The Virtual AJC Peachtree 10K Walk

 Saturday the 28th saw me lace them up to run the Virtual AJC Peachtree road race.  There was just one big problem.  I hurt my Achilles tendon a few weeks back, and running at the current time is just about impossible.  It is tough to accept, but to earn my finisher's shirt this year, I will have to walk the 10K.  The following is a full report.

I was originally planning on walking the race on Thanksgiving Day, but my help was needed in preparing the meal, so I opted for Saturday instead.  After indulging in a few episodes of The Gilmore Girls marathon on UPtv,  (yeah, I know, I am opening myself up to some vicious commentary by admitting that one), I start to get ready for the race.  One thing immediately comes to mind; I really have no idea how to prepare for a walk.  I have a routine and a good idea of what I want to accomplish on a run, but I am fairly clueless for a walk.  I go with my Garmin 235 and my iPhone but no heart monitor (there is one in the watch), and while I wear my current pair of running shoes, I do not set up the Stryd.  The hoodie and cargo shorts make me feel rather undistinguished.  No bib, no problem.

I choose the Fairhaven bike path for my course, starting right at the beginning on South Street.  No warm-up, unless you count walking from the parking lot to the bike path.  I also choose not to use my Runmeter app since I did not use my heart monitor.  However, I did download the Atlanta Track Club app, which has a tracker that lets you see where you would have been on the regular course.  It dawns on me at this point that I have absolutely no idea what a good pace would be.    I start out not knowing when I would be back or what level of pain I would have to endure.  

I notice a couple of things right away.  For starters, there does not seem to be much traffic on the bike path.  I see a couple of cyclists and some children on their scooters, but for the first mile, not much else.  I am also noticing that it is effortless to hold my iPhone while walking.  I strap on my headphones and turn on the Everton-Leeds United match (ah, the wonders of satellite radio) right behind Rogers School.  I hardly ever do this while running for many reasons, but for a walk that is probably going to approach two hours, it almost seems mandatory.  

There is not much to report for the first couple of miles.  I decide to take the trail's south spur by Arsene Street, figuring I might be able to familiarize myself with the mileage and the course.  The ATC app triggers a comment from the race after each mile is achieved; the second mile is the "blessing of the runners" by the priest at the Cathedral of Saint Philip.  I think of the contrast between that and the lonely path I am currently on, with only trees and the Fairhaven windmills in sight.

When I get back on the main path, I am at around 3½ miles, and I am starting to pick up the pace.  I am feeling excellent, with very little pain to speak of.  At the four-mile mark, I look down at my phone to discover the ATC app has dropped my race and wants me to start over.  Uhh, no.  I am just going to go with my Garmin now and hope to upload my time via my watch and phone.  This is also the time that I turned it around and headed back.

I decided to try to step up the pace and see if I can get under a 11:00 kilometer.  I am successful in the last three segments, even dropping to a 10:38 on my last 1K.  Traffic is still very light, so I am not bothered or encumbered by any interference.  My calculation for turning around is almost perfect; my final time is 1:54:14, which I figure is not particularly great, but the race is walked, and my shirt is earned.

My upload is successful, despite having my recent data sent to a third-party app.  No real problem; my recent data has not been anything to get excited about.  I am feeling surprisingly good, but it was discouraging. To feel the pain in my foot when trying to run across an intersection.  I also do not have that feeling of satisfaction that comes with completing a run, but I could think of worse ways to spend a couple of hours on a nice late November afternoon.  A good learning experience and mission accomplished.

A Full (Okay, partial) Report on the Dover Community Trail

The lovely Mrs. M and I decided to take off for a day last week to escape our COVID bunker.  We decided on a nice hotel in Dover, NH, since the price was right, and New Hampshire is one of the states we can travel to without COVID legal consequences.  After checking some area websites and Traillink.com, I also find a running trail not too far from the hotel.  My early morning run on Friday was on the Dover Community Trail; here are my impressions.

