Next Workout:  Saturday, April 17, meet at 8:45 AM, workout at 9:00 AM
at our regular location:  the parking lot of Columbia Island Marina!


If you need a ride to the workout location, please respond to this
message no later than C.O.B. Friday, April 16.


***************************************************

Walk-to-Run Trainees:


Welcome to the fifteenth week of our program.


1)   Cherry Blossom 5K

Congratulations to all our trainees who completed the Cherry Blossom 5K 
last Sunday!   You had near perfect running conditions, and I truly hope 
you had a great race.   If you ran the race, please tell us how it went 
when we see you on Saturday.


2)  Our Route This Saturday

This Saturday, our four+ mile route will head up to and across
Memorial Bridge, and around the circle in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
At the entrance to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, hang a sharp right
and head down the path paralleling the reflecting pool.


This time, let's go all the way to the start of the World War II 
Memorial before we turn around.   The distance will be slightly longer 
than 4 miles, but you're up to it by this point.


Please print out this map ahead of time and bring it with you:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3451943


Again, our interval will be 4:1, four minutes running to one minute 
running.


3)   Next Steps (Part 1)


We have two more Saturdays of WTR training this season.  But just 
because you complete the sixteen weeks of training, and a 5K target 
race, that doesn't mean you have to give up improving your running 
ability, or the enjoyment which running can bring the rest of your life.


This week and next, I'll review some of your many options after April.



Option A)  Self pacing/self training


Once you complete your target race, you have most or all of the tools
you need to keep running recreationally for the rest of your life.


To maintain the fitness you have built up in our program, you should
continue running at least three times a week.   Your midweek runs could
remain at 3-4 miles each, or you could gradually work them up to 5-6
miles at a time, if your schedule allows 45-75 minutes of exercise.   45
minutes is probably a good minimum to shoot for, as for most of us, that
amount of time is sufficient to trigger the physiological changes away
from merely carb-burning toward fat-burning as the energy source for
our runs.


Likewise, your could increase your mileage on your weekend runs, perhaps
up to 6, 7 miles or more.


Or, you could keep the mileage the same, but gradually increase the
duration of your running segments.  We leave off at 4:1, but you could
increase them to 5:1, then 6:1, 7:1 etc.


Some coaches value the ability to run 20 minutes non-stop, and hold that
as a standard to which novice runners should aspire.   For me, the folks
I train most often are training for distance, and the progressive
increase in the Saturday long run is stress enough for developing
runners.   As I said earlier, there are people who do 4:1 intervals on
50-mile ultras, and I daresay they're pretty darn fit!


And that brings up an important point for all your running development
beyond April.   There are three dimensions you can increase to build up
your physical fitness and running ability:


-  speed (minutes per mile)
-  duration of running interval (4:1, 5:1, etc.)
-  distance of overall workout  (4 miles, 5 miles, etc.)


NEVER increase more than one of those dimensions at the same time.


This year, we got to our maximum mileage (while walking) fairly quickly. 
  That allowed us to work on ever increasing running intervals for the 
following 2.5 months.


For your own training over the next four months,  you could gradually 
work on the length of your running intervals, while keeping the overall 
distance the same.   Or you can increase your distance, while keeping 
the run/walk intervals the same.   Never increase both at the same time!


I would hold off on "speedwork" until later.   Increasing your speed can 
take the greatest toll on your physique, if you don't have a rock solid 
base.   If you just started running this February, you're probably not 
there, yet.   And most authority says you really shouldn't work on 
increasing your speed until you've been running for at least a 
year.....if then.


There are some who can run at a reliable pace for years and years, but 
who will get injured after one or two speedwork sessions.  And while 
getting faster and faster is really heady stuff, you don't necessarily 
need to get faster to maintain or improve the physical and mental 
benefit you get from running.


About the one thing I can reliably tell you about speedwork, is to do it
under the supervision on a coach who specializes in speedwork for
runners.   And again, wait until 2010 to try it.


Running longer continuously, or running longer distance, are better ways 
  to improve your ability, while still reducing the risk of injury.


When you increase duration or distance, do it gradually, no more than a
5% increase per week.   Your body won't really adjust to any new
distance, duration or pace unless you do it over a period of three or
four weeks, anyway.   So adding an additional mile to your run at the
start of every new month, or increasing the running segment from, say,
4:1 to 5:1 at the start of the new month, are both perfectly rational
ways to build up your self-training.


Increasing distance is another much safer course for first-year
runners, which is why thousands every year take up running and complete
a 10 Mile race, a half marathon, or a full marathon within a year of
their first step.


And that is the focus of all the other training programs of the
organization which has sponsored our Walk-to-Run program, Marathon 
Charity Cooperation (MCC).



Option B)  MCC Distance Programs


Beginning May 8, and lasting through October, MCC's Marathon Charity
Partners program,  http://www.marathoncharitypartners.org/  will train
runners to complete:


-  The Marine Corps Marathon
-  The Chicago Marathon
-  The Baltimore Marathon or Half Marathon
-  The Rock'n'Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon,
-  The Army Ten Miler,

and other fall distance races.


If you sign up to raise funds for one of the 12 charity partners of MCC, 
you get a free entry to one of the races, and a free training program 
for up to six months (26 weeks).   With an MCC Charity, you have a 
chance to raise $300, $500, $750 or $1000 for a very worthy cause (which 
is a lower minimum than other large charity fundraising programs out 
there), while you benefit physically and mentally from your training.


