Masters Weekend Runs and Races

glad to hear the hurricane left you intact, OMBTS.

ok week for me -- 70 miles incl. 21 with 10 at marathon pace (a little too fast, 60:46 with 62:00 intended) Tuesday and then a track 10,000 yesterday in 35:22 (overall win, albeit in a race of only 4).

My goal was 34:35 (83 seconds/lap), but when I got there and saw it was windy and time-trial-like (none of us finished on the same lap as anyone else -- within about 10 steps of the start we were all going solo) I figured under 35:00 would be decent. Went out a little too fast and then had I guess a failure of will as the initial goal slipped away. The middle part seemed to last forever, broken up once in a while by a guy telling me "17 laps to go........16 more laps.......".

so, not a great first 10,000, but some day I'd be interested in trying to peak for one of these that would have other people at same pace and see what I could do.

have a great week,

Dave

Feeling like a slow old man of late. I did have a great workout Tuesday night, but I seem to only be able to muster one good run a week, and the rest are just plodding along. Ran 15 miles yesterday and it was just way too slow than usual for reasons I can't explain. The sands of time are starting to catch up with me, I fear. That, and this new job, which is great but very time consuming.

Dhaaga, the only time I ever ran a 10k on a track was about 9 years ago when living in the UK. I remember those middle laps all too well. I remember thinking, "why the hell is this taking so long?" 12 laps to go, 11 laps to go, 10 laps to go...

OMBTS, Navy-Maryland tomorrow should be a good one. Go Navy!

Other than my somewhat disappointing running of late, life is good. Sitting out on my back porch in the nice cool dry air listening to Miles Davis with a pair of Bose QC-15 headphones. Going to take my younger son golfing this afternoon. A lot to be thankful for.

Have a great week everyone!

Run at first light...ancient dirt "roads" connect tiny 13th century agrarian towns...stumbling along amongst groves of old growth olive trees trying not trip on the white- tailed rabbits that continually darted across my path...climbing the precpitous rise at kilometer three, am rewarded with my first distant glimpse of the village ahead and the imposing miniaret of the ubiquitous cathedral...glancing to the left one could not miss the massive red fire ball barely peaking above the Mediterranean horizon due east...the golden hues it cast across the freshly mown hay fields remind of the goldenrod crayon from a long ago Crayola box...upon turning about face to roll back to from where I'd come, the brilliance of the out and back course is not lost on me...although covering ground already traveled, the opposite direction provides brand new panoramas not seen during the first half...beyond the village to which I'm returning the Spanish countryside rolls undulating until colliding with the dramatic uplifting referred to as the Pyrenees...the reflecting light they project are a sight for sore eyes...rounding the final bend for "home" I am greeted by my own Wilt Chamberlain length shadow and a massive field of sun flowers like a scene from the Provencal sections of Tour de France... a truly delightful early morning run for which I am most grateful...lent new meaning to the travel book that I just completed, The Sun Also Rises!

Train, don't strain and have a fine week of masters running racing.

MF

MF, I can almost picture that with such a great description.

Dhagga - well done!

Arrived in Paris this morning at 6:45, took the train into the city. Fearing I would have to wait for a room at my hotel to be ready, usually 2:00, I was a greeted with an immediate check-in. Hit the dreadmill in order to short circuit jet leg, so managed a good effort.

Took a shower and 'plop' I fell asleep for a few hours. No worries. Took a walk down to Isle St. Loius and back, about an hour. So many people out on bikes and on skates, an amazing number of people skating.

Sat outdoors drinking some wine, watching the world go by. French fashion for the females rates 10/10.

Hope to get up early and run to several scenic spots before traffic gets bad.

Saw a very busy tapas bar and thought about throwing a little Spain down the gullet in MF's honor, but this is Paris so had to contimue on.

Have a great week!

Back from my visit to Colorado. Got to see Mom and my brothers and their families and run in the Rocky Mt Masters Games. Fantastic meet, but now I'm resting my achilles. It was greatly improved since the national meet in late July but still needs some more R&R before it's 100%, so I'm committed to only low-impact work (weights, swimming, elliptical) for the entire month of September.

OMBTS, glad to hear that you weren't blown out to sea.

And speaking of XC, our club is sponsoring a race November 6 at Ancil Hoffman Park in Sacto. Just got the sanction from USATF. It's a 5K over a beautiful wooded setting --true XC. If you're in town, please consider running it! I'll be working the registration table.

I just got back from a track practice, where I did NOT run but I supervised my son's return to hurdling. It was a bit rough as I could have predicted, but I'm afraid that I was a little overenthusiastic....the kid upchucked at the end. Actually I blame it on a sugary carb-loaded breakfast that made him a little woozy after several hurdle runs. I can see that I have to get him into better nutrition habits.

