Running Notes by HJL

Here’s a look at last year’s weekly mileage (2005). The year started off pretty well, up through running Big Sur at the end of April. After that I spent much of the year doing more cross training instead of running, trying to get rid of some lingering aches which were gradually getting worse.

During the fall I usually run less lately until soccer season is over. This year I also picked up bronchitis or something which is still giving me problems around mid-October.

Looking back, I see I haven’t logged a full week of “normal” running since May 2005. On the plus side, my joints and ITB are all feeling pretty good, and I’ve kept up the cardio workouts on the elliptical, stairclimber, and rowing machines. So if I get some improvement on the breathing problem things look generally positive, and even if things stay the way they are now I can probably manage OK at Big Sur if I reset my paces slower.

At the moment I’ve dialed down my “easy” pace to somewhere between 10:00 per mile and a fast walk, which is enough to bring my HR up to low aerobic range. At this rate I may need the additional finishing time they’ve allowed this year before closing the course. They close Highway 1 to vehicle traffic to run the marathon, so there’s a hard stop after 6 hours, which is a 13:40 pace. Hopefully I can do better than that, even if I still can’t breathe properly by April.

1/1/2006 through 1/7/2006 totals: 24.36 miles, longest 7.36 miles.

Aside from the mysterious breathing problem, I’m still evaluating how things look for this training cycle, getting ready for Big Sur in April, and shifting back to more running and less cross training. I’ve been logging more time on the stairclimber, elliptical, and rowing machine for a while. Just trying to get into a marathon training mindset at the moment.

I find Jack Daniels’ VDOT tables useful for setting target training paces. These can also be used to identify a theoretical target time for events at different distances, based on equivalent level of effort and training. The general idea is to quantify how fast you can go for a given rate of oxygen (O2) uptake. Higher numbers are better.

Some of the physiological contributors to the training improvements:

• Increased mechanical efficiency as your form improves
• Increased heart stroke volume (chamber becomes larger and stronger)
• Increased lactate buffering capacity (lets you sustain near-anerobic pace longer)
• Increased capillarization (you develop more capillaries which get O2 in and CO2 out faster)

Unfortunately, your basic starting point is largely genetically determined, and there’s a limit how much improvement can be obtained through training.

My ability to gauge paces is slowly improving over the years, but I’m remarkably bad at “running by feel”, which is one of the reasons I tend to rely on instrumentation. I also find it difficult at times to tell how hard a “moderately hard” level of effort is, which is where a heart rate monitor can be useful.

Right now, it seems that I’m getting less oxygen in than normal. I’m guessing that my present state is around VDOT 35, based on an 8:00 mile. I’m currently running no faster than 9:00 pace for daily runs, and am mostly going slower than that to stay in the middle of aerobic training range. In comparison, last spring I was in the vicinity of VDOT 46, based on a 6:15 mile pace.

The big question mark at the moment is whether or not I’m going to be breathing properly reasonably soon. During the first few weeks of the training cycle I usually just try to build up the mileage and don’t worry about speed at all, so it doesn’t make much difference yet. I’m not too excited about actually running the event in this condition though.

There is a much longer discussion of the VDOT model in Jack Daniels’ Running Formula, which I highly recommend.

I just signed up for the Big Sur Marathon again this evening.

This will be my 3rd time around. Here are my notes after last year’s run, which I finished in about 3:50.

One of the things I like about running marathons is there isn’t really any way to shortcut the preparation. In general you can’t just be athletically gifted and run a marathon course. At Big Sur this is even more true, due to the famously hilly course.