From rmg3@access1.digex.net Fri Jun 12 10:59:59 EDT 1998
Article: 121004 of rec.running
Path: newsreader.digex.net!not-for-mail
From: rmg3@access1.digex.net (Robert Grumbine)
Newsgroups: rec.running
Subject: Accidental Race report (long)
Organization: Under construction
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Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 15:00:26 GMT
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NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 11:00:26 EDT
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  The accident being that yesterday wasn't intended to be a race.  
The last couple of weeks, I've been trying to take some time off my
800-1600.  This has succeeded, in that I did take a second of both
the 1000 and 1200.  But I'd been expecting more like 5-10, so was
not happy.  Sunday I ran the 1200, so Monday was off.  Tuesday
was raining fairly hard, and my normal route swamps out in hard rain.

  So two days off and I'm _going_ to run, somewhere, something.
As it turned out, I had to get a kid from school, so I went to the
school to turn in an easy (pace!) 3-4 miles on the track.  Cool
(low 60's), no wind, and steady drizzle.  I also forgot to take 
off my glasses.  Today being a nothing day, I figured to try some
r.r. suggestions regarding form.  

  First lap, try the 180 cadence.  Ok, didn't get there, but the 165-170 
seemed better than usual in being light on the ground.  On the second 
lap to trying to lean forward as far as possible.  As I start this, 
glanced at the time, and see that the first lap was a good 10 seconds 
quicker than I'd expected.  Oh well.  Lean, then lean some more.  This 
feels pretty easy, but the ground is disappearing awfully fast behind 
me.  Along the way, cruise past a track runner (?! he was warming 
up, but still).  At the end of lap 2, look at the time, and while it 
felt pretty easy, this was another 25 seconds faster than my planned 
pace.  The lungs were also starting to notice the pace, so on lap 3 try 
to work on ball-heel-ball, taking it easily as to pace.  Seems ok, but
it feels odd, so continue through lap 4 as well.  Finished the first
mile about 30 seconds faster than planned.  No harm I suppose, even
though the day was supposed to be an easy day.  Continue trying to
stay up on my feet.

  Well, lap 5 was easy and at the end I noticed that with only mild
effort I could hit a minute mark for 6 laps.  Why not?  Tried for it 
and hit it easily (by 1 second, 'easily' being that I didn't have to
work hard for it).  Ok, the legs seem to think that this is a day
to frolic, so let's let them go ahead.  Continue working on the ball-
heel-ball, which seems today (almost the first time) to be leading
to lighter, easier footfalls.  Distance continues to pass, and I'm
still not working hard.  Just jogging (?) along lightly and easily.
Keep those arms moving forward/backwards, not side to side!

  Reach 8 laps, and the second 4 are _faster_ than the first 4 (which
were themselves substantially faster than I'd planned), by a good 15
seconds!  Right.  It's 8 laps in to a 5k (12.5 laps), and I'm something
well under my time at that point for my best 5k.  And I'm _not_ working
hard.  At least the lungs and legs don't think so.  Let's go for the 5k 
best.  Wasn't supposed to be a PR day, but listen to the legs and lungs.
Glasses by this time are getting well fogged and misted.  Fortunately
I don't need very good vision to notice the track club as today they
all seem to have white on.
  
  While shifting to not rejecting the possibility of a PR, this was not 
a shift to going flat out the final 1800 m.  Rather, to try to continue 
running easily, in good form, but to not let the clock slow me down (as 
in, that lap was too fast, better ease up).  Reach 4 k 20 seconds ahead 
of my previous best.  Last 2 laps slowing down, though, to near the pace 
I'd planned for the day.  Ok, maybe we're back to the usual easy jog.  
But, since we (legs, lungs, and I) decided to maybe think about a PR, 
let's try to push the last km a little.  It's only 2.5 laps, hardly 
enough to notice, right?  

  Get up to 4600 m and the time astonishes me as I did in fact 
accelerate over the last lap and a half.  Also see that if I were
able to gun the last lap (no laughing from the speed gallery!) I
could finish the 5k in under a minute mark.  Ok, one measly lap,
so I dare the legs and lungs to hammer it.  And they do!

  My new, almost entirely accidental, PR on the 5k is under the minute
mark, and over a minute faster than the old PR.  That last lap, I took
at only 2-3 seconds off my mile pace.

  So much for predicting when will be a good day for a PR.  A whole
minute (61 seconds!) off my PR is wonderful.  Great day!  

Epilogue for the statistical crowd:
  Since I wasn't planning on a PR day, I wasn't paying close attention
to the splits, especially early on.  But near as I can figure, the 
mile splits were: X:30, X:15, X:18 (the last mile was more like X:12,
given the last 200 m being quick).  Perhaps an advertisement for negative 
splits.  Then again, the half splits relative to average pace were
-15 (faster), +25, -10, +4, +11, -12.  I'd call that pretty much
all over the map.  All of the time gained w.r.t. average on that first
half was on the 'leaned' second lap.  And the last 800m were something
like -17, 14 of it on the last 400.

  While the PR was a surprise as to the day, the time was not entirely
a surprise.  Last Friday, I ran 300m intervals - 4x(300m jog + 300m run),
twice with 5 minutes between.  The pace on the 300's was 1200 m pace 
(which was what I was trying for, and ran the 1200 on Sunday).  But the
net was that I also ran 2x2400 with 5 minute rest, and the 2400's were
at somewhat faster than my (previous) 5k best.  I was experiencing
some confusion as to whether on Friday I'd completed a slow workout for
1200m, or a fast one for 5K.  After that I'd estimated that my 5k time
should be able to come down by 60-90 seconds if I went out trying to
get it.  61 seconds without trying is still a surprise.  

  I still wonder, though, about that last lap or two.  I forgot to 
lean into them.  Given how fast and easy that early lap was (just 
off mile pace), a lot more might have been available at the end with 
a good lean as well.  Something to continue experimenting with.  And 
while I didn't exactly run ball-heel-ball, thinking in that direction 
did seem to help.  

-- 
Robert Grumbine rmg3@access.digex.net http://www.access.digex.net/~rmg3/
Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much 
evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less appreciated than they 
would be had they been presented in a more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences