Fun Friday Haikus

I'm not threatening promising that I'll be posting haikus every Friday, but once again the mood feels right. Maybe those early Wednesday long runs are playing with my head...

If you have suggestions for running related topics you would like to see turned into a haiku, or a form of poetry you feel would go great with a pair of racing flats, feel free to let me know in the comments. Otherwise, suffer through enjoy some more running haikus!


Early Morning

Photo from flickr user andycarvin

Alarm clock goes off,
Eyes open slow, not yet 5
It's time for a run

Move [Female Dog], Get Out the Way
A stroller, a bike
Sweet Jesus! Are you mental?
This track's for running

An Unfortunate Realization
Crowd's looking at me,
Pointing, they must be impressed
Nope, bloody nipples

East River Mile Repeats

Thursday nights are track workout nights for my running team, the Dashing Whippets. Although I've been running with them for a little over two months now, before this week I had only made it to one track workout. There are two main reasons why I haven't been to more workouts. First, when I joined, I was halfway through my marathon training plan and didn't want to switch plans midway through the cycle. Second, these workouts are at the East River Park track. While it's a pretty decent facility, it happens to be about 1.2 miles from the nearest subway. As you may remember from a previous post a good track is hard to find in Manhattan.

I really want to get faster this year so last night I sucked it up and headed to the East Village after work. I always dread track workouts (any speed work, really) and I was still sore from Tuesday's workout so I had no idea what to expect from myself. The schedule called for 4 - 6x1600m repeats at 10k pace with 400m recoveries in between. As Scott, the coach, explained, the idea is to train yourself to run tired. It's as much mental as anything else. He offered the three of us who had run Boston an alternate workout (3 - 5x1200m with 800m recoveries) but we all decided to try the 1600s.

The workout actually went pretty well. I did the first 1600 in 6:10 but felt surprisingly good. After what seemed like an incredibly short recovery I did the next one in 6:06. Scott had said that those of us still in marathon recovery could stop at 3 if we wanted so as I began the third one I paid special attention to how my legs were feeling. I did it in 6:07 and decided I felt good enough to end on a even number. It helped that one of my teammates, Tom (who also did Boston), was running at about the same pace.

For the final repeat I tried to stay on pace for the first three laps. Once I got to the 200 mark, though, I began picking it up. When I hit the final straightaway I kicked it to finish the mile in 5:57. It was definitely tiring but I was extremely happy that I stuck with it. Now I'm really looking forward to a summer of speed work.
________________
 Yesterday's Run: 7.5 miles total.

Your Biggest Competitor

Last night I went to my first track workout with the Dashing Whippets, a local running club that, incidentally, after the workout, I am now sure I want to join. While usual track workouts involve intervals at set distances, last night's was a bit different; it was a benchmark workout. They do these workouts once a quarter and the whole purpose is to see where you are at in your running.

One of the things I love about running is that, for most of us mere mortals, training and racing isn't about beating everyone else. We're not running for bragging rights, we're running to see how far we can push ourselves and to see how much we can grow and improve. In other words, while running is very competitive, most of that competition is internal. That's why you always here runners talk about PRs (U.S) or PBs (everywhere else), personal records and personal bests.

Last night's workout illustrated this perfectly. The whole point of a benchmark workout is to establish a yardstick against which you can measure yourself. While you may be running with others, it's not someone else's fitness that matters, it's your own. I've been keeping a running log for ages now, but since most runs (except for races) are done at prescribed paces, it can be hard to pinpoint improvement. I'm really excited about the prospect of working with a team and watching my performance (hopefully) improve.

Track Woes

I know President's Day was last week, but allow me to invoke our founding fathers for a moment (God knows the presidential candidates have been invoking them on an hourly basis). Our founding fathers recognized that we have certain unalienable rights--the right to due process of law, the right to just compensation in cases of governmental takings, the right to religious freedom--but it's obvious none of our founding fathers was a runner.

If there had been runners in that first Congress at Federal Hall in New York, surely one of them would have included the right to a track!

What am I talking about? It can be really difficult to find a good all-weather 400 meter or 440 yard track. In New York City, there are a handful of tracks, but most of them fall into one of four categories:

(1) Weird distance - It's hard to run 800 m repeats on an unmarked 330m track!

(2) Weird shape - It's tricky to maintain speed on a track with 90 degree angles (plus, these tracks usually also fall into category (1))

(3) Limited Hours - Some of the nicest tracks are only open certain times of day, times that don't really allow people with jobs good options for getting in a workout.

(4) Pay-per-use tracks - There are a handful of indoor tracks in the city, but these require you to pay each time you want to use them and they usually fall into category (3) and sometimes categories (1) and (2) as well.

There's also a fifth category for tracks that are just too far away for me to get to on a weekday. There are great tracks at McCarren Park, the Redhook Recreation Area, Van Cortlandt Park, and Forest Park, but there is no way I can get to those places before work. There are two tracks close to me, one that's approximately 320 meters with 90 degree angles and one that doesn't open until 6am. I guess when you have Manhattan real estate prices to deal with, tracks just aren't a winning proposition.

For now, I'll continue to make due with the Central Park reservoir loop but I'm not going to stop dreaming about a day where I can live across the street from a pristine all-weather track!

Has the Marathon Hurt the US Running Scene?

Yesterday I read a very very interesting post on Flotrak about how the growing cult of the marathon may be hurting the track and field scene. Although the article focuses on track, its premise probably holds true for distance events like the 5k and 10k to some extent as well.

Basically, Kevin Selby, the author, argues that professional runners are getting into the marathon too early in their careers before they've truly tapped their potential on the track. Here's Selby's argument in a nutshell:

Americans are a lot better off if they stay on the track through their 20’s.  A move to the marathon should only come once significant international track experience is achieved for the top tier Americans.  The marathon will always be there, but improvements may be halted by turning to 26.2 too soon.

The biggest worry plaguing Selby, however, seems not to be that these runners are sacrificing their potential, but that they are damaging the popularity of track events. I certainly wish running got more public attention across the board, but we have to start somewhere. Right now, the marathon seems to have captured the public's attention, at least to a certain extent.

NBC broadcast the Olympic trials (not live but at least they showed them at a time when people were awake) and NYRR now has a deal with ESPN to broadcast the NYC Marathon. I think the public is starting to care, at least a little, about the marathon. I actually think our best bet for enhancing the popularity of shorter events is to tap into this excitement surrounding the marathon.

Following Selby's argument, runners would simply stay out of the marathon and we would get the kind of exciting narratives like Ryan Hall's record-breaking in-all-but-name performance at last year's Boston Marathon. Call me crazy, but I'm excited about the sport's prospects.

What are your thoughts? Should Americans wait later to enter the marathon? Are we shooting ourselves in the foot by going long too soon?