How to Start Running: The Ultimate Guide

You’re just getting into running, or you’re running curious, and you have some questions. You want to know how to start running. Or maybe you have been hitting the pavement but you’re looking to increase your speed, or attempt a half-marathon, or just stretch better. Here’s your reference guide for everything from building strength to planning races.

The best strength training for runners

Did you know that cardio can actually build muscle? Contrary to popular belief, cardio and muscle strength are not mutually exclusive! Getting your body moving—running, jogging, walking, biking, hitting the elliptical, etc.—increases your body’s oxygen circulation, and can help you recover after doing some of the more high-intensity workouts like power lifting. We’re not just saying that, either. This is backed up by medical studies.

If you want to build muscle or get stronger to increase your endurance and knock out longer runs, you don’t need to put on an old-timey muscle man jump suit and lift hella barbells. As long as you’re sticking to a consistent regimen and putting in real effort, things as simple as push-ups and lunges will do just fine. Trainers say the key is just to push yourself to the point where you feel like you can’t go on anymore. That’s how you really know strength training is working.

How to strengthen your knees

Having knees is kind of a scam. No matter what you do, they never totally feel right, especially as you get older. Knee pain is often thought of as an inevitable part of living an active lifestyle, but there are ways to mitigate it. Wearing insoles can help. But also, walking can be just as good for you as running, and much easier on the knees. NBA superstar Donovan Mitchell also says that sometimes, rest is all you need, particularly when it comes to recovering from a knee injury. If taking a hiatus from running means trying out an exercise bike, go easy on the resistance, which can add stress to the knees and lead to injury.

• Develop a good form: You want your feet to hit the ground as flat as possible, creating the ideal shock distribution and dissipating the impact weight.
• Film study: It’s hard to know what your running form looks like unless you actually see it! Set up a tripod and film yourself so that you can actually analyze what you’re doing wrong.
• Embrace your limitations: Odds are, you’re not an ultramarathon runner, you’re someone with a desk job. Overexertion is a tried and true way to hurt yourself. When it comes to distance running, increases should be between 5 and 10 percent, every other week.

Further reading: Why protecting your joints should be your number-one workout priority

Your knees are a joint, and some experts say the risk of not working them out is far greater than the alternative. Working them often, not being afraid to mix up the stretches, and remembering to give your knees and hips some attention, too, will all work wonders. If you’re willing to go a more extreme route, cryotherapy is a known joint helper. If you’re willing to go a more gnarly route, there’s always dry needling, the practice of jabbing a thin needle into the part of the knee that’s irking you.

Above all else, it’s probably best to remember that the knee exists in the context of the rest of the body. To avoid the dreaded ACL injury, the muscles in the hip and glute region are of utmost importance.

• Banded walk: Start in a standing position and loop a resistance band under both feet. Take a step six inches to the right and put your entire foot on the floor. Move your left foot six inches in the direction toward your right foot, rinse, and repeat, making sure to work both sides equally.
• Hamstring walk-outs: Get on your back with both knees bent and feet flush with the ground. The resistance band goes around your thighs. Engage your core, squeeze your glutes, and raise your hips until your body is a straight line from the shoulders to the knees. From there, scoot your feet away from your glutes one step at a time before then bringing them back one step at a time.
• Loaded step-ups: Holding some sort of weight, get in front of a step or a platform that’s at least a foot off the ground. Put your foot up there and press through the heel to step all the way up. Stepping down with the same foot constitutes one rep. Do about 10 reps of this.
• Staggered Romanian deadlift: Stagger your feet and put most of your weight on the front foot, again holding some sort of weight. Sit back in a hip hinge position while your front knee remains straight. Push your hips forward to ascend from the deadlift position.

Further reading: How to prevent knee injuries

How to get faster

Our six steps for running faster: strides, hill repeats, interval workouts, threshold sessions, long runs, and easy runs. “You can get away with three runs a week, but four is ideal,” says Steven James, a running coach certified by the United Endurance Sports Coaching Academy. “The work interval should be at an effort that's got you breathing hard; you can't talk. And then the recovery interval is a very gentle jog.”

