CH Runners
Running => Running => Topic started by: Coyote Mas Loco on March 20, 2019, 07:41:28 AM
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About to embark on my trip to run in the World Masters Athletics competition in Toruń, Poland. It's the indoor track and field championships (held every other year), but they are also hosting "nonstadia" events, an 8K cross country, 10K road race and half marathon. I signed up for all three but will likely do two of the three because that'd be a lot of racing in just 5 days.
Here is the event website. https://wmaci2019.com/
I'm a nervous nellie right now, not about the competition--that part will take care of itself--but simply the logistics of getting there. I have a layover in Europe and not much time to get through customs to catch the flight to Warsaw. Rookie booking error. Supposedly there will be an agency hosting a 2 hr bus ride once I get to Warsaw, but details on that are sketchy. My lodging will be spartan, a dorm about 3 miles from the venues. Had a heck of at time with getting a room. They want me to show up by 8 PM tomorrow or will cancel my reservation. Hope that email and phone contacts work for all that! So a bit of foreboding just to make the trip without too many hitches or delays. But hopefully in 24 hours I'll be on the bus on the way to Toruń.
I'll post up some updates as we go.
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Good luck. Bring a lot of bribe and Uber money. :fingers:
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Good Luck! :obh:
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GOGOGO!!! Just channel your inner Zatopek and do it all. :runner:
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Super excited for you!! Good luck!
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Made through a 28 hour travel day with planes, a train, my automobile, and a packed mini bus lugging a trailer. Made all connections but the planes, nearly six thousand miles, and seven hour mini bus ordeal were really drawn out.
Left the house on time and drove just few miles to the light rail, which I took to the airport. Just before arriving got an ominous text saying that my flight from NYC to Paris was cancelled. But they’d get back to me with a new schedule. Got routed to Salt Lake City and Amsterdam instead but arrived in Poland at the same time. Just a few more hours on planes and tarmacs. But actually easier to get around those airports than the original itinerary.
All good only slept a bit on the cramped flight over the sea, and the last hour and a half it was impossible because of about 20 men chatting like hens the entire time, occasionally breaking into chants and song. I assume they were Polish on a work crew but they sure were boisterous.
Got to the airport and had a mild panic at not seeing the pick up crew and thought I’d have to take a rail or bus on my own. But the coordinator was simply not holding up the sign because she was taking down information from us weary travelers. This created some confusion and chaos and we had to delay 2 hours at the airport to get everyone there and the driver to pick us up. Finally she led us outside like a young mother duck with I believe 16 masters athletes from age about 50 to 80s. The majority Americans but we had some Poles and Spaniards and smattering from places I was not sure of. Driver shows up gesticulating and they pow pow for several minutes before he speeds off. Ten minutes later returning with the same van but now towing a small trailer for our luggage.
It was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride but stretched into 5 by the time I got to my hotel. Drove nearly 3 hours on freeways and highways, landscape much like upstate New York on the lake plain outside of buffalo or parts of Ohio-Indiana along I 80. Farm fields broken up by copses of pine and birch. Very flat. Individual farms though, not thousand acre corporate expanses. Saw some roe deer feeding in the fields, ravens perched for an easy meal, and a storks nest.
Utter chaos as the drive prdropped each of us off individually, most in the university and old town section with narrow streets and busy evening traffic. One of the Americans, an elderly thrower, and the Spaniards made the most fuss sowing discord and angst resulting in several passengers to abandon the van and take their chances on the streets either walking to their destination or taxi/Uber. A Polish American woman runner did her best to keep the peace and to keep driver and pass info to the passengers.
Other than our impromptu interpreter I was last to be dropped off. Much further out than anyone else, at a small Catholic college about 5 km from the venues and city center. It’s exceedingly quiet here. I have a whole wing of the dorm to myself. Would like to be closer in but it’s all that was available unless I had a car and I’m right on the bus routes. And price can’t be better. Even bests a rom through Airbnb.