My warm-up run starts at about 6:30 in the morning.  The first thing I notice is the temperature; it is a relatively cool and dry 55°.  I begin my run out of the hotel parking lot and head the opposite way from where the trailhead is located, only to find a dead-end street.  Interestingly enough, I also see a small pedestrian tunnel located at the end of the road that burrows under Route 16.  This allowed me to get in the distance I was looking for and gave me a great place to do some leg swings before the main run—apologies to the cyclist that I almost kicked over.

My main run starts out at the tunnel and heads down Silver St. to Rutland St., most of which is downhill.  A left on Fisher Street brought me to the well-marked trailhead.  Traillink.com said this is where the trail starts; however, I did notice the trail also traveled in the opposite direction.  I believe that the plan is to connect this trail with a more extensive trail located near Portsmouth, but I do not know if this is completed or, for that matter, even open.  Off we go.

The first thing that I noticed is the amount of shade that this part of the trail provides.  With the heat that this summer brought, I thought this would be a great hot weather course.  After about a quarter-mile, the trail goes under Silver Street via an old railroad tunnel.

Tunnel Facing South

 Upon coming out of the tunnel, you will also find another remint of bygone railroad days.

I am not altogether sure what this device was used for, to be honest.  The trail then suddenly ends and pours out into what looks like an entrance to an apartment complex.  You will cross a small street and then encounter what looks like a tiny driveway with apartment parking.  You are still on the trail.  You will discover a fence with some maze-like qualities that you have to navigate to get to the next part of your run.

You will need to pay close attention here, try not to be a doofus like me and run up a neighboring driveway.  The trail continues on to an updated trestle that spans the Cocheco River.

   Coming off of the bridge is where things get a little tricky.  The trail seems to abruptly end at a parking lot used for the town's Amtrak depot; with no trail markings or signs, it would seem logical that this is the northern trailhead, but the trail does continue.  You will have to take a right through the parking lot to Chestnut Street, and once you hit the street, take a left and go over the railroad tracks.  I would tell you here to be careful crossing the tracks, but oddly enough, I saw a few people walking alongside them, strange anytime but particularly baffling at this early hour.  Take your second left unto Fourth Street, and continue about a quarter of a mile until you see another bridge.

Continuing with our theme of the trail not being marked, the trail goes into the woods along the Cocheco River with absolutely no markers or signs.  It leaves the road at the end of a driveway for a propane delivery company and drops down very sharply until you get to a path near the edge of the river.

You will be on this part of the trail for about a mile, and absolutely no part of it is paved.  The trail path itself is very narrow but relatively easy to follow. While there is an occasional tree root springing up and a few uneven surfaces, the footing is much softer than asphalt.  You will also pass a couple of baseball fields and what looked like a public garden before coming out on Whitter Street.

If you cross Whitter Street at this point, you will see a small dead-end street called Whitter Falls Way.  The trail continues down this street and follows the banks of the Cocheco River to the western edge of Dover at Watson Road.  There is a trail sign at the beginning of this street; however I completely missed and decided to continue my run through the streets of Dover.  As it turns out, if I had followed the trail, I would have ended up quite a distance from the hotel with no real clear cut route back.  I would estimate that this part of the trail goes for about two miles and goes through mostly wooded areas; however I have no idea if the track is paved, gravel, or dirt.

All in all, I was on the trail for roughly two miles, which would explain the "partial" in the title.  I thought the trail had more pros than cons.  I liked the fact that there was plenty of shade, an option that I have not had during any of my summer training.  I also liked the fact that you could switch from an asphalt surface to the ground on the same run.  The fact that the surface changes almost gives you the feeling that you are doing two different runs on the same course and helps with things like balance and stride.  I thought that the parts of the course that offered actual trail running was a nice change to a softer landing for the feet and provided ample opportunities to pee (both of which I took advantage of).  The cons were pretty simple.  The lack of trail markers or signs at specific points of the course was frustrating.  If I had not checked out the course information, I would have, at best, gotten removed from the trail, and at worst, gotten wholly lost.  I also wondered if the trail could be of limited use to runners in the snow.  Since I was on the trail for about one-third of my run, I also questioned how well the trail integrates with the rest of the town's running opportunities.  I really liked the rest of my run through Dover; there was a nice mix of hills, the busy streets had nice sidewalks, and never once did I feel in danger or unsafe.  It seemed like if you wanted to take a nice run in Dover, you had plenty of options.

