Paw Prints, Hoof Tracks and Tales!!!

Nicci Lycan sets new course record at Steve's Raider Stomp 10k!

Here is this week’s Safari Email

Check out the Course Map

It is human to err....did we ever tell you we sometimes make mistakes....this note arrived from Terri Kunkel this week and due to our blunder, we gave her the headline!

"Not that it's any big deal but I just read the blog for this past week and my name was eliminated from the Lindsey's Run! I really did get 2nd place in my age group!! Thanks! Terri" Yes, it is true, Terri finished an awesome 2nd place in her age division in the Lindsey’s Run 10k! Congratulations Terri!

It has never happened before in Safari history, but there is a always a first time for everything! Nine Safari participated in Steve’s Raider Stomp 10k and 5k, and every single one brought home an overall or age group award. Not only that, several rounded up family members, each also placing in their respective age group.

Safari Ladies continue to dominate local racing action with overall wins at most recent events. Jen Shaffer wasn’t present at "The Raider Stomp," but her back-up Safari team came through to take both the women’s 10k and 5k runs! Nicci Lycan easily won the women’s 10k, and not only that, she earned professional status by shattering the course record with a 42:13. The event provided a cash incentive for this astounding feat. Bonnie Sexton won the 5k race, but just missed out on breaking her own record (and the cash) set at the inaugural event the year before.

The 5k run was a run full of family fun! In the 5k 35-39 division, Track Coach Steve Downard and his wife Trish took 1st place in the 35-39 age division before scooting off to a little league All-Star game starring Kyle Downard. Kyle did not run this race as he was resting up for the big game. Track Coach Joe Hulsebus took 1st place in his age division, while wife Lana took 3rd in hers. Brenda Stoddard won her age group, and eleven year old son Trevor Stoddard finished 3rd place overall.

In the 10k Run, Erica McCulley and Travis McCulley shared 2nd place honors in their age groups. Erin Kucera, encouraged in her running by friend Nicci Lycan took 1st in her age group. Ron Reid took 3rd in his age division, and Nancy Vendeville placed 2nd in hers!

Congratulations all Safari "Raider Stomp" Participants! And kudos to Race Director Bob Smola who once again put on a first class act, not to mention putting all the winners on a podium!

The July 14 Kindleberger 5k drew a record crowd and provided the perfect forum for Jen Shaffer’s final of many local race victories. That’s right! Kalamazoo’s elite, Jen Shaffer is moving to Wisconsin at the end of this week to get settled before starting her new job as a middle school teacher this fall. Jen has promised, however, to drive the 5 hours to Kalamazoo to share some of her long runs with the Safari...the Kalamazoo running community is one of a kind! Speaking of Jen, it took Jen, Bonnie Sexton and Jon Williard 3 hours to complete a 13 mile run. The trio managed to sandwich a 5k race, post race social, cool down, awards ceremony, and a "parade" run into the morning. That’s right, the trio found themselves caught in the middle of the Kindleberger Summerfest parade!

Cristi Dedoes made a 5k appearance as a tune up for the Crim. Joel Shaffer arrived with daughter Kailey while mom Amy stayed in Safari school. Lisa and Jeff Cavanaugh both took 3rd in their age divisions, as did Sheila Clothier. Carl Fried took 3rd in his competitive age division. Joe Hulsebus is coming back strong after breaking 19 minutes and placing 2nd in his. Stephanie Sabin set a new 5k PR and won her age division. Kailey Shaffer and Jon Willard both placed 1st in theirs. Congratulations all Safari Kindlerberger 5k finishers!

Oops, we almost erred again, team Leader Brian Dobbie also won his age division at Kindleberger. Actually, the reason we listed Brian separately is because his son Will, who worked at Gazelle Sports, is involved with the Blue Plant Run. This excerpt is taken from their website, http://www.blueplanetrun.org/

The Blue Planet Run will cover 15,200 miles, across 16 countries and 4 continents, 24 hours a day for 95 days to deliver an extremely urgent and important message: we can and must begin today to alleviate the catastrophic burden placed on over a billion people who, every day, must drink unsafe local water, or travel long distances on foot to search for safe water for themselves and their families.

