"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- WOW-- What a Ride!"

Monday, March 21, 2011

Beginner's Corner

For the benefit of other beginners like me, I am starting an irregularly recurring feature to be known as Beginner's Corner.  Together we will explore some of the basic running concepts.

First up:  Easy Pace

Easy pace means running at a comfortable, conversational pace.  If you are running with someone, you should be able to comfortably carry on a conversation.  If you can't do that, you are probably going too fast.  Slow down and enjoy the journey :)  When I'm running alone, I'll test this by talking to myself a little.  Yeah, it looks/sounds weird, but I want to know if I'm trying to push too hard.  Trust me on this:  Nothing looks weirder than some guy out running at night in reflective gear in a snowstorm, so talking to myself isn't exactly a big stretch of weirdness.

Some coaches feel that 80-90 percent of our weekly miles should be done at an easy pace.  As beginners most likely we're closer to 100 percent of our miles being done at an easy pace.  When we're in the base building phase, that's ok.  The important thing is just getting out and logging the miles.  We're trying to build fitness and endurance without getting hurt and running at an easy pace helps us do that.

That's it for this episode of Beginner's Corner.  If you have any suggestions, questions and/or comments, please leave them in the comments below.

No comments: