Nordic Lights

Winter 2011-12: Some Cold Facts

2012-01-25T15:28:00.003-09:00

I'm not a meteorologist and only had a one week introduction 30 years ago this year at the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. Moreover, I'm limiting any analysis only to the time that we have lived in Fairbanks. All that I can say that yes, this has been one cold (I say bitter) winter season!

All that I know is that there has been a high pressure system in the high Arctic that has persisted for weeks now, locking us a cycle of cold and colder. We always get these systems and they can persist for a couple weeks, but we're now into the fifth week of this cold snap.

Here is a graph of the temps this winter. We had about two weeks (16 days actually) of very cold temperatures in November (mean daily temperature of -20.7 F), typically a very cold month, and then a three week relative warming trend in December (averaging 13.1 F, with most days above zero), immediately followed by the this cold slap from hell. It started in earnest on December 24 and the daily temperature average has been -21.0 through January 24.

We did have two days of respite, when some cloud cover helped alleviate the freeze and we actually enjoyed some above zero. At this point, if you believe in the seven day forecast there is no end in sight.

I also decided to see how this year has stacked up to other years since we came here (2004). Sure enough this is a bad one.

*note that 2011 only goes through the 24th of January, so we have another week of counting cold days.

So if you consider that a daily mean (high and low averaged for each day) of -20 is damn cold, and -30 is miserably damn cold then 2011 is indeed the coldest winter since 2004. We had that bad cold snap in 2008, but 2011 has had more under -20, and by the end of the month there will be more sub 30 days.

Finally, but I don't have quantified date for this, our beloved temperature inversions have not been consistent this year particularly in the last month. Frequently (if not usually) it can be -20 or -40 in the valley where Fairbanks proper sits, but 15 to 25 degrees warmer in the hills outlying town. Makes a big difference! Well this year we've hardly had inversions. In fact if anything it's often been a couple degrees colder at 800 to 1200 ft in elevation, compared to 450 feet in town.

I guess La Nina is not our friend.

Later I'll tally up February, which is usually not bad but who knows this year.

Skate Race in January!

2012-01-23T10:31:00.002-09:00

Alaskans can be a strange but hearty bunch. Last weekend's Besh Cup races--established as qualifiers for nordic skiing Junior Olympics--were in Homer at the relatively new trails on Lookout Mountain. They have about 5K of very tough (almost all up an down) trails and that's about it. No lodge, no wax room, no electricity except at the timing hut.

The lodge was a school bus, idling all day. Wax rooms were at the motel or under a tent (for the lucky ones) or just a bench out on the ridge. One team did have a heated trailer and generator. The hosts also put up a couple of yurts as changing rooms and of course the ever-popular giant gong for entertainment, lending that other worldly aura.

Anyway, two days out there in single digit weather (usually breezy) can kind of wear you down. But other than hearing the occassional "geez it would be nice if they built something here," nobody seemed to complain. They just bundle up and bear with it, and wind chill or not 6 above sure beats 35 below in Fairbanks.

The FAST kids skied well--Erich had an amazing skate race, 5th overall against a good field--and the three J2s on the team are still in the hunt for Arctic Winter Games, although they are going to have to have a big weekend to make it.

I jumped into Sunday's skate race. Two years ago, still injured, I skied the trails classic and have looked forward to returning someday to race. That was a tough course. I've been saying that I wish it would be 15K but after the fact hmmm 10K was plenty, thank you. I haven't seen the technical data but I wouldn't doubt if it's out of USSA, certainly FIS, compliance.

You get 150 meters of flat at the start, a nice (not really) curvy 200 meter hill climb, before dropping down into the gully for 300-400 meters. Then a big bully of a hill climb, must be 600 meters or more. Finally you get a bit of rest on about 1.2 K or rolling terrain before returning to the stadium and the Euro-style bridge, and down into another hole. The climb out is steeper but not as long as the first climb, maybe 400 or 500 meters, followed by some crazy S-turns (3 or 4 in succession), and yet another half K or more of climbing; and then you have to do it again!

Due to my disasterous classic race in Anchorage in late 2010 I had a pretty low seed and was only about the 15th out of the gates--from of a field of about 70--in the interval start (15 sec) format. In a way that was beneficial and I was able to ski my own race the entire way. Passed most of those who started ahead of me, all but one or two I think, and no one passed from behind. That's usually a sign of a good race.

The plan was to ski Lap 1 at Level 3 (threshold) but to push the transitions, and to stay fast but in control on the technical (turny) downhills. I only succeeded at one of three--and even the downhill parts didn't feel great.

With the steep climbs--much like running up Ester Dome (or any trail with 10 - 12% grade)--the line between threshold, vo2 max, and oxygen debt is quite thin especially after you get into your 50s! Anyway, I felt tired up that first hill, and sloppy on the downhill. Then the long hill climb was just brutal. Nevertheless I was reeling them in easily, and my skis were faster than anyone's. (thanks Tyson for the good stone grind last month!).

On the positive side, even though I was winded by 2K I'd already moved up and was catching guys who started 1.5 or 2 minutes ahead. A good sign indeed.

The craziest thing was that on the S turns they had volunteers out there shoveling snow to prevent icing. This was a mistake. I was able to hit those sections fast (semi-tuck) on the warm up. But when they kept piling snow on the curves during the race we had ankle deep ruts on the first lap, and by the second lap these were shin deep. I got through fine but the second time through, I just barely made it through with out falling.

I heard that there were huge pile ups amongst the thick of the pack, those who had started 5 or 10 minutes behind me. I was completely spent by the last half K, and probably lost 20 seconds because I had nothing left.

My splits were roughly 17:20 and 18:05 (or 17:15/18:10). 35:25, 36th Overall and 1st masters. Woot! First race in six weeks and an actual skate race in January.

Even though we've had a rough winter here and I haven't been exactly happy about some of the scheduling things this season, we sure do have it good in Fairbanks with excellent facilities, community, and trails. I like what they're trying to do in Homer (with much smaller community support) and look forward to the day they have some infrastructure built there--and maybe some more moderate trail sections.

The Junior races were fun to watch, saw a lot of good skiing out there and it was just a great weekend to be in Alaska.

State of the Season

2012-01-17T09:39:00.002-09:00

Now three and a half weeks into I what think has been the longest cold snap since we've been here, this ski season is shaping up to be a wash. Hopefully February and March will be decent. The good news is that it was too cold to have the 10K freestyle race this weekend at Birch Hill. I was afraid it was going to creep up to about -20.5 and someone would then blow on the thermometer to make it -20.1 and they'd say, okay the race is on!

I've skied five times in two weeks now, kind of like the old days in Colorado when we usually had to drive 1.5 to 2 hr to get to some trails.
Still beats New England and much of the rest of the Lower 48 (Colorado included) this year because we know that this will pass and should have another two or three months of season left. By April that's kind of a mixed blessing.

So last week I did the best I could (two good workouts on the snow) and actually did a lot of running. 32 miles, plus a 1 hr snowshoe run (6 miles) on Sunday. And I got in some decent quality on the indoor track and treadmill. I almost never run hard on either. The weird thing is, I felt good on those workouts and recovered right away. I'm starting to look forward to running season.

On Saturday we did a 5.2K tempo on the UAF track, with splits of 6:22 (HR 136), 6:05 (HR 153), 6:03 (HR 158), and 1:31 (final 400)--and that's weaving through traffic and much of it in lane 2 or 3. And yesterday (Monday) I jumped on the treadmill and after a 20 min warm up started doing reps of 2 or 3 min ranging from 5:35/mile pace to 5:50. Felt good. Feel even better today. I think I could run about 17:30 for 5K on warmer (+40s instead of -40s) and on dry pavement. Go figure.

Lamenting not getting in any long skis--3 hr or so--in prep for Tour of Anchorage or the Sonot, but when it's -23 to -47 out what can you do?

Brain Freeze 8.5K Snowshoe Race a No Brainer

2012-01-09T10:33:00.001-09:00

With temps at brisk and cheery -19 F when I got up on Saturday morning I knew they'd have the 20K freestyle race at Birch Hill no matter whatbut I didn't even bother to scrape the LF4 off my (classic)skis. Postpone the race for a better day? Delay the start? Don't even think about it.

Instead of prepping for skiing, I rumaged around looking for snowshoes and neoprene shoe covers. This was also a protest against the decision to host only Distance Series freestyle race of the year in January with no contingencies. There were actually a lot of no shows. Twenty six hearty sould lined up; 24 of them did classic. I haven't talked to those who skated but it couldn't have been fun.

This was my first snowshoe race in three years; in fact, my last race was exactly three years ago also at Moose Mountain. With the knee injury and more coaching responsibility now, I haven't had the opportunity to get back on snowshoes.

They had to change the course because of last year's forest fire up above the Moose Mountain ski area. The start and finish were the same, but the middle 5K or so was altered. We had some great views of the White Mountains and hills.

With a start an hour later (noon) and almost double the elevation, temps were an acceptable -11 at the start (compared to -14/-15 at Birch Hill). With snowshoeing, you also don't feel quite as cold as skiing, so -10 or -11 isn't so bad, maybe about like skiing at -5 or -6.

However, my face froze over the first mile (climbing up a snowmachine trail about 300 feet in elevation), but by the second and third mile--single track, winding back and forth through the soot-covered trees in the burn area--I warmed up and caught a second wind. Snowshoeing is not exactly a skill event, but there is a knack to rounding turns and shifting gears and this was a technical course. I haven't put on snowshoes since early 2009 and felt rusty and awkward on the transitions. Also, hadn't done much race effort training for three weeks, so the pace and seemingly relentless climb for the first 18 or 20 minutes were killer.

I fell back to 5th after 1.5 miles, but bided my time and moved up after about 20 minutes. Fell four times, almost crashing into trees on a couple of those. Closed fast on the downhill (6:00 or so for the last mile), averaged heart rate of 156, which unlike the the terrain, looked level throughout the 52 minute effort.

I really enjoyed the event, and the company. Snowshoe racing is a great alternative to skiing on days when ski conditions are not good. I just wish they'd have more races weekends when there weren't ski races. Darn, this will probably be my last snowshoe race of the year, as all the remaining local races conflict with ski events/weekends. At least the Sonot will be freestyle. This year. Hopefully things will warm up a bit by late March.

January Angst and Other First World Problems

2012-01-06T11:31:00.003-09:00

Hands down January is my least favorite month of the year.

Every winter here has its challenges; if the lack of light doesn’t get you the low temperatures often will. We have gained almost 40 minutes of daylight already since the solstice two and a half weeks ago but any difference is almost imperceptible. The light issue will change quickly now that we are gaining five or six minutes of light per day. Hooray for that.

Our weather this entire winter (starting back in October/November) has been sort of flipped around. We were blessed with some good early snow—thin cover but fine skiing—by late October but then it got cold and colder in November with record-breaking lows. Great. Got a reprieve for about three weeks of December, but just in time for winter break the temps fell off the charts.

Officially, the cold snap over the past two weeks or so hasn’t been anything extraordinary, but what has been unique has been the duration without much of a break, combined with lack of diurnal variation. Most aggravating has been little or no inversion.

We get spoiled here, because it is often 15 to 25 degrees warmer in the hills (say above 800 feet) than in the valley (which is at 450 feet). We’ve had maybe three days so far in the -40s and most of the time it’s been in the -20s and -30s in town (nothing unusual there). However, this year at Birch Hill, Moose Mountain, and where we live, the temperatures have been the same as in town. Waiting impatiently for a break, or an inversion, that lasts a few weeks!

Weather talk is just a lead-in to my real subject. Tomorrow (January 7) is the January Jaunt 20K freestyle ski race. This is sort of a joke. We have not had temperatures warm enough to practice skating (you need at least about -5 or warmer to be able to have enough glide for a decent skate workout) for more than two weeks. Forecasts are calling for -20 in the hills tonight and highs of -5 to -20. We might just make it, but my best guess is that it will be -10 or -15 at the start of the race. The last two weeks of December and first two weeks of January are almost always the coldest of the year. Why schedule a freestyle race in the midst of that?

Just do classic, will be the response of those who make the decisions, but the schedule is already heavily biased towards classic. It just wasn’t a good idea and hopefully some people will realize that.

Once again, the Gundeloppet in December should have been freestyle —it was a perfect day for skating!--and the January Jaunt 20K slated for Saturday should be classic. Schedule the damn races for the conditions we are likely to be facing. It’s that simple.

I’m not quite done with this rant. All this said with the weather, lack of gainful long-term employment opportunities for my wife, and some other things (this year's crappy local race schedule notwithstanding), for the first time since moving here we’re actually beginning to think about life outside of this community.

I can’t see leaving before the kids are done with high school, but after that it will be open season. I’ve thought about New England, but they hardly have winter anymore. The upper Midwest still gets winter and the cost of living is good, but been there/lived there and that region is kind of depressed. If we want to keep skiing (would like to be in a place where you can ski 100 days a year or more) that leaves the Rockies, Sierras, or Pacific Northwest. That would mean the end of this blog, although Anchorage or Kenai at least have relatively reliable skiing.

BC is nice. In a perfect world, that's where I'd go.

We have a few years to think about options and maybe we’ll think differently by spring time. A two week vacation each year to someplace with actual daylight and sun would help. We always travel to Colorado during summer when it's too hot there.

Ski Your Age in Ks Day: Not this year!

2011-12-28T11:25:00.002-09:00

Lucky loser here, I went in not even planning to attempt to ski 53K on Monday at the annual Ski Your Age event at Birch Hill. I've participated almost every year they've had it but I decided about from the get go that conditions have to be decent enough to ski the distance within about 3.5 to 4 hours. With temps in the -10s in the morning (and slow fresh snow) I decided just to ski what I could within 2.5 or 3 hours.

More power to all those (old timers in particular) who skied their age and then some.

Don't know how/why I just happened to be skiing in the stadium when the Daily NewsMiner photographer was snapping pictures.

Roger Sayre is followed by his son, Tristan, and Mark Ross as they participate in the "Ski Your Age in Kilometers" event Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, at the Birch Hill Recreation Area. The elder Sayre felt it was to cold to complete all of his laps but that Tristan had already surpassed his required amount. Sam Harrel/News-Miner

Might as well of said: Fairbanks loser wimps out on Ski Your Age day.

In a way the ski was goofed up from the before starting as I gave out my last handwarmers, thinking I had another set in my bag. D'oh! Then I brought the wrong orthotics (really old ones with quarter-sized hole dug into what should be the resting spot of my big toes), and skied 16K of classic in skate boots. What was I thinking? Got the boots changed and finished 22K with Tristan before setting out on my own. I took off the mask and sort of hammered (marathon effort) out on White Bear (7K)/Moilainen's before wrapping up with an easy cruise around Warm Up Loop and a fourth circuit around Rollercoasters.

So I did 35K (my age transposed) in about 2:50, including a couple of wax stops. A fair to decent distance workout. Personally, I don't have all day (would have been 4.5 hr worth on Monday, and I would have had to taken a break) to go 53K for Gold, 54K for Platinum or even the extra hour+ to make it 47 and a "Century"). Neverthless, I do think that Ski Your Age in Ks is a great little community event on Boxing day and it's growing in popularity.

Anyway, all seemed well until I got inside and the big toe on each foot felt like it was burning up. Uh oh, I thought maybe frostbite? My toes never felt cold out there. Got home and lo! found half dollar sized blisters on each one. So I had to sit out from Tuesday's workout, and rode the bike trainer instead.

Sub 5 Over 5 Decades?: A Solstice Pipe Dream

2011-12-21T10:09:00.001-09:00

First, Happy Solstice! Officially they're (USA East Coast & EuroZone) calling the 22nd as the winter solstice, but technically for Alaska it's today. 3 hours 42 minutes of daylight. We gain three seconds tomorrow. Yes! Light, bring it on. Actually it will take about three or four weeks to notice a difference, but after that it's simply amazing how fast we gain light. February and March are awesome months if we can avoid any deep, long-lasting cold snaps.

Okay, on one of the running message boards someone positited the question of running sub 5 for the mile over five decades. They weren't exactly clear whether this meant calendar decades (e.g., 1970s, 80s, 90s and on) or chronological decades (a given runner's teens, twenties, thirties and on). Either way, I come up just short. I need a sub 5 in the 2010s/my 50s. Maybe have one or two more chances to do this. It's a worthy goal.

Here's the chronology, and below I'll write up the strategy.

I started training seriously just before turning 19 in early 1977. In years that I ran 1500 instead, I use a converted time. Some years I didn't attempt a mile/1500, but use race splits (only the first mile counts) as a time.

4:41 (1977)
4:39 (1978)
4:55 (1979) - first mile of a 2 mile track race
4:31 (1980)
?:?? (1981) - did not race a mile but did run 33:30 10K; may have done a workout sub 5
4:45 (1982)
4:57? (1983) - race split, did not race a mile but ran 15:28 5K
5:00? (1984) - not sure, ran 15:53 5K and ~10:20 for 2 mile
4:26 (1985)
4:26 (1986) - also ran 1500 in 4:05, converts to 4:24 mile (PR)
?:?? (1987) - ran 16:00 5K, maybe ran a sub 5 in a workout but not sure
?:?? (1988) - ran 49:50 15K (5:22/mile), so was in pretty good shape
4:31 (1989) - converted from 4:11 1500 m
4:32 (1990)
4:32 (1991)
4:43 (1992)
4:46 (1993)
4:51 (1994)
4:56 (1995)
4:58 (1996)
-:-- (1997) - mostly injured, but ran 35:44 10K, 17:21 5K (not = to sub 5)
4:38 (1998) - Masters PR
4:40 (1999) - converted from 4:20 1500 m
4:45 (2000)
5:00 (2001) - road mile at altitude, but slight downhill
-:-- (2002) - injured all year
5:03 (2003) - road mile, same course as 2001
5:08 (2004)
4:56 (2005)
4:54 (2006)
5:08 (2007) - road mile (Need to check if I did any track miles that year)
5:00.8 (2008)
5:00.8 (2009)
5:14 (2010) - converted 1500
5:11 (2011)

The tentative plan, finances and logistics permitting, is to run Eugene Marathon in April with ski training as my base (sub 3 hr would be cool, but we'll see), and then take a two week recovery and then focus on miler training for about six weeks in preparation for Flint Hills Mile, and a serious attempt at sub 5:00.

Wednesday Night Series: 5th time is a charm

2011-12-15T08:13:00.001-09:00

Fall 2011 has been my worst start to a ski season, ever. And I'm a slow starter (learner too!). Been a regular master of disaster, what with skiing off course last month at the 2nd Wednesday night race; classic skiing personal worsts at Turkey Day Relays and the GundeLoppet races. Now the sprint race was decent, I stayed on my feet, but a distant, and I mean distant, third is nothing to write home about.

Last night was supposed to be classic, but yesterday morning race director Ken informed us by email that it would be a skate race. This was both good and bad. Good because I'm much more confident with skating these days (see several recent entries for that story), but sort of bad because on Monday I had just dropped off my trusty skate skis for a stone grinding, thinking I wouldn't be skate racing until next month. Enough time to for multiple wax layers. I like to get in between 5 and 10 layers of warm wax (CH7/LF7), plus a fair amount of skiing them in, before actually prepping the skis for a race. This process usually takes weeks.

I had all of 2.5 hours to get it done! Base layer was on and they were hotboxed (which totally helped), so I put on a quick layer of purple then blue over lunch and after work it was blue--temperatures were dropping faster than the European economy--so two layers of LF4. By then it was 6:15, only time for a quick preview of the course (no wrong turns planned!!!!), with some pickups and a hit of albutorol to stave off an asthma attack.

By race time it was about 4F. Most of the usual Wednesday night suspects were there, sans Kramer and Arvey.

The course was a rolling 5K, with the trickiest part over the first 2K, with a short blast out of the stadium and 180 degree turn after about 200 meters followed by flat for 300 meters and the entire 1.5K, fairly narrow, hilly and twisty, Warm Up loop. I tucked in nicely into 5th or so through the first half K, with Max, Jim, Jim, and Dave taking the lead (first names used to protect the innocent). Surprisingly, on Warm Up's first downhill national class skier Tyson skied around and tucked in to our group.

What the heck?

I just cruised and drafted through 2K, and the into the Stadium Tyson busted out and was not to be seen again (by me at least), while Max and Jim pulled away. Dave set a strong pace too, so I tried to hang on. Played a little masters cat and mouse with Jim, through Relay Loop while Dave did the work. Up East Ramp, Dave started to pull away by 30 m or so, and Jim slowed so I went after Dave, who obviously had younger-fresher legs.

I was close on White Bear Access, but he put no a powerful hop step up the hill leading into the switch backs and his gap grew from about 2 seconds to maybe 5. So it was pretty much over. Just before heading into the stadium I was tying up, barely hanging, and expecting Jim to go blasting by. So I committed a cardinal error and looked back. Shouldn't do that but he was a good 50 meters behind and looking as pekid as I was feeling, and I knew I'd be able to hang on for the sprint. So I regrouped and set my sights on Dave. Gained on the stadium backstretch, but he was definitely faster on the sprint to the finish line, and I was 5th about 7 seconds behind Dave.

1st "masters: (Max and Jim are over 40, but for this series masters starts at 45), and shook that bad monkey of my back.

It was a good night to race, and as my cool down partner aptly said, "how racing should be. You show up, line up, the RD says a few words, and you go!" Simple, laid back, straigtforward.

Unofficial Quick Results:

13:40 Tyson
14:16 Max? (I didn't find out who won that duel)
14:17 Jim?
14:36 Dave
14:43 Me
14:59 Jim
~15:20 Gary
~15:40s Davya (1st woman)

A walk down classic ski tip lane

2011-12-12T17:05:00.002-09:00

So many skis so little time.

Although I started skiing at about age 5 or 6 in Colorado during the early-mid 1960s, I didn't try cross country until about a decade later. My family had moved to Iowa by then and every year (sometimes twice) we'd make a trip out of corn land to ski country. Some years we'd go to back to Colorado, but usually it was a trip to the upper Midwest: Wisconsin and Michigan's UP.

I was all set to go to Michigan on New Year's 1974, but caught the flu. So my dad and brother went, and I had to stay home. My friend who was supposed to travel with us and I decided to try cross country at Kent State Park, near Iowa City. So we rented some skis from a local bike shop, and I recall it was a lot of fun making fresh tracks in the 6 or 8 inches of fresh snow.

That winter I don't think I even left the state for downhill but took an interest in cross country, so my parents bought me a pair. I felt guilty taking their money and took the cheapest things on the shelf. Old wooden skis with cable bindings that were suitable for any kind of shoes. My dad tried to get me to at least go with a 3-pin system but I refused.

I spent hours prepping the bases with pine tar, and actually used them a lot over the next three years, usually just on my own. My favorite was Hickory Hill Park just a mile or two from home, but also City Park, or back at Kent State Park. Then I went to college and hardly gave it a try; maybe two or three times. I was into running by then and did downhill on winter vacations.

After graduating I moved back to Colorado for a while, and picked up a pair of recreational Fischer waxable skis, with something like these Skilom bindings. I used this system for light touring and a couple races a year.

By 1983-84 I decided to get sort of serious about skiing and got a pair of silver top of hte line Rossignols. Broke one of those within a month. The shop replaced the ski, and then I quickly snapped another. They shoo'd me out of the store. So I had to borrow a friend’s Kneissels to finish the season. He moved to Hawaii so I think ended up buying those, and I used them for another half season, and broke those at the same place at the same race as the second pair that I'd broke the year before!

So in January 1985 I got a good deal on some Fischer Air Carbons (205 cm). Those were the bomb! Light and fast. But that was at the start of the skate revolution and by early 1986 I blew out the sidewall of those (4 broken skis in 2 years, not a good pattern). So I got the first generation Fisher Skate ski, with metal edges and sidewalls made of iron. Virtually indestructable. I still have those!

But we're talking classic here. Nobody did classic in the 1985-86 season. It was all skating (if you wanted to be competitive), but before the 1986-87 season the FIS and USSA governing bodies brought back classic and issued the edict that World Cup and championship type races would be 50-50 classic-skating. So I went to SNIAGRAB (bargains spelled backwards) at Gart Brothers in Denver an picked up a 5 or 6 (8?) year old model of Kastle classic skis for about $50 and resurrected my classic skiing, usually twice a week for recovery days of 45 to 60 minutes.

In early 1987 I went to my first big time race, the World Championship tryouts in Biwabik, Minnesota. I got some looks, and remarks from people saying hey those were great skis back in the day. I should have taken that hint. The opening race was a 15K classic. The skis were soft and slow on the icy northern Minnesota trails. My big time race debut was auspicious in that I was so far back, near the bottom of the rankings, and 25% back from the winners (will have to look that one up!). Fortunately, the skate races went better.

So when I got back to Colorado the first thing I did is got to the ski shop in Boulder, where I stumbled upon the best deal ever. A pair of 1986 Fischer Air Carbon Klisters (soft flex) for $50. No one was buying classic skis yet. At the retail and local level skating was all the rage. Only racing nerds knew that classic was back. I snapped those things quicker than you could say Flatirons, and got out of town before the shop owners realized the steal I'd gotten.

Those were simply the best skis ever! That spring I went to California and race US Nationals and placed in the top 40 overall in the 15K, and was about 16% back. A 9% improvement from two months previously. Those skis made a big difference.

