Masters Weekend Runs and Races

May need some good council from yee ol wise ones. I've either got a nasty case of plantar fascia-itis or a calcaneous stress fracture. x-rays, podiatric looksee, and the word coming later this week.

KP

Injured for the second week with the strange hamstring strain in a place I didn't even know you could strain. Nice races by Pilch, Cush, D.Olds and anyone else who, unlike me, can currently put together more than a few consecutive steps. I'm jealous!

Cherish every run.

Hey Tom,

I want to thank you for your efforts in getting the word out, and your dedicated staff + athletes for hosting an excellent meet. I'll have roughly 8-10 17:30-18:30 female runners interested in your 5000 if you want them.

Best regards,

Carl Rose

My theory is that somehow the Fountain of Youth was located and is being used to brew some sort of special beer. These guys apparently located this amazing product at the club nats at Spokane, and are secretly drinking it to help them run these fast times.

Either that, or it's hard work, smart training and good genes. In any case, I'll keep trying new beers until I find one that works for me.

[quote]Racerdb wrote:

Geezus....you guys sure are setting the bar high! And it's only March. Cush, Pilch, Olds, Holm, Bunnies...I tip a cold one to you guys!

[quote]

Greetings once again. Been a bit busy, so I have not posted lately. Nyloco, cannot wait until Va. Beach. I raced a 4 miler Championship series w/a team and won w/a 23:34. I PR'd by over a minute, so it felt really good. After being ill throughout Jan., it was good to have my legs back. Now if I can hold off from getting ill...

Did 88 this week preparing for Boston. I'm going w/a team, so it should be good. Two of us are sub 3hr. marathoners and our 3rd is really close. But then again, ANYTHING can happen in a marathon (as I should know!).

Welcome new posters!

Great job, cush!!!! I'm sitting here smiling 'cause I can just see you trying hard NOT to bolt to the front at the race. ;-D See, patience *does* help! ;-) (once a miler.....) Great job by the Bunnies and I'm SO happy to see David on his way back (it was his first track race in a LONG time). yay!

No races for me (especially not track ones). We had some snow last night and with 3 miles to go in my long run, it started hailing big-time. Very pretty and funny, too. I did two "hard" workouts this week, mostly tempo runs on grass, but had to fit in an 800 and 400 at a faster pace. Good lord, that wasn't fun (my form really falls apart at that pace,) but I did them.

"Run hard, keep turning left." ;-D

Congrats to BP, too - that's an amazing time - guess I'm running out of excuses for slowing down.

KP, sorry to hear about the injury, good luck on a quick return.

Rock and Roll, welcome aboard.

Here I am hoping to break 16:00 this year, you guys are fast.

I had another solid week running 60 miles. I had to fight through a couple spring snow storms including during todays long run. My racing starts next week in PDX, and I can't wait to see where I am at.

every day counts Tim

Great runs by B. Pilch, SoCal Cush, D. Olds, and others! It is indeed a terrific start to the season!

My own training is sorta crummy these days. No sleep. No time. Too tired to train well when I do get out. I'll try a 5000 this coming Friday, but I won't be surprised if it falls well short of some of the specular outings from our masters peers this week!

Thanks, nyloco, for the good words on NW Master and Family's post on my blog. They were very good sports and delivered a terrific interview. Have another post up right now featuring Greg Meyer. My favorite quote from Greg: "The marathon destroys talent, doesn't create talent."

Even with all these great marks, though, the biggest track news for me this week was my son's first official high school dual meet on Thursday and then an invitational yesterday. It was so much fun to see him out on the track! While his true athletic passion (and probably talent) is football, he still ran good races for a Freshman newbie to the sport, clocking a 57 flat for 400 and a 24.9 for 200. His 400 makes him the 6th ranked 400 frosh-soph runner on his squad, but 2 of the sophs run varsity, so it looks like he'll get to run the 4 x 400 all season - which was by far my favorite race in high school!

Okay, hope everyone has a great week!!!

Some awesome results rolling in this week. Nice work, MWRR-ers!

Kinda crappy week here. Ran ~ 47 miles, with 5 at M-pace Tuesday and a 3000 race Saturday. Race was well off expected form, but there was a lot of distraction in the personal life this week, between work, school, family stuff, etc, so I had a lot of stress and very little sleep. I pretty much expected to race poorly, so I suppose I didn't really disappoint myself. :-)

I'm taking a mulligan, haha.

No races for about a month, then likely a series of road races over a couple of months.

Have a great week, everyone!

Just realized I haven't been here in a while. Not sure how much I'm running, but it's still a lot. Only running workouts with my athletes these days. Did 800s at the girls' I-pace on Tuesday, some 200s at R pace on Thursday, and a 1600 tt with one of my girls on Friday. Heading to Boston for NIN this weekend with a pair of 2-milers and a triple jumper. (Don't worry: I've not got a clue about tj, but it's fun to watch!)

i'm actually starting to get discouraged.

i'm trying to focus less on marathon and more on 5k/10k, with the thinking that i need the leg speed to get a breakthrough marathon in the fall.

the legs just don't seem to be snapping for me. granted, it's early march in illinois, i spent almost all of january on the treadmill, and i've done no speed work. BUT, i've done more threshold runs that any prior year at this point and i'm just not clicking.

the last five weeks were 74, 73, 71, 55, 74 and with the exception of a few good days here and there, the package just doesn't seem to be coming together.

any one else struggle like this? it also didn't help to try and race a half marathon in 40+mph winds today. I figured since it was so windy, I would just rely on past half marathon HR data to run. So, I get my HR up to low mid 140s where it usually is for the beginning of a half, and we're running 5:11, and 5:16 with the wind. We turn into the cross wind, and it drops to 7:13, HR is 143, we turn into the wind, HR 143, pace? 8:45. It felt like one long hill session.

