Frontrunners Summer 2024 Half Marathon, Marathon & Maintenance 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 running/maintenance options meeting twice per week, and the Learn to Run 5k and 10k option meeting once per week.

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 19, 2024 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 28k. 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 Runners: Wednesday, June 19, 2024 - Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Goal Race: Royal Victoria Marathon, Sunday, October 13, 2024

Half Runners: Wednesday, June 19 - Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Goal Race: Royal Victoria Half Marathon, Sunday, October 13, 2024

RTR/M Runners: Wednesday, June 19 - Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Goal Race: Royal Victoria Marathon - 5k/8k, Saturday, October 12/13, 2024

Cost of all clinics: $99.95 (includes technical shirt)

Race registrations are not included with clinic

Our program:

We provide a complete training schedule from day 1 to race day, with a weekly breakdown consisting of self-directed “homework” runs plus twice weekly group runs. The group runs are on Wednesdays and Saturdays with Wednesday workouts focusing on hills, speed and tempo and Saturday morning long runs (which are led by experienced run leaders) focusing on building distance and endurance.

Meeting Spots:

There are four Wednesday Workout meeting options:

• Downtown Early Morning 6:00 am - meet at the downtown Y on Broughton St. (No RTR in the am group)

• Downtown Evening 5:30 pm - generally meet at the corner of Dallas and Memorial Crescent.

• Shelbourne Evening 6:00 pm - locations vary

• Westshore Evening 6:00 pm - Frontrunners - Westshore

Saturday long runs:

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. The Saturday meeting locations vary week-to-week in the Greater Victoria region. We spread our Saturday start locations throughout the region acknowledging that we have runners from all over the community.

RTR/Maintenance 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 and, for many, an hour or so of running just fits the bill!

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 twice weekly group runs. At Wednesday workouts, RTR/< 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 8 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 7:30 min/km.

Some RTR runners set a Royal Victoria Marathon 5k or 8k race goal and others may have different fitness goals or races in mind. If your running goals change during the clinic, you can move into the half group, or the Tuesday night Beginner Clinic, at any time.

Marathon/Half/RTR-M Prerequisites:

Marathon - Participants should feel comfortable running faster than 7:30 min/km continuously for at least 75 to 90 minutes and be running at least 4 times a week. 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 - 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 Beginner 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 Learn to Run 10k programs (below)!

LEARN TO RUN 5K & 10K CLINIC

The Learn to Run 5k (First Steps) & 10k (Next Steps) training clinic will begin on Tuesday July 9, 2024 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 9, 2024 - Tuesday October 8, 2024

Goal Race: RVM 8k (October 13, 2024) and RVM 5k (October 12, 2024)

Cost: $99.95 (includes technical shirt)

Race registrations are not included with clinic

Meeting Spots: Tuesday evenings at 6pm at Beacon Hill Park Petting Zoo

Pre-requisites:

5K: Able to do a moderate to fast walk without difficulty for 25 minutes

10K: Able to do a run / walk for 25 minutes