I really wanted the first third of the race to feel as though I were running at a medium effort. The first mile was around 6:15, but I felt very relaxed so I wasn’t overly concerned with the possibility that I might be going out too fast. The first half of the next third, I started to push myself into a medium hard effort and then settled in to medium hard for the rest of the second third, making sure not to over extend myself and dip too far into anaerobic energy systems.

The last third of the race, or actually the last three miles, which is slightly less than a third, I prepared myself for running hard, with measurably hard breathing and a feeling that I couldn’t keep my current pace up much past three miles. My strategy worked well and I had more left at the end than I figured I would.

Amazingly, too, I ran in my 4 oz. Asics Piranhas, which are about the most minimal pair of shoes a person can run in, outside of something like Vibram Five Finger shoes, etc. Most of my training has been in those shoes as well. So far no injuries.

I felt some tight tingles in my left achilles tendon, but those were resolved by doing calf extensions off a step on the stairs up to the kitchen from our main back entry way. I extend my heel down below the edge of the step and back up. This gets blood flow to the area and prepares the tendon and surrounding muscles for use.

My biggest lesson from this race is on the importance of taking a regular inventory of effort levels, categorizing them as I go.

Also, as far as training is concerned, it’s amazing how I can still maintain and improve my race fitness levels by simply doing some medium long runs and tempo runs that aren’t particularly long. I find it is enough to simply stimulate those energy systems rather than expect to really hammer them.

That’s a gross oversimplification, but what’s helpful about this book is that it’s actually for athletes in training; not just another all-purpose nutrition guide.

According to the authors, carbohydrates are our primary source of fuel — something most athletes know. But what they don’t often understand, is that our stores of carbohydrate energy are extremely limited: 450 to 475 grams. Interestingly, athletes can actually increase this capacity by utilizing a high-carbohydrate diet. As the result of a high carbohydrate diet, the body manufactures more glycogen-storing enzymes, which can actually double carbohydrate storage capacity.

As I’ve begun to integrate their thinking into my own eating patterns, I notice both a sound awareness of how strength and energy comes from food, as well as an increased feeling of preparedness before, during and after workouts. For those who feel like nutrition for performance has been a guessing game, this is a great book. The authors make extra efforts dispel confusion around supplements and other tactics that may or may not actually be as effective as a balanced, well-timed diet.

My time was actually a few seconds slower than last year: 1:30:08, but it’s hard to compare times because the course changed. Also, times were slower this year because the last few miles were on scorching new asphalt backtop, which caught a number of runners by surprise in the late stages of their racing.

One fellow I chased nearly the whole race, simply stopped and walked around mile ten or eleven, I can’t remember which. I do know it took him a while to start running again because he came in at least a minute or two behind me.

The other reasons why I think my time was fairly slow, 6:53 pace per mile compared to 6:35 per mile for my PR, are these:

1. This course still had very long rolling hills, which take their toll over time, but aren’t immediately apparent as a source of exhaustion.
2. I really haven’t done the miles yet, to merit a fast half marathon time. There’s mileage for base building and then there is mileage for simply getting through a long race with enough endurance. My aerobic capacity was okay, but legs felt remarkably heavy, which is partly hydration, but also having to do with arriving at my lactate threshold.

I’m going to pick up my mileage carefully in the next few weeks and see if I can’t better prepare for a couple races in August.

Do my lower leg muscles feel stronger as a result of having trained in minimal footwear? Absolutely. Every step felt far more solid than in past races. I noticed I felt particularly comfortable on the downhill portion of the race. Steep downhills sometimes cause me to feel slightly out of control. This was not the case on Monday.

I did notice in the last mile that my form started to fall apart, which is a result of a weak upper body. My goal this summer is to do a little more strength training: core work and some upper body work. Recently I’ve read a few articles that stress the importance of doing deadlifts. One of my favorite books, “Healthy Intelligent Training” by Keith Livingstone, argues that a runner can address up to 90% of his running muscles using the deadlift. Low repetitions with heavy weight. Who would have guessed?

Some coaches suggest doing these drills when you’re fresh at the beginning of a workout and others argue that it’s just as good to do them at the end of an easy run. Regardless, most coaches will agree that you don’t want run them when you’re overly tired because otherwise the whole point is lost.

Sadly, when I’m on my own, I often end up skipping this part of my workout. When I’m coaching, though, I rarely miss an opportunity to focus on developing good leg turnover, especially for young runners who are still learning the basics of how to run.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, running is a learned skill. Sure, some runners come by perfect form naturally, but most don’t.

