Thursday Track Report: Steps To The Half
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
October 24, 2013
Flurries were spotted on campus today, and it was cold, cloudy, and blustery as Tom Cali, Meira Minard, Bob Cornwall, Lance Bland, Michael Goldfine, Andy Maguire, Mike Zimmerman, John Affleck, Phil Ross, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Aisling Ryan, Ron Cunfer, Sara Noss, and Marty Mazur headed for the track. The outdoor track. 40 degrees is not quite "Indoor" weather, especially in October.
Bwana started off the Half-Marathon Training Season, six weeks of workouts before the Nittany Half. All long stuff that's hard to do in volume in the swelter of summer. Today we did the Whitman Sampler of Long Stuff, also known as the Fire Escape Workout: 1200-1000-800, a downward ladder with the steps at the bottom gone. Do the first one at 5K+ race pace and do each rep successively faster, taking 400m rests between reps. Over the next few weeks, we'll continue the long stuff with some change-ups to keep it interesting.
The weather will be cycling back and forth between blustery and beautiful until Winter finally takes its stand at the podium. It's really the best time of year to run! With regard to the Nittany Half, it's really a matter of just when Winter takes the stage. Will the Half feature temperatures in the 60s? Probably not this year, since the race was moved to the second week of December due to December 1 being part of a late Thanksgiving weekend. OK, so will it be 42 and calm (perfect!), or 28 and blowing with ice on the ground (Yeesh!)? We can only hope that the perfect weather lasts until at least December 8th.
Thursday Track Report: Last Chance!
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
October 17, 2013
Rainy drabness was pulling in to the region, but held off long enough for a track workout. Jim Myers, Tom Cali, Judd Michael, Bob Cornwall, Jon Thurley, Mike Renz, Meira Minard, Mike Martin, Kevin Becker, Mark Fedkin, Mike Zimmerman, Jeff Welsh, Phil Ross, newcomers Scott Graham and Taylor "Swift", Kim Nelson, John Sheakoski, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Aisling Ryan, Dana Todd, Rob Peterson, and Marty Mazur headed for the track under cloudy skies.
Today was a last chance to work out and socialize before the mOUnTaiNBACK. Several of the team captains were on hand, including Tom, Judd, Meira, and Mike Renz. Jon Thurley, who had to drop out of this year''s DCR when he wrenched his shoulder, was at the track. Jon brought DCR newcomer Scott Graham. Speaking of newcomers, Phil brought a young gal named Taylor who Bwana is sure will soon be swift enough to keep up with anyone in the crew. Bwana will get her real last name next time out. The Crew did 1 Mile at 5K+ race pace, then 2 X 1/4 hard. But it was still an easy, "tune-up" workout.
And, back to the theme of last chances, Tom Cali is starting a whole year of them: last year to run the mOUnTaiNBACK in his 50s; last crack at age group wins from 5Ks to marathons in his 50s; last year when wrecking his Porsche by backing up into something can be considered an "accident" rather than a consequence of Old Guy In A Sports Car Syndrome. Friday is Tom's birthday and he starts his 60th year. He plans to spend that year prepping to kill the 60+ age groups around the state. First stop: 2014 Philly Marathon! And, these last chances give the rest of us in his age group that are younger a chance to get a prize or two. The only way to beat Tom is: Keep Running!
Thursday Track Report: Autochthonous-American Post-Equinox Warm Spell
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
October 3, 2013
Summer is at it again, in its post-equinox, Indian Summer incarnation. (Can we still say that? What’s the alternative?) Jim Myers, Tom Cali, Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Michael Goldfine, George Lesieutre, Andy Maguire, Mike Martin, Meira Minard, Jaimie Wright, Mike Renz, Phil Ross, newcomer John Affleck, Dana Todd, Jim Laudermilch, Rich Harter, Aisling Ryan, David Lloyd, Joel Niemann, Sara Noss, and Marty Mazur headed to the track under warm and hazy conditions.
