Post #50 - Big Trip

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XC Kickoff

Top 30 of 190 from this weekend's Upstate Series XC race...

 THE 2009 UPSTATE CROSS COUNTRY SERIES RACE #1
            JAMESVILLE BEACH COUNTY PARK - SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

                Results by Leone Timing & Results Services
                           www.leonetiming.com
Men's Results
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLACE NAME                   SEX AGE TEAM                        TIME    PACE 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 Scott Shaw               M  28  Syracuse Track Club        15:42.1  5:04
   2 Kevin Collins            M  38  Syracuse Track Club        15:47.9  5:06
   3 Ryan Pauling             M  33  Genesee Valley Harriers    15:48.6  5:06
   4 Greg Stowell             M  OP  Syracuse Track Club        16:14.4  5:14
   5 Todd Halbig              M  33  Syracuse Track Club        16:28.0  5:18
   6 Chip Ohara               M  28  Syracuse Track Club        16:28.9  5:19
   7 Chad Byler               M  26  Genesee Valley Harriers    16:32.3  5:20
   8 Nick End                 M  25  Genesee Valley Harriers    16:36.0  5:21
   9 Nicholas Scalfone        M  24  High Noon AC               16:37.9  5:22
  10 Juan Martinez            M  31  Syracuse Track Club        16:41.3  5:23
  11 Andrew Foxenberg         M  25  Syracuse Track Club        16:51.0  5:26
  12 Earl Steinbrecher        M  45  Genesee Valley Harriers    17:00.2  5:29
  13 George Young             M  28  Junk Yard Dogs             17:03.0  5:30
  14 Dave Bischoff            M  47  Genesee Valley Harriers    17:13.3  5:33
  15 Carl Johnston            M  44  Genesee Valley Harriers    17:28.5  5:38
  16 Christopher Compson      M  27  Minoa                      17:33.4  5:40
  17 Randy Hadzor             M  23  Syracuse Track Club        17:37.3  5:41
  18 Jay Hubisz               M  30  High Noon AC               17:39.1  5:41
  19 Tom Meyer                M  34  High Noon AC               17:44.3  5:43
  20 John Van Kerkhove        M  47  Genesee Valley Harriers    17:48.0  5:44
  21 Adlai Wheeless           M  49  Syracuse Track Club        17:49.2  5:45
  22 Brian Lazzaro            M  34  High Noon AC               17:55.0  5:46
  23 Eric Maki                M  47  High Noon AC               17:58.4  5:48
  24 Tim Riccardi             M 50+  Syracuse Track Club        17:58.7  5:48
  25 Marty Maynard            M  28  Genesee Valley Harriers    18:01.0  5:48
  26 Kevin VanBoden           M  41  Syracuse Track Club        18:01.7  5:49
  27 Mark Rybinski            M  54  Genesee Valley Harriers    18:02.0  5:49
  28 Andrew Kress             M  23  Syracuse Jackalopes        18:05.3  5:50
  29 Tony Vodacek             M  50  Genesee Valley Harriers    18:05.8  5:50
  30 Jason Mintz              M  29  Syracuse                   18:09.8  5:51

Lopez Takes 8th at Worlds

1	233	Yusuf Saad Kamel	BRN	3:35.93
2	413	Deresse Mekonnen	ETH	3:36.01
3	1196	Bernard Lagat	USA	3:36.20
4	727	Asbel Kiprop	KEN	3:36.47
5	721	Augustine Kiprono Choge	KEN	3:36.53
6	811	Mohamed Moustaoui	MAR	3:36.57
7	436	Mehdi Baala	FRA	3:36.99
8	1198	Lopez Lomong	USA	3:37.62
9	232	Belal Mansoor Ali	BRN	3:37.72
10	810	Amine Laalou	MAR	3:37.83
11	808	Abdalaati Iguider	MAR	3:38.35
12	1203	Leonel Manzano	USA	3:40.05

Beer Mile

Sorry for no updates in a while. One's coming soon. In the meantime, here are the results from my first ever beer mile last Sunday.

Thanks to Mike for taking the splits.

Lore of Running References

For anyone interested, got a 100-page PDF of Noakes's Lore of Running references. I've had this document for a while and have found it to be a fairly comprehensive--if not a bit outdated--list of journal articles on the physiology of running. Most of these articles are accessible (at least in abstract form) on PubMed.

