P. Oscar Boykin

On January 19th, I ran Florida Track Club’s Newnan’s Lake 15. The full results are online as well as pictures from Richard Ritari. I came in 20th (out of 167) overall, and 3rd in my age group. I should say I was really fourth in my age group but since my fellow 30-34 age grouper Ed Dunne won overall with an excellent 55:42 time, he is removed from the counting for age group awards.

This is the first time I did not get a personal record (PR) at a race. This is due to training mistakes on my part. Like many athletes, I have a hard time admitting when I am injured. I got a minor injury prior to my last big race (Micanopy half-marathon). I was pretty happy with Micanopy, but it greatly exacerbated my piriformis syndrome. I did take a lot of time off running after Micanopy. I was starting to feel a lot better, so I figured, why not race 9.3 miles. Turns out, that was a dumb idea. Here is a plot of my pace as a function of distance:

You may note that around 6 miles my pace starts to slip, and after 7 miles it really drops. At that point in time, I was thinking about walking because I was in some pain. Like many a foolish runner, I wasn’t brave enough to put my health before the embarrassment of not finishing a race. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have caused major problems, but I definitely start to feel some discomfort when I get over 5 miles or so now.

Now, I’m doing everything I can to recover. You name it! Stretching, strength training, cross training on the bike, stairs, swimming, self massage, active release therapeutic massage, yoga, and even…. acupuncture. I’m looking for anything at this point: placebo effect, real effect, who cares: I’m just looking for effect. So far, things seem to be going well, but I’m definitely going to focus on shorter distance running until this heals up.

My current theory is that I’ve injured a ligament near the piriformis and also injured the sciatic nerve. Both ligament and nerve injuries just take time to heal, and clearly, I’ve not given them enough time yet. Like almost all runners (or even all athletes), it’s really hard for me to take it easy while I recover, but I try to tell myself that everything I do to heal is really part of my running. When I’m swimming, I’m running. When I’m stretching, I’m running. When I’m doing yoga, I’m running. All is one.

Two somewhat related notes. I got the data out of my garmin 305 using Garmintools, a free software package for interfacing with the Garmin 305. I recommend it if you run GNU/Linux and have a 305. Secondly, I did link to the photographer Richard Ritari’s site, but I can’t even view it properly because his site now uses flash to view simple pictures. I guess this is due to some quasi DRM-like idea of trying to make it hard to keep thumbnails of his images. I bought one image from him in the past, however, I doubt I would again. In the past, the digital download cost 40 dollars. It seems he is no longer even offering them, instead you must buy a 4×6 or 5×7. Just a note to photographers out there: it’s 2008, I’m not buying prints anymore. Charge me 10 dollars for the digital download (of pictures he has already taken and stored), and I will buy every picture he takes of me. In the mean time, he’ll be getting zero dollars from me.

On November 10, 2007, I ran the Tom Walker Memorial Micanopy Half Marathon in 1:26:18. I was pleased with my race that day. As usual, I had loftier goals, but I’m very happy with the results. I came in sixth place overall and second in the 30-34 age group. The results of the race are at the Florida Track Club page. Professional photographer Richard Ritari took pictures of the Micanopy Half Marathon which you can view online. There are a couple good ones of me, but his system is not easy to link into, but I’ll try: [2.5 miles, 12.5 miles].

I got the data out of my Garmin 305 and took a look at my speed as a function of time. I plotted the speed in minutes per mile (so lower is faster) averaged over 0.25 mile intervals.

It’s clear that something went wrong at about mile 9.5 or so. My pace slows for the last 3 miles of the race. I realized I had slowed a bit, but I didn’t know how much. I’ll keep a better eye on time next time. Also, I’d say I probably started my kick a little too late considering how much faster my last quarter mile is (5.5 minute/mile) than the second to last quarter mile (6.5 minute mile).

I also have a photoset on flickr for this race.

