Richmond Times Dispatch #8

We are now famous! Well. . . not really, but they did the the story on us in the Richmond Times Dispatch. I expect most of you received the scanned copy from Don Garber. Just in case here is the online version. You can follow this link to Vic Dorr's latest marathon installment.

Pictures from 07/29

Below are pictures from last weekend. There are a few good ones. My favorite is the picture of Russ blowing his cheeks out when he is finishing. He has that, "Thank God I am done look." If you want to see the 2006 Picture Albulm of the Richmond group, follow this link. Then click the 2006 link at the top. Mark will be adding pictures every week.

Weekend Routes 07/29

Here are your route maps for this weekend. We will leave from the Harris Teeter at 6:00 a.m. This time we will run our routes in reverse from what we have normally done. No new roads, just a different direction. Fluids will be at the train tracks again which we will pass twice. For those on the eight mile route, you will need to complete the Candlewood portion (about 3.5 miles) without a fluid stop, so take a bottle from the train tracks if you need one, or at least drink well before continuing.

• 5-mile
• 8-mile - (we will run this backwards)

There is lots of stuff on the blog if you have not checked it lately look below. Be sure to check out your team-mates hidden talents in the Guess Who section. Routes are below. See you tomorrow!

Email #9 from Coach Don

Good / Bad Runs: We will be training for 25 weeks for the marathon. Having done this for a few years now, I can say with fairly good certainty that it is very rare (if not never) that a person goes thru the whole training process without having one or more long runs that I would classify as a bad run. You may not of had one yet but it is the run that in the first few miles you just don't feel right. Your body is not quite in total sync. And during the course of the run it might get some better but not really a whole lot. And the last few miles are just a bit of a struggle to finish.
Well, we all have these runs. And just because you have one on an occasional basis is not a reason for great concern. There are so many factors that come into play when you are doing these longer runs (sleep, nutrition, stress, weather, etc) that having one is not a big deal. Just realize that this one specific day is not your A+ day and when it is over, just forget about it.

Remember that there is always the next week / the next day and that over time you will have just as many days that are super easy and over time they will even out.....

The Schedule...who are you?: After a couple of months your training regime should have gotten established. I like to classify people into several types. I am sure that you can all think of several more. (and these are always fun). So see which one you are and there is some advice for each of you.

• The Slave...has the schedule tattooed to their forehead and several other places. They religiously run each and every day / mile that is on the schedule. They don't miss a workout. Advice: Be careful. These people may well have a higher chance of getting hurt. They press for more miles when they are tired or hurt. Of course we want you to run the miles on the schedule. But we are training for six months. Over that period you will have days that you will not feel quite 100%. Or you will have days where living your life takes a little bit more. So don't be afraid to switch a day if needed. Or don't be afraid to miss a day if you are not feeling all there. But don't try to make it all up on one day (so if you miss Tuesday and Wednesday, don't run the mileage for all three days on Thursday)
• The Overscheduled...works, has a family, their plate if fairly full. They really try to run every day on the schedule. But the kids have a game/ the boss need you to work late. And you always miss one or two days per week. Advice: Make time for yourself. Look at your schedule and see when you run. Maybe you have always run in the evenings. But things crop up during the day. So maybe you need to look at running in the morning (or lunch) before the day can interfere. One thing that can help you is to schedule your run on your day timer. Block off the time for yourself to get in your run. Or plan your run around other things. So you children have a soccer practice. Run around the field for the 3-4-5 miles you need during the practice.
• The Hurt...run thru anything. They think their injury is minor and that they can just run thru it. Advice: This one is tricky. You need to learn about your body. Some injuries are just minor things and you can run thru them. For example, you calf is just a little tight and loosens up after 5 minutes of running. And it gets better each day. This you could run thru. But if each day it gets a little worse, you need to do something about it. My number one advice about injuries. You need to get well first. If you miss 3-4 days when you are slightly injured it is a lot better that trying to run through it and wind up losing 3-4 weeks when the injury gets worse.
• The Way Behinders...well, they are way behind. They have not really established a routine. They have missed a lot of the runs. They don't know if they can do the mileage. Advice: Talk to us. We can usually re work the schedule and get you back on track to catch up with the team. Or we can tell you if you are too far behind. But most of all, talk to me or one of the coaches.
• The Why Did I Sign up for This...never got with the program. It was a good idea back in May. But you have never gotten your act together. Advice: Let us know. We have 5-7% of the team that falls in this category each year. It hurts us not to see you accomplish your goal, but that is ok. Just please email us back and let us know so we can reclassify you on the roster.

So see where you fit (or make up you own category.)

OTHER BUSINESS: A kudos to Briana Whaley, one of our team members. At the Cul de Sac 5K race last Monday she not only won the Women's race but she also set a course record in the process. Great job.

Pace Groups and Bus Tours

Pace Groups: The Richmond Marathon offers Pace Groups for those who are interested. Each group will have a Pace Leader that will help you reach the goal time. They range in goals from 3:10 up to five hours. This is a free service, and can help you during the race. You can sign up online or just get a number at the expo.

If you have not done a pace group before, they ask the runners to pin a special number on their back (they provide it) that shows the goal time of the pace group. For example 4:30. This allows everyone to easily find the pace group just by looking at the back of other runners.
Chances are you may run with someone else from our group, or hopefully meet some on the Richmond team when we do our 20-miler. You may just want to run with them, or you can join a pace team.

Bus Tours: The Marathon also offers Bus Tours of the course on Friday. This is also free, but is limited. I will leave this decision to you. If you join us in Richmond for our 20-mile training run, you will already have seen most of the course, but if you still want to do the bus tour, I would sign up now, because it fills up every year.

Last Years Team

Had another teammate share this photo. This will give you an idea of what you are a part of, and the support you will have on race day. I promise, that you are not going after this goal alone. For more photos from last years team click here. You have to sign in, but they are worth it.

Help a teammate out!

Tracy H. is looking for a running partner (or partners) for some hill workouts. Her work schedule makes it so she has to start at 5:30 a.m. She is willing to meet at your house (assuming you have hills nearby), so you can get a few extra minutes of sleep.

The beauty of hill training, is that your pace does not matter. After your warm up, all you do is run up the hill, and jog back down. . . rinse and repeat! So you may not run each hill cycle together, but you are there supporting each other.

If you are interested, shoot Tracy an email by clicking on the little face in this post. You do not have to commit to every week. Remember. . . we are a team!