east moline firecracker - registration still open online

 Joe Moreno has done a great job bringing life back to this race.  My only 5k this summer.  Will see if QCRunner still has a personal best left, or if the reaper has caught up.  Click here for Firecracker 5k and 10k website.

-Larry

long haul trucker runner - Joe Fecker

I shared a long run this past Sunday with Joe Fecker.  Got to know Joe last year during the summer season, when he would come down to run with the Sunday group getting ready for fall Quad Cities Marathon.  Joe did well....pulling off a personal best 3:22 marathon at QCM 2010.

All during the training, Joe was going through a life transition.  Changing careers, Joe was going back to school for his commercial driver's license.  His goal was to become a long haul truck driver working for someone, perhaps later becoming an owner operator.

Fast forward to summer 2011.  Joe stopped in during one of his cross country runs for 12 miles of running Sunday.  Told some interesting stories of how hard it was to eat well and exercise as a truck driver.  He was planning to talk to the owners of truck stops about how they have the worst food...candy, soda, junk food....at the front of the stores for convenience and sales.

There are over 3.2 million truck drivers in this country, a figure expected to grow to 3.5 million by 2018.  It is one of the few areas of active employment growth projected in a tough economy. Fitness and health are serious issues in a job that puts you in the seat for 11 hours each day.

Here's how Joe deals with the challenges.

- Runs from truck stops.  Parking the big rig is a challenge, so occasionally I get photos of his from a trail run...got one from 15 miles west of Washington, DC last week.  Note 26.2 sticker in photo at left ;-)

- Bicycle.  He puts his tri-bike on a trainer and pedals inside the truck!  In the sleeper section, he has to take the front wheel off and climb over the bike to get into his bed.  Or he puts the bike on the trainer outside the cab, or more rarely gets on the bike for an actual ride.

Kudos to you Joe on keeping fit while driving nearly half of each day.  The concrete jungle we have created centered around the car has made this challenging to say the least.

Think about Joe and other drivers like Dave Jessen when you see them on the road.  Given them a wide berth...their stopping and maneuvering room are longer than yours.

-Larry

performance prediction - coach Russ Hart

Here's some pace advice from Russ Hart, who is coaching the Cornbelt Running Club marathon training program and track program.  It looks like Russ is following Jack Daniel's running guidance for this as well as his track workout.  Jack Daniel's Running Formula is among the most widely cited "scientific" books of running.


Just for grins...I looked up what a roughly 5:30 miler would get done.  Not that this is anybody I would know.


From Jack Daniels -
18:40 5k...check.
1:25 Half...not yet, close
2:58 Marathon...Wow.


Looked at Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training for Runners...exactly the same.  He follow's Daniels.  Then I looked up Run Less Run Faster....3:02 marathon....hmm.


I think I need to put these things away and worry about my 100 miler in 3 weeks...Marathon for next year.


-Larry
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Marathon Pace goal setting
Coach Russ Hart


By now you probably realize that our training program is heavily based on pacing. We do
a certain pace for long runs, a different pace for tempo runs, and still another pace for
speed work. Each pace is based on what we call “goal marathon pace” or “goal halfmarathon
pace”. I suspect (actually I’m pretty sure!) many of you don’t have any idea
how to set a realistic marathon goal pace. What I’ll try to do here is explain how to get
reasonably close to a reasonable goal pace based on current race performance.


There are many versions of “race equivalence charts”. They don’t always agree exactly
but they all provide numbers that are roughly equivalent and certainly good enough to
guide new marathoners in selecting appropriate goal pace. All of these charts are based
on the fact that a runner’s race pace slows as the race distance gets longer. Each runner’s
race pace at the shorter distances is affected by genetics, training, environment, and other
variables but can be used to predict a marathon goal pace assuming the completion of
appropriate marathon targeted training. These charts do not say that if you can run a
5K in 20 minutes today you should be able to run a 3:15 marathon tomorrow. What they
do say is that if you are capable of consistently running 5K in about 20 minutes, you
should be able to train for and complete a marathon in approximately 3:15.


To use the table, find a time for several recent shorter races in the table (you can
interpolate between listed times) and follow that line to the suggested marathon goal time
(and pace) in the far right column (next to last column for the half). This time is a good
starting point for your goal race time (and pace).


Since each runner is different, with different strengths and weaknesses, a single line
through the table does not always accurately predict race times for all distances. Let’s
take a fictitious runner named Sally Stamina. Sally has rarely been able to complete a 5k
in less than 30 minutes so the table predicts a goal marathon time of 4:45 to 4:50.
However, Sally has run several half-marathons in approximately 2:10. Her half-marathon
times are a better predictor of her appropriate marathon goal time than her 5K times and
she could certainly choose to train for a sub 4:30 marathon. (She could probably improve
her 5K times by doing more speed work – but that’s a topic for another time!)

qc triathlon pictures - 061811

QCRunner and entourage set out early by bike to the QC Tri at West Lake just west of Davenport off I-280.  QCRunner is a runner, biker and sinker...so the coverage is limited to the land based events from the spectator side.  After the appropriate number of mountain run belt buckles, aquatic options will be explored.