I would give the Dover Community Trail a solid four and one-have out of five stars.  I would love to travel to Dover again to take a long run on the trail and to go back to Patti B's Italian Restaurant to carb load!

The Geneva Lakefront Trail Review

The week after July 4th saw my wife and I travel to upstate New York for a quick vacation.  We stayed in Geneva, a city on the Northwest side of Seneca Lake.  Our vacation had something of a dual purpose; my paternal grandfather was the rector of a Episcopal Church in the city and my paternal grandmother is buried here.  It was as much a pilgramage as it was a vacation, and it was without a doubt the most interesting week off we have ever had.  On the last day of our trip, I got to take a run on the closest bikepath, the Geneva Lakefront Trail.  Here is my complete report.

The trail itself is just under four and a half miles long.  It was a very hot day, and I got out of the sack much later then what I was planning on, so I decided to do an out and back of 5K,  The trail starts at a small but enthusiastly attended kids playground behind a large lakefront hotel and a smaller ice cream stand (more on that later).  There was ample parking for everyone.  As the trail starts, it is more of a large conglomerate of concrete designed for walking by the lakefront and enjoying the view.  There were also some restrooms located in the aforementioned ice cream stand.  No warm up run today, I just decided to get going.

After adjusting to the hard concrete surface and heat (poorly) the first thing that I noticed was the amount of secenery to take in.  On one side, you had a beautiful calm lake with boaters and kayakers dotting the water, and on the other side you had downtown Geneva and the feeling you get when you explore a new venue via running.  The trail's foot traffic seemed fairly busy for a Friday morning, mostly walkers and folks out walking their dogs.  I did not see any other runners, which, given the tempauture and time of day, did not surprise me that much. 

At about the half mile mark, the trail enters Seneca Lake State Park, a small but nice green area located between Route 20 and the lake itself.  I was very surprised to see the surface change quickly from concrete to soft dirt and gravel, then change just as fast to asphalt.  Here the trail turns into more of a defined trail.  The pathway is fairly wide and flat and had markers every half mile.  This is where the heat started to take its toll. I was actually trying to run in the shadow of the trees, which as it turns out, was not a half bad idea.  I am not sure if it was placebo, but it did feel noticeably cooler in the "shade."

After about one mile in the park, I decided to turn around and head back.  I did not really discover anything new on the return leg; the only thing that really caught my attention was that I could see my grandfather's church on the hill as I got closer to the finish.  I finished at the 5K mark at 30:23, not too bad considering the tempauture climbed above ninety degrees by the time I finished.  As I walked back to my car, I noticed that the ice cream shop had an interesting sign

I thought that the shop was selling both wine and ice cream, but it turns out that the product really was wine ice cream.  There were signs that an ID was needed.  Really.

The Geneva Lakefront Trail goes for about 4.4 miles, mostly on an asphalt surface.  It connects to the Cayuga Seneca Canal Trail which runs about 5 miles.  This connects to the Erie Canal Trailway, which spans across the state of New York.  There is really something here for everyone, no matter what the distance.  The trail is clean, well marked, and well maintained.  I really could not find any negatives to speak of, and I hope to run on this trail again.  Enjoy the scenery!

Oh Yes They Call Me The Streak.....

The middle of June sees my running fortunes taking a tremendous swing upward.  I have decided to take the Runner's World streaking challenge of running at least one mile a day from Memorial Day to Independence Day (that's forty-one days if you are wondering).  I managed to start a few days early, and I also decided to up the ante to 2 miles a day, although I am currently not doing any less than 2½ miles on any run.  So far, I have run on 34 consecutive days racking up a little over 106 miles.  Benefits?  Yes, quite a few!

