Sham 2022: Results!

This past weekend was the VB Half Marathon (The Sham) and yours truly absolutely crushed my past record AND set a new all time personal best. And we're not talking seconds either.

Let's put this in perspective. In 2016 I ran this race, in admittedly bad weather. My time, per Nike+ was just over 1:45. That next month I ran a half in NJ And ran a 1:40. That was an exceptionally flat course with high winds. Half head half tail.

I returned to the Sham in 2018 and "ran" 1:42:04. I say "ran" because I did the total opposite of the training plan. I went out too fast, and burnt out about 2 miles to the finish. As in walked a bit. 

2019 I skipped because of personal reasons I won't get into here. However in the fall of that year I decided to make a number of changes to my training. First, I realized from the 2018 training block that I was going waaaay too hard and there was no way I would be able to do that again. Besides, it didn't seem to do all that much to increase my performance. So this time I decided to do MAF training. MAF training is an aerobic training method. I did not realize it but I was very very much out of shape aerobically. Like many other people I thought that since i could "run fast" I must have being in good cardio-vascular health. 

No. Not at all. Well better than most but not where I should have been.

So I got a heart rate monitor and had it beep at me whenever I went 5 BPM over my predetermined rate taking into account the MAF formula (180 BPM - Age). I added 10 to that because I wasn't injured. Well at that rate, Mr. Tunji was walking. Yes. Walking. If I did a 9.5 min mile I was going fast, I won't go into the details as you, the reader, can do a search for "Road to the Sham" and read about it.

Due to COVID, well no, due to the government response to COVID, Sham 2020 was cancelled.  I continued with the MAF training up to the 2021 Sham. Didn't do much different training wise but I did decide that I would change my diet. Enter intermittent fasting. I had been annoyed that for all the running I did, I had this little "pooch". I saw a documentary about Kipchoge and saw how much he ate so I knew it wasn't how much  was eating. Well in a few months, I went from around 188 to 175. I have been there since. I eat the same things and I don't eat the same things but what intermittent fasting did for me was stop my night snacking. Heck my evening snacking. You would be surprised at how many calories you consume *after* dinner. On top of that I booted a lot of sugar out of my diet.  These modifications helped to force my body to consume fat for energy rather than depending on the sugar in the blood which you only have but so much. So the 2021 Sham came

The difference that year was that the course was changed. A. LOT. There were a lot of turns which slows you down and street crossings. Street crossings with traffic.  Yeah, like the training runs. Oh did I mention the high winds? 

None the less I did that course in 1:40:55 which was a huge improvement and possibly could have gone faster but I knew at mile 3 that I was "in trouble" because I heard a 8:30 mile tick by. That's a lot of time to make up. And yes, it was at the part that was very twisty and had a street crossing. Considering that environment, the time I posted was quite impressive. But I knew I wanted the 'real" course.

So after the 2021 Sham and after a little break I decided to add to my training. More miles. Over the summer I instituted a one hour run a day rule. All my runs would be for one hour. I covered whatever distance I would cover in that time. I took my ego out of my runs and some days I ran 8:30 to 9:50 min miles. I did a lot of that. Building the aerobic base and making my body burn fat. 

More weight fell off.

The next thing I did, was correct my breathing. I had always run while mouth breathing. COVID made me very aware of how bad that was immunologically but now I was looking at it in terms of oxygenation. The research showed that nose breathing was superior to mouth breathing in terms of oxygen exchange.  By September of 2021 I was able to do all my runs without opening my mouth for anything other than nutrition.  This was a total game changer. With this development I could tell when I was pushing too hard. If I felt the urge to gasp for breath that meant I was going to fast and needed to back off.

The down side to this was I am always running with a runny nose. Now I know why those elite runners are always blowing their noses.

When I got into my training good and hard around Dec. I instituted the next big change. No more gradually going up to 12 mile long runs. Every long run was 12 miles. Some slow, some slow then fast. Some fast. But I wanted my body used to 12 miles. I wanted 12 miles to feel like just another run. 

