Collected Advices, Realizations and Lessons Learned for Running

I am neither a professional nor an elite runner, I just enjoy joining fun runs. What I'm writing today is just my realizations after my 3 runs. I just had a longer time to think about this because I ran twice the distance that I used to run (so I have twice the time to think). These things are the stuff that all came to my mind while I was running this morning :-P

I tried to keep my ideas short and bulleted, so it won't look too boring to read...And also straight to the point  but I guess, it's still long :-) 

1. Run at your own pace.When I became part of Coach Jim Saret's FitFil, our team coach and other coaches who trained and made us run, even on rainy evenings,  always remind us to run at our own pace. If we try to push ourselves beyond our limits, we might end up injured. "Safety first" is what I normally hear from them. I also saw this line this morning for the NatGeo EDR 2013, just a reminder for all of us :o)

2. Better to run in small strides or conversational pace. One Saturday morning, I joined a dear friend in her training for Milo Apex Running School. She's under the 10k group and I'm just tagged along with her, so I felt obliged to run the same distance as well :-P When we started running, I was introduced to one of their coaches and she said that it's better to run in small strides; 'coz if you try to run in big steps, you'll get tired easily. Especially if you're not used to it, or you might trip along the way and get injured. Just like in the first item, safety first. Let's prevent injuries.

3. Keep hydrated. Keep a bottle of water with you when running. You won't really know when you'll gonna need it. During my run for Immuvit Trail Run Challenge, someone told me to drink less water. I did what that person said (like taking only half of the paper cup, twice in different hydrating stations --1 for each station, which was also the smallest consumption of water I had when running). I ended up having muscle strains and got stuck for an hour (or an hour and a half) in a corner with some of the medic reps. I spent not less than two hours in the run. I told the medic that I had a good breakfast, so I wasn't sure what happened to have that, then he said, "lack of water can be a reason." As a result, I ended up 3rd or 5th to the last runner who finished the race.

4. Wear your most comfortable garment. 

• Shorts or Leggings or Jogging pants? I used to wear shorts during run practices and workouts, only to realize that I've been pulling down the middle part of my shorts every time (you know when you have lots of body movements, the clothing gets stuck in between your legs and kind of "goes up"). It's a big turn off and it's embarrassing when a guy sees you like that (pulling shorts from the mid, between legs x_x). Even if in front of another girl, it just looks...not right at all. When I switched to leggings and tokong jogging pants (my 3-inch below the knee jogging pants, I'm just not sure if there are other terms that can be used here :-\). I realized that I was able to run/move comfortably compared to my shorts. 
• What about your socks? Another garment that you should check are your socks. Yeah, that clothing between your feet and your shoes. You must check what material was used for your socks, it's better to have a bit thick, cotton-made socks (which personally works for me and my friend), rather than those thin-polyester-made materials. On my story in item 2, I was wearing a thin polyester socks and I felt the blisters "evolving" during my run (from a smooth feet to an "ouchy-wounded" feeling).
• Shoes? Of course, the shoes. It is important that you are comfortable with the pair of shoes that you are wearing, or else, you might feel irritated, or heavy, or simply not completely comfortable at all. 

5. Relax and enjoy. Don't get tensed or bothered on what the person next to you is doing, or if the others run faster than you (overtaking you and leaving you behind). Just run at your own pace and enjoy. Like this morning, I reminded myself to enjoy while trying to set my first 10k record, I enjoyed the downhill run in the Kalayaan Flyover, and seeing the sunrise in the city from there. It brought a big smile on my face and made me feel kind of refreshed :o)

Again, I am just an amateur runner who simply enjoys fun run activities. These things are just collected ideas that I had for my past 3 runs. I just want to make it clear that on the 4th item, I am not saying to use jogging pants or cotton-made socks, what I want to say is wear what makes you comfortable the most; if you're not experiencing what I have experienced with wearing shorts, then go for shorts, besides, it's much 'cooler' to wear that. Hehe. 

Ciao. 'Til my next post :D