Virtual marathoners can train on their own

The Little Rock Marathon has opened a virtual training group for runners and walkers using the website raceroster. com and the app Strava.

The Run Arkansas Virtual Challenge includes weekly challenges for participants, who will train on their own.

From today to May 24, participants can track their daily mileage through Strava and see how it compares to high achievers in “most distance,” “most elevation gain,” “most consistency” and “most dedication.”

Elevation gain, distance and consistency are easy to quantify for comparisons, but dedication? Geneva Lamm, the marathon’s co-executive director, explained that “most dedication” will be calculated based on the length of time participants spend running or walking.

The marathon also has posted a challenge distance for each week, with longer distances for intermediates than beginners. For instance, the distance for this week is 1.5 miles for beginners and 5K for intermediates. By the sixth week, the challenge distance will top out at 4 miles for beginners and 8 miles for intermediates.

The group also offers a weekly random drawing for donated prizes. Participants can submit their time for one workout before 11:59 p.m. each Sunday to be entered in the drawing. The workout must be at least as long as the week’s challenge distance, but can be longer.

Strava is free to download; its platform allows users to trade encouraging words or “friendly trash talk,” according to a news release.

Joining the marathon’s virtual group costs $30, which covers a T-shirt, shipping it and access to the private group in the app. The shirts are uni-sex short-sleeve T’s (small to 3X) or, for women, halter-back tanks (small to 2X).

Participants can join one of two “hound” groups: Beginner or Intermediate. The groups have different goals for total mileage.

More information is at littlerockmarathon.com.