Masters Weekend Races and Runs

Lots of good news on the thread today.

Decent week for me, two speed workouts and some decent base miles. Skiing again this weekend, likely for the last time this winter. Plenty of biking and running in the months to come.

An especially big congrats to 1500 Master. We will hit the 34 week mark this Friday ... exciting times!

Lots of good stories - congratulations to Pete and Tony and especially the expanded 1500 Master family. Thanks to the rest of you for your updates. It was not a good weekend weatherwise, so I reluctantly did my 19 miles on the treadmill rather than face single digit wind chill this morning. Afternoon would have normally worked, but I took this kids to a matinee. One more long run next weekend, then a weekend to taper, a fast HM and one other weekend after that to get through before Boston. I can't wait for nice weather to get back on the trails and track.

Nothing too exciting in my training, though I did drop my 9 mile tempo pace by 4 secs/mile without going into race mode. I'm feeling much stronger than last summer in spite of being a little older. It also looks like I'll do the reincarnated Stowe 8 miler this summer instead of the Boilermaker.

1500Master - Yes, indeed, yours IS the best news of the week!!! You are so lucky to be starting on this journey! And "Olivia," what a great name! Congrats many times over, and I can hardly wait to meet Olivia in the near future.

Tracklover - This was probably my best pure time since becoming a master, but I don't think it was my best race. That would have to be the 2004 Carlsbad 5000 (where I won over Brian Pope, Danny Martinez, Alfredo Vigueras, and Dennis Simonaitis - basicially the biggest collection of American masters distance running talent at that time), or the 2005 Club Nationals X-Country Meet, where I beat Scott Bagley by an inch or so for the title, after spending 5 of the previous 9 months completely off running due to plantar fascitis - a win which helped my club eek out a 4 point team championship over Scott's Genesee Valley Harriers. Still, this one was good!!!

Awesome, SoCalPete. Simply awesome.

Fred

What a week it was for the thread. 2 unbeleivable runs and daughter to an amasingly nice guy and health for most of us. Beautiful!

My week was typical wife and her team did the TIR I drove the van. staying up for 36 hours ain't easy for an almost 55 year old. Took a bunch of sleep to recover. The girls had the 4th fastest time of 120 teams. The wife stays she is done with those too much recovery.I'd agree.

Did a loop today I haven't been able to do in almost 2 years. My running buddy and I were slower than ever but it felt good to be able to do my favorite from home loop. Felt decent my running buddy is now fast asleep in her dog bed. We will both be limping around tommorrow.

Have a good week all and get some sleep, Matt.

Wow! SoCal Pete &TY, you guys rock! I have not posted on here since turning forty over a year ago, but check every week to see what is going on, simply inspiring. So much, I ran my first race in over seven years today. I swallowed my pride, took my lumps, ran slower than I think I ever had at 2-miles (11:40), but I had a blast being back out trying to run hard. Thanks guys for reminding me why I got in this crazy sport to begin with 26 years ago. I look forward to setting some racing goals again and getting out after it.

Wow...you guys (So Cal Pete & Ty) are in another league for sure. 14:34? 15:34 is out of bounds...Jeez..and the 3k time is crazy. I always see some pretty crazy training so i guess it all paid off..that and God given talent.

Good job!

I am trying to get back into it...after San Diego XC I am trying to focus and make running a bit more of a priority than it has been this last year.

Actually hit the track this week..for a 1200/800/400/200 x 2..only could manage about 80pace...got a 20 min tempo and a long run at China Camp in this week too..so much better than before. Glad it is nice weather.

I am up in Portland Wed/Thurs..hope the weather is good up there too.

Pete, great race and congrats. How close is the 14:36 to your lifetime pr?

Howdy Masters,

SoCal, TY... you guys know it's only March, right? Geez.

Congtats to 1500 Master and family. Best wishes.

OMBTS, hope you get the rig rebuilt and running again soon.

Crawling out of a 10-day bout with flu here. Training minimal. But yesterday I planned a training and racing schedule, working backwards from Spokane in August. And I signed up for an early-April 800 at a small college meet. Haven't raced much track in the last 6-8 years (and only one 800), so I'm excited and a little scared to get the ball rolling.

I think spring is coming. I hear most of the snow has even melted off one of the local tracks.

Have a good week everybody.

Spikez,

Nice run so early in the season. So is this the result of feeling "frisky," as you posted last week?

