Running class #1

SO I started my beginners running class last Thursday w New York Road runners. It was cool, figuratively and literally. The weather stunk, dark cold and rainy. Everyone showed up (20 of us gals, no men). We met at a local public school, did a basic warm-up routine in the gym then headed out to Central park (boat basin) to do our first workout: 1 minute run, 2 minutes walk, 7X.   Easy breezy.

I swore to myself that I would run at a faster pace than my regular shuffle mode. After all the purpose of this class is to get me to the 10minute mile goal. We run as a pack with the coach at the front leading and shouting "run!" or "walk!" The people who get to the front of the pack have to loop (turn around and run to the back of the pack) to maintain the pack pace. I was always somewhere in the middle, running behind the same ladies who were having a great conversation about asking for a raise, though by the end of the class I was in the front row. I guess eavesdropping is a byproduct of running in a pack. The same gazelles kept passing the rest of us and looping back. The pace was good, not too strenuous, I felt a nice warm up feeling but then we only ran for 1 minute intervals.  Tonight we go up to 2 minute intervals.

Things that I learned:

1. you hit the ground heel first. Not toes, not mid sole, but heel. For me it's a big adjustment. I always jog leaning forward, to let gravity pull me forward and thus land on my toes. To be able to strike heel first I had to lean back, straighten my spine. I did discover that my knees thanked me later and I was not hobbling home  as I usually do after running (but then again only 1 minute intervals- the last long run I did was 1 hour long so it's a huge difference in workout and in the pounding of the knees)

2. you hold your hands as if you're grabbing butterfly wings. Arms bent 90 degrees, relaxed, middle finger and thumb touching (ohmmmm) thinking about my hands forced me to relax my arms which I never think about when I run since all I can usually think about is my aching knee (see #1).

3. Wear a hat with a visor when it rains.  I had one but noticed my classmates had to squint through the whole run. It also absorbed the sweat so I found myself not having to wipe my brow every ten seconds. Why didn'tI think of it sooner?

4. bring an extra pair of DRY socks when it rains (for the freezing subway ride home)

5. wear Gloves.  I thought I would eventually take them off but I never did. Glad I had them.

The biggest discovery was the roadrunner website http://www.runningcoach.com/
(Does it count as a discovery if your teacher tells you about it?)

It's filled with great tips AND the workouts for each class along with the homeworks. I am sure there's bound to be something of interest for everyone. Even the Ironfolks!

More later!