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Warm up and down
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Last week I started training for the Great North Run 04.I am a beginner and am making, I feel, good progress jogging/walking. The problem is I don.t have a specific routine for warming up or cooling down( stetching etc.) If any one could give me advise or a routine I would be really grateful. Also I have only found a 16 week taining schedule for the half marathon and the GNR04 is at the back end of September .What do I do when I reach the end of my schedule ?
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I see from your profile that you are a beginner. I am no expert, have only been running for 18 months and run primarily to stay fit and healthy but this would be my advice.
1. For warm up, walk briskly for the first 5 minutes of your workout, then jog slowly for 5/10 minutes then increase your pace to your training pace. The advice I have read is not to stretch prior to your run, as stretching cold muscles can lead to injury. If you do have any tight muscles stretch them lightly after your 15 minutes walk/jog before starting at your training pace.
2. For warm down, reverse the warm up procedure. Slow from your training pace to a slow jog for 5/10 minutes and then down to a brisk walk, slowing down to normal walking pace for 5 minutes. At this point or asap after stopping do your stretching routine, as your muscles will be warmed up and pliable.
Also as a beginner, count 16 weeks back from the date of the GNR. This is when you will start your schedule in ernest. From now till then get you body use to running. Run slow steady milage aiming to build up to aroung 25-30 miles a week. Have a look at this page for a calculator which will help with this. It's the third last on the page and is called "Training program - 20 miles". Just type in your current weekly milage and it will help you work out how to get to your target weekly milage safely. It uses the 10% increase rule as well as the principle of every 4th week being a step back week to allow the body recover and strenghten and is built on 5 runs a week with two day for rest or cross training etc. These days are not cast in stone adapt it to suit yourself.
Don't worry about speed at this time, that will come later. Have a look at the "Base Training" thread. Use the time up until the end of May to build you aerobic base and then start your 16 week schedule.
Hope some of this info is helpful. Good luck with your running and the GNR.
MK
Thanks for your reply. I have been out for a run tonight and took your advise for warming up and down and found this really helpful.
I couldn't ask a couple more questions.
The stretching routine. What strething would you recommend ? and Is there a particular order ? I do streching but feel I could benefit with a guiding hand on the most effective and best technique to avoid any unecessary injury and just so I can do it right.
I viewed the web page on your reply, which I found interesting. Only one problem though, I don't always run on roadside paths. I sometimes run on country/park paths. How do I measure mileage in these aeas ?
Hope I'm not asking to many questions, you know what it's like starting something new. I need some idea of what I'm doing off someone who was in the same boat as me.
Here is a link to a site which shows they type of stretching I perform after every run. I do 3 of each type and hold each stretch for around 30 seconds. I will also add in other stretches if I have a particular problem area such as ITBS, piriformis, shins etc.
If you google for "Stretching for runners" you will get lots of good sites with a lot of ideas which you can use to build your stretching routine or find stretches for particular niggles you might have.
I have never heard of a particular order to perform them in but I have kind of gotten into a routine now and pretty much go through them without thinking now.
I also do a lot of my running in parks on trails. On some of these trails I have worked out routes and then ridden around them on my bike and measured the distance with the cyclo computer. On others that I have not measured I use my Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). I pretty much know by now what pace equates to what heart rate. So by running to a heart rate of say 150 is about 8 min miling for me, so while out on these tracks I just divide my total running time by 8 to get the number of miles. As I said in my last post I run mainly for health and fitness so if this method is not spot on it doesn't matter too much to me.
If you don't have a bike with a computer or a HRM maybe you could measure out a mile on one of your road runs (kind of in the middle of a run)and check how long it takes you to cover this distance. Keep your pace constant as you are trying to work out how long it takes at you normal pace not how fast you can run a mile. Then use this information when you are in parks as your min/mile pace.
I'm in Dublin, Ireland but some of the peeps on here have mentioned some web sites, (I will see if I can find the names) which you can use to work out the distance covered on your run and which are geared towards the UK. You could also check out an OS map and a piece of string as lost of peeps also use this method.
Please feel free to post/ask as many questions as you like, there is a wealth of experience, help and support on this site and I have benefitted greately from information I have gleaned /received from the peeps on this site.
Happy Running,
MK
Re: The route measuring sites I mentioned in my last post above, they are
map24.co.uk and Trailguage.
Trailguage is software and there is an unregistered version available for free download.
Happy Running,
MK
Smy, the direct link to the stretches from my first post today is here
MK
MK
If you just want basic route measuring you can still download the Old version and use that for free without registering. Please don't expect any support for this old version though.
Registration for the new version is only $25 (around £14).