Let it Snow

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
That's why I'm inside on my bicycle,
And since we've no place to go,
Let's ride! Let's ride! Let's ride!

It doesn't show signs of pausing,
And Coach Troy, he is so demanding,
With Jan riding along side encouraging,
Let's ride! Let's ride! Let's ride!

When the dvd finally finishes,
How I'll hate going out to shovel!
But if I can ride for three hours,
I can come back and stay warm in our hovel.

My energy is slowly fading,
And, my dear, the snow keeps blowing,
But as long as you love me so,
Let's ride! Let's ride! Let's ride!

We-Tri Eastside YMCA

What better way to begin a Sunday morning in December than an indoor triathlon? Four Sals members battled it out for pride and a bottle of wine. Congratulations to Loubikekiller Katz for winning the contest!

We can also now count MW as an official triathlete, as he finished his first three- sport contest.

Points were scored for the number of swim laps, bike and run miles completed. Lou, Mike and I completed 28 laps in the pool in 15 minutes (700 yards). Jan floated along to 800 yards. Lou completed 8 miles on the bike, MW 7.5 miles, Jan 7.1 miles and me, Mrslowtransitionman, 6.6 miles. That's what happens when you sit toweling off for too long in the changing room.

In the run Lou did 2.26 miles, MW 2.25 miles, Jan 1.98 miles and I did 2.29. Each event lasted 15 minutes, with transition times of 5 minutes, except for me, who took over 6 minutes after the swim. Overall Lou was 3/4 in his age group, Jan 2/11, MW 3/9 and me 4/9.

Total points were; Lou - 223.7. MW - 218, Jan 214, Me - 209.5.

Breakfast Club Philosophy?

There is a belief in some circles that this is why a certain group of people in Spencerport insist on running at 5:30am, no matter what the weather;

"They go running in the morning, before their brains figure out what they are doing."

Quote modified from original at Run The Planet.

Cell Phones

Yes, I'm an admitted cell phone hater. Maybe it's because I work in a library and am surrounded by mindless cell phone users who think their scintillating conversations are worthy of everyone else hearing them.

Well, they aren't. Take the damn phone outside the library fool. Can't there be one quiet place for people to study? Let's see, you can't use the phone in class, not allowed in the computer lab connected to the library, but you think it's okay to talk so loudly that everyone within 50 feet can hear you in the library? Idiots.

Anyhow, I'm in the Race with Grace on Thanksgiving Day. Around 3.5 miles into the race I come up on some guy talking to himself, loudly. I begin to pass him and realize, he's not talking to himself, he's on his cell phone telling someone where he is in the race. I'm not sure if the person he was talking to was also in the race. We live in a sad society if you can't be without your cell phone for 45-50 minutes while you are in a race!

I know USATF rules state this is illegal. But even if they didn't, it's just stupid and sad.

At least it was hands-free and I beat him, by minutes. Maybe he had more conversations that slowed him down?

Grunts, Groans, Wheezing

Runner's World online has an article on loud runners. Many people have posted comments on how annoying these loud runners are. A couple of people admitted they are loud runners, but the majority hate us.

Yes, us. I am a loud runner. Training partners know I'm not running hard enough if they don't hear the "bear". I don't do it on purpose and would really prefer not making any noise. It actually makes my voice and throat sore for a day or two if I really pushed the pace. It also startles some people, or makes them laugh at me, or warns competitors that I am near.

It's not asthma, been checked. Seems to be weak muscles in my larynx area that close up with repeated deep breathing. I'm a sensitive old man, give me a break, I don't breath loudly on purpose, but if that's what it takes to get the best out of me, so be it.

Keep wearing your headphones, then you won't have to hear me.

GRTC Hall of Fame

One of our own, Richard Withrow, was nominated and approved for the Greater Rochester Track Club Hall of Fame! Dick was the GRTC president during the 1980's, when club membership was at an all time high. He directed local races, served as volunteer coordinator for the Lilac 10k for many years and coached at the high school level.

Dick was (and still is) a formidable racer, especially as a masters runner in his 40's. He ran a marathon in the 2:40 range and consistently won or placed in the top 3 in his age group at every race he entered. Dick competed equally well among runners half his age for many years.

It is an honor to know him, run with him in the Spencerport area, and now, train for triathlons together.

