Race Reports from the Men: Bronx and Grete's

From Matt Lacey of the Open:
The CPTC Open Men used depth and a handful of fresh faces to secure a comfortable 3rd place finish at the Grete’s Great Gallop Half Marathon. Not only was the scoring team a completely different lineup then the previous week’s Bronx 10 miler, but for four of the five runners it was their first time scoring for CPTC in 2015. After recovering from the shocking discovery that the race was to be run counterclockwise around the park, Matt Lacey was able to reorient himself to the surroundings and clock 1:11:26 to lead the way. Running his first race for Central Park Track Club, Calvin Tan finished next, 20th overall in 1:14:37. After that it was Mohammed Lahseni, Cliff Gerber, and Nobuyori Takeda storming home in a 44 second window, all stopping the clock under 1:17. After a flurry of fall club points races we now a bit of a respite before big one, the New York City Marathon goes off on November 1st!

Calvin Tan

Photo: Nigel Francis

3 CPTC New Balance            06:15:47

Matthew Lacey                1:11:26

Calvin Tan                   1:14:37

Mohammed Lahseni             1:16:18

Cliff Gerber                 1:16:34

Nobuyori Takeda              1:16:52

From Phil Falk of the Open:

The crowds poured out of the 161st–Yankee Stadium subway stop as they do on so many days – but this time it was 7am rather that 7pm, and they were there to sip Gatorade instead of Bud Lights. Yes, it was the Bronx 10-Mile Race. Although the event saw its twenty-second running on September 27, it was the first time it was a scoring race for the local clubs, and thus brought a host of new competition. Both the men’s and the women’s course records fell, with several runners coming in under the old mark.
The lollipop out-and-back course offered some rolling hills – a bit more gentle than those in Central Park, and DJ Kook Herc parked right in the middle spinning some tunes. It was a beautiful day for running – and everyone seemed glad to be out there!

Greg Cass                      54:45
    Trevor Middleton               55:17
    Ryan Scrudato                  55:22
    Phil Falk                      56:25
    Richard Nelson                 57:39

    Kyle Marks                     16:18 
    Stan Berkow                    16:53
    Phillip Falk                   16:55
    Taylor Burmeister              17:01
    Jordy Smilde                   17:20

From David Greenberg of the 40+:

First Grete’s, then Bronx:

Sometimes championships are won when a team performs over its head on one day  – the miracle on ice for example. Other times, championships are won with grit and consistency. If we win the 2015 title, it will be gritty races like Grete’s that we should remember.

We didn’t win – West Side aced us out, but we finished second, far ahead of our main rivals, Warren Street. We managed the Bronx/Grete’s double.

The silver today puts us up by approximately 106-91-85 (two worst races deleted) with two races remaining. We haven’t locked it down yet, but we are close.

Scorers were Mohammed Lahseni 76:18

Matthew DeAngelis 76:54

Brad Kelley: 80:04

Speaking of grit – Brad was doubling back from the Bronx 10, as were Anthony Demaio, Douglas Tsao and David Alm.

Here’s some excellent news: Again I have to divide race of the day honors since three individuals ran PRs for the half marathon in the NYRR database.

Jesus Ansede Ferreiro, Matt DeAngelis and Larry Go ran lifetime bests for the distance:

Jesus (83:20/75.82%/18^th 40-44):

For the second week in a row I managed to improve my personal best in terms of AG%. Besides, I also managed to improve my personal best in half-marathon from 1:26:36 (Madrid 2009) to 1:23:20. A huge improvement at age 43 (3:16) that also helps me qualify for the local competitive corral in three weeks’ time, so super-happy! Hard training is paying off!!!

 Special thanks during my race today to four people: Chris Donnelly and Brenn Jones (we ran as a pack most of the race, great!), Nigel Francis (always there cheering for his team-mates, he is the best!) and (last but not least) Coach Tony.

Matt DeAngelis (76:54/80.24%/6^th 40-44) has turned 40 with a fury, hitting a lifetime PR for HM and his best AG score ever.

Larry Go (95:34/67.19%/28^th 45-49) hit his fastest half marathon in six attempts in the NYRR database.

