Email #4 from Don Garber

As most of the registration has ended, I wanted to let you all know a little about our team

We have 794 individuals registered (plus 55 coaches). This includes 16 participants (and 2 coaches) in Rocky Mount, NC and one individual in Massachusetts. The team ranges in age from 21 to 67. It is 58% female. And 324 (41%) of you are people who have participated in a prior year or years.

I just want to relay a couple of email (slightly edited) that I got this week.

• Please move me from (Novice) to (Intermediate). I am definitely up to the increased training requirements of the Gold Team and would like to take advantage of your earlier offer to me of transferring Teams. Thank you for facilitating this move!
• I was wondering if I could switch to a beginners team. I am just barley keeping up with the intermediate schedule. My big fear is that I will end up with a breakdown in my body halfway through. I don't want to get too far into this and have it be too much and not be able to finish. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

I wanted to share these because, after 4 weeks of running, you should be settling into your group. When we put you in teams, it was based on minimal information that you provided. If you are like one of the two people who sent these messages, please do not be afraid to move to the group that is right for you. If you still feel that you are somewhere in between, talk to your coach, talk to me, we may be able to modify the schedule to fit what is right for you.

Injury Prevention Clinic: This clinic will be on Monday night (June 19) at The Levinson Heart center at the Chippenham Campus of CJW Medical Center. It will begin at 6:00. Park in the main deck (first turn after exiting Chippenham) and proceed to the lobby where they will direct you to the room.

Dr. Doug Cutter will be the speaker. A good clinic to keep you on the road to staying healthy. For those of you in Rocky Mount, I will post the handout early next week. Good running this week. See you this weekend

Chip

It's Official. . .You are entered!

If you have not checked, everyone is now entered in the Richmond Marathon. If you do a search for North Carolina, you will see all of us bunched together under the training team. There is no turning back now!

Email #3 from Don Garber

IMPORTANT: Registration for the Battlefield (and Procrastinator's if we can get to it J ) Half Marathon will open on Wednesday, June 7. The races are on Labor Day weekend. That weekend there will be no group run, but rather we hope everyone will run a half marathon. It fits perfectly into the training. These races fill up very fast. (last year 6 days and will go faster this year.) So you will need to sign up this week. www.rrrc.org

Hydration: We talk about hydration. You need to think about it too. We will start having sag wagons in a few weeks but you need to always be aware of your hydration. As you dehydrate it impacts your performance (that is why it is harder to run longer distances in hotter weather. So think about keeping hydrated. Some of our runs will be going by water fountains. Use them.

Running Buddies: Our weekend runs are not races. They are training runs. Contrary to what some of our faster/more experienced runners think/do, they should not be run at maximum pace. The weekend runs are being run to build endurance. (We will do separate week day workouts to work on speed). So you should not be running these runs to maximum speed. If you are running the weekend workouts such that you feel great for the first 3/4 and then you struggle to finish the last 1/4, you may be starting out too fast. Slow down.

As you slow down, look at the other runners in front / in back of you. Find someone or multiple someones to run with. Even if you have to slightly modify your pace, you should now be making friends with the runners on your team. Then when we get into the longer runs you will not only have someone to talk to, you will have someone to help you thru the longer runs. This is of grave importance in making the training more enjoyable. So find you set of running buddies.

Next Clinic: Our next clinic will be Injury Prevention. It will be Monday night 6/19 at 6:00 at CJW Medical Center...Chippenham Campus. Stay tuned for more details/directions...

Note: We are working on an injury prevention clinic in Rocky Mount. More detail will be out soon.

Entering a Half Marathon

You all should have noticed by now that on Labor Day weekend your training plan calls for a half marathon. This weekend is important for two reasons:

1. You need to keep up the miles
2. You can go through the experience of running a race

The second point is important, especially if you have not run many races. Yes, it is true the most noticeable difference between racing and just running is that you pin a number on your shirt, but there is a little more to it then just that.

How will I sleep the night before? What do I eat for dinner? What do I eat for breakfast? How do I pin my number on my shirt? How early should I get there? When do I go to the bathroom before the race? Why are the port-o-pot lines so long? What is a ChampionChip, and how do I hook it to my shoe?