Race With Grace 10k

When I first ran Race with Grace race I had almost a full head of hair, including a beard and mustache. Think of Forrest Gump ("Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows")running across America, but with a little bit more style to his hair. Though the only wind I blow is after a heavy meal and usually clears out a room.

I have had the honor of completing 17 of the 18 times this race has been run. My race times now are what used to be a tempo run (43:22). But, I'm still at it and managed to somehow get third in my age group out of 61 and earning some valuable RROY points. Even better was beating MW and other members of the Breakfast Club!

Mytriathlete wife was 9/43, with a 50:11 (8:05pace). LouImsofastandskinnyK set a 40 second pr, 6/45 in age group. Our daughter Amanda came up from Kissimmee, wore 7 layers of clothes to stay warm and also finished the race.

Of course the afternoon was filled with food, wine and later, a walk to make room for desserts. Yes, desserts. Why have just one?

Once a Runner

Finally completed my newly acquired copy of John L. Parker's book, "Once a Runner", available in hardcover at your local Fleet Feet store. A great novel about running, one that I will definitely keep to read again.
Here is one quote from the novel, Cassidy, the main character, is talking about his disgust for xc (or is this MW?), "over hill and dale out in the middle of nowhere. Spit freezing on your goddamn chin. Five hundred complete wild men in the mud, running up on your heels with long spikes. Oh, I love cross-country all right. I also like being flayed alive with a rusty straight razor."

Why Swim on a Friday Night?

Top ten reasons to swim tonight.

10. It’s cold outside, the water will feel warm
9. I’m going to get to the locker room first and get a big locker!
8. I need to train to swim far and fast for 15 minutes to beat Jan, Mike and Lou at the Tri at the Y in December.
7. My rubber ducky is anxious to go for a swim in a big pool instead of the tub.
6. Two workouts in one day, yeah!
5. I like wearing a buoy between my legs.
4. The goggles make me look cool.
3. I get to show off my James Bond look-alike body.
2. My swim trunks are the best, who else has pockets with Kleenex?
1. Mr. and Mrs. W (Spencerport buddies) will be there.

Upstate NY Cross-Country

Great results from the Fleet Feet team's first real venture into xc. We had a full men's veteran age group team at each of the five races in the Upstate NY series. We finished in third place overall, narrowly defeating Syracuse. The final race of 5 miles was run at FingerLakes Community College on a windy (up to 30mph), cold(37) day on a wet course.

The highlight was Lou K. completing the race with his reading glasses loosely hanging from his race shirt. Think how fast Lou would have run if he hadn't been so engrossed in his copy of "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker?

Special efforts during the race were made by Mike ivehadacoldallweekW, Frank Greatmyfamilygavemetheflu and Joe SprinttillyoudropK.

Mytriathletewife ran all 5 races and secured a ninth overall spot in the women's masters division, earning a tech top shirt. Dennis M, our lead dog at every race, finished fifth in the vet division, also earning a shirt.

Best of all, the team owners drove to the race to cheer us on and cook breakfast for all of us when we were finished!

Running with Fleet Feet Team

Here is my (submitted by MW) top 10 list as to why I enjoy being on the FF team.

1. Run and then wine tasting.
2. Eco friendly. We can get to a race using the less vehicles than GVH.
3. Mike McWinoneforthegipper is incredibly organized and keeps us in line.
4. I enjoy being the fastest of the non counting times.
5. Post race restaurants at exotic locations.
6. Ethnic diversity. Lou is from Queens!
7. Get to run a race that has a Mt. Everest on the course.
8. Sponsored by FF which is advertised in Runner's World, which is my favorite book.
9. Telling friends I run for the FF team. Heavily recruited. Know the owners personally.
10. The only team where one of my teammates lets me kiss her on the lips. Yeah baby!

Why I love Cross-Country Races

10. Running through the woods like a deer.
9. Shopping for and buying spikes at my favorite running store (Fleet Feet).
8. The courses are so different than running on the roads. Grass, trees, roots, dips, gravel, paths, wood chips, leaves, damn I tripped again.
7. How many times do you get to run (walk?) up a hill during a race that's so steep it's called Mt. Everest?
6. Being part of a team again, our shirts are the coolest.
5. Seldom does a plain bagel taste so good than after 6k in the mud.
4. Mytriathletewife races too and I can beat her!
3. Mikey WhydidmywifemakemedothisIonlylikeroadsPress (seen in photo) is a great sixth man.
2. We travel to neat places like Vernon, Ithaca, Canandaigua, Mendon and Syracuse.
1. Feeling like your lungs are going to burst open, gasping for air while knowing you still have another mile left.

