Couch to 10kms – Plot your walk breaks
Here are this week’s tips from the BNAC running captain, Mark Dingle, who is adamant it is possible for new runners to go from the couch to a 10km finish.
There are just two training weeks left before athletes set off on one of the most popular races on the annual Benoni running calendar, the Rowlin Glow Run, on October 30.
The colourful night race fun-fest starts and finishes at Benoni Northerns and features a 5km fun run, a 10km and a 15km timed race.
ALSO READ: Couch to 10km with BNAC captain Mark Dingle
For new runners, walk breaks are a good training tool to help with managing longer distances when first building fitness. Walk breaks provide recovery periods during a run and actually serve two important purposes.
Firstly, walk breaks help to reduce your heart rate, preventing your heart from going into overdrive and causing you to feel burnt out at the end of your run.
Secondly, when you are building up to longer distances, you might find your posture and legs becoming sloppy as you run further and get tired. A walk break will help you reset your form.
Your walk breaks must be controlled. Find a strategy that works for you. For instance, when you are tackling a longer distance for the first time, you could try running for nine minutes and walking for one minute.
You could also try using lampposts to manage your walk breaks by running the distance between eight lampposts and then walking the distance between two lampposts.
In a race, where water stations are typically three kilometres apart, you could take a one-minute walk break at each station.
Play around until you find a run/walk strategy that works for you. The main thing to remember is that your walk breaks should not be too long.
They should be between half a minute and a minute. If you walk longer than a minute, you will battle to get started and find a rhythm again.
When you resume running, practice your arm swing, lean forward from your ankles and focus on landing on your mid foot.
Rowlin Glow Run online pre-entries (www.enteronline.co.za) close on October 24. Race day entries will also be taken from 5pm. Contact the race office on 083 657 8885 for further details.
