4 tips to get started
(how to skip any excuse may come to your mind)
Raise your hand, if you twist in your blankets every time you set your clock early in the morning to go running, instead of facing