From Greg Cass of the Open:
The NYRR Club Points races continued on a blustery, early April Saturday morning at this year’s version of the Scotland 10K. The park may not be showing any outward signs of spring, but Scotland typically kicks off the traditional “spring road racing season,” and the CPTC Open Men’s team showed that hard work during the long winter slog has paid off (and that the strong result at Coogan’s was no fluke).
The Open Men grabbed third place comfortably, clearing 4th place by nearly 5 minutes. Relative newcomer Kyle Marks lead the way for the Open Men, clocking a 32:21 in his second race for the team after announcing his arrival to the Club with his strong work at Coogan’s. We’re looking forward to what Kyle will accomplish the rest of the year.
Taylor Burmeister
Photo: J Mojica
Always-reliable Matt Lacey came in next at 32:53. Taylor Burmeister showed off the benefits of a strong indoor training season with his 33:00 finish. The scoring team was rounded out by Greg Cass (33:13) and Stan Berkow (33:18). Although pack-running is more of a cross country consideration, the road team managed to keep things impressively tight, finishing within 1-minute / 13-places of one another in an 8,000-runner field.
Matt Lacey
Photo: J Mojica
The Open Men next send an impressive contingent up to Boston for the marathon before heading out to Brooklyn for the next race in scoring series.
From David Greenberg of the 40-49:
Hap or no hat, Scotland again worked its magic, as 45% of the 40-49 men who started the race set PRs of some sort. Maybe it’s the cool weather, maybe it’s the proximity to Bostontime, maybe it’s the early spot in the year…but every year this race gets people up on their toes and moving faster than they ever have.
The race should be on everyone’s must-do list – it’s a PR conveyor belt.
The CPTC 40+ finished second, behind Warren Street. After the race we were listed first, but Paul Thompson, Warren Street’s #1, had been left off the results. BUT we outkicked West Side by 2 seconds, which is particularly sweet because we lost a race by the same margin last year.
Despite a third and a second this year, we are actually faster at the pointy end this year: At both Coogan’s and Scotland our scoring team was faster in 2015 than in 2014.
After Race #2, the standings are:
Warren Street: 30
West Side: 22
CPTC: 22
Or with our two worst races dropped, as they will be at the end of the year, the score is:
Warren Street: 0
West Side: 0
CPTC: 0
Our not-so-secret plan is to use our depth starting at team champs (five score and double points for that one) and into the autumn long races to claw back lost points. The races get long and packed together in the fall – we’ll try to do some organization to spread our speed around.
Our scorers were Daniel Gercke (34:41/87.12%/2nd AG), Daniel Ifcher (36:54/80.61%/4th AG) and Ulrich Fluhme (36:57/76.91%/7th AG).
Daniel G continues to improve, as he ran 1:16 faster than last year and set an all-time PR for 10k in Central Park.
During the tedious 4th mile and the last 200 uphill meters, I lectured myself that seconds count. The whole race had felt slow and more draining than normal, but I knew that Paul Thompson was up there somewhere, trying singlehandedly to pull his team to first. So we didn’t prevent that, but my PR (by over a minute) and our two-second lead over the 3rd-place guys made the pain pay off. That, and the blue bagel of course.
Daniel Ifcher
Photo: J Mojica
Daniel I also ran an all-time PR for 10K with his 36:54. If you ever want an anecdote to show how mental this sport is, a perhaps short first mile may have given Daniel just the psychological lift he needed to run fast:
I wasn’t sure how I wanted to run this race, being close to Boston, but got going in the 1st mile fast and just went with it. It must be that this is my first race in decent weather in a long time – I missed NYC half because I was away that weekend – so I must have had some extra energy. After that 1st mile was fast and felt good, I just decided to go with it. Ended up w a master’s PR, a best AG% – first time topping 80% at 80.6%, and scored for the team. All good, now onto to set up and taper for Boston!
Ulrich made his scoring debut for the team, not long after turning 40. He seems to be kicking up the intensity rapidly, as Scotland was his highest AG score since 2012. I asked Uli to introduce himself, since he is the newest member of the team. While he wasn’t happy with his race, it was enough to score and to stay on an uptrend:
Definitely a personal worst for me over 10k but at the same time in line with my fitness.
