I went through a summer of running about ten years ago when I ran many 5ks. Thats it. No history of playing sports at any level. I've followed training plans religiously this year and that helped "do it right". My first half marathon was using Nike Run Club which is fantastic because it "teaches you how to run". My next plans were with Hal Higdon and Garmin.
I needed to do some soul searching into my excuses for not running. I'd always think to myself, "I'd like to run, but I'm tired", despite having done nothing physical all week beside walking between the coffee machine and my desk, or getting into/out of my car, or walking the grocery isles.
I ended forcing myself to think of tiredness in a more granular way. If I feel tired, I classify it as either "mentally tired", "emotionally tired", or "physically tired". I realised I was quite often coming home from work mentally and emotionally tired, and using that as an excuse to do no physical exercise. I didn't "care" to run because my soul and mind were depleted. Then I recalled all I've known and read about physical exercise cleansing the mind and the soul (somewhat). So I started thinking of it as a way to solve mental and emotional exhaustion.
I promised myself to grind for a few weeks on the habit (IF: home from work & emotionally | mentally tired THEN: run 2-5km). It absolutely sucked for 2 weeks, as I was just adding physically tired to the pile (as I felt like a sack of shit afterwards and felt down on myself for being unfit). The 3rd week however started to feel a bit better, and from that point on I was starting to feel a net positive impact on my 'tiredness' after running. Once I hit that point it was a positively reinforcing habit that, literally, had legs.
If you’re capable of walking for 60-90 minutes, Couch to 5K is a good place to start. Otherwise losing weight and walking 6K+ steps a day 3+ times a week is a good place to start, just to get your feet prepared for the load that running will put on the body. I started with couch to 5K at the beginning of August and completed it in September. I just got to the point of being able to run 5 miles in one go and I’m now running 15 mpw. All it takes is being consistent and you will see rapid improvement.
1. Sign up for a local 5k race 3 months into the future, thus forcing yourself to train.
2. Set up all your running gear the night before.
3. When you wake up and don't want to run, tell yourself all you need to do is put your shoes on and then you can go back to bed / not do it (at that point, a lot of "well I'm already up" kicks in).
4. Run slow. Really slow. Walk whenever you need to. Hell, walk the whole time if you have to.
5. Follow a couch to 5k program.
6. I personally enjoy running as a form of exploring streets I've never been down, trails I don't know the end of, and cities I'm new to.
I think a big reason people hate running is they run too fast too soon. Run 15 minute miles if you have to. Shuffle! Slowly! The joy is in being outside and moving your body.
This is all great advice; signing up for the 5k months in advance was a big motivation.
Running slow is probably the most significant bit though - I think new runners end up hating running because they're immediately starting at an unsustainable pace.
I also successfully set up a "three times a week" running program and typically run 5km each time and sometimes 10km on the weekend. Today I completed Year 2, Week 52, Run 3. So I'm feeling pretty good about that.
>I'd love to know how you pulled this off...
Here is what worked for me. Maybe some or all of it will work for you.
The foundation rule is: I will not injure myself. (I'm pushing 50 and don't heal like I used to)
To avoid all-or-nothing thinking I explicitly decided against making this a lifetime commitment. Instead I would re-evaluate at 4-week intervals if I wanted to continue. Knowing there was a GO/NOGO milestone in the near future really helped me get through the first few weeks. (After the first few cycles I had integrated the jogging habit into my lifestyle and didn't need the GO/NOGO milestones anymore)
Then, I sat down and figured some stuff out in advance. Namely:
1) Deciding (and committing) what days and times I will jog.
For my schedule, Tue/Thu/Sat mornings before work was best.
2) Decide what I will do if the weather is bad, or there is some other reason why I could not go at the scheduled time.
3) Define a set route to follow.
I follow the same route every time. I never need to think about it and I don't get bored since there are several unique stretches of environment along my route. Also all the plants and things change through the seasons which is something to notice and appreciate.
