Blog Goal

This blog contains more than 100,000 words. That’s a lot of writing! How do you go about tackling such a big project? You set intermediate goals and then set short-term goals to get you to those intermediate goals. You track your progress toward these shortterm goals, all the while reminding yourself of the long-term goal, and when necessary and appropriate, you review what you’ve done to remind yourself how far you’ve come. That’s the approach that I recommend for running as well. You need to set both shortterm and long-term goals, you need a way to track those goals, and you need to monitor how you’re progressing toward your goals, both to see whether they need to be revised and to remind yourself how far you’ve come.
For most runners, the ultimate long-term goal is to keep running for the rest of their lives. That’s a pretty heady goal, and one that’s hard to pin down. It’s certainly my ultimate goal, but it’s so vague that I can’t use it as my main source of motivation. I set goals for a given year, and then within that year I set intermediate goals of what to focus on for a few months at a time. Within those few months, I set even shorter-term goals to guide me through a week or so of running at a time. Along the way, I’m constantly assessing things to determine what adjustments I need to make.
Again, consider this blog. When I started to write it, I would have been lost if I would have said, “OK, I’m going to write more than 100,000 words about running. Let’s get going!” Instead, I looked at finishing each section as a goal unto itself and finishing each section of each chapter as an even more immediate goal. Along the way, I’d monitor how I was progressing. (Usually not as much as I’d like!) By plugging away like that, I was able to produce what you’re reading now. You probably take this approach with your work as well without even thinking about it.

Beyond the Basics

What I have to say in this section applies to all runners, whether you’ve made one trip around the block or have run so many miles that you could circle the globe. That said, I’m going to focus in this chapter on what I call “Phase Two” runners. By that I mean runners who have already successfully taken that hardest initial step, from inactivity to regular running. These runners have achieved that basic level of fitness. But having reached that, they might very well think, “What now?”
After all, when you’re new to running, you probably don’t always find the running itself easy, but keeping at it is in some ways easier because it’s so foreign to you. When you follow a moderate progression like the one I outlined previously, you can see gains almost from run to run. It’s hard not to be motivated when from week to week you see that you can run farther, that running is becoming easier, that you’re losing weight, feeling better, and so on. This period can be one of the most exciting times in your running life.
You know that you feel better than when you started running. But how do you keep at it? How do you make the leap to where you look at running as something that grounds, not interrupts, your day? How do you stay motivated?

Running Motivation

Ask runners who have been running for six months or more if they hope to run for the rest of their lives, and almost all of them are going to say yes. That’s the easy part—recognizing that your life is better because you run. What’s not so easy is knowing how to stay motivated enough along the way to keep running. Inertia is a mighty powerful force, and it can be tough to keep in mind how much better running makes you feel. So it can be difficult to resist that little voice that tells you that your life is hard enough as it is, so you just can’t deal with running this week. Then one week becomes two, then three, and then you’re way off track. In this section, I’ll show you some basic motivational strategies that I and other longtime runners use to keep ourselves on the road. If you get in the habit of using a few of the methods I tell you about here, not only will you want to run for the rest of your life, but you’ll be psychologically able to.

Running Here and There

The more convenient that you can make your running, the better. That’s why some busy runners try to combine it with other parts of their lives when possible. For example, you leave your car with the mechanic for repairs, and rather than bother a friend to follow you there, you run home. Or you spend a full day with the family at a mall or at a park and have your spouse drop you off a few miles from home on the return trip.

Obviously, these aren’t everyday solutions, but if your life is as busy as most people’s, it can help to always be thinking of ingenious ways to squeeze in runs or catch a quick-few. These out-of-the-ordinary jaunts are sometimes among the most fun.

A more routine example of this kind of thinking is running to and from work. My coauthor, Scott Douglas, used to do this when he lived a few miles from his office and really came to look forward to it. Scott would run home from work on, say, Monday night, lengthening the basic route by however much he wanted. When he got home, he enjoyed the feeling of being done with both work and running for the day. It didn’t hurt that his commute via foot didn’t take all that much more time than by car. The next morning, Scott would run to work. Knowing that your car is at the office is a pretty good incentive to get in a morning run! There, Scott would shower and change into the work clothes that he had brought in on the previous day. Sure sounds better than sitting in a traffic jam.

