Running Advice

ColleenRuns

Some other advice from a coach who works with beginner runners:

1, NEVER WEAR COTTON when you run! Not even your undergarments or socks. Cotton retains moisture, and you will sweat when you run. This can cause you to be cold in winter, hot in summer, and run a greater risk of chafing any time of the year. Wear moisture wicking clothes whenever possible, or at least something that is NOT cotton.

2, If you are blister prone, socks matter as much as shoes. I am blister prone, so I wear a special type of sock that is especially designed to minimize blister problems. They cost $30 a pair, but I do races as long as 100 miles, and since I am blister prone, such specialized socks are the difference between running in comfort and running with blisters burning my feet. 5K runners don't need $30 a pair socks with specialized blister proof technology built into them, but they do need a good, moisture wicking sock. Your running store can help you with this - they all carry high quality socks for runners.

3, IF YOU ARE FEMALE, GO TO A PLACE THAT FITS WOMEN FOR BRASSIERES, AND GET A HIGH QUALITY SPORTS BRA THAT IS SPECIALLY FITTED FOR YOUR BODY.

The running stores MIGHT be a good place to get a sports bra like this. I say MIGHT because I have found that (at least our local) running stores carry the latest and greatest from running companies like Under Armour or Nike, but they don't carry bras that are manufactured by bra makers outside of the sporting industry.

If you are overweight, or you are older, or you have had breast cancer -- you might do best if you go to the best local bra store in your community that fits ladies for all kinds of bras, and not just sports bras. If you don't know where this store is in your community, contact a hospital or outpatient facility that does breast mammograms. These folks are used to dealing with breast cancer patients, all of whom must be individually fitted for bras. Find out where they send their breast cancer patients to get fitted for a bra, and that will usually be the best place for you to go to get yourself fitted. Even if you have never had breast cancer.

In the Memphis community, a store called A Fitting Place is really good at individually fitting women for any kind of bra they might need, including but not limited to sports bras. Yes, they fit ladies who have had breast cancer. But they fit ladies who have never had the cancer, too. Runners like me, for example. They carry an assortment of sports bras in their inventories, and they carry a much wider range of sizes than you will find at a dedicated runner's store.

Regardless of where you go, ladies -- a well fitting, supportive sports bra is the second most important thing to wear when you run, right after your running shoes.

I cannot emphasize this enough. But if you wear an ill-fitting bra for a run or two, YOU will emphasize this even more than I do! OUCH!

ColleenRuns

You do NOT need fancy running watches to be a runner! I have run full marathons (26.2 miles) with nothing but a cheap, WalMart wrist watch. Those fancy, $200 to $600 watches are only needed by the elite runners and triathelon athletes. We normal folks -- the 5K'ers of the world -- do NOT need those fancy, expensive watches.


The best way to run is to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY the entire time you are running. It really will tell you everything you need to know to keep safe, and at the same time, run your best race.

1, Keep your running pace at a moderate speed. How do you know when you are running at a moderate speed, one that is perfect for YOU? Listen to your body. It will tell you.

Unless you are an elite, trained runner who has run for many years, your best pace will be one where you run as much as you can, and walk as much as you need to.

And how do you find (and then keep) that pace?

Listen to your body.

Can you sing as you move your body along?

If so, then you are going to slow. Speed it up.

Are you going so fast that you are out of breath, and can't get out more than just a few words because of your "huffing and puffing"?

If so, then you are going too fast. Slow it down. It might be time to consider an interval of walking. But at minimum, slow your pace down.

If you try to use one of those "canned" paces like Jeff Galloway teaches (the ones that a fancy runner's watch will try to make you conform to), you will find that the "one size fits all" approach probably is not optimum for YOU.

How do you find the BEST pace for YOU?

You will toggle between being able to sing when you run, and being "huffy puffy." If you get going so fast that you are huffing and puffing, slow it down. When you've slowed it down to the point you could actually sing, then speed it up.

Eventually - maybe after a few months, maybe not until a year or more after you begin to run -- there will come a time when you will learn what your body can do so well, that you will learn the pace you can sustain for many miles non-stop without having to toggle between singing and "huffing/puffing." You will, at that point, begin your run at a controlled pace, and be able to keep it for the entire 5K.

But that takes time, and alot of practice.

In the meantime, you can use the sing to "huffy/puffy" toggle to keep you within YOUR safe pace for the duration of the race.

And remember -- it is YOUR RACE. You do NOT have to run/walk anybody else's pace. Only your own.

Every 5K I know of will keep the Finish Line open until the last runner/walker crosses the finish line. Unless you are competing in one of those (very rare) 5Ks that put a time limit on the race, you will be OK, no matter what YOUR pace might be.

And don't worry about being the last person to cross the Finish Line. I am a very slow marathon runner. I've been the last one to cross the Finish Line lots of times. It's OK. I did my best, and I finished my race.

As long as you did not quit (unless you get injured, of course), you can stand tall at the end of the race. You did your best. YOU ARE A RUNNER/WALKER !

gexking

if you get shin splints use a single ice cube from the tray and melt it to water on each shin after your run. It brings down inflammation quick.

girlinahat

the whole pronating/overpronating thing is beginning to be seen to be more a marketing ploy than anything else....have a look at videos of Haile Gebrselassie running and then explain WHY overpronating is supposedly a bad thing....

still worth getting fitted for shoes. A good running store will be able to advise on the different shoes manufacturers make for different surfaces. But comfort will be key. And probably going a half or full size larger.

MeanderingMammal

girlinahat wrote: »

the whole pronating/overpronating thing is beginning to be seen to be more a marketing ploy than anything else.

I'd agree, it's become a bit of an article of faith, and to be honest I don't think it's necessary for C25K runners, at least in the first six weeks. If anything I'd say it's the wrong thing to do, as gait will improve fairly rapidly.

There's a bit of an industry around C25K, and if anything the insistence on gait analysis is a barrier to entry.

flippy1234

Oh my goodness. Thank you all! Such great advice!