tee and bib duty

We arrived early because my wife and kids had volunteered to work the registration area. Their job was primarily focused on handing out race tees, but they also handled some of the bib distribution. I spent much of my time trying to stay warm over the three hours between arrival and race start. I tried to find spots in the crowds that had direct sunlight.

Chillin' (literally) before the race

The wind was brisk and that contributed to the chill. I regretted my decision to leave my calf sleeves home. Beside their energizing effect, they would have provided some additional warmth. I also regretted wearing running shorts instead of pants. However, I was glad with my gear selection once I was running.  

The armed forces were well represented, as always

The 5K starts first and they line up those participants ahead of the 10K bunch. A few years ago, everyone started at the same time and it was a mess getting past the 5K walkers in the first few minutes. Now the 5K starts 15 minutes before the 10K and the road is clear until we catch up with the 5K tail-enders on Wellwood Ave. It was hard to find exactly where the 10K start was going to be. There was no mat to capture starting time, so everyone was tracked by clock time. My net time might have been a little more favorable were that the case.

At race start (directly to the right of the giant head)

Shortly before we started, I ran into the Petite Pacer. She went to say hello to another friend so I didn't see her again until I saw her come up the right side, moving swiftly. She had a great run today and a 10K PR. She was very kind to video me as I made my way through the final meters and over the line. I found her after the race and was able to introduce her to my wife and kids.

The Hope for the Warriors 10K course is the least remarkable thing about this race. It's a big box with few notable characteristics. Without scenery to distract me, I kept my mind on my stride but I purposely ignored my Garmin's display. I wanted to run the race by feel and perceived effort. I was surprised that there were no clocks or split announcers along the route. I did have a basic understanding of where the splits were located and that was reinforced by chirps from my watch.

The first two miles went by quickly and I felt like I was moving well. I ran the first mile under 9 minutes but I was in the 9:10 range by the three mile point. My performance slipped a little after that, although it improved once I cleared the on-ramp from RT 109 to Sunrise Highway. Coming up that on-ramp was tough and it threatened to take the fight out of me. I tried my best to maintain speed once I hit Sunrise for the last half mile.

Happy to be finished

Me and TPP who ran a great race

I wasn't sure whether I'd trained well enough for this race and my struggles in the late miles made me wish I'd done more base work. Overall, I was fairly satisfied with today's performance. I'll be interested to see how it goes in Long Beach, two weeks from today. Tomorrow is a rest day!

No expectations, but plenty of Hope

 

Last year I participated in a race that was put on by my division's parent company. Before the race even started, one of my colleagues shared the tweet he planned to send after he finished. I told him that I never write my headline until I'm done with the race. Too many things can happen between the start and the finish lines. I don't know what my friend ended up tweeting, but I still hold fast to that policy. I ended up having a far different race experience than I'd anticipated that night.

Tomorrow is the Hope for Warriors 10K and I've set no expectations in terms of how I might do. I've done this event twice and have a good understanding of the course. Two years ago, I attained a 10K PR at HFW, after almost skipping it because I hadn't really trained. 2011 was a year of personal bests. I got a another PR at the Long Beach 10K Turkey Trot, just one weekend after Hope for Warriors.

This year has not produced many race highlights. My best performance came early on at the Long Beach 4 mile Snowflake race, where the Petite Pacer beat me over the line in an impressive burst of speed. Since then, I haven't broken a 9:00 pace in a race, even in 5K's. I'm going to run the best race I can tomorrow. As always, I'll wait until I finish before I compose my headline.

Taper breaker on an off week

Hard to resist

Today's workout (elliptical): 35 minutes

This has not been a good week for running, but that doesn't mean I haven't been active. After taking my usual rest day on Monday, I spent all of Tuesday in the city. I Gmapped my walking routes and it came out to eight miles. I got a run in on Wednesday, but Thursday started too early and ended too late to get my workout done. However, I did cover another eight miles on foot. Normally I'd have taken today to rest so I'd be fresh for Sunday's 10K. With just one run this week, I felt like I needed to do something today.

