Masters Weekend Runs and Races

I would like to acknowledge age 52 phenom Brian Pilcher, who ran an unofficial 15:47 at the SF State Gator Preview Heat 2 of the 5000. Get this--their camera was broken so it was all hand-timed and it might not count for record-keeping purposes! There were also a number PRs for the people I coached.

My mileage: 0 for plantar.

I hope the plantar eases up soon for you. Congrats to Brian; that's a fantastic race.

All cross-training for me this week post-marathon. Took one day completely off exercise--whenever I do this I think "man, I could get a lot done if I were a fulltime couch potato -- a day is really long".

By the end of the week back on my normal routine of supplementary stuff plus an hour mixing stationary bike and elliptical. Fun and felt relaxing and now I'm ready to ease back into running. While I was hanging out indoors it went from 30 and snowing to mid-70's in DC area.

have a great week.

Wow!...Nice run, Brian.

Just waiting for the skies to part to get a run in...Looks like rain all day long.

My two quality days this week went better than I expected. A very good 3 mile tempo on Wednesday and a progressive 10 miler on Saturday finished up at sub 10K pace. Where did that come from? The rest of the week was just steady, relaxed running...

Took some advice from Pete's blog and ditched the watch this week. I don't know if I can ever get rid of it on the hard days but is nice to be free on the easy days!

See you the roads, no matter what....

Dave

I had a good week. I'm not sure if I got any faster , but I : gained a little wisdom ; got reacquainted with what it feels like to take a long ride on my recumbent bike ; played a few rounds of disc golf - and created a fun turf strider workout using my discs on an open field ; and introduced a couch potato to walk/jogging.

The wisdom has to do with taking the time to research the caloric content of the foods I eat on a regular basis. In the back of my mind , I knew my words didn't match my actions when it came to nutrition. Getting real is my goal this week. As an experiment , I'm going to write down all that I eat.

As Dave mentioned , the Mid-Atlantic got a wonderful dose of springlike weather. I took my Vision R-40 ( short wheel base under seat steering recumbent ) out for the first long ride of the year , and my legs are feeling tested today.

My disc golf workout is simple. I have an open field with trees around the edges. I take a fairway driver ( Innova leopard ) and distance driver ( Innova beast ) and throw them for accuracy and distance. A good throw for me is about 80 - 85 yards , so I stride to the disc - choose a new target - and do it again. Also , when playing disc golf , I always stride to where my drive lands on each hole.

The couch potato is a fellow 51 year old whose son runs x-country. We went just under 1.3 miles , and had almost 10 scheduled stops. It reminded me of my days when I was just getting re-started.

This week - a little yoga gets thrown in the mix - thanks Pete.

Happy trails , all.

Make sure you catch the nice write-up about NW Master and his family on Younger Legs for Older Runners. It's a good read for a Sunday morning.

I'll be heading out soon for a longish run (timewise, not really running with a watch), but may stick to the treadmill since it looks like it's ready to dump some heavy rains here. Still, I had a good run outside yesterday with a sub 10 hour Ironman friend. He had already swum 2 miles and biked for 2.5 hours, so I was able to keep up with him. My quads are a little sore from the hills, but it's a happy soreness.

It's too weeks until the Shamrock Sportsfest, and I'm feeling pretty good for the 8k, but running the HM the next day may be a little tough. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the winds will be less intense than the last few years.

"been down so long it looks like up to me"

managed first track workout in two years this thursday...ugly...ugly good

MF

ps - hand time, FAT, whatever, Pilcher's 15:47 is just remarkable....congrats BP!

Hi. I ran a 5 mile Brewery run in Stevens Point. A pretty tough field I thought for 1400 runners. In the 50-54 age group I ran a 35:34 and took 12th. The winner was 29:08 which is pretty fast for that age.His name was Dan Remington. Don't know the guy. Ran with my 2 sons, they did 30 and 34 and then we drank some beer and I took them out to eat. A very good and enjoyable day overall. Next race is Sunday, a shamrock 10K. I kind of wish I had signed up for the 5K but I'm trying to build some distance. Winter storm watch here today. Take care.

