Masters Weekend Races and Runs

nyloco, wow , second hand smoke can do that ? best of luck in dealing with it.

spikez, remind not to play volleyball with you if we were to ever meet, I wouldn't think volleyballs taste good.

Ugh...end of a very hectic week. Had to drive to West Palm Beach, Florida overnight on Monday. Arrived on Tue in time to clean up and attend the viewing for my dad. Then spent the evening with family as we celebrated my dad's life. Managed a 7 miler Wed am. Since I was asked to give the Eulogy at the funeral that afternoon, I spent the 50 minutes or so forming my thoughts. It was tough, but based on the response from my dads sisters and brothers I did pretty well. (while remembering my dad and his life I spoke about family and legacy) Traveled back on Thur/Fri so again didn't get chance to run. Saturday was spent working at the Austin Marathon Expo. Did manage to struggle thru a hilly humid 1/2 marathon...end result of all the above, I'm exhausted!

Thanks for the kind words last week. My dad will be missed, but remembered fondly!

nyloco wrote:

Two days later, I get a call asking me if I ever smoked (answer is no). They evidently saw evidence of emphysema in my lungs, and want to do more tests. I was exposed to an awful lot of second hand smoke growing up,

That's terrible. And scary. That is one of my big fears growing up in a smoking household, although I have never smoked myself and really have tried to stay very healthy just like everyone on this board. Might there be any alternative treatments that keep emphysema from progressing?

Skate wrote:

Those 1/4's were done on a treadmill I take it?

.

Yes, but I have been doing all my workouts at 3% incline which helps the "feel" of the speedwork. Last winter, my knees ached all the time after hard treadmill workouts that I was running at level incline. The other difference is that at 3% incline the pace you can run is slower so it takes another 10 seconds for each repeat. (based on 40 seconds dif/mile) I ended up running about 26 minutes at pace so I know it was at or slower than 5k pace effort.

Other sports? I enjoy X-C skiing but was never fast. Love a long bike ride but 18-20MPH is max. Tried to wrestle in HS, but I swear all that starving to make weight, stunted my growth. Running was the ticket.

Here in WI it's the week of the rollercoaster. Temps. as Hi as 50F following last weeks deep freeze-20F's. Snow dropped and vanished in places but it's being rapidly replenished at the present(14" locally).

5 runs yielded 20 miles@ 65% HR max. Not saying much, but it's the best I've mustered since last summer"s PF episode.

Sat AM I took part in a local X-C ski race. Covered 23 K in 1:43. The snow was rocket fast and wicked hard. Result ...3 diggers and a raspberry glute. The glacial rollercoaster is it's own reward, topped with bluebird skies and moderate windfree temps.

Looking forward to next Sats. Birkebeiner ( and a peaceful resolution to the turmoil in Madison.)

Well, the snow shovel is beckoning a cross-training effort.

Good week all

GaryB, Sorry for your loss. I gave the eulogy for my best friend of 44 years almost exactly a year ago today. It still hurts.

Tim

Jogged 46 miles then ran lead off leg at the awesomely cool Valley Ford Relays through the dense fog and cow pastures on Tomales Bay in super rural West Sonoma County...surreal and sublimely beautiful.

Secondary passions are golf and wine...never together and not necessarily in that order...and my dog and wife...not necessarily together but probably in that order ;}

MF

Howdy Masters.

Raced an indoor 800m yesterday -- just my second indoor race ever along with an 800 in Reno 150 years ago. Ran the first/slowest heat with a bunch of college and high school kids.

Holy crap they went out fast.

The 31.5 or 32 flat I split for the first 200, waaay off the back, was my fastest 200 since last summer.

After that it was all pretty much damage control.

Managed to pull the back of the field back over the last lap. A few of us fought desperately down the backstretch for a meaningless place even as the leaders neared the line. I got one and tried to jump another in the last turn, but that was like lighting a match to the kid's afterburners. He bolted, got a gap and I couldn't close it.

I ran a low 2:18, which was actually a little better than I expected.

And here's the killer: It was faster than the race in Reno those many years ago. So, at 45, in February, with no meaningful speedwork, I sort of set an 800m PR.

Afterwards there was the half-miler's hack, the faint taste of blood under the tongue, the burning in the chest as if the lungs were singed with a red-hot rod of rebar. Man track is great.

Decent week of training. About 61.5 miles, with 4x5 min. hard/1min. easy Tuesday, race Saturday, 18 miles today.

Played soccer pretty seriously growning up and through high school. Now a sometimes go through phases where I swim a bit. I know how to use my bike. But mostly I run unless I can't. As a couple others have mentioned here already, I do need to start working on more core and stability stuff -- you know, so I can run more.

Gary B,

MOST sorry for your loss...Wednesday was the 1 year anniversary of the passing of my own Pop...wasn't really sure how to reckon it but managed a long slow solo jog of refelection and lots of warm rememberances throughout the day...feeling more somber than celebratory but reminding myself how purely graced that I was to have such a bad ass WWll Purple heart toting stud in my life as long as I did...on a nearly daily basis I ask myself, "WWND?" What would Nick do and make certain decisions accordinglly...I hear him hollering at me or cheering me on occassion and just holler back "Thanks Dad"...for everything... a really touching song that I suggest listening to as a part of loss mantra...Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart For A While"...sweet and haunting and will touch your soul.

