Road to Nowhere

Recovery Walk: 2 miles on the treadmill

Temp: 68 inside

I'm working an evening shift today, so I was planning to head outside for a morning walk (I usually do it during lunch when I'm on the day shift), but I was still playing handyman after mounting a flatscreen TV above our treadmill (Driving lag bolts is fun!) and got sucked into a History Channel show while getting everything fine-tuned. As I sat on the sofa, complaining how I was killing my time for a walk, I had one of those forehead-slapping moments, put on some shoes and fired up the treadmill.



I had to see if it worked, right?

I walked two miles while testing out a cool feature that mutes the TVs speakers while allowing you to listen to the program through headphones. This is very handy (and it worked well) because it will let Alita use the 'mill for walking or even running in the evenings when Alec is in bed. She likes the distraction of the TV, but you'd have to turn it up so loud to be heard over the treadmill that it'd wake up the kid. With the headphones, that's not an issue anymore. Woot!

The walk was fine, and I do have to admit that it's far less boring with the TV going than just starting at the blank wall. I think I can now see how some people could manage 20-milers on these babies.

That is cool Mark! I think you and Alita will get a lot more use out of the 'mill now. When I was traveling on business a lot a number of fitness centers at hotels had these setups. Was a good distraction most of the time, but when in some countries like China or Japan the only programming was in local language, less so. Then again, you could sometimes get some of those wacky Japanese game shows where it really didn't matter what was being said . . .

Tom H wrote:... when in some countries like China or Japan the only programming was in local language, less so.

Tell me about it! When I was taking the overnight bus cross-country when I was in the Peace Corps in Thailand, the bus was playing a video dubbed in Thai, with subtitles in Chinese. I could speak Thai fairly well, bit I was overmatched.

That the movie was "Full Metal Jacket" probably didn't help much...

Fast Repeats 3 x .29 miles (.87 miles total)

Weather: Sunny, mild. About 60. Gear: Various test shoes, shorts, T.

It's been a couple of months, but I finally got the chance to do a "speed work" session. I call it "speed work" (air quotes mandatory) because, for whatever reason, I can't make myself not run fast when I'm shoe testing at Nike.

I was asked to come in to the Nike Sports Research Lab today to test some variations of something they're working on. (Yeah, I know. Vague on purpose.) It meant doing what I'll call "Sampras Laps" - heading outside from the NSRL, crossing a flat cobblestone plaza and doing a big lap around the Pete Sampras building on the Nike campus. It's almost .3 miles around, and it includes varied surfaces and pitches, including a dandy downhill section that just begs you to let 'em fly.

Let them fly, I did. I didn't have my Garmin with me to track my actual speed, but I could tell I was moving at a nice clip (I probably went sub-7) on the downhill stretch - which felt great - though I could feel my body going "Huh? What was that?" when I looped around the building, slowed down and started grinding back UP the hill.

Between each lap, I'd go back into the lab and provide feedback. So I was totally recovered by the time I started the next lap, which only encouraged me to pick up the speed when I hit that downhill stretch. I probably got faster with each successive lap.

The other nice bit about the course is that there are enough highly reflective office windows around to let you get a glimpse at your form while you're running. My gait feels different now - it's transitioning to more of a mid- to forefoot strike - and the reflections helped me confirm that.

This was such a limited distance that I'm still counting this as more of an active recovery sort of day, but it was nice to get my legs moving fast again.

Nice work on the speed. I bet it felt good to let the legs loose. I also like your mounted TV on the wall. That will turn the boring runs on the treadmill into some sort of entertainment.

kory.wheatley@gmail.com wrote:Nice work on the speed. I bet it felt good to let the legs loose. I also like your mounted TV on the wall. That will turn the boring runs on the treadmill into some sort of entertainment.

Hi, Kory! Thanks for the visit.

