Run to Win

Once again, I seemed to miss a week for looking back. Last week last year was busy, with quite a few news notes, training tips, and discussions on research findings.

• I discussed some research on the merits of tempo workouts vs. interval workouts. Personally, I prefer a good mix of different types of workouts in my regimen.
• I recommended that you should watch for falling objects when you run, especially at this time of year. As ice melts in the trees or off of power lines, it can come crashing down quite forcefully. It also helps to spot any tree limbs that might be coming down or anything that the breeze picks up and throws towards you.
• After a close call in poor visibility, I reminded you to never play chicken with a car, mostly because a car is much more massive and will usually win. It just isn’t worth the bother. Having been hit by a car before, I actively take steps to avoid getting hit by car again.
• In response to an article at Complete Running, I disputed 7 sleeping myths and facts that were presented with my own thoughts on the matter. There were a few points that I agreed with up to a point, so they weren’t all wrong (from my point of view.)
• I pointed out an article at Free Money Finance that described how the author improved his life through exercise. Having never not exercised, one reason that I keep it up is to keep from degrading my life.
• In racing news, the men’s 8k championship was in Central Park, which had a few hitches but still provided some good entertainment for spectators. A couple of my college teammates were competing. I also began preparations for the Boston Marathon, spending the weekend shoveling snow and getting in a fast long run.
• In sports news, the Spanish doping raid’s charges against elite cyclists were dropped after they were deemed unlawful. At the time of the infractions, there was no Spanish law that made the specific practices at that clinic illegal. Just unethical
• Last week two years ago, I continued the animated lifting series with a demonstration of how to do a triceps extension using a pulleyand suggested that you flex at the lowest point of your pull. Running Dog Sports closed their doors for good, which was a shame. There was some research that pointed to the lack of brain benefits when running by yourself, but I think that that research was flawed. It did lead to pondering whether the time of day affects the clarity of your mind while running, though. I also continued the weekly series about the New Rules of Lifting, exploring the second and third rules.

Dirigo RC had a good showing this weekend with strong performances in the Philadelphia Marathon and the New England Cross Country Championships.

Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry both ran very strong marathons in Philadelphia, starting and finishing together in 2:45:36! They were 59^th and 60^th overall, placing 8^th and 9^th for the women’s race. There were 2726 women in the race and 6677 finishers overall. The 2008 qualifying time for the women’s Olympic Marathon Trials is 2:47:00 or better for a “B” standard, which both Sheri and Kristin made with ease! Now there will be two more great runners to cheer on in April on the day before the Boston Marathon.

Speaking of Boston, this weekend was the 2007 USATF New England Cross Country Championships. Dirigo won the Masters 8k championship race after being led by strong performances from Todd Coffin and Pete Bottomley. The men’s open team was led by Kirby Davis in the 10k.

After a few days off from the site to run the marathon (during which time I got a lot of traffic, surprisingly enough), I wrote up my thoughts and experiences from New York City while Scott began the next month’s topic on injuries.

• The first thing to note about New York City was that the crowds disappointed me. Until the last few miles, I have never seen that many people that had so little interest in what they were watching. I’m sure that they were more animated for the leaders ahead of me and for the crowds behind me, but I have never once had so much trouble trying to get a crowd to react to me. On the whole, though, the race was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the experience.
  1. Pre-Race Experiences
  2. Race Experiences
  3. Post-Race Experiences
• In other racing news, RIT placed 3^rd at regionals, while the women’s team had a team-history best 6^th place finish.
• Scott began out month of injury articles by discussing the difference between strains and sprains, as well as the most common causes of each and (more importantly) how to recover from them.
• Dean Karnazes used New York as his final marathon in the Endurance 50. Of course, as soon as he finished he decided to run home from New York. He didn’t make it, but he’s still been busy over the past year.
• This week two years ago, I answered a common question that I am asked about whether you should lift first or run first? I try to lift first whenever I can, unless there is a workout-specific reason to swap the two. I also reviewed the GMap Pedometer. It has been updated quite a bit over the past couple of years, but it still lags behind some of the other solutions that are out there and that are much better. A third article that I wrote this week two years ago discussed how important it is to act like a child on occasion in order to stay fit and healthy. Getting burned out is so much more difficult when you are actually enjoying what you are doing.

