Long Distance Archives - 2001

(Workout of 12/27/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Jog south and being 3 times 3 lamppost pickups after Tavern On the Green to get warmed up.  Coming to East 72nd Street (and watch out for the cars!), run a half mile pickup uphill to the obelisk (colloquially known as Cleopatra's Needle even though the named queen was born about a thousand years after this obelisk was crafted).  Recover half a mile to East 90th Street.  Hop on the reservoir and run a full mile pickup to finish at the West 86th Street exit.  Jump back on the road and recover for four lampposts.  Run another 1000m pickup back to the Daniel Webster statue.  This completes a four mile run.  Continue south to do a lower loop with the same three times three lampposts as the start.  The total distance is 5.7 miles.

FIELD NOTES

• This is the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.  Lots of offices were almost deserted this entire week.  Given the coach's edict that people should run either Wednesday or Thursday, we had twenty people at the start of the workout.  For the people who came here for the first time, this is an exception and not the rule.  Usually, we get at least forty people at the workouts.  

• This was the first time this season that a Thursday workout did not feel like a summer heat wave.  Does that mean it was cold?  Well, we don't want to make the Canadians laugh, do we ... ? 

• Let us also say that this time of year is not the best time to run.  As Glenis Frank remarked yesterday, "It's all that food, cakes and wine ..."

• We did not include Rich Joseph among the twenty people.   Rich showed up at 7pm looking for Tony Ruiz, and was disappointed not to find him.  So he left this message: "I came here all dressed to run.  I was all set to kick Tony Ruiz's butt.  He was lucky that he was not here."  That was his version of the story.  The real story was that he is now an upstate hick who was trying to show some people where he used to run.  P.S.  He was dressed like a tourist.

• In Tony Ruiz's absence, we have Stuart Calderwood as our coach tonight.  Stuart ran the track workout last night, so he was not supposed to run in the workout tonight.  To make sure that Stuart behaves, Audrey Kingsley (who also ran the track workout last night) was supposed to keep track of him.  That was the theory.  What was the reality?  Audrey said, "Stuart and I sent the groups off one by one, and then we ran with the fastest group.  Of course, that was not supposed to have happened ..."  Eventually, Audrey slowed down to assume the sweeper role to keep company with the slowest runner, who kept asking, "Audrey, tell me ... why are we racing ...?"

• The story whose ending we were not sure about: "The Asterisk Girl Visits The Boathouse ..."

• Please stop complaining to us about the fact that the workout descriptions were not posted this week beforehand.  We only post that which we know about.  So you should direct all your complaints elsewhere.

• Please note the following holiday schedule is in operation next week:
   
  Tuesday (New Year's Day): No workout because the Armory is closed
  Wednesday: No workout because the Armory is closed
  Thursday: Road workout at 7pm.  

• And now for something completely different ...

          IL N'Y A PAS D'AMOUT HEUREUX

Rien n'est jamais acquis à l'homme Ni sa force
Ni sa faiblesse ni son coeur Et quand il croit
Ouvrir ses bras son ombre est celle d'une croix
Et quand il croit serrer son bonheur il le broie
Sa vie est un étrange et douloureux divorce
     Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

Sa vie Elle ressemble à ces soldats sans armes
Qu'on avait habillé pour un autre destin
A quoi peut leur servir de se lever matin
Eux qu'on retrouve au soir désoeuvrés incertains
Dites ces mots Ma vie Et retenez vos larmes
     Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux

          (Louis Aragon, La Diane Française)

(Workout of 12/26/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200m to warm-up
• 2 x (800m, 400m jog)
• 2 x (600m, 200m, jog)
• 4 x (400m, 200m jog)

Here is a quick quiz.  The official rules for the Armory Track & Field Center are

1. NO GUM, FOOD OR BEVERAGES ALLOWED INSIDE OF TRACK AREA.
    
2. NO SPIKES OR PLASTIC BOTTOMS ALLOWED IN PRACTICE.

3. NO SPITTING ALLOWED ON TRACK FLOOR.
     
4. THOSE RUNNING AT 32 SECOND OR SLOWER 200-METER PACE, USE LANE 2. LANE 3 IS FOR PASSING ONLY.
    
5. THOSE RUNNING FASTER THAN 32 SECOND 200- METER PACE, USE LANE 4. LANE 5 IS FOR PASSING ONLY.

6. RUN IN SINGLE FILE IN GROUPS OF 8 OR LESS.

7. LANE 1 IS NOT TO BE USED IN PRACTICE.

8. NO COATS, BOOKS OR OTHER GEAR ALLOWED ON MATS.

How many rules have we broken so far? #1, #4, # 6, #7, #8, but not #2 ("Can't afford them!"), #3 ("Too dehydrated") or #5 ("Too slow to ever run 32 seconds").

FIELD NOTES:

• Question:  Why are we having a workout on December 26th?  Does the coach realize that it is a national holiday in Canada?  As it turned out, we had only sixteen people at our workout tonight,  so at least some people paid respect to Canadian sentiments.

• The middle distance runners do their workouts earlier at 630pm.  Their weekly workout schedule is delivered by email on Mondays, so people may not feel the need to visit their web page.  However, just like this page, that web page carries weekly photos, which should be quite alarming because YOU may be the subject.  We have a lode of unpublished photos that are in the pipeline, so we would suggest that you check these pages diligently.

• Tip from Sid Howard on how to handle the recovery jog: "I complete the jog as quickly as possible, so that I have more time to stand around."

• Tip from Jeff Wilson on how to handle an aggressive panhandler on the "A" train: "I don't have a single cent on me.  Not a single cent!"

• What is the pace of the 800m's?  They should be at 5K race pace.  The 600m's should be 1 second faster per 200m.  The 400m's should be another 1 second faster per 200m.  That's the theory.  What's the actual practice?  As Norman Goluskin said, "Well, I think I can run 6:30 min/mile pace for a 5K, which translates to 3:15 for 800m.  I ran the first one in 2:53!"  As part of the grand scheme, our men 60+ is aiming at the world record of 4x800m relay early next year.  The current record is about 2:38 per 800m per person, and we have five team runners of that caliber --- Sid Howard (WR holder), Jim Olson, Jim Aneshansley, Dan Hamner and Norman Goluskin.

• Happiest person tonight was Audrey Kingsley, who had one of her best workouts in two years (2:50 800m's, 80 second 400m's).  As a teammate suggests, "Bring on David Pullman!"

• Woe!  Destruction!  Death!  We accidentally deleted the field notes for December 13th, so we'll never have the collective memory of that one workout.

• Last week, we reported that we were at 48 individual road race wins.  Over the weekend, we discovered that Darlene Miloski won the Shoreham Wading River Thanksgiving Day Race on November 22nd.  When we asked Darlene today why she never told us, she said, "Oh, I didn't think it counts!"  Well, the rule is ANYTHING COUNTS --- all we need is an organized race with some running and we have included major events such as the Massapequa Park Bicycling Club Duathlon, the Lake Wononscopomuc 8K and the Yokohama Monthly Time Trials.  Darlene also pointed out that her time did not reflect the fact she got a late start and had to come from way behind to win that race.

• So here we are at 49 individual road race wins.  In desperation, we checked the Arizona Road Runners Desert Classic and saw that John Prather did not run in either the 30K (winning time of 1:56:47 (6:16 min/mile page)), the 10K (winning time of 36:05) or the 5K (winning time of 17:13) last weekend.  Given those published winning times, he could have won any one of them.  So there went another golden chance.  John sent in this excuse slip: "As for the races on December 23, it was my birthday for crying out loud!  I just wanted to run easy and drink beer."  By the way, John's presence was felt at the Armory tonight as Stuart Calderwood wore the t-shirt for John's coached runners.

• There is still one more weekend left to get win #50.  As usual, Paul Stuart-Smith will have a good chance at the Serpentine Running Club Last Friday of the Month 5K (he finished second in November and won in October).  But otherwise the pressure is on Josh Feldman when he has to take on the Snowball Series 20K in Chesterfield, Missouri this weekend.  Josh said, "I don't know if I can win the race.  I may have a better chance if I just recruit the winner after the race and pay for his $75 dues myself."  Well, we'll have to do what we have to do ...After all, winning is everything ... or maybe NOT!!!

• Please note the following holiday schedule is in operation for next week:
   
  Tuesday (New Year's Day): No workout because the Armory is closed
  Wednesday: No workout because the Armory is closed
  Thursday: Road workout at 7pm.  
   

• DISCLAIMER:  Toby Tanser expects to be out of the country in January, and so he tells his readers that "you will have to tune in to CPTC web site to find out what is what in NYC ."  Well, let's not raise the expectations too high now.  We do not promise that we will tell anyone 'what is what in NYC.'  In fact, our coverage are highly biased and opinionated.  
   
  Here are some things that you will definitely find
  (1) A lot of photos and stories of fast women that your mom warned you about
  (2) Split times for the various stops on the downtown A train after the Armory workouts will be provided
  (3) History lessons about Canadian ice hockey (yes, we love Paul Henderson!)
  (4) Precise head counts at Central Park Track Club road runners' workouts, with all technical inclusions and exclusions being annotated
  (5) Regularly updates about our reading materials
  
  and here are some things that you won't find
  (1) Champions League coverage will not be resumed until February.  We do not offer regular coverage of the Premiership unless Manchester United loses (note: six times so far this season).
  (2) Laudatory reviews of your favorite restaurants (unless you pen them)
  (3) Photos of anyone who is not a member of the club (with exceptions being granted if they are married to or dating someone on the club; or if they are Canadian and/or French; or if they are triathletes; and so on and so forth)
  (4) Stories about Kenyan runners whose names are not Isaya Okwiya

• Ramon Bermo has a cute baby who gets a lullaby tonight:

Del Cabello Más Sutil
(music: Fernando J. Obradors
voice: Kathleen Battle)

Del cabello más sutil
Que tienes en tu trenzada
He de hacer una cadena
Para traerte a mi lado.
Una alcarraza en tu casa,
Chiquilla, quiesera ser
Para besarte en la boca,
Cuanda fueras a beber.

(Workout of 12/20/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Warmup thru the cutoff to E72 St
• At E72 St start 1 mile pickup going south (clockwise) on the lower loop around to just below Tavern on the Green ("S" mark)
• Recover thru cutoff back to E72 St (~600m+)
• At E72 St start 1 mile pickup going north to E90 St 
• Recover from E90 St to E97 St (~600m)
• At E97 St start 1K pickup going W thru the 102 St cutoff to W102 St
• Recover from W102 St to W97 St
• At W97th St start final 1K pickup going south to W86 St (reservoir entrance)
• Warmdown back to the Daniel Webster statue
• TOTAL DISTANCE: 5.7 miles

FIELD NOTES

• With Christmas and New Year's Day coming up, many of us are scheduling for extended holidays (up to two weeks) to use up all those vacation/personal days.  From where we are, we can easily pick up the signs.  First, the weekday website home page counts dropped to around 280 today, being the first time in a long, long while that we had fewer than 300 per weekday.  Second, the workout attendance was just 35 people (note: Harry Morales was late and did not make the count).  But, of course, it pleases us greatly to announce that our people do have other lives.  So how many of these people will stand up and be counted on the next two Wednesdays?
• Welcome message:  This is what passes off as a greeting: "What the f*** is Charles Allard doing here?  This is a really small world."  Charles is our Tokyo member who uses the website as his lifeline to running, and he is here for family visits (and the workouts, of course).  Meanwhile, Sid Howard has been going around telling people that he memorizes teammates' birthdays as a hobby.  But when asked to provide Charles' birthday, he drew a blank.  Back to the books, Sid, ...
• The senior member of the team filed his personal workout report: "I could not hang with my group for the first two mile pickups.  People like Audrey Kingsley just go out as quickly as possible.  I need to work myself into it gradually and then I can hang with them.  So after the second mile, I cut across the park and waited for them at West 97th Street.  Then I was able to put in a good final 1,000m."  Not to mention the real workout which begins after West 86th Street ... As for the ethical issue: "Cheating?  I wouldn't call that cheating.  I was just giving myself a fair chance ..."
• Query: "Why does Paul Sinclair get all these mentions in the workout description these days?"  Who wants to know?  Who needs to know?  Do we sense a touch of jealousy here?  Maybe, maybe not, maybe, maybe not ...
• Live news report: Harry Morales said, "I just spoke to someone in Buenos Aires.  The situation is worse than what you read in the newspapers."
• Photo tip:  Thursday road workouts take place in the dark during winter, which means no cameras are present.  Therefore ...
  (1)  Joe Tumbarello brought a newspaper in which his photo appeared on the front page.  The euphoria carried into the workout, until someone yelled out, "Joe, there is no camera here tonight!  There is no point in putting up a show!"
  (2)  Audrey Kingsley received a nice Christmas present tonight.  Unfortunately, the rest of you will never get to see it.  All presents should have been brought to the Tuesday indoor track workout, where ALL proceedings are photographed!
• Social observation:  You know you are in really bad shape when you run a 5.7 mile workout, and you see a teammate at  West 90th Street heading home in the other direction.  A quick calculation shows that she was 2.1 miles ahead of you in a 5.7 mile workout and you were ahead of her after the first 600m!  Arrrrgggggghhhhhh!  Yes, it was one of those fast women that my mom warned me about ...
• As much as we liked to, we can't claim 100% complete coverage of race results, because some people have rather idiosyncratic notions about what ought to be reported.  Tonight's case in point: Josh Feldman, who is going to St. Louis for the holidays.  It goes without say that he was pressed to find a local race to run out there, because we would really like to make it 50 individual road wins for the year.  Josh said, "But you never published the 20 mile race that I won in St. Louis back in February this year."  Yeah, so what if he never told us and so what if that race does not publish its results on the internet?  Josh promises to send in the missing information, so our current count has moved up to 48 individual victories.
  More immediate on the calendar, Josh Feldman went up to Boston to run in the MIT Alumni Cross Country 5K.  He had this report: "I  planned to drive up there from New Jersey.  I planned to leave at 8am for this 3pm race, which should be plenty to time to spare.  Unfortunately, my car battery died.  By the time it got fixed, it was 1030am already.  Anyway, I arrived at 255pm, pinned on my number and went into the race immediately.  Not that I would have won it (the winning time was 14:50), but I might have finished third overall.  The only consolation is that no other MIT alumnus finished ahead of me."

• Please note the following holiday schedule is in operation:
   
  Tuesday (Christmas Day): No workout because the Armory is closed
  Wednesday (Boxing Day):  Track workout at the Armory starts at 8pm.
  Thursday:  The Armory is closed.  Road workout at 7pm.  You have a choice of EITHER Wednesday OR Thursday but NOT BOTH!
   
  Tuesday (New Year's Day): No workout because the Armory is closed
  Wednesday: Track workout at the Armory starts at 8pm
  Thursday: The Armory is closed.  Road workout at 7pm.  You have a choice of EITHER Wednesday OR Thursday but NOT BOTH!

(Workout of 12/18/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200m w/ short jog to warm up
• 3/4 mile w/ 600m recovery
• 4 x 600m w/ 200m recovery
• 3/4 mile
• warmdown
• GOAL for A Group & B Group runners racing indoors: 3/4 mile @ 5K pace, 600m @ 3000m pace, 3/4 mile @ 5K pace

FIELD NOTES:

Another one of those fast women that your mother warned you about

• It was raining in the morning.  By noon time, it was sunny and bright outside, but a cold northwesterly wind (from Canada) had picked up.  Margaret Schotte cleared up the myth of Canadian cold weather as follows: "Not all of Canada is freezing cold.  Some places are cold --- all of Quebec, for example.  Winnipeg is the coldest city.  The Maritime Provinces are cold, wet and nasty.  Buffalo (USA) is cold because it is on the wrong side of the lake.  Toronto is on the right side of the lake, and my mom was still raking leaves in the yard last week.  Oh, it snowed yesterday but it was all gone by today."  Of course, none of any of this mattered to us because the workout tonight took place indoors at the Armory, with thirty-eight people in attendance.

• Please note the following holiday schedule is in operation:
   
  Tuesday (Christmas Day): No workout because the Armory is closed
  Wednesday (Boxing Day):  Track workout at the Armory starts at 8pm.
  Thursday:  Road workout at 7pm.  You have a choice of EITHER Wednesday OR Thursday but NOT BOTH!
   
  Tuesday (New Year's Day): No workout because the Armory is closed
  Wednesday: Track workout at the Armory starts at 8pm
  Thursday: Road workout at 7pm.  You have a choice of EITHER Wednesday OR Thursday but NOT BOTH!
   

• James Siegel said that he will be running a 5K somewhere at an undisclosed location.  The top secrecy is necessary because nobody else had better show up.  Of course, all of this is being done for the collective good of the team, which currently has 47 individual road wins and has two more weeks to get to 50.

• A word of advice: this is cold flu season again.  If you feel a bit under the weather, please do not insist on doing a full workout.  This is definitely not in your best interest.

• The conversation on the downtown "A" train was all about ... hockey, because we have a couple of Canadians with us (David Smith and Tim Evans).  After listening to Tim Evans describe how his math teacher brought in a television set into the classroom so that everybody can watch the 1972 Russia-versus-Canada series, Paul Sinclair observed dryly: "I wasn't even born yet."

• Running shoe fetishism is not restricted to this website.  This pair of running shoes worn by a famous person was enough to elicit an extended interview from a total stranger on the "A" train tonight.

• Sideline comment from Mary Spera (MILL): "Ramon Bermo has a cute baby."

(Workout of 12/11/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

FIELD NOTES:

"No, we're not looking at the Playboy centerfold.
We're looking for new team shorts in the catalog."

• The atmosphere in the Armory is DYNAMITE these days!  At the start of last week, we had ninety-three people registered.  At our 630pm session tonight, we had almost forty people.  At out 800pm session, the starting count was thirty-seven people.

Indoor Track Rules

• This week's front page personality is Glenis Frank, who said, "A friend told me to look for myself on the website."  She had no idea that someone had taken a picture of her the week before.  She agrees that the best photography work is the unobtrusive kind --- stealth technology rules!  Well, we just promise you that we'll have yet another surprised person next week!  Remember, it may be YOU!

• Meanwhile Sue Pearsall on the middle-distance side was also surprised to see her photo on their workout description page.  She said, "What a photo!  I had two watches, one in each hand, working two groups simultaneously!"  In both of our sessions, we have fairly large groups.  Volunteer timers are important to conduct our workouts smoothly and safely.  So if you can spare the time, please come down and help out.  Last week, Sue was the timer because she was running the American Heart Association 4 Miler on Wednesday, whence she finished second place overall.

• Timers have different styles too.  Some are all business --- they just look at their watches and read out the times.  But Sid Howard provided the total experience by designating pace leaders.  As he instructed Chris Kennan: "Chris, I have never asked you to lead a workout.  But on this 600m, I want you to take the lead.  You don't have to lead all the way, but I want you to lead through the first lap."  The pace leader position is not a matter of public spotlight, but it is an important way of making sure that the workout is run at the designated pace instead of people flying out there as if they were Michael Johnson.

• In reviewing the results from the last scoring race of the year, the two breakthrough performances were from Kevin Arlyck (33:58) and Kevan Huston (35:27).  In the case of Kevan, here is someone who just began running earlier this year.  When told that he should be running with the "A" group tonight, he said, "Hmmm ... not tonight!"

• Rob Zand was present at the workout, explaining "I am here to train the sprinters.  I had to have a printed copy of the description.  I cannot believe how long a break they get between sets."

• Toby Tanser said, "I just go through two hours with my physical therapist earlier today.  I had elbows stuck in me and magnets applied on me."  Then he proceeded to do a 630pm session and a 800pm session.

• Let it be duly noted that the fire alarm went off at 8:55pm tonight.  A short while before that, there was a public announcement to the effect that we should just ignore the fire drill conducted for the building next door.  So far this year, this aspect of the Armory was nowhere as exciting as last year, when the fire alarm was going off all the time and people were looking at each other as suspects ...

• Within the last couple of weeks, we have been receiving loads of viruses through our email system.  In particular, someone named 'degani tzvi' in Israel sends about one every two minutes, resulting in hundreds every day.  We have tried to inform this person about this situation, but our email was returned by his/her ISP as 'User Quota Exceeded'.  Yes, we can understand how the quota gets exceeded.  We became the victims because these virus transmitters had visited our website, so that a copy of the home page was stored on their computers from which the virus programs picked up our email address.  Of the many virus transmitters, we note that there is a disproportionately high representation from France, including people whose last name is Bois (note: a common family name in France).  Of course, we really do not believe that these people are loyal fans of our club; rather, they are most likely checking out the many photos of a certain Frenchman who wears the wrong team colors.  We really don't mind because we are simply doing what we have to do to gather traffic.  The word scruples is not in our working vocabulary.

(Workout of 12/06/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Jog across the east side and continue north to the needle. At the needle you will start your first pick up which will be from the needle heading north and through the 102 street cut off. (1 1/2 miles).  Recover south to W 97 and turn around back to W 102 where you will do the same pick up in the opposite direction back to the needle. you'll start at W 102 go through the cut off and head south.  Recover from the needle to E 72nd street and do 5 lampposts pick up with 3 recovery.  Do this sequence 3 times. The 1 1/2 miles should be run at 10k pace and the lampposts are primarily for form work.

FIELD NOTES

• This is December 6th, so why do we have summer here?  This is winter, and the temperature is a balmy 65 degrees.  Normally, this kind of temperature would have drawn a mob scene at the workout, but there is a scoring race this weekend.  As it were, the attendance was forty-six people.  It is tiresome to report by now, but once again we have to amend the count with the fact that Margaret Schotte materialized out of nowhere in the middle of the workout.  Yes, we had forty-seven people.
• One person who was NOT at the workout is Ramon Bermo, because "beautiful Amanda Bermo was born December 5th at 10:02 am, weighted 7.7 pounds and measured 20 inches.  Pictures will be available soon ..."  Today, Audrey Kingsley demanded to know, "Where are those pictures?"
• Olivier Baillet sent us a friend Sylvie.  Elle est française et très sympa, ça va sans dire.  
• Here is a refreshing thought from someone who is not going to the indoor track --- "I just got out of college, and for each of the last eight years, I had outdoor track, indoor track and cross country seasons.  I think I want to take a break."
• Andrea Ostrowski and Sandra Scibelli thanked the person standing at the 97th Street turnaround point: "If you didn't tell us where to turn around, we would have keep going."  All the way straight back home ... ?
• Larry Thraen was present after the workout to explain just what the job title 'Intrepreneur of Sheep Meadow' means.  According to him, an intrepreneur (sic) is a person who makes the company better from the inside.  That was about as clear as mud.  Larry then proceeded to give an example of a company that supplies 1 Gigabit ethernet network connections ... That was like pouring black ink into the mud.  As far as the Sheep Meadow reference goes, he was out of work and spent the summer laying out there.  Well, at least that explains that very striking suntan.  For his part, Larry wanted to know how we find out so much about our people.  Well, whatever that may be, we really ought to run a D&B on all applicants since there are still 150 people who are delinquent on their 2001 dues!
• A senior runner showed up and asked, "Where are those famous fast young Ivy League women that are coming on the team?"  Well, here is a picture of one of them --- she is so fast that you can't even see her!  She was the first person to finish the full workout tonight (never mind all those people who took short cuts!).  She is also the one who wears the t-shirt that says, "We are the fast women that your mother warned you about!"  P.S.  Kitty was here tonight.  Can Cat be far behind?
• After the workout, Harry Morales was looking for Alan Ruben.  "I want to thank Alan for organizing a great party.  It is about time that someone should recognize that we have all these great cooks like Kim Mannen on the team!"  
• This Sunday, we have the last club scoring race of the calendar year, the Joe Kleinerman 10K.  Our current positions are:
  - Open Men, 3rd place, can't move up or down
  - Masters Men, 1st place by 61 points (and this race is worth only 15 points for winning), so this will be a celebration
  - Veterans Men, 4th place and 10 points ahead of 5th
  - Open Women, 3rd place guaranteed and 9 points behind 2nd
  - Masters Women, 4th place guaranteed and 6 points behind 3rd
  - Veterans Women, 4th place, can't move up or down
  But whereas NYRRC ends its year in December, our year ends with the New York City Marathon.  So, by our count, this is the first race of the year of us.  Get out there!
• After the race on Sunday, group brunch is set for Dorrian's Restaurant at 1616 Second Avenue (84th Street).  John Gleason said, "I'll be there!"  From the back of the crowd came this female voice: "... don't let that stop you from going!"  Comedian!

(Workout of 12/04/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Tonight's workout will be indoors at The Armory (168th street and Fort Washington Avenue) as will all Tuesday night workouts until April.  Anyone who wishes to run at any of these workouts will need to purchase an Armory ID pass for $150, see our home page for details.  Because tonight is the first workout indoors it is vitally important that you get a good warm-up and warm-down before and after the workout. You will be using new muscle groups to run on the smaller track.
• Tonight's workout will be
       - 3x200m
       - 4 x (800m, 400m jog)
       - 4 x (400m, 200m jog)
  The 200m are a further warm-up.  The 800m should be done at 5K pace (or 3K pace for the A and B groups).  The 400m should be done at 3 seconds per quarter quicker (e.g. if you run the 800m in 2:30 - i.e. 75 second quarter, the 400m should be run in 72 seconds).
• The following list of people have IDs ready for pick up:

FIELD NOTES:

• As this will be the first indoor workout for the distance runners, the following rules are useful to remember:

1. If you have sent in your check/photo already, you can pick up your ID at the front desk at the Armory.  
2. If you have not sent in your check/photo, you will not be admitted.  You will have to go through the procedure that is described on our home page.  You can register as late as January, but you won't be getting your money's worth.
3. You will have registered for either the early (630pm) or late (800pm) session.  Late session people will not be admitted until 745pm. 
4. For the first timers, the Armory has large bathrooms in which you can change from your fancy office wear into your running gear.  Our belongings will be placed in a CPTC area, for which we have no theft issues in the past.  However, we have occasions on which someone took someone else's stuff by mistake, and it takes a web posting to straighten things out.  So check your belongings before you depart.
5. Never run in lane 1.  That lane has orange cones placed on it, precisely to indicate that you should not run there.  The reason that we don't train in lane 1 is that the distance events are raced in that lane, and it is necessary to preserve them from wear and tear as much as possible.
6. You will run in either Lane 2 or Lane 4 in the counter-clockwise direction.  Lane 2 is for the 'slower' runners (meaning, running slower than 32 seconds per 200m lap), while Lane 4 is for the 'faster' runners (meaning 32 seconds or faster per 200m lap).  Your coaches and timers will tell you exactly which lane to run in.
7. You will run in groups of no more than eight.  Our coaches and timers will divide all our runners into such groups based upon their speeds.
8. When your group runs, it should be in a single file.  Running even two abreast is not acceptable, because you are impeding and endangering the runners coming up from behind you.
9. If your group comes up to a slower runner or a slower group of runners, you may pass on the right-hand lane.  Thus, you pass the Lane 2 runners by running in Lane 3; and you pass the Lane 4 runners by running in Lane 5.  As soon as you pass them, you should swing back into your designated lane (2 or 4) and maintain your original file.  Always be alert about what is in front of you, and also about what may be coming up from behind you.
10. When you finish your set (e.g. 400m), you should step off the track immediately (but always peek behind and around you, and do so in a safe manner).  Never stop dead in the middle of the track because you can be run over from behind.  This may not be a slight bump, but a major crash course by Craig "The Body" Plummer and you won't remember what hit you!
11. Any pre-workout warmup should be done around the track in the clockwise direction on the floor and off the track.  You should be able to see many other people doing the same.
12. Any between-set jogs should be done off the track on the inside floor in the counter-clockwise direction.  Stay together in your group to make sure that there are no stragglers.
13. Always stay alert because all sorts of other things are going on (e.g. sprinters on the straightaway track in the middle, the pole vaulters on the side, the weight throwers in the rear, etc).
14. No spitting on the track!
15. The Armory atmosphere is dry and warm, so please make sure you re-hydrate appropriately.  There are water fountains and beverage machines just outside the track area, but perhaps you should bring your own bottled water.
16. We have been asked about eateries around the Armory.  The most famous place is Coogan's Restaurant and Bar located at 4015 Broadway (169th Street).  These are the folks who sponsor the 5K road race from the Armory to the Cloisters and back in Spring.  Please bear in mind that they have karaoke on Tuesdays, if that is to your taste.  The owner is a pal of our teammate Ellen Wallop.  And under-aged-looking people (e.g. Isaya Okwiya) need to carry IDs that don't look fake ... tsk tsk tsk ...

• The latest list of registrants contained 52 names from among the road runners.  Today, we had thirty-two people at the start of the workout at 8pm.  Since the middle-distance runners had 25 names when they started, our current total combined with the sprinters will be nearly ninety in total.  Thank goodness we don't have to all run at the same time!  Even so, for the 8pm session, we were running packed from one end to the other with no other team on the track at the same time.  So those safety and courtesy rules are important.
• We admit to being ambivalent about advertising the track workouts.  On one hand, we don't want to hype it up to the point that hundreds of people come out to run at the same time.  On the other hand, we do want to see the sport being popularized and loved.  On the balance, we come out wanting to give more airtime to the sport, and the overcrowding issue can be addressed readily in time.  Therefore, as part of our effort, these workout pages (both the middle-distance and the long-distance groups) will carry more colorful photos. 
• For quite a few of our road runners (namely, David Smith, Jeff Wilson, Kevan Huston, Neeraj Engineer, Chele Modica, Jesse Lansner, ...), this was the first time in this gorgeous indoor track.  This is billed as the fastest track in the USA (or, to put it more humbly, at least equal to Reggie Lewis Center and the Harvard track in Boston), and will be the host site for the national championships early next year.  The first thing that people should do is to wear racing flats instead of their heavy training shoes, because this will be a lot easier and less dangerous.  Next, you should ease into running around on a smaller, banked track, instead of flying flat out as you would on the bigger, flat outdoor track.  Here are examples of light shoes worn by some famous people ...

These two pictures drew this comment: "I think you may possibly have a thing for shoes...it worries me..."  But we are not the only ones who have a thing for shoes ... see SHOE 4 AFRICA

• 'Tis is the start of the indoor track season.  It would be a good idea to get a hold of the indoor track meet schedule, and lay out a plan so that you can have certain focus points for the season.  Even if you don't think that you are highly competitive, just remember that those Thursday Night At The Armory meets are low-keyed, no-pressure events that are designed to ease people into the jouissance of track.
• Although Audrey Kingsley made it to the honor roll of timers today, she did not provide time for all the sets.  In particular, we have no splits from her on the A-train stops ...  she'll just have to pay more attention in the future ...

(Workout of 11/29/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Tonight's workout will be four lower loops of the park.  The first two should be done at marathon effort and the last two should be done at half marathon effort.  Total distance of workout 6.8 miles.  Stuart Calderwood will be selling tickets for this Saturday night's awards banquet at $40 each.  Bring check payable to CPTC or cash.

FIELD NOTES

• Excuse us ... but could this be London?  I mean, the fog was pea soup-thick tonight ...  We are happy to report that we must have thirty-five native Londoners who did not mind running out there ...
• Tonight's workout takes place around the lower loop, which was not the best situation due to the fact that cars are permitted in the park for next month or so.  Therefore, safety is a paramount issue during this period.
• Heard on the first loop around Seventh Avenue: "What is this?  WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"  Yeah, what is this ... ?
• You are no doubt aware that we are moving indoors next Tuesday.  Please make sure that you have the check/photo delivered before hand and that you will be admitted, or else you may be wasting your time going up to the Armory.  For the first timers, the Armory has large bathrooms in which you can change from your fancy office wear into your running gear.  Our belongings will be placed in a CPTC area, for which we have no theft issues in the past.  However, we have occasions on which someone took someone else's stuff by mistake, and it takes a web posting to straighten things out.  So check your belongings before you depart.
  What is of greater concern is the track safety rules.  Noah Perlis wrote: "I am very concerned about the dangerous situation on the track with the increased number of sprinters and new people not used to the importance of the awareness factor.  We have already witnessed some minor collisions and I am afraid there may be more serious injuries awaiting the runners in the future.  We have many new faces not used to the track and the need for alertness and proper procedure to reduce the risk of injury. In addition to awareness, there needs to have some time elapse before it becomes a regular habit to absorb and follow simple, but important, guidelines for safe use."
  Here are some of the safety rules.  You will be reminded of them constantly by a very loud voice over the public address system:
  (1)  Never run in lane 1.  That lane has orange cones placed on it, precisely to indicate that you should not run there.  The reason that we don't train in lane 1 is that the distance events are always raced in that lane, and it is necessary to preserve them from wear and tear as much as possible.
  (2)  You will run in either Lane 2 or Lane 4 in the counter-clockwise direction.  Lane 2 is for the 'slower' runners (meaning, running slower than 32 seconds per 200m), while Lane 4 is for the 'faster' runners (meaning 32 seconds or faster per 200m).  Your coaches and timers will tell you exactly which lane to run in.
  (3)  You will run in groups of no more than eight.  Our coaches and timers will divide all our runners into such groups based upon their speeds.
  (4)  When your group runs, it should be in a single file.  Running even two abreast is not acceptable, because you are impeding and endangering the runners coming up from behind you.
  (5)  If your group comes up to a slower runner or a slower group of runners, you may pass on the right-hand lane.  Thus, you pass the Lane 2 runners by running in Lane 3; and you pass the Lane 4 runners by running in Lane 5.  As soon as you pass them, you should swing back into your designated lane (2 or 4) and maintain your original file.  Always be alert about what is in front of you, and also about what may be coming up from behind you.
  (6) When you finish your set (e.g. 400m), you should step off the track immediately (but always peek behind and around you, and do so in a safe manner).  Never stop dead in the middle of the track because you can be run over from behind.  This may not be a slight bump, but a major crash course by Craig "The Body" Plummer --- you won't remember what hit you!
  (7)  Any pre-workout warmup should be done around the track in the clockwise direction on the floor and off the track.  You should be able to see many other people doing the same.
  (8)  Any between-set jogs should be done off the track on the inside floor in the counter-clockwise direction.  Stay together in your group to make sure that there are no stragglers.
  (9)  Always stay alert because all sorts of other things are going on (e.g. sprinters on the straightaway track in the middle, the pole vaulters on the side, the weight throwers in the rear, etc).
  (10)  No spitting on the track!
  (11)  The Armory atmosphere is dry and warm, so please make sure you re-hydrate appropriately.  There are water fountains and beverage machines just outside the track area, but perhaps you should bring your own bottled water.
• About getting a new singlet --- Jerry Macari will be bringing them on Saturday, Dec 1st to the  CPTC Awards Party, 593 Columbus Avenue (bet 88th and 89th) 7pm - midnight".  This year's Awards Party promises to be great because (1) Noel Comess (Tom Cat Bakery), Kim Mannen (Saveur magazine) and Ramon ("The Spaniard") Bermo are catering the food; (2) the Year-In-Review slide show arranged by James ("Who, me?") Siegel; (3) a program that will go on time because there is exactly 90 seconds allocated for each award winner; (4) and, most of all, because this has been one of the strongest growing and self-transforming years ever ...  

