Today is Opening Day for Major League baseball. Go Dodgers! (the Sox don't open until tomorrow)
This weekend is "Opening Day" for orienteering season, so I'm heading to Cincinnati for the 15th annual Flying Pig A-Meet, which includes the US Ultralong Championships on Saturday. The open men's course has an expected winning time of 130-145 minutes, so I'm running the master men's course, which is almost 1/3 shorter and should be won in 90-100 minutes. Luke (age 9) is making his A-Meet debut on the Yellow course (for 13-14 year olds), so we'll see what he's made of. Nate struggled with his first Yellow Flying Pig weekend (it's usually not like "Yellow" in Rochester), and he was older.
We still don't know when our Opening Day will be. The latest guess is next Wednesday - which may be the rescheduled date for Penfield.
Anyway, put those together and you'll see that I need to leave you with the workout on Friday. It's time for some more fast stuff, like this:
4 x 200 (start one every 2 minutes)
2 x 400 (first one starts 2 min after last 200 starts, second starts 4 min later)
1 x 600 (rest 4 min after)
2 x 400 (second starts 4 min after the first)
4 x 200 (first starts 4 min after the last 400, then start every 2 minutes)
These should be done at R pace (mile race pace). The 600 should be a real challenge, so don't run the first set of 200s too quickly.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Is There An App For That?
Sorry about the quiet period, but with the delayed start to the season, I have been spending all of my spare time working on a Track Assistant app for the BlackBerry. The vision that I have is an app that allows me to track times and splits during practices and meets, as well as keeping score of the meet, as the various field event results are reported.
Release 0.1 is almost ready. It will at least have a stopwatch feature that will allow me to time intervals at practice and record the results (by athlete) in a file.
It is not especially pretty, but it should get the job done. During the winter, I developed a Hoop Stats app, that allowed me to track basketball stats for Luke's team. I am also working on an app that is much more complex, to serve as a baseball scorebook and record hitting, fielding and pitching stats. I hope to have that ready for Luke's opening day in May.
Speaking of opening days, I have not yet heard of a make-up date for our postponed opener against Penfield. Next week is the only week where it would not be a third meet in the week for us, but the question is, will it warm up enough by then to dry out the shot / discus fields? It's nice having access to the all-weather track at Thomas, but at this time of year, we need an all-weather field to go with it!
Release 0.1 is almost ready. It will at least have a stopwatch feature that will allow me to time intervals at practice and record the results (by athlete) in a file.
It is not especially pretty, but it should get the job done. During the winter, I developed a Hoop Stats app, that allowed me to track basketball stats for Luke's team. I am also working on an app that is much more complex, to serve as a baseball scorebook and record hitting, fielding and pitching stats. I hope to have that ready for Luke's opening day in May.
Speaking of opening days, I have not yet heard of a make-up date for our postponed opener against Penfield. Next week is the only week where it would not be a third meet in the week for us, but the question is, will it warm up enough by then to dry out the shot / discus fields? It's nice having access to the all-weather track at Thomas, but at this time of year, we need an all-weather field to go with it!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Opening Day Postponed
The powers that be decided to schedule our opening track meet in March. Well, the recent snowfall and current cold (12 degrees in Buffalo, as I write this) have made them recognize the error of their ways (at least for this year), and we will not be opening up on Wednesday against Penfield.
The good news is that gives us 9 extra days to prepare for our first meet and 13 extra days before our first dual meet, against our friends from Thomas. The bad news is that many of you are quite ready to get back to racing, and will have to be patient, especially given that I assume the first meet (Newark Relays) will have limited entries.
Enjoy your longer run this weekend!
The good news is that gives us 9 extra days to prepare for our first meet and 13 extra days before our first dual meet, against our friends from Thomas. The bad news is that many of you are quite ready to get back to racing, and will have to be patient, especially given that I assume the first meet (Newark Relays) will have limited entries.
Enjoy your longer run this weekend!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Is this Indoor Season?
So, tomorrow we will be at Schroeder for the third consecutive day following Wednesday's snowfall. We will make every effort to do a workout outside, so come prepared.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Colds and Flu
We've had a number of sick folks lately, which is not unusual at this time of year. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I do have some observations and suggestions.
