Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Time to Move On

So now you've run the Frostbite Festival 10-mile race. You've conquered one of the toughest courses in the area.

What do you do now? Train for the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon, probably.

Luckily, there's a group for that. It's the HalfWits, and they have their own blog. Click here to see it. The HalfWits are doing things very differently this year, and you have to read to blog to get it.

If you're planning to run the half marathon, you might as well register now. The registration page is here.

Good luck with your running. You were great Frost Toes!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Good Luck Sunday!

Good luck to all the Frost Toes who are running the Frostbite Festival 10-mile run Sunday!

The current forecast for the 9 am start is 29 degrees with a 9 mph wind for a wind chill of 20. However, gusts could be as high as 17 mph. The frost will be with you!

Have a great run!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Oh, the Frost Bites . . .

The National Weather Service forecast extending through the weekend is now online, and it's beginning to look a lot like Frostbite.

They're saying Saturday night's low will be around 26 and Sunday's high will be near 39. But Sunday should be sunny. No prediction yet on wind speed or direction.

Click here to see the detailed forecast for Springfield. And check it Sunday morning!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Winding it down

Race day is a week from today, which means we're in the final week of preparation. For a challenging 10-mile course, that means we wind it down this week.

At this point, you've either fully prepared for the race or you haven't. Nothing you do now--whether it's distance or hills or speed work--is going to make a difference on race day. Your body simply doesn't have the time to rebuild after a tough workout and be ready for next Sunday.

So Tuesday night we'll take it easy. We'll meet at the usual spot in Washington Park for two laps around the park. We'll go the easy way; from the shelter, we'll go down the hill toward the lower duck ponds and then clockwise around the park.

Anyone getting together Thursday to run should keep it under 4 miles.

Packet pickup will be 4-7 pm Friday at the SportsCare facility at Chatham Road and West Washington.

Leading the Frost Toes this year has been a real hoot. Thanks for participating!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Final Two Weeks

How did Saturday go? Did you like the course? Did we have a good group?

Thanks again to Bill Stokes for taking over. Now we're heading into the final two weeks.

Tuesday night we'll do a final speed--or pace--workout. We'll do the negative splits again because so many people liked them the first time around. Meet at the shelter at 5:45 pm.

Thursday morning you can join the Cold Duck Run. This is an extremely informal get-together at Washington Park that features running, food, wine, a bonfire and the traditional singing of Thanksgiving carols. Okay, I made that last part up. If anyone knows the earliest that someone will be at the park, please spread the word.

Saturday morning is our last long run before the race. We'll meet at the fairgrounds by the Grandstand for the annual Abe's Turkey Trot. We'll run the Abe's Amble course just to show you how easy that course is once you've trained for the Frostbite Festival course. We'll also be giving the chip timing system another workout.

By the way, if you have not yet registered for the race, what are you waiting for? Do it now!

Hope everyone's training is coming along nicely. Post a comment and share your experiences!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Flat Saturday Coming Up!

This Saturday the Frost Toes will tackle a nice, flat, almost-8-miles workout as a cutback after running the actual Frostbite Festival course last Saturday. This week's route is a tweaked version of the flat nine miles we did a few weeks ago.

Here's a link to a map of the route.

Bill Stokes will be the leader on Saturday, because I will be heading to Green Bay to see Sunday's game against the 49ers. Bill has run with the Frost Toes and the Half Wits, and he also organized a group that trained for a very successful run at this year's Chicago Marathon. He's also going to be the co-director of the Half Wits in 2010. Thanks for taking charge, Bill!

We're almost to the end of Frost Toes training, which means Race Day is coming fast. Register now if you haven't registered for the race!

Good luck on Saturday, everyone!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Final Hill Workout

That's right, Tuesday night will be our final hill workout. Next Tuesday we'll do a pace workout, and the following Tuesday we'll do an easy run as we taper toward Race Day!

So let's have some fun. We'll do a warmup run around the east side of the upper duck pond, but instead of taking Williams to MacArther, run down the short hill and turn left. Everyone gather at the base of the hill that runs along the west side of the pavilion. We'll run up that hill, jog down, then run over to the short hill, run up that hill, jog down, and return to the base of the pavilion hill.

Here's a link to what I mean. We'll do six repetitions of this loop.

Unfortunately, I'll be watching you guys do this workout. I'm still recuperating and have to rest if I walk up a flight of stairs. Bummer.