Today I’ll run to the venue and get my credentials, preview the xc course and see about getting some food and supplies for my room. And I’ll sleep some more this afternoon.
So that’s a first draft of my first leg of the trip.
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Thanks for sharing. Glad you made it ok.
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Whoa, already quite an adventure. Rest well, shake off the jet lag and good luck.
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MOREMOREMORE!!!
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Good luck! A big crew of my Mass velocity friends are there, say hi to them from Arnie.
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Bronze medal in 8K cross country. Running the half marathon on Saturday.
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Third in the WORLD!!! Huge congrats!
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whoa! congrats!!! Do you get to see more of Poland (in addition to watching other events) in the meantime?
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Congrats on the podium finish and good luck in the upcoming Half. All those cabbage rolls are doing you good.
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Bronze medal in 8K cross country.
:obh:
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YESYESYES!!! Once you show your book pages and randy verifies you didn't cut the course we shall celebrate!
:cheers:
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About 4 or 5 days going to write up some more on my impressions here, it was all in my head, but then got caught up in events and a crash course in recovery.
I like it here and would like to have more time to see the country, but also looking forward to getting back home and into the normal routine.
The first several days were challenging because even little things were quite different, from the convoluted route to wend my way to my hotel/dorm room to figuring out bus schedules, let alone routes. Meal schedules and diet, the money system, and of course language. English is the second language at the meet but outside of that you are on your own. Some speak in halting English, but more than half do not—even at tourist places. So other than hand signals a few times I’ve resorted to google to find a word and I’ll show it to them. And even saying thank you with a reasonable pronunciation is not easy. Fortunately the hosts have been very kind and patient. Just walk around with your credentials tag and the will help you out.
I think it would be amazing to spend a couple months here with some immersive language training. That way you’d really get to know the country and it’s people. In the meantime I’ve enjoyed going to the old town and wandering around there. It’s touristy but also authentic. It’s Pearl Street Mall times X5. Five times older, and five or ten times larger. And the cobblestones are for real, not to mention 600 year old castle walls (and older if you venture outside the city center).
In the people I see a generation gap. Many of those over about 50 show the weathering effects of the Soviet occupation that ended 30 years ago, while the students at the large university that I pass by every on the way to the sports venues and city look and dress like millennials anywhere. People are thinner than in the USA, but they also smoke and vape more.
It’s also been fun to interact with the athletes, because that’s why we’re here and so we have an instant bond. One of my favorites was on the bus ride back the other day I sat next to a thrower from Kazakhstan, about my age. He could barely speak English but we had a conversation about our events and countries. And ended up showing pictures, him skiing in the rugged mountains outside of Almaty and I show him a photo of of the Rockies.
And running for the USA, while wearing the USA gear, has been an honor in its own right. The other night before a team social at a swanky hotel six of us yanks piled into a four seat old Yugo and went to town for dinner, acting a bit silly taking selfies and videos as we ventured into old town. The USATF event later was a little lame, they drew it out too long, but the pre-meal with new friends was a blast, like being on a college team again.
Finally the race on Saturday is going to be tough! I’ll be going against the gold medalists from the distance races, a guy from Kazakhstan (set s world record in the 3000 and then won 10K road by more than a minute) and the Finnish runner who blew open the xc race on Monday after about 5K. But other than that I should be right in there, and they’ve done 8-9 miles of racing this week while I’ve just done a little under 5.
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Thanks for sharing. Super excited for you! Good luck in your last race.
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GOGOGOGO!!!!
I think it would be amazing to spend a couple months here with some immersive language training. That way you’d really get to know the country and it’s people. In the meantime I’ve enjoyed going to the old town and wandering around there. It’s touristy but also authentic. It’s Pearl Street Mall times X5. Five times older, and five or ten times larger. And the cobblestones are for real, not to mention 600 year old castle walls (and older if you venture outside the city center).
But are the people who hang out there five times as weird? :d
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Good luck coach!!
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Finally home and I can put up some pictures.