My legs really did enjoy being unloosed. Barefoot running is great, but there's something to be said for having a slab-o-foam on your foot that dulls the impact when you let your legs flail away all willy-nilly. It'd probably rip me to shreds if I did it all the time (at one point, I was seriously overstriding and crashing my heel into the ground, just to feel how the sole felt underfoot), but every once in a while? It's a hoot.

Speaking of freewheeling, check out this video from iRunFar.com that shows what happens when top trail runners blast down the side of a volcano while seeing if they could break Usain Bolt’s 100 meter world record of 9.58 seconds.

It's a cool video, but I wish somebody had one of those GoPro cameras on their head while they did it, because it would had made for an amazing first person perspective video that you maybe even play on the TV while cranking the treadmill speed. Now that'd be an experience.

That video is crazy

kory.wheatley@gmail.com wrote:That video is crazy

Yeah. But it looks like a lot of fun. I remember bombing down sand dunes on the Oregon Coast when I was a kid. I bet it was a bit like that.

Low HR Run: 90 minutes (7.55 miles)

Weather: Sunny with puffy clouds, cool, a breeze. 52-57 degrees. Gear: Free 3.0 v4s, shorts, T. Fuel: Carried water in handheld.

This was intended to be a 60-minute run, but it was feeling good and the weather was so nice that I couldn't resist heading out the see if the llamas were home. They were! No alpacas to be seen, however.

Physiologically, I would have been better off with a 60-minute run, I think. I had a hard time maintaining HR discipline. My legs wanted to go faster than my body wanted. That's probably because of my faster running yesterday at Nike, but also possibly a sign that a fresh batch of mitochondria are nearly ready to come online. In my warm-up mile, I was easily running sub-10 with my HR happily nudging my target. Must. Remain. Patient!!!

Average HR for entire run: 135

I am still über jealous of the Nike testing. Nice running as well on your other runs.

To go back a bit, which of those races would you recommend in your area? Remember I am a flat lander so the less hills the better but I don't mind a few hills to allow different muscles to do the work.

Mark B wrote:Low HR Run: 90 minutes (7.55 miles)

Weather: Sunny with puffy clouds, cool, a breeze. 52-57 degrees. Gear: Free 3.0 v4s, shorts, T. Fuel: Carried water in handheld.

This was intended to be a 60-minute run, but it was feeling good and the weather was so nice that I couldn't resist heading out the see if the llamas were home. They were! No alpacas to be seen, however.

Physiologically, I would have been better off with a 60-minute run, I think. I had a hard time maintaining HR discipline. My legs wanted to go faster than my body wanted. That's probably because of my faster running yesterday at Nike, but also possibly a sign that a fresh batch of mitochondria are nearly ready to come online. In my warm-up mile, I was easily running sub-10 with my HR happily nudging my target. Must. Remain. Patient!!!

Average HR for entire run: 135

Looks like things are going in the right direction for you. That patience thing is tricky. Let me know if you figure it out.

Joel H wrote:I am still über jealous of the Nike testing. Nice running as well on your other runs.

To go back a bit, which of those races would you recommend in your area? Remember I am a flat lander so the less hills the better but I don't mind a few hills to allow different muscles to do the work.

The Nike testing is a lot of fun, but no without some risks. Right now, thanks to the shoes I was wearing yesterday (or, more honestly, how I was running in the shoes I tested yesterday), my right ankle is a little sore.

Isn't that ironic? Five miles barefoot, yip-yip-yipping over some rough pavement, and it felt great the next day. Run three .3-mile laps in cushier shoes (cushier than bare feet, at least) and I'm sore. That I was trying to run fast probably didn't help.

Tom H wrote:Looks like things are going in the right direction for you. That patience thing is tricky. Let me know if you figure it out.

I have one part, at least, figured out: Patience is easier when you stick with a low HR target and slow down when the HR starts to drift up. Improvement comes with time, even if the process is slow.

