How many miles did you run today?

[Michigan Planner]

8.7 miles this morning, spread across two "runs" since I screwed up the workout I programmed into my garmin and somehow set it to give me 15 1-mile repeats instead of the 15 30-second repeats I had planned so I had to turn of the workout and just use my timer. Oh well.

This was the first time I've seen other runners at the track in maybe two months (though most mornings I do see a running group who likes to meet up there but then go run in the neighborhoods). I did an extra half mile slow when I was done with my second set of repeats and then a final mile at what I thought was 10k pace. That's normally around 7:10 or so for me now but when I looked down at my watch I saw I was actually closer to 6:30. I ended up finishing that mile at 6:20 and felt great... no fatigue or soreness. I think it helped that there was a guy running at roughly the same pace as me and we kept trading places back and forth, keeping pace with each other for my final two laps.

A year ago (or even 6 or 8 months ago) there's no way I would have been able to run a mile under 7:00, let alone under 6:30 after running 30 30-second sprints with only a few seconds of rest between them. Not bad for a guy in his 40s!

Perfect weather once again with temps around 55º when I kicked it off.

 

[Churchill W]

A year ago (or even 6 or 8 months ago) there's no way I would have been able to run a mile under 7:00, let alone under 6:30 after running 30 30-second sprints with only a few seconds of rest between them. Not bad for a guy in his 40s!

That's surprising to me. I'm new 'round these parts, but I always assumed you were a seasoned lifelong runner.

 

[kjb]

Yup, that's Sixpoint. Not really 30 miles around that area, but I'm sure you could put together a tour around places near the bridges and probably get like 10 miles. Sixpoint is about 2.5 - 3 miles from the Manhattan/Brooklyn bridges, so both ways that's already 5 - 6 miles. Other Half's brewery is also near there as well as Threes Brewing and Finback recently opened a location in Brooklyn.

We live near Columbia, so the ride down from here was already 17 miles taking the long way on the Queensboro and through western Queens and North Brooklyn.

I also learned about, IIRC, a women's owned brewery called Talea, that is near McCarren Park in Williamsburg.

I also picked up a 4 pack of this the other day to try out:

View attachment 1611615

Haven't gotten a chance to try it yet.

cool man, thanks! i haven't heard about Talea before, that's a new one for me to check out. i love OH and didn't realize Finback opened a brooklyn outpost, i've only been out to the location in queens.

Grimm is my favorite brewery in NY by far, and interboro is right around the corner if you want to do a fun brewery day around williamsburg.

 

[Michigan Planner]

That's surprising to me. I'm new 'round these parts, but I always assumed you were a seasoned lifelong runner.

I've been running for decades but never really put much effort into it.

I began running back in '97 when I went to Marine Corps boot camp. I wasn't one of the fastest guys in the platoon but I could hold my own (3 miles in 18:00 was a "perfect" score for the running portion of our PFT. I never achieved that but could usually get pretty close). When I got to my first duty station in Okinawa, I worked in the Commanding General's office so I wasn't in some big unit that had much organized PT but I worked with a Master Sergeant who was big into running. We'd go out with him before work or during lunch and get a few miles in around our tiny base and I remember him pulling me aside one day and telling me that he could see in my gait that I could really go a lot faster or further if I wanted to and he'd be willing to coach me. I scoffed at this old guy (looking back, he was probably younger than I am now!) and just kept plodding along. Sometimes I kick myself for not taking him up on the offer... same as how I kick myself for not joining the cross country team in high school when the girl I had a crush on asked me to join (not that I think I would have been a great high school athlete, but because I think I really would have enjoyed it more than the tennis team).

Over the years, I got older and fatter and slower but I still kept running. I don't think I'd ever run an organized 10k in over an hour, but my times were definitely creeping up there. I wasn't getting faster, and I really just liked being out there running and being alone with some peace and quiet (or to fire up the music in my headphones that nobody at home wanted to hear since my wife isn't as big of an Ice T or Andrew W.K. fan as I am ). From '17 to the start of '20, I also got more into weight training which also probably slowed me down some (I went from averaging about 1,200 miles a year for the preceding 5 years to averaging closer to 700 miles during that stretch).

Fast forward to the start of last year and I was up to nearly 195 lbs (my waist was pushing 37" and I'm only about 5' 8", on a good day) but I wasn't feeling unhealthy probably thanks to the fact that the weight gain was so gradual and as a StyleFarmer, I've got nicely tailored clothing that hid the weight! Once the pandemic hit and things shut down that meant no more daily Starbucks frappuccinos, no more going out to the bar for some unhealthy food and a couple beers for lunch everyday, etc and before I knew it, my clothes were falling off without even ramping the mileage back up (I also haven't been back to the gym since March 11th or 12th of 2020) . Once I discovered that weightloss, I decided to see what would happen if I did increase my mileage again and start setting goals and actually focusing on the running.

I'm now down about 40 pounds from where I was in February 2020 and my times have improved dramatically across the board. I'd like to lose about 5 more pounds and think that that's totally possible this summer, but I don't think I'd be able to lose much more than that without completely cutting out beer and ice cream, and that ain't happening!

