Thursday Track: Track Schedule For The Summer

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Written by Bwana Bwana

June 1, 2017

We’ve been having trouble lately using the PSU tracks. The outdoor track seems to be open intermittently, but not reliably. And there have been events at the indoor track the last couple of weeks. On June 1, the outdoor track will be hosting the opening of the Pennsylvania Special Olympics. If it’s like most years, we should be good to use the track as the opening ceremony is later, but athletes are arriving as we do our workout.

Future weeks: For June 8, we’ll try the outdoor track and if it is closed, we'll use the MSF indoor track. After that, if the PSU outdoor track is still not open to use, State High will be on summer break and we’ll use the State High track as we did last year. Hopefully, there will be some decision on access to the PSU outdoor track before State High begins the next academic year.

You can run with the group from Rec Hall (about a mile-and-a-half warm-up). They leave around 12:10. Or meet at the track for the workout at about 12:25.

Minutes of the June 6th 2017 Meeting of the NVRC

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Written by Erika Christiansen Erika Christiansen

Board Meeting

Club officers present: Bob Shafer (president); Dave Eggler (treasurer), Marty Mazur (communications director), Marty Klanchar (membership director), Erika Christiansen (secretary / archivist). Other present: Jake and Sarah Clements, Cheryl Keller Capone and Dean Capone.

The officers discussed with Jake Clements the final approval from the University Police on the Arts Festival Race Course. Dave Eggler suggested that Penn Dot will need to be aware of the course and mentioned the contact at Penn Dot. Currently there are 18 registered for the 10 miler.

The officers continued to discuss the access to the Penn State Outdoor Track and don’t have a resolution.

The officers approved the Sponorship Grant request for the NT&F youth club and the donation to The TUSSEY mOUnTaiNBACK relay and ultramarathon.

Read more: Minutes of the June 6th 2017 Meeting of the NVRC

2017 Race Series Cup

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Written by Marty Mazur Marty Mazur

The 2017 Race Series is well underway. So far we've had 5 races in the Series with another one (the Beidleheimer Sidewinder 10K) coming soon. Tallies are available right now for the first two races, First Night and the Indoor Mile Series. More will be added as we catch up.

Check your tallies here. If you spot an error, please contact Bob Shafer at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Check here for rules and here for the list of Series races. There are also numerous opportunities to earn Volunteer points: Helping out at NVRC races, at the NVRC/Centre Parks and Rec Youth Cross-Country Meets, Volunteer coaching with the Nittany Track and Field Youth Group, and donating blood at the NVRC Blood Drives, and many more. But to participate, you have to be an NVRC member to participate. Join the Club! More information on the Series is here.

Nittany Track and Field Youth Club Announces Fall 2017 Program

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Written by Martin Mazur Martin Mazur

Nittany Track and Field (NTF) youth club starts its summer track season the first week of May and invites youth athletes from 7 to 18 years old to join. We create training opportunities in track and field events for both beginners and experienced athletes. Whether the kids have competitive goals or simply want to work on technique, strength, endurance, or just learn new things, NTF is a great place to spend some time during the summer. Practice starts May 2nd at the State College High School Track. The season will go through July 21st. Practices are scheduled from 6:15 to 7:45 pm Monday through Thursday each week! . Registration is open - here is the link to our Registration page with both paper and online forms.

We have a great group of coaches coming back to work with kids this summer, and we plan a lot of different activities and events this season. Again this year, NTF Club will host the USATF-sanctioned Central Pennsylvania Youth Track Meet on June 3rd, which will provide a great competitive opportunity for all our athletes.

The orientation meeting for the summer season will be on April 30th (Sunday evening) at 6.30 pm at the High School Track. Please feel free to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions and also spread the word to anyone who you think may be interested.

For more information about the NTF club, practice schedule, meets, and other details, please visit our website www.ntfxc.com.

Thursday Track Report: Summer Training

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Written by Bwana Bwana

June 22, 2017

The first Thursday Track of the summer. The weather was made to order “summery”, but not full-on hellacious. Tom Cali, John Domico, George Lesiuetre, Costas Maranas, Meira Minard, Mike Weyandt, Bob Shafer, Mike Martin, Dan Coughlin, Seth Senior, Ron Cunfer, Joel Niemann, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track under mostly sunny skies, warm temperatures, and humid air.

Summer Training is more than just getting used to running in the heat. There’s a lot of things we do in the summer that require at least a little bit of preparation. Mike Martin is going on vacation at the Outer Banks next week and the Unofficial Beer Distributor of the Nittany Valley Running Club will be entering a “Beer Mile”. For those who don’t know, it’s a timed mile race where participants must chug a beer before heading out on each quarter mile. Four quarters, four beers. There are all kinds of special rules: no flat beer; beer must be at least 5% alcohol; no cans (so you can’t shotgun); all the beer in a bottle must be consumed in a 10 foot walkway before starting a quarter; puke and you’re DQ’ed, etc, etc. Mike wanted to get in some practice today in conditions with at some relation to the real thing. But, obviously, even though school’s out for the summer, beer wouldn’t be the smartest thing to bring to a school track. Now anyone who has ever done a beer mile knows that the alcohol is not what does you in (at least until *after* the race). It’s the volume of liquid and the gas from the foam. Bwana would have suggested Mike use soda as a substitute, but he chose water. It’s got the volume, just not the gas. Mike ran it as the rest of us started our workout. His finish time of 7:44 beat expectations. If he can hold anywhere near that time with cold, gassy beer, he’ll do alright. The rest of us ran a moderate volume workout of 400-800-800-400 at 5K+ pace with 400m rest between reps. Try to do the second half faster than the first. It’s not too trying a workout for a hottish, summery day.

Next week will we’ll be gearing up for the summer race schedule, which gets going on the 4th with the 4th Fest 4K and 4 Miler. How you train after that depends on whether you’re running the Arts Fest 5K, 10K, or 10 Miler. Whichever you choose, come to the track!

Follow the Nittany Valley Running Club on Twitter

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Written by Martin Mazur Martin Mazur

The Nittany Valley Running Club is now on Twitter. We plan to post links to articles on our own web site and on other sites with running-related content, links to podcasts of interest, and more. Follow us. Our handle is @nittanyrunning.