So you want to pull those shoes down from the shelf to get back into the swing of running? Don’t even think about doing your laces before you’ve read our best running tips.
Athlete image via Shutterstock
Welcome to Gizmodo’s Fitmodo Running Week! This week we’re going through everything you need to be a better runner. From tips to tech, we’ve got what you need to get you over the line of your next 5K!
Fitness Is About More Than Just Running
Sure, running can be the cornerstone of your workout, but remember: the key to health and fitness is a diversified workout that works your body and mind.
There are plenty of amazing apps to help you get started with other activities like yoga, weights, and circuits. Download one, start on it and see how you go.
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Get Great Shoes
You’re not going to be running at maximum efficiency if you’re all blistered and sore, are you? Think of it like a car: you’re not going to buy a Smart Car if you need to be moving eight people around. Getting the right fit for the job is really important.
There are a bunch of different shoes you can choose from, with a whole mess of great new technologies to make running more comfortable. You can even run barefoot if you want (with practise).
However you decide to run, make sure you go and see a shoe fitting specialist before you part with your cash to see what your feet need to hit the road.
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Getting Gadgets With It
Knowledge is power, and that goes double for fitness activities: the more you know about your body and how your running affects it, the more you’ll be able to tweak and perfect your workout for optimal efficiency.
Gadgets like the Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike Fuelband all work to help you track what you’re doing to your body, while other services like Runkeeper and Endomondo exist to help you log your data and look back historically at your progress to track your future achievements. Tracking your mileage as you run is really important.
Here are our five favourite services and our five favourite sport smart watches.
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Don’t Burn Out
This is probably the most important tip: don’t flame out on the road to your next 5K. Treat fitness and running like learning a new skill: you’re not going to be an expert straight away. You won’t be competing with the likes of Matt Shervington any time soon, so pace yourself.
Set your goals before you even put your shoes on. Are you running just to improve your wellbeing, for fun, or are you even training for a marathon?
Simple step-by-step guides of how to get going when you run are also worth reading.
Even how you breathe is important to keep an eye on when you run.
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Music Is Your Ally
Sure, the sound of your feet pounding the pavement is good to hear at first, but then you get sick of the sounds of your own progress and want something else to motivate you. That’s where music comes in.
Music is medically proven to be beneficial to your running progress, and you can tweak playlists to perfectly match your running distance: from training sessions to the infamous 5K.
There are also a bunch of great music streaming services out there you can download to your smartphone and take with you.
Make sure you also invest in a decent pair of running headphones so that they don’t constantly fall out while you pound that pavement.
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