Train Like a Maniac

10. Add in another speed day, say a quiet Sunday morning while everyone else is resting or sleeping late.
9. Run hills, again and again and again.
8. Meet the Spencerport breakfast club at 5:30am for a tempo workout (my willpower is seldom strong enough for this).
7. Workout twice a day, or more (notice I didn't say run twice, which is also okay sometimes).
6. Bike home from work, then run.
5. Take a rest day, you can't beat your body and soul up continuously. Eat an extra cookie, have a scotch.
4. Lose weight.
3. Lift weights-including abdominal work!
2. Concentrate on mental toughness while running, "pain is inevitable, suffering is temporary" (original author unknown). How much are you willing to suffer and for how long? Is it raining, snowing, windy? Who cares?
1. Winning is relative. Did you set a pr for your age, for the year, on that course, in that distance, make it through a race giving 100% of the best effort you could for that given day? Then you are a maniac. Congratulations!

Can't say I do all of this, but I try, especially leading up to races that for ridiculous personal reasons are important to me.

Fleet Feet XC Team Photo

Al, Frank, Dennis, Tri-wife, Lowly, Pete, Jim, Mike & Trophy Wife, Lou, Chet. At Ithaca College xc meet, November 1.

Stickman Cartoon

Elite runners versus the rest of us?


From the website, Run the Planet.

Triathlon Life Magazine

The first question is why does this magazine come to me, but not Jan? I have completed one triathlon, a sprint, while she has done many sprint distance tris, two half-ironmans and will be competing at Lake Placid IM in 2009.

But I did read the newest issue and was surprised by the number of Rochester area triathletes mentioned throughout the magazine. Also, another local connection, Jeff Henderson, race director of the Musselman triathlon, had an article about carbon footprints.

Heidi Grimm, formerly of Rochester, now from Colorado Springs, finished 15th in the ITU Long Distance World Championship in August.

Carl Johnston, of Ontario, NY, won the USA Sprint National Championship masters division at Trumansburg, NY on August 3. Tom Dutton of Livonia, NY won the Grandmaster division. Travis Kuhl, who competes in many Rochester area tris and du's, won the 30-34 age group. Dennis Moriarty won the 50-54 age group.

At the USAT age group Olympic Distance championship, held in Oregon on September 20, Curt Eggers of Henrietta finished 3rd in the 50-54 division. Tom Dutton finished 2nd in the 60-64 division.

These results prove the Rochester NY area has a lot of talented triathletes.

Upstate Cross-Country

Our next race is at Vernon-Verona High School, a 6k beginning at 11am on Sunday, November 9. Here is a course description, courtesy of Frank Q.

"I love the Verona course out of all of them this is a true cross country course. There are no major hills but lots of ups and downs with many turns. It is mostly in the woods."

Team FF Vet men are in 3rd place in the series with 9 points. GVH has 16, High Noon 14, Syracuse 5, GVH2 2points and Buffalo Checkers 2pts. Best 4 races count, top 3 teams win awards, the FLCC race points are doubled. We need to look out for and beat Syracuse and Buffalo runners, though I also think our #3-6 runners need to step it up a bit and close on any High Noon guys we see in the race. I have let myself get beat by some of those guys by less than 20 seconds and need to show some guts in the last 1/4 mile of races.

Individually the top 10 vet men get awards. Dennis has 41 points and is in the top five, Frank G has 10 points and close to the top 10. In SuperVet the top 3 get awards, Dick W. has 20 points and Pete L has 17.

Masters women top 5 get awards, Jan has 9 points, probably not enough for top 5. In SuperVet Eileen has 17 points and top 3 get awards. She also is not yet in the top 3 I believe.

For team and individual awards you must run in at least 4 races and FLCC is double points. If our team wins one of the top 3 spots, our top 8 scoring guys get awards.

Prize Winner

The rumors are true. I won the dvd, "Run for Your Life", the story of Fred Lebow and the NYC marathon. The Rochester Running Page webmaster had a trivia contest offering the dvd as a prize. I was one of 5 winners.

