RUNMANDA

Running motivation from the last person you'd expect to get it from. "It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop." -Confucius

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If this isn’t motivation to shed those extra pounds, I don’t know what is.

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Life doesn’t slow down because we want to be fit or run a marathon.  Finding time to squeeze training in can be hard and let me tell you, we can come up with some pretty good excuses.  Fight the urge to be lazy or skip a workout and use these helpful tips to keep going strong.

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If you run in NYC, please sign!

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Motivate yourself for a winter run!

Warm up your clothes: Pop your sports bra, shirts, pants, and even your socks in the dryer for a couple minutes. Slipping on warm gear is sure to get rid of that chill you have when looking out your window into the cold.

Warm up yourself: Take a quick shower allowing the hot water to envelope your skin, being careful not to get your hair wet. It’ll warm your body and get your muscles ready to move.

Warm up inside: Once you’re dressed properly for a cold-weather workout, do your warm-up inside rather than outside. Run up and down the stairs, do jumping jacks or a round of push-ups, or whatever you need to do to get your heart rate up without getting sweaty. You’ll feel warm and loosened up when you step out the door, and you can start running right away to stay warm. Here are warm-up ideas that can be done indoors (even in a small apartment space!).

Blast a tune that speaks to you: Whether it’s Beyoncé, Adele, or Pitbull that lights a fire inside you, use your favorite upbeat song to get you psyched for a run. You can dance and scream lyrics as you slip on your sports bra and sneaks. This is a great technique when you’re really not feeling a run because it can instantly flip a switch and help you head out the door fast. Continue the musical motivation by listening to a newly crafted running mix.

Go for a change of scenery: Running the same neighborhood loop every week? No wonder you’re not excited to run. Mix up your running route every few workouts for some inspiration.

Schedule a date with a fitness buddy: Having trouble motivating yourself? Then use a friend to help. If you make a date to meet outside for a run, you can’t make excuses and back down. Check out our tips for finding the right fitness buddy.

Shop for new gear: Whether you go big and buy a new merino wool shirt or just splurge on a new pair of warm running socks, the idea of slipping on new gear is sure to inspire you to get outside. New gear will not only give you the kick in the pants you need, but it’ll also make your runs more comfortable, which will help motivate tomorrow’s workout. Our picks of cold-weather reflective running gear are bound to inspire you!

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Running in a Winter Wonderland

Today I woke up at 6am and drove 45 mins in the snow to derby practice, only to find it was cancelled and had to drive all the way home again. Rather than chalk it all up to a snowy, wasted day, I decided to go for a run in the falling snow! When I got to my local track there had only been one other person on it since the snow started falling, and the track looked MAGICAL. The runner had been running in concentric circles all the way around the track, leaving clean, fresh footprints. I wished that I had brought a camera! When I got home I wanted to share the magic with all of you, so I googled "running track snow" so that I could at least give you guys a visual similar to what I saw. I scrolled down and found this image, which looked exactly like what I had seen this morning...

...and then I read its description only to find out that it WAS the same track! Such a lucky coincidence and I am so glad that I could share it with all of you!

On a side note, my first run in the snow was perfection, complete with catching snowflakes on my tongue. While winter brings with it many obstacles when it comes to outdoor running, these special moments make it all worthwhile. Go out there and experience winter like most people never do! Just make sure you either get non-slip winter running shoes or find a place that isn't icy. While a broken ankle WILL give you an excuse to hibernate inside all winter, let's try to avoid it.

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Running in Winter, Anton Krupicka

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If you are not a regular runner, what would you recommend as a starting distance? Is 3 miles too much?

YES! Three miles is too much to start with! Three miles should be your goal at the beginning, meaning you should take a couple weeks to work up to it. If you can already run 2 miles pretty comfortably then 3 miles would be an okay immediate goal, but if you are not a runner at all you should start with something smaller and more manageable. Otherwise you run the risk of injury from over-exertion.

