Training Update: Halfway to Chicago

Thank you all for your supportive comments on my less than stellar race. I am still at a loss for why I gave up in the middle of that race but I suspect it has less to do with my fitness/training and more to do with environmental, life and stress factors that were outside of my control. I am proud of the way I fought back to run my fastest in that last mile though so there is some encouraging signs for me to take away from that relatively mediocre performance.

Although many would use this race as a sign that I haven't been running well or am slowing down (perhaps because of my old age), I refuse to indulge in such negativity because in all honesty, up to this point in my marathon training, I've been running more consistently and training harder than I ever have before. Through week 7 of this training cycle (which ended this past weekend) my average weekly mileage has been just a shade under 53 miles per week, which is the most I've ever done up to this point. If I did a comparative analysis of how this volume compares to my three previous training cycles, it'd look something like this:

I'm not sure what of all this will translate to on race day and I know there's still many more hard weeks of training left before I get there. I'm merely throwing this out there to show you all that I haven't been slacking and to give myself a little perspective on how my training has been going so far. Given that the majority of these miles were compiled outside in the hottest summer we've ever had in the Northeast, let's just say that the thought of quitting long distance running has almost become a daily ritual. Still, because I have learned so well not to listen to my own thoughts while running, I have to constantly remind myself to be cognizant of overtraining especially now that my training volume has increased. Physically I have no injury concerns although this week I am suffering from a virus which will force me to step down my training for the next few days. Overall I feel confident that my endurance, stamina, and speed is on par for a good run in Chicago on 10/10.

I apologize for the lack of posts recently as my work and running obligations have taking a toll on my blogging life. I will have one coming up in the next couple of days dealing with the aftermath of the shift in running shoe paradigm and my proposal for where I think the running shoe industry as a whole needs to go, so look out for that.

I hope everyone's running, training, and life is going well. We will all survive and make it through this crazy summer yet. I know we will!

Run To Hell and Back:Race Report from the NYRR Team Championships 5M Race

Many runners like to designate their races as A, B, or C events days, weeks, or even months in advance. I personally don't believe in such practice. For me, a race is either a competitive event or its not. I don't ever start a race thinking I'm going to give 50% effort. I always go out thinking I'm going to do my best. If circumstances change in the middle of a race that prevents me from giving it my all, than so be it. But at the start of every event, I always look to race well or I don't race at all. That was precisely my mindset today as I waited at my starting corral, hands on hips, body bent at the waist, a minute before the start of this race.

On paper, this was just an ordinary 5 mile race in Central Park, one that I've done countless number of times before (including one just 5 weeks ago!). Realistically speaking though, this was anything but "just another race". This annual race is for club points (actually DOUBLE points) and draws the best runners from across the many local clubs around the tri-state. it is notoriously small (only club members are allow to run), universally fast, and isn't for the faint of heart. I've done this particular race twice and each year have managed to set a PR for that distance. I've been nervous and anxious the past few days wondering if that trend will continue this year.

The lead-up to the race was mediocre at best. I didn't sleep well, ate poorly and despite taking a rare rest day yesterday, didn't feel fresh heading over to the race. I also made the mistake of overhydrating prior to the start by drinking a combination of water, tea, milk and gatorade all within an hour before the start. Despite the temperature being a bit on the mild side in the early morning (74F), I knew the sun was getting higher and stronger by the minute. For whatever reason, I felt a little sick, a little tired, and not ready to race even as I was running my warmup strides. Probably pre-race jitters...nothing to worry about, I said to myself as I gulped down 2 cups of water and ran off to my corral.

Although I customarily start races from the 1st blue corral, rarely from the 2nd red corral, I found myself lining up for the first time from the 3rd yellow corral today. Despite the small race field today, it was personally a bit disconcerting to start a 5 mile race not being able to actually see the starting line from where I was. I was also anxious of the extra heavy crowd around me jostling for position around the sharp first turn. I'd been stepped on rounding the corner each of the previous two years so I was afraid of what might happen this year with a bigger crowd around me all fighting for that tight space of real estate. The only positive I drew from my yellow bib was that it matched my spanking new Saucony Fasttwitch 4s perfectly!

After a brief set of announcements and the singing of the national anthem (apparently from a fellow runner), the horn sounded and we took off.

The pace was aggressive right from the start. As the frontrunners unleashed themselves along the straightaway and around the tight first turn like raging rapids over a waterfall, I thought I'd avoid trouble by running along the center of the course. I was wrong. No sooner was I about to make a wide sweeping turn around the first bend did I feel a sharp elbow jab right into my exposed shoulder. Ouch! I tumbled over a step just from the force alone before regaining my balance and continuing on. Well, at least one streak is continuing today.

Right from the getgo, I was looking for fellow Flyers to hang onto. As I made my way up the first west side hill, I see AP running about 100m ahead of me, and thought he'd be perfect for me to latch on. I stuck pretty close to his pace for about the first mile and a half. During this time, I was feeling good, running fast, but wasn't entirely comfortable with how I was running. There were a lot of spectators around, mostly cheering for the other elite teams, but I was able to feed off their energy to fuel my own run.

I was pretty happy with my first mile time, considering it was over a series of three hills, but by the middle of the second, I was tiring just a little bit. My good friend BW called out my name as he biked along the race course and that pumped me up to maintain my pace for just a little bit. I could tell I was dragging from the number of racers passing me so even as I tried hard to maintain effort (without looking at the Garmin), I knew I was losing pace.

After passing the mile 2 marker in a respectable time, I suddenly felt a minor cramp in my stomach that bothered and irritated me. It wasn't severe, it wasn't debilitating, but I felt I had to slow down to prevent it from progressing further. I eased off the gas pedal for nothing more than a quarter to a half mile tops, and then it was gone. Yet even though it was gone, I had no energy to pick the pace backed up. It was as if my legs were married to the slower pace and would not deviate to a higher turnover. At this point, the sun was high up in the sky, and I was getting hot. I inadvertently glanced over at Garmin and saw my heart rate skyrocket to the 170s. For some reason, that freaked me out more (even though it shouldn't) and I started to disintegrate. I lost pace, I lost effort, I felt horrible and everyone and their grandmother were passing me left and right. I wanted to stop and almost did...but the fact that I'd have to explain another DNF to my teammates and friends, both real and on twitter, FB and DailyMile kept me from dropping out.

So I struggled over the mile 3 marker (at a pace that's slower than tempo), struggled over Cat Hill and the rest of mile 4 (at a pace that wouldn't be found in a good half marathon for me). I know there were many runners and spectators who were cheering me on. I could hear their voices echoing in my head. But all I could sense was fatigue and all I could feel was ineptitude and failure. I know I was headed for a really horrible time and all I wanted to do was to run away and hide. But I couldn't...I wouldn't let myself. I was a Flyer, a runner, and soon to be running coach at diabetes camp, which meant that unless I was suffering some unbearable physical ailment, I have to finish what I started.

Shortly after mile 4, I saw my fellow Asian Flyer BH come up from behind and pass me. He gave me some brief words of encouragements and brought me out of the self-pity party I was throwing myself mid-race. Since this was the last mile, mostly flat, I decided to pick up the pace and stick with him. The weird thing was that the harder I ran, the better I felt. Out of courtesy (don't ask me why I thought that was an appropriate sentiment at mile 4 of a 5 mile race), I ran behind him for about a quarter mile. Eventually, with about 800 meters to go, I told him to pick it up and ran past him. I didn't look back but just ran as hard as I could toward the finish line. There were many Flyer ladies cheering close to the finish and I absorbed all their energy and came in with as strong a finish as I've ever had. Needless to say, it was my best mile of the race, both physically and emotionally.

In the end, I ended up with my worst 5 miler in over a year, exactly 20 seconds slower than a race on a similar course 5 weeks ago and 45 seconds than my Team Championship race from last year. Even though I'm more than a little disappointed, I am withholding judgment on the implications of this race performance on my chances for a good marathon in Chicago. Like I've told many others before, bad training days and bad races happen, sometimes for inexplicable reasons. This is my opportunity to practice my own sage advice and try my best to move on.

