Running 1 on 1 - basics

It looks very easy: you put on your running shoes (even that is questionable) or at least whatever kind of sneakers you have, you go out and you start running... and it is fine, if it is once per week or few times in a month but as it happen, a lot of us get “runners’ disease” and then stuff can get little complicated... So if you are falling in love with running, this is the basic stuff you should know about it (talking from my own experience), in order to do it properly and hopefully not get injured.
Don’t worry, I’ve been there (and back) so you don’t have to! :)


1.    Listen to your body! NOT to your mind. Mind has this nasty habit of playing tricks on you: whether it’s telling you that you can’t do it, whether it‘s telling you that you can! However, your body has, maybe, something to say about this matter also, so try to pay attention. Otherwise, you could end up in the bush by the road.

2.    Go get yourself good running shoes. They don’t have to be expensive. The most important thing is that they work for you! Try them on in the store. If you have opportunity try to run in them (the treadmill is just fine and a lot of running stores have one of these for this purpose exactly). When you find shoes that work for you, you will know. They will feel almost like you have nothing on your feet, but at the same time you are not barefoot. It is almost like finding the love of your life - you just know when it is the real thing!!! Same with the shoes. When you put them on and they feel like you have put two “souls of baby panda” on your feet, then you know you’ve got a perfect pair. Try to get them in fluorescent yellow colour. Because it is the best colour in the universe for runners! (check the post: Becoming a Runner) :)

3.    I was obsessed about proper running form, cadence, vertical oscillation, ground contact time, posture, where my feet are landing, and every little thing that was going on when I started to run. Don’t do that! Just relax. Try to run as softly as possible (especially when your foot strikes the ground) and try not to over stride too much (try to land your feet below your hips) and don’t slouch (stand upright). In my experience something that works for me might not work for somebody else. Try to find your “sweet spot” where it feels best for you and you don’t have the pains and the aches after running (no more than it is normal). Chances are you won’t pull this off at once so try different things until you find what works best for YOU! And always keep in mind that most of us are just amateur runners and it is very difficult to have perfect running form or cadence considering the speed we develop or the strength we have.

4.    You WILL want to go fast, both when training and when racing! You will want to go fast all the time! It is the fact. The lure of the speed is inevitable. DO. NOT. DO. THIS. The speed will come when you get the aerobic capacity. And to get the aerobic capacity you have to have dozens of miles in your feet and this is not done by speed training. It is done by gradually increasing your weekly millage and you can do that only by running easy to moderate pace. If you have too many speed session you will burn out and/or over train (happened to me). That being said, my advice is to do one speed workout a week just to feel the high, the sweet taste of running as a pro and the sound of the wind in your ears as you are going fast…VICTORY, that’s what that is… :)

5.    Try to get a heart rate monitor. You can get them cheap these days. Let’s face it, you want always listen to your body (check #1) and heart rate monitors will tell you when you are being an idiot and should pull yourself together and stop rampaging around.

6.    While you run try measuring the time and the effort instead of pace. The pace can be misleading and is dependent on lots of factors. It can lead you to going too fast and not listening to your body and that will lead you to bad stuff from #4.

7.    Be patient! All god things come to those who wait. It will just take a little more than you would like.

8.    Try to socialize with your fellow runners, either in your training group or with other runners on your route. Runners are mostly great bunch of people and you will have inexhaustible topics for conversation (all about running!).

9.    Invest in some gear. It will make you happy and you will feel like you know what you are doing. Side effects: you will likely go like this: ‘People, move it, professional coming through! I have these super ultra-cool new socks! Out of my waaaay!!!’

10.    After you have been training for few months, go and sign up for a race (1k, 1 mile, 2 miles, 3 miles, 5 k… (Don’t do a marathon!)). It is good for your soul. Even if you are not the type for races and no matter how slow you think you are, go and do it. And when you do, you will know what I am talking about. And the speed, sweet wonderful speed. :)


P.S. Just to be clear, let me just say that I have not listened to or applied ANY of these advices when I first started running… sure, I knew some of these things but I thought that the rules don’t apply to me.  I was thinking I can do EVERYTHING from day 1, I was overthinking, I wanted to go as fast as I could (and even faster than my body could handle), I didn’t monitor my heart rate and wanted to run the marathon immediately (didn’t happen so far, since I got smarter on the way :) ) so I got over trained… However, going through all of these situations made me realize what I did wrong and I am happy to share this with you! So my advice is again, take your time or better yet, give your body some time to adapt and it will serve you well. Ironically, in running, you can’t rush things.

Training for Marathon - intro

OK so this is the story:

4 weeks ago I decided to start training for (hopefully) my very first marathon. After a lot of searching for the perfect location and date of the race, the decision was set for the marathon in my hometown, which is scheduled on 12.10.2014. So I have less than 5 months from now. 

Till now, the longest distance I have run was 14 miles (23 km). I also ran two half marathon races and 4 more in training. 

Of course it wouldn't be fun to just download some training plan from web so I made my own. I put all of the thing's I know into this plan:

• Starting with my basic weekly mileage (25-30 miles)
• Increase gradually (10% rule)
• Every 4 weeks - easy week
• Most of my training is made up of easy runs to build up my mileage and aerobic capacity and decrease the risk of injury (running in 3rd aerobic HR zone) with one fast workout per week and every other week part of my long run (20-30 minutes) is in tempo zone
• Doing strength training for legs and core 2-3 times per week
• 2 times per week cross training (cycling mostly)
• Running by time and effort level (using HR on my watch) and not by pace (I had one 'funny' episode with training by pace for my first half marathon called over training, apparently there is such thing as to soon to fast, who would have guessed ;) and that is what happens when you are being a smart ass and think that rules don't apply to you)

Oh and for those of you who are wondering, I started running on 23.07.2013. And I am 35 years old. I know that you should consider marathon distance only if you have at least 1-2 years of experience in running but as I already stated, I am bit of maniac for running and hopefully everything will be OK. So, challenge accepted!

