Top 10 Running Recommendations

Recently I was asked, in various ways, what are my top TEN running recommendations.  I'm going to take the thought approach that the average person who is reading this will start out on the running spectrum as a consumer within the running market, and turn into an athlete with well defined aspirations.  (Some day I'll share my perspective on the motivational drivers, but for now just understand that no part of the spectrum is better than any other.

TOO HARD TOO SOON TOO FAST
I'm putting this one FIRST because it's almost always the first rule of running that people tend to break.  Many self-imposed issues/injuries/problems stem from running too hard or too soon or too fast.  Avoid at all costs running too hard far too often.  Avoid running too soon after a long race.  Avoid resuming back to normal training where running fast is now "too fast" because you skipped the rest and recovery cycle.  Imitate the professionals.  If you trained hard, rest hard.  If you raced hard, recover even harder.   Skipping steps will only put you on the sidelines.

Runner #1:  Runs a marathon on Sunday and sets a PR, gets in his "mandatory shake out" the next day, runs a few easy runs during the week and then next weekend races a local 5K... deep inside he knows something feels weird, but he can't pinpoint exactly what, figures he's just tired.  10 days later after even more running paces 2-3 minutes slower than marathon pace are a struggle...without any direct explanation.   Cause?   Too hard too soon too fast.  Learn how to REST.

Runner #2:  Runs a marathon on Sunday and takes 5 days off, then runs a 20 miler with her friends who are getting in their last long run before their own marathon.  10 days later, there's a nagging pain that turns out to be a stress reaction.  Cause?  too hard too soon too fast.  Grab a bike next time.

Runner #3 Runs a marathon on Sunday, takes a day off, and does speedwork on tuesday as if Sunday had never occurred.  They resume full on training including a long run on the weekend.  They find themselves a week later struggling to get started, the legs just don't want to move.  Doctor visit shows most likely come chronic fatigue setting in, blood work shows a spike in elevated adrenal activity, and resting heart rate is through the roof.  Cause?  Too Hard Too Soon Too Fast

Consistency
One of the most important things, if you want to see improvement, is to remain consistent with your training.  Your body craves consistency, it learns to expect things.  Don't run 1 day one week, 7 days the next, 2 days the following, 6 days the next week.  Start out with 1 day a week.  When that's too easy add another day.  When that's too easy, add another.  Figure out what works best for you and stick with it.  You'll see greater improvements when you train consistently.

Dedication/FOCUS
This one is hard to swallow.  It's all about how serious you are with yourself.  It's all about choices you made or intend to make.  It's raining outside, you can barely see 10 feet in front of you.  There's 3ft of snow.  It's 100 degrees outside. Your work schedule has you traveling on a trip with only 1 hour to spare today.  You slept in because you partied too hard last night.  Your toenails are too long.  You just had dinner even though you weren't hungry.  You said you were going to run at 8AM but it's 10AM and you aren't out of bed yet.  Your running partner came down with a cold and said they can't show up.   Do you let these things turn into excuses, or do you make the decision to be dedicated towards your goal?

Capability
Find out what YOU are capable of running.  Don't arbitrarily pick a time goal, or worse yet, cling on to the lore of yesteryear.  Go run something, anything...right now.  Time it.  What did you run?  THAT is what you're capable of running.  Don't sign up for the latest MEGATHON because your super fit in shape coworker/neighbor just told you about her amazing trip to Awesometown USA where she ran a PR of 1:29:56 for a 25K and it seemed effortless.  Does any of that make sense to you right now?  Probably not!  Implicit Peer Pressure is real, don't fall for the FOMO.

WORSE, did you run track or XC in high school?  You took 15 years off and now you figure a few weeks in and you'll be right back to where you were (and we ALWAYS "were" at our peak performance, right?).  If there is a significant amount of time between the last time you ran something, and this time....you're starting over.  Accept that as fact.

You are capable of what you can go do right now, not of what you remember doing, or what your neighbor just did.   Setting a realistic goal for yourself will help you remain much more consistent.  You'll look forward to tiny gains soon turning into massive returns.