One other thing that I think has really helped me is getting a Garmin watch. I'd been using Strava for a few years and RunKeeper for 6 or 7 years before that but having access to all that realtime data (and more) right on my wrist during my runs really helped keep me motivated and remind me to push myself and stop just plodding along enjoying the scenery (full disclosure: I am a professional data nerd and work with economic modeling and forecasting and geographic information systems so I'm one of those people who feel more data is better).

 

[Churchill W]

cool man, thanks! i haven't heard about Talea before, that's a new one for me to check out. i love OH and didn't realize Finback opened a brooklyn outpost, i've only been out to the location in queens.

Grimm is my favorite brewery in NY by far, and interboro is right around the corner if you want to do a fun brewery day around williamsburg.

The original Finback location is about a 15 minute bike ride from where I grew up, so I try to make a trip when I'm in that part of Queens.

I had Grimm and Interboro on my to visit list so definitely will check out now with your recommendation.

I'm also contemplating a trip out to Coney Island for their brewery, but not sure if my cycling fitness is there yet. It's about 20 miles each way. I could definitely do it, but those last several miles may be a slog.

 

[Michigan Planner]

For those of you who cycle in NYC (or San Fran for @sugarbutch or any other large Metro out there), I've always wondered how difficult/annoying it is to try and get so many miles in when you've got so many streets to worry about cross-traffic or to just worry about traffic in general. Are there trails there in the city? I imagine that's more possible out in Brooklyn or Queens (I loved the Seinfeld clip where George asked Kramer if he wanted to go to his parents' with him in Queens and Kramer's response was basically, "Sure, I love going to the country!"). My limited time in NYC and even out in Hempstead, did not make it seem like a place I'd want to ride a bike. Maybe it just takes more bravery than I have though.

FWIW, I was once hit by a car while riding a bike through Naha, Okinawa, Japan but there wasn't any damage other than my pride.

 

[kjb]

For those of you who cycle in NYC (or San Fran for @sugarbutch or any other large Metro out there), I've always wondered how difficult/annoying it is to try and get so many miles in when you've got so many streets to worry about cross-traffic or to just worry about traffic in general. Are there trails there in the city? I imagine that's more possible out in Brooklyn or Queens (I loved the Seinfeld clip where George asked Kramer if he wanted to go to his parents' with him in Queens and Kramer's response was basically, "Sure, I love going to the country!"). My limited time in NYC and even out in Hempstead, did not make it seem like a place I'd want to ride a bike. Maybe it just takes more bravery than I have though.

FWIW, I was once hit by a car while riding a bike through Naha, Okinawa, Japan but there wasn't any damage other than my pride.

most NYC cyclists will do weekday rides in the parks (just loops of central, or prospect if in BK). weekend long rides generally means leaving the city. most will cross the george washington bridge and head up into north jersey then new york state on a highway called 9W with a very wide shoulder (if you drive up it on a particularly nice saturday morning you can pass literally hundreds of cyclists either going out or coming back).

i'm on the jersey side next to the river, to get anything more than say 15 miles (which i can manage riding around my town or make my way down to a park and do loops) i'd have to ride the shoulder of a 2 lane highway along the hudson river. it's a pain and the road is crap, the shoulder is narrow or nonexistent, and average car is going 40mph. i'm not entirely comfortable riding that long on that type of road yet.

traffic sucks a lot, you get used to it and i can anticipate the major intersections but it's always a little fraught. it's a lot of stop and go until you hit either the highway or the park. most of the cities here have bike lanes but it's still the city so an extra level of attention is always necessary. most city cyclists have a hardness to them that i currently lack, they tend to be super aggressive and outspoken mainly because you have to be to keep yourself safe.

 

[Michigan Planner]

I've been working from home since the middle of March 2020. I hadn't been in my office at all from March 16th until after the 4th of July and then I started going in once every other week. I only started doing that to get a bit more peace and quiet and to occasionally get out of my wife's hair. In January I started going in 2x a week since I sort of hit a wall of productivity with my at-home set up... and my wife reminded me that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I work for the government and those of us in our department had been asking to be able to work remotely for years but there were always issues of perception and tax dollars so it was never allowed. I'd been enjoying my WFH time as it meant no commute and more time for a.m. running and was sort of dreading when we'd have to go back to a traditional schedule.

Today my employer announced our "Return to Work" plan and thankfully they are going to allow us to keep WFH 2 days a week through at least the rest of the year (I imagine this will be permanent for many departments here) and they've basically given up on "normal working hours" for those other 3 days giving us all sorts of flexibility. No complaints from me since I'll be able to continue my a.m. running without having to wake up dramatically earlier or rush to get ready for work afterwards.

 

[Fueco]

My wife has been working from home for three years now. The flexibility it offers is great, and I do think that more companies recognizing that is a silver lining to this last effed up year.

