Learning new techniques is the way elite runners such as Canada’s Simon Whitfield continue to improve – but you don’t need a track to practice pacing. CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP

Alex Hutchinson

From Thursday’s Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, May. 13, 2010 9:01AM EDT Last updated on Thursday, May. 13, 2010 9:29AM EDT

The question

Should I be pacing myself or going all out when I’m training?

The answer

Last winter, gold medalist Simon Whitfield led a squad of triathletes from the Canadian national team on a trip to Nike headquarters in Portland, Ore., for a 10-day training camp. Their goal: to elevate their running game by learning from the elite crew of distance runners and highly sought after coaches based there.

One of the key lessons they picked up was the importance of finding the right pace – that, at least in training, going faster isn’t always better. It may sound obvious, but sports psychologists believe that learning to monitor and adjust to feedback during training is a powerful tool for developing expertise – even in apparently simple activities such as running and biking.

The group Mr. Whitfield trained with in Portland included Simon Bairu of Regina, who earlier this month smashed the Canadian record for 10,000 metres by 13 seconds at a race in Palo Alto, Calif., running 27:23.63. Chris Solinsky, another member of the group, broke the U.S. record in the same race, and a third member of the Portland group also dipped below the old U.S. record.

“They’re so precise about their pacing,” Mr. Whitfield says. “We came home with the message that when a tempo run is supposed to be, let’s say, 3:05 [per kilometre] pace, then 3:03 pace is not a success. That’s a fail.”

Such precision may be daunting, but it’s a hallmark of “deliberate practice,” a concept advanced by Florida State University cognitive psychologist Anders Ericsson and popularized in recent books like Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success. The best way to master an activity is not simply to repeat it mindlessly over and over again, Dr. Ericsson argues, but to set specific goals and monitor how well you meet them.

The theory is most commonly applied to highly technical activities such as tennis or violin; for simpler activities such as running, “practice” usually involves simply heading out the door and doing it. But in a study of the training practices of elite runners by University of Ottawa researchers Bradley Young and John Salmela, what separated the highest-performing group from their less accomplished peers was how much they incorporated elements such as interval training, tempo runs and time trials, all of which require ongoing attention to pace and other feedback.

Once you become familiar with how different paces feel and how long you’re able to maintain them, knowing your speed can actually enhance performance, according to a study in a forthcoming issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Researchers had cyclists perform a four-kilometre time trial around a track, with no intermediate pacing information provided. When they repeated the trial with pace feedback after each 250-metre lap, the times improved; when the riders were given deliberately incorrect pace feedback, the times got slower.

You don’t need to head to a track to implement these ideas. Many bike paths have kilometres marked, and you can use programs such as Google Earth to measure a route. Alternately, you can simply pick a few landmarks along your route without worrying about the precise distance, and monitor how your time between those landmarks varies from week to week.

The goal isn’t to get faster every time you run; it’s to develop an automatic feel for how fast you’re running, so that when you do check your watch, it just confirms what you already knew.

“I think that it is extremely important for an athlete to understand how they feel during exercise,” says University of Bedfordshire exercise physiologist Lex Mauger, the lead author of the cycling study. “Performance varies from day to day, so a particular pace that was appropriate one day may not be the next.”

After two Olympic medals, you might think Mr. Whitfield had pretty much figured out how to train. But it’s his attention to these details and his desire to keep learning that underlie his continued success – even though he confesses that incorporating the new lessons hasn’t been easy.

“Even our tempo run today turned into one of those where you’re slowly ramping up and up and up,” he laughs. “But in general we’re trying to be more precise about what pace we’re supposed to run.”

Alex Hutchinson blogs about research on exercise at sweatscience.com.

Top Ten Canadians

April 30th, 2010

Gary Reed

TOP TEN CANADIAN PERFORMERS BY POINTS (OUTDOOR) – 2010
2010 Outdoor Men				as of 27 April
EVENT	PERF	NAME	DOB	HOME	POINTS
MARA	2H13:52	ERIC GILLIS	80	ON	1144
100 M	10.28 (0.6)	SAM EFFAH	88	AB	1142
4X100M	39.18	EFFAH, SMITH, CONNAUGHTON, HENRY		CAN	1141
1/2 MARA	1H02:47	SIMON BAIRU	83	SASK	1137
200 M	20.71 (0.0)	BRIAN BARNETT	87	AB	1121
800 M	1:47.02	GARY REED	81	BC	1112
110mH	13.75	KARL JENNINGS	79	ON	1112
MILE	3:57.25	OLIVIER COLLIN	89	QUE	1108
200 M	20.83	RHOAN STERLING	80	ON	1095
HJ	2.22	DEREK DROUIN	90	ON	1079
	Check for info on July 5 at www.harryjerome.com

