Nick Symmonds 800m Olympic Trials Final Video

Nick has an incredible kick, amazing. Check out the video.

“The Perfect Mile” tells the story of three athletes trying to be the first to break the coveted four minute mile. The story focuses on John Landy, Wes Santee, and of course Roger Bannister. The book chronicles the races and training that eventually lead up to that historical day on May 6, 1954, the day that Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3:59.4. Shortly there afterwards, John Landy broke Bannister’s record and sets up a showdown at the 1954 British Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, B.C. which was billed as “The Mile of the Century.”

The four minute mile was once thought impossible; it was the “Holy Grail” of athletic competition. At the time some people even thought that the human body was incapable of ever breaking such a feat. This is a story of the good old days, of true amateur racing, no professionals, no doping, just racing for the glory.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bascomb does a superb job of chronicling the events, with interviews and firsthand accounts. The amazing part is how everyone knows the name Roger Bannister, yet few outside of running know John Landy or Wes Santee. All of these men were primed to break four minutes, but often times fell short due to weather, lack of competition, scheduling conflicts, etc. As always, the first one there gets the glory and these other two men missed by literally seconds.

The other fascinating part of the book is how Roger Bannister balanced medical school while training to break the four minute barrier. The book also discusses the training undertook by each of these men and it’s hard to believe the intensity at which they ran. By intensity, I mean they did almost all of their running at interval pace, Bannister pretty much ran on the track every day, for short duration of times, he wasn’t doing long runs, etc. that even a miler would use today.

The book also discusses the AAU and how they sidelined Wes Santee, just as he was getting ready to face Bannister and Landy. Wes had problems with the corrupt AAU Track and Field body and was getting a heavy dose of what Steve Prefontaine would fight for years later. His story is probably the most interesting, because as a college runner, he raced a lot and for his team, thus he had less time to focus on breaking the four minute mile.

The book is more than just about running. It’s a coming of age piece. The British, who just saw Sir Edmund Hillary climb Mt. Everest, are hoping to show the world the power of the British Empire. Australia, a rag tag country back then is hoping to make its mark with a strong showing by John Landy. Americans are hoping Wes Santee can make the claim, to show that they are on their way to becoming a super power.

I give this book 4.5/5 star. A great read, I even gave it to my Mom (Non-Runner) and she really enjoyed the book as well. Thus, I think I can say confidently, runners will love this book and even non-runners will find the story enthralling.

A solid week of training. My hip continues to get better, although it’s a bit sore today due to the fact that most of my mileage for the week came Friday-Sunday. I’m going to take Monday off due to the soreness.

6/23/2008 - Off
6/24/2008 - 5.5 Miles @ 8:00 min. pace, Avg. Heart Rate 157
6/25/2008 - 3 Miles Treadmill, last mile @ 6:15, then core
6/26/2008 - Off
6/27/2008 - 7.1 Miles @ 7:47 pace, Avg. Heart Rate 169
6/28/2008 - 8 Miles @ 7:47 Pace, Avg. Heart Rate 167
6/29/2008 - 12.4 Miles at Lair O’ The Bear, tough trail route.

36 Miles Total

My training runs are starting to get a bit faster. I’m also going to make sure that I don’t run any slower than 7:50 pace. Before the injury, 7:30 was my threshold, so it will be interesting to see how long it takes me to get back to that point.

Goal of 40 Miles for next week.

Let’s make a deal. I have a couple of free race entries that I would like to give away. I can give you a free entry to one of these races; Run the Rock 5k, Donor Dash, Four on the Fourth 4k, Remembrance Rally 5k, and the Fans on the Field 10k. Keep your eye on the Colorado Running Forum and I will announce when I have a complimentary race entry to give out.

For more information on these races check out Colorado Running Races.

All you need to do is go to the Colorado Running Forum and review three races. Once you have completed this task, then contact me and let me know which race you would like to run. First come, first served basis.

I also hope to have more free entries to give out in the future and anyone who has reviewed three or more races will get first dibs.

