2006 Beginning Women's Running Group, Coordinator: Kelly Bails

2006 Program Topics/Speakers

The Beginning Women's Running Group started Thursday, August 17th. The goal of these balanced, progressive sessions is to develop a basic running program for women who are new to running in order to prepare participants to complete the Women’s Fitness 5K (3.1 miles) on Sunday, October 15, 2006.  This program includes group runs with experienced runners on hand to provide guidance and instruction for individual training. All proceeds benefit the Center for Women in Transition and The Crisis Nursery.

Week 1 Recap What a great group we had on Thursday!  Forty women are registered in the program. With the mentors, we had a group of fifty women running around Crystal Lake Park.  What a sight to see!  Congratulations to everyone for making it through the first day with smiles of your faces.

Week 2 Recap

We had another fun night on Thursday.  The humidity was a little high, but it was still a nice night for a run.  Do you know that we have some women who drive from Charleston and Danville just to run with the group?  Now that is dedication.

Beth Day, from Body ‘n Sole http://www.bodynsolesports.com/, brought running shoes to demonstrate the difference between cushioned, stability, and motion control shoes.  Beth stressed the importance of finding a pair of shoes to match your running gait.  In order to find a shoe that matches your running gait, the staff at Body ‘n Sole will have you jog on treadmill to observe your foot type as well as your foot strike pattern.  The average cost of a good pair of running shoes is $80-100 and these shoes usually last between 400-500 miles.  While you are buying a new pair of shoes, make sure to buy some good quality running socks.

Week 3 Recap

This week Tracy Thomas, a certified personal trainer, running coach and owner of Body Mechanic Fitness, LLC, gave a very informative talk on proper running form.  Tracy had us try the proper running positions of the head, body, arms, legs and feet (but not all at once!).  Tracy advised us to pick only one item to work on during a run.  The book Chi Running, by Danny Dreyer, www.chirunning.com was recommended as another good resource on running form.  Check out Tracy’s website www.bodymechanicfitness.com/ for more information.

We had 30 women at the run plus another 16 mentors.  The mentors were able to run with small groups of women and were available to answer questions and provide feedback on running form.  Just look for the red shirts any time you have a question.

This weekend you need to do a 20 minute run of alternating 1 minute of running with 1 minute of walking.  On Tuesday, you need to complete 5 repeats of 4 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking.  Next Thursday, we will be doing 5 repeats of a 5 minute run with a 1 minute walk.  Make sure to warm up, cool down, and stretch after each run.

Week 4 Recap

Denise Leonard, a dietitian, and Karen Morton, a manager and personal trainer, from i-Power/Nutrition@Work gave a talk on metabolic testing.   The metabolic test determines the number of calories that you need to maintain your current weight.   This testing is different from the many charts and formulas that are available for determining caloric needs in that it is specific for you. The staff at i-Power uses these numbers to develop a diet and training plan to meet your needs.  These numbers are also used to determine your ideal training rate.  For example, one person’s ideal fat burning heart rate may be 150 beats per minute; whereas, someone else may need to train at a heart rate of 120 beats per minute to achieve the same fat burning rate.  Your best bet is to contact Denise or Karen if you have any questions.  I have extra business cards, flyers, and 10% off coupons that I will bring to the next meeting for those of you who couldn’t make it last week.

Week 5 Recap

This week Erin Wilding-Martin gave a talk on her experience as a beginning runner as well as some useful tips for beginners.  Erin is my officemate at Parkland College.  Last spring when I decided to start the Beginning Women’s Running Group, I asked Erin to join so that I would have a familiar face in the crowd.  Being the great friend that she is, she let me know that she would attend the first night and only the first night because she said “I am not a runner.”  After the first night, she felt pretty good about herself and decided to continue with the program.  She finished the program, continued to run throughout the summer, and joined the fall program.  Erin continued to run throughout the winter, completed her first 10K in April and finished her first half-marathon (13.1 miles) in August.  She truly is a runner.   

