Buffalo Chips Weekly Workout Update

Xmas to New Year’s Week...

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. from 251 Commerce Circle
Why - Form & Speed
Groups: A-D…2, 1, 4(800)
E-F…2, 1, 2(800)
G-H..2, 800
SS & FW…steady of course
Optional: Fashion and goodie show time. What did YOU get for your running activity from Santa Claus?

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. from University Park on University Ave.
4-6 miles on University Park 5k/10k course or to CSUS parking ramp if heavy rains !

Saturday, 7:30 a.m. from Panera Bread Co….31 Dec.
Workout OPTION:
Either a long run of up to 20 miles (3 hours) with a 7:30 a.m. departure from Panera OR a shorter distance workout of 6-10 miles with even a tempo run option starting from Panera at 8 a.m.

Sunday,
NO RUN ON New Year's DAY - Enjoy the Holiday!!!

Buffalo Chips Weekly News Update

x-Chips Dominate World Master’s 100km Championship in Argentina

Traveling Ex-Chip from the last Comrades group, Mark Godale, won the World Master’s 100km Championship this past weekend in Argentina and long-time Chip Dee Dee Grafius was third woman overall (bronze medalist) and third scorer on the U.S. women’s team with a new world age 55 100km record. Congrats to both and to all our U.S. team members.

From Linda Hall….

The results were just posted and I am happy to announce that Chips Super Senior women won their age division at the Christmas Relays on Dec 11. Hurrah! Our team was Barbara Miller, Nova Poff, Po Adams, and me (Linda Hall).

Thus, we will once again finish the Grand Prix series in first place. I am going to try to make the awards banquet this year in San Francisco in February to pick up our award. I hope some of you will join me there.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our teams this year. This included:
Po Adams
Johanne Christmas
Barbara Elia
Florence Fong
Linda Hall
Barbara Miller
Nova Poff
Myra Rhodes
Charlotte Swanson

Special Congratulations also go to Barbara Miller who finished first in the Super Senior women's individual rankings for the PAUSATF series in both the long and the short divisions. Way to go Barbara!!!

Next years series will start in March with the Redding Nor Cal 10. However, I would encourage each of you to renew your PAUSATF membership now for 2006 so you don't forget. I am hoping next year that even more of the chips supersenior women will participate in the Grand Prix series. We have lost Myra and Charlotte because both have moved out of the area. But Cynci Calvin will be joining our ranks in mid 2006 so it will be great to have some newcomers on the team. Remember you don't have to be fast to help our team. You just have to wear chips gear to identify you as a team member and finish the race standing up and smiling in order to score. (Actually the smiling part is optional, but you do want to look good for the camera :-) We have a lot of fun carpooling to and from the races and hope you will join us.

Here is the tentative list for the Grand Prix Series for 2006. Please put them on your list and help us out with team scoring. Check the USATF web site for exact races and dates:

March 4 NorCal 10 miles Redding
March 12 Fifty Plus 8 k Palo Alto
March 19 Emerald Nuts Across the Bay 8 k
May 13 Zippys 5 k (Golden Gate Park, SF)
May 29 Pac Sun 10k (Marin)
June 24 Shriners 8 k (Sacramento)
July 9 Fleet Feet Mile (Davis, there will probably be a free brunch at my house after the race)
Aug ?? Susan B 5k (Sacramento....a Chips sponsored race!!!)
Sept 18 Jamba Juice 5 k (Golden Gate Park, SF)
Sept 24 Heritage Oaks 10 k (Paso Robles)
Oct 15 Humboldt Half Marathon
Nov 12 Clarksburg 30 k
Dec CIM??????
Dec 17 Christmas Relays (Lake Merced, SF)

Coming for CHIPS on the FIRST SATURDAY in January

Prediction Run 5k and Club Potluck Brunch and Annual Elections. University Park Clubhouse off Howe Ave.

Mark your calendars…The Saturday BEFORE the Stockton Cal 10 !!!!!

Shopping for Runner Things for This Xmas?

