Second Wind Running Club has established a Women’s Beginning Running and Walking program. The goal of these balanced, progressive sessions is to develop a basic running program in order to prepare participants to complete the Women’s Fitness 5K (3.1 miles) on September 24th, 2005.  Race participation is not required.  This program includes group runs with experienced runners on hand to provide guidance and instruction for individual training. The program’s eight sessions were held each Thursday, 6:30–7:30 p.m., from August 4th through September 22nd at Crystal Lake Park, Urbana.  For more information please read the Summer 2005 Women's Running Group Flyer.  

Week 1 Recap

What a great turn out we had on Thursday!  Twenty-seven women and eight mentors attended the first session. 

The Beginning Women’s Running Group is an 8-week long program.  If you attend 7 or 8 of the sessions, you will get a free 3 month membership to Second Wind Running Club as well as $2 discount off your entry fee to the Women’s Fitness 5K.  If you attend 5 to 6 of the sessions, you will receive a $2 discount off your entry fee to the Women’s Fitness 5K.  Hopefully, this is even more of an incentive to come out and run with a group of great women.

Finally, we are going to order shirts for the running group.  The Asics shirts will cost $15.   I will have an order form at the next session, if you forgot to pick one up on Thursday.  We need cool sayings for the backs of the shirts.  A couple of ideas that I have heard so far are “Girls Rule The Road” and “We Run/Walk for Chocolate”.   This is your shirt, so we need your ideas. 

Week 2 Recap

We had an unbelievable 51 women attend the run on August 11th!  What an amazing turn out!  Kristy Powell, a Second Wind board member and doctoral student in nutrition, gave a presentation on Pre- and Post-Exercise Nutrition and Hydration.  Kristy explained the importance of proper hydration.  We should be consuming at least 2 liters of non-caffeinated fluid on days that we don’t exercise and even more on days that we do exercise.   Kristy suggested drinking a couple glasses of water as soon as we wake up in the morning, carry a bottle of water with us during the day, drink a couple cups of water 30 minutes before a workout, and drink 6 to 8 ounces of water for every 15 minutes we exercise.  If our urine is pale yellow or clear, then we are properly hydrated.  If not, drink more water!

Week 3 Recap

We had another large group with over forty women attending the program.  Stephanie Kaiser, a runner and athletic trainer from Carle Sports Medicine, talked to the group about common running injuries.  For each running injury, Stephanie showed us stretches and provided us with treatment options, and she gave examples of when to use ice and when to use heat for each type of injury.  Most of the stretches that Stephanie showed the group have already been included in our stretching routine.  That means we are taking the appropriate first steps to preventing injuries!

Stephanie also told us about the free Injury Evaluation Clinic at Carle Sports Medicine.  If you are in any pain, you can go to the clinic Monday – Friday between 6:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. for an evaluation by a certified athletic trainer.

I will have extra copies of the handout on Common Running Injuries at the next meeting, but you can also download the file from the website.

Week 4 Recap

Jan Seeley, the publisher and co-owner of the running periodical Marathon & Beyond, gave a talk on women running pioneers.  While Jan could have enthralled us for hours with wonderful tales of women runners, she limited her stories to her favorites. 

First, was the tale of Madame Ada Anderson.  Madame Ada Anderson was a stout and powerful woman who lived during the middle of the 19^th century.  She was known for walking 2,700 quarter miles in 2,700 consecutive quarter hours, which basically means she walked for 28 days straight with no more than 5 minutes of sleep at a time.  What is even more amazing is Madame Ada Anderson completed this feat several times.

The second story, on Kathrine Switzer, took place in the 1960s.  Kathrine Switzer is known for registering and running the Boston Marathon at a time when women were not allowed on the course.  She registered under the name KV Switzer not realizing that the race was only for men.  The race director was furious when he found out a woman was running his course and he physically tried to remove Kathrine.  Luckily, Kathrine was running with her physically fit boyfriend who blocked the race director’s attack.  In addition to becoming a great marathoner, Kathrine was instrumental in adding the women’s marathon to the Olympics.

In 1984, Joan Benoit Samuelson became the first women to win the Olympic marathon on the streets of LA.  Joan set the American record of 2 hours and 21 minutes at the Chicago Marathon in 1983.  2004 bronze medalist Deena Kastor recently broke this record.

The story of Sister Marion Irvine amazed us all.  Sister Marion did not start running until 47 years of age.  She was overweight and smoked two packs a day.  She started out half-running and half-walking.  In 1984, she qualified for the Marathon Olympic Trials at the age of 54. 

Another women, Helen Klein, didn’t start running until age 55.  Helen came in last in her very first race – something that hasn’t happened much since then.  She has completed 97 marathons and 140 races that are longer than the marathon (these are called ultras).  Helen, now 82 years old, currently holds more than 75 world and American age group records.  Helen’s picture graces the cover of the 2005 August/September issue of Marathon & Beyond.  Jan gave everyone a free copy of this running periodical at the end of the night.  Thanks Jan!

Jan’s final story was about a local runner, Bonnie McElwee.  Bonnie, now 65 years old, started out walking at age 40 to combat a family history of heart disease.  Bonnie moved on to running and hasn’t stopped since.  Bonnie constantly wins her age group in just about every distance she races.  You know Bonnie as one of the mentors of our running group, although, you wouldn’t have guessed her age.

The women that Jan talked about are no different than us.  They are regular women succeeding in a sport they enjoy.  Each of you can become the next Sister Marion, Helen or Bonnie.  Stick with running to achieve your potential!

Week 5 Recap

Lori Ozment, a Lifestyle Specialist & Group Exercise Instructor at the Mettler Center and one of our running mentors, gave a talk on Core Body Strength.  Lori explained that we should work our core muscle groups to help us run stronger and better.  The core muscle groups include not only those in your abdominals and back, but also the muscles in your pelvic floor and hips.  The technical names for some of these muscles are the transverse and rectus abdominis and the external and internal obliques.

Lori had us try several core strengthening exercises and had us focus on proper body alignment while contracting our deep abdominal muscles.   One such exercise was called the plank.  You start by lying on your stomach then you raise yourself up so you’re resting on your forearms and knees (or toes).  The goal is to hold this position for 1 minute while concentrating on keeping your back flat and your core muscles contracted.   Another exercise involved lying on your stomach with your arms stretched out in front of you (think superman).  Lori had us lift our chest and arms up.  The goal was to stretch our bodies up and out.  Both of these exercises are more difficult than they look.

Lori told us that your can exercise your core muscles in as little as 5 minutes a day.  You can also work out with a fitness/stability ball or take a Pilates class.  Lori gave us each a certificate for a free group fitness class, personal training session, nutrition or fitness consultation, or a physical therapy consultation at the Mettler Center. 

Week 6 Recap

Yvonne Meyer, a Public Safety Officer at Parkland College and Instructor for the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) Class, talked to the group about Women’s Safety.  Yvonne put together a wonderful handout which listed safety issues for women runners and walkers, steps to take before running/walking, dog defense, and what to do if confronted by an attacker.   Some important points Yvonne covered include: don’t wear a headset, carry a cell phone and identification, vary your running route, run against traffic, wear reflective clothing, ignore verbal harassment, and be alert to your surroundings.  I will have extra copies of the handout on Thursday.

Yvonne also discussed the Rape Aggression Defense Class.  This class teaches women realistic self-defense tactics and techniques.  This course begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, and progresses on to the basics of hands-on defense training.  The next RAD class meets 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. October 25, November 1, November 8, and November 15.  If you are interested in attending the RAD class, you can register through Parkland College.  The cost for this class is $15 and the course code is WKS 730-095.  If 10 or more of our group members are interested in this class, Yvonne will offer a special section.  Email me if you are interested in joining a section specifically for our group members.  If 10 women commit to this class, I will contact Yvonne to set up the class.  I took this class one year ago and I highly recommend it to women of all ages and abilities.  If you have any questions about what the class entails, please ask.

Week 7 Recap

It was a rainy evening, but 25 women attended the meeting to hear Joe Bails, a Second Wind board member and race director, give a talk on racing.  Joe provided a checklist for Running Road Races.  He told the group to register early and pick up the race packet the day before the race if possible.  If early packet pick-up is not possible, you should plan to arrive at the race 45 to 60 minutes prior to the start.  Joe told everyone that the race numbers need to be pinned to the front of your shirt and not the back of your shirt, so that the volunteers at the finish line can see your number and remove the results tab.   

Joe also talked about pacing in a race and that a good way to race is to start slowly and increase your pace as the race progresses, so that you can have a strong finish.  This is called negative splits.  Joe advised against wearing your race shirt during the race.  Most race shirts are made of cotton and will get heavy when you start to sweat.  He also said that it is “un-cool” to wear your race t-shirt during the race since everyone will know you are a novice racer.  Check out the Second Wind Racing Calendar for a listing of local races and be sure to sign up for the Women’s Fitness 5K on September 24, 2005.