Wanted to get an early start.
It's my pleasure to have been selected this important weekens! Can't wait to hear about XC Club Nationals.
My jogging has been non-exsistant this past 10 days. Felt some tightness in my right calf and though I was being smart. But........
I try and do some jogging in our first BIG snowstorm of the season. It was 60 yesterday. Welcome to the Rockies!
Post em up!
Winter hit the Oregon coast with two miles left of my 5 mile run today when the wind off the bay pelted me with icy rain. Ive been working too much to get much mileage in , but hope to get back up to 6 a day in '09 and race a bit in the summer. We have a major cold front settling in, I hope it will be the dryer, crunchy stuff and I can stay vertical and not break a hip or something.
Great Job to all Masters runners in Spokane today. After a sphincter tightening drive over the mountains on Fri., coming back to "warm" Seattle and missing the post race festivities (thaw) seemed appropriate. The conditions as noted on the official thread described the wind as brutal and it really almost took your breath away at times. Race time temp was 25deg with at least a steady 25 ~ 30 mph wind blowing straight along the Spokane River from the east. The 5 min. gun led to a frantic striptease and it wasn't soon enough to start. Most everyone was wearing spikes up to 1/2 long to great effect. The first long staight was absoutely frigid hinting at the sections of the course that went head on into the wind. On sections of the course, you could hear runners behind just from their numbers flapping loudly. Coming around to the start/finish line, gusts would almost stop a pack cold, with a brave soul pushing on with others tucking in behind.
Then it was with the wind pushing hard as if off a steep downhill and extending your stride. The challenge at the end was trying to form a full sentance from frozen jaws. Bill Roe did a great job of announcing and the volunteers put up with some truly challenging conditions with a smile. Results are up but team results and individual's aren't the same, team times page being faster for individuals which looked right but the avg pace is wrong so who knows.
Sounds epic. I guess a positive was not needing a cooler for post race beverages.
acorn wrote: hey gimpboy, nobody here cares about you or your gay mountain jogs.
you should take your gimp drama show over to runner's world.
i'd kick your ass, boy, if i saw you gimping down my running route.
I think you stumbled onto the wrong thread little boy.
I'm anxious to hear more race reports from Spokane... keep 'em coming. Sounds like AWESOME race conditions! :-)
I had a good week. It'll be ~ 50 miles by the end of today. Monday I ran 2 x (6 x 200) with 80s standing and 5 minutes walk rest at ~ 800 pace. Damn tough little piece of work. Yesterday I opened indoors with a strong (for me) 1500. Next week I'll race 800, 1500 or 3000, TBD. Maybe double up 800/3000. We'll see.
Oh, and I bought myself some new spikes at yesterday's meet for $50. Or my lovely wife bought them for me for Xmas, is more like it.
Have a great week, everyone!
I think my update will be much less exciting than the brave souls who ran in Spokane. I saw SoCal gutting his way to the finish in the 30 second clip that runnerspace put together (link below). Looked brutal - should be some good war stories.
I logged most of my miles on the treadmill this week, but will be doing my long run outside since it's warmed up to a balmy 42 here in NY.
I think this photo says it all...
Pete I like your workouts! enjoy the spikes and good luck racing.
NYLoco I saw the clips from runnerspace also. I liked the howling sound of the unrelenting wind, and how about the 2nd place masters man in shorts and singlet? Chew on that, acorn.
My hometown M40 Fleet Feet Boulder which is super high quality got edged by the always dangerous Fluffy Bunnies, who had a slight edge in team depth. Now that's cross country team racing!
Back home here, one more Mile specific workout with Mrs. T., 8x300 in cold (but no wind or snow) conditions. A strong effort times down to 54 seconds, but left me tired for two days and counting.
Keep those Spokane reports coming as you thaw out.
I had a good race. I was 5th man and 20th I believe (19th in team scoring). 35:35.
The Boulder guys got us up front but we put our 8th man in front of their 5th. good racing for sure. And with the cold conditions it was difficult to see who was who plus my vision was poor with the cold wind. Just kept trying to go forward the whole race.
It was a tough day, very windy and cold, but the footing was good. I did not get passed by anyone the entire race and even out kicked a group of three that I caught with about 1/2 mile to go.
And the after party was great as always. Closed the bar down at the host hotel after we left the party! Just a good weekend all the way around.
Bring track season on!!!
Howdy. Well I didn't run for about a week and a half except for once. Mostly due to schedule and injury. Now I raN 3 MILES ON tHURSDAY AND fRIDAY and 4.5 miles yesterday and 3 miles this morning. All of my aches and pains are completely healed and I feel good except I gained weight and lost endurance. It's warm right now 44 degrees with strong south winds.
the front is coming in from the Northwest and it is to be 2 degrees tonite. I am making gumbo from scratch and watching football. I will remain optimistic as long as I keep on running. Take care. TC.
On iPhone at airport, so must be brief. That was the most brutal weather I've ever run in. Got carried to the first aid tent after - couldn't breathe. They told me my sinus passage was frozen. Man, first time I felt like a so cal wimp at one of these things. Stii, what a team race my Bunny teammates ran! One for the ages!!
