Masters April Fools Runs and Races

Looking forward to hearing race stories from Carlsbad as well. Always a great event.

Work took priority all week so not much to report except that my body is healthy (healthier) this week. Trying to run fewer sessions has helped.

I need to get motivated today as I have not been on the roads at all yet.....

Carlsbad has a great race vibe, good luck to all racing. Five days this week of running. Had quite a scare on Tuesday after running my sciatic nerve played havoc on me and I could barely walk into the high school . I hobbled into the school and people were asking me if I was ok because I had trouble just walking. Took and seat and 40 minutes after the presentation I got up and was fine and have had no trouble since. Bizarre. Anyone else ever had this happen ?

Good luck to all in their running this week.

Good luck to the Carlsbad runners. I want to hear about some PRs! Still deaing with crazy unsettled weather around here. My HS kids had a meet on Wed and that was a good weather day. PRs all around! Then my son was goofing around at track practice on Friday. He had to skip practice due to an early eve flight (it's spring break week and he's checking out a college campus), but the coach wanted him to jump into a 400m time trial. My son has no workout gear with him, so he runs it in his jeans and socks. First of all, I'm P.O.'d that the coach would allow this. The balls of his feet are raw and blistered. Second, he ran a 57. In jeans and socks. I'm thinking a spot on the 4x4 team is in his future. But I still have issues to take up with the head coach. Talk about lack of judgment.

On the home front, my 17 year old cat passed away Friday night. Always tough to lose a pet. I feel better knowing she had a long and happy life.

Getting ready for hurdle practice. It's cool outside, but sunny, no wind (and it's not raining!!)

Run well everyone!

It is beautiful this morning in SoCal which should be a great benefit to the Carlsbad runners.

Sorry about your cat Spikez, I am a cat guy and had my furry feline for 13 years - no better friend and playful nag.

Day 92 in the books after my run this afternoon. I leave for Europe Tuesday, arriving Helsinki late Wednesday night - a lengthy layover in Frankfurt. Train on Friday to Jyvaskyla. My 1500m heat is Saturday afternoon and if for reason I am in the final's, that will be Sunday. Then hightail it back to Helsinki and over to my company HQ near Paris for a week of work. Only way I could afford this was to tie it in with work, thankfully it worked.

I am in decent shape so I am quite pleased with my progress for this event. Sadly, I won't be in top racing shape - probably not until June - but this will have to do. I've dropped 16 pounds since January 1, run everyday, watched the diet - all good things and the improvements have revealed themselves the past few weeks.

There are 20 signed up for the 1500m, top 12 to final. I am guessing 2 heats of 10 depending on who shows up - could be straight to final. Regardless, will run my heat as if it is a final.

Have a great week!

Congrats on dropping 16 pounds. I am down 10 with more to go.

It may just be a wicked joke but weather.com's 10 day forecast shows no sign of rain for next weekend's Prefontaine Master's Meet in Steve's hometown of Coos Bay, OR...as am entered in the 10,000 meters am keeping fingers and toes crossed...first 25 lapper since college, egads!

In keeping with the spirit of April first, I foolishly entered the Philadelphia Marathon this morning...ran first one there four decades ago in 1972...hoping to run just as slow in 2012 as I did 40 years ago...no kidding.

Delighted to hear of your cumulative losses of 26 lbs 1500 and OMBTS and equally as bummed to hear of the loss of your kitty Spikez...17 years is a long time for a feline friend...so sorry.

Here's to a fine week of masters training and racing...see you a little further on down the road

MF

...BTW Carlsbad results should be here this afternoon/evening

http://carlsbad.competitor.com/results/

sorry about your cat. My sister had one for about that length of time, and I know he'd become part of her family.