Definite proof that there is something good about sitting at a reference desk in a library all day and having a fast internet connection!

Follicly Challenged

Our society takes the amount of hair on one's head (especially men's heads) much too seriously. Too much money is spent on hair care products (for those with hair, the bastards), combs, brushes- what mature male has enough hair for a brush? - styling gels, salons and other nonsense.

In my youth I had lots of hair; bushy, thick, brown hair. It hung out my football helmet, proved my manhood, was seldom cut, and actually curled more than I liked. Now I have a few strands in front and on the sides, a bit on top, just a bit, enough to make me think I have a full scalp, until the damn barber holds the mirror at the rear of my head to show me how well he cut the remnants, but really is only showing me skin!

I don't visit that barber much anymore. The young ladies at Supercuts never hold a mirror to this old man's head, which goes a long ways towards increasing their tip.

You may be asking what the hell does this have to do with sports? Supposedly if you are free of hair you swim faster, like a dolphin gliding through the water. I would like to glide through the water. The other night I found myself alone in the bathroom looking at the mounds of chest hair, especially the grey chest hair, on my body. "What possible use is this stuff anymore" I asked. "no use" was my answer. So I grabbed some scissors and began trimming.

This brings me to another point. Why do I lack hair on my head, the socially acceptable place to have lots of hair, but have a gift for growing hair on my chest, shoulders, arms, legs and ears? What curse has befallen me? Did I wrong some wizard in high school or college?

While my chest is not without hair, after all I did not shave it, there is less. Will I swim faster? Probably not, having my feet not act like anchors would help that more than losing hair. But I did notice today that my chest itches, like it was shaved. Now I'm really confused and feel like I'm in the Seinfeld episode when Jerry shaves all his chest hair off.

Kramer: Hey Jerry. What is this? Lady Gillette? What's going on?
Jerry: What? Can't I get a moment's peace?
Kramer: What are you doing to yourself?
Jerry walks into camera view with his chest covered with shaving cream.
Jerry: I can't stop. Alex thinks I'm naturally hairless.
Kramer: You can't keep this up. Don't you know what's going to happen? Everytime you shave it, it's going to come in thicker and fuller and darker.
Jerry: Oh that's an old wives tale.
Kramer: Is it? Look at this.
Kramer walks off-screen and opens his shirt. On-screen, Jerry reels from the sight.
Kramer: (high pitched voice) Look at it! Look at it! And it's all me. I shaved there when I was a lifeguard.
Jerry: Oh come on. That's genetics. That's not going to happen to me.
Kramer: Won't it? Or is it already starting to happen?

If you see me at the pool, please be polite and don't stare at my chest or scream.

Fastest Time Didn't Win Race!

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle told the story of 24-year-old Arien O'Connell, who set a pr by 12 minutes and had the fastest time of the day.

Unfortunately for her, despite the fact she beat the next woman by 11 minutes on the hilly course, it wasn't good enough for first place. Officials decided that since the chosen "elite" runners started 20 minutes before the main pack, and Arien wasn't part of that group, that her time didn't count towards awards.

This is absurd. It's not her fault the elite didn't run a faster time. The marathon wasn't advertised as two separate races, just different starting times. Arien knew she was in good shape, but understandably didn't think she was elite and didn't apply for that status.

And runners in the U.S. wonder why we aren't taken more seriously as a major sport? Well, here is one reason why. This is a joke.

Run for Hospice 5k

Sal's runners performed well at the October 18th Hospice race. Pete seems to be fully recovered from a long injury, and ran 22:57 to finish 2nd in the 65+ age group. Jan ran a season best 23:51 and picked up more Rochester Runner of the Year points, Patty P finished 2nd in her age group with a 21:17, Alex ran 21:04, just nosing me out with his superior sprint speed. I finished in 21:08 and picked up a few RROY points.
Lou, recovering from a hamstring tear, finished in 21:53, and Bernie, in the same age group ran a 21:13.
Mike and Eileen teamed up to do an awesome job with the 1 and 7 mile race clock and yelling out times.
I made up for a disappointing race time by eating non-stop pizza, hamburgers, pasta and snacks at the post-race party, which is annually is one of the best you will find at any race.