I've been running Tuesday night track workouts for so long that if it happens to be Tuesday and I'm not heading off to some indoor or outdoor track to experience another rousing evening of oxygen debt -- well I feel like something's missing from my life. Some guys have bowling night or poker night; I have track night.
Anyway, I've been thinking for a while that it would be interesting to write about certain track workouts -- what they are designed to accomplish, when they are appropriate, and what they feel like. I don't know how long this will last, but I'm going to try to pick one workout each week and write about it.
This week's Tuesday workout: 5 x 3 min with 3 min rest
I have sometimes referred to this as nature's perfect workout: run 3 minutes fast, walk or jog 3 minutes slow, and repeat for a total of five times. Of course, as with any fast running, warm up with a couple of miles of easy jogging, some dynamic flexibility drills, and 4 x 100m strides.
This is an excellent early season workout for runners who aren't doing particularly high mileage and who might be doing their first track workout of a new season. I would NOT recommend this for new runners or those coming off an extended layoff from consistent training.
The real key to this workout is to run the fast parts at a pace that represents your body's maximal oxygen uptake. For many runners, a good approximation is your race pace for 2 miles. For example, if you are a 10:40 2-miler, you would run at about 80s per quarter.
Since for many H.S. distance runners, the proper pace will have them running about 800m in 3 minutes, it's easy enough to convert this workout to 5 x 800m, with 3 min rest. The total volume is only about 4000m -- 2.5 miles -- which is appropriate if your total weekly mileage is 30-40 miles a week. The rest is generous. If this workout is repeated later in the season, you can progress by adding volume or reducing the rest. It's amazing how adjusting the recovery time can transform a pretty easy workout into a challenging one.
In my experience, most younger runners find this pace to be quite slow for the first couple of intervals, and increasingly challenging as the workout continues. But remember, I touted this as a good early season workout, part of a foundation of strength on which you can build speed later.
The main goal of this workout is to increase the body's aerobic capacity. It turns out that one of the best ways to do that is to run at or just below your maximal oxygen uptake pace (also called V02 Max pace) . Of course, you could run these intervals faster, and probably finish the workout, but then you are putting more effort into training a different energy system, which is not the point of the workout.
Ideally, you will do this workout as part of a progression of similar workouts (similar in the sense that the volume, length of the fast intervals, and pace will be similar). After 4-5 weeks of such workouts, they will be quite noticeably easier, and so it make sense to gradually increase the difficulty. For example, as I mentioned earlier, you can keep the workout the same except cut the rest to 2:30, 2:00, or 1:30 and make the workout harder that way. Or you can increase the number of fast intervals. I usually like to do one of these two things, rather than increase the pace of the workout right away.
Some coaches will object that this workout is not hard enough for their better athletes, even as an early season workout. If a runner is doing higher mileage, it might be appropriate to increase the volume by running 5 x 1000, or 6 x 800, or more, but I would rather err on the side of caution, and set up the workout so that runners have a good chance of completing the work at the goal pace without having to kill themselves to do it. But that's just me.
March 31, 2009
March 29, 2009
NNHS Alumni Results - 3/28/09
On Friday night at the Stanford Invitational, Chris Barnicle ran under 29 minutes for 10K for the first time in his career, clocking 28:58.96 to place 16th in the seeded heat at the prestigious event, and earn a qualifying time for the NCAA Div I Regional Championships. This was also the first time Chris competed officially for New Mexico, where he is working on a graduate degree. He has two more seasons of collegiate track eligibility (including this Spring), so here's to more PRs!
Doug Brecher finished 4th in the 5000m at the Tufts Snowflake Classic in Medford, MA on Saturday, running 15:23.20.
Northeastern University was in Tampa, Florida for the USF Invitational on Saturday, and both Seb Putzeys and Jess Barton competed in the 3000m steeplechase.
It's not a surprise to see Jess compete in the steeple, as she has a resume in that event, including a junior olympics national championship. On Saturday she finished 3rd in the women's steeple in 11:07.47.
As far as I know, Seb has never run the steeple before, but he did pretty well, finishing 6th in 10:23.19. I'd like to know what coach at Northeastern seeded him at 9:30, though.
Noah Jampol opened his outdoor track season running 4:22.29 in the 1500 at the Marlyand Terrapin Invitational on Saturday.
Good to see Anna Schindler fast and healthy. Anna ran 19:30.80 to place 4th in the 5000m at the Trinity Invitational in Hartford on Saturday. Also competing for Wesleyan, Scott Cole ran 2:03.21 to place 13th in the 800.
Doug Brecher finished 4th in the 5000m at the Tufts Snowflake Classic in Medford, MA on Saturday, running 15:23.20.
Northeastern University was in Tampa, Florida for the USF Invitational on Saturday, and both Seb Putzeys and Jess Barton competed in the 3000m steeplechase.
It's not a surprise to see Jess compete in the steeple, as she has a resume in that event, including a junior olympics national championship. On Saturday she finished 3rd in the women's steeple in 11:07.47.
As far as I know, Seb has never run the steeple before, but he did pretty well, finishing 6th in 10:23.19. I'd like to know what coach at Northeastern seeded him at 9:30, though.
Noah Jampol opened his outdoor track season running 4:22.29 in the 1500 at the Marlyand Terrapin Invitational on Saturday.
Good to see Anna Schindler fast and healthy. Anna ran 19:30.80 to place 4th in the 5000m at the Trinity Invitational in Hartford on Saturday. Also competing for Wesleyan, Scott Cole ran 2:03.21 to place 13th in the 800.
March 28, 2009
Running Faster on Coffee
Before I ever drank coffee, I used to travel to races with my friend Rick who insisted on stopping and getting a cup of the stuff so he could drink it exactly an hour before the race. He claimed that the performance-enhancing properties of caffeine were well-understood and perfectly legal, and it improved his attitude and focus for the race. Not being a coffee drinker myself, I was a bit skeptical, and was never much interested in trying it. And besides, if it DID work, what did that mean? Would I be a drug cheat (according to the spirit of the rules, if not the letter) if I imbibed just to get the benefits?
