How to Be a Runner for Life

Are you trying to start a running program, but struggling with consistency? First of all, be assured: you are not alone. Like many of the finer things in life, running is an acquired taste - very few people love it right off the bat. I personally started running long ago to lose weight when my stairclimber broke. I hated it with a passion, and vowed to quit as soon as I lost the weight that I wanted to. However, here I am 12 years later, running almost every day and loving it.

So, how did I get from there to here? Sure, I might say vaguely that it takes "persistence" and "dedication," but there are actually a few concrete things that you can do to keep you sticking with the program and even enjoying "running for fun." Here are five good tips:

1) Run in some races. Chances are good that if you sign up for a 5k in advance, your competitive juices will naturally start flowing, and you'll want to train consistently to be in the best shape possible for race day. Not only that, when you're finished with your race, you will have a concrete idea of what kind of shape you're in, which will help you set future goals. Also, running races is a great way to learn about the running community around you. You can easily meet a new running partner who will help you push the pace during the event itself, and possibly even train together later.

2) Keep a running log. Keeping a running log helps you track of your best times, and once you get used to recording runs in writing, you're less prone to miss workouts. Charting your progress is a great way to see just how far you've come, which is a great motivator. In addition to tracking how far and fast you went on any given run, you can add narrative details about your daily run in a journal type form. It's a lot of fun to read back on some of your more memorable workouts.

3) Do fun workouts. Don't just do the same route at the same speed every day! Mix it up. A great fun workout is a fartlek which I have written about here. You can also do tempo runs, which are just a faster, shorter run than you might typically do. Or you can challenge yourself with an interval session, by going to the local track and running 400 meter repeats with 2 minute rests, for example. Doing workouts of varying intensities and lengths not only keeps things fresh, it'll actually get you fitter as you will be training different energy systems.

4) Keep learning. Running seems simple, but there are actually a variety of theories and approaches to training. I suggest subscribing to a running magazine like Runner's World or Running Times, which are full of interesting, helpful articles for beginners. Also websites like Letsrun.com or Coolrunning.com have forums where you can post questions about workouts, nutrition, and a variety of other topics, as well as share results.

5) Work smarter, not harder. Realize that you don't have to push yourself every day. In fact, this will only lead to getting broken down mentally and even risking injury. The key to improving fitness is stress and adaptation. There are certain key workouts during the week, but every training schedule should have easy days and recovery days included.

Running is a great activity that can get you very fit and/or help you lose a lot of weight, depending on what your goals are. Most people think of it as drudgery, but it definitely doesn't have to be. Running is especially enjoyable once you reach a certain level of fitness, where easy runs seem effortless and you can push yourself with relative abandon during hard workouts. Give these tips a try and you might get there yourself!