Reflecting On 2009

Most of the blogs I read have already done a "reflecting on the past year" post... 'Tis the season, right?

I took a look back at last year's entry on Dec 31. I had just finished quite an amazing year with many feats in running - both in conquering the marathon distance for the first time along with setting some new PRs. But as amazing as 2008 was, 2009 really blew it out of the water:

• I finally surpassed the 1,000 mile marker for the year. Last year I fell 30 miles short and couldn't make it up during December due to falling ill with bronchitis during the last two weeks.
• Actually, 2009 was quite a healthy year for me. No real injuries (some hamstring pain after the NY Marathon, but I dealt with that much better this year). I had a few colds, but nothing longer than a week.
• I ran my second marathon - the NY Marathon on November 1. I ran this as part of Team Run To Remember, in memory of my Nana. I raised close to $6,000 (there's still time to donate here so you can rack up those charitable donations and reduce your tax burden!!!) and met some really great people in the process.
• For the first time, I started running with other people on a more regular basis. I started by going up to New York for a few of the team runs and then found a few running friends in the area to do some long runs with. Although 80-90% of my runs are still solo, I do enjoy running with others when we can schedule it.
• I ran my first race with my wife Sherry - the Rockville Twilight 8K. Again, going with the running with other people theme, I hope to continue to run a few races with Sherry!
• I set new PRs in the marathon, half marathon and 10K (alright...maybe 6 miles), and during the 10K I also ran a faster 5K and mile splits than my previous PRs in those distances.
• In blogging, I have expanded my audience by linking my blog feed and my RunningAhead log to Facebook. I love having more people reading the blog and following my progress, however, sometimes it's a bit cumbersome to read comments in two places.
• At work, I launched my largest project to date and started another project that will last at least 4 to 5 months. Oh...my company filed for bankruptcy in January, my division was bought out in August and I am now working for a new company.

There may be other accomplishments in 2009 that I may not have mentioned...I guess I have a few more days to remember them and throw them in the blog :-)

I also need to start thinking about goals for 2010. There are two things that I'm pretty sure about: a) NO FULL MARATHON in 2010 and b) I will be running the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler as I received a spot in their lottery.

1,000 Miles! I DID IT!!!!

I finally hit 1,000 miles for the year during today's run! Hooray!!!

I actually intended to hit the milestone on Saturday morning. The forecast was calling for snow that morning and I was thinking I would go out for a little over a 7 mile run (I was at 992.7 miles for the year before that run). I was looking forward to a winter wonderland run - powdery snow lightly falling down with the Nutcracker Suite playing on my iPod.

When I woke up, it was not snowing yet - just cold rain...yuck! I switched the tunes on my iPod from the Nutcracker to some mellow classic rock before heading out into the gray, rainy morning. I threw on my microfiber pullover also, to protect me from the rain and wind.

Somewhere in the first mile of my run, the rain started turning to snow. Not a light, powdery snow, though. It was a wet snow with huge flakes. And at times during my run, it was snowing pretty heavily.

So, by mid-run my pullover was soaked from the initial rain plus the temperatures were starting to drop with the snow. I decided to cut the run short and I'd have to hit 1,000 another day.

That day was today. I hit the gym at lunch for an easy run on the treadmill. It was nothing too exciting - except seeing those numbers after posting the workout in my training log.

2009: 1,001.9 miles

Back To The 20 Mile Week

My normal "base training" while not focusing on a particular race has been a 20 mile week. I usually run 4 times a week - 3 weekday runs of 3-5 miles and a longer weekend run in the 6-10 mile range.

Since the marathon, I haven't had a 20 mile week yet. First it was due to recovery and then it was due to time constraints.

This past week had its fair share of time constraint issues, but I was able to squeeze in runs where I could and I logged 21 miles over five runs. Hooray!

These runs included slipping out for a 4.5 mile run on Thanksgiving morning after the turkey was in the oven, meeting up with a friend that I went to high school and UofM with (neither of us were runners back then and we only reconnected when he searched for descriptions of the Turkey Chase and found my blog!), and a short Sunday morning run.

Sunday's run was chilly - about 31 degrees. It was my first sub-freezing run of the season. I wore running tights, a heavier long sleeve shirt and a beanie...winter is a-coming! I didn't want to run long because I traveled later that afternoon to Irvine, CA for work. I left my house at around 12:30pm Eastern and finally arrived at my hotel around 11:30pm Pacific - 14 hours door to door. Yuck.

