​Greetings, my friends and athletes! 

BIG FAVOR: As I mentioned a few weeks ago, adorable four-year old Jack Callahan, is in the fight of his young life with a very rare form of childhood cancer. He hasn’t left the hospital since June and his parents (Emily and Mike) have had to leave their jobs (Emily worked at VIA) to be at his side while he has multiple stem cell transplants.

So, in an effort to help them out, our family, with Lawren and Alec as the main driving forces, have been organizing a big fund raiser, “JackFest”, to be held at Panorama Farms on Sunday November 3rd.

There will be all kinds of fun, including a short fun run, a family team scavenger hunt, fire trucks, a bounce house, delicious food (and beer) trucks, plus a huge raffle with dozens of really wonderful gifts, which is where the bulk of the funds we’re trying to raise will come from.

I’m asking each of you (even those without kids or grandkids) to please, if you can, come join us for an hour or so at this very special fund raiser. Can’t make it? Then please still buy some raffle tickets to win one of those great gifts. This would personally mean a lot to me but will also show this local family how much community support they have, which will go a long way in keeping their spirits up!

I can’t thank you enough for always being there, everyone! You mean so much to me.   

Coach Mark
434-293-3367
434-962-1694 (text)

p.s. Here are my new hours, if you want to come see me in person…which I always love!
M-off
Tu-1-6
W-12-6  
Th-9-3
F-12-6    
Sat.-usually 9-4


WEEK of OCTOBER 21
***All the best to those racing their marathon this coming weekend!
 
*Speedsters:
-5K-10K racers = ~20-30 miles  
-Half marathoner =~25-35 miles or more

MONDAY October 21
-IMPORTANT reminder: please skip the pickup surges if you’re prone to Achilles, calf or hammy issues.
*Speedsters = 4-6 miles at 75% of 10 mile pace with 5 x 15 second hill form surges with a very slow 45 second recovery in between each.  

WEDNESDAY October 23
***Please join me at the UVa track at 5:30am for the following workouts:

*Speedsters and BB November marathoners = “PATRIOT” Progression (new workout, courtesy of my son Adrian, who uses it in the latter weeks of a cycle) as follows:
-9 minutes at 100% of 10 mile pace or 106% of MP (off the track and on the M.C….I’ll go over the off track course in detail on Wednesday)
-then straight into 1 mile on the track at 103-104% of 10 miler pace or 109-110% of MP or faster   
-4 minute very slow jog recovery (hydrate too)
-Repeat cycle (9 minutes off and 1 mile on) but slightly faster!  

 SATURDAY October 26
***Speedsters:
*5K-10K racers = 8 miles total as follows:
-1 mile at 80% of 10 mile pace
-2 miles at 84% of 10 mile pace
-1 mile at 98% of 10 mile pace
-1 mile at 100-103%
-1 mile at 104%
-1 mile faster!
-1 cooldown mile back to 80%

*Half marathoners = 11 miles as follows (flatter course):
-2 miles at 80-84% of 10 mile pace
-2 miles at 93% of 10 mile pace
-2 miles at 98%
-2 miles at 100% or slightly faster  
-2 miles faster (103% or faster)!
-1 mile cooldown at 80%
 
SUNDAY October 27
Come join us for 4-5 relaxed, social miles at 6:45am at Greenberry’s  

***Sneak preview reminder:
MONDAY 10/28 = Meet and greet with Coach Vin Lananna…6:30pm at Ragged.   


Coach Mark
434-293-3367 (day phone)
434-962-1694 (text)

Wow! Another great racing weekend for our crew, as we had fast times at the Community Bridges 5K, Army 10 Miler and the Chicago Marathon!
Here’s just a small sampling of these great performances:
*Community Bridges
-Andrew Y. 2nd overall (16:54) and Teresa 3rd overall (18:20)!
-Age Group winners: Ian (19:57!), Lauretta (4th overall-18:30), Alex (5th overall-18:47) and Hosni.
-2nd in age group: Peggy, Bob J. and Jim (18:34!)
-3rd Heidi and George.
Other 5K efforts of note: Larry and Jake (both sub 8:00 pace), Megan M. (4th ), Kenny and Erik, Peter T., Katie R., Kristen H., The Gonellas.
*Army 10 Miler
-Jason B. ((57:14), Ali (60:48), Shawn (57:57), Gaby (68:15), Natalie K. (63:00)!
*Chicago
-Carter (2:45:34), Joan B. (3:14), Bill P. (4:28) and Sophie L. (3:18) are just a few of the folks I’ve heard from that had really solid races in what turned out to actually really be the “very windy city”!
-A huge thanks to Leah, Lisa D., Anne C., Nicole, Christian, Ellen, Brian and Dr. Bob, who were a big help to me at the race yesterday!
-Please mark your calendars for October 28 to come meet UVa’s new head T&F and XC Coach Vin Lananna and hear about his vision for the future of the program. Vin is a legend in our sport, having guided the Oregon Ducks to national dominance over the past 15 years and having served as our Head U.S. Track Coach for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and we’re so happy to have him
here in Cville with us. I’ll let you know the time of the event next week (probably 6:15or 6:30 at Ragged).
**IMPORTANT: Those of you who are getting to run your marathon and half marathons in the coming weeks, please set up a time to meet with you so we can go over your race day pace game plan. This is one of my favorite aspects of coaching!
*As an FYI, for the fall, I’m now taking Mondays off, so I’ll be in the shop all the other days of the week, including Wednesdays.
*24 Hour Rule: As a reminder, please contact me within 24 hours of having a new pain crop! The quicker you communicate the faster we can get it out of your life!
*Happy Birthdays to Janice D. (Thursday), Winslow (Friday) and Paul H. (Saturday)!

