Summer 2010 RUN CRC - Cambridge Running Club · might want your training log to distinguish between a ... each run or workout. ... Frosted Shredded Bite Size Wheats

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Summer

RUN

CRC2

010

IN THIS EDITION

• EDITOR’S NOTE• DANIELS’ INTENSITY POINTS• RAGNER RELAY TEAM RECAP• “GOLDEN GRAHAMMY’S”• BOSTON 2 BIG SUR CHALLENGE RACE REPORT

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CAMBRIDGE RUNNING CLUB

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Officers and Staff Roster

President: Justin VerdirameVice President: Becky HutchinsonTreasurer: Jon PuzSecretary: Kimberly OwenMembership/Member Services: Krista McDowell and Bethany VaseckaLong Run Coordinator: Ting-hsu ChenWebmaster: Ethan DanahyWeb Design: Kaitlin AnelauskasNewsletter: Rebecca NisetichRace Committee: Peter Klinefelter, James O’Malley, Tara Connelly, Lisetta Shah, Eileen Harrington, Hank Scollard, Chad Carr, Andrew Goldthorp

Happy Mid-Summer, CRC!!! The season is well underway, with

many of our members actively participating in workouts and long

runs, as well as plenty of summer races. Many of us are honing

our racing skills, still others are tackling Coach Scott’s aggressive

fall marathon training plan, some of us are working on our tans.

Whatever you’ve been up to, this edition of the CRC Newsletter

aims to satisfy. Kick up your training with a new metric,

enthusiastically introduced by Jay Salony. Get inspired with

racing stories from Liz Walker and Erin Genova (formerly

Fitzpatrick). This season’s food column aims to please with the

distance runner’s all time favorite food (at least in my house):

CEREAL!! So much more versatile than pasta. Mix up your cereal

routine with tips from Chad Carr and Kevin Gravina, two experts in

the field with wide-ranging experience and creative takes on

crafting the perfect looking, sounding, and tasting bowl.

We have lots of exciting happenings in the works, as always! Stay

connected to the website for more details about the CRC

Progressive Dinner Party (8/7), a CRC-SRR joint long run (8/21), as

well as a whole new (and, dare I say, improved?) roster of Fall

races from the Race Committee.

Enjoy!

EDITOR’S NOTE

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Most training logs have but a single string of numbers: miles. Miles per day. Miles per week. Miles per year. To the degree that we measure our running lives, miles are our metric.

But not all miles are the same. If you are a dork (and if youʼve read this far, you probably are), then you might want your training log to distinguish between a junk mile and an all-out mile on the track. In Danielsʼ Running Formula (2nd ed., 2005, pp. 37-41), Jack Daniels lays out a simple concept called “intensity points” to measure the training stress provided by each run or workout.

To calculate the intensity points of a given run or run segment, you need to know a few things: (1) pace, (2) mileage, and (3) your points per minute at that pace. The number of points per minute increases, at an increasing but not quite exponential rate, with the fraction of your maximum effort. A light recovery jog is roughly 0.1 points per minute, while a raced mile at max effort is 1.25 points per minute. Daniels measures effort using VDOT, a proxy for VO2 max, or with HR max.

To calculate your own intensity points, you can pull the relevant formulas from the Excel file that some random runner posted on the internet: files.meetup.com/1345968/VDOT.xls. For track workout and other variable-speed days, break your run into segments and sum points across segments. (If you have any questions, shoot me an email.)

The bottom line here is that intensity points are a function of your relative effort, not your absolute speed. You run 5 miles at 7:00 pace, Chris Solinsky runs 7 miles at 5:00 pace, and the two of you might end up with roughly the same number of points, because you worked roughly as hard as he did.

Why are intensity points useful, beyond their intrinsic value for the Excel fetishists among us?

