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I’ve finally gotten back in to a nice, healthy habit with my workout schedule which {as many of you know} involves running. I love running {if you hate running, read this} and had to have a hard look as to why I stopped a few months back. The truth is, I would often times find myself cramping up or feeling super drained after running a mile. After doing some research, I came across a few common mistakes that most runners make and I thought I’d share them here.

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NOT WARMING UP

I have to get a nice and steady heart rate going before I break out into a run. I usually walk a few blocks and slowly but surely increase my speed to the point where I am forced into a jog. By slowly increasing the heart rate this will prime your muscles so that your chances of cramping are reduced.

SKIPPING BREAKFAST

Fueling up before a run is absolutely, positively one of the most important things to do. Avoid high sugar unless you want to crash mid run and be sure to give yourself around 20 minutes between eating and running.

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STARTING TOO FAST

Be sure to ease yourself into you run and don’t jump out of the gates in a full sprint. I have two apps on my phone {MapMyRun and Nike Run Club} that show me the pace I am running at so that I won’t run too fast or too slow.

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OBSESSING OVER GPS

Sometimes I ruin a run by worrying about how far I’ve run from home and the distance being equal to return. The other day I found myself heading toward the beach. I started to panic about having to turn around which felt like a buzz kill, versus continuing to run to the ocean felt inspiring and motivated me to run harder. I told myself that if I made it to the ocean that I would catch a cab back and it ended up being one of my best runs yet.

NOT BREATHING PROPERLY

I like to think of running as a meditation. In through the nose, out through the mouth. This is all I repeat to myself in the beginning of my run. In, 2, 3, Out 2, 3, In, 2, 3, Out, 2, 3 until I’ve developed a nice and steady breathing pattern that matches with the beat of my step. It’s the best way I’ve found to avoid getting the dreaded “stitch” in my side during a run.

If you’re like me and found yourself making one or more of these mistakes when running, don’t sweat! Learning from our mistakes is the best way to improve!