New Training Groups Are Forming
Are You in One?

Tornado legends Jack, Leno and Joe O or as they like to be called now - Coach Jack, Coach Leno and Coach Joe are gearing up for another great fall and winter marathon season. Please contact any of these guys to find out when they meet for  tempo runs and speed interval sessions at Memorial park. Fall season marathons are not too far away to start training now.
 

 Running and Triathlon
Events Calendar

Our race calendars on our website are very popular destinations for local runners and triathletes in the Houston and surrounding communities. We try to keep our calendar geared towards local events. Please email the webmaster if you know of a local event that needs to be added to our race calendars.

Cinco de Mayo Thank You Party for Volunteers and All Tornados

The party was a big success. It was great to see so many new and also familiar faces at the party. Thanks again to all  volunteers at the Cinco de Mayo race. We look forward to a bigger race next year.

2008 Cinco de Mayo 5K Race Results
 

Ramona's Birthday Party
6/14/08

Keep your calendar open for Ramona's Birthday party at Memorial Park on June 14th. All Tornados are invited. Keg will be served.

Congratulations

Congrats to all our Beach to Bay Relay teams. Tornados had a good showing at this annual Texas relay in which all cities send their best runners.

Welcome New Members

Welcome to new Tornado club members:

We are glad to have you in our Tornado family.
 

Core Muscles

A weak core makes you susceptible to lower back pain, poor posture and a whole host of muscle injuries. Strong core muscles provide the brace of support needed to help prevent such pain and injury -- and this discovery is why core training has become so popular among elite athletes. Core Exercises to incorporate (Mayo Clinic Website)

Congratulations to:

Jeff Eisele and Michelle Phillips(Eisele).
They got married on April 6th!

Tornados RULE! AGAIN!

Congratulations to all who ran the Fall 2007 series races! Your efforts really paid off as we cleaned up big in the HARRA awards:

Team Competition - Overall
Team Competition - Open Men
Team Competition - Open Women
Team Competition - Masters Men
Club Competition - Masters Men
 

On line Sign Up is a Snap!

Time to renew your club membership. Club due's are due in January. Once again we have set up on-line registration. We also have a membership form which you can download from our website for new members. It's never too late to become a Tornado -the few, the proud, and the fast. Click on the link below to sign up on-line.

Benefits of Tornado Membership

Become a Tornado today and we will have you conversing in Spanish after one long run. And we will have you talking in some strange language after a Tornado party where tequila shots are a norm! Imagine that - you pick up two foreign languages for becoming a Tornado. Did I mention that you will also become very fast too. Check it out.

Tornado Member Benefits

2008 Tornados Pasta Party

What a great turnout we had to the Tornados Pasta Party. Fun was had by all - some maybe more than others but we all had fun. Thanks to Jeff Nash again for letting us use his house for the Pasta Party. (Jeff, you are the man!)

Club Awards for 2008 are as follows:

TORNADO OF THE YEAR  - Manny Valle
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR  - Wilmer Bustillos
MALE RUNNER OF THE YEAR  - Francisco "Paco" Garza
FEMALE RUNNER OF THE YEAR - Jennifer Brown
MOST IMPROVED RUNNER- Phil Trumbly

Tornados Can Make a Difference

Thank you Tornados for your generous donations by bringing your used running shoes, T-shirts and cell phones.

These donations will go to the Crossroads at Park Place.
 
Crossroads at Park Place (3827 Broadway Hou77017) is a multi-denominational ministry providing services to promote the health, hygiene, and dignity of homeless persons in Houston .  Crossroads offers two meals, shower facilities for men & women, laundry services, clothes pantry and limited health care and hygiene resources.

*Tax-deductible contributions graciously accepted*
Contact Mary Sandoval.

Meet Jen Brown (aka "Brownie")

After her long trip in Europe, we finally catch up with Jen Brown and asked her a few questions for her Member profile.  It's a must read.

Tornado member Jenn Brown profile.

Member Profiles - Jack

A new feature on our club website - Member profiles. This is our way of getting to know our members and what they do besides running. Our first member profile is Jack McClintic, 2007 Tornado of the Year. Check out his profile and find out some new stuff you didn't know about Jack. Profiles can be found under the Member Photos and News. Here's a link to Jack's profile.

New Ironman

Until someone else takes over as webmaster for the Tornados Running Club Website, you all are stuck with listening to me go on about being an Ironman. I completed my first Ironman (haven't decided if it will be my only one yet) on June 24th, 2007 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  Ask anyone who has finished an Ironman and they will tell you what it means to be an Ironman.  It was really great finishing my first Ironman especially having my family their at the finish line yelling for me and smiles at the end of a long day.

I had originally set a goal of 11:17. But as time ticked on, I knew I would not meet this goal so I focused on finishing sub 12 hour. When I started the marathon after the 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike, I knew I would have to run a sub 4 hour marathon. I kept going over calculations in my head for different paces and figured if I kept my pace I would break 12 hours. In the end I ran a 3:45 marathon and finished my first Ironman in 11 hours 53 minutes and 19 seconds. I am an Ironman. Read the rest of the story here ... locorunner.com

Hydration

If you wish to perform at a high level, you need to consume fluids. For each 1% of body weight lost due to dehydration, your performance slips by about 2%, and a meager 2% loss in weight can force your heart rate and body temperature to spiral upward, making strenuous exercise almost impossible to carry out.

