Cheap Tunes

When I am on my own, I personally like running to music. "When I was in HS"... mp3 players had just come out. I got a 64mb mp3 player for just under $100. Today on Woot!, there is a 1gb mp3 player for $9.99. Not only is it 1/10 the price (not accounting for inflation), 16 times as much memory, it is also about 1/4 of its size. Electronics are becoming more powerful and disposable at the same time. Today's Woot! is only good for today.

Yes, Running Can Make You High

Interesting article in the New York Times, titled "Yes, Running Can Make You High", can be found here.

THE runner’s high: Every athlete has heard of it, most seem to believe in it and many say they have experienced it. But for years scientists have reserved judgment because no rigorous test confirmed its existence

...

But now medical technology has caught up with exercise lore. Researchers in Germany, using advances in neuroscience, report in the current issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex that the folk belief is true: Running does elicit a flood of endorphins in the brain. The endorphins are associated with mood changes, and the more endorphins a runner’s body pumps out, the greater the effect.

Winning Races and Running Miles

This weekend I visited one of my old college running buddies down in North Carolina. Saturday afternoon we ran a 8k (5 mile) road race in Greensboro. It was one of the best road races I have ever been to. The course was well marked, and they had a live band playing at the finish line. On top of that they had great prizes. I am no where close to being in the type of shape I used to be, but I was able to pull away in the final mile of the race to win it (approx 26:45). I picked up $200, shirt, hat, and a case of adult beverages. My buddy came in 4th, so it was a good day overall. Road racing is a lot of fun to do between seasons or after you are done with your competitive career (like me).

"Road racing is rock 'n roll; track is Carnegie Hall." - Marty Liquori

We got spring break off to a great start with our 1600/1000 repeat workout. Drew and Andrew S. (averaging sub 6:00 for 3x1600) worked well together, as did Will and Andrew H. Frank and Peter are getting stronger everyday. Manny had a bit of a tough time on the end of the workout, but on the plus side for him he is at 400+ miles of the year. The miles are also adding up. Here is a list of people over 100 miles:
Andrew S.
Matt G.
Manny
Drew
Dan
Will
Matt T.

I am sure some other people have, but they have yet to log it. As a team we have logged over 2200 miles for the year.

Coach

UPDATE: I ran 3x1600 with Alex today (3/25). He averaged 5:42, which is the best anyone has done to date.

Week in Review - Spring Break

We had an average week. Not our best, but not our worst. Mile repeats and 1000 repeats on Tuesday went well. Wednesday I was late to practice, but it seems a lot of guys went home before I was late, because of rain or thought we weren't having practice. IF THE GUYS GO TO SCHOOL, WE WILL HAVE PRACTICE AFTER SCHOOL. RAIN, SNOW, SLEET, HAIL, MUD, OR THE SKY FALLING DOWN unless I announce otherwise. Some guys left after waiting on me a little bit, which I understand. The time of practice might be adjusted, but the guys should always be expecting to run. In the event of no practice, we should still be logging some miles (4+). Todays tempo was a grab bag, as a team it wasn't what I was looking for.

No practice tomorrow on Good Friday. There WILL be practice at 9:00 everyday next week (M-F) during spring break. Only people who are out of the country, visiting colleges, or going to funerals are "excused" from practice. If anyone needs rides or has a conflict, let me know.

People not at practice should do the following:
Sunday - long run
Monday - normal mileage day
Tuesday - Fartlek (explained later)
Wednesday - mileage
Thursday - tempo (the distance you ran for your last one)
Friday - mileage
Saturday - mileage (lighter if needed)

Overall mileage should be equal to what you have been getting in. For the top guys this is 50+, lower guys it is 30+.

Fartlek means "speed play". I want a warm up of about 15 minutes, then go straight into this workout. It is like doing repeats on the track, but not for set distances, and it will be a continuous run. The best way to think about this is a straight country road with telephone poles. You would run normally to the first pole, then run tempo pace - mile/1000 repeat pace to the next pole, then ease back into your run to the next pole, etc, etc. So if you have a watch, go for about 20 minutes of this on-off-on-off style running. The segments don't have to all be equal, but I do want them to be at least 30 seconds up to 2 minutes long, with a total of about 10 minutes of quality running. After the quality section, 15 minute cool down. Total running time is about 50 minutes.

