104th Millrose Games Track & Field Meet at MSG this weekend

This weekend is one of the longest running and most famous indoor track meets in the world the Millrose Games.  The meet is held at Madison Square Garden in New York. The meet even gets some TV time on ESPN2 tonight 8-10pm eastern time. Check it out.  We wanted to wish Kathy Fodor luck, who is lucky enough....and fast enough, to be racing in the meet as a member of a 4 x 400m Masters relay team. Kathy is a member of the ThunderDome Running family and we wish her the best today in her race.

2007 Chicago Women's Marathon Finish Video

Check out this awesome finish from the 2007 Chicago marathon between the top 2 woman - Berhane Adere from Ethiopia and Adriana Pirtea from Russia. I love the way Berhane rolls to the outside of the marathon men finishing right near the line. The next time if I am finishing a race and my dad wants to give me a high five before the finish line I will roll right by after seeing Pirtea do it as she headed for the finish before getting kicked down.  For Adere that was at least a $65,000 + kick down bonus by winning instead of second place $$$$.

Pre - Workout/Race Playlist

Every runner has a pre-workout/race routine that gets them ready to roll. The usual routine of the 20 minute warm-up jog, some stretching and strides. That is a great plan but what about the music? A perfectly laid out playlist leading right up to five minutes before you toe the race line is what you may be missing. Sometimes the adrenaline rush and the thought of racing is not enough so what is a good substitute? How about a hand picked playlist on your Ipod that sets the tone and mood one hour to the last five minutes out from the race.

This is more important than you think. Just ask 2:10 marathoner Brian Sell who represented the United States in the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.  Before the 2007 USA Olympic marathon trials held in Central Park in NYC, Sell, who was a huge underdog, pumped two last songs before he lined it up with hopes of finishing in the top 3 to earn a spot on the US Olympic Team. Any guesses what artists or songs they were??  Hints--one group is the most outspoken political rock group of all-time (no longer together) & the other artist played a concert at the Milwaukee Zoo seven years ago and is an ex-NYC cop. Anyone that can guess the artists or songs wins a ThunderDome Running t-shirt. Post your guesses. You might be surprised by the answers.

So here are your weekly top 5 songs to add to your pre-workout and then eventually race playlist. The key is to work the songs into your workout routine to give them a little test to see if they will work on race day.

1. Ace of Spades - Motorhead
2. Shipping up to Boston - The Dropkick Murphys
3. My Wave - Soundgarden
4. Joker & the Thief - Wolfmother
5. Baba O' Riley - The Who

Pettit National Ice Center Festival of Races

This weekend in the Midwest is one of the most anticipated sports weekends of the past year. The NFC championship game at Soldier Field with the Packers taking on the Bears is one of the biggest games in Green Bay Packers football history. There is also a buzz around the Milwaukee area for runners racing in the InStep Pettit National Ice Center Festival of races with a 5k, (2) - 1/2 marathon races, a marathon relay, and the Marathon wrapping things up on Sunday. This third year race has sold out all race spots and is a perfect spectator race as all races take place on the 443m indoor track.  Come out and check out the race action this weekend.

Workout Quiz - What Would You Do?

All runners have been in the pickle where you start your workout and get through one or two intervals and you know it is not going to be your day. This could have happened for any number of reasons, but we are not going to focus on those. I want you all to take a little test to get everyone thinking of possible options/solutions to when you might do the next workout to redeem yourself.

1. Do the workout the following day.  Will the workout be the exact same or less volume?

2. Do the workout two or three days later in the week and look to do the exact same workout as you crashed    and burned on?

3. Schedule the workout for say 6 - 7 days later.

Think about what solutions you have done in the past if this happened to you and feel free to post your thoughts.

Thank You Cows

Chocolate Milk - post recovery workout drink
My dad grew up on an organic farm and for as long as I remember I was drinking milk pretty much straight from the cows. We would make the journey to the farm and get out milk straight from the milk tank. I am pretty sure this is why I have the strongest bones of any runner in the world and have never had a broken bone in my life except the broken finger incident during gym class in our wrestling unit. This is why ten years ago when I swapped out my Endurox 4 recovery drink with chocolate milk as my post workout drink I was totally happy. I was saving some $$ and would recover for my next workout. There is actually a lot of proven science behind drinking chocolate milk post workout for recovery - check it out here. Protein, calcium, potassium, and magnesium are all keys to aid in your recovery and are all found in chocolate milk.  Plus it is cheaper and tastes yummy. Once you make the switch, you will look forward to the chocolate milk party in your mouth post long run or workout.

Snow/Cold Weather Running

As much patience as runners have with the delayed gratification of training for a race 6 months down the road, I see too many times that we all make dumb mistakes by going too fast when the weather is bad. Cold and snow wreck many outdoor workouts and runs.  When did it become naughty to run a training run 45-60 seconds slower than your normal run pace because of snowy conditions or to just do a workout indoors.  Most runners will not do it because they feel they are not maximizing their run for the day? Leave your watch at home on crummy winter days and just enjoy the slower paced run outside.  If you totally have to be indoors modify the running workout to fit the treadmill or even the Aerodyne Bike or Elliptical Trainer.

Best of All-Time - Races

The Yuengling Marathon, Half Marathon, and 8k
Virginia Beach, Virginia
March 19-20, 2011





This is one of my all time favorite races. I've raced here several times and the combination of the location and the weekend of races make it one of the most entertaining yet challenging running events that I have ever been to. The 8K takes place on Saturday, followed by the half-marathon and marathon on Sunday. This means that you can test yourself by rollin two days in a row with the 8k on Saturday and half-marathon on Sunday.  I tricked Kyle Moss (one of the top Master's runners in the USA) into doing that, his real race effort was only supposed to be the 8k. Jogging to the start of the half marathon Kyle was almost in tears because it was too cold and his legs hurt from the 8k, and yet he still ran 73 minutes and change for a top 25 finish.

You can try to wimp out and call the half-marathon on Sunday your easy long run after you raced the 8k hard on Saturday but the reality is that you are going to race the half no matter what once the gun goes off--it is no easy long run. Race temps are normally in the 50's and both races finish along the ocean. Competition is fierce that just adds to the fun and games.

Is it necessary to do your HARD workout on the same day every week?

Each week runners have certain key workouts they want to complete within their training schedule. It is these workouts that will give you the most physiological benefits in training as well as the confidence that will come from accomplishing that specific workout - such as a long run, tempo run, or an interval day.

Some runners feel they are required to do these workouts on the same day of the week, every week.  Actually, you might receive more mental and physical benefits by staying flexible. If you have 7 or 10 days in your training week/cycle and one of those days has to be a workout day or hard day give yourself the best chance at making the workout a success.  This may require you to be flexible with the day you choose to run your workout.

Training is hard enough on its own but then adding in work, family, and unexpected circumstances can make finding time to train and sticking to a strict routine challenging. Allowing yourself some flexibility within your weekly training and scheduled workouts will help more than derail you. For example if your workout is scheduled for a Tuesday and your legs feel like garbage, you are tired or work just got in the way it is okay to just push the workout to later in the week, like Thursday or Friday. That will hopefully give you the best opportunity at maximizing your workout effort, confidence, and mental focus.

A few things to keep in mind when adjusting your weekly workout days:

 - Make sure to allow adequate recovery time before your race. (Do not run a workout the day before a race!)

- Do not run two workouts too close together. Allow yourself adequate recovery time or your workouts will not be effective.