What struck me about the program — which, like other walk-to-run programs, aims to make non-runners capable of running a 5K (3.1 miles) in 12 weeks or so — was who was in it: People who detested running. Mostly women, mostly women in the 40-50 range who were finding that their thrice weekly walk around the lake was no longer cutting it, thanks to their slowed metabolism. They hadn’t run much as kids (let alone competitively), they had avoided it as much as possible as adults — save the for the occasional sprint to catch a plane. Yet here they were, showing up three times a week and gradually turning into runners. Or at least faster walkers. These runner wannabees weren’t alone.

Fit-tastic and similar programs that have sprouted over the last few years can’t offer enough programs to meet demand. Most have registration caps to keep participants from becoming lost in the shuffle.

Take the example of Fit-tastic, launched by TAF owner Mike Zimmerman. The first session, in fall 2008, had about 60 participants. A spring program was added in 2009 based on demand, and the sessions have more than doubled in size. “We feel that may be a bit high so we’re looking at capping this spring at 100,” says Zimmerman.

While such programs offer participants the training to run a 5K, not all participants go that route.

“We will have four training groups this spring,” says Zimmerman, “walking, beginning walk/run, intermediate walk/run and running.  The walk/run groups are usually the most popular as many participants are ‘repeat offenders’ in the program and have some fitness base. However, we feel it  is very important to have the walking and running groups. The walking group is important for those who have never exercised before and need a way to start.  Some simply cannot run initially.  The running group is important because we want folks to have the chance to develop into true runners.” (Some of the initial participants are now running half marathons, Zimmerman reports.)

Zimmerman says it’s not necessarily the running that attracts people to programs such as his.

“We offer a friendly and supportive atmosphere to all participants regardless of their fitness level or experience.  There is always a good bit of trepidation and intimidation for folks who haven’t done this before.”  He adds: “We try to remove as much of the fear as possible.”

He says the program is popular, too, because “people bond with others who are going through the same things they are and feel they have a great support group.  There are several small groups who have continued to exercise together after the program because they’ve become such good friends.”

Such programs often include an educational element and health screenings, and lest you think the groups are run by poseurs like me, they are not. Trained coaches, people who are or have been active runners, lead each group. “We also pay our coaches and expect them to take their responsibilities seriously,” says Zimmerman.

“We try to educate participants on the need to use this program as a way to transform their lives and develop new habits that will extend beyond the 12 weeks of the program,” Zimmerman adds. “We want people to see this program as a new beginning to the rest of their lives.”

This year’s spring version of Fit-tastic starts March 21. You can find out more about that program as well as other walk-to-run beginner programs in the Triangle and Charlotte below. You can find out more about the walk-to-run approach here and read a story on walk-to-run programs I wrote last year for the Observers (Charlotte and News &) here.

Photo: Runners — and runners-to-be — warm up before a training run at last fall’s Fit-tastic session.

The programs

Note: Programs generally do not include registration fee for target race.

Triangle

Running Start

Briefly: 11-week program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 11.

Starts: Training begins late March.

Sponsor: Carolina Godiva Track Club.

Cost: tba.

More info here.

No Boundaries

Briefly: 12 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 11.

Starts: March 23 (informational meetings at 7 p.m. Feb. 22, March 15 and 22, at Fleet Feet’s Wade Avenue store.

Sponsor: Fleet Feet, Raleigh.

Cost: $85 until March 15, $90 thereafter.

More info: Fleet Feet at 832-8275 or here.

Fit-Tastic

Briefly: 13 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 11.

Starts: March 21 (informational meetings March 9 and 16 at 6 p.m. at The Athlete’s Foot store in Cameron Village).

Sponsor: The Athlete’s Foot, Raleigh.

Cost: $70.

More info: 828-3487 or here.

Women’s Beginner Running Program

Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is NCRC Women’s Distance Festival 5K in late September.

Starts: Late July.

Sponsor: N.C. Roadrunners Club.

Cost: $75 (includes club membership).

More info: womenbeginnertraining@ncroadrunners.org.

Raleigh Galloway

Briefly: Five-month program, target race is City of Oaks Marathon and Half Marathon on Nov. 6.

Starts: April 23 with a training marathon seminar featuring Jeff Galloway at the N.C. Museum of Art from 9-11:30 a.m.

Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.

Cost: $159 for first-timers, $99 for alumni.

More info: 270-0365  or go here.