(Workout of 11/27/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Jog up the West side to the Reservoir at 84th Street. Continue warm-up on Reservoir to E90th Street. 1st pick-up is 1 mile to 86th Street. Recover one quarter mile to Southern pump house. 2nd pick-up is one quarter to E90th Street. Recover half mile to 1st Northern pump house. 3rd pick-up is half mile to 86th Street. Recover one quarter to Southern pump house.  Complete the 3rd Reservoir loop (One and a quarter miles) with series of 10 lampposts on, 5 recovery back to 86th street. Then recover back to the statue.  First three pick-ups (mile, quarter, half) should be done at 5K effort.
• Alan Ruben will be selling tickets at the early-bird discount rate of $40 at this Sunday's 15K XC race at Van Cortlandt Park and at this week's Tuesday night and Thursday night road workouts. 

FIELD NOTES:

• Summer is back in town again, warm and humid night.  Tony Ruiz, being the only person not running, was handed off a whole load of clothing to watch over from over-dressed people.  What are coaches for anyway?
• The results of the Peter McArdle 15K have not been published yet.  Those results were tallied by hand, but they used to be able to score and tabulate manually immediately after the race, but that was another era.  The best individual results came from Josh Feldman (3rd place overall), Tom Phillips ("this is my key race of the season" for this Bronxville resident who trains in the trails up there) and Kevin Arlyck.  But the best race report comes from that Toby Tanser: "I was hoping that 5 club members would pass me so I could drop out with a clear conscious and not feel bad about letting the team down as I limped from 5-k to the finish. Running with my condition is no fun I can tell you.  Audrey from CPTC asked me if I'd care to run to the other side of the park and get the #4 train home, she must be kidding - the last time I tried to get through that jungle of a park I cut myself in numerous places, ripped my clothes to shreds, and left more blood in the woods than a gutted elk. More team news from CPTC, The Sc's took the wrong train and had to jump in a cab, and Jos F. led the team home to what is thought to be a second place finish. The Master's Master Mr. Rube had a bad race, was it something to do with getting the mule number?"
• This was our last Tuesday road workout of the year.  Next Tuesday, we will move into the nice and warm Armory track facility.  Sign-up information is posted on the home page.  If you are procrastinating like Kevin Arlyck, then you better hurry up and get your check/photo over ASAP.  If you are  practicing a new sport (something called 'being a couch potato') like Eric Aldrich, you better hurry up extra fast!
• The sprinters and middle-distance runners have already been working out at the Armory for a couple of weeks.  Here is Noah Perlis' report: "You would be very surprised at the many members we are seeing at the indoor workouts.  Many new faces in the middle distance group, an average of 25 per session so far.  Devon is doing a great job.  A lot of good spirit going on there. Hope to see you soon."  To get a taste of what goes on, you should check out the middle-distance runners workout page.
• Lee Shearer was asked today: "According to the middle-distance runners workout page, you are in their Group #3 doing 1:32, 2:18, 3:04, 2:18, 1:32 (46 per lap for 400m, 600m, 800m, 600m, 400m).  Why do I see you running around the reservoir now?"  She said, "I got home late and the park was closer than the Armory.  In fact, I have not been up there yet."  Well, she won't have a choice any more next week. ...
• Alayne Adams was spotted with Tim Evans at the reservoir after the workout.  Since running the Philadelphia Marathon (4th overall, 1st master for $500), she has only ran lightly a couple of times.  But she promises, "I will run the Joe Kleinerman 10K scoring race.  I want to help the team if I can."   How about that for team spirit?
• The following APB was issued on behalf of Guenter Erich: "About a year and a half ago, I lent a picture to somebody in the club and it got lost.  It is a 4 inch by 12 inch panoramic picture of the 1974 or '5 start of the NY City Marathon. It shows many top runners of that time. On it are Miki Gorman, Katherine Switzer, Kim Merritt, among others, since the race was also the women's National Championship.  Some of the men, that are shown are: Sheldon Karlin, Tom Fleming, (with back to the camera) Fritz Mueller, Alan Kirik, Dr. Norbert Sanders and many more!!! Of course, yours truly is on it too.  As I get older and older, this picture becomes more and more valuable to me, and, I am sure, to many other runners of those days too.  I would appreciate, that anyone who has recently seen it; my name and address is on the back, to please contact me, or in any case send me a copy of it, which should be no problem with today's technology. Any information will be handled confidentially. Thank you, Guenter."

(Workout of 11/22/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

FIELD NOTES

• About the new singlets --- the order was processed by Jerry Macari, who had unfortunately lost access to his Urban Athletics store in the World Trade Center complex after September 11th.  These are his sale times and places for the next week:
  Sunday, Nov 25th    Pete McArdle XC 15K, Van Cortlandt Park
  Wednesday, Nov 28th  416 East 85th St, Apt 2B (bet 1st and York) 5pm - 7pm
  Saturday, Dec 1st  CPTC Awards Banquet, 593 Columbus Avenue (bet 88th and 89th) 7pm - midnight"
• Of all our years with the Central Park Track Club, this may be the one time that we should all be sure to count our blessings and appreciate our lives this Thanksgiving!  Remember, we still have each other ...

(Workout of 11/20/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Stuart Calderwood)

• Warm up to the Reservoir entrance across from 86th Street, then run three laps of the Reservoir as follows:
• Lap 1: Alternate between three light-poles striding and three poles recovery;
• Lap 2: Alternate between ten poles at approx. 5K race-pace and five poles recovery;
• Lap 3: Alternate between four poles striding and three poles recovery.
• The first lap should be a moderate effort; not too fast on the pickups and not too slow on the recoveries. It's basically a long warmup for the second lap.  The ten-pole pickups should be hard efforts but not all-out. It's a good idea to alternate leaders in each group, both so that more people can learn to set a pace and because it's hard to run behind people on the Reservoir in the dark--you step in holes with no warning--and leading is very pleasant in comparison.  The third lap should be easier than the second, with quick but short pickups and slower recoveries (but your momentum will take you about one pole into the recovery!) This lap should be for sharpening only; no killer efforts.  
• This workout is geared primarily toward people--we hope a lot of people--who will be running the Pete McArdle 15K cross-country race at Van Cortlandt Park on Sunday, 11/25; this is a scoring race for the men's teams.  The workout should be slightly less intense than last Tuesday's session (1000/800/1200/1000/800); the hard work for Sunday's race has already been done at this point. You should feel like you've done some work after the second lap, but then still be able to recover quickly and feel sharp on the third lap. (The very specific goal of the workout is to get the lead out of Kevin Arlyck's legs during the final stretch at Van Cortlandt.)  We'll finish up with a recovery run back to the statue.
• For those people at tonight's workout (Tuesday, Nov 20th) who have not yet purchased tickets for our Annual Awards Banquet (Saturday, Dec 1st) Alan Ruben will be present to collect checks payable to 'Central Park Track Club' for $40 per person.
  This party is the club's social highlight of the year, where awards for outstanding performance during 2001 will be made. Check the website for the full list of nominations.
  The food at this year's party promises to be extra-special with Noel Comess and Kim Mannen providing the culinary expertise and Ramon Bermo the Spanish flavor. Drinks and DJ are also included to make this an exceptional deal for all our members.

FIELD NOTES:

• This is the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, which normally means that a lot of people would be away already.  Nevertheless, the attendance tonight was 52 people!  The most underdressed award was claimed by Jerome O'Shaughnessy, now that Jeff Johnson no longer runs the workouts.  P.S.  Both Margaret Schotte and Fritz Mueller showed up before the group took off, so there was no issue of census undercount tonight.  P.P.S.  No, we didn't count the dog-walker!
• About this past weekend's race results, Stuart Calderwood had only one thing to say: "We are not worthy!" as the group paid homage to Alayne Adams, fourth overall female and first female master at the  Philadelphia Marathon in a time of 2:51:12.  Alayne did not particularly have this marathon in her planning, but only ran it to see what she could do after failing to get into the New York City Marathon (shame on them, because that time would have been good enough for 4th NYRR open female money!).  When asked if she wants to run another one to see what she can REALLY do, she said, "Oh, I don't know if I have the toughness?"  What?  Alayne, you have three kids!  Talk about being tough!
• Heard on the road --- Audrey Kingsley: "Everything I say in this workout is OFF THE RECORD!  ... (pause) ... Hey, but that's going to affect my google rating ..."
• George Wisniewski showed up today with a color photo of the 1988 Central Park Track Club team taken right underneath the Daniel Webster statue taken after the Club Championship (yes, at that time, the race ended at Tavern On The Green).  Roland Soong, Stacy Creamer and Frank Morton looked at the photo and were deeply disappointed because they all joined the team a few months afterwards and never made it into this photo.  That photo had many very young-looking people --- Betty Marolla, Mary Ellen Howe, Bob Meighan, Tom Phillips, John Kenney, Candace Strobach, Wendy Wisniewski, Tony Ruiz and obviously includes George himself (according to his own photo-analysis today, "I had no tummy back then!").
• Speaking of Mary Ellen Howe, your webmaster had this strange experience.  Last Thursday, he went down for a meeting at the WPP corporate offices on Park Avenue and 42nd Street.  He has never been there, and will likely never go there again.  On this day, he was listening to a presentation whereupon the public address system declared a fire drill.  Upon going out to the lobby, he saw Mary Ellen Howe among a hundred other dislocated WPP employees.  Well, well, well.  A few years ago, they had worked on the same floor at Worldwide Plaza where they came across each other often outside the ladies room.  It's a small world, and we mustn't keep meeting this way ...
• Although this was designated as the Kevin Arlyck workout, the man himself was AWOL!
• The second last scoring race of the year will be the Peter McArdle 15K cross country race this Sunday.  Our current standings are:
   
  3rd Open Men --- cannot be caught from behind, 13 points behind 2nd place
  3rd Open Women --- cannot be caught from behind, 9 points behind 2nd place
  1st Masters Men --- three-peat champions, winning 8 out of 9 so far, 57 points ahead
  4th Masters Women --- still in a tussle, 16 points ahead and 6 points behind
  4th Veterans Men --- can be caught from behind, 4 points ahead and 21 points behind
  4th Veterans Women --- can be caught from behind, 15 points behind and 18 points ahead and we have been either first/second or no show
   
  Now, we all know that there is a bit of a letdown after the New York City Marathon.  But the same will be true for all teams.  So if we have a large turnout, we may surprise people out there.  See you out there on Sunday!
• Sid Howard told a teammate about how he got a Sony Playstation so that his grandchildren won't get bored when they visit him.  He was explaining this game in which people take driving tests to earn a license, when this teammate interrupted him with a dose of reality --- the latest Sony Playstation game is titled Grand Theft Auto 3, in which you try to steal all manners of vehicles (e.g. sports cars, SUVs, vans, 18 wheelers, ambulances, police cars and even tanks) by any means possible under many different circumstances (e.g. day, night, crowds, etc).  Not sure if Sid wants his 17-year-old grandson to learn this game ...
• On December 4th, we will be moving onto the Armory indoor track on Tuesdays.  You will need to have paid your user fee and have a ID ready before you can go there.  Sign-up information is posted on our home page.  Just so there is no misunderstanding, we remain on the Central Park roads on Thursdays, now and forever.
• As the weather gets colder and darker, we offer you a verse of a poem by Ingeborg Bachmann, so that we can sit back, spend this short, horrid time with thoughts only and make a resolve to act with less misanthropy in the future.  By the way, playing Johannes Brahms' Alto Rhapsody on the stereo helps ... 

So, is there another running club website out there as strange as this one ... ?  A rhetorical question should require no answer.  But in this case, there is an Other and its name is obviously RU.

(Workout of 11/15/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

FIELD NOTES

• Forty-six people were present at the start of the workout.  At 76th Street, we were joined by Fritz Mueller who then shot to the head of the group, just like old times.  As we gathered together at 110th Street, of course Margaret Schotte materialized out of nowhere.  What did we expect anyway?

• We were happy to see Stephanie Gould, back for the first time after making the trip in the New York City Marathon and looked none the worse for it.  As a bonus, we offer you a photo of her in a different look.
• For those newcomers who were shocked at the brutality of this workout, please remember that it occurs only once every quarter for the purpose of shaking people up.  You will now be on easy street for the next three months.
• Apart from the long-term problem of the AOL lusers being blocked from receiving the Coollist mailing, it would appear that nobody else got anything this week either.  No, we won't blame this on September 11.  But until we figure out what is going on, we should point out that the workout descriptions posted on the website.  So if you check after noon today, you would have seen the description of today's workout published on the workout description page.
• By the way, if you were not corralled by Audrey Kingsley to sign that Car Free Central Park petition, you can still fill out the on-line petition.  As for the person who asked, "I've already signed this petition five different times before.  Should I sign another one?" the answer from the official liaison person was a very frank "I don't know."
• You may have read on our home page today that a former CPTC member Victor Diaz perished on American Airlines flight #587 this Monday.  John ("The Fireman") Gleason said, "I was called to the crash scene.  It was a sight that was sheer horror.  It was not anything that anyone would ever want to see."  Our coach Tony Ruiz recalled that Victor Diaz often ran with him in Prospect Park and, after finding out about this, it was hard to even come out to the park except for two cups of black coffee and the thought that this group of people would be there for him.
• This was an unusually warm night, almost like summer.  Unfortunately, this means that the cyclists are out en masse before winter takes over, so you have to watch out for them because you are likely to be lose in any collision (unless you are built like a certain unnamed brick house).  There were also three cyclists whom we kept seeing again and again doing their own thing apart from the big pack.  On the first time at East 66th Street, the lead female cyclist in this trio was heard to say "... and you run over the runner ... " and then she looked and recognized an actual runner --- "... oh, hi, it's you!"  On the last time at Harlem Hill, the trailing male cyclist was heard to say (in a Russian accent): " ... I see an orange jacket ... WALKING!"  Stay away from those bikes!
• The man who preaches "Keep the jog alive" is the most ardent practitioner too.  The first person to reach 102nd Street after finishing the last hill sprint was Sid Howard, of course, in a near sprint.  Meanwhile, the woman who preaches running at one (and only one) speed was asked by the coach, "You are not racing back again, are you?" (actually, it was not a question but a statement) on the way back to the Daniel Webster statue, and was therefore forced to restrain herself.
• Apart from running, your teammates actually have other lives, which are often quite surprising.  Tonight, for example, Sid Howard found that Josh Feldman could give him an explanation of how insurance rates were set in New Jersey.  Did you know that Hudson county has the highest density of automobile per capita in the whole country?
• Thirteen.  Eight thirty.  What does the meaning?  Hint:  Those numbers were in a Paul Sinclair-Audrey Kingsley conversation.
• No shoe inspection jokes tonight.  No 'Kitty Cat' jokes either.  We are not in a jovial mood, so James Siegel says.
• APB:  Kim Mannen, you owe coach Tony Ruiz US$1 ... just a friendly reminder ...

(Workout of 11/13/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

FIELD NOTES:

• Exactly forty people were at the start of the workout.  Fritz Mueller appeared before the workout and asked, "What are you doing here?  Aren't you supposed to be at the indoor track?" and then he vanished, saying "I can't hang around until the workout starts.  Maybe I'll see you on Thursday."  Maybe, maybe not.  Also Margaret Schotte mysteriously materialized at the reservoir, so that the aforementioned tally is a census undercount.
• Yesterday morning, an American Airlines flight bound for Santo Domingo crashed in Queens minutes after takeoff.  So far, the known facts suggest that this was an accident.  As far as we know, none of our team members were on that plane.  Our former coach George Wisniewski has been teaching high school in Washington Heights for over twenty years, and so it was nearly impossible for him not to know someone on that plane.  In particular, the person featured on television today --- Francisco Diaz --- was his student nine years ago.  So, in a time like this, George showed up at the workout tonight for some personal warmth with the other group of people that he has known for a long time.
• George Wisniewski also brought with him a favorite drawing of his --- the statue of Daniel Webster.  Of course, George was actually not aware of the significance of that particular drawing in the development of this website.  So tonight, we had to explain to him that the first ever page that appeared on what would become the top running club website in this universe is in fact that drawing.  Of course, you can follow the link on that page to get to the second page ever.  On a very sad note, according to George, the artist of that drawing is an heroin addict living on New York subways right now.
• For the distance runners, the club tradition has been to take one month off each year away from the track.  In this case, the month is always November, from the end of the New York City Marathon to the start of the indoor season in the Armory.  During this month, the Tuesday workouts take place on the reservoir (weather permitting).  With due respect, this is not the most pleasant set of circumstances --- it is dark, the footing is uneven, the wind is strong and the temperature is cold.  Among all these unpleasant factors, the biggest concern is the slightly uneven terrain, which forces one to soften the landing of the feet because one can never tell how far down it is, and that slight discrepancy of a fraction of an inch can have a bone-jarring effect.  In fact, the only places where one can accelerate without fear are the short concrete sections in front of the pump houses!  But how else are we going to become tough runners?  And on Thursdays, we will go back onto the familiar asphalt roads in Central Park.
• Paul Sinclair filed this protest note: "I looked at the NYRRC Cross Country Championships photo album and saw these notes: 'Paul Sinclair.  How about this cross-country race as a tune-up for the Philadelphia Marathon?'  So I happily clicked on the link and saw a photo of someone who was anyone but me.  Just to be sure, I printed the photo and examined the printout in detail.  None of those people was me!"
• Shoe inspection was not held tonight as Lauren Eckhart had to work late tonight ...

(Workout of 11/08/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

FIELD NOTES

• Thirty-six people were present at the start of the workout, to be reinforced at West 90th Street by a wildly cheered (and slightly embarrassed?) pace pusher.  The attendance was not bad in a time of post-marathon blues.
• Spotting Norman Goluskin among the attendees, coach Tony Ruiz said, "Norman, you must not have received the workout description by email.  If you did, you would not be here."  Although this is the week after the New York City Marathon, this was also the final preparation week before tapering for the Philadelphia Marathon.
• Last week, Lauren Eckhart was wondering how a teammate could keep his new shoes sparkling clean after several weeks.  This week, that teammate made a point to approach Lauren and show her the now dirt-covered shoes.  Plenty of running in the last seven days?  NOT!  He said, "These are my old shoes!  Just trying to fool you!"
• Josh Feldman reflects on this New York City Marathon: "I was in St. Louis!  I felt so far removed from it."
• As we lined up to depart by groups, there was a newcomer.  Trying to see if this person should leave with the 42-minutes-plus 10K pace group, Tony Ruiz asked, "How fast can you run a 10K?"  The answer was: "30:30."  Ooops!
• Margaret Schotte got off work late and arrived at West 102n Street in time to start the run the second loop.  Whom should she run with?  Here was a piece of advice: "Wait for your Harvard buddies to come by, jump in and make sure that you hurt them by pushing the pace!"  We will note that this self-appointed advisor is a not a member of the coaching staff.  P.S.  The person is also obviously not a member of the social committee.
• We were glad to see a couple of people who were away for some time.  This was Andrea Ostrowski's first team workout after a PR at the Chicago Marathon.  And then there was Darlene Miloski, whom we last saw outsprinting someone at the Club Championships in August.  By the way, this is an obscurantist inside reference, which you have to be there to understand. 
• Tony Ruiz was running back with Margaret Schotte from West 102nd Street to the Daniel Webster statue when he noticed that the pace was a bit ... hmmm ... unusual.  So he asked the pacesetter in front of them, "Are you racing after the workout, just like Audrey (Kingsley)?"  Actually, not really, because the real Audrey Kingsley was about a quarter mile ahead already.
• After the workout, Jerome O'Shaughnessy appeared with his big bag of orange jackets.  Sales was brisk this evening, as Dave Howard bought three jackets.  Dan Sack liked the orange jacket a lot, and so went to withdraw $50 from the Central Park ATM to make an instant purchase.  What ATM?  There's an ATM inside Central Park?  Sorry, but this is another obscurantist inside joke, which you have to be there to understand.  
• Earlier, Dan Sack could have earned $50 in consultation fee from Harry Morales for an impromptu examination of a foot injury underneath the street lamp.  We will omit the rectal exam joke ...
• As a reminder, the long distance group will move indoors on Tuesdays.  To gain access, you will have to pay a user fee.  Please bear in mind that it takes a few days to process, so you should do so as early as possible.  Last year, people thought that they could just show up at the Armory with money and photo, but were turned away.  All sign-up information is posted on our home page.

(Workout of 11/06/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

FIELD NOTES:

• Sorry about the quick change of location, but those are on the email list as well as those who checked the website would have found out.  To repeat, during the month of November, the distance runners will run their Tuesday workouts in Central Park, mostly interval runs around the reservoir.  The start time is 7pm and the meeting place is the Daniel Webster statue (West 72nd Street and West Drive).  After Thanksgiving, the Tuesday workouts will move indoors into the Armory Track facility.  Sign-up information for the Armory is on our home page.
• Thirty-three people at the start of the workout, not counting Frank Schneiger and Kai Michaelsen.  The count included Stuart Calderwood on a bicycle, Roger Liberman in civilian clothes and Margaret Angell on heels, so it may not be totally fair.  But so what?  What is unknown is the number of people who are beginning their training for next year's marathon ...
• We know that it is cold out there, but how could we not go through the list of marathon finishing times?  After the coach went through the list, Jerome O'Shaughnessy had to interject, "Don't forget the 'wall of orange' supporters!"  That marathon list was complemented by a win across the Atlantic by Paul Stuart-Smith.  Yes, we are a global power.
• Not official as yet is if Margaret Angell will be the fifth NYRRC member finisher (after Jeanne Hennessy (TRR), Gordon Bakoulis (MOVC), Leteyesus Berhe (WTC) and Gillian Horovitz (MOVC).  This is a non-trivial question because fifth place is worth US$1,000.
• Not everybody is happy about our marathon coverage.  In particular, James Siegel said, "The only mention of me was my encounters with law enforcement officers!"  What did you say that you did that day, James?  According to the photo below, you were standing off the curb on the road, thus impeding the progress of the runners.  And there was also the matter of what happened in the bushes ...

• We will note in passing that the World Series ended on the night of the New York City Marathon, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in the seventh and final game of the series.  This may not be a bad thing, because we might never be able to get John Prather to sign on the dotted line otherwise.  But this is an obscurantist statement that only three people will understand ...
• During the month of November when we run our Tuesday intervals around the reservoir, the normal rules of engagement are superseded by the 'every person for himself/herself' principle.  Whereas the slower group starts first while the faster group waits, we go as soon as we organize ourselves as there was no point standing in the wind coming in over the cold water.  Today, Bill Haskins found out the hard way as he emerged from the bushes to find his group long gone and had to play catch-up all the way.  He did manage to pass everyone but Kevin Arlyck.
• For years, the most interesting aspect of our workouts has been something called 'pushing the pace.'  Incidentally, many of our famous pace pushers happened to be females.  Tonight, we saw the second group finished with Alayne Adams bursting ahead of Tim Evans and David Smith, and the third group finished with Margaret Schotte leading.  How else were the guys ever going to become better runners?
• The most popular man in town is Jerome O'Shaughnessy, but not because he was wearing just a singlet and shorts.  Rather, he was the person that everyone wanted to see about getting that orange jacket.  The valuation on that orange jacket obviously went up a bit after the 'wall of orange' show at East 88th Street on marathon day.  So many people followed him home tonight (he lives just two blocks away) that he said he was going to have a party.  He thought that the question "Do you have any alcohol in your apartment?" a most hilarious one ...  We do have some unintentional comedians on our team.  Just last week, Lauren Eckhart asked a teammate, "How do you manage to keep your running shoes looking brand new after several weeks?" and was met with hysterical laughter ...

(Workout of 11/01/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Head north on the West Side, through the 102nd Street cut-off, then South on the East Side down to 72nd Street, then turn around and repeat in reverse. Total miles 7.4.

  The first horseshoe loop should be done 10-15 seconds slower than marathon pace, the second horseshoe loop should be done at half-marathon pace. Second horseshoe loop should therefore be one to one and a half minutes quicker than the first.

  NYC marathoners should be heavily into their taper - if that includes a run this evening then they should head North to the Reservoir, do a loop of the Reservoir and then jog back to the statue. Reservoir loop can be quick but must be very comfortable.

  NYC marathoners requiring last-minute advice or reassurance can call Coach Tony Ruiz on Saturday 9am-1pm on 718-636-4735.

  Jerry Macari will be at the statue at the end of tonight's workout (7:45pm) to sell the new CPTC singlet for $30.

FIELD NOTES

• Just three days before the New York City Marathon.  Here is the CPTC list of entries: Peter Allen, Margaret Angell, Ramon Bermo (with American flag this year), Jarl Bertzen, Monica Bonamego, Blair Boyer, Tom Brinkerhoff, Stuart Calderwood, Jonathan Cane (NYPD), Craig Chilton, Arthur Cooke, Patrick Cowden, Tyronne Culpepper, Robert Downes, Guenter Erich, Brian Farley, Shelley Farmer (Achilles guide), Jan Farnung-Krause, Brian Flanagan, Bob Francis, Cat Goodrich, Stephanie Gould, Ricardo Granados, Joe Gravier, Sarah Gross, Tim Grotenhuis, Robert Haig, Rich Hollander, Peter Homsher, Irene Jackson-Schon, Stefani Jackenthal, Dale Jones, Larry King, Audrey Kingsley, Etusko Kizawa, Bill Komaroff, Michael Konig, Jose LaSalle, Jesse Lansner, Roger Liberman, Tony Mayorkas, James Milne, J.R. Mojica, Jesus Montero, Anthony Munk, Roland Nicholson, Margaret Nolan, Yumi Ogita, Matthew O'Halloran, Victor Osayi, Steve Paddock, Luis Pena, Alex Peterhansl, Rich Piccirillo, Craig Plummer, Bryan Proctor, Ann Marie Resnick, Adam Riess, Michael Rosenthal, Alan Ruben, Chris Salibello, Shula Sarner, Bob Selya, Rick Shaver, Peter Smith, Theo Spilka, Charles Stark, Bob Summers, Michele Tagliati, Toby Tanser, Vincent Trinquesse, Jon Weilbaker, Jeff Wilson, Ken Winfield, Takeshi Yamazaki, Rob Zand, Jeff Zisselman.  That list contains 77 names.  Perhaps not all of them will run the race, but it is nevertheless a big number.  Of course, we know that the biggest number will probably go once again to the New York Flyers (reportedly over 200 entries!).
• We do not have a set of predicted performances, but unfortunately we are not permitted to publish them before the race.  So instead, you will presumably be reading some Monday morning couch-potato hindsight analyses.
• Yves-Marc Courtines showed up on a bike, since taking a full year off to travel around the world has not helped his hamstring to heal.  Next stop: the acupuncturist.  Tonight, he let loose a stream of indiscrete comments, finishing with, "Oh, I haven't been practicing for a long time.  I am supposed to keep my mouth shut in the presence of you-know-who."
• Harry Morales showed up with a slip of paper on which he copied down a short review of the new book, Latinos Inc: The Marketing and Making of a People.  Unfortunately, the prospective reader had already read the book.
• Jerry Macari was kind enough to haul the new singlets to the Daniel Webster statue after our workout.  This means that many of our newcomers as well as veterans will be identifiably orange on Sunday, but scratch the name Stephanie Gould because she'll be in her good-luck grey t-shirt once again.  Timing is everything, as Tom Phillips paid his $30 to Jerry and put on his singlet underneath his t-shirt to run the workout, with these words, "I'd rather wear an extra singlet than carry 30 dollars ..."  The sizes of the singlets are somewhat difficult to differentiate, which meant that people need to try on various sizes and ask for their teammates' appraisal.  

(Workout of 10/23/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Marathoners-- you'll jog 5 miles and help time. I'll see you at Two Boots after the workout.
• For the rest of you here's the deal.
  3 x 200 - warm up
  3 x 1 mile with 400 meter recovery-- the 1st one should be at 5 mile pace, the 2nd at 4 mile pace and the 3rd at 5k pace. The recovery is very short so be precise with your pace. Marathoners should be tapering hopefully on soft surface so this is a good opportunity to stay off the roads. You'll have plenty of pounding to do on Sunday so energized those leg now and get plenty of rest!!

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty people were present at the 630pm.  Although it was quite warm if you are running down to the track, it got distinctly colder afterwards.  Brrrrrr!  Even worse for the timers who cannot run to keep warm.  The times today were a little slower than usual, either because it was too cold, or else people actually followed the coach's instructions.
• We can say that depletion apparently causes severe personality changes, generally for the worse, as evidenced by the high decibels of ordinary conversations.  The less said the better ...
• Loads of complaints about last week's quiz on the whereabouts of the website guy.  Some people spent hours and hours searching the worldwide web to find the solution to a quiz that was rated as difficult beyond all categories.  However, all was not lost as people found out a lot about the guy than they cared to know.  How about this very interesting link, for example?  Yes, that is the same guy!  Really! And what in the world is a dux anyway?
    
  After all the futile effort, people must wonder if that quiz could have been solved.  Here is the one known path:
  (1)  The Central Park Track Club was once located as a directory under the Zona Latina website (www.zonalatina.com), on which plenty of information about the website guy can be found
  (2)  If you know the Zona Latina website well enough, you will know that it carries a section on Data Fusion which is the current principal interest of the website guy
  (3)  The Data Fusion section contains a Microsoft Word document (datafusion.doc) which covers all the latest publications on the subject.  If you look up that file, you will see that the event, the title and the partner are all identified (see the Food Review page for all the details and correspondence).  Of course, the trick is that Google.com currently only catalogs .html and .pdf files, so you will not find the contents of the Word document being indexed by them.  Therefore, you can only get there through diligent work.
  (4)  Of course, after the solution was revealed, any number of people claimed, "That would have been my next guess!"  Yeah, right!
  (5)  Not all of the juicy details from that event have been published yet, but those undisclosed facts will be picked up by Google.com eventually ...
    
• Josh Feldman and Bill Haskins came back from the Mayor's Cup XC race in Boston with rave reviews.  Most impressive was the depth of the field, with 50 men under 25 minutes on the 8K course, and 102 men under 26 minutes!  Unfortunately, they could not find enough people to field a CPTC team.  Maybe next year?

• WHERE'S THE MONEY?  Why haven't you seen Erik Laray Harvey at the workouts lately? He has been with this play production and will be there until next January.

• The new CPTC singlets have arrived today! They are of excellent quality, custom-made by Sugoi to virtually the same design as our existing singlets.  The singlets will cost $33 each. Jerry Macari (whose Urban Athletics Store has handled this production) will be making every effort to be at tonight's workout with these singlets. In addition, he will arrange specific times over the next few days when he will be at the New York Road Runners Club to sell these singlets. This will ensure that our members can obtain the singlet in time for the New York City Marathon.  Please check the CPTC website for the exact times and places of distribution over the next few days.
• On the way back cross town, a group of us (wearing orange jackets, of course, and looking like runner-types) were stopped by a woman, who asked, "Are you guys runners?  Are you running the marathon?  Well, it's okay if you don't run the marathon.  I have some passes here for Niketown, where you can get free shoes and other goodies.  What am I doing now?  Oh, I'm just going home to walk my dog ..."
• A strong tradition is on this club is the total inability to provide the right addresses.  In the most extreme case, we once relocated our Christmas party from the Upper West Side to West Village on our printed invitations.  For this year's post-marathon party, John Kenney duly notes: "It's great to see that some Club Traditions never die. The Parlor is located on the SW corner or 86th St., and Broadway------ not 84th St., as denoted on the Club web-site."  Hmm, the red face belongs to an unnamed current president of the club ...
• Postscript:  The name of Stuart Calderwood was originally left off the timekeepers' honor roll, leading to this complaint: "I can't believe I stood out there on the backstretch all night, freezing in my wet T-shirt from running to the track no less, hopping up and down and blowing on my hands while timing the A group, and didn't even merit a mention in the timers' column! What is this, homestretchism?"  Technical note: This was a stationary workout in the sense that the timers did not have to move at all; for that reason, the timer on the opposite side of the field might as well as be in, say, Queens ...

For the outdoor track season, the following people volunteered for timing services.

(Workout of 10/25/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION: 

• Tonight's workout is an important pre-marathon workout. It should be the last hard running that marathoners will do prior to the big day.  The exact specifications of the workout are dependent upon the weather, but it will be approximately 8 miles with about 6 miles done at marathon pace.

FIELD NOTES

Alessandro del Piero shirts are hot in Venice!

• Your regular workout reporter was in Venice this week, so there are no field notes as such.  However, he was able to watch the AS Roma-Real Madrid game live on television from his hotel room.  The final score was 1-1, thus guaranteeing that both teams will advance to the next round.  AS Roma scored first on a lightning strike by Francisco Totti, and would have won if Gabriela Batistuta's set shot from 30 meters out had not bounced off the cross bar with the goalkeeper totally beaten.  Real Madrid's goal came from a penalty shot for an unintentional hand touch.  The most consistently dangerous player for AS Roma was Brazilian rightback Marcos Evangelista Cafu.  In the only other game that matters, Deportivo Coruña tied Lille 1-1, thus also advancing to the next round.

The 800m should be done at 3K pace, the 400m should be done at 2secs per lap quicker and the 200m should be done 2secs per lap quicker than the 400m. (e.g. if 800m in 2:28, then 400m in 72 secs, 200m in 35 secs).  Each of the three sets should be done at the same pace. Be very careful because there is only a 200m recovery after each interval.  The last 6x100m are strides for form purposes only, absolutely NO sprinting - coach TR will be on hand to pull anyone resembling Michael Johnson!

(Workout of 10/18/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Stuart Calderwood)

• Here's the workout for Thursday, October 18th, 2001.

  It's geared primarily toward people who will be running the New York City Marathon on November 4th. The workout should feel slightly less challenging than last Thursday's two Harlem Hill loops; its primary goals are to give you some solid mileage while helping you develop a sense of your race pace.

  We'll start at the Webster statue and run two counterclockwise inner 4-mile loops as follows:

  <> Head east on the 72nd Street transverse at warmup pace and continue north on the East Drive. At Cleopatra's Needle, start a series of three 3-lightpole pickups with 2-pole recovery jogs. The pickups should be painless and relaxed, equivalent in effort to the three 200-meter strides that we do before Tuesday track workouts. After the third one, continue to the east end of the 102nd Street transverse at warmup pace.

  <> From there, run one 4-mile loop at an optimistic, but not unrealistic, marathon pace. Try to keep the pace steady; check your 1-mile split at the grating in the road near West 88th Street (a tenth of a mile north of our usual 86th-Street entrance to the Reservoir) and your 2-mile split at the statue.

  <> At the east end of the 102nd Street transverse, back off to a moderate effort--about a minute per mile slower than marathon pace--for the next mile (to the 88th Street grating). Then start another series of three 3-pole pickups with 2-pole recoveries, this time at a solid effort on each pickup but without sprinting. You should still be able to run relaxed and with good form. After the third one, continue to the statue at recovery pace and ask Audrey Kingsley if the story about her last week's mileage is true.

  SOME EXTRA MARATHON TIPS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS:

  1. Don't do any weird exercise. You're in a rare state--extremely fit but also fragile. Don't risk a freak injury by playing basketball, moving heavy furniture, or trying a yoga class for the first time.

  2. If it's at all possible, try to get some extra sleep. That's when repairs to muscles and to everything else take place.

  3. Try to eat a meal with both carbohydrates and protein in it within an hour after each of your workouts. You'll recover faster.

  4. Make sure that you're familiar with everything that you're going to use in the race: shoes, clothes, energy gels, et cetera. You might want to have a couple of clothing options for different kinds of weather.