Some of these questions sound silly, but you will ask your self all of these on race weekend. Running in a half marathon lets you experience the nervousness and the fun of racing. This way when your marathon comes you will be more prepared, and maybe a little more relaxed.

One final point to consider. When you signed up to join the Training Team, your goal was to run a marathon. A half marathon will be very fun, and very exciting, but be smart when you run the race. If you go too hard and injure yourself, you risk the chance of finishing your marathon in November. Just don't forget your goal. . .

Now, for some races. There are three options that I know of for Labor day weekend. Two in Richmond, and one in Virginia Beach. You are not required to run any of them, but are encouraged. Here are the options:

• Sunday 9/3 Rock and Roll Half Marathon - Va Beach
  The Rock and Roll is a spectacle. With 20,000 runners, it is the largest half marathon in the US, and has some of the world's best runners. At least nine runners from our team are already entered. This race is full of bands, fans, and fun. It is also expensive ($80), and will likely require an expensive hotel.
• Sunday 9/3 Battlefield Half Marathon - Richmond
  This race fills up in six days. Registration starts tomorrow, so if you are interested sign up right away. It is one of the best deals available at only $10. You will see lots of Training Team members from Richmond at this race, so it would give you a chance to meet some new team-mates. I am not positive, but Don Garber has been the race director in years past, so you can meet him as well.
• Saturday 9/2 Procrastinator's Half Marathon - Richmond
  This race was new last year. It was largely made for those Training Team runners who were too slow to register for the Battlefield. Unlike the Rock and Roll Half, this is only $10 to enter. It will not have the frills of a big race, but will give you a nice run through Bryan Park in Richmond. This registration also opens tomorrow and will fill up shortly after the Battlefield race does.

06/10 Saturday Routes

Our running routes for this Saturday are now available. This week there is a 7-mile and 4-mile route. With the slightly longer runs, we are able to hit a few new streets on the 7-mile route, so be sure to review it prior to Saturday. We have not lost a runner yet, and we would like to keep it up. The detailed directions are available under the Written Routes link to the right. Look for City Lake + Hammond. The map is to the right as well. Look under the YMCA Route Maps. I also emailed out some mini "pocket" directions you can print if you are unfamiliar with the route.

The four mile route will be the same as last week except you will continue towards Sunset Ave. on the paved trail. At the skate park you will see a yellow 2 painted on the ground (beside a fire hydrant). Turn around here and return to the YMCA. If you would like to run 4.8, continue across Sunset, and run on Lake Drive. At the back of the lake, pick up the paved trail and finish the loop. Cross back over Sunset and head to the YMCA.
I will be gone the next two weekends, but Frank will be leading the group out and available for any questions.

Note: When viewing the maps, use the + and - buttons to zoom in and see more details. You can also use the arrow keys to move around the map, or use you mouse to drag the map. The buttons are located on the top left of the map.

Account for Heat

The following is from Jeff Galloway. This is very important information to consider. As the heat rises you simply must adjust your expectations. This not only applies to racing, but also to training. You cannot run your favorite training route on two different days and expect the same results when one day is 20 degrees hotter.

The hot and sticky days of summer are here. Make sure that you are making some adjustments in your running. Most runners begin to slow down at 55 degrees and start suffering at 65 degrees. Of course, the body can adapt to heat stress and push the threshold up a bit, but you usually can't run as fast on a 75 degree day as on a 45 degree one. High humidity is also a major problem. It's like a wet blanket; it doesn't allow much evaporation or perspiration and your body heat builds up.

If you try to run too hard in hot or humid conditions you'll hit "the wall" sooner than expected. Trying to maintain a goal pace in heat is like going out too fast early in the race. Temperatures generally increase hour by hour; therefore you must adjust your pace for the temperature expected at the end of the race.

Adjusting Race Pace for Heat: Estimated temperature at finish - Slower than goal pace - 8 min mile becomes...

• 55-60 degrees - 1% - 8:05
• 60-65 degrees - 3% - 8:15
• 65-70 degrees - 5% - 8:25
• 70-75 degrees - 7% - 8:35
• 75-80 degrees - 12% - 8:58
• 80-85 degrees - 20% - 9:35
• Above 85 degrees - Forget it... run for fun

* Note: This chart is based upon Jeff Golloway's own experience in the heat and talking to other runners. It has no scientific verification.