Welcome to my training site on running injury-free. The site gives tips and suggestions to the thousands of recreational runners, joggers, andwalkers who aren't overly concerned with how fast they can finish a race but who want to run without injury and enjoy it. Because my muscles are 200% slow twitch, I can't play basketball and other quick-action sports very well. I can run, though, because my body is able to get into a rhythm and do it for long periods of time, and I've enjoyed running for 38 years. I'm not a sprinter, and I enjoy running long distance. I've created this site to pass on running tips and lessons that I've learned from my experiences, from my reading of the running literature, and from talking with other runners, so that you too can run injury-freeand enjoy it!
There are three ways to navigate the site. The first two methods use the right sidebar.
From the Categories of Posts, click on the category that contains the page you want to read. Then scroll through the pages in that category.
Use the links in the Blog Archive to go directly to the page. The pages are organized in the following categories, in this order: Planning, Training, Health, Injuries, Clothes, Miscellaneous.
Scroll down the page and use the Older Posts and Newer Posts links to bring in older or newer pages.
While you're here please feel free to post comments to appropriate posts asking or answering questions or sharing your experiences in running.
If you're interested in seeing how an old guy trains and runs, take a look at my blog. I hope eventually to run marathons again, but for now I'm focusing on running for enjoyment as I slowly increase my distance towards 26.2 I'm also hoping to run one half-marathon and one or two 5Ks each year.
Whether you're here for the first time or have come back for another visit, here are new pages and significant changes that have recently been made to the site. The most recent changes are at the top.
Recently completed your first race? Won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in your age group? You've lost weight from running? You've done something you never thought you'd do -- run? Let us all celebrate with you! Tell us about your successes.
I think everyone has a problem in keeping motivated to run. It is easy to not run during times of bad weather, holidays, or times of personal problems, and then we feel guilty for not running. Here are examples of how I keep myself motivated.
I don't do a lot of racing, so my goals are mostly in other aspects of running. Racing goals wouldn't be achieved for several months, and I need goals for each run. So, I focus on short-term goals, things I can accomplish this week or next week.
For example, a year ago South Jordan City (Utah) started construction on a new leg of the Jordan River Parkway where I run. It is a 0.75 mile leg that goes north to the border of West Jordan City. I enjoyed watching the construction of the path and talking with the guys doing the work. That gave me goals for about four months. I looked forward to watching them carve a new path, compact the dirt, lay plastic on the dirt, put road-base on the path and compact it, and finally lay about 6 inches of asphalt on the road-base. I was interested to learn from one of the workers that they sprayed weed killer on the dirt before they laid the plastic. He said weeds will come up through the plastic and the asphalt if they don't spray the ground. After they finished with the asphalt, I enjoyed watching them put in a wire fence along portions of the path that had horses.
After the construction workers left, I learned that the wire fence would be replaced, because it wasn't strong enough to keep the horses from getting on the path. So, I enjoyed watching a different guy put in a better fence. I was particularly interested in how he could put the fence posts in cement in the middle of the winter. It was interesting to learn that he had a machine that held a roll of chain link fencing and placed the fencing along the path. Many years ago, I had a part-time job one summer moving rolls of chain link fencing from box cars to storage in a building, and I know how heavy those rolls of fencing can be (200 - 300 pounds). I thought it interesting that the second guy put his fencing in places where the other fencing wasn't put. Then I began to wonder about the taxpayers of South Jordan City. Did they end up paying twice for the fencing, or did the first company lose money because their fencing wasn't good enough. Did their contract with the city specify exactly the type of fence to be installed, or was it left to the judgment of the contractor. Did the city talk with the land owners before the city purchased the land for the path to find out what kind of fence was needed?
For the past couple of years, someone has been moving dirt in one of the fields bordering the new leg of the Jordan River Parkway. I could hear the heavy equipment being used to move the dirt, but I couldn't see that any progress was being made. Finally, this fall I could see that progress was being made. I had the chance to talk with the land owner a couple of weeks ago, and he said he is preparing the land for the construction of a subdivision of new houses. Lately he has been moving big rocks to make a rock wall along the border of the Jordan River Parkway. At first I thought he was building a rock wall for landscaping, but I noticed yesterday that he is filling in dirt up to the top of the wall. Since his land is in the flood plain of the river, I realized he is raising the level of his land about three feet and is using the rock wall to prevent the dirt from being washed away during a flood. People who live in his houses won't see the rock wall, but I see the wall as I run past it, and it looks nice.
This fall I saw a big Heron in the Jordan River. It just stood there and didn't move much. I saw it on quite a few different days. That was interesting because I had never seen a Heron before. I haven't seen it lately, and I wonder if it went south for the winter. I also wonder how it could stand for long periods of time in cold water. Ducks have soft feathers (down) that helps insulate them when they swim, but the Heron just has bare legs. Most of the birds in the river are ducks, but this fall I've seen quite a few American Coots. The most popular posts in this blog are about black ducks that I've seen. Some of them are Coots, but some are different. Quite a few people have found my posts via Google in my oldmanrunning blog and have commented that they, too, have seen mysterious black ducks.
A year ago, I saw a black and white rabbit near the river. Someone had apparently turned the rabbit lose. I enjoyed seeing the rabbit a few times, but I haven't seen it this year. So, I wonder what happened to it. Maybe a fox got it; I have seen a red fox on the path a few times. If you go to my oldmanrunning blog and click on the wildlife label, you can read about the birds and animals that I've seen during the six years I've kept that blog. In fact, the blog itself has helped me get out running, since I've gone public with my running and have to "keep up my public image" so to speak.
I have a lot of short-term goals related to my running. I began 2009 running about 20-22 miles per week, including a long run of 10 miles and a medium run of 7 miles and a rest run of 5 miles. Then in mid January I was attacked by blood clots. I went from a 7 mile run on a Saturday to only being able to walk 100 feet on Monday. My progress in getting back to my former distance has taken a lot more time than I expected. It has been almost 10 months, and my weekly distance is only up to about 10 miles, including my longest run, so far, of 4 miles. So, I'm busy with my weekly goals in inching forward in distance. There is a local 5K race in June that I've run twice (a 2nd and then a 1st in my age group). I missed it in 2009 because of the blood clots. I wonder if I'll be able to run it in 2010. I should be able to do the distance OK, but I may not be very fast. But that's OK. When you get to be my age, you're less concerned about speed and are happy to "just do it".