Mohammed Lahseni has turned up the wick this year, becoming one of the very finest masters distance runners in the city. His 76:18/84.86%/3^rd in the 45-49 was not an absolute PR, but it was his best AG score ever and #10 all time for the CPTC 40+.

Mohammed Lahseni

Photo: Nigel Francis

What can we say about Brad Kelley (80:04/82.92%/5^th 45-49)? He was flat gone, out of the sport for many months recovering from a severe injury. He then returned to competitive running after no one knows how much rehab… and is already almost back at his previous levels, and going out of his way to support the team. He doubled at Bronx/Grete’s, scoring in both. Stay healthy, Brad. We need you.

Like Brad, Andre’ Lejeune (87:46/75.65%/13^th 45-49) has had a successful comeback:

Yesterday was my best race is 2 years. I’ve been battling several nagging injuries over the past few years including micro-tears of the hamstrings, plantar fascitius, hip impingement syndrome that required a cortisone shot, etc. As part of my pre-race ritual, I played with my 5 month old son and lost track of time. My jog to the starting line from the upper west side was used as my warm up. The corrals were closed so I climbed over the barricade into Corral A, which was my corral. I heard my close friend and teammate Anthony Demaio call my name. It was great catching up with him briefly before the gun went off.

I ran it in 1:27:46 which was 2 min. off my PR, but 12 minutes faster than my 2013 Grete’s Half. With about 3 miles to go, I passed up our teammate Kenneth Tso and a group of CPTC women. I crested Harlem Hill for the second time ahead of them and was feeling pretty good about the possibility of beating him for the first time. They passed me through the rolling hills on the west side of the park and I was unable to go with them. I remained steadfast in my pace and the y beat me by .13 seconds… Onward and Upwards to the NYC Marathon….

Youngsters David Alm (83:20/74.03%/19^th 40-44) and Ulrich Fluhme (83:20/74.03%/20^th 40-44) ran together, and therein lies an orange tale:

David:

Like most of my races of the past year, Grete’s was a tough slog (reasons TBD). Despite my relatively slow time on Sunday, however, the race was a reminder of the power of team support. Around mile 4, I was starting to fade from my 6:00 pace, and fellow masters newby Uli Fluhme came up alongside and beckoned me to stay with him. He was doing the race as a tempo, and he paced me for the last nine miles, never letting me fall too far behind. He kept my pace consistent and honest, shouting at me to stay with him during the tough stretches and encouraging me when I regained a steady rhythm. And, while he could have run the race considerably faster, without his help I probably would have finished a minute or two slower. With his help, I managed to meet my B-goal of securing a qualifying time (1:23) for the 2016 NYC Marathon, should I choose to run it. So, here’s to orange, and to helping each other along on tough races.

Jeffrey Garnett (87:37/71.54%/31^st 40-44) ran his best AG score for a half marathon.

Finally, now on to the marathon – I suspect several of us used Grete’s as a tuneup or long tempo – Douglas Tsao shows how marathon prep is done, doubling back from Bronx:

Douglas:

No PR, not even close but everything went according to plan. Solid week of training so I had no intention to “race” yesterday. Did the first 10k at 7ish pace, then    goal marathon pace for four. Happy to stay on pace through Harlem Hill (making up the seconds I lost on the backside). Final 5k was at 6:45’s. Ran another 7mi after which at times were a slog but not so bad and was able to run 7:30’s without too much effort; just focused on keeping my form and running easy. One more long run and then start to taper…

And now we go on to marathon season. Good luck everyone with the last weeks of training. I believe we have some people running Chicago also – good luck for the last few days for that one.

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Re; the benefit, we were able to raise $725 for the club – bit by bit is how it’s done. Jonathan Stenger found an artist to do the design.

Here are those who pledged:

David Bosch

Peter Brady

Michael Caggia

Jeffrey Garnett

Larry Go

David Greenberg

Andrew Hogue plus a match from his company.

Brad Kelley

Wayne Merdis

John Milone

Rich Nelson

Wolfram Schlenker

Alex Tilmant

Please forgive me if I left your name off.

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Stay tuned for news from cross country and Chicago and I hope many of us attend the benefit and participate in the auction.

Now to the 40+ at the Bronx:

We brought the speed…but the other guys brought more.