Esther Akinsulie 400m

TOP TEN CANADIAN PERFORMERS BY POINTS (OUTDOOR) – 2010
	2010 Outdoor- Women			as of 27 April
EVENT	PERF	NAME	DOB	HOME	POINTS
100mH	12.94 (-0.9)	PERDITA FELICIEN	80	ON	1160
LJ	6.70(1.7)	RUKY ABDULAI	82	BC	1138
200 M	23.24 (1.2)	ESTHER AKINSULIE	84	ON	1134
HEP	6086	RUKY ABDULAI	84	BC	1113
3000 M	8:57.97	MALINDI ELMORE	80	BC	1112
1500M	4:12.81	DIANE CUMMINS	74	BC	1105
1500M	4:12.82	JULIA HOWARD	83	BC	1105
4X400M	3:33.93	MUIR, TOLTON, NELSON, RUEDIGER		CAN	1105
800 M	2:03.25	DIANE CUMMINS	74	BC	1096
HAM	69.70	SULTANNA FRIZELL	84	BC	1087
CHECKOUT THE WEBSITE www.harryjerome.com for  this year’s meet on July 5

Canada’s Harry Jerome: Person of National Historical Significance

April 15, 2010 by Jimson Lee ·

There will be a ceremony naming Harry Jerome as a Person of National Historical Significance on Saturday May 15th at 9:00 AM at the Harry Jerome statue located on the Stanley Park Seawall .  As well, they will also name the Canadian Landmark in his honour.

Other famous runners inducted are Terry Fox and 1907 Boston Marathon winner Tom Longboat.  With the exception of Prime Ministers, a person is eligible to be listed 25 years after their death.

Who the Heck is Harry Jerome?

Harry Winston Jerome was born in 1940 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, which has a population of less than 35,000. Prince Albert is approximately 600 miles north of Bismarck, North Dakota.

The town is better know for their flax seed farms with its cold brutal winters.

Harry Jerome concurrently held or equaled 4 World Records from 1960-65  (60 yard, 100 yards, 100 meters, 4×100m).  Even today, Usain Bolt “only” has 4 world records (3 WR and 1 World Best)

Harry Jerome’s World Records

Harry Jerome attended the University of Oregon on a track scholarship from 1960 to 1964.  Under Bill Bowerman’s tenure, he set or equaled 7 world records:

1. 100 meters – 10.1 seconds (EWR – set by Willie William in 1956)
2. 100 meters – 10.0 seconds (EWR on July 15, 1960  – set by Armin Hary one month earlier on June 21)
3. 100 yards – 9.3 seconds in 1961
4. 100 yards – 9.2  seconds in 1962
5. 4 x 110 yard Relay – University of Oregon – EWR
6. Indoor 60 yards – 6.0 seconds 1963, EWR
7. 100 yards – 9.1  seconds in 1966

Despite the fame and recognition he achieved as a world class sprinter in Canada (Percy Williams from the 1920’s was the previous well known hero, also from Vancouver), he always felt he let everyone down with his Olympic performances in Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964.  He injured himself in Rome and won a bronze in Tokyo behind Bob Hayes.

The media was quite harsh on him, as he recalls leading up to the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia:

“They have never let me forget that I was a failure at Rome,” he said. “Although I pulled a leg muscle in the preliminary heats, some of my critics led everyone to believe I choked up. It has been a hard dose of medicine for me to take.

“I must win here, and I must win in the Olympics in Tokyo to get out from under this cloud … I feel I must win a medal to prove myself. My aim is to win the 100, and then I will feel I have got over a hump.

“I tried so hard, so damn hard,” Jerome said. “Just when everything was going so well … my training, my school … I thought I was in perfect shape. I was trying to beat Antao. When I saw him ahead, my whole edge went off, and I sort of collapsed. There was no real pain. I just tried too hard. I don’t think I pulled a muscle. He (Antao) got off the blocks real fine. There was just him and me. I tried to catch him but just couldn’t make it.”

Jerome said he thought he could have taken a silver medal if he had hung on. “But my whole heart went out. I was aiming only for the gold.”

Harry Jerome died in 1982 at the age of 42.  28 years later, he will be named as a Person of National Historical Significance.