Tips for Weekend Jogging

You want to progress intelligently with your running. That usually doesn’t mean doing most of your running for the week on the consecutive days of the weekend. But that’s what you’ll see a lot of time-pressed runners do, figuring that they’ll trash themselves on Saturday and Sunday and then have the work week to recoup and do it all again the next weekend. That’s not a good approach unless one of your main goals as a runner is to get injured. Still, if it’s always a major effort to find the time to run during the work week, you can use the weekends to your advantage. Say you’re running four days a week. Have Saturday and Sunday be two of those days.

That means you only have to squeeze in two runs between Monday and Friday. Just be sure to plan intelligently. It’s usually best to do your weekend running in the mornings. You can still sleep in some, go for a nice run, enjoy breakfast with your family, and then have hours free for whatever else you want to do. One time-honored running tradition is to do the longest run of the week on the weekend. The runs before and after that longest run should be relatively short, easy runs. So you could go for a short run Saturday morning, still have almost the entire day for other activities, and then do your longest run for the week on Sunday morning. The short run on Saturday is just a warm-up to loosen you up for Sunday’s run. Or you could do your long run on Saturday and find a little time on Sunday for a short run that will help to work out the kinks from the previous day’s effort.

Tips for Night Jogging

Hit the roads after a stressful day, and by the end of the run, you start to entertain the possibility that perhaps your boss only seems to be the devil incarnate. Even if you feel tired from a long work day, you usually feel better after you’ve warmed up when you run in the evening than at any other time of the day. Getting out for some miles after work is also a wonderful way to separate your professional life from your personal life. Some runners swear by their late afternoon/ early evening runs even if they have already had a morning or noontime run. They get tremendous energy from this doubling.

But consistently getting in your runs after work can be tough if you’re not dedicated. You’re seldom going to get a call early in the morning from your boss asking you to come in two hours early, but the same isn’t true when it comes to staying late at the office. If you have a family, they might be in the reasonable, even endearing habit of wanting to spend time with you when you get home from work, rather than watch you dart out the door in your running shoes. There’s also the matter of holding up others’ mealtimes to consider.

Having someone to run with right after work can help mightily in sticking with it. It’s often easier to find running partners for the afternoon, when people tend to be congregated in fewer areas, than in the morning, when you’re scattered all over the place. Another solution is to start your run from your office. By the time you’ve finished your run, the traffic will be lighter, and you can go home and devote your entire attention to what’s waiting for you there.

Noon Jog

Another of the main when-to-run options is the middle of the day. When I was training for the 1976 Olympics, I was employed as a teacher. Running before and after school every day was starting to get to me, so I asked for and received permission to run during my lunch hour. This was a huge help. It broke up my work day, gave me a boost for the afternoon, and allowed me to get in a better quality workout than when I was continually dragging myself out of bed to run. (I’m not much of a morning person.) Running at lunchtime is also nice because, as with morning running, you have the post-work hours free to spend with family and friends. During the winter, running in the middle of the day often can be your only chance for any real sunlight until the weekends. This is also usually the warmest time of day in the winter. (It is in the summer, too, when it can be a good idea to look for a different time of day to run.)

The biggest problem you’re going to face as a noontime runner is logistics. Your employers might not see the value in you dashing out the door every day for a vigorous run, especially if they’re not exercisers and think that you’re going to spend the afternoon asleep at your desk. That’s why it’s a good idea to do what I did and discuss your desire to run at lunch with your boss. As you should with your family, explain why this time is important to you. (You could also hit them with the statistics that show that the fittest employees take the fewest number of sick days.)

You might need more than the standard time allotted for lunch in your company to get in your run. It’s not in your long-term best interest to sprint out the door at 12:01, return at 12:56 and be back, dressed, at your desk at 1:01. Account for the necessary pre- and post-run activities as you should when planning a run in the morning. Present your boss with a good plan, such as taking an extra 30 minutes in the middle of the day in exchange for arriving earlier or staying later.
After getting the thumbs up from your boss, you’re going to have to assess the surroundings.

The number of businesses that have showers on site is growing, but they’re still rare. Check for health clubs near your office at which you can stretch and shower afterward. If reasonable, this option is often a good one for helping to maintain your professional identity—you’ll leave and return to work in your office attire, rather than your coworkers seeing you in shorts and a T-shirt.

When there’s not an accessible shower, some runners towel off in the bathroom. This is a judgment call, based on your preferences, as well as the degree of formality of your office and the closeness of contact with your coworkers. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be around some runners a couple of hours after they’ve run if they had yet to shower.

