I WANT TO LOVE RUNNING
katiemberndt21
Posts: 3 Member
Hey I’m Katie! Lately I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety. I’m being medicated for it but I want to find an outlet when I’m angry/stressed. I really want it to be running! Unfortunately, I always hated running. I want to learn to love it but I don’t know how! I need friends on here to motivate me to run as much as I can! Maybe then I’ll learn to love it! I also use the run tracking app to keep me accountable. Anything helps y’all! Thanks❤️
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Replies
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Hi Katie:
I used to hate even the idea of running. But one day I set a goal and told myself okay, you are going to run 500 feet and I did that for a week. Seemed like a small feat,and it was, but I increased the distance each week. Then before I knew it I was running a mile, then 2 and now I run at least 4 miles a day. I am 45 years old and it took me 3 years to get to where I am today. I push myself to do more, I guess I feel like I have a lot to prove. It's not easy some days, but it's easy to look back and see where I was so I keep going. I dont know what to say to get you to love it, that's got to come from within. Most of the time the best motivator is yourself. But try it, little at a time, maybe you will love it, maybe you wont. But you will not know until to try. Good luck!8 -
I never liked running. Weights? No problem. Exercise bike? No problem. Hated running. Now, to be fair, I am focusing on treadmill running, so running outside might have been different.
With that being, I started to transition to the treadmill in January. At the time, I was close to 230 and a type session was a 20 minute walk at 4.5 mph. From there I just kept going. At first, I increased duration. Then I would alternate improvements to duration and speed. And at the end of each week, I wanted an improvement.
Today I just set a personal best, still on the treadmill, 3.2 miles in 24:52. Top speed was about 5 minutes at 9 mph. Not bad for a now 46 year old who hated running.
By September, I want to approach 20 minutes in a timed 5km race. :-)3 -
Why not take up something you do like? Cycling, yoga, pilates, a sport of some kind.11
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Where have you tried running? Because it is so important to add distance slowly, I'd encourage you to find a lovely place to run/walk. Make sure you can walk 30 minutes at a 3-4 mile an hour pace before you try to run. Then do the Couch to 5K program (C25K) or another beginner's program. Speed is NOT your friend--aim for a pace you can talk through, no matter how slow it seems.
If you can't find a pretty place, that's ok. I suspect most folks give up b/c they try to go too fast, too far, too soon. Be patient and enjoy the rhythm of walking and jogging--I have an anxiety disorder too, and while I take medication for it, the "meditation" of running has really helped for my whole life. Good luck, and let us know how you progress.6 -
If you feel like running is the thing you want to try, I would suggest an app that slowly coaches you up to longer distances and starts you out slow. I did this and it was great. It was challenging but still attainable and within 6 months or so I was running a 5K!
A free one is “running for weight loss”. Don’t judge by its name
it’s actually a great platform!
Another paid one I have used is the runkeeper plans.
It’s nice to have a coach in your ear telling you when to jog and walk! Give it a try! And if you still hate it, it’s okay to not like running. Just keep trying new things until you find one you love.0 -
I’ll be honest the more I do it the more I love it, feel free to add me if you want.
Once you start being able to run more than a few seconds without walking it starts to feel amazing.
If you never end up loving running that’s okay, but the fact that you are so certain you want that to be your thing makes me feel like you would definitely love it if you practiced and gave it a try!
I also suffer from anxiety, and running absolutely helps me in that area of my life.1 -
angela4332 wrote: »Hi Katie:
I used to hate even the idea of running. But one day I set a goal and told myself okay, you are going to run 500 feet and I did that for a week. Seemed like a small feat,and it was, but I increased the distance each week. Then before I knew it I was running a mile, then 2 and now I run at least 4 miles a day. I am 45 years old and it took me 3 years to get to where I am today. I push myself to do more, I guess I feel like I have a lot to prove. It's not easy some days, but it's easy to look back and see where I was so I keep going. I dont know what to say to get you to love it, that's got to come from within. Most of the time the best motivator is yourself. But try it, little at a time, maybe you will love it, maybe you wont. But you will not know until to try. Good luck!
This sounds a lot like when I started running. I started with 100 steps. Over three years, I slowly graduated to doing 7/8 mile trail races. I loved trails more than anything. I think being out in nature, sometimes running in areas that I'd never seen before in trail races was more fun than anything.
Just wanted to add that running will suck for a while. It took me around 3/4 months before I started enjoying the runs. While you're slowly building distance, you'll be sore. You will ache and your legs will throb at times. Eventually, your body adjusts and one day, you'll feel great while doing it.
