Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
What is the RSD Training club?
It is an organized marathon and half marathon training group under the VAVi Sport & Social Club and The VAVi Running Club (TVRC) that we oversee. Our training programs are designed to gather runners and an organized training program of 12 to 18 weeks in order to train for a half or full marathon respectively.
What all do I get with training/joining?
The half marathon training program you actually get quite a bit of stuff. You get experienced coaches that have been in the business for over 7 years. You get an organized training program and organized group runs where you will run with dozens & dozens of other like minded runners. We offer training clinics and seminars where we bring in professionals and companies to discuss and give advice/expertise on training. We also do a lot of social events around town everything ranging from happy hours to pasta dinner socials before big races to movie nights and sometimes a field trip or two.
Is there an age limit?
There is an age limit. All members must be over 18 that is due to our insurance requirements. There is no upper age limit, however anyone over the age of 55 should seek advice/clearance with their doctor before starting training.
Do you have a run/walk program?
There is not a designated run/walk program per say, the training schedules are arranged for runners or near full time runners. If you are a run/walker we do offer a pre-training schedule of 4 to 6 weeks that will help get you into the necessary shape to join our club.
What if I’m doing the Rock n Roll race in early June?
You will technically miss the first 2 weeks of training but keep in mind that we’ll only be doing 5-6-7 miles during those first few weeks anyway, and you’ll have been doing way more. For anyone coming into the club from a recent/overlapping race, I will offer a recovery mini-schedule to work back into the training. By the time you’re “recovered” you’ll fall right into the training perfectly. It will actually be a good transition.
I’m running another Half Marathon in early September, would your group work?
For your early September race, it could actually be a nice fit. AFC is in mid-August meaning you’ll have 3-4 weeks in between. You could run AFC as a “prep race” then have another strong 2 weeks then a taper to your last week. We’ll help you make that last 3 week mini-training schedule when we come near to the end of AFC so you can properly continue your training. You could see it as a 16 week training program which is ideal for a strong half marathon performance.
Joining Questions
Can I come run with you before joining?
Yes we definitely welcome visitors to come check us out. We will hold our registration open for the first 2 weeks from the start of our club, after that time we will be closed to general open registrations. You are more then welcome to join us within those 2 weeks. If you are interested in joining after the two weeks, please contact us as we will accommodate some runners on a case by case basis. We do have a limit of how many people can be in the club so if we do reach that limit we will not be able to accept any more runners.
Where can I learn more about the club?
On our website www.runsandiego.org there is a lot of information on what is included, how it works and what members get plus this FAQ section. We also hold a large orientation presentation during a couple of weeks before the club starts. We do a full presentation where you can meet the coaches, meet your prospective running partners and more.
Should I talk with my doctor before joining?
If you are over the age of 55 and/or have medical or health issues we recommend talking to your doctor before joining.
What will you do at the Orientation?
The orientation is a presentation of about 30 minutes in length. We will explain how it all works, showing pictures and videos of what is included. You will get to meet the coaches and key vendors to share their advice and services. We will also have fun with a raffle or two.
What if I’m out of shape?
If you are out of shape and still have some time before joining you can check our website for a pre-training program that you can download and follow. It is a 4 to 6 week training program, if you’re a true beginner you can follow that and be ready to go running out the gate.
Races
Is the race entry included with membership?
No, unfortunately the race entry fee is NOT included with the club membership. We do sometimes get discounts for the races you will learn about after you join. We do have a lot of runners who just join to run with others and some join to compete in races.
Do I get a discount to the race?
Yes sometimes we get discounts to races, unfortunately not all races are setup to offer discounts to runners & clubs like ours. We do try our best to work with the race directors to offer these discounts to you.
Do we race as a group?
We don’t necessarily race as a group per say strictly because we have so many different levels and abilities of runners. We do always meet up as a group though, we usually do a pre race pasta dinner a couple of days before, we have one of our training clinics and seminars is on race preparation and we’ll talk about where we will meet. We always meet up as a group before the race in a designated area, do a warm up routine take a group picture or two and it’s just a nice way to start out the race. Once we go into the corrals you are pretty much on your own or with your training partner that you made friends with in the last few weeks.
Website
How do I sign up?
Simply visit our Registration Page for more info – you can signup online, or manually. You can also download an entry form via the website. You can fill it out, send it into our office or bring it to a group run.
How do I log in?
At least a week or two before the start of the club you will receive a welcome message in your email with instructions & information on how to login.
What happens after I join?
You will receive a welcome email with instructions and information on how to login.
What if I choose to download/print an application?
Fill it out completely, send with your payment to our office and we will sign you up manually.
When will I receive my website login?
You will receive your login a week or two prior to the club start. If you sign up after the club start date you will receive it in a day or two as we process new registrations almost daily during the first two weeks especially when we have our open sessions.
Training Questions
How often do I have to run?
The training program is actually laid out to run 4 to 5 days a week. We definitely recommend a minimum of 4. We also offer a 5th day of running which is great for your training goals.
What if I want to cross train?
