"WHOLE IN ONE"

Integrative Training--The New Total Body and Mind Fitness Plan

by Marc Bloom

Ken Sparks, a 53-year-old age-group champion from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, with credentials in every event from the 800 meters to the marathon, is cooling his pace these days. Not in training--he stills burns his tempo runs at better than 6 minutes per mile. But Sparks is modulating his approach to performance. He's taking the long view, racing less, working with weights to prevent injury, knowing that running alone won't address his one percent per year loss of muscle mass.

And he's literally smelling the flowers for stress relief. "At least once a week," said Sparks, an exercise physiologist, "I like to go for a walk in a Cleveland park. I'll stop and toss pebbles into the river. It's very relaxing." While he can still knock out a 4:35 mile and 2:35 marathon, Sparks is less consumed with his race times while seeking broader fitness--a sense of total well-being to make him feel youthful, confident and provide the energy to tackle his busy day.

"You reach a point where you're not going to set PRs anymore," said Sparks, who still has goals but races selectively. "Once you accept that, you don't beat yourself up. I'm training not to get faster, but, rather, not to get slower."

Margaret Groos Sloan, 38, a 1988 Olympic marathoner living in Nashville, also is remaking her training with a new blueprint in a new phase of her life. After completing her studies in physical therapy and giving birth to her first child a year ago, Sloan is running almost every day again, but with less urgency, while balancing her fitness with weight work and yoga classes.

Keeping her competitive eye on the prospect of masters racing in two years, Sloan's greater desire now is to have the energy and sense of fulfillment to enable her to care for her infant daughter. "Because of overall wellness," said Sloan, "I'm more equipped to care for my child. And I'm a stronger, more relaxed and more durable runner."

Prominent runners like Sparks and Sloan are learning that balance works best. Not only are they and runners everywhere doing more cross-training, but runners, coaches and sports medicine experts are finding that as we get older and our needs become more complex, it is essential to link the way we run and stay in shape with other aspects of our life. It helps to know yourself, not just your body.

As an outgrowth of the exciting and enriching Second Running Boom, I'm excited about a new exercise mantra--"Integrative Training," which mirrors the advancing attitudes on health and habit sweeping the nation. From the lessons of maverick medical guru Dr. Andrew Weil, who speaks eloquently on integrating body and spirit, to the pragmatism of Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," new strategies on living well, feeling good and being "fit for life" are gaining ground throughout our society.

"It's a broad approach to excellence," said Hank Lange, a running and triathlon coach in Vermont, referring to the wellness buzz. "You can't separate the athlete from his human experience. You have to connect life and sport. You have to know the context of runners' lives. What are their habits that help them, and what habits hinder them. Success depends largely on self-awareness."

From Lange's runner's retreat in serene Brattleboro, Vermont, to the Atlanta base of coach Roy Benson, to Prof. David Brennan's Houston International Running Center, to the New York City yoga domain of Beryl Bender Birch, runners and their teachers are embracing a holistic fitness practice that offers the greatest options for getting in the best shape of your life. For strength and stamina, flexibility and speed, weight control and, yes, a faster 5k, runners are acquiring insight into the twin goals of the day-to-day exercise kick and long-term health.

"People are training smarter," said Brennan, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor University Medical School. "We're learning more about recovery from running, and looking beyond the workout to the yin and the yang."

Integrative Training suggests that all phases of health and fitness are part of the same unifying system. Cross-training activities like bicycling or swimming--or a walk in the park--should not be considered peripheral or last-resort but work together with running in a holistic body-mind continuum.

Those runners who have made the transition into total body consciousness are experiencing less injury, according to Dr. Stan James, orthopedic surgeon to the stars in Eugene, Oregon. "Broader training approaches really work," said James, himself a cross-country skier in addition to being a devoted runner.

My Integrative Training Plan is designed to enable runners to "have it all." It integrates all of the elements of good running and good health, and, based on time management, can be adapted by runners of every level. Each training component--running and non-running--is ascribed an ideal percentage of workout time per week. The elements are flexible and meant as a guide. Tinker with the mix based on your particular needs, your strengths and weaknesses, your station in life.

I propose that running take up about 60 percent of your weekly fitness program and ideally include comfortable distance as well as some harder effort like tempo runs and speedwork. The other 40 percent is composed of cross-training plus doses of weight training, stretching, mental training and some form of meditation like yoga.

