Running Week 1

As I conclude the first week of running I have some revelations I would like to share. As seen in my first post I was dying by the end of the run and by the second run it wasn't nearly as bad compared to the first. I had some misgivings that I quickly corrected such as I originally plotted a 1.5 mile course and it turns out that I needed to go further to 2 miles to complete my run. By the third run, albeit I was tired from not sleeping well the night before but I can still feel an improvement against the second run where I found myself concentrating more on my form and stride. I spoke to a co-worker yesterday who is an avid runner and he explained how to get the most out of interval training (which apparently is the type of running I am currently doing via the cool running method where I alternate walk and run and work up to running full time) where he explained it's not about how fast you can go and that where one sees the most growth is pushing your self on the last interval; when you have nearly nothing left in the tank and just give it your all for the final stretch. I tried the final burst bit on my run today and it kicked my ass, felt like when I finished my first run again but it's a good kind of tired, and I look forward to more.

There are various muscle aches that will happen and that same co-worker who shared his insights on getting the most out of a run also had some interesting things to say about what kind of pain to just work through and those to pay attention to and his answer was elegantly simple, if it is a sharp pain that's debilitating than you should stop. He also asked what shoes I wear for running and when I said New Balance, he warned that if I experience sharp pain where my pelvis and femur meet (any MDs, what the f is that joint called?) that I should consider changing shoes as New Balances favor those with bad arches and mine are fine. Because of how New Balances are shaped, it forces an inward cant which may lead to sharp pain at the above mentioned joint was the explanation. This he mentioned is not true to all New Balances, just those with a ton of cushioning and he suggested the minimalist style running shoes such as the Nike Free series maybe the way to go (and also mentioned that likely is cheaper too!). So far I have been fortunate that I have not felt these ill effects but have been paying close attention to it on each run.

As for the Get Running app I mentioned in my first running post, it's awesome. The app tracks the days you run and the running routine is already mapped out by each week, it is exactly what I wanted; a way to track my progress and improve upon it. Assuming that I stick with this, I think that the next evolution would be an app and device that would track my runs, perhaps the Nike+ line of gear, something to look forward to for when the nine week running program is done.