Start out with a mile or even half mile of alternating walking and running. No distance is too little. Seriously. It's important that you train your mind now to be proud of every little thing that you do. Once you can run the entire distance non-stop, increase by half or even quarter mile increments. It might seem like those small distances are not enough to get results, but running is kind of like building a house...you need to build the foundation and skeleton before you can start to build the walls, and then you need to put in all the wiring before you can do the finishing paint job on those walls. If you skip any steps your house will last for a while but will crumble to the ground the first time the wind blows.

One of the biggest mistakes many beginning runners make is to expect too much too quickly. Running is about patience and a very gradual increase in stamina and ability. Even if you can do 3 miles one day, you might be damaging your muscles in the long term. If you keep pushing yourself too much eventually one day you will suddenly pull a muscle or get knee or ankle pain, setting you back weeks.

Your body needs a LONG time to build up endurance and muscle strength. Months. Think of marathon runners...the only way they got to be able to run 26.2 miles was by gradually building up their distance. You wouldn't expect any runner, no matter how serious, to just go out and run 26.2 miles without preparing. It can take months, if not YEARS to get to marathon distance! One of the biggest pieces of advice that marathon coaches give is to stick to the schedule. They will warn you that, contrary to what you might think, if you do more than planned you won't be moving forward in ability quicker, rather you will just tire your body out more for future runs.

See Hal Higdon's advice here. He is a running expert and marathon training coach. This is a sample of one of his marathon training guides...you can see that not every run is longer than the last. Of course you aren't training for a marathon, but the general idea is still the same, just on a smaller scale. Three miles probably feels the same to your body as 26.2 miles feels to an experienced runner.

You won't see real results from running, like weight loss, for at least a couple months. Beginning runners have a tendency to expect to see results after a couple weeks (which makes sense because it feels like you are working SO hard!), and once they don't they give up. Running is the ultimate test in faith and determination. You have to keep at it day after day, week after week, month after month, many times without seeing any results...but they DO come! Take it slow and go easy on yourself. If you made 3 miles one day but can't do it on the next run, it's okay! Listen to your body, and sometimes be even more strict than your body tells you, and the rest will come with time.

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Do you have any advice about track running? I can run about 8 miles relatively comfortably but on the track I get exhausted so quickly, probably because I find it boring. Any tips on how to conquer this mentality? Thanks!

My idea of a perfect run would be about 8-10 miles alone on a moderately hilly trail in the woods in the summer. But we can't always get what we want. I have learned how to enjoy both tracks and treadmills, and occasionally I'll even pick them over trail or road running. You can read my post on treadmills here.

There are a few reasons why you might be getting tired quicker on a track. When you are running on a track you are more prone to (sometimes unconsciously) compete with the other runners around you. So you might end up running faster than you normally would on a leisurely jog in the woods (thus making you tired quicker). If this is the case it's not actually a bad thing! It just means you are doing a more intense workout for a shorter distance, which is important to include in your running routines anyway.

Another reason you might be getting tired quicker is when you are running on the same incline for several miles, you are always targeting the same, very specific muscles, whereas when you incorporate hills or uneven ground into the run you are constantly switching up what muscles you are using. This way, while you are using the muscles that are for hills or lateral movement, your flat ground muscles get a break (and vice versa). This gives your body more of a complete workout and can help you to run longer before experiencing muscle exhaustion.

But with all that said, most likely you are right...you probably are getting tired out of boredom.  Technically speaking, track running is actually easier on your body than any other outdoor running. Your incline is always zero, there are no obstacles to dodge, and your footing is always constant and secure. While it's true that you aren't giving your flat ground muscles any time to rest, you also aren't expending unnecessary energy to jump over sticks or dodge squirrels. But the downside to that is that you aren't giving your brain any distractions from the pain.

To combat this boredom I do several things. When I do laps I start on the inside and move one lap over each lap, and then depending on how long I run I then work my way in again. Not only does this help me keep track of how many laps I have run, but it also adds a little something for my mind to focus on. It breaks up the monotony just a little.