However, when I walked out of my hotel this morning I saw how beautiful the weather was. I am so psyched to run out here!!!

BTW...if you take a look over on my training log, I have now logged 978.9 miles for the year. If I repeat last week's 21.1 miles, I will hit my 1,000 mile goal! Woo hoo!!!

My Decision On The How To Count Yesterday's Race

After some discussions on Facebook and RunningAhead, I have decided to change my running log entry for yesterday's race and use the Garmin mileage instead of calling it a 10K.

So, yesterday WAS a PR. It was just not for 10K, but for 6.01 miles.

And along the way, I smoked my PRs for the 5K and 1 mile as well. I guess I'll need to find some more races.

Long Run - Sans Watch

I woke up Saturday morning ready to get in a long run before heading to synagogue with the family - like I normally do. I was planning to do somewhere in the 7-8 mile range and decided to run to the Rio center and either around one half of the lake (for about 7.6 miles) or around the lake one and a half times (for 8.3 miles).

The weather was still a bit on the chilly side - about 50 degrees - and overcast and misty with a few drizzles. Not beautiful, but not too bad for a run either.

I had laid out all of my clothes and gear the night before, but when I went to turn RedG on, he wouldn't wake up! This had happened once before - at the Rockville Twilight 8K race during the summer - but since then he has been trouble free. I decided I would just grab my old Polar HRM watch since I knew the total distance of the route and I wasn't so concerned about mile splits. I found the Polar watch and it was totally blank - the battery had died.

So off I went on my run - no watch and no heart rate monitor. I can't remember the last time I ran without a watch....I mean I'm so addicted to my running log that I NEED to have at least my distance and time, right?

The only piece of technology I had with me was my iPod shuffle. I had loaded some Idan Raichel albums onto the shuffle - good tunes to get lost in while going on a nice, long easy run.

I must tell you, the first mile or so was really strange. I'm always checking my HRM feedback every few minutes just to make sure I'm not overtraining or if I can pick up the pace a bit. I got to where I normally check my mile 1 split and there was nothing to check. Really. Strange.

However, I finally got into a groove. I was free to run - and I ran hard. There were a few hills that I decided to attack - and there was nothing telling me to slow down - so I never stopped.

When I got to the lake at Rio, I decided to go for the extra lap around the lake. Why not? I had no idea what time it was. I had no idea how fast I was running. It was just me, the drizzle and my tunes. What's not to love about that!

It's still a bit strange that my RunningAhead running log only has a distance for my run - no time, no pace, no average heart rate. However, I must say that after the first two miles or so, I really didn't mind running without the watch. Perhaps I'll do it more often when I'm not training for a goal race.

Awesome Run In The Sun and CRAZY EIGHTS!

It had rained all Tuesday and most of Wednesday morning. However, there was a brief break around lunchtime on Wednesday...and I took full advantage of it!

My goal was to take it easy (this IS taper week, right?), not to worry about pace but just to follow whatever my heart rate was telling me.

Well, I started to get those false (i.e. HIGH) readings in the first half mile again. How is my heart rate 171 bpm when I'm doing a light jog??? I decided to stop at a light pole and do some calf stretches...within 20 seconds my HRM was showing 108 bpm. I started up again and never saw the high readings for the remainder of my run!

The workout was spectacular! A sunny afternoon day, 65 degrees with a little breeze, leaves in all shades of red, orange and yellow falling from the trees...can I order this exact weather for Sunday in NY??

Splits were:
Mile 1: 10:31 / Avg HR 145 (that's with the false readings during the first half mile)
Mile 2: 10:26 / Avg HR 142
Mile 3: 9:40 / Avg HR 145
Mile 4: 10:14 / Avg HR 148
Last half mile 10:50 pace with avg HR of 150.

Overall a 10:17/mile pace with average HR of 146. If I can do this for the first 15 miles on Sunday I will be in such awesome shape to finish nice and STRONG!

When I logged my run in RunningAhead, I saw something very cool:

My yearly mileage is 888.8 miles! CRAZY EIGHTS! (OK...I have to think about something crazy, I'm in marathon taper mode...)

Running In The Cold Rain

This morning it was cold and rainy. Yuck! This is my least favorite weather to run in.

