Morning Runs

This post is about why I should run in the mornings. Not that I do that, but the reason why.

Last night I had it all planned out: after work a nice speed workout, on the treadmill at the gym, where I haven't been in about a month. A nice light lunch and snack to fuel the run. I had stepped on the scale post Thanksgiving and am about 5 pounds over my low weight from two months ago. Back into a workout as opposed to the nice runs I had in Florida over Thanksgiving.

And then about 5 p.m. I get an email from a partner: hockey tickets with a client, in a suite, at Madison Square Garden? I wanted to say no, I have to run. But I love hockey (one of these days I am going to write a post as to why I admire hockey players and hockey in general). And in a suite. With clients. Of course, I said yes.

So went to the game instead of running. And because of my light eating to prep for my run, I was starved when I got there? You know what they served in the suite? Caviar, champagne? No. Beer, pigs in a blanket, and barbecue chicken nuggets.

And the Rangers lost. Of course was a good time and all, but on the way home I thought to myself -- if I had run in the morning....I wouldn't have missed the workout and felt bad about eating 16 pigs in a blanket.

Oh well, that is life and really, pretty hard to complain. Things could be much, much worse and its all good.

Thanksgiving Runs...

We are in Florida on the annual Thanksgiving migration.  Compared to New York, Florida is hot, flat and humid.  And a welcome change.  Unfortunately, one thing that did not change was the one constant in New York over the last several months: rain.  The day before Thanksgiving, we got almost an inch and a half of rain.  I managed to run in a light drizzle and ran a neat 5 miles.

Thanksgiving, though, I was determined to put in a good run before turkey, pie and mashed potatoes.  I actually made the mashed potatoes based on a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis (basics: potatoes, butter and cheese.  What could go wrong with that?).

So, anyway, got up and ran about 8.5 miles.  I had wanted to do a turkey trot, but the St. Pete trot was about an hour and a half away.  Eh, so I just ran around here.  8.5 sunny miles, with a distinct wind.  I went with a comfortable pace, with an eye on my heart rate.  First mile 7:28; second mile: 7:28; third mile: 7:28.  I have never, ever, run three miles in exact same pace as measured by Garmin.  I mean they were within 0.3 seconds of one another.  I couldn't do that again if I tried.  Next 5 were all within a band of 7:31 to 7:22 per mile.  That is a fantastic pace and still a little freaky in terms of consistency (I didn't realize that I had run 3 straight at 7:28 until I got home and looked at the data.)

That made my decision to eat well yesterday an easy one.  Sadly, the highlight of the meal was not my potatoes.  Rather, my sister in law made the pie on the cover of the November Southern Living:  a pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crumb crust and pecan strudel on top.  That was delicious.  And I am sure low fat.  Calorie wise, I bet it accounted for 7 of the 8 miles I ran in the morning.

That is what Thanksgiving in Florida is all about.  Today is Auburn/Alabama, and another day of gluttony (burgers, beer for lunch; stone crabs and wine for dinner.)  And today it is sunny and bright.  Ahhh, vacation.

Beautiful Race Picture

Last Saturday morning I had to volunteer to help with a race in Central Park in order to secure my entry to the NY Marathon. The race was a 60K -- over 37 miles. We had to be there at 6:30 a.m., and I actually got there early, about 6:15. It was still dark when I arrived, but as I waited, the sun rose. Dawn over Central Park, and it was beautiful. I have lived in New York almost 17 years and never seen dawn in Central Park. It was beautiful -- oranges and purples and blues playing over the trees. Anyway this is a picture I snapped with my Blackberry over the reservoir, looking west to east.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Race Report and a Copse of Trees

As I have said, I am kind of a military history nut. I love military history, and one place I have been several times is Gettysburg, which is actually only about a 2 hour or so drive from New York. In Gettysburg, on top of Cemetery Hill, is a "copse of trees." I have never heard that term - copse - used before or since to describe anything. At any rate, it is the furthest that the Confederate Army reached in Pickett's Charge on the final day of the battle. Thus, the copse of trees is referred to as the "high watermark of the Confederacy."

Well, today I ran a four mile race in Central Park. It was a great day for running, and turned out to be a great race. It started when I picked up my race number: 238. Wow! First corral, so I start at the very front. And that's 238 out of probably 5000 or so runners. Starting with the big dogs in the front means several things. First, there are no slower runners to dodge, and almost clear space from the get go. In fact I was worried about being the slowpoke, so I started in middle of the first corral. And they were some serious runners in there, and they start fast. I was worried about keeping pace and going out too fast, in fact.

