Marathon-omics

I compiled the finishing times of the top 1000 male runners of the Boston Marathon between 2001 and 2010.  Why did I limit the data?  Because I am lazy. 

The average age of the top 1000 male finishers was 34.  For those 10 years, the average age of the 1000^th male finisher was 35.  The average time of the 1000^th male finisher was 3:02:51 which is just about the time I’d expect to run.  If you break out the finishers in 10 year age groups and stack times up in a spreadsheet, the graphic is revealing.  41% of the top 1000 male finishers are in their 30s.  That compares with 23% of the finishers in their 40s and 2.8% of the finishers in their 50s. 

Just looking at the raw data one thing is obvious.  Marathon performance peaks in the 30s and declines thereafter.  This is not good news.  My perception is that it is becoming harder to maintain the same performance level.  I am astute.  As the data shows, that is exactly what is happening.  It is inconceivable, but we get slower as we get older.  I need to find some numbers that make me feel better. 

Malcolm Gladwell, is his book Outliers, repeatedly mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. 

Applying that rule to running, 10,000 hours (600,000 minutes) divided by 7:30 / mile pace equals 80,000 miles.  80,000 miles divided by 40 miles per week equals 2000 weeks.  2000 divided by 52 weeks equals 38 years.  This is very encouraging.  It means I haven’t reached my peak yet. 

Gladwell cites The Beatles as an example, but let’s look at The Who.  The band had been together since 1964, the year I was born.  They certainly achieved early success, but it wasn’t until they released their fifth album, Who's Next in 1971, that they reached super-stardom.  That was their seminal album and includes mega hits Baba O’Riley, Going Mobile and Won’t Get Fooled Again.  I’d like to think that there was a time when my race performances were like that; the stuff of legends.  Now they are more like The Who’s halftime performance at the 2010 Super Bowl; the stuff of nightmares. 

John Elway had the good sense to retire after winning the Super Bowl MVP.  Ted Williams hit a home run in his last at bat.  Why do people continue to do something when they know they are getting worse at it?  Why do women wear high heels?  Because they think it makes them look good. 

Here’s another angle.  At 7:00 this Saturday morning I met our little group at the Goodson Rec. Center.  The temperature was 25 degrees.  The plan was a 12 mile run at a moderate pace.  We held to that plan for the most part and there were  many jokes told.  None are appropriate for this blog.  But we were not alone on the Highline Canal Path.  As we passed other groups of runners we ran a little taller and the pace quickened.  Why do we do it?  Because it makes us feel alive. 

Vacation Miles

If you run the perimeter around the Disneyland Park in Anaheim, CA you will have run 2.9 miles.  You can take my word for it because I have run that loop (Harbor Boulevard, Katella Avenue, Disneyland Drive and Ball Road) several dozen times and clocked it on my Forerunner.  Pre-Garmin I presumed the distance to be three miles; not a bad guestimation.  There are three “hills” on the course.  Ball and Harbor go over The 5 and Disneyland Drive dips under the pedestrian walkway that is part of Downtown Disney. 

We have gone to Disneyland for 13 years.  I have tried running different routes in the area, but this is the best place to run.  Once we were there when the Angels were playing in the MLB playoffs and I ran to, and around the stadium looking for souvenirs.  I have run around the convention center, but that loop is much shorter.  I have run in the neighborhoods, but there is traffic even at the un-Godly hour of the morning I run. 

If you go, and have to go, there are restrooms in Downtown Disney.  To get to them there is a path on Disneyland Drive where the monorail crosses the street.  Follow that path for about 40 yards and it will take you to a gate between the Wetzel’s Pretzels and Haagen Dazs stores.

I have also swum with the FAST masters swim team at the Janet Evans pool in nearby Fullerton.  Most masters swim teams have early morning workouts and I take advantage of their hospitality when I am away from home. 

It sounds funny, but it is almost harder to get a run in during vacations.  You are eating restaurant food all the time.  You are busy enjoying yourself and whatever company you are with.  This is where your discipline is put to the test. 

Traveling doesn’t just take you away from home.  It takes you away from your regular training routes, training buddies, and training routine.  But that doesn't mean your running has to go on hiatus.  Hitting the road in a new locale can provide a refreshing change of pace, help you learn the lay of the land, and introduce you to some of the area’s friendliest locals (runners, of course).

Running unlocks the best a city has to offer.  When we vacation in Newport Beach, I run along the Pacific Coast Highway and scout out places for us to go to later. 

It pays to plan ahead.  Last spring when we were on vacation in Scottsdale I researched a local running club and joined them on their weekly long run around Mummy Mountain.  That running club did their long runs at 5:00 AM and their track workouts at 9:00 PM to avoid the heat. 

I focus on consistency in my running rather than getting caught up in how many miles I have run for the week.  A short run is better than no run.  The way I look at it, running just one lap around Disneyland gives me justification to eat a Haagen Dazs Vanilla Milk Chocolate Almond Ice Cream Bar.  But I don’t because I’d feel so guilty I’d have to run two laps the next day for penance.  