Most of the time when I am running on the track I use it to do intervals, whereas I use my park trails for longer, more leisurely runs. So at every straight-away (or every one on one side of the track, depending on how hardcore I am feeling) I sprint as fast as I can, and then use the rest of the lap as a very slow-paced recovery. You would be surprised...even though you were just sprinting, after a few seconds you won't feel as exhausted as you think and the running will actually feel easier. They key to keeping this up for more than a mile is to really take the recovery part of the lap very easy. By making 100 of every 400 meters a sprint, you will never be bored. You will spend the entire 300 meters recovering and just enjoying the fact that you are allowed to run slow for a while.

Sometimes I do fartlek on the track instead of intervals. This is where you pick an object at a random distance in front of you and sprint like hell to get to it, and then take it easy until you feel like picking another object to sprint to. I like to use people, because it mimics a race scenario and because the track is really the only place that I ever run around people so I take advantage of it. I'll start out doing a couple warm up laps and then I will pick the first person in front of me and sprint to catch up to them. If there are a couple people in front of me I'll pick whichever one is faster (or slower, depending on my mood). Sometimes if the person is just slightly faster than me, I'll race them for a longer distance, like an entire lap, to switch it up and work on endurance. It's totally random, like your own personal game, and you can slow down for however long you feel like in between sprints. You'll never get bored doing this on the track. 

Anytime you start to get bored or tired you should concentrate on your form and your breathing. I wrote a post on this topic here. You should use the other runners on the track as a distraction and as your own personal textbook for running. Learn good form from the good ones, and what not to do from the slow ones. To keep your mind occupied study everything about every runner...down to what clothes they are wearing. You can get ideas of what kind of gear would be helpful to you and also see what inhibits people. You can really learn almost everything you need to know about running just by observing other runners. Take advantage!

I hope that I have been able to help. Just remember that not every run has to be a leisurely 8 miles. I have often done 2 or 3 mile interval or fartlek workouts that have felt equally or more satisfying. If you are feeling exhausted at the end of the run you are doing something right and you should keep it up!

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Happy 2012 everyone! We rang in the new year running, followed by some great fireworks. Perfection.

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when did you start running? what did you do to start and any advice for a someone who wants to do it?

I started running almost exactly 2 years ago...it was a few days after New Years in 2010. My life has completely changed since then, entirely for the better, and I credit almost all of it to running. You should go to my archives and read some of my earlier posts, these ones in particular...

http://runmanda.tumblr.com/post/7181570589/beginning

http://runmanda.tumblr.com/post/7264257517/noexcuses

http://runmanda.tumblr.com/post/8428310811/lastchance

http://runmanda.tumblr.com/post/10994848632/powerofmind

...I explain how and why I started to run, and give a lot of motivation and advice to beginners in these posts.

The hardest part of running is literally getting yourself out the door. Once you are outside the task of running won't seem to be as big a deal.  Begin by putting on your running gear, including your sneakers. Then get all your stuff together...water bottle, ipod, wallet, keys, whatever else you bring. Then leave. Seriously. It sounds ridiculous, but that's the hardest part. You don't have to start running as soon as you get out of your house...if you know that on the other side of that door is immediate torture (running) then it will be a lot harder to motivate to get out there. Walk to the park or the gym or make stretching a 10 minute routine...find a way to ease into the run in a way that you won't dread, but make sure that whatever you do it is bringing you gradually closer to the start of your run. If you say to yourself, "I'll just go to the post office first," or "I'll just get some lunch," you are stopping your momentum and it will be much harder to start your run.

I have written a lot of posts on how to keep up the motivation during your run, so I urge you to look in the archives again to find advice for that.

And for your runs, don't try for too much too fast. Start out trying to do half a mile non-stop. Once you can do that, up it to a mile. Then a mile and a half. Don't worry about your speed at all for a while. Take it really slow. The more manageable your runs feel, the easier it will be to motivate to do them! In the beginning all that matters is that you get out there and RUN. Even if you only run for 5 minutes, the fact that you did something is what matters. I've used this quote before:

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

-Jim Ryum

Hope this has helped! If you have any other questions I am happy to help out in any way that I can!

