Sweet 1600 Star Posts (2022)

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Story

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

We are in Ottawa again, visiting my partner’s family. The weather is beautiful! Yesterday I went out on a long run. Today I was in the mood for something shorter, so I took advantage again of the track at the Immaculata High School.

The running gods were on my side, because I was finally able to run a sub-7 min. Sweet 1600, in 6:46!

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We are heading to the Five Lakes Club in Gatineau for a swim and a barbecue, so we went to Whole Foods Market for some grocery shopping. I’m pissing off all the Canadians with my outfit…

[patrickmilano]

Story

On the way home from the gym today I stopped at Ithaca College to do an easy mile. This is a momentous occasion for me because it’s the first time I’ve run since breaking my big toe at Lick Brook. Here’s my report about my toe-breaking run, written before I realized I was injured.

One mile isn’t much, but it’s a huge step forward for me. I’m very happy to be back. Let the (gradual) return to training begin.

[ruth-sproul]

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went up to the Lansing track, where Anne and I each ran a couple miles. It was already to hot for ideal speed but that’s ok, beautiful track and beautiful setting

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after running, we fit in a relaxed exploratory canoe paddle along the east shore in Ithaca, then went on down to the On The Street food truck for a yummy lunch. Their truck is opposite Island Health and along the water. While we ate we watched this quite large boat turn itself around in a very small space

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Story

Hello from Peterborough, Ontario! We came here to see “The Great Shadow” at 4th Line Theater: https://www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca
My partner’s sister is acting in the play. Her name is Sochi Fried and she is fabulous. The play is a lot of fun, and the location is actually a farm turned into a theater surrounded by beautiful countryside. Greatly recommended, if you ever come here!

So, this morning I went out for a run. I initially did not think I was going to do a Sweet 1600 effort, so I went to the nearby park, Jackson Park, for a morning jog. It’s quite beautiful.

Then I wanted to buy some milk at a convenience store, but the store was not opened yet, so I simply continued running and… I found a track! It belongs to the St. Peter Catholic Secondary School, and it was completely empty. So… here I go with another little Sweet 1600

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After I was done with the mile, the store opened, so I bought my milk and headed back to the AirBnb. Definitely a fun little morning adventure!

[scottpdawson (Scott Dawson)]

Story

Well, @amy-dawson and I did something epic today: 18 miles of total work in NYC, 6 of which was on tracks. We collaborated on our post, so I’ll refer to her post instead of making you look at pictures 2x. Nice, right? I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this outtake from our last mile today. We were whipped!

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Oh, we shopped local, for sure. Juice, salad, Gatorade … all in the spirit of nutrition and hydration!

[amy-dawson]

Story

Wow, that was an epic day! We call this our “track crawl” day, or “trackapalooza”. We looked up all the public tracks in Manhattan and found four that we could reasonably do in a day (we just dropped our son off at summer camp at NYU). With the track workouts, plus all the walking between them, we logged 18 miles today. Here’s what we found:

FLRC Challenge: Sweet 1600 (Asser Levy Recreation Center)

This was a really tiny track as part of a playground complex. We shared a Naked Juice (Mango) before this effort. Beating down sun and tight turns on an asphalt surface. There was a couple doing plyo workouts in the middle, but other than that we were alone.

FLRC Challenge: Sweet 1600 (John V. Lindsay East River Park Track)

This track was SO beautiful! We walked along the East River walkway from Asser Levy. The track is a genuine quarter-mile with a nice rubberized surface. A lot of people here and a soccer game going on in the infield. We liked it so much we did it twice: ran it once and walked it once.

FLRC Challenge: Sweet 1600 (Chelsea Park Track)

After hitting Sweetgreen for a shared salad we headed up to this track which ran around another soccer field. The surface was rubber mats on top of asphalt, and really in need of an upgrade. Super tight turns on the corners. We did another walking effort on this track to wind down and talk a little.

FLRC Challenge: Sweet 1600 (74th Street Track)

We were whipped after the last effort so we grabbed some Gatorades from a nearby grocery and enjoyed them as we walked up the Hudson River Greenway to 74th Street. This track was a cute cinder oval looking over the Hudson. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel to rehydrate with some Ithaca Flower Power (one of 3 beers on offer) and then some delicious Mexican food.

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Plenty of local shopping to keep us fed and hydrated, all mentioned above.

