Weights for the forearms? What body part isn’t leveraged?
Uh, don’t answer that question. But this newest training aid is so weird I couldn’t ignore it. Found it on Geoff Bramley’s masters track site in Australia. Check out this promo for Pelleres (which I refuse to add a â„¢ to). They are “weighted arm sleeves that wrap around the forearm and are biomechanically designed to increase the power and strength of an athlete when used during exercise,” the site asserts. “By adding weight to the forearms Pelleres strengthens not only the muscular structure of the upper body but engages the core which improves the capability of large muscle groups like the quads, glutes and hamstrings. This in turn creates greater power for an athlete and enhances overall performance.” Whatever. The only thing freakier than the concept is the price: $295 for a set of four. How about some light handweights?
Strap on these pricey puppies, run faster, look wackier in no time at all!
YouTube captures Wolfie Ritte’s joy after setting vault WRs
It’s a new world. Everything is on YouTube, including Wolfgang Ritte’s world record (actually two) set indoors last Sunday. Man, I wish I had a YouTube time machine so I could watch myself hurdling when I was 17!
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Jimson Lee a quick study on masters sprint speed and slowing
Jimson Lee
Jimson Lee, a longtime British Columbia coach and M45 sprinter, apparently is now based in Rome, Italy. But his speedendurance.com blog remains a rich resource on long sprinting (the 200 and 400). He occasionally writes about masters sprinting, including this June 2009 discussion of “The Law of Attrition.” Last week, he asked: “Why is there a jump in performance in the ‘older’ age groups?” The answer he cites came in a 2003 article by three researchers at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland (site of the 2012 world masters indoor meet, coincidentally). “From the study, the general decline in sprint performances with age were evident around the 65-70 year old age groups and they concluded it was primarily related to reduction in stride length and increase in ground contact time,” Jimson wrote, adding: “Gee, thanks guys, we know it’s related, but what is the true cause?” Read the rest of this post »
Wolfgang Ritte ups M55 indoor vault WR to 4.51 (14-9 1/2)
A week after competing at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Wolfgang Ritte found a local German meet — and raised his own world indoor record in the M55 vault by 11 centimeters. He jumped 4.51 (14-9 1/2) to beat his listed WR of 4.40 (14-5 1/4) set at the Eurovets meet last year in Ancona, Italy. This news comes from several sources, including Annette and Robert Koop. Wolfie also holds the listed outdoor world record of 4.60 (15-1), set back in 2008. He’s now 57. Amazing.
Wolfie jumps during his world record competition Sunday.
Christian Cushing-Murray clocks 4:23 mile in rare track foray
Christian Cushing-Murray
Christian Cushing-Murray is called Chris in his old IAAF bio, “Cush” by friends and “Coach” by his track and cross country athletes at Foothill High School, where his son Nathaniel, a junior, runs. “My daughter Jessica, currently a fairly successful youth runner, will be a freshman there next fall,” Cush says. What else can we call this 42-year-old Southern California runner? How about Stud? On Friday, Cush ran a 4:23.46 mile at the Run for the Dream indoor meet at Fresno State’s Save Mart Center. The track is tight — 11 laps to the mile. (See results here.) That’s the fastest M40 indoor time this season, according to mastersrankings.com. A longtime cross country and road race veteran, Cush rarely runs in track meets. So when I saw his Fresno time, I had to learn more. I wrote his friend (and former Fluffy Bunny TC teammate) Pete Magill, and Cush replied. The short answer: Track doesn’t fit his schedule. Read the rest of this post »
USATF press release spotlights masters stars entered at Kamloops
Tom Surber’s name is on the USATF press release, but I wrote the bulk of it (as a member of Bob Weiner’s Masters T&F Media Committee). If you spot any errors, my apologies. (And let me know the flubs.) Bob and I came up with 14 “U.S. stars to watch” — but we easily could have listed thrice that number. Team USA will be awesome in British Columbia next month. Read the rest of this post »
YouTube video by NSGA features some masters track stars
NSGA head kahuna Phil Godfrey opens a 3-minute, 40-second video promoting the National Senior Games — an easy way to spread the message. USATF has a similar project in the works (called “Forever Fast”). John Oleski of Boston is in charge of getting that video made and distributed nationwide, for use by masters at Rotary Club meetings and the like. The NSGA video, produced by Meagan Reidinger, includes clips of Phil Raschker and Kay Glynn vaulting (with Kay’s long hair flying!) Olympian Dick Fosbury (holding a torch) and some putters and runners also are shown, plus a cameo by multi-eventer Kathy Jager at a soccer game. (Traitor!) A relative handful have viewed the NSGA video (under 130). But the idea is to alert friends. Make it go viral!
Shabunin faster still at 3K! Lowers own indoor WR to 8:01.44
Despite finishing eighth, Russia’s Vyacheslav Shabunin today improved his M40 world indoor record for 3000 meters, clocking 8:01.44. This is about 200 meters short of two miles, so he’s averaging each mile in about 4:15. Incredible. The mark came at the Russian Winter Meet in Moscow, which is IAAF-sanctioned. (Results are here.) He beat his old M40 best of 8:04.34, which we detailed here. His all-time best is 7:42.54, set in 1998. So in 12 years, he’s lost about 1.5 seconds a year. Not bad. Read the rest of this post »
Sorensen says Vyacheslav Shabunin on target to go sub-4
If anyone can appreciate the world-record spree of Vyacheslav Shabunin, it’s Jim Sorensen, the Northern California miler who had one of his own in 2007. After the Russian set his 1500 indoor WR, I wrote to Jim for his reaction. He admits: “It would be sad to see my (outdoor) record go.” But Jim knows the game, and he’s becoming a fan of Shabunin. Certainly he admires his ability to hang with the elites.
Jim Sorensen (in gray) still mixes it up with the kidlets.
