START TO FINISH UNIVERSITY WEEK THREE REPORT

Country running with the Cows

#BADCOACH  I did not get my blog entry written for last week but most of my crew got through their works for the week of July 6-12.  Best part of week two was running at Sedgwick County Park.  We had a great 6 mile run.  Now on to week three.  I am really proud of the H3 STFU runners.  Monday Coach Colette, Mona and Sandra and I met at my house for a 5 mile run.  If you ever come to run with me in 'H" town I will take you on my favorite run and if the cows are out at the Curless farm we will stop and take a picture. For me running with a group is so much more enjoyable than running alone.  If any of you have the option over the next three weeks of running with me or others during the week day I highly encourage you to do so.  Tuesday night was track night and I do not think anyone from STFU attended.  Keith ran pretty steady with me and thanked me for pushing him.  Truth is kids, YOU PUSH ME.   Honestly sometimes it is easier for me to do speed work on a

 treadmill. It was very hot so Head Coach Winston took it easy on us.  The best part of track night for

Welcome home Kendra!

me was seeing Kendra.  She just returned from doing National Gaurd Training.  If you don't know her you soon will she is a fun person.  I had the honor of running her, Angi Webster and Melissa Scheffler in at the Prairie Fire Marathon last fall.  She might be joining us for some of our runs.  Thursday night brought our tempo run and IT WAS BRUTAL.  I did well for 1.5 miles but stopped to wait for other runners.  Encouraged Keith to run on without me.  I waited for Angi and her crew and we walked some.  Started up running again and took advantage of EVERY sprinkler system I could run through.  Actually felt sick after the run.  It took me 31:00 minutes to do those 3 miles and I had to walk plenty.  I passed on going to Old Chicago because I felt SICK. Got home and took a long cold shower and did recover. For me if it is over 90 degrees on a Thursday I will need to do my tempo runs in the morning. I advise any of you do to the same if Thursdays heat go the best of you.  Saturday was our long run that we started from GoRun East.  We did a great job holding

BRUTAL TEMPO RUN

pace.  We did a 3 mile out and back for our 6 mile run.  I have been talking to the crew about trying to achieve negative splits.  I told them that if they had it in them that they could try and run the last 1-2 miles a bit faster.  At the four mile point Jennifer, James and Jeremy did just that and got ahead of us.  I am very proud of them.  James told me that their last mile was a 9:40.  OUTSTANDING!  My group was behind them we did the same thing just not as speedy.  My last mile was 10:25 and I know that Justin was right behind me.  Runner of the week for STFU has got to be Renee.  He was injured and has come back strong.  I can already predict the runners that I am coaching that will cross the finish line before coach NJ.  Renee will be one of those runners.

Saturdays 6 mile crew

STFU you are doing great and I am so proud of you!

Workouts for the week of July 20-26

Monday: 5 EZ with my girls in Derby 6:00am

Tuesday: FU track night 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400

Wednesday: 4EZ (moving my Sunday run to Wednesdays)

Thursday: 3 mile tempo on a treadmill at my hotel in Kansas City

Friday: REST

Saturday: 6-8 miles EZ 

Sunday: Muscle Pump 2:00pm, Zumba 3:00pm SYMCA

Start To Finish University aka STFU  week two

Jeremy, Justin, Cindy, Donna, Edie and myself
had a great LSD run on Saturday!

Yes, lets just get this out of the way H3 the 2:06-2:20 group has been named STFU and I am VERY aware of the double meaning.  One of the "lessons" I hope to teach those that I am coaching is that during races if you do not expend energy on talking you MIGHT actually run faster.  The other lesson that I hope I have taught this past week is that "slow is good" and that talking is good during a Long Slow Distance run.  It seems that many people are a bit confused about paces for certain runs.  I think that this table is great to look at for race paces, Marathon Pace Chart and I used it to explain the difference between what race pace is for our group and what LSD pace is for our group.  Most of the S2F coaches will agree that we ALL had our groups running too fast last Saturday.  The runners in my group should be capable of finishing their half marathon in

