Hey, what do you do when you have a cold, sore calves, knees recovering from meniscus surgery, a possible case of bronchitis, you just turned 55 and haven’t run much outdoors all winter? If you’re Frank Morton, you lace up your racing flats and head to Central Park for a cold weather, mid winter four miler. There you run your fastest age-graded time ever. Then a week later you go to the Armory and manage to run even faster.
After peering at and pouring over the results of the Gridiron four-miler on February 1, Frank’s performance stood out as a statistical gapper. Until that race, Frank had been peaking out each year at around the 73% level – but at the four-miler he knocked out a 76.9%, or 26:06. And then at the Armory meet on February 12, he ran a 79% mile, or 5:35. I called him up to find out what he might be doing differently so I could copy it, give him credit and pass it on.
Hearing Frank’s story reminded me of Mary Decker in the 1980’s – flashes of brilliance that faded, just when things were getting interesting, as injuries or South Africans knocked her down. A member since the Decker period – 1988 – Frank has had more than his share of injuries. He missed almost five years of racing – from 2003 til 2008 – because of a trilogy of knee surgeries. Only recently could he run almost pain-free, and he has taken advantage of this period of relative health to get fast again. He ran well in a four miler in December, but then life pushed back a bit when got a tough cold that he is still fighting.
Frank credits much of his breakthrough to being finally healthy enough to run consistently. He has done most of his running on a treadmill, since he can run with more intensity indoors. Since he can’t run big miles, he wants to make each click count. Frank has been to several of Devon’s workouts in the Armory, and says that he likes them for the same reason – they are intense enough to make him fast, but short enough to preserve his legs. He is running around 30 miles per week.
He knew he was in good shape going into the Gridiron race, and the 76.9% was welcome confirmation of his fitness. Despite losing some training due to illness, and still being sore after the race, he signed up for the bannisterian event on February 12. There he ran an even better time than at the Superbowl race – very nearly breaking into exceptional 80% national class territory with a 79% (5:35).
Being on a hot streak has got Frank thinking about the indoor nationals in March – if he thinks he can get his mile time down to the 5:20’s he’ll consider going. The key is to stay healthy – “If I can run consistently I think it is possible,” Frank says. “I hate doing things halfway.”
The Superbowl Sunday four miler was for CPTC like an award show is for Kate Winslett – a source of tons of stuff. Orange types won six age groups – New teammate Judith Tripp had a Kimchesque sixth win in 12 months, Alan Ruben continued his comeback with his fourth win, Peter Allen won his third race, George Hirsch his second, and David Greenberg, your slightly-yet-measurably-less-humble-than-before correspondent, won his first ever Central Park race in the 40-44.
Only Robert Howard scored a 52-week age-graded PR – just think how many medals we would have won had we been actually running fast. A good start to the year – we’ll wait for the Ruiz/Martin magic to kick in so we can see some PRs.
That magic was not to be found at the Bronx half – no one set an age-graded PR and we won no age groups. Michael Rennock had the best age-graded race – a 78%. No masters women ran the event.
At the Empire State Building insanity, some CPTCers climbed well enough to place: Stuart Calderwood and Margot Sheehan took second in their age groups.