O.K., so in my last post I talked about the two main elements of running speed: Stride Length and Stride Rate.  It's really a simple formula...stride length times stride rate.  If you have a 3 foot long stride and you cover 120 strides in a minute then you run 360 feet in a minute or about a 14:40 mile.

To increase your speed you have to increase one (or both) of those factors.  If you increase to 130 strides in a minute (at the same stride length) then you'll cover 390 feet in a minute, or run the mile in about 13:30 or so. 

If you maintain your 120/min cadence but add 2 inches per stride you'll run 380 feet in a minute or around a 13:54 mile.

Clear?  Good.

So...let's introduce the third factor in endurance sport...effort.

Effort

I come from a sprint background.  In sprinting, the 100M and 200M for example, there's really no such thing as a measured effort.  They shoot the gun and you run like they're shooting at you until you a cross a line where they tell you to stop.  It's a max all-out effort the whole way.  Your stride rate and stride length are at their absolute maximums for the entire distance.  That's the way of sprinting.  Marathon is not a sprint however. (obviously)  Even the amazing Kenyans have to pace themselves even though their pace is considerably faster than the pace the rest of us mortals can maintain.

If I asked you to run as fast as you could for 20 yards you could do that.  You could maintain that alll-out effort for the 2.5-5 seconds it would take you to sprint for 20 yards and at the end of it you'd be winded but you'd probably recover quickly.  If you're at all conditioned you could due the same for 100 meters...you'd sprint at maximum effort for 10-15 seconds or so.  Very few of us can do that for 400 meters; an all-out effort for 50-80 seconds.

Clearly none of us can sustain an all out effort for 26.2 miles.  So you have to pace yourself and that's about regulating your effort.

This comes into play in both stride rate and stride length.  Could you achieve a stride rate of 170 or 180 strides per minute?  Probably, yes.  You may well have to reduce your stride length to do that and it would take a lot of effort to move that quickly.  How long could you sustain a stride rate like that?

Could you achieve a stride length of 4-1/2 or even 5 feet?  Very possibly so (depends a bit upon how tall you are).  But how long could you maintain the effort required to do that?

Training

I'm going to suggest that there are two kinds of training: Mechanical and Performance and that most of our time is spent training our Performance.  Let me elaborate:

Mechanical -  Mechanical training is teaching yourself HOW to run.  It's not quite as simple as "left foot, right foot, left foot" we all learn that as tiny children.  Rather it's some of the finer points of it...arm swing, foot strike, hips, posture, stride.  It's also how you handle different terrain, how you adjust your actual running mechanics to deal with up-hills and down-hills, for example.  Most of us establish a basic running style pretty early in our running career and it probably doesn't change that much.  Look around at your running buddies, or other runners on the road.  Notice their body lean, their arm motions, their stride.  Those are the mechanical aspects of how we run.

Your stride length is largely (but not exclusively) a function of how you run mechanically - especially if you are a recreational runner (as opposed to an elite/pro).

Don't be afraid in your training runs to play a bit with your mechanics.  Try adjusting your hip tilt, your body lean, your arm swing, your foot strike and roll...see how it affects your speed and the amount of effort it takes to maintain your desired pace.

Question: When you're running which toe do you roll over in your stride?  Big toe?  Little toe?  Right down the middle?

Performance - Here's where most of us focus our training efforts.  This your physical conditioning.  Stamina, endurance, power, etc.  Most of us go out to workout and we're looking to improve our aerobic conditioning or our strength perhaps.  Your aerobic and cardio-vascular conditioning affects how much effort you can sustain and, to large degree, determines what stride rate you can maintain.  Strength affects your stride length too - the stronger your legs are the further you can push off with each stride and the longer your stride is.

So What?

Here's what I'm getting at...don't neglect your mechanical.  Small improvements in HOW you run can make a big difference in your ultimate performance.  Running more efficiently will let you sustain the same pace with less effort.  Running more mechanically well can help you increase your stride length without additional effort and that means a faster race.

When training your performance aim to increase the amount of effort you can sustain but also the duration that you can sustain it.  Yes, I know that sounds obvious but too often runners (myself included) head out to do a run without any real clear purpose for the run.  I'll elaborate on this in an upcoming post.

