Rediscovering Running (Read 910 times)

I ran cross country in high school and was okay but never great. Now 5 years later I'm trying to get myself back into the running world. It's the first time that I've run without a team and a coach, and I feel like my runs now lack the factors that seemed to motivate me before. (Things improved once I found a race that I'm training for and a small "team" that I am training with, but I still struggle sometimes in my workouts.) My question is: what is your technique for training when you hit the painful parts of the workout? I'm sure there's got to be some good self-motivational tactics out there.

Hi Friedn, your coach is in your head! Start again slowly. Is there a race you would like to do? having a goal might help you do you run with your ipod? get a cool playlist that makes you what to go running to listen to it! Maybe running in a new place? Do you have a dog that might enjoy a run of 2- 3 miles? let me know how is it going for you just try different things you wil find something tht works for you talk to you soon G

If your workouts are frequently so difficult that you lose motivation, perhaps you're going about it wrong. Lots of people pick up the "no pain, no gain" school of running in high school. But what works for a brief time in high school is not necessarily the best way to keep running indefinitely, particularly if you're interested in longer distances. A patient runner who puts in the easy miles week after week, month after month, will be far healthier -- and faster -- than a runner who pushes to the limit all the time and then burns out or gets injured frequently. Of course there are times when you do need to train hard and fast. But if you're just getting started after five years, you have plenty to gain from long slow distance. It all comes down to enjoying running. Because if you don't love it, you won't keep doing it. I can tell when I've got the level of intensity correct because I crave my run every day. Motivation is not an issue.

My question is: what is your technique for training when you hit the painful parts of the workout? I'm sure there's got to be some good self-motivational tactics out there.

I don't run through intense pain and if I need a little extra morale boost I will flip through my iPod playlist until I find something that gets me pumped--that usually does the trick. And ditto what everyone else has already added. k

And I re-started by walking. I kept telling myself that I wasn't going to get it all back in one run, or or one week, or one month. There's no rush at this point in doing hard speed workouts or things that are particularly painful. There will be time for that after you've got a mileage base. Focus on building up easy miles, and hopefully running will become its own reward again for you, like it has for me. Although the question wasn't mine to start with, I'm glad it was asked-and everyone's responses are so encouraging. sometimes, when reading these posts or talking to people about running, I feel really intimidated and like i'm not doing enough if I can't just get out of bed and run 3-5 miles just for fun. I think the newbies (such as myself) need to be reminded that it does take patience... and eventaullly we'll get there.

I also got back into running about two months ago, i started running 3 days a week, and slowly moved up to running six days a week. I was running by myself which was hard but continued to stay in contact with my brother who also just got back into running and he helped motivate me to continue running. As well as make a running log on this site. I also started keeping a log on this website, and by keeping my log public and documenting each run well i was able to see my own progress from week to week. At the start it may not seem like much but keep a close eye on your mile times, how you felt on a given day and if your mileage has increased. granted I have had some on and off patches of running during college this is the first time in 4 years i have taken running this serious and I believe it is from challenging your self from one week to the next. I hope this helped and maybe those hard runs you have now will turn into moderate runs and before you know it what once seemed like a hard run or time will be an easy warm up run.