Sole Sisters

Briefly: 11-year-old, 14-week, women-only program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 11.

Starts: March 14, orientation meeting for newcomers is March 1 at 6 p.m. at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill.

Sponsor: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, NC Cancer Hospital.

Cost: Free.

More info: 843-8057, or here.

Charlotte

Interval Running Training

Briefly: 8 weeks, target race is 6th Annual Morrison 5K/10K on May 14.

Starts: March 24.

Sponsor: Ballantyne Village YMCA, Charlotte
Cost: $35, $25 for facility members.

More info: (704) 716-4680 or here.

Run for You

Briefly: 9 weeks, target race for current session: Great Harvest Bread Co. 5K on May 21.

Starts: Ongoing, next session starts March 21 at Run for You’s Dilworth store, March 22 at the Piper Glen location.

Sponsor: Run for Your Life, Charlotte.

Cost: $99 new members, $89 program alumni.

More info: (704) 541-9665, or the Web site.

Charlotte Galloway

Briefly: Five-month program, target races vary.

Starts: May.

Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.

Cost: $159 for first-time marathoners, $99 for marathon alumni, $95 for first-time half-marathoners, $75 for half-marathon alumni.

More info: runwalk26@yahoo.com.

The post Walk now, run by summer appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Right, I gasped to myself. And you can pick up my lung when I cough it up.

It was my first “coached” running workout and a whirlwind of thoughts rushed through my oxygen-deprived brain as I did the third of my four prescribed 600-meter sprints (bookended by a pair of 1,000-meter dashes). Will I be seeing that tuna wrap I had for lunch again? was foremost. Why am I doing this? was a close second. By “this,” I meant hiring, at age 54, a coach to drive me, push me and to make my body feel like it hadn’t since I’d last crossed paths with a coach in high school some 35 years ago.

Quick background: Back in my 20s, I ran — a lot. Mostly 10Ks, about 30-35 miles a week. When I turned 30 my back and knees simultaneously quit; I turned to swimming, cycling and other less-pounding pursuits. Then, last fall, the bug to run, which had never entirely disappeared, surfaced when I started reading about where running was headed. Out were the days of long, meaningless training runs intended solely to rack up miles. Today, the smart runner runs less but makes every mile count. Less emphasis on long pounding runs, more on interval training. I was also inspired — as have been countless others — by “Born to Run,” which, among other things, repudiates the heel-strike movement of the ‘70s in favor of a running stride emphasizing a forefoot strike.

I enrolled in the Fit-tastic walk-to-run training program, which promises to take non-runners and make them capable of running a 5K in 12 weeks. My plan: Prove to myself that I can still run a 5k, then go back to cycling. After three months of training I figured my knees and back would renew their protest and force me back into less impact-insistent activities. Three months of knee and back cooperation, that was all I asked for. Then they could protest all they wanted.

Oddly, that didn’t happen.

In fact, I regained my dormant running form and did pretty well in my 5K return, finishing third in my age group in my first race. I kept running through the winter, upping my mileage. In April, I did a 12-mile trail race. Inspired, I enrolled in the Fast Coaching half marathon training program over the summer. On Labor Day weekend I exceeded my expectations, running the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in 1:45. I was happy, my knees and back were happy. What next? I thought.

The Second Empire Grand Prix 2010 Fall Series, it turned out. The series is a collection of eight races, ranging from the mile-long Magnificent Mile to the Anna’s Angels 10-miler. Most of the races, though, are 5ks, which set up the obvious scenario of trying to improve with each successive race. That meant doing a lot of the “smart” training, with long runs interspersed with intervals, that I’d been reading about. And that planted the seed of hiring Coach Tim.

Back in the ‘80s, Tim Clark was a competitive runner. He’d nearly broken the 15-minute barrier in the 5k, did 31 minutes and change in the 10K. Tim knew about effective training, and what he knew he’d been passing along to others for the last 15 years. (Tim had coached our Fit-tastic group.) And because Tim had been a competitive runner, he knew what it took to meet a goal: someone riding your butt, indifferent to the fact you were beet red, out of breath and about to come un-wrapped.

Coaching adults, even ones who are paying you, is no easy task. First and foremost, they are adults. They take grief daily on the job; they aren’t up for more, well intended as it may be, come playtime. The trick, then, is to be encouraging and demanding without coming off like a high school football coach. You don’t handle a sulking adult who balks at doing that last 400-meter interval by getting in their grill and questioning their manhood. Rather, you do what you would do with a challenging employee: you gently tell them they’re doing good, then throw in the “but” — “but you need to do better.” Especially if they hope to achieve this dubious goal of being 18 again.

