Negative Splits

In my last post, I stated my aim to run negative splits in the Manhattan Half. Everyone seems to agree that starting off easy and speeding up is the best way to approach a long race, but I've never really done it. I guess I've just been afraid of losing time at the beginning that I couldn't make up. For me, trying to run just under pace and picking it up has always resulted in just going out fast and hanging on like usual.

Today, the course was two loops of the park, plus a mile, and I planned to do one loop easy and the second loop fast. I knew that this was a bit crude to really maximize performance, but my goal was more to experience negative splits than to PR.

I lined up with my friend PL at the 8 minute mark, as this was my planned pace for the first loop. In the first mile, I made it a point to go with the flow rather than "bob and weave" through the crowd. I saw runner26 and chatted for a while, chatted with PL, and generally tried to repress my competitive urges and enjoy the run. The result was that the first two miles were pretty slow. The second was over 9 minutes, and the first was probably slower. I forgot to turn on my watch at the start, so I'm not sure.

From the third mile, PL and I picked it up to the planned pace of 8 minute miles, which felt comfortable. As the second loop began, I picked up the pace to close to 7 minute miles. It was nice to be speeding up rather that slowly dying as I usually do in a half, but it was pretty clear early on that a PR was out of reach. I had just given up too much time at the beginning of the race. I felt strong, but hey, I know my PRs for 10k, 5 miles and 4 miles, and I wasn't going to beat any of them at the end of a half.

Toward the end of the race, I heard someone call my name and it turned out to be Flyer CB. I remember well how she ran me into the ground at last year's NYC Half, so it was great to be able to finish with her today feeling strong.

In the end, I finished in 1:41:31 (7:44 pace) -- a minute 33 off my PR. Could I have PRed if I had gone out a bit faster? Maybe. The jury is still out on whether this is the fastest approach for me. One thing is clear though. It's a much more pleasant approach psychologically. It was great to feel fast and strong for the second half of the race. My body also feels much better than before. In the past, half marathons have made me sore, but not today. It felt like a shorter race. Hopefully that's a trend that will continue.

Target One

This year, I'll again run more races than I should. There's no stopping it. The best I can do to keep things sane is to pick a few races to target for my best efforts. Hopefully that will allow me to relax a bit in the other races and not over do it.

In that spirit, I am now announcing my first target race of 2008 (drum roll please). It is the Coogan's Salsa, Blues & Shamrocks 5K on March 2nd. Why, you ask? Here's why:

1. I haven't run a 5K since last year's Coogan's.
2. My 5K PR is in dire need of an upgrade. It's 30 seconds per mile slower than my 10K PR.
3. I'm still enjoying my post marathon backlash of training for shorter distances.
4. I had a great time at Coogan's last year, and I look forward to running it again.

Coogan's is run in Washington Heights, where I lived for my first few years in the city. In fact the route goes right by my old place. My friend PL lives nearby, and will hopefully jog down to join me.

So what about the races before March 2nd? Well I'm planning to run this Sunday in the Manhattan Half Marathon, but I won't be pushing the pace too hard. I have a different goal: to run negative splits. I've never really done it, and this race provides a great opportunity since it's two loops of the park. I'll just do one loop at training pace, as I've done so many times before, and then pick it up for the second loop. How hard could it be?....

Running Ahead

For the past year, I used the online running log from CoolRunning. Recently CoolRunning gave up supporting their log, and sent their users to Active.com. Unfortunately, the Active running log is nowhere near the quality of the now defunct Cool Running log.

The Active forums were packed with complaints from dissatisfied customers. Fortunately, someone posted the URL for Running Ahead, which has a log that is similar in quality to the Cool Running log. I don't know for sure, but is seems like Running Ahead is a one man organization, and that one man does a great job. He stepped up when he saw buckets of Cool Running users coming over, and wrote an import script specifically for Cool Running users. I was able to bring over all of my data, and I couldn't be happier. If you are looking for an online log to use, I recommend you check this one out.

Thank you Running Ahead!

