Week of March 30

Hi, everyone!

As we enter the third week of this strange new world, I find myself missing you more than ever.

I was happy to see that many of you got out and ran the 10 Miler course yesterday and I was pleased to learn that most of you were running well apart from one another.

I know you’re getting tired of hearing about social distancingbut, as your coach and, more importantly, as your friend, I can’t stress enough, the critical importance of this. So, please, if you must run or walk with a friend, please do it on opposite sides of the road. Even sidewalk or trail exercising, unless with a housemate, can be too close for comfort!

****IMPORTANT: I’ve been hearing from many of you that the motivation to continue training hard with weekly workouts, longruns and higher weekly mileage, has left the station. I don’t blame you! It’s so hard to keep training at such an intense level when there are no races scheduled for the foreseeable futureAND you’re running all ALONE!
So, I’ve got the following four options laid out for you:

1. Speedsters and anyone else in BB who was not originallytraining for a marathon but would like to still keep up the training: I’ll be sending out two suggested workouts each week. I will continue to make the Wednesday runs fartleks or hill workouts to encourage social distancing and the Saturday run will continue to be your long run with the option of some light pickups in the middle.

2. Those of you who were in training for the Boston Marathon:With the April race now postponed to possibly September,I’d look at the next several weeks as “break” time, as you will need to start ramping it back up starting in mid-May. I’d suggest weekly mileage in the 25-30 range with long runs in the 8-12 range or less for now, unless you feel motivated to do more. All should be at AHR. I know it stinks that you have “nothing to show” from a winter of hard training but, trust me when I say, it will serve you well down the road. Keep thinking of how much fun you had training with one another as you pushed and pulled eachother to greater fitness.

3. Those who were training for a May marathon: If your event hasn’t yet been canceled and you DO want to keep trainingas if it’s still on, then please get in touch with me by text and I’ll be happy to send you your workouts and mileage for the next few weeks. If by some miracle this virussituation disappears by late April or early May, Leah and I will host a very early morning sanctioned marathon down at Riverview. Odds are this will probably not materialize, based on where we’re at right now.

4. Everyone else, simply keep getting out the door and doing what best works for your current situation. AHR base mileage is great and if you feel like adding a bit of pizazz to one or two of your runs each week, go ahead and do alight fartlek in the middle of your run. Otherwise, be content with keeping it relaxed and easy. The key is to keep moving!

I dearly miss seeing you and really do hope you and your families are safe and well. And a huge tip of the cap to all of our fellow runners who are working in the hospital setting right now. We thank you for your selfless work in having our community’s back!

And a big thanks to Harry and Leah for all their help each and every week.

Please stay in touch, everyone!
With a huge hug,
Coach Mark
962-1694 (text)

p.s. Happy Birthdays to Katie W. (4/3) and Darren (4/4)!.

MONDAY March 30
Relaxed AHR miles

WEDNESDAY April 1
Cameron Crazies or find a half mile hilly loop in your neck of the wood to do the same kind of circuit. Run 6 circuits, surging the uphills and being active on the flats and descents. Make each one faster than the previous.

SATURDAY April 4
Long AHR run with the option of 10 x 30 seconds fast (sub 2 mile pace)-30 seconds slow jog in one of the latter miles of the run. Flatter course if you can.