Morning Run

The best time to run is the time of day when your normal schedule will most regularly allow you to run. For many busy people, that time is the morning. Studies of adult exercisers have shown the highest rate of regular compliance among those who work out is in the morning. It’s no surprise why—other than the sandman, there usually aren’t a whole lot of people placing demands on you at 6 a.m. But come the end of the work day, you might be pulled a million different ways, and it might be a lot easier to justify missing a run than to have to say “no” to people.

Most regular morning runners find that hitting the roads before work or school gives them energy for the whole day. It sure beats staggering out of bed at the last minute and starting your day in a stupor behind the wheel. Mentally, there are few greater feelings than starting your work day knowing that you’ve already achieved something personally significant.

Morning runners should take some extra precautions, however. Some studies have shown that regular morning runners get injured more often than evening runners. Your muscles are stiffer in the morning, and it’s harder to feel as though you’re making a smooth transition from rest to activity in the morning, especially when going right into a wake-up run. Additionally, most of the physiological attributes that contribute to good distance running, such as aerobic capacity, peak in the late afternoon and early evening, so you have to work a little harder in the morning to maintain a given pace. Also, most morning runners are trying to squeeze in a run without being late for work, so they might tend to skimp on a proper warm-up. You can see why morning runners might get injured more easily.

But that doesn’t mean you have to get injured. The solution is to include time for some gentle stretching, and just some overall waking up, when you’re setting your alarm clock for the next morning’s run. Give yourself at least 20 minutes from when you get out of bed to when you get out the door. Thirty minutes would be even better.
I know that this is precious time seemingly taken away from sleep. There are two things you can do to counter that feeling.

First, if your entire wake-up/warm-up/run/cool-down routine is going to take an hour, then go to bed an hour earlier the night before. (Try not to do it the other way and get up an hour earlier than usual after going to bed at your normal time.) But what about all that stuff you need to do in the evening before you go to bed? My second bit of time-management advice is to save some of the little chores, such as paying a couple of bills or packing lunches, for that wake-up time I advise between getting out of bed and starting your run. If you’ve ever started the day by running as a beautiful sunrise unfolds, you know that the effort of getting out of bed is usually worth it.

What U.S. Presidents Know That You Don’t

Almost all of the 8 million regular runners in the United States are very busy. They hold demanding jobs; they’re parents; they volunteer in their communities. But they know that the tiny amount of time that it takes each week to stick with a running program gives them a return that is monumental. The physical and psychological strength that they get from running increases the amount of “time” in their lives, if you take “time” to mean hours in which they feel vibrant, productive, and at ease with themselves. Let’s look at it another way and break things down mathematically: There are 168 hours in a week. You can maintain a good level of fitness by running for half an hour, four times a week. So there’s two hours. Throw in another 15 minutes each workout for stretching, cooling down, and so on, and you’re up to a grand total of three hours out of every week’s 168.

Can’t find three hours? Life too busy? Consider the U.S. President, who, it’s generally agreed, has the busiest, most difficult job in the world. Of our last four presidents, three— Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Jimmy Carter—have been regular runners. They all know how running centers their day and increases the quality of the rest of their time. None of this information is meant to belittle your busy life. It is a struggle to find the time to run regularly. I just wanted to make sure that you’re convinced that it’s a worthwhile struggle, and one that can almost always be won. Here are some ways to manage your running time so that it easily becomes a regular part of your day:

• Consider your run an integral part of your day, as you do going to work and spending time with your family.
• When planning your day, plan when you’re going to run. Don’t expect the time to magically present itself.
• Treat running as an extension of your work day. Don’t consider yourself “done for the day” until you’ve gotten your run in.
• Instead of viewing running as another responsibility, look upon your running time as a gift to yourself each day, when you get to spend quiet, quality time by yourself or with a close friend or two.
• Plan runs with friends one or two days a week. Give these meetings the same degree of commitment as you do other meetings during the week.
• Explain to your family and friends the specialness of this time to you. They’ll be more likely to respect and support your running if you share with them why it’s so important.
• If necessary, schedule your runs the same way that you do other parts of your life. Write them on a calendar or leave yourself a note.

Above all, keep a flexible approach rather than an allor- nothing attitude. When things seem out of control at work, you don’t just blow it off and head home for the day. You adapt to the situation and do the best you can. If work or other responsibilities has cut into the start of your usual running time, don’t consider the day lost, and not run at all. If anything, you’ll need running’s stress relief more than usual. So get out the door for whatever amount of time is left to you. Then look at the time-consuming situation and see whether it’s avoidable next time

Fitting Jogging in Your Schedule?

