The San Marcos Runners Club hosts the annual Country Roads 10K & Kids Run on September 15, 2007 out at the Country Estates subdivision for local and area runners. For most people, a 10K distance of 6.2 miles seems like something that is more for the elite runners and someone who is a “real” runner.

To help solve that problem and to help individuals who want to run that far, the San Marcos Runners Club has established a training program for anyone who wants to train and run the race. The club members are encouraging runners, joggers and even starting out non-runners who want to take advantage of this training program to contact Laura Mason at 353-1789 for more information.

The cost of the 12-week program is $20, with part of the fee to include a $5 discount on the entry fee to the race itself. Laura mentions that all ages and all paces are welcome. The group started on June 30th with a 1-mile run/walk and are now meeting on a regular basis for those who want to join in. If you think the 1-mile distance is where you need to start, the club will make arrangements for you to start there and eventually catch up.

The group meets on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. so the weather will be cooler during the summer training months. Sometimes a person needs someone to run with or a group that is counting on them showing up for someone to run with them; and it really helps to have a group for encouragement and motivation to take the challenge. Another information source is the San Marcos Runners Club web site at www.sanmarcosrunners.org.

One of the early problems with runners when they start out is that they seem to be out of shape, and they begin breathing hard and thinking that running is not for them. What happens in this case is that a person has been at a resting heart rate; and when they begin running, the body demands more oxygen, and the heart rate picks up to meet this demand. The body takes a while to get up to pace and must step up the pace a bit to catch up.

In order to catch up, a person has to breathe faster and harder to make up the increased demand on the systems needed for running: things in the body like the heart and lungs and muscles that need to catch up with more oxygen than they did when you were resting. The person thinks that they are out of shape because they are so out of breath after only a short distance. An analogy is the same as race cars that take several laps to get up to speed and warm the engines and tires up for a fast speed.

If you ever attend a local race here in San Marcos, you will notice some of the better runners are out running around the course. You might think that you need to save all the energy you can to make the entire distance, and you sure don’t want to expend any extra energy running when it doesn’t even count. What these experienced runners are doing is getting the heart rate up and the lungs opening up and the muscles warmed up. The reason for this is that, when the race starts, the heart rate is already elevated and the muscles are warm; and the jump from a warm-up pace to a race pace is not that far, and it is easier to run fast right at the start and not hit a hard breathing pattern at the beginning.

For beginners, a walking pace is a good way to start out and then gradually walk faster. After a few minutes or several blocks of distance, you can try to run a short distance and then go back to that walk pace again. This time, don’t walk as far, and start running a little farther before you walk again. It won’t be long before you find that you can run at a slow pace and not have to breathe hard and keep trying to catch your breath.

As you continue your training you will find that, during your slow jog, you can run a little faster and then back off to the jog pace again. This is the same as the “walk and build up to a jog” that you did in the beginning; but now that your body is adapting to the training program, you can now walk to start, jog most of the way and add a few faster pace distances in that jog segment and go from there.

One tip that most runners use when training with a partner is that, if you can’t talk while you run, you are running too fast. You should be able to carry on a conversation with someone when running and use that as a guide to regulating your pace. If there are two or more runners, the general rule is to remember that this is a training and conditioning run and the pace is that of the slowest runner. If the slow runner is not talking and falling behind, the pace is too fast. Eventually that slow runner will get in better shape and catch up, and the group will have an enjoyable run.

Contact Laura and join a fun group of runners who are going to be able to run a 10K distance on September 15th.