Run to Win

2008 has come and gone, and 2009 has started.

I was on vacation at the New Year this year, so my look back over the past year was delayed by a week or so.

In 2008 I ran 390 times for 2612.9 miles in about 14 days, 22 hours and 7 minutes of running. That’s an almost 38% increase in the number of miles that I ran in 2007, and a bit more than the 2300-2500 miles that I had predicted. I also averaged about 40 seconds per mile slower than I averaged in 2007, which I think has had a lot to do with my success and my relative lack of injuries. I have almost doubled my annual mileage since 2006.

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The 10^th annual TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10k was this morning in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. As always, it was a closely contested race that is great for spectating. While the temperature was not very high during the race, it was quite humid. Unlike last year, the fog never burned off so that combined with a low tide caused the race to not quite lead up to it’s reputation as one of the more scenic New England races.

Leading the way was Ed Muge of Kenya, who had to battle it out with Maregu Zewdie of Ethiopia to earn his 0.6 second win in 27:52.4. Duncan Kibet fell back to 4^th place in 28:21 this year.

The women’s race was also pretty exciting, despite there being a slightly larger lead. The race was won by masters runner Edith Masai of Kenya in 31:55.6, followed by Liudmila Biktasheva of Russia (although she now resides in New York, I believe.)

The Maine race was won by 22 year old Ben True in 31:01.8, over 40 seconds ahead of a pack of Mainers that all came in right under 32 minutes. Women’s winner Kristin Barry set the Maine record, dropping it by over 6 seconds to 34:37.1. She was working hard for that win, and you can see how much pain she was in at the finish line in the news video, but she regained her composure by the time I turned to see her come through the finishing chute.

There were a total of 5248 finishers, the first time that the race has cracked 5000 finishers in it’s 11 year history. That the race sold out in about a day this year is just a small testament to the popularity of what Joan Samuelson has brought to her hometown.

My race went pretty well; I just barely run negative splits (17:05/17:03) to finish in 34:08.1, getting outsprinted by PR Racing’s TJ Hesler to the finishing line. I felt really good, though, and I know that I need to have a lead on TJ at the end of a race if I am going to beat him. He is especially hard to edge out when he has a downhill finish.

WCSH6 has full video coverage of the race, including 5 minute videos that show everybody coming across the line. I picked out my wife’s finish and you can clearly see her disgust with her time after she crosses the line and checked her watch.

Congratulations to everybody that ran this morning and thank you to everybody that came out to support or cheer at the race. Almost everybody that I spoke with ran well today and enjoyed themselves and the crowd support was as good as it normally was. The race also requires a large number of volunteers who are all kept extremely busy from hours before the race to hours after, and we appreciate the hard work that goes into putting this event on.

(Official Results – Full Results w/better formatting – Race Photos – Photos Source: Home Page)

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After falling halfway back into the field in the 4^th heat of the opening round in yesterday’s 100m Olympic Trials, Tyson Gay had a lot of ground to make up. He did well for 70 meters, but then started to slow down. Only a late surge in the last 7 to 10 meters got him into the top 4 of his heat to allow him to continue on to the quarter finals.

In the quarter finals, he did not disappoint. Gay ran his second attempt in 9.77 seconds, breaking Maurice Green’s American record of 9.79 seconds and Olympic Trials record of 9.91 seconds. His performance also broke the Hayworth Field record of 9.81 seconds.

Jeff Demps followed Gay to the finish line in 10.01 seconds, breaking the American Junior record of 10.06 seconds and the American high school record of 10.08 seconds. He also tied the world junior record.

In the second heat, Travis Padgett broke the American collegiate record of 9.90 by running 9.89 seconds.

So far there have been 7 men who have run under 10 seconds. The US is going to have a formidable sprint team to send to Beijing in a month.

Update: Tyson Gay ran a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds today. He had a 4.1 meters per second tailwind. That’s a world’s fastest when disregarding wind assists.

(More Info: USATF)

This week last year was all about racing, specifically focusing on the New England Mile. Alas, the NE Mile no longer exists, but at least it went out with a bang. I also delved a little into politics and into cross training last year.

