It's Almost That Time

How about today's weather? Supposedly we'll be running in 70 degree temps even after cooling off a few degrees from the days high. Soak it in, everybody.

Some people noticed this last week, but a warning to everyone: (unless the weather inspires them to change their hours) the bathrooms will be locked up at 6 PM tonight. Plan your bathroom needs accordingly. Next week, they start being locked up at 5.

Speaking of next week, daylight saving time ends on Sunday, which means even less light for us than we have had and the final two weeks of TRY at the park will have to meet starting at 5 PM in order to get the run in with even a hint of light left. The park "closes" at dark, so we do our best to play along with that. They have always allowed us (and others) to push that limit a bit if you are out there exercising, but safety becomes a concern as well. So, next week and the week after, the meet-up time is 5 and the run starts at 5:05. For those who cannot make the earlier start time, stay tuned for the run under the lights plan and for the after season TRY plan from mid-November til the snow sticks.

I have a mish-mash of actual interesting and useful things for you this week. No, really!

Duerr - here is the [world's most annoying] training plan you asked for. Have fun clicking on all the links. I only did a few clicks and was not impressed, but who are we to question them? Surely there was no way to combine that into one page?

Normally I tend to give away the answers, but this time you have to read it for yourself. Along with this interesting list of "Old Wives Tales - Fact or Fiction", the "must read" for me was the fourth one that that tells you whether or not you should be covering up your head as you run in the cold weather this fall and winter. (I had stumbled across the same conclusion somewhere else recently and felt compelled to share.)

After "always" being on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Jingle Bell Run has sure gone squirrelly on us! Last year it moved location and dates - to the Sunday before the Sunday before - then proceeded to start the race before the official start time because of the crappy weather everyone was standing in. Which was a nice thought, except at least one VIP we know of was doing what he thought was a last minute bathroom break, only to get back outside with the race already started. Anyway, this year, it's back to the weekend before Thanksgiving, but now is on the Saturday. Conclusion - Saturday, November 22nd is this years Jingle Bell Run (still at OCC - race day registration at 8, race at 10 - so they say - but they are NOT to be trusted.) We have a tradition of good TRYer turnout, who plans to do it this year? Early bird pricing is over, but it is still a $5 savings through November, 21st ($25 for adults) compared to day of registration.

I found this last thing interesting. For those frequent travelers looking for a quick workout without needing equipment or for people looking for something they can quickly do while in their living room while watching Once Upon A Time. Here is the "Scientific 7 Minute Workout" (well, it talks about apps you can get, but also has links to the workout itself). It is supposed to work out your entire body and must work because it's scientific. Science!

I grabbed the little cheat sheet for my own convenience:

For those who need more than that, you could always do it again or change the amount of time on each exercise as you see fit. (Since some of you refuse to read what I link to - the recommendation is 30 seconds per, with 10 seconds recovery, meant to be done at 8 out of 10 exertion level. Because, science!) There is also the "advanced" version you could read up on, but that involves dumbbells which, to me, defeats the purpose since it can no longer be done anywhere. Keep it simple, science - no need to get all mathematical on us.

Down To Four

We are down to four weeks of regular TRY (counting tonight) before we have to leave the park.

Tonight, some people are starting early to run a long run - see Aaron's post on the line for details of that. I'll meet up with the others at the regular time and do our thing. Plan for some light rain.

Nothing jumped out at me this week - except for this one article from Syracuse.com. Am I the only one who is totally reminded or own Quick Courting Corey? Now, obviously there are some major differences, but the underlying love story is that they were engaged within a Corey and then are going to be married within another Corey. Eerily similar? Right? It shows that love works in mysterious ways and you never know when your true love will enter your life.

Is Something Better Than Nothing?

I cannot even blame it on the drain this week...

A warm day out of nowhere for our run this week. By the time we run, the heat will be diminishing, but it looks like we will still be running in temperatures in the low 70s which is crazy-crazy for mid October. Should be a beautiful night for a run.

I often allow inspiration to seek me out on what to put in the weekly blog entries...and more often than not lately it has been failing me. I must have offended my muse somehow? I have a couple things to share, that I don't even consider worthy, but am assuming that something is better than nothing so am sharing them anyway.

For those of you who listen to music when you run - I read an article that was so wishy-washy and with such lousy research that I can not even bear to share it with you. I will include the concluding quotes because I thought they were OK:

'There are certain situations, however, in which the dissociative approach to running with music can be unsafe or even rude.

"For safety reasons, don't run with music after dark," says Corkum. "I also recommend leaving music at home for most races as a courtesy to other runners around you. If you choose to use music in a race, keep the volume low enough so you can hear if a runner asks to pass you."

For the majority of runners, music will come in handy on some runs and be better left at home for others. Unplugging and allowing yourself to pay attention to your surroundings, body and breathing can be a highlight of any run.

