Ending February on a Slippery Note
Wollman Rink, Central Park
I am so glad I banged out my tempo workout yesterday. Unlike this morning, yesterday I actually had traction and the confidence that when I started I could stop without a face meet pavement experience. Yesterday was above freezing for most of the day, so the snow began to melt a bit leaving the roads wet, but still in great condition. Overnight, it was windy and the temps dipped below 32* and the result was black ice greeted early morning Central Park runners. Thankfully, I never bit it, but I certainly felt like I worked much harder than I should have on a recovery run.
One other thing … it must have been runners’ high or temporary insanity when I wrote yesterday that I planned to alternate between easy, MP and HMP pace today. Not sure where that lunacy came from, as my body was in no mood to attempt that type of workout. As the body revolted against anything below a mid 9s pace early on, I realized how silly the idea of following up a hard tempo + distance with even more distance and more tempo the next day. Again, I plead insanity on all counts. In fact, there must have been a guest blogger or hacker on here yesterday.
Aside from black ice, the weather was fine … 32* and very sunny. I went with shorts my new CPTC jacket and 3 layers of gloves. As I left the apartment, I thought the gloves might be overkill, but towards the end of the run I’m happy I layered up. I’d say the first 3 miles were slow, but the streets were safe. When I found myself on West Drive, I might as well have been on Wollman Rink. I literally ran in the middle of the road and still found myself skating around the sheets. It only got worse when I made it down to the southern loop for a couple of laps (no Harlem Hills today). I knew it might be bad when a stranger passing in the opposite direction screamed out “Watch the ice coming up.” That’s never happened before. Don’t get me wrong, people are very friendly here, but I’ve never received a warning like that before and it was warranted.
BTW – I’ve seen my 6th raccoon of the month too. I won’t lie. They freak me out. They look like medium-sized dogs and I am not Mr. Nature/Outdoors. I’m definitely a city boy and critters, varmints and the like give me the heebie-jeebies. Mr. Raccoon and I kept our distance and all was good. Also, there was another sighting of a coyote roaming Central Park last week. We’ve got it all in Gotham!
Anyway, I got my Christy Yamaguchi on for 11 miles this morning at a 9:22 pace (you can tell I have not watched the Winter Olympics in a long, long time … I couldn’t tell you a thing other than curling is all the rage at the office because it is so utterly ridiculous looking).
Multi-Running
I cannot remember the last run I’ve had that was not influenced by weather conditions. That’s not entirely true. Monday morning was probably a decent workout out and it was before the white out. Tuesday was pouring rain. Thursday was a mess and in the eye of the storm. Therefore, to say I had some pent up energy is an understatement. That extra juice was a double-edged sword this morning.
Since this week my entire program was blown up by Old Man Winter, today I had to multi-task to get the ship righted. More accurately, this morning I engaged in multi-running. What? I just made it up. By this I mean I had to get a bunch of stuff done in one workout. Kind of makes sense, no?
First, I needed to bang out the intended hill repeats from Thursday night … 4×1 miles at goal 10k pace (7:15). I was a bit apprehensive because it’s been going on 5 weeks since I attempted any type of speed work by myself. Goodbye pacers. *Sigh* Nonetheless, after a 1.5 mile warm up, I toed the line, set the watch and got to it. You know what happened before reading the next sentence. I blasted off … of course not thinking I was blasting off. In hindsight, it was kind of like shaking a bottle of soda all week, then uncorking … boom. The first 2 splits:
| Mile | Avg. Pace | Max Speed |
| 1 | 6:56 | 5:31 |
| 2 | 6:53 | 5:54 |
Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Maybe not dumb, but poorly executed. What’s really annoying/disturbing is the max speed. That’s just silly and completely unsustainable, especially on rolling hills. I suspected that I would come out hard on the first 800m of the first mile, but this was absolutely counter-productive. I really tried to run smarter. As a consequence, I slowed on the back 800m, which is even more counter-productive. I was whipped after each repeat, but the recovery saved me. The average pace is what I’d like to hit at next Sunday’s 5k. For purposes of today, I would have loved if that average pace occurred only on the final repeat.