James, Edie and myself after FU
track night

2:06:00-2:20:00. Coach Colette will be on the lower end of that range and I will be somewhere in the middle.  Knowing what our goals are allows us to figure out how S-L-O-W our Saturday LSD runs should be.  I used my goal of a 2:10:00 finish to teach my crew that my race day mile should be about a 9:55.  We added a minute- to a minute and a half to our race pace to come up with an 11:00-11:30 mile for the pace of our LSD run this last Saturday.  I told them to trust me on this and that when were were done we should feel like we could easily run another 2 miles or so.  SUCCESS!  We ran our LSD run in 1:07:00 with an average pace of 11:07.  This was right where we needed to be.When our mileage increases I have a feeling we will be closer to the 11:30 mark. I really do not want to see someone get hurt and I am hopeful that the lesson  of "slow is good" was learned by all this past week.  It seems that often when someone begins a running

Ice Cream Run 

programs they (to quote a great Queen song) "want it all, I want it now!" Running is a sport that requires some time and patience.  You have got to put in the time and get some "base" miles before you will have speed.  When you try to do too much too soon that is when injuries will occur.  Track night this past week consisted of running three 800 meter runs.  It is hard for me to explain speed wise what my crew should do.  Track night really does show my age and that speed is not going to come easy for me at age 52.  For me I simply work hard to keep speed distances under a 10:00 minute mile and on a good track night my

Great job with your tempo run Angi!

speeds are closer to a 9:00 minute mile.  I have high hopes for my crew doing great speeds on track night and told them that it is my goal for them to "dust me" on track night.  On Thursday we had a tempo run and people are starting to learn that "tempo" means "comfortably hard" race pace or slightly above.  Angi ran this one with me and we did our two miles in 19:47.  I plugged in, talked very little and simply ran.  Angi could really push me to get my PR and hopefully I can push her too.  This next week I will not be at the Thursday night tempo run so hopefully Colette will be there to help you out. My crew seems to be experienced runners and I noticed that they were dressed appropriately for running and wearing dri-weave materials.  I did see a lot of cotton shirts on Saturday and suggested to some of the runners that they might be more comfortable running in materials that breath.  Finally if you have not added cross training into the mix IT WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER RUNNER.  I do cycle, muscle pump, zumba and during the summertime I like the water walk class.

Workouts for the week of 7/6/15

7/6/15: EZ 4 miles (on the low end of EZ 10:30-11:00 minute miles) 6:30 am "H" town

7/7/15: FU track night 4 x 1km (400 recovery) warm up and cool down.  Total miles not to exceed 3.

7/8/15: Extreme Ride 5:30 pm DTYMCA

7/9/15: 2 mile tempo, 6:30 am "H" town.  Waterwalk 9:30 am SYMCA

7/10/15: REST

7/11/15: 5-6 mile run SCP 6:45 am.  Get ready for some FUN pictures in our last two miles.  Most likely we will do the outer 4 mile loop and then the inner 2 mile loop. 

7/12/15: EZ 4 miles and ZUMBA 3:00 pm SYMCA

H3 2:06-2:20

More of you and less of me.......

I started this blog a year and a half ago as a way to chronicle my journey of running my first marathon which I ran in April of 2014. Running has been therapeutic for me these last four years as I have faced many challenges that had nothing to do with running. Many of you know my stories because we really do get to know one another on those long runs, don't we?  For those of you that are interested all you need to do is click back to the beginning of my blog.  As for me it is time to move forward.  My blog entries are now going to focus on the runners I am working with in the Start 2 Finish training program that is offered by GoRun/Fleet Feet.

Colette Cook and myself will be coaching runners that have a goal of finishing the Prairie Fire Half Marathon with a time between 2:06-2:20.  The training is ALL about the runner which means if running with my group is too slow or two fast for an individual person they can move up or down to another group.  It is going to be fun getting to know the runners in our group.  It is my goal to push them but secretly hope that they push me.  Get ready H3 I want to hear YOUR stories. I will also post my weekly workouts and if you would like to run with me and/or join me at a class at the YMCA that would be great.  Our first long run yesterday was great!  Running from GoRun/Fleet Feet East is my favorite location.  I like the hills and have been told that Route 66 Half Marathon (my race after Prairie Fire) is a hilly beast.  James Wentz (in our H3 group) and his wife Nicole are planning on running it too.  Thanks Donna for snapping this photo

from our first group run.  I know that some in our group were not at Saturdays run.  Can one you help me with the name of the girl in the cap?  I hope to get a group photo with all of us in the next few weeks.

