How to Keep Training in the Rain

It's rainy season once again (at least here in the Philippines). Therefore I would like to encourage all beginner runners to keep on training despite the weather.

I just feel for all newbie runners out there who just started out their running journey and beginning to catch the habit but then suddenly slowed down by the wet season. I'm with you and it reminds me of the days when I was training for one of my first 10K races and it was raining so often. Instead of running on my usual route and taking on hills as part of my training, I ended up running on our office’s covered parking. It’s frustrating.

I know how hard it is to follow our training plan when the weather is not on our favor, so please allow me to share a few thoughts on how to keep on track in this kind of season.

Train in the rain

How I hope I can push runners to try out running in the rain. It's feels like going back to my childhood days when we always have fun doing all kinds of stuff in the rain. However, it's not very advisable, not everyone would want our gears to get wet and all the inconvenience and the safety risks that comes with it.

That's why I dedicate this post to give an alternative but still could very be a part of our training and could also help improve our running as well.

Treadmill Run

The most ideal way to stick to your training when it's pouring rain is to settle for a treadmill run. If there's an accessible local gym or fitness center near you then treadmill is the way to go. This way, you can still log some miles and at the same time giving your feet some kind of a break because treadmill is a lot kinder than pavement.

Cross-train

Cross-training can be any sport or exercise that complements our running. In the case that we can’t run outside, we could instead find exercises that we can do in-doors. One of my favorites is core training because I can simply do it on my room and it could be done quickly. Working on our core can also improve our running because core strength, to put it simply, holds our important running muscles together so that we don’t get out of form when running.

If a pool is more accessible to you than a gym, then swimming could be the perfect cross-training for you. Swimming helps your running muscles to rest because swimming uses different muscle groups while still working on your cardiovascular strength.

Cross-training is actually a broader topic altogether and I just want to give an overview here and I believe that it could really be a vital part of our running. I’ll be posting more about it soon, but for now, I hope this post helped runners out there to keep on running and training even if it’s raining!

If you have more tips or questions on how to keep on training in rainy season, feel free to drop a comment!

Newbie Guide to Basic Running Gears

It's been three weeks since I jumped start my running journey and still a couple of weeks more from starting some serious training. I'm happy with the way I was able to follow my running plan and I could say that I'm slowly getting the running habit.

My short term goal for now is to go out and run at least three times a week. I usually run early in the morning near our place to make sure that I get to run before I become busy with work and have excuses not to do it. It's just a blessing that this sport we love can be done almost anywhere and anytime!

Although it's true that running is so easy to do, we still have to invest something to get the best out of it though.

I always tell my friends that one of the cheapest sports is running. Yes, because as long as you have a good pair of shoes you can run almost anywhere. But if we really want to maximize our running and prevent injuries, we should at least spend on the most basic running gears.

Running Shoes

Running shoes is the most important gear of a runner. This is our best investment in running. Lots of injuries come from running with the wrong shoes (tennis shoes, sneakers, etc.) making it's so critical to know the appropriate type of shoes specifically for our running.

The best way is to visit the nearest running specialty store and get our feet assessed. They will be more than glad to assist us in finding the perfect running shoes that we need.

Running Clothes

Proper running clothes depend heavily on the weather. But the simplest rule is to avoid cotton shirts, shorts and even socks simply because they tend to absorb our sweat and gets heavier as we run. Choose clothes with moisture wicking fabrics which will make us feel more dry and comfortable while running. To save money, buy running apparels at the end of the season when stores usually put the old season’s line on sale.

Optional Gears

Aside from the two gears mentioned above, I think everything else is optional. Sunglasses and other head gears can help when the sun hinders our view when running by daylight. Running watches helps in improving and monitoring our performances. Hydration belts will come in handy on long running days. The more we advance on our running journey, the more we will appreciate some of these gears.

Good thing in running, the most expensive gears doesn't always mean it’s the best gear for us. It's best to wear running gears we are comfortable in. Everyone perform their best when they feel comfortable. Please keep that in mind.

I’m sure I wasn't able to cover everything we need to know about running gears so if you have something else in mind, please feel free to drop me a comment!

Why Rest is Good for your Running

If you've been following my blog the past few days, you'll know that I am trying to crawl my way back into a running lifestyle. So far, so good.

I'm slowly but surely getting my legs back by doing easy runs the past week that I'm planning to do for a month. This is my way of building my endurance base before getting into some serious training or significantly extending the duration of my runs.

However, with all the excitement that comes with running, I'm a bit guilty of having the tendency to push myself hard and run more often than my body can handle at this stage. With that, I would like to emphasize the importance of rest in our running journey, most especially for newbies like me.

Why rest?

Rest should be an integral part of our running routine or training. Injuries often occur when we over train or push ourselves too much. Thinking long term, having enough rest will also enhance our performance. It is while in rest that our bodies recover and rebuilds the muscles and also adapt to the increase of activity.

A good practice is to make sure we don't do consecutive days of hard runs. We can either do easy runs, cross train or skip any activity at all after a day's hard run to allow our bodies to rest. In keeping our momentum, it's better to limit our rest days to a maximum of two consecutive days. As much as possible, we don't want to have no running or exercise for more than two days.

Currently, I'm balancing my week so that I will be able to log miles but at the same time, have some ample days off as well. So when you miss a running day or two, don't be discouraged. Just simply treat those rest days as part of your training, no worries.

Any questions or more tips about the importance of Rest in Running? Drop me a comment!

The Importance of Warming Up and Cooling Down

I just had my first back-to-back running days in years and it felt really good. Though my legs are sore after the run, I know that it feels quite normal and tolerable. I'm sure my basic knowledge of warming up and cooling down helped a lot and that's what I will share now with you.

