5 miles

Today was a revelation. My plodding solo 10 miler on Saturday seems to have paid off (see here). Like in cycling, there is a lot to be said for simply "doing the miles." Today, I felt a distinct difference in terms of running economy and form. With a new-found clarity and focus.

A single run does not a generalization make. So what sort of evidence can I bring to the table to support my speculative conclusions?

First, I can point to the fact on the two Thursdays previously, I'd suffered mightly, and fell far behind the other runners right from the start. (See blog posts bemoaning the fact Another 3 miles and Just 3 miles.) On this 5 miler I managed to more or less stay with the 2nd group nearly the whole way, only getting truly gapped at the end. Case in point, the photograph on the left would not have been possible last two Thursdays: other runners would have disappeared and gone home by the time I arrived.

One could think that was because the pace was slower for the 5 miler than the 3 miler. But I was also significantly faster this time, clocking in at 39'03" for a 7'31" min/mile pace with much less distress than the previous two Thursdays, where I recorded a maxed out 7'44" and 7'38", respectively. As further evidence of better running economy, I had enough in the tank to finish strongly, as the split times and the overall graph from my iPod Nano below shows:

Today was also the first day with my new colorful Newton Distancia shoes: my previous shoes being the Newton Sir Isaac model. The Distancia is lighter than the Sir Isaacs. However, with respect to my new-found running form: I have to point out: nah, it ain't the shoes!

Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win!
(Frances Anne Kemble)

10 miles

I needed a long run. So Saturday morning, I ran along the Rillito River for 82 mins and a total of 10.34 miles, as indicated by my iPod Nano.

I started from Craycroft Rd on an out-and-back route along the northern Rillito River Park route. It's a fairly flat paved route with foot bridges and underpasses being the only elevation changes. On reaching the Campbell Rd bridge, I turned around.

Although I took one water bottle along in a fanny pack, I had to stop another two times for water. Fortunately, the route has several possible water stops at the various parks along the way.

I started out at around 7'47" (min/mile) pace - not truly sustainable at my current fitness level - and gradually lost speed, running the last segment at a sedentary 8'04" pace. Overall, I averaged just over 12 km/hr (7.5 mph) or for a 7'57" (min/mile) pace.

I'm fairly satisfied with my first long run of the season but I know I need more long runs to acclimatize my legs to the pounding. Pace-wise, I have to let my body pick it's comfort zone. If I push too hard, I won't be able to recover quickly and that'd be counterproductive training-wise.

I felt slight twinges in my shins. To be on the safe side, I'll pick up a new pair of running shoes tomorrow.

A half marathon

I've been having a serious bit of trouble sleeping recently. I go to sleep at a decent hour but I wake up too early. And have trouble getting back to sleep. Maybe there are other factors involved, but being fairly desperate about the sleep issue, I decided to exhaust myself completely.

Being fit enough to run a marathon at any time was one of my baseline goals I've mentioned in a recent entry (see here). The training program for that was basically to run a couple of 10Ks a week, and occasionally substitute in a half marathon.

So I put my money where my mouth is. I went and tapped out a half marathon on the treadmill in the gym.

An hour before the run, I went and bought a new pair of Newton running shoes to replace the tired and worn existing pair that I have. Even on the treadmill, there is a lot of pounding to 13.2 miles (21.1 km). So I figured I could do with fresh shoes. They didn't have my size in stock, so I bought a lower end shoe in the right size. It's the Sir Isaac neutral guidance trainer. There is a psychologically significant difference in weight (247g vs. 316g for each shoe) between this and their race shoe.

(See picture of me checking my download in the changing room after the run towards the end of this entry to see the shoe.)

I usually run using my iPod 6g Nano with music and the Nike+ attachment to record the mileage. (See details in a previous blog entry here.) It has a special half marathon mode. Bit like the marathon mode, it counts up the miles completed until halfway, and then counts down the miles remaining in the second half.

The special mode gives a small psychological boost and provides a little extra motivation to complete the workout. Stopping the workout would mean aborting the electronic countdown. And that's not cool. Hang in there baby!

Here are the stats from the screen.

Yes, that an hour forty-five on the treadmill for nearly 1500 kcal burned. I also use the special Polar Wearlink HR strap to enable the 6g Nano to record my heart rate (HR).

For graphing, I used the basic technique described here (enable disk mode and drill down) to extract the raw data and plot it in Excel.

