Please hop over to the Questions for Deb category and ASK me anything. I'm dropping it in the General Discussion category for now to make sure everyone sees it. : )

Welcome to the Village! I want to make sure you get the greatest possible benefit from this group. PleaseI start by introducing yourself, and then, stop in every day and make many friends. I promise to log in every day to keep an eye out for questions. On this wall, I can only answer questions that can be answered, briefly, but if you are a premium member, which will be just $12 a month until the end of the year, we will have a Beginner Dinner live Zoom call once a month, on the second Thursday, for you to ask any questions. You'll be mainly using one or two areas of this Skool group. You'll be mainly focusing on the discussion on this wall, and as you can see, there is already a Breathing Easily Masterclass. If you are in the premium tier, you'll spend an equal amount of time in the Classroom, and of course, participate in the monthly Beginner Dinner Building friendships with other runners will enhance every part of your running journey. I am super happy to have you here! How to use Discussion Categories: • QUESTIONS for Deb: The place to ask two types of questions. One, brief questions I can answer in a couple of sentences. Two, longer questions I can answer in the monthly Beginner Dinner for premium members. For these, start with "This is for this month's Beginner Dinner (Live Q & A.)" • ANNOUNCEMENTS: These will be announcements from me. • INSPIRATION: This is where you - or I - post anything we believe will be inspiring to the members of this community, whether it be a milestone you reached, a motivational quote, or an article. • PODCASTS: This is where I'll link to each episode when it goes live. • EXERCISES and DRILLS: I'll share the ones I feel are most important and most appropriate for beginners

Virtually all beginner runners report struggling to breathe, which makes perfect sense because any running is intense for anyone not accustomed to it, but over the years, I've discovered a way to make running much easier, even in the first few weeks. The secret is taking quick, tiny steps. We call this high cadence, but that's just part of what makes my program easier. There are four parts: 1. High cadence 2. Only running for the duration that is appropriate for your current fitness. 3. Keeping the duration of the entire workout within what is appropriate for your current fitness. 4. Progressing extremely gradually over a period of months, not weeks. 5. The diagnostic test will help with #2 and #3, and for those registering for my premium program, there will be a specific schedule with every day's workout prescribed. However, you can certainly determine this on your own. Using my schedule will likely provide reassurance. Now, more on cadence: Start with running in place. You want to aim for 170 steps per minute. Download a metronome phone app and set it to beep 170 times per minute. 180 is considered ideal, but it'll be easy to move up to that, later. Alternatively, you may want to set your app to half that and only count every other step. Either is fine. I've attached two videos to help with mastering cadence. In the second video, the man, Scott, a member of my local group, has his metronome beeping at 90, because he's counting every other step.