A quiet crowd gathered at the Daniel Webster Statute this past Thursday for the weekly workout, as many runners took the night off to prepare for this Saturday’s Healthy Kidney 10K. But there would be no rest for those who showed up, as Tony had a difficult workout planned, almost as a punishment for those of us not racing this Saturday.
A small crowd of 29 runners gathered to hear the pre-workout announcements. First, Tony congratulated Katy Masselam on her tremendous race last weekend in Michigan. Katy ran the USATF 25K Us Championships in an impressive time of 1:34:09, a whopping 6:04 pace per mile. This was good enough to earn 10th place overall, and a well deserved round of applause from those in attendance. Tony then goes on to compare Katy to another CPTC runner from Boston, who just happened to qualify to the US Olympic Trials in 2004. Tony then jokes about how the top women runners on the team all seem to come from Boston, home of the first place Red Sox. Coach Tony, however, had an excuse for the struggling Yankees. According to his theory, the Yankees only start playing well after Tony makes his first appearance at Yankee Stadium. Seeing the pennant race getting out of hand, Tony realizes that he can’t wait any longer, and will attend the Yankees / Red Sox game this Tuesday. You know that Tony truly believes this theory, as why else would he skip out on a Tuesday night track workout??? I’m sure I’m not the only one interested in seeing if the Yankees pick up the pace after Tuesday’s game. And how Tony talked so long about baseball without mentioning the WORLD CHAMPION ST. LOUIS CARDINALS is beyond me….
But enough about baseball, as there was a workout to attend to. The workout started with the Stuart Mile, and then led to a tough 2 mile segment ending at the top of the Harlem Hills, and finally a fast downhill mile interval ending back at 72nd St. With a smaller than usual crowd, the crowd divided into just three groups this time, and by 7:21PM, the first group was off. The Stuart Mile proved to be an adventure, as the runners had to contend with a road race (featuring CPTC’s own Chris Solarz) taking place on the lower loop. Fortunately, things calmed down after the first interval. It was interesting to note that after the mile interval, I was approximately 10 seconds behind the ‘C’ group, and thought for sure that I’d pass them on the recovery before the two mile interval. To my surprise, I didn’t make up any ground at all during the recovery, as the group ahead of me recovered at the same pace that I did.
I rarely if ever time road workouts, but I kind of wish I timed the two-mile segment. Running by myself, it was easy to lose focus, especially in the half mile segment before the big hill. The toughest aspect of the workout might have been the extended rest period between the second and third interval, as it was easy to tighten up before the downhill final mile. Fortunately, it was easy to regain focus on the downhill mile (even if Tony didn’t notice us pass by), which led to quality times for the last mile. Some members reportedly ran the last mile twenty seconds faster than the first mile.
For better or worse, everyone quickly dispersed at the end of the workout. Even Coach Tony left early, as he had to meet with Coach Devon. And thus, another Thursday night workout comes to an end.