Auto Pilot

[Sasha Pachev]

As I paced different runners at the end of Painter's half, and then contemplated the experience afterwards, it dawned on me that there is a quality that faster runners have that we sometimes take for granted. It is the ability to run in auto-pilot mode.

I observed how different women responded to pacing differently, and interestingly enough, the response was directly related to how fast they were running. Ruth told me to go faster, I overdid it, then eased off only a bit, she caught up, and maintained close contact all the way. I did not get to pace Michelle, but I've paced her before, and I know unless you really move out of her range, she will maintain close contact. I did get to pace a few ladies in the 1:28 - 1:34 range, and those were not as tenacious, but still would stay within 10 meters, and were "give me five" responsive. When we went into the over 1:50 range, things were drastically different. I was a lot more gentle on the pace, feeling out the current pace thoroughly, and probing natural pace variations, before taking charge. Then I would increase the pace that I knew was well within the physical ability of the runner to maintain to the finish, and there would be a fast growing gap. Poor response to "give me five". Even after I slowed the pace to what was slower than their initial pace when I found them, they were still not closing the gap!

I believe those slower runners wanted to do their best not any less than the faster ones. But there is a mental quality they had not yet developed that probably could have made them run 10 minutes faster if not more. So how do you develop/improve it? Some ideas:

* Run hard with a mean pacer once a week. Practice maintaining contact.
* Run without music.
* Once in a while run alone hard on a boring course. Give yourself a penalty mile if you fall off pace.
* Do something regularly that requires hard concentration and makes you yawn - e.g study math, read a newspaper in a foreign language and look up every unfamiliar word in a dictionary, or study computer programming .
 

[Paul Petersen]

I've noticed this a little too. A couple thoughts and theories:

1. Nature. Some people are just born with "it". ("It" being mental tenacity). Some people's natural "talent" is the ability to push themselves further than others. That's how they win races against more physically gifted runners.

2. Nurture. "It" can be developed through competitive sports during the developmental years. I think someone is going to have a hard time pushing themselves into exhaustion as an adult unless they did it a lot as kid. Discipline, perseverance, and enjoying pain are things that are learned, but may take a long time and a lot of reinforcement. I view someone who ran competitive cross country and track (or soccer, lacrosse, etc.) as having a big advantage in racing and pushing through pain than someone who just started competitive athletic activity as an adult. So an "average" runner who competed in jr high/high school will probably out-push an "average" runner of the same ability level who did not do anything in jr high/high school, even if they are at the exact same fitness level and training level.

Obviously I'm shooting at the hip here, but isn't that what we do around here? Interesting discussion at least.

[Craig Green]

My thoughts: You just can't downplay how mental long distance running is. I can't count the number of times in my formative years that I ran a race and hit a wall, only to realize at the end of the race that I had more left in me than I gave myself credit for.

I like the "run without music" and "run alone" ideas. I think some alone time without outside stimuli (such as music) is important. I try to do one run a week this way. Some runners tell me that they can't run alone, but I would say they can and it would actually benefit them to do so.

[Kim Lee]

Hey, I'll take credit where credit is due!  Even if it isn't the most attractive credit out there!  I would be the one Sasha is talking about.  I will be the first one to admit that I would LOVE to find out how to conquer that mental barrier!  Unfortunately I am one who never participated in sports in high school or college.  One thing that I have talked to Tom about since the lovely episode was that if I had been prepared  and known I was going to have that help I may have been in a better frame of mind to receive it more graciously.  I feel like if I were to be in the same situation now I would be able to respond better.  I do many of my runs alone and usually never have music with me.  I ran Painter's on my own with no music.  That doesn't bother me at all.  I'm not sure I want to read a foreign newspaper and look up each word, but hey, if that's the ticket I'll do it!  I am trying to make sure to do the shorter, quicker stride to help pick up the pace at the end of my runs to see if that will help me out.  I am so willing to do what I can to make it through this barrier.  I will take any advise there is out their and try to do my best to see if we can figure this out!  I will prove the "no high school or college" theory wrong!  I love a challenge!  Also Sasha, if you ever have the desire to do an Uneventful Half at my pace, I would love to come in and have you push me again! :

[Paul Petersen]

* Run without music.
 

For what it's worth, I tend to run faster during training runs with music or podcasts. I've never tried racing with it though.

[Jon Allen]

I never run with music, even on 20+ mile runs by myself.  It helps me listen to my body and have some thinking time.  Though I'm usually not sure what I am thinking about.  Music distacts me and slows me down.

