SEATTLE HALF MARATHON 2007

Yesterday I ran my third consecutive Seattle Half Marathon. I think running 13.1 miles a couple days after Thanksgiving has become a good tradition for me. Fortunately, this year the weather was much better than last year. I was happy to see clear skies yesterday morning; though cold, the run was pleasant.



I felt really confident that I would finally break the 1 hour, 45 minute barrier yesterday. I failed, again. I finished in 1:47:45. Here are my split times:

1- 8:02
2- 7:56
3- 8:02
4- 7:53
5- 8:15
6- 8:00
7- 8:14
8- 8:47
9- 8:10
10- 8:09
11- 8:26
12- 8:15
13- 8:43
.1- :49

I actually felt really good during the race. By about mile 5 or 6 I started thinking I would set a new PR. And then the hills came and ruined everything. I struggled up Madison Street (mile 8) but then increased my speed up Interlaken but by then I had used up all my energy, I guess. Once again, I stumbled home the last couple miles. That mild downhill on Republican Street (mile 13) is extremely painful to the quads.

So, after a solid 2 years of training in this sport, I have not improved. I'm very puzzled by my lack of improvement. Of course, if I look at the bright side I have to admit that my body is not as destroyed as it was the first time I ran 13.1 miles, and happily I can report that I did not experience the awful shooting nerve pain in my right shoulder and arm like I did in the summer races. So that's the upside. The downside is that my speed is not increasing. Check out the following comparison of my performance at the last 3 Seattle Half Marathons:








I have no excuses for why I'm not running faster. I wish I could just find an explanation! I can only assume that I'm not trying hard enough, or that I'm not sticking completely to my training schedule. A lot of it is probably a lack of focus. I feel like I've been very consistent with certain *aspects* of my training, but other parts of my training have gone ignored or at the very least I've minimized their importance. Like track work.

So my new commitment is to "The Schedule".

THE TRACK

I had a subtle "breakthrough" workout last night on the track! "Breakthrough" workouts are those occasional workouts when the runner achieves a new time goal, or feels a sustained surge of energy, or otherwise breaks through a training threshold to a new level of fitness or awareness. An example might be if a consistent 8-minute miler were to perform several mile repeats at a 7-minute pace, comfortably. At the moment of the breakthrough workout, the 8-minute miler becomes... a SUB-8-minute miler. And then the runner has a new threshold, setting the stage for a future breakthrough.

Anyway, last night I attacked my track workout with a good attitude. I've really struggled on the track for the past year. Although I recognize that speed work is important for improving fitness and race times, I've mostly been discouraged by my experiences running around the oval, lap after lap after lap. I've been discouraged by two things:

1) my slowness compared to my peers, and
2) my lack of noticeable improvement

Maturity, tenacity, and resignation finally took its toll on me and I am no longer concerned about item number 1. It took rather longer than I expected, but I have finally shed my self-consciousness and I am so much more comfortable on the track now. Also, I've stopped trying to chase those who are several levels of aerobic fitness above me. I'm finally OK with being in the middle of the pack.

But number 2 has been more of a problem; my 2-mile time trial last week was right at 14 minutes (or 13:56-ish) and that's just a few seconds faster than my first one a year ago! How have I not improved significantly?

Well, I finally acknowledged within the past couple months that I haven't been doing the track workouts correctly on Tuesdays. During the last year, I've usually failed to run my splits consistently, run ALL of them, or even SHOW UP for Tuesday workouts. If there was ever a day in the week where I bagged a workout, it always happened to be Tuesdays. Any nagging injury which decided to flare up beyond my capacity to tolerate it always, somehow, managed to affect me most on Tuesdays.

So yeah, I was avoiding the track because it was uncomfortable, and embarrassing.

But no longer!

Last night's workout was actually enjoyable. I was supposed to run 12 repeats of 400's (one lap at a time), with 90 seconds of rest between each interval. My coach's suggestion was to start out and do the first 4 laps at my 2-mile time trial pace (1:45 pace per lap -- see my earlier post this week), then run the middle 4 laps 2 seconds faster, and the final four laps 2 seconds faster than the middle four.