I hope to see many of you on Wednesday morning!

Cheers!

Coach Mark
293-3367 (day phone)
962-1694 (text)

WEEK of OCTOBER 14
*Speedsters:
-Half marathoners = 35-40 miles
-Shorter distance racers (5K to 10K) = 25-30 miles
*BB Late October marathoners = please see me for details, if you haven’t done so already
*BB November marathoners = 50-55 miles or more

MONDAY October 14
*Speedsters:
-Half marathon folks = 6-8 miles at 75% of half marathon pace with 7 x 15 second hill form surges with a very slow 45 second jog in between each
-5K-10K crew = 5-6 miles with 5 x 15 second hill form surges with a slow 45 second jog in between each.

*BB November marathoners = 7-8 miles at 80% of MP with 7 x 15 second hill form surges with a slow 45 second jog in between each.

WEDNESDAY October 16
***Please join me at the UVa track at 5:30 am (not 5:45… sorry about that typo last week, my bad!)
*Speedsters =
8 x 800 in two sets of four as follows (please read extra carefully):
-1st set at 98-100% of 10 mile pace with a very brief rolling 100 recovery in between each
-2nd set at the paces I will have Leah send out to you. For this set, take a very slow 3 minute recovery in between each.
***Speedsters “5K-10K” folks should run 6 x 800 in two sets of three (same paces), instead of 8 x 800.

*BB November marathoners =
8 x 800 in two sets of four as follows (please read extra carefully):
-1st set of four at 105-107% of MP with a very brief rolling 100 recovery in between each
-2nd set of four at my suggested paces, that I’ll have Captain Harry send to you. For this set, take a very slow 3 minute jog recovery in between each.
*BB late October marathoners please get in touch with me, if you haven’t done so already.

SATURDAY October 19
*Speedsters: Long AHR run day… the slower you run the better. Make sure to hydrate and get nutrition throughout the entire run.
-Half marathoners = 16-17 miles at 75% of half marathon/10 miler pace
-5K-10K crew = 9-10 miles at 75% of 10 miler pace

*BB November marathoners = 20 miles as follows:
-13 miles at 80%
-4 miles at 100%
-2 miles at 104%
-1 mile back to 80%

SUNDAY October 20
**Come join us for 4-5 social miles at 6:45 am at Greenberry’s

Greetings, everyone!

I sure missed you over the last several weeks, after our long walking trip, and I was so happy to see so many of you at the Wednesday workout this week.

I wanted to publicly thank Harry and Leah for all their wonderful help in taking care of things while I was away. I really appreciate their thoughtful volunteer acts of kindness.


And I also want to thank each of you who donated SO generously to the airline vouchers you gave to me last spring. We used them to get over to England and they ultimately led us to what became the walk of a lifetime. That means the world to us and I can’t thank you enough for always being so kind to me. I continue to love seeing each of you improve and derive so much
enjoyment from your training together.


A few thoughts for the week…
1. A huge thanks to all who came out to help me at the Men’s Four Miler yesterday. The race was a huge success and I could not have done it without the help of folks like Bev, Peggy, Leah, Susan, Mackenzie, Paula, Erika, John, Kelly, Michelle, Kristin H., Bill, Megan and Cynthia. Way to go to our fast racers too. Here’s just a sampling of some our guys who had excellent performances: Jim, Jeffrey, Zach, Mark, Ian, James, Trent, Kenny and, Brian C.


2. And a big thanks to all the folks who helped distribute flyers to the neighborhoods along the route of the Community Bridges 5K. Harry, Kara, Carol, Rick, Anne, Peggy, Bill, Russell, Rachel and Cynthia were a huge help this morning as we distributed over 500 flyers.