I raced on those Air Carbons for years, a full decade! By the end they were beaten up and patched together with epoxy, but I was still kicking some classic butt (by then in northern Minnesota, where we lived for a few years) until the spring of 1997. I tried them a few times ca. 2000-01 when we had moved back to Colorado (for the third time), but they'd lost their magic. I did maybe two classic races between 1998 and 2004 and they just felt slow and old. I still have them and plan to keep them forever.

Okay, up to modern times, and I must admit it hasn't been pretty.

Bought a pair of 206 cm Atomic RC11s in the fall of 2004 and immediately hated them. Slow and noodle like. So I asked around a bit, and local skier Mike Kramer had some 206 cm Atomic Beta Classics that he didn't really like so I tried them out. Hmmm. They'd do for the season I figured. That was November 2004.

I kind of muddled through that first season here, and actually did better at classic than skating.

For whatever reason (i.e., investing in skate skis and my kids' equipment) I kept on those Betas through the ‘05, ‘06, and ‘07 seasons, and they served fairly well. At the beginning of ‘08 I decided it was time to get a new pair of classics so I went after some Atomic World Cups, but asked for a stiffer pair. Now Fred at Raven's warned me, but I insisted. And lived to regret it. Those were just way too stiff and I could barely get up anything more than 6% grade without falling on my face. As we know, hills like South Tower, Tower Direct, White Bear, and Black Funk are all well over 6% grade, so I spent a lot of time on my face that year! Bad Bob has video tape, which I hear he likes to show to friends from time to time.

Shelved those puppies and bought some new skate skis. (indeed, I have two great pairs of Atomic skate skis).

Went back to the beaten up blue Betas for 2009. And then in 2010 I was injured with the knee thing, but jumped into a few races (all classic). With the Betas.

At the beginning of last season I decided it was time to give Atomics one more try and I got a pair of the new World Cups, this time easy to handle 201s with a medium flex. Perfect. They feel good. Light, handle well. Setting the pocket for the kick phase usually isn't that hard. I've got the wax pocket dialed, at least for practice.

But I'm now convinced those things are slow. When my 120 lb. high school freshman son pulls way on an easy downhill on Tower, and puts a minute on me from top of tower to the Biathlon range (almost all downhill), yup, it's time for a switch.

Guess what? I just dropped off the (what, 8 or 9 yr old) Betas at Goldstream for one more grind. I'm going back to those this winter for any more classic races.

They're not the greatest. Besides being old, they're too long (206), and certifiably too stiff for me. But I've had some good races on them (the Skiathon a few times, some of the 10 and 20Ks at Birch and the 25K classic for Tour of Anchorage) and can make them work.

Next year, however, I'm saving up and will place an order through Boulder Nordic to get a handpicked pair--right out of the factory in Europe--that should fit just so.

A really good racer can probably make about any decent ski work. Likewise, an everyman racer like me can make skate skis work. It’s harder with classic. I really think you need the right fit.

GundeLoppet 15K, that was pretty awful

2011-12-10T16:47:00.000-09:00

I now have the certifiably slowest skis in Fairbanks. At least they were today. No glide whatsoever. Got a bad start, but was still in contact with most everyone as we got off South Tower and onto Tower switch backs, but on that first downhill everyone just glided away and several more skiers came up from behind and went past. I just ended up stepping out of the track several times to let people past. Lost 40 sec between top of Tower to the Biathlon Range. That's just not right.

Course was great (probably a bit short of 15K), snow perfect and loved the temps. My only complaint--and it's significant--was that there was only single track from 1K on. What's up with that? There should be double track almost the entire way!! Passing was almost impossible because the outside lane wasn't even groomed much--very slow.

Anyway, fell way back by the 4.5K, 6K, and 7K cutoffs but coming back on White Bear I began to up some ground on the long climbs. That was good. The bad part was I would have needed another 5K and 800 ft of vertical (with no down) to make up enough ground to move up much. The good thing is that I gained a lot of confidence on the climbs. It's not my technique that sucks, it's the skis and the wax job. I had a short pocket, but maybe VR45 was too sticky for those skis on this day.

The damage:
26th male (last year 15th or so)
32nd overall (last year 15th or so)

The kids did well though. Erich 9th overall in 15K, David 2nd and Tristan 3rd in the 7.5K.

December 2011 Blues

2011-12-09T15:03:00.001-09:00

This is the season of the SNAFU, at least from my perspective.

I'm actually pretty happy with last week's skate sprint. But I'm definitely not a sprinter and couldn't sprint fast on skis (or on foot) anymore if my life depended on it.

Got the kids all waxed up and ready to go in the morning, only to have Tristan run into one of those metal barriers the start corral and he broke his brand new--never been raced on--Rossignol Xium 174 cm skis. He raced one round with the broken ski, and made the semi and we switched him into his warm up skis (4 yr old jr-level skis) so he didn't make the "A" final. On the final round I retrieved his good ski and he went one old ski, one new ski and ended up 4th in the "B" final of the B bracket. Decent for a freshman with a broken ski. Likewise, Mikko had a good day, and made A final of B bracket and was actually leading with just 300 m to go, but he rigged up at the top of East Ramp and finished 4th.

Good experience for the boys and a lot of the kids.

The masters heats were all messed up. We were supposed to go at 12:30/35 in two heats, with a final at 12:40, but there was schedule misprint so many (most) of the skiers thought we'd be going an hour later. Oops. So it became a one race final at 2:00, after all the A bracket racing was done. I did 2 warm ups, which probably isn't so bad.

Started out cautiously in 4th, not wanting to go after Arvey (hey he's only 33 and not really a "master," if you count 40+ as masters) and Kramer. But by the time we got to the spruce tree hairpin (maybe 350 meters in), I decided to hammer and go after them. It was too much to ask, so I ended up the rest of the way in a lactic acid induced no-man's land hoping to hell that I'd stay on my feet and finish. So took a suprise (remember I'm not a sprinter) 3rd OA (actually 2nd). But jeez, 3 min and you're done!? What kind of racing is that.

Gundeloppet 15K tomorrow. I've always managed to be competitive and finish within 20% of the top UAF skiers and to beat the top women. Not going to happen in a classic race anymore. I'll be lucky/happy to be within 30% and be behind no more than three of the women. It might end up a lot worse than that the way classic racing has been going.

Honestly, I used to be good at classic. In 1990-91 I was 4th overall at the Tug Hill Tourathon, one of the biggest classic marathons in the East, 1st in the Empire State Games championship classic race, and 2nd at the Gatineau 25K classic in Canada, also a big race out there. I just can't do it very well anymore.

Tomorrow will be perfect skate weather. If the 20K in January is too cold to skate or if it gets cancelled due to cold (& I'm not racing if it's colder than -10 F), I will be one pissed local customer.

Belated TD Relays Report

2011-12-01T16:51:00.001-09:00

Only five days late. Skiing on the 3X5K relay with my own kids was memorable, even though I'd like to forget my own race. More or less shot myself in the foot, not to mention some other factors. Still it was a lot fun.

Weather could have been warmer, but -5 wasn't too bad compared to what we'd had earlier in the week. The course was tougher than in the past, but it wasn't a killer either: Stadium, Relay to South Tower, onto Tower for a K or so, then down the sprint course (over a jump and round a big S turn), Rollercoasters, White Cub, White Bear and WB Access, and then just a little jog around the first section of Warm Up.

I felt off from the get go, worse on the hill and that's just 1K, and it went downhill from there.

18:27 (me)
17:57 (Tristan)
17:00 (Mikko)

8th overall, and a surprise 3rd in our division.

I signed up for the sprint race on Saturday. Not quite looking forward to that--would rather do a 15K freestyle or the 4 mile snowshoe race. But the former is not happening this year and the latter conflicts with the ski races. So I'll be there. Might as well jump in and go against the masters.

Occupy Birch Hill!!

2011-11-21T13:36:00.001-09:00

Well, we can't do much about the weather but we're off to a terrible start here, with temps dipping into the -20s and -30s consistently and even colder in town.

What I'm really getting at is that we don't have to have a Panglossian ski club, with a handful of deciders, that dictates everything Nordic in this community.

For example, this year a relatively logical race schedule (considering weather patterns) was overturned and now it heavily favors classic races. My favorite races over the past 7 years have been in order: the Sonot 50K (which thankfully they haven't touched this year in terms of technique and hopefully NEVER will), the 15K Gundeloppet in December, and the Turkey Day Relays. Those have always been freestyle. Now 2 of 3 are classic.
Don’t get me wrong, I like classic racing and in particular have enjoyed the 20K races, the January Jaunt and Skiathon.

The club's only skate races (a 10K and 20K) this season are in the coldest weeks of the year, the first two weeks of January. This community should have at least one freestyle and one classic race per month. (The sprint races are a wash bafor most post-college and masters skiers, unless you're Kikkan Randall that's really your thing).

God forbid trying to invoke change at a board meeting, and I wouldn't suggest a camp out in the timing building. But staying at home and grumbling about doesn't help much either.

If you like the idea of alternatives, then think and act independently. For example, if you see the need start your own training group or racing team--at any level, juniors, open, masters--then feel free to do so. And keep those middle school programs going! I think Tanana is the lone survivor, which is too bad. Nevertheless, it's exciting to see Christina Gillis’ new women's group this year. Hopefully other ideas will keep cropping up, and will thrive.

And I'd love to see other people take some initiative to put on some other choices for races around here, especially when the race schedule is capriciously turned upside down. Although I appreciate what the club does, it would be great to have some other options available for citizen racing enthusiasts.

Types of races I'd like to see:
A two day pursuit over New Years. New Year's Eve 10K classic, and New Year's Day Freestyle.

Some additional longer races. Maybe a 25K freestyle two weeks before the Tour of Anchorage, that would be a good tune up.

A late season multi race, some combination of snowshoe, bike, ski, run, and maybe even ice skate.

A late season series, like Tour de Fairbanks, but taking advantage of our amazing polar spring--almost always the best time of the year to ski, but when you see the lowest participation rates. Sometimes it seems like rollerskiing in July is more popular than sliding on fast snow in April.

Try new trails for some events, like the musher trails right North American and the Sonot. Or offer a freestyle race at UAF.

Finally, to end this November rant on a frigid day I’d also like to see new music at for the town races. Ummm, there have been a few decades and a lot of music since the 1970 to 1972 era.

When the bottom falls out

2011-11-18T12:24:00.002-09:00

You could say oh well, it's just that time of year--throw another log on the fire, dig out another blanket, warm up your car longer--but this is a little ridiculous to have -40s in mid-November. That hasn't happened here since winter 1969-70.

At least now the temperature inversion has kicked in. On Wednesday and Thursday there was no inversion so it was -35 to -41 in town, and only a few degrees warmer on the hills. Yesterday evening was strange though: in town (at the university, elev 450 ft) it was -34 at about 5 PM; On Birch Hill on the other side of town (elev about 900 ft) it was -29; in between at our house (1,250 ft) the temperature was a balmy -13. With in a couple hours it was -10 at home and at Birch Hill.

The upshot of all this drop in temperature is that the big, I mean BIG, races that the had scheduled for the Tour of Fairbanks have been semi-cancelled. No UAF vs UAA grudge match, no APU testing their early oats, and no clubs or teams from the Anchorage area. Now it's just another Town Race, without even the university on hand. That means it will be 90% high school and younger. I didn't even sign up--too much classic waxing to do--for the Town Race on Saturday (hate huge mass starts on short races, a sure ticket to anaerobia). However, I did sign up for Sunday's 10K freestyle on the "new" course (more overhauled than new). But that's a goner.

Wonder if I'll get $25 entry fee back? Probably not, but you can always hope.

Boy that was Stupid!

2011-11-10T08:32:00.000-09:00

The resurrected Wednesday Night Cross Country Ski Series here is not unlike an all-comer's track meet in a university town, totally low key atmosphere but tends to draw out a high proportion of very good athletes. Most everyone out there was a solid skier--as one of them said last night not many mid-packers.

Conditions were excellent with 12 F and we've been getting fresh snow almost every day or two.

Got off to a good start, about 5th-6th place throughout the first km, and was just deciding to close in on 4th place Peter, who was about 15 m ahead when I tripped on a light beam or something and hurtled forward and did a major chest plant, OOOMMHPSSAA, and I started babbling and swearing as 3-4 racers sped by.

I was 50 meter behind by the time I got up, but reeled them all in within a km, as we climbed East Ramp, but up everyone cut right onto Tower Loop when I thought we had some more climbing to do, up to the old sprint course cutoff on Tower Direct. I was certain we had to go straight because there were two flags on the sprint course headwall, and we were supposed to go up through those and to the cutoff. Right?

So I stopped in my tracks, "No no we go straight, see the flags! Peter stopped, me but all the others (Jim, Dave, Gary, and then everyone else) took the right turn. I saw Ken, the Race Director, about 200 m down below at the top of East Ramp and hollered, holding my arms up like Charlton Heston's version of Moses with in The 10 Commandments--me just with ski poles and in utter bewilderment.

He heard me and gestured but I could not tell WTF he was saying so I skied on down to him. Indeed, we were supposed to turn onto Tower, did you get the memo? Umm, yes, I read it, but didn't look at the attached map: Turn on Tower Loop and do 1K and return on the sprint course cutoff...not take Tower Direct and turn on the old sprint course cutoff (which is what I thought)...

I am really sorry Peter!

So, with most of the field long gone I jumped back in and reeled in as many as I could. Finished 10th, overall and passed several other skiers along the way. Probably lost 1.5 to 2 min with those histrionics.

Stuff of minor legend I guess, as everyone was talking about it post-race. Mostly I just feel stupid, but then again enlightened because everyone else here in the Fairbanks ski community has known that for quite some time.

Didn't sleep well either. My ribs hurt from the crash.

1. Mike Kramer..................14:35
2. Max Kaufman................14:52
3. Jim Button......................15:11
4. Jim Lokken ....................15:34 (1st Master)
5. David Apperson.............16:20
6. Gary Holton....................16:23
7. Dave Edic.......................16:24
8. Melissa Lewis.................16:56 (1st female)
9. Mike Hajdukovich..........16:57
10. Roger Sayre....................16:58 (skied an extra ½ -1 kilometer)
11. Bob Baker......................17:12
12. Matt Stoller....................17:30
13. Peter Fix.........................17:31 (skied an extra ½ -1 kilometer)
14. Mark Ross......................18:24
15. Byron Broda..................19:06
16. Ashley Strauch...............19:53
17. Brandon Hoover............22:17
18. Pete Wilda.....................22:19
19. Adam Johnson...............24:23
20. Jim Case........................25:54
21. Debbie Brown...............26:42
22. John McKiney...............26:06

Geezer Hit's Portland for XC Wild Weekend

2011-10-17T17:06:00.002-08:00

Well, it wasn't that wild really. Maybe a bit tiring.

Went down with the xc kids who ran at the Adidas Concordia XC Classic. That was quite a production set up by Adidas with a huge soundstage, a very loud drum band at the lap area, 1,000 cowbells, banners, live video feed via Flotrack, and thousands of high energy kids not to mention parents, fans, and coaches. Great just to be part of that.

On Saturday morning I jumped into the Stumptown Cross race on the same course that the high schoolers ran. I've definitely been in Alaska too long. Thought maybe there would be a couple dozen coaches, some in better shape than others, and some easy-going joggers and a few parents running too. I arrived at the site and there were teams, and tents, and all sorts of fast looking runners in team uniforms. Heck, this was going to be a race!

The course at Fernhill Park has three loops with numerous sharp turns around posts and root bearing tree trunks. Footing is rarely even and runners don't get more than 200 meters before the next transition, and usually it's more like 50 meters on broken or tilted surface. Still the course is fairly fast.

Got in a solid warm up, 2 miles with Lathrop's coach Chad, plus some odds and ends to get ready. Picked my spot on the start line, and ick, immediately felt kind of slow out there as 30% of the field sped away. Hit 1K at 3:30, hoping that I could hold on and some of the field would come back.

Truthfully, neither happened. I might have picked off a few by a mile (5:42) and half way, but my pace wasn't getting any easier. Crossed 2 at 11:30, and was falling back on my heels. Half way through the final lap a couple guys tried passing me, and then the 2nd woman (1st woman was in a pack just ahead). That did wake me up a bit over the final stretch, and I manageed to pick off a couple, but get outkicked by one or two as well. It's all very fuzzy at this point.

Final damage: 17:57, 42nd place (out of only 142), 2nd in age group. First time (other than injury DNF at NYC Marathon in 2009) that I've been beaten in my age group since 2006. Dang, he was only 16 sec up, but it would have taken a major hurt to even get in that range on Saturday.

Coaching in the afternoon was far more exciting than my own plodding race. The varsity kids ran solid, but the team's 1 and 2 runners had a rough day. The scoring top 5--plus several other up and comers--will all be back next year. I hope we make it back to Portland for this big, exciting meet. Although I'll give the course itself a B or B-. Race management and quality (both open race and high school divisions) get an A+.

Equinox Post-Script

2011-09-19T09:18:00.003-08:00

PREDICTOR? (not!)
Well, didn't do so great on the overall Equinox Marathon prediction front. Two out of three in the men's race isn't so bad. However, on Friday I got notice from an insider that UAF Assistant coach Matt Dunlap would be running so in hindsight I should have revised the prediction. He's built perfectly for mountain running and when he has showed up this year (Beat Beethoven and Santa Claus Half come to mind) he's been a strong runner-up.

Anyway, the lead pack went out fast! Running the first leg of the relay I was promtly left in no-man's land amongst the fallen leaves. I don't know their splits yet but that lead group of six or seven was well under 2:50 pace for the first 6 or 8 miles.

Like Dunlap, Laura Brosius did not race much over the summer, and she indicated after the race that she hadn't trained a lot either, but she knows how to step it up for this race. Imagine if she did put in the miles. Melissa Lewis showed up after all and ran to a strong second, upending Davya Flarharty's string of fast races and wins this summer.

RELAYS
This relay was a lot of fun, although I've enjoyed each one in its own way. So far I have had fortune to have been on three different winning relays. Two open men's wins (2007 and 2009), and now a masters win (and record, even thought it appears that they don't keep or acknowledge masters relay records). For years I've wanted to put together a masters team that could break 3 hours.

Have to admit though, this year was the hardest for me. I thought Leg 1 would be great/perfect, but with the sore foot and cut back in training (something like a total of 20 miles running in 17 days prior to the race) it was tough out there. The lead group took it out fast and I couldn't move up. It felt like running in water and I was never comfortable. In fact the race seemed like running an 8K that lasted almost an hour. Earlier this summer I was dreaming of 52s, then after the foot thing I thought 55 or 54 was possible. On Saturday I had to settle for 56:07. Gave it all I had, though.

I'm still happy because as of Tuesday-Wednesday of last week I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to run the 8.5 miles, let alone 2 or 3. But a 4 mile test run on Thursday and short shake out on Friday actually seemed alleviate the stiffness and soreness in my plantar fascia.

Mark Lindberg ran fantastic with a 1:05:16, which I bet is the fastest ever masters split for that leg. And Hannibal Grubis took it home with a very respectable 57:40s, to bring us under 3:00 with a 2:59:07. Once, if they ever get the year by year relay stats up again, I'll have to look for the old masters record but as long as I've been here I don't think any masters teams have gone faster than 3:15 or 3:20.

The team! (me, Mark, Hannibal)

Our time is now 11th on the all time relay list, and all the other teams were open (with one very fast mixed team from the early 90s that included Olympic skier Adam Verrier and local prodigy Mara Rabinowitz).

Congrats to Ben Nelson, Devin McDowell, and Chad Caroll for a fine relay performance (Caroll's 54 min final leg eclipsed my unofficial "master's split record" of 55 min) to rank 4th all time. And the women's team of Theresia Schnurr, Jane LeBlond, and Heather Best destroyed the relay record as well as the all-time women's Equinox record, to post an impressive 3:14 (and 3rd overall for the day).

Meanwhile, Tamara, Lisa Beattie, and Amy Noon took a surprise first in the women's masters relay. So the family got two medals on two separate relays. That was awesome!

Tamara near the end of her leg.

2011 AND BEYOND
My running year is pretty much done, it's time to rest and rehab that foot. Also time to support the kids at regionals, state, and Portland.

Thinking about the future and that age 55 record of 3:27 hanging out there for 2013. However, guys like Wayde Leder and Andy Holland will want to take that down next year. Who knows, I might have one or two marathons left in these tired old legs. Hoping the future holds at least one flat marathon and maybe another Equinox full marathon.

Quick Equinox Predictors

2011-09-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

Based on review of Equinox entrants so far (9/15) it seems like a youth movement/changing of the guard is on, but we'll see about that. Anchorage runners have made a good showing on several recent Equinox Saturdays, but none seem to be signed up this time around.

Last year's winner Jane Leblond is running the relay, so we'll have a new winner. Davya Flaharty has been running strong all summer, capped off with a solid 3:04 marathon win last month in Anchorage. If she's recovered she'll be tough to beat. Melissa Lewis has also had a good summer but she was not listed among the entrants. Past podium finisher Laura Brosius is entered but hasn't raced locally this summer, and Maria Stensland of Norway is back in town.

Win - Flaharty
Place - Stensland
Show - Brosius

The men's race will be exciting. Defending champion Matias Saari will be back of course, but he'll be challenged by relative youngster Chris Eversman (25), who's been racking up some impressive distance wins this summer: record at Gold Discovery and Musk Ox Trail runs, and second fastest ever at the Santa Claus Half Marathon with a 1:13. Meanwhile, 2009 runner-up Stian Stensland is also back in town. Data on recent performances are lacking (although a Google search might solve that), but he was looking tanned and fit the other week at the Musk Ox Run.

Win - Eversman
Place - Saari
Show - Stensland

Musk Ox Trail Run - Pipped at the Finish, Again!

2011-09-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

The Musk Ox Trail Race was a fixture on the local circuit for years but it was voted off the island when the trail series started several years ago. Some hard cores brought it back, under the radar, in 2008 or so and it had been run unofficially. But now it's official again and now part of the Running Club North Trail Running series.

I've been waiting to get back ever since they cancelled it, but haven't been able to because of other things going (training for other races, coaching, or injury).

This time the scheduling worked out well and it was more or less worth the wait. The turnout wasn't big, somewhere between 60 and 70 runners maybe, but as is often the case around here, a good quality field.

Lining up were Chris Eversman, on a roll with a record breaking Gold Discovery Run and a stellar 1:13 half marathon just two week later; Matias Saari, the Equinox defending champion, and past winner of Crow Pass Crossing and Mt Marathon; Devin McDowell former state high school 3200 m champion and past varsity runner for Montana State University; and Ben Nelson who has been a steady/strong presence at the races this summer.

For masters competition, I had Simon who at 45 is still running strong and leading the masters division of the trail series.

This 11 mile evening trail race starts and finishes at UAFs large mammal research center, where they keep musk ox and reindeer. It follows the Equinox Trail (in reverse) for about 2 miles before taking the historic Skaarland trail onto Skyline Ridge to KUAC towers and back down. Eleven gnarly miles over roller coaster single track trails, with over 1000 ft net climb on the way out, and enough climbing on the way back to keep a runner honest.

I quickly settled into a pace--seemed okay but fast--about 15 sec behind Simon who trailed just behind the lead pack. Twisted my foot off a root at 1.5 miles--something sort of popped--but kept going. Now it hurts like hell.

The leaders pulled out of sight and Simon made a wrong turn just before Ballaine. We were all confused for a bit. There were no marker flags for at least a half mile. We ran together for the rest of the way.

I threw in some strong surges at about 5 miles and 7 miles but couldn't drop him. Not like the old days. So we just cruised with the terrain, picking it up on the flats and downhills, but easing a bit on the ups. I could really feel my legs turn to rubber with each climb, long or short. But Simon wasn't passing me either.

Put on my best kick of the year with about 300 to go and he fell back a few meters with just 50 to the finish. But he responded and got just half step ahead barely before the line. AAAARRRRRGGGG!!! It happened again.

We finished 4th and 5th in 1:16:46 (turns out one of the lead pack ran off course just after halfway).

I'm making a habit of getting outkicked. Not liking it! But Simon's a good guy and a good runner and I can't complain.

I can walk but my plantar fascia and ankle are sore. Time to restock those anti-inflammatories for a week or so.

Golden Heart Trail Race and Flint Hills Series Musings

2011-08-29T09:58:00.001-08:00

We'll start with the finish, "Roger, you're getting too old for this," quipped a bystander as I staggered through the chute after being outkicked by a college freshman/cross country skier over the last 30 meters of the 5K race at Birch Hill on Saturday.

I've had two top 4 finishes at this race (2008 and 2009), but not this time. From the start I had no zip at all. A lead group of six split off after the first (of 10) hills on the two lap circuit and I quickly fell to the back of the second pack, maybe 15th place through the first 800 meters.

Managed to pick off a few of the guys and moved into the top 10 by the mile which seemed appallingly slow at 6:00. Just me and three recent high school grads. I had been warned by a spy that one of them was determined to outkick me. So I put the push on in the middle of the race. I shook two of the three with my surge but by 3K (11:20) I was the one hanging on. Feeling it.

Got dropped just after 2 miles and shortly thereafter the one who had planned to take me down was right there. This did not bode well. He was determined and I was tired. We did a bit of cat and mouse for a km or so, and with 600 to go on the flats in the stadium I ran as hard as I could manage and pulled ahead by 5 seconds or so out on Warm Up Loop. But the Birch Hill course is cruel--especially to a lame age grouper who has no kick--with the final 300 meters uphill. I had nothing left and could hear him coming along with about 80 meters to go. I tried to find a reserve gear but could not hold him off.