I posted before, but I don't think it went thru. If it does later, apologies for the repeat.
Congrats to all Spokane runners. Sounds just miserable, and there were some amazing performances under any conditions, let alone those. I thought of you guys while running a road 8k this morning in DC winter conditions that seemed great by comparison (mid-30's, just a little wind, partly cloudy). Finished 4th in 29:31, same time to the second as my one previous attempt at this course in 2005. The footnote is that I was 2 seconds ahead of Julia Rudd, who has become famous I guess for dating Alan Webb but is a very good runner in her own right (was DIII NCAA champ in the steeplechase, for example).
have a great week
Coach Smith, great description of the race.
I don't much care for cold weather racing but this race was so much fun. I got moved to the A team late in the week and was able to contribute as I was our 6th guy in.
Right after the finish two of my Bowerman teammates and I were heading back to the warming tent and as we tried to talk all we could manage was a mumble since our faces were so numb.
It was an epic experience.
"Coach Smith" = Michael Smith? If so, congrats on your awesome race (3rd 50-54, 9 sec behind masters stud/legend Rick Becker for CNW 2-3 "punch")
Wow. Watching those videos of XC Club Nationals all I can say is...BRUTAL! You guys are loaded with intestinal fortitude.
A very busy work week plus planning for our annual team party left me with little time to work out. I snuck in two strong track workouts and two lifting workouts. The track workouts were done at the local high school but the only available stadium lights were shining on the front stretch, so the back straight was pitch black. I stuck to 300s that avoided the darkest part of the track. It was a little eerie. Last night was our year-end party...it was QUITE festive. A very very good time was had by all. Today is a quiet day for me as I make amends for overindulging last night.
Hope everyone thaws out! Have a great week ahead!
Well this one will go down as one of those races we will tell our grandkids someday. I think the harshest conditions that I have stripped down in to race in my 46 yr lifetime. With 1/2 inch spikes the footing was actually very good, the relentless COLD wind was the deathblow.
Simple race plan: Find somebody to get behind (if possible) going into the wind and pass as many people as I could with it at my back. Humbling hitting 5:42 the first mile and realizing that is what the day would be!
Very happy with our CNW team showing.
Open men 6th
Open women 6th
Masters men 5th
Masters women 1st again
Masters 50's 1st again
Ran to the car faster after the race than I did during the race!
Always cool to see so many good friends again and make new ones. The Brooks party and Race party were so fun.
And yes, as someone said, it is now track season!
Weds 4*k, 3*200m
Sat 10k XC 35:15 2nd man/16th
Howdy Masters,
I couldn't describe the race any better than Coach Smith, except to give the perspective from much, much farther back in the pack. It was brutal bordering on the absurd. It was also a lot of fun... or at least that's how I'll choose to remember it with the passing of time.
By the second lap my face was numb. Heading into the third the strength was gone from my arms (not really starting out with a lot there to begin with) and my hammys were like Jell-O. I got light-headed a couple of times. The wind blew me off course into the snow.
I was sick for a week before the race, lost 5 pounds and couldn't run hard or long, so it's a minor miracle given the conditions that my 41:07 or so was only a little less than two minutes slower than I ran at the NW Region meet three weeks before.
It's amazing the ambulance parked on the side of the course had nothing to do. And it's a credit to all you tough old bastards there were no DNFs. In cross there are no hackers.
Congratulations to everybody who raced. Frozen sinuses? You're an animal SoCal Pete. Who knew Bunnies could be so fierce?
I vote we re-name this week's thread "Survivor Spokane" All in agreement say aye.
From the web posts, photos et al it was obviously off the freakin' charts...and am deeply bummed to have missed it.
Limped around Central Park and Mt Tamalpais for about 35 melba toast miles this week...FINALLY get to see the podiatrist tomorrow (as he was away climbing on Mt Everest for the past month).
To a great holiday season for all MWR&Rers.
best,
MF
Spokane was totally wild. It made Ohio look tame. At least 3 masters runners had serious bouts of hypothermia that I know about. Unfortunately, for me, it turns out that my legs turn to cement in the cold. It happened somewhat in Ohio, and I planned how to make sure I kept my core warm, but as we sprinted out the first 600 yards I found myself 50 yards behind people I always start in front of. I ended up running 2-3 minutes worse compared to all the runners I normally run with. I have like 1-2% body fat and it appears that I just cannot run in the cold. After contemplating this for the past day, the most frustrating thing is that I feel that I didn't get the opportunity to really partake in an epic event. It was my goal race, the only time when most of the competitors are there, and I didn't get to run. Kinda like having a governor on. Oh well... Congratulations to the guys who gutted it through to win, you deserve to be really proud of not only surviving but conquering the elements.
I am a wimp. It was mid 50's, windy, but sunny on my weekend runs and I thought that was brutal. Congratulations to all at Club Nats this weekend. It was an easy 47 mile week for me except for a hard 10 miler on Saturday chasing some younger guys.