About 7-8 years ago, I did start drinking coffee as part of my routine at work. After getting used to it, I tried Rick's technique of having a cup of coffee an hour before the race and was surprised to find that it seemed to work. Ever since I have felt a little bit strange about it, as though it's completely me that's doing the running and racing, it's also Starbucks.
This week, the New York Times Health Section had an article about the performance impact of caffeine on running.
It’s Time to Make a Coffee Run
As reported in the article, the amazing thing about caffeine is that a) it works across a variety of sports -- from sprints to marathons to swimming events to rowing -- and b) it's completely legal. As the Times writes,
"So even as sports stars from baseball players to cyclists to sprinters are pilloried for using performance enhancing drugs, one of the best studied performance enhancers is fine for them or anyone else to use. And it is right there in a cup of coffee or a can of soda."
About 7-8 years ago, I did start drinking coffee as part of my routine at work. After getting used to it, I tried Rick's technique of having a cup of coffee an hour before the race and was surprised to find that it seemed to work. Ever since I have felt a little bit strange about it, as though it's completely me that's doing the running and racing, it's also Starbucks.
This week, the New York Times Health Section had an article about the performance impact of caffeine on running.
It’s Time to Make a Coffee Run
As reported in the article, the amazing thing about caffeine is that a) it works across a variety of sports -- from sprints to marathons to swimming events to rowing -- and b) it's completely legal. As the Times writes,
"So even as sports stars from baseball players to cyclists to sprinters are pilloried for using performance enhancing drugs, one of the best studied performance enhancers is fine for them or anyone else to use. And it is right there in a cup of coffee or a can of soda."
March 25, 2009
Bannister at 80
Last Sunday's Daily Telegraph (UK) had a nice feature on Roger Bannister, the most famous neurologist in the world. Bannister turned 80 on Monday, and the Telegraph describes how he runs ("shuffles", he says) twice a week in shoes made from tires, lifts weights, and keeps himself occupied with intellectual pursuits.
They also speculate that he might be chosen to light the torch at the 2012 Olympic Games in London (have you bought your tickets yet?).
Roger Bannister: 80 years old but still plenty left in the tank
By the way, John Landy, the second man to run sub 4:00 for the mile and the man whose name will be forever linked with Bannister's, is also keeping busy. Although he won't turn 80 for another year, Landy is still running and still very active in public life. In the wake of the terrible fires in Australia, Landy was appointed chair of an advisory panel responsible for getting money to the families of victims of the fires.
They also speculate that he might be chosen to light the torch at the 2012 Olympic Games in London (have you bought your tickets yet?).
Roger Bannister: 80 years old but still plenty left in the tank
By the way, John Landy, the second man to run sub 4:00 for the mile and the man whose name will be forever linked with Bannister's, is also keeping busy. Although he won't turn 80 for another year, Landy is still running and still very active in public life. In the wake of the terrible fires in Australia, Landy was appointed chair of an advisory panel responsible for getting money to the families of victims of the fires.
March 22, 2009
NNHS Alumni Results - 3/21/09
I couldn't quite wrap my mind around the fact that there was an outdoor track meet in the Boston area this weekend, but the results are posted, so it must have happened: on the first full day of spring, Northeastern hosted the Husky Spring Open at their track in Dedham.
It was great to see the return of Northeastern sophomore Jess Barton after she sat out the winter season to let an injury heal. Jess won the women's 5000m yesterday with a time of 17:48.64, over a minute ahead of 2nd place.
Also competing in the 5000 (somewhat surprisingly so, since he usually focuses on the 1000/mile) was Seb Putzeys, who ran a more-than-respectable 15:26.84 (definitely a personal best at that distance) for 4th place.
Now this is not a recent result, but I am delighted to report that Ciaran O'Donovan (NNHS '03) is back running again, and completed the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco on Feb 1, 2009, running 1:39:10.
It was great to see the return of Northeastern sophomore Jess Barton after she sat out the winter season to let an injury heal. Jess won the women's 5000m yesterday with a time of 17:48.64, over a minute ahead of 2nd place.
Also competing in the 5000 (somewhat surprisingly so, since he usually focuses on the 1000/mile) was Seb Putzeys, who ran a more-than-respectable 15:26.84 (definitely a personal best at that distance) for 4th place.
Now this is not a recent result, but I am delighted to report that Ciaran O'Donovan (NNHS '03) is back running again, and completed the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in San Francisco on Feb 1, 2009, running 1:39:10.
March 19, 2009
Intriguing Races at National Masters Indoors
The U.S. Championships are over, the World championships are over, the NCAAs are over, NIN and NSIC are over... Indoor is almost over. In fact, there's just one meet left: the U.S. National Masters Indoor Championships, March 20-22, in Landover, Maryland.
No, I'm not running -- too busy with half marathons and mileage build-ups and such. But there are some very intriguing races on tap.
The men's 55-59 800m features an appearance by Henry Rono, once the world's best distance runner over the 3K steeplechase, 5000m, and 10,000m. Rono, a recovering alcoholic, has been a great comeback story. However, he has little chance to win because he is facing a field that includes Nolan Shaheed, perhaps the most impressive American male age-group runner in history. Shaheed has a seed time of 2:09.30 -- at age 58 -- and is one of four runners who is seeded at better than 2:10. Top seed is Houston's Horace Grant, the American record holder at 2:06.80.
Rono, Shaheed, et al. are also entered in the mile, where Shaheed holds the American age-group record, and hasn't lost a race against his age group in well over a decade.
Local (New Hampshire) runner Craig Fram is the top seed in the 50-54 10mile and 3000m. Fram has basically announced his intention to go after Shaheed's American record for the 3K, which stands at 8:54.73. Fram has run 9:07 this winter.
Another local runner, familiar to DyeStat denizens as NSHSDad, is John Huth who is entered in the M50-54 400m and 800m. He'll have his hands full in those races, as there are 12 men in the 400 with seed times under 60 seconds, and four in the 800m with seed times under 2:10.
