Wilke, Tempo, Running with Buffaloes
3.15.07Wilke turned out not too bad. Did ten. Keep saying that the first feels as hard as the tenth, and vice versa. For some reason Gilbert only wanted me to do seven, and I probably should have stopped there, but it’s all the same on that beast. And odd thing, my knee actually feels better afterwards than it did before. But my calf was killing me and this morning it seeped up into my hamstring and after tempo this morning my whole right leg felt tingly and numb.
So yeah, tempo. Ran pretty well. Pre-run, G said, “sub-25 today”, and then we had a short debate about tempos and “90% effort” and “10K pace” (mine is too slow). Then I ran 24:30 with splits of 6.11, 6.10, 6.07, 5.59. That’s definitely not “90%”, and it’s a pretty big jump from last time. I never felt labored though, except for the last 300m kick, and I felt in control the whole way, which is pleasing in it’s own mildly painful way.
Pretty sorry of me, but I drafted behind Rich L. the whole way, and I mean drafted right behind and I mean the whole way. I feel bad about it, because I passed him as we came up on to the Riverside Drive sidewalk and outran him to the finish. Really, I fed off his energy and then took advantage of it. Kind of crappy of me. I did pull even with him at one point but he surged ahead so I thought, “fine, I’ll stay back here.”
I just finished reading “Running With the Buffaloes” about the 1998 Colorado cross country team, and I thought about the book and the strategy their coach (Mark Wetmore) talks about the entire book. Basically, they train like madmen, trust in their fitness, stay back early, go easy up hills and hard after cresting, let those in front die, then surge at the end when others are struggling. I tried to do all of that today and it seemed to work. The extra miles I’m doing seem to be working too, judging by today, which is in line with the Colorado methods (although they’re doing 100 mile weeks, compared to my paltry 40 mile weeks).
The book itself is a pretty good read, but parts felt a little substandard for a “cult classic.” The typeface looked mediocre, the pictures were low quality, the writing was journalistic (much like knob). All that said, I quite enjoyed the account, even though most of it was just a rehash of their daily workouts.
Finally, being a group of humans, the gossip and social structure of the Gazelles is …. entertaining.
3 Responses to “Wilke, Tempo, Running with Buffaloes”
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Why only 10? Just wondering, I think 10 is plenty.
It takes 2 to work together.
Sounds like you might have a nerve issue.
My favorite coach from an earlier life, not my all-time favorite coach, told us the most important thing in a race with hills was to be sure to immeadiately change gears after cresting the hill, to not recover from the hill but kick it back into a higher gear. I think there is NOT a linear relationship between effort on a hill and speed because you are fighting the deceleration caused by gravity and any changes in form caused by the slope. So an increase of X in speed on the flat requires less energy than an increase of X in speed on a hill. So you are better off being 2nd up the hill, but then getting back in the high speed groove on the flat or downhill (efficiency downhill also important).
If everybody did this there would be no net advantage in a race, however, a lot of people don’t. My best friend from high school who ran for Notre Dame, scoffed at me when I talked to him about this years ago. He said he ran as hard as he could up hills in races. And his ability kicked my theory-ass (that’s kind of like sorry-ass). (You don’t let your kids read this do you?) But then, maybe he could have been All-American Xcountry if he had listened to me, given your recent successes since you’ve started paying attention. :). Actually, I might have been able to take him in XCountry. Oh, BTW, my friend chose Notre Dame over CU - he ran a workout with the Buffs in 1976 and bought a pair of Brooks shoes from one of Frank Shorter’s training partners - can’t remember the name. How’s that for team&name-dropping? I am so old. Someday I’ll tell you my Craig Virgin - running shoe story. Bet you can’t wait.
Thanks for the good blog. I enjoyed this issue.
March 16th, 2007 at 9:03 amI PR’d on that tempo, but what sticks in my mind is that you beat me. Dang. Honestly, I thought I would lose you. Or I was hoping…. Now that I know firsthand how fast you’ve become, let’s trade the lead a couple times. We’ll push each other and finish faster. Great run though!
March 16th, 2007 at 9:36 am[...] when I crossed the line but I had 23:45 on my watch. Thanks to the guy I drafted off of (oh no, not that classy move again!) for pulling me to my first time ever under 24 minutes. Well, I didn’t really [...]
September 4th, 2008 at 12:17 pm