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I’m a long-time fan of portable GPS units, and I recently came across the Dash internet connected GPS unit.  Essentially it is a GPS that uses wifi or a built in cellular modem to lookup and receive data.  Besides the traditional high-end GPS feature of getting a traffic feed you can also:

• use Yahoo! Local to search for points-of-interest near you (much better than the static category searching built-in to current units)
• check movie times
• search for restaurants and read reviews
• sort nearby gas stations by current price
• send address information to your GPS from your desktop
• get software updates downloaded automatically without bringing the unit inside

There are some downsides as well:

• subscription fee for internet access/updates (although if you currently buy new maps every year it might be a similar cost)
• no Bluetooth
•  unit size is on the large side

Since it is fairly pricey, I think I’ll wait until some more reviews are in (right now the reviews are almost all from the beta testers and seem very biased) before deciding if I will pony up the money for one, but it definitely looks slick.  I hope Garmin is watching.

Quick summary of the previous week:

Sat: ran with Jon Laman, had to cut it off at 4.5 miles due to hamstring tightness (pain level 5 out of 10)

Sun: 20 mins easy on elliptical at home + stretching.  No pain.
Mon: off

Tues: off + PT appointment. Performed a bunch of leg exercises. Felt uncomfortable that the only PT had to split time between me and another patient.

Wed: bike 30 mins at LA Fitness + stretching.

Thu: bike 45 mins at LA Fitness + stretching. Ran slowly for 5 mins w/o pain.

Fri: racquetball for an hour was the plan but stopped at 15 mins due to mild hamstring tightness (pain level 2 out of 10).  I was annoyed at myself for neglecting a warm-up.  After stretching the hamstring tightness pretty much went away. Later that night I  came across a Runner’s World article on recovering from hamstring problems.

On Saturday morning I was supposed to run with Jon and a running group (called “Crispy Balance“) he recently discovered. I was fairly nervous about running since it felt tight the night before, but ended up deciding to give it a shot.

I met up with Jon and the “Crispies” at City Island at 9. The group was welcoming, laid-back, and well-organized. Meg, the woman hosting the run, had written route instructions for runs of a variety of distances, ranging from 5.7 to 11 miles and had stashed water and Gatorade along the course in several locations. Introductions were made, then we all posed for a group picture and headed off. I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go since I was worried about my hamstring tightening up again. I made sure to do a bunch of movement to help warm-up before starting and concentrated on keeping my pace really slow.

I enjoyed both the running route (there were a couple of awesome views of Harrisburg from the hills), and the nice group of people. Several were really into ultra-marathon and trail racing. One woman mentioned she celebrated turning 50 by running in the JFK 50 mile trail race.  Very inspiring.  A lot of group members were training for the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, which I thought was really cool since it meant a bunch of people on a similar training schedule.

I felt much better than I had feared earlier, and ended up running 10 miles. My leg felt complete fine until the last 1/2 mile or so, when I could feel a little bit of fatigue/tightness.  After the run I stretched for about 10 minutes and  felt great after that.

Sunday: 1 hour 10 mins on bike + stretching.

Plan for the week:  Bike 3  days and try to get in two 5-6 mile easy runs and a good long run on Sat or Sun.  I’m also going to slowly ease into some hamstring specific exercises to build back strength and flexibility.

I just got back from my first visit to the physical therapy center. Rick, my new therapist, interviewed me for a while to get a complete exercise and injury history. He then had me walk back and forth across a room while he watched my gait. Next he did a whole series of manual tests to see what level of flexibility and strength I had. The coolest part was when Rick put some thin sensors in my shoes and walk around the room again. The sensors were hooked up to a laptop which was able to show the pressure distribution when I walked, which confirmed Rick’s observations about my stride.

Sample screen output

Rick said that the main problems leading to my hamstring tightness are:

* poor gait – I do almost no toe-push off (my toes are tense and are curled up), causing an early foot lift – which increases hamstring load.

* limited flexibility on my ankles, calves, hamstrings

He was great about answering all the questions I had during the exam, especially as he  ran me through the gamut of exercises.

Before I left, Rick gave me a series of stretches to do and mentioned I should try to concentrate on achieving a proper “toe-off” when walking or warming up.

I was really happy after the visit, it sounds like my main challenges are all things that can be improved. At this point I am pretty hopeful that I’ll be able to train enough to make an attempt at a Boston Qualifying marathon later in the year.