[runmanda-blog-blog]

New Years Resolution tips...

With the New Year coming up, I'm sure a lot of you have some resolutions on your mind. Eat healthier, drink less alcohol, quit smoking, watch less TV, stop being addicted to your iphone, exercise more, etc etc. Here are some tips to help start out the new year right.

Don't set your goals too high. If your resolutions aren't realistic you will be much more likely to get discouraged and give up quickly because you won't be able to live up to your expectations. Instead of saying, "I'm not going to eat any junk food at all in 2012," just cut back a bit. When you buy groceries get mostly healthy options but also occasionally include your favorite unhealthy snack. Then instead of binging on an entire package in one sitting allow yourself to eat 2 cookies (or whatever it is) for dessert every day. Your resolution should be to eat (or do) whatever you want to cut back on in moderation, NOT to cut it out altogether. Instead of cutting back on junk food you could make your resolution be to eat a generous portion of vegetables at dinner every night, no exceptions. The key is to make your resolution manageable, not superhuman.

Don't make too many resolutions. If you have too many on your plate you will feel completely overwhelmed day to day trying to manage your new, completely different lifestyle. Pick one or two resolutions and stick to them. Your mind will explode if you are constantly trying to keep track of how much you exercised, ate, watched TV, smoked, drank, blah blah blah every second of every day. Who you are already is great...there is no need to become an entirely different person overnight (not to mention keeping that up in the long term would be impossible). To become a better version of you it will take a lot of patience and gradual changes, one thing at a time.

Make more than one resolution in a year, but space them out over a few months. If you have a few goals that you want to reach by 2013, start with the most manageable one this January. Work on that for a few months, and once you feel like you have that mastered you can introduce another resolution. 

RUN! (or exercise). You might not realize that 90% of resolutions can be achieved simply by following through on one: running (or exercising). If you start to run in 2012 you will get in shape, lose weight, eat healthier (because your body won't want those gross fats that make you feel sluggish on your runs), watch less TV and be on your phone/internet less (because you will be running instead), drink less alcohol (because you won't want to run hungover anymore), and cut down on smoking if you are a smoker (because smoking makes running much more difficult). Not to mention it will de-stress your life, give you an outlet to figure out your problems, give you self confidence and more energy to put towards doing other things you want to do, make you happier, and altogether make 2012 a great year!

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If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Happy holidays everyone! I thought you all might need a little extra encouragement and/or motivation this time of year to make yourselves get out there and RUN! I know it's hard to find the time this time of year, but even if you run 10 minutes as soon as you get up in the morning you will not regret it! It's better to keep up your workout regimen (even if it is slightly less than normal) than to completely fall of the horse and lose all the progress you have made so far. Think of how much more you will be able to enjoy those holiday cookies if you know that you ran that morning. How many calories you are burning doesn't matter over the holidays...what matters is that you are keeping your metabolism working, so anything that gets you sweating for more than a couple minutes will do the trick!

I want to remind everyone that exercising is not easy! If it was easy, everyone would do it. It is friggin hard to motivate yourself to run on a regular basis. You are one of the few. Only 6% of Americans get enough exercise. You are one of 6 percent!! But I have to point out that there are more than 311 million Americans, which means that about 18.5 million Americans are exercising every day...and more than 68 million are exercising three to four times a week. If 68 MILLION people can do it, you can too.

6 percent of Americans adults get 30 minutes of exercise a day

22 percent exercise three to four times per week

19 percent walk or bike instead of taking transportation

41 percent take the stairs whenever possible

33 percent regularly park their cars farther from their destination to get in extra walking

Read full article here.

