The graph of distance versus pace for my runs in 2009 shows that an old rule-of-thumb—my maximum speed gets ~1 min/mi slower every time the distance doubles—seems to have altered. The dashed line at the bottom of the chart slopes at about 0.6 min/mi. My rate of breakdown is flattening!

As Year of Running - 2009 discussed, last year was a surprisingly good one for me. Among the reasons for "improvement", if such it be:

• Wonderful friends, mostly MCRRC and/or VHTRC members, who put up with me for untold hours. Most noteworthy perhaps: Cara Marie Manlandro, Caren Jew, Christina Caravoulias, Gayatri Datta, Kate Abbott, Mary Ewell, ... (hmmm, is there a gender pattern in that list? cf. RunzWithGirlz)
• Losing weight—down ~30 pounds over the previous 3 years (from ~13 to ~11 stone)
• Training less stupidly—a better mix of speedwork and hillwork and long distance, plus starting slow and accelerating
• Avoiding injury—fortuitously no broken limbs or horrible falls or torn tendons
• Discovering that I can keep on running after I start to get tired—tnx esp. to CM Manlandro for teaching me
• Applying a wee bit of awareness and mindfulness while running—observing myself from the inside, moment-by-moment; being patient and non-judgmental; avoiding goal-setting as much as possible

But the biggest "secret": setting the bar low by being a long-term lazy bum. This is also known as "sandbagging"—many thanks to Wayne Carson and Ken Swab, my mentors on that tactic!

(cf. SpeedUpSlowDown (2004-10-18), Running2006Analysis (2007-01-27), 2009 Summer-Fall Tentative Race Calendar, ...) - ^z - 2010-02-01