March 2nd, 2010
Today was one of those days when everything goes right.
I had a voiceover in the morning at a studio that I don’t get a lot of work from, not for any reason but that I haven’t built up any relationships there, though they have my demo and that’s how I got this job.
Now, when you do voiceovers, the client is often there at the session – “client” usually meaning the ad agency or whatever company has hired you, though sometimes the actual client client is there (meaning the company who hired the ad agency to begin with). Then sometimes, like today, there’s no one but you and the engineer present, but the client (in this case the ad agency) does a phone patch, so they are able to be with you at the session without having to physically be in the studio.
Today’s session was uber fun because the ad agency fellow was a total sweetie, before I started he asked me all sorts of questions about my background, where I was from and things that didn’t have anything to do with the job. When it got time to do the spot, they were so happy with it that one of the ad people, remembering I’d said I was from Arkansas, asked me to audition for another spot with a Southern accent. So I may get another job from this one, plus the impression I left the engineer with was that I’m a pleasure to work with which will surely get passed to the higher-ups.
Oh, and I got a parking spot right in front of the building, which in downtown Philly is no small feat. Then when I got home, I got a spot right in front of my apartment. A lucky day.
Today’s run
48 degrees!! Capris and a top…heaven. 11mi w/Billat 30-30s (ended up doing 21 reps).
When I do a quality session it’s usually bookended with a pretty good chunk of miles – today, 6.75mi till I started the fast part. Because I don’t want to “use myself up” before I get to the work, I always take those miles preceding it very easy – usually 8:45s before I get to the good stuff. But today was different.
At about 2.5 miles, there was a large group of middle-school boys running on the path. They weren’t too fast but to get past them, I sped up to around 8:15 pace. After I passed, I considered slowing back down because I didn’t want to compromise the 30-30s but it hit me that I’ve been spending a lot of time in 8:30-8:45 land these days or sub 8:00s, but hardly any time at 8:15ish, though I did more of that last cycle.
It felt pretty good going that pace, easier than the 8:45s for some reason so I kept on. Then, when it came time for the workout, I had no problems, in fact I was faster this week than last. So, many thanks to the school boys, you helped me decide to do more 8:15ish runs in the next few weeks.
Arms and Legs
You know the arm/leg connection? That if you move your arms faster, your legs will go faster as well? I’ve known this tidbit for a long time but don’t make good use of it because 1. I always get the feeling that I’m wasting energy using the arms that way and 2. I’m not able to speed my arms up easily, it’s like the pace rut I mention above, making my arms move faster isn’t as easy as just thinking it, when you’re already going fast it seems like they’re moving as fast as they can.
But no. This time I made a concerted effort to really pump my arms and let it see if it tuckered me out more or what. The What is that I went fucking fast! I had a few sub 6s in there, which I never do. Yeah, it was only for 30secs each, but 5:xx is not something I ever see. So I’ll be messing around with this again. It’s not something I think is useful for regular marathony stuff (aside from the Billats, of course) but when I get to do 400s come Spring, I’ll see if it’s transferable. I still think it makes you more tired but maybe that’s because you end up running faster in general.
So that’s my great day today. Hope you guys had a great one, too!
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I’m hazy on the arms thing. Obviously they are in sync with your legs, so are you moving them further with each swing? Or upping the cadence? Good job on the workout BTW, looks like the Billats are working.
That’s a great question, upping the cadence. You can’t really move them further to go faster, in fact they end up being closer to your body, though I did try some variations as far as shoulders, elbows and arm height.
One thing I remember Nobby from the Lydiard site telling me back in my Coolrunning forum days, was to feel like you’re striking your boyfriend in the stomach with your elbows, quick jab type of thing.
Not saying everyone (or anyone) should mess around with it but in lieu of having a coach or someone there to critique my body, I enjoy the experimentation.
Lucky day indeed!!
Yes on the arm thing. I learned about it last year when I was being coached and it works. Since then I make a concerted effort every time I run to make sure my arms are doing exactly what I want them to. That 10k I ran in February, I really focused on arms for all 6.2 miles and they were pumping, especially on all the inclines. The next day my arms were sore! I loved it because I knew I ran hard and used my arms well. I’m trying to teach my running partner how to use her arms. Whenever I look over, her arms are just sort of hanging there, not helping her run. When we run uphill I’m always saying “use your arms” but she’s not quite getting it. I overheard a different local coach talking about how to use your arms. She said to remember that it’s not the swing forward, but the swing backwards which is going to help. I try to focus on pulling my elbows back, the arms springing forward while your leg extends is what is going to help propel you forward, but you have to get them back far enough in order to do that. One last thing about arms that I’ve learned is that I try to keep them low, at my hips. The higher up you hold them, the more tense your upper body, shoulders and neck will be.
