🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <CC.93Jan22125914@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
>
>How should I, an unfit fat couch potato, start running safely and enjoyably,
>without putting myself off running for life?

Beginners should be most concerned with reducing risk of injury, since the
most likely time a person will become injured in a sport is when they are
new to a sport.

The secret is to stop at the onset of pain. In other words, never say to
yourself, "today I'm going to run one mile," or today I'm going to run
for 30 minutes."

Instead, listen to your body. If you feel pain after the first minute,
then you stop after the first minute. Otherwise, you can keep going
for as long as you like.

If you stop exercising at the onset of pain, then you will be smarter
than the vast majority of runners who try to exercise through pain,
and go on to injure themselves.

>For example - what sort of warm-up exercises should a beginner do
>before/after going for a run?

Walk.

>What distance should I run (about 50 yards
>seems to be my current limit :-) ), and how often?

Run no more than every other day. Again, forget about distance, and
just listen to your body. i.e., stop at the onset of pain.

>Just what makes shoes
>good for running in, and how much should I be prepared to pay?

Any of the brand names are good. Expect to pay about $100. Get good
running shoes because they do have features that are not present in
cheap sneakers.