If anything, Integrative Training offers your greatest challenge yet as a runner. How complacent we are to go out the door and run, period. Awhile back, when we were younger, that may have been enough. No longer. We must make the effort to diversify, to grow. "Be proactive, not reactive," says Lange. "Learn to incorporate change." And while you're changing, don't forget about the value of good nutrition and a good night's sleep, not part of this particular training formula but obviously critical to every runner's health recipe.

Following is a breakdown of fitness components and recommended percentages, with amount of training time based on a hypothetical five hours of workout time per week.

1. Steady Distance (40 percent, 120 minutes)

Comfortable mileage on a regular basis is the essential component of every runner's program. For caloric expenditure, aerobic capacity, endorphin flow and a healthy heart, the solid distance run at an easy-does-it pace is your standard-bearer. It gives you the foundation for racing and, if you like, can serve as a springboard to the marathon.

Try for three steady runs per week: 60 minutes (your long, clean-out-the-tubes run), 40 minutes (your medium, blue-collar run) and 20 minutes (your short, break-a-sweat recovery run).

With busy work-and-family schedules, time management is an important consideration. Save the long run for Sunday, or any free day when you don't have to rush it, feel most energized, have time to recover and hydrate and can find a route with soft footing, if possible. "I do almost all of my running on trails," said James. Going long--beyond 45 minutes--will assure that you keep up your maximal oxygen uptake, the body's ability to transport oxygen as you tax your system.

Consider your "system" a mosaic of body, mind and spirit, each component serving the other. Coaches speak about teasing out an assessment of what makes you tick. Lange worked with one runner who trained well but whose erratic sleep patterns impaired her racing. The culprit? Excessive self-criticism ate at her, waking her up. Getting in touch with your hot-button issues can clarify ways to direct your fitness and reap all its benefits.

Count your 40 minutes as maintenance and your 20 minutes as a pure recovery run, perhaps in concert with another low-intensity activity the same day. Instead of doing a second 40 minutes on the road, you cut it in half, saving your legs, but filling in with other aerobic work. Space out your runs; avoid running more than three days in a row.

Evaluate your current program. If all you do is much the same run--in pace and distance--day after day, you're missing out. Your repetitive stride tightens your body and makes you susceptible to injury. Your tentative gait trains you to run slowly. You risk fatigue, heavy legs, maybe a touch of boredom. It's time to also experiment with running faster.

2. Tempo Running (15 percent, 45 minutes)

Make one run per week a faster distance workout to elevate your fitness, add training variety, develop your powers of concentration, get you out of a go-slow rut. The tempo run is a wonderful change of pace for a number of reasons.

This run should be done at about marathon race pace, or, to put it another way, 30 seconds slower than your 10k race pace. You're not going all-out, but you're still going harder, probably 80 to 90 percent of maximum heart rate. If you normally train at, say, 9 minutes per mile and can handle a 10k at 7:30 pace, do the tempo run at 8-minute pace.

Tempo training requires much greater focus than other runs, where you let your mind wander and lose yourself in random thoughts. To sustain a fast pace for up to 45 minutes, you have to concentrate on running smoothly and crisply, maintaining good form, not letting your pace waver. You have to monitor your body, not forget about it.

Sparks relies on tempo training to make him race-ready and finds the added bonus of improving his form. "The fast pace makes me a more efficient runner," he says. "I run smoother and 'straighter' and waste less energy. I don't feel as 'beat up' as when I run slower."

A tempo run is not done best as a roll-out-of-bed workout when your body is stiff and motivation weak. Try and find a peak time when you can marshal enough energy to make the harder effort really produce. And since you'll be good and tired afterwards, map out a post-run respite and don't plan any high-wire tasks for afterwards.

3. Speedwork (5 percent, 15 minutes)

Many runners may fear the demands of speedwork--of training at faster than 5k race pace, putting added stress on the ligaments and joints, pushing the body nearly to the limit, feeling residual fatigue the rest of the week. But speedwork, whether on track, trail or road, can be user-friendly and accessible to any runner seeking a higher level of fitness.

Surely, speedwork is done primarily for fitness, not general health. But there is a feel-better wholeness that speedwork can deliver. More of your body is put to work. Your stride opens up, fostering flexibility. You stress different muscles. You elevate your comfort zone and, in time, tolerate greater intensity. You feel more athletic and derive an enormous sense of accomplishment.

The way to go about it is to impose your will on speedwork, and feel a sense of control. Doing it on a track affords precise measurement and timing. Having a coach gives you a boost, guidance and assessment. Training partners enable you to share the load. (A track, coach and training partners are easy to find; simply probe the running grapevine.) Or, if you prefer solitude and a private course, go that route.

