My 2 Cents On Running (Part 1)

After running quite a fair bit of runs this year and injuring myself on countless occasion I think its time to put some of learning's to my running blog.

Some of the myths about running a marathon, this is not a sprint event, this is an endurance event. If you can actually sprint then your in a class of your own ! Training is a progressive effort and too much too such can be seriously detrimental to your progress and may lead injuries.(which I learned the hard way, ouch ouch)

There is a several aspects that you need to be aware of when it comes to running
1) Training Regime
2) Nutrition (Water, Sport Drink, Pre-Run Meal, Post Run Meal)
3) Running Shoes
4) Apparel (Shirt, Pants, Tights, Socks)
5) Injury Prevention (Physiotherapy, Stretching, Vaseline, Antacids)

Training Regime

Training is pivotal to your progress, whether your aim to better your PR(i.e. Personal Record) or compete. As far as training is concern the MOST important thing is to gauge and know where you are in (i.e. state of enery, strength, endurance). Start from this point and build incrementally.

A very important point is to LISTEN to your body, know when you need to REST, REST is a very IMPORTANT element of training regime. You allow your body to REST and RECUPERATE so that you move the next stage of training.

Have a TRAINING plan and prepare towards it, keep to you PLAN, DO NOT GIVE EXCUSES, you must have the DISCPLINE. So when you create the PLAN, create allowances that will work for you.

Your training program must match your ability, you will grow stronger if your train progressively. DO NOT do TO MUCH to SOON ! Make sure that you have variety in your training which is a mix of interval, hill, tempo and endurance. There are a lot of website that could help you with this. (i.e. http://www.runnersworld.com)

It's IMPORTANT that you set a day in the week to do LONG RUNS especially during the weekend. Target running on different surfaces (i.e. treadmills, fields, track, roads). Different surfaces will give you a different feel and also provide a different resistance. It's important that you run on roads at least once a week at the very minimum as its totally different compared to running on treadmills.

Outdoor running is more IMPORTANT than running in the gym as it prepares you for the various scenario's like wind chill, surface variations, heat, etc. It's important also you vary your runs at different time of day (i.e. Early Morning, Afternoon, Evening) to get your used to different temperature fluctuations. I have varied my running times and found indeed the experience is totally different.

Key Takeways on Training
1) Have a PLAN thats works for you
2) Diligently Execute on IT !
3) Monitor and Improve
4) Create a Variation (i.e. tempo, interval, endurance)
5) Training Surface and Time of Day

Well I think this should be enough as serious there is so many dynamics to the topic of training and I've just begun to scratch the surface plus I am still learning ... thus the adventure continues till the next Part ! Till then HAPPY RUNNING !