Ryan

Dennis Kimetto: 2:02:57

/ News/Elites / 3 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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For those of you who haven’t heard, Dennis Kimetto this morning shattered the marathon world record in Berlin with a 2:02:57. That takes 26 seconds off the former world record, held by Wilson Kipsang. With his customary second place finish (his sixth time finishing second at a major marathon) Emmanuel Mutai also went under the former world record.

I see three things with this world record.

First, what an amazing run. Notably, Kimetto had Mutai to run with until he broke away with about 2.5 miles to go based on reports I’ve seen. In fact, Mutai was the one pushing the pace for a while. Even when Kimetto broke Mutai, he had to push the whole way because Mutai didn’t just disappear. Direct competition in a fast race like this can do one of two things. Sometimes, it causes the pace to slow as runners size each other up and play the tactical game. Other times, someone decides to just lay it on the line and go all out. In this case, obviously, the latter happened.

Second, let the Boston 2011 "record" be laid to rest. Geoffrey Mutai’s 2:03:02 can be retired as the fastest time anyone has ever run but not the world record. Good riddance. I never liked that discussion. There’s a reason standards need to be met in order for a course to be record eligible and the insane tailwind of 2011 proved why those standards matter.

Third, let the sub-2 hour talk heat up. The safe money is still on it being a long time before we see a sub-2 marathon but that won’t stop some people from talking about it as if it will be in the next year or two.

Just a quick recap of why it will be a long time: The sport has undergone a drastic change in the last decade. There used to be big money in track and field and less money in the marathon. That balance has shifted. Between big appearance fees, big prize money including time incentives encouraging faster times and the World Marathon Majors prize structure, we see the marathon becoming a very lucrative pursuit. In the meantime, the 10,000 on the track has all but died. That’s drawing the best of the best to the marathon and encouraging them to chase what just a decade ago would have seemed like insanely fast times. The result is a historical shift in the talent pool resulting in a relatively short term dramatic improvement in performances. The 10,000 meter world record on the track will turn 10 years old in 11 months and hasn’t been seriously threatened in some time. That’s because potential world record holders in that event are skipping it in favor of the marathon. In the meantime, Kenenisa Bekele who holds that world record is moving up to the marathon and will likely do well at the upcoming Chicago Marathon but won’t set the world on fire with the world’s second 2:02 because he’s past his prime.

So don’t expect a sub-2 hour marathon in the next few years but enjoy this amazing time in marathoning and understand that it’s truly a historical period for the marathon. It will take at least one more historical shift like this, though, before we can expect the 2 hour barrier to fall.

Finally, congratulations to Kimetto on becoming the first person in history to run a marathon under 2:03. What an amazing performance.

Race report: 1st annual Hootie Hustle 5K

/ Race Reports / 6 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I’m always nervous about inaugural events but this is a fundraiser for the scholarship program at my daughter’s school district. She will possibly benefit from this program in the future so I kind of felt obliged to make a showing.

Of course, any time I toe the line at a 5K, I’m thinking about breaking 17 minutes. Given that this was an inaugural event and that this is in a town where "flat" is a relative term, though, I was a bit skeptical. As it turned out, the course was about as flat as you can make it here but that’s not necessarily saying much.

The course started at the high school, at the gated entry to the track and football field. It then hit town roads, went up a long, gradual incline to the middle school, then looped back around to the high school, finishing with about 3/4 of a lap on the track and a U-turn into a 50 yard line finish on the football field.

I warmed up over the last 3/4 mile of the road portion of the course. I was feeling good but not great. Still, I expected to at least be in contention for the win and I expected myself to at least be in the low 17s.

At the start, I ran what I was told was the route and a few others seemed to be cutting some turns a bit short. Not a big deal but one of those guys was pretty persistent. Right on my shoulder the whole time. This was not going to be one of those inaugural events where you show up and win by 3 minutes. I had some formidable competition on my hands. That’s fine. There’s a time and place for time trial-style races but I’m always a fan of good, head to head competition.