Starting in New York City on June 1, 2007, a team of "20 ordinary male and female athletes doing extraordinary things" will run around the clock along a route that includes the U.S., Ireland, the U.K., France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan and Canada. Each runner will sprint 10 miles a day. Batons will be passed at over 1,500 exchange points. The Run will end back in New York City, on September 4, 2007. Each exchange point and heartfelt moment will be captured in the media, fueled by well-organized events in major cities and an international PR campaign.

The event will spare no expense to be Earth- and people -friendly. We imagine an event that comes to be known as "The Race without a Trace." We are committed to partnering with corporations that have similar beliefs and goals.

The Safari Beat on Heart Rate Training: Maximum Heart Rate or Heart Rate Reserve?

Stacie Kryszek from The Studio will provide the full low down on heart rate training at the July 19th clinic, 7:00 pm at Gazelle Sports, but here’s an article to get you started!

The Studio (Personal Training) by the way, is hosting two open houses for KAR (which includes Safari) members. The first one is Saturday July 14th from 9:30 to 10:30 and the second one is Tuesday, July 17th, from 5 pm to 6 pm. The Studio is located at 161 East Michigan Avenue on the lower level. This is the building where Food Dance Café use to be at, they have since moved down the street.

Today’s technology makes heart rate training easier than ever…..now there are even GPS systems available with a built in heart rate monitor feature. Heart rate monitors are the most effective way to measure your heart rate while running. They are accurate and you can check your heart rate without having to stop. As you may have discovered, it is difficult to obtain an accurate reading by checking pulse. It is easy to miss beats and your heart rate begins to slow quickly when you stop. Your heart rate is an important tool in your training arsenal: it provides valuable feedback on your training intensity because it determines how hard your heart is working while exercising.

Before strapping on the sophisticated hardware and taking off, it is important to understand how to determine the appropriate heart rate for you, and for a particular training intensity. How do you determine the appropriate heart rate for a particular workout? Training can be based on a percentage of one of 2 different methods:

A percentage of your maximum heart rate (MHR) OR
A percentage of your heart-rate reserve (HHR)

Heart-rate reserve is a little more accurate than maximum heart rate, but it requires a little more arithmetic. HHR is your maximal heart rate minus your resting heart rate. It estimates the percentage of your VO2 Max at which you are working and shows how much your heart rate can increase with exercise. For example, if Bill’s maximal heart rate is 200 and his resting heart rate is 45, his heart rate reserve will be 155.

There are several age-based formulas available for determining maximal heart rate, but these only estimate an average for persons of a given age and are fairly inaccurate. Your actual maximal heart rate could be as many as 20 beats below or above the average for your age. Unless you fall right in the middle of the bell curve, if you base your training on this, you could be training far too easy or too hard.

Fortunately, there still is a simple, yet much more effective way of determining your maximal heart rate. Do a good warm up then run several striders. After you have warmed up thoroughly, run very hard for 2 minutes using a heart rate monitor. If you have run as hard as you can, you will be within 2 or 3 beats per minute of your maximal heart rate by the end of the run. If you aren’t sure if you gave an all out effort, jog 10 minutes then repeat the test to see if the results are similar. You may find you get a slightly higher heart rate if you perform the test uphill.

Once you have your maximal heart rate, you can determine what the target heart rate should be for a given workout using the chart below. For example, if Bill wants to do a long endurance (E) run he will want to keep his heart rate below 75% of maximal heart rate. Since his maximal heart rate is 200, his goal will be to keep his training heart rate below 150 (.75 x 200) when applying the maximal heart rate method of calculation. Likewise, when performing a lactate threshold (LT) run, Bill will want to keep his heart rate between 80 – 92% of maximum.

