Speed, Heat, Storm, and oh yeah the Olympics

It was so incredibly hot out there tonight, making an already tough workout almost unbearable.  I noticed a lot of you struggling tonight and I couldn't be too hard on any of you.  Just attempting to do a workout like this in the heat should give you a pass.  I know a good amount of you are participating in River 2 Sea next weekend, well tonight's temperatures are pretty close to what the second half of River 2 Sea is going to feel like.  I have been participating in this relay for 7 years and I can not remember a mild River 2 Sea. 

Coming out tonight:

Tim, Kevin, Charlotte, Haydee, Sharon, Jay, Joe, Chris, Paul, Jimbo, Glenn, Brian, Andrea, John, Amy, Nick, Anthony, Denise, Greg, Rich, Dawn Brenner (first time at the track and who better be back), and first timers Kim Schuler and Casey Currie (Came out to get ready for R2C, welcome ladies!). 23 total tonight!

Way to push through and tough it out everyone.  I'm so proud to be part of such a dedicated group of runners.

Workout:

1 mile warm-up

3x600 (200), 400 (200), 300 (200), 200 (3 min rest)

1 mile cool down

Sprint starts got canceled due to the wild looking storm that rolled in.  Next week we will work on relay exchanges.

Volunteers desperately needed for the track meet!  If you or anyone you know is free on Saturday, August 25th please contact me.

Olympics begin tomorrow!

Have a good weekend.

Eye on the Prize

I know I preach and ramble on about many topics during the workouts, but I’m pretty sure not on this topic.  If you have heard what I’m about to say, just stop me; oh that’s right you won’t be able to.  Well, tonight I wanted to focus more on pushing you all more than usual.  I know I yell at times and offer positive reinforcement, but tonight I did something’s a tad different.  One I forced the first group to take control of at least one of the repetitions, and when one of them started to struggle I told him to focus on a target.  This is where I begin my preaching.  Keep your eye on the prize, this goes for everyone no matter if it’s a tough workout or a road race you’re doing.  If you keep your head up and target a person or even an object such as a cone, it should be enough to push you further.   

 Another motivational tool that got pulled out of the bag tonight was used against a certain young lady at the very end of the workout.  As I was coming back from picking up the cone that lay at the bottom of the hill, I started to yell up to the runner that if I caught her she would have to do another repetition.  It was hot and it was the last hill of the night, but sometimes it’s good to empty our tanks.  With the thought in her head that she would have to climb this hill another time, she dug very deep and owned the rest of that hill.  Funny what a little incentive can do…

Also owning the hill tonight:

Kevin, Charlotte, Matt, Sharon, Rich, John, Haydee, Renee, Brian, Steve, Jim, and Denise.  13 total tonight which is a very respectable number considering the heat.

Speed workout Reminder:

We will be meeting at Council Rock South on Thursday at 6PM.  We will begin 50/50 drawings this Thursday that will be picked at the end of the workout we will do one every Thursday leading up to the Track Meet.  All money raised will go toward the track meet.  $1 a chance or $10 for an arm’s length. 

Timed Mile Thursday

This past Thursday was the first time I had to play "Bad Coach" normally I'm "Good Coach."  Let me paint the picture for you:  It's a cooler evening, maybe the coolest it's been in over a month.  It's a decent turnout of Speedsters, and all is going well, until the runners spy the workout board and read "Timed Mile!"  Now I know it's not anyone's favorite workout, to be honest I don't like it either, but the truth is it gives me the ability to chart my runners progress and there is no denying that.  I prepare myself to hear a few moans and groans when it's a timed mile, but at this last one almost everyone was whining.  I had to actually threaten tougher workouts before the whining tapered off.  The most remarkable thing was that everyone was under 8 minutes and a handful ran their fastest mile.  Aside from the timed mile we did 6x400's with 400 rest.  After drills I stayed late and worked exchanges with Blue and Orange runners.  This week I will be working starts with sprinters, so if your running the 100 or 200 in the upcoming track meet allow extra time after the workout.

Coming out:

Kevin (who is now tied with Rod for attendance, 29 workouts each), Tim, Eric, Jay, Joe, Paul, Rich, Sharon, Mary, Anthony, Amy, Nick, Renee, Denise, Brian, Rahim, Jackie (first time out as a married women!), and Brendan.

Even with all the whining I still want to thank you all for coming out and running the "Last" Timed Mile of the Season!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

Speedsters in action this weekend:  

Harris is currently running the Vermont 100 miler!  Anthony Accardo raced the NJ State Triathlon (Sprint), and Allyson Thompson is racing the NJ State Triathlon (Olympic) tomorrow.  Way to go Anthony!  Good luck Harris and Allyson!