I had contemplated running on the treadmill at the gym. However, I know that I'll be running in the same stuff on Saturday morning. And I better get used to this just in case this is the weather on November 1, right? I can't go to Mary Whittenburg and ask if she can move the NY Marathon indoors on a treadmill because it is 40 degrees and raining!

The one nice thing about my run this morning - I did it after the sunrise! The reason for this - not so good. My younger son still had a fever last night and came into our room at 3:30am. He still had a 101.4 temperature. At that point my wife made the decision that she was not going to go to work - so I was able to sleep in a bit, get my older son off to school in his carpool and then go out for a run!

I threw on my Frederick marathon runners premium - a microfiber pull-over - over my long sleeve running t-shirt and shorts, along with a hat to keep my head a bit warmer. I also brought music with me for the first time in a while - I loaded a bunch of Indigo Girls albums on my iPod shuffle...good mellow music for an easy run.

I started the run out easy - average HR was 141 for the first mile (perhaps the HRM issue has cleared itself up?) and RedG chirped a 9:54 split. I slowed down a bit for the second mile and came in with a 10:12 split. All this time I had my hands inside the sleeves of the pullover to keep them warm. It's amazing how damp, cold air just penetrates you and chills you to the bone.

After that, my route goes downhill and I started to warm up. Hands came out of the pullover's sleeves and I guess my legs decided to push the pace on me. I still kept RegG covered so he didn't get too wet, but as a result I was not watching my heart rate go up into the high 150s/low 160s. Next two splits were 9:12 and 9:18. So much for an easy run!

I finished out my 5.5 mile loop in 53:27 - a 9:36/mile pace with an average HR of 154. I looked back in RunningAhead at my training log and with the exception of a tempo run I did on this route last year, this is the fastest I have every run this route.

The good news - I'm in great shape right now...probably even better shape than I was before I ran the Frederick Marathon last year!

The bad news - OK...not so bad, but I have been running way too fast lately. Over the next two weeks I need to devote at least two workouts at marathon pace - which for me this time around will be a 10:40/mile pace. If I try running "by feel" like I have been the last week, I'm going to fall apart at mile 16.

Busy Weekend and Four More Weeks!

This weekend was the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. I finished building our sukkah on Friday morning before taking my younger son to school - Sherry decorated it after her school day and we were able to eat our Shabbat dinner in the sukkah on Friday evening. Actually, we have eaten most of our meals this weekend in the sukkah - it's so nice to be outside this time of year!

The weekend was pretty much jam packed with Sukkot stuff - going to synagogue and to meals in other sukkahs - so I scheduled my long run on Saturday morning. My college friend ZF was in town this weekend. She is also running the NY Marathon, so our training schedules were pretty similar - her plan was to run 10 miles and my plan was to run 12 miles - so we split the difference and planned to run 11 miles.

I found an 11 mile loop on RunningAhead starting at NIH and going down Wisconsin Ave to the National Cathedral, then taking Mass Ave to the CCT Trail and back into Bethesda. Looked pretty interesting, so we decided to meet up at the Medical Center Metro Stop at 6:30am Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the parking lot at the Medical Center Metro had signs that all parking was 30 minutes only - and there were no Saturday restrictions on the signs. So instead of risking it we drove into the Woodmont triangle of downtown Bethesda and parked at meters that did not go into effect until 9am (we would be done by then!). This would ultimately cut our run from 11 miles to 10 miles, but in the long run I don't think the extra mile or two on this run will make too much of a difference.

Finally we were off! ZF and I met in Ann Arbor our freshman year at UofM - 19 years ago! We haven't seen each other in about 6 years, however, we have communicated a lot over the past 3 years as she started to get into running.

It was hard to believe it had been so long since we actually saw each other. Just like old friends, it didn't matter how long it had been and we just started talking. For the next hour and 48 minutes conversation weaved from work, to running stories, to our families and our college friends. I swear it was hard to believe that close to 2 hours went by - our legs only making a periodic stop for a red light at a busy intersection. Actually, as we approached the National Cathedral, I was admiring the beauty of such a wonderful building and I don't even know if ZF noticed we were passing it!

We ended up running a little over 10 miles when all was said and done. We averaged a comfortable 10:44 pace - my average HR over the near two-hour run was 151 bpm. I guess chatting the entire way made my heart work a little harder, but still this was within a good, easy range. Here's the map of our run:



After this run I really started thinking of how wonderful this was. Normally, when I get together with someone I haven't seen in a while it is over a meal or a drink or coffee. Why not meet for a run? It's definitely healthier. And although not everyone is going to be able to run 10 miles, the conversation definitely makes the run seem shorter than it actually is.