Good morning Masters ~ kinda makes everyone sound wise, huh?

Looks like a little dusting of snow over the night for an eventual run outside this morning. I think I will eat a breakfast first and make it a real slow jaunt.

Plan to just enjoy the next couple of months, re-establishing a steady base of miles (EZ) to draw upon when the weather warms up for the Outside stuff. I know the first couple of HS track meets we go to, have sleet & snow sometimes. Not fun to race in or watch!

Pilcher's 5k IS very impressive. Gives you hope as you age along that a sub 16 is still possible on the back side of life!

Gotta read the paper and drink too much coffee now, my Sunday routine.

Oh, about 68 miles with one faster workout this week.

Can't wait for MARCH MADNESS ~ love this time of year.

Cheers

Great job, BP. 15:47 is very impressive.

I "ran" NorCal 10 miler yesterday. It seemed that every injury problem I've ever had cropped up during some point of that race, but the back was especially bad. The race tuned into one of those death marches where I watch people continually run by. This morning, I quit after 2 miles and walked home. Guess it's time to go back to the PT.

We have lovely weather this weekend. Yesterday was a large HS invitational for my youngest son (a thrower). He's a freshman and didn't crack the top 6 finalistsbut he is improving each week. It's fun to watch.

Another week of low-impact gym work is in the books. I did 3 weight room sessions complete with core work, pull ups, and push ups, and 2 quad-busting elliptical workouts. I have two more weeks to go....yes, I'm anxious to get back on the track! I'm going to join the team for a "welcome back" workout Sunday morning 3/22. It's circled in red on my calendar.

One of my goals this year is to run a time worthy enough to be included on SoCal Pete's "15 minutes of fame."

I love reading about everyone's exploits and triumphs. Keep it coming.

First time poster, long time lurker. I'm 44 and I've been at it for just over four years after taking about 20 off. Last year was my best year as a master (16:54 5K and 27:51 5 mile) and am hoping to lower my times a little more as I get ready to jump into the 45-49 age group in the fall. I'm hoping winter is finally behind me as I get ready for my first race of the spring, a hilly 5 miler on March 14. Training has been going well. This week I had a good long run, a good tempo and a really good hill session of 6 x 90 seconds. I did the hills the way Pete recommended in his 5K training article and he was kind enough to answer some additional questions I had before I did the workout. I'm definitely going to try to do this workout twice a month.

I was thinking of running at the Gator preview (great job in the 5K Bria!), but ran the Ekiden relay in Golden Gate Park- & WON TWO round trip tickets to Tokyo! And our corporate team won the men's title! 4 x 2 mile loops, very muddy and treacherous footing. When I ran up the hill to cheer on our last runner I rolled my ankle! OUUCCH, bummer it is swollen today, hopefully just a few days off as I am running at Davis on Saturday. Anyway I highly recommend the Ekiden relay next year, great food, plenty of beers, great prizes and cool drummers, and one of the best organized races I have ever expereinced!

after only managing a 9:29 2 mile a month ago, came by 9:20 (and was tempted to hop off the track and call it a good day) on my way to a 14:39 5k on the track at ben brown invite. followed pete magill's strategy from this meet last year and ran the first 800 in dead last (tough for a miler at heart), maintaining 69-70s through about 10 laps, then a 72 and a 74 as the wheels started to come off, but held off a youngster over the last 200. good to know at 41 y/o i can still make the varsity squad at my alma mater, ucla, and i'm fairly sure i could not have run this fast of a 5k twenty years ago...glad cross country season is over; running around in circles suits me better.

good day for bunnies young and old, especially dave olds--here's the results link:

http://www.flashresults.com/flashwest/09Meets/09Brown/090306F059.htm

congrats to bpilch--i'm sure with age-grading his time is probably 5 minutes better than mine :)

Sobering to realize I'd have been lapped in that 5K; that's a super time.