One of the biggest locks of the meet will be in the women's 50-54 3000m, where Olympic Marathon gold medalist Joan Samuelson is seeded a full two minutes faster than anyone else in the field. The listed American record is 10:23.84 by the many-time U.S. age group champion Kathryn Martin, but Samuelson has an excellent shot to break that record, and is seeded at 10:05.
The men's 45-49 mile is a marquee event with three legends of the sport facing each other: Pete Magill (American age-group record holder for the 3k, 5k, and 10k) is the top seed at 4:21. He'll be facing John Hinton (American age-group record holder for the outdoor 1500m), and Anselm LeBourne (former record holder for the 800m). Speed vs. strength! In all, their our five geezers in the race who have run faster than 4:31.
Lest anyone think I'm ignoring the sprinters (who me?), let me give you some idea of the depth of the sprinting events:
In my age-group, 50-54, there are four men seeded at faster than 24 seconds, led by the Greater Boston Track Club's Everad Samuels (23.09). In the 400, there are nine men seeded at 56.00 or better.
On the women's side, 62-year-old Phil Raschker, one of the greatest age-group athletes of all time, is entered in EIGHT sprinting and jumping events -- and she is the favorite to win them all! Here are her qualifying marks:
60m - 8.93
200m - 29.42
400m - 68.34
60m hurdles - 10.38
high jump - 1.38 (4-6)
pole vault - 2.30 (7-6)
long jump - 4.32 (14-1)
triple jump - 9.11 (29-10)
No spreading the wealth around here!
No, I'm not running -- too busy with half marathons and mileage build-ups and such. But there are some very intriguing races on tap.
The men's 55-59 800m features an appearance by Henry Rono, once the world's best distance runner over the 3K steeplechase, 5000m, and 10,000m. Rono, a recovering alcoholic, has been a great comeback story. However, he has little chance to win because he is facing a field that includes Nolan Shaheed, perhaps the most impressive American male age-group runner in history. Shaheed has a seed time of 2:09.30 -- at age 58 -- and is one of four runners who is seeded at better than 2:10. Top seed is Houston's Horace Grant, the American record holder at 2:06.80.
Rono, Shaheed, et al. are also entered in the mile, where Shaheed holds the American age-group record, and hasn't lost a race against his age group in well over a decade.
Local (New Hampshire) runner Craig Fram is the top seed in the 50-54 10mile and 3000m. Fram has basically announced his intention to go after Shaheed's American record for the 3K, which stands at 8:54.73. Fram has run 9:07 this winter.
Another local runner, familiar to DyeStat denizens as NSHSDad, is John Huth who is entered in the M50-54 400m and 800m. He'll have his hands full in those races, as there are 12 men in the 400 with seed times under 60 seconds, and four in the 800m with seed times under 2:10.
One of the biggest locks of the meet will be in the women's 50-54 3000m, where Olympic Marathon gold medalist Joan Samuelson is seeded a full two minutes faster than anyone else in the field. The listed American record is 10:23.84 by the many-time U.S. age group champion Kathryn Martin, but Samuelson has an excellent shot to break that record, and is seeded at 10:05.
The men's 45-49 mile is a marquee event with three legends of the sport facing each other: Pete Magill (American age-group record holder for the 3k, 5k, and 10k) is the top seed at 4:21. He'll be facing John Hinton (American age-group record holder for the outdoor 1500m), and Anselm LeBourne (former record holder for the 800m). Speed vs. strength! In all, their our five geezers in the race who have run faster than 4:31.
Lest anyone think I'm ignoring the sprinters (who me?), let me give you some idea of the depth of the sprinting events:
In my age-group, 50-54, there are four men seeded at faster than 24 seconds, led by the Greater Boston Track Club's Everad Samuels (23.09). In the 400, there are nine men seeded at 56.00 or better.
On the women's side, 62-year-old Phil Raschker, one of the greatest age-group athletes of all time, is entered in EIGHT sprinting and jumping events -- and she is the favorite to win them all! Here are her qualifying marks:
60m - 8.93
200m - 29.42
400m - 68.34
60m hurdles - 10.38
high jump - 1.38 (4-6)
pole vault - 2.30 (7-6)
long jump - 4.32 (14-1)
triple jump - 9.11 (29-10)
No spreading the wealth around here!
March 17, 2009
Doubles and Triples I Have Known
On the DyeStat New England forum, a debate has been raging about whether the Bay State League should permit doubling in the distance events. Duh. Of course it should, but I'm not going to write about that today.
Instead, the whole discussion has brought back memories of dramatic doubles (and triples!) I have seen with my own eyes or run myself. In my experience, serious distance runners are drawn to such challenges as a way of testing the limits to their powers of endurance and focus. There's no doubt that doubling provides an experience that's hard to get in a single race, and hard to erase from memory as time passes.
So without further double-talk, here are five examples of the multiple-race experience:
1. Barnicle the Freshman
It was a pleasant day in early October 2001, and Newton North was about to run a cross-country meet at Cold Springs Park. As I recall, we were running against Braintree and Dedham. Braintree had recently beaten Brookline in a very close meet, and I was expecting our meet to be just as competitive. I was talking with one of the upperclassmen on the team, and he said that he hoped Chris Barnicle wasn't tired from gym class that morning. With a sinking feeling, I asked him what he was talking about. He proceeded to tell me that the gym teacher had had all the kids run a mile that morning, and Chris had decided he wanted to go for the freshman record (it was news to me that there was a NN freshman mile record). Anyway, Chris had warmed up for a couple of miles and then run a 4:51 mile... in gym class... the day of a cross-country meet.
I was livid, of course, and when I saw Chris, I chastised him for his poor judgement. Privately, I hoped he would be able to run the race and not finish too far back. I figured we needed him to be in our top five.
He won, of course, running 17:42, leading a Newton North sweep of the top four places. He did admit to being a little bit more tired than usual at the end of the race and promised not to "double" again. I thought to myself: it's going to be an interesting four years.
