Final Week of Frost Toes - Are You Ready?

Of course you are! You've trained through the year for this - hot weather, cold weather, illnesses, injuries, busy schedules, etc - but Sunday morning is a chance to celebrate each and every training run over the last few months. For many of you - this is your first race of this distance. Think back to the first time you joined the running group - did you ever imagine you'd been quite so hooked on long distance running? Even though I've been running for 3 1/2 years, I still am amazed sometimes at how a good run makes me feel! You will be successful because you've prepared yourself for this. For how many of you is this your first 10 mile race?

This week is an easy week - we'll reduce our mileage in preparation for the race.

Tuesday - Crazy 8's again in Washington Park 4.9 miles at a MODERATE pace -
Thursday - 5K AMA Route in the park (basically 1 1/2 loops in the park) 3 miles at a very EASY pace - if you can't carry on a conversation, you're running this too hard.
Saturday - SLEEP IN - WHOO HOO!

Sunday - December 7th - Frostbite Festival 10 Mile and 2 Mile Run
If you haven't registered -register

• online by midnight Wednesday , December 3 at www.getmeregistered.com OR

at Packet Pickup:

• Friday, December 5th from 4-7pm at Memorial SportsCare of Illinois at 100 Chatham Road
• Race day from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at FitClub West.

See you on the road!

3rd Annual Abe's Turkey Trot

After all that turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberries, pie, etc., etc. there must be a price to pay! And one of them is running a 6.2 hilly course with a bunch of other people who also ate like you did! We'll be gathering at the Pork Patio at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on Saturday morning at 7 am to run the 3rd Annual Abe's Turkey Trot! Come show your stuff (or is that stuffing?)! You can dress like a turkey or dress like a cold Frost Toe, but however you dress be prepared to run your turkey legs over the course! Water will be set out near the exit from the park onto 1st Street/Black Avenue and on Monument Avenue near the cemetery entrance. There will also be water at the finish line at the Pork Patio. Next week will be our official taper so this will be the last "long" run before the race on December 7! Hope you can join us!

Linda

Turkey Week--and All the Runs that Go With It!

Who can believe that November is going fast and this week we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving! It's only two weeks until the Frostbite Festival race! While you're giving thanks for family, friends and all of life's blessings, add a few thanks for the friendship and group spirit of the Frost Toes! Here's the plan for the week:

Tuesday: Tuesday night we will run a warmup down to Williams Boulevard and then do some quarter mile repeats (4-6) on the half mile loop between MacArthur and Walnut. Then we'll run back to the shelter for a cool down.

Thursday: We won't have a formal workout on Thursday evening in celebration of the holiday. But every Thanksgiving the Springfield Road Runners Club gets together in the morning at Washington Park for the Cold Duck Run! Come at the time convenient for you, some come as early as daylight and members keep coming out for their run all morning long. There will be a bonfire near the shelter. Feel free to bring a dish or drink to share. This is always a fun time and a great way to get in your workout followed by food and sharing!

Saturday: Saturday's run is the annual Abe's Turkey Trot! We'll be running the 6.2 mile Abe's Amble course. Meet at the Fairgrounds at the Pork Patio across from the Grandstand at 7 a.m. There's no telling until the day of the run what the REAL weather will be. The hills along with the 6.2 mile distance is a great way to start your racing taper while still having a challenging run to get you ready for Frostbite!

Keep up the good work! Many of you ran in the Jingle Bell this weekend and the race you've been training for is just around the corner!

If you haven't registered for Frostbite yet, here is a link to the registration site:
https://secure.getmeregistered.com/get_information.php?event_id=1991

Linda

Triple Crown Reminder~

Just a reminder to those new Abe's Army finishers, who also completed the Shoreline Classic 15K, don't forget to run Frostbite where you will qualify for the Triple Crown!

There are currently 14 participants who are already on their way!

A recap of the rules:
1) You must be a NEW Abe's Army Corporal, Private, or Sergeant.
2) You must have completed Abe's Amble (10K/6.2 miles).
3) You must have completed the Shoreline Classic (15K/9.3 miles) for the first time.
4) You must complete the Frostbite Classic (10 miles) and be running it for the first time.

