The watch rewards Rob Seymour for his solo half marathon effort.
I am sure we all have words or phrases that we would like to banish from the collective vocabulary that have been thoroughly worn out over the last months. I nominate virtual for expulsion. I understand that races and many other things are in some sense virtual (not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so), but when it comes to racing the effort and sweat and many of the rewards are still real. I prefer the race terms remote, time trail, or solo, but no matter what we call it, there is benefit to on your own racing when the start lines of the group versions remain closed.
What’s the Point?
The purposes of the race series I’ve established for my team are to promote a sense of community while giving some accountability to themselves and each other while we are not able to train and race together. Runner’s motivations vary and I hope this will serve as a competitive outlet for some while helping a little to replace the social aspect for others.
Each week or two that solo racing can boost motivation, it pulls us closer to the real thing. It can serve as a fitness check to keep you honest with you. Having something on the short term calendar can help maintain or gain some race sharpness (mind & body). If training has lagged it will give you a "before" picture to show your impending improvement.
It will also give closure to the most peculiar spring racing season ever and signal a time for a brief training break before pointing towards fall which promises to be interesting. But if things continue to progress, it will be much closer to normal than the first half of 2020.
Remote Racing Rules
Part of the beauty of this is that you can make your own rules and invite your friends to join you. Here are the guidelines I’ve set for our races.
Plan Your Course. Choose safe, GPS, traffic & social distancing friendly courses. Part of the challenge is to find a fast course (lot’s of great ideas for the Monumental Mile!). You might even have a plan B if you get some of the crazy wind we’ve had recently. In your search for something GPS and traffic friendly be aware of places such as around tall building and under trees where GPS has a hard time following. If you use a track, use the track distances and not GPS.
Keep A Separate File. This ensures you get credit for the race miles and you don't loose speed in an auto split that averages in warm-up or cool-down. This will also show moving time and total time. Like a normal race the clock keeps running, emphasizing choosing your course wisely.
Additional Perks
As the state begins to allow small group gatherings again, you can set up staggered or time trial starts (think Tour de France) while observing social distance. To avoid schedule conflicts I’ve offered short 3 day windows to complete the race. That could make a difference with weather, but I wanted to make sure the medical practitioners and first responders in the group could participate. I also like to age and gender grade the races to keep things interesting and level the racing field. You could also consider raising some money. There is no shortage of those in need right now, so your options are many. What I thought might be a few dollars turned into about $3,000 for our first race. Who knows what good things beyond running could happen?
Have Fun! This should be fun and pass one more day towards normal.
Next Step Join in the fun & challenge of the Monumental Mile between June 22nd-30th. Here are all the details.