Welcome to Cotton Row

The Cotton Row Run is a popular race that takes place in downtown Huntsville, AL each year on Memorial Day. Along with the race there are several events that take place to honor those who have served in the United States military. It was at this race last year, in 2009, that I first ran a distance race over 5km. I had run a handful of 5km races before but nothing further. With my background in track sprinting (400m and below) a 5km can be considered a long-run and before 2009 the longest I had run in one run was about 4.5 miles. When I signed up for the 2009 Cotton Row Run 10km race, I decided my goal would be to run it in under 50 minutes; this averaged out to a pace of eight minutes per mile. I used a training program provided by Fleet Feet Sports of Huntsville and ran the 2009 Cotton Row Run 10km race in a time of 49:01.

My goal for the 2010 Cotton Row Run was 45 minutes and with a time of 46:16 at the May 1st at the Run Through the Roses 10km, I thought this was possible. On the Madison Run Through the Roses 10km I left a little too much in the tank towards the end of the race as I wanted enough energy to get up and over the hill at the end of the course on Eastview Drive. By making a few small changes for Cotton Row from the Run Through the Roses race I was able to run it in an official time of 44:44 despite running (or training) significantly less and weighing 10 pounds more.

Changes for 2010

There were several changes made from the 2009 Cotton Row Run for 2010: training program, body weight, nutrition, footwear, and running form.

Training Program

The year 2009 can be remembered for me as the year I decided to run in long distance races (greater than 5km). After the Cotton Row Run 10km in May 2009, I went on to run the Alabama A&M 10km race in June, Monte Sano 15km in October, and the Huntsville Half-Marathon in November. While I was happy with my progress with running last year I began to notice that my absolute strength was not what it used to be. I was not training for strength with all the running I was undertaking, but I would go to the weight room on occasion and by the end of 2009 felt that my current strength level was not acceptable.

So began my search for a program that would enable me to develop my endurance as well as my strength. Searching online I came back to a suggestion that I received from a friend two years ago to check out CrossFit. In short, CrossFit is a General Physical Preparedness (GPP) training program that focuses on being ready for just about anything instead of specializing in one skill or physical domain. CrossFit focuses on developing athletes who are equally ready for a 10km run or a workout consisting of: 20x 225 lb. back squat, 40x toes to bar, 60x kettlebell swings at 2 pood (70 lb.) for time. In January 2010 I began looking into CrossFit more and ended up signing up with an affiliate in Madison, AL named CrossFit Impulse. Starting with CrossFit Impulse on February 5 I trained there 3-4 times a week using the main site workouts of the day (WODs) and several CrossFit Endurance running WODs. Looking at my training log, I completed 12 CrossFit Endurance running WODs between mid-March and early-May so the majority of my training occurred at CrossFit Impulse. During the same time periods, in 2009 I ran over 100 miles leading up to Cotton Row and in 2010 I ran just over 12 miles, or about one-ninth of the distance of 2009.

While I feel that my progress year over year is impressive considering the lack of training mileage that I have undertaken in 2010 as compared to 2009, I don’t feel comparing my training between the two years is exactly apples to apples. In 2009 my focus for Cotton Row was on training so that I could run faster longer. When I began training, my goal pace was eight minutes per mile and I was able to run a low seven minute mile. I wasn’t focused on increasing my top speed or mile time as that wasn’t really needed to accomplish my goal of a sub-50 minute 10km time.

The 2010 Run Through the Roses convinced me it was possible to improve my running times with CrossFit Endurance workouts that focus on intervals and tempo runs. The question in my mind was whether I would be able to run fast enough long enough to finish under 45 minutes.

Body Weight

CrossFit incorporates a considerable amount of strength work and weight lifting compared to the running training I went through last year.  This more strength-oreinted work increased my appetite dramatically and I began eating a lot more food. This resulted in some quick weight gain for me during the month of February. The end of January I was weighing in the mid to low 160s and by the end of February I hit 171 pounds. I believe most if not all of this weight gain was muscle mass from using the skinfold caliper measurements and looking in the mirror. Weighing myself every day and taking skinfold measurements (to obtain bodyfat measurements) in late February and late April you can see my overall weight gain and increase in lean mass in the graph below (Figure 1).

