1) A startled cardinal alighting indignantly the street, flicking his tail in reproach as I walk down the driveway to start
2) A leopard slug creeping inevitably across the sidewalk, plenty large enough to be spotted and dodged, leaving a trail that will shine later in the sun
3) The red foxy-fox rustled out of the marsh, the tip of its luxurious tail a white spark as it hurries away, wary of my approach; it pauses to look back at me before disappearing in a heartbeat
4) A band of pink circling just above the horizon line, separating two shades of blue sky on these clear, cool-ish, and dry mornings
5) Distraught mallards frantically flapping into the water, every time I loop past them; their harried quacking and honking follows my back
6) This spring's goslings are now indistinguishable from the rest of the gaggle making a mess of the path, faithfully ignoring me unlike the volatile crew which colonized Paper Mill Park
7) Deer picking daintily in the grassy spaces below the rim of the lake, unaware (uncaring?) that they are actually in the middle of a residential plain
8) A woman doing intervals, igniting a competitive flare and necessitating a reminder to my legs that they are not out there to run fast today
9) Darkness under the trees on the connector trail, requiring a delicate touch so as not to wind up meeting the roots with my face, which I wipe repeatedly as I pass through web after invisible web
10) A rumble, then a roar, as the early freight train trundles through the heart of Newark below, its blaring siren an alarm clock for anyone living along its route
Showing posts with label musing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musing. Show all posts
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
The day before
We arose Friday morning in Burlington, the day already sunny and warm. I didn't go out for a short, easy run. The day grew warmer and warmer, and by noon was already in the 80s. The forecast for Sunday morning has not looked good all week, and the expected temperature has crept up and up each day. It was in the upper 80s on Friday; fully hot when we stopped at the race expo to pick up my packet and t-shirt and other goods. The volunteer who handed me my bib explained to me that it would be extra-critical this year to fill out the emergency information on the back. Discouraging to think about it, but let's face it -- I don't want it to be necessary and not have the info there.
While at the expo, a man got in line behind (or, to be more precise, next to) me, and asked me if I was running the race. I hope my face did not say what my brain thought: why would I be in line here, if not? (Maybe he thought I was with the guy in front of me; if so, that's irritating.) I told him yes, and he said "Great!" Then it was my turn to be helped, and I left him there after I got my packet. He turned up again a little bit later, after I had confirmed that the chip on the bib was functioning correctly and was buying a handful of gels that I will use in the race. Right at my shoulder, he said, "Do those work?" I told him that they do work, or maybe it's all in my head, but either way I seem to have a less awful time getting through the final 6-10 miles if I use them. He said that if I endorse them, then he might just try them -- what was the best flavor? What did I have? Salted caramel? He would try those.
Yikes, dude! I tried to tell him that I wouldn't recommend using them for the first time on race day! Some people's systems do not respond favorably to these and I tested them out over several long and/or tough workouts to see how my insides would deal with them. I am not sure he quite heard me, and I decided to just get out of there. I don't want him to really remember what I look like so that he can blame me if he tries them for the first time tomorrow and has to drop out because he gets an upset stomach.
This morning, I got up around 7 and went out for the short, easy run that I did not do yesterday. I jogged along the path by the lakefront that will be the site of the final miles of the race. A great deal of activity going on down there -- tents being set up, a train of trucks bringing porta-potties, getting ready for some sort of kid's fun run, etc. It was kind of exciting, coming back after going out for 15 minutes, to pass by the grassy space which is where the finish line will be -- I'll be there a little more than 24 hours from now, I hope. The half hour confirmed that my legs do, in fact, still know how to run, they are still fine, there are no heretofore-undiscovered injuries that decided to make themselves known today. I also confirmed that it is, in fact, quite warm, and that there is no getting around it, it's going to be absolutely unpleasant tomorrow. Given the forecast is not likely to dramatically change for the better in the next 24 hours, I think the best that I can hope for is that it will be cloudy. I won't waste time hoping it will be cooler. There is a long out-and-back portion in the first half of the race that will be completely exposed to the sky, and if the sun can just stay covered up at least for that part, it will go a long way. My recollection of the course is that most of the rest of the run will have some degree of cover, and the race has announced they will have extra water, ice, sprinklers, etc. in the later parts to help alleviate the heat-related misery. So, sun -- while I generally love you very much -- please stay tucked away behind clouds tomorrow, at least until noon? Thanks!
