Pete MaGill - Tell us what you did to be able to run a 14:34 5k at 46.

Socal Pete and Northwest Master (Tony Young) are both inspirations on this board. Amazing to this old guy. Kudos to both on their accomplishments and their humility.

bump

What is their story? Background?

Are they married? Do they have kids? Are they good fathers?

Maybe they broke the code. I ask because I can't train the way I used to due to family time. Running is too selfish to continue at a high level once your married with kids.

IMO: To be a fast dead beat dad (I know a few) is much worse than a slow active dads.

They are about as upstanding citizens and athletes as you will find anywhere, especially on this board. And yes, I believe they have a reputation of being good fathers.

The reason why Pete has ran well for the past couple of years is, he wears Christian Brothers University Cross Country training shirts. This provides lots of motivation for his tempo runs and speed work.

See you in D.C. in Feb for the USATF XC.

Cheers!

I know TY was very good in college and is still running great times but they are no where near life time pr's. So Cal Pete, I believe, was injured all through college and is actually running life time pr's which is truely amazing.

I am indeed wearing those training shirts! And always happen to don another!!

As to being injured in college ... yeah ... "injured" ... Okay, more like plastered, absent, and generally wasting the vast majority of my youth trying to cram an entire lifetime's worth of vice and stupidity into as few years as possible.

As for these days, I train exceedingly smart and limit vice to excessive beer-drinking post cross-country nationals.

As for family, I have one son, Sean, and lavish as much attention on him as he'll allow (he won't let me do homework with him anymore because he gets tired of explaining his math to me).

As for work - yes, I do. Hard to keep up the running when you're homeless and starving to death.

As for balancing life's many facets, it's easy when you eliminate irrelevant extras like sleep and posting on internet message boards ... oops....

Pete and others really inspire me. Pete and I always race the XC Nationals where he just destroys me (which for his size, I am dumbfounded!), and I get a chance for revenge is a short(er) track race every other year.

I have two kids, a job (as of now), and a 20 yr marriage. I am motivated also by having a real challenge on the calendar that focuses me for a few months of quality training ~ which means early morning jogs and late after work workouts if I can swing it.

My 16 yr old son can probably kick my butt now in everything 5k and down which is cool and a little motivating at the same time.

I enjoy our Sunday thread to keep things going and in perspective.

Cheers

I'm lucky enough to know both Pete and Tony and have to say that they are really dedicated dads, who spend plenty of quality time with their kids.

Tony's weekly missives often include notes on his weekend home duties and his family plans and I know that Pete cared for his son after school every day when he was young and still does a ton of things with and for his son. Neither is a "dead-beat" dad or even a "too busy to be involved" dad (and I know a few of those) - talk to them for a while and you'll hear plenty of from these proud parents.

I think being a parent and trying to run competitively (whether or not you are as fast as these guys) involves some personal sacrifice in terms of "fun" stuff and challenges you to be as creative as possible in trying to squeeze in your workouts without sacrificing your duties as a parent or spouse or worker. That might mean training in the dark after the kids are in bed or still asleep - or clocking into work *really* early, as Pete does, so he is home earlier to spend time with his kid and train.

It helps to have a supportive spouse and family, too. My step-dad always used to say I was "selfish" for running, even when I was a teen-ager, but I guess my own children recognize that the hour or so I spend every day on my running is the way I feed my passion and nurture myself - so I can be a better mom for them. Good parenting is not completely ignoring your own needs and interests, but balancing them with the rest of your life.

Tony's running is a family affair, it's refreshing to see his family support him through his training and races. However, I was most impressed with the family support I saw at the Washington State High School XC Championships for his son Mack. Mack (of course) went on to win and the family went crazy!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/preps/369428_youngs03.html

I've witnessed some of Pete's races as well, and was most impressed when he set his 10K record (mostly alone) at one of the Club Northwest all-comers meet a couple summers ago. When Pete and Tony get together they are so humbled by each other's acheivements, it's very real, it's very cool.

Frank

Tony & Pete, I was hoping to meet you guys at Clubs but the cold weather prevented a lot of hanging around after the race. (I ran in the open 10K). Plus, the post race shin-dig got too crowded to locate folks. Oh well, maybe in warmer Louisville this year. Looking forward to it!!

What kind of mileage can you and Pete manage?

I get in about 60 mpw in the winter, a little less in the summer. That's all I have time for with my work (about 60-70 hrs a week) and family. But, starting in July 09 it looks like I will have a year or so where I will have the time to run more. I'm thinkng about trying to work my way up to 80-90 mpw during that time to try and make some improvements, but I'm also worried about handling that without getting hurt. I'm 44, btw.

1. had great genetics

2. ate donuts

3. ran 14:36

4. ???

5. profit

Tony posted on the 2008 mileage thread that he logged in 3500 miles last year and would like to average 10 miles per day in 2009. From his other posts, I think his family and workplace understand his need to run to keep stress levels down and keep his mind focused. Even if Tony does hit 10 miles per day, that's a generous 10 hours per week, which is not much for most of us to manage. It might mean waking up early a couple of days per week, squeezing in some lunch workouts, and hitting the track rather than having a beer or two after work with your co-workers, but I think it's manageable.

While I don't keep track of my mileage (or even know exactly how far my runs are), I think it's a safe bet that I average around 90-100 on non-race weeks. I also take a month off every year (usually June) to recuperate.

But here's the thing to remember: we as distance runners are training to run longer faster.

Longer is about duration, not distance.

And faster is about motion, not pace.

Duration is not measured by miles. It's measured by our ability to get out there every day (or twice a day) without interruption due to overtraining, injury, etc. An easy pace trains us as well as a faster pace - better, if we spend more time on the roads and trails and less on our couch recovering from tendonitis, PF, etc.

Motion is not improved by picking up the pace. It's improved by better mechanics - by technique drills, hill reps, and the efficiency gained by consistent endurance training (all those long, slow distance runs). And then it's improved by incorporating our improved stride into carefully plotted out interval and fartlek sessions.

In other words, it's not the increased workload that will get you. It's our running ego that wants each workout to be a preview of our next race.

But if you increase gradually, run each workout with the effort required and NO more, and pay attention to your body's feedback, you should have no problem increasing your workload. And might be downright amazed at what you're still capable of achieving.

Good luck!

If you start late into running, you can actually maintain your ability to run well throughout your 40s. Stars who start early, however, are less likely to keep top fitness at such an age.

Thanks Pete. It's encouraging to know you can put in 90-100 mpw. Good advice.

See you at XC nationals. I'll be the guy 4 minutes behind you.

haah wrote:

If you start late into running, you can actually maintain your ability to run well throughout your 40s. Stars who start early, however, are less likely to keep top fitness at such an age.

Is there any empirical evidence to support this? Is there some documented physiological reason? Or is it more because athletes who compete at a very high level when they're young lose the motivation to keep competing in a serious way when they get older and slow down?

I hear this all the time, and usually the person is making the point that everyone has a finite number of competitive years (say 10-20) and if you use it up early you can't do it later. So, the best masters are guys who didn't take up the sport until they were 30 or so. But somehow, I think this is bs.

Take a nice 1980 model car and put it in the garage for ten years.

Take another 1980 model car and drive it consistently for those ten years.

The garage car will function better simply because it won't have the wear and tear of the car that drove for those ten years.