Jogging, I was doing it wrong

I have never learned to jog before. At school when we had to run around the track I used to run fast, and so I didn't make it very far. I always thought it was just because I am not built for running and better suited to swimming.

Yesterday when I went for my first jog, I realised that you can actually jog really slowly and it's much more sustainable. It would have been good to have actually been taught how to jog in P.E. but alas I wasn't and it wasn't until yesterday that I realised there is a lot more to learning how to jog than just being fit enough.

I have a sore left shin today :( I think I was landing on my heel and rolling onto my toes. I have a store left shin because of that. It turns out that I have to land more in the middle of my foot so that the pressure is more evenly distributed, and shorten my gait a bit to reduce the force. Here are some guidelines I have come across for jogging.

Avoid the terrible too's

Too much, too fast, too soon. The ten percent rule is about increasing the duration and intensity by no more than 10% a week. Its okay, adding ten % each week is still reasonable progress, infact some programs think that's too fast and aim for 3 to 5% increases, especially if you are injury prone.

Don't ignore the pain.
At the first sign that something is going wrong, take three days off. Substitute bicycling, swimming or light walking. Then when you return do half of your usual routine.

Shorten your stride
If you have a shorter stride you will reduce your impact which leads to less injuries.

Today was incredibly hot. I wanted to go for a walk but it was 38 degrees outside in the late afternoon. That's not going to happen. So I looked up Sandgate and noticed that the temperature there was only 31 degrees! Yay, so a quick 25 min drive to the seaside and we had a new and improved afternoon.

The kids got a play :)

And I got a walk :) 

Take that heat wave!