Beginner Runner Village

We’ve all heard of people-watching. Let me introduce you to runner-watching. It’s less entertaining but much more useful. Even the most untrained eye will, with a little coaching from me, be able to spot good running form. In this episode I’ll give you some tips on analyzing the form of established runners, helping you better understand good form, making it easier for you to practice it, yourself, facilitating your own running success.

An integral but often overlooked element of running form is foot strike. Whether beginner or advanced, any runner should take care to be sure to utilize an efficient and stable foot plant and  it makes perfect sense for new runners to work on this from the very beginning, from day one, rather than try to break bad habits later on.

Learn the correct running form and succeed that much faster. Today, I discuss how to lean, ever so slightly, forward, to take advantage of gravity and how to make sure you’re landing over your center of gravity. Correct running form will lessen the likelihood of injury, make your runner more comfortable, and conserve energy.

Improving your running form will mean avoiding injury and running more comfortably, two worthwhile pursuits for any runner, and there is no better time to master it than at the very beginning of your running career when you’re only running a few steps at a time. In this podcast, I explain correct form in the first of two episodes on this topic.

One of the most common concerns among beginner runners is that they struggle to breathe, often saying, “I can never seem to catch my breath” or “I feel like I’m breathing through a straw.” For many runners, it’s just a matter of learning how to breathe. Many, many people are still following the advice of an ill informed physical education coach from high school years. We’ve come a long way since then. Breathing while running is a huge issue for some runners. This episode will help.

I’ve learned that new runners – even the newest runners – will progress more comfortably and with fewer injuries when they apply proven principles that veteran runners use to guide their training. The difference is that they must be modified to be appropriate for beginner runners. In this podcast I  explain one of the hard easy principle, and how to apply it. This one simple concept could be the difference between succeeding in becoming a runner and being relegated to the sidelines. It will keep you healthy and comfortable when you run.

I explain exactly what is included in the Mojo for Running Coaching Program, what the weekly schedules include, and how they break down into a gradual progression from mostly walking to running, then from being able to run to being able to run 3.1 miles, a 5k. The program gradually moves complete non-runners from walking to running while putting great focus on conditioning. From there, the next few weeks take the beginner runner to a 5k. Then there are schedules for the runner to polish that 5k a bit before moving on to their first 10k. Then, there are schedules that move the runner on to a 10k and eventually on to a half marathon. So, you can progress seamlessly from one set of schedules to the next until you’re ready for a half marathon. It’s all explained in this podcast in much greater detail. Please share this podcast! #BeginnerRunner   #RunningPodcast   #StartRunning   #BeginnerRunnerVillage   #WalktoRun   #First 5k   #First10k   #FirstHalfMarathon

While you won’t need much in the way of equipment, good running shoes are, of course, a must. After listening to this episode, you’ll be prepared for the all-important shopping trip. Discover what to look for, which questions to ask, and how to know if the salesperson is knowledgeable. You’ll need to understand the terminology, and you’ll need to know what to do. You’ll need an overview of the types of shoes available to you. Running shoes for beginners are just as important as running shoes for experienced runners. This is not the place to cut corners, but you certainly don’t need the most expensive shoes. If you go to a reputable running store, you should be in good hands, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your homework before you go. Buying running shoes, the right running shoes, will impact your success because the wrong shoes could actually cause injury. I’ve seen it happen.

Veteran runners can choose from a variety of different forms of cross training, but new runners will need to be quite careful about cross training because if they are not already physically fit, the cross training may sap their energy and tire the muscles they should be saving for their running days. Enter hiking. Hiking is the perfect form of cross training for someone just embarking on a running career, and this episode explains why it is ideal. Hopefully, it will motivate you to get out there and start hiking to help you attain better running fitness.

No matter whether you are training to run your first mile, your first race, or you are working toward greater endurance and speed, you will experience much greater success if you follow a well thought out, logical, running schedule, one that is built around accepted and proven running training principles. Many beginners think for a long while, the most important thing is that they just need to run as much as possible. That really is a bad idea. It will actually impede progress because this would lead to a state of overtraining very quickly. That may seem odd that a beginner would easily become overtrained, but in fact, it’s at least as easy and frequent with beginner runners. It’s completely logical, when you think about it, because beginners are much less fit. As a result, they can get over zealous. A running schedule, prepared by a qualified running coach, will provide the guidance needed to keep the runner on the right track and working at a healthy progression toward their goal.

It’s inevitable that sometimes events beyond your control will prevent you from running for a couple of days to a couple of weeks. If you are a beginner runner, you likely find it especially to persevere through such interruptions. When you can’t run, you may experience feelings of guilt and discouragement. In this episode Coach Deb addresses those feelings as well as how to regain lost motivation.

