September 8, 2019 HMC Footnotes

Safety Reminders

Stay hydrated on the road, whenever you run carry water or stop at water fountains. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, drink water regularly along the route.
Use sunscreen as directed on the bottle (30 SPF or higher) and wear sun-protective clothing because we’re out there in the sun for hours.
Run single-file to share the sidewalk and road with other people.
Run defensively. Watch out for cars and bicyclists. Give them room and don’t get into an altercation.
Run with other people and if you run at night be sure you’re visible with lights and reflective clothing.

The Little Things

On your marks, get set, go (slow and easy)… That should be the call at the start of the long distance races we are capable of participating in, now that we’ve been training for 27 weeks. Our Sunday mileage is between 14 to 16 miles, and we’re out there from 4 to 6 hours. It’s not a sprint for anyone.

If you’ve entered some the races that are going on about now, remember that they are meant to help you in preparing for the marathon. Even though the name “race” is in the title, there are more important aspects of the event to concentrate on when you participate, if you want to get the most out of it.

Maybe they should call it a “Pace” instead of a race. That may help people think of it in a better way, one that would let them concentrate on setting and working on maintaining a sustainable pace to get them through the distance they’ve signed up to tackle. As Dr. Scaff says, “The mistakes we make in the first 10 miles will haunt us in the last 6.” Succumbing to the adrenaline and excitement at the start, in a race environment, has ruined many a runner’s anticipated finish time.

Your training has helped you get to know your capabilities. Now you can use this to come up with a reasonable plan for running your race. If you’ve been running a 14-mile Sunday and feeling strong, then running a 9-mile race can allow you to go at a slightly faster pace than you do on Sunday. However, you want to be reasonable. It has be be a pace you can maintain without hurting yourself. Now, stick to your plan.

So you don’t drive yourself crazy, feeling slow if a lot of people are passing you, distract yourself. There’s plenty to look at on these races such as lot of healthy people, costumed runners, people with odd strides, overly accessorized runners, and Hawaii’s beautiful scenery. Look for friends who run faster than you and are headed home when you’re headed out. Wave to your walker friends as you’re headed in. Just keep looking for anything that keeps you from thinking “I have to run slower!” or “I need to run faster!” Your thought should be, “I’m going to follow my plan and keep my pace.”

If you’re lucky, you’ll have some fun, such as when an over anxious runner blasts past you and a mile down the road, you easily pass that runner as he or she walks with hands on hips, eyes searching the sky, praying for more air in the lungs and the cramp in the calf to go away. That’s when you send positive thoughts their way (not laughing at them), and keep going (but maybe with a little chuckle).

Enjoy the “Paces” and keep up the training. The marathon is soon, and you’re going to get there.

Pink Group (10:00 – 10:30 minutes per mile)

By Hao Yang

The Pink Group met at the clinic 6am today and ran 6.5 miles before the talk. They ran another 8 miles to the gas station and back. A total of 15.5 miles for today.

Next Sunday, pinks will meet at the clinic 6am, run 7-8 miles then another 8 miles to the gas station and back. Distance goal is 16 miles. Total mileage goal for this month is 28 to 35 miles.

Please do your homework runs during the week-2 to 3 times, 1.25 hours each or longer if possible.

Rest between long runs, hydrate and stay healthy. Bring supplements for your long runs.

See you next Sunday at 6 am!

Happy running!

Silver Group (10:30 – 11 minutes per mile)

By Carl Silva

The Silver Group was the Sliver Group only three members, Trieu, Tall Joe, and Ryan out for the run. Its leaders were traveling, camping, or on military duty, but the group persevered. Lucky for us, we have dedicated runners, and lucky for them, they had a breezy day to tackle their first 16-miler.

Sept. 15: 16 mile run. Options: Meet at 5:30 to head out to Trinity Church then turn back and meet people on Waiholo at 6:30 who will head into Kapiolani Park. Those who met early will finish at their car. Those who met at 6:30 will continue to Trinity Church to get their 16 miles when they get back to their car again.