3. And speaking of, I’d love to see as many our folks out to race with Jim this Saturday at the 2nd annual Community Bridges 5K. This would mean a lot to us as we’re passing along all of the proceeds to several local organizations who are doing really good work with Affordable Housing issues in our community. Can’t race? Then please sign up to help on race day. We still need about 25 more volunteers. Thanks!
https://runsignup.com/Race/VA/Charlottesville/CommunityBridges5K?remMeAttempt=


4. Congrats to longtime Boston Bound runner Jenny G., who nailed a sweet 2:43:00 at Twin Cities this morning, earning herself a spot on the starting line of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials!! And congrats to Rick K., Henry R. and Jordan P., who all qualified for Boston while I was away in September.


5. Happy Birthday to Martha C. today!


6. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing the latest 5K standards for All-American status for Masters runners. I’m impressed with the fact that many of you have already earned this with your speedy times!


ALL-AMERICAN STANDARDS for 5K
FEMALE MALE
40-44 = 22:45 18:10
45-49 = 23:50 18:45
50-54 = 25:20 19:30
55-59 = 27:05 20:30
60-64 = 29:00 21:40
65-69 = 31:20 24:20
70-74 = 34:00 27:40

I’m looking forward to seeing many of you, either this Wednesday or at the Community Bridges 5K this Saturday.
Cheers!


Coach Mark
293-3367
962-1694 (text)


WEEK of OCTOBER 7
*Speedsters = Recovery week, so please drop your normal weekly mileage by 20-25%


*BB October marathoners = Race week for Chicago… all else please text or stop by for specifics about your last few weeks of training.


IMPORTANT: Chicago folks should come see me about their race day game plan this week.


*BB November marathoners = ~45-50 miles or more


MONDAY October 7
*Speedsters = 4-5 miles with 2 miles at HMP… finish with 4 x 15 second hill form surges with a long recovery in between each


*Chicago folks = 4-5 miles as follows:
-1 mile at the exact pace you plan to start out at race day
-2 miles right at MP… not one single second faster!
-1-2 miles at AHR


*Other October marathoners = please text me for specifics (please include the date of your race)


*BB November = 7-8 miles total with 4 miles right at MP (no faster!)… also run 5 x 12 second hill form surges with a long break in between each.


WEDNESDAY October 9
***Please meet me at the UVa track at 5:45 for the following workouts:
*Speedsters = 15 x 400 in three sets of five as follows:
-1st set at 103-104% of 10 miler with a rolling 150 recovery in between each (I’ll set cones out)
-2nd set at 104-105% of 10 miler with a rolling 100 recovery in between each
-3rd set faster with a rolling 50 recovery in between each (I’ll set cones out)


*Chicago = 4 miles total with 6-8 x 15 second FLAT surges at HMP-10K pace with a slow 45 second jog in between each.
*Other BB October = please text me for specifics


*BB November = 15 x 400 in three sets of five as follows:
-1st set at 108-109% of MP with a rolling 150 recovery in between each (I’ll set out cones)
-2nd set at 109-111% of MP with a rolling 100 recovery in between each
-3rd set faster with a rolling 50 recovery in between each (I’ll set out cones)


***Racing the Community Bridges 5K? Then run 6 x 200 at your targeted pace with a slow 200 jog in between each.


***Just Running? There’s always a group of folks who are simply “just running”, so please come join them for 5-7 social miles.


SATURDAY October 12
*Speedsters = two choices:
A. Race the Community Bridges 5K
B. 9 miles total as follows:
-1 at 85% of HMP
-2 at 93% of HMP
-3 at 100% of HMP
-2 faster!
-1 at 75% of HMP


*All the best to our Chicago crew!
*Other BB October folks = please get in touch with me for specifics


*BB November = 16 miles total as follows:
-2 miles at the exact same pace you plan to start with on race day
-9 miles at 100% of MP
-2 miles at 104%
-2 miles faster!
-1 mile at 80%a

5K-10K = 25-30 miles
Half-Marathon - 30-40 miles

Monday 9/30
5k-10K = 4-5 miles with 6 x 15 second hill form surges
Half- Marathon = 6-7 miles with 6 x 15 second hill surges

Wednesday 10/2
Please meet Coach Mark at 5:30 a.m. at the Uva Track

Note: Guys racing the Bill Steer's Men's 4 Miler 6 x 400 at pace or faster with 200 jog

"Spartan"
5k-10K =
1600 on at 100% of 10 miler
800 off at 93%
1200 on at 103%
800 off at 93%
800 on at 106-107%
800 off 93%
400 on faster

Half- Marathon =
1600 on at 100% of 10 miler
800 off at 93%
1200 on at 103%
800 off at 93%
800 on at 106-107%
800 off 93%
400 on faster
800 off at 93%
200 on fastest!

