71.5 minute 5-mile run using long-paces style--new personal record

Thursday March 19:

Prior to the run footwear-wise I did not put into effect recommendations I made to myself after the March 18 run. Instead I did maintenance, retaping where the taping of the pads in the shoes had come loose.

The recommendations I made to myself after the March 18 run were:

"Left foot: possibly increase padding to rear of lower heel by 8 m-wrap layers again, making sure the padding is vertically low enough to have heel-tightening effect; possibly increase padding under middle and index toes by 8 m-wrap layers...Right foot: possibly add 8 m-wrap layer pad behind heel at base of heel; possibly add 8 m-wrap layer pad under big toe.
(http://davidvirgil.blogspot.com/2009/03/75-minute-5-mile-run-using-quick-paces.html )".

Results foot-comfort wise:

Left foot: Some numbness/tingliness in foot; some pain in middle and/or index toes, during minority fractions of the 3rd & 5th miles

Right foot: No complaints.

Could be the reason the right foot has been better than the left comfort wise, is that I always run around the block counter-clockwise.

Thursday March 19:

I ran the round the block course again (1st 3rd 5th miles run, 2nd 4th 6th miles walked), using for the 1st 5 miles, style E, the style featuring an emphasis on speed combined with length of pace, along with a de-emphasis of number of paces per minute, taking breaks for the purpose of recording split-times.

Time after 5th mile: 71:35 (86:32 - 14:57 subtracted for delays = 71:35), new personal record regardless of style.

Pauses were due to: removing layers of clothing that were too warm; tying shoelaces; and, returning indoors to go to bathroom (which took 7:25 minutes:seconds & was the reason the break time was extra-long today). I stopped for the purpose of recording split-times after each mile.

Bathroom break details: solid waste disposal; occurred approx 22 minutes after start; drank sips of pure half n half & ate trail food mix immediately before start to avoid stomach problems.

For most of the 5 miles, I used the following chant (chanted in my mind not with my mouth/tongue):

'Long are our strides as we streamline the sky
Far is our distance per unit of time
Lord of Roads of Magnificence am I
Lord of Roads of Painlessness am I;

Maxed are our strides as we streamline the sky
Far is our distance per unit of time
Lord of Roads of Magnificence am I
Lord of Roads of Painlessness am I'

Note that the two stanzas are the same except that in the second stanza, the word 'long' is replaced with the word 'maxed'.

This is a chant designed to emphasize long paces and speed, while de-emphasizing number of paces per minute.

For the second day in a row, I introduced a new practice of walking half a mile around the block before starting the run.

Mile split times recorded:

1st, run: 15:27
2nd, walked: 13:15
3rd, run: 14:59
4th, walked: 13:22
5th, run: 14:32

The 1st mile was slower than the 1st mile yesterday during which I was using shorter length paces combined with emphasis on high number of paces per minute. But yesterday, the 3rd and 5th miles run using the shorter length paces style were much slower than today.

Perhaps wisdom may consist of an emphasis on number of paces per minute in the first mile run, and then an emphasis on length of pace in the second and third miles run.

The 5th mile was by a significant measure, my best run mile so far (not counting approx 15 years ago and earlier). It was about 30 seconds faster than my top mile times recently.

Digression re my mile times as a youth:

At Brandeis 15 years ago I ran a mile in 7:44; in 6th grade when attending the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools I ran a mile in 6:34. This 6:34 minutes:seconds 6th grade time marked me as an elite commando type looking at the standards for troops and commandoes. But I never considered myself an elite miler because a significant number of boys in my grade beat me; the boy who came in first ran the mile in 5:50. I was'nt mature enough to realize that the fact that I was a top miler may have been disguised and hid, because other boys trained harder than me or ate better than me.

End of digression.

For many days I had been stuck in this frustrating pattern wherein I could do no better than around a 15 minute mile when running. Then today in the 5th mile, I suddenly dropped to 14.5 minutes--and I did not even feel like I was going fast or stressing myself physically during and after the run.

By way of contrast there have been days where I felt as if I had definitely set a new personal record when in fact I had definitely not set a new personal record.