[Sasha Pachev]

Sean:
I am wondering if different runners respond to speed work differently based on their level of aerobic conditioning and slow-fast twitch ratio. For me, the difference between targeted speed work vs pure base in a 5 K is no more than 20 seconds. If my base is 100+ miles a week and base is all I do, I can actually hit faster 5 K times than I would off 70 a week and targeted 5 K workouts. Can you detail your experience with improvements from speed work?

[Sean Sundwall]

One synonym for auto pilot is "relaxing." I ran track in high school my last two years. My senior year I distinctly remember an Invitational in Portland where the father of our top female runner told me in the middle of my 3000m race to drop my shoulders and relax. I did and it made a world of difference. I ended the race with what would be my high school PR of 8:57.2. Not relaxing wastes so much energy and even for shorter distances it can make a difference. But in a half or full marathon it can make a world of difference. Everyone manifests tenseness in some way. For me, I tend to tilt my head back, lift my shoulders and pump my fists way higher than they should come. When i was doing my workout today and wanted so badly to quit, I remembered to lower my shoulders, lengthen my stride a bit and just relax. It didn't make it hurt less but it felt smoother and I went on to finish the workout.

As for Sasha's question, speed workouts for me have largely been focused on marathon training so they have been a lot of tempo runs and longer interval runs. So it's been different than what a miler would do for a workout. One of my goals this year is to get faster, or better said, quicker. I don't feel like I get the leg churn I need to. So I want do a few more workouts that focus on getting me quicker in the shorter distances like 5 and 10ks. So when I say that speed workouts helped me drop my times enormously, I'm speaking only of half marathons and longer. To be honest, I haven't run a 5k in 16 years and I've only run one 10k in the three years I've been back running. So I really don't know how fast I can run those. But I do know i have traditionally been very slow at the shorter distances. In fact, and I'm still embarrassed to admit this, I never broke 60 seconds in the 400m in high school. To be honest, I don't know if I can right now. That's certainly not the end all be all measure of speed but it is an indicator.

When I began running in April 2005, I set out to qualify for Boston at SGM. I did no speed work, just mileage in the 65 mpw range. But, i did each of those miles at goal marathon pace (7:15) not knowing at the time you weren't supposed to do that. So when I ran SGM 2005 in 2:44, my first marathon, I decided I should buy a book that would tell me how to train. That's when I added speed work specific to the marathon. All of the sudden my easy runs dropped in pace for less effort and my times in the marathon dropped significantly despite not adding any mileage.

Time will tell for me if spending this winter and spring on getting quicker bears any fruit.

[Scott Zincone]

2. Nurture. "It" can be developed through competitive sports during the developmental years. I think someone is going to have a hard time pushing themselves into exhaustion as an adult unless they did it a lot as kid. Discipline, perseverance, and enjoying pain are things that are learned, but may take a long time and a lot of reinforcement. I view someone who ran competitive cross country and track (or soccer, lacrosse, etc.) as having a big advantage in racing and pushing through pain than someone who just started competitive athletic activity as an adult.

I actually had a conversation with myself while running today similar to this.  There are not very many runners in my area.  There are several people I know who want to though.  But most never stick with it after the first month.  I think having run since I was age 7 with my dad, then onto track and cross country in school, helped me be better prepared as to what to expect when I started running again after over 12 years off.  Plus I had the desire to do more that just "lose weight" or get in better shape".  I wanted to compete again.  Even if I only manage 3 or 4 small town races a year it gives me the drive to work harder to be more competitive. 

As far as learning to run faster I have wished many times I could run next to someone and say show me what a 6:00 minute mile pace or a what a 5:00 minute mile pace feels like.  I can simulate it on a treadmill but it does not feel the same.  I have not tried using my Garmin either.  I am not sure how accurate it would be for that type of demonstration.  Unfortunately I cannot just go out there and run either of those paces for a mile to find out.  But I think it wold help me prepare better for the day I can.  Reminds me of a saying I heard once, "if you want to race with the big dogs, then train with them."

[Kim Lee]

To add to my information.  I started running in August after a year and a half of no running.  Before that I had done some here and there but never more consistent than just getting to a 1/2 marathon and then letting it go after that.  I joined the blog in October.  From Aug. to Oct. I was running 3 days a week.  After joining the blog I have been a 6 day a weeker for the most part.  I have not really worked on speed training yet.  I was increasing mileage.  I am at about 30 miles a week.  After Painter's my goal was to start speed work in preparation for Strider's Half in April.  I am liking this discussion, I'm excited to see what it can do to help me, and others in my same position, out!  Thanks for your input.