The 2010 PacifiCanada Series

Gary Reed (14)

Gary Reed
Gary took the bronze in Athens with his seasonal best of 1:43.95.
He then won gold in London in a tactical 1:45.85 and then took a close 6th place in Monaco. Abubaker Kaki of the Sudan took the photo finish with his 1:43.50 as Gary recorded a 1:44.24.  Just getting through the heats and semis in Berlin will be a challenge as they were in Beijing. Kaki and other statistical leaders in the event did not make the final in 2008 as a great deal of luck is involved in qualifying in “slow” races.  World and Olympic competitions are definitely a different game when “pacemakers” are out of the formula

Sally McLellan and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep
Canadians proved once again that our best bet for a podium finish in Berlin is the women’s 100m hurdles.  This time Priscilla Lopes-Schliep took the DN Galan Super Grand Prix in her personal best time of 12.51 (0.9) edging her rivals Lolo Jones, USA and Sally McLellan, Australia as well as team mate Perdita Felicien. Perdita ran 12.54 (1.8) in the heats while Priscilla clocked 12.53 (1.3).  You can count on the Berlin showdown to be won by millimeters as these sprint hurdlers are separated by 1/100th of a second.  Canada can take comfort this event, complicated by crashes to the track, has two arrows in the quiver with Perdita and Priscilla both proven to be medal winners at both the Olympic and World Championship levels.
JUNIOR DIVISION

Derek Drouin Set Record

Derek Drouin of Sarnia, Ontario produced a new Canadian Junior Record in the high jump as he won the gold medal at the Pan American Junior Championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad.  He broke the mark of Alain Mettelus of Montreal of 2.26m set 26 years ago in 1983. The Indiana University sophomore’s mark of 2.27 metres is one centimetre from the leading mark in the world for athletes under the age of 20 years. James White of the US leads the world with 2.28m.  Derek’s best high jump mark had been 2.22m.

Julie Labonté of Ste-Justine, QC set the Canadian Junior record as she won the 2009 Canadian Junior Championships with 16.39m.  She then took the silver Medal at the Pan American Junior Championships in Trinidad.  Last fall she was the winner of Eric E. Coy Memorial Trophy – Outstanding Junior Athlete of the Year as she won the gold medal in shot put at the Commonwealth Youth Games by throwing 15.02-metres.
YOUTH DIVISION

Aaron Brown of Canada takes 100m Silver Medal

Aaron Brown won the Silver medal in the 100m  at the World Youth Championships in Sudtirol, Italy today with a time of 10.74 into a headwind of 1.2 m/sec. Prezel Hardy of the US took the gold and Giovanni Galbieri of Italy the Bronze.  Aaron established a personal best time in the quarterfinals with a time of 10.46. Brown who attended Birchmount Park Secondary in Toronto was the first Canadian to win a medal in this under 18 year World Championships

Laura Affeld
This 16 year old member of the Edmonton Harriers leads all Canadians of any age in the 400m hurdles with her time of 59.86. She took 6th in the World Youth Championships in Sudtirol. Italy. Laura competes in the multi events as well as middle distances. Coach Phil Boothsays “Laura’s hurdling isn’t hindered by her other athletic pursuits”
Last year she was unstoppable at the Legion meet, winning the 400m, 800m and 300m hurdles, and being named Athletics Alberta’s female midget athlete of the year.

Sally McLellan and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep

July 31, 2009

Canadians proved once again that our best bet  for a podium finish in Berlin is the women’s 100m hurdles.  This time Priscilla Lopes-Schliep took the DN Galan Super Grand Prix in her personal best time of 12.51 (0.9) edging her rivals Lolo Jones, USA and Sally McLellan, Australia as well as team mate Perdita Felicien. Perdita ran 12.54 (1.8) in the heats while Priscilla clocked 12.53 (1.3).  You can count on the Berlin showdown to be won by millimeters as these sprint hurdlers are separated by 1/100th of  a second.  Canada can take comfort this event, complicated by crashes to the track, has two arrows in the quiver with Perdita and Priscilla both proven to be medal winners at both the Olympic and World Championship levels.

Dylan Armstrong

Dylan Armstrong in his second meet after a long session of training, threw 20.42m in 4th place in the Big Shot competition held in the streets of downtown Stockholm. Olympic Champion, Tomasz Majewski of Poland won the event in  a new Polish record of 21.85m. Insiders are hoping that Dylan’s training strategy planned by Dr. Anatoli Bondarchuk is geared to produce his peak in mid August in Berlin.

Nate Brannen dropped down to the 1000m and recorded 2:17.87  a second behind winner Ali Bilal Monsoor of Burundi.

Malindi Elmore and Hilary Stellingwerf did 4:10.45 and 4:13.27 in the 1500m behind Christin Wurth-Thomas of the US win in 4:03.01.