So 9th place in 18:44 (compared to 18:32 on a muddy day in 2009; course was much shorter in 2008). So with that my 2011 Flint Hills campaign is over.

Then I put on my coaching hat and helped out with the West Valley team, which performed very well (taking 2nd) in spite of missing most of their top runners. Look for some exciting races at Palmer (Sept 10), Regionals Sept 24), and State (Oct 1).
***************************************************************************
Despite going six for six in the series races I ran (skipped the Gold Discovery Run to do the bike trip) I'll barely eke out an age group win this time. There are no time bonuses so it doesn't matter if you are 1 second ahead of someone or 6 minutes. 1st is 30 pts, 2nd 25, 3rd 21 and that's that. So I needed help, and got it as someone else slipped into 2nd place on Saturday, leaving me with a small cushion.

With a point system like this (no byes or lowest scores thrown out) you take a risk if you miss a race or two. In past years this hasn't made much difference for my age group, although one year I did one or two fewer races than Wayde Leder and so we finished just a few points apart at the end of the season.

That said, my overall series ranking--4th with 305 pts--is probably tanking and I could finish as low as 7th overall. Chris Eversman (285 pts) plans to do Equinox and he'll certainly pass me, even though he'll have done only four races (those 1st and 2nds add up quick!).

Kyle Emery (275 pts) has done all seven races so far and has raced consistently. He'll pass me if he does Equinox and gets top 15. Likewise Charlie Mahlen (283 pts) has missed just one race and he's been only a couple places back of my tired old legs through this season. With a sub 3 hr marathon at Boston this year, he'll likely place top 10 at Equinox.

Signs of the times: on years that I've aimed for the series/not had an injury ('04, '05, '06, '08, '09) I've done five or six races (I might have done 7 in 2008) and have placed on the podium in the top 5. This year the series was a primary goal, but it the field seemed deeper/more competitive at the top 10 to 15 level, which is great. It's wonderful having these guys like Eversman, Steve Chu, and Devin McDowell--with up and comers like Emery and Sam Viavant in there to make things interesting--in their 20s hammering at each other. A new generation!

But to conclude while I may have done okay as an age grouper I simply didn't get the job done this weekend or several races this season. Too old is about right. Nevertheless, I'm happy to have made it though six races without an injury. That was my primary goal this season.

A Tool is as a Tool Does!

2011-08-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

Here are my age graded times for the "quantifiable" (measured courses at standard distances) for the 2011 running season. Except for the half marathon, the times are fairly close to my all time bests at the various distances.

Distance----------Age Grade------Personal Best (year/age)

1 mile-------------4:26----------4:26 (1986/28)
5 KM--------------15:07---------15:13 (1985/27)
8 KM--------------25:12---------25:33 (1990/32)
10 KM-------------31:24---------31:48 (1983/25)
Half Marathon---1:08:58-------1:10:55 (1982/24)

I still think age grading gets easier as you get older, as long as you can keep in decent shape and are relatively consistent with training. There's the rub, I guess. For most of us past 40, 45, 50 it's not so easy to do the training we used to be able to do in our 20s and 30s.

Nevertheless, with a little more focus with speed training this summer I believe that I could have run 8 to 10 sec faster in the mile. And if I'd had a decent chance at a flat and fast 5K mid or late summer, I think I could run sub 17:20. So those age grade times would be sub 4:20 and 14:40s, times that I never approached (although those were the types of times that I strived for back in the day).

So I'm a tool for a day by posting this! Been a good year and I look forward to the smattering of xc and trail races remaining on the calendar.

Let's put it this way

2011-08-22T14:14:00.001-08:00

Most of the state's heavy cross country hitters were in Anchorage for the Bartlett Invite, and cross-town Lathrop won the whole thing! Service High School has dominated the past several years. This year it's wide open, and the championship may very well be decided by someone's fifth man.

The other high schools had their first 5K of the season out at the Chena River flood control project outside of North Pole. It's a nice flat course which is a good confidence booster and opportunity to break last year's PRs.

West Valley had a very solid day, with the boys and girls taking easy victories. The paper did produce an article, but the quotations from winner Kuba Grzeda were somewhat lost in translation.

What Kuba was saying is that he usually goes out fast and hangs on (sometimes dying at the end of the race), and that's how he's run his best times so far. But this time he tried going out a little easier (the top three were actually having a bit of a conversation through the first mile), which they covered in 5:24. Then they got to business, and ran 5:20 for mile two. The boys got real serious for the final mile with Grzeda going about 4:40 (school record 15:52), Andre Ionashku of Delta running about 4:48 (15:59), and West Valley's third place finisher Peter Noon doing 4:53 to finish in 16:04, a personal best by 48 seconds.

Karl Kowalski photo

Both my boys PR'd with Mikko running 17:17 and Tristan was 18:56 in his freshman 5K debut. Meanwhile, FAST's Erich Hoefler knocked off 30 sec from his PR and was 17:07 in the open race.

Santa Claus Half Marathon Master Rankings and Age Graded Results

2011-08-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here are all time 10 year age class rankings for the Santa Claus Half Marathon. Women's
and Men's
WOMEN'S

And here are results (70 percent and up) from last weekend's Santa Claus Half. Even though the overall field and top times were deep and fast, we were a little short on the masters scoring, with only four men and women exceeding the 70 percent age grade.

Finally, it's nice to be back above 85 percent! Been a long, at times tough, two years.

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
3 Melissa Lewis (40)...........1:32:10.0.....75.44
4 Jennifer Mahlen (40)........ 1:33:06.5..... 73.06
9 Erika Van Flein (51)......... 1:40:11.6......75.36
32 Deena Doublex (61)......... 1:57:29.0...... 73.45

MEN'S

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
6 Chad Carroll (40)........... 1:18:43.9...... 78.36
8 Roger Sayre(53)............ 1:20:01.0...... 85.87
18 Robert Weeden (49)...... 1:33:17.1..... 71.17
27 Greg Finstad (57).......... 1:38:25.7...... 72.35

An Anonymous but Happy Half Marathon Finish

2011-08-07T07:29:00.001-08:00

Eighth overall at the relatively small and low-key Santa Claus Half Marathon in North Pole is nothing to write home about (blogging is a different story), nor is another age group medal. Nevertheless, I could hardly be any happier with the outcome of Saturday's Race.

This is probably tied for my favorite local running race--and the half marathon is probably my favorite distance. One of the few regrets I have is not doing more of these in my peak years.

The course starts and finishes at the Flint Hills Refinery in North Pole, AK about 15 miles from Fairbanks. It's flat with one 30 sec hill and a couple short risers. 4 miles of pavement, and 9.1 on dirt road/gravel through the Chena River Flood Control Project.

A cool front moved through yesterday, dropping temps to low-mid 40s overnight.

I came in hoping--but not 100% confident--to break 1:22, or 1:22:30, but with moderate mileage (30 to 50 miles per week), and this being my longest race in two years it was anybody's guess. My best case goal was to break 1:21.

Went out faster than planned--behind Davya Flaharty who was out to break the course record of 1:23. Hands were cold and we had a bit of a headwind from mile 1 through 6. So I just chilled with the temps and let it flow. Lead pack of 7 or 8 was clipping along good, at 5:30 to 5:40 pace. I pulled away from a small pack at 2 mles (6:09/12:34), and set to work on Sam Viavant, the guy who beat me at the 8K a few weeks ago, who was 20 sec up. Caught him at 4 (25:02), and we worked together to catch ex UAF skier Cody Priest who was up another 45 or 50 sec. Slowly we gained.

I caught him at about 8.5, and Sam had fallen behind. In 7th at this point, pushing beyond myself, and hoping to have the energy to hang over the last 2 miles.

10 in 61:06.

The last 3.1 were tough, and even though I pushed hard, Sam caught up just before 12. I made an inner promise to stick with him through 12.5. Lasted to 12.57. I should have hung on a wee bit longer.

Hit 13 at 1:19:26 on my watch, and a quick calculation said I'd have to kick hard to break 1:20. Kick I did, but alas not quite enough 1:20:01.

A mild argggh, it was there if I'd really bit down with 300 to go. But 6:06 pace was beyond expectation.

Splits 6:09, 6:24, 6:15, 6:11, 6:10, 6:00, 6:06, 5:51 (30 sec downhill), 6:00, 5:57, 6:11, 6:12, 5:55 (drafting off Sam!).

In the local vernacular 8th place is nothing, might as well be 48th. I've done six Santa Claus's and hadn't finished lower than 5th. Ironically my best finish was a 3rd in 2004, when Moses Waweru set the course record, which was also my slowest at just under 1:22. This was the deepest field yet, a 1:20 over the past 10 or 12 years has always netted a top 5.

The coolest thing is that 7 of the top 9 were in their early or mid-20s. Great to see these guys running fast, like in the old days.

However, I happy with time and most importantly other than a little bit of tired legs, no knee pain today!

Run for the Valkyries Age Grade Rankings

2011-07-28T09:41:00.004-08:00

Here are top masters age group scores from the Run of the Valkyries, the fifth race in the Flint Hill Series this year, on July 16. Wet, a bit drab, at about 50 or a little less with 8 or 10 mph wind from the west (return trip).

In case anybody is wondering, I usually have an age grade of 70% for the listing. So for women, and open time of about 34:20 would be about 70%, and for open men the time for 70% would be 30:20.

WOMEN'S

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
1 Melissa Lewis (40)...........32:12.3.....76.44
2 Dorli McWayne (59).........33:37.8......91.73
5 Jennifer Mahlen (40)........34:35.1.....71.18
8 Erika Van Flein (51).........36:34.8......75.43
10 Karen Nanseth (48).........37:25.7......70.92
14 Heather Johnson (51)......38:10.7......71.34

MEN'S

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
3 Chad Carroll (40)...........28:07.2......78.20
5 Roger Sayre(53)............29:28.9......82.59
9 Greg Finstad (57)..........32:48.4......76.75
10 Robert Weeden (49)......32:53.0.....71.68
11 Geoff Ames (49)..........33:05.9.....71.22

Valkyries Redeemed

2011-07-18T13:41:00.001-08:00

Hey, although I didn't stick around for the awards this time the Valkyries 8K race went off without a hitch. So kudos to them and to John Estle for measuring the course.

Last year's race was short by 0.37 mile, and I'd never been happy with race management of this event after the Jr. Nordics Comp Group gave it up some four or five years ago. Race fees jumped up from $15 to $25, they seemed to be into just for the money, and the organization was just kind of a mess. Non-runners putting on an event for the hard core Flint Hills series participants.

Others seemed to have noticed too: in 2004 there were 250 runners, and that dropped to 150 2010. However, it seems they're getting it now. A couple years ago they offered reduced entry fees for kids 17 and under and have scaled back the fee for adults to $20, and last week after a phone call from a concerned runner, they got right on it and by Friday afternoon had a new/accurate out and back course. It was also pretty easy to follow (well for most of us).

This year there were 177 finishers.

So yeah, so good job Opera Fairbanks!

My race went fairly well, but as usual you always think you can do more. I was hoping for low 29s (about what I did in 2007, when I was in similar shape). Had only 23 minutes to warm up and stretch--getting your sleepy 13 year old out the door on a rainy Saturday morning is not an easy thing to do.

It was unseasonably cool (48?!) at the start with a light drizzle and steady wind from the southwest. The three leaders, Devin McDowell, Steve Chiu, and Chad Carrol broke away within 200 meters from the start and I settled into a pack of four. We held pretty tight until just about 3K, when I decided to see what they were made of. By the turn around (4.1K) I had what seemed 8 or 10 sec on them and thought 4th was in the bag. Focused on keeping steady/strong. But by the community theatre, with about 2K to go, I heard footsteps and there's this lanky guy in a cotton shirt and shorts, and sandals of all things. I thought no way am I getting taken out by a guy in sandals. But he was strong, and I hung on for maybe 500 meters before succumbing to oxygen debt (the limit for that keeps getting lower an lower) and falling back.

He had at least 7 or 8 sec with 1K to go but kept turning the wrong way, so I'd yell Right! Left! Right! and reeled him in a little on those three final turns. So the 3+ seconds that separated us was kind of deceiving.

The sandaled runner was Sam Viavant, whom I remember a few years back when he was a stellar skier/runner for West Valley High School. I'm the same age as his dad, who's also a fine age group competitor :-)

29:28.9, 5th. Meh, not particularly happy with the time, but then again grateful to even be out there running and racing and actually feeling pretty good most of the way. I think this will be a year when I don't turn any great fitness corner, just plugging along but holding my own for a geezer.

My last PR, Utica Boilermaker, July 15, 1991

2011-07-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago today I was nearing peak (for that year) fitness in preparation for the Utica Boilermaker 15K. The year before Tamara had run an astounding 54 minutes to place in the top 5 overall. I was on the sidelines with an injury, but enjoyed the event and decided I wanted to do the race in 1991.

I came in with a little bit of caution, because I had been alternate for the Empire State Games 10000 meters. Just a few days before the Boilermaker, I got a cryptic postcard from the Empire Games organizning committee saying that regional winner Brian Clas of Cornell had opted out and that I was expected to run in Albany. I was excited about that, but the race was only 10 or 11 days after the Boilermaker; at 33, running only limited mileage at the time (40 to 50 miles per week) could I bounce back in time?

We stayed with friends at old farmhouse near Utica, and enjoyed pasta and a beer the night before. I don't remember a whole lot about the race. The start scene was memorable, as I was lined up next to Steve Spence, Ed Eyestone, and Bill Reifsnider, all who were on a tear that summer.

It was fairly warm and muggy, but overcast. I took it out conservative and remember Reifsnyder's girlfriend, Jill Hunter of Great Britain take off at 5:10/mile pace up the long gradual uphills. No thanks!

I ran conservative until about half way. Right ahead was top CNY (central New York) runner Tom Carter of Binghamton, and I was running in a pack with Olympic Nordic skier Joe Galanes. We flew over the gradual downhill section, and I think we were well under 16 for the final 5K. Carter pulled away fairly soon, and over the last mile Galanes was right there, but I couldn't respond well enough to get ahead, and finished 7 seconds back.

49:41, 46th overall, agains a real good field. I hoped new PRs would come, maybe even in the 10K. I figured I'd be back the next year, and hopefully Tamara as well.

Official card from the Boilermaker

Newspaper clipping of top finishers; several Olympians and Olympic marathon qualifiers in the top 100!

Bonus clipping: how the leaders, Eyestone, Reifsnider, and Spence duked it out for win place and show. Eyestone already an Olympian at 10000 meters won the race, Reifsnyder was probably at his peak that summer just missed an Olympic berth in 1992. Spence ran in two more Olympics and a month later won Bronze for the marathon at the World Championships in Japan.

Finally, how did that 10000 meters go at Empire State Games? I was pretty washed out after the Boilermaker but recovered just in time, and ran nearly even splits to take 6th in 32:11. A few weeks later I took it to New Jersey and the USA road 10K championships at Asbury Park. I felt ready to go under 32, but faded in the stretch to run 32:19 on a muggy day.

Those were good days, and I remember them fondly.

ANd with mixed feelings there was no next year, as we moved to the Outback of North Dakota, where I would pursue graduate studies in wildlife biology.

Don't Blink

2011-07-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

But guess who's an unlikley third place holder in the Flint Hills Series rankings. Even got a mention in the byline. That hardly ever happens. I mean, I'm old and slow.

Truthfully, I'm feeling pretty feeble, and that's before the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that I've been experiencing this week following the hill run on Sunday. I felt pretty good upon finishing and was just cruising at over threshold pace over the last two miles (again easy down the Chute), but when I got to my car before cooling down my legs were shaking like an aspen leaf.

Running easy this week, with more uphill (uphill 1 hr yesterday, well it was 80% uphill by time) and it'll hill reps today. Have hit the foam roller a few times, taken some multi-vitamins and trying to sleep well.

Off to measure the Valkyiries course later today.

Midsummer's Knee Update

2011-07-11T16:04:00.002-08:00

A year ago I was going Uh Oh, had been sitting out for two weeks and was wondering when the knee pain would end. By then I'd made yet another appointment to an orthopedist and last July he gave me the bad news about osteoarthritis. So I had rehab and months and months of limited activity, and no running.

So far things have been good this year. Even though I'm not setting any records (personal or for age group at races) I've put the knee to the test. For example, over the past two weeks I've run 13 of 14 days with weekly totals of 52 and 44 miles; two runs were about 12 miles (hilly too, with up and coming 15/16 yr olds from Team FAST); two races with the Flint Hills Mile and yesterday's very tough hill run and huge descent; in addition to several challenging workouts. After all that, if anything, the knee feels better now than it did in May or June.

My running expectations for this year have been exceeded. I'm doing more and feeling better than expected.

Still I need to keep my training diverse with some rollerskiing, ski walking, and cycling, and should probably do a better job of mixing those in every week. My overall volume is moderate this summer, about an hour a day plus one or two weight workouts with the kids. I could make the time to do more, but that's been hard to squeeze it in with work and coaching and all. Well that's my excuse anyway.

For now at least I can enjoy summer with some training and racing, and consider that news of the imminent demise of my aerobic life, which seemed to be the case last year, was a bit premature. Appreciating every stride because someday it will end, or be very tough to get out there.

Ester Dome Ass Kicker on a Whim

2011-07-11T09:54:00.001-08:00

I wasn't planning on doing Sunday's Ester Dome Ass Kicker at all, and have never really considered doing the event because it's usually in the middle of the probably the busiest race month of the of the year. Knowing that it's a brutal course, I've always figured why thrash my quads out there for a race that is kind of extreme, if not an outlier.

But after some urging from a friend, I was pecking away on the computer at 8:45 on Sunday morning, I thought what the heck just do it as a workout. My promises were to walk/go easy down the Chute and then run within myself on the long downhill onto Stone Road into Ester.

Driving over, I thought I might be able to sneak in a masters (45+) win in the Northern Trail Series, but while warming up, I spotted Simon, and figured that'd be tough.

The plan was to hit the first half hard, and I gave it a good go but Saturday's 12 mile run on the Murphy Dome/Cache Creek loop must have been residing in my legs. I walked almost the entire Chute (1200' or 1300' of climb in 1 mile), with Max Kaufman and a guy from Missouri, while Mike Kramer, Andrey Ionashku, Ben Nelson, and Ray Sabo were out ahead a minute or two. Sabo took a wrong turn and headed down the Equinox trail, so by the top it was Max I and together in 4th and 5th (I think our split was 34:40).

At the top I said goodbye and he sped off. In the past I've taken the Chute in about 2:12 to 2:20 from the top to the where the Equinox trail splits off, this time it was more like 3:20 or 3:30.

To tell the truth, I was surpised (at how slow I've gotten on uphills) to see Simon and three young guys (well 30 somethings) within 30 or 40 seconds at the turn around and knew that they'd be catching me on the Chute. Sure enough, Simon went by just past the Equinox turn off and then two others, on that lower portion, wich is actually steeper than the upper part.

I caught the youngsters on the trail after it flattend out then the road climb on Azurite Way, and had my sights on Simon who was maybe 20 sec up by the time we headed down Stone Road, with about 1.5 miles way. But that was it. He was stalking Max (who was up another 20 or 30 seconds) and I held to my promise of not trying to fly down the hill, and turning my quads into hamburger and knee into mashed grisle.

Simon's a dangerous downhill runner and caught Max when they made the last turn. I was 6th in 59:16, about 35 seconds behind them. I think seven ran under 60 minutes, which would be a "record" for one day. Usually it's three to five under an hour.

So it was pretty fun, and I think the Ass Kicker could be an even bigger event if they made the finish into a block party--mmmm beer. I'd also like to see if they could have primes for first up the hill, or maybe even add a hill climb only category.

Here's the News-Miner story and some pictures.

Flint Hills Mile Age grade scores

2011-07-08T15:13:00.004-08:00

Took me a while but now I can post the top masters age group scores from last week's Flint Hills Mile, at West Valley High School Track (June 30, 2011). Nice, near perfect conditions, about 70 partly cloudy with a 6 or 8 mph breeze on the homestretch.

WOMEN'S

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
1 Melissa LEWIS (40).........5:57.9.....74.99
3 Jane Lanford(67)...........6:22.9......84.52
9 Karen Nanseth(48).........6:43.6......70.18
10 Erika VAN FLEIN (51).....6:43.9......75.95

MEN'S

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
1 Chad CARROLL (40).........4:48.1......81.67
3 Roger SAYRE (53)...........5:11.7......83.66
6 Robert Weeden (49)........5:41.0.....74.04
7 Dave Leonarad (56).........5:46.0.....77.29
13 David WITHOFF (54).......6:06.1.....71.83
16 Keith Kimbrell (54).........6:08.0....71.29
18 Warren Taylor (57)........6:12.1....72.48

Kudos to Jannette Hanneman (81) and Glen Hackney (86) for participating and doing a solid job.

Flint Hills Mile: Slow enough to invoke the wrath of John McEnroe

2011-07-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

Ran the Flint Hills Mile, third of the local eight Flint Hills race series. The good news is 3rd overall, when previous bests had been 5ths (I think 2006 and 2008).

The downside was my time a personal worst (PW) in an official mile race. Previous worst was a 5:08 soon after arriving here in Fairbanks with my family in 2004. The situation was somewhat similar, in that I was coming off long term injury. But that year we had a lot of smoke already and it was just 5 days after Midnight Sun Run back then: we had 12 this time.

Didn't have the most spry attitude yesterday and just wanted to get it done. In fact I was thinking over the last hour or two before the race, okay that's it. NO MORE of these miles. Too old to run the mile anymore and I can't get the leg turnover going, and training is difficult. But then you see these 80 year olds out there and what can you say?

Based on minimal speed work (less than 4 miles at mile pace over the past month (i.e., 1500 m to 1 mile at race pace over 4 weekly workouts), I knew sub 5 would be tough but came in pretty confident that I could do low 5 (5:02 to 5:06 seemed realistic). The plan was 78,77,76 and kicking in with 73 or so. I think you have to run a 73 at least once or twice in practice before you do it in a race.

A lot of the usual suspects were not in attendance (Brinegar, Kramer, Eversman, McDowell, Linberg, Nelson et al.), but I knew that Chad Carrol would set tough pace up front. Didn't know any of the other younger guys so this was the lightest FHM field in my years here.

I was in about 8th or 9th through the first lap, which got strung out with Carrol's fast pace (maybe 69 sec). I came through in 79. Too slow, but my practice efforts had been too fast (76s) which resulted in tying up later).

Started to pick up at the lap but still came through only 2:38 at the half, in 6th place. At this point I could swear to hearing age compatriot John McEnroe (born a year after me) screaming all the way from LA:

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I can't F@YY%I\G BELIEVE how SLOW you are running!!"

Picked off one guy around the first turn another on the back stretch, and one more in the far turn. Back into the breeze toward home one more guy 20 meters ahead. Honviently veered into lane 2 and I passed him with a lap to go (3:55). 3rd place, wow.

By now I was pretty mad, what with figurative Johnny Mac yelling and all, so really tried to kick it in over the final 300. Thing is there just wasn't much in the tank. Might have gained on 2nd a little but he was more than 50 m ahead on the final turn and finished almost 15 sec ahead.

They made us veer into lane 2 at the finish into a human chute (only in Alaska) and I crossed in 5:11.7, 11 sec slower than '08 and '09, and what would have been solid 10K pace a couple decades ago. I missed All-American by 1.8 sec.

Oh well, had a good run there for several years. If my training was Monopoly, I'd be trying to win the game on the purple and blue properties with 3 houses, not hotels on the yellow and greens.

Last year I was injured, thinking I might be out for two or three weeks, but it turned out to be the rest of the year. So, 5:11 it is, which is actually fairly consistent with the 10-12/mile slower for 5K and 10K so far this year.

Next up, 8K in two weeks. Run for the Valkyries is not my favorite local event, but it's on the calendar and it's in the series so 8K out and back along the Chena River it is. Santa Claus Half next month is the one I'm really looking forward to.

Constant Recovery Mode

2011-06-28T09:31:00.000-08:00

My mileage is pretty moderate (30 to 50 miles a week since late April or early May) and "workouts" are hardly taxing (moderate effort fartlek and pace work but no more than 30% to 50% of of reps than you'd expect), but I feel like I'm in constant recovery mode. Not just the knee--which does cause me to take off a day or really back down--but just general feeling in my legs and body. I just don't have the zip any more, nor the desire to go out and push like two, three, or five years ago.

So Long, Cousin: Ric Sayre 1953 - 2011

2011-06-23T16:12:00.001-08:00

Former US marathon champion and winner of the inagural Los Angeles Marathon in 1986, Ric Sayre, who was a distant cousin, passed away unexpectedly on June 20 in Ashland OR, where he had lived for the past 30 years. He was 57 and still in top shape. Apparently his heart just gave out after a run.

More biographical information was published from a local paper in Ashland.

As a young runner and racing fan in the late 1970s I first noticed Ric's name in Boston Marathon results, probably 1978 when he ran a breakthrough 30th place. He was just an average-decent runner in high school, where he never broke 10 minutes for the 2 mile. Went to junior college and then Walsh University in his home state of Ohio, and began to make some noise on the marathon circuit a few years later.