 

Figure 1 – Body Weight Trend for 2010

Nutrition

With my increased appetite, I began looking at the nutrition information offered from the CrossFit community, the two most talked about nutrition programs are the Zone and Paleo diets. The Zone focuses on the quantity of food eaten in a specific macronutrient ratio (40% carbs, 30% fat, 30% protein). This includes weighing and measuring one’s food to ensure the appropriate proportion of macronutrients is consumed at each meal. The Paleo diet focuses on food quality and the exclusion of neolithic foods (foods not typically consumed by humans before about 10,000 years ago with the introduction of agriculture). From reading on the CrossFit message board the standard suggestion seemed to be to shift your diet towards more quality foods (Paleo) then later on looking into weighing and measuring one’s food (Zone). The thinking here is that excluding neolithic foods (grains, sugar, dairy, processed foods) and focusing one’s diet on eating meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds should improve one’s health and athletic performance as this diet is more in line with foods that humans have been consuming for a very long time.

In March I made shift towards a more paleo diet, although it was not strict. My diet before was not bad by most standards and I would consider it better than the standard American diet (SAD). My previous diet consisted of meat, some vegetables, some fruit, grains, and the occasional sweet or dessert (3-4x per week). The main concern with my diet leading up to this shift was my increased reliance on fast food. While I did not eat out a whole lot, I knew I would need to eat out less if I was going to increase my health and fitness. I was not cooking my own food at home much and it was becoming easier and easier to just run out for food. I knew this was not helping me and could tell that this way of eating was not sustainable for my health and fitness in the long term. In March I eliminated grains from my diet and noticed a difference immediately. The biggest change I noticed was that the occasional upset stomach I would have was gone along with any occasional stomach gurgling. This digestive distress would occur about once a week, I was not paying close attention to it as I never considered it a real ‘problem’ and just thought it was a ‘normal’ occurrence. From my personal experience and the information I’ve obtained so far, I don’t think grains have to be a part of your diet for you to be healthy and to perform well in athletic endeavors. Since making this shift in my diet, I have noticed that when I eat grains or other gluten-containing foods my well being and physical performance suffer.

Footwear

Another one of the big changes from 2009 to 2010 was the use of Vibrams FiveFinger shoes as my preferred running footwear. The Vibrams FiveFingers I use are the KSO (Keep Stuff Out) in a blue camo design. I had these Vibrams FiveFingers for almost a year by the time of the 2010 race. I began running in them in 2009 as I wanted to test them out and see if they would help out my running. If you have seen these shoes or used them before you can attest to the difference in how they look or feel for running. I used the Vibrams FiveFingers for the first time during the Madison Run Through the Roses 10km race on May 1. I’ve been using the Vibrams FiveFingers as my primary running and training footwear since about December 2009, so my feet and legs had some time to adapt to the change to a less cushioned shoe. The transition reminds me of the transition to track spikes from our flat training shoes in track practice. At a certain point during the pre-season we would transition from using flat heeled shoes to our track spikes which had hardly any cushioning. This made you run more on your toes instead of heel striking. This is the major difference between shoed and barefoot running. Barefoot running focuses on striking towards the ball of the foot (forefoot) as this is seen as proper running form versus heel striking which is seen with a typical running shoe.

Last year in Cotton Row, I ran in a pair of Asics Gel Nimbus shoes and while I liked them, they are clunky and heavy compared to the Vibrams FiveFingers. Of course, the Asics I have are not known as low-weight or low-profile shoes, they are known for their cushioning and control mechanisms to help with pronation. As I’ve shifted to the Vibrams FiveFingers I’ve come to prefer low-weight and shorter heeled shoes. This is in line with the barefoot running trend of late. I wouldn’t consider myself a ‘barefooter’ by any means as I run in Vibrams FiveFingers and they are still considered shoes, but I’m definitely leaning towards the barefoot side of the shoe vs. no-shoe discussion.