And while I mentioned happily going sub-10 in part of my warm up mile, I should also mention that once I passed through the ravine one mile out, my pace began to fall pretty quickly, and my HR wouldn't stay down. Here are my splits/avgHR from Mile 2 onward: 10:21/141, 11:06/141, 11:34/140, 11:59/140, 11:41/141, 11:59/140.

Patience is also easier when your body doesn't give you a choice.

Don't you know you are supposed to blame Nike for all your issues??? Ask Chris McDougal!

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Don't you know you are supposed to blame Nike for all your issues??? Ask Chris McDougal!

Yeah, that was the most annoying part of his book. I mean, I'm not a fan of giant pillowy soles, but it's not like Nike's the only company that makes them. (I always found most Saucony models horribly soft, until they came up with their minimalist shoes, and some of Asics' hyper-engineered motion control shoes almost killed me.) Moreover... do any distance runners train in an Air Max, or Shox? (Answer: Not for long.) Those are running-shoe styled sportswear, not running shoes.

But I do have to note that in my testing I do sometimes wear pillowy shoes, and I'm usually sore in weird places afterward.

Okay, that's said. Now it's time to skid sideways into a related observation.

I have been fascinated by the response I've gotten when running in minimal shoes or barefoot. There is a visceral fear out there that running without shoes will cause every one of your metatarsals to break into a billion itisibitsi pieces. I've heard very talented runners (not here) reflexively repeating the line "Well, that might work for some people, but not for me. I need some protection."

Yet, personally, I'm finding that the less "protection" I have under my feet, the better I tend to feel. And if it works for me, with my oddball foot anatomy, I bet it'd work for a whole lot of more "normal" footed people. After going barefoot for a while, even Luna sandals feel awkward! (Hopefully, I'll figure out what it takes to make 'em work for me when the terrain gets really pointy.)

I'm not sure if the fear is simply the continuation of the whole "born broken" mindset that led to the development of super-cushy hyper engineered shoes in the first place, or what. But it is fascinating to watch.

Barefoot Run: 2.11 miles w/0.8 on rougher pavement

Weather: Sunny, cool, breezy. Gear: Bare feet, shorts, T. Fuel/flud: nada

This was sort of a "recovery" bare foot run, and I swore to myself that no matter what, I'd not do more than two miles. I started doing laps around the block, but decided to expand my laps a little and (after stopping a couple of times for a chatty neighbor) took it out of the neighborhood and onto a significantly rougher stretch of asphalt. THAT slowed me down! My pace went from the 9s and 10s on the smoother asphalt to the 11s, 12s and 13s (!) as I worked to bend my knees more and minimize the impact on all those pointy little bits.

Now, if that sounds crazy, well.. maybe it is. But barefoot gurus swear that the worst thing you can do when trying to learn how to run barefoot is to run on some soft, smooth surface. The point is teaching your body how to minimize impact through its natural shock-absorption system - and you're never going to achieve that if you don't have something to, er, encourage impact minimization.

Anyway, I did 0.8 miles out and back, and when I got back into the neighborhood, the pavement felt so smooth and easy it was surprising. I immediately sped up... stopped bending my knees so much... and started feeling the jarring impact in my ankle. I remembered to flex my knees a bit more, and the impact feeling went away. Interesting.

Average HR for the run: 128

Joel H wrote:To go back a bit, which of those races would you recommend in your area? Remember I am a flat lander so the less hills the better but I don't mind a few hills to allow different muscles to do the work.

Oops! I just realized I didn't answer this part of your question! The Vancouver Half Marathon is pretty flat, and the Sauvie Island Flat is, as advertised, flat. I'll have to go back and review the other ones on my list and edit this response.

Okay, back to the list:

PROBABLY VERY HILLY: Timberline Marathon & Half Marathon Mt. Hood, Oregon

ROLLING HILLS: June 9: Helvetia Half Marathon & Drop Top 10K, Hillsboro, Oregon

NOT SURE, BUT POSSIBLY SOME HILLS: June 10: Footzone Dirty Half, Bend, Oregon

PRETTY FLAT, A FEW SMALL HILLS: June 16: "Vancouver USA Marathon" & Half Marathon, Vancouver, Washington (!)