Likewise, I've seen people run in pain until they really injure themselves. You do have to gradually build up and listen to your body. Also, try lots of things once you get in cardio shape. I found I loved Spinning. I also love rowing now more. Once you get in good aerobic shape, you have a lot more choices. Try different things!3 -
I am myself a serial beginner, but I did give it a lot of thoughts and listened to some of the smarter people, so here are few thoughts that could be helpful.
First, identify what is what you hate about it - Is it the physical effort? Is it the preparation work? Time of day when you'd rather do something else? Environment? Etc.
Once when you know what you hate about it, you'll be closer to the answer how to fix it.
Few general tips:
- install some of the apps for beginners (like C25 app) that slowly guide your from walking to running
- after every run do something you really enjoy doing as a reward (it helps link running with joy in your brain)
- do your prep work in advance (an evening before)
- listen to your favourite music while you run
- find some cute sport's outfit that you enjoy to wear and feel good in
- connect with other people that run
- pick time of the day when you have the most energy (if you are morning person-morning, if you are evening person - evening)
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katiemberndt21 wrote: »Hey I’m Katie! Lately I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety. I’m being medicated for it but I want to find an outlet when I’m angry/stressed. I really want it to be running! Unfortunately, I always hated running. I want to learn to love it but I don’t know how! I need friends on here to motivate me to run as much as I can! Maybe then I’ll learn to love it! I also use the run tracking app to keep me accountable. Anything helps y’all! Thanks❤️
what do you hate about it?1 -
You and me both0
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If you don't love it, don't do it. There are more than enough other options that you can find something you legitimately enjoy, and do that. Swim, barre, crossfit, spin, lifting, hiking, etc. Running is not the only way to be active.4
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i hated it. now i love it. i think most runners have a love hate relationship with running
i started with couch to 5k
if you are able, try to join a local group. it will help keep you accountable1 -
MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »Why not take up something you do like? Cycling, yoga, pilates, a sport of some kind.
Yup. This. Running isn't the only option. Just walking can be great for you too.2 -
katiemberndt21 wrote: »Hey I’m Katie! Lately I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety. I’m being medicated for it but I want to find an outlet when I’m angry/stressed. I really want it to be running! Unfortunately, I always hated running. I want to learn to love it but I don’t know how! I need friends on here to motivate me to run as much as I can! Maybe then I’ll learn to love it! I also use the run tracking app to keep me accountable. Anything helps y’all! Thanks❤️
When I first took up running I ran and walked at the same time so I suppose I wasn't really running back then but it was what I could do, you start at your own pace and work yourself up to running. I loved it and kept doing it.1 -
katiemberndt21 wrote: »Hey I’m Katie! Lately I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety. I’m being medicated for it but I want to find an outlet when I’m angry/stressed. I really want it to be running! Unfortunately, I always hated running. I want to learn to love it but I don’t know how! I need friends on here to motivate me to run as much as I can! Maybe then I’ll learn to love it! I also use the run tracking app to keep me accountable. Anything helps y’all! Thanks❤️
Good morning, Katie! I can speak to you about this.
Way back when, I was 45yo and newly divorced and 251lbs I decided that I wanted to get back into shape (I was always in amazing shape....just 'settled' and ate three burritos from Taco Bell everyday!). I was living in Salem, VA at the time and knew that there was a Greenway in Roanoke, VA. I started walking there. Either early in the morning or later in the evening. Man, I loved it. So peaceful.
So, jump forward one year....what started as walking the enitre Greenway to walking 1/10 mile and then jogging 1/10 mile ended up being running 13 miles (in 75 minutes). There was nothing better....you get that great cadence, that awesome gate, you get the breathing in check, you have all the sounds of the running water (the River) and all of the creatures in and around the water (the fish jumping, the frogs, the cricketts, the birds...OMG the birds...)...never felt better in my life. That is "peace" for me.
I have not been running in some five years (twisted my left knee three times while running...long stories....all involved kids on bikes and me NOT running over them.....). But, honestly, I have been thinking about it again. I am down in Winston-Salem, NC now so I will have to find that place here (or, drive the two hours to Roanoke...for that, I totally would).
So, find your "peace". Maybe it is running? Maybe it is yoga? Maybe it is Power Lifting? Who knows....
I truly hope that you are fortunate enough to oneday find the peace that I have found!2 -
" i think most runners have a love hate relationship with running" Often/usually during the same run. Starts off the first mile: I really don't want to do this, I hate this, this sucks; second mile; this is pretty good, I'm feeling fine; miles 3&4: OK only a little further you got this; Finish: I'm glad I did that, it felt good, I feel good.13
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One other thing--don't decide that you must/must not be training for a race. I have been running for 40+ years and have never once been tempted to race. I love trail running and my goal has always been to enjoy the run and to run at a pace I felt I could keep up forever (you know, in case the Zombie Apocalypse happens). Maybe you will enjoy the challenge of improving your speed, or entering races, and that is fine--but the point is, figure out what motivates you.
