For someone beginning a running-based exercise regime after a long period of inactivity, progress can be rapid. If you are committed to improve, it does not take long to move from sessions of brisk walking to running. Once you are running, if you gradually introduce some elements of speed work and extend the distance covered in your sessions your running will improve. How do you measure your improvement?
Keeping a Running Diary or Running Log
One useful way to measure your improvement as a runner is to keep a
running diary or running log. Initially, this may just be a list of the runs completed each week and the approximate distance covered. You may not know exactly how far you are running during a session, so it may be worth investing in a pedometer. These cheap devices count the number of steps that you take, so you could record the number of steps as a measure of the distance covered. Hopefully, as you improve, you will see an increase in the number of steps taken each week. You could use the pedometer to set a target for the number of steps per week.
In later months and years looking back on a running log can be a very rewarding and useful exercise. It reminds you of the progress that you have made with your running, both in terms of speed and mileage. It can also remind you of your preparations for previous races and, depending on the result, inform you of what to do (or not) as you prepare for the same, or a similar, race this year.
Timing your runs
It is also useful to time some of your runs. You will probably establish a network of local runs based on your home. It helps your improvement if, fairly early on, you time how long it takes you to complete a route. After a few weeks you will be surprised how much more quickly you can run the route. It can be a mistake to become too reliant on your watch, however. If you time every single run, you can start to worry if you take a few seconds longer for one of your set routes, or a section of it. Better to time a run at intervals and take note of the overall trend in your times. Times for individual runs can be affected adversely by a whole range of factors: the weather, the wind direction, time of day, an illness or slight injury etc.
How You Feel and Recovery Times
When you first begin to run you will probably do so only two or three times per week so that your body has time to recover in between. As you increase the speed or distance of your training runs, you will probably feel tired and/or suffer small ‘niggles’ and pains, so it is probably best not to increase the number of runs per week. Only when you have built up your stamina and endurance should you consider running more often. Even then, if you have done a race or a harder training session, you should rest and recover afterwards. Some runners believe that a short, gentle ‘recovery run’ is beneficial at these times. Or, you could consider an alternative form of exercise: swimming or cycling, that will put less strain on tired running muscles. With experience, you learn to listen to your body and judge when you should take a rest. You should not feel guilty if you take a day or two off running – rest and recovery are an essential part of the training and improvement cycle.
Heart Rate Monitors
A Heart Rate Monitor can provide useful information to both the beginner and the more experienced runner. It informs you about how hard your body is working at any particular time, but you can also set it at 70-75% of your maximum heart rate so that you are not trying to do too much, too soon. Depending on the model, the instructions will give details of how to use a particular monitor to maximum effect. For example, on a ‘recovery’ run you can use the heart rate monitor to make sure you keep your level of effort low.