Okay, I’m rambling …
Not rambling at all, great stuff! Very happy to hear you’ve actually used it to your benefit and that your coach as well as another consider it an important focus. Thanks for piping up!
You know what…life IS really about the small things. What an excellent day you had, and I am sure this great job will bring you many more.
P.S Where is my Fing 48 degrees…..you lost me at the temp I couldn’t stomach knowing more. I’m sure was excellent though :- )
Wow getting your farting car out turned out to be a good idea. I am so glad that you had a great day, Ms. Speedy Gonzalez!
i never make use of the arm/leg connection either. i do think about it often just my mind never wants to put it to use! “i went fucking fast” i’m going to quote you on my next run when i need to pick up the pace hahaha
and yay for having a day where all the stars seem to align! congrats on potentially getting more work from this one. working = good
Nice going with the job/potential job/s. And the parking spots — reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld where George raved about getting a parking spot in front of the building. 9C is getting there. 20C down here today
Not sure about sneakersister’s idea of keeping the arms low. In marathon running, maybe — I know Deek had a low arm carriage. With the sprints and moving the arms fast so the legs ‘follow’, it helps to have a decent bend at the elbow (you can move an arm that’s bent at a smaller angle faster than a straighter arm — try it just standing in front of the mirror). I find the short ‘Brad Hudson’ hill sprints and other short sprints good for practising the fast arm/leg thing. The 30-30s sound ideal too.
You raise a good point, while arms down are the usual advice for good form – “pretend you’re taking something out of your back pocket” is the visualization I’ve heard – your hands will naturally go up closer towards your face if you run fast due to the smaller elbow angle. Looking at photos of sprinters on Google, I see that the back arm remains low but the front one is way up, which matches my experience yesterday.
I think I use to carry my arms at the level of my stomach, or rather, my hands would sweep against the sides of my body at stomach level. Now, they are still bent at a 90* angle but I try to swipe my hands against my hip bone, that’s what I mean by lower. I’ve moved my hands down about 4 inches. When I’m swinging them hard, yes, my hands move all the way to my neck or chin on the upswing, but that’s only when I’m in sprinting mode. Does that make sense?
That makes sense. Having a relaxed/lower arm carriage is fine. That Chinese Olympian Sun Yingjie ran with arms virtually straight down (not good form). I just meant it’s easier to move the arms quickly if the ‘levers’ are short… like the ‘recovery’ leg of middle distance runners being bent tightly (close to the butt) lets it swing through fast. It’s hard to swing a straight leg through fast and have a long stride.
Sneakersister, I know exactly what you mean. My college coach used that exact language to get me to lower my arms – swipe my hands on the side of my hip bone. It was mostly when I was getting tired, and I can see that now in the kids I coach – as you get tired, your arms start to be carried higher and higher, until you look all tensed up. I think Ewen is meaning something different – how high your fists/hands go when you are pushing with your arms – that is a different thing. We are talking more about how the arms are carried, if that makes sense! Ugh- hard to explain without showing!
You guys are all very clear and there’s no confusion, so don’t worry about that. Main point is that best natural running form is arms lower (brushing waistband is yet another visual…I think Jack Daniels’) but when you speed up, they naturally will shift higher making a tighter lever.
It’s great to talk about arm action, I think it gets short shrift in discussing form but is an important part of the whole machine.
I don’t give a lot of thought to my arms. Now and then I’ll remind myself to keep them relaxed and I may concentrate on pumping them a bit to get me up a hill. My coach said the think of them like a pendulum attached with a nail to the collarbone. Relaxed and easy.
What you want to do is make sure they stay relaxed even when you get tired. Hence the usefulness of fast repeats and hill reps. If you concentrate on your overall form while running fast, that will help you maintain your form when fatigue starts to set in. You can then go the arms more as you kick, the way a sprinter does.
Nice seeing you on the west river today
It was very cool!! Of course, now I have no idea on whether I’m looking at Steph or Linds. And do you both share the one facebook account or what? This twins thing has me seeing double. :-)
Lol no that’s just my sisters account but basically she speaks for both of us because I don’t have one
The arms thing is so true. I’ve been focussing on that a lot lately.
Good news on the voiceovers. Sounds like you’re doing a good job of keeping up with the new financial plan.