We made a few turns then, probably before the half mile, started the long climb that would take up more than the next half mile. By this point, the guy who had been running behind me had already challenged me once or twice. At this point, between the coming long climb and a head to head battle, I knew this race wasn’t going to be a gun to tape time trial. I know I’m fit enough right now to run a real nice time but I’m not in the kind of race where I can just throw caution to the wind and go for it. The course is going to suck some life out of my legs and I don’t want to hammer the second mile and risk blowing up and getting passed in the last mile. So I hang tight up the hill, let this guy pass me a couple times but come back on him each time. Finally, as we reach near the top, he pulls away from me just a bit. I tell myself let him go and there’s a gradual decline where I can bring him back in as he’s sucking air from the effort on the incline.

I think it was on that decline where I saw the 2K mark. About 200 yards earlier, I was telling myself we had to be past the mile even though I saw no sign of it. It was a relief to know I was right. At the same time, I was back in the lead and I told myself the next 2K is make or break time for me. So I pushed but did so with just a touch of caution. Again, I wanted to make sure I had something left for the finish just in case. I knew I was pulling away a little but not much. Around a turn, not too far from what I estimated to be about a mile to go, and I see the 3K mark. OK, still on track and I’ve built up a bit of a lead. I round another turn and start the downhill stretch. By this time, my legs are worn down enough that I couldn’t really attack the downhill the way I wanted but I do think I opened up more of a gap there. Down at the bottom, I tried opening it up a little. I had some energy yet but my top speed just didn’t seem to be there.

I came into sight of the track with the clock on the scoreboard just over 15 minutes. I figured I had about 2 minutes to go but I figured I’d miss sub-17. I didn’t want to hammer until I was on the track so I picked it up a bit and got myself to the track. We do a near U-turn to enter the athletic fields and I see my lead is comfortable but not huge. I push a little harder but just don’t have that last gear. On to the track, I keep pushing and I watch the clock. Ticking toward 16:20. I figure I have about 200 meters or a little more to go as the clock hits 16:20. Can I run a 35 second 200? I doubt it but I try. Again, no last gear. I think the hill just took that speed out of my legs. I make the couple sharp turns to enter the football field and head toward the finish line. As I take the last turn, I see the clock ticking toward 17 flat. It isn’t happening. I have the win comfortably but I’m not going to kill myself for another second or so here.

I end up finishing in 17:05. Second was an assistant coach for the high school cross country team. A very good runner himself and obviously someone who knows a thing or two about running. Third was a young guy, probably not in high school, a few minutes back. He has a lot of potential.

All said, this was a very good race. Just not one you go to looking for a fast time. They have a few kinks they could work out but very solid for an inaugural effort. They also had very nice and unique awards for the top 3 overall finishers. I give them credit for standing out with their awards and for holding a quality event in their first attempt. I definitely think this can grow into a very nice race.

As for me, I feel good with this. Yes, I just missed sub-17 for the second time this year but I know, given a few sharp turns on the course and the long climb that drained my legs, I’m ready for it on the much faster course I’ll be at in 3 weeks.

Personal and Team HillRunner.com race report: 2014 Al’s Run

/ Race Reports, Team HillRunner.com / 9 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

As always, this is one of my highlights of the year. The great people who are willing to sign up to run as members of Team HillRunner.com always amaze me. While our numbers and depth were down a bit this year, the greatness of the people I was surrounded by on Saturday never disappointed.

This year, we definitely had some turnover on the roster. I counted 5 team mebers from last year who were not on the roster when I picked up packets a week before race day. Woody and Laura made it to the race and Woody attempted to get himself on the team but we’re not sure if he succeeded. Regardless, it was great to see them and thanks Woody for the attempt. Other holdovers from last year were Tim, Jerry, Ed, Charlene and of course myself. New to the team this year were Peter, who is a team veteran who had not run with us for a few years, and newcomer Josh. Josh is an interesting story. He actually came across HillRunner.com when he found my Al’s Run report from last year while searching for another runner.

