Coach Tammy

I alluded to this in an earlier post. I am going to have to change my Weight Watchers meeting to Monday nights, because I am now a walk coach for Team in Training (TNT)! TNT is the world's largest sports endurance program, training participants to do half and full marathons, triathlons, and 100-mile cycling events (century rides). Participants raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) during their training.

Since my dad was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia 2 years ago, I have wanted to do something to fight the disease. First I did the marathon with Team in Training, and now coaching seems to be a natural next step. I feel like helping others to complete their events is the best thing I can do to further the mission of the LLS, now that I've done an event myself.

So, this morning was our first team workout for the spring season. The team was to do 3 miles together. We met at Sugar House Park at 7 am. I racewalked over there, and then stood in the cold for quite a while since there are a lot of announcements, etc. the first week. My hands were pretty numb by the time we started people out on the workout, so I was a bit distracted and I totally forgot to tell people about shoes and a few other things I meant to mention before we went out on the course. But it worked out well, because I ended up just telling people stuff as I walked with the various participants. The workout took a bit over an hour. We're obviously going to have to work a bit on technique & speed, or some of the participants will take too long to finish their events! But most of them seem up to it and seem to want to improve their speed and stamina. It's exciting to see people wanting to get out there and get healthy. Most of the slower participants have chosen the 1/2 marathon, which is going to be a better fit for them yet still deliver the thrill of finishing a real endurance event. Awesome.

Anyway, I walked backwards around the park so I could run into all the participants several times. I would walk with each group for a while and then go backwards to see additional groups. I have no idea how far I walked (forgot to turn my iPod back on when we started the gorup workout) but it was quite a ways. I was able to go fast with some of the runners and in between the various groups, so my heart rate was in the zone for 50 minutes (including the 17 it took to walk over to the park). Better than I thought, so I ended up getting a ride home because it was later than I told Loren I'd be home.

So, I'll be walking each Saturday outside, no matter the weather, all winter long. Snow, rain, whatever. That scares me a bit since I've managed to avoid really nasty weather for the most part (though I've walked in rain quite a bit, I generally try to avoid the snow during a storm because of the hazard of slipping in it - usually I just wait until they plow and then go out). But I've bought some new gear to be a little more prepared, and I feel as ready as I'm going to be. Wish me luck!