To Labor Day or Not to Labor Day...

Samuel Adams Octoberfest taste amazing!  I don’t know if it taste so good because I’ve been drinking Corona Lights for the last four months or because a cold beer just taste that much better after a long day.  Whatever the reason, the Octoberfest is a nice compliment to a day that acts as the gateway to autumn.  Labor Day.  Labor Day is suppose to offer a day off to all that work, but yet our members, friends, and families chose to volunteer their time to our Hot Diggity Dog 10k trail race.  Volunteering your time is already a selfless act, that performing in a volunteer position on Labor Day offers a trump situation.  I attempted to thank each and everyone that gave up their valuable time on the one holiday that highlights taking a break.  If I missed you, please except my gratitude now. 

We put on two races each year to generate funds for the club.  These funds allow us to keep our annual membership fees low, offer clothing at a discount, make donations to great causes that our members are involved with and the community, sponsor our most dedicated members, and of course purchase the items that we need to get through each season.  Our ultimate goal is to offer scholarships to Bucks County students and supply young athletes from struggling families with the equipment they need for their respective sports.  The Looney Leprechaun seems to be on its way to that ultimate goal.  The Looney race improved from the first year.  The Hot Diggity Dog struggled initially and still wasn’t looking good just three days ago.  The race rebounded today with a great “day of” registration.  The participant numbers were still down from the first year numbers, but those numbers were not terrible.  This leads me to believe that we could bring the Hot Diggity Dog Labor Day 10k back again next year.  We have to take a long look at the overall numbers. After that, the outstanding officers of this club and I will sit down and talk it over.  We will take everything into considerations before we pull the plug on this event.

Thank you once again to all the volunteers, thank you to all our generous sponsors, and thank you to all the participants that came out to our race.  We are aware that there are other races and events that you could have chosen today, but you came out and supported us and we appreciated that very much. Because of all of you we had a great day, a day filled with fun and spirited competition.   If you are not already a member of the Bucks County Speedsters I invite you to join us for one of our weekly workouts.  We would love to run with you outside of a race environment.

Till we run into each other again…

CT

Track Recap

            

             As runners we conjure up these perfect race day scenarios.  The “perfect” race day begins with fantastic weather and is followed up by an amazing performance.  I must warn you that this doesn’t happen very often.  It’s almost as if all the stars must be aligned to find yourself having a perfect race day.  I can count how many times I have personally experienced this scenario on one hand.  This past Saturday was one of those rare times.  The sun was warm, but the air was cool, the humidity was low, and the environment was electric.  This led to many great performances at the 4^th Annual Blue and Orange Track & Field Day.  The cheering and laughter created a chain reaction of smiles.  This is the result of us all coming together to combine our love of running with our ability to have fun.  In the end we are given a memorable experience. 

            I just want to take a moment to thank all the volunteers that helped us have a phenomenal experience.  Having volunteers who sacrifice their free time is what allows us to continue to have this event.   A huge thank you is in order for the following:

Diane, Jimbo, Tom C, Jen, Karl, Tom P, Pearl, Cece, Rachel, Jim, Christine M, Christine H, Jenna, Taylor, Heather, Tim and Brian. 

Thank you to everyone that participated and also helped setup and/or break down.  I can’t say enough about our club and how amazing our members are.  Allyson and I have received some of the kindest, warmest, words of praise for putting on such a great event.  I won’t dispute that we put a lot of time and effort into making that event a special one, but it really comes down to the participants and volunteers.  Everyone contributed in some way on Saturday and that’s rare.  Also, thank you to Matt and Lori Hastings for hosting the post-meet party.  The food was delicious, the conversations were rich, and the games were fantastic.  Overall a great day was had.

The official results will be released in the near future. 

Till we run into each other again…

CT

Just the Facts Ma'am

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

 -John Adams

                                                                                                           

                                     The greatest gift that I can receive each and every season is to see improvement in the athletes.  In most cases the improvements takes place individually.  I’ll receive a phone call or an email informing me of a new personal record achieved.  Last night was an achievement it in itself.  Last night was the third and final timed mile of the season.  The sole purpose of these timed events is to track the performance of the athletes.  Seventeen of the thirty-three runners that participated last night had run the first timed mile of the season back in early April.  Of those seventeen, sixteen bettered their time.  That number isn’t the only fascinating statistic of the night; the average time improvement was 18 seconds!  Runners continuing to become stronger, faster, better, versions of themselves is all the motivation I need to continue.  I’m so proud of you all!  Your hard work has paid off and I hope this motivates you to continue to push the limits and see what else you can achieve. 

                                       As I mentioned, we had thirty-three runners come out last night.  This ties the all time high for attendance for a track workout.  I find that funny, being the majority of those out last night complained about it being a timed mile night.  I can understand the first year members not knowing it was coming, but those that have been around for awhile had to know.  I think secretly you all enjoy the timed miles.  To be completely honest I’m not a miler and I despised it when I would be thrown in the mile just to get the team some extra points.  But, I know doing it a few times throughout the season is a good way to gauge where our running performance is.  With that said next week we have a timed 400 scheduled and it’s the week of the Blue & Orange Track & Field Day, so I’m going to just push it to the following week.  I just don’t want to chance someone on the Blue team pulling something.  Okay, okay, or an Orange member. 

                              Coming out last night:

                              Jay, Joe H, Geoff, Bharminder, Glenn, Beth, Neil, Harris, Jenn, Scott C, Carol, Kevin, Chystal Molnar (1^st Timer!  Welcome!), Matt, Greg Z, Brian L, Allyson, myself, Tim, Cory, Brian A, Jason, Christy, Jeff, Jimbo, Cherie, Joe L, Scott S, Christine, Rob, Rod, Lori, and Denise.

