Question for Ed Whitlock

As you probably know I train in a cemetery. I have found this location to be the best for me to deal with winter for a number of reasons.

1. It is only 100 yards from my house.

2. It is cleared as well or better than the roads and certainly much better than sidewalks.

3. Running the 1/3 mile loop repeatedly, if there are any icey patches they can be anticipated.

4. Running the small loops means that you don't face the wind for any extended time, thus evening out the wind chill

5. As the temperature goes down I just put on extra layers, generally just cotton, not a particular fan of tech materials.

6. Going out the door is no big deal if it is cold or snowing. I don't like going out into heavy rain although if it starts during the run that's sort of OK. A coating of freezing rain makes running impossible. This seems to happen less than once a year though.

7. To a minor extent I time my runs to avoid a particularly bad weather event.

Thanks for posting this, Ed. Your insight is excellent, as always. Best wishes.

The advantage of the short loops makes sense.

Thanks Ed

I really envy you for having a cemetary that's cleared in the winter. I used to a lot of running in cemetaries. In Pennsylvania they were always cleared and usually much more passable than the sidewalks and streets were. Now in Massachusetts I haven't been able to find any that are cleared.

In a way it doesn't matter as the ones here have been overrun by free roaming dogs so I use them less frequently now than I used to.

Ed,

Do notice any problems with your ankles and/or achilles when running long distances round and round a small circuit?

Ed, thanks for your posts.

Is there any up and down on your course or is it mostly flat?

I used to run a mile loop through a cemetary in Seattle and loved it.

How do you avoid boredom especially when you are doing a long run? Do you listen to music while you run?

Running properly requires concentration, cicumventing boredom, and therefore the need for music.

I've seen the cemetery Ed runs in and the whole loop is uphill.

A whole loop being uphill? How is that possible?

Curious to what Ed thinks about while running through cemetary? No disrespect intended, but another upside would be if one was to suddenly have a heart attack, they would not have far to go:)

Engineer wrote:

A whole loop being uphill? How is that possible?

Ed is also an engineer and he had them design the path that way.

Do notice any problems with your ankles and/or achilles when running long distances round and round a small circuit?[/quote]

At the pace I am running my achilles don't seem to get sore in spite of fairly sharp bends at the 4 corners of the rectangle. Running intervals on a track with any degree of consistency does cause my achilles to get sore, that is one reason I now stay away from much speed work and have evolved into a long distance racing instead of middle distance.

Ed

How do you avoid boredom especially when you are doing a long run? Do you listen to music while you run?[/quote]

Nothing in this world is perfect. Running round a small loop is boring, but for me the advantages outweigh this and other disadvantages. I don't listen to music while running.

Ed: How long is your current training run? Has your knee improved? An early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too, sir.

J.R. wrote:

Ed, thanks for your posts.

Is there any up and down on your course or is it mostly flat?

I used to run a mile loop through a cemetary in Seattle and loved it.

Loop is almost flat. It is not continuously uphill. Only M.C. Escher can design courses like that and I am not as clever as him. If you have not been exposed to Escher try googling him, his prints are marvels of ingenuity. Enlarge the 4th image at the top of the page for a continuous uphill course.

Ed

A Pied wrote:

Ed: How long is your current training run? Has your knee improved? An early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too, sir.

I think my knee is gradually improving. The length of my training runs and the duration of number of days of continuous running before an enforced rest are both gradually increasing. Racing seems to aggravate it more than training, particularly if there are any steep downhill sections in a race. I did manage to get up to 90 minute training runs before my last race after which I took days off because my knee was sore. I am trying to build up again now.

Ed Whitlock wrote:

Nothing in this world is perfect. Running round a small loop is boring, but for me the advantages outweigh this and other disadvantages. I don't listen to music while running.

I'm partially with Ed on this one. I do a lot of running on a near by 1.04 mile loop, especially as it gets colder and darker. It's a known quantity and lit well enough that I'm safe on it.

I, however, choose to listen to pod casts or audio books on these repetitive fall/winter runs

nothing to say except I always enjoy hearing about Ed Whitlock updates...big fan....please keep us posted