The weather is getting warmer, what better way to experience it then beginning to run. Running may not seem the easiest to get into. It takes dedication and a routine but once you have those locked in place – it’s the easiest decision you will have ever made for yourself, and perhaps the most enjoyable.
The health benefits of running – Is it good for me?
Running is an easily accessible form of cardiovascular exercise. It improves aerobic fitness, therefore improving our overall cardiovascular health. Aerobic exercise decreases your resting heart rate and blood pressure and allows the body to consume more oxygen during exercise, therefore strengthening your lungs.
Research has shown that increased amounts of aerobic exercise lowers the rate of stroke, cancer and metabolic diseases such as diabetes and increases bone strength.
But running does not just improve physical health, it has numerous benefits in improving mental and psychological health as well. Consider this positive impact to be the blissful benefits of running.
These benefits can include:
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- • Improved mood
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- • Enhanced sleep
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- • Improved stress levels
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- • Increased Productivity
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- • Ability to concentrate better
Once your body and mind have entered the running space, it can be blissful, meditative and provide a sense of freedom. Enjoy this present feeling- it’s a runner’s dream.
How to start running – Where do I begin?
As a beginner, you can spend all week/month and year thinking about how to run, how far to run, what shoes do I get, the list goes on. The only thing you need to be thinking about is how to take that first step.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
It is important to begin building up gradually if you’re brand new to running, or if you have not run for quite some time to avoid any risk of injury. Additionally if you have had an injury, currently suffering from an injury or have any other medical conditions, make sure you come in and see us for an assessment prior to beginning to ensure we can make your transition into this exercise as smooth as possible. Until then, read below for our running tips for beginners.
1. Ready, Set, GO! – Take the first step
When beginning to run, don’t worry too much at about hitting a certain pace or reaching a certain distance, let’s just focus on setting a time goal. For example, every Monday aim to run 20 minutes. Sure 20 minutes might seem like a lifetime, but every Monday = 20 minutes of running.
When beginning running you set yourself the best intentions of having the greatest run of your life every single time, unfortunately sometimes this is not the way it works. Imagine your 5 minutes in and then everything hurts! This is when you do not give up – but you employ our second tip:
2. What is the Run-Walk Method? When do I use the Run-Walk method?
Thinking back to our Monday 20 minute run, we don’t have to run for the entire 20 minutes. We could aim to complete 4 minutes running and then 1 minute walk until we reach our 20 minute goal. This way you wont be disheartened when sometimes your just not feeling up to it. See example:
New Runner- Run 30 Seconds | Walk 1 Minute
Intermediate Runner- Run 3-5 minutes | Walk 45 Seconds
Experienced Runner– Run 8-10 minutes | Walk 30 Seconds
Repeat each run-walk interval until the 20 minutes is completed.
3. Change of Scenery
Running that same route or treadmill can become tiresome and boring! Discover some new areas and use this as a way to motivate you to explore – whilst getting your running in.
Back to our 20-minute time goal – you’ve reached it, now what?
4. Progression
Now is the time to increase the challenge and we can do that two ways, increase your pace (how fast your running), or increase your duration (the amount of km’s you run). Choose one and this can be your next goal.
The most important tip of all:
5. Don’t get discouraged
Running is the type of activity that when its hard you want to stop. A good way to break this is focus on why you began running in the first place, identify this and use it as your motivation to keep going. Don’t dwell on the bad runs as this can happen frequently, some days you’ll have an amazing run, and other days you won’t. But the success of your running is not determined by one day, it is by all of them put together = motivation to continue.
Still unsure where to begin, how to progress your distance or pace, or training for a specific event? Come and see us and lets develop an individualised running program for you to achieve your goals. No goal is too big or too small, whether it’s a 5km, 10km, half marathon or ultra-marathon we are here to support you the entire way.
Contact us today for your personalised running program.
Helping the Central Coast Feel Well, Move Well and Perform Well!