Masters Weekend Races and Runs

"NOT A GREAT running day," a man said as I ran by during an 8 miler yesterday. Any day you can pick 'em up and put 'em down is good, I thought.

But it was the morning of the biggest snowstorm in the Inland Northwest in 15 years, and pretty soon I was slogging through slush up to my shins, slipping on ice and eating face fulls of snow riding frigid wind, and I almost had to admit it really wasn't a great running day.

Almost.

I admit the winter hampered me a bit this week. Single-digit temps and sub-zero windchills most mornings made it tough to stay out too long.

Best day was a mid-week 9 miles up on one of the passes where a forest road was groomed for snowmobiles. The sun was out, and snowflakes blowing off of tree branches shimmered in the light.

Feeling a little imtimidated by everyone's big miles and fast workouts and races this week. This is a tough crowd. I'm going to try to turn that intimidation to inspiration and step it up this week. The good news is it's warmed up a little. Bad news: More snow is coming.

Have a great week everybody.

SoCalPete.....those little round ones are called 'Pasties'. :-) I'm sensing a race name for you at the Beer Mile this year....

My remedy has been to rub the ol' Body Glide over the nipples, works just fine. Rain nor sweat dilutes the coverage.

Muddy Girl, can we talk you into demonstrating the white t-shirt technique in San Diego?

1500Master

Interesting MP3: Scott Douglas interviewing Greg McMillan on Masters Runners, from Running Times, via the 50+ group on CoolRunning/Active:

http://runningtimes.com/RTradio/magazine/McMillanMasters.mp3

He notes that successful Masters tend to race a lot year-round, even if they require more rest days after hard efforts.

Joe

Pete--My planned marathon pace is probably less than my capability, if you look at the "conversion charts". Based on that I should be in the 3:08-3:10 range. My best is 3:16 and that was 6 years ago (I'm 53 now). Unfortunatly, possibly because I don't do my long runs slow enough, I end up bonking if I go out at the pace my head says I could run, e.g., Boston 2006 went out at 3:15 pace, dragged in at 3:30, not the first time that has happened. I'm planning 22 this weekend and would like to keep them at 8:20-8:30/mile.

I have the same problem with chafing nipples, especially on long runs. I have lots of stained shirts from Bodyglide. A few years back I used a different product that I picked up at a running store out of town, but don't remember the name of it and can't find it anywhere (no luck with Google either). It worked better than Bodyglide with less staining.

As for my running, it's about non-existent the past two weeks. Developed (I think) tendonitis on the outside of my left hip. I think it's from shoveling snow 6-8 times in Dec & Jan, compounded by running in snow. This is supposed to be a desert. In fact it's snowing again as I type.

I see an orthopedic doc this afternoon so maybe he'll give me a magic shot or something.

JM

no longer stressed wrote:

this might be last week's news, but ithaca's steve gallow took a great bunch of photos at the hartshorne mile, which are just now online at the finger lakes runners club web site:

http://www.fingerlakesrunners.org/races/photos/2008/hartshorne/index.cfm?s=Misc

of particular note to me is the series of shots of the women's 40-49 elite race. lap after lap, alisa harvey appeared completely relaxed; contrast her demeanor with the others in her heat. all the races were exciting to watch unfold, but hers was particularly beautiful.

Thanks for the great Pics!

Yikes now I feel like dusting off my spikes.

Love my fartleks a few days a week.

Can't/Won't do the miles.

Conflicts between desire and motivation as usual

time for coffeee

Funny we have a sub-plot about men's nipples this week (nipple - that's a funny word...), but:

1500Master wrote: My remedy has been to rub the ol' Body Glide over the nipples, works just fine.

I'm not running much - maybe 15 - 20 mpw, but making the most out of skiing, but putting another 7-8 hr/week (maybe 100k).

They cancelled ski races on Saturday because it was too cold (-23F), but on Sunday they had the 3rd of 5 snowshoe races. It was a balmy -10 or so, but we had a section through a spruce bog where it had to be -25.

I got 2nd again, but it was solid result for a geezer about to turn 50. Ran at LT effort the whole way and gained a lot of ground over the 2nd half of the course.

LR (not this thread typcially) can be pretty skeptical, so if you think I'm BSing about all this, here's a link with some pretty awesome pictures of what it's like to snowshoe run at -10:

http://www.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/lth/events/crosscountry/Snowshoe/Snowshoe%20Index.html

AK-49, -23 ? lol.. that is incredible. Love the pictures.

