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Written by Bwana Bwana

May 14, 2015

It was sunny, mild, and breezy as Bob Cornwall, Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Tom Cali, Costas Maranas, Marty Klanchar, Andy Maguire, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, newcomer Aaron Henrichson, Dana Todd, Alex Wouden, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Kevin Becker, Rob Peterson, Tony Kwasnica, and Marty Mazur headed for the track. A nice return to Spring after the hot weather of the last week. As usual, Bwana got to the track early. First thing he noticed was a young woman running what Bwana thought was a 200 or maybe a 400. She was moving! But she kept going, and going. Bwana figured she was doing a timed mile. Unlike people who just show up at the track to blow off some steam, and who start a mile run at a 200m pace only to crawl the rest of the way, this girl knew what she was doing. Steady, very fast pace all the way. She finished that, and a training partner showed up and together they did a couple more. Bwana decided to get an idea of their pace and quickly estimated, based on a couple of 200m sections, that they were putting down steady 5:20-5:30 miles. When the rest of the Crew got to the track, Bwana was describing the workout the two youngsters were doing and, as the girl ran by the group, Tom Cali said “Hi, Tessa”. OK, so everybody knows that Cali knows everybody, but who was this kid? It was Tessa Barrett, former National High School record holder in the 5K. She’s a Pennsylvania girl, a 4-year letter winner at Abbington Heights, near Scranton, and cross-country state champion and course record holder. In 2014, she ran 16:11.85 at the New Balance Indoor National Meet. And now she runs for Penn State. Tessa red-shirted her first year and was battling an injury, but judging from her workout, she looks ready to start hammering the competition!

After witnessing all that impressiveness, the Crew wanted to know what Bwana had in store. “Well, how about 3 X 1 Mile at 5:30 pace?” Er, no. But we were still inspired to do something requiring a little fortitude. So the Fortitude Workout it was: 4X(400-200) with each 400 run at a 5K+ race pace, followed by a short 100m rest and then a 200m at mile race pace or better. Take a 500m rest between reps to get back to the start. It’s one of the Crew’s favorite workouts, and not because it isn’t challenging!

David Lloyd, who has become one of the most regular Thursday Trackers in the last few years, has decided to become one of the Old Guys. David turns 45 on Friday, just in time to inhabit the age group that the likes of Pat Singletary are just vacating. Time to bring home some medals! David was trying to dream up a birthday-themed workout for Friday (Bwana suggested 4.5 miles), but after today’s run he may end up taking a birthday themed sitz-bath: 4-5 minutes sitting in 6 inches of cool bathwater in which you’ve dumped a few trays of ice!