Mission accomplished.

So 2022 Sham result? 1:38:13 (1:37:09 according to Nike+)

7 minutes faster than 2016

4 minutes faster than 2018.

1.5 minutes faster than my PR in NJ.

Oh and negative split the course.

I'm running faster now (at 50) than I was at 44. 

Now that wasn't just the training. There was a race day plan:

1) Biggest problem I had was starting out way too fast and then slowing down too much. So I set my phone to tell me my pace every half mile. I didn't want to be surprised that I ran a whole mile to slow or too fast. I would also occasionally check my watch to see if I was on pace.  I maintained my pace to within 2 seconds for the entire race.

2) No ego racing. Somebody passed me? Good luck see you later. I've been the kind of person that if I see someone ahead of me that I didn't see before, I gotta go catch him. If someone passed me, then I must be going too slow so speed up.  Only to crash about 2 miles out and slow to a crawl. Now the question is, am I running my designated pace? No? too slow? speed up. Too fast, slow down. Check watch. Check breathing. 

There was a guy who blew by me at around 1.5 miles in. Disappeared. I passed him at mile 12. He was walking.

We ALL feel great at the beginning of the race. It's how you feel at mile 10 and 11 that counts most.

3) Proper nutrition pre and during race: I thought I could carry water and be good. No. Just no. 

I thought I could not eat. I mean it's early and I don't like food in my stomach.  Yeah, no.

Get up early enough to put in enough calories to run on but not enough to fill your stomach. If you train and run properly you're not going to be burning any of that for a while, You need minerals and vitamins. You sweat those out and that's going to cause problems later as your blood electrolyte balance goes off .

Train to know how much you need to carry or have held for you. I've seen people end races with stuff left over. That means you either didn't follow your plan or you didn't have a plan and brought to much. Now you have extra weight carrying around. Either situation is not ideal. 

So my advice to you if you want to improve:

MAF training. It's going to take a while if you are not aerobically fit.  

Nose breath if you aren't already. I passed a guy and I could tell he was on limit due to his mouth breathing.

Get as many miles in per week as possible without injuring yourself. Most of it slow as hell.  

Intermittent fasting. You are likely carrying around weight you don't know you can lose. It's worth it. Also it helps with the MAF training as it helps to move your body off sugar dependency.

 And that's all folks. Thanks for reading.

Sham 2022

 Registered. It's ON! I was on the fence about doing the Sham in 2022. Firstly because I have work drama that is unresolved. But I've decided that regardless of how that goes, I'll spend the money to do the race. That means registration and hotel. 

The second issue was that this year they changed the course. I believe that course change along with very strong winds and an open course contributed to me not making my target time (though I did PR). And by "open course" I mean that there were points where we had to cross streets. Obviously that means a slow down and stop. The 2022 course is back to the old course (so far) so that's goods for me as my training is more like the actual run (out and back without stops and without a hell of a lot of turns).

As for training; if you followed me last year then you know I got into MAF training with stellar results. I'm into year two and still getting more benefits. As noted in a previous blog I'm not nose breathing which is a great indicator of my overall CV condition. It's also a nice way for me to gauge my effort without having to look at my phone or watch for pacing. 

Also since I am now running over 100 miles per month (hey I'm not elite!), which previously only happened in the late stages of my training, I'm going to train differently this training block.  Starting in Jan I'll be doing about 130 miles per month with 13 mile long runs. I don't usually get to 13 miles until Feb but the way I feel now, I think I can do that without injury. Avoiding injury is key.  Why January? Holidays mess up eating and other habits so I don't want to commit to a schedule. 

I also do intermittent fasting (16-8) and holidays will mess with that. Also getting in Blackjack hours is something to work around. Playing late nights is better for EV (expected value) due to less people at the table, but ruins sleep. If you're at a hotel with a 11AM check out, this can be very problematic.

