On Tuesday evening, Noah Jampol (who always seems to know things before anyone else) ran a track workout. What made this one a little special was that he ran it on the new Newton North H.S. track, a brand-new six-lane mondo track that sits serenely between the new and the old Newton North high schools.
On Wednesday, our NSRP group planned our run to include a lap of the new track so we could see the new facility for ourselves. It's pretty sweet. And having run exactly one lap on it, it seems very fast.
The track is oriented North-South and is narrower than the old track. As Noah commented, the straights are almost a full 100 meters, which should result in some dramatic come-from-behind charges in the final 10-20 meters. There are low aluminum bleachers on the East side of the track -- much less dramatic than the stands of the old stadium. No one will be running stadium steps there, that's for sure.
The track seems very sheltered from the wind right now, but that could change once the old school comes down. For now, it feels like the track is well protected, but we'll see.
I wonder whether Noah's was the first real workout on the new track. probably not, but if he wants to make a claim, I won't dispute it. It leads one to think about all the other "firsts" that we'll hear about: first runner to win a race on the new track, first school record... Thinking of teams and athletes past, we also found ourselves wondering who would be the first athlete to lose their lunch during or after a particularly brutal workout.
In his 1958 story, "Staying the Distance," William R. Loader describes a fictional 5000m race held at White Stadium in London, the final event of a dual meet between England and the USSR. The race is expected to be a two-man contest between the challenger -- an accomplished British international -- and the world-record holder, a Russian of steely disposition whose primary race tactic is to set a cruel pace from the beginning and then destroy his opponents with pitiless surges. Into this mix is thrown another man, a young unheralded British runner who changes the course of the race.
It's a great story, inspired, perhaps, by real-life events of a few years earlier when Chris Chataway ran a 5000m world record to score an upset over the great Vladimir Kuts in what the BBC called "one of the most remarkable races seen on a British track."
Loader's story was republished in "The Runner's Literary Companion," and still makes for great reading. From the description of the stadium full of 40,000 fans, to the perspective of the vast Telly audience watching from their homes, to the breathless, spontaneous excitement of the commentators, it describes a collective experience that makes even weekend warriors want to go out and run to the point of collapse and then throw everything into a life-or-death sprint.
I thought of this story today as I read accounts of Britain's triumph in the 10K at the European Championships. After not having a single runner in the final four years ago, the Brits got gold and silver from Mo Farah and Chris Thompson. A story by Tom Fordyce describes the careers of the two men to this point, and revels in an accomplishment that very well may inspire a new generation of U.K. distance runners.
I haven't seen video of the race, but reports say that the British announcers went wild as the final lap unfolded. I wondered then about what's missing from the coverage of so many meets by U.S. television. Where are the great announcers -- the ones with a sense of history, the ones who give voice to the rising excitement of great races, whose words are not just the prepared remarks of non-fans who don't follow the sport or have memories for the great moments of the past? Watching old races on YouTube, you have to love the British announcers. Hell, even listening to the Finnish announcers calling Viren's victories in the '72 and '76 Olympics in Finnish beats anything I've ever heard from American commentators.
As happy as I am for Farah and Thompson and their British fans, I'm jealous. In the past few years, we have witnessed a renaissance for American middle and long-distance running, both men and women. How long do we have to stay the distance waiting for an announcer who can give voice to our greatest inspirations?
The day before the World Cup final, it would be understandable if Dutch sports fans had their minds on something other than athletics. Nevertheless, the KBC Nacht meet in Heusden had plenty of excitement.
The most impressive result was David Rudisha's time of 1:41.51 in the 800. Running behind two pace maker through a first lap of 49.xx, Rudisha went through 600 in a reported 1:14.5, and stayed strong in the home stretch to become the second-fastest man ever at 800m, trailing only world-record holder Wilson Kipketer. The video of the race is well worth watching:
Newton North fans will take note that Chris Barnicle ran a very solid 13:42.17 to take 5th in the "B" heat of the 5000m, just ahead of former MA rival Sean Quigley. This was Barnicle's second race in a series of races in Europe. On Saturday July 3rd he placed 5th in the 3000 at the Cork City Sports meet in Cork, Ireland in a time of 8:07.0.
