PMain & the Kinley's!

Spada's playing catch up!

So 2 weeks ago Paul Mainwaring sent the e-mail out that called for a workout of: 3 miles, 800m recovery, 2 miles, 800m recovery, 1 mile. This would all be done at McAlpine with a Dew point we'll get to later! Paul knew that I would take the bait since I'm game for just about anything! What he didn't know was that the Kinley's (Jordan and Meagan) would commit. What a group we had...

We met at 7am and set off for a 3 mile warm up which left us drenched. Everyone except Jordan was concerned about the paces that we set for ourselves so we tempered them. That comforted Meagan. Lets face it, you can only run what pace you can run that day. Your body tells you what you have on any given day so take it! For Meagan and I, the first 3 miler would be run in 17 minutes and when we hit 5:50 on the first one I was pumped. Mile 2 was hit in 5:48 and we held that to the tape to get 17:26. Good start. I took off on the second segment and put a gap on Meagan which she proceeded to close and we ran the last 800 meters in lockstep. She is awesome to train with!

No water for Meagan...so now what? Proceed to drop a 5:40 last mile and leave me 2 seconds back at the line! Very cool...

Cool down and we were done!

Got an invite from said Kinley's and since my family was up north, I headed over to their pool at noon and stay there for almost 4 hours and had a blast. Strait out a Compton showed up before heading to the airport to pick up KFill and it was nice to hear all about the California running scene in the late 90's on from Jordan himself not to mention his Brown days...

Dew Point: So after the run I get the text from Meagan stating that the Dew Point was really high...stay thirst my friends!!! 

Nathan & the Hadley's!

So it was Saturday night a couple of weeks ago and I realized that I would be running solo on Sunday morning if I didn't get on my Blackberry. I reached out to Paul ('ol reliable!) and he said that Nathan Stanford would be at McAlpine at 7am. That was all I needed! I decided to run there and when I got there (4.5 miles later), in front of me stood Mark and Alana Hadley...along with Michael Kahn! This was a different group for me and I appreciated the company. It was nice to run with Alana and hear all about her meetings with some of her (and mine!) heroes of the running world. They included: Matt Tegankamp, Shalane Flanagan, Shannon Rowbury, and Kara Goucher to name just a few. Behind us I could hear Mark and Nathan going on about the different zones of training which is always interesting! On the other side of Alana was Mike Kahn just wondering why we all Marathon in the first place...good stuff! After we finished our 8 miles together, I headed home, Nathan still had 10 more miles to go, and Alana nailed her 3 mile tempo run in 18:30! Thanks guys...

"Easy on the eye, and hard on the ear!"

Today's post title is a joint-ventured reference to Maria Sharapova as supplied by Paul Mainwaring and Stephen Spada as she was getting ready to take on Petra Kvitoka in the Wimbledon final last Saturday morning.

We, well we were getting ready to take on Mike Beigay, Meagan Nedlo and Jordan Kinley in our own little 8 mile tempo run at McMullen Greenway. It was all about the mugginess.

Going into this, I was hoping that 6 minute pace would feel ok. After a 2 mile warm up and some dilly dallying, we were off.

Initially, Paul set the tempo yet after 1 mile of running, I was not happy with the pace, I felt as though we were not working hard enough. I did my best to keep the pressure on to the 4 mile mark. At one point I looked back and was pleasantly surprised to Meagan breathing down my neck! We all got to the turnaround in a tick under 24 minutes, and at that point Mike and Paul made a point to up the tempo as I tucked in behind and hung with them to the 6 mile mark. At that point, Meagan shut it down as she encouraged Jordan to go and catch the guys. Jordan goes by me with some kind words as he got right up to the other guys who were 5 meters up on me. At the finish they were about 50 meters up as I hit 8 miles in 47:38...I was pleased with the effort. 2 mile cool down for all of us with some easy conversation followed.

Thanks guys...

King Tiger 5k...a race (worthy of a ) recap!

While I haven't been inspired to post in a while, Saturday's race gave me reason to. It is funny what a competitive race will do for your mentals!

Last Sunday I took my first running day off since December 22 simply because I was tired and didn't feel like running. Simple as that! I worked out Monday with Billy Shue as we did some minuters and felt reasonably well during the workout. I took another day off on Thursday and then ran easy on Friday for 10 miles.

I felt good on Saturday morning driving to the University area as I thought about my plan for the race. I was very lucky to meet Kevin Ballentine and Allen Strickland and get a nice 2 mile warm up with them. I then ran back to my car and put on my flats, jogged back behind the shopping center and did some striders to get more mentally prepared.