After completing all three races, everyone will have a chance for some fabulous prizes. All you need to do is let me know that you are completing, hope to complete or have completed the above mentioned races. If you have not already contacted me, you must notify me by Monday, December 8th. I can be reached at dahlquist2000@yahoo.com.

I also would love to get a picture of everyone before the start of Frostbite. Let's meet outside at 8:30 near the FitClub entrance.

Holly Dahlquist

Jingle Bell 5K Results and Photos~

Great job to everyone that ran today. Despite the wind and cold temperature, the holiday attire and cheerful attitudes were out in full force!

Click link below to see results.
http://www.timingiseverything.com/Races/2008/JBS08O3.HTM

Click link below to view photos. Thanks Hardy Breed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hardybreed/sets/72157609691100657/

Thursday & Saturday Crazy 8's

Okay - so it's dark and cold out after work and if you're like me, when you drive home from work you're thinking how nice it would be just to settle in on the couch with movie, maybe some pizza or take out thai food. But then you think of how far you've come in your training - whether you are a veteran and rookie runner, you are improving, getting stronger, enjoying your time on the road. As hard as it may be to talk yourself back out the door in your running clothes, you know when you are finished you will feel great - the stress of the day will melt away!

Running in the dark and cold weather isn't easy - but in order to stay in shape and train for a race such as Frostbite, you have to make yourself do it. Instead of finding a good reason NOT to run, find a good reason TO run. My reason to run on Thursday is going out for Mexican food and margaritas afterwards (can't eat healthy ALL the time). So - you're invited to join us on a short 4.5 + mile run in Washington Park and then head over to Xochi's West for the kind of evening I like to call Miles and Margaritas.

THURSDAY 11/20: Figure 8's

Since it's dark, we are better off staying in the park. Those two loops can get a little boring, so we're going to do two figure eights in the park. Here's a map for the first loop.

• Turn right leaving the playground shelter and run down the hill towards the lower pond to circle the park clockwise.
• When you get to the big long hill in the middle, turn right and go all the way up the hill. Turn left and run counter-clockwise around the park towards MacArthur and back to the middle hill. Turn left and run up the middle hill again and turn right to return to the playground shelter.
• Turn around and repeat the figure eight in the opposite direction (now you'll get to run DOWN that middle hill twice).

See you at 5:40 p.m. Bring your own blinky lights - wear reflective layers, and of course, enjoy the run.

SATURDAY - 11/22 Long 8

I am running the Jingle Bell 5K (www.srrc.net) however, the schedule calls for 8 miles. Saturday's route is Panera to FitClub - I just need a volunteer to yell go (I'll leave water outside of FitClub for you). Be sure to look at the map - you'll be coming back to Panera the long way....

I will be running this route on Sunday at 7am and if anyone interested in joining me - please post here and I'll follow up with you.

"It's the road signs: Beware of Lions." --Kip Lagat, Kenyan Distance Runner, Explaining Why His Country Produces So Many Great Runners

Tuesday Washington Park Run

I heard an amazing motivational speaker this past week. Alan Hobson is an adventurer, national award gymnast, a marathoner, parachutist, white water kayaker, rock climber--well you get the gist--an all around thrill junkie. And to top it off, he's climbed Mt. Everest three times! He reminded the audience that making your dream come true is 97% preparation and 3% execution. So when you think about the hills on the Frostbite course, you won't be surprised that the training this week is about hills!

Here's Tuesday's run: From the shelter, turn left on leaving the shelter, take the first left at the intersection, go past the gazebo and down the hill by the pavilion. Turn left at the bottom of the hill and around the lower pond to the bottom of the carillon hill. We will do six repeats of the carillon hill...run hard to the top, turn around and jog/walk to the bottom, take a short rest then repeat. Cool down by going back the same way as the warmup run. Smile and have fun running with the Frost Toes along the way!

Mary will post the Thursday run later this week!