I'd always been told by my parents that all Sayre's in the US are related, descended from Thomas Sayre an English yeoman who arrived in the 1640s and settled into Southampton, Long Island with his young family.

Through the 1980s Ric was a prolific marathoner. He moved to Oregon for a better training environment and to make a go as a professional runner. In his career he ran 50 marathons, winning 12 including some major races and a PR of 2:12:59. He was known to do several marathons a year and credited his healthy lifestyle and good diet to the rapid recovery.

More than 15 years after his peak, in 2005, I ventured down to California International Marathon for a late fall "consolation" effort. A stress fracture and some ill-timed chest pains had curtailed my late summer running season, and I had missed the chance to run Equinox or a fast fall marathon in the lower 48. All healed up and healthy, I attempted a crash training program, going from 20 miles a week in September to 60 or 70 in October in November.

The morning before the race I walked from the hotel to a running store in Sacramento to try on some training shoes. In walked Ric--I hadn't seen his picture in years but immediately recognized him. So I introduced myself and we talked for a bit. Within a minute I KNEW we were related--like long lost cousins. He had a friendly intensity, and it felt that he was easier to relate to than my own brothers who were about his age.

Ric had just run a 33 minute 10K (or maybe sub 33) at 51 and was hoping to go for a US masters (50+) marathon record of 2:25. My goal was 2:50. We bid adeiu and promised to keep in touch. Neither of us had a memorable day. Rick missed the start, bonked at 18 miles, and dropped out. While I made it to the start, I also hit the wall at 18 and struggled in with my slowest non-Equinox effort, an agonizing 3:00:01.

So while our goals on that day were not reached we did contact each other and kept in touch. And a few years ago Ric contacted me again to ask about our geneaology. Indeed we were related, and Thomas Sayre 1597 - 1670 was our common ancestor. Among Thomas's sons were Daniel b 1633 and Joseph b 1630. Ric was a descendent of Daniel and I was from Joseph's line.

We had hoped to meet up; I invited him to do Equinox or Midnight Sun Run, and he said we'd be welcome to visit him in Oregon.

We never got that chance.

Strangely, on Monday the day he passed, I was thinking about Ric, wondering if he ever noticed my numerous race updates on Facebook--about the only time I post an update on my life is such and such race--and in the back of my mind going, yeah, I need to keep in touch.

Now he's gone. Life is so short. The articles I've read and comments from friends and family all point to the fact that he was a kind and decent man, as well as a great runner/competitor. He will be missed and I offer my condolences to Ric's family and friends.

Rest in peace, cousin!

Masters Age Group Scores for Midnight Sun Run 10K

2011-06-21T13:56:00.012-08:00

Here are the top masters age group scores from Saturday's Midnight Sun Run.

WOMEN'S 10K

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
3 Melissa LEWIS (40)........40:06.7.....78.16
8 Dorli MCWAYNE (58).......41:54.1.....90.99
13 Jennifer MAHLEN (40)....43:42.7.....71.70
19 Erika VAN FLEIN (51).....46:00.1.....75.63
23 Pat BERKELAND (45)......46:22.8.....70.18
30 Angela CONROY (48).....47:04.2.....71.29
36 Heather JOHNSON (50)...48:15.8.....71.19
73 Dena DOUBLEX (61).......51:07.1.....77.78
107 Carol KLECKNER (57)....53:41.7.....70.05

MEN'S 10K

PLACE....NAME (AGE).........TIME.....AGE GRADE PERCENT
8 Chad CARROLL (40).......36:23.4......78.07
9 Mark LINDBERG (48)......36:39.3.....82.42
10 Roger SAYRE (53)........36:47.4.....85.50
34 Patrick LAVIN (47).......40:32.8....73.92
37 Greg FINSTAD (56).......41:16.6.....78.15
40 Andy HOLLAND (55)......41:41.3.....76.72
48 David WITHOFF (54).....42:10.4.....75.21
65 Joe TRUBACZ (52).......43:28.2.....71.77
70 Bill HOOPLE (60).........43:45.2.....76.30
75 Ed DEBEVEC (56).........43:58.5.....73.35
131 Owen HANLEY (68)......46:59.9.....76.39
711 Brandon BAKER* (92)...1:14:16.8...93.14

*Age not verified yet

2011 Midnight Sun Run Obligatory Blog Report

2011-06-20T11:18:00.001-08:00

Each of my seven attempts at the Midnight Sun Run (MSR) 10K have had their own theme and this was the one where I needed toothpicks to keep my eyes open and an energy boost along the way would have helped a lot. Nevertheless, now that it's behind, it wasn't too bad.

Not that I'm bored with this race (but a bit more on that later), I was just overtired and jetlagged due to Friday's return from the East Coast. I took two naps on Saturday but felt totally out it all day. The best part of that was that there were no butterflies in my belly. I knew my energy levels wouldn't be super, so I just logged onto autopilot.

Even the starter's canon--a howitzer from 40 yards away--didn't phase me. Went out steady, about 40th place through most of the first mile that included a fair amount of shenanigans from ninja bikers, screaming Roman sentries, and other costume-laden fun and distraction. See Dermot Cole's blog for more pictures.

The nonsense phase was behind us early into the 2nd mile and I settled into a pack with lead woman Theresia Schnurr of UAF and a half dozen or so high school runners. One by one they all dropped off, and by the time we were through the neighborhoods and onto the long straight stretch on University, were were all top 15 or so, with just a few runners strung out after the first (out of sight) and second packs (about 30 or 40 seconds ahead).

I bided my time, and didn't move until the bridge over the Chena at Mile 3. I was able to pick off two or three through the Riverview neighborhood in the 4th and 5th miles. I wanted to hammer it in, but lacked both the zip and bombast to do that and opted to keep it steady, hoping to have a strong 6th mile.

Masters runners Chad Carrol and Mark Lindberg seemed to be just hanging on/fading over the last mile and I was gaining throughout (running 5:47 pace over the final 1.2 miles), but they had enough of a gap to hold me off. Techincally I was 11th place, but one of the high school runners about 40 seconds up was a race bandit so I got credited for a 10th.

Woo hoo!

In seven MSR races that makes seven age group wins (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010--did Mayor's marathon in 2008), and five top 10 finishes (04, 05, 06, 07, and this year).

Seven's a good number. At times I've had visions of going for 10 or 20 age group wins at MSR, but in recent weeks I've been rethinking that. Why do the same thing every single year?

There are other challenges that I'd like to take on that fall on the same weekend, such as the 7.6 mile 4600 foot hill climb at Mt. Washington in New Hampshire--definitely on my bucket list and I'm sort of kicking myself for not applying for the lotter this year seeing how we were on the East Coast anyway last week--and Bird Ridge in Anchorage.

I'll be back definitely, but maybe not just every year.

Tough Running on Ester Dome Single Track Trail

2011-06-08T13:50:00.003-08:00

Tuesday's trail race, second of this year's trail series, was supposed to be a hill climb (1400 feet in 1.4 miles) and descent called Masochism on Moose Mountain, but recent fires rendered the trails unsafe, or at least unfit for insurance. Newsminer Article

So the organizers moved the venue from Moose Mountain to the next hill over, the Ester Dome. Rather than a hill climb, however, the race was on the new Ester Dome Single Track Trails

Although a hill climb would have had its merits, I'm glad to have had the opportunity to run on the bike trail. Upon hearing the news last week I did my Saturday run on the trails, and luckily chose the right direction. That was enough pre-race info to pick a good strategy, to avoid crashing an burning.

The course is a narrow and technical trail with dozens of switchbacks, 5 or 6 dips and humps (like 5 feet down and up), some fallen tree jumps (including a spruce with 3" spikes where branches had been broken off), and lots of hills (1,200' vertical).

Weather was about perfect, maybe 70 and partly cloudy, although a little buggy. I gave a cup of blood at least.

It brought out a lot of the good local runners on both men's and women's side, with Mike Kramer, Ben Nelson, Kevin Brinegar, Ray Sabo, Therssia Schnurr of UAF, Davya Flaharty, and Melissa Lewis all lining up.

I went out at a moderate pace, letting the lead runners go right away. I could feel several guys breathing down my neck so within a quarter mile I let them move up too. Theys soon dropped back and Brinegar pulled out. So by by 2 miles I was comfortably in 5th place with Wayne Peppler and Gary Holton not far back, and a young high school runner just ahead. I settled settled into as much of a flow as possible. Letting gravity do it's thing on the down hills, while keeping my momentum going on the countless transitions. I waited until the last third to start pushing on uphills. The a high school runner had run 10:30s for 3200 this spring, although I was hoping the endurance and wisdom of older age would prevail. However, he'd pull away whenever I got to within 10 or 15 seconds.

Ended up 5th overall (with Kramer [43:29], Nelson [44:40], Sabo [46:40], and Keegan Rankin [47:20s] taking 1st through 4th respectively), 47:40s for time. Peppler and Holton were about 1.5 minutes back and they were tailed by Melissa Lewis who finished in 49:40, Schnurr and Flaharty were not far behind.

No falls, no oxygen debt or asthma. Just a good solid run, and I'm not even sore today. Even though I'm in better shape than last year I can really feel that my oxygen uptake on the uphills just isn't what it was even two or three years ago. I can hold a hard effort (and it's actually more moderate than hard) for up to about 3 minutes and then have to back down.

I hope they make this part of the trail running circuit. It's a good course.

Not even a middling mile

2011-06-03T13:29:00.002-08:00

Actually it was 1600 meters.

Okay it's been a strange couple weeks here, trying to get into a rhythm after a somewhat promising Chena River Run and a hard effort on the Murphy Dome run, which took a full two weeks of recovery. Only this week have I started to feel decent again.

As of last week I had planned to do 5000 or 3000 meters on Thursday to kick off the all comer's series, but decided early this week I wasn't up for it. However, after a 6 miler with the FAST kids, including half way up Ester Dome and 3 days of hill runs in a row, I thought what the heck and decided to do a mile.

The turn out for these meets is always iffy, with anywhere between 6 and 15 runners, but this was one where nobody came. Almost. Only one other runner, local masters Dave Leonard, even showed up. We were going to run some 300s and 400s instead, when at the last minute Jim Loftus showed with a stop watch and starters pistol. If not a race, a time trial/workout.

With no speedwork at all, everything has been hills at 5K or 10K pace and/or threshold, I figured this would be tough. And even though the pace was slow, almost a personal worst.

First 200 (37) was too fast which set me up for a tough go of it. 1:16, 2:36, 3:56, 5:16.

I felt okay through 500 meters, tried to maintain the effort on the 2nd lap and was surprised to hear the split (too slow) and actually tried to pick it up on the successive laps. Obviously that didn't happen.

Here's the challenge: break 5 minutes at the Flint Hills Mile in a month. I've been trying to break 5 after turning 50 (5:00.8 in 2008 and 2009; injured in 2010 after doing a 3000 on the track and a few days later some 300 repeats), and actually haven't done it since a 4:54 at age 48. Running under 5 is a long shot this year, and not a primary goal. But it's a worthy standard.

To get there I need to do the following:
*Get new track shoes (mine are 12 years old)--used racing flats yesterday.
*Do mile paced training at least 1X per week. These are light but intense workouts, e.g., 4 X 400, or 5 X 300, or 2 X 800.
*Stay healthy (do workouts on turf, not track) and come into the race rested.

If I coached the way I trained...

2011-05-27T10:50:00.002-08:00

...I'd probably be fired. I never write up my own training schedule ahead of time, it's all in my head more or less based on what I did last week and think that I might need in the coming week. These days I'm even less inclined to think more than a few days (or hours) ahead. I've been just getting out there and running--or not--and effort is based on how I feel on a given day.

For people that I coach I usually send out 3 week schedules, and if the schedule doesn't arrive within about 2 days before the first day my clients get kind of antsy. Sorry guys.

Here, the 11 miles at Murphy Dome Roam (equaling the longest run of the year) the other week off an average of 35 miles/week resulted in a longer than normal recovery. Last week I just jogged most of the time (41 miles whoo!). On Friday I decided to do a 30 min "tempo" (at slower than half marathon pace) at the UAF trails but by 20 min I could could feel my legs tightening up so I quit at 24.

Other than that over the past two weeks I've only run easy, other than another impromptu session at UAF on Tuesday when I did some half baked/half planned surges after a 35 or 40 min warm up. I just ran as hard as I felt (which wasn't too hard, maybe 10K effort) until I got tired or bored (which was about 3 min), and then jogged until feeling recovered (about 2 minutes). I can't remember if I did 4 or 5 reps, but stopped when I didn't feel like doing any more.

Wednesday was an easy run, only 30 min to chill in the 80 degree heat before the youth meet. Thursday was a bike commute (about 10 miles each way, including Summit Hill/a tough one), and today I'm planning on some threshold type reps (maybe 3 X 6 or 7 min on the turf over at West Valley. Trail run Saturday, and long run on Sunday.

So it's more or less training by default, sort of slackerish and going day by day depending on how I feel. In the past I've always gotten hyped up for track 5000 on the first week of June. I still might try one, but it'll be more of a time trial.

Equinox Interviews blog site

2011-05-18T16:07:00.001-08:00

Seeing how probably five of the seven people who might read my blog from time to time are from Fairbanks or Alaska, this might be of interest.

Dee Daniels has created a blog called Equinox Interviews. Here's your chance to share some of your Equinox Marathon experiences and insights.

I've read all the entries posted so far and all are very interesting!

The questions and instructions how to enter your information are on the "About" section of the the Equinox Interviews blog.

http://equinoxinterviews.wordpress.com/about/

Where Age Grading Breaks Down and Other Arcane Nuance

2011-05-16T15:42:00.002-08:00

I have been planning to write this up, following the Chena River Run the other week, and out of the blue had a conversation with a friend about this very topic at Murphy Dome. So now's a good time to discuss this topic with some more depth--not that I'm deep thinker or anything.

I've been posting some age graded results for select Flint Hills races for the past couple of years, knowing that the system isn't perfect.

What age grading comes down to is that the percentages coming out of the calculations are only as good as the world record for any particular age. And there's the rub, a world class runner (say low 27 10K, sub 2:10 marathon for men or sub 32 10K, under 2:30 for women) can make a very good living at running, enough to set themselves up for life if they have a decently long career and the manage things. World record holding runners are definitely set for life. Free drinks, meals, and babes forever for the men runners I hear. So the incentive is very high to work incredibly hard for many years at something most of them love to do anyway. Therefore, open standards are very tough.

Masters runners at the 40+ age group can also do well for themselves, but there are just a handful in the world who can make a decent living at it. And once they hit 45, 50 and beyond it's all for fun. Ed Whitlock does not command a six figure endorsement from NIKE and he doesn't get huge appearance fees at races and clinics, although he is a huge cult figure and roll model for age group enthusiasts.

The achievement levels aren't as high into the late 40s and beyond. Not as many top runners keep at it past 45, therfore it's simply easier to get a higher age group ranking the older you get. If you can keep healthy and motivated. (those are Big Ifs).

Let's take my 5K past and age group regression for example's sake. 5K is a distance that I've done through most of my career, and I've run at least one almost every year from age 20 on.

Back in the day when I was most fit and spry (say age 25 to 34), like now I'd often start the season with a 5K or two. Those races would usually be in the 16 min to 16:30 range, and by mid-late season with a lot of work I'd usually get into the 15:20s and 30s. Twice I broke 15:20, with PR of 15:13.

Fast forward to the past few years in this outpost of melting permafrost rife with climate change deniers. My training is less intense now, I just can't hammer the hard workouts as I used to. Or maybe I'm just getting wimpy. I also weigh 10-12 lbs more. Anyway, I'm still in early season shape and if I can keep healthy and consistent, those 5K times should drop another 20 or 30 seconds from my last two outings (17:51 and 17:42, respectively). However, those two early season times age grade to 15:13 and 15:08 for a 53 yr old male. Whoo hoo PRs! Not.

Even with the decline of age--which I think does occur (otherwise we'd see dozens of 50 yr olds knocking off 13:20s...umm yeah right!)--there is no way that my level of running (it's lame & I know) at Beat Beethoven and Chena River Run were anywhere near equivalent to the PR races I ran in 1985 and 1986 when I was still in my 20s. At best, in my own body and mind, I'm at the equivalent of 16:00 16:10 shape right now.

So age grading has given me a minute for nothing! ehh, or all the slackers who were better than me 20 or 30 years ago gave it up too early. Yar to that.

The point is, age grading tends to get easier the older you get. Now if some 50 year olds start running 14:05 or so for 5K, which could very well happen in the next decade seeing how 13:10s are dime a dozen in the open categories, then maybe we'll see a more accurate performance index.

All that said, despite the limitations, I do like to dabble with age grading because it does provide an objective measure for a particular age or age group. Just like how we, well the geeky amongst us, used to play around with performance tables back 20 or 30 years ago (hmmm if I can run a 2 mile in 9:40, what could I do for the marathon...or 15K) it's also a great motivator. So what's wrong with that?

You can run into trouble with age grading by comparing athletes of different age groups that are decades apart or cross gender--who's to say a 44 year old male runner who runs 16:00 for 5K is performing at less of a level than a 62 year old woman who does 22:00? I think in 12 or 15 years someone like former Olympic marathoners Colleen DeReuck or Linda Somers Smith will still be at it and they'll be running in the low or sub 18s!

I first came upon the concept of age grading in my early 40s. I took it with a grain of salt then. And still do now, even though I post up some of the leading times from some of our local races. This sort of explains why I don't post up performance equivalent times, and just last week I was thinking about how I "rank" the performances. Maybe I should keep the overall times in ascending order (not by age graded percentages as I have been doing), but put the percentage in parenthesis and let the reader discern a ranking on their own.

Meanwhile, my goal is to get a 90. That'd be 16:47 for 5K this year. Out there.

P'nked at the Roam

2011-05-16T09:01:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it. I just wrote up a long report and some analysis of the Murphy Dome Roam and it went zap on me!

Just the facts:
An ignominious 7th place in 1:14:38. After the first half mile I ran the entire way by myself. This was the first time I actually "raced" it (the two previous efforts were pace runs/workouts).

The 3 mile hill climb was much tougher than I'd planned for (25:58, avg heart rate was 162), while the 8 mile descent was not the cruise I'd expected (48:40, avg heart rate ~157).

The good news is that despite having sore quads today my knee is fine.

Thanks to Jane Lanford for putting this race on. It's a tough fun run.

Chena River Run Age Group Leaders

2011-05-09T09:46:00.003-08:00

Here are age group leaders for the Chena River Run, which was held on May 7 here in Fairbanks.

Like last year, I'll post up the age-graded results (percentiles, but not age graded times) from races of the local Running Club North's Flint Hills Series. The races I hope to list this year include Chena River Run, Midnight Sun Run 10K, Flint Hills Mile, Run of the Valkyries (if they have an accurate course this year), Santa Claus Half Marathon, and Equinox Marathon.

Wow! Not only did we have some very good age graded performances this year, but Dorli McWayne just knocked it out of the park with a 92.36 with her 20:26. Anything above 90 is considered world class. That was an awesome run!

In the men's division it was nice to see a challenge (age group as well as in the race) from Bill Perry of Whitehorse, Yukon. He's father of graduating UAF skier John Perry. I had a brief chance to chat with him right after the race. Also great to see Chad Caroll running as a masters and Matias Saari made it back here to run in a 5K road race no less.

Using the World Masters Association age graded calculator: http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html. I don't have everyone date of birth, so will just go with year of birth (YOB) for age, so for example, there might be some 51 year olds who are actually 50 at the time of the race.

Go ahead and check the calculator for you and your runner friends. If I left you or anyone off the list let me know and I can fix it.

WOMEN'S
RUNNER ........[YOB] TIME (AGE GRADE PERCENT)
Melissa Lewis.. [1970] 20:07.8 (74.51)
Dorli McWayne.. [1952] 20:26.8 (92.36)
Jane Lanford... [1955] 21:38.6 (83.68)
Erika VanFlein. [1959] 23:36.6 (72.65)
Deena Doublex.. [1950] 25:20.7 (76.74)

MEN'S

RUNNER ........[YOB] TIME (AGE GRADE PERCENT)
Chad Carrol.... [1971] 16:43.7 (79.80)
Matias Saari... [1970] 16:51.5 (79.79)
Roger Sayre.... [1958] 17:42.2 (83.41)
Mark Lindberg.. [1963] 17:51.8 (79.52)
Bill Parry......[1955] 18:11.2 (83.34)

Chilly Chena

2011-05-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Dang, that was a cool one!

Chilly high 30s with a pesky 10-12 mph north wind made for some more difficult than usual conditions on this loopy/turny point-to-point course. The field keeps getting stronger for the Chena River Run, and there were a lot of good university and ex-college runners lining up. For some reason I lined up on the first row. Delusions of grandeur, I was shooting for top 10. Just a few years ago I was 4th here, but not close to top 10 this time.

photo by Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Not only did the top row take it out fast I was immediately swallowed up by most of the first and second rows. As predicted I was no better than 40th place at half mile. However, I made a big move at 3/4 mile was into top 15 or so by half way. Then I had a good 3 way battle with 2:41 masters marathoner Mark Lindberg (thinking about the times we raced against each other back in Ithaca, NY 20+ years ago) and UAF xc ski sprint specialist Erik Soederstrom (who's made some inroads at longer ski races this year). I tried to shake them over the Chena River bridge, but then we ran into a headwind over the stretch, with about a half mile to go, so I tucked in behind. Waiting to kick, as if a 53 yr old has a kick. I tried, and threw in a final surge just before 3 miles but Soederstrom caught me with 100 to go.

Mile splits were 5:40, 11:24, 17:10, and 33 (5:08 pace for the "kick"). 17:43 16th place, my lowest placing here, but this was the deepest field. Time wise, right in the middle of where I've been at past race efforts, about 20-25 sec faster than my slowest (last year, coming of knee surgery) and about the same amount slower than my fastest (2008 I think).

Training Update

2011-05-06T11:49:00.001-08:00

First things first, my last ski was April 27th at Birch Hill. It was mushy and slow by then but I believe that's the latest I've skied here. All our ski stuff is still out, waiting for summer wax and storage.

Just a week later, this Wednesday, I had my first trail run. Warmed up on the UAF Commuter Trail (just behind the Botanical Garden and Reindeer Farm) and then did a 20 min tempo run and surges on the Sheep Creek trail with a long cool down. Sheep Creek is my favorite stretch for workouts. Straight, soft, no traffic. Great for strength work (slight uphill heading out) and sustained speed.

Workouts have been going okay. Up to 35 miles a week or so, plus cross training. Most of my "speed" and threshold training runs have been uphill. I've kind of switched from every other day of running to two days on, one day off. That seems to be working; I tried three days of consecutive running last weekend, but the knee was getting sore. So I biked Chena Ridge on Tuesday and it bounced right back.

Chena River Run tomorrow. Despite the Jazzercise crew and other pre-race BS I look forward to this one all year. 5Ks are not my cup of tea but it's usually a competitive race and the true opener to the spring season.

I don't usually make predictions, but hoping for 17:40. Everone is gung ho on this one, and the key is not to get sucked out too fast. At 3/4 mile I'll probably be in 40th or 50th place. Moving up is easy for another 3/4 mile, and then it's just hang on and hope not to get outkicked by those with younger-faster legs.

Peeves

2011-05-04T08:49:00.002-08:00

This probably won't help my popularity index any, as if I had one. But here are some things that sort of get under my skin.

Inaccurate race courses. Early spring is 5K season, and the number of these has doubled or tripled in the past year or two. There is one at least every week. However, other than a few exceptions (Chena River Run, Water Run, Independence 5K and Labor Day 5K) the local courses are rarely accurate. At the very least go out there and measure the damn thing with a Garmin. Better yet, get it certified. People like to have accurate times and that doesn't happen often enough here.

T-shirts like a billboard. This is not just a local issue, it happens everywhere, but I've never seen anything like this year's Chena River Run t-shirt. They put in all this effort to make nice shirt design on good tech material but the back of the shirt has something like 40 or 50 sponsors. How about one or two main sponsors, which you put on the sleeve and leave the rest blank? List your sponsors on the brochure. I'm not keeping my shirt this year, that's for sure.

Endless track meets. There are much bigger meets in the Lower 48 (Drake Relays, Penn Relays, Stanford Invite last weekend) with thousands of athletes participating in the time that it takes an Interior meet with maybe 200 runners. The officials are taking way too much time between heats and events.

A chute for middle distance races? I've never seen it anywhere else. But the other week I did see a couple incidents where a lapped kid got cut off by the rope and pylon, so they had to duck to run through. And one girl, after a strong finish, ran into the pylon and off the track (into a foot of ice cold water). Seriously you don't need a chute for a track race. But if we insist on a chute place it another 10 meters back from the finish line and so runners don't have to veer off into lane 2-3 before they finish, and runners won't crash into pylons and ropes. A simple fix.

Automatic timing. Well I guess it's accurate but it adds between 0.3 or 0.4 to times. My son ran 5:00.2 officially the other day, while everyone else who timed him (4 people I talked to) had him in under 5. (actually automatic timing is probably for the better, but still working out the kinks here).

Not enough 10Ks, and no 15Ks or 10 milers. Unless you want to drive 200 miles each way to Tok (Tok Trot in mid-April), or if you're slow (Back to the Pack 10K), or don't care about 10K times at all (Run Lulu Run on a hilly course), the Midnight Sun Run is it. And we have no mid/long distance races (12K, 15K, 10 mile, 20K) on an accurate road course. I'd develop/direct some of these but with the xc series coming up plus volunteer/coaching help I don't have a lot of free time.