That something turned out to be a mid-morning elliptical session that I did at 90% resistance. Every time I use the elliptical, I'm reminded how beneficial this workout can be. Even done at a moderate pace, the resistance taxes under-exercised muscles and the no-impact motion gives your knees a rest. The lack of motor noise (compared with the treadmill) is also appreciated.

What started out feeling like an easy workout got tougher as the minutes passed. Our elliptical is a pretty basic unit so the amount of data on the display is limited. Unlike our old BH Fitness unit, our ProForm doesn't report distance. Along with displaying elapsed time, the ProForm shows total number of revolutions as well as a metric that indicates level of effort (in watts?). I tried to keep that effort number as high as I could. Despite the high resistance, it didn't drop much near the end.

So tomorrow I'll rest. My wife and kids are volunteering at the race so we need to be there by 6:30 AM(!). That will be a lot of waiting for me, since the 10K doesn't kick off until 9:45 AM. But it's a great event and I'm happy that my family will be there to support me.

Serf of the road

 

Today's run (street): 3.7 miles

It was only 39 degrees outside, but it felt very much like winter this morning. I wore layers top and bottom and was comfortable throughout my entire run. Had I pushed harder, I probably would have overheated. I was in the city yesterday and covered 7 miles on foot. After that, and two moderately tough runs over the weekend, I kept my heart rate around 80% of max for today's workout.

I've been reading a newly published book called, Kings of the Road, that's about how Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Alberto Salazar helped popularize competitive running in the '70's. As I ran today, I thought about my paces versus theirs. In one part, one of these runners described his 4:45 pace at the Falmouth Road Race as "easy."

I know that elite runners train so that they are able to sustain high speed over long distances. But how do they mentally prepare themselves to run sub-5:00 paces over 26.2 miles? For that matter, how do 7:00 or even 8:00 milers do it? Is running a half marathon in an hour as hard for Galen Rupp as breaking 2 hours is for me at the same distance? If these elites put everything they have into their races, why do they look so fresh after they cross the finish line?

Most people who compete in races push way past their comfort zone. All things being equal, a 4:45 pace, while impressive, is relative to the runner. I have my race targets and it's always great when I meet or exceed them. There are many factors that determine performance on a given run, but lack of trying is rarely one of them.

Hill running on marathon day

The long and windy road

Today's run (street): 4.6 miles

It's marathon day in NYC and I got an early start on the coverage. I didn't take advantage of the extra hour's sleep from DST, because I wanted to have my run completed prior to the marathon pre-show. There wasn't much drama in today's race, but it was still fun to watch. I was hoping all my friends who ran it had great experiences. I thought about them on my run knowing I'd be covering far less distance today.

Today was my last chance to do a good training run prior to next weekend's 10K. I decided to head over to the Greenbelt bike trail and run south so I could take on the long hill along Sunnyside Boulevard. It was cold enough for long pants and sleeves, but I remained comfortable (except when the wind hit me head-on). The Sunnyside hill is just long enough to wear you down because it gets increasingly steeper along the last half mile. I just kept reminding myself that I'd get to run it downhill on the way back.

Today's run went well and I'm hoping I've built my fitness to handle a brisk pace over 6.2 miles next Sunday. This will be a busy week with early mornings into the city. I'm not sure how I'll handle my taper, but I'll figure it out. Although the Hope for Warriors course is fairly flat, this weekend's hill heavy training should yield some conditioning benefit.

Running views and visualizations

Sure looked like fall along the trail

Today's run (Bethpage): 6.25 miles

The Hope for Warriors 10K next weekend prompted me to head to Bethpage this morning for a base run. I've plateaued on distance since Cow Harbor, having completed only a handful of 5+ mile runs since that race. After a week of rainy and windy conditions, today's clear, dry 57° weather made a run at Bethpage very appealing.

More scenes from today's run

When I arrived I saw that the right side of the lot was fairly full. There were lots of people with bikes and I wondered if there was a cycling event planned. I don't think it was anything that formal, although there were a lot more bikers on the trail than I usually see. Considering the density of cyclists on the path, along with many runners and a good number of walkers, I encountered few reckless riders.

