Winter Running and More!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014 · Mike Davis

Good morning! How crazy is it that today is nearly the mid point of October! Running last night in 70 plus temperatures was ridiculous. Not complaining (which is something I am better at doing), but it makes it hard to believe that we are moving ridiculously fast toward winter. With winter in mind we had another NFLR discussion meeting yesterday discussing a winter running group program. The details are starting to come together and we are just about to formalize it. The plan will to be run two group runs out of Dover, with one possibly being at Juicy Roots on Saturday and another being a week night tavern run. We want to offer multiple opportunities so we will combine a half marathon training group along with a recreational running group. The goal is to encourage winter running on multiple levels. While we understand there are opportunities to run with other organizations, we want to use our experience at NFLR to lead 2 supported runs a week. There will be a fee for each group, but it will be minimal and well worth your investment in yourself. More to come over the weeks ahead. We are in the final 3 weeks of the Runners Alley Portsmouth Seacoast Half Marathon training group and things are coming together as planned but not without a few injuries. This training group is always a challenge because of the somewhat tight training period which doesn't allow for my typical training program. Ideally I would like a slower progression however with only 13 weeks to prepare this group, we have to be a bit more aggressive. We work extremely hard to design and conduct a challenging training group that is quite diverse and that is a challenge in itself for Kathy and I. Some begin this training barely running a 5K and the challenge to get them to 13.1 in 13 weeks can be very difficult and staying healthy even more so. Healthy running is my first goal always and sometimes it is more challenging than others because of training time constraints. Most of our clients will attest to our stubbornness when it comes to training for a particular event. If you want to run a healthy marathon, give us a year to train you, a good half, give us 6 months and so on... Of course there are various variables that shorten or lengthen that time but we hate to compromise and not provide the best possible training. I am sure there are others that will tell you they can get you to a half or even full marathon in much less time without giving much thought to the risk that is quite high. It is difficult as a coach because you are in the business to say yes, but the NFLR philosophy trumps taking on clients that we feel aren't ready to undertake a particular training. Typically we try to educate those that come to us and help them prepare in an healthy way that insures a greater level of running both short and long term. Time to finish this great cup of coffee and get moving. Have a great day and let us hear from you if you are interested in joining us for some great winter running! Cheers! Mike