Before we move indoors (and that’ll be sooner than you want to think right now!), Bwana decided we should do one of our indoor favorites outdoors: the NX3X300. That’s sets of 3X300 at a pace close to mile race pace. This might be the pace you’d run your last few hundred yards of a 5K at if you had anything left. And that’s the goal, isn’t it? To have a kick? There’s not much rest (100 meters) between 300s in a set, so the last one in a set simulates how you might feel toward the end of a 5K. Most runners did N=3, though a few did more and less.
The ones who did less were saving something for the evening’s mOUnTaiNBACK training run. With the race just over two weeks away, the training season for that race is about to tail off. After that, and a short rest, runners will be back out working toward their goals for the Nittany Valley Half-Marathon. Expect some long weekend runs and track workouts that stress long repeats and volume.
Thursday Track Report: The Shortest 17 Seconds
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
October 10, 2013
It was shaping up to be a perfect early Fall running day: cool, cloudy, and not too breezy. Jim Myers, Tom Cali, Lance Bland, Randy Jepson, Michael Goldfine, Mark Fedkin, Mike Renz, Meira Minard, Mike Martin, Dana Todd, Jim Laudermilch, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Aisling Ryan, Jaimie Wright, Joel Niemann, Rob Peterson, and Marty Mazur headed to the track with temperatures about 20 degrees cooler than last week's workout.
Bwana pulled out an oldie-but-goodie that really stirs up the lung butter: 200s on the minute (or 65). Runners do a couple of sets of 6X200 with fast turnaround. For the semi-professional athletes in the Crew, the 200s are to be run with 60 seconds separating the starts of each one. For those mere mortals in the Crew, Bwana allows 65 seconds between 200s. Now, the not-so-secret in this workout is that if you run 8 minute miles with no rest, you can turn over 60 second 200s. Not so hard. But our Crew puts in honest effort in its workouts. Every second you run your 200 faster than 60 ramps up the value of that second of rest, and to get full value, the fast group should be running theirs in around 40-43 seconds. That gives you 17-20 seconds rest between each 200. At that level, those 17 or so seconds seem REALLY short. Ditto for the 65 second Crew, which is pumping out their 200s in about 48 seconds. Keep it honest, and you'll get a great workout in a very, very short time!
Today marked the last of the 2-a-Days for people doing both Track and Tussey on Thursday. The mOUnTaiNBACK is just 10 days away. Hopefully, doubling up will pay off for everyone who did it!
Thursday Track Report: Go For It, Just Not Too Fast!
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
September 26, 2013
You can never tell by the weather what the turnout will be at the track. We've had over 20 people show up on a day of threatening storms. And though good weather is more likely to result on a big turnout, today's sun and mild temperature resulted in a light crowd of barely more than a dozen. Lance Bland, George Lesieutre, Michael Goldfine, Mark Fedkin, Costas Maranas, Phil the new, fast guy (I'll get his last name next time!), Meira Minard, Andy Maguire, Mike Martin, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, Kim Nelson, Garren Katz, and Marty Mazur were at the track for today's workout.
Today's workout was NX600 with short, 200m rests. The idea here is to maintain a good, 5K+ pace with low recovery to keep you honest. Long recoveries tempt people to run their reps inappropriately fast. When was the last time you ran a 600m or 800m race? High school, right? Got any plans to run one soon? I thought not. So don't race your reps! Oh, there are times to do fast reps. Like when we do 200s or 300s, or mad minutes. But most of our workouts are to get you running consistently at a little faster than your current race pace.
Kim Nelson's been showing up more often. She's kind of a regular at the indoor track during the winter, but claims she can't run fast. Like the tortoise, she's in it for the long haul. She does long trail races and such. But why the fascination with the track? Could it be there's some bucket list ticket that hasn't been punched? During this year's Indoor Mile Series, when Bwana was pacing people to some yet-unachieved milestone, like a sub-8 or sub-7 mile, Kim said she'd have a hard time going sub-9. Bwana is sure she could do it right now, and easily! And he saw her keep up a pretty good pace doing her own workout of repeat quarters. Maybe she just needs a good reason to go for it!