Sunday, January 25, 2009

Freakin' Cold

The hardest part of indoor track is dealing with the cold days when there is no practice. Having a day or two off of practice is hard enough - it's easy to say "I deserve a day or two off", but having the temperature in the teens or lower makes it extra tough.

The important thing is to deal with it. Bundle up and get out the door if it's your only option. Use a treadmill or cross-train if you can. But, get some training done!

Of course, I'll have to practice what I preach. Not so much with the training - that has held up pretty well, despite the cold and the overload at work; however, it has been almost two weeks since a posting here - I have to be more consistent. Of course, you can all help with that: I am always willing to include a guest posting, so take your best shot and send it over.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Weekend Upsets

What a wild weekend in the NFL! 3 of the 4 favored home teams went down in defeat.

But that result was no competition for the real upsets of the weekend.

First, Chelsea's time in the women's 800m race at the MIT Alumni meet was beaten by her old man's time in the men's race immediately afterwards. That was a pretty stunning upset, since her old man had not raced that distance since about 1984.

The real upset of the weekend came at the Rochester Relays, where the Schroeder boys pulled off an unlikely win, aided in large part by the performance of the WDR! The final score was:
1) Webster Schroeder 70
2) McQuaid 69
3) Edison Tech 65
3) Rush Henrietta 65
5) Pittsford Sutherland 39
21 other teams scored 1-34 points.

The 4x1600 relay scored 5 points:
11 Piacentini, Anthony 11 Webster Schr 4:58.38 1.25
15 Mauro, Chris 11 Webster Schr 5:03.56 1.25
16 Miller, Kenny 12 Webster Schr 5:04.60 1.25
17 Whittemore, Steve 11 Webster Schr 5:05.73 1.25

The 4x800 relay also scored 5 points:
1 Rush Henrietta 8:29.25 10
2 Pittsford Sutherland 8:33.69 8
3 McQuaid 8:36.47 6
4 Webster Schroeder 8:36.66 5
5 Spencerport 8:47.17 4

The short DMR (1000-800-600-400) scored 6 points:
1 Rush Henrietta 7:28.86 2 10
2 Pittsford Mendon 7:31.96 2 8
3 Webster Schroeder 7:34.22 2 6
4 Victor 7:35.30 2 5
5 Greece Olympia 7:37.53 2 4

Congratulations to the Schroeder Boys for such a fine effort.

The girls distance points were limited to 4, in the walk:
5 Irwin, Rebecca 10 Webster Schr 8:19.45 2
11 Doherty, Alaina 11 Webster Schr 9:02.97 2

And the girls finished just 2 points behind Rush-Henrietta and Mendon, who were tied for 5th.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Winter Running

I was hoping to follow up the last entry with some of my goals for 2009, but that will have to wait until I have a little more time. I hope that you are working on your goals!

In the meantime, I'll just share a few random bits of information about winter running. First, be careful on the roads. When conditions are on the slick side, give the cars a wide berth. Note that when there are a couple of "dry" spots where most people drive, people tend to drive a little faster than they should, and when the tires leave those dry lanes (for example, to go around a runner), a spin can start. Run facing traffic! It's not like you could actually get out of the way if a car came at you, but it does give you a chance to see if you've been seen.

Dress wisely! In the winter, runners tend to wear too much, but I've seen plenty of high school kids severely under-dressed. Use layers that can be peeled off or added back on, as necessary. A "technical" layer underneath a wind-resistant layer often works well. A hat and decent gloves are key. The hat does actually keep extra heat in your body, and the hands are the first things to become painful when running in the cold (well, unless the wind is severe, then the face or other parts may chill first).

Speaking of wind, make your route selections such that you run into the wind early in your run and with the wind later in the run. There is nothing worse in the winter than doing an out-and-back where you go with the wind, getting all hot and sweaty, and then turning around and having the wind turn the sweat into ice (well, not literally, but it seems that way) - try doing a negative split in those conditions!

I usually do not promote doing short loops (for example, coming back past your house after 2-3 miles, with the intention of doing another loop or two), I prefer forcing the commitment by running as far away as possible, so you don't wuss out. However, in the winter, such a route may not be a bad idea, since you could add or remove clothes as necessary, between loops.

Don't lose those long runs during the winter. Spring will be here soon enough, and you'll want your base endurance to remain high, heading into the outdoor season.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Happy New Year!

There is no wrong time to stop and think about goals - in fact, success in any area is facilitated by establishing goals that are specific, measurable and achievable - but the changing of the year gives one an easy excuse to do so.