One of the things I'm looking forward to in the next month is putting sheet metal screws in my running shoes to keep me from slipping on ice. My shoes have 300 miles on them and have limited life left, so they are good candidates to become "ice shoes". Last winter and the winter before I used a commercial product with steel spikes, but they kept coming off when I got into snow several inches deep. People who have used sheet metal screws say they work fine, and I thought I'd give them a try. The following video is of my first run with my new ice shoes.
The final reason that I get out and run is because I enjoy it. This enjoyment has carried me through 38 years of running. There are times when I get busy with other things and don't get out and run, but that's OK. I'm like everyone else and have my ups and downs. I don't beat myself up with guilt for not going out. I just finish my project at home that kept me from running for a day or two and then put my running shoes back on and head down to the Jordan River.
We are all different. What motivates one person to run may not help another person. One of the key things is to recognize that you're not "perfect" and to not feel guilty when you don't get out and run. Don't feel guilty because you're slow or because you don't go very far or because you don't go as fast as you did when you were younger. Just accept who you are and enjoy your life. If you would like to leave a comment explaining how you keep motivated to run, I (and others) would enjoy listening to you.
Striding Along, February/March 1996 A Publication of the Gate City Striders, Nashua, NH
A few weeks ago, a runner asked for running advice on the internet. The message below is a response from Allen Leigh who's comments I found very to the point. I believe that Allen's advice to this runner can serve many of us as a reminder of "the basics". Peter [Editor]
Allen's response to the runner:
Hi, I'm not qualified to be your coach, but here are a few ideas from the running literature.
1. Run pain-free. Pain is a sign from your body that you're exceeding its capacity in some way. I've been running for about 23 years, including four marathons when I was your age, with no injuries, because I run pain-free. If I experience pain, I back off my training a bit until the pain is gone and then give my body more time to get used to what I'm doing. By doing this, I keep injuries away.
2. Follow the 10% rule. When you increase the stress on your body by increasing your distance or speed (try to not increase both at the same time), keep your increases at 10% or less and stay at each new level until you feel comfortable with it. I've found that my body likes at least a week at each level, and sometimes longer.
3. When you complete a run, you should feel great and should want to keep going. If you feel tired at the end of a run, you've gone too far or too fast. Back off until you feel great when you finish each run.
4. While you are running, you should be able to carry on a conversation with a partner. If you're huffing & puffing and can't talk, you're going too fast. Back it off.
5. If you get a raw throat or side stitches [cramps] while running, you're going too fast. Back it off.
6. Run heavy/light. After you've run a "heavy" day, follow it with a "light" day of about half the distance. It takes your body 48 hours to recover from the heavy day. If you run heavy day after day, your body never fully recovers and gets into "stress-debt", then injuries come after a few months.
7. Don't run more than five days per week. Give yourself some rest days. Your overall performance will go up because you'll be more rested when you do run.
8. Throw in a light week each month. During the light week, you're still alternating heavy/light days, but you reduce the distance/speed of the heavy days.
9. If you leave home for a run and after a mile or two you feel tired and not particularly enthused about continuing the run, stop, pack it in, and go home. Your body is telling you that you need some rest. If your body is doing great, you should feel great after the first couple of miles of warming up. If your body is feeling tired, however, so will you.
10. Remember that it isn't the stress you apply to your body that builds strength; it is the rest. You apply stress by running some distance at some speed. Then you give your body rest. Your body reacts to the stress by becoming stronger. If you don't give your body enough rest, then all you're doing is tearing your body down.
11. The more you run, the more important it is that you get enough sleep.
12. Measure your rest pulse each morning. The best time to do this is when you first wake up, since that is the one time during the day when you body is at the same activity level each day. After doing this for a few weeks, you'll begin to see patterns in your pulse. My resting pulse when I'm active in my running and when I'm getting proper sleep is about 45. If it goes up more than 10%, I know that I'm tired and need more rest. If it goes up 20% or more, I abort all running for a day or two because I really need rest. I've found that my resting pulse is a great indicator of my body condition. In your case, your resting pulse will be a different number, but I would expect that the percentage increase would mean about the same thing for you.
13. If you run out & back on the same road, run on the same side of the street if the traffic flow will allow you to do that safely. By doing this, both your left and right feet will be on the edge of the road, and this evens the stress on your knees due to the crown of the road. I found that Massachusetts back-roads have a lot of curvature, say 3-4" from the center to the edge, and that means that the leg on the edge has to reach that much farther.
I started running when I was 37 (I'm 60 now). I didn't have a coach, but I did a lot of reading, and I listened to my body to know when to push myself and when not to. When I was in my late 40s I did some racing. My mile PR at that time was 5' 57". My 10K PR was 40' 29". My marathon PR was 3 hr 59'. My five-mile was some where around 33'. These were all set during my late 40s. Not great times compared to other runners but great for me because I'm built for endurance more than for speed. As I mentioned before, I've never had an injury, and I think that is a pretty good PR. I mention this, because I think that listening to your body and using moderation and common sense in pushing yourself are the best coaches you'll find. Good luck in your running. Keep us informed from time to time!
/Allen
A final note from Peter: I asked Allen whether I could use his message in our newsletter. In his response he said.
"I lived in MA for 17 years. We did all of our shopping in Nashua, and I have fond memories of NH/MA. I moved to Utah about three years ago, and I really miss New England."
Dr. George Sheehan was medical columnist for Runner's World for several years and was an active runner and writer about running. One of his essays was called "The Basics of Jogging: How Fast, How Far, How Often?". That essay was the first article I read in the running literature, and I received it at the first meeting of the Digital Running Club in Maynard, Massachusetts in 1976. The essay was pure common sense, and I've followed his advice for over 36 years and have enjoyed running with only one injury. I'll be eternally grateful to "Doc" Sheehan for his guidance.
