Fitness can be a minefield, especially when you’re starting out. Before you lace up your first pair of running shoes, you’d think that there’d be nothing more to running wellness than throwing on your trainers and running, but that isn’t the case. There are hundreds of tips and tricks out there to get the most out of your performance, as well as guarding your wellbeing against injuries. However, before you go crazy trying to find them, you need look no further than below this paragraph! Here are the best tips we could find for running beginners:
1. Take up the challenge: According to runner and writer Dr. George Sheehan, ‘Everyone is an athlete. But some of us are training, and some of us are not.’ If you decide to take up running, actually get out there and run! Motivating yourself to do the first few runs is hard, but once you catch the bug it will get much easier to make yourself run.
2. Get the heart benefits: Aerobics pionner Dr. Kenneth Cooper notes, ‘Running eight to 15 miles per week significantly increases your aerobic capacity, and positively affects many of the coronary risk factors.’
3. Work on your minutes, not your miles: ‘The biggest mistake that new runners make is that they tend to think in mile increments – one mile, two miles, three miles,’ says Budd Coates, four-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier/coach. ‘Beginning runners need to think in minutes, not miles.’
4. Wear good running shoes: ‘Spend at least $60,’ instructs John Hanc, author of The Essential Runner. ‘A good pair of running shoes should last you 400 to 500 miles and is one of the most critical purchases you will make.’ Ted Corbitt, ultrarunner and 1952 Olympic marathoner, adds, ‘Buy all shoes, both street and running, slightly longer and wider than your bigger foot. Also, avoid pointed shoes. You’ll save yourself needless foot pain.’
5. Let your body dictate your diet: Joan Samuelson, 1984 Olympic marathon champion, enthuses, ‘If you feel like eating, eat. Let your body tell you what it wants.’
6. Keep it loose: Exercise physiologist Dave Martin, PhD, advises, ‘When running, let your jaw hang loose, don’t bunch up your shoulders close to your ears, and occasionally shake out your hands and arms to stay relaxed.’
7. Every little helps: ‘So-called ‘junk miles’ – those slow miles done on easy days or during warm-ups – do count,’ asserts runner and coach Hal Higdon. ‘They burn calories as effectively as fast miles; it just takes longer. Regardless of pace, each mile you run burns about 100 calories.’
8. Learn from your mistakes: Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to break four minutes for the mile in 1954, recalls, ‘You find out by trial and error what the optimum level of training is. If I found I was training too hard, I would drop back for a day or so. I didn’t run for five days before the sub-four.’
9. Don’t follow ALL the rules: ‘In training, don’t be afraid to be an oddball, eccentric, or extremist,’ Benji Durden, 1980 US Olympic marathoner, comments. ‘Only by daring to go against tradition can new ways of training be learned. The trick is recognising quickly when a new approach is counterproductive.’
10. Grab fast, low-fat fuel: ‘Energy bars are good portable food for runners,’ says sports nutritionist Liz Applegate, PhD. ‘Look for bars with four grams of fat or fewer per 230 calories. Fat slows down digestion.’
11. Get a goal and go for it: Bob Greene, personal trainer of Oprah Winfrey, explains, ‘I believe in using races as motivators. It’s hard to keep on an exercise programme if you don’t have a significant goal in sight.’
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