TNAR & Great Dane, Report from Amy Kvilhaug:
We are well into indoor season! This is a recap of last week’s events to include TNAR #2 on Thursday, January 12, 2017 and the Great Dane meet (hosted by the University of Albany) held at the Ocean Breeze Complex in Staten Island on Saturday, January 14, 2017. We had five masters women compete this week:
Judy Stobbe (1000/600) – TNAR #2
Sue Pearsall (1000/600) – TNAR #2
Ani Go (600/3000) – TNAR #2
Colleen McGurk (3000) – TNAR #2
Resie Caffrey (mile/800) – Great Dane
Many of you may have seen the email Devon sent out which outlined several PR’s and movement on CPTC Masters Best lists. In fact 2016 CPTC-NB Masters Women MVP Colleen McGurk, who continues to be such a terrific representative for the Orange, moved up to #2 on the All Time list for the 3000 with her 17 second PR (10:45.25). She had pretty consistent splits and executed a great race. She finished third overall. This performance puts her in the 85.67% age grade which, just wow. Colleen has consistently been in the 80% range in most of the distances she runs. Kudos to Colleen – I know she works tirelessly on improvement so it’s nice to see things pay off for her.
Colleen McGurk
Photo: Judy Stobbe
In her words:
I went into this race a bit nervous. It’s been exactly one year since I ran this distance indoors. The goal was 42/43 a lap and then the last few laps, I would try to pick up the pace. Thanks to Coach TR for calling out my splits and keeping me on pace! A few of the beginning laps were a little fast (it’s hard not to get excited at the beginning) But it felt ok until around lap 10 – I pretty much ran alone the last 5 laps so I really had to focus. From here to the finish was just grit running and trying to ignore the pain and keep form! I dropped a few seconds the last few laps (I still have a lot of work to do on my kick!) but managed to pick it up slightly on the last lap. I was very happy with a 17 second PR and that gave me more confidence going into the 5000 in two weeks. Thanks to all my great teammates I heard cheering – it helped so much and congratulations to everyone who raced!
Also running for the Orange ladies on Thursday, January 12 was Judy Stobbe, Ani Go, and Sue Pearsall. All three ladies ran a double of some sort (Judy and Sue with the 1k/600 combo and Ani with the 600/3k combo).
Judy Stobbe had a great night, finishing the 1000 in 3:17.77 (just a second shy of a lifetime PR) and dodging a bullet as she actually had to step on someone who fell early on. She followed her 1k up with the 600m less than 30 minutes later and again finished within one second of a PR running a 1:51.31. With these results, Judy falls well into the mid-80% age grade range (85.53% for the 1k and 84.98% for the 600m). The greatest thing about it is that these aren’t even Judy’s main events!
In her words:
“We had a very good master’s showing last night at the Armory for TNAR Race #2! Congrats to Colleen and her 3000m PR, Sue, and Ani in their doubles!! Events were the 1000-600-3000, in that order. I raced the double 1000/600 to help set me up to peak in February in the 1500/mile. Although slightly slower than my expectations, coming off a very hard workout week I finished 3:17 and 1:51…both within a second of my PR. I started off the 1000 well (except I had to step on a girl in front of me that fell!) in 38s for the first three laps, then slowed to 40s. With less than 30 minutes before the 600, my legs were pretty tired and my hammy is definitely tightening up, but I was Ok with 36-37-38 splits. Need to maintain those opening splits and race more fierce!! Hope to see you all at the next TNAR on 1/26!”
Also running the double 1k/600 was Sue Pearsall, who expressed that she actually really liked the 600m (who knew). Sue had a solid performance finishing the 1k in 3:49.02 with some really consistent splits. It’s great to not only commend results for folks but to also recognize how well the race was executed. That is equally impressive stuff to me. Her result places her in the 72.39% AG range (fantastic!). Sue then followed up with the 600m less than 30 minutes later and ran a 2:04.79 (74.97% AG). Again, these aren’t really Sue’s main events and she excelled on Thursday.
Sue Pearsall
In her words:
“Ran the 1000 first, but not sure what I was thinking. Not even sure I was thinking. I had a plan but was so distracted with stuff I internally chose to not “have a plan,” if that makes sense. I went out like I was running the mile or even the 3000 and then could not get myself out of that rhythm. Lesson learned. Know what you have to do and EXECUTE. Next up was the 600, after realizing I was WAY too passive on the 1000 I decided to go for it and stay in the race as long as I could. I finished with a 2:04. Had a lot more fun doing it and felt like I had put in some effort. All in all it was a decent night, not great, not horrible. So happy to be back racing track and so happy to see my teammates run so fabulously fast. Congrats to everyone!”
Ani took on the 600/3k double and did quite well for herself. I’ve seen Ani do 400’s on the track at workouts and I often think that she is pretty speedy. She threw down a 2:02.87 in the 600 on Thursday with extremely consistent splits. This performance was good for a 74.74% AG and moved her up to #4 on the all-time best list at this distance. Ani had a really quick turnaround with the 3k up right after the 600m, in which she finished in 12:42.50 (75.20% AG).
Ani Go
In her words:
“Had a blast at the track! My first TNAR of the season, and rustbuster! I went for the duet of 600m and 3000m, focusing on the 600m. Never raced that distance before! I went out steady but had to fight a little at the end to make sure I wasn’t last. There are fewer women at these meets so it’s a bit more competitive. I’m happy with my time because it’s a PR no matter what! Coach Tony ragged on me for not wearing spikes though. Next time? The 3000m I ran as a workout. Five laps in I lost count. If I didn’t have my brother keeping track I would’ve DNF like a couple other ladies did…although I did wind up being last on the track.”
Results (TNAR) –
http://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.phpdo=view_event&event_id=5319&mgroup_id=45586&year=2017
Great Dane Invitational Recap:
Continuing the trend with the masters women and doubles this week, Resie Caffrey had a great mid-season performance out in Staten Island on Saturday, racing the mile in 5:36.93 (83.43% AG) and following it up with the 800m in 2:35.52 (78.30% AG). Resie’s mile performance moved her to #6 on the masters all time list.
In her words: “ran mile, 800 m double at great Dane invitational on Sat. My times (5:26, 2:35) weren’t anything special but they were faster than what I expected – and much faster than I’ve run since 2010. Time actually wasn’t the focus this time around- it was more about getting in the races & competing and I’m very happy with my performances on that end. I made some good tactical moves and ran more aggressively than I usually do. Just another step in the process. Looking forward to building off these races.”
Results (Great Dane) – http://www.oceanbreezenyc.org/sports/2016/1/22/LIVE_RESULTS.aspx
Our masters women’s track athletes have shown that they can absolutely compete at a regional, national and even world class level. That is quite remarkable. Lucky to be your teammates ladies J
Here is a composite list of some meets that remain for indoor – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JSR0f8AII07LXjmXeLuKoeQqdoFmxF3g6ICHvm5KXQw/edit#gid=1236267491
Amy Kvilhaug