I was playing racquetball at LA Fitness on Wed night with Mark and Ryan and got accidentally hit in the head. My protective glasses caught the brunt of the force and I lucked out that only the string portion of the racket directly hit my skin. Unfortunately, the string portion flying at 60 MPH was enough to some create cuts on my forehead. The cuts was initially bleeding fairly quickly and one of the LA Fitness workers saw me and told me to head to the front desk where they had a medical kit. I walked over to the desk and asked the two women working there if I could have the medical kit. One responded by saying something like “ohmygod! ohmygod! I can’t stand blood! You handle it!” and waving her arms. The other woman looked at me and after about 30 seconds said I should probably go get a towel. I walked over to the locker room to take a look.

When I first looked in the mirror, I was a bit concerned because a lot of blood had gathered around my left eye, and I wasn’t sure what the damage was. I used some water and paper towels to clean up the blood and the cuts didn’t look as bad as I feared; there were two slightly ragged cuts about 1/2″-3/4″ long on my forehead ,and a bruise/bump was already forming around the cuts. Mark and Ryan popped into the locker room a few seconds later. An LA Fitness staff member (who apparently CAN handle the sight of blood) helpfully brought some gauze, tape, and alcohol swabs. I cleaned the wounds with the alcohol and taped the gauze over the cuts. When we checked a few minutes later, the bleeding had almost completely stopped.

We had a bit of a discussion on whether it was worth going to an emergency room to have a doctor determine if stitches were necessary. I decided I should go to the emergency room since if I didn’t go and the cuts did not heal cleanly, I would regret it. Ryan lives within two blocks of the Pinnacle Health Hospital in Harrisburg, so he kindly offered to wait in the ER with me.

We drove to Ryan’s and walked into the ER. There were about 25 people waiting, all in various states of discomfort and/or boredom. One person looked like they were having a migraine attack (which made me feel bad since there were some screaming kids in the waiting area too). The triage desk had a sign saying to tell the triage nurse if you had something really serious (chest pain, etc), otherwise take a number and wait to get triaged. It took about an hour for my number to get called. I went into the interview room and the nurses said that for my very minor injury I would get “fast-tracked” and it shouldn’t take long. They took down my basic name/contact info and my blood pressure,pulse, and temperature. They thought I would also get a tetanus shot since my last one was decades ago. I head back to the waiting area to get called again.

About 20 minutes later, a hospital worker called out my name. Sweet! Faster than I thought. At this point Ryan headed home. I followed the hospital worker about 15 feet and we went to a window where she took my health insurance info and co-pay ,and finished the admittance process. She then gave me a restaurant style buzzer and sent me back to the waiting area. Not quite as sweet.

After another 20 minutes went by, a nurse walked in and called out my name. Apparently the buzzer information wasn’t entered correctly. The nurse escorted me back to one of the medical examination areas. A doctor came by a few minutes later and took a look at my head. He said the cuts were pretty superficial and he would just use some steri-strips to close them.  He came back a few minutes later and put the strips on and then the nurse came over and injected me with the tetanus shot.   The shot itself didn’t hurt at all, but the nurse warned me that it would probably ache the next day or two and I might run a slight fever.  At that point I just needed to sign a few pieces of paper and was able to head home.

Thursday update: I’m happy I can’t really see any bruising, but there is a definite bump  around the cuts.  The cuts don’t hurt unless I am wrinkling my brow.  My left shoulder where I got the tetanus shot is VERY sore.    I think I am going to lay off the aerobic exercise for a few days so I don’t accidentally cause the bandages to come off due to sweating. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better after the weekend.

As I’ve written about before, I’ve been struggling a bit with my left hamstring for the last 6-7 weeks.   I felt pretty good after the Chambersburg Half-Marathon, but could feel some hamstring tightness.  I played a bit of 3 person racquetball on Sunday but took it easy, had a complete rest day on Monday, and then ran 5 miles on Tuesday on the treadmill. I felt fine during the run, but immediately after the workout I could feel my hamstring getting tight again and figured this is something that isn’t going away.  I made an appointment with a physical therapist (they are super convenient, offices within a mile of my work and home locations) for early Friday morning.  Hopefully we can figure out the underlying causes and address them.   At this point I’m going to move my “A” priority race from the Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon to a something later, although I will wait until I can train consistently before picking the next goal race.

Executive Summary: 1:38:56 (~ 5 min PR), rolling hills throughout, wind heavy at times, well organized.

Official Results

Motionbased

Background

I ended up joining the race with a bunch of people, here is the quick rundown on the cast of characters:

James – friend from work and in base training mode for an IronMan. He wanted to do the race as a training run since his furthest distance so far this year was 10 miles. He invited me to join him.

Lindsay – using this as a race during her IronMan preparation (and is James’ girlfriend). Loves this event and ran a 1:36 PR here last year.