Statistics
Official Time: 30:58; Pace – 6:11 min/mi
Mile Splits: 5:56, 6:03, 6:25, 6:40, 5:54
Overall Place: 218 out of 783
Age Group Place: 40 out of 129
Age Graded Percentile: 70.3%
Flyer Men Rank: 5th

My (Chicago Marathon) Training Update

So enough about lil'l bro (even if he did a fine job for his first race in Central Park...), let's talk about me and MY running! Not to be outdone by my old fresh and blood (yet), I actually had a very productive week on the roads last week. Those who follow me on DailyMile may already know this, but I did a total of 7 workouts with 3 "quality" sessions and one rest day for a total of 67.0 miles - my highest weekly mileage total EVER! If you are wondering about details, it went a little something like this.

Monday - 9.2 miles with 4x1200m at interval pace(5:53 min/mi)

Tuesday - 8.7 miles at general aerobic pace (7:12 min/mi)

Wednesday - 8.1 miles at recovery pace (7:50 min/mi)

Thursday (AM) - 8.9 miles with 6 miles at tempo (6:32 min/mi)

Thursday (PM) - 6.1 miles at slow pace (8:53 min/mi) with friend

Friday - 5.7 miles at recovery pace (7:52 min/mi)

Saturday - Off

So this brings us to Sunday, which by far, was the most interesting yet toughest run of the week in so many ways. As summarized on DailyMile:

Sunday Mega Run (Part I – The Tempo Miles - 10.21 Miles)

The assignment (courtesy of Daniel's Phase II) is 2 miles easy, 5 x Mile at tempo (6:24 min/mi) with 1min rests, and 1 hour easy. Because this workout translated to roughly 15-16 miles of running, I wanted to add a few extra miles at the end and do this quality workout as my weekend 20 miler

I decided to do the first portion of workout at my local park, so I got up early, had some breakfast and headed out. Because this was essentially a speed workout, I opted to wear my Kinvaras today over my usual long run trainers. The weather was already started to get warm and humid but there was a cool breeze so I thought I'd be okay. I started by running my warmup real easy, just planning out my route around the park, when suddenly, I tripped on a bump in the uneven pavement and fell! I wasn't running very fast so luckily the scrapes were minimal. But my kneecap was bleeding a little and it took me a few minutes to dust myself off and reorient myself. I took some water, shook myself off, finished my warmup and started my tempo mile intervals.

As usual, it took about a couple of these to get my pacing just right. I kept running too hard at the start and then readjusting by slowing down a tad in the middle of the mile. The pace was quite challenging to maintain and by the 3 and 4th one, I kept feeling I had to run faster than tempo effort just to make my time. I also thought the 1:00 rests between the miles came and went so quickly that I kept thinking I wasn't recovered enough to start the next set! I had done 4 of these and was about to start the 5th one when I tripped and fell again on the uneven gravel. This one shook me up. Although I hadn't started the tempo mile yet, I was getting ready to which meant the force of the fall was a little greater than the first. Now my knee was bleeding pretty bad and I scraped a bit of my left shoulder as well. I sat on the ground for 10-15 seconds trying to figure out how I could have been such a klutz to fall twice!

After using some of the water from my water bottle, I irrigated the wounds and walked around a little to make sure I didn't sustain any muscular or skeletal injury (which thank god, I didn't). Then I debated calling off my last tempo mile having blown off a few minutes of recovery since the last mile. But I knew I'd feel terrible about it after anyway, so despite my bleeding knee, I ran my last tempo mile (probably a little too fast) before jogging over to the next water fountain to clean myself off some more and collect my thoughts.

I was so traumatized by my falls and exhausted by these tempo miles that I didn't know whether I'd have the energy to do the next half of the run. Besides, it was getting sunnier and hotter now, so another ten or so miles wasn't going to be pretty. But I also promised some friends I'd spectate the NYC Triathlon in Central park and I seriously did not want to miss that. I decided to just jog home, tape up my knee, refill my water bottle and reassess whether I had it in me to run another ten miles.

Part I Statistics

Warmup - 2.0 miles in 15:31 (7:46 pace); Avg HR - 134

Tempo Miles (5) - 6:22; 6:22; 6:22; 6:22; 6:20; Avg HR - 163

Cooldown - 2.72 miles in 22:29 (8:15 pace); Avg HR - 150

Maybe I should have stopped after that. Maybe that would have been the smart thing to do. Battered by the ground, punished by gravel, my confidence shaken to the core, I seriously thought about quitting at the point – for the day, for the week, and maybe forever. I was bleeding, upset and not sure whether I could handle any more miles at that time. But luckily, I didn’t let myself think. I was too smart for that too. I just went…

Sunday Mega Run (Part II – Run to Central Park for NYC Tri - 10.17 Miles)

On my way home, a constant cool breeze magically appeared which made it seem as if the weather wouldn't be all that bad for running the 10 miles into the city. So after my own "transition" of sorts at home - change into new clothes and long run shoes, grabbing new water bottle and GU, and taping up my nasty scrapes - I decided I needed to just go out and attempt this, even if I'm exhausted and tired, and rattled from my 2 falls. After all, I have friends who are just now getting onto their bikes for the NYC Triathlon, expecting me to be there for the run!

So I willed myself and got out the door, not knowing if I had enough energy to run all the way into the city. "Try the best you can and run as far as your body can handle." I had told my brother the day before, so how can I not heed those words now.

The trip was hard for me, harder than I could remember for a long time. I had to stop two times for more water and GU at mile 6. At a few traffic light stops (I was running in bike lane on a wide avenue) at mile 5 and 7, I asked myself if I had gone far enough and should just stop. Each time, I would beg for just one more mile and then stopping, and each time, I'd convince myself to just run on. While I was running, I kept trying to figure out why I was having such difficulty on this long run. Maybe my tempo miles were too fast? Maybe I did too many? Was my high mileage week finally catching up to me? Maybe I was overtraining? I don’t know. All I wanted was to be done! Finally I saw the gigantic Queensboro Bridge separating me from my friends (at mile 8) and once I decided to take the plunge to scale this huge monstrosity, I knew I'd make it after all.

After finishing up on East 72nd St at exactly 10 miles, I rested by the side of the road and spectated the final run portion of the NYC Tri for an hour and a half. It was so awesome to see all these amazing athletes all running strong with smiles on their faces pouring it on towards the finish. All their friends and families were so very proud of them. Reflecting on my klutziness and tough 20 miles to get there made me realize just how unathletic I really am.

I was really happy and proud for all of those who swam, biked, and ran today. Those are the real athletes. Those are the people I aspire to be. Until then, I will just have to stick with what I can be. I have to stick with what I know.

Part II: Distance - 10.17 Miles; Time - 1:18:46; Pace - 7:45)

67 total Miles. Chicago Marathon Training Week 4 complete. My highest mileage training week ever. All done.

Survey Results and My Early Morning Running Experiment

The results are in! Thanks to all who participated in my extreme summer weather running survey. Before I announce the findings of my impromptu survey, let me just say that I tried to make this exercise as scientific as possible, by giving a full point to the option that was exclusively preferred by a voter and a half point to the options that weren't exclusively preferred. I think that's only fair. So without any further ado, here's what you all recommend to do when faced with the prospect of having to run during the current heat wave:

Run Early Morning - 10 votes

Run Late/Night - 1 vote

Treadmill It - 5 votes

Interesting, huh? My unrandomized uncontrolled scientific study shows that the overwhelming majority of you would rather wake up at some god-forsaken hour (like 4 or 5am), before even when all the nocturnal animals have turned in yet, to go run than suffer the ignominy of running in place on the treadmill despite the comforts of air-conditioning and cable television. But even that option seemed way better than running outdoors late at night, which I imagined is impractical and inconvenient for most runners. Also, no one picked the option of not running, which, although not explicitly stated as an option, is probably what the rest of the non-running world would have unanimously picked. As a whole, I find the results of this study rather fascinating because it highlights how much we are willing to put up with and how dedicated we are to the sport of running...and how much we hate running on the treadmill!