As a tribute to George Sheehan, I've posted that essay in this site for all to read and enjoy (additional essays by "Doc" Sheehan are at georgesheehan.com).
Copyright The George Sheehan Trust Permission to post has been requested
Dr. Joan Ullyot and boys sample the joys of a jog. Joan graduated from jogging to marathoning.
Our fancy often turns to dreams of past glories, to those years when our bodies did our will. The morning air, the bright sun, the green trees recall days when only darkness could end our play. We were giants -- if not in strength at least in endurance. We knew what it was like to be a good animal. And we wonder if we could ever be that way again.The answer, of course, is yes. We can walk or jog or run our way back to those days, those joys, that level of fitness we used to know. To do this we have to know the fitness equation, the answers to the questions, How fast? How far? How often?
HOW FAST?
Few people know how fast to train. Most assume they must punish themselves to become fit. They think that becoming an athlete is hard work. That just is not so. Fitness must be fun. The rule is "train, don't strain." So the race for fitness should be comfortable and enjoyable. Effort should be the measure, not speed, and your body should tell you your proper pace, not the stopwatch.
I use the word "pace" deliberately. It is a better word than speed. Speed has to do with numbers, statistics, minutes-per-mile. Pace has to do with feelings and is not a matter of precise mathematics. It has to do with adjectives like "easy" and "rash" and "breathless" and headlong." But the adjective we are looking for is "comfortable," and we find it by asking our bodies. This seemingly unscientific idea has a solid scientific basis in the theory of perceived exertion. Proposed by Gunnar Borg in 1960, it states that the effort perceived by the body is almost identical to that recorded by a machine. Borg discovered that body perception is, in fact, superior to any single physiological determination.
The Borg Scale ("Perceived Exertion")
Rating
Pulse
6-7
very, very light
60-70
8-9
very light
80-90
10-11
fairly light
100-110
12-13
somewhat hard
120-130
14-15
hard
140-150
16-17
very hard
160-170
18-20
very, very hard
180-200
The Borg scale starts at six (very, very light) and ends at 20 (very, very hard). Adding a zero to the rating gives the usual pulse rate at that level of activity. The walker, jogger or runner therefore aims at the mid-range between light and hard, the area we perceive as comfortable. This is a pace at which we could hold a conversation with a companion -- Bill Bowerman's "talk test." Now, you might say that you couldn't run across the room without being short of breath. Then don't. Begin by walking and then work up to scout pace (alternating 50 steps walking and 50 running). Finally, you will be able to jog continually, in comfort. You will be able to put yourself on "automatic pilot" and enjoy your thoughts and the countryside.
Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant. Hear what your muscles and heart and lungs are telling you. Above all, get in union with your body. Ride yourself as a jockey does a horse, finally becoming one with it. There will come times when the sheer joy of this mysterious fusion, this wholeness will drive you to see just what you can do. But this is unnecessary, for you now have the pace. Do not push. You have found the groove. Stay in it.
Even when you have become proficient and the comfortable pace becomes faster and faster, you must still do the first 6 -10 minutes very slowly. You must allow the juices to flow, the temperature to rise, the circulation to adapt. You must give the body time to make all those marvelous, intricate adjustments that happen when you finally set yourself in motion. When you do, you will experience that warm sweat that goes with the onset of the second wind and get the feeling that you just might spend the rest of the day running. Find a comfortable pace and enjoy it. Fitness is bound to follow.
When I get into that second wind, I settle down to my comfortable pace and let the body do the thinking. My ground speed varies with the time of day (early morning runs take one minute a mile longer) or with heat and humidity, but effort will not. The identical thing happens when I run against a head wind or up hills, or on those days when I am upset psychologically. But whether the stopwatch says eight minutes a mile or 10, the pace is the same. It is comfortable, and because my perceived exertion is always the same, the effort is identical and the physiological benefits are identical as well. Once you have begun this way, success is assured. There is no need to rush, no need to hurry. ("Only the sick and the ambitious," said Ortega, "are in a hurry.") Nor is there any need to worry. When you run at a comfortable pace, you are well within your physical limits. ("I have never been harmed," said Montaigne, "by anything that was a real pleasure.") Find the comfortable pace and enjoy it. Fitness is bound to follow.
HOW FAR?
Again, we must consult the body. The jogger-runner, be it his first day or the 20th year, is concerned with minutes, not miles, time not distance. The goal is to work up to 30 minutes at a comfortable pace. The rule is to run at that comfortable pace to a point this side of fatigue. Do not bother with distance. It is effort and time that do those good things to our bodies. This equation frees us from the tyranny of speed and distance. There is no need then, to count laps or measure miles; no need for the stopwatch and the agonized groans that go with it. Simply dial the body to comfortable and go on automatic pilot. Then continue to fatigue or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. It is even better not to reach fatigue, but instead to come to the kitchen door or the gym still eager to do more, ready to resume on that note the next time out.
Our aim, I said, is 30 minutes. In the beginning, five minutes may be all you can handle. But quite soon - sooner, in fact, than you expect - you will be able to run continuously for 30 minutes. I have seen a 30-year-old housewife get up to 30-minute runs with one month of training and run a five-mile race within 10 weeks of buying her running shoes. That 30 minutes is as far as we need go. It is the endpoint for fitness. That 30 minutes will get us fit and put us in the 95 percentile for cardiopulmonary endurance. At 12 calories per minute, it will eventually bring our weight down to desired levels. It also will slow the pulse and drop the blood pressure. It will make us good animals.
That first 30 minutes is for my body. During that half-hour, I take joy in my physical ability, the endurance and power of my running. I find it a time when I feel myself competent and in control of my body, when I can think about my problems and plan my day-to-day world. . In many ways, those 30 minutes is all egos, all the self. It has to do with me, the individual. What lies beyond this fitness or muscle? I can only answer for myself. The next 30 minutes is for my soul. If I come upon the third wind, which is psychological (unlike the second wind which is physiological). And then see myself not as an individual but a part of the universe. In it, I can happen upon anything I ever read or saw or experienced. Every fact and instinct and emotion is unlocked and made available to me through some mysterious operation in my brain.
