Running numbers

Did you know that runners are great with numbers? Usually you'd think that accountants, engineers, physicists and the like would be the numbers people, but no, this valuable skill is shared amongst runners, too. What is so surprising, however, is that most runners don't even realise they are talented beyond their physical prowess, but trust me, it is true. Let me explain.

Running is ruled by numbers. For starters, there is the distance you run, which might be in kilometers or miles, and could also include a number of additional meters or yards. So any run might be 5.7 km, or 3.5 miles. If it was through hills then you will have some elevation so that 5.7km run might include 124 meters of ascent, with a steepest gradient of 8.4%. See, plenty of numbers…but we haven't even got into the interesting part yet!!

Some people prefer to measure runs in duration, for example 25 mins 32 secs, or 25:32 min. If you include hours then it become 0:25:32 hr, and fractions would mean 0:25:32.6 hr!! Now we're getting into some good stuff. If that 5.7 km run took 25:32 min, it means you ran at an average pace of 4 min 28.8 sec per kilometer.

You might laugh, but all this information is important to a runner…and to borrow a trusim from business, you can't manage what you can't measure. So for any runner who is wanting to improve - which is almost all of us - then these numbers are it!! They are a black-and-white indication of who and what you are as a runner. The number of kilometers you run in a week, your average pace, time for certain intervals, and more, carry you from session to session and season to season. Some runners might seem blasé about the details of their running, but you can be sure they do know what their numbers are and can talk for hours about them and what they mean!!

Races provide a whole new set of numbers like placings, PB's for various distances - or for favourite courses - scores against rivals and more. Just witness the angst when a course turns out to be inaccurately measured to see how important numbers are to runners. The victory of beating a PB - a number - is the euphoria that drives runners on to racking up more training numbers.

Then you have the skill of mental arithmetic mid-run, calculating how much time, what distance, the required pace, how much effort, etc, in order to achieve a goal. This is something not just anyone can do…you need to be a runner to get it. It makes Sudoku seem easy.

So next time someone passes you off as "simply a runner", rest assured that you'd be a Nobel prize winner if you weren't busy training for your next race!!