motivation

10 Ways to Make Running Fun: How to Overcome Your Running Dread

Published on August 17, 2020 By Mia Kercher

Finding ways to make running fun will help you push through the hard parts and transform running from a chore into a hobby.

Do you hear your friends talk about running and feel a guilty, terrified surge of dread in your gut?

Here’s why.

Anytime you’ve considered weight loss, getting in shape, or following your dream to run a marathon someday, you knew it all started with running consistently.

But no matter how many couch to 5K plans you’ve downloaded, no matter how many new running shoes you’ve bought, and no matter how many New Year’s resolutions you’ve promised, you just hate running.

You know you need to run, but you can’t get into it.

Why You Hate Running and How to Get Over It

The fact is, running is never fun when you first start. But your red, sweaty face and feeling of defeat already told you that.

Here are the main reasons most people hate running in the beginning.

It’s Hard to Get Motivated

If you’ve already tried running and didn’t enjoy it, that negative association will pop into your head every time you think about hitting the pavement.

The devil on your shoulder will convince you that you’ll be miserable.

But getting started is half the battle.

You Feel Self-Conscious

You’re embarrassed when you have to stop for a walk break.

Even seasoned marathon runners stop for walk breaks. The Jeff Galloway run walk method claims you can run faster and healthier when you rest.

You’re a little heavier than you want to be and you’re afraid people might notice.

You’re not running for other people, are you? You’re running for yourself.

Just remind yourself why you’re doing this and visualize crossing the finish line of your first marathon.

You Don’t Have a Running Buddy

You can still keep your friends accountable by tracking your runs online and posting them to social media. Besides, without a running partner, you can move at your own pace and run without coordinating schedules.

Learn to entertain yourself and enjoy the run on your own.

How?

Take it one step at a time. Try out new ideas and see what works. That’s why this guide suggests 10 ways to make running fun.

Why Consistency Is the First Step to Love Running

Before you do anything else, understand the importance of consistency when it comes to running. Running is not a short-term game. You won’t reap the benefits unless you follow through.

If you’ve started running and stopped running in the past, you never gave your body the chance to get used to it.

You only allowed yourself the negative experiences without pushing for the positive effects of running.

When you don’t run consistently, you never get good at it, which means you’ll never grow to love it.

You know that running could change your life for the better. You want to taste the glory of finishing a race. You want to bask in that runner’s high.

But if you don’t stick with it, you’ll never feel those sweet victories.

Running makes other workouts more effective.

You always need a cardio element in your weekly routine. Even if running isn’t your main goal, it will help you succeed in other exercises like weightlifting.

Many weightlifting trainers recommend that their clients only lift 3 days of the week, while running or cycling for the other two.

Once you’re a runner, you can build community with other runners.

After you get better at running, you can join other runners. Having people to run with on the weekends, and having friends to discuss running techniques are both invaluable.

Passion is contagious.

When you start making friends who run, you’ll pick up on their enthusiasm. And you’ll be less likely to quit halfway through.

10 Ways to Make Running Fun

1. Tap Into Your Inner Competitive Monster

Now’s the time to let loose.

Don’t hold back.

Let it all out.

Find satisfaction in each landmark. When you hit a mile, pat yourself on the back. When you reach a 5K, applaud it. And when you run your first 10K, don’t be afraid to brag about it.

When you celebrate every success, you can’t wait to get started on each small goal on the way to ultimate achievement.

2. People-Watch

If you’re not a competitive person, enjoy the people around you. Bring yourself to the present moment, spectating the behaviors of families and other athletes.

Take note of the techniques other runners are using. You might pick up a thing or two.

3. Make a Killer Playlist

It’s easy to go on Spotify and search for “running playlists,” but don’t do that. Take the time to tailor your own playlist with music that will motivate and inspire you.

Reach back to your early 2000’s pop-loving teenager. Jam out to guilty pleasures like Avril Lavigne or Brittany Spears.

