Some Endurance Running Tips

Start Slow – Give Yourself a Chance

As a new runner, your body may be unfamiliar with the movements, impacts and forces you’re about to put it through. As a new endurance runner, your body will need to repeat these movements more than it has previously. Your muscles and ligaments are doing new things. They are not adapted and are not strong enough. If you go too hard too early, you will blow up before you start. So be patient and give your body time to adjust. It will take time – listen to your body.

As an endurance runner, you aim to run distance.

As a new endurance runner, the most important adaptations for your body relate to distance, not speed.

So start slow – learn to run the distance before you concern yourself with speed.

Injuries – Don’t Get Any!

One of the biggest obstacles to your running goal is injury. Injuries can take weeks, sometimes months, to overcome. If you become injured, depending on the type and severity of the injury, you may need to take time off from running altogether or modify your program for a reduced load. Either way, your fitness and goals will most likely suffer as a result.

Typical endurance running injuries include repetitive stress injuries, impact injuries, muscular sprains and strains, blisters, fatigue-induced colds and viruses.

There are ways to minimise the risk of injury.

Wear good running shoes and socks

• Shoes with appropriate cushioning and support for your feet (and the surface(s) you run on) will lessen the risk of repetitive stress injuries and impact injuries. Don’t take this for granted – please visit a shoe shop with testing equipment to make sure you get appropriate footwear. Alternatively, visit your local podiatrist and get a recommendation for the type of shoe (maybe 2 or 3 brand suggestions) that suits you best;
• Good socks help with moisture and heat dispersal and can help prevent blisters, which are a common reason for DNFs in endurance events;

Run on soft surfaces where possible (grass, firm sand; not road, concrete)

• Pounding the pavement results in thousands of identical foot-strikes, and identical foot-strikes are more likely to cause repetitive stress injuries than a varied foot-strike;
• Running on a irregular surfaces like grass, firm sand, or trails results in variable foot-strikes and are less likely to cause repetitive stress injuries due to the varied nature of the step. In addition, the minor variations in foot-strike also help ankle and knee strength;
• Softer surfaces also create less impact force with each step, thereby also lessening the risk of impact injuries;
• Having said that, if you’re training for a road event, you should also train on the road. However, break up your training and do some training on softer surfaces for the reasons above;

Avoid very uneven terrain.

• After just saying to run on grass, firm sand and trails, be careful to avoid terrain that’s too uneven, as it may present a higher risk of sprains and strains from stumbling, falling or twisting;
• That is especially so at the beginning of your training when your body is already busy making adjustments and may not be well prepared;
• As I said above, learn to run the distance before you concern yourself with speed (or terrain that is difficult!);

Avoid overtraining

• When you run, your body produces endorphins – endorphins make you feel good – when you feel good, the tendency is to run fast(er)! All I can say about this is DON’T!! I’ll keep saying it, but first, you need to learn to run the distance before running with speed. It’s so tempting to run fast when you feel good – I know – I’ve been there, done that, paid the price – and that’s a story for another day (or you can read about it here);
• If you over train you WILL fatigue – if you fatigue, the risk of injury or coming down with a virus increases significantly;

Eat & sleep well

• Your body is doing new things – you are building muscle, strengthening ligaments, possibly laying down more bone structure/density – this is taxing. Eat well and sleep well, and allow your body to do what you are asking of it. Without good food and adequate sleep, the training efforts will come to nothing;

If you are injured and continue to run, be extremely careful. Running with an injury often disturbs your gait, your running form, which can easily result in more injury – worsening the injury or causing something new – so do all you can to avoid injuries.

Make Sure Your Equipment Is Comfortable

As far as sports go, running is one of the lowest cost sports out there. Put on your shorts, shirt, shoes & socks and away you go. And you shouldn’t even need to think about food and water for runs up to 75-90 minutes or so – just go for it!

Endurance running is different – now remember this – if you have an issue running, whatever it may be – food, water, blister, injury – the longer you run, the more that issue will be multiplied!

That means you need to put as much as you can in your favour – to minimise problems – as I said, the longer the run, the more important this is.

Considerations:

• Shoes and socks need to be good – I’ve covered that above;
• Running vest (or bottle holder) or similar – you will need something for most endurance events (especially trail events). Do some research. They need to fit well – minimal bouncing or swinging;
• Chafing – is that an issue for you – compression shorts can work well. And not just for thighs – don’t ignore potential chafing in other areas – waist, rubbing of the vest, bottle holder, shirt;
• Hat, sunglasses – some sunglasses are great while running, others not so much;
• Also consider hiking poles, headlamp, fly net –  the list goes on;

The bottom line with equipment is it needs to be:

• Good for purpose;
• Tested and proved before an event – shoes & socks are the obvious ones, but also any food and drink should be thoroughly tested – how your body responds to it – and also how you will carry it;
• Worn in before an event – all of it – shoes, socks, shorts, shirt, vest, everything – DO NOT wear new stuff in an event;

Have a Target!

Have a goal, have a target – have an event in mind – be specific – if you’re not, how will you know if you make it?

Program & Structure

If you’re serious, you have a goal, and you’re training for a specific event, you should put some structure around it! That structure should include:

• A running plan or program leading to your event;
• A way of capturing data about your runs;
• A record of your runs;

A Running Plan

A running plan contains a weekly & daily schedule of runs to complete leading to your event. It will typically include run days and rest days, with usually one long run each week. Wave Running (and the Wave Running app) is an example of a method that produces running plans or programs.

Capturing Data

Many runners find it helpful to have data about each of their runs. Common data includes:

• Distance
• Time
• Pace / Ave Pace
• Heartrate data
• Elevation

There are purpose-built running devices (watches) that can capture this data. These make it easy to view data while running.

If you don’t want the expense, you can use a free mobile phone app like Runtastic, Sports Tracker, Endomondo, Strava Training or Runkeeper on your existing phone.

Monitoring heart rate and using heart rate zones in training can give you better insights and help improve your training. While not critical, heart rate data can help prevent overtraining and guide you in training with different intensities. For these reasons, heart rate data is recommended but not mandatory.

As a new runner starting your journey, time and distance, and therefore average pace, are enough as you begin to increase training volumes.

Record Your Runs

A phone app or running device will record your runs, so this is perhaps a moot point. I include it here mainly in case you are not capturing data via phone or device. In that case, I recommend you run courses of known or approximate distances, and then repeat those same courses across your training, recording the time it takes each time. In this way, you will still be able to compare your results across time.

Whichever way you choose to do it, make sure you do – it’s important to monitor feedback about your progress over time.