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Amazing! Good job, you guys! And thanks for letting us know about all these tracks in NYC looking forward to checking them out!

[tonya (Tonya Engst)]

I loved reading about your Manhattan adventure!

[adamengst]

Oh my, @amy-dawson and @scottpdawson, you have just upped the ante in urban trackage! @tonya is already trying to think of how many tracks we might be able to hit in one day in Vancouver when we’re there again in August, though there’s no chance we’d be able to walk between them. I imagine few cities have the track density you found in Manhattan.

[tonya (Tonya Engst)]

Story

I’ve been slowly increasing my mileage all year, and as I pass the 20-mile per week mark, I’m starting to add short runs to days that previously would have been a walk or a rest. Also, it is so hot this week that I’m trying to run in the morning, though usually I prefer later in the day. And, I saw yesterday that I can run before work (I work at Cornell) and clean up with a water bottle and towel at the car. When I am at work these days, I don’t actually interact with other people at close range—it’s all Zoom or I’m in my office alone. (Before COVID, I would have showered in Teagle, but I’m still not ready for that.)

The Cornell track was open using the small gate about 80 feet left of the main gate, so I casually ran an 11-minute mile while admiring the fluffy clouds in the blue sky and enjoying the breeze. I may have seen @vedgund on the track - not sure if it was him. For my second mile, I was feeling good, so I tried for a good time, but I think one of my Vancouver times was faster.

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I stopped at Gimme on the way to the office and had my favorite purple bottle filled with coffee.

Two miles on a track and a Gimme coffee is a great way to start the day!

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Story

Hellooooo from (scorching hot ) Italy!

I already miss you all but I can’t say I’m sorry to be here… we spent a few days around the lakes in the north of Italy (Lago Maggiore and Lago d’Orta), visiting lavish gardens and fighting the heat with huge quantities of ice cream (you know me ).

So, this morning I figured I had to start looking for tracks, since from now on my only contribution to the Challenge from abroad can be to record Sweet 1600 efforts. The one I went to belongs to A.S.D Bulè Bellinzago and is very close to my village, Cameri. It was technically closed for renovation, but nobody came to complain, and I happily had the whole place entirely to myself all the time I was there.

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After the run, I had breakfast in the best “pasticceria” in my village, Salsa. Here is the proud owner, Andrea

His mini pastries are so yummy!

[adamengst]

Hey, I’m really pleased you can keep up with us via Sweet 1600 posts! And that we get to see great photos from Italy. What is “A.S.D Bulè Bellinzago” such that they own a track?

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

@adamengst Haha glad to entertain! It looks like A.S.D Bulè Bellinzago is a football club. This is their website: https://www.bulebellinzago.com/

[caitlin-loehr]

So fun to see your photos from Italy. We will miss you here in Ithaca.

[heathercobb3 (Heather Cobb)]

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With some concering health issues waiting to be checked out by the doctor, I haven’t been trying for speed on any of the courses in the past 2 months. However, something came over me tonight, and I decided one fast mile wouldn’t kill me - right??

After dropping the cat off at my parents house for them to cat-sit while I am out of town starting tomorrow, I stopped at the Dryden High School track. Let me preface this with: before this challenge, the last time I ran on a track was in high school, so I don’t know jack about warming up, cooling down, or anything in between (except the running bit).

I started with a mile warm up: 1 lap walking fast, 3 laps at 3min/30sec walk/run. That was already the fastest mile I’ve done since Lucifer’s Crossing in June.

The harder effort for mile 2 was 30 second run/walk intervals, with the final 400m taking the run intervals as fast as I could, scoring a sub-12 minute mile. Regardless of what other people think about it, my leg didn’t complain, my heart was only a little grumpy, and I am extremely happy with my time.

Even though the trail shoes keep my leg happy, they feel like they weigh 10 pounds when you’re trying to run fast on a track.

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Congrats @heathercobb3! Way to go!

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Story

Hello, everyone, from Orvieto, a beautiful town built on a tuff cliff in the region of Umbria, in central Italy. My maternal grandmother lives here, so it was a compulsory stop for our Italian holidays:

Highlights of the city include:

1. The Duomo, a stunning gothic cathedral that Pope Nicholas IV started building in 1290 with beautiful frescoes inside.
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. The Pozzo di San Patrizio, a spectacular 62 meter deep well.
   