Another problem is the increased cost of training. Last year I was able to stock up on older model sneakers via Burlington and Marshalls. Well they have squat for inventory now. Apparently the brands are keeping these items to themselves this year. I'll likely need to replace a few sneakers by race day, though my race sneakers are still good to go (hopefully they don't disintegrate due to lack of use). I'll be checking two brand's outlet stores to see if I can get bargains but I don't look forward to paying 50%+ more for these sneakers again.

So it's on. Let's see if I can PR.

Six Percent House Edge!!!!!?????

 Went scouting yesterday for blackjack games with good rules and low minimums. Didn't find any. Turned my eye to video poker, which is a losing game off the bat but can become positive if the payouts are "correct" and the mailers are decent.  I was going to play a little bit to make the trip "worth it" but  the payouts needed to be "correct". It would still be losing but that day I was willing to do that.

Looked at Jacks or Better: 6:5.

For all denoms.

5% house edge.

The best you got was 8:6 in the high limit room at $25 per coin.

At $25/coin I expect 9:6 and nothing less. 

Then there was Bonus Poker. I don't recall the actual pay table but I DO remember that they whacked the two pair pay to 5 coins. Full pay bonus poker pays 10 for two pair. 

No thank you.

For kicks I checked the Deuces wild. I'm not as familiar with this game "on sight" like I am Jacks and Bonus but when I saw that 3 of a kind and straights paid the same I figured something was wrong. I saw that 5 of a kinds paid 50. I KNEW that was wrong and I also knew that completely wrecked the expected return.

When I put it into the Wizard of Odds calculator:

6% house edge.

So say you put in $200 and play 500 hands per hour. at 25cent per coin, you're playing $625/hour.  You've lost $37.50 in that hour. In 3 hours you've lost half your buy-in. And that's just on the EV. Actual Value can mean your $200 is gone in an hour or less. Particularly if you fail to:

1) Play perfect strategy

2) Are unfortunate enough to not hit a 5 of a kind OR 4 deuces in that session.

Yet there were people playing. Me? I went home.

Why? Take that JoB game. at it's proper payout (9-6) the house edge is about .5% So that same $200 with 500 hands/hour and $625/hour (and that's a SLOW rate). The expected loss is $3.12. I can play for quite a long time. Again, Actual Value will be far more or less than that but why would I volunteer to lose $37 for a game I should only lose $3?

Maybe that's OK with you. It's not OK with me. Apparently, it's OK with the people playing...assuming they even did the math and....I doubt that. But that's another problem for another day.

Milestone Achieved

 Haven't posted here for a while but for those who check you know I've taken up MAF training. Well it's been about 20 months of it and I hit a milestone: Total nose breathing!

I had noticed on one of my runs last week as well as some bike riding that I wasn't mouth breathing as often as I used to. In fact, my breathing wasn't as labored (relatively speaking) as I had been accustomed to. So today I decided I would only run as fast as I could while only breathing through my nose.

6.5 miles later a finished run without even a gasp. And it wasn't a slow one. Not race pace but not slow.

Low EV and Cheap Hotels

 So now that I've done my racing I'm back in the Casino. Unfortunately, I had a severe downswing that resulted in me having to lower my EV significantly in order to protect my bankroll. with lower EV means having to watch what's spent on things OTHER than playing. This means that you look at hotel stays a bit differently.  So instead of the normal  Hampton Inn, I went with Quality Inn. Let's just say "Quality" would be a vast overstatement. Imagine walking into a room and seeing this:

Yeah. thems stains of some sort. I don't know from what but I knew one thing, I wasn't sitting on it. I'm not even going to get into the clientele. It's usually a bad sign when you have signs about extra charges for smoking in the lobby AND room. It's also a bad sign when people who look like they may be doing some illegal substances are sitting in doorways.

It's really not a good sign when first thing in the morning you see 4 police SUVs pull up. 

Yeah. That low EV life is not at all nice. 

