Thursday Track Report: I Think That I Shall Never See...
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
June 25, 2015
Apprehension hung in the air as thick as the noontime drear as Lance Bland, Costas Maranas, Carole Dudukovich, Rob Shaver, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, Alex Wouden, Seth Senior, CJ Wagner, Dana Todd, Adam Ilgen, Doug Schunk, Jim Laudermilch, Jeff Welsh, Kevin Becker, Aaron Henrichson, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed to the track. Bwana knew that the big “Council Oak”, where the elders of the track brotherhood (back when it was strictly “bros”) laid down the foundations of Thursday Track, had been stricken by lightening on Tuesday. Pictures of “Quercus”, as he is known, circulated the web. His great arm lying on the ground, his shoulders stripped of bark, his feet wreathed in smoke. Perhaps it had not been a fatal blow…but as the trackers approached the gates of his sanctuary, they saw workers with chain saws dismantling the sad remains of that stately tree. No more would it shade runners taking a break from 12X400s in August’s swelter. No longer would it house the birds that regularly sang to the trackers as they circled below. All things must pass, even the giant oak.
In Quercus’s honor, Bwana gave an oak-hard workout, with repetitions stately and stout: 3X1K, because it ends in “K” like oak, and it has a “tree” in it. This workout contains the longest reps of any workout we regularly do. It’s appropriate for high volume workouts (5X or more), at a slower pace, in preparation for long races. But at a faster, 5K+ race pace it starts to show you how much work you have to do to sustain your race pace for the full go of a short race like a 5K. Of course, most of the trackers went “against the grain” and ran their reps too hard for the shortened rests they gave themselves. Bwana used to be nuts and overtrain his track workouts like that, and the acorns don't fall far from the tree.
Bwana had the workmen saw him a slab of Quercus as a souvenir. He plans to make an old-school fraternity ass-paddle to encourage his track crew in their efforts to improve. But if you’ve never been to Thursday Track, don’t worry about initiation rites. And once you’re here, steady, slow improvement is all that is asked. And regular attendance.
Thursday Track Report: June Swoon
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
June 18, 2015
It’s been more like August than June for a couple of weeks now, and it was no different on Thursday: hazy, and very humid. Tom Cali, Lance Bland, Judd and Davis Michael, Costas Maranas, Mark and Alex Fedkin, Andy Maguire, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, Andy Cunningham, Rob Peterson, Jeff Welsh, Kevin Becker, Tony Kwasnica, Alex Wouden, Rich Harter, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, newcomer Doug Schunk, and Marty Mazur headed for the track under a saturated sky.
Bwana introduced a newcomer, Doug Schunk, to the Crew. Doug ran the winter Indoor Mile Series and did pretty well, just missing his 6-minute flat goal (and, more frustratingly, not quite beating Goldfine). For some reason he decided to wait until it was good and hot to make track a habit. Because of the sultry conditions, Bwana decided to have everyone do something not-too-long, so he wouldn’t have to clean up after swooners: 6X400 at 5K+ race pace with 200m rests. Consistency is the key in this workout. The rest is fairly short, so it’s important to keep the intervals not much faster than your 5K race pace, otherwise the workout overtakes you pretty quickly.
It’s always hard to predict the character of a season by the first few weeks. I’ve lived through enough summers (and winters) here that started out one way and played out the opposite. The best I can say is: let’s hope as it gets warmer that it doesn’t stay so humid!
Thursday Track Report: Specialization
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
June 4, 2015
May and June must have switched roles. A couple of weeks ago we were having a dry spell and a heat wave, but it was drab, drippy, and mild as Jim Myers, Tom Cali, Judd and Davis Michael, Lance Bland, Ken Davis, Marty Klanchar, Frank Zaffino, Andy Maguire, Alex Wouden, Seth Senior, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, CJ Wagner, Kevin Becker, Jeff Welsh, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track.
Today was the inaugural day of the Pennsylvania Special Olympics, so bus loads of Special Olympians and their families were filing in. Dave Eggler and the officiating crew were getting set up. Athletes were warming up. Could a bunch of not-so-special runners do a quick workout without drawing attention? Bwana called for 2 miles of “Indians”. Thats where a group of runners form a line and run at tempo pace and, in turn, the last person in line runs to the front. The workout simulates a race where much of it is run hard, but situations arise where you have to give a little extra, pass someone, then melt back to pace without the person you’re passing noticing your exertion level. Mixing paces is hard, but it happens all the time in a race! Why “specialize” at one race pace, when you know in the real deal you’ll be switching gears all the time! Two lines formed, the fast group doing two straight miles at about a 6:30-ish pace, and the slower group doing two one-mile sets at sub-8.
There are a lot of races coming up in the next 6 weeks, capping off with Arts Fest. You don’t think you’ll be changing gears as you run the hills of the Crack O’ Dawn, or the Arts Fest 10K? Guess again!
Thursday Track Report: I, Robot
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
June 11, 2015
The first “pleugh-h-gh” day of the outdoor track year (and, yes, on request, Bwana will send you a .WAV file with the correct pronunciation of that): hot, hazy, nearly stultifyingly humid, not to mention high ozone levels, as Lance Bland, Michael Goldfine, Dana Todd, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, Rob Shaver, Kevin Becker, Rob Peterson, Jeff Welsh, Rich Harter, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track.
Bwana earlier had said he’d be a little late (or not at all) for this meet-up, and so *some* people reacted accordingly. The old “Cat’s Away, Mice Will Play” principle. Luckily, Bwana had readied his “Bwana-Bot”, who got there just a few minutes late. Bwana-Bot was a stunning success! The trackers were surprised, and somewhat flustered, and gave no indication of suspicion. And when Bwana actually arrived 20 minutes into the workout, the Bwana-Bwanatomaton hand-off was seamless and not noticed by anyone. A perfect way to keep the troops in line. Bwana will download surveillance of the workout before his arrival and review it in good time. So what was that workout? The Bwana-Bot, per Bwana’s instructions, gave the Default No-Brainer Workout: 400-800-800-400 at 5K+ race pace, trying to make the second half at least as fast as the first. The Crew comported itself well.
At least a few had availed themselves of an anticipated Bwana No-Show by being No-Shows themselves, including Jim Myers, Judd Michael, and Tom Cali. There was a New Show, Ryan Burke, Mr. One-On-One Fitness Junior. Maybe more people will send their bots to the track next week, when they inevitably catch up with Bwana’s technology!
Thursday Track Report: Summer Suckage
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
May 28, 2015
Nice, hot day again. More like late June than late May. Jim Myers, John Domico, Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Ken Davis, Costas Maranas, Dana Todd, Paul Jech, Rob Shaver, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, Andy Maguire, Kevin Becker, Jeff Welsh, Alex Wouden, Seth Senior, Sara Noss, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed to the track under sultry skies. Hard to believe it’s only been about two months since we last ran inside.
Speaking of indoors, Bwana decided to give an old favorite indoor benchmark as the outdoor workout: NX(3X300). Thats N sets of 3X300, each 300 being 3/4 of a lap, with the remaining quarter-lap being a short, hard-breathing rest. It’s a low recovery workout, at least within a set. Take your time between sets (say 500m slow jogging rest). Do N=3 or 4, and run your 300s at 5K+ race pace (or mile race pace).
Now’s the time to come to track and enjoy running. Yeah, it’s hot, but while your 4-6 mile lunchtime run in July’s swelter SUCKS, the track workouts, with their nice breaks between bouts of effort, are fun, and rewarding once Fall racing season rolls around. Time to find ways to deal with the Summer Suckage, and Thursday Track is probably the best way to do something worthwhile.