Hope everyone has a great week! I guess I can update you on the number of minutes I spend on the elliptical, or the laps that I swim....Whooo Hoooo!

The sun came back out, with a perfect week of light breezes and 70 degrees. Richmond Park is beautiful at the moment. Both my kids started new (and different) schools this week and the ensuing chaos made training impossible for a couple of days.

1 light track session: hurdles, 4x100, 4x400, 4x200.

1 10-miler including 5 miles tempo. The cycle path has 10mph speed limit signs, still hoping to get a ticket one day ;-)

A few easy runs to work and back

1 weights, 1 circuits; sore from weights

Total 47 miles. Resolved to hit 60 next week!

A most forgetable week of "running." Had to check my calendar to remember what I did/didn't do.

Highlights: Just back from an easy half hour of running plus strides as I was mostly watching/supporting a women's half marathon in town. Interestingly enough, at the last point I saw runners, men were in positions one and three.

Did my first triple in some time: a struggling 30 minutes in the morning, a hard 40 in the afternoon, and 30 in the water after dark.

Good to hear the Outer Banks still exist. From the news reports, I figured OMBTS would have been arriving out here on the 10 o'clock easterly.

Gonna get this in now before I take a rejuvenation-nap in a few minutes.

Good week of 72 miles with one workout and a very low-key XC 5k race around one of the neighboring parks (amazing how many times you can turn in a 3.1 mile race?).

Watched my son run in his first college XC race. He finished strong (his trademark in HS) and went from 22nd to 9th in the last mile. Great start to running with the big guys.

Tues 5 x 1k (3:08 ~ 3:00)

Sat 5k XC (16:50) fun event for the local HS

Cheers

Nice pictures of your new American record!

Muchos Felicidados!!

Tony, congrats on your sons first race ! must be exciting to have a son run for a storied program like WSU. Pops must be proud ! Very cool.

After this summers humidity I am ready to fly out west. August showed up in June and stayed. Fall can't get here fast enough.

Sea level week after next!!!!

I may feel like a runner. Those slow as molasas miles will become turtle fast!

Another week on the mechanical legs. With any luck, I'll get my leg cast off this week. Spent the last two weeks on the rowing machine.

Very proud ~ I told him that he doesn't EVER have to worry about school records at WSU (Rono & Lagat).

Cheers

TY, Has he found the move from H.S. to college challenging ? did he do a tough summer mileage program ?

OMBTS ~ always been a low mileage runner in HS (six days a week). He was a little too inconsistent this Summer and spent alot of his time camping, working (!!), & could have been better prepared for the jump, but it's on him now so live a learn. Ten pounds lighter later, he seems to be "flowing" again over the grass. Still a LONG way to go though. I will bore you with occaisional updates.

Go Navy ~ by-the-way!

Last question, how much mileage is he doing now ?

Navy should win today, I love their offense but have to stick with the Terps. You and Navy Master should get a easy win today. Last season most likely for Big Ralph.

TY - it will be fun watching Mack's progress! You won't be boring us!

Recovery week from HTC - I always take it super easy the week after and at 50, that became really true. I had a tough week at work (little sleep and dehydrated) so that made running not so fun.

Rebounded by the end of the week with a 10 miler with daughter and a 14 miler solo yesterday. Back to work!

17 year old daughter had a BLAST running Portland to Coast (two legs, not 3 like HTC). She saw 1 min slower than her projected on her first 4.6 mi leg, but ran 2 minutes faster on her second 3.75. More importantly, she had fun and got a taste of what it would be like to be counted on in a team race. She got a lot from the event and was happy and excited about it.

Her team ran a 3k race on Friday night and she didn't quite crack into varsity, but she ran well (and almost exactly what I had predicted/hoped), finishing 9th for the team. But there are 5 girls within 10 seconds of her, and 5k is different from 3k, so there's hope! She said her first mile was "too fast" (they haven't done any running at 5k pace yet) - and in fact, it was her fastest official mile ever, but it was good for her to experience that as well (she's a slow starter like her mom). I do see her beating my 5k time this fall (and I'm hoping for it) and that should land her solidly on varsity.

Time to knuckle down and put in the work for my beloved xc season. Nationals aren't until December, but we have the 5k champs in mid-October, so I'd like to be in somewhat decent shape by then.

Still continuing my gradual progress back into a semblance of fitness. I had a conference in DC over the weekend, so I got to run down Rock Creek Park & the Mall, always fun!

I'm close to running 1 hour/day again, so it might be time to throw in a little tempo work, especially now that the humidity is a little better in the aftermath of the over-hyped Earl.

Have a great week running everyone!

Maurits