As I said, a lack of time is the reason most often cited when people are asked why they don’t exercise regularly. You’re reading this blog, so I’m not going to lump you into the always-looking-for-an-excuse category. What you want to know is where to find the time. But let’s look at these people’s claim nonetheless, if for no other reason than to keep you motivated if you hit a snag in your running program and start to think that your busy life means that your fitness must be sacrificed.

Usually, people who say that they don’t have time for exercise have never made it a part of their life. They don’t understand what it means to feel fit, so they don’t place any importance on it. They’ve been taught that exercise is always drudgery, and they think that their life is hard enough as it is. Why would they take precious time to make it more so? Also, they think that they’re already so tired all the time.
Why run, and get more tired?

Guide for running in strange land

Let’s look at what happens when you’re a stranger in a strange land. A lot of beginning runners, no matter how committed they are when at home, blow off their running when they’re traveling for business or pleasure. That’s a shame. You know how running is such a stress reliever in your day-to-day life. It’s that much more of one when you’re away from your usual routine. Plus, running in a new town or city allows you to experience it in a way that you can’t if you confine yourself to meeting rooms, tour buses, and restaurants. Finding good places to run when you’re traveling can be difficult. Most inactive people don’t have a good sense of distance. If you ask them where to run, they might mention a local park and not realize that it’s not quite going to fit your running needs because it’s only 100 yards across. Or they might know of a large enough place to run, but because it’s a mile or two away, they’ll think that it might as well be on Mars as far as being accessible.

As with other aspects of travel, a good solution is to do some investigation before you leave home. Contact the local running clubs or running stores. If you can, do this before you make lodging reservations. When I’m in New York City, I always make sure that my hotel is no more than half a mile from Central Park, which is really the only place in Manhattan to get in some unimpeded miles.

These days, most cities have set aside some land for recreational purposes. It might not be great running, it might not be more than a mile or so of ground, and it probably won’t be as beautiful as Central Park, but it can be the difference between being able to run and not. Besides parks, one common place to run is along waterfronts, such as along Lake Michigan in Chicago.

Don’t forget that one of the keys to successful traveling is adaptability. This is as true with regard to running as it is to plane departures. If no good running options present themselves, make the most out of the hand you’re dealt. When I was in postwar Vietnam a few years ago, the only place I could find to run without being overrun by traffic was a 600-yard loop through a zoo. This was hardly ideal, but circling that loop seemingly endlessly was a lot better than not running at all. In this country, if nothing else, you can usually find an outdoor track by looking for the nearest high school or college.

Guide for running in the beach

I used to run a 10K (6.2 miles) race on the beach in Duxbury, Massachusetts every year. This beach was a firm, flat surface on which I could pretty much run with my normal stride. In other words, it was unlike most beaches. Despite what you might see on Baywatch or Chariots of Fire, there’s just not that much good running to be had on the sand. Most beaches are either too soft, so that your feet sink too far into the sand with every step to run normally, or, by the time you get to firm footing near the water, they’re too slanted. In the latter case, you’re asking for the same type of trouble as when you run on a slanted road.

There are exceptions, and some runners find a certain mystical element in running by the ocean when the footing is good. On the central California coast, there’s a place called Pismo Beach. (If it sounds familiar, that might be because that’s one of the places that Bugs Bunny was always claiming that he had taken a wrong turn at.) The sand at Pismo Beach is ideal for running. It’s flat and firm for about 50 yards from the water’s edge. I know a runner who has done two-hour runs there, finding great joy in watching and listening to the crashing of the surf just feet away. If you can find one of these rare runable beaches, they’re a nice treat, although even the most Zen-like runner would find them boring on a daily basis.

Guide for Off-Road Running

Run on soft surfaces such as dirt, grass, or trails made of crushed stone, cinders, or wood chips as much as possible. These are the types of forgiving ground that, as a species, humans grew up running over. Think about how much more pleasant it feels on your feet to walk across your yard than it does to walk down the street. Multiply that difference not only by the much greater pounding of running, but also by the thousands of steps that you take in a run, and you reach the unavoidable conclusion that running on natural surfaces is one of the best ways to avoid injury.

When I was in college, I did a lot of my running on trails, and I loved it. There’s something psychologically soothing about cruising through the woods. You’re likely to feel more relaxed during and after your run than if you’re always having to worry about whether a car is going to come tearing around the next bend. A lot of trails are shaded, too, so you stay cooler and aren’t subject to the sun’s rays. Finding convenient trails to run on can be tricky. Check with local hiking clubs and horse stables for sites in your area. And don’t feel guilty about driving to a trail for a run. People drive to parks to sit around and eat hot dogs, so what’s the harm in taking a short trip for a satisfying run in the woods?