Running Form

Along with the change in footwear I changed my running form to incorporate more POSE principles. The POSE method of running looks at running as a skill and helps runners to move with gravity in such a way as to run more efficiently and with less strain on the body. With my shift to Vibrams FiveFingers shoes I heard about barefoot running and the POSE method. I attended a POSE clinic at CrossFit Huntsville in January 2010 to learn more about it. I’ve worked to incorporate the POSE method principles into my running form and feel that is has helped me to become a more efficient runner. I still have a ways to go before becoming an expert or even proficient in the POSE form, but the little I’ve been able to incorporate and the changes mades thus far – such as striking more forefoot and taking shorter strides – have proven helpful.

A Few Tweaks from Run Through the Roses

Along with the major changes from the 2009 Cotton Row Run I made a few small tweaks from the Run Through the Roses 10km for the 2010 Cotton Row Run:

1. Decided after talking to a friend to walk the hill that is midway on the course. Thinking here was that running up the hill requires a lot more energy than walking and does not get you up the hill faster enough to justify the energy expenditure. In other words, the energy requirement to move your body up the hill goes up dramatically the faster you go and is just not worth it in the overall race, i.e. less efficient.

2. Used the Virtual Partner and Auto Lap features of my Garmin Forerunner 305 watch to help pace myself and see when I needed to speed up or when I could take it easy during the race. Knew about this feature, but never used it before. The Auto Lap feature allows me to not worry about hitting the Lap button at the mile markers. The Auto Lap may be off slightly from the official mile markers, but it allows me to focus on the run and not worry about hitting buttons on my watch during the race. Both of these features were very helpful during the race and wish I had used them earlier.

3. Dropped all aid (energy gels) from my carry pack. Noticed during the Roses run that the gel seemed to only hurt me. From my research before Cotton Row I determined that any gels or sugar ingested during a 10km may not help me. According to what I read, anything ingested during the last 2-4 miles only helps with recovery and not with the performance during the 10km race. With this information I decided I didn’t need it and the extra weight. Also, I did not drink anything besides water during the race. The energy gel I’ve used in races before is First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot and on their Q&A they even discuss races of less than an hour in duration not putting enough strain on the body to require the gel during the event. From the EFS Liquid Shot Q&A:

Q: Should I use EFS in short races? 
A: Short races generally don’t put a heavy demand on your glycogen, carbohydrate stores, given that you are well nourished prior to the start of the race. During a short race athletes can be slowed significantly from cramping and electrolyte imbalance. A serving of EFS can be used 15-30 minutes prior to a short race to assure adequate carbohydrates and electrolytes are available for the intense effort. Short race is defined as one lasting less than one hour.

Also, most energy gels, such as GU, state to use them when 45 minutes into the event. With this information I decided to leave the energy gels out of my race pack and not worry about dealing with it during the race. This along with the Auto Lap and Virtual Partner features of my watch would allow me to focus on the race and not have to fidget with something else, just focus on the run.

As far as pre-race I decided to stay away from using the energy gel here as well. My thinking here was that since my diet had been shifted to fewer carbs and more fat (Paleo) I did not think a shot of sugar before the race would help very much, and at worse it could upset my stomach or hinder my performance. Also, I wanted to see how I would perform without using the energy gel at all. My previous pre-workout routine has included a drink that contains caffeine so I stuck with that as my pre-race nutrition within the hour of the race start. The morning of the race I woke up early enough to get breakfast and had a lighter version of my typical breakfast of scrambled eggs and coconut milk. Went with less eggs than I typically eat at breakfast so that my stomach was not overloaded with food before the race, but had some food on it to keep it settled.

The Race

Before the start of the race I got towards the front of the pack with a couple friends. My preference is to get towards the front, but not at the very front. Not being in the elite class of runners who will compete to win the race, I do not want to get in their way to dash off from the start of the race. However, I have found it better to be towards the front of the pack so it is not too congested as the race starts. With so many people in the race it is easy to get packed in and have no room to maneuver and get away from the pack. It is easier to start towards the front and then maneuver as holes open up as the pack thins and spreads out.

