IF YOU GO
Dates:Mondays:July 11, 18, 25 Wednesdays:July 13, 20, 27Times: 6:30-7:30 p.m.Where: Mondays: Greenway Farms5051 Gann Store RoadWednesdays: Baylor School171 Baylor School RoadCoaches:Bill Gautier, UTC Cross-Country and Track CoachJan Gautier, Baylor Boys Cross-Country CoachOverview: Each training session begins with a short informational segment. The coaches will teach valuable tips for becoming better athletes and explain the importance of the workout. The group will then do a warmup typically lasting 15 minutes, followed by a group workout consisting of activities such as intervals, hills, stretching and various drills. Each session ends with a short cooldown, again about 15 minutes.More:facebook.com/frontrunnerathleticsOnline waiver must be signed before participating.
For many pavement pounders, running is a solitary sport. But year after year, Front Runner Athletics has proven one thing to be true: Man was not made to run alone.
For the fourth year, the athletic footwear outlet is hosting a free summer training camp for runners of all skill levels. Though the camp will provide athletes a chance to learn new techniques, its true lure lies in the opportunity to meet other local runners - a privilege Laryssa Martinovich knows is all too rare. Before becoming the camp's event coordinator, the young athlete was longing to find a training partner of her own.
"It's tough to find other runners out there," she says. "You can throw out things like 'What pace do you run?' and 'What's your race time?' but you don't really know if your stride is going to match with another runner until you're actually out there physically running with them."
While there are other group run opportunities in Chattanooga, Martinovich says few give runners enough time break out of their shells and get to know each other, and even fewer appeal to a wide range of skill levels.
This training camp, she says, is different.
Among the campers' ranks are athletes capable of running a five-minute mile, providing a healthy challenge for their equally speedy peers, but there are also walkers and joggers who hang back and form a tight-knit group to work out with.
"Just being able to compete with somebody that's at your same skill level is not something you can always find at a training camp or at a group run," Martinovich says.
For those still hesitant to leave the solace of solitude, she adds, "There's always something to learn from another runner." While that "something" can come from conversations with more experienced athletes, it can also come from watching the competition.
"If you're always training by yourself or if you're just training with some of the same people, you kind of forget who else is out there," says Martinovich, adding that the camp showed her and others how they'd do under the pressure of a race. "It's something that people look forward to every year, and it's something that I think we'll continue to do every year."