Even if you can’t run on trails on a regular basis, you can still reduce the pounding on your legs by seeking out soft surfaces wherever you are. I usually try to run on the small strip of dirt or grass by the side of a road rather than on the asphalt. Soon after I turned 40, I stopped doing this, figuring that with my everadvancing age, I needed as sure a footing as I could get. Well, guess what happened? Soon after switching from the dirt and grass to the roads, I had my first real injury in years. Now, I’m back to the side of the road whenever possible.

I originally made that switch away from dirt and grass because the footing on softer surfaces can be a bit tricky. Holes, roots, and uneven patches are a lot harder to see than on a hard road or track. In my high school days, I once cut the bottom of my feet by running across broken glass that I couldn’t see on the ground. And some trails, no matter how mentally soothing, are just too rugged for most runners to be able to maintain their normal stride.

Nonetheless, I remain convinced that all runners benefit from running on smooth natural surfaces. Most of the best runners in the world, such as the Kenyans and Ethiopians, do the bulk of their mileage on dirt roads and trails. This training strengthens their leg muscles and tendons, and when they get on the roads, they can fly. The same will be true for you. Beginning runners, who might be heavier than veteran runners, will really benefit from the reduced pounding they get when running on soft surfaces.

Guide for Running in Tracks

Another of the most popular and obvious places to run is on a track. Its plusses are many:

• You can easily track (so to speak) your distance and/or pace, giving you a quantifiable means of monitoring your progress.
• You can stop immediately if something goes wrong.
• You’re usually in a safe, secure area. Many tracks are lit for an hour or two in the evening in the winter.
• There are no cars to deal with.
• There are no hills to deal with.
• You often have easy access to water fountains and bathrooms.
• You don’t have to worry about potholes, hidden roots, and other things that can trip you on roads or trails.

Add to these advantages the fact that synthetic and rubberized tracks transmit about 20 percent less shock to your legs than asphalt does, and you can see why so many runners, especially beginners, find the track to be a safe haven. Another nice thing about outdoor tracks is that they’re standardized. Almost all tracks at high schools in the United States are 400 meters around. If you didn’t pay attention in school when the metric system was discussed, don’t worry. One mile equals 1,609 meters. So four laps of a 400-meter track is 1,600 meters, just nine meters (roughly 30 feet) short of a mile. It takes you only a few seconds to run nine meters, so do what most runners do: ignore the difference, and count four laps of an outdoor track as a mile.
The biggest problem with running on a track is the tedium. I know I start feeling like a caged rat sometimes if I’m just running around and around on a track at an easy pace. Most runners find that running for more than half an hour on a track starts to get on their nerves. One way around this problem is to run with a friend in the outside lanes. The time will pass a lot more quickly if you’re talking away with a buddy by your side. Another way to beat boredom on the track is to try to lose track of the number of laps you’ve run. Just like when you’re running a new route on the roads, run for your usual amount of time, and figure that you’ll cover roughly your usual distance.

Most long-time runners go to a track only when they want to do their one or two hard workouts of the week. During these workouts, they want to be on the track because they can precisely gauge their effort. They’ll go to the track with a set workout in mind (such as doing quarters) and watch every second to make sure they’re sticking to their plan as closely as possible. Why don’t they run on the track most days? Because one of the greatest pleasures of running is exploring nature and enjoying a variety of scenery and terrain. Despite all of its other benefits, the track doesn’t offer that variety. Lack of variety is part of the reason that most long-time runners avoid indoor tracks. It can be pretty tough to get in runs of any real length on the indoor tracks that you’ll find in the United States. Most of them require at least 10 laps just to cover one mile. I know this feeling all too well. When I started running again in the early ’70s, I ran mostly at an indoor track at the YMCA. Around and around and around I ran. Next thing I knew, I had covered half a mile. So once I felt a bit more confident about my running, I moved outside and rediscovered how much more fun it is to run in the great outdoors.

The other good reason to use indoor tracks only when you have to is that they’re so small that the turns are very tight. Even more than standard outdoor tracks do, these indoor tracks place undue strain on the hip facing the inside of the track.

Guide for running in sidewalks

There’s not much to say about running on sidewalks other than that you should avoid it whenever possible. Sure, sidewalks are safer than roads with respect to cars, and maybe they don’t feel all that much different from asphalt. But they’re made from concrete and cement, which are some of the hardest surfaces around. When you figure that with every running step, you subject your body to a force equal to at least three times your body weight, it should be obvious that you want to do whatever you can to lower that impact shock.

