Beginner Running Group 1 January 2012

Hello Runners,

I hope you had a fabulous holiday season.  January is here and I guess it’s time to get back into a routine.  We have a great few weeks ahead of us.  I’m so excited!  I’ve attached the training program for those of you who don’t have it.  Our long runs (in minutes of actual running time) for January are 60, 70, 70, 80 minutes.  Yeah!  This week’s 60 minutes will be a re-hash for those of you who have been on the regular schedule over the holidays.  For those of you who have been on an adjusted schedule over the holidays, the run this week will just get you back up to where we were before the break.  We’re ready for this – I promise.  The last run we had before the break was incredible.  You actually messed me up by running so well.  The plan I had about where we were running was blown to bits as we far exceeded the mileage I had hoped for.  Well done!  Now we can carry that fabulous running into January!!!
This week we’ll be doing a nice route down to Big Ben then we’ll cross over Westminster Bridge.  From there, we’ll run along the south-side embankment in front of the London Eye and National Theatre then cross back over the river at the Hungerford Bridge.  Then we will run along the north-side embankment back to Westminster tube station.  We are actually crossing over two bridges so feel free to follow Syma – she’s not trying to add on mileage this time!!!
During January, your other two weekly runs should be 45 and 35 minutes (running time).  Beginning in February, those runs will go up to 45 minutes and 60 minutes (this is a bit of a change, an increase, from the attached program).  You will be absolutely fine following this schedule and running at the pace we normally do.  The pace we run on Thursdays is what we will do for the half-marathon.  If you are interested in pushing yourself a bit more (again, this is NOT necessary but some of you have asked), try doing the 35 minute weekly run at a quicker pace.  You don’t even really have to think about running faster – just think about picking your feet up off the ground a bit more quickly.  DON’T think about lengthening your stride – DO think about picking up your feet like that hot potato game.  A quicker foot turnover translates into a quicker pace without adjusting your normal gait (which can lead to injury).  It may help to think about picking your knees up in front of you as though you are marching.  That action forces your gluts to “participate” which also will increase your speed.  If you don’t want to do this, don’t do it.  Don’t feel guilty about that.  You’re doing extremely well to stick to the program and you’re doing great with the distances we are running.  There is no need to go any faster, but I completely understand why some of you are asking about it.  It’s kind of fun to test yourself.
As our runs get longer, you may want to think about what you are eating for breakfast pre-run.  Experts suggest 50g carbs, 3-5g protein and 2-3g fat (the fat is very important pre-run).  That could be half a bagel spread with nut butter or cream cheese, oatmeal with nuts or nut butter mixed-in, cereal with milk, yogurt with some granola or crushed cereal on top, or yogurt and a banana.  Those are just some suggestions.  Within 30 minutes of a long run, you should aim to take in another 50g carbs, 10g protein and 1-2g fat (the fat is less important post-run).  This could be a tall latte and half a muffin, bagel or scone from Starbucks or yogurt and a latte, or a latte and a banana or mixed fruit cup.  You are probably fine with whatever you are doing until February.  It works like this…..  your body has about 1000-1200 stored, fairly-accessible calories available to you.  For most of us, that will be enough fuel for exercising 1:30 to 1:45 hours.  Beyond that, we need to “top-up” fuel sources to power you through the last few miles of the half-marathon.  We’ll do that with gels.  Once our runs get to 90 minutes in length, I’ll bring along a bunch of gels that you can sample.  You can try different flavors and brands and decide what you like.  Once you “find your gel”, then you can buy some either online or at running stores.  We will test gels on most of our training runs during February and March.  We need to make sure they don’t make you feel sick.  For those of you new to gels, you’ll love them!  They don’t taste great but they give you this boost after about 6-8 minutes – it’s like magic!  Some of you may prefer to use sports drink as fuel.  That is a little more complicated, but we can make it work if that’s what you want.
OK, that’s probably more than enough information for one email.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  I’m happy to help!
See you Thursday,
Paula