Preparing for a Run

This is especially meant for people who have not yet taken part in a long-distance run such as 10 km or above. There are few things that are described below that you need to take note in order not to endanger yourself with respect to personal safety or get yourself physically injured.

Running routes
Running in your neighborhood is a good option in the beginning without having to drive away from your home unless you live in the midst of the downtown where there is no greens to run about. It's all about convenience.

Plan ahead
Plan where you run and the distance you are to cover. Unlike a decade ago, we can now make use of Google Earth (or Google Maps) facility to trace your neighborhood routes and also the distance it covers.

Road safety
Run with road safety in mind and keep this always wherever you run. Run on sidewalk or path provided and away from the traffic; or alternatively if the latter is not available, run on road shoulder but on a side facing the oncoming vehicles. Never at all run in the same direction of vehicles as sometimes the driver might not be able see you (or rather your back)  especially when daylight is reduced considerably in the evening or worst the driver's mind may be elsewhere like in the midst of doing a SMS or just losing focus what is in front of the vehicle. Be alert always.

Proper attire
Vest is preferable worn in humid countries like Malaysia; and material made of polyesters rather than cotton as the latter holds more water(or rather sweat) and may weigh you down. Choose white or light-colored vest. The idea is to be seen; a reflector sticker at the back of the vest is helpful in this case. Wear shorts made of Lycra like those meant for swim/cycle wears. Compare to cotton, Lycra material has lesser "chaffing".

Wear the right shoes
Treat your feet to a good pair of running shoes. It will be the most important piece of gear. Shoes are designed to fit feet with different arches and pronation. Running shoes of Nike, New Balance, Brooks or Adidas would be a good choice for a start; ask for assistant for the type of foot you have and the corresponding shoes you should wear or Google search for "foot type running shoes".

Keep a log
Keep a log for the runs. It should provide the following data such as date, time, name of route as your reference, distance covered(km), duration (minutes), pace (km/hour or distance covered /duration), mood (how you feel after the run). Having these data in record, u would be able to see progress over a period of time.

Warm-up exercise
Start with light exercise like walking to loosen up your muscles; then start stretching your calves, quadriceps, hamstrings and groin area. For illustration, Google search for "stretch exercises for runners." Hold each stretch for about 10 seconds or more.

Recovery
You should not run every day; 1 or 2 days in a week is good for a start. Your body needs to rest between runs so it can recover from one run to the next.

Hydration
On runs of half an hour or more, carry fluids with you and consume about 20 ml every 20 minutes.

Training
For a start, jog for at least 15 minutes without stopping. Distance is not important right now. You just need to get your body used to running. Combinations of run-cum-walk are great to use during pre-training because they ease your body into the exercise and minimizes the chance of experiencing a running injury. Your mileage should gradually increase each month and when you are able to run about 30 to 40 minutes non-stop, then you are ready to run a 10 km stretch.