The race started out well, but both of the guys I was with got away from me early on as they found a few gaps they could get through that I missed. Keeping calm by checking my pace on my watch and realizing that I was staying close to my goal 45-minute pace I stuck with my current pace and decided not to use a lot of energy trying to catch up. My main focus at the beginning of the race was to keep on pace and not let myself take off too fast and burn out early. The two guys I was with at the beginning were already pulling away and I knew trying to keep up with them would only hurt me in my overall race. I checked the pace on my watch and realized that I was on-pace for a sub-45 minute run, no need to jeopardize that goal early on. I focused on keeping relaxed and moving at a pace that was on target for my goal.

The first turn in the Cotton Row 10km race is an experience, you get a chance to see how stretched out the field is by this point which is only about 200m into the race. The faster runners have already pulled away from the pack and the field has stretched out quite a bit. This really cements how much faster the runners at the front are and how much faster they run even when they are just starting the race.

My watch beeped to indicate I had hit the 1.61 km(1 mile) mark in a time of 7:04. This was just short of the official 1-mile marker. Feeling strong through the first mile gave me confidence that I could actually pull off a sub-45 minute race. At this point I was actually ahead of my goal pace by roughly 10m.

The second mile went by pretty easily as my watch showed a split of 7:06. One of my friends was way ahead of me and barely in sight at this point in the race. I thought about trying to catch up, but decided not to as this part of the course is a slow gradual incline and catching up would be very costly energy-wise. I have a competitive personality and keeping myself in check was the main focus of mine at the beginning of the race.

The third mile was harder as it was a slight incline to the midway monster of a hill. During the third mile I started to feel pretty hot from the work of pulling myself uphill. I kept chugging away but this mile was slower at 7:35. I was now behind my pace by about 70m. Increasing my effort, I wanted to be close to even on my goal pace at the bottom of the big hill that is midway on the course. Knowing the big hill was just ahead I focused on keeping a pace that would chip away at the lead the Virtual Partner had on me. At the bottom of the big hill I was about 10m ahead of goal pace.

The big hill midway through the course is very steep and tough for anybody. Talking with my friend earlier that week, who had several training runs on the course leading up the race, let me know that walking part of the hill actually produced a better time for him overall. Last year I sprinted up the hill as fast I could and passed a lot of people in the process, but it was very costly to my energy reserves. I remember last year checking my heart rate halfway up the hill and realizing it was at 202 beats per minutes (BPM). Deciding this year to go for sub-45 minutes on the run made me think about this from a different perspective. While I did want to sprint up the hill as fast I could to “beat” the hill, I didn’t want to spend too much energy here for not much gain on the overall course. I decided it was better to walk part of the hill in order to save energy for the second half of the course. Breaking up the course this way, one could approach it as two 5km intervals instead of a whole 10km run.

Letting my momentum carry me up the hill a bit I allowed myself to slow to a jog and then walked up to the midway point on the hill. A lot of people were passing me at this point, but not very quickly. This was beginning to look like a smart move, I was getting a chance to recover before the second half of the race where I could use all I had to hopefully finish under 45 minutes. Hitting the midway point on the hill I began to jog and make my way up the hill slowly. I checked my watch to see I was about 160m behind pace. Keeping myself in check here was hard, but I knew the next mile was downhill and I could make up some ground there. Once I got to the top of the hill I grabbed some water and checked to see that I was about 260m behind pace. I had my work cut out for me. At the top of the big midway hill, the course takes an immediate right and is relatively flat before it makes a sharp left turn to come down Monte Sano. To keep my legs moving on this flat part of the course was hard, my legs didn’t want to move and I needed them to get down the hill quickly and make up some ground. Luckily, a fire hydrant was on and spraying water for those that needed to cool down. I jogged over to it to get some water on me to cool down. This helped and I focused on getting my legs moving again for the downhill portion of the course.

