Feel the rhythm

The Miami Sound Machine sang "Rhythm of the night". Whilst running on Wednesday I got to thinking about rhythm running. Some people like to listen to music whilst running, which I do sometimes on my recovery runs but mostly I like to think to myself on my training runs.

I started off the week feeling a little worried about my running form. I was reflecting on the Rocky River Run and concerned about my left leg as the muscles in my quad and inparticular my hamstring were very very tight and sore. I ran a slightly shorter recovery run of 10km on Monday with the hope of loosening up my leg. I ran at an easy pace and my stride was not really affected but the muscles were still very tight and ached. I stretched alot and used my massage stick but it didn't really help. On Tuesday I had a hard session with some race pace tempo planned, but after I finished work quite late and got home I was tired, my leg was sore and so I decided to take the day off to help the recovery process.

I'm glad I did because, with continued stretching and work with the massage stick, my leg was starting to feel much better. I decided to do my tempo run on Wednesday and set off at an easyish pace to warm up. I didn't feel as fresh as I wanted and decided to drop the planned pace of 4:10-4:15 down to 4:30-4:45. For the third kilometre I picked up the pace and began striding out. This part has a smallish hill in it and did my first kilometre in 4:34, so I was on pace. I tried to pick it up a bit on the downhill and managed the next kilometre in 4:22 but I was really forcing the pace and my breathing was struggling to keep up with my leg turnover. So I did the logical thing and slowed down. I kept my stride length but slowed the turnover and concentrated on relaxing my body and breathing. I ran a 4:36 followed by two 4:30's and got into a comfortable rhythm.

Guess what happened? I got faster with less effort! As I relaxed into this rhythm my speed was dropping down to kilometres of: 4:20, 4:18, 4:13, 4:13, 4:10. When I did my downhill 4:22 I was pushing hard, my left leg was getting tight and my breathing was ragged but now my leg had loosened, I was running moderately hard but was relaxed and feeling the rhythm. It got me to thinking about the half marathon and how I approached the race.

I found that the race was similar to how I started my run on Wednesday. I took off and was pushing the pace, my breathing was forced and I was not relaxed. In a race situation when you are aiming for a specific time goal there is not a lot of room to start off at an easy jog until you find your rhythm and a loss of 15 to 30secs is difficult to make up when you are racing at maximum effort.

As I ran on I kept thinking about how much of a rhythm runner I am. I thought that rhythm running is not so much about pace because of such variables as elevation, wind and weather etc but it is more about relaxing and feeling your run. I was attuned to my whole body, my breathing was even, I could feel the road as I pushed off, and I wasn't forcing my legs to turn over at a specific speed or fighting the road. I was running hard but I was in a rhythm that I could maintain for a long time.

There has been alot written about slow and fast-twitch muscle fibres and how they become fatigued at different times and under different stresses. Some coaches have advocated surging at various times in a race to activate these muscle fibres. This can be particularly helpful when you are feeling fatigued in the later part of a race and has happened to me around the 30-32km mark of a marathon a few times. I tested this theory and for the 13th kilometre ran a 4:05. I kept my rhythm, just pushed a little harder. Because I was relaxed I had more to give and afterwards settled back into a 4:10min/km pace.

I ended up running 1hr 30mins for 21.1km and logged 25km for the run. I felt so much better after this training half marathon than I did for my race three days before. Additionally, I felt that I could have kept the pace going for much longer despite running on tired legs from the race. It gave me much more confidence for the up-coming marathon.

I had a solid week for the rest running 20km the next day including some moderate pace work with the Rocky Road Runners. After a recovery session on Friday I had a very good long run on Saturday. Many of the runners that turned up at 5:00am are heading to the Gold Coast as well. It was quite cold so I was dressed in a long-sleeve top, short-sleeve t-shirt and gloves. We started off slowly with 5:30min/km's but soon formed into our various groups according to pace. I was trying to emulate Wednesday's rhythm and worked on my stride, breathing and relaxing. The pace was not as fast as Wednesday, and my legs were a bit tired but I was able to find a good rhythm and settle into the run and enjoy myself. Jason and I had some fun doing some sprints before one of the water stops and I managed to put in some good efforts with Michael and Gavin, running hard on tired legs. Two weeks to go and now the taper period begins, time to freshen up. I'm getting very excited about the marathon and really looking forward to it.

Week 4

Monday - 10.05km - 51mins 54secs - 5:10mins/km - recovery run
Tuesday - Rest day
Wednesday - 25.05km - 1hr 49mins 31secs - 4:22mins/km - including 21.1km tempo at race pace
Thursday - 20.05km - 1hr 35mins 06secs - 4:45min/km - includes run with Rocky Road Runners
Friday - 10.05km - 51mins 36secs - 5:08mins/km - recovery run
Saturday - 35.22km - 2hrs 44mins 48secs - 4:41mins/km - long run with Rocky Road Runners
Sunday - 13.20km - 1hr 07mins 08secs - 5:05mins/km - easy/recovery run

Week 4 totals - 113.63km - 9hrs 00mins 05secs - 4:45mins/km average pace

Find your rhythm. Keep running.