Your team is ready

Over the next 10 weeks you are going to be challenged both mentally and physically, there will be tough days and days where you feel on top of the world, you will test yourself and find new levels. 
 

For some of you. you will be doing your very first half marathon and some of you will be looking to improve on a previous half marathon experience - well done for signing up, let's get ready to find that next level.

This is our first weekly newsletter. Each Thursday afternoon you will get the newsletter for the following week. Please read these newsletters carefully, they outline the session details, educational content, inspiration and other important information that you need to know for that week. 

Welcome to Week 1, your RaceTeam is ready to go!

Alert Level 2:

We are starting this team under Alert Level 2, so there are some things you need to be aware of and rules to follow at our sessions. See the yellow box below for these.

Week 1 Sessions

MORNING GROUP

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• Monday 13 September 6.10am
  Meeting Point: South Hagley Park 
  Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
  5KM Time Trial
  The purpose of this session is to get your 5km time so you can work out your paces for the programme going forward. Please record your own time for this 5km.
  The course is 2 laps - out and back to a 1.25km marker within South Hagley Park.

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• Wednesday 15 September, 6.10am
  Meeting Point: South Hagley Park
  Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
  Track Session

EVENING GROUP

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• Tuesday 14 September, 5.40pm
  Meeting Point: South Hagley Park
  Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
  Track Session

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• Thursday 16 September, 5.40pm
  Meeting Point: South Hagley Park
  Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
  5KM Time Trial
  The purpose of this session is to get your 5km time so you can work out your paces for the programme going forward. Please record your own time for this 5km.The course is 2 laps - out and back to a 1.25km marker within South Hagley Park.

BOTH GROUPS

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• Saturday 18 September, 7.30am
  Meeting Point: Hansen Park, Opawa (meeting on the courts passed the toilet block)
  Map of Run: Click here
  This map is for all of our running groups, you will be doing a portion of this course.
   

1. From our meeting point we run around Hansen Park coming out onto Louisson Place.

2. Turn left and run up Ford Road to Fifield Tce (the river will be in front of you). Turn right.

3. Follow Fifeld Tce to Ensors Road. Do not cross over. Follow our cones which will cross you over the bridge and into Riverlaw Tce. You are now on the other side of the river running back towards Hansen Park.

4. Continue along until Armstrong Ave. Turn right and run up to Centaurus Road. Turn left.

5. Run along Centaurus Road to Aynsley Tce and follow our cones along Aynsley Tce to Grange St. Turn right. Run to the end of Grange St to Opawa Road. Turn right.

6. Run up Opawa Road to Port Hills Road, turn right.

7. Continue along Port Hills Road - there is a hill section here for our runners running 14km or 16km.

8. The furthest marker on the course is 6.5km which is on the other side of the hill section.

9. KM markers out: 500m*, 1.5km**, 5km, 6.5km

Programme Notes:
Beginner Programme 10km: Out and back to 5km marker (easy running)
Intermediate Programme 14km: Out and back to 6.5km then out and back to *500m (with pace work - refer to your programme)
Advanced Programme 16km: Out and back to 6.5km then out and back to **1.5km (with pace work - refer to your programme)

Saturday's Course: Click on image to enlarge

Covid-19: Alert Level 2
...and what this means at our sessions

It is great to be able to get our runners back and our sessions going again and with that comes a heightened awareness of the revised Alert Level 2 rules for our sessions:
 

• Check in with the coach taking roll call: It's important that we know exactly who is at the sessions in case contact tracing is required.
   

• No Key Bags: Please look after your own keys at the sessions so we can limit surface contact.
   

• Masks: Although not mandatory outside, if you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, then please do particularly before and after the session. 
   

• At the sessions: We all need to do our best to keep to not get too close to each other try and keep a 2m distance between yourself and others.
   

• And of course - if you feel unwell or if anyone in your household is unwell please stay at home and away from the group.
   

