New Shoes = Nice Run

Received my new pair of Asics Gel Kayano(R) 15's yesterday and literally couldn't wait to get out and run in them. Had been wearing Saucony Hurricane 9's for the last 3 pairs of shoes and wanted to try something else. Man what a difference. The Asics are much 'stiffer' and not just because they're brand new. They're just less pillowy and felt much better especially in the ankle. Most importantly, as I increase my miles per week it's important to have shoes to switch into to decrease the compression on any one pair. So far I'm impressed with these Kayanos. Mile 5.9 down hopefully a couple hundred more to go before trashing these!

Run: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2526876
Moderate pace with a push in the middle and at the end. Swing out to Atlantic, down the harbor to the Manhattan Bridge, Race pace across the bridge, and then an easy out and back through Manhattan. Back across the Brooklyn Bridge at a very moderate pace, back across the promenade at just fast enough to practice my kick.

Details:
Distance: 5.9
Time: 52 minutes
Heart Rate: 156 Average (though I think I need a new battery as the start was super slow - I'm not that fit!)

Manhattan Bridge:
Average pace: 7:23
Distance: 1.2 miles
Stride length: 4 feet (versus 3 ft 9 in for the average of the entire run)
Just felt great and pushed it hard up and down the bridge. Running the Manhattan is great because there's nobody on it. It's dark, it's cold, it's got trains running right next to me, and it's hard core. But all that, put together is fun. The views aren't nearly as good as the Brooklyn (but I'm not exactly sight seeing anyway).

General thoughts on the run:
All was well in the world (Steph putting Dylan to sleep) and TGIF!

Recovery:
after 2 minutes: 103 bpm average for 1 minute (down from 111 at the start of that minute)
after 5 minutes: 98 bpm average for 2 minutes (down to 89 beats at the end of two minutes - but I was eating because at this point I was hungry.

Slippy Icy Rainy Mess - Redhook out and back

Slow recovery run today - nothing special save the fact that it was nearly freezing, raining, with inches of snow and ice on the ground and the streets were running with nearly freezing water. Other than that it was just cake.

Pretty simple run = flat Redhook out and back

Distance: 5.74 miles
Time: 57 mins
HRM Ave: 143 bpm

General feelings and thoughts were that my legs felt fantastic given that I'd run a half on Sunday and this was Wednesday. I was worried that if it froze up overnight that I wouldn't get a run in before Friday, which would be bad. Now I can run on Friday and then make it happen over the weekend.

Manhattan Half Marathon

Today I completed my first official half marathon. There's a bit of a story about how that's the case - here it is. I was planning on running the Brooklyn Half marathon last year in May. Unfortunately a slight knee injury kept me out of that one. Then, on July 27th, 2008 I was scheduled to run the Nike New York half - this race is great, starting in Central Park and ending, via Times Square, at Battery Park. Since Dylan was born 15 minutes before the start, I didn't get the chance to run that one either. So I was really looking forward to completing this race.

The train was delayed, leaving me at the Road Runner's office to pick up my number spot on 7:30. The start was at 65th street meaning that #582 (24th overall finisher - and a great guy. Very modest and interesting - go #582!) and I ran from NYRR to the start - leaving off our stuff at the baggage drop 5 minutes before the start. I wanted to put on my shades and double tie my shoes, so after jumping in the corral (a slow one) I bent over to get it done. No sooner had I gone over, it seemed, but the guy behind me (the sighted member of a blind running team) said, 'we're moving' either to me or to his ward. So I very quickly tied and we were off - to move about 10 feet only to stop again. So I got the shades on and the shoes tied.

Distance: 13.1 Miles, 21.1 Kilometers
Date/Time: Jan. 25, 2009, 8:00 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 14 deg., 52% humidity, wind 6 mph

Results:

Last Name	First Name	Bib	OverallPlace	GenderPlace	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile
PARKS	JOSHUA	1517	1521	1224	251	01:48:44	08:18

Data:

Mile	Time	Ave. Heart Rt.	Mile	Time	Ave. Heart Rt.	Mile	Time	Ave. Heart Rt.
1	08:21	158	7	08:16	165	13	08:21	172
2	08:18	163	8	08:16	167	0.1	00:51	175
3	07:51	163	9	07:57	170
4	08:28	165	10	08:44	169
5	08:22	166	11	08:35	170
6	07:55	163	12	08:23	167
							Time	Ave. Heart Rt.
							01:48.44	163

Thoughts:

This race was a test of both endurance (duh!) and patience since I ran it entirely at around 88% of my peak rate (save the last mile, where I 'kicked' a pathetic showing as you'll see). The first miles I really did a good job of moving without burning up on cardio. By the second loop my pace was slowing a bit - although I was amazingly consistent throughout. The miles are presented so that the times/heart rates can be compared easily.

