Building Up Your Fundamentals in the First Two Weeks of Running

Tired? Burned Out?

If you plan on going from running zero to race hero, it’s an understatement to say that it’s not quite as easy as it looks. Even if you set your goals low – such as training for a 5K or a 10K – then you still have to think about some potential issues that can come from training incorrectly along the way. Don’t blame yourself – after all, you’re a rookie to this “running” thing. Instead, you should ask yourself how you can get started in those crucial first couple of weeks that you start training.

Don’t overexert yourself and burn out.

One problem many people face is that they’re impatient – they want the progress and the results all at once. While it’s generally true that the harder you work, the better you’ll do, it might not be ideal to simply jump in your new running routine and burning yourself out quickly.

Why? For one, you might not like the results. Aches and soreness will come with overexerting yourself, and if you’re a rookie, you have no reason to expect that this isn’t the norm. In fact, you may chalk it up to being one of the “necessary pains” involved with training, when really this might not be the case.

You certainly want to put in plenty of hours and remain committed to your goals. But that doesn’t mean you’ll accomplish everything in the first two weeks. Wouldn’t you rather take your first two weeks slowly if it means you’ll stick to your goal longer? Give your body some chance to adjust to your new lifestyle; then hit the accelerator.

Well, don’t take it too easy, either.

What? I just got done telling you not to overexert yourself, and now I’m saying “don’t take it easy”? When will I make up my mind?

There’s a problem with both going too hard and going too softly in those first two weeks of training. One can lead you to burn out; the other can lead to hardly any progress at all. If you’ve never ran before, you should expect it to not necessarily feel pleasant at first. This doesn’t mean you’re overexerting yourself – it might simply mean you’re pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

Training is essentially the process of expanding your comfort zone while letting your body adjust and improve itself. If you don’t challenge yourself enough in the first two weeks, you can easily get bored or feel like you haven’t made any strides at all. So make sure that you challenge yourself without overdoing it.

Photo Credits: space.game

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Originally posted 2009-06-05 05:28:40.

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