I'd just like to share my canned response to the question, "do you like to run?'

I only run if I'm being chased.

WELCOME Steph!!

I use this website to get the lowdown on any local Iowa races. Depending on where you are from, the best place to get info would likely be your local running store. Good luck.

If you are local to me, PM me and we can chat.

Newbie here,
 

Labrat and all others,
I decided last year about this time to start running again so as to try to get my skyrocketing blood pressure under control. Haven't done all that well but am still signed up for the indy500 festival half marathon in May. I was running fairly regularly most of the past year, but in March got the flu and haven't been right since.
Last Saturday was the last of the "trainng runs" organized by the indy500 fest to allow people to work up to the full 20k. Saturdays run was 15k, the farthest i've ever tried to run. I did it in 1:44, an average pace of just under 11 min/mile.
I credit two sources for my ability to finish the 15k: Nicholas Romanov's Posetech website and his free information on Pose running, and Scott Sonnon's idea of changing gears rather than hittin a wall.
All in all I am content with my progress, although certainly I could have done better.

From what I just read, the POSE method is just a fancy term for good form. :D

Basically, by not wasting energy doing things like exessively swinging your arms left to right, instead of front to back etc. you save your energy for forward propulsion. Just like in any sport, better form = better overall performance and less injuries.

From what I can gather on google, Scott Sonnon is a martial arts expert. From wikipedia (but supported by googled sites):

Former Penn State University adjunct Professor of Physical Education, Scott Sonnon is one of only a few Americans to be awarded the Distinguished Master of Sports in Sambo, the Russian national martial art and wrestling style.

He was the first American to teach Russian martial art in Russia. Coach Sonnon developed a program which he named FlowFighting at his gym in Bellingham, Washington, USA. The focus of the style is to enter what sport psychologists call flow-state through perpetual motion drills, as opposed to technique rehearsal of traditional martial arts. The style requires competition in ten different sports, from fencing to grappling to boxing, and mixed martial arts / no holds barred competition.

In 2005, he came out of retirement to test his theories with his teammate, Joseph Wilson, at the Open International San Shou Championship in Mobile, Alabama. He won the gold medal in his weight class. He holds a world record in club swinging: (1,433 repetitions of 25lbs mills in under an hour - 1/6/07), and the highest score in International Clubbell Sport.

Coach Sonnon's background in martial arts lead him to bring combat style conditioning to the fitness world. He has authored several books and many videos on his method called Circular Strength Training, and his equipment called the Clubbell, which he developed based upon ancient Indian Kushti and Iranian Pahlavani wrestling called Indian Clubs or Iranian Clubs. He also founded his own style of yoga which combines Cossack dancing, gymnastics, break-dancing called Prasara yoga. His system focuses on a "health first" approach to fitness of what he calls Tabula Rasa or "Cleaning the Slate" by isolating joint ranges of motion to lubricate and transport nutrition to connective tissue which damages during any athletic endeavor, like in martial art. He also runs his own center, The RMAX Gymnasium, Ltd. in Bellingham, Washington.

And THAT my friend, is what matters most. Way to go!!!

BTW, have you had your blood pressure checked? Just curious as to what improvement has been made.

Little Pete joined the track team and ran the 800 and 1500 in her first meet last week. She looked much more comfortable in the 1500 and ran a nice race finishing second despite having no idea what she was doing. She is much more into the fencing thing but really likes the team aspect of track. (She got a second in fencing today btw. :) )

Thanks for the nice welcome! I really appreciate your feedback on the racing website--unfortunately I am not from Iowa, but rather from Champaign, IL. We have a great local running store called Body & Soul that would probably be a WONDERFUL place to start seeking racing opportunities. Thanks for the suggestion. I just completed my first 5K ever a few weekends ago and I can't wait to do it--and more--again! I think I am going to give a mini-triathalon a try if there's one available in Champaign or nearby. Thanks, again! :-)

good form in running
 

Labrat, you are correct. Bad form is rife in running sports and apparent even in Olypmic level racing: people like to heel-and-toe thus heel striking and braking during their stride. I did it most of my life and still strike my left heel a bit albeit less than I used to. switching to thin flat lightweight shoes (chuck taylor all stars in my case) has allowed me to feel my mistakes sooner so I can work on correcting them. The indy500 mini marathon is May fifth. I'll do it in my converse sneakers. I'll report back.
Regarding Scott Sonnon, he has put forth the notion that the archetypical "wall" that athletes encounter is mostly mental and may be dealt with by considering it more of a shifting of gears, as a car's automatic transmission shifts when it feels an changing load. He goes into what he calls "the neuro-endocrine response" as the way the body adapts to stresses during the hitting of the wall.
I think i've done a poor job of describing it. I'll try to dig up a quote.

Scott Sonnon on "the wall"
 

From Scott Sonnon:

When you push the threshold of your activity, you expend more oxygen in your muscles than you have taken in, popularly called Oxygen Debt. To repay this debt, your body implores you to heave heavily to replenish your system with oxygen. If you continue to push by and through this debt, you cause a sub-cortical adaptation which adjusts your circulo-respiratory process. This shift enables you to continue strenuous or prolonged physical activity with renewed vigor and greater comfort - often referred to as 2nd Wind. You may transition with dramatic suddenness or subtly unnoticed until somewhere in the activity you realize you’re no longer in distress and actually enjoy the groove you’ve found.

This phenomenon is called Circulo-Respiratory Distress (CRD), something scientists still cannot explain though some neurologists surmise that the cerebrum adapts to the physical distress of exercise by facilitating more efficient neuromuscular coordination. Basically, your wind gets better because your body grooves the activity to use less effort for the same motion.

I prefer the term gear over “wind,” because I believe that you can encounter multiple (increasingly more efficient) levels of distress in one activity. You can encounter layer after layer of resistance in an activity, like gears on your vehicle's transmission: as you wind out the RPMs the engine strains until the shift occurs and engages a new level of performance effiency. The most gears I've ever detected were four in a 42 mile run - my longest and most grueling.


Why do you push into this level of discomfort? Why do you do such a thing? Your life is not threatened. And not threatened, your body creates all manners of phantom pains, nausea, emotions and thoughts imploring you to STOP!

In sport psychology, it’s called your threshold – your Mental Toughness. If you push through distress, you create a neurological adaptation and you become one increment tougher. By pushing the envelop you allow your body to overcome the resistance by adapting to it.

Neat way to think about that.

indy500 half marathon
 

Update:
I finished alive but achy. around mile eleven i started cramping in my right calf, i was able to deal with it by conciously relaxing. at mile twelve the pain in my right metatarsals got bad enough that i couldn't ignore them and i had to take a ten minute walking break. I was able to resume my shuffling pace and finished at just under three hours. My wind was fine. My legs were not fine. I need more training for leg endurance. So I can do better next year!

Sorry, totally have missed this thread for awhile...

WAY TO GO hideouse! I would love to chat sometime in gabbly about your experience!

So, how's she doing? Tell her a friend of yours says nice job!!:D

Thanks for pointing this one out to me LR. So last night I put in 2.2 miles. Not too bad, but I was sucking way too much wind. It has been several months since I have been out and I can really feel it. I may have to hit the elliptical to get back up some mojo before I go out again.

I tend to exercise more when I am stressed and right now I am really stressed.

BTW, I didn't read all of the preceding pages to this so I don't know if the topic is anything more than general running.

I need to stretch.