While running downhill may seem easy, it presents some challenges. While gravity is on your side in that it helps do some of the work of running, it can be too steep and make you work to pump your legs to keep yourself upright. If you can’t pump your legs fast enough you are forced to land in front of your body and slow yourself down, this is hard on your body and you actually work against gravity to keep your speed in check. Fortunately, this part of the course is not terribly steep. Focusing on allowing the hill to pull me down and keeping my legs underneath me I was able to make up some ground. I was passing people pretty easily here and I was glad I walked part of the big hill so I wasn’t drained at this point. Crossing the 4-mile marker I saw the damage the big hill had done finishing mile four in 8:01.

Crossing the official four mile mark at just under 30 minutes I knew 45 minutes was within my grasp, but would require some effort. With the downhill part of the course to help me I focused on making up ground and moving ahead. The last part of the course is relatively flat and wouldn’t give me much aid to make up time. I had to make a move here if I was going to finish in under 45 minutes. Focusing on pumping my legs I was making up ground quickly as I could see the gap drop on my watch. Also, I was catching a lot of people here and used that to motivate me to go faster. My focus here was to pass people as relaxed as possible. I didn’t want to strain to pass anybody. Here was a good place to remember my college track coach telling me “Tight is slow, relaxed is fast.”

At the bottom of the hill I checked my watch to see that I had made up a lot of ground and was only about 90m behind pace at this point. We ran through another aid station where I got some water and just dumped it over my head in an effort to cool off. There was also a fire hydrant spraying water on to the street that I passed through as well. With the course being mostly flat, I kept checking my watch to make sure I was chipping away at the lead that was left for me to make up. The gap was being chipped at little by little. I felt pretty good and that I was running strong so I focused on keeping this pace that was leading me to my goal.

Hitting the five mile mark in a split time of 6:40, I was pretty excited that I was able to run faster this late in the race. Knowing I didn’t have the time to slack up I kept chipping away at the lead, I had about 40m left to catch up to my goal pace. My overall time here was about 36:30, this meant I had 8:30 to finish the 1.25 miles left on the course. I crossed the five mile marker saying to myself, “I got this! I got this!”

Feeling great at this point I allowed myself to pour on the speed and effort. There was only 1.25 miles to go and this was the time to go fast with what I had left. Keeping my pace fast I also kept an eye on the turns I needed to make here at the end of the course. There were a few turns to make and I didn’t want to make a mistake here and cost myself time and energy. There were also more people cheering you on at this part of the course. This all helped to keep me pumped up to finish strong. Making the last turn I could see the  six mile marker and I checked my watch to see that I ran the last mile in 6:35. At this point I had passed the Virtual Partner and got a lead of my own of about 60m. I had just under two minutes to run 400m to finish in under 45 minutes. It was time to give it all I had and finish strong.

With 400m left I knew the sub-45 time was within my grasp. Being a sprinter I prefer to finish fast and strong even in longer races. Picking up the pace, I was attempting to get up to a sprint-like speed. It wasn’t much of a sprint, but it was all I could manage at this point. Seeing the big clock at the finish line I could see that I had time to make it under 45 minutes. I just focused on pouring out the energy I had left and finishing strong. Crossing the finish line in 44:44, I was elated.

 

Aftermath

As with the Madison Run Through the Roses 10km race I ended up with some sore calves and some tender feet, although not quite as bad. Up until these races I had not run this far in my Vibrams FiveFingers. If I would run more in them my calf and other lower leg muscles could adapt to the stress. Planning for next year a lead up to the next Cotton Row Run to get more mileage in these or similar shoes to allow my legs to adapt to the stress of running distances like this.

 

Garmin Connect Player

You can view some data that was collected using my Garmin Forerunner 305 in the player below or go to the Activity’s Garmin Connect site.