Running is the best way I know to learn about a new city, too. I'm always well-oriented before anyone else in my travel party b/c I take a long, slow run in a new park/town/city, first thing. I'm also seem to be "geographically gifted," (I don't get lost), so I know that may not work for everyone. But it makes getting around a new place so much easier.1 -
The only time I ever loved running was when I was in shape and my body craaaaaved it! I look forward to be that way again eventually0
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Hell...me too!
I'm 47 and a life long runner. I hate running, but it's a necessary evil I need to get through to get to the good.1 -
A few things that have helped me,
find a club with a beginner's night, and/ or a pal to go out with. It helps keep the commitment.
Find somewhere nice to go if you can, I will do miles on a Trail, get bored on the road. Cool music, or very good audio books/ podcasts. Gotta keep going to find out what happens!
I have no expectations of myself, apart from go. Then I may try to reach a further tree before I stop, or not, doesn't matter. If I try to take it to seriously it puts me right off.
Go slow, and walk when you need to. You'll get stronger and quicker eventually if you keep going.
This is more difficult to explain, try and think about it positively. I go because I like being in the park, the accomplishment, the fresh air, the chat with my friend. It is not punishment because of the size of my **se! Makes a difference to my motivation.2 -
I agree with others - find something that you do love. You might consider walking or hiking.0
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Okay, I cannot disagree with the advice to find something to do that you love to do.
That said, all of us can learn to like running. It produces endorphins like nothing else!
Here's how I started.
Nobody likes running at first.
I was about 20 years old and I was skinny. I wanted to look better so I started lifting some weights. A few months in, I decided I needed to do more for my legs so I went out to run.
Keep in mind, I smoked at the time and I had not done much that was athletic from age 14 years up to the time I decided to start lifting.
I went out for my run, and, about all I could do, was run around my apartment building. Once.
This is where I was lucky. I had no coach pushing me to kill it. I had no weight loss goals that I was impatient to meet. I just wanted to run a little bit. So, nothing was driving me to try to go further than was comfortable.
As such it never was hard, and I never came to dread it, and I kept up with it.
Surprisingly, progress came anyway, and it came much sooner than I might have imagined.
In a week, I was going around twice. In a month or so, I was going around five times.
I am not saying everyone's progress will be exactly the same. I'm just saying that it happened organically for me. It happened naturally.
When you start, you huff and puff going around once. Now, you could push yourself to go twice, but then it will be hard and you won't like it. But, if you go around once a few times, your body and lungs will adapt and once will no longer make you huff and puff. Then you go twice.
After a month or two, it got boring going around the apartment building, so I headed down the road, maybe two blocks. ( I don't honestly remember the distance.) But, when two blocks got easy, then it was natural to go a bit further. And then a bit further again.
Soon, I was chasing the sense of accomplishment I got from going a bit further each week or so, and I began to feel the endorphins and to chase those, which, after a while, required greater and greater distances.
I came to love running. Eventually, you get to the point where you actually want to challenge yourself on your runs -- to go faster or to go farther -- but before that you have to let your body adapt to it and to build the habit.
I can go out and go hard now because it honestly isn't as hard to run and breathe heavy as it once was.
The habit does not come if you make your workout so unpleasant that, every time you are sitting on the couch, and the time comes for the run, you find yourself saying: "Gawd! I do not want to do that."
I run at a track now sometimes. Lately, there has been a very obese woman there when I go, with her trainer.
This trainer actually seems really good, so i do not mean to criticize too much. He seems to take into account her exercise capacity and he scales her exercises. But he pushes her, still. He makes her sweat. Jumping jacks. Mountain climbers. Planks. Crunches. Etc.
I can only imagine how hard it must be for this beautiful woman, carrying all that extra weight through each of those movements, with no good cardiovascular and/or breathing capacity. Clearly, she has been sedentary for many years. And the days have been hot here.
Now, I applaud her determination. I have seen her two or three times.
But, I know, that one -- maybe two -- months into this new, rigorous routine, when she gets up and she is a bit tired, and she feels weak because she hasn't been eating because she is losing weight, and she's fed up with sore muscles, and she is dreading going out there with a task master who is going to push her so hard that she will feel like she wants to vomit, her motivation will waver. Maybe she will take a day off. Then another. And another.