Wilbur-Duck Recap

Link here.

Stogsdill Finds Redemption Plus Some With National Championship

Chris Stogsdill of Marcellus won the national championship in the mile at Nike Outdoor Nationals earlier today with a new PR of 4:06.70. Syracuse Mile has already lined up an interview with him which should be posted after I take the boards on Thursday.

Hatz off to Alex Hatz of F-M who had a valiant close over the last 100 and took second in the race. I'd like to get an interview with him, too, at some point this summer.

You two definitely made Central New York proud!




National: N 3:53.43 5/27/2001 Alan Webb, S Lakes, Reston,
Meet: M 4:02.01 6/14/1997 Sharif Karie, West Springfi
Freshman: F 4:15.07 2005 Andrew Perkins, Watertown,
Freshman: F 4:09.69 2005 Sintayehu Taye (1600m), Por
Sophomore: O 4:06.07 6/14/2003 Jeff See, Middletown, OH
Junior: J 3:59.0h 1964 Jim Ryun, East, Wichita, KS
Senior: S 3:53.43 5/27/2001 Alan Webb, South Lakes, Res
Name Year School Finals
================================================================
Finals
1 Christopher Stogsdill 09 Camillus, NY 4:06.70F
2 Alex Hatz 10 Manlius, NY 4:07.28F
3 Pat McGregor 09 Hoover, AL 4:09.27F
4 Drew Shields 09 Fishers, IN 4:09.66F
5 Michael Atchoo 10 Troy, MI 4:11.63F
6 Dylan Sorensen 09 Zionsville TC 4:14.51F
7 Robert Kleber 09 Fort Wayne, IN 4:15.12
8 Pat Schellberg 10 Morristown, NJ 4:15.26
9 Christopher Schwartz 09 Bakersfield, CA 4:15.57
10 Danny Neff 09 vandalia, OH 4:16.09
11 Marco Bertolotti 10 Port Washington, NY 4:16.28
12 Daniel Everett 11 St. Louis, MO 4:16.44
13 Bobby Andrews 09 Wading River, NY 4:17.37
14 Stephen Walker 09 Midland, MI 4:17.74
15 Zach Tennant 09 Fairview, WV 4:19.09
16 Walter Schafer 10 Centennial, CO 4:20.03
17 Shane Moskowitz 10 Bremerton, WA 4:23.11
18 Colby Alexander 10 Strongsville, OH 4:23.29
19 Patrick Gomez 09 Auburn, AL 4:24.92
20 Chris Carrington 09 Thiells, NY 4:25.73
21 Byron Jones 10 westborough, MA 4:25.82
22 Chris O'Sullivan 10 Havertown, PA 4:30.63
23 Steve Mangan 10 Honeoye Falls, NY 4:34.86
24 Colin Baker 10 Haddonfield, NJ 4:36.91

NCAA's

German Fernandez takes his first outdoor title after going out in 2 flat.

Men 1500 Meter Run
=======================================================================
3 Heats. Advance top 3 from each heat plus next best 3 times.
American: 3:29.30 8/28/2005 Bernard Lagat, Nike
College Best: 3:30.56 8/11/1999 Bernard Lagat, Washington State
NCAA Meet: 3:35.30 6/6/1981 Sydney Maree, Villanova
Name Year School Finals Points
=======================================================================
Finals
1 German Fernandez FR Oklahoma State 3:39.00 10
2 Garrett Heath SR Stanford 3:39.51 8
3 Lee Emanuel SR New Mexico 3:39.66 6
4 Dorian Ulrey JR Arkansas 3:39.93 5
5 Matthew Gibney SO Villanova 3:40.58 4
6 Liam Boylan-Pett SR Georgetown 3:41.11 3
7 Austin Abbott SR Washington 3:41.15 2
8 Jeff See SR Ohio State 3:41.18 1
9 Craig Miller JR Wisconsin 3:41.31
10 Michael Coe SO California 3:41.64
11 Jordan McNamara JR Oregon 3:42.42
12 David McCarthy FR Providence 3:44.55

Hatz takes state title, would trade it for faster time

Link here. It was an impressive 4:06 run, though I'm baffled by the statement he made about being disappointed by not hitting 4:04.

I missed the meet, but apparently Stogs blew up after pushing the first mile of the 3200 at 4:24 pace. Liverpool boys took the 4x800.

All in all, a great weekend for Section 3 middle distance!

