It’s January, and many people are getting back into running or starting a running program for the first time.
KSAT talked to Dr. Timothy Palomera of Sports Medicine Associates about starting running safely and maintaining it throughout the year.
It’s a new year, and you see a lot of people kind of heading to the track and just going out to the neighborhood to run. Tell us a little bit about how people can safely either get back into running or how can should they start.
Palomera: “My favorite way to recommend people who are really serious about that type of running and really getting into it in a smart way to avoid injury and do it right is to get with a running group. There are several around town, no matter where you live. A lot of them have great coaches. They’ll run at certain times during the day, typically early morning, but they do a real good job of bringing people along. If you can get with a group, it’s a lot more fun. You meet new friends. And it’s a smart way to do it.”
What about people who might be a little scared about getting injured to start off?
Palomera: “You know, that’s understandable. We tell everybody when you do get into the sport, there’s probably going to be some (risk) injury at some point. However, if you do it smartly, their injuries are minor and few and far between. There are so much more beneficial things to running, from bone health to cardiovascular health to even mental health. When I was growing up, if you were asthmatic, they asked you not to run. And we know now that running even helps with asthma and control of other chronic medical illnesses. And, so, we encourage everybody to get in.”
And what about setting goals when it comes to running?
Palomera: “We have a lot of people that when December rolls around, they want to run in the San Antonio Marathon, which our community really seems to support. I’ll encourage them not only to get involved with running groups too but to look at doing smaller races to start out with like 5K’s, see if they like it, if they like the 5K races, get into 10K’s. Those are a little bit more competitive… and, then that’s the way you get in a half-marathon. And, a good runner will tell you, (that) you probably should run some half-marathons first before you get into marathons. The other thing is, you see, if for you, you know, in the end, if it’s for you, the majority of runners we take care of, they’ll run 5K’S and 10K’s, and there are really recreational runners that are doing it for mental and physical health. And it’s a good sport. It’s a good sport to start out with, and as expensive as things are nowadays, it’s actually one of the cheaper sports for you to start out with.”