Ticked off, I regrouped and focused on relaxing. I finally got it right.
| Mile | Avg. Pace | Max Speed |
| 3 | 7:14 | 6:20 |
| 4 | 7:08 | 5:06 |
Much better. After these repeats, I felt like I put in some effort but I wasn’t huffing and puffing. My spirits were not great, but much improved. Most folks run better with others and I am no different. I won’t be alone during the race, so that’s a positive. After almost screwing the pooch, today rang my bell enough to pay attention to the start next weekend. Hopefully, we’ll have something other than snowicane weather and I can keep to my normal routine and not have bottled up energy heading into Sunday. If I can managed to stay in the zone of the last 2 repeats for the first 2 miles, then I can drop it for the final mile of the race. We’ll see how well this strategy gets executed.
Speed was not the entire focus this morning. I also had to get in some mileage too. Therefore, I switched gears to an easy pace. At first it was a minor struggle. Coach was right when he said the repeats were a big workout. Frankly, I was tired, but that doesn’t matter. After a couple of miles, the legs and lungs fell back into harmony. Of the total 12.5 miles this morning, I finished the final 4 with an easy progression – 9:14, 8:42, 8:31 and 8:27. Slow, but for tomorrow I am planning a series of mini-tempos within a longish run and did not want to completely deplete reserves.
In all, a good run. I saw a bunch of folks from the team on LRs, worked off energy and learned a lesson in the process.
Slushy and Mushy
In the continuing saga of the never-ending winter, NYC was hit by yet another Nor’easter. I don’t even keep up with the total inches anymore, but it was enough to put my night run at risk. At the office, I was grumpy all day and kept looking outside to see if the snow was sticking. (BTW – if you have not gathered, I am not normal.) At least in midtown, there was no accumulation on the streets or sidewalks. I held out hope on the way home as the sleet eased up considerably. That hope was dashed as I drew closer and closer to the park. The temps were pleasant (for winter) at 38*, but the streets were a mess. Slush, puddles, more slush, more puddles. At no point did I feel “hardcore” or anything like that during the run. My mood brightened when I connected with the team, but until then, I was more pissed off that the snow/sleet dared interfere with MY workout. Rational or not, that’s exactly how I felt.
As I approached the meet up spot I saw 10 or so team members plus our coach. Wisely, he pulled the plug on the planned workout (4 x 1 miles for hill repeats). It made sense. Tuesday night was pouring rain, but you could get traction to have a solid run. Tonight was a heal-to-toe workout at best. Except for our crew, I saw 5 runners the entire time. Miserable conditions. My shoes and the bottoms of my pants were soaked … and this was just from the 1.5 mile warm up from my apartment to the meeting spot.
Instead of sending us home, Coach suggested that if we wanted to stay we should do a slow run together. No breaking up into sub-groups based on speed. Therefore, we jogged around the outer loop as a group. It was nice. I actually had the chance to chat with a couple of folks. In some ways, I do feel like I belong with the team in that they are all very committed, friendly and encouraging. That said, every once in awhile, I’ll get a direct reminder of the talent level in the group and how far I have to go. I asked one guy running the Barcelona Marathon in a couple of weeks what was his goal time. He’s a really good guy and with great humility said, “It’s my first marathon, so I don’t really know what to expect. But anything sub-3:00 is the target … even 2:59:59 would be awesome.” I just laughed and shook my head. This guy is on the B team of the club. Seriously.
As we slopped along we approached my park entrance and exit. I could have kept rolling to bang out 9 miles, but thought that I tempted fate long enough and decided to bid adieu. I ran enough to feel like I didn’t waste my time, but not too much to heighten the risk of injury. Totals: 6 miles at 9:14 pace. Hopefully, the weather improves so that I can get the planned workout done on Saturday. (Before you ask … treadmill is not an option … too cheap for a gym membership. That’s why I started running in the park in the first place. 
)
New Training Log
After nearly 2.5 years of happy marriage, I am breaking up with my training log at Runner’s World. You can attribute the split to the famous George Costanza bit, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Two events have brought about divorce.
