2012 Road Relays Preview
Post-Race Party, Raffle, and Pictures
Remember, GSTC members pay the $1 college student option!
Open Men
All the pre-race hype was on Tony Harris/Jeff "Q-Storm" Perrella. However, the Vegas line now has the dynamic duo of milk drinkin' Adin Mickle and Gossip Girl wachin' Chris Heibell as the new favorites. That said, one cannot count out "Team Mike" (Anis and Dixon), but Dixon is running a 50k trail run the day before, so, consequently, we're counting them out. Mark DelMonaco/Rollin Deas and Edsel Flores/Jeremy Stratton also have a legit shot at the podium for a top three spot as well. However, if this truly is the year of Tim Morgan, perhaps he can pull off a miracle with teammate Mike Loenser- especially if the "Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle" song is playing. But chances are, Tim will drop the baton in a sewer, and, in attempt to reclaim it, get his arm caught in the grate, preventing the team from finishing--thus cementing his lead for the Tim Morgan Award for 2012. You heard it here first.
Open Women
As of publication, it appears that Nicole Corre/Erin Higgins will run away with this one. That said, Michelle Tuchol is bringing a friend Victoria, as is Cathy Stutzman. The course record, set by Stutzman/Sarah Fairbrook of 44:52, will most certainly be washed away like the ink on our RR tshirts last year after one cleaning. Hey- the price was right.
Open Co-Ed
This division, interestingly enough, will be the most exciting one to watch unfold. The defending champs and current meet record holders, Adam and Amy Navlen (see picture attached), will be hard to unseat (actually, they've entered as Rutgers Alumni, thus cowardly dodging the open co-ed comp). However, the battle for GSTC's Fastest Couple (editor's note: make a division for this) will be challenged by the DeCarlo Crew of Rob and Meghan and Steve Bonica and his gal Randi. As Rob and Adam are about the same, it may come down to the battle of the former Lady Scarlet Knight teammates. Woo hah!
Meanwhile, don't count out big Ken Goglas/Claire Tafelski; Vegas has them at 5:2 odds of taking the team title, primarily because Cheyenne Ogletree/Steve Mennitt (5:3) have also joined forces. Yikes. Oh, and a footnote- Ashwin Anantharaman is running with his friend's sister's roommate's best friend's second cousin-in-law or something, and as you can tell, we are taking this challenge to the open co-ed title very seriously (500:3).
College Men
We will be rooting for the hometown heros and GSTC favorite sons of Rutgers Zach Speigel/Dan Teichmann. However, they will have some serious challengers. On the Rutgers side, you've got Keith Flyer/Mike Obsuth, along with Keith Anacker/Aamod George. The Princeton Road Runner team, lead by Californian Colby Pines, will be bringing three teams. A Bloomfield University duo of GSTC 3k indoor record holder Luis Romero/Liborio Adorno will make some noise up front, especially when Romero rolls with the baton. Kean will be repped by two teams: Jarvis Rousseau/Ricky Garcia, and Felix Osorio/Norbert Kuter. If either Kean team simply finishes, we will all be thrilled.
College Women
We are getting lazy here, and just don't have the time to look through the 70+ teams currently pre-registered. We do know that Shawnee River and Chelsea Mapa will be a team, so hopefully they rock the house and sneak in the top three for medals!
Father-Daughter
The defending champs, Jeff Benjamin and his daughter, are returning from Staten Island and will take on two totally awesome GSTC father-daughter teams: Lindsey Michaliszyn/pops and Lindsay Capone/pops.
Father-Son
Looks like GSTC master blaster Ken Huryk will be bringing along the 14 year old son--awesome. My old man has elected to run with my brother, Eric, this year- opting for the younger of the available sons. Ouch.
Sibling
GSTC half-miler Tyler Foss will be bringing along his little sister for a few trips around Buccleuch Park--as is Rutgers' senior Woody Kongsamut. Kean GSTC'er Paul Fromholtz is running with his brother Alex--very cool.
Masters 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.
There are tons of teams entered, just not any from the GSTC. Hence, we are moving on to everyone's favorite update....
Tim Morgan Award Update
Ashwin Anantharaman threw his hat into the proverbial ring this week, as going running with two different shoes puts you in a very elite class. However, not to be outdone, Timmy himself texted me about driving over his Road Relays application, as to dodge the $1 Internet fee. We have one word: gas?
If you ever have an applicable experience, please do submit it for TMA consideration.
Grand Prix Race Schedule
The first USATF-NJ championship race is just around the corner: the Miles for Music 20k race in Highland Park on March 11. We hope to win both the men and women's team titles, so get fired up....it's just three weeks away!!!
Today's Long Run: High Bridge/ Columbia Trail
A solid group of Mike, Mike, Ashwin, Tony, Nick, Edsel, Zach, Ken, Tim, and Chuck hit up perhaps one of the team's best long runs on the year. Mostly flat trail, markers every 1/4 mile- an awesome run! That wraps up the February long runs- email your bids for March to jeff.perrella@gmail.com this week.
This Week in Training
Sprinters
After taking a down week, we will slowly start building the castle we started in the winter. Go on feel, be patient, and do all the small things to start the spring season off the right way. Indeed, we are collegiate athletes who find a way to prioritize training every day for sixty minutes a day. And remember- breakthroughs and PRs don't happen in May and June.....they happen now, in the early season, during the heavy volume stages of the training macrocycle. Please note that Wednesday's practice is 45 minutes early- this will be the only time we will do this.
Monday: 800- 45 min run; 4x100 stride. 400- full warm up, 12x150 stride, warm down LIFT
Tuesday: 800- 20 mins; 8x100; 20 mins. 400- full warm up, 8x100 stride, warm down
Wednesday: 5pm @ Bishop Ahr 800- 10x300 @ 1600 w/ 100m walk; 400- 10x200 @ tempo (+ hurdles, plyos, med balls)
Thursday: 800- 50min run; 400- warm up; 12x50 stride; warm down
Friday: OFF
Saturday: 10am @ Bishop Ahr 800- 8 x 400 (100/100/100/100); 400- 2 x (10x100) - (+ hurdles, plyos, med balls)
Sunday: 800- 60 min run; 400- 20 min run. WE WILL ALL BE AT ROAD RELAYS @ BUCCLEUCH PARK IN NB!!!
Distance
A word about paces - some of you have asked how to find T pace, etc. The easiest resource I've found is the Running Calculator at McMillanRunning.com or the VDOT calculator at www.runbayou.com - in either case, you can put in your most recent race performance (NOT an estimate of what you think you can do now) and it will generate the running paces for you. Be sure to adjust for conditions that differ between your workout and the race you used to get the paces (like the shoes you're wearing, the weather, the surface you're running on, etc.)
Monday - comfortable run + 8x80m strides (4-6x8 sec all-out hill reps would be better, if you have access - make sure you are fully recovered in between)
Tuesday - 5x1200 at 5k pace, with equal time recovery. If these take longer than 4:00, run 800s instead
Wednesday - steady medium run of 75% long run distance
Thursday - super easy 40-60 minutes
Friday - 2x2miles at T pace, followed by 1x1200 HARD. Let it roll!
Saturday - comfortable run +8x80m strides (or hill reps like Monday - these should be all-out, but there should be zero burn. if there is, you're running for too long or not taking enough time in between)
Sunday - long run