   
   
   
   

Yesterday we also had the privilege of attending a concert in front of the Duomo (a string quartet led by famous Italian violinist Uto Ughi) and, during the concert, the cathedral was lit up in different colors.

This morning I went to the local stadium where I know there is a track (I’ve been running there a few times when I visited my grandmother in the past).

The track is named after Luca Coscioni, an Italian economist and politician who was also a marathon runner. Unfortunately, in 1995, while he was training for the New York City Marathon, he was diagnosed with ALS. His physical condition progressively deteriorated, and he died very young (when he was 38).

The track is beautiful. It is in the downtown area (“Orvieto scalo”) so you can see the cliff in the background.

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We had dinner at the Engel Keller Tavern: they make an excellent pizza, with soy flour, and with a very thin crust. Absolutely delicious and very light, so I greatly recommend it to all athletes!

[adamengst]

All these pictures are gorgeous—you’re going to have to lead an FLRC running trip to Italy sometime, @Benedetta_Carnaghi!

[amy-dawson]

Story

I set out to run 10 miles on the track this morning before going in for work. As I left, Scott asked me how long I’d be gone and I said I’d be home by 8:30 at an outer bound if I “actually managed to do 10” so I was already giving myself permission not to do it. I said I’d probably be home much sooner. He commented, “or you may get really into a podcast and actually do it.”

As I ran (listening to Biohacked and later Art of Manliness), it struck me that Scott had gifted me a goal. I struggle to even run a mile or two on the track - in fact every Tuesday before Mithacal Milers I used to whine and try to talk @scottpdawson into skipping with me (I never succeeded and joined him in going). So, this actually turned out to be quite lovely. My distraction strategy and fun game was this.

There are 8 lanes so I ran one mile in each lane and then I popped back to lane 5 for mile 9 and the inside lane for the last mile. I also made a deal with myself that after the 2nd podcast wrapped, I’d finish with music. It turned out to be about 1.5 miles of music - hence the last two miles being a little quicker than the others.
Here is my Strava track from today.

[Benedetta_Carnaghi]

Story

Buongiorno… from Rome!

Well, this was quite the adventure, so it definitely makes for an entertaining post. This morning, my partner, Ben, and I jogged to the Non-Catholic Cemetery in the neighborhood of Testaccio, right next to the Pyramid of Cestius.

Ben has a Ph.D. in English literature, so he wanted to see the tombstones of two of his favorite poets, John Keats and Percy-Bysshe Shelley. During my Ph.D., I conducted a few months of research in Rome, and I was living in this neighborhood. I knew that there was a stadium with a marvelous track right next to the Baths of Caracalla, just a short jog away from the Non-Catholic Cemetery. So, I told Ben that I was going to try to do a little Sweet 1600 on this track. I left him at the Cemetery and jogged to the stadium. On the way there, I stopped to take pictures of the remains of the Circus Maximus, which is… an old track of sort! Not sure if it would be valid for the Challenge, though, @adamengst? It’s basically an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium.

Now, the little problem was that the stadium I was headed to (officially called Stadio delle Terme di Caracalla “Nando Martellini”) was closed. I think it’s open in in the afternoon, but you need some sort of pass to run there, and they host the “scuola di atletica leggera” (track-and-field school). I look inside. Nobody seems to be there. I look at the gate and… I cannot resist! I jump in! I take a few shots and then I start running.

In the middle of the second loop… a guy with an orange shirt jumps out of nowhere! “Hey!,” he shouts. “Who the hell are you?! You cannot be here!” He starts running behind me. I keep running and shout back “Oh, so sorry, what did you say?” I’m headed into the third loop. He keeps shouting at me. I pretend not to hear and keep running. I start the fourth loop. He’s picked up a radio transmitter. Mmm, maybe he’s calling for reinforcements to catch the intruder. Better to head out, I think. So, I head for the fence and, while he is shouting me, I jump out, head for the gate, jump that as well, and I’m out! I look at my watch: 1.61 km. More of an obstacle course, but hey… distance covered!

I continue running to the Colosseum and through the Fori Imperiali, and then back home.

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How does a “pasta alla carbonara” sound?

The pics are from the restaurant Mastrociccia near Piazza Navona, but you guys can pretty much eat everywhere in Rome… the food is delicious!