Larry was up really late last night so he called to say he was
catching a few more Z's and wouldn't be out for the morning run. I was
still feeling the effects of the long physical day yesterday, which
included hauling 1200+ lbs. of sand, and replacing the serpentine belt
on my daughter's car (which had to be done from the right wheel well).
I decided to skip the morning run and push the noon run a little harder. I
had a hard time getting out of the office and was late getting to the
fitness center. Tom had been waiting for me and was just ready to head
out (after about a mile on the treadmill I think), but he said he would
wait for me to change. That was very kind, especially since he had a
meeting after lunch and could only run a few miles with me.I very much
enjoyed the mile and a half or so I was able to run with Tom before he
had to turn back.
My mile splits for the first five miles were 8:09, 7:40, 7:25,
7:49, 7:53. I then walked 1/4 mile waiting for Scott Blake who I saw
coming up the street, and then ran the last 1.3 miles back in with him
at 8:14/mi. He's still recoverying from an awful heel and ankle injury
about a month ago. I'm amazed he's running at all, let alone carrying
on a comfortable conversation while running an 8:14 pace.
One of the things Tom and I talked about as we started the run
was a Runner's World article I read yesterday about
stride rate. It said, "At the 1984 Olympics, Daniels and his wife, Nancy, analyzed the stride
frequencies of runners from 800 meters to the marathon. At distances
from 5000 meters on up, the top runners, both men and women, were
remarkably consistent: They ran with a stride rate of about 180 strides
per minute." After Tom turned back, I tried to maintain a good marathon pace running
as usual, but once every 1/2 mile I picked up my stride rate and
counted my steps for a minute. I wanted to see what it felt like to run
at 180 steps/minute, or if I could even do it. When
the seconds reached 00 I would start counting. Since 180 steps/minute
is 3 steps/sec, I counted once for every three steps I took...One-2-3,
Two-2-3, Three-2-3, etc. This allowed me to compare my counts with the
seconds on my watch and see how I was doing. If my count matched the
seconds exactly, then I would know I was at the 180 steps/second rate,
else I would be able to see how much ahead or behind I was.
I was surprised, and pleased, that my count reached 64 or
65 each of the 6 one-minute intervals I did, which equates to 192 to
195 steps/minute. I noted that even though I felt as though I was
shortening my stride to get the quicker turnover, my speed still
increased significantly, roughly a minute/mile faster. The quicker
steps obviously took more energy/effort, but the effort did not seem as
intense as other times when I've tried to push the pace by keeping my
stride length the same and just trying to run faster. By mentally
shortening my stride and focusing on turnover rate I seemed to run more
smoothly and efficiently...and faster.
Below are my over paces for miles 3, 4, and 5. The numbers in
parentheses are the paces for the 1 minute quick-stride intervals I did
during those miles. I didn't think to measure the pace until half way
through mile 4, but my feeling was that the first 3 quick-stride
intervals were pretty quick, probably closer to 6:30/mi than to 7:00/mi.
7:25 (?) (?)
7:49 (?) (6:36/mi)
7:53 (7:02/mi) (6:49/mi)
I'm think I'm going to focus a little more on stride rate
between now and the Wasatch Back Relay next month. I'm also planning to
run the Nestle 5K a week from Saturday. I'm thinking of maybe focusing
the whole race on just counting my strides every minute and trying to
keep them at 180/min...ignoring my pace...and see I can hold it to the
end, and then see what my finish time turns out to be. I'm not sure
I'll do that, but it would be an interestnig experiment.
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