TIP: To increase your stride rate try pumping your arms faster.  It's virtually impossible to pump your arms quickly but have a slow stride rate.  Pay attention to your body and how that increased effort affects you.

More to come soon...I'm interested in hearing your feedback on these ideas, by the way.  Feel free to post comments below or e-mail me at ben.schorr@gmail.com.

-B-

O.K., so I think I'll do a short series of posts on my current training regimen.

What is Speed?

There are two basic elements to running speed: stride length and stride rate. 

Stride Length

Stride length is the basic measure of how long your stride is.  There are a few ways to measure that but the most direct is to just find a clean soft surface and run across it with your normal stride.  Then go back, hopefully you left shoe impressions, and measure the distance between the heel marks of one foot and the heel mark of the other foot.  That will tell you how long your stride is.  (Yes, you can measure toe to toe instead if you want)

Another way to measure it to count how many strides it takes you to cover a known distance and then divide.  Maybe you have a high school football field handy and you can start at the goal line, run at your normal pace and count how many strides it takes you you to get from the 10 yard line to the 20 yard line.  If it takes you 10 strides to cover that distance (30 feet) then you have a 3 foot long stride.

If you have 3 foot long stride then it will take you 1,760 strides to cover 1 mile and 46,112 strides to complete a marathon.  If you can add just 1 inch to your stride length you can reduce that number to 1,712 strides per mile or 44,854 strides to complete the marathon.  That's a savings of more than 1258 strides over the course of the marathon!  If you average 125 strides per minute then just by adding that 1 inch to your stride rate you can cut more than 10 minutes off your marathon time. (assuming you maintain that same 125 stride/minute cadence).

Of course there are some dangers to increasing your stride length...first of all you might reduce your stride rate.  If you increase your stride length by 2.5% but reduce your stride rate by 2.5% then you haven't gained anything.

The bigger danger of increasing your stride rate is that you might start to over-stride and that can cause injury.

Stride Rate

Stride rate is simply the cadence at which your footfalls land.  It's pretty easy to measure, while you're running at your race pace just count the number of strides you take in one minute.  Do several counts and average them - since they might not all be exactly the same.  A typical average rate might be 125, 150 or even higher.  Elite marathoners will reach upwards of 180 strides per minute.  Some recreational runners may be as low as 80.

If you can increase your stride rate, without reducing your stride length, you can increase your speed.  If you can increase your cadence from 110 strides per minute to 120 strides per minute, for example, you can cut about 30 minutes off your marathon time (again, assuming you maintain a 3' stride length).

So...if you want to run faster you need to either increase your stride length or your stride rate or both!

Next post we'll talk about doing that and about the third factor in Marathon training: Effort.

-B-

O.K., Honolulu is in the books and looming on the horizon is the Arizona Rock 'n Roll Marathon. I didn't blog the Honolulu Marathon this year - I guess I could make up a lot of excuses for that but the reality is that I've had a lot of things going on in my life and just haven't had the enthusiasm for it.  For those of you who missed that race report, I apologize.  For the rest of you, you're welcome.

I do want to tell one story from Honolulu however...

As many of you know Honolulu Marathon is not really about me.  By that I mean that I don't really care what my time is - I ran three other Marathons in 2008 and those were races I was running for me.  Honolulu is about my group and getting my hearty band of mostly first-timers thru their Marathon.  So, there I am approaching Mile 24.  I'm moving very slowly because I'm waiting on one or two of my gang to catch up after a recent stop.  Every few yards I'm glancing back over my shoulder to see if I can spot them.  Suddenly...I spot one of my OTHER runners.  A veteran marathoner who had just returned from a trip abroad and was clearly struggling.  In fact, she was waving and calling out to me.  As I acknowledged her I heard her say "Not good.  Not good."

I quickly trotted back to her to see what was the matter - at this stage she was walking and seemed a little unsteady.  She said she was dizzy and was afraid that if she stopped she might fall over!  Now I'm no doctor but I've done and seen enough sports medicine in my day to be able to make some educated guesses.  As we walked along I asked her how she was feeling and what she'd been doing.  She seemed pretty lucid and she had a cup of water from the last aid station that she was nursing.  She said she'd been drinking water pretty steadily so I wondered if perhaps she might be suffering from hyponatremia which is a condition that can happen when you have TOO much water (or more precisely not enough sodium).  But she said she'd taken "a lot" of salt pills as well. 