The CPTC 40+ men finished third in the Bronx, narrowing  their lead in the standings.

We’ll still be in first place, solid, but with a little less light between us and Warren Street.

Total points (unofficial)

CPTC: 114

Warren Street: 92

West Side: 79

And with the two worst races deleted:

CPTC: 94

Warren Street: 85

West Side: 70

With only three races to go, it’s good to be in the lead. After Grete’s we can start thinking about end game scenarios.

Scorers in Bronck’s land were:

Rich Nelson: 57:39/83.93%/2^nd 45-49

Cary Segall: 58:54/58:54/79.58%/11^th 40-44

Brad Kelley: 59:43/83.71%/6^th 45-49

While our two-race win streak was halted, we had a particularly strong day on the individual side, after a bit of a letdown at Fifth Avenue. Most people who made it to the start line had a good race. But we had several late scratches, including your correspondent, showing the wear and tear of a long season.

Races of the day go to Jesus Ansede-Ferreiro, Coleman Cowan, Rich Nelson and Douglas Tsao.  Each ran the best age graded race of their lives, in the NYRR database.  While others set lifetime PRs for 10 miles, the distance is so rarely run that a PR in some cases doesn’t mean much. But a best ever age graded score is always meaningful.

Rich Nelson first, since he had a hard to comprehend AG PR by…2.43 percentage points. His race put him at #8 all time in the CPTC 40-49 list for ten miles as he finishes up training for NYCM. And get this: it marked his 7^th consecutive age graded PR, dating back to 2010. I’m not sure if he should race more or race less.

Rich:

Was very happy with today’s race.  Perhaps my best race in terms of expectations versus performance (as well as my lifetime best AG% and my top age group finish in an NYRR race).  In the midst of NYC Marathon training, my goal was to come in just under 60 minutes.  Ran the first couple of miles around 5:55 pace, as planned.  Felt pretty good and ran miles 3-5 around a 5:50 pace.  Felt surprisingly strong at the turnaround and started hammering into the 5:40s, thinking that a sub 59 was possible.  Continued feeling really good and to my own surprise knocked out the last 3 miles in 5:37, 5:32 and 5:31.  The final 5K of the race was within 10-15 seconds of my 5K PR.  Was very happy to have run a 1:01 negative split too. Big confidence builder for the NYC Marathon where I am shooting to run by first sub 2:45 marathon.

Jesus Ansede-Ferreiro also had a barnburner, scoring a full 1.9 percentage points better than his previous best: 1:03:29/74.43%/26^th 40-44.

Jesus:

I was pleased with my result, PB in terms of AG% despite having been sick during the week.

 It was freezing at the start, and I started slowly but that helped me managed to run megative split. I did not want to overdo it (marathon coming up) but I just felt good… Training is paying off. Running with two team-mates for a long while as a pack also helped a lot. It just felt great!

 Grete’s at the weekend. Let’s see how it goes.

Smaller gains were had by Coleman Cowan, whose 60:48/79.57%/8^th 45-49 was his best score ever as he inches toward the magic 80% level.

Coleman:

After all the heat and humidity we’ve been racing in, it was nice to finally get back to some decent running weather this weekend in the Bronx! The cool temps and a good group of teammates to run with from start to finish helped me run exactly the race I targeted, which was to start out at 6:10 pace and see if I could work my way down to to 6’s. After some painful workouts, Tuesday nights at the track are now starting to pay some dividends. In three years I’ve managed to shave almost six minutes off my time on this course. I’ll have to wait another year to see if I can lose those last 48 seconds. I was happy with how I ran on Sunday, but there’s no way I could have found another 5 seconds/mile our there, even in the great weather. Maybe next year…

Finally, Douglas Tsao brought the good with his 61:38/76.67/16^th 40-44: his best age graded race ever and a nice comeback after not racing since March.

One of us did set a lifetime 10 mile PR even after several attempts: Anthony DeMaio has run four ten milers with the NYRR over 10+ years and this was his fastest.

Some of our teammates wisely chose a lovely September day to keep comebacks going. CPTC  (and Coast Guard) vet David Dorsey continues to rise from injury with his 63:25/78.18/13^th 45-49: his best race in two years.

