Training Galore; Track-Lane Dissection

I'm not even going to try and recall what I have been doing the past few weeks (although it wouldn't be difficult to write about because I have everything pretty meticulously documented, but I don't want to bore) - basically, I've been amazingly busy.

I've actually never been this busy before - I'm finding myself mentally slipping in the sense that I am permitting 7 hours (sometime 6.8) a night in order to get everything done. However, for me, mentally accepting changes like this, changes which would normally really throw my training and maybe even physical health off, is the key to not getting sick. I am being extra vigilant in monitoring my body, so if extra rest is absolutely necessary, I will take it; but - I find myself in new territory lately due to a few decently-busy weeks with non-training activities (which normally would be fine) in addition to my metamorphous training.

Since my decision to accept my spot in Kona for Ironman Hawaii, I've started a tome of a training journal solely for Kona (I've had ones before which have spanned over years, and the notebooks have been maybe 1/3 as thick). I'm keeping track of everything I normally do, like workout duration and mileage and such, but I have added heart rate information, very detailed descriptions of workouts (even made sheets for interval workouts in Excel so I can save space and staple them in the notebook), nutrition log on the page opposite of the corresponding day's workouts where I keep track of food eaten, what time of day, the rate of hunger I felt, as well as sleep and weight - so I can see all of the day's training information at one time. Additionally, I have started calculating my weekly body fat % using three different formulas (they do not all yield the same number so I want an accurate range). That is just the main part of the training log.

In the back, I have written about 15 swim workouts to which I can refer (and save space when writing descriptions of my workouts in the daily log) when I am planning my workouts (oh yea - I plan my workouts about 2 weeks in advance now too, according to how my training is going and how my monthly goals are progressing). I have cut out (or printed from the internet) many different inspiring, funny, motivational, nutritional, and in-any-other-way informative articles from magazines and stapled them to pages in back (I even printed out some Kona race reports from years back which I am using for huge motivation and inspiration). And finally, the latest additions: calculating heart rate zones (from Zone 1 (least effort put forth that will in some way benefit the athlete, usually in the high 120s range) to Zone 5 (VO2 max)) and how my body will benefit from training in each of these different zones; race times from the past few Kona Ironmans in my age group as well as the 25-29 age group (where I will be next year! I need to start thinking ahead.. :) ) as well as race times from other Ironmans where the age group winners/leaders qualified; and just today, the distances around the track in each of the different lanes (I'm really pumped about this one).

So I will just lay it out for you incase anyone reading has also been curious but not so curious as to actually figure it out - but I calculated the amount of meters run in each of the lanes for one lap, and then with that information calculated the dividing factor for each lane so as to get my mile pace (or km pace -I did both, ha) quickly without having to think about how many meters I am running. I'll write out the formulas (I checked the first one with another calculation to make sure it was right, although they got there a different way, but the numbers are still the same) to show what many probably feel I have been wasting my life on. Here we go:

Track-Lane Distances:

Formula to calculate the distance in a lane:

(Track-Lane Distance) = (2(pi)) (R + 1.25(L-1))

where R = the radius of the track (which I calculated to be ~63.7m from knowing its circumference), L = lane #, and 1.25 = the width in meters of each lane (which I took to be true from numerous sources online). Of course, this is assuming that the athlete is running as close to the left as the lane will allow. This formula gives the following values:

Distance in lane 8: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 7(1.25)) = 454.7m
Distance in lane 7: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 6(1.25)) = 447.13m
Distance in lane 6: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 5(1.25)) = 439.28m
Distance in lane 5: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 4(1.25)) = 431.4m
Distance in lane 4: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 3(1.25)) = 423.5m
Distance in lane 3: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 2(1.25)) = 415.7m
Distance in lane 2: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 1(1.25)) = 407.9m
Distance in lane 1: 2(3.14...) (63.7 + 0(1.25)) = 400m!

(*The significant figures are whatever I felt to be most useful considering the numbers following in the hundredths and thousandths spots - and of course these are not exact because I wasn't using pi exactly, and the radius is a little less than 63.7m, but for all intensive purposes it is useful for what I want to know :). If you are one who needs the exact values, then you are too intense for me. I just round my times up so that I think that I am slower than is probably true, and make that motivation to go faster :) ).

So, if I am running 2:20 per lap in the 8th lane (which is not extremely easy for me and it was frustrating me a little because I thought I was running about 9 min miles or a little less at a more-than-warm-up-pace effort), I take the total meters over 4 laps in lane 4 (1818.8m) and divide that by 1609m (the number of meters in a mile) to get the dividing factor for lane 8 (which is 1.13) in order to get mile pace (where the dividing factor per km would just be 1.82 after dividing 1818.8 by 1000).

The equation for finding the Mile-Pace-Equivalent Dividing Factor (described above) is:

(Mile-Pace-Equivalent Dividing Factor) = 4D / 1609

where D = the above-mentioned Track-Lane Distance. The Dividing-Factors are as follows:

MPE Dividing Factor in lane 8: 1.13
MPE Dividing Factor in lane 7: 1.11
MPE Dividing Factor in lane 6: 1.09
MPE Dividing Factor in lane 5: 1.07
MPE Dividing Factor in lane 4: 1.05
MPE Dividing Factor in lane 3: 1.03
MPE Dividing Factor in lane 2: 1.01
(MPE Dividing Factor in lane 1: 1)

*If you want the KPE Dividing Factor, you only have to find the Track Lane Distance, multiply that by 4, and divide by 1000 (4D / 1000).

(Lane 8 = 1.82 Kilometer-Pace-Equivalent Dividing Factor)
(Lane 7 = 1.79 KPE Dividing Factor)
(Lane 6 = 1.76 KPE Dividing Factor)
(Lane 5 = 1.725 KPM Dividing Factor)
(Lane 4 = 1.69 KPE Dividing Factor)
(Lane 3 = 1.66 KPE Dividing Factor)
(Lane 2 = 1.63 KPE Dividing Factor)
((Lane 1 = 1.609 KPE Dividing Factor))

THUS. If you are running in the 8th lane with an 8th-lane pace of 9:20 (which needs to be converted to a decimal, 9.33), you are actually running a mile pace of 9.33 / (4(Lane-8 D) / 1609) (or 9.33 /1.13) which equals a pace of - hallelujah - 8.25 (or 8:15) minutes per mile (or 5.12, 5:07 / km).

I LOVE MATH.

Back to training. :)