I’m out of (racing) action, but tomorrow is the final race in NYRR’s year-long club competition. Entering that race, the Men’s Masters competition is:
- Warren Street: 128
- Urban Athletics: 128
While there are those who find this competition quaint and silly and pretentious, (see, e.g., LRC), it creates intra- and inter-club bonding for the NYC-area folks. I’ve noted elsewhere recently that the series provides a focus for the non-marathon-centric folks. (While the NYC Marathon is one of the races that score, it is not more important than any other. (Being a Club-member has its advantages at that race, however, as those with certain times get to start in the “local competitive” group.) Double points are awarded in the August Club Championship five-miler.)
I’m well past contributing except as a back-up to a back-up. (With one more 50+, we’d be in pretty good shape; three score in that AG.) But there’s something about putting on a club singlet, however childish it might appear, and being part of that something larger.
So tomorrow we have JT and JS running CIM in Sacramento and Warren Street attempting to repeat as Masters Club Champions.
Edited to add: Results:
1 Warren Street S&AC 1:42:00
- Paul Thompson 32:19
- Jorge Pardo 34:04
- Daniel Rupert 35:37
2 Urban Athletics 1:44:31
- Matt Chaston 33:09
- Adam Kuklinski 35:38
- Richard Temerian 35:44
After reading Flo’s adventure in Philly — the race not the mouse — it was suggested that she run NY next year. As opposed to Chicago.
Anyhow, this got me thinking. What is the pace-line for various marathons? You don’t want the field at your pace to be too thin (which, admittedly, will never happen at NYC, Chicago, or Boston) so that you’re running by yourself. More immediately, you don’t want it to be too thick. I’ve seen photos of NY when there are masses and masses of people, looking like the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue at Christmas time. But this can be deceiving.
So I posted on Lets Run and sought input on the following:
- How crowded — too many, too few, just right — have the marathons you’ve run been? Not overall, but where you were running; so we need the pace. I’m particularly curious as to where in the big city marathons the pace is such that there are too many people.
“Just Right” would be where you can run without obstruction after clearing the start for the duration, with no problems at the water stops (or, as NYRR calls them, “Fluid Stations”). So how about posting there or commenting here?
Pete Magill is really fast, a 14:49 Cascade 5K at 47. Here is a must listen-to (click on photo) with Scott Douglas of Running Times on Masters Running. The two key take-aways:
- You’re probably running too fast for your easy runs. (Though not the hated JS.)
- You must do drills for your speed, to improve stride length.
As to the Drills, here’s a Video.
Before I get started, Herb has posted a fine, fine NYC race report.
Orville Atkins is one of the great old-timers. He’s especially good when someone in the running community looks down at someone else. I frequent the weekly 50+ thread on LetsRun. One topic this week: what’s your marathon history? Note some sentiment about the benefits of focusing on shorter stuff.
Sayeth Orville:
- When I raced my first marathon the world best was the 2:15:16.2 run by Abebe Bikila in Rome in !960. There were less than ten marathons annually on the continent. Women did not run and men under 21 were not allowed in the Boston Marathon. There were no gels, no gatorade or GookinaidERG and many runners drank very little water unless it was very hot.
Last week I wrote that my first marathon took place on Labour Day 1961 and was billed as the Canadian and North American Championship. A couple of years ago Patti wrote that John Kelley told her that the weather that day was “Brutal”. I struggled home second (first Canadian) in 3:01.
About 7 months later I flew to Chicago to run in the first Annual Windy City Marathon. It was March and there was a snow storm the night before the race so we raced on a 2 mile stretch along the waterfront. The temoperature was in the 30s and there was some slush and a little ice on the road. 15 runners started and 9 finished. I won by 5 minutes in 2:31:16.8 which made me the fourth Canadian to run under 2:32. I never got warm in that race.