Polgar the Beast
One of the high points of Newton North track history was the school's victory in the distance medley at the 2005 Penn Relays. The team of David Polgar (1200), David Slifer (400), Jed Carpenter (800), and Barnicle (1600) ran 10:04.15, which was the best time in the nation that year. That was on Friday afternoon. With Coach Blackburn, the team flew back to Massachusetts Friday night, and got up early Saturday to compete at the State Relays. The day after running a superb 3:06 in the 1200, David Polgar ran two competitive 1600 legs the next day. The first, in about 4:26, helped the NN team take second to Lexington in the 4x1600 relay. The second, in about 4:24, anchored Newton North to victory in the DMR.
David's performance was particularly memorable because he was not a high-mileage kind of guy who had 60-70 mpw to fall back on. I'm convinced he ran those three races in less than 24 hours on pure stubborn competitiveness.
John Barbour and the Ridiculous XC Doublee
John Barbour is a local guy who has competed for many years for the Greater Lowell Road Runners. In 2002, at the age of 48, Barbour competed at the USATF New England Masters XC championships, finishing 3rd in the 8K race at Franklin Park. His time was 26:19 (5:20 / mile pace), just seven seconds behind the winner.
It was an outstanding performance and a harbinger of good things to come (he would win the National Over-50 XC championship two years later on the same course), but on that Sunday he wasn't finished. His club was missing a runner for the open 10K race, and John volunteered to run. About 90 minutes after the masters race finished, Barbour ran the open race, finishing 45th in 33:56 for 10K (5:32 / mile pace).
That XC double -- 8K in 26:19 / 10K in 33:56 within two hours -- at age 48 -- still boggles my mind.
The Great July 4th Road Race Binge
The year was 1988 and I was 30 years old.
My friend Rick and I had been looking for Road Races on July 4th, and we noticed that there was a 7:00 a.m. race in Hingham. We figured if we ran that race, there'd be plenty of time to run another. And then we had this crazy idea, to see if we could run three. We enlisted Rick's girlfriend as a driver, and early on the fourth, we headed to Hingham in high spirits.
The first race was 4.6 miles, and I won it, running about 23 minutes or so (it might have been a short course). After a longer-than-planned cool down (we had a misunderstanding about our rendezvous point with Rick's girlfriend) we drove speedily to Needham, where the annual town day 3 mile race was scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. We ran together, finishing in 2nd and 3rd, running about 16:00. There was a local Needham guy in front of us, and we decided we should let him win because at the time, the race was for Needham residents only and we had kind of lied to get into the race. To this day, I regret not outkicking that guy and taking the win.
As soon as we finished, we didn't even cool down, but instead drove the ten minutes or so to the start of the Dedham 10K race, which started at 10:00 a.m. That race was very hard (it was now about 80 degrees out), and I ended up running about 32:50 and finishing 3rd.
After three hours, I had three medals, three race t-shirts, and a plaque we got for winning the 3-man team title at the Dedham race (we had one other club member run for us there). I still have the plaque.
In my running log, I recorded this note: "Well, there goes the summer."
The Hood-to-Coast Relay
In New England, there is the Green Mountain Relay, but the mother of all multiple-leg stage relays is the Hood-to-Coast Relay in Oregon.
In 1994, my club (Cambridge Sports Union) fielded a twelve-person co-ed team for the Hood-to-Coast relay. The race is organized as 36 separate legs -- three legs for each runner on a team. The individual legs range from 4 to 7 miles, which means that each runner runs three separate 4M-7M races within 12-13 hours.
Our team began racing at 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night. The first leg drops 2000 vertical feet, and if you think that's a good thing, well it's not. Our man on the first leg, Keith Pijanowski had quads of steel, or he never would have survived his subsequent races. Other heroes from our team included Sue LaChance, a tireless runner who ran three superb legs, her husband John, a constant source of inspiration and good sense (and you need a lot of competence and good sense in a race like this), my long-time training partner Terry, who successfully navigated the darkest, most desolate leg of the race at about 3:00 a.m., and Terry's wife Sue -- our field general.
I started my first leg -- a 10K stage through the suburbs of Portland -- shortly after midnight. My next leg started around 6 a.m., about 55 miles closer to the Oregon Coast. My final leg began just before noon. By the time it was over, I had learned a lot about myself and my team. Specifically, I learned how tough my teammates were, and how much I enjoyed traveling hundreds of miles with them, stuffed in a couple of vans, sleeping a couple of hours at a time in fields, and supporting each other as we carried a baton from the mountains to the sea.
It was one of the best race experiences of my life.
Instead, the whole discussion has brought back memories of dramatic doubles (and triples!) I have seen with my own eyes or run myself. In my experience, serious distance runners are drawn to such challenges as a way of testing the limits to their powers of endurance and focus. There's no doubt that doubling provides an experience that's hard to get in a single race, and hard to erase from memory as time passes.
So without further double-talk, here are five examples of the multiple-race experience:
1. Barnicle the Freshman
It was a pleasant day in early October 2001, and Newton North was about to run a cross-country meet at Cold Springs Park. As I recall, we were running against Braintree and Dedham. Braintree had recently beaten Brookline in a very close meet, and I was expecting our meet to be just as competitive. I was talking with one of the upperclassmen on the team, and he said that he hoped Chris Barnicle wasn't tired from gym class that morning. With a sinking feeling, I asked him what he was talking about. He proceeded to tell me that the gym teacher had had all the kids run a mile that morning, and Chris had decided he wanted to go for the freshman record (it was news to me that there was a NN freshman mile record). Anyway, Chris had warmed up for a couple of miles and then run a 4:51 mile... in gym class... the day of a cross-country meet.
I was livid, of course, and when I saw Chris, I chastised him for his poor judgement. Privately, I hoped he would be able to run the race and not finish too far back. I figured we needed him to be in our top five.
He won, of course, running 17:42, leading a Newton North sweep of the top four places. He did admit to being a little bit more tired than usual at the end of the race and promised not to "double" again. I thought to myself: it's going to be an interesting four years.
