Phase One: week 3 of 5

Running while traveling is one of my favorite things. Yes, you can get lost - or wander into a really bad neighborhood - but, i don't think there's a faster way to get to know a city or a place than running in it. The plan was to run in the Smokies on Friday - but, a delayed plane messed that up - fortunately I found a pretty cool trail just a little ways off of I-85 on my way to Charlotte from ATL. It was a surreal scene of bright colored fall leaves muted by a cover of fog in the foothills of South Carolina. The last two days I've run in Atlanta - which is a cooler/funkier city than I remembered. Once you get away from the city center there are plenty of leafy residential neighborhoods to run through. The topography is slightly gentler than Baltimore - but, there are plenty of hills if you look for them.

About 12 hours after I get home tonight - I get on a plane for Minneapolis. Our company headquarters is on the west side of the city, which has plenty of parks connected by a series of bike paths. Of course the problem this time of year is the weather. It's only supposed to get down to the mid-20's this week - but, there was the same forecast when I was there last November and I woke up to single digits one morning. This time I'm going to be prepared for anything.

This week is about the same mileage as last week except I'm taking a day off.

Last week
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 7 miles 6X100m strides
Wednesday: 10 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: 14 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 9 miles
Total: 56 miles

This week
Monday: 0 miles
Tuesday: 8 miles 8X100m strides
Wednesday: 10 miles
Thursday: 7 miles
Friday: 7 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 16 miles
Total: 54 miles

old man discusses his favorite websites about running

I'm old school - or maybe just old. I didn't have an e-mail address until I was in college (even then I don't think I used it much), I didn't get a cell phone until I was a year into grad school, I remember playing "pong" - I'm even so old that I remember thinking pong was cool. My first video game system was an Atari 2400 - it was brand new. We didn't have a computer at home until I was in middle school. When I think how completely dependent I am on technology that has been developed since I was 18 - it's a little horrifying.

I click on Letsrun if I want to see what's going on in the running world or just see where "flagpole willy" thinks I should invest my money, I use marathonguide.com for the easy to use pace calculator, I pop onto washington running report for the local running calender and results, I head over to USATF running routes if I'm in a new city and want to see where the locals run or want to measure a route, and of course I go to twss to find out the local workout - or see what the latest post is from a growing list of bloggers like myself. Of course I keep all of this surfing to non-work hours only.

One website that's kind of cool and was started by the local running store in my hometown is half2run - it challenges people to run half marathons in half the states. they have a pretty good list of half marathons from all over the country - and a place to keep track of where you've run.

I probably look at Letsrun more than anything - the front page has a pretty good list of world-wide results with commentary from the sites founders wejo & rojo (the johnson brothers). Lost like diamonds in a haystack are some pretty good posts from the message board (Brian Sell once famously said of the Letsrun message board, "if I wanted to know the opinion of a 18:30 5k runner I'd ask my wife") . They've saved the best in the 4th sticky down on the message board - anything by renato canova (Italian coach of many Kenyans), Hadd, or John Kellogg are my favorites. Jack Daniels will sometimes post as "jtupper" - and all runners should know about the "summer of malmo". And there are plenty of characters such as the aforementioned flagpole willy, the 4:30 miler, meyerhoff, etc.

Instead of post-modern - they should call our age "post-boredom".

Science of the easy run

We tend to discount the easy run as "junk mileage" - is it just about having a big number at the end of the week? Or do those easy days actually contribute to our ability to run fast?

By my count >70% of my training days before Boston will be "easy". So, I hope it's important, otherwise I'm wasting a lot of time - but, how will these miles make me faster on April 20th?

Here are some specific physiological improvements that are made during easy runs.

Stroke volume: The heart is really just a pump sending oxygen & other nutrients carried by the blood to organs and systems that need those nutrients to function. Stroke volume is the amount of blood that is pumped with every beat of the heart. Higher stroke volume means that the heart doesn't need to beat as quickly - and studies have shown that stroke volume is improved due to time spent running/exercising rather than intensity of training (Daniels, 2005). So, even if you were to train harder - you wouldn't necessarily increase your stroke volume.

Muscle development: Easy runs increase the "number, size and distribution of the mitochondria" (Daniels, 2005). Mitochondria are the "only part of your muscle fibers in which energy can be produced aerobically" (Pfitzinger & Douglas, 2001) - they are basically little energy plants that use oxygen to produce energy for the cells they inhabit. Since 99% of energy is produced aerobically in a marathon it's important to have a lot of these little buggers. Exercise also increases the rate at which oxygen can be processed. And third there is an increase in blood vessels in the muscle - basically improving the distribution of oxygen to all parts of the muscle. Finally muscles get better at conserving glycogen, using fat for energy, and dealing with lactic acid through easy runs (Daniels, 2005).

Running economy: Although there are many ways to increase running economy - some researchers believe that the most important factor for improved running economy (both biomechanics and cellular economy) is by the amount of accumulated miles rather than the types of workouts that you do (Pfitzinger & Douglas, 2001).

