Thursday Track Report: Non-Workout

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Written by Bwana Bwana

April 24, 2014

This year’s Boston Marathon was one for the ages. The Boston Strong marathon, with an American man winning for the first time in over 30 years, and American women running PR times. The NVRC sent a great team, and they acquitted themselves quite well, from Tom Cali’s 28th place age group run, to Josh Cone’s post run interview that lit up the Boston Globe web site. It was only natural that the NVRC team members, whose feet were still in the air, would have a hard time coming down to earth. But Tom Cali and Andy Maguire of the Marathoners For Medicine team came to the track along with, Mike Zimmerman, Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Ken Davis, Bob Cornwall, Greg Dillon (!), Mike Martin, Costas Maranas, Mark Fedkin, Mike Casper, John and Jake Iceland, Dana Todd, Jon Thurley, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur. It was a beautiful day, cool and sunny, with no impeding winds.

John Iceland brought his son Jake for “Take Your Child To Work Day”, apparently under the theory of "soup to nuts”. Jake is in 6th grade and has already wet his whistle on some local 5Ks. Bwana decided to give a workout that would be fun for Jake and hell for all the relative geezers: Mad Minutes. Five one-minute sets, each minute consisting of 30 seconds slow jog, 20 seconds of our usual workout pace (5K+ to mile race pace) and 10 seconds of something we almost never do: all out, arms and legs pumping, gasket-popping *sprint*! Take a rest between sets and do 3 or 4 sets. This workout seems so easy for the first rep of each set, but quickly catches up with you. The trick is to let it catch up with you (that means run the 20 seconds and 10 second sections  pretty hard), but still manage to stay ahead. 

Not everyone could do this workout. Cali and Maguire could only walk down stairs as of yesterday after their marathon triumphs. Greg Dillon, Wookie Emeritus, came as a visitor, and a man on the mend, to jog a few laps with the Crew. And Bwana was letting his dragging hamstring take a break from anything ‘sprinty’. Some couldn’t even be bothered to come to the track. John Wilcock and Mark Lee were seen jogging near campus, but nowhere near the track. But it was a day off, so Bwana is in a lenient mood. He hopes to see a big turnout next week when more of our Boston laureates will make their triumphant return.

Thursday Track Report: To Infinity And Beyond!

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Written by Martin Mazur Martin Mazur

April 10, 2014

It was a most excellent Spring day, though a March wind was still breathing on our heels. Tom Cali, Lance Bland, Ken Davis, Michael Goldfine, Andrew Maguire, Mike Zimmerman, Jaimie Wright, Dana Todd, Rick Harter, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track under sunny skies and mild temperatures.

The turnout was light. Some of our grad school friends are buried in late semester work. The Boston Marathon crew has started their taper. Well, all except Tom, whose workout was more of a social call. And Jaimie, who ran a pretty ferocious “Last workout before taper. Promise!” Ken Davis suggested the Most Excellent Old Guys workout: 1 Mile - 2 X 800 - 4 X 400. Bwana protested that the “usual” workout is 2 miles or less, not 3. After a bit of back and forth about how to reduce the length of the workout and still keep the spirit of the thing, Ken and Bwana decided to call on a *really* old guy, the 5th century BC Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea. Zeno’s paradox denied the reality of motion by subdividing an interval of progress: Before reaching his goal, Achilles must get half-way there; but before he goes half-way he must go a quarter; but first, an eighth, etc. ad infinitum, so not only does Achilles never get there, he never leaves! Now, anyone without a PhD knows that, clever as this reasoning is, it’s obviously deficient, since motion is evident to anyone. It wasn’t until the 19th century that PhDs were able to clear up this paradox to their own satisfaction. Meanwhile, Greek shepherds continued to watch their sheep move about unhindered. Bwana, who has a PhD and (uncharacteristically) common sense, devised a workout that would get infinitely many intervals done in a finite distance and time: 1 Mile, rest, then half that (880), then half that (440), rest, then….all the rest of the infinite progression in the next quarter-mile with no rest between each rep!

So, all of you who showed up today did an infinite workout. Congratulations! Now you can taper.

Thursday Track Report: Media Sandwich

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Written by Bwana Bwana

April 17, 2014

Sandwiched between the commemoration of last year’s Boston terrorist attacks and this year’s triumphant return was today’s Thursday Track workout. Michael Goldfine, Mark Fedkin, Mike Casper, Marty Klanchar, Jon Thurley, Jaimie Wright, Mike Renz, Dana Todd, Mike Zimmerman, Rob Peterson, Kevin Becker, Jeff Welsh, John Iceland, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, John Sheakoski, and Marty Mazur headed for the track under partly cloudy skies, light breezes, and cool temperatures. In other words, pretty nice mid-April conditions sandwiched between a change from a mini heat wave to a hint of winter’s return, and whatever this weekend brings.

There’s been a lot of attention to this year’s Boston Marathon, and rightly so. Bwana, in his role as Propaganda Minister for the NVRC, has been fielding questions from numerous reporters wanting to know what special thing the NVRC is doing this year. And he’s directed these reporters to the capable hands of Jaimie Wright, Tom Cali, and others, who have been getting flash bulb eyes from all the attention, including a story in the latest Town and Gown. The NVRC has been organizing teams for Spring marathons for 11 years to raise money for Centre Volunteers in Medicine, and over the years the teams have raised well over a quarter of a million dollars for that worthy cause. Because of the natural attention to this year’s Boston run, Jaimie, who is coordinating this year’s Marathoners For Medicine teams, has been busier than a one-armed paper hanger with hives. A photographer for one media outlet or another has been to at least two of our recent Thursday Track workouts including this one. As Jaimie and Marty K. were being interviewed, Bwana had the Crew who weren’t tapering do the Fortitude Workout: 4X(400-200). The 400s to be run at mile race pace or better, then after a 100m ‘rest’, the 200 at just short of a sprint. Take a 400m rest, then do it again.

Good luck to all of this year’s Boston Marathoners! And ditto to everyone running a Spring marathon or half-marathon for CVIM!

Thursday Track Report: Working On The Handoff

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Written by Bwana Bwana

April 3, 2014

The handoff of Winter to Spring went past the fault line, but the track judges didn’t see it and everybody’s pretty happy with the result now that Spring is here, so won’t complain. Bwana had to come to the track early so he could leave early to see his son off on a 2 month trip to Iowa (?!). So he was just leaving as some of the rest of the Crew was getting there. He saw Judd Michael, George Lesieutre, Ken Davis, Mike Renz, Jim Laudermilch, Dana Todd, and David Lloyd, and may be missing one or two, plus any who came after Bwana was gone. It turned out the bus handoff was faulty too. The bus was almost a half-hour late and so Bwana could have finished the last rep of his workout and done full attendance!
 
Tara Murray and Allison Machnicki, who had come to the track at 6 AM before the birds announced the handoff of night to day, performed a nice hand-off to the noon Crew via email. The place had just a few scorch marks from their workout as Bwana gathered the troops. Today’s workout was the Double Mini-Frontloader. Do 2X the following, with a long (400+ meter) rest between: 800 at near mile race pace, then 4X200 with only 100m slow rests after the 800 and between the 200s. You’re trying do do each 200 faster as you recover from the 800 while running the 200s.

We’re hitting the peak of the local Spring racing season just as the last of the shaded snow piles disappears. And the Boston Marathon is just over a fortnight away. By the time that and the other Spring marathons are over, we’ll be starting to do our summer swelter workouts. Let’s hope the handoff to the next season goes smoother and we don’t suddenly change gears to 90+ degree days at the start of June!