On June 3rd, the 2017/2018 Orlando Galloway Training Program will begin. Kick-off takes place at Glenridge Middle School on the track, starting at 6:30am.
This will be my 6th season with the Orlando Galloway training group (4th as a pace group leader), and I am looking forward to another fun season. Many good friendships have emerged from running with the group, and for me, the social aspect and support I get from the program is priceless.
This morning, I ran my magic mile on the track with five others from the group. We warmed up by walking a couple of laps before lining up to run our mile. I admit, I don’t look forward to running a magic mile before each season begins (it’s tough thing, LOL). It’s an all-out effort to run your best and fastest for four laps of the track, aka one mile. Jeff Galloway uses this as an indicator of what you are capable of in say a half marathon or marathon. Also, it helps you see what paces you should be doing for your training runs.
By the half-way point of my magic mile, I knew I wasn’t going to pull out a better time than I did last season. I could see I was at least 10-15 seconds off from that, and while I did push a bit more, I didn’t want to overdo it. Galloway states that while you need to go all-out for your magic mile, he is against puking. I’m also against puking, so I stayed below that threshold.
I ended up finishing my magic mile in 10:28 this time around. Compared to the 10:13 I was able to do in June of 2016, it was definitely not my best. But, I finished proud of myself. While I know I can do better, considering everything that has been going on with moving and my thyroid, I am okay with it. I do plan on doing another magic mile in probably August, maybe September. I would like to see where I am before I run NYC for sure.
If you are looking for a great running group to train with and you are in Central Florida, check out Orlando Galloway! There’s still plenty of time to register and join us. If you are in another location, check out Jeff Galloway’s website to see if there’s a training group near you.