Back in December, my friends and I decided to run the North London half marathon. I used to run regularly when I was 16 – 18ish but stopped when I went to university. I’ve wanted to get back to running for ages but lacked the motivation, so I thought a half marathon would be a great way to force myself into it. After all, there is nothing like throwing yourself in the deep end to get started right?
I’m not going to lie and say at times, I haven’t deeply regretted this decision (normally when I finish work and have to drag myself to the gym in the rain instead of home to bed) but overall, I’m really enjoying it! I’ve been running now for about eight weeks and my cardio fitness has improved drastically, I generally feel less sluggish and less rubbish, and I officially have a hobby beside blogging!
I don’t expect everyone who reads this to turn around and sign up for the next half marathon, but I thought anyone who is considering starting running might want to know what to expect. Obviously everyone is different, but here’s my advice for anyone who wants to start running.
Follow a training plan
I think most people have a tendency to be lazy when exercising, especially if you’re new to it, so having a training plan really is essential for pushing yourself. If it was up to me when I started training, I’d call it a day the minute I started to get sweaty and breathless. Having a training plan really helped me to push myself beyond what I thought I could do (and still does!), and means that I’m seeing faster results in my fitness than I thought I would manage. When I was younger, my runs were basically me running when I wanted until I couldn’t be bothered, and as such I’d rarely go past a half an hour run. Now, I can run 60 minutes and still feel okay, just! Even if you’re not training for an event, download an app that helps you to build up distance, such as the Couch to 5K, or if you can already run for a decent amount of time start incorporating fast runs to help improve your stamina at high speeds.
Get the right footwear
I’m a little sore over this one, literally, as I ran for ages in terrible shoes knowing full well they weren’t supporting my feet. Unsurprisingly, I ended up injuring both my Achilles heels and having to lay off running for a week (this week, actually). Good running shoes can be expensive but if it’s something your serious about and know you’ll be getting high mileage each week, just pay for them. If you don’t pay in cash, you’ll be paying in pain later on. Wahey! I’ll actually be posting more about this in a later Fitness Friday so I expect you to be waiting on tenterhooks until then.
Don’t expect to instantly lose weight
You would think that running 3 – 4 times a week would mean pounds dropping off right? Well you’re wrong. Unless you’re counting your calories, it’s likely that you’ll be hungrier as a result of training and eating back to calories to compensate energy loss. On top of that, your body adjusts really well to singular types of exercise, meaning that your body stops using as much energy to run, burning less calories! One way to make running a higher fat burner is to alternate speed, such as HIIT, to basically surprise your metabolism and stop it getting complacent, but really if you want to lose weight you need to be eating less and incorporating resistance training into your workouts. Sorry!
Listen to your body
There are some days where I can bound along endlessly like I was just born to run, yet others I can struggle to run 10 minutes. It can be quite frustrating, but I’ve found the best way to deal with it is to listen to my body. Maybe I’ve not eaten enough that day, or I might be dangerously close to my period or just not had a decent night’s sleep in a while. If I really don’t want to run, I won’t. I’ll do weights, or uphill walking, or any other type of cross training instead. Then the next day I’ll get my running shoes back on and 9 times out of 10, I feel better for that break. If you really don’t enjoy running at first, I’d give yourself a month to stick to it as it becomes a lot funner the easier you find it, but if you really don’t get along with running don’t force yourself! Find something else you enjoy instead 
I think that’s it for my running advice, if you want more (and more professional) advice there are plenty of online running magazines and forums which offer all the information under the sun. Don’t get caught up in preparing yourself though, as Nike says – just do it! There’s nothing like actually running to teach you about running.
I’m running my half marathon for Cancer Research, so if you have even £1 spare it would be amazing to get a sponsor (you can do so through Just Giving). I’ll be running on the 15th March, and I’ll let you all know how I get on!
Will you be giving running a go this year?
