My Experience as a New Runner
My Background
I’ve never been a runner, or someone who even likes to run, but the people that do enjoy it have always fascinated me. I’ve been working out since I was in high school an doing cardio on a Stairmaster for a few years. I’ve sprinkled in other cardio too such as uphill walking and hiking but running has never been something that I thought I could get into. So, for me I’ve always considered that I was someone who was “in shape” but I still couldn’t run like the people I saw online doing 8 mile runs in the morning.
Why Running Never Stuck For Me
I’ve tried running some before, but I could never do it consistently for over a month. My key issues were injury, I would usually start feeling some hip pain and that would prevent me from running. I tried stretching more and foam rolling but those would never help. I could never figure out what was causing the issue and that made me frustrated so I would just give up and go back to my regular gym workouts.
My Past Mistakes
In the past I compared myself too much to others in the running space. I cannot even express how wrong this is, do not compare yourself to others. Where you start is going to be different than me, everyone has their own running journey don’t get hung up on trying to do the same things you see other people doing online. Try to learn the proper form and just get out there, don’t worry about speed or how long your running at first, those things you can incorporate later.
The start of my running journey
Around the start of June, I decided that I wanted to give running another go but this time I was not going to stop strength training. Strength training is something I’ve done since I was around fourteen and it’s not something I’m willing to stop altogether but I think doing both at once will have its benefits.
I wanted to get started in running but I didn’t really know where to begin. So, what I decided to do was to get some running shoes and just start running. I wasn’t focused on distance at first, I just wanted to be outside and get some time on my feet. I did that for about 3 weeks and now I’ve started looking at how fast I’m running and thinking about improving. So far, I’ve been running 3-4 miles when I go out for runs. I’m going to start incorporating shorter higher heart rate workouts as well to improve my anaerobic threshold. If you want to learn more about those terms more information can be found here , but the short of it is that anaerobic exercise is short intense bursts of work while aerobic exercise is at a lower heart rate more “endurance” activities.
What I’m Doing Different
This time I’ve realized just how much my body can take before I start to feel aches and pains. As someone who hasn’t regularly run before it’s easy to over train and put too much stress on your body. Doing this will discourage you from running because you feel aches sometimes days after running. For me, the solution has been keeping track of the number of miles I’ve been running each week and not running more than 10% more in the next week. It’s a slow process and I’m still in the middle of it. It’s hard to see how someone could log thirty miles in one week when you’re stuck at 10. If there’s one thing, I’m confident in, though, it’s that hard work will yield results.
I’ve also changed my running form slightly as well. I used to run with a heel-strike and because of hip pain I have transitioned to a running style that is more on the forefoot/mid-foot so I’m not striking my heel on each step. This is the recommended form from every runner I have talked to and if you’re running with a heel strike, I highly recommend you start transitioning into a heel-strike style of running.
I’m going to keep posting about my journey as I start running and the things I learn. Also, if you’re interested in my running distances you can follow me on Strava