At first, I wasn’t entirely sure why I’d hired Tim. Because everyone is doing it? (The American College of Sports Medicine says taking on a personal trainer/coach is one of the top 10 fitness trends for 2011.) I didn’t have long to mull it over; the first question Tim asked was, “What’s your goal? What are we shooting for here?” So I made one up on the spot: I want to break 21 minutes in a 5K. Tim created a workout routine aimed at helping me do just that. And that’s when I realized how Coach Tim differed from Coach Lucifer back at Gateway High: When you’re in high school, the coach gets you to do what he wants you to do. When you’re an adult, a coach helps you achieve what you want to do. Therein lies the danger of hiring a personal coach:

Be careful what you ask for — a coach will make you work for it.

The post Coach appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

For the first 37 years of her life, becoming a die-hard runner wasn’t on Carol Gore’s bucket list.

“I never had a desire to start running,” says Gore, who lives in Fort Mill, S.C. “In high school, I hated gym class. I was always the last one picked.”

But two years ago, Gore worried that her 2-mile-a-day, five-day-a-week walking regimen was no longer cutting it in her battle of the bulge. A friend suggested running just a bit during her walks to burn more calories.

Gore gave it a try. She was smitten.

That November she ran an 8K (5 miles) Turkey Trot; the following year, 2009, a half marathon. She’s training for another of the 13.1-mile races in September. “I became hooked,” says Gore, who is 40.

During the nation’s first running boom in the 1970s, if you wanted to be a runner you were told to run – a lot. Thirty-, 40-, 50-mile weeks were de rigueur, running till it hurt the ultimate sign that you were on track. Only if you were suffering heatstroke or had a broken leg was it OK to walk.

Today, that philosophy has been flipped on its ear. As Gore discovered by taking her friend’s advice, if you want to be a runner it’s not only OK to walk, you may get in trouble with your coach if you don’t.

* * *

The notion of a running program that encourages walking was pioneered by Jeff Galloway, a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team. As a marathoner, Galloway was intimately familiar with the toll running took on the body. In the 1970s, Runner’s World magazine estimated that about two-thirds of runners reported some form of injury – from shin splints to stress fractures – in any given year.

Many of those injuries, Galloway determined, were the result of trying to go too far, too fast. So he started his Galloway running program, which stressed the novel approach of running/walking.

“We can set up a run/walk ratio that will allow a beginner to sense some degree of success,” says John Lineberger, who oversees the Galloway program in Charlotte. “If an individual is new to running we can make the run 30 seconds, or 20 seconds, or 15 seconds, or 10 seconds of running followed by one minute of walking.” That ratio is gradually shifted as the runner is weaned off walking.

“A lot of people are prejudiced against Galloway,” says Gore, who enrolled in the Charlotte program to train for her half marathon. “They think the walking part is sissy stuff. But I was able to do 11:36 miles in my first half marathon, and I felt good the next day.”

So successful has the Galloway method proven that it’s been adapted for shorter runs. Especially popular are programs preparing nonrunners to run a 5K (3.1-mile) race in three months or less.

Amanda Clark, assistant manager of the Fleet Feet store in Raleigh, says the store’s 3-year-old No Boundaries program draws about 80 participants; Dexter Pepperman with Run for Your Life in Charlotte says that store’s program, offered five times a year, attracts about the same. Like most run/walk programs, these include at least two training sessions a week, coaching, seminars on training and nutrition, e-mail support and a T-shirt.

Most participants are female – about 70 percent, estimates Clark – and ages range from the 20s to 70. Some want to run the entire race; others are content to walk 3.1 miles.
Run/walk programs are driving a running renaissance that’s seen the number of runners in the U.S. increase 57 percent over the past 10 years, to 35.9 million, according to the National Sporting Goods Association. In 2008, the NGSA reported that running/jogging was the nation’s fastest-growing form of exercise.

* * *

Jean Hagen-Johnson, a charter member of the 10-year-old Beginner Women’s Running Program sponsored by the N.C. Roadrunners Club, says another reason run/walk programs are popular is the moral support. “What I gained the most in the running group,” says the 56-year-old Raleigh resident, “were the really nice friends who enjoyed running for the health benefits and the social aspect.”

Runners struggle together in the group format, they support one another and they advance together.

