Running Program

Welcome to all of you who want to run a marathon or half marathon! USA Fit has been helping people achieve their fitness goals since 1989. Champions Fit (formerly Houston Fit Northwest) has been serving northwest Harris County (Texas) since 1998. We want to help you SUCCEED in accomplishing your goal and to do it in a fun and safe manner.

We divide our running groups into six ability and/or interest groups. We use different colors to identify the members of each ability group. Half marathon training is included within each of the groups, but primarily within the slower groups.

Pace Finder

All members will do a Pace Finder run their first Saturday in order to determine their correct marathon-training pace. We will have coaches timing each member as they run. This is not a race, in fact the goal is to go easy and run or walk (or both) at a pace that is comfortable enough for you to carry on a conversation throughout the run. The color group you train with will be determined based on your average pace for Pace Finder run. An explanation of our color groups can be found below.

Color Groups

Purple Marathon Group: This is the walking group. Individuals in this group are interested in improving their overall fitness and/or walking up to 13.1 (half marathon) mile distances. The goal of this group is to be capable of walking 13-15 minute miles.

Orange Marathon Group: This group is geared towards beginners and uses a run/walk methodology to cover the training and race distances. The basic running pace is expected to be similar to that of Red (10 minute per mile or SLOWER).

Red Marathon Group: Capable of running a 10 minute per mile or SLOWER pace. This group is our more leisurely (fun) group!

Yellow Marathon Group: Capable of running 8.5 to 10 minutes per mile, this group is a large, friendly group that really enjoy running! The group is a great mix of newcomers and seasoned veterans.
Green Group: Capable of running 8.5 minutes per mile or faster. The Green group is usually a somewhat smaller group of faster, more serious runners, often composed of veteran marathoners looking to improve their finish times Many have completed one or more marathons, but we do have some fast first-timers.

Green Group: Capable of running 8.5 minutes per mile or faster. The Green group is usually a somewhat smaller group of faster, more serious runners, often composed of veteran marathoners looking to improve their finish times Many have completed one or more marathons, but we do have some fast first-timers.

Blue Half-Marathon Training is tailored for runners that prefer the 13.1-mile (half marathon) distance as opposed to the 26.2-mile (marathon) distance. This group starts out with a schedule that is less demanding on their time and builds up to the half marathon distance over the course of our 27-week program.

Weekly Seminars

We provide seminars after our weekly runs that are designed to educate and inspire you. These seminars start at 8am. The starting-times for each group’s run is offset so as to allow everyone to be back in time. You will hear from a variety of experts on many subjects including nutrition, injury prevention, clothing, etc. We urge you to join us after each Saturday run to learn more about these and other topics.

Discussion Forum

A great way to stay in touch with your fellow members and to keep up with what's happening in our group is to sign up in our Discussion Forum. We will use this forum to inform members about last minute changes due to weather, upcoming events and activities, and just to chat with our fellow runners. Getting involved in this forum is strongly suggested and it will be a lot of fun. Take a peek at what's going on and feel free to participate.

Champions Fit Newsletter

Published weekly is a great way to keep abreast of what is happening within the club. The newsletter is published via email. The newsletter includes articles stories on our runners, quotes, and other fun stuff and items interest.

We look forward to working with each you over the next six months to set and achieve your goals whether it be a faster marathon time or just getting off the sofa and getting into shape! Our runners come from all experience levels but we all have one thing in common - to reach a fitness goal. We will be pleased to help you succeed!