White Group (12 minutes per mile pace)

By Russ Uchida

Headwinds is all that we remember from this Sunday’s run. The rest was a blur. Running slow or fast, we still encountered tough headwinds. On a positive note, the Blue group and White group joined forces and were alternately led by each group’s respective leader, Val and Richard. The rest of the group included Miyo, Elena, Jaime, Erin, and Steve.

In spite of the strong headwind, the combined group completed another 16-miler in respectable time. We were happy to get rejuvenated at Nelson’s oasis with ice cold gatorade and great chit-chat. On our way back, we bumped into Blair. We missed Elaine, who, as I understand it, is traveling and finished.

Congratulations to Erin, who will be obtaining her doctorate in nursing in just a couple of weeks! It has always been a safe bet to run with the White group, as we have always been very blessed and fortunate to have our share of advance degree nurses as members of the group. This would include: Jessica, Melyssa,Liat, and now Erin.

Leader Richard has table duty next week, so our rudderless-leaderless group will determine distance and direction by majority vote! This should be interesting!

Until next week, homework, homework, homework!

“Baby” Blue Group (12.5 minutes per mile pace)

By Val Ogi

There were only a few from the White and Blue groups this Sunday so we combined the 2 to become the Baby Blues.
It was actually a little cooler and really a nice breezy day for a first 16 miler. I had to turn back at the Aloha gas station for only 8.75 miles today. Still not feeling 100% but so nice to be back out on the road.

Rich took the group out for a full 16. My Samsung app had us at a good 12:45 pace.

Hope everyone does their homework runs and I hope to be able to catch up to the 16 miles soon.

Green 15s (15 minutes per mile pace)

By Lou Crompton

Haven’t you heard the lament on Sundays around the refreshment tables?

“I really should have done [more] homework this week. I was dragging.”

Dr T gave us some numbers today – and referred to Dr Scaff’s book for more – how to gues-timate your fatigue point on marathon day. Estimate your fatigue point by mileage run during weeks leading up to the marathon, and estimate by the distance of your longest run. You DO NOT want that fatigue point to be at 21 or even 24 miles. The marathon distance is 26; 24 would be a collapse point out at Triangle Park. What a bummer that would be. So, you NEED to do your homework now, don’t skip it, and keep it up through our HMC training period.

Lastly, remember that November is a time for tapering – backing off on weekly distance. Your homework sessions in Sept and October ARE important. Do your homework!

We had a lucky 13 in the green corral today including 2 first timers: Mia and Elika. “Yokoso!” and we hope to see you next week too. What an intro for our first timers – we went out 14.5 miles! Mr Garmin’s machine verified 14.50 miles and logged us at 15.3 m/m pace… yea… good job by all.

Really appreciated Nelson having the oasis open… was Star Advertiser paying you all to count cars in that caravan? And big mahalo to Horacio for keeping the refreshment tables open for slow poke beginners. Hopefully volunteers manning the table duty will recognize that most, if not all, of the beginners get back around or after 12 noon. It does make a LONG day for you, but we are so thankful to see you and slurp up that ice cold Gatorade.

Next week it’s 15 miles for the Green Team… sounds like 0945 Mass again

Aloha!

Sweet 16s (16 minutes per mile pace)

By Annette Hayes

Dr Titchenal gave a talk about “hitting the wall”. This is a phrase which describes how your body feels when you have run out of glycogen reserves. How to prevent this from happening? Start off slower than your training pace. And don’t forget to hydrate.

If you made it out to Nelson’s you were treated to cool Gatorade, salty pretzels and potato chips to refuel the body. Thank you to Nelson and crew!

Our group enjoyed the brisk winds as we made our way along the highway. We walked 15 miles, with our turn around point at the 2nd park (aka Nelson’s). We made it back to the park in good time. Thank you for keeping to refreshment table open. The watermelon and tangerines were so sweet and juicy.

Reminder: if you are needing new shoes for Marathon day, now is the time to start looking. See Maile if you would like a discount card from the Runner’s Route. Do not plan on wearing anything new on Marathon day, to make sure everything is comfortable and will not chafe or cause blisters. The same concept applies to foods you eat before and during the Marathon.