On Running Habits

How I Ran Better Than Ever in the Age of Social Distancing

Photo by Andrea Leopardi on Unsplash

I have been running more during this quarantine, which I suppose started in February or March, than I have at any other period of my life.

I took a gym class in high school where I ran 2 days per week for 4 months, and have since surpassed that in both repetitions and distance.

So I’ve decided to take what I’ve learned from building a running habit and apply it here to my writing.

So how did I make the running habit sustainable? A few key things:

1. I set a big goal. My goal is to run a half-marathon before the end of the year. It’s significantly more than I have ever run at one time in my life, but I feel confident with the right training I could get there. I felt it was achievable within ~6 months of training (as opposed to a full marathon) and that motivated me to get started.
2. I started small. Running 15km on the first day and hurting myself was something I was worried about, so I decided to start with the smallest amount I could and feel good about: I ran 2.5km. And in fact, it was hard! But my legs felt sore for a day and then I was ready to do it again. I’ve since moved my way up to 15km long runs once per week.
3. I hired a coach. Well, sort of. I’ve been using the Nike Running Club app, and I’ve loved it so far. It tracks my distance, it sets a program for me, and it even has guided runs with intermittent motivation from a Nike Running coach. I have found it motivating, encouraging, and helpful in my training. It takes the fear of not having a plan out of the equation: I just follow the program. Some days I don’t feel like doing quite what they recommend, but most of the time I do, and that’s one more reason to get out and run.
4. I made myself accountable. I started texting my mom and a close friend who is also a runner every time I passed a new milestone. This has kept me motivated and accountable. My friend will text me out of the blue and ask if I’m doing a long run this week, “or if I’m quitting on my goals”. If that’s not motivation right there, I don’t know what is. Thanks homie.
5. I listen to my body. I mentioned some days I don’t like completing the program as assigned. I almost never miss a long run because those are the most important, but many of the short sprints I will replace with a gentle 5km loop. I’ve found gathering the courage to go do wind sprints until I pass out is difficult, but I feel confident I can whip out a 5km sprint just about any time. I listen to how my body is feeling and plan accordingly.
6. I set a time cap, and don’t try to force it. Running a 5km loop takes me less than half an hour. With changing, putting on my shoes, warm-up, cool down, changing again, showering, and resetting during the day, that’s about an hour total. Finding an hour during my day can feel stressful, but if I think about just dipping out, going offline, for half an hour, that feels totally manageable. I can squeeze in half an hour in between meetings or during lunch (especially when I’m working from home). This mindset helps me maintain my consistency and not miss runs by being “too busy”. I also tend to do long runs on Saturdays when I have few commitments.
7. Last, and most importantly, my only goal is consistency. I decided a few weeks into the program that setting goals around speed, run times, or even distance, didn’t help make me a better runner. They simply pushed me away from wanting to go running. I signed onto this goal because I wanted to fall in love with the act of exercising, pushing my body, and doing it alone. Having some unobstructed solo time to just do your own thing is incredibly therapeutic, but poisoning that by setting difficult goals felt counter-productive. So my most important goal is this: run 3 times per week. Sure, I said I wanted to run a half-marathon. That helps me get my shoes on sometimes, and motivates me to stick with my program, but not breaking my streak is really what forces me out the door. It has also given me the room to falter. If I’m having a bad day, and don’t feel like running 15km, I can do a short 5km loop and call it a success. Hey, I got out the door, and that’s what matters. I have faith (and have started seeing the results) that just running 3 times per week will help me meet my goal. I trust my coaching, I trust my body, and if I can maintain my consistency, I trust I will reach my goals.

These are some tips that have helped me reach goals I never thought I would reach, and in hindsight, it all feels so simple: Set a big goal, start small, find a coach, be accountable, listen to your body, set time limits, and focus on consistency. Simple.

The next habit I want to focus on is writing.

This post is Step 1.

Brendan is a Mechanical Designer at Nymi, and blogs about startups, mental models and why hardware is hard here. He’s a Venture for Canada alumni, coffee aficionado, and cookbook collector.