 

[kjb]

Speaking of 9W, saw this come across my feed today. Like what the heck.

the truly wild part is the “again”

 

[sugarbutch]

Finally got back on the bike after work yesterday. 23 miles. So nice! The wind was crazy, though, so the bridge section of the ride was a bit rough. And loud. The new railing on the west sidewalk I’m designed to reduce wind load on the bridge has the unintended effect of howling in high winds.

For those of you who cycle in NYC (or San Fran for @sugarbutch or any other large Metro out there), I've always wondered how difficult/annoying it is to try and get so many miles in when you've got so many streets to worry about cross-traffic or to just worry about traffic in general. Are there trails there in the city? I imagine that's more possible out in Brooklyn or Queens (I loved the Seinfeld clip where George asked Kramer if he wanted to go to his parents' with him in Queens and Kramer's response was basically, "Sure, I love going to the country!"). My limited time in NYC and even out in Hempstead, did not make it seem like a place I'd want to ride a bike. Maybe it just takes more bravery than I have though.

FWIW, I was once hit by a car while riding a bike through Naha, Okinawa, Japan but there wasn't any damage other than my pride.

There are definitely streets to avoid, but it’s mostly possible to ride either on streets with bike lanes and enough bike traffic that drivers are sorta looking out for you or quieter streets where you have the road mostly to yourself. There’s one relatively flat route connecting the east and west sides of the city called the Wiggle, and I use that to get through the busiest part of my typical rides. Once you get to Marin (about 9 miles from my house) the options are plentiful. Not a lot of bike lanes, but enough to feel safe-ish. I do try to avoid the popular climbs on two-lane roads on the weekend, though, because they’re just as popular with people driving to the various spots in the hills and on the coast.

 

[Dusty Heaters]

Summer arrived here today, topping out around 85f with full sun. Thankfully it wasn't too humid and still had a bit of heat acclimatization left from a recent vacation…though not too much.

Went out for my speed workout of the week. This time increasing the length of the intervals just slightly from 2:00 to 2:30, but kept the rest the same at 2:00. One of the things that stood out to me as I watched some of the race footage from last Saturday's 10K was my form at toe off. I've been making a conscious effort these past couple days to stretch out my hip flexors & psoas muscles that I assume are constricted from sitting most of the day. The stretching coupled with a concerted effort to increase my foreword lean from the ankles and better body geometry during the take-off phase seems to add a bit more power to my stride. I'll keep at it and see where it goes. Subtle adjustments over time have worked well for me in the past.

7.2mi, 7:05 pace, 154bpm HR
Work interval paces: 5:50, 5:48, 5:46, 5:46, 5:59

Happy with this, all things considered. I'm doing well on lower weekly mileage and enjoying my runs a lot more.

 

[jbarwick]

Dusty making interval work sound easy.

I got in 7.5 miles in the neighborhood. Just putting in Zone 2 effort. Tomorrow morning will be weights then maybe a short bike session tomorrow night. Thinking Thursday for my speed session but I really need to see if the greenway opened back up otherwise my speed will include hills.

 

[ultravisitor]

5 miles of fartleks followed by another 2 of just plain walking.

 

[Churchill W]

For those of you who cycle in NYC (or San Fran for @sugarbutch or any other large Metro out there), I've always wondered how difficult/annoying it is to try and get so many miles in when you've got so many streets to worry about cross-traffic or to just worry about traffic in general. Are there trails there in the city? I imagine that's more possible out in Brooklyn or Queens (I loved the Seinfeld clip where George asked Kramer if he wanted to go to his parents' with him in Queens and Kramer's response was basically, "Sure, I love going to the country!"). My limited time in NYC and even out in Hempstead, did not make it seem like a place I'd want to ride a bike. Maybe it just takes more bravery than I have though.

FWIW, I was once hit by a car while riding a bike through Naha, Okinawa, Japan but there wasn't any damage other than my pride.

@kjb laid it out pretty accurately. Pretty much anyone looking for a 25+ mile ride will head out over the George Washington and head north. I think I've seen some people on Strava just ride up north through the Bronx and further north after that, but I think majority of people do the GW and route 9W route.

One thing I thought I'd bring up, and I don't know if it's true for his side of the river, but there is a growing hate for anything on two wheels mainly from pedestrians. I can see where they are coming from though. Most cyclists only take red lights and stop signs as suggestions and some don't follow the rules at all, e.g., riding the wrong direction on a street or riding on sidewalks. Possible that it's just NYC cyclists as the bike infrastructure has been growing more recently so more (mostly inexperienced) cyclists on the road. I just recently started riding myself through the city's bikeshare about 4 years ago before buying my own bike in 2019. My first since my childhood.

Went for my regular weekday run today so 8.76 miles with an average pace of 8:02 minutes/mile. At mile 3 and change, there was couple walking their dog (on leash) and I couldn't get past them on the elevated walkway we were headed down. I jumped off the walkway just down about 18 inches and jumped back up after I cleared them, but did a full body plant instead. Landed on my hands, knees, and feet and got right back up and on my way. Right knee is a little scraped up and starting to feel some impact pain. Hopefully doesn't get too much worse.