David Dorsey

Photo: David Greenberg

David:

I had a great race! Perfect weather!! I planned on sub 7 but had no idea I would hold a sub 6:30 throughout the whole course..I heard Tony at mile 8 say”compete till the end!” I busted into a crazy sprint in the last 1/4 (1:03:25) 78% age grade….im very happy with myself..I’ll try and race more often..better shape then I thought!!

Michael Caggia is back with a vengeance after some time away: this was his third race in September and is back closing in on PRs.

Brad Kelley suffered several months with a severe hip area injury but is back in the game – not at the PR stage yet, but getting faster and scoring for the team.

Same for Cary Segall – he has been working through some injuries but seems back near full strength as he preps for the Chicago Marathon.

Cary:

The race went about how I expected given this is the end of my first taper week.  I have put in 5 weeks in the 95 mpw icluding a LR of 30 miles two weeks ago and a good effort last weekend at the tune up.  I feel ready for Chicago but just need to let my legs recover.  Hopefully I left enough time.

 I went into the race today thinking maybe 5:50 or whatever felt not too hard as I really need to recover and have a few key workouts left that I don’t want to miss.  I hit the first 2 miles in mid 5:50’s and breathing felt very comfortable but legs a bit sore/tired from the cumulative training cycle.  Rich pulled up to me at mile 3 but could tell that he had fresher legs and I let him go with our pack.  I slowly dropped back and didn’t want to go with them as I had to remind myself that today was not race day.  I was happy that I recognized that despite having to run the rest of the race solo.  I did run consistent and had a few miles in the mid 5:40’s with favorable terrain.  Overall, I was pleased with the effort and glad I could help out team despite a 3rd place finish.

 I would like to give a special shout out to Rich Nelson who looked very strong out there and seemed to get better as the race went on.  Since running most of the Boston Marathon together he has taken a new approach to this training cycle with better marathon focused workouts and it clearly showed today.  He is well on his way to running a sub 2:45 in NYC in 5 weeks.

 Debut! Young one David Alm reached his squad goal by competing with the 40+ for the first time. It wasn’t his best day in the field, but his orange teammates will see his speed of old soon.

David:

My first master’s race went worse than planned, and I hadn’t planned for much. After a solid start, my pace varied in the middle miles despite maintaining a steady effort, and I saw my goal of sub-60 dissolve and reform as a B-goal of 1:01. That too was dashed, at mile 7.5, when I started feeling some GI issues and my number-one priority became finding a port-a-john, which I did just before the 8-mile marker. I lost about two minutes in the plastic loo, on top of the slower pace for mile 7, pushing that B-goal of 1:01 far out of sight. I finished in 1:05:03, my second-worst time in a 10-mile race. So at least I didn’t PW.

From Chris Donnelly of the 50+:

Bob Markinson reports: “I had a good day, maintained a steady sustainable pace of about 7:50, and picked it up on the last 3 miles @ 7:32, 7:29, 7:32 finishing with a 1:17.34 time (a 10 mile PR) beating last years mark by about 45 seconds. Coach Tony, Sue P, Armando, and Sid were on the course offering wisdom, encouragement and support, and Nigel at the finish.  Thanks guys. “

From Hank Schiffman of the 60+:

2015 Bronx 10 miler

They weren’t having any of it, and who could blame them? Grinding out another long distance team point race just to decide who would get 2nd or 3rd place at Club Night is not a sword worth falling on.

With the Club Council turning a deaf ear to Coach Tony’s voice of reason not to chose this 10 miler seven days before the popular Grete’s Half, the deck of cards were shuffled again in light of overall team point standings. Thus the 3 finishers of our 60+ men prevailed over a mostly absent field of similar age runners. Gary Gosselin, decided to run it as an increasing paced tempo. Harry Lichtenstein, a Bronx resident, threw his hat into the ring. Hank Schiffman, against well-reasoned advice of Coach Tony, saw a tactical possibility of not losing team points as we had 3 committed starters, actually ran this one as a race. In factuality, it was our only 1st place race of the season.

