Today: 6.0 miles
Week: 17.92 miles
January: 78.07 miles
2010: 78.07 miles

[Just edited weekly mileage. I was counting my weeks from Sunday to Saturday, but switching to Monday to Sunday to align with DailyMile's weeks. Hasn't mattered up to now, since I usually don't run on Sunday. So this 6 goes on last week, and this week starts at 0. - kp 2/1/10 ]

My left thigh has not been too happy since my last speed run on Wednesday. I took an easy run on Friday and took off Saturday to rest. I couldn’t stay in another day though, so went out today for a slow and easy 6 miler.

Earlier in the day, my wife and I were observing a Japanese tea ceremony class that we will probably take part in starting later this year. This involved kneeling on tatami mats and / or zabuton (thin pillows) for about an hour and a half. My feet fell asleep and my shins and calves were screaming, but I think it was also a great stretch for the quads, calves and shins. Once I could feel my legs again, they felt pretty good. I think I need to practice sitting like that if we are actually going to do the lessons.

Anyway, as this is my last run of the month, it’s time to take stock. 18 runs for a total of just over 78 miles. Target was 84 miles per month to meet 1000 for the year, so about 6 miles short on that. But since I’ll be ramping up as the year goes on (particularly once I start my half marathon in a month or so, and hopefully marathon training some time later this year), I gotta figure I’m right on track.

I also lost about 4 pounds this month, which is pretty good. I would have liked to break 200 before my race – which is one week from today, by the way. That’s looking pretty tight, but by mid February I should be there.

So, yeah, race time minus 7 days today. I get an adrenaline rush every time I think about it. I really have no idea what to expect. My own goal has been to beat 27 minutes (it’s a 5k). Some have said that based on the times I’ve been doing in my training, I’ll blow that away. That could be. For now, I don’t want to predict anything beyond 27. I’ll be happy beating that, and if I do completely destroy it, I’ll be blown away. Here’s the race. A nice flat course on the Boston Waterfront. OK, here comes the adrenaline rush again. Gotta go.

Today: 3.0 miles
Week: 11.92 miles
January: 72.07 miles
2010: 72.07 miles

Here’s my last week of runs:

Wednesday: 4.5 miles including speed work (and kind of overdone speed work at that)
Friday: 3.5 miles of unexpected hills
Saturday: 8 miles, many hills
Monday: 4 miles, ignored Garmin and ran faster than usual
Wednesday: 4.9 miles with more speed work

In short, there’s not really an easy run in there. Result is a left quadriceps that is not too happy. I don’t think it’s injured, but I know if I keep going like this, it will be. So today I decided to do a nice, slow 3 miles.

It snowed most of the day yesterday. Not a lot of accumulation, but the sidewalks are white. I woke up this morning to what sounded like a 747 winding up for takeoff in the street out front. It was just the wind. The Weather Channel app on my iPhone told me it was 10ºF before the wind chill. I could have gone out for a run, but I really had absolutely no interest in doing so. Instead, I embraced my inner treadmill runner.

I listened to an old episode of Phedippidations, about running legend Terry Fox, which was was intense enough to hold my interest for the 36 minutes I was down there. My Garmin foot pod and the treadmill’s display were amazingly in agreement today, on both pace and distance. And it felt about right from a perceived effort viewpoint too. Average pace was 12:02, which is a good recovery pace for me at this point.

Tomorrow I’m going to do a short long run, whatever that means. I just want to take it easy again, probably 4-5 miles, slow. Next Sunday, February 7, is my 5k race and I would like to get one more speed work session in on Wednesday. I want to make sure my quads are well rested before that. If there’s still any problem with them, I’ll skip the speed work and save them for race day. Last thing I need is an injury 4 days before my first race.

Today: 4.91 miles
Week: 8.92 miles
January: 69.07 miles
2010: 69.07 miles

Read the following this morning in The Competitive Runner’s Handbook. Taken out of context, it is pretty funny:

You need both LSD and speed. The key is blending them together into a balanced schedule. Experience teaches you what combination works best for you.

Here, of course, LSD is long slow distance running, and speed is structured fast running.

Today, I did some really good speed.

Scheduled called for:

1 mile warm up.
4x 5 minutes at tempo pace with 90 second jog between.
1 mile cool down.

If you recall, last week I did 5x 4 mins and based tempo on heart rate. Bad, bad idea. But I’m a quick learner. So I picked a pace I thought I could hold for 5 minutes without killing myself, but would still be a challenge. 9:00 per mile sounded good.

