8 Mistakes I Made When I Started Running
I’ve been running for over 15 years. During that period, I made a lot of mistakes when I started. I’ve never had a running coach because I didn’t see it as necessary. I figured that I could figure everything out by myself. Figuring things out by yourself can lead to a lot of mistakes. Things like overtraining to wearing the rubber off of your running shoes, there are certain rules of running that you cannot break. If you think you can break the rules, it could lead to dire consequences.
Running Without Purpose
When I started running, this was in the era before everyone had a smartwatch. I was a broke college student and couldn’t afford a fancy Garmin Watch that could track all my miles for me. I ended up buying a $40 Timex watch that had an interval timer built into it. I could set two intervals on it and how many I wanted to do.
Coming from a sport like football, I didn’t know anything about running other than doing conditioning drills from practice. I decided that I would take my conditioning drills to the road just like I would on the field. I would do intervals of sprinting for 30 seconds and jogging for 90 seconds.
This was how I ran for almost my first year of running. Eventually, I became burnt out from it and stopped doing it altogether. My runs evolved into me running out the door and running at whatever pace I felt.
I had no idea how fast I was running without analytics and I never did track workouts. This caused me to miss out on a lot of potential when I started. I was in a state of maintaining but I was never getting better.
When you start to run, it becomes an easy button for a daily workout. You put your shoes on and head out the door to escape life for some time. If that’s what you want to do, that’s great. I wanted more though.
I signed up for my first marathon and winged a training plan. Every weekend, I would do a long run and sprinkle in those, purposeless runs in between. I finished my first marathon, it was not easy. I cramped with 10 miles left and ran the last 10 miles with all my leg muscles locking up.
Had I had a purpose for my workouts, the race would have gone differently.
Skipping Warmups & Cool Downs
I was always the type to skip a warm up and cool-down until I realized how beneficial they are. Warming up can help get your legs opened up to help you ace your workout. When you learn that the benefits of a workout are more performance-based than effort-based, you’ll see the benefits of warming up and cooling down.
Warming up can help open up your stride and help your legs move faster during the workout.
Cooling down can help you recover and get your body and heart rate into recovery mode.
Not to mention they help prevent injury as well.
You cannot train if you are injured. I’ve never been injured (knock on wood) and I don’t plan to start now.
Ignoring Your Body
I’ve ruined entire weeks of training by ignoring my body. Sometimes, the ego can get in the way, and feels like you should push through your hardest and keep pushing on the gas.
This is the wrong approach. When running, you have to play the long game in your training. Never sacrifice tomorrow for feeling good today.
Improper Footwear
Have you ever started running and wondered why your ankles, knees, and hips hurt? You haven’t been training more than you normally do and it doesn’t seem to make sense. You may need new running shoes.
As someone who’s run the soles on my running shoes completely flat before, you should get new running shoes before it’s too late. I know some of us can be cheap and not want to spend an extra $100-150 on new running shoes but it’s important to keep a rotation of shoes going. Rotate your shoes every 300-500 miles of running. Your ankles and knees will thank you.
Lack of Cross-training
Not enough runners cross train and it’s a mistake. It’s easy to think that since you’re running several times a week you got your workout in.
Just because you got your running workout in doesn’t give you an excuse to skip out on cross-training.
Cross-training with doing things like ab work and strength training will help you run more efficiently and help prevent injury.
Lack of Consistency
It’s better to run three miles a day for seven days than to run 21 miles once a week. It seems obvious but a lot of people do not understand this concept.
Do you ever miss a day and then feel like you have to “make up” for it? Only to have yourself be exhausted for the following day then skip that day altogether?
This can become a vicious cycle of inconsistencies. The key to this is to accept that you are human and you won’t be able to do everything that you want to all at once.
Large goals take a lot of discipline and commitment with a long-term strategy. Sometimes you won’t be able to make up for lost time and it’s okay to accept that. Find your new path and try your best to stick with it.
Unrealistic Goals In A Unrealistic Time Frame
I have a goal to do GoRuck Selection (one of the hardest endurance events in the world) and run a 100-mile race. If I was doing it in 12 weeks, there’s no way that I would succeed at either of them. I’m giving myself 6 months to train for these events and ramping up to a training schedule that I want to become my new baseline.
Once my new training schedule becomes my baseline after executing it for a few months, then I will start ramping up my training for these events. It’s going to take 6+ months to do this. I’m going to be ready for it.
Setting your goals correctly is vital. I’ve made the mistake of setting unrealistic goals. One example was when I ran my first 50-mile ultra marathon. I signed up for it eight weeks in advance and thought I’d have plenty of time to train for it. It wasn’t enough time. I finished the race but it was not as good as I could have done.
Not Hydrating Properly
I used to never run with water. Now anytime I plan on running for more than 45 minutes, I’ll bring water with me. Hydration is critical to maintaining a healthy body. I used to go on 20-mile runs when I was in my early 20’s on a summer day without any water with me. I figured I would stop and drink at drinking fountains on the way.
After I got back, I felt zapped. My head felt dizzy and my body was achy. This was likely because I was dehydrated.
Hydration is more than just drinking water during training runs and events. It’s a thing you need to do throughout the entire day.
Conclusion
Don’t make the same mistakes I did when I started running. If you are a newbie, take these lessons as a cautionary tale of what not to do when you start. If you have big goals, save up some money and get a coach. Take the load off your mind on how you’re going to train and let someone else take care of that for you. It may help you exceed your goals beyond your expectations.
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