After a rousing national anthem on a sunny morning with about 50 degree weather in Central Park, we are off! First mile is down some and then up a big hill. I am going fast. First mile: 6:45. That's really quick for me. Second mile is mostly downhill, 6:40. Oh wow, this could be a good day. Heart rate is high, but not crazy high -- like 90%, which is OK in a 4 mile race. Third mile is uphill again. 7:01. Now there is only one flat mile to home, and I was secretly thinking I wanted to be at 28 minutes (7:00 per mile). That was very much in play, absent total disaster. I push pretty hard on the last mile, and ended up running a 6:34. Wow, Wow. My net time was 27:10, with an average pace of 6:47, good enough for 262nd place, out of 4700 runners.

That's my best result ever, by far. That's a good day, a new PR on several levels - time, pace, etc. A new time on my NYRR bib. And this was also my final race to qualify for next year's NY marathon; in other words, I am now in. Awesome day all the way around.


So what does this have to do with that copse of trees at Gettysburg? Well, all day I have been thinking the result is almost too good to be true. I mean, 6:47! 262 place? Holy smokes. But is this as good as it gets? Is this my high watermark? Will I ever reach this point again?


I've been in good shape before, but always lost it. Always slid backwards and then looked back at that achievement with wonder that I ever did it.

So, is today my copse of trees?

Off topic because of boring workouts

This week my runs have consisted of late night runs on my home treadmill. I run in the dark because the treadmill sucks up so much power, it can pop the circuit breaker it is on. Of course, on the same circuit, I have this 60 inch plasma TV that I watch when I run, so it is not entirely the treadmill's conspicuous consumption of energy that overloads the circuit, but it has been a couple weeks of runs on a treadmill, late at night, in the dark with the TV on. Not very exciting.

A couple of non-running thoughts, though. First, one of my favorite football players is Hines Ward. I love his back story -- disadvantaged childhood, great athletic success, played for Georgia, and now a great NFL player. There was a nice piece on him in last week's New York Times. One of his biggest skills is his downfield blocking. Wide receivers don't make the highlight reel for that, and some just don't do it (see Randy Moss). But Hines Ward always does it ruthlessly. Anyway one of my favorite pictures is from Super Bowl XL (50 -- wow, I remember Super Bowl XII). When he caught a touchdown pass, he leaped with joy into the end zone. Sports Illustrated had a camera right in front of him and took a great picture of his smile -- that is right his smile -- as he leaped into the end zone. Here it is:


Anyway, I watched a game with Pittsburgh init and he is just a really great player. And I hope that some day I can display as much emoiton and joy as he felt when he leapedinto the end zone on this play.

A more sobering note. I have been watching WWII in HD on the History Channel. I am kind of a military buff anyway, and this is right up my alley. But these images are humbling. And makes one realize the true sacrifice made by the Greatest Generation. If you get a chance, tune in, but be prepared. It will make an impression.

And I watched an episode of Intervention on A&E. Wow, what a gripping story. If youdon;t tear up during that, heart must made of lead.

What can I say excpet I watch random stuff when I run late at night? No football (yet), no basketball, hockey is hard to watch while running. After all, when I ran 14 on a treadmill this summer, I watched four episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond back to back.

I miss running outdoors and races. Next week is Thanksgiving and off to Florida!

Bearish heart rates and Choices

I have gotten the courage back up to hit the bricks (treadmill really) and run again. So, earlier this week I ran on my home treadmill. (I have a treadmill in my house, but generally don't run on it. It is nice enough, but if I am home, I like to run outside, particularly during the summer.) My treadmill is also not level -- it has an incline to it. The readout says it is at 0.0, but after one particularly terrible workout about six months ago I got out a ruler and measured the height of the deck at the front of the running surface and the height at the back. About a one inch difference. I measured the length, and a little high school geometry had it at a 1.75% incline. Ahhh...that explains why it is so hard to run a normal pace on it.

Anyway, I have now run three times this week on my home treadmill, with my heart rate monitor on. All three workouts were consistent on speed (about 8:20 miles) and distance (5.5 miles). My average heart rate was about 154. The greatness of Garmin and SportTracks allowed me to compare this to a workout I did back in September, the day after Labor Day, on my same home treadmill. That was probably the peak of my training, before the wheels came off at work, and after about four months of solid running and training. For that run my average heart rate (same pace) was ... 145, about 7% lower than the three workouts this week. I know that the heart rate on that September run might have been an aberration (it happens), but probably not. And my body may not be over the effects of the marathon 2 weeks ago. Or maybe it is the lingering effect of the 4000 beers I drank last weekend at my college reunion. But, whatever, it is a significant difference.