The holidays are an excuse to eat some extra treats and run a little less, but they are not an excuse to take one or two weeks off! It's better to keep up your regular routine with less time or distance per run than to take time off and try to work extra hard to make up for it in a couple weeks. Regular activity, however slight, will be much better for your metabolism in the long run. Keep up your routine and you will be a lot happier with yourself come 2012! So guys, have a great time in the next couple weeks, eat some well deserved pie, and most importantly...keep up the running!

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How to keep up motivation during a run and NOT QUIT!

I recently received a question asking for advice on how to keep up motivation during a workout. This person found that they would always only do the minimum, and sometimes would consciously even give up early but couldn't figure out how to make themselves stop. I'm sure this is a problem for many, many of you out there, so here is my advice.

I want you to take a moment to remember what motivated you to start running in the first place. When you reach that point in your run where you are about to quit, remind yourself why you are running. 

Picture your ultimate goal. Do you want it? The only way to get it is to make a plan and stick to it, every time. The fact that you are already running means that you can do it. The images you see all over tumblr of people who started out 300 pounds and now are down to 150 didn't do it by quitting 2 minutes early because "that's good enough." They did it by running 2 minutes longer. People who run marathons don't quit at mile 25 because "eh, I still ran 25 miles...that's good enough." The next time you want to run for 30 minutes and find yourself making excuses at 28, think of this...in your head 2 minutes doesn't seem like it's going to make much difference but those 2 minutes add up to 6, 8, 10 minutes weekly...which adds up to an ENTIRE run (or more) lost in the course of a month. At 28 minutes, you're already exhausted, you already feel like you are dying, why not just keep going? Wouldn't you rather have an entire day off running than quit 2 minutes early every time? 

Now take a long, hard, look at WHY you are quitting so often. What excuses are you making, and how can you do something to make those excuses not valid anymore? Use your rational, pre-run, motivated self to get rid of all of the excuses that your tired, during-run self will try to come up with. Turn off your phone. Charge your ipod. If it's hot inside turn on the fan before you even start. If it's cold outside purchase cold-weather running gear so that you can't use that as an excuse to stop early. Etc. etc.

There's the all-too-familiar excuse of, "I'm bored." If you find that you are quitting early because you are bored then you should try to switch up your workout to make it more interesting. First, vary the time, distance, incline, and intensity of each of your workouts. If you run, say, 20 minutes 3 times a week for 10 years straight, not only will you be bored to death but you'll still gain weight because your body won't be challenged and so your metabolism won't really increase. But if you run 20 minutes one time, then 30 minutes uphill, then 40 minutes easy, then 25 with some intervals, etc etc...not only will your metabolism be getting kicked into gear, but you won't be as bored at every workout because you will constantly be tackling new and different challenges. And trust me, after doing 20 minutes of intense hills, running for 30 minutes straight on flat ground the next time will feel like a dream.

If you are a treadmill runner you could also try running outside every so often. Even if you hate it, you won't quit from boredom, and the change will boost your metabolism. Map out a route that is a little more than you usually run and pick a landmark as your finish line. I find that I am less likely to quit early if I have a physical goal instead of running by the clock. You could also try adding new music to your ipod so that you are actually excited to hear it while you are running instead of being bored with the same old songs again. Put your favorite song at the end, past the time that you usually stop running. If you watch TV while running on the treadmill, run during your FAVORITE show. I'm talking, don't miss a single episode, ever. Run slow enough that you can still pay attention to the show, but make a rule that if you stop running before the show is over you can never watch the part you miss later.

If your excuse is, "I'll just do more tomorrow instead," please acknowledge right now that you are telling yourself a bold-faced lie. Tomorrow will be no different from today. If you quit today you will quit tomorrow. It will never end. And if you keep it up, your motivation is going to get less and less and before you know it your metabolism is going to follow suit. And one day you won't even run anymore. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again...running is 90% mental strength, 10% physical. If you are finding that your mind is the one that is failing you by telling you it's okay to quit early, maybe you should take a step back and focus on training your mind instead of your body right now. Stop focusing on speed or distance or time. Instead make a specific running schedule at the beginning of the week AND STICK TO IT. For example, "Monday-630pm-30 minute run on treadmill, Weds-8pm-20 minute intervals of 1 min sprint, 2 min jog, Fri-6pm-20 minutes of hill program on treadmill, Sun-11am-3 mile run outside, from my mailbox to the Smith's mailbox and back to my mailbox." Your only goal for that week is to run when you say you will run, for the amount of time that you allotted, no less.