Six Miles in Green River

Interstate 70 conveys about 4700 vehicles per day through Green River, UT.  It’s not the end of the world, but it’s at least 100 miles from sushi.  There are two exits for the hamlet, four miles apart.  Main Street connects those two exits, crosses the namesake tributary and covers about the same distance.  If you miss the exits heading west, you’d better have at least five gallons of gas in your tank to make it to Salina, the next exit with services.

The major motel chains are represented here: Best Western, Comfort Inn and Super 8 to name a few.  There are a few local mom and pop motels, the Shady Acres RV Park and a KOA.  At 5:15 AM several dozen long-haul truckers slumber in their rigs as their engines idle.  A diesel mechanic worth his salt could make a good living here.  The glow of the Conoco is visible from the moon.

A curious cast of souls pass through these parts: pensioners and Chinese visitors on tour buses, hunters, mountain bikers who make day trips to Moab and the odd family on their way to California to visit colleges and Disneyland.  Like when the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens roamed the Earth at the same time, we’re similar in appearance, but have very different backgrounds and destinations.  We regard each other with curious disinterest. 

Could I live here?  I’d have to change my lifestyle a lot.  I’m not sure how the population of 1,000 would take to a dork in a Mercedes.  There are miles of trails to run here.  I could make the 50 mile drive to Moab and run the trails there for a change of scenery.  There is a high school track, so I could do intervals on a level, measured surface.  But I doubt I’d find a quorum of runners like I have in Denver and there wouldn’t be someone like Tim to beat up on. 

There is a great story about Deena Kastor when she moved to Alamosa, CO to train.  Her father came to visit her and said “What did we do wrong in raising you, that you enjoy living in a place like this?”  Deena said she was happy living there.  He said it's surrounded by nothing.  She said she was surrounded by everything.  She was surrounded by mountains and the sun shined on her 355 days a year.  It would be like that for me if I lived in Green River.  It is peaceful here.

I run the distance between the gas stations at either end of Main Street.  Beyond that, civilization ends, the desert takes over and who knows what wickedness lies out there.  I feel the elevation loss down to 4100 feet above sea level as I work through some striders.  A soft rain begins to fall and the pre-dawn sky crackles with lightning from the clouds drifting this way from the west. 

20 years ago Mary and I spent a long weekend camping and hiking in Canyonlands National Park near Moab.  At night I ran up, over, around and down the slick rock.  There were banked curves I ran like a velodrome.  In the evening we reclined on the rocks and watched the stars come out.  Living here would be nice, but I’m sure I’d get bored.  How many star-filled skies can you gaze up at?  I fuel up the van and head into the storm. 

Long May You Run

The first snow of the season fell Wednesday morning.  The day before, the temperature had been near 80 degrees.  I have come to expect weather like this in my 22 years of living in The Centennial State.  I was quite pleased with myself for something I did at last spring after the last snow had melted.  I put all of my winter running gear, hats, gloves, tights and shells, in one bag so I wouldn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to find them in the fall.  I needed that gear Thursday and Saturday mornings.

Arthur Lydiard (July 6, 1917 –December 11, 2004), from New Zealand was recognized by Runner's World as the all time best running coach.  Lydiard's ground-breaking impact on distance running is epitomized by the use of periodization.  Lydiard proposed four phases: Base, Strength, Anaerobic and Coordination.  In the base training phase of his system Lydiard insisted that his athletes must train 100 miles a week.  If I ran 100 miles in a week, my legs would stop working. 

After the base training phase, Lydiard advocated four weeks of strength work.  This included hill running and springing, followed by a maximum of four weeks of anaerobic training.  Then followed a coordination phase of six weeks in which anaerobic work and volume taper off and the athlete races each week, learning from each race to fine-tune for a target race.

The base training phase creates the foundation for all subsequent training.  Lydiard's emphasis on an endurance base for his athletes, combined with his introduction of periodization in the training of distance runners, were the significant changes in the way athletes trained.  The physiological reason for the base phase is that it increases the number of capillaries in your muscles which deliver oxygen to your muscles.  This increases the number and size of mitochondria, the aerobic power plants of the muscle which increases your body’s ability to burn fat at higher rates. 

My racing is done for the year, so I am in my based training phase, which was how I found myself on the High Line Canal this Saturday morning.  The High Line Canal runs 66 miles from Waterton Canyon to Green Valley Ranch, passing through Douglas, Arapahoe, and Denver Counties.  It took three and a half years to build and was completed in 1883. 

The canal itself is owned by Denver Water, and the adjoining maintenance road (which we run on) was entirely closed to the public until 1970.  Designated a National Landmark Trail, it is a popular amongst outdoor enthusiasts and is open all year to hikers, bikers, joggers, runners, skippers and equestrians.  The High Line Canal Trail is shaded for much of its length by mature cottonwood trees, and the surface is mostly hard-packed dirt.  The trail begins at an elevation of 5,542 ft. and ends at an elevation of 5,410 ft. which makes it ideal for long runs.  It is virtually flat. 

It is a two and a half mile run from my house to the trail via the open space trail and the C-470 bike path.  I run past Heritage High School and my dentist’s office in the eight miles I am on the trail.  At deKoevend Park I take a sharp right onto the Little Dry Creek Trail which takes me south toward home.  I cover 15 miles altogether.  The leaves of the deciduous trees were changing on the wet, blustery morning.  I was dressed for the weather and enjoyed the solitude.