AK-49,

Have you ever run the Mt. Marathon race in Seward? I worked at Seward Fisheries in the 70's to pay for school and managed to run this race a few times. Speed means nothing. I had 4:10 mile speed at the time and it didn't help one bit. All mountain goat. The guy from Anchorage kept winning it, something Spencer???

Great pictures. Nice juxtaposition with SoCal's post about not wanting to pull off a chest few hairs ;-) I had considered getting some snowshoes this winter, but there hasn't been enough snow locally. Someday...

Old Man by the Sea wrote:

AK-49, -23 ? lol.. that is incredible. Love the pictures.

I live in the land of "liquid sunshine" and never have nipple issues. Aside from my obviously superior nipple genetics, I almost always wear a layer of cotton over my capilene/drifit layer. The cotton absorbs the water away from the poly layer, creating a powerful wicking effect. I often return from heavy rain runs,and by the time I grab a cup of tea and peel the shirts off, my skin is virtually dry.

Thanks for the photos of Hartshorne. Makes me want to be a Master's stud when I grow up (though I'm well past 40). Alisa always has an incredibly serene look on her face while crushing the clock.

I'd comment on how nice many of those women look, but we don't need "legally blonde" on this thread ;)

1500Master wrote:

AK-49,

Have you ever run the Mt. Marathon race in Seward? I worked at Seward Fisheries in the 70's to pay for school and managed to run this race a few times. Speed means nothing. I had 4:10 mile speed at the time and it didn't help one bit. All mountain goat. The guy from Anchorage kept winning it, something Spencer???

No I haven't done that race. It's a huge deal in Alaska and people travel from all over the continent to run it. I love the hill climb idea--but the downhill sounds scary, ankle and wrist breaking stuff if you fall.

That would be Bill Spencer, a US Olympic skier, probably among the top 5 or 6 best skiers (based on international results) out of the US over the past 20 years or so. He's probably more famous for the Mountain Man, however.

Bill Spencer. He won this race for many years. Thanks for remembering. I googled the race and came up with the following picture link. No race history data though, I think I was a top 20, but can't remember. Yes, the thought of breaking something was strong, especially in the lower sections that required scampering over large rocks with some serious drop-offs.

http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Mt.%20Marathon%20Race%203.htm

As you can see, mile speed means nothing. The views from Mt. Marathon are spectacular, extending down to the gulf of Alaska about 12-13 miles away....all snow capped peaks.

Thanks AK!

On the nipple chafing issue: I use athletic tape. I don't particularly mind the hairs being pulled when you pull it off. What is more annoying is that I have enough hair there to make it impossible for the tape to stick to the skin. Hence the athletic tape: wider & bigger than band aid, so less chance of it coming loose. When I race a marathon, I will usually shave around my nipples so the tape will be sure to stick. Looks utterly ridiculous, though!

I suppose a really tight under-armour shirt might work sort of like a jog-bra for men, though I've never tried.

On the high mileage issue: it only seems to work well for me if I run first thing in the morning. Otherwise work or other things get in the way.

Maurits

It's a weird subject but I use a trimmer and shave around my nipples also for adhesiveness and comfort when pulling it off. The wide athletic tape sounds like a good idea. I saw a young guy about 30 coming off of Pikes Peak in July with blood all over his white T-shirt and I just winced.

I'll do my best to imitate the sprinting, but the intervening years have not increased my interest in participating in wet t-shirt exhibitions, so thankfully, no! ;-D

Nipples of Steel wrote:

I almost always wear a layer of cotton over my capilene/drifit layer. The cotton absorbs the water away from the poly layer, creating a powerful wicking effect. I often return from heavy rain runs,and by the time I grab a cup of tea and peel the shirts off, my skin is virtually dry.

I can verify that this works for me too.

maurits wrote:

On the nipple chafing issue: I use athletic tape. I don't particularly mind the hairs being pulled when you pull it off. What is more annoying is that I have enough hair there to make it impossible for the tape to stick to the skin. Hence the athletic tape: wider & bigger than band aid, so less chance of it coming loose. When I race a marathon, I will usually shave around my nipples so the tape will be sure to stick. Looks utterly ridiculous, though!

Wow. You learn the most amazing things on this thread :)