Sean's Running Blog

Great workouts so far this week. Keep it up and you will definitely be ready for the Trials.

I hear you about running in the dark (and early)...it is hard to be motivated and run at a good pace.

I was more fortunate this morning. It was dark only for about the first 7 miles. But last Tuesday I did the big workout (15 miles with 7.5 tempo in the middle), started it earlier, and it was solid dark the entire time.

Sean - I read your story on the St. George Marathon Forum. I thought it was very educational, and revealed the key elements of your character, which allowed you to progress from dreaming to qualify for Boston to qualifying for the Trials with standard A. Thanks for sharing it.

I noticed that the mileage chart uses Sunday as the first day of the week. My training calendar uses Monday as the first day which is why my mileage looked low last week and will look high this week.

As for being Trials ready, I just don't know what to expect. I've never run on four weeks "recovery" so I just don't know how my body will react. I feel like I've done all I can to both recover and re-fitness myself. I don't think the course will be particularly fast. I would be thrilled with a "re-qualifying" time of 2:22 but we'll just have to see. As long as I don't get lapped or finish last then I will be happy...so I say now.

Sean - based on Paul's elevation profile, the Trials Course is going to be very slow. It is hard to say what time to expect - my Course Tool says expect 10 seconds per mile slow down. Runworks calculator says 7 seconds per mile, I believe. Runworks might be a bit closer to reality as the Course Tool is calibrated at 4700 feet elevation and does not adjust uphill slowdown rate as the elevation changes. I would say anything sub-2:25 would be very good, and will place you high.

I posted some quotes from your story on the St. George Forum with my comments at

http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,77.0.html

My coach seems to think I can hit 2:20 and change but I think that's way too optimistic. There's no way I can run that course 90-120 second slower even with perfect recovery from SG.

BTW...what tool are you using to map the course and how are you predicting times based on that? Some magic software?

Sean:

In have you have not noticed, the Course Tool can be accessed when you log in to do your entry (in the left side menu). You can map out a course, and then my program estimates how fast you will run it with a given flat effort, or what flat effort it would take to run a certain time on that course. The estimation is done by integrating over the course a leg at a time, assuming the elevation change over the given leg is uniform (thus, the shorter the legs, the better), and then applying a grade conversion that I developed from training and racing up and down various grades. One catch is that I developed it in Provo, and had not yet had a chance to develop it at other elevations. So for anything at aroun 4000 - 5000 feet it works like a charm if you do not happen to get into a virtual ditch several times while mapping out the course. The virtual ditch effect happens when you are plotting a course next to a mountain, a river with a steep drop off, or something else right next to the road that can drastically change the elevation. USGS elevation data is averaged out over 10 meter squares. So if you are on a narrow trail, and there is a steep drop-off right next to it, then the average elevation of the square you are on will be noticeably less than the actual elevation you are running at, and this is enough to mess up the algorithm. Additionally, a small geo-coding shift can put your running coordinates into the river or up a mountain instead of the trail, so you will see drastic changes in the elevation, which will result in the Course Tool reporting that you will run a slower pace with a given flat effort. You can adjust for that using the crazy grade correction - this will smooth out a lot of those ditches. To test for virtual ditches, just enter a very fine split resolution, e.g 0.05 miles, and see if the reported elevation profile makes sense.

I did notice during the Wasatch Back Relay that I was slowing down a lot more on uphills of the same grade as the elevation increased. At the same time, during the Del Sol relay in Phoenix I noticed that a 1% grade slowed me down a lot less than it would in Provo. So I suspect that the slow down for the same grade is very much elevation dependent. But I have not yet been able to gather enough data to come up with a good formula. That is why I say that the 10 seconds per mile slowdown for the Trials course is probably excessive.