Race Reports from the Men: Scotland 10K

From Phil Falk of the Open:

It was a fine day for a race on Saturday, the Scotland 10K, and the CPTC men put up solid results to show it! We are leaving behind us winter weather miseries, so really the only complaint you could lodge was “wow, that sun in my eyes was sure bright!” I stayed on the sidelines this race (due to a quasi running-related injury), which gave me the unusual chance to watch a team race from the sidelines. It turns out this is much easier than running the race! But it also allowed me to see first-hand the impressive efforts, teamwork, and results that CPTC brings out across the whole field.

 Matt Lacey, Stan Berkow and Will Davis

Photo: Nigel Francis

We had ten runners under 35 minutes, which placed us in a comfortable third place in the team standings:

Will	Davis		32:12
Taylor	Burmeister		32:43
Stan	Berkow		32:50
Greg	Cass		33:xx
Matt	Lacey		33:26
Chris	Solarz		33:41
Patrick	Hynes		33:54
Jeff	Ares		34:04
Giancarlos	Zambrano		34:27
Martin	Huber		34:45

Giancarlos Zambrano and Martin Huber

Photo: Nigel Francis

Many strong performances and shout outs to note: Fritz Huber took down a PR, 34:45. Huge PRs from the brothers Gonzalez Vidals, Offir at 38:14 (44 second PR), and Iber at 37:20 (46 second PR).

Iber Gonzalez Vidals

Photo: Jay Mojica

Ken Tso stuck with a pack of CPTC teammates, and “unexpectedly ended up with a PR by 5 seconds (37:35).  CPTC in full effect.  Hopefully a good setup for Boston!” And Ben Pedersen adds:  “Having not run a 10k in 2 years (since Scotland ’12), I was pretty confident I would run a PR today. That being said, I was pleased with my 36:42, which was square within my target range, and an 8 minute PR was icing on the cake.” Eight minutes!

 

From David Greenberg of the 40-49:

You know how athletes aren’t supposed to celebrate after winning a semifinal or an early round playoff game? Coaches tell them to keep in mind that the victory that counts comes at the end of the season.

Forget that – I’m celebrating right now – what a day. We did everything right – big turnout, lots of PRs, smart racing.

 

John Milone

Photo: Ben Ko

First the bottom line: We won the team race by 51 seconds over Warren Street, who had beaten us at Coogans. That should put us in a tie with Warren Street for the lead in the season points championship.  Last year we were already a distant third after Scotland, so we are way ahead of that campaign.  We traditionally do well in the last few races of the year, so we’re right where we need to be.

I’m most happy with the turnout – We had an amazing 19 people on the line – that is almost 1 of 4 of the 81 CPTC starters. Last year we sent just 11 people up against the Urban Athletics juggernaut… and not surprisingly we took fourth in that race. But more than our win/loss record, a big turnout is exactly what I had in mind when I think of masters road racing. More of the same, please.

But this was a footrace after all, and we won.

Our #1 man was veteran Daniel Gercke. On the team for many years, but injured too much, Daniel turned up the wick at just the right time. Those of us on Strava see how hard Daniel trains, so it was great to see him get in a good race, a personal record (35:57/83.4%) and third in the 45-49:

Daniel Gercke and Jim McQuade

Photo: Jay Mojica

It took me a full 10 minutes to pin my bib in the morning cold – this was my first team race in two years and Team Captain Greenberg had to resort to massive psychological pressure to even get me to the start line. Somehow I managed to avoid doing anything stupid in the first half, stayed loose through uphill Mile 4, and found Jim McQuade to keep me company at the finish. It was a significant PR, and the CPTC support all along the route was better (and louder) than a thousand bagpipes.

Dependable Jim McQuade was our #2, running his best Central Park 10k in four and a half years (36:02/81.27%) and also a podium in the 40-44. Jim has been the lynchpin of the CPTC 40-49 lately, scoring in several consecutive races.

David Greenberg was third man, as he was at Washington Heights, and finished fifth in the 45-49. His 35:54/80.60% was his best AG% ever in a Central Park race.

David Greenberg

Photo: Jay Mojica

I never felt great out there but I am happy that I was able to get through some tough miles, run a solid time and score for the team. I think if my fitness can pull me through a so-so feeling race, when I get in a good one, maybe big things can happen. 

Beyond the top 3, I’m not sure how to order things – there were so many PRs and great races. One of my favorite measures is all time best AG%, and we had many of those.

En Cho continues his massively vertical improvement trajectory.  He hit 74% for the first time at Washington Heights and just a month later is already almost at 76%:

En Cho

Photo: NYRR

I ran 37:42 yesterday, a 29 second PR and a new age-grade best of 75.95%.  While I didn’t score for CPTC, I’m pleased to finish in the top 10 in my age category, for the first time, in a club scoring race.  Consistent indoor track training and racing at the Armory paid off.

