Bradley Hills

Okay, I love the MapMyRun site, which has great technology that has really helped me get started running. It recently helped me with the Bradley Hills.


There's been lots of talk about the Bradley Hills in the Crim race. Here's a shot of the Kenyan leaders of the 2005 Crim coming down those hills:

The top image is an elevation of the 1 mile section of the Crim course; this is the same in the 10 mile and 8K. As you can see, it's the first .10 that is steepest--5% grade. Then it levels off for .10, and then you get .20 of 3% grade. From there it's 2%, then 1%, and then you're done with climbing.

So, I suggested to Bill that our 2 mile run should be up and down the Bradley Hills. We did great. It was about 10 minutes up and 9 minutes down. Not bad.

I happen to be a really visual person, and the graphic at the top helps me "see" the run ahead.

Pacework, Splits: I Might Be Turning Into...

... a runner!

So, I am filling in as acting dean of the Social Sciences division at my college this summer, and that is a really cool place to be. At any rate, right behind the building where I am warming the Dean's chair is the now-defunct Central High School track. With that 5k race coming up on Saturday, I thought that doing some pacework on the track would be a really hardcore runner thing to do after work. The family is up north, and what am I gonna do? Go through my Mom's plastic bins in the garage? Well, yes, I'll do that--but first I'll head over to the track.

This is also the first time I've used the chronometer memory feature on my cool running watch. You can time splits and laps and stuff. How athletic! Anyway, I went over there to calibrate my pace to about an 8:15 mile. Here's the workout:

1. 1:49 - 400m run
   
2. 3:38 - 400m walk
   
3. 2:02 - 400m run
   
4. 2:02 - 400m run
   
5. 3:50 - 400m walk
   
6. 2:02 - 400m run

So, that's 6 laps on the track total--1.5 miles. I ran the first lap waaaaaay too fast! That's about a 7:19/m pace. Ugh! I would totally leave the track in an ambulance at that pace!!! So I walked the track for another lap and decided to take it down a peg and target 2:02. Dang if I didn't hit it right on the nose! So I kept going and tried to do it again. Bang!

Then I walked for the 5th lap and tried to keep that pace in my head the way you might keep the beat of a song. I tried to keep it in my memory. My challenge to myself was to hit 2:02 on the nose for lap 6. I was surprised to see that it wasn't hard at all. I looked at the watch with about 1/8 of the track to go and I realized that I was going to hit it right on. Bang! 2:02.

It just so happens that 2:02 is the 400m pace for my desired finish time of 25:30 in the 5k. Don't believe me? Check out this totally cool pace calculator. It was actually fun to work on this and there were a few other people there at the track doing their own thing. I should do this every couple of weeks or so.

Application?

So, how do I apply this little beginning? Well, a few things are clear. First, I didn't even run a continuous mile during this little workout. So, I think I'll do that before work tomorrow. I might just take my clothes on hangers and do the workout there and shower at the college gym. Tomorrow I think I'll do a pace mile at 2:02 splits and call it good. Then I'll run in the afternoon with Bill--the standard 2 miler. Second, it's a totally different thing to sustain a pace like this for longer than a mile. I look forward to pushing myself on race day, but I wonder if I can do this. The fastest I have run 5k during regular runs is 28:00 and I was going with Steve and we were trucking (for me, anyway). I need to shave 2:30 off that time; that's about 50 seconds per mile!!!

So, let me make a deal with myself. I promise to be happy with my time no matter what. I tried, I ran a race, etc. I am shooting for the 25:30 time, but I am not sure if I can do it. That's what goals are for, right? A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?

4:1 is the healing ratio

Tried 2x to run 2 miles today. Bagged it this morning, as I am getting over a very slight Grade I Ankle Sprain. After lunch, I went out in the neighborhood by the college for my 2mi. It hurt again after 1 minute, so I quickly adjusted my interval timer to 4:1 run/walk ratio. Works like a charm.

I'm Gellin' / You're Gellin'

This is a post about synovial fluid, which is my favorite viscous substance produced by the human body. This post will be gross. It will involve feet, bodily fluids, and other stuff that might make you sick. There's even a really, really gross picture (it's far enough down the page that you'll miss it if you leave now). Still interested? Okay... I love this paragraph:

Synovial fluid exhibits non-Newtonian flow characteristics. The viscosity coefficient is not a constant, the fluid is not linearly viscous, and its viscosity increases as the shear rate decreases [ref].