Workouts for the week of 6/29/15

6/29 3EZ 6:30 am.  Extreme Ride DTYMCA 5:30 pm

6/30 FU track night 3/4 mile warm up, 3x800's with 400 cool downs, 3/4 mile overall cool down. 

7/1 3 EZ 6:30 am.  Water Walk AYMCA 7:00 pm

7/2 Water Walk SYMCA 9:30 am, 2 mile tempo run GoRun West

7/3 REST

7/4 4-6 EZ 6:45 am GoRun West

7/5 Muscle Pump 2:00 pm SYMCA, Zumba 3:00 pm SYMCA

RUN HAPPY

 Hello everyone.  I am Natalie Johnson and my blog about running is called “Library Girl on the Run.”  I am an Elementary School Librarian and my Kindergarten students call me “Library Girl,” hence the name. I am 52 years old and discovered running over 35 years ago. I usually update my blog twice a month.

Brooks running company nailed it on the head with their catch phrase “Run Happy.” Those of us that run happy have a positive almost infectious attitude about running.  Today I asked the question on our Start 2 Finish Facebook group “what is your Run Happy?”  Many answered that they run happy due to the connections they have made with other runners.  I have yet to meet a “Negative Nancy” while doing the S2F program as a participant and now as a volunteer.  They simply do not exist.  Life outside of running may have dealt us a lousy hand but we deal with the stress of life by putting on our shoes and running.  The sorrows and hurts that we have can help us all connect but as most of us know having a positive attitude will take you far in life and even further on a run.

S2F Spring 2015

 I am hopeful that those of you that are new to start to finish will make the same types of connections that I have made.  It is hard to believe that I did not even know most of these people a year ago.

Others mentioned “perfect weather” as their run happy.  We were blessed with awesome weather for our kick off of S2F this past Saturday.  As many of us know though you must get into “beast mode” when it comes to winter running in Kansas, because you never know weather wise what you might “run” into.  I would highly recommend that you take advantage of nice days in winter and run outside any chance you can get.  Sometimes I actually look at the forecast for the

Sandra, Lisa, Terry, Mona and I before our run

upcoming week to plan my runs.  If I know that Tuesday is going to have the warmest temperature of the week I will move my mid distance run to Tuesday (which is what I am doing this week).  There were a few times last winter when the Saturday runs were cancelled due to weather.  You might want to have a plan B in mind if weather interferes with your running.  Many runners like the 6 lap track at Down Town YMCA.  As a way to save money my family recently cancelled our YMCA membership.  I hope I don’t regret it when I am faced with a 9 miler on my treadmill in my basement.

Selfie fun with Terry and Lisa

Music to many is their “run happy.  I love listening to music while running and I like making playlists to go along with certain races.  I am actually still listening to the playlist I created for the Oklahoma City Marathon.  Being a “50 something” chick you know I love my classic rock but I also like Latino Hip-Hop (probably from my ZUMBA days).  My mid-week runs are fueled by my music and when those runs must be done inside due to weather music is a must. Fair warning my new friends I can often be heard singing during races and on my treadmill (much to the disgust of my youngest song) Last week he was treated to my singing of the 1975 classic “Love Roller Coaster.” 

Joni, Terry and I finishing our run

Very often on our long Saturday runs I don’t listen to music because I TALK!  I have a theory that I would run faster if I would simply shut up and run.  I am going to try to listen more and talk less this running season, however if necessary I do a great version of “Kiss” as sung by Prince.

Workouts for the week:

Monday: 3 EZ

Tuesday: 5 EZ in Derby with the famous SKO J

Wednesday: WEIGHTS in my basement with the DVD Cathe Power Hour

Thursday: 4 EZ

Friday: REST

Saturday: 6 EZ with S2F

Sunday: 2 EZ (with Helaine)  4x8 sec accels and a short weights DVD