Starting with 500 years of infrastructure -
Ruins of the original wall around Torun, ca. mid-late 1400s
(https://i.imgur.com/0AcmxR8.jpg)
Old Town Hall - also late 15th century, and one of the largest such structures of its kind still standing. And that's a statue of the city's most famous citizen, Nicholas Copernicus.
(https://i.imgur.com/CabHPZU.jpg)
A cobbled side street, near the Copernicus house, looking similar to what it did more than 500 years ago, if you replace horse carts for cars
(https://imgur.com/BgXFR8u.jpg)
And jumping ahead 400 years to Soviet style buildings, probably built in the 1950s and 1960s.
(https://i.imgur.com/1vjqjHo.jpg)
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Half race report sooner???
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Pre-Race
I got into a routine all week, where I'd run at 10 AM every day, same time as my races. I stayed in a modified dorm room/hotel at a college about 5 km from the venues, but on easy bus access.
I knew my opponents had run two races each already, with 11 and 13K of racing and not had much recovery. I only had run the 8K XC and had 5 days to recover. Hoped that this would be to my advantage on Saturday. And it was.
I relaxed as much as I could during the week and kept a consistent schedule. Did some touring on Thursday but did not overdo time on my feet. Sleep was a bit of a challenge all week, as I woke up every night at about 2 and would take some time to fall back asleep.
Race Day
Here is the course (scroll down half way for the HM course). It's mostly flat.
https://wmaci2019.com/non-stadia-competitions/
Conditions were low-mid 50s and a mild breeze/cross wind (6-8 mph), facing it a bit stronger on the return.
They started us in front if the ice rink, which is adjacent to the indoor track (fabulous facility by the way, best indoor track that I've ever been to and they had the European championships there a couple of years ago.). And we were seeded by age, so I was in Corral 2 for 55 and up. We were lined up about 10 rows back. Official timing is gun, not chip, and I don't know why they do things this way. Nevertheless, all the players in my age group were close so no one got a big advantage.
We're off!
The first 2K were very crowded, like running Boston or New York where you can't really pass, and just have go with the flow. At a half K we turned north onto the boulevard where most of the race course was on, and had two lanes for maybe a K, before it narrowed into a singe lane separated from traffic by cones and barriers. I moved up some and skirted around walls of runners, must have been in the 100s. Passed Jukka, the Finn, and pointed out the Sergei the Kazakh runner, maybe 50 meters ahead. Jukka followed me as the crowds thinned and we moved up from group to group. My legs did not feel good, and thought that I'm feeling only at 85% (as if 100% is feeling fantastic). But the pace seemed good and my breathing was under control.
Our 5K split was 18:34 gun (18:24 chip). First mile was slow, but were running sub 6s once things cleared.
Sergei was not pulling away and the crowd between us and him had thinned by 5K, and we were now out of the urban/suburban areas and onto a two lane road in a forested park-like area. Jukka took the pacing duties for a bit, and we were now gaining. At just before 8K there was a downhill stretch. And it was followed by a long uphill, first of only two hills on the course. It was just a couple percent of grade and 500 or 600 m in length. As we eased up on Sergei, I noticed that he was wearing capri tights and technical (thermal) long sleeve shirt under his singlet and shorts. It was maybe 55 degrees +/- and we just in singlets and shorts. He was sweating through the shirt and I figured that this had to be affecting him, or would be by the end.
Over just a few dozen meters it was decision time. Both he and Jukka are much faster at 3K (9:43 world record for Sergei last week and 9:47 for Jukka, at best I'm in low 10s shape) and no doubt 1500/5K, and I did not want to mess around with tactical pacing for the next 5-7 miles just to have them surge away as we approached the finish. So I used the altitude training/and living that we enjoy (sometimes rue) to my advantage. It was my good fortune that we were all right there at the same time. My thought here was that training at altitude kind of sucks, especially when you hit any sort of incline--you breathe hard, heart rate shoots up, and pace slows down by 20 seconds. At sea level, not so because can run at a fast pace up a hill and recover more quickly than someone who lives or trains at lower elevation.
