Novice’s Guide to Running

by Col. Nehru

When I trained Army personnel in fitness, I was dealing with people who could run 1 mile under 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Some of my students now cannot even run for even 5 minutes continuously; forget the distance. I have learnt to work with them with fair amount of success. This blog is meant to help someone who meets all/some of the following criteria:

• No experience of running.

• Not been a sportsperson.

• Probably overweight.

Getting Started

Just start running. If you find that you cannot last even 1 min, then do the following:

• Run at a very comfortable pace. Comfortable pace is one at which you can hold a conversation while running.

• Run intermittently — 30 sec to 1 min and then walk for 1-2 min.

• In this manner, gain the ability to continuously run for about 30 min in 30-60 days.

Recovery Time

Please run only on alternate days. Take a day to recover from the exertion. This is important to prevent injuries, maintain the motivation and also progress.

Injury Prevention

Injury prevention is the most important aspect for an untrained runner. Common injuries for untrained runners can be the following:

• Pain in knee.

• Pain in ankle.

• Pain in shin.

The best solution for all these injuries is rest and gradual buildup of strength of the weak areas, and weight reduction. Let us understand the method of injury prevention/recovery. Injuries below the knee occur because the ankle and calf muscles are weak, and also the bones are not dense enough. Bone density will build up over time with training. Muscle strength can be improved faster. The good news is that calf muscles are the strongest muscles in the body and can be trained easily every alternate day. Practice single/double leg calf rises over several sets (8-12) to strengthen the muscles of the lower legs.

Cardio endurance has to be built by running only twice/ maybe only once in a week. For at least 3 days in a week you should cycle, or train on the cross trainer machine or the rowing machine. These exercises are good because they will build up the cardio endurance (lungs and heart) without putting much stress on your joints.

Knee injury can be prevented by training the quadriceps on the leg extension machine, or just tightening your upper leg muscles for 15-20 sec and then relaxing them. Do this exercise over several sets (8-12) twice a week.

30 Min Continuous Running Ability

By observing the above tips you should be able to reach a level of being able to run continuously for 30 min in about two months without being injured. Even if it takes longer, please do not worry. It is important to have patience and not get injured. Once you have reached this level, it is time to think about the distance being covered and the speed at which it is done.

Equipment?

Unlike Cricket or Tennis, Running is not a very expensive sport. The most important equipment would be the Shoes. 

We at NFSporTech.com have quite a few options starting from high-end Asics shoes to the more reasonable Nivia ones. Call us today at +917017874820 to get good deals and advice on what might suit your needs.

Blog credits to www.nofrillsacademy.com

https://nofrillsacademy.com/miscellaneous/novices-guide-running/