[jtshad]

The mental aspect of running is a big key to improvement.  A good commitment to running is needed first (which I see with members on the blog).  The next mental leap is the commitment to racing or running faster and then the mental leap to tackling something like a half marathon or marathon.  Each needs to develop from the individual with the nurturing of others around them. 

I know for me that mental leap to want to actual run a marathon came on suddenly, and when it did, it changed a lot in how I looked at my running.  Instead of being part of my overall workout routine, it became the focus of it.  I also committed to a training program and learning more about proper running technique.  The most important thing I did to increase my pace, and thus "auto pilot" pace, was to focus on optimizing my turnover rate, increasing the power that I put into the ground with each step (or "toeing off") and changing my stride to minimize joint impact and allow for the muscles to take the force of impact.  All of this took a while to make a habit in my form.  Once I mastered it, the mileage increases starting coming more naturally, the pace increased easily and the willingness to keep pushing myself improved.  All of this led to great increases in my running efficiency and and racing results.

I agree with Sean's comment on "relaxing".  I was running my second ever HM in 2005 and I was at about the 7 mile mark, about 1 minute behind the leader.  A spectator made a comment to "relax my shoulders".  Since then, I have really focused on trying to do this in training and races, keeping my tilt slightly forward but running erect and, like Sean, not letting my head tip backwards.

[Michelle Lowry]

I've noticed this a little too. A couple thoughts and theories:

1. Nature. Some people are just born with "it". ("It" being mental tenacity). Some people's natural "talent" is the ability to push themselves further than others. That's how they win races against more physically gifted runners.

2. Nurture. "It" can be developed through competitive sports during the developmental years. I think someone is going to have a hard time pushing themselves into exhaustion as an adult unless they did it a lot as kid. Discipline, perseverance, and enjoying pain are things that are learned, but may take a long time and a lot of reinforcement. I view someone who ran competitive cross country and track (or soccer, lacrosse, etc.) as having a big advantage in racing and pushing through pain than someone who just started competitive athletic activity as an adult. So an "average" runner who competed in jr high/high school will probably out-push an "average" runner of the same ability level who did not do anything in jr high/high school, even if they are at the exact same fitness level and training level.

Obviously I'm shooting at the hip here, but isn't that what we do around here? Interesting discussion at least.

I agree with Paul on both counts. 

1) Nature - Paul puts "mental tenacity" as one definition.  I would add another definition, "competitive drive".  I am a fierce competitor, and being a competitive person is inappropriate in so many aspects of life, but one place, where I get to be several times a year, it is completely appropriate and an edge - in a race.  In a race my competitive drive is an asset instead of a liability and it helps me. (pardon the accounting speak).  I think those who are less competitive are that way sometimes because they feel that being competitive is a negative attribute, but you can nurture it in appropriate avenues.   Perhaps practice being assertive and competitive.

2) Experience - I have been running since age 12.  I took a hiatus from racing competitively for 6-7 years (1999-2004), but the many, many, many lessons I have learned about racing, running, training I think did help me ramp up faster last spring and are like money in the bank.  I am still learning a ton, though.  It's cool.

[Chris Weidman]

One synonym for auto pilot is "relaxing."

Wow - how true that statement is. In the Bryce Half 2006 I was doing a quicker pace and hit around the 8M and the mind/body connection was losing it. But I kept telling myself to relax into the pace, don't make it such a chore to do - and the more my mind started relaxing and realizing I could do it - then my body also became less tensed up and was able to maintain the pace to the finish.

[Michelle]

Intersesting discussion, I agree with what Kim has said for those of us with no prior experience or coaching.  I'd love to hear what jtshad say's in what helped him make those improvements with form, turnover, toeing off, increased power?  Are they things that would help anyone or do you have to be at a certain level before implementing those practices?

[Sasha Pachev]

Another idea for improving your auto-pilot. Turn off the television. Or at least do not watch random shows. Only watch what you believe  will build your auto-pilot - e.g a show about somebody who overcame some difficult challenge that has no cheesy stuff in the middle (good luck finding such a show). In particular, do not watch shows where they tell you when to laugh with the laughter in the background in supposedly funny places, where you see an argument with angry words, or a lot of flashy images. I can often feel some power leaving me when I hear TV even in the background, or happen to accidentally put one of those things into my view.
Pushing yourself to the utmost limit requires inner peace. It is difficult to do it when you feel a grudge, or when your mind is seeking some trivial entertainment. You have to abandon your carnal self. Me has to become second to My Higher Goal. We have a challenge. We live in a culture that teaches is in so many subtle and not so subtle ways the doctrine of Me first poisoning us with this pattern of thinking to the very bone. To overcome this for us is like learning a foreign language, and the best method is full immersion.