With group training set to resume in the UK next week, you may be keen to jump straight back into hard training, or you may be worrying that you are not ready for it. Here are a few tips to make sure you get the most out of training and don’t over do it and end up injured.
- As with all training, don’t suddenly increase or change what you have been doing, Ease back into training. That includes gradually getting use to more volume, intensity, if you wear different shoes for fast running or running on a different surface like the track.
- Make sure you warm up well before jumping back in. I would guess that most people haven’t been doing as much in the way of warm up drills and mobility work without a coach to encourage them. A few good exercises to include before you tackle some fast run sessions would be leg swings, lunges in different directions and skipping.
- Start with some mixed time intervals from 30s up to 5min to introduce your body to a range of paces and give you some idea what it is ready for. Example sessions would be (6min, 5min, 4min, 3min, 2min, 1min) all with 1 min recovery and gradually getting quicker, or a pyramid like 30s, 1min, 2min, 3min, 4min, 3min, 2min, 1min, 30s with recovery equal to the time you just ran.
- Stretch afterward! This one is important if you haven’t been running fast for a while, or you will feel it the next day. Stretches should be gentle and never be painful. Hold each for 10-15s with deep, slow breaths.
- Enjoy the company and challenge. To enjoy being back in a training group you need to be able to accept where your fitness is at now and know that with the help of those around you and a gradual increase in training you can get to where you want to be.
Happy Running!
Running Tips by Coach Julie 