How to Prepare for Your First Running Race

You've decided to run a race. Congratulations! You're part of the 0.1% of the population that decides to race. However, now comes the hard part; training. Understanding how to properly train and avoid injury will make your first race a memorable experience rather than a negative one.

The director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship at Loyola Medicine, medical director for several local races and a long-time physician for the Chicago marathon, Aaron Lee, DO, discussed how runners can prepare for their first race in an organized, safe way. "One of the most important things about running is that you have to be mindful about your approach to it," says Lee.

Ease into a running training program

Whether you've been mainly sedentary for a long time or are actively running but decided to finally tackle a race, you'll want to honestly evaluate your current running abilities. If you've been a couch potato or only run short distances, it may not be realistic to jump into a marathon. While there is nothing wrong with having big goals, being realistic will help you stay healthy (and happy) for the long-term.

"To reduce the risk of injury, I almost always tell my patients that a good starting point is 1 to 2 mile runs, not more than three days a week, with at least a one rest day in between those runs," he says.

"And if you can't run for that distance, start by running for 5 minutes then walking for 5 minutes. After it gets easier, you can start to increase your total mileage."

When creating a training program, think how long you have until the race. In general, if you haven't run much before, plan to train for 3 months for a 5K, 4 months for a 10K, or 5 months for a half marathon. Of course, these can be adjusted depending on how much time you have until the race. During training, Dr. Lee suggests increasing your mileage every week by 10%, especially as you run longer distances.

"As you're growing your volume, you want to try to get six weeks of lower mileage running before going nuts and greatly increasing your weekly mileage," says Lee.

Take recovery seriously during race training

Training for your first race can be exciting. However, be sure to take your recovery as seriously as your runs. Your body adapts to the stresses of training during recovery, making you stronger and faster.

Plan to incorporate cross-training days into your training program alongside your runs, as well as time to stretch afterwards. Cross-training can include swimming, strength training, yoga, or anything else that increases strength and cardio without the repetitive pounding of running. When creating the program, you need to be honest about how much work you're willing to put into training. There is no shame in rest days.

"After those bad runs, when you feel sore and tired, you've got to let your body adapt and recover so that you can tolerate the next run; usually that's one to two days of rest," says Lee.

If you can't stand the thought of sitting around doing nothing on rest days, use it as an active recovery day. Go for long walks or do light cycling to move your legs without adding stress. However, no matter how you recover, there are two things that always need to be a priority.

"There's a lot of information out there that doesn't have strong evidence," he says. "The most important parts of recovery that you can control and that we know work are getting adequate sleep and feeding your body appropriately. Those are honestly the most important things."

Most runners require 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, possibly even 8 to 10 depending on the intensity of their training. In terms of nutrition, you need to be consuming enough calories to accommodate for the additional exercise. While this depends on how long you're running, you can start by consuming 300 to 500 extra calories per day and seeing how you feel over a couple weeks. Of course, focus on nutritionally-dense foods, especially complex carbs like beans, oats, and sweet potatoes.

Prevent running injuries with good habits

Injuries are common for runners. It's estimated that 60% of runners end up being injured in any given year, forcing them to miss training. However, it doesn't have to be that way.

If you're running races that are less than a half marathon, the rate of injuries is low. Once someone starts training for longer races – the magic number is 40 miles per week – the chance of injuries goes up. Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn’t take injury prevention seriously.

Warm up before running with slow, dynamic and sustained stretches. Thoroughly work your thighs and calves with toe and heel walks, calf raises, and bodyweight squats. Afterwards, cool down by walking for a few minutes to allow your heart rate to slowly come down then incorporate controlled, static stretching, focusing on the hips, glutes, hamstrings and calves.

Yet none of this matters if you run too much too quickly.

"The best thing you can do to avoid injuries is to keep this motto in your mind: Start Low, Go Slow, Be Smart," says Lee. "You may want to consider getting involved with a local running group to not only make running more fun but also have structured runs with people you can ask advice from."

While new runners are more likely to get injured, both inexperienced and experienced runners suffer from the same injuries. The most common are shin splints, runner's knee, hamstring overuse, Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis.

If you do end up injuring yourself, stop running and seek treatment from a doctor familiar with running injuries. While it won't be fun missing training time, it's better to solve the problem right away than making it worse and possibly create long-term issues. See your doctor promptly for diagnosis and treatment, not running again until the injury is healed completely or with modifications to your routine under the guidance of your doctor. In the meantime, you can switch to low impact forms of exercise to keep your cardio up, like swimming.

Loyola primary and specialty care offices are conveniently located throughout Chicago’s western and southwestern suburbs. The Sports Medicine department at Loyola Medicine has one of the most comprehensive and advanced teams in the nation.

To make an appointment, call 888-584-7888 or schedule an appointment online.

Aaron Lee, DO is a Sports Medicine physician at Loyola Medicine. Dr. Lee received his medical degree from Des Moines University in Iowa before completing his residency at Advocate Health Care and then his fellowship at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.

Dr. Lee specializes in nonoperative musculoskeletal medicine, treating people of all ages and injuries, acute and chronic. He treats all areas of the body for active people and people who want to be active, including those with arthritis, work injuries or collegiate and high school level athletes. 

Book an appointment today to see Dr. Lee or another Loyola physician by self-scheduling an in-person or virtual appointment using myLoyola.