My goal was to finish in less than 2 hours - which I did. However I left the race disappointed simply because of the way I felt on miles 9 through the end. The hills of Central Park are very unforgiving and although I did a great job of running them on the first go, I didn't feel as though I ran them well on the second. I was very, very grateful that I didn't run my usual crazy fast splits, as this would have left me unable to finish.

All told though this race was a huge success. I ran more or less the race I wanted (I had planned to run between 150 and 160/165 throughout - this broke down on the second lap but partly because I felt good and didn't feel it necessary to keep it down for the second lap). That always feels good. I didn't know how consistently I'd run and felt as though my legs were stiff as boards on the last three miles. I had to 'gut through' a couple of ones at the end - something that I'm not used to. But I've posted a starting point for longer runs.

Conclusion:

I really need to run more frequently both to build the base but also to enable faster miles. This is simply the way it is. I am planning on working with Steph to figure out how I can carve out some time to make it happen. I look to decrease my times here and hope that I can improve on this time significantly by the end of the year. I can't imagine doing the marathon at this pace - but it's nice to feel like I'm building a base from this place.

Finally - getting in more than 1 run per week

Made it out yesterday for a second run of the week. Around Prospect Park again, this time there was no snow and it was much warmer. Wore my HRM this time and tried to keep it under 165 for the full run which helped me keep a consistent pace (though I did stop to stretch twice as my calf was sore from last Monday's run). Here's the Nike Plus record:

Snowy run around Prospect Park

I made a bit of a social observation on my run today. On the West side of Prospect Park the sidewalk was salted and cleared - that's where all the nice houses are...as I ran around the South end of the Park there was a bit of snow accumulation. When I hit the east side where it's a little more economically 'diverse' there was too much snow to run safely on the sidewalk and I had to move to the road inside the Park (see map here....http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2502616)



I ran a lot faster as I was actually kicking my heels up a bit for a change. I think this is the key to me picking up a bit of speed. Unfortunately it burned me out and I ended up walking a little bit as my HR was way out of zone.

Still need to get in more than a run a week - managed to get on the treadmill once this week in Boston. Hoping this week will be a bit easier on lifestyle, committing to not watch TV and get up early for the runs.

Slow down to speed up? Aerobic training run

Run:
Brooklyn Bridge to Battery City Park to Brooklyn Bridge

Description:
Aerobic conditioning

Conditions:
30 degrees F, Snowing, ½ to 1 inch compressed snow on the ground

Details:
After reading my last post, Mika, my unofficial coach, suggested that I learn about aerobic conditioning. Thus I read a couple of webpages and decided that my zone for healthy aerobic conditioning was 144 to 155 bpm. Thus, this run whenever I got my heart rate up too high, I slowed down. When I got too low, I sped up. Notice the difference between the Heart Rate readings on his run versus the one from 6 days ago:
19 January 2009: Zone Aerobic Run


13 January 19, 2009: Typical Training Run

With the ‘new’ type of running – very ‘slow’ with a strong constant pace and aerobic conditions – it feels/appears that I can run forever. That’s the idea of these types of conditioning runs. I’m not convinced of what to do next as I’ve read conflicting things about when one can add speed work to the mix. My sense is that I will keep running in this zone for the bulk of my running with a fast workout thrown in.

I hope that this enables me to take up the speed of my regular running as I was struggling to increase my pace and always seemed to get zapped out – experiencing slowly decreasing per mile times in later miles of the run.

All of this is fairly obvious to the exercise physiologists of the world, but I just hadn’t realized the extent to which I’d succumbed to my couch potato lifestyle!

Note how the times of my later miles do not decrease as they typically do on longer runs – this is how I know that I’m in my aerobic zone:
Mile Speed Dist from Start
1. A 10:58 1.0
2. A 8:56 2.0
3. A 8:32 3.0
4. A 9:11 4.0
5. A 9:57 5.0
6. A 9:01 6.0
7. A 9:45 7.0
1 13:47 7.1
Finally I picked a great time to start this type of training as running for speed on a slick, snow and ice covered roadway isn’t a good idea. As it turned out, this was a wonderful way to spend the last two hours of light on a Monday afternoon!

