Week of August 17, 2020

Greetings, my athletes!

Hope you’ve had a great week. The heat and humidity finally took a slight break and my gosh, does it ever feel good!

I’m so excited about our new grass course at Foxfield that we’ll be using for the Women’s Four Miler and hopefully, if all goes well, the Men’s Four Miler too. Sure, it won’t be as fast as a road course because grass always slows you down, but it’s such a beautiful course as it covers just about every square inch of this magnificent property. I’d strongly encourage all of our females to come join us for this historic journey, even if you simply want to walk it.

VOLUNTEER CALL: And speaking of the Four Miler, I’m looking for about 10 volunteers/day (the event is going to be run from Friday September 4th to Labor Day Monday 9/7) to help me with parking and course directing. We would need you from 6:00-8:30am. Please text me at 434-962-1694 if you can lend a hand on any of those days. Thanks so much! It seems weird to be asking for volunteers again, after not having bugged you for the past 5 months...

A few reminders of note, even if you’re not training for anything in particular:
-Make sure you’re keeping a good JOURNAL, where you’re recording important things like: “how you feel” (1-10), pace of first mile vs. overall pace, nutrition, sleep, any new aches or pains, etc.
-The most important days of the week to roll and stretch are your non-running days, as that’s when you tighten up.
-Pool running (deep end of the pool) is one of the best ways to cross train and recover. Plus, it counts towards your weekly mileage!
-Questions? Injury issues? Please give me a shout. I’m still here to help!

Happy Birthdays to Peggy M. (today), Mike G. (Monday), Steve L. (Tuesday), Lauri W. (Wednesday), Bev W. (Friday) and Michelle P. (Sunday)!

I hope to see you at some point this week.

Happy Running, everyone!

Coach Mark
434-962-1694 (text)

WEEK of AUGUST 17

*SPEEDSTERS: So, as a reminder, the weekly workouts I’ve written for you are driving you towards two different goals:
1. Those looking to race the shorter distances this fall, from 5K up to 10K, starting with the Women’s Four Miler
2. Those looking to race the Oktoberfest Half Marathon I have set up exclusively for you, my athletes, in early October.

SPEEDSTERS
*5K-10K crew = 25-30 miles total
*Half marathoners = 30-35 miles total

MONDAY August 17
*Speedsters = 4-6 very relaxed AHR miles with 5 x 15 second flat surface form surges with a slow 45 second recovery in between each

WEDNESDAY August 19
*Speedsters = “Bellair Miles”
-5K crew = 3 x 1 mile
-Half marathoners = 4 x 1 mile
Take a slow 3-4 minute recovery in between each mile

I’ll mark a hilly 1 mile course in Bellair for you. Leah will post it for your convenience on blog/facebook.
Run the first 1 mile at 100-102% of 10 mile pace
2nd one at 103-104% or faster
3rd and 4th (half marathoners only) ones faster!

***A safe and convenient place to park is in the medical offices spaces next to Bellair Exxon (across from Bellair). That way you can warmup safely in quiet Bellair (just be careful crossing 250). I’ll include the parking in the course map that Leah posts.

**Please note: I’ll be doing my morning walk in Bellair that day from 6:00-7:00am, so I hope to see some of you during that time. This will give me my first chance to cheer for you in person since early March (I’ll have my mask on). No, this does not mean I’m encouraging you all to meet as a large group again but pairs or trios seems safe enough outdoors, as long as you don’t get too close to each other, especially after the workout (unless you put your masks back on). I hope to see some of you in Bellair during that time.

SATURDAY August 22
***Attention Central Virginia 100K folks: this weekend is the 25K section of your journey towards earning that CV100K shirt! You can run this 15.5 miler anywhere you’d like. I’m happy to mark out a 25K course along Sugar Hollow if there’s enough interest in having me do so. Please let me know by text if you would like for me to do that (by Wednesday). Otherwise, I’ll leave it up to you to run your 15.5 miles along a course of your own choosing.

*Speedsters: rolling to hillier courses please
-5K-10K = 8-10 miles all at AHR (~70-75% of 10 mile pace)

-Half Marathoners = 14-15 miles all at AHR (~70-75% of 10 mile pace)