If life has a goal, I think it is to achieve non-Newtonian flow. But I digress... why are we talking about synovial fluid? Well, your body--specifically your joints--is full of it. If you've ever had a little ganglion cyst, that thing was filled with this stuff. It's the consistency of hair gel (about the same color, too) and it's job is boundary-layer lubrication: it keeps your ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and bone from rubbing up against each other too much.


The photo above is a wake downstream of a thin plate in flowing water, also known as Kármán vortex street. It's an example of Navier-Stokes equations which describe the motion of fluid substances. I don't understand any of that, but the images and ideas are beautiful.

Don't Shovel in Tennis Shoes

We do a lot of yard work around here--in fact, that's about all I've done for the past 48 hours. My specialty is jumping up and down on shovels. A few seasons ago, I did this too hard. It wasn't hard to do it too hard because I weigh too much. So I really, really, really torqued my right foot back then, and I am still having a few problems. The trauma to that area caused plantar fashiitis, from which I have now completely recovered! But there is a lingering injury to the tissue down there, and it has resulted in a series of asymptomatic ganglionic cysts. My brother-in-law and now running buddy Steve had aspirated (drained) these guys a few times. (Lest you wonder, Steve is a podiatrist--I don't let just anybody needle my dogs with a giant syringe).

Once, Steve sucked 5cc's of this wonderful stuff out of a cyst on the bottom of my foot--it came out absolutely clear, like hair gel. Another time, he got a smaller amount out--this time it was a pretty reddish-pink (I think he got some other stuff with it, and that stuff was blood). This past week, he got 8cc's of the stuff from the bottom of my foot--this time it was amber colored, like the stuff that held the mosquitoes and dinosaur blood in Jurassic Park. All of this was over the period of a few years, so don't think I'm springing leaks like crazy down there.

The middle one of the above was pretty cool--it was partly on the top of my foot, and partly on the bottom; if you squished the top, the bottom would fill up, and vice versa! How cool is that?

In all cases, these guys never hurt. But they do bother me--I don't want my precious synovial fluid leaking out all over the place. And who likes squishy bumps on their feet? Eeeuch!

At one point Steve wanted me to have one of these guys surgically removed. I even went to see a foot surgeon who made a plan to take the thing out. Had he done it, it would have looked like this:


Oh, Man! Gross! See, I told you! At any rate, I chickened out at the last minute on that surgery, which was good because the thing went away on its own. I am hoping the current one goes away, too. Steve helped by aspirating it.

The body is amazing. So these ganglion cysts--on the bottom of the feet, anyway-- appear to be nature's way of inserting a kind of Dr. Scholl's gel pad down there. I'm gellin'! The moral of the story is: use appropriate footwear when digging with a shovel, as repeatedly jumping up and down on a 1/4 thick steel rail using the weakest and most vulnerable portion of your foot while wearing New Balance cross trainers is really, really, really stupid. You'll pay for it for years by sprouting little gushy blobs on your foot. Aaaaaaah!

NOTE: I am decidedly not proud of many of my body parts, but I must speak up in the defense of my feet. I do not have gross feet. I have no problem with wearing sandals or going bare dogs. My toenails are white and neatly trimmed, I have a tasteful amount of hair on the tops, etc. My feet are not wide, goofy, discolored, or in any way weird. This cyst thing is gross, yes... but my feet aren't. So there.

Miles for Meals 5K

Okay, I just registered for my first 5K race. I think Marti and Renee will be doing it too. It's August 1, 2009 in Muskegon. We'll be up north on Lake Michigan, and it's just a 40 minute ride back to Muskegon for this cool race. 194 finishers last year. Cool!

My fastest time for 5K is 27:00, or 9 minutes per mile. That was yesterday morning. Three weeks from this Saturday is the 5K, and I am planning to do the 8K Crim race later in the month. Fun.

Oh, and I bought me some nice Saucony Pro-Rigid Jazz 12 running kicks today.