Tempers flared on the mean streets of West Newton a week ago, perhaps fueled by the heat and humidity. The story of an altercation between a motorist and a jogger was reported in the Crime Watch section of the Newton Tab:
Jogger rocks out, chucks rock "A woman reported a rock-throwing jogger on July 1. The woman told police she was turning on to Albemarle Road from North Street when a jogger ran out in front of her car, causing her to slam on the brakes. The woman reportedly yelled at the jogger to take the earplugs out of his ear. The jogger reportedly responded and picked up a rock, throwing it at the woman. He missed her and the car. After throwing the rock, the jogger reportedly went down North Street toward Crafts Street. The jogger was described as a balding white man with blue eyes and fair skin."
Now the first thing I want to say is that this wasn't me. I'm not balding (yet), and I've never run with headphones in my life. It's hazardous to your health!
But this particular intersection is one I run through very often. I have a nice seven-mile loop that follows the Charles River for quite a ways before turning onto North Street for several blocks. Unlike the jogger (and like the motorist), I turn right onto Albemarle, rather than continue straight to Crafts Street.
If I didn't know the route so well, I'd think the jogger was just being an idiot, but the motorist (the only witness to the incident whose point of view we have) must have been completely oblivious to the situation, if not negligent. The jogger must have been running South -- either on the sidewalk or on the street. The car must have been driving the same direction, overtaking the jogger just before making the right-hand turn onto Albemarle. Happily headphoned, the jogger would never have heard the car coming up from behind and blithely began to cross Albemarle. The driver began turning and had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the jogger as he crossed in front of her.
In other words, they were both at fault.
No runner should EVER assume that the coast is clear, or that a car is going to stop. As Ethan Coen writes in his great poem "The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way"...
It’s only the naivest who’ll Deny this, that the reckless rule; When facing an oncoming fool The practiced and sagacious say Watch out — one side — look sharp — gang way.
However much you plan and pray, Alas, alack, tant pis, oy vey, Now — heretofore — til Judgment Day, The drunken driver has the right of way.
But at the same time, for God's sake, motorists, take care to notice the pedestrians and cyclists that you're overtaking when you make a right hand turn and don't assume that they'll stop and look both ways every time they cross a small intersection.
As for the rock-throwing, well that's definitely a no-no. Rocks are for rabid dogs, not oblivious drivers. Remember, a car is a much more dangerous weapon than any rock.
A 16-year study of 5,500 healthy women that examined the link between abnormal heart rate response and the cardiovascular disease has produced a major correction to a decades-old formula for calculating maximum heart rate.
The correction is the subject of an article in today's New York Times, Recalibrated Formula Eases Women's Workouts . According to the researchers, the standard formula for predicting maximum heart rate, 220 minus age, is significantly off for women. The corrected formula is 206 minus (age * 0.88).
For a woman training at 85% of her supposed max heart rate, the new formula generates a rate nearly ten beats per minute less than the old formula, a very noticeable difference in effort!
But beyond the fact that the old male-biased formula has been used for forty years to make training recommendations for women, the real problem is that the old formula is no good for men either. Or, to be more precise, since the old formula was based on averages, it didn't account for individual variation. It turns out that individuals have very different heart rates, both in untrained and trained populations.
The article quotes Tim Church, an exercise researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research center in Baton Rouge, who echoes my thoughts when he writes:
"Except for elite athletes heart rate monitoring is not very useful and can distract from finding an exercise program you enjoy and will stick to. Everyone kind of has their own natural pace. If you like to work a little harder, then work harder. If you like to work less hard but a little longer, then do that. Find what works for you."