I have a hard time adjusting to the new reality of getting slower. It doesn’t help that I haven’t been serious with my running since 2010. Main reason is Gran Fondo New York, the bike race I organize (and all its derivatives around the world, www.gfny.cc).
That said, I have the big goal of getting into the Top100 at the NYC Marathon one more time (did it 2008 and 2009 where I ran 2:34 and 2:33). Right now it does not feel and look like I can actually achieve that. I likely need a sub 2:40. Worst case scenario though I will be in better running shape trying to get there.
For that, I’m running any 5-10k race I can get my hands on whether here in NYC or on the road. Our NYC bike race is May 17 so until then my training and racing will continue to be erratic. After that, I’ll be in Europe for two months (as every summer), riding and racing my bike all over the place. The plan this year is to cram in as much running as possible. August I’ll be back to get punished either Tuesday or Thursday night (physically I can no longer handle both).
I re-started the Mzungo blog to post about my progress towards the marathon ( www.mzungo.org). Now I hope to get my buddy Markus back on board for the blog. He’s also training for NYC M and much more fun to read (http://runssel.blogspot.com/).
Points races I plan to do: 5th Avenue and Marathon.
I’m looking forward to having all of you push me to get in shape!
Thanks for having me on the team, good look with your races (Boston!) and see you soon on the roads
Lifetime PRs don’t come often, except maybe at this race, so let’s review:
Tim Stockert continued a fast spate of races with his all-time Central Park 10k PR 37:21/80.91/5th AG. Like Daniel Ifcher and Nick Garramone, training for Boston was the ramp to speed.
Though I’m not sure if I’ll ever quite master the hills of Central Park, overall I was thrilled with my race this Saturday. This was a very good race leading up to the Boston Marathon. It was indeed a Central Park 10K PR along with a Masters PR and my fastest 10K since 2001. The combination of total miles, hill work, speed work, and strength training is definitely paying off.
Nick Garramone set an all-time Central Park 10K PR and the third best 10k of his life with his41:21/71.38%/27th AG:
My third fastest 10k and the fastest since 1999 (where I did a 40:05 in the Peachtree Road Race). This race was all about the hills. On the way up, I focused on lifting my knees and drove off by glutes and hamstrings. On the way down, I increased my turnover. For the straightaways, I kept my focus on running down the people in front of me. My switch to focusing on shorter races over the past two years is paying off. Though, marathons are still my favorite…off to run Boston!!
Andy Kiss ran a better AG % than he ever has for 10k in the park with his 46:25/64.58%/86th AG:
My training is still going well as I target my A race this year, the Brooklyn Half, where I hope to break 1:40:00. I’ve also got the Red Hook Crit 5K, an annual favorite, on April 25.
Coleman Cowan
Photo: J Mojica
Ditto for Coleman Cowan’s 10kAG PR:
After 48 hours of replaying everything that went wrong for me on Saturday and my continued inability to conquer the Harlem Hills, leave it to David to point out something I did right: I might have missed my 10K PR, but because I’ve aged another year, I managed to run a 10K AG % PR. Team workouts have me in great shape, but I just wasn’t able to cut through the wind and cruise through those hills like I’d hoped. I’m not sure if that’s Father Time catching up to me just yet, but discovering I’d aged into another PR is helping me put this one behind me so I can look forward to Brooklyn (and no Harlem Hills…) next month.
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Away from Central Park, we had two extraordinary races:
Anthony Davis set a new club record for the 40+ 60 meter dash: 7.17. That’s 93.56% age graded!
Rawle Delisle also set a club record, in the 200: 22.59/ 92.72%. Rawle just turned 40 and is on fire.
Josh Rayman has been running very well, if very far from Central Park. He ran 16:23 on the track in Florida at age 46, for an age graded score in the 87% range.
