Most runners like some variety in the routes they run while others have that one route they follow every day. Others do all their running on the track where it is flat, safe and easy to measure how far they have run. Watching runner’s jog past my house, it seems many of them are following a route they know and do on a regular basis. I was a runner that liked a little variety in my runs. And since I was often training for marathons, I needed a variety of distances for training.
I had my three-mile run along the river for easy days that was one of my favorites. Then I had several “hill” routes that I needed for leg strength and increased effort. I had routes from three miles to 22 miles that I followed depending on the day and if it was for a marathon or just a shorter 5k race that weekend. Looking back at the different routes that I ran, I pretty much covered most of San Marcos. One long run had me run to Hunter, then on Hunter Road, then head to the Holiday Inn, down the access road to the Little League fields and head on home. I never thought much about it until one person commented that they saw me on Hunter Road, later downtown they saw me running by the Courthouse, then later by the ball fields, and they were curious how anyone could run in so many places at one time. It was a 20-mile route and took a good three hours, so a person would have a chance to see me at different times and locations. I never really thought about it, but I can imagine a non-runner would really find that a strange occurrence to see the same runner in so many different places. For variety, we also ran from Lockhart for a long run. That took a little planning, but it was a fun run.
For hill training, the road leading into the cemetery from old RR12 was great for repeats. A friend was going to run the Boston Marathon and wanted to be ready for the “Heartbreak Hill” that he had heard about. Since that spot is near the end of the race, I took him up old RR12, then up to the circle of homes behind Aquarena Springs, and then through the University for a few more hills around campus. Heartbreak Hill was going to be easy for him after that run.
Probably the most fun run a group of us did many times was the Freeman Ranch Road to Wimberley. We started at the top of the hill for an 11-mile distance. The fun part was after the run we stopped at the Cypress Creek café and had big cinnamon rolls as a reward. We had as many as a dozen runners show up on a Saturday or Sunday morning for that run. This was before the property was bought and the road through the ranch was closed. It wasn’t much fun after that as we missed seeing the long horn cattle and crossing the river after the switchbacks. Training for a long run for a marathon doesn’t always have to be boring.
For speed work there were always intervals at the track at the high school. But even intervals can have variety. It can start with 400 meters and a 200-meter recovery for a mile. Then 800-meters and a 400-meter recovery. Then a mile for a fast time with a 400-meter recovery. Then repeat the sequence in reverse and finish with a few 400-meter laps before a last mile run. When we wanted a different type of speed work, we had what we called the “rabbit run” where four runners would run in a single file. At every 100 meters, the last runner had to sprint ahead of the line and be the first runner. Then the next last person would do the next sprint to the front. The main objective was to practice surges in a race and, after the surge, go back to your original pace. Invariably as we ran our laps, the pace picked up as it is hard to run fast and then slow down to that original pace. A few laps and the last person was often in an all-out sprint to get to the front of the line. Whatever the run was, we had variety and training for a race was fun.
