On Saturday we had our kickoff and heard from Denis Calabrese, founder of USA Fit, and Lucy Diaz, event manager for the Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio from Elite Racing. They provided some great motivation for our season! If you missed the talk, we were able to record it in both audio & video format and uploaded it to our season archive.

We also reviewed some important rules for the training program:

·    Carry water with you on every run or walk
·    Stay on sidewalks if they are available
·    Run or walk against traffic at all times, unless sidewalk is only on one side
·    Keep no more than 2 persons abreast, particularly when in the presence of cars
·    Do not wear headsets or MP3 players while running or walking on open roads
·    Do not litter

With our record turnout, we unfortunately ran short of goodie bags, but more are being stuffed at this very moment! If you didn't get one on Saturday, or if you were not here, please make sure to pick yours up this Saturday. Also make sure you received your training log & quick start packet which contains important info!

Don't forget to check out the weekly schedule on the website to see your assigned workouts during the week. The online schedule also has a link to the map for this Saturday's workout. We will have the course marked, but it's a good idea to review the map ahead of time and get familiar with the route. Get in the habit of checking it every week to get yourself oriented!

Each week we will be focusing on a different aspect of your training, both in the newsletter and in the Saturday group workout. We'll give you information here, and your coaches will be able to elaborate and provide additional guidance during your group meeting.

This week's focus is on hydration, which is an critical issue for all athletes, and especially those in climates such as ours! Your body requires water to function, and dehydration not only impacts your performance, it also jeapordizes your health. This Saturday we will be giving us specific guidance on how much and how often we should be replenishing our fluids during workouts.

In the meantime, though, we encourage everyone to try this sweat rate test. It's simple and very insightful! Before your next run or walk, weigh yourself, and then re-weigh yourself immediately upon completion of your workout. Did you lose weight? If so, that is the amount of water you lost due to sweat, and it is also the amount of fluid that needs to be replaced during your workout session. Do this test a few times, and come with your typical sweat rate on Saturday!

As mentioned above, hydration is vitally important to your training and as an athlete you need to be in control of your fluid intake. It is USA Fit's policy, therefore, that all runners and walkers carry their own hydration system on all workouts. This can be a hand held bottle, a belt, or a bladder system -- you just need to find a system that works for you.

All of our workouts with mileage over 3 miles will have refill stations available on the course with water, but you must carry your own container to refill. We do put out a basket of refillable water bottles each Saturday, just in case you leave home without yours.

Amphipod is a sponsor of USA Fit and they offer a variety of hydration systems. There is a coupon in your registration packet that can be redeemed at Run Gear Run or other stores that sell the product line.

Be sure to bring a water bottle to the workout on Saturday, and we will discuss what hydration options are available for the rest of your training.

Each weekly newsletter will include comments and information from each of our head coaches. To kick it off in Week 1, here are bios on your coaches!

ATP

ATP is the Advanced Training Program of San Antonio Fit. The training emphasizes quality over quantity. Quantity can lead to injury and we want you to run injury free. ATP has exercises that progress through
general, special, specific, and explosive strength training with an intense focus on the demands of marathon running.

This year, if you want, you can run with a colored pace group and still participate in the ATP group. ATP will meet before the Saturday morning meeting and do our warm-up exercises. We will also meet once or twice mid week to run and do the strength training together.

As with all the pace groups, ATP is only as good as the effort you put into it. ATP is not easy and some say ATP stands for Agony Torture Pain. But the program is designed to help you succeed. As Grouch Marx once said, "If at first you don't succeed, keep sucking until you do succeed."

Keep Smiling,
Larry Graf - ATP Coach

Head coach: Larry Graf

Current job: Architect with Air Force
Marathon / half marathon experience: 4 half marathons
Message for group: The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare

Blue / Green

Welcome to all the familiar faces, and to all of the new faces, as well. I'm excited about the upcoming season.  It's time to renew old friendships and make new ones. 

Hydration:  Okay, if you have never trained for a full / half marathon through the south central Texas summer, this is an important thing.  Staying hydrated is not only key for successful training, but key for overall good
health.  The best thing to do is the Sweat Test--weigh yourself before and after your run.  Factor in how many ounces of fluid you took in during the run, and use this to determine if you've been taking in enough fluids. 

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Head coach: Rudy Acevedo

Current job: Engineer
Marathon / half marathon experience:
Message for group: 

Current job: Air Force Officer (Captain) - 14+ years active duty
Marathon / half marathon experience: San Antonio - 07; Austin - 08; Prickly Pear 50k - 08
Coaching experience: Youth basketball
Message for group: You can do far more tahn you think you can .. stay positive and ask questions!