Recently, I came upon that feeling about 35 minutes out. I had just attacked a long hill on the river road and had been reduced to a slow trot. Then it happened. The feeling of wholeness and peace and contentment came over me. I loved myself and the world and everyone in it. I had no longer to will what I was doing. The road seemed to be running me. I was in a place and time I never wanted to leave.
To achieve fitness, there is no need to do more than 30 minutes at a comfortable pace. Past that, you must proceed with caution. Fitness can change your body. But the third wind can change your life.
HOW OFTEN?
How often must we run this minutes at a comfortable pace? To answer the exercise physiologists give is four times a week, a figure they arrived at by testing innumerable individuals of both sexes at all ages. A four times a week schedule, they assure us, will make us fit and keep us that way.
Looked at another way, this is just two hours of exercise a week. Need it be done not more than one day apart, as it is usually prescribed? Could we do all our exercise on one day and then rest the other six? Or would it be OK to run an hour every third day and thereby satisfy the requirement?
The experts, as expected, are divided on this division. They have not adequately explored the subject of de-training. They do not know how soon we lose the benefits of a prolonged bout of exertion. There is some reason to suspect that weekend running may be enough. I have a colleague who for personal reasons has limited his running to two hours or more on Saturday and a race on Sunday. On this unscientific regimen, he has broken three hours in the marathon and more often than not beats me at lesser distances.
His is just one other way to train. Training is after all simply a matter of applying stress, allowing the body to recover, and then applying stress again. For each of us, the appropriate stress and the appropriate time to recover is different.
This is not a real problem in the minimum program for fitness. Almost everyone can handle an easy 30 minutes four times a week, or one hour twice a week, or even two hours once a week. But we are not minimizers, we are maximizers, and our difficulties are with doing too much rather than too little. The runner frequently gets caught up. He finds that running must be done daily, and longer and longer. The question then becomes not how much is enough but how much is too much. The problem becomes not fitness but exhaustion.
All this occurs, it seems to me, because we seek not only physical fitness but psychological fitness as well. I need the minimum program for fitness because, like 95% of Americans, I have an occupation that isn't physical enough to make me fit. The 30 minutes four times a week is enough positive input to balance my negative physical output. It is not enough, however, to counteract the minuses in my day-to-day psychological life. To achieve a psychological balance, I need much more.
How many minutes of running do I need, then, to keep in a happy frame of mind? How many times a week must I run to have a capacity for work and the ability to enjoy life?
All to often, there comes days when I don't feel like running. Then I am not sure whether I am tired or just lazy, whether I am physically exhausted or merely bored and lacking the will-power to do what I should do.
On those days when I lack zest and enthusiasm, I use the second wind to tell me whether what I'm experiencing is physical or psychological. When the second wind comes, as it does for me at the six-minute mark, I know. If the usual good feelings are there, the warm sweat and that feeling of strength and energy, I know my aversion was largely mental. I need a new route or pace or companion on the run. If, however, I feel a cold, clammy sweat and weakness, I pack it in and go home. I have even at such times had to walk or accept a ride home having gone less than a mile, even though a few weeks before I may have run a very good marathon. Such physical exhaustion, however, is usually preceded by an elevated pulse in the morning. When mine is 10 beats above my usual basal pulse of 48, I know that I have once more over trained. I need a nap instead of a workout. So you see, it is your body that is the ultimate arbiter in your fitness program. The body tells you how fast. Dial to "comfortable" and run at a pace which would permit you to talk to a companion. The body tells you how long. Run just this side of fatigue. And the body tells you how often. Feel zest. Respond to the second wind. Note any changes in your morning pulse.
Follow these rules. Then somewhere between the minimum suggested and the maximum you can handle, you will find the fitness beyond muscle we all need to live the good life.
In order to make systematic progress towards our goals in running, jogging, or walking, we need a training plan. We all have times when we suffer from a lack of motivation or burn-out, and a training plan will help us through those difficult periods. In addition, a good plan will help us avoid over-training and injury that may follow. There are, basically, two types of training plans.
Static Plans
There are books and web sites that have training plans for beginner runners or walkers, plans for intermediates, and so on. If the plans are authored by experienced athletes, they will probably contain good suggestions and schedules for your training. I call these plans static plans because they are frozen in print and we take them as-is.
Many runners and walkers get into trouble following static training plans, especially if they are new to running or walking. They believe they should follow the plans as they are written because the plans were written by world-class athletes or other well-trained persons. For example, suppose you find a plan for beginners, and you decide to follow that plan. You may do OK, and you may not. That plan was written for a particular stereotype of a beginner, and you may not fit that stereotype.
Dynamic Plans
There is a type of training plan that I call a dynamic plan. The word dynamic implies that the plan can be changed as you implement it. For example, suppose your plan has you running this many miles in week 1, that many miles in week 2, and a different number of miles in week 3. And, suppose you discover at the end of week 2 that you're tired and don't feel like running at all during the next week, much less increasing your mileage. If you're following a static plan, you may ignore your tiredness and force yourself to advance to week 3. But, if you're following a dynamic plan, you'll modify the plan to fit your body condition, perhaps having week 3 be a repeat of week 2, or having week 3 be a rest week with a reduction in mileage. One person may consider a plan as static while another person may consider the same plan as dynamic. Thus, the difference in the two types of plans is the attitude of the person. Dynamic plans are modified on a day by day basis according to your body condition. Some of these plans encourage you to modify your plan, while other plans don't encourage you, but I think that authors of all plans assume you will modify your plan as needed.
Modifying Dynamic Plans
Ok, how do you modify your plan? By listening to your body! Your body will let you know when it can't handle the stress you're giving it via your training. Your body will let you know when it needs more rest. These changes to your plan may be temporary--you take an extra rest day and then continue with your plan, or the changes may be permanent, you reduce your distance by half and then continue your plan with the new distance.
Here are some of the signals that tell you that you need to modify your plan a bit to reduce stress.
Feeling overly tired, sluggish, or fatigued at the end of a run or walk.
Certain muscles are experiencing pain.
Waking up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep.
