5 Kilometer Run

5 kilometer Run

When you exercise or compete in sports, you notice several things about your body. You breathe heavier and faster, your heart beats faster, your muscles hurt and you sweat. These are all normal responses to exercise whether you work out regularly or only once in a while or a trained athlete. The body has an incredibly complex set of processes to meet the demands of working muscles. Every system in the body is involved when you start to run.

A month ago I could barely run two miles. My heart would be racing and my leg muscles would be sore. Now after running 3 times a week for 2 weeks, a 1 or 2 kilometer run is no sweat and I can finish 5 kilometers without getting dizzy. What's going on inside my body?

Anyone who has exercised regularly has experienced the thrill of improving. I have improved, of course, because I've trained. But how exactly has my body adapted to the training? In what way have my muscles changed? What has happened to my heart? Why doesn't it beat as fast when I'm in shape?

When I began exercising regularly, my body had undergone several physiological and neuromuscular changes. Naturally, the changes varied according to the frequency, duration, and intensity of the training.

All of your runs should start with a warm-up. Why is it so important? A good warm-up dilates your blood vessels, ensuring that your muscles are well supplied with oxygen. It also raises your muscles' temperature for optimal flexibility and efficiency. By slowly raising your heart rate, the warm-up also helps minimize stress on your heart when you start your run.

Before we start, we did about 5 minutes of light aerobic exercise to loosen up our muscles and warm us up for the run. We first walked briskly, slowly jogged and gradually build up our speed. Most daily runs should be done at an "easy" pace. But what's the best way to establish what "easy" means? The best and simplest way to determine this is to run slow enough so that you can carry on a conversation, just like what we did when we start running.

I experienced light pain, weakness or light-headedness during the run. I had to pay attention to it. This is my body's signal that something is wrong and that I should stop for a while. Pushing through acute pain is the fastest way to develop a severe or chronic injury. If you don't feel well, you should take some time off until your body heals.

I noticed and felt the effects of running on my body system as well. My pulse rate increased due to the intensity and duration of exertion, environmental temperature and humidity. After the exercise, my pulse rate returned again to normal. I encountered an automatic increase in the depth of breathing which is a normal response of the body to supply the greater amount of oxygen demanded by working muscles and to eliminate the increased amount of carbon dioxide.