When is a PR not a PR?

When the course is inaccurate, of course, and in the last several weeks, this has happened at three local 5K runs (values in parenthesis are projected 5K times, based on actual course length):

9/27 – Madzy Short Run* (Berea), 3.00 mi. – 20:57 (21:41)
10/11 – Run for the Son (Brookpark), 3.06 mi. – 21:20 (21:42)
10/18 – Great Pumpkin Run (Lakewood), 3.05 mi. – 20:42 (21:05)

Corrected distances, as linked to above, were obtained using gmap-pedometer.com; by turning up the zoom to maximum, an accurate tracing of the route can be made, provided the start, finish, and any turnaround are correctly located. (The “Run for the Son” was out-and-back, and I failed to note the turnaround location, so a fellow competitor’s GPS reading was used.)

Thus, I tentatively accept the Great Pumpkin 5K as (barely) a PR, which is confirmed by today’s time of 21:09 at the Skeleton Run 5K in Amherst. I don’t know if the distance today was accurate, since the section through the park is obscured on satellite photos (due to being heavily wooded) and could not be traced with gmap-pedometer, but the route was unchanged from last year, when I did 21:18 – my previous 5K PR.

*Last year, it was 3.27 miles, and afterward a plea was made to relocate the start at the driveway of Bonds Hall (making the course almost exactly 5K). Instead, it was moved too far down the road – to the north Fairgrounds entrance. Oh well, at least this time it lived up to its name of a “Short Run.”

Anaerobic capacity training: progress vs. last year

Wrapping up anaerobic capacity training, it’s time to compare this year’s two-week block with 2008:

2009 (9/22 – 10/4): 5 workouts, 48 repetitions totaling 51:23 + 1 5K run on 9/28
2008 (9/16 – 9/25): 3½ workouts, 34 repetitions totaling 32:51 + 1 5K run on 9/27

Thus, a significant increase (56.4%) was achieved in the total volume of anaerobic training; these workouts are the most difficult I do, and last year, I quit halfway through the fourth one, so the recent “results” are encouraging.

A couple of changes from last year seemed to help: 1) I allowed myself a 5 minute break halfway through each workout (recovery intervals were otherwise 3 minutes), and 2) I used lane 8, which added ~6.5 seconds to each rep.

Oh, I suppose I should make some mention of the workout structure, though if I seem rather nonchalant, it’s because I think the late Arthur Lydiard was right to maintain that it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference in this instance: you just run nearly as hard as possible for an interval of 30-120 seconds, recover adequately, and repeat as many times as you can. Pace is of no consequence, as both speed should actually deteriorate slightly as each interval progresses, but try to stay as smooth and relaxed as possible, especially towards the end.

The recovery interval is adequate if you can complete the planned number of reps without a big (say, +10% from the third rep) time drop-off. The underlying physiological rationale is to build up both anaerobic capacity and a tolerance (buffering capacity) for its byproduct, namely lactic acid, which inhibits aerobic energy production. The former is of increasing importance in events under 30 minutes, so if I were preparing for a 10K, 10 mile, or half-marathon, there would be less need for such training, if it were included at all. The latter effect helps you recover from surges during a race, but since I always end up racing pretty much alone and hold an even pace throughout each race, this is of lesser importance.

In this case, I planned on (and did) 10 reps on 2 straightaways and 1 curve in lane 8 (essentially a big “U”), or 323.5 meters each rep. This distance was chosen since it comes as close as possible to 1 minute, which is the duration I used as a cyclist; the range of times was 62-66 seconds, with an average time per rep of 64.2. These data cannot be directly compared to respective values of 56-60 and 58.0 from last year’s workouts, when a distance of 300 meters (lane 1) was used, but they are certainly no worse, and perhaps a bit faster.

Finally, to place things the context of overall training structure as laid out in the Lydiard method, anaerobic capacity training should take place in a concentrated fashion (3X/week for 3 weeks, with 48 hours in between each workout), and only after aerobic development has proceeded as far as possible. One long, easy run is included each week to maintain aerobic fitness, and several weeks of transitional hill resistance training precede the anaerobic period.