#16 | Mindbites - Our Best Advice For People Looking To Start Running (We are rookies)

Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Tom, I'm Joe and this is Inside a Mind where Joe and I are going to talk to you guys to take information back into your day-to-day lives. The topic we're going to speak about today is coming from two non-runners, but we've started our running journey and we're going to talk about three of our best tips if you're looking to get into running and a bit about what we've been up to recently.

And I'm going to start this off because Joe has just run a half marathon yesterday. How was it, sir? It was interesting. I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would, I thought when I signed up to it I sort of reluctantly thought ah, you know, it's so far away, I'm not going to bother about training too much for it. And I did the odd run here and there. You know, my journey of late hasn't been the most smooth, with injuries and illness and whatever else. So I jumped into it thinking I've got nothing to lose um other than pride. So I gave it a go and actually it was really rewarding. Anyone who's done the half marathon for any sort of distance in running in London is just amazing, because the sights, the, the atmosphere, the people it's just a really, really cool thing to do and to say. And to say I've done it is. I'm quite chuffed and proud of myself.

What time did you do it in? So I was aiming for around the two-hour mark and I got pretty much bang on. I said to you off-air a second ago I was sort of somewhere near the back and my wave was, I think, 8 of 12. So I was at the back of a very, very long queue of people 16 000 people and I was right at the very back to start with, which makes it harder because if you're wanting to go faster than everyone else or faster than the people in front of you, you have to go around them and you've got a lot of dodging, which it gets sort of um, you expend a lot of energy doing that. So that was uh difficult at first, but then obviously it spreads out as the race goes on. But but it was a really good day. So two hours I'll take any day of the week because a lot of preparation I had was I'm really chuffed, really chuffed. Be honest, did you sprint?

the start, just pull it out straight on your own, waving everyone behind you, being like, yeah, I would have done If I hadn't said to people beforehand I would definitely go off on my own a lot quicker than I did. And it was when weirdly it reminds me every time I saw my family at any other checkpoints. I bolted off afterwards so, like I saw them, had a slurp of Lucas over where they brought me and then I just shot off and I was like what am I doing? This isn't a 100 meter race, this is 12 and up. This is a long, long way, like 13 miles.

I could just picture you being like then, just like slowing down again.

Yeah, stupid when I'm around the corner, out of sight, it's like a forest gump to start with and I was cool around the bend. I'm like, yeah, I can calm down now and then we got high rocks.

Coming up in four months, joe and I doing four months, less than four months now three and a half months, joe and I doing high rocks switzerland, which should be very cool.

We've never done a high rocks before. I've just started my running journey. Obviously I was when I was playing rugby. I was running a lot, but with rugby it was a lot of stop, start, stop, start. I haven't really done a lot of just on feet running, which I'm like realized I'm so bad at it. But then you're kind of bad at everything.

You start Right and I feel like you would have been the same on your half marathon. You had the same type of training as me Stop, start, stop, start. Power training type thing, not building the body for long distance running is the best way to say it. What has been your sort of like best preparation towards high rocks? What are you looking at doing? Is there anything particularly looking to carry on the same running routine or is it kind of changing now towards that? Because it's for those of you don't know about high rocks quickly, it's eight kilometers of running but you do a kilometer and then you do say, for example, a hundred burpees and then another kilometer and then it's uh, kettlebell walks, whatever it is on the day. I'm not sure if it's a fixed thing. It might be a fixed thing, but what are you looking at?

doing for that? Yeah, so my um it's a really good question. My, my, my training will scale back towards what I'm sort of used to doing, same as you like. It's like a pre-season with rugby. You're sort of doing events or a series of events like a I don't know some sort of wrestling in rugby, for example, and then you'll be doing burpees or press ups followed by a sprint. So it's a lot more what you and I geared towards. It's still gonna be really difficult, but it's way.

Um, it's very different to what I've been doing for the last however many months for the half marathon or intermittently. So I'll be doing less 5 10ks and more just sort of short, sharp bursts in the gym, on the treadmill for example, or um, and then go into like a sled push, if I can, or kettlebells, like you said. So I'll definitely be scaling back the long distance running and going to more short distances because, like you say, the maximum distance you'll run in the high rocks is a 1k, so I don't need to be doing five tens. I'll just really scale it down, which suits me because the weather's getting really bad, so running outside is miserable now and, um, short distances, like you said earlier, suits us better.

