Crazy Eight

One of the great advantages of using a running GPS is that it obviates the needs to plan out one's run too carefully. This morning, faced with some tight constraints on my time (due to my failure to begin my run earler), I knew that was going to have to lop off the more time-consuming parts of my usual long-run ritual. In my case, this is the drive to and from the parking lot above Valley Green. Instead, I knew that I was going to need to run from the moment I left my front door. Fortunately, my GPS made it possible for me to gauge my distance.

Today's run, then, took me from my house, through Chestnut Hill, down Valley Green Road, onto the orange and white trails, to Forbidden Drive, and back. I'd avoided this course until now and would have continued to do so had I other options. Indeed, not having consulted a map beforehand, I nevertheless had intended to find a path to Forbidden Drive with a less strenuous route back. Instead of taking the fork from Springfield Avenue to Valley Green Road, I followed Springfield through a neighborhood until the road dumped me out onto Valley Green Road. From there, I realized that my best shot at hitting Forbidden Drive would be to continue downhill.

Still, I avoided a direct route to Forbidden Drive. Instead, I got onto the orange trail and then onto the white trail (which runs above the orange trail) before it once again meets the orange trail. When I reached the first Rex Avenue bridge, I crossed over to Forbidden Drive and followed it out to Bell's Mill Road.

When I turned around, I became aware that I was going to be able to get my eight miles in if I returned roughly the way I came. This would mean, however, that I would have to ascend the hill from Valley Green Inn to the junction with Springfield Avenue. I adjusted my strategy accordingly: instead of taking one-minute walk breaks every three minutes as I had been doing, I reduced the time between breaks to two minutes. And, sure enough, I was able to make it up the hill comfortably. From there, I continued home, completing eight miles far enough out that the walk home would give me the opportunity to get my heart rate down to close to 100 bpm.

Runs like these build confidence. I now know that running up the hill from Valley Green is not so daunting. Of course, it helped that the temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s with low humidity. Yet I believe a more important factor contributing to the success of my uphill climb was the slower pace that I took. By resisting the urge to run too fast up the hill, I was able to conquer it. Perhaps I even learned a lesson about pacing in the process.

Tennessee Run

Over the weekend, I went to Tennessee to attend a reunion for my high school class. I stayed with a friend, John, who is also a runner; in fact, he's going to come to run the Philadelphia half-marathon with me in November. Needless to say, he was also up for a training run.

This past week, I ran fifteen miles, of which eight were logged during yesterday's run. We had great weather: temperatures in the low to mid 70s and slight amount of humidity. John figured out an eight-mile course through his neighborhood, which, as you can see from the map, lies on a peninsula jutting out into Old Hickory Lake outside of Nashville.

This run was unusual in two respects. First, I've rarely run with someone else (except during a race). Instead, John and I ran together for the first six miles. My pace was slightly slower than usual, partly because I wanted to conserve my resource in order to finish eight miles; I also wanted to maintain a pace that made it possbile to carry on a conversation. This made the run all the more pleasant.

The run was also unusual in that I took no walk breaks for the first six miles. Nevertheless, my time for these miles was comparable to that for running with walk breaks. When I finally did take walk breaks, in the last two miles, my pace was significantly slower, probably because I hadn't been able to conserve enough resources to prior to the seventh mile.

At this point, I'll probably continue to run my short runs without walk breaks. I do run four miles faster without walk breaks than with them. Yet for the longer runs, the walk breaks pay off over the course of the entire run.

Evening on the Wissahickon

This evening I arrived home early enough to get in a four-mile run along Wissahickon Creek. As fall approaches, this is of course harder and harder to do on a “school night.” Still, today was one of those days in which I would have hated not to get in a run: temperature in the low 70s with low humidity. And while an evening run under such conditions can be pleasant, to run through the woods in the daylight is yet more gratifying.

Or at least it should be. Tonight, for the first time, I tripped and fell on the Orange Trail. I wasn’t hurt badly: I scraped up the palm of my right hand and incurred a few minor cuts. More importantly, though, I was reminded of the need to remain attentive to the path when running on the trail. Fact is, there are still too many times that I almost trip or otherwise injure myself while trail running. Spills like these remind me that I am not invincible.  (Yes, I know I’m not, but I don’t spend a lot of time pondering the fact.)

Anyway, it looks as if I’ll have no trouble getting in my miles this week. It’s always easier to find time to run on weekends, so with eight miles under my belt thus far, I’m looking forward to getting in 14 for the week.

Getting the Miles Up

I’ve not blogged in a while, but I’ve been continuing to run. Still, I have been running a little less of late—about 10 miles per week instead of the 18 I was doing earlier in the summer. Since I’m running the Philadelphia Half-Marathon on November 21, it’s time for me to get serious about getting my miles up.

In the winter and spring, as I trained for the Broad Street Run, I was able to get my miles up in the mornings, thanks to a work schedule that enabled me to go in later two or three day a week. Unfortunately, we changed our schedules around, so, if I’m going to run in the morning, I must wake up at 5:30. Thus far, all efforts to recalibrate my body clock have failed: I can’t seem to fall asleep until between 11 p.m. and midnight.

This also means that I’m going to have to run in the evenings. The Wissahickon Valley, alas, is therefore unavailable to me during the week, so I must, as they say, take to the streets.

Tonight, I made a virtue of necessity—actually necessities—and, taking advantage of a trip to return books to the Chestnut Hill branch of the Philadelphia Free Library, used that location as my point of departure for a night-time run through West Chestnut Hill. I had one of the most enjoyable runs that I ever had on streets.

Running at night in Chestnut Hill, I became aware of two types of neighborhood streets: those that have almost no traffic and those that are wide enough for the small amount of two-way traffic to coexist with runners. Since I resolutely refuse to run on concrete (that is, sidewalks), I was happy to find that I could run the entire distance safely without having to leave the pavement.

This is not to suggest, of course, that tonight’s run was without challenges. Although the humidity was moderate, the temperature was in the low 80s. Given that I’d not as regularly in the last few weeks as I would have liked, I also found that I was exerting a bit more effort to run four miles than I should have expected. This might not be too surprising, though: the first 2.4 miles were downhill, while the last 1.6 miles went back up.  Had I known this, perhaps I would have started at the 2.4 mile point (by Springside).

All in all, I had a good run. While I seldom run on pavement, I’m afraid that this will be my only option on weekdays through the fall and winter. If my knee doesn’t complain, I’ll be fine.

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.