Harriers Newsletter | June 2021 Edition
Jun 06, 2021 6:32 am
Harriers Monthly Newsletter — June 2021 Edition
By Emilia Benton
Happy Summer, Harriers! Welcome to the sixth edition of our newsletter. As a reminder, feel free to email any updates for future newsletter consideration to emiliamariebenton@gmail.com.
To start, we’d like to welcome our newest members to the team:
- Emily Zavinksy
- Dennis Rothaker
- Caroline Evans
- Elvira Irady
- Tricia Smith
- Steve Smith
- Rachel Garza
- Lori Domaschk
- Annie Foley
- Jan Torgersen
- Robyn Poulson
- Anne DeLeon
- David McKeon
- Fred Parnell
- Gethorio Davidson
- Hayward Sparks
- Josh Kirby
- Robert Jilley
- Joel Le
- Marvin Castro
- Veronica Felstead-Todd
- Victoria Do
- Gautham Pai
Early Registration is now open!
Early registration for our 2021-2022 season began on June 1st and will continue for the entire month of June. Our new season begins on July 1, 2021 and will end on June 30, 2022.
Memberships tiers available:
- Individual Membership, for a single runner
- Family Membership, for a family living in the same household, children included
- Youth School, for child athletes up through high school
- Club Sponsored Athlete, can only be chosen by the Board
Go to our page on RunSignup.com and scroll down to the membership options that say, “EARLY BIRD.” More details to come in a membership renewal email.
Additionally, save the date for the Harriers Annual Meeting on Tuesday, June 22, at 6:30 p.m. at Lupe Tortilla (1511 Shepherd, near the Heights). Additional details to come via email and on Facebook.
Lastly, a reminder: If you wish to join group long runs and our upcoming track workouts, you must review and sign our COVID-19 guidelines and waiver.
A Note from the Houston Harriers Board
The Houston Harriers are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable space for all members. We are striving to improve representation among our membership base and wish to make clear that we welcome and encourage Black, Indigenous and people of color of all running paces and experience levels to consider joining the club. Email houstonharriers@outlook.com for more information.
President: Daniel Barron
Secretary: Flora Lai
Vice Presidents: Fredis Benitez and Nele Lefeldt
Treasurer: Kelly Ramey
Advisory Board Members: Doug Storey, Sherry Fuller, Pamela Skaufel, Sarah Rabourn and Sarah Cherington.
Food Drive to Took Place at Today's Saturday Long Run
Today, the club held a summer food drive benefiting Kids Meals Houston, a local non-profit that delivers lunch to Houston's neediest preschool-aged children (and their school-aged siblings in the summer). They are currently feeding 7,500 children each day and will deliver 45% more meals than usual between June and August (when school is on break) totaling 646,350 meals.
Many thanks to our community chair, Sarah Cherington, for organizing this event.
Harriers Members Dominate Spring Races
- The Houston running community saw more in-person racing opportunities throughout the spring, and Harriers members jumped on every opportunity to represent, with Pamela Skaufel kicking things off with a win at the San Felipe Shootout on March 20.
- The following month, Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez was second in her age group at the Alamo Half Marathon on April 11, and Flora Lai and Gena Carter represented well at the Texas 10 Sienna on April 18, winning second overall female and first in her age group, respectively. Craig Gilbertson was first overall at the Meals for Miles 10K that same day.
- Several team members also had podium showings at the Vintage Park Half Marathon and 5K on May 2, with Chelsea Barr winning the half marathon, and Terence Baptiste, Fren-Mark Banes and Flora Lai placing first overall female and Fredis Benitez placing second in their respective age groups in the half marathon.
- On the trail side, Molly McCarthy was third overall female at the Brazos Bend 50K on April 2, and Tracy Larson and Rick Blandford were first in their age groups at the Zion 100K and Hells Hills 25K, respectively. Nicole Ederle also completed the Cocodona 250-mile race in Arizona on May 7.
- Finally, Sarah Rabourn created a unique running challenge stacking back-to-back marathons over Memorial Day weekend, raising over $3,500 for Girls on the Run of Greater Houston in the process.
Congrats to everyone who raced these last couple of months!
Weekly Harriers Runs and Workouts
As we mentioned in the last edition, track has resumed at Heights High School at 6 p.m. on Monday nights. Workouts by Coach Doug Storey can be found on the Houston Harriers Members Facebook group under the “Announcements” tab.
Additionally, we recently started scheduling regular Wednesday morning runs beginning at 6 a.m. from Eastern Glades at Memorial Park, or occasionally at Active Passion for some White Oak Bayou hills. Be on the lookout for weekly club emails detailing all the week’s planned runs. (Check the email account you used to register as a Harriers club member.)
Harriers Run in Support of Social Justice Causes
In line with our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Harriers hosted a run for social justice as we neared the anniversary of native Houstonian George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis last year. On Sunday, May 23, several members convened to run to the memorial murals painted at Breakfast Klub in Midtown, followed by breakfast at Onion Creek Cafe, in an effort to support one of Houston’s many Black-owned businesses.
This month, we invite club members to sign up for the Black Girls Run eRace Racism challenge, powered by Brooks. Commit to running 50, 100, or 200 miles solo or as part of a team from June 1-30, in support of effecting real change when it comes to standing against racism, prejudice and discrimination.
Harriers Swag Available for Purchase
In the market for a new hoodie, T-shirt, gaiter or even a koozie? Check out the latest merch at our Ram Shirts store and make sure you’re ready to represent this year and beyond. We all know you can never have too much club gear, even when you’re just lounging. As the shirts say, “I’m not a normal runner, I’m a Houston Harrier.”