That sort of confirms what I suspected: I lost fitness over September and October, and explains why the marathon was not as easy as I had hoped it would be. I am kind of thinking a April marathon is next, and so my short term goal is just to get back to running 4-5 days a week and building strength. That will bring fitness back, and set up well for next spring.

A quote to inspire over the coming weeks:

Choices

What we have is based upon moment-to-moment choices of what we do. In each of those moments, we choose.

We either take a risk and move toward what we want, or we play it safe and choose comfort.
Most of the people, most of the time, choose comfort.

In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or brilliance.

Individuals either have what they want or a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not.

~ Anonymous

Post Marathon Thoughts

1. A great experience. While I wish I did better, I am happy with my result. Really. I have pictures from my March race that motivated this fitness kick. Compare that to a picture from the marathon. Wow, what a difference seven months can make.

2. Injury report -- Four, count 'em, four dead toenails, and two nasty blood blisters under two of them. And a huge blister on the side of the big toe on my right foot. The second toe on my right foot is now only moderately disgusting; after the race it was unbelievably gross. Before the race, that toe already had toenail issues (it was purple and dead, with a new nail growing underneath). I trimmed the nail the night before, and thought this could turn out badly. Race day produced an enormous blister on the end of the toe, a blood blister under the new nail, and just all around grossness. But, remarkably, it didn't hurt too badly. And now it is just a black toe with a seriously messed up toenail that I suspect will fall off any day.

3. Mentally, it was a struggle. This last month was one of the longest work months for me in years. (Lawyers work in billable hours; I billed more hours last month than I have in almost ten years. And that is a lot.) In fact, I worked the the entire Saturday before the race on Sunday. I was supposed to fly out on Sunday night --marathon day -- for a trial that started Tuesday. I flew out at 6 a.m. on Monday (day after the race) instead. That is just hard to focus and be tough on race day. I also couldn't risk just crushing myself in the race -- I had a big work week in front of me. So, that inability to mentally focus on the race was a factor. As was...

4. Lack of Training -- I didn't train enough in September and October. Hey, that's life, work, etc. Hard to be too mad about that.

5. FIRST. The FIRST training program did not get a clear shot with me. As my life got busy in September and October, my workouts became fewer and fewer. In reality, I hardly ran 3 times a week, much less run 3 times a week and do the 2 cross training workouts FIRST called for. So, in reality, I kind of ended up doing the Runners World "busy man" workout. That schedule was three hard workouts a week, and other runs or workouts were gravy. That was the best I could do, so that became my plan by default.

6. Garmin Running with my Garmin was both a blessing and a curse. Watching the data, I knew my heart rate was too high early in the race and thus probably unsustainable over 26.2. And, as it turned out, I couldn't sustain it. But was that because mentally I knew my Garmy had me running too fast and hitting a wall? Or, did I simply hit that physical limitation as reflected by my Garmin? In other words, did I go out too fast? Or did the Garmin create a self-fulfilling prophecy? I am undecided. And the virtual race partner went crazy on mile 24 and really threw me out of sorts. Initially, it tracks your projected finish time versus a "virtual steady state training partner", and shows how far ahead or behind you are of that racer. Late in the race, the ahead/behind had huge swings. I had it set on 8:00 miles. Thus, if I ran an 8:30 mile, I thought I would be 30 seconds behind. But my pace guy was going crazy. On a walk break, it would show me like 20 minutes behind. I would say to myself "holy sh-t, I better get going!" And then when I was running I would be only 8 minutes behind. It should just track the gap, as I didn't have the distance programmed in. I am guessing that the algorithm goes a little crazy after 20ish miles. All in all, would I run with Garmy again? Yes. But with a huge grain of salt.

I haven't decided on a future running goal yet. My A-1 goal is not to lose fitness and gain a bunch of weight this holiday season. Maybe a late March or early April marathon. For now I have to work the NYRR 60K (that's right -- 36.6 miles) on Nov. 21, and run a 4 miler on Nov. 22. And then I am in NY marathon in 2010. And I will be there, faster, stronger, fitter.