McCann Invitational today

Today, we held the very informal “McCann Invitational For Some Men’s Distance Runners Not Racing at the MAAC Meet.’’ Quite a name for a meet, huh?

The idea came from sophomore cross country team member Will Schanz. Will is never, ever at a loss for words, ideas and commentary. On any subject. Never. Ever. But all joking aside, most of his ideas are outstanding and filled with well-thought-out merit.

Heck, the dude even has a fartlek workout named after him – several, actually: The Schanz. The Schanzinator. And, as Luke just did the other day, the Mega Schanzinator. For those keeping score at home, The Schanz is a timed fartlek that consists of 5 minutes hard running, 4 minutes easy recovery running, 3 minutes hard running, 2 minutes easy recovery running and 1 minute hard running. The Schanzinator (the preferred workout) is 2 sets of that, with complete recovery between sets. The Mega Schanzinator, suitable only for the Luke Shanes of the world who are training for the Boston Marathon, is 3 sets of that. Wow!

Anyway, Schanz’s idea was to do an AAU-style time trial workout for the Long Distance Grinder group, most of whom have not raced much or at all during the indoor season. The idea to do it the day before the MAAC meet was pure genius. The rest of the team was doing a short and light pre-meet day, so they were able to stand around and cheer (or, in the case of Matt Panebianco and friends, keep track of and write down splits, which you will see below … thank you, BROS!). Heck, even Curtis “Batman” Jensen made a cameo appearance for the festivities!

The workout protocol: 1x3200 meters (that’s 20 laps on the fancy McCann Center 160-meter oval!), followed by full recovery (8-10 minutes); 1x1600 meters, followed by 5-6 minute recovery; 1x800 meters. Fun stuff. Tough stuff.

Originally, Brownie and Nicoletti wanted to beg off it, favoring instead an Accelerator Loop workout. Not a bad idea on this 55-degree day. But I hung a major guilt trip on them, which stunningly worked, and they joined the festivities. I’m glad they did, and as you’ll see, so were they.

It should be noted that Billy “Fresh” Hild lowered his 3200-meter PR by nearly 15 seconds, and looked good doing it. Apparently inspired by his PR effort, Mr. Freshington went blitzing out in the 1,600 – much to the glee of his maturity challenged teammates, who were busy doing backflips and otherwise acting like buffoons on the high jump mats over in the corner of the gym. As you will see, such ambitious pacing did not work out so well for him. But overall, it was a great day for him, and for the rest of the workout participants.

A hearty NICELY DONE to one and all …

Here are the numbers:

Ryan Brown
3200 in 9:53
72, 2:26 (74), 3:40 (74), 4:54 (74)
6:09 (75), 7:25 (76), 8:40 (75), 9:53 (73)
4:54 and 4:59
1600 in 4:47
71, 2:23 (72), 3:37 (34), 4:47 (70)
800 in 2:15
67, 2:15 (68)

Mike Nicoletti
3200 in 9:59
72, 2:26 (74), 3:39 (73), 4:54 (75)
6:10 (76), 7:28 (78), 8:46 (78), 9:59 (73)
4:54 and 5:04
1600 in 4:47
71, 2:23 (72), 3:37 (74), 4:47 (70)
800 in 2:20
69, 2:20 (71)

Billy Hild
3200 in 10:08
72, 2:27 (75), 3:42 (75), 5:00 (78)
6:19 (79), 7:36 (77), 8:54 (78), 10:08 (74)
5:00 and 5:08
1600 in 5:04
70, 2:28 (78), 3:45 (77), 5:04 (79)
800 in 2:26
71, 2:26 (75)

Will Schanz
3200 in 10:18
72, 2:26 (74), 3:42 (76), 4:59 (77)
6:18 (79), 7:37 (79), 8:58 (81), 10:18 (80)
4:59 and 5:19
1600 in 4:59
71, 2:26 (75), 3:43 (77), 4:59 (76)
800 in 2:24
69, 2:24 (75)

Mike Clausen
3200 in 10:21
71, 2:26 (75), 3:42 (76), 4:59 (77)
6:18 (79), 7:38 (80), 9:01 (83), 10:21 (80)
4:59 and 5:22
1600 in 4:58
73, 2:30 (77), 3:44 (74), 4:58 (74)
800 in 2:22
70, 2:22 (72)

Doug Ainscow
3200 in 10:25
75, 2:31 (76), 3:50 (79), 5:08 (78)
6:27 (79), 7:45 (78), 9:05 (80), 10:25 (80)
5:08 and 5:17
1600 in 4:56
72, 2:27 (75), 3:42 (75), 4:56 (74)
800 in 2:24
72, 2:24 (72)

Brendan Green
3200 in 11:07
76, 2:33 (77), 3:56 (83), 5:21 (85)
6:48 (77), 8:18 (90), 9:45 (87), 11:07 (82)
5:21 and 5:47
1600 in 5:15
74, 2:33 (79), 3:56 (83), 5:15 (79)
800 in 2:29
72, 2:29 (77)