I hope your son's feet heal quickly -- sounds like a story he will be able to tell for a long time.

pretty good week for me -- 80 miles incl. 18 with just 2 at the end at marathon pace as I nursed a calf strain and didn't want to push it much. Got a new compression sleeve for it yesterday, and that seems to help.

cherry blossom 10-miler today in 58:07 (ran evenly, 100-something overall, 2nd in 50-54, about 45 sec behind my friend Mark Neff). Great weather -- high 40's, cloudy, little wind. I would try to conjure up an excuse ("saving energy to cut the grass this afternoon, yeah, that's it..."), but since Mark ran a 2:47 marathon two weeks ago, I guess excuses on my side are out.

Remind me not to get older -- two 55-59 studs from out of town beat all the 50-54's. At what age does it become less competitive -- 105-109 maybe?

have a great week,

Dave

Thanks for the nice wishes about my kitty. She was a sweet girl and gave a lot of love to our family. Couldn't ask for a more loving pet. She had a happy life.

Just finished hurdle practice...EXCELLENT! Good weather sure helps. Sunny, 58 degrees, no wind. I was really ripping over the barriers. Too bad my next meet isn't until end of May (PAUSATF Champs). I expect to see MikeF there spreading good cheer (and running good times!)

Greetings Masters Athletes.

Lucky me to have enjoyed the Arizona weather for spring break. Got some promising training with my 2 sons. And my foot is finally settled down thanks to 18 straight days of 15 min E-Sizes first thing in the morning. I also believe the foam ortho with the thick arch plus the Zoom Elites with a board lasted heel and not as soft a foam midsole helped. I do have to hit all strength/speed sessions in those training flats - no spikes or racing flats until the few minutes of racing.

Tue - 2 x 1 mile @ 5:55, 5:40 (2mins rest), 3 x 400 @75, 1 x 600 @ 1:51

Fri - 2 sets of cut downs on the road 3mins on 1 min off, 2mins on 1 off, 1min on 30 off, 30secs on all between 5:45-5:25 pace

50 mile week.

Sill a long way to go but am happy to know I can begin o get fit for summer racing.

Carlsbad report. Hello friends. My 1st CBAD 5000 ever is in the books and it was a fun one. Nothing like running as hard as you can @ 7:00 a.m. and being drunk on 8% ale by 8:45 while all the others are still waiting to race. My bac is still at about .04%! As much as I hated it @ the moment, there is something to be said for the early start time.

Woke up to downright nasty weather for us spoiled San Diegans. Rain last night and strong winds. Although the rain went away, there was a strong northerly blowing for the early race. Pretty common spring stuff for everyone except us so-calers I'm sure. Funny thing is that the wind was virtually gone by my cool-down, but no doubt kicked back up for the elites this afternoon.

Stacked field as usual. Some of these dudes just flat-out look fast. Winner was few ticks under 15 I think. Out quickly with the wind pushing us down the coast and slightly downhill. But what goes with the wind must come back against it. The 2nd mile sucked! Found myself wondering how it was possible for so many guys to be ahead of me, but there they were, busting their guts into 10-15 knots just like me. Found a little bit extra and made a very small, trivial move with 1000 or so to go that separated me from my pack. Then the lactic acid kicked in. Hit the homestretch with very little left and hobbled in @ 17:55. Top 25 barely I think. Watched the winning masters' woman virtually match my time in the next race. Yet another dose of humility in what they call the "world's fastest 5K." Not today, but a good time nonetheless. Hope everyone else had a good weekend.

Correction: 16:55 was my time. Not that it matters. I am still drunk!

Spikez, sorry about your cat. I'm also a cat person - have two coming up on 9 y/o this summer.

Good luck at Worlds, 1500.

Missed three days this week because of work and 2 days timing at the track for HS. Really horrible weather for the kids this year - the "light" winds were 15-20mph on the front straight. Gusts over 40. Add some rain for good measure.

Maybe the days off helped my ailments, though. Ran the 10 Mile in Sac this morning in 58:15. Not where I'd like to be, but considering my last few races I'll take it. Everything (back, side, calf, feet) hurt, but only a little. I'm pleased with the effort. BP was around 54:40. Jamey Harris won in 53:42.

