After a hiatus...

Over the past few weeks, a crazy schedule and insomnia have conspired to keep me from running. Today, however, everything worked out so that I could get up early and run. (The insomnia had precluded the morning runs.) Indeed, it works best for me to run early (although I'd prefer to run later), so perhaps I'm now in a position to get a rhythm going. The time off did give my right knee, which had been bothering me some, a needed rest.

Not having run in almost two weeks, I decided to limit myself to a four-mile run today. This also gave me an opportunity to depart from my usual six-mile course--down Forbidden Drive toward Lincoln drive, with about two miles on the orange trail--and to return to a segment of the orange trail I hadn't run much.

I arrived at Valley Green at 6 a.m. The temperature was around 80, and the air was humid--all the more reason to take it a bit easier. This time I headed towards Northwestern Avenue. When I reached the first bridge, about a mile out at Rex Avenue, I switched to a part of the orange trail that I've only run three or four times. It was nice to return to the trail, but I also realized that I'd have to pay attention to the ground in front of me--something that I had been doing without thinking before the hiatus. Nevertheless, I found the return to the trail mildly exhilarating.

Still, in the spirit of taking it easy, I only followed the trail as far as the covered bridge at Thomas Mill Drive. From there, I returned to Forbidden Drive, and followed it out to Bells Mill Road.

During the return leg of my run, it began to sprinkle. I've had few chances to run in the rain this year, because we've not had that much. I was hoping the rain would increase, but, alas, it soon petered out. Nevertheless, I finished my run just glad to be back out on the roads and trails.

Back to the Treadmill

I had planned to run early this morning, but, for the third time in four days, I awoke with a bad headache. When I began to feel better, life kicked in: hauling kids hither and yon and the like. Given that we were under a heat advisory, i decided to return to the gym and to run on the treadmill.

Today's was also my first run in a week. I don't usually plan for a running hiatus, yet I also won't allow myself to go more than a week without running. I've read that after 10 days, one begins losing aerobic fitness (or capacity or whatever), so after too many days without a run, I'm usually motivated to get back to it.  Still, a hiatus gives those parts of the musculoskeletal system that experience the most stress a rest, and that can't be a bad thing.

Before running, I did 25 crunches--my usual these days, although I need to start increasing the number to 30--and I could tell that I was pushing the muscles more than they were expecting.  This is what a one-week hiatus will do.

Unlike my last time on the treadmill, I worked walk breaks into my run this time. I was able to go six miles a bit more comfortably than the last time, but I also took longer. Still, I maintain that one benefit of running on a treadmill is that it allows me to measure how I'm doing. It also makes it possible to set speed goals that can be achieved by changing the machine's settings. So, I have a new goal: I'm going to attempt to finish my six-mile run on the treadmill in one hour. I set this goal hoping for a payoff in speed when I hit the trails again.

Just Missed It!

The rain, that is. When I woke up, it was raining, so I was looking forward to running in it. I realized that it's been months since I'd run in the rain. In fact, we've had far less rain this year than last. The weather forecast called for the rain to continue throughout the day, so I planned to get in a mid-afternoon run.

Unfortunately, by the time I arrived at Forbidden Drive, the rain had subsided, the sun had reappeared, the humidity rose, and the weather forecasters gleefully admitted that their prediction had been mistaken. I was left to run on a muddy trail and without the benefit of extra cooling assistance.

Due perhaps to the humidity or to sleep deprivation, I ran more slowly than usual. While I'd intended to take fewer walk breaks when I arrived at the orange trail, I found that I needed them more. As I've noted before, though, perhaps I push myself too hard when I'm running on the trails.

The duration of my run coincided almost exactly with that of Pierre-Laurent Aimard's recording of Ligeti solo piano music. For me, this is near-perfect running music. I note, too, that upon arriving at a particularly steep part of the trail, the track that happened to be playing was "L'escalier du diable"--"The Devil's Staircase." From now on, I know that I'll know that stretch as such.

A Nice Reality Check

Due to a confluence of factors, one of which was the high heat and humidity, I retreated to the treadmill to get my run in today--or, really, tonight. I've not run on the treadmill for several months, so tonight's run provided me a good opportunity to get a better sense of how fast I'm running under controlled conditions.

As has been usual for me lately, I ran six miles. I wanted to see how fast and how well I could run without walk breaks. I began running at a 12-minute-mile pace and, in three-minute increments, sped up to a 10-minute-mile pace.

I was pleased that I was able to sustain the 10-minute-mile pace for about 25 minutes.  At this speed, I'm able to run at the top of my aerobic zone, which corresponds to a heart rate of about 165 bpm. At three miles, I boosted the speed once again to a 9'40" /mile pace, which I maintained for a mile.  Yet this pace was a strain for me.  I began to feel that sickening feeling one gets when overexerting oneself, so, at the four-mile point, I walked for about two minutes before resuming at a 12-minute pace and, over the next two miles, stepping up to a 10-minute mile pace.

