Shadowing Practice: Beginner’s Guide to Running: The Tips I Wish I Knew Starting Out • - Learn English Speaking with Video

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How I would start running if I was a beginner.

Hello my friends and welcome back to my YouTube channel.

If you're new here, I'm Dr. Alyssa Olenek.

I'm a coach, a hybrid athlete, and a runner myself.

And I'm here today to walk you through exactly what I would do

if I was to start running from ground zero all over again.

When it comes to running, a lot of people have this narrative and idea

that they're not made to run and or it's too hard or too difficult or their bodies just aren't made for it.

And what I find is most often, most people when they get started running, they just start doing too much too often too soon

and feeling really frustrated and negative about that in themselves

so today's tips here today are to help you ease into running in a way

that's sustainable allows you to make progress and gain fitness

while also not feeling terrible along the way the first thing

that i would do is start with less than you think

you need the biggest mistake i think most people do

when they start running or doing fitness

or even returning to running after a long period off is

just doing way too much too soon your body has a hard time adapting to this not just physiologically but your joints.

So you get these nags and these niggles and these little injuries

and or pain that comes up and then you feel like, well, I'm not made to run.

So what I would do if I were you is take what you think

that you can do or you should be doing to start and pull that back and do less.

When it comes to totally being a beginner as a runner,

I'd actually start with just doing intervals of 30 seconds to one minute at a time.

So don't feel the pressure to jump into running a mile or 30 minutes or anything crazy off the bat.

Just start with running for 30 seconds to one minute at a time and doing a few intervals of that.

You can set a timer for 10 minutes and work up to 15 or 20 minutes over time,

gradually increasing the duration of what you're running and or decreasing the rest in between those intervals.

I love the idea of 30 seconds on

and then walking till you feel good again

and then running again for 30 seconds

and seeing how many total intervals you get in that first 10 to 15 minute bout of training.

Then from there, as you gain fitness and confidence and comfort with that, increasing that duration of what you're doing.

But again, start with less than you think you need.

You do not need to push your body to be running for five

or 10 minutes at a time if that's just too much outside of your comfort zone right now.

So if you haven't been running recently,

but maybe you run in a few Metcons at your local gym or your Orange Theory class or something like that,

and you know you can run for five to 10 minutes at a time, but you can't sustain that for a long period of time.

Maybe you're starting with five minute intervals with a two minute walk

and then repeating for five and again and building

that up over time it's about meeting yourself where you're at within your fitness

but again don't just start jumping into the most

that you can do start with a little bit less

and give your body time to adapt to that new stimulus

and stress before you start doing more number two

i already alluded to there a little bit is meet yourself

where you're at a lot of people have this narrative of what they did in the gym class growing up

or sports growing up or what they feel like they should be able to do

because they're comparing themselves to people on social media

or their own fitness status maybe you're a tremendous lifter or you're super fit in other areas.

So you feel like you should be able to do these things.

When it comes to running, you have to meet yourself where you're at and give yourself grace.

So you can actually gain the fitness where you're at to get to where you want to be.

There's no shame in having to pull back to meet yourself at your current fitness level.

And that will allow you to create the space to actually adapt and make progress over time.

Again, meeting yourself where you're at and doing less, like we talked about before, will give your body the space to actually adapt and not overreach

or overstress it and during that process of getting the fitness in order to become the runner you're trying to be.

The third thing that I would do is I would start with increasing your frequency.

So number of days per week you are running, then your volume, the duration or how long you are running within that, and then your intensity.

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make once they start running

and or try to get into running

or have been running for a little bit is they want to jump into fancy speed work, really hard, really high intensity workouts workouts.

And what I would start with first is start with running maybe two,

three days a week, building that up to four or five days per week, or in those two to three days per week,

start building up your volume.

How long are you running or the distance that you're running in, then spread that out to more days as it gets too difficult

or you need more frequency to reach the goals you're trying to achieve.

And then once you have an established baseline, a good amount of volume that you're doing each week, it's maintainable, recoverable, you feel good doing

that then we can add on the intensity the speed workouts the quality sessions

and or the higher pace running efforts so we can get faster

or speedier or start pushing

that ceiling of fitness one of the other biggest mistakes i see people make is that

when they start doing too much too fast too soon

they also start over stressing themselves with a ton of intensity

and volume all at once it's a lot easier to adapt to one of those things at a time

when it comes to your running training and that doesn't mean

that you have to avoid doing speed work or hard paces forever

and means allow yourself to establish the baseline and confidence

and skill of running before you start trying to change all of these variables

it's going to be a lot easier to run slower

and easier and increase the number of days and volume within that before you start just hammering harder pacers efforts and runs.

The last bit of advice I have for you is to run slower than you think you need to

when you first start running.

One of the things people do is they start going guns a -blazing, pushing their pace, running as hard as fast as they can,

and they cannot sustain that pace or effort.

The adaptation process to running is really slow, and you can think of it as being similar to almost gaining or building muscle.

