mohsrunning

Before you decide to focus on distance or speed, take a few minutes for self-examination. You-ll find yourself running the wrong path if you fail to consider your physical needs, experience, and your medium and long term goals.

First of all, are you a beginner? If so, this is a very easy question to answer. Spend some time building up your distance and endurance. This is a formative time, and a period of low intensity before you push hard will prevent injury down the road. Spending time improving your basic endurance and cardio conditioning will also provide a wonderful base to build speed on when you are ready.

And what should you do if you-re a more experienced runner? Take an honest evaluation of your physical conditioning. Working on the basics before pushing the stopwatch is always wise.

If you-re happy with your capacity, then consider your goals. Do you want to race, or would you rather run trails? If you have an uncompetitive nature, you may never care about taking your speed to the max.

Either way, it is best to ensure that you have built the capacity to cover the miles before you pick up speed. Pushing too hard, too fast can only lead to injury and backtracking.