The question is, where don’t we run in Houston and Southwest Texas?
With over 300 mapped out running routes ranging from 3 to 23 miles in the Greater Houston area, we have you covered! Prevent boredom and train with us on varied routes and terrain, and get race ready for your next, BIG running goal. Below are our Houston home base locations where most of our training runs originate from, along with the types of runs and workouts we offer members at each location. For Saturday endurance long runs, we rotate through eight sets of Houston area, inner 610 loop routes, so you never get bored. Tuesday AM and PM track workouts are held at the Memorial Park Roy Cullen Timing Track. Tuesday AM and PM hill workouts rotate through 10 different hill circuits inside Memorial Park and along Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou trails. When in season, we alternate Tuesday interval workouts between track and hill workouts to work on speed and strength improvement while minimizing injury risk.
Long Run Homebase #1
The Big Chicken
107 Yale Dr Houston TX – Close to Walmart
Days: Most Saturday mornings year-round
Start: 6:00 AM Prime Season – 6:30 AM Spring
Mileage: 3 – 22 miles
Most of our Saturday long runs originate from Shaq’s Big Chicken restaurant location on Yale Drive in the Houston Heights area in the strip center in front of the Walmart. This location is just west of downtown Houston and 2 blocks south of I10. Our homebase location works great with plenty of free parking, restroom availability with nearby retailers and access to nearby running trails along White Oak Bayou, Buffalo Bayou Park, Memorial Park and the Historic Houston Heights area.
Long runs include ice cold water and Gatorade for members from a stand or support vehicle every 2 – 2.5 miles along routes.
Long Run Homebase #2
Fleet Feet Greebriar Store
4502 Greenbriar Dr. Houston TX
Days: One Saturday, every other month
Start: 6:00 AM Prime Season – 6:30 AM Spring
Mileage: 3 – 22 miles
One Saturday, every other month, we move our long run location to the Fleet Feet Greenbriar Store in the Rice Village area. These are member favorite runs as routes are run along the Rice University running trail, Hermann Park running trail, Southampton, West University Place and down the Brays Bayou hike and bike trail as far as the University of Houston’s Central campus.
Active In Flight members receive an ongoing, 10% discount at all seven Houston area Fleet Feet stores. But when we run our Saturday long runs from the store, that member discount is doubled to 20% for that morning.
We HIGHLY recommend Fleet Feet Houston specialty running stores to all Houston area runners for a professional fit and an amazing run shopping experience!
Track/Speed Interval Workouts
Memorial Park Roy Cullen Timing Track
7575 N Picnic Lane Houston TX 77007
Days: Every other Tuesday morning & evening
Start: 5:15 AM & 6:00 PM sessions
Workout: 10 min warm-up & drills – 50 minute workout
Regardless of skill level or current pace per mile, all runners can benefit from safe and effective track workouts. In Flight’s track workouts are held on Tuesdays at the new 400 meter timing track just east of the Cullen Running Center on the Southwest side of Memorial Park.
All workouts are written by Head Coach Michael Merlino and planned with varied progressions depending on each runners skill level and/or the date of each runners next goal race. For example, those training for the Chicago Marathon may have an entirely different track workout than those training for the Houston Marathon which comes later in our Prime training season. Beginners may start with shorter intervals and more recovery in between interval sets.
A variety of running drills and interval workouts are used each week to keep workouts challenging and effective. Coach Merlino is present at all of these workouts so he can observe and offer feedback to runners on their running form.
The focus of these workouts is to help members become much more efficient runners by improving form and technique, foot cadence, leg turnover, speed, pacing and running economy. Interval distances range from 200 – 1600 meter (1 mile) repeats with active and standing recovery in between sets. Longer distance intervals are incorporated into workouts later in the training season as runners inch closer to their marathon or half marathon race date to sharpen their legs. When consistently performed, these workouts really help improve any runner’s pacing and their ability to earn new personal bests from the 5K to marathon distance.
Hill Training Interval Workouts
Buffalo Bayou Park & White Oak Bayou Greenway Trails
10 Different Hill Training Locations!
Days: Every other Tuesday morning & evening
Start Time: 5:15 AM and 6:00 PM sessions
Workout: 10 min warm-up & 50 minute workout
Our hill training interval workouts are at held at various, hilly segments along Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou inside the 610 loop and just west of Downtown Houston. Locations vary and utilize inner loop bridges, overpasses and hilly bayou trail segments. These workouts help prepare runners for the hilly terrain they may experience on the race course and also improve power and strength in the legs. During the season, we cycle through 10, varied hill training circuits. Each circuit consists of 600 meter to 1.1 mile repeats along rolling hills and gradual uphill and downhill slopes. We run these “free wheeling” and fun interval workouts at predicted 5K to 10K pace with standing recovery in between each set of intervals. Hills are “speedwork in disguise”, help build strength and power in the legs and allow runners to improve their pacing. We are big believers in hill training to improve your running regardless of your skill level.