I'll save the linking to my distance running and training material until the end of this essay. Enjoy.
OUR WORLD RECORD The gun is fired. I've stopped wetting myself, and I’m with Kirui as we set off at world record pace: We all are. No matter which part of the pyramid of running ability you occupy, you’re as much a part of his world record as he is. Eight or twenty-eight minutes behind him, we take pride in our performances. So here’s the clean version of my thoughts. As the mile marker approaches, I realize I’m having an out of skin experience with 5:10 showing on my watch - only 45 seconds behind the leaders - but I’m working just as hard. Maybe if I did more 400s in 62 seconds I’d be able to stay with them; maybe if I could run one 62 second 400 I’d at least be closer to them. The second mile slows to a 5:15 suggesting I didn’t start exces¬ sively fast, merely a little too fast. I’m surrounded by fellows who will run this pace for several more miles, and already catching those who went too hard in the first mile. The lead group is only another 42 seconds up on us, so in a way we’re already closing the gap. Ah, the third mile, we’re really rolling now; same time as the last, but the leaders repeat also. The eight 5,000 meter races this year which resulted in a 16 second improvement, have taught my quads to expect discomfort early, but I don’t feel anything yet...What a difference 15 seconds a mile makes. I’m sat behind a group of five runners, if sitting is an appropriate expression at eleven miles per hour. The leaders are lounging at thirteen mph of course. Five seventeen’s not unexpected as I wait for my group to weaken. Twenty times 300 meters with a 100 jog ten days ago passes through my mind. That and many similar sessions free me of fear at four miles due to the speed endurance and aerobic capacity I’ve developed. The five by 1500 and eight by 1,000 sessions which I alternate, naturally cross my mind as we head for half-way in 26:18. The 5:21 gives another 48 seconds to the leaders - but they’re welcome to it. My skin, and the skin of many others running at 6, 7 and 8 minute miles continues fairly sloughing off as we run toward likely personal records. Oh, the race is nearly over, the race is nearly over: get ready to sprint. Or I could if it was a ten kilometer instead of a ten mile race. But at least it’s not ten k pace...anymore. It was very close to 10 k pace for a few miles but now we will pay the price. Five twenty six is not too high a price - three years ago it would have been unheard of for me to run so fast - yet now it represents a slowing. I don’t have a six mile session to help me through this mile, so I think of all the rest I’ve had this week. The leisurely, flat 12 instead of a hilly 14 at the weekend; three times a mile instead of the usual five midweek; and doing only two speed sessions has left the legs feeling fresh. It’s good to reap the reward of the hardest type of training: rest. I have to share the pace now as the “group” is down to two. We chase some dying runners whose positive splits will make our posi¬ tive splits look positively negative. And the 5:30 mile is the most positive mile we will do today. Each mile from here I’m thinking about my running form even more than before. First, extending the ankles and working the calves to their full contraction. Next, whipping the leg through a little closer to the buttock to decrease the pendulum drag and in¬ crease cadence. Then picking up the knees just a little more to devour the ground. And finally, leaning forward a micro percentage of one degree, to ensure the energy propels me forward, rather than upwards with more hang-time than Michael Jordan. Long hang-time is bad for distance running. As we storm towards the eight mile mark, I know we’re in the personal record make or break section of the race. The third 200 of the 800 meters is where records are lost; as is the forth thousand of the 5,000. I cheat: pretending it’s only an eight mile race as the legs begin to scream at me to slow - but instead of surging at seven and a half, I merely extend the effort into the ninth. Chasing down fellow competitors also helped us to a 5:23; a mere 44 seconds slower than the winner. Now it’s the penultimate mile. Don’t gather yourself for a finishing flourish, I say to myself... give everything now. If you have a sprint at the end, you obviously didn’t run the first nine and half miles hard enough. Picking off people as we reverse the slowing from earlier, these endorphin numbed legs carry me through a 5:21 mile--surely we’re gaining on the leaders at this speed. At some stage in the last mile, those who didn’t run hard enough earlier come screaming by. No matter. I’ve run my...my...legs off. I know I’m slowing just a little, yet I’m still catching a few. With 600 meters to go I try an extended sprint for the finish. My increase in pace is so devastating, that two of the guys at my side take 10 meters out of me in a hundred...and will be 50 ahead by the finish. Did they run hard enough in the prior 15,490 meters? Kirui got his world record, many went sub sixty and sub seventy minutes for the first time, and due in part to a superb 5:25 last mile, I slashed my PR to 53:23. Positive splits yes; but still a very posi¬ tive race.
Or send $17.95 per book to David Holt at PO Box 543, Goleta, CA 93116. (includes shipping and tax)
Or send $17.95 per book to David Holt at PO Box 543, Goleta, CA 93116. (includes shipping and tax)