Daniel Ifcher was #4 man, converting his Boston training into 10k sustained speed. He set a masters 10k PR and an all-time high AG% on the road:

Daniel Ifcher

Photo: Jay Mojica

 I ran 37:14/79.26%, which is technically 6:01, so I missed the sub-6 barrier by 3 seconds, but that is fine…  this is a PR in my 40’s and may be best AG score ever.  At least so I can recall. 

 As many of you know, I’ve done a lot of mileage this spring, including several longer races and Boston coming up in 2 weeks.  So my plan was to be conservative at the start and see how I felt.  1st mile plan was anywhere from 6:10 to 6:30, given that it can be a tough mile, and then to progress down to flat 6’s by mile 3 and carry that through for the rest of the course, roughly.  

 I have to say that the team workouts of tempo/ progression/ neg split and the times I could make it to the Armory really helped, as well as the longer races I already have run…  I felt solid running through mile 4 and 5. 

 The only “disappointment” if you can call it that is running a good race and NOT scoring for the team…  Ha!

 Coleman Cowan also PRd by several definitions – in both absolute terms and in AG% with his 37:27/77.6%/6^th place in the 40-44:

What’s been the difference?  Tony.  He’s finally convinced me to back off all the miles I’d been eating up running ultras and focus on better-quality workouts.  I went from 70-mile weeks to about 50-55 that were much more focused on speed than distance.  I also added track workouts at the Armory this winter.  I was pleasantly surprised that the fewer but faster miles left my legs not only fresher, but stronger as well… exactly like Tony said they would.  It took many months for him to convince me his plan would work, but now I’m a believer.

Ed Hernandez’ Boston prep is clearly going well as he PRd by 26 seconds with his 38:53/76.51%:

This race was another P.R. for me at a 10k(38:53),but my goal for this race was 37:59.
I know what went wrong with this race,and again its because of where i positioned myself
at the start.I need to line up with the group and feed off the pace,but overall i had a fair race and will look to do better next club race.

Wolfram Schlenker’s 39:24/72.67% was a masters pr on the Central Park course and like others an all- time best AG%.

Martin Alperin also hit an all-time best AG (43:44/65.96%) in just his third race in the orange.

My race was about where I expected to be. I was hoping to dip under 7:00 pace average but a slow 4th mile put that out of reach. I’m surprised about the AG% being my best in the NYRR system but that appears to be right. (I guess my faster races were not NYRR). I’ll have to start paying attention to AG.

Impressed yet by the number of PRs? They keep coming – this is why I run this race every year and you should too.

Wayne Merdis set a new person best for the 10K:

I think I did very well considering I really haven’t been training the way I am supposed to because of this crazy weather. This race is actually kicking my season off. This race is in fact my CPTC 10K PR. 

Michael Nolan hit a PR with his 38:42/77.47% – great to see the orange magic working for him in his first year on the team:

This was a PR for me but that is working off a low base, as I have not done much racing until recently. Regardless, I was pleased with the result (although by mile 3 I was feeling the port and chocolate I had for dessert with friends on Friday night — why I thought that was a good idea is baffling to me now). 

 I am now focused on making some more time improvements. I don’t have a spring marathon so the Brooklyn Half is my next target, and I would like to beat my time at the NYC half. 

 A warm welcome to Dennis Younglove who made his CPTC debut on Saturday and was happy to meet his goal of breaking 40:

I just wanted to see the numbers 39. The first half was a bit fast but I was able to hang on without too much slowdown.

The opposite of a novice, Michael Caggia has been racing in CP since 2007. But this was his second best 10k ever.

CPTC veteran David Dorsey made his comeback stick with a solid 39:46/75.38%  – let’s wish David health as his comeback proceeds.

David Dorsey

Photo: Jay Mojica

Laurence Go is moving in the right direction with his best AG% in a year.

Robert Neal has run just three CPTC races but this was his finest with a 38:58/76.34%.

Tim Stockert finally hit the results officially in orange and set his Central Park personal record for 10k: 38:29/77.9%.

If I left you out, I apologize – a turnout of 19 guys creates giant amount of data, almost all of it very, very good.

Out of Central Park we had a few performances to note well:

Andrew Hogue was fifth in the 40-44 400 (53.45) at the World Masters meet in Hungary.

At the other end of the running world, Alexandre Tilmant continues to push the boundaries with a successful 50 miler:

For the record I ran Leatherwood Mountain 50M near Ferguson, NC. Brutal course with 10’000 feet of total climbing (and the same down…) in terribly muddy/slippery/rainy conditions. 10h30mn, 7th overall, 2nd Master.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Last year a group of CPTCers ventured all the way to Jersey City for the Newport 10000 and well-earned brunch after. It’s a fast course – a treat after so much Central Park racing. I’ll probably race it again – it would be fun to have a group of us again. Let me know if you can race and we can set up transportation and logistics. Saturday, May 3.