My intention was to run 1:45s, then 1:43s, then shoot for 1:40s to wrap up the workout. Here's what I ended up doing for my intervals, and felt very comfortable while doing it:

1 - 1:41
2 - 1:41
3 - 1:41
4 - 1:41

5 - 1:34
6 - 1:31
7 - 1:35
8 - 1:34

9 - 1:32
10- 1:33
11- 1:22
12- 1:26

My penultimate split of 1:22 was an all-out sprint and it was during that 400 that I felt an unfamiliar "surge" of energy. About 100 yards into the lap it felt like my foot stepped down onto a gas pedal and I suddenly felt propelled forward, as if by some external force. The propulsion lasted for about 250 yards before I realized I was out of breath, but even at that moment I wasn't horribly uncomfortable. It was a strange and beautiful sensation. It felt like a breakthrough!

My next goal is to tighten up the variation in the splits, and see if I can run 12 intervals within, say, the 1:33-1:28 range. I believe I'm supposed to do this workout again next Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes. I sure hope last night wasn't a fluke.

2-Miler

I'm sorry I don't blog about anything but running, but my life is intentionally boring right now.

I plan to run the Seattle Half Marathon in a couple weeks; I feel pretty well prepared for it. My track workouts for the past 5 weeks have been really solid. I ran a 2-mile "time trial" run last week and felt OK. Didn't blaze, but didn't fade, either. Here are my splits:

8 laps, 2 miles:

1 - 1:38
2 - 1:44
3 - 1:47
4 - 1:45
(6:54 first mile)

5 - 1:50
6 - 1:49
7 - 1:47
8 - 1:38
(7:04 second mile)

An interesting breakthrough I've made recently has to do with footwear. I recently finished a very good book called "Brain Training for Runners", by Matt Fitzgerald. In this book, Fitzgerald makes an argument that I have heard before but it didn't fully click until this time for me: the fancy running shoes that we all wear are actually BAD for us! Padded soles and reinforced arches actually promote bad mechanics. Our pre-industrial ancestors raced across the savannah barefoot, chasing meaty ungulates until the prey collapsed from exhaustion. Our bodies are evolutionarily designed to run quickly and for long periods of time -- but in the manner that is naturally achieved while running barefoot. A barefoot runner does not land on the balls of his feet -- that would be too painful. A barefoot runner runs lightly on the forward part of his feet, shortens his stride, and leans forward. Once you throw a pair of padded running shoes on a human being, he learns to overstride, land on his heels, and lean back -- all of which slows him down. Worse than the loss of speed is the propsensity for injury which results from this shod(dy) technique.

I first became exposed to this concept through Ken Mierke, who wrote an excellent book called "The Triathlete's Guide to Run Training". Ken's belief in the "Evolution Running" technique really got me thinking.... about my own technique and my tendency to have sore ankles all the time.

Anyway, Nike makes a pair of minimalist running shoes called the Nike "Free".



There is a very basic sole with almost no padding for the heel or arch. The idea is that a runner will run more like a barefoot runner with these shoes on. I finally bought a pair about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and I love them! I've run a couple hundred miles in them so far, plus done several gym workouts in them (plyometrics, etc.) and I've not experienced any of the standard warning symptoms of which I was warned (sudden calf pain, etc.). Instead, my ankle pain has reduced! I ran a 20-miler in them last weekend and was fine. I've noticed that my stride has self-shortened into a more appropriate stride length/pattern. I don't even have to think about it; as soon as I overstride - ONCE - the painful feedback from my heelstrike forces an automatic correction (shortening) of my stride length. I find myself more easily learning forward into my running stance and it's easier to stay up on my toes.

I suppose the jury is still out, but I'm very optimistic that this might have been a very huge breakthrough in my quest for pain-free (or at least INJURY-free) running. I'm really tired of people telling me that running is bad for me.