I would encourage each Webster Distance Runner to take the time to write down goals for 2009, and place them somewhere where they can be revisited occasionally. These goals should cover different durations: immediate (next competition), short-term (end of the winter sports season), mid-term (outdoor track season, summer training, XC season) and long-term (high school and college careers, and beyond).

Your goals should cover both results measures (such as a race time or place) and process measures (such as training distance or duration). Tracking your training allows you to verify that you are on track for your race goals, and can allow you to make adjustments to your training when you hit the inevitable obstacles along the way.

In addition, your goals should include individual goals and team goals. It is important to think of where you want to be, as an individual. It is more important to consider where you want the team to be. This is true whether you are the top varsity athlete, the 5th or 7th runner, or the 8th runner on JV. Every team member contributes to the team in some manner (positively or negatively) and every team member should feel good about results that exceed expectations.

Let's set and achieve goals that make 2009 a year to remember!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Indoors at U of R

I was extremely bummed to miss yesterday's indoor track meet at the University of Rochester. Especially since a little 7th grader was making his track debut, pulling off the 3200 / 600 double. But someone had to get Nate over to Oswego and back for hockey (and help him sneak in some Nordic skiing between games).

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to see the results in the D&C this morning. Dustin got the win in the 300m - no, that was not the surprise. The 4 x 800m victory went to Schroeder! I hear it was Vanzo, AJ, Whitty and Nico. I also heard Kenny did a nice job leading off the "B" team, after teaming up with Chris for a 2-3 Schroeder finish in the 3200 (when was the last time that happened?). Apparently the low point of the meet was Nico taking a spill in the 1000m. I haven't heard details, so I don't know if something happened in the infamous U of R tunnel; a lot of nasty stuff happens back there.

Some Webster results:
3200
2 Miller, Kenny 12 Webster Schr 10:40.78
3 Mauro, Chris 11 Webster Schr 11:21.35
JV - 8 Lyons, Zachary 7 Webster Schr 12:40.05

1000
2 Vanzo, Ryan 12 Webster Schr 2:49.48
9 Whittemore, Steve 11 Webster Schr 2:59.31
10 Nasello, AJ 10 Webster Schr 3:00.32
12 Piacentini, Anthony 11 Webster Schr 3:01.41
JV - 4 Fitzgerald, Ethan 9 Webster Schr 3:16.13
JV - 6 Burgin, Will 8 Webster Schr 3:21.89
JV - 7 Hamouda, Adrian 10 Webster Schr 3:22.17
JV - 9 Meritt, Alex 9 Webster Schr 3:28.83
JV - 10 Makowski, Joe 10 Webster Schr 3:29.42
JV - 13 Doherty, Patrick 9 Webster Schr 3:44.53
JV - 17 Rekers, Arik 11 Webster Schr 3:51.72

600
JV - 5 Alexander, Elliot 11 Webster Schr 1:45.31
JV - 8 Burgin, Will 8 Webster Schr 1:50.94
JV - 13 Wiseman, John 10 Webster Schr 1:58.30
JV - 16 Meritt, Alex 9 Webster Schr 2:01.27
JV - 17 Lyons, Zachary 7 Webster Schr 2:08.61

300
1 Kneut, Dustin 12 Webster Schr 38.99 1
5 Stewart, Dan 12 Webster Schr 39.94 1
8 Uppal, Pardeep 12 Webster Schr 40.60 2
9 White, Derrick 10 Newark 40.65 3
10 Anglin, Oshani 10 Wilson Magne 40.67 2
11 May, Maurice 11 Greece Olymp 40.94 4
12 Hendler, Joe 12 Lyons 41.32 4
13 Luce, Matt 12 Fairport 41.56 2
14 Locke, Jon 12 LeRoy 41.61 7
15 Brett, Alex 12 Webster Schr 41.65 6
JV - 7 Siviy, Chris 11 Webster Schr 44.19 1
JV - 28 Doherty, Patrick 9 Webster Schr 50.21 4
JV - 37 Rekers, Arik 11 Webster Schr 56.58 5

Elsewhere, Chelsea ran about 1:48 for the 600m in an intrasquad meet at MIT.

In other sports last week, I see that Eric picked up a pin in Schroeder's latest wrestling win. And Wade led off a 1:48 medley relay for the Webster swim team, making the D&C results list, as Webster won easily.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

First Indoor Meet

But first, it looks like "The Eel" slipped his way to another victory, as Schroeder managed to edge the farm boys from Churchville, 34-29:
140: Eric Krawiec (WS) dec. Adam Ludwicki 7-6.