With my headache and sinus pressure gone, I felt good energy along the trail and felt less intimidated than usual by the big hills. That isn't to say that I particularly enjoyed them. My plan was run 5K south and turn around at the 3.1 mile mark. It works for me to break a middle or long distance run into parts. For that same reason, I like to familiarize myself with a race course before running it for the first time. It's always valuable to understand the challenges of the course before you face them for real.

New Garmin Connect cadence graph

I didn't dog the pace but I wasn't looking to simulate race conditions either. The purpose of this run was to get a 10K distance under my belt close to the real thing a week from Sunday. When I downloaded my Garmin after the run, I saw that they'd changed the data visualization on Connect and added a new metric: average stride length. Better still, the site has a pop-up that helps explain SPM and running dynamics. I felt good when I read this in the explanation: "The data values in the green, blue, or purple zones are typical for more experienced or faster runners."

Good context on cadence

Ideally, I'll see less green and more blue data points as I work to increase my cadence. Races tend to bring out our best performances (my recent history excepted) so I might even get myself into purple territory next week.

Running happiness in a squeeze bottle

Doping the right way

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

Oxymetazoline HCl is my new favorite drug. I've recently found that a minimal dose of this OTC nasal spray provides a lot of relief to my pressure headaches. Using it seems to negate the need to take ibuprofen or pseudoephedrine. I don't like to take either of those, especially when I'm planning to run. I get these headaches during certain weather conditions and they are tough to treat, but a couple of sprays have put me back on the mend.

This morning's weather was windy and rainy. Fallen leaves on the roads made for slippery conditions and I resigned myself to another treadmill workout. I'd used the nasal spray as soon as I got up and felt instantly better. I was ready to push hard today and I set the speed a full MPH faster than yesterday. Today was warmer and more humid than Thursday, yet I felt much stronger throughout the run.

The good thing about running faster on the treadmill is that you get through your planned distance sooner. I had plenty to do today so that was a bonus. The nasal spray, unlike decongestant tablets, doesn't make me dizzy or tired. Treadmill running is scary enough without having to deal with those concerns.

Managing through the pressure

Still plenty of choice at Chez Emerging Runner

Today's run (treadmill): 3.2 miles

Happy Halloween! So far I've successfully avoided the candy we bought for Trick or Treaters. Among the mix are Mounds and Almond Joy bars so you should be very impressed by my willpower.

I've had a couple of days of sinus pressure and the headaches that come with that. I decided to do my workout on the treadmill today to keep things simple. I also had early morning calls and needed to save some time. My goal was to move but not push enough to exacerbate my sinus issues. It was a decent session and I learned that the average commercial break on CNN is .36 miles.

I'm hoping that sleep and a change in the weather will bring me back to feeling strong enough to run hard this weekend. It's my last chance to train for the Hope for Warriors 10K on the 10th. My base is definitely below 6.2 miles right now, but I'll give it my best shot.

Lies, damn lies and Garmins

Look how fast I didn't run!

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

I was in meetings all day on Tuesday and didn't get a chance to do a run. I did cover a lot of ground on foot, so that should count for something. Along the way I noticed many marathon tourists (after all these years I can easily spot them) enjoying the sights prior to running the race on Sunday. A couple of my meetings were held near Time Square, where sports demonstrations publicizing the Sochi Olympics were going on. It was a mob scene, but fun to watch.

I had no city meetings today, so I resumed my run schedule this morning. I've been running with my foot pod so that I can capture my cadence, but I still use the Garmin's GPS to measure my mileage. Due to that, I haven't bothered to calibrate the foot pod for distance. When I fire up the Garmin, it detects the foot pod and asks whether I'm running indoors. If I say yes, it will turn off the GPS radio and use the foot pod for measurement instead.

Today I went through the routine and when it looked like the signal had locked in, I was on my way. I hadn't gone half a mile before the Garmin chirped saying I'd reached my first mile. I figured that the GPS signal must not have actually acquired before I started and the watch was working off the (uncalibrated) foot pod. I didn't care much, because I always Gmap my run to get exact distance.

The watch did switch to GPS mode shortly after that, and my remaining splits were in line with my normal pacing. While I would have liked to meet the performance that the Garmin recorded for today's run, I must admit to a far less impressive pace in the mid-9:00 range. So the Garmin lied, but I'll forgive it. If I could run five minute first miles for real, I might actually break an 8:00 pace on my training runs.

