As pacman1755 said "Stretch out, warm up a bit," is what I was going to say when I clicked this thread just now, and no I don't think expensive trainers will help you to stretch (unless you don't know stretching techniques).

Stretching is simple; I'll give you 3 basic stretches for running:

1) With your feet together, drop your arms to your feet as far as they will go and hold them at that spot for 30 seconds. Eventually you can put both hands flat to the ground.

2) Sitting on the ground, put one leg straight in front of you and with both arms touch the tip of that foot. Hold it there for 30 seconds. Do the same for the other leg. (This also stretches your back & neck muscles)

3) Next, do some leg lounges—one leg in front of you bent in an L shape and the other leg stretched behind you.

Practice these, and you will be limber to run.


These are my own stretches which I've been doing for the past 7+ years.

Don't run barefoot. You don't notice, but shoes take a lot of impact out of running, though there is still much that isn't absorbed. your feet have to carry +150 lbs per step for your jog?
I use Asics Kayano 20's, Asics Duomax (i think they're the same shoe, go to Dick's Sporting Goods or Sport's authority and ask for both shoes). They have gel inside the shoe, and they work great. Had painful shin splints in freshman winter track. Couldn't walk back to the 100m start off. They last me about 3/4-a whole year before the shoe isn't useful anymore. 

To be honest?
I kind of fall asleep while working out.
(Do something for a long enough time and ....)
Back when I Just started my graveyard shift (2002) I did not get allot of sleep.
I read.
So,
I picked up a book on "self hypnosis". (Hypnosis works best with the sleep deprived.)
I dropped in a few suggestions.
Mostly for maintaining safety guidelines and proper procedure.
But I also decided to provide an alternate form of entertainment.
I could not dream if I was never really asleep.
So, I put in the suggestion of dreaming while I was running and pulling around 2 ton pallets with a manual bottle jack. (Daily starter routine.)

Sounds silly but it did work.

I never bothered with pain elimination. Just seemed out of place.
Typically you will experience several levels of pain.
Often, its how your body tells you you are doing something right or wrong.
If the pain is manageable? Then continue.
If the pain is crippling? Discontinue. Find an alternate route, method, or whatever.

Pain while running sometimes is as simple as finding the right shoe that fits.
Other times?
You may have to learn how to walk all over again.
I hope you find the information helpful.
It was fun typing it.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

I bought some new trainers, but all I can do is feel my feet slipping and I get blisters.

Muscles tight now, so may stop.

Are there any hints out there from runners to minimize knee pain?  I recently started jogging (I'm not in shape to run!), and I had to stop for two weeks because my right knee hurt really, really bad.  I looked up a few of my symptoms and I'm thinking I might have damaged my IT band?

The most distinguishable characteristics about the pain were these:
- It hurt to go down stairs but not up stairs.
- My knee actually hurt more if I let it sit still for a long time.  If I walked and kept walking, the pain would be greatly diminished.
- Sleeping with a pillow under my knee greatly helped. Rubbing the sore spot did not help.  Muscle cream seemed to help a little, but I don't know if those effects were psychological.
- Walking was manageable, but the impact of jogging was nearly crippling.

The only flaw in my theory, I think...  is due to the fact that I'm not -quite- sure where the IT band is located.  From what I read... it's on the outside of the knee, as in the side towards your elbow?  The pain I have is centered in a very specific spot. It's -right- below my knee and towards the inside of my body, where you can feel the round knob of a bone.

Anyways, I didn't feel the pain for a little while, so I decided jogging yesterday. I was able to jog without much problem, and really enjoyed it! However, a few hours after I got home, I started feeling that pain again.  It's not as severe as it was before, but it makes me worried to go jogging again.  The pain has persisted since last night.

Totts :

I'm not sure about the slipping, are you sure that your shoes are the right size? And the bruises are on the sole of your feet or on your ankles?

In any case, it might be best to get some thick socks. I don't personally have a problem with slipping, but with bruises on the ankles, I found that it's best to wear long socks and fold them down to have extra padding on my ankles. That way, the back of my shoe doesn't scrape them. I believe the same type of logic works with bruises on the soles, but with thick socks, not long ones. It might even help with the slipping, too.

Or maybe you can just get those padding things that they sell for the soles. I don't know what they're called, though.

