BORN TO RUN...
As a child, I vaguely remember attempting to make my limbs move up a gear and being so thrilled when I discovered they could. I could run ! Watch any child and you’ll see the gleeful expression on their faces when they discover they can walk and later run. It’s the first interesting thing you find you can do with this body of yours - and no-one has to teach you how to do it.
Running remains the best and simplest method of getting fit. Anyone can run anywhere any time they please. It costs nothing more than a pair of shoes. It is somehow more purposeful than going down to the gym and offer a busy social life and lots of travel if you join a club and get involved in its activities.
So you’re convinced. First off comes an honest appraisal of your state of fitness. What kind of shape are you in ? Can you walk a mile in 15 minutes ? Can you swim 20 lengths ? Can you cycle for twenty minutes ? Are you overweight ? Do you smoke ? Do you drink too much ? You don’t need a doctor to tell you any of this - but if you have health problems, you are recommended to visit your local GP before embarking on any fitness programme.
If you aren’t at all fit, your first target is pretty simple - a half hour walk three times a week. This can be incorporated into your life. Walk the kids to school, visit the shops on foot (it’s amazing what you can fit in a rucksack !), get off the bus a few stops early on the way to work.
When you can do this comfortably, it’s time to get a bit more ambitious. Your target this time is a 20 minute run. Initially, just cover the distance - about two miles. Walk for two minutes and run for two minutes. Or aim for an object down the road, such as a car or a lamppost and make up your mind not to stop running until you get there. Then set another target for a brief walk before you start running again. Or simply buy a watch with a countdown facility on it and set it to two minutes. Every time it beeps, off you go again !
If you can run for twenty minutes, however slowly, you are fit enough to join a club. The benefits of being in a club are enormous. For a start, training goes a lot faster in company. Next, you’ll find out what’s happening - and if you haven’t given yourself a target yet, you’re sure to find someone in the club aiming for something that interests you as well. Many clubs organise group outings to races, weekends away and even international trips to big races like the New York or Boston Marathons, the Great North Run or some special race the club has gone to for years.
In my club, every one has their own idea of what they’d like to do every year. We have the ultra and adventure runners setting themselves some new target - in the past like breaking a record for the 82 mile Wicklow Way or running from Dublin to Kerry over the way-marked trails in a week. Then there’s a much larger group that take part in most of the big road races and hill runs as well as local cross country events in the winter. A few every year would aim for either a spring or autumn marathon.
Highlight of the year for the off road fanatics are the Wicklow Way Relay in June and the two-day Mourne Mountain Marathon in September as well as assorted multi-terrain and trail challenges. In summer, most of these concentrate on fell running, particularly over the shorter distances. Then there are the orienteers - come the summer, they’re usually off to some be-forested location such as Norway, or the Czech Republic or Scotland to perfect the art of getting lost in strange places. There are also triathletes, duathletes, mountain bikers and mountain climbers, all with projects that preoccupy them and keep everyone else well entertained.
There are even a few traditional track and field merchants left. These would have targets for the 1500m, 5000m and the 10,000 on the track or for the various cross country events that help brighten the long winter months. For them, British Milers Club events are a huge incentive to train, as are league competitions closer to home.
If you’re not sure what club to join, try a few and see how you like them. Most clubs do much the same sort of training so it’s a question of whether you like the coach and the way the club is run. Some clubs are very committed, with every training session turning into a race; most these days are a lot less serious and welcome runners of all standards. Take your pick ! If at all possible, find a club that’s easy to get to from work or home - on dark, cold winter nights, there’s no point making it tougher on yourself.
So how do you train when you’re with a club ? Here’s a month-long beginner’s programme we’ve used with some success. Our winter headquarters is a local cricket club, where we have a floodlit field to run around, exactly 400m in distance. So the trick is devising routines that avoid boredom - running round and round a field may be ideal for the joints but after four or five laps, can make you feel like a hamster in a cage.
BEGINNER’S RUNNING COURSE
Wk 1: Tues - Introductory. Warm-up, dynamic stretching, strides, drills,
cool-down. Total:
2 miles
Thurs - Aerobic work-out. 20 minutes (8 laps).
Post run stretching
Sat/Sun - Run/walk 20 minutes
Week’s total: 6
miles
Wk 2: Tues - Warm-up, dynamic stretching, strides.
“Sides” - run 2 sides/jog/walk 1 side;
repeat for 3 laps; cool-down. Total :
2.75 miles
Thurs - Aerobic work-out. 20 minutes (8 laps). Post run
stretching
Sat/Sun - Run/walk 25 minutes
Week’s total: 7
miles
Wk 3: Tues - Warm-up, dynamic stretching, strides, 2 x
45 sec “whistles” (run until you hear the
whistle; try to reach the same
spot each time). Total: 2.75 miles.
Thurs - Aerobic work-out. 30 minutes (12
laps, including devil take the
hindmost (run in a line with the person at
the back running up to the front. And so on. A
different method of doing
“strides”). Post- run stretching
Sat/Sun - Run/walk 30 minutes
Week’s
total: Almost 9 miles !
Wk 4: Tues - Warm-up, dynamic
stretching, strides, drills. 100-200-300-200-100 (equal
recovery. Cool-down.
Total: 3.2 miles.
Thurs - Aerobic work-out. 30 minutes (12 laps). Post
run stretching.
Sat/Sun - Run walk 30 minutes
Week’s total: 9.2
miles