Recently I posted a note on the very good Oregon Scientific Heart Rate Monitor available from Performance Bicycles (Howe Ave or Madison here in the Sacramento area or internet even). At less than $50 this SE232 model keeps up to 50 splits and both time and HR data for each split !!!! It even comes with a nice carrying case.

Nordstrom Rack…
At the Nordstrom Rack on Howe and Arden they are clearing out Adidas Climafit windpants for men….originally hang-tagged at $75 for only $17.97. Check out your local “Rack Outlet” for good buys on Adidas and even Nike stuff.

Target
As usual “Chez Target” has some very good prices on their speciality sports items. For men, check out the CLEARANCE PRICES on windpants, jackets, and even very nice long sleeve technical fabric shirts. The pants and jackets, in an impressive stretch fabric are marked down about 30% to only $13.97 and the shirts were marked down 50% to ONLY $ 8.48 !!!! Wow !

I suspect there may be similar “good deals” on the women’s items for running/walking, but I did not actually check those out !

Buffalo Chips Weekly Workout Update

We will NOT be training on Christmas or New Year’s so…you will have to spend that time with your families, and our longer runs will shift to Saturday OPTIONS for the next two weeks to keep general fitness leading up to the Cal 10, etc.

REFLECTIVE Apparel REQUIRED in ALL CHIPS evening workouts!!!

Xmas Week…

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. from 251 Commerce Circle
Why - Form & Speed
Groups: A-D….2(1), 3(800), 4(600)
E-F….2(1), 2(800), 2(600)
G-H. .. ..1, 2(800), 2(400)
SS & FW….steady, of course

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. from University Park on University Ave.
4-6 miles on University Park 5k/10k course or if HEAVY rains…CSUS parking ramp repeats.

Saturday, 7:30 a.m. from Panera Bread Co….24 Dec.
Workout OPTION:
Either a tempo run of 3-5 miles OR a long run of up to 18 miles (3 hours). LONG RUN group will leave at 7:30 a.m. and shorter workout squad at 8 a.m.

Sunday,
NO RUN ON CHRISTMAS DAY - Enjoy the Holiday!!!

Buffalo Chips Weekly News Update

Your regular columnist is “out of town,” so the news here will be just some recapping of CIM ….

From Mark Murray…

There were some really awesome chip performances at the CIM this year. Overall, Mark Lantz did a great job of channeling his Western State’s lottery disappointment from Saturday into an outstanding top chip performance. Mark ran virtually even splits and made up a full two minutes on yours truly. Dennis Early ran solid as always with nearly even splits. There were several great ‘comeback’ performances, including Jen Pfeifer, Chris Enfante, and Chris Iwahashi. Erik Skaden put in a solid ‘back from injury’ training run as he looks ahead to Western.

But in my book, the three top performances were: Kal Lowden (who has he been training with?) who ran the fastest 2nd half among the Chips, and one of the biggest ‘negative splits’ among anyone in the top 200; Ed Randolph who smashed his ‘sub-3’ goal with a 1:26:24 2nd half marathon (is that a ½ marathon PR?); and Jenny Hitchings, who overcame a mid-year injury to break three hours with another nearly perfectly even split performance.

Congrats to all.

With the introduction of the half marathon chip timing, I thought it might be interesting to look at how folks ran their 2nd half compared to their first half. I looked at the top 200 plus finishers, and fully 30% ran a negative split. Kal and Ed were the big negative split Chippers, along with Jen Pfeifer and Chris Iwahashi. As the list below indicates, both John Nichols and I may need to look at our pacing.

	1st	2nd	Fin	Dif	Neg. split
Mark Lantz	1:25:32	1:25:58	2:51:30	0:00:26
Mark Murray	1:23:40	1:27:52	2:51:32	0:04:12
Kal Lowden	1:28:34	1:25:12	2:53:46		0:03:22
Ed Randolph	1:28:41	1:26:24	2:55:05		0:02:17
Dennis Early	1:28:25	1:28:48	2:57:13	0:00:23
Jen Pfeifer	1:29:05	1:28:22	2:57:27		0:00:43
Erik Skaden	1:28:27	1:29:30	2:57:57	0:01:03
Jenny Hitchings	1:29:00	1:29:15	2:58:15	0:00:15
John Nichols	1:30:11	1:40:31	3:10:42	0:10:20
Chris Enfante	1:34:27	1:36:16	3:10:43	0:01:49
Chris Iwahashi	1:36:22	1:35:26	3:11:48		0:00:56
Rena Schumann	1:34:41	1:39:07	3:13:48	0:04:26

