New Runner, Must stay Motivated! (Read 1014 times)

Hi! My name is Jenna and I am 23 yrs old and new to running! I played sports all my life and would consider myself a pretty athletic person, even though I have always hated running! Trying to keep a good workout regimen to stay in shape after having it mandatory daily in high school has been a very up and down road for me. I would go through periods during and after college where I would go to the gym consistently for a couple weeks to a month, and then would slowly go back to not working out at all. My goals for working out in the past have always been to lose weight, for I have had a constant struggle with weight issues all my life. It has been in the past few weeks that I have really noticed all the people that I know that are "runners", how all of those people are people I look up to and are motivated by not only because of their running endurance, but because of how they look life, treat people, and mostly treat themselves. You can tell a major difference in those that are run on a consistant basis, and the thing is they are just people like you and me! You see the stories of people that were extremely obese and took up running and it completely changes their life. If they can do it, and the people I know personally can do it...then heck, why aren't I! So after at that lengthy intro..I am going to do this! But I know myself and I know how have been in the past..extremely motivated for a short while and it fades. So my question to the "seasoned runners" is, how do you do it?!? How do you stay motivated to make it part of your life...for life?! What advice would you give a newbie like me to stick to it when I feel that 5 miles straight could never be in my future because I can't even run half that now!? I am super excited to start this life change, and appreciate and take in any and all encouragement I can get!

Three things. First, use a training program such as C25K to get you doing something almost everyday. Second, register for a 5K race in your area that is at the end of the training program. Third, try to find someone to go through the training with you. Repeat as necessary. Also, visiting this board when you are not feeling motivated can help, too! I think if you can run consistantly for 9-12 months, it will become a habit and it won't be something you HAVE to do... it will be something you LOVE to do. Good luck!

Ditto. Also, don't worry about running fast. You can do it, and you will soon be amazed that you thought 5 miles was hard! MTA: Also, listen to your body. Pushing too hard could result in injury and you want to avoid that. This happened to me this time last year as a new runner and took me out of the game for over 3 months. Ever since, I've been pretty cautious and it has paid off.

1) If you are serious about this, you NEED to make this second nature. Once running is optional it is easy to skip it and say you are too busy. If you schedule your workout daily (and the timing can vary), then schedule your other stuff around it, it becomes an afterthought to do the workout and a part of your life. Otherwise it is just to easy to do what you've described happing in your pace, which is gradually phase it out. 2) Enjoy it. For me, this was setting goals and then achieving them. The individual workouts were not always fun but the improvement and success motivated me so I stuck with it. For others, this means forgetting goals and speed and just having fun. I do not know you, so you will need to decide for yourself whether the actual run must be fun or whether results will motivate you regardless of the workouts. 3) Make friends in the sport. There are clubs everywhere and you can make friends at races even if you don't meet up with people for races. If many of your friends run you will be motivated to continue yourself. The majority of my friends run and it is a constant source of new acquaintances.

Wow, thanks so much everyone! All of your words of running wisdom are great and so good to read whenever feel like it phasing out and not being motivated to stick with it. I have looked at the C25K several times in the past, but it seemed to start off to slow only going 3x a week. I guess that is a big part of personality on not being patient. I have the "I want it all and I want it now" Veruca Salt (willy wonka) mentality. If I have been doing a little running here and there do you think it would be ok to start in like week 2 or 3? Or should I start from the beginning to not get worn out? Also, I LOVED the piece of advice from Spaniel on making it second nature. That is so true that if it is an option to go or not go out that sometimes I am going to be weak and make the decision not to, and slowly that is what turns to phasing out exercise completely like the past. I am going to print off that advice and put it up somewhere in my house! I have been intimated to ever join any running clubs, because I know I will be very slow and not be able to hang with the rest. I have an extremely competitive personality and that has caused me to quit some things in the past. (Another trait I really need to work on!!) My boyfriend and I started a workout system P90X, and he could do more and go longer then I could on the workouts, so I just quit because it made me angry. I did join a gym and start working out by myself, but just a prime example of my competitive behavior. Thanks everyone for your comments so far! And keep them coming!