No spring track for middle schoolers. I made a big fuss about this last year, as did many other parents, but the Activities Directors from the local schools just lent a deaf ear. Once again, dumb call.

Tamara and I have initiated Fairbanks Youth Track (FYT) this year, but we're a shoestring mom and pop organization. We have about a dozen kids, so off to a good start, but just two years ago there were 150 to 200 local kids participating in spring track. The decision to make middle school track a fall sport effectively killed it. Particpation is down by 2/3 or more, and the meets are poorly administered. For example, last fall the 4X400 relays were run in lanes the entire way, with no stagger, so the kids in lanes 2 and 3 ended up running an approximate extra 30 and 70 meters respectively. What's up with that????

My own limitations in the aerobic/political organizer game. I'd love to shake things up, make some changes. But I'll probably never be on a board. I'd rather visit the dentist. Although sitting through a 2 or 3 hour board meeting might not be as arduous as a colonoscopy, and all the rigamorole that proceeds it, I just don't have the patience and political acumen to sit through hours of decision making. Simply put, I'd rather be freezing my tail off timing kids in a workout, or teaching them the finer points of high knee drills, or setting up my own vision of a race series.

Looking forward to the fall XC series, but have to get on going on that!

RIP Grete Waitz

2011-04-19T07:46:00.000-08:00

This is incredibly sad:
http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/04/19/sport/friidrett/grete_waitz/16245701/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/sports/othersports/20waitz.html?_r=1

I had the good fortune of actually lining up next to her a couple of times at the 10K Zoo Run in Denver in the mid-1980s. She'd travel out to Colorado in the fall back then for some altitude training. She'd say, "Oh, I'm just jogging today," and would still run 35 minutes, and place near the top of a national class field.

She was totally cool and gracious.

Running in a Glass Vessel

2011-04-18T14:10:00.001-08:00

At this stage in my life running is like treading lightly in a glass room, where you don't want to get too riled up, lest something shatters and you're left with only pieces.

The ceiling is my aerobic capacity, or lack thereof. The conundrum of an aging masters runner is that the memory is still there, and pure aerobic endurance and anaerobic threshold can be almost as good or better than ever. Thus, cranking out an 18 mile run at 50--be it 7,8,9 minute per mile pace--is often no more difficult than it was at 20. And holding a threshold-type pace (say 80 to 90% of maximum heart rate) is also not too much of a problem for trained masters runners.

What breaks you is the ability to speed up (even just little faster than threshold) and to hold that for any amount of time. Push past a heart rate of 170 BPM for more than a couple of minutes, and your race comes crashing down.

And now the glass floor for me is that knee. It feels like glass. At 25 or or 30 miles a week now, with no speed work, the joint feels pretty good. But I can kind of tell as soon as I bump it up some more, and start some speed work at 5K pace or faster that floor--the interface of my right femur and tibia--can crack, if not shatter. Again. I want to avoid that this year, and that's the rub.

Train hard enough to get in shape, to maybe push that ceiling up a bit, and presto, you're injured again!

What about the walls you might ask? That's the feasible distances and types of races that I might do. Last year I got hurt by doing a set of 5X 300 meters at mile pace on the track a few days before the Midnight Sun Run, and in 2009 it hit at about 12 miles into my last 18 miler, about 2 weeks before NYC Marathon. So this I'm planning on having a season that includes 5K to 1/2 marathon, and it would be wise to stay off the courses with steep and gnarly downhill sections.

********************************************************************
So that's a bit of a prelude to this weekend's Beat Beethoven 5K. This is the earliest I've raced since 2003, and over the past 25 years or so, only a couple times have I raced before mid-April. But as a first timer for this one, I enjoyed it.

I felt simultaneously good and awful on Saturday. Lined up on the front row not seeing many of the usual local suspects, and thinking hmmm maybe top 5 today? Then everybody and their brother and sister blasted out of the start like a snot rocket shot out of a sneeze cannon on a cold day. I was no better than 25 or 30th at the base of the big hill, 2 min into the race and already 100 meters back.

Worked my way up, and was in the top 10 by the top of the long hill on Tanana Loop (skiing really helps for hill climbing), and the mile split. Two young bucks passed me in mile 2 and 3. Other than that I simply held on, fighting oxygen debt, but trying to keep it going by striding out on the downhills. However, no speedwork = no turnover (as if I ever had that fast thing going anyway!)

The overall damage:
17:51 for 8th place, 1st in AG and 1st masters too. Nothing to write home about but blogging is forgivable.

Knee intact and not too achy (that's a big one).

The highlight, however was after. Really exciting to see Tamara, a former elite runner who has had had MS for 20 years, run 24:07 for 3rd in her age class and looking comfortable. She also to has to operate in a glass vessel, and it's a smaller one. A soon as her core heats up just a little, her motor ability slows down, and her muscles start to act as if powered by a weak battery. Nevertheless, she's now running better than in years and lets hope that continues.

*****************************************
Finally, being Patriots Day, good job to the Boston Runners. Rochey (whom I've been coaching for the past two years) ran a PR 3:03:20!!! She was aiming for sub 3, but it was not quite her day even though she paced it perfectly. And my local 50-something friends Andy Holland (3:05), Kent Karns (3:29), and Bruce Gard (3:46) all had good showings. Local kids in their 30s, Charles and Jenny Mahlen went 3:01 and 3:24.

Cannot beleive the winning time 2:03:02 by Mutai!

Transitioning, transitioning, (spring will arrive some day, really it will)

2011-04-12T16:40:00.001-08:00

Had a brisk run today, underdressed from head to toe. 20 F and a little breeze from the north. My little fleece running hat didn't quite cover my ears, I only had one light t-shirt under my pullover running top, running shorts, and ski pants, but no layers. Bottomed out with thin running socks. No slips or falls, but I did step into an ice bath of a puddle on the last quarter mile.

With 2 feet of snow on the ground, ice patches stretching half the length of a football field, slush, and some dry pavement, we have it all right now. Not complaining, although winter is hanging on it's actually very nice to be out this April. I have run about every other day since the last week of March and while not feeling spry or springy, all's well, and I'm up to 6 or 7 miles, with some surges/pickups/tempo running tossed in to keep it interesting.

Got my six month knee checkup the yesterday, and we're heading/hoping for a tract of management and maintenance for osteoarthritis that covers the long haul--maybe several years. This will take smart running (cross training, lower mileage, fewer track sessions, more hill reps, etc.), a bit of pain tolerance and pain management, as well as ongoing PT to keep my muscles strong. The good Dr. said no need for a return visit unless something goes off.

Running marathons may well be in my past, and I'm okay with that. Unlike skiing, the marathon never was my best event. And months of training and walking around with stiff sore legs after those 18 to 21 milers was never all that fun. Nor was chafing.

Nevertheless, these days in most running circles/communities--if you're over 22--the marathon where all the glory lies. Well, after making my debut and follow-up in 1983, I went 16 years without running a marathon and another 5 years(most of it injured) before moving here and doing the Equinox a few months later. So if there is no glory, there will be no glory.

I still like the 10K (wish we had a couple more choices here) and love the half marathon. 5Ks are torture, but that which makes you suffer makes you stronger/tougher for the longer events. We'll see about the local trail runs, most of those have wicked downhills which might not be conducive to staying healthy. Of course I plan to keep healthy to run in the cross country series that we are planning, at least in some of the races.

Meanwhile, skiing's still here and will be for a while, so just taking it light and easy. Mostly classic because skating seems harder on the knee than running right now. Klister rocks! (Tamara hates it because I tend to leave little klister prints here and there).

April, Love Me or Love Me Not?

2011-04-06T13:16:00.001-08:00

April is the best and worst of times for aerobically induced athletes around here. It actually offers some of the best track skiing of the year, and usually the best back country opportunities. Conditions can be variable, but the snow is fast and temps are moderate not unlike New England in February or the Mid-Atlantic in January.

I kind of wish we had a few more fun-type ski events in during April. A winter quad, tri, or duathlon mixing some combination of skiing, snowshoeing, running, or cycling. I saw a Facebook posting the other day that a group of locals actually went out and did a quadrathlon last weekend at UAF, within an hour or two of when I was out there on my own wishing for the same thing. Apparently I didn't get the memo. Or simply disregarded it, like I do with at least half of the ski or running club listserve postings.

Meanwhile, ski club president Mike O'Brien just dropped a note on last week's blog post, about an unofficial contest to see who can ski the latest in the year. That's a great idea. Maybe we should have a local ski trail category and one for the state/interior. Then again, if you're APU Nordic, you can get helicoptered onto a glacier in June, July, August.

Meanwhile, runners here go bat sh*t crazy this time of year. The roads and sidewalks are a mess and you risk a fall with accompanying chipped tooth or broken wrist with practically every step, the skiers still rule over the UAF and Birch Hill trails (although I've seen RCN-types sneaking on for the Sunday runs a week or so ahead of the April 15 NO RUNNING cutoff). Tsk tsk. Makes me want to use my ski poles to poke some leaks in some folks' Nike Air shoes.

Moreover, the high school running are still snow covered, although I haven't seen Lathrop's this week.

And when you get the inevitable weather relapse, like today when it's in the teens, windy, with some flurries, the runners tend to whine and get all morose. But it's AAAAAppriiiiilllll! Can't winter eennnnnnnnd alreaddddyyyyyy?????

Now, we all know that I'm kind of lame and half baked, over the hill as a skier and runner but, after taking some downtime from the ski marathons, I kind of like this transitory period. So as long as we have snow, I'll tread lightly about every other day and do an easy ski on the opposite days. While my knee held up remarkably well through March, the two skate marathons, 100,000 ft of vertical at Alyeska, and a little running took a cumulative toll and it's been acting inflamed this week. So classic skiing, klister and all, has been a great rehab this week.

A glacier ski would be fun too, but that takes forethought and hours of driving. Maybe/maybe not. But, to tie this up neatly, break up or not April is alright!

Konieczny Captures Women's Marathon Circuit

2011-03-31T13:17:00.002-08:00

Rebecca Konieczny of UAF via West Yellowstone Montana skated away with the unofficial women's three race marathon tour of Alaska.

You could say, well, she was the only person who completed all three races. While this is true, but she did it with style and power by taking 3rd in the women's elite field at the Tour of Anchorage (2:45:18), winning the Oosik Classic (2:39:15), and finishing a strong 2nd (less than a minute behind TOA winner Melissa Lewis) against a good field at the Sonot Kkaazoot (2:36:04).

Konieczny just missed qualifying for the NCAA championships, which held earlier this month in Vermont. Nevertheless, she used the best of her time to against some of the best skiers in the state, including Lewis and Rachel Steer at TOA, and teammate Raphael Sieber at the Oosik.

In the old days of the Great America Ski Chase (now known as the USA Marathon Circuit, which is much more low-key) Konieczny certainly would have had the attention of the factory teams.

Wednesday Night Series #6: 2X 4X 1.1K of Slop and Mayhem

2011-03-31T07:32:00.002-08:00

Here's the Official Run Down from Series Organizer Ken Leary

Raphaela Sieber and Cody Priest (in shorts) skied to first place in the final WNRace for the 2010/11 season. A four lap relay on the North Forty trail had 12 teams of two and one team of three skiing 8 laps individually. A party followed the race with pizza, refreshments and series prizes totaling over $600.00 from our sponsors. Somebody went home with TOKO Jet Stream powder.

I would like to thank again our WNRace sponsors Joel Buth at Goldstream Sports, Greg Whisenhant at Beaver Sports, Mike Hajdukovich at Challenge life LLC, the Daily News-Miner and Bob Eley and the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks. Please thank these individuals personally and support their businesses when possible.

If you have an interest in a few spring races this April, email me and we will try and put together a few short 5-10k races while the snow is good. Pleae send all feedback to kleary@evertsair.com.

Thank you for coming out this year for races and we'll see you again next year for the WNRace Series 2011/12.

Tonight's Results:

1. Cody Priest/Raphaela Sieber 28:13
2. Wayne Peppler/Dave Arvey 28:43
3. Jim Button/Roger Sayre 28:50 (geezers, age 45 and 53)
4. Will Coleman/Rebecca Kornieczny 29:36
5. Alex Morris/Alan Spangler 30:06
6. Stefan & Mike Hajdukovich 30:07
7. Dave Edic/Bob Baker 32:02 (geezers, age 53 and 53)
8. Joel Pierson/Julia Pierson 32:59
9. Sam Hiltenbrand/Tristan Sayre 33:09 (youth, age 13)
10.Davya Flaharty/Mark Ross/Ken Leary 34:05 (Ross & Leary were slow)
11.Matt Stoller/Brandon Hoover 40:23
12.Jim Smith/John McKinney 41:15

Here's my Unofficial Report

With 3 inches of fresh snow and warm temperatures (30s and 40s on Tuesday and Wednesday) the trails for the final Wenesday Night Race was described by several skiers as "sucky" in that it sucked and the moisture sucked any speed out of your skis.

With just 12 teams the field was small but included a competitive group of skiers, including several current and former University of Alaska women's skiers plus men's skiers just off of the Alaska marathon circuit.

UAF student Will Coleman took off quickly and blasted to a 10 second lead over up and coming marathon specialist and UAF student Cody Priest, with Jim Button close behind. UAF's Rebecca Kornieczny held the lead through her leg, but NCAA qualifier Raphaela Sieber had caught up by the tag off. Priest took the lead on his second circuit, which the team extended as the race proceeded. Meanwhile a tight, accordian-like, three way race developed for 2nd place developed between the masters team of Button/Sayre, 30-somethings Peppler/Arvey, and the Coleman/Kornieczny duo.

By the end of 8 grueling laps (everyone looked rather uncomforatable!) the Priest/Sieber team prevailed with a 30 seconds lead over Peppler/Arvey, who were 7 seconds ahead of Button/Sayre.

My Own Personal Race Report

You're darn right that sucked! Very hard effort. I was right behind Sieber on the first leg and tried to hang with her, quickly throwing myself into oxygen debt. This resulted in an asthma attack which instensified after I got home and lasted through most of the night. But hey, that's racing. Sign me up for next year.

Post Race Party

Racers convened at Ken Leary's house, right off of the Birch Hill trails, for pizza and refreshments. And the sponsors provided an array of door prizes, waxes, and gear so everyone won something.

Overall Champions
Men - Wayne Peppler
Women - Julia Pierson
Masters - Dave Edic
Youth - Kuba Grzeda

March Ski Marathon Circuit - Men's

2011-03-30T15:02:00.002-08:00

March is one of my favorite months here because there are so many ski marathons. I've sort of compiled a list of the racers who did the big three Alaska marathons in terms of participation (Tour of Anchorage, Oosik Classic, and Sonot Kkaazoot), plus mention several other notable athletes who did at least three ski marathons in the past month. [This list may not be complete so let me know if I'm missing people that you know].

ALL-ALASKA CIRCUIT--TOA, Oosik, Sonot--(Total Combined Time)

Eric Soederstrom---2:33:56, 2:19:06, 2:13:48 (7:06:50)
Don Haering--------2:27:35, 2:26:52, 2:25:10 (7:19:37)
Dave Arvey---------2:33:08, 2:25:59, 2:28:09 (7:27:16)
Alex Morris--------2:34:15, 2:32:07, 2:25:34 (7:31:56)
Roger Sayre--------2:40:22, 2:53:47, 2:34:12 (8:08:21)
Mikail Glasinov----2:51:04, 2:38:41, 2:46:55 (8:16:40)
David Apperson ----2:47:21, 2:54:21, 2:35:11 (8:16:53)
Eric Buetow--------3:53:44, 3:54:18, 3:35:32 (11:23:34)
Tim Mowry----------4:23:48, 4:29:25, 3:51:53 (12:45:06)

Soederstrom, known more as a sprint specialist made some waves earlier this winter with some high finishes at Super Tour and NCAA races in the Lower 48. He improved with each race, and blasted to a near course record at the Sonot to run away with the title ahead of Don Haering of APU (and 2009 AK State High School champion, and Dave Arvey). Haering showed remarkable consistency, while Arvey of Fairbanks was also consistent and strong for each race. Good to see college skiers like Alex Morris and Dave Apperson out there, carrying the torch for the next generation.

Mikail Glasinov and I had a pretty good battle for the age 50+ division. He had an excellent race at the Oosik and had good showings at the Tour and Sonot, and we were only separated by 8 minutes by the end.

Eric Buetow did all 3, and he's almost 60! The intrepid Tim Mowry obviously held back at the Tour and Oosik, but blasted a very nice Sonot. Nevertheless, he could not hold off his wife Kirsten.

OTHER NOTABLE TRIPLES
Dylan Watts could have easily won the circuit, after taking both the Tour of Anchorage (2:15:01) and Oosik (2:17:02), but he opted for bigger and better than the Sonot and competed in the Super Tour/USSA Distance Nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he took 20th in 2:47, about 10 minutes behind champion/Olympian/World Cup skier Kris Freeman.

Bart Dengle was 4th at the Tour (2:15:45), won the Katchemak Bay 40K the following week, and was 18th at the 50K classic Super Tour/USSA Distance Nationals in Sun Valley.

Meanwhile, Mike Kramer of Fairbanks had skied to an impressive 11th at Tour of Anchorage (2:28:25), hung tough a the Oosik (2:37:13), and then skied 100 MILES this past Sunday in the White River 100 to take 2nd skier (10:19).

Tomorrow, the women.

2011-03-28T16:58:00.002-08:00

Sonot Kkaazoot sounds like a sneeze but it is Athabaskan for spring glide, or spring snow depending on who you ask.

This was my 5th Sonot (2006, '07, '08, '09; injured in '05 and '10). I was one of dozens doing their 3rd ski marathon this month--a March Madness Triple Crown if you will--and had been feeling the cumulative Ks, minutes if not hours of glycogen depletion, lactate build-up, and other maladies all week. Instead of just one day of rest, I took two (and "workouts" were very light).

We had perfect temperatures (about 10 at the start and 20s after the first 12K or so), which was a huge relief. Trails were relatively fast throughout but in some areas very dirty with spruce needles, dirt, birch seeds, and sticks, mostly from a massive wind storm last month. The trail crews did a wonderful job of getting things as ready as possible (sans a Piston Bully)

The field was deeper this year than any time I've been here, featuring several NCAA D1 skiers and some national class club skiers, as well as a small horde of teenagers.

My best finish was 6th in 2009 (weaker field) and best time on this course was 2:41 or so in 2006, but under slower conditions with fresh snow on the track.

As usual for this year (3rd time in a row), the lead peleton of about 20 (including some 20K skiers) broke away into two groups and I dropped back to no man's land.

Karl Kowalksi

but I was lucky to latch onto one of the college women's skiers and we worked together through 7K before she dropped off.

Karl Kowalksi

Up the big ski hill I saw a pack of 6 making their way up, about a minute ahead. I tried to reel them in, but didn't want to go under so had to keep the effort in check. In the past I've pushed too hard here and have paid a price over the last 10K. Skied alone through 25K or so, and then started gaining on a couple guys from that group. But they didn't drop off either, which was fine. The lead pack of women was just a minute or two behind and it was good to have some company.

Aly McPhetres

Slugged it out alone from for about 20K, but caught Riley, one of the youngsters as we entered Black Gold. Over the multitude of switchbacks and climbs out of Black Gold and Outhouse loop I realized I was out of energy gel, the packets had dropped off my belt. So Mike Kramer fetched me a brownie at 35K, which helped a little although it kind of sat in my mouth for throughout Tower Loop because I couldn't swallow.

Caught Nick and Pete from FXC on Relay and Tower loops and so we had a nice little coaches battle going on--I just hoped I wouldn't choke on the slowly dissolving brownie, let alone bonk, collapse on the trail only to be mistaken as detritis by the clean up crew.

The downhill at the Birch Hill ski slope was insane. Nick is built more like a linebacker or tight end. He dropped into a tuck at the top and left me in a semi-tuck/sometimes snowplow (my max speed was 30.5 on that descent, which is moving well for skinny skis). So he had 25 or 30 seconds by the bottom of the hill.

On the river I had to reel him, ever so slowly. All focus ahead, knowing that with each step, that the redoubtable Melissa Lewis and that train of elite women were not far behind. She is deadly on the river; twice I've been taken down over the final kilometers, past Bassett Hospital, which seem eternal.

It took over 6 or 7Ks, but finally caught Nick and Kyle. After catching them I didn't push too hard hoping to have something in the tank with 1K to go. That didn't happen, I'm not much of a sprinter, but did have slightly more glycogen reserve than Kyle.

Puke light on overdrive, crossing the finish line.

Karl Kowalksi

So 13th overall with 2:34:12. So my lowest finish in this race but best time. Top 10 would have been nice but that was 6 minutes ahead.

Sure enough Melissa Lewis was just a minute back leading a string of several women and men skiers.

Erik Soderstom, 2010 1.5K US nationals sprint winner, won in 2:13 by out kicking fellow UAF skier Ray Sabo.

Three marathons in 21 days, two age group wins, and a third place. Not a triple crown, but I'm happy, although very tired. In fact I felt somewhat sick to my stomach for 36 hours after the race.

The biggest compliment of the day came from none other than Mark Ross, who asked "So what's your secret? Taking any enhancements?" Now that was funny.

Time chill for a while.

_________
THX to Bad Bob for good RDing and NCSF for making the Sonot happen. It's my favorite local race, and I won't miss going up and down the ski run next year! Three cheers for new trails.

Yea!, boo!, yea! and on let's bring on some spring

2011-03-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Sonot 50K will start and finish downtown on the river--and cover all of Birch Hill trails--for the first time since 2007. So that's a big yea!

Add to that, the trails should be fast. We've had an endless high pressure system in the Interior and days have been getting warm (30s) while the nights have been cold (single digits above or colder). Look for winners to be in the low 2:10s. Yea!

Most of the high use trails at Birch look pretty good. Firm and fast, favoring the skiers with good balance and it doesn't hurt to have a decent engine with all those big hills. Yea!

Some of side trails could have used a lot more work after the big storm we had in February. Moilanen's Meadow was punchy--on Tuesday my poles punched through the crust on almost every plant. A light V2 works best, and I might use medium-sized pole baskets. I heard that Outhouse was in similar shape, and North 40/Black Cross loops were in real rough shape a couple weeks ago. So that makes about 14k of fair to poor trail conditions. So that nets neither a yea or a boo. A meh, instead.

They are closing Birch Hill's main lodge on the 27th. Big Boo! for that. They could keep it open another week or two.

The next two or three weeks actually are the best times of the year to ski, but this is when everyone seems to abandon ship. Trail grooming continues, but more at the whim of the groomers. Sort of a simultaneous yea! & boo!

That said, the Borough/NSCF groomers are awesome and have done a great job this year. Yea!

I'm forward looking to the Sonot, and starting to bounce back from the Oosik. Yea!

Moreso than in years past, I'm looking forward to the end of winter. This has been a long one. Yea! for spring, but perhaps boo! for me and staking any claim to being a hard core.

Master of Disaster at the Oosik Classic

2011-03-21T07:30:00.002-08:00

I hate having bad races, and it's even worse writing about them. But I did learn a couple of things for future reference.

I was little off even before the start. I slept 8 hours the night before. That is rare in itself, and never before a marathon!

We drove from Wasilla on Saturday morning after a week of spring break skiing at Alyeska, and arrived in Talkeetna later than I had wanted to. And then it took me a while to find an electric outlet so I could us a heat gun to apply klister. I have Toko spray-on klister, which is really slick (i.e., it works real well), but was concerned that the application would not hold up for the entire race. I could have gone old school and used a propane torch, and not even messed with the heat gun.

Anyway, barely got to the start in time.

We were all lined up, with just 2 minutes to go when I slipped off my glove to adjust things and I couldn't get it back on! My hands were both sweaty and had some klister residue on them and the liner of the glove folded inward when I took them off. I just couldn't get my index finger in all the way. Dave Arvey tugged on my glove and I tried to wiggle in, but to no avail.

So off we went. I was right where I wanted to be, probably about 20th at the back of the lead peleton as we double poled up the Susitna River. The snow was punchy and in the first kilometer I hit a drift and sunk to my shin and my pole went down 2 feet into the snow, and of course I fell. Lost that pack and by the time I could get up again I was swallowed by the 2nd pack. Made my way ahead of them and moved up again within a few Ks, helped out by Mike Kramer who had come up from behind. By 10K the 2nd pack started coming back. No problem. The leaders were out of sight but 15th through 25th were right there, some just seconds ahead others in trains within 60 or 90 seconds.

However, by 14K or so, my hand started to ache due to the deformed glove positioning. So I had to stop. I took an energy gel and tried to get my glove back on. By the time I got going again (I gave up on the glove and just stuffed it in my ski suit and skied with a bare right hand for the rest of the way) I had lost between 1.5 and 2 minutes. My competitive race was over.

So from 15 to 35K I skied alone. It was an enjoyable ride though. Over the sloughs, alder banks, birch forest, black spruce, and bogs. With vistas of Denali and the Alaska Range. No one was in sight ahead, but I could see a couple skiers within 30 or 40 sec behind. Stalking. Keeping ahead was not a problem, but I couldn't shake them either.

Back on the river--I didn't know if we had 5K to go or 15K. Such it is with the Oosik, where they set the single and double tracks just a day or two before the race, and do not reveal the course until the start of the race.

