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	Beginner Mistakes

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Here are some of the most common mistakes that beginning runners make.

• Not having a plan. Just going out and running. This puts you in danger of running too hard, too often and over-training. Over-training is bad for you both mentally and physically. If you always do hard workouts, your body doesn’t have time to recover, adapt, and build itself stronger. This also makes you more susceptible to getting injured. And mentally you dread your workouts and get burnt out quickly. See what qualities a good Training Plan should have.
• Not sticking to a plan. Missing an occasional workout is okay if it's not too frequent. If you miss too much, you need to take it slower. If you miss a week or two, go back and repeat the last week completed. Trying to accelerate a training plan puts you in danger of getting hurt.
• Getting inaccurate or potentially dangerous information from friends or the Internet. Many sources conflict because of different goals, experiences, or beliefs. It's best to get information from a certified coach that you trust.
• Overtraining (working too hard, too often, too soon) remember 80% easy, 20% hard. We always think that more is better. But in running you need to build a base with easy running. Overtraining puts you at greater risk for injury and burning out. See Workout Types for more information.
• Running too hard on easy days. You should be able to hold a conversation without any problem on easy and recovery days. See Workout Types for more information.
• Don’t increase your weekly mileage by more than 10%. Don’t start anything new and overdo it. Add new things at the beginning of a training cycle.
• Not listening to your body. How do the various parts of your body feel? Does anything hurt? Burn? Are you tired? Thirsty? Is it an Injury or just a little Ache?
• Running when you are injured. If you are hurt admit it, stop running, and see a doctor. We never want to stop running, but not taking care of an injury right away risks you having to take even more time off.
• Being inconsistent. Missing a workout or two per week every week puts you in danger of injury, missing goals, pushing too hard and too fast trying to make up.
• Running at the same intensity every day. Elite runner abide by the 80/20 rule of easy/hard workouts. They are either running at close to their maximum heart rate or at less than 75% of max - never in between. You will see the most improvement by doing this compared to running at the same moderate effort every time. See Workout Types for more information.