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- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!bogus.sura.net!darwin.sura.net!mojo.eng.umd.edu!georgec
- From: georgec@eng.umd.edu (George B. Clark)
- Newsgroups: rec.running
- Subject: Advice For Beginners
- Date: 22 Jan 1993 16:56:57 GMT
- Organization: University of Maryland
- Lines: 39
- Message-ID: <1jp90pINNo4n@mojo.eng.umd.edu>
- References: <15264@ncrcan.Canada.NCR.CA> <1993Jan20.135640.13098@mcs.kent.edu> <CC.93Jan22125914@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: athens.eng.umd.edu
-
- In article <CC.93Jan22125914@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
- >
- >How should I, an unfit fat couch potato, start running safely and enjoyably,
- >without putting myself off running for life?
-
- Beginners should be most concerned with reducing risk of injury, since the
- most likely time a person will become injured in a sport is when they are
- new to a sport.
-
- The secret is to stop at the onset of pain. In other words, never say to
- yourself, "today I'm going to run one mile," or today I'm going to run
- for 30 minutes."
-
- Instead, listen to your body. If you feel pain after the first minute,
- then you stop after the first minute. Otherwise, you can keep going
- for as long as you like.
-
- If you stop exercising at the onset of pain, then you will be smarter
- than the vast majority of runners who try to exercise through pain,
- and go on to injure themselves.
-
- >For example - what sort of warm-up exercises should a beginner do
- >before/after going for a run?
-
- Walk.
-
- >What distance should I run (about 50 yards
- >seems to be my current limit :-) ), and how often?
-
- Run no more than every other day. Again, forget about distance, and
- just listen to your body. i.e., stop at the onset of pain.
-
- >Just what makes shoes
- >good for running in, and how much should I be prepared to pay?
-
- Any of the brand names are good. Expect to pay about $100. Get good
- running shoes because they do have features that are not present in
- cheap sneakers.
-
-