January 16, 2011 |

Frosty’s Frozen 10-mile Race Report

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Who wants to live in a world where dogs eat each other? ~ Gloria


1:04:48, 17th overall, 1st in age group, PR


2011 racing has started off well with a solid effort this past weekend resulting in a PR for the 10-mile, 17th place overall and 1st in my age group. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this one as I didn’t taper at all nor have I really done much speed work to speak of. Plus my mileage over the last couple of weeks has been less than stellar. So I picked a fairly aggressive target time and just went out to see what I could do and to provide a measure of my relative fitness this early in the season. Apparently, it is not too shabby.


The weather was on the cool side at the 10:15 start and I only warmed up a little while (mostly because I was running a little late and didn’t have much time to warm up). That probably played to my advantage anyway. The first couple miles were, as usual, a bit too fast. The lead group pulled ahead fairly quickly and I tucked in behind two guys who were running a bit faster than I had hoped but I was trying to avoid getting stuck in no-man’s land all day and hung with them until I deemed it prudent to just go back to my original plan of running mid-6s. So stuck I was.


After dropping off the pace a bit, I pretty much matched their tempo for the next few miles. Seemed like whenever I surged a bit to try to catch up, they did as well so I pretty much resigned myself to running solo for a bit and just ticking off steady times for the middle portion of the race. I picked off a couple people leading up to the turn around (moving up to 20th place overall at 32:58) and then was met with a slight headwind after the turn. Ugh. I picked up the pace a bit to try to catch the two guys who were still running just ahead of me and quickly closed the gap. I sat on for about 1/4 of a mile but they seemed to be fading a bit so moved around them and set my sights on the next competitor up the road.


I was now sitting comfortably in 18th place and passed the 10K mark in a solid 39:40. Kickass. Still stuck in the zone between potential running partners, I did make progress on two guys in front of me and caught one competitor with about 2 miles to go. He was fading fast so I was only provide brief respite as I tucked in behind him then surged past in hot pursuit of another two runners.


Though I tried to step it up in the last couple of miles, the solo effort into the wind had tapped my reserves to the point where my kick was relatively non-existent. I did pick it up as best I could and closed the gap on the remaining two runners within striking distance but they both had a bit more in the tank over the closing 1/4 mile and I was only able to hold the gap to finish in 17th at 1:04:48 – and 1st in my age group. Sweet!


This result bodes really well for my fitness this time of year and puts me in a good position to hit my target of a sub-3 marathon later this year. Just need to keep up the hard work and stay focused. Still figuring out my racing schedule for the year but am planning to run more of these shorter-distance races as tune-ups and test-drives. Good stuff.

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Two videos…

February 20, 2026
In case you hadn’t seen these (and also for my friends at Adventure Film ), here are a couple of must-see running movies from Joel Wolpert:  Geoff Roes: Slogging to the Top
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Long time running…

October 27, 2015
Guess who’s back. Back again. ~ Eminem  Still working out some kinks in the site but hoping to be more active and on the regular up in this joint. Quick catch up: 2013: NYC was a bust. I experienced a heel problem which led to a hamstring problem and I shut down my quest for an NYC finish. At least for now. The remainder of 2013 was spent trying to get uninjured. 2014: Injuries persisted in 2014. When the heel/hammy started feeling ready to run again, I broke my ankle bouldering. Literally came off the wall a foot and a half off the ground and popped my ankle. Whee. So more recovery and I pretty much switched to riding mountain bikes for the year. 2015: Back at it in 2015. Running pretty well. A bit off my game from day’s past but still having fun. Even entered a few races which didn’t go well. Just trying to figure things out and stay happy/healthy. More to come, I promise. ~stubert.
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Tabatas: Under-appreciated fitness boosters

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I hurt myself today . ~ N.I.N. Ah the Tabata. Some people hate them, others love them. In the moment, they can be the bane of my existence but after rocking out a few sets, I really tend to notice the benefits. For the uninitiated, a Tabata can be applied to virtually any exercise type (cycling; swimming; push-ups; chess, I assume) but since I am a runner, I tend to knock these out while running. Go figure. Here’s the formula: Go as hard as you can for 20 seconds Rest for 10 seconds Repeat 8 times Feel free to do multiple sets Four minutes (per set) of activity doesn’t sound like much, but if done correctly, these can really help boost your fitness. I tend to replace strides with one Tabata on Fridays and will work in multiple sets as part of my Tuesday interval training. Just keep good form, really work the 20s and you’ll reap the benefits. ~stubert.