Instead, she needs to learn to walk before she runs. Maybe just once around the block for a while. That may not burn a whole bunch of calories, but it'd be better than what she was doing before she started on the journey. And that is progress. Or maybe she should get a jump rope and do that for a minute, or maybe two. And then play some catch with a baseball, or kick a ball back and forth, for five minutes or so.
That would be much more fun and comfortable than doing 10 burpees followed by 20 air squats followed by 30 mountain climbers, until she falls on the ground in a puddle of sweat, her chest heaving, for about 30 seconds, until the coach tells her to get up again to do jumping jacks for a minute.
Slow and steady wins the race.
We all know that, really.10 -
I hate running! I get about 5 minutes in and feel like I’m going to die! Cardio in general is something I hate .. what I try to do is aim to get my cardio out of lifting weights. I’ll lower the weight and increase the reps which ends up leaving me out of breath etc. If you really do want to start running then I’d say start off with power walking and then jogging for say a min and power walk etc until you get to a point where you can just carry on running?0
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katiemberndt21 wrote: »Hey I’m Katie! Lately I’ve been struggling a lot with anxiety. I’m being medicated for it but I want to find an outlet when I’m angry/stressed. I really want it to be running! Unfortunately, I always hated running. I want to learn to love it but I don’t know how! I need friends on here to motivate me to run as much as I can! Maybe then I’ll learn to love it! I also use the run tracking app to keep me accountable. Anything helps y’all! Thanks❤️
Heres what you do because i love running and use to hate it to. Start off small like jog a half mile at your own pace and gradually build up your distance. Focus on your breathing to. I can run 3 miles and not even be huffing and puffing or out of breath. Once you can jog 2 miles then focus on picking up the pace. Over time your heart and lungs will become stronger. Pick out a play list that gets you pumped. You can tune your breathing into the rhythm of the the song. You will begin to enjoy the stress jogging and running helps elimate. Give it a shot!1 -
Mandylou19912014 wrote: »I hate running! I get about 5 minutes in and feel like I’m going to die! Cardio in general is something I hate .. what I try to do is aim to get my cardio out of lifting weights. I’ll lower the weight and increase the reps which ends up leaving me out of breath etc. If you really do want to start running then I’d say start off with power walking and then jogging for say a min and power walk etc until you get to a point where you can just carry on running?
that just means you're going too fast and expecting to be able to do more than you can. no one wakes up and runs a marathon without training, just like you didn't wake up and PB your squat or deadlift, you train so it gets better...2 -
Why run if you don't want to? However, there are quite a few studies that suggest that running kind of rewires your brain and helps against depression. Not sure how this compares to other endurance type exercises though. I only now that running helped me through a major depression.
If you want to run then start slowly, keep you speed low, so low that you can still talk. if you can't run then run short, slow intervals and then walk again. You'll get better. and chose a nice area, like a park, forest or whatever is interesting, has birds singing, something to see.2 -
You won’t be able to love it first to run, you’ll have to run first to love it. Does that make sense?
But start small distances, achievable distances, you will enjoy it more if you can fully complete a run, if you set the bar too high and fail then you won’t love running. And when it feels it’s not challenging enough then you increase!1 -
Mandylou19912014 wrote: »I hate running! I get about 5 minutes in and feel like I’m going to die! Cardio in general is something I hate .. what I try to do is aim to get my cardio out of lifting weights. I’ll lower the weight and increase the reps which ends up leaving me out of breath etc. If you really do want to start running then I’d say start off with power walking and then jogging for say a min and power walk etc until you get to a point where you can just carry on running?
But, you see, the first five minutes are the worst part of any run.1 -
Mandylou19912014 wrote: »I hate running! I get about 5 minutes in and feel like I’m going to die! Cardio in general is something I hate .. what I try to do is aim to get my cardio out of lifting weights. I’ll lower the weight and increase the reps which ends up leaving me out of breath etc. If you really do want to start running then I’d say start off with power walking and then jogging for say a min and power walk etc until you get to a point where you can just carry on running?
But, you see, the first five minutes are the worst part of any run.
And I was going to say, the first mile is the worst part of any run, as you get more fit. I can tell after the first mile if I should stop--I stop if I don't start feeling better in that 2nd mile. This has served me well to avoid overtraining injuries most of my life.
But, you gotta get to the point where the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc., mile feel better than the first one, and that just takes commitment.
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I think many people start too fast. If you haven't been running, start barely above walking pace, or even at walking pace. Instead of walking, change your form a little and run at the same pace. You're not in a hurry, 4 mph (15 minute miles) is plenty fast enough, maybe you can even get down to 3 mph and keep that gentle running form. Let everyone else pass you. Make it an easy, relaxed exercise. Just keep that same effort each day.
That's a way to start. Everything else can come later, much later.1
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