Polgar the Beast
One of the high points of Newton North track history was the school's victory in the distance medley at the 2005 Penn Relays. The team of David Polgar (1200), David Slifer (400), Jed Carpenter (800), and Barnicle (1600) ran 10:04.15, which was the best time in the nation that year. That was on Friday afternoon. With Coach Blackburn, the team flew back to Massachusetts Friday night, and got up early Saturday to compete at the State Relays. The day after running a superb 3:06 in the 1200, David Polgar ran two competitive 1600 legs the next day. The first, in about 4:26, helped the NN team take second to Lexington in the 4x1600 relay. The second, in about 4:24, anchored Newton North to victory in the DMR.
David's performance was particularly memorable because he was not a high-mileage kind of guy who had 60-70 mpw to fall back on. I'm convinced he ran those three races in less than 24 hours on pure stubborn competitiveness.
John Barbour and the Ridiculous XC Doublee
John Barbour is a local guy who has competed for many years for the Greater Lowell Road Runners. In 2002, at the age of 48, Barbour competed at the USATF New England Masters XC championships, finishing 3rd in the 8K race at Franklin Park. His time was 26:19 (5:20 / mile pace), just seven seconds behind the winner.
It was an outstanding performance and a harbinger of good things to come (he would win the National Over-50 XC championship two years later on the same course), but on that Sunday he wasn't finished. His club was missing a runner for the open 10K race, and John volunteered to run. About 90 minutes after the masters race finished, Barbour ran the open race, finishing 45th in 33:56 for 10K (5:32 / mile pace).
That XC double -- 8K in 26:19 / 10K in 33:56 within two hours -- at age 48 -- still boggles my mind.
The Great July 4th Road Race Binge
The year was 1988 and I was 30 years old.
My friend Rick and I had been looking for Road Races on July 4th, and we noticed that there was a 7:00 a.m. race in Hingham. We figured if we ran that race, there'd be plenty of time to run another. And then we had this crazy idea, to see if we could run three. We enlisted Rick's girlfriend as a driver, and early on the fourth, we headed to Hingham in high spirits.
The first race was 4.6 miles, and I won it, running about 23 minutes or so (it might have been a short course). After a longer-than-planned cool down (we had a misunderstanding about our rendezvous point with Rick's girlfriend) we drove speedily to Needham, where the annual town day 3 mile race was scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. We ran together, finishing in 2nd and 3rd, running about 16:00. There was a local Needham guy in front of us, and we decided we should let him win because at the time, the race was for Needham residents only and we had kind of lied to get into the race. To this day, I regret not outkicking that guy and taking the win.
As soon as we finished, we didn't even cool down, but instead drove the ten minutes or so to the start of the Dedham 10K race, which started at 10:00 a.m. That race was very hard (it was now about 80 degrees out), and I ended up running about 32:50 and finishing 3rd.
After three hours, I had three medals, three race t-shirts, and a plaque we got for winning the 3-man team title at the Dedham race (we had one other club member run for us there). I still have the plaque.
In my running log, I recorded this note: "Well, there goes the summer."
The Hood-to-Coast Relay
In New England, there is the Green Mountain Relay, but the mother of all multiple-leg stage relays is the Hood-to-Coast Relay in Oregon.
In 1994, my club (Cambridge Sports Union) fielded a twelve-person co-ed team for the Hood-to-Coast relay. The race is organized as 36 separate legs -- three legs for each runner on a team. The individual legs range from 4 to 7 miles, which means that each runner runs three separate 4M-7M races within 12-13 hours.
Our team began racing at 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night. The first leg drops 2000 vertical feet, and if you think that's a good thing, well it's not. Our man on the first leg, Keith Pijanowski had quads of steel, or he never would have survived his subsequent races. Other heroes from our team included Sue LaChance, a tireless runner who ran three superb legs, her husband John, a constant source of inspiration and good sense (and you need a lot of competence and good sense in a race like this), my long-time training partner Terry, who successfully navigated the darkest, most desolate leg of the race at about 3:00 a.m., and Terry's wife Sue -- our field general.
I started my first leg -- a 10K stage through the suburbs of Portland -- shortly after midnight. My next leg started around 6 a.m., about 55 miles closer to the Oregon Coast. My final leg began just before noon. By the time it was over, I had learned a lot about myself and my team. Specifically, I learned how tough my teammates were, and how much I enjoyed traveling hundreds of miles with them, stuffed in a couple of vans, sleeping a couple of hours at a time in fields, and supporting each other as we carried a baton from the mountains to the sea.
It was one of the best race experiences of my life.
March 16, 2009
NIN: Title for Newton South, Honors for Newton North Girls
It was an amazing weekend at the Nike Scholastic Indoor Nationals.
The Newton South girls continued their remarkable post-season with two extraordinary performances in the long relays. On saturday, Kelsey Karys, Kathy O'Keefe, Melanie Fineman, and Bridget Dahlberg won the national championship in the 4x1 Mile, running 20:25.90 (#7 all-time). On Sunday, with Juliet Ryan-Davis taking Karys' place on the 4x800, the Lions ran a mind-boggling 8:58.63 (a New england record and #3 all-time) to place second behind Southern Regional of NJ.
(Sub 9:00!! Newton South's NE record-setting 4x800 team. Photo - Dave Fineman)
Also on Sunday, Karys competed in the 2-Mile and ran a personal indoor best of 10:52 to place 8th.
The Newton North girls were also busy, as their sprint medley relay team (Carolyn Ranti, Michelle Kaufman, Ari Sanchez, and Margo Gillis) placed third in 4:07.90 to earn All-American status. The NN girls also fielded a shuttle hurdle relay team (Kaufman, Amy Ren, Jen Liu, and Emily Denn), which placed 7th in 36.35.
Other Bay Staters placing in the top six included Rebecca White (5th in the 5000) Framingham's Camille Murphy (a five-second PR 4:52.90 to take 4th in the mile).
NIN Complete Results - Girls
NIN Complete Results - Boys
The Newton South girls continued their remarkable post-season with two extraordinary performances in the long relays. On saturday, Kelsey Karys, Kathy O'Keefe, Melanie Fineman, and Bridget Dahlberg won the national championship in the 4x1 Mile, running 20:25.90 (#7 all-time). On Sunday, with Juliet Ryan-Davis taking Karys' place on the 4x800, the Lions ran a mind-boggling 8:58.63 (a New england record and #3 all-time) to place second behind Southern Regional of NJ.