  5. Don't try to "make up for" lost training or stay "on a roll" with high mileage in the last two weeks. Trust your program and back off; if you feel like you're not doing enough, it's probably because you're getting the rest that you need while preparing for a very demanding effort. Use the last two "tapering" weeks to sharpen up, and save that feeling of wanting to run more until November 4th, when it will be very useful.

  6. Go ahead--ask George Wisniewski any questions that you can think of. The old codger is an intuitive genius about racing. He coached me lap-by-lap to my only major win in New York, the MAC indoor 3-mile, in about 1981. (A 19-year-old kid named Tony was standing right next to him the whole time, too, jumping up and down and shouting at me every lap.)

INDOOR TRACK:

INDOOR TRACK WORKOUTS AT THE ARMORY: The sprinters and middle-distance groups' Tuesday and Thursday night workouts will be at the Armory, starting Tuesday November 13th, at 6:30pm led by Brian Denman and Devon Sargent.

 

The long-distance group's Tuesday night workouts will be at the Armory, starting Tuesday, December 4th at 8:00pm led by Tony Ruiz.

 

The fees for use of the Armory for the whole season until April will be $250 for the 6:30pm session and $150 for the 8:00pm session. This includes free entry to the four Thursday night races at the Armory put on by the New York Road Runners in January and February.

 

In order to run in any of these workouts you MUST have an Armory photo id card. To obtain one please send checks payable to 'The Armory Foundation' to Devon Sargent at 190 Columbus Avenue, Apt 3C, New York, NY 10023 along with a passport size photo by November 1st for the sprinters/middle-distance group or by November 15th for the long-distance group.

 

The club recognizes that these fees are higher than for past years, when the fees were lower, we received an early-bird discount, and we applied a club subsidy. Therefore we are asking anyone who wishes to assist members of our club who cannot afford some or all of these fees, to send checks payable to Central Park Track Club to Alan Ruben at 801 West End Avenue, Apt 5E, New York, NY 10025. Individuals who wish to avail themselves of these funds should contact Alan Ruben either in person, by mail at the above address or by email alan@montran.com .

FIELD NOTES

• Fifty-seven people were at the start of the workout.  The headcount did not include Mel Washington who was seen coming down the reservoir steps at East 86th Street (just one mile into the workout!) and yelling, "Hey, Xxxxxx, are you bailing out of the workout again!?"
• 192.  What is 192?  Are you a 192?  If you don't want to be a 192, what must you do?  The answers are at the bottom of this workout description.
• George Wisniewski approached our Complaints Department, "I was misquoted on my ugly comment last week."  Well, George, what do you think news is about these days?  Truth and accuracy?  Or entertainment?
   
• Just yesterday, Audrey Kingsley was quoted on another website as having completed XXX miles last week.  When asked at the workout if this was true, she had no comment.  Now, we would never list anyone's mileage on this website, because we know that some other ultra-competitive teammate would want to do (XXX+1) miles next week.  This is an unsustainable escalation in mileage and someone will break down sooner or later.  Partial hint: We said 'XXX' and not 'XX.'
    
  The Rapid Response Team on that other website immediately posted the following:
   
  Misquote of the day, "Now, we would never list anyone's mileage on this website," This appeared on the Central Park Web site, but hold on, don't I remember reading about the Zandmaster's mileage there? Just goes to show that Sir Roland's memory may not be as sharp as the razor we thought it was... as for my own, what? Who, and what was this about anyway?"
   
  Our canned response is: "Well, Toby, what do you think news is about these days?  Truth and accuracy?  Or entertainment?"

• And now we come to the most interesting part of the workout description --- the status report on the Champions League.

  Our Spanish reporter said, "My team Deportivo La Coruña became the sixth team to ever beat Manchester United at Old Trafford, courtesy of an abysmal performance by France's international goalkeeper Fabian Barthez.  Meanwhile, Real Madrid continues to roll, as befits the team that was voted the best of the last century.  As for Barcelona --- well, I hate Barcelona!  I just want to find some of the Brits on our team, and tell them that United sucks!"

  Our Italian reporter said, "A.S. Roma won away in Moscow, beating Lokomotiv 1-0 on a deflected goal off a shot by Cafu.  It just has to be go in and it does not have to be pretty.  Although Real Madrid is at the top of this group, all A.S. Roma has to do is to tie Anderlecht next in order to advance to the next round.  Juventus won to stay on top of their group, but so what?  More important is that even though Lazio won for the first time, they are still at the bottom of their group.  As you can tell, there is a bit of intra-city rivalry going on here."
   

• 192 is the number of delinquent club dues notices sent out by Ramon Bermo.  This is the month of October, and we still have 192 people out there who are taking advantage of the facilities and services paid for by our more responsible teammates.  Shame on these deadbeats!  But that shame can be instantly erased if you send your dues in ...
   
• Your regular workout reporter will be spending the next week in Venice, Italy.  Although this is not the best time to travel, he has to follow the call of duty.  This means that the website will not be updated during the week, and there won't be any workout descriptions --- yes, for twice, this means that you can all have peace of mind while you run ...  But perhaps someone else can wield their poison pens and send their reports so that our streak continues.

(Workout of 10/16/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3x200m Warm-up
• 12x400m 200m recovery
• The 400m should be done at 3K pace.

FIELD NOTES:

• Fifth-seven people were present at the distance runners workout.  Technical note:  We did not include middle-distance runners Charlotte Cutler and Erik Goetze in that count.  Yes, honesty is our middle name.
• For the middle-distance group, Devon Sargent coached Kim Mannen and Shula Sarner in running miles.  Hopefully, we will get the answers to these two questions soon: By how many minutes will Kim be able to reduce her 5K time? and how fast can Shula run in her first track race for the team?
• We looked up in the sky and did not see a blue moon.  So why did Peter Allen make an appearance?  This was one of the rare occasions when he had business in the city.  But it was not easy getting here, because he could not drive into the city (note: single-passenger cars were not allowed), so he had to park on the Jersey side and then take the Path train in.  No problems going back though, since he got a ride on the Super Sid delivery van.
• No blue moon was needed to get Sandra Oliva for her first time back since surgery in February 2000.  According to her, when she grows up, she wants to be a middle-distance runner ...  In case you don't know her, she was a top F45-49 runner before the surgery.
• Sid Howard looked around and exclaimed, "Where is Alan Bautista?  I don't see him here today.  This means that I can't steal his clothes!"  Sometimes, we seriously wonder what some of the kids on our team will do when they grow up ...
• Talk of the town on the track was about how Toby Tanser won the 18 miler in the park on Sunday and then went to the Van Cortlandt Park Cross Country 5K later that morning.  Our story about that story can be found in our race results for October 16, 2001.  And what a story!
• Taskmaster Frank Handelman's assessment of the "D" group's workout: "Overall, we ran very evenly except for one set towards the end."  On that particular set, one of the runners simply took off and ran it in 75 seconds, much faster than the 88-90 seconds previously.  For the record, the name of this runner was Frank Handelman.
• Overheard on the sideline was a recruitment speech by Tom Phillips to Alayne Adams: "You know, we ran the 195 mile Hood to Coast Relay this year.  We could do the 300 mile Reach The Beach Relay next year?"
• It is getting dark at the end of the workout.  When we looked across the field, all we could see are shadows moving in the darkness --- except for the white-clad Alayne Adams moving with that unmistakable turnover.  Alayne copped this compliment from Devon Sargent, "When I grow up, I want to be Alayne Adams."
• For those who are interested in getting a final good run before the New York City Marathon, there are two Last 10 Miles runs covering the final portions of the race course this weekend.  Details can be found on the front page of our website.
• Please watch out for the announcement about the indoor track signup on the website.  There won't be a long sign-up window if you wish to take advantage of the early sign-up discount.

(Workout of 10/11/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Head north on the westside. At W 102 Street pick up for 2 loops of the Harlem hills (2.8 miles).  Do this at half marathon pace. Non-marathoners head south on westside for a total of 10 k.  NYC marathoners head south on the westside and jump on to the reservoir and do 1 loop with 3 lamppost pick up and three off.  Do these pick ups slightly quicker than the slower ones.  Do not sprint these!

FIELD NOTES:

• Mild and comfortable evening.  Sixty-four people were present at the start of the workout.  Hubbub hubbub hubbub ...  Such a nice evening is in fact the perfect setting for reviewing the long list of race results that have not been covered in detail for sometime.  Top among the list of accomplishments are our seven PR-setters in Chicago, without forgetting Paul Sinclair's 19:59 at the Crohn's & Colitis Run For The Guts 5K in Philadelphia.  Paul wanted to know, "How did you find my race result?"  Answer:  Loose lips sink ships.  In this case, those lips belong to Paul.  The actual departure time was 7:25pm, still far off the world record of 7:37pm, but there was no sense of urgency on a nice night like this.
• Making a first appearance after a six month trip around the world is Yves-Marc Courtines.  We would have expected that he would be primed to hammer the roads.  Unfortunately, he is still injured (and the six month hiatus did nothing).
• For the benefit of certain people (namely, who don't have a habit of checking our home page!), we have posted some current news items below.   You will note that one event will be George Wisniewski's marathon race strategy meeting.  Today, George was actually at the start of the workout.  Now, for those of you who joined the club after 1997 will not know this man and you may be totally taken aback by his style.  Today, his first words to us were, "The people on this team are ugly!" and then it went downhill from there on.
• After reaching the finish at the Daniel Webster statue, Michele Tagliati was going to wait for Audrey Kingsley ... NOT!  When told all he had to do was to wait a minute, he laughed and said, "Give her my best regards!"  Question:  How long is an Audrey Kingsley minute?  Answer:  A lot longer than the previous record!
• The photo-critics were out in full force after the workout.  Jeff Wilson said, "You know --- the picture of me in the sunlight last weekend could use some serious Adobe Photoshop help.  My father looked at it and said that I looked like as if I had no hair."  Rich Hollander said, "Who takes these pictures?  I didn't see anyone out there last weekend.  Tyronne says that he doesn't ever see anyone, but he is always shown with a big smile.  How does he do it?  Does he maintain that smile throughout the race?"
• And then there was a long post-workout discussion of miracle drugs for running injuries.  The consensus was this: forget about EPO and all that other stuff --- vioxx rules.  Mind you, the average age of the discussants was not 66 years, but under 30.  Want to find out more?  Check out the vioxx website (French- and German-speakers only need apply).

NEW ITEMS

• MAYOR'S CUP (Boston, October 28th):  Josh Feldman and Bill Haskins are organizing a Men's Open team (five people) to compete at the Mayor's Cup cross country race in Boston on Sunday, October 28th. This race is the biggest cross country race in New England, and will surely be a very competitive event.  If you are interested in going, please contact Josh at jfeldman@iso.com , or talk to either Bill or Josh at one of the upcoming workouts.
• MARATHON RACE STRATEGY MEETING: The club is delighted to announce that our previous coach George Wisniewski (1981-1997) has agreed to give a pre-marathon talk to our NYC marathon runners on Monday, October 29th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm. He will be discussing all aspects of the race, in particular the 10-10-10 strategy. There will also be time for a questions and answers session. 
  For those of you who don't know George, he ran the marathon six times with a PR of 2:23:58, he is still the NYU record-holder in the mile with a time of 4:03 and he taught our current coach Tony Ruiz just about everything he now knows about running.
  If you are interested in attending please email Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com as space may be limited. Venue to be announced.
• POST MARATHON PARTY:  We will once again be holding our annual post-NYC marathon party at The Parlour (W84th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue) from 2:30 pm - 7:00 pm. The downstairs bar, where food and drink will be available, has been reserved for all members of CPTC and their friends.

(Workout of 10/09/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200, warm up
• 4 x 1200m with 400 m recovery. "A" group and "B" group marathoners do 5.
• The basic idea is to run the first 2 intervals at 4 mile pace, and finishing the last 2 at 5 k pace. Remember that the recovery is short so you must be very precise in your approach so your energy level is high enough to sustain pick ups for the last two intervals.

FIELD NOTES:

• So we started at 630pm, but it was pitch dark by the time that we finished.  These are conditions that we will have to put with until we end our outdoor track season (which is when we switch to daylight savings time).  Would you believe 61 people showed up to run in the dark?  Technical note:  Our numbers were inflated because the middle distance runners who are "coming back from injury, illness or extended travel" (meaning Kim Mannen, Sonja Ellmann, John Sargent, etc) were told to join our ranks today.
• The coach said that he would defer the pronouncement of race results until Thursday.  Well, he would not have covered all of the results anyway for he did not have Stephanie Gould's unpublished 1:26 half marathon time.  Of course, we could not help ribbing Stephanie --- "Hey, we couldn't get a picture of you because you went by so fast in that baggy gray t-shirt of yours."  She replied, "Well, get used to it!"
• James Siegel said, "I was hoping to torture the website guy by telling him that two people set PRs in Brooklyn this weekend without telling him who or where.  Unfortunately, Kevin Arlyck wrote in to tell him."  Torture?  Does James really think that the website guy cares one way or the other?  Now, if only someone could explain about that dog from the 1999 Vermont Relay ...
• Sid Howard explains how to run the workout properly: "Four times 1200m.  4:21, 4:18, 4:15, 4:11."
• Mirror, mirror, who is the most popular guy in town?  It's Dr. Alan Bautista, who was besieged by fans seeking advice not on running, but for gas masks, anthrax, Cipro, asbestos, ...
• Roger Liberman's closing summary: "Oh, it's so easy to be a timer!" after his first stint.  Whilst it was difficult to see who is in whose group when there are so many people running around in the dark, the principle is simple: "Identify the leader and the last person in your group, and just call out splits for everybody in between.  You can't miss this way."

(Workout of 10/4/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• For Thursday night's workout (October 4th) we are recommending that our members, especially those planning to race on Sunday, participate in the following commemorative run -

  WTC TRAGEDY FUNDRAISING RUN. On Thursday, October 4th, the Flyers will be having a commemorative run to aid the victims of the WTC tragedy. This 5-mile, easy run will start at Engineer's Gate on 90th St. and 5th Ave. and end at the Firehouse on East 85th St. (Engine Company 22/Ladder Company 13). Please come dressed ready to run. Wearing white, red and blue can be an option to show your support. The club will be collecting voluntary donations to the September 11th fund. Please note. Runners are not required to give donations to participate. We welcome all runners. If you do wish to give a donation, please make a check payable to the September 11th Telethon Fund. We will collect all checks and forward them to the fund. Pizza and drinks are to follow the firehouse visit. If this event is canceled due to rain, we will reschedule the run for Thursday, October 11th. If you have any questions, please contact Sandy Altman at saltman@ellentracy.com
   
  When: Thursday, October 4th
  Time: 7:00 p.m. Please come ready to run
  Start: Engineer's Gate (90th and 5th)
  End: Engine Company 22/Ladder Company 13 (E.85th St.)
  Course: Easy 5-Mile Run, partially in Central Park and
  then along the East River Dr.
  

  Also, our members may wish to wear their CPTC singlets or t-shirts to show our club's support for the FDNY and the New York Flyers at this time. Alan Ruben will be present to lead our runners.
   
  For those people who are seriously training for the New York City Marathon and require a hard workout, Tony Ruiz will be at the statue at 7:00pm as usual, to cater to your needs.
   
• (From Tony Ruiz):  Here is the workout for people who are not racing this weekend or joining the Flyers for their run starting at 90th street. I highly recommend that you join them as they remember one of our true heroes.  Unfortunately, I will not be able to join you on their run as I have prepared a workout for those athletes who "REALLY" need a strong workout and besides Danny might feel left out if I were not to show up at the statue and at least say hi. I'm sure Danny would be joining the rest of you if he could!

  Here's the deal-- we'll go south on the westside to just below tavern on the green where we'll do the Stuart mile along the lower loop to E 72 st. You'll recover through the cutoff back to the statue. The 2nd pick up will start there as you head north on the westside and through the 102nd st cutoff.(2 miles) You'll finish at E 102 nd st. You'll recover due south to E 90 st where the last pick up will begin. The last pick up will end at E 72nd st. (1 mile) At that point the people training for marathons will continue south on the lower loop at a controlled steady pace for a total of 7.7 miles. Non marathoners will cut through the cutoff back to the statue for a total of 6.3 miles. The 1 mile pick ups should be done at 10 k pace, while the longer 2 mile pick up should be run at 10 mile pace. Racers for Sunday should run the easy 5 mile run with the Flyers and then do a 1 mile pick up at their intended half marathon pace, followed by two 2 minute pick ups with 1 minute rest. I really do encourage that people go to support the Flyers and most of all pay their respects to all those brave men who lost their lives trying to ensure our safety. These heroics are magnified daily as the quest to find survivors continue. Their will is truly astonishing and gives us hope of true brotherhood during a time when we all need a reason to cheer and be proud. To the bravest, I say BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO. I'm so glad you're on our side. God bless our heroes and our country. Peace, Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-one people showed up at the Daniel Webster statue today.  This count did not include Margaret Schotte who materialized at the start of the Stuart mile.
• The workout could not begin quickly enough, because the coach said, "Fritz, where are you?  I know that you are here.  Get yourself up to the front!"  By the way, Fritz Mueller has the idea that he wants to build the history of the Central Park Track Club.  His reason for doing so is as follows: "This is the only way that I am going to see my name mentioned."  
• Roger Liberman made this observation about the workout --- the route consists of one lower loop (1.7 miles) and one lower five-mile loop (5.1 miles); therefore, the total distance must be 6.8 miles (and not the 7.7 miles as advertised).
• Noel Comess showed up today, and inquired about our Chicago Marathon runners.  Why is he interested?  Because he wants to look for them when he is running out there!  After Chicago, Noel would like to run the New York Marathon too!  Yes, but this time as an Achilles guide.  He said, "I've always wanted to be an Achilles volunteer guide.  Obviously, I can't do it when I want to run seriously myself.  So this will be a good time for it."

(Workout of 10/02/2001)

• Don't forget that the workout will start at 6:30pm from now on.

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Item 1 - 3 x 200m, warmup
  Item 2 - 5 x 1km, ("A" group 6 x 1km) with 400 meter recovery.
  The goal is to run all 5 or 6 1k's at 5 km pace. This is a tough gritty workout but it is essential especially for marathoners. Find a rhythm and be consistent. 

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-three people at the start of the workout.  This meant that a few of the people who arrived at 7pm were not included in the count.  Although we had tried to alert people about the new start time, we apparently did not do everything possible.  On this particular page during the day, the information is:

On Tuesdays, we meet at East River Park (6th Street and FDR Drive) at 7pm.

(Workout of 10/02/2001)

• Don't forget that the workout will start at 6:30pm from now on.

As our Spanish-speaking colleagues would say, "¡Pendejo!"  The start time next week will be 630pm again.

• Your elite timer of the day was Isaya Okwiya, who is tapering for the Chicago Marathon this Sunday.  When quizzed about any special diet concoction, he said, "Sorry, I can't really tell you what it is.  Besides, you really don't want to know."  The mystery deepens, the access seems blocked but that doesn't mean that we have given up yet.  Margaret Angell said, "I will wait.  If you get a fast time, then I'll need to know!"  At any rate, we don't think is that juice from the giant killer hornets ...
• Toby Tanser files this complaint: "I came all the way down to taste Kim Mannen's brownies and she didn't bring them!"
• SAVE THE DATE. This year's CPTC Annual Awards Dinner and Dance will be held on Saturday, December 1st. This is the highlight of the CPTC Social Calendar and we encourage all our members to attend. Details to follow shortly.
• Coach Tony Ruiz did an extensive review of recent noteworthy race results, especially with respect to the Fifth Avenue milers (notably, Charlotte Cutler, Alston Brown and Sid Howard).  By contrast, James Siegel was a model of economy when he summarized the Fifth Avenue Mile with these words, "Good food review!"
• Apparently, following instructions is not a forte on this club.  Case in point: Group C ran the 1000m's mostly under 3:45, translating to sub-6:00 minute mile 5K's.  With due respect, this pace is a bit quicker than the known 5K pace for most of them.  For the fifth and 'final' 1000m, the timer said, "This is the last one!  I want to see you all suck air!"  Actually, a subgroup came back and did a sixth 1000m, and then even a seventh, without the participation of the timer.  Suck air!
• After the workout, we walked down East 6th Street westwards towards Astoria Place-St. Mark's Place when along came Stacy Creamer in street clothes.  She has been having a condition that has been variously described as a stress fracture, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis or just a condition known as 'splayed second and third toes.'  No matter, for she seems to think that she will be ready to resume running on the track soon.  By the way, we note that today is Stacy Creamer's birthday, for which we absolutely did not plot on another one of those surprise parties nor did we stand in the middle of East Village to sing 'happy birthday' to her.  Why not?  Such prankish behaviors are not needed for entertainment because she already has one of the best years of her life, including the Central Park Triathlon victory in August after finishing second in the four previous years.  Happy birthday, Stacy!

(Workout of 9/27/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Jog east, at 72 Street go north to Cleopatra's Needle.  Here you will start your 1st pick up of 1 1/2 miles to W 102 Street cutoff, recover to W 97 Street and make a U turn back to W 102 Street.  Here you will do the same 1 1/2 in the opposite direction, through the cutoff to the east side then head south back to the Needle. You'll recover to E 72 st and do 5 lamppost pick ups with 3 lamppost recovery three times. These should be done on the lower loop. The goal is to run the first 1 1/2 mile pick up at 10 mile pace and the second 1 1/2 mile pick up at 10k pace.  The lampposts are done for form and finishing speed. Good luck and God bless our beautiful country, AMERICA. Peace, Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES:

• This is Yom Kippur, but we still collected 59 people at the start of the workout, without counting Mel Washington and Fritz Mueller.  At the finish line, we saw Josh Feldman in street clothes, with a tie no less.  The sight of Josh was astonishing and led to these comments: "Josh, until you wear street clothes, we had no idea how skinny you are.  You always wear an extra-large t-shirt and baggy shorts when you run with us.  Well, at least now we understand why you run faster than us ..."
• Rhetorical question of the day:  How do you head east on 72nd Street and then turn south to reach Cleopatra's Needle?  Answer:  You don't.
• Guest runner of the day: Gordon Bakoulis, leading to the comment: "Ooops, it looks like our guys will have to run hard today ..."
• A welcome-back to Shelley Farmer, who told us that we missed her result at the USA Triathlon National Age Group Championships in Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) on September 3, 2001.  Yes, we did have a lapse in intelligence/surveillance because we obviously were not monitoring race results from Idaho as closely as we should.  An odd outcome was that Shelley finished seventh in her age group in that race, just missing the magic six qualifying spots for the world championships by a mere 16 seconds.  This is the n-th time that this has happened to her.  Just like before, she will have another chance at qualifying next year.  By the way, Shelley will not be competing in this year's New York City Marathon, but she may be still run it as an Achilles runner's guide.
• Here is another change in marathon plan.  You must have read Rae Baymiller's interview with Peter Gambaccini in RunnersWorld.com, in which she indicated that she would like to aim for a 2:50 time.  Due to personal circumstances, Rae will not be running in this year's New York City Marathon.  Instead, she will turn her longer-term goal towards a spring marathon.
• In the middle of healing is Lauren Eckhart: "Stacy Creamer and I have the same stress fracture injury.  I am convinced that it came from running on racing flats."  Today, Lauren got an instant second opinion from teammate-sports doctor-triathlete Randy Ehrlich, M.D.  Lauren said, "It was almost as if he knew more about my injury than I do ..."  Such are the unadvertised benefits of team membership.
• When do you suspect that something might not be right with you?  Dan Sack: "I'm running along and I see Roland ahead of me ..."
• As is customary, we started our runners in four groups, with the slower people first and the fastest people last.  At some point, the faster people will make up the handicap and catch the slower people.  Tonight, at West 102nd Street on the way back, it was an astonishing sight to see most of the people coalesce into one huge phalanx en masse.  This is when you probably realize that you are not alone but a part of a peloton that has a mind of its own ...
• Champions League coverage:  Real Madrid beat Anderlecht 4-1 in its inexorable roll toward the next round.  A.S. Roma had good news in beating Lokomotiv Moscow 2-1 on an own goal by defender Chugainov and a gem by Totti.  Gabriel "Batigol" Batitusta did not start the game, but was inserted in the second half with some effectiveness.  As for the results from the other groups, we don't care!  A.S. Roma rules, according to Michele Tagliati.
• Please note this change: All Tuesday outdoor workouts will now begin at 630pm, in view of the early darkness.  We would all like to get out there sooner, finish the workout and get home earlier.  But Thursdays will always be at 700pm, now and forever.

Because the 1st 400m is DOWNHILL, you must be careful not go out too fast.  Better to go out too slow for the 1st 400m, then too fast. Inexperienced runners will go out like rabbits, don't get sucked in! You know your mile pace! Stick to it for the 1st 400m.

OVERALL STRATEGY:

0--400m
Get out, RELAX, let the rabbits go!  Run your own race for the 1st 400m.  (Don't worry about your position, it's the same distance from the middle of the road or the side of the road).

400--800m
Now it's time to work!  ATTACK the hill!  Start looking at your competition.

800--1200m
Forget the clock, it's time to compete!  COMPETE, COMPETE, COMPETE!  Start picking off runners one by one!  Every runner counts.

1200--1600m
Find another gear by competing. Remember those 200s & 300s you have been doing on the track?  Go after that runner in front of you!  Don't stop before the finish line---Run "through the line" (i.e., pretend the finish line is 10m farther)
 
Frequently Asked Question: What should I do if I run the 1st 400m too fast?
Do NOT slow down (slowing down doesn't work in the mile).  You've committed yourself to that pace, stick to it.  Don't panic. You still may run a PR.  Don't fight the pain---Run through it.  Only way to run through the pain is to compete, compete, compete.

(Workout of 9/25/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3x200 warm-up
• 4 x (1200m, 400m recovery)
• The idea of this workout is to find a "consistent rhythm".
• Ideally, all four 1200s should be done at 5K pace. You are allowed to re-adjust your goals after the first pick-up to, say, 4mile pace if you feel that you won't be able to complete the next three at 5K pace.  If you end up having to adjust for the third and/or fourth 1200 you haven't done the workout correctly.

FIELD NOTES:

It's getting dark ...

• A cold front hit town last night, dumping rain overnight.  This evening, it turned chilly.  Jim Aneshansley said, "Ah, it's indoor track season again."  Yes, but not before Jim runs the Fifth Avenue Mile outdoors first.  By the way, we have no information on the Armory Track yet, so don't ask ...
• Today, Running Urban legend Toby Tanser showed up at the work to show us the cuts and bruises that he got when he tried to get to the Cross Country race on Sunday.  You can read all about his grand adventure on his website.  Now Toby is by no means the first famous CPTC runner who got lost by taking the #4 train.  As a true test of how well you know our website, do you know who the other famous person is?  The answer is given at the bottom of this workout description, which means that you won't receive a copy of Toby Tanser's book if you got it right.  Besides, we really doubt that anyone could remember that one ... but then again, we aren't so sure --- after all, we remembered as if it was yesterday!!!
• The orange jackets have arrived, and one was presented to the coach today.  Someone said, "Yes, the coach's jacket comes with a clock in his pocket ..."  Check the home page for ordering/delivery information.  By the way, we have ordered a new batch of team singlets.  Hopefully, those singlets will be available before the New York City Marathon.
• The Staten Island Half Marathon has been cancelled, for this race would have required considerable policemen to direct traffic.  This scoring race will not be replaced by another race.
• Oh, yeah, lest we forget the all-important attendance statistic --- thirty-eight people at the distance runners' workout.  Meanwhile, the middle distance workout was ballooning with people.  Devon Sargent got out of her hospital bed to run the show (yes, we carefully noted that the workout was designed to always start at the same spot so that she would not have to move about).
• Brian Barry has this reflection about how teammates helped him: "Last Thursday, it was raining so very few people showed up.  John Sargent was on the comeback trail and asked me what pace I would be running.  I told him that I would do 88 or 89 seconds per lap, and he said that he would follow right behind me.  That meant that I could not ease up at all!"
• We forgot to thank Sid Howard, for being the only team member known to have run a race this weekend, thus averting a shutout.
• At the end of the workout tonight, it was pitch dark out there.  Next week, we are contemplating moving the start to 630pm.  On today, there were six people who raised their hands to say that they would have difficulty coming early.  Please file in your protests if you have problems too.  Please check the website for the final word for next Tuesday.  As for Thursdays, we will meet at 700pm, now and forever, right underneath the Daniel Webster statue.
• Answer to CPTC knowledge test: Click link and go to the bottom.  Does even the principal remember?  If you actually remember this, then the color of your blood must be orange!

(Workout of 9/20/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Tonight's workout will be two clockwise 4 mile loops.
  The second 4 mile loop should be run 15 seconds per mile quicker than the first 4 mile loop.
  Pace should be marathon pace for the first loop and half-marathon pace for the second loop.
  This is a tough tempo workout geared towards people running the Staten Island Half and/or the New York City Marathon.

FIELD NOTES:

• Fifty-one people were present at the workout.  This reporter was standing with the 'wrong' crowd and found out the following important developments: 
    
  A.S. Roma was held to a 0-0 draw with Anderlecht at the Constant Vanden Stock  in the Champions League competition.  Within the same division, Real Madrid drubbed Moscow Locomotiv 4-0.  There is no undue concern about A.S. Roma yet, since it is expected that they and Real Madrid will be the two teams to advance to the next round.  Of greater concern is the fact their Argentine striker Gabriel "Batigol" Batistuta has been unable to score goals recently.  So there you have it.  This is another reason why this website is the most comprehensive one out there.
    
• There had been no time or mood to review the race results from the past week, so we'll just remind everyone that Josh Feldman ran a fine 1:14:23 to lead the team.  This puts him ahead of our perennial leader Alan Ruben (1:15:26) on this day.  Of course, the other question for Alan is when his wife will be passing him --- on this day, Gordon Bakoulis ran 1:16:41 for 9th overall female and 2nd female master.  P.S.  Personal bests also went to Eve Bois and Roger Liberman, both of whom were still talking about it during today's workout.
• All day long, it was raining on and off, sometimes heavy, other times light.  To start the workout, the coach said: "The weather forecast is not good.  Although it is not raining at this moment, it may get worse later.  So I want to say as little as possible and get us on the road."  This meant that we started out promptly at 7:20pm.  For the first 20 minutes of the workout, it was dark but dry.  Then the flood gates opened up, going on and off.  If at first you thought you should look for tree shades on the road, then your later strategy became one of finding the straightest line, over and into the puddles, because you wanted to get home as quickly as possible.
• Why do people show up for workouts even if they are not in shape?  Ramon Bermo said, "This is my first speed workout in a long time.  I just wanted to come and find out how slow I am.  This will be my first and final tune-up for a race next Friday, which the website guy does not know about yet."
• Q&A session with Frank Morton:
  FM:  "What is the pace for this workout?"
  A:  "The first four mile should be at your marathon pace."
  FM:  "But I don't have a marathon pace now."
  A:  "The second four mile should be at your half marathon pace."
  FM: "But I don't have a half marathon pace either."
  Q:  "What pace do you have?"
  FM: "I ran the 5K a couple of weeks ago."
  A:  "Then maybe you should run the 8 miles at 5K pace?"

(Workout of 9/18/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200, used as a warmup
• 2 x 2000 with 800 meter recovery, these 2 items should be run 5k pace.
• 3 x 300 with 100 meter recovery, these should be run at finishing speed.
• Select a pace for the 2000's and run them at precisely the same pace. This type of long repetition allows you to become familiar with a pace and find a rhythm which should translate into a race situation where you are zoned in to your own pace. Do not allow others to distract you from your goal. The purpose is not to run these as fast as you possibly can but to recognize a target goal pace and repeat each 1/4 mile at this desired pace. The 300's are good for form. As you know from your own racing experience, it is crucial to hold form at the end of a race to better your chances of nailing people who have tortured you all race long! See you at the track. Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES:

• From Chip Olsen: "I hurt my Achilles tendon again in June and am just starting to run again.  It has been pretty depressing but, in light of recent events, doesn't seem very significant.  I recently checked the website, hoping not to hear of anyone in the club missing --- thankfully, that seems to be the case.  Anyway, I hope to see everybody at the workouts in the not too distant future."
• Forty-six people were gathered around the distance runners' workout.  This is a good turnout when we consider that this is the Jewish New Year.
• Depending on physical constitution, some of us may still be feeling the effects of the smoke from the burning rubble at the World Trade Center.  This may take the form of sore throats, post-nasal drip, difficulty in breathing, etc.  This is for people who are usually located miles away from the actual scene, so we can only imagine what it is like for those people working at the scene now. 
• Last Thursday, we had one of New York's bravest at our workout --- John Gleason.  Today, we had one of New York's finest at our workout --- Jonathan Cane.
• Tyronne Culpepper said, "I was walking down the street and I saw someone in marine uniform.  It was Alan Bautista!  When I called out to him, he said, 'Oh, I didn't think anyone would recognize me in my uniform!'"  Alan is a reservist who is waiting to be called into duty, and he had done his part down at the World Trade Center (see Famous Saying #1344).  This week, Alan's photo graces our home page; that photo was taken once upon a time when Alan was a road runner, and that was perhaps why Alan has no memory of it.
• Jessica Merritt observed after the first 300m, "It looks like the only person who is jogging instead of walking in our whole group is the timekeeper ..."  The timekeeper also observed that the times that he called out for the D group were probably a lot faster than the C group, and it was a wonder that they did not all collapse with that kind of effort.
• In the last 300m sprint, the coach said, "I am going to run this last one with my D group.  However, I am going to run with the handicap of carrying an American flag."  His time: 45 seconds, about 4 seconds faster than the next person.  Because the coach only ran the last one, he missed a chance to run a matched sprint with Bola Awofeso who ran the second last 300m in 47 seconds and said, "I just wanted to feel the way I ran when I was in high school twenty-five years ago.  I don't have anything left for another one like this."
• Observing the proceedings today is Elizabeth Angell, who is taking notes for a literary piece about her sister Margeret's running and her teammates.  Of course, people on this team are used to being observed and written about, aren't we?  In any case, Elizabeth served as a catalyst to loosen quite a few tongues, such as these short scenes ...
  • Victor Osayi (to Margaret Angell): "Hey, Margaret, I thought you are Canadian!  Everybody else on the team is ..."
    Margaret Schotte (aside): "Yeah, she wish she were!"
  • Roland Soong: "Hmm.  People always seem to want to know what I do.  I once told someone that I am the psycho stalker on the team.  She laughed and said, 'No one on the team thinks that is the case ... (pause) ... except Margaret Angell."
  • Margaret Angell: "When do you think I will be able to run faster than Alayne Adams?  (receiving blank stares and no answers)  Let me see ... when she is fifty, I will be thirty-five.  Will I be able to do it then?"  Don't count on it ...
  • Roland Soong: "Elizabeth, you know that we won't tell you anything unless you tell us something in return."
    Elizabeth Angell: "That's okay.  Everything that I know about Margaret is open, beginning with birthmarks ..."
    Roland Soong: "And you know that we would want to see your masterpiece published on our website."
    Elizabeth Angell: "If you want to ..."
    Yes, we think we have a deal right there and then, and we haven't even brought the SC's into the negotiations yet ...

(Workout of 9/13/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Will there be a team workout?  On the minus side, the air quality will be bad, people will have plenty on their minds and it also seems to be disrespectful under the circumstances.  (P.S.  Unless you can live below 14th Street, you cannot get to the East 6th Street track, so the track workout will not take place).  On the plus side, people may want to get away from watching television all day and to give your running friends some emotional support.  We will be gathering as usual at the Daniel Webster statue this evening at 7 pm. There will be no workout as such, but there will be a group "solidarity" run.