1)  HEALTH.  When I started the streak, I was fatigued plenty, I could not seem to get the weight down, I was having issues with my glutes, and I was having pain in my Achilles tendon during any kind of run.  You would think that running every day would exacerbate the situation, but the opposite has happened.  While I still have bouts with fatigue, in general, I feel more alert and alive, even while putting in sixty-hour workweeks at UPS.  I have lost about eight pounds in a month and a half, and my clothes are fitting much better.  Granted, you can chalk up some of the weight loss to my hectic pace at work, but it would not have come off this rapidly without consistent training.

2)  FITNESS   At the beginning of the streak, heavy wheezing was the order of the day, along with a high heart rate. Any pace below 10:00 per mile was rare.  Simply put, most of these issues are gone.  My focus and breathing are, for the most part, typical for runs of the intensity I am doing.  My heart rate corresponds with runs of this speed, and my pace is usually in the 9:30-9:40 range.  I have also completed two courses that I have not tried in about three years on recent weekend long run days; one a five-miler, the other a six and a half.

3)  CONFIDENCE  The streak itself is something of an accomplishment.  I have had all kinds of excuses to stay in bed.  None of them have stuck.  I feel like I can take on higher mileage, instead of wondering if I can finish a run.

4)  MINDSET  Why check Facebook all the time when you can analyze your Strava and Garmin stats?   Thinking about your running life means you are not thinking about all the craziness the world has to offer.  And of course...

5)  BLOGGING  I have things to write about.

Hopefully, the next seven days will come and go with runs checked off.  I just can't wait until July 4th!

COVID-19, Injuries, Goals Not Met, and Upcoming Races

Greetings from a rainy Sunday during the pandemic.  Seeing how my job puts me in the "essential personal" category, it is pretty much business as usual.  More than usual, actually.  The past few days have been downright Christmas-like.  This has kind of put any bike training on hold for the past week, the days were long and fatigue (or laziness).  Anyway, for the next three weeks, there will be no time off for training or injury recovery, so we will take it a step at a time.

As far as my injury goes, I have been doing some unprofessional Google and internet searching for a diagnosis, and I have come to the conclusion that I have something called Piriformis Syndrome.  The Piriformis is a muscle deep inside the gluteus, when it compresses or spasms, it hits the sciatic nerve and can send pain down the leg.  I seem to have most of the symptoms, leg pain, difficulty standing from a sitting position and going upstairs, pain in the right buttock, and worsening pain when walking or running.

That last statement is the key.  Since I still have to work, I am not sure how hard to push the running.  I could only go for about 1½ miles on the treadmill before the intense pain kicks in.  I am not sure how much of that pain would spill over into the workday.  The positive news is that I have been exposed to an increased workload, and the results have been pretty good.  At certain times I have been downright pain-free.

As far as upcoming races are concerned, I did enter the lottery for the Peachtree 10k in Atlanta on July 4th.  I have heard rumors that everyone who signs up this year will be accepted because of the COVID-19 crisis, but I know nothing for sure.  I would also imagine that the possibility of the race being canceled is still on the table.  The Horseneck Half that I have had my eye on is still on; however, I would guess that even it does proceed, I am not going to have the training to run a half.  We'll see how it goes.

Success on the Bike!

Well, I got the bike to the basement.  It took several looks at the bike trainer set up video, but eventually, it got turned the right way, and set up was complete.  I remembered where the riser (the thing the front wheel rests on) was, in the end, it looked impressive.

I was thrilled to see that the blue flashing light on the WAHOO RPM was working once the back wheel was in motion.  I decided to try the Garmin 235 watch first.  The sensor paring did not have to be divided by workout mode, so I just went into the setup mode and followed the instructions.  The entire process took less than a minute.  So I gave it a test spin, almost expecting the system to fail in some way.  After about five seconds, it picked up time, distance, and speed, and I just kept on moving, almost out of sheer happiness.  I gave it a one-kilometer test, with only minor issues that, in all honesty, can probably be fixed by going in "settings."