Hang in there GaryB you are not alone.

very warm wishes of consolation,

MF

Ugh...end of a very hectic week. Had to drive to West Palm Beach, Florida overnight on Monday. Arrived on Tue in time to clean up and attend the viewing for my dad. Then spent the evening with family as we celebrated my dad's life. Managed a 7 miler Wed am. Since I was asked to give the Eulogy at the funeral that afternoon, I spent the 50 minutes or so forming my thoughts. It was tough, but based on the response from my dads sisters and brothers I did pretty well. (while remembering my dad and his life I spoke about family and legacy) Traveled back on Thur/Fri so again didn't get chance to run. Saturday was spent working at the Austin Marathon Expo. Did manage to struggle thru a hilly humid 1/2 marathon...end result of all the above, I'm exhausted!

Thanks for the kind words last week. My dad will be missed, but remembered fondly![/quote]

Great job in the 800. Great description too.

Funny, coincidence I guess, but tonight I was cleaning up the garage and found a bag of medals - (somehow all those medals just end up in a bag in a dusty garage), but anyway one of them said Silverstate- 1999. I ran an 800 there, actually I think I won.

Hello felllow masters.

This is my first post on this message board.

Yesterday, Sunday, I ran the first time for 77 days, following a fractured right wrist I sustained at work in mid December.

I ran on the track so no one else was about in order to concentrate on my form rather than worry about falling over dogs and casual walkers on my normal route.

It was for 5k and I ran 21.40, closing the last 200 in 47 secs.

After @ 8 mins rec, I ran 8x100m strides, off 2 minutes,ave 17 secs, slowest 17.3, fastest 16.75.

After the fracture, I did no cardio work for 4 weeks, but mainatained lower body strength through body weight squats, calf raises, sit ups, leg raises.

I then bought an exercise bike, which I have used for the last 7 weeks, and have been able to get in some decent sessions, HR upto 168 at times, but not maxing out.

I was planning my usual indoor season, masters champs and Euro indoors, but this went out the window with the injury.

My breathing felt ok, but my legs seemed like blocks of wood, probably as a result of the increased strength work and static cycling pumping up my quads.

I plan on using the static bike every other day in between running, to incorporate recovery and high intensity workouts without the pounding on the legs.

It was so good to run again after such a long lay off, and hope to be competing in early spring.

I am 51 tomorrow, and hopefully my new regime will bring me a sub 2.10 800 and sub 58 400 this season. Last year I ran 2.12.2, and 58.5.

My next run I plan on a 3200m, at a faster pace than the 5K.

As a PS, the cycling definately helped my mental state in not being able to run, and may boost my vO2 to boot !

I will keep you posted as to how I progress.

Thanks for posting from across the pond, welcome !

MF, you have a gift with words. thanks.

Skin, thinking of you and your quest to get better, hang in there.

nyloco wrote:

Two days later, I get a call asking me if I ever smoked (answer is no). They evidently saw evidence of emphysema in my lungs, and want to do more tests. I was exposed to an awful lot of second hand smoke growing up, and I guess this is consistent with the bouts of pneumonia, bronchitis and other maladies I have suffered over the years. But fortunately running is one of the best activities I can do to suppress the disease, and I'm sure I'll become better friends with Mr. Al Buterol.

nyloco,

I thought I would share a story with you.

In December I ran the Las Vegas Marathon, for awhile I ran with a gentleman who revealed that he is dealing with a progressive lung condition of which the symptoms sound similar to yours (my apologies, I forget the name of the condition he had been diagnosed with). Of particular interest may be that the day before the Las Vegas marathon, he had COMPLETED THE DEATH VALLEY MARATHON!! He indicated that he had completed back to back marathons on several occasions.

I had a pretty good week. I ran a 3k leg in an ekiden in Osaka in 11:02. I also ran two workouts, 10k with the first 7K at 4:10 per k and the last 3k under 4 per k. I also ran 5x1k at CV pace, 3:51. This is the first week I have gotten in three quality workouts in a while. I have been avoiding "speed" work for years and hopefully can keep it up.

First to GaryB, very sorry for your loss. That is never easy.

To the guy with early signs of emphysema. Get a good Pulmonologist. I have a chronic lung disease also. The initial couple of years were rough as they tried to figure out what it was but, I hardly notice any problems now that I am on meds and back to being very active. Yes, it had some effect on my running but, so did age. I still run and the very best thing for emphysema is aerobic exercise.

This week was a good one for me. 53 miles total. I had to do my long run on Monday instead of Sunday due to crazy winds....first 20 miler in a long time..>I think the whole thing hurt!

Have a great week everyone!

i was going to begin my post with "struggled through the week...", then read garyb's post. really sorry for your loss, for your difficult week, and the difficult weeks to come. i hope family, friends, and running can provide some respite.

so, with proper perspective: it appears last week's mile race and a minor cold have conspired against my right calf--strange, since usually my left seems to take the brunt of my workouts. had to bail out of tuesday night's track workout, then took a couple of days off, and a couple of days easy. however, i was lucky enough today to be able to run with my 9 year old daughter--a 21:36 5k. calf is still a little tender, so this tuesday night's workout will be a gametime decision.

other sports? for the most part i'm a one-trick pony, good at running around in circles; however, i used to also navigate with some skill even shorter circles with short track speedskates during my junior high years (not very common in southern california), but it became too much when i started running in 10th grade.

enjoy your week,

cush