From Chris Donnelly of the 50+:
Shrugging off days of dire weather predictions for Saturday’s 10th annual Scotland Run, CPTC’s 50+ men took to the roads of Central Park and came away with a solid third place finish. For the most part those vicious headwinds were only a factor at the top of the Harlem Hill, and the sunny morning made for beautiful racing conditions on the crowded course. With the club points competition starting to heat up in earnest, this 10k usually produces fast times, and spirited racing all around.
Eight members of the 50+ team were there to test their mettle among the crowd of 8,000. The competition was ferocious; In the 50-54 segment, the top 10 finishers were about 30 seconds faster than last year. Meanwhile, in the team competition a late adjustment to the results saw the white hot Dashing Whippets hurtle from fourth to second place, edging the CPTC men out by 23 seconds. It’s going to be a rough and tumble year.
Gerry O’Hara
Photo: David Greenberg
Gerry O’Hara led the CPTC scoring team. After cautioning earlier that he wasn’t at 100%, Gerry still posted a blazing 36:59 (83.68% AG), good for fifth place in the 50-54 age bracket. Chris Donnelly was next, his 40:21 (77.97%) good for 12th in 50-54. As he has so often in the past, Yasuhiro Makoshi gave the 50+ team an able assist, running 40:53 as our third scorer, good for second place in the 60-64 age group. Moreover, Yasuhiro clearly had a little something extra in the tank, running nearly a minute faster than he did at the previous week’s Spring Meltdown 10K.
Those were just a few of our fine performances. Of special note, congrats to Eiji Ebihara, who nailed a top five finish in the 55-59 age group with his 43:07 run (74.19%).
Bruce Racond was out there too, running 46:11 (67.57%). Bruce appears to have stuck to the longer NYRR races in his three years on the team, so thanks for taking on the short stuff this time (we’ve got plenty of longer races for you later this year).
Budd Heyman bettered last year’s time by 10 seconds, running 46:46 (69.57%). Bob Markinson, who’s been with the team since cross-country season, was next at 47:44 (65.9%), a just a bit off the pace of his Spring Meltdown 10K from the previous week. In that race, Bob posted a 47:22, good for a top 20 age group finish.
Mikal Scott gamely laced up his kicks for a 49:11 run (65.03%), despite nursing an injury. And of course Stuart Alexander was out there rocking the kilt again. Stuart clocked a 50:02 (66.15%), bettering his 2014 Scotland Run by 11 seconds. Well done, laddie!
Next up on the club points scene, we’ve got the Brooklyn Half Marathon . The race is a sellout, and we’re looking a bit thin on the ground, so if you did sign up please reconfirm with me. The NYC Half on March 15 gives us some idea how we’re doing, even if few other club runners on the 50+ scene chose to take part. We had some solid results from Chris Donnelly (1:28:21/77.87%), Eiji Ebihara (1:35:24/73.31%), Stanley Young (1:40:43/71.35%), Dennis O’Donnell (1:44:32/68.74%), and Oscar Garcia (1:48:06/63:56%). Dennis shaved more than three minutes off the time of his Fred Lebow Manhattan Half in January, so he’s clearly rounded into shape as he prepares to head up to Boston in a couple of weeks. Please join me in wishing Dennis the very best of luck on Patriot’s Day.
From Hank Schiffman of the 60+:
With Yasuhiro finding his mojo, our 60+ men finished 2nd, 4 minutes behind Brooklyn Road Runners in the 2015 Scotland 10k. Yet none of their runners bested his time.
For a 60+ man, running a 10k in Central Park under 40 minutes is a remarkable achievement. 60 year old Jaime Palacios running for WSX crossed the line in 37:57. But without depth, they were still 3 minutes behind CPTC. If the officials don’t shuffle the cards, Brooklyn will remain in 1st place with 30 points, CPTC in 2nd with 22, WSX 3rd with 18 and Witold’s 4th with 17.
Symbolically, this race had all the feel of a turning point. As the sun emerged and the day brightened as if we have moved on from winter, Yasuhiro double dipped scoring for 50+, my numbers improved, Chris scored, Kevin and Dan were there to catch us, and Phil continued his recovery.
