Half Full Running Club

Rain has come early to the Bay Area this year. Many of us have a harder time motivating ourselves to lace up our running shoes when water is pouring from the sky. However, it’s important to remember that you can never predict the weather, not even on race day. Would you let yourself skip out on a race due to a little precipitation? I didn’t think so! And how better to be prepared for the eventual rainy day race than a rainy day training run. There are a few simple steps you can take to make a run through the rain as fun as every other run. To stay comfortable, you’ll need to wear wicking fabrics and apply extra Vaseline/Body Glide before the run. To stay safe, you’ll need to remember that visibility is reduced (especially for drivers) and streets and sidewalks may be slick. Here are more tips from running veterans.

While it’s not always easy to make it out to the track mid-week, it is important to remember the importance of speed work.  Speed work improves cardiovascular fitness (improved oxygen intake and blood lactate clearance), mechanical effiiency, and mental toughness, all of which result in faster and more enjoyable racing.  These benefits are realized whether you are running around the track with your teammates, or running on your own.  If you aren’t able to make it to Kezar or Oakland Tech on Tuesday nights, I encourage you to run a similar workout midweek.  Just alternating a couple minutes at a quick clip with a minute or two of recovery 3 – 5 times can give you much of the benefit of a track workout.

Now that our Saturday training runs are getting longer, dehydration becomes an issue every runner will face.  As the body becomes dehydrated, the blood becomes thicker, forcing the heart work harder to achieve the same level of performance.  Dehydration also makes it harder for the body to produce sweat, thus increasing the risk of overheating.  Once you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.

The keys to beating dehydration are:

1. Begin hydrating at least 2 days before any long run or race; always have a cup/bottle of water within arms reach and cut back on any alcohol consumption.
2. Bring fluids with you on long runs and drink frequently.  Some runners only drink water, while others prefer sports drink, experiment with different options in your training runs so you’ll know what to do on race day
3. Be sure to replenish your fluids in the minutes and hours after a run, a well-hydrated body recovers quicker.

You’ll notice that when the runs start lasting much longer than an hour, Half Full pacers will bring water bottles (either hand-held or on belts) with them.  If you haven’t run with a water bottle before, it may take a couple of runs to get used to, but once you hit 10, 15, or 20 miles, you understand the importance of running with one.

Half Full is excited to announce a great deal for anyone looking to join our club – $50 buys you a membership for the rest of 2011!  That’s 5 months of great coaches and pacers, 5 months of weekly organized long runs and track workouts, and best of all 5 months of running in your new Half Full gear with our fabulous members.

Are looking to get in shape?  Or trying to stay in shape after your big Summer race?  $50 buys you a Half Full membership for the rest of the year, that breaks down to only $10/month.  Come join us for a run to see what we’re all about.  Hurry, this offer won’t last long.

Now that our Saturday training runs are getting longer, dehydration becomes an issue every runner will face.  As the body becomes dehydrated, the blood becomes thicker, forcing the heart work harder to achieve the same level of performance.  Dehydration also makes it harder for the body to produce sweat, thus increasing the risk of overheating.  Once you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.

The keys to beating dehydration are

• Begin hydrating at least 2 days before any long run or race; always have a cup/bottle of water within arms reach and cut back on any alcohol consumption.
• Bring fluids with you on long runs and drink frequently.  Some runners only drink water, while others prefer sports drink, experiment with different options in your training runs so you’ll know what to do on race day.
• Be sure to replenish your fluids in the minutes and hours after a run, a well-hydrated body recovers quicker.

You’ll notice that when the runs start lasting much longer than an hour, Half Full pacers will bring water bottles (either hand-held or on belts) with them.  If you haven’t run with a water bottle before, it may take a couple of runs to get used to, but once you hit 10, 15, or 20 miles, you understand the importance of running with one.

Tom had us run the Cooper Test at the track on Tuesday night and what a great experience.  With this being the first test it gives us VO2 Max benchmark and after a few months of track workouts we will retest to see if we have improved our VO2.  After the run some of our members asked what the Cooper Test is and what does it test for?  The answer is fairly scientific so, I attached a few articles that I think help simplify the Cooper Test.

What is the Cooper Test and what is it really good for?

The Cooper test is a test of physical fitness. It was designed by Kenneth H. Cooper in 1968 for US military use. In the original form, the point of the test is to run as far as possible within 12 minutes. The test is meant to measure the condition of the person taking it and therefore it is supposed to be run at a steady pace instead of sprints and fast running. The outcome is based on the distance the test person ran, their age and gender. The results can be correlated with VO₂ Max. It is an easy test to perform on larger groups, but difficult for the runners, as the length of the run is considered to be that of a long distance run, since everything above 3 km is rated “long distance”—which means the runner will predominately use his”red”, slow oxidative muscle cells.

To find out more about VO2 max this link contains great information:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/VO2_max.htm

Want to know how to administer the Cooper Test and analyze your results:

http://www.brianmac.co.uk/vo2max.htm

Nor sure how to convert miles into meters:

http://www.unitconversion.org/length/miles-to-meters-conversion.html

In a follow up to my previous post about Joe D’Amico’s attempt to eat McDonald’s food only for every meal for 30-days leading into the LA Marathon.  Joe D’Amico ran  2:36:14 in the LA Marathon setting a new personal record by 41 seconds, now the debate will begin as to whether this diet should be considered for athlete’s.

As some of you know as a coach I will never tell you how to eat (because of my habits) but what I will recommend is a well balance diet.  If you train as hard as Joe D’Amico does,  you could live on a diet of McDonald’s for a short period of time, but once you stop working out is when the problems will begin.  In an article written by Matt Fitzgerald he examines the diet and potential out comes.

Keep running!

When we train we try to eat right, train to the best of our abilities, and try not to become injured.  Joe D’Amico is going toss out the door  everything we have learned about nutrition.  He is going to eat McDonalds only as he trains for the LA Marathon.

Don’t believe me?

Check out this article on Fox Sports for yourself.

i’ll do a follow up on Joe’s outcome after the LA Marathon – he is trying to run a sub 2:36.

What better way to gear up for Spring than with a fun-filled scavenger run!  Join us as we scour Golden Gate park in teams to bring back photographic proof of the mystery items.  The mystery items will be spread throughout the park, so be prepared to cover at least 4 miles on foot

When: Saturday March 19th, 8:30 AM

Where: Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park (36 on this map)

Note: This event is open to the public.  Each team will need 1 camera phone to bring back pictures of the found mystery items.  Don’t have a team?  No worries, come by yourself and make some new friends.

For more information, email tom@halffullrunning.com