So I maintained a low 5:50s pace up and over the hill, and probably put 8-10 seconds on them. I knew this was an effort that I could not carry to the end but committed to hold it as long as I could in the hope that I could have enough of a gap fend them off in the stretch. The 10K split was 36:40 (so an 18:06 5K). At this point we were out of the valley and into flat upland farm country.
I carried that effort through the half-way turn around (a lollypop loop onto a bike path) and passed 15K in 55:04 (18:24 split), but I could tell things were about to get more difficult. By about 16K (10 miles) I had mostly stopped passing runners and was just holding position, with a tall Irishman and Spaniard 20 or 30 m ahead. I was starting to fall back, but had good fortune somewhere between about 17K and 18K when a class 40 Polish runner went by, I think maybe first runner to pass me all day, or at least since 2K. We were having a bit of a head/cross wind and I just latched onto him and drafted, promising myself to stick through a distant stoplight about half K ahead.
My thoughts were don't look at my watch, and don't think about those behind. Just run as relaxed as I can with the Polish runner pulling me along. We made it through the stoplight, and then another, and then some before I had to ease up while he pulled away. We had passed the Spaniard (also 40s) while gap between the tall Irishman and I hadn't grown much. Then another Polska runner came up from behind. And I did the same thing. Then the Spaniard rebounded and went by. Repeat.
20K split in 1:13:44 (18:40, slowing but still hanging onto about 6:00 pace).
The last K was tough but figured that they were not going to catch me. Did a sideways glance at the final turn with half K to go and may have spotted Jukka but he was a ways back. Did not see Sergei (who at the time was gaining!). The last 200 m was like a Tour de France stage, with spectators crowded onto the street. The path to the finish line was only a couple meters wide. I sprinted so I could break 1:18 (exceeding best case expections by 20 or 30 seconds). Even though I was only 50th place or so overall, and the race winners had crossed nearly 10 minutes earlier, I raised my arms, knowing that I had finished ahead of two very formidable opponents. And then the announcer said that I was the Gold Medal 60 year old division!
1:17:49 gun (official), 1:17:38 chip.
Moments after finishing
[(https://i.imgur.com/l2ua8LP.jpg)
Aftermath
I spent the rest of the day in a sort of muted and stunned state. Happy on the inside but also emotional almost like I wanted cry. Maybe a good thing the awards was 3 hours later. And it was amazing to stand on the podium while they played the national anthem. Someone handed me a flag a while I fumbled around some, and displayed it backards, I did keep it upright and off the ground.
Saturday was just one of those days were everything lined up and worked in my favor.
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Wow! Just wow! Yes, everything lined up in your favor but you also had the wisdom, patience and tenacity to spot the advantages and go after them. So proud of you!
Congratulations!!!
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Amazing and smart race. Congrats again.
Where are the pictures of the polish sausage meals?
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Photos of the 8K XC race the other week.
(https://i.imgur.com/cgsXxwp.jpg)
At the end of lap 1, had moved from 12th, to 6th by 1K and closing in on 5th and 4th here at 2K.
(https://i.imgur.com/2acrxrh.jpg)
And then there were three, from nearly 40 meters back now in contact with the leaders.
(https://i.imgur.com/tmkgHim.jpg)
The battle for silver and bronze on the final hill trying to navigate a sand trap.
(https://i.imgur.com/WUFaFMR.jpg)
Bronze it is! And I'll take an order of oxygen to go, please.
(https://i.imgur.com/J0G9n9K.jpg)
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Great pics!!
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fantastic!
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Congratulations!!! What a smart race you ran! Thank you for sharing this experience-loved this.
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Wow-- very cool & congrats! thanks for sharing with us. Too cool!
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:)
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Thank you for sharing all this, and great job! Your chronicles of these beautiful sites and wild races was fantastic.
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YESYESYESYES!!!!
In college shape I could give you a run for your money at 3k, but I'm not as young as I used to be :d
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I want to be you when I grow up. I can compete at Nationals but a medal is out of my league. Great pictures too!