It looks like I found a very quick way to get all of the Schroeder results from the track meet, so here they are (OK, I do still have to figure out how to do tables here):

Boys
55 Meter Dash Varsity 12 Ludgood, Sam 6.98
55 Meter Dash Varsity 17 Kneut, Dustin 7.05
55 Meter Dash Varsity 34 Kirchner, David 7.25
55 Meter Dash Varsity 37 Brett, Alex 7.28
55 Meter Dash Varsity 44 Brooks, Jamie-Lee 7.34
55 Meter Dash Varsity 52 Linder, Matthew 7.41
55 Meter Dash Varsity 75 Webb, Grant 7.65
55 Meter Dash Varsity 93 Walik, Andrew 7.88
55 Meter Dash Varsity 98 Zutshi, Karan 7.94
55 Meter Dash Varsity 103 Henlein, Bernard 8.15
55 Meter Dash Varsity 114 Best, Patrick 8.86
600 Meter Run Varsity 7 Vanzo, Ryan 1:31.64
600 Meter Run Varsity 13 Uppal, Pardeep 1:34.34
600 Meter Run Varsity 17 Piacentini, Anthony 1:35.52
600 Meter Run Varsity 20 Stewart, Dan 1:36.11
600 Meter Run Varsity 51 Prahler, Josh 1:48.53
600 Meter Run Varsity 54 Linder, Matthew 1:49.49
600 Meter Run Varsity 62 Zutshi, Karan 1:55.94
600 Meter Run Varsity 63 Henlein, Bernard 1:57.51
1000 Meter Run Varsity 4 Piacentini, Anthony 2:53.76
1000 Meter Run Varsity 7 Miller, Kenny 3:00.06
1000 Meter Run Varsity 8 Whittemore, Steve 3:00.42
1000 Meter Run Varsity 22 Prahler, Josh 3:24.53
1600 Meter Run Varsity 5 Miller, Kenny 4:54.82

55 Meter Hurdles Varsity 8 Enck, Kevin 8.69
55 Meter Hurdles Varsity 13 Bayer, Mark 8.98
High Jump Varsity 1 Enck, Kevin 5-10.00
High Jump Varsity 3 Whittemore, Steve 5-06.00
High Jump Varsity 14 Bayer, Mark 4-08.00
Triple Jump Varsity 2 Ludgood, Sam 45-03.50
Triple Jump Varsity 5 Kirchner, David 40-07.50
Triple Jump Varsity 16 Brooks, Jamie-Lee 35-04.00
Triple Jump Varsity -- Stewart, Dan FOUL
Shot Put Varsity 3 Christian, Joey 42-09.00
Shot Put Varsity 9 Webb, Grant 37-01.25
Shot Put Varsity 21 Stewart, Ryan 33-00.50
Shot Put Varsity 25 Best, Patrick 31-07.50
55 Meter Dash JV 13 Ziemendorf, Kolby 7.60
55 Meter Dash JV 21 Benitez, Juan 7.80
55 Meter Dash JV 30 Dailey, Nathan 8.01
55 Meter Dash JV 40 Koshak, Zach 8.11
55 Meter Dash JV 48 Kinsella, Michael 8.21
55 Meter Dash JV 49 Wehlre, Joseph 8.22
55 Meter Dash JV 49 Circelli, Kenny 8.22
55 Meter Dash JV 58 Yeomans, Cory 8.33
55 Meter Dash JV 59 Durfee, Mike 8.36
55 Meter Dash JV 63 Way, David 8.46
55 Meter Dash JV 64 Salmon, Andrew 8.50
55 Meter Dash JV 68 Toner, Ryan 8.59
55 Meter Dash JV 75 Ford, Michael 8.88
600 Meter Run JV 11 Mathew, Justin 1:42.94
600 Meter Run JV 24 Wehlre, Joseph 1:47.81
600 Meter Run JV 26 Benitez, Juan 1:49.58
600 Meter Run JV 30 Circelli, Kenny 1:54.39
600 Meter Run JV 37 Rekers, Arik 2:12.12
1000 Meter Run JV 14 Burgin, Will 3:23.52
1000 Meter Run JV 16 Wiseman, John 3:24.32
1000 Meter Run JV 20 Makowski, Joe 3:35.45
1000 Meter Run JV 21 Mathew, Justin 3:35.46
1000 Meter Run JV 25 Rekers, Arik 3:58.40
1000 Meter Run JV 26 Semmler, Robert 4:26.96
1600 Meter Run JV 3 Fitzgerald, Ethan 5:42.77
1600 Meter Run JV 8 Wiseman, John 5:49.92
1600 Meter Run JV 21 Cannan, Tristan 6:15.52
1600 Meter Run JV 22 Doherty, Patrick 6:19.19