• Grant Holloway, Olympic hurdler: “I'm lifting Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Thursday’s more of a circuit day, like squats to a hang clean, RDL to a push/pull. I'm doing that all in like a matter of like maybe four minutes just to get the heart rate going, get a good sweat in. We wrap up with some core to feel strong at the end. I’m off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”
• Christian McCaffrey, NFL running back: “Incorporate things like a huge stretch, pool workout, time in the sauna, a contrast bath, cryotherapy, and a massage. [If] it’s a lighter workout day, I’ll intake less calories. It’s all structured on what my weight is at, and what I want to weigh. If I’m a little bit lighter, then my macros will increase.”
• Jrue Holiday, NBA point guard: “Taking my body seriously. When I say my body, I mean everything. Recovery, mental, hydration. Yeah, you can do a couple of those things. But when you look at the bigger picture and take everything seriously, it just has your body working well.”

Planning to run a marathon?

When it comes time to train for a marathon, hearing that 26.2 number is extremely daunting. The first step, of course, is making the decision to actually do it. Then, of course, it’s paramount to prepare (establish your baseline fitness level and make steady, not rushed, improvements), train (build your strategy into your life, not vice versa), and make tweaks as needed (like going to bed at a normal time).

If it is indeed your first marathon, here are some good things to know: an Apple Watch, a device called Whoop, and a Theragun can become your best friends. The first two are for tracking your training sessions, and the Whoop is for monitoring your effort levels (via heart rate), hours of sleep, and recovery.

Once you actually do it, you might find that you’re better at not only running, but also breathing. The power of incremental progress can also easily be applied to other aspects of your life, just like the newfound patience and determination you’re bound to acquire. And remember, you don’t have to be a skeleton to be good at running a marathon! Just ask Olympian long-distance runner Diego Estrada. “Some people would see running and look at it as you have to be skinny, but I always think about that human diagram and it’s all muscular,” he told GQ in 2017. “I always think of that as what you want to be as a distance runner. You want to be muscular and powerful because the lighter you get, the less output you have. If you look at the world’s best athletes, they’re athletically fit. You never see a skinny guy.”

PS: If you want to try the hot new thing—the half-marathon—we have everything you need to know on that here.

• Patrick Sweeney: “I’m not a big protein eater by any means. My body does not crave it, and I don't use a protein supplement, and I don't think anybody needs to. I do eat a lot of calories, and I think I get an adequate amount of protein for my body—a lot of salads, and a lot of vegetables and fruits. I like to snack on olives and avocados while running, too.”
• Ben Gibbard: “When I'm training or racing, I've tried a lot of different things. Sometimes I'll do more real food, sometimes I'll go more chemical food. But I do a combination usually of [real food] and GU brand gels. I like those because they have a lot of different flavors, and one of the hardest things to do when you're training for ultramarathons is to find something that doesn't give you flavor fatigue. Because you might be out there for a day or longer, and if that's all you're eating, you're going to get really tired of it, and you need those calories.”
• Kilian Jornet: “I do not count what I eat. I eat when I am hungry. Our body is telling us things. If we are hungry, it means we need food, and we cannot deny that. It is different for races—for a race, I will count my calories, but that’s it. I normally eat a lot of carbohydrates, because I need them for training. So pasta, rice, potatoes, bread. Also vegetables, all kinds of them. I try to eat good things that are not too processed.”

Running essentials

• There’s no shame in being someone who hates going to a public gym. There’s plenty of reasons to avoid it, both financial and vibes-based. If working out in the comfort of your own home is more your speed, check out this home gym equipment that can get you in shape on a budget.
• The treadmill is, obviously, one of the most common ways to get your running in without stepping one single toe outside. But electric treadmills can often be loud, complicated, and put a dent in your power bill. Consider some of these manual treadmills, which are powered by nothing but your own legs and can be conducive to both cardiovascular and strength improvements.
• You’re going to need some kicks, duh! It’s hard to go wrong with Asics, who make excellent shoes for speed training, racing, long runs, and daily training. If you’ve got flat feet and have had a hard time finding shoes that accommodate them, Nike, Brooks, and New Balance all have great options. Also, don’t sleep on insoles, which can be a godsend for the flat foot community and also help you run farther without getting nearly as tired.