Tip #7 - Listen to Your Body - And be sure to check out the pics!

First off, a couple quick reminders....

If you're reading this and your a Teens Run Yonkers participant (and I hope you are - student, parent, mentor, friends, etc), please be sure to check out the pics from last week's race on our website (www.teensrunyonkers.org) and Facebook page: click here for it - and be sure to "like" us if you haven't already.

Also, we will be holding our regular Saturday training run, Saturday (surprise) at 9:00 AM - and will be meeting at Tibbetts Brook Park at the flagpole. Hope to see lots of you there. We'll be starting to build and prepare for our next race which is an 8K on April 21st.

Last - but not least, if you are a parent of TRY student and want to get more involved in what we do, please let me know. It's been great to see lots of you and would love to brainstorm on ways to work together to support our students and their efforts. And I'd love your ideas on how to make this work for you - i.e. training, running tips, etc - so please let me know. Speaking of which we're on beginner Tip # 7 of Listening to your body.

Just to add my own two or three cents, this information is critical safety information. For TRY, we always emphasize for TRY that you should give a maximum effort. However, if a student is injured on something is hurting, he or she is encouraged to STOP. I'd also note that it's important to develop a sense of what is normal training strain - the stuff that means we're putting in the right amount of work vs. what is pain. It can be a fine line; hence, the earlier Tips about seeing your physician as well as a Walk/Run Program. Utilizing such a program can allow you to build up without putting unnecessary strain out there.

Finally - and I've now lived through this with my last marathon - sometimes your body is just screaming NO. Listen to it! It's saying that for a reason. In my case while doing a marathon in Miami, I was clearly dehydrated from the humidity and not enough pre-fueling. It was a difficult lesson to learn but proves that even after doing lots of these, there's always something new to learn....so here's the tip



Beginner Running Tip 7 : Listen to your body



Of course, when you run you are bound to get tired and experience muscle pains afterwards. That’s fine. To a certain extent. However, when you, during or after your run, feel dizzy, or when you experience pain in your chest area, your back or your legs, beware !

Take it real easy:

Immediately stop running and rest or walk for a bit until you feel better.

Cut back on your training load or stop it until the pain has ceased.

Check with your physician if you keep on experiencing pain or if you are feeling unsure about anything.

Take care of yourself. You only have one body and one life. Running is a great healthy activity, but in your enthusiasm (too much too soon) you can harm yourself. Follow one of my beginner’s training schedules to avoid injuries. Even then, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY !

Learn to listen to your body and you will be your own best coach who can tell you to keep on going or to stop.