Saline County group to train for marathon

A branch of the Little Rock Marathon's free training team is forming in Saline County.

Like the large group of runners and walkers that meets at 6 a.m. every Saturday in Little Rock and environs, the Saline County team expects its trainees to tumble out of bed early for once-a-week workouts.

"The majority of the group workouts will be on Saturday" at 6 a.m., says Chris Hall, president of the Saline County Striders club, which is sponsoring the new group. He says a few workouts will meet on Sundays "due to races in the area."

The group's mileage will progress from week to week, building up to the March 1 marathon in sync with the schedule devised by running and walking coaches Tom and Hobbit Singleton.

Under this schedule -- which begins this week -- would-be marathoners do relatively short-distance workouts on their own three days and then meet the group on Saturday to go longer. Group support becomes increasingly helpful during the four months of training, in which first-timers gradually advance from 6- to 20-mile workouts. (Coaches supply more challenging schedules for advanced runners.)

The team also provides training schedules for other events on Marathon Weekend, including a half-marathon (13.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles) and a 5K (3.1 miles). Schedules can be downloaded from the training section of the website littlerockmarathon.com.

Sixty to 200 runners and walkers show up for the Little Rock group's workouts, which are staged at various locations that are announced via email only to registered participants. Saline County's group will follow a similar plan.

Interested runners and walkers can learn more by attending the (indoor) meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Mount Carmel Community Center, 3505 Boone Road, Benton. There will not be any running at this meeting, merely talking.

Group leaders can be reached by email at salinemarathongroup@gmail.com.

INFORMATION ONLY

Other than Tuesday's indoor meeting, Hall says, the Saline group will not hold information-only sessions like those offered in Little Rock.

The Little Rock group plans just such a gathering at 6 tonight in the Centre at University Park, 6401 W. 12th St.

The Singletons will talk about running gear, from blinky lights to hydration packs. The meeting is free and open to anyone, and it is not a workout: You can show up in your street clothes.

The Little Rock Marathon training program is presented by Bill Torrey's Rock City Running and KARK-TV, Channel 4.

Little Rock Marathon Race Weekend, presented by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, includes the 13th annual 26.2-mile footrace; the half-marathon presented by Baptist Health; the Little Rock 10K, presented by Windstream Communications; the Little Rock 5K; the Little Rockers Kids Marathon; and the Little Rock Health & Fitness Expo.

ActiveStyle on 09/15/2014

Upcoming Events