Progress made on a progressive run

Progressively paced

Today's run (street): 3.25 miles

I've been feeling a little down about my running lately, because I haven't been able to generate much speed on my training runs. I feel I should be meeting certain paces and I've come up short over the last week. The fact that my race times have been going in the wrong direction has fed into this frustration. Today's run didn't completely reverse my perspective, but it certainly helped my confidence.

It's hard to explain my current issues. I'm not running to exhaustion, but I've felt like the effort I'm putting in isn't translating into commensurate performance. I haven't been pushing the pace like I'd do if I was training for a race, although I do have a 10K coming up in three weeks. I shouldn't be expecting greatness, but perceived effort seems greater than observed performance.

I started out slowly and expected this run to be another disappointing effort, but I picked up speed every mile, finishing up a minute and half per mile faster than I started. This improvement was not apparent in the moment. It wasn't until I'd downloaded my Garmin's data that I saw my negative splits and realized I'd managed to hit an acceptable overall pace.

I'm glad to have tomorrow, my weekly rest day, for further recovery. I'll need to turn my attention to race training soon. For now I'm just happy to have broken my streak of sub-par runs.

Neighborhood run and CSH Lab fun

Monkey business at CSH Laboratory

Today's run (street): 5 miles

After a surprisingly difficult run on Thursday, I decided to take yesterday off. I had business that needed attention and that bought me some useful time in the morning. My wife and I had considered a walk after lunch, but time caught up with us. Guilt from skipping a workout wasn't even a consideration. I really needed the rest.

This morning we had plans to visit nearby Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where we'd tour the grounds and buildings and learn about the institution. Due to that, I had to get out early for today's run. A tight schedule discouraged me from going far from home, so I decided to target the neighborhood that's located directly south of ours.

I started with a loop along the northern part of my neighborhood to get a sense of my fitness. I wasn't feeling tremendous energy (certainly not at the level I'd hoped to have coming off a day's rest) but it was better than Thursday's experience. I settled into a pace that I could sustain for five miles and made my way south to "neighborhood #2" for a change of scenery.

The run was fine, I'd mapped out the route I'd take and only made one change along the way because I was curious to see where a certain road led. The southern neighborhood has a lengthy section that runs close to a mile. I like that part of the route because it's primarily straight and allows me to tune out and just run. I made my way back home in time to (just barely) remain on schedule.

Our tour of the CSH Labs was really interesting  and we discovered a lot about the current research as well as the impressive and important history of the laboratory. My son has attended DNA camp at CSH over the last three summers and he was thrilled to learn more about the essential research. Our tour guide was a first year Ph.D student at CSH's Watson School. She shared a lot of information about the work she is doing, along with many interesting stories and facts about the Lab.

Harbor view from the Lab

A workout for the mind and the legs

The CSH Lab's campus is beautiful, with great views of the harbor. We walked a lot, over many hills, and the tour could easily count as a second workout. Apparently, the campus is open to the public and the rolling and picturesque grounds would make for an interesting run. It's ten minutes from my house so perhaps I'll do that this fall. I was glad to get back into the workout groove this morning and spend some quality time with my family at the lab.

A run most difficult. Please explain why.

Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

Today was a tough one. I don't know why I had so much trouble getting through the run but it was a heavy-footed plod from start to finish. There is nothing I can point to that would explain my struggle. I got a good night's sleep, have no symptoms of a cold and the weather was cool and dry. Yet no matter what my mind was telling my body, my body answered, "Don't expect much."

Yesterday's route seemed short and I was surprised at the end to see the distance I'd covered. Today was opposite of that. My route was circuitous and I expected to consume most of my miles within the northern part of the neighborhood. I had a time target, but I wasn't as pressured as much as I was yesterday. I thought I was racking up the distance until I reached my turnaround point and saw that I was well short of my expected mileage. When I approached my home street, I realized that I needed to run another half mile to make my goal.

Although I ran at a sustainable pace, I felt like I was carrying an extra 30 pounds throughout the run. This wasn't the first run I've had like this, and I know that tomorrow's may be far better. I hope that's the case. One bad run is a statistical probability. Two bad runs in a row is a trend.