Redhook Recovery Run

Summary: 4.5 miles in 37:12

• 8:16 average pace

• 164 beats per minute average

• Temp 38 degrees very low wind

• Felt generally excellent throughout

• Map - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2489599

Comments:

This is a very familiar run for me, and one that I haven't done for some time. It's refreshing to travel a known course that I haven't run since before Dylan was born. First mile was amazing – flew through it even though it felt like a recovery run (heart rate average was 150!). Huge advantage to run a downhill and/or flat course after the bridges and Central Park hills that I typically handle.

Miles over time

1. 7:35 (150 bpm ave)

2. 8:04 (166 bpm ave)

3. 8:28 (164 bpm ave)

4. 8:14 (176 bpm ave)

5. 4:50 (180 bpm ave) – ran straight up hill fartleg style to finish, cooled off (not timed)

Recovery intervals:

@ 2 mins (for 1 min)

Max 131

Min 122

Average 126

5 mins (for 5 mins)

Start of 5 mins – 121

Average over five mins – 112

Final heart rate – 103

Existential thoughts:

This run takes me out of my neighborhood down through Redhook to the end of this part of Brooklyn. At the furthest from our apartment, I see the Verazanno Bridge on my left and the Lady Liberty on my right. This is when I come around the Fairway market, our favorite place to shop, which has been built into an old red brick warehouse. From there, it's along a walking path that used to be a high gauge train line of some kind. As if to prove that trains actually ran on this track, a couple of rusted old cars sit, right outside of Fairway's eating patio.

From there it's a left turn in a different world...from comfortable NY Borough jogging straight into something out of Raymond Chandler. Except I used to live in SD and almost nowhere in that city still has the feeling of those great novels. This sure does – shapeless 19^th century warehouses on the left, an unused in winter dock on the right. Which contrasts in the mind with the lively houseboat lifestyle lived by some there in the Summer as I can tell you. Straight ahead on this particular night was two potentially moving shapeless posts marking the end of the drive. It turned out that when I past them they were two drunk 'artists' headed home in heavy coats, speaking in low tones.

Another right, and down the street to the seemingly Daliesq Ikea – where did that come from? Folks on the street with the patented blue plastic bags, heaping with purchases.

From there another left turn, as a right turn would end me up in the freezing Atlantic – down the street there is some sort of slow motion drug deal happening between gentlemen in an Ateam van and a 1986 Chevy Impala, extended edition.

It's just about then that I realize that running is more like being in a car than being on foot. You don't actually want to be any of the places that you are at that time. Well sometimes you do – when I run through Times Square or across the Brooklyn Bridge, I enjoy being there. I'm happy to be there. But other times I want to be through my work out; I want to be somewhere else, done, not there, and I'm simply there because it's between where I was and where I'm going.

Fred Lebow 5M

Okay - so I finally got out for my first run and my first qualification of the new year. I'm figuring on running my 9 races again this year to qualify for the 2010 NY marathon just in case.

I'm pretty happy with results. Here is what my Nike +iPod measured - the time was accurate, but the distance a little off...you can't see very well in this graphic, but in the larger one I noticed how my pace picked up as the crowd thinned after two miles - my first mile took nearly 11:45 to run!!!




Roadrunner results (official)
Time - 47:01
Pace - 9:24

I was hoping to get out for a long run today but the icy conditions were just too risky - I'm on the road again this week in Boston but going to make a real effort to get some miles logged.

Chargers Gear Powers Parks through Fred Lebow Classic

The Fred Lebow classic marked a positive result from my perspective as I beat my goal of 38 minutes. I also wore a Chargers T and skull cap to support my team tomorrow!

Mile	Time	Comment
1	07:38	Crowded
2	07:11	Thinned out, downhill
3	07:27
4	07:59	Dreaded hill, better than before
5	07:20	Brought it home

Last Name	First Name	Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place
PARKS	JOSHUA	M36	1271	612
Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
516	111	37:39	7:31	58.2 %

Significantly slower than my PR of 36:52 run early the morning of June 4^th of last year – this race marked the 50^th anniversary of NYRR's founding. But it does mark and improvement over the 39:45 that I ran over 8000 meters (4.9 miles) in March of this year – since we are going to be away that precise date this year, this will stand in on my goal to run each race faster than I ran it last year. It also suggests that I'm fitter this January than I was last March, another good sign.

The only other data point that I have is 38:20 – which I managed on the SECOND lap in preparation for the NY Half Marathon last Summer. Thus, you can see how far I have to go to get back in the shape that I was just before Dylan was born – sets a nice goal!

Details:

Heart Rate – 177 average (I pushed hard this race and the crowded, slow start didn't help)

General overall – felt very strong and focused

Niggly injury update – none to report