First, help your body fight off illness. One easy way to help is to be sure to get enough sleep. A well-rested body is better able to combat intruders. Second, I've seen studies that have shown both benefits and lack thereof of Vitamin C in cold prevention, but there is nothing wrong with a glass of orange juice, just in case.
Finally, if you are feeling ill, do what your doctor orders. If it isn't bad enough to see a doctor, then a reasonable rule of thumb is avoid running with a fever, but feel free if you just have cold symptoms (as long as they are not too severe) - just don't overdo it - as running produces adrenaline, which is a natural anti-histamine. And increase your fluid intake.
First, help your body fight off illness. One easy way to help is to be sure to get enough sleep. A well-rested body is better able to combat intruders. Second, I've seen studies that have shown both benefits and lack thereof of Vitamin C in cold prevention, but there is nothing wrong with a glass of orange juice, just in case.
Finally, if you are feeling ill, do what your doctor orders. If it isn't bad enough to see a doctor, then a reasonable rule of thumb is avoid running with a fever, but feel free if you just have cold symptoms (as long as they are not too severe) - just don't overdo it - as running produces adrenaline, which is a natural anti-histamine. And increase your fluid intake.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Nice Effort Yesterday!
I know that it's tough to maintain focus during a longer tempo run (and yesterday we went longer than usual, to continue to build our base in preparation for our faster work), so we combined two ways to help out. I did not want to spend too much time on the Schroeder track - if we were at Thomas, we may have done a warm-up, then a mile tempo on the track to get the pace, then more tempo out-and-about, then the final mile back on the track.
Instead, we did the classic head out easy and come back faster to start off the tempo run, and to keep things honest, we timed the last mile on the track. The big boys knew a 3 mile mark, so that made things easy for them. Based on when the other guys returned, either some went out too fast or came back too slow, since we were shooting for 20 minutes out and 17 minutes back. But folks weren't off by much, so that was good. And the last mile on the track was solid (or better) for almost everyone.
This next week will be a challenge, to get ready to race next Wednesday, with the conditions that Mother Nature is tossing at us to start off our "Spring". But we will be ready!
Instead, we did the classic head out easy and come back faster to start off the tempo run, and to keep things honest, we timed the last mile on the track. The big boys knew a 3 mile mark, so that made things easy for them. Based on when the other guys returned, either some went out too fast or came back too slow, since we were shooting for 20 minutes out and 17 minutes back. But folks weren't off by much, so that was good. And the last mile on the track was solid (or better) for almost everyone.
This next week will be a challenge, to get ready to race next Wednesday, with the conditions that Mother Nature is tossing at us to start off our "Spring". But we will be ready!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Wintry Wednesday
That's what the weatherman said to expect this week. Accuweather now says hi of 38 and snow accumulating 1-3 inches on Wednesday. With just one week to go until our first meet, that will not stop our workout, so come prepared: hat, gloves, warm clothes for after the run...
The long-range forecast for March 30th now says mostly sunny, but a hi of just 48. With the days that we have to deal with between now and then, that may feel balmy!
I'm sure you all saw Galen Rupp was a close 3rd in the NYC half marathon yesterday, posting an impressive 60:30 - not quite Ryan Hall, yet, but awfully quick.
The long-range forecast for March 30th now says mostly sunny, but a hi of just 48. With the days that we have to deal with between now and then, that may feel balmy!
I'm sure you all saw Galen Rupp was a close 3rd in the NYC half marathon yesterday, posting an impressive 60:30 - not quite Ryan Hall, yet, but awfully quick.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Indoor Track
The only WDR winter sport that I did not cover yet is Indoor Track. Complete results from the season are available at the Section V Indoor Track web site.
Val and AJ each qualified for the State Championships with comfortable wins in their respective 1000m races at the State Qualifier meet, with Val avenging her loss at Sectionals where she led for over 999 meters. Other WDR State Q participants included Annelise, who made it in the 1500 with a 5:08 at Sectionals; the girls 4 x 800m relay, who were unable to improve on their 10:20 qualifying time; Becka, who just missed a State Meet spot placing 4th and under the State standard with a 7:25 in the Walk; Geoff, whose recovery from injury continued, with a 10:11 in the 3200; Juan, who just missed the finals in the hurdles; and finally, the boys 4 x 800 relay, which had qualified with a time of 8:31. Justin M and Ben had qualified in the 1000, but chose to sit out in favor of staying fresh for the 4 x 800. John W and Adrian both had performances that qualified in the 1600, but did not enter.
