Thursday, August 06, 2009
Couch to 5K: running for a change
Several beginning runners have joined a program aimed at helping them run a 5K in nine weeks.
Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
Runners say its trails and parks make the region a good place to learn the sport.
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To stay home and watch television or to go out and exercise?
At least a dozen adults will choose the healthy way in August to reach a nine-week goal: to run five kilometers at the Vinton Fall Festival.
Couch to 5K, a running program for beginners, will help people who have never run or who have done it in the past but dropped the sport get off the couch and onto the roads.
"Once you get to the beginner's step, you can see that you can get going," said Kari Decker, instructor and therapeutic recreation programmer for the Roanoke County Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. "You can really do more than what you think."
Couch to 5K is a new program designed to prepare people 18 and older to run a little more than three miles in nine weeks. Participants will meet every Saturday with Decker starting Aug. 15. She will give them a personalized training schedule that comes along with homework.
"The trick about this program is that people that sign up have to run outside of the meetings, at least two times," Decker said.
People in the community who are familiar with other aspects of the sport will visit the Saturday sessions to better prepare participants to immerse themselves in the running culture.
Josh Gilbert, from Gilbert Chiropractic, will teach stretching techniques. Fleet Feet Sports representatives will talk about choosing the right shoes.
"This is more of a coherent group coming together to run," Decker said.
Brittany Figdore, with the county's parks and recreation department, will be part of the group.
"It sounds like a good way to get motivated," Figdore said.
She runs on a treadmill and has practiced kickboxing and ridden her bicycle in the past, but she doesn't feel that enthusiastic about exercising.
"I like doing things with other people. For me, to run on a greenway by myself doesn't sound like fun," she said.
Figdore said the program will give her a chance to network with other runners, to lose some weight and to learn proper running techniques and tips on nutrition.
"It's going to be a good test," she said. "I think that's going to help create a new lifestyle change that I'm looking for."
With its greenways, high school tracks, trails and parks, the Roanoke Valley is a good place for new runners, Decker said.
For some runners, the main obstacle is mind-set.
"All you have to do is get over the fact that you think you can't do it," Decker said. She said there are beginners who think they can't run distances, only time, and the other way around.
Others are afraid of competing and racing when starting to become familiar with the sport.
"It is not about competing. It's really just to get people to realize it's a fun, healthy activity," she said. "Each Saturday session, they'll push it a little further than last week's."
