Running Clinic: Week One

At the finish of our first day!

Hoo-rah! (as the marines would say)

Week One of the Running Clinic has started! We had an excellent turn out for our first week and the group did an impressive job especially when it came to challenging themselves.

For those of you who could not make it out, for whatever reasons, here is the link to the Workout Log for Week One. It describes what work we did Saturday morning. This can also be used as an aid for the homework as everyone will be doing this at least two more times before next Saturday when we increase our running and change up our workout just a bit.

Please let me know if there are any questions. I want to make sure everyone understands the excercises and gets through them properly. Doing it right will help guarantee safety from injuries but, more importantly, it will also help guarantee proper form which in turn will build the muscle and endurance correctly. So ask away! Thats what Im here for!

Pain in my Shin! OW!

One topic that did come up for quite a few people was pain in the shins (front of lower leg).  This type of pain typically occurs when you are running on your toes and not landing in the larger, more supportive areas of your feet - the mid-ball or heel.

Proper Running Foot Landing.

When you are running you should try to land in the mid-ball of your foot.

Proper Running Foot Landing.

When you are power-walking or lightly jogging you should try land on the heel of your foot.

Also, you need to watch your stride. Your stride should not feel like you are leaping forward as you go. To measure a proper stride for yourself stand still and stand up tall, begin to lean forward and when you feel yourself starting to fall take a step to stop yourself. This should be the length of your stride. Start out smaller if you need to, but don't extend yourself beyond this point. Using the right stride is going to decrease the movement in your major running joints (hips, knees & ankles) which in turn means less injury potential and a longer life for the joints themselves.

Nutrtition! There is so much info, where do I start!?!
Everyone seemed interested in focusing a bit of our time on nutrition. To aid in giving everyone some basics to go off of I grabbed this article by David Knowles, a body-builder, called Fat Loss Through Nutrition. This is a quick overview of what and how you should be eating. This article should aid you in reviewing and recreating your diet (not dieting!).

At the end of the article David breaks down the three main nutrients you should have on your plate:

• 50-60% of calories should come from carbohydrate.
• 20-30% of calories should come from fat.
• 10-20% of calories should come from proteins

 So, what are some actual foods that are good carbs?

• Whole Vegetables
• Whole Fruits
• Beans
• Legumes
• Seeds/Nuts
• Whole Grains

Notice that this list is not full carbs as we typically hear and see advertised in America. Things like breads, pastries, crackers and pastas. If you make a choice to have your carbs in one of these forms try and choose whole grain options, but also try and remember that carbs exist in so many other forms! Try and enjoy these other forms as they should be the majority of what is on your plate.

What are some actual foods that are good fats?
The good fats are the unsaturated fats - both poly and mono.

• Polyunsaturated Fats - like: fish (salmon, catfish, trout, mackerel), almonds, flaxseed, walnuts, peanuts, nut butters (peanut, almond), tuna, soybeans, sardines, olive oil
• Monounsaturated Fats - like: lean red meats, whole milk, nuts, olives, avocados, natural nut and vegetable oils, oatmeal, popcorn, whole grain wheat, whole grain cereals

And, what are some actual foods that are good proteins?

• White Meat Poultry
• Milk, Cheese, Yogurt: choose lowfat or skim dairy products, and nonflavored natural yogurt, especially greek style which you can add items to create a really tasty treat!
• Eggs
• Beans: especially black beans; not refried beans though
• Pork Tendlerloin: lean
• Lean Beef

There is a lot of info here for us to start our training with so take your time to go through it and let me know any questions you may have.

Can't wait for week two! See you all this Saturday!

~TigressSky~

Please Note: If you would like to download and save the article and/or workout log for week one you simply need to select the File link in the left hand side of the window and select the Download option you would like from the list.