Losing motivation and excitement for your running or walking.
Doing dumb things while driving.
Suffering an injury
How do you modify your plan? By giving your body more rest. Keep in mind that running or walking destroys body cells, and it is during rest that your body reacts to that stress and becomes stronger.
Reduce your distance.
Reduce your pace.
Following the 10% rule (or less) in increasing your distance and/or pace.
Alternating heavy stress and light stress days. Light days can be reduced running, cross training such as light cycling or swimming or no exercise activity. Your body needs 48 hours or more to recover from a heavy stress run or walk, and following the heavy day with a light day gives your body that extra time it needs.
Take a rest week every month with reduced running.
Go to bed earlier and/or take naps.
One day while working in Massachusetts, I came in from a noon-hour run and the security guard called me over to talk with him. He told me he had recently started running and felt very tired at the end of his runs. That tiredness stayed with him throughout the day. I suggested that he reduce his distance by half and then make small weekly increases of 10% or less. He told me later that he had made those changes and now felt great during and after his runs.
Getting a Dynamic Plan
Where can you get a dynamic plan? A good source is from a book or web site or a training center that publishes training plans. Another good source is to create your own plan, following counsel from other runners, books, and web sites. That is, you get a good static plan that looks like it might work for you, and then you modify it as you use it. This approach works well as long as you have the emotional strength to actually modify the plan and not become a slave to it. A third source is from a person whom you admire and trust. This person could be another runner, a coach, or a professional trainer. Be aware, however, that unless the person is skillful in working with runners or walkers, they may give you a plan that would work for them but not for you. This occurs when that person is unable to come down to your level of needs. The person may author a plan based on their needs, and since that person is probably more experienced than you, they'll give you a plan that requires that you do more than your body can handle. Coaches especially have this problem, because they have a fixed competition schedule and don't have time to treat each runner individually. If you use a plan from another person, be sure that that person encourages you to modify the plan according to the needs of your body. By listening to your body and using signals from your body as indicators that your plan needs to be modified a bit, you will have enlisted the best trainer of all, your body, and you will reduce the stress on your body. Here is my page on stress that will give you further suggestions for handling stress.
Published Training Plans
There are a lot of training plans given in books, magazines, web sites, and training centers. It is common for new runners (and experienced runners, too) to try to follow those plans, and often we discover that those plans "aren't for us". Let's look at this situation.
It takes a lot of faith to follow a plan given by someone we've never met, someone who doesn't know the current condition of our bodies, someone who is giving recommendations based on his/her experience with other runners but not with us. If we try to blindly follow such plans, we're putting our running career into the hands of a stranger who doesn't know us and who doesn't know the capabilities of our bodies to handle stress. If we do this, we'll likely be heading towards pushing ourselves too much in our training, and that can lead to injury. Symptoms that we are overtraining include heavy breathing during and after a run, cramps or stitches, sore throats, fatigue, excess soreness, feelings that we should give up running, difficulty sleeping at night, doing dumb things while driving (sorry, officer, I didn't see that light). Does this mean that we should ignore plans from the books, magazines, and web sites that we read? No. It means that we should operate less on blind faith and more on actual evidence from our bodies.
The Foundation of our Training
There are three principles that are so basic that they should form the foundation of our training, and everything we do in our training should be based on these principles.
Running subjects our bodies to stress. If we put too much stress on our bodies, injury will occur. Our bodies can handle small increases of stress better than they can handle large increases. This principle is the basis for the 10% rule that is described in running literature.
Stress destroys body cells. Thus running is destructive and does not build strength. The strength that we develop as runners comes from rest, the rest we have between our runs. This principle is the basis for the heavy/light method of training.
Our bodies know when we're pushing ourselves too much in our training, and they send us signals to back off and give them more rest. They also send us signals that we're ok in our training and to keep it up. The signals to back off were given above as symptoms of over-training. The symptoms that we're "on track" with our training are the opposite of the signals of over-training, including the so-called runners high. Keep in mind that these signals can change with every run.
Principle 3 means we should listen to our bodies and vary our training accordingly. By doing this, we can learn to run without pain and without injury, and our running will be a joyous and positive experience. Principle 3 is also the basis for our having actual evidence for how we train rather than having blind faith in recommendations from strangers who don't know the limits of our bodies.
Some people are adept at listening to their bodies, and these fortunate folks are capable of establishing their own training plans, or of modifying plans from others to fit their bodies. Other folks have a hard time listening to their bodies, often due to strong drives to get fast improvement or to compete with everyone they encounter. These folks need to be especially careful in their training since they often "drive blind" in deciding how much to push themselves in their training. It would be wise for these runners to get training advice from someone who knows them and knows the capacity of their bodies to handle stress.
Two factors that are important to running injury free are a person's heart rate when first waking up and a systematic increase in distance via small increases. The wakeup heart rate is a good barometer of ones body-condition and can help the runner make a wise decision about the intensity of that day's training. Concerning distance, by making small but systematic increases in distance, the runner can increase the distance while insuring that the stress applied to the body will be small enough to not lead to injury. As part of my training a few years ago, I kept data about my wakeup heart rate and the distances I was running. I've put that data into graph form to give a picture of how those two factors vary over time.
Graph of My Wakeup Heart Rate
The graph of my wakeup heart rate (HR) shows that my heart rate is elevated when I'm tired. I can be tired from overtraining or from lack of sleep. The actual-values curve shows my HR on a day by day basis. The trend line, a seven-day moving average, shows the change in my HR over time. The relationship between the trend curve and the actual curve can be used as a gage of my body condition. If the actual curve is below the trend curve, I'm more rested than I was during the previous seven days. When the actual curve crosses above the trend, I'm tired and need more rest.
Another important observation to make is whether the actual curve is more or less steady or is flip flopping between higher and lower values. When I'm rested, the curve is more or less steady with smaller variations.
On May 19, 2004 I was in a serious auto accident. After four weeks in intensive care I had to learn to walk again. While I was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital, my HR was in triple digits. During 10 days of hospital therapy after I left the ICU, my HR dropped to the high 90s. During a month of home therapy after I left the hospital, my HR came down even further. After I completed the home therapy, I began my running, doing 1/8 mile the first day. As I recovered from the accident and regained my strength, my HR continued to decrease, and it is now close to its value before the accident. This confirms my belief that HR is a good indicator of my body condition.