I ventured over to the starting area with 5 minutes to spare and surveyed the other runners. Gun goes off and for some reason I saw Chad and Billy out in front of me and I just quickly decided to get right behind them and we formed a triangle. I was in to the flow of the race early. Proceeded to check my vitals and realized that I was ok. Jim McKeon proceeds to join our pack and then Mike Moran, Michael Creason, Richard Harris, and a few others. I'm thinking this is pretty cool AND I'm in control.

Up ahead it's Paul Mainwaring, Jason G. Holder, and some kid that I later find out is Vincent Arey and then us. At about mile 2, Moran gets flamboyant and shoots out ahead of us, I thought that was aggressive, yet neither Chad Crockford, Billy Shue or myself panics. We gobbled him up and then at about 2 and a half, I pull ahead and start gaining on Arey. I start doing the math and begin to realize that I'm going into 3rd place and even if 2 people (Chad and Billy) pass me, I'm still on the podium in a grand prix race for the first time in 14 years!

Right after I pass Arey, Chad catches me and then Billy and we are on to the finish. Chad puts 6 seconds on me at the finish and Billy 4. As I'm rounding the last turn I see the clock for the first time (I don't wear a Garmin) and it flashes 16:47 and I think gee wizz, I got a shot to break 17! Not to be as I hit the stripe at 17:01...I WAS JACKED!

Quick cool down to my car with Billy and I was home by 8:25am (remember, the race started at 7:30am and it's a half hour away...good time, no?)

Thanks: to Billy Shue for driving my trophy all the way out to my son's lacrosse tournament at Elon Park. Very nice. They won all seven games over the weekend and won the tournament. Proud Papa...

1. Paul Mainwaring, 2. Jay Holder, 3. Chad Crockford, 4. Billy Shue, 5. Stephen Spada

Mile repeats, at McAlpine, w/ Beigay!

Whenever I hear that we're doing mile repeats, my stomach drops!

I reached out to Billy and Mike to see if they would want to workout during Tuesday's miner run. Billy had worked out on Monday and Mike was game...cool!

We decided on 5 x 1 mile repeats using the 3rd mile of the Footlocker (was Kinney...that's old school!) cross country course followed by a 400 meter recovery. Here are the times:

5:34
2:30r
5:31
2:32r
5:29
2:34r
5:28 (Mike was 5 seconds ahead)
2:35r
5:27 (Mike was 5 seconds ahead and looking strong)

We were both very pleased with our workout. For me, the miles were challenging, yet my breathing returned to normal soon after completion.

A pleasant 2 mile cool down completed the workout and then Mike wished me luck on Friday night...if I run?

You down wit OPP?

Meeting up on Sardis...

So last Friday morning, I parked my car on Lansdowne (only 1 D!) so after my workout I could make my quick getaway. I started running down Sardis Road when I noticed the thundering herd coming towards me. The pack included Paul, Jayback, Billy, Alex and Mike. We turned around and as we were approaching the start line of our impending heartache, we were all trying to figure out what we were going to do...I just knew it was going to hurt!

Jay was set on a progression run starting at 7 minute pace (whatever dude!) and going down from there. Paul was following Jay. Billy wanted to start at 6 minute pace and go down from there and do this for 45 minutes. Mike and I followed Billy. About a minute in, I could hear Jay and found out later that they started at 6:20 and quickly got under 6's. We were rolling and making good time. At about 22:40 in, Mike asked Billy how we were on time. I could tell Billy was working as was I, and that is when Mike surged. I went with him as the effort picked up. I couldn't hear Billy anymore. He would run 8 miles in 47:20 which was pre-marathon effort. Mike continued on as I maintained contact while working hard. At about 42 minutes in, we could hear footsteps and it was Paul realizing that there was ground to make up. Mike had let me catch up to him and that is when Paul got up to us and then at 45 minutes we were done with 7.75 for an average of 5:49 per mile on a tough rolling course. Jay came by looking outstanding as he begins to ramp up his training. Billy drove on...

Minuter's with Mike Beigay and Billy Shue

Last Tuesday, I met up with Mike Beigay and Billy Shue for a minuter workout. Since I've gotten off the treadmill last month, one of the aspects of my training that I have focused on is speed development. Real turnover!

Last Tuesday at McAlpine did not disappoint! After a 2 and a half mile warm up, we did a workout of 15 times 1 minute fast, 1 minute jog. On the first 5, we were trying to work out the kinks and kind of figure out how we all felt. After those 5, we all decided to alternate who lead. It was funny because when you were following, you felt like you could barely hang on. Yet when you were leading, you felt this sense of bravado that enabled you to fly for a minute. I remember not being able to hang on to Mike, yet not hear footsteps when I was leading.

After a 2 mile cool down, we were all pretty stoked (do people still use that expression?) I first heard it when I was out at Ironman in the early '90's...