Thursday Track Report: Out And About Time!
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
March 12, 2015
It was sunny and quite cool, and bit breezy on the backstretch, but we’ll take it. Lance Bland, Judd Michael, Marty Klanchar, Mike Casper, newcomer Marc Serra, Mike Renz, Andy Maguire, Mike Zimmerman, Tim Scitti, Carole Dudukovich, Sara Noss, Rich Harter, Nikita Fedkin, Scott Harford, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track on the first nice Thursday in what remains of this winter, for the first outdoor workout of 2015. After the long winter, it was great to be out and about again!
Just off of our all-time worst February (temperature-wise), March is shaping up to be pretty nice. There was still a sad little pile of snow at the finish line on the inside lane, so Bwana decided to let it die in peace and moved the workout to the very outside lane where there are some distance marks in imperial units. The cool temps and stiff breeze called for a workout of a few long reps at just faster than race pace with short rests: 1 mile + 2 X ½ mile.
Bwana welcomed newcomer Marc Serra, a graduate student who will be here until September. Marc comes from Bwana’s favorite European city, Barcelona. Favorite despite the fact that it was uncharacteristically cold and windy when he visited there 5 years ago this week. And Bwana still has nightmares about the train ride from Barcelona to Montpellier, France, that should have taken 4 hours but ended up taking over 24 due to a freak snow storm on the Mediterranean coast that dumped over a foot of ‘heart attack snow’. Bwana and his family survived a night in the desolate border station on a train full of cranky fellow travelers, but otherwise empty of food, drink, or other comforts. The train had hunkered down in the border town rather than risk a jog through the Pyrenees where conditions were worse. After a night of howling winds and lightning, we woke (those of us who slept at all) to a windy and sunny day and the freakish scenery of a coastal town with palm trees and lemon trees decked in heavy, wet snow. But after a night of cramped quarters, it was great to be out and about as we waited for the train to get going again!
Thursday Track Report: Provisional Promise
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
March 5, 2015
It was cold and threatening to get colder, but the turnout at the MSF was pretty good and included a large number of runners who ran there, though the cold! Lance Bland, Bob Cornwall, Ken Davis, Marty Klanchar, Carole Dudukovich, Andy Maguire, Mike Martin, Mike Zimmerman, Mike Renz, Dave Moore, Rich Harter, Dana Todd, Jim Laudermilch, John Wilcock, Jeff Welsh, Rob Peterson, Adam Smith, Alex Wouden, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur all made it for what Bwana promised would be the last indoor workout of the winter!
Well,…provisionally promised. According to AccuWeather’s Elliot Abrams, Friday should be the last day in a long time (till December?) that the high temperature will be below freezing. Next week should sport highs from the high 30s to maybe 50 degrees. If that’s enough to melt the snow off the outdoor track, we’ll be there next week, and from then on!
But, back to this week…If this really was to be the last indoor workout of the year, Bwana had to give the Bookmark Benchmark, the workout he gives at the beginning and (hopefully) ending of indoor season: NX3X300. That’s N (N >2) sets of 3X300, running the 300s hard (Mile+ race pace) and taking short (<100m) rests between 300s and somewhat longer rests between sets. A low recovery challenge. And this year, the Terrible 3s workout had special resonance. Dave Moore, whom we adopted as a whelp abandoned on Penn State’s front lawn over 10 years ago, turned 30 on Thursday. We’ve followed Dave from his undergraduate days, through his time with Penn State’s track team, his long grad school career with eventual PhD, and his time as an assistant coach at State High. Dave’s an assistant track and field coach at Penn State Harrisburg now (he made the trip just to run with us on his birthday!), and we wish him continued success.
So if this is a hint of what Bwana does for a birthday-themed workout, can you guess what he’ll have on tap for next week, when Bwana himself has a Thursday birthday?
Thursday Track Report: Penitance
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
February 19, 2015
As of yesterday, we’re in the penitential season, Lent. A lot of people must have been in the penitentiary, either that or they gave up track for Lent, since turnout was light.
Judd Michael, Lance Bland, John Domico, Marty Klanchar, John Wilcock, Rob Peterson, Jeff Welsh, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Dana Todd, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur got to the Multi-Sport Facility despite the frigid winds.
Despite the name of the season, Bwana did not want the workout to be, as the Italians say, lento. He went with a suggestion from Marty Klanchar: 6X400, but with shorter rests than Marty did his own earlier workout. Only 1 lap plus the short trip to the stagger mark for 400m in lane 5. That’s about 260 meters, not a really long rest, but not a super short one. The trick is to find a good hard pace than you can keep doing 6 times with that much rest. I suggest a mile race pace.
After some meditative prayer, and maybe some fasting, I’m sure that the Crew will be ready ready for the kind of mortification of the flesh that Bwana will be dolling out next week. Until then…
Thursday Track Report: It's All Downhill From Here!
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
February 26, 2015
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’re on the downward slope of winter. The long range forecast is calling for better weather pretty soon. (And you know it’s been a long, hard winter when “better” means 35 degrees with freezing rain). But for now, it’s still cold, and Judd Michael, Andy Maguire, Ron Cunfer John Wilcock, Mike Zimmerman, Mike Renz, Jeff Welsh, Rob Peterson, Alex Wouden, Rich Harter, Carole Dudukovich, Dave Lloyd, newcomer Ronnie Mack, and Marty Mazur were all that braved the trip to the track.
To ease our glide into winter, Bwana prescribed a downward ladder: 5-4-3-2 laps in lane 5. Start with 5 laps at about 5K race pace. In Lane 5, that’s about 0.7 miles, so that pace shouldn’t be too wearing. Then do each successive rep at a slightly faster lap pace than the rep before. That adds to the challenge, but it’s not so bad because we’re going "downhill". Just so we didn’t need a runaway truck lane for the 2-lapper, Bwana made the rest short: 1 lap jogging rest. The workout gives you about 2.5 miles of running at race pace and faster with short rests thrown in.
Somebody asked about Thursday Track and Spring Break. Spring Break is the week of March 8-14. We always have Thursday Track, though attendance may be light. The MSF building should be open, but we’re hoping the downward glide into spring continues and by two weeks from now, we can take it outdoors!
Thursday Track Report: Fallback Position
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
February 12, 2015
This time of year, we we start hoping to be able to use the outdoor track as soon as Indoor Mile season is over. But, with another arctic blast heading to town and snow still on the ground, it is too early to hope for winter’’s end. Lance Bland, Judd Michael, Marty Klanchar, Mike Casper, Meira Minard, Carole Dudukovich, Mark Fedkin, Andy Maguire, Rob Peterson, Jeff Welsh, Dana Todd, Jaimie Wright, Sara Noss, Scott Harford, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track with Old Man Winter on their backs.
Bwana has been falling back on old stand-bys on the weeks he isn’t inventing something new. After the groundhog fell back in his hole, this was a fallback week. A tough workout to help deal with the tough luck of 6 more weeks of winter: 3-4-4-3 laps with one lap rest between sets. The first two sets in lane 5, each set at the same lap pace, about 5K+ race pace. Then move out to lane 6 and maintain the same lap time on the longer laps. Finish hard on that last set! Always satisfying if you do it right.
As soon as the snow melts, we’ll be in a position to train outside for some spring races. The campus 5Ks, the Egg Hill 10 Miler, and then the spring marathon season, starting with Boston. Bwana will get you there if you make Thursday Track your fallback position!