(Sub 9:00!! Newton South's NE record-setting 4x800 team. Photo - Dave Fineman)
Also on Sunday, Karys competed in the 2-Mile and ran a personal indoor best of 10:52 to place 8th.
The Newton North girls were also busy, as their sprint medley relay team (Carolyn Ranti, Michelle Kaufman, Ari Sanchez, and Margo Gillis) placed third in 4:07.90 to earn All-American status. The NN girls also fielded a shuttle hurdle relay team (Kaufman, Amy Ren, Jen Liu, and Emily Denn), which placed 7th in 36.35.
Other Bay Staters placing in the top six included Rebecca White (5th in the 5000) Framingham's Camille Murphy (a five-second PR 4:52.90 to take 4th in the mile).
NIN Complete Results - Girls
NIN Complete Results - Boys
March 14, 2009
Gabe Jennings is Not Done Yet
My son Loren is not a track fan, alas, but he still remembers bits and pieces from our trip to the 2000 Olympic Trials in Sacramento. Specifically, he remembers Gabe Jennings, who won the 1500m at those trials.
Gabe Jennings is not, perhaps, the most famous miler in the U.S. these days, but he won a place in our hearts and memories for being... well... unique. Most runners talk about their training and racing in conventional platitudes, but Jennings talked about running like a mystic. For example, here's a snippet from his USATF bio page:
"[Jennings] runs to a rhythm, sometimes singing in the middle of a race. He's been a drummer since he was young and majored in music at Stanford before changing to mathematics...sees his life in three stages; athletics, music and philosophy...says his 'greatest fear is fear itself, and my greatest dream is that I will stop dreaming altogether and just live.'...says his heroes aren't people like Prefontaine or Salazar but others like Michael Stember, Jason Pyrah, Jason Lunn and his teammates and competitors - runners in the here and now..."
Loren told me he still remembers watching a post-race interview of Jennings in which he started singing out the rhythm of the race... "boom boom BOOM" ... He has been known to thank "...the water, the trees, and the great spirit" as well as the fans.
(For a true example of Jennings on camera, check out the video of Jennings' post-race interview at the 2000 Trials on SpeedEndurance.com. It's the first video on the page.)
After winning the Trials in 2000, Jennings struggled. He ran poorly in 2001, struggled in school after changing his major to Mathematics, and failed to graduate from Stanford. He lost motivation. He went on a biking Odyssey, traveling from California to Brazil, getting robbed, contracting hepatitis. Track fans thought of him as a has-been, a waste of talent, an irrelevancy in the new world of Bernard Lagat, Alan Webb, and other younger runners.
But Jennings wasn't done yet. He regained his desire to run. He started running consistently higher mileage. He ran a marathon. He returned to form and finished 2nd to Bernard Lagat in the 2006 U.S. Championships. Although a long shot, he had his eye on making another Olympic team.
On the eve of the 2008 Olympic Trials, here's what Runner's World blogger Parker Morse had to say about Jennings:
"I've found it difficult to explain to people who weren't following running during the 2000 Trials just what Gabe Jennings represents. It's easy to see the lunacy, the priorities 90 degrees from the American mainstream, the eccentricity (and calling Jennings "eccentric" seems too weak, like calling Tyson Gay "fast" or Khadevis Robinson "talkative")."
Morse goes on to describe Jennings as the most unpredictable of runners, one capable of both ordinary magic (running a sub-4:00 mile) and that "more magic" that produces Olympic Trials victories and other inexplicable feats.
In the semi-finals, it looked like Jennings might have that "more magic" as he won his heat in 3:40. But the magic evaporated in the finals, and he finished dead last in 3:47. That, it would seem, was that.
But last weekend, I came across Jennings name again. It was the indoor mile at the Husky "Last Chance" meet, and the big story was Galen Rupp running under 4:00 for the first time. Indeed, Rupp seems to be in the best shape of his life heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships.
But in third place less than a half second behind Rupp was 30-year-old Gabe Jennings, running what appeared to be a 1M personal best of 3:58.25. It seems Jennings has joined the Oregon Track Club, and isn't done yet... not yet, not while he still can summon up that magic every so often.
I was happy to see this result, and sent me off to find out what Jennings has been up to. I ran across his blog - The Yogi Runner - on Flotrack, and here's what I read:
"As the self-proclaimed YOGI RUNNER, I preach the power of RUNNING MEDITATION. Although I have yet to gain immortal physical success with my new method, i.e. Gold Medal, titles and honors; I have gained a sort of ENLIGHTENMENT as defined by the eternal Kant and elaborated by Hegel--meaning immanent penetration into the life blood of my soul and the intricate web of nature."
I'm going to pass that statement along to Loren, and I'm sure he'll join me in saying, "Right on, Gabe...Right on!"
Gabe Jennings is not, perhaps, the most famous miler in the U.S. these days, but he won a place in our hearts and memories for being... well... unique. Most runners talk about their training and racing in conventional platitudes, but Jennings talked about running like a mystic. For example, here's a snippet from his USATF bio page:
"[Jennings] runs to a rhythm, sometimes singing in the middle of a race. He's been a drummer since he was young and majored in music at Stanford before changing to mathematics...sees his life in three stages; athletics, music and philosophy...says his 'greatest fear is fear itself, and my greatest dream is that I will stop dreaming altogether and just live.'...says his heroes aren't people like Prefontaine or Salazar but others like Michael Stember, Jason Pyrah, Jason Lunn and his teammates and competitors - runners in the here and now..."
Loren told me he still remembers watching a post-race interview of Jennings in which he started singing out the rhythm of the race... "boom boom BOOM" ... He has been known to thank "...the water, the trees, and the great spirit" as well as the fans.
(For a true example of Jennings on camera, check out the video of Jennings' post-race interview at the 2000 Trials on SpeedEndurance.com. It's the first video on the page.)