EXCEEDINGLY MOUNTAINOUS. OW! June 17: Beacon Rock 25k and 50k, North Bonneville, Washington - super hilly trail race

NOT OVERLY HILLY: June 23: Pacific Crest Half Marathon & Marathon, Sunriver, Oregon

SOME HILLS: June 23: Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon & 1/2 Marathon benefiting the ACS, Seattle

LOOK AT THE NAME. - July 4: Foot Traffic Flat Half & Full Marathon & Firecracker 5K, Portland, Oregon

RELATIVELY FLAT: July 7: Smith Rock Sunrise Summer Classic Half Marathon, Terrebonne, Oregon

ROLLING HILLS: July 15: Fueled By Fine Wine Half Marathon, Dundee, Oregon

ROLLING HILLS: July 22:Harvest Days Run Half Marathon, 8K & 2 Mile Family Run/Walk, Battle Ground, Washington

PROBABLY A FEW HILLS: Aug. 5: Haulin' Aspen Trail Run- Half Marathon (and marathon), Bend, Oregon

PRETTY FLAT: Aug. 26: Eugene Women's Half Marathon, Eugene, Oregon

MAF Test: 6.36 miles total

Weather: Overcast, mild. 56 degrees, a few small raindrops. Gear: Free 3.0 v4s, shorts, T. Fuel: Oatmeal and coffee before, water during.

I was feeling a little beat up after this week, so today seemed like a good day for a nice easy MAF test, where the hardest part is keeping your HR on target.

I met up with my training partner at the local high school and commenced running laps. I was pleased when I saw the first MAF mile was down to 10:27 (from 11:03 a month ago), was a little disappointed when I clocked the next mile in 11:05 but was very pleased when the following miles all came in at about the same time. It was almost as if I burned through the 150 calories of my instant oatmeal in the warmup mile and first MAF mile, then switched to fat metabolism. Hm... I wonder.

At any rate, the run felt smooth, and it felt better as the run progressed. I did a pretty good job of keeping my average HR for each mile at my target of 138. Seeing a Mile 5 time of 11:16, compared with 12:54 at the same HR when I resumed MAF tests back in February, is very encouraging.






Average HR for entire run: 131

Seems like it's been a while since you were happy with a MAF test! Nice to see.
Maybe you should lay off the coffee before a MAF test.

Michael Enright wrote:Seems like it's been a while since you were happy with a MAF test! Nice to see.
Maybe you should lay off the coffee before a MAF test.

You're right, Michael. It has been a while. I've a ways to go to get to back where I was a couple of years ago, but it's a start.

As for no coffee?

I think that'd end up being a NO heart rate run! (And all my MAF tests have been after drinking coffee - in fact, I eat exactly the same thing before each tests to keep that part consistent. Taking out caffeine would be as much of a wild card as, say, doing a MAF test barefoot! Hm... )

Mark B wrote:Taking out caffeine would be as much of a wild card as, say, doing a MAF test barefoot! Hm... )

Oooooh. I can see where this one is going. Watching with interest

Mark B wrote:

Joel H wrote:To go back a bit, which of those races would you recommend in your area? Remember I am a flat lander so the less hills the better but I don't mind a few hills to allow different muscles to do the work.

Oops! I just realized I didn't answer this part of your question! The Vancouver Half Marathon is pretty flat, and the Sauvie Island Flat is, as advertised, flat. I'll have to go back and review the other ones on my list and edit this response.

Okay, back to the list:

PROBABLY VERY HILLY: Timberline Marathon & Half Marathon Mt. Hood, Oregon

ROLLING HILLS: June 9: Helvetia Half Marathon & Drop Top 10K, Hillsboro, Oregon

NOT SURE, BUT POSSIBLY SOME HILLS: June 10: Footzone Dirty Half, Bend, Oregon

PRETTY FLAT, A FEW SMALL HILLS: June 16: "Vancouver USA Marathon" & Half Marathon, Vancouver, Washington (!)