Six weeks later I was in Boston for the Boston Marathon. What an experience! There were only 181 male starters and no women. There were the same big crowds as there are today. In those days times were not as important as running to win. I went out with the leaders. I found the helicopter overhead a bit disconcerting. There was a flatbed truck and a bus travelling along with us. The eventual winner who ran 2:23:48 kept looking back and talking to a reporter. I heard the name Kelley several times. By the ten mile mark the 3 others in the lead pack were beginning to lose me. I had run just under my best ten miles. I was alone for most of the the rest of the race. I later found out where Kelley was as he driffted by me cutting the tangents beautifully at about half way. Also, another runner came up to my shoulder on the hills but that woke me up and he dropped off. I saw no other runners after half way. I remember thinking several times that I was done and I wanted to quit but that I could not do so while in the top ten. I came 5th in 2::31:49. (Arne Richards was 47th in 2:58:16)
Three weeks later I was in bed with a 101-102 fever from a severe case of mono. No one in our household had a car but we were lucky as doctors in those days made house calls. I was out of work for a month and then I worked half days and napped and started my comeback in the afternoons. It took months to gain strength and another while to regain confidence.
My next Boston Marathon race was the 1964 version. There were 369 entrants. There were no women. It was won by Vandendriessche in 2:19:59. I ran 2:57:25 and placed 66th. That race was the beginning of the Canadian Marathon Boom. Five runners from Ontario ran under 2:30 and placed in the top 12 nearly pushing me out of Canada’s top ten. (Eric Segal ran that year finishing 63rd in 2:56:30).
My next Boston Marathon was in 1967. Two women ran that year (Robert Gibb ran 3:27:45 and Katherine Switzer ran about 4:20). Dave McKenzie won in 2:15:45. I was 23rd in 2:30:26, my best Boston time and second best marathon time.
I was not back to Boston until 1971. By now there were 877 starters and 588 broke 3:30. Sara Berman (3:08:30) won over two other women) I was 25th in 2:31:07.
My final Boston Marathon was in 1974. By now there were 30 women in the race. Miki Gorman won in 2:47:11. I was able to run a mile or so with Miki. I finished 414th in 2:53:53. Neil Cusck won in 2:13:39 and 1266th place was 3:24:10 What a change since 1962!
The only time I broke 2:30 was in 1973 when I was second in the Orange Marathon. I was given a time of 2:28:22. My last marathon was in 1987 in Palos Verdes at age 51. I ran 3:28:47. After 26 years 44 completed marathon (with 6 additional DNFs)and two 50 K races I stopped running marathons. It was great fun competing and watching the tremendous changes in the sport. I have a lot of great memories! I have made many many friends!
This morning saw me heading up to the Rockies for the first time in a bit. I ran from home to Nature Study yesterday and stopped on the way home when I ran out of gas. But with no troubles in the leg — knee or Achilles tendon — I figured a run on a soft surface would be nice.
With the temperature in the mid-30s, I headed north. Parked on Sleepy Hollow Road (instead of the normal Sleepy Hollow High School) because that give immediate access to the Rockies trail (as opposed to the period on the Old Croton Aqueduct from SHHS).
It was a fine run but, alas, I again ran out of gas. I labored up the trail to Thirteen-Bridges, going counterclockwise meant going down the switchbacks, and that was a strain. So instead of the 40 minutes I hoped for, I struggled to the start in 30 and stopped. But although my tendon hurt afterward, it was not an issue during the run.
I brought my video camera, housed in the iPod Nano, and took some pictures after the run. Here’s the final stretch, taken along this stretch. It gives a sense of what the trails there look like; these are pretty typical. It looks a bit darker than it did when I took some pictures in April.
The Times has had a number of good running articles in its Health section. JT pointed to “Why Exercise Makes You Less Anxious.”
I came across one on stretching. I’ve always felt a tad guilty, although not guilty enough to do anything about it, about the fact that I don’t stretch. But it seems that one wants to avoid “extreme” tightness in the hamstrings but strive for some tightness.
