When you are planning to become an avid runner, one thing that you have to do is to make sure that you do it in the right manner. The reason for this is due to the fact that running is quite intensive to the body, and overworking the body with running activity can lead to quite a number of complications in the future or when you get older. Of course, there are many ways in which you can do this, but the following elements are always common in all of the methods. Let us get right to it.
Requirements
The first thing that you need to understand is what your goal is. It might be to run a marathon, or it be to become a five-kilometre specialist. The reason for this is due to the fact that every goal has a different workout that you would have to do, and that is not taking into account your current ability. Therefore, be clear in your goals so that you would be able to understand what type of work needs to be done. Even if you end up going to a coach, your goal has to be clear to the coach.
Ability
The next thing that you should monitor is your ability. This requires to see what you already have got in your body. In other words, it is somewhat of a test whereby you have to do a particular activity in the best possible manner. For example, if you want to run a marathon, you might have to do a five-kilometre test run to see where you stand. Depending on how you felt and the time taken to complete the distance, the workout should be made accordingly. In many cases these can go up to four days a week.
Main Workout
Then comes the main workout. This can vary depending on your goal, however, in many cases, the types of workouts have similar goals such as building endurance, improving lactate threshold, and recovery. There are other workouts that have the goal of building strength, however, for a distance runner, it is quite minimal. Endurance runs are generally slow, but long. On the other hand, lactate threshold workouts are short, but intensive. Recovery runs are slow and moderate. Each of these workouts have to eb followed to make sure there is some sort of improvement.
Recovery
This is something that has to be stressed to any runner due to the fact that improper recovery can lead to stress fractures. The reason for this is because the legs do not have enough time for the muscles and the bones to repair from the stress caused from the intensive workouts. Recovery normally entails a number of stretches, and even massages from specialist physiotherapists to make sure the body is up and running again for the next workout.
In conclusion, you now have a good understanding of how you should properly plan out your running workout schedules to make sure that you achieve your goals in the best possible manner.