On October 19th 2007 I had a my lactate threshold and VO2max tested. To those that don’t want to click on those links, the lactate threshold measures the intensity of exercise I can do before my body can no longer process lactate before it starts building up (and causing me to feel fatigue). The VO2Max is the maximum rate my body can utilize oxygen. I had this test performed at the UF and Shand’s Sports Performance Center.

The test is pretty simple. They put me on a treadmill and have me wear a mask that measures my oxygen consumption. Every three minutes they prick a finger, take blood, and increase the speed of the treadmill by 0.5 mph. When I finally give up, the test is over. I thought I’d be all macho, but the treadmill only went up to 10 mph, so after that they had to simulate faster speeds by raising the slope of the treadmill, and I wimped out after about 1.5 minutes on the second inclined speed (simulated 11 mph).

The results of the test were that my VO2Max is 59.5 ml/min/kg. According to a chart I found, this puts me on the low end of track and field athletes. Moreover, VO2Max is only 20-30% trainable. So, I might not be able to increase that number very much (certainly getting to 85 seems to be out of the question).

The results of the lactate threshold test were somewhat better. The tester said that they would take the lactate theshold to be 4 mMol/L. For me, that occured at approximately 89% of my VO2max, which means, that even though my VO2Max is not that high, I can run at a very high percentage of my VO2Max. This implies I would be much more competitive at longer races, such as half or full marathons. According to the last paragraph of this page, my lactate threshold is at the level of elite endurance athletes.

There is a third metric called running economy. This is like fuel efficiency in your car: per unit mass, how far can you go on a unit of oxygen? My running economy is about 193 ml/kg/km. According to this page, my running economy is above average. Getting it into the 170 - 180 range would make it excellent. Running economy can be improved by training. Interestingly, I often do long runs at about 8.5 miles per hour (about 7 min/mile) and my economy is about 183 at that speed, which is very good, but still not excellent.

It seems the two areas I should focus on are running economy and VO2max. To do this, I plan to do more long runs at faster speeds. My lactate threshold is pretty high, so I should be able to do long runs at around 6 minutes per mile. Additionally I’ll be doing more interval training. I plan to do intervals of 4-5 minutes in length to make sure I’m stressing my VO2Max. Hopefully I can push up both of these two metrics.

Unfortunately, it seems I have a mild case of Piriformis syndrome, which is limiting my training right now. Hopefully I’ll recover soon and be back to training 100%.

Here are some plots:

Addendum 11/3/2007: Nova ran a program which you can view on their website: Nova Marathon Challenge. It covers about a dozen people going from a sedentary lifestyle to running the Boston marathon after about 9 months of preparation. The program discusses some of the physiology and metrics which I mentioned above.

Since I am out of Gainesville this weekend, I could not participate in the Dog Days 5K race. Instead, I ran in the 2007 Paws For Life 5K-9 Road Race in my mother’s home town of Wake Forest, NC (google map of Wake Forest).

I had hoped to run a sub-18-minute 5K this race, but I did not make my goal. I ran 18:32, which is less than 5:58/mile, and I came in second place (the winner was at 18:02). A couple of notes about this race. First, I went out too fast. I should have ran the first mile in 5:32 according to my calculations, but I ran it in about 5:20. I ran the first 1/3 of mile at about 4:40. I think the my early error cost me in the end. Secondly, there was a very long hill in the middle (which I guess was about half a mile long). I was on track for time even at the end of the hill, but it took more out of me than I thought. At that point, I let the number two runner pass me, and decided to focus on the time. I probably should have stayed with him since running with a person can be easier than running against the clock. Lastly, I started my kick at the end a little late.

So, next race, my plan is to go out a little slower than I think I should for the first half mile or so, since I almost always go out too fast. Secondly, I want to try to find a runner that is a little faster than me, and not let him get away from me.

I’ve updated several photos to my Flickr photoset: Paws for Life 5K 2007. Here’s a humorous photo of me after the race:

PS: My Mother took the photographs. Thanks Mom!

Update 12/3/2007: I got the data out of my watch to plot my speed as a function of distance (in miles/minute, so lower is faster). You can clearly see the big hill in the middle of the race (it was about 1/2 mile) and it’s major impact on my speed.

