We Should Be Ready For Next Week

Times and splits from yesterday's scrimmage.  Formatting is not good, but I was able to paste it quickly, so it will have to do.  Not bad at all for a windy day while we are still in March!

400			400
Emma	65.0		Connor	58.3
Colleen	68.4		John	59.9
Julia	70.3		Ben	60.4
Nanaka	71.3		Jacob D	63.1
Alyssa	71.5		Noah	DQ
Morgan	72.4
Katie	77.1
Megan	81.4
Kara	81.9
1500						Splits
Alaina	1:19	2:46	4:17	5:23		1:19	1:27	1:31	1:28
Natalie	1:22	2:57	4:30	5:34		1:22	1:35	1:33	1:25
Claire	1:22	2:57	4:36	5:50		1:22	1:35	1:39	1:39
1600						Splits
Justin R	1:17	2:31	3:45	4:55		1:17	1:14	1:14	1:10
Zach	1:18	2:30	3:40	4:57		1:18	1:12	1:10	1:17
Alex M	1:19	2:39	3:57	5:10		1:19	1:20	1:18	1:13
Peter	1:18	2:37	3:59	5:18		1:18	1:19	1:22	1:19
Kevin	1:20	2:42	4:03	5:19		1:20	1:22	1:21	1:16
Steven D	1:21	2:44	4:10	5:37		1:21	1:23	1:26	1:27
Ray	1:22	2:50	4:21	5:48		1:22	1:28	1:31	1:27
Brian	1:22	2:50	4:20	5:49		1:22	1:28	1:30	1:29
Nick S	1:33	3:12	4:57	6:29		1:33	1:39	1:45	1:32
Nick T	1:33	3:15	5:00	6:44		1:33	1:42	1:45	1:44
Tyler	1:39					1:39
800						800
Julia	1:20	1:23	2:43.2			Zach	1:11+	1:05	2:15.7
Emma	1:21	1:23	2:44.4			Alex	1:11+	1:05	2:16.0
Natalie	1:20	1:28	2:47.7			Connor	1:12+	1:11	2:22.8
Colleen	1:21	1:27	2:48.0			Kevin	1:12+	1:11	2:23.3
Claire	1:20	1:29	2:48.9			Steven	1:13+	1:20	2:32.6
						Brian	1:14+	1:19	2:33.4
						Ray	1:15+	1:27	2:41.8
						Nick S	1:24+	1:33	2:57.1
						Nick T	1:27+	1:35	3:02.0
3000
Val	0:39	1:34	1:35	1:36	1:37	1:35	1:31	1:24	11:31
Alaina	0:40	1:33	1:35	1:36	1:37	1:35	1:31	1:25	11:32
Katie	0:45	1:44	1:41	1:39	1:40	1:44	1:39	1:38	12:30
Kara	0:46	1:47	1:49	1:51	1:53	1:55	1:53	1:36	13:30
Morgan	0:47	1:48	1:49	1:54	1:56	1:55	1:54	1:43	13:46
Megan	0:47	1:48	1:49	1:54	1:56	1:55	1:59	1:53	14:01
3200
Justin R	1:26	1:30	1:26	1:24	1:25	1:24	1:22	1:16	11:13
John	1:26	1:30	1:26	1:25	1:25	1:27	1:26	1:19	11:24
Peter	1:26	1:30	1:26	1:26	1:27	1:32	1:31	1:15	11:33
Aaron	1:29	1:32	1:29	1:30	1:31	1:28	1:27	1:20	11:46
Ben	1:30	1:32	1:30	1:29	1:31	1:27	1:26	1:20	11:45
Jacob D	1:32	1:37	1:34	1:37	1:37	1:34	1:32	1:29	12:32
Dice	1:33	1:39	1:31	1:37	1:37	1:37	1:42	1:32	12:48
Noah	1:34	1:39	1:33	1:38	1:36	1:39	1:38	1:29	12:46
Justin T	1:34	1:40	1:35	1:38	1:39	1:40	1:38	1:30	12:54
David	1:40	1:44	1:47	1:48	1:48	1:51	1:50	1:43	14:11

Scrimmage Tomorrow!

The weather has cooled, getting us to typical early Outdoor Track weather, so what better way to celebrate than jump into a scrimmage that had originally been scheduled between Thomas and Spencerport.  It looks like the usual event order will be followed, except the Pole Vault is not being contested.

