Wednesday October 2

New Marathon World Record: 2:03:23.

Amazing.  Wilson Kipsang (from Kenya) ran 2:03:23 at the Berlin marathon last Sunday.  To us runners, this result can lead to a lot of  interesting conversations, starting with how in the heck does someone run 4:43 pace for 26.2 miles?!    Well, here's how he did it: even splits.   If you break his race down into 5k segments (a marathon is 42.2 kilometers) his fastest 5k segment was 14:29 and his slowest was 14:54.   There was only a 25 second difference between his fastest and slowest 5k.   The equates to about a 10 second difference is their pace per mile.   So his fastest mile was probably only about 10 or 15 seconds faster than his slowest mile.

Berlin is very flat...so fairly even splits are possible; it is impossible/not advisable to try and run even splits on a hilly course.   Many of the marathons that us non-elites will be attempting (Chicago, Huntsville, New Orleans etc...)  are also very flat.   I think that we can all learn a lot from how these elites run.   Run even splits on flat courses, run even effort on hilly courses.

Kipsang's training also gives us some insights.  Leading up to the race, he did a 45km (28 miles) effort at 90% marathon speed, and a 40k hard effort a month before the race.   Those efforts  are too much for most humans, but more and more training plans are including goal pace running as a big part middle of the weekly long run.

October 2, 2013

6 a.m. or 6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.  This is our one and only out and back run.   So you can turn back whenever to make the run as long as you want.   During the run, wear reflective gear, and post-run head over to NRC for pint night.