This week last year I was getting ready for the New York City marathon, although that did not keep me from racing. I had not quite started tapering yet, though.

• I planned out my NYC race strategy, since I would be pacing a friend through his first one. Our race almost exactly mimicked the race strategy that I had put forward, except that we never got around to slowing down to 6:50 pace. In fact, the last two miles, I sped up to 6:00 pace.
• There were a couple of races. There was the inaugural Saco Bay 5k on Saturday, and the Physical Therapy 8k in Brunswick on Sunday. I ran in the 8k, as it was a part of the grand prix. Dirigo won, which was nice.
• Scott continued our series on rest by discussing measuring rest with your heart. I discussed the benefits of vitamin supplementation.
• This week last year was the first time that I ran with a headlamp. I was not completely sold on it after the run, but in the past year I have used the thing so often that I think I can consider myself sold now…

The Men’s 8k went off this morning but not without a few hitches. The race was originally scheduled for yesterday morning, but the snow caused the race to be delayed for a day. The course was also changed to use the 1.7 mile lower loop, which was cleared of snow and left the road with fine footing.

Anthony Famiglietti won the race in 22:34 after making a move around mile 3. He was 30 seconds off of Alberto Salazar’s 8k record of 22:04 in 1981, but Famiglietti wanted to win and did not try for the record due to the weather. Abdi Abdirahman was six seconds behind him in 22:40.

Two of my former teammates from RIT were running for the Genesee Valley Harriers, and they ran very respectable times and placed 2^nd and 3^rd for their team. Hopefully I will get to race them some time this year in my Dirigo uniform, although I have a feeling that either one could probably smoke me at most distances under 20 miles.

(Full Story: NYRR)

The RIT men’s cross country team is well on its way to prominence, placing 3^rd in the NCAA district qualifying meet for next week’s race. Jesse Williamson led the way in 25:35 with a second place finish to Plattsburgh’s Matt DeShane. DeShane won the race in an impressive 25:10.

NYU won the meet with 67 points, followed by Cortland with 73 points, RIT with 102 points, and the College of New Jersey with 105 points.

The RIT women’s cross country team had their best performance in their short history, placing 6^th with a team score of 214 points. RIT’s first points were from Trisha Slicker, was 16^th overall. She covered the 6k course in 23 minutes and 09 seconds. Liz Montgomery of Geneseo won the race by 5 seconds in 21:17. Geneseo was first with 46 points, followed by the College of New Jersey with 80.

The RIT women’s team was created as a club team my sophomore year there, and has only been a varsity sport at RIT since (I believe) 2001. Both Trisha Sliker and Jesse Williamson were a part of the 2004 Coast to Coast transcontinental relay.

(Men’s Full Results – Team Results – Press Release – Women’s Full Results – Team Results – Press Release)

The Physical Therapy 8k in Brunswick, Maine went off this morning at 9:00. The weather was on the cool side, but it was a beautiful day for running. There were some breezes along the course, especially early in the race, but the headwinds were not too strong. There were 164 finishers.

Dirigo beat out PR Racing/Moose Milers by about 8 minutes, taking 4 of the top 5 in the race. Ethan Hemphill (25:36) and Josh Zolla (26:45) led the way for the entire race. TJ Hesler from PR Racing came in a solid 3^rd place with a time of 28:08, followed by Rob Fast (28:26) and Blaine Moore (28:49). Marjorie Graff completed the scoring for Dirigo in 31:57, winning the women’s race by over a minute. Tiki Humphries (33:09) and Jessica Fortin (33:28) raced it out for 2^nd and 3^rd place.
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