The Need for Speed (I know...corny!)

It's been put off long enough; it's time to begin speed-work for those of us that are up for it, and as of right now, it doesn't look like we'll be able to cop out and blame it on the weather. That being said, I'm sure there will still be plenty of people just going out for easy runs. For those of you that are new to running, or just took the winter off and haven't been really putting in any regular miles, I don't recommend doing speed-work just yet; let your body get used to running at a fairly comfortable pace for a few miles at a time over the course of a few weeks first. So, I'll lay out two different options for tomorrow (of course, as you all should know, no one has to do a damn thing I tell them; if you don't like either of these options, do whatever you want!):

1) Intervals - 400m (1/4 mi)

• 1 mi warm-up
• 400m on (i.e., pretty much as fast as you can go for 1/4 mi without passing out/throwing up, keeping in mind that you'll have to do this again several times)
• 400m recovery
• repeat on/off cycle 3-4 times, depending on what you feel up to
• 1/2 - 1 mi cool-down

Doing the math, this will result in anywhere from 3.5 - 4.5 mi, depending on how many interval cycles you do, and how long you cool-down.

2) Easy run - 2-4 mi

• Just what it sounds like...run at a relatively comfortable pace for 2 - 4 mi

As usual, the run will start promptly at 5:30, at the playground end of Onondaga Lake Park, so plan on arriving at 5:15-5:20. Based on some emails I've seen, I believe we have some new people joining us tomorrow. So let's have a good turnout and make them feel welcome and comfortable.

One last thing to note: I believe our esteemed and fearless leader will have returned from San Diego by next Tuesday (someone correct if I'm wrong). So, this may be my last post. Thank you all for the opportunity to attempt to keep everyone running. We can now expect Terry to return to his musings, and I know at least Ally will be happy...the return of weekly polls.

See you all Tuesday!

Clearly not TeRrY

I apologize in adavance for the brevity of this post, but I'm in a hurry (and see title). So, here goes...

I was happy with the turnout last week, especially for how early in the season it is; I'm sure the weather helped. It was good to see some of the regulars, and a pleasure to meet those of you that joined us for the first time. I hope everyone that came had a good time. Unfortunately, I don't believe it's going to be as nice out this week, but all in all, I don't think it's supposed to be too bad. So, same game plan for tomorrow as last week: meet at OLP, run starts at 5:30 sharp, easy to moderate paced run for however long you want. I'm guessing there will be people doing all sorts of distances and a wide variety of paces, so there should be something for everyone. Just an FYI, I'm planning on starting speed work next week; probably some short (i.e., 400m) interval training. Anyway, hope to see you guys tomorrow.

If at first you don't succeed...

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I didn't make it out last week. I'm officially boycotting crappy weather for the rest of the winter/early spring. However, tomorrow looks fantastic, so I'll have no excuse. Same game plan as last week: meet at 5:15/5:20 at the playground end of the OLP; run starts at 5:30; easy/moderate pace run for whatever distance you want (I'll probably be shooting for 4-5 miles, but I'm sure there will be people at a range of distances).

Susan suggested to me (and I think it's a great idea!) that since it's St. Patrick's Day (like we need a reason?), we should go out for a frothy Guinness (or whatever your poison of choice) after the run. So, I propose heading down Rt. 57 to Meghan MacMurphy's for a pint or six and replacing the calories that were just burnt.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Time to TRY Again?

Hey everybody,
Mark here again...Susan and I have decided to TRY to fill in for Terry and get things going again, now that (hopefully) winter is in its final days. So, the plan is to start meeting this Tuesday (3/10) at our usual spot - the Onondaga Lake Park, Wegman's Playground end, at around 5:20. We're planning on starting the run at 5:30 sharp (I'll put a weather permitting caveat here...more on that later). Since I've been slacking the last few months, I'm planning on just doing easy runs the first few weeks, i.e., 3-5 mile runs at an easy to moderate pace. In other words, no speed work yet. However, don't despair, I do plan on switching to speed work (e.g., intervals, tempo runs) in a couple of weeks. Like always with TRY, everyone is welcome to run at their own pace. The important thing is to get out there and log some miles, and hopefully have fun doing it.

Now that I've got everyone excited to TRY again, the weather looks like it's going to be about 40 degrees and raining tomorrow afternoon. Now in the fall, that probably wouldn't stop me from running. However, after this long/cold/snowy winter we've just had, I'm more likely to wimp out in this type of weather. So, back to my "weather permitting" caveat, I'm planning to be at OLP at about 5:15/5:20 this Tuesday, but if it's crappy out at this time, I'm probably going to say the hell with it and go home.

So, hopefully I'll see all of you tomorrow! If not, maybe next week?