• Early in the week, it was announced that we had secured a $1500 bonus for breaking 4 minutes in the New England Mile. If it happened, then it would be the first time that a native Mainer had done so on Maine soil. Standout runner Louis Luchini and Pete Bottomley appeared on the Kid’s First radio show before the race, discussing the father/child competition and general running. Shortly after the show was announced, though, Pat Tarpy announced his intention to race. Not only did he intend to race, but Tarpy won the race in 3 minutes and 54 seconds, winning the race and taking home the prize money. After the race, he was asked when he knew that he was going to win the race. “Yesterday,” was his reply.
• In other racing news, the first Back Cove 5k Leader Board was announced. I expect that this year’s first leader board (which will be announced on Wednesday evening) will be much larger. Not only have there been over 100 runners every week, but there have been quite a few people that have run all 5 of the initial races so far.
• For cross training, I suggested that you pay attention to your lawn and do some yard work. You can get a good workout that way and your spouse will love you for it.
• Delving into politics, I tried to determine whether the NCAA had the right to kick a blogger out the baseball finals so that he couldn’t “scoop” the paid media sponsors. I never did see what agreements that he had to sign in order to get his press pass.
• This week two years ago I concentrated mostly on topical news, both local and national. I also shared my recipe for grilled catfish and tried to determine how many pushups I was capable of doing (46).

Norm Duphily (29:04)

The YMCA Fit Fest 5k was this morning, kicking off the Greater L/A Triple Crown racing series. The series got off to a good start, with a record 249 finishers in today’s race.

Last year’s winner Stan Pyle ran 70 seconds faster this year than he did last year, but it wasn’t enough. Ethan Hemphill managed to win the race by 1 second, finishing in 15:20. Their closest competitor was almost a full minute behind them.

Anne Martin had a slightly larger margin in the women’s race, where 18:26 gave her a half minute lead over second place.

Dirigo did well as a team today, placing all three runners in the top 10 in positions 1, 2 & 9. I was about half a minute slower than I thought that I would be with a 17:34, but I wasn’t overly surprised with my time. In the next 2 to 3 months, I need to cut about 90 seconds off of that in order to meet this season’s goals.

(Full Results – Awards – Photo Credit: David Colby Young – Don Penta’s Photos)

This guest article was written by John Harker, a cardio kickboxing teacher in Santa Cruz, California. I have incorporated Tabata intervals into my workouts for a few years now, and they are a very effective way to get a lot of work done in a very short amount of time.

The Tabata workout is a high-intensity training regimen that produces remarkable results. A Tabata workout is an interval training cycle of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated without pause 8 times for a total of four minutes. In a group context, you can keep score by counting how many lifts/jumps/whatever you do in each of the 20 second rounds. The round with the smallest number is your score.

Credit for this simple and powerful training method belongs to its namesake, Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. Their groundbreaking 1996 study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, provided documented evidence concerning the dramatic physiological benefits of high-intensity intermittent training. After just 6 weeks of testing, Dr. Tabata noted a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity in his subjects, along with a 14% increase in their ability to consume oxygen (V02Max). These results were witnessed in already physically fit athletes. The conclusion was that just four minutes of Tabata interval training could do more to boost aerobic and anaerobic capacity than an hour of endurance exercise.

Although Dr. Tabata used a mechanically braked exercise cycle machine, you can apply this protocol to almost any exercise. For example, a basic Tabata workout can be performed with sit-ups. The more muscles used the better, so use full knees-bent sit-ups. Sit-up non-stop for 20-second intervals, followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat for a total of 8 cycles.

How effective can just 4 minutes of exercise be? (Click here to continue reading…)

The Sea Dogs Mother’s Day 5k was this morning at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine. The weather was absolutely beautiful, with clear skies and warm temperatures. The race saw a record number of entrants for I don’t know how many years in a row now, with 1780 runners pre-registered and over 2200 runners registered for the race. There were 1926 finishers. Next year may have to involve a cap to the number of entrants into the race.

Dirigo had a very good showing, capturing 4 of the top 5 positions. Ethan Hemphill led the way, beating Judson Cake by 5 seconds to win in 15:14.

On the women’s side, the top 3 women were all Dirigo runners. Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry were neck and neck, both finishing in 17:26 with Carry Buterbaugh coming in 33 seconds later in 17:59.

I did not run today. I spent a few hours behind the table in preregistration before the race, and then prevented a small Korean woman from convincing her husband to run everybody over as she waited to cross the race course. Thankfully, I was able to refer her to the officer across the street when she paused to catch her breath, so she started screaming at him instead.

(Official Site – Full Results – Videos – Photos: Set 1 – Set 2 – Set 3 – Set 4)

It has been an interesting week since winning the Cox Sports Marathon this past Sunday. Thanks for all of the comments and congratulations over the past week. It has meant a lot to me, whether it has been in person or on the phone, through email, comments on this site or on others. It’s been a pretty good week that way, and I appreciate it a lot.

Now that my goal marathon for the Spring is out of the way, my next goal is to finally run a sub-16 5k this Summer or Autumn. I have 3 races targeted starting in late August, so my priority for the rest of this month is to recover from a relatively tough training schedule over the past 6 months. It has been one of the most strenuous winters in terms of how much work I managed to get in since I graduated from college, and was well worth it. Now, my body needs a little break.
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