END OF JANUARY NEWS —

It’s now the end of January and winter is at it’s zenith. I’m looking forward to clear roads and trails.

For those that are going outside; when it’s very cold, it is a very smart thing to begin your run -> into the wind. Finishing more with the wind if possible. Wind chill is less of an effect that way. It’s much more risky to be running into a wind, soaking wet at 5 or 10 degrees than to be running with the wind and more warm.

Soon the robins will come back, the snow will melt and many of you will wish that you had run during the winter. Just be realistic and aware of what your competition is doing.

now some bad news – and then some good news…

 - It is now becoming apparent that I will not be able to do the trip to the Smokies or any where else this spring. My business has unfortunately dropped by half, and just hasn’t recovered after the holidays yet. I can’t foresee being able to take a week away with zero income in March or April. So my apologies to those of you who went last year and were hoping to go again this year. As well as those who thought that they might like to go. I see it as a team building activity targeting those that are likely to be team leaders in the following season. I will hope that things recover and I will once again be able to make a trip like that next year.

I expect that we could do something locally with the team though. Maybe organize a trip to the national park. Making sure that we don’t run!

 - The good news is: I think it’s time to have a group fun run or two. It’s time to have a “dress up ” run. I thought that we would do it as a run to goodwill, but that is inaccessible since the TART trail is deep in snow.

So I’m proposing that the team get together, as many as can make it, on Saturday Feb. 7 for a fun run through town. Running Fit’s downtown store says that it’s fine to start and finish the run from that location. How far you go is up to you. The main thing is to get together. Then every body needs to find $4 or $5, it needs to be standardized so that everyone has the same amount. Then the challenge is to find the most fun or outrageous clothing with that amount, that you dare to run through the middle of town with. So that after you’ve run to the thrift shop, you run back thru downtown and eventually finish at Running Fit. 

The distance you run is up to you, the direction is up to you, it just must be kept safe. The $ amount must be agreed upon. There can be awards for a couple of things like the most outrageous  outfit, or the most colorful.

Afterward I’m inviting all of the team over to my place for the evening. We’ll put a end point of say 10:00. If you have any more $ to go toward pizza and drinks and snacks then great, bring up to $5 each. If you don’t, that’s OK, just get yourself over here. We want you to be here. Ping Pong, Sting Pong, cards, games, if you have a favorite game that you would like to play, bring it along.

I am also thinking that I will invite the TCC team to join you on the run. I’ll try to contact John Lober and see if he wants to spread the word to his team. 

I’ll also encourage any of you to do group gatherings as well. Chris Chargo did one early on, and that’s great. Now it’s time to get the team together again for fun & comradeship.

I hope to see as many of you as possible next Saturday. I’ll be at Running Fit, 3:00, maybe take some pics, and have a laugh or two! See you then, or just back at my place.

THE LATEST IN WINTER TRAINING

There is nothing new in training in the winter in northern MI, but it makes you look doesn’t it?

I hope that you all have come through the holidays just fine. I’ve found that there is nothing like a holiday wedding to add to the busy-ness of the season. It was all good, but with the big affair and the rain as well, it put my plans of snowshoeing over at the national park, ++ down the drain.

I hope that some of you are finding your way out the door for runs. Even if you haven’t yet done so, now is really the time to start for those guys that don’t plan to run track. You can afford a longer break, but now it’s time to get going so that you don’t lose everything. 

Those of you who are going out for track should have been out before now, as you need the conditioning to make something of that very short season.

As I’ve stated before it’s important mainly to just get out and do steady runs. Much of the time that is all that you can do anyway. It’s too slippery to be able to get sufficient traction to try to run fast. So steady runs that build the aerobic base are the majority of what to do now. It also is hit or miss because of the weather, you have to be flexible in what you do day to day. If you get a day when the pavement is clear then you can run faster, change things up, take advantage of it. Maybe do a fartlek run. You should know what that is by now.

I made up a new one yesterday, it’s a natural for winter. The shoulder was snowy and slushy, but the lane was clear. So I did a “slush fartlek” – 2 speeds, quick pace when the road was clear and no cars were coming. Then when traffic shows I would slow and step over onto the shoulder at a recovery pace, which doesn’t need as much traction.

I haven’t checked it yet, but I expect that the indoor track schedule is posted on the MITCA website. Or coach Ruskowski likely has it as well. It’s awkward to get to those meets, and I suppose that if you are not all fired up about doing them, then there may be some reason not to go. It just isn’t very practical for us up here. (a change of tune)

I’ve been doing some studying lately, and here’s a tidbit from a guy who many consider to be the best coach in America. He’s good anyway, and with a name like Jack Daniels Phd, it’s easy to stand out. Here is his 1st principle of training:

THE BODY REACTS TO STRESS

There are two types of reactions to the stress of exercise. The first is an acute reaction, such as you would experience if you got up from your seat, went outside and ran to the corner. Your heart rate speeds up, your stroke volume (the amount of blood your heart pumps with each beat) increases, your ventilation rate and depth of breathing increase, your blood pressure rises, and your muscles feel some fatigue. If you perform an exercise on a regular basis, you experience regular reactions to the activity. The second type of  reaction to the stress of exercise is the training effect, which results from chronic repeated exercise.

Training produces changes throughout your body that over time allow you to perform the daily run to the corner with less discomfort. (and probably less time as well) The muscles that you stress with this exercise become stronger, and blood flow to the muscles is increased. Changes inside the muscle cells provide more energy for the muscles, and less lactic acid accumulates during the bout of exercise. Your resting heart rate undoubtedly becomes slower. (because a stronger heart can pump more blood per beat; it thus requires fewer beats to deliver the needed blood) You will probably also develop a lighter, springier step, (because your leg muscles are more fit) lower resting blood pressure, lower body fat and less fat under the skin. All of these reactions to the stresses you impose on your body lead to improvements in how you react to stress, the increases to stress you can tolerate, and how prepared you’ll be to handle new stresses and competitive efforts.  ((( & avoid injury – Z)))

JD also goes on to state in his Principle #2 – SPECIFICITY OF TRAINING: (my abbreviation):

The system that you stress during exercise is the one that stands to benefit from the stress. If you body build, or max with weight lifting, then you will lift better. It is likely to hurt your running, the extra weight is likely to be a dead weight for you to haul around and interfere with your distance running abilities. Supplemental training can be good, in moderation, but- ” The principle of specificity means that to become accomplished at an activity, you must practice that activity and not try to achieve gains through performing another activity.”    - In other words you can’t just go to the weight room and expect to run well because you have lifted weights all winter. Strength and flexibility work are good sidelines though.

So I thought you might like to read some of what I’ve been going over for review. See, now you know that it isn’t just me. There are others out there that think like me. They are also very successful. These are valuable bits of info.

There are several books that I have on the running theme, some factual, some are biographies. If any of you would like to check them out let me know. It’s like my own little library that I’m working on, and it may be of benefit to you if you learn more about the sport.

Remember the Thursday runs from the downtown Running fit at 4:00. 

I’ll start meeting with whoever wants to on Tuesdays at 3:45 in the parking area outside the bakery behind building 50 – next Tuesday. I won’t be able to run with more than 3 at a time, but I can change who I run with from week to week, if several show up. Those that don’t have a car and need to wait for a ride can do so at the front of building 50 where you can watch for your ride arriving in the circle.

I’m going to check on getting several pairs of running snow shoes if I can. Then we could go out on those. We’ll have to set up a gathering at my place in the next 2 months as well. — Stay tuned!