Gringo Running Advice?

How can a gringo offer advice to our club? Well, when you see some of the times Jack has posted for running events in the HARRA Fall series, then we all STOP, drop our Tequila bottles and listen attentively to some very valuable advice that Jack has to offer to improve our times. Check out his article on Gringo Running Advice in the Club Articles link.

Beach to Bay Relay Photos

If you have a few minutes to surf the net while at work, don't forget to check out the photos that Jen Brown (our club photographer) took at Corpus. Here is a link to Snap Fish where she has the photos. You will need to create a login if you haven't already.
Jen's Snapfish Photos

Tornados Scholarship

Congratulations to the 2007-08 Tornados Scholarship award reciepient, Ernesto Reyes. Mr Reyes will be attending Ohio State University. We wish him  much success.

Club Race Results

If you would like your race results posted on our website, please send me an email with the race name, date, your time, and place and I will include them on the Club results page. If you are not on my email address book, you will get a anti-spam message, I will eventually read your email and post your results.

New Orleans Marathon

Photos or the Tornado group trip to the New Orleans Marathon can be found at:
New Orleans Marathon Road Trip

Tornado Club Awards for 2006

Thanks to Jeff Nash for allowing us to have our annual marathon pasta loading party at his house. We had a good turnout and fun was had by all in attendance. Congratulations to award recipients for 2006:

Newcomer of the Year: Michelle Friedman
Runner of the Year: Jack McClintic
Tornado of the Year: Jack McClintic
Most Improved Runner: Doug Paddon-Jones

Core Muscles

What, exactly, is the "core?"
The core is the complex system of muscles in your torso that work together to stabilize your spine and enable you to perform rotational movements.

Why is it important to train this region?
A strong, healthy core is the foundation of whole-body fitness-and strengthening this area can also help prevent the muscle imbalances that can lead to back pain down the road.

Sunmart 2006

Wouldn't you like to have one of these?

Recovery

Recovery is increasingly recognized as a significant component of athletic training and performance, helping to reduce fatigue, accelerate physiological regeneration, enhance adaptation and (possibly) decrease the risk of injury. But what exactly do we mean by recovery.

Some people favor ‘active’ recoveries, consisting of light exercise, while others prefer to rest completely (passive recovery); some favor a strenuous sports massage, while others incline to the benefits of various water therapies.

The crucial question for athletes, however, is: which of these recovery modes is most effective?

HARRA Membership Reminder

HARRA membership expires on June 30 each year. We encourage all Tornado Club members to become HARRA members so that we can earn the club points for the HARRA spring and fall racing series. Reduced membership ($5 discount) is available until the end of June.

Got Buzz?

What caffeine-the most widely used performance-enhancing drug in the world-can do for you. Read on....

WHAT DOES THE WORD ASICS MEAN
 (ASICS as in the running shoe)

Answer: "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano." Which translates to " a sound mind in a sound body"

Memorial Park Conservancy

The Memorial Park Conservancy is engaged in a wide range of activities to preserve the park's native habitat, and at the same time ensure the enjoyment of Memorial Park by the public. The Conservancy's 30 member volunteer Board of Directors works in partnership with the City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department and other organizations. To see the Master Plan for the park including trails, check out their website at:
Memorial Park Conservancy

New Tornados Discussion Forum

Please take a minute to check out our new club discussion board and let me know what you think. Feel free to post any comments, questions or complaints you may have. This would be a great place to place your comments on the marathon.

Tornados Club Discussion Forum

Master Tornados Masters

What is it about Tornados that we keep getting better and faster as we age gracefully (get older). Is it the beer, the tacos at the Taqueria after the Sunday long runs. (The barbacoa sure does taste good.) Or is it the fast paced sunday group long runs. These long runs could almost double as speed work or a tempo run. Or is just plain determination and dedication that gets us to the finish line sooner to pick up the hardware. What ever it is, it sure has been paying off for our club members lately. Masters runners on the club have been cleaning up at the races lately. We had two masters runners this weekend to pickup invited runner status to the Houston Marathon, Susie Walters (1st place female masters) and Indio Perez (1st place masters male). Congratulations to all Tornados who ran this weekend at Huntsville and the 30K in Sugarland.
 

The Endurance Athlete

The endurance athlete's priority is to maximize glycogen stores by eating a high-carbohydrate diet both in training and before an event. Carbo loading is advisable, especially for an activity lasting longer than 90 minutes. Care should be taken to avoid dehydration, and this balanced against the possible benefits of taking in extra carbohydrate during the activity. Sports drinks containing maltodextrins enable delivery of some carbohydrate without compromising fluid uptake; on a cool day, however, it could be worth drinking something with a higher concentration of carbohydrate. This will slow down fluid absorption but will spare muscle glycogen. Eating during an endurance event tends to be problematic for runners, but seems to be well tolerated by cyclists.

Food for Thought

According to a USAT Senior Task Force study, it has been noted that a sharp decline in performance begins for the women at age 66 and at age 69 for men. Running performance - that is.

Carbs That Count