Next Workout: Saturday, Feb. 20, meet at 8:45 AM, workout at 9:00 AM Temporary Location: Sidewalk of South Hayes Street, in front of Nordstrom, Arlington VA

Walk-to-Run Trainees:

Welcome to the seventh week of our program.

1) Temporary Alternate Meeting Location for Sat. Feb. 20, 2010

The snow is melting more and more each day, but I don't think our regular trails are melted enough to allow a hazard-free walk or run. Plus, I really don't feel like shoveling 2 miles of trails tomorrow evening.

So we're going to meet again for another Saturday on the sidewalk of South Hayes Street, in front of the Fashion Center in Pentagon City. [Right in front of Nordstrom's.] This is the same place we met last Saturday.

This location is right next to the west-side exit of Pentagon City Metro, since some of you still might find Metrorail easier than driving.

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/

As we found last Saturday, the distance around that large block 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) A little more on Sports Watches

As I mentioned last Saturday, the most important function in your sports watch is the countdown timer you will use to time your walking and running intervals over the next few weeks. You need to learn how to set and work your countdown timer to succeed in this training program.

On Saturdays, we'll have several clumps of trainees and/or coaches, and usually, someone within each group will serve as timekeeper, as I was doing last Saturday.

But even on Saturdays, as we do more running in future workouts, the groups will become more spread out, and you won't be able to hear your coach screaming out walk breaks. So your group will need a timekeeper.

And, of course, you'll need to follow your own watch on any solo midweek workouts.

Interval, or countdown, timers come in two flavors: one beep, or two beep. One beep watches are more basic, and are less expensive. Two beep watches are a little pricier, and also usually include a few more bells and whistles.

A one-beep watch has only one interval timer. It runs from whichever minute:second combo you specify down to zero, when it beeps. If you set the watch to continuous countdown [5:00, 4:59, 4:58........0:02, 0:01, 0:00 {beep], 4:59, 4:48....etc] - and you should use "continuous" if you're exercising for more than five minutes - you will get only one beep for every walk:run cycle.

The way to use a single-beep watch for our type of training, is to designate the "beep" as the signal to stop running and start walking. Walk for whatever duration you're supposed to [in our case this Saturday, 4 minutes], and then when your watch gets down to 1:00, starting running again. The beep will stop your running a minute later. And the cycle repeats.

Use the single beep as your trigger to stop running, rather than start running. It's much easier to look at your watch while you're walking, than while you're running! So use the visual of your watch to tell you when to start running, and the audible beep will bring you back at the end of the running interval.

Single beep watches are perfectly functional for our training. I used the same single-beep watch for five years of training runs, 14+ marathons, and 50+ long runs. I wore out two watch bands, and basically ran that watch into the ground. But it was the best $30.00 investment (Target) I ever made. I would still be using a single-beep watch, if it were not for a birthday present of a double-beep watch from my girlfriend (now fiancee) last year.

A double-beep watch is slightly harder to program, but easier to use out on the trails. That type of watch has twp (2) interval timers, one which you can program for the walking interval, the other for the running interval. There's a separate beep telling you to start running, and another telling you to stop running, in a continuous cycle. Very nice.

But I've found even two-beep watches favor one of the two intervals with a longer beep-pattern than the other. My current Timex Ironman beeps for ten seconds at the end of one interval, and only three seconds for the second. So I use the 10-second beep at the end of my running interval (when I might beep more of a slap on the head to stop running), and use the three-second beep at the end of the walk to tell be to start running again.

Your own watch may have similar quirks. Learn them, and use them to your advantage.

When programming your watch (the "set" function), remember that your watch has several main functions (clock, alarm, chronometer [stopwatch] and countdown timer - not necessarily in that order). You may need to cycle through the functions to get to the "timer" (countdown timer).

When you get to "timer" your watch probably will cycle through the various things you can program. The first is usually repetition frequency - the number of times it will repeat, or continuous (expressed, perhaps, as "4,3,2,1,C"). Then, you cycle through hour, minute, second, and any other parameter your watch might give you.

On a single-beep watch, the time you set to start the countdown timer is the total of both intervals - this Saturday, that would be five minutes, zero seconds - four minutes for the walking segment, plus one minute for the running segment. 4:00 + 1:00 = 5 minutes, 00 seconds total.

On a double-beep watch, you would set each interval separately, and the watch automatically runs through the first interval, and the second interval for each cycle. If set to "continuous", at the conclusion of the second interval, the watch repeats the cycle by going back to the first interval, followed by the second interval, etc., until you stop the countdown timer.

Programming a sports watch is an acquired skill. I could help you out a little bit after any Saturday workout, but you really need to work on it during the week, during your midweeks. And if your watch is really confusing you, play with it while watching TV, or doing something else relaxing, when you can let the timer run, and test whether it goes continuously, or goes onto the next interval.

And if you don't have a sports watch already.....GET ONE! If you're not using the countdown timer of your watch on our future Saturday workouts, I will be giving you the evil eye - not to be mean, but to impress upon you that using a watch is crucial for the walk/run method we are learning. Without the timer, you just won't get it.

Again, if you have any questions about sports watches, or walk:run interval training, please let me know.

3) Spring Training

Spring is in the air - at least in Florida and Arizona, where pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training this week[!] And position players are filtering in to training camps next week.