Anyway, I'm trying to do time on feet at the moment just to get like prepped. So I'm not necessarily running, you know like 10k, but I'm running. I did a run for an hour the other day. I have no idea how fast I'm. I'm not. I've not come around to the fact that I'm going to download Strava, I'm just not. I'm not. I'm not one of those people which a lot of my family are my girlfriend probably is um who upload on that every day. That's just not for me right now. So maybe when I get through my uh, my bad phase of running, I might have to download strava, but I'm doing time on feet at the moment. Did an hour run the other day and my feet were killing me. I was like I got about 30 minutes in and I've been completely transparent. I needed a poo and like my feet were absolutely burning, like I was, like it felt like I had deli belly but I was like I was like this is awful, like this happened with everyone, but apparently it's quite a common thing.

So anyone out there looking to start their running journey, if you feel the same as me, you know, if you do need the loo when you're running and your feet are killing you, don't panic. All right, no, he's probably done the same. So I'm going to be like, yeah, same, don't think it's coming right now, but don't get disheartened by it. And that's mine at the moment doing longest it's running and I'm also doing more power stuff. So I'm doing two lower body sessions in the gym at the moment and then one upper body session trying to get my uh, what's it called? Thoracic? No, not thoracic. Um, you know, when you do like deadlifts, uh, posterior chain sorry, my posterior chain as strong as possible to take the load, as I think it's going to be pretty heavy if we're going top speed as well, especially as competitive as we both are yeah, one thing you said there was really poignant less, um going for a dump mid-run, but it was more time on feet.

So it it reminded me of a video that, um, very good friend of mine, who you know sort of is, is charlie smith, and he talks about time on feet all the time. He mentions how, when you start your running journey, just having time on feet is the most important thing. Don't worry about distances, set yourself a time of 10, 15, 20 minutes and just move. If you need to stop and start, please do so, but just run in that time, because your feet, your legs, your back, your glutes, everything will get used to that running. But it's the starting point and it's um, whenever you start that and you're doing one or two runs a week, it's, it's, it's horrible.

The feet absolutely kill afterwards. My knees today are absolutely wrecked because I'm quite a big guy. Um, I wake up a lot, whereas the to your average long distance runner, they're usually quite slight, so they're carrying a lot less weight. Um, that's one thing I would. I would say if you are sort of a bigger, more muscular person, prepare for that and make sure that you you're mobile enough, and we'll go into the what's and wherefores in a second and the how you can prepare best for it.

But time on feet is a huge one is there any stretches you'd give to people starting out running as a peter yourself, like is that, is that a thing? Or like certain things they can move to stop their knees hurting or whatever?

yeah, the first thing I wrote down when we discussed the sort of the best prep for anyone running is whether you're a beginner or a pro, they'll always do stretching beforehand. It's imperative, I think, if you want to injury prevention obviously a big one, but also just moving and you're running, it will become much easier and you'll feel less stiff afterwards as a result. So before and afterwards, it's imperative. Your hamstrings, calves, glutes, even lower back, you know you're as mobile as possible. So if you can spend 10-15 minutes before even the little you know little runs, you're going for a k, run the block, you're going for a 5k or the big ones.

Um, make sure your ankles are mobile, hamstrings, calves, glutes and make sure you're as flexible as you can be mate, should I tell you what I found with with running and this might just be me, but my shins and, like my calves, when it gets past 30 minutes are like deteriorating, like horrible. I feel like an old man when I'm I hit 30 minutes and I'm like you know, you sort of get your second wind, I don't know. 30 minutes is my mark where I'm like okay, I feel like I can keep running but, mate, my shins like they go so tight, almost like cramping tight. And then I've tried, like I've got this there's a little like board which my dad has to like stretch out your calves. I've used that a couple of times.

