Do you guys remember my Instagram stories where I shared that I won a running medal for placing third place in my age group for a 5K that I ran on Valentine's day? I was pretty excited because I had never won a medal for a physical activity before 🤣. My husband and I set a goal of running a 5K each month, and reducing our total time at each race.
I'm in no way an expert in running, but I would like to share some tips that have helped me so far:
Pace Yourself: I always start off with a 5 minute walk to warm up my muscles and get used to the motions of walking/running. I also set a goal of running every other day for a total of three times a week. Running is a high impact exercise and you don't want to over-strain yourself or get injured.
Run/Walk Intervals: Since I'm a beginner and my pace is slow, I alternate between walking for a few minutes and running for a few minutes. I use a 5K Runner app on my phone which lets me know when to run and when to walk. That way, I don't have to constantly look at my watch to time myself. As I get through each week of running, the app increases the duration of time I run and reduces the time I walk. The ultimate goal is to be able to run the whole 5k.
Stretch!: I can't emphasize this enough. As someone who has had ankle sprains and knee pains, I make it a point to stretch before and after exercising. There are lots of Youtube videos out there on various stretching exercises that you can watch.
Choose Your Running Surface: I am so used to using my tradmill at home, so when I ran my first 5K, I realized how much more challenging it is to run outdoors on a harder surface LOL. As a result, I alternate between using my treadmill (at an incline of 1 or 1.5) and running outdoors. This helps me get acclimated to running outdoors in a actual 5K race.
No Heavy Food Before Running: I do not eat or drink anything heavy right before running. I may have half a banana or a granola bar or coffee for some energy.
Breathe!: Breathing properly is a huge part of being able to run effectively. I am still learning how to breathe with my stomach. I also alternate betwen breathing through my nose and mouth. As you run, it gets harder to get enough oxygen just by breathing through your nose. It is recommended that you do a combination of mouth and nose breathing, and this is working out well for me so far.
Train Your Core: Don't forget that the stronger your body and legs get, the faster and better you will become at running. So add some strength and core training into your workouts, since a strong core helps you have better balance and stability while walking and running.
Thanks for reading! Do you have any additional tips for running? I'd love to hear them - please comment below. XOXO.
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