Training Blog

Race day is officially 1 week away and what a wonderful HMBIM running season it’s been. I want to thank each runner that has been a part of the HMBIM Course Tours, read the Training Blog, or has sent me emails about training. Opening your experience to fellow HMBIM runners, the Coastside Running Club, and myself forges a bond that strengthens us all. It’s a goal of the HMBIM staff to provide a stage for each and every runner to be great, to write their own race day story of success a…

For the final course tour weekend, I’ve put together a 2 event series that I’m really excited about. Through this year’s runs I’ve noticed two groups of runners emerge that, for me as a coach and HMBIM Course Tour organizer, create a challenge in bringing an experience that supports the overall HMBIM experience. To better devote myself to these two type of runners I’ve decided split the remaining training runs into two formats.  Come to one or both!Course Tour …

Jen Pfeifer is an amazingly talented runner that spent much of her youth right here in Half Moon Bay, CA. In last year's HMBIM she ran the marathon in 3:05:55, 6th place overall and 1st place female! A quick search on marathon results reveals that Jen's marathon PR is at least a 2:46:20! Needless to say she is not only amazing but consistantly amazing through the years. She also runs ultramarathons, recently completing the Western States 100 in a PR time of 21:31:20 (yes, that's 21 hou…

I had the pleasure of interviewing last year's HMBIM men's winner, Scott Dunlap.  Scott is an extremely talented "local" runner from Woodside, CA that excels not only in marathons but also ultramarathons; he's no stranger to the 100 mile mountain run or the big city marathon. On course you'll often see him taking picures (yes, while racing) then bound past you with a smile and a "good job". After finishing you'll probably find him along the finisher's chute with a recovery drink and his 2 k…

We’re a little over 5 weeks from HMBIM race day!  How exciting. Distance and goal dependent you’re probably ‘adventuring’ into the heart of your training.  You’ve been meticulously logging miles (or hours) building yourself up for Sept. 23rd’s big day.  Take a moment and congratulate yourself; no, really.  It’s not easy this day in age with kids, jobs, school, … life in general, to set aside blocks of training time. Great job -…

[Franz - HMBIM] Joesph Chlubna, Owner of Coastal Lifestyles Health & Fitness, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me about the importance of cross-training while training for the Half Moon Bay International Marathon.  Speaking from personal experience, I love to run and if I could, running would be the only thing I'd do to prepare for a race.  However, over the years (and injuries) I've learned that cross-training is a vital component to, not just stayin…

Finally, the HMBIM Course Tours are here!  This is one of the best parts of being the Director of Training.  The enthusiasm and inspirational stories that runners bring as they prepare for their event are profoundly uplifting.  Honestly, it’s one thing to see the number of HMBIM registered runners increment by one.  It’s an entirely different experience to meet that runner and learn this will be their first marathon, their family will be flying in from out of stat…

Many apologies for the long layover between posts --- While running this year’s 39th annual Western States 100 I had plenty of time to think about this week’s blog post: running on trails. You may be asking how does this relate to the Half Moon Bay International Marathon, or not, but stay with me for a blog post. Our marathon (as well as the ½, 10k, and 5k) offers breathtaking coastal views - something lacking in many of today’s races. In order to accomplish this, the ma…

I know, last post I promised to talk about building a training plan. But really, how fun is that? Besides I have a feeling most of the runners, especially those that are signed up for the HMBIM marathon, have already locked down their training plans and are hitting ALL their workouts to the exact mile and pace {wink wink}.Instead I’ve decided to address something near and dear to the heart of the HMBIM, one of our Green Initiatives: BYOB. To start BYOB = Bring Your Own Bottle. Typically BY…

So you’ve signed up for the HMBIM marathon, ½ marathon, or 10k (the 5k is already sold out) or are thinking about it. Now what do you do? Well if you’re in the thinking about it group you should immediately sign-up or your fate will be decided for you. All too often I’ve planned to run a race only to postpone registration and later find out it was full. It’s a depressing experience that I curtail by volunteering, sharing the moment with friends without doing all th…