by Rae Ross

Created on: February 23, 2011

Running: the ultimate calorie burning cardio workout; the thing that we bipedal human beings seemingly evolved to do with ease. It should be easy. You should be able to kick off your shoes and run a mile with ease right now – barefoot, like the famous San bushmen of the Kalahari Desert – but you can't. Why?

It's true that running is an excellent workout, and that we, in evolutionary terms, are born to run, but there's a catch. With the vast majority of people living sedentary lifestyles quite unlike those of people who live in the desert, you can't just get up and run without suffering some ill effects. Knee problems, shin splints, joint pain, stress fractures – these are all touted as horrors that runners inflict upon themselves, and as reasons why you should avoid it. However, the simple truth is that many of these injuries are seen in untrained runners who don't take the proper precautions to avoid them. That's why you can't just get up and go running. As an untrained beginner you have to ease into running and let your body adapt to the stresses of suddenly being exposed to such a high impact activity.

The first, and most important, aspect of running is good shoes. Be prepared to spend money. Good shoes will protect your feet from stress fractures and heel spurs, and will go a long way to correcting your gait if you under- or over-pronate. The best place to get a pair of running shoes is at a running store. The staff at the running store will usually watch you run on a treadmill before recommending a pair of shoes for you. The reason they do this is to check your pronation – the way your feet roll when you run. Under-pronators tend to roll their feet outwards, while over-pronators roll their feet inwards. If you take a look at your everyday shoes, you can probably tell by the wear patterns what kind of pronator you are. Under-pronators will have wear on the outside of the heel, and over-pronators will see wear on the inside. The way you roll your feet when you run has a knock-on effect on the rest of your body, as it affects the movement of the ankle, knee, and hip, so having the right kind of shoes is hugely important.

Second, it can be a good idea to stick to a specific running program at first, like the Couch-to-5K training plan. This program, and many others like it, aims to work you up to being able to run at a steady pace for 30 minutes over a period of 9 weeks. Beginner programs usually start with alternating periods of running

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