Finishing strong

Sunday evening I had my longest sustained run, yet! The training team was back at East Potomac Park for a 1 hour run. The loop we take around the golf course is about 3.2 miles around so I knew I would not make it around twice in 1 hour, that would mean I would have to average 9.5 minute miles, which I haven't done yet. Instead I set my sites on finishing strong.

Two loops around East Potomac Park Golf Course

My last two runs I had started off too fast and lost some energy toward the end. I don't like that feeling. I have been pacing myself to finish strong on most other runs, even if finishing strong is just a relative term. I like saving something for the end. The day after the second of those two runs, I read chapter 28 of Born to Run. In that chapter the author lays out the sicentific basis for the title of his book. He includes the story of one researcher who went into the Kalahari Desert and was taken on a persistence hunt by a group of Bushmen. You'll have to read the book to get the details, but, essentially, a persistence hunt means you run your prey to death. When you start a persistence hunt, you never know whether you'll be running for two hours or six; whether you'll need to run for your life from another predator; or whether you'll need to carry an injured fellow home; so you pace yourself and you always leave some fuel in your tank.

I think this is a great lesson to take to training. I took that approach on Sunday.

I jogged along behind two fellow team members for most of the first lap. They were my rabbits. Initially, I had started slower, but after they got ahead of me, I thought I would use them for some motivation. Luckily, their pace was still comfortable for me, so I stayed about 20 yards behind them. Toward the end of the second lap, I caught up and chatted for the next 3/4 of a lap or so, before I picked up the pace.

I've noticed that when I run slower or get more tired, I plod. I hear my feet hitting the road. I feel the shock in my heels and legs. When I concentrate, straighten my back, put the front of my foot down first, and kick back with some strength, I glide. At least that's how it feels in my head. I don't know how it looks. I'm getting better at it, but it's hard to sustain that form for more than a few strides at a time.

I used this technique intermittently for the last mile and a three quarters or so (after jogging slowly for 48 minutes) and pulled away from my teammate. I finished the second lap a good 5 minutes ahead of him and he complimented me and commented that I "took off" on the back stretch.

Now, training is not a race. And the race won't be a race for me. That is, I'm not trying to beat anybody else. I only mention my teammate as a point of comparison from my intial pace to my finishing pace. I'm just trying to increase stamina, strength, distance, pace. . . I want to finish the 1/2 marathon and finish it strong. It felt good to be able to do that at this shorter distance.


Sunday, October 9th
running time in minutes: 1:08:22
total distance: 6.5 miles