I have been intimated to ever join any running clubs, because I know I will be very slow and not be able to hang with the rest. I have an extremely competitive personality and that has caused me to quit some things in the past.

Something you need to think about it being competitive and such.....compete ONLY with yourself in an attempt to make YOU better......its all the wrong reasons if go about this from a perspective of you have/want to beat the other person...(least it is form me and most other runners). Also -- I finally broke down after some 15 years of running and joined a local running club a few months ago and its really helped me a lot. I have people as supportive as you find here in RA but you get to talk to them face to face. Also I have a running coach that I meet with once per week (in fact we are meeting and running this evening) and it's making a huge difference...........you might want to reconsider this one if theres a decent club around your area. No one will care if you are the slowest and even if you are, you won't be for long cause new people will come....and being the slowest isnt all that bad, it does wonders for your motivation (I know casue Im one of the slowest in my club) ...........

I have looked at the C25K several times in the past, but it seemed to start off to slow only going 3x a week. I guess that is a big part of personality on not being patient. I have the "I want it all and I want it now" Veruca Salt (willy wonka) mentality. If I have been doing a little running here and there do you think it would be ok to start in like week 2 or 3? Or should I start from the beginning to not get worn out?

I have the same sort of personality and while I didn't do the C25k program, I thought I knew better than the program I used. I can tell you from experience (over the past month) that it's much better to take it slow and be patient. That doesn't mean you can't push yourself, but if a program that has been proven to work tells you to run 2-3 times a week don't think that you'd be better off running 5-6 times.

I have been intimated to ever join any running clubs, because I know I will be very slow and not be able to hang with the rest. I have an extremely competitive personality and that has caused me to quit some things in the past. (Another trait I really need to work on!!) My boyfriend and I started a workout system P90X, and he could do more and go longer then I could on the workouts, so I just quit because it made me angry. I did join a gym and start working out by myself, but just a prime example of my competitive behavior.

As someone else said, you should think of running as a competition with yourself not anyone else. Challenge yourself and set goals. To me that's one of the biggest motivators, because it's great feeling to accomplish something that you previously thought wasn't possible. If someone else is doing better than you then let it make you angry, but instead of quitting challenge yourself to do whatever it takes to get to that person's level and beyond. Not to "beat" them, but to prove that you can do it.

I also began with the C25K program. For me it wasn't enough so I did cross training and found it to be too much. So I added an extra day and you know what... there were many weeks I needed to drop that 4th day. The truth is that your muscles and your lungs aren't the only parts of you that need conditioning. Joints and ligaments are biggies! Take your time and make it a habit. If you know you are competitive then run alone. One thing I am really enjoying is finding new places to run. New trails, new roads, etc. I mix it up a lot! The times I start running the same roads over and over are the times I lose motivation. I also keep a running diary. Being able to look back and laugh or stare in shock at how far I've come is a huge motivator. Small running gifts to myself for reaching milestones is always worth a smile as well. But after 6 months I will say it's more than a habit, it's a need at this point. Weeks I don't run as much leave me depressed, out of sorts, ungrounded and just irritable. That's all the motivation I need

Rule number one is TAKE IT EASY. Overtraining will cause you to lose energy and motivation, and drastically increase the chance of hurting yourself. When running is painful you can't love it and you eventually can't keep forcing yourself to do it. Getting hurt causes many beginners to quit entirely. Learn to train in a comfortable easy way and you will learn to love running. There are times when you can push hard, but you need to gain a lot of experience before you should worry about that. You can become a very fit runner entirely through easy, comfortable running. Almost every beginner trains too hard at first. It's easy to do, because when you're out of shape you might not even have an "easy" pace. It all seems hard. That's why programs like C25k have you mix walking and running. After an easy run you should feel refreshed, maybe even energized. If you're dragging and feel like laying down, you ran too hard.