As part of my double secret statistical package tracking all of you, I have an Excel 97 spreadsheet that tracks who scores the most points for the team in the club team championship series. Those who score the most points in each age grouping deserve a special orange glow. In the M 40+ the leader – by far – is Jesus Mateo de Castro. He has done most of the team points races and has been the top scorer more often than not. He even scored for the open team at Club Champs. I gave Jesus a call to learn about his racing and training so I could pass it on.
Let’s get this out first: Jesus has always been fast. As a younger man he ran 14:48 for 5000 meters on the track. But his path to speed began later than most. He ran a little in his teens but not seriously. It wasn’t until his 20s that he joined a team in his native Spain and started to train with intensity. One hundred mile weeks were standard practice, and times came down quickly. Soon he ran below 31 minutes for 10000 meters and was started to think about the roads.
Jesus got everything right at the Spanish Championships of 1996, where he ran a half marathon in 1:07 and a full marathon in 2:26. Unfortunately 1997 was lost to an achilles injury. 1998 found Jesus healthy again, but in a new life situation: at the University of North Carolina for a post-doctoral program in the biological sciences.
Being on a team was important for Jesus and he found a spot on Fleet Feet’s team in Chapel Hill. Hard work led to success at work and on the starting line: “I was a young man without a family; I was either in the lab or out running,” Jesus told me. He went to Chicago and ran close to his best: 2:27.
After eight years back in Spain, Jesus returned to America, to New York this time. The first thing he looked for was the right team to join, and CPTC has proven to be a good fit for him. Part of what works for Jesus has been geography – he lives minutes from Central Park so getting to Thursday night workouts is convenient, but also the large group we have to train with has been a help to him.
Not one to go easy, Jesus normally will do Coach Tony’s Tuesday night track workout and also his Thursday night tempo runs. And as a guy who has often seen Jesus power by him in workouts, I can testify that he drops the hammer. Jesus suggested that this is partly to compensate for not being able to run 100 mile weeks anymore. “To improve I strongly believe you need to run more mileage,” Jesus says, but time and injuries have kept him to around 50 mpw lately. Running aggressively two workouts each week no doubt makes up for some of the missing miles. “I like to push very hard,” Jesus told me of his workouts. “I feel like I am competing. I don’t like to be conservative.”
Two favorite workouts are 6 x 1000 on the track and 2 mile repeats on the roads. “Years of experience have shown me that if I can do 6 x 1000 fast, that gives me a very good idea of my fitness. It gives me great confidence.” He feels a missing link in his workouts is the long run and is planning to start adding them to his model week.
His workouts have served him well in 2012, with his best race probably at Portugal Day, where he ran 5:32 pace for five miles, for an 83.6% age graded result. He is happy with his results in 2012 because he missed most of 2011 because of tendonitis in his achilles. He did not start running seriously again until around Christmas 2011, but by April 2012 he was back to near full speed, hitting 35 flat for 10k at Scotland Day.
Now that he is healthy and has almost a year of steady training in his legs, Jesus is looking primarily at the track. Despite the speed he puts down on the roads, he sees the track as his strongest element. Three years ago he ran 3000 meters in 9:24 at the Armory, and this winter he would like to beat that, maybe significantly.
After the winter, he speaks wistfully of long races – maybe the New York City Half Marathon or even a full marathon. But he would only do a marathon if he could get his miles up, and after missing a year to injury, he isn’t sure that marathon training would be a good idea. And this time he has to share his time outside the Mt Sinai lab with his one year old son.
“I could improve – it just depends on the mileage. If I am able to run longer, I’m pretty sure I could run faster.
Longer and faster was the choice of 47 CPTCers on October 14 as they lined up for the dizzying rolling hillfest called Grete’s. Yumi Ogita was the masters star of the day as she ran a 1:25/87.92% and scored for the open team, the 40+ team and would have scored for the 50+ team if we had one. Other age group winners were Yasuhiro Makoshi (1:26/84.85%) and Alan Ruben (1:26/80.48%). 52-week age- graded PRs were set by Yumi, Yasuhiro and Chris Neuhoff in the 60-64 (1:35/77.79%).