She also had a wet sponge from one of the aid stations which she was using to help herself keep cool.  The weather conditions really weren't bad (for Honolulu) and I knew she was used to running in the heat.  Still, I couldn't rule out a heat-related condition so I encouraged her to keep the sponge damp and keep cooling herself.

To further complicate matters she broke Rule #4 ("Never do anything for the first time on race day"): She had taken a Tylenol offered to her by a fellow member of our group earlier in the race.  She'd never used Tylenol during a race before and thus couldn't really be sure how it would affect her body.

So we kept walking and talking, pretty soon we were cresting the top of Diamond Head and nearly to the 25 mile mark.  I kept giving her encouragement, she kept walking steadily.  We were actually making pretty decent time all things considered.  At the bottom of Diamond Head we made the turn into the park; there's an aid station there and we got her another cup of water and I took a spare cup to douse her sponge with. 

And this brings us to the point of our story...

Just past the water aid station was a first aid station.  She glanced at it and commented on it.  I asked her if she needed to stop as she was clearly still feeling pretty dizzy.  She thought about it for several strides.  I said to her "If you need to stop, we can.  But the finish line is just .5 miles ahead and it would be a shame to come 25.7 miles and not finish this thing if you think you can.  What do you want to do?"  She gave it another moment's thought then, without looking up took a deep breath, quickened her pace very slightly and said simply: "Let's try."  I couldn't help but smile.  She's a tough lady.  A lot of people would have folded their tent and gone home but not her.

That last .5 was a study in focus.  She never lifted her eyes from the road, always focusing on a point just ahead of her.  She said she was afraid she'd fall over if she looked up.  I walked right beside her, holding a spare cup of water for her, occasionally dousing her sponge with fresh cold water and ready to grab her if she started to topple.  But she never faltered.  She held that pace, stride after stride, all the way to the finish line.  As we entered the chutes there were a lot of cheering people, including a number of our group, but she never even raised her eyes...all the way thru that finish line.

As soon as we crossed the line we made a right-hand turn and I took her straight into the first aid tent.  They gave her some more water, got her on a cot, and checked her blood pressure and pulse.  Within a few minutes she was starting to feel a little better and by the time I left her it was clear that she was going to be fine.

That was undoubtedly her toughest marathon and she was determined to finish.  I was inspired by her shaking off every excuse.  She was going to cross that line or be carried off the course.  Some part of me feels like she earned that t-shirt and medal even more than I did.

One Last Comment...

One of the smiling faces greeting us as we strode down the finisher's chute belonged to Jana who had finished some time earlier.  It was the first time she'd ever been there when I finished a race and there aren't enough words to tell her how much it meant to me to see her there.  She flashed a smile as we came in that made me remember why I do these things.  Thank you Jana.

O.K., I've got a lot to say about Arizona Marathon training but that will have to wait until later.  At the moment there is a small white dog who is excited to play with his daddy and so I need to go chase him about some.

-B-

So...this is going to be my traditional year-end wrap-up post when I reflect back on the past year and look forward to the next one.   Truth be told 2008 was really just a slightly more diabolical version of 2007 for me and I'm ready to put it away.  But I've realized that many of the most powerful life lessons I've received have come in difficult times so this year was certainly an education.  Here are a few things I've learned:

• Life isn't always fair.  Pay attention kids, your parents weren't making that one up.  It is entirely possible to do the right things and say the right things and still lose to somebody who does and says almost none of the right things.  Sometimes it's better to be a frog who looks like a prince rather than a prince who looks like a frog I guess.  At least you get kissed more often.  (more on that later)  I hope that's not a lesson I learn too well...I really don't want to feel like it's not possible to be a good person AND have happiness too.  It's just hard to see everything you want handed to people who don't appreciate it.
• It's sometimes hard to reconcile nostalgia and reality.  There are people who aren't really in my life anymore that I look back on now with rosy glasses.  I sometimes wonder if I'm romanticizing them a little too much because of difficult things in my life now or if it's a case of "Don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."  While it's true that "Hindsight is 20/20" it's also often true that "Things never were as good as they used to be." 
• The relationship that Jill (my ex-wife; who is not one of the people referred to above) and I have is truly remarkable.  We're able to still be friends, to laugh and joke together, to sincerely wish each other well.  She's actually happy for me when it looks like I might succeed in something.  And she married a really nice guy (Other than me. The second guy.  The Mo.).  Divorce was great for our relationship. :)  It seems like this year a lot of people I know had break-ups or divorces and for the most part they did NOT go well.  Not surprising I suppose, if things were going well they wouldn't have divorced.  I know that Jill and I have one of those rare relationships where we're still able to be friends and I do appreciate it.
• Debt is dumb.  I've never been accused of being a personal finance genius, but after we sold our house I paid off all of my debts (car, credit cards, everything) and wow what a difference that has made.  In good times I'm reaping huge benefits of not having any payments.  I have more disposable income and I've been able to build a lovely savings account.  As the economy has faltered a bit I'm not as concerned about it because with no debts I'm not really very affected.

One of my "resolutions" for the new year is to spend less time boring my friends with my own woes and be a little more positive.  Here are a few of the positives from 2008:

• I got to run, and complete, 5 marathons in twelve months.  In addition to earning me sore knees and a smaller waistline it also got me the nickname Ben "The Running Man" Schorr from John and Bevan over on the IMTalk (nee Ironman Talk) podcast.  2009 should be my rest year...yeah, right.  At the moment it looks like possibly 4 (or even FIVE) more marathons and potentially two 70.3 Ironman triathlons.  Good grief.
• The Outlook book got published in June and much to my relief sold extremely well.  While I suppose it's possible that one day I'll go to my parents house and find 1100 copies of it in my mother's closet I have gotten some feedback from folks who claim to have bought it and they have fairly universally praised the book as being interesting and useful.  When I write those things I never really know if they're going to be any good so you can imagine my relief when it turns out that maybe it is.
• One of the biggest positives in 2008 was meeting and getting to know Maureen.  O.K., so technically I met her at the end of 2007, but I didn't really get to know her until 2008.  She's truly a delightful person.  As kind, warm and bright as anybody I can recall.  Aside from being taller than average and having an auspicious affinity for Monty Python she's also a gifted cook and a very good photographer.  P talks of her in glowing terms and still doesn't quite do her justice.
• Another great new friend in 2008 is Sandi...WAAAY out in Colorado.  I haven't actually met her in person yet, but will get to soon when we both go to Phoenix to run the Arizona Rock-n-Roll Marathon.  Unfortunately her husband Norm and their girls won't be joining us, but it'll still be great to finally meet Sandi and give her a hug in person.
• I started cooking a lot more this year and experimenting with newer (and better) dishes.
• I really do have a great group of friends.  I sometimes get so caught up in my own noise that I feel like I neglect them a bit.  I'm going to try and do better in 2009.  And early in 2009 we'll have a new friend to add to the mix...Justin Robert Steffey is due to be born in January and we can't wait for his arrival. (none of us so much as Kim, I'm sure)

The Fable

So it was suggested to me to think of or write a fable that symbolizes or represents some part of your life.  Normally I just click "Delete" on those kinds of things, but this time I was moved to actually do it.  Rather than doing it as a chain e-mail though, I think I'll post it here.

A young lady was skipping thru the woods one day, picking flowers.  Suddenly, from the underbrush in front of her, she heard a voice call out: "HEY!  Down here!  HEEE-LLLOOO?!"  Startled she looked down and saw a frog sitting on a large rock and apparently trying to get her attention.  Intrigued she picked up the frog and held it in her hand.  "Was that you?" she asked.  When the frog said "Yes!" she nearly dropped it out of shock.  Recovering her breath she gazed at it in amazement.

"I'm actually a charming prince!" The frog said.  "But a wicked witch turned me into this frog as punishment because I wouldn't marry her.  All you have to do to turn me back to a prince is give me a kiss, and I promise I'll be yours forever!"  So the two of them stood and chatted awhile.  They loved the same foods and the same music.  They both think Tom Hanks is brilliant and that tiramisu is overrated.  They laughed and swapped stories of their childhood.  They really seemed to hit it off!  Finally after a bit the girl smiled at the frog and said "I like you."  He smiled back "I think you're pretty great too!"  With that she tucked the frog neatly into her pocket.