The slightly more accurate heart-rate reserve method is calculated using the following formula:

Heart-rate reserve (HRR) = maximal heart rate – resting heart rate
Target Heart-rate = resting heart rate + heart rate reserve (HRR) x appropriate percentage of HRR.

Your resting heart rate is your heart rate when you first wake up in the morning. In order to get your resting heart rate, take your pulse over the course of a few days and take an average to get the most accurate result. If you normally use an alarm clock to wake, take your pulse during days when you can wake naturally. The alarm clock startles you into waking up with a higher heart rate.

Once you have both maximal heart rate and resting heart rate, you can calculate the appropriate target heart rate for a particular training intensity using the chart below. For Example, Bill has a maximal heart rate of 200 and a resting heart rate of 50. If he wants to perform a VO2 max workout at 95% of Heart-rate reserve, his target heart rate will be calculated as follows:

200 (maximal heart rate) – 50 (resting heart rate) = 150 (heart-rate reserve)
50 (resting heart rate) + 150 (heart-rate reserve) * .95 (appropriate percentage for VO2Max = 193. Bill’s target heart rate for a VO2 Max workout is 193.

Target Heart-Rate Training Intensities:

Numbers Order is: VO2 Max Percent HRR Percent Max Percent Max Heart Rate

Speed Faster than VO2 Max Not Applicable Not Applicable

VO2 Max

95-100%, 95-98%, 95-98%

Lactate Threshold

75-90%, 75-90%, 80-92%

Endurance

65-80% 65-80% 75-85%

Recovery

<70%>

Heart rate can be affected by factors other than exercise including caffeine, dehydration and running in the heat. If you are running on a hot day, your heart rate will increase several beats per minute as you progress because your blood volume decreases and more blood is being sent to the skin for cooling purposes. This increases your heart rate to supply enough oxygen to your working muscles. You will need to take this into consideration on a very hot day. If your target heart rate is 145 normally, you may want to allow an increase of 5 beats per minute or 150. Beyond this, however, it is wise to slow your pace to stay within the adjusted range.

Reference: Pfitzinger, P., and S. Douglas. 1999. Road Racing for Serious Runners. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

Where has Chris Crowell Been? Mystery Solved!

Chris Crowell has been mysteriously absent from early Safari endeavors. Whats Up? The secret of his disappearance has finally been uncovered!!! Chris and Mary are pleased to announce the arrival of a new Granddaughter On July 5 at 7:37 pm their daughter Brooke gave birth to a daughter- Jordan Isabella Menconi. She was 8 lbs 5 ounces and 21.5 inches.

Mary was able to be with Brooke who lives in Santa Rosa, California by jumping on a plane at 4 pm July 4 as Brooke was in labor. She arrived at the hospital around midnight pacific time and was able to see her granddaughter’s birth after a very lengthy labor. Everyone is joyfully exhausted!

Paw Prints, Hoof Tracks and Tales Special! Team Tiara Running with the Girls!

This year 38 men and women have taken on the exciting challenge of not only training to run a full or half marathon, but also to raise money to support the Greater Kalamazoo Girls on the Run as well. These athletes are members of Team Tiara. Team Tiara is the charity running “leg” of GOTR and uses the power of running to make a difference for thousands of third, fourth and fifth grade girls. Team Tiara runners are asked to raise a minimum of $262 – or $10 per mile for those marathoners. At Girls on the Run, we believe that running can change you! The young girls in our programs train for their first big race. Just like the jungle beasts of the Safari, they get stronger and can run longer. The girls learn about goal setting and achievement, motivation and overcoming obstacles. And just like us, they cross a finish line that changes their outlook on themselves and their lives.

GOTR uses running to transform the way girls see themselves and their opportunities. Our ultimate goal is to reach every girl to educate and prepare her for a lifetime of self respect and healthy living.

As you spot a fellow friendly runner – one who may even be sporting a tiara – be sure to give a shout out of encouragement for the difference that runner is making in the lives of our girls. To learn more about GOTR or Team Tiara, please visit http://www.girlsontherun.org/.