Current job: RGR / UTSA student - exercise science
Marathon / half marathon experience: Austin Marathon (2:52); SA Half (1:22)
Message for group: Nutrition!!

Yellow

Head coach: Ross Brady

Current job: Senior Microsoft Infrastructure Consultant
Marathon / half marathon experience: 17 marathons, 1 31-mile trail run, and too many half's
Message for group: Start slow! Too many runners, who have not done long distances, start off running way too fast on the long runs.

Assistant coach: Betty Cruz

Current job: Sales rep, Taylor Pub. Co.
Marathon / half marathon experience: 5 marathons; numerous half marathons
Message for group: I'm looking forward to a great training season!

Assistant coach: Ron Miller

Red

I was incredibly excited to see all of the "oldies" as well as bunches of "newbies" on Saturday.  I am looking forward to meeting and getting to know all of the "newbies" as well as reconnecting with the "oldies".  For the newbies, I know you will be happy to be part of the "best" group out there, you are in for a wonderful experience.  You will find that all of the "oldies" have a lot of experience and will be incredibly helpful to you. 

For those who do not know, my name is John Smith (yes, I know).  Most of you spoke with me briefly on Saturday.  I was the guy sitting behind the table handing out the packets.  I am the head coach and I am looking forward to helping you reach your goal of completing a marathon.  You will also find the other coaches Kathy Halloran, Linda Roach and Bruce Anderson to be incredibly helpful.  I know I learned a great deal from them last year.  Each of these people will introduce themselves within the next couple of weeks and you should be able to get to know them well
by the end of the training program.

The topic for this week is hydration.  I cannot stress this enough and I will be continually reminding you throughout the entire training program.  As a nation, we do not drink enough water and I am as guilty as the next person.  However, since we will be running in the heat of the summer it is exponentially important that we hydrate ourselves thoroughly and continuously.  If you wait until you are thirsty, you are already at least partially dehydrated and it will only get worse.  You can not wait until Saturday morning to try to give your body the water it needs.  You need to be drinking water at least 12 hours prior to the run in order to give your body time to process and absorb the water. 

That does not mean that you should not rehydrate during a run.  It is vital that you carry water with you.  During these short runs is the best time to get used to carrying water.  In fact, it is required that you carry a water bottle during our runs and I will be checking.  I personally like using a water bottle belt.  Some people like to carry it in their hands.  I get bored with that and usually end up getting rid of the bottle in a trash can along the way but if that is what works for you, do it.  I also found that I like to have the water sideways on my back instead of up and down.  I found the up and down bottle annoying because the water bounced as I ran.  Others find this way to be the best.  I also carry one large bottle, but others like using several of the smaller bottles so they can have powerade and water bottles
separate.  During the next couple of weeks, look at what others are doing and talk with some of the "oldies".  Then, decide what is best for you or ask.

I look forward to running with each of you and getting to know you.  Please let me know if you need help and I will be happy to see what I can do.

John E. Smith

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Head coach: John Smith

Current job: Coach and teacher with Northside ISD
Marathon / half marathon experience: 4 marathons, 5-6 half marathons and various other races
Coaching experience: 7 years coaching girls athletics - volleyball, basketball and track, YMCA coach forever
Message for group: This will be a life changing event for you!

Assistant coach: Bruce Anderson

Current job: Retired - oil & gas engineer
Marathon / half marathon experience: 1 marathon; 3 halfs
Coaching experience: Extensive coaching of swimmers - both youth and adult; first time as running coach

Assistant coach: Linda Roach

Current job: marketing coordinator for Sonterra Oral Surgery
Marathon / half marathon experience: 3 marathons ; 7 halfs
Coaching experience: 3 yrs assistant coach red pace group; 2 yrs workout leader for triathlon training
Message for group: Positive cand-do attitude; One mile at a time; Happiness is Voight!

Assistant coach: Kathy Halloran

Current job: Admin assistant
Marathon / half marathon experience: 5 half marathons; 4 full marathons
Coaching experience: 1 year assistant coach for red group
Message for group: Follow the schedule to the finish line!

Orange

Hey, Orange Group, are you ready to Rock-n-Roll???  I was so thrilled to see our Orange Group and get a chance to personally meet you as you filled out your paperwork after the time-trial.  It was great to see the new and returning members!
 
Tina and the Kathys' (what a great name for a rocking all girl band!) have some fun things planned for the Orange Group and I think this will be our best season yet! The returning members know the drill and are already used to some of the ins and outs. Especially how we all carry our own water!!!  We will talk more about different hydration systems on Sat, but I want to encourage you now to bring a water bottle for this week's workout.  RGR always has water bottle freebies for you to fill and use if you forget one.
 
