Discussion: Adamski

I've heard if you have a crazy intense face that you automatically go under 19.

What is perhaps more relevant than how fast you speculate anybody else might make it around 5K by any means is that back 2 1/2 years ago in June 2010 you yourself ran a 5K time trial in under 19 minutes, about 55 seconds faster than this run.
It might be interesting to think about what differences there could be between the two runs, other than that on the whole you have been training quite a lot in between (a plus) and that you had the flu for a couple of weeks rather shortly before this run (a major minus). One big difference is the warmup before the run (20 minutes plus an additional variety of more specific exercises in 2010, a rather non-specific minimal warmup this time). A second big difference is running temperature. For long runs, cool temperatures are better than hot ones, because cooling of an overheated body gets to be a big issue. At distances like 1500m or 3000m, maybe even 5K, even running with the ambient temperature pretty warm can be a good thing. I don't think that many people would consider running in temperatures far below freezing is particularly optimal for much of any distance. You wear heavier clothing which somewhat restricts movement, making you less efficient, you waste a lot of energy warming up cold outside air on the way into your lungs. Thirdly, in 2010 you were running on a track with a bunch of other people whose capabilities you knew and could use to help tune your own performance during the course of the run. This time you were running in the midst of a bunch of strangers, and had to be a bit on the cautious side to be sure you weren't overextending yourself early on. This last point may not be so significant as the others, since it looks as if you were maintaining a pretty decent and consistent heart rate through the whole thing this time. Go out in April on a nice day that is 15C or so, find a pacer to guide you through the first half (or even better the whole thing) at a slightly sub-19 pace, and above all stay healthy between now and then, and I'm sure that you will have a more satisfying time.

A 7min warmup for a 5k is idiotic.

Thanks, eldersmith; your observations are helpful. I was aware of some caveats going in to the race, but I like to neither make excuses nor temper my ambitions with realism. I guess the main conclusion is that I should try again later in the Spring, and be aware of the posterior probability of decreased fitness relative to my expectations.

Andrew - I wonder if Adamski always makes his battle face when he exerts himself. *Epic taking-out-the-trash.*

Alex, I appreciate what you are saying; certainly I could and should have done a much better job warming up. It would have been nice if you had phrased it differently.
It's not like I'm already upset with myself for having a slow time. (edit: not like this datum was relevant)

Ian, acj was just saying you can be in her club. Take it as a compliment.

If I ran a 5km to the best of my ability, I would not be able to go out orienteering (twice) later. You kept stuff in the tank, I suspect.

I'm not calling you an idiot. I'm calling your warmup idiotic. To elaborate, I'm saying that if you wanted a PR in a short race on a cold day, you know better than to do such an inadequate warmup.

out of curiosity, what's a non-idiotic warmup? and - aside from reducing the chance to break yourself - what how much do you think it improves performance to warm up well? I wonder, if you run a race on a crap warm up and don't cripple yourself, how much have you handicapped yourself?

ok, now you got me wasting time (I thought I could just leave this at "idiotic"). The whole point of a warmup is to get the blood flowing well enough to carry O2 and prevent massive lactic acid buildup in the early part of the race, which is what happens if you go out hard when cold. You want to minimize the amount of O2 debt that you go into early on.

I'm not really a runner, so I don't know what, say, Mo Farrah does for his warmup. But assuming runners follow endurance logic, a proper warmup involves bringing the cardiovascular system up to speed slowly. You want to move through all the zones to get the lactate-clearing mechanisms working, gradually.

The perfect warmup is different for everyone, because obviously an unfit individual can't do too strenuous a warmup without becoming exhausted. My preferred warmup includes 10-45min L1, 5-10min L2, 3x3min L2-3 (or some other form of easy intervals), 5-10min of 10s sprint, 50s rest. I work backwards so that I can finish this 10min before my start. For orienteering races, I'll frequently replace some of the L3 work with running drills, which jack my HR to L3 anyway, because I think getting the jumping/twisting/cutting muscles need to be warmed up for dashing through the woods. If I don't get in a full warmup, I adjust my starting pace of the race, because going out hard on a short warmup basically screws you for the rest of the race.

This article explains things pretty clearly.
Here's an article in a skiing journal about warmups.

I'll add that generally the shorter the race the longer the warmup.

Yeah, I make a point of not warming up at all for something like the Highlander. Seriously. No sense in wasting the energy. And definitely not for a rogaine.

Unless you want to stick with the lead at the Highlander.

Okay, I was wondering this for a reason: Say one does a proper warmup. How long does the effect last? Ten minutes is fine, how about twenty?

Eg, next week I will probably run somewhere, stop and register, hang around a bit, then run fast without doing a second warmup...

The only lead I'm sticking with at the Highlander is on the number-of-finishes list.

Neil, in my experience, as long as you stay warmed up in between races, jogging around or jumping jacks or whatever, the effect of the first warmup and the first hard effort will last.

If the next race is more than an hour later, it may make sense to cool down and warm up all over again. really depends on timing. So for xc sprint races, I'll usually do a full warmup for the qualification, cool down, wait around a few hours for results to be finalized, then do a full warmup for the heats, and between heats (times between heats range from 5-25min), I just jog around, and that works.