The graph shows that my wakeup HR increases with lack of sleep, colds, and surgery. My wakeup decreases with proper sleep and with consistent running. The graph shows that 9 months after I left the hospital, my wakeup HR was not quite down to the level it was before the accident, indicating that I still didn't have the energy level I had before the accident.
Graph of My Training Distance
The graph of my distance shows that I followed the 10% rule in my training. Every week or so, I added approximately 10% to the distance of my training runs. I stayed at the new level until I felt comfortable with it. When my distance reached 6 miles, I added a fourth day as a light day.
On May 19, 2004 I was in a serious automobile accident. After 4 1/2 weeks in a hospital bed, my leg muscles had weakened to the point where I couldn't stand up much less walk. I was in hospital therapy for 1 1/2 weeks. During that time I progressed from a wheel chair to a walker, to a cane, and finally to walking by myself. When I left the hospital I could walk pretty good, but I needed a banister to go up and down stairs--the problem was both balance and muscle strength (I used the banister to pull myself up the stairs). I received home therapy for a month that focused on strengthening my legs and improving my balance. When I finished that therapy I was able to traverse stairs without using a banister. During the month of home therapy, my wife and I walked several timesabout a mile each time. My first run was on August 12, 2004 and I did 1/8 mile at a slow jog. I was pretty tired at the end. The graph shows the abrupt stop to my running and the subsequent increase in distance as I recovered from the accident. I'm documenting in my blog my progress in running longer distances. I'm being careful to not overdo it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staying healthy and fit has a lot to do with good nutrition and exercising on a regular basis. Get great medical information on many topics such as exercise health and nutrition from this medical resource today.
Before you start running, you should warm your body and get it ready for the stress of running. Proper warm-up consists of walking and light jogging to get your body started in adjusting to the stress of running, some light stretching, and then more light walking and light jogging to finish getting your body ready for the stress of your running or walking. Slowly increase your speed until you reach your desired pace for the run. The following site discusses this in detail. http://www.24hrfitness.co.uk/fitness%20tips/warming-up-before-exercise.html
This video illustrates the principles of warming up.
Here is another site that gives good ideas on warming up.
People begin running for a lot of reasons. Many want to lose weight. Some are training for an athletic program. Others have joined the military service of their country and have to pass physical training tests. Some, like me, need to strengthen their body (my feet were starting to hurt, and I was told by a specialist to do what ever I wanted that would strengthen the muscles in my feet).
Beginners have a lot of questions: How do I get started? How fast and how far should I run? How much weight will I lose? Is it safe to run outdoors? Is running on a treadmill as good as running outdoors? What kind of shoes do I need? How much will running cost? How do I find someone to run with? This page will answer some of those questions and will give links for your further study.
Getting Started
Ok, everybody, let's say very loud and in unison: WALK. There, that wasn't so bad, was it! Running and jogging put a lot of stress on our bodies, and if we're not careful, that stress can lead to injury. In contrast, walking puts less stress on our bodies. I learned this many years ago when I had surgery for a hernia. I could not run for six weeks, and I walked for the same amount of time I had been running (an hour). After six weeks of walking, experiencing no pain or problems of any kind, I ran for the first time. Guess what? My knees hurt. I realized that my running was a lot more stressful than my walking had been. So, learn from my experience and begin your running program by walking.
How Far
Question: How far should I walk or run? As far as you want, as long as you feel great at the end, no fatigue, no abnormal pain, no injuries. For some of you, the distance may be 50 feet. For others the distance may be a mile or more.
How Fast
Question: How fast should I walk or run? Same answer as how far should you walk: As fast as you want, as long as you feel great at the end; no huffing and puffing, no gasping for air, no fatigue, no abnormal pain, no injuries. If you feel like a tortoise, that's OK. The fastest person alive today was once a tortoise. Average walking is a pace of about 20 minutes per mile (referred to as a pace of 20). Typical walkers might have a pace of maybe 15-20. We're all different, and there is no pace that is expected of us. Set your pace by how you feel during and at the end of your walk or run
Increasing Distance or Speed
Question: When should I increase my distance or speed? When your body tells you it's ready for an increase. Learn to listen to your body. It will tell you when it is tired. It will tell you when it is feeling fine. If, at the end of a walk or run, you're huffing and puffing or you feel tired or fatigued, you're doing too much and need to slow your pace or decrease your distance. Keep in mind that walking, jogging, running, swimming, biking, any physical movement in fact, put stress on our bodies. If we make big increases in our distance or speed, our bodies will have difficulty adjusting to the new levels, and injury may occur later on.
This leads us to the "10% Rule" that is given in the running literature: Keep your increases small, typically 10% or less, and stay at each new level until you feel comfortable with it. The number 10 isn't a magic number. Some people can handle more than 10% increments, while others should have smaller changes.
Heavy/Light Schedule
Question: Should I walk or run the same every day? Sports scientists say it takes 48 hours for our bodies to adjust to heavy applications of stress, such as the stress from a heavy session of walking or running. Since a day only has 24 hours, we need to follow a heavy run with a "rest period" to give us the 48 hours needed for recovery. Some people do this by walking or running 3 or 4 times a week, with rest days in between. Others do this by following a heavy walk or run with a light walk or run. For example, walking 2 miles one day and 1/2 mile to 1 mile the next day. This is known as "heavy/light". When we speak of "heavy" or "light" walks or runs, we're not talking about the effort we expend in doing the walk or run; we're talking about the impact or stress of that exercise on our bodies. Also, notice that the "rest period" is not necessarily a day without running. Many people cross-train on their light days.
Introducing Running into your Walking
Question: I've been walking for quite a while and want to do some running. What do I do? Great question! Basically, you want to increase your speed, and we discussed that above. Increase your speed in small increments by mixing a small amount of running with your walking. Let's say, for example, that you're walking a mile. In the middle of the mile, jog slowly for 300-500 feet. If you feel fine at the end of the jog, continue doing it in subsequent walks. If you feel achy or tired or are huffing and puffing, reduce the distance and/or speed of the jog. Follow the 10% (or less) rule and heavy/light in mixing jogging with your walking.