35 miles this week (with two days off), finished off with a 10+ miler and then some 300 repeats today after 6.5. I hope to get up to 1 1/2 hours next week-end. PT down to twice a week, and she is really working my elbow. Slowly getting straighter. And I walk around with an 8 lb. weight to stretch the bicep.

Good golly Cush. What a phenominal effort! Perfect strategy for running against the youngsters too. Let them do as much work for you as possible. Blown away!

15 slow yesterday and another 13 steady today. Last race was Coogan's 5K, NYC last weekend in which I clocked 15:56. A personal worst but glad at 43 to stay under 16 especially on that hilly course.

thanks, everyone. Cush I think I got you age grade by a point, but not much. 14:39 is huge. Olds, too, 15:33. I thought hard about running Ben Brown rather than the Gator Preview, especially when the weather looked iffy midweek. However, the weather was perfect yesterday. The meet was about an hour and a half behind and we ran at 6:20pm in the dark and there was no clock to see your splits. We would come around and everybody's clocker would be yelling encouragement, splits, lap splits, etc. so there was almost no way to know how you were doing. I only managed to get my mile splits and I ran completely even 5:03-4 every 1600. It would have been nice to know exactly where i was as i missed the American 50 record of 15:42 by 5 seconds. Of course, it is only my second 5k on the track ever (first was last year in 16:30) so hopefully I can still get the last little bit to squeak into the record books before i get too much older...

Anyway, we go 12k this weekend into the Indoor Nats running the 3k and mile the following week then back for a second try at the SF State Distance Carnival on the 27th... Wish me luck...

I'm a newly-minted master of about a month. Just getting back into shape after missing November, December and most of January recuperating from foot surgery (my first and hopefully last surgery). It sucked going through it, but it was worth it in the end because the pain I had before now is completely gone.

Ran 28 miles on five runs with a long of eight. Took Tuesday and Friday off. Also lifted twice as part of a continuing regiment that seems to be working. Must be getting fitter and faster because my dog was slowing me down toward the end of a five-miler today, contrary to how it usually goes. Maybe I need a faster dog ... or perhaps she should lay off the table scraps.

Overall, a good week. Gunning for my return to racing in July.

I was there to witness Brian's great run. After the first women's 5K heat, and with three heats of 5K's left (one women, then two men) the auto-timer came over to me and said he couldn't do it anymore. Too dark to take pictures. We have no lights on the track but the surrounding buildings have a few so you can actually see things along the homestretch. But, not enough so you can film the finish. So I jumped up and became the timer (I was backup hand-timer anyway). We had five watches going and about 10 of my distance runners on the finish making an impromptu finish-chute.

In Brian's heat, one of our runners (SF State) took the pace through 5:00/10:01 and then Linen from Chico dropped a 69 with another one of my guys chasing after him. After that, it was off to the races. A great field with those two at 15:27/15:29 and then the pack started to flow in at 15:39. I don't have Brian's official hand-time yet as I had to leave immediately after the meet to pick up my kid.

Fast heat was won in 14:38. I noticed Angel Marquez (Chico) checking his watch as he came by the start line each time so figured he was the designated pacer. I started yelling times to him so he wouldn't have to try to see his watch.

A couple of other things: Brian mentioned a meet on 3/27 at San Francisco State. We're hosting a meet that day to accommodate all those who don't get into Stanford. We have pacers lined up (men -14:10, sub-31:00; women - 17:00 so far). We have great fields and if the conditions are anything like yesterday, which they usually are, we expect awesome races with lots of collegiate qualifiers to nationals and regionals.

We are also doing our Master's Mile at the Johnny Mathis Invite on Sat, 4/4/09 for those 40 and over.

Both Meets are on Direct Ahletics (http://www.directathletics.com/). Feel free to email me at

tomlyons@sfsu.edu

if you would like to know anything about these meets. Thanks.