Ryan – friend from work who is relatively new to running and has been training for the Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon for a few months. Did his longest run yet of 9.3 miles with me on Tuesday.

Myself – been easing back into training since some injuries. Had good volume for last two weeks.

The four of us met on at James’ house at 7:30 in the morning and carpooled the 50 miles to Chambersburg.

The race was held at the Chambersburg Middle School, and when we got out of the car, the sun was out and the weather seemed fantastic. We went inside to register and found the registration process fast and efficient. Holding the race at a school is nice since there is tons of space inside if the weather isn’t great and a decent amount of real restrooms. When we went back outside to “gear up” at the car, the sun had gone behind some clouds and the wind had picked up, making it feel not quite so fantastic. We did about a mile of a warm-up jog and then returned to finish our final preparations before the race. A few minutes before the race the wind slowed down and the sun came out again, making it feel close to perfect. It was really nice thinking of this event as a training run and not a full race, I wasn’t nervous at all. It looked like there was about 250-300 people at the starting area.

Everyone wished each other a good race and the four of us split up to get into appropriate places at the starting area. James and I stayed about 1/3 of the way back from the front.

The course is almost entirely on country roads and traffic was minimal. There were probably 5-6 cars that went by us during the race, and thanks to the volunteers managing traffic (and low volume) , traffic wasn’t an issue at all. The course had been described as “rolling hills”, which I think was a pretty apt definition. There weren’t any killer hills on the course, but there were large hills on the 3rd and 10th miles and plenty of smaller ones in between.

James and I settled into a fairly even effort throughout the first part of the race, although the pace varied a bunch on the hillier areas. I don’t think we got passed by anyone after the mass jostling for position that occurs in the first 1/2 mile or so, and we reeled in a bunch of people. We spotted Lindsay coming by us when we were about 200 yards before the turnaround and she looked really strong. As she passed us, she said she was on pace for her  goal  of a 1:35 finish. Ryan was also doing well when we saw him heading towards the turnaround.

I was very happy with our mid-race pacing. James and I ended up running miles 5-9 at a 7:32/mile pace +/- 4 seconds, despite wind that was pretty gusty at times. Miles 10 and 11 had a bunch of climb and my legs were definitely putting in some effort to keep the pace from falling off too much (splits for 10 and 11 were 7:47, 7:40). I felt like I had a bit of reserve, but really didn’t want to push it to the limit since I knew that would prolong my recovery period. Mile 12 had about 50 feet of descent and was a nice break from the hill climbing, we went through that at a 7:13 clip. Mile 13 was mostly flat ( with a tiny bit of downhill), and seeing the finishing area ahead, we picked it up to a 7:06 pace. Final time: 1:38:56.

This was a new half-marathon PR for me by 4:59 over my Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon last year, so I was pretty happy with the result. On Friday I expected we were going to run this at about an 80% effort, but I think it turned out to be (for me) about a 90-95% effort. I’m hoping to PR again at Lehigh Valley again in 6 weeks, hopefully I can get some solid workouts in and let the taper do its magic.

After finishing, we found Lindsay and she had gotten a new PR of 1:35:23, so she was pretty psyched. Ryan finished in 2:02:00 and was happy to have his first half-marathon behind him. I was really impressed with his time given the very limited training (and the fact that he put in some solid volume the week of the race). I’m sure he will go faster at Lehigh Valley.

We went to the awards ceremony where a decent spread of pizza, chips, pretzels, bagels, and cookies were served. Lindsay received a trophy for getting 3rd in her age group.  After the ceremony was over, we headed back towards Harrisburg. Everyone had a good time and I think we will all be back next year.

It has been really nice having the extra hour of sunlight after work (and some mild weather to boot).  I did two runs at the Wildwood Lake Sanctuary (of Harrisburg Marathon hilly part fame) this week with my friend Ryan after work.

I’m planning on heading down to the Chambersburg Half-Marathon on Saturday morning to hit it as a training run with my friend James.  Assuming I feel good mid-week, I’ll try easing into a tempo run and see how my legs respond.  Based off my Garmin stats, it looks like my reduction in training has cost me about 30 seconds/mile at the same heart-rate.  I’m hoping my muscles will behave and I can start slowly getting back into some higher intensity workouts again in time to put in a good effort at the Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon, which is currently my “A” race.

Executive Summary: 7.1 mile trail race, time: 1:05:29 , 21st out of 110. 75% of the race was in snow-covered hilly woods, 25% on pavement.