Since this is a scrimmage, we'll take advantage of the opportunity to put folks into events they don't enter as often.  The 800-1500/1600 runners will tend to run the 3000/3200 (perhaps with an early 400 for added fun), while the 1500/1600-3200 runners will tend to be in the 1500/1600 and 800.  And as usual, plenty of relays at the end.

A reminder of the order of track events at our dual meets:
HH
400
1500/1600
100
IH
800
200
3000/3200
4x100
4x400
4x800

Kosmin

So, the little game we played yesterday was the Kosmin test (800m - there is a also a 1500m version of the test).  It is purported to be a reasonable prediction of 800m capability.  I am trying to find source material that shows true research on this, but for now I am only finding second-hand accounts.  Theses accounts are somewhat conflicting as to whether the 800m capability is "current" or "potential".  In 13 days, some of our athletes will be running the 800m "fresh", while others will be coming off the 1600m (or in the 4x800m relay, coming off the 3200m).  So, we should get some data points then, and others will have to wait for the next opportunity.

In the meantime, this does give me another view, besides the VDOT estimate, into determining the proper pace for everyone's speed work in the time before our first meet.

And if there is any validity in the test, it looks like it will be a wide open race for the 4 spots on the 3200m relay at the end of the year!

Deuces Wild

Congratulations to all of the second place finishers representing Webster Distance runners in the Running of the Green on Saturday!

First, Coach Klehr took a nice run at the 30 minute barrier, to finish second in the 40-44 category, in 30:17, and finished 48th overall.  Next, Val cruised through the 5 miles in 32:53 to grab second in the women's 15-19 category (with Alaina in 4th, just edging out two college kids.  Finally, long-time Webster coach Jim May grabbed second in his new 65-69 category, running a very impressive 33:51, just 14 seconds behind the winner of his age group.  I believe Coach May's last year with the Webster XC team came somewhere around 2002, and it was he who started the annual Webster Turkey Trot in 1972.

Also, nice runs by Geoff (28:29), Kevin, Aaron and Brian in the men's 15-19 category.

Complete results are available here (and age group results are here).

VDOT Tables

We've been using "VDOT" to generate training paces, and it's been a while since I shared the tables, so I thought I would do that today.  On Monday, our tempo workout was allowed to be mostly on "feel", although many of the runners already had a good idea of their tempo pace, from Cross Country, or Indoor.  But for Wednesday's workout, I assigned paces for everyone.  I did that based on three pieces of information: the average time on Monday (calling that Tempo pace), adjusted by the trend in times on Monday (even splits meant pace was probably right; inflation means that the starting pace was too fast), and times from indoor meets (used to determine VDOT).

Here is a link to the two VDOT tables.

The first table allows you to determine a VDOT from a race time, the second table tells you the best training paces for a given VDOT - for "R" or Repetition pace (= mile race pace), "I" or Interval pace (= 5K race pace), "T" or Tempo pace, and "E" or "L" (paces for recovery runs and long runs).

More Tempo (is that like tempoer?)

My favorite part of Runner's World each month, is Ed Eyestone's "Fast Lane" column.  I came across an old column - from 2004 - that covers Tempo running.  It contains much of the same information that I have provided to the team, but he writes much more clearly and eloquently than I speak, so it's worth the time to read the article.

Only 3 weeks until our first meet!

Invasion

Opening day of track practice led to an alumni sighting.  Nico '10, Steve '10, AJ '11, Geoff '11 and Adrian '11 stopped by Schroeder during their run and even threw down come quick 200s in between our tempo sessions. That makes me realize that I have not done any "where are they now" postings in a while (well, except for the Brycen '10 update yesterday), so I'll plan on interspersing some updates over the course of the track season.

Yesterday, we worked on our Tempo pace, using the track to ensure we found the right pace, then going off the track to practice maintaining that same speed without distance measurements.  Here is a link to a previous blog posting that says a little more about Tempo runs.

And We're Back...

It's time to come out of winter hibernation (not much of a winter though, huh?), and celebrate the start of the Outdoor Track season with a new blog posting.

I guess today has to feature a link to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track Championships.  Brycen continued his amazing season by running 46.13 to win his trial heat, then improving to 45.82 in the finals, to grab second place, just 0.05 behind the winner.  His 4 x 400 relay finished well behind the other teams in the fast heat.  I assume there is a story there; perhaps Coach Buffum will be able to clue us in today.

The weather forecast for our opening week appears to be excellent!