Training for a Long Run

Photo: National Library of Ireland. 

My sister recently called me, asking: "Am I just too old to run 12 miles?" She is in her early forties, and she exercises daily for at least an hour. She is in excellent shape, and her heart and lungs can more than handle a 12-mile run. So why did she call me?--because she tried running 12 miles on concrete without having trained, and now her knees and feet hurt. Every summer, she vacations at the same beach, and every year she walks or jogs the same 12-mile stretch from the condo to town and back. Last year, she jogged this path, and she came back with knee and foot pain, so she decided it must be her tennis shoes that need replacing, but she never told me about this problem.

A year later, she ran the same route with her newer sneakers, but again she hurt herself, so that is when she called me. What was my advice? "You are not too old to run that far; you just need to train for it!" It would be like training for a half-marathon, which is 13.1 miles.


How Physically Fit Individuals Should Train for a Long Run:
(For someone who exercises regularly and is in good health)
1. Start a walking program on the type of surface you are training for (sidewalk, trails, road, beach, treadmill, track, etc).
2. Increase your walking program progressively until you can walk briskly for 45-60 plus minutes.
3. Start a walk-jog training program. Walk a few minutes, then jog a few minutes, and continue repeating. At first, walk more than you jog.
4. Progress to more jogging than walking.
5. Progress to all jogging.
6. Increase your jogging distance and/or speed.
7. Steadily increase your distance by a little more each week until you reach the desired distance.

Additional tips while Training for a Long Run:
1. Incorporate some cross-training into your weekly exercise routine, so try cycling or Zumba or swimming or any other exercise you enjoy.
2. Add some strength training, especially for your lower body large muscle groups.
3. Do not push through injuries, but if you start to feel pain, back off a little on your training and do exercises that are pain-free.
4. Warm up for at least five minutes before jogging.
5. Stretch after your warmup and after your jog.
6. Do long runs only once per week and shorter runs during the week.
7. It is not necessary to run every day, but it becomes addicting! So your body will tell you that you have to run that day. If you want to run almost every day, decrease your pace, distance, or run on an easier surface such as grass.
8. Change your shoes every 300 miles or as soon as you feel more support is needed.
9. Interval train. On some days, run sprints or faster paces for brief bouts of time.
10. Add plyometrics training to your exercise routine. Do plyometrics exercises once or twice per week. Do these after your warmup but toward the beginning of your workouts.
11. Do back extension exercises regularly. This will help your spine to stay healthy and aligned and will decrease the risk of pinched nerves in your back.