Tomorrow's Run

Tonight I rode my bike around the 4 mile route I put together. The first two miles are the same, but the second twist around a bit. I'm going to need the map. One of the reasons is that I just can't deal with out-and-back routes; I think that is a holdover from cycling, where getting the same ride in reverse is really boring and also has consequences for wind and hills.

I'll be doing it with a 4:1 run/walk ratio, which is pretty wimpy. But I'll be going out with new shoes, on a new route, with an extra mile. This will be my long run for the next few weeks as I gradually increase the run/walk ratio to 9:1. Before long, I'll add the last mile to this route as I prepare for the 8K. I only plan to do the 5 mile a couple of times at most before the Crim.

Counting Saturdays

• SAT 7/11: tomorrow!
  
• SAT 7/18
• SAT 7/25
• SAT 7/1: Lakeshore Miles for Meals 5K
  
• SAT 7/8:
  
• SAT 7/15
• SAT 7/22: 8K Crim

Again, my goal for the Crim is 45:00 on the 8K--that's an even 9:00/M pace, which I can do for 3 miles. I want to extend that to 5 miles and see if I can even shave a bit off. I think 7 weeks is enough time for that. I am also happy that I'll be doing at least one race in the middle there.

If I stick with this, there's no reason I can't run the regular 10 mile Crim in 2010. Perhaps a good goal would be to have this same pace of 9:00/M for that race. In the 2008 Crim, 40-44 male age group, that pace would get you 225th place, which is about middle of the pack of 500 or so finishers in that group. It would be about 1,930 overall. More than 7,000 people ran the 10 mile Crim last year!!!!

8k in 45 min?

So, this is my 8k route. I have not done it yet. A modified version of this one (without the loop to the far right) is my 4 mile route, which I will start working on this week. Tomorrow, I may go out and test the interval watch and see what a 4:1 ratio does to the 3 mile time. Should be interesting.

But I am thinking that setting a 45 min goal for the Crim 8k might be kind of a good challenge. I'll need to think about it. That's pretty much 9 minute miles, which is faster than I am running the 3 mile now. There are 7 weeks to prepare.

The Walk Breaks Have It

So, I dragged myself out for my three-miler this morning at a little past 6am. It was 6:35 by the time I got out the door, and it would be an understatement to say that I was "undermotivated." That said, I had some positive stuff rolling around in my head. I was determined to get out there and see what happened. It was sunny, 59 degrees, and perfect for a morning run.

So, I got through the first mile or so with my usual "the first mile is the hardest--keep going" mantra. I got to about 1.5 miles and decided I would try a short walk break. I walked for 60 breaths (probably longer than 1 minute) and kept on trucking. I decided against shortening my route at the loop; I did the loop, got past the 2 mile mark and took another walk break (again, 60 breaths) at about the 2.5 mile mark. I got right back into my stride and pointed home; by then, I was starting to get really interested in what my time would be. I do that 3-miler in 32 minutes by myself and with Steve. What did those walk breaks do to my time?

They added only 1 minute. My time was 33 minutes. I slowed down to walk speed for more than 2 minutes and only added 1 minute to my overall time.

I think I am going to like walk breaks. Hey, and that interval watch arrived today.

I am thinking of doing that 3-miler with a 4:1 or 5:1 run/walk ratio to see what happens to the time.

The Watch

I am a bit too tech-savvy to be blown away by the features of a wristwatch, but this thing is really going to help me. The interval mode is easy to program and put on repeat. When on repeat, the alarms are clearly different for RUN and WALK. You can also switch to other modes while the intervals cycle. Very cool.

Thoughts on the 8k

So, I checked some recent Crim results for the 8k for my age group. The times range from 34 minutes (6:51/mi pace) to 1:33 (18:49/mi pace). Looking at the results, I see that my neighbor across the street did it in 2007 and finished 25th for the age group (I also see that he is 5 years older than me). He ran it in 51:32 or a pace of 10:22/mi--that's similar to what I am running the 3k in now. Looks like the average finishing time was about 48 minutes.

I think it would be cool to finish this race in 45 minutes. Depending on the year, this gets you in the top 15 for the 40-44 age range. Not terrible.