You’re running too fast. Slow down!
Posted on Feb 16 in Featured Article, Tipsby seanboPrint
After having been physically inactive for many years, I decided to take up running to get back in shape and lose weight. Having done minimal research to prepare myself for what I was getting myself into, I set out for my first run.
A friend of mine started running at the same time I had. We were supposed to go running together but he went out the day before me. He told me later that day that he had ran a mile in about eight and a half minutes. I thought to myself, “Geez, that seems fast for being out of shape like me.” Being fairly competitive, I wanted to see what I could do when I went out for my run.
So, during my lunch break, with running shoes and shorts in tow, I headed to the locker room, changed, and set out to the trail around the lake for a run. I wanted to make it once around the lake (one mile) and see how quickly I could do it.
I ran the mile, as intended. I ran the mile quickly, as intended. I was struggling dying, as to be expected. I knew I was out of shape, but I managed to run a mile in 7:23. Not too shabby I thought. However, I signed up to run a half-marathon four weeks from now (which is another no-no I will write about later). I barely made the full mile and was so drained and tired at the end of it, that there was no way I could go any further. I could hardly even walk any further.
I learned, the hard way, what all the good advise out there has to day about going too fast and pushing too hard. You need to save your energy, early on, while you feel fresh to make it last through your entire run. Burn it all up too early on and you end up just too fatigued to do anything; including recover.
I realized that there was no way I would be able to run 13.1 miles in four weeks if I tried to run at that pace. I wouldn’t even be able to run two miles at that pace. I realized that I was pushing way to hard and I needed some pointers. I got online that night to try to see how fast I really should be trying to run. I found no magical formula about how many strides to take per second or how whide my strides should be. What I did find was, in essence, was common sense.
Slow your initial pace down to less than where you feel you can run. The tendency is to run faster when you feel fresh. Naturally, your energy will begin to fade, your muscles will tire, and your body will slow because of it. Slowing down early on in a run will reserve some energy for later on in the run and give your body time to adjustand recover.
By taking it easy earlier, even taking a short walk to recover or a break at an aid station, your overall time will improve because your body has had a chance to save some energy or recover from some of the strain.
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