But, mate, having surgery on my ankle and stuff is like made my calves and shins horrendous. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but like when I'm running around I'm thinking this hyrox is looking like a long day, but hopefully that's going to loosen up. I don't know what advice I'd give there, but if you have any, loosen up shins, because I don't think that's an uncommon thing. Shin splints are quite common as well, especially if people are putting on a load of load yeah, again, I think it's just making sure that your ankles are really mobile.

So doing loads of ankle mobility it sounds really boring, but those kind of things before a workout, particularly if you're doing lower body loading, like if you are doing deadlifts and squats, where you're putting a lot of pressure through those joints I think ankle mobility is a huge one. So actually straining the ankles, using resistance bands with it as well, and obviously making sure your hamstrings and calves are as flexible and mobile as possible and also strengthening them as well, makes a huge difference. Also, compression socks, when you're running as well, can make a big difference. A lot of people wearing the compression socks can make a difference in terms of blood flow, and all that kind of stuff makes a little difference. Um, but yeah, I mean, shin splints are a really common one, but it's time on feet can make a big difference to that as well. The more you do it, generally speaking, the better they become.

Do you think strength training sort of complements running as well?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I mean not to the extent that, like you, look at someone who is built say like me and you and they're more muscularly bound, running a half marathon or a marathon is going to be running it. Running that don't flatter me, don't flatter, sorry, carry on, but we're carrying more than what they need. So if you're aerobically sort of gifted, as it were, or you're really really fit and you're carrying way too much muscle, particularly up top, like that's why you get long distance runners who haven't got a lot of muscle up top because they don't need it, you know, as long as they're strong from the waist down and they've got enough muscle in their hamstrings and calves and they can move themselves, they don't really need it. So, um, but it definitely aids it. Being strong enough and and mobile and also working on those that the posterior chain thing is really important as well.

Working on that is a massive aid to uh, to running so we've got working on your posterior chain, making sure you've actually stretched properly beforehand. Time on feet in my opinion that's actually one of the most important things, just like getting the whole body used to it, all your ligaments, tendons, like just making sure you're not rolling your ankle and you're tired, like just time on feet, even if you're running slowly or even if you're walking quickly through some of it. You're running 10 minutes and walking five. I said that's quite an important one, especially on my end. So far I've got two more. I've got consistency over intensity and you kind of said it before about you know what Charlie Smith said right, Time on feet. That kind of falls into the bracket of consistency over intensity.

But I think actually sticking to if you are going to run, run on these days for that mental side of it, knowing that you're not taking the easy way out, but also with that consistency as well, I didn't want to run the other day.

It was absolutely pissing it down. I think it was either two days ago now piss it down. I was like I still haven't run, I'm gonna have to run, and like doing it. I didn't necessarily feel better like doing the run normally, like you get a bit of a good feeling about it. I didn't have a good feeling, it was an awful run. But now I'm sitting here now I'm so glad that I did the run. That sort of like mental side and like being like, yeah, no, I actually did that, even though the weather was awful, even though I felt shit and even though I actually didn't feel good running either, that whole side of it consistency has given me like more motivation this week to go back out there and, knowing I haven't missed a session, I can just bank off and there's no repercussion for it. That's quite a big one for me that's.

That's huge, and what I'd say about that is it sets the tone that the next time you don't want to go for a run, you remind yourself how much better you felt down the road. Where you're like, will you add those one or two percent, that makes a massive, massive difference. So psychologically maybe not physically, you might not have felt amazing at the time, but psychologically that has had a huge impact the turning point in your sort of running journey towards whatever it is you're after and I think goal setting is also another one whereas running for sake of running gets you so far, and if you don't enjoy it like with me with my half marathon I knew that that was on the horizon. Therefore I had to do it.

That's quite a good one, isn't it Like setting the goal, because that's why I wanted to do high rocks, because I was like with rugby, I gymed because you gym because you want to get big and you want to hit people harder and you also don't want to get injured, but then you take rugby away. For both of us it's like. You know, I didn't necessarily gym to look good, like I actually wanted to perform well. I don't think everyone wants to look good. That's the wrong thing. But looking good came from that like performing well. Now I'm like the last few months have been like I don't really have anything to train for, but I'm just better if I train. So I'm training, but now we've got high rocks. It's like I literally have to run. I have the gym and that's like such a big thing for me and it might be being mentally weak, but I literally I need somehow. I need something to aim towards, to be like keep that holds me accountable, that's, that's mentally strong, that's not mentally weak at all.