Paw Prints, Hoof Tracks and Tales!!!

Francine Bangs stays on course at Lindsay's Race


Know where you are going. Here is this week’s Safari Map

Having yahoo group problems? Here is this week’s Safari Email

For those who are brand new to jungle territories, the Paw Prints, Hoof Tracks and Tales editor welcomes any stories (in good taste of course), whether fact, fiction, serious or just pure jungle gibberish! The only taboo tabloid topics are relationships, restroom issues (unless you are picking on Team Charmin) and politics. Anything else remotely related to running is fair game. Email your breaking news to Bonnie Sexton at besrun2003@yahoo.com!

Turns out we are training the trainers. Kristi Buckham and Alicia Curry are coaches for the Kalamazoo Central track team and are training for the Chicago Half Marathon. Mysterious disappearances were reported to local authorities at last Tuesday’s track sessions. What happened to all the way too serious runners wondered Team Leader Lisa Hanson, who along with Holly Bayes, Chip Hanson, Pam Boner & Marty Feilen confessed they were present exclusively for the social aspects of the workout. Were the rest abducted by aliens? It is a possibility some of them were enjoying a dream summer vacation on another planet, but we have hard evidence to prove there was a jungle conspiracy to invade local Forth of July RACES! Headline news is that Jen Shaffer did NOT win any of this week’s local races as we think she was out of town planning her wedding.

Many from the ranks of the Safari roamed east where they were caught flying around the traditional 5k course and breaking in the new 10k course at Lindsay’s Race in Richland. Rumor has it Francine Bangs didn’t get lost this time around. After totally blowing existing “training effect” theories out of the water, David Thierjung is giving Jeff Dattillo some early competition in the race for the prestigious “Most Improved” award after knocking 4 minutes off his Kalamazoo Klassic 10k time. Some low profile Safari renegades may have made an appearance. Breaking news has it the renegade brigade isn’t unique to the likes of Borgess Run Camp. We must be doing something right….more than half our Safari participants brought home hardware….check out all our Safari Lindsay’s Race stars:

Elizabeth (E) Wright tries out new course at Lindsay’s Race 10k
Lindsays Race 10k
David Ausema
Joy Bailey 3rd Age Group
Francine Bangs 1st Age Group
Cristi DeDoes 1st Age Group
Giti Henrie
Vicky Mergen
Tom Taylor 2nd Age Group
David Thierjung New PR!
Jon Willard 1st Age Group
Elizabeth Wright








Lindsay’s Race 5k
Megan Bradshaw
Sheila Clothier 3rd Age Group
Tammy Parat
Stephanie Sabin 1st Age Group
Jody Stanley
Carole Stevens 1st Age Group
Mike Willy
Dale Wyatt 2nd Age Group

Others migrated south to Schoolcraft for the Firecracker 5 Miler directed by our very own Brenda Stoddard. The event once again shattered prior participation records with 177 participants in the 5 mile run, and 232 after adding those in the one mile fun run. The entire Kling family (minus the cat and the parrot) participated in the event with Tim and Kayla running the 5 Mile, and Kris the one mile fun run. Oh, beware the dangers of shopping at the same specialty running store. Team Leader Julie Steeby and Michelle Fabi found them selves looking at a mirror image after they both showed up decked out in the exact same running attire. No doubt they will be on the phone the evening before future safari runs and races. The Safari’s Scott Taylor was found calling mile splits and cheering the runners at mile 4!

Natalie Dale and Frank Hui made appearances at the Firecracker as the Safari’s Team Tiara representatives. Bonnie Sexton made her Master’s debut by outrunning the youngsters to capture the women’s overall title. The exchange of the coveted Run to Climax shirt was successfully executed, and Rose Kovalscik is now the proud new owner of the controversial item along with Patti Montilla and jungle stray Glen Kellum. It is reported the trio all wore their shirts to the pancake breakfast.

