Establishing a regular run
One of the things I find really hard to do despite best intentions is establishing a regular run. I'm a master at coming up with all the excuses, however small to allow me to either stay in bed or on the sofa in the warm.
I was used to working remotely from home with no real regular commute, and since taking a job that's a 2.5 hour round trip daily commute, my available time has been shortened even further.
So I'm trying to figure out some things I can do to get back out there. I always feel great after a short morning run and it sets me up for the day as well as combatting some on the negative health impacts of a desk job, but always find self imposed roadblocks get in my way.
So these are the things I'm trying out over the next few weeks:
- State the night before 'I'm running the next morning' to someone - saying it out loud makes you somehow a fraction more accountable.
- Put all the running gear out you need the night before - it saves time running around looking for a windproof jacket or headtorch, and get out the door faster. The less choice you have to make in the morning the better, and you are less likely to abandon plans.
- Don't run further than you should. I usually push myself further than I should (5 or 10k seems always a nice target) and as a result hurt myself so leave it a week to recover. Keep runs shorter and more regular. There's nothing wrong running shorter - you can get out more regularly.
- Get up earlier (and go to bed earlier) - I function best with 7-8 hours sleep, so shifting my sleeping hours allowed me time in the morning to exercise and commute.
- Do it in the morning - at the end of the day there are too many things to tempt me out of a run.
- Keep track of how you are doing - sign up to a service like SmashRun - free, connect to all your running apps, and it sends you a really informative weekly summary of how well (or not!) you are doing compared to previous weeks - a good motivation reminder.
What works for you? Let me know on twitter and follow my progress on Strava
As part of National Blog Post Month (#NaBloPoMo) the spin off from the novel writing month that writers often partake in November, I thought I would try and write a few more quick and short posts for November - lets see how far I can go with this.