POFIFOTO!

Jul 2, 2011 by Greg Fowler

In my favorite part of the Rankin-Bass Christmas classic Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Kris Kringle gives  Winter Warlock a gift, melting his icy persona and eliminating Winter’s magic powers.  Now faced with having to walk, Winter doesn’t know what to do.  Kris gives this simple instruction, “Put one foot in front of the other” – or POFIFOTO for short.

So it is with running. Just start. Put on some shoes (or not) and hit the sidewalk, road,  trail beach or treadmill.  Wherever.  It doesn’t matter. Don’t make excuses.

Now, more than likely, if you have never been a runner or if it has been a long time since you ran, you are not going to be able to run very long.  That is OK.  Your running muscles need time to build up.

So, start small.  To borrow from baseball lingo, just start hitting singles.  Don’t worry about a home run yet. Try something like this: for the next 5 days walk for 5 minutes to warm up, then run for 10 minutes.  Finish with 5 minute walk cool down.  Even if you were able to run the entire 10 minutes (unlikely), stop at 10, and finish up with the 5 minute walk. If you are not sore the next day, go for 12-15 minutes of running.  It is highly like your feet and calves will be talking to you, though.  If it is too painful, skip the run for the day and go for a bike ride. Then, try again the next day.  At the end of the five days, take a day or two rest.  Now commit to another 5 days, and increase the running to 15 minutes, still walking to warm up and cool down.

If you cannot run 10 minutes (I couldn’t at first!), then try something like this. Walk for 5 minutes, run 1 minute.  Repeat this for 20-30 minutes.  The next time out, increase the run time and decrease the the walk time.  Follow this for a few weeks. It won’t be long before you’ll be running 20-30 minutes non stop.

Here are 3 keys to successful running start

1. Start slowly. Give your out of shape feet and legs time to build strength.

2. Consistency. Commit to 3 – 4 runs a week or try every other day.  You be surprised how much you’ll progress in a month.

3. Variety.  Sure, running can be boring, but it doesn’t have to be.  Change your surrounding.  If you run on a treadmill, get outside.  If you run on the street, try a trail run.  Invite a friend or your kids to go with you.  Just mix it up!

Get started today!

POFIFOTO!