If that doesn’t do it for you, let a quick, steady beat guide you into running faster. Run the Jewels, Princess Nokia, and Kari Fox have given me some of my fastest running times.

4. Listen to Audiobooks or Podcasts

Some people find music too abstract and feel more engaged with a definite storyline to follow. If you pick a captivating plot, it will motivate you to run every day so you can find out how the story ends.

5. Do a Mud Run

If you find running boring, join a mud run, color race, or run an obstacle course. All of these are group contests that involve lots of mud, paint, and big ojects to jump over.

You can’t escape without getting dirty and taking a selfie for your social media. These events are so exciting you’ll forget about discomfort or sore muscles and just focus on enjoying yourself.

10 Ways to Make Running Fun: How to Overcome Your Running Dread 2

6. Download and Play Zombies, Run!

For sci-fi and horror fanatics, the app, Zombies, Run! will scare you into running.

Once you download it, start running or jogging and the app will concoct a story for you. If the zombies start chasing, you’ll have to run faster. The game has lots of elements, with supplies you need to pick up to win the game.

Need to do some interval training? You can pick programs to match your running goals for the day. The app is a great way to take your mind off running and let the narrator be your trainer.

7. Treat Running Like Your “Me Time”

Try shifting your focus during the run. Instead of telling yourself, “I hate this,” and, “I have to do this,” think of it as a chance to give your body the health it deserves. If you live with family or roommates, it’s an opportunity to be alone, reflect on your day, or even zone out.

Your thoughts have no obligations during a run. They can pass through with no importance or significance. Just say, “Right now I’m running and I don’t have to worry about anything else.”

It’s a form of meditation.

8. Reward Your Achievements With New Gear

Instead of buying new sneakers or workout clothes before you get into running, wait until you’ve reached your first goal, and then reward yourself.

This way, you’ll train your body to expect an exciting new gadget when you reach a target. This tactic removes the guilt that many feel after spending money on an un-used object.

9. Join a Running Group

Going out for drinks can get expensive and can be unproductive. For a healthy alternative to drinking with friends, try running together.

If your friends aren’t interested in running, you can always join a group through Meetup and build new relationships on a foundation of common interest.

As a matter of fact, when I met my partner we went running for the first several dates. It was a low-pressure way to get to know each other while building healthy habits at the same time.

10. Finish With a Beer

You can’t buy yourself new running gear every time you finish a workout. But stopping by a local pub and treating yourself to a beverage enforces a positive attitude toward running.

Having something to look forward to after your run diminishes that devil on your shoulder that tells you not to run.

11. Train For a Race

Now that you’ve learned tips and techniques to get over your running dislikes, use your new ways to make running fun, and sign up for a race.

Setting a date and reserving a spot is a powerful motivator to stick with your training plan. Start with a distance you find challenging but can still see yourself completing. After you reach that goal, sign up for another until you reach the marathon.

Download one of our customizable training plans for all race distances. Choose the one that motivates you the best and then implement your new-found running hacks.

12. Join Our 7 Day Running Motivation Challenge

We’ve created a 7 Day Running Mindset and Motivation Challenge designed by expert running coaches to light a fire under your running motivation!

Check out the introduction video here and commit to creating good habits for the next 7 days!

What Did You Do During The Downtime?

Published on March 23, 2020 By Thomas Watson

This year, many of us will be facing an unexpected, and perhaps unwelcome, period of extra free time.

Whether you’re suddenly working fewer hours, or find yourself stuck at home, life has likely been upended.

Plans, vacations, and – of course – races have all been scuppered by external events imposed on us.

And while the future remains highly uncertain regarding if and when normality will ever return, we can choose to think about how best to spend the time in front of us right now.

Rather than repeat the latest medical advice and projections that are flying around the internet, today I thought I’d offer some thoughts on goals, races, and how to think about the time you’ve been given.