FIELD NOTES:

• Given the workout description that was posted above during the day as well as sent be e-mail, we had forty-seven people showing up today.  The mood was subdued, without the usual laughter and joy.  Coach Tony Ruiz said, "I was an eyewitness to the second airplane crashing into the World Trade Center.  It was a devastating sight.  After seeing something like that, I must say that running is very low on my list right now.  Nevertheless, I am here today and I just want to run a loop with my friends.  Then I want to go home to my son, who still finds it hard to understand."  A moment of silence was observed by the group holding hands in a circle.
• Among our teammates, the biggest question that people had was about John ("The Fireman") Gleason, in view of the fact that FDNY has about 300 members missing at this moment.  The high casualty figure was the result of the heroic firemen heading into the Twin Towers after the airplane crashes to rescue people, and then having both towers collapsing on them.  So today there was a loud cheer when John appeared (topless) at the workout.
• From Etsuko Kizawa: "If you're in NYC, please join me Friday night at 7 p.m. on West Side Highway @ Christopher Street with your candle. Let's fill West Side with our candles and send cheers to our rescue workers. All the news crews are in the area. We'll be able to show the world that we'll fight against terrorism and everything else that tries to destroy us."
• This weekend's big race is the Philadelphia Distance Run, in which we have three teams entered.  The race organizers have decided that the race will take place as scheduled.  Fundamentally, it is an individual choice to run or not under these circumstances.  Some people may find it impossible to put together a race; other people may turn adversity into strength; and still others may simply want to get out of town to watch the race.  In any case, if you are signed up with the van, please contact Sarah Gross and/or Eve Bois to confirm your plans.
• As for next Tuesday's workout, it will be predicated on a number of things.  (1)  accessibility --- as of today, the area below 14th Street are open only to residents (proof required --- driver's license, utility bills, etc); we believe that the demarcation line will be moved down to Canal Street by tomorrow; (2) air quality --- that strong scent of burning steel is quite pervasive in Manhattan right now.  In any case, please check the website (and your Coollist email) early next week for information.
• SUNDAY PARK RUN:  From Frank Handelman: "With the support of team president Alan Ruben, and in the spirit of Roland's description of this Thursday's workout, I am writing to invite all CPTC members and friends who are not traveling to Philadelphia for the half-marathon to join in a group run in Central Park on Sunday morning, to give us a chance to be together in this most difficult of times. We would gather at 9:00 a.m. at our traditional meeting place, the Daniel Webster statue on the Park drive at West 72nd Street. I suggest a six mile loop at an easy pace, so all can run together (and so that I can keep up) going south from 72nd and running in "race direction", for the benefit of those who might hook up along the way. All those who want, and/or need, to go longer and faster can do so after our loop.

  I suggest this for the most simple and selfish of reasons - I want the company of my teammates. I have lived in New York for 32 years, and been a member of the CPTC for almost 29 of them. The response in New York over the past three days shows the courage, power, enormous love of humanity and the unrivaled strength of diversity and acceptance that makes New York unique in the world, and our team reflects all those qualities.

  So, best of luck to our teams in Philadelphia, and I hope even a few you can join me in the Park on Sunday. For those who don't know me, I'll be the guy in the orange shirt and grey hair."

(Workout of 9/11/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200, used as a warmup 
• 2 x 2000 with 800 meter recovery, these 2 items should be run 5k pace
• 3 x 300 with 100 meter recovery, these should be run at finishing speed. 
• Select a pace for the 2000's and run them at precisely the same pace. This type of long repetition allows you to become familiar with a pace and find a rhythm which should translate into a race situation where you are zoned in to your own pace. Do not allow others to distract you from your goal. The purpose is not to run these as fast as you possibly can but to recognize a target goal pace and repeat each 1/4 mile at this desired pace. The 300's are good for form. As you know from your own racing experience, it is crucial to hold form at the end of a race to better your chances of nailing people who have tortured you all race long!

FIELD NOTES:

• The above workout has actually been cancelled.  Although we will run in hurricanes and tornados, this day represented a great day of tragedy for New York City, when the two World Trade Centers were demolished by separate airplane collisions.  Reportedly, about 50,000 people work at the World Trade Center on a typical workday, so we are all likely to know someone over there.  This is the time to reach out and bring comfort to each other. 
• Message from Run The Planet:  "We were shocked this morning when we found out what happened in New York City. We hope everything is ok with you.   Your friends in running,  RTP Staff"

(Workout of 9/06/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Head east across the 72nd Street transverse.  An 800m pickup from 72nd Street to Cleopatra's Needle.  Recover to the 86th Street entrance to the reservoir path.  A 400m pickup from the pump house to East 90th Street, recover 400m, another 400m pickup to the northern pump house, jog 400m, another 400m pickup to West 86th Street and recover to the southern pump house.  Now repeat the exact same reservoir loop one more time.  When you get back to the southern pump house again, the last pick up is 1200m from the southern pump house to the northern pump house.  From there, jog back down the west side to the Daniel Webster statue.

FIELD NOTES:

• This was an Indian summer day --- deep blue skies and low humidity.  Fifty-seven people were at the start of the workout.  By the end of the workout, it was quite dark, but the sight of the sunset bathing the west side buildings in golden colors on that first loop around the reservoir was a true beauty to behold.  This is the reason why we don't live in ... say, Ponca, Nebraska (quick quiz: where is the reference to Ponca (NB) on this website?  No cheating with the google.com search!).
• Strange days are here.  Allegedly without planning, three ex-CPTC-presidents showed up --- Frank Handelman, Norman Goluskin and Sylvie Kimché.  As Harry Morales said, "Something important must be happening ..."
• If you didn't receive the workout description by email, that's okay.  Nobody got it because it was not sent out.  It was not, as Jessica Merritt said, "I thought I was not getting it because people don't like me."
• Of course, your coach Tony Ruiz has plenty to say about the Masters Men's team at the Hood-To-Coast Relay, of which he was a member.  The snicker on the sideline was that, "Yeah?  We need to see his birth certificate!"
• If you were hoping to pick up your orange jacket, then you would be disappointed.  According to Sylvie Kimché, the shipment has been held up at US Customs.  The comment on the sideline that "the heroin must be removed first" is a falsehood, even though it came from someone who worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration.  Wait for more news on the website!
• The best quote of the day came not from any team member, but from a regular park female denizen.  She walked up to the coach and said, "I won't take a minute of your time.  I am sure that you are a great bunch of people.  But when you guys run out there in a group, could you please not take up the whole road?"  Now this has been a subject that is brought up just about every workout, but which somehow never sinks in.  To the best of our knowledge, the club did not pay this lady to make the speech today, but we hope that the message is getting through.
• The post-workout chat had plenty to do with 'Little Leaguer' Danny Almonte.  It turns out that Anthony Ruiz Jr. had the honor of serving a home run ("jonron" in Spanish) ball last year to Danny's brother, who was also over-aged at the time.
• By the way, we forgot to mention that Mary Diver showed up for the Tuesday workout.  She was introduced to the website guy and said something like "Nice to meet you!" and got this very honest response, "Well, you may say that now.  Very soon, you will be saying 'Please, no pictures today!' instead."  Mary is a well-known local runner, who is building up again.
• Here is a greeting from John Taylor: "As you probably gathered, I have moved.  I now live in Silver Spring, MD and obviously can no longer come to the CPTC workouts/events.  I hope to see some orange down here at the Marine Corp Marathon.  There sure aren't any track clubs quite like CPTC down here."
• Warning:  Pre-race package pickup for the Broadway On Broadway 5K is not at the NYYRC building --- go instead to the Time Square Visitor Center on the east side of Broadway between 46th and 47th Street.  Race day pickup is near the registration area at 102nd Street inside the park.

(Workout of 9/04/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3 x (200m, 100m jog) for warm-up
• 1 mile (at 5 mile race pace), 400m recovery
• 1 mile (at 5 mile race pace), 800m recovery
• 1 mile (at 10 seconds faster than the first 2 miles)

FIELD NOTES:

• Between 12 noon and 6pm, the city was blanketed with showers, sometimes heavy, sometimes light.  But there ought to be no question as to whether there is going to be a workout --- we've done workouts when there are hurricanes and tornadoes !!!  At 6pm, there was this very strange sight from midtown: it was dark and cloudy eastwards and it was bright and sunny westwards.  By 7pm, the clouds had all moved out and it was bright and sunny.  Forty-seven people were present at the beginning of the workout.
• Nobody received today's workout description because none were sent.  No need to panic yet, but we are still experiencing problems (especially with the lusers from AOL.com).  Coach Tony Ruiz just came back from vacation last night, and there was no time to send messages or even visit the website.  Although he had no weekend race results to talk about, he did say this: "The Hood-to-Coast Relay was an amazing experience.  It sounds a lot of fun to run lead-off for 5 miles with a drop of 2000' elevation, but I will tell you that it was hard!  That is why it was all the more impressive to see Alan Ruben (aka Mr. Downhill) run his big downhill 10K and then come back to finish the final leg at 5:30 min/mile pace.  Oddly enough, none of the relay team members are here today except me and I am not running today.  So I hope the relay had not been too hard on everyone."  As if on cue, Alayne Adams dashed right onto the scene just in time for a round of applause.  Alayne was one of two females on the Masters "Men's" relay team, which finished 13th overall and second Masters Men's team to an all-star Reebok team.
• Frank Handelman complained about the weather: "I was hoping that it would rain hard, because I wanted to think about the workout without actually having to do it."
• Josh Friedman said, "I ran my first cross country race ever on Sunday.  I'm just glad that the results are not on the website."  Not yet, but it will be soon enough.  Until then, Josh will have to check the website every hour, which is not necessarily an increase over his baseline usage (57 visits from work in the month of August!).
• There appears to be a common misunderstanding about the Broadway On Broadway 5K.  For the last time, we repeat: this race is scheduled for Sunday!!!  In addition, Jeff Wilson has noted that you need to double-verify that you are properly registered under team code CPTC when you get your number because the forms are different for this race.  P.S.  James Siegel, please don't forget your team singlet.
• Now here is a challenge for the truly courageous for this Sunday ---
  (1) At 730am, the Central Park Biathlon takes off at the Loeb Boathouse for 2.5 miles running, 18 miles cycling, 2.5 miles running, which you probably can do in less than 90 minutes.  After this race, you will have a few minutes to bike 2 miles over to West Drive-102nd Street in the park
  (2) At 930am, the Broadway On Broadway 5K starts and will end at Times Square before 10am.  After this race, you duck right into the subway and take the northbound #1 train to 242nd Street.
  (2) At 1130am, the Harry Murphy XC 5K starts in Van Cortlandt Park.  When you finish, your immortal fame will be assured.
  P.S.  Unfortunately, this aggressive schedule means that you won't be able to go to the CPTC brunch at the Saloon at 11am, and social director James Siegel will be very disappointed ...
• The orange jackets have arrived!  On this Thursday, Jerome O'Shaughnessy will be there after the workout with a bunch of them for those who have pre-paid.  Further details of the delivery schedule will be posted on the website.
• AN OFFER THAT YOU CAN'T REFUSE:
  Sandra Scibelli wrote: "I am a chairwoman for the Race For The Cure.  I am in charge of the race boutique.  I am looking for volunteers to help sell the race merchandise. I need people for the following times and dates.
       Thursday Sept. 13 at Madison Sq. Garden 11am-8pm
       Friday Sept. 14 at MSG 11am-8pm
       Saturday Sept. 15 at MSG 11am-5pm
       Sunday Sept. 16 in the park 5:30am-around noon
  My schedule is by the hour. If anybody has a few hours they would like to volunteer I would greatly appreciate your help. I can be reached at 917-837-1061 or by email SSCIBELLI@WSGC.COM .  Men and women are welcome to volunteer. It is a great cause and for all you single men out there it is your opportunity to meet over 30,000 women! You can't beat that."

(Workout of 8/30/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Bola Awofeso)

• Head south; at 59th street start series of 3 x 3 lamppost pick-ups with equal recovery. Next pick-up start of 800m start from E72 up Cat Hill to the Cleopatra's Needle. Recover to E90, leave the road and get on the reservoir. Next pick-up start from E90 to W86 (1mile) on the reservoir to be run at 5k pace. Recover to E90.  Do another loop same as before. After the second loop, hop back on the road and do the last pick-up from E90 to E72 (1mile).  Recover through the cutoff back to Daniel Webster Statue. Total distance :7 miles

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-seven people at the workout.  Not bad when you consider that the Labor Day weekend has already begun for some people.
• Your regular coach Tony Ruiz is still on vacation somewhere on a beach, so today's workout was worked out by a total chaos of communications among ... let's see if we can name everyone ... Tony Ruiz, Stuart Calderwood, Stacy Creamer, Bola Awofeso, Sid Howard, Sarah Gross, Craig Chilton ... we hope that we didn't miss anyone.  Not to fear because it always works out in the end ... 
• Before proceeding to the workout description, Bola Awofeso reminded people that the next scoring race is the Broadway On Broadway 5K on the next weekend.  Then he said, "I have no other announcements ... wait, I forgot ... I want to tell everybody that James Siegel won a 5K race last week.  We know that teachers don't work in the summer, but James will be become like the rest of us next week when he goes back to work."  Afterwards, James was heard to mumble, "I'll have to inform my colleagues that they are just lazy bums ..."
• When Bola Awofeso saw Shula Sarner, he said, "Okay, since she came today, I'll take her off the list of people who did not attend the last workout that I gave."  Meanwhile, everybody was looking down 72nd Street because we know that the workout cannot get started until Audrey Kingsley arrives.  Unfortunately, she never appeared on the horizon and even the lead scout Michele Tagliati did not report any sighting.  Therefore the workout started without her presence, and it was therefore not the same.  However, Audrey Kingsley did materialize in the middle of the workout, so she won't make Bola's special list.
• After the workout, someone mumbled: "I can't believe this.  How are we supposed to do 3.5 mile pickups at 5K pace?"  The answer: It's 3.5 mile pickups, not continuously but interspersed with 800m-1000m recoveries.
• "Elvis lives!"  If you were at the workout, you would have heard the rest of the story.  If you were not at the workout, you would not read it from us.  You gotta be there.  P.S.  This was not a reference to Amy Sheeran's famous 5K race in Chicago. 

(Workout of 8/28/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from FRANK HANDELMAN)

Here's the workout, designed to get a flow going and combine some quickness and short recovery. This is a step workout, requiring some precise timers.   The workout - do the traditional 3x200's to get loose. Also, I'd like to see all those extra strong, long-distance types with mind-boggling endurance try some real stretching beforehand - stretch like you do before a race.  Then we do the time-honored college step workout - also known as up (and down) the ladder. Goes like this:

Run 300 (with 100 jog)
500, jog 200
700, jog 300
900, jog 500 (extra 100 jog courtesy of my daughter Leah who runs 400 meters in high school and says you'll need the recovery but what does she know she's really a soccer player)
700, jog 300
500, jog 200
300.

The idea is to find a rhythm and keep the group rolling. Times not relevant, just work on getting good turnover and holding your form on that second 700.

FIELD NOTES:

• Your regular coach is out sunning on the beach somewhere faraway.  So the person in charge is Frank Handelman (plus Sid Howard).  To be more precise, Frank said, "I'm not going to manage the workout.  I'll just announce the workout description, and I'll run it myself." 
• Last night, the workout description went out at 10pm and nobody has seen it yet.  We are too depressed to worry about it right now, and we'll get back to it after Labor Day. 
• There were forty-five people at the long distance runners' workout.  Frank Handelman wanted to know, "Do you literally do a headcount for the workout report each time?"  Yes, that would be logical.  But we could have also made it up ... you never know.
• Since there were no extracurricular announcements, this means that James Siegel's win last week went unacknowledged.  This may be the end of James' winning ways this year, because he will become 'tired and employed' like the rest of us next week when all teachers go back to work.
• At 6:55pm, dark clouds rolled in over Manhattan and straight over to Queens without a single raindrop in Manhattan.  Phew!  
• It was of course Frank Handelman's habit to time the timers.  His report card of the day: "I timed the slowest group and it took 29 minutes for them to finish."  That's about 3 minutes slower than the world record for 10,000m.
• Audrey Kingsley said, "If I get hurt during the workout today, I'll know whom to blame.  Someone knows that I would rather die than let him pass, so he should not have been running anywhere near me ..."
• Last week at the workout, Stephen Sipe said, "Will our camera people be present at the workout next week?  My company is having a boat ride down East River around that time ..."  Sorry, but we seemed to have tuned out the river boat traffic (except for those Staten-Island bound barges, which is impossible not to notice because we need to hold our noses) ...
• Janice Brown asks: "Could you post an inquiry for anyone interested in working out with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 a.m. at the Riverbank State Park track? I will be starting school this week and will not be able to practice at the regular time until January 2002. The workouts will be the same as the middle distance group."

(Workout of 8/23/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Bola Awofeso)

• Head south down West Drive. At the famous "S" sign on the ground just south of Tavern on the Green, start a series of lamppost pickups of 4 on, 2 off, 4 on. Continue running to East 72 St. From East 72 to East 90 we will do a mile pickup at marathon pace. Recover to East 102 where the NYC marathoner comes into the park not the transverse cutoff please. From this E102 through the northern part of the park to West 88 where you'll see a grating to your left hand side is the next pickup of 2 miles to be run at your half marathon pace. Mile split for this pickup is at the top of Harlem Hill.  After the 2 miles pickup, finish the last mile back to Daniel Webster Statue at a comfortable pace.

FIELD NOTES:

• Your substitute coach today is none other than Bola Awofeso, as your regular coach Tony Ruiz heads out for the Hood to Coast Relay.  Your regular timekeeper will be there with his stopwatch too ...  Will there be a record?  Bear in mind that the current record is held by one Ramon Bermo, who took all of four minutes to move people out.
• At 4:45pm, a rainstorm moved through New York City.  For the rest of the evening, it continued to drizzle lightly.  This in fact made the workout quite nice, as that light rain had a cooling effect.  A total of only twenty-seven people showed up for this workout in the rain.  Bola Awofeso said, "I will remember who did not come!"
• At 7:02pm, Bola Awofeso wondered, "Should I begin the workout now?  No.  I must wait until Audrey arrives."  At that moment, he looked down 72nd Street and in the distance Audrey Kingsley was observed to come around the corner.  So it was that this workout began at 7:03pm.
• The first group of people moved out at 7:08pm.  That means it took 5 minutes to go through the workout, not enough to break the existing record.  The blame can be laid firmly on Audrey once again.  The only announcement was to come from Sarah Gross, who said, "The next scoring race will be Broadway On Broadway on September 9th."  At which point, Audrey Kingsley jumped in and said, "No, you have to say THE NEXT SCORING RACE WILL BE BROADWAY ON BROADWAY ON SEPTEMBER 9th!!!"
• Bola Awofeso patrolled the course today on his bike, wearing an orange t-shirt that was visible under a transparent plastic raincoat.  He noted when the last three persons came in, "I want you all to note that this is the first workout that Roland Soong finished this year."  Another person in the last group is Amy Sheeran, off three weeks due to an injury that was not a stress fracture.  The third person was a newcomer who introduced herself by saying, "I'm dead!"  By the way, that is not her name.
• Josh Feldman protests: "I object to that description of the St. Louis Track Club workout last week, because it is misleading.  The St. Louis Track Club organizes a summer Wednesday evening race series known as the Pace Series, so why would anyone run track workouts on Tuesdays in the heat and humidity?  There is also a running store which organizes track workouts at which 50 people show up.  And where was John Scherrer when I was looking for someone to run with in St. Louis on Sunday?"
• Sorry about the late Coollist workout description on Tuesday (received at 8:48pm by some of us).  Well, for all the headaches that the mailing list has been causing us, it is almost worth paying $149 per year to Listbot ... NOT!  After all, this is a matter of principle.  So once again, we curse Microsoft.

(Workout of 8/21/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200m warmup
• 2 x (600m, 200m recovery)
• 2 x (400m, 200m recovery)
• 2 x (800m, 400m recovery)
• 2 x (400m, 200m recovery)

FIELD NOTES:

• Nice warm, dry day.  Perfect for outdoor track running.  Fifth-seven people at the distance runners' workout.
• Over the weekend, we had 77 finishers at the Club Championship race (plus one finisher at the non-Club Championship race one hour later).  Of these people, the coach singled out Mark Gombiner and Shula Sarner for praise.  In Mark's case, he was actually wondering if he should try hard at all, but he ended up being the third scoring runner on the second-place Senior Masters team.  In Shula's case, she (and Audrey Kingsley) made the difference between fifth and seventh place by her kick.  She would say today after the workout, "What kick?  My mind is willing, but my lungs and legs are not going along right now."  But they went well enough on Saturday.
• Dan Hamner told us about a non-finishing story --- apparently, Rae Baymiller was on track for a 30:XX near-world-record-pace time at the George Sheehan Classic until she passed out from a heatstroke on someone's lawn before the finish line.  She's okay, and her next race will be the New Haven Labor Day 20K, followed by The Great Race and The Hartford Half Marathon, all national-class races.
• The coach did issue a warning that the last 400m's are not meant to be raced, which is exactly what Rob Zand and Isaya Okwiya did, in 63 seconds.  Bad boys!  Technical note:  Those two ran in the third lane, so their times should be adjusted to be even faster by a couple of seconds.
• The "D" group timer got these reviews.  First, Frank Handelman said, "39:30.  That's what I timed you."  Yes, that's a mighty slow time indeed.  Second, Chris Sicaras said, "The recovery is not long enough.  We need an additional lap for each set."
• Coollist mailing list problems:   We have been asking people to report if they are not receiving the workouts by email.  So far, the only problem cases were all AOL.com lusers.  There are two possibilities: either AOL.com systematically block out all coollist.com mailings, or else certain individual lusers have set up filters to exclude 'spam' mail.  So we need to poll our total base of AOL.com lusers --- if you are an AOL.com luser who has been able to receive the Coollist workouts, please notify Roland (and do you know what mail preference setting enables you to receive it?).

(Workout of 8/16/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Hi, I hope everyone is getting rested for the BIG RACE on Saturday.  
• For those who are not racing this weekend, here is the workout: We'll migrate from Danny's (statue) to the reservoir, this includes all racers who are limbering up for the race. We'll run counter clock wise to East 90th Street, where you'll do your first pick up of 1 mile back to West 86 st. You'll recover to the southern pump house (approx. 1/4 mile) and you'll do a 3/4 mile pick up to the first northern pump house.  Recover to West 86 st (approx 1/2 mile) where you'll do your last long pick up of 1000m to East 90 Street. Here you will recover 15 lampposts (approx 1/4 mile) and finish the loop to West 86 Street with "three" 7 lampposts pick up and 3  lampposts recovery.  Jog back to Danny's and you're done. The racers will jog 2 loops, throw in 2 or 3 short pick ups, about a minute or so and go home.  Use these to loosen up, and if possible do some stretching and I'll see you on Saturday! Fire up those engines, the race is about to begin!! You have my blessings, now go kick some ass!!!!! Coach TR

FIELD NOTES:

• Look, it's 38 hours before the Club Championship race!  What are those 43 people doing here at the workout?  Because this was a cool night with low humidity, which was infinitely more pleasant than the sauna run last week.
• Tony Ruiz attempted to motivate everyone by saying, "Let's not forget that it was the twelfth person who moved us up a team position last year ..."  Somewhere up there, perched right underneath Daniel Webster, the voice of Rob Zand drifted down, "Twelfth place?  What did I hear you say?  Twelfth place?"  Yes, with a little bit of will and desire, the aforementioned Tony Ruiz could just be that twelfth man ...
• The pre-race quiz from Tony Ruiz.  "David, could you please remind everyone what time the Club Championship race starts?  You don't know?  Lauren, how about you?  Could you tell us when your race starts?  You are not sure either?  Well, this husband-and-wife team is going to need some counseling ..."  This excuse was offered --- they don't bring their Palm Pilots to workouts!  Seriously, the Men's race starts at 830am and the Women's race starts at 850am, from East Drive at 99th Street.  After the men finish, we urge them to jog back up to around East 93rd Street at the top of the straightaway to form the CPTC cheering squad for the women (that means all women, regardless of club affiliation and/or team colors).  Afterwards, please stay near the finish area; we will gather everyone together for our team photo and then you can do your 10 mile warm down run.
• Unfortunately, we will not be at full strength for the Club Championships.  We know that we will be missing Alayne Adams, Stephanie Gould, Amy Sheeran, Kim Mannen and Margaret Schotte for various reasons.  This puts neatly into focus just what the important things are in life --- if it is not some lousy running race, then what is it?  
  Your health?  NOT!  
  Your wealth?  NOT!  
  Your family?  NOT!  
  Your boyfriend/girlfriend?  NOT!  
  Your vacation?  NOT!  
  The salvation of your soul?  NOT!
  Peace on earth?  NOT!
  So what is it then?  It's the softball game, stupid!!  And we've got game with Warren Street at 1pm on Field #9, North Meadow (near the race starting line of the Club Championships).  Kidding aside, your Social Director James Siegel issued this very serious plea:  "Please bring any ball-playing equipment that you have.  I think I have a ball.  All we need now is one bat ..."
• By the way, we forgot to say "Happy Birthday!" to Sonja Ellmann, who had 8 birthdays within the last couple of weeks ...

(Workout of 8/14/2001)

People present - 4;
People who intended to run at the designated time (and had not already done their workout) - 1;
People who decided to leave and run in the park - 1;
People disgusted with St. Louis and wishing they were back in NYC - 1.

(Workout of 8/14/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

Hi-- I hope everyone has been drinking plenty of water. We seem to have gotten a reprieve from the heat wave that we experienced last week. Now that we've survived that extreme weather, we're hoping that this Saturday is sunny (softball anyone?) but not oppressive. Here is your set up for this week's 5 mile Club Championship race.  Remember, the race is Saturday so the pace that you should run this workout should be precise and please hold back any reserves until Saturday when you will be expected to run your ASS off, not only for yourself but for your teammates.  Always keep in mind that this race is deeper in terms of scoring for both men and women. Please don't try to impress me tomorrow, I'd prefer you show me what you are made of on Saturday, when it counts! Please make sure to enter CENTRAL PARK TRACK CLUB on your entry forms, wear the team colors and stay for the team pictures afterward. Also, come ready to get down and dirty on the baseball diamond. Looking forward to seeing you all at the starting line and at the ball game. 

Here's the workout: 

• First we'll start off with 3 x 200m as a warm up. 
• Item "A" is going to be 2000m (1 1/4 mile) at your intended race pace for Saturday.  Obviously this would be at 5 mile pace. You'll recover 800 meters. 
• Item "B" will be 1000m, again at your intended race pace or 5 mile pace. Precision on these first 2 items are a must. You'll recover 400 meters. 
• Item "C" will be 2 x 600m at 5k pace. You'll recover 200m after each of these 2 items. 
• Item "D" will be 3 x 300m with 100m recovery. These are to be run at finishing speed and not sprint speed.  I know many of you were inspired by the performances at the World Track and Field Championships this past weekend but let's stay focused on our plan and goals.  Those athletes have trained hard and long to run at those speeds so their muscles are prepared for this extreme turnover.  Please don't make the mistake of thinking that if you run a couple of hard intervals at the end of this workout that you'll make up for your lack of training the past few months. Stay calm and conserve your reserves because in the end you'll be better served!!! Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES

• At 6:30pm, it was nice and bright outside.  At 7:00pm, dark clouds were rolling in slowly from the west.  At 7:10pm, 51 runners began the warmup 200m's.  At 7:13pm, just after the warmups were done, the rains came down.  And just when you think you can tough it out, the total deluge began, with buckets of rain, strong winds, thunderclaps and lightning.  And now it's now to run for your life ...  what a workout!
• This Saturday is the Club Championships race.  Your team triathletes' rep Ramon Bermo wrote: "Dear CPTC triathletes and other club members, as most of you know this coming weekend is the Club Championship, the most important race of the year for the Club.  Please make sure to include this event in your calendar.  As CPTC members, we all should take part in the event, show our support to the Orange club, it's not only about how fast, but also how many and how supportive of club we are.  So, it doesn't matter if you are a 'trackie', you can just jog it; or a triathlete, if you run better after biking, do a couple of loops before the race; if you are a runner, this should be a focus race, JUST make sure you ALL are at the start at 8:30 am this Saturday, August 18th. It's only 5 miles of pain !!  One more reason to do the race? Our annual Team Picture !!!"
• Your coach points out that there are presently only 77 persons signed up on the Coollist mailing list to receive the workout descriptions beforehand.  Previously, on Listbot, we had 138 persons before they shut the service down.  While we knew that some people had multiple Listbot entries and probably would want only one now, there are still people who have not joined Coollist yet.  There are a couple of known hitches right now about coollist.  Problem #1: Some of you have found that your company blocks you from signing up because the destination has 'questionable content.'  If that happens, please forward your invitation email to Roland for special handling.  Problem #2:  At least one person with an AOL account has said that the Coollist mail was not delivered.  Question:  Does any other AOL user have problems?  Please reply to Roland .  
• On the comeback trail at the track is Luca Trovato, who said, "You know, I'll probably run the Club Championships even though I am so pathetic right now."  Unfortunately, in that race, runners cannot get illegal aid.
• Now that the World Championships are over, you no longer have the excuse that you have to stay up till 3am to watch the 10000m race.  But let us leave with an image to remember:

Gabriela Szabo, Queen of Hearts
Women's 5000m
World Championships 2001

• Finally, we could not help but make a stab at the genius who scheduled the Men's 1500m final at 600pm (EST), at the exact moment that ABC ended its television coverage.  Hey, all it takes is to shift the race up 4 minutes, and we could have seen it!  DORK!

(Workout of 8/7/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 8 to 10 times 400m with 200m recovery (please don't go out hard!)

FIELD NOTES

• Ninety-five degrees at 6:30pm.  Humidity too.  The coach originally thought about canceling the workout altogether, but realized that it would disappoint the people who were going to show up regardless of the condition.  In fact, fifty-five people did show up , making the total number of around seventy if we include the sprinters and the middle-distance runners.  Philosophically, Coach Ruiz does not believe in giving two hard workouts in a single week.  Going easy tonight means that you should be prepared for a hard workout on Thursday!
• The summer movie review continues with James Siegel: "I went to see Planet of the Apes today.  It sucked.  I would give it two fingers up.  It definitely wasn't worth $10.  The only good thing was that it was cool inside."  Well, well, well, and you thought that we were savage in the restaurant reviews ...  Upon learning about James' review, Caryn Cherlin said, "Yes, it sucked and it wasn't worth $10.  That was quite correct."
• Overheard on the track:  Devon Sargent: "I am sweating like a pig."  Kim Mannen: "At least that is better than like a heifer."  
• Seen on the track: a team of fast women.  And we mean it.  You gotta see them.
• Ramon Bermo said, "Please note that this is my first real track workout in the past 3 years."  Why the last-minute panic to get a speed workout in?  It's not even for the Club Championships --- it's for the New York City Triathlon on this Sunday, where everybody who is anybody in triathlon is going to be there.  Our strongest candidate for a first-place finish is ... Craig Chilton!  We know how fast he can run, but how fast can he swim and bike?  Well, we'll never know because he is doing the running leg of a relay team in which he is going to get a couple of the best people out there to swim and bike.  Ramon also wants to know if this event will get our photographer's coverage.  The answer is NO! --- not until they decide to formally incorporate the Central Park Track Club triathlete division and get their own orange triathlete uniforms.  What are they waiting for!?  Who is going to take charge?
• For the past several months, the coach has been sending out workout descriptions on the previous evening through the Listbot service.  As of August 6th, Microsoft has terminated the Listbot service because they want to pursue a different business model, namely collecting lots of money from users.  So yesterday evening, we signed up with another list server Coollist (www.coollist.com) and immediately send out invitations to everyone on the Listbot mailing list to join the new list.  What was shocking was that within one hour, we had more than a dozen people signed up already.  Well, well, well, we were expecting people to be running out there (it was ninety-one degrees outside)  instead of sitting in front of a computer screen in an air-conditioned room wasting their time away!  (Note:  along this line, we must say that we were totally not shocked to see the first name to show up was John Scherrer).  In case you have not done it yet, here is how to get on the mailing list: (1) if you received the invitation email from Coollist.com, just following their instructions; (2) if you have not received the email, you can just go to www.coollist.com and ask to join the list known as cptc@coollist.com. That's all.

(Workout of 8/2/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Hi, I hope you have your thinking caps on because this one requires a little imagination!
   
  We'll start off by warming up heading north on the west side. At 90th street, you'll pick up to 102nd street cutoff, recover through the cut off.  Head north on the east side and pick up to 110th street, recover to the traffic light at the top of the hill.  Pick up to W 102nd street and again recover through the cutoff, make a U-turn and pick up back to W 102nd st, head north on west side and recover to the traffic light on top of the hill.  Pick up to 110th street and recover to E 102nd street cutoff.  Pick up through cutoff back to W102 st. Head south and recover to 97th street where you will do your last pick up to 88th street, where there is a grating to your left which will be the end of the pick up.  Cruise the last mile which is primarily down hill.  The two long items (1st and last pick up) should be done at 10 k pace. The rest of the pick ups are between 400 and 600 meters so you will be running those at a higher intensity (3000 meter pace). Notice that the terrain on the pickups are primarily down hill. This should encourage your fast twitch fibers to assert themselves and prepare you for downhill running. While you want to certainly accelerate on these be careful not to lose rhythm, the art is in running these with good form and control. Oh and by the way, all of the "hood to coasters" should take advantage of this workout because your downhill running skills will be tested at Mount Hood.  First one DOWN the hill wins!! Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES:

• Fifty-nine people were present at the workout tonight.  We were surprised not to see the original Mr. Downhill (aka Alan Ruben) at this workout.
• In case you are obsessive-compulsive, the total distance of the workout is 6.7 miles.
• Who's hot and who's not?  Let's not worry about who's not, because we do know that Olivier Baillet is HOT after his sub-10-hour Ironman race in his debut.  How did he get to where he is?  Stuart Calderwood related this story today:  "Sometime ago, Olivier was running a road workout with the 'A' team.  He was probably not ready yet, but he attempted it anyway.  Afterwards, when asked why he did it, he shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Enthusiasm!'"  Yes, we all need a little bit of that ...
• Why a downhill workout?  The coach has a private agenda because he needed to prepare the Central Park Track Club contingent for the Hood-to-Coast Relay.  There will be a Master Men's team in this August 24th race featuring nine Central Park Track Club runners (Alan Ruben, Peter Allen, Stuart Calderwood, Tom Phillips, Graeme Reid, Noel Comess, Tony Ruiz, Tim Evans and Alayne Adams), plus two other men and another woman.  Now, if you are an astute reader (and you are, right?), you would have noticed that something is distinctly wrong --- there are two women on this men's team!  But if you know these two women, you would have known that this is a perfectly logical decision.
• For those who are running the Manhattan Half Marathon, please note that the course this year is different from the one in previous years.  The start is near East 72nd Street heading south, with two loops of the park and finishing at Tavern on the Green.