The tracks on the river were rough and trashed, the snow had warmed up considerably, I had no kick, and my back and shoulders were fatigued from the double poling. I held on okay, but with 2K to go I got passed by one of the stalkers and then by two more with just a half K left. Fortunately the race ended at about 43.5K. 2:53:46, 31st place and 26.7% back from winner Dylan Watts, and a very distant 3rd in my age group. My last outing at the Oosik (2009) had gone much better, so this is a disappointment.

Each race is an experience and there is always something to work on. What did I learn this time? Spray on klister would be fine (that's what the Toko reps were applying), and it goes on much easier and thinner than using the heat gun or a torch. And after the fact my son informed me that simple old baby powder offsets klister stickiness, and hopefully future glove disasters. And one more (I should have learned this one last time), for the Oosik, it's probably best to stay in Talkeetna the night before the race.

Next week the Sonot Kkazoot 50K: Please, please use Birch Hill Trails and do not make this all on the River. Next year: I want to do Katcehmak Bay in Homer and will skip the Oosik (but I will be back).

Tour of Anchorage 2011, an improbable finish

2011-03-08T13:48:00.005-09:00

Ever have one of those races, in which you think you’re having just one of those days, believing that you’re heading for abject disaster but somehow everything sort falls into place? I was surprisingly un-fired up this time around, and didn’t start feeling the excitement much until we were on the way to the start. Even that didn’t last very long.

Sunday was an odd day. We were all expecting perfect temperatures in the teens and twenties with super fast conditions. The temps were right on (a little cold, +7, at the start and maybe 20 at the finish), but the snow felt surprisingly slow.

Techie stuff: Atomic World Cup skate skis with a find grind. Wax was 3 layers: Swix LF4/LF3 combo for hardening, a layer of Star HA8, and then topped with Star F2 Flouro powder. I guess it worked.

Foothills and Spencer Loop (0 to 10K)—The leaders took it out fairly moderate for the first couple Ks, and I was still in sight of James Southam’s yellow jersey. But I suddenly found myself in a no man’s land with no one within 20/30 seconds on either side. It would stay that way for the next 47K.

Campbell and Chester Creek urban trails (11 to 30K)—This part of the course is the most fun. The trail descends gradually and winds toward the coast as pass through greenbelt, over bridges, underpasses, and overpasses. No other ski race in North America has anything like this.

Just before the Westchester Lagoon (at about 30K) I passed Will, a local college skier who usually is in the top 20 or so but was having a tough day. And as I emerged into open park area at the lagoon I saw Max, another local skier, ahead by a minute or two.

Coastal Trail (31 to 49K)—The coastal trail is deceptively long and grueling, it is where TOA race dreams get lost. I could feel my quads tightening, especially the right one, and had to dial back into a gentle glide. The snow was mushy and dirty—it looked like brown sugar and felt like slick sand. Up the hill through Earthquake Park I didn’t want to bonk with 10 or 12K to go.

Don’t look back. Just go.
No one ahead. No one behind.

I got through the final feed station (at 42K/with 10K to go) and almost stumbled flat on my face.

Climb into Kinkaid Park (49 to 52 K)—We were down to guts and glycogen. After all those kilometers alone I had two skiers in sight. We started the face slapping ascent (300 feet of climbing) toward the stadium and finish. Suddenly a bunch of those skiers who had pulled away at 2K were coming back, and I passed 4 in the final 3K.

The 50K ended up being more like 52. Finshed 22nd overall with a 2:40:22. Can’t figure this one out. Never felt good and it seemed I was about to blow up the entire way.

This was my 7th Tour of Anchorage and 5th age group win. Trond Jensen of Anchorage was at World Masters (5th in the 10K classic on Monday), and he's in a class by himself for our age group, at least in our region.

Nevertheless, the weather, course, and logistics have been near perfect every time, which is why TOA remains my favorite race in Alaska.

Ready or Not Here Comes March Ski Madness

2011-03-02T17:14:00.001-09:00

The ambitious plan here is to race three marathons in the next four weekends, plus take in several days of skiing at Alyeska.

Although training has gone pretty well--and great compared to last year and what I thought might be possible at the beginning of winter--I don't think I'm as fit as 2008 and 2009. More like 2006 (when I did the 40 at Tour of Anchorage and was about 10th at the Sonot), or maybe 2007.

In January and February I got in the requisite hours (I think), about 90 hr total. December was more like 32 or 35 hours. What I did lack this time was a consistent 2.5 to 3 hr ski most weeks, interspersed with 1.5 to 2 hr mid week efforts, often with 45 min to 1 hr at L3. Those were hard to come by. Still I got in several good efforts of 2:00 to 2:50, including the the grueling 30K race the other week, the only time I felt a bonk.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to the end of winter. This has been a long-cold one.

And the racing, it's all for fun anyway.

Wednesday Night Race Series #5

2011-02-25T08:22:00.001-09:00

I don't care what some of the mucky mucks around here may think about the resurrected Wednesday Night Race Series, to the racers & other cool kids :-) they are a welcome addition to the calendar. I hope these continue, if not expand into the spring (late March/April) when the snow is still really good but most everyone forgets about racing.

Here are results and a short write up from organizer Ken Leary, and after that I'll give my own blow by blow perspective.

Wayne Peppler skied for yet another win Wednesday evening February 23. Following Peppler on a soft snow White Bear Loop 4.6 kilometer course was Dave Arvey and Jim Button.

Melisa Lewis skied 16:49 for her first Wednesday win followed by Julia Pierson and Kari Lovett. Heidi Rader skied a 3.5k course in 16:33.

Eric Hoefler was the first youth while skiing classic technique in 16:19. Dave Edic was the first master skier to cross the finish line making his move on the last hill into the finish area with a time of 16:00.

1. Wayne Peppler 14:38
2. Dave Arvey 15:16
3. Jim Button 15:29
4. Dave Edic 16:00 *1st Master
5. Roger Sayre 16:16
6. Erich Hoefler 16:19 *1st Youth (classic)
7. Heidi Rader 16:33 (3.5k course)
8. Peter Fix 16:34
9. Melisa Lewis 16:49 *First Woman
10. Julia Pierson 17:19
11. Mike Hajdukovich 17:28
12. Kuba Grzeda 17:29 (classic)
13. Kent Slaughter 17:59
14. Patrick Lovely 19:59
15. Joel Pierson 20:27
16. Kari Lovett 21:14
17. John McKinney 22:17
18. Teresa Small 23:48
19. Jake Scholey 25:26

This was one of the stranger, more disorienting races that I can recall. To avoid any trail use conflict with this weekend's state high school championships, we started and finished in the dark at the biathlon stadium and most of the course was out on White Bear Loop.

Snow conditions were still soft and rutted, and we had 1 or 1.5K of skiing in the dark on the return along White Bear (from the Moilainen's cutoff to the bottom of White Bear Access).

Peppler took command right away, with Arvey and Button in pursuit. I found myself alone in no man's land about 8 or 10 second back. There was no sound from behind, so I just focused on those guys and on staying on my feet/keeping efficient over the snow. A light V2, while it seemed slow, was usually the most efficient technique. We'd sink with a V1 (although we had ample hills that forced our V1 hand anyway).

Into the darkness at about 2K I was all alone and was only trying to keep it steady. Heading up the hill toward the stadium at about 3K Arvey and Button were maybe 12-15 seconds up. I snuck a peak back, and was surprised to see 2 or 3 dark shapes in the shadows. Erich Hoefler (skiing classic) and Edic 8 or 10 seconds back. So I put my head down and focused on getting up the hill, hoping to re-extend that lead.

On the switchbacks near the top I caught Heidi Rader who had taken the wrong turn...I couldn't tell if she was just doing intervals or what, so I hesitated on passing her for 15 or 20 sec. First mistake, but relatively small.

I was foggy and exhausted by the time we got to the stadium and made the quick left back onto White Bear. My transition was a little slow, and the tracks were a ways down the hill. Second mistake (should have just hammered that 30 or 40 meters), moderate because I didn't have a full head of speed going down the hill.

Then on the sharp turn, were Access meets White Bear, I failed to jump into the tracks. The tracks would have been faster and I would have gotten 10 or 15 seconds of rest. So I was slow on the run out. Third mistake, and that was the big one.

Had just gotten onto the long flat stretch past the biathlon range exit (just a half km to go) when I saw a shadow moving up from behind. I thought it was Erich, skiing classic, and I figured I could pick up the tempo and hold him off. But no! It was Edic, and he was skating and he had momentum. Passed me in a flash, before I even had time to react.

So I tucked in behind and stayed okay until we just past the base of the steep hill at the far end of the range. I took about 3 strides up, and my muscles just locked up with lactic acid/as if I was 300 meters into a 400 m track race race. Edic sensed my faltering stride and hammered home. I was a lump and just double polled into the finish.

Erich, skiing classic, was awesome! Just 3 seconds back and 6th overall. He said it felt easy, and that he could have done another lap at the same effort. He's ready for JOs!

Dawn of a Blizzard: Frozen 30K Race Report

2011-02-25T07:22:00.004-09:00

Here's more or less of a photo essay (5 pictures telling the story) from Sunday's Distance Series 30K (which ended up being 31.8K). All photos from Karl Kowalski (http://thekowalskis.zenfolio.com/). Karl's an awesome photographer!

Start at -4 with new snow. 15 minutes before this tracks were groomed perfectly.

1.4 km, skiing along in 6th place but being stalked, by Dave Edic (skiing classic in black) and masked mystery man (turquoise). That's Peter Fix, but at the time I didn't know it, and I kept wondering, who IS that guy!?

Classic chase pack in pursuit. Maria Bray, Davya Flarharty (women's winner, skiing classic), Bad Bob Baker, and Greg Wisenhant). The race was freestyle (skating) but due to the cold and slow snow, many opted to ski classic.

4K, free from the chasers and in my own pursuit of 4th place, who was about 30 sec up. I caught and passed Max just before the lap at 15K. Finished 4th but it wasn't comfortable!

And you thought I was kidding about the duct tape! Mike Kowalksi here, wearing the latest style of duct tape as skin protector. Now with 3 patches frostbite of my own, I wish I had. Or maybe a beard like Bill Husaby (in the background).

I bonked moderately toward the end. It didn't get any warmer and the snow kept accumulating, 2" by the end (on the way to 18" by the next morning). Had to single pole (granny skate) up the big hill on White Bear, but fell flat on my face near the top after catching my pole with a ski. mmmmph! Slow slow time (2:02:43), but with a solid placing and 16% behind Tyson Flaharty, using the race as a tune up for the Birkie in Wisconsin--hey at 52 and coming off 1.5 years of injury I'll take it.

Wednesday Night Series Numbr 4: February 11, 2011

2011-02-11T14:01:00.000-09:00

Fast and furious is the best way to describe the fourth of six 2010-11 Wednesday night cross country ski races at Birch Hill. The race was scheduled for classic, but due to three inches of new snow it became a freestyle race.

The biggest question was whether Tyson Flaharty, who's been on a local roll, could win the entire event by skiing classic.

Flaharty took and early lead and challenged the lead pack of Wayne Peppler, Jim Button, and Dave Arvey almost the entire way. But by the end, the faster skate techique of Peppler (15:04) and Button (15:19) prevailed ahead of Tyson (15:20), who finished ahead of Jim Button (15:23). Davya Flaharty was first woman in 16:55, 26 seconds ahead of Julia Pierson.

Back in the 2nd pack, I had warmed up on my Atomic RS 11s, with a mid-warmth grind, but these seemed slow, so I switched to the Atomic World Cups
with a cold grind and cold wax (same skis and wax that I used for Sunday's 10K), and those felt much better. I was in about 8th coming out of Roller Coasters (1K), and moved to 5th by the time we got off of the killer hill past the biathlon range. I had a good 6 seconds on Max, but he caught me at the base of White Bear, with about 1 km to go. I hung with him up the hill and on the switch backs, but had nothing left for a kick and finished 6th.

My lungs were burning and felt inflamed for the next day.

Still happy to get a "master's" win and to have kept the leaders in sight for the entire way.

1. Wayne Peppler 15:04

2. Dave Arvey 15:19

3. Tyson Flaharty 15:20 (classic)

4. Jim Button 15:23

5. Max Kaufman 15:53

6. Roger Sayre 15:59 *1st Master

7. Joel Buth 16:13

8. Dave Edic 16:35

9. Mike Hajdukovich 16:54

10. Davya Flaharty 16:55 *First Woman

11. Brad Marden 16:58

12. Peter Fix 16:59

13. Brian Finch 17:15

14. Julia Pierson 17:21

15. Owen Hanley 17:34 (classic)

16. Kent Slaughter 17:45

17. Ken Leary 17:57

18. Heidi Rader 19:25

19. Matt Stoller 19:57

20. Bob Baker 20:05 (classic)

21. Kari Lovett 20:08

22. Byron Broda 20:50

Best of Winter

2011-01-31T10:50:00.000-09:00

The best part of winter is upon us! Weather-wise it's usually mid-February on, but January closed out quite pleasant with highs in the teens for the last few days--at least up on the hills.

The Besh Cup 3 and 4 trip was a success: http://blogs.fasterskier.com/fast/2011/01/27/road-trip-by-air-besh-cup-3-and-4/

But the follow-up health report for the four kids we brought down was not good. One case of mono/strep throat; 2 colds (hopefully that's all); and one stomach bug. All four sat out on the final Town Series Race on Saturday. If I'd have known that I might have actually jumped in. No matter, hope to have a little fire burning for the 10K skate race next Sunday.

I did enter the Besh 4 10K skate race last Sunday. It was a scramble to get from the J2 race, add a quick layer of LF 3, and to the start line. I only brought my warm weather skis (usually 20s type snow), and won't make that mistake again. It was about 15 at race time and the snow was just kind of slow. Still a solid effort (30:40, and 3rd for M4 and M5 categories combined) and much better than the previous week's 10K classic.

This past week was a surprise volume week. I had been feeling ragged after the January Jaunt 20K the other week, and not recovered until a week ago Saturday/Sunday in Soldotna. Anyway, 12 hr, plus some upper body work will hopefully pay off for March Marathon Madness, planning on Tour of Anchorage 50K, Oosik Classic 42 or 40-something K, and Sonot 50K.

Return of Mr. Hyde

2011-01-16T08:07:00.000-09:00

There are race days you'd like to forget and for me yesterday was one of them. I felt tired and flat most of the week (very tired on Monday, skied pretty solid 90 min or so on Tuesday, but then like a Swedish pancake for the rest of the week). I did have a nagging sense of, why am I doing this from Wednesday on, but figured because it's there and the only Town Series race that I'm ever interested in racing (this was my first Town Race since 2009 and only second one in three+ years).

Compare to last week, when I was an average of 7.9% behind the top three skiers in the 20K. Same three guys raced this week (3rd, 10th and 11th this time with a deeper field), but I was 17.3% back. Ouch, and ouch again!

I could list off a bunch of excuses (from head to toe, and beneath), but that would be boring. Anyway, looking forward to more classic training, but skate racing for now.

Here's the techie stuff:

Glide I had LF Moly and LF4 as a base layer and topped that with Star HF8 (cold), and for kick just VR30, about the same as last week. Could have done fine with one less layer. HR, looks like it was mostly a threshold workout, averaging 154, which was less than last week for twice as long!

20K classic race report: hey it worked out

2011-01-10T07:37:00.002-09:00

The 20K "January Jaunt" Classic race went very well. 2 loop course (10.2K, with 1030' elevation gain/loop). High 34s (avg HR 156) for first lap and high 35s for 2nd (HR 155), for 1:10:41, 4th overall, and 1st in age group. Woot! Best classic race in several years.

Photo by Nick Nugent

Techie stuff: I skied on the new Atomic World Cups, freshly ground (cold grind) due to some base issues from the factory, and re-waxed 10X in the past two weeks. Used Swix LF4 mixed with HF6 for glide; snow was dirty underneath which is why I used the high flouro. For kick very easy--4 layers of Swix VR30, their coldest wax but it was sticking so I went with it. Wax was good until the final hill on Moilainen's, with about 2K to go. Ouch. Not much was left after that plus I was running out of energy.

A bit of paralysis by analysis. This course has been good to me, whereas, the other standard Birch Hill courses like the "Three Hills" (Blue Loop, Tower Direct, and White Bear), and the one they used for Nationals a few years ago (South Tower, Tower Direct, White Bear) have usually been cruel. I'd be afraid to even try classic for the course they used for the 50K Nationals race for two consecutive years (South Tower, Tower Direct, White Bear, and Black Funk)--although I have had a couple of decent skate races at Besh Cups on the same course.

Anyway, the hills on the 20K course aren't terrible--the worst is biathlon range and 90% of the time I have to hop out of the tracks about 2/3 of the way up or sooner. HR shot up to 181 at that hill on the first loop, but other than that it was lower. You have 5 hills each lap to think about (East Ramp, Tower, Biathlon, out of Moilainen's, and White Bear, which is another butt kicker). But there is enough rest between these that you can recover.

The other standard race courses for classic at Birch Hill are usually just downright sadistic.

Classical Conundrum

2011-01-07T10:10:00.002-09:00

What was once my strength is now my weakness. True that.

Local ski knowledgeables might be surprised to know that 20 years ago (and give or take 3 or 4) I was a better at classic skiing than skating. Now it's the opposite and if this year's races are any indicator, the relative difference (compared to other ranked racers) is close to 8 or 10 percent.

What gives?

I think it comes down to V02 max, heart rate, and muscle strength. Maybe skis.

V02 max, the amount of oxygen you can process at an all out effort (usually measured at 12 to 15 minutes) drops about 12% per decade in men. Based on 5K times, from the different eras (1989 to 2009) I've actually done pretty well: 67 down to 58, a drop of 13% in two decades. A decline for sure, but I'll take it.

I think the big drag is heart rate (HR), and the maximum I can handle. Back in the day, I didn't use a HR monitor (and just picked one up last year), but I could find a long (400 to 800 m) fairly steep (6 to 10%) climb and hammer intervals, where I could get that HR over 200, hold it for several minutes, and repeat four or five times. On race days I can remember just digging in and grinding up big hills.

Now as a M5 (50-54) age grouper, that is simply impossible. What I'm best at anymore is getting into the high 150s and low 160s and holding for a long time. Relatively speaking I'm now a much better ski marathoner, but 5K and 10K type distances are torture. I can hold a HR of 170s for a few minutes before going under, and if I push into the 180s for more than 30 seconds at time (or low 190s as in the 5K night race last week), boom it's over. I shut down and rig up.

Which brings us to muscle strength. Upper body wise, I'm as strong as I've been, and have been consistent with weight training for the first time ever for more than a year now. However, back in the early 1990s my strength to weight ratio was no doubt better. Now I'm heavier--about 12 to 15 pounds so, some of it muscle, some not. Back then I had 5% body fat, now probably 10%. So now I can power up a hill skating (using my upper body) while keeping my percent V02 max at a reasonable effort. But with classic striding, which has higher oxygen demands, it's easy to go into overload and tilt!

I need to change race strategy to accomodate these limitations and excesses. Working on it.

Now about skis. In 1987, when classic skiing was hanging on by an FIS induced thread, I picked up a pair of brand new Fischer RCS (Air Carbon Klister) skis, 210 cm, soft klister flex for $50 in Boulder. Yes $50. Those were fast skis and they carried me well for 10 years. Ever since then I haven't found quite the right fit, and I've gone through 5 pairs since 2004. My newest pair (Atomic World Cups, 201 cm medium flex) seem promising, but I had to stone grind the bases already because the factory p-tex was uneven.

January Jaunt on Saturday. Won that in a freakish sprint over the last km at -20 F in 2006. Not looking for a repeat, but if it's -10 or warmer I'll give it a go and hopefully vie for an age group W. Helps that Edic is in Hawaii but there will be other challengers.

Scintillating Night Series 5K

2010-12-30T10:36:00.000-09:00

Wow, even at -4, that was a fast and furious 5K. Only 18 skiers showed up. I was hoping for a top 5, but when we lined up knew that might be tough. It was.

Wayne Peppler and Dave Arvey took command right from the start, and we had an immediate pack of 8 heading out of the stadium, double poling at sprint speed. I was surprised to be ahead of Dave Edic on Relay Loop and actually stepped aside to let him ahead, probably 800 m into the race. By then the train of six skiers was 30 m up on us. I hung with Dave, and it actually felt slow at times until we were half way up East Ramp (1.6K) and onto Tower. Mike Hajdukavich (What the heck!?, I'm always ahead of him) was flying on Tower and Dave set off after him. On the first switchback I tried to close the gap and got to within 10 meters of them, but my heart rate skyrocketed into 190s, I later learned, and I was effectively done.

That was a fun little ski, and reminds me of living in Bemidji MN in the 1990s when we'd have similar Tuesday night races also under the lights and with small but good group of skiers. Looking forward to the next three night races in February/March.

1. Wayne Peppler 14:50
2. Dave Arvey 14:50.5
3. Max Kaufman 15:44
4. Mike Kramer 15:59
5. Dave Edic 16:31 *1st Master
6. Jan Grzeda 16:35 * 1st Youth
7. Mike Hajdukovich 16:46
8. Roger Sayre 17:25
9. Ken Leary 17:45
10. Julia Pierson 18:29 * First Woman
11. Heather Best 20:28
12. Joel Pierson 21:01
13. Jane LeBlond 22:42
14. John McKinny 23:47
15. Zail Gavin 24.56
16. Tom Olendorff 24:57
18. Debbie Looney 25:23
**. Guest timer: Mark Ross

Saved By Zero-not quite!

2010-12-29T15:47:00.001-09:00

One of my favorite 80s tunes, from the Fixx.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiZP8FS5Ww&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

We've had colder snaps in our (almost) 7 years here, but this has been the longest. Other than a brief two day warm up over the first weekend of December, it's been sub zero every day dince November 29, so that makes 30 of 32 days. Not just light deprivation (sub 4 hours of daylight for a month), I am a wee bit weary of making sure that I have every bit of gear ready, and dry, so that something doesn't freeze up while skiing or running.

Warm up expected this weekend, with temps into the 10s and 20s!!! Time to go run around in shorts and a t-shirt!

Meanwhile, trying (not successfully yet) to get somewhat psyched for tonight's 5K classic race, now postponed four times, at Birch Hill where the temps have warmed up to a crisp -3 F.

Ran 3.6 miles today over part of the Chena River Run course. Knee feels good, and I wonder what I can do off of a winter's training and maybe 30 miles a week of running by early May.

Great Besh Weekend!

2010-12-21T09:39:00.000-09:00

The kids skied very well this weekend! My race was a bit of a wash, but maybe that's to be expected.

On Saturday Kuba and Erich lit up the J2 semis with both taking a relaxed looking 2nd in their heats. Tristan made the J3 B-Final and took 3rd in that. Joe (13th) and Mikko (18th J2) didn't pass beyond the qualifiers, but this was a Besh Cup debut for each, so they did well.

In the J2 final the plan was for Erich and Kuba to take control from the start and go 1-2. Kuba took the lead and Erich was fighting for 3rd and 4th, but fell at the turn around. Kuba held the lead until the final 50 m, and he was edged out by Erik Backstrum of AK Winter Stars.

For Sunday's 5.6K classic Erich was skied to an inspired 4th place in a race where Backstrum and Jack Parke took command early and never let up. Kuba took 6th, a big improvement from last year. Unseeded Mikko had to start on the back row but moved from 50th to top 15, to take 14th. Now he won't have to worry about seed times. Joe took it out hard in his first ever 5K and held on for a very respectable 7th place, while Tristan was 8th.

My race? After 4 hr waxing skis and then cheering the kids on, it was almost an after thought. The tracks were icing up so I put on a sticker, but that might have been too much. As soon as we skied out of the stadium the pelaton pulled away and skiers seeded behind me glided past. Nevertheless I had great kick on the ups and could gain a little ground there.

Took two untimely falls on the Lekisch Loop, the 2nd with just a couple Ks to go on on a very fast downhill turn. That was a scary, bad fall, and I lost 40 sec from the skier I was with! 30% back from the winners, and 12 to 13% back in my age group? Oy! The gap is only 20%

and maybe 5% in skate races.

Gundeloppet 15K, slow but not a death march

2010-12-13T11:05:00.003-09:00

The 15K Gundeloppet--named in honor of Swedish 4-time Olympic and 7-time World Champion Gold medalist Gunde Svan who raced a World Cup race here in the 1980s--is probably my second favorite local race, after the Sonot 50K. Other than the marathon it's the longest skate race in town and the only 15K at all. Local race schedule could use some tweaking.

Our trails had been fast following the November ice storm, but that came to an abrupt end on Saturday morning when about an inch of fine powder fell through the dark icy skies. It was -4 at the start and the snow was slow, so slow that a lot of people chose to classic ski instead of skate.

Unless you're totally into classic (or must do so because of knees or something, as I've been for most of the past season and a half), that was probably a tactical error.

The 90 racers included most of the UAF team, a smattering of high schoolers, and several of the old dogs like me who keep racing/don't know when to quit.

Within the first km, the pack of 10 or so (mostly UAF) had pulled away already, and I was almost alone chasing a 2nd pack, including 3 classic skiers: high schooler Stefan Hajdukovich, sub masters Dave Arvey, and age group rival Dave Edic. They were flyin! And I thought there was no way I'd be able to keep up for 15K, let alone for the first 5.

