The American Cancer Society conducted a study that stated that performing vigorous physical exercises like running is linked with lowering the risk of a number of diseases, including breast, prostate, and colon cancer as well.
Keeping this piece of information in mind, we can deduce that running is a physical activity which should definitely be part of your regular routine. It significantly boosts your physical and mental health, and not to mention, make you less prone to many life-threatening health conditions as well.
Running may be a greatly beneficial physical activity, but there are ways to further optimize this process so that you can get the most out of your daily run.
From getting the right running shoes to other tips, such as monitoring the time of the day, here are some helpful tips that can help you find your groove and take your first step toward a healthy future.
Tips to Consider
1. Find a Traffic-free Route
Before going out on your daily run, there are a couple of things that you should plan to get the most out of it. One of these things to look out for is to carefully choose the route that you intend on taking when going out for a run.
It is always preferred to take the route that you think is the safest under all weather conditions and is preferably a traffic-free one.
In the case that there is no available footpath or walking track on the route that you are running on, make sure to run against the traffic so that all of the cars on the road are in your peripheral vision.
In addition to that, if the route that you take on your run contains a blind spot, make sure to swap to the other side until you think that the route is safe enough for the cars to be aware of and you can swap sides once again.
2. Run at the Time of the Day That Suits You
In addition to planning out a safe route, preferably without any traffic, another thing to take into account when running is to determine the time of the day that bests suits you as well.
The primary reason for this is that if you decide on the time of the day for your run that you cannot commit yourself to due to many reasons, such as time constraints or being an inconvenience, it is highly likely that you will not be able to integrate running into your daily schedule.
Therefore, it is important to choose the time of the day which you think is the best for you and a time that you think you will enjoy when going out for a run.
Some people like to start their day by going out for a jog, while other people who may be working graveyard shifts or might not be a fan of daylight would want to run at nighttime.
Whatever your preference may be, it is recommended to plan out the time of the day when you are going out for a run accordingly. That will help engrain this activity in your daily routine much easier.
3. It Is a Marathon, Not a Race, So Do Not Rush
A common mistake that many people tend to make, and something that is also the reason for them not being able to engage in running or jogging on a regular basis, is that they do not warm up
before starting their daily run, and they start out too strongly.
This means that oftentimes beginner runners tend to go at full pace right at the beginning, hoping that they would be able to maintain this pace at the end, without warming up.
However, that is not the case, and it is always helpful to do some light exercise and stretching to warm your body up and increase your pace gradually during your run.
Speaking from a scientific point of view, you should always warm up before going on your run. It helps increase your blood flow and your heart rate as well, which enables you to store more oxygen in your body.
Warming up also activates the muscles and different nerves that are located in your body, improving the efficiency at which you run as well.
4. Control Your Pace
Pace control is one of the essential things to keep in mind when you are out on your run. Your lung capacity is limited, so you have to make sure to control the pace at which you run. Learn to keep your pace at such a rate that you can consistently maintain it for the entirety of your run.
You need to keep several things, such as your breathing and your limits, in mind when running. Starting at too much of a fast pace, and you will start to huff and puff before you know it.
If you feel like you are having too much trouble controlling your pace, there are many smartwatches by reputable companies, such as Garmin, which can help you with that.
5. Do Not Run Every Day at the Start
When starting out to go on runs, it is vital to understand that it is completely fine to slowly incorporate this activity into your daily schedule. You should not start by running every day of the week.
It is important to give your body the rest it needs in order to guarantee maximum efficiency and output when you are going to run. Additionally, at the start of your running adventure, mix in some good, hard runs with recovery runs. You body needs time to heal.
Wrap-up
There are many variables, such as your physical limits, proper planning for the routes that you wish to take, and the incorporation of some specific breathing and running techniques, such as pace control, in order to run with maximum efficiency.
All of these things to consider may seem overwhelming to you. But if you keep the aforementioned tips in mind before going out for a run, it will definitely help you develop a foundation you can improve on and then progress from there.