Performance Analysis

NOTES:

• For all graphs that follow 2009 data will be in red while 2010 will be in blue.
• All graphs are images that have been uploaded to my flickr account and can be accessed for a bigger size of the image.
• Distance data is displayed in kilometers (km) for ease of use in this 10 km race. As such speed is displayed in kilometers per hour (km/h).
• Race was a distance of 10 km which is approximately 6.214 miles. Splits were compared using a distance of an approximate mile and are not exact, but close enough for rough comparisons.
• The data differs slightly from year to year as in 2010 I used the Auto Lap and Virtual Partner features of my Garmin Forerunner 305 and did NOT use these features in 2009.
  • In 2009 I manually pressed the Lap button for the mile lap times (as indicated by race mile markers) and manually pressed the Start/Stop button at the end of the race.
  • The result is that the 2010 data ends at exactly the 10.0 km mark but was about 20 seconds early of me crossing the official finish line. The 2009 data ended up showing a total distance of 10.14 km. However, I still believe comparisons are viable as I did run the overall race faster as indicated by the official timing system provided at the race. Where a comparison loses clarity is in the individual laps as they are not exactly the same distance (although max difference was 50m) and the last quarter-mile of the race.
• At the end of the race in 2010 I hit the Start/Stop button at the finish line forgetting that I was using the Virtual Partner feature and accidentally added 10m to my overall distance. I did not account for or take out this extra data in any of the calculations. The effort to do that didn’t seem worth it as the effect on the data should be small (10m compared to 10,000m).
• The difference column in a graph shows the difference of 2010 data compared to 2009.
  

Reviewing the speed and heart rate data I can see that I was able to run the race faster while maintaining a lower heart rate as compared to 2009. In the following graph I have the heart rate data from 2009 compared to 2010. The average heart line was approximated by me as I had to add it in by hand so it may not be exactly correct when compared to the y-axis. You can see that in the first half of the race my heart rate was below my heart rate at the same position in the race in 2009. The big spike midway in 2009 was where I ran up the hill as fast I could. In 2010 I walked and jogged up this hill and you can see the corresponding drop in heart rate. In the second half of the race my heart rate becomes comparable to last year’s data. Also, note how in the beginning of 2010 my heart rate rises more slowly than it did in 2009. I thought this was interesting and wonder if it is an affect of my better conditioning. It could also be an affect of better pacing and keeping myself calmer during the beginning of the race. 2009 was the first 10 km race for me and as such I could have been anxious and nervous at the beginning of the race causing my heart rate to be higher than normal.

Figure 2 – 2009 vs. 2010 Cotton Row Run 10km Race – Heart Rate (bpm) vs. Distance (km)

 

Looking at the speed data shows that throughout nearly the entire race I ran faster in 2010 when compared to 2009. I thought this was extremely interesting given that my overall heart rate was lower throughout most of the race. Combining this data shows, in my opinion, conclusively that I was in better shape in 2010 than I was in 2009.

Figure 3 – 2009 vs. 2010 Cotton Row Run 10km Race – Speed (km/h) vs. Distance (km)

 

Taking the data on hand I made some comparisons of my mile splits between the two years. Highlighted in green are those stats which were favorable (faster, lower heart rate, etc.). Also, as noted at the beginning of this section the total distance between the two sets of data are not directly comparable due to use of the Auto Lap and Virtual Partner features where 2010′s data stops shy of the official finish line.

Figure 4 – 2009 vs. 2010 Cotton Row Run 10km Race – Splits Comparison of Distance (km), Time (mm:ss.ms), Total Time, Average Speed (km/h), Average Heart Rate (bpm)

 

My average heart rate per mile was lower except for miles 5 and 6 in which it was the same as 2009′s. My average speed was better in 2010 for each mile except for the last portion (about 400m) of the race. This shows that my heart was able to keep up with my body’s energy demands while not having to work as hard as it did in 2009. There might be some effect of aging causing my heart rate to be lower, but I’m not sure how much that affect would be or how to calculate what that affect would have on an event like this. I would imagine the aging effect would be small over the timespan of one year.

Another interesting note is that each mile was around 50 seconds faster in 2010 as compared to 2009 with the exception of mile four. This is where running up the hill in 2009 made a difference and 2010 I was not able to run that much faster. Mile three ends at the beginning of the big hill mid-course and that is where I would have lost a lot of time in 2010 where I walked as compared to running up the hill in 2009. I still ran faster in 2010 over the course of mile four as compared to 2009, just not as fast as I did during the other parts of the course in 2010.