The beauty of integrative training is that, with diversification, balance and a healthier body, speedwork is less intimidating. You feel fresh and eager, not wasted from piling on mileage day in and day out.

For your 15 minutes of fame, it's most effective to go to a track and do one of the following workouts: push the straightaways and jog the turns for 15 minutes; or run a series of short repetitions like 200s or 400s with rest intervals equal to the time of the fast run; or run a hard mile, rest a few minutes, and run another hard mile.

Don't assume that the real short stuff like 200s is reserved for the hot shots. World-class runner Jim Spivey, now a coach in Chicago, likes to dish out 200s to his recreational runners. "The shorter the repetition," Spivey points out, "the easier it is to manage mentally." If you run a 5k at, say, 7-minute pace (52.5 per 200), try to run your 200s in 48 to 50 seconds.

If speedwork just doesn't fit into your scheme of things, try very selective hill training instead but beware of pounding on the downhills, which can cause injury. Sloan takes one day a week and does 8 reps of a 60-to-90 second hill. That's plenty. You can play it safer and simply incorporate hills into one of your distance runs.

4. Cross-Training (12 percent, 36 minutes)

Even a mere half-hour or so a week of cross-training--bicycling, swimming, aqua-jogging, stairclimbing, whatever--provides aerobic exercise without impact, a needed mental break from running, a new environment for working out, a refreshing pause that stimulates the non-running side of your brain. Any cross-training you do makes your running that much more rewarding over the long haul.

Lange recommends easy spinning on a bike for recovery the day after a hard run. Learn to pedal in a circular motion and your legs will gain the therapeutic effect of massage, said Lange. Bike in your home gym, at the club or out on the road. Hook up with cycling groups for social rides that venture into neighboring towns. If you're a closet gadget guy, fiddle with bike components to your heart's content.

Or make your biking a heart-pounding workout, as Janis Klecker of Hopkins, Minnesota does in high-rpm YMCA "spinning classes," increasingly popular everywhere. When Klecker, 37, a 1992 Olympic marathoner and mother of four young children, needs a break from family duties, she finds it not only in her running but in cross-training with others. She also does swimming and aqua-jogging. "The water is very soothing, very healing," said Klecker.

Pool work also helps Klecker stay in shape to race. "The research," said Brennan, "shows water running can be as effective physiologically as running on land. I've had people who were injured run the Boston Marathon with 12 weeks in the pool and two weeks on land." In the water, you can easily check your pulse to monitor the training effect.

Water aerobics and group swim classes are booming with runners who once went kicking and screaming into the pool only when hurt. Many facilities have second, splash-around pools to start you off in. Check schedules for adult lap swimming hours. Ask about water temperature, which should be at least a cozy 82 degrees. Don't swim immediately after running or you'll risk muscle cramping. If your time is flexible, Spivey suggests a recovery day of easy running in the morning and water running in the afternoon or evening.

James, 66, follows his own exercise prescription. In the winter, cross-country skiing makes up the majority of his workout time. Once springs breaks, he increases his running and finds the two activities so compatible that he's now aiming to compete in this summer's Nike Masters Games, probably in the 5k.

5. Weight Training (12 percent, 36 minutes)

James also does full-body weight work. "The medical literature shows the need for strength training throughout our lives," he said. Roy Benson agreed. "Resistance work is essential to skeletal health, to guard against bone loss and osteoporosis. And it facilitates a higher level of fat metabolism 24 hours a day."

Current views of weight training reflect the larger issues of health and fitness for runners. Where once performance was the sole concern, we've found, especially with aging, that health considerations are paramount. Numerous studies have shown that, at any age, significant gains in strength and bone density can be had in a matter of weeks.

But, of course, almost any health stride is also a stride for fitness and ultimately performance. Sloan finds her hard running comes easier with a stronger upper body. (And she can lift and carry her child around more easily, too.) Sparks also emphasizes his arms, shoulders and chest. "It enables me to maintain my posture in running so I don't fatigue," Sparks said. "Too many older runners neglect this."

But Sparks doesn't neglect his legs. In treadmill tests, he's found his turnover--how fast he can move his legs in running--has slowed. To compensate, he does leg presses in the weight room. "To work on my fast-twitch muscle fiber," he says.

Work both upper and lower body for balance. Don't forget the abdominals. Make sure opposing muscle groups (like quadriceps and hamstrings) are given equal attention. If you're starting out, machines are safer and easier to control than free weights. Supervised use of weight-systems like Cybex of Nautilus is advantageous; or, you can start dabbling in your basement. Progress very gradually.

