Thursday, August 28, 2008

Saturday Practice 8/30

Good tough practice last night.
Join us next Wednesday after practice at the Blue Fox where we'll pass out the team t-shirts, bring your money. The Blue Fox which is only about a mile from the track is offering some food & drink specials to the team. Stop by if you can. We'll have more details at practice.

Saturday -Meet at 40 Acre Woods - 119th one block east of LaGrange we'll start at 8:30. We'll do a progressive paced run. After 4 miles steady pace the next few miles will each get a little faster.

Turnout hasn't been great on Saturdays and I understand that a lot of people have family commitments or are racing - but be sure if you don't run with the team that you do a tempo/fartlek/progressive run once per week in addition to a long steady run of 8-12 miles (of course more for marathoners). These two runs + Wednesday speedwork will put you in your best position to race well the rest of the season.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend - post your results.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Wednesday Practice & Training Stuff

We'll meet at Tinley Park High Schol Track (175th - 1 block east of Ridgeland). Be warmed up and ready to go by 6:40. It's starting to get darker earlier so we need to start on time.
This week we'll be doing 600's.

Here's the plan for the next 8 weeks on the track:

We're going to increase the distance of our intervals the next few weeks until we max out at a mile. Then we are going to start decreasing the distance and the number of intervals as we sharpen up our speed.

Some principles to keep in mind.
This journey to peak form needs to be progressive - each week we are going to make one of the variables a little tougher - the distance of intervals, the recovery or the number of intervals. You want to keep the speed consistent -but we will work on that as we start decreasing the distance and number of the intervals.

On Saturdays we will either - do a tempo run, fartlek, progressive paced run or race. This will be your second hard workout of the week. The only thing missing is a long run which you'll need to do on your own.

We'll pass out the t-shirts you ordered on Wednesday Sept 3rd at the Blue Fox Restaurant in Tinley after practice. Please try to make this practice and bring your money that night. More details to follow.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Saturday 9/23 Practice

Meet at Little Red School House 9700 S. 104th Ave. at 8:30. We'll do a long run/fartlek.


Is anyone going to be in the vicinity of Niketown tomorrow? It's packet pick-up for the Nike Human Race. If so please e-mail me.

Don't forget to sign-up for the Shorewood Scoot. Great course, good cause - only $20.
www.provena.org/stjoes/scoot

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Wednesday Practice August 20th

We're back to the track.

Meet at Tinley Park High School track it's on 175th, one block east of Ridgeland.
Be warmed up and ready to run by 6:45. You can warm-up on the track or in the neighborhood.
Just in case the track is in use due to football - Carl will have an alternative road workout.

We will meet at the track for the next 9-10 weeks. Not every single workout will be on the track but for the most part we'll meet there. Anyone is welcome to join us.

I'll explain the philosophy of what we're doing within the next few days on the blog site. But you can expect to run your peak performances between 9/27 and 11/1. So try to pick a few races between those dates. It's not to say you won't run well before or after those dates but you should run better during your peak.

We are doing 400 meter intervals this week. Run them controlled. Only 2-3 seconds faster than race pace. This is our 1st week back on the track don't go crazy. The speed workouts need to be PROGRESSIVE to work. You'll have plenty of time to put the hammer down in a few weeks.
Carl will run the workout - I have a work committment.

Don't forget about the Shorewood Scoot - We should put together a team!
www.provena.org/stjoes/scoot

I'll have the shirts next Wednesday.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Saturday August 16th

Long Run at Waterfall Glen. Meet at the Trailhead Parking Lot on Cass Ave. it's about 2 blocks south of I-55. We'll start at 8:15. Marathoners - consider adding some miles before or after this run for a solid long run day.

Good times last night at the barbecue. - Thanks to Carl for organizing.

Congratulations to Steve for qualifying for the Xterra Trail Running Championchips in Bend Oregon. http://www.xterraplanet.com/xduro/nationals.html

Good luck to Jim Raymond as he treks up Pikes Peak this weekend.

We could use a few more runners for the Shorewood Scoot Team Challenge on 9/6 - so far Chris, Carl, Gerry and Steve have committed. Besides some extra bling - all winning team members get a free lunch at Al's Beef. www.provena.org/stjoes/scoot


Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage -George Patton

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Team BBQ and Practice Wed. Aug. 13!

This Wednesday meet at my house in Orland Park (9800 Avenida Del Norte St) just West of 151st and LaGrange. We'll do a workout in the streets/park area followed by food and drink on the backyard patio. Let's meet between 6:15-6:30 and depart for the warm up and workout at 6:30. Last year we had a good turnout of almost 25 people, lets see if we can exceed that this year. We welcome new runners who haven't been out with us yet. The Skullmaster has given his word to Rich and I that he'll back off a little on the workout while making sure we still get what we need for the fall racing season.

Misc. Details:
  • Feel free to bring a side dish, and if possible post what you're bringing on the blog so others don't bring the same thing.
  • Park only on the North side of the street.
  • Consider a change of clothing for afterwards, possibly bug spray
  • Significant others are welcome to meet up after the run - figure around 8:00

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Next three practices -read carefully

Wednesday August 6th
Hickory Creek Junction is located on Route 30, approximately 1.0 miles west of Wolf Road, in Mokena. This is where the pedestrian bridge that crosses Route 30 is. Park in the most northern parking lot. Be ready to warm-up at 6:40. Tim Buttimer will oversee this challenging yet fun workout. Tim said we could stop by his house after practice. He lives about 1 mile away.
http://www.fpdwc.org/hickoryplank.cfm

Saturday August 9th
Meet at Little Red Schoolhouse for a long run - start at 8:30.

Wednesday August 13th - Meet at Carl Neuman's House in Orland - we'll start the practice a bit earlier and have a little shorter workout - then we're invited back to Carl's for a team barbecue. Carl will provide my details next week.

Let's see some results for the triathletes and duathletes and anyone else who raced in the past week.


See you at the barbecue when I get back......... Get those miles in.