That's a really, really slow process, and we know we need to spend a lot of time in the gym

and eating calories and recovering and pushing the weights in order to start gaining

that muscle we're looking for but running on the other hand we don't see the adaptations

that are happening within our muscles or our bodies in response to

that training and the unfortunate reality is that the adaptations to cardiovascular training

and running and or endurance is painfully slow we're talking months to years of adaptation

so give yourself grace at first

because you don't get quite the same newbie gains you made with lifting

that the fitness and progress will come

but do less than you think take it slower

and gradually increase it over time

so you give your body not only the chance to adapt physiologically

100

but also physically often what happens is

101

that your cardiovascular system sometimes appears to adapt quicker than maybe your body does

102

and people start just doing way too much than their bodies are ready for

103

and that's when your joints and connective tissues and ligaments

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and tendons start to get a little bit chirpy

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or you start to get the nags and niggles as we alluded to before

106

so give yourself patience and grace in the process of running

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and dedicate yourself to actually committing to the fact that it is slow, but it takes a lot of slow to grow

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and it will get you there faster than if you keep pushing

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and having to pull back because you get injured or hurt

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or do too much too fast or too soon along the way.

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I'm sure you've heard a lot of people talking about zone two training and zone two running.

112

And for most of you as beginners, zone two is going to be seemingly impossible for you to keep up with, with your training.

113

What I want you to focus on right now is thinking about running at an RPE

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or rating of perceived exertion effort of a four to a six on your runs.

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If you're brand new, running right now might feel hard all of the time, and that's okay.

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But think about not sprinting or going all out on all of your run.

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It's just pulling it back so it's a little bit slower

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and easier so you can sustain the paces and efforts that you're running at.

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Zones and fancy heart rate training or specialized training or any of that stuff can come with time as you make progress,

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but don't worry about that right now.

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Worry about practicing the skill of running and getting better at it, but not, again, going out the door, super hot, sprinting, going super hard,

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and feeling like your lungs are burning, your legs are burning.

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You can't possibly keep that up.

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If you slow your pace, you often can sustain that for a longer period of time.

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And last but not least, it's okay to walk if needed during your intervals or part of

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that slow training walk run is a great way to start adapting to running training

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and you can count that walking as part of your fitness

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and your buildup of being able to run more over time

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there's no shame with your slowing down including some walking as part of your training

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if you are new to running i just also want to say welcome

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you are going to have such an amazing journey here running has been one of those most magical things

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that i've ever been able to experience and share with others in my life

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and running was the first form of fitness that inspired me to do the work that I'm doing here.

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So to give you the gift of running is such a privilege to me.

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And I really, really hope that you believe in yourself.

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You give your body the grace that it needs and the patience

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that it needs to become the runner that you hope to be.

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And as always, if you run, you are a runner.

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There is no definition you need to meet.

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So lace up your shoes, get out there and get after it.

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If you found this video helpful, do me a favor and send it to another newbie runner

142

that you think needs this advice or that friend you're trying to get to come running with you.

143

Otherwise, I'll catch you guys on the next one.

144

We'll be right back.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Beginner’s Guide to Running: The Tips I Wish I Knew Starting Out •”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: running, fitness, training. This video has 144 sentences and 1996 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:36. The speaker talks fast, about 232 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
fitness noun	/ˈfɪt.nəs/	The condition of being fit, suitable or appropriate.
adapt verb	/əˈdæpt/	To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit.
pace noun	/peɪs/	A step taken with the foot.
runner noun	/ˈɹʌnɚ/	A person who moves, on foot, at a fast pace, especially an athlete.
interval noun	/ˈɪntɚvəl/	A distance in space.
intensity noun	/ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/	The quality of being intense.
adaptation noun	/ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/	The process of adapting something or becoming adapted to a situation; adjustment, modification.
sustain verb	/səˈsteɪn/	To maintain, or keep in existence.
muscle noun	/ˈmʌs.əl/	A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
duration noun	/dʒʊˈɹeɪ.ʃən/	An amount of time or a particular time interval.
workout noun	/ˈwɝk.aʊ̯t/	An exercise session; a period of physical exercise.
beginner noun	/bəˈɡɪnɚ/	Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started.
establish verb	/ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/	To make stable or firm; to confirm.
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
comfort noun	/ˈkʌm.fət/	Contentment, ease.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
grow up verb	To mature and become an adult.
build up verb	To erect; to construct.
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
get out verb	To leave or escape.
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.
keep up with verb	To manage to remain beside or just behind someone or something that is moving away from one.
pull back verb	To retreat.
slow down verb	To decelerate.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	haven't been running · have been running
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've heard · has been · i've ever been
Verb + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbs that are followed by the -ing form	start running · started running · start jumping
Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea	should be

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 43 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, duration /dʒʊˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, patience /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/, tissue /ˈtɪʃ.(j)u/
Long words — get the stress right: intensity /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, cardiovascular /ˌkɑːdi.əʊˈvæskjʊlə(ɹ)/, sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbəl/, unfortunate /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like fitness, adapt, pace.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Beginner’s Guide to Running: The Tips I Wish I Knew Starting Out • - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?