Should I discuss the black spots in the bathtub caulk? No? OK.

Let's just say I won't be returning to this establishment. Period.  When I pay for a "cheap" hotel, I don't expect much in the way of amenities. I do expect a chair and chairs lacking in what appears to be bodily fluid stains and what appears to be mold. 

I left a note on the chair telling whoever it is that 'cleans" it to throw it away. 

Road To The Sham: Gale Force Winds!

Having arrived on location we have been met by gale force winds. Extremely fortunate that the race wasn't today. Historically this race has been windy so I am prepared for that. Sunday AM still seems to be the best day (the course is open for multiple days) to do the run.

I do not think I will PR for one reason: This is not a proper race. That is we are not on closed roads and have to cross a couple of streets. This means stops that can last minutes if there is no "crossing guard". On the way to the hotel I noticed some people running the route (with this wind I have no idea why) and there was no signage or any of that. Therefore I have been doing a survey via Google Maps. There is a weird turn-about point that I'm glad I looked at ahead of time. I still think I'll visit it. 

In any case:

The intended race kit.

Jan 2021 Mix

 Been two years since I last tried to do the DJ thing. Here's the latest. I need to practice but perhaps you'll enjoy.

sondjata olatunji · Jan 2018 House Mix

The Fit Test

 So I determined that if I want to PR in my next race I would need to run 12 miles in 1.5 hours. That would be a 45 min 6 miler. I was going to run a 10k just to see if I could hit the 45 but then I thought about it. In the race I would be running 13.1 miles. Testing myself at 6 miles with fresh legs will tell me nothing about what I can do after 8-10 miles. So I decided on a 12 mile test run. And I had to run it in such a way that I felt that I could run the next 1.1 miles at at least the average pace of the 12 miles. After all, if I burnt myself out and had to walk the last mile, the effort of the previous 12 miles would be undone.

Mother nature blessed me with a day in the mid 50s, light breeze (my planned race will likely be breezy so this was a good thing) and plenty of sunshine.

Time?

1:28:40

Pace 7:21/mile

9 seconds per mile faster than planned. Included stopping to kick a ball back to some volleyball players and a relatively slow start due to fumbling with my phone.

And unlike last March, my heart rate never approached max. Which means there was plenty in the tank for the last mile and to drop some seconds in the second half. 

With the upcoming winter training, these numbers should improve by March.

The one disappointment is my cadence. It's way too low for what I want to do. There is definitely some efficiency work that I need to do.

$60 Carbon Plate? Yes Please

 So after watching a YouTube video by a runner who went to various discount stores to score running sneakers, I decided to make the same trip. What did I locate? Well the first score as a Boston 8, in blue. There were a lot of pink ones. Sorry, I don't do pink shoes. Period. Stop with that. Those were $35. When I purchased my first pair last spring I paid way more than that. 

So I decided to see what else was out there and I ran across the following:

Yeah, it's "old" tech when compared to the current Nike offerings but:

1)  I'm not being paid to run
2) I'm not being paid to review sneakers on YouTube.

Also, while carbon plate shoes will give you some extra speed, the fact of the matter is that running efficiency and training is what's responsible for most of your performance. You gotta do the work. Period.

But back to the sneaker. $60. For a carbon plate shoe. This originally retailed for $130. Why would I pay that?  However; one of the problems with this shoe showed up rather quickly. After a 5 miler to see how they feel, the sole was already showing signs of wear.  Clearly then I cannot do any kind of regular running with it. The plan now is to buy another pair and reserve them for racing days ONLY.

Word is that you should NOT wear these things regularly because it will change your gait. I don't know how true that is but I don't plan on wearing these for anything less than a fit tests and speedwork.

Also, these people were not lying about how stiff these things are. You cannot bend this shoe at all. Also, turning doesn't inspire confidence. I'll be honest, it didn't feel much different from my current rotation. It's light like my Pegs and Bostons. They are high but I wasn't feeling the "it felt like it was pushing me" thing that I've watched and read. Maybe it's because they are "old" tech. 