Just as pro baseball players train in February and March for a season that opens in April, so too you are training for your target race, also in April. We all are running a target 5K at the end pf our training, because it provides an incentive and a goal for our training. As the late George Sheehan once quipped, "The difference between a jogger and a runner is a race application."

I know of only three trainees or coaches (myself included) who have a training race lined up already. If you are waiting for the web site or online registration form of your favorite race to open up for 2009, please let me know what race that is, and I will virtually poke the race director to do so ASAP.

But for those of you who are still without a clue which race to choose, let me suggest a few:

Sat. Mar. 27, 2010 4:00 PM W&OD Trail 5K
411 Little Falls Street, Falls Church, VA
contact: Jay Jacob Wind, racedirector@att.net, 703-927-4833
http://www.mc-coop.org/wod/
http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?EVENT_ID=1816040

Sat. Apr 03, 2010 8:30 AM PVTC Easter Classic 10K & 5K
East Potomac Park, Hains Point, Washington, DC
contact: Rolland Elliott - 301-292-1441
http://www.pvtc.org/

Sun. April 11, 2010 7:40 AM Credit Union Cherry Blossom 5K
West Potomac Park, Washington, DC
http://www.cherryblossom.org/5krunwalk.htm

- if you didn't register for this race back in December, don't
bother. It always sells out. But consider volunteering for this race
(or its 10 Miler sister) to get an expedited entry to the 2011 race.

Sat. Apr 17, 2010 8:00 AM Deaf Camps 5K Road Race/Fun Walk
East Potomac Park, Hains Point, Washington, DC
202-215-3028
http://www.deafcampsinc.org/

Sat. Apr 17, 2010 9:00 AM CollegeBound 5K Race for the Future
Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, MD
410-783-2905
tperrera@collegeboundfoundation.org

Sat. Apr 17, 2010 8:00 AM Run for Congo Women 5K
Baker Park, Talley Rec Center, Frederick, MD
http://steeplechasers.org/

Sat. Apr 17, 2010 8:00 AM GNS Tortoise and the Hare 5K Run
Greenbelt Lake, Greenbelt, MD
301-805-7781
gnsk@greenbelt.com

Sat. Apr 17, 2010 9:00 AM University Park Azalea Classic 5K/1 Mile &
1K Family Fun Run
University Park Elementary School, University Park, MD
301/927-8006
http://azaleaclassic.com/preview/

Sat. Apr 17, 2010 8:00 AM St. Agnes School 5K & 10K Run
2024 N. Randolph Street, Arlington VA 22207
703-447-6801
dondougherty15@yahoo.com

Sun. Apr 18, 2010 8:00 AM Earth Day 5K
Silver Spring, MD
http://silverspring5k.com/

Sun. Apr 18, 2010 8:00 AM Wolftrap Elementary School 5K
Wolftrap Elementary School, 1903 Beulah Rd. Vienna, VA
http://www.wolftrappta.org/5K_Fun_Run.html

Sat. Apr 24, 2010 9:00 AM AFCEA's 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run
SAIC, 6841 Benjamin Franklin Dr. Columbia, MD
410-308-1870
http://www.charmcityrun.com/page.cfm?pageid=33&eid=887&m=04/1/10

Sat. Apr 24, 2010 8:00 AM Frederick Crime Victim's Fund Run 5K
Frederick, MD
http://steeplechasers.org/

Sat. Apr 24, 2010 8:00 AM Piscataway 5K Run/Walk
Laurel Sprinks Regional Park, La Plata, MD
http://www.piscataway5k.com/

Sat. Apr 24, 2010 8:00 AM Nature House 5K Fund Run
Walker Nature Education Center, 11450 Glade Drive, Reston VA 20191
703-435-6501
http://www.active.com/running/reston-va/7th-annual-nature-house-5k-fund-run-2010

Sun. Apr 25, 2010 7:00 AM Tri-Columbia Howard Life Festival Half
Marathon Half Relay & 5K
Columbia, MD
410-964-1246
http://www.tricolumbia.org/HowardLifeFest/

Sun. Apr 25, 2010 8:00 AM George Washington Parkway Classic 10
Mile & 5K
Alexandria, VA
http://www.gwparkwayclassic.com/

Sun. Apr 25, 2010 8:00 AM Ashburn Village 10K/5K & 1 Mile Fun Run
Ashburn Village Sports Pavilion, 20585 Ashburn Village Blvd., Ashburn, VA
703-729-0581
http://avsp.squarespace.com/

Sun. Apr 25, 2010 8:30 AM Strides for Success 5K
Fairfax Corner Shopping Center, Fairfax, VA
http://www.jlnv.org/jlnv/npo.jsp?pg=fundraiser&article=507

Sun. Apr 25, 2010 8:00 AM Vienna Elementary PTA "Run for Fun" 5K
Race & 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk
Vienna Elementary School, 128 Center St South, Vienna, VA
703-625-0247
http://www.vienna5krun.org/

This is but a handful of the spring 5K races within a 50-mile radius of Washington DC. Please choose one of these as your "target" race, the graduation requirement for the MCC Walk to Run Training Program 2010.

Your coaches (John, Humaira and Bev) are committed to the Saturday training runs with the rest of the group. But if you sign up for one of the Sunday races on 4/18 or 4/25, please let us know, and we may be able to run that 5K race with you.

Whichever race you decide upon, please let me know ASAP, so I can update the group records. Thank you!

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. 27, 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