Thanks for a most thoughtful analysis. Even pacing and the slight negative of the four “smarter” Chips indicates the best race day implementation of their weeks and months of training. (George Parrott’s two cents here)

Buffalo Chips Weekly Workout Update

REFLECTIVE Apparel REQUIRED in ALL CHIPS evening workouts!!!

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. from 251 Commerce Circle
Why - Form & Speed
A-D…2 sets of (1, 1200, 800)
E-F….2 sets of (1, 1000, 600)
G-H…2 sets of (1, 800) recovery through middle would work here
SS & FW….steady, of course

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. from University Park on University Ave.
3-7 miles on University Park road course. IF it is ugly raining, then jog over to CSUS PARKING RAMP for inside workout there.

Saturday, 8:00 a.m. from University Park on University Ave.
Workout OPTION:
a. 2-3 mile warm-up then tempo run of 3-5 miles, then cool down
b. Steady state base building of 5-8 miles

Sunday, 8 a.m. Panera Bread Co. at 901 Howe Ave.
Workout of 2 hour run, 65 minutes “out” and faster back, e.g. 55 minutes back !

Upcoming Races - From Chips Website

December 11, 2005 - Christmas Relays (San Francisco) PA/USATF Road Race
December 31, 2005 - Midnight Run 2006 (Sacramento)
2006
January 1, 2006 - Resolution Run 10M/10K/5K (Auburn)
January 8, 2006 - California 10 (Stockton)
February 4, 2006 - Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50M, 50K, 30K (Sacramento)
February 5, 2006 - Davis Stampede Half-Marathon/10K/5K (Davis)
March 4, 2006 - Norcal John Frank Memorial 10M/3M (Redding)
March 5, 2006 - Bidwell Classic 30th Annual Half-Marathon/Relay/5K (Chico)
March 11, 2006 - ShamRock'n Half Marathon/5K (West Sacramento)
March 11, 2006 - Way to Cool 50K (Cool)
April 1, 2006 - American River 50M (Sacramento to Auburn)
May 20, 2006 - 23rd Annual Run with Nature 10K/5K (Folsom)
June 24-25, 2006 - 33rd Annual Western States 100M (Squaw Valley to Auburn)

CHIPS 5K Prediction Run and Board Elections!

Saturday, January 7th 2006 at 8:30am
University Park Clubhouse(directions to follow at later date)

Chips Mark your calendars and Leave your watches at home! Please join us for the annual 5k prediction run. It is a fun event and was actually won last year by the High Dunger (can you predict your time within 2 seconds like Tony did?). This includes a light breakfast (yes coffee included!), prizes for those closest to their time.

The other important function that day is to hold elections for the 2006 Buffalo Chip Board. Being on the board presents an opportunity to become involved in the club and the Sacramento Running Community. If your interested in being on the board please send an email to Tony Lafferty at poidog38@yahoo.com by Friday January 6th to be included on ballot (we will allow write in candidates as well). Those in attendance at the prediction run get a chance to meet and vote. Need not be present to be elected to the board. There will be a brief meeting of new members following the vote.

I want to thank you all during my year as High Dunger and wish all of you the best during this holiday season.

Tony Lafferty
High Dunger

Out of Town

Sorry I've been out of town on a business trip. I'll post the news items that I missed even though they are a little old now.

Buffalo Chips Weekly News Update

CIM 2005 A Big Success

The 23rd annual California International Marathon produced slow times up front with the winners crossing in 2:18 and 2:37, but the competition level was high with the lead changing over the last 500 meters for the women and in the last 3 miles for the men. Gabe Jennings back to Sacramento after his second place finish in the Run To Feed The Hungry had to settle again for a second place payday as his long breakaway effort eroded by mile 23. Gabe hung on for a 2:19 finish, which is still not too shabby for one’s “first marathon.”

