July, 2007

Teammates & Friends:

I had a wonderful experience this past weekend. I attended the USATF Level I Coaching School in Albany, NY. For three days I was in the company of wonderful and knowledgeable instructors and about 50 high school and college coaches from throughout the northeast and everyone was there with just one purpose - to elevate the the sport of athletics. I wish I had taken this course years ago. I am now in possession of all sorts of knowledge I hope to pass on to both my high school runners and to my Mass Velocity teammates.

Dr. Russ Ebbets was the primary instructor. He is the editor of the USATF publication, Track Coach and I hope to pass along valuable tips from Russ and others in each of our upcoming MVTC Newsletters. Let's start with his article THE MYSTERIOUS VITAMIN B6 which can be found at this link. Russ writes "B6 plays a critical role in the production of neurotransmitters, chemical substances that aid nerve transmission from the brain to a limb and vice versa. For an athlete this has application for speed actions and powerful movements."

Further web-based research on B6 turned up this article: Enough vitamin B6 reduces heart attacks by 70% in the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. I think we could all use a bit of a nervous system boost and who needs a heart attack? Food for thought.

More reflections on the Level I Coaching School at the end of the Newsletter. Right now let's get to what's happened over the past several weeks.

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RECAP of MVTC
at the
National Senior Games
[Meet Results]

Warren Graff writes:

I'm sorry to say that I have only one decent photo, since the races and age groups were run so close together, but it's a good one of Butch Blake taking 3rd in the M55 200M. It would have been great of someone had got one of Carroll and Roger wining their respective 400M races since they won so decisively and with great times, too. It was also great to see Gail and Kim qualify in the W50 100M, 200M and 400M, and to see Gail get the bronze in the 400M. Roger had entered the 100M, 200M, and 400M, but due to a nagging injury, decided to run only the 400. I had entered the 200M and 400M, but since the 200 prelim was scheduled just before the 400 final, like Roger, I too passed on the 200 to concentrate on the quarter. So though I was out of the medals, I ended up placing fourth out of 52 entrants (not too shabby). The competition in the M60 age group was especially intense, so I feel quite fortunate. Roger and I arrived on Saturday June 30 and checked into our hotel, then walked to the track, which was only about a mile away. It was a beautiful, new, nine-line wide track with short straight-aways. We then decided to walk to the meet headquarters at the Louisville Exposition Center, which ended up taking us about 90 minutes and was probably 4 to 5 miles away. If only we had known about the shuttle!! Once back at the hotel we were so tired that we stayed in our beds for the rest of the day and evening.

The weather was better than Charlotte at the Masters Nationals last year - not too hot or windy (but was windy enough to disallow Phillipa Raschker's what would have been world record in the W60 200M on Wednesday.

My only complaint about the meet was that the meet headquarters at the exposition center was too far from the track. Overall it was well run, and if I can speak for those who medalled, the medals were awesome.

One last thing - the M60 4 x 100 relay team, which Roger was part of, beat all the younger age group 4 x 100 teams (49.02).

Kim Williams writes:

Gail John-Rees, Carroll Blake, Roger Pierce, Warren Graff and Jon Tetherly competed in Louisville. Pretty sure I saw Jon although we were not competing at the same time so can’t be sure. It was so great to have my MVTC teammates there to provide support and encouragement. It was a good meet for me, I ran two lifetime PRs – one in the 200 and one in the 400. We met a lot of great athletes. Two pictures have Gail and me with Clovis Clark, a woman we met from Atlanta Track Club. She was in our age group and ran very well.

There were lots of exciting races to watch. Sorry I don’t have any specifically of the guys but I’m sure they can be found at David’s site. I’ll poke around and see if I can find more. David Colby Young from the Maine Track Club was there and he took these pictures which I am attaching. All his pictures can be accessed at http://journals.aol.com/davidcolbyyoung/MaineRunningPhotos/

David Westover writes: I attended Louisville with great expectations only to pull a hamstring with 15 meters remaining in the 100 trials. The real discouraging part was that 4 of the 9 finalists came from this first heat. There will be another day!!! David Westover. PS Louisville was a great venue.

NOTE: Other NSG participants may still send in their comments for later publication

Ce Shen - from Brighton, MA "Thank you for your invitation to join the MVTC and the info you sent me."

