Four Training Universals
Rest means no running. Give your muscles and synapses some serious R&R so all systems are primed for the next workout. Better two quality days and two of total rest than four days of mediocrity resulting from lingering fatigue. Rest days give you a mental break as well, so you come back refreshed.

Easy runs mean totally comfortable and controlled. If you’re running with someone else, you should be able to converse easily. You’ll likely feel as if you could go faster. Don’t. Here’s some incentive to take it easy: You’ll still burn 100 calories every mile you run, no matter how slow you go.

Long runs are any steady run at or longer than race distance designed to enhance endurance, which enables you to run longer and longer and feel strong doing it. A great long-run tip: Find a weekly training partner for this one. You’ll have time to talk about anything that comes up.

Speedwork means bursts of running shorter than race distance, some at your race goal pace, some faster. This increases cardiac strength, biomechanical efficiency, better running economy, and the psychological toughness that racing demands. Still, you
want to keep it fun.

CariFin/Nature Valley team in training for UWI SPEC Half Marathon ‘09  – Report

We had a good time

CariFin/Nature Valley Team in Training had a great time at UWI Half Marathon ’09. Our team of 110 members was generally pleased with race day conditions and the organization of the race. All the runners on our team crossing the finish line had that feeling of satisfaction for a performance for which they could feel proud.

Nicole Budd 1.43.07 and Rodney Julien with 1.25 were the headlining acts for CariFin/Nature Valley at UWI Half marathon on Sunday November 01, 2009.

Budd had a 3 minutes improvement over her 2008 time as well Julien with four minutes.

In addition, Nicole Budd collected the 3^rd place for the 30 – 39 age-group and the much improved Esla Anthony took the 5^th place in that age-group.

Many runners on the team had tremendous improvement in their performance time over 2008. Immediately coming to mind is Annette Neilson who didn’t train that extensive as last year and was quite sensitive about her training at the initial stage when she was just getting back in training with some soreness etc.

But she stuck it out with support and encouragement from the other team members and made it to all the training sessions. There were the long runs, tempo runs, chancellors, interval training and she was more than willing to do the hard work.  At the end she finished in 2.20.11 twenty minutes faster than her 2008 time of 2.40.30.

Another performance that is similar to the one noted above is Trevor Benjamin. In 2009 he crossed the finish line in 1.52.40 which represented a 21 minutes improvement over his 2008 time of 2.14.16.

Again Benjamin’s improved time for 2009 could be in some part attributed to his own institution RBTT team training together or encouraging one another through the interest generated by CariFin/Nature Valley to send a team to UWI from early.

There are similar levels of improvement all of which we are unable to note here because of space. But come prize distribution day we would no doubt feature all those note worthy improvements.

But on the official side of UWI half, we have more to celebrate besides the already recognized age-group prizes won by Nicole Budd and Esla Anthony, Wendy Shallow took 4^th place in the 40–49, Susannah Joefield and Gemma Thompson were 4^th and 5^th respectively in the 50 – 59 age-group. Grace Oblington, better know as Gracey, did 2:32:27 to take the 5^th place in the 60 – 69 age-group. From last year to this year she had a 13.32 improvement.

Ruth Frazer-Munroe did 3:05:04 in 2009 which was a 7 minutes improvement over her last year’s time 3.12. She won the age-group from 70 – 79 with this improved time. You just have to tip your hat to this kind of performance.

This is definitely the tip of the iceberg as far as improved performances are concerned but such performances which are no doubt many will have to be highlighted and show cased at another forum.

We must extend congratulations to the 2^nd place male winner Nikosi Mc Leish who finished in 1.31.22 a bit slower than his 1.30.11. In 3^rd place was John Donaldson in 1.40.03 also off his 2008 time of 1.29.24.

