Well, due to problems at work last night (the other staff forgot to show up... again) I had to forego my run with Sasha this morning. Instead I slept in and ran later on in the morning. While I was running I began to think, with my thought process going something like this: Sprinters always have a very high leg kick when running (angle of knee flexion from the calf to the thigh)
Elite world class distance runners also have a high leg kick According to an article I read on running economy and Sasha's observations, runners with better running economy tend to have a higher angle of plantar flexion of the foot on toe-off from the ground and less of a range of motion in the foot during running. Sasha and I have had various discussions about the performance variant that running barefoot as children may have had on East Africans.
Sasha has mentioned that running in Vibram 5 fingers (basically running barefoot) causes him to work harder with his gluts and in the fore-section of the lower leg (I can't remember what the muscle is called) So I thought that if I could simulate the form that elite runners have when they run, would I go faster at the same effort. I decided to first try this running 4x100m sprints, followed by a 400. My goal was to focus on good plantar flexion on toe-off from the ground, while attempting to flex the gluts a little more to create a higher leg kick. I also wanted to try and stay relaxed. I did not want to go faster because I was working harder. The results of my 4x100 is as follows 13, 14, 13, 13. I had a running start to all of them just like always with a running clock. The 13s were all in the mid to high 13 second range, with the 14 being in the low 14 second range, so virtually equal for all of them. This was somewhat surprising, especially on the first repeat, because on the first 100 I was half expecting to come through in a high 14-15 seconds. It felt too easy to be run in 13 seconds as the effort felt the same as when I am normally running them with Sasha. I ended up running my 400 about 8 miles into my run. I purposefully ran it on the same section of trail that I last ran an all out 400 on a couple months ago (59s). This section of trail has a net uphill and is generally fairly slow. Again, just like the 100s, I ran it from a moving start with a running clock the whole time. I ended up with 56 seconds for 400 meters (POST MISSION PR!). Again, I focused on plantar flexion on toe-off, high leg kick, and staying relaxed. I made it through 100 either in a high 13s or a low 14s. I didn't get any other 100 splits because I was focusing on different things. By the time I hit the 300 mark I almost felt like I could not feel the toe-off and I was having trouble maintaining a high leg kick. My legs felt completely dead (This was also how I felt a couple of months ago when i did the same thing). I estimate that my overall time was anywhere from 56.0-56.3 based on where my clock was (59:08 at the start, almost 59:09 and 1:00:04 at the finish, almost 1:00:05). After running the 400 I finished up my run, finishing 13.1 miles at my house in 1:37:29.
I find the results of my little test to be encouraging and I want to try it out at longer distances in the future, maybe starting with 800s and then working up to a tempo run test, as well as trying it out in long slow runs to see how it feels. I also think that the 400 equivalent was faster than my actual 400m pr that I set in high school (?55.7?). My actual pr was set as the first runner in the 4x400m relay, and due to a three turn stager, the time is somewhat approximate. The time I ran today was from a start, but it was 8 miles into a run, I wasn't wearing racing shoes, I had run 4 semi-hard 100s before it, and it had a net uphill. On the other side of the coin, it did come from a running start, however I doubt I was going any faster than 12:00 pace by the time I started the 400. I honestly think that if I was focusing on this 400 today, and I ran it on the track with racing shoes I could have come close to or maybe even broken the 55s barrier. Anyhow, it was a good run. I will probably keep messing with this to see if I can keep improving and pushing my limits. I will have to if I want to hit that OTQ in a few years.
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