It's great you are trying to be a better runner dude. Most people wouldn't give a damn ever about running. Here is a way I think I can motivate you: Most people cannot run a mile nonstop. It is easy for me to say a mile is easy to do but in the beginning I remember I would get winded after a quarter of a mile. The thing here is to have little goals like this:

Week 1: Start at .25 mile and gradually increase it everyday. Do not falter if you cannot increase a little everyday, sometimes our body is tired and might be more tired depending on our daily lives.
Week 2: Run half a mile.
Week 3: By now you should be able to run a mile nonstop.

I really think 3 weeks is a very ample amount of time to train to run a mile. If you are not too overweight or obese this is very feasible. But here is the catch, there are many ways to train your body to cover longer distances even if you do not rest. Cardio isn't just running, it is so many other things. I like to mix it up, personally I rather jog at the gym but I like to jog around lakes too. I go hiking and I love it when people tell me I cannot hike x mountain because that is more motivation. I am ashamed to say this but I cannot swim but if I could, I'd go surfing. When I run it actually takes about a mile and a half to two miles before I really start to warm up and like I always tell people, to really get into the groove. What I mean by that is this: I am not a super long distance runner, I usually run about 4 miles every session. My head really start sweating at around .70 of a mile and I am tired but if I go a little more my body gets into the groove and I just keep going and going...and going. I stop at 4 miles because I rather not spend over 1.5 hrs at the gym since I always lift weights and stretch after I run. I need to manage my time so I run a little less but once I get into the groove I can do 7 miles if I want, I just don't but my muscles no longer feel that pain like it did at mile 1. This is me managing my lactic acid. You have to tell yourself if I go a little more, my body can manage my lactic acid and you go a little more. To go a little more, just slow down but do not stop.

People have mentioned shoes here many times before so I am not going to go into details but I will just say wear COMFORTABLE shoes. They don't have to be awesome running shoes or new. Just be comfortable. The important thing isn't what brand you should be wearing but which shoes you are wearing that will be comfortable and help you pace yourself. Don't worry about getting that 7 minute mile average. Throw that out the door for now. You need to work on small goals first. When you learn to pace yourself you will learn that it isn't how fast, it is more along the lines of distance and were you able to achieve the distance you want. Time can come in later. When I go on a treadmill I always tell myself okay time to run. I say I usually run at least 4 miles but it isn't a definite goal. In fact I don't really have goals but I do. It is confusing for some people to understand but this is how my running routine works:

1. Get in the gym and stretch or not stretch (sometimes I don't)
2. Hit "GO" and start unravelling my tangled up headphones...and put on an incline while walking at a fair pace.
3. I put my headphones in my ear, turn on Metallica and start running.
4. Look for eye candy because I am a guy (it is another reason to go to the gym to workout)
5. Here is where the goals that are not goals come in. I have little milestones I look forward to EVERYTIME I run. I do not cover my progress with a towel because then I cannot see my milestones. I go okay .25 then ok .50 then .75 miles. Yay I hit 1.00 miles! Then I look for 1.23 miles just because it has the 123 digits going consecutively up. I will just list the milestones to give you guys an idea of how weird I am:
.10, .25, .33, .50, .66, .75, 1.0, 1.23, 1.25, 1.33, 1.50 or 1.51 (Gen 1 pokedex anyone?), 1.66, 1.75, 2.0, 2.22, 2.25, 2.33 and 2.34, 2.5, 2.66, 2.75, 3.0. 3.21, 3.33, 3.45, 3.5, 3.66, 3.75, 4.0, 4.20, 4.32 and so on. You probably see the weird pattern...if there is one. I use fractional numbers and numbers that represent other stuff as my milestone but they aren't true goals. This system has always worked for me and it keeps me going. I see my milestones as "little goals." If I decide to run 6 miles, the milestones will have a similar pattern. I think everyone kind of have their own way of doing this, just not as weird as I do it. So there you have it, jogging gets tiring and painful quite fast for me but I can manage it through my system and over time I can increase my distance thanks to little milestones I set for myself. If I do not hit them all, I get to retreat, rest, live to run another day. People will often times tell you sometimes the physical part isn't that demanding, it is the mental part that keeps you down and that is the darkness you need to chase away. Sometimes when you feel cramps you just need to suck it up, don't b****, and keep running because that dude next to you didn't stop yet and if he did, you are stronger because you can keep going.

As always, stay positive and don't give up,
TitaniumOxide