Three little kids, painful surgery and a longish recovery and the holidays pretty much decimated my workout schedule, which was admittedly anemic to begin with. But like so many other Americans, I used the New Year as an excuse to jump start my work out routine. I’m pretty desperate to start a running habit but I have a confession.
I suck at running.
It’s not just minor suckage. I hardcore suck at it. In my couch to 5k training program, the first week has workouts where you alternate 45 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking. After one workout, I waited 5 days for the soreness to fade. My shins, hips and legs *hurt*. And I found myself wondering if maybe I’d be better off at some other exercise, like lifting piles of dip into my mouth with a tortilla chip. But there’s the rub. Even though I was sore and hobbling around the house, I honestly couldn’t wait to get back out there and do it again.
And when I’m running for 45 seconds, I daydream about finishing longer races, about giving my family sweaty hugs at the end, about running in different seasons, in different weather, through different challenges that will inevitably arise in my life. Because I’m like that. When I’m at the bottom of a mountain, I inevitably look at the top of it and imagine the view. I don’t fantasize about the hours of training and sore shins that accompany that view and maybe that’s because I know that if I can just get my butt out the door, I’m halfway there.
In workouts as in life, 90% of it is just showing up. So, even though I’m tired, I haven’t slept through the night in seven months, I’d rather be sleeping and I suck at running, I’m gonna try showing up for awhile and see where the road takes me.
If it’s any consolation, I suck at running too. And yet, I really like it (I completed my first 10K last year, and then promptly stopped training — now I’m back to square one, too).
First things first, about the soreness and pain in your legs — go to a REAL running specialty store (like Runners’ Roost in Denver) and ask them to help you. A good store is going to evaluate your foot and your stride, and find a shoe that offsets your potential for strain and stress-injuries. You’ll be amazed by the difference it’ll make.
Also, as one slow runner to another, if anyone laughs at your hobbling or fails to give you credit for showing up, kick ’em in the shins. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere. Good luck!
This is a please learn from my mistakes sort of comment. Wanting to get fit and feeling fit are wonderful things. But don’t think you suck. You don’t suck you chose to show up and anyone that shows up doesn’t suck. Constantly comparing yourself to others can lead to madness and pain and injury, try not to worry about the numbers—believe me I know the madness that is down that path, that path is bad and I’m still recovering from it… Whatever activity you do it should be fun. Run as though it confers no benefits beyond the run itself. If that’s not working for you on a given day it’s okay—perhaps a hike with the kids that day? Take advantage of the mountains and the elevation you have near by, but do that because you want to and not because it can do much more for your endurance than you might expect.
If you want to get stronger and faster sprints and interval training are wonderful, so is some basic strength training. But, from someone who chronically didn’t for years, always recover properly and fully. Sometimes sleep is more important than running. When your body says stop, stop. Please learn from my myriad of mistakes “suffering through the pain”. Suffering through tired is okay if you must. Suffering through completely depleted muscles is possible and occasionally helpful. Suffering through an acute issue is a recipe for disaster and unless life or livelihood depends on it is so not worth it.
Megan is absolutely right about the shoes / feet thing. But avoid shoes that try and “fix things” for you. Shoes should let your feet work the way they are evolved to work. I spent years trying to fix problems with shoes when the problem really was my feet were not strong enough and the shoes to fix the problem were just making them weaker. One of the best ways to reduce running injury is to wear shoes as little as possible in your day to day life. Get your feet strong. Barefoot (or barefoot style) running is really wonderful, but one must start even slower if you want to go that route. If you wear shoes and or high heels all the time it can be a very long road indeed. But, hippie dippy as it might sound, running barefoot, feeling the ground beneath you felling you feet and being truly in the world around you, there is nothing like it, and there is little better. That it is also, ultimately, easier, faster, less painful, and reduces injury are all things that I see simply as side benefits.
Lastly, always keep perspective. The goal is not to set a PR every time you go out the goal is to be healthy fit and happy (unless of course you are getting paid for it)… And sometimes that means doing over head baby presses instead of your workout.
In other words, way to go keep at it because you can do it, but please don’t loose perspective on why you are doing it in the first place as that is quite easy to do and I am another pice of evidence for that.
I also suck at running, mostly because I’m asthmatic. A few pointers I picked up:
* Run slower than you currently think of as slow. Run so slowly that you are capable of speaking a complete sentence. Actually speaking, not just talking under your breath.
* Run on your forefoot, not on your heel. This reduces shin splints and the like by a lot.
And, general piece of life advice that matters a lot in running too: don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. As you say, showing up is a large part of the battle. A 14 minute mile is nearly infinitely better than not running one at all.
Mike is absolutely correct.
A little more on foot strikes. Heel strike is a bio-mechanical disaster but lots of shoes encourage that kind of running. There are some that are designed to encourage a forefoot strike. But those cause different bio-mechanical problems as does a conscious forefoot strike. The goal is a natural gait. There are all sorts of books and clinics and so forth on this topic. They all present the same general goal (though they call it different things, from Chi Running to Pose) with slightly different methods for unlearning the bad habits your shoes have taught you. But at the most basic, look at how a little kid runs barefoot and run like that.
Sorry, I know I babble about this stuff incessantly…