Coming Through; On Long Runs

I posed two questions yesterday and I got the type of answers I expected. You know, thoughtful.

Initially, though, I observe that Alex is wrong. One cannot equate “faster” and “better.” If there’s one thing I’ve learned on the running blogosphere, this is it.

Otherwise, the responses present a quite nice cross-section of views on the topic.

First the physical. One must prepare for these things, JT points out. Not only does this ease the burden of the long run, it gets the body accustomed to the focused nutrition that precedes the marathon (which is the race we’re ultimately talking about). And make sure you have rights to all the songs on your MP3 player. Hey, Julie, were you stuck on “Highway to Hell” on the road to Valhalla? (Here’s an idea: What is the worst song you could have stuck on your iPod for a 2 hour run? Going with the first thing that popped into my head, it’s “Afternoon Delight” but I’m sure I could do worse with some thought.)

Prep for the run during it. Check. More of a summer issue, as Alex says, and perhaps something you have to learn, as I did some years ago with a blow-up/melt-down in a 90+ degree, no water August 15-miler. Learned my lesson; either a FuelBelt (maybe I’ll try one of Flo’s hand-held) or a loop run with stops each lap for water and gels.

Running with a group can work, as I’ve started to do with WSSAC. The danger is that you can have a wide range of speeds. I’ve been fortunate in that Paul Thompson, the fastest in the group, is quite content to keep the pace civilized (he is a Brit after all, so that probably should be “civilised”); we’re a regular Jane Austen Running Club.*

Pace. This may be the heart of the matter. Robert straitens me out. I had thought his long-run paces were quicker than they are. As Herb points out, I am forever complaining about doing my runs too quickly. My defense: it’s the pace at which I feel comfortable. Of course there is also a bit of the mental, get-this-over-with aspect too. And as I’ve mentioned, I have tried to keep my easy runs easy, as by going without a watch.

The Head: This is the other heart, if you will. It is the strategies, the evolving strategies that seem so important. Turn it into a high-light and not a dreaded task. Don’t make it a do-or-die proposition, which just ups the pressure beforehand about it and perpetuates a downward spiral.

Let the run come. Use a weekly semi-long run to keep the week-end effort in perspective. And maintain in the back of thge mind the third of Charlie Spedding’s questions, “how much do I want it?”

OK, excellent suggestions all. And I am heartened, like Flo, with the fact that those of you who appear to do this so effortlessly, who make it look so easy have had to work hard to get there.

* I watched The Jane Austen Book Club the other day, hence this reference. I rather enjoyed it. (Back to text.)

One Run, Two Questions

There’ll be questions at the end, so bear with me on this.

The forecast had been down-graded throughout Friday, but I still expected there to be a patina of white when I awoke. Resigned to doing an hour or so on the treadmill in lieu of a long run, I found the lawn as green as it had been when I turned in. I understand Philly got hit with well over a foot, but we had nada.

But the radar suggested that there was snow in the area. Paul was down in Florida for the Masters HM champs so I had not planned to go into the City for the WSSAC run anyway, and with threatening weather I elected to head out but stay close enough to home to be able to get back if it started to snow.

So I meandered into Yonkers around Sarah Lawrence and other neighborhoods before picking up the BRP path. It was strange running in a spot with 45 minutes in my legs where there are usually only 15, and not in a good way.

But run I did, pushing on at 7, 7:10 pace, waving to JT on the way south, using care to get through short icy-spots, determined to get 1:45 in, which is how long I ran last Saturday. Then I figured I might as well go for 15. And so I did, my Garmin showing 15.01. New high, 1:47+, in over a year.

Here’s the thing. I am in awe of the many bloggers who not only go longer and longer but seem to relish it. (I’m too lazy to put up links, but they’re pretty well all of the folks in my must-read list.) It’s easy to say, “I’ll do 17″ or 20 or whatever, “get my mileage up,” but the doing is a different thing entirely. I don’t relish it. I head down my block and dread the many steps that lie ahead. I know it’s not a great frame-of-mind, and maybe that’s the problem. I go into speed-work knowing it’s likely hurt but am ready to do it. With this long stuff, it’s different. Boring, yes.