I then went into the WAHOO app, for the first time in about two years.  After I tapped the first screen, everything went black and stayed that way.  Bad sign?  I closed the app and reopened, and had much better luck this time around.  After the obligatory and expected updates and password reconfigurations, I repaired the RPM.  Incredibly, after two years, it remembered the tickerX (the sensor that measures heart rate).  After only about ten minutes of adjustments and set up, I was ready to ride! 

Exercise mode in WAHOO now had only three screen options, if I remembered correctly, there were more options the last time around, but I am not complaining.  Again, it could be a settings thing.  Everything is going smoothly, so I decide to try the Garmin at the same time.  Upon turning the Garmin on, I notice that the sensor is not connecting, so like a nerd, I pause the WAHOO, get a connection with the Garmin, start moving with the Garmin, resume with WAHOO, and ride with a sense of technical accomplishment that has rarely been seen under this roof.

My test ride lasts about ten minutes, of which I cover about 2¼ miles.  The upload to Garmin Connect goes through without a problem.  I tried to upload the WAHOO to Strava (it was a longer ride), and after some mild adjustments, it goes through.  My Strava score for a ten-minute indoor bike ride?  Four.  We have some work to do.

To say I was thrilled about how all this played out was an understatement.  Everything seemed to go off without a hitch.  I do not think the Garmin picked up cadence; I do have a Garmin cadence sensor that I might try to install next weekend.  My goal this week is to do 100 kilometers on the bike and then give running a try next Saturday.  I would also like to try running outside, as my form is radically different, and I am wondering if an outside run would be as painful.  For now, I am just happy and relieved everything worked.  Who knows, maybe I will sign up with Zwift!!

Bad News to Report, but Maybe an Opportunity

On Wednesday, I was planning to do a seven miler on the treadmill.  I had everything ready to go and was actually feeling excited to rip it up.  As I was strapping my heart monitor on, and getting the electronics ready, I felt something give in my hip area, followed by some moderate pain.  I did not give it too much thought at the time; I do have pain in my right leg that comes and goes, and usually, pain in that leg subsides once I get into a decent rhythm during the run. 

So I jumped on the treadmill and took off, but after a couple of minutes, I knew something was not right.  I jumped off at about a quarter of a mile, with escalating pain in both my leg and glute.  Again, I did not panic.  I headed to the bathroom for a couple of ibuprofen and globs of Biofreeze.  After this weak attempt at self-medicating, I jumped back on the treadmill, fulling believing that I could navigate the 12 kilometers.  After about one mile, I was in more than moderate pain.  I could sense that the pain was affecting my run in other ways, such as an unusually elevated heart rate, and obvious issue with stride.  I jumped off at 1.5 miles and panicked. 

The pain was difficult to pinpoint as time moved on.  Sometimes it was worse in the glute muscle.  Sometimes in the lower back.  Sometimes on the right side of the hip.  Sometimes in the area between the glute and the hamstring.  But always uncomfortable and concerning.  I decided to give it a rest for a day and see what happens with a run on Friday.

Friday comes with some relief, so I choose to go ahead with a run and see what happens.  My goal is three miles, at something close to, but not quite regular, speed.  The first half mile goes pretty well, I am in warmup mode, and I fell my stride is excellent.  The pain does not escalate, which I take as a positive sign.  I then increase the speed, and everything falls apart.  Similar to Wednesday, my stride falls apart, and the pain keeps growing until I have to quit at 1.3 miles.  The disappointment is so great that I do not even bother to upload the run to Garmin Connect.  My participation in the Horseneck Half Marathon is looking grim.

After drowning out my sorrows by binge-watching episodes of "The King of Queens" (yeah, I might be crushing on Holly just a little) over Friday and Saturday, I suddenly had a "training epiphany."  Why not set up the bike trainer in the basement, like I did when I was rehabilitating from the accident?  All the running information that I have picked up seems to indicate that cycling is not only a suitable method for cross-training but an excellent way to keep your fitness up.  I also know that my Garmin 235 can record a cycling session, although I am not sure how to set it up yet.  Off I go to our shed in the dark to retrieve my daughters' bike. 

