Wow! great showing from the Forever fitters on the horse trail run this morning. Just cuz I have run a few miles in my life and because I know that (practically) no one reads this blog, [hi Deanne and Keely] I am going to throw some thoughts out to you...
kathleen on running...
1. The reason running gets such a bad rap is because people either only try it once or twice and hate it and then don't try it again or they always try running faster than they can maintain for an extended period of time. [side note: the running we do at bootcamp? not running]
2. You have to be at a certain fitness level to enjoy running. Most forever fitters are already there. If you haven't tried running for awhile, I highly recommend it.
3. The biggest secret is finding your pace. My very favorite way to run is with one (similarly paced) other runner. Of course it helps if that person is a good conversationalist because for me a good run is (almost) always accompanied with good gab.
4. Anytime you throw in a new runner (or group of runners) you have to work to find "that pace" for you. I even started out too fast on the run this morning and so I threw in a quick walk towards the end. I would rather find a pace that I can run the entire run at comfortably then to run fast and later feel like losing my muffins.
5. A good way to maintain pace as well as to increase mileage is to add regular walk breaks. When I run under 6 miles, I usually just run. If I am running further then I add walk breaks every 8 min. I run for 8 and walk for 1min. Most running watches have a way to set this so that you get an alert at 8 and then again at 1 min. I never would have considered running marathons without the walk breaks. (See: Jeff Galloway, Marathon, you can do it! or any of his other running books for that matter) He (Jeff) recommends starting at 3 or 5 min running to 1 minute of walking. I had been running long enough when I got his book that I went for the 8:1. It was hard at first (mentally) to tell myself that walking was okay...I am way over that now. Galloway offers many examples of elite runners who were able to break a time barrier by adding walks to their running. I did a half marathon last year with a group of women and one of the runners and I started together. We enjoyed the conversation but then I got to my walk break...she thought she wouldn't see me again until the end but every running stint I caught up to her until about mile 11 or 12. We ended up finishing within seconds of each other.
6. Running is so efficient! I can easily burn 400-500 calories in less than one hour...like 40 minutes. I will say that it doesn't do it all. I am much more "fit" when I am also doing strength training on a regular basis.
7. So far I have been talking about 4-5 mile runs...the maintenance runs. The real fun comes when you go for the adventure runs which usually means more miles. Every Saturday (give or take 2 or 3) for the past four years I have run a Saturday long run in a beautiful setting...trails, mountains, cities, beaches. Nothing (so far) out shines my favorite San Diego run...It begins at the bottom of the Torrey Pines reserve hill (okay this part not my fave but it is good to get behind you so we start there) up the hill, past the golf course, past UCSD into a gorgeous La Jolla neighborhood then down a (steep) hill to Black's beach then you take the sand (hard packed) back to your car. It is about 9 miles and is o! so gorgeous as you come down to Black's beach...breath taking..the first time I ran it, I cried. (really, it's that good).
So..if you have thought of making running a bigger part of your fitness routine, I hope this gives you the final push...you won't regret it...you might even get hooked:)