Gretchen Reynolds in the Times: “Phys Ed: How Necessary Is Stretching?“:
- The inflexible men were more economical than the women, and for both men and women, those with the tightest hamstrings had the best running economy. They also typically had the fastest 10-kilometer race times. Probably, the researchers concluded, tighter muscles allow “for greater elastic energy storage and use” during each stride. Inflexibility, in other words, seems to make running easier.
For years, flexibility has been widely considered a cornerstone of health and fitness. Many of us stretch before or after every workout and fret if we can’t lean over and touch our toes. We gape enviously at yogis wrapping their legs around their ears. “It’s been drummed into people that they should stretch, stretch, stretch — that they have to be flexible,” says Dr. Duane Knudson, professor of biomechanics at Texas State University in San Marcos, who has extensively studied flexibility and muscle response. “But there’s not much scientific support for that.”
In fact, the latest science suggests that extremely loose muscles and tendons are generally unnecessary (unless you aspire to join a gymnastics squad), may be undesirable and are, for the most part, unachievable, anyway. “To a large degree, flexibility is genetic,” says Dr. Malachy McHugh, the director of research for the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and an expert on flexibility. You’re born stretchy or not. “Some small portion” of each person’s flexibility “is adaptable,” McHugh adds, “but it takes a long time and a lot of work to get even that small adaptation. It’s a bit depressing, really.”
In the end,
- “Flexibility is a functional thing,” Dr. Knudson says. “You only need enough range of motion in your joints to avoid injury. More is not necessarily better.” For runners, extremely tight hamstrings and joints have been found in some studies (but not all studies) to contribute to overuse injuries. But somewhat tight hamstrings, as the Nebraska Wesleyan study showed, can make you more economical. Some degree of inflexibility may make you a better runner.
A couple of weeks back there was a discussion on stretching on the Runners Round Table. There was a bit of nomenclature trouble; what Yuri Elkaim referred to as “active stretching” would be what I would call a “drill.” (Here are some good drills from Pete Magill.) “Passive stretching” is what I at least think of as “stretching.”
The USATF is doing a study on the efficacy of pre-run stretching (although one wonders when the results will be distributed). Like many runners, I’m not big on stretching. I don’t do it. I need to improve my core work, but that’s different.
Of course the Times seems obsessed with Christopher McDougall and the Tarahumara tribe. One can’t have everything.
Thanksgiving Bonus
The sound got a bit out of sync. And don’t expect anything terrible or crazy.
A client invited me to join Google Wave, and I accepted. He thinks it’s great (and he’s the smartest guy I know).
From what I’ve seen, it would seem to be a nice advance for small groups to communicate. So, e.g., if one had a core-group of fellow bloggers on a particular matter, say running, you could get a “wave” going on a particular topic, say, the idiocy of choosing Chicago over New York. Or coordinate who’s bringing what to a meet-up at the Rockies.
Does anyone out there have experience with this? I realize that it’s another attempt for Google to rule the world and that it doesn’t work on the Opera browser (although it does on Firefox). Anyone? I’ll be happy to extend invitations.
Fine article in today’s Times by John Branch about the lounging of two-time world Alpine champ from Norway, Aksel Lund Svindal, in Miami.
- A year ago, Svindal returned to Beaver Creek, but not before he went down the course “hundreds of times” in his head. He and his teammates scouted the course, sliding down it to explore the bumps and turns.
“I was not looking forward to that first run,” Svindal said.
But fear is simply a downhiller’s adrenaline. On the day of the race, Svindal whooshed down the upper part of the course with unwavering aplomb. He was his old self, as good as ever, all calm on the outside.
“Going down the course, I was thinking about that jump,” Svindal said. “You’re supposed to think about where you are, not what’s ahead. My heart was racing like crazy. It’s one of those things where you know you have to do it, but you don’t really want to do it.”
He sailed over the lip. He landed smoothly. He won.
The article is worth a read.
And, from the video, who knew that “Shit happens” is a Norwegian expression?
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