The high is predicted to be 85F, with a low of 66F, and a race-start temperature of 72F. That is way outside the range of good, and I have pretty much no experience this spring running in anything that hot. But I have no control over it, obviously, and I am (I hope) smarter than I was in Boston in 2012 when I foolishly shrugged off the warning about the heat. I have time goals for tomorrow, but I'm going to try to be sensible about trying to reach them.
There are a couple "tries" in that statement because there have been times when no matter how hard I work to stay controlled, I have let myself get swept up in things. I can only promise that I will TRY not to. 2012 wasn't so long ago that I have completely forgotten what it was like to be so stupid, and I hope the memory of that will be strong enough to hold me back if I need to.
So, today: lots of water drinking, carb it up for lunch and dinner, lots more water-drinking, and get to the starting line fresh and ready to run in the heat. I just can't worry about it. I hate the phrase "It is what it is" because it's used too much to excuse things that shouldn't be excused, but in this case it really is what it is, and I will run how I can without destroying myself the way I did in 2012. If I start feeling like I did that time, I will drop out.
One last glass-half-empty moment: I really wish I had been able to get at least one 22-er in this training cycle. It didn't work out for different reasons and even though a 22-er isn't necessary, it's just beneficial for the mental battle to know I've gone over that 20-mile hill. But I just can't worry about that, either. That cannot be changed and there is nothing that can be done about it now. I did a number of solid and tough 19-20s, so I can focus on that. And now that that last little negativity is done, let's be as positive as I can be, facing a broiler: the marathon is unpredictable, even on days when the weather is ideal. You can have some idea of how it should play out, but sometimes things go wildly differently -- in both directions. If I run smart, I can still finish well.
While at the expo, a man got in line behind (or, to be more precise, next to) me, and asked me if I was running the race. I hope my face did not say what my brain thought: why would I be in line here, if not? (Maybe he thought I was with the guy in front of me; if so, that's irritating.) I told him yes, and he said "Great!" Then it was my turn to be helped, and I left him there after I got my packet. He turned up again a little bit later, after I had confirmed that the chip on the bib was functioning correctly and was buying a handful of gels that I will use in the race. Right at my shoulder, he said, "Do those work?" I told him that they do work, or maybe it's all in my head, but either way I seem to have a less awful time getting through the final 6-10 miles if I use them. He said that if I endorse them, then he might just try them -- what was the best flavor? What did I have? Salted caramel? He would try those.
Yikes, dude! I tried to tell him that I wouldn't recommend using them for the first time on race day! Some people's systems do not respond favorably to these and I tested them out over several long and/or tough workouts to see how my insides would deal with them. I am not sure he quite heard me, and I decided to just get out of there. I don't want him to really remember what I look like so that he can blame me if he tries them for the first time tomorrow and has to drop out because he gets an upset stomach.
This morning, I got up around 7 and went out for the short, easy run that I did not do yesterday. I jogged along the path by the lakefront that will be the site of the final miles of the race. A great deal of activity going on down there -- tents being set up, a train of trucks bringing porta-potties, getting ready for some sort of kid's fun run, etc. It was kind of exciting, coming back after going out for 15 minutes, to pass by the grassy space which is where the finish line will be -- I'll be there a little more than 24 hours from now, I hope. The half hour confirmed that my legs do, in fact, still know how to run, they are still fine, there are no heretofore-undiscovered injuries that decided to make themselves known today. I also confirmed that it is, in fact, quite warm, and that there is no getting around it, it's going to be absolutely unpleasant tomorrow. Given the forecast is not likely to dramatically change for the better in the next 24 hours, I think the best that I can hope for is that it will be cloudy. I won't waste time hoping it will be cooler. There is a long out-and-back portion in the first half of the race that will be completely exposed to the sky, and if the sun can just stay covered up at least for that part, it will go a long way. My recollection of the course is that most of the rest of the run will have some degree of cover, and the race has announced they will have extra water, ice, sprinklers, etc. in the later parts to help alleviate the heat-related misery. So, sun -- while I generally love you very much -- please stay tucked away behind clouds tomorrow, at least until noon? Thanks!
