February 12, 2008 12:14 AM

Boldly training

The Bolder Boulder will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year on Memorial Day, and organizers hope to top last year’s record registration of 50,816. With luck, they can count me among the participants.

Just before the weekend, I took my first steps in six weeks without a cast wrapped around my right foot, ankle and lower leg. I took the steps in the doctor’s office soon after he pulled out the two long steel pins holding my toes in place (yeah, it hurt), pronounced the toe joints successfully fused, smiled and said, “Get out of here.”

Welcome words, indeed.

So with foot surgery to straighten out wayward toes and remove a neuroma behind me, I’m ready for re-entry into the outdoors. Of course, it’s going to take a while.

The doctor’s instructions are to walk 15 minutes a day for two days and then add five minutes the next two days, and so on. Today will be Day 5, and I’ll walk for 25 minutes. After about three weeks, I can run five of the required minutes, and increase the running another five minutes every second day.

I’ll bet you haven’t seen a training program like that in any running books or articles. So will it get me ready for the Bolder Boulder in just over three months? I think so, but with one huge caveat – I may be walking not running those 10 kilometers.

So I’m setting a goal, which is extremely important to success in training, not to mention rehabilitation. The prime goal is to run the Bolder Boulder. The backup goal is to make it to the finish, even if it means I’ll be moving slowly enough to get more than a hurried glance at the famous belly dancers.

Right now, I’m way out of shape, my right calf muscle has atrophied a little, the ankle feels weak and the foot swells up like rising bread dough by the end of each day. But a body can accomplish a lot in three months.

I recently read an article in Outside magazine, which is also celebrating its 30th year, that claims you can get in peak shape for any sport with one 12-week program. It starts with two weight-lifting circuits and three cardio workouts weekly, one of them long. Each week, the long day’s workout is increased by 10 percent.

The fourth week is for recovery, in which the workout load is cut in half. In the second month, the weight-lifting is cut back to once a week and another day of cardio added. Week eight is again for recovery. In the third month, cross-training is substituted for the remaining day of weight-lifting and the intensity of the cardio workouts is increased until you taper in week 12.

The advice is contained in just a few paragraphs in Outside’s article, “The 30 Greatest Fitness Tips. Ever,” published in its 30th anniversary October 2007 edition and also available online.

If you plan to run the Bolder Boulder, this would be an excellent training routine, especially if, like me, you’re starting your training at near zero fitness. Although the details vary, the core principles of increasing your training load by about 10 percent per week and giving yourself a break once a month before ramping up the intensity are the same as the training routines I’ve used successfully for years.

I won’t be following this program exactly. My walking routine described above isn’t going to get it done in the cardio department, for instance, although swimming and spinning offer alternative means to a more intense workout. But even in my semi-hobbled state, I should be able to get in enough work to be fit for a 10K by the end of May.

I’d be interested in hearing about the workouts that work for you. So please add a comment or send an e-mail and then look for me in Folsom Stadium.

Posted by Bob Findlay at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)