Roseville, MN

Roseville Area High School

55:09 running time + 1-lap kick

This is my first road run since watching “Without Limits” on the plane ride back home from Detroit a couple weeks back. Fewer things are more dangerous for a runner than watching a Steve Prefontaine biopic. I immediately instituted what I call Modified Prefontaine to my running sessions, which is the attempt to increase my speed throughout my run. Prefontaine just ran as fast as he could from start to finish, but once Bowerman talked him into steadily progressing his speed from fast to faster. Each of 12 laps of a 3-mile race he increased his speed by 1 second. Never mind how insanely tough that would be – how in tune with your body are you when you can increase your lap speed 1 second on purpose?

The track at this high school was in good shape. I also ran the cement steps, which were not uniform, which is always trouble. The end flights were the worst – there has been settling on either end of the grandstands through the years. I ran the 6 flights twice each with each circuit around the track, mostly to lengthen the total run time around the track, because Modified Prefontaine demands that you reduce the total run time each time around. If you are going to be dropping lap times, you want to reduce the number of laps, so that you don’t have to hit world record pace by lap 20. I was able to complete nearly 8 full laps with double stairs in my run time. I was not able to better my time each lap, but I did good: 7:47 7:27 7:17 6:55 6:41 6:42 6:46. It was easier than I thought to speed up slightly, but I don’t know how anyone could speed up 1 second per lap intentionally.

The weather was sunny but brisk. It had snowed that morning in Minneapolis, so I was happy with 45 and sunny. I have been doing the Modified Prefontaine on my home trail runs, but the circuit around the lake is in the 18-minute range, so I can only run 2 full laps during a run. It is easy to improve your time on lap 2 only. Try it on lap 7 – I don’t care how short the laps are, that is tough. I was dead at the end of this run, and you know what? It felt great. Prefontaine’s running strategy was balls to the wall, go for broke, and I love it. It is how I would like to live the rest of my life.

I will give Modified Prefontaine a go for awhile. Once my lungs and heart are a little stronger, we’ll see about Full Prefontaine.