- Garmin Connect. One of the benefits of a GPS device is the ability to wirelessly sync workouts to the Interwebs. Heretofore, I had to manually enter each and every workout on RW. I didn’t mind at all. In reality, I didn’t know any other way. Hey, some folks happily log miles in notebooks. Whatever works! Nonetheless, since there is no affiliation between RW and Garmin that I am aware of, I don’t see the need to maintain both. You will note that on the lower right column of this blog “Check My Progress” no longer routes you to my RW training log, takes you somewhere else in the ether. What gives? Read on …
- Strands. Prior to my joining Central Park Track Club, I had no idea Strands existed. Strands.com is a social network and training log for athletes (largely of the endurance variety). I was invited to join the network by the team and it operates as a means for us to communicate and stay in touch. Since Strands integrates with Garmin, it was a pretty simple decision to make the switch to Strands as my primary training log. Rather than attempt to recreate 2.5 years of history, I uploaded (manually, again) workouts from January 1, 2010 thru last week. I still have yet to develop a fully formed opinion, but preliminarily, I think the functionality is great. I have not fully updated my profile yet, but making progress slowly but surely. From what I understand Strands sponsors a team of post-college athletes from around the US who are training for the Olympics (Team Strands).
Well, there you have it. RW has been good to me, but it’s time to move forward.
Lastly, despite some heinous weather (wet snow and wind) today, I fully intend to hit the streets tonight for a run.
The Few, The Brave
The Armory was closed last night for a high school track meet. How dare young whippersnappers interfere with my favorite workout of the week. Therefore, our normal Tuesday night intervals would move outdoors to Central Park. All things considered, given the winter that we have experienced in Gotham, the conditions could have been much, much worse for late February. Still, they were not conducive to optimal speed work. As a result, Coach switched up the program from intervals to fartleks. Ok. When you combine the fact that I have never done a fartlek workout before, with my fledgling confidence (except indoors) with the club and the weather conditions, last night had the makings of a tough evening. Nonetheless, it did not matter. I am never passing on the opportunity to run with these guys, ever. Also, the weather could be crappy on race day, so … suck it up and run
Instead of the regular ~30 members that make it out for Thursday night tempos, only a handful of us were “adventuresome” enough to hit the park last night. Note, that the track coach (different from my road coach) held an indoor workout Tuesday afternoon for the team. I couldn’t make that workout, so nighttime was for me. Fortunately, one other person in the 42:00+ 10k (aka the “slow”) group showed up just as we were about to warm up. Sweet. I was resigned to the fate that I would be running alone. Thankfully, my buddy came to the rescue. It’s funny as we were warming up, she said the same thing to me … how happy she was that I (or anyone else in our sub-group) showed up. It’s a bit discouraging to start out with someone who runs a sub-34:00 10k 
. Aside from the comradery, I’m glad she arrived because otherwise the workout would not have gone off as planned. The fartleks consisted of 4-5 picks ups with 4:00 hard, then 2:00 jog for 6 miles. Therefore, clock management was key. I’m still a Garmin novice and as fate would have it, I hit the touch sensitive bezel and screwed up the display. For much of the run I was looking at the compass. The time was running, but I could not see it. Arrggg! As a result, she was able to keep proper time. (Note to self: practice more with the Garmin.)
The 1st pick up was fine, kind of. It was on a gradual incline. I must not have heard her when she said we were at the recovery stage because it never felt like we had one when the 2nd pick up hit. She probably assumed I wanted to hit it hard last night. Umm, no. Therefore, we ran a hard-ish 10:00 pick up instead of the intended 4:00, 2:00, 4:00 up to Harlem Hill. I can’t win! When we finally got the correct pacing on the final 3 miles, I found a rhythm. I was working hard and held it together until the final pick up. She was kind enough to let me hang with her and slow up at the recovery point until the last one, as my legs were shot and she blasted off. I hung with one of the Assassins for 85% of the run, which is definitely progress. She’s no joke – Boston and New York qualifier, etc, but very kind and encouraging. Total mileage of 9 miles. I don’t have great split information, but from what I could tell, we were at a mid-7’s pace for 4:00 hard portion, until I slowed on the last couple pick ups.
At the conclusion of the run, my thoughts immediately turned to “did I just screw up Thursday night’s tempo?” The point of last night was to be easy and an appetizer to the main course on Thursday. Well, nothing is easy with this group so I put it out there, as usual. Surprisingly, I woke up this morning feeling normal. I slept hard, which helps. As I’m writing, I’m still feeling okay. Hopefully I did not completely deplete the reserves, since I really want to have a good one on Thursday as it is intended to prepare us for the 5K next Sunday.
Cold. Wet. Tired. Good workout.
