Running: Getting into that rhythm at the start of a run

Hello again! Today I would like to chat about running! If you were not aware, I love a good run, read many posts about it here! But one thing I have found for the number of years that I have been a runner is that for some reason it takes me up to 2 miles to get comfortable and into a good rhythm for the run… Why is that?

The issue

You get ready for a nice run, you could be running 3 miles, 6 miles, who knows! You have a nice warm up, you are well stretched and as prepared as you could be. You start running and for some reason that you cannot explain, you just can’t get comfortable. The running becomes a little ragged and not smooth in any way.

I asked a few good folks about this in the #ukrunchat Twitter thread on a Sunday night and I was very happy to find that other people also had this problem and that I wasn’t alone. I had started to think it was an issue just with me.

Overthinking

Some of the issues could be that I am trying to figure out my pace during the first couple of miles instead of working it out beforehand. I have kicked off on the run and in my head, I am thinking about whether to go for a longer run, I figure out I have time to go for a long run and maybe I can alter what I was going to do, or maybe the weather has taken a turn for the better or for the worse. Should I maybe change my plan and go for a faster run and push it as that is my favourite type of run?

I have this slew of information go through my brain and before I know it I am just crossing into the second mile. Which then causes me to ramp up those thoughts! Should I calm down to go longer? Why am I feeling the aches a bit more than usual? I hope I don’t fatigue early now. I can’t shed the thoughts from my head and I am just there plodding along figuring out what I need to do.

Breathing

I then realise that my breathing is all sorts of wrong, I can feel I am out of sync when I am running with my breathing, I don’t know if that is from the overthinking so I am getting nervous about the run, or that I am just being a bit stupid. I try to time my footstrike with my exhales. But this doesn’t work all the time for me, but it does work every so often!

What about when you are in a race?

The weirdest thing about all of this is the fact that I have never had this issue when I have participated in a race. This has only ever happened when I am training. This made me think that maybe this is because I am running on my own when I am training. If I am with all of these people and they are also going at a certain pace and then I may not have to think about my pace or distance at the start of the run. I am focussing on the person in front of me and just keeping the pace to stay with them.

I think that removes all the thinking process for me. I don’t have an empty path or road in front of me. I have dozens, hundreds or maybe a couple of thousand people in front or around me and they are just going forward, so I should as well. I am now just thinking of keeping myself steady and easing past people with little effort or trying to weave my way around people for the first few miles (bigger race problems).

Actually when I think of it, when I am running with Victoria I have found my running is a lot less ragged. She is running beside me nice and comfortable (to me anyway) and unless we give the other a little sign, we just keep running. I would check my phone for the pace or time every so often, just in case we need to pick it up a bit, but for the first mile or two, I don’t think about it. I am comfortable and that is all I wanted in a run.

So is there a solution? I have no idea, I get these almost every training run, but I never do so in a race environment. If you have solutions let me know!

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