Did the warm up mile and started into the first interval. First check I did, I was running at 8:10. I slowed it down to 8:30 and was completely comfortable. I mean, I was obviously running a lot faster than my usual pace, and breathing a lot harder. But I wasn’t straining and gasping for breath and counting down the seconds til the interval was over. I was just running fast.

The next interval, I found I could even run a little faster without any real strain. And the third one even a bit faster. But at the end of the third interval, I did start to feel a bit tired. The fourth interval was tougher and was the only non-negative split. I slowed down a bit, but was still under 8:30. And even though I was tiring and slowing, it wasn’t the kind of all-out “ohmygodimdying” kind of tiredness I experienced last week. In fact, I even managed a bit of a kick during the last 30 seconds.

Average pace for each interval:

8:27
8:25
8:19
8:24

To be honest, I was totally amazed. I felt, compared to last week’s speed work, like I had stolen someone else’s body for today’s run. There’s no way that my body could do paces like that. I know, that for many, 8:30 is just a comfortable average run. It might even be your recovery run. But for me… it’s very satisfying progress.

Of course, my legs aren’t too happy about all this at the moment. My left quad has been grumbling under its breath all week, and today my hamstring feels kind of… sproingy. So I think I’m going to really let myself recover this week. Last week I followed up my speed day with a hilly 3.5 and a hilly 8. I think this Friday and Saturday I’ll find a relatively flat 3 and 5. I want to get one more speed session in next Wednesday and other than that, next week I’ll take it relatively easy too. Because next Sunday, Feb. 7, I have my first 5K race!

The hardest mile of a run is that first one between the bed and the front door.

I started running to lose weight. Now I want to lose weight to run better.

I’ve had sporadic knee problems since I was 14. In 5 months of running, I’ve not felt more than an occasional, momentary twinge out of them.

I can crawl out of bed at 6 a.m. put on a couple of thin tech shirts, a windbreaker, and pants, go out for a run in 15ºF and feel relatively comfortable. An hour or so later I bundle up in full winter gear to go to work and freeze my butt off.

5ºF and 20 mph winds are preferable to a treadmill in a heated basement.

I will run in the cold. I will run in the rain. But I will not run in cold rain.

Stepping in a giant puddle of cold, wet slush, in the middle of a hard run makes you say bad words out loud. But secretly, it feels kind of refreshing.

The sight of another runner, even if they are three blocks away and merely crossing the street I’m running along, makes me run faster. Even if I consciously try not to.

Food tastes really, really good after a long run.

I know it’s an ad by a big corporation and all, but it gave me a little rush.

Today: 4.01 miles
Week: 4.01 miles
January: 64.16 miles
2010: 64.16 miles

Rain was scheduled for today, so I was bracing myself for a treadmill run. But when I awoke at 5:45 a.m. there was nothing but a slight mist in the air. Furthermore, the Weather Channel said it was a steamy 48ºF out there! Hell, let me get dressed and get out there quick! Um… wait, I forget what I even wear in 48º. I went with a shorts, a single long sleeve tech shirt and my Saucony reflective windbreaker. That was just about perfect. It was a little chilly at first, but by the last mile I had the windbreaker wide open.

Going out without three layers of clothing, hat, and gloves, I felt half naked. In honor of that, I turned off all the alarms on my Garmin and ran technology-naked as well. I left the mile marker alerts on so I’d know when to turn around, and took one quick peak around the two-mile mark just to make sure I hadn’t gone past it and missed the beep. Other than that it was just me and the road. The result was Heart rate average 144, max 151. Probably a little high, but not bad, and I was running comfortably. Pace wound up at 10:01 average, which is great for me. When I was starting this a few months ago, I could do a 10 minute pace for a while, but I’d be gasping and wheezing, heart exploding in my chest, playing mind games trying to get to the end of the next interval or end of the run. Now it’s comfortable. That makes me very happy. Like I’m actually making progress and maybe even getting good at this running thing. Oh, and my cadence. It averaged 180. Which is surprising to me, because I wasn’t attempting to increase it at all. I thought about it 2-3 times, fleetingly, but made no real effort on its behalf. But somehow it wound up even higher than it was on Saturday when I was trying to boost it a bit.

It’s still quite dark in the morning when I run on the weekdays before work. Today, there was a mist in the air, and the heat was melting the snow and evaporating it. This made for a thick fog, especially in this one area where there’s a big snow covered park. It was fantastic running by there. A guy was playing with his dog there. Regulars at that time in the morning. I could hear them but they were lost in the fog. The street lights and car headlights would cut through the mist, making strange patterns. It was all very eerie and cool.

