When you start out as a runner, you hear a lot about the importance of pacing yourself. And indeed, being able to go at a steady pace instead of overdoing it right from the beginning is a crucial part of running—not just on each individual run but also on your running journey as a whole.
Understanding Pacing
Traditionally, the idea of pacing yourself in running refers to making a conscious effort at the beginning of your run to go at a more moderate pace even while your body has the energy to go faster. The idea is that you’ll be able to maintain this pace for longer, allowing you to run for more total time and at a more consistent pace.
Exercising Caution
But this same concept also applies to your entire running journey. See, when you first start running, you just make it over the hump of the really hard part, and that’s when you start to actually enjoy running. Once you feel that runner’s high for the first time, you might be tempted to start running more and more and more.
And, yes, it’s great that you like running! But increasing your mileage or intensity too quickly is just asking for trouble. It can cause injuries and burn-out which will then make you have to stop running completely. So to pace yourself properly, try not to increase your mileage by more than 10% a week.