Watch out friends and/or family members. The next time you come to town, I may invite you for a run instead of for a meal :-)
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The marathon is four weeks from today! Our weekend plans are starting to come together now. I'm almost halfway through the book "A Race Like No Other" and I am getting really psyched!

I have one more super-long run - a 22 miler this weekend - and about $1,300 left to raise (if you are in a giving mood, please donate here). It's hard to believe it is getting so close.

18 Mile Long Run / Parks Half Marathon

For my 18 mile run today, I parked 5 miles from the start of the Parks Half Marathon, ran to the starting line and then ran the race.

My plan was to treat this as a marathon pace run. A little faster than a long run, but slower than I would normally run a Half Marathon. My target pace was 10:40/mile - which corresponds to a 4:40 marathon.

I set my alarm for 5:15am, but thanks to my younger son, I didn't need to rely on the alarm. He came into our room at 4:45am needing to go to the bathroom (which he can do on his own, but for some reason likes to wake us up in the middle of the night anyway...). I decided to get out of bed then and get an earlier start. I got into my running gear (including my UofM Alumni tech shirt - which was a great conversation piece during the run, especially after our big win over Notre Dame yesterday...GO BLUE!), made some instant coffee, went to the bathroom (the reason for the coffee, right?), ate a pre-run banana and headed out to my car. As I left my door, I saw a brightly shining moon and Orion up in the night sky....beautiful!

I parked at the Rio shopping center. As I was pulling into the Kohl's parking lot, I saw someone walking on the sidewalk in shorts and a t-shirt. Another crazy runner, I thought. However, I soon realized that this guy was actually heading home for the night - not heading out for the morning like me. Oy!

Since I was wanting to watch my pace today, I changed my Garmin main screen from 3 fields to 4 - adding average pace to my normal trio of elapsed time, current HR and distance. Later on I found out that by doing this, the elapsed time will only show HR:MIN and not HR:MIN:SEC when you go over 1 hour. It shouldn't really be that big of a deal, but I'm just so used to seeing the seconds on my elapsed time. If it continues to bother me, I may have to just leave average pace off the main screen and make myself hit the up button to see it on the next one. I'll need to make this decision in the next few weeks - I don't want to tinker with this during the NY Marathon.

I started my run - nice and easy. Average HR for the first three miles were 137, 138, 138 (the other two miles were 145 and 144, so they weren't so bad either). The Garmin showed an average pace over the 5 miles of 10:40...perfect! Except later on, when I downloaded my stats into RunningAhead, it shows my pace as 10:42/mile. Not such a biggie, but I'm started to get a bit frustrated about the accuracy of the Garmin....especially when I am using it to keep me on the right pace to reach my goal!

A few comments about the early run - it was definitely dark, and there were some areas that were not well lit (and one point where the sidewalk goes into the woods for a bit - woods where I know coyotes have been seen). I must say, I like running early in the morning, but I'm not such a fan of running in the dark alone.

The other thing is that although the coffee had it's desired affect before leaving home (and thus, not needing to use the port-a-john while on my run), it also gave me some pretty bad acid reflux. I was hoping this would go away at some point, but I was still feeling it towards the end of the half marathon as well.

I got to the starting line of the Parks HM about 25 minutes before the start. I bumped into a few people I knew - my running buddy from last week's 17 mile long run - HH - two "virtual" running buddies from RunningAhead who I knew would be at this race - Trent and Jellyfish - and my sister who was running her second half marathon.

I lined up with my sister and we left in the wave that was for the 10:00/mile and slower group, which started at 7:06am. I ran the first mile with my sister - hitting another 10:40 pace and average HR of 141. Mile 2 started to get downhill and I was trying to not get boxed in the crowd, so my pace was much faster - 9:50. After that, I made myself slow down and got into a rhythm.

I pretty much ran this race on feel - I was trying to watch my pace and HR, but didn't pay too much attention. At the half-way mark, my average pace was around 10:30/mile and my HR was in the high 150s. But I felt really good.