(Workout of 7/31/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200m warm-up
• 4 x (1000m, 400m jog) (note: an extra set for the "A" team)
• 3 x (300m, 100m jog)

FIELD NOTES

• The string of good weather continues today, with mild temperature and low humidity.  A total of 68 people were at the road runners' workout, representing the season high.  This logically leads to the following lecture on TRACK ETIQUETTE:  (1)  Please do not stand in the middle of track totally oblivious to what is happening around you.  Always be alert that someone might be coming down hard on the track.  You have nothing to gain and everything to lose in the event of a collision (especially when you consider that the other object may be big Craig Plummer, who goes so fast that he has a parachute to slow him down).  You may not care about yourself, but at least have some consideration for others.  (2)  When you run as group, try to run only in the first two lanes.  You should not spread wide to take up four to five lanes, because you are making it exceedingly hard on the faster people trying to pass you.
• Coach Tony Ruiz will review the weekend race results on Thursday, but he did single out Sonja Ellmann's 4:42 1500m as among the best in Central Park Track Club's history.  That time caused two of our veterans some envy.  Sue Krogstad-Hill said, "But I am twenty years older than Sonja" which was promptly topped by Sid Howard's "But I am forty years older than Sonja."
• (Almost) on the comeback trail is Eden Weiss (see Famous Saying #1308).  Unfortunately, his first appearance on the track this year was marred by his being hit by a 100mph soccer ball.  Also on the comeback was Shula Sarner --- yes, she's still got the speed!  Not on the comeback is the runner formerly known as Graham Rasulo ...
• Not on the comeback trail is a trailblazer John Landry, dropping in for a visit all the way from California.  Has anything changed?  Well, there's still Tony Ruiz, Stacy Creamer, Sid Howard, Alan Ruben, Frank Handelman, Tom Phillips and then there are more than sixty others whom he has never met in person (but may have read too much about).
• For the final 300m's, the timekeeper for the "C" group moved his group up 100m, ostensibly because he wants to give them two straightaways to run instead of two curves.  However, Margaret Schotte observed, "I think the only reason you want to do this is that you can cut across the field instead of running the full 100m straightaway to call out the time."  Hmmmm ... 
• After the four 1000m's for the "B" runners, Coach Tony Ruiz said, "This will be your last 1000m coming up."  We are afraid that this group was too tired to want to argue.
• We talked previously about the three people who flew to Indiana to run 1500m at the USATF National Club Championships.  Now we can talk about the two people (Devon Sargent and Kim Mannen) who flew to Baton Rouge (which is further away) to run 800m (which is even shorter) at the USATF National Masters Championships.  Kim makes this reflection: "It is so hard to travel during the day, and then to have to race that evening.  I reckon that this cost me 4 seconds."
• Upon receiving several more requests today to explain what happened at the World Championships (see Famous Saying #1322), Sid Howard finally realized, "At this point, you can print anything on the website and people will think it's true."  While it is true that the Central Park Track Club website must be the top running club brand name (what other club can claim 2,000,000+ hits per year?), we need to define what that means.  Simply put, the brand is a promise to deliver a product or service at a certain level.  We will carefully shy away from the statement "At this point, we can print anything on the website and people will think it's true" and embrace instead the statement "At this point, we can print anything on the website and people will enjoy reading it."  That is the promise of the Central Park Track Club brand.  The difference is subtle but important.  Example:  Audrey Kingsley chose not to believe our Dash & Splash 5 Miler initial results: "When did James Siegel turn 29?!?!?!" but we are sure that she had a good laugh at this astonishing idea.  Yet another example:  the same Audrey Kingsley declined to believe in the "Hood-to-Coach Relay"' on August 24, 2001, although we swear that we can hear her roaring laughter from all the way downtown.
• We are now whole again.  All three of our workouts will receive full descriptions --- currently, the middle-distance runners workout is provided by Devon Sargent. Erik LaRay Harvey will be the one who provides the sprinters' workouts from now on.
• Yet another anti-Microsoft diatribe:  Apparently, Listbot behaved badly last night, which was why the workout description did not get distributed until sometime today.  Within the next couple of days, we will be inviting the Listbot enrollees to join another List server, as Listbot will be phased out .  Listbot wants money for a service that is free elsewhere because they provide superior performance.  Do you think we will accede to their demands?  NO WAY!!!

(Workout of 7/26/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Here is the workout for those who have survived the last couple of hot humid days.  Congrats to all those who survived Tuesday night's workout, it was a true test of patience and will!!  We will head to the east side through the 72nd Street cut off where we will do the Stuart mile backwards --- that means we head south on the east side and finish the 1 mile pick up just below Tavern on the Green. You will recover through the 72nd Street cutoff where you will resume to pick up from East 72nd st (heading north) up Cat Hill to the Needle, (1/2 mile), you'll recover to 90 Street where you will pick up 1 mile from East 90 Street to the West 102 Street cutoff.  You'll then head south and recover to West 90 Street, and you'll finish with pickups of 3 lampposts with 2 recovery, 3 times.  Finish back at the Daniel Webster statue.  The meat of the workout are the 2 one mile pickups and these should be run at 10k pace. Hydrate well before every workout and certainly after each one.  Total distance is 5.7 miles. Stay cool and conserve energy! Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES:

• Only thirty-three people were at the workout today.  Well, well, well, that Tuesday workout must have a lot harder than we thought!  
• And, by the way, let us not forget the triathletes have their biggest race of the year --- Ironman USA --- this weekend.  The good news is that race results will be reported on a near real-time basis --- look for Olivier Baillet, Ramon Bermo, Ross Galitsky, Scott Willett, Jay Borok, J.P. Cheuvront, David D'Adamo, G'mo Rojas, ... As for those who are not ready for an Ironman-distance triathlon, there's always the Dash and Splash Five Miler in Central Park. 
• Meanwhile, another contingent will be at the USATF National Masters Track & Field Championships.  Look for Devon Sargent, Kim Mannen, Alston Brown, Skipper Clark, Jim Aneshansley, Richie Hamner, ...  Left back here is Sonja Ellmann, who is just coming into form but finds herself excluded because she is not old enough.  If Sonja is despondent, our veterans can recite their long list of age-related injuries to assure her that being young is not so bad after all ...
• Welcomed back today were our two World Championship triathletes Shelley Farmer and Lauren Eckhart.  For the record, we note that Shelley was 11th overall female 30-34, but also 7th US female 30-34 and 3rd Canadian female 30-34.  Of course, those two are also number one in our hearts ...
• Complaint Department: Rich Hollander said, "You missed the biggest story at the Corporate Challenge race last night --- how the 136 pounder was able to achieve what the 190 pounder could not have ..."
• We are still unsure whom we will be playing against in the annual softball game.  But that is okay, because it is not a bad thing to 'play with ourselves' --- Coach Tony Ruiz reasons, "In that case, we can't lose the game to someone else!"

(Workout of 7/24/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3x200m Warm-up
• 1x800m 400m recovery
• 8x400m 200m recovery
• 1x800m
• The 800m items should be done at 5K pace (3K pace for the "A" group) and the 400m should be done at 3 seconds per lap quicker. i.e. If your 5K time is 19:30 (6:16 pace) the 800m should be done in 3:08 and the 400m should be done in 91 seconds.

FIELD NOTES

• Hot and humid, near ninety degrees at the start of the workout.  This was an ozone-alert day, where people are advised not to engage in strenuous outdoor activities (such as running).  Nevertheless, fifty-three people were present at the start of the workout, not counting those middle-distance runners (Kim Mannen and Sonja Ellmann) who actually ran in the long-distance runners' workout later.
• The workout was in fact not sent out via email until early this morning.  Why?  Coach Tony Ruiz was trying to see how tough the weather would get today.  
• Welcomed back today was Sid Howard, with his watch still set to Brisbane time (it was 8pm Wednesday at the start of today's workout!).  He is back in training, looking forward to the Fifth Avenue Mile as his next key race.  At this year's world 800m championships, he won the silver.  As he told it, the circumstances were ... hmmm ... quite extraordinary --- not as bad as the earth opening in front of him, swallowing all the competitors and closing up for him to come through, but it was close enough ...
• When do you know that you are a true track fanatic?  When you are willing to fly to Indianapolis just to run a 1500m race that lasts 5 minutes or less.  In this select group, we have John Scherrer, Sonja Ellmann and Devon Sargent, who represented our team at the inaugural USATF National Club Championships. 
• There is a computer virus/worm going around the last couple of days.  Our webmaster received several hundred of these things, which is a sign of the enduring popularity of his websites.  They all contain the text:
   
        Hi! How are you?
        I send you this file in order to have your advice
        See you later. Thanks
   
  If you receive such a message, just delete it.  DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT.  Opening that attachment will result in a rogue program sending messages to everyone in your Outlook address book as well as to any email addresses found in your web browser cache, in addition to possibly destroying files on your computer.
• Some of us work all day, some of us work all night, some of us work all year, some of us don't work in the summer.  James Siegel got to go to a movie during the day today because he did not have to work ("I went to see The Score.  It was not very good" --- aside, is it time to start a movie review page on this website too?).  Then he had a hard time on the last 800m, leading to this post-workout analysis: "I didn't eat any chocolate, I didn't even eat any popcorn at the movies.  I drank a lot of water.  I even had to go to the bathroom three times during this one-and-a-half-hour movie!"

(Workout of 7/19/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• We'll head north on the west side, go through the 102nd street cut off. Continue south on the east side to the needle, here you will turn around and go north on the east side and go through the 102nd street cut off and continue south on the west side back to 72nd street. The total distance will be 6 1/2 miles. The first half should be at marathon pace, the 2nd half should be 15 seconds per mile faster. The second half should be approximately 1 minute faster than the first half. At some point during this run you should stop for water. Any weekend racers should only do the first half and then jog home. See you all at the statue.

FIELD NOTES:

• Gorgeous weather today --- blue skies, mild temperatures, low humidity.  Who gave us this gift?  We were not surprised to hear that all this came from a Canadian high pressure system ...
• Apparently nobody received today's workout by email.  The logfile on the Listbot server indicated that 132 pieces of email had been sent without problems.  Well, well, well.  In any case, within the next week or so, we will have to migrate out of Listbot to another still-to-be-determined mail server.  This is not even a reliability issue.  Rather, the Microsoft-owned Listbot has decided that they will henceforth be a for-profit service and will charge us $149 if we wish to continue this service.  This piece of intelligence was first communicated to us by Monica Bonamego, who said "I found the news on fuckedcompany.com.  I go there regularly to make sure that my company's suppliers are in good condition."  So here is the deal --- in the next few days, you will be receiving an email invitation to join a CPTC list server (probably CoolList).  All you have to do is to send a reply to that message and you will be signed in.  P.S. Just to prove that we are spiteful, we will be unleashing a barrage of anti-Microsoft diatribe ...
• Sixty people were counted to be present at the start of the workout.  For some unknown reason, today became a reunion of out-of-towners with these notable people who had not been seen recently: Hank Berkowitz (Rowayton, CT), Michael Trunkes (Glen Cover, Long Island), John Sargent (Washington, DC), Richie Borrero (Brooklyn), Ramon Bermo (Jersey City, NJ) and Fritz Mueller (Heidelberg, Germany).   The "A" team lineup was enough to cause Tony Ruiz to say "I would hate to run in this workout" and Alan Ruben to smirk a little bit.
• Race result review:  The latest news was Toby Tanser winning the Tavern On The Green Breakfast Run, thus leading the rest of the team by 15 to 14.  Should a fun run scheduled at 6am be counted as a win?  You bet!  But Scott Willett being the first male winner at the Hudson River swim does not count --- the minimum requirement is simply an open organized non-track event that includes running (including snow shoe races!).  Also, we finally learned that Sid Howard and Rae Baymiller both received world championship silver medals at 800m.  Both are current world record holders, Sid for the indoor M60-64 800m and Rae for the W55-59 Marathon (time of 2:52:14).  Coach Tony Ruiz also said, "I looked at the Vytra Women's 5K results and saw that Eve Bois ran a PR.  Eve Bois?  Who is that?  Then I remembered that Eve Kaplan just married Stéphane Bois!"
• Richie Borrero had his left hamstring under wraps today.  In response to the statement "You look like a cyclist now", he said "If this doesn't work for me, I just might have to take up cycling."
• Five groups sets out, with the first four being the usual separation by projected 10K race pace and the fifth being Fritz Mueller: "I run my own workout now."
• Quite often, these workout descriptions are read the next day to see if your name was mentioned by that much-dreaded gossipmonger, and then they go into the dustbin of history (and none too soon).  Last evening, we actually had the occasion to revisit the historical workout archive, and we must admit to having enjoyed ourselves greatly.  Most gratifyingly, we must admit that the best reports come from the stringers (Stuart Calderwood, John Scherrer, Rob Zand, etc).  Why?  Hard to say.  Perhaps they are less jaundiced ... ?

(Workout of 7/17/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• 3 x 200m-- warm up 
• 2 x 400m-- 200m recovery 
• 2 x 600m-- 200m recovery 
• 2 x 800m-- 400m recovery 
• 1 x 1200m-- warm down 
• The goal of this workout is to run the entire workout at the same pace. Example: If you run your 2 x 400m at 80 sec pace, then your 600's should be run in 2:00, your 800's should be at 2:40 and your final interval (1200) should be run in 4:00 min. This workout requires tremendous discipline so plan ahead and plan cautiously.  Run at your pace and you'll be surprised at how strong you'll feel when it counts!! 5K pace is a good goal for all of the intervals. The "A" group should run a bit quicker, preferably 3000m pace. Good luck and remember always have dignity and never let them see you sweat.

FIELD NOTES

• At six o'clock, the city was rocked by a thunderstorm --- buckets of rain plus loud thunder claps.  When we got started, the clouds had moved out.  At the end of the workout, the sky was bright blue.  So how many people got scared away by the rain?  That is unknown and unknowable.  What is known is that forty-eight people were at the start of this workout.
• The order for the team jacket has been place and we ready to go into production.  While Erik Goetze made the appeal for the final order, Audrey Kingsley walked back and forth behind him to demonstrate the sample jacket.  Tyronne Culpepper asked, "Where is the camera?"  Well, the rule is always: if it rains, then no camera.  The rationale for this rule is not certain --- if it is not to protect the camera from water, then it is due to laziness of the photographer, or else it is something or the other ...
• Three of our runners joined the NYRRC excursion to the Westhampton 5K.  Victor Osayi said, "As a Central Park Track Club member, I was mobbed by people who told me that our club website is the BEST website that they have ever seen."  J.R. Mojica said, "The water was cold!  On the whole beach, there were two people in the water while everyone else just stood and watched."  They both said, "For an affluent community like Westhampton, we did not expect to see a rocky beach like this one.  Couldn't they put some sand here to make it look like Jamaica?"
• This workout is supposed to be run at 5K for every single set.  Leading her group through the first 400m in 1:23 was Audrey Kingsley.  The group's timer did a quick calculation and determined that this 400m time translates to a 17:10 5K --- just what she needs to do on Saturday.  After a few more sets, she stopped, sat down on the grass, got up immediately and said, "Oooops!  I forgot that it is still wet out there."  Why is all of this published here?  Because we know her mom reads these pages loyally ... 
• What would you choose? Option #1: Pizza and beer at Two Boots after the workout, organized by social director James Siegel.  Option #2:  Lance Armstrong blowing away the field on the final climb up the Alps.  Is that such a hard choice?  Postscript:  Option #3, following the same James Siegel, let us all go uptown to have sushi instead ...
• Blair Boyer asked: "I take it that you will not be covering tomorrow morning's race.  (silence).  (sigh).  I guess I'll have to file my annual Tavern on the Green Breakfast Run report as usual."

(Workout of 7/12/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Hope everyone has recovered from Tuesday night. We will head north on the westside, where we will hop on to the reservoir at West 86 st. The entire workout will be run on the reservoir.  We will start by doing 1 lamppost pick up and 1 lamppost jog.  We will continue this pattern until the southern gatehouse. These pickups are just for warmup, so don't sprint.  Next you will pick up from the southern pump house to the 1st northern pump house. (3/4 mile).  You will then recover approximately 1/4 mile to West 91 st.  From here you will pick up to East 90 St. (0.82 mile).  The recovery after this pickup will be 1/2 mile to the 2nd northern pump house.  Here you will begin lamppost pickups.  You will do a ladder of pickups which will consist of 1,2,3,4,5, then down the ladder 5,4,3,2,1. These pickups will all be run with 2 lamppost recovery.  Helpful hint: run the two 3/4 mile pickups at 10 k pace. The lamppost pickups should be viewed as a 2 mile run, not as a sprint. The idea is to run a strong 2 mile without the mental stress of having to run consistently all the way throughout. This fartlek type of running is intended to help you change gears subtly and allows a recovery period which should energize you for the next pickup. Again, do not attempt to sprint these as it will defeat the purpose of adding strength and stamina. Speed workouts are for sprinters and I don't foresee any Michael Johnson's in this group.  If I do --- you will be immediately notified and sent to East 6th street to train with Brian Denman and the sprint contingent!! Coach TR

FIELD NOTES:

• Bright and sunny day, none of that summer humidity.  Sixty-four people showed up for the workout.  This is our group's year-to-date highest body count.  This count even included one person who wore the newest Nike running shoes, which resembled remarkably like regular street shoes ...
• For the weekend results, Stuart Calderwood pointed out that Bill Haskins' 1:18:21 was a personal best by 7 minutes.  Stuart said, "This is what happens to someone who runs with the 'A' group in the workouts no matter what."  Another good performer in that race was Michael Rumer, who was not at the workout tonight but was spotted running downtown along Fifth Avenue at 645pm with a backpack (presumably packed with 30 pounds of bricks ...).  
• Not involved in the workout was Dave Howard, who was observed to be running the two-loop Media Corporate Challenge race.  On the first time that he ran around, this conversation took place:
  Tony Ruiz: "Hey, Dave, what race is this?"
  Dave Howard: "Media!"
  Tony Ruiz: "What place are you in?"
  Dave Howard: "Third!"
  That conversation probably subtracted another three seconds from his final time.  By the way, he finished second overall.  This is one of Dave's favorite races because he said "This is one of the few local races in which I can expect to finish among the top."
• In spite of what you might have heard or seen, we can assure you that the Central Park Track Club will be represented at the World Age-Group Triathlon Championships on July 21st by Shelley Farmer (for Team USA) and Lauren Eckhart (for Team Canada).  We will definitely have the meanest-looking crew out there ...
• The workout description did not terminate until 7:20pm.  That did not bother Audrey Kingsley and Kiefer Angell, because they had to wait for Margaret Angell to show up.  The latecomer did not materialize until 7:36pm (according to the official team watch).  But all was not lost, as Audrey and Kiefer found out a lot about moe. who were performing at the Central Park Summerstage tonight.  By asking each passerby a single question about moe., they were able to piece together an interesting biography (yes, moe. is the next Phish!).  Audrey & Kiefer did seem to have gotten carried away, since every sentence that they spoke that evening carried the word 'mo'.  One mo' time, now ...

(Workout of 7/10/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

• Here it goes!!
• 1st Item-- 3 x 200m, used as warm up
• 2nd Item-- 8 x 600m with 200m recovery
• The 600's should be run at 3000m pace, you can best maximize your VO2 by setting a pace which you can comfortably run.  Stick to this goal pace and do not be tempted to run faster than the pace you initially intend to run.  Maximizing your VO2 capacity will greatly improve your chances of running a consistent pace for any distance between 5k and 5 miles.  Remember that to reach your VO2 max you need not run one or two fast 600's but rather 8 consistent ones.  This is also a great workout to recognize pace and to find a rhythm which best suits you at this speed ... And for those training for The Marathon remember that two of the key factors in preparing for this jaunt are pace and rhythm, so start preparing!! Coach TR

FIELD NOTES

• Fifty-five people at the start of this workout, all looking at the blackening skies with consternation.  Will we be able to get the workout in before the rains come?  More precisely, will the coach finish talking before the rains come?  During the workout, there were a few raindrops but it was otherwise a dry workout.  On the way home, the sun came out and it was blue skies again.  Fickle is thy name, thou fair weather ...
• Noah Perlis said, "Okay, please don't publish that I ran with the distance runners in this workout ..."  Unfortunately, he forgot the golden rule that a request is always supposed to be accompanied by a bribe ...
• In reviewing the results from the Bronx Half Marathon, there was the inevitable mention of Rob Zand almost finishing ahead of Toby Tanser at the end of the race.  Toby had this to say, "Actually, I was hoping that I would be passed by five Central Park Track Club runners, and then I could have just stopped!"
• On the side in a presentation ceremony, the grand prize of a copy of Toby Tanser's book was presented by the author to the winner of the most recent Trivia Quiz.  The astute reader will note that the name of that winner has not been published, because we were concerned about his personal safety due to the large number of people he (or she) had offended in that winning entry.  In any case, our slates are wiped clean and we can happily move on ... to the next (and even more exciting) trivia quiz.
• 8 times 600m is a very tough workout --- for the timers.  You stand at the same point until they come around for the first lap and call out the splits; when the last runner in your group passes, you sprint across the field to call out the time for your first runner on the other side of the track.  So the difficulty of the workout is a function of the gap between your fastest and slowest runners.  At one point during the workout, our 'A' group timer Audrey Kingsley began to say, "Toby Tanser is getting faster and Kiefer Angell is getting slower.  I think I am in trouble ..."
• Once again, Erik Goetze brought sample jackets down to the workout.  If you are interested, you had better email him IMMEDIATELY.  You can find a photo at Famous Saying #1312.  
• Your timers also need feedback.  Here is what Frank Handelman has to say to his group's timer: "You got us out of here in 36 minutes.  I think you need to work on it to get it over with quicker ..."  How to do that?  Already, that timer was heard screaming at the people in the back: "Hey, Chris, get up to the line!  You're holding the group up!  You don't want to do that!"  Nag, nag, nag ...
• On the way home, we said to Brian Barry, "You will no doubt be going to the usual diner and you will order a cheeseburger deluxe with a large order of fries on the side, with a milk shake."  He was deeply offended, "No!  That is not my style at all!  I have going to have a bacon cheeseburger, with lettuce and tomato and no fries.  I am Irish and I ate potatoes every day of my life until I was twenty-two years old!  No more potatoes for me now!"  Yes, it is good that healthy eating is alive and well (... or was it the other way around?).
• And now to perpetuate the urban legend that we are the strangest running club in the world, here is a poem for our workouts:

 
We don't know how to say goodbye:
we wander on, shoulder to shoulder.
Already the sun is going down;
you're moody, I am your shadow

Let's step inside a church and watch
baptisms, marriages, masses for the dead.
Why are we different from the rest?
Outdoors again, each of us turns his head.

                           Anna Akhmatova, 1917

(Workout of 7/5/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Hope everyone enjoyed the fireworks! Now it's back to work as we prepare for the Club Championship 5 miler in August. Bring your mitts and bats for the annual softball game after the BIG race. 
   
  Here's the workout for those not racing this weekend (Bronx Half):
   
  The entire workout will be run on the lower loop of central park. We will run 4 loops. The first loop we'll attempt to run at marathon pace. The second and third loops will be at half marathon pace, on the final loop we'll go back to marathon pace. This is designed to increase your lactate threshold so pace knowledge is extremely important to have a successful workout. This weekend's racers can run the first loop at the same pace and continue the second loop at half marathon pace.  You will then go home and rest for this weekend's test of will and stamina.  Drink plenty of liquids in the preceding days to ensure that you are properly hydrated and remember that this is a SCORING race, so come prepared to take no prisoners!! Coach TR.

FIELD NOTES:

• A couple of days before the Bronx Half marathon, and we still have a turnout of fifty-three people today.  Da dove?  Dove?  Verso dove?  Of course, we counted James Siegel on his bike, patrolling the park and searching for someone named Graham Rasulo ...
• That attendance count did not include (1) Rob Zand, appearing after the workout and drawing the universal comment: "Hey, Rob, you must have been hitting the weight room lately!"; (2) Adam Newman, drenched in sweat, saying: "I skipped the Tuesday and Thursday workouts because I raced yesterday --- I ran the Pepper Martin race and you didn't find my result.  Yes, I've been racing in places like Mechanicsville ..."  Well, unfortunately, it was not our fault that his Pepper Martin race was not reported --- there was no listing of Adam Newman for that race!  As for Mechanicsville, we thought it was called Mechanicville ...
• To commend Stefani Jackenthal for being the overall winner in an 8K race, our coach hesitated and said, "Well ... I am going to have a hard time pronouncing the name of the race ... Lake  ... eh ... Wononscopomuc  ... ?"
• For the workout today, Fasil Yilma heard "Four loops ..." and nearly had a heart attack --- he thought that it was four six-mile loops!  It just goes to show how important it is to get a preview of the workout.
• At the Canadian National Age-Group Triathlon Championships last weekend, Lauren Eckhart had a tough day and finished tenth in her age group.  Only the top six get to go to the World Championships.  As it turned out, four of those ahead of her have declined their spots, so Lauren gets the sixth and final spot.  Among the four who made this possible was Shelley Farmer, who has dual citizenship and will represent USA instead.  Therefore, on July 21st, in Edmonton, Shelley and Lauren will represent Team USA and Team Canada respectively.  Shelley evaluated her national choices as follows: (1) Team Canada has the better uniforms; and (2) Canadians are friendlier (except during the swim because they can pull, claw and punch as well as anyone else ...).  
• Surely, part of the attraction tonight was the summer fashion show organized for Erik Goetze for the new CPTC jacket samples courtesy of Sylvie Kimché and Blair Boyer.  That particular order will have to be executed in the next couple of days, so you better email Erik ( BOYCOTON@aol.com ) to place your order.  Oh, about the jacket --- the collar and the pockets are very interesting ...

(Workout of 7/3/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

(Workout of 6/28/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Run north from the Daniel Webster statue.  At 84th Street, "warm up" with 3 lampposts fast, 2 jog, 3 lampposts fast, 2 jog, 3 lampposts fast.  The core of the workout will be 2 times the northern hill loop in the clockwise direction from the West 102nd Street entrance.  Going back towards the statue, include 3 lampposts fast, 2 jog, 3 lampposts fast, 2 jog, 3 lampposts fast starting at West 90th Street.  The total distance is 6.2 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• In the words of the unofficial merengue band of this website (Oro Sólido), it was "Hot!  Caliente!  Hot Caliente!"  Of course, by 7pm, the sun is no longer beating on the ground and the temperature had gone down to only eighty-nine degrees Fahrenheit.
• Thirty-three people showed up at the workout.  
• Your regular coach Tony Ruiz is in Bahamas today, where it is presumably even hotter.  In this place, Stuart Calderwood said, "Ignore everything that you may have heard about the workout!  I just ran 1.5 miles to get here, and I feel as if I am having a heat explosion.  Therefore, this workout will include a mandatory water stop at the fountain by West 93rd Street.  Similarly, on the way back, there will be another mandatory water stop at the same location."
• According to the official timekeeper-historian, Stuart Calderwood arrived at 7:02pm (2 minutes behind schedule), but the first group started out at 7:06pm (4 minutes ahead of schedule).
• One reason that the workout began so quickly was that the race result review was reduced to "A great team at the Gay & Lesbian Pride Run.  The masters is undefeated in all six races this year.  Tom Phillips scored for the team at age forty-five."  

(Workout of 6/26/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

(Workout of 6/21/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (FROM TONY RUIZ)

• Hi, I hope that most people are resting for this week's SCORING race on Saturday in the park. 
• If you are not participating in this week's SCORING race the following workout applies.  Head north on the westside, at 90 st you'll pick up thru the cut off and finish on the eastside of the cutoff (just short of a mile) recover south to 91 st, where you will pick up for 7 lamppost, recover 7 lamppost and turn around at the needle.  Head north at this point and pick up for 7 lamppost, then recover 7 lamppost. The next series of lampposts will be of 6 pickup, 6 recovery, 6 pickup. Recover thru 102nd st (head south) cutoff to west 97 st, where you will start your final pickup of 1 k to 86 st. (reservoir).  Finish off back at Danny's at a comfortable pace. Total distance = 6 1/2 miles.
• For racers, make sure you map out a race plan, preferably one which is pace dominant. Remember that in the heat people have a tendency to WILT, both physically and mentally so you want to take advantage of the competition's lack of respect for the elements and add this to your positive arsenal. In warm weather this key aspect can be the difference between a positive result and one which can destroy your psyche in future races. I'll see you at the statue tomorrow, if not, I'll see you on Saturday!!

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-eight hours before the scoring race on Saturday morning.  It rained buckets during the day, and it looked like as if it was ready to rain more buckets now.  Twenty-seven people at the workout today.  As for the absentees, either they are resting for the race or else they don't love us anymore ...
• Seen before the workout start was Max Schindler on a bike.  He is scheduled to have a knee operation in 3 weeks' time.  Supposedly, he was told that he would be perfectly fit to run thereafter.  Best wishes to Max!  He did look around and say, "Who are all these people?  How come I don't know anyone?"
• The person who looked as if he worked the hardest today was Olivier Baillet.  He said, "I made the mistake of starting the first pickup with Craig Chilton."  Then he said, "I'll be racing on Saturday, but I won't be running."  Hmmm ... very interesting ...
• Coach Tony Ruiz will be going to the Bahamas for vacation next week.  But we will continue to have workouts with substitute coaches to be arranged (that is, those people don't even know that they will be coaching yet ...).
• Please don't forget that we have a picnic after the Saturday race.  Our organizer James Siegel said today, "I think there will be only three people showing up on Saturday.  I don't know what I was thinking of when I agreed to do this ..."  This is not helped by the coach saying that he'd rather be in the Bahamas than go to the picnic after the race.  Well, whether you still love us or not, we must still agree that we can't leave James broken-spirited.  So be there!

(Workout of 6/16/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

Drink plenty of water before this one as you'll need it. Temperatures are going to reach a high for 2001! Here it goes: 

• First item-- 3 x 200, used as a warm up tool. Each one a little faster than the previous. 
• Second item-- 1 x 1000 meters with 400 meters recovery 
• Third item-- 2 x 600 meters with 200 meters recovery 
• Final item-- 8 x 300 meters with 100 meters recovery 
• The second and third items should be run at 5k pace, be honest and precise as any energy conserved today will prove to be a positive factor in this weekends scoring race.(Gay Pride 5 miler).  Hopefully both men and women will be using this workout to set up a fast race this weekend!  The final items should be at a quicker pace than the previous items but be careful not to fall into the trap of running these at track race pace, unless you are actually doing track races.  Please notify your timer so the rest of the group can be alerted of your intentions to run at a faster pace.  Remember to warm down immediately after to avoid lactic acid build up and be sure to run 4-6 miles on Wednesday at a very comfortable pace to both reduce any remaining lactic acid build up and also to loosen up legs in case of extreme tightness.  This of course should not be a problem if you are aware of pace and stick to the goal of setting up a race.

(Workout of 6/14/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (FROM TONY RUIZ)

FIELD NOTES:

• Bright sunny day, some humidity, lousy air quality.  Fifty-two people present at the workout.
• The workout speech began promptly at 700pm, according to the official team watch (that is to say, the watch of the person of the self-appointed 'official historian' of these workouts).  Unfortunately, in spite of a dearth of things to say, the group did not hit the road until 715pm.  Practice, practice, practice --- how does one say one sentence in one sentence instead of three sentences ...?
• Regular readers of these notes will recognize that we seem to devote a significant amount of space for (1) people who were not there and (2) people who were there on bikes (or roller blades).  Absent tonight was Luca Tagliati, because his dad Michele thought that he was too young (all of three days old) to start training.  Also absent tonight was Ramon Bermo, presumably celebrating his birthday.  ¡Feliz cumpleaños!  On this evening, Margaret Schotte was there.  When told that there was an APB out on her for the Saturday race, she said, "But I was in Canada!"  That is one of the best excuses given yet ... She said, "I'll be in Canada again on the Club Championship weekend!"  Waaaaaahhhhh!
• After the workout, a male runner came by and asked us, "Is my sister here tonight?"  The coach said, "No, she's not here.  But anyone who set a PR by over a minute can take a day off."  Who was that?  The runner is Margaret Angell's brother.  Why is he not a member of this team?
• Jessica Merritt told the coach that she will be running a marathon on August 18th.  This caused the coach to exclaim, "A marathon in August?  What's the weather going to be like?"  Answer:  "The average August temperature in Iceland is 59 degrees."
• Our Social Director James Siegel has plans for a picnic after the FRNY Lesbian and Gay Pride Run.  Details are forthcoming.

(Workout of 6/12/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION (from Tony Ruiz)

FIELD NOTES

• Your regular workout reporter will not be able to get to the workout from his lunch ("I kid you not," he says).  So he is just going to ask Amy Sheeran to remind everyone to stretch properly before the workout.  He would also appreciate if someone would step up and report the timers' roster as well as any juicy going-on's ... 

The first workout report came from Blair Boyer:

The alternate workout report came from someone who requested anonymity:

(Workout of 6/7/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-two people at the start of the workout.  Only three women running tonight.  Why?  The New York Women's Mini Marathon is only 38 hours away!
• Not all women running the 10K stayed away.  Who was here?  Audrey Kingsley, of course!  Her excuse, "I'm here to make sure that all our other runners are not running tonight."  She was later spotted to be running an additional lower loop with Michele Tagliati.  Why did she think that she could run?  Reason #1: "My tapering does not have to start until tomorrow."  Reason #2: "Did you see those two Kenyan girls run by?  If the world's best runners can run tonight, so can I!"
• Under our brand new regime, we were supposed to have this "on time" start for the workout. This means that all announcements should be completed by 7:05 and that the first group should be out by 7:10.   Our self-appointed official timer reports that the first group went out at 7:16, according to the official watch.  Coach Tony Ruiz said, "Listen, if you must, I'll give you an excuse slip signed by the Mayor of New York City.  I was at a Puerto Rican Day Parade reception at Gracie Mansion and I had to run all the way over in my dress shoes to get to the workout."  Well, all would be forgiven --- but only if the coach can make it to the Women's Mini Marathon on Saturday morning.
• Another non-runner tonight was Alan Ruben.  This was not the direct consequence of his assuming the club presidency recently, as Graeme Reid suggested last week.  Rather, he had a minor foot injury.  He said, "I came down here late, and I was actually hoping to see no one here.  Instead, the group was still here!"  Well, Alan's minor injury should heal quickly because he has the best wishes from Paula Radcliffe, who wrote "To Alan, Best Wishes, Paula Radcliffe" on a copy of Athletics Weekly with the cover of her winning the World Cross Country Championships (long course) this year.
• Shelley Farmer dropped by on her bike, and she was soon seen to be coaching Audrey Kingsley on how to put on the game face that Shelley used to win the Pawling Triathlon on Saturday.  Grrrrrrrrr !!!
• Sandra Scibelli was also riding her bike, this being the second time on her brand new bike.  She will not name the person (if any) who got her to start on a triathlon quest.

(Workout of 6/5/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

FIELD NOTES

• Bright sunny day.  Over 50 people in the distance runners group, divided into three large groups.  