The bike is positioned in the shed so that I have minimal difficulty extracting it.  I bring it to the garage and give it the once over.  I find the front tire is low on air, but everything else is looking good.  I still have the WAHOO RPM sensor attached to the back tire, but no Garmin sensors.  So here are all my electronics concerns.
1)  Does the WAHOO sensor still work, and if it does, can I smoothly go back to the WAHOO app and record indoor bike sessions?  I recall that the sensor was hell to affix to the tire, but once everything was pared and set up, that it recorded the session very well.  I never deleted the WAHOO app after I gave up on it for faulty run recording (a three-mile run on the Canal was shown as a 1500 mile run from Newfoundland to Equatorial Guinea) so at least that is still in place.
2) Will the Garmin 235 pick up the WAHOO RPM, and if not, will I be able to affix the Gamin sensors to the bike, and if so, will there still be room for the WAHOO RPM?  I am guessing that the Garmin measurement is going to be the default.  From what I have read, the 235 can sync with the RPM, but I would like to have a backup.  I am not sure if the two Garmin sensors (speed & cadence are separate) would fit, and if they did, could they interact with the WAHOO RPM?
3)  If the WAHOO no longer works, should I get a new indoor cycling app, and if so, would it work with the WAHOO RPM?  I am optimistically hoping the WAHOO app will still work, so I am not going to get too far into this.

I am crossing my fingers.  I am hoping that the bike can be set up with minimal problems, that I can set up the electronics (that you know that I so dearly love) and that they will all sync and properly function, and most importantly, that I can take a ride without the pain in my leg affecting it.  I will post again tonight with the outcome.  Here's hoping for a successful rehabilitation!

Vacation, COVID-19, and a more blog posts

Yes, it has been quite a while since my last blog post.  With a heavy workload and decent but not excellent running level, GITNF has been put on the back burner.  Here are some thoughts after a relatively late night three miler on the home treadmill.

My wife and I are on vacation this week.  We were supposed to travel to New York City to meet up with my daughter for a couple of days, then head up to Niagara Falls with some stops in strategic locals in upstate New York.  However, everything was canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 virus.  I had some beautiful running courses mapped out, such as Central Park, the Lake Geneva trail, and of course, the Niagara Trail (which would have been my first run on foreign soil).  To say that not being able to run these routes is disappointing is an understatement.  This put me in something of a state of laziness, with a very short run on Sunday and tonights three-miler, both on the home treadmill.

I am somewhat focused on running a half marathon in May, the Horseneck Half Marathon in Westport, MA.  My recent training has put me in line to do a half, and the nine miler that I did on the treadmill gave me plenty of confidence.  It looks like (as usual) most of the work will be done on the treadmill.  Let's see how it goes.

Here's Hoping 2020 is a Better Running Year that 2019

As you might infer from both the title and the number of blog entries I have made in the last five months (zero), 2019 was not my best year from a running perspective.  I logged a grand total of 300 miles last year, well under the 600 miles I had done in 2016.  Well, what went wrong?

There were some specific things I could point to.  Injuries certainly played a part; nothing overly serious, but stuff like sore knees and Achilles tendonitis certainly sapped motivation.  As always, hours on the job were a concern.  But I think the biggest issue was a general malaise, a tendency towards talking myself out of running instead of talking myself into it.

I frequently found myself, with time and inclination, wondering what running option to take.  Outside running, treadmill running, or treadmill running at the gym.  Often, after thinking things over, the answer was usually, well, no run at all.

As a UPS driver, finding free time to do anything, much less something like running, between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, can be quite an adventure.  Yes, I logged zero miles during those dates.  However, the good news is that I also dropped nine pounds, which hopefully will make getting started that much easier.

I have made a goal to run 1000km this year (that's 621.37 miles), here's hoping I can get off to a decent start.  Happy New Year!!