Hi Y’all,
WEEK ONE! How’s it going? You know I’m on my A-game if you’re getting an email on Tuesday. Don’t get used to it!
We had quite a few new folks join even after Saturday…to get caught up on what happened and when/where the weekdays are going down…please check out the Welcome to PARR page.
WHAT A KICK OFF WE HAD SATURDAY. I thought last year’s Magic Mile was big…this year knocked it out of the park. And if you didn’t make it on Saturday, guess what? We will have a make-up session this Saturday (info below in Saturday Details). If you have done on your own, please just reply to me here with your time. Or if “you’ve done on your own” *wink, wink – not gonna do it* and have a past race time (10K, HM or FM) that you feel is right for you, send that to me. We’re working to collect all the info to split out the pace groups. It will take a week or two to get all this info collected. There is no magic line that will be drawn between the groups…we just want everyone to be training close to where they should be and with those near their pace. So if we inadvertently split up you and your soulmate, just let us know which group to shift you to. Then we’ll make sure we break up into the groups before a run to introduce and connect group members. These first few weeks will be just a mass of us on the hill. Lots of high fives and getting to know everyone…since we’re all doing the same thing. Over. And over. And over. So for now, just show up at the designated time and do your thing.
Lots of folks coordinating their weekday runs. For the first time ever, looks like we’ll have a regular group meeting in Shadow Creek. They are posting on the Facebook Group as well as the folks meeting at the PB and Turner. If you want a ton of motivation and a smidge of accountability, try to make it out to some of these. Awesome. Need some help find them, let us know and we’ll get you connected.
Few things before we get to all that. I’m reading through this email and know I’m going to get a bunch of questions if I don’t clear this up right away: FM = Full Marathon, HM = Half Marathon. Always. For example…FM Group, the HM Pace, the FM route and the HM schedule 🙂
Paces. What pace do I run? This is where the Magic Mile comes in. We have posted the pace chart that gives several paces based on that Magic Mile. Those paces are your predicted paces for each “thing” – so even if you aren’t running the Full Marathon (FM) you have a predicted FM pace. And these paces will be referred to in the schedule at different points.
MM = Magic Mile
5K = 5K Race Pace
10K = 10K Race Pace
HM = Half Marathon Race Pace
FM = Full Marathon Race Pace
ER =Easy/Endurance Run Pace
SSR = Steady State Run Pace
TI = Tempo Interval Run Pace
I’ve said this before…If you’ve ever contemplated getting a tattoo…I’d recommend getting these paces on your wrist. Then you’d always have them 🙂 If you haven’t done your Magic Mile yet, but have some race times, you can use this calculator to see what these different paces look like too.
Let’s look at an example…tomorrow’s Pace Booster Run says FM minus 15 seconds. So if your MM is 9:00…your FM pace is 11:41, so your Pace Booster Run pace would be FM minus 15 seconds = 11:26. For warm up and cool downs on any of the scheduled runs…these are easy talking paces, with or without intervals. Probably your FM+1 or 2 minutes.
Also, PB. “What is the PB?”. ..that is the most frequently asked question! PB is the Professional Building across from CVS. The address is 2225 County 90, south of 518. It’s become our common meeting place for the West side of Pearland and we just got efficient and started referring to it as the PB. So when you see folks meeting there…now you know!
Saturday Specifics:
Magic Mile Make-ups: 6:00AM – Meet at Turner High School Track for warm up, instruction and one magical mile. Pam and I will be coordinating this and giving all of the instruction and a little rundown of what we covered last Saturday.
The objective of this weekend’s hill work is completing the prescribed number of hills close to the pace suggested. In years past we have had you run to the marked lines, not this year. This year you will do an easy run to the base of the bridge (just before you start the incline). Then you will run up the bridge (hill) at a 5-10K pace. Once at the top you can either jog or walk down to the bottom on the other side. Once you reach the flat part of the bottom of the hill, turn around and run back up and jog/walk to the bottom (flat portion) of the other side. Don’t worry about making it to the line…just the bottom of the hill. For the HM group since you have 3 hills, you will run to the top one more time and turn around at the top of the hill and then easy run back to Turner to get about 40 minutes or so of total running in for the day. The FM group will have six hills so it is up and down 6 times to get the 6 and then an easy run back for a total of 60 minutes of run time. Please make sure that when running up/down the hill that you always stay to your right to allow people to pass on the left if they need to (going up or down). There will be a lot of folks on the hill so we need to make sure we leave everyone plenty of room. Also, make sure you return to Turner HS on time. If you’re not able to get your hills in, that’s okay – we’re focusing on the time here, with the number of hills the goal.
With sooooo many people…we will be splitting up the FM/HM group between Magnolia Bridge and the Bailey Bridge. I added a little bit of extra time on the FM group to allow them to get back in time for core. There will be a water jug on each hill, but bring your fuel belt to refill.
Full Marathon (FM): 5:30AM – Meet at Turner High School Track for Hills – group will run out the back of the track to Veterans to Magnolia Bridge. 6 HILLS – 60-minutes
Half Marathon (HM): 6:00AM – Meet at Turner High School Track for Hills – group will run out the back of the track to the Natatorium to Bailey Bridge– 3 HILLS – 40 minutes
The group will then meet back at the track at 6:45AM for CORE work and should be wrapped up by about 7:10AM. Be sure to bring your mat or towel…that track is tough.
There Are Always Options
For those not on Facebook or haven’t seen the posts, there are also a few rogue options for those that have other commitments on Saturday (or Friday night plans that will prevent effective hill running on Saturday), looks like a group meeting 6:00AM from the Natatorium on Friday morning. Always an opportunity to get em done.
Hope everyone has a GREAT RUN this weekend…please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or need help. We want this to not only be the best season for PARR…but for YOU. Over these next few weeks, I’ll try to send maybe a few more emails to give a little bit of info at a time, rather than this firehose approach! Just always a lot to cover and get everyone settled and running!
Aimee Galley
281-728-4848 cell