Enjoy It
Every now and then the stars align. The sun is shining, the temperature is just right. I’m full of energy and I can’t wait to get out there and run for hours at a time.
Most days, this is not the case.
Even though I always feel better when I’ve been on my run, I still need to trick myself into going alarmingly often. Today I’d like to go over a few tricks I use to make my monkey brain get off the couch, put the snacks away, and go for a run multiple days a week. In no particular order, these are the four ways to keep running fun for me over the years:
Set a goal
I feel like I’ve talked about this one enough by now. It helps a lot to train for something instead of just doing it for the fun of it. It’s a lot easier to motivate you to run today instead of some other day because that race you really want to do is coming up. Yeah yeaaah we know this one by now. Neeeeext!
Run with friends
As Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh once said: “After all, one can’t complain. I have my friends.”
Some people tell me they hate running with someone else. I am not one of those people. Although I run alone most of the time, I really enjoy it when someone wants to join me for a run (yes this is an open invitation, feel free to hit me up for a run if you’re reading this). It does get a little harder if the difference in pace is really big though. That’s why when I run with someone, I usually don’t really look at the pace and take it slow. That way it’s also a lot more fun to run with someone, cause you’re actually able to talk. For most of my runs I just need to get the kilometers in anyways. I’ll leave the need for speed at home and just enjoy the company. Which brings me to the next point.
Change it up
Variety is the spice of life, as they say. As with anything it helps a lot to mix up the kinds of runs I do. I try to do one long run every week (think 20k+), but I try to keep that very slow. On other days I do shorter distances but try to run them at a faster pace for example. Or I try to incorporate interval trainings into my schedule to get some speed work in.
I also try to mix up my routes as much as possible. As I recently moved house, I’m still in the process of finding more interesting loops close to my house. But I’m also into the idea of just taking a train somewhere and running back. Switching these things up as much as I can keeps me motivated to keep training.
Schedule rest
I train three to four times a week. That means that there’s almost always a day of rest between two runs. And sometimes I take an extra one. It’s okay to realise life sometimes throws you a curve ball, or your schedule doesn’t let you train on a certain day. Or hell, sometimes you should train and you just really don’t want to. And that’s okay. If you’re working really hard on something for months on end, like with anything, it’s a good thing to stay fresh and rest in between. Yes you can get burned out by running too much, so take that into account during your weekly grind. In the long term, it pays off to be nice to yourself every now and then.