The Art of Running
by Bart Smith
In conjunction with a recent Asheville (North Carolina)
Track Club meeting I was asked to participate on a panel of accomplished master
runners (ages 40 to 70) where the audience was invited to pose questions
regarding our training and racing. One
of the questions posed to the panel was: “What is the pace and duration of your
fast, high end runs?” Each of us took a
stab at answering the question as best we could, but one panel member, Mark
Ledyard, brought the issue into perspective when he said the mile splits and
pace charts were irrelevant to a given day: “I run by how I feel and make the
most of whatever the day offers.”
This indeed, I thought, is what the art of running is all
about. The ongoing balancing act performed on the three legged stool of
duration, intensity and frequency, leads me to believe that running, and the
coaching of runners, is truly, more of an art than a science.
John
Kellogg’s Precepts
Several years ago, John Kellogg wrote an essay, “Progressing
to Peak Fitness.” This essay is the best
I have ever read addressing progressive running, because this piece gives the
most accurate description of what most runners ignore and what all should
attempt to achieve. Here is how Mr. Kellogg introduces the concept of intuitive
running:
“The science of running has come a
long way, but it has an even longer way to go before it replaces the art of
running. This is analogous to listening
to a mechanized ‘player piano’ versus listening to a professional
musician. The machine relies on notes
only, with at best minimal attention to dynamics...Consequently, there are many
people who can play all the right notes but still miss the music.” (http://www.letsrun.com/2005/jkfitness.php)
According to Mr. Kellogg, every runner is equipped with the
ultimate lactate analyzer and the necessary sensory devices that will provide
the bio feedback required to properly adjust pace and effort suitable to the
conditions of a given day. The operative
word here, of course, is “effort.” I believe a recent quote by Ryan Hall
illustrates this point:
“I was
always fascinated at Stanford by the fact that we would have a group of eight
guys who would train together for every workout and yet when race day came the
difference between those eight guys could be as much as a minute, showing that
it is not necessarily what you are able to do in practice but was it done at
the right effort level. Even though those eight guys were all running the
same pace for the workouts, maybe it was only the right pace and the most
beneficial pace for two or three of them.“
Guidelines
for Self Discovery
So, where does one begin on this odyssey to self discovery
of what works and what does not? Here
are a few guidelines that I have gathered through the years and seemed to have
worked well for me.
1)
Each and every daily run MUST begin slowly. When I say slowly, I mean as slow as a
walk. In fact, Eve and I call this pace a "wog"—half
walk, half jog. This slow, easy start of each run is where all the
systems of the body are given time to come into harmony.
2)
With the help of Danny Dryer (author of Chi Running)
I have learned to use this slow start to wisely focus on my posture,
relaxation, leaning from the ankles, lifting my feet, and getting the feel of
rolling down the road rather than bounding down the road, along with proper
deliberate breathing. The slow start of
every run is probably one of the foremost injury preventers for a runner.
3)
Let the pace come to you. Do not force the effort, but rather allow
yourself to gradually get a little faster—over one, two, or more miles. There
is no defining point of increase between walking pace at the beginning of the
run, and the high-end aerobic pace nearing the completion of a good hard
run.
4)
No part of the run should be labored. Again, let the pace come to you. Strive to achieve a feeling of free,
effortless running, where once you hit that sweet spot with all systems in
sync, you almost have a feeling of floating over the ground.
5)
Strive to learn the difference between smart training,
that invigorates and conditions, and hyper training, that takes you over the top
and leaves you injury prone.
6)
Please read John Kellogg’s essay. A good grasp of his precepts will do more to
assist you with an understanding of how to best go about performing the type of
conditioning, “one that will relax and train a runner (you) but kill a jogger
(someone a few seconds per mile slower than you!)”
If you apply these principles to your training, you might
allow yourself to discover the runner within you, or as Mark would say, “I run
by how I feel and make the most of whatever the day offers.”
End
Post Script:
To all our friends in Las Vegas, we extend our very best
wishes, and please know that we miss you all dearly.
Sincerely,
Bart and Eve.