But you need not raise funds for charity to participate in MCC Summer
Training.   If you obtain entry to your target race (marathon, half
marathon or other distance) on your own, you can sign up for the 
training a la carte at a cost of $150.00 for six months.

cf:   http://www.mc-coop.org/MCC-Summer-Training-Program.doc


The MCC Summer/Fall program also differs from our Walk to Run in three
other ways:


A) We rotate our Saturday venues, and meet most often at six main
locations:


-  Columbia Island Marina (National Mall/Hains Point routes);
-  Bethesda (Capital Crescent Trail);
-  Pierce Mill (in Rock Creek Park, North of the Zoo);
-  Carderock (C&O Towpath in Maryland, close to the Legion Bridge);
-  Fletcher's Boathouse (C&O Towpath); and
-  Dunn Loring (W&OD Trail).


Midweek workouts are on your own according to a training schedule MCC
provides (similar to the way your work out on your own midweek, now).


But even then, many of the trainees take advantage of organized midweek
workouts (more on these in next week's newsletter), or just get together
in small groups of trainees who live close to each other for weekday
morning or evening group runs.



B)  On Saturdays, we meet much earlier in the AM than Walk-to-Run, to
avoid mid-day heat in the Summer months.  [Do a long run in the Summer,
and you will appreciate the wisdom of starting early, even if it means a
wake up call at o'dark thirty.]


In May and October, MCC starts at 8 AM.  In June, July, August and
September, the start time is 7 AM.


I never napped in my adult life, until I started marathon training.   If
you sleep 6 hours, then run 18 miles, you have a pretty good excuse for
an afternoon nap.  [Just set your alarm clock, so you don't sleep
through till midnight.   Been there, done that!]



C)  Instead of three coaches in Walk to Run, there are eight (8)
coaches with varying styles and experience.  Six of us lead=s the
Saturday workout four times each during the season, and plays a 
supporting role on the other 22 Saturdays.


My own specialization in the Summer program is coaching the 12 to 15
minute-per milers training to "beat the bridge" at October's Marine
Corps Marathon (MCM).  And I use the MCC Saturday runs for my own
marathon training.   God willing, I will complete my twentieth marathon
at MCM this Fall.


[But that's nothing compared to some of the other coaches.  Coach Jay is
doing his 128th marathon this Monday in Boston, and will probably sneak
in another marathon or two by MCM time in October.]


The depth of knowledge from not only the coaches, but also seminar
speakers we bring in on specialized topics, the weekly newsletters, and
just what you learn from other trainees, all mean you almost always
learn something new each week.



4)   Your _next_ target race.


I recommend the MCC Summer/Fall training program, because it is geared 
toward preparing you for a fall distance race.


Just as you progressed from barely any running at all to a 5K this 
month, so too would a race in the fall give you an incentive for your 
training over the Summer months.  And everyone else training in the 
Summer Program has a target marathon, half-marathon or ten miler lined 
up, too.


A 10-mile race would be easy to train for this Summer, continuing on the 
same training path we've used for the past four months.   Here are three 
to choose from (among others all over the US):


The Annapolis 10 Miler, Sunday, August 29:
http://annapolisstriders.org/a10results2009.html


The Revenge of the Penguins 10 Miler, Saturday, Sept. 18=:
http://www.marathoncharitypartners.org/penguins/


The Army Ten Miler, Sunday, Oct. 24:
http://www.armytenmiler.com/
[if you're lucky enough to get a transfer bib from this sold-out race]


So....if you sign up with the MCC's Summer Training, should you
limit yourself to a 10 Mile race?   Not necessarily.


I created Walk-to-Run two years ago as a prelude program to the Summer
Training, because I saw so many folks who were brand-new to running
having real trouble in the first two months of marathon or half marathon
training.


With the four months of training you have undertaken with Walk to Run,
you are already head and shoulders above any brand-new runner coming
into the Summer program.   And with the base of muscle and skeletal
strength you have now, as well as 4 months of training and race 
experience already, you could easily do a Fall half marathon.   No 
question about it.


The Baltimore Half Marathon on Oct. 16 is the easiest target, because
that gives you five months to increase your current base of 4 miles to
12 miles, by the end of September, and then a three-week taper.  Several 
trainees of last year's WTR ran the Baltimore Half last year.
cf:  http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/Race_Info/half22d8.htm


The Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach is a lot of fun.  I did
it twice, once in 2003, and last year with my fiancee, who was also a 
graduate of WTR.   Training for it requires a steeper mileage ascent in 
May and June than Baltimore, but you still have 4+ months to build the 
mileage base before taper.  cf:  http://virginia-beach.competitor.com/


I would even feel confident if one or more of you took the plunge and
actually signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon.  Two years ago, one of 
the Walk-to-Run trainees did exactly that, and she finished MCM with a 
big smile on her face.  If you complete our Walk-to-Run program by the 
end of April, training for a fall marathon is a distinct possibility.


cf: http://www.marinemarathon.com/   MCM 2010 is already sold-out, but 
the MCC charities have plenty of bibs.


See also:  http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/Race_Info/Marathon.htm
	http://www.chicagomarathon.com/cms400min/chicago_marathon/


If you want to continue with MCC training after April, and you're
not sure what your target distance should be, please just talk to me. 
Based on several years of coaching, I can give you some suggestions.


Or if you're curious about the Summer Training and need more info,
please come out to the MCC Summer Program Orientation on Saturday, May 1 
  [1 PM] at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town.



But this Saturday, we just have a 4.x mile run across Memorial 
Bridge.....unless your target race is this weekend, in which case, we'll 
see you *next* Saturday.


See you at the Marina!



Coach John


John H. Steitz
RRCA Certified Running Coach
USATF Level 1 Certified Track and Field Coach
Marathon Charity Cooperation
vp@mc-coop.org
http://www.mc-coop.org/walktorun/