Georgia Hagen, Jean’s sister and the founder of NCRC’s beginner program, says the main reason women join the program isn’t to lose weight, although that motivator is up there. Rather, it’s to develop a consistent exercise program. The set workouts two or three days a week, the coaching and the sense of camaraderie can have a profound impact come graduation at the program’s target 5K.

“We have had women quite overweight. When they come across that finish line they have tears streaming down their faces,” Hagen says. “They’re so appreciative, so happy. It’s just so rewarding.”

Additional reading

To read more on the current running boom and what’s fueling it, go here.

To ready more about the walking-to-run philosophy, go here.

* * *

The programs

Raleigh

Running Start
Briefly: 11-week program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Training began March 27 (late sign-up allowed).
Sponsor: Carolina Godiva Track Club.
Cost: $45 (includes club membership).
More info: gary.schultz@verizon.net or the club Web site.

No Boundaries
Briefly: 12 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Began last Wednesday (sign-up through April 4)
Sponsor: Fleet Feet, Raleigh.
Cost: $85.
More info: Fleet Feet at 832-8275 or here.

Fit-Tastic
Briefly: 13 weeks, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Under way (began March 15; late sign-up allowed); fall session begins in August.
Sponsor: The Athlete’s Foot, Raleigh.
Cost: $60.
More info: 828-3487 or here.

Women’s Beginner Running Program
Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is NCRC Women’s Distance Festival 5K on Sept. 26
Starts: Late July.
Sponsor: N.C. Roadrunners Club.
Cost: $75 (includes club membership).
More info: womenbeginnertraining@ncroadrunners.org.

Raleigh Galloway
Briefly: Five-month program, target race is City of Oaks Marathon and Half Marathon on Oct. 31.
Starts: May 22.
Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.
Cost: $159 for first-timers, $99 for alumni.
More info: 270-0365  or go here.

Sole Sisters
Briefly: 10-year-old, 14-week, women-only program, target race is Race for the Cure 5K on June 12.
Starts: Began March 9. Registration for this session is closed.
Sponsor: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, NC Cancer Hospital.
Cost: Free.
More info: 843-8057, or the Web site.

Charlotte

Interval Running Training
Briefly: 10 weeks, target race is 6th Annual Morrison 5K/10K on May 15.
Starts: Underway (began March 11, late sign-up allowed).
Sponsor: Ballantyne Village YMCA, Charlotte
Cost: $40, $30 for facility members.
More info: (704) 716-4680 or the Web site.

Run for You
Briefly: 9 weeks, target race for current session: Right Moves for Youth Twilight 5K on May 8.
Starts: Underway (began March 16, late sign-up allowed) Coming sessions: May 15, Aug. 3, Oct. 12.
Sponsor: Run for Your Life, Charlotte.
Cost: $99.
More info: (704) 541-9665, or the Web site.

Charlotte Galloway
Briefly: Five-month program, target races vary.
Starts: May 8.
Sponsor: Jeff Galloway Training Programs.
Cost: $159 for first-time marathoners, $99 for marathon alumni, $95 for first-time half-marathoners, $75 for half-marathon alumni.
More info: runwalk26@yahoo.com, or go here.

The post If you can walk, you can run appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

When I pulled a hamstring early last week playing a pick-up game of kickball, my Fit-tastic running coach, Tim Clark, prescribed a recovery program centering around the RICE — Rest Ice Compression Elevation — approach. And no running, he insisted. Walking, however, was OK. So I decided to tag along with Fit-tastic’s walking component on our weekly Thursday evening workout.

When Fit-tastic was launched in fall 2008, it was conceived as training program intended to take a non-runner and make him or her cable of running a 5K in just 12 weeks. In the two sessions since — spring and this fall — the program has evolved. The current program has five levels, ranging from folks who ran but wanted to run faster and farther, to those just starting out who simply wanted to walk the distance (3.1 miles by American measure). Since I’d been doing a 6-mile trail run once a week, I signed on with the faster/farther group.

I learned quickly that only speed separates the groups.

“I needed the discipline,” Kathy Kidd told me as we kept a brisk pace up Stafford Avenue. Kidd is an entomologist with the state who used to get out in the field more. When she became Biological Control Administer for the state Department of Agriculture, she wound up spending more time in the office. She tried to compensate with walks around the neighborhood, but those were sporadic. She signed on with Fit-tastic last spring, expressing a sentiment I’ve heard over and over: Perhaps a little company would help her commitment. Especially on those days when you really, really don’t feel like working out, but the group is expecting you.

