How to map your distance runs

There are several ways to figure out far you have run, or plan to run. Some runners use their car's odometer, others use GPS devices which also have pace calculators for runners, others may count city blocks.

Here is a way to map your route in advance and check the distance. Go to web site gmaps-pedometer . There you can zero in on your city down to street level and lay out your course. At the left corner on the bottom of the site is Usage Instructions .
This will guide you on how to set up and measure your course. It is very easy to use and also has an elevation chart, so you can see if it is a flat course or has lots of hills. Then you can save the route and email to friends or post on your blog if you want to.

I charted our 20 mile course. If you want to see last weeks 20 miler, click HERE.

Enjoy!

Peers

20 miles of complete challenge

The four Horsemen of running, was the cause. Heat (80 degrees), humidity (80%), headwind, and hills (big and small, and lots of them).

Sunday's run started at 8:30 am, starting at 165th street and Riverside Drive. We met, reviewed the course, and the six of us in the 8:30 pace group headed toward New Jersey for our longest training run to date, 20 miles. We were told to slow down a bit, maybe 15 to 30 seconds per mile, for the first 17 miles, and then speed up for the final 3 miles, going at "race pace" or about 8 minutes per mile.

The start was fun, over the George Washington Bridge, to New Jersey, and into Palisades Park. The first water stop was down a long steep hill, to the base of the Hudson River at mile 3 1/2. So far, so good. It was getting back up that hill when we realized we were in for a challenging day. We followed the park road for 6.5 miles north, going uphill and downhill while we chatted away. All water stops were viewed as an oasis, and we stopped momentarily to drink gatorade and water and move on. Our pace was about 8:40 per mile, and we were down to a group of 5 as one slowed considerably on the hills.

At the 10 mile mark we spent an extra few minutes refueling. I was dripping with sweat from head to toe, not from the pace, but from the heat, hills, and humidity.

As we headed back, my energy level drained. We began to pass slower groups of runners and found quite a few taking walking breaks. One of the faster running groups passed us, and then we passed one of them, as he was taking a walking break.

When we got to the 16.5-mile mark, we again descended the steep hill to the base of the Hudson River, reloaded, and started running back up. I walked and jogged for the next mile or so as I started to feel dizzy, and one of my teammates stayed with me. When we sighted the GW Bridge, we picked up our pace and ran about 8 minute miles back to the starting point.

Summary
It was a tough day to run, and a very difficult course. Nevertheless, in the end, we completed it in about 2:52 for about 8:40 per mile. I found many runners today talking about how difficult it was for them as well. It should make the marathon course seem that much easier, as there are only a few hills and small ones at that.

Coach Adam has written a good essay on conquering the four forces, titled "Heat, humidity, headwind, and hills: Find out how to deal with the Four Horsemen of running.

Happy trails!

Peers

Memories from last weekend

Here is a recap of last weekend's activities.

Friday night, a family movie, which I highly recommend, "Saint Ralph". Set in the 50's it's about a boy growing up in Hamilton, Ontario attending a Catholic school, and as a form of punishment, being ordered to join to the cross country team. As his Mom is in a coma, he is in search of a miracle, and decides running and winning the Boston marathon, would provide what he needs. Very inspirational! My daughter got up and ran 4 miles Saturday after watching the movie with us.

Saturday, was a Team for Kids group run, scheduled for 11 miles. I wasn't planning to run this, but our pace group's turn to bring the post run refreshments, and Bev volunteered to pick up some goodies at Costco, so my plan was to drop them off and vamoose, since I had already signed up for a 13.1 mile race on Sunday. However, I thought, hey, this will be an easy 11 mile run. Take it slow and go for it! So I did. Unfortunately, we missed a turn and ran more like 13 miles, at a pace faster than what I had planned. I was surprised at how tired I was from this run. Oh well....

Sunday I entered the Yonkers half marathon. This is a beautiful race, as it is off the radar screen for most runners and only several hundred runners participate. It was a sunny day, a hilly course and my legs had not recovered from Saturday's run. Walking around near the starting line I was very happy to see several tables set up with physical therapist's stretching runners and giving massages. I hopped on an open table and my legs were thoroughly stretched for me. Wow, that was great!!! At the start I noticed another runner wearing the green color of Team for Kids and I settled into a comfortable pace with him for the first 9 miles. He decided to run 26.2 miles Sunday, the full marathon. To top that off, he wanted to pick up the pace for 5 minutes of every 20, which was what we had done on Saturday. He was aiming to run a 3 hour, 30 minute marathon, but at 10 miles our time was about 82 minutes, so we were behind his schedule. I used a few of my zen words, power, strength, relax...from miles 9 thru 11, then I picked up the pace to finish in 1:48, or about 8:18 per mile.

Then I found the massage tables and hopped on for a massage which really seemed to aid in my recovery this week. Thank you Jeanine for the stretching and the massage! I never found out how my teammate finished, as I had to rush home, shower and go the the Yankee's game.

So far this week, I am taking it easy. My legs are still in recovery mode. This weekend we have a group 20 mile run. I think I'd better rest up a bit for that one.

Happy Trails!

Zen me home

Seven weeks from Sunday is the New York marathon!

We will have been training for 9 weeks this Sunday so we are now at the midpoint in training. My legs recovered from the 18 miler last Sunday after about 2 days, which is faster than normal, so it seems the conditioning level is up.

One of the Zen thoughts that stuck with me from the Zen of Golf is worth sharing, I think, and since it is my blog, I will. The story goes that Arnold Palmer could arrive before a big golf tournament and by listening to other golfer's talk about the course, the weather and their game, he knew which golfers he had to beat. Someone would say, "there is too much wind"....Arnold would scratch him off his list, another might say "my swing is slightly off"...he was gone, still another might comment on how difficult the course was ....another non-competitor. The moral of this story is that you need to be ready to compete under whatever circumstances you find yourself in. Once you start complaining about the conditions, the course or yourself, you are setting up your excuses for a poor game, or poor race.

