Saturday, November 5, 2011

Trottin' Time

With T minus two weeks until Turkey day, it's time to start thinking about all the festivities that come along with this great family weekend -- including running in your local Turkey Trot 10k!

In my little corner of the world, The Turkey Trot has been just as much a part of our Thanksgiving Day as stuffing and pumpkin pie.  The Mesa event has been hosted by the Sertoma Club for 42 years.  It's a pretty low key event that starts and ends at the local Red Mountain Park.  And with a nine a.m. start, there's no excuse to NOT participate.  Throw the turkey in the oven and grab your running shoes and start banking those fat burning calories.  You'll be glad you did!

I like these three strategies for performing your best in your next 10K.  Thank you Runner's World.

-- Schedule a Tune Up:  Run a 5K two weeks (that would mean this next week) before your 10K.  Then decrease training intensity and taper three to four days prior to the 10K .  Recover with two days of rest or cross training or until any soreness subsides.  --Ryan Shay

-- Do Speedwork:  Perform fartleks (brief periods of faster running) - run fast for one to three minutes, then go easy for about half the time you spent running hard.  Fartleks improve your running efficiency.

-- Learn Goal Pace:  Run each mile 15 seconds faster until you're running the final mile at the past you're aiming for in your target event.  This will help teach your body and mind what your goal speed feels like.

--  Finish Fast:  Cover three-quarters of the race at a pace that's 45 second per mile slower than you'll run on your big day.  In the final quarter, pick it up until you're running slightly faster than goal pace.   

4 comments:

  1. If you've never had a running program before it can be a little intimidating. Ease into a little and get some basic runs under your belt. Then as you build confidence, start adding more specific types of workouts, 1 customized workout a week to start is enough. From there you can build to 2 and eventually 3 customized workouts a week. Enjoy the process!

    Coach Ken – 5 Speed Running
    Personalized Workout Calculator >>>> http://www.freerunningcalculator.com

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  2. I've never done the turkey trot here. Will you e-mail me the info.?

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  3. Lorie--guess what I was doing during sacrament yesterday?..... kaitlyn had her phone and was showing me all your instagram pics--my entire family has IPHONES .... except for me, I need to get one now

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  4. Thank you for the plug about the Turkey Trot! We are trying to make it even easier for the new and occasional event participant. One thing to make things easier is to extend Wednesday pre-registration to 8:00 PM at the Fire Station on Mesa Drive and 1st Street, here in Mesa.

    The Turkey Trot is more than a great fitness and family event. It also funds some important needs in our community supporting the disabled, homeless and many other worth causes.
    --Sertoma Club of Mesa

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