Among the women 2^nd place time was 1.48.26 done by Wendy Shallow and in 3^rd spot was Esla Anthony in 1.52.51

Rodney Julien lowers the CariFin/Nature Valley – UWI Half mark to 1.25 Nicole Budd runs 3 minutes faster Rodney Julien makes good of his boast to clock 1.25 by easily covering the 13.1 miles of the UWI half marathon on Sunday November 01, 2009. Nicole Budd looked stronger, smoother and more purposeful as she completed the course in 1.43 three minutes faster than her last year attempt. Julien improved on his 2008 time by four minutes when he finished in 1.25.18. It is evident that Rodney takes a liking to the flat, fast course and the weather was the best in years and the UWI race in particular. Using Runner’s World pace calculator it shows that he ran the race at 6.30 per mile pace and this is a good indicator based on the fact that it is a four minutes increase in his performance. This improvement was not had in the easiest or most satisfactory situation or conditions but it was clear to me that he had injuries issues leading up to the race, and problems with gears to name a few and the absence of these negative situation is an indicator that Julien could go a lot faster. In 2007 he posted 1.29.42 and followed that with a 1.31.05 in 2009. “I was happy with my performance and the way how I ran the race,” Julien responded when asked how he felt about his performance. He ran his own race, his own style, never once feeling overwhelm by the moment, the occasion or the bigness of the race, he held firm to his conviction and purpose. For once he felt that his training had paid off big time, every mile was a challenge but the corresponding exhilaration more than compensate for any effort or discomfort as he kept pace and continue just running his race. In the end he felt more than compensated with the race and performance.

Nicole Budd “It was a moderate improvement over my 2008 performance and I felt less winded and could have gone faster,” This is how Nicole Budd felt about her 2009 performance at UWI SPEC half marathon. Nicole Budd started somewhat slowly in the race; having to shake off the effects of an early spill at the start of the race, but built to the speed she felt challenging enough to maintain a pace that allowed her to pass a number of runners male and female along the course. From a night before when she felt she was losing the joy of running and felt like she would skip this race or at least it would be her last one to turning in her best performance in 5 years. As every success story has its ups and downs, this is not without its own, leading up to the race a virus struck Budd which she found quite difficult to shake off which resulted in lost time for training.  But like a true committed runner she soldiered on. In the end she posted 1.43.07 and improvement of some three minutes over 2008 time. Budd did a 7.52 per mile pace over the 13.1 mile course, a runner who still seems to be feeling out her way on this course of “fast, flat asphalt”, but seem ready to unleash a much faster run next year.

CariFin/Nature Valley takes 110 runners to UWI SPEC International Half Marathon

One hundred and ten runners representing the CariFin/Nature Valley – “Team in Training” for UWI SPEC International Half Marathon will join the other registered runners at the starting line for this premiere Caribbean road race on November 01, 2009 at 6:00 a.m.

UWI Spec International Half Marathon is in its 6th year and one of the organizers’ main objectives, as stated by Dr. Iva Gloudon, Director – Sports and Physical Education of UWI, is to use the UWI Half marathon as a means of getting this nation running and fit. And we feel that the more people we can encourage to do so would translate into more success seen in sports.

We at CariFin share these same values and this is something we have been doing for over sixteen years. The promotion of health and fitness within the financial services sector is the main objective of CariFin Cross Country.
Preparing and being part of this event, which is definitely one of the better organized road races in the Caribbean, has been great fun for our members and we can’t wait for Sunday November 01, 2009 to just be there.
In 2007 we took 54 runners to this event and we are pleased to continue to attract more and more enthusiastic participants under the CariFin/Nature Valley banner.
In 2008 we did a little better with 80 runners in our team colours with each member having a memorable race, so much so that in 2009 we have been overwhelm with the interest to join our team that for this year we are over the one hundred mark.
Some of the participants on our team are first time runners, some are 5k/10k runners who have stepped up to the 13.1 mile distance, some are coming off breaks from running just to be in this race and some are the seasoned campaigners who wouldn’t miss the UWI half for the world.
Among our ranks this year are CariFin’s three time male winner of CariFin Cross Country – Nikosi Mc Leish of RBTT and Esla Anthony  the recently crowned CBTT 5K winner. Esla has been consistently in training under the guidance of her trainer, Carlos Wilson and has shown the dedication, attitude and results of someone who would run well in UWI half conditions. Mc Leish did a 1:30:11 in 2008 and he aims to finish in a sub 1.30 in 2009; although he didn’t have the best three months leading up to the UWI half because he was slightly injured but  has his eyes set on peaking for the Barbados half. Also in our “Team in Training” is Rodney Julien who finished in 1.31.05 last year and is looking to lower his time to around 1.25.
Our top finisher female for 2008 – Nicole Budd also had a tough 3 months before UWI due to illness, but is fighting her way back to her competitive form or close to it.
John Donaldson of Grace Kennedy best time for UWI was in 2007 when he finished in 1.38.37 is contemplating a better effort; Wayne Roberts is pushing for some where close to 1.35 and improved effort from 2008 of 1.39.59.