I felt we would log a team time that was slower than last year’s team time but likely not enough to affect our place in the standings. Unfortunately, I got a little concerned when Tim informed me that he strained his hamstring. My first concern was of course his health but I knew that had the potential of affecting our team time even further as I was expecting him to be running neck and neck with me as first or second runner on the team, much like we did last year. Any time you replace a #1 or #2 runner with a #6, your team time is going to take a hit. That said, I still had confidence in the team and of course Tim’s health came first.

On race day, I carpooled in with Charlene, Josh, Jerry and Peter. We had a good talk on the way in and everyone seemed relaxed and ready to go. As we got to the team meeting place, Ed was there ready to go and Tim arrived shortly later. The word from Tim was that he’d warm up and see how things went. Everyone else seemed ready to go. Personally, I was feeling good. The weather was favorable. Probably about 50 degrees with a northwest wind. On this course, a northwest wind is pretty favorable as the finish is southeast of the start. Still, I figured I was in shape to run about the same as I did last year. That meant hit 5:40 pace, give up some time in mile 2 and see if 28:20 is in the cards.

During the warmup, I was feeling pretty good. As with last year, I found myself at one point being 3 team members seeing those HillRunner.com uniforms in their full glory and I got a chill. How cool is that? I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling that way when I see a group of people willing to represent this site.

The whole team this year lined up on the north side of the starting area so I was able to give everyone one last greeting before finding my position for the start. I also saw Woody and Laura and that’s when Woody informed me that the Al’s Run people seemed receptive to adding him to the team. I also heard from Tim that he was going to give it a shot but ease into it. I said one last time to him to be careful out there and then it was time to go.

At the start, I quickly realized that the sides were more even this year. Typically, the top runners line up on the south side and the north side offers more of a clear path. I would say the sides were about balanced this year. No big deal, just an interesting observation. I settled into pace, reminding myself that the first mile was a long, gradual downhill with the addition of a tailwind this year. That means keep it nice and relaxed. Let the downhill and wind take care of the first mile and save my legs for later. As it turned out, as soon as we hit the big buildings in downtown, I realized the wind was going to be a little more tricky. Every block, the wind was swirling around the buildings and creating a headwind. That didn’t change my strategy, though. I just eased through mile 1. I was honestly surprised to find out I hit the mile mark in about 5:28.

Into mile 2, a climb away from the river and toward the bluffs overlooking the lake and turning north more into the wind. This mile is always slow and I realized my best strategy is to accept that I’ll give up some time and not fight it. Surprisingly, I was still passing a few people even with this strategy and I don’t recall anyone passing me. Not too much happened along here. Reeling in a few guys but not getting crazy. I cruised through the 2 mile mark in 11:24 for a 5:56 mile. A little slower than I expected after opening up with 5:28. However, I’m starting to think I could try to break 28 minutes. Get back on 5:30 pace and I’ll slip under. I start pushing harder in mile 3, working my way past guys and through the field. I kept doing that until the downhill into the 3 mile mark. I’m usually good on downhills and I made a solid move here last year. This year, though, I felt like I ran it well but the 2 guys who were around me actually gained on me. I must have in the "good downhill runner" pack this year. No worries, though. I’m heading into mile 4, the make or break mile for me, now. Through 3 miles in 17:05, a 5:41 mile. Not bad for a mile that had some headwind and is probably the second most challenging mile of the course regardless of weather. Also, 5:30 pace over the last 2 miles would still give me a shot at sub-28.