You can check out the Leaderboard to see a nice summary of all of the best Schroeder performances for each distance - choose an event, a sex and Webster Schroeder for the school.
Val and AJ each qualified for the State Championships with comfortable wins in their respective 1000m races at the State Qualifier meet, with Val avenging her loss at Sectionals where she led for over 999 meters. Other WDR State Q participants included Annelise, who made it in the 1500 with a 5:08 at Sectionals; the girls 4 x 800m relay, who were unable to improve on their 10:20 qualifying time; Becka, who just missed a State Meet spot placing 4th and under the State standard with a 7:25 in the Walk; Geoff, whose recovery from injury continued, with a 10:11 in the 3200; Juan, who just missed the finals in the hurdles; and finally, the boys 4 x 800 relay, which had qualified with a time of 8:31. Justin M and Ben had qualified in the 1000, but chose to sit out in favor of staying fresh for the 4 x 800. John W and Adrian both had performances that qualified in the 1600, but did not enter.
You can check out the Leaderboard to see a nice summary of all of the best Schroeder performances for each distance - choose an event, a sex and Webster Schroeder for the school.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saturday Practice
The superintendent has also given you a break, and inserted a mild disruption into our schedule. The original plan was for a workout on Friday, giving us a chance for a longer run on Saturday. Instead, you were awarded back-to-back "easy" days, and we will practice from 9-11 tomorrow.
Colleges don't let school schedules get in the way of sports. Look at all of the time off for the March Madness participants. It's not all fun and games in college, though. In fact, I know one school that starts their Spring Break after classes today, but instead of heading to Daytona or Ft. Lauderdale, their crew team will be churning out two-a-day sessions on the Charles River.
Colleges don't let school schedules get in the way of sports. Look at all of the time off for the March Madness participants. It's not all fun and games in college, though. In fact, I know one school that starts their Spring Break after classes today, but instead of heading to Daytona or Ft. Lauderdale, their crew team will be churning out two-a-day sessions on the Charles River.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Day Off
So, Coach Klehr has cut the team a break: there is no practice tomorrow on your bonus vacation day. Enjoy the day off from school, but it's probably best to save your "optional" day off from running for Sunday.
There are two reasons for waiting until Sunday. First, it's best to stay in a routine, and all remaining Fridays will have a practice or a meet. Second, if someone takes Friday off, all too often they find themselves trapped with unplanned activities on Sunday, and end up not running either day.
As the season goes on, I highly recommend that everyone take a day off each second or third week - obviously, this day will usually be Sunday. We will quickly be ramping up the intensity, with the season fast approaching, so it will be best to take the occasional break.
On the other hand, I highly recommend that almost everyone take no more than one day per week off (injuries being the exception). After the meets start, the JV runners could have as few as 7 workout days left before JV Counties. So, the season is too short to take many days off.
There are two reasons for waiting until Sunday. First, it's best to stay in a routine, and all remaining Fridays will have a practice or a meet. Second, if someone takes Friday off, all too often they find themselves trapped with unplanned activities on Sunday, and end up not running either day.
As the season goes on, I highly recommend that everyone take a day off each second or third week - obviously, this day will usually be Sunday. We will quickly be ramping up the intensity, with the season fast approaching, so it will be best to take the occasional break.
On the other hand, I highly recommend that almost everyone take no more than one day per week off (injuries being the exception). After the meets start, the JV runners could have as few as 7 workout days left before JV Counties. So, the season is too short to take many days off.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Weather
As I was running in the beautiful sunshine at lunchtime yesterday (instead of posting something here, oops), I was thinking how nice it will be when we have a day like that for one of our workouts. In the meantime, we'll have to slog through, and realize that it will a) make us tougher, and b) have us prepared for any early-season meets in less than ideal conditions.