Distraction and focus came from UAF's two top women, Germans Raphaela Sieber and Theresia Schnurr, who skied up from behind on Relay loop at about 1K. Seiber pulled steadily away and by 3K was leading a pack of 4 or 5 men. I tried to settle in, skiing with Schnurr through the climb on Tower about 30 sec behind the "train" of about 5 skiers who were drafting off Sieber. Just before the top of Tower, at the highest point on the course I passed Schnurr, and headed to White Bear now sort of in no man's land. Somewhere through there I had passed Arvey and Edic, but young Stefan was kicking and gliding very strong up ahead, mostly outside of the tracks--which hadn't been re-groomed following the snowfall.

UAF's Dave Apperson pulled up on me by the Sonot Cutoff and we took off in pursuit of the group ahead.

We caught Raphaela's train on White Bear Hill, a 5 minute grinder, at about 10K. I just hung on, at the back of the 7 skier pack. Jim Button and Wyatt Mayo busted out about 2/3 of the way up the hill, and I was thinking that few years ago I might have tried the same move, or at least gone with them, but this time I just continued at the back of the pack.

With about 2K to go, coming out on the hill in Moilanen's Meadow, I passed Raphaela and Max Kaufman--can't count the times Max and I have met on White Bear hill and in Moilanen's. That surge hurt, and it continued hurting all the way up the last hill on White Bear Access, a 1.5 min climb followed by some techincal up and down S-turns. Although this is my favorite stretch at Birch Hill, I was in a fog and slowed. Raphaela caught me in the stadium, and I hung on, barely.

We rounded the final turn toward the finish and with 100 m to go, I gave it all and outkicked her by a couple of seconds. 16th overall, 1st in age group, and 2nd 40 and over (about a minute behind master's skier Jim Button who I think actually raced in that 1980s World Cup race with Svan, and about 9 minutes behind UAF's David Norris--hopefully Norris will have some World Cup starts in the next year or two.

So a good showing for FAST, former and current. David, now a Nanook, won for the 2nd year in a row. Logan won the high school division, Kuba took the high school 7K with a stellar perfomance, while Sam took the middle school crown. And now as the oldest and grumpiest FAST skier, I skated away the old man's title.

Next time won't be so easy as Edic will think twice about doing classic in a freestyle race, and Lokken on a comeback of his own is only going to get stronger!

A lot to be thankful for. Completing a tough skate race with slow conditions, the knee held up throughout, it was only a little sore after the race, and the overall finish was fairly close to where I had left off in winter 2008-2009.

On to Besh Cups, where I'll be coaching more than skiing.

Revenge of the Nerd

2010-11-30T12:24:00.001-09:00

The little experiment with an N of 1 and just 1 rep was a success. I managed to finish 3.4 or 3.5K of skating in a race without blowing out the knee. In fact, I went out for a 3 mile run later Saturday afternoon, skied 2 hr classic on Sunday morning and against all better judgment went downhill skiing with the kids (well they tolerated me from a safe distance because they were with their friends) for a couple of hours on Sunday.

After all that abuse, my knee was hanging pretty solid Sunday night, and by Monday fine, almost as good as new.

But what about the race? I wish it had been 5K instead of 3.5K. The snow was good enough on Saturday, but I guess they had to make the call on the course by Friday when conditions were still uncertain. At 10 degrees with a few inches of fresh snow on top of that ice rink, things were fast yet there was no problem with sliding out or balancing. But imagine if all that rain earlier in the week had been snow! Oh well.

As if I needed any firing up--what with the first skate race in 20 months, and a return to the Turkey Day Relays, one of the better local races of the season--but I've been getting a moderate amount of flak and trash talking from a few individuals in town, saying "you're washed up, old and fat, ruined...." So on Friday a well known shall we say loudie, who won't be named (rhymes with bark!) burst in to the UAF ski hut boasting about his team for a few minutes and as he was leaving said, "Huh, Roger, we don't even think about you anymore, you're history!"

Dissed, dismissed, and even ditched. It all happened.

But I can take it. Give me some more. I like to be motivated.

The end result, I felt good, albeit very alone, until half way up the White Bear Hill (probably 2.2K in), when I saw my son Mikko up ahead about 20 seconds. I thought I'd catch him, but rig set in pretty soon after that, and I struggled in on Warm Up and into the stadium.

Bruce and Karl skied strong in their legs (11:10 and 11:02) and we held on to 13th place, 2nd in our division by about a minute, and all significantly faster than the guy who rhymes with bark. My split of 10:11, 2nd best for 50+ for the day.

And did I say it didn't hurt bad the next day?

It'll do just fine for now! Looking forward to the season, and yes, next year's TD Relays. A fun community event.

Turkey Day Relays, it's a go!

2010-11-26T15:26:00.000-09:00

Weird weather week, with an inch of rain over some 50 hours, rendering everything (sidewalks, driveways, roads, sidewalks, ski trails...you name it) to Zamboni quality ice slicks. It seemed like we were touch and go for Turkey Day Relays but they're on, and only a day late.

Likewise, I wasn't sure how the knee would do after last weekend's 10K classic, but lo! it has held up pretty well. I even skated for an hour on Thanksgiving (not at Birch Hill, which remains closed until race day). And then went for a 30 min run. No knee pain to speak of, although I must admit that it feels a bit hollow or fragile, like it's lined with glass instead of cartilage and bone. But no pain is no pain.

Bob and Dave are going to be pissed because I signed on with another team, I'll be racing with the Free Radicals.

10K classic, a pass and maybe a bit better

2010-11-23T11:01:00.000-09:00

First caveat, in four tries I've never done all that well on the "3 Hills" course at Birch Hill. The combination of climbing out of Blue Loop for 3 min, a short 20 sec rest, and then 3+ min of Tower Direct, a 2 min rest, and another 2 or 2.5 min of climbing on White Bear Access, twice, for a total of 1,000 ft of vertical is just to anaerobic.

Would have been fun to do 20 or 25 years ago. For classic I prefer something like all of Tower and White Bear, like the Gundeloppet skate course.

38:01, no great shakes, when you see Dylan Watts go 29:40 and lead 5 guys under 30 min. But then again they're 25 or 30 years younger and national class skiers.

My time age graded to a 32:40s, which back in the day when these guys were toddlers or babies, this would have been a decent to good early season ski for me. So I'll take it, despite melting down both times on White Bear Access, just at the cutoff, where I was reduced to a walk. Two or three Level 3 workouts and one Level 4 just doesn't cut it. Best news is that the knee held up and two days later still feels pretty good.

It was a great racing weekend, and the kids all did fantastic. Kuba and Erich dominated the J2s on Friday and Saturday, and Mikko put together two nice races to put himself on West Valley's Varsity and was 5th J2 both days. And on Saturday the three J3s all showed strong effort and placing in the 2K, with a 2nd, 4th, and 5th.

Now rain!? Three days of it? What's up with that?

Healthier, yet still not wealthy, maybe a little wise

2010-11-19T13:28:00.000-09:00

The asthma abated, thanks to the meds, and I'm a little more careful this week with warm ups and training. For example, on Wednesday I tried a Level 3 session. It was -4, so I wore a mask, warmed up 25 minutes and tried not to ski myself into the ground. I've also been taking a couple puffs from the inhaler before every workout, not just race days. Even though I ended up gasping and ripping off the mask after 2X 11 min it wasn't too bad.

My days of racing at -18 or -20 F are over, and maybe even -5 or -10. Likewise, as a coach I'm not going to change the team tradition of holding skiers out even when it's -10 or -12, well above the NSCF's cutoff of -20. At more moderate levels of cold, say -6 or -8, we'll see.

Hoping to ramp up training, but with this hectic schedule it isn't easy. I am getting a lot of hours on the skis, just not big training hours. Working on getting in one long ski (2+ hr) and one threshold or V02 type session per week.

Wealth, or lack thereof, hmmm. Maybe another day, huh?

'Roid Rage

2010-11-10T15:34:00.000-09:00

I'm on drugs.

Been waiting for three weeks for insurance approval for some stronger than over the counter anti-inflammatories for the knee, but to no avail. Meanwhile, however, I had a severe asthma attack over the weekend with one really bad episode on Sunday morning that lasted for 5 minutes or so with gagging, gasping, and not being able to get in much air. Another 5 minutes and it would have been 911. Got that settled down but it took another half hour. Two days later I was still having a rough time.

So I'm now juiced up on steroids for the week, which should have a beneficial side effect for the knee.

Darn though I was looking forward to this evening's 5K Wednesday Night Series event. Will have to wait a few weeks until the next one. Provided that I'm still breathing.

Snow is good finally, and I enjoyed testing out the new skis (Atomic World Cup 201 cm, medium flex). Incredibly light and manueverable, and I got a good kick. We'll see how fast they are.

Splashy blast from the past: Midwest Conference Outdoor Meet 1980

2010-10-27T15:31:00.000-08:00

This was my last track race as a college runner, although I did run one more season of cross country the following fall.

The story behind this photo is proof of sorts of the adage (and classic Nike poster, when Nike was still cool) that the race is not to the swift but to those who keep running.

I didn't run in high school (rather just started at the very end), but went out for track my freshman year as a complete rookie. I started out sprinting, but soon moved onto middle distance running.

It was a slow start, and conference meet freshman year I got dead last, by a long margin, in the 880 yard qualyfing heats. Maybe a mild redemption in the mile the next day with a second to last place. By the next year I was a distance runner, and after showing some promise in the indoor 2 mile (sub 10) I ran the 3 mile outdoors. The transition wasn't smooth, however, and I ended up dead last (again) in the 1978 conference meet championships at University of Chicago.

I almost quit running after that.

Took a hiatus from track in 1979, and ski bummed in Colorado, but returned to Grinnell to finish up school.

Spring of 1980 was mostly disappointing, and I picked up "field house hack" after the second indoor meet and didn't shake it until May. I worked on the steeple chase about once a week for the outdoor season, but conference was the first time I was able to actually race 3000 meters over 28 barriers, including 7 water jumps.

My teammate Charlie (to my left in the photo), who had run in the Empire State Games in New York as a high school runner, boldly stated the morning of the race that he'd set the school record in the steeple at conference.

I had no idea what to expect, and fell to the back of the pack for three laps. This picture was at the start of the third lap, and I had just started moving up, when this runner from Coe College fell right in front of me. Somehow, I avoided a collision, and passed several more runners.

With a lap to go, I was suddenly in 3rd place. I started my kick a little too early, and almost fell on this water barrier on the final lap. A U. Chicago runner zipped by, and I stumbled home to hold onto 4th but got a school record.

A checkered track career, perhaps, but it was a nice way to wrap up college running--and better things would lie ahead.

Looks like I’m going to lose this battle…

2010-10-20T13:53:00.002-08:00

Most all of us do, eventually, and this is probably going to end my running career.

But how you fight it, that’s what defines you.

Went to the orthopedist the other day and again, based on the arthroscopy last spring, I have Stage 2 osteoarthritis in my knee. Seemed like nothing at the time, but now I'm still coming to terms with the outcome of my foreshortened summer of running.

He indicated that he had hoped that I’d be running and racing by now-- after four months of rest and three of physical therapy. Nevertheless, the good news is that things are improving incrementally and over the past week I have been running up to 30 min every other day with only minor pain, which usually hits the next day.

So, maybe that round was a draw.

Rounds 1 and 2, initial injury and NYC Marathon debacle were near knockouts last year; Round 3, surgery and comeback I win; Round 4, the latest, summer injury; with the long rehab of Round 5 a tie. So that makes it 1-3-1 during the past 12 months.

Round 6 will be over the next five months, with the goal to make it through ski season (maybe a snowshoe race or two), with things better off than now. To even up the score I have to make it through next summer with no additional injury. Look for an overhauled training system, one based primarily on injury prevention and getting to the starting line with a smile.

In the meantime I really look forward to knocking heads with local masters skiers.

Flint Hills Awards – Yes, Dorli Deserved Most Insprirational!

2010-10-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

Kudos to Dorli McWayne, Running Club North’s most Inspirational Runner for 2010. I’ve been tracking age graded leaders for a couple of years now, and Dorli has consistently been at the top of the women’s list. However, not only does she run fast age graded times, she also places very high in the overall rankings for individual races as well as Flint Hills Series points. She finished 2nd overall this year, at age 57.

Sorry for your loss Dorli. Barry was a fixture at the races and he will be missed. Jane Lanford’s words at the awards this past weekend were moving and spot on.

Here are Dorli’s times and (age grade percent) for this year’s series races that were standard distance:

Chena River Run 5K--21.12.2 (87.82%)
Midnight Sun Run 10K-- 43:44.8 (86.15%)
Flint Hills Mile—6:21.3 (85.66)
Santa Claus Half Marathon--1:38:45 (83.05%)
Equinox Marathon--3:55:36 (75.66%*)

*obviously Equinox is a good 10% more difficult than a normal course

Not that I'm counting or anything

2010-10-12T14:18:00.003-08:00

A year ago, during the week of the Running Club North/Flint Hills end of year banquet, I ran about 65 miles and was still feeling healthy. The wheels started coming off on a long run the very next day, and I had to cut that last run short at about 13 or 14 miles.

Other than 2007--when I sort of made an effort to find some other summer races--I've always tried to be ready for the races in the RCN/FH series. This year my plan was to do five or six of the eight races (Gold Discovery and Equinox were off the table). In June I even entertained thoughts of running Kenai Marathon this September.

Only made it to two from the series (and have only run six or seven times total since the end of June), although I must admit to have been very tempted to run the Flint Hills Mile, Race for the Valkyries, and Golden Heart XC run. But decided to be conservative and to try to let this thing heal.

Next year, even if I'm only running 10 or 15 miles a week or less and cross training, I will line up for no fewer of five of the races (unless in a cast or chair bound).

Pretty cool though, Tristan was this year's winner for the 12 to 14 age group. He ran about 10-12 miles a week this summer and is looking forward to running in high school next year. Congrats to Tristan, and of course all series winners, top finishers!

Anyway, not that anyone's counting (and no need to look...just move along) to make myself feel a little better I tallied up my overall and age group placings in RCN/Flint Hills series races since moving here in 2004.

Not that I keep track of such things. Really. Nope doesn't matter to me......
(har har)

ASAA dips to new low: Timing Fiasco at Alaksa State XC Meet

2010-10-04T08:35:00.003-08:00

What did I just say on this blog the other day, with unfortunate prescience? Let me strike a few words because I don't think this was done out of meanness. Just inept reasoning. The rest of my little diatribe should stand, and then some.

Petty, doofus, ~~mean-spirited~~, ~~vindictive~~, power hungery, idiot athletic administrators.

I can't believe that this has happened, and the fix is so simple. However, rather than doing the right thing, the officials at the State Meet at Bartlett let common sense (and technically, the rules) take a back seat to technology and officiousness.

First, however, what an exciting meet! Although the team races were not particularly close for any of the four divisions (big and small schools for boys and girls), there was plenty of intrigue in the races and some scintillating finishes. Here, the Anchorage Daily News does a good job of coverage.

But I want to focus on the leaders of the 4A girls race, and the timing fiasco. For the first time ever in Alaska (and for the first time that I have heard of anywhere for high school cross country competition), they used computer chips (only) for the timing, and this had huge implications for the top three finishers in girls 4A, with ripple effects in the team and individual rankings.

Jenette Northey, a sophomore from Service High School in Anchorage, had been unstoppable all year and she looked to ready blow away the field by holding a 15 second lead through most of the race. With a kilometer to go, Northey still had a 12 second lead over Molly Callahan who was a few strides ahead of Jaymi Bethea of Kodiak. Bethea overtook Callahan with about 250 or 300 m to go, and closed a large gap to catch Northey.

But did she? From my vantage point, about 2 or 3 meters in front of the finsh mat, I thought Bethea had both the lean and the momentum. Others reported that it was Northey who had her torso across first. Nevertheless, the chip timer caught Bethea first.

I don't know (my guess was Bethea) but what they should have done is gone by official USATF rules and used a finish line camera (Yes! We have the technology!) to see whose torso cross first. Not toe.

Then came Callahan, a late bloomer who has just come into her own this year. Molly came in a clear third, a good 10 or 12 seconds ahead of Megan Edic.

Third at State, and leading her team to a top three or four finish, what a way to cap off the in state season! She crossed the line at 1:49 PM and all was good.

But a full two hours later, at the awards ceremony, it was obvious that something was awry. They announced the top 10 girls and no Callahan, and then the top 5 teams and no West Valley. And that was that.

West Valley coach, and Molly's father Dan Callhan, made an appeal to the officials but rather than consider this in the light of common sense they tried to save their own face by denying the appeal. The awards were given, therefore no going back.

What's really irritating about this is that there are no official rules that said that chips were required for a finish. These are a technological tool that should help but there always should be backup systems. Unless you're an ASAA official nothing beats using your head, eyes, and the good old tag and spindle as a fail safe.

So how many ways did the officials screw up? Let's see. One, using chips for cross country (almost unprecedented at the high school level. Two, letting technology, not reality, be the decider (Callahan was 3rd, it's that simple). Three, not informing the coaches in a timely manner. Four, lacking either the brains or humility to rectify the situation in the appeals process.

The results of the girls race are tainted, which is too bad for everyone involved. Nevertheless, considering what I've seen from many of the adminstrators and officals in this state over the past several years, this is sadly not surprising.

Molly, is still a champion in my book. And she will put this behind her and far exceed anything that those who made that decision on Saturday afternoon at Bartlett.

Nevertheless, they should do the right thing and reconsider and redribute the awards so that Molly Callahan gets the third place that she deserves.

West Valley Boys Take 2nd at Alaska State XC!!!

2010-10-04T07:04:00.001-08:00

Here are some more pictures from the AK State Meet.

Pat Nugent and Kyle Hanson of Lathrop blast out to an early lead, at about 1/2 KM.

Winner Silas Talbot of Service High takes the lead after about 1.3 km, followed by Fairbanks runners Kyle Hanson, Pat Nugent, James Leder and Kuba Grzeda.

That's my boy! (Mikko on the left, stayed between about 20th and 26th througout)

Aftermath1

Aftermath2--still looing a little wobbly.

Runners Up!

One thing I can't stand

2010-09-24T11:28:00.001-08:00

~~Petty, doofus, mean-spirited, vindictive, power hungery, idiot athletic administrators.~~

Okay, maybe that was worded a little strongly, but petty certainly applies, added with dollop of vindictiveness.

Too bad that 3/4 of them here appear to be that way.

2010 Equinox Marathon Age Grade Honor Roll

2010-09-21T10:25:00.009-08:00

Here are the top masters age group performers from this year's Equinox Marathon, again using the World Masters Association age grade calculator.

I'll post up a new all-time ranking soon, but would like add that not only did Matias Saari shatter the men's masters record, he broke Frank Bonzanich's all time age group ranking. 2:52 on that course is very good at any age, and for a masters runner it's outstanding.

WOMEN
Name________________Age___Time______Age Grade Percent
Jane Lanford..............55.....3:55:31.....73.18
Dorlie McWayne..........58.....3:55:36.....75.66
Martha Brettell...........58.....4:36:47.....64.40
Monte Jordan.............67.....5:25:45.....63.66
Norma Haubenstock......56.....4:42:52.....61.26
Dena Doublex.............59.....4:58:57.....60.50

MEN
Name…………Age………Time……Age Grade Percent
Matias Saari …..40 ..…2:52:47 .….74.05
Wayde Leder …..53 ..…3:18:20 .….72.25
Dave Johnston…..40 ..…3:05:40 .….68.94
Greg Finstad …..56 ..…3:39:25 .….67.17
Rick Johnson..…56...3:41:54 .….66.12
Jim Madonna…..72 ..…4:22:57 .….66.12

10 or 12 is too young for a marathon!

2010-09-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

I mentioned this last year and had many people come up and say that they agreed. Let's keep the Equinox open to runners 18 and up. There are very few marathons in the US that allow young runners and that's a good thing. Not to mention, the Equinox is one of the toughest courses anywhere.

This year there were nine boys (some under 10) and five girls under 17 years old who participated in the full marathon. The number of entrants has increased from previous years.

Why not add a new 17 and under division to the relay? Eight or nine miles is plenty for a young kid.

Nervous Exhaustion

2010-09-19T12:09:00.002-08:00

They (the media) don't use term much anymore but 20 or 30 years ago, you'd frequently read about some celeb or rock star taking a breather from their activities due to "nervous exhaustion." Probably a euphemism for rehab.

I feel exhausted this weekend after several weeks of flurry. Nevetheless, the only OD'ing I've had lately is from ibuprofen or naproxin sodium. Just finished my 3rd round of 9 or 10 days of double dose. This one seemed to work, and the knee actually feels better. I even put in an impromptu 3.5 miler on Tuesday with the middle school xc kids because I forgot my bike that day. Knee didn't ache the next day, nor did it buckle. Good signs, although it's still not ready.

Then on Thursday we put on the middle school race, unoffically known as the Golden Leaf Invitational, where we had 7 schools and 100 runners doing 2 miles at UAF. How cool is that? I enjoy working with that age group, as awkward and unfocused as they can be. It's a great time to help them develop an interest.

On Friday Mikko ran in Salcha. He was on the bubble--had to place in top 7 to make the varsity team for regionals and state. Despite a very hectic day (5 tests and the admins almost didn't let him run due to a misunderstanding), Mikko took charge of his own destiny and went out with the 2nd pack and held on for 6th overall (17:28) and 3rd on the team for the day--so he's going to state!

So the Equinox is history and hey, didn't do too bad with the men's predictions: Matias 2:52, Strabel 2:55, and Dyer 2:56 (was off on his time, which was just 2 min slower than his debut on a much faster Mayor's Marathon course last June).

Women's. Well, I didn't realize Jane Leblond was running (agg, I wronglfully put her down for ca. 3:20 last year).

Congrats to racers, organizers, and anyone who participated. Quite a nice day.

Had a good time at the race yesterday cheering people on, including my son Tristan who ran the relay with some friends. And then spent the late afternoon at Sheep Creek crossing helping out traffic control for the last walkers. They were appreciative that we were still out there.

After the race I must have had half a dozen people ask if it was hard to be on the sidelines for Equinox...no and yes was the best I could answer. I like the Equinox and was looking forward to the relay, but missing it wasn't too bad. It's still fun to watch. What bothers me is the big unknown--whether I will even be able to even start running again by next spring or some future year. I can miss some Equinoxes and still feel like a participant. But maybe not being able to run or race much in the future; yes that bothers me.

Gotta Scoop the Paper on Equinox Preview

2010-09-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

Just for kicks.

I dunno, but the women's race looks wide open this year. I thought maybe we'd see Melissa Lewis in there, and she could maybe destroy the course and masters record (Sue Faulker's 3:18), but didn't see her in the entries. Nor is last year's winner Laura Brosius. Davya Flaharty (2nd at Humpy's with a 3:10 in August) seems to be the strongest entry this year. But then again, I'm no expert of the Anchorage scene, but none of the Crow Pass leaders, or from their Trail Series (other than Saari), are entered.

The men's race should feature a good match up between 2 time winner Matias Saari (now 40) and Equinox newcomer David Dyer. Dyer has just run one marathon (Mayor's last spring), but he's young and has wheels (14:20s 5K speed in college). None of the expected Anchorage studs (Geoff Roes, Eric Strabel, Erik Johnson, or Tom Ritche) appear to be entered.

One thing almost for certain, the master's men's record of 2:58 by Frank Bonzanich set in 1984 should be going down. The weather looks good, if not too good this time. Could be warm out there this year.

Seems like it will be a good year to collect a plate!

PT Beatdown

2010-09-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to be running and racing by now, but instead I'm calling it quits after 6 weeks of physical therapy that resulted in little or no improvement. I rested, cross-trained, reduced inflammation, and retrained my muscles. Every time I try to run, even just a mile or so, the knee pain has come right back. So I'm going to take the rest of the month off.

The good news is things feel pretty good after another couple of days, i.e., it's not chronically hurting. Will have a follow up physicians visit in October. So if things aren't better we'll try something less conservative, like cortisone or an injection of synthetic synovial fluid.

So it's living dangerously, vicarious cheering for my kids and runners I coach. Mikko has taken off "like a gangbuster," as my old college coach used to say, and has been running varsity as a sophomore. He ran a PR 17:22 5K last week and is now the fastest runner in our household. By the time I get back to 17:22, if ever, he'll be another minute faster. So the torch is passed.

Also exciting to see that Kuba, Peter, and Erich all of whom I coached over the summer, are also making big waves. Kuba set a soph record, with a 16:19, Peter ran sub 17 for the first time, and Erich just a freshman, is looking like a veteran right in there with Peter and Mikko.

Meanwhile, Tristan, an 8th grader now has been running at/near the top for middle school races, with a 1st at the Golden Heart race the other week, and a 2nd at an all schools race this week.

Trying to keep the faith.

Haven't Forgotten, Just Got Busy

2010-08-27T16:04:00.000-08:00

Still need to put up age grade rankings for Santa Claus Half, but haven't had the time over the past few weeks. I did make it out to the race to watch and cheer on runners. It was bittersweet because I had so much fun running there last year and to be on injured reserve isn't a lot of fun. Nevertheless, there was some good age group running. I'll get to it.

Meanwhile, went dip netting in Chitina the other week and nearly got a limit, but we pushed our luck with being out there late. Then I had a run-in with some bears at 11 at night. The sow 30 yds away chomped and woofed, and I got out of there very quickly, and had to retrieve my last load of fish the next morning!

