THE 12 GOLDEN RULES FOR NEW RUNNERS
Motivation
HAVE A GOAL Know and own your goal . If you think its straight in for a marathon training plan great ! But don’t take on someone else’s goal here in the early days. You will love it and reap rewards if you make the training achievable for the time you can devote to it.
Visualise it.
Imagine what you are wearing , who you are with , what benefits you will feel when reaching that goal. Visualisation is a proven success tool.
Choose a mantra.
When I first started running mine was relax and breathe or horse and jockey
(The jockey being the upper body relaxed in posture whilst the horse has the strength and power.)
Repeat and focus on breathing like you would during meditation .Calm the breath, relax the muscles and focus the mind…
Training
Follow a structured plan.
Its easy to lose heart just continuous training and not seeing progress, it can feel a chore same run,same tempo. Get a good plan that, shakes your tempo training. Intervals, sprints, hills, different routes.
Hold your speed back a little until you have your base training in the bag . A pound please for every beginner who goes out running off plan and feels FABULOUS , runs longer , faster, harder terrain on the fourth run and then finds a niggle in the knee.
So what should the increase be ?
A beginner runner should increase 10 per cent EITHER SPEED OR DISTANCE.
Ie; if you run 5 miles increase by 0.5 the next week. You are in it for a lifestyle change and if you train right you have more potential of breaking PB’S in long term on a grandeur scale .
Nutrition
EAT! If you don’t put fuel in your engine, it won’t go.
If weight loss is your agenda, you still must eat. And NOBODY here ever said don’t eat carbs.
Carbs are your friend so make sure you cut out the white to eat right. Porridge oats, sweet potatoes, root veg, brown rice, spelt bread Bananas, fruits.
For short beginner runs the isotonic drinks are not necessary, these come in after 1 hour runs and the homemade type are the very best.
DON’T forget that water bottle and always good to have some loose change in case you haven’t timed your eating right and need a supermarket dash.
Post workout. Aim to eat both carbs and protein within 30 minutes of finishing the workout to top up the glycogen stores . Handful of almonds and a banana is good , or a natural yoghurt and spoonful of seeds and oats .
If its a longer run then aim to eat a larger meal within a couple of hours after that.
Post Run Recovery
Keep the legs moving when you finish, don’t stop immediately, the blood may pool in the legs and create a fainting feeling or dizziness, cool down by keeping walking or gentle jog.
Stretch
Its important to stretch the body after workouts, to prevent injury, hold each major muscle stretch for 30 seconds.
Repair
Don’t forget to allow the muscles to repair by rest . As you become a more experienced runner you can increase the days if you wish but still try to get two days recovery in or you may find your target plateau’s and there is research to show that too much can reverse any benefits in health and weight loss.
IF IT FEELS GOOD DO IT!!
Running is a huge asset to have in the fitness tool bag .
A great stress buster
Has a great social scene, travelling to fun events all around the world.
All the family can run together if they have the ability.
During the course we cover the following
*Technique and equipment
*Common injuries and why
*Programming and exercise to prevent injury
*Hill running
*Road Running
*Cross Country
*Picking up the distance
*Speed Interval sessions
*Q and A how is the training going
*A 5/10k Fun Run
*Fartlek training
Come and join the fun.
The next course in Lichfield is October 2021