A good week of training. The hip flexor continues to improve. I have had some issue with my left calf being tight. I had the same issues when I was coming back from my stress fracture a few years ago. I think what’s happening is that my form is still not back to normal, thus putting added pressure on that calf muscle. I actually had to cut Tuesdays run short due to the tightness, but I took Wednesday off and by Thursday it was a bit tight but not bothersome.

6/16 = 2 miles treadmill, 7:30 first mile, 6:30 second mile, then Core/Stretching
6/17 = 5 miles, quit early due to tightness in calf
6/18 = Elliptical, then Core/Stretching
6/19 = 7.1 Miles @ 7:50 Pace
6/20 = Off
6/21 = 6.9 Miles at Green Mountain Loop
6/22 = 8 Miles at Golden Gate Canyon

29 Miles Total

I’m pleased with the week. I thought my running pace would have started to improve by now, but no luck. I’m sure it will come with time. The plan this week is for 35 Miles and one run that is either a tempo run or interval, time to introduce the speed.

It was fun to get two trail runs in. I haven’t done a lot of trail running in the past, but I really enjoy it. It’s nice to get off the pavement and running the hills really works your body in a different way than running on the roads. Right now my shoulders are sore, I assume from having to use my upper body on the hills. I’m going to try to do more trail running in the future, hopefully it helps prevent future injuries.

I am currently reading Michael Shermer’s “Mind of the Market”, and I got to thinking…

Prove me wrong. I’ve looked at a lot of running blogs in the last few months. Several of these lucky bloggers have been fortunate enough to have received some products to review on their website. I have not seen anyone who got something for free go on to give it a negative review. If you have, let me know, prove me wrong. I’d have a lot of respect for anyone that was that honest. Let’s face it, the incentive system is to praise the product in hopes that the company may send you some other products to review in the future. The company knows this, that’s why they will often have bloggers review their products. I put my readers to the challenge?

In general, I don’t put a lot of stock in product reviews. I have even written some of my own running product reviews. The reason most product reviews are flawed is because of the endowment effect. The endowment effect states that people value a good or service more once it is in their property. Thus, people value things that they own more than things they do not own. This leads to a lot of reviews that are done with cloudy judgment, as the reviwer is often experiencing self justification.

Check out the RunnersWorld Discussion Thread, constant debates about the Garmin 405 vs. the Garmin 305. Once again, anyone who owns the Garmin 405 or the Garmin 305 is going to be influenced by the Endowment Effect or the Status Quo Bias. They are going to value the watch that they own more highly than the watch someone else owns and the owners of the Garmin 405 (which includes me) are going to be even more influenced due to the increased price of the Garmin 405. My Garmin 405 Review has received over a thousand visits, there are a lot of individuals wanting to find out if the Garmin 405 is worth the upgrade.

I tried to be objective when reviewing the Garmin 405. At the end of my review I stated that I would only upgrade to the Garmin 405 if you are a serious runner and will use the Garmin 405 on a daily basis. The watch has some great features, it looks a lot nicer, finds the satellites faster, but in reality it’s not a huge improvement over the Garmin 305/205. However, I run almost every day, close to an hour, and I’ll generally run about 7-8 hours per week, thus I’ll get more use out of the watch than a recreational runner. I even own Garmin Stock, so my readers will know that I didn’t sell out and say it was a “must have” or “the best watch ever.”

You’re not going to find too many runners who just spent $300-$350 on a Garmin 405, say that it was a complete waste of money. They will rationalize their decision and prove to themselves that it was a smart purchase. It would be interesting to test the endowment effect on runners. The Garmin 405 cost $150 more dollars than the Garmin 305, which is a substantial price difference.

The endowment effect is also why individuals have trouble recognizing a sunk cost. In general, I am pretty quick to cut my losses and I will often hedge my bets. In the past three years, the only running shoe that I hated was the Asics Kinsei, which is also the most expensive shoe that I have ever owned. I ran in that shoe about 100 miles and then turned it into my “Casual Friday Shoe” at work. I wonder how many runners keep running in a shoe, even if they do not like it.

If you want an example of RunColo cutting his losses, check out Nathan Speed 4 Review. I went through two other fuel belts before I purchased the Nathan Speed 4. The Amphipod belt was horrible, the bottles fell out, it cut into my side, etc. The Fuel Belt was adequate, but the Nathan Speed 4 is perfection.

