Week 1 Newsletter
Welcome to RaceTeam Queenstown
Your team is ready
Welcome to RaceTeam Queenstown, over the next 9 weeks you will be training for the postponed 2021 Queenstown Half marathon event - now on Saturday 19 March.
We have a lot of familiar faces returning as well as brand new faces to our team, we are looking forward to getting the best out of you over the next 9 weeks.
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!
Week 1 Sessions
MORNING GROUP
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Monday 17 January, 6.00am
Meeting Point: South Hagley Park, Deans Ave side
5KM Time Trial see course map
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 19 January, 6.00am
Meeting Point: South Hagley Park
Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
Track Session
EVENING GROUP
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Tuesday 18 January, 5.40pm
Meeting Point: South Hagley Park
Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
Track Session
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Thursday 20 January, 5.40pm
Meeting Point: South Hagley Park
Map of Meeting Point: Netball Courts
5KM Time Trial see course map
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 22 January, 7.30am
Meeting Point: Avonhead Park, entrance off Hawthornden Road
Map of Run: Click here
This map is for all of our running groups, you will be doing a portion of this course.
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Follow the perimeter of Avonhead Park - follow our cones which will bring you back through the middle of the park and out of the park onto Hawthornden Road. Turn right.
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Run along Hawthornden Road to Kedleston Drive, Turn RIGHT.
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Run around Kedleston Drive coming out onto Apsley Drive, turn right.
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Run along Apsley Drive to Woodbury Street. There is a roundabout here, follow our cones that will lead you to run up Woodbury St to Withells Road. Turn left.
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Run up Withells Road to Merrin Street, turn LEFT.
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At the end of Merrin Street, CROSS OVER CAREFULLY where we indicate with cones back onto Hawthornden Road.
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Run along Hawthornden Road to Avonhead Road, turn RIGHT.
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Run along Avonhead Rd to Withells Road and turn right.
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Run down Withells Road to Merrin St
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Run to your half way marker then turn around and reverse the course back to the start.
Programme Notes:
Beginner Programme 12km: Out and back to 6km marker (easy running)
Intermediate Programme 14km: Out and back to 7km marker (see your programme for pace work)
Advanced Programme 16km: Out and back to 7km then out and back to 1km (see your programme for pace work)
Saturday's Course: Click on image to enlarge
Download your programme
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.
Print off your programme and put it somewhere where you will see it each day - on the fridge, bathroom mirror, beside your desk. Tick off each session as you progress through the programme.
When you come to your first session, please know which programme you are doing.
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 every session.
Extra Mile Runners Members: For those of you who have a 6mth or 12mth membership, you do not need to book into each session during the RaceTeam programme.
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
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.
Track Session
Location: Netball Courts, South Hagley Park
Morning Group: Wednesday 6.00am
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 / Deans Ave side, Sout Hagley Park
Morning group: Monday 6.00am
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:
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20mins easy running (gossip pace) (10mins out and back)
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10mins 10km pace (5mins out and back)
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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:
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.
Please refer to your programme cover page for this scale.
Endurance Session
Saturday morning 7.30am (There are some 7.00am starts refer to your programme and your weekly newsletters)
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
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Make sure you bring a watch (ideally GPS - but not compulsory) to every session.
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Please read your newsletters each week, even if you have done RaceTeam several times - sometimes things change!
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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).
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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.