The author stated there are three simple rules:

1. Never complain,
2. About anything,
3. Even to yourself !

I think this lesson is a good one for running any race.

Conditions are never perfect. Too hot, too cold, rainy, humid, too windy, too sunny...you get the idea. Your body is never in perfect shape, from minor pains to bigger ones, our bodies are always talking back to us. And the courses are all easy to complain about. Too many hills, spectators (or none), water stops, starting time, etc.

As the training moves forward day by day, it parallels the second half of the marathon. You just have to accept the condition you find yourself in, and keep putting one foot in front of the other and repeat until finished.

Happy Trails!

New shoes, gu's and an 18 miler

Meeting with the podiatrist last week, Dr. Dan Geller in New York City was a good thing. He said I need to stretch more to avoid the Achilles pain I'm having on my left ankle, and he gave me three new shoe suggestions that have a firm upper foot, which will help me avoid the toe pains I have been experiencing. He also fitted me for new orthotics, saying most orthotics are good for about 5 years before replacement is needed. Mine lasted 15 years!

Thursday I went to the local running shop of choice, Westchester Roadrunners and tried on several pairs, ran a few yards on the local streets, and settled on the Asics Gel Nimbus model.

Running shoes have come a long way in the past 20 years. There are shoes designed for flat feet, high arches, pronators, heavy runners, and all types. These shoes are designed for high arches, with a lot of cushioning. If you want to check for shoe recommendations for your feet, try Roadrunner sports. They have reasonable prices and their site should provide some ideas. Then go to you local store and try them on, and run in them if possible prior to taking them home. I also picked up four packets of Gu, which is a thick liquid energy boosting substance that some runners use during long races. I figured I might as well try it out.

Today we met at 72nd street in New York City and ran north up a path along the Hudson River. Our group began about 9 am under sunny skies and temperature about 65 degrees. A beautiful day to run! We went thru Harlem, thru a park, then over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey. We then turned around and followed the river back to our starting point and logged 18 miles today. I consumed 3 packets of Gu during the run and I liked the results. They are not earth shattering, but it seemed to bolster my energy level a bit when I was tiring. My persistent toe pain and Achilles pains were reduced to a minimum, which was great. The 18 miles were challenging, especially the hills leading up to the bridge entrance, but the run was completed without feeling completely spent.

My only problem was discovered about 6 miles into the run when a blister formed and by the end of the run I had a bit of blood showing thru my shoe. A "rookie mistake" was made by wearing the new shoes without breaking them in on several shorter runs.

In the end I added something else new today, a new blister. Hey, it beats a sore Achilles and sore toes! It was a successful 2.5 hours of running this morning with several friends. In two weeks we'll go a little farther, 20 miles.

Enjoy your week!

When is not enough, too much?

Beware, running is highly addictive.

Once you begin and find a rhythm in your run, it becomes habit forming. Once you run one mile, you'll strive for two. Enter your first race, and you'll look forward to the next, hoping to feel better during the run and improve your time. How do you do that? You train harder. This can be some combination of running more miles, cross training with weights, biking, swimming and running at a faster pace. Once you get some positive feedback by bettering your time, you might try a longer race. Here you'll find more experienced runners who have already been thru what you are experiencing. Naturally you are competitive, so what to do? You train harder!

This, my friends is where we get into trouble. We find ourselves overly tired, our body starts to fight back with aches and pains in places we are not used to, and we lose some of the fun of running. When training for a marathon, there is the feeling that you can never train too much, that the race is so long and difficult, you always need to ratchet up the intensity level from one week to the next, to get stronger. Like most things in life, you need to find the right balance in training. Not too much, not too little.... just right! This requires patience, forced days off for rest, and a keen sense of listening to your body. When your body aches too much, back off for a day or two.

When I was starting out, my theory was anything worth doing was worth doing to excess. Use this theory in training and you are sure to burn out! My current theory is, rest is as important as running.

So Saturday is a well deserved day of rest, and Sunday is a group 18 miler.

Stay tuned!

Power outage then back to work

Friday night and Saturday we had the remnants of hurricane Ernesto blow thru the New York area. Knowing it was on it's way, I decided to run my Saturday 10 miler on Friday afternoon on a treadmill. Aside from some minor foot pain, this went well.

Saturday then became a day of rest, so I headed to "Blondies" in NYC to watch the Michigan State Spartans beat the University of Idaho, 27-17. Back at home, we found Ernesto stole our power!

Labor day weekend was like camping out at home. No electricity, but we did have hot water, gas stove, and a barbeque. So it turned out to be a nice quiet weekend of playing cards and yardwork.

This was a good ending to the summer and to the week of recovery we had last week. This week it's back to pounding the pavement, and at the coach's request, at a faster pace. Yesterday was a 5 1/2 mile run, an easy pace halfway, and a faster pace back. It felt pretty good. This morning was an 8 miler consisting of a half mile warm up, followed by 6 X one mile runs at a faster pace, with a quarter mile cool-down at an easy pace before the next mile. This was a bit challenging, but all body parts arrived home in workable condition, so so far so good.

I have been trying to figure out why my feet have been hurting. Could it be I need new shoes? Could my 1991 orthotics need to be replaced? Do I need to tinker with my running form? Tomorrow I have an appointment with a Podiatrist, and I'll bring my shoes and orthotics and my complaints for his input.

As for running form, here is a good article which briefly describes proper form.
Proper running form

I hope you are running well!

Peers