Website: Geisinger Humdinger (2008 results)
Background

The past two weeks have been a bit tough on me running-wise. I felt a twinge in my left hamstring while finishing a tempo run 13 days ago, and I’ve been taking it pretty easy since then. I ran 3.5 miles with Nate on Thursday, which was my longest run since the twinge, and I felt reasonably good. I thought I might still have felt some tightness in my hamstring, but couldn’t tell if it was just psychosomatic. I took Friday off and figured I would go with my friend Jon up to the race and see how I felt during the warm-up. If I felt any hamstring pain, I would not race and just end up cheering on Jon.

I woke up around 3:00 AM Saturday morning and my hamstring felt fine. Unfortunately, my right calf was not. It was a painfully tight ball of muscle. I’ve had nocturnal leg cramps a few months ago, so while annoying, it wasn’t something new so I didn’t panic. I tried walking around a little bit and stretching it, and then eventually caught some more sleep. When I got up at 6:30, the calf was still fairly tight, but the pain level was down considerably. I drove over to Jon’s, picked him up, and we started on the 75 minute drive to Danville.

The race was being held at the Pine Barn Inn, which was a nice venue. Race registration pickup was quick and organized, and they had a good spread of food and drinks and plenty of real restrooms. During the drive up, my calf had loosened up considerably, so I was feeling optimistic. Jon and I headed out for a warm-up jog of about a mile, and after the first 400 yards I started feeling nice and loose. We went over to the starting line, heard a few remarks about the course and then we were off.

The Race

For the first few minutes of the race we were all running on the street and had a police car in front escorting us with its lightbar flashing, which was pretty cool. The course then headed across some sidewalks, down a few side streets, and up a hill towards the woods. I went through the first mile in 7:31, which seemed reasonable given the 100 feet rise in elevation.

As we entered the woods at the start of the 2nd mile, the real character of the race was revealed. The course turned into a snow-covered single-track trail and started up a very steep ascent with a lot of zig-zagging back and forth between trees. A few people passed me, and I passed a few people. Being a trail racing newbie, I was a little nervous about trail racing etiquette for passing and was trying my best not to be blocking anyone who was behind me but ready to go faster. I saw my heart rate was hitting just over 180 (about 95% of max HR) and I was wondering if I was being silly going this hard at the beginning of an hour-long race. My feet were slipping a bunch (although I was thrilled that Jon had talked me into buying trail shoes; I would have been really struggling with my normal road shoes), but eventually I reached the top of that hill and the terrain flattened out for a minute My Garmin clocked mile two in 11:33 ( 400 feet of net elevation gain).

Close to the start of the 3rd mile, I tucked in behind a woman who was running a pretty good pace and that helped to reduce the mental effort of following the trail. There were a lot of footprints in the snow, and the trail was very well marked, but it just seems a lot easier focusing on the pair of shoes 5-15 feet in front of you rather than making all the mental calculations yourself. There was a water stop setup towards the end of the 3rd mile which was nice. I ended up hanging close to her through until about mile 4.5, which made the time fly by.

There was a pretty long and steep series of hills around mile 4.5, and I saw a bunch of people walking up them. I looked behind me and saw Jon had caught up and was about 10 feet back, so we walked up the hills together and then started cruising again when it flattened out. The next mile was on fast terrain, but it was really slippery and I came close to losing my balance a few times.

We then came to a section of the course that was about 150 feet long and had some ridiculously steep parts where you had to use your hands to help pull yourself up. The snow on top of the wet leaves made it crazy slippery. Jon passed me on the scramble up and I followed him as we hit another part of the trail which had a lot of steep descent. This lasted about half a mile and I could see where the trail ended and we would be back on the snow-free pavement. As I went around the final mini-turn before heading onto the pavement, I lost my balance and slid on my butt. It was painless and I was up in less than a second, but I was frustrated to have stayed on my feet (and hands) for 99.99% of the trail section only to fall 5 feet before reaching the paved part. Grrr.

At this point I knew the finish line was relatively close, but wasn’t sure if it was 1/4 mile or 3/4 of a mile. I started pushing the pace pretty hard. I think Jon was about 10 seconds ahead of me when I got onto the pavement, so I was working hard to catch up to him, but he was moving at a fast clip too. I made up about half the gap by the the finish line and came in 21st place at 1:05:29 (Jon was 20th and 4 seconds ahead of me).

My body felt really good after the race. Heart rate came down quickly and I didn’t feel discomfort in my hamstring. The post-race spread was nice, there was coffee, beer, bagels, chili, and rolls. Jon and I stayed to listen to the awards ceremony and then headed back to Harrisburg.

Overall I enjoyed the experience quite a bit. The course was challenging and definitely a lot more interesting than most road races. I’m already thinking of the hill training I should be doing in order to prep for running this event again next year.

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