Masters Weekend Races and Runs

Greetings Master Blasters from John and I over here in the good olde UK....Loving running on the country roads and taking in the fields of sheep,beautiful homes, and enjoying a British brew later on, both tea and beer but not together :o)

Planning on heading to my old club of Oxford A/C and do a lap or 2 at Iffley Road where Roger Bannister first broke the 4 minute mile in 1954, ahem before my time.

We will also travel to Birmingham (not Alabama)....this coming Saturday to take in the IAAF Norwhich GP meet, where Bekele will attempt a stab at the indoor 2000meter world record.

Hope all is well with you guys and keep healthy in your training and racing. From England cheerio for now.....

tbirdxc:

I very much enjoyed meeting new people this past weekend in Boulder. It was great to meet you. (I envy your being able to spend some time with the greats.) I hope you had a nice, uneventful trip back home. (I'm thinking about running the half-marathon in Lincoln this spring.)

Let me say this about altitude, given my living most of my life at 7200': Running/racing at altitude makes itself known to me primarily as acting as a "governor" on my distance running speed. The partial pressure of oxygen is too low to allow the same physiology as one enjoys running at sea level.

As you know, sprinters and throwers typically see improved distances/times at altitude, probably due to decreased wind resistance. Distance runners' times suffer at altitude. (I think the 800m-1500m is about the break point.) Training at altitude can be to a person's advantage, as long as part of that training involves doing some tempo/speed work att he pace one hopes to run when one decends in elevation to race. (Yes, for me, going to Boulder was a treat of lower elevation.)

I think my first kilometer split was significantly faster than the subsequent ones not because I somehow hit "the altitude wall", but rather beacuse I tried to get out ahead of the mass of the pack so I could negotiate the course with better line options. (Maybe the "quick" first kilometer had some bearing on the pace of my third and fourth laps. I don't know. I'd do the same thing again.)

Take care.

Finally started running again...first real week since Club Nats. 60 miles, all easy runs except for The Beast on Saturday...was going to run easy until Rich Burns showed up & put the pressure on.

Pete, great job in your race...you are one tough bunny.

Congrats to the Boulder runners! Sounds like they put on a great event.

Took a break from Nordic ski season to run a 9.3k snowshoe race. As always, with those things that was tough! We ran a 3k loop that was single lane the whole way. I came in figuring to run a tempo effort and place maybe in the top 5, but several top locals were no shows. So after a quick start, I found myself suddenly place 2nd place just a few hundred meters in when this guy wearing old style wooden shoes took a tumble. I had to hurdle him and barely kept afoot.

Then it became a 3-man race, all of us masters, for the 1st lap. I fell half through that lap, which was very technical with lots of turns, steep descents, and tree dodging. First and 2nd were pulling away, and I wasn't too keen on going to oxygen debt so soon and just followed them, about 40 m back. They slowed considerably on the steady climb (about 1 km worth) up to the start area and I was able to catch my breath and reel them in.

The leader stepped off at the lap and 2nd place hesitated so I took the lead. I kept it steady the rest of the way by pushing the downhills, easing up on to aerobic level the flats, and maintaining an even threshold-type effort on the ups. The leader of the 1st lap fell way back, but the other masters runner stayed close (w/i 10-15 sec) throughout the 2nd lap.

Used the same tactics on the third lap, and my pursuer fell out of contact and finished about 40 sec back.

Not counting the 70-80 m spur at the start and finish, the 3k splits were something like 15:40, 15:10, and 15:00. It was all pretty much aerobic or threshold, but I was way tired for the rest of the day and for Sunday's 2.5 hr ski.

Got back last night from a great weekend in Boulder.

My race was a disappointment, to say the least. Felt like I was cruising easily through the first mile or so, but then it felt like I ran out of gas. It was not the same breathless sensation that Pete and muddy girl have described, although I am familiar with that feeling, having experienced it in an altitude simulator. For me, it was more like an overall weariness that forced me to shut down physically and mentally. My time for the distance was a couple of minutes slower than what I had done relatively easily in a tempo run over the same distance on an XC course near me a few weeks ago. Oh well, I still managed to avoid a DFL.

Not much to add to what others have said about the great job Pete Julian and others did in organizing the races in Boulder. Had a great time watching the other races. Someone described the creek crossing (dubbed "Jonesy's Surprise) as like sitting near a bad turn at a NASCAR race. Naturally, we didn't want to see anyone hurt, but it was fun watching runners slip and slide trying to negotiate it. I even manage to gasp to the crowd as I made my way through for the last time, "Come on, admit it,

you would love to see me fall!"

The geek part of me very much enjoyed meeting and talking with so many running greats from the past and present who were, without exception, quite gracious and unassuming. At one point, I was standing beside the course and overheard I guy talking about what it was like when he raced in the U.S. and in Europe. I said to him, "Forgive me, I don't recognize many of the faces, but I know most of the names. What's your name?" He said, "I'm Jon." It wasn't until I pressed him for his last name that he told me it was "Sinclair." He was just blending in with the crowd, enjoying the races.

Talked with a few guys and gals at the party. Legends like Steve Jones and Arturo Barrios were hanging out and exchanging pleasantries. Compared notes on New Jersey with Steve Slattery. Abdi acknowledged that he had "gotten (his) butt kicked." He didn't seem to take particular solace from the admission that I had suffered the same fate. I asked Ed Torres why he and his brother didn't at least have different hair styles so people like me could tell them apart. He seemed happy to have finished tenth and probably made the team for Worlds, although like most, he wasn't sure if he was going.

I did have one personal best. One of the bartenders at the party told me that every drink at altitude was equivalent to three at sea level. If that is true, my five beers for the night would be equal to fifteen, far exceeding my previous best.

My biggest regret was that I wasn't able to connect with more Letsrunners. How do you guys recognize one another. I said hi to SoCal Pete, who I had met in NY last year, but he was the only LR person I know. I know wejo and others were there. Hey wejo, can we have Letsrun nametags or something next time?

Off to Tampa Friday to run Gasparilla and visit with a friend. Hope everyone has a good week.

OXCG

Thanks for the report. Good stuff.

Last week's run ended pretty well.

The hard effort is over 4 miles.

Had a nice moment of clarity on my run last week.

I run hard to enter into a state of mind like no other.

Everything is slow crisp clarity.The internal dialog stops.The joy of feeling fit and fast rejuvenates.

Bike riding is very enjoyable but my true love is running hard.