For the full Government advice around this Alert Level, click here

Thanks for your understanding around this ;o)

Download your programme

MORNING GROUP

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• Download the programme (.xlsx file)

• Download the programme (.pdf file)

EVENING GROUP

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• Download the programme (.xlsx file)

• Download the programme (.pdf file)

There are 3 different levels you can choose from: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

You choose which level you do, if you are unsure, we suggest you start at a level where you think is achievable but also provides a challenge.
 

To access the different levels in the excel spreadsheet - click on the tabs with titles at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

Before you come to your first session, know which programme you will be doing, if you are unsure, have a chat to our coaches at the session. 

Education

How the sessions work

Roll Calls and On Time Starts

We always start on time, we don't wait!
Please check in with the coach at each session.
(Extra Mile Runners Members - you don't need to book into each session during the RaceTeam programme). 

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Bring a watch 

You will need a watch with a GPS function as most of your runs have pace work within them. If you don't have a GPS watch, please bring a watch with a stopwatch function. 

Stretches

During the weekday sessions we will take you through stretches at the end of your session then you are free to go. On Saturday sessions we have all our groups together finishing at different times so we ask that you do your own stretches and then you can head off and start your day!

Keys and Gear

Under Alert Level 2, we ask that you look after your own car keys. If we move to Alert Level 1, we will have a key bag and look after these for you at each session.  Any other gear is your own responsibility. Bring warm layers for before and after the session.

Session Outline

There are 3 group sessions each week. When you registered you nominated whether you will be doing morning or evening sessions. Below is a description of each of the group sessions. 

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Track Session

Location: Netball Courts, South Hagley Park
Morning Group: Wednesday 6.10am
Evening Group: Tuesday 5.40pm

Before your Track Session our coach will take you through a 10min strength warm up, you will do 10 exercises (1 minute per exercise), please refer to your programme. This warm up involves the use of resistance bands for some of the movements - these will be provided at each session. You will then start your Track Session. 
 

Refer to your programme for the track session intervals, you don't need to remember them as the coach will direct you at the session but it is a good idea to be familiar with the session before you begin. 
 

Pace Session

Location: Netball Courts, South Hagley Park
Morning group: Monday 6.10am (There are 3 x 6.00am starts in Week 5,6 & 7 - refer to your programme)
Evening Group: Thursday 5.40pm
 

The pace session is a time-based session where you will be running at difference paces during the session. Eg: 50minute session:

• 20mins easy running (gossip pace) (10mins out and back)

• 10mins 10km pace (5mins out and back)

• 20mins at race pace (10mins out and back)
   

The purpose of this session is to practice your race pace when you start to get fatigued, it will increase your race fitness and conditioning (as well as help improve mental toughness in those hard moments). Refer to your programme for details on this session. 
 

Your very first Pace Session with RaceTeam is a 5km time trial (refer to your programme). The purpose of this session is to you have your real and current 5km time to work out your different paces for the pace sessions and track sessions. Please make sure you time yourself for this 5km time trial. 
 

Once you have your 5km time, use this VDOT App on your phone to work out your running paces. Here is a quick demo on how to use the app:
 

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Download the VDOT App:
Apple App
Android App 
 

If you don’t have a GPS watch which gives you your current pace, use perceived exertion.
Refer to your programme cover page for this scale.
 

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Endurance Session

Saturday morning 7.30am (There are 3 x 7.00am starts in Week 5,6 & 7 - refer to your programme)
Location: Various

This is your long run session. You will see on your programme that the distances increase each week until we get to the longest run in Week 7.  Refer to your programme and weekly newsletters for each week's session.

Other News

• Make sure you bring a watch (ideally GPS - but not compulsory) to every session.
   

• Please read this newsletter each week!
   

• Good shoes! These are the tool of your trade for the next 10 weeks. If you haven't had new shoes for a while, make sure you go to a good shoe fitting retailer (we recommend Shoe Clinic at Westfield Riccarton or Northlands) and get yourself fitted into the right shoe. At the Shoe Clinic, mention you are from Extra Mile Runners and they will give you a discount (we don't receive any commission from any sales, we just believe these guys know what they are talking about when it comes to running shoes).
   

• There will be a lot of new people joining our team next week. If you have been a part of the team for a while make sure you give them a great Extra Mile Runners welcome.