Susan Geiser is heading the 17 member GHL Dragon Boat Team and promises a sub 2 hours timing. Her most recent 15K time was 1.38 at the Kiss 15K race. Some other team members are Sean David, Bally Ramdial, Janeen Salim, Daniela Khan, Vilma Goodman, and Ruth Frazer-Munroe.
RBTT has twenty runners which include Richard Downie who has been working hard at his training for UWI half. Some other members of the team are: Lucy De Gannes, Karen

James-Begg, Trevor Benjamin, James Mendes, Leroy Calliste, and Patrick Frederick. We need to find a leading female for this RBTT group and this UWI half might help us do just that.
Central Bank has a 17 member team which includes the 2nd place finisher in the recently concluded 5K and the much improved runner from last UWI half – Shawn Edwards. Also there are a number of first time UWI participants, Fabian Romain, Brian John, Chelsea-Ann Pillip, Lester Paul, Beverly Sambrano, Andy Wong, Brian John and to add some experience as a five time participant in this event is Wendy D’arbasie.

Scotia Bank and associated Dragon Boat team is coming with 9 runners on the CariFin/NV Team in Training for UWI Half Marathon with Richard Boyce and Caroline Assing as their most experience participants.

Republic Bank has Hemant Balai, Jeoffrey King, Leslie Rahamut, Shastri Girwar and Kenneth O’Reilly on board.
Intercommercial Bank is represented by Karen James-Appoo, Kitty Al Hosein-Garcia and Niranjan Bhaggan.
The group from BP is made up of three runners – Ravi Samaroo, Mushtaq Mohammed and Brenda Reid.
Friends of CariFin make up the rest of the team with the likes of Wendy Shallow, Suzanna Joefield, Suzanne Garcia, Petrenie Roberts and Annette Neilson.

We are all looking forward for the fun and great participation at UWI SPEC International Half Marathon which promises to be the highlight road event of the year in the Caribbean.
We would like to thank our sponsors Nature Valley Granola, Gatorade and NLCB for their sponsorship and support in making our participation in UWI SPEC International marathon possible.

Good morning CariFin Team in Training for UWI haf!!!!!!!!!!

It raining outside and I am deterred for a while from going for my morning run….. Guess I will do some skipping at home.

Ah need my coffee to really kick off things for me this morning.

We are almost there with our 100 runner plan for UWI Half and it feeling real fun. It just amazing how many people were on the fence as to running UWI that we have made take the plunge as it were?

I guess its Alison Field’s doing by just going up to anyone and asking them if they walking or running UWI haf.

It uniform time and it been a difficult road. I have use the only option I have to put the best top and bottom together (running vest and shorts)

The blue and white that we have been showing everyone is just a prototype base on the size and a possibility of what is probably available from the supplier.

Our base color is white and not blue as the samples showed, if you remembered last year uniform. So this year’s design should have a little yellow in it to remove it from it rather drag blue and white domain.

Hopefully to spruce or lively up the aura of the uniform.

As Ruth as on the CariFin Google group when are the uniform would be distributed? The uniforms need to run off after the sample is done today, then head to the printer.

The UWI packages need to picked up and sorted with the uniforms….. I don’t see it finishing before the final week before UWI.

Well hopefully we will get a good size crew to head out to do the dry run of the course this Saturday, seeing it was changed from the Sunday.

Registration.. we are still waiting on a few errant members to get their requirements to us and then we call Dale Mohammed of First Citizens who is going to assigns us a dedicated teller who take care of our registration in one fell swoop…..I see it being done early next week.

Hi guys any questions, suggestions you have please do so in the comment box at the end of the post or email me wayneroberts445@gmail.com or give me a call at 487 9487.

Training continues, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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