So as recommended, I got up on successive days (yesterday and today) at 5AM for my first early morning runs of 2010. Now let me confess right here that I've never been much of a morning person. Yes, I am usually up early for work on most days, and generally have no problem waking up early for the occasional weekend race but getting up in the dead of night (which I consider anytime before sunrise) for training runs is not really my cup of tea. For one thing, I find that I have to rearrange my entire eating and sleeping schedule to accommodate pre-daylight running. Not only so, but I find that I'm not up and rearing to go run in the early morning like I am when I run after work in the late afternoon. Maybe it's a matter of personal preference. Maybe it's a matter of establishing a habit. I figured I could try for a week or so and see what evolves.

My Tuesday morning tempo run (11 total miles with 6 at 6:37 min/mi) went well despite it being 87F with 50% humidity at 5AM). I struggled during the latter half of the tempo miles more due to the heat than to the effort, but otherwise surprised myself that I was able to get this one done on a day that hit triple digits on the thermometer. This morning, I took it easy and ran a recovery run of 6 miles at a slow 7:31 min/mi pace. The temperature was essentially the same except that the humidity was about 20% less than yesterday, which made conditions much more favorable for running. I ended the workout with some easy 6 x 100m strides which my legs liked after all the slow stuff. The only complaint I have about both of these runs was that it took me more than one-and-half miles of warmup before my body got moving and my pace felt comfortable. My legs felt like they were entirely asleep for the whole first half of the run! What's up with that? Eventually, everyone got with the program and we were running well again, but geez, this early morning running is no joke!

I'll wait to see how the legs respond tomorrow (rest day) and the next day before making a further assessment of my early morning running experiment. Anybody out there have any pointers on this transitioning process? Any pitfalls to avoid? Stories to share? Or maybe I'm just a wimp...(No, don't answer that last question and no, this is not another survey!)

Hope everyone in blogland is staying cool during these hot summer days and running well despite the heat by whatever method you employ. I'll check in with you all this weekend after my scheduled long run of 17+ miles. Yikes! I pray it'll be cooler by then.

Hot (and Humid) Weather Running

After getting a little carried away with speed the past week, with a 5 mile race on Sunday, a fast 6x800 workout on Tuesday and an impromptu 5:30 mile in front of some high schoolers on Wednesday, I was in desperate need of some slow double digit mileage runs over the weekend to get my aerobic base back to where it needed to be. As appealing as races, tempo runs, and track work seem to be to my body right now, I am training for a marathon here, not a 5K sprint, so the speed must take a back seat to endurance and stamina.

So I did as the great minds of Pfitzinger and Daniels have suggested, and got in a fifteen mile run around three city parks on Saturday, followed by an Independence Day eleven (7+4=11, get it?) mile run in and through a former US Army installation in Whitestone Queens on Sunday morning. Although I ran slow (both at about a minute slower than marathon pace), and had great scenery to accompany each of my runs, I didn’t feel great on either of them. I was honestly questioning my sanity and whether I was cut out to be a distance runner after each run. Maybe I should just stick to the track and the short road races. Maybe it’s a sign.

Or maybe it’s the sweating heat and the suffocating humidity that’s been cooking the Northeast like it’s a flank steak over a summer barbecue. I was stupid to start my run at high noon on Saturday (had no choice really because I was at work all morning) but was smart to get up at 7:30am for my Sunday run. It made no difference however. The average temperature was still the same at 87F! I couldn’t believe it. All through my miles, all I could see were people sunbathing on a beach, skinny dipping by a pool or barbecuing by the ocean and making fun of me as I try to fight a drawn out losing battle against the sun. What an idiot, they must be thinking as they see me passing by soaking wet with dripping sweat and a look of sheer agony on my face. The worst part was, with the horrid conditions I was running under, I really couldn’t blame them for making fun of me.

That got me thinking: Is it time to think about the treadmill again? Yes, I know it sounds blasphemous, and I abhor the thought of running for miles and miles staring at inanimate objects or figures moving across a TV screen during the summer, but when not running is not an option and to save my pedestrian friends the embarrassment of watching me suffer in this oppressive heat, is that not enough justification enough to take the run indoors. Besides, if you can run better and train faster on a treadmill, isn’t that more beneficial than running hot and slow outdoors, especially if you’re training for a long distance race in cooler and milder conditions? Acclimating to weather is one thing, but constantly being forced to run slow because of unfavorable weather conditions is quite another. Maybe for speed development, it would be more advantageous to train indoor than out simply because you wouldn’t be able to attain the same training intensity in inclement weather. I don’t know. But I’m definitely having second thoughts about the treadmill. Maybe it’s time for the hamster wheel and I to get reacquainted. Maybe the previous vilification was unjustified. I may have to apologize.

But first I’d like to survey the crowd on how best to deal with running and training in extreme heat. Run in early morning (when it tends to be insanely humid)? Run in late afternoon/early evening (when it tends to still be hot)? Or succumb to the comforts of air conditioning and run indoors? What do you think? What do you do? I'm open to suggestions.

Showing Pride and Racing Confidence

Thanks for all the supportive comments and positive feedback on my 5 mile race this past weekend. Although I've been consciously downplaying the significance of my performance to myself after the fact as "just another race", subconsciously I knew this result was a big confidence booster for me because it providing some objective evidence that I was finally over my illness that thwarted my spring marathon attempt, and finally over the persistent right knee/ankle pain that had been bothered me all through May. Even though I didn't push myself to the max and was never in real danger of overextending myself, I proved to me that I was almost back to running well and racing fast again. (BTW, did you know that my last semi-decent race prior to this weekend was over two months ago, in the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler in Washington DC? Every race since then has involved an injury or an illness of some kind - and in one, not even my own! It has been a long time coming!) Prior to this race, I'd been forcing myself to hold back both physically and mentally. Even though I was running consistently, I was not ready to challenge myself for fear of pain and injury. The setbacks I experienced a month or so ago really took a huge toll on me mentally. At least now I can say, for the most part, I'm mostly recovered. Almost.

Come to think of it, it's so weird how the mind works. One week I'm thinking that I'm in no condition to race. The next week comes and I'm challenging myself to race a sub-5:50 mile in front of the local high school track team. This latest show of provoked arrogance was unintended but definitely fueled by disrespect. It occurred as I was "borrowing" part of the neighborhood high school track for 800m intervals. The track team, lead by their fearless captain who must have been a high school senior, was running mile drills around the track at the outer lanes while I was running my 800s on the inner lanes. Since I was the "outsider" using the track, I purposefully slowed my pace down whenever I could hear the pack of five or six boys coming from the back towards me. Since they weren't running faster than 5:45-6:00 miles, it was up to me to slow down to allow them to pass. As they passed, I could feel their eyes penetrating my skin, and hear their remarks directed at me. At one point, I remember a kid whispering to his teammate within earshot of me "Why is this old guy running on our track? He looks kinda slow." I was shocked by their attitude but waited until after they were done with their sets to make my statement. As the entire team laid on the grass next to the track for recovery, I asked one of the guys who had a handy stopwatch, the same one who gave me eyes and called me old and slow, to time me for a 1600m run. He looked puzzled but obliged. I then went to work. I laced up my shoes and proceeded to bust out a 1600 m run at 5:30 pace in front of the entire high school track team. After I was done, I asked for my time, thanked him for timing me, and walked away from the stunned crowd without saying a word. Needless to say, there were no whispers, no jokes, no sounds...just eyes staring at my back because I just ran a mile faster than most of them can and more importantly, faster than any of them ever imagined I can!

Not bad for an old guy who ain't yet too old to steal the show once in a while. Right?

Race Report from the FRNY Lesbian & Gay Pride 5M Run

Aside from the occasional circumstance where the weather cooperates, the stars align, training has gone well, and you've properly fueled and hydrated, success in road racing has more to do with running smart and running well than it is about attaining a PR and/or a goal time. This race that I ran on Saturday serves as an illustration of that point for me...

Although I went through the motions of preparing well for this race (drinking lots of water the two days before, holding myself to one (okay two) cups of beer at a birthday party the night prior, getting good pillow time, etc), I knew in my heart of hearts that this was not going to be awesome race for me. Considering that I had just come back from California where the weather was perfect into the burning hell-like sauna has been NYC the past week, and the lack of speedwork that I did while I was on the West Coast, I sincerely thought that just crossing the finish line in relatively decent shape would be a worthwhile primary goal for me. A secondary goal would be to run well and run smart and not blow up like I did in my previous NYRR race (where I syncopized and DNFed at the 5K mark of a 4 mile race). I didn't know and wasn't concerned about what pace that would translate into. I was just going to run my own race and let the chips fall what they may.

