Thursday Track Report: Double Your Pleasure
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
December 13, 2012
It was a minty-fresh day, crisp and sunny with no wind, as Jim Myers, Tom Cali, Judd Michael, Ken Davis, Mark Fedkin, Andy Maguire, Aroline Hanson, Jaimie Wright, Allison Machnicki, Alex Wouden, Jake Clements, Joel Niemann, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track. The sky promised to be clear for the next two days, which was great for later in the day, too. With a new moon in the sky, viewing of the peaking Geminid meteor shower promised to be a treat. And the Geminids would be augmented by the dust trail of Comet Wirtanen.
But that would be later. Bwana decided to augment everyone’s track experience by calling the Double Mini-Frontloader: 2X(800-3X200). It’s “Double” because there are two sets; “Mini” because the distances are all half of the full frontloader, and “Frontloader” because each rep is “front loaded” and the goal is to run the shorter stuff successively faster, with little rest, while recovering from the longer run in the rep. A truly pleasurable experience.
The workout chewed everyone up till there was no flavor to savor. But the fun is not quite done yet this year at the Track. Next week we’ll meet at Rec Hall for the annual Jingle Bell Workout, including a “Look Back / Look Forward”, a run through downtown, a visit to Terry Losch and his Elves at Rapid Transit, and other fun and games. Come one and all, and wear some Holiday running attire!
Thursday Track Report: Crisp And Crazy!
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
December 6, 2012
It was sunny and calm, but crisp on Kris Kringle's Day as Tom Cali, Bob Cornwall, Dean Capone, Aroline Hanson, Andy Maguire, Jake Clements, David Lloyd, Dana Todd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track. Aroline’s head was bobbling as she accepted kudos for picking up one of the coveted bobble-head statues given as prizes to the top finishers in the Nittany Valley Half-Marathon. Aroline was the second female finisher.
Like the weather, Bwana’s workout today was crisp, but unlike the winds it was anything but calm: Two sets of 5 Mad Minutes. Each minute consists of 30 seconds of slow jogging, 20 seconds of race pace running, and 10 seconds of hard sprinting. Repeat 5 times. Rest, then do another set. What? Ten seconds of running that’s any harder than anything we normally do? That’s a hard workout? Well, the first one sure doesn’t feel too hard, but it’s already catching up with you by time you do your second rep in a set. But even as you get tired, pump those arms and legs as fast as you can! It’s only 10 seconds!
Judd Michael started the indoor running season early. He popped his head out of the Indoor Track building, but we couldn’t convince him that the outdoor track, for lack of wind, was just fine for doing a workout. There may have been others indoors, and the time for the rest of us to head indoors will be here soon enough. But, on such a beautiful day, to be indoors? That’s crazy!
THURSDAY TRACK REPORT: PUMP UP THE VOLUME!
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- Written by BWANA! BWANA!
November 15, 2012!
THE HIGH DECIBLE CREW OF JIM MYERS!, TOM CALI!, JUDD MICHAEL!, LANCE BLAND!, MIKE RENZ!, RICH HARTER!, ESTHER PRINS!, AROLINE HANSON!, MIKE CASPER!, JAKE CLEMENTS!, DAVID LLOYD!, AND MARTY MAZUR! RUMBLED DOWN TO THE TRACK ON A BLAZINGLY BRILLIANT, CRISP FALL AFTERNOON! TOM HILANDS AND MIKE WEYANDT MADE THE TRIP, BUT COULD NOT *DEAL* WITH WHAT BWANA WAS ABOUT TO LAY ON THEM!!!
BWANA UNLEASHED THE FINAL! OFFICIAL! HIGH VOLUME WORKOUT BEFORE THE NITTANY VALLEY HALF! NX800!!! AND N COULD BE BIG! NO, HU-U-UGE!! TOO BIG TO WRITE DOWN!! THE RUNNERS REVVED THEIR ENGINES AND *SCREAMED* AROUND THE TRACK!!! IT WAS LIKE A WHOLE HERD OF ENRAGED, IRON-PLATED CAPE BUFFALO WITH JET ENGINES STRAPPED ON THEIR BACKS CRASHING THROUGH A BOWLING PIN FACTORY!!! THEY ARE READY FOR THE HALF!!
THERE IS NO TRACK WORKOUT NEXT THURSDAY!!! EAT TURKEY! THE TRYPTOPHAN HAS A CALMING EFFECT!! I LAUGH!!!!!
Thursday Track Report: Wane's World
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
November 29, 2012
Shadows were longer, even for noontime, as Judd Michael, Lance Bland, Mike Casper, Bob Cornwall, Mike Renz, Esther Prins, Michael Goldfine, Andy Maguire, Kirk Rager, Jim Laudermilch, David Lloyd, Jake Clements, and Marty Mazur headed for the track. There are still three weeks of waning days before the sun turns northward again, but winter lags the waxing days and will be with us for three months longer still.
Workouts are shortening, too. Bwana had the trackers do 2X1000, less than half the length of the last pre-Thanksgiving workout. Granted, today's was a taper workout for Sunday's Half-Marathon, but the rest of the year will be easy workouts as well as the racing season wanes.
After the Half there will be just a few weeks to either pre-purge for Christmas week or prepare for First Night and the Indoor Mile Series, which follows quickly thereafter. And by then, the sun's arc will bend toward the days of Spring campus 5Ks and greening woods. Our days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, but we have the hope of Spring, even before Winter comes!
Thursday Track Report: Storm Tracker
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- Written by Bwana Bwana
November 8, 2012
With stories from the hurricane and nor’easter stricken coast filling their minds, some fine Fall weather greeted Tom Cali, Judd Michael, Ken Davis, Mike Casper, George Lesieutre, Michael Goldfine, newcomers Aroline Hanson and David Lloyd, Joel Niemann, Rich Harter, Jim Laudermilch, and Marty Mazur as they hit the track.
The weather and conditions required no fortitude from the fold, but Bwana made sure the workout did. He called out the Fortitude Workout: Half-Marathon Edition. The usual Fortitude Workout calls for sets of 400-200 where the 400 is run fairly hard, there’s 100 m rest, then an even harder 200. But the rest between sets is usually 400 m and the total number of reps is 4 to 6. The Half-Marathon Edition trades speed for volume, with a shorter rest between sets. Run your 400 at 10K+ race pace, your 200 at 5K+ pace, and shorten the rest to 200 m. Bwana set a minimum of 4 reps, but most Trackers ran up a storm doing, 5 or 6. Bwana ran 7, though he thought of doing 8 until deciding to save a little for the Rosie Ruiz Run this weekend.
Bwana is trying to make the workouts leading up to the NV Half as “half-marathon appropriate” as possible for the next couple of weeks. And soon after that, the weather will probably chase us indoors. But not until we do the Jingle Bell Workout!