"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!" came his muffled cry.  She pulled him back out.  "Aren't you going to kiss me?!"

She laughed.  "Naw.  There are a lot of cute guys.  But a talking frog is really cool!"

Almost Done?

O.K., so on that note I think I'll wrap this post up.  I'll probably blog again before 2009 officially starts; one of my other "resolutions" is to get back to steady blogging.  I never realized how many people actually read my silly ramblings until I stopped doing them for a while and got flooded (o.k. trickled) with complaint e-mails (not all of them from people related to me) asking when I was going to blog again.

So, good riddance to 2008.  I'm keeping the best of you (Maureen, Sandi, Fitness...), learning from the rest of you and hoping that 2009 is a step forward towards better things.

-B-

Just on the FYI - I finally got my Week 5 update for Top Chef posted.  Hopefully it's worth reading. :)

Pouring rain here today too...hopefully it dries up for Marathon tomorrow.

-B-

O.K., one week from now I'll be on the course getting my group through the Honolulu Marathon.  It'll be my 8th Marathon and my 4th of the year.  I think I'm about as ready as I can be.  In fact, if there's anything I'm not quite ready for, it's my guest...

...Jana is coming to run the marathon and my guest room is not quite ready.  Guess what I'm working on today?  Yep, today's workout is as follows:

• 3x200 Vacuuming
• 3 sets of laundry
• 50xWiping Counters
• 4xThrowing random clutter into boxes and hiding those boxes in the garage
• Cool Down: Mow the lawn.

A few random thoughts...

• Yellowbook has a commercial where a woman gets a video message from her boyfriend breaking up with her and telling her he needs to be alone, but in the background you see another woman in his house.  Her response is to go to YellowBook.com and look for "Personal Trainers."  I get where they're going with the ad and it's sort of cute but I couldn't help but think that the message it sends is "He left you because you're fat."  First of all, lousy message.  Secondly the actress in the ad doesn't look fat to me - I sure hope there aren't women who look like her who think they need to lose weight in order to have a guy.  In his case she'd be losing weight to have a jerk.
• Speaking of commercials I think both Ford and Dodge are doing a good job with their truck ads lately.  Dennis Leary doing the voiceover of a largely animated ad for Ford is effective.  Dodge with their "DodgeChallenge.com" ads are good too - makes you want to tune in and see this crazy obstacle course.  Of course...I'm not trading in my Hybrid Escape anytime soon.  Not only does it get 36 miles per gallon in comfort but it's paid for. :)
• Biggest Loser is wrapping up soon.  Just two more episodes to go.  Been a controversial season with Biggest Loser fans having their first real villain to talk about in Vicky.  Interestingly Vicky's blog at MySpace talks about how the editors are twisting her words and making her look bad.  I guess that's possible, though it's hard to believe.  They might be able to twist her words but that was clearly her celebrating when Phil got sent home.  That was her tacking the "Revenge" sign on her door after Brady went home.  That was her smirking at the camera constantly week after week.
• Just as Biggest Loser wraps up...Top Chef warms up.  Hurray!
• To those who've been asking...the Word book is coming along fairly well actually.  I've been making good progress lately.
• Any fans of Adam-12 out there?  I used to watch it as a kid and have recently discovered full episodes, for free, with limited commercial interruption, at Hulu.com.  Yes, I've had it on while I write the book.  I'm halfway through Season 2 now.  One thing I notice is how simple and, sort of, square they are.  Maybe we're just too used to the "sophisticated" cop shows we have today but on Adam-12 when they pull somebody over for speeding...it's just speeding.  They aren't drug kingpens.  On Adam-12 suspects usually don't resist and when they do they're fairly easily subdued.  One recurring theme on Adam-12 is anti-police sentiment.  A lot of the people the officers meet on the street are openly hostile to them - calling them "pig" and "fuzz".  I guess that was a reflection of the times, Adam-12 was on the air at the end of the 60s.  But you know..the show stands up pretty well!  Maybe it's just nostalgia on my part but I still enjoy it, even in all of its simplicity. 

Quote of the Day

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

-Anais Nin-

-B-