St George Marathon Winners!

St George Marathon Winners!

SUU student Mark Currell won the St. George Marathon on Saturday, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 22 seconds.
A former 5,000-meter runner for the Thunderbirds' track team, Currell had not run a marathon previously.
On the women's side, Christina Gingras of Cottonwood Heights prevailed with a time of 2:49:49.

The St. George Marathon is set to host runners from all over the United States as well as nine different countries including Iceland and France this weekend.According to www.stgeorgemarathon.com, this marathon is listed in Runner’s World as the “Fastest Fall Marathon,” is included in the “10 Most Scenic Marathons and Top 20 in the USA,” and is one of the “Cream of the Crop” marathons in the nation.

This race of just over 26 miles starts north of St. George in Central and heads down Highway 18, passing through Veyo, Dammeron Valley, Diamond Valley, Snow Canyon, and Winchester Hills.

According to the Web site, the St. George Marathon is the 15th largest marathon in the United States. Sixty percent of the runners are male and 40 percent are female. The race offers different divisions, totaling 37 runner and wheelchair divisions to compete in.

Most runners know (or want to know) how far they’ve run and how fast they’ve run. But do you know how to run? This is not a trick question. Understanding how to run, that is, the technique of running, as well as having a kinesthetic awareness (being aware of your body in motion) is equally important to knowing how far and how fast you run.

Becoming a better runner requires more than just great cardiovascular capacity. You also need to be strong both muscularly and functionally.

You may know your pace, your distance and the total time that you ran. But do you know the effort that you expended for a training run or race? Running with a heart rate monitor will enable you to know how hard you’re running and if you’re getting fit or burning-out.

VO2 Max is defined as the maximum volume of oxygen your body can process to the working muscles.

Lactate threshold is defined as the point at which your aerobic capacity meets your anaerobic threshold, when you can no longer deliver enough oxygen to the working muscles. It is at this point that your body goes into oxygen debt and this debt needs to be paid back.

Knowing your VO2 Max, Maximum Heart Rate and Lactate Threshold numbers will enable you to train properly so that your body can deliver more oxygen to the working muscles and thus push your LT higher.

When that occurs, two things happen: You'll go faster and with less effort!