Blue & Orange Track Meet:

Still in need of a handful of volunteers on Saturday, August 25 at New Hope.  Also there has been some injuries so, we're now looking for Track meet participant alternates just in case there are any more injuries.   If your available on the 25th and want to volunteer or become an alternate contact me.

I'll see all of you at the Hill Workout on Tuesday.

Speed Workout Reminder

TICK TOCK!

Just a friendly reminder that we will be meeting at Council Rock South at 6PM tonight!

Bridge Out

Last night's workout had to be changed due to a fire drill, sort of.  In the picture above, a fire truck is using the water from the creek and spraying it like crazy for some kind of exercise.  Thanks to this Rod's plans were spoiled, if the truck would have gotten to the bridge 10 minutes sooner Rod would have been stuck on the other side and we all would have had a better evening...Thankfully Steve was at the park earlier and gave me the heads up about the bridge being out.  I was able to set us up on another hill and we got in a decent hill workout. 

Workout:

1 mile warm-up
4x200 (200) and 4x400 (400)
1 mile cool down

Coming out:

Sharon Sein (The sole women and her first hill workout of this season), John, Brian, Jimbo, Steve, Eric, Kevin, and Rod

Track Meet Update:

With the Bowling activity done it's time to focus our attention onto to the Track Meet.  The Track Meet will be held this year at the New Hope Solebury High School Track and the schedule of events can be found below.  All athletes and volunteers should be at the track by 7:30 to help set up, get warmed up, and stretched.  We still need plenty of volunteers to help with score keeping, timing, and officiating.  If you or someone you know is interested please contact me.  We're still in need of tents, ice, Gatorade, stop watches, soft pretzels, and fruit.

9:30	Opening Intro's
10:00	4X800
10:25	100 Meter Dash
10:40	Bean Bag Toss
11:00	1600 Meter Run
11:15	Potato Sack Race
11:35	4X100
11:45	400 Meter Dash
12:00	Water Balloon Toss

12:30

800 Meter Run

12:45

200 Meter Dash

12:55

4X400

1:10

Wet Pants Relay

1:30

Thank You's

1st Annual Speedsters Beef & Bowl is a Success!

“Had a blast...Loved Denise's game 2 change ups, even though my left arm is sore today!!!”  -Allyson

“We ate hot balls, smashed the walls and took a few falls.” –Dr. Mike

 "A great and fun time minus the silly bowl...." -Kevin

"I was just happy there were no hill repeats." -Steve

"It was fun to get together to a sport other than running."-Anthony

Blindfolded Bowling...

I have to admit that I stole the Beef & Bowl idea from Matt Hastings. Last summer, him and his lovely wife Lori (our Track Meet MC) invited Allyson and I to a Beef & Bowl to raise money for their daughters cheerleading squad.  That seemed like such a success that I thought we could give it a try to help raise money for our club.  The bowling alley (Pike Lanes) is a great little place!  Rachel and her family were very nice to us and easy going.  We had a great turnout of Speedsters, their families, and friends.  Our always pleasant Activities Director incorporated some silliness when she put together “Silly Bowling” for game number 2.  Each lane had a grab bag filled with wacky ways to bowl, each bowler got a chance to pick from the bags and follow the directions.  Some of the funnier ones were dance and bowl, bowl with your other hand, and blindfolded bowling which I thought was great until someone who was blindfolded completely missed their lane and almost put their bowling ball through a wall.  The food was delicious and I’m not saying that only because Allyson was the one who made the food, but because it was good stuff!  Allyson made Buffalo Balls: Turkey meatballs made with blue cheese and a spicy kick.  BBQ Pulled Pork: Mouthwatering pulled pork bathed in Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce.  Texas Caviar: A succulent, colorful, homemade salsa.  Denise added these awesome chocolate dipped Strawberries.  The Cohen’s brought some tasty donuts too.  As far as I could tell everyone that came out last night had a very enjoyable time, even those that didn’t bowl.  It was great to see everyone not sweating and panting for a change, instead everyone wore Kool-Aid smiles and laughed contagiously.  I can only see this event growing larger as our club continues to build.  I hope if you joined us last night you join us again at next years Beef & Bowl and if you didn’t make it out I hope you’re able to clear your schedule when it comes around again. 

We were able to raise $462!  Thanks to:

Allyson Thompson

Chris Thompson

Andrea Rinedollar

Glenn Cohen

Barb Cohen

Denise Coll

Jill Manley & Tom

Shannon Manley

Bill Manley

Charlotte Buglio

Jim Larson

Sue Larson

Harris Brenner

Vee Fox

Kevin Delaney

Renee Harnisfenger

Rich Kanak

Maggie Kanak

Euihwa Lee

John O'Brien

Michelle O'Brien

Mary Kirsch

Marie

Anthony Accardo

Steve Cickay

Mallory Walker

Jess Majer

Dr. Mike

Dawn Brenner

  Jay Ricco

Jog & Hog Becomes Latest Addition to Running Resume

All Done!