The men’s 50+ won their division and the men’s 60+ scored a much needed win, since before the gun went off they were only 2 points behind in the points competition. The women’s 40+ was second and the men’s 40+ was third.
At the October 14th XC race in the Bronx the CPTC 45-49 rolled out the heavy artillery and went 1-4. Armando Oliveira, Glen Carnes, Mel Stafford and David Greenberg had the honors. Armando’s time would have also won the 35-39 and the 40-44. Other age group winners were Thomas Raymond, Mary Rosado and Judith Tripp.
Backing out through the fall, the Get the Gorilla 5k in New Brunswick kicked off xc season for many, and our own Sue Pearsall was the overall race winner in the open division with her 20:43, which would have been a fine time even in the elite women’s race. It’s not often 40+ runners win races, so be sure to congratulate Sue when you see her. John Milone and David Greenberg also ran the race – John was in the elite division (17:21) and David won the open division 40-44 with a 17:29.
At the intensity fest commonly known as the Fifth Avenue Mile we had three notable performances: Sylvie K won her division with her 6:22/96.9%, Alan Ruben won the 55-59 with his 5:13/ 84.8%, and Rae Baymiller ran an incredible 6:38/99%.
On another island, Yasuhiro Makoshi was the star of the Staten Island Half – running his first race in the 60-64, he ripped off a 1:26/84.60%, which is his best age graded score since 2010 and the fourth best score among all CPTC male masters in 2012. He won his age division by over two minutes. No doubt he will be a big help for the M 60+ team as they run for a possible championship.
Continuing with the island theme, at the Isola 4 mile cross country course, where the contestants were sent over cemetery hill a sadistic but glorious two times, four CPTCers won their age groups: Sue Pearsall, Hank Schiffman, Sid Howard and Judith Tripp.
The Fitness Games went off sans archery, and we had two age group winners: Therese Caffrey and Sylvie Kimche. On the men’s side two oranges set annual age graded PRs: Chris Neuhoff (76.6%) and Budd Heyman (72.0%).
Marie-Louise Michelsohn has had a terrific fall. She set a new single age American record in the 5000 (23:40). You can learn more about Marie-Louise in a Running Times feature this month.
The Faster Masters Race to Live/Live to Race award is a horse race, so to speak: Oscar Garcia and Michael Caggia each have run 16 races over the last 52 weeks. On the women’s side Lynn Blackstone stands alone with 17.
A new feature for October, because there aren’t yet enough numbers yet in this post: I will recognize those who have scored the most points for the team in his or her age group. For example, if you are the first CPTC finisher in the M 40+ at a points race, you get 3 points. Second fastest gets you two points. Double dipping is allowed: for example Yumi scored points in both open and masters divisions this week. I think these athletes deserve special recognition for showing up on the line each month for the big races and running fast.
Open Men: Captain Matthew Lacey
Open Women: Jane Vongvorachoti
Men’s 40+: Jesus Mateo de Castro
Women’s 40+: Captain Ani Go
Men’s 50+: Alan Ruben
Women’s 50+: Yumi Ogita
Men’s 60: Cap’n Hank Schiffman
Women’s 60+: Captain Sylvie Kimche
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A note to men in the 40-49 from Armando Oliveira:
On December 8th in Lexington Kentucky USATF will be holding the Club XC Championships. I am trying to field a team of guys 40-49. All those interested, please email me at armandoxc@gmail.com
I will get back to you with further information. This is a great and highly competitive 10k XC race where everybody shows up.
Meet history and information here: http://usatf.org/Events—Calendar/2012/USATF-National-Club-Cross-Country-Championships.aspx
Thanks
Armando
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Team Points after the 5th Avenue Mile:
First Place: W 40+, M 50+ (up from second place)
Second Place: M 40+ (up from third place), M 60+
Seventh Place: W 60+
Eighth Place: W 50+
PHOTO: MICHAEL AHERN
dgreenb300 at aol.com