Our rookie timekeeper Lauren Eckhart (and part-time soccer goalie?), 
resting today for the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon this weekend

• As a reminder, the Women's Mini Marathon 10K is scored with the top five women on each team, instead of just the usual three.  It looks like we will be missing some triathletes on this date, so we have to get more of you to show up.  We are supposed to be a team with greater depth than most others.  So will the real runners (i.e. non-triathletes) stand up?
• As the ideal that everyone should aim for in pre-race tapering workouts, coach Tony Ruiz points to Alayne Adams (not present today).  He said, "She doesn't have to go all out, but you can tell by the way she runs that she is completely ready."
• Quartermile repeats for distance runners are not occasions to break your personal track bests.  It is simply more important to go continuously.  By contrast, the sprinters would probably take a five minute nap between quarters to make sure that they run at maximum speed.  Therefore, the C group timer ran people on a quick rotation, as he ran across the field after each repeat and begin yelling, "You have five seconds to make it to the starting line.  Five.  Four.  Three.  Two.  One.  Go!"  Ana Echeverri's review was: "I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night thinking that there was only five seconds left ..."
• Recall that this message was posted on the home page: "a motley assortment of old Club Women's singlets has recently surfaced from the darkest, deepest recesses of the closet of an anonymous Club member as well as the Japanese Gray Market. These singlets are great for training runs, and they're priced to MOVE !. If you are interested, please contact John Kenney at 212--519-4380 (office) or john.kenney@wcom.com ."  Today, samples of these old singlets were brought down to the track for inspection.  As this picture was taken, the owner of those hands said, "I don't mind holding the singlets, but just make sure that I cannot be identified!"

• After the workout, there was a team meeting for the women.  All men (except the coach) were banished from the area, so that only a visual record of the meeting will go into the archive.  Is that why they look so happy and relieved?

• This workout description is supposed to have gone out, but again not all of you received it.  Superficially, the problem seemed to be associated hotmail.com accounts.  We are unable to solve the problem from our end, because we are using a free self-service email server.  If the email is undeliverable, we will be notified.  So far, the indications are that the email was successfully sent to these accounts, although they appear to have vanished in the ether.

• By the way, there will not be a post-workout write-up unless we have a volunteer to stand in for your regular writer, who will not be back in time from his lunch date (technical note: in Chicago).

(Workout of 5/31/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• The Classic Central Park Hill Workout:

  Head North up the West Side. First pick-up is 2K from 90th Street through the 102nd Street cut-off then North through the hills to 3 lampposts past the hanging traffic light by the Laser Rink. Recover to 110th Street where we will regroup for the hill pickups. We will do 3 repeats of the long hill (600m approx) recovering back for the first 2. On the 3rd repeat we will continue on recovering over the hill to the bottom. Here we will do 3 repeats of the short hill (400m approx) recovering back each time. After the 3rd hill repeat we will continue on back to the statue. Total workout 7.5 miles (approx).  

  The first 1K (to the 102nd St cutoff) of the 2K pickup should be done at 10K pace. The second 1K should be done at 5 mile pace - this should happen naturally if the effort is kept constant because the second 1K is downhill.  For each set of hill repeats the 2nd one should be done 2 seconds quicker than the 1st one and the 3rd one should be done 2 seconds quicker than the 2nd one.

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-five people at the workout.  This is the first workout whose description were sent out via email.  If you want to receive these notices, you can sign on through the Listbot service located on our home page.  We understand not all of you who signed on received that email, even though Listbot indicates that those messages had been sent successfully.  As an emergency measure (and, you know, it's always an emergency!), if you haven't received the email even though you thought that you signed on and you desperately want to know what the workout is, you can always just click on the Listbot icon, and check the "Member Login" menu on the top --- after you type in your email name and your password, you will be able to view all the messages contained in the Archive.
• Who delighted us the most to see?  It's Yumi Ogita!  She said, "I'm 39 and about to turn 40 soon.  I've got to try for a comeback."  In case you forgot, Yumi has the second fastest marathon time in Central Park Track Club history for women --- 2:50:41.  By the way, for the trivia buffs, we have just updated the list of all sub 3:20 times for women from 1988-2001 (to date) at Famous Saying #801.
• Overheard conversation: 
  Graeme Reid: "Hi, Alan.  Have you officially assumed the presidency?"
  Alan Ruben: "Yes, I've begun."
  Graeme Reid: "Yes, I thought so.  You look a bit worn out."
  Alan Ruben: "... and my running should be slowing down soon ..."
• Censorship is rampant on this website, as all those testerone jokes told after the workout will not be reported, now and forever.
• After the workout, the runners had to endure the heckling from the gallery of one: James Siegel, who got there after the softball game in Central Park.  By the way, James ran a nine-mile tempo runs before his game.  P.S.  James' team won the game handily, a result that is unrelated to the fact that he was banished from the pitcher's mound after last week's shellacking to play right field today.

(Workout of 5/29/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3 x (200m 100m recovery)
• 5-6 x (800m, 400m recovery)
• 3 x  (300m, 100m recovery)
• The 'A' group will do 6x800m, other groups will do 5x800m.  The key part of the workout are the last 3x800m (4x800m for the 'A' group) which should be done at 5K pace. The first 2x800m should be done at 4M pace. The 3x300m are NOT all-out and are for finishing speed.

FIELD NOTES

• Strange days are here.  330pm --- dark clouds, driving winds, heavy rains; 530pm --- beautiful blue & cloudless skies; 700pm --- dark clouds, light rain, lightning bolts everywhere; 730pm --- light clouds, rainbow over in Queens, bright sunset.  Forty-five people at the workout lived through this weather.
• Today is Brian Barry's birthday.  The ever-surprising Frank Schiro brought him a birthday cake, delivered right to the track.
• John Gleason provided extra timing service tonight by racing across the field to call out splits for the 200m and 600m marks.  Needless to say, the other timekeepers cast cold eyes upon this blatant disregard of our union work rules.  This is really spoiling the runners; before you know it, they are going to expect the timers to provide 100m splits.
• The timekeeper for the "C" group decided to have a democratic vote tonight.  After the fifth 800m, he asked his group, "Anyone here for another 800m?"  The vote was 16-0 against it.  Thus spake the people.
• Let us say that our coach, like your high school teacher, can be quite stern and firm.  Tonight, the coach sent Jessica Merritt home moments after the workout began.  Her offense?  Trying to do a track workout two days after a PR-setting marathon!  Jessica said, "But I'm feeling great today!"
• At Avenue A is where some people ditch other people.  On this night, it was an amiable parting of ways as one party jumped into a cab and the other party went on to accumulate more miles.  Needless to say, the spectators found this to be far less interesting ...
• Tonight's workout description was sent by email beforehand.  In the future, the workout description will be sent out on the preceding day.  If you are interested in receiving these notices, please register with the ListBot server that appears on our home page.  This is a self-service listmail server.

(Workout of 5/24/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• This is a break from usual routine.  The workout begins by cutting onto the bridle path at West 77th Street, and then following the path up the west side all the way to the top of Harlem Hill.  Cross over at that point to the 350m track on the Great Hill.  Do some strides and other routines to loosen up.  Then came a series of tag team relays in teams of 3 persons each.  Return back to the road down Harlem Hill and back on to the bridle path heading south.  At the reservoir, turn left on the bridle path and go the long way to West 86th Street and head south to retrace the bridle path coming up.  Always try running a bit faster when you go up an incline during the run.  Total distance was 6 miles.  This was the type of workout that an email alert would have been helpful.

FIELD NOTES:

• Beginning of the Memorial Day weekend.  Forty-four people at the workout.  The workout was designed by substitute coach Stuart Calderwood, who said, "I want to make this workout so complicated that the workout reporter cannot remember the details and therefore cannot make fun of it like he usually does."
• However, the workout reporter has other priorities in life, since he professes to attend workouts solely for the purpose of picking up gossip.  So when Ramon Bermo was cornered upon arrival for juicy stories about the Mount Mitchell bike climb.  This is all Ramon had to say, "It was a lot of fun."  What!?  Is that all!?
• After the workout, Ramon Bermo did have plenty to say: "I want it reported on the website that the first two teams in the tag team relay consisted of six triathletes!"
• For the weekend bike ride, Ramon Bermo and Josh Friedman rounded up Stephanie Gould, Shelley Farmer and company.  That was nice until reality sank in: "This is not going to be an easy ride in the countryside --- we're going to have to work hard!"
• George Wisniewski was present at the Daniel Webster statue after the workout, and generally presented an example of bad behavior.  Here is one example that he gave about a kid in the class that he teaches: "I went up to this kid, I checked out his height, I looked at him with wonderment and then I said, 'I didn't know shit can grow this tall.'"  Well, well, well ... needless to say, we were suitably appalled.  Anyway, George says that he is not connected to the Internet yet, which means that he is not cognizant of the even worse behavior on this website ...
• FUTURE START TIME: 
  Beginning next week (May 28th)our coach Tony Ruiz will be e-mailing advance details of the Tuesday and Thursday night workouts on Monday and Wednesday night respectively.  There will also be a concerted effort to start the preamble to the workouts (race results, announcements) at 7pm sharp, with the workout proper starting no later than 7:10pm.  To receive advance notice of our workouts (which may help you if you are running late) you need do nothing - receiving this message means you are already on the distribution list. Tell your less savvy friends that for them to receive this information they need to register their email address on the listbot function on the CPTC website homepage."

(Workout of 5/22/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3 x (200m, 100m jog) to warm up
• 3 x (1 mile, 400m recovery)

FIELD NOTES

• Cold, wet and miserable out on the track today.  Thirty-one people present at the workout, with the middle-distance group shifted to Wednesday to fit the Saturday races and others down at Wall Street.  We understand that Toby Tanser won that race, this time in proper business attire, while Stacy Creamer was fourth female finisher but judged to be the first in business attire.
• Conditions were miserable today, but you can still get a good workout if you came prepared with all the right equipment.  John Scherrer looked at Amy Sheeran stretching, and said, "Oh!  I wish I had a sheet of plastic like her on which to lie down and stretch!"
• Both our weekend female triathletes were here today.  Lauren Eckhart said, "I had a terrible run.  I ran a half marathon for the first time in my life the previous week, which maybe have taken too much out of me."  Shelley Farmer said, "I'm so tired right now.  Not because of the triathlon, but because of the five hour drive to get back from Maryland."  About those two, some guy said, "I am so glad that we have a website which carry pictures of them in swimming costumes ..."
• No results were read out today.  It would have been punishing, since there were 10 races to talk about from this past weekend.  Your website guy reports that this job is getting extremely unfunny due to the large number of people going out of town to run stealth races and taking perverse delight in not finding their results published ... YOU'LL ALL BE PUNISHED!!!
• For this workout, your timer does nothing except stand and wait for people (in all the groups) to go around and around.  Your timer makes this observation, "It would seem to me that people will beam a smile at you in the first mile.  But when the last mile comes around, it is clear that they are running with all their might, eyes closed or unseeing."
• FUTURE START TIME: 
  Beginning next week (May 28th)our coach Tony Ruiz will be emailing advance details of the Tuesday and Thursday night workouts on Monday and Wednesday night respectively.  There will also be a concerted effort to start the preamble to the workouts (race results, announcements) at 7pm sharp, with the workout proper starting no later than 7:10pm.  To receive advance notice of our workouts (which may help you if you are running late) you need do nothing - receiving this message means you are already on the distribution list. Tell your less savvy friends that for them to receive this information they need to register their email address on the listbot function on the CPTC website homepage."

(Workout of 5/17/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• One full six-mile loop in the counterclockwise direction.  First pickup is the Stuart mile from just past Tavern On The Green all the way to East 72nd Street at half-marathon pace.  Recover north to the William Hamilton statue.  The long pickup item is two miles from there through the northern hills to stop right at the top of Harlem Hill.  On the way back, there are some lamppost pickups that we forgot about.

FIELD NOTES:

• About thirty-nine hours before the You Gotta Have Park 5 Miler in Prospect Park.  A total of 44 people present at the workout (including Tyronne Culpepper on roller blades and busily talking on his cell phone).  We are also missing out triathletes, with some of them doing the Mount Mitchell ride and others doing the Columbia (MD) triathlon.
• Over the years, people have been conditioned do their just-in-time arrival act.  Today, though, our three scoring runners (Alayne Adams, Stephanie Gould and Lauren Eckhart) from Sunday's half marathon made their delayed entrance right on cue.
• As for the Toby Tanser vs. the rest of the team competition, Toby is ahead by 13-8 right now.  That would not be for lack of trying by the rest of team, as evidenced by the two second-place finishes on Sunday by Michael Trunkes and Hank Berkowitz (although Toby also had a second-place finish on the same day).  Coming up next week, it is likely that Toby may win the Wall Street Rat Race (from which he was the first finisher last year but was disqualified for being improperly attired) --- unless someone steals his borrowed business attire ...
• Among the winners in the rest of the team, Amy Sheeran gave her $1 commission to the coach today.  Michele Tagliati is a deadbeat so far, as he has not turned in his share as first female master in Maine.
• As a final tip to those people who are going to Brooklyn, we would recommend that you think carefully before you accept the invitation by any Brooklynite to eat brunch in a 'nearby' restaurant.

(Workout of 5/15/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3 x (200m, 100m jog) to warm up
• 2 x (600m, 200m jog)
• 4 x (400m, 200m jog)
• 2 x (600m, 200m jog)
• 4 x (200m, 100m jog)

FIELD NOTES

• Great weather today.  It felt more like an Indian summer day, with blue clear skies, zero humidity and cool, comfortable temperatures.  If we were to add up the combined attendance of the long-distance, middle-distance and sprinting groups, our head count today would be at 68 people at 710pm today.
• The weekend noteworthys: Toby Tanser, second place in Central Park and first place in Brooklyn all on Sunday; third place open women's team finish at the Women's Half Marathon, with Lauren Eckhart's first half marathon ever in 1:28:28 (technical note: that time guarantees her for an automatic entry into the New York City Marathon!); 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 9th team finishes at the Spring Couples Relay.
• Even more noteworthy was Craig Chilton's bike ride with the trigeek crew of Ramon Bermo, Josh Friedman, Stefani Jackenthal and friends.   According to Craig, "I charged up really strong up the first hill.  In the second hill, I was behind them.  By the fourth hill, I was so far behind that I lost sight of them.  If it weren't for the fact that Ramon's bike broke down, I would have had to ride back to Manhattan all by myself."  According to Josh, "Craig has a lot of potential, especially since he has no fear.  I think that the Dark Side is definitely interested in him."  As for Ramon, he is deeply concerned: "I am going to be doing the Mount Mitchell climb in South/North Carolina this weekend.  I better get my bike fixed before then.  If not, then I would have no excuse but to run the five mile scoring race in Prospect Park."
• It was revealed today that although Scott Willett qualified for the Hawaii World Iron Championships at St. Croix, he will pass on the opportunity this year.  Of course, that does not detract from his accomplishment.  Just how good is Scott Willett?  Now he will insist that he is not a runner, although we do know that his one and only attempt at a 5K road race was a 17:38 (asterisked as being through the northern hills of Central Park).  As for his swimming, Ramon Bermo said, "Hmmm ... Scott is actually faster than me by just kicking with his feet in the water than I could swim with my arms and legs."
• Some noteworthy visitors today:  George Hirsch, the publisher of Runner's World and a long-time member of the Central Park Track Club, Sonja Ellmann in the middle-distance runners group via Germany, ...
• A team meeting for our men was held after the workout.  Since we had chased all the women away from this meeting, there is no reason to report to the rest of the world just what was said.  Obviously, a key race is coming up this Saturday in Prospect Park, where our Brooklynites ought to shine in the homecoming.
• After the workout, a group of 15 of us went to Two Boots for dinner.  This was a great dinner with non-stop talking covering an astonishing array of topics --- the presidential election, the Van Cortlandt Park Track Club's website, the New York preppie murder case, the van to go to the Boston Milk Run, a professor of law in Tennessee, the Iron Chef and the Kenney boy's math homework, an ergonomic chair salesman in the Czech Republic, a singular moment when someone realized that his neighborhood is going down the tubes ...  We will reserve our rights to review the joint, but we note that the place is being put on probation for the following offenses:
  --- the consensus opinion was that the stale bread must be at least a week old
  --- the stale bread came with butter but no knives, which meant that we had to use the forks to spread the butter.  Two competing schools emerged, with one using the fork tines and the other using the fork handles
  --- there must have been only one cook in the back, because it took them one hour to cook spaghetti marinari
  --- James Siegel ordered an individual sausage pizza, and declared that the sausage must have been placed under a stealth cloak
  ... but then this is not about the food, or is it?
• Actually, Brian Farley would be the person with the most noteworthy experience tonight, as he sat in a $1,000 ergonomic chair that took him home ...

(Workout of 5/10/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• The course: West 72nd Street to West 102nd Street.  2 times northern loop in the clockwise direction.  Return to West 72nd.  Total distance is 6.2 miles.  The workout: 5 x 1000m 
  (1) West 86th Street to West 97th Street.  
  (2) West 102nd Street to 110th Street entrance.  
  (3) East 105th Street through the transverse to the top of Harlem Hill
  (4) 110th Street through the transverse to West 102nd Street
  (5) West 97th Street to West 86th Street.

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-three people were at the workout today.  We hope that the absence of our women means that they are resting for the half marathon race on Sunday.  Alternately, they may be staying away because they were afraid of being pressured.  Listen, we are a no-pressure club --- we can finish first (which has happened often enough) and we can finish 29th (which has not happened yet, but only because there aren't 28 other teams around) and it does not matter.  The only important thing is your happiness.
• Actually, it is not true that we are a no-pressure club.  The other CPTC (namely, the Central Park Triathlon Club) within this CPTC is very pushy with respect to getting runners to cross the union picket line.  We understand that this weekend's recruits for the bike ride will include Craig Chilton and Amy Sheeran. 
• Although our coach did not mention it, our triathletes were exchanging comments about Scott Willett's performance at the St. Croix Half Ironman Triathlon.  What was the most common word?  Animal!
• Tonight, we had a visitor from New Zealand named Russell who found us through the Internet.  Of course, by the time you read this far, you are probably one of our dedicated fans who would know that we have a big web presence.  Our workouts are open events and it is good way to tour the park while getting some exercise.  Since Russell will be in town for the next month, he will be back a few more times.
• This was the umpeenth day in a row without rain.  The air was clogged with dust and pollen.  For those of you who are suffering from hay fever today, Fritz Mueller had this recommendation: "To fight hay fever, you have to put your body through something even tougher so that it is forced to fight back.  So you should run as hard as you can, and you will be able to conquer."  Methinks that Herr Mueller thinks too much like a dialectical materialist-chemist ...
• Today, there was a famous saying with this sentence: "For example, Ross Galitsky was known to have completed the Odyssey Triple Ironman Triathlon in a time of 42 hours 27 minutes; even though his time was shorter than 58 hours and he also took some short naps (less than 10 minutes), the fact that he swam 7.8 miles, biked 336 miles and ran 78.6 miles during that time certainly means a lot."  That was enough to draw a strong protest from Ross: "I'm just sitting here at work, eating a nice nutritious lunch... then I decided to check the CPTC website to see if you posted St. Croix results, and what do I find?! Among the Famous Sayings, there is a recent item with my name.  Here I started feeling warm (it's all about me, right?) but not for long because I found a gross disservice to the sport of ultratriathlon.  Competitive ultra-athletes do not take naps during double or triple Ironman distances!  As I fancy myself a competitive ultra athlete, I DIDN'T TAKE ANY NAPS during the race.  My total non-sleeping hours for that weekend were very non-elite level - about 49 hours. Regards, and let the truth be known, Ross."  Well, well, well, excuse us for our slanderous oversight!  Of course, we will have to wait and see if Ross can go without sleeping in his upcoming deca-triathlon (=10 Ironman triathlons, total of 24 miles swimming, 1,120 miles of biking and 262 mile of running) --- we could drop dead just from contemplating the idea.
• After the Tuesday workout, we wrote: "Who ditched whom on Avenue A and/or First Avenue is an unresolved question at this time, but the battle line has been drawn and the battleaxes are being sharpened ..."  When we asked the two principals today about whether this matter has been resolved, they had apparently completely forgotten about the matter.  Yes, we now have definitive proof that running causes (or is caused by) attention-deficit disorder and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
• The real workout tonight began after 830pm, with a sprint from West 72nd Street to the corner of Seventh Avenue and 57th Street.  It was no contest at all, although there was a lot of whining among the losers ...

(Workout of 5/8/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3 x (200m, 100m jog) to warm up
• 1200m, 400m jog
• 6 x (400m, 200m jog)
• 1200m, 400m jog

FIELD NOTES

• There were thirty-nine people on the road runners side of the workout.  If we add the sprinters and middle-distance runners, we had more than 50 people on the track today.  So please stay aware of what is happening on the track at all times!
• It has not rained in a couple of weeks, so the dustbowl is getting even dustier, no thanks to the soccer players and that co-ed rugby team..  Unfortunately, there is no obvious way for us to strike back at Mother Nature or the ball players.
• For his third-place finish at the Greg Tubby 5K this weekend, Larry King was praised by the coach today.  The specifics of the words, which were quite extraordinary in our entire career of listening to coaches' speeches, cannot be published here.  It suffice to say that Larry said that getting back into shape at this time was the hardest thing that he had ever done.  This would give a lot of hope to many others, possibly even including some people whom others on the team have never seen in a race.  As Margaret Angell said today, "I think I could raise a lot of money from people on this team who would like to see a certain person on this team in a race.  I and the rest of the world would be following him around and taking photos everywhere ..."   We suspect that this person's next race, if any, would probably be the Duff Beer 5K in St. Louis (or some such race just as faraway) for exactly this reason.
• Our congratulations to Audrey Kingsley for completing hell week (=finals week) and finally getting her MBA degree.  To be more precise, the graduation ceremony is tomorrow, at which time she will become a NYU person (in her vocabulary, this means "Now You're Unemployed").
• How do you know that you have gone out too fast?  Well, in the case of Jeff Wilson, the timer for his group had to ask, "Ehhh ... is the guy in the blue singlet part of my group?  ... he is so far ahead of the rest of the pack ..."
• After the workout, we found Margaret Schotte giving an impromptu exposition on the collapsing cultural boundaries in the work of the Baron de Lahontan.  We did say that we are a diversified group of people, didn't we?
• Who ditched whom on Avenue A and/or First Avenue is an unresolved question at this time, but the battle line has been drawn and the battleaxes are being sharpened ...
• As these words were being written, there was a music video clip of Glück, das mir verblieb  from Die Tote Stadt coming on the television screen.  Well, how can anyone say that classical opera music is dead?  If only we can rid ourselves of that post-modernist self-consciousness, but then we are a post-modernist website, aren't we?  How else could a workout description end up with Mariettas Lied ...?

(Workout of 5/3/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Run northwards.  One mile pickup from West 86th Street to West 102nd Street.  Recover through the 102nd Street transverse.  1200m pickup from East 102nd Street to East 90th Street.  Recover to Cleopatra's Needle.  800m pickup to East 72nd Street.  Turn westwards through the 72nd Street transverse.  Five repeats of (7 lampposts fast, 3 lampposts jog) for one counterclockwise lower loop.  Return to the Daniel Webster statue.  Total distance of this workout is 5.7 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• Hot!  Caliente!  Second ninety-degree day in a row.  Hot, dry heat.  You better hydrate throughout the day before you attempt to run a workout!  Forty-nine people were present at the workout, with a lot of people feeling the heat and stopping after completing the four mile loop.  In turn, the warm evening made people want to stand around and talk some more.  According to the Global Surveillance System, the last person left at 9:25pm exactly.  What a life!  I mean, Get a life ...!
• Our two London marathoners showed up at the workout today.  Our coach praised Margaret Angell for running near 42 minutes for each of her four 10K splits along the way.  However, her teammate Audrey Kingsley said, "... except for the first mile!  She said that she wanted to start slow, but she covered the first mile in 6:30.  When I caught up to her, I had to say, 'Hey, Mario Andretti, slow down!'"
• Added to long list of race results already covered on Tuesday, we can add Stacy Creamer's second-place finish at the Corporate Challenge.
• Audrey Kingsley is rounding up people to run in the Women's Half Marathon in two weeks' time.  Coming after the big spring marathons, this is always a trouble spot in our competitive calendar.  So, can you make it ...?
• Running by after the workout was Kai Michaelsen-Falz, who asked, "I've never been to the club website yet.  Can anyone tell me where it is?"  Surely, you jest ...
• Don't forget that next week's track workout will begin at 7:00pm.

(Workout of 5/1/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3 x (200m, 100m jog) to warm up
• 4 x (800m, 400m jog)
• 4 x (400m, 200m jog)

FIELD NOTES

(Workout of 4/26/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• The workout heads north.  At W86th Street, the warmup consisted of three repeats of (three lampposts fast, two lampposts jog).  At West 102nd Street, pick up your pace for one full clockwise northern hill loop.  Recover over Harlem Hill down to the 110th Street entrance.  The next pick up is 1.1 miles from there eastbound, through the 102nd Street transverse, turning south to stop at West 97th Street.  Jog to W90th Street, and run the rest of the way to the Daniel Webster statue at a decent clip.  The total distance is 6.2 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• Beautiful weather --- nice sunshine, blue skies, except it did get a bit chilly afterwards if you were underdressed.  A total of forty-four people showed up at the workout tonight, not counting Stacy Creamer and Stuart Calderwood standing at West 93rd Street.
• The weather is getting nicer, which means the triathletes are training in full earnest.  The nice weather also means that there are many people in the park.  We are not happy to report that we have already had a couple of mishaps, including a bike spill on the weekend and another serious bike collision this morning with a dog without a leash inside the park (note: the owner fled the scene with her dog immediately!).  So please take care, whether you are on a bike or not.  There is nothing to gain, and everything to lose.
• About this workout, Bola Awofeso said, "I am not sure what the whole workout is about, but I do know that it will bring me to my doorstep where I will stop."
• A group of Boston marathoners (Shula Sarner, Jerome O'Shaughnessy, Patrick Cowden, Sandra Scibelli, Noel Comess, Graeme Reid, Eve Kaplan, Victor Osayi) showed up at the workout, and some of them took off by themselves for an easy jog --- unless, of course, you are Noel Comess, in which case you run right with the lead group ...
• Ramon Bermo showed up today, saying that he felt a little bit tired after racing non-stop this month (namely, two half marathons).  What was he doing here tonight?  He won $100 at the Runner's World Half Marathon with a second place finish, and came today to present the coach's cut of $1.  So he said ...
• Multisport Update:  Ramon Bermo will be one of those people at the Bronx Biathlon this weekend.  Meanwhile, he was dispensing advice to Olivier Baillet in preparation of the St. Croix Triathlon, "Just take off the brakes on your bike and ride as fast as you can and have a great time. Just be grateful that you will be climbing up the Beast and not coming down.   Oh, don't let Scott Willett intimidate you ..."  Josh Friedman will be aiming for the Alcatraz triathlon.  Meanwhile, there is the Blackwater Eagleman Triathlon coming up too, and by the way, we counted at least eight CPTC entries for Ironman USA at Lake Placid ... oh, it looks like we need a separate (but unequal) multisport page to keep track of all this insanity ...
• The big race event this weekend is the famous Penn Relays.  We have a number of entrants, including roadies Alston Brown, Sid Howard and especially Stacy Creamer in a homecoming.
• Next week, the Tuesday track workout will start at 630pm.  After next week, we will move to 700pm as the sun is setting later now.

(Workout of 4/24/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 1000m (untimed warmup), 400m recovery
• 800m, 200m recovery
• 400m, 400m recovery
• 600m, 200m recovery
• 300m, 400m recovery
• 600m, 200m recovery
• 300m, 400m recovery
• 200m, 100m recovery
• 200m, 100m recovery
• 100m (show us your stuff!)

FIELD NOTES

• Thirty-eight people showed up for our workout.  The substitute coach of the day was Sid Howard.  
• This is April, and the weather could not make up its mind as to which season this is.  During lunch time, it was a bright, sunny summer day with everyone walking around in short sleeves.  Right before the workout started, it was just a grey and cloudy evening.  A couple of sets into the workout, a few large raindrops fell from the darkening clouds with the threat of a downpour.  Three-quarters into the workout, the sun broke through as it was setting in the west, thus causing the buildings on the other side of the river to shimmer in reflected golden glory.  It is hard to believe that it is Queens over there.  Margaret Schotte wondered why we would rather take photos of people in compromising positions instead of nature in its true beauty.  But before we celebrate too soon, the clouds thickened again and the raindrops began to fall again.  By Sid Howard's reckoning, this was another Just-In-Time workout.
• External inspection of the shoulder of Blair Boyer showed a barely visible red bump from that famous track collision.  He is ready to begin physical therapy tomorrow, but of course there is the workout to run tonight.  His explanation: "This is like attending college class.  If you miss too many classes, you feel that you have to drop out."
• Graeme Reid came to his first track workout after the Boston Marathon.  He said, "We won crystal balls for being the first men's master team."  Graeme, any money, though?  He had to laugh.
• Jeff Wilson sent in this reminder note: "Please don't put me down as being the 'automatic timer' today, because I am running in the workout."  Throughout the winter indoor track season, Jeff had been timing due to an injury.  He is back in the running now, and since he is actually a novice runner, he has been setting personal records every race!
• Speaking of timers, there are good timers and there are bad timers.  But don't forget that they are just volunteers doing the best that they can, so don't abuse them!  Abuse them?  What does that mean?  Well, here is an example: on the last 100m sprint down the backstraight, our coach asked the B-group timer, "What?  You are only going to start them off but you are not going to give them their split times at the finish?" ... which was enough to cause some side-splitting laughter ...
• This being the outdoor season, Sid Howard is organizing the post-workout outing to Two Boots on Avenue A and East 5th Street for pizza and beer afterwards.  So maybe you were not mentally, physically or financially prepared to commit tonight, but please bear in the mind that we will continue to do this for the rest of the season.
• Next week's start time is 630pm again, until we say otherwise.  Mind you, both Alayne Adams and David Pullman arrived on time, so should you.

(Workout of 4/19/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• There are two types of people in the world ---
  Type 1 (those who will be racing on Sunday):  The workout is a just two loops around the reservoir.  On the first loop, run a steady full mile from East 90th Street to West 86th Street; on the second loop, there were some lamppost pickups to loosen things up.
  Type 2 (those who will not be racing on Sunday): The workout is a four mile run on the reservoir.  Since each reservoir loop is 1.57 miles, the workout is actually three counterclockwise reservoir loops but the starting point was 8 lampposts past East 90th Street on the first lap.  The pace is a steady half marathon run, just enough to build up some lactic acid.  The total distance is 6.5 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• Today is (1) three days after the Boston Marathon; (2) two days before the London Marathon; (3) two days before the Nike Run For The Parks scoring race.  Still, we had thirty-eight people at the workout.  Actually, we counted thirty-seven when we left but we always remember to reserve a slot for Harry Morales which he invariably fills.  Today, since we took off at 730pm, Harry had to run down as far as 77th Street before he saw us.
• Coming to the workout today straight from the Boston Marathon were James Siegel and Bill Komaroff.  James was still reeling from the brutal personal assault on him in Famous Saying #1272.  You see, he had wrote in to complain about an erratum in the listing of his result, but he had declined to point out the exact problem.  When our race historian went back to the website to check, the first error that he saw was that James' split at 15K was listed at 1:00:24 instead of the correct 1:00:25.  Nitpickers like that deserve to die a thousand times over (and John Scherrer should remember this!), which was how Famous Saying #1272 came about.  Today, we found out that James was actually referring to his pace, being 6:47 instead of 6:57.  So all is forgiven, lots of hugs and kisses and love and so on --- until the next round.  By contrast, Bill had a great time before, during and after, especially savoring those magical moments late in the race when he knew that he would be able to finish under 3 hours for the first time ever.  No other Boston Marathoners were here today, although it is not clear if Shula Sarner was recovering from the race or the post-race function where she was even more impressive ...
• Lauren Eckhart wishes to insert a statement to the effect that if she ran a PR in the four mile race on Sunday, then all credit should go to the Alayne Adams tapering workout.  We cannot disclose the details of that workout, since if it will be copyrighted and patented if all goes well.
• For the majority of us, the big race is the four miler.  It is an important race since we go in as the current leaders in the Men's Open Team, Men's Masters Team and Women's Open Team divisions.  Even though we are squeezed in between the big spring marathons, we will be able to field very strong teams.  We will (probably) not have our four Boston masters marathoners: Alan Ruben (2:34:27), Peter Allen (2:38:57), Graeme Reid (2:49:26) and Noel Comess (2:49:44) who won the masters title there, but we will have Stuart Calderwood, Tom Phillips, John Kenney, Larry King, Ricardo Granados, Michele Tagliati, Rick Shaver, and company.  In the other divisions, we will (most probably) have Stacy Creamer, Alayne Adams, Margaret Schotte, Stephanie Gould, Lauren Eckhart, Amy Sheeran, Kim Mannen and Toby Tanser, Rob Zand, Erik Goetze, Isaya Okwiya, Richie Borrero, Craig Chilton, Kevin Arlyck, ... and I just hope that people whose names I haven't listed won't hate me too much.  On the wish list is this: will we get to see Devon Sargent!?
• It goes without say that our thoughts go over the sea to London on Sunday too ...
• Once again, you are reminded that our workout will begin at 630pm for next Tuesday.  Don't show up late (unless you cannot help it, like David Pullman).

(REPORT ON 4/17/2001 WORKOUT)

The man in a hurry: Tony Ruiz

About forty people showed up tonight.  The total count was a bit uncertain due to plenty of late arrivals.  We stated that we would start at 630pm.  Ordinarily, that would never be the real start time.  For today, a couple of large, ominous raindrops persuaded us that we should start as quickly as possible.  While we were running around, people continued to arrive with expressions of utter incredulity that we have already started!  Of course, as amateur psychologists and professional manipulators, we have always asserted that it is not necessary to always start on time to make people show up at the designated time --- it is sufficient to do it once in a while just to drill the fear into them! The first 1000m should be a warm-up effort at 4 mile race pace.  The next three 1000m's should be done at 5K pace.  Those were the instructions, which were quite unclear to Michele Tagliati, who said, "I actually have done a 4 miler at a pace faster than my best 5K race pace.  What do I do?"  That is necessarily a rhetorical question since it was posed to someone who had neither a 5K nor a 4 mile time in recent memory ... Several big races occurred over the big weekend, but the coach had no time to go into details.  The only person present for the accolades was Devon Sargent, running a 2:20 half mile.  Good start for the first outdoor meet of the year.  Big question:  any chance of leveraging that 800m speed for the 4 mile scoring race on Sunday? What is the punishment for arriving late?  As Stephen Sipe came to find out, he got to run with Gladees Prieur instead! Bola Awofeso showed up today for the sole purpose of ensuring that the Boston Marathon pictures are delivered into the proper hands.  Bola said that he had several missed opportunities: (1) he never saw Shula Sarner, currently the talk of the town; (2) he saw Adam Riess at the 25th mile mark and thought that he could not take a picture of him in that state; (3) he could not find Victor Osayi after the finish line because the latter was in the medical area.  Bola told Audrey Kingsley today, "Next, I'll be in London to take photographs of you ..." Club member Brian Marchese has just completed the first unit at The Rolf Institute for Structural Integration in Boulder, CO.  He needs to document hours before he returns again this summer so for the month of April he is offering a 90 minute bodywork session for $50. Those on the CPTC mailing list should expect an informational pamphlet in the mail.  He is located 3 blocks from the 6th Street track at 27 Avenue C (Between 2nd & 3rd Streets).  For an appointment, call (212) 979-0219. As a reminder: next week, we continue to start at 630pm until further notice!!!  Don't come late (again)!!!