"Many runners are surprised at what a different experience running without music truly can be," Corkum says.'

[This is back to me now - I know when I cheer at races, there is a noticeable difference in how people with headphones respond to my attempts at cheering, usually to the point of not noticing me at all. So, I personally have a bias against people listening to music on race day because I feel they are missing out on some of the race day experience. I do realize that they don't give a crap what I think, so we silently agree to disagree.]

The second reference is one of those dreaded "slideshow" type posts that are way too common these days, but since we have a lot of women in the group, I figured I should share "10 Reasons Why Women Should Run". Some of these are unexpected reasons as this was meant to be some "fun" reasons, and quickly cover bone density, dealing with your mensies, and increased sexual satisfaction. You're welcome ladies!

That's all I've got for this week. If you have ideas or topics that you would like to write about - or have me research and write about, let me know as I need some new sources for inspiration. (Obviously.)

Blame It On The Drain

Another late post - and rather than accept responsibility for my own actions - I'm going to blame it on the drain. (Gotta blame it on something.) Read to the end for details.

I'm including links to an educational video about eating gluten free (almost 9 minutes) and a yoga video (about 25 minutes). If interested, remember to come back and watch them when you have the time.

Tonight - break up into like minded groups per usual.

Did you know that counting this week, we are down to 6 weeks left of Tuesday night running at the park? The Lights on the Lake is starting earlier than ever - this year they are starting two Fridays before Thanksgiving - but they've shifted days so we actually get the same amount of Tuesdays to run on.

The dates that matter:
We can do TRY at OLP up through Tuesday, November 11th.
The "stroll" (walk that we have ran the last few years) is on Wednesday the 12th.
The dog walk night is on Thursday the 13th.
(Once again there is an end of season run through - Saturday, January 3rd at 11 PM. I've never been crazy enough to do that one.)
I expect enough interest that we will move TRY to another location - typically the creekwalk starting on Tuesday, November 18th.

Are you curious about Celiac Disease or have you considered starting a gluten free diet? This video via Upworthy pretty much debunks the need for a gluten free diet unless you have Celiac disease. It's very interesting if you want to know what little proof there is on the benefits of eating GF for someone who does not have to.

Do you do yoga? Or are curious about it? Here is a video from Runner's World claiming to be "essential yoga" to make you a better runner. If I was as flexible as her, I feel like I could run like a deer. Some of the moves would break me. On the website, below the main video are a couple others I  plan to check out - including one claiming to be yoga with a foam roller.

Lastly - my excuse for not posting on time. I was the perfect cliche last night and went to Lowe's at about 9:30 to buy some parts for a toilet. I mean, really? Why do they stay open til 10? For moron's like me who need them open that late. It was a minor fix and seems good to go as of this morning...but the delay allows me to "blame it on the drain".

FYI - a couple of you claimed to not know anything about "Milli Vanilli". So, go back to a blog post from two years ago, scroll down to the youtube clips and listen to them for 30 seconds each. I assume you all have heard the songs? If not, give them a listen. They were hits back in the day.

One of those turned into a Weird Al spoof that he called "The Plumber Song", but I always thought of as "Blame it on the Drain":

Social Scenes

Please read to the end for a request for runners for a team race. (Or just skip past the photos and read from that point on.)

I cannot tell if we will get away with another too perfect fall day or if the chance of rain will materialize, but either way, I encourage you rare or never go out after TRY to join in for a planned social night. The regular socialites go out almost every week but several others (including me) rarely join in. It's been a while since we've done a "let's all go out night"...so it's time. And if you want my wife and kids to go in, then we can do Whitewater Pub or The Barking Gull as somehow those pass the "not a bar" test that The Cobblestone fails. Plan on some extra time and grabbing a bite and getting to know your fellow running club members!

For the run - pick your partners on the fly - just like we've been doing all year.

Thanks for your feedback on how to make a local run stand out. The best (most usable) idea I received was to give running socks out instead of a shirt. (With a thought of providing the option, it seems like a lot of runners would love the idea. The downside is that it does not allow for sponsors to be advertised on the back of the shirt. But really, has a sponsor on a shirt ever caused anyone to seek them out?)

In my never ceasing quest to provide you all with details on the trends in the running community, I attended the "Insane Inflatable 5k" on Saturday morning. It was at the Fairgrounds - but now how I expected. They took over the upper lot and made what may be the worst 5k course ever: it just took a serpentine path through the whole parking lot. Around the outside and back up the middle and back again down the middle and finishing along the other side, just cones marking some semblance of a path that might have actually added up to 3 miles? Every so often a usually giant blown up monstrosity would await you. Slides, bouncers, climbers, huge blue balls as tall as a person, and all sorts of things I did not even know were possible just by forcing air through them. Did it look like fun? Yes. Did I want to do a few of the obstacles? Yes. Would it be worth the $50 or more dollars to do them? I think that is where the "insane" part of the name came in. It's definitely not meant to be for runners. It's meant for the kid inside of you. Run, if you want, but mostly people walk, with their silly costumes and team themes. Young, old, in shape and out of shape. A lot of people were going through it on Saturday and they were announcing that it was set up for Sunday as well. It proved again that social "gimmick" runs are all the rage.

