Monday, December 31, 2012

A New Year with a Continuing Commitment!

December 31, 2012
So much of life is about reflecting on our current status in life, but much more is about searching for the possibilities of what life can be for each of us!  I have been an original member of the ALZ stars since its inception, as I want so much to find definitive answers for this insidious disease.  As some of you know, I have faced the loss of my mother, my mother-in-law, my wife's grandmother, and now my uncle on my wife's side is in a permanent nursing home setting.  I have seen life fade away from these dynamic people, and I so much want to be a part of a cure for this terrible life-robbing illness.  As a life-time runner, a successful Coach of over 30 years with personal 20 marathons the 100th Boston Marathon, a state team Championship and 4 state trophies, and countless individual all-state runners, Division 1 and 2 runners and all American runners from my coaching and running expertise, I want to bring us together to run for a cure.  I personally am having my own challenges for training this year as I had ankle and foot surgery December 19th, but I see this as our journey together toward Hospital Hill this 2013.  With years of experience helping others get ready for athletic competition, I have my own expectations to meet this year.  My chore is to get all of us ready for Hospital Hill.  Ask me questions, seek counsel, and let's do this together.  God bless, and Happy New Year to you all.  Let's do it together!  

4 comments:

  1. Gary, you're an amazing guy!

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  2. Coach K,
    What training plans do you recommend to cut down on a 1/2 marathon time?

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  3. Megan,
    Thanks for your question! First of all, the base of miles needs to be there to work on improving your time. 30 to 35 miles with a consistent long run The long run needs to build to a 10 to 12 mile run near the end of your training. Once the consistency of training occurs, the primary way of improving on the completion time for the 1/2 marathon is working on your speed. This can be done by doing hill repeats where you choose a hill of approximately a 400 in distance and build your endurance and speed with proper form in running the hill. You would work to do 2 sets of hill repeats building to 2 sets of 4 with a total of 8 hills. a break in the middle of the the 2 sets. Another approach to improve speed and time is to do some speed work on the track or in a measured loop that you are familiar with. I suggest the distance of a 1/2 mile rather than 400's because you are doing a half marathon distance. Do 4 to 6 of these in 2 sets as well. Your focus is proper form and consistency in your effort. Keep track of the hill timed repeats and the 1/2 mile repeats to measure your progress. Both of these workouts need a warm-up and a cool down of 10-12 minutes with stretching at the beginning and the end of the workout. Additionally, both workouts can be done on alternating weeks to work on different muscle groups. Only do one of the workouts in a week, so as to not over do it on speed work. The key is to have a conditioning level and to augment it with the speed portion of your work. If this all isn't clear let me know. Good luck with your training. Coach K

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