Another good reason to avoid running on sidewalks is that they seldom provide an uninterrupted surface for long. You’re continually going up and down, up and down for driveways and curbs. This unevenness only adds to the pounding on your legs and is a good way to twist an ankle, too.

The only time it’s worth clinging to sidewalks is when you’re running in a busy section of a city. Even then, though, you’ll probably be making your way to a park, bike path, or other better option for the bulk of your run. Otherwise, try to spend as little time running on sidewalks as possible.

Guide for running on the road

The most common place to run, and usually the most convenient, is the road. Most people can just step outside of their homes, hit the road, and be off on an infinite number of routes.

The three main types of routes that runners use are loops, out-and-backs, and point-topoints. Loops involve running a big circuit around your starting and finishing point. Outand-backs are where you head out for a set time or distance, usually with just a few turns, turn around at halfway, and then retrace your steps home. With a point-to-point route, you start at one place and end at another. This type of route usually requires someone to drop you off or meet you at one end.

Roads are good places to run because you’re usually familiar with the ones in your neighborhood. A lot of times, running in known territory makes a run go by more quickly mentally. The firm footing of most asphalt road surfaces means that you don’t have to worry about turning an ankle, as you might if you’re running on grass or rugged trails. Races are almost always going to be held on roads, so by training on them, you’ll be used to that surface if you decide that you want to race. Roads are also a good choice because you can drive courses in your car before running on them so that you know what the footing, terrain, and distance will be like.

Of course, that firm footing comes with a price. Humans didn’t evolve to run for hours at a time on asphalt. If you’re new to running, you’re probably going to be sore enough for the first couple of months. Pounding away on a hard surface will probably only make that soreness worse. That’s why it’s so important to have a good pair of running shoes if you’re going to be taking it to the streets.

Another thing to be mindful of on the roads is the slant. Most roads tilt slightly from the center. If you’re running against traffic, your left leg will be operating as if it’s a bit longer than your right one. Also, your right foot will turn in a bit more when you land because you’re on an uneven surface. Both of these stresses to your legs can lead to injury, so try to avoid roads that have a really obvious slant to them. Run toward the middle of the road if you can safely do so. And let’s not forget our good friend, the automobile.

Regardless of what traffic laws say about sharing the roads, cars rule. Thanks to the millions of runners out there, things are definitely better than they were 25 years ago, when runners on the roads were looked upon as freaks. Today, at least, most drivers are used to seeing runners on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to cut you much slack. The solution? Do your best to stay off of heavily traveled roads. Even in the busiest cities, you can usually find a mile or two of relatively open road. In addition to being safer, less-traveled roads are just a lot more fun to run on because you can relax a bit more and feel a bit more like you’re getting away from it all.

Although they’re not really roads, I’ll include bike paths in this section also because they’re usually made of asphalt. Don’t let the name fool you. Runners know that “bike path” is usually code for “nice place to run where you don’t have to worry about cars.” In Boston, for example, there’s an asphalt path along both sides of the Charles River for about nine miles in each direction. It’s where most of Boston’s runners congregate to get in some hassle-free miles away from busy streets. Most metropolitan areas have at least a few miles of bike paths. Seek them out.

9 Running Safety Rules

No matter where you run, you’re going to run into trouble if you don’t follow a few basic safety rules. Mind you, running isn’t like rock climbing, where one false step can put an end to your career. As a runner, most of your safety concerns have to do with watching out for others. Unfortunately, daydreaming drivers and preying pouncers are part of our world.
Try to follow these basic personal safety guidelines for runners at all times:

1. Always run facing traffic. When you’re on roads, run defensively; assume that no driver sees you.
2. Try to run with others. If you run alone, try to run where others are, such as parks, neighborhoods, or tracks.
3. When you leave to run, tell someone where you’ll be running and how long you plan to be out.
4. Don’t run the same route at the same time every day. Doing so makes it easier for someone to plan an attack.
5. Know where phones, friendly homes, and open businesses are along your routes in case of an emergency.
6. If you’re verbally harassed, ignore it. Responding usually just spurs the sickos on.
7. Be extra alert near thick bushes and other places where attackers can hide.
8. If you’re set upon by a dog, stop. If it persists, yell at it firmly. It will usually run away. Don’t count on being able to outrun it.
9. If you’re set upon by an unarmed human, create as much of a commotion as possible, and try to escape.

