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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Taking up running again, please advise
I hate running. I ran for a while when I was gearing up to hike Macchu Picchu about a decade ago, but the only thing that kept me motivated was the promise of the trip. Also, I was living near my best friend at the time and we used to run together.
I'd like to pick it up again because it's low-cost and can be fit into my schedule. Plus, I live about a 10-minute walk from one of the most beautiful parks in the world and it seems like a shame not to take advantage of that. However, I don't really know where to start. I have a good pair of running shoes, but that's it. Anything else you would recommend? Motivational tips?
Re: Taking up running again, please advise
This is a repost of a response to a similar question I answered on health and fitness.
Re: motivation, I find tracking my runs on www.mapmyrun.com with the iPhone app works. The difference for me between tolerating and loving running is the time it took to build up my endurance so that I could reach 'the zone' which for me doesn't happen until about mile 3. Getting to that place where my breathing slows down, my heart isn't going crazy and my legs are moving without really feeling them is what I love about running. That and bragging rights. Some of the below might not be relevant as the other poster was trying to lose weight so read/ignore at will.
I Love running. Alongside a strict mostly vegan diet I've lost a lot of weight. I do mix in strength training but running is my go to exercise. I noticed in the beginning I would ache all over and I've had to strengthen my core to avoid back/impact issues.
Start slow for smaller distances and mix with walking if you like. It's a different kind of fitness and takes time to build up the specific strengths you need. I have all these funny little muscle fibers around my shins and my knees, which are so much stronger now including some bulging muscles that took a while to develop (approx. 6 months). Now I rarely have joint issues or shin splints which I got regularly in the beginning.
There will be issues initially but give yourself time to heal and work through them and mix in another type of cardio to give yourself a break every couple of days.
Getting fitted for shoes is very helpful, in a proper running shop. It will be costly if you choose to purchase them there but once you know your running form and any foot issues you can get them online for a lot, lot less. It's recommended you replace them every 500 miles or sometimes less. I get the absolute most out of mine. If you start getting pain after wearing shoes for a long time with no previous problems then it's a good indicator that you probably should get a new pair.
New shoes (even the same brand/style) take time to break in. Make sure you get a half or full size bigger than you need to give extra room in the toe box to avoid losing toenails.
If you do get serious about running be prepared to be extremely, oddly proud and strangely fascinated by blisters, callouses and bleeding or black toenails.
Running keeps me fit but more importantly; sane. Nothing makes you feel more zen than a run without losing your breath or as badass as reaching a new distance.
At least I have this going for me. I get fitted for shoes at Marathon Sports in Boston every other year or so ever since the first time I was into running (and I haven't even lived in Boston since 2002). My current pair is probably about a year old and I haven't run in them, ever, only walked.
Unless your a completely neutral runner its almost imperative to avoid injury etc. I went wrong many times in my teens and had quit running because of over-pronating knee pain.
If you have the shoes I'll tell you what the health and fitness ladies say - just run.
I love to run but I always have trouble getting to running. I have plenty of time just no will power to get out of the house for a run. It's weird anyway. If you suffer from something similar I recommend keeping track of your running on dailymile.com. It's fun, makes you accountable and you can meet new runners there. What helps me too is to listen to a podcast while running and just run for as long as the podcast goes (at whatever pace). I usually plan my route a bit before hand and go running in places where I really love the scenery or am curious what kind of houses there are in that part of town. When I am bored with an area, I ride my bike to a new area and start running from where I park my bike. That way runnning is a way of exploring. It sometimes also helps to sign up for a race so you have something to work toward. And I always LOVE to have a running buddy (I currently don't and I miss it a lot!).
I would make an account on dailymile (or something similar), plan a route that is interesting scenery wise and distance wise, find something fun to listen to and go. I would start with 2 or 3 times a week and see how you like that. But these are tips from just a recreational runner, I am not an expert on anything I write here.
Maybe you can write a bit more on why you stopped running (time, lack of goals wtvr)?
Oops missed that! That's why you stopped. Basically you are running because it's cheap and you want/need to exercise...
In my pp I mention podcasts. They can be motivators if you only allow yourself to listen to them while running. It works for me and being signed up for a race. Both thing will make me good out (and having a running buddy REALLY did but it's harder to realize sometimes).
Good luck and have fun!
Ah, the elusive runner's high. I would love to feel this way one day.
And to doctoranda- it looks pretty funny when you just block quote me saying "I hate running." I've just never felt like I could run and forget about my body, if that makes sense, like the description I just quoted from LoopyNoodle. I do yoga and I sometimes swim and definitely reach a point in both of those activities where my mind is floating somewhere completely disconnected from the effort in my muscles and joints. I would love to run and have my mind go, "wow, look at those cherry blossoms" instead of thinking, "what in the heck is going on with my knee right now and when will this torture be over?"
Thanks for all the advice so far. I would love to make running work out as a pleasant activity.
yeah sorry about block quoting that but I just wrote a post asking you to elaborate on why you don't run anymore and felt so silly because if it's hard (and kind of to hate) then obviously it's also hard to stay motivated to do it! So it was just to show that I completely missed that!
The start of running regularly can be really tough though. I hope it'll work out for you! Good luck!
You should do the Couch to 5K!
I'm doing it now. This is my second attempt. I stopped last year when I got a biopsy (uteran, it was fine) and was in pain for a few weeks from it. I tried to restart a few months later, then life intervened... sigh. This time I'm determined to finish.
Since obviously, like me, you like forums you should go to community.active.com. They have a newbie runner group. Even if you're too advanced for the C25K (which if you've never heard of just google it) there's a lot of people on there for encouragement and ideas.
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." -Isaiah 61:10 NKJV
So I did a 20-minute jog around the park today and followed up with another 30 minutes of yoga at home to cool down. Not too shabby, although I remembered that what I really hate about running is the burning in my lungs. Does this go away?
Also, I found some awesome running maps on line of the Jardin de Luxembourg so I can plot out my path and figure out how far I went.
Urning lungs could be from trying to go too fast? Are you maintaining a comfortable breathing pace where you could have a conversation?
20 mins running starting off is AMAzing and I'm sure the yoga afterward felt great.
Hmmm, I will have to try talking to myself on my next run (at the risk of looking like a crazy person). Maybe I am going too fast. There was a huge cloud over the whole park this morning and I wanted to get done before it rained, so maybe that made me go faster...
I do the same, try to run faster than the rain. I do find that when trying to run longer distances going just a smidgen slower really helps.
Roll on summer!