January 21st Email Update

Good morning!

We are in the 7th week of training! It goes by so fast. I just want to congratulate all of our runners who have completed their longest run to date over the last few weeks; it is really a great feeling and accomplishment. You guys are doing great! And, I want to thank everyone that I have run with over the last few weeks, it is so great meeting new people, so I just want you all to know how much I appreciate the chance to run with you all!

Over the past week, I have thought about a few things we probably should think about at this point in our training.

1) Pacing for our long run. I tend to run my long run at a slower pace, that way I can recover faster, and remain injury free. So the ‘general’ rule of thumb is to run about 60-90 seconds slower on your long runs that your goal race pace. Of course, with that being said, some of us might not have a goal race pace since it could be a first half marathon (which on my first half, my goal was to finish). To me the best advice is to run at a conversational pace. Which means that you can hold a conversation with the person you are running with (or if running alone, you can sing a song). And, by conversation it means conversation, not just being able to squeak out yes or no! As always, if you have questions ask Kathy or Brian!
2) Nutrition while running. GUs, gels, beans, chomps, Gatorade, powerade, and everything in between. At this point in our running it is probably time to start experimenting with different items. What works for you, may not work for the next person. So if you plan on using anything during the race, start experimenting. Runners' World has many products, and you can ask questions about how much and how often!
3) Overtraining. This is very easy to do. You get a little excited, start pushing yourself to either run further or faster, and boom, you are exhausted. It happens to the best of us! So if you find yourselves being exhausted (not just tired from doing a long run), you may want to evaluate your training from the week, and back off a little for the next week. Your body will thank you for it!

Okay, on to more fun thoughts! Upcoming races and places…
1) Just a reminder that there are several of us running in the Winter Classic coming up on January 30th. If you are running in this race, and would like to meet up with some of our group there, please email us. On January 30th, Ashley will be at the Winter Classic, and Kelly will be at Veterans’ Park.
2) Little Rock Marathon. If you are interested in the Little Rock Marathon on March 7th, please email us. I will be attending the half marathon, and there is a small group of us getting together to carpool, etc.
3) The Runners’ World Bus. If you all are interested in getting a spot with Runners’ World on the bus going to OKC, I would talk to Kathy sooner rather than later!

Saturday we will be meeting at Veterans’ Park at 7:45 a.m. We are going to run north on the River Parks trail, cross the 11th street bridge, then we will head south along the west bank of the river. The beginner half group (8 miles) will turn around at the water fountain at 45th Street, advanced half (10 miles) will turn around at the sewage treatment plant. Then head back north along the trail, cross over at the pedestrian bridge. And, take the trail back to Veterans’ Park.

Oh, and last thought...lightning...many of you have emailed me about it. I know that storms are predicted for Saturday. We will run in the rain-many of us ran in the rain last week, and it was a great run! But, it may be a good question to ask this evening at the group run on how we will handle any lightning on Saturday morning. Thankfully lightning storms usually don't last long, so hopefully if we are having a storm on Saturday it would be something we could sit out in our cars, and then get moving!