Reasonable
Be reasonable with yourself.  You've never run before or you haven't run in a long time.  Your body has morphed in several different ways, and it's going to take some time getting used to the effort to move it faster, and just as important, learning how to give it a break afterwards.  Do NOT judge yourself because you tried to run some distance, and it doesn't match what others are talking about.  You haven't been on the same journey as they have, nor have they traveled along your path.  Your goal is to enjoy running, and to achieve running accomplishments that have personal value.  If you test your capabilities and find that you can do X, accept X.  Don't let someone tell you that you should be training for Y when you know that X is your comfort zone.  If that's a 15 minute mile then so be it.  That's you.  Down the road maybe it changes to 12 minutes.  Maybe it changes to 7 minutes.  Don't let someone convince you that you need to train at something you know you can't consistently repeat, that you fail to find the motivation to get up and go do.  If it's something you fear doing, you probably won't do it.  If you know tomorrow you've got something to do that you can do, the hardest part is execution.

Rest
Just as important as getting in all of your runs.  You'll eventually get to a point where you're running more, and more, and more.  You'll set up mileage goals, and look to achieve arbitrary distances.  These are all fine as long as you're finding the time to recover.  You start out as a 1 day a week runner, and move up by adding a day here and there.  No problem.  The other days can have cross training in the gym, on the bike, in the pool.  Eventually you reach a limit and your energy levels start to plummet.  Worse, you thrive on the rush provided by the intensity of running and all the other activities, and find yourself subject to a whole host of undefinable calamities...all signs point towards a failure to rest.  Now is the time to establish a proper training cycle with appropriate rest for whatever efforts you put out.  As an example, you'll see people who just participated in a marathon talking about how they need to get in their shake out run the day after the event.  They didn't "race" the marathon.  If they did, they wouldn't be able to even process that thought.  If you can avoid rest the day after a marathon, you didn't race the marathon.  You jogged 26.2 miles.  If that's your thing, not racing long distance events, then that's fine too, just don't promote it as a healthy practice for what everyone should do.  We are all amazed by how well professionals perform in the marathon, we should be equally amazed by how well they rest afterwards.

Investment
Running is in an investment in you.  Set yourself up for success.  Every time you run something right, that's a "deposit" in the YOU account.  Every time you eat healthy, you're increasing your interest rate.  Every time you rest when you were supposed to, you put another dollar in that account.  You were looking at a pair of $40 shoes that last for 75 miles versus that $125 pair that will last 300 miles and decided to "save" some money.  You just took some money out of the YOU account.  You looked outside and saw how horrible the weather was, but you ran anyways...the bank just gave you $50 for being a loyal customer.  1 year, 5 years, 10 years...even longer, what do you want this account to be worth?  Is it always going to be easy making deposits and having the discipline to avoid withdrawals?  NO.  When you start out defining what you want, find out whatever it is that you're seeking to achieve, and have a plan to get there.  Make deposits, avoid withdrawals.

Social
Find people who are attempting to achieve similar goals.  Success in groups is infectious.  Support from our friends who've been through it is all the more believable, and will help reinforce our own motivations to reach our goals.  Miles melt away with friends.  20 milers become "too short" because you were having such a good conversation.  Make memories talking about the silly things you did before a big race, during, or after.  Be prepared to get comfortable with others, and find yourself forgetting how tough things seemed to be beforehand.  You'll develop some relationships that last a lifetime, others that come and go...regardless, you'll learn so much from others and teach them just as much.

Education
There is no such thing as too much education when it comes to running.  Learn as much as you can.
You'll learn what works for you, and more importantly what does not.  High mileage low intensity?  Low Mileage High Intensity?  Middle Middle?  Zero Drop Shoes?  Arch support?  Eat Breakfast before the marathon?  Drink a gallon of water? DOMS?  Heel Striking is bad? Is it?  Shin splints are caused by what forces?  Your optimal running weight is??  I can hit the weights and still be a runner?

All those questions, and a million more...grab some keyboard and find primary source articles, find studies, get out there and run and test things out (Trial and Error, ask questions of your running friends for consideration)....never stop learning.

Patience
After you've learned all of the above, the last step is learning to manage your own expectations.  Investments take time, don't expect an immediate return.   It takes months of establishing your base mileage and forcing physical adaptations, getting through various training cycles, eating better, resting better, staying dedicated...it is after all of these things (and so much more) that you will start to realize the gains from all of your hard work.


To go back to the banking account analogy, investments take time.  Set up direct deposit (consistency), pay your bills on time(dedication), don't buy things you can't afford (be reasonable), and constantly monitor your account for accuracy (education).  If you treat your running self like you treat your bank account, you'll have plenty of earned interest and capital appreciation built up for those moments in life when you want to go on vacation, buy the boat, etc etc....

Happy Running!