On Track to Fitness

Every year, a few women are asked to leave the annual Women’s Training Program sponsored by Reston Runners.

The reason: They run too fast.

“We’ll kick you out,”  jokes Ann Deschamps, a director of the program. “If you’re an advanced runner, you don’t belong here.”

Who does belong – a large, diverse group of women whose fitness levels range from “just got off the couch,” to advanced beginners able to run a mile in 9 to 11 minutes.

The program, now in its 13th year, is hugely popular and fills to capacity every spring. Women are drawn to the welcoming, noncompetitive nature of the program, which focuses on setting and attaining a personal goal rather than winning a race.

“It’s so fun and supportive,” says Kelly Stiehl, a Reston resident who has been doing the program for several years. “It gets me out there exercising..  I know I’ll be committed for at least those eight weeks. I love the fact that it’s all women, and no pressure.”

The program, which began this year at on May 2 and runs every Monday night through June 20, has had as many as 400 participants.

That number became a bit unwieldy, though, Deschamps says, so she decided to cap registration at about 300 this year. She has 43 volunteer coaches and thinks the ratio matches up well enough so that each woman receives some personal attention. She hopes this will culminate in each participant doing the 5K run or walk Women’s Distance Festival  on June 25 at the

 “We’ll pace you through the whole 5K,” Deschamps says.

Once in the program, Deschamps and the coaches loosely group the participants into one of four categories -  walkers, for participants who prefer not to run at all; walk/run, for those who might like to transition into running; beginning runners, who maintain a slow to moderate running pace of more than 11 minutes per mile; and advanced beginners who maintain a moderate 9 to 11 minutes per mile.

Getting these groups together, she says, is the only stressful part of the program.

“Don’t freak out,” Deschamps tells the assembled women at the group’s first meeting. “But we’re going to have you do a timed mile. The only reason is that we’ve found out over the years that you guys are not really that good at grouping yourselves.”

Deschamps also likes to emphasize that the Women’s Training Program is not just about running, but also about educating yourself about fitness. So each program begins with a speaker or presentation. Topics include nutrition, how to avoid injury and how to select a good pair of running shoes.

On the first night, though, the speaker is Deschamps herself, who tells the group about her personal journey from a pack-a-day smoker who always struggled with her weight to a committed runner who completed a Marine Corps Marathon.

“Just once, though,” she says. “Just so I could say I did it.”