Week of April 20

Hi, everyone!

Sounds like many of you got out and took advantage of the cooler mornings to get in your “race simulators” over the weekend and the results were excellent!

Here’s just a brief sampling of some of my hot shots:

Ali K. (23:41 for 4 miles), James C. (18:55for 5K), John C. (20:27 for 5K), Lauretta (sub 70 for 10 miles in Bellair!), Philp L. (21:16 for 5K), Mark F. (27:41 for 5K), Alice F. (9:58 pace for 5K!) and Cassandra (9:30pace for 5K!).

**And our “BOSTON QUALIFIERS”, who ran impressive BQ 2.62 mile races on this, the weekend of the Granddaddy of them all: Peter T., Linda S., Katie P., Anne C., Heidi, Harry, Kim V. and Cynthia.

**These are the folks who I’ve heard from thus far, but I’d sure like to hear from all of you who “raced” or ran hard workouts this weekend. Please text me your results and a photo, if you can. I’d sure like that…it’s the next best thing to being out there, cheering you on! Thanks!

A few tips for the week…

1. Make sure you’re getting up, out of your sitting position, and walking around every 30 minutes.
2. Stay on top of your daily foam rolling
3. Stay hydrated…sip throughout the day
4. Get your sleep
5. Try to exercise once/day. On the days you don’t run, go for a brisk walk
6. Try to do some sort of core work for at least 5-10 minutes, 3-5 days/week. Situps, pushups, planks, balancing work and light upper body weights is a good routine.
7. Please continue to stick to that social distancing mode of only one walking or running partner and stay plenty far apart.
8. And above everything else, keep recognizing the silver linings of this uneasy time. It’s okay to feel unsettled, frustrated and anxious but try to keep bringing the needle back to the positive side of your life’s meter. As cliché, as it may sound, keep taking all of this one week at a time.

And a huge thanks to all of our health care providers. We’re so grateful for your selfless and brave daily acts of generosity.

Happy Birthdays this week to Gaby (Wednesday) and Ky (Saturday)!

I continue to miss each of you very much and have been warmed by the text and phone call updates on your running and your lives. Keep them coming!
And please know you’re all in my heart.

With a hug and a high five,
Coach Mark
434-962-1694

WEDNESDAY April 22
Happy Birthday, Gaby!

**IMPORTANT: If you ran the time trial “race” on Friday or Saturday, feel free to run the following workout. However, if you ran the “race” on Sunday or plan to do it on Monday, I then want you to simply do an easy AHR run on Wednesday. So, please, no Wednesday workout if you raced on Sunday or Monday!

-Find a one mile flatter section of road. Look for a road, where, at the end of that mile, there’s a decent uphill.
-Run the flat road mile at 100-102% of 10 mile pace or 106-108% of MP
-After completing the mile, take a brief 60 second recovery and then surge up that hill for 15 seconds. Repeat this seven more times. So, 8 x 15 second hill surges with a very slow 45 second recovery in between each. Focus on upper body form by using your core and arms to lift your knees as you surge up the hill.
-After the last hill surge take a brief 60 second recovery and then run the flat mile back in the opposite direction. Try to run it faster than the first mile.

As a course suggestion you might try running from the mile 2 mark of the 10 Miler course (next to Stadium near the AFC), up to the 3 mile mark at the Chapel. Then use the hill coming up off University Avenue onto McCormick for your hill repeats.
Or, start at the four-way intersection at the bottom of Bellair and run clockwise for a mile. Then use the hill with the pond (Canterbury Road) at your right side for your 15 second hill surges.

SATURDAY April 25
Happy Birthday, Ky!

Two options:
1. Longer AHR run (your longest run of the week)
2. “15/10/5” on a flatter to slightly rolling course as follows: After a 2 mile warmup, run 15 minutes at 96%-100% of 10 mile pace or 102-106% of MP. Then take a 4 minute recovery. Then run 10 minutes at a faster pace. Take a 2 minute recovery and finish out by running 5 minutes faster!