Check out the following graph (Figure 5) to see the overall time advantage over my 2009 performance I built up over the course of the race in 2010. You can see that the slope of the line is approximately the same over the course of miles one, two, three, five, and six. The slope drops off over mile four as already discussed and I lose some of the time advantage over the last part of the race. In 2009 I did run faster over the last part of the race as compared to 2010. The comparison becomes hard to make due to the how the data was stopped as has already been discussed, it’s just hard to tell how much faster.

• Note that for the last part of the race I compensated for the 20 second difference I saw in my Garmin time and official time result. In other words, instead of showing a 4:37.23 overall time advantage as in Figure 4, I’ve only graphed an overall time difference of 4:17.23 at the end of the race in Figure 5.

Figure 5 – 2009 vs. 2010 Cotton Row Run 10km Race – 2010 Overall Time Advantage Accumulation

 

Here is another graph to illustrate the difference in split times per mile over the course of the race. Here the difference in mile four becomes more apparent.

Figure 6 – 2010 vs. 2009 Cotton Row Run 10km Race – 2010 Split Time Advantage

 

Here are some general stats comparisons between 2010 and 2009.

Figure 7 – 2009 vs. 2010 Cotton Row Run 10km Race – Miscellaneous Stats Comparison

 

The first stat I compiled in this table is a comparison of my splits over the first and last three miles of the race. In both years I ran the second half of the race faster than the first half, also called running negative splits. However, the difference between these two splits was less in 2010. This indicates that I ran a more even race in 2010. This was helped by the use of the Virtual Partner feature of my watch which helped me to run a more even race by keeping me on pace. A more even race is an indicator of better run race in regards to pacing and strategy. This shows that my energy was better managed over the course of the overall race and I didn’t have a whole lot left in the tank in the end. Combining this information with how fast I ran the end in 2009 shows that I’m getting better about running faster at the beginning instead of trying to pour it on at the end. It is also interesting to note that the difference between second half of the race from 2009 to 2010 is less than the difference when comparing the first half of each race. The difference between the three-mile split comparison is about 26 seconds which is almost exactly the degree (30 seconds) that I slowed down over mile four. If I kept my pace a bit higher over mile four in 2010 I could have maintained close to the same lead I had over my 2009 performance during the first half of the race.

Also included are some stats about how my time compares percentage wise in the overall and age group classification. Nothing surprising here as the numbers improve with my better performance in 2010.

Field Performance Analysis

In comparing the overall data from 2009 to 2010 I noticed that the overall field was slower in 2010. This was indicated by the average overall time and even looking at the top 10 finishers for each year. I’m not as clued in to the runners and the field may not have been stacked as well in 2010 thus giving an overall slower time for the field. Checking the weather to see if there was a difference and you can see in Figure 7 above there was a slight difference. This data was pulled from Weather Underground’s website (2009 data and 2010 data) with its location set to the Huntsville International Airport as it was the only data I could find for these dates. It may not be enough to compensate for the differences seen in the times between the two races, but it is a difference nonetheless. Heat can play a factor over longer races such as 10 km. Although this race is ran earlier in the morning, race start is 7am, I would think heat should not be too high to negatively affect the runners. I thought it was important to note as this might have a negative affect on 2010′s overall field as shown from the results. Also, it is important to note that I don’t have the temperature or weather data for the specific hours the race was run. Although we can see that the day of the race was warmer overall in 2010 we have no idea if it was warmer at the time the race was conducted.

Below is a graph (Figure 8) that compares various stats between 2009 and 2010 of the overall field and the Male 25-29 years old age group.

Notes:

• Highlighted in green are the favorable stats such as faster time and more or less runners in a time category.
• The one hour time point was used as the break line for favorable for more or less runners in a particular time category.
  • In other words, the year with more runners in a particular time category under one hour was highlighted as favorable, while above one hour the year with fewer runners was highlighted as favorable.

 

Figure 8 – 2009 vs 2010 Overall and Males 25-29 years old Age Group Stat Comparison

 

Figure 8 is what really showed to me that the 2009 field was overall faster than 2010′s field of runners. In almost every category 2009 comes out with a better number. Seeing the difference in the Top 10 statistics I decided to look into this more which we’ll get to in a bit.