Before The Start

I arrived at the starting corral in plenty of time to watch the colorful festivities and the original jazzy rendition of the national anthem sung by the MC from the FrontRunners Lesbian & Gay community. Although I anticipated it to be a small race, I felt rather intimidated when I inadvertently found myself situated just a few rows behind the elites at the start. I had gotten there only because I saw Flyers JW and ES hanging out there a few minutes prior and wanted to walk over to say hi. We all commented to each other at the same time that this was the most "in front" we've ever been at a NYRR race where we clearly did not belong. Unfortunately, no one in the pack we were in was willing to move up so we were stuck there, right behind the elites right up to the start of the race

Mile 1

As the starting horn surrounded and the applause and cheering began, I remind myself one last time to avoid getting pulled ahead by the speedy crowd around me and focus on running my own race. It was already a balmy 80 degrees with 56% humidity when I started my counter-clockwise journey around a loop of the park from the lower west side. More than anything, I was determined to run my first mile as conservatively as I can so I allowed many folks including a couple of other teammates to fly past me for the first quarter mile. Once I found my grove and settled into a cadence that I thought I could keep for the duration of the run, I began my race in earnest. I nestled myself behind a pack of runners who seemed as out of place as I was in their black tech t-shirts and baggy shorts that were a big too long. It didn't take long for them to fade after the first little hill at around the halfway point of the first mile. Just as I passed them though, four to a pack, running side by side, another runner came from behind to slip though as well. I wanted to follow this new guy, who was sleak but ripped, as I felt I could keep up with him, but thought better of it as I reminded myself of my primary objective again. Besides, Cat Hill was coming up early in the next mile and I'd be damned if he chews me up and spits me out again like he has so many times before. I slowed my effort back to what I felt would be manageable as I passed through the first mile marker. (Mile 1 - 5:50)

Mile 2

I was beyond shocked when the mile 1 time sunk in. Did I really just run another sub-6 mile? How the heck did I manage to run the exact same time for the first mile as I did in my DNF 4-miler when I started off so conservatively? Honestly, instead of being inspired by my fast time, I was disappointed and a bit frustrated that I blew up another race at mile 1 again. But before I could contemplate holding sub-6 pace for another mile, I found myself staring at Cat Hill right in the face. I knew I had to keep the same manageable effort that I was running. I knew I had to slow down. My hope was that the strength I gained running long steep hills in San Diego would help me maintain a respectable time. It was here that I think I passed the most people. It was here that I blew the cat a kiss which startled those around me. It was also here that Flyer photographer extraordinaire BC spotted me for the first of many race photos. The top of the hill came quickly for me so I knew I had run it well. As I came upon Mile 2 marker, I kept my mind occupied by predicting that I'd come in 6:10, or at worse a 6:15 for that mile. (Mile 2 - 6:05)

Mile 3

Are you joking? That was only a 6:05?! But before I allowed any instantaneous projected goal time to be calculated, I reminded myself again that this race wasn't about time for me. Heck, even as I'm passing a few people who looked like they were struggling in the heat, I know this race wasn't about competition against others either. This race was all about me and running a smart race with a good effort and finishing. No premature celebrations will be tolerated. So I pressed on - by the Engineer's Gate, by the edge of the bridle path surrounding the reservoir, by the baseball fields in the North Meadow, and finally around the bend that is the 102nd street Transverse. During this stretch, I focused intently on my cadence, breathing, and footstrike. Suddenly, the distance between me and the next runner increases. There was no one within second yards of me. I began to feel a little tired, as if my body wanted to tell me that maybe I wasn't ready to race five miles yet. I didn't listen. Instead, I thought about how I was still running relatively well. I predict I was maintaining 6:15 or so pace. I also thought about how glorious it would feel to just finish and bury the hatchet from the DNF debacle that has haunted me for the past month. I must keep running even if I have to do so at a slower pace, I decided at that point. (Mile 3 - 6:12)

Mile 4

I made the turn onto the west side drive and prepare myself for the toughest mile of the whole race. The series of three hills, each lower and shorter than the first, always creates a havoc whenever it arises in an NYRR race. I was grumpy, I was tired, and I felt slow. I did not feel so well climbing them each in rapid succession. And despite seeing Flyer photographer BC again on the third small hill, I was so exhausted by that point that I did not even have the energy to fake a smile anymore. Luckily, everyone else around me felt the same thing at exactly the same time, which explains why no one passed me even as I was slowing down considerably. I was truly running on an island now. (Mile 4 - 6:23)

Mile 5

I was annoyed that I ran such a slow 4th mile, but I was happier that I was heading towards the home stretch and the final mile of this race. Although I had imagined pre-race that I'd fly down the big downhill that highlights this mile and coast to the finish, in reality, keeping my feet moving at a decent pace was all that my tired body was capable of. I saw my friend and fellow flyer JB running in the opposite direction and I wanted to stop and just run slow with him. He didn't hear me so I resolved to continue running. Even while my chest was burning though, I picked up the pace as best as I could. As I approached the finish, I could hear the cheers from the crowd growing louder and louder. There were both male and female cheerleaders out spectating and cheering for us at the finish. I absorbed all the vibes and carried it through the last 400m to the finish line. I gave the kick all I had as I fought my body through to the end. Judging from the last mile stats, I think I performed as brilliantly as I could, given the circumstances. I showed some pride in my run today! (Mile 5 - 6:07)

Final Statistics
Official Time: 30:38; Pace – 6:08 min/mi
Overall Place: 51 out of 3564
Age Group Place: 10 out of 360
Age Graded Percentile: 70.78%
Flyer Men Rank: 1st

Tempo Tuesday: Return to the Scene of the Crime

After a good weekend of two double digit mileage runs and a rest day, I was ready to go back to fight the dragon that is Central Park. If you remember from last weekend, it was here that I failed in my attempt at a PR in a 4 mile race. It was here that I suffered my first DNF and it was here that I fainted at mile 3.1 when the finish line was just around the bend. To say I was humbled, humiliated, and a bit embarrassed wouldn't begin to describe my sentiments. I knew I needed to go back. I knew I needed to lick my wounds, pick up the pieces and run a hard tempo run around the park just to say I can still do it and to recover what's left of my dignity and confidence after it was so rudely taken away from me. So after work, I changed into a tank and shorts, laced up the Kinvaras and it was ON!

The assignment I gave myself today was to run the upper loop (5 miles) complete with Harlem Hill, the West Hills and Cat Hills, all at a tempo pace. I didn't know what tempo pace is for me is currently, since I haven't done one in about a month, so I pick my half-marathon pace (6:25-6:30 min/mi) as a rough guide. Unfortunately, the sun was out today and it was a little hot (77F), but the humidity was low (43F) so I thought I'd be okay.

I did a reservoir loop as a warmup and then did the 5 mile tempo run as described above. I made sure to run fast, but not so fast that I'd burn myself out before the finish. I'm not going to lie. Harlem Hill was tough and the Western Hills were tougher. But I cruised and ran strong and fought hard to strike a balance between recovery and maintaining good pace through all the hills. At about mile 2, once I realized I was running in the low 6:20s, I even switched off my pace so I can't fixate on it anymore. I just ran via perceived effort while keeping an eye on my HR. I started to tire around 72nd transverse at mile 3.5 but again just kept fighting to maintain deep breaths, a good form, and keeping posture as relaxed as possible. Finally, I got to Cat Hill and gave myself a good pep talk about what happened here last week as I ran. I was so full of adrenaline that I was completely wiped out by the time I got to the top of the hill! I recovered a little bit on the downhill by the Met and then just cruised to the finish. By the time I got to the finish at Engineer's Gate, I was completely spent. Yeah, I had done it! And 31:29 for the upper loop is the fastest I've ever run this particular stretch. How's that for a comeback?! (Don't haunt me no more Central Park!)