I actually felt so good, that around mile 9 or so, I was still chipper as ever while thanking the volunteers for volunteering for the race. One of the other runners made a comment that I was in way too good of a mood this far into the race! I ended up speaking to her for the next mile and a half - she was starting to get really tired and needed a little push to keep her going (or at least someone to speak to and keep her mind off of how much she likely wanted to stop...).

By the time we got to the last 2 miles - on the gravel Georgetown Branch Trail - I was still feeling really good. My average pace was at 10:39/mile - and even though I had already run 16 miles that morning, I felt that I had enough in the tank to put it into a higher gear and go. The Garmin shows that I ran the last two miles in 18:32, but it did lose the satellite while under the Air Rights tunnel so that may have messed up the distance part of the calculation (actually, it shows I did mile 13 in 8:04 - which I'm sure is not right). Either way, I was able to finish up strong with a chip time of 2:18:59.

Later on that morning (after showering and changing of course!) I met up with Trent and Jellyfish at the Silver Diner for brunch. It was nice to meet these folks in person and hear their running stories. Their take was that if I was able to run this course in less than 2:20 - and after running 5 miles already - that I should have no issues running a 4:40 in New York. The NY marathon is flatter and the weather will be cooler. However, I definitely need to ensure that I pace myself well - as it is in any longer distance race, if you go out too fast you are doomed at the end.

In summary - it was a great run capping off a week where my runs didn't feel so great. Still, I had my highest mileage week of the year - close to 37 miles - and I have two more really high mileage weeks before the marathon. I'm getting more confident that I will be able to reach my goals in New York - running a more balanced marathon and running it in 4:40.

Back To The Working Week

Back to the working week after a busy weekend. I'm not sure which has been busier lately - my weeks or weekends...

Saturday morning was a short "long" run. I'm on a step-back week on my training plan, so it was only a 6 miler...I'm going to start doing that distance mid-week now, so I hate calling that a long run. However, it was nice to be able to sleep in a bit and not run as long on a chilly morning. I'm starting to get my pace back after last week's blood donation...I'm probably about 90% there now.

The best thing about the weekend run? When I got back I just plugged my Garmin into the computer and the data was uploaded into RunningAHEAD! Yeah Garmin! Yeah RunningAHEAD!!!

I think my push-up stamina has also been impacted by the blood donation. I went to do my Week 6 exhaustion test both Saturday and this morning, and I was only able to do 41 push ups. OK...if you had told me 4 months ago that there would be a time where I would say, "I could only do 41 push-ups this morning...what happened?" I'd thought you were crazy. So...I'll continue to do the exhaustion tests a few times this week until I get back up to the high 40s/low 50s.

This morning we had a pretty big snow for these parts. I knew this was coming - and I knew I was supposed to be in Northern Virginia today - so I started early. By 5:30am I was shoveling (a few hours later Sherry has told me she can't even tell that I shoveled!), and it took me about an hour and 20 minutes to get to the Fitness First in Reston, VA. I did my easy 3 miler on the 'mill - 32:07, 146 avg HR. Now it's off to work.

The rest of the week looks like this - 6 mile pace run tomorrow, 3 mile easy run Thursday and 11 mile long run on Saturday morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back running outside by the weekend. I don't own a pair of YakTrax and I don't plan on getting them for the 2-3 times a year that it snows in the DC area each winter.

Garmin Integration at RunningAhead!!

This morning I was out to Virginia for work again, so I packed my gym bag and ran on the W&OD Trail - for the first time with my Garmin.  Not that I need the Garmin so much on that trail, since there are mile markers every half mile (does that make them half-mile markers?).

Anyhow, it was a nice morning.  About 50 degrees with a slight wind.  Shorts and a long-sleeved running shirt kind of weather.

I ran an easy 5 miles - 2.5 miles out and back.  Then a quick shower at the gym and off to work.

I went to log in my run later in the day on RunningAhead, and I saw the following note on the site:

• RunningAHEAD is proud to announce integrated support for the Garmin Forerunner! You can now upload data from your Garmin GPS directly to RunningAHEAD. With a few mouse clicks, all your data will be converted into workouts and saved to your training log.
  Simply connect your Garmin GPS to the computer, go to the import page and click the Upload button. You'll be able to see detailed graphs and a map of your workouts in seconds. Recording your data has never been this easy!
  

Awesome!!!!

I tried it out and it really works very well.  Everything transfers over - splits, maps, heart rate...it's all there.  Now, the only runs I'll need to put in manually are my treadmill runs.  Nice.