Beginner’s Guide to Distance Running – Day 2/3 – Lace Up Those Shoes!

If you missed the first article in the series: Beginner’s Guide to Distance Running Training – Day 1/3

This is the second article out of the three article series where we’re going to focus on The Beginner’s Guide to Distance Running. In the first article of the beginner’s series, we dove head first into the importance of planning and goal setting, the clothes and shoes you must have and finding a plan that suits who you are as a runner. Remember, this is all before even lacing up your shoes

You might be thinking, “Man, all this preparation just to do a simple task as running? Wow!” At this point you need to take this process as a building block and realize that you are instantly setting yourself up for long term success. Now, that you the goal in place, know what you’re going to be wearing and have a solid plan that you are ready to commit to; we can now hit the pavement!

Warming Up and Stretching

This component alone has to be one of the most underrated components for all of running. Think about stretching like this:

QUOTE: “It’s the peak of winter and there is 5 inches of snow over your hood. You haven’t drove the car around for a couple of days, but you now start it up and decide, “screw it, im only going around the block”. So, you head over to your destination WITHOUT WARMING THE CAR UP.”

At this point, all I can say is I hope your warranty is still in check. But seriously, the same way you wouldn’t start up a cold car and leave, you don’t want to be doing that to your body either. It really doesn’t matter which part of the day you train, you definitely need a pre-run warm up and stretching routine.

photo credit: adropp

Beginner’s Pre-Run Routine:

1. Perform light exercises that will increase your heart rate and warm up your body. These activities can be running on a treadmill, brisk walking, jumping jacks, skipping, etc. The point here is to warm up the muscles and the connective tissue. You want to do the specific activity for 5-10 minutes.
2. Now that your body is warm, your muscles are ready to be stretched without any kinks, or likeliness to aches or injuries. There are two types of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretches are where a muscle is isolated and the position is held. Dynamic stretches are targeting muscles but the stretch is through continuous moving. Note that during stretches you MUST be breathing at all times. The first time I heard it I brushed it off but then I started to monitor my breathing during stretches. I realized that I breathed a shallow breath which prevented a deeper stretch.

There are many, many stretches that you can perform, but here is a short list to get you started:

Static Stretches

1. 1. Head Circles: Tilt your head to the right where right ear is close to the right shoulder. Hold position for 3 seconds, inhale. Then, exhale as you roll your from your right shoulder past your chest and to the left shoulder. Do this 6 times in total (3 stretches on each side). Note that you need to keep your neck relaxed for this stretch to be effective.
   2. Quadriceps Stretch: Stand erect and use the wall if you need support. With your right hand and right leg bent towards your bum, pull on your feet to feel the stretch in your thigh area. This stretch is great if you hold the stretch for 10 seconds each side.
   3. Iliotibial Band Stretch: sit on the floor with your posture erect. Bend your right leg and place it to the left of the left knee. Turn your upper body to the right looking away while your right hand supports your body. Use your shoulders to drive your upper body more to the right while using your left hand on your right knee to further stretch out. Note that brething deeply will help the stretch so stay relaxed (calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean)

Dynamic Stretches

1. Arm Circles: Place both arms out and move them in a circular motion. It is critical that you keep your neck relaxed or you might do harm than any good. Do 20 rotations with each arm and then switch to the other direction for another 20 rotations.
2. Lunges: Step forward with your right leg where your quadriceps (thighs) are parallel to the floor and your left leg is perpendicular to the floor in the shape of an “L”. Take 20 steps in total where you might have to turn in the other direction when you run out of wall. Note that you need to take these steps while holding the position for a second and maintaining stability.

Pacing Yourself

Now that you are warmed up, stretched out and feeling absolutely fantastic, you are ready to get out there! The first time you get out there is really to gauge and understand how well your body is conditioned; this will play a key role in the effectiveness of your plan that you chose in the first article of this series. If you know that you can’t run continually for 20 minutes, don’t start your first workout with running. Start by walking briskly and speeding up as you get more comfortable with walking for longer distance. Remember keep a water bottle on you or that will be just one more reason to get back home and throw yourself on the couch.

As a beginner, you realize that you can’t run the time period mentioned in your plan, don’t worry. You can take advantage of a method call walk-run by Jeff Galloway. The method is really straight forward and I actually used this as a kid, without knowing it, when playing cops and robbers (2 hrs of that game is very taxing on a young soul ;) The way you perform walk-run is that you walk the majority of the time but run for short intervals. For example, if you are running for 10 minutes, you can start by walking for 4 minutes and running for one minute. The point you want to reach is running for a straight 30 minutes without stopping. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!

The reasoning for this is it allows new runners to ease into running rather than shocking them mentally and physically with an intense amount of pressure. Eventually, you will start running for two minutes and walking for 30 seconds and keep working up to brisk running with no problem.

Just Enjoy It!

Don’t take yourself so seriously. Setting goals and using plans are great but these are in place for motivation and a sense of direction. If you accomplish them, GREAT! If you don’t accomplish them, that’s ok but reflect on what you could have done better. For example: managing your time, putting your shoes so you trip over them and remember to run or asking a friend to come along.

The best thing you can do for yourself is find friends who have the same desire and motivation as you do to lose the weight or compete for the 5k. This is huge because not only did you instantly create your support group but now you have no reason to be bored during your workouts.

For fun and to keep things fresh, have little challenges and bets. What I do to keep me motivated is that if I don’t show up for a run, I have to buy each runner I train with a meal next time we go out. Or if you’re a betting kind guy or gal, you can put some money on it. Hey, whatever floats your boat. You need to have fun while you accomplish your goals and with friends, workouts will go by like nothing.

To summarize, you now know the importance of warming up and stretching and how to do the pre-run routine. You understand the how you need to pace yourself and know you got to enjoy the journey you just embarked on to achieve the goals you set out in the first article.

I really want you to take advantage of this series so quickly consume this content and just get out there. Once you get out there and starting walking and running, you will feel better because now you know that you just took the right step in the direction of success.

Your Task: comment below and let everyone know: how your warm up and stretch go? did you have any troubles running and pacing yourself?  and lastly, did friends help your running? what about the challenges you put in place?