Mile 4 for me is hammer time. This is a stretch along the lakefront where you’re running back toward downtown. Not much is going on around you there, there aren’t many spectators through most of this mile and it can really wear on a runner. A lot of runners fade in this mile and it’s a great chance to make an early move. I always try to hammer this mile and this year was no exception. I had two guys in my sights ahead of me. One, wearing a UW-Milwaukee shirt, who pulled away from me on the downhill and another, wearing a hoodie. No way I’m just letting a guy racing in a hoodie beat me. First up is UWM guy, though. I close on him and, just before I catch him, he surges. I had nothing to surge so I just held pace until his surge faded out. Then, as I pass him, he surges again. Again, I had nothing to respond to the surge so I just held position until the surge was over. Then it was on to hoodie guy. This guy was tougher to break than you’d think a guy wearing a hoodie in a race would be. It was tough enough to bring him in but I managed that just before the 4 mile mark. Once I did bring him in, I couldn’t break him. He just clung to me and even attempted to repass me. Man, this guy just wasn’t giving up. We passed through the 4 mile mark together somewhere in the 22:30s I believe. I kept pushing to challenge him, knowing I didn’t want to let it come down to a kick. I got ahead of him but I could never drop him. He just kept hanging right there on my left shoulder.

As we made a right turn, he made his move. He was ahead of me and I had nothing to respond with. Shortly after, we took a left turn. Showing how hard I had run and how dead my legs were, my right knee actually buckled going around the turn. I didn’t hit a bump in the road or anything like that, I just had a momentary loss of strength. I was able to correct, though, and get back on track. I couldn’t gain on hoodie guy no matter how hard I tried but I sure could try as hard as possible. Around a couple more turns, then a longer stretch into the final turn. Coming off that final turn, there was James Daul, who always seems to be around me in results, flying past. No response. I tried but my legs were spent. I then watched the clock tick through the 27:40s, then the 27:50s. Then it hit 28 flat. There goes that but I did get across in 28:02 to overperform my expectations.

I then looped back to catch the other team members coming in. Tim looked healthy (most important thing) and crossed the line in the mid-29s. Jerry was shortly behind, just over 30 minutes. Woody came through in just under 31 minutes and Ed was just under 32 minutes. Charlene was in the mid 33s, Josh came through in the 34:40s to slip under the 7:00/mile target he had. Peter, who twisted his ankle on the course, managed to finish on his banged up ankle in the mid-36 range.

As a team, we finished second to the always strong PRO team in our division, third overall including community teams (Marquette Running Club was a few minutes ahead of us, Marquette University was 4 seconds behind us). We also scored 3 age group medals. It was a disappointing day for a few runners, most notably Peter who came out injured. However, I think it was a good day in general for the team.

After the race, once we got everyone rounded up and back to their cars, the entire team except Woody and Laura were able to make it out to my place where Lisa was gracious enough to treat us to some excellent homemade Asian food. As always, it was great to sit back, relax and talk running as well as whatever else came up (anyone up for a stair climb?). Again, I’m always amazed by how great the people on the team are, both as runners and as people.

I’m very proud of everyone. Thank you all for representing HillRunner.com and for making Saturday such a fun day. I look forward to doing it again next year.

Individual results

Team results

Ask me anything: Strains

/ Training / 3 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Some time ago, I posted an "Ask me anything" post, soliciting questions. I’d like to continue doing this on occasion so, if you have any questions, keep an eye out (or ask any time if you don’t want to wait). One question I received was about strains:

During the last year I have tweaked/strained my left calf twice. I couldn’t tell you the muscle group but the long and short of it is I have had to ice and park myself for a few weeks and then start again. Any specific stretch or strengthening exercise you would recommend to stretch and strengthen that part of my leg?

First, great framing of the question. Muscle strains such as this are usually caused by a combination of inadequate strength/strength imbalances and inadequate flexibility/mobility.

As runners, we tend to let stretching and strength training fall to the wayside. We’d rather run another 2 miles than spend that time stretching and strength training. As a result, we get strength imbalances, don’t ensure our muscles and connective tissue are strong enough to support the repeated stress we place on them and allow ourselves to get tight to the point that we can’t pass through a normal range of motion without placing strain on our muscles and connective tissue.