After recovering and drinking some water, I did a slow Bridle Path/Reservoir Loop combo to celebrate my success! I know it wasn't much, and maybe I could even get faster with better training, but for where I am right now, having gone through what I did the past month or so, I'm completely ectastic about this run today!

Statistics:
Warmup - 1.58 mi; Time - 11:48; Pace - 7:28
Tempo Run - 4.93 mi; Time - 31:29; Pace - 6:23

Mile Splits - 6:19; 6:24; 6:27; 6:24; 5:53*

Cooldown - 2.54 mi; Time - 19:43; Pace - 7:46

*5:53 for 0.93miles is roughly 6:20 min/mi pace

Springtime in D.C.Race Report from the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run

Let's start off by stating the obvious. This wasn't a goal race for me. No sirree. Not after a brutal 13.1 a week prior where I got lost at mile six and still ran a respectable 1:24, not three weeks before my spring marathon, and especially not after I tripped and fell hard on broken pavement at mile 15 of a 22 mile long run two days prior. I really just wanted to go out and experience the course, having heard about it from friends and teammates over the years.

Here then are my mile splits and some of my quickie thoughts as I ran this race.

Mile 1 - 6:25
- Wow, what a gorgeous day to race. Too bad my legs feel so achy and tired.
- I'm right behind the elites in the 1B corral start. Why does it still take a quarter mile for some open leg room?
- There's so much conversation about Boston, you'd think we were running in Red Sox nation.

Mile 2 - 6:25
- My first mile split is pathetic. I must be more wiped out than I thought.
- I'm starting on the bridge across the Potomac River. The elites are already on the way back. Wow!
- I'm surrounded by so many people that are supposedly "taking it easy". Are we sure we're NOT running a marathon today.

Mile 3 - 6:26
- Someone taps me on shoulder and says Hi! It's my crazy fast friend who I met last month volunteering at the expo for the National Marathon. (He went on to run a 1:17 half marathon a day later!)
- Having a catch up conversation with another runner is not easy in the middle of a race. He is tapering for Boston while I'm learning to catch my breath while talking and running at the same time.
- I said my goodbye and wish him well on his race before watching him disappear right before my eyes.

Mile 4 - 6:51
- Running along the Potomac river, i see nothing but one cruise ship on the shimmering waters. Everything is so peaceful. Tranquility is the order of the morning.
- A woman falls on the opposite side of the divide and I start hyperventilating and taking smaller steps. I don't want to fall like that again.
- Great...one of my shoelaces is untied. I stop and lose 30 seconds to tie them back up.

Mile 5 - 6:40
- My legs are starting to tire but we still got 6 more miles to go. Will I make it?
- Maybe running races on back to back weekends is not so advisable.
- I'm looking for cherry blossoms but they are few and far between.

Mile 6 - 6:42
- The sun is up and I'm holding my own... finally
- I see crowds of people both starting and coming back on the Potomac River Bridge
- We're almost a 5K to go. Almost.

Mile 7 - 6:35
- There is so much green here. My pace for whatever reason seems more comfortable now.
- I'm still scanning for cherry blossoms and wishing I could just stop and take pictures.
- Can I even manage a 6:30 average pace for this race? Gosh. Must pick it up.

Mile 8 - 6:25
- With 5k to go, I start feeling good, like really really good. It was as if the first seven miles were just warmup for a 5k race.
- I start picking off a few people that I've been trailing behind for the whole time.
- It's sunnier now and I'm sweating. But nothing like the guy who's running this in a suit?!

Mile 9 - 6:24
- Despite the fatigue, I'm still throwing down the hammer and passing a few.
- Some people from the sideline are chanting my name. I blow kisses their way as I pass by. I have no idea who those people were.
- I'm heading back downtown now. Sadly, the cherry blossoms have mostly came and gone. Only the lush green leaves and trees remain.

Mile 10 - 6:15
- Over a small bridge and then a one mile interval to the finish
- I see a joggler running on the opposite side. The Washingotn monument is getting larger.
- The sideline coach is telling us we're 800m to the line. I start to sprint hard.
- At 400m to go, another pack of spectators shouts my name unexpectedly. I give a thumbs up as I continue my sprint. Soon, the finish line cames and I can stop.

"It was a great day for a ten mile DC run!" A Flyer friend told me after the fact. I couldn't agree more!

Final Statistics
Official time - 1:05:12 (6:31 Avg Pace)
Men's Place - 316/6901 (4.6%)
Age Group Place - 75/1408 (5.3%)

Five Weeks Away:My Update on Marathon Training

It's come to my attention that a few of my teammates and blogger friends want to hear more about my running and preparation heading into the final month of NJM training. All I gotta to say to these people is Why aren't you on DailyMile and if you are, why aren't you following me? If you are, then you'd see that I practically write a novel on each of my workouts complete with goals, objectives, statistics and my assessment of that particular run. I spend a lot of time comprehensively drafting these entries not because I'm a complete running geek (which I know I am) but because I want to force myself to be more focused this time around. One of the criticisms I got from a review of my last marathon training cycle leading up to 2009 NYCM was that the plan lacked direction and purpose. Many of the runs and the paces I ran for the runs seemed completely arbitrary with a narrow differential in terms of pacing. In other words, my recovery runs were for the most part too fast, my long runs were too slow and my speedwork lacked variety. I was very determined to change things this time around. So I made sure to lay out specific goal paces and objectives for each run, varied my speedwork every session in terms of tempo, intervals, and hillwork, and forced myself to run slower on easy/recovery days and run faster on speedwork days. At the end of the day, I reflect on what I did and comment on whether I successful achieved my goals for that day's run. The result of all of that work is what I choose to record and share on the DailyMile.

One thing though which doesn't translate so well to my daily musings on DailyMile is my perspectives on training in a global sense. As I take a step back and reflect on the state of my marathon preparation with the race now just five weeks away (Yikes!), I want to share how I think my training is going in each of the three areas (speed, endurance, stamina) that will hopefully translate to a PR performance in my spring marathon.

Speed - One thing I know about myself is that I'm a speed guy through and through. Although I was never a sprinter in high school or college, I think I encapsulate the attitude when I'm burning rubber on the track, sporting my lightweight racing flats, and daring anyone within shouting distance to keep my pace or get out of the way. I just love how my body feels when my leg muscles are working so efficiently and propelling my body so fast through the air that it feels at times that I'm flying! For that reason, I always expect my speed workouts to be my best quality running of the week. And thus far, this has been the case. I incorporated a bunch of Yasso 800s into the plan this year (something I didn't do last year) and surprise surprise, my legs have held up through most of them pretty well. I take every precaution not to do too many or do them too fast to avoid the risk of injury and so far my times have been right where I expected them to be. My last 800s workout saw me complete 7 sets at a clip of 2:48-2:54 each with 2:50 recovery between each. The effort was hard, but not too hard and I think I could probably go a few seconds faster on each if I really wanted to be ambitious. I feel good about them though, especially after posting a 5K PR two weeks ago, so I'm going to continue doing these about once every other week until the marathon. More recently, I've gone back to doing mile repeats as well with the hopes that the longer distance will help a little bit more in the late stages of the marathon.

Endurance - Everyone knows that doing long runs is key to any successful marathon training program. Not everyone knows though that running them at the right pace is just as important as the mileage. Last year, while training for the NYCM, I did a lot of long runs. 5 X 20+ milers and 1 X 18 miler in a span of ten weeks. Unfortunately, I ran with friends in all of them and although I enjoyed the company, the chatter and the gossip, the paces I was running with were way too slow for my purposes. I think the fastest pace I averaged for a long run last year was 7:30 min/mi and that was only when I worked as a pacer for the Long Training Run in early August! I also didn't incorporate any faster type running into any of my long runs last year and I think I paid dearly for those mistakes during the Fifth Avenue mile in the NYCM.

Fast forward to this spring. So far, I've already done 2 X 18 milers and 3 x 20+ milers with two more to go in the next two weeks. I've also been doing many more of these on my own so my pacing have been much more consistent then they were last year. On every alternating long run, I've also been trying to run a segment of the later miles at a quicker pace, in hopes that the faster finish will teach my body to become more comfortable with the faster paces in the last few miles of the marathon. For the most part, I think the endurance training is going well, although I do wish that my body would get with the program a little sooner than four miles into a long run.