My little sister and her team had a good time. I did hear from them (and random comments) that there were some rug burn type hazards from all the sliding on plastic/canvas. So, if you do an inflatable run - be sure to protect those parts you care about from the burn.

Here are photos from the two obstacles that most caught my eye.

An awesomely big bounce house - 6 or 8 feet of air underneath you:


And the final slide - I'm guessing about 30 feet high with a 20 foot slide then a jump down and you bounce down the last part on your feet.


You got a shirt, you got a medal (for some reason I cannot explain) and you got burns on your butt, back and elbows. What's not to love?

To end on - an appeal for a different type of social race. The Adirondack Ragnar race was this past weekend and I sought out reports from two different first time participants (on different teams). One report was very short and along the lines of "It was awesome", while the other was more detailed but came down to the same conclusion of being "so much fun" and "would definitely do it again".

So, despite repeated failures to get a team race together, I am going to aim for another one, but aiming a little lower this time. Who wants to do the "Seneca 7" next spring?

What is it, you ask? It's a 77.7 mile race that gives 7 runners total 13 hours to finish running around one of the finger lakes. I assume it's Cayuga lake but am not sure?

The race is on Sunday, April 19th, starting at 7 in the morning. Each teammate runs 3 legs and you end up with a total distance of 10ish to 12ish miles. Each leg is roughly 4 miles in length from a quick glance. As a team you have to maintain slightly slower than a 10 minute mile pace to finish in time.

There is a lot of details that would matter eventually but it's overkill at this point, the least you need to know is that registration is on October 31st and it's a good bet it sells out that weekend. So, we would need 7 teammates at that point willing to pay about $75 each to register. (You can trade out runners later, so there are ways to get in a spare or two if something goes wrong.)

Who is seriously interested? Who is possibly interested? It would be great to have a team from TRY do this. (Even if I'm not involved - It seems like a unique way to celebrate the bond of a running group and to work together for a shared goal.)

That was a joke about which lake, by the way - it's around Seneca Lake and is supposed to be very scenic.

Here is the website with all the dirty details. (I fully admit that other TRYers know a lot more about this race than I do...but since I'm writing the blog I did the best I could getting the key points out there.)

FYI, I'm not considering the "bike team" option, but I guess there are enough bikers (triers) in the group, that you could pull that off? In which case I would not be involved, but I would be that much more impressed by your efforts!

Don't Fall For It

Come on out for lovely fall weather. We will split up into like minded running groups during the pre-run chit chat session.

I looked it up and the beautiful, almost summer like, weather we will have the next few to several days is way too early to be called an "Indian Summer". (For those who don't want to click the link it turns out that should not be used until November - or, at a minimum, after a hard frost.)

As you may have noticed, I've struggled for meaningful content in the blog this year almost every week. My attempts to get guests posts have mostly failed and the sources of my running information just keep recycling the same information again and again. (It could be that I need to seek out new sources?)

I did somewhat like this article that once again debates the most effective workout for runners. It's a wishy-washy conclusion - "the benefits of the various training intensities are complementary to a degree" and goes into how to best balance the ratio of low, moderate, and high intensity running. The short answer - limit your high intensity running workouts to only about 20%. (As with most things I've wrote about lately, this may only matter for 1 or 2 of the people in TRY, but just because you don't train at a near elite level, doesn't mean you can't gain a little bit of a performance boost by being wise about how you do train.)

On the feedback front, I could truly use some input from you jaded, veteran, 5K runners in the group. What does it take for you to come out and run a random 5K race? I know you have more shirts than you could ever want and the race length and experience is boring to you. What WOULD get your attention? Why would you do a random 5K? Do age group awards or finisher awards entice people? Is there something you've seen or heard done elsewhere that could be incorporated locally to make a race stand out?

The reason I ask is because I will be helping with a race next April. But I see the crap-ton of races on the local race calendar and I think it is something that is totally overdone right now. Have we reached a saturation point yet? At what point are there not going to be enough interested people to support all these runs? Are they counting on new people continually taking up running and being excited about races? I know personally I support ones with causes close to me or done by people I want to support, but really could care less about doing another short race. (Well, except for stretchy pants, I suppose. Those are still fun at races!)