After winning the Trials in 2000, Jennings struggled. He ran poorly in 2001, struggled in school after changing his major to Mathematics, and failed to graduate from Stanford. He lost motivation. He went on a biking Odyssey, traveling from California to Brazil, getting robbed, contracting hepatitis. Track fans thought of him as a has-been, a waste of talent, an irrelevancy in the new world of Bernard Lagat, Alan Webb, and other younger runners.
But Jennings wasn't done yet. He regained his desire to run. He started running consistently higher mileage. He ran a marathon. He returned to form and finished 2nd to Bernard Lagat in the 2006 U.S. Championships. Although a long shot, he had his eye on making another Olympic team.
On the eve of the 2008 Olympic Trials, here's what Runner's World blogger Parker Morse had to say about Jennings:
"I've found it difficult to explain to people who weren't following running during the 2000 Trials just what Gabe Jennings represents. It's easy to see the lunacy, the priorities 90 degrees from the American mainstream, the eccentricity (and calling Jennings "eccentric" seems too weak, like calling Tyson Gay "fast" or Khadevis Robinson "talkative")."
Morse goes on to describe Jennings as the most unpredictable of runners, one capable of both ordinary magic (running a sub-4:00 mile) and that "more magic" that produces Olympic Trials victories and other inexplicable feats.
In the semi-finals, it looked like Jennings might have that "more magic" as he won his heat in 3:40. But the magic evaporated in the finals, and he finished dead last in 3:47. That, it would seem, was that.
But last weekend, I came across Jennings name again. It was the indoor mile at the Husky "Last Chance" meet, and the big story was Galen Rupp running under 4:00 for the first time. Indeed, Rupp seems to be in the best shape of his life heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships.
But in third place less than a half second behind Rupp was 30-year-old Gabe Jennings, running what appeared to be a 1M personal best of 3:58.25. It seems Jennings has joined the Oregon Track Club, and isn't done yet... not yet, not while he still can summon up that magic every so often.
1 Rupp, Galen Oregon 3:57.86A
2 Abbott, Austin Washington 3:58.23A
3 Jennings, Gabe OTC 3:58.25A
4 Acosta, A.J. Oregon 4:00.11P
I was happy to see this result, and sent me off to find out what Jennings has been up to. I ran across his blog - The Yogi Runner - on Flotrack, and here's what I read:
"As the self-proclaimed YOGI RUNNER, I preach the power of RUNNING MEDITATION. Although I have yet to gain immortal physical success with my new method, i.e. Gold Medal, titles and honors; I have gained a sort of ENLIGHTENMENT as defined by the eternal Kant and elaborated by Hegel--meaning immanent penetration into the life blood of my soul and the intricate web of nature."
I'm going to pass that statement along to Loren, and I'm sure he'll join me in saying, "Right on, Gabe...Right on!"
March 13, 2009
Friday at NIN
Nike Indoor Nationals gets underway today at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The Boys and Girls 5000m runs include some Mass. athletes. Medford's Phil Galebach will be in Section 2 fo the boys 5K, while the Bay State's own Rebecca White (Natick) will be in the seeded heat of the girls 5K (along with L-S's Jen Gossels, H-W's Emily Lanois, and Marlborough's Ally Oram).
NIN Meet Schedule
NIN Start Lists
The Boys and Girls 5000m runs include some Mass. athletes. Medford's Phil Galebach will be in Section 2 fo the boys 5K, while the Bay State's own Rebecca White (Natick) will be in the seeded heat of the girls 5K (along with L-S's Jen Gossels, H-W's Emily Lanois, and Marlborough's Ally Oram).
NIN Meet Schedule
NIN Start Lists
March 12, 2009
Ross McDonald Vaults 15-3
Two Newton South posts in a row... N.S. seems to have become the center of the Mass H.S. track universe...
According to the Newton Running Times website, junior pole vaulter Ross McDonald vaulted 15-3 in a USATF-sanctioned competition held last Saturday at the Newton South field house. That's more than a foot higher than his winning jump at last year's state meet, and nine inches higher than the listed outdoor state meet record of 14-6.
Here's the video on YouTube:
Ross is scheduled to compete at Nike Indoor Nationals on Saturday.
According to the Newton Running Times website, junior pole vaulter Ross McDonald vaulted 15-3 in a USATF-sanctioned competition held last Saturday at the Newton South field house. That's more than a foot higher than his winning jump at last year's state meet, and nine inches higher than the listed outdoor state meet record of 14-6.
Here's the video on YouTube:
Ross is scheduled to compete at Nike Indoor Nationals on Saturday.
March 11, 2009
Newton South Girls to Run 4x1M at NIN
Did you miss the Newton South girls stunning meet record, best in the nation, best ever in New England 4x800 last Friday night? The NE champions are stepping it up to run the 4 x 1 Mile at Nike Indoor Nationals and -- hard as it is to believe -- they might be even better at the 4x1M than the 4x800.
The quartet of Juliet Ryan-Davis, Kathy O'Keefe, Melanie Fineman, and Bridget Dahlberg ran 9:04.13 at the New England Championships -- the #1 time in the nation this year and the #7 performance all-time. According to the entry list for the NIN meet taking place Friday-Sunday, Ryan-Davis will be the alternate and NE 2M runner-up Kelsey Karys will run a leg.
Here are the season-best times for the five runners:
O'Keefe can run much faster - her outstanding times in the 1000 prove that -- and the team shows absolutely no sign of running out of gas at the end of the season; quite the opposite.
Last year's NIN winning team ran 20:47, and Newton South can clearly go faster than that, even without PR performances. The national and meet record is 19:59.24, set in 2005 by Saratoga Springs. While that is probably out of reach, a time between 20:20 and 20:30 is doable. Based on last week's race, NS doesn't need another team nipping at its heels to run fast.
The girls 4 x 1 Mile is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. on Saturday. If you want to watch the action, get there early as the meet will almost certainly sell out.
For more about the 4x800, here's a nice article in the local paper with extensive quotes from Coach Steve McChesney about the team's attitude going into the New England meet.