Warm, overcast skies made the swim waiting more pleasant than past years for almost 700 participants.  Race director Eric Samo does a great job putting this event together.  Wave start means that the last participants are entering the water for 600 yard swim about the time the elite cyclists are finishing the 15 mile bike and beginning the 3.1 mile run.

Top male finisher Jeff Paul and top female finisher Jen Foley kept the honors local.  Fellow Stanley employee Craig Phillips of Muscatine finished an impressive 14th in only his second season of triathlon. Craig humors QCRunner during long biking events by climbing hills and them coming back down to see if the tired old broken down masters runner is still around.

Special shout out to Super Dave Jessen for completing his first QC Triathlon since developing some breathing difficulty.  He always shows "grit, guts and determination" for staying at fitness, despite the challenges.

Further kudos to Alma Brunson, participating in her first outdoor triathlon.  Mother of five, great friend from Muscatine, Alma pushes and pushes.  Great role model, great job!

Other local friends participating  include - Lisa Wells, Tina Beert, Super Dave Jessen, Bonnie Busch, Pat and Clara DeCoster, Eric Furnas, Connie Mann, Laura Snook, Alma Brunson, Julie Evans....apologies to any I missed.

-Larry


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

TOMRV - day 2 - near St. Donatus Iowa

L.O.V.E. Run 2011-A Running/Yoga Adventure Across Iowa

Met Jeanelle Boyer at a recent ultra. Yoga instructor and runner from Iowa City. Great person, fun to talk to.

She is running across the state of Iowa for charity this summer.

The run benefits the slow food and local food movement.

Hope to join Jeanelle on the run when she comes into Davenport or Wilton.

Nifty history angle...Jeanelle's grandfather walked around the world over the one hundred years ago.

Spreading the word...

Best-

Larry

-----

Time : Wednesday, June 22 at 5:00am - July 1 at 8:30pm

Location: Across the WHOLE state of IOWA

More Info:

Live Optimistically, Value the Earth! LOVE more! Jeanelle Boyer and Steve Flynn are running across IOWA to celebrate life....312 miles in 10 days! Along the way we will be holding yoga classes to raise money to support local, sustainable agriculture.

This began as a way to honor the spirit of my great grandfather who walked around the world in 1897! 

Join us for any part of the run, or a yoga class along the way!! All money raised will go to Practical Farmers of Iowa and Slow Food USA. You can donate now at:

http://www.crowdrise.com/jeanelleboyer

Please help by spreading the word! 

Schedule of Events

June 21st: 6PM-7:00PM Yoga at Lotus House of Yoga in Omaha, NE!

June 22nd: Run Council Bluffs to Hancock, IA

June 23rd: Hancock to Adair, IA

June 24th: Adair to Van Meter, IA 

June 25th : Van Meter to Des Moines

June 25th :9AM-10AM Yoga In the Park at Gray’s Lake followed by picnic with music and local food organizations attending

June 26th: 8AM 5K run with Jeanelle and Steve....run with us as we head out of Des Moines! Beginning on the Southeast shore of Gray's Lake

June 26th: Des Moines to Newton 

June 27th: Newton to Brooklyn

June 27th: 6:00PM-7:15 PM Community Yoga at Grinnell Heritage Farm

June 28th: Brooklyn to Willamsburg

June 29th Williamsburg to Iowa City

June 29th: 7PM-8:30PM Community Yoga at College Green Park in Iowa city, followed by a picnic and music

June 30th: Iowa City to Wilton 

July 1st: Wilton to Davenport

July 1st : 6:00-7:15PM Community Yoga at LeClaire Park in Davenport

For more info, see my website:

http://jeanelleyoga.com/LOVE_Run_2011.html

Love to all!!

link to register - cornbelt running club marathon training 2011 fall

Reposted from Cornbelt Running Club.

---

Hello fellow runners - It looks like the winter is finally winding down and Spring is, at least officially, here. The CBRC Fall Marathon Training Program will be here before you know it. I hope you all had a good winter complete with well deserved rest and are now getting back into running shape. As usual, we'll be doing our first long run on the first Sunday morning in June, June 5th. This year we are adding the option of signing up via "getmeregistered.com". Many of you are familiar with this service that is mostly used to preregister for races. Here is the maratrain link in case you would like to use this option.

 

https://secure.getmeregistered.com/get_information.php?event_id=4622

 

Hope to see all of you at the races and again on the 5th of June.

 

Russ