Week of July 15

Greetings, everyone!

A few things of note for the week:
-This grueling heat and humidity are showing no signs of breaking over the next 10 days so please continue to be extra cautious with hydrating and your electrolyte input and, above else, dialing back your paces for ALL of your runs! And a big thanks for not “stating the obvious” regarding the weather on Wednesday mornings. Remember: spin it positive!

-If you’d like to do more miles than my suggested weekly mileage, please feel free to add them on. Some of our Speedsters like to get into the 40+ range and several of our BB marathoners seem to thrive on 60+. As long as you keep fatigue low and balance in your lives, I’m all for it!

-I could use about 8 more folks to help me with the NPR 5K this Saturday morning. Please text me if you can lend a hand from 7:15-8:15 at Towe Park. Thanks!

-CTC Track Meet this Thursday at 6:30 at the brand new Curtis Elder track at CHS.

-The wonderful folks at the Whitehall Community Center have kindly offered a free rental of their place to us, so we’d like to take them up on their gift by having a big Speedsters-Boston Bound family pot luck celebration on Sunday August 4. We thought we’d go with a late afternoon/early evening dinner. Please mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details from Captains Harry and Leah…

-Big Happy Birthdays to Anne C. (60 on Monday!!), Mark H. (Wednesday), Jane J. (Saturday) and Mike S. (50 on Sunday!)

I hope to see lots of you on Wednesday.
Cheers!
Coach Mark
434-293-3367 (day phone)
434-962-1694 (text)

WEEK of JULY 15
***REMEMBER: ALL of your weekly miles should be run at your AHR pace (80% of MP or 75% of Half marathon pace), unless I indicate otherwise. This is the biggest key to your training!

*Speedsters = Recovery week: Drop your current weekly mileage by 25-30%


MONDAY July 15
***IMPORTANT: These Monday “light workouts” are an OPTION. If you’re finding that you’re not recovered by Wednesday morning please go back to straight AHR mileage on Mondays.

*Speedsters = 4-5 miles as follows: 1-2 miles at AHR/2 miles at 10 mile-HMP/ 4 x 15 second hill surges/1 mile at AHR

*Speedsters racing at the CTC Track meet on Thursday: 6 x 200 starting at 107% of 10 miler pace for the first and working your way to 111-113% . Take a very slow 400 jog in between each.

WEDNESDAY July 17
**Please meet me at the UVa track parking lot at 5:30am for the following workouts:

**IMPORTANT…Please read: The purpose of this week’s FA (Form Acceleration) workout is to have you focusing heavily on getting your form in place. Teaching yourself to use your upper body (glutes, gut, arms and torso) to propel your legs is key in reducing leg injuries and increasing efficiency. These are not “all-out sprints” but should be run at a faster pace. So, let’s do a LOT more dynamics prior to this speedy workout so we complete it safely.
We will be repeating this fast twitch form workout once every 4-5 weeks.

*Speedsters =
-1 mile on the magic carpet at 98-100% of 10 miler pace
-then jog onto the track for the following FA (Form Accelerations) workout:
**Take a slow 90 second to 2 minute slow jog in between each FA.
-100 at 110-112%
-120 at a faster pace
-140 faster pace
-160 faster pace
-180 faster pace
-200 fastest!
The key is to focus on form on all of these short accelerations. Absolutely NO straining…keep it fast but relaxed as you focus on using your upper body to lift your knees. Nose over toes!
-Finish with 1 more mile back on the magic carpet but faster than the first mile


**Those racing the NPR 5K on Saturday = 6 x 200 starting at 5K pace and increasing the speed with each one. Take a very slow 400 jog in between each.

****NEW? Then please give me a shout BEFORE Wednesday morning so we can chat about the best and safest way to get you engaged with the group.

SATURDAY July 20

**Hope many of you will join us in supporting NPR radio by running or walking the PR 5K at Towe Park

*Speedsters:
5K-10K = 6 miles as follows:
-2 miles at 75-80% of 10 miler pace
-1 mile at 98% of 10 miler pace
-1 mile at 100%
-1 mile at 103% or faster
-1 mile at 75-80%

Half marathoners = 8 miles as follows:
-2 miles at 75-85% of 10 miler pace
-2 miles at 93% of 10 miler
-3 miles at 98% of 10 miler pace (which should be your HMP)
-1 mile cooldown at 75-80%