How to use TMC A-Mountain Half to Train for Fall and Winter Marathons

On October 19th, run or walk A-Mountain, with start/finish and race day festivities along Cushing Street, near the Mercado Annex

No matter your fitness, we’ve got you covered with four races!

TMC A-Mountain Half-Marathon

Cigna Healthcare A-Mountain 4-Mile Run/Walk

SAR’s Free Fitkidz Mile

Run Tucson Family Mile

See race maps here

Are you interested in using the TMC A-Mountain events to prepare for an upcoming marathon like the New York, the Garmin Tucson Marathon, the Phoenix Women’s Marathon, or the Tucson Marathon?

Here are four suggestions:

1) Use the TMC Half Marathon to practice goal marathon pace. The uphill mile and downhill mile at Sentinel Peak might throw off your pacing, but Miles 3 through 13 are a rolling flat, a perfect way to lock into your cadence and form at goal marathon pace. With bathrooms and aid stations, the out-and-back along The Loop and Grande Avenue is a perfect way to practice your race day effort.

2) Do the Cigna Four-Miler as an all-out race. A shorter race gives you a chance to attack the distance. Racing the uphill part of the 4-Miler will increase leg strength and mental toughness, while the downhill will let you air it out and see how fast you can run.

3) Practice your race day experience. Wear you racing shoes and race day kit, practice your pre-race routine, and experiment with race day nutrition. Practice your positive mantras and visualization techniques. Using a race as a tune-up is a great way to gain confidence in your planning and preparation.

4) Do a shorter race as part of a longer training day. Wrap an extended warmup and cool down around the race distance at conversation pace and you’ll have an enjoyable longer run, with food, drink, music, and friends to keep you motivated.

• If you’re training for a marathon, do a 3-4 mile warmup, then run the half-marathon, then do a longer cooldown. This will give you a safe, social place to get in a 17-20 mile morning run.

• If you’re training for your a half-marathon, do the same sort of thing with the 4-Miler — do a 2-mile warmup, then a 2-mile cool-down, and you’ve got a demanding but pleasant 8-mile morning.

Remember: always be sure to take post-race recovery days to ensure that you don’t over-do it.

Remember, too: we’ll have Skratch on the course, but you might want to bring the food/drink that you’ll use on your goal race day.

Not training for anything special? No worries — come on out and have fun — enjoy the scenery, snag your souvenir shirt and medal, and have a happy morning with a thousand like-minded runners and walkers!