Many people are training today for running competitions, seeking to extend the distance they can cover through incremental gains, looking to improve the strength of their legs, their cardiovascular system, seeking to ever improve upon their current condition.
Whether they're looking to improve the strength of their tendons, whether they're seeking to solidify their joints, whether they're seeking more powerful muscles, running can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how you go about it.
One of the best ways to ensure that you are training properly is to employ the talk test, an easy test that will immediately tell you if you are exerting yourself too hard.
When training for a competition, or simply trying to improve your running for general and unspecified purposes, it can be easy to over exert yourself.
Whether you run too fast, too hard, or to far, gauging the correct pace can be difficult for the novice runner.
Once you have plenty of practice it can be easy to simply gauge from your current level of exertion how far and hard you are running and whether you are overdoing it, but in the beginning especially you need to be careful not to overdo it.
Why should you avoid overdoing it? The reasons are simple-you will hurt your progress and increase your chances of injury if you push yourself too fast or too hard.
If you are unwise and try to do too much in the beginning, you may wind yourself, be forced to stop altogether, break your stride, lose your focus, feel foolish and discouraged.
That is why the talk test is so key-it allows you to ensure that you aren't going to fast, too hard, or too far.
The talk test is simple: you simply check whether you are able to hold a conversation while running.
If you are panting too hard, unable to catch your breath or forced to simply gasp out your words as you run, the talk test has been failed and you need to slow down, relax.
If however you can hold a casual conversation, then you are doing just right.
Well done!