The footwear during the run was:

Left shoe:
SAME AS PREVIOUS RUN

Lightweight removable sole that came with shoe +
foam/gel heel-to-toe insole +
8 layers m-wrap pad under big toe +
'toe bed' (forefoot gel pad for ball of foot and toes) +
8 layers m-wrap under ball of foot +
12 layers m-wrap pad under ball-of-foot & line between toes & ball of foot +
20 layers m-wrap pad attached to toe area of gel forefoot pad beneath big, index and middle toes +
16 m-wrap layer pad behind heel at base of heel+
40 layers m-wrap pad around sides and rear of heel
Adhesives: tape, not glue.
'Pretaping' type m-wrap used.
SHOELACES: tight on top shoelace, loose on other shoelaces

Right shoe:
SAME AS PREVIOUS RUN

Lightweight removable sole that came with shoe +
foam/gel heel-to-toe insole +
'toe bed' (forefoot gel pad for ball of foot and toes) +
8 layers m-wrap under ball of foot +
12-layers m-wrap pad under ball-of-foot & line between toes and ball of foot +
20 layers m-wrap pad attached to toe area of gel forefoot pad beneath big, index and middle toes +
16 layers m-wrap pad around sides and rear of heel
'Multipurpose' type m-wrap used.
SHOELACES: tight on top shoelaces, loose on others

The temp was on average 44 degrees with wind at avg 1 mph during the run (5th mile completed at 6:41 PM):
(http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/wxStationGraphAll?day=19&year=2009&month=3&ID=KMAWESTO6&type=3&width=500&showsolarradiation=1&showtemp=1&showpressure=1&showwind=1&showwinddir=1&showrain=1 ).

'Twas a daytime run, cloudy most of the time.

A sweatshirt, long-sleeved collar-less sportshirt made of t-shirt type material, t-shirt, sleeveless t-shirt, visibility-vest, gloves, sweatpants, shorts, and headband were too warm. Half way through the 1st mile, I stopped to remove the sweatshirt and the gloves.

Most of the run I wore only: a headband, long sleeved shirt made of t-shirt type material, t-shirt, sleeveless t-shirt, visibility vest, shorts, & sweatpants--which were about right for the 44 degree cloudy day environment.

Advice to myself for the next run:

Left foot: possibly increase padding to rear of lower heel by 8 m-wrap layers again, making sure the padding is vertically low enough to have heel-tightening effect; possibly increase padding under middle and index toes by 8 m-wrap layers.

Right foot: possibly add 8 m-wrap layer pad behind heel at base of heel; possibly add 8 m-wrap layer pad under big toe.

In accordance with the rotation entered into the blog-record March 15 (http://davidvirgil.blogspot.com/2009/03/76-minute-5-mile-long-length-paced-run.html ), run using style "F Double-emphasis on long-length-paces AND paces-per-minute, no pauses to note split times".

Chant to use:

'Long are our strides as we streamline the sky,
Many are our steps per unit of time
Lord of roads of magnificence am I
Lord of roads of painlessness am I'

This chant emphasizes: speed; long strides; and, a high number of steps per minute.

Running tactics/strategy

Running styles review:

Emphasis on Quick Paces = Style A (pauses to note split times) & Style D (no pauses to note split times)

Emphasis on Long Paces = Style B (no pauses to note split times) & Style E (pauses to note split times)

Emphasis on Quick Long Paces = Style C (pauses to note split times) & Style F (no pauses to note split times)

I was surprised that Style E which I used today March 19, featuring emphasis on long strides, produced such a good result. My expectation was that style C featuring a double-emphasis on BOTH number of steps per minute and also length of strides, produces the best results.

I believe I had inadvertently used style C on March 14, when I set a personal record regardless of style of 72:44, which I beat by 69 seconds today March 19. I also used style C March 17, when the time was 73:02.

Prior to March 14 I had been using style B/E involving emphasis on length of stride, almost exclusively; I had credited the new personal record of March 14 to switching to a new emphasis on high paces per minute.

The important new personal records over 5 miles recently have been (minutes:seconds): Feb 25, 79:30; March 8, 76:15; March 14, 72:44; and, March 19 today, 71:35.

At the rate (exponential not geometric) I have been improving since March 14 five days ago, I will be down to 55.2 minutes in about 80 days, around June 7. Thus the rate of improvement from Feb 25 to March 14 was a little faster than that from March 14 to today March 19.

(relevant facts/links: 5 miles = 8047 meters; http://www.arrs.net/SA_O10K.htm )

One could say that the introduction five days ago, of rotation in terms of style of run, has not been in effect long enough to pass judgement on rotation. Or one could say, this is a type of gambit--accepting a temporary slowdown in improvement due to constantly switching between styles, in the hopes that eventually this will in the long range result in a faster rate of improvement.

Possibly, the introduction of rotation, changed my running mechanics resulting in my fastest style becoming the style featuring emphasis on long paces, whereas previous to the introduction of rotation, my fastest style involved emphasis on both long paces and also quick paces.

@2009 David Virgil Hobbs