As always, we are looking for expert timers (such as MBA student Audrey Kingsley) to volunteer ... are you ready?

(Workout of 4/12/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Jog down to the start of the Stuart mile opposite Tavern On The Green.  Use the first mile to get into rhythm.  The long item is a 5K run.  For the first mile (from East 72nd Street to East 90th Street), run at marathon pace.  For the second mile (from East 90th Street to the overhanging traffic light near the swimming pool), run at 10 seconds faster.  For the last 1.1 mile (from the traffic light to West 102nd Street), run at another 10 seconds faster per mile.  Recovery is through the cutoff, turning north and continue all the way to the of Harlem Hill.  Run the last 2 miles to the statue at a good tempo.  The total distance is (and before the coach said anything, John Gleason had shouted it out) 7.4 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• Forty-one people were at the starting line tonight, on a cool and humid evening.  The turnout is a little bit lighter than the week before, since we are missing the Boston Marathoners, but Jerome O'Shaughnessy was there to receive the final blessings.
• Something is in the air, as we have three unusual visitors
  - Paul Stuart-Smith showed up in civilian clothes, toting a backpack and being totally prepared for anything and everything with an umbrella.  Paul would have been running in the London Marathon but for Achilles tendonitis.
  - Jim Meadows showed up for the first time in over ten years.  His excuse for missing all those workouts and races is that he lives in North Carolina (or was it Georgia?).  As evidence, he wore a Peachtree Roadrace t-shirt tonight.   For those of you who don't know him (and that would be most of you!), Jim has the reputation as the nicest person you will ever meet.  For a bit of club history, we publish the results from the 1990 Club Team Championships

• Also making an appearance today was Karel Matousek, who would actually know Jim Meadows.  By the way, Karel's time in that Club Championship race was 34:45, 50th male finisher on the team, behind people like Sheldon Karlin (27:29), Peter Allen (27:31), Herbie Medina (27:38), Rick Shaver (28:00), Ricardo Granados (28:04), Fred Kolthay (28:05), Tim Fitzpatrick (28:34), Dan Hamner (30:43), Michael Sheren (32:27), Frank Handelman (33:41).  P.S. It goes without say that the time of this report writer is missing here, but it would  definitely be ahead of Karel's.
• Showing in his first road workout in a long time was Dan Hamner.  The really good news that he brought (apart from himself) was that Rae Baymiller is in training again, first for a 800m in Australia and then for the Twin Cities Marathon.  At 58 years old, Rae is the world record holder for W55-59 at 2:52 and, we also believe, less than 5 seconds off the WR at 800m.  She does have a strong competitor from New Zealand at this time.
• The Boston Marathon will take place on Monday, April 16th.  We will have the usual large contingent this year, with Alan Ruben, Jerome O'Shaughnessy, Sandra Scibelli, James Siegel, Graeme Reid, Peter Allen, Victor Osayi, Josh Feldman, David Bosch, Adam Riess, Cat Goodridge, Eve Kaplan, Jessica Merritt, Shula Sarner, Patrick Cowden, Mary Messite, Guillermo Rojas, Chris Salibello,  ... We wish them all good luck, and we have some private predictions which we won't publish here (if you like, you can tell us what time you think Shula Sarner will run ...).
• Don't forget, we will begin our first outdoor track workout at 630pm at the East River Park Track Oval next Tuesday.  The starting time will be 630pm for at least the first couple of weeks due to daylight considerations.

(REPORT ON 4/10/2001 WORKOUT)

• Light turnout (probably under 20).  
• People doing the Boston Marathon were ordered to the back of their respective packs, much to the chagrin of the two present, as they generally like to run in front.  After their four repeats, they contented themselves with either heckling or encouraging those of us who were actually working hard.  Many people ran great workouts, especially Craig Chilton, who, in the absence of his usual playmates, spent the time chasing Toby Tanser (who claimed to be "taking it easy").
• The evening's finale was a rousing 400m run by Roger Liberman, Carlos Stafford, and Brian Barry, who decided that twelve punishing rounds chasing Mary Rosado were not enough, and opted to make it an even baker's dozen.

(Workout of 4/5/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Horseshoe --- from the Daniel Webster statue northward, through the 102nd Street transverse and southward to East 72nd Street, and then the reverse horseshoe for an out-and-back course.  The total distance is 7.5 miles (although Ramon Bermo needed to know the distance to two decimal points).

FIELD NOTES:

• First outdoor workout after changing the clock.  At 7pm, it was balmy and bright outside.  Would you believe the headcount at 6:58pm was 22 people already?  Something is definitely different in the air (and we are not talking about the pollens).  The final count was fifty-three (and we are not talking about the pollen count).  The count might have been even higher but for the people who are still bruised from the intramural track meet on Tuesday.
• Amy Sheeran won $50 for being the fastest new NYRRC member at the Join The NYRRC 5 Miler last Sunday.  The coach read her the bill of rights: all prize-winners must give $1 to the coach every time that they win something.  This led to Michele Tagliati to say, "I thought that only Italians do that sort of thing."
• On the way back to the west side, the coach was stopped on the reservoir path by the Frenchman wearing the wrong colors.  At the insistence of the Frenchman, the coach had to provide a detailed description of the workout tonight.  Why?  The Frenchman had to phone in the workout by 10pm, and he could not wait for the website report to appear.  This is a strange world that we live in.
• Right before the group broke up tonight, there was some (horrendously sounding, we may add) singing of happy birthdays.  Tomorrow is Margaret Schotte's birthday.  Ordinarily, birthday information is held as top secret around here (except for Stacy Creamer's), but in this case, Athletics Canada gave Margaret away.  And then Margaret was the one who gave the other person away ...
• Contrary to your belief, The Gap is not the name of a clothing store chain.  Rather, it is that which mysteriously grows between you and Alan Ruben in very short order and that which appears to be unbridgeable thereafter.  This is the current edition.  Stuart Calderwood reports on an older version, "When I was twenty-one years old, I was running in a 16x400m workout at the old CCNY indoor track.  On the last 400m, the coach told us to run as fast as we can without risking pulled muscles.  Well, I followed someone named John Kenney.  I ran 60 seconds and he ran 59 seconds.  That one second was an unbridgeable gap that night."  When John Kenney heard this, he said, "This team never ceases to amaze me, because I sure don't remember any part of that particular event."  Now, how many of you can remember what happened in a workout twenty years ago?  But in twenty-years time, you may be able to remember this workout because it will still be available on the Internet for you to re-read and re-read ...
• The James Siegel Watch:  James is running the Boston Marathon, and today was his last hard run.   He said, "I'm sure that you are going to report this on the website."  So we are.  We are asking for all of you to keep an eye for him when you are out running, and report any gratuitous hard running by him.
• Remember this message from Ramon Bermo: ""If you are a CPTC triathlete and are interested in doing some group workouts, please send me an e-mail ramon.bermo@donovandata.com  .  I'll put a list together so we can coordinate some good workouts now that the weather is getting better."  Ramon says that he had 8 people responding, so there are not as many trigeeks on this club as we had feared ...
• As a reminder, we will have our final indoor track workout on Tuesday at the Armory at 745pm.  No relays this time, we promise.

(REPORT ON 4/3/2001 WORKOUT)

On our second last workout of the season, we held an intramural relay race at the Armory.  There would have been a report here if someone had not walked away with the piece of paper listing the rosters of the teams.  So, if you are the guilty party, please turn it in to us.  This is a very important historical document, because it will mark that moment of epiphany when some of you realized that you were really 200m sprinters formerly lured to jog marathon distances while others realized that you were never meant to run faster because you let a marathoner beat you at your specialty.

Until then, the only piece of fact is that Kevin Arlyck was first to cross the finish line after receiving the pass from John Kenney, thereby holding off the late-charging Stuart Calderwood.  

ERRATUM:  From Kevin Arlyck: "I actually received the baton from Wayne, a visitor from san francisco, who ran a terrific 1200m, enlarging considerably the lead created by our first three runners: Craig Plummer (200m), Stephanie Gould (400m), and El Presidente.  the other teams will have to report on their own performances. we were so far ahead that I couldn't simultaneously cheer my teammates and watch the others (ha, ha, ha...)"

ATTENTION:  Next Tuesday, we will hold our final indoor workout at the Armory at 7:45pm.

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

(Workout of 3/29/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Group job to East 72nd Street and start according to pace group.  First set is the uphill mile from East 72nd to East 90th.  Recovery jog to East 97th Street (you know, where the cross-town traffic runs underneath the road).  Next pick is to East 102nd Street transverse.  Recovery down to the overhanging traffic light right by the swimming pool.  Next pick up is the full mile to West 102nd Street.  Recovery is through the 102nd Street transverse and south to East 97th Street.  Last long pick up goes from there to East 86th Street at the end of the long straightaway.  Recovery run to East 72nd Street.  The return trip is around the south side of the park with some kind of lamppost pickups (Harry Morales said, "Don't worry about it!  I am not paying attention either" and so we didn't).  The total distance of the workout is 6.5 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• Drizzling all day, and also somewhat breezy.  Is that enough to stop people from showing up?  For sure, a little rain would never stop Alan Ruben and Jerome O'Shaughnessy, nor our latest tough-guy candidate, Kevin Arlyck.  
• For the past weekend's race results, the coach singled out Kevin Arlyck for getting a personal record of 57 minutes for 10 miles.  Someone else said, "Oh, he also set a personal record by stepping inside a Starbucks for the first time in his life."  Please!  The man lives in Brooklyn, and that is understandable.
• Audrey Kingsley said, "I was timing on Tuesday and my name was not listed!"  Okay, okay, okay.  We all make mistakes some time.  But now she gets additional mentions by appearing in this workout description too.
• When Ramon Bermo mentioned that he will be running in a small race this weekend, someone said, "Well, that may be difficult to locate.  After all, the website just scans the top 10 results of races to look for our people and this time, you will be buried deep inside the listing."  Yes, that was as cold as the weather tonight. 
• The next scoring race (Nike Run For The Parks 4 Miler on April 22) will be around the same time as the Boston and London Marathons.  So we need all non-marathoners to show up.  We tried goading Boston-bound Alan Ruben, "Of course, we know Alan has been known to recover to win a race within 5 days of running a marathon" but all he did was to smile and shake his head.  But we know that we will get John Kenney for this race.
• Next Tuesday, our indoor workout at the Armory will become an intramural track meet with relay teams of 10 people running various distances.  This will be a lot of fun.

(REPORT ON 3/27/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Warmup: 3x200m w/100m jogs.
• Workout: 6x800m w/400m jogs.
• (Marathoners-in-waiting: Run all 6 800s at 5K pace.  Non-marathoners: Run the first, second, fifth, and sixth 800s at 5K pace, the third and fourth at 3 to 5 seconds faster)
• 38 team members present.

(REPORT ON 3/22/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Once around the six mile loop in the clockwise direction.  We head north and, at 86th Street, we do a warmup set of (3 lampposts fast, 2 slow, 3 lampposts fast, 2 slow and 3 lampposts fast).  At the traffic light on top of Harlem Hill, we do a two-mile pick up at half marathon race pace to finish at Hamilton's statue right across the Metropolitan Museum.  We continued south and our final 1.4 mile pickup begins at East 72nd Street and ends at the Daniel Webster statue.

FIELD NOTES:

• It has been raining in buckets for at least twenty-four hours.  How many people do you think showed up tonight?  Make a guess.  The answer is given in the last item of these notes.
• The coach was slightly late in arriving tonight.  As the group milled around before he got here, someone said to Margaret Angell, "Since you are the youngest member, you'll have to take charge tonight."  She said, "Oh, easy!  Let's us do a six mile loop, with nothing crazy."  Could she be psychic?
• Sandra Scibelli showed up tonight with a package.  She said, "I brought a piece of cake for my 'husband.'  I am on a baking spree right now."  Her 'husband' arrived minutes later, dressed inevitably in shorts.  Oh, yes, there's a whole lot of lovin' goin' on ...
• The detailed race results were already reviewed on Tuesday at the indoor track workout.  Tonight, coach Tony Ruiz said, "I just want to mention two individuals.  First, congratulations to Amy Sheeran for being second scorer on the winning team in her first race for the club.  Second, congratulations to Rob Zand for winning a 5K race in Houston and collecting $100."   We will gloss over those inevitable jokes about the cost of the plane ticket to Houston.
• For the Nike Four Miler race, Stuart Calderwood offered a tip, "This race is unusual because the finish line is not immediately visible.  When you are about to reach Columbus Circle, you will see the numbers 440 painted on the ground.  This means that there is about 600m left to go, which is just three laps around the Armory Track and quite within anyone's means.  If you push strong at that point, those people around you may be surprised and let you go because they think this is too early."  (note: After you read this, Stéphane, please erase it from your memory)
• We will be holding our Tuesday workouts for at least two more weeks at the Armory.  Please check this website for announcements beyond that.  On the Tuesday workout two weeks from now (that is, the one after next week), we intend to hold an intramural track meet consisting of relay teams.  All those who are interested in running will put their names into a hat, and we will draw the teams to run various distances (200m to 800m or up).  Even if you don't want to run, you can still come and have a laugh.
• For the team of four (Stuart Calderwood, Graeme Reid, Tom Phillips and Craig Chilton) who will be challenging Toby Tanser in the Powerbar Relay on Saturday, here is a preview of Toby's race strategy: "My plan is to start fast to scare off my competitors and then settle into a rhythm that won't see me walking up Cat Hill on lap 4."  To all of them and to everyone else, we warn you that your Central Park Track Club photographer is acting as the official NYRRC photographer for this race, so any untoward gestures that you usually make at him may have a much larger audience than you bargain for.
• A total of twenty-five people braved the rain to come to the workout.  Read the following names of attendees: Sandra Scibelli, Jerome O'Shaughnessy, Cat Goodrich, Graeme Reid, James Siegel, Margaret Angell, Victor Osayi, Eve Kaplan, Josh Feldman, ... Does it seem as if you had just read this list recently?  Yes, it's the list of our entrants at Boston/London.  For many of them, this is no time to lose any miles due to inclement weather.  Where are you, Audrey Kingsley ... ?

(REPORT ON 3/20/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Sorry, I just could not refrain from butting in with a few comments.
• On the item about "Margaret Angell showing maturity beyond her years," it is imperative to compare this against what 62-year-old Sid Howard would have surely said, "When I get a muscle pull, I try to run over it."  In other words, what has age got to do with it?
• If I am correct, Raphael Devalle started off the first 400m of his Fifth Avenue Mile in 59 seconds.  Unfortunately for him, that was not the right time and place to break 60 seconds.  Stuart Calderwood wrote: "I was at that 5th Avenue Mile; I think Raffy ran a 61--and it's a downhill quarter."  Well, that may be factually correct, but the urban legend is the first version.

(Workout of 3/22/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• We head south down West Drive until we hit the "S" sign just south of Tavern On The Green.  At this point, we run twice the Stuart mile (to East 72nd Street and back) at half marathon race pace (very easy to follow for those who just ran last Saturday).  We continue north and then we turn east at the 72nd Street transverse.  At East 72nd Street, we turn north for a strong 800m uphill to Cleopatra's Needle at 5K race pace.  We recover to the southern pump house on the reservoir loop.  The next pickup is a 1200m reservoir path run that stops at the northern pump house.  From there on, it is homeward bound (when the real race begins ...).

FIELD NOTES:

• This was a fairly warm night, and we had forty-nine people showing up for the workout.  Okay, so we counted Noel Comess on his bike, but we did not include Fritz Mueller who ran by at 655pm --- fair is fair.
• This workout is intended to simulate portions of the next scoring race, the Niketown Run for the Parks 4 miler which takes place on an out-and-back course beginning and ending at Tavern On The Green.  Your friendly team rep Audrey Kingsley reminds everyone that this race occurs a week after the Boston Marathon and is on the same weekend as the London Marathon, meaning that we will be missing a large number of our people here.  So we need all our non-marathoners to run this race.
• Rather than repeat the litany of praises at the Brooklyn Half Marathon, coach Tony Ruiz singled out Carlos Stafford for praise, "Carlos just began running last year.  At Brooklyn, he had a personal best by 4 minutes.  Not of all of us can be scorers on the winning team, but we can all have our individual triumphs."
• Ramon Bermo said, "I'm not in shape right now, so there is no point for me to run in a scoring race."  Really?  How do you know that you are not in shape?  What objective standard do you have?  Someone pointed out to Ramon, "The way I see it, you were able to keep up with Gordon Bakoulis tonight, so you must be in shape."   Ramon demurred, "The only reason that I could stay with her was that she was holding back because she wanted to do another loop after we were done."
• Obscurantism is our name.  Josh Friedman said, "My parents called me up and wanted to know the full story of what happened at the five mile mark of the Brooklyn Half Marathon."  Mum is the order of the day for us.  However, by sheer chance, the other person running next to Josh tonight was able to give him a first-person eyewitness account of what happened.  We are not sure that Josh's parents will get the real story any time soon ...
• The best quote of the day was, "I don't think that I am a miler.  My best time for the 1500m was 3:51."   Well, a quick check revealed that Rui Silva of Portugal won the World Indoor 1500m Championship in a time of 3:51.06 on March 10, 2001.  So we'll have to say that 3:51 is not too shabby.  Unfortunately, we cannot publish the name of the speaker until he has signed on the dotted line ...

(REPORT ON 3/13/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• 3x200m w/100m jogs
• 1200m at 5K pace, jog 400m
• 400m at 2-3 seconds faster per 400m, jog 200m
• 800m at 5K pace, jog 400m
• 800m at 2-3 seconds faster per 400m, jog 400m
• 1200m at 5K pace, jog 400m
• 3(or 2?)x300m fast but relaxed, concentrating on form.

(Workout of 3/08/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• The workout course today is an out-and-back run from the Daniel Webster statue to West 102nd Street, through the transverse and south to East 90th Street, and then retrace your steps backwards.  There are four 1000m pickups: W86th Street to W97th Street, W102nd Street to E97th Street (uphill), E90th Street to E99th Street (downhill), W102nd Street to W90th Street (uphill).  The total distance is 5.5 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• There were thirty-two people at the workout, which is only thirty-six hours before the Brooklyn Half Marathon.  Actually, quite a few workout attendees will be racing and were just out here for a jog (if so, why was somebody doing uphill sprints AFTER the workout was over?).
• Tonight, the Armory was closed for maintenance.  For this reason, we were graced with the middle-distance women: Devon Sargent, Mary V. Rosado and Kim Mannen (our plea to Kim: stay away from that half marathon!), plus Sid Howard and Isaya Okwiya.  Devon said, "The longest race that I have ran in was a 6K.  I think I once ran 6 miles during a training run, and that was because I miscalculated the distance."  Tonight, she covered all 5.5 miles.
• Ramon Bermo will be in the Brooklyn Half Marathon, but he said, "I am obviously in no shape to run a time fast enough to score for the team, so I will just run easy and laugh at those people around me."  So you are advised to stay away from him!  This has been a public service announcement from your favorite website.
• The Frenchman wearing the wrong colors appeared at the end of our workout.  We have two pieces of good news: (1) he did not hurt Audrey Kingsley tonight; (2) he will not racing in Brooklyn this weekend.  [The following space has been reserved for the inevitable death threat that he will be sending us as soon as he reads the above]  (Yes, sure enough, this message arrived the next day: "I am not racing tomorrow, but I will show up.  But don't be delighted too soon --- you should be aware of my abilities when I ride a bike ..."  Hmm, we have to admit that the French people are subtle)
• As for the Brooklyn race, please note the following things (1) there will be a course change as the boardwalk portion will be replaced by an extra loop inside Prospect Park; (2) the race starts at 8am, so please make sure that you get there early enough.  See you in Brooklyn!

(REPORT ON 3/6/2001 WORKOUT)

FIELD NOTES:

• Even scheduling this workout was a great adventure.  First, the Armory announced last week that they would be closed Monday to Thursday for maintenance activities to prepare for the national high school championships.  After a public outcry from athletes who are trying to prepare for the season-ending championship events, the Armory changed its mind and opened the track for practice on Tuesday.  Then, the weather forecast called for a great blizzard (what?) in New York City lasting from Sunday through Tuesday, making it highly unsalient to be caught outdoors.  These two factors called for a last-day switch back to the indoor track.  The messages got out first of all through the LISTBOT server --- you know, the list server on our home page that you can voluntarily sign up for just this kind of urgent notice?  Then the notice was posted on the home page of this website.  Let us make it quite clear --- given the quickly developing circumstances, that is probably as much as we are expected to be able to do.  If you went to the wrong place, then remember (1) to sign up on the LISTBOT server; and (2) check the website regularly for announcement, especially when there seems to be a likelihood of schedule/venue switch.
• We understand that some of you may have turned to this page to look for a change in venue/schedule for the workout.  For future reference, this page contains the historical record of the previous workout.  You should always look at the news section on the home page for the latest news. 
• Meanwhile, your regular workout reporter was panicking over what he has to do the next day and therefore missed the workout.  So unless someone else volunteers, the rest of the world will never know what happened at this workout.  Help?

Stuart Calderwood comes to the rescue with this report:

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

(Workout of 3/01/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• This was exactly ten days before the Brooklyn Half Marathon.  So this was going to be a longish tempo run of two times around the four mile loop in the clockwise direction, with the second loop a tad faster.

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-eight people were present at the workout.  While it was cold this morning, the winds swung around from the south and warmed things up.  In fact, this was the perfect cool evening for this type of workout.  This count does not include Aubin Sullivan on her bicycle nor Tyronne Culpepper who was wearing funny-looking running shoes that look remarkably like roller blades.
• The identical 2x4 miles workout was prescribed by Audrey Kingsley last week, with these pacing instructions: first four miles at marathon race pace, the last four miles at 5K PR race pace.  Quite a few of those who ran last week in the snow survived to show up tonight again.
• This request came from Kevin Arlyck, "I would like to point out that I am the champion for underdressing tonight.  Even though both Jerome O'Shaughnessy, Alan Ruben and myself are all wearing shorts, you should note that Jerome has bicycle tights underneath his shorts and Alan is wearing a headband."  So maybe this gives Kevin the crown for a single outdoor workout, but we note that all three were wearing longsleeves and therefore far behind the singlet-wearing undisputed champion of New York City, Toby Tanser.  Kevin has this comment: "Thanks for the 'underdressed' mention.  I don't care about the overall award.  Toby can have it.  He wins everything else anyhow."
• When we reached the east side of the 102nd Street transverse, we found a large group of runners standing there.  They were the Team In Training runners coached by "Coach" Mindy Solkin.   A quick headcount showed that we were larger in number.  Yet another meaningless victory for us!
• The second group was led by Ramon Bermo, who is doing his second running workout in months.  He said that he was perfectly willing to follow the others.  When they reached the uphill, he pushed slightly ahead to do the work for the others.  Before he knew it, the rest of the group just took off together.  The coach said, "Some of these guys must have set personal bests tonight!"  Please remember the real race is on March 10th in Brooklyn!
• For some people, personal bests are absolute time standards.  For others, personal bests are relative to specific individuals.  Apparently, Margaret Angell and James Siegel will now be measured against each other.  At the Snowflake Four Miler, James ran 23:23 first in the men's race.  This motivated Margaret to run a 23:17 PR an hour later because she thought "I am better than James."  Tonight, the coach timed James as 3 minute ahead of Margaret.  Swinging elbows next? 
• Reminder:  Next Tuesday's workout is in Central Park again at 7pm, due to maintenance work at the Armory.

(REPORT ON 2/27/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• Due to the Catholic High School Championship Meet, we were bumped out of the Armory and ended up with a track-oriented workout around the reservoir.  We jogged up to the reservoir en masse and ran three counterclockwise loops.  The first warmup is a southern pump house to northern pump house pickup at 4 mile race pace.  Jog for 20 lampposts. Then repeats of 4 x (20 lampposts fast, 10 lampposts jog).  Finish with 4 x (10 lampposts fast, 5 lampposts jog).  The real race then begins ...

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-three people showed up at a workout.  That is high attendance on an off day when we should have been at the Armory, but the miracle of the Internet kept most people informed about this schedule change.  We were also blessed by having a warm day in February.  As John Gleason said, "When you see a big bike pack like tonight, it must no longer be winter."

• When one of our people emerged from the bush, Graeme Reid exclaimed loudly, "That's the second violation of the week for you."  The first violation had cost US$100 for walking an unleashed dog.  This second violation for walking in the bush could have been costly too (standard rate: $250), as there were three police cars right around the corner, but their occupants were presumably taking naps.  In any case, the offender said, "I would have given them Graeme's name anyway!"  What comes around comes around ...

• The Delphi Oracle says, "Know thyself" but we always say "Know thy teammates" because you can be running with the wrong person at the wrong pace.  Now you can either read these workout descriptions very carefully and learn about everyone's tendencies.  Or else you can find out the hard way on the run.  Thus, on this night, Audrey Kingsley's running partner had to ask, "Ahemmm ... why is the cooldown run even faster than the pickups?" which led to another spurt, of course.

• This particular workout contains repeats of 20 lampposts.  A lone voice from the back said, "Oh, I'll have to take off my shoes and use my toes to count up to twenty."  This led to some Puerto Rican jokes which were highly inappropriate but for the fact that a Puerto Rican was telling them.  However, the other Puerto Rican present feigned shock --- "I had no idea that this guy was prejudiced."  Enough about multicultural political correctness, and let's move on to running already ...

• After the workout, Shelley Farmer showed us her new Nike watch, the one that can provide an exact mile pace through the feedback from a computer chip with blinking lights on the shoe.  She said, "You see that flashing light?  Well, some people under house arrest get ankle bracelets to monitor their movements, but I am under Central Park arrest to make sure that I keep training!"

• Important note:  Next week, the Armory will be closed for maintenance activities in preparation for the big national scholastic championships.  So our Tuesday workout will be at the Daniel Webster statue in Central Park at 7pm.

(Workout of 2/22/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Snow began falling in the late afternoon, and it was heaviest by 7pm.  It was actually feathery light to go through the fresh powdery snow in the park (the midtown streets were another matter as the cars could only inch along slowly while the horns blasted away).  Your regular coaching staff was AWOL (or they assumed that sanity actually rules on this club).  By the line of succession, the workout was given by Audrey Kingsley (the only team official present, being both the membership secretary as well as an open women's road runner  representative) in her debut as coach.  The workout was as follows: two times around the four mile loop at a steady tempo pace, with no lamppost pickups in view of the slippery conditions.  The first loop is done at marathon pace; the second loop is increased to 5K race pace (yes, that was no typo).  After giving out this workout, Audrey waved goodbye to the group and headed home herself and said, "Have a nice run, boys!"  Question:  Do these guys know enough to figure out when to call it quits?

FIELD NOTES:

• During the day, this message appeared on our home page:
  SNOWFLAKES ON THURSDAY:  The weather forecast calls for 3-5 inches of snow in the city in the afternoon.  You wonder, will there be a workout on the roads in the park tonight?  Of course, there is and there always will be.  Whether or not you want to come is a different matter, as you may prefer the warm comforts of Thursday Night at the Armory, or you simply want to rest for the Snowflake race on Saturday, or else you want to show up and be recorded on the infamous bad-weather roll call ...
• We don't have the results from the Armory races yet, and we don't know who really stayed home to rest.  But we have our roll call tonight:
  - Jerome O'Shaughnessy ("Okay, so I didn't wear shorts tonight.  Believe me, it was not due to the cold.  Rather, the icy particles actually hurt when they fall upon the skin.")
  - Josh Feldman ("Do we have to stand around?")
  - Audrey Kingsley ("I needed to boost my google rating")
  - Rick Shaver ("I thought it was easier to run in the park than in the city streets")
  - Ross Galitsky ("I just want to see which real runners come to run")
  - Noel Comess ("Why hasn't the workout begun yet?")
  - Harry Morales ("I thought I was late again")
  - Ana Echeverri ("I'm here only to keep Carol company")
  - Carol Tyler ("I'm here only to keep Ana company")
  - Roland Soong ("I'm only here to record your names")
  This is a fully accurate and valid roll-call, because the group did not set out until 720pm (according to the official watch, which is two minutes slower than the time-zone-adjusted Greenwich Mean Time standard).
• Our substitute coach had these words of caution, "I know that it may seem nice to run in this soft snow, but you should know enough to back off when you start straining and slipping.  I ran in the snow just the Chicken Soup Loop 10K, and I couldn't do a thing because my quads were hurting."  Now running to the workout and back home obviously would not satisfy her need ("I am not even warmed up!"), and so it was that our Global Surveillance System found her doing the Stairmaster workout on the steps in the plaza in front of FAO Schwarz ... (P.S.  Audrey Kingsley had previously filed this protest, "My google rating might have suffered because there was a period of time in which I was referred to only as the 'membership secretary.'  Could you please make sure that I am preferred by my full name?"  P.P.S.  "And the last name is Kingsley, not Kinsgley").
• Don't forget --- our next Tuesday workout is in Central Park because of the high school track meet at the Armory.

(REPORT ON 2/20/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 1200m, 400m jog

• 6 x (400m, 200m jog)

• 1200m

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-two people at the workout.  For the women who are running the Snowflake race, the first 1200m and the last 1200m should be run at your projected 4 mile race pace.  The 400m's can be 4 to 5 seconds faster per quarter.  The purpose is to find out if you can hold the race pace comfortably (especially that last 1200m after the faster 400m's).  For the men, the 1200m can be done at 5K race pace.

• Graeme Reid commented: "I couldn't believe that Michele (Tagliati) could write a full page about a training run"  That might have been a training run for Michele and Graeme, but it was a successful ultramarathon debut for Adam Riess.  Our suggestion to Graeme was, "You can add a little note to say, 'It was unfortunate that Michele left early, because I got paid for my efforts ...'"  (You'll have to follow the link and read the story to appreciate this part). 

• We will be having the final Thursday Night at the Races this week.  Upon information and belief, we should be seeing (1) Roger Liberman making his lifetime-first track debut at 2 miles; (2) Tom Phillips will be running the 800m; (3) Kim Mannen will be seeking redemption after falling off the track four times at Boston University.

• Please read the details of the program guide for Saturday: (1) Snowflake Four Miler in the morning; (2) get-together at the Parlour in the afternoon; (3) Club Night in the evening.  The Snowflake Four Miler is a scoring race for the women, and here is (quite arbitrary) our mini-preview of who is who ...
  (1) "Sorry, but I won't be there": Alayne Adams!  The rest of the team will simply have to overcome the separation anxiety and assume some responsibility, won't they?
  (2) "Hi, I'm a track runner!  Are you a track runner too?":  Margaret Angell, Margaret Schotte, Stacy Creamer, Lauren Eckhart, Kellie Quinones, Kim Mannen, Mary Rosado, ...
  (3) "Hi, although I don't know it yet, I'm really a track runner": Stephanie Gould, Shula Sarner, Shelley Farmer, Cat Goodrich, Stefani Jackenthal, ...
  (4) "Hi, but I don't think I'm going to be a track runner anytime soon": Audrey Kingsley, Sarah Gross, Monica Bonamego, Sandra Scibelli, ...
  Reminder:  Two key facts about the Snowflake Four Miler this year: (1) start and finish at East 99th Street; (2) men start at 830am, women start at 930am.

• Revised schedule: There will be a Catholic high school championship meet next Tuesday at the Armory.  For the distance runners (coached by Tony Ruiz), the alternate workout will be 7pm at the Daniel Webster statue inside Central Park for this one week.  The workout will be a track-oriented session, weather permitting on the reservoir path.  For those who train with the sprinters and middle-distance runners (coached by Brian Denman), the Tuesday workout will be moved up to Monday instead just for that week.

• Just in case you are wondering, our timers get report cards for their performances.  Tonight, Craig Plummer would have received an F if it weren't for the fact that he is bigger and stronger than any body (note the use of 'any body' instead of 'anybody' is intentional) else on the team ...  Demerit #1: He had no idea what the set was, and stood there wondering why everybody had stopped.  Demerit #2:  On one of the 400m's, he wondered why everybody had gone by when he was demonstrating a physical exercise to Sandra Scibelli.  Wake up, Craig!  You'll be on probation next week.

• Warning:  Members of the Central Park Track Club are hereby warned that there is a French-speaking person wearing the wrong colors who would rather run up and down the sideline instead of running with his team.  Therefore, when you step off the track to get a drink, you must always look out for him.  He has been known to have run over our Craig Chilton as well as our membership secretary in the past.  This has been a public service announcement from your favorite website.  (Follow-up: the above message drew this electronic threat: "One day, I will kill you ...")

(Workout of 2/15/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Jog east through the 72nd Street transverse and then north to East 90th Street.  Pick up your pace for the next 1.6 miles from East 90th Street north through the 102nd Street transverse and south to West 90th Street.  Continue south at a crisp pace to the Daniel Webster statue.  Pick up your pace for the next 1-1/4 miles through the 72nd Street transverse and up north to East 90th Street.  Turn around and jog back to the start.  This workout is a simulation of the Snowflake Four Miler (assuming that the race starts at East 90th Street, which it doesn't).  Total distance is 6.5 miles.  (P.S.  This message may come a bit late, but you should watch out for that dead raccoon on the left side of the road.  This has been a public service announcement from your favorite website).

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-three people were at the workout today.  Temperature was in the low 40's.  The count did not include cyclist Aubin Sullivan.  The count did not include Margaret Schotte and Isaya Okwiya, who materialized at the end of the workout.
• The men have the Al Gordon 15K scoring race in about 36 hours, so all they did was some easy running under the direction of Stuart Calderwood.   In addition, there were a couple of people for whom the workout ended by the time they arrived initially at the Daniel Webster statue in an all-out sprint, for such are the facts of life.  The proper workout was therefore left for the following:
       (1) our women
       (2) Ramon Bermo and Ross Galitsky ("we're triathletes")
       (3) the web photographers ("we're always behind the team")
• (WARNING:  This message is intended solely for members of the Central Park Track Club)  As a reminder, the Snowflake Run will start and finish near East 99th Street for once around the four mile loop.  In past years, the race used to start and end at East 90th Street.  So please don't show up at East 90th Street at race time, and wonder where everybody is.
• During the workout, Bola Awofeso said from the back, "I'm so slow that even the new girl is far ahead of me."  Well, that 'new' girl happened to be Marge Demarrais, one of our best runners in the late 80's/early 90's, having won the Trevira Twosome Two Miler and Corporate Challenge Races besides being a Princetonian (as is Tom Hartshorne and, need we add, Joe Lemay).
• Margaret Schotte's complaint might have been, "I ran the mile at the last Thursday Night at the Races and I did not get a single line mention."  Belatedly, she now gets this report: "Margaret Schotte ran the mile and went home, thus missing the most exciting event of the night --- the 400m!"  We suspect that when presented with the option of immortal fame versus those two laps, she would have chosen obscurity without hesitation.
• Lost and Found children:
  --- Ramon Bermo showed up today and said, "Just because I have not been to a club function since the New York City Marathon shouldn't exclude me from being mentioned on the website."  Yes, it is not an excludable offense per se but, by the same token, there is no interesting fact/fiction to include either.   The impasse can be broken by (1) his reappearance and/or (2) his submission of fact/fiction/restaurant reviews (additional hint: paying a bribe will help immensely).
• Wayward children in the subway (Message: "Come back soon ... we miss you ... if it was something that we did or said, then we are sorry and we promise that we won't do it again ...")
  --- Isaya Okwiya was spotted scouting out the park by himself tonight and filed this verbal report, "I ran into Tivon Jacobson on the subway.  He is into rock climbing these days, because he says that running takes too much out of him."  What?  WHAT!!!???
  --- We ducked into the subway to get home (because we don't need those 2.5 extra miles that Charlie Stark wants) and we saw Mark Birkey with his trombone.  He says that he has just gotten back into the 9-to-5 routine, which gives the stability that he needs to run consistently.  Currently, he runs home from work and he promises to come back soon.  Well, Stuart Calderwood will have to keep an eye on him (technical note --- this should be easy, since they have adjoining offices ...).