All of this, of course, plays into my concept about running the marathon this year. If I don’t I figure consistent 2 hour/17 milers will be fine, even for HMs. Marathon training, and add 30 minutes or so. (I can’t phathom the 22, 24, 26 mile runs.)

So here are the questions:

How are you able to do long runs?

Did you struggle to get there?

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Not Over the Hill Yet

This is not one of those I’m-still-breathing posts. It’s literal. I headed out at lunchtime to explore a new area of White Plains. A pre-run look at a map showed a number of nearby areas with trails. Though the weather has been such — the snow, not the cold — that I wouldn’t venture on any trails that I found, I figured it’d be interesting to head over by some of them.

So I aim for Hall Avenue (surely a postive omen of a name) and on my way passed Warren Street (surely another positive omen of a name). A not-so-positive omen came when I found that Hall Avenue was gone. How does a road disappear? Well it begins right by I-287 and crosses that highway before meandering on, and as part of a long-time construction project the bridge across 287, and the road on it, was no more, presumably to be re-built.

So I had to make a few extra turns and then I was on the meaty part of Hall Avenue. Happily enough. The road is remarkably quiet for being just outside of White Plains and there was a slight up and a slight down, but then a nasty up. A very nasty up. Get to the top, breathing heavily, and it flattens out. But suddenly before me is yet another hill of who-knows how long since the road turned. I just couldn’t do it. The better part of discretion had me take the only available escape route, which had its own short but steep up, and then a long downhill paralleling Hall, but more gradual.

And I finished the run. MAP

I pride myself as being a pretty good up-hill runner, and I don’t like the feeling of being beaten by a hill. So I checked out the elevation when I returned to my office, and now my mind-set that I’ll give her a better battle next time. It’s no tougher than Anderson Hill Road (which is 240 feet in under a mile), which I ran up (and more often road up) while in college.

I’ve gotten lazy, perhaps even frightened, about hills. It’s time to put that, literally, behind me. And, of course, by writing this it means I’m going to have to do it.

Indoor Racing and Other Stuff

Robert completed the Empire State Building Run-Up on Groundhog Day (and here’s something on the movie of the same name by Tony Scott). But I found more intriguing Alex’s report on a “Groundhog 5K” a few days earlier. It was in a cave. And they apparently have races there all the time. Like some post-Apocalyptic diversion.

Back to Robert, this was yet another of his crazy-in-a-good-way things. I thought of doing this race a few years back, but decided that I didn’t feel like experiencing some of the hassles about which he writes. But a part of me wishes I did it, just once. (I think using stairs whenever possible is cheap supplemental training for strengthening the upper legs.)

Did you know that the NFL’s VP of Officiating goes on the NFL Network to review officiating calls and whether they were missed? I didn’t.

I also bet folks who live where it is cold, like Minnesota, Canada, the Dakotas, get a chuckle when they see New York-area bloggers complain about how bitter it has been here.

In the small-world department, I ran into a neighbor’s son this morning. He grew up on my block and now lives on the street in Eastchester which was my first home, a tiny cape in which my family lived until 1963. He’s having some knee issues and is seeing someone about it, but I was heartened that he said he sometimes stops and visits this site.

I’m no techie, but someone who is recommended Google’s Chrome browser. It’s amazing how easy it is to search when all you need do is type the query into the address box. I’m now chiefly using the Chromium variant, and like the available extensions. One that may be particularly useful down the road is the Google SideWiki; it allows you to comment on a site or a part of a site, and to see the comments of other folks.

It’s A Perk

While I run because it’s what I do, I like being in shape simply as a general proposition and am as vain about it as the next guy. I understand that exercise may not extend one’s life-span but that it can improve the quality of life in our later years. Here’s a further explanation (from LetsRun): “How Exercising Keeps Your Cells Young“

A study suggests that running 50+ miles a week is good on the cellular level.

Even more striking was what was going on beneath those deceptively youthful surfaces. When the scientists examined white blood cells from each of their subjects, they found that the cells in both the active and slothful young adults had similar-size telomeres. Telomeres are tiny caps on the end of DNA strands — the discovery of their function won several scientists the 2009 Nobel Prize in medicine. When cells divide and replicate these long strands of DNA, the telomere cap is snipped, a process that is believed to protect the rest of the DNA but leaves an increasingly abbreviated telomere. Eventually, if a cell’s telomeres become too short, the cell ‘‘either dies or enters a kind of suspended state,’’ says Stephen Roth, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Maryland who is studying exercise and telomeres. Most researchers now accept telomere length as a reliable marker of cell age. In general, the shorter the telomere, the functionally older and more tired the cell.