What worked best for me was to follow a set path until mid-way through my run, then turn around and retrace my steps. (Setting a countdown timer on my watch to beep when I was halfway through the session, rounding the session time up a bit if necessary.)
4) Follow an established program.
I chose the popular "Couch to 5K" program. Using the "NHS Choices 5K" podcast with Coach Laura.
5) Set the bar for success as LOW as possible.
For me, a run "counts" if I put on my jogging clothes and shoes. Then step outside my front door and walk even a single step away from the house. Seriously. I can turn around right then and go back inside and it counts as a win.
For my personality, consistency and reliability are FAR more important than time spent or distance travelled.
6) Accept that I'll need to repeat episodes. Let go of needing to progress through the program at the pre-determined pace.
The important thing was getting out and moving. The program is advertised as taking 9 weeks. It took me a lot longer than that but I accepted that up front so it didn't bother me.
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I quickly found that carrying my phone in my hand was uncomfortable, so I bought an armband holder for about $10.
I also found using wired earbuds was a hassle (the wires) and maybe dangerous (they block environmental sound). So I bought a pair of "AfterShokz" bone conduction headphones for about $150. They're great and I'm glad I got them.
Finally, I should note that I only started the jogging plan after I got my weight down to under 200lb. For that, I went with the "Slow Carb" eating plan since it was simple to follow, seemed sustainable long-term, and gave me a "cheat day" once a week. Honestly, as far as I can tell, just about any popular eating plan will work. So if you need to lose some fat (like I did), just pick one and try it for a few months to see if you like it.
How'd you get the study group started? Some peers you already knew? I've previously considered trying to gather some people to regularly read/practice other books/topics but wasn't sure where to begin gathering others.
Thanks for the tips. It seems like a good idea then to consider a specific book and go about gathering others from there, so that everyone has the same expectations of content.
yeah, i am about to wrap up the MIT probability course. Very very good course, i will be happy if i retain 50% of what i learned. Markov Chain is my favorite so far.
Hey, reaching out to you here, as it your blog it says your company runs a monthly book club. Could you share some info how is it run? Do you collectively decide on the next book, meet in person or discuss it? Is the meeting heavily moderated or more informal over drink?
I'm asking because I want to organize something similar in my work :)
Thanks a lot!
First, we're a fully remote team, so all meetings are virtual. Super informal, fun and casual.
We all put it suggestions for what we want to read then we let a random wheel decide for us. Nobody is forced to read anything they don't want though! We sometimes try to alternate fiction and non-fiction.
We normally give ourselves a month to read it. Some of our team have dyslexia, so they prefer listening to it.
If everyone's finished it, we meet up and talk about the book. If someone hasn't, we delay the next meeting to allow them to finish it. At the end of the chat we ask everyone if they would recommend the book or not (we wanted to avoid "rating" the books out of X)
I didn't start a habit, I killed one: F2P mobile games designed to hook you. Never spent a dime on Hearthstone but I could tell that I was playing less and less for entertainment and more out of habit and chasing some quick hit of dopamine. I dropped that one a few months back but almost relapsed on Marvel Snap when it became available last month. It is in fact a really good game but I had the good sense to delete it after just a few weeks of trying it out. No shame for anyone that likes these games, but I could tell they weren't healthy for me.
That's awesome. I realized this year I too was playing games out of habit and now do kind of a starting check to see if I'm playing for fun or if I'm feeling compelled to do things in a game because of one or many feedback loops that have been engineered to keep me "engaged". Most of my history of playing video games is solo games with campaigns/stories, etc. so the always online multi-player games have these feedback loops with FOMO, stats on weapons/gear, etc. that make it appear to be worth your time to be constantly playing.
It was hard to pull away sometimes but became much easier when you realize the top tier loot you grind for isn't making drastic differences in outcomes of playing for an average player like myself.
Started exercising most days, at least 15 minutes high intensity a day. My blood pressure and anxiety have really improved since making it a daily habit.
I’ve also started writing down my daily to-do list and kept my notes in a big writing pad. So far it’s working a lot better than a collection of index cards I used to use.