There are certainly other components that are important for marathon performance that require more intense training (lactate threshold, overall speed, VO2 max) - but, we'll get to them later. For now, all I want or need are some nice easy runs (except for when Fed Hill gets out of control of course).

Phase One: week 2 of 5

Not a whole lot going on racing wise this week. Just a bunch of foolish people on bikes - not that I would ever participate in anything like that.

Anyways - although last week was "week 1" of the 24 week plan this week is the first real step up in mileage - and I add in both strides and a longer run. But, the legs feel very fresh and relaxed - it will feel good to take it up a small notch. I'm going to be in Georgia and North Carolina this week for a wedding and to see my sister and brother-in-law respectively. I'm taking Friday off with the hope to run a little on the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains. Last time I went there I saw a bear just off the path. It's a pretty incredible place.

Last week
Monday: 7 miles
Tuesday: 6 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 8 miles
Friday: 0 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 9 miles
Total: 40 miles

This week
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 7 miles 6X100m strides
Wednesday: 10 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: 14 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 9 miles
Total: 56 miles

Greatest running related movie of all time

There are some decent non-fiction films that show the running spirit out there - "The Billy Mills Story", "Endurance" and on a lower level the Pre movies. But, the greatest movie about running of all-time is "The Jericho Mile". I don't expect the younger generation to know "The Jericho Mile". It was a made for TV movie made only 2 years after I was born. But, someone on my high school team discovered it and the movie became a ritual on the nights before a big race.

The story is about Rain Murphy (Peter Strauss) a man in prison for a murder that, although brutal, is forgivable. He's put in a large Calfornia prison with the worst of the worst. The prisoners are split up according to race - with Brian Dennehy playing the evil white leader. The director was Michael Mann - an in executive producer for Miami Vice, director of Ali, etc.

Anyways - Rain uses running as his escape from the crushing reality of prison life. The prison "sports reporter" realizes he's actually really good - and they try to set up some real training and maybe get him to the olympic trials.

Here is a youtube of the final scene - the greatest scene dedicated to running in the history of cinema. It doesn't really give away any of the plot - but, it does give you an idea of how dated the movie is - which of course is part of the fun.

Here is a youtube from the first scene - which kind of sets up the setting of the film. The only reason that I post it is in the last few seconds Rain's buddy yells "kick! - kick! - kick!". If i yell that to any of my former teammates they would immediately know what I was talking about. The black guys call Rain "lickety split" - when i was in college a random guy in Chicago called me that - it may have been the greatest day of my life (other than the day i got married of course ; ).

What's so special about Boston?

As most people know - the Boston marathon is the oldest annual marathon in the world. It was first run in 1897 - one year after the innagural Olympics. Given the popularity of marathons these days, you might be suprised to know that of the four other "major" marathons (New York, Berlin, London, Chicago) the earliest is New York, which started in 1970. Before the running boom of the 1970's marathoning was not very popular - Boston survived based on tradition.

To get more of an idea of how a non-runner Bostonian views the marathon - this "idiot's guide to the Boston Marathon" by ESPN's the Sports Guy is pretty good. It's not my favorite column of his - but, there are some good lines like - "Any athletic activity that causes you to pee on yourself, justify it and have the justification actually make sense is something I don't want to be doing under any circumstances."

Basically he says that the Boston Marathon is an event (~500,000 people spectate) because people get the day off from work (Patriots Day), it gives people an excuse to be outside when the weather is finally getting good, get drunk, and make fun of other people. Four things that Bostonians love to do apparently.

Phase One: week 1 of 5

Good job to Jake and Ryan on the NYC marathon today. Jake ran a very even paced race off of a great summer of training. I'm guessing Ryan was a little disappointed - but, the good news is that I'm sure he can drop a bunch of time with a little more marathon centered training. The guy has raced 20+ times this year - parties like an animal the last few weeks - organizes our crazy group - and has hardly run a long distance run in the last few months. It was a tough day - but, there's no reason he can't come back to run a qualifying time for Boston in the next few months.

UPDATE: The Boston qualifier is actually 59 seconds slower than I thought. So, Ryan made it in by the skin of his teeth (8 sec). I can't imagine how hard those last few miles were.

Big news from back in my home state of Michigan. My high school team took the state XC meet title on saturday. My old coach, Don Sleeman is still the head coach at 70 years old. When I was a freshman he was still running sub 16 min 5k's - not sure if that says more about my age or his. My senior year (1995) was his last state championship. We were state champs my junior and senior year - one of those years we were ranked #3 in the country. I was fifth man my senior year and got 17th in the state. It was a pretty cool thing to be a part of - and taught me that with a lot of commitment and a little talent you can accomplish a lot - especially if you are surrounded with good people.

Last week
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 0 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 0 miles
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 10 miles
Total: 36 miles

This week
Monday: 7 miles
Tuesday: 6 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 8 miles
Friday: 0 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 9 miles
Total: 40 miles