Beware the race day balloon ladies

Step it up Donald!

Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

I read a funny article on WSJ.com about the "balloon ladies" that Disney World uses to sweep back-of -the-pack runners in their races. These women work to get the slowest racers off the course so that Disney can open up their streets to theme-park customers. Apparently the balloon squad is viewed with terror by runners who can't maintain the minimum 16 min/mile pace. The next time you finish a race and hang out near the finish line watching the stragglers come in, think about the fact that finishing means as much to them as it does to you.

This morning it was cold and gray, with only 66% humidity. In other words, near perfect running weather. I got out a little earlier than normal because of scheduling pressure, so I tried to avoid roads that are heavily trafficked by school buses. My timing was pretty good and every time I saw a bus it was a safe distance away. Changing up my usual route helped alleviate the boredom that comes from running the same streets, day after day.

My run was unremarkable, except for the fact that I ended up finishing a little faster than expected. That made me happy. I really didn't put too much effort into it, but I did step things up a few times during the run. A little extra speed, when added to a moderately paced run, can result in a satisfactory effort. The cold, dry weather was also helpful, with no energy sapping heat or humidity to slow me down.

Fitbit value to be determined.

Planned obsolescence

Today's run (street): 3.3 miles

The best time to value your personal technologies is when they stop working. Do you fix, replace or discard? Years ago, I actually paid money to have my VCR repaired. It was worth it because a functioning VCR was important to me. An issue I'm having with my Fitbit has forced me to decide whether I'm in for a penny or a pound. Actually, 6.2 (British) pounds.

Worn and torn

The thing is, my Fitbit's "belt holster", a spring clip with a rubberized housing, is falling apart. The rubber that protects clothing from the sharp metal clip has ripped and detached. This makes the process of attaching the device to pants or a belt so difficult that I've stopped wearing it. I thought I might write to Fitbit and mention their poor clip design. I figured they'd be horrified and would immediately send me new one for free. When I went to the Fitbit site, I saw that my problem can be solved with the purchase of a replacement holster for $9.95 plus tax and shipping.

I probably won't bother to get it. It's not about the $10+ required to buy a new clip that will likely need to be replaced again in six months. I get that things cost money, though I find it offensive that they make money off their own design flaw. I've discovered that, despite the Fitbit's great features and attributes, I don't really find it that useful anymore.

The excitement of occasionally reaching 15,000 daily steps or 25 flights of stairs is mitigated by the frustration that comes from forgetting to transfer the device between sleepwear, running shorts, and pants. What's the sense of tracking only part of your activities? I'll give it another week to decide between purchasing a new clip or relegating the Fitbit to the technology junk drawer. It comes down to whether the value of the Fitbit is closer to pennies or pounds.

Comparing race times is easy but results are confusing.

A tale of three races

Today's run (street): 5.25 miles

This morning I downloaded my recent runs to Garmin Connect. I noticed a feature that compares selected runs, allowing users to see performance data by split (click above picture to read). The difference between this year and the last two year's times are easy to see. One thing that puzzles me is that the times on split 4 are really inconsistent. This year I covered .11 miles in 50 seconds at 7:55 pace, Last year it took me one second less but the pace was 7:18. In 2011, it took one second more to cover that distance, yet the pace showed 23 seconds per mile faster than this year. Very strange.

Today my thoughts were on recovery rather than performance. Due to my tapering, I covered far less than my normal 18-20 weekly miles since last Sunday. I took it easy and aimed for five miles. Although the temperature was a moderate 54°, it felt colder. I wore a light running shirt with 3/4 length sleeves and shorts, along with a pair of light running gloves. It was a good combination to start, although by the end I was wishing for shorter sleeves and no gloves.

I ended up running faster than I planned, but not all that fast. Recovery runs are a strategy to facilitate muscle repair and eliminate the built up lactic acid that causes soreness. I wish I'd taken it just a little easier. I'm looking ahead to November 10, when I'll be running the Hope for Warriors 10K. It's a great event (although the course itself is only so-so). My prep for this weekend's 5K fell short, and I want to do better. 10K means more base runs as well. Better get started soon.