My guess is the endowment effect is even amplified on reviews of books. I mentioned in Once a Runner Review the number of five star reviews on amazon. I’ve noticed that most books have a large number of five star reviews. When you invest hours and hours to read a book, you often want to tell someone how good the book is, due to the time & money invested (sunk cost).

In conclusion, if you’re a runner that hangs on to all of your old running shoes, and your old race shirts you’re probably being affected by the endowment effect. So clean out your closet, donate those old running shirts to Goodwill and toss those old running shoes in the dumpster!

A loaded question is a logical fallacy. It has a false presupposition that is “loaded” with supposition. Generally a loaded question tricks the person who is being asked the question to get the answered desired. I’m by no means an expert in conducting Post Race Surveys but I know that you have to be careful in how you ask questions, as not to influence the results. Today, via email, I got the Post Race Survey for the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, the survey can be viewed here.

I’m going to take issue with the questions asked above. This is incredible poor wording, unless the survey was trying to invoke a high yes response rate to impress their advertisers. I especially love the one that ask “Did you recall that McDonald’s was a sponsor?” Then if you look at question number one, it ask you flat out if you ran the “McDonald’s 8k.” If that wasn’t enough, the last and final question also mentions the “McDonald’s 8k.” A superior strategy is to create a fill in the blank question, asking what sponsors can you recall, and then have the person answering the survey write in their answers. The other idea is to have a few control questions, such as “Did you recall that Nike was a sponsor?” When in fact Nike was not a sponsor, you could then compare those answers to the answers that were received on the Saucony question, which in fact was a sponsor.

Another survey that I viewed, but did not complete was for the Runnin’ of the Green Lucky 7k, which can be viewed here. First, I am not going to complete any survey that ask for my personal information, also why do they need to know my ethnic origin, is the Runnin’ of the Green an Affirmative Action Race? Oh, and as a side note there is a difference between race and ethnic origin, they need to correct their wording.

The other issue that I am going to take issue with is when a survey is conducted a question should only be asked if the data is valuable and meaningful. A lot of times you will see a survey ask the question, “how far did you travel for this race?” Now, it sounds like a good question, but what are you going to do with the data? Unless it’s going to affect your future decisions, don’t waste the time of the person taking the survey. A classic example is seen on this particular survey, when they ask “When was the last time you purchased running shoes?” RaceResponse sends the data to the Director of the Runnin’ of the Green, and proclaims “Hello Mr. Race Director, the survey turned out great, I can tell you that 20% of the runners who ran your race purchased a new pair of running shoes within the last three months, can you believe that!”

The other question that I fancy is “Did you have a PR (Personal Record) at this event?” It’s a 7k for crying out loud! How many 7ks have you done in your lifetime? Once again, what would you do with this information? In general you know if your course is easy or difficult. I felt like this survey was asking questions for the sake of asking questions. Oh, when you use initialism it’s proper to state the name and then the initialism. Thus, it should read “Did you have a Personal Record (PR) at this event?” Ok, now I am just nit picking, I apologize.

Here is an example of a loaded poll question. Asking whether or not chip timing should be done at the start and finish of races. One of my favorite quotes is “A politician will ask you what you want, an economist will ask you what you want more.” This question was asked by a politician. Life is full of trade offs and this is a trade off, an additional mat or a little more money in your pocket. Two timing mats at a race cost more than one, thus the race has an additional expense that will be passed on to the runners. Thus, a better question is “Would you be willing to pay an additional entry fee for two timing mats at the race?” Even that question has flaws, because it does not give the person a specific dollar amount.

Just my rant for the day!

The hip flexor is feeling better, this is my third week of running since returning from the injury. It’s a bit sore/tight at the start of the run, but after a mile it loosens up and I have little to no pain. Thus a good sign, but running down hill still hurts, so I’m definitley not 100% and I still haven’t tried running fast.