Today: 8.0 miles
Week: 19.55 miles
January: 60.15 miles
2010: 60.15 miles

Did the same route as last week. 8 miles even. As mentioned, I tried to put a little attention on cadence today. My “natural” average seems to be about 77. I put some attention on faster footfalls and was pretty easily able to get into the 80-81 range. It felt unnatural at first, and to be honest, felt like I was expending a lot more energy, but after a mile or so, it wasn’t bad. Still, if I didn’t concentrate on it, I’d start falling below 80 into the 70s again. One trick I found was to exaggerate the tempo and get up to around 86 or so for 30 seconds, and then relax. At that point, when I went back to what felt natural, I’d be doing around 82. At least for a couple minutes. Then I’d slip some more. Still though, the more I practiced, the less unnatural it felt. But it definitely took a conscious effort. In the second half of the run, I decided not to think about it so much. Again, I feel like if you are changing your running form, you are using different muscles probably harder than they are used to. Do that too much and you’re asking for trouble. So the last couple of miles was back to 77 rpm. But the average came out to 79 for the whole run, which is about the size of moderate, incremental increase I was looking for. I think shorter runs will be easier to practice this on anyway.

I’ve heard it suggested to use a metronome to keep track of your cadence. There are a number of free metronome iPhone apps. Heck, I could make one myself in an hour, but why bother when there are free ones? Anyway, I might try that Monday.

As far as the run itself, it went well. Average heart rate and max heart rate were almost exactly the same as last week, but somehow I upped my pace by a full 30 seconds! From 11:12 to 10:42 per minute. Whereas last week, I did the first three miles under 11 minutes each, and the last four under 12, today I did the first six under 11. The last two were 11:00 even and 11:19. Coincidentally(?) those were also the two miles my cadence was back down to 77.

Although I was completely comfortable effort-wise, my quads were definitely getting tired and a bit stiff in the last 2-3 miles. The previous week I had none of that, but I had skipped out on my Wednesday speed work and had a pretty easy Friday. This week, I had a grueling speed work session on Wednesday and a very hilly 3.5 miler on Friday. No wonder my quads were complaining. However, in terms of post-run discomfort, I felt it worse last Saturday in the afternoon. Today I was doing fine all day.

Schedule for the coming week is pretty much the same as this week. I’ll do 4 miles on Monday instead of 3, then speed work on Wednesday and 3 on Friday, and I’ll do the same 8 next week as well. The following week I’ll tone it down a bit and skip the long run on Saturday, as I have my very first 5K race on Sunday. Woohoo!

After that, I have about 4 weeks before I start my half marathon training. I’ll take another easy week after the run, then try to maintain the base and do a few longer runs. I’ve already mapped out a 10-miler that covers all four Newton Hills, including the infamous Heartbreak.

When you start running, I think you just … run. There’s no concept of form or technique. You just move forward doing what you have to do with your legs to keep from falling on your face and mostly concentrate on trying to get enough oxygen into your lungs to keep from blacking out.

I think I’m mostly past that phase, and starting to think about form.

I know there’s chi-running and POSE running and barefoot running, and most of the people who talk about them sound vaguely like they are trying to get you to join their political party or convert to a particular religion. Those seem to be a way of life. I might check into them someday, but for now, I’m looking for something a bit more conservative.

One thing I’ve noticed is that my stride is pretty long. Especially when I’m picking up speed. I’ve read a bit about this already and most seem to recommend a shorter stride with quicker turnover. The concept is that the longer your stride and the less times your feet hit the ground, the longer you are in the air. To stay in the air longer, you have to push your body up higher. This takes more energy. And when you push up higher, you come down harder. More potential injury-causing impact.

When you increase your cadence, or number of times your feet hit the ground, you waste less energy going up and down and reduce impact. So, knowing that, I’ve been informally attempting to take shorter strides, and more of them. Very informally. It’s just something I’ve had in the back of my mind and occasionally consciously think about and adjust when I notice stretching the legs out in long, airborne strides.

But last Monday the weather was so bad that I had to run on the treadmill. I know my treadmill lies through its teeth, and would love nothing more than to see me collapsed and weeping on the floor, all the while telling me I was doing 11-12 minute miles. So I wear my Garmin foot pod. This is basically a fancy pedometer that talks to my Garmin 305 wirelessly. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but my heart rate vs. perceived exertion vs. pace reported by the foot pod matches my street running experience a lot better than the treadmill.