Stamina - I'm counting tempo runs and hill workouts as stamina training because they involve the ability to sustain a lactate threshold type effort for a longer period of time than traditional speed intervals. In fact, I suspect that most of the time during the marathon will involve this type of running. Now, whereas I'm doing quite well in speedwork/endurance training, I am not finding similar success in my stamina workouts. I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because I'm running them in the hills of Central Park and not on flat land where they are meant to be done. Maybe it's because my body has a hard time adjusting to the intermediate effort required by these workouts. Or maybe I just have to be patient and not start them at too fast a pace. Whatever it is, I find that I have a tough time finding and holding the appropriate effort. I tend to either start too fast in the first mile or two and slow down too much in the later miles or I start slow, stay slow, and have to run interval pace to make my time in the last mile or two. Although most of the time I do end up accomplishing my goal, I feel extremely exhausted after finishing one of these workouts and my heart rate is through the roof! I have a couple more tempo workouts scheduled up in the next several weeks, and I am determined to find the correct pace early in the first mile and just maintain the effort for the duration of the run. Avoiding wild pace fluctuations will be key for me as I want to learn to maintain a fast but consistent effort in the middle miles of the actual marathon.

Overall then, I think my marathon training is going as well as can be reasonably expected. Although I still have some small kinks in the system to work through, I'm fairly certain that I will be prepared to run a good marathon in five weeks. The next few weeks will be quite hectic for me as I am approaching my high mileage weeks in training while also participating in three consecutive races in three consecutive weeks. It's been so long since I've raced that I'm getting it all out of the system in one shot. Haha! I'll be running in a half marathon, a 10 miler and a 5K all in the month of April and expecting to do fairly well in all of them. It should make for a fun, speedy and exciting month of April. I, for one, can hardly wait. Bring. It. On.

A Lesson in Consistency: Race Report from the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrock's 5K

In running as in medicine, sometimes the more you think you know about a particular subject the more you realize that you know absolutely jack squat!

In all honesty, by the time I lined up at the start of today's 5k race in Washington Heights, (even though this was to be my first "official race of 2010" and first as a Saucony Hurricane, I already accepted the fact that this was not going to be a stellar race for me. Given that I had been bothered all week by some discomfort in my right ITB and Achilles, likely secondary to pushing my pace too hard in the last miles of my 22 miler last week, and had gone out on a sixteen mile long run less than 24 hours ago, I had no wild preconceived notions of turning in a spectacular time on this tough and hilly course. My plan was to run this race without trashing myself physically and get to the post-race party as fast as possible...so I can trash myself there with the free beer and brunch at the Irish bar that was sponsoring this race! Last year, in my first 5K race ever, I ran this course in an amazing 18:34 (avg pace 5:59 min/mi). This year, given my injury concerns and sore legs, I was just hoping for anything less than 18:40.

Race weather was perfect this morning as we nestled ourselves inside our respective color corrals, waiting for the race start. It was sunny, it was warm (mid 40s), and I saw a few pigeons bustling about in the blue sky overhead - a sure sign of spring! Although I was in my starting corral a full ten minutes prior to the start, I still found myself at the back of the pack. I had expected this to be a crowded race, given the popularity of the post race party and the race being a points race for the local running clubs, but when you can't even see the stage from the first corral, that's a little ridiculous. I tried inching myself closer to the front once the opening ceremonies started and the Star-Spangled Banner began to play, but all that did was encourage everyone else to do the same. So I resigned myself to my position, gave my sore calves a good stretch, rubbed my new Saucony Fastwitch 4 racers (love these) for good luck and redirected my thoughts on formulating a game plan for this course.

I was in the midst of my thoughts, trying to remember what I had learned from watching a replay of the Boston Marathon on Universal Sports the night before, when the starting horn sounded. Amidst the thunderous applause of nearby spectators and a make shift Irish band playing loud bagpipe music in the background, I followed the swarming masses staggering towards the starting line. A few seconds later, I found myself crossing the mats and officially beginning my racing season for 2010.

Mile 1 - As it is with any NYRR race, the first quarter mile was crowded and congested, and it was all I could do to find some room for myself to run. Choosing to be safe rather than risk an injury to myself or others, I started my race conservatively and waited patiently for the pace of my neighbors to settle. As I did, I used the time to find out if my knee and ankle had sufficiently warmed to give forth a solid effort on this day. After a quarter mile of heavy contemplation and no pain, I dared myself to open up the pace to my perceived 5K effort.

Unfortunately, this was also where we encountered the first major hill on the course. The rise isn't big, but if you're not ready for it, it can easily sapped your energy and kill your race. I didn't consider it much, but judging from the heavy breathing and the occasional swear escaping from the mouths of my neighbors, I know they would beg to differ. Perhaps that's why I caught back up to many of the initial speedsters who had blasted off right from the get-go. After the ascent, we were treated to a nice steady downhill. I extended my stride and fought my heart to flow down the hill as fast as I could. (Mile 1 - 5:57; Coogan's 2009 5K Mile 1 - 5:55)

Mile 2 - The cruelty of the second mile is that as soon as you cross the mile 1 marker running downhill, you can see the second mile marker directly on the opposite side of this out-and-back course. In the middle of this descent, I can vaguely make out the super elite runners fast approaching the hill from the other side. Last year, I bombed this section of the course. Last year, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. This year, upon seeing fort tower a bit in the distance and the elites on their return journey back to the start, I vowed that things would be a little different.

Once the descent was over and I found myself revolving around fort tower on flatter ground, I shortened my stride and increased my turnover in anticipation of the big ascent up ahead. As I did, I reminded myself to imagine myself a cyclist shifting down gears in response to a big hill climb. A big swarm of people, larger than before, was now rolling down the big hill on the opposite side as I began my battle. Off in the short distance, I can clearly make out a couple of my Flyer teammates who have already begun to wage their own wars.

And then it was time for me to go. A half mile up a grade 3-4 hill. Hmmm, I thought, haven't I done this before? Why does this feel so familiar? Of course, of course, this is exactly what I've been practicing on the treadmill for so many weeks. The hill repeats up a level 4-5 hill. I know how to do this. Short strides, quick steps, controlled breathing. Yes, yes, I can do this.

Maybe it was the weekly hilly sets working wonders. Maybe it was just how I like to fake it until I make it. Whatever the reason, I rocked the hill climb like I've never rocked one before. The funny thing was I didn't even need to check the Garmin to tell me this. I passed so many people during this elevation gain that I felt I was literally on a bike while others were running! While others were grunting, and breathing so ostensibly loud that I almost couldn't hear myself think, I was repeating my own hill climbing mantra to myself - short strides, quick steps, controlled breathing - and maintaining my effort running up the hill. Seeing the official clock at the mile 2 maker in the 11:50 ranges only served to confirmed my suspicions. (Mile 2 - 5:57; Coogan's 2009 5K Mile 2 - 6:08)

Mile 3 - At the end of the hill, upon seeing my mile 2 time, I knew I was in line for a big PR. For a moment or two, I couldn't believe I finished that stretch at the same time as mile 1. Maybe I should recheck the Garmin, maybe I had miscalculated. No, I didn't have time. Instead for the first time in the race, I was feeling some fatigue in my quads. So I pleaded with my legs to keep the faith and keep the pace. Instead of acknowledging the soreness, I finally thought about how I wasn't supposed to be doing so well so late in this race. Didn't I run 16 miles the day before? Wasn't my knees and ankles supposed to be tight and sore? Instead, I was having no tightness, no pain, and running victoriously on the way to the finish line. I had overachieved beyond my wildest expectations. I felt instantaneously at peace. (Mile 3 - 5:56; Coogan's 2009 5K Mile 3 - 5:56)

Last 0.1M - As I approached the finish, I could once again hear the bagpipes and the wild applause of the spectators gathering in the streets on either side. I noticed that the sun had risen higher now. Neighbors from the apartment buildings on other sides were looking out onto the streets and clapping their hands in exultation. The entire street was turning into a spring carnival right before my eyes! I pumped my fists and gave a last kick on my way across the finish line to claim my first race PR of 2010. (Last 0.1M - 0:36; Coogan's 2009 5K Last 0.1M - 0:35)

Final Statistics
Finishing Time - 18:26 (PR by 8 secs)
Average Pace - 5:56 min/mile
Overall Place - 186/5629
Gender Place - 172/3017
Age Place - 33
Age Graded - 71.1%

Befriending Your Tready:Top Ten Tips for (More) Successful Treadmill Running

So that's one way of making sure the streak of 50+ miles stops this week.

