Sharpening
Using our recent marathon experience, we focus on workouts that sharpen our racing ability
The Program
With energy to burn after marathon season, we take an innovative approach to
ability-building during the first four months of the year. The goal is to race at a faster
pace than during marathon season. That’s easy to do because the races are shorter.
Shorter Workouts
Our workouts are shorter, too. Where we were running, jogging or walking for close to 2 hours on weeknights during marathon season, in the early months of the calendar year we’re running closer to 80 minutes at the most.
Tempo Intervals
Tempo intervals on weeknights complement one another by getting progressively longer on Mondays (from a 2-minute duration base to 8 minutes), and shorter on Wednesdays (from 12 minutes to 6 minutes).
Racing Tempo
During interval workouts, athletes learn the feeling of a comfortable racing tempo. Once they are doing intervals correctly, we map their heart rates to the interval training to establish heart rate standards for training and racing.
The Races
The Sharpening program focuses on six interesting races, starting with small “club” events and progressing to mega races with thousands of participants. You’ll learn racing competence so you’re prepared for anything you might encounter.
The Harold Chapson Memorial 8K
From Kapi‘olani Park past the iconic Diamond Head light house, around Triangle Park in Kahala, and back to the Honolulu Marathon finish line in Kapi‘olani Park, this is our shortest race (4.97 miles). Harold Chapson was famous for breaking world records in his (90-100) age group.
The Johnny Faerber 10K
This race adds a two-mile loop through Wai‘alae Kahala to the Capson 8K course. Faerber is the founder of Faerber’s Fliers—an all-women’s training program; his course is also known for an annual all-women’s 10K.
The King’s Runner 10K
Another mega-race environment, the flat course winds through Kaka‘ako Park and Ala Moana Park. The challenge is to negotiate numerous 90-degree turns through Downtown Honolulu while flowing with hundreds of close competitors.
The Hapalua 21K
An iconic half-marathon in mid-April, starting in Waikiki, looping through downtown Honolulu, continuing past Diamond Head, and sprinting back to the finish in Kapi‘olani Park, the Hapalua is our first long distance test of the year, with plenty of time to prepare.
Recovery
All that racing can lead to injury, illness or exhaustion. For recovery purposes, the program calendar includes 2 weeks of only easy workouts in the second half of April, until base building begins again in early May.
Workouts that Rejuvenate
There’s nothing like a recovery period consisting of only easy workouts to rehabilitate from injury, overcome nagging cold-like symptoms, or restore energy after a period of exhaustive training and racing.
Fast Recovery
An easy workout is short and slow enough to recover from it in merely 12 hours. You could do easy workouts twice a day and build a world of stamina. But our primary goal is to simply recover from an intense racing period.