Below is a graph (Figure 9) of the overall placement of the runners in the male 25-29 years old age group. The big diamonds indicate my performance from each year. The average time from each year is graphed as a line to see where it intersects in the overall placement. The intersection between the average time and overall place is graphed as well.

Figure 9 – Males 25-29 years old Time vs. Overall Placement

 

Graphing the placement of the males 25-29 years old age group with their overall placement you can see how that age group fared overall each year. Here the overall average time is faster in 2009 by 56 seconds and is the difference between 1098th place in 2010 and 985th place in 2009. From this graph you can barely see the difference in the top 100 between each year. Let’s focus on the males age 25-29 years old age group and see what we can find (Figure 10).

Figure 10 – Male 25-29 years old Time vs. Age Group Place

 

In Figure 10 the difference between 2009 and 2010 in this age group becomes more apparent. You can even see the difference in the top 10 from this view as well. Note the overall trend of 2009′s times being lower than 2010′s for the same placement in the male 25-29 years old age group. This trend is barely broken in places 9-15 and around 40th place and 2010 favors in places above 100. The average time was faster in 2009 by 1:34, larger difference than the overall average. This difference in average time does not result in a drastic change in placement from year to year only changing by about one place. The places where 2009 is visibly faster are in the top 10, around 50th place, and places between 60 and 98. Note that in 2010 there were five more runners in this age group as compared to 2009. Seeing the difference in the top runners, we’ll focus there next. In Figure 11 below you see the difference in performance between each year’s top 10 runners.

 

NOTES:

• The lines added are the average time for the top 10 finishers for each year.
• Males aged 25-29 years are indicated by a square data point.

Figure 11 – Top 10 Finishers Time Comparison

 

The race for first place was tighter in 2009. Also, 2010 only had one finisher under 30 minutes while 2009 had four runners finish in under 30 minutes. Even comparing the average time for the top 10 finishers from each year shows a sizable difference at 1:21. I thought it was interesting to note that the top seven runners from 2009 beat out the second place finisher in 2010 and the top 10 in 2009 would beat out the fifth place finisher from 2010. This shows the difference between the top runners between each year and contributes to 2009 having an overall faster average time than 2010′s.

While the difference between each year is apparent in the official results it is not clear what contributed to the differences. While the temperature was slightly different for each day I’m not sure that would have contributed

 

Summary

On the Cotton Row course I am extremely happy with an improvement from last year of 4:17 (49:01 to 44:44). This is even bigger when considering that I ran less leading up to the race in 2010 and weigh more than I did in 2009. I believe the training I underwent with CrossFit and especially the metabolic conditioning WODs (metcons) enabled me to build up the required endurance without having to run nearly as much (mileage-wise) as last year. The conditioning in CrossFit is conducted at a high intensity and does not prescribe much in the way of long slow distance work, but even though a workout would only last 10 minutes, it was 10 minutes at near maximum effort.

While I think this is a good case to see that high-intensity work can help and enhance endurance without much use of distance work, I don’t believe that to be the case for everyone or every situation. My training in 2009 was mostly slow and long runs. I did work in several tempo and interval runs, but not near to the degree I did high-intenstiy work in 2010. Also, before 2009 I had not trained inside the structure of a set plan since college (about 3.5 years). So, 2009 could be considered an easy intro into distance running with a focus on lower-intensity and longer runs since my major hurdle was the psychological block to run over 3.5-4 miles in one stint. 2010 can be seen as the year I became more focused on overall fitness and increased intensity work in a shorter time-domain. I think a big part of my progress can be seen as the novice effect and that training in the beginning leads to big gains and these will taper off the longer one is training. Also, in high school and college I was able to run a 400m under 50 seconds and therefore had a good level of conditioning and speed ability (the has-been returns effect?). Going in to 2009 I was nowhere near that kind of ability and so training allowed me to quickly regain some of that ability and show a marked increase in performance when I stepped up my training regime in 2010.