Saturday Run--WOW!

Thanks, Barry for sending your thoughts to us while we were hitting the road. The run today was AWESOME! There were 81 runners on the Frostbite course today! Despite the cold temperature of 38 degrees, some fierce wind, a little rain mist, and those same dang hills, everyone was tackling the course with enthusiasm and a can-do attitude. We had several runners who made their first 10 mile run--congratulations! We all knew you could do it! The power of the group and the consistency of training are making a real difference. Now that we've got the Frostbite weather out of the way, I am going to feel confident that December 7 will be great weather for the race! Keep up the great work and take time this weekend to rest and regroup for the last three weeks of training.

Looking Ahead to Thursday and Saturday

The Frost Toes are working on the last four weeks of training. The Frostbite Festival run happens four weeks from today! Here's the training plan for the rest of this week. On Thursday we'll run a 4.24 miler that we did near the start of Frost Toes training. Start at the shelter in Washington Park and run south out of the park on Wiggins. Turn left on Ash, then left on Park, take a right when you reach South Grand and run to MacArthur. Turn left on MacArthur and then turn left on Williams. Turn right on Lincoln and go up the hill. Turn left on Fayette and then right and run back down into the park by the Carillon. Turn left at the bottom of the hill and run around the duck pond and back up the big hill in the center of the park and back to the shelter. See this map on the USATF website by using this link:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=251103

On Saturday, we'll be tackling the full 10 miles of the Frostbite Festival course! Plan to meet at 7 a.m. at Fit Club West on Lawrence Avenue. Please don't park in the Fit Club parking lot unless you are a member. Think hills, cold and wind along with I CAN DO THIS!

Run for Tuesday

Tuesday, we'll work on speed work and do some more negative splits. From the shelter, turn left and do a warm up to MacArthur Blvd. Go to the north side of Williams staying on the west side of MacArthur. Take a rest so everyone can gather back up. We will run back into the park and towards/around the ponds and up the big hill if you get that far. The first run will be out three minutes, then turn around and immediately run back three minutes (total of six minutes). Try to do a negative split by getting back to the starting point at MacArthur in less than three minutes. Take a rest for a couple minutes. The second run will be out five minutes, turn around and immediately run back five minutes for a total of ten minutes running. Rest another few minutes. The final run is out seven minutes, back seven minutes. The total amount of time for the speed work is 30 minutes (6 + 10 + 14). The final cool down will be a run on the same route but returning to the shelter.

Thursday Night 11-6

Here's the scoop on the Thursay night run from Linda Jones . . .

Thursday's park run will be a 4+ miler to celebrate the return of the real central Illinois November weather. Since we're all adapting to the change in time and it being dark when we run, and the traffic is adapting to us, I've kept the run relatively simple so no one gets lost but we can still have some time both in and outside the park.

We'll start at the shelter, turn left from there into the park and exit out onto Park Avenue. From there run south on Park Avenue to Outer Park, turn left on Outer Park, run one block and turn left on S. Lincoln, return to South Grande, turn right back to Park Avenue and re-enter Washington Park. Turn right into the park, take the loop around to MacArthur Blvd and return back through the park on the opposite side, eventually returning to the shelter.

A map of this run is available at: www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=256792

Brief Personal Note: While you guys are running, I'll be recovering from some outpatient surgery which may keep me from doing anything for days, weeks, months or who knows. I'm really sorry I haven't been able to spend more time with the Toes, but I hope to at least be cheering for you on Dec. 7. A huge thank you to Linda, Mary Rogers, Kevin Milward and others who have helped. You're all awesome!

This Week At A Glance...

...the weather is beautiful now, but don't get fooled - those toes will be frostie in no time!

Tuesday (speed or hills)/Thursday (4+ miles) - Washington Park 5:40 p.m. Routes TBA!

Saturday - 7.43 miles - Panther Creek Route This is one of my favorites - but I'll be out of town. Someone will leave water at the Country Club Parking Lot (mile 3), and Kevin will get you guys started.

Exercise your right to vote - the most important workout this week!