(REPORT ON 2/13/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 6 x (800m, 400m jog)

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-three people at the workout.  Big enough attendance to run five separate groups on the track.  The odd group was the four women (Margaret Angell, Stephanie Gould, Lauren Eckhart and Stacy Creamer), who were timed by ... of course ... James Siegel.

• One of our runners was observed to be wearing a pair of interesting looking socks.  Where is the camera?  Of course, it is never there when you really need it and it is always there when you least want it.  Nevertheless, the spectators declared that it would have been a trivial item in the trivia quiz, because the bowl legs would have been a dead giveaway.  Can you guess who that might be? 

• The new Pearl Izumi sample jacket was delayed in shipping, so we may not see it until next week.

• On this coming Sunday, during the CHSAA Championships at the Armory, there will be a special 5000m race in which Marla Runyan will make an attempt to break the US indoor record of 15:22.64.  Admission is free!  And the large high school contingent will guarantee that it will be a rousing, stomping occasion.  As someone pointed out today, Stacy Creamer is the editor of Marla Runyan's biography.  Buy that book when it comes out!

• Correction:  The story that Toby Tanser ran 20 miles before winning the two miler on Saturday is incorrect.  The correct number was 23 miles.

• The race results for the last Thursday Night at the Races had not yet been published (note: it is now!).  The secondhand account was that Margaret Angell first ran the mile in 5:10 ("I sucked!") to finish in fourth place.  When she got home, she told her parents that she got beat by two forty-year olds tonight, causing her dad to suggest that she should perhaps consider pursuing some other hobby.   But before she takes up lawn bowling, she should take note that one of those forty-year-olds (Madelyn Noe) had set the American W40-44 indoor mile record in this race, and the other 'near'-40-year-old (Gordon Bakoulis) is the most decorated runner in the history of New York City distance running.  Besides, most importantly, Margaret is training right now for the London Marathon, and if she can maintain 5:10 pace for 26.2 miles, she'll do alright.  Amazingly enough, after the mile race, Margaret Angell found herself surrounded by a mob of fans led by Sid Howard who demanded her to run the 400m event.  The final blow came when Gordon Bakoulis said, "If I am going to run the 400m too, then you must!"  So, on this night, Margaret was able to exact a measure of revenge by beating Gordon at the shorter distance.

• Round #2 of the post-workout push-up contest was another yawner.  This time at least, one of the competitors did in fact complete fifty of them, all the while being heckled.  The uncrowned push-up king shook his head on the sideline and made this observation, "If and when they get up to some more respectable number, then I will think about showing them how."

(Workout of 2/8/2001)

• As this is getting close to the 15K scoring race, this workout is made into a tempo run around the six mile loop.  The first two miles should be warm-up steps done at marathon pace.  The next four miles, beginning from the top of Harlem Hill all the way to the finish, is done at half marathon pace.  Total distance is 6 miles (plus 20 meters, if you must).

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Thirty-six people were at the workout today.  This night was neither too cold (like daytime today) nor too warm (like last week). 
• Our supermodel of the day was Stuart Calderwood, wearing the proposed Sugoi jacket for demonstration purposes.  Please read the report on the home page if you have not done so, and let your opinion be heard.  If you need to see the real thing, you can go to the Valentine's Day Twosome, where Toby Tanser will be the supermodel on that day.
• It is one thing to ask people to run at their half marathon pace, but there are certain nuances:
  --- The coach issued this warning, "This is the half marathon pace according to your current conditioning.  If your personal best was set 15 years ago when you were in shape, then I don't want you to try to match that tonight."
  --- One of our female runners, who is notorious for running faster at longer distances, said after the first two miles, "Phew, now I can slow down because my marathon pace is faster than my half marathon pace." 
  --- ... and then we have people who have no conceivable half marathon time to speak of at the moment ...
• The count did not include Aubin Sullivan, who came by the workout with these remarks: "I am not doing the workout tonight, because I have a problem with my foot."  A medical problem?  This club is loaded with medical professionals!  Consultation #1:  Michele Tagliati (M.D., Beth Israel Medical Center) said, "Hmmm ... I think your problem is with your foot."  That is actually a good pronouncement since this doctor is a medical psychiatrist who specializes in HIV/AIDS these days.  Consultation # 2:  Josh Friedman (Ph.D. candidate, Yeshiva University) said, "Hmmm ... I don't think this is my expertise.  My specialization is in immunology."  But all is not lost, as Aubin's HMO will not be billed for the free consultation that are given as Central Park Track Club membership benefits.
• The count includes Fritz Mueller, who appeared just as the workout started.  When he heard that this was a six mile run, he said, "No, I'm only going to do a five miler.  Well, maybe I'll join the other two guys for a four miler."  He ended up doing all six miles, including an 800m run with the "A" group.  Maybe he is ready ...  maybe not.  But he did feel quite old today because a runner came up to introduce himself today as Erik Schmitz, the full-grown 30-year-old son of one of Fritz's contemporaries, Mike Schmitz.
• John Scherrer files a complaint, "The only reason that I am here tonight is that I want to boost my google rating up.  I only have two pages."  Methinks John did not do the rating report properly.  Here are the proper steps:  Go to our home page and look for the Google.com search box at the bottom.  Type in your full name in the text box.  Check the button that says "Search www.centralparktc.org".  Click on the gray Google.com button.  Your google rating is the page count that appears on the right hand side of the color bar near the top of the page.  As of tonight, John Scherrer has a 22 rating, compared to our leader Stacy Creamer's 123.  How can he move up?  Follow the leader by (1) run every race (road, track, vertical, biathlon, triathlon, relay, swimming, fencing); (2) go to every workout; (3) get major clients such as Patricia Cornwell, Lance Armstrong and Marla Runyon; (4) learn to make beads, etc.
• Your webmaster issued this plea, "Please!  Don't send me any more of those Bush-Dick e-jokes!  I'll move to Canada if this doesn't stop!"

(REPORT ON 2/6/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 2 x (1000m, 400m jog)

• 2 x (600m, 200m jog)

• 4 x (400m, 200m jog)

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-two people at the workout.  Welcome to  new member Jessica Merritt on her first track workout!

• About last Thursday's workout, Shula Sarner said, "I am still aching from those hill sprints!"

• Running with the alpha males today was Tony Ruiz.  He said, "It was good that I have enough timers today to allow me to run.  It has been so long that someone has actually told me recently, 'Tony, I didn't know that you actually run!'"

• If this were up to a vote, then today marked the last day in Graeme Reid's running career with the "B" group.  He is just a bit ahead of the people he was running with today.  Graeme filed a protest vote to the effect that the timer's watch was miscalibrated.  As it turned out, timer Audrey Kingsley's personal watch overflowed today because there were too many stored splits from previous races (and she has ran many races).  Instead, she borrowed the designated official team watch.  This is the official watch used to record the start time of all the team workouts as well as the personal splits of Kiet Vo.  Whatever this watch says is the official record, regardless of the actual Greenwich Meantime Time or what any atomic quartz Swiss watch may indicate.  Today, according to the official watch, Graeme's last 400m was under 70 seconds, enough to get him into the "A" team, at least in theory.  No decision has been made yet on an official graduation present, but the following ideas have been suggested --- aspirin pills for his aching body after tough workouts?  a rope for him to hang on to the "A" guys?  or a pair of binoculars for him to watch the "A" guys do the horizon thing on him?

• Jeff Wilson has been our most consistent indoor track timer of the year, not by choice but by circumstances.  He had a stress fracture, which prevented from running at all.  It has been one hundred days without running for him, but he has just begun running again.  Audrey Kingsley is another timer who cannot run on the track right now.  But that did not prevent her from otherwise running from her home to the Armory.  Our other two timers are track runners who love to hang out with really cool people after their own workouts earlier.  Don't forget that you can read their workouts (today's summary review: "Devon Sargent --- Awesome job with the workouts!!!").  

• Historical footnote:  The post-workout push-up contest turned out to be a non-event ... if you have no idea what we are talking about, you missed out.  We are sure that the principals appreciate greatly the fact that we are not naming them ...
   

• Past races:  
  Millrose Games:  Toby Tanser now owns the two fastest 3000m times (8:35.0 and 8:38.64) in the history of the Central Park Track Club.  
  Colgate Games: Coach Tony Ruiz was absolutely worked up with the Colgate Games 1500m --- a terrific personal record (5:13, 5:20, 5:11, 4:56 in the first four 1500m indoor track races of her life) for novice track runner Lauren Eckhart and another terrific personal record (5:11, 5:09, 5:08, 5:05, 5:01 for the five races) for Stacy Creamer.
  Lucky Seven Mile Reversible:  Toby Tanser's five consecutive wins in Central Park road races is obviously another individual Central Park Track Club record.  A less significant statistic is the total number of road wins on the team: Toby Tanser 5, the rest of the team 0.  Shall we blame it on the fact that there have not been enough cross-country snow-shoe races due to lack of snow?
   

• Upcoming races this week are:
  Wednesday (2/7) --- The Empire State Building Run-up is where we expect to see the usual suspects such as Stacy Creamer-Stuart Calderwood and a bunch of our triathletes.  We also expect to see Toby Tanser in his debut, although he knows what this is about because he was the race reporter last year.
  Thursday (2/8) --- Thursday Night at the Races will see Margaret Angell and company doing their thing.  Margaret is actually training for the London Marathon, but has taken to heart the fact that Alan Ruben ran his marathon PR at Boston by running indoor track races in the previous winter.
  Saturday (2/10) --- Boston University Valentine Meet will see Erik Goetze, Rob Zand, Isaya Okwiya, Stephen Sipe and Kim Mannen
  Saturday (2/10) --- Valentine's Day Twosome will see our couples, including Stacy Creamer-Stuart Calderwood and Toby Tanser-Mystery Partner.  

(Workout of 2/1/2001)

• Tonight, we had the dreaded northern hill workout.  We head north and warm up with a 2000m, that begins at West 90th Street, goes through the 102nd Street transverse and ends at three lampposts past the hanging traffic light by the swimming pool.  The proper workout involves three repeats of 600m uphill from Martin Luther King Boulevard to the top of the Great Hill, and another three repeats of 400m uphill from West 103rd Street to the top of the Great Hill.  There was a separate unannounced race back to the finish (=start).  The total distance of the workout was 7.8 miles (and if you are Charlie Stark, you should add the four miles that you run from and to your home in the Lower East Side).

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• This is the first day of February, but the temperature was close to fifty degrees!  What is going on here?  The unseasonably warm weather attracted fifty-one people to this workout.  By 6:55pm, there were already ten people hanging out by the statue.  We can't imagine what kind of turnout we will be getting in the warmer months ahead.  Maybe we'll have to get a park permit for large assemblies.  Tonight, we kept being surprised by the luminaries who kept streaming in --- Ross Galitsky ("we thought he was an endurance triathlete"), Tim Evans ("we thought he was in Africa"), Michael Trunkes ("we thought he lives in Glen Cove"), and Fritz Mueller ("we thought he retired")!
• When you are standing around, there is nothing to do but talk.  Tonight, due to the extended chatting period, we found out (1) someone has still not recovered from his hangover (although it was reported to be completely gone after an awesome workout); (2) someone else was puking by the boathouse after a night on the town; (3) two of someone's personal records were set when he was stone blind drunk the night before; (4) someone smoked in high school, and it was not cigarettes (and this was told directly to an employee of the Drug Enforcement Administration) ... oh, whatever happened to the running?
• The first announcement of the night came from Audrey Kingsley: "I purchased an unlimited Metro card today and I am all done with it as of now.  So if anyone is taking the subway home, they are welcome to use my card."  For her generosity, she will be rewarded with five gratuitous quotes on this website to appear soon.  She actually needs all the help she can get because she is falling behind our leader Stacy Creamer on google.com mentions within this website, being handicapped by not being a track runner as well as not having Patricia Cornwell as client.
• To be truthful, Fritz Mueller dropped by and left almost immediately.  He said, "I can't stay around to listen to this.  I've already done my own workout.  And I want you to know that I am getting into shape!"
• Noel Comess 'fessed up: "Recently, I finally went through the website in detail.  I'll have to say that this whole thing must have been a labor of love."  However, given the scope of this website, he has probably still not tapped all of his own mentions.  We told him that he could use the Google.com search box on our home page to search for himself within this website.  It will probably come as a rude shock to him to find himself mentioned on this website long before he had ever joined (or even heard of?) this club.  Challenge:  We dare anyone to come up with the earliest reference to Noel Comess (and it is an odd one)!!!
• The hearts of the coaching staff skipped a collective beat when they saw that Frenchman whizzing by on a bicycle.  Would there be yet another major collision between that one-man wrecking crew and our team members (and we count Craig Chilton and Audrey Kingsley among his past victims)?  Fortunately, there were no injury reports.  The coaching staff did speculate on the best choice for a collision candidate in which we would come out ahead and came up with the name of James Siegel ("He's built like a brick"), with Randy Ehrlich as the alternate ("Need we say more?").
• When the coach released the fastest group on the last 400m, they took off sprinting.  This caused the coach to start screaming, "Don't f*** up now!  You don't want to blow your entire year because you injured yourself in a workout!"  By way of explanation, he said, "I don't curse at people unless we know each other well.  See, I would never say that to the other groups.  After all, I began my coaching with a girls' team in the projects."
• This workout may not be suitable for people who are either unable or unwilling to run hill sprints.  Tonight, we have Audrey Kingsley who said after the first 600m, "I can't run this!" and then we have Tyronne Culpepper on roller blades, saying, "I did eight Cat Hill repeats on Tuesday."  In lieu of running in the workout, what did they do?  We saw them sprinting/blading as hard as they could up the Great Hill, hand in hand ... INSANE!!! 
• Our new friend Kate said, "I went to the website and found myself being mentioned in the Tuesday workout description.  I can't believe that I made it on my first time!"  And she also made it on the second time!  By the way, such mentions are not completely gratuitous because they serve a communication purpose --- for example, tonight Audrey Kingsley knew immediately who Kate is just from reading the Tuesday workout.  Here is a piece of arithmetic --- for the month of January 2001, our road workout page was viewed 780 times.  On the average, each workout description was read by about 100 people when only about 40 people actually participated in the workout.  This is when you realize how the Internet has made the Central Park Track Club into something much more than the traditional running club, because you don't even have to be at a workout in order to be part of it.  So are we the most exciting thing in this town, or what!?

(REPORT ON 1/30/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 1 mile, 600m recovery

• 2 x (800m, 400m recovery)

• 1 mile

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-one people showed up on this strange-weather day --- driving rain in the morning, blue skies in the afternoon and showers again after the workout.  But since was an indoor workout, the weather had no impact.

• This workout is a strength-oriented workout.  The mile-800m-800m-mile should all be done in 5 mile race pace (and 5K race pace would be too fast since the total distance is nearly 3 miles).  Obviously, though, it goes without say that some people were running these sets at their respect mile/800m race pace ...

• By way of introduction, Tony Ruiz presented his friend Johnny Perez.  They had known each other since high school, but since Johnny was a couple of years younger, they did not compete against each other (or else, as Tony added, "I would have annihilated him!").  In any case, Johnny's credentials include a 1:58 half mile in seventh grade, a 15:45 cross-country 5K at Van Cortlandt Park and 10K in 32 minutes.  Tonight was his first time back at the Armory, which looks distinctly different from the wooden track (plus the cots for the homeless people in the infield) that he remembered.

• In terms of this past weekend's race results, congratulations go to Isaya Okwiya for his first sub-2 minute run in an indoor 800m.  Another record-setter is Toby Tanser's sweep of the first four races in the park this year (the Midnight Run belongs to the year 2000!).  There were some great times posted at the Thursday Night at the Races meet, but there have been no official results posted as yet (although Rob Zand might have wished sooner ...).

• We note in passing that Margaret Angell looked particularly strong tonight, and there was also nothing wrong with her clothing (for a change) tonight.  Also noted were the fact that the Blue Group was led tonight (and perhaps many more nights in the future) by the pair of Kate and Cat.  (WARNING:  Kitty Cat jokes are strictly forbidden!).  Our newcomer Kate said, "I've been to the website and read a lot of the quotes!"  This is her first chance (with many more sure to follow) to be quoted.

• Big track races on the weekend --- Toby Tanser in the Metropolitan Men's 3000m at the Millrose Games on Friday, and Stacy Creamer + Lauren Eckhart at the Colgate Games 1500m finals on Saturday.  Of special note is that Lauren qualified for the finals after running the first three indoor track races of her life in the two preliminaries and semi-final.  O, the joy of running!

(Workout of 1/25/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• The workout is a tempo run around the 6 mile loop at slightly faster than marathon pace.  There are two 1.1 mile pickups.  The first begins at bottom of the hill by the swimming pool at the northern end of the park and ends at Engineer's Gate (East 90th Street).  The second begins at the bottom of Cat Hill and ends at the New York City Marathon finish line by Tavern On The Green.

FIELD NOTES:

• Relatively warm night in the middle of winter.  Thirty-five persons were in attendance (including Jerome O'Shaugnessy in shorts, of course).  
• Coach Tony Ruiz had to attend a school function, but he did send one of his high school friends for his first Central Park Track Club experience.  Welcome, Johnny.  Our substitute coach tonight was Stuart Calderwood.
• Olivier Baillet said, "I have to thank our photographer for proving that I ran on the ice floes in the Central Park reservoir."  Of course, that was the wrong person to thank, because all credit goes to the Adobe corporation and their Photoshop program.
• John Scherrer wants everyone to know: "You do not have to congratulate me for being able to attend the workout.  After all, I have been coming here the past three weeks."  (note: ... but not the preceding twenty-six weeks)
• Where is Rob Zand?  The world demanded to know.  To dispel all those jokes that graduate students have too much time on hand for anything (that means, toying with personal websites and otherwise ranting) but working (that means, studying and running), the Global Surveillance System reports that Rob Zand was observed to be running three fast loops with Alan Ruben.
   
  Near-real time response from Rob Zand: "Alan Ruben and I were not running 3 loops today.  In fact, having been denied a racing opportunity by that bitch, mother nature, we were both at the armory tonight, partaking in the 2-mile, accompanied by the ever present Toby Tanser and Erik Goetze.  The two s.c.'s (Stuart Calderwood and Stacy Creamer) knew this, having seen me just today at lunch time at the corner of Varick and Downing, so I am truly surprised at your error.  The race went quite well and I want to thank Sid Howard, Kim Mannen, and a third unidentified voice who were perfectly positioned around the track and provided awesome support." 

(REPORT ON 1/23/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 4 x (10000m, 400m jog)

• 4 x (300m, 100m jog)

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-three people were present at the beginning at the workout.  This count does not include Rob Zand, who did a workout earlier with the NYU team, but you can read about his workout on his separate (but equal) workout description page.

• The purpose of tonight's workout is to have a set of long, steady runs to prepare for the Snowflake Four Mile race.  If you feel that you are ready at this time, you can try to run these 1000m's at 5K race pace.  If you are a bit unsure, you can start off at 4 mile race pace before going a bit faster.  But starting off too fast in the first 1000m and unable to sustain the pace is not the idea.  P.S.  We won't name the people who were clutching their chests and hyperventilitating after that first set ...

• Our timers are volunteers who decide to give their time on particular evenings.  Since their actions are spontaneous, they are difficult to coordinate.  Whereas we had a famine in the first week of the year, we had three weeks of successive feasts since.  Tonight, we actually had more people on reserve too.  But it is okay to show up anyway even if it turned out that you were not needed as a timer, because you can always gab with your other teammates, and find out about all sorts of wonder things (like who has chicken pox --- now you don't know that, do you?).  P.S.  You can also take pictures (of which there was a bunch taken tonight, soon to be published).

• Although there are rumors that the cancelled Chicken Soup Loop 10K will be replaced by the Lucky Seven Miler as a scoring race, these are strictly unconfirmed rumors at this time.

• By the way, there was our 'monthly' executive board meeting last night.  Ordinarily, these meetings take place on the first Monday of the month.  As it turned out, the first Monday of this month was New Year's Day, the second Monday coincided with a Club Council meeting and the third Monday was Martin Luther King Day.  We understand that we have a large batch of new members being accepted.  In appreciation of the effects of the recruiting effort, the exec board also decided that they (to be more precise, Sarah Gross) will keep track of the new member sponsors and the leader at the end of the year will receive a free membership for the next year.  Of course, this is a forward looking process from now on, so all the wonderful people that Randy Ehrlich has brought in (e.g. Audrey Kingsley, Alayne Adams, etc) will count for nought but we know he'll keep trying.  Right?  By the way, the competition rules are not precise as to whether bringing in someone like Toby Tanser will result in double award points.  Nevertheless, we would appreciate that all those people with last names like Kiptoo, Keino or Kariuki to put down the Central Park Track Club website as their sponsor, okay?

(Workout of 1/18/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Warmup to West 88th Street.  One mile fast (at 10K race pace) to W102nd Street and to the east side of the transverse.  Recover to East 96th Street (where the car traffic passes underneath) and run 1000m to the end of the straightway at East 86th Street.  Retrace your steps and run this workout in reverse.  The total distance is 6 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• It wasn't cold tonight, but there was a steady light drizzle.  Would you believe thirty-five people showed to run?  (Well, actually thirty-four people showed up to run and the other could not run, not having recovered yet from the previous night ...)
• Your regular reporter made these notes on his way up:
  (1) 57th Street and 7th Avenue --- hailed by some guy in a suit and a cell phone glued to his ear.  Hey, it's Kurtis Edwards, who said, "You probably don't recognize me because I have put on a few pounds ..."  No, Kurtis, we don't recognize you in that SUIT!  We expect to see you in running gear!
  (2)  66th Street --- Lynn and David Blackstone running in the dark!  No, they were not included in the count.
  (3)  67th Street --- Stéphane Bois.  We would have been disappointed not to see him.  We have yet to get his feedback on Toby Tanser's command of the French language ("... et la vie est la raison que nous vivons!")   Postscript:  Yes, Stéphane has spoken: "There is an error in that phrase.  It should be "... et la vie est la raison par laquelle nous vivons!")
  (5)  68th Street --- Mel Washington.  No, he was not included in the count.
• The short poll before the groups set out on who is racing on Sunday ---
  Sid Howard: "I am definitely not ready to run a 10K."  Comment: Compared to Bermuda last week, this 10K must seem pancake flat ...
  John Scherrer: "Have you seen me run lately?"  Comment:  No, should we have ... ?
• The key to this workout is that first mile from West 88th Street to East 102nd Street.  This should run at your projected 10K race pace and you should be fairly comfortable.  If it proves too hard, then you ought to rethink what your 10K race pace ought to be --- this is still not too late and you would absolutely hate to find out this piece of truth only at the 10K race instead.
• For the Tuesday workout, we published the official version of the Margaret Angell agenda as "I will skip the Thursday workout because I want to be well-rested for the scoring race on Sunday."  We regret that our reputation for publishing The Truth was willfully ruined when Margaret appeared at the workout.  Her explanation: "I slept in late this morning, so I have to run in the evening to make up for it."
• Don't forget --- Sunday is the Chicken Soup Loop 10K!  Please make sure that you look good out there for our photographers!  (Technical note:  That would be 'photographers', in the plural!)
• Looking past this Sunday, don't forget the February 2nd is the Millrose Games.  While it does not look like we are going to have a Masters Relay team this year, we will have Toby Tanser in the Fred Lebow 3000m.

(REPORT ON 1/16/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 4 x (800m, 400m jog)

• 4 x (400m, 200m jog)

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-five people present at the beginning at the workout.

• For those 800m's, the coach said, "I want you to do them at your 5K race pace.  Now I know that usually when I ask for 5K race pace, you do them at 3K race pace.  But this time I mean exactly 5K race pace.  You can then do those 400m's five seconds faster."  Brian Barry commented, "Yes, I followed the coach's instructions for the first time in my life.  It was so easy!  Running 800m's at 5K race pace is just like the recovery jog."

• Showing up in civilian clothes today was Adam Newman, almost ready to run again after surgery.  His observation: "It seems to be much more formal at the Armory than it used to be.  There is now that voice on the public announcement system telling everyone what they can't do."  Oh, yes, that has definitely come to our notice too ... why else do we wear earplugs?

• Here is an almost famous saying from David Pullman to Margaret Angell and Margaret Schotte: "Are the two of you sisters?"  Question: What mother would name her two daughters Margaret and Margaret?

• Afterwards, while waiting for the A-train, Rob Zand said, "I can't believe it's already past 930pm.  This was supposed to be a short workout!"  Yes, the workout was short, but the workout also started late. 

• James Siegel commented about last Thursday's non-workout description from the regular reporter --- "Not a lot reported, huh?"  Well, we note that there is not a lot to report even if the reporter was present, as long as people like Margaret Angell added "That was off the record" at the end of her long discourse on the downtown A-train tonight ...  However, we can tell you the official version of the Margaret Angell agenda is "I will skip the Thursday workout because I want to be well-rested for the scoring race on Sunday."  There  you have it ...

(Workout of 1/11/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Your regular reporter was AWOL from the workout today (thanks to a colleague who does not know when to stop talking ...).  So there is no workout description unless someone else volunteers.  BTW, we haven't seen any Kevin Arlyck write-ins yet since his return ... (hint, hint, hint).

FIELD NOTES:

• Of course, this website promises fresh content daily.  Even if we don't have anything new for today, we will bring you something from yesteryear.  So the history subject today is ... Tom Phillips, in his comeback as a 45-year-old with a 28:02 at the Fred Lebow Classic.  His return began with the indoor track workouts this year.  In the late 1980's, Tom was a legend for his iron-horse races.  He would run every winter race on weekends on a base of one track workout per week and no other running (or so the legend goes ...).  Here is what he did in the winter of 1989-1990, according to that season's club newsletter:
  - Central Park Track Club Indoor Meet (880 yd 2:09.62, 3rd; 60 yd 7.20, 1st; 440 yd 58:37, 2nd)
  - 4 Mile Holiday Run, 21:06 (2nd on team)
  - Season Opener, 26:14 (1st on team)
  - North Wind 10K, 33:09 (1st on team)
  - Frostbite 10 Miler, 55:32 (1st on team)
  - Central Park 20K, 1:10:07 (2nd on team)
  - Seven Mile Figure Eight, 37:11 (1st team)

1989 Holiday Run
(Left to Right) Graydon Pihlaja, Rick Shaver, a Santa Claus (non CPTC), 
Tom Phillips, Tim Robinson (peeking over Tom's left shoulder),
unidentified object (non-CPTC), and Mike Trunkes

Rob Zand provided this report at 10:10pm in the same evening, thus upholding the near-real-time nature of these workout descriptions.

• No official head count for tonight's workout was made, but a fair guess is 25.  Indoor track season, whether tonight's open races at the Armory or weekend races at Dartmouth or Pratt, are assumed to have caused this low attendance on such a balmy evening.  How balmy you ask? Balmy enough that Alan Ruben and Jerome O'Shaughnessy were not the only people inappropriately dressed in shorts. And balmy enough that Tony began the workout description at a July-like 7:10.
• Making their first appearances of the year were Erik Goetze, John Scherrer, and Shula Sarner.  Erik did not partake in the workout as he has big goals for a fast mile at Dartmouth this weekend.  John has apparently recovered from his embarrassment - the Ram's loss to the Saints and subsequent loss of Dick Vermeil to the Chiefs - to show his face in public.  Shula, possessing markedly less testosterone, was happy just to bring a friend.  
• J.R. Mojica was also present, and to his chagrin Tony again pointed out that the Tuesday track workouts are at the Armory, not East 6th St.
• Alan Ruben, respecting the cold, perhaps because of the aforementioned shorts, made a brief announcement regarding the NYRRC Club Night, February 24, an alleged good time, but not for the parsimonious.  Group rate tickets run $65 a head.  Details to follow on this site.
• Audrey Kingsley, recovering nicely from her altercation with the stair gods, was present tonight, making her second run of the year. She was spotted running with the 'A' group up the west side, which she confessed after about a mile was making her tired.  In fairness to her, Craig Chilton would say much the same thing about 2 miles later.
• The workout consisted of a warm-up to 102nd on the west side, with 3 lamppost pickups incorporated within. The heart of the workout was 1 pickup (2.83 miles) consisting of 2 loops of the northern hills with the second loop 15 seconds faster than the first. After the two loops, there was a cool down back to 72nd street. Total distance for the workout - 6.2 miles (or 10k for you metric types).

John Scherrer supplied this supplement:

• In the interest of providing a clear picture for those living vicariously through the web page (when was the last time we saw Devon Sargent outside when it was below 70 degrees?), let it further be noted that this workout attendee observed Boswell's pet whining incessantly before the workout: "Oh, Tony, it's too cold! Oh, John, I can't believe the Rams got draft pick compensation."  Additionally, mad flava was dropped but was incomprehensible to the majority (or maybe a minority) as German was the chosen language.
• (Almost) Famous People, Famous Saying offering:
  Who: Anonymous CPTC Runner
  When: After the first hill of the 1/11 road workout
  What was said: "Ich bin tot. Ich bin tot."
  Comment: Sounds rather Schubertian to me.

Your road workout historian points out that Devon Sargent last appeared in these descriptions on November 28, 2000; by comparison, John Scherrer's last appearance was on June 8, 2000.  Of course, we pass no judgment ...

(REPORT ON 1/09/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 1 mile, 600m recovery

• 4 x (600m, 200m recovery)

• 3 x (300m, 100m recovery)

FIELD NOTES:

• Thirty-two people were counted at the beginning of the workout.  This count excludes Toby Tanser, who miraculously appears for his third workout of the day.  The count also did not include Kevin Arlyck, charging in late with this description, "I did a David Pullman today" and making the promise, "I will never be late again for the workout." 

• This past Sunday, the women's team won the Fred Lebow Classic with the scorers of Yumi Ogita (2nd place overall), Sarah Gross and Mary Rosado.  The winning margin was exactly one point.  So our fourth place finisher Laura Miller was the one who made the difference by finishing ahead of the third-place runner on the next team.  So, always remember it is always an emergency when you get near the finish line.

• Inspired by the stirring PR setting performance by Alan Ruben at Boston, Margaret Angell will be running some indoor track races to get ready for the London Marathon.  Tonight, she started with the mile in 5:30, so now all she has to do is to hold on for another 25 miles.

• First time down on the track since the marathon was Shelley Farmer, who filed this status report afterwards, "After this workout, I will be only nine pounds overweight."

• Craig Chilton said, "Today was the first time in maybe a year that I visited the Food Critics page.  I had no idea that this page is being continuously updated."  Not only do we have fresh content coming from many contributors, but we have also become a power in this town.  That restaurant review page in fact ranks very high on the search engines, so that we are the first source of reference for some restaurants  (e.g. try typing "new york city" and "bouchon bistro" on google.com --- we're number one!).  Unfortunately, though, there is a tendency for reviews to be made about restaurants that most of us will never ever visit (to wit, in Ponca (Nebraska), Iceland, Sweden, Ealing (London), etc).

• We have finally closed the book on the year 2000 road runner workout descriptions.  That is one huge file of 446k characters.  By the maxim "Talk less, run more," we have failed miserably.  

(Workout of 01/04/2001)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION

• Head south from the Daniel Webster statue to reach the "S" letter on the road across Tavern On The Green.  Run the Stuart Mile and then the next mile up to East 90th Street at half-marathon pace.  Recover all the way to the 102nd Street transverse.  Run the two miles from there through the transverse and south back to the statue, also at half-marathon pace.  Recover southwards to 59th Street, run three repeats of (3 lampposts hard, 2 lampposts slow) and then complete the lower loop to the finish (=start).  The total distance of the workout was 5.1 + 1.7 = 6.8 miles.

FIELD NOTES:

• The body count of the day was 30.  There were still piles of snow out there, but it was actually quite nice and cozy as there was no wind whatsoever.  The coach said, "Ordinarily, people couldn't get me to start the workout soon enough in winter.  But it seems that you'll prefer to just chat a bit more tonight."
• Highly visible was Alan Ruben in his shorts, causing this comment, "Alan must have whale oil rubbed onto his legs."
• Showing up tonight was Yumi Ogita, causing the coach to say, "Hey, Yumi, where have you been?  I still have an award plaque from the Annual Awards Dinner for you.  Come to think of it, I still have the award plaque from the Annual Awards Dinner two years ago for you ..."
• Shelley Farmer gave a review of her condition --- "I gained ten pounds after the marathon.  It is not as bad as it sound, because I lost five pounds during the marathon, so my net gain was only five pounds."
• Okay, how could we go through one week's workout descriptions without Audrey Kingsley being mentioned?  Just because she was absent at both workouts is no excuse.  Where is Audrey?  We don't know for sure, but we got this hint before Christmas from her, "I am so glad that my finals are over because I will have a three-week-long intersession break to overtrain."  That quote is so good that it will be promoted to the Famous Sayings page ...
• James Siegel wishes to post this alert to everybody who come to the workouts: "Now that this is the middle of winter, the bushes and trees are losing their leaves and cover.  So it is in fact possible to clearly see what people are doing when they go into the bushes for privacy!"  This has been a Public Service Announcement from your favorite website.
• Your coach is a strong advocate of running indoor track periodically.  Tonight, he would claim credit for Alan Ruben's first sub-2:30 marathon --- "It was because Alan ran mostly indoor track races leading up to that marathon."  We will not publish Alan's reply ...  At any rate, you should note that the New York Road Runners Club is sponsoring a series of Thursday night track meets from now on.  Your coach likes them because they are fairly low-keyed --- "because the big guns like Erik Goetze and Isaya Okwiya won't show up there."  Even if those guys showed up, you should can still have a good time because the race is divided into sections according to speed.

(REPORT ON 1/02/2001 WORKOUT)

WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:

• 3 x (200m, 50m jog)

• 4 x (1200m, 400m jog)

FIELD NOTES:

• This is a brand new year, and the New Year Resolutions must have been numerous and strong, because we counted thirty-three people at our workout.  Way to go!

• On this day, we had no volunteer timers, so several of the groups were self-timed.  And since the voice on the Public Address System was insistent upon groups of no larger than eight, we were running in five or six groups today.  

• After listening to praises about his workout run today, Rob Zand said that the time for talking is over and it was going to be serious business this year.  Of course, Rob was one of the people who had a good start this year already --- Toby Tanser, Richie Borrero and Rob Zand finished 4th, 5th and 6th at the Midnight Run on New Year's Day.

• Based upon her personal experience, Kellie Quinones offers this piece of advice to everyone --- "Do not jump into the icy ocean in the middle of winter if you have a cold."  And she didn't even do it with the Polar Bears of Coney Island.  She added, "My feet were so cold that they felt like solid ice.  I was afraid that if I hit my foot against something, it would simply fall to pieces."

• The first scoring race of the year will be the Chicken Soup Loop 10K on January 21st.