It’s not surprising, then, that the young subjects’ telomeres were about the same length, whether they ran exhaustively or sat around all day. None of them had been on earth long enough for multiple cell divisions to have snipped away at their telomeres. The young never appreciate robust telomere length until they’ve lost it.

When the researchers measured telomeres in the middle-aged subjects, however, the situation was quite different. The sedentary older subjects had telomeres that were on average 40 percent shorter than in the sedentary young subjects, suggesting that the older subjects’ cells were, like them, aging. The runners, on the other hand, had remarkably youthful telomeres, a bit shorter than those in the young runners, but only by about 10 percent. In general, telomere loss was reduced by approximately 75 percent in the aging runners. Or, to put it more succinctly, exercise, Dr. Werner says, ‘‘at the molecular level has an anti-aging effect.’’

Separately, a long-term study by Paul Williams at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also suggests the benefits of doing more than just the minimum. There’s an article in the San Francisco Chronicle: “More exercise better in long run, study finds”

[Edited to add: I took a look at the comments to the Times piece and there were a good many I'd-rather-die-a-painful-and-horrible-death-before-I'd-go-for-a-run observations. My comment:

I skipped over the comments in the middle, but I was saddened by those who view exercise — running i particular — as a chore. Sure it can be boring, but for some of us it is a passion, and evidence (we’ll see if it is established) of long-term health benefits is a perk.

I’m 53, have been running for 39 years, and got in about 47 miles last week. I run because I love it, and am hardly unique in this, as a look into the blogosphere and on message boards will readily show. I train hard and race hard, and while I may not enjoy every step, I wouldn’t give any of them up for the world.

But, as I say, I feel truly sorry for those who don’t share this, or who don’t become involved in some other sport.]

Charities and the London Marathon

Via LetsRun, there was an article on a UK site called “More Than The Games” about charities and the London Marathon. Of interest is that the race gets £300 per charity entrant versus £32 for others. The race itself is a non-profit so it’s not as if this is lining anyone’s pockets, but I found the observation interesting. I assume that there’s a similar economics going on with other mega-races (although London is far cheaper for open entrants than New York at least).

I don’t know how this affects matters, but I thought it worth throwing into the mix in the charity-runner discussion.

Who You Gonna Believe, Me Or Your Own Eyes?

There has been a flurry of things going around about a new study of where runners footstrike, including an NPR piece and a LetsRun thread.

And I just received copies of my Manhattan Half photos. The thing is, I never, ever feel I’m landing anywhere but midfoot. Granted I’m not exactly burning up the pavement in the photos, but it looks really bad.

Get Back: The Wasteland II

A while back I announced my retirement from Facebook and Twitter. An amendment to that is appropriate.

Twitter: I have not returned to Twitter. But I have created a new Twit (Twitterer?), “RunWestchester.” The purpose is simple. Notwithstanding a light response to my let’s-meet post, I figure I’d give it a try, and one way to expand the scope of those who are made aware of it is to post something on Twitter. So I’ll use that account to post (tweet?) proposed meet-ups (including at the Rockies) as well as other items that might be of interest to runners in Westchester, such as races. If you want to follow, you’re welcome to. I’ll also tag items “#RunWestchester” for search purposes.

Facebook: I’ve returned chiefly to follow family and Warren Street mates. I also created a “RunWestchester” page, to which my blog entries go.

The Cliff

The big question: Have I fallen off a cliff? No.

This morning’s Manhattan Half was a personal worst by 6 minutes. But it served its purposes and, like Ryan Hall in Arizona, I’m not particularly concerned about a sub-par performance. And thanks to Erin C.; someone shouted my name in the fourth mile and I had no idea who it was. But when she appeared in the eighth mile — lying by saying I looked good — I realized it was her. She’s a former and current teammate (and the person who got me into the 2006 NYC Marathon).

