From Couch To Half-Marathon by Physio LDN's Jay Towolawi
During lockdown, we’ve had to find new ways to exercise. The gyms, pilates studios, astroturf pitches…they’ve all been forbidden fruit while we all socially distance. We’ve seen the nation take up the world’s oldest sports, by the millions. The early morning rush hour traffic has been replaced by thousands of pairs of ASICS, Nike, Adidas, and even the odd pair of Crocs (Google Benjamin Pachev and have your mind blown). Whether you’re a seasoned ultra-runner, or have just begun your running journey, it’s important to know - ‘How much running is too much?’.
Do I follow a running program?
There’s hundreds of beginner programs online. Some of them are quite detailed 4-12 week programs, which may give you the structure you need, while others are less rigid and may suit the more casual runner. Getting advice from a running coach, physio, or even an experienced friend is always advisable, but running generally follows a few simple principles.
Be consistent.
Don’t do too much, too soon.
What are the signs I’ve been overtraining?
Your work colleague may brag that they ran 100km last week, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Don’t begin running thinking that you’ll be breaking Strava records every single day. Going out on every run with the mission of going faster/further/harder than yesterday may work for a few days, or even weeks, but there won’t be longevity in this, and you'll probably feel run down (horrible pun - my bad) in no time.
There’s several signs that you’ve been pushing your body a little too far, too soon.
You wake up REALLY sore. Yes, some muscle soreness/‘DOMS’ is normal, but if you’re waking up every morning in pain, see this as the little warning light to re-evaluate things.
Tendon, tendons, tendons. Located all over the body, allowing us to jump, run, lift, and compete, tendons can become irritated if we suddenly increase the load placed on them in a short period of time. Fighting through ankle, knee and/or hip pain may feel courageous initially, but you won’t thank yourself in the long term if you ignore obvious signs.
Runs begin to feel harder. There’s dozens of ways to track our runs in 2020. As well as the apps like Strava, Nike Running, etc., we as physios also use some terms like Rates of Perceived Exertion (RPE). In an ideal world, when we become more experienced, running your 5k or 10k should feel easier, and maybe your times will get better. However, if you're finding that that 5k is feeling more, and more difficult, and your time is getting slower, then you may have to take a step back.
How do I increase my weekly mileage?
Whether you want to run every day, or just on the weekends, the fundamentals remain the same. As well as getting 7+ hours of sleep, staying hydrated pre- and post-run, and having a nutrient-dense diet, follow a few basic running principles:
10% Rule. Week by week, we don’t want to increase our running workload by more than 10%. As a beginner, we can whittle this down to a simple mileage calculation. If you run 20km in Week 1, we can increase that to 22km in Week 2. Although this 2km jump may be frustratingly minimal for some, this ensures that we’re increasing our distance, but still not overloading our joints, which offers us longevity during lockdown.
Change up your distances throughout the week. In any given run, we can focus on a different goal. We can choose to run a faster 3km on Monday, because we were feeling quite fresh and wanted to test speed. On Wednesday, you may choose to run a slower 5km route that has a couple of steep hills in it (really get that quad burn). Then once the weekend comes and you need that excuse to enjoy the sun, you may do a moderately paced 7k run around the park. Here we’ve run a total of 15k, but tested ourselves in multiple ways rather than repeating the same 5k route three times.
Deloads. Just as we see in resistance training, cardiovascular training can really benefit from having a deload/recovery week. Recovery isn’t just stretching and walking all week. These deloads are important when we begin to feel some of these ‘Overtraining’ signs we spoke about previously. Deloads can be a 20-30% reduction in overall mileage, average pace, or any other important metric you use for your training. A deload week allows you to continue to get the miles in, keep the calories burning, but gives the body a well needed rest.
Running injuries may be stubborn to treat, so seeking a professional opinion early on could keep you on the start line for those key races with your housemates!
