My highlights over the past few days were:
a) I'm still running, and my left foot hasn't fallen off yet. It actually feels OK.
b) 20M run on Sunday that went pretty well.
c) Last night's incline step down run (started at 10% for a mile, then ran a mile at 9%, 8%, etc.) - fun, as the incline went down, the pace sped up.
Training Update (11.14.09 - 11.18.09)
11.14.09
AM Rowing 8K (30:53.5), 32 spm, AHR121/MHR127...
...Running 6M treadmill (47:11), i=5, Climb=1580', AHR123/MHR130
PM Running 7M treadmill (45:39), i=1, AHR121/MHR129
11.15.09
AM Running 20M treadmill (2:15:34), i=1, AHR119/MHR128
Running Totals: 53M week / 91M month
Rowing Totals: 71K week / 221K month
Elliptical Totals: 18M week / 23M month
11.16.09
AM Rowing 8K (30:34.5), 32 spm, AHR124/MHR129...
...Running 9M treadmill (59:37), i=1, AHR119/MHR127
PM Rowing 8K (30:35.3), 32 spm, AHR126/MHR131...
...Running 5M treadmill (32:45), i=1, AHR125/MHR129
11.17.09
PM Rowing 8K (30:22.7), 32 spm, AHR125/MHR130...
...Running 8M treadmill (52:08), i=1, AHr122/MHR128
PM Running 6M treadmill (56:10), i=10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 (1M each - avg 7.5%), Climb=2376', AHR125/MHR133, splits: 11:34(AHR119), 10:08(125), 9:22(127), 8:52(127), 8:25(127), 7:49(127)
11.18.09
AM Rowing 8K (30:30.7), 32 spm, AHR123/MHR129...
...Running 6M treadmill (39:35), i=1, AHR121/MHR125
Running Totals: 34M week / 125M month
Rowing Totals: 32K week / 253K month
Elliptical Totals: 23M month
My alma mater (North Central College) is heading into the NCAA D3 XC Nationals on a roll. Last Saturday, they dominated the Regional meet with a mere 21 points, 84 better than their nearest competitor (UW LaCrosse)...who just happened to also be the #2 ranked team in the country. Wow. It's always nice when you can put 2 runners in front of another's 1st, and all of your scorers before their 2nd. It's nice to see a big bounce back from this program. They were 2nd last year, but that followed a couple of years when they were nowhere close to the podium. Before that, in the history of D3 XC, they had only been off the podium once before.
In other news, there was this letter to the editor in last week's Erie Review. Hopefully, they'll print my response in today's edition. Her reference to the separte elite category at the Bolder Boulder shows that she doesn't realize that the Bolder Boulder is a rare exception, and that someone like Amanda Lovato (the women's winner at the Eerie Erie) would have merely been running the A wave, and not the Pro race, as that one is VERY exclusive. She seemed miffed by the "oxygen tank" thing, but she didn't do enough research to discover that it WASN'T an oxygen tank at all (see the 10/25 entry on Lovato's blog where she talks about a GI test). I was curious, as I've never seen an elite runner carrying oxygen during a race. And the whole thing smacks of the "everyone's a winner" attitude. I'm completely fine with tweaking the age division breakdowns, and had even discussed that with my wife about the Eerie Erie. Our issue was that it was tough for my daughter at age 7 to be competing with kids in middle school (7-12). Or that the in the next division, 13 year olds were potentially competing against college kids (13-19). But those are minor issues. Patty Hagan (the letter writer) is asking for basically a separate tier of elite awards. How would they decide who was elite? If you ran "too" fast, would you enter another division? Would they have to create elite divisions within each age division? Good grief...
5 comments:
wait, wait! I want the masters nine toed Big East alum Dad with two kids category. I think I can get second in that.
Sorry but I don't see the "everyone is a winner' attitude in the letter.
(even if she seems confuses about what an elite is)
OK - perhaps "everyone's a winner" is an exaggeration.
But think about adding an elite category to each age division (for each sex) - remember, she was complaining about the 30-39 division having an elite triathlete competing with "citizens."
Also, she seems to think that the winner should be a woman who trained for a whole 6 months.
Part of the problem is that locals run the Bolder Boulder and think that all races should be run like that. Heck, the Bolder Boulder has single year age divisions and 40,000 - 50,000 runners. The Eerie Erie 10K had 227 runners and offered age group prizes in 16 divisions (8 male / 8 female).
I just don't want someone like the letter writer to put pressure on the Erie Optimist's Club, and get them to move away from awards. And there's not even any prize money in the race - just trophies to the overall & age group award winners. Most of the raffle prizes were worth more than the "performance" awards.
I'm sure a "local" runner would have appreciated winning the 30-39 division than Amanda Lovato did. But it's a RACE. And races are won by those who are faster.
Amen.
I think her attitude is all backwards. Rather than having the wind taken out of her sails by being beaten by some faster runner, she should a.) celebrate that she is in a sport that allows her to compete directly against such competition, b.) be motivated to train harder c.) realize how much work and talent it takes to achieve such efforts.
Apparently her O2 tank was not a tank for air at all ... wonder if there is a division for winning the race while having a GI tube in ... crikey.
http://www.michaellovato.com/blog/friendsfamily/tough-as-hell/
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