Sunday morning coffee

Sunday, October 27, 2013 · Mike Davis

Good morning Red Sox Nation. Because we rid of ourselves of our TV cable, we only watched a few innings of the game last night and I didn't know the results until just a few moments ago when I checked ESPN. Bummer of an ending and seems as if this World Series is battle of who can make the less mistakes. We now move into the final week of October and after a spectacular week we are now facing dropping temperatures. With a turn of the Calendar on Friday, we move into my favorite month. The Seacoast half is in early November, Thanksgiving is in the latter and lots of great running in between. The only negative is having to "fall back" with the time and lose daylight as we head home. For me, I really enjoy the back roads and running along what foliage is still showing. As soon as the Seacoast half training group comes to an end I will be up and running in the early morning. I guess there is one upside to daylight savings in that my morning runs should have a bit more daylight. The hardest part of morning running is getting up, after that the reset is easy. Yesterday the Seacoast Half Marathon training group joined Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) for the annual running of the Seacoast Half Marathon course. This year we mapped out a slightly shorter variation of the race route so that the training group would run no more than 11 miles. Training for a half marathon is as dangerous as training for a full marathon in that there's risk/reward in long runs. With a beginner group running beyond 11 miles brings a greater risk for injury and very little reward in that it doesn't have much benefit in the runners ultimate goal of running the race. My experience leads me to strongly feel that if you train most runners up 120 minutes multiple times, they will successfully run a half marathon. Yes you have runners that aren't averaging 10 minute miles, but if people are training properly they will run a good race with that strategy. Besides the risk of pushing through to 13 miles, I also like the course to be run on race day, not as part of the training. This past week I spent a lot of time working NFLR planning and strategizing. Having established a coaching business 3 years ago I never really thought ahead too far. Now with a great deal more experience as a coach as well as being in business, I realize that having a business such as NFLR takes a great deal of planning, structure and foresight. I love working with runners and have had a level of success my first 3 years in business, but it has become apparent that NFLR has great potential but to reach it will require planning, structure and foresight. Thankfully I have some great people that have come on board and together we are building an even better website, planning a transition from newsletter to E-magazine, establishing New Hampshire's first full gait analysis program and much more. Coaching is definitely my passion, but I am having fun with the ever development of providing "full running services" to every level of runner. So much more to come over the next few months and even years! Time to get a moving, so have a great Sunday and terrific week! mike