What Did You Do During The Downtime? 3 — Stuck indoors? Time to pivot.

Throwing Out Old Goals

If you’re a regular reader of this blog there’s a good chance your 2020 race has been canceled or postponed, maybe in the final weeks of your training.

At the same time, you may be suddenly finding yourself confined to the indoors – whether self-imposed or otherwise – with little chance to get outside and run.

Not only have your race plans been wrenched out from under your feet, you’ve probably also lost the ability to go out a run.

Which sucks.

Running isn’t just about getting ready for your next race. It’s about staying fit, having personal time, working on yourself, and doing a therapeutic activity time.

And now you find yourself less, or not at all, able to run.

It could go on for months.

The question is, how are you going to react?

Seeing The Opportunity In Newly Available Time

Most of us are facing some combination of the following factors:

Your current race / goal has been canceled due to external events.

You can’t go running – at least not as freely as before.

You’ve got unplanned additional time on your hands.

You don’t know how long all this is going to last.

As any good stoic would tell you, the situation in front of us – while undeniably tragic – is also ripe with opportunity.

In years to come, this may be a period where people look back and recount the unexpected stories of compassion, human triumph, and underdog success stories.

Just look at the number of game-changing businesses born during recessions for evidence of opportunity in turbulence and hardship.

What You Can Do

Be Of Service

For those of us fortunate to be healthy and able, the best way you can spend free time is to be of service.

Whether it’s by looking after elderly relatives and neighbors, doing chores for those who can’t, or donating time, money, and resources to relevant causes.

Selfishly, being of service to those who need it feels undeniably good.

When we get to the other end of this tough time, you’ll likely be most proud of the actions you took which helped others.

Exercise for Physical and Mental Wellbeing

Helping yourself is arguably as important as helping others – you need to be fit, strong, and capable before you can be of service. You also want to at least maintain your fitness levels.

And while your running may be curtailed, being stuck indoors is actually no excuse for not doing exercise each day.

There’s a slew of home workout videos on Youtube to follow, including this one .

Likewise, you can commit to completing a daily challenge. There’s all kinds of online daily challenges available – and more popping up every day.

Join our Daily Plank Challenge over on our FB group, or join my SPAR 100 push-ups every day challenge (iPhone users only).

Set a New Exercise Goal

So your race has been postponed or canceled, and you’re left feeling like you’ve been robbed of the goal you’ve been training for.

In these times, it can help to pivot and aim for a completely new physical goal – one which you can complete from home.

Here are some ideas I’ve picked up from friends and community members online:

Train to do a handstand, then progress to walking on hands. (Start with practicing handstands against the wall, then do handstand push-ups, then alternative hand lifts while in handstand, then stand to move away from the wall).

Work on flexibility and core strength. Runners are often an unbalanced lot – all that mileage tends to shorten and tighten a lot of those muscles around the pelvis and hip area, and these weaknesses are actually responsible for a huge percentage of all running injuries. Adopt a new training programme, focussing on daily stretching, foam rolling, and flexibility. Online yoga classes are perfect for this.

Move to the treadmill or stationary bike. Maintain your cardio fitness by moving your training onto indoors equipment, and setting yourself goals of training for hours on end.

Do That One Thing You’ve Always Wanted To

Everyone has a few ideas of things they’d love to pursue, if only they had a little more time. It’s the kind of thing that appears on your New Year’s Resolution list, then disappears when you realise it’s too big a commitment.

It might be learning a language, tackling an epic book, or starting a passion project.

Well guess what?

Now you’ve got the time.

Remember that in years to come, people may ask you what your life was like during the 2020 downtime.

Picture yourself replying “I finally learned Spanish“, or “I turned the garden into a vegetable patch“, or “I wrote a manuscript I’d had in my head for years.“

Whatever it is, you’ve now got the time.

Become A Better Runner

Even if you’re stuck indoors, you can always be working on your running game.