Stay fast and healthy!

Skin sums it up very well!

FYI for the two rock star performances:

M46 5k in 14:34.27 = 95.91% 13:09 open

M45 3k in 8:32.32 = 94.39% 7:46.2 open

based on:

http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html

ExCoast Ranger,

You too? that flu/virus hit me like a truck and just THIS morning was finally able to run real hard after 18 days...ugggh! Will we see you in Eugene at Oly Trials?

MF

i agree with skin...based on all that went on this week lets just say i did a little running, a little motocross, and i lived to talk about it :)

awesome job to Tony and Pete for sure.

Allow me to extend a HUGE congratulations to SoCal 'Pistol' Pete, Tony 'Forever' Young and 1500 'Add One More' Master. (Note I have not posted on this thread in ages and used to post as One Keg).

SCP and TY your times are absolutely remarkable. At 45 I'd be lucky to run sub-17 if I trained all spring like a maniac for it. That's a whole other realm. Note that I've been goaded to race at Club XC Nationals this winter by some athletes I now coach who are running it so it looks like I'll be there one way or another. ;)

First 'speed' workout in years Tuesday and I took it a little easy. Let's just say it was an dark day and I need to blow off a lot of rust. The first few workouts will be the hardest. There is enough mileage in the tank but the sharpness is faded, so I know what I need to do. I plan to try to hook up with Tim W. and his SF club sometime.

A 'job proposal' took me to Sacramento on Saturday. After the meeting I drove northeast to check out Granite Bay and Folsom Lake for the first time. I had a terrific 12-mile run there on a perfectly marked, rolling mountain bike course framed with lots of scrub, oak trees, green spring grass, apple/pear trees (blossoms) and sweeping, open views of the lake that reminded me a little bit of New Mexico. It was 72 degrees and I wore no shirt. That's a very good place to train if you know where to go.

Hundreds of high school kids were previewing the course for a big race the next day, and as a result I did two of the six-mile loops and we ended up playing a little cat and mouse as I'd pass them on the uphills, hang with them on the flats, and they'd roll back by on the downhills. It was about 7:20-30 pace which might seem slow to some, but I had to work for it as the run had 800' of vertical with each 6-mile loop and was quite technical in spots. It was a pretty good effort for the rugged course.

The kids, not unlike XC runners, gave me a lot of encouragement and their coaches razzed them a bit whenever I passed the kids. I was impressed with the race's respect for detail plus its meticulous sense of organization, as well as the espirit de corps among the youngsters. After I came in they were pretty chatty and wanted to know what my 'deal' was.

If that course wasn't perfectly marked I would probably have had to fumble my way around out there so it was very nice. If you ever do a mountain bike race, Gary Fisher's outfit puts on tremendous races. A running race director could learn a lot from him.

Anyhow, congratulations again TY and SCP and 1500M/Mrs. 15/Olivia. Sorry for the long post.

Congrats to Pete and Tony and 1500 master on the new arrival.

I had a solid week, got in 50 miles coming off of last weeks wind blown half marathon effort. Starting to feel like I'm coming around. The test will be a 5K race next Saturday that I've done for about the past 10 years. My goal is to run my fastest time ever there and win the thing outright.

Had some great weather here this week. Nice to train in shorts again !

Cheers,

Dave

Mike,

Ugggh is right.

Still feeling it in lungs and legs a little. What scares me is the number of folks who said they relapsed after a week or so.

No Oly Trials for me, unfortunately. But I'm looking forward to running my first Hayward Classic.

That is "steppin' out."

That kind of performance is a bit humbling to us mortals - but inspirational too !

I put myself " out to pasture " after a Winter of hybernation. I never ran X-country , but have found some excellent turf and dirt to train on locally. My racing shoes will receive some dusting off soon.

I will continue to marvel at the characters - and character - displayed on this thread.

Happy trails !

Chase

Thank you all for the kind words and wishes. It is Monday night at 8:00 p.m. and we just returned home a bit earlier after a second short stay at the hospital to clear a little jaundice. Finally home.

The past six days have been amazing, both I and Mrs 1500Master are babbling away and barely staying on our feet, but it's all good. Little Olivia is in great shape, up to 5 pounds 3 ounces after dropping to 4 pounds 15 ounces with the jaundice. Only way now is up!!

Thanks again and the 1500Master family wish you all a great week and great successes in your own endeavors.

Matt, Kim, Olivia