JM

Castille (winner of the Carlsbad 5k) is the new 40 yr old stud. He ran 14:01 in Feb up here in one of Indoor UW races!

We've been getting pounded by rain every day up here in the PNW. Still managed 82 mile week with two workouts and two medium-long runs.

Mon - 10x :90 hill

Weds - 10 min Tempo - 3(4x 200) in driving wind and rain (makes you tougher - right?)

One more win for my Cats (raised in Kentuck) on Monday. Would love to see them play at potential for the full 40 minutes before they all go Pro.

Cheers

I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler and ran about a minute faster than I had even hoped for, judging by my last two races. I am very happy and I think it shows I am in great position to have a good spring season. I want to break barriers this year - 17 for 5k, 1:20 for half marathon, 36 for 10k.

I think what is working is 2.5 hour runs every other week - ah hour felt like a quick dash.

Cherry Blossom is a very fast course - this was first time I did it - I encourage all to run next year.

Sorry about your kitty, Liz. Mine is a psycho cat, but I'll be sad when she goes as well.

I only did one hard workout this week as I felt pretty tired. I ran about 65 miles this week, with a long one of over 14 on muddy trails this morning.

I was feeling like I needed to run a more moderate workout than one at race effort, so on Wednesday I did my favorite tempo workout - 5,2s. (5 min. at tempo, 2 at faster effort, no recovery) and did 4 of them, which is a very strong workout for me. I felt pretty good, but was tired for a couple of days and didn't do another hard one this week. So. Much. Rain. It makes it hard to get in anything like drills when you are standing around it in.

I haven't dropped as much weight as 1500master (the show off! ;-) ) but I"m down about 7 lbs, I think. Only a couple more to go and I'll be the lightest I've ever been as a master. I am hoping it makes me faster.

No races on my agenda, but a teammate coaxed me into entering a track meet - not sure I'll actually RUN in it, but I'm going down as moral support for her race. It's in May.

Castille wass cruising. Looked effortless from the view I had 2 minutes back.

Well done to all who ran at Carlsbad, or anywhere else...

I had another of those weeks where work and life went berserk. Diet was going nicely until midweek when things got frantic, I got short of sleep, and reverted to my old habits of eating too much to keep the energy up and got back to square one. Then I got a cold and lost a day or two.

45 miles and two sessions:

Tues: 6x3min on grass;

Sun: 1300 + 800 (100m jog, getting faster); 400+300; 300+200; 200+150. Nice to let the legs turn over faster, everything from 5k pace down to a sprint.

I am quite glad the almost-taboo subject of diet and racing weight is being discussed. I know damned well that the one thing I must do to race well is drop that last 6-7 pounds before June, because I am always the fattest guy in the finish funnel! I think somewhere last year Pete Magill said "you'll never know how hard I dieted..." when he did that 14:43...

60 last week in 6 runs. Still going easy, but I have added hills once a week and 8-10 strides on my light 8-mile days. Feeling really good. Next race is a half in early June. This week is a scheduled down week as I'll be on spring break traveling with the wee ones. I'll be lucky to get in 45. Oh well, my body probably needs the break.

eurodonkey wrote:

I am quite glad the almost-taboo subject of diet and racing weight is being discussed. I know damned well that the one thing I must do to race well is drop that last 6-7 pounds before June, because I am always the fattest guy in the finish funnel! I think somewhere last year Pete Magill said "you'll never know how hard I dieted..." when he did that 14:43...

funny this is coming up - for 43 years I never had to think about diet, but then I hit 44 this year and gained 4 pounds over the winter. I weighed the most ever (although still not very much - 142) It's coming off slowly without any dieting, so this year I think I am clear, but maybe next winter I will have to watch my weight. That won't be fun. Not even sure if I can do it.