Getting better with the Yasso 800s

This evening’s times:

1. 3:02
2. 2:57!!!
3. 3:00
4. 3:05
5. 3:04
6. 3:05
7. 3:06
8. 3:08
9. 3:05
10. 3:08

That’s a range of 11 seconds. More variability than last time, but faster times. Even managed a sub-3:00 split!

Next week… the Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon.

Firing on all cylinders!

I went on what was supposed to be a 20 mile run. I originally planned on starting out from the house and running along Marine Drive out to I-205 and over the I-205 bridge into Washington and back. But that’s a pretty boring run; flat, but boring. So I decided to make it a little more challenging by starting out from my house, over the Broadway Bridge, to the Leif Erickson trailhead, and into the Leif Erickson trail however many miles I needed to make it 20. But as I got a few miles into Leif Erickson I realized I would only get a 3 hour run with only 20 miles. I was feeling good so I decided to push for 22. That 22 turned into 23, which I calculated would get me a 3.5 hour run.

It was such a great run! No wall. 4 gels. Less than I thought I would need for a 20+ miler and still feel as good as I did. I could have gone for another mile or two. I really could have pushed for a full marathon distance today. I felt that good. I’m writing this 15 minutes after getting back home and there’s no soreness, no stiffness, nothing hurts! How did this happen???

A couple of theories:

1. I’m learning to slow down on the long runs. Instead of trying to do them at marathon goal pace, I’m really trying to slow down to 1:00/mile slower.
2. For the 5 weeks I’ve been doing weekly hill repeats. Not so much repeats, but sustained hill running maxing at 3 reps with the longest section being 1.5 miles. Most of these on Saltzman Road. My leg strength feels improved.
3. For about a month I’ve been doing medium-long runs (8-16 miles, 1-2 hours) without taking any calories on the run and trying limit calorie intake before. I forget where I got this idea from (McMillan? Hansons? I dunno). The idea is to train the muscles to experience stress under a calorie deficit so they “know” how to function on an empty tank. The theory makes sense to me, but I make sure to take an emergency gel when I do these runs just in case. On a related note, since this was planned as a 20 miler and I wanted to train my gut to tolerate gels on the run, I took a mixed bag of gels with me. All 3 brands I had really seemed to pack a punch, more than usual, so I think there might be something to this theory. As far as taste, the Hammer vanilla was the best. I didn’t care for Carb BOOM! and I still can’t decide if I like Clif Shots or not (they’re pretty solid so you have to warm a packet in your hand for a minute).
4. I’m also doing tempo runs at a faster pace. While I was in Vancouver BC I ran 11 mile loops around the Stanley Park seawall on 3 separate days, each one faster than the previous one. On the last day I even managed to put in a couple of sub-7:00 back-to-back miles!

Update: I just got out of the shower. Guess what? No chafing! No blisters or new calluses either! Man, I need to buy some lottery tickets.

More Yasso 800s

I ran another round of Yasso 800s, which I described previously. Here are my times:

1. 3:13
2. 3:12
3. 3:12
4. 3:12
5. 3:10
6. 3:09
7. 3:08
8. 3:14
9. 3:13
10. 3:09

That’s a 3:11 average, 3 seconds slower than 2 months ago. Less variability, though. So I suppose that’s good news.

Birds, training, and neuroscience

Songbirds Offer Clues To Highly Practiced Motor Skills In Humans

ScienceDaily (2007-12-27) — The melodious sound of a songbird may appear effortless, but his elocutions are actually the result of rigorous training undergone in youth and maintained throughout adulthood. His tune has virtually “crystallized” by maturity. The same control is seen in the motor performance of top athletes and musicians. Yet, subtle variations in highly practiced skills persist in both songbirds and humans. Now, scientists think they know why.

…

In support of the current findings, previous work by Brainard’s team and others has revealed that when male songbirds sing alone there is greater variability in their song than when they sing to females.

The theory, says Brainard, is that the birds can afford to experiment, and thus practice their tunes, when the pressure is off. This process, he suggests, is not occurring at a conscious level. Rather, it is likely driven by neurochemicals released under varying circumstances that are then acting on a region of the nervous system known as the basal ganglia, which is critical to song learning and maintenance.

“You could imagine,” says Tumer, who is also a member of the Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience at UCSF, “that when wooing a female bird – or stepping onto the green for the Masters golf tournament — neuromodulatory systems would be more engaged than if the bird were on a lonely tree branch or the athlete on a sleepy Sunday afternoon round of golf with friends.”

This article reminds me that I need to finish reading Donald Kroodsma’s Singing Life of Birds.