Anyway, assuming the Sham is not cancelled again (announcement on Dec 15), I'll probably run it in these. I was originally going to run in the Pegs but if these add a little bit I'll take it. Especially for $60.

Yes please.

And Now, We Fast

 So last year I decided to train differently for the Shamrok-Anthem half marathon. That is I decided to train sanely. I took up MAF training and by late March, I saw results. It's now November and I'm seeing even more results. I'll probably be posting on that in the future as I hope these folks don't cancel the 2021 race via announcement in December. Anyway, I've added a new twist: Intermittent fasting.

One of the goals of the MAF training was to get my body to burn fat for fuel rather than sugar. You can go longer on fat than sugar so for a long distance race, this change would be very helpful. But the one thing I noticed is that I continue to carry a significant amount of abdominal fat. Now I'm not a spring chicken so I know that as we age we generally pack in fat but the thing is that for the amount of running and biking I do, it didn't make sense. 

So I had to confess. I snack. Yes. Yes I do. So even though I eat sensible food, the snacking was undoing the gains, particularly the night snacking where since I'm not doing anything, the food is turned into fat for storage. I had to put a stop to this. Clearly will power was not going to work so I needed an incentive:

16-8 daily intermittent fasting. 

Since I'm not actually trying to lose weight (I am, but very targetted) the idea here for me is not to reduce calories. For the amount of running I do it's not healthy. But to eliminate the extra eating by blocking off 16 hours. Basically, after dinner, there is no eating again until the next day whenever 16 hours is up.

Honestly, the worst part is the last 3 hours. And really the reason why is because generally, I'm not doing anything that takes attention away from the fact that I'm USED to eating by that time. I'm on week three and have dropped weight and actually can tell the difference between what I weigh when I've eaten and when my stomach is empty. 

So far there have been no ill effects on my running, which I didn't expect there to be since I'm not on a starvation diet. I also make sure to take vitamins, etc. during the fast period because of my running and sweating out various elements.

Research says it takes about 3 to 5 weeks for your body to adjust to the schedule. I'm on the tail of week 3. We shall see.

The Swings Of The Game

 Havent' posted much on BlackJack for obvious reasons. Casinos were closed and when they opened I sat it out for a while. Having returned, I have found conditions favorable. EV has gone up because less people can play at once. Yesterday I managed to snag a table to myself. 

Wanted to post a graph showing the swings of the game. This is pretty typical of what I see when playing. 

The x-axis is time from session start. As you see I had a two-hour session most of it consisted of being in the red.  I had a particular goal in mind and a time limit. Knowing the swings when the goal was met, I got up which fortunately was near the end of the shoe, meaning I did not have to waste a positive count.

The reason I know the times is because I exit the game at any -1 count. That's when I record where I stand. So each increment shows me sitting out. You see that -1 counts happen quite frequently in the space of an hour (we had two 10 minutes apart, including the time waiting for a shuffle. 

The takeaways from this post is that yes, there will be losing. In my prior experience, I was coming way underfunded for the expected dips. This can really negatively impact your game as you may never be able to recover to preserve your bankroll. So come prepared.

Secondly, if you are playing a positive expectation game you still need to learn to deal with losing and the higher your stakes the lower those dips will be. Do not panic and manage your stress and keep playing by the math.

Road To The Sham 2021: Back To Stability

 So it's September and I'm back on the road to the March Shamrock Anthem Half Marathon in Virginia Beach.  This means I'm back on the training horse but with some significant changes. First though a note on sneakers.

In the late winter into about July I went on a non-stability shoe spree. I purchased a pair of Nike Vomeros, Nike Pegasus Turbo 2's, the latter was to be used at Shamrock 2020. Obviously that didn't happen. Those sneakers weren't used very much and still sit most of the time. Why? Because they offer no stability at all. I can watch my leg collapse inward with each step (left foot). Even the insert was not helpful. 

