Health&Nutrition

BEGINNERS: Training with Weight

June 15, 2009
By Deborah Wiles

In a local running store, I almost gave up the sport. I was searching for running pants for winter. Five months earlier, I had taken up running after a 10-year break. I was feeling good. I was feeling proud. I was even feeling thin. Well, thinner.

Then the young, fit, sales guy came over. “Looking for loose or tight pants?” he asked.

“Loose,” I said. I knew I could not pull off body-hugging tights.

He handed me a pair of pants and ushered me into the change room. I pulled them on and glanced in the mirror, horrified. The “loose” pants were tight, revealed all and left me looking vaguely like a sausage being squeezed out of its casing. The pants were size XL, which, to me only meant one thing: I was not thin enough to be in a running store. I was not a real runner.

Edmonton’s John Stanton has battled those demons. When Stanton, founder and owner of The Running Room, started running, his biggest challenge was overcoming his fear of embarrassment. “I thought everyone would laugh at this chubby smoker trying to run, which is why I headed out in the early hours under the cover of darkness,” says Stanton during an email exchange. “[I wore] an old track suit I had used to watch sports on TV and a cheap pair of sneakers purchased from a bargain bin at the local grocery store.”

After losing about 15 pounds, his family convinced him to buy running shoes and Stanton finally felt like a real runner. “The first run in them felt like I was running on pillows.”

Overcoming mental issues is just part of the battle. There is the, ahem, jiggle factor. If it’s not muscle, it is going to go its own way during a run. Not comfortable with that? Casually tie an extra shirt around your waist or buy a jacket with a long tail. The Running Room’s ubiquitous jacket addresses those concerns. “Women and some men told us . . . they love to run in tights but do not always want someone to see their butts,” says Stanton. “[Runners] love the fit, the full reflectivity and the fact that it also bought some anonymity … People only look and see in the jacket a runner, or group of runners, not a female or male running. It has become their uniform as an athlete and the badge of being a runner.” Other brands also make jackets with a bigger fit.

My bad running store experience was four years, two half-marathons and 20 pounds ago, yet I still don’t feel like a real runner. I fit into smaller pants now, but I covet something else: those cute running skirts. If I looked good in one of those - that would make me feel like a real runner.

Deborah Wiles is an editor and freelance writer in Halifax. She often ties a shirt around her waist.

Tips to Go:

Buy real running shoes: Wearing old sneakers could lead to injury.

Dress well: Wear what you like, feels comfortable and makes you smile. You don’t have to hide behind old sweats.

Go hard, but not too hard: “Be gentle and listen to your body to stay injury-free and highly motivated,’’ says The Running Room’s John Stanton.

“Challenge yourself with a 10 per cent increase in intensity or duration each week, but no more.’’

Find a buddy: “Keep it fun, which for many of us, means training in a group,’’ says Stanton. “ The group provides adults with a child-like sense of play.”