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"Congrats Larry!! Your award (given by MVTC teammates at the Mass Senior Games) is well deserved. I regret not being there to share
in the celebration. - Dave Neumann

"Congratulations Larry on your fifth anniversary with Mass. Velocity! When I met you several years ago at the Mass. Senior Games I was impressed with your dedication to the sport. Keep up the good work and thanks for including me in your team's emails. I feel like I know your team as well as mine." - Jeff Weatherhead, Hartford Track Club

"Larry, As always, greatly enjoyed hanging out with you folks on Saturday. Hope you are still enjoying that cake . . . Love your spirit!!!!" - Becky Connolly

"Larry, My gratitude and thanks to you for initiating the Mass Velocity idea. I’m sure you could see on Saturday how much it means to all of us to be part of this team. I have been to enough meets all alone to know that it’s much better to have people cheering for you and encouraging you, even when you are miles from home. My MVTC friends are a great group." - Kim Williams

"The USA National masters TF committee has opted to change their Awards process, thinking it will be better to present them at the Outdoor Nationals rather than announce them at the end of the calendar year at the annual meeting. So their 2007 "Athletes of the Year" covers only the indoor season. Then they will cover outdoors 2007/fall/ indoor 2008 for the 2008 AOY. They've also eliminated AOY by 5 year, and now recognize 'several' in the 30-59 and 60-100+ divisions both men and women. A single New Englander was among the selectees - in the Men 60+ division - Bob Matteson (now 90 yrs old). Honorable Mentions in all 4 divisions as well. Barbara Jordan (W70) was HM in the women 60+ div." - Steve Vaitones, USATF-NE

"Hi Larry, One for the next newsletter. Just finished 1st in the New England B 800m heat 2min 2.45 a new PR as a master. Ranked 2nd in the country after that." - Ian Smith

"Of course I wish to remain a member of the club and hope to continue for a long long time. I am still competing (albeit a little slower!). I did win the 200 and 400 at the Long Island Championships and 2nd in the 100. I have come down with Lymphoma, unfortunately, The same thing that Ben James has. My Doctor does not treat, however, until the whites are lower then they currently are. He has told me not to stop running. So I ain't going to. Missed the Mass Meet, unfortunately, cause of a sore knee. Will be competing in the MAC Championships. Will relay results, Will be 70 in September. Saw most of the Guys in the Club at the RI Senior Meet. Should have run in the 65-69 group would have won all the races. In the 70 group took 4th in the 100 and 2nd in the 800. Have a great summer." - Abe Bernstein

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MVTC

INJURY REPORT

Paula Fortuna - "Wanted to give you an update on why I won't be competing this season. I finally had an MRI of my hip which showed bone edema in the femoral head and neck, this inflammation is the precursor to a stress fracture. Although only 5-10% or stress fractures occur in the femoral neck, the results can be very serious and lead to pins and screws and worse scenario total hip replacement. So I'm unable to run at all until this heals which could take up to 3 months. The good news is when it heals I should be able to run again. I'm glad to finally know what's wrong after about 6 months of discomfort. I'll be rooting for everyone on the side lines!!"

Lou Ronsivalli - "I am seeing a back specialist this summer and hope to resolve my back problems that have plagued me for the past few years. I am scheduled at the New England Baptist Spine Center. Hope is for an MRI and a then possibly a minimally invasive procedure by a spine surgeon in the coming weeks. If I can do that, I can begin to work out again. I miss doing hard workouts and throwing the javelin!!"

Roy Currie - "I broke a some bones in my foot at the Smith College All-Comer track meet back in Jan. of 06, going into the final turn of what was going to be a very fast 200 for me. So I can't do any sprinting anymore. After about 4 months I did some easy distance running for a few months. Then this spring I started running again once a week at the NoHo XC races on Tues nights. I am enjoying it and running well once a week. I've been following your growths; congrats to you and all the MassVel runners, The club has really expanded and has had a lot of success, I've missed being a part of it."

- Warren Graff

Having recently received an update from the USATF-NE office on the status of Mass Velocity members who are officially affiliated with the club (and thus able to score points for the team), I have updated our ABOUT US Page. Those who are affiliated have a new USATF symbol next to their name.

The following folks are still not affiliated:

Tom Cunningham - Dick Camp - Kevin Gleason - Henry DeForest - Abe Bernstein
- John Osbon - Russ Heissner - Dan Maloney - Elizabeth Riordan - Ed Faison
- Frank Garufi - Karan Parkin - David Westover - Ce Shen -
Bill Robinson - George Araneo - Bill Devine - Carlos Freytes

The good news is that we have 50 properly affiliated members. The affiliation process is straightforward. If you live in one of the USATF - New England Association states of MA, RI, VT or NH and you have not run as a member of another club for the past 90 days, simply contact Steve Vaitones at USATF-NE and let him know you want to be affiliated with Mass Velocity. We are club # 02-0273.

If you live in any other state, or are a member of any other USATF association, you must get the permission of your current association to leave that association and transfer your USATF membership to the New England Association. Then contact Steve and you should be all set.

At the USATF Level I Coaching School, there were only two other people in my general age-group. One of them was Masters great, Sid Howard from the Central Park Track Club. During the breaks I had the opportunity to talk to other coaches and ideas and information were freely exchanged with no concern that any secret was being passed onto an opponent. So many brains to pick and so little time!

We had recent college grads taking the course in hopes of landing their first coaching job and there were people who had been coaching for decades who were there to improve their skills. Being in the company of all these fine people who all shared a love of the sport was simply a great experience.

I still have to pass the exam before I am certified but I can tell you that I feel reconnected to USATF and I feel excited about track and field more than ever. Is this a great sport, or what?!

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