It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop.

-Tumblr default quote, Wisdom of Confucius 

Another tactic is to start thinking this: "If I do it today, I don't have to do it tomorrow." This was my #1 motivating thought at the beginning, and actually still is today. My reward for running was not running! Before you run, set a goal for yourself. Say you usually run 3 miles (or however many minutes you usually do). Tell yourself that if you run 4 miles today, you can take tomorrow off. But if you quit before 4 then you have to start all over tomorrow and run 4 again. This way the reward (a guilt-free day off) is so much better than the consequence for quitting, that even your exhausted self will recognize the benefit of just running those extra minutes. Of course once my day off came I would always remind myself again, "If I just run today I can take tomorrow off instead," which motivated me to actually continue to run most days.

I am at the point now where I rarely know how long I will be out running for...all I know is that I will be running for at least X minutes or miles, but 75% of the time I go longer. You can get there, but only if you WANT to, and only if you focus on training your mind to think that quitting is unacceptable. I know you want this...that's why you run! So take some time to train your mind out of those excuses, and before you know it you will run to your goal every single time.

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I'd rather run there.

During my vacation in Paris, not surprisingly, I ran to most of the sites. The thought of doing that would have been appalling to me 3 years ago. But then you get there sweaty! You'll look disgusting in the pictures! You will smell bad to the people around you!

True, true, and true. So what?

Here's the honest truth: when you are a tourist, people aren't looking at you. They are looking at the Eiffel Tower (or the Notre Dame, etc etc). Chances are, no matter how sweaty and smelly you are, you are not nearly as disgusting as 25% of the tourists around you are naturally. Think of the 20-yr-old backpackers who haven't showered in a month and are carrying around bed bugs on their clothes. Think of the mother over there who just had her kid throw up on her or pee his pants. Think of the 60-yr-old women over there who have had too much plastic surgery and who make you gag from their overuse of perfume. Tourists are gross. Just embrace it and be one of them. And when you look back at your photos you're not going to be seeing that specific photo...you're going to be taken back to the memory of the trip...which will be of how awesome it was to be young and fit enough to run everywhere you went. And you probably don't look as bad as you think you do.

When I went to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time I ran 5 miles to get there.

To see the Notre Dame another day I ran 3 miles. This is me when I got there. You can't tell that I am actually drenched in sweat.

And after I was done running and I realized it was 40 degrees outside and my sweaty clothes turned into an icebox? I had my husband meet me there with warm, dry clothes that I changed into in the middle of the Notre Dame. Yes, I took my bra off under an oversized coat inside the the most famous church of all time. So the fact that this is what I looked like for the rest of the day...

...doesn't really bother me considering the memories created.

So the next time you visit somewhere new, forget about leaving your exercise routine at home...consider running to get to the sites! You will get there quicker and be able to see so much more of your surroundings! Not to mention you will feel happier and healthier, and much more entitled to that chocolate croissant later.

[runmanda-blog-blog]

I won't be keeping up on my blog for a while because I am on vacation in Paris. That's me in the foreground going on my morning run. Not a bad view!

Keep up the running guys! See you in December.

[runmanda-blog-blog]

THAT'S motivation. What would you have done in this situation? Would you have given up or would you have made yourself crawl to the finish? I'm willing to bet that now that you have seen this video, if you are ever in that position you will remember this guy and fight to the end. SUCH AN INSPIRATION.

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I've mentioned before in my posts how important it is to stay relaxed when running outside, but this video really explains it well. When I'm running on trails I am so used to it that I don't even realize I'm doing anything different until I run with other people who only run on the road or treadmill and I see them struggling. Fear is the only thing holding you back!