Erin talked about her experiences as a couch potato kid and her new life as a runner.  She gave a list of ways to keep motivated and helpful hints for beginning runners.  The handout is a must read!

Week 6 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 your abdominals, back, pelvic floor and hips.

Lori had us try several core strengthening exercises and had us focus on proper body alignment.   We learned the shelf position, the bicycle, the plank, and swimming (which looks like superman flying). 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 and can easily finished in the length of a TV commercial.  You should do the exercises until you start to lose your form. You can also take a Pilates or Yoga 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 7 Recap

Jan Seeley, the publisher and co-owner of the running periodical Marathon & Beyond, gave a talk on women running pioneers.  Jan enthralled us with tales of her favorite women runners.

First, was the 19^th century tale of Madame Ada Anderson, who was known for walking for 28 days straight with no more than 5 minutes of sleep at a time.  Next we traveled to the 1960s and the story of Kathrine Switzer, who is known for registering and running the Boston Marathon at a time when women were not allowed on the course.  Next, we heard the tale of Joan Benoit Samuelson who became the first women to win the Olympic marathon in 1984.

Jan told us about Sister Marion and Helen Klein.  These women did not start running until ages 47 and 55 respectively.  Sister Marion was an overweight smoker who, at age 54, qualified for the Marathon Olympic Trials.  Helen came in last in her very first race and now holds more than 75 world and American age group records. 

We heard about Pam Reed, who is the two-time champion of Badwater a grueling 135-mile race.  She is also the first person to run 300 miles straight without sleep.   Pam is also a mother to 5 children and somehow she manages to fit in several runs throughout the day.

Jan also talked about our own Bonnie McElwee, another mentor, who constantly wins her age group in just about every distance she races.  Bonnie started running at age 40 to ward off a history of heart disease. You’ll never guess her real age.

This only goes to show that you are never too old or out of shape to start running.  Any one of you can become the next Sister Marion, Helen, Pam, or Bonnie.  Stick with running to achieve your potential!

Week 8 Recap

Joe Bails, a Second Wind board member and the Mahomet half-marathon and 5K race director, give a talk on racing.  Joe suggested registering for races and picking up the race packet early to avoid long delays on race morning and to guarantee a race shirt.  Wait until after the race to wear your race shirt.  Most often the race shirts are made of cotton and “cotton is rotten” for running.  For the Women’s Fitness 5K, you should wear your Women’s Running Group shirt (if you ordered one) since it is made of synthetic fabric.  On race morning make sure to give yourself plenty of time for bathroom breaks because you will be a little nervous.  At the starting line, start in front of the walkers and behind the rabbits (the fast ones).  You should probably line up in the middle with all the rest of the Women’s Running Group members.  Make sure to pin your race number to the front of your shirt so that the volunteers at the finish line can see your number and remove the results tab.  Check out Joe’s handout for more racing tips.

Week 9 Recap

This week was the last week of our running group meetings at Crystal Lake Park.  It was a cold and windy evening for a run, but we kept warm and finished strong.  After our group run, we went to the Marathon & Beyond office in downtown Champaign to munch on snacks and to stuff race packets.  It was a fun evening.  Joe and I want to thank everyone for the card, flowers, and the generous gift certificate to Body ‘n Sole. I also want to congratulate everyone on completing the program and a special congratulation to everyone who participated in the Women’s 5K race on October 15^th.  It was amazing to see all the women from the group at the race.

I hope you continue to run throughout the winter.  Print out the following training plan to use for the next 8-10 weeks.  If you feel that one of the weeks is rather tough, you can repeat that week.  We will have “Reunion Runs” each month.  Our first Reunion Run will be 9:00 a.m. Saturday, November 18^th in Mahomet.  Directions and details will follow in a reminder email.  Also reserve 9:00 a.m. Saturday, December 9th on your calendars.

Visit the 2007, Spring 2005 or Summer 2005 Beginning Women's Running Group Website to see the group picture, program and the weekly summary.