Summary of week 3 was:

Running time of 4:20:08

Distance : 25,5 miles (41km)

Summary of week 4 was (easy week):

Running time 3:20:42 (I had one 5k race that wasn't in my training plan)

Distance: 20,5 miles (33 km)

Plan for week 5 is:

Running time of 4:40:00

Distance : ? (Depends on heart rate and effort level)

So I will keep you posted how it's going

:)

10 most important things about running

1. run!
2. be patient
3. you will become fast by running slow
4. run in races (no matter how slow)
5. get at least 2 pair of running shoes
6. cross train
7. make friends (runners are usually a great company)
8. don't forget to enjoy (no matter how hard it is)
9. run in the rain & in the middle of the night (not at the same time!)
10. get at least one florescent yellow piece of gear!!! :)

Becoming a runner

Run

Run!!

RUN!!!!!

Well, I think this is the best description of my feelings regarding running…  Imagine a dog running through the field on a sunny day without any thought on his mind, besides this one: I AM RUUUUUUNNIIIING!!! :) OK, now try to transmit that feeling in more or less every moment during the day and don’t forget the dreams too (seriously, I dream to run... :/ ). Adding that will give you a clear picture about the situation in the runners’ minds. When we do not run then, we think about how it was to run or will be to run and we count down the time left before the next run, training, race, coffee with people who run where we will talk about the running or anything associated with the running; for example, going to the running gear store, even though we have everything we need and what we could need for a year or two in advance and, although we have been in the store two days ago, we go there just to see if they got something new, or something which we miraculously missed in the last three-hour tour in the store or we just go to sniff the new running shoes (one of the best smells in the world! It’s a fact! Try to buy new running shoes, open the box and smell it… It smells like VICTORY!!). OK, to finish the small digression I have just made, I believe you now understand what I'm trying to say…

Admittedly, there are people who do not run or they do something else which is not related to the world's most wonderful activity (namely, RUNNING!, if you haven’t been attentive enough so far). However, I’m not interested in them, nor they are in me. We stare at each other with complete lack of understanding, and wonder what’s wrong with the other one...
“You run? And you do not have to? Why??? “
Or: “ You do not run??? Well what else could you do in your life that could be remotely interesting as running? What???”

To clarify the situation more (in case I have been so far unclear), my opinion (more or less) on this issue is the following: RUNNING IS LIFE! LIFE IS RUNNING! There is no why’s, what’s and how’s or other nonsense to be asked. There is no explanation. There is no reason. There are no answers. It. Is. A. Simple. Dogmatic. Fact. There is no need for empirical evidence when you have THE one commandment carved in the stone. THOU SHALT RUN! That's it. Ask any runner and he or she will nod in complete understanding. And that's a fact. 100%. 110%.

This, however, is not something that happens at once. There is no love at first sight. You do not go for a run for the very first time and you know that that is it and you love it until the end of your life… In fact, I would describe it more as a slow descent into the abyss. In fact, free fall into the madness suits it better (in a positive sense, of course, if there is one when it comes to madness). That is what happened to me. Before I started to run, I would be the first one saying that there is no chance whatsoever for me to wear a fluorescent yellow T-shirts, colorful sneakers (OK, sneakers are fluorescent yellow as well, cause I have a “problem” with fluorescent yellow stuff), running tights and to have more than two pairs of sneakers or that I will wear a watch (now I wear a running watch, even when I do not run). And then suddenly,  it’s normal  to have 7-8 pairs of running shoes, 15 running T-shirts (only 4 fluorescent yellow unfortunately) :( , thinner wind jacket, thicker wind jacket, fluorescent yellow wind jacket! :), black vest , fluorescent yellow vest! Yaayy! :) :)  5 pairs of tech socks, compression socks, running watch, a bunch of running waist bags (you can never have too much of those) and a bunch of other things we, the runners, need... It becomes normal for you to sleep in a sponsor race T-shirt, wear  running t-shirts during the day, walk in running shoes as it is generally acceptable dress code in all situations etc...

The process of “free fall” took four months in my case. It went little by little: you start to run small distances and then you run a little bit more, and then you start needing running shoes, and t-shirts, and this and that, and then you run your first 5k on one summer night at 1:30 A.M. and, out of pure happiness, you start jumping up and down like a maniac (because that is what you already are, but you have not yet realized – you are a RUNNING MANIAC :) ) because you are able to run a 5k! And it took you a bit more than 33 minutes and everybody knows that that is the fastest it can be… It is impossible to run 5k faster than that, scientifically proven, definite! I mean, you almost died… But then when you see that you can, it starts: 10k… half marathon… marathon… ultra-marathon…  super ultra-marathon…  here I come!!! And somewhere in the process you become addicted to all the stuff listed above (especially fluorescent yellow stuff which for sure triggers a certain chemical in my brain when I see it, so I can’t help it, it’s a medical condition). The process is very contagious and you can easily “catch it”... You hardly blink and you are already looking at life with your runner’s eyes, and when that happens, it is very difficult to explain why this is so, you just take it for granted, you stop thinking and become a RUNNER.