Twenty-three of our Safari Stars made an appearance at the Schoolcraft Firecracker (not including Stray Jungle Beast Glen Kellam who took 1st in his age group) It was also reported that Mark Chicoinne was seen there, but we can’t locate him in the results…hmmmm!

Schoolcraft 5 Miler
Cathy Baldwin
Cynthia Chapin
Natalie Dale
Brian Dobbie 1st Age Group
Michele Fabi 3rd Age Group
Peter Fernando
Gordon Hare 2nd Age Group
Frank Hui
Patrick Johnson 1st Age Group
Meredith Keller
Kayla Kling 3rd Age Group
Tim Kling
Rose Kovalscik
Kelly Korf
Erica McCulley
Patricia Montilla 3rd Age Group
Rebecca Penar
Ronald Reid
Bonnie Sexton Female Overall Winner
Mark Sigfrids 1st Age Group
Julie Steeby 2nd Age Group
Nancy Vendeville
Josh Yoder 3rd Age Group

Huge disclaimer here…..If you are a registered Safari participant and find yourself missing from local race results let us know about it so we can correct our erroneous ways, but never, ever take it personal. We hold grudges against no one. Safari authorities admit it takes a dash of black magic and an abundance of technical wizardry to pull results from hundreds, sometimes thousands of runners. Who is the master magician behind the race results? It is none other than evening track coach Joe Hulsebus, who is nothing short of an information management genius. Still despite this high level of technical competence, misspelled names, reversals and other magic potion mishaps sometimes cause names to fall off the list. Also, our magician for the most part only pulls from KAR Club Series events, so if you have another racing adventure you want to share please report it to us! We want to know, and we really do CARE about what you are doing out there so please do go ahead and SHARE! As a bonus, you may just motivate someone else!

Special thanks to last Saturday’s aid station volunteers Dave Walch and Julie Wojtascek! If you know of anyone willing to assist in keeping the herds well hydrated Saturday mornings please have them contact Sherry Selby at sselby@tds.net.

Train with Rest...Recovery Day Rejuvenation!!!

Carole Stevens rests and enjoys a chat with Mike Willy

Feeling a bit of lingering soreness? One of the most common training errors runners make is training too hard or too long on recovery days. What exactly constitutes a recovery day? It varies from person to person depending on their physiology, age, predisposition to injury, fitness level and other factors. For some it means a complete day of rest, for others a day of cross training, and for others a day of “easy” running that is shorter in distance and lower in intensity than your “hard” or “quality” days. That is the logic behind why the training schedules offer a choice some recovery days. It enables you to tailor your training to the best recovery option for you. If you train too hard on a scheduled recovery day, you will be tired for your next quality workout and it won’t go as well as planned. This can often lead to a vicious cycle, and the tendency is to run hard the next scheduled recovery day to make up for the lackluster “hard” day. This results in a decline in performance in racing times and in your quality workouts. Just as it takes discipline to push through a 20 miler or a taxing VO2 max or Lactate Threshold session, it also takes discipline to back off and run slow the day or two following a hard session.

If you train too long during recovery days, particularly when you start adding higher intensity workouts such as lactate threshold or VO2 Max sessions, it will also compromise your training. Too many slow miles on your recovery days will leave you fatigued during your hard days, and will impede your overall progress.

On recovery days, it also helps to minimize the pounding on your legs and reduce the stress to your muscles and nervous system. Running on soft surfaces during recovery days will help reduce the cumulative impact your legs and back experience over the course of the week. Since you are doing your recovery days on the days your muscles are least resilient, it makes sense to reduce the impact. It is also recommended that you avoid hilly courses on recovery days….running uphill requires more effort and running downhill increases muscle damage, which is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. For some folks, or after certain workouts (feeling beat up after that hilly 18-miler last Saturday), not running at all, but cross training on the elliptical or in the pool water running or swimming may provide the ideal recovery day! In these workouts, you enhance your recovery by increasing blood flow, but there is no additional pounding. For others, or after certain workouts, a complete day of rest may be necessary. I always build one day of complete rest into my training schedule, and one day of cross training in the pool swimming or water running.