Don't worry about what to put in your water bottle.  At this point ice cold water is best!  Thirsty muscles get dried out and stiff, like beef jerky.  Water will keep them pliable and working for you from start to finish.
 
I am looking forward to running with you this season.  Orange Zest is the Best!
 
Kathy S.

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Head coach: Kathy Seastrunk

Current job: Busy mom to 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 1 chinchilla, part time pie baker
Marathon / half marathon experience: 5 fulls, several half marathons, several sprint triathlons
Coaching experience: 4th year coaching orange with SA Fit
Message for group: Some runs are better than others, but any day that you lace up your shoes and cover asphalt is a good day!

Assistant coach: Kathi Graf

Current job: BCS Prosoft Technical Support Accounting Software
Marathon / half marathon experience: 4 half marathons

Assistant coach: Kathy Weiss (run/walk method)

Current job: Paralegal / married with 5 "grown" children
Marathon / half marathon experience: seven marathons!!! working on #8; want to do an ultra (50 miles)
Coaching experience: This will be my 3rd season as orange assistant coach
Message for group: I am so happy you have decided to join SA Fit. Whatever your fitness levels or goals, you will find a great group and lots of support here. We are happy to have you with us. We'll have a great season. All the best, Kathy W. with orange.

Assistant coach: Tina Frick

Current job: Housewife
Marathon / half marathon experience: San Antonio Half-Marathon; Freescale
Coaching expeirence: Danskin triathlon training
Message for group: Tough times don't last but tough people do. A.C. Green

Aqua
Head coach: Ann Marie Oda

Current job: I own Sweet Impressions, a chocolate fountain business.
Marathon / half marathon experience: I did my 1st marathon at 16, I've done 2 marathons and 2 half marathons.
Coaching experience: I coached last season's half marathon group
Message for group: It's all about having fun and finishing strong!!!

Assistant coach: Laurie Kaplan

Current job: Executive assistant
Marathon / half marathon experience: Trained with SA Fit since 2004; SA half and Austin half
Message for group: Run for fun!

Assistant coach: George Villarreal

Current job: Director supply chain management Baptist Health System
Marathon / half marathon experience: Running over 27 years -- 27 marathons, 6 halfs

Assistant coach: Rose Urbanczyk

Assistant coach: Rhondie Huron

Assistant coach: Alfred Chavira

Current job: RGR; graduate student at University of the Incarnate Word

Purple
Head coach: John Walshe

Current job: Software engineer
Marathon / half marathon experience: San Antonio Marathon; San Antonio Half Marathon (2006); Austin Marathon (2007)
Message for group: I'm looking forward to helping you succeed in your fitness and walking goals

Assistant coach: Christine Reyes

Current job: Senior Assessment Specialist - mathematics at ETS
Marathon / half marathon experience: half marathons walked Austin 2007 and 2008
Message for group: Having been built for comfort rather than speed for most of my life, walking has always been my exercise of choice. Some days it's just exercise, but on most days it is a lifesaving, deep-seated need to be outdoors, away from computer screens and annoying ring tones, witness to the wide open sky above and the solid firmness of earth underfoot. Sharing the experience with a group, even just to catch up once a week, adds to the nuturing. After the walks increase to beyond an hour and a half, I really appreciative having people around who can commiserate or cheer, whichever the experience calls for. I'll be there be impressed about your accomplishments and marvel at the things you learn you body can endure. It will be a wild ride, even if taken at a walker's pace.

Assistant coach: Laura Henley
 

Assistant coach: Tania Walshe

Current job: Usana healthy sciences - provide pharmaceutical grade supplements & stay at home mom
Marathon / half marathon experience: Full marathon in 1996 - trained fo the full in 2005 trained for the half in 2006 & 2007
Coaching experience: coached for the walking group 2006 & 2007 / coached for a youth basketball team in the early 90's
Message for group: no matter what happens in life, you can succeed!!

Cheerleader: Neal Walshe

Current job: Kindergartener
Marathon / half marathon experience: 3nd season with SA Fit
Message for group: Just do it!

Organizers
Ashley Rosilier & Amber Anthony

Amber and Ashley are co-organizers for the training program and will be focused on logistics, planning and enhancing the experience of all groups with SA Fit.

Both have both completed five marathons (Houston & Austin), several half marathons, and numerous 5ks and triathlons. They are also owners of Run Gear Run and are certified coaches in running and triathlon.

The Alamo Series is a collaboration of the San Antonio running community, providing a progression of high-quality races to prepare local athletes for the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in November. The series is comprised of nine races between April and October, each with varying distances, providing an ideal dovetail for individual and group training schedules. Participation is tracked for all races in the series, and athletes who complete seven or more are eligible for awards at the series conclusion.