Tactic? Strategy?

When I decided to run the ultra-marathon again in April or May, I carefully re-examined my record in 2013 using the official record book sent to me. I first checked my pace in each 10 km, and compared mine with two groups of runners: one consists of 20 runners who finished at very similar time to me (similar group), and the other of 20 runners who finished about one hour earlier than me (faster group). I calculated the means and standard deviations of the two groups, and considered how I should train to run in 2014.

 

I clearly found that I ran too fast in 0-50 km and too slowly in 50-100 km. I faced a great challenge to improve my stamina in the latter half, so I tried to run as long as possible in each chance, especially on weekends in summer. I also tried to learn how to run slowly. In reality, I'm still very bad at running slowly (it is much more difficult than running fast), but I took conscious efforts.

I also found my paces on slopes were too slow. I like slopes, but my paces slowed down there. I thought trail- or cross-country running in hot seasons would work fine, so I practiced often. It was very fortunate for me that there are a lot of mountainous areas around my place.

That was the birth of my good race in 2014.
I was not sure my training was good enough, but it was time to cash my chips.

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I ran with my GPS watch (Garmin 910XT) on Sunday, which provided me unofficial records of myself. I retrieved the data yesterday and checked how I ran this year. 

My paces in 0-50m legs were almost the same as last year, but those in the latter half were pretty successful. I could keep running tenaciously to the goal, and even build up the pace in the 80-90 and 90-100 km legs. 

The GPS records can also be analyzed with altitude data. I could run almost constantly excluding rest breaks or slopes. Now, I notice some more challenges for future trail considering this chart. If I decide to run this ultra-marathon again, I'd like to address them.