Off-Topic Friendly Message on Swine Flu

I submitted this for the AMA-MSS conference as a Scientific Issues Committee member. I thought I'd share it here for anyone interested, even though it has nothing to do with running.

Swine Flu: Pork or Peril? - Samuel Mackenzie, CSI


"Even though it killed at least 40 million people in less than a year, the 1918 influenza pandemic's most alarming feature may have been that it nearly extinguished the basic humanitarian impulses that bind civil society together."

The quotation is from John Barry, author of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History.1 It's an account of death and suffering by infectious cause that may strike today's physicians as near fiction by virtue of the sheer enormity of the epidemic. At this writing, basic humanitarian impulses are intact, but another strain of the influenza virus has come knocking at civil society's door. On April 27, 2009 the World Health Organization raised its global alert level regarding the spread of swine flu to Phase 4.2 While reminiscent of a color-coated U.S. Homeland Security Terror Alert level, the Phase 4 label is indeed grounded in science, as it indicates the virus's capability of sustained human-to-human transmission.3 More recent community infections of H1N1, a reassorted swine flu strain of Influenza A virus, put the virus's potential a mere phase away from a pandemic by WHO standards, at Phase 5.

That said, in an age in which 250,000 people in the world die from AIDS every month and over 2 billion are infected with M. tuberculosis,4 is swine flu such a public health nightmare that it warrants upwards of $3 billion in prevention and containment?5 (President Obama requested one and a half billion dollars of that sum for the development of a vaccine.) And as large as $3 billion sounds, the expenses associated with local, state, and federal programs likely pale in comparison to those more hidden costs: School and work closures, misguided bans on pork trade, and limits on travel to and from infected countries. Swine flu, or the more porcine-friendly H1N1, has taken the lives of 117 people to date--97 from Mexico, 17 from the U.S., 2 from Canada, and 1 from Costa Rica.6 For reference, 35,000 die from different strains of flu in the average year.7

Looking at these numbers, it would seem on the surface that our spending is a misappropriation of resources. However, stopping the story there ignores two key facts in the swine-flu story: First, transmission of H1N1 is occurring in the warmer months. Since it's confined to North America at this point, it's not a stretch to expect an increased incidence as we move into the fall and winter. Second, we may not have seen this virus in its most deadly form. When two RNA viruses trade their segmented parts upon coinfection of a cell, we call the process reassortment. This is the mechanism by which this particular virus was born in its swine host, and it could now just as easily take place in infected human cells leading to increased virulence and easier transmissibility. If that happened, we just might have another Great Influenza on our hands.

So the question remains: Are the measures we're taking truly worth it or is fear driving our decision-making on the policy level? Taking a utilitarian cost-benefit approach to global health, I consulted the 2008 Copenhagen Consensus Report.8 Each year, eight renowned economists (five of whom were Nobel laureates last year) prioritize several proposals related to the ten biggest global challenges (e.g. malnutrition, diseases, education, air pollution, etc.). To be fair, swine flu was not submitted for consideration, but the top three recommendations for efficacious global spending were 1) vitamin A and zinc supplements for children, 2) the Doha development agenda, and 3) iron and salt iodization. TB case finding and treatment came in at number 13.

What's frustrating about epidemic prevention is that it's impossible to evaluate the value of a good program since its goal will always be to maintain the status quo. If our programs fail, on the other hand, we'll know it. Maybe then, swine-flu will make the top-ten list.

1 Barry, J. (2004) The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. Viking Press, New York.

2 World Health Organization. (2009) Statement by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan: Swine Influenza. [http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/
h1n1_20090427/en/index.html] Accessed: 29 April 2009.

3 World Health Organization. Current WHO phase of pandemic alert. (2009)
[http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html] Accessed: 29 April 2009.

4 CDC. (2007) Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis—United States, 1993–2006. MMWR, 56: 250-253.

5 AP. (2009) Swine Flu Costs Ohio $44,000 Per Day. Columbus Dispatch. 11 May 2009.

6 AP. (2009) Mexico's Death Toll Reaches 97. Deccan Hearald. 30 May 2009. [http://www.deccanherald.com/content/5269/mexicos-swine-flu-death-toll.html] Accessed: 30 May 2009.

7 Rugman, J. (2009) New Yorkers Resist Swine Flu Panic, For Now. [http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/2009/04/29/new-yorkers-resist-swine-flu-panic-for-now/] Accessed: 30 May 2009.