The Vomeros were not as bad but they are heavy. I also needed to put the insert in to stabilize my left foot. That sneaker was good. I say was because it's worn now at well over 300 miles AND I can tell that the soles no longer cushion like they did before. 

In late spring i purchased a pair of Adidas Boston 8s. Ooooh nice. Light shoe with a very low profile. Not a lot of cushion but very fast shoe indeed. Best thing was that I didn't need my insert. I think the low profile had a lot to do with it as there wasn't a lot of material to squish. Speaking of squish...

So I purchased a pair of SL20s since I liked to Boston's so much. Big mistake. I hadn't even gotten to 75 miles when I had to retire them from running due to pain in my left leg. I now use them for walking. I'm glad these weren't some $200 shoe. 

So with the weather changing and knowing I cannot use the Boston's for everything and my Vomeros being beat, I decided to go back to my trusty Saucony's and purchased a pair of Guide 13s. 

They. Are. Nice. 

My legs are happy. They put a piece of plastic under the arch. There is no collapsing of my foot. At all. Clearly I need to be on stability shoes. My little experiment with non-stability shoes for every day running is done. Now, It'll be Saucony's for daily MAF running and long runs. Boston's for track speed work or short distance speed work (5 and 10K) and the Pegs for races. Maybe.

Which brings us to the second topic of this update: MAF training.  Last Feb I noted that my street MAF was 8;17/mile (a month out from the expected race). Today I run that at 7:58 with many sections in the low 7s and hitting upper 6s.

I'll hopefully get to do a track session while temps are in the 50s and see where I am there. My intention now is to drop my heart rate by maybe 5 BPM over the winter for MAF runs to see what improvements I can make over the next 6 months. 

I think I'm going to have a great PR in 2021. Here's to hoping.

SL 20s: The Knee Killer

 So I wrote that due to the wet feet in the Boston 8's that I got a pair of SL20s which were more breathable. Indeed they were. Instead of soaked feet I had damp feet. As fate would have it, to make up for the lack of soppiness, these sneakers decided to try to kill my knees.

After a few runs I noticed that the inside tendon on my left knee was sore. My left foot is the "bad" foot. I figured it was due to not using my insert (which I haven't needed in the Boston). I put the insert in and continued to run. Same deal except now I ALSO had knee knock. That is, on occasion my knees were meeting. That doesn't happen to me and I don't have knock knees. This meant that my foot was collapsing inward and that was likely the cause of my tendon pain. 

Looking at the bottom of the sneaker I saw that the inner edge of the front of the sneaker was very worn. This is with 70 miles.  Clearly my foot was doing a lot of rolling.

The SL20s have been retired to walk duty...whenever I wear white. Had I paid full freight for these sneakers I would have been very upset. I didn't so I'm only a little upset. Even the Pegs with a similar mileage (I use it for occasional long run speed tests) weren't that worn.

It goes to show that you have to listen to your body and examine your shoes to make sure you're not headed to injury. I did notice that the SLs moved around more than the Bostons. That should have been a clue.

Your mileage may certainly vary but that's the last SL I'll be purchasing. Fortunately the weather will soon be cooling down and I'll be back to thicker sneakers. So I'll have to find a pair of Vomeros. They are heavy but handled cold weather well, heel wear issue aside.

Running To The Crawl: Not Happening

 So I did not register for the Crawling Crab because I suspected that the currant lunacy around COVID (yes it's lunacy and I've written extensively about it elsewhere), would have resulted in a cancelled race and I didn't want to have reservations to cancel and the like. Sure enough the Crawl is cancelled. Actually it's now a "Hermit" race which I suppose means virtual run. 

No thanks. Not the same. A part of racing is seeing the competition. It's seeing the person ahead of you and saying to yourself: I think I can catch them. It's suffering and seeing that mile marker or clock. It's that big ass finish line banner that makes you dig deep and cut 30 seconds off your last mile.

