New Year, New Ways to Run
Stuck in a running rut? Chances are, all (or most of) your runs are the same. You run the same distance, at the same pace, at the same time of day. Boredom is a huge motivation killer, but fear not! This can be easily fixed by shaking up your routine.
The following are some small changes that will keep running fresh and exciting for you.
Run with a buddy, or run alone!
If you’ve never gone running with another person before, you are a running lone wolf. However, if you’ve only ever gone running when a friend or a running club is counting on you to show up, you are a running social butterfly.
While there is no one way better than the other, lone wolves and social butterflies can benefit learning from each other.
Social butterflies treat running as a social event; but by permitting yourself to run alone sometimes, you remove distractions and learn to focus on the act of running itself. When you stop listening to the chatter of others, you start listening to the voice inside yourself. Those are your body and your mind talking – pay attention and you will go far.
Lone wolves stay solitary for various reasons, but often, it’s the Type-A personalities who feel that every run must have a tangible outcome. Running time is your problem-solving time, or you like to focus on reaching your targets, or maybe you’re uncomfortable running with others who may be faster/slower than you. Here are two arguments to start running with a buddy:
1. You have someone to give you more objective feedback on your performance.
2. You learn to treat running as an enjoyable experience again.
Change one of the following three things:
Runners can be such creatures of habit. We create a routine, and stick to it come rain, hail or shine. We run on autopilot because our feet recognize every hole in the track of our local park. Some of us don’t need to change gears, having spent the last 20 years only running at the same speed. Even scarier, some of us only have that one same music playlist we run to…
This week, on one run, we challenge you to try:
- Run your usual route, but in reverse.
- Change the time of day when you run.
- On a day you are feeling good, why not add an extra 15 minutes, or 10% distance?
Check out new running routes
If your running thus far has been limited to the treadmill, we welcome you to take the plunge and try running outdoors for a change. Yes, it will be hot. Yes, it will be humid. Yes, you will have to learn to carry some water on your run… but we promise you it will all be worth it!
For runners who are already used to running outdoors, we invite you to venture into new territories. Just once a month (or if you are feeling brave, even once a week), make a running date with yourself. For example, turn your 30-minute Wednesday morning pre-work obligatory run around your local park into a 30-minute lunch-break exploratory run close to your workplace.
To help you along with this, JustRunLah! will be presenting you 50 in 2015 – spotlighting a running route each week for a total of 50 various routes around Singapore. Check back with us for ideas on running outside your comfort zone!