Overall we are making a lot of progress. We just need to stay focused on the task at hand, and the results will follow in a few weeks once we start racing. Andrew got his 500 mile club shirt today. A big thanks goes out to Mrs. Fletcher for taking the time and effort to put that together! Can't wait to start handing more of those out.

It is a great day to be a knight!

Coach

Week in Review / Sunday Long Run

We had a great week overall. The meet went really well (see post below, splits can be found here) and we had a lot of good things going on at practice. A big thanks to Mrs. Fletcher for taking excellent photos of this past meet. Some of them I uploaded online and can be viewed by clicking on the small versions in the upper corner or clicking here. There is also CD circulating among the guys with all 120+ pictures.

At practice on Friday we did a hill workout. I think it was our first "full team" workout of the season. Previously I held some guys out to give them an extra week or two to get in shape. Jorge and Brendan did a slightly modified workout and ran well. Drew led the way on a lot of the hill repeats which was great to see, and might have come close to the hill record if a car hadn't come along. Matt G, Andrew S, and Alex got in 10 repeats, which is the most we have done to date (we ranged between 6-10). Andrew H. and Matt G. set a new record on the hill, shaving 2 seconds off the previous time of 38. Overall the guys worked well together, ran tough, and had a great workout.

Matt Gardner reached the 500 MILE CLUB this past week. Hats off to him and his hard work. He and Andrew will soon be supporting some official O'Connell Distance Project gear!

I have asked all of the guys to go for a Sunday long run every week. To help facilitate guys getting together for the long run, which helps it go by quicker in my opinion, I will be hosting an optional long run on Sunday at 3:00 at the Chain Bridge, which is on the VA/DC border. There is a small parking lot area just off of the road which I have attempted to circle on the map shown (click to enlarge it or click here for a direct google map if you need directions). Just across the bridge is the C&O canal path, which is 180 miles of dirt path and is excellent for running. If there is a more central location for guys who would like to come but can't because of the distance, please let me know.

Next week in workouts will probably be a tempo run and longer intervals (1000-1600m) on the track.

As always, if you have any questions, content for the blog, or concerns, please email me at runsweetlew@gmail.com.

It is a great day to be a knight!

Coach

Week in Review

This week has been a busy and exciting one from my point of view. Although we have been preparing for outdoor for a few weeks now, this week was the first "official" week. Lots of new guys out, which is exciting to me, but also leads to me being slightly more disorganized, or at least I feel like it sometimes.
When I first started there were maybe 5+ guys running everyday, so it was easy for me to run between groups, get to know the guys, and make sure everything was going well with running. It also gave me a great change to interact with them more one on one, which I really enjoy. With 15+ guys at practice everyday, and rapid improvement (see previous post about Mandrew), it is a lot harder for me to do. My goal everyday is to start with the guys who are going shorter, then hammer out the gap to the next group, and then eventually 2.5-3 miles out catch the front group before I turn around with guys who are running 5-6 (I have guys going as little as 3 up to about 7 on average). It is a lot of fun, but I am always on the move, that is for sure.

The tempo run we did this week went really well. Outside of Mandrew's performance, Drew, Jack Henry, Frank, Tom, Dan, Will, and Matt T. all did their first workout with the team. One goal we have started to work on is our pack running, and they did a great job of working together during the workout. If guys are at about the same ability level, working together helps them to stay focused, push each other, and know they aren't the only one suffering! This will become very helpful come cross country. It is also nice to pack it up on everyday runs, as it adds a bit of the social aspect to the run, which in my mind always helps it go by quicker.
This morning we had practice with Will, Manny, Matt G, Drew, and Andrew H. We had a nice run and ate a few muffins, donuts, and capri suns afterwards. Eating donuts after a good run is one of my favorite things to do, hopefully the guys feel the same way.

The picture I am including is of Ryan Hall this fall at the marathon Olympic Trials. Hall dominated the trials, and is probably one of the top hopes for an American medal in the distance races at the Olympics. On this day in New York he ran 2:09 on a course which was not flat, and a slightly tactical race without rabbits. It is perhaps one of the best American mens marathon performances in recent history. What is striking about this picture (link to original)... well I think it speaks for itself. Enjoy.

It is a great day to be a knight!

Coach