I WANT TO LOVE RUNNING

tahu010

tahu010

I absolutely despised running, mainly because it wasn’t easy at first, due to me not being physically fit for it. I wanted to find a way to build up to loving it and I noticed the more I gained the stamina, it became pretty easy and enjoyable. There are a lot of interval running workouts on Pinterest, but this one kind of suited my schedule for my weekly workout routine best.

tahu010

tahu010

Here’s another one I tried out, but had to adjust to the first one I posted. I noticed on the previous one that it didn’t take me a full week to gain the stamina to complete the full run/walk in that week. After about 3 days I was ready to move on to the next week run/walk, because the current run/walk was a breeze and I wanted the challenge.

MelanieCN77

mjwarbeck wrote: »

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. :-)

Do you mean a 9 minute mile? Although if you're homing in on a 20 minute 5k, dang, nice pace!

autumnblade75

MelanieCN77 wrote: »

mjwarbeck wrote: »

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. :-)

Do you mean a 9 minute mile? Although if you're homing in on a 20 minute 5k, dang, nice pace!

If top speed were 9 minute miles, for the whole race, we'd be talking about a 28 minute 5k. I think he's serious about that 9mph.

malpat1315

The thought of running is enough to induce some anxiety BUT it is always worth it. Back in high school I ran to relieve stress and 3 or 4 miles at an 8 minutes/mile pace were no problem. I stopped running in college and have just recently decided to give it a go again. 4 weeks ago I pushed myself to run for 7 minutes at an 11.5 minutes/mile pace and I thought I was going to die! Yesterday, I was able to run at the same pace for 27 minutes! It takes time, and like everyone has mentioned....the first five minutes are the worst. If you can get past that, you are golden! I took my momentum yesterday and registered for my first ever 5k race this fall!

DeshotelK

drbeanie2000 wrote: »

Random addition here - I want to love running - or at least be ABLE to run - because literally I have dreams about running - not effortlessly, but amazing!

I literally had dreams about running too. Not from anything. Just running. So one day I started C25K. From that day on, I've never had a dream about running again. That was a few years ago. I have back problems and knee issues and haven't run in over a year now. I'm about to get back to it though. I really do miss it. It was such a stress reliever for me.

apullum

What do you hate about running, and why do you want to love it? There's no reason you have to love running. There are many, many types of physical activity you might like better: hiking, cycling, swimming, etc. Don't force yourself to do something you truly hate.

If you just dislike the idea of running at the beginning of the run...that's normal. I think it's very common to dread a run before you do it, and for the first mile or so to be tough. A lot of runners don't really enjoy it until they're a couple of miles in, when your muscles have loosened up and you've "hit your stride," so to speak. Many of us have to psych ourselves up and work through a few minutes of discomfort in order to get to the enjoyable part. Unfortunately, when you're first starting out, those first few uncomfortable minutes might make up almost all of your run for the day. When I was doing C25K, I didn't start enjoying it until I was able to run comfortably for about 8 or 10 minutes at a time, and I felt like I could easily keep going by the end of that run.

If you're a new runner and you're starting by just going out and running however far you can run, I'd encourage taking a step back and using C25K instead. There is a big difference between learning how to run vs. just starting from scratch.

Also, run outside if at all possible. Treadmills are the worst.