For example, since our first dual meet is two weeks from today (wow, that soon?), AccuWeather now has that day's weather included in their 15-day outlook. And what do they say? Hi of 41 and periods of rain. Enough rain to cancel the meet? Or just the pole vault? Hi of 41 will drop to what, by the time the 3000/3200 and 4x800 relays roll around?
Anyway, this is just another reminder to be prepared for changing weather conditions. At this time of year, it is not uncommon for temperatures to swing by 20 degrees in relatively short order. You may leave for school in a t-shirt in the morning, but that doesn't mean you won't necessarily need water-resistant sweats, a hat and gloves for practice in the afternoon.
For example, since our first dual meet is two weeks from today (wow, that soon?), AccuWeather now has that day's weather included in their 15-day outlook. And what do they say? Hi of 41 and periods of rain. Enough rain to cancel the meet? Or just the pole vault? Hi of 41 will drop to what, by the time the 3000/3200 and 4x800 relays roll around?
Anyway, this is just another reminder to be prepared for changing weather conditions. At this time of year, it is not uncommon for temperatures to swing by 20 degrees in relatively short order. You may leave for school in a t-shirt in the morning, but that doesn't mean you won't necessarily need water-resistant sweats, a hat and gloves for practice in the afternoon.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Well, Logical Tomorrow
Since I spent too much time in the car yesterday, Sundays will be a day of rest. So, on Saturday, when I said "tomorrow", that really meant Monday.
It's back to work today for track practice. It looks like the weather will not be cooperating: we have workouts scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but the nice weather this week is supposed to be on Tuesday and Thursday.
So, now our other Varsity participants from the winter. First we have the Webster Varsity Radio Club, starring a bunch of WDR WBER DJs. Since they are on from 4-5, I only get to listen on occasion, but the music is more diverse than the usual fare.
Finally, we had excellent representation on the Varsity Math Team. The Schroeder team at Counties included: John W, Justin M, Ethan, Megan, Khrystyna and Arjun. And Zach will be representing Monroe County at the State Meet in three weeks. I don't see the County results at the Math League web site, but Schroeder did win two of the regular season competitions, knocking off perennial powerhouse Brighton, among others.
It's back to work today for track practice. It looks like the weather will not be cooperating: we have workouts scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but the nice weather this week is supposed to be on Tuesday and Thursday.
So, now our other Varsity participants from the winter. First we have the Webster Varsity Radio Club, starring a bunch of WDR WBER DJs. Since they are on from 4-5, I only get to listen on occasion, but the music is more diverse than the usual fare.
Finally, we had excellent representation on the Varsity Math Team. The Schroeder team at Counties included: John W, Justin M, Ethan, Megan, Khrystyna and Arjun. And Zach will be representing Monroe County at the State Meet in three weeks. I don't see the County results at the Math League web site, but Schroeder did win two of the regular season competitions, knocking off perennial powerhouse Brighton, among others.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Warrior Wrestling
A couple WDR members competed for the wrestling team over the winter. There is a nice wrestling web site that covers Sections V and VI, called armdrag. You can go there and see that Webster was 2-4 in their division, but 8-6 overall.
The web site has links to a listing of all reported results for each individual, so we can see how Eric Krawiec and Jacob Devries did this year, and their career results show up as well.
Tomorrow, we'll point out two additional, non-running, Varsity teams that included Webster Distance Runners!
The web site has links to a listing of all reported results for each individual, so we can see how Eric Krawiec and Jacob Devries did this year, and their career results show up as well.
Tomorrow, we'll point out two additional, non-running, Varsity teams that included Webster Distance Runners!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Webster Swimming
John Killigrew was the lone representative of the WDR on the Webster swim team. As with Nordic, it is a combined team for Schroeder and Thomas.
Like track, swimming has a Section V Leaderboard. Unlike track, it only shows the top 25 in each event, so I only located two Webster swimmers on the lists (plus the 3 relays, but the team members are not called out).
Looking at the results from Sectionals, it is clear that Webster had a young team this year. The top two swimmers were juniors and not many seniors were listed, so perhaps the team, which has had some success in past years, will be stronger next year.
Like track, swimming has a Section V Leaderboard. Unlike track, it only shows the top 25 in each event, so I only located two Webster swimmers on the lists (plus the 3 relays, but the team members are not called out).