Cross training is actually a great addition to your overall training program. We put into the schedule an extra day of cross training into the schedule but it is not required. We recommend it as it will greatly improve your overall training regime.
Can I play soccer (or another sport) during training?
Very common issue with some of our runners, a lot of people are involved with inter-remedial sports and otherwise. It all depends on the sport. A sport specifically like soccer is actually quite stressful on the knees and the joints; soccer uses different muscle groups and energy systems so you should be careful. Generally speaking light impact sports and activities other cross training activities such as swimming & yoga are actually really good as a compliment. Higher impact/intensity sports such as soccer, basketball and the like should be cautioned. Generally speaking with those types of higher impact sports you will want to gradually cut back how long you play those as your nearing the second half of the season. So during the first half it’s not as bad, the second half you’ll want to cut back completely the last week or two before the race.
Should I be in shape before joining?
Generally speaking yes it’s good to be in some sort of aerobic shape before joining. We definitely recommend you being able to run, as we run right out of the gates. If you are not quite a runner yet you can download our preseason training program which will give you a 4 to 6 week training program from a beginner all the way up to the point where we join. We definitely do not recommend being a complete couch potato and arriving on the first day expecting to get through the training safely and easily. You might be able to do it, but it will not be a necessarily fun or safe experience.
How far should I be able to run before joining?
We do have a prerequisites page on our website that will explain what kind of shape you should be in before joining. Generally speaking you want to be able to run 2, 3 to 4 days a week up to 4 to 5 miles at a time. Right out the gate we immediately start with a long run of 5 to 6 miles in our first week we cover 15 miles total depending on what program you are in.
What if I miss some training?
That’s actually quite ok and quite common amongst runners, athletes and coaches. All of us have had to miss training. We don’t require you to come to any of the group runs, but it is heavily recommended. We will help you get back on track with your training safely & successfully.
How will I know when/where to meet?
First and foremost you will have complete access to the member’s area of the website where you can download the training schedule and calendar plus anything else related to your training. We also put out a weekly newsletter which offers training tips, in addition to all of the upcoming runs, training locations, mileages etc.
Seminars
What are the seminars?
The seminars are clinics we have from professionals and companies around town who come in and speak on their different expertise to help you with your training.
What kind of seminars are included?
We pick the seminars based on their ability to help us train. We have seminars such as: “Sports Massage”, “Running Form”, “Acupuncture”, “Nutrition”, “How To Prepare For Your First Race?” and so on.
What will we do at the seminars?
The seminars are usually held in a group session where we have our speaker come and present to the group. The seminars run about 15 to 20 minutes long with 5 to 10 minutes for questions and answers. Sometimes we will even have a raffle for free swag and/or prizes.
When and where are the seminars held?
The seminars are held usually held on Saturday mornings after our group run. We usually hold them in the beginning of the season and we arrange them in order of importance and how they affect your training. For instance we will have the “Shoe Fits” seminar very early in the first or second week so we can take care of our shoes. Similarly we will have our “Nutrition” clinic a little later on as we get into our training more seriously where nutrition would be more of a factor. We usually the seminars on Saturday mornings after the group runs that way we have enough daylight and everyone’s back. Sometimes we will even arrange one of our social pot lucks on the same day as a seminar.
Group Runs
Where will we run?
Most of the runs are done on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings. The Tuesday night runs are generally in the Mission Bay/Mission Beach area we will also head over to the Balboa Park area where we will be able to do hill training. Saturday morning runs are a little more spread out and start at 8 a.m. and are held all around San Diego County most of them being Central/Coastal from Downtown/Harbor/PB/Mission Beach and up the coast a little bit into La Jolla, Solana Beach or Carmel Valley. We do occasionally go up North for a run or two, we will sometimes go to South Bay for a run or two and sometimes go inland into Los Penisquitos Canyon.
Can we bring dogs or strollers?
That depends on you, we do not prohibit them. Though we would like to remind you that you will be running with a large group of people plus you could be running in places like public parks that may have large crowds or bicyclists. It’s up to you if you want to bring a dog or stroller.
Will you supply Aide and course support?
We provide lots of support on the courses. Once our runs get into the longer mileages, usually up above 8 or 9 miles we will start to provide supplements and aide. Such as Excellerade or Sytomax which are Gatorade type drinks out on the course.
What if I get lost easily?
Don’t worry in your weekly newsletter we will provide you with electronic maps and links to websites that will help you to see each & every run mapped out. It will show the geography, mileage, and sometimes the elevation distances. We also provide on most of our longer runs for the Saturday mornings and more technical runs a full color printed out map. That way you can follow along and keep it with you on the run. Also since your running with a group you probably won’t get lost.
Do we do trail runs?
We do run a couple of trail runs throughout the season like Los Penisquitos Canyon, San Clemente Canyon and some other areas around town. We do maybe 2 to 4 trail runs in a season.
What surfaces do we run on?
It all depends on the location. Most of the time we are running on concrete or pavement, boardwalks/sidewalks, A lot of the times we will be running on the side of the road which is usually pavement. And on the trail runs there will be solid dirt (off road) running.