Endurance Run/Marathon Training; 1st in a Program Series.

Endurance Run Training, 1st in a Program Series.

UPDATED INFORMATION FOLLOWS:
We are going to meet at the Robb Field Skateboard Park. Here is a map of how to get there. The meetup time is 6:45. You are welcome to join me beforehand for breakfast at the Old Town House Restaurant on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach after they open @ 6am.

Here is a map of the course. It is a 17 mile figure-8. The first 9+ mile loop of the eight runs along the San Diego River, runs around Fiesta Island, and returns to the start point. The second loop of the figure-8 runs through Pt. Loma/Ocean Beach. If you want to cover a marathon, repeat the first 9+ mile loop!

This program accomodates the beginner through the advanced, by simply adjusting the run/walk ratio, pace, and distance covered!

A Run/Walk Calculator.

Besides a watch to monitor your run/walk ratio, I recommend an audio player with headphones to help pass the time. Bring a water bottle, water carrier, etc., and don't forget your energy bars or other endurance fuel. The second loop of the course passes by People's CO-OP where you can get fresh fruit, juices, etc. Photo of other suggestions to think about.
-------

"How to cover a marathon in a training session, and not get totally thrashed in the process."

-------
Is this Jeff Galloway's program? Yes and no. It deviates from it as much as you want (and there is no fee). There are nuggets of key training principles that Galloway has a cool method of exploring, which we will try to follow.

In these particular endurance training sessions, participants will strongly be encouraged to specifically follow Galloway's run/walk method (regardless of whether they feel like "dropping the bomb" that day). The overall average pace for participants (including the walking time) will fall in the range of 9:30-11:30 min/mile, depending on the participant's objectives and level. In running group sessions, egos can get in the way of accomplishing the originally set-out objective, so I'm specifically scheduling these 4 to 5+ hour endurance sessions that will employ the run/walk method. Participants will be encouraged to explore, through an experiential learning experience, the following topics of discussion:
nutrition, glycogen depletion, blood chemistry, ph and hormonal balance, injury, recovery, stress, brain glycogen, periodization, base, anaerobic, aerobic, capillary beds, mitochondria, DOMS, MAF, free radical damage, walk/run ratio versus distance, "hitting the wall", etc.

Recommended reading material for this program is Galloway's book:
Marathon: You Can Do It!
(You can preview it at the above link.) The book is just a basic superficial covering of "developmental endurance running". Although it may be postured as just a "beginner's book, in reality, it elegantly and concisely lays out key principles and methods without going deep into detail or the explanation behind them, but it does follow the "KISS" principle. We can experientially (lol) explore the main topics in more detail during the sessions.

On our message boards, I go into detail discussing this Galloway program.

Beginners will work up to eventually covering at least a marathon in distance during these sessions. Advanced participants will eventually work up to covering an ultra-marathon (50k+) during the sessions.

Initially, participants--particularly novice and beginners (less than two years of semi-serious running)--are encouraged to fully fuel-up prior to, and during the run. Main emphasis of the initial sessions is physical strengthening without radical disruption in blood ph.

Hope to see you out there,
-John-
-------------------
P.S. For the forseeable future, I've scheduled these endurance run/walk sessions roughly every three weeks. The dates, leading up to the AFC Half-Marathon on August 17, are:

• April 26, 2008
  
• May 24, 2008
  
• June 14, 2008
  
• July 5, 2008 (my 25th anniversary in San Diego)
  
• July 26, 2008