For the Chips, the Western States team of Mark Lantz and his pacer there Mark Murray were out front for the whole race with Mr. Murray leading Senor Lantz right up to about 100 meters from the finish line. The final order was Lantz then Murray with one second between them and Mark L. turning about a FIVE MINUTE PR to be first Chip across the line. Under 3 hours also was Ed Randolph (2:55, mega PR), Erik Skaden, Jen Pfiefer (3rd in her division) and Jenny Hitchings (3rd in her division and a BIG PR, 10 minutes?), and Dennis Early.

Winning her division with her best marathon time in the last 2-3 years was Chris Iwahashi with a “chip time” of 3:11:48. Pam Goodley had a great finish at 3:33 (PR) and Beth Ware arrived just a bit over 3:42?. Getting her BOSTON QUALIFIER was Cynci Calvin, and keeping their CIM strings intact were Dennis Zilaff, Steve Polansky, Ernie Takahashi and Mike Sullivan.

Another impressive debut was Eileen Yamada at 4:06, but there were MANY other impressive stories of success on a day when the winds were quiet and the skies sunny.

And there were other marathons all over the world on Sunday including Las Vegas with fast times and similarly highly competitive fields. WOW !

Plus many Chips participated via the RELAY option including the team of Luis Alvarez, Virginia Hawes , Mike Grassinger, and Larry White.

Buffalo Bash a GREAT PARTY…

Following in the tradition of holding the club’s annual award and social event the evening of the CIM, CSUS hosted this year’s gala. With wonderful food, and the spirited commentary of MC Mike Grassinger, the program went along most smoothly and all awards were completed and the clean-up done by 9 p.m. Thanks again to our support from Ruedi Egger, the annual party was enjoyed by all.

COMING THIS WEEKEND: Christmas Relays, 4 person teams

The Xmas Relays are one of the really fun events of the Northern California running schedule and they complete the PA-USATF team scoring season. Teams are ideally age and gender based in the typical age groups, and each runner does one loop of Lake Merced (4:46 miles) in the SF area. It is a beautiful course, and it is rolling with all pavement. Linda Hall is helping to coordinate teams, and individuals can participate on mixed gender and mixed age group teams, but those simply cannot count for PA-scoring ! Contact LINDA HALL.

Buffalo Chips Weekly Workout Update

REFLECTIVE Apparel REQUIRED in ALL CHIPS evening workouts!!!

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. from 251 Commerce Circle
Why - Form & Speed
A-D...2(1), 4(800), 1000 1
E-F....2(1), 4(800)
G-H...1, 3(800)
SS & FW..steady

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. from University Park on University Ave.
3-6 Miles on University Park Street Course.

Saturday, 8:00 a.m. from University Park on University Ave.
Options: 3-4 mile tempo run after a 2-3 mile warm-up OR…
Steady state, base-building run of 5-7 miles.

Sunday, 8 a.m. Fish Hatchery, Lake Natomas “loop” starting at the Fish Hatchery or XMAS Relays in SF.

Upcoming Races - From Chips Website

December 11, 2005 - Christmas Relays (San Francisco) PA/USATF Road Race
December 31, 2005 - Midnight Run 2006 (Sacramento)
2006
January 1, 2006 - Resolution Run 10M/10K/5K (Auburn)
January 8, 2006 - California 10 (Stockton)
February 4, 2006 - Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50M, 50K, 30K (Sacramento)
February 5, 2006 - Davis Stampede Half-Marathon/10K/5K (Davis)
March 4, 2006 - Norcal John Frank Memorial 10M/3M (Redding)
March 5, 2006 - Bidwell Classic 30th Annual Half-Marathon/Relay/5K (Chico)
March 11, 2006 - ShamRock'n Half Marathon/5K (West Sacramento)
March 11, 2006 - Way to Cool 50K (Cool)
April 1, 2006 - American River 50M (Sacramento to Auburn)
May 20, 2006 - 23rd Annual Run with Nature 10K/5K (Folsom)
June 24-25, 2006 - 33rd Annual Western States 100M (Squaw Valley to Auburn)