I can remember times in my life where I have felt saddened or defeated just by life itself, most of us have been in the situation I’m depicting at one time or another.  We’re told that the way we handle those moments will shape our characters that we even learn from them, and we grow stronger once on the other side of whatever that obstacle is.  Well, we all know that, we’ve been there, done that.  What do we do in the middle of all that?  I know I have either gone for a long run to get away and clear my mind or I would engulf a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  I love me some ice cream and running’s up there too…

So, when it was brought to my attention that a new race was coming to town, one that had you running and eating ice cream well, let’s say it didn’t take me long to signup especially when the event was taking place just a few miles from home.  I was extremely confident that I would do well at this event and I wasn’t wrong.  I have to say that I felt out of place at a race for the first time in my running career this morning.  No one was warming up, no stretching, no striders at the start, nothing seemed familiar to me.  I didn’t know what to do!  Did I stick to what I have always done? Should I do what I preach to other runners…or do I become a lemming and go with the crowd.  I decided to meet in the middle and do some shaking of the legs and some nonchalant stretching.  Allyson, Charlotte, and Denise were having fun with me, telling me I was lost, that I needed to lighten up and just make this a fun run.  Fun run?  I couldn’t wrap my head around that and when the “run” went off, so to did my internal race switch. 

I went out in a 5:42 first mile (this was not a fast course, gravel and loose rock).  I was leading the charge to the ice cream station.  It was roughly a mile and a half out and back course, but the turnaround was not like any I had ever experienced.  Before you turn back you had to eat a quart of vanilla bean ice cream!  As I mentioned earlier I have had my fair share of ice cream experience.  All those times enjoying Gibby’s Belly Buster’s was about to pay off.  When I came into the station I was handed a bottle of water, a spoon, and my ice cream.  I made the mistake of sitting down at first, but caught on fast that it would be faster to stand while I destroyed this ice cream.  I came into the station tied for first place, but quickly fell to fifth.  It took me 7 mins and 30 secs to finish the ice cream (not a single brain freeze).  I only stopped for a quick picture and out the station I went.  I was slower going back now barely holding on to a 6:25 pace, but I was able to catch three of my competitors to take an off the record 3^rd place over all (they don’t give out places or awards).  Allyson said the guy that came in first was there 3 minutes before me!  I heard a rumor from Bill Manley that the guy was an out of town guy who did these type of events often.  All in all not a bad attempt at competitive eating by me.  The race took me a total of 26 minutes to complete 18:33 of it was the run the rest was the ice cream eating. 

As for ice cream I could have eaten more and I have a carton of Turkey Hill Rocky Road in the freezer that just might get polished off tonight…

Pretzel Rod...

After all these years "Pretzel Rod" finally brought something to the table worth mentioning!  At last night's workout Rod waltzed up to the track with a box of Soft Pretzels for everyone, which would have been a nice gesture had it been the kind I like, but being it's Rod and he tends to come up short most times, I guess we can't be too tough on him, after all he meant well and many of you didn't hesitate to have one.  I guess I'm just a pretzel snob...Aside from Rod and his generous bribe, we had a big turnout last night!  It wasn't looking like that at first.  As some of us warmed up Paul said to me that it was a small turnout and I agreed, we both thought maybe everyone was on vacation, but you all started coming from every direction.  We ended up with 24 if you count Allyson who left after not feeling well.  It was like old times aside from Rod being nice, that was new. 

Running for pretzels:

Allyson, Tim, Jay, Paul, Eric, Rod (he had at least 8), Joe, Chris, Charlotte, John, Kevin, Jimbo, Brendan Johnson (Back from his Honeymoon!  Congratulations Again!), Rahim, Glenn, Matt (First Speed Workout of the season!), Pete (Thanks for pushing me.), Amy (breath easy), Anthony, Nick, Steve, Andrea, and Brian Gusz (First Speed workout!).

Nice job everyone!  Have a great weekend and I'll see some of you at the Beef & Bowl!

Speaking of Beef & Bowl...
Bowling starts sharply at 8PM and will end at 11PM!  We have room for 5 more bowlers, so if someone ask you what your doing tomorrow night ask them to join you.  Price is $25 most have paid, but there are a few that still need to pay.  Remember that it is BYOB and please come hungry Allyson is putting a lot of her free time tonight toward prepping for all the delicious food for all of us to devour.  There will be raffles tomorrow night as well: 50/50 a $1 a chance or $10 an arm length and a $5 raffle for a chance to win Phillies tickets, a pair of Flyers tickets for a future game next season, and a Sponsor envelope that is a combination of free stuff from our great sponsors and affiliates: Shanfeld Chiropractic, CP Sunoco, and Bill Manley.

