Seeing someone running across the street or in the park can often be both a challenge and motivation. You might even decide to get on the road and start your own series of running training. Also, considering this pandemic period in which people have gained excessive weight, running can be effective in reducing their weight and keeping them in shape and fit. But just because you want to exercise your body and have a fitness goal does not mean you show hit the track immediately.
Getting started running needs an effective plan and goal that you want to achieve in the speculated period of your running training. Well, to some people, planning or setting routines for your first run can sound silly. But this is needed to achieve your goal without getting frustrated and end up quitting.
In this guide, we will break down things you need to have a fantastic running session that will lead to a productive result, precautions, and safety to avoid getting injured or stressing muscle hard.
But before we dive into the tips to have a successful running session, we will do some provide some backgrounds on running itself
Why do people run? Are there benefits to this?
Running is an exercise done by different people either causally for their physical fitness, social or mental purposes. It is one of the most effective ways to burn calories within the body and build cardiovascular endurance. Running as a lot of benefits like reducing stress, relieving anxiety, and boosting the body’s immune system.
Running also is the cheapest form of exercising because you do not need any expensive equipment to get started and you can do it anywhere. It can never be too late to run even if you are in your 50s, 60s, and even 70s.
Getting started
It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, but before you start running, you need to do this following thing to start off on the right foot.
Be Medical cleared
It is essential you consult your doctor, especially for people with underline breathing aliment, e.g., Asthma before you engage in any running session. This will help to certify you and help you to take precautions on what you need to do and not do.
Get a fitting and comfortable running shoe
Once you have been cleared by your medical examination, you can go ahead to get your running shoe. It is essential to get a shoe that fits your leg type and comfortable for running. Have a bad shoe for running will cause a series of injuries to your feet and can even lead to footsore. If you have difficulty in finding the perfect to running and shoe fits your leg, you can visit a specialty running store. You can also check out running gears such as running shorts, tops, etc.
Keep your body from injury
Ensure you avoid any means of getting injured during your running sessions. You can begin with a warm-up before start running. You can walk or do any easy job for 5 to 10 minutes; after this, you can decide to increase to the intensity gradually. You can also add dynamic warm-ups such as stretches or running drills.
You must also ensure you follow safety rules, such as going against traffic rules while running on the road. To avoid an awkward situation, you should go out with your identity verification card in case you are cut up in an unplanned event or accident. Always think of your safety first above any other.
Combine running and walking program
Once you have covered a long distance, you can take a break by walking. This is important for new runners because this technique helps in building endurance with less stress on the joints. You can run for 10 minutes and also walk for 10 minutes, then you can gradually increase the pace until you are comfortable and can probably increase more and make switches between running and walking.
Don’t work yourself too hard
Your workout session may be tough and challenging at first, but they shouldn’t be so rough that you never want to run again. Keep a relaxed, conversational pace during each workout. Slow down if you can’t speak in full sentences. You can try and talk to yourself while running. Ensure you breathe through your mouth and nose to get all the oxygen your body needed.
After each running session, you can cool down by doing easy jogging or walking and do some simple stretch; this will help avoid muscle tightening.
Choose a workout plan
There are a lot of workout plans available online, but you must have this the back of your mind that any plan you are going to adapt to or choose should be a simple plan, not a complex plan because you are just a beginner runner. You can stick to this basic formula:
- Train for three days in a week
- Do a run/walk for about 20 to 30 minutes, it can be two days in a week
- Take a longer run or run/walk (40 minutes to an hour) on the weekend
- On your off days, you can cross-train or rest
- Run at a steady and conversational pace
Don’t be discouraged
There are times when new runners get frustrated and might consider quitting. Yes, many people experience this, maybe because they had high expectations, and they didn’t achieve these goals in the speculated time they had; as a result, they got tired and frustrated. When you feel this way, always remember these quotes by Meyer “Whenever I’m in the middle of a really hard workout, I remember, ‘You chose this, and you really love this.” And “Even when it gets hard, there’s a reason you got out in the first place.” Even at a tough time, don’t get discouraged, enjoy the pain, do it while smile, no matter the sweat or pain, always remember you an end goal. If you noticed there is no improvement, get yourself to be sure you are doing the right things. Remember that Rome was not built in a day, keep on, don’t stop, and don’t get discouraged. You are just a few steps to achieving your goals.