If you haven't heard, we (as in NYC - who else is there really?) were blasted with not one, but two storms this week, the latter of which was a gigantic Nor'Easter that resulted in record snowfall in Central Park again! Yeah, it's the end of February and we're still dealing with cold, slush and snow.

But while the rest of the city is still digging itself out of their igloos, I somehow managed to log 33 miles so far this week, even though only 6 of them were actually done outdoors. This means that I've actually run the full distance of a marathon in just 3 runs on the treadmill. For someone who've been humiliated by the rubber band carousel more times than I care to remember (see Exhibit A), this is a pretty incredible feat!

Now I know most runners hate the treadmill with a passion. They rather walk barefoot across a bed of burning charcoals than do 10+ miles on the motorized walkway. I know because I used to be a member of that rebel tribe that considers running without actually traveling anywhere scandalous runner behavior. But when life throws you curveballs - it's dark early, you've got kids to watch, or there's Nor'Easter in your city every freakin' week - you've got to settle for singles up the middle or you'll strike out and be relegated to the bench for the rest of the season. Catch my drift? And if you approach treadmill running with the right attitude, you can come to terms with it and it won't feel like death every time you go.

In the spirit of helping my fellow runners get better acquainted with their treadmills (or tready as I like to call it), here are my Top Ten Tips for More Successful Treadmill Running

1. Break up the long mileage.

Most tready haters seem to have a mileage limit above which they cannot tolerate the monotony. It's like their runner brain turns to mush and their shoes turn to cement after the digital counter goes up beyond a certain digit. If that's the case for you, then don't think of your workout as one continuous task. Instead break it up into a series of smaller workouts that you can tolerate. Literally turn off the machine after each workout and restart it again. For example, for my 12 mile workout yesterday, I restarted the machine four different times and incorporated three different types of workouts into my mileage.

2. Have a purpose for each workout.

Most runners run mindlessly on the tready, and then they wonder why they had such a mindless run. Don't be one of those people. Instead, have a game plan head of time for each section of your tready run. Give yourself something to work on for every mile or every few miles. Whether it be your pace, your breathing, your form, your heart rate, have some objectives and goals for the work you're putting in so that your workout can be more productive. If you approach it that way, at the end, you'll know what you've accomplished and feel more successful at it too.

3. Incorporate speed training

Alot of runners know that tready is good for interval training, but not a lot of them incorporate tempos and fartleks into their regular tready runs. This is a travesty in my mind because this is the perfect setup for learning how to surge or mix/match varying speeds at different distances. For example, do you know how you'll feel if you suddenly threw a 30 second surge after 1 mile of running or 5 miles of running? How long do you think you'll need to recover after a surge like that? Can you go back to your regular running pace or will you need to slow down for a period of time to recover? How about if the surge were for a minute or 2 minutes or 3 minutes? How fast can you surge and have it not affect your steady state running? All these questions can be answered easily and much more effectively on tready than out on the road because you can designate an exact pace and exact speed. Go ahead and experiment. Speed up or slow down as you like. Just don't run at the same pace for the entire duration of your tready run. I am shuddering just typing that last sentence.

3. Vary your incline

How many people never adjust the incline on their tready runs? How many set it at 0.5 or 1.0 at the beginning and never touch it again? If you raised your hand, you really have no right to call yourself a tready runner, much less criticize the tready as a monotonous machine. As a rule, unless I'm doing intervals, I always always adjust my tready incline every quarter to half of a mile. Not only does that simulate the undulations of the road as if you were running outside, it also allows the recruitment of different muscles which lay dormant when you're running on flat ground. You can think of it as running hills. If you can count up how many hills you encourage on your regular running route, that is at least as many times as you should be adjusting your tready inclines. You can speed up or slow down to maintain a similar effort but varying inclines should be a regular feature in your tready running routine.

4. Run barefoot (or with socks)

Although I'm not a fan of barefoot running for maintenance, racing or sustenance (for reasons I will NOT further elaborate so don't ask), they are nevertheless an essential form of strength training for your feet and lower legs. They can also help correct your form if you are a lazy runner (like me) and suffer from alignment issues. For those just starting out or at the beginning stages of making the transition to barefoot running, running outside on pavement in snow/ice can be quite challenging if not impossible. This is again where the tready can help. Just take off your shoes (leave the socks on) and go for a slow tready run. Your pace will be slower than it is for regular treadmill runs but you'll get good sensory feedback from your feet, knees, and ankles on where the trouble spots are with your form so you can work on those more individually. What I do is run a barefoot mile at the start of my workout as a warmup and one at the end as a cooldown. I find that it helps solidify my cadence and form and carries over quite a bit to my running and racing.

5. Try out shoes (new or old)

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I like experimenting with shoes. I like new shoes, I like old shoes, and I like comparing how I feel at different times with different shoes. One thing I know from medical science is that your foot structure differs from year to year based on age, training, and the surface that you run on. Therefore, it is always a good idea to analyze your gait periodically to ensure you're running in the right shoes. To that end, I will switch up and wear two or three pairs of new and old shoes to the tready and runs a few miles on each just to test things out. I find that different workouts go better with different shoes and can then use that information to guide my next shoe purchase.

6. Listen to a running podcast

Some people watch movies when they run. Other people pump themselves up with music. I like listening to running podcasts. It's all a decision based on personal preference but it's a good idea to have something engaging that will keep your interest when the tready workout gets mind numbing.

7. Test out fueling/hydration

This is also something good to do. Because you don't have to carry it outside with you or risk an emergency if your stomach doesn't agree with your new flavor of GU, the tready is a good time to try out new foods and drinks you are considering for long runs. Because everything can literally be right at your finger tips, you don't have to worry about carrying too much or not enough when you're trying things out for the first time. Heck, you can try a combination of nutritional items to see what works best or not at all. I tried Gummi Bears and Sports Beans on my tready twelve yesterday. The Gummis turned out too chewy for running and I went through a whole bag of beans and was still hungry. Lesson learned.

8. Examine your heart rate zones

If you wear a heart rate monitor (HRM) to the tready like I do, then you can not only incorporate heart rate zone training into your routine, but you can also test your zones to see what pace they correspond to. You can also study the effects of hills on your heart rate zones by playing with the inclines at different times during your run. And if you keep a good record of such things, then you can study the training effect over the course of a week, a month, or a year. The possibilities of what you can do with that information is endless! (Just make sure you're wearing an actual HRM and not relying on the pulse counter on the tready itself!)

9. Count your strides

Another exercise that can be easily done on the tready is to count your strides at different paces. Do you tend to increase your turnover or stride length when you run faster? Which is the first to go when you're tired? If you can steady your pace and count your strides over the distance of a half-mile or a mile, you can figure out your stride length. Then, there are specific workouts you can do to improve each of those areas. There are also websites with list of power songs categorized by cadence (or strides per minute). So for a myriad of reasons, this is good information to know.

10. Practice your mental game

If for some alien reason none of my tips work for you, and you find yourself in the middle of a tready workout unsatisfied, unenthused and unmotivated with miles and miles to go, well, that's kind of like how the marathon or half marathon is going to feel at some point. This is time to practice your mental game. What do you got? Mantras, songs, inspirational sayings, mind games...this is time to pull out the stops and practice what will get you there to the finish. I like to think about all the people who could only wish they were doing what I'm doing right now, and so will dedicate a strong mile to each of them. What will you do? Always plan ahead.