First, tracking day-to-day intensity allows you to enforce the hard-easy principle on your training. If yesterdayʼs workout was worth 35 points, thatʼs a signal that today should be an easy day. If yesterday was easy, then you might be able to push a little harder today. Measuring only miles doesnʼt give you the same level of visibility into past workouts. The same concept applies when tracking week-to-week changes in intensity points. Sometimes a lighter week helps consolidate the gains made during two or three hard weeks, and intensity points allow you to measure the relative difficulty of each training week.

Second, intensity points help with daily, weekly, and seasonal goal-setting. If your training goals are only mileage-based, you might accumulate a lot of slow miles without doing the other types of hard work required to get faster. By tracking both miles and points, you have another objective benchmark. If hitting 150 points for the week motivates you to get in a Tuesday tempo or to push the second half of your long run, then great.

Intensity points arenʼt perfect. I find that they tend to over-value long tempo workouts and under-value short, hard workouts. As your fitness improves (as measured by Danielsʼ VDOT tables and your race results), your points per minute at a given pace will decrease. And all of this calculating requires an Excel-based training log, or a killer slide rule.

Despite these caveats, I have found intensity points to be a valuable training tool over the past 18 months or so. I appreciate having a consistent and objective way of measuring and planning my training effort.

The greatest thing since sliced bread.

DANIELS INTENSITY POINTS:By Jay Salony

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Before running the 2010 Ragnar Relay, we were a bunch of runners who loved New England back roads, double-digit mileage, junk food, and other runners.  Yet, as this year's CRC "newbies", we had no idea what running a 24-hour relay would entail (besides fun).  Instead, we knew how to type "sure!" to an email forward by Walt Frick  asking: "anyone up for this years New England Ragnar?"

So began our rag-tag Ragnar team of Walter Frick, Kayle Williams, Eduardo Morales, Jon Herman, Meg Munroe, James Vola, Liz Walker, and Diana Whitney.  Add on a couple of Liz's college friends, and the knowledgeable CRC vet Damian Novak, and we were in action.  Sort of.  As of a week before, we had no vans, no line-up, only eleven team members (three battling injuries), and a team captain in the middle of final exams (I swear I am not always this disorganized).  

Luckily, the team overcame it's first challenge with gusto.  James Vola stepped up and built us a killer line-up.  And, the up-for-anything Jon Puz, in a late night team rally at Tommy Doyle's, agreed to join the team two days before the big race.  Walt hit up a grocery store for as much peanut butter and granola bars as even a group of runners can muster, and we were good to go.

On the morning of May 21st, twenty-four brave soles kicked off in New Haven for an almost 200-mile run to Gillette Stadium.  Seeded FAST, we were placed in second-to-last place at the start.  Yet we were clearly ready to book it, and as we traveled through the night we knocked off one team after another.  We enjoyed midnight s'mores, four a.m. wake up calls (“JAMES, it's your turn to run!”), getting lost on the back roads of Connecticut, and actually finishing the race liking each other more instead of less. 

Which is why 23 hours and 7 minutes later, we walloped the competition and finished first in the co-ed division, fourth overall.  We're still waiting for our prize-winning baton, but if you don't believe us, check us out, Going For Gummi Bears!

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/10/ma/May22_Ragnar_set1.shtml

RAGNAR RELAYS

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Chad Carr

Frosted Shredded Bite Size Wheats As I write this, my hands are twitching as I try

to restrain myself from tearing into my box of TJ’s frosted mini-wheats and shoving those little crack dusted biscuits into my mouth. I checked the nutrition labels find out why these are so much more addictive than the Kellogg’s brand. The difference?

The TJ’s version has “Vitamin E (to preserve freshness).”  Sure... just like Mark McGuire took steroids for health reasons.  We all know that he was juicing, and so are these mini-wheats. I need rehab. 

Honorable Mentions: Raisin Nut Bran, Apple Jacks

GOLDEN GRAHAMMY’S:Top Bowls reviewed by Chad Carr and Kevin Gravina

With nominations for the 2010 Golden Grahammy Awards for best cereals to be released on September 3, 2010, it’s time to start thinking about your office pool. What are this year’s hot picks?