8 Copenhagen Consensus. (2008) [http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/
Home.aspx] Accessed: 30 May 2009.

John Walker Interview

It's a pretty short interview, but I'm posting it because Walker has always been one of my favorites. Even as an older guy (he's 57 now), you can easily get a sense of how tough this guy was. I really enjoyed the stories last year about him betting on Willis to take gold in the Olympic final.


Walker has PR's of 1:44.92, 2:16.6, 3:32.4, 3:49.08, 4:51.4, and 7:37.49. Many of these were WR's at the time, and he was the first guy to ever break the 3:50 mark. As he states in the interview, however, what makes an athlete great is his capacity to win a gold medal, which Walker did in 1976 in Montreal. (As an aside, this was a year in which several African countries boycotted the games due to the New Zealand rugby team touring through South Africa. [It makes about as much sense to me as it does to you.] Walker's winning time was the slowest since the 1956 games, though it was a tactical race and he closed in 50 point.)

Fast HS Times

I'm sorry that I missed this. We've had some good local high school miling as of late. Chris Stogsdill popped a 4:07.93 full mile on May 1 and FM's Alex Hatz wasn't far behind (4:10.80). We've still got a lot of track to go in the next few weeks, but I'm pretty sure these times are up there in the national ranks right now.

Results here.

Stogsdill interview here.

New Online Running Log!

I've broken down and gotten a Flotrackr account, about a year after it was cool. For anyone out there looking for a place to record their running, I highly recommend it. It's my personal belief that writing down your running is good for three reasons: 1) It keeps you on top of it, 2) It provides you with a record to look back on when you're looking to adjust your training, and 3) It's fun.

New running log here.

(You might have to register to see, though I think I set everything to public. Can someone let me know?)

Quick Half for Steve

Another nice performance by my superior training partner, Steve Hicks took second in the Utica Half Marathon this past weekend with a time of 1:09, averaging just under 5:17's on what he described as a flat but windy course.

2009 Mountain Goat

Congrats to training partner Steve Hicks who was fourth at the Mountaingoat this past weekend behind Mike Barnow's Westchester guys. If anyone finds the article about Steve, let me know.

I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!

Dave Moorcroft Day

Slammed!

In my manic state before the two final exams before the big exam before plenty of more exams in the years to come, I was finalizing the dates for what I've labeled the "Upstate Mile Series."  If you don't like the terminology, I'm talking about the Ithaca Festival Mile, Charlie McMullen Memorial Mile, and Wilbur Duck.  Anyway, maybe my brain is fried but I thought it was a bit hard to find the date for the McMullen event.  I did end up finding it eventually, but before I did, I came across another site via Google search.

I guess the kid that won last year blogged about his experience doing so.  He didn't say anything nasty about me, but reading his account was a firm reminder of how racing when you're out of shape isn't the most fun thing in the world.  Thus, it pissed me off.  For those of you who are too lazy to click on the link above, here are the last three paragraphs:

"Sam Mackenzie has put a small gap on the rest of the pack. I've got one lap to catch him. I'm holding pace for the time being. It's the fastest pace I've run yet in the race, but I've got some reserves and I want to keep them in the wings, ready to deploy. With 200 meters remaining I've worn down Mackenzie's lead, but there is still a gap. I'm not right on his shoulder and I'm thinking, oh, it's ok. I'll wait for the final 100. Deja Vu. What am I thinking? I'm not making this mistake again. I kick hard at 200 meters.

I catch Sam on the homestretch. I'm throwing everything I've got down into the track. I want to pass with confidence-wilting speed, but I don't have that much of a kick and Sam is moving fast, so I pass him real slowly. The track, the stands, the spectators are flying by, but from my frame of reference Sam is moving back slowly. It feels so unnatural to be running at top speed and, oh, look, there's this other object floating by like a boat nudged by a breeze.

There's two sets of cones near the finish and I don't know, so I run on through both of them. First place. 4:20.47 is most certainly a personal best for a real and true mile. It's raining again afterwords and I feel good. I'm breathing big whale breaths. I probably feel good because the air is cool and all that wicked pollen has been flushed. It is a good day."