That's actually how I started. I would do 10 pushups, 10 sets throughout the day. A week later, 15 pushups, 7 sets throughout the day. In that way, I think I was following the technique laid out in the article and heartily recommend it for someone starting out. I was also dealing with some level of tendonitis in my elbow when I started so doing it this way also helped deal with the pain and working on my form to eventually reduce it and remove pain from the process.
Eventually, I decided to work on building muscle as well and started doing them in a smaller time frame, within the morning, for example. Now I do the 100 within 10 minutes or so: 4 sets with a 3 minute rest in between. I feel like I've seen changes in my physique since entering this latest phase.
Stopped taking Adderall, started running daily with my dog, and being more diligent about both what I eat and food portions. Immediately gained like 6 pounds but have burned off 4 of that or so in the last couple weeks. Work has not seemed to suffer in the new role.
This probably sounds absurd, but I wake up at 4:30 AM to start my day every day and I used to be convinced I could only really be effective after waking up at 9 AM.
I started running in the morning. It’s been a very slow build up, I’m currently only at 15 mpw, but it’s all about being consistent and preventing injury to keep the habit as long as possible. I’ve also begun tracking my food intake and have lost 20 lbs. Being consistent and seeing incremental progress toward my goals has made me realize the need to set goals and consistently work toward them. I’ve been writing down my goals and making plans to achieve them. A large part of this is reclaiming meaningless screen time to make a small but consistent amount of progress toward a goal each day.
I went from sleeping 4h a day, eating junk food and living a pretty much sedentary lifestyle, to sleeping 8h minimum, counting my macros and calories daily, and exercising 6 days a week.
During the summer I read "Why We Sleep" and thought "damn... maybe I should change my lifestyle". So I went 0 to 100 in no time.
It's been almost 5 months of consistency and I've never felt better and now I can't see myself going back to the way I was.
So to wake up I had an alarm since I had to be up for work in the morning. But for bedtime, I would go to sleep super late every day. I'd spend the time playing videogames, watching movies, etc.
The reasoning was, I wanted to "enjoy" the time I had after work and didn't want to sleep, because going to sleep would mean after a couple of hours I'd have to wake up and go to work. So I'd prolong that time as much as I could.
The current habit I'm attempting to do is put things away immediately after using them instead of waiting for clutter to pile up. Put away the dinner dishes, put away the tools, put away my clothes, empty the dishwasher etc.
Only habits I can think of are the ones I dropped.
I haven't had a box of instant noodles for more than a year now after years of eating such things regularly - I have one last box in my cupboard as a reminder, but I don't see it as food anymore.
Fast food is also now something I indulge in maybe twice a year.
I also don't try to stay up when my body tells me to go to sleep - this was a major problem for me in the past.
I don't feel particularly different or haven't lost any weight(I've never had weight issues), but I suppose the benefits will become apparent once I get older.
Leetcoding and study, further reduction in social media time, and working outside the house at least once a week. I already eat healthy, but have had stops and starts with exercise this year after a few life events. My winter exercise habit is to skip rope and shadow box, and lift weights. I "journal" most mornings by writing text into the ether and not saving it, except for important notes that come to me.
Daily gratitude journal. And when applicable I will share out to the person I was grateful for. It has made relationships better and life more satisfying.
I've been doing well. Dropped painkillers I was taking for migraines, dropped alcohol. Picked up weekly running and daily saunas. Started keto diet, dropped 15 lb. Fiber supplement and mushroom supplement a few days a week too just to keep things running well
Maybe not habits, but I've managed to get back to trampoline/airtrack acrobatics which is an result of couple years of getting back into shape and general condition.
I've also started drinkin way more water (earlier I was drinking coffee only and diet Coke)
I don't know if achieve is the right word, but two months ago. I decided to do one healthy habit every day. It could be meditating, working out, or spending time with friends. I believe I have only missed 1 or 2 days so far. It feels good.
My goal for next year is to participate in a 10k race, as well as improve my 5k times.