Fred Lebow 5 Miler

After Thursday night's problems, I wasn't sure if I would be able to run on Saturday. I decided to go out and just jog the course if I wasn't feeling strong.

I woke up feeling unexpectedly well, however, and the jog out to the start felt good, so I decided to go ahead and give it a try.

I lined up at the 7 minute mile pace sign (my PR was a 6:56 pace). From there I spotted RB, J-CK among others. I started off with a sub 7 mile, and I felt fine, so I decide to continue to push. In the second mile RB came up and said "wow, if I'm running with you, I must be having a good race!" (yeah, right) I replied that I thought he was running past me, not with me, and indeed he soon moved on. RB has been really moving at speed work these days, but he was looking even faster than expected.

I kept the sub 7 minute miles going, and ended up with a PR 33:52 (6:46/mile), but the real news was RB. He PRed as well, beating his previous best from 10 years ago. Now that rocks.

Although I PRed, I'm still pursuing my goal of 70%AG. This race I matched my last race with 69.7%. That last 0.3% is tough, but I'll get it soon!

Thursday Night at the Races

I drew number four. A good draw, but I wasn't sure I wanted it. A higher draw might have made it easier to drop to the back of the pack and stay out of trouble. I didn't really feel like getting run over by faster runners. "Four!" came the call and I stepped into my place -- fourth from the inside in a heat of 20 runners on a track with 6 lanes.

I was at the Armory in upper Manhattan at the first race in a series of track meets that they call Thursday Night at the Races. After running my first marathon, I had been struck with the urge to work on my speed for shorter races. I had a great time at the 5th Avenue Mile, and if I didn't want to wait another year for that event to come around, the track meets at the Armory seemed like the best opportunity. I had no idea what to expect, and I had come to find out.

I was on an early schedule -- still jet lagged from a recent trip to Japan. I wasn't sure I would make it to the evening, so I went ahead with my usual Thursday morning run with the Flyers, which these days is close to 10 miles went you count in the run to the meet point and back (which I do). I knew this wasn't the ideal preparation for an evening race, but since I wasn't feeling too tired, I decided to go on up to the Armory and check out the scene.

When they called the men's mile event, I went over with well over 100 other guys. "Who can run 4:10?" called the organizer. "4:15?" Before long, he had 20 guys for the first heat. These guys were not lying about how fast they were. They were ridiculously fast. Each heat has slower runners than the last, but not much slower. Waiting for the times to reach my range, I chatted with a few other runners, including DR, fellow Flyer and blogger. I had read his blog, so it was great to actually meet him for the first time.

The cut off for the second to last heat was 5:20. The last heat took everyone slower. My time in the 5th Avenue Mile was 5:57. If I could match that here, I might be able to finish without getting lapped.

The gun sounded and we were off. The runners spread out quickly and my fears of colliding with someone faded. I had run races in the park with 5000 runners jammed into the rec lane. This was roomy by comparison.

As soon as that problem disappeared another surfaced. In the first lap, my mouth and throat suddenly became so dry that breathing was harsh. This had never happen to me before. Was I dehydrated? I didn't think so. I decided to ignore it - hey, it's only a mile right? Watching all the young fast runners that preceded my heat had been a little disheartening, but once I got running, it was fun. I was toward the back of the pack, but not last by any means. As the laps wound down, some of the folks in front of me began to fade, and I started passing some folks. I was able to muster a pretty good kick at the end, and finished somewhere in the middle of the field.

A few minutes after the race, I started coughing. It felt like I had done something abusive to my lungs. It got progressively worse, until I was coughing on each breath I took. I started to worry that I soon I wouldn't able to breathe at all. Another runner asked if I was OK, and told me "it's the air in here, it happens to me too." I decided to get outside for some fresh air. On the way out I passed another runner from my heat that was having the same problem.

Once I got outside, my breathing started to return to normal, but even the next day I was not feeling completely right. By Saturday, I felt normal again. Just in time for the Fred Lebow 5 Mile race in the park. But that's another story....

