Frontrunners Summer 2023 Half Marathon, Marathon & Learn to Run 5k & 10k Training Programs

Welcome to our training programs! We love to run together - building community while training is our goal. This Summer we have the Marathon, Half-Marathon, and Return-to-Run/Maintenance program meeting twice per week (described first, below), and the Learn to Run 5k and 10k program meeting once per week (described second, below).

MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON PROGRAM

WITH RETURN TO RUN/MAINTENANCE OPTION

The Marathon, Half Marathon (Half) and Return-to-Run/Maintenance (RTR/M) training programs will begin on Wednesday June 14, 2023 and build towards the Royal Victoria Marathon, Half Marathon, 8K (RTR/M) and 5K (RTR/M). We also offer custom schedules for other race goals, for example the Finlayson Arm 28km. We work hard to support our runners through our volunteer run leaders, weekly emails, webpage and private Facebook group. We provide a Frontrunners technical shirt, participant store discount, training tips, editorials, and speaker events (as allowed) to keep you motivated!

Marathon and Half Runners: Wednesday June 14, 2023 - Wednesday October 4, 2023

Goal Race: RVM Marathon and Half Marathon (October 8, 2023)

RTR/M Runners: Wednesday June 14, 2023 - Wednesday October 4, 2023

Goal Race: RVM 8k (October 8, 2023) and RVM 5k (October 7, 2023)

Cost: $99.95 (includes technical shirt)

Race registrations are not included with clinic

Our program includes:

A complete training schedule from day 1 to race day, with weekly breakdown consisting of self-directed “homework” runs, plus our twice weekly group runs. Our group runs happen on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Wednesday workouts focus on hills, speed and tempos. Saturday morning long runs will be run-leader led and focus on building distance and endurance.

Meeting Spots: There are four Wednesday Workout meeting options: Downtown Early Morning 6am, Downtown Evening 5:30 pm, Shelbourne Evening 6:00 pm, Westshore Evening 6:00 pm. Wednesday evenings will meet from the various Frontrunners’ stores or from other locations as specified week to week. On Saturdays, we meet at 8:00 am in two groups: the Marathon runners meet together, and the Half Marathon and Return-to-Run/Maintenance runners meet together. In Summer, we sometimes have earlier starts to beat the heat (as specified). The Saturday meeting locations vary week-to-week in the Greater Victoria region. We try to spread out our Saturday start locations throughout the region, acknowledging that we have runners throughout the community.

RTR/M Option This group supports runners who are returning to running after a break due to any number of reasons (injury, illness, busyness of life, children, etc.) and/or runners who just love to run and maintain their endurance fitness, but don’t want a long marathon/half marathon training run on Saturday. This option provides a structured, social group meeting twice per week to build and maintain a strong running base!

The RTR/M group has its own training schedule that follows the structure of the marathon and half-marathon training schedule with self-directed “homework” runs, plus our twice weekly group runs. At Wednesday workouts, RTR/M runners have the option of running easy, doing a shorter workout, or completing the same workout as the marathon and half-marathoners. For Saturday long runs the group will build from ~ 40 mins (~5 to 7 km) to ~75 mins (~10 to 12 km). These runs will be led by experienced run leaders and will offer paces between 6 min/km and 7:45 min/km.

Some RTR/M runners set a RVM 8k or 5k race goal, and others have different fitness goals or races in mind. If your running goals change during the clinic, you can move into the half-marathon group, or the Learn to Run Clinic, at any time.

Prerequisites:

Marathon - Participants should feel comfortable running at a steady pace for at least 75 to 90 minutes and be running at least 4 times a week. You need to be able to sustain at least a 7:30 min/km pace on these runs. If you are unsure if you meet the requirements for this group, please contact Jonathan Foweraker at foweraker@shaw.ca.

Half - Participants should feel comfortable running at a steady pace for at least 40 to 50 minutes and be running at least 3 times a week. If you are unsure if you meet the requirements for this group, please contact Wendy Cohen at wenco55@gmail.com

RTR/M - Participants should feel comfortable running at a steady pace for at least 35 to 40 minutes and be running at least a couple times a week. We will accommodate a number of paces, but you must be able to run 5 km in under 40 minutes at the start of the clinic. Runners not meeting the prerequisites are welcome to join the Learn to Run Clinic being offered by Frontrunners on Tuesday nights. If you are unsure if you meet the requirements for this group, please contact Wendy Cohen at wenco55@gmail.com

If you don’t meet these prerequisites, please check out our Learn to Run 5k and 10k Clinic (below)!

LEARN TO RUN 5K & 10K CLINIC

The Learn to Run 5k (First Steps) & 10k (Next Steps) training clinic will begin on Tuesday July 4, 2023 and build towards the Royal Victoria 8K and 5K. We work hard to support our runners through our volunteer run leaders, weekly email, webpage and private Facebook group. We provide a Frontrunners technical shirt, participant store discount, training tips, editorials, and speaker events (as allowed) to keep you motivated!

First Steps (5k) and Next Steps (10k) Runners: Tuesday July 4, 2023 - Tuesday October 3, 2023

Goal Race: RVM 8k (October 8, 2023) and RVM 5k (October 7, 2023)

Cost: $89.95 (includes technical shirt)

Race registrations are not included with clinic

Meeting Spots: Tuesday evenings at 6pm at Frontrunners Victoria

Our program includes:

A complete training schedule from day 1 to race day, with weekly breakdown consisting of self-directed “homework” runs, plus our weekly group runs. Our group runs happen on Tuesdays. This program will focus on a gradual walk/run progression to help you achieve your goals injury free. Participants will be introduced to a range of running topics including injury prevention, how to stay motivated, proper footwear and apparel, and pre and post-run stretching.

There are two streams in the Learn to Run clinic - the First Steps/5k program for those who have not run before or who haven’t run for a while and want to start from scratch, and the Next Steps/10k program for those who have completed the 5k clinic or who can run/walk for 25 minutes at the start of the program. Both the 5k and 10k programs will have Speedy and Steady options so that runners can find a pace that is right for them. Don’t worry if you are unsure where you fit in – we will sort things out in the first week’s run.

The clinic will meet once a week as a group, with two other ‘homework’ run/walks to be done during the week. While the homework runs are each runner's responsibility, we will facilitate runners getting together to form homework run meetups so that runners can benefit from a shared running experience.

Note: the clinic is a run/walk program for the duration. For this Summer session we will only be meeting at the Downtown store on Tuesdays at 6pm. We are unable to offer other locations at this time.

Pre-requisites:

5k – Participants should feel comfortable doing a moderate to fast walk without difficulty for 20 minutes from the start of the clinic.

10k – Participants should feel comfortable doing a run / walk for 25 minutes from the start of the clinic.

If you have any questions about the Learn to Run clinic please contact Doug Stetar at stetard@me.com.