Knee rehab continues, 1/2 step up at a time and 3/8ths back. Have tried to run a couple times in the past few weeks but even 1 or 2 miles results in a setback. Not to mention carrying 60 lb loads of salmon up a scree slope in said dipnetting adventure. Nevertheless, it is getting better by increments. Maybe try again by Labor Day or the following week.

That didn't sound good.

2010-08-05T15:51:00.001-08:00

I took five weeks off from running with the hope that would be enough of a break to start running again. Probably not. After logging a total of 4.5 miles over three days the knee started to get sore, and the PT noticed some bursitis creeping back in. So I stopped running after Tuesday's epic 2 miler.

After a short meeting at the office yesterday I stood up and my knee buckled, popped, and squished loud enough for others to hear. It was aenough to draw some comments, as well as a groan from me.

I don't think it's the end, maybe just the bursitis. Overall it actually feels pretty good and 10 days of physical therapy are starting to make a difference. I hope.

So I rollerskied along the Parks Highway (averaging ~5:30/mile), and felt great until the last stretch when I hit a rock, fell, and whacked my elbow.

Isn't that how all this began last October?

Short Course at Valkyries

2010-07-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

It is not that hard to measure a course reasonably accurately, say within 5 or 10 meters/mile. Even if it's not certified, you can: A) measure with a bike, B) use a GPS, C) go old school and use a measuring wheel.

Did they do that at the Run for the Valkyries last weekend, which happens to be on the Flint Hills Series? NO!!! Instead of 8K (4.96 miles) the course was closer to 4.8 miles.

This race was managed by the Ski Club's Comp Group for a number of years, but since 2008 the local Opera Club has taken over. Why I don't know, other than no one else wants to do it.

They charge too much ($25/entry), they are disorganized and don't know what they're doing (we saw a course marshal twice attempt to misdirect the lead runners near the start and finish), and participation rates have dropped to 1/3 of the level of just a couple years ago.

I'll hold off on age graded rankings for this one until they get an accurately measured course.

No Pain Is No Pain

2010-07-14T16:30:00.000-08:00

My knee stopped hurting about a week ago. I biked almost every day that we were in Colorado, but mostly easy/moderate and fairly short, averaging about an hour or so. The longest was about 1:40 at a moderate effort up Waterton Canyon.

Flint Hills Mile Age Grade Results

2010-07-02T09:57:00.001-08:00

Perfect summer conditions for th The Flint Hills Mile last night. Mid to high 70s and a dry breeze.

Charity Walker ran away with the open title with a comfortable 5:38.5, while Zach Ginn led wire to wire to edge Chris Eversman 4:35.2 to 4:35.6, and they were closely followed by high schooler Gavin Dewilde in 4:38.3.

Tristan won a tactical junior (14 and under) mile in 5:55.1. It was somewhat disappointing not to run, but working as a "plunger" kept my mind busy through the evening.

Once again, here's the link to the age grading calulator
http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html

As usual were some excellent and notable age grade performances, led by Phyllis Church's 7:59 mile, which grades to 89.65. According to World Master's Association I think anything above 90% is world class.

Greater than 80% is "national class," and we had three accomplish that standard. Jane Lanford and Dorly McWayne had another good duel in the sun, and once again scored in the mid 80s. And Fairbanks' Jim Loftus ran to an 84.95.

The race had seven women and eight men score higher than 70%, a solid standard of excellence.

RUNNER .........[age] TIME; AGE GRADE PERCENT
Phyllis Church.. [74] 7:59.9; 89.65
Dorli McWayne... [57] 6:23.1; 85.66
Jane Lanford.... [55] 6:21.3; 83.73
Erika Van Flein. [50] 6:36.4; 75.42
Norma Haubenstock[56] 7:17.3; 74.01
Dena Doublex.... [60] 7:50.9; 72.73
Karen Nanseth... [46] 6:38.3; 71.32

RUNNER .........[age] TIME; AGE GRADE PERCENT
Jim Loftus...... [60] 5:25.8; 84.95
Jim Madonna..... [74] 6:38.4; 78.32
Robert Weeden... [48] 5:28.9; 76.15
Bad Bob Baker... [52] 5:46.3; 74.69
Geoffrey Ames... [48] 5:35.5; 74.65
Bruce Gard...... [51] 5:37.9; 74.65
Ed Debevec...... [55] 6:00.6; 73.53
Warren Taylor... [55] 6:03.3; 72.99

On the Osteoarticular Rollercoaster, Again

2010-07-01T14:00:00.001-08:00

Flint Hills Mile is tonight, and I was going to gear up for a sub 5, but that will be a DNS to go, thank you very much.

After 10 days of knee pain--starting out intermittently, but slowy sliding toward steady--I pulled the plug on running as of this Monday. I can feel a "stress reaction" (aka/formerly known as a stress fracture) building into my knee. Whether it's a hot spot or start of another crack there is no doubt that this thing isn't going to get better until I rest it for (ARGGGHGG!!!!!) five or six weeks.

I'll get a medical diagnosis after we get back from Colorado.

So today I went out on a 22 mile bike ride, up Sheep Creek to St. Patricks and Henderson, and back along the Equinox course to mile 25, before heading back to town. Nice day for a ride and I got in a good workout.

Spruce Tree Classic

2010-06-28T10:36:00.002-08:00

Finally, after six years of living here, I got to do the Spruce Tree Classic. The race was smoked out in 2004, and every year since we were on vacation or it conflicted with the Flint Hills Mile.

Almost didn't make it this year and I was undecided until Friday afternoon. My knee has been hurting since the 3000 on June 10 and the Midnight Sun Run the following week. I only ran twice in the week between MSR and Spruce Tree.

Conditions were good, if not a little humid on Saturday morning. What, with three other running races (all comer's track on Thursday, Bob Wheeler Memorial 5K and Granite Tors on Sunday) I had no idea what to expect for competition.

Good, we had a quorum. Devin McDowell (34:25 last week), Wayne Peppler (36:47), and high schooler Gavin DeWilde (37:15) were on hand as well as Melissa Lewis, a top ranked skier who has been running better and better in recent years. And a mystery guy, (late 20s-early 30s) who wore a store/club running outfit from the Lower 48, who looked fairly fit.

Like this past weekend's USATF (Track and Field) Championships that were in Des Moines, we took it out ridicuously slow. I didn't mind too much, because it gave some time for my knee to warm up. We chatted, told some stories, and talked about the local running scene and US Nationals. The new guy (Robert Finicum) asked if we always ran our fun runs at such a leisurely pace and if we finished together.

I said nope, we'd race when the time is right. At least that was my plan!

I took a drink at the half way aid station and announced outloud "now is the time to hurt," before speeding off to take a lead. Gavin had fallen of our pace by then but Devin, Wayne, and Robert jumped right in as I leaped over the roots and ruts, almost tripping once (good thing I still have rubber ankles because that thing could/should have popped).

They passed and pulled away by 30-40 m by the time we emerged from the UAF Arboretum, but I managed to reel them in with the better footing on the T-Field. But by the time we headed up the long grinding hill past the Smith Lake turn off, things slowed a bit and they started to talk again. I waited till we were about 1/3 up, and put the hammer down again, thinking there has got to be something wrong with this picture--when a 52 year old guy with a glass knee is surging and leading a bunch of healthy guys 15 to 30 years younger.

Of course this was a rash move, and I knew it wasn't sustainable, but I decided to push all the way to the top, by the Geophysical Institute. Oh man, did I ever pay a price. Wayne dropped off 20 or 30 sec, but Devin and Robert were now awakened and they pulled away with ease.

For the next mile I could feel the lactic acid build up in my legs and I slowed way down. Wayne caught me just as we hit the pavement on Kuskokwim Way and I figured that was it. Somehow I had another gear and once on Tanana Drive and down the steep descent to the SRC finshish line, I was able to put in a 6 or 7 sec gap.

The newspaper had the wrong results. Here's how it really went down

1. Devin 46:10
2. Robert 46:10 (apparently in a dead heat)
3. Me 47:06
4. Wayne 47:13

And the first woman was Lewis, who ran a very fast 50:03, well of ahead of PAC 10 all conference runner Maggie Callahan and Hannah Henson of University of Arizona who ran it as an easy workout in 59:03.

Mikko, my son, was 7th male in 53:38 and that's the longest he's ever raced.

Midnight Sun Run Age Grade Leaders (age 40 and up)

2010-06-22T12:00:00.007-08:00

Here we go for the masters (40+) age graded lists from Saturday's Midnight Sun Run 10K. As I did following the Chena River Run, I'll try to set up lists for Flint Hills Series races this season using the World Masters Association age graded calculator: http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html

For this run I've tried to find all runners who scored 70% or better. 70% is a solid local level performance, at any age. For example, a 70% is about 6:00 pace (37:30 10K) for an open male (age 19-30) runner and 7:00 pace (or 43:30 10K) for an open female (age 19-30) runner.

Go ahead and check the calculator for you and your runner friends. If I left you or anyone off the list let me know and I can fix it.

MEN'S

RUNNER ........[age] TIME (AGE GRADE PERCENT)
Roger Sayre.... [52] 37:01.5 (82.64)
Mark Lindberg.. [47] 36:08.4 (81.34)
Lincoln Murdoch [53] 39:26.5 (78.22)
Kevin Brinegar. [41] 35:56.9 (78.10)
Joe Trubacz.... [51] 39:31.3 (76.87)
Greg Finstad... [55] 41:19.7 (75.92)
Greg Wisenhant [51] 40:38.5 (74.68)
Geoffrey Ames.. [48] 40:05.5 (73.92)
Bill Hoople..... [59] 44:04.3 (73.66)
Bruce Gard..... [51] 41:19.1 (73.46)
Phil Salmon..... [57] 43:28.1 (73.40)
Dave Leonard... [55] 42:58.1 (73.01)
Edward Debevec [55] 43:00.2 (72.95)
Owen Hanley.... [67] 47:51.3 (72.88)
Bad Bob Baker.. [52] 42:07.3 (72.65)
Andy Holland... [54] 43:20.4 (71.79)
Ronald Stephens [45] 40:21.8 (71.72)
Robert Wheeden [48] 41:35.5 (71.24)
David Whitoff.. [53] 43:31.7 (70.89)

WOMEN'S
RUNNER ........[age] TIME (AGE GRADE PERCENT)
Dorli McWayne [57] 43:44.8 (86.15)
Jane Lanford [55] 44:56.3 (81.51)
Erika VanFlein [50] 44:39.7 (76.65 )
Karen Nanseth [55] 49:16.2 (74.35 )
Monte Jordan [66] 59:43.2 (72.54)
Janna Miller [42] 43:47.2 (71.96)
Deena Doublex [60] 55:31.2 (71.96)

Midnight Sun Wrap Up

2010-06-21T12:11:00.003-08:00

OVERALL RESULTS
I staggered around in a stupor all day yesterday, after sleeping only a few hours after getting home early Sunday morning. Crashed big time last night, and slept almost 9 hours.

Let's survey the damage here--how bad did I do with prognostication? Maybe it would help if I could see the startlists ahead of time...

Bryant Wright isn't exactly a ringer, as he grew up here as a youngster but went to high school in Oklahoma and college in Texas. Wright just graduated from Trinity University and according to the university track and field/cross country website (updated last September), he had PRs of 31:43 for 10K cross country and 4:01 for 1500 m on the track. Nice run Bryant. Hope he sticks around.

My predictions were not bad for 2nd and 3rd, as Jason Walker ran 33:33 (27 sec slower than predicted) and Andrey Ionashku was 34:11, 21 seconds off my guessed pace. Instead of Zach Ginn (who didn't run), another Lathrop grad Devin McDowell (MSR winner in 2004) was 4th with 34:24, just edging out Chris Eversman who ran 34:28. It's good to have a solid contingent of post college runners to carry the torch.

The top 3 forged ahead early, and crossed the mile in about 5:06 to 5:10 (hard to see when you're so far back!), with McDowell, Eversman and a few others already strung out in pursuit.

Former three time champ Kevin Brinegar was the fastest masters runner with a 35:56, and 8th overall.

As expected Maggie Callahan won the women's race(38:41), but she was pushed by a costumed Laura Brosius (who said last week that she wasn't planning on running MSR) who ran 38:49. West Valley alums/students were well represented, with Christina (Gillis) Turman taking 3rd (40:08) and Molly Callahan in 4th (40:22), followed closely by Jana Benedix (Monroe grad) in 40:28 with Melanie Nussbaumber of Fairbanks 6th in 40:52.

Dorli McWayne was the first woman over 40, and at 57 ran a fine 43:44 for 13th.

MY RACE: AN EXCELLENT FAMILY ADVENTURE
This was the first time all of us have entered. We picked up Mikko from all day refereeing at the Midnight Sun Soccer Tournament at about 8 PM, and hung out at the Pioneer Park for a bit while he refueld and changed. Took the bus from Carlson Center to UAF, along with a couple of Star Wars Storm Troopers and a dozen or more people in various costumes--MSR is always big on the costume theme, and it seemed like 20% or more had costumes this year.

Mikko is ready for a sub 40 min 10K (+/-) but he wanted to walk with his friends. Tristan wanted to run 7:00 pace, but we figured a 45 min would be a reasonable goal. Tamara planned on an hour but promised to walk if she got hot.

It was mildly muggy, but a reasonable 68 degrees at the start. My plan was to run with Kuba, and our goal was to go out easy and work into a good pace, 3 miles about 17:30 and push through from there, maybe to sub 36 (although I figured I wasn't ready for that).

We came through 3 miles at 17:40, but could only hold low 6:00s after that. Although the most of the effort felt more like a tempo run, I didn't have that gear either. (I'm convinced that you need two or three good hard 5K efforts within recent weeks to run a good 10K. Due to schedule and other things I didn't do that this year).

Finished in 37:01 in 16th place. My slowest and lowest placing MSR. Oh well, considering the events of last fall/winter I'm also just grateful to be out there running and it was fun to be a rabbit/pacer for Kuba (who ended up running 36:47, and 2nd for high school aged runners).

Tristan held on gamely with a 45:39, despite some stomach discomfort over the 2nd half of the race.

Tamara was the big surprise of the night: 50:50, in her first 10K in nearly 15 years. This turn around is almost miraculous. A year ago May she ran Chena River Run 5K in 33:48 (11:24/mile). This time on a decent, but on a borderline warm evening she averaged 8:10/mile pace for 10K! This is 20 years after experiencing her first MS symptoms. I only regret that I missed her finish because I thought she'd be on the course for another 10 minutes.

Mikko sauntered in with a couple friends, a few minutes after midnight, and we got home just a few minutes before sunset, at 12:40 AM.

I hope that we can repeat next year.

Next up: we'll age grade the masters results.

Like Tom Petty

2010-06-19T10:20:00.001-08:00

Waiting is the hardest part of the Midnight Sun Run. I generally hate race day because you have all day to brood over the race. Two years ago it was refreshing to run Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage and then catch a flight back home to watch Midnight Sun.

Yesterday's prediction post as lame as it may be, had a little more insight than the Newsminer's today.

I mean how many times can you stay "standout" in one sentence? I wonder what it takes to be a standout masters runner? Or is that an oxymoron?

The latest, unless she's intent on being an Ironwoman, Ashley Feaver probably won't be on the podium tonight. I just saw her pushing a double baby jogger up a big hill this morning.

Take your picks for the Midnight Sun Run

2010-06-17T13:58:00.007-08:00

This is my favorite local running event, although this year it's a little meh eh ehhh mehhhh because with so few races, and just one very early 5K (Chena River Run on May 1) I don't really know where I'll be. But more on that later.

Weather looks good, it will be in the 60s or even high 50s, partly cloudy, and not any appreciable wind.

There is always a good chance for a ringer--and I always like that--to sweep away a victory trophy at this race. I haven't heard of any.

For men Jasonn Walker has been the toast of the town. He won Beat Beethoven and Chena River Run 5K in convincing fashion this spring, the latter in just over 16 minutes on a slow course. But you can't count out West Valley Alum and 2 time winner Tony Tomsich, who recently graduated from Western Washington University. If Tomsich, who ran 14:36 for 5000 m this spring, is in town and healthy he should win easily in sub 32.

After that it's wide open for a podium spot, but to tell you the truth I think it's going to be one of the Interior Region's young high schoolers. Watch for Delta Junction sophomore Andrey Ionashku. He ran 9:44 for 3200 this spring. Sophomore Kyle Hanson from Lathrop ran a 4:31 1600, while West Valley Junior James Leder ran 10:08 in just his second 3200 at the state meet. These kids will push and pull veteran former champions, and masters favorites, Mike Kramer and Kevin Brinegar, with UAF grads Chris Eversman and Einar Often also in the mix. Lathrop grad Zach Ginn ran some good college times last spring (15:49 5000 m) and is a darkhorse who could be anywhere from 1st to 5th. UAF assitant coach Matt Dunlap has some impressive, relatively recent PRs for 5K and 10K.

1. Walker - 33:06 (adjust places if Tomsisch runs)
2. Ionashku - 33:50
3. Ginn - 34:05
Leder, Hanson, and Brinegar, Eversman, Kramer, Dunlap, and Often should all be in the 34s if they run.

One thing for sure, there will be a new women's winner. Crystal Pitney won five in a row from 2005 to 2009, after taking a surprise 2nd as a 13 yr old in 2004. Pitney has opted for a US Biathlon Team training camp in Anchorage this year.

Maggie Callahan will be tough to beat. Coming off of a great track season for the University of Arizona, where she ran a 16:38 5000 m and scitillating 10:16 for the 3000 m steeplechasae (and 2nd in the PAC 10 conference), Callahan has a good shot at an unprecedented top 10 finish. After that, the race will be wide open. The local high school girls, including Callahan's sister Molly, while talented probably do not have the seasoning and miles to run sub 40. Melanie Nussbaumer several top 5 finishes. Ashley Feaver has been running well lately and appears ready for a sub 40, while Charity Walker and Molly Yazwinski eked out sub 40s last year.

1. Maggie Callahan - 36:51 (but that could be 35:XX if she wants to push)
2. Ashley Feaver - 39:20
3. Charity Walker - 39:32

Nussbaumer is a a darkhorse for 2nd.

Final note about my fitness, or lack thereof. My base training from Nov through April was about 40% of normal and I'm feeling it. If I can hit mid-low 36s it will be a good day. Top 10 seems to be a long shot, and if last year's results are any indication, top 20 might be a fight.

Apologies to Melanie Nussbaumer of Fairbanks. I had her mixed up with Sarah Dillman of Santa Barbara California, who placed 2nd in 2007 and 4th and 2008. Thank you for the clarification Melanie.

That didn't last long

2010-06-14T09:21:00.001-08:00

I enjoyed less than two days on the leader board for the US men's 50-54 age group for 3000 meters.

M50 3000 METER RUN Show Complete M50 3000 METER RUN List

All American Standard: 10:45

1 9:18.2h
RAY KNERR
SANTA BARBARA ,CA on 06/12/2010

That's a great time, more than 90% for the World Masters Association scoring system, and way better than the 10:12 I did the other night. Some notable runners will be turning 50 within the next few months to few years and the records and rankings will be that much tougher. I'd still like to break 10 this year and might have a shot at the AK Senior Games in August, but that will almost certainly have to be a solo effort.

All Comer's Meet #2; And a Nation Leading 3000 m!

2010-06-11T12:33:00.001-08:00

Except for the high school level, which is thriving, track and field is nearly dead in Fairbanks. We’re trying to pump some life back into the middle school development scene and I actually think that’s going to take off—until the schools try to step in again so that they can muck it up. Just watch.

However, with no college program and barely a blip of interest in the open and masters level it’s surprising that we even have some meets on the schedule.

Thanks to masters runner Jim Loftus, track is alive here. We do our part to participate and help out. But considering that the running club has several training groups, and dozens of races, the level of participation is hmm, what’s the best way to say this, disappointing. The Flint Hills Mile, part of the Running Club North series is the exception, and there are usually 100 to 150 participants for that.

Fortunately, we had a quorum last night but for a while (like until 10
minutes before the meet was supposed to start) it looked like it would be just Jim and my family. The meet ended up with 8 or 9 participants, and it was a lot of fun.

Weather was perfect for a June track meet, about 69 F partly cloudy, with some swirling headwind (up to 6 or 8 mph) on the home stretch.

I hadn’t planned on the 3000 until about a day or two before, but what the heck. So I checked Mastersrankings.com and what do you know, the lead outdoor time for the men’s 50-54 age group was only 10:16.5. My 1500 last week would indicate 10:20 to 10:30, but I felt that 3000 is my better event.

So I emailed local post-college runner Chris Eversman, hoping he’d have a chance to run and set a good pace. He wasn’t sure if he’d make it, but lo! At the last minute Chris jogged into the stadium. We stacked the 1500 and 3000, with two runners in the 1500 and four in the 3000. My plan was to run easy for two laps and then settle into 80-81sec/lap for 5 laps before sprinting for home (best case goal, sub 10:10)

Jim, an 800 specialist, and World Masters finalist in 2005 for 55-59 age group, was running the 1500 and took lap 1 in about 80, and I let him go. Chris was just off my shoulder. We came through in 85, crossed 800 in 2:46 and 1200 in 4:10.

We hit 1500 at 5:11, and 1600 in 5:31. Then Chris turned it up a notch with a 79 sec lap and we crossed 2K in 6:51.5. I actually felt good, but paid for that on the 6th lap. I fell back to 8:14 (83 sec). It looked like 10:20 would be tough to beat, but I thought, just break 2 minutes for that final 600.

Tamara called out 8:55 with a lap to go—cha ching!—my little calculator said a 75 will give 10:10. GO!

There wasn’t much GO to give, but I tried to accelerate with each 100 meters and gave it my all over the last 100. 10:12.87, just behind Chris who was a gracious rabbit.

Leading outdoor time in the US!
M50 3000 METER RUN Show Complete M50 3000 METER RUN List

All American Standard: 10:45

1 10:12.9h
ROGER SAYRE
FAIRBANKS,AK on 06/10/2010

2 10:16.51
BRIAN NELSON
COSTA MESA,CA on 05/01/2010

3 10:20.75
ADAM WEINER
SANTA ANA,CA on 02/21/2010

4 10:49.48
JOHN ARAUJO
COSTA MESA,CA on 05/01/2010

5 10:53.51
DAVID COOK
COSTA MESA,CA on 05/01/2010

6 10:53.77
MARK CLEARY
SANTA ANA,CA on 02/21/2010

7 10:59.16
ROB DUNCANSON
SANTA ANA,CA on 02/21/2010

8 11:02.16
MICHAEL BECKER
SANTA ANA,CA on 02/21/2010

9 11:11.2h
OWEN ASTRACHAN
CHAPEL HILL,NC on 06/09/2010

10 11:41.81
DANIEL NUGENT
DELMAR,NY on 05/29/2010

11 11:52.13
LEONEL GUITIERREZ
SANTA ANA,CA on 02/21/2010

12 13:32.10
RON HELLER
HONOLULU,HI on 01/22/2010

13 16:31.03
ERIC BRASCHWITZ
CHARLOTTE,NC on 04/10/2010

Now as a caveat and reality check—3000s are not common and 5:28/mile pace might get you a top 8 or 10 rating for 5000 by the end of the year (my 17:08 was just off that last year, for 11th or 12th), but this is the first time I’ve lead an age group for any period of time. I’ll savor it.

Thanks to Jim for rabbiting that first 800 and for keeping these little meets going, and for Chris for his pacing good humor and patience. And of course for Tamara’s cheering.

Every year I say this, next year we have to do it: get some sponsorship for an early June 5000/3000 and bring out the big boys and girls for a some fast track times in Fairbanks!

More Local Schedule/Race Woes

2010-06-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

I hope that no one is offended but this seems shaping up to be the year of the ho-hum drum & let's screw up the races around here.

Last week I complained a little about lack of quality local races in May. Now it's June and we're in full swing, but everything is out of whack.

On Saturday my son ran the Alaska Statehood 5.1K. 5.1? Cute, to celebrate each of Alaska's years with another 0.1K, but do we really need another odd distance race here? I should keep a tally of accurate to off distance races. Anyway, Mikko ran stellar and placed 2nd overall. I brought out the measuring wheel and his 5K split was 19:01.

We were all set to run the Mosquito Meander this coming weekend, despite the fact that it's yet another over-hyped and expensive fun run that allows rollerblades, bikes and other conveyances. However an ad in Sunday's paper mentioned that, because of some construction, the course would be 3.2 miles instead of 3.1. Again? What about moving the start/finish?

It's not a difficult thing to do.

Well, due to the inability of race organizers to think within a reasonable framework, and the fact that the last time I ran MM (2007) I was very flat for the Midnight Sun Run, I've decided to run 3000 m on the track on Thursday. Mastersrankings.com has 10:16 as the fastest time for the 50-54 age group (I bet there are a dozen or more who can run a faster 3K split in a 5K). Hey, I might have a shot at 10:16. Maybe get a week or two with a nation-leading time and all the glory (hah hah!) that goes with it.

One more. They had the Moose Mountain Madness 4 mile yesterday, on a rugged hill climb and descent course, and I had thought about running but way too many thing going on with FAST and kids soccer. Good thing. The leaders ran off the course. Bummer for them, but Laura Brosius ran a women's course record with a 35:31.

One of these days I'll do that one.