Our resident cereal experts, Chad Carr and Kevin Gravina (who currently have a combined 22 boxes of cereal in their kitchen) weigh in with their predictions on who will win big this year.

Kevin Gravina

“CRACK”lin’ Oat Bran

Like their namesake narcotic, these guys don’t look like much, until you try it. And try it again, and again. Before you know it, you are sitting in a toilet stall at a truck stop just trying to get to normal.

Honorable Mention: Honey Bunches of Opium

MOST ADDICTIVE

Twigs, Flakes & Clusters (Trader Joe’s)

There is truth in advertising here – nothing crunches in your mouth like a twig. But all that crunch comes at a price: 48% of your recommended daily allowance of fiber in one bowl of this roughage. Yikes! If they added any more fiber to this

cereal, you’d have to sit on the toilet while you ate it. Of course, then you’d have room for another bowl of mini-wheats.

Honorable Mention: Grape Nuts, Honey-Comb, Cap’N Crunch

Grape-nuts

The commercials do not lie. These little effers will tear your $h!% up. Unless you soak the bastards in Epsom salt for 90 min prior to eating, you can say goodbye to your dental work.

Honorable mention: GOLEAN Crunch. (owwie)

BEST SOUND (CRUNCHIEST)

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Tony the Tiger (Kellog’s Frosted Flakes)

I can still remember dancing around my living room in my pajamas singing “Show ‘em you’re a Tiger, show ‘em what you can do . . .” last weekend. Tony the Tiger has been in my head since I could walk, and he’s still there. Despite the fact that he wears an ascot, Tony is

the toughest mascot out there. When he’s not eating Frosted Flakes, he eats Snap, Crackle & Pop for breakfast and still has energy to disembowel Sugar Bear before lunch. He’s grrrreat!

Urkel-o’s

Jaleel White, better known as Steven Quincy Urkel from the sitcom Family Matters. This SOB was so popular in 1991, that he got his own breakfast cereal. Now, the cereal was $h!%, but the box came with a game to find Laura. And who doesn’t love Laura? Not me!

Honorable Mention: Snap and Crack (fuck Pop..)

BEST MASCOT

Peanut Butter Panda Puffs

I’ve never actually eaten this cereal, but my roommate has it. And while I’m staring at my

picture of sticks, bark, and sod he gets to look at pictures of a giant, happy panda bear who spends 14 hours a day eating. In addition to the paw-penned essay by that smug panda, this box has a fun puzzle and game on the back. But most importantly, Panda Puffs come

dressed in a box that uses 10% less packaging. I confess, I can’t keep my eyes off of this scantily clad box of cereal.

Honorable Mention: Wheaties with Mary Lou Retton, Quisp

Good Friends (by Kashi)

This just warms my heart. To think a middle-aged white woman and this sort-of-awesome asian black pacific islander dude, found common ground while hovering their faces above 12g of high fiber goodness.

Honorable Mention: Wheaties (in 2020, when I bring home the gold)

BEST DRESSED (PACKAGING)

All Bran

You have to respect a product that chooses function over form. The cereal serves one purpose and one purpose only. To clear you out. Who would have thought these little jagged sticks of cardboard could bring so much joy. While my one gripe with this cereal is the lack of a surgeon’s general warning on the back, I have learned, t h r o u g h m o d e r a t i o n , t o e a t responsibly.

Honorable Mention: Peanut Butter Panda Puffs! Yay!

BEST CEREAL IN A SUPPORTING

ROLE

(MIXER)

Heritage Heirloom Whole Grains

If you are looking for a cereal that plays well with others, this is your box. Heritage is the U.N. of cereals – according to the box it contains grains originating from Egypt, Switzerland, Tibet, China, India, Italy, France, Peru, Bolivia, Iran, Russia and Poland. It delivers a solid crunch, holds up well in m i l k , a n d i s t h e u l t i m a t e

complement to any other cereal, fruit, or nuts that you want to toss in with it.