High Jump JV 3 Ziemendorf, Kolby 4-08.00
High Jump JV 7 Prahler, Cody 4-00.00
High Jump JV -- Koshak, Zach NH
Triple Jump JV 1 Toner, Ryan 35-10.00
Triple Jump JV 2 Debole, Mike 34-01.50
Triple Jump JV 3 Way, David 30-09.00
Triple Jump JV 6 Maddaleno, Philip 27-03.50
Triple Jump JV -- Ford, Michael FOUL
Shot Put JV 2 Debole, Mike 32-04.75
Shot Put JV 7 Durfee, Mike 29-06.75
Shot Put JV 12 Yeomans, Cory 26-04.75

Girls
55 Meter Hurdles JV 1 D'Alessandro, Elissa 11.64
600 Meter Run Varsity 1 Palermo, Valarie 1:51.56
600 Meter Run Varsity 2 Blaakman, Kelly 2:05.59
1500 Meter Run Varsity 6 Doherty, Alaina 6:03.41
1500 Meter Run JV 8 Bowen, Alana 6:47.32

55 Meter Dash Varsity 5 Hake, Emily 8.22
55 Meter Dash Varsity 6 Blaakman, Kelly 8.44
55 Meter Dash Varsity 4 Weidman, Andrea 8.42
55 Meter Dash Varsity 6 Vassiliou, Joanna 9.50
55 Meter Dash JV 4 Frate, Domonique 8.52
55 Meter Dash JV 2 Josselyn, Lauren 8.93
55 Meter Dash JV 3 D'Alessandro, Elissa 9.12
55 Meter Dash JV 4 Hight, Ann 9.52
55 Meter Dash JV 5 Gilday, Caitlyn 10.11
55 Meter Dash JV 1 Uppal, Aneeta 8.83
55 Meter Dash JV 5 Priniz, Alison 9.10
55 Meter Dash JV 2 Szalay, Alexis 8.85
55 Meter Dash JV 4 Cliff, Victoria 9.55
1000 Meter Run JV 5 Edwards, Katie 4:06.45
Pole Vault Varsity 8 Arday, Rachel 7-00.00
Pole Vault JV 2 Frate, Domonique 6-00.00
Pole Vault JV 2 Glaser, Megan 6-00.00
Pole Vault JV -- Searchfield, Rebecca NH
Triple Jump Varsity 9 Weidman, Andrea 28-11.25
Triple Jump JV 4 Josselyn, Lauren 26-01.00
Triple Jump JV -- Gilday, Caitlyn FOUL
Triple Jump JV -- Priniz, Alison FOUL
Shot Put Varsity 5 Kohler, Leah 30-03.00
Shot Put Varsity 10 Gurak, Ashley 27-07.75
Shot Put Varsity 1 Vassiliou, Joanna 27-06.00
Shot Put JV 3 Ferruzza, Gina 21-11.75
Shot Put JV 3 Szalay, Alexis 21-11.25

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

More Winter Results

It looks like the Schroeder Girls Basketball team was manhandled by Bridget Ryan and an 8th-grader from Sutherland (they combined for 43 points, against Schroeder's total of 44), as can be seen in the D&C article.

Sad line of the game: 0 points; 5 fouls for Alisha.

But there are no longer any Cross Country girls on the basketball team, for the first time in many years, so the GAS factor is a bit low. It looks like I can't make their first home game (Lindsay Kendall should light them up), but they are home against Thomas, who has a familiar new coach on 12/23!

The Webster Boys (combined) Swim team opened their season with an easy 96-76 win over Rush-Henrietta. Individual results are available here, but the Webster names are not included, so we can't tell how Wade did (I hope he didn't swim the back, since the fastest Webster swimmer was 1:07).

I'm looking forward to seeing the Webster Distance runners' performances at tonight's opening track meet at RIT. I can't make it there; since my son is banned from attending, I'll probably have to drive him to hockey training.

If results are available online tonight, I may have to post again tomorrow.