Weekly Running Review (2/15/10 — 2/21/10)
| Days Run: | Monday (Easy)
Tuesday (Intervals) Thursday (Tempo) Saturday (LR) Sunday (Easy/Hills/Progression) |
| Total Mileage: | 44.7 |
| Total Running Time: | 6:30:06 |
| Pace: | 8:43 |
| Core Exercises | 4x |
Observations: Nearly the exact same mileage as last week, but at a slightly quicker pace overall. Heading into the final full week before the 5k. I need to talk to my coach, but I don’t think you necessarily “taper” for a 5k but I do intend to hit it a bit less hard in the days leading up to the race. Therefore, this week I expect another challenging week of work ahead.
Holy Daybreak
Unlike Saturday’s mini-LR, I definitely earned a recovery run based on the effort expended on Sunday. After hills plus a hard last mile, I felt sufficiently worked and looked forward to this morning’s easy run. It’s been a couple of weeks since I have done a pre-dawn run (last week was President’s day and I ran later in the morning). Guess what? I don’t anticipate any more pre-dawn runs. Not that I won’t be waiting up at 5:45 am every Monday. Rather, by the time I hustle out the door at 6:15am, daybreak has already occurred! No more dark for the first 40-50 minutes of a run. Spring is coming!!!!
Since I’ve been running in shorts lately, I assumed that it would be no big deal to continue the theme this morning. Despite the sun shining brightly, 28* is still 28*. Also, the wind was whipping around a bit. These conditions didn’t make for an uncomfortable run, but the fact that I’m blogging about it suggests that it was a factor worth recalling. Unless the weather takes a dramatic turn for the worst, I am in shorts for the duration. No going back. Spring is coming!!!!
The run itself was solid. I kept checking the dirt paths and noticed only a slight improvement. I saw a few runners around the Reservoir, so I had some hope. You can actually see dirt beneath the sheets of ice. Rain is expected for much of the week. Hopefully, the ice melts. I looped around the park for 8 miles at 9:29 pace. Very relaxed. Only intended to shakeout the effects of the weekend. Think Spring, people. Think Spring!
Mosaic of a Run
First, thank you all for the words of encouragement regarding yesterday’s lackluster mini-LR. Like I said, I never really considered the effect a hectic travel day might have on a run the next day. I guess I’m just so used to the tunnel vision of “you wake up and run, no excuses” and ignored the possibility that a 12-miler might be challenging under those conditions.
Understanding the logic (and receiving your kind sentiments) did make me feel any better, however, there would still be a price to pay today! Subpar runs just stick in my craw something terrible. I wouldn’t be a competitor if they didn’t, no? The schedule called for a recovery run, but a recovery from what? I didn’t log many miles yesterday (12), nor did I do anything to really deserve a recovery. Still, I couldn’t completely blow apart my plan. Doing something stupid today would definitely impact the intervals and tempo next week. Therefore, I went against my own advice and engaged in a hot mix or mosaic of running.
Despite burning annoyance, I started out at and maintained a recovery pace thru the first 7 miles. I generally believe my weekly program is very solid (speed, endurance, distance), however, the one area I find lacking is hill work. It’s just tough to fit it in as a separate workout. Attempting hill repeats the day before an LR (Saturday) is a no-no and I don’t want to slip them in the day before intervals (Tuesday). I experimented last week with modest hill work the day following the LR (Sunday) and found no ill effects for the balance of the week. If anything, I felt stronger. While I cannot definitively conclude that the hills were the singular cause of a very good week of running, they didn’t hurt. Therefore, I decided to not hit the hills necessarily harder today, but when I approached Harlem Hill I definitely did not slow down. I put in the effort to scale the hill at the same or similar pace as the balance of the run. Then I circled back around and hit it again. The second repeat felt easier than the first. As I cruised on the decline I thought to myself that today was a solid workout. I could unlace the kicks knowing I did them justice today.
I still had a couple miles to go before I reached my destination. I planned for Monday to be a progression run (50% easy and the rest slowly getting more aggressive with pace at each subsequent mile). Even before I stopped, I knew a progression tomorrow wouldn’t be a great idea ahead of Tuesday intervals. Tomorrow will be the recovery run that today was supposed to be. Therefore, I decided to end today’s run quasi-progressively. I ran mile 7 at an easy pace 9:32 (includes 2nd hill), mile 8 at 8:50 and dropped mile 9 to 5k pace of 6:57.