As a beginner runner, you’ll need to consider your lungs, bones, joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments as members of your team. Is everybody ready to start running? It’s critical that they all be ready. Let’s talk about how to take this into consideration and accommodate any parts that aren’t ready. This is one of the ways I can help you prevent injuries and keep moving forward.

Knowing where to begin, where to start, how to start, is the hard part and one of the most critical for anyone who wants to become a runner. In this episode of the Beginner Runner Village Podcast, I aim to help you to decide where to start your running journey. Almost every beginner runner tries to start out at a level that is just too advanced, too intense, either running too much, too far, or too fast. It’s imperative that you figure out where to start your journey to become a runner. That is your starting line, and it is the only starting line you need to worry about for a few months. The secret is to get started with a solid foundation and smart training that will keep you progressing, keep you healthy, and keep you progressing toward your goal. Knowing a good place to start will make the journey to your goal smoother, and it will certainly make it more fun. Yep, more fun because it will provide just the right level of challenge. Like Goldilocks, you want a level that’s not too hard and not too easy. You want it to be a little challenging, and that is the level that will be just right. It’s not always at the beginning of a schedule. Any schedule is somewhat arbitrary. No two runners share the same level of fitness – or ‘unfitness’ – or the same physiology or ability. For that reason, in my program, some people start with Week 1, but some are better suited to start at Week 3 or Week 5 and progress from there. My goal is for you to actually enjoy running. That way you’ll stick to it until you achieve your goal.

When learning how to run, beginner runners often succumb to one major pitfall which can easily be avoided. This podcast explains how to learn to run the easier way by avoiding this common beginner runner mistake. It turns out that the easier way to learn how to run is also the more enjoyable, more efficient way. Equally important, following this training tip will make a running injury less likely because it lowers the intensity, and that is everything. Most beginner runners, after observing experienced runners, think they’re just supposed to run and keep running, but for the new runner, any running, even a quarter mile of running is always intense, and that’s bad. You’ll notice that experienced runners usually look comfortable, relaxed and happy when they run. News flash: Beginner runners should not be working/training at a level that is more intense than those experienced runners. That makes no sense, is not necessary, and is a bad idea. Listen to this podcast and learn a beginner runner tip you can implement immediately. Subscribe with Stitcher Radio

Welcome to the first ever episode of the Beginner Runner Village Podcast. This information is for people just embarking on their running career, and it is aimed at people ready to take their very first running steps. You’ll get all kinds of guidance here, everything you need to know about how to get started running, the little-known secrets that make all the difference. Beginner Runner Episode topics: * running form * shoe selection * how to breathe * running for weight loss * motivation * and much more all included in the archives I have another podcast, the Mojo for Running Podcast, that I’ve been doing for several years, but the content is for people who’ve already been running a while. Over the years, I discovered that many people were using the popular Couch to 5k type beginner runner programs and finding them too aggressive, which is not to say they are bad programs; some are good programs, but they aren’t for everybody. Over time, I realized that most people, and definitely, my people, the beginner runners I worked with, needed much, much more time, that they only excelled when I slowed it down, a lot.  I’m driven to share what I’ve learned, working with all those beginner runners. My goal is an almost perfect success rate, and ‘success’ is someone who becomes a runner, enjoys it, loves it, and keeps running for the rest of their lives. Otherwise, really, what’s the point? Becoming a runner is not intuitive. You don’t just walk out the door and run until you get tired. No, if you do that, what you’ll get is injured and discouraged. You could do that when you were 10; you can’t do that when you’re 30 or 40 or 50 or 60, but you can, safely, successfully, become a runner. There is a way, a right way, and this podcast will explain it. It’s not rocket science; it will make perfect sense, and you’ll wish you had thought about it this way before you first set out to start running. I say that because most people coming to this podcast have already started trying to run, and many will say they’ve tried and failed more than once. No worries. I know why it didn’t work. It’s not surprising that you tried to do what you see experienced runners doing, just running. They make it look so easy, right?  But they weren’t always runners, and it wasn’t so easy for them, either, not for most of them. They likely struggled, too, persevered through injuries, and eventually managed to keep it up, but for every person you see out there, running, happily, comfortably, there are a hundred who tried and eventually, after injuries and after lots of huffing and puffing and pushing hard and being miserable, decided it wasn’t for them – or they just decided they couldn’t do it – or that they didn’t have the body for it. I have answers. Please listen, because I’ve worked with hundreds of beginner runners,