dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I was really tired today at church. I kept falling asleep, and Kimia would wake me up again. Anyhow, time to track shoe mileage again.

Surge - 152.7

Ohana Racer - 209

Speedstar - 35.5

I ran with Sasha and Daniel this morning. We went out to the 8 mile turnaround and then started back until we got to the start of the 5 mile tempo. At this point we turned around again and said goodbye to Daniel. During all of this we were testing my heart rate with a new toy that Sasha got from the Ogden marathon, so there were a couple of pickups (sprints) in the middle that amounted to about 200m I estimate. My heart rate shot up to almost 160 during/after these pickups and was hovering around 130-135 while we were running slow (approx. 7:50 pace). We picked up the pace to about 7:00 on our way to the start of the 5 mile tempo and my heart rate was at about 150. We then did 1 mile in 5:50 with an average heart rate for me of about 171-172. After we turned around we did one mile in 4:58 with a max heart rate for me of 187. I am not sure what the average was. We estimate that this is close to my overall max heart rate. We then slowed it back down before turning around 1 more time at the mid way mark of the 5 mile tempo in order to head back to Sasha's house. Total time for 13 miles 1:39:09.

I ran with Sasha this morning, as well as with Luz and her dogs for part of the run.  We ran out to the turn-around for 10.1 miles.  We had averaged just under 8:00 pace for the run when we started running with Luz and we slowed a bit, but not much, making it back to Sasha's house in 1:21:44, so just slower than an 8:00 average.  Luz then started to run with Sarah, and Sasha and I ran another 3.15 around the block to finish up for the day with a total time of 1:45:23 for 13.25

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.

I ran with Sasha and Adam this morning. We did a little test with Adam so that we could try to determine what is causing him to have a higher rate of neural fatigue, and a higher heart rate than average while running. He said that his blood glucose levels were low after eating when he had them tested, so that might be why, but who knows. Anyhow, we did a 2 mile warm up followed by 2x400 with 600 rest. We did the 400s in 1:21, 1:25. On the way back we sped up to 7:00 pace for 1 mile before finishing up running to Sasha's house for a total of 6.5 miles. Sasha and I then ran out and did the same distance again to finish with 13 miles. With about 2 miles left I started to feel a slight discomfort in the right anterior portion of my right leg. A little bit later it started to get painful. It almost felt like the muscle was cramping up. I think it was because of yesterdays workout. The muscle isn't used to that much stress and it didn't like it. I'd better be careful with how often I experiment with different things, because I don't want to get hurt. I think that I will be fine, I just better take it easy the rest of today. We finished our run in 1:46:20.

In the afternoon I took an accidental nap at work (whoops!)  It was strange because I almost never get a break there in the afternoons and today one of the guys fell asleep in the living room while another played video games in his room and the third watched tv.  The result of it all put me to sleep.  I am glad the guys didn't notice or it would have been bad.

I ran alone this morning. The original plan was to do 10 miles, but I ended up changing plans due to some unplanned events during my run. While I was running (about 3.5 miles into the run) I see a burnt out section of the provo river trail. This surprised me because it wasn't burnt out yesterday. As I run I keep seeing more burnt out sections. I was surprised that there was so much burnt, yet nothing big. Then I come upon a section that is still smoldering. I decided to put it out and I got super dirty in the process. I was afraid that it would catch fire again so I didn't want to leave it. Because of this I cut my run short as I had some time restrictions due to the fourth of July. I might try to get in another mile or 2 later on today to make up for the lost mile this morning. If not I don't mind because one mile isn't significant anyhow. I finished in 1:04:24 running the first 4.5 in 33:37 and the second 4.5 in 30:47.

I ended up getting a little bit more running in just after I finished my 9 miles in the morning.  I dropped my wife and her parents off so they could watch the parade after which I drove home and ran to watch the parade.  I ran more than a half-mile and less than a mile so I will count it as .5

I ran with Sasha this morning. We started at the shops at the riverwoods at the end of the provo river 10 miler and ran to the start of it, then back down. We started off fairly brisk today making it to about 7:00 pace before long. We stopped a little over a mile in for a quick vpb and again at 5 miles so that I could stretch out the muscles in my shin. I am still feeling it a bit after Wednesdays experiment. The muscles in my lower leg/shin area have really been kind of sore. More than anything they have just felt tired. Anyhow, we stopped for a minute so I could stretch it out which made it feel a lot better. We started off again and began our tempo making it to the turn around in 1:06:06 (1:06:05 by Sasha's watch). We started back down to continue our tempo, and Sasha took one more vpb shortly before we got to the bottom of south fork canyon. After we got back down on the river trail, we were consistently hitting miles in the 5:30s with our fastest being a 5:31 from what I figured. Near the end we were going just under or at 5:40 pace for the most part. We finished the second 10 miles in 56:13 for a total time of 2:02:19 (for what it is worth, Sasha had us at 2:02:16 as I stopped my watch a bit late). Total distance 20.1 miles as the 10 mile course is just a little long. This is the longest run I have done this year, not by much but it is the longest, and I am really tired now. I think that I am going to take a nap.