My Running Progress

I wrote some advice for runners a few weeks ago. I am happy to say I have been following my own advice and have made a lot of progress running. My basic advice was to run 3x per week and increase your time (not distance) by 10% per week. I was running about 30-35 mins when I wrote the first post. I ran for an hour yesterday! I was wiped most of the day but was able to put on a good face for a lot of visitors at the office. Advil and coffee helped a lot too . My pace has increased and my heart rate is higher when I start huffing and puffing.

That is all good. But I have reached my limit … of patience. I am just getting bored. An iPod helps a lot but an hour is a long time to be out on the road. I plan to cut back the time to about 45 mins and increase the pace.

To add some fancy graphics to this post, here is my progress chart and my last run.

Advice for Runners, Part 2

I forgot to mention a few things in my first post.  Since it has been one of the most read posts on my blog (really!), I thought I would follow up with more sage advice about running.

Advice #6: Achieve runner’s high. This is what it’s all about. Runner’s high is your reward for suffering through the pain.  Running is pain and more pain. It is the kind of pain that only goes away when you stop running and walk for a bit. Then it comes right back when you start running again. I’m not joking. If you can’t handle pain, don’t take up running.

Runner’s high is a real thing and it is great! It is a feeling of euphoria, peacefulness, and well being. It isn’t as intense as some illegal substitutes but it is free and healthy. I think it is the reason many people keep running for so long. To achieve this, you have to work yourself up to a 45 min or so run and get used to that level or a little more. Once you do, you can put yourself into maintenance mode (stop increasing) and start to really enjoy your runs.

Advice #7: Shoes. For me, 45-50 mins is about as long as I can go before my feet and legs start to hurt a lot. This isn’t from muscle soreness but from pounding the pavement for so long. But one thing that can help through all stages of running is proper shoes. If you don’t know what “over pronate” means, you shouldn’t buy shoes without help.  Y should go to a running store such as Footsteps in Reston and get help. They will look at your gait and recommend the right type of shoe. I am an over pronator which means the outside of my heel hits the pavement first. I need stability shoes. If run in the wrong shoes, you will have more pain and possibly injury as a result. You will pay retail prices at a specialty store but it is worth it for the service.

Advice #8:  Don’t push until you are dizzy and see black spots.  If you are a beginning runner, use a heart rate monitor.  I did mention this in my last post but it bears repeating.  I used to push until I felt dizzy and saw black spots in my eyes. I know for sure I had exceeded my limits. It’s best to get a heart rate monitor so you know when you are approaching a limit and what it feels like.

Advice for Runners

Spring is here and it seems like a bunch of people I know are taking up running to get in shape. I have been running for more than 30 years and know a few things that work for me. I have had to bite my tongue to keep from sounding like a know-it-all when talking to people who are new to running. So my advice is here and you can take it or leave it. Again, this is what works for me. It should work for you too.

Advice #1: Call it running not jogging. Even though my pace is more like jogging these days, I still say I run. Jogging sounds kind of wimpy.

Advice #2: get some gadgets. There are plenty of gadgets and things to spend money on. You don’t NEED any of them but there are a few that help — a lot. I use a heart rate monitor, an iPod, and the Nike+iPod running kit. The heart rate monitor is by far the most useful training device you can buy. It will help you know when you are over or under training. I set my treadmill to keep my heart rate at 145 beats per min and the treadmill adjusts the pace and incline to keep me there. 145 bpm is about 80% capacity for me. Any more than that and I start to breath hard. Less and it is too easy a workout. This let’s me increase my fitness level without much pain.

iPod. I said the heart rate monitor is the most useful device but an iPod may be more important. I listen to music and sometimes audio books when I run. If you get bored running, you will stop doing it.

Headphones are tricky for runners. The bounce out of your ears or cause your ears to sweat if you don’t get them set right. I use an over the head headphone, a Panasonic RP-HS35. If you know of a better set, please leave me a comment. The sound quality of these isn’t very good but they are a good combination of ear bud and over the head. Over the head is important. I put them on from behind so the cord is on my back instead of in front of me where I can catch it by accident. Then I put a sweat band over top of headphones to keep them in place. I never have to worry about them moving or bouncing around with this set up. I also use an arm band to carry an iPod Nano. Wrap the cord around the nano and tuck the excess in the arm band and I have a no fuss setup. It looks like this:

The Nike+iPod kit is my final gadget. I just started using this. It costs only $29 and is worth every penny. It is like a next gen pedometer that monitors and records your pace, time, and distance. It can tell you all of these with the press of a button. And best of all, it records and tracks all of this on the Nike web site. Here is the graph from my run today:

You can see where I run up a steep hill because my pace drops.

Advice #3: Go slow and run for time, not distance. You can see from the graph above that I ran three miles in 36 mins. That is not very fast but I am kind of ok with that. The biggest mistake most people make when they start running is they go too fast. You have to start out slow and pace yourself. You should start with maybe 20 mins of running. Run two or three times a week and increase your time (not distance) by 10% per week. You will be surprised how long you can go after only 8 weeks. Your pace will naturally increase as well. I have used this method over and over to increase my time, distance and speed.

Advice #4: If you are overweight, start by walking. Lose some weigh and build the muscles in your legs. Running is high impact on feet and knees.

Advice #5: Running uphill and downhill. There are slightly different techniques for running on hills. When you run uphill, put yourself in low gear. Take shorter steps and run from your butt. Trust me, it works. When you run downhill, keep your legs a bit straight and stiff. You want to feel like you are bouncing down the hill. You shouldn’t actually bounce but it will feel a little like that. It uses less energy this way.

Well, that’s all I know about running. Want to know about anything else?