The high is predicted to be 85F, with a low of 66F, and a race-start temperature of 72F. That is way outside the range of good, and I have pretty much no experience this spring running in anything that hot. But I have no control over it, obviously, and I am (I hope) smarter than I was in Boston in 2012 when I foolishly shrugged off the warning about the heat. I have time goals for tomorrow, but I'm going to try to be sensible about trying to reach them.
There are a couple "tries" in that statement because there have been times when no matter how hard I work to stay controlled, I have let myself get swept up in things. I can only promise that I will TRY not to. 2012 wasn't so long ago that I have completely forgotten what it was like to be so stupid, and I hope the memory of that will be strong enough to hold me back if I need to.
So, today: lots of water drinking, carb it up for lunch and dinner, lots more water-drinking, and get to the starting line fresh and ready to run in the heat. I just can't worry about it. I hate the phrase "It is what it is" because it's used too much to excuse things that shouldn't be excused, but in this case it really is what it is, and I will run how I can without destroying myself the way I did in 2012. If I start feeling like I did that time, I will drop out.
One last glass-half-empty moment: I really wish I had been able to get at least one 22-er in this training cycle. It didn't work out for different reasons and even though a 22-er isn't necessary, it's just beneficial for the mental battle to know I've gone over that 20-mile hill. But I just can't worry about that, either. That cannot be changed and there is nothing that can be done about it now. I did a number of solid and tough 19-20s, so I can focus on that. And now that that last little negativity is done, let's be as positive as I can be, facing a broiler: the marathon is unpredictable, even on days when the weather is ideal. You can have some idea of how it should play out, but sometimes things go wildly differently -- in both directions. If I run smart, I can still finish well.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
More birds
I was doing laps at Paper Mill Park during a tempo run, and there are probably a bazillion geese there at any given time. Mostly they ignore the people around, barely even stirring when they are standing in the path and people walk or run by. I still give them as much space as I can without going way out of my way to avoid them, though. I don't like to antagonize them if they appear to be anxious about me. This time, there was a group of three families, with around 15-20 goslings between them, hanging out in one of the soccer fields. Two parents were keeping guard near the path, and as I approached, they hissed at me. I found myself saying "I know! I'm sorry!" as I passed.
Did I just apologize to geese?
---------------
Another weekend bird encounter: nature is amazing and unpleasant all at the same time.
1) As I ran on a bridge across the White Clay Creek, I saw a blue heron standing in the water, a large, gasping fish hanging out of either side of its long beak. It hopped up a few stones to stand at the top of a short waterfall. I stopped to watch it for a minute or two until I realized that what I was doing was watching the fish dying; I didn't need to see that. I ran off, leaving the heron to its lunch.
2) The grass all around the reservoir was freshly mowed, which smelled wonderful in the sun; but I'm guessing that some small things did not survive the event, based on the presence of three gigantic turkey vultures that were stalking around in the shorn field. As beautiful as the blue heron was, the vultures ... not so much. But it's not their fault they have to have bald, ugly heads. If I had to spend my life plunging my head into gross roadkill too, it would be easier to not have to worry about it being stuck in my hair all the time.
Did I just apologize to geese?
---------------
Another weekend bird encounter: nature is amazing and unpleasant all at the same time.
1) As I ran on a bridge across the White Clay Creek, I saw a blue heron standing in the water, a large, gasping fish hanging out of either side of its long beak. It hopped up a few stones to stand at the top of a short waterfall. I stopped to watch it for a minute or two until I realized that what I was doing was watching the fish dying; I didn't need to see that. I ran off, leaving the heron to its lunch.