I’m currently offering 30% discount on all our books and courses to everyone stuck at home – just use the code LOCKDOWN at checkout.

Need to light a fire under your run training?

Try our 7 Day Motivation and Mindset Challenge – designed to give you that boost!

Got a Marathon on the horizon?

Join our flagship course, the Marathon Training Masterclass, and nail those 26.2 miles!

Progressing to the world of ultras?

Use the code LOCKDOWN for 30% the above courses today.

How are you planning to spend this period of unexpected downtime?

Running Motivation: 11 Ways To Regain Your Running Mojo

Last updated on Mar 12, 2020 By Thomas Watson

Your running motivation is a fickle thing.

Sometimes it’s burning bright, powering you through dark and cold early morning runs.

At other times, it’s nowhere to be seen – and it feels impossible to muster the enthusiasm to even put on your running shoes.

If you’re currently suffering from a lack of running mojo, then take heart in the fact that you’re in good company.

At some point, practically every runner out there has lost their sense of innate motivation for running.

You may be suffering from burnout, whether from overtraining or simply from overwhelm in different areas of your life.

Or it could be that you’ve just lost the enthusiasm you once had for running.

You want to be an enthusiastic runner, but when it comes time to perform you just can’t find the energy.

Even if and when you eventually go for a run, things don’t feel the same. Your pace is shot, you’re bored, and you’re constantly looking to cut short your run and just go home.

Losing your running mojo can have a serious impact on your well-being – which sucks.

So let’s explore some possible reasons for losing that running motivation, then look at ways to get it back – and get back to your old self.

Let’s jump in!

How To Regain Your Running Mojo

Here are our recommendations for rekindling your running motivation – they might not all work for you, so pick the ones which you feel could help and try them out!

1. Ensure You’re Booking Proper Downtime

Often overlooked by runners – especially those with Type-A personalities – is the value of putting aside time for recovery, and relaxation.

We often spend too much of our waking hours in a ‘fight or flight’ state; whether it’s during exercise, or in a stressful environment.

While it might seem trivial at first, constantly being in this ‘fight or flight’ state (also known as a sympathetic state) inhibits your recovery process. Rack this up for a few days without any relaxing time, you can kill your running motivation and you’re heading towards physical and mental burnout.

Spending some time each day in a relaxed state means your brain is producing dopamine – the ‘happiness chemical‘ – and sending signals to your body to repair broken down tissues, relieve stress levels, and encourage sleep.

So book some active relaxation in your daily schedule – whether it’s hanging out with friends and family, Netflix binges, or a walk in nature (which you don’t log on Strava).

2. Stop Tuning Out Of Your Run (Ditch the Phone)

When running becomes a regular part of your routine, it’s common to start to find it a little monotonous.

Cue the earphones, and a good podcast / audiobook / Cyndi Lauper / artist of your choice.

While listening to audio can be a good way to make the most of your time on the trails, it often leads us to ‘tune out’ out the run.

When we do this, we’re actively seeking to numb ourselves from the outside world, the here and now.

Over time, this creates the association in our brain that running is simply an obligation – something that we have to get through, and need to find ways to make it as painless as possible.

Well, guess what? It’s not true.

We’ve made running boring by choosing to force it into the background.

Next time you go for a run, leave the smartphone at home.

Improve your running motivation – focus on your breath, your steps, and listening to the ambiance.

3. Run For Yourself

Strava – and other activity tracking apps – are awesome tools.

However, they can be responsible for changing how you think about running.

Resist the temptation to compare your progress with other runners, or feel you’re being judged by your performance.

It’s easy to get into the mindset that you should be constantly bagging new PRs for different segments, or show a constant rate of improvement.

But this is an unhealthy habit – you’re mixing your reasons for running with external opinions. When you’re always running to try to impress or improve, it’s natural that you’ll eventually burn out.