A couple of thoughts … if I had more miles ahead of me, I would have progressed in 1 minute per mile increments 9:00, 8:00, 7:00 but I didn’t want 10 miles today. 10 miles followed by a sluggish 12 just didn’t sound smart. I know it’s only one extra mile, but back to back double digits isn’t what I want to be doing right now. Since I am targeting a sub-7:00 pace for a 5k in two weeks, I wanted to see what that effort felt like on the roads with some miles already on the legs. How did it feel? It didn’t require a sprint. I obviously couldn’t see myself, but my form and cadence felt like that of a Thursday night tempo. Not sure if that’s good or bad, but now I know I can do it for a mile immediately after 8 miles and with 20 miles on the legs over a 13 hour period. We’ll see what happens during the race, but today was more about being able to turn it on mentally while physically fatigued. Rest assured that tomorrow will definitely be a recovery run!
I still don’t like the idea of commingling types of running, but I managed to accomplish the goal of splicing in some hill work in the context of an otherwise easy run.
Lagging
I can’t really call the effects of a day trip to the Midwest “jet lag” but the following itinerary would seemingly have some negative impact on a planned mini-long run the next day: (1) 4:35am wake up preceded by less than 4 hours of very poor sleep, (2) jumping on a 6:10am flight, (3) back-to-back-to-back meetings, and (4) hopping back on a return flight.
I didn’t make this revelation until around mile 3 of today’s mini-LR. There were no obvious signs of either being slightly off my game or overall sluggishness. It was just a feeling of “man, I am working a little to hard. This is supposed to be easier.” I continued to feel that way until mile 7 when either my body shook off the effects of yesterday or I stopped thinking about it. More than likely, it was a combination.
I’m slightly annoyed as the temps were definitely favorable for a stellar run … sunny, 42* but there was still a chill in the air. I harbored foolish hope that with the “warm” temps, the snow and ice would melt away allowing me to run on the dirt paths. While some melting did occur, we have a long way to go before the paths are in running condition. Bummer. Therefore, more asphalt.
The back half of today’s run felt better than the first … it always seems that way. I kept a relatively even range of pace. Results: 12.01 miles @ 9:13. I’ve had better and worse mini-LRs. I anticipated my dissatisfaction with today’s run and decided to add a mile to the Last Mile Party. It’s remarkable how finishing strong improves your mood. “Strong” is a relative term here. It means I ran the last 2 miles at goal marathon pace (8:00) to get in some additional mental conditioning.
I know not every run can be great, but it still doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.
The Plunge
So I finally did it. I took the plunge on a Garmin Forerunner 405 (the one that resembles a watch and not at car battery on your wrist ). I have been noodling on this idea for at least 6 months. My reasons for hemming and hawing are varied: price, actual vs. perceived benefit, following the lemmings/cool kids, would it fundamentally advance my running, etc.
I have no intention of doing any kind of review. Others have done so and if you are interesting you can click here for one of the more comprehensive reviews around on the 305, 405 and 310XT, etc.
I gave the 405 a whirl last night to test it at night. Even before hitting the streets I had the sense that a GPS device would be informative on a tempo. This is particularly true given all the pacing challenges I face. Therefore, after waiting for what felt like an eternity to locate a signal I got to it. No major issues. Once I really figure out how to use it, I believe it will be a useful tool. It was only one run, but the Garmin seems to remove the “wondering” part of running as in “I wonder if I am on a smart pace, etc.” Last night I was able to concentrate on how I felt, and occasionally glance down to check on pace. Also, I like the ability to go off course and still track mileage. When (if?) it warms up in Gotham, I intend to explore the city much more … running along the Hudson River as well as the various bridges. Lastly, while I didn’t use it last night, the heart monitor will likely prove useful too.
Will the device be additive to my running program? It better be! Even after a discount and rebate, it’s still no small expense. Nonetheless, I expect the 405 to make me a more informed, smarter runner.
BTW – lots of other devices out there (Nike Plus, Polar, iPhone GPS apps). I ultimately decided on Garmin b/c of the number of fellow runners I see with the device and my own research.
A Marathoner
Central Park, New York
Contact: elgin@amarathoner.com