Race Report: As noted yesterday, the plan was to go out easy. The course was unusual. Start at about the 26 mile mark of the Marathon and head counterclockwise for 2+ laps, finishing at the 72nd Street Transverse. Fabio had picked up my number, etc., and I met him with time to spare, although things were close because I just missed a subway. First corral, no hassle, no pushing. (Saw Herb C. as we went into the corral, but I lost him as I moved towards the front.)

Horn goes and I don’t know where my head was but it sure wasn’t in Central Park at 8am. Good thing about race no. 1: the need to get mentally accustomed to racing. So I decided to just relax, and came through one at 6:14. (NYRR now has clocks at every mile; given the course, this led to having, e.g., the 13-mile clock about 10 yards after the 7-mile clock about 10 yards after the 1-mile marker.)

Up Cat Hill, with a wave to the cat. 6:28. My that was slow, even with the hill. I wasn’t tired or breathing hard and my form felt smooth. But Oakland-like, there was no there there. So the splits are 6:20, 6:32, 6:31, 6:20 through 6. On the lower loop, my left Achilles tendon suddenly acted up. After about a quarter, I pulled over to the left. (Afterward, Robert told me he passed me here; he ran wonderfully, getting a nice PR.) Try again, still hurt.

Then I decided, what the hell., just go. One of my objectives was to get a qualifier for the NY Marathon and for the NYC Half, and a 1:40 would do that. So I had plenty of time. Plus it’s not good to stop when you can go.

So back in it. I don’t know what the mile 7 split was (I stopped my watch), but that started the final lap. Up Cat Hill again — Hi Cat! — and still running smoothly, if slowly. While I’m generally passing people now, I’m being passed as well. When I’m running well, I don’t get passed in the latter stages of an HM. But I’m concentrating on keeping it smooth. 6:26, 6:19, 6:39 after climbing the Harlem Hills. I was fine going up, but then felt dead at the top. As Cher would say, “Snap out of it.”

Relax and finish. 6:28, 6:18, 6:21, 39. Final numbers: 1:25:28, 193rd O/A, 8th AG, 80.3 AG.

These race reports are inevitably self-indulgent. I haven’t had a decent one in quite a while. From this one, I learn that I can’t call things in. Work must be done, and the two areas lacking are decent mileage (and especially a decent long run) and speed.

Mileage. It’s early days yet, and I’ve begun regular runs with Warren Street on Saturdays. Two weeks ago it was 1:20 when my longest run before that was just an hour. Last Saturday was 1:34, which nearly killed me. A couple of years back when I ran very well, I had a few 2 hour runs in my pocket before I raced, and that’s what I’ll need again. My regular run is up to an hour, a bit over 8. So it’s not a surprise that I fell short today from that perspective.

Speed. I felt fine and smooth. But with only 2 bits of tempo work under my belt, I understand that I’m just not able to generate the turn-over I need to go fast. 6:20 hurts, but I can’t get it down to, say, 6:05.

I know I can get things going again. I’m leaning towards giving the NYC Half a shot, even if it is primo pricey. And I got a time that gets me into that race (and into NYC 2011 if I want to go there). It’s not like I’m at zero. I have a decent, if slight, base for target races in May. Get in the miles, get in the speed. I’ll be fine.

Membership Has Its Privileges

I’ve long been a member of one running club or another over the past 25+ years and I’m surprised that more folks aren’t. One benefit, though, is that when NYRR has its number pick-up over a mile from the start and I’m coming in from out-of-town, I can ask a clubmate to pick it up for me and that’s what I did so I can go straight to the start.

The start will be for the Manhattan Half. I did it a couple of years back, but the course has been slightly modified. It’s still the same 2+ counterclockwise laps of Central Park, but it finishes at 72nd Street instead of at 103rd.

I’m a tad nervous, but I think an HM is a good way to start racing again, even if I’m not in racing trim. I like them because I start out easy and see what happens, and I usually run a negative split. So it’s a good see-what-happens thing.

I’m pretty sure, though, that’s I’ll break 1:20, the wrong way. That’s never happened before, but as I age I must face more and more realities and see more and more barriers fall. Where I’ll be, I have no idea. 6:30 is 1:25. That should be doable. Out easy, get to point where I know I can finish and try to bring it in. Should be fun.