Some great results on the track. Amazing! Keeps one motivated to keep after it. Still adjusting to new locale and running terrain here in the south, but love the weather. Beats Ohio rocknroller!(Good luck at Malachi) Looking to try and improve at GateRiver next weekend as I start to head into track season and the hope of a couple track 5k's

Have a healthy week everyone.

Wow! There are some really great times being posted early in the year. Congrats to all of you. It's good motivation for some of us.

Brief respite from winter here, except today's long run was hampered by the 38 degree temps, and the torrential rain storm (4" in 24 hours).

Hola Amigos,

Was a great week with no travel...got in 7 runs..a tempo & a few hill repeats & 2hours on Mt. Tam today....2 Bikram classes..2 short weight workouts. Not sure when I am going to race next but if I could do this every week I am sure I would get in decent shape.

I went over to SF State last night to check Brian's 5k out...I wasn't sure about it when they started since there were so many guys in the race & it was getting pretty dark but he ran a great race! Good job Pilch!

Pete...lovin the website/blog!

dotato,

You may consider mixing things up a little. When I've felt stagnant, adding some weights or plyometrics has helped, as does some speedwork - even it's just some strides at the end of some workouts. It sounds like you've adapated to your training plan, so you may need to add some new stress to ramp up to a new plateau.

I think your windy HM experience is one of those situations where heart rate is just not a good indicator of pace or effort. Daniels talks a little about it in his Running Formula book, but basically, your heart rate involves a lot of other factors such as adrenaline and whether your heart is pumping more or less blood for heating or cooling. For example, my HR usually climbs up about 5 points when I start getting too warm on the treadmill, but my effort feels less.

As for absolute level, a HR in the low 140s is a lot lower than the HMs I have run at race pace. It's close to where I am for marathon pace, and I'd guess that I spend most of the HM at a HR of around 150, and that climbs up to 160 in the last 5k. FWIW, My max is close to the predicted value of 178 = 220 - my age, and my resting HR is usually around 52.

nyloco;

thanks. i've been thinking about getting into the weight room, especially after yesterday's run. I am usually one of the strongest runners in the pack and I just got owned yesterday. i'm not jumpinng to any conclusions based on this ridiculous race (there were recorded gusts in the 58 to 62mph range), but...

i think weights will be on the menu. only problem with that is the two to three week adaptation. i'm usually fairly sore the week or two after beginning because it wakes up muscles running doesn't...but since nothing is on the schedule for the next month , good time as any!

Golly nice job one and all! Lots going on and congrats to all the Master Blasters and their fine performances, you know who you are :o)Lori, just finished a snail mail to you, been thinking about your progress and just want to say RIGHT ON! staying healthy is key, for all of us.I got in 60 miles this week with a day off so the endurance end is holding up well and just need to start playing with speed and getting used to that all over again.Whatever Man see if there is a good LMT who can get into the calf muscles and release them, that is always a contributing factor to PF even though the pain will manifest in the heel or arch of the foot.Tony you set the bar really high for everyone, it is wonderful to see your consistency and the great results!Hoping to add some race results of my own this Spring, it is time to get back on the racing pony, just hope I don't get bucked off.Here's to a happy and healthy week of training one and all!!!

female master wrote:

Greetings once again. Been a bit busy, so I have not posted lately. Nyloco, cannot wait until Va. Beach. I raced a 4 miler Championship series w/a team and won w/a 23:34. I PR'd by over a minute, so it felt really good. After being ill throughout Jan., it was good to have my legs back. Now if I can hold off from getting ill...

Did 88 this week preparing for Boston. I'm going w/a team, so it should be good. Two of us are sub 3hr. marathoners and our 3rd is really close. But then again, ANYTHING can happen in a marathon (as I should know!).

Welcome new posters!

Sarah,

Thanks :)I PR'd by over a minute. It was a race near Albany (as a part of the USATF Adirondack championship series). Missed seeing you post, so welcome back. I'll drop you note this week.

The Week:

Mon: afternoon 54 mins PM 31 mins

Tues: 5 x 1600m off 2 + mins rest avg'd 4:49s, but ran them by going out slow and then closing in low 70 and high 60s for the last 2 laps.

Wed: 86 mins

Thurs: 3 mins short hill (20 sec), 20 min 45 sec hill, 3 mins short hill.

Fri: 10+ miles in 62 mins...yeah maybe this might explain my fatigue on Sunday

Satday: 30mins (as it turned out fast, but I had no idea at the time) PM 44 mins

Sunday: 8km 26.0? 'tempo race'. In other words being a masters road whore and doing a workout all at once, but I stll felt terrible and slow