THIS-SATURDAY-AT-A-GLANCEMileage: 22
Volunteers:
Bananas: Mimi Champion
Bagels - Robin Solis
Set-up - Luz Lyon and Richard Buerli
Breakdown - none
NEWS FLASH: NEXT TWO TRAINING RUNS CANCELED!
There will be NO ORGANIZED TRAINING RUNS on the following Saturdays:
April 18 - in support of the Camarillo Half-Marathon on April 19
April 25 - Ragnar Relay and Big Sur Marathon weekend
See you all on May 2nd!
TRAINING CORNER
By George Arita, Advisor of Training
Georgerunvta@aol.com
LSD
For members planning to run the targeted Los Angeles Marathon on May 25, 2009, this Saturday will be your longest training run: 22 miles! From the start at the foot of the Main Street Bridge, we run south for two miles (just past the lifeguard station), turn around and return to the bridge. Then we head north to our Mile 9 “happy face” (before the end of PCH), turn around and head for home. Twenty-two miles! Wow! After this Saturday, just one more 20 miler (in two weeks), then we start our taper. Whew!
Members (including yours truly) who are running the Big Sur International Marathon on April 26, 2009 will be running 12 miles (tempo) on Saturday and 8 miles at marathon pace next week (April 18). Your last hill runs should be this week but continue you speed workouts into the final week with reduced mileage.
CAMARILLO HALF-MARATHON
The club-supported Camarillo Half Marathon runs on April 19, 2009. We welcome and need club volunteers to help set-up, man and take down our booth. See Naomi if you are willing to help your club.
Because most of our members will be participating in this race or volunteering with our booth, our Saturday (April 18, 2009) run will be canceled. You may run on your own, but there will be no water, Gatorade, bagels or bananas.
If you plan to run this half marathon, take the April 18, 2009 Saturday off and use the 13.1 mile distance in place of your scheduled 12 mile LSD run. Those running Big Sur should not run the half marathon but you could do the accompanying 5K or 10K as part of your speed work.
ESSAY: PREPARE FOR WHAT’S AHEAD OF YOU
Whether you run on roads or on trails and whether you are racing or in training, aside from a track or the treadmill, the courses that you run are never uniform. There may be menacing or gradual hills, sharp or wide turns, and congested or open areas. Even your pacing may change; you may want to run easily at this point and surge at that point; or you may be approaching the point where you start your final kick to the finish. You must be aware of what lies on the course ahead of you. And you should know when and where you plan to make any strategic moves. It pays to prepare for the course conditions and for your moves that are ahead of you. Here are some pointers on how to prepare for your immediate running future.
First of all, you should always make a point to familiarize yourself with the course, either by studying a map (preferably including an elevation profile) of the course or by running it beforehand. Be aware of the approximate locations of the tough and “easy” spots so you can plan your possible moves. For example, if you know that the first mile or two involves a rapid descent followed by many rolling hills for the remainder of the course, you should control your urge to run a PR two miles to save your quads for the rest of the course. Or if you know that a “killer” hill starts at Mile 5, you might plan to run a bit easily about 200 meters before reaching that point of the course. Certainly you wouldn’t want to surge just to be the first at the foot of the hill (and die half-way up).
Whether you carry your own water or you take water at an aid station, I recommend you not drink at the foot of a hill or on the way up a hill. And also, do not drink just a few strides before your planned surge. The reason: when drinking, you will have to give up taking one or more breaths, so this could leave your working muscles little short of oxygen. I find it helpful to take four or five deep (abdominal) breaths before drinking and continue taking several additional deep breaths after swallowing.
Before starting a surge and before starting an uphill climb, again I recommend taking four or five deep (abdominal) breaths to get as much oxygen as possible into your blood stream immediately before taking on the task. And during the surge or uphill climb, continue taking deep breaths to keep your O2 levels up.
As you approach the end of the course, your last intake of water or other fluids should be at least a quarter of a mile before the planned start of your “final kick.” Take several deeps breaths before and continue breathing deeply all the way to the finish.
Perform these planning, breathing and drinking strategies during training so they become “natural” during your races.
Members (including yours truly) who are running the Big Sur International Marathon on April 26, 2009 will be running 12 miles (tempo) on Saturday and 8 miles at marathon pace next week (April 18). Your last hill runs should be this week but continue you speed workouts into the final week with reduced mileage.
CAMARILLO HALF-MARATHON
The club-supported Camarillo Half Marathon runs on April 19, 2009. We welcome and need club volunteers to help set-up, man and take down our booth. See Naomi if you are willing to help your club.
Because most of our members will be participating in this race or volunteering with our booth, our Saturday (April 18, 2009) run will be canceled. You may run on your own, but there will be no water, Gatorade, bagels or bananas.
If you plan to run this half marathon, take the April 18, 2009 Saturday off and use the 13.1 mile distance in place of your scheduled 12 mile LSD run. Those running Big Sur should not run the half marathon but you could do the accompanying 5K or 10K as part of your speed work.
ESSAY: PREPARE FOR WHAT’S AHEAD OF YOU
Whether you run on roads or on trails and whether you are racing or in training, aside from a track or the treadmill, the courses that you run are never uniform. There may be menacing or gradual hills, sharp or wide turns, and congested or open areas. Even your pacing may change; you may want to run easily at this point and surge at that point; or you may be approaching the point where you start your final kick to the finish. You must be aware of what lies on the course ahead of you. And you should know when and where you plan to make any strategic moves. It pays to prepare for the course conditions and for your moves that are ahead of you. Here are some pointers on how to prepare for your immediate running future.
First of all, you should always make a point to familiarize yourself with the course, either by studying a map (preferably including an elevation profile) of the course or by running it beforehand. Be aware of the approximate locations of the tough and “easy” spots so you can plan your possible moves. For example, if you know that the first mile or two involves a rapid descent followed by many rolling hills for the remainder of the course, you should control your urge to run a PR two miles to save your quads for the rest of the course. Or if you know that a “killer” hill starts at Mile 5, you might plan to run a bit easily about 200 meters before reaching that point of the course. Certainly you wouldn’t want to surge just to be the first at the foot of the hill (and die half-way up).
Whether you carry your own water or you take water at an aid station, I recommend you not drink at the foot of a hill or on the way up a hill. And also, do not drink just a few strides before your planned surge. The reason: when drinking, you will have to give up taking one or more breaths, so this could leave your working muscles little short of oxygen. I find it helpful to take four or five deep (abdominal) breaths before drinking and continue taking several additional deep breaths after swallowing.
Before starting a surge and before starting an uphill climb, again I recommend taking four or five deep (abdominal) breaths to get as much oxygen as possible into your blood stream immediately before taking on the task. And during the surge or uphill climb, continue taking deep breaths to keep your O2 levels up.
As you approach the end of the course, your last intake of water or other fluids should be at least a quarter of a mile before the planned start of your “final kick.” Take several deeps breaths before and continue breathing deeply all the way to the finish.
Perform these planning, breathing and drinking strategies during training so they become “natural” during your races.
CLUB NEWS
*Birthday greetings
April 25 - Mike Miskel
April 28 - Richard Hernandez
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