Additionally, we have in stock 20 men’s singlets and 10 women’s singlets in assorted sizes. Shoot us an email or contact Pamela Skaufel to purchase one for $30. We also still have Boco Harriers truckers available for $20; contact Daniel Barron if interested.
Member Spotlight: Aracely Richardson
Aracely Richardson has been running since 2015, when she signed up for her first-ever race, the 2016 Chevron Houston Marathon, not even knowing how far the marathon distance was. She has since run five marathons, with her Boston-qualifying time of 3:12:26 at the 2019 Houston Marathon being one of her favorite running memories.
Richardson has been a member of the Houston Harriers since 2018; she was motivated to join after watching Desiree Linden win the Boston Marathon and later attending a track workout and meeting Coach Doug Storey.
“The best part of being a member of the Harriers is definitely the vibe of acceptance and community,” she says. “It’s a common thread of support that runs through this team.”
In addition to chasing competitive race times, Richardson can often be found sharing miles with her mom, Gladys, and daughter, Isabelle. The COVID-19 pandemic gave her a unique opportunity to further challenge herself through ultra-distances beyond the marathon.
“Surviving the Rocky Raccoon 100K was one of my most memorable experiences,” she says.
Richardson’s future goals include potentially running the Brazos Bend 100-miler in 2022. For now, she’s excited to experience her first Boston Marathon finish line this fall, as well as fundraising and running for the A 2nd Cup team through the Houston Marathon’s Run for a Reason program.
“The marathon is definitely my favorite distance to race,” she says. “I keep going because I love the challenge that running brings.”
Training Tips from Coach Doug Storey
The past three tips have focused on threshold-based, interval-based, and easy running in no particular order. This one will focus on what Jack Daniels calls “R-Zone training,” or repetition training. This training is working at an intensity that will elicit maximum heart rate if you stay at that intensity for a couple of minutes or longer. This training is specific to improve anaerobic power, speed, and running efficiency.
I know that many of you are intent on training for marathons or ultra-marathons and question the reasoning for running fast, but it makes sense that if you want to run fast (whether it be long or shorter distances), you must practice running fast.
When training or racing in the R-Zone, you are training at just above 100% VO2 max value, or that associated with races from 800 to 1,500 meters. Aerobic power is defined as VO2max. VO2max, also known as maximal oxygen uptake, is the measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen a person can utilize during intense exercise. It is a common measurement used to establish the aerobic endurance of an athlete prior to or during training. As you can see, training at this level is kept at a minimum because of the chance of injury. That level is the lesser of five miles, or 5% of weekly mileage and single intervals should not be more than two minutes in duration.
These workouts should be accompanied with enough recovery between intervals to run a pace that will not sacrifice good mechanics but also improve speed. Therefore, a full recovery is required for this type of training. That recovery should be two to three times as long (in time, not distance) as the interval run.
Based on the McMillan Training Tables developed by Coach Greg McMillan, R-paced runs should be run similar to this example:
3:00 Marathoner: Repetition Pace – 76-83 seconds for 400 meters.
3:30 Marathoner: Repetition Pace – 85-96 seconds for 400 meters.
The paces can be found at www.mcmillanrunning.com or by downloading the McMillan Running App “McRun.”
R-paced running can be interspersed throughout the year. I, personally, like to use it more in the summer months in Houston because of the intense heat and humidity and the need to “get out there, get a workout in, and get off the track.” So, the next time I have you running out of your comfort zone, you now have the reasoning for it. It is not just because I just like to see marathoners sucking air when out of their comfort zone, although, there is also some of that involved, too.
Nutrition Tips from Starla Garcia, M.Ed, RDN, LD
Are you a runner who often feels like you’re overeating, can’t control your hunger, or you feel like everything falls apart at dinnertime? Rather than focusing your energy on displaying self-control and imposing rules on yourself, I normally encourage runners to instead look at what’s happening in the first half of the day, specifically at breakfast and/or lunch.
Typically, at breakfast time, some of the common pitfalls I see with runners and endurance athletes is that they’re either not eating enough carbohydrate or protein. If someone is having a lot of sugar cravings, they’re going to need some carbohydrate earlier in the day, which can be in the form of options that are easy to prepare earlier in the day, such as waffles, sweet potatoes, corn tortillas for a breakfast taco, a slice of toast, oatmeal, fruit.
It’s also key to incorporate enough protein early in the day. When someone isn’t consuming enough protein, it can make them constantly feel hungry and ravenous throughout the day, which flows over into dinnertime. My general suggestion for athletes is to shoot for 20-30 grams of protein at breakfast time, which should help hold them over for longer periods of time and balance out their blood sugars. If they’re a morning runner, it will help them recover a lot faster and feel better the next day, while they’re repairing their tendons and muscles. Some protein options to incorporate into breakfast or snacks include peanut butter, eggs and Greek yogurt.
In the Media
- Emilia Benton wrote a feature for Runner’s World on why runners and fit people in general ideal candidates for a living organ donation. Our very own Subbu Venkat, a living kidney donor, was interviewed for the piece. She also talked about how the idea for the piece came to be in an interview on the Rambling Runner podcast in April.
- Fren-Mark Banes and Glenda Newman were interviewed about their running stories on the Runners of Hou podcast, hosted by new Harriers member Vicky Oddi. Stay tuned for upcoming episodes with Starla Garcia and Aracely Richardson.
Have a question for the board? Send it to houstonharriers@outlook.com
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