Walk to Run trainees:
Welcome to the sixth week of our program.
1) Temporary Alternate Meeting Location for Sat. Feb. 13, 2010
The double blizzard of the past week has left our regular parking lot and trails very snow covered, and not very walk-able or run-able.
Rather that turn our training program into an introduction to cross country skiing, I've decided to move our workout location to the sidewalk of South Hayes Street, in front of the Fashion Center in Pentagon City. [Right in front of Nordstrom's.]
This location is right next to the west-side exit of Pentagon City Metro, since some of you might find Metrorail easier than driving if your street hasn't been passable since last Friday.
But there is also ample parking for the Fashion Center (parking garage behind the Mall - $1.50 for up to 2 hours, $2.00 for up to 10 hours on Saturdays), and also, surface and underground parking for the adjacent Pentagon Row shopping center. For driving directions, please cf:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pentagon-city-mall-arlington
http://www.pentagonrow.com/directions/
I toured it this afternoon, and the entire sidewalk of the block encircling the Fashion Center and Pentagon Row has been shoveled, 80+% of it down to dry pavement. [Trust a commercial establishment to accomplish what an individual or a municipality cannot.]
And I checked the distance around that large lock this evening, and it just *happens* to be very close to an even 1.0 mile[!]:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3469946
So this Saturday, we'll meet in front of Nordstrom's on South Hayes, and circle the block on the sidewalk 4 times (4 minutes walking for every one minute running) for our 4-mile workout.
I will ask Coach Bev to lead out the group this week, with Coach Humaira following up at the back. I will be somewhere in between, and will be trying to walk and run a bit with most of the trainees in the middle.
2) Bonus for Saturday
It just so happens that there's a running store on our route this Saturday, Pacers at Pentagon Row:
http://www.runpacers.com/pentagonrow/
If you still need to acquire a pair of running shoes, you can stop by this store after the workout. [Pacers, like other area running stores, should give you a discount if you mention your are participating in an MCC training program.]
And if you're still wearing a pair of shoes you can't remember when you purchased, it's probably time to change them out before you do a lot of running in them.
3) The Walk/Run Methodology
I don't normally repeat articles in the WTR newsletter, but since we missed last Saturday's workout (and you may not have had a chance to get in a midweek workout amidst the snow), I will here.
We begin this week (on Saturday, and in your next midweek workout) the heart of our training program, the walk-run method. We will be using this method for the remaining 12 weeks of our training program, because I believe it is the cornerstone of learning to run safely, and with enjoyment.
Walk/Run intervals means that for a period of time (usually a minute or so) you walk, and then for a few minutes you run, in a repeating cycle.
The intervals are usually expressed in a ratio between walking and running, or walking:running. This Saturday, we will walk for 4 minutes, and run for one minute, so we'll express the ratio as 4:1.
Walk/Run Intervals were popularized by former Olympic Runner Jeff Galloway, who has coached literally tens of thousands of individuals to take up running, and to complete a race of some distance. Jeff is the pied piper of walk breaks, and has waxed rhapsodic about them in his many books and articles, which do a far more thorough job of explaining the concept than I can here. Often, one will hear runners describe the walk/run method as "Galloway Style."
But there is a physiological basis to the method. Doing any activity to an extreme fatigues working muscles. A muscle doing the same motion for an hour, or several hours, or half a day (as in the case of a marathon), will become progressively more fatigued. A fatigued muscle does not maintain the same form as a fresh one. And a deterioration of form can lead to further fatigue, fatigue of new and different muscle groups, or even injury from muscle or joint overuse.
Many injuries to joints, such as the knee, ankle or hip, are really due to muscle imbalances, muscle weakness, or muscle/tendon mis-alignment. One can have otherwise perfect physiology, wear perfect shoes for that physiology, run on the perfect surface, and adopt a perfect training pace. Yet fatigue, perhaps from overuse of muscles (particularly if a runner is not used to the distance involved], can still cause this "perfect" form to fail, misalignments to grate against joints, and injuries to erupt.
New runners are particularly susceptible to "overuse" injuries, which is why any good training program will only gradually increase the amount of running undertaken.
Yet, a surprising fact is that even a brief break, a small respite from exercise, can let a muscle drop its fatigue. Repeated small breaks can slow the accumulation of fatigue in working muscles, letting someone run further, run faster, or both. Because walking uses slightly different muscles than running (and does not put the same 2.5 x body weight upon joints as running), a minute of walking can serve as that brief break, and reset the "fatigue meter" of running muscles.
Read Galloway to see all the testimonial evidence for adopting the walk/run or run/walk method. Runners can go further distances using walk/run. They can do those distances _faster_ than if they had run them continuously. The workouts are simply more enjoyable without the crushing weight of accumulated fatigue. Training can be more frequent, and consistent. Injuries can be reduced.
I have used the walk/run method during all 19 of my marathons, and on every training run since late 2001. I am positive it has let me train for those distances, logging well over a thousand miles in the process. It has kept me moving.
I've introduced (at least) walk:run to every trainee I've ever coached, because I believe it will let almost anyone continue running as a life-long form of fitness. And it will make runners out of folks who never thought they could run. Just take one stride at a time. And just keep running until the next walk break.
This week, baby steps. We will walk for 4 minutes, and then break into running for just one minute. We will repeat the 4 minutes of walking, then another minute of running, all the way through our workout until the end.
Over the next few weeks, we will increase the running segments of our workouts, and decrease the walking segments. Eventually, we will be running 4 minutes for every 1 minute of walking, a ratio we will keep up until the end of our program.
But no rush. We will linger at each ratio [4:1, 3:2, 2:3] for a few weeks, until you and your body get used to it. That's why you need the midweek workouts. You need to do the new interval 8 to 10 times total, before you're really ready to step up to the next one.
4) Sports Watches
How will we know when to start and stop running during our workouts? That takes the countdown timer of a sports watch, which is the only other essential piece of gear you need for this program (besides running shoes).
Attached is an article I wrote about sports watches for the Summer marathon training program. But it has almost equal applicability for our Walk to Run program.
A sports watch need not be expensive, and you will probably pay far less for one than you will for your running shoes. My first Timex Ironman watch cost $20.00 at Target. Buy an inexpensive watch now, that you can beat the snot out of this year.
Then, when it's time for a new one (they make excellent Christmas or Hanukkah gifts!) you'll know which bells and whistles you want in the fancy replacement. The Cadillacs of sports watches combine the watch functions with GPS and/or heart-rate monitors - very nice. But I want to see you finish AT LEAST a 10K race (twice the distance we train for in this program), or keep running for the better part of a year, before you invest in those pricier toys.
For our Saturday workouts with the group, we will have several timekeepers (one or two in each clump of runners), so you need not keep track of intervals on your own watch. Humaira, Bev, and I will also be keeping track of walk/run intervals, for those running with us.
But you will need your own sports watch (and will need to learn how to use it) for your midweek workouts, which should use the same walk/run intervals we used the preceding Saturday.
Again, we're meeting in front of Nordstrom's at Pentagon City this Saturday, to do four (4) laps of the sidewalk around the Shopping Malls as our workout. Hopefully, by Feb. 20, the snow will have all melted, and we'll be back at the Marina.
If you get turned around, please call me at 703-371-5171.
Coach John
John H. Steitz
RRCA Certified Running Coach
USATF Level 1 Certified Track and Field Coach
Marathon Charity Cooperation
703-371-5171
www.mc-coop.org/walktorun