Usually, I take the foot pod off my running shoes when I go back outside in them. But this week I left it on. Once you start walking, the 305 notices the pod is active and asks if you are inside. If you say yes, it will shut off the GPS and base distance on the pod. This is why I always removed it. But this time I just said no, which tracks your distance and pace by GPS as normal, but continues to monitor the foot pod for cadence.

Looking at my cadence for my three runs this week, I did 77, 76, and 77 rpm, where rpm is revolutions per minute, just like an engine. Here, a revolution is a full stroke of your running system – both legs going up and down. In other words, my right foot hit the ground 77 times per minutes, and so did my left.

So how does this stack up? Not surprisingly, on the low side. Pretty much every article I’ve found says that the ideal range is mid-80s to mid-90s. Going up hills might be a bit lower, and down a bit faster. These are the ranges purportedly measured on most successful runners. Interestingly, though hills may affect it somewhat, pace itself does not. An easy pace or a flat out spring will have the same cadence. It seems counter-intuitive at first, but after you work it out, it starts to make sense.

Oh, and by the way, this is all just stuff I read today, so if you took the concept of the word “expert” and turned it inside out, you’d have my level of understanding of this.

At any rate, it all makes logical, analytical sense to me. Now to see if I can put it into practice. Maybe I’ll set up one of my Garmin displays to show cadence and keep an occasional eye on it and see what I can do about increasing it a few rpms. A few of the sites I read today gave some tips on how to increase it. My gut feeling is that it might be difficult and maybe even risky to try to drastically change one’s cadence overnight. So Im just going to put attention on improving it a bit and see what happens. So that’s my assignment for the coming week. I’ll report back on how that goes, and any changes I notice as a result.

Today: 3.5 miles
Week: 11.55 miles
January: 52.15 miles
2010: 52.15 miles

Mapped out a nice 3.5 mile run last night. Here’s the route:

Looked nice top down. What I didn’t realize is that this is what it looked like from the side:

Yeah, a bit hilly. But no big deal. I took them in stride. (little running joke there…) I was hoping for a bit faster pace though, and more of an easy run after the speedwork the other day, but all in all, the run was fine. It’s a nice course actually. Some great views of some wide open, snow covered fields. Saw a couple of bunnies hopping around. There was a big stretch – about a mile – with no sidewalk, and I had forgotten to wear my reflective vest. But I did have a flashing light on my wrist, and I don’t think a single car went by on that whole stretch anyway.

Today I broke 50 miles for 2010, and tomorrow I’m going to do my 8 mile run again, same as last week, and break 60 miles. Happy.

I keep saying I plan to cut down on traveling, but it looks like 2010 is going to take me around the world again.

I won’t get started until April, where I’ll spend April 1 and 2 at Adobe headquarters in San Francisco, meeting with various people on the Flash team. Then, April 25-27 I’ll be in Toronto for FiTC. This will be my 5th time speaking at FiTC Toronto. I went from 2005 to 2008, but skipped last year, and went to FiTC Amsterdam instead.

In May, I’ll be in Belgium on the 10th and 11th (at least) speaking at the Multimania Conference. That conference has been going on for many years, but will be my first time there. Very much looking forward to that! I’ve heard much good about it, and I’m really excited to see what I can of the country.

All those events will take place throughout my half marathon training. I should get some fun runs in in new locations!

In late June, maybe July, it’s not totally nailed down, but we plan to spend 1-2 weeks in Japan at my mother-in-law’s house amongst the mountains and rice fields. I really missed that last summer. Running there would be heavenly, though it’s a small village, and I’m sue I’d get some strange stares – this crazy gaijin running through the fields.

Also, some time perhaps in August, we might spend a few days up in New Hampshire. White Mountains. More relaxing.

In September, I’m sure I’ll be in Brighton, UK for Flash on the Beach. Wouldn’t miss that for the world. It’s definitely one of the highlights of my year. This will be my 5th FOTB, having been at each and every one from the start. I usually spend some time with a friend in London for a bit too. But too early to have anything planned on that.

Finally, last November I was invited to FiTC Tokyo. That was a great experience. I have no idea what the plans are for this year, or if I will even be invited back, but if so, I will surely be there.

So those are the ones that I know about, or at least that I’m somewhat aware of. Other stuff could, and probably will pop up.