If the assailant is armed, don’t resist, but try to get a good description to give to the police.
I know this sounds like a lot to keep in mind. And it sure seems as though always being concerned about safety will take a lot of the fun out of running. But there are some strange people out there. Being on guard for them is better than letting them really ruin your running by having their way.

How to Run the Right Way?

People worry too much about running form. Some books get so detailed in telling you how to run that you’d almost have to carry them with you when you run to make sure you’re getting it right. How your feet should land, where they should land, how long your stride should be, what to do with your hands, how to hold your arms—I’d trip after a few hundred yards if I spent my runs thinking about this stuff. I’m not saying that good running form isn’t important or that you can’t or shouldn’t try to improve yours. But running isn’t a technique sport like golf. It’s a lot easier to tell people how to have as sweet a stroke as Tiger Woods’ than it is to say that all runners should run in one precise way.

We all run like we do for a reason, namely, according to how our bodies are put together. Look around, and you’ll notice that no two bodies are put together the same. Some people’s legs are bowed. Some people’s feet are flatter than others. Some people have wider hips than others, or leg muscles that are stronger, or back muscles that are weaker. All of these factors determine what kind of running form you have.
Remember, each runner is an experiment of one. One of my legs is longer than the other. As a result, I land on the extreme outside edge of my left forefoot, and my right arm often swings across my body. This is not textbook form, but it’s what works for me and what feels comfortable.

That last point is crucial. The best running form for you is the one that you feel most comfortable with. As you become fitter, your running form is going to become more natural to you, and you’ll think about it less. Remember when you started driving a car? You were so concerned with how you were holding the wheel, the position of your feet, and so forth that you could barely pay attention to the road. Now, driving is second nature to you. Same thing for long-time runners. They just get out there and run and don’t really think about how they’re doing it all that much. That’s not to say that you should ignore your running form. Some basic points can help make running feel smoother and make you less susceptible to injury. Here are the most important ones:

• Upright posture, with your head, shoulders, torso, and pelvis aligned and your head held up and looking ahead, not down
• Arms carried low, with your shoulders relaxed
• Hands relaxed, cupped loosely, and passing your body at about waist level
• Arms moving in sync with your legs, driving forward, rather than from side to side
• Feet landing gently under your center of gravity And that’s just for starters. I told you it was a lot to think about.

Is it worth it to try to improve your form? It can be if running doesn’t feel comfortable once you attain a basic level of fitness. If you notice that you’re often straining one body part, or that a certain body part, such as your shoulders, tires as you run, then it can be worth it to try to make a few adjustments.

But again, don’t make too much out of comparing your form to others. As you become fitter, your form is going to get better because the muscles throughout your body that
support you when you run are going to get more used to their new task.

Handling Side Stitches for Early Runners

A problem that many beginning runners encounter is side stitches. If you’ve ever had one, you know what I’m talking about; it’s a sharp, sudden pain just below your rib cage that can double you over and make continuing to run a chore. There are a lot of theories about what causes side stitches. Many people think they’re caused by your diaphragm muscles cramping, either because those muscles, which help with breathing, aren’t used to working hard or because someone has started a run too quickly.

This theory sounds right to me because beginners get stitches more often than do long-time runners. Veterans’ muscles are obviously more accustomed to regular exertion, and experienced runners know to ease into their runs. In contrast, as I said previously, beginners often start their runs too quickly. Sharp pains in your stomach might also be from something as simple as eating too soon before a run. This is another reason that beginners might experience stitches more than veterans because new runners often haven’t learned how long they need to wait to eat after running or what foods don’t mix well with their running.

The good news is that side stitches aren’t a serious sort of problem, unlike if your foot starts throbbing a mile into most runs. If you get a side stitch, stop and walk. Concentrate on taking deep breaths. Exhale forcibly with your lips pursed. The stitch will usually go away in a minute or two. Then review how long ago you ate before your run and what you ate. Also, assess whether you began your run at an easy pace and increased your speed gradually only after you felt warmed up.

The Talk Test, know your running progress

Most people think that running means being constantly out of breath. Most beginners contribute to this misconception because, believe it or not, they run too fast. They think that running is always supposed to be hard work, so the more difficult it feels, the more correctly they’re doing it, and the more they’re benefiting; but that’s not the case. Most runners should run at a relaxed, moderate pace just this side of being out of breath for most of their running sessions. That’s certainly always been the case for me, even when I was training to be the best in the world. At this pace, you train, but don’t strain. You’re providing that slight stress to your body that’s going to prompt it to get stronger, but you’re running within yourself rather than going all out.