Step 1: Access raw XML data

<extendedDataList>
  <extendedData dataType="distance" intervalType="time" intervalUnit="s" intervalValue="10">
    ..comma-delimited list of distance values in km..
  </extendedData>
  <extendedData dataType="speed" intervalType="time" intervalUnit="s" intervalValue="10">
    ..comma-delimited list of speed values in km/hr..
  </extendedData>
  <extendedData dataType="heartRate" intervalType="time" intervalUnit="s" intervalValue="10">
    ..comma-delimited list of HR values in bpm..
  </extendedData>
</extendedDataList>

With the Polar Wearlink+ HR monitor active, HR is also recorded simultaneously with footpod data: in fact, the current values for three pieces of data - distance, speed and heart rate - are recorded by the 6g Nano every 10 seconds and stored in the xml file.

Step 2: Import data into Excel

Step 3: Scatter plot

Only real difference from the results shown in that earlier post is that I've used a scatter plot with HR and speed on different vertical axes (primary and secondary).

As you can see my HR steadily increased the whole way, despite sipping water every five minutes. I ended up downing two bottles of water (1 liter) and one gatorade (20 oz).

For those of you who are familiar with my blog, you can probably tell I err a bit towards the analytical side. I love instrumentation.

There is a discrepancy between the treadmill and the sensor I feel compelled to point out. In particular, speed-wise, I believe the Nike+ sensor gave me more credit than I deserved. I only set the treadmill speed to a rather wimpy 7.0 mph. But it gave me 12 km/hr credit. So either the treadmill is pessimistic or the Nike+ sensor is optimistic. As I said, I believe it's the latter case.

Well, I'm happy I managed to stay on the treadmill that long to complete the half marathon workout. But, as they say, the sixty-four thousand dollar question is: did I sleep well that night? Unfortunately, the answer was no.

Oh well, I guess I should trusted the treadmill not the sensor and run that extra kilometer more...

Tokyo Marathon 2010

It was a cold, wet and windy Tokyo Marathon.

The weather forecast called for rain in the morning that would stop come afternoon. Well, of course, it rained during the entire marathon, quite miserably (in my opinion) during the line up in the starting area until the official start at 9:10am. As the records confirm, needless to say, the rain stopped and the sun came out around the time I crossed the finishing line in waterlogged running shoes and soggy socks and shorts.

Fortunately, I'd stopped to buy a lightweight, transparent Asics shell at the marathon expo a couple of days earlier when I picked up my bib and timing chip. Plus a yellow head covering and gloves from a 100 yen store. Otherwise, I would have froze.

Still, despite the conditions, I don't think anyone would want to punt on this event. After all 272,134 people applied for just 32,000 spots. As it turns out, the completion rate was 97.0% for men, and 95.1% for women. Amazing.

The event is professionally run and extremely well supported by over 10,000 volunteers. Can't fault anything about the event save having to line up and stand in the cold rain for 45 minutes before the start.

Nearing the finish line: I'm told someone finished in a bikini just 10 minutes ahead of me. You're pulling my leg, I don't believe a word of it...

And I think I had a decent run. The official results aren't out yet, but if my iPod Nano is to be trusted, I ran a very steady pace for a time around 3 hours and 45 mins.

As the finish line photograph shows, gun time was 3:48 but since I was in the Cs, it took maybe 3 mins or so before I crossed the start line.

And so 3:45 despite losing about 5 mins waiting in line for a porta potty at km 25 (you can see the dip in the graph). I'm happy.

Update: (June) I received my official finisher's certificate in the mail. Chip time was 3:44:42. Gun time was 3:48:06.

(The graph also takes a big dip at the end because my numb fingers fumbled for a while before I managed to terminate the workout after crossing the finish line.)

In fact, (for a change) I'm actually quite pleased considering the conditions and the fact I haven't managed to run outside for nearly 9 weeks. Lack of time due to work and other priorities have restricted me to short treadmill workouts at the local Konami gym.

I didn't have to walk, my lower back didn't bother me, I didn't cramp, I didn't bonk. For the latter fact, I'm grateful to Sasha Woolson for mailing me Strawberry Clif Bloks all the way from the United States. (I've not able to find them in Tokyo.) My Newton running shoes that I got back in December were simply great. (My feet were cold despite double layering of socks but that's not the fault of the running shoes.)

At the finish line, besides the finisher's medal (in exchange for returning the timing chip) and souvenir towel, they hand you an Amino-Value BCAA 4000mg sports drink, bottled water (Tokyo Metropolitan), mikan (蜜柑) = satsuma, banana, a Soy Joy bar, Calorie Mate pouch and even onigiri(御握り) = rice balls (flavors: sake(鮭) = salmon and mentaiko (明太子) = pollock roe). I even saw a sign for a foot bath (足湯). And I probably missed a few other goodies. They even search for and personally hand you your clothing kit bag that was dropped off at the start.

