Coach Amy’s Running Tips
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Selfie by JJ
Feeling cooked? Feeling DONE? Many of you have raced and need to recover. We hope you will still come out and join those of us who are still training on Saturday even if it's to walk or walk/run. Start time is 7:00 a.m. at Blackdog Coffee House. The BEST coffee shop in KC!
We will be set up for 10 miles. This is a rolling hill course so be prepared for a few bumps in the road!
After you've completed your race it is tempting to sit on the couch and bask in the glory of a hard earned season and slip right into the holidays eating pie and cookies. But this will make for a rough January when you realize you are out of shape and lost the base mileage you need for spring race training. It is especially difficult to make a comeback in the freezing cold.
The best way to recover from your race(s) and stay in shape over the holiday season is to gradually work back up to your base and maintain it through the months of November and December. Training for early spring races begins in earnest at the beginning of January with increasing mileage and speed work starts in February.
To help you stay accountable and meet your off season goals, RRKC now offers group runs throughout the year with an affordable monthly membership.
Registration is now open for November - December 2016. Courses will be 10 miles, Saturdays at 7:00AM. Location TBA.
Register here for monthly group run membership.
Need a personalized training plan during this recovery period? Coach Amy can personalize a plan just for you. Contact Coach Amy info@roadrunnerskc.com to determine the length of plan needed for your current goals before purchasing.
Congratulations to Beth. Beth is new to RRKC this year. She jumped in head first to our little group and maintained consistency with her long runs and speedwork. She finished the KC half marathon with a PR of 2:00:59 - 23 min. off her previous time at KC and 20 min off her PR. Way to go!
And...Courtney, another of our new runners continues with success on yet another race this season. The KC half was a training run for her first marathon coming up...the Marine Corps Marathon in DC! Congrats on your finish!
We hear you! You've told us that your favorite part of running with RRKC is the social outlet and support you get from each other. Several RRKC runners keep that social going throughout the week on Daily Mile by following each others' workouts with words of encouragement.
One RRKC runner commented on Jen's workout, "Sometimes I find a run helps loosen all those [sore muscles] up instead of making it worse... hope you're getting around okay." Coach Amy chimes in with tips too.
It's easy to use and you can link your Garmin data. When you join, be sure to search for your friends. Hope to see you all there!
Good Luck Racers!
Our training run this Saturday is at the CVS at 95th and Nall at 7:00 a.m. We are planning to set up for 14 miles. We will have a wee training group this weekend as many of you are recovering from races or racing this weekend. Please RSVP info@roadrunnerskc.com with your planned distance so we can alert our volunteers.
Coach Amy will head out to the KC marathon mile 25 around 9:30 a.m. to cheer. If you are racing the KC half or full, please RSVP to Amy info@roadrunnerskc.com ASAP.
We want to wish all of our RRKC runners and KC area running friends racing this weekend (KC, STL, Des Moines) a perfect race. May the run gods shine down on you with perfect weather, restorative sleep, a steady pre-race belly and wings on your feet. You are ALL ready for your races. Keep your shoulders relaxed, hold back in the beginning and when the time is right and you feel good (because you will) take off and show yourself what you are made of!
As I was running along the Trolley Trail during the last 2 miles of a 10 mile run, I reached a point where I didn't feel so good. The old hip was screaming, the calf was complaining and I felt overall fatigued. And that's when it happened, I came across something that made me smile. And suddenly I felt amazing. No aches, no pains and no fatigue!
I did a little digging and found a scientific reason for this phenomenon. Smiling releases pleasure hormones called endorphins, natural painkillers and antidepressant hormones such as serotonin. It also helps decrease stress.
So next time you are feeling not so good during a run (or any time actually)...try a SMILE. It works like magic! Maybe this is why running with friends is better - they can make you smile on a run.
Seaward BL. Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett; 2009:258
R.D. (2000). Neural correlates of conscious emotional experience. In R.D. Lane & L. Nadel (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of emotion (pp. 345–370). New York: Oxford University Press.