EXCEEDINGLY MOUNTAINOUS. OW! June 17: Beacon Rock 25k and 50k, North Bonneville, Washington - super hilly trail race

NOT OVERLY HILLY: June 23: Pacific Crest Half Marathon & Marathon, Sunriver, Oregon

SOME HILLS: June 23: Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon & 1/2 Marathon benefiting the ACS, Seattle

LOOK AT THE NAME. - July 4: Foot Traffic Flat Half & Full Marathon & Firecracker 5K, Portland, Oregon

RELATIVELY FLAT: July 7: Smith Rock Sunrise Summer Classic Half Marathon, Terrebonne, Oregon

ROLLING HILLS: July 15: Fueled By Fine Wine Half Marathon, Dundee, Oregon

ROLLING HILLS: July 22:Harvest Days Run Half Marathon, 8K & 2 Mile Family Run/Walk, Battle Ground, Washington

PROBABLY A FEW HILLS: Aug. 5: Haulin' Aspen Trail Run- Half Marathon (and marathon), Bend, Oregon

PRETTY FLAT: Aug. 26: Eugene Women's Half Marathon, Eugene, Oregon

Thanks Mark, have you run any of these before?

Glad to see a good MAF test from you, it has been a while. I think you needed that.

Tom H wrote:

Mark B wrote:Taking out caffeine would be as much of a wild card as, say, doing a MAF test barefoot! Hm... )

Oooooh. I can see where this one is going. Watching with interest

Nice emoticon, Tom! I wouldn't hold my breath about it if I were you, but I also wouldn't be surprised if I try it someday just out of curiosity.

Joel H wrote:Thanks Mark, have you run any of these before?

The only one I've run on the list is the Beacon Rock 25k/30k. Now, is it hilly? Well, I'll let you see the course profile for the 25K, and let you decide for yourself. Let's just say that at some point, I was talking to the almighty, asking him to just get me the #$@! off this #$@!ing mountain.



Now that we've dispensed with that race... I know people who've run the Vancouver Marathon and Half Marathon, and its a pretty good course and a pretty well regarded race for a new one. Alita has run the women's half in Eugene (guys can run it, though they're seriously outnumbered) and it's also flat and nice, running along the river on part of the marathon course. I've heard decent things about some of the others (Helvetia Half, the Foot Traffic Flat Half), so there really are some good options.

There are, I'm sure, other options a little farther afield.

Joel H wrote:Glad to see a good MAF test from you, it has been a while. I think you needed that.

Yes, and thanks. But more to the point, what I needed was a training plan that worked. Say what you will about repeats, tempo runs and whatnot, but what my body apparently needs - at least at this point - is good old fashioned aerobic development. This is also evidence that'll help quash any temptations that I've had in the past (and still fight now) to start sneaking the HR up a little on my training so I can go faster. I need to be patient and let it happen on its own schedule.

Ah yes, I had already taken Beacon Rock off the list as I remembered you had done that one and you were cursing the almighty on that one. Thanks for the info on the others. Looks like I have a few choices and now I just need to convince the wife to let me do it and get her up there....hmmm, now that is going to be the TOUGH part.

Joel H wrote:Ah yes, I had already taken Beacon Rock off the list as I remembered you had done that one and you were cursing the almighty on that one. Thanks for the info on the others. Looks like I have a few choices and now I just need to convince the wife to let me do it and get her up there....hmmm, now that is going to be the TOUGH part.

Good luck with that! You might also want to point out some of the amazing/cool/fun things to see and do in this part of the country that don't involve running.

And just to be clear, I was cursing TO the almighty at Beacon Rock, not cursing AT the almighty. And yes, I hope to run that race again, when I'm ready.