6/09 - Hit the Gym, Elliptical and then Core Routine
6/10 - 5.5 Miles @ 7:58 Pace, Avg Heart Rate 175
6/11 - Gym, Treadmill 2 miles, last mile @ 6:30 Pace, then Core Routine
6/12 - 5.5 Miles @ 7:53, Avg Heart Rate 166
6/13 - Off
6/14 - 4 Miles @ 7:47, Avg Heart Rate 173
6/15 - 8 Miles @ 7:55 Pace, Avg Heart Rate 171 (Hot, ran during the day, which was tough)

25 miles total for the week.

I felt good, the hip is stating to feel better and that’s encouraging. I just need to make sure that my build up is steady. I’ll probably do another week of slow running and then try to start incorporating some speed/tempo work into the routine.

I was planning on doing the Fifth Season 8k, when I return to Iowa over the Fourth of July. However, the race is in Cedar Rapids, which is currently being flooded by the Cedar River, thus I am assuming that they are going to have to cancel this major race.

When I set foot into a store, I find that products tend to give me a lot of laughs. Today I was shopping for body wash, ok, I’ll admit, yes, I use a loofah. I think they are fantastic, the lathering, the scrubbing, I feel unsullied. I’ve noticed in the past few years that health and beauty companies are targeting men, with men’s shampoo, body wash, face lotion, face soap, etc. Apparently we men are suckers, who somehow think that shampoo designed for women is any different than shampoo designed for men.

The last time I had to pick up some body wash, I went with Old Spice Classic Scent, not because I like the way Old Spice smells, but that classic scent gave me a laugh. I don’t want anything to do with Old Spice cologne, but if I can get that old man smell for an hour after I hit the shower, I find that to be humorous. That joke got old after a week and I was glad when today came and I needed to find a replacement body wash.

So there I was, looking at an entire wall of Men’s Body Wash. That’s when I saw Zest Marathon, which provided an immediate laugh. When did marketing departments start using descriptions for products that have nothing to do with the smell, performance, or taste of the product in question?

Gatorade does this all the time. Can someone please tell me what “Rain”, “Frost”, “X-Factor”, “Xtremo”, “Fierce” and “AM” taste like? Those adjectives tell me nothing, I have to look at the color and make an educated guess. Ok, “Rain” is purple; I’m going to assume it taste sort of like grape. The other funny thing is they still have “Lemon-Lime” in the roster, the lone holdout from the days of when the drink name was suppose to be descriptive of the taste.

Ok, back to Zest. “Marathon”, once again, “Marathon” is not a proper qualifier for this product. I can only infer a few things, such as it will reduce my time in the marathon by five minutes, or that it will keep me feeling fresh for exactly 26.2 miles worth of running. It didn’t explicitly state that on the bottle, but why else would you name your product “Marathon”?

So of course I bought it. I got home and realized that I didn’t even smell it before buying it; I smelled it and used it today in the shower after my 8 mile run. It’s a fine product and the best part is that I don’t have to take my next shower until 18.2 more miles of running!

The Colfax Half Marathon and the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon were held three weeks apart. I wanted to take a look to see how many individuals ran both races and how their times compared.

First, let’s talk about the differences in the course. The Colfax Half Marathon is super flat, with few hills, while the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon has a punishing uphill going from downtown up to Sloan’s Lake. However, the Colfax Marathon was run on a warmer day, while the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon was run with a slight rain and cool temperatures. There also is the issue of fatigue, in having run two half marathons in a three week time period.

There were a total of 99 runners that ran both races. That surprised me that means approximately 10% of the runners who ran the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon had competed in the Colfax Half Marathon three weeks earlier. If you’re in the marketing business, those are good numbers to know. Of those 99 runners, 48 (48%) of them ran faster at the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, the remaining 51 (51%) had a faster time at the Colfax Half Marathon.

The runners who ran faster at the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon had an average improvement of 6:59, and a median improvement time of 3:45. The runners who ran faster at the Colfax Half Marathon ran on average 4:22 minutes faster, and a median improvement time of 2:59.

The data surprised me. I thought the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon would post slower times, due to the tougher course and the runners having run two half marathons in a period of three weeks. Personally, I’ve never done two half marathons that close together and I’m not sure if I even would attempt it. Your fitness level isn’t going to improve in three weeks. The only variable is the heat and the Colfax Half Marathon started at 6am and it was relatively cool at that time and most of those runners are going to finish between 8am.

Thoughts?