For those who use a heart rate monitor to train, the device can be a great tool in preventing yourself from training too hard on recovery days. You should keep your heart rate below 75 percent of your maximal heart rate. For example, if your maximal heart rate is 185 beats per minute, you will want to keep it below 139 beats per minute during your recovery workout.

Another good rule of thumb for recovery days is to run them 2 minutes slower than your 10-mile or Half Marathon pace. For example, if your half marathon pace is 8 minutes per mile, run you recovery run at 10 minute per mile pace! Take it easy, enjoy a chat with a training partner and rejuvenate!

Pfitzinger, P., and S. Douglas. 2001. Advanced Marathoning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Liven Up the Pace with Lactate Threshold Training, But Not Too Fast!!!

Scott Taylor in the Lead! Your 10k race time is a strong predictor used in determining your appropriate VDOT and Lactate Threshold Training Pace.

Tempo (T) and Lactate Threshold (LT) Runs are used to build stamina and like your long endurance runs, are a critical component to marathon and half marathon success. Lactate threshold training will increase your chances of reaching your goal, whether it is to feel more comfortable during your marathon, set a personal record or run a competitive time.

Lactate threshold and tempo runs train the body to tolerate moderate levels of lactic acid in the blood while running at significantly faster pace than aerobic, “easy” conditioning (where there is very little lactic acid production). Lactic acid is the by-product of “oxygen debt” when we try to run fast for any length of time.

Lactate Threshold runs can be performed as “Tempo” runs of 15 to 45 minutes, or long, “lactate threshold” intervals of 3 to 15 minutes with very short jog breaks in between. These runs enable you to run further at or near your lactate threshold running speed, improve the speed at which your lactate threshold occurs, run more comfortably at the same pace, improve your running efficiency at all race distances of 5k or longer and help prevent overtraining. For more on the difference between lactate threshold and tempo runs, read Difference Between Lactate Threshold and Tempo Runs.

Lactate threshold runs are slower than VO2 Max workouts….and when they are run as intervals, the recovery period is also shorter…usually 1-3 minutes. For a tempo run, recovery is nonexistent. Your lactate “threshold” is the speed just below the point at which lactic acid is being produced at a faster rate than it can be removed from the bloodstream, Threshold pace is at your 10-mile race pace, approximately 25 - 30 seconds/mile slower than 5k race pace, 10 – 15 seconds/mile slower than 10k race pace or 20 – 30 seconds faster than marathon race pace. This correlates with an effort of about 85 – 90 percent of maximum heart rate.

Lactate threshold is often expressed as a percentage of VO2 max. As you improve your lactate threshold, your pace becomes faster relative to your VO2 max. If you raise your VO2 max, it allows more leeway to raise your lactate threshold ceiling higher as well. Lactate threshold, however, can continue to improve many years after you maximize gains in VO2 max. It is very important that lactate threshold runs are done exactly at or right below the appropriate pace. If you train too fast, the desire improvements will not occur and it will make it difficult to complete the entire workout at lactate threshold pace. It is also important to begin and end workout sessions with a warm up and cool down.

How do you figure out how fast you should be doing your lactate threshold and tempo runs? If you have a recent 10k time, you can get a fairly good indication by referencing the VDOT Chart. Your 10k should be one run at best effort, and on a reasonably fast course (a very hilly or trail 10k would not be as good a predictor). Although not quite as accurate, you can also predict your VDOT using a shorter or longer race time using the VDOT Conversion Table

If you need help predicting your lactate threshold pace, please email Bonnie at besrun2003@yahoo.com or talk to one of your Track Coaches.


Reference: Pfitzinger, P., and S. Douglas. 1999. Road Racing for Serious Runners. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.