Spring brings ‘hybrid’ events and hope for return of in-person races
Spring always brings a sense of renewal, and this year, even more so.
Last spring, all our favorite running events were canceled. Last week, the Irish Cultural Center of the Hudson Valley successfully conducted the 33rd running of the Shamrock Run. Quite a few participants ran the traditional 2-mile route down Broadway in Kingston over 12 days. Overall, 269 participants signed up for the event.
The 39th Kiwanis Kingston Classic is going to follow a similar hybrid model. From April 24 through May 2, participants will have the opportunity to run the three race distances (1.5 mile, 5K, or 10K) anywhere.
Participants will also have the opportunity to run the three distances on a designated, wellmarked course using the Kingston Point Trail and the new Brickyard Trail. This route will give participants great views of the Rondout Creek, the Hudson River, and remnants of the old Kingston brickyards. This route will be vehicle-free except for a short section near Kingston Point Beach.
Overall, the courses are flat, with the 10K course having two challenging hills. The event will be free, with an option to donate. For information, visit the website kiwaniskingstonclassic.com.
In 2020, the Onteora Runners Club had to cancel its year-long Grand Prix. The Grand Prix consists of 10 selected running events from April through November. These events range from a 1-mile track race up to a half-marathon. The Grand Prix will take participants to Kingston, Rosendale, the Shawangunk Mountains, and the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County.
The first race in the Grand Prix will be the Keegan Army 5K hosted by Keegan Ales in Kingston. It will be a tour of historic Uptown Kingston. Participants will have from April 3 through April 11 to complete the course. To register and for more information, visit zippyreg. com.
By the way, the Kiwanis Kingston Classic 10K will be the Grand Prix’s second event.
There seems to be a light at the end of this COVID-19 tunnel, and I suspect that more in-person running events will start to happen later in
the year.
Speedwork
Newer runners with a desire to improve or spice up their running often are intrigued about adding “speedwork” to their training. They have heard that it can make them faster and improve performance. I let them know that this is true, but that speedwork has to be approached cautiously and introduced gradually, or it can significantly increase the risk of injury.
When they find out that I’ve coached on the youth, high school, college, and adult level, they ask me how to start. I stress that they must first build a base of consistent mileage before adding more intense running.
The most unstructured and informal way to add speed to your running is to do some “fartlek” sessions. Fartlek is a Swedish word that means “speed play.”
During some of your easy runs, pick a house, a driveway, a tree, or a telephone pole and increase your pace until you hit that spot. Based on how you are feeling, do several throughout your run. Vary the length of these pick-ups.
They should not be done continuously, one after another — just sporadically during your run. When you can comfortably do a total of 15 minutes of fartlek training during some of your runs, you may want to try more structured speedwork.
Hill workouts are another way to transition to more structured interval workouts. Hills make you use your entire body to run and engage the all-important core muscle groups. Running hills is a form of resistance work that increases your running intensity without the pounding that can occur on flat roads or tracks.
Hill running forces you to use the same mechanics associated with fast running and can help increase your running power, endurance, and form.
Ideally, find a hill that is not too steep and run uphill for approximately 300 meters. Jog slowly back down, give yourself a little more recovery, and repeat four to six times.
A runner can experiment with the distance of the hills. If going longer than 300 meters, the pace should be slower. If going shorter, make the pace quicker. Do not run the downhills hard! Truly jog very slowly. Hills are often used early in a training season, but if you’re just aiming to compete in very long races, hills might be all the speedwork you need.
Once you have a consistent foundation and have become comfortable with fartlek and hill workouts, you may want to consider more intense and structured speedwork, which can be a topic for a future column.
Reader’s Corner
This week’s Reader’s Corner submission is by Doug Needham, an English teacher, father, and runner from Hurley, N.Y.
“Over the past few years, I feel like I’ve told my running story enough times that I don’t want to say it again here, other than to mention that it was this column (back then written by Eric Houghtaling) that motivated me to get out and run/walk through some of the ORC (Onteora Runners Club) Summer Series runs, and become a runner again after being a couch potato for 30 years. Reading about those races was so inspiring, and when I went to them, I discovered this incredible community of friendly runners who have been many of my favorite people for the past 10 years. I’m probably prejudiced, but I have to say that runners are some of the nicest people in the world, and our local community is so welcoming to people of every level, from ‘just walker’ to elite, world-class competitors. “And that said, the main thing I want to say in this piece is to implore each of you to look long and hard at the back of any runner’s race shirt and see the LOCAL companies that donated to and supported that race. Those local businesses are the same ones that pay the sales taxes that support our roads and schools and the same businesses that donate to keep the Girl Scouts running and to help make your local church fundraiser successful. They employ your friends and neighbors and keep money in our community.
“There is a $1.7 trillion-dollar company out there that is excited about colonizing space but doesn’t care one tiny whit about our community. Every dollar you spend with them is a dollar NOT going to a company that supports our local races. If you see a store name on the back of a shirt, SHOP THERE. The few cents or dollars more it might cost over an online company is an investment in keeping your family and friends employed, your roads fixed, and these races being put together!
“And speaking of races, I miss them desperately, and I just can’t wait for in-person races to begin again. I want to see all my friends at the Summer Series, the Kingston Classic and the Dutchess Classic, and all the other local races that bring our running community together. And even the ones that aren’t quite so local — one of the casualties of this pandemic has been the Ragnar races, and I am intent on doing another one of those once this pandemic is over and it’s safe again.
“If you don’t know what a Ragnar Run is, let me tell you! It’s a roughly 200-mile, point-to-point run that you do as a relay run with a team of 12 people. Each runner has three relay legs that are anywhere from 3 to 14 miles, and the team is in two six-person vans.
“It is amazing. One van drives to the 30- or 40-mile mark, and those runners try to sleep (but they don’t). The other van starts a runner, drives a few miles up the course, waits for that runner to finish the leg, starts runner 2, and then drives a few miles farther along to set up runner 3.
“Of course, the van stops along the way to cheer on the runners! Finally, after all six runners complete their leg, van 1 meets van 2, and then van 1 drives 30-40 miles ahead to try (unsuccessfully) to sleep.
The runners and the vans keep leapfrogging each other for 200 miles, and the race goes on through the night.
“When I did it last, there were 250 teams
(so 500 vans). Every van was decorated with washable chalk — hysterical names, motivational slogans — and every time your teammate passes another runner, you call it a ‘kill’ and mark it on the van. Many of the runners are in costumes, each transfer point becomes a bit of an impromptu party and meeting spot, and after roughly 30 hours in a van with five of your friends, all running hard and not sleeping, you come out of the race either loving your teammates more than anyone on the planet, or never wanting to see them again!
“The race I did went from the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to Lake Placid. It was one of the best three days of my entire life, giving me the most incredible bonding time with three of my favorite family members and introducing me to several new people who are still my friends years later.
“I doubt I’ll be able to do another Ragnar run in 2021, but for 2022, it’ll be high on my bucket list.”
Coming up
In Kingston, St.
George’s Greek Orthodox Church is hosting a new virtual 5K run, the Greek Gallop, from April 17 to May 1. This event’s unique feature is that it allows participants to add up their running or walking over multiple days to achieve the 3.1-mile distance. This feature seems ideal for new runners or walkers. For more information, visit the website https://runsignup. com/Race/NY/Kingston/ StGeorgeGreekGallop5K.