Honorable Mentions: Special K, Honey, Almond and Flax 9 Grain Cereal

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Honey Nut Cheerios

This was a tough pick, but Honey Nut Cheerios could easily have taken any other

category so it’s my pick to come h o m e w i t h t h e G o l d e n Grahammy for best overall. The description of this cereal reads like my Match.com profile: “light in color, full of wholesome goodness, low in fat, slightly nutty with natural sweetness.” I’ve found my morning match.

As the bee says, “Bee Happy. Bee Healthy!”

H o n o r a b l e M e n t i o n s : Honey Bunches of Oats, Raisin Bran

“GRAVINUTS”

I submitted my own creation in this category and I feel it’s a strong contender. Like Grape-nuts, “Gravi-nuts” does not actually contain nuts, rather, it refers to the mental state of its Creator.

Base Layer: Nature’s Path Optimum (or something somewhat healthy)

Mezzanine: Barbara’s Shreaded Spoonfuls (aka Life)

Upper Deck : Grano la (o r something sweet)

The Mix-ins: Half a banana (sliced), 10-20 chocolate chips (dark), a pinch of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey (generous), and a spoonful of almond butter.

The “Nuts”: Salt (preferably Sea) to enhance the bouquet of flavors about to grace your palette. Try it.

Honorable Mention: Whatever Chad picks, I guess..

BEST OVERALL

UPCOMING RACES: 8/14/10: BRIDGE OF FLOWERS 10K CLASSIC -- USATF GRAND PRIX SERIES SATURDAY 9:00 AM ORGANIZED BY HANK SCOLLARD

8/21/10: 3RD ANNUAL CAPE SHORE FOUNDATION 5K SATURDAY 9:00 AM ORGANIZED BY PETER KLINEFELTER

8/29/10: CHaD HERO HALF MARATHON AND RELAY SUNDAY 10:00 AM ORGANIZED BY TARA CONNELLY

9/19/10: LONE GULL 10K SUNDAY 9:00 AM ORGANIZED BY CHAD CARR

10/31/10: CAPE COD MARATHON RELAY SUNDAY, 8:30 AM ORGANIZED BY PETER KLINEFELTER !

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2 Marathons…2 coasts…6 days apart…3,000 miles apart…limit of 400 runners and a special commemorative jacket to be given to all finishers…

When I saw the advertisement in the Boston Marathon program for the Boston to Big Sur challenge, I knew I had to sign up and I convinced Joslynn Lee to take on the challenge with me. Many of our friends, family, and even fellow CRC runners discouraged us and did not think the challenge was a good idea, but we were both excited and determined to take it on.

For my training, I followed Advanced Marathoning, by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas, which has worked well for me in my previous training cycles. The main adjustment I made to the training plan was to move the medium long runs to be back-to-back with my long runs to simulate the tiredness my legs would feel during the second marathon. This would include weekly segments such as 8 miles on Friday, 20 miles Saturday, 8 miles Sunday. My mileage maxed out at 55 miles per week, most of which I ran on the Boston Marathon course since both marathons had hilly courses that I wanted to be prepared for. My strategy for the challenge was to aim for a PR of 3:15 at the Boston Marathon, and give whatever I had left to the race in Big Sur while also enjoying the scenery along the way. At Boston, I ran almost even splits with a 1:37:05 first half and the second half in 1:37:39 for a total finish time of 3:14:44. I was ecstatic with my new PR and that I had run according to plan feeling strong throughout the whole race.