Looking at the results from Sectionals, it is clear that Webster had a young team this year. The top two swimmers were juniors and not many seniors were listed, so perhaps the team, which has had some success in past years, will be stronger next year.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Winter Sports
While the majority of Webster Distance Runners competed on the Indoor Track team, several went in other directions during the winter, but are back together for the outdoor season. We'll take a look at what links we can dig up for each of the sports. Today, we'll start with the Nordic Ski Team.
WDR competitors included Eric Mallery, Ben Thompson, Mike Hohl, Ray McBride, Zach Lyons, Phil LiPari, Steven Dana and Joe Hughes on the boys team, and only Amanda Paratore for the girls.
There is a nice web site for Section V Nordic, located here. It includes this link to the results from most of the season's races. The top performance of the year is not shown there: Eric placed in the top 5 at States, after qualifying by placing 7th at Sectionals. How often does someone place higher at States than at Sectionals?!? Future WDR(?), Pete Mallery also had an amazing season, capped with an 11th best split in the Skate relay at Sectionals, after placing 18th in the Classic race, splitting honors as the top freshman in the area (and state?) with Tyler Urckfitz, whose father competed in an epic race recounted here.
Amanda also had an outstanding season, as she led all Webster skiers in the Skate events, following tremendous improvement from her modified season a year ago. In Classic, she was usually second behind Jenna Bilsback (Nate says, "hi").
The rest of the boys, all relatively young and experienced, made solid showings on the Webster JV A team. And after a few days of track practice, it seems their fitness levels remained quite high, despite having wrapped up their season on Feb. 16th.
WDR competitors included Eric Mallery, Ben Thompson, Mike Hohl, Ray McBride, Zach Lyons, Phil LiPari, Steven Dana and Joe Hughes on the boys team, and only Amanda Paratore for the girls.
There is a nice web site for Section V Nordic, located here. It includes this link to the results from most of the season's races. The top performance of the year is not shown there: Eric placed in the top 5 at States, after qualifying by placing 7th at Sectionals. How often does someone place higher at States than at Sectionals?!? Future WDR(?), Pete Mallery also had an amazing season, capped with an 11th best split in the Skate relay at Sectionals, after placing 18th in the Classic race, splitting honors as the top freshman in the area (and state?) with Tyler Urckfitz, whose father competed in an epic race recounted here.
Amanda also had an outstanding season, as she led all Webster skiers in the Skate events, following tremendous improvement from her modified season a year ago. In Classic, she was usually second behind Jenna Bilsback (Nate says, "hi").
The rest of the boys, all relatively young and experienced, made solid showings on the Webster JV A team. And after a few days of track practice, it seems their fitness levels remained quite high, despite having wrapped up their season on Feb. 16th.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Silence is Ended
OK, track season started on Monday, so I should rev up the blog again. In fact, with Lent starting today, perhaps one thing I can give up is skipping blog entries - we'll see how that goes.
The biggest surprise on Monday was the composition of the team. When Nate was a freshman, the team was very large and the distance team was very small (despite having grown significantly from the prior year, thanks to Nate and his band of freshmen). On Monday, after warm-ups, the (not quite as large) team split into two for the workout: distance runners and everyone else. This distance runner group was larger! And nearly half of "everyone else" had run XC!
Despite the 2.5 hours for practice, there was a lot of time pressure for our workout: only 40 minutes for putting on sweats, getting out the door w/up, w/dn and the tempo effort. I forgot to give the lecture on safety, since we are not running in Webster Park now. That may have to be an upcoming blog topic.
The biggest surprise on Monday was the composition of the team. When Nate was a freshman, the team was very large and the distance team was very small (despite having grown significantly from the prior year, thanks to Nate and his band of freshmen). On Monday, after warm-ups, the (not quite as large) team split into two for the workout: distance runners and everyone else. This distance runner group was larger! And nearly half of "everyone else" had run XC!
Despite the 2.5 hours for practice, there was a lot of time pressure for our workout: only 40 minutes for putting on sweats, getting out the door w/up, w/dn and the tempo effort. I forgot to give the lecture on safety, since we are not running in Webster Park now. That may have to be an upcoming blog topic.
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