Hank:

What I had not fully grasped was how none of our competitor teams were able to muster their best runners for this race. While Brooklyn RR could rest their legs and still cruise to first place on Club Night, West Side Runners, our bêtes noire for 2nd place, came in 3rd to Van Cortlandt TC. With 3 team point races to go, we picked up 5 points on WSX in the “Greenberg -2” tally. Of course the real question is what it might cost us at Grete’s if I have not recovered enough should it come to that.

Perhaps the most important accessory for this race was a stocking hat. There was a north wind, contributing to a wind chill both in the corral and the first 3+ miles. Autumn has arrived, be prepared!

1st place in AG went to NY Senator Bill Perkins. I kind of though he would be racing this one as his district abuts the southern Bronx. As I rounded the Mosholu Parkway back onto the homeward stretch of the Grand Concourse, I spied him ahead. I appeared to be gaining. The ethical thing to do was to pass him and hope I had the stuff to keep ahead, rather than be a creep and gun him from behind at the finish.Thus I gained on him till the final mile where he appeared on my left and passed me. I passed him and he passed again. In the final 100 meters or so he dropped back, saying that I had him. Ever the wily campaigner, he shot ahead of me as we approached the line. With whatever I had, I charged again and, if I didn’t tie him, I certainly was but a step behind. The race results show that he had to have started behind me as my 1:10:17 was 5 seconds behind his 1:10:12. We both prospered in the effort to the line. As Tiny Tim said, “God bless us all.”

Gary went on to run another 6 miles to Central Park. I never saw Harry during the event. It was one of those days of focus and distance.

Gary:

The run back was  relaxing recovery.  6 easy miles to Central Park South on a pleasant autumn day.

I’m planning to run Grete’s as a marathon pace tune up.  Will finish to get an official time in case it is needed for team scoring.

I don’t think it would be wise for me to race it all out.

Yes, Harry, you and I pirated some gold today for our merry band didn’t we captain?

Rest those legs, you worked them hard this week.

Nice running with you.

P.S. I entered Boston 2016 last week.

Thus:

Hank, 1:10:17/82.79%

Gary, 1:11:52/77.25%

Harry, 1:25:27/66.18%

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

2015 Grete’s Half

With the feel of a change of season to autumn, those faithful 60+ men of prior seasons returned to run Grete’s Half. Yasuhiro Makoshi, fleetest of foot among us, cautiously put a toe into the team point series. Chris Neuhoff took on a high mileage race. Kevin McGuire returned after doing humanitarian work in Costa Rica.  Phil Vasquez is still clawing his way back recovering from extensive foot reconstruction. Gary Gosselin continues to amaze with his ability to soak up the mileage and spit it back in races. Everyday heroes are our long suit.

Chris Neuhoff

Photo: Nigel Francis

We ran a solid 2nd place, under the shadow of to those reigning gods of the running shoe, Brooklyn Road Runners. They snatched 1st place with their superstar John Shostrom sitting it out recovering from a 3:14 marathon in Utah. Doug Currier, usually 3rd in their line up took 1st in AG with a 1:28:24 at 61.

Thus:

BRR        4:33:29

CPTC     4:47:54

WSX       5:38:02

So nice being closer to 1st place than 3rd!

With 2 races to go:

BRR        132

CPTC     109

WSX       91

And the Greenberg -2 with 2 more races to go, if my facts and math are correct:

BRR        120

CPTC     93

WSX       85

As the course was changed to run the Central Park Loop in the opposite direction, past times comparisons might be more like Macintosh to Winesap than apples to oranges. I am not going to list prior best times.

Yasuhiro:               1:34:08/80.02%, his 11th Grete’s

Hank:                     1:34:46/81.84%, his 8th Grete’s

Gary:                1:39:01/76.64%, his 2nd Grete’s

Chris:                     1:41.18/75.07%, his 9th Grete’s

Kevin:                     1:47.19/70.18%, his 9th Grete’s

Phil:                        1:51.49/67.36%, his 2nd Grete’s

Giving us a total of 41 Grete’s halves run among the group.

Kevin:

Hank great race and back to back long races. Gary also back to back great  going to you and Chris. welcome back Yasuhiro. 

Conditions were very pleasant for the race and you could have even signed up today as it was not sold out.

