Since I am allergic to the gym and only engage in occasional sports activities with limited aerobic effort such as football or tennis, I thought it might do me good to start running. And I did it a couple of months before my 30th birthday. A fluke? Who knows, but judging by the Instagram profiles of my acquaintances that have recently become populated with running photos and Strava maps, I wouldn't say so.
However, to try and see more clearly and to understand how to run without immediately losing the urge, I contacted Simone Luciani, running coach, founder of the YouTube channel Esco a Correre and the blog of the same name.
Running, a growing trend
Luciani confirms that he too has noticed this trend, but not only in the 30-year-olds: “because the whole amateur world wakes up quite late”.
Running “is definitely one of the most popular sports of late” and according to him, this ‘boom’ was partly due to the Covid that “has pushed many to take time for themselves and look after their health”. Running is “the best way to do it because it improves you physically and aerobically but also helps you mentally. It is a natural stress reliever and is for everyone”.
Running, says Luciani, encourages people to start “as adults” also thanks to many examples that make them say “if he made it, I'm still in time”. So starting is not difficult, continuing is more so.
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Easy to start, less so to continue
“Running has no barrier to entry, but a barrier very early on”, says Luciani. “If you are out of shape, if you have never run before, especially if you get the methodology wrong at the beginning you stop immediately, at the first tiredness, the first cold, the first short day or the first physical problem”.
To avoid injury, the advice is to do things step by step.
Going step by step
“For example, if you are overweight, you have to take an intermediate step such as running walking”, he explains.
The same also applies to those who are not overweight but lack the aerobic condition to run, explains the coach. If this is the case, “the important thing is to calculate your ideal pace and start by doing a slow run”.
The last case concerns those who are in good shape because they have done sport all their life but run badly because their biomechanics are wrong and they tire more easily than they should.
Correcting the run
“The ideal in situations like these would be to rely on professionals”, Luciani says, “or at least to get information on how to run in the right way. Correcting the run is not a complex thing: “the basis is to have a friend take a video, take a picture of your foot, send them to a running coach and have them analysed”.
Running at low intensity
Regarding pace, “it is statistically proven that amateurs run too hard compared to their initial aerobic base”. According to Luciani, 80 per cent of the weekly kilometres that a runner covers should instead be done at a slow pace because training at a very low intensity makes aerobic fitness improve much faster.
“Running slower will make you run faster. That could be your slogan”.
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Running as a routine
Once the possible physical and biomechanical problems have been solved and the pace has been set, it is essential that running becomes routine so that you don't get tired straight away. “It involves trying to always go at the same time and doing a series of systematic actions, such as eating a snack or stretching”.
No less helpful is to eliminate all possible obstacles that could make people postpone or skip a workout, for example by preparing the necessary clothes and equipment the night before. Running together with other people can also serve as additional motivation or to combat mental fatigue.
But how many times do you need to run per week to establish this rotation?
“Two is the minimum, three would be ideal, but there is no upward limit, you can run every day”. Growth, however, must always be gradual, as must the kilometres run.
“You have to give the body time to get used to it because we were born to run but we are no longer used to running”.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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