Thursday Track Report: Season Of Renewal

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Written by Bwana Bwana

May 29, 2014

Our ‘mini-July’ of the last two days (hot, humid, late day thunderstorms) disappeared into some late-April weather as Jim Myers, Tom Cali, Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Dave Miller, Mike Casper, George Lesieutre, John Pringle, Michael Goldfine, Jaimie Wright, Frank Zaffino, Rich Harter, Mike Zimmerman, Jake Clements, Mike Martin, Dana Todd, Jim Laudermilch, newcomers Tony Kwasnica and Tim Bracken, and a visitor, Mike from Quebec (here on business), Alex Wouden, David Lloyd, Sara Noss, and Marty Mazur headed for the track.

Thursday Track keeps renewing itself. Today it was newbies on parade with two local newcomers and an out-of-town visitor. Bwana mentioned that it’s been over 20 years since Thursday Track started, and only a couple of the ‘Originals’ still remain. Jim Myers and Bwana, in fact, were the only two today from the First Graduating Class. But there were representatives from years and decades in between as well, and our weekly average attendance still hovers over 20.

Bwana, and Alex, and a couple of the recent marathoners were in need of some renewal, so they did some slower laps in the outside lane. But the cool temps made it ideal for the rest to do long pace reps: 4X800, chosen in honor of the recent State High record breaking boys 4X800 team. They took the state title in a school record time. And the girls didn’t do too badly either, finishing fourth at states and coming within 0.2 seconds of their own school record.

We’ve still need to get a few in-town visitors to visit more often. The heart of Summer race season is coming fast! Time to put your Memorial Day success (or excess) behind you, and renew your running program!

Thursday Track Report: Consistency

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Written by Bwana Bwana

May 15, 2014

The slide form Winter to Summer has been anything but consistent. A gusty mix of March and May confronted Jim Myers, Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Bob Cornwall, Mike Casper, Andy Maguire, Mike Martin, Jeff Welsh, Mike Zimmerman, Charley Vassey, newcomer Josh Piotti, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Sara Noss and Marty Mazur as they headed to the track. It was moderately warm and humid, but stiff winds from all directions swirled around the track. 

Turnout was light, with people still recovering from the Pittsburgh Marathon. Well, not everyone needs a month's recovery. Renz and Martin were already doing a “pre-workout” when Bwana got to the track, as was newcomer Josh Piotti, an Altoona native recently moved to State College. But others were recovering from other things. Thursday Track Professor Emeritus Jim Myers made his first showing  at the track since a late Winter knee surgery. Jim did a perfunctory lap or two, but he’ll be back kicking Bwana’s ass in no time. In fact he did it today! Bwana’s hamstring injury became a full-blown debilitation when he tripped during a jog on Tuesday. (Tip: Don’t run on the golf course trails when you are having a little trouble lifting your legs!) So Bwana did a mile or so of “Administrative Assistant Power Walking” while the Crew tore a groove in the track. Renz called the workout, a sawtooth that Bwana will add to his repertoire: NX(200-400-600-400-200). Short (100m) rests between reps with a longer rest between sets. Most did N=2. This is a great whipsaw workout, a real challenge to maintain consistency with the short rests!

Speaking of maintaining consistency, injured Bwana needs to burn his calories somehow (power walking just does not do it!) As he was driving back home from the Y this morning after a cardio spin, he saw Jaimie Wright flying down Westerly Parkway. She just ran a torrid Boston, so what’s she training for now?…

Thursday Track Report: Groundhog's Day In May

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Written by Bwana Bwana

May 22, 2014

It was déjà vu all over again as Jim Myers, Judd Michael, Mark Fedkin, Michael Goldfine, Jaimie Wright, Rob Shaver, Mike Zimmerman, Dana Todd, Jim Laudermilch, Kevin Becker, Jeff Welsh, Josh Piotti, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Sara Noss, and Marty Mazur headed for the track on a warm, cloudy, and breezy May day.

Bwana still mending his hamstring (he injured a hamstring before, but the other one, four years ago), is on the upswing, but getting sick of the same old thing over and over again. Spin in the morning at the Y. Come to track on Thursday and mostly walk. But unlike last week, when he almost fell on his face when he tried a brief jog, he managed to do 3 easy 200m jogs within a couple of miles of walking. Doing the same thing over and over and getting better at it was the theme today. In a rare repeat, Bwana called for the Renz Workout of last week: 200-400-600-400-200-400-600-400-200-… as many times as you like, with short (100m) rests between reps. The reps should be run relatively slowly (5K race pace), due to the short rests, while maintaining consistency in pace over each ‘hill’ in the sawtooth. If you get in a groove, it’s easy to forget where you are and just keep going on the sawtooth, over and over again.

This weekend’s races are a kind of reprise of Tara’s Trout Challenge: Do two big NVRC races on the same weekend. The Memorial Day challenge is older (Tom Cali has regularly done the double for decades), but shorter: the ‘Trout’ adds up to a half-marathon distance over two days, while the Memorial Day Weekend  Challenge gets you about 10 miles (if you do the Black Mo 10K rather than the 5K), with a day’s rest between the two races. This is the perfect opportunity for about a half dozen people to pass Bwana (who ain’t racing) in his current 3rd place standing in the Race Series Cup. Now’s your chance!

Thursday Track Report: Progressing Toward Summer

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Written by Bwana Bwana

May 8, 2014

It was almost weird going outside at lunch today. Just a few weeks ago (it seems), we were still in a deep freeze. Then, after a short Spring, boom, it’s Summer. The temperature was nearly 70 with that “It’s gonna hit 80” feel to it. A little humid, and hazy (though that haze was probably more made up of Spring pollen than what’s mixed up in the Summer inversions). Sometimes the progression of the seasons is glacial, until it isn’t. Tom Cali, Judd Michael, George Lesieutre, Michael Goldfine, Costas Maranas, Mike Casper, Jeff Welsh, Rob Peterson, Kevin Becker, Joe Bollinger, newcomers Durell and Mike, Andy Maguire, Jaimie Wright, Mike Zimmerman, Allison Machnicki, Jim Laudermilch, Frank Zaffino, John Ake, David Lloyd, Sara Noss, and Marty Mazur headed for the track with the idea of renewing progress on their training after well-deserved post-marathon rests.

Bwana welcomed a couple of newcomers to the Crew. Mark Hart came with the gym rats and did a lot better at following Bwana’s prescribed workout than the rest of the muscle-bound crowd. And Durell, who came with Joe B, used to run sprints and play basketball in his school days, and now wants to mix in some distance running. Bwana gave the Crew something to slowly rev them up for Summer training. The N X 1 Lap Progressive workout. Run a lap in Lane 2, but not too fast! You have to do each lap in that time or better as you progress out to Lane 7 (for N=6; go more if you want!). And if you mess up by going too fast on any one of your laps, that’s your new time standard for the longer laps, all the way to the end! Recovery: 200m. It’s a deceptive workout that teaches you your comfort zone with low recovery, conservation, and pacing. And how to suck it up when you mess up your pacing!

The Summer racing season is coming. A nice warm-up to it is the Beidleheimer Sidewinder 10K on Saturday. A great race in a great setting at a budget price. Rest a couple of weeks and the big Memorial Day weekend is on us with the double-header of Black Moshannon and Boalsburg. And all of that is preparation for the sweltering Arts Fest and Mt. Nittany Marathon. You’ve got some work to do!