First, lets better define the three main energy systems. (My own formulation of these concepts are owed in a large part to Daniels’ Running Formula, 2nd Edition.)

By endurance, I mean workouts that increase aerobic capacity…with paces approaching sub-threshold, or paces fast enough that elevate the heart rate over a relatively long period of time without producing lactate.

By strength, I mean challenging the body’s ability to both clear and use lactate, with heart rates that from aerobic to anaerobic.

By speed, I mean cultivating sound running mechanics and a solid anaerobic metabolism.

From my own observations, how a coach trains an athlete for endurance races that are also very fast, can vary quite a bit. A perfect example of this is the 800 meter dash. The need for all three systems of endurance, strength and speed is inescapable. But getting the correct balance between these three is rather difficult.

It’s like mixing cement.

You need just the right consistency to mix cement properly. Too dry and it is impossible to use. Too wet and it moves quickly to fill its forms, but will crack easily and simply not hold up over time. The mix is something like this: 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, and 3 parts gravel. The entire mix is one’s aerobic capacity. The appropriate ratio of the parts in the mix is strength and the water is speed.

You can’t do anything without the mix and if you don’t get the mix right, it’s useless. And without water, you simply cannot arrive at your final result. Too much water and you’ll crack (injuries). Too much sand/not enough gravel and it won’t hold together (no strength). Too much cement without gravel and sand and you can’t get anywhere (great aerobic capacity, but no way to use it).

For a race as short as five miles I really can see the importance of getting in speed work and ample anaerobic threshold (AT) workouts. I’m doing more of those now with the high school track team. We did three 1-mile repeats yesterday at about 6:20 pace, with close to 1:00 rest between each (jogging rest). After a decent base, I find AT work really helps to bring times down, especially when mixed with workouts that stress efficiency. And we haven’t done anything that I’d put into the hard “interval” category yet.

One of the most significant differences between hard intervals and threshold work is that hard intervals require plenty of rest. The priority is efficiency and coordination, with the overall development of aerobic fitness playing second fiddle for the day.

When the boys were done, I did one set with the girls, so I did five sets in all. I ran a 1.5 mile warm-up before and a 1.5 cool-down after, which brought me to 8 miles for the day.

I was surprised about how good I felt. One thing in particular I noticed was how well my feet turned over and how easy it was to keep proper cadence. I believe improvement in this area comes, in part, from doing all my workouts for the last three weeks in minimal shoes that force me to get off my heels.

The verdict is still out about whether or not I’ll get some peculiar injury as a result of making such a radical shift in footwear. (Well, it’s not too radical or abrupt of a shift. I trained all winter on the treadmill on the same shoes, but treadmill running is different from running on streets and sidewalks.)

So far, though, I like how I feel. It seems as though my stride is becoming more efficient.

According to Lieberman, the running shoes we wear these days encourage us to land on our heels first. The initial heel strike sends a great deal of stress up the leg and into the body. For barefoot runners, there is less of this stress…though there is more stress on tendons and muscles in the lower leg, especially for those who were formerly heel strikers.

But once the proper muscles are developed, it would make sense that landing on one’s forefoot would yield less overall stress. For one, because we’ve been running barefoot for millions of years and this is how we’re designed to run. And two, by displacing downward energy slowly (forefoot to heel) there is less of sudden impact when our feet hit the ground.

Is it better to keep rolling when you jump off the train or better to stop suddenly? If you stop suddenly, you’ll break your legs. If you keep rolling, you’re spreading out that momentum and giving yourself a chance to survive.

The same is true for running. A heel strike is much more like jumping off the train suddenly while a forefoot strike is more like rolling a bit before coming to a stop.

Since December 9, I’ve run 63 workouts for a total of 43.5 hours of running. That is a whole lot of workouts that I wouldn’t have run had I not started training mid-winter. It is the equivalent of running two months straight seven days a week.

Do I get into just as good a shape after 63 workouts in four months as I do if I do those same 63 workouts in two months? There are probably advantages and disadvantages either way. Like, for the four month version I’m less likely to get injured. For the two month version, I’m faced with a higher level of training stress, which might mean that I get into better shape.

Does a higher level of fitness come from following one workout immediately after the next? Or is it simply the fact of doing more workouts in a shorter period of time that gets you into shape more quickly?