Josylnn’s strategy going into the challenge was to have fun and enjoy both of the marathons. The highlights of the Boston Marathon for her were the Wellesley girl’s scream tunnel, chugging beer with the Boston Hash

at mile 20, posing for a photo with Edward Cullen along the course, and taking the turn onto Hereford for the finish. She accomplished her goal of smiling for at least 26 miles, running at an easy pace, and taking pictures along the way. One down, one to go!

In between marathons, we both took it easy and rested our legs from running. The only running I did was a 2 mile run on the Thursday in-between the races. Joslynn participated in a yoga class the night of the Boston Marathon which she credits for helping her recover. We headed to Monterey, CA the Friday following Boston and we were both getting a little nervous about running a second marathon, as we were both still a little sore and did not know what to expect...

Saturday we headed to the expo where we had to show proof that we had finished the Boston Marathon to pick up our Boston 2 Big Sur numbers. We had fun chatting with other runners who were also taking on the challenge. Sunday we woke up at 3am to head to the shuttle buses that took us out to the start. We both decided to run with our cameras to be able to take pictures of the views along the way as the majority of the race is along the coast on scenic Highway 1. The views along the race were truly breathtaking and were more amazing then either of us had imagined. The course includes 21 hills, and the week after running Boston, going down hill was far more of a challenge for us then up! We were distracted along the way with the beautiful views and the entertainment that included various bands, dancers, and a Grand piano player who played on the Bixby Bridge that marks the half -way point. Water and Gatorade were plentiful along the course and fresh strawberries were given out at mile 25.

(Continued on page 9)

Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge RecapBy: Erin Genova & Joslynn Lee

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(Continued from page 8)

I ran the first 19 miles at an 8 minute pace, and I slowed down the last few miles when my legs started to run out of energy. I managed to finish in 3:35:32 that earned me 5th place in the 30-34 age group and a plaque at the awards ceremony. I placed 2nd place overall female in the combined Boston and Big Sur time category with combined race times of 6:50:16. Also as part of taking on this challenge, I participated for the 6th year as a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital Boston Miles for Miracles team and dedicated my Boston 2 Big Sur challenge to my patient partner, Ronan Doherty. With the help of family, friends, and fellow CRC runners, I managed to raise over $3500 for Children’s Hospital Boston while taking on Boston 2 Big Sur.

Joslynn’s goal for Big Sur was to run at a 10 minute pace for the first 13 miles and she managed to keep this pace up to mile 23 when she hit the wall. She started to walk until mile 25 when the fresh strawberries given out on the course gave her the extra energy to run to the finish. The highlights of the race for Joslynn were the breathtaking views, stopping to pat miniature horses

along the way, and chatting with other Boston 2 Big Sur while running.

At the finish there was a private finishers tent for Boston 2 Big Sur finishers where Joslynn and I got our second medal for completing the challenge and our commemorative jackets.

The tent had fresh fruit, muffins, pastries, juice, and best of all beer! We still can’t believe we finished two marathons in 6 days! It was an

amazing feat, and would either of us do it again? We both would do this again, though maybe not this year. We highly recommend the Big Sur Marathon as the race is very well organized, has a beautiful, challenging course, and there was plenty of fun sight -seeing to do in the area. We explored Carmel-by-the-Sea, went on a whale watch cruise, and went to the Monterey Aquarium. For those who are interested in taking on the challenge, the races are only 13 days apart next year…

LONG RUN HOSTS:

Please note that we still need hosts for supported long runs on August 28th and September 11th. We also need volunteers to man the water stops for runs on 8/14, 8/28, 9/11 and 9/25. Contact Ting-hsu Chen to sign up!

CRC-SRR LONG RUN:

Stay tuned for more info on our upcoming JOINT long run with the Somerville Road Runners on August 21st! We also need a few more volunteers for this water stop, so contact Ting if you’re interested.

FUTURE SUBMISSIONS:

I’m always looking for new ideas and contributors for this newsletter, so feel free to contact me with suggestions anytime!!!

CAMBRIDGE RUNNING CLUBcambridgerunning.org