You can do 15 or 20 minutes twice a week as an introduction. A quick, productive half-hour at a health club would be 15 minutes of weights and 15 minutes in the pool. If on occasion you're pressed for time, make sure that at least you work the upper leg muscles as a guard against knee injury.

6. Stretching and Yoga (12 percent, 36 minutes)

Most runners stretch begrudgingly. The rules are clear: loosen up or get hurt. But we hear conflicting advice on how to stretch properly. Through trial and error, we find the particular stretches, and manner of doing them, that work best for us. But we still don't enjoy it.

If that lament sounds familiar, consider taking up yoga, a more appealing combination of stretching, deep breathing and meditation that, said Lange, offers "deeper levels of relaxation and body awareness." Sloan said she experiences a meditative effect in her yoga class, which she terms "active flexibility."

To Beryl Bender Birch of New York, whose Power Yoga classes have taught thousands, yoga is a "mindfulness technique" that differs from ordinary stretching in several ways. Deep breathing is done to raise body temperature so you can tolerate the stretching postures. The movements are linked ("pose" and "counter-pose") in a continuous flow. Practitioners seek strength and relaxation at the same time.

"Yoga makes people realize that stiffening and tightening do not have to be an inevitable part of aging." said Birch. "You can do something about it."

There is not yet any licensing of yoga instructors so ask around before selecting a class. Avoid aggressive teachers or any class in which beginners are asked to do something like a headstand. Once you get the hang of yoga, you can choose to do it on your own, or with a partner.

For runners who have not yet paid much heed to the mind, yoga can serve as a good introduction to mind-body connections that can empower you to reach the next level of running.

7. Mental Training (4 percent, 12 minutes)

Your thoughts about running and yourself govern much of your success, whether your goals are weight control, stress relief or a faster 10k. Mental training involves everything from burnishing your self-image, to pushing beyond perceived barriers, to narrowing your focus for a particular race or workout--what one coach calls, P.M.A., or Positive Mental Attitude.

Mental training takes at least three distinct forms. It can be your thoughts while running, which Sparks uses to visualize himself competing smoothly and confidently in his next race. It can be a non-running form of relaxation and mind-body refresher, such as the aforementioned yoga, or independent meditation, such the following brief exercise prescribed by The School of Practical Philosophy in New York:

#While sitting upright, first let the mind be free of any concern or preoccupation. Be aware of where you are now...

#Feel the body...

#Feel the weight of the body on the chair...

#Feel the gentle pressure of the clothes on the skin...

#And the play of the air on the face and hands...

#Let the eyes receive the color and form which they are receiving without comment by the mind...

#Taste...

#Smell...

#Be fully here...

#Let sounds be recived as they come through the ears...

#Let them rise and fall as they will without comment of judgement of any kind...

#With the body completely relaxed, let the hearing run right out to the furthest and gentlest sounds, embracing all, and rest in the great awareness for a few moments.

In this exercise, you don't think about running but try to achieve a liberating calm, which, hopefully, will be transferred to your running.

On the other hand, mental training can be more directed--by setting up designated times in which to think constructively about your running. But in channeling your energy into such images, be careful not top bite off too much at once and deplete your emotional reservoir.

"We talk a lot about energy management," said Sean McCann, a U.S. Olympic Committee sports psychologist. "It involves an athlete's control over his event in terms of attitude, procedures, and so forth. It's very difficult to gain control a week before an event or even two or three days before. You find your energy draining away."

Learn to control your thoughts by practicing mental imagery at select times. Realize how the refined powers of the mind can make you a better runner, a fitter athlete, someone integrating life and sport to achieve transcendent harmony.

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Sidebar One: Integrative Training, Playing the Percentages

Following are recommended percentages of workout time to devote to each aspect of running and fitness...

Steady Distance Runs: 40 percent

Tempo Running: 15 percent

Speedwork: 5 percent

Cross-Training: 12 percent

Weight Training: 12 percent

Stretching/Yoga: 12 percent

Mental Training: 4 percent

Sidebar Two: Five Hours of Fitness, A Sample Training Week

Following is an ideal hypothetical weekly schedule based on five hours of workout time.

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun

1) Cross- 1) Tempo Run, 1) Recovery 1) Speed Day Off 1) Medium 1)Long

Training, 45 min Run, 20 min work, Run, 40 Run,

15-20 min 2) Weights, 2) Cross- 15 min min 60

2) Yoga, 15-20 min Training, 2) Weights min

30-40 min 15-20 min 15-20 min

BUY NOW! For more information on total fitness for body and mind, read Marc Bloom's books covering all aspects of health, fitness and training.