Tips and general guidance for beginners 

I bet you have some questions, am I right? 

So you have sparked an interest in “running” and would like to start. 

These are common concerns when starting out adding running to your fitness routine.

How far should I run ? 

What running pace should I set?

How many times a week should I run? 

These are all great questions! In this article I’m going to assume you don’t not currently exercise much or not at all. 

First Step is: Mindset

Firstly, before we start diving into the information, I feel its most important to talk about your “mindset” as this will determine your success.

This is one area that I feel is missed out when embarking on a fitness journey, with most coaches putting you straight into their exercise training routine. The biggest question to ask yourself first is, “Why do I want to do this?  However, I’ll save that topic for another day. 

I’m going to go into the common mindset trap of comparing yourself to others. Especially with social media.

You’ll find yourself comparing your progress to others. When your friends or people you follow post pictures of their fitness app, showing how many miles they have done today, what time they did it in. 

Forget about all that! Focus 100% on what you are doing and how it makes you feel. Everyone’s persona journey starts with the first step. 

I would keep a log book of your runs. That way on your rest days you can look back at your progress and see how far you have come. Also serve that nothing written in, “Why” 

You want to train yourself to be accountable. I would also pick certain days of the week (your schedule) otherwise you will do what nearly everyone does with a gym membership, I go tomorrow, then, I’ll go tomorrow till thy reach the end of the week “Sunday” and tell themselves, “I am tired today, I’ll start a fresh on Monday”. Meaning that person has now missed a complete week of training. This process is repeated until the heathy habit is lost and they quit!  

Now let’s get into the guidance. 

How far should I run. 

Personally, I would not focus on a destination or a completion of a set milage.

The goal isn’t to instantly “get fit” or run fast, simply it’s to see how your body responds to running, minimising the risk of running injuries. 

You want to feel comfortable when you start out running. Focus on your breathing and go at a pace that easy for you, not to demanding, you want to stop, if it starts feeling difficult. 

The truth is, you are going to feel sore afterwards, legs will need a good stretching routine to aimed in recovery and flexibility. 

Weather you wear aa Fitbit or just a watch you want to focus on a time length instead of milage. 

This is how I have personally done running. 

For beginners I recommend a time of around 20 to 30 minutes per run. 

Did you know roughly this time limit dependent on the fast you are running is around 2- 3 miles. 

Once you reach this time, stop running! Mentally this is better because you are focus on keeping your body moving for a set time not focusing reaching a destination. Imagine if you said I’m going to run the full length of the beach not releasing how long that is. You over exert yourself and instantly give up, because that goal was untannable.

Basically, you set the bar to high when starting out. 

I would also focus on a route that is flat, no hills. This type of running training can be added as you become stronger. 

How many times a week 

For beginners I would run recommend 3 times a week, say Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 

Have a 24-hour rest in between run days. 

Incorporate walking 

If you are finding non-stop running a little too much, you can start of by breaking up your run with a walk. 

You could run for 3 minutes, then walk for a 1 minute and repat for the full 20 minutes.

Measuring your results. 

Once you become comfortable with running 20 -30minutes, simple increase your running time my 5 minutes. You can gradually build these over months till eventually you are able to run long distance at a good steady pace. 

You can also make your 30-minute run harder before increasing the time by incorporating a steady incline hill.  A little bit of up and down terrain.

I hope you have found this helpful, please do let me know. 

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Coach Darren