Take the time to run for yourself, regardless of the pace or results – and you’ll feel your running motivation soar.

4. Change The Scenery

Running the same routes every day can become monotonous, and it’s easy to get stuck in a rut.

Give your running mojo a temporary shot in the arm by finding somewhere new to run.

Always running in town?

Take some transport and head off to find some trails.

Being surrounded by nature has also been shown to boost your mojo.

5. Mix Up Your Run Training

A huge risk for regular runners is that they get into a running routine, where they run the same distance and same pace every day.

Over time, their pace becomes a solemn trudge, their workout becomes monotonous.

I’ve been there, doing my 25 minute 5k’s every day. After a while it gets boring, and you lose the spark that drives your running performance.

Sometimes it’s necessary to shake up your running a little.

Introduce a new element, like hill repeats or intervals – they engage different muscles and wake things up a little.

It’s nice to go from a monotonous plod to an all-out sprint from time to time; it reminds you of what running is all about.

Not a fan of speed work? Try a tempo run, or a long slow run instead where you push the boundaries of how far you feel you can run – and boost your running motivation.

6. Cross Train

Still finding that you are just bored with all those miles?

Does the idea of putting on your running shoes repel you?

Don’t turn running into something you don’t enjoy – take the necessary time away from it.

(I’m speaking from experience here!).

Instead, redirect your athletic leanings towards cross training.

Whether it’s running-related resistance and strength training, swimming, yoga, or something completely different – find a different activity that gives you energy, as opposed to drawing it away.

Running will always be there for you to come back to.

7. Take The Necessary Time Off Running

Don’t have the motivation to cross train, or do anything?

You might be suffering from burnout – a condition that is as much a mental / emotional one as a physical one.

Some common symptoms of burn-out include reduced appetite, trouble sleeping, inhibited athletic performance and irritability.

If this sounds like you, then the best remedy is rest and relaxation.

Try to find something that gives you energy, whether it’s walks in nature or reading.

Let go of the pressure to perform and maintain your running fitness – it will always be available for you, but if you continue to try and train through burnout, it’s likely you’ll just suffer more.

8. Buy New Gear

To get a quick motivational ‘shot in the arm‘, go and buy yourself some nice new running shoes or treat yourself to the latest GPS watch.

While the affects won’t necessarily be long lasting, having some new gear to play with can temporarily excite and encourage you to push on.

9. Find Your Tribe

Running with a group, or one other person, is a totally different experience to running alone.

You’ve got company, you stick together, you share a pace and some conversation.

Studies have shown that running with others can improve your performance – but it also keeps you motivated and helps the time pass faster too.

If you’re feeling the pain from running alone all the time, consider finding a running buddy – or join your local running club.

10. Be Inspired By Others

Another way to give your running motivation a shot-in-the-arm is to expose yourself to inspirational stories.

Whether it’s listening to an ultrarunning hero like David Goggins talk about his relentless passion for never giving up, or watching Kristina Paltén’s moving TED Talk How To Dance With Life, there are plenty of stories out there to inspire your running journey.

Looking for something to read instead?

Many people were inspired by the book Born To Run, to either try ultra-running, minimalist running, or a bit of both.

11. Try a 7 Day Running Challenge

In search of something that will act like a defibrillator to your running mojo?

If you want to push your limits, do something uncomfortable, and form new healthy routines and habits, consider our 7-Day Running Mindset and Motivation Challenge!

What You Have To Do:

Wake up early every morning and go for a 30 minute run: first thing.

What You Will Receive:

A structured 7-day challenge plan
Daily check-ins with guidance, support, and supplemental challenges
Access to exclusive video guides on mindset and motivation
Access to our Facebook group to share progress and accountability, and ask questions
Printable 7-day calendar

Intrigued?

Check out the full curriculum for our 7-Day Running Mindset and Motivation Challenge!

Have you struggled with losing your running mojo?

Share your experiences and suggestions below – leave a comment!