Running clinic steps up Airmens performance

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Montse Ramirez
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  A running clinic at the Health and Wellness Center here was recently held to help individuals increase their run performance both physiologically and mechanically ultimately helping Airmen achieve better scores on their physical training test.

"The running clinic educates Airmen on how to run more efficiently, which helps them improve their time on PT tests," said Dr. Nita Hawk, 509th Medical Operations Squadron, Installation Fitness Program Manager.

Not only does the clinic help Airmen improve their running technique, it also informs them of ways to be healthier, and shows them "how to."

Nathan Berkley, 509th MDOS health and wellness intern, who cunducts the running clinic, said he was curious to see how people coming to the clinic were running in order to specifically show them how to improve instead of just telling them what to do.

"I tell Airmen why doing a functional warm up is critical, and I walk them through and show them how it speeds up their performance time, and helps prevent injuries," said Mr. Berkley.
"With the new PT minimum, people would need to perform better than what they were, in order to do well with the new standard."

The running clinic informs individuals about different aspects that contribute to the way they run aiding improvement. Some factors for running are the rotation of the person's foot, posture, shoe selection depending on what kind of support you need and what surface the runner is on.

"People usually don't take into consideration all these factors," said Mr. Berkley while nodding his head. "They just go out and buy the cutest shoe they can buy and end up messing themselves up."

So far, the clinic has seen 133 participants, and of those runners there has been a decrease of one minute thirty three seconds in their run time, helping Airmen become more fit and knowledgeable to develop into a more efficient athlete and therefore perform better on the PT test.

"The running clinic helped me a lot as far as picking the right shoe and I learned a lot of good information about running," said Airman Menno Gingerich. "Now, I just have to practice what I learned. I would recommend it to anyone."

The running clinic, along with Mr. Berkley is available by appointment only for military ID holders interested in improving their athletic skills.

"With the running clinic, we can get this knowledge out to the base population more readily and effectively and it will make us more fit to fight," said Mr. Berkley. "Strong Airmen are harder to kill."

For more information or an appointment, call the HAWC (660) 687- 7662