                              Also coming out last night was Dr. Joe De Carlo.  Dr. Joe has been a great sponsor of our club.  Having him come out to practices to work on all of our nagging injuries is just another perk of having such a great relationship with such a giving person.  Dr. Joe was there long after most of the group had left, in his attempt to work on everyone.  He didn’t have to come out at all and I didn’t even ask him to come out this time, he asked me.  Thank you Dr. Joe!  My hamstrings thank you as well.

                              Workout:

                             

                              1 mile warm up

                              1 mile hard

                              4-6 X 400 (400)

                              1 mile cool down

                             

                              Next up:

                             

                    Thursday we will be meeting at Council Rock North (Park by the track) at 6PM for our hill workout.  After the hill workout we will be heading over to The Brick Hotel in Newtown (another great club sponsor) for Speedsters 1^st Thursday Happy Hour.  Bring a towel and a change of clothes.  The weather is supposed to be cooler, so I expect we will be able to sit outside and enjoy our post workout meals and beverages. 

                             

                           Saturday is the very last day to sign up for the Hot Diggity Dog Labor Day 10k Trail Race and receive a race shirt.  Don’t go shirtless this Labor Day!   

                             

                           Sunday is the Greater Philadelphia Pentathlon! 

                             

                           https://www.buckscountyspeedsters.com/hot_diggity_10k.html

                             

                           Till we run into each other again…

                             

                           CT

Eat Garbage, Feel Like Garbage, Run Like Garbage

Picture from ecofriend.com

“My wife is always trying to get rid of me.  The other day she told me to put the garbage out.  I said to her I already did.  She told me to go and keep an eye on it.”

–Rodney Dangerfield

Yesterday started off just as any weekday does.  I packed my lunch pail with great tasting healthy options.  The only problem is that my sweet tooth got tempted into bake good after bake good, and to top it off some Rita’s Water Ice.  Putting that much garbage into my body absolutely did me in come track time.  I share this experience with you so you can learn from my foolishness.  There were a lot of sluggish runners last night, and I realize that the heat plays a part in slowing us down.  If not being acclimated to the heat and humidity is all that caused the weaker running performance then by all means skip ahead to the end of this post.  If you made the mistake of eating poorly or did something else to cause yourself to run less than adequate, you should probably read on. 

The following post on Talk Brooks Running goes on about proper nutrition for before, during and after running.  The tips come from Anne Mauney a Registered Dietitian in D.C. and worth a quick read. brks.co/fueltherun  In addition to properly eating we need to get a healthy amount of sleep each night.  “Many of us try to sleep as little as possible. There are so many things that seem more interesting or important than getting a few more hours of sleep, but just as exercise and nutrition are essential for optimal health and happiness, so is sleep. The quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort” (Helpguide.org).  The average adult should get 7-9 hours a night to perform at their best.  I’m aware that this is difficult for most, because of the busy and hectic schedules of our families.  Allyson and I get made fun of because we’re in bed by 8:30 PM most nights.  Our friends constantly call us old, which I find strange being my mom-mom stays up well past 10PM every night.  

Eating and sleeping are only two parts of the puzzle; the last important part is properly hydrating.  Mike Dolce a well know trainer for the UFC and creator of the Dolce Diet stresses the importance of water intake. “Water intake is crucial. 1 Gallon a day at least” (Mike Dolce).  Dolce isn’t the only one that believes that drinking an abundance of water is good.  I have found that drinking 64 ounces of water or more a day (I drink a gallon on the really hot days) has allowed me to get through the toughest of workouts in extreme heat, not to mention my skin has never looked better.  “Finally, water consumption is crucial to a healthy lifestyle. Without water our bodies could easily begin to shut down. Because water is needed for so many different functions in the body, it is important to consider how much water you are consuming. You should not drink water only because your body is telling you to by way of thirst. Usually your body is already needing water, even before you feel thirsty. Most importantly, think about how water consumption can effect your body and your health. Drinking water on a regular basis can boost your health and keep your body feeling great” (Fitness.com).  Keep drinking that H2O people!

Attending last nights workout:

Allyson, myself, Kevin, Tim, Joe L, Cherie, Marc, Jeff, Brian A, Christy, Jason, Bharminder, Christine, Michele, Glenn, Matt, Renee, Jay, Joe H, Jimbo, Brendan, Scott, Greg, Steve, Brian J, and two new members David Jacoby and Beth Coleman (Welcome!).  Going forward please print your names in the attendance book.  Two people autographed the book making it tough, and in one case impossible to figure out who’s those autographs belong to. 

Workout:

I call this the negative split workout.  You’re to run the first half at your 10k pace and the second half a tad faster.

1 mile warmup

200(200) 10k

400(200) 10k

600(400) 10k

800(400) 10k

600(400) 5k

400(200) 5k

200(200) 5k

1 mile cool down

Next up:

We will meet Thursday at the Brick Hotel (1 Washington Ave. Newtown, PA 18940) at 6PM.  We will do a nice relaxed 4-5 mile run through Newtown.  After the run we will go inside the Brick for Speedsters Happy Hour!  Bring a towel, a change of clothes, and some deodorant.

Friday we will be kicking off the Fourth of July holiday with the Revolutionary Run.  Help is needed with handing out postcards and manning the Speedsters table and tent at the finish. 

Till we run into each other again…