So I hope I've given you all a reason (or two) not to hate the tready when you find yourself having to climb on for a few miles, or five, or ten. Don't call it the dreadmill or similarly derogatory names neither. It's not tready's fault that the weather's bad or you got no time or you've got 101 other things to take care of. So lose the attitude. Understand the tready, learn to work with the tready and the tready will work wonders to supplement your training. You don't need me to tell you how many elite athletes do the bulk of their training exclusively on a tready.

Enough said. If you have a good tready workout you'd like to share, please by all means, enlighten the crowd in the comments. Otherwise, I'll catch you on the other side of a good tready run. Have a good weekend all!

Take That, MTA: My Secret Unofficial Race

Today was supposed to be a special day. I had been anticipating today for a couple of months. I was supposed to run the Cherry Tree 10 Mile Race in Brooklyn as my first "official" race of 2010. Since I ran this same race last year, my performance in this race was not only supposed to give me a sense of my current level of fitness, it was also supposed to tell me where I am now as compared to the same point last year. In short, this race was supposed to be a big "fitness test" for me.

Maybe I should have informed the MTA before making such grandiose plans. Apparently on the weekends, two hours isn't enough buffer time to go from East Queens to Prospect Park in the middle of Brooklyn, a trip that would take an hour tops on the weekdays. Aside from "weekend construction" halting the F train randomly on the edge of Brooklyn necessitating a transfer to a shuttle bus for the rest of the trip, they left me high and dry this morning when it refused to even show for 40 minutes! C'mon MTA! By the time I found one and got myself moving into Manhattan, it was already too late. There would be no way I'd make it to the race in time. I was almost beside myself in annoyance and anger!

Since my chance at an "official" race was now shot, I made the executive decision that I'd hold my own "unofficial" race of one and rerouted my travels toward Central Park. Along the way, I thought about what my "unofficial" race parameters should be. In the back of my mind, I vaguely remember racing myself through two loops of Central Park a year ago in preparation in Boston. I remember pulling off an average pace of around 6:45 in that race simulation and afterwards feeling quite confident of my chances in running a good marathon. So I thought I would make that my target today to have a repeat performance as both a personal fitness test and a race goal.

Fifteen minutes later, dressed in my Saucony race jacket over a long sleeve tech shirt and race shorts that haven't been worn since last summer, I found myself at the foot of the Fred Lebow statue with a few dozen other runners but no other participants, anxious to start my unofficial secret race.

In retrospect, I probably should not have psyched myself so much in anticipation of this run because I made the same mistake I always do in races - I started out too fast. Mile 1 came in at 6:24, and Mile 2 (which included the gnarly Harlem Hill) came in at 6:31. By the time I was done with my first 5K, I was ready to throw in the towel. Somehow, I battled through, barely maintaining mile 5 and mile 6 at marathon pace (6:52) and finish the first loop (6.07 miles) in 40:29 for a 6:40 average pace.

At this point, it was approaching noon, I was sweating profusely and my heart rate (after passing through the gauntlet of Cat Hill) was through the roof. I thought about quitting seeing as I was in no shape to tackle all those hills a second time. But then I remembered that this was no ordinary workout nor for that matter an ordinary race. This was a secret race against me. No one out here knows I'm struggling. No one out here is passing me by. So technically I'm still winning! For some reason that was all the motivation I needed (after shedding my jacket and taking a sip of Gatorade) for me to start the second loop.

Maybe I was more aware of myself. Maybe I was much more conscious of not overextending my pace. Whatever the reason was, the second loop went so much better for me. I slowed down. The pace became more stable and consistent and I didn't feel like puking even after sprinting in at the last mile. Woohoo! As an added bonus, I even negatively splitted each section by a couple of seconds despite the fact that my average heart rate didn't budge at all through the whole second loop. I finished the second six mile (6.07 miles) loop in 40:53 for an average pace of 6:44.

Altogether then, I finished my unofficial secret 12.14 mile race in 1:21:22, which is an average pace of 6:42 min/mi. When I got home, I saw that my race of similar distance last year was run in 12 seconds slower which meant that I captured the gold in this race of one today. Yeah baby! (On a side note, last year's race of one was actually done on March 12, which meant I am one month ahead of schedule even though my target marathon is two weeks later! Score and double score!)

So in the end, although I never got a chance to test my fitness in an officially scored race, I was still able to hold my own unofficial race and claim my own personal victory. I even learned and re-learned some valuable lessons that I can incorporate into future workouts. Not bad I'd say for recovering a good workout after missing a highly anticipated race. Take that, MTA!

The NYRR Manhattan Half Marathon Pace Report

(Sorry for the tardiness of this post...my professional duties have been keeping me far too busy to attend to this blog earlier in the week!)

So this is my pace report for the half marathon I ran on Sunday. If you came here looking for a race report, please read Brandon's version of things from a racer's perspective. As this is the first race I've ever paced, my point of view will be slightly different...

If there is one thing I took away from this pacing exercise, it would be that in order to be an effective pacer, one much detach oneself from the race experience as much as possible. Like the backstage manager of a Broadway play or the offensive center of a championship football team, one must learn to be in control of the situation, understand every emotion and execute the game plan while remaining anonymous and out-of-sight. After all, it is not a race for the pacer and it would be counterproductive for him to regard it as such. Rather, it is his responsibility to establish and maintain a specified pace regardless of any external or environmental factors. And though I knew this going in, and even actually stuffed a post-it note with the words "PACE NOT RACE" into my racing tights, I still found it extremely difficult to suppress the racing instinct once the gun went off. It's like that old adage that says "You can take the runner out of the race but you can NEVER take the race out of the runner."

I met my crew of 3 a little before the race start and jogged over to the start. Since the runners who were running with me were a mix of blue and red bibs, we situated ourselves in the middle of the red corral and waited for the race start. The sky was damp and cloudy but not in the slightest bit cold. I debated wearing two top layers for this race but decided to go with one when it was revealed to me that it would be approaching 40F before race's end. I felt perfectly comfortable waiting there with my bandana, gloves, my Philadelphia Half Marathon technical top and running tights although I wondered silently whether shorts might have been more appropriate given these fair weather conditions.

Once the horn sounded, we waited for about 20-30 seconds before following the crowd to start our race. I told my crew that we were not going to waste energy bobbling and weaving. Instead we ran slowly and conservatively and saved our energy for Cat Hill in mile 2. At the halfway point of the first mile, I lost one of my runners who decided to run ahead to attempt a PR. During the last portion of Cat Hill, I lost my second runner who stopped off a bit before to run with his brother who he found on the course. This left Brandon and I for the full duration. After settling for a slow 7:56 in mile 1, we got things back on track in mile 2, running a 7:18.

The next several miles were uneventful as I kept a conservative pace for Brandon to follow. We sped down the downhills and climbed up Harlem Hill without much difficulty. I noticed we were passing people on all the uphills which was encouraging. At the bottom of the West Side, after one full loop has been completed, we gradually picked up the pace. By mile 8, after another Cat Hill was tamed, we ran a 7:15 perfect mile and was on par for a sub 1:35 finish. Unfortunately, Harlem Hill came soon after and shattered my dreams of going 1:34. My mate came so close to losing it after battling the hill that he tasted a bit of his impending vomitus in the back of his mouth. Although I couldn't see his face as I was in front, I could tell from his heavy breaths and shortened stride that he was indeed tiring. For the rest of the race, I did the best I could and encouraged him to push the pace as much as possible - 5K to go, 2 miles, than 1 mile to go. We were able to pass some, but many others ran past us in that last half to quarter mile. Eventually, the finish came, and we sprinted as best we could toward the finish. Once over the line, Brandon lost his balance and slumped onto me. He gave his full effort and finished a hilly half marathon in 1:35:20 (7:16) for a 9 minute PR! Woohoo!

In retrospect, I am glad I was able to help out a friend and secure an epic half marathon PR for him. Not only was it so much fun, I also learned many valuable lessons that would help me pace better races in the future. I've already decided I'm going to pace 1:30 for a half-marathon over the summer. Then who knows, maybe a 3:10 for a full marathon in late fall or early spring? As long as it fits into my training schedule, I'm more than willing to help out fellow runners to have better results in their races.

What about you guys? Have you ever paced others for a race, or have used a pacer yourself? What was your experience like? What qualities of a pacer are most important to you?