I think, um, a bit like me, I mine was twofold.

I think having rugby removed from my life allowed me to have something else to focus towards and also again, maybe, like you, other people who are quite far along their gym journey, as it were, is I can get quite comfortable doing the same thing all the time and I need something else to push me. Yeah, so I think, with again, it's twofold, rugby being taken away is a huge void in my life. I need to replace it with, like, with half marathons and which, like I said, I don't particularly enjoy running the long distance side of things, but it was quite cool to do and the fundraising and the atmosphere was something I'll always really remember fondly with. But most importantly for me was having something else to replace that with. So, if I can do the old high rocks here and there with you and it's a, it's a win-win because I'm building relationships and I'm spending people the whole last thing time with, like yourself, and it's being physically active and it motivates me in the gym to do something else completely different that I've not done for whatever.

So it's um, something to add to my bow absolutely last thing we're going to go on to is what would you do post run for people looking to get into running might be people who run already. What type of recovery stuff would you recommend from your point of view?

it's a good question, I think. First on that is, um, investing in good footwear, which I've done recently, and it's made a huge difference to my recovery because it sort of adds into it. So I've invested in good shoes to run in, which means that my body feels less achy as a result of that, because prior to this I would run on anything and everything, whatever shoes I had next to me. I'd be like, yeah, they'll do, and I I paid the price. Particularly it was in my early 20s, you can get away with it, whereas now, 30, my body's sort of paying the price of a long career of rugby and I'm looking after myself a bit better or trying to. Um, that's first and foremost is investing in good footwear, because it goes a long way and it's it's an investment.

Um, nutrition and hydration is a massive one, absolutely massive. Just what you're putting in your body goes a hell of a long way to feeling better before, during and after you're. You're running for sure. Do you recommend electrolytes or anything, or just one million, one million? I always thought the electrolytes were just another thing that you've been adding to this long list of of supplements to take, but actually, since I've started taking them whether it's placebo, I couldn't really care less, because it helps me massively. So it helps with I take them first thing in the morning, or when I'm training, or and or when I'm training. So, um yeah, they're great for me. But for runners in particular, or athletes in general, if you want a runner and you are cyclist, a swimmer or a gym goer, ballet, dancer, whatever it electrolytes are massive. So if you're moving, sweating and losing, it replenishes the salts that you're losing in that. So, um yeah, it's a big one for me, for sure awesome.

So we have the main things. We have time on feet. So, whether you're running or walking or power walking, getting that time on feet, if you're stopping and going, whatever it is, please, please, that's one of the most important ones on my end. I think you agree there too. Number two stretching properly. Make sure you are primed to go out, whether you've run 100 races before or whether you've never run before. Please stretch, look after your body. Three consistency over intensity. Be consistent. Do the sessions.

You say more for that mental side of it as well. If it's raining, it's raining, go get it done. If you're feeling rubbish, just go do. It. Might be an awful session, but down the line you're going to thank yourself. And lastly, recovery, nutrition, hydration, electrolytes. Get everything the best you possibly can. And lastly is setting a goal so you can run for the sake of it. If you enjoy running, kudos to you.

I don't enjoy your running. If you want to set a goal and you need a goal, like Joe and I do, whether that's going to High Rocks, whether that's a half marathon to hold you accountable, just set something for a few months time. You might miss it, you might just wait to the last minute, but knowing that's there will hold you accountable, will get you out of the house and will get you running. I'm running, although I'm not enjoying it much at the moment. I can see myself getting more and more into each session and for that I'm actually, you know, quite looking forward to my next run, which I never thought I'd say, and hopefully my girlfriend hasn't heard me say that, otherwise she's going to drag me out on a 5k on a sunday and I'm going to be very, very sad. But my sessions are still going to be done. But for the meantime, that's it from me and me as well, take care guys take care guys get running.