2) The grass all around the reservoir was freshly mowed, which smelled wonderful in the sun; but I'm guessing that some small things did not survive the event, based on the presence of three gigantic turkey vultures that were stalking around in the shorn field. As beautiful as the blue heron was, the vultures ... not so much. But it's not their fault they have to have bald, ugly heads. If I had to spend my life plunging my head into gross roadkill too, it would be easier to not have to worry about it being stuck in my hair all the time.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
The early birds
Morning is the red-winged blackbird's time, its multi-tone call evoking the Iowa countryside ripening green and gold in sultry summer months. Two Canada geese stand ankle-deep in marshy water, keeping dutiful eye on five fluffy, camouflaged goslings learning how to live geese lives. Ducks, mallards and one all dark, a stranger, float on the glassy reservoir, sometimes rocking forward tail over beak to snap up tasty underwater morsels. Mourning doves whuff disconsolately away as I approach, and commoners - robins and swallows mostly - take flight to avoid me as well. As I round a bend in the path, my eye is suddenly caught by the jewel of the morning run, standing at the rim of the small lake: a blue heron, tall and haughty, unconcerned as I slow to stare at its unexpected, regal presence.
Morning runs used to be a chore, uncomfortable and dragging, but in recent weeks they have been among some of the most satisfying and engaging miles I've done - cool temperatures, good legs, and seldom do I share the reservoir path with anything but the (literal) early birds.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
No Red Shoe race for Crusher
After last night's tempo workout (which went well overall), I've decided that I don't want to race a half-marathon this coming Monday in Iowa City, not when I have another already scheduled and paid for on the 8th. I am not backing anything off this week in anticipation of running a race, so I would be even less fresh than I was for the 10-miler last week (where I called the race the week's quality tempo workout, and if you tally up the race, the 20 miles the following day, and the miles and hard workout I've been getting in this week, my legs will have done a lot of work in the last seven days). If I felt anything like I felt in the 10-miler, even if I paced the half a little better I probably still wouldn't run better than 1:40, and that wouldn't make me very happy. I don't feel like paying for a 13-mile tempo workout. I'll get my scheduled 20-mile mix of miles and tempo intervals done on my own and cool it a bit during the following week so I can go into the already-paid-for half-marathon in Wilmington on legs that have taken a little easier.
Another reason I'm backing off on doing this race is that I think I'm starting to feel the accumulating miles. These weeks are the biggest and toughest of the training schedule, and during them I'm asking a lot out of my body, which I have already asked a lot out of. Since I started running marathons, I have never run this much in a four-month stretch (on pace for a theoretical ~2400 miles this year, a lot more than I've ever done) and I feel like I'm running on the edge of doing too much, but haven't gone over that line yet. Maybe that's normal when you bump up weekly mileage long-term for the first time, but I'm the type to worry every day that tomorrow's long miles or interval workout will be what pushes me over the edge and I'm hurt and won't be able to do Vermont City. I'm pretty thrilled that so far I've made it without anything that's hindering me from running, but any little twinge anywhere and I'm chewing my fingernails hoping it doesn't last or turn into worse. I think I'm going to need a long recovery after the VCM. Just have a month left of hard work, and then I can take a vacation from a tough schedule.
Another reason I'm backing off on doing this race is that I think I'm starting to feel the accumulating miles. These weeks are the biggest and toughest of the training schedule, and during them I'm asking a lot out of my body, which I have already asked a lot out of. Since I started running marathons, I have never run this much in a four-month stretch (on pace for a theoretical ~2400 miles this year, a lot more than I've ever done) and I feel like I'm running on the edge of doing too much, but haven't gone over that line yet. Maybe that's normal when you bump up weekly mileage long-term for the first time, but I'm the type to worry every day that tomorrow's long miles or interval workout will be what pushes me over the edge and I'm hurt and won't be able to do Vermont City. I'm pretty thrilled that so far I've made it without anything that's hindering me from running, but any little twinge anywhere and I'm chewing my fingernails hoping it doesn't last or turn into worse. I think I'm going to need a long recovery after the VCM. Just have a month left of hard work, and then I can take a vacation from a tough schedule.
