Dedicated to Matt "I am in love with pictures of myself" Gardner

Gardner has been hounding me all week to get on top of my game and get the most recent set of pictures up, and rightly so. So if you look on the left, there are some pictures from the Potomac Relays, special thanks to Mrs. Fletcher. While we are "doling out" (as Alex would say) Sweet Heart of the Week awards we also need to give a big thanks to Mrs. Stella for dropping off water and granola bars for the guys post run the other day.

Results from yesterday can be found here, and will also be on the left hand side under results. What I had and what the official times were are not the same. I am probably a little biased when it comes to getting our splits. Nicholas did not break 5, but ran 5:00. Some of the other times were off by a second, but all in all it was still a great day. Also, as a team, we WON the meet. Early today I was asked about the result and had no clue. I didn't think we were in the running since we didn't score in the 4x4, but lo and behold we won the thing. Every point counts.

I will hopefully write a more in depth post for future reference later, but I need to address an important running related issue. That issue is shoes. In terms of gear, we are a pretty low demand sport. No balls, sticks, hoops, court, pads, or anything else. The most important piece of gear we have is running shoes. They are the only thing separating our feet from hard man made surfaces. It is very important for the guys to keep an eye on the mileage of their shoes. Most shoes will hold up for about 350-500 miles. That is usually a pretty safe area. Running2win provides a very easy way to keep track, or another way to think about it is to take the weekly average mileage and just replace shoes every "x" number of weeks. Say, for example, I was running 100 miles a week in college. This would mean I would order a pair of shoes every 4-5 weeks. So if the guys are logging 50 a week (like Matt G), every 8-10 weeks we should be replacing shoes. Personally, if the guys find one shoe which works for them, stick with it. It makes them easier to break in, you don't have to mess with sizing, and all that other fuss. Plus, you can just order them online and usually find a decent price. It is also important to remember every runner has different shoe needs. I can run in lightweight, neutral, little/medium cushioned shoes with no problems. My friend Peter, who is 6'1" and 165 can not. So be sure to keep this in mind. Sorry if that was long winded, but it is very important. When in doubt, go to a specialty running store and spend the time getting in the right (and left) shoe.

Tomorrow there will be more to do and failure awaits those who stay with some success made yesterday; tomorrow you must try once more, even harder than before. - John Wooden

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.

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