Two plus hard loops around the park always seems daunting before the race but quite fulfilling after. It was a good turnout for the 60+ gang. 

Also noted, there were  1500+ less runners than last years Grete’s which was nice. You could have signed up on race day which is rare these days for NYRR. I hope the “race day” sign up trend continues.

Gary:

It was an uneventful week bracketed by two races of significant distance and effort.  The recovery and turnaround from the Bronx 10 to Grete’s was too short and we were fortunate to muster scorers for both races. I am glad to have been able to run this gauntlet with my CPTC teammates (and emerge relatively intact). Hank Schiffman ran stellar races on both days bringing home age group silver and gold. Sunday was his 7^th age group first place out of 10 races this year.  He also has two seconds and a third to hold his place on the podium for all races this year. And although he would deny, he is running at a very high level as the top age group runner in NYC. Chris continues to add to his 2015 string of impressive races averaging 77.16 % AGP over 13 races in 2015.  It is wonderful to see Yasuhiro and Phil Vasquez gaining health and back racing. And a tip of the cap to Harry Lichtenstein for his scoring effort in the Bronx 10 last week.  I did not execute Grete’s well, having to run 13.6 miles for a half marathon distance. That is a handicap I do not need. Any help on how to hit the tangents on the outer loop would be appreciated. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast and get together after the race with Dave Delano, Kevin McGuire, Bruce Racond and Alan Heblack.  Jack McShane of BRRC commented after the race that guys half our age are happy to just cover the 13.1 distance never mind to run it fast.  I agree, maybe we are a less fast than we were 10, 20 or 30 years ago, but there is still some speed among us. On to the marathon.

I think I did too much lane changing. An execution error affecting final outcome.

Also, 2:45 negative split (too much), last 3 miles were 6:48, 6:38, 6:49.

Loved the challenge and process of the doing.

Chris:

It was great having our Big Guns…Yasuhiro, Hank and Gary…in the race. They rocked the park!

My race went well (7:44 pace compared to 8:00 pace last year). I ran the first lap slower and the race felt easier.

It was also great having Kevin and Phil racing and having Dave and Alan rooting for us at our Sunday morning meeting spot. A special shout out to Kevin for the warm car ride to the West Side.

Go CPTC!

Yikes! I’ll be going into Hank’s age group in December.

Great job all!

Phil:

Great race Hank!

Hank:

Coach Tony’s prophecy that racing the Bronx 10 miler and Grete’s Half within a week is unwise proved to be correct. My splits fell apart at mile 7. Anecdotally, on the nose for the notion that one day rest is needed for each mile raced. By mile 11 my calves were barking. 

Somewhere between mile 10 and 11 Casey passed me followed by a determined Yasuhiro, like the White Rabbit, late for tea with the Queen.

Marc Mizrahi and I worked together for the last mile. We were like 2 fruit flies trying to land on a banana in a stiff breeze buzzing towards the finish, bouncing off each other just before the line. 

What a splendid day to race Central Park. Orange and blue is a bit brighter for what our 60+ men did this day.

With the NYC Marathon’s registration frozen in concrete, our final team point race is the 15k Ted Corbitt on December 12th at 8:30 am. Registration is open and as far as I know, I’m the only one signed up among us. Let’s finish the year strongly with a good team showing.

XC race report:

Henry Isola 4 miler on 8/30

Hank Schiffman, 1st in age group running 29:35

Phil Vasquez, 3rd in age group running 35:53

Harry Lichtenstein, 4th in age group running 37:08

Kurt Steiner 5k on 9/20

Dan Molly, 2nd in age group running 24:09

Phil Vasquez, 3rd in age group running 26:06

Hal Lieberman, 3rd in age group running 27:56

Harry Murphy 5k on 10/4

Hal Lieberman, 3rd in age group 28:00

USATF National Masters 5k XC on October 18th in Saratoga Springs is on deck. So far we have Dave Delano, Doug Labar, Kevin McGuire, Ned Murtaugh and Hank Schiffman registered to run in our 60+ team. This is an exceptional event. Do consider running it;

 https://www.usatf.org/Events—Calendar/2015/USATF-Masters-5km-Cross-Country-Championships/Entry-Form.aspx

See you at the Benefit,

Captain Hank