A new Record for ThunderDome Running PR's

It was an awesome weekend for racing. Temps. and humidity were ideal and it is that time of the training where things just start to click.  Over the weekend ThunderDome Running had runners racing in Washington, Connecticut, New York, and right here in Milwaukee, WI.

 Alex Burlingame had the biggest lifetime PR over the weekend in his 10k in Washington, he raced a 2 minute PR in 41:52.  Alex is rolling towards the Chicago marathon on October 10.  Frank Silva from CT raced a 5k PR over the weekend in 20:24, Frank is training towards hitting a Boston Marathon qualifier with a spring 2012 marathon.  Kathy and Patrick both rolled 5k PR's at the Irish Fest run here in Milwaukee in times of  24:09 & 20:49 respectively and are racing Chicago in a few weeks.

Congrats to everyone!

Our Featured Runner...a Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon PR

Big props to ThunderDome Running's own to Alex Burlingame from Washington who raced a career 2 minute 1/2 marathon PR over the weekend. Alex ran a 92:34 (7:03-7:04 mile pace) in the Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon.  The negative split lives on as Alex rolled the last 3 miles of his race in 6:58, 6:49, & 6:49!!!

I can easily say that Alex is in the top 5 all-time of ThunderDome Running's workout kings.  That workout drive is one thing but you always wait for that fire to equal a fast race time.  After working with Alex for 4 months, he really got a chance and made the most of his fitness to see the those workout results equal race results.  Congrats.

With a steady increase in mileage and those lung blasting workouts Alex is setting things up for later this year. He is hitting the Chicago Marathon Sunday October 9 looking to roll another PR of sub 3:13.

Featured Runner of the Week - Dave Romano

ThunderDome Running works with runners of all abilities all over the United States.  Each runner has their own awesome story within a story getting to the starting line of their goal races by the way they balance work, family, and training.  This week the ThunderDome Running featured runner is Dave Romano from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Dave just passed his one year running anniversary beginning jogging 1-2 miles on the treadmill last March/April 2010!  He has raced several shorter distance races but had not tackled the half marathon distance. I have no idea if Dave planned it this way, marking his one year running anniversary;  but Dave jumped right into the fire by racing a half marathon over the weekend the Garden Spot Half  in New Holland Pennsylvania.  Dave raced to a 58th overall place out of a field of 506 runners in a time of 1 hour 43 minutes and 40 seconds.... over a crazy hilly race course.

Dave is a perfect example of how runners make their own breaks and racing opportunities by putting in the work. Dave's typical training schedule has (4) total weekly runs ranging from 4-6 miles with a long run being built back up again to 11-12 miles on cross training days he is in the pool.  With the 4 running days and 2 days of swim work Dave's total mileage is currently around 25-30 miles a week with summer plans of working towards a long run of 14-15 miles and total weekly mileage climbing to 40+ total miles.

Having the opportunity to coach and work with Dave has been great and a lot of fun. I think we can all learn from each other in how to approach race week and finally stepping to the line race day and wanted to share with everyone Dave's first half marathon experience. For everyone our race days play out like mini movies each time we all make that journey to the starting line for a key race. Dave's keen perspective and prep for his race makes up for only being in this running game for about a year. Check out Dave's race journal.