This is a mistake. If we spend 10 minutes a day doing some form of stretching or range of motion work and 30-60 minutes a week doing strength training, we will be able to handle a higher volume and intensity of running.

Yes, it’s time out of our day. It may even be time that cuts into what time we have available to run. However, it’s time that keeps us healthy. I’d rather get in 50 minutes a day consistently than 60 minutes a day but miss a few weeks twice a year because I wasn’t taking care of myself. However, I’ve found that many runners can do these things without cutting into their running time. All the strength and flexibility/mobility training I recommend can be done in your living room with little to no equipment other than some space to stretch out on. You can do these things at home while watching TV or, especially for the stretching, as a way to relax before going to bed.

So what happened with the runner who asked this question? I suggested heel raises to strengthen the calf muscles and a Jim and Phil Wharton stretching routine (which can be found here) to stretch the muscles.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with the individual who asked this question. He said the exercises I recommended did help him resolve the issues and he is actually recommending them to other runners who experience similar issues. I’m glad it worked out for him and, if you are experiencing similar strains, I hope this advice will also work for you.

Age related performance decline/strength training and mental training

/ Roundups / 4 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

So I’m still a bit behind but I’m getting back on schedule. However, I wanted to ensure I didn’t rush my writing about these topics.

Interestingly, within my coaching, I wanted to focus on going a little deeper in a few areas next year. Two of those areas are addressed below. I wanted to focus more on strength training and the mental aspect. I’ll explain more below but I did find it interesting that, as I was thinking about these aspects of training, I came across these.

First, one of my favorite bloggers Alex Hutchinson wrote about age related decline.

The chart he included is very interesting. Basically, peak sprint power drops off rapidly once we age beyond our 30s. Likewise, VO2max seems to have a general downward trend as we age, accelerating as we enter our 60s but generally downward throughout life. Efficiency, on the other hand, declines but less rapidly than the other variables. We also seem to experience a fairly significant drop as we age into our 60s before it apparently levels off going forward.

Beyond that, though, I think it’s interesting what Hutchinson brings up at the end.

So is this a measure of "intrinsic" aging? It’s not that simple. These masters triathletes are certainly fit, but they may well be neglecting the types of training that maintain muscle mass, strength, and power. Indeed, a study back in 2011 (with one of the same co-authors) found that (a) strength training improves cycling efficiency, and (b) the improvements are bigger in older cyclists.

I wanted to add a greater focus on strength training next year because I believe it will take our injury prevention efforts to a higher level. That is still my focus. I believe a basic level of strength makes you more resilient. It allows you to train harder with a lower risk of injury. For the more veteran runners, though, we may have an added benefit of potentially significant efficiency gains. Sounds like a win/win to me and is another reason to believe we’re heading in the right direction.

Second, one of the runners I coach sent me this link to an interesting article about "brain training".

The runners I coach might recognize things I do in parts of this article. The idea of keeping positive is a big one. I always find something positive. I can read a runner’s training log and, in a workout where the runner thinks he or she bombed, see a positive we can take out of the workout. Then I’ll focus on the positive that I see in the workout. Not that we can ignore the misses but, in my effort to always be positive, why can’t we look at the misses and learn from them? Are they negatives if we use them as learning opportunities? See what the runners I coach have to deal with? I guess I know why I’ve been called annoyingly positive.

I think there are a few things every runner can take from this. The runners I coach can expect much greater detail in discussion of this but here are a couple key takeaways I think we can find in this article:

1) Be process oriented, not results oriented. As I often say, take care of the present and the future will take care of itself.

2) Focus on the positive. We all have negative thoughts creep into our minds. No matter how much we practice being positive, they will at times. When things are going good, it’s easy to be positive. What do we do when these things happen? Put a positive spin on it. If I’m racing a 5K and things start hurting late in mile 2, I might for a moment think can I hold this all the way to the finish? Then I turn it around. I’m supposed to be hurting at this point. That means I’m running a good race. Now, let’s keep pushing through this part so I can keep this good race going.

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