Am I Running Too Much Too Soon? Running Too Much Symptoms

If you’re like me, you probably have a hard time sticking to running – it’s hard! Not only do you have to plan to run, but there are plenty of distractions that happen along the way. I think that one of the biggest problems with starting off running and feeling like you’re ready to quit is doing too much too soon.

I Am Running Too Much Too Soon

I have a friend that got back into running and he was telling me about how he was going to run an extra mile per week for 10 weeks. Week 1, 1 mile, but week 5, 5 miles. Going from zero to hero is tough on your body and you are going to feel burned out quickly. Take stock in how your body feels when you’re running and listen to how it feels – are you feeling fatigue, achiness of your joints, headaches, loss of appetite, or feeling sore enough that you don’t want to do anything else in the day? If so, then you’re probably over doing it.

Find a plan for runners that are beginning their journey and stick with it. A Weekly plan that isn’t too strict or ridged will help you feel accomplished at the end of the week. Strava has gamification features for how many miles you run in a week or a month – beat last week!

One of the most common ways that people get injured running is that they’re doing too much, too soon. Start with some low impact cardio – perhaps an elliptical at your local gym – just don’t let the machine do all of the work for you! AS you start running – I highly recommending utilizing interval training, that is, run for a few minutes, then walk for a few minutes. Heck, start out running 1 minute, then walk 1 minute – do these 10 times and you’ve already been active for 20 minutes. Add another 5 more sets in and you’re at the 30 minutes that is recommended for cardio activity to make a difference.

Running Sucks. But sometimes you just have to take it a minute at a time.