Friday, April 15, 2016
Trail thoughts
1) One thing I love about running trails is the separation it gives me from everything else that is always around: mechanical noise, digital noise, cars, and so forth. I seldom hear other people; they are typically in ones or twos, rarely in large groups making all kinds of chatter. Occasionally mountainbikers will rattle by, singles or pairs or groups, but even on busy days, they are usually well-spaced. Running on paved paths in parks or at roadsides gets to be a drag, with the monotony of the same asphalt, the same scenery, the other users taking up the width of the path, the cars droning by. While I am enjoying the act of running in these places, I find myself often just wanting to get the run done so that I can get away from the other people, the cars, and get done with the tedium of those parks -- which leads me to want to run faster than I need to. The trails give me an escape from all that, and I can run actually easy and refresh my mind running through woods and hayfields that are familiar yet always changing. It's a quiet that's filled with glorious sounds of birds, small mammals scuffling through leaves and underbrush, wind in branches overhead, the millrace rushing over rocks and under footbridges. I can monitor my breathing and enjoy the sound of my feet thumping the earth. I am a small dust mote on its face, but I am here, it can feel me as I share its beauties in the middle of a busy patch of the east coast. Whenever I see people out there wearing headphones, I pity them. Why shut all that out? If you're just going to listen to music or whatever, you might as well be on the treadmill, because you're missing 90% of what makes being outside under the trees and sky so wonderful.
2) I was around mile 4.5 of my easy run on Wednesday when I came across a woman placing little blue flags at the side of the trail, and she told me about a trail race happening in Middle Run this weekend, a 5K and a 10K. I was interested, and was thinking about it about a mile later: if I did participate, would I run the 5K or the 10K? I have a pretty intense and long workout scheduled for Sunday, so maybe I should rule out the 10K, but whenever I am paying for a race that has a longer option, I usually like to get more miles for my money. $30 for a trail 5K seemed like a lot; $10 per mile? But a shorter race would be less stress on my legs. I waffled, and also wondered if I wanted to risk injury trying to run fast and hard on trails I have not run fast and hard on for a long time (trail running is my recovery running, now). I could easily see myself face-planting going breakneck down some hill or going too fast to land my feet right among roots.
And while I was considering the injury possibility, I tripped and fell. It took a couple stumbling strides for me to give up trying to recover from the trip, and I went down on the side of my lower left leg. It's exactly where I fell a few weeks ago, but this time I was not wearing long pants and mittens (yay 60F!), so instead of just bruising up, I was also quite scratched. It's been a couple days and my hands and leg still sting when hit with hot water.
I guess if I fall while I am not running hard at all, worrying about falling while running fast isn't going to be a good enough reason to not run this trail race this weekend. I'm guessing I'd actually probably be less likely to fall while racing because I would be concentrating on it, and when I'm running easy it's easier to get distracted while my brain is concentrating on thoughts instead of on making sure I pick up my feet.
In the end, I've decided not to run the trail race, either the 5K or the 10K, this weekend because I ran a tough tempo last night and I think it's better to take Saturday easy to recover ahead of the lengthy MP run I have on the docket for Sunday. I'm interested in trail racing sometime in the future, but it's just not fitting in to my schedule right now. I have the Triple Crown trail series on my maybe race card (April 30), but it turns out I'm not going to be in Delaware that weekend -- I'm going to be in Iowa City, where another (non-trail) possibility has cropped up.
2) I was around mile 4.5 of my easy run on Wednesday when I came across a woman placing little blue flags at the side of the trail, and she told me about a trail race happening in Middle Run this weekend, a 5K and a 10K. I was interested, and was thinking about it about a mile later: if I did participate, would I run the 5K or the 10K? I have a pretty intense and long workout scheduled for Sunday, so maybe I should rule out the 10K, but whenever I am paying for a race that has a longer option, I usually like to get more miles for my money. $30 for a trail 5K seemed like a lot; $10 per mile? But a shorter race would be less stress on my legs. I waffled, and also wondered if I wanted to risk injury trying to run fast and hard on trails I have not run fast and hard on for a long time (trail running is my recovery running, now). I could easily see myself face-planting going breakneck down some hill or going too fast to land my feet right among roots.
And while I was considering the injury possibility, I tripped and fell. It took a couple stumbling strides for me to give up trying to recover from the trip, and I went down on the side of my lower left leg. It's exactly where I fell a few weeks ago, but this time I was not wearing long pants and mittens (yay 60F!), so instead of just bruising up, I was also quite scratched. It's been a couple days and my hands and leg still sting when hit with hot water.
I guess if I fall while I am not running hard at all, worrying about falling while running fast isn't going to be a good enough reason to not run this trail race this weekend. I'm guessing I'd actually probably be less likely to fall while racing because I would be concentrating on it, and when I'm running easy it's easier to get distracted while my brain is concentrating on thoughts instead of on making sure I pick up my feet.