As has been the case with others in the program, she noticed an immediate change in her health.

“My cholesterol is down,” she said.

She’s learned to deal with injuries that might once have dampened her desire to work out.

“I was having shin pain,” Kidd told me. “The coaches — the coaches are great — showed me how stretching can make a difference.”

While Kidd’s goal with this session is to walk the graduation Monster Dash 5k on Oct. 25, the 51-year-old N.C. State grad thinks she may continue with the program and eventually run the race.

Curious about what that next step might entail, I caught up Fit-tastic’s walkers-to-runners coach Sean Kurdys. Sean said the walk-to-run group began in August by running two minutes, then walking for one. Last week, the group was up to 10 minutes of sustained running interspersed with four-minute walking intervals. Starting this week, the group would bump the running segments to 12 minutes, their peak. “After that, we’ll work on running faster.”

Kurdy’s typically coaches elite runners, working with them to tweak their style to trim a second or two from their time. The walk-to-run program required a little research. “I looked around on the internet, looked at Runner’s World, talked to Team in Training and the Galloway people.” That’s how he came up with his run/walk regimen.

He’s also engaged in that time-honored staple of coaching: playing mind games. A couple weeks ago he told his group not to worry about the 10 minutes running/four minutes walking protocol. “Just run when you want, walk when you need to,” he told them. They headed west on Clark Avenue, turned right on Oberlin Road, went up past Craig Street, turned around and came back. A lot of his group ran nearly the whole thing.

“Well,” he told the group when they got back, “at least now you know you can do a 5K.”

What do you mean? they asked.

“You just did the course,” he told them. “That was it.”

Ah, coaches.

* * *

I’m a former runner, ran mostly 10Ks until back and knee issues grounded my waffle trainers when I hit 30. Twenty-three years later (and a few pounds lighter), I decided to try a 5K, the Oct. 25 Monster Dash. Read previous posts about my experience and the experiences of my fellow runners and walkers in the Fit-tastic program by searching “Fit-tastic.”

The post Walk, don’t run appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

OK, a hamstring injury isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t have the cache of, say, an ACL injury. But it’s common among weekend warriors. Don’t warm up, go out too fast — ping! — there’s a debilitating snap in the back of your leg. A muscle snap that if you ignore can hobble you for weeks. First, a look at how to avoid irritating your hamstring in the first place.

Not long ago, we warmed up by stretching. Then we learned that stretching cold muscles wasn’t such a good idea. Now we’re advised to warm up slowly. For instance, at our Fit-tastic workouts we jog very slowly for a mile and a half to two miles before running hard. When I pulled my hamstring Monday I was sprinting for a flyball in a game of kickball; Had I taken 10 minutes to jog up the street and back beforehand I might have avoided the injury. But I didn’t, and I was stuck with a strained hamy, a moderate strain based on my interpretation of the rough rating system for evaluating hamstring pulls.

Immediately, I iced the injury and took ibuprofen. Good first steps, according to the online source I turned to, a Web site by Washington, D.C., physician Stephen M. Pribut, who specializes in podiatric sports medicine, biomechanics and foot surgery. Follow that up with “gentle compression” and rest. That jibed with my Fit-tastic running coach Tim Clark’s recommendation, which makes for a neat — not to mention tasty and nutritious — acronym: RICE. That is, Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

Tim was especially high on compression: “Wear a wrap [and ACE bandage, for instance] overnight while sleeping,” he suggested. “I’ve found this works real well for muscle soreness.”

Obviously, it was the “R” aspect of the equation that caused me  consternation. No one likes to be benched. Coaches realize this, even doctors.

“Certainly walking is okay as long as the pain is not too severe and you’re not limping, which can cause other problems,” Tim said. As part of rehab, Dr. Pribut said it was OK to run two miles “at a glacial pace.” Hold off on the stretching for a week or so, then gradually reintroduce it. Take longer warmups — “it may take 1/2 hour or longer to do a proper warmup,” advises Dr. Pribut and after doing speedwork be sure to warm down, for one to two miles, before gently stretching.

Follow this advice and, depending upon the severity of the injury, it should take two to six weeks for the hamstring to mend.

Two to six weeks?

They need to revisit the hippocratic acronym, I thought. Instead of RICE, it should be RICEEP.

For Extreme Patience.

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