Tips on Running For Beginners

So you think you can’t run? You’ve always wanted to run but just never knew how to start or thought it was too difficult? Don’t let that stop you from lacing up your running shoes to hit the pavement or treadmill.

Running is known as one of the best cardiovascular exercises to burn calories, lose and maintain weight, and improve overall health, and the benefits outweigh the physical challenges that beginners may face when starting a running routine.

Here are running tips for beginners:

1. Get Fitted: Pay a visit to your local independent running store. Many provide gait analysis which reveals your foot strike pattern. Knowing this will determine whether you overpronate, underpronate or have a neutral gait which will help in selecting the best shoe for your foot type. Invest on your shoes!

2. Get Geared Up Right: Invest a little in some technical fabric running shorts, tops, and socks. Technical fabric can be made of a variety of fibers including natural (bamboo, smartwool) and synthetic (polyester, nylon, Lyrca) materials. Avoid 100 percent cotton. It tends to retain sweat causing chaffing, irritation, and even blisters. Technical fabrics allow the moisture to rise to the surface where it can evaporate. They still get damp, but not nearly as much as 100 percent cotton.

3. Get a Group: Motivation, inspiration, accountability, and commitment increase dramatically when you’re a part of a running group or at least have a running buddy. There are times when you don’t want to run, but if you know you have buddies counting on you, it can motivate you once again to continue. Check with your local running store. Many provide beginning running groups or know of running coaches in the area that work with beginning runners. Mentally, know that you can do it, if you see others can. If you continue to say “I’ll never be able to run” or “I can’t run,” then you won’t.Think the other way instead.

4. Get a Plan: Just getting out the door and running often does not work for many people, especially if you’ve been sedentary or away from exercise for any period of time. Find a beginning running plan to follow. There are beginning running programs online or you can contact a running club, or running coaches in the area to inquire about beginning running plans. One of the most effective ways to begin is with a run/walk method. With some new runners, they often begin with a 1-minute run/ 5-minute walk interval. They repeat the run/walk interval five times for a great 30-minute workout. Over the next 11 weeks, they gradually increase the running and decrease the walking portions of the intervals until the group is running 30 minutes with no walking.

Image credit: www.physio2fit.ne

5. Get Used to The Routine: Whenever you begin a new exercise, your body’s fitness level will actually experience a “valley” (getting frustrated, tired, discouraged, wanting to give up feelings, etc.) a little while you get accustomed to the new demands you’re putting on your body. This is when most new runners give up. There’s a new runner that said, “If I feel this tired, drained, and wiped out, what’s the point in running?” Understand before you take up running that it takes your body about four to six weeks to acclimate to the new demands. Anticipating that “wiped out feeling” can actually make it less of a shock. Just know that you’re going to feel the effects of your new activity. Expect it. Hang in there and before you know it, you’ll pull out of that “tiresome” point and begin to feel stronger than before you started. Another is, start slowly. Many new runners experience shin splints, pulled calf muscles, cramping quads, or sore hips from going out too fast or from doing too much too soon. Take it slow and ease into your new activity. Remember not to focus on speed, but instead, focus on your progress.

Source: sheknows.com, active.com
Image credit: sheknows.com