When I flew into Ben Gurion Airport[wikipedia entry] to go to the Safed Workshop on Cooling and Thermodynamics of Quantum Systems, I spent the first night in Jerusalem. I had a chance to see a bit (by running 12.5 miles in the morning) and then I did some walking around in the Old City, which apparently has been going strong since the 11th century BC.

Here’s me in the market:



Some random people:

The market was really interesting. They sold everything there: meat, clothes, electronics, spices, toys, pets, and everything in tiny little shops. The streets (which really aren’t streets, they are more like corridors) are PACKED with people, many tourists, but many really appeared to be living their daily life.

The downside as a runner is that both Jerusalem and Safed are very hilly cities. I’m just sure I’m going to injure myself here, but so far so good. I’ve been meaning to do more hill-work, so maybe it’s a good thing.

This morning I ran to work for the first time. Jose Fortes says this officially qualifies me as an eccentric professor (which is something I’ve been working towards for years now). You can see the route from my house to Larsen Hall on the very useful Mapmyrun.

It took me about 53 minutes to run 7.22 miles, which is about 7:20 pace. Unfortunately my gps watch gave out of batteries early on, so I had to time my run by remembering which songs were playing when I started and stopped on my ipod (it was Bloc Party, Waiting for the 7.18 through all of Weekend in the City and then the first song of Silent Alarm, Like Eating Glass). Mapmyrun thinks that cost me 891 calories.

There are only two other practical matters to come to. First, I bought an Ortlieb waterproof backpack. Probably this is obvious, but I wanted something waterproof so I wouldn’t sweat through it and mess up my work clothes or for the cases I get caught in the rain. Second, I had to locate somewhere to shower on campus. Unfortunately, the shower I heard about (which I did not inspect prior to running in) was somewhere between prison and youth hostel on the scale of luxury. I’ve heard there are other options, into which I’ll be looking.

The backpack did start to feel pretty heavy by about 2/3 the way through the run. Fortunately it was very comfortable, as far as backpacks go. I am worried I’ll be a little sore tomorrow around the shoulders, and I’m slightly worried that my form will suffer a bit by compensating for the motion of the pack. The backback does have a strap across the chest which keeps the straps from digging into my shoulders. But I did have to tighten the straps several times to keep it snug.

Since I would have run today anyway, running to work saved me my commute time, which is probably 30 minutes door to door. I post an update later in the summer as to how this experiment is going. The only thing I’m worried about is a relapse of my ITBS.

Today marked my triumphant return to running. Since my last race (a half-completed marathon), I have been recovering from Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS). I had it diagnosed by a sports medicine doctor and I did a few weeks of physical therapy (which consisted of stretches and strength training of various muscles in my legs).

I’ve been running pain free for a while, but shorter distances than I was running before. This morning, I ran in the Great Gainesville 5K Road Race organized by the Florida Track Club. I had several goals bouncing around my head for this race (from the overly ambitious 18 minute to the safe goal of 20 minutes), but I settled on 19 as my goal. I started out a bit too fast (my first mile was about 5:30 or so, which is probably a PR). By the end of mile 2 I was preparing to give up on the goal. According to my trusty Garmin Forerunner 305, I had already fallen behind the 19 minute goal. I started to just think about doing the best I could. Then, I tried to remember a mantra I read in the recent runners world: “The pain is not going to get worse, I can take it”, and I pressed on.

I usually save some energy for the end, so at about 2.5 miles in I picked up the pace a bit. When I got a glimpse of the finish, I could see that the clock read 18:40 or so and I kept pushing and ran a bit harder, I finished at 18:56, which is a average pace of 6:05/mile. I was hoping to place in the top three for my age division (30-34). I was very excited to learn that I actually came in first.

Congratulations to everyone who came out to race!

Update (4/16/2007):
The results of the SunState Credit Union Great Gainesville Road Race 5K have been posted. My rank was 15th overall (out of 188).

