Going the Distance, for Self or Community

Troy Allen was an elite athlete in his day, a baseball player at George Washington University whose pro career was cut short by a shoulder injury. For the past decade he has purposefully avoided exercise, but now he is coming back from his "de-training" with an ambitious goal in view: San Diego's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 1.

Donna Grubb-Hewlett, an engineer with the Mitre consulting firm, works out a few times a week but has never trained for distance running. At age "40 plus," she'll be there, too, as will Kate Nounheim, 27, determined to recover the leg muscles she had as a high school cross-country runner.

Diverse in motivation and conditioning, they are among the roughly 270 people from the Washington area who've decided to prepare for a distance event over the next few months with Team in Training, part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Every participant is given a fundraising goal that covers airfare to an event, lodging and entry fees, and returns about 75 cents on the dollar to the society. Participants also get the benefit of teammates and coaches to keep them motivated and teach them how to train.

To prepare myself for a couple of upcoming events -- the Cherry Blossom 10-miler on April 6, which Vicky and I will run together, and the new Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg in May -- I'll tag along as Troy, Donna, Kate and company get ready for San Diego, and I'll update you on their progress.

Team in Training has proved to be a powerful model, raising $850 million for the leukemia society over 20 years and coaxing about 360,000 athletes through running, biking and triathlon events. And it is an example of how getting into shape does not have to involve hours of solo time on a machine. Training can be a social outlet and a way to help the community as well -- whether it's by raising money for a charitable cause or, as previous columns have discussed, supporting recreational and athletic opportunities for kids.

The group's example is also proof that aggressive goals are in reach even for beginners, provided those goals are supported with enough time to train and enough patience to let the training take effect.

Endurance coaching and training philosophies, in fact, have become pretty forgiving in regard to first-timers. Marathons and half-marathons may once have been the province of the hyper-conditioned, and premier races such as the Boston Marathon still require qualifying times for entry. But events such as Washington's Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run encourage novices with online training programs that begin with steps as simple as 20 minutes or so of walking and jogging. Cherry Blossom coach Kirt West builds it up from there so that newcomers "can get through in one piece."

Team in Training coaches take the same beginner-friendly approach as they prepare people for marathon and half-marathon runs as well as Olympic-distance triathlons and century bike events.

Pace is not emphasized. Running is limited to three days a week, with a fourth day for cross-training. The number of miles run is kept on the light side. The first month of workouts for a June 21 half-marathon in Alaska, for example, is limited to runs of three miles. Emphasis is on one long run weekly, done as a group, with the distance increasing steadily. Walking breaks are encouraged.

The aim is for the participants to finish injury-free and without the need for days of recovery.

"If they follow our program, they'll be successful," coach Tina Sparling said.

Carly Samuelson, a campaign director for Team in Training, said that roughly 70 percent of those who start one of its programs finish the event. Many of the dropouts occur because of scheduling, personal issues or other reasons unrelated to the physical side of the training. Those are pretty good odds, I think, if you're a novice looking for a challenge.

The captain of our group is Mark Spisak, a local real estate executive who will be running with his wife, Carol. Along with training for her second marathon, Carol is battling leukemia. The camaraderie of the group, she said, is helpful with the physical endeavor, and in helping cope with the disease.

At a recent kickoff event for this season's round of training, speakers told of being motivated by family members or friends who contracted the disease. When Spisak was training for her first marathon in 2005, she said, the knowledge that a group of people were waiting for her each Saturday -- and doing so to help leukemia patients and to further research -- helped push her through.

"It's hard to do it alone," she said. "I'm pretty motivated, but you'll develop a different perspective when people are expecting you to show up."

Training kicked off last week, but it's still possible to join a team and prepare for any of seven events this summer. Anyone interested can contact Team in Training at 703-960-1100 or http://www.teamintraining.org/nca.