The Women's Mile Capital of America

Syracuse represented well in the tactically-run Penn Relays Women's OD mile this weekend.  Maureen McCandless, an assistant coach at SU was second with Amanda LoPiccolo running for the Chargers close behind her.  Taking seventh and eighth, respectively were Kaitlin O'Sullivan and my bride-to-be Natalie Gingerich.  Nice job, ladies.

PL	ID	ATHLETE	SCHOOL/AFFILIATION	MARK
1	2	Geena Gall	U. of Michigan	4:43.34
2	5	Maureen McCandless	New Balance Syracuse Elite	4:43.51
3	9	Amanda LoPiccolo	Syracuse Chargers	4:44.19
4	4	Elizabeth Maloy	unattached	4:44.83
5	11	Susan Hendrick	NYAC	4:45.43
6	3	Michelle Sikes	Nike	4:45.59
7	12	Kaitlin O'Sullivan	Syracuse Chargers	4:48.57
8	8	Natalie Gingerich	Nike Central Park TC	4:51.73
9	10	Danielle Barnes	U. of South Carolina	5:06.72
10	6	Jessica Eldridge	Sports Performance Group	DNS
11	7	Akeem Elliott	Puma	DNS

Ramzi caught...again

BUSTED!!!

In case you were living under a rock yesterday or studying for exams or something stupid like that, Rashid Ramzi got busted for drugs.  IOC officials picked up CERA EPO in his blood.  Essentially, it's EPO with a longer half-life, so you don't have to dose as frequently and have a much lower likelihood of getting caught.  I would really like to see some teeth bared with this suspension.  On top of the return of the gold medal, let's make sure we don't have to see this asshole on the track again.

Glory Days

I was browsing the web for local high school meets, since I feel like I should take an interest in such things given the subject of my blog, and I came across the results from this year's indoor track state championships on March 9.  There are some pretty nice pics here along with all the results.

I was somewhat surprised to see a Groton kid in the 1000.  Mikhail Kern took 21st with a time of 2:41.23.

This made me think back to what I ran in high school, so I looked into the Tully Runners archives and found that I only popped a 2:38.35 good for 5th that year, which by the way was WAAAAAY less competitive than 2009.  (Fifth place this year would have won by 6 seconds my senior year and this year's winner from F-M was less than 3 seconds off my PR.)  Also surprising were some of the guys in that race.  Reed Mauser, who I would race a good amount at Yale, won the race, and none other than Ed Palermo took second.

Impressive Cornell Performances

In celebration of running both days this weekend and given the fact that I've finished the latest draft of my grant and don't feel like doing anything else, I figured it would be a good time to update my blog.  A lot has been going on in the running world including World XC Champs, but I figured I'd use my 5 minutes of blogging to congratulate a couple of Cornell performances.  First off, a delayed cheeseburger to the Cornell men's DMR team that ran 9:35 the week before indoor nats.  That's the fastest time to ever NOT make it to the show, which is certainly saying something and they did it without Jimmy.  Also, nice work to Zac Hine who this past weekend dropped a nasty 29:09 at Stanford for 2nd in school history behind Brian Clas.  Zac is now in front of a couple of Olympians and he's still got a few months to drop under 29.  So painful just thinking about that.

More on Miller

http://athletics.syr.edu/news/2009/2/2/MillerFlotrack.aspx

Miller time!

Brad Miller of Syracuse University gets close.  4:00.19 at Terrier...

Results here.

I spoke with Coach Fox last Friday when I ran my med school fat 1:59 at Manley and he said he was going to have his guys run a sub-3 1200 to tune up on Tuesday then bring it back down.  I'm not sure how that ended up, but it's pretty clear at least one of his guys has a very good shot at getting under 4 this season.  If anyone has splits from the race, please comment.

Asshole Runner Episode 1

Mike D. on Facebook.  Hopefully you guys can get to the link.

Sub 1:50

I found a great post on letsrun (which I only check irregularly at this day in age) that has a lot of good tidbits from various posters as to the best training methods for getting under 1:50 in the 800--also applicable to the 1500 in a lot of ways.

Long training thread here.

To give a brief update on my life, I've finished the first half of MS2 at Upstate. Boards are coming in June and then I need to start working in the lab, which will hopefully leave some extra time for more running. I wouldn't say that I've gotten any real "training" in this year, but I have been running a minimal amount. This is pretty much the same story as last year and to some extent the year before that, though if that was true then it was largely due to burn-out and not other time commitments. There are plans in the works for a few races this month. We shall see!