Referring to my comment that your running should be at the middle of your walk, our bodies need some light exercise to warm up before they do heavy running or walking, and our bodies need some light exercise to cool down from the heavy workout. Your walking can provide that warm up and cool down. Thus, walk before and after you run.
Treadmill or Streets
Question: Is it ok to use a treadmill, or should I go outside? It all depends on you, what you enjoy, and what you have available. The same comment applies to the use of an exercise bike. I have a friend who uses his exercise bike while watching the morning news on TV. He enjoys that, and that's great! I enjoy going out on the streets and experiencing the new day, watching the birds, ducks in the river, geese flying over, and an occasional Golden Eagle. That's great, too! So, do what you have available, what you can afford, and what you enjoy.
Be aware, though, that if you change from a treadmill to the streets, you may find it harder to use the streets (at first, at least). Streets are uneven and have a harder surface than a treadmill. They are also curved with a crown in the middle and a slope down to the edge. The wind may be blowing. It may be raining or snowing. Dogs may be barking at you. Jerks in cars may yell stupid comments at you. Again, do what you enjoy. If you change to the streets, give yourself some time to adjust to the new environment, and then enjoy it for what it is.
Some runners use the streets during good weather and their treadmill during inclement weather. Most people add inclines of 1% or so to their treadmill to simulate the increased difficulty of the streets. While we're talking about treadmills, have a good laugh.
Question: What time of day is best for walking or running? It depends on you and your schedule. Some people enjoy exercising in the early morning when it is
cooler and the air is fresher and crisper. Many people use their lunch period at work. Others like to do it later in the day. Be careful, though, being out late at night. There are a lot of weirdos out there!
Walking or Running Partners
Question: How do I find a walking or running partner? As with most things in life, networking with others is a major key to success. Local running clubs and sports stores might be helpful in finding a running partner.
Losing Weight
Question: I want to lose weight. Will walking or running do that for me?This is discussed in my Losing Weight page.
Follow your brain or emotions?
Question: Should I follow my brain or my emotions in making decisions about my running? That is an important question, because many runners get into trouble by following the wrong one. The answer is both. Huh? You can get into trouble by following the wrong one but you should follow both? Yes, let me explain. Many beginners know (brain) that they should make small increases in their distance and speed, but they are so excited (emotions) about their walking or running that they push themselves to go farther and faster. They should have followed their brain. Conversely, walkers and runners are taught to listen to their body (emotion) and reduce the intensity of their training when their body tells them it needs more rest. So, listen to your brain when you plan your walking or running schedule. And, listen to your emotions, how you feel during and after your walks and runs, and reduce the intensity of your training when your body tells you it needs more rest.
Becoming Addicted to Walking or Running
Many new walkers and runners discover they are becoming addicted to walking or running, and they like that feeling and they like being in charge of their body. I would suggest, however, that becoming addicted to walking or running can be dangerous, because it can cause one to overdo it. I would suggest that we should become addicted to the good feeling of a healthy body, the good feeling of feeling great during and after we run. Running is just one way to have those good feelings. Walking, swimming, biking are also ways of having those good feelings. Become addicted to the result not the "messenger" so to speak.
What do you conquer?
Some people conquer the waves with sailboats or surfboards. Others conquer the wind with hang gliders or para gliders. Many conquer the snow as they ski and snowboard. As a runner or walker, what do you conquer?
The basic reason people walk or run is to go to a distant location and then, in most cases, return to their starting point. These people are conquering distance. Many runners encounter hills during their run. In order to reach the top of each hill, they must overcome the effects of gravity on their body; they must conquer gravity. Many runners experience headwinds as storm fronts move through their area or because they live in areas of high wind. These runners must run against the wind in order to reach their destination; they must conquer wind.
Conquering distance, gravity, or wind puts increased stress on ones body and thus increases the likelihood of injury. It is wise for beginning runners to reduce stress by conquering distance before attempting to run their normal pace against gravity and wind. This means that the beginner should slow down when doing hills or experiencing headwinds. Later, after the person has developed more body-strength from running or walking, he/she can learn to do a faster pace on hills and against wind. As with most aspects of running or walking, the person should follow the 10% and heavy/light rules while conquering distance, gravity, or wind. Also, I think it is wise to only subject your body to one cause of stress at a time, and I recommend doing long slow distance first and then later speed to conquer distance. Then do hills to conquer gravity. It is hard to plan to run in headwinds, because the wind may not be there when you want to run against it. So, train against headwinds as you encounter them, first slowing down to reduce stress, and then, as you become stronger, slowly going faster as you run against headwinds.
Baby Steps, Baby Steps
This article, from Dr. Gabe Mirkin, explains why we need to start running (or walking) programs with low-level efforts and slowly work up to more intense training.
Injuries often occur when people start a new exercise program, change to a different sport, or return to exercise after a long break. In the enthusiasm to get started, it is easy to overstress muscles that have not been used before. That's why "background before peaking" is one of the most important principles of training. It takes several weeks or even months to build up strength and endurance for any new sport.
Competitive athletes in all sports use this principle. First they spend many months in background training, working out for long hours, mostly at low intensity, followed by a shorter period of peak training in which they do far less work, but at a much greater intensity. A few months before an important race, they reduce their workload but go as fast and hard as possible two or three times a week.
A Beginner's Training Program
Most runners want to run reasonable distances, whether it be a few miles or longer distances such as a half or a full marathon. I suggest that a new runner go through two phases of training to become ready to train for longer distances.
Phase 1: Use the suggestions given above to train to run 3 miles three times a week. Combine walking and running as you need to or would like to, and go at a comfortable pace such that you feel fine at the end and aren't huffing and puffing. Make small weekly increases in your distance. A Plan for Beginning Running will take you through the training so you can run 3 miles three times a week.