How do you know what this pace is? In scientific terms, it corresponds to getting your heart rate up to about 70 percent of its maximum. Of course, most runners, especially most beginners, don’t know what these figures are to begin with, much less use them for training. But that’s not a problem.

You don’t need a battery of tests and a heart rate monitor to find your optimal training pace; you don’t even need to check how fast per mile you’re running. All you need to do is strike up a conversation. When you can do so while running, but still feel as though you’re putting in a solid effort, you’re training at the right pace. This is known as passing the talk test.

Passing the talk test means that you should be able to speak in complete sentences while you’re running at a moderate training level. If you can only offer one-word grunts in response to another runner’s questions, then you’re going too fast for how hard you should be running during the first few months of your running program. As I said, this is the level of effort that I maintain on most of my runs. (The exceptions are when I’ve planned to do some running at race pace or faster to prepare for competition.) The next time you see a group of experienced runners, watch closely. I bet you that you’re more than likely to see them carrying on a conversation, even at what might appear to be a startlingly quick pace. You should follow their example. On the other hand, if you can reel off a soliloquy from Hamlet without breaking stride, you might want to pick it up a bit.

Going too fast might seem like a good way to get past a more moderate progression, but you can’t trick your body into getting fitter than it’s ready to. When you run too fast, you’re not going to be able to extend your distance as easily; when you’re starting out, it’s how far you can run, not how fast, that’s more important in building your endurance. Also, when you run too hard all the time, you’re more likely to get injured, and you’re less likely to enjoy your running and want to stick with it. Of course, a lot of beginners don’t always have someone to run with, so it’s tough to know if they can pass the talk test. After all, you’re probably self-conscious enough as it is when you start a running program; you don’t need to have your neighbors see you trotting down the street carrying on a conversation with yourself to add to things. An alternative to the talk test is to check to see whether you can hum a familiar tune to yourself for a line or two at a time.

Another good way to gauge your effort is by judging it against a scale called rating of perceived effort. Research has shown that once runners learn the scale, they can accurately say where they are on it. Here’s one version of the scale:
Rating Perception of effort
0 Nothing at all
0.5 Very, very weak (just noticeable)

Rating Perception of effort
1 Very weak
2 Weak
3 Moderate
4 Somewhat strong
5 Strong
6 Strong
7 Very strong
8 Very strong
9 Very strong
10 Very, very strong (almost maximal)
>10 Maximal

When you’re gradually building your endurance, you should be in the 3 to 4 range. That’s a similar level of effort to being able to pass the talk test.

Running schedule: from 0 to 30 minutes

Week 1
Workout 1: Walk 10 minutes. Then, for the next 10 minutes, alternate running for 1 minute with walking for 1 minute. Walk 10 minutes.
Workout 2: Walk 10 minutes. Then, for the next 15 minutes, alternate running for 1 minute with walking for 1 minute. Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 3: Walk 10 minutes. Then, for the next 15 minutes, alternate running for 2 minutes with walking for 1 minute. Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 4: Walk 5 minutes. Then, for 21 minutes, alternate running for 2 minutes with walking for 1 minute. Walk 4 minutes.

Week 2
Workout 1: Walk 5 minutes. Then, for the next 20 minutes, alternate running for 3 minutes with walking for 1 minute. Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 2: Walk 5 minutes. Then, for the next 21 minutes, alternate running for 5 minutes with walking for 2 minutes. Walk 4 minutes.
Workout 3: Walk 4 minutes. Then, for the next 24 minutes, alternate running for 5 minutes with walking for 1 minute. Walk 2 minutes.
Workout 4: Walk 5 minutes. Then, for the next 22 minutes, alternate running for 8 minutes with walking for 3 minutes. Walk 3 minutes.

Week 3
Workout 1: Walk 5 minutes. Run 10 minutes. Walk 5 minutes. Run 5 minutes.
Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 2: Walk 5 minutes. Run 12 minutes. Walk 3 minutes. Run 5 minutes.
Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 3: Walk 10 minutes. Run 15 minutes. Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 4: Walk 6 minutes. Run 18 minutes. Walk 6 minutes.

Week 4
Workout 1: Walk 5 minutes. Run 20 minutes. Walk 5 minutes.
Workout 2: Walk 5 minutes. Run 22 minutes. Walk 3 minutes.
Workout 3: Walk 3 minutes. Run 25 minutes. Walk 2 minutes.
Workout 4: Run 30 minutes.