I ran a half-marathon on Sunday 2/18, the Five Points of Life marathon in Gainesville. I did it in about 1 hour and 35 minutes. I wouldn’t call this a defeat except for the fact that I had planned (and registered) for the full marathon. For whatever reason, an old injury started acting up at about 12 miles, and by mile 14 was threatening to become very painful, so I figured it was better to stop at just past half-way (since the marathon looped back on itself such that the start, half-way, and end were the same point).

I don’t know exactly what the problem was. I have had problems with my left knee on and off for about a year. But, I really haven’t had any problems in several months. The marathon course was hillier than I had expected (or trained for) so, it may have been extra hill running.

Quite likely the problem was that I almost always overdo it. I think I was slightly unprepared for the marathon (my long runs had been at most 15 miles), but I talked to several friends with experience and they encouraged me (as long as I took it easy). Of course, I didn’t take it easy. I ran the first 12 miles or so at a 7:05/mile pace (Boston qualification is 7:14) and I figured I’d slow down if I felt tired. I never really felt tired, but my knee did start to hurt.

I’ll be scheduling an appointment with a sports medicine doctor and see what I can learn. Honestly, it’s hard to deal with. If you’re not a runner (or an athlete of any sort) it may not make a lot of sense, but I really enjoy running a lot. But the fact is that I seem to be prone to tendon problems. I hope there are some things I can do to manage the problem better, but I guess the reality is I will never be able to push myself as hard as my muscles or heart will let me, because my tendons will always be much weaker.

I guess it’s a little late in life to come to this realization, but I may not, in fact, be superman.

This morning I ran the Newnan’s Lake 15K in 62 minutes and 2 seconds. This is an average pace of 6:39/mile. The event was sponsored by the Florida Track Club. This was my second organized race. My first race was a 5K cancer run. My goal for this race was 6:45/mile, which I beat, so I consider this a success. Unfortunately, I was not in the top 3 for my age group (which included one former Olympic runner!).

I’ll update this post when they post the full statistics. According to the results from last year’s Newnan’s Lake 15K, I would have come in 13th place, and 3rd in the 30-34 age group. I guess competition was a little bit stiffer this year.

Update: The final results for the Newnan’s Lake 15K have been posted. The best time was 53:50. Interestingly, I would have been in the top three in both the 20-24, and 25-29 age groups, but the 30-34 age group had a larger turnout and stiffer competition (21 contestants). I came in 6th place in 30-34, and 18th overall (out of 230). Also, the track club had my time at 62:01, so, I guess I’ll go with that. They had the next guy in front of me finishing only 2 seconds before me, but what you don’t see is that I was running so hard at the end I thought I would vomit, so I was not about to catch that guy.

Finally there are some pictures from the race. Here are a few of me (sorry, I had major bed-head that morning) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Today I ran 1 mile at the UF track in 5 minutes and 38 seconds. My third lap seems to be my weak link. I didn’t keep individual lap times, but the first lap I was on track for the 5 minute mile, but I think I slowed significantly in the third.

I tried to go for it earlier in the day but I chickened out after half a mile. I rested for about 10 minutes, and tried it again.

The goal is 5 minutes. Next time I’m shooting for less than 5:30.

This morning I did a 5K run to raise money to fight cancer. Catherine Sembajwe-Reeves’ sister Sophie was one of the organizers. It was for charity and fun, but I was pleased to finish second place. It was my first organized run and it was a lot of fun. My time was 21:52 on my watch. I didn’t see their official finish line (which was off to the side) and stopped running for a moment. I crossed their line at 22:07. So, I have my goal for my next 5K: 20 minutes.

Congratulations to the other ACIS people that also participated: Vineet Chadha, Arijit Ganguly, and Catherine Sembajwe-Reeves.

Recently I have begun running. My goal is to run 1 mile in 5 minutes. Usually I do interval training to move towards this goal. This morning (7am), along with members of the Florida Track Club, I ran 10 miles. Clearly this is a matter of great import and as such it merits a post on a high traffic site such as you are reading now.