Phase 2: An Intermediate Plan for Runners will take you through the training to run 24 miles per week (6 3 6 3 6), a reasonable distance for new runners to run and the prerequisite that many plans specify as a starting point for half or full marathon training.
Other resources
Other pages in this site will give you good information about walking and running. I especially recommend the two articles linked in the navigational bar: Coaching Running reviews the basics, such as the 10% rule and heavy/light (important for all runners, not just beginners). Basics of Jogging answers the questions, How fast, How far, How often.
There are many good sites for beginning runners and walkers. The links page of this site has links to some of them. In addition, do an Internet search on two or three keywords, such as running beginning.
You want to run. Maybe to lose weight, maybe to have better health, maybe to fulfill a half-buried dream. For whatever reason, you've decided to run, and you are excited to get started. Here is a plan to get you going. This plan is a suggested approach that will help you become a runner. This plan observes both the 10% rule and the heavy/light rule, and it includes a monthly recovery week of reduced running/walking that is followed by a week of the time you ran just before the recovery week. Because of the relatively small increases in time, this plan takes longer than some of you might want to spend. Feel free to adjust the plan to fit your interests and body condition. As you follow the plan, focus on completing the time and don't worry about speed. Just run or walk at a comfortable pace. In fact, this caution about focusing on time not speed should be your guide later on as you advance to longer times.
Do all of your running at a comfortable pace in which you can talk with a running buddy. No huffing or puffing or gasping for air. No sore throats. No pain in your side. All of those symptoms are signs that you've exceeded the capability of your body to handle the stress from running.
Overview
This plan will help persons who want to run to progress from no running to running 30 minutes three times a week. There are four phases to this plan. Each phase has a measurable goal.
You will first walk but not run three times a week, making small increases in the time you spend each week, until you are walking for 20 minutes. You will be walking approximately a mile, but you are walking by time not distance. This will help your body adjust to the increased stress of walking without having a high risk of injury, since walking is much easier on your body than running. Take as many weeks for this phase as you need.
Next, you will add small amounts of running a comfortable pace while continuing to walk the same amount of time that you did in the first phase. When you are finished with this phase, you will be running for 10 minutes and walking for 20 minutes. Some runners may want to split the walking into two parts and put all of their running as one block between the walking. Other runners may want to mix the walking and the running in small segments. For example, walking for a minute and then running for a few seconds. The length of the running is increased until it is equal to 10 minutes. The length of the walking is not changed. Take as many weeks for this phase as you need.
Third, you will continue to add small amounts of running at a comfortable pace until you are running for 20 minutes. You are still walking for 20 minutes. Take as many weeks for this phase as you need.
Finally you will slowly increase the amount of running at a comfortable pace and decrease the amount of walking until you are doing just running and are doing it for 30 minutes. You are welcome to include short walking breaks with your running if you would like. If you do take walking breaks, it is your choice whether or not you include the time spent walking as part of the 30 minutes. I take 30-second walking breaks every half-mile when I run. I enjoy the few seconds of walking, and I feel invigorated when I resume running. Most importantly, I have more energy for the final part of my run. Take as many weeks for this phase as you need.
All of the increases in time that you make should be small, typically about 10% or less of your weekly time. Based on how you feel, you may make smaller increases in some weeks and larger increases in other weeks. At the end of this plan, you will be ready to graduate to the Intermediate plan for running. That plan will take you from your 30 minutes of running three times a week (approximately 9 miles or 14.5 km a week) to 24 miles (38.6 km) a week.
It is important that you modify this plan to fit both your interests and the capabilities of your body. For example, you may decide to do more running and less walking. Or, you may decide to run/walk more than three times a week by adding additional days in which you run/walk about half the distance you do in the main three days of your training. These additional days could be days of cross training, such as light swimming or cycling.Remember that this plan is just a guide to help you manage your training. It is not something rigid that you must slavishly follow. As you modify this plan to be your plan, keep in mind the two rules of running that should govern all of us as we run: the 10% rule in which we make small increases in our distance or speed, and the heavy/light rule in which we follow days of heavier stress with days of lighter stress to give our bodies the 48 hours (or more) that it needs to recover from the days of heavier stress.
Fall-back Weeks
It is critical that you give your body sufficient rest after your heavy days such that your body can repair the damage to its cells and in so doing become stronger. In many cases, running and walking heavy/light will not give your body sufficient rest. It is thus advisable to include fall-back weeks in your schedule such that once a month or so you reduce your weekly time by 20 - 30%. At the end of each fall-back week, take one or two weeks to return to the time you were doing before the fall-back week. Then continue with your training.
Deciding How Much Distance to Add
Some of you will be concerned that this plan doesn't tell you exactly how much to walk or run each day. Instead, the plan tells you to follow the 10% rule and the heavy/light rule and to make wise decisions about how much time to spend each day. For some of you, having this amount of freedom will be a new experience, and it may take you a few weeks to adjust to this freedom. Hang in there and do the best you can to slowly increase your distance while listening to your body, and you will soon get the hang of it. When you have reached your goal of 30 minutes of running you will be thrilled with your ability to manage yourself, not having to be told exactly what to do. After all, by listening to your body, you are listening to the greatest coach you will ever have. Remember, you don't have to run or walk for exactly the number of minutes given in the plan. On days that you feel fine, you may want to run more and walk less. On days that you are tired, you may want to walk more and run less. Listen to your body and react accordingly.
Be a Runner not a Slave
Don't feel like you must follow this plan, or any plan, exactly as it is written. You are different from all other people on this planet. This plan should serve as a guide but not a blueprint. Modify this plan to be your plan -- your plan becomes your blueprint. Learn to listen to your body and to make decisions about your walking and running based on how your body feels.
The page on Overtraining has a nice list of symptoms that indicate you are doing too much in your training and need to back off a bit.
Graduate to the Intermediate Plan
When you are able to run for 30 minutes (approximately three miles), and you feel comfortable with that distance, you are ready to graduate as a beginner and to begin training as an intermediate runner. Click here for the Intermediate plan. Congratulations! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staying healthy and physically fit has a lot to do with practicing good nutrition and working out on a regular basis. Get great medical information on many topics such as exercise health and nutrition from this medical resource today.