Running Japan

Before going to Japan this year, I was really excited to have found out about the CHIYODA Soyukai running club, which has a web page in English inviting foreigners to join them in their weekly runs around the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented me from making their weekly time, but I hope to catch them next time.

Although I couldn't make it to a run with the Japanese club, I did get to the Imperial Palace. My guide was Alex (left), son of family friends who live nearby. We met at a subway stop right by the palace, ran the loop, and then jogged back to his house, where both families got together for dinner. The palace loop is lovely -- it's a mixed bag, some wide paths, some narrow, some urban, some more "park like". Plenty of views of the huge moat (pictured left), as well as beautiful park land and structures. I recommend it to any runners passing through Tokyo. My favorite part was a section in which beautiful old trees extended their branches over the path at about the 5 1/2 foot level -- perfect for decapitating me. Fortunately, they were well marked and I escaped with my head.

The Imperial Palace was a great tourist run, but I was thrilled when I found a place closer to home for my daily runs, and I had some great runs in the early hours while the family was sleeping.

That place was the Komazawa Olympic Park -- just a 13 minute run from my sister-in-law's apartment. The park was used in the 1964 Olympics, and now has a running/biking path around it's circumference. The loop is a little over 2 kilometers, and is marked every 100 meters. I loved having access to a marked path so that I could take advantage of the vacation time to get some good training in. I took easy runs, tempo runs, and even ran intervals there.

It was also interesting to observe the people that were out in the park. The path was too short for "serious" bikers, but there were plenty of folks coasting around on simple bikes with baskets on the front. There were a good number of joggers, but very few who were pushing the pace. There were also a lot of folks out walking. I was a very peaceful place.

There was a running store at the park, and I had to laugh when my wife translated the promo for a running outfit being sold there: "You may be in Komazawa Park, but with this outfit on, you will feel like you are running in New York's Central Park!"

At Tokyo Disney (don't ask), there was a path around the park (2 parks really), that was about 5K. It was quite beautiful in places, especially at sunrise, lined by palm trees with a stretch along the water.

In Kochi, I stumbled across a running path along the Kagami River just a few blocks from our hotel. There was a three mile stretch on each side that made a great 6 mile loop. At dawn the fish were jumping, and the many small bridges were silhouetted against the morning sky. I didn't get my camera to the river, but on the left is a shot that I borrowed, that gives you the idea of what I was seeing from the path.

One morning outside of Kochi, we were driving up a gorgeous winding mountain road on our way to a remote Japanese bath house, and we came upon a road race in progress. We passed the finish line, and continued up the road, passing runners going the other way. As I pointed and and made incoherent noises, my wife explained to her sister and brother in law that I would have loved to have been in the race. They smiled and nodded politely.

All in all, it was a great vacation. I was amazed by the great places I found to run, and I suspect that there is much more to be found. Running is very big in Japan, and I hope to experience more of it next time. Aside from finding cool new places to run, I hope to run with a club sometime, and even find a small race that I can enter.

2007

I haven`t posted for a while, as I've been traveling and had very little time on line. I'm in the Kochi Airport (Japan) right now, paying 100 yen per 10 minutes at an Internet Kiosk, but I've got to get an end of the year post done. Please excuse me if it ends abruptly when they call my flight!

Looking back, 2007 was a big year for me. This blog is on my running life only, and it was a great year for running. It was my first full year as a runner, and included many firsts, including my first marathon. I'm more excited than ever about running, and I've got plenty of new goals for next year.

2007 Highlights:
NYC Marathon!
The 5th Avenue Mile
The Need For Speed Relay
Continuing to get faster, including new PRs in December!
Losing a whole bunch of weight

Looking forward to 2008:
Keep getting faster!
Consistent weekly millage - without the pre-marathon long runs
Break the 70% AG ( passed 69% in December)
Flyers Team Black returns to the Need for Speed Relay!
Keep having fun running!

Gotta run -- coming soon, a report on my runs in Japan.