In the end, I've decided not to run the trail race, either the 5K or the 10K, this weekend because I ran a tough tempo last night and I think it's better to take Saturday easy to recover ahead of the lengthy MP run I have on the docket for Sunday. I'm interested in trail racing sometime in the future, but it's just not fitting in to my schedule right now. I have the Triple Crown trail series on my maybe race card (April 30), but it turns out I'm not going to be in Delaware that weekend -- I'm going to be in Iowa City, where another (non-trail) possibility has cropped up.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
My beating heart
After last Sunday's physically and mentally tough long run, I felt I had rebounded by Tuesday, feeling like myself and running comfortably at a pace I would call "honest" -- not easy, not hard. A kid made a comment to his mother as I passed that irritated me, and for a while I ran faster than I needed to. By the time my temper had cooled off, it had been a couple miles and now my mental treadmill was stuck at that pace. Wednesday, I ran similar pace -- that "honest" one, but it did not feel quite as free as Tuesday. I also had another HR monitor episode that really got me concerned. Tuesday's HR data had looked pretty normal, but Wednesday's ended up baffling me again.
It looked a lot like Tuesday’s, up until between 4.5-5 miles, when it appears to have gone up over 160, maxing at 180 at 5 miles then hovering between 170-175 until 5.5 miles, when it dropped, suddenly and precipitously, to the low 140s. (I believe I was going downhill at this point.) It climbed back to the low 160s for the last half mile, but during that point, I was climbing as well, up the steeper long hill in the park. So while that it sense for my heart rate to go up while I went uphill, the values didn't make sense and the prior sudden leap to >170 and the sharp drop back to what I’d consider “normal” does not.
Nothing made me mad on Wednesday, so I didn't have anything to help float me through a few of those miles, and as I went on, I felt more and more glad that I was only doing 6 miles. As I worked up the last hill at the end of that 6 miles I felt quite done enough, thank you. Ok, so I did feel like I was working a little more than on Tuesday, but did I feel like I was working 180 bpm? I just don't think so. I’m thinking back to a month or so ago when I was doing hard intervals at 7:00 or better. My HR never hit even 170, let alone 180, during those intervals. These relatively-easy running periods with allegedly high heart rate were bothering me. I don’t feel like my heart is working that hard. When I was doing hard workouts where I’d expect my heart rate to be high, it was accompanied by everything you’d expect to feel from working your heart rate up that high while running: increased and heavier respiration, fighting against tiring legs, etc. I did not feel those things in that 170-180 period. I just felt like I was in the last mile or so of a run where I’d been going around under 8:15/mi. No elevated breathing. No rapidly tiring legs. And it just doesn’t feel like my heart is racing that fast. Can it beat that fast and just not feel like it??
Thursday I ran a T workout that felt more tough than usual. I'd like to blame it on longer T segments, but I wasn't even halfway through the first 15 minutes when I knew I wasn't going to make another 15 and a 10 as scheduled. I worried about my heart rate, but it was mostly my legs that were simply unresponsive, and I was crashing and burning just to make it through 10 minutes as the second interval. I even struggled through 1.1 miles as a cooldown. I worried about what my heart rate was during all this (I couldn't really keep track while I was running hard).
Looked fine. Normal range for T efforts, nothing bizarre during the easy segments. Ok ...
So it didn't happen every run. Maybe it was just some technical glitch that happened sometimes. I washed the strap and cleaned the snap contacts and when I went out for an extra easy-peasy trail run on Friday, everything heart-rate seemed to make sense. While I felt awful leg-wise for most of it (so only ran a little more than 4 miles), my heart rate tracked as it usually does on the trails with no outrageous excursions. Ok, that was encouraging.
Though I felt (feel?) reasonably confident it's not me, rather the equipment, I still couldn't help worrying that my heart might be doing wild things without me knowing it. While trying to figure out why the HR data was going so crazy, I wondered if maybe I'm on the verge of overtraining, which might lead my heart rate to start doing some funky things? I have never run so many 50+ mile weeks before so I'm in uncharted territory here. I reviewed what I've been running and decided I am probably running my non-quality days too fast (especially when something makes me mad). Even though the miles at 8:00-8:15 pace feel mostly fine, it's probably not easy enough to really allow me to recover, either from the quality workouts or from all the other days. It would explain why I have struggled to feel good for recent T workouts and have very heavy legs by the end of the week. Whether or not the apparent heart rate issue was real or not, I could probably stand to do easy runs easier and perhaps that would 1) bring any actual heart rate issue back under control by not overtraining and 2) help keep my legs fresher for when they have to run harder. So ...
