Getting Better with Age?

Dublin Half Marathon 2010

Today was the day for the last of the Adidas Lifestyle Race Series before the beast itself; The Dublin City marathon. Today I participated in the Dublin Half Marathon and I have to say I am encouraged by outcome.

On yet another record turnout, the Dublin Half Marathon saw a participation of something in the range of 8000 runners. And walkers. There was an occasional shower or 2 throughout the race and the temperatures ranged from 9 degrees to 11 degrees.
I did better than last year's race. I shadded off 7 minutes from my finish time Last year I completed the race in 1 hour 54 minutes and this year I completed in 1 hour 47 minutes.



Before i begin to congratulate myself for a job well done i need to ascertain if there were external slush environmental factors worked to my advantage this year.
Admittedly the weather was good for a race of this type though it was not so friendly to gadgets such as mp3 players, some sportswatches mobile phones and such other gadgets. It meant I could do a faster pace without the negative impact of high temperatures.

Today I decided to join the '2 hour' group instead of going for the 1 hour 50 minutes or better. I realised from previous experience that i  get my motivation from running faster among a slower group than running faster with a faster group. It probably defies logic but that's what happens with me and today it seems I was vindicated. The conventional wisdom should be that one needs to be motivated and lifted by running along faster runners. The classroom analogue would be a situation whereby a student is expected to do better if he is educated among brighter students. In my case it seems to be reverse. I preferred to see myself running past people rather than being at par with everybody.

I pulled away from the 2 hour pace setters right from the start and kept on going at a faster pace than majority of the people that I was with in my group. This motivated me and I kept at it right up to the end which resulted in me finishing 7 minutes faster than last year. I remember last year I struggled with the last 5km of the race.
Experience has also played an important part. Last year I was a Half Marathon Race rookey but this year i knew the route well enough and i knew waht to expect at each corner of the race coures.
I was particularly happy with my tackling of the ground elevations. I will not claim total ingenuity on these, and i should also point out that on 3 of the rises there were 3 guys from the Fitwest club or something whom i shadowed. they seemed to accelarate as they went up the slopes and slowed down normal level ground. They seemed to be very much at ease and it was quite clear that they were seasoned runners.  I managed to shadow them on 2 occasions but on the last slope they beat me for dust and I never saw them again!

I should also say my selection and timing of music worked well for me. My 'power songs' came at the right moment when I needed them most.
So while it looks like I am getting better with age the jury is still out there on this one.
  I collected all the data for the race with Nokia N97 Sports Tracker app, the Garmin Forerunner 405 and the new kid on the block, Iphone app, Nike+

High Altitude Training, Zimbabwe

High Altitude Training
It's the time of the year when many people from the Northern Hemisphere go on their summer holidays. Especially with the schools closed and some good weather spots around the world.

Harare, Zimbabwe

I planned to go for my summer Holidays to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a southern African country which enjoys some good tropical weather. During the month of August the country will be transiting from Winter into Spring. During this time of the year the temperatures range from the mid to the late teens. (degrees Celsius) They begin to climb into the 20s toward the end of August.
Not only are these temperatures ideal for Northern Hemisphere based people for some perfect sun therapy but they are also ideal for marathon conditioning.

Mutare view from Christmas Pass, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a country whose geography can be classified as relatively high altitude.
It is blessed with some of the most beautiful mountains especially along the eastern highlands. Vumba and Nyanga are some of the notables with Nyanga taking the coveted owners of featuring the highest mountain in Zimbabwe; mount Inyangani.

Vumba Mountains, Zimbabwe

I did not get the opportunity to train at these places though I visited the towns. I managed to train in Gutu whose altitude is at least 1000 above what I normally train at in Ireland. In Ireland I train within the altitude range from 0m to 35 metres above sea level.

Mt Ziro, Gutu Zimbabwe

I do remember from school years back my teacher telling that people who leave and work in High altitude areas have a higher affinity for oxygen. This is because higher altitudes have less oxygen that lower altitudes. As a result of relative lower oxygen levels their bodies compensate by having their haemoglobin develop a higher oxygen affinity.
The assumption is that if a low altitude based athlete trains in the higher altitudes their haemoglobin will adapt and develop a higher oxygen affinity. When they go back to participate in competitions in their low altitude areas they will have metabolism which will utilise loads of oxygen to create energy which is necessary for performance.
Here is a comparison of a 10 km run which I did in Ireland as compared to higher altitude in Zimbabwe.
You can see that the range of elevation for the Zimbabwe Training is 1020m to 1080m above sea level. In contrast the range for Ireland training is between 10m and 60m above sea level. It was definitely tougher training in the high altitude
I must stress that I was only in Zimbabwe for a short period of time. I couldn't have possibly benefited from High altitude training
The thing to note though is the fact that it's harder to complete a 10km run at high altitude than it is at lower altitude due decreased maximal cardiac output.