Saturday 10/5
All the best to our guys racing the Bill Steer's Men's 4 Miler! We still need lots of race day volunteers PLEASE! Sign up online.

A. Men's 4 Miler
B. 5k-10K = 9-10 miles at AHR (75% of 10 miler)
Half- Marathon = 16-17 miles at AH (75% of 10 miler)

5K-10K = 20-30 miles
Half-Marathoners = 30-35 miles

Monday, September 23
5K-10K = Normal AHR miles with 6 x 15 second flat form surges with a 60 second jog in between each

Half-Marathoners = 4-5 miles AHR (80%) with 6 x 15 second flat form surges with a 60 second jog in between each

Wednesday, September 25
5K-10K = 2 x 1.5 miles on our usual UVA course with a slow 3 mile jog in between each. Run them at 103-105% of 10 miler pace.

Half-Marathoners = 3 x 1.5 miles (same pace as other group)

Saturday, September 27
5K-10K =
7 miles as follows (flat to gentle rolling course, sugar hollow?)
2 at 93% of 10 miler 
4 at 100-103%
1 at 75%


Half-Marathoners = 
10 miles total (flatter course)
1 at 85%
2 at 95%
4 at 93%
1 faster!
1 at 80%

​Mileage
5K-10K = 25-30 miles
Half-Marathoners = 35-40 miles

Monday, September 16
A = Those who raced 10K - 4 miles AHR
B = Those who did NOT race  - 5-6 miles AHR

Wednesday, September 18
Meet Captain Harry at UVA Track at 5:30 am

Thomson/Lewis Mountain Loops x 3
Run Thomson at 100-104% of 10 miler pace
Then run up Lewis Mountain at 30-30 fartlek
Try to run each loop faster than the previous

Saturday, September 19
5K-10K = 8-10 miles at 75% of 10 miler pace
Half-Marathoners = 15-16 miles at 75% of HMP

  Wow! We had such a great complete group effort at the Women’s Four Miler yesterday, as so many of you had amazing performances and so many other Speedsters/BB folks were selfless volunteers!

Here’s just a small sampling:
*Blue Ribbon Age Group winners
-Ali K., Kate G., Jen H. and Hosni!
*2nd Place AG
-Rachel T., Sophie L., Kate J., Ancolien, Charlotte P. 
*3rd /4th place AG
-Kim V., Lauretta, Teresa, , Allie, Becky, Gaby, Laura, Beth,
And our Speedsters team had a great outing as they took second to the mighty RMR women!

Way to go and a huge thanks to the all 60 of our Speedster/BB volunteers! And congrats to Audrey and Nicole and to their race committee (Jim B., Ellen, Lisa, Dennis and others) for organizing one dandy of an event!

And check out Rachel‘s wonderful article in today’s Daily Progress.


This is a break week for our Speedsters, so I’ve got some fun team running games planned for Wednesday. I do hope you will join me for this.

Cynthia and I will be heading off for our walk across England next Sunday (9/8). This is a longtime dream come true and it also represents our longest vacation (3 weeks) of our 39-year marriage. So, because we’ll be off the grid from 9/8-9/28, I’d love to be able to answer any training questions you might have, or anticipate having) sometime this week, before we go.

After that (until late September) my son, Alec, who is an outstanding coach, or Captain Harry will be your go-to experts.

I will send all of your workouts to Harry and Leah before I go and they will continue to email them out to you, on a weekly basis on Sundays, as usual.

I hope to see or hear from you this week.

I continue to be in awe of the way you all click as a group. Thanks for treating me to such a special experience as your coach.

Mark

434-293-3367
434-962-1694 (text)

WEEK of SEPTEMBER 2

*Speedsters = Recovery week!

IMPORTANT: This is our annual break time, when, I like to give you a small break in the fast action, before we fire things back up again for the fall push. This not only gives you a physical break but also a mental one, as you reset your mind towards a competitive fall season, where we will be going hard for the next two months.

So, please drop your weekly mileage and please come join us this Wednesday for some fun “running games”!

Pool miles count!


MONDAY September 2
*Speedsters = 3-5 miles at AHR (75% of 10 mile pace)

WEDNESDAY September 4
***Please join me at the UVa track at 5:30am for the following workouts:

*Speedsters = “The Speedsters Team Running Games”! Please come join me for what I hope will be a fun time with team running games…low key, so even those who raced The Four Miler are encouraged to join in!

SATURDAY September 7
*Speedsters = Long AHR run Saturday

-5K-10K = 8-9 miles at 75% of 10 mile pace
-Half Marathoners = 14-15 miles at 75% of HMP

SUNDAY September 8
Please join us for 4-5 social AHR miles at 6:45am at Greenberry’s.

Happy Birthday, Katherine Laughon!