Funny I would mention affiliates...
As many of you know I have a slight sponsorship with Brooks which started out as an athlete sponsorship, but now has become one because of Coaching all of you!  Well, one of the perks is I get a great discount for my own stuff, I am not allowed normally to expand it to anyone not even Allyson, but there will be a "Friends & Family Day" where I can order any Speedster Brooks Sneakers and clothing.  This is a great discount, but I have to order it for you and as one large order on July 22.  So, if there is anything on the Brooks site that you have been eying up let me know and I will tell you how much it will cost you.  I will only be order items for those that give me money, no IOU's (remember I am still a college student with two mortgages).

Till we run into each other again...

Lost Or Just Delaying The Inevitable

All was going as planned until for reasons unknown to even myself, I went off my original plan which took us off the beaten path literally.  Maybe I was prolonging running up and down my least favorite hill multiple times or maybe I planned the entire thing...Most likely the latter isn't entirely true.  I'm thinking the return of both Steve and Rod (who had a balloon attached to his buttocks, which was very creepy) on the same night threw me through such a loop that I ended up going the wrong way on the trails during what was suppose to be a one mile warm-up.  We ended up doing closer to a two mile warm-up, through sticker bushes, down steep rocky slopes, before making our way to the actual Covered Bridge.  During our little adventure I heard whispers of runners jumping ship, along with multiple references of doing other workouts instead of this one.  Being most of the negativity was coming from members of the "Orange" team I discounted them.  After we all gathered ourselves we did what we originally set out to do, Hill Repeats!  We did 4x600 (600) up the Covered Bridge Hill. 

Coming out tonight:

Allyson, Charlotte, Dawn, Rod (Happy Birthday!), Steve (Welcome Back!), Jimbo, Kevin, John, Eric, Glenn, Cory, and Brian Gusz (First Timer!  Welcome!).

Bowling Reminder:

It's not too late to sign up for the First Annual Speedster Beef & Bowling Bash.  BYOB! $25 per person and we're supplying all the food.  8PM-11PM.  Going to be a blast, so come on out!  Have your money in by Thursday.

Brooks Reminder:

For all you Brooks wearers, remember that if you ever buy from the BrooksRunning.com website go through the Ads or Brooks Icons on our Blog or Web site, if you do the Speedsters get a percentage of your total sales which is a great way to give back to the club.  Thanks to Jay and Cory (the only two members that I know that use this) we're very close to getting cut our first $100 Check that we sure could use right now, with the Track Meet coming up fast.

Thursday:

I will see all of you Thursday at Council Rock South for our daily Speed Workout!

Hot and Tired

The BLUE & ORANGE fun times have begun!  It didn’t take long for those participating in this event to get into their team colors and start some friendly trash talking.  This is an exciting time had by all and I am looking forward to all the festivities.  We will need plenty of volunteers to help the meet continue to be a success, so if you’re available on Saturday, August 25 from 7:30-1:30 and not already a participant please contact me.  Lunch will be supplied for all Volunteers! 

We will also be having an after party that will be hosted by the Speedsters the location has not been announced yet, but will be very soon.  The only difference to this year’s party is that we want it to follow the meet immediately (no break in between). 

Enough about Blue and Orange…

After a great turnout at the Rev Run Fourth of July Race and many award winners, several of you came out to continue working on your Speed on Thursday.  With dead legs and brutal heat the workout that was set was one that gave you the option to work it, but also gave you a decent break.  I saw a lot of walking and I tried not to say anything because of the heat, but I still don’t recommend it if you’re trying to get a proper workout in.  By walking you’re canceling out everything you just did.

Coming out:

Tim, Andrea, Paul, Glenn, Charlotte, Jay, Joe, Haydee, Kevin, Mary, Mike Gross (welcome back), Rahim, Dennis, Pete, Jimbo, Denise, and Rich

Thanks for coming out on tired legs in the heat!

Bowling:

Our Beef & Bowl Fundraiser will be taking place on Saturday, July 14^th from 8PM-11PM.  This event is a BYOB and the Speedsters will be supplying the food you just bring your favorite beverage.  All money raised will go towards the Track Meet.  We have roughly 20 people coming out to take part in this and even though I stated that the last day to sign up and have money is was this past Thursday, we have decided to extend it to Thursday 12^th so there is still time to join us.  We will also have a few raffles that night!

Enjoy your weekend and I will see all of you on Tuesday!