Daily News Tribune: South girls' 4x800 set nation's standard
The quartet of Juliet Ryan-Davis, Kathy O'Keefe, Melanie Fineman, and Bridget Dahlberg ran 9:04.13 at the New England Championships -- the #1 time in the nation this year and the #7 performance all-time. According to the entry list for the NIN meet taking place Friday-Sunday, Ryan-Davis will be the alternate and NE 2M runner-up Kelsey Karys will run a leg.
Here are the season-best times for the five runners:
(Ryan-Davis) 5:18.65 (2/05/09)
Karys 5:09.73 (2/01/09)
O'Keefe 5:18.17 (1/07/09)
Fineman 5:08.72 (2/27/09)
Dahlberg 4:56.16 (2/27/09)
Total 20:32.46
O'Keefe can run much faster - her outstanding times in the 1000 prove that -- and the team shows absolutely no sign of running out of gas at the end of the season; quite the opposite.
Last year's NIN winning team ran 20:47, and Newton South can clearly go faster than that, even without PR performances. The national and meet record is 19:59.24, set in 2005 by Saratoga Springs. While that is probably out of reach, a time between 20:20 and 20:30 is doable. Based on last week's race, NS doesn't need another team nipping at its heels to run fast.
The girls 4 x 1 Mile is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. on Saturday. If you want to watch the action, get there early as the meet will almost certainly sell out.
For more about the 4x800, here's a nice article in the local paper with extensive quotes from Coach Steve McChesney about the team's attitude going into the New England meet.
Daily News Tribune: South girls' 4x800 set nation's standard
March 06, 2009
Penultimate Week of Indoor Track
The Indoor Track season is either reaching its peak or winding down, depending on your perspective. This weekend and next feature the final regional and championship meets for high school and college, with plenty of viewing opportunities around Boston.
H.S. New England Championships
On Friday the Reggie Lewis Center hosts the New England Championships from 5:00-10:00 p.m.
In the girls 4x800, Newton South (seeded at 9:18.98) has an excellent shot at the meet record (9:16.52) and will be running their entire team fresh (no doubling) for the first time all year.
The girls 1000 will be another battle between Camile Murphy and Ellie Hylton, but the Newton trio of Margo Gillis, Kathy O'Keefe, and Carolyn Ranti won't be in the race this time.
Newton North will have one competitor: Michelle Kaufman will be competing in the 55 hurdles, seeded 16th at 8.64.
Here are the performance lists for the meet:
2009 NE High School Championships - Performance Lists
ECAC Div III Championships
Div III colleges will be competing at Tufts on Friday and Saturday. Newton North alum Dan Chebot will have another battle to the death with fellow alum Doug Brecher in the 5000m. The race takes place Friday afternoon at 4:05.
Cailean Robinson should be competing, although I'm not sure if he'll be in the 55 or the 200 (where he has the fourth fastest time of the season in the ECAC.
Here's a link to the top ECAC performers this season, but I've been unable to find the actual meet entries:
ECAC Top Performers 2008-2009 Season
And here's a link to the meet schedule:
ECAC Div III Championships - Meet Schedule
Other Meets: IC4A's, ECAC Women's Div I
The IC4A Championships will take place Saturday and Sunday at Boston University.
Meanwhile, once the high school kids clear out after Friday night, the ECAC Div III Women's Championships move in to Reggie Lewis Saturday and Sunday.
H.S. New England Championships
On Friday the Reggie Lewis Center hosts the New England Championships from 5:00-10:00 p.m.
In the girls 4x800, Newton South (seeded at 9:18.98) has an excellent shot at the meet record (9:16.52) and will be running their entire team fresh (no doubling) for the first time all year.
The girls 1000 will be another battle between Camile Murphy and Ellie Hylton, but the Newton trio of Margo Gillis, Kathy O'Keefe, and Carolyn Ranti won't be in the race this time.
Newton North will have one competitor: Michelle Kaufman will be competing in the 55 hurdles, seeded 16th at 8.64.
Here are the performance lists for the meet:
2009 NE High School Championships - Performance Lists
ECAC Div III Championships
Div III colleges will be competing at Tufts on Friday and Saturday. Newton North alum Dan Chebot will have another battle to the death with fellow alum Doug Brecher in the 5000m. The race takes place Friday afternoon at 4:05.
Cailean Robinson should be competing, although I'm not sure if he'll be in the 55 or the 200 (where he has the fourth fastest time of the season in the ECAC.
Here's a link to the top ECAC performers this season, but I've been unable to find the actual meet entries:
ECAC Top Performers 2008-2009 Season
And here's a link to the meet schedule:
ECAC Div III Championships - Meet Schedule
Other Meets: IC4A's, ECAC Women's Div I
The IC4A Championships will take place Saturday and Sunday at Boston University.
Meanwhile, once the high school kids clear out after Friday night, the ECAC Div III Women's Championships move in to Reggie Lewis Saturday and Sunday.
March 03, 2009
Best time to run?
The New York Times had an interesting mini-story about research done to determine the best time to exercise, and, in particular, whether exercising in the morning was somehow better than exercising at other times. Since the article doesn't explicitly say how the different studies define "better," I'm not sure about the answer.
The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise
However, they do say that even though on average subjects do slightly better on measures of physical performance in the afternoon (4:00 - 7:00 p.m.), people can get used to exercising at any time.
I take this as further evidence that training works best when it happens at about the same time every day. As you get used to that time of day, you become capable of doing more work at that time. If you are always changing the time of your workouts, then perhaps you don't get quite as much out of them.
Anyway, perhaps the real answer to the question of whether it's better to work out in the morning or afternoon is to exercise twice a day... just to cover all the bases.
The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise
However, they do say that even though on average subjects do slightly better on measures of physical performance in the afternoon (4:00 - 7:00 p.m.), people can get used to exercising at any time.
I take this as further evidence that training works best when it happens at about the same time every day. As you get used to that time of day, you become capable of doing more work at that time. If you are always changing the time of your workouts, then perhaps you don't get quite as much out of them.
Anyway, perhaps the real answer to the question of whether it's better to work out in the morning or afternoon is to exercise twice a day... just to cover all the bases.
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