I have learned a few things along the fourteen year journey of running I’ve been traveling.

First, always buy proper shoes. Don’t just throw anything on your feet and hope they work – they won’t. Go to a specialty store and pay $100 on a good pair.

Second, take rest days. So many people I know think training harder is key, but after time your body will give out if you don’t let it rest.

Thirdly, you’ll probably have to go to the bathroom at some point along the long run route, so choose the places in advance where you’d feel comfortable stopping. (Thanks, McDonalds on Magnolia Street in Huntington Beach, for those early morning pit stops!)

I’ve also learned this: If you believe you can achieve it, you can. Which is probably why I just, on National Running Day, signed up for the Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon on November 5!

Oh. My. Gosh. What have I just done?

I’ve run two marathons in my lifetime. The first went well; the second, not so much. I hurt my hamstring at mile 18 and walked the last five miles. I cried. A lot. I was in the happiest place on Earth, Disney, and felt crummy. All that training, for what?

Looking back, I know exactly what I had done wrong. Yes, I put in the training, the miles. But I didn’t take care of myself outside of that. I didn’t slow down when I needed. I didn’t get massages or foam roll my legs. I didn’t stretch after most runs, and I ran too much, too frequently, too hard, while not allowing my body to rest.

So this time around I’ll be doing things a bit differently, as I’ve taken steps in the past year of training to reduce my chances for injury and increase my running efficiency and speed at the same time.

These are:

1. Listen – and follow the directions set forth by – to my body. In the past I would run because that is what was on the schedule. Hard day but legs felt tight? Too bad, I pushed through it – and then paid for it the next day. Now I slow down. I listen. I know that on Tuesdays I have a speed workout, but Mondays are an average to longer run. If I feel too tired, I skip the speed workout and try to add in some fartleks and say that is that. You can’t push, push, push, and expect all to stay good.
2. Regular massages. Sounds like an indulgence, but if you are serious about running you should find a sports masseuse serious about massage. I try to get one at least once, if not twice, each month, following my longer/harder runs. Since I have reoccurring hamstring issues, which also affect my knee (tendonitis), I have her work on this area – and any others, like my IT band or sciatic – that may be bothering me. I always leave a bit achy but, by the next day, the pain is gone.
3. Foam roller. I discovered this beautiful tool after my bad Disney marathon experience, the one in which I wound up with tendonitis of my hamstring. Since, I have been through three of them. I use them daily, sometimes two times a day. I use it every time I run. I roll my hamstrings and calves, and I have found that if I have an ache after running – let’s say the outside of my foot hurts – I can roll out my calf and it feels better. Almost instantly, in fact. Go online, to Amazon, and pick a good foam roller, not the cheap kind found in sports stores. You need something hard that will get the kinks out. It hurts, yes, but it works at the same time.
4. Running more is not always key. Some people believe to achieve great running results you have to run five, six times a week. Not true. I have found for me four days is best. I can’t do five – I get hurt. I use the fifth day for swimming, a great cardio exercise that keeps my heart going at the rate I need it but that is less taxing on the legs, knees, and joints. I do a long run day, a mid long run day, an interval day, and a speed day. On my longer runs, I generally keep my pace slower, though once every two to three weeks I will choose a longer run day and push it so I can see what I can do. So far, so good.
5. I don’t back up two long runs. I no longer do a long run on Sat. and follow it by running on Sun. I take Sunday off. I have found my body can’t handle a long run followed by  any other kind of run – I hurt too much. So, I’ve learned how best to schedule my running days; and I have done this by listening to my body!

So, we will see how training goes for Savannah. My only real concern is the heat. I will be in training in the southern humidity and heat and I have not trained in this kind of weather for such a long race. I feel I have acclimated to this climate over the past two and a half years, so I believe my body can tolerate it – I will just be going slower than normal, which, I have learned to accept, is okay (and even important at times!)

Today’s agenda: On National Running Day I signed up for Savannah but today is my cross training day so I will do weights, core, planks, and half an hour of swimming laps in the pool.

Happy Running!