5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Running

When I started running, I ran my first marathon in 3 hours 17. I've since brought that down to 2:19. My first 5K was just over 25 minutes. That's now 14:34.

I tell you that for one reason only. If I can move those numbers, so can you.

This isn't about me. It's about handing you the things I wish someone had handed me on day one. They're a little different to the advice you usually hear, so stick with me.

And I'm writing this at a useful moment. I've been off racing for a bit, letting the Achilles settle, and I'm about to enter a 5K again. So these have been on my mind. Five things I'd tell my younger self, starting today.

Here's the honest truth nobody tells you. The hard part never gets easier.

That burning feeling in a race or a track session? It doesn't go away. I wish I could tell you it does. What changes is you. Your body adapts, you get faster, you recover quicker, and crucially, meeting that discomfort becomes second nature.

To reach the higher heights, the PBs, the races you'll remember, you have to be willing to hurt a little. That is the entry fee.

But you don't pay it every day. Only 2 to 2.5 hard days a week. Newer runner? Twice is plenty. More experienced? Two and a half.

And do not fear the easy days. Running slow will not make you slow. It is where the adaptation actually happens.

The discomfort feels like forever in the moment. It's a tiny slice of your day, for results that last a lifetime.

Most of us know how to train. Staying motivated to do it is the hard part.

Motivation comes and goes. Some days you fly out the door. Some days it's just not there. I've seen it in myself and in every runner I've ever coached.

Three things keep mine steady:

→ Follow people who inspire you on Strava. Not to compare, but to catch fire. When I see a mate nail a session, it makes me want to nail mine. There will always be someone faster or doing more. This game is about being the best possible you.

→ Build training into a routine until it's a habit. Same session, same day, week after week. Discipline becomes routine, routine becomes consistency, and consistency is the whole secret to running. When it's built into your week, you don't have to feel motivated. You just show up.

→ Put a race in the calendar. This is the big one for me. On those 50/50 days, a race on the horizon gets me out the door every time. You don't need to race every week. Scatter a few through the year, some as goal races, some as tune-ups.

Life is too short not to race. A race in the diary is the best motivator I know.

You've probably heard of the 80/20 rule. 80% easy everyday running, 20% hard, snapping out of that comfort zone.

Sometimes it shifts. It might be 70/30, it might be 90/10. But if roughly four-fifths of your running is genuinely easy, you're in a productive place.

Here's a week that works:

→ Monday: easy recovery run, or easy cross training

→ Tuesday: track or interval session. Push that VO2 max, whatever you're training for

→ Wednesday: recovery cross training, or a recovery run if you're experienced

→ Thursday: easy, or an intermediate day (a tempo, or a hills session)

→ Friday: rest. One full rest day a week. Your body is a sponge, let it soak up the work

→ Saturday: a quality session or a harder parkrun

→ Sunday: easy long run, or the quality long run if Saturday was easy

Never stack two hard days back to back. Hard, easy, absorb. Hard, easy, absorb. Back-to-back hard days are how niggles and injuries creep in.

One more thing. Tailor it to your goal. When I train for a 5K, my reps are faster, so my easy runs go slower to recover, sitting at about a 2 to 4 out of 10 effort. Training for a marathon, the reps are a touch steadier, so the easy runs don't need to be quite as gentle. Same skeleton, different paces.

We runners love running. We tend to skip everything else. That everything else is exactly what makes you a better runner.

Strength and conditioning. Aim for 2 sessions a week, 3 if you're experienced. One properly weighted session, loading the body, because stronger means faster and running is all about power to weight. The other more mobility and plyometric, keeping you explosive. Add a core session too, because a strong core holds your form together in the closing stages of a race.

Please get this in before it's too late. In my early years I did none of it. I've run for 13 years, and the Achilles niggle I'm nursing now is one I might have avoided if I'd done loaded calf raises from the start. Learn from that one.

Cross training. Sooner rather than later. If a niggle reaches 5 out of 10 pain, back off. Let it push to a consistent 6, 7 or 8 and that's when the long-term injuries arrive. Spin bike, swimming, elliptical, rowing, whatever you enjoy. No impact, quicker recovery, and you keep the aerobic engine ticking.

Fuelling. Fuel hard to run hard. More protein with carbs after big sessions, more carbs before them for fast energy. And as a coach I cannot stress bone health enough. If your bone health goes, stress reactions and fractures follow, and those take an age to come back from. Fuel the work.

This might be the most important one.

Most of us think people care far more about our times than they actually do. Tell someone on the street you ran a marathon, in any time, and they say "wow, that's incredible." Once you realise that, the fear of failure loosens its grip.

I lived this on Strava. I went through a phase of running all my easy runs faster than 4 minutes per kilometre, because I was scared people would see a slower number and think I'd lost it. The day I stopped caring, my easy days finally got easy, and I started absorbing the work properly.

And race. Regularly. The more you race, the more you learn your body: what pace holds, what strategy suits you, when to fuel. You recover faster than you think, roughly a day per mile raced. A 5K takes about 3 days, a 10K about 6.

Here's the mindset shift. The worst thing that happens in a race is you struggle, your form goes, and you're disappointed. That is still a better result than not racing at all.

You have to go through the rough ones to earn the good ones. My sub-2:20 took 7 attempts. When it finally came, it was so much sweeter than if I'd nailed it first time.

Set bold but realistic goals. Race regularly. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there.

That's my five. Now I want yours.

What's the one thing you wish you'd known when you started running?

Come share it in the community discussion inside the Hub. I'm reading and replying to every one this week, and I promise some of your answers will end up teaching me something too.

Join the Discussion

Train smart. Train productively. Listen to your body.

Boom Shakalaka! 🔥
Coach Nick