You are betting against the house if you think 60+ runners are not paying attention. Brooklyn works hard to earn their keep. Taconic, once dominant, is in reset mode. They have all the components to remerge on top. West Side might be beating the bushes right now to scare up back up for their superstar. Depth has been our long suit, that and Yasuhiro’s speed. This will not be a boring year.
After this race, I asked Yasuhiro Makoshi how he did. Shaking his head sideways, he wasn’t all that pleased. Actually, he did fine. 40:53 earned him 83.13%, 25th men overall. Yes, it was slower than 40:40 last year, but this year he moved up 3 spots overall men and 0.3% age graded. Each year the current flowing past us gets a bit faster; the trick is to stem that tide. He is holding his own. Little doubt he feels let down from his 39:38, 84.24% back in 2013. [The more I consider this problem, the more I think we should concentrate on age graded percentage rather than absolute time.]
Yasuhiro:
“I am glad every one enjoyed the race on this spring day!”
Jaime Palacios ! such a genius runner! He used to run 1:10 for half, 2:30 for Marathon.
He is not the one to compete with!!!
See you at the next race.”
Hank Schiffman
Photo: J Mojica
I (Hank) was our 2nd scorer. My time was also slower than last year: 42:18 from 41:33 (now we are 42…) and my percentage dropped about 0.8%. However, the slide was better than the my drop in the Salsa 5k. Besides, I only dropped 2 places overall in men age graded. [Perhaps timing of headwinds in the first quarter of the race did slow the field as our pace section progressed, but I doubt it.] My time was 36 seconds faster than running in all those extra layers in the Holiday 10k Classic this past December.
My take is that my racing capacity rests on the 3 essential weekly workouts: VO2 max track intervals, tempo, and the long run, which I owe to Coach Tony Ruiz. Tuesday evening’s track is my favorite. It is all about pace. I could write pages on the virtues of this workout. Let’s just say at this stage of my running career, road racing to me is about pacing and the kick to the line. Thank you Coach Tony for letting me to stand on your shoulders.
Chris Neuhoff
Photo: J Mojica
Chris Neuhoff’s 45:38 was good for just under 76%. He braved the poor forecast and was our 3rd scorer.
Chris:
“It was great racing with the team again. I must have been the most overdressed runner in the race wearing a Columbia Jacket, 2 hats, 2 sets of gloves… thought it was going to be colder and windier.
Chris ran this last in 2013, 43:47, 77.61%
Kevin McGuire
Photo: J Mojica
Kevin McGuire’s 47:34 earned him 72.09%. It was 10 seconds faster than the Holiday Classic, 4 seconds slower than last year, and just under a minute faster than 2013. He is creeping up in age graded percentage.
Kevin:
“Great race Yasuhiro, Chris and Hank and the rest of the gang.
Hank hats off to a first place finish in your new age group.
Was a good day to race and the weather was just fine. Nice to be past the tough winter training cycle .
See you in Coney Island.”
Dan Molloy crossed the line in 50:58, 67.27%, which was good for 478th place out of 4250 men overall, just shy of the top 10%.
Dan:
“I really struggled in the park on Saturday, at the same time, it was great seeing everyone as usual.
I kept up with Kevin for 2 1/2 miles… and at the 3 mile mark was at 23:00 … but the hills did me in. I had nothing in my legs. Probably from my bike work during the week.
The best part of the effort… THE FINISH”
Phil Vasquez, in recovery mode, completed our team in 51:11, 66.4%. 2 years ago he ran it in 46:44, 71.44%. Will another year show his numbers return?
March 29th was the 10k Spring Meltdown. Both Yasuhiro and George Hirsch took 1st in their age division. Yasuhiro ran 41: 49 and George 55:40. They were 2nd and 4th men age graded overall. When these guys enter a NYRR non-team point race, it is like a ringer running in a small town race.
Next up is the Brooklyn Half on May 16th. I have Kevin, Rick, Phil and I as registered.
Registration is still open for both the 4 miler on June 7th and the 5 miler on June 27th.
To quote Kevin, “see you in Coney Island!”