January 2013 Tip

Make 'Staying Healthy' your #1 goal to achieve all your running goals! 

By Coach Eladio Valdez III 

We have a tendency to put the cart before the horse in the sense that we set 'end' goals without really formulating an intelligent plan on how to achieve them.  The irony is that if you want to enjoy running more than ever, complete your first half marathon/marathon, or run a certain time, the chances for all of those happening go way up to the extent you make staying healthy your top priority.  For these monthly tips, I will share helpful tips to make this happen.

This month, I want you to get into the habit of seeing how slow you can begin the first 5-10 minutes of every workout.  Warming up the body for running is vastly underappreciated, and until you experience the immediate benefits firsthand, you won't do it.  I can promise you this:  the way your body is designed, you will feel noticeably fresher and stronger the rest of your workout to the extent you start super slow.  There is no minimum to how slow you can begin so use your competitiveness as an advantage and experience the benefits of an ever slower beginning.  The Kenyans are famous for starting nearly twice as slow as their marathon race pace before picking it up the rest of the workout.  Even if you start twice as slow as your 5K race pace, that's a promising start to just how slow I am talking about.  Of course, listen to your body and warm up as long as it takes - don't ever force the issue.  Once you feel fully warmed up, then you can have some fun! 

Starting super slow allows your body to better prepare for the pounding from running while conserving more energy for the rest of the workout.  As a result, you lower your risk of injury and improve your running performance - a wonderful tradeoff in exchange for having more patience when you begin!