 So for me the 2020 race season is officially cancelled. Thanks China. 

On the plus side, this allows me to continue to heart rate train for another 6 months. I have already seen benefits and look forward to a MAF test when the weather cools into the 60s. I see no point in MAF testing in hot weather knowing the impact that heat has on your body AND the fact that my last MAF test was in cool(er) weather. The results cannot be comparable.

Run To The Crawl: No Mo' Wet Feet

So per the last post I have a pair of Adidas Boston 8 sneakers. Also it is quite "warm" now. Went for a long run in the 8's and towards the end, say 4 miles, it felt like I had been running in water. When I got home and took off the 8's they were soaked. As if I had dropped them in water.

No bueno.

So given that it wasn't going to be getting any cooler anytime soon and running in wet sneakers was not happening, I had to solve this problem. My saucony's are dead with over 300 miles on them. My Vomero's were dead. They no longer have the "bounce" and as shown in the video the soles are wearing out. The Pegs are for racing and I don't intend to wear them until near race day (last long run before taper) and then on race day. So those were out of the question. Soooooo... I got some Adidas SL20s

As soon as I stepped outside, I felt a breeze on my toes! Yay! They aren't as springy as the Pegs but far softer than the Bostons and far more breathable. Running in 90+ degrees with high humidity has resulted in dampness but not the "been walking in puddles feel that I had in the Bostons. Also, like the Bostons I haven't had to put the inserts into the left shoe. The shoe is pretty stiff. What's better is that they make the Vomeros feel like the anchors they are. I think I'll wait until the weather changes before replacing the Vomeros for winter running (cold feet are not fun).

In other news, even in this hot weather I'm reaching into the 7s for my MAF pace. This bodes well for when the temps drop. If its in the 60s on race morning I should do very well. Virginia is known for being warmer than the northeast so you never know.

Run To The Crawl: What My Sneakers Are Telling Me

Running To The Crawl: Two Fer

Yesterday I saw that the local HS track was open so I planned to do a MAF test today. However; by the time I was ready to run today it was in the 70s and no way I was going to have a good MAF test at such temperatures. So instead I did a two fer:

16 mile bike ride at no more than MAF heart rate followed immediately by a 3 mile run at MAF rate. I haven't done such a thing in years. Tomorrow morning we find out whether I broke my body with an early morning "can't walk" or if I'm fit enough to take that. The latter would bode well for October. Very well.

The NYT Is Trash

Really.

This should have never been OK'd for publication.

Running To The Crawl: Too Hot!

So in a previous post I mentioned that I was going to drop my MAF runs to a lower heart rate. Ha. Jokes on me. Yesterday's 5 miler witnessed me desperately trying to keep at my MAF heart rate while my pace jumped into the....nines.

This was with low 70s. Today I went for a 10 miler and was totally unable to keep MAF rate and so I made it into a threshold run. This means my MAF "runs" this summer are going to feature a whole lot of walking which hasn't happened since January.

So the new plan is, Wake up early (still on lockdown so I don't have to worry about getting ready for a commute) and "run" when it is coolest for most of the week and for faster paced runs I won't worry about time of day. Hopefully this pays off dividends when the temps drop again.

Running To The Crawl: Tick Tock, Tick Tock

VA governor Northam is doing his best to keep me from running an official half marathon this year. Apparently he wants to keep the state shut for a year or so. We'll see how long that, and his governorship, lasts if he does that. Anyway

So One of the things for this summer was to up my cadence by running with a metronome. Today was the first 5 miler with it. Started out at 86 BPM and got it up to 89 by the second mile. Average speed dropped by 13 seconds. This is with a 10 step per minute increase. Once I got into it I realized I can probably do a faster cadence but this was a good start. The no music thing is going to be a problem on long runs.

So clear proof, if you need it, that increased cadence will speed up your pace at the same effort (I was doing a MAF run as well). If this keeps up I may be looking at dropping another 20 or so seconds off my half....whenever I get to run one.