On Saturday Eugene, Oregon hosts the 36th Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field. The meet will be part of IAAF's Diamond League series of world-class meets, and NBC is scheduled to cover portions of the meet live, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time. We can only hope that the coverage is not too dreadful.
The distance events are absolutely loaded with talent. The Bowerman mile is set to feature seven of the top ten milers in the world this year, and the top four from last year's world championships. The 5000m is also deep, and everyone is waiting to see whether Chris Solinsky can scare Bernard Lagat's new American record. Suddenly, anything less than sub-13:00 for the top American seems pretty routine. How things have changed in a year!
But just as intriguing was the announcement from Sudan's Abubaker Kaki that he will be attempting to improve on Noah Ngeny's 11-year-old world record of 2:11.96 in the 1000m. The 21-year-old Kaki recently ran 1:42.23 in Oslo to become the fifth fastest two-lap runner in history. In that race, he was edged out by Kenya's David Rudisha, who ran 1:42.04.
According to a story in the Eugene Register-Guard, the plan is for OTC Elite’s Matt Scherer to set a pace of 1:18 through the first 600 meters, and for Khadevis Robinson to bring Kaki through 800 in 1:45. Kaki's coach is quoted as saying about the record attempt that “If anybody has a chance, it’s Kaki. Once he ran 1:42, we realized he’s in better shape than we thought, and he’s going to go for it. He will be blazing from the very start.”
I don't want to be a wet blanket, but I think Kaki's chances are remote. For one thing, the best 1000m times have generally come from runners who were among the best in the world at the 1500/mile. Seb Coe, who held the record prior to Ngeny for nearly two decades was a double gold medalist at 1500 and had a 3:29 1500 and 3:47 1500 to his credit. Ngeny is the second fastest miler in history, having run 3:43.40 behind Hicham El Gerrouj's world record. Next on the list and the only other man to run faster than 2:13 is Steve Cram, who owns a 3:46 mile and 3:29 1500. Although one could argue that Kaki could run a great 1500/mile if he focused on it, the fact remains that his lifetime best at the 1500 is 3:39.71.
The point is that it takes a great deal of speed endurance to extend a 1:45 800m by another 200m at sub-27s pace. Kaki's 800 PR is still nearly half a second slower than Coe's, and he has nothing like Coe's endurance. As for Ngeny, well, he didn't run the 800 often and his PR was only 1:44.49 but he had superb speed endurance over 1500 and 2000 meters.
The other thing that occurs to me is that Kaki seems to be setting up the race to be a relatively even-paced effort. But if the splits quoted above are accurate, they'll be fatal to any record attempt. If the pace through 600m is 1:18 (26s per 200) and the pace through 800 is 1:45 (27s), I think there's no way Kaki will speed up in the final 200m. Both Coe and Ngeny set their records by going out hard and hanging on -- relying on their superior ability to maintain pace, rather than counting on a late acceleration that is virtually impossible at those speeds.
Here's YouTube video of Ngeny's world record. The pacemaker hits 49.66 for 400m, approx 1:17 for 600m, and Ngeny goes through 800m at 1:44.62, then holds on with a 27.34. I might add that if this whole discussion seems a bit dry and academic, watch the video and appreciate how fast 50s/1:17 pace really is!
In Coe's world record from 1981, he also went out very fast. I've been searching for his splits from that race and haven't found them, but I remember reading that after a fast start, his split for 800m was well under 1:45.
Finally, Ngeny made multiple attempts at the 1000m record before running under 2:12. Kaki has a personal best of 2:13.93 in 2008, but otherwise he hasn't run the distance much. He must believe that the record is achievable, and that he has a better chance to get it than to get the 800 record or 1500 record on either side. I suppose that's true, but the 1000m is not soft. Nourredine Morceli and Steve Cram tried and failed to beat Coe's record. Perhaps El Guerrouj could have come closer had he focused on it, but he didn't and it has survived for 11 years.
So all things considered, my money is on Ngeny holding on to his record for now.
