How to make WALKING or RUNNING enjoyable?

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  • SpontaneousHiker
    SpontaneousHiker Posts: 79 Member
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    If I'm at home working out I'll put on a movie or TV show. I go to the library to pick DVD's up. If I'm outside, I'll bring my MP3 player with some of my favourite music. Or I'll have a destination in mind, run an errand on foot.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
    edited June 2016
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    For me making a walk enoyable is being outside. If I walk (or cycle) I want to know that I am going somewhere.
    I will only use the stationary machines if there is no avoiding it. They offer no view, no reference point and to me they are just plain boring.
  • htimpaired
    htimpaired Posts: 1,404 Member
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    I will run both indoors and outside. When the weather is nice, I'm outside. when it's too cold or too hot, I go to the gym.
    I recently started listening to audiobooks while I run, and it helps pass the time. I get lost in the story, or push myself to keep going...just one more chapter!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    It took me about a year to enjoy it!
  • dlsnyder58
    dlsnyder58 Posts: 4 Member
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    I take a walk in my neighborhood. I take my little Bichon with me! She loves it! I live in a rural area so there are lots of trees, cornfields and so many pretty birds, horses and other various animals! It's very enjoyable. I usually throw some running sprints into my walk, but I don't think I'll ever be a full-fledged runner. I like to enjoy the scenery along the way, even stop and take pictures with my phone, and I definitely need to give my little dog a rest and a drink here and there. I typically walk about 3 miles. Sometimes I'll listen to music or a book, sometimes I just listen to nature! It's all good!!
  • pdxhak
    pdxhak Posts: 383 Member
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    As many others have stated, take it outside! Huge difference breathing in fresh air and listening to nature or good tunes. I take my dog and he is full of character so I have that as an added bonus of fun :)
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Get off the treadmill & get outside.

    Personally I'm insanely lucky to have recreational paths a few hundred metres from my front door. Running along the river is my bliss, no cell phone, no music, just my breathing, the river and the local wildlife.

    If you approach it with the attitude that it's going to be miserable it will be, even if you're on the TM think for a moment of the people who would love to be able to do what you do.........
  • Will_Run_for_Food
    Will_Run_for_Food Posts: 561 Member
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    Find a nice path outside and load your iPod with good music!
  • ItsyBitsy246
    ItsyBitsy246 Posts: 307 Member
    edited June 2016
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    A dog. Definitely a dog! When I had my own and when I fostered dogs, I loved loved loved to take long walks. Really the only thing that made walking enjoyable. Forget running, nothing has ever made that even the least bit pleasurable.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,710 Member
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    When I walk outside it's always enjoyable. If I have to walk on the treadmill then I play numbers games with the machine. I put in my stats and decide if I'm either going to do speed intervals or high incline intervals and make my warm-up as short as possible.

    First goal is to break a sweat as quickly as possible. If I'm on this boring machine I better make the best use of my time.

    Second goal is to keep track of the calorie burned number. NOT for tracking actual calories, as the machines are wildly off, but to know that I have to surpass that number the next session, even if it's by 5 calories. I try to go faster and harder each and every time. A challenge keeps me going.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
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    Wow the consensus is treadmill sucks!

    I dread running or walking in the street though, due to traffic, uneven pavement, dogs and dust.

    The treadmill gets the job done but I agree it's quite mind numbing boring. I set up a TV in front and it helps a little. A little trick I do with my mind is once I get into the usual speed and rhythm I try to go into a trance like state!! That's probably like "zone out" as Villae81 put it.

    Thanks a bunch everyone for your ideas.

  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    endlessfall16 wrote: »
    Please share your strategies, routines that make walking, running ultimately enjoyable.

    Get off the treadmill.

    I can run quite happily for 3-5 hours outside, but get bored after 5 minutes or so on a treadmill.


  • BreonnaQueen
    BreonnaQueen Posts: 58 Member
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    Listening to audible books while walking is awesome because you get lost in the book and don't even realize you are walking. I once (accidentally) walked for 3 hours because I was so engulfed in the book, I just kept walking and walking. I prob would of walked more had the walking trail not ended! lol
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
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    How to make WALKING or RUNNING enjoyable?

    Do it off roads and in mountains.
  • MommyL2015
    MommyL2015 Posts: 1,411 Member
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    I <3 my treadmill. I get into something on Netflix and it's my "me" time. Sometimes I lose track. I hate outdoors unless it's spring or fall because 1) mosquitoes, 2) lung-crushing humidity and 3) mosquitoes.
  • JennieMaeK
    JennieMaeK Posts: 474 Member
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    I don't mind the treadmill. The ones at the gym have tv screens on them and have programs that I can hike the Grand Canyon or along a boardwalk in New Zealand.

    If I go outside, I tend to stay close to my neighborhood.

    I listen to my Zombies, Run app. It has a great story line and makes my runs enjoyable.
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
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    Get off the dreadmill and go outside.
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
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    I am also on team Walk Outside. Walking in place inside the house won't likely ever be fun. Go for an actual walk or jog. Even in the city, this is good. Even in the sweltering heat, it's good. I see birds, kids, cars, people with dogs, and that's before 6 in the morning. Cannot stand the treadmill.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I always walk/run outside (with the odd hotel gym treadmill as a rare exception). I find treadmills deadly boring and I seem to end up in pain on a treadmill, I think because it's so repetitive, with no change in terrain, slope etc.

    As for how to make running more interesting - I do a few things:
    - The main one for me is audiobooks, podcasts, music. Often I'll alternate - one running interval with a story, then music for the next etc. Over the years, I keep adding to my run playlist so I have some songs that have just the right rhythm to keep me moving.
    - I sign up for races, then I know I have to train if I want to complete the next race in reasonable form.
    - I set up intervals in Runkeeper - currently I use either a walk/run/spint cycle to get some speed work in there, or a countdown set for long runs (13 mins run, 2 mins walk, 12 mins run, 2 mins walk etc). This works for me, because I have a shorter target than just "12k" or "90 mins" etc. And because as I get more tired towards the end, I know I have a walk break coming up.
    - I don't eat before a regular run, but I do for longer runs or races. I eat the same for training long runs as I do for races so I know I'll be comfortable on race day.
    - Currently I've found a great spot to start/finish my long runs. There is a coffee van by the river so I start from there, run in one of a couple of different directions (I detoured to find some hills last week) and loop back so I can relax with a latte when I'm done :)
  • erimethia_fekre
    erimethia_fekre Posts: 317 Member
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    OP, you either enjoy it or you don't. Period

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