Anyway, the Inflatable 5K is this Saturday and I see another glow in the dark run is being done somewhere nearby (Ithaca, I believe). Perhaps the only way to stand out is to do these major gimmicks? (Color, mud, glow, foam, inflate, zombies, etc.) Compared to those types of races, it seems like any "normal" 5K is going to seem boring?

What else? I was hoping for more photos from the Tuff e Nuff from two Sundays ago now, but all I have is these two screen captures from a news story that Escalade, our friend Katie P, and I were briefly shown in. We borrowed a Team Beef shirt for Katie and represented in the 10K portion of the race.

It was refreshingly local compared to the Tough Mudder which has everything sponsored up the wazoo (it's to the point that every wall you climb over, jump off or swim under has a corporate sponsor on it - this morning I just saw photos with Dos Equis bottles floating on top of their ice water obstacle). Ugggh! Enjoy your arctic enema, proudly brought to you by Dos Equis. ("I don't always freeze my labia majora off by jumping into ice water, but when I do, I prefer to take my mind off my frozen 'flappy wet bird' with Dos Equis.)




But I've given up on getting TRYers to care about obstacle course races so I'll just stop now. Well, after I recommend the "Tuff e Nuff" as one to do, if you want to see what they are about, but don't want to pay a fortune or get shocked by live wires or risk excessive injury to get through one. It's as safe as one can be, natural, and has some nice scenery when you get near the top of the ski hills. (And kudos to the organizers for doing one that is based all around being alcohol free.)

Last one - if you are involved in the Empire State Marathon this year, you should know this already, but for those who are not - they just announced a course change last week and will no longer be running into Baldwinsville. They are taking advantage of the lengthened west shore trail and will be using that instead of the loop through the village. I'm sure it is a lot easier, logistically, to not have to close roads or worry about intersections, but it also means that hundreds of less spectators will be along the course. A logical, but not necessarily good change there? It is going to be a battle with boredom for the marathoners and marathon team participants. (The third leg of the four person team is entirely done on the west shore trail. (You better hope for family members cheering you on, because I cannot imagine any random spectators supporting you there.) The half marathon course remains unchanged from what I can tell.

Map is here for anyone who cares.

A Bit More Science

Let me start out this weeks post by admitting that I just had 15 seconds where I could not remember our own website name! Ouch. It might be time to put me out to pasture?

Tonight's weather forecast is beautiful, so I'm hoping for a banner turnout. I may even show up myself. I'll let someone else decide if it is time for a visit to Faith Hill or not.

This weekend - we have a race that several of us have supported over the years, thanks to Escalade's dedication to the cause. (And it was her first 5k with us. Awww, good memories.) The Teal Ribbon Run or "Hope for Heather" as I tend to call it has changed dates and location. This year it will be in Lewis Park in Minoa instead of at the inner harbor. Website details are here. You can still pre-register for $30 for a couple more days or do day of registration for $35. The race itself is Saturday morning at 10:30. I plan to be there jogging with a double stroller and rumor has it that a rare Escalade sighting will be possible!

Thanks to quick-courting-Corey's wedding photographer we have a fun RUNder Construction "reunion" picture to share. (Note, we had to swap in at one spot, but consider this close enough. God only knows how many times Kelly has day dreamed about swapping them in the opposite direction!) I wish I was more concerned about the camera and less concerned about the signs and Berms probably wishes that photo bombing was possible for short people, but, that said, it is an instant classic:



Plus it does prove that during the summer you cannot avoid construction! No matter how well you plan your route.

Thanks to Aaron here is a much more detailed and thoughtful article on running cadence (and footstrike as well). It is hard to summarize here and this all is too much for some of our beginner runners to even worry about. I do encourage the midlevel to experienced runners among us to read through that and discuss the topic in the next week or two. And I can use the metronome app I have to give you an idea of what the "magic" 180 cadence feels like. If it seems significantly faster to you, then you are a candidate for slowly increasing your cadence. (I realize the article says it is not magical - but it will be the easiest way for us all to quickly self-measure against it and can think about future form adjustments from there. For people above that rate - good for you.)

Lastly, I could use some input. Several of you met David and Ellen at Catherine's house and pool party...well they have made the mistake of letting me help them with their neighborhood 5k race for next year. So, I am sort of on the committee for "Paint Westvale Purple", which will be run next April. It is only 2 years old, but has been an immediate success with almost 400 runners and walkers this year and around $9000 raised (this year) for relay for life. When next spring rolls around I may encourage participation or volunteering or, in Ron's case, FINALLY getting him playing music during a road race...so consider this some advanced warning. Right now, I will take any informal inputs you want to give me on "small" local races that you like or don't like how they do things. Especially if you have a race website that you either really like or really do not like, since my first main task will be to give them a "real" website feel instead of the simple google site they currently have.