What did I learn? I think that the breaks probably could have helped me maintain the 9'40"/mile pace for a greater proportion of my run: in fact, I probably could maintain a faster pace with periodic walk breaks. I need to play with the math, but I think I can bring increase my overall speed with more walk breaks.

One other advantage of running on the treadmill is that it enables me to measure more accurately how I'm doing. I have gotten faster since the beginning of the year: probably about a minute/mile faster.  But I also know that I'll probably gain about another minute/mile when I drop all the weight I need to lose.  And here's hoping that the heat drops enough in the next few days to make running outside viable again.

Lessons Not Quite Learned

The high heat that we were expecting arrived yesterday, but the humidity won't arrive until today. We'll be seeing temperatures near 100 over the next few days, so I'll be constrained to running as close to 6 AM as I can.  This morning, then, I took the opportunity to get in one more run before the heat hits with its full force.

After Saturday's somewhat unsatisfying run on the yellow trail, I returned to the orange trail. One of the reasons I like the route that I've found is that it's easy to get in a six-mile run--not 5.75 or 6.3 or something like that.  Familiarity, too, pays psychic benefits when the heat or the humidity get too high.

I did not, however, do a good job of pacing myself today. I ran too hard early in my run, and I continued running hard when I got on the orange trail. Consequently, the first part of the run was less pleasant than it could have been. In fact, not until about the last third of my run did I begin to run comfortably, but that was the easy, downhill portion of the course. Note to self: focus more on pacing the next time you run the orange trail.

I did encounter four other runners on the orange trail. I'm surprised, in fact, that I see so few runners out there, even on weekends. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one using the trail for running.

Recovery run

After yesterday's disastrous attempt at a run, I needed a real run to help me keep my motivation up. I didn't need a great run; I only needed one to remind me that I'm capable of achieving at least modest goals.

I got to Forbidden Drive a little later than usual for a morning run. The air was warm but dry, so I had no concerns about beating the heat. Today, though, I planned to alter my routine. Instead of running the orange trail, I decided to run the yellow trail. I planned, then, to run about 2.5 miles on Forbidden Drive and to follow a side trail up the hill to the yellow trail. Then I would take the yellow trail back to Valley Green (or farther).

Everything went according to plan. I note, though, that I don't find it as hard to run the yellow trail in the last half of my run as I do running the orange trail at that point. As I suggested in an earlier post, it seemed to me that running the orange trail at the end of run posed a greater challenge because I have less energy at that point. Now, however, I'm beginning to think that the differences are purely psychological. 

The yellow trail does seem to be rockier than the orange trail, and, unlike the latter, is open to bicycles. About a half-dozen cyclists passed me during my run, and they exhibited varying degrees of trail etiquette. One alerted me to a cyclist coming behind him; another nearly ran me off the path.

I also had some near spills. Was this due to the rocky path or carelessness or both? I don't know. I've never had this problem on the orange trail.

At this point, I'm thinking ahead to my next run. Since I have Monday off, I'll run that morning. By midweek, the high heat and humidity will return. Perhaps it will be time to retreat indoors for some speedwork on a treadmill.

Ugh. I Got Lost. Again.

This has not been a good running week for me. I ran on Tuesday, before the heat wave lifted. While I had planned to run on Thursday, I woke up feeling too tired to get in a run without risking drowsiness at the office, so I went back to sleep. Today, I missed the alarm and woke up too late to run in the morning. My alternative: run in the evening.

Once again, I was foiled in my attempts to follow the white trail on the stretch running between Mt. Airy Avenue and Valley Green. I was surprised, though, because I had purchased the most recent map available of the trails in the Wissahickon Valley. According to the map, I should have been able to access the white trail going towards Valley Green from Mt. Airy Avenue, but , when I arrived there, I saw no indications of where the trail entrance was. I did, however, spot a cyclist going onto another trail on the same side, so I followed him. And, soon enough, I was on the white trail.

The white trail, it turns out, was rockier and and contained more hills than I had imagined. That wasn't a problem: I'd only need to adjust my running accordingly. The problem arose, though, when, following what I had thought was the trail, I ended up on a paved road leading back toward the creek. I followed the road and then found myself on the part of the orange trail where I didn't want to be.  So, I took the orange trail over the unrunnable parts and headed towards Valley Green.

Getting lost like this stresses me out, so I tend to run faster and to exhaust myself too quickly. Yet the psychological hit is greater. Physically, I could go on, but mentally the run seemed like a near-lost cause. Further, I had forgotten the knee strap that I wear on my right leg, so I was concerned about injuring my knee if I ran too much. So, at Valley Green, I turned back, headed down Forbidden Drive, and back up Mt. Airy Ave. to my car.

The silver lining? Well, I don't know if there is one. I'm going to back off on figuring the white trail for a while and stick to trails with which I've become familiar. I am planning to break my routine and to run tomorrow, but that's only because I'm not really counting today's run.  But the next run better be good.