Also, although my BMI is nothing to write home about, I sincerely believe another key factor is that I managed to lose nearly 8 lbs since the Tucson Marathon back in December.

See chart where I've plotted Body Mass Index (BMI) vs height in cm for the invited athletes. As you can see those guys fall neatly in a narrow band between 18 and 20.

For comparison, the red dot is me (172 cm, 67.5 kg, BMI=23). And given my body type, it's not really realistic for me to lose much more weight. Personally, 65.0 kg is probably the absolute limit without getting sick all the time. I'll never be able to make the BMI 20 class. And let's not talk about aerobic capacity either...

But endurance is highly trainable. So I can definitely see room for improvement and possibilities for the future...

Tucson Marathon 2009

Good morning yesterday

you wake up and time has slipped away

and suddenly it's hard to find

the memories you left behind

(song by Nichols and Lane, sung by Joanna Wong - thanks Elaine!)

Luckily we have blogs these days. At least some ground truth for epic experiences like my struggle to come to terms with marathoning.

The good? A spectacular sunrise (captured on my iPhone) 4500 ft (1400m) up at the start in Oracle. What an awesome start and a dream course. Eliminating the Biosphere deviation (2008) meant uninterrupted panoramic vistas of the Santa Catalina mountains coming down Oracle Rd after mile 10.

(This course is nearly as good as when I ran it first in 2006 when there was the luxury of finishing at the Hilton El Conquistador.)

Also good. I bought a new pair of shoes after briefly trying them at the marathon expo on Friday. Newtons. They're quite different from ordinary running shoes. (And priced quite differently too.)

Decided against conventional wisdom to chance them on Sunday for the event. The soles of my feet haven't had the chance to get used to them but they're a dream shoe if you have decent running mechanics.

The final good thing was that I finished. Just under the psychologically important 4 hour mark. You can all stop reading here.

What follows below is a core dump for when this event becomes part of the "misty yesteryears" (song reference).

Time

3:57 bracket. This was my slowest Tucson marathon out of the three I've done.

(In fact, I had a minor heart attack when I looked at my iPod and it said 4:15... turns out I'd left it running after crossing the finish line. Have always been looking to improving not sliding backwards. That would have been a major bummer. Glue factory thoughts. I've never done a marathon over the 3:59 mark, and I really don't want to start now.)

A tale of two Tucson marathons

(2008) Last year, I had nearly enough endurance but I noticed didn't have speed. Although I was unhappy that I faded late in the marathon, still I managed to post an almost respectable 3:41 time. (See report here.)

(2009) This year, I had no opportunity to do long runs. Instead, I hoped 30 min sessions with speedwork on a treadmill would address my lack of speed last year, boost my aerobic capacity and substitute for endurance. Outdoors, I ran 10Ks once a week to save time. The result? I ran with good form for about 18 miles and then suddenly crashed to a limp and robotic shuffle as my leg muscles locked up on me. Last 7 miles was excruciatingly long and pathetic. 3:57.

A Stupid Exercise

Afterwards, I realized this was a stupid exercise. I was also 3 kg overweight (good food in Doha). There is nothing heroic about completing a marathon when one's muscles have quit. It's extremely dispiriting to have to walk unnaturally mile after mile. And the damage to the undertrained and overworked muscles is counterproductive to recovery and fitness anyway.There is no point in entering.

Completing it in just under 4 hours: there is simply no value to this experiment. I've done the "just under 4" before. What possibly more could I learn? I really wish I hadn't run it this year.

Lessons for the Future

Memo to self: I believe there are two necessary and sufficient components to a successful marathon. One is sheer aerobic capacity from speedwork. The second is muscle endurance from long runs. Having just one out of two will only get you so far. But not having the 2nd will result in a total collapse like this time.

Speedwork can compensate for lack of endurance to some degree. In fact, I believe simple speedwork can substitute for half-marathon fitness. But there is something special about the marathon distance: 42.125 km or 26.2 miles of pounding overwhelms ordinary, everyday fitness. It imposes an endurance demand on the human physiological system that requires specific training.

Another way to look at it is total workload. A marathon is about 3000 kcal for someone of my weight. A 10K is about 800 kcal's worth. There is no way you're gonna scale up from 800 to 3000 kcal on race day.

Memo to self: Put another way, if you haven't put in the miles, don't bother to show up. Seriously.If you're gonna show up, respect the distance.

With that in mind, let's roll on and look forward to a decent showing in the Tokyo Marathon (2010)...

[Update: A week later, my left calf muscle is still hurting and my right knee (outside) twinges now and then. Simple overuse injuries. Definitely overdid it.]