Today I went out for an easy run and I made the effort to run easy. It's just not easy to run easy, and this is not something I just discovered today. I'm running along, easy, and my legs know they can run faster without feeling a whole lot more effort. So they just naturally want to run a pace that feels comfortable, and running easy does not necessarily feel comfortable. I often feel like I'm applying the brakes the whole time, because my system just wants to do more. I kept an eye on my heart rate today, to keep it from going much over 140. I didn't care what that pace turned out to be; over 140 is where it starts to feel "honest" -- not easy, not hard, but too hard for easy. Except for going up hills, I managed -- but it took vigilance. I did not notice any excursion into way-too-high territory, so I hope that by cleaning the strap I have put an end to this weird behavior.
On the flat, 130-135 bpm was 8:30-8:35 pace. That is plenty fast enough for regular, non-quality mileage. I'm going to make an effort to aim for that on non-quality days, and see if that helps keep my legs from crumbling after the week's miles start to pile up -- because except for next week, the weekly total isn't going to go down, and I don't want to have to back off -- everything I read says volume matters when you want to reach your marathon potential. But if you're not doing it right, you're not going to get there. I need to try to do it right. I'm still learning here, learning on the job.
Next weekend is the Caesar Rodney half. I don't want to pretend like it's just another Sunday run and train through, because I want to make a real effort at racing, so I'm going to back off on the mileage a little this week and not run hard until the race. My schedule had me doing a 12-13 mile run at marathon pace tomorrow, a 15-mile long run next week, and a very tough mix of T and long miles the following week; rather than do three pretty hard and long efforts three weekends in a row, I'm going to switch this week and next week -- just do 15-16 miles tomorrow and do the half as the either the MP run or the following week's T run. I'll see how I feel the week following the race.
It looked a lot like Tuesday’s, up until between 4.5-5 miles, when it appears to have gone up over 160, maxing at 180 at 5 miles then hovering between 170-175 until 5.5 miles, when it dropped, suddenly and precipitously, to the low 140s. (I believe I was going downhill at this point.) It climbed back to the low 160s for the last half mile, but during that point, I was climbing as well, up the steeper long hill in the park. So while that it sense for my heart rate to go up while I went uphill, the values didn't make sense and the prior sudden leap to >170 and the sharp drop back to what I’d consider “normal” does not.
Nothing made me mad on Wednesday, so I didn't have anything to help float me through a few of those miles, and as I went on, I felt more and more glad that I was only doing 6 miles. As I worked up the last hill at the end of that 6 miles I felt quite done enough, thank you. Ok, so I did feel like I was working a little more than on Tuesday, but did I feel like I was working 180 bpm? I just don't think so. I’m thinking back to a month or so ago when I was doing hard intervals at 7:00 or better. My HR never hit even 170, let alone 180, during those intervals. These relatively-easy running periods with allegedly high heart rate were bothering me. I don’t feel like my heart is working that hard. When I was doing hard workouts where I’d expect my heart rate to be high, it was accompanied by everything you’d expect to feel from working your heart rate up that high while running: increased and heavier respiration, fighting against tiring legs, etc. I did not feel those things in that 170-180 period. I just felt like I was in the last mile or so of a run where I’d been going around under 8:15/mi. No elevated breathing. No rapidly tiring legs. And it just doesn’t feel like my heart is racing that fast. Can it beat that fast and just not feel like it??
Thursday I ran a T workout that felt more tough than usual. I'd like to blame it on longer T segments, but I wasn't even halfway through the first 15 minutes when I knew I wasn't going to make another 15 and a 10 as scheduled. I worried about my heart rate, but it was mostly my legs that were simply unresponsive, and I was crashing and burning just to make it through 10 minutes as the second interval. I even struggled through 1.1 miles as a cooldown. I worried about what my heart rate was during all this (I couldn't really keep track while I was running hard).