Let's think of our running sessions (whether it's easy runs, intervals or even long runs) as sandwiches. Our runs should be sandwiched by Warm Ups on top and Cool Downs on the other end.

Warm Ups

First, I'd like to set this one straight: It's not recommended to do stretching (specifically static stretching) pre-run without warming up. Studies have shown that it can increase the risk of injuries when we stretch our 'cold' muscles. For now, let's save the stretching for after the run.

Now, Warm Ups to simply put it is just preparing our body for the high intensity activity we are about to do. The goal is to raise the body's temperature and get more blood flowing to the muscles. We want our muscles to loosen up so that it could perform the activity (in our case, Running) at it's best.

As simple as a 5 to 10 minutes of walking, jogging or any light movements that will raise the temperature without putting stress on our bodies will do as our warm up.

Cool Downs

This is just as important as the Warm Ups. Instead of stopping our run suddenly that may cause your blood pressure and heart rate to drop, we should gradually slow down the pace to a walk or a light jog of about 5 to 10 minutes.

Right after your cool down, this is when we do our stretching. Our muscles are warm enough which will make stretching easy and effective. Stretch the muscles that were most stressed by your running and be careful not to overdo it. Stretching should not in any case feel painful.

It vary individually but the common areas to stretch for most runners are the Calf, Quads, and Hamstring muscles. Practice holding each stretch for about 10 to 30 seconds and repeat the stretch 2 to 3 times for each muscle group.

Doing the Warm Ups and Cool Downs will not guarantee that you will perform excellently on your run or you won't feel any soreness after. But doing these practices will surely help our bodies to recover properly.

So, enjoy your every sandwich!

If you have more tips or questions on properly warming up and cooling down, please feel free to drop me a comment!

Keep on Running

It's one thing to "start running" and another thing to "keep on running".

And I've learned this the hard way...

At the start of my journey back to a running lifestyle, everything was perfectly looking good: I had that renewed drive to run, I've committed myself to a running group, started a running blog, and finally, I was able to run again after years of no consistent running.

But right after that great Saturday morning run, it came – all the busyness, laziness and excuses once again crawled into me. The next thing I know, it's May 2013, and my last run was February 2013. Three months.

So how do we really "Keep on Running"?!

I honestly believe that I need this topic more than any newbie runner out there right now.

Let me share a few tips that I know works and what I will definitely do myself:

Training log.

Having a Training Log gives a lot of runners motivation to keep going. It's always nice to see a filled up log and being able to track down your progress every run. All you need is paper and pen... Or just download that amazing App.

Morning run.

Running early in the morning have some great advantages. It sets the tone of your day and before all the demands of the day creeps in your schedule, it's great to already have running done on top of your checklist.

Prep up.

Before going to sleep, it's wise to prepare all your running gears for next day's run. You will have less reasons not to run when everything is up and ready. Sometimes, you can even go as far as wearing your gears in sleep. Then all you need is to wake up and run!

Patience.

There is no instant in the sport of running. Every successful runner trained their way into their current form. Understanding that success in running comes from patiently training and gradual improvements is key. Maybe now you are dragging yourself to finish that 3K run, but I guarantee, stick to your running program and the next thing you know, finishing that marathon might be a usual thing.

Just run.

Sometimes, all we need is to get out there and run. Once we get that feel of the pavement, it's hard to stop!

If you have some more tips to help newbies run consistently, please feel free to drop me a comment!

Instant Running Motivation

There will be days that you don't feel like running, and that's a fact. It's normal. As I kick-start my own running journey, I was also immediately confronted by this familiar runner's foe… 

"Laziness"

Being a newbie runner, I want to get full steam ahead in building my running habit as soon as possible, so I quickly thought of my usual ways to motivate myself into running and I want to share one of it now to you.

There are actually a lot of ways to motivate us (a running buddy/group who will push us to run, joining a race, etc.), but I think this one is my favorite: new running gears.

My running watch. Battle tested. Due for replacement.

From a simple pair of running socks to a dazzling brand new running watch with GPS and Heart monitor features, having a new gear could give us instant motivation for the simple reason that we want to try the new gear out. And it also serves as confidence boosters sometimes.

Although there is no perfect fit way to motivate each runner, this will surely help beginners and even seasoned runners in some way especially if they have the right gear (this is a new topic altogether and I will blog about it soon!).

Personally, I treat these kind of buys as investment to my health because it pushes me to live a healthy life. And I can say that investing on our health in general is one of the best investment that we can ever have. As the saying goes, health is wealth!

Got questions or ideas? Feel free to drop a comment!

Runner's High

With the growing popularity of Running in the Philippines (race events here and there, almost every weekend!), more and more of young professionals are choosing Running as their preferred way of exercise. Me, being part of that work force, I can definitely relate to the stress and pressure that comes with the job. I remember some very challenging days at work that could give anyone sleepless nights but because I opted to have my after-work runs, I was able to cope up and even feel refreshed.

So for me, being able to run offers one of the best anti-stress activity that one can find.

And have you ever heard of the term, "Runner's High"?

Runner's High

Runner's High is the state of elation during or after a run that many runners tend to experience. According to studies, the "feel-good" experience occurs because of the release of Endorphin throughout the body that control feelings of stress and frustration.

Although runners who have been running for a long time are much more likely to experience this "high", there is always this some kind of a satisfying feeling every time I finish a workout, whether an easy run or a long run. Whatever the reason behind it, one thing is for sure...Running feels good! And feeling good is just one of the many benefits of running that we don't want to miss! Right?

Got more info on "Runner's High" or other benefits of Running? Feel free to drop a comment! =)