Mistakes can make good runners

Ever made a mistake running? If you haven't you are a rare gem.  Most runners have made mistakes and usually they learn from them.  Basically just like anything else in life.  We can either learn from our mistakes and use them to get better or not.  While recently sitting at a doctor's office waiting on my husband to have oral surgery, I was reading my running journal.  It's a monthly publication with several running articles.  Well, this article hit home and I wanted to share it with you.  The article was by Cedric Jaggers.

Guess what was listed as the first mistake?? You got it..... STARTING A RACE TOO FAST.
Have you ever done that? Well, I have and boy did I regret it.  Sometimes you are so excited that it's hard to hold back.  When they blew that whistle you just want to rush out like a race horse.  But let me tell you that no matter how good of shape you are in, you can start out too fast!  So how fast is too fast?  Well, according to Cedric most experts say you can only start out 10 seconds faster than your average race pace without hurting yourself.  So if you are averaging a 9 min pace for a race, then your first mile should be no faster than a 8:50 pace.  So for your next race, think about your starting mile.  What pace should it be? Because believe me, if you start out too fast, you will regret it towards the end of the race.  Save your gas for the end.  Finish strong.

2nd mistake - RUNNING ON A HOT DAY AND EXPECTING YOUR RACE PACE TO BE THE SAME  ....  temperatures play a huge role in race times.  I've been at races where people were literally passing out by the end of a race due to heat.  Do you know what the idea race temperature is?  I found it interesting in the article that between 50 and 55 degrees is the idea running temperature.  I firmly believe this after years of running.  Remember the 20 degree rule??  When you begin running, your body will heat up and your body will be 20 degrees warmer than the temperature. So if it's 70 degrees outside when you begin running your body will be at 90 degrees in no time.  So the next time you run a race, check the weather.  Dress properly.  If cool, wear clothes that can be easily removed once your body heats up.  If hot, BRING WATER and hydrate!

3rd Mistake - RUNNING A RACE YOU HAVEN'T PROPERLY TRAINED FOR - now this one is very important also.  I've seen people automatically jump from a 5K to a half marathon.  Which don't get me wrong, you can do this.  But you must train.  If you don't train, you will be in for a world of  hurt.  Not to mention the fact that you could end up injured.  The rule of thumb is your collapse point is 2 1/2 X the average daily distance you are running per week. Perseverance when you are undertrained will take you further, but at a cost.

Now there are plenty more of mistakes, but I felt these 3 were very important.  Maybe this will help you at least avoid these three.  I'm sure some of my peeps on my run team would testify to a couple of these mistakes themselves.  We all fail and we learn.

Happy Running! D