Looked fine. Normal range for T efforts, nothing bizarre during the easy segments. Ok ...
So it didn't happen every run. Maybe it was just some technical glitch that happened sometimes. I washed the strap and cleaned the snap contacts and when I went out for an extra easy-peasy trail run on Friday, everything heart-rate seemed to make sense. While I felt awful leg-wise for most of it (so only ran a little more than 4 miles), my heart rate tracked as it usually does on the trails with no outrageous excursions. Ok, that was encouraging.
Though I felt (feel?) reasonably confident it's not me, rather the equipment, I still couldn't help worrying that my heart might be doing wild things without me knowing it. While trying to figure out why the HR data was going so crazy, I wondered if maybe I'm on the verge of overtraining, which might lead my heart rate to start doing some funky things? I have never run so many 50+ mile weeks before so I'm in uncharted territory here. I reviewed what I've been running and decided I am probably running my non-quality days too fast (especially when something makes me mad). Even though the miles at 8:00-8:15 pace feel mostly fine, it's probably not easy enough to really allow me to recover, either from the quality workouts or from all the other days. It would explain why I have struggled to feel good for recent T workouts and have very heavy legs by the end of the week. Whether or not the apparent heart rate issue was real or not, I could probably stand to do easy runs easier and perhaps that would 1) bring any actual heart rate issue back under control by not overtraining and 2) help keep my legs fresher for when they have to run harder. So ...
Today I went out for an easy run and I made the effort to run easy. It's just not easy to run easy, and this is not something I just discovered today. I'm running along, easy, and my legs know they can run faster without feeling a whole lot more effort. So they just naturally want to run a pace that feels comfortable, and running easy does not necessarily feel comfortable. I often feel like I'm applying the brakes the whole time, because my system just wants to do more. I kept an eye on my heart rate today, to keep it from going much over 140. I didn't care what that pace turned out to be; over 140 is where it starts to feel "honest" -- not easy, not hard, but too hard for easy. Except for going up hills, I managed -- but it took vigilance. I did not notice any excursion into way-too-high territory, so I hope that by cleaning the strap I have put an end to this weird behavior.
On the flat, 130-135 bpm was 8:30-8:35 pace. That is plenty fast enough for regular, non-quality mileage. I'm going to make an effort to aim for that on non-quality days, and see if that helps keep my legs from crumbling after the week's miles start to pile up -- because except for next week, the weekly total isn't going to go down, and I don't want to have to back off -- everything I read says volume matters when you want to reach your marathon potential. But if you're not doing it right, you're not going to get there. I need to try to do it right. I'm still learning here, learning on the job.
Next weekend is the Caesar Rodney half. I don't want to pretend like it's just another Sunday run and train through, because I want to make a real effort at racing, so I'm going to back off on the mileage a little this week and not run hard until the race. My schedule had me doing a 12-13 mile run at marathon pace tomorrow, a 15-mile long run next week, and a very tough mix of T and long miles the following week; rather than do three pretty hard and long efforts three weekends in a row, I'm going to switch this week and next week -- just do 15-16 miles tomorrow and do the half as the either the MP run or the following week's T run. I'll see how I feel the week following the race.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Ten things I saw on my ten-miler today
1) Girl wearing a backpack that had kittens flying through space on it.
2) Guy whose jeans zipper was wiiiiiide open.
3) Trees starting to flower purple/pink.
4) Random dayglo yellow golf ball.
5) Some runners dressed as though it were 30F out. (It was mid-50s)
6) Boys playing roller hockey.
7) A Rabbit and Jetta on either side of my Jetta.
8) Kid learning to ride a bike, wearing a bright orange helmet.
9) Dude in red car, yelling something? at me.
10) Man wearing a Big Sur International Marathon t-shirt.
2) Guy whose jeans zipper was wiiiiiide open.
3) Trees starting to flower purple/pink.
4) Random dayglo yellow golf ball.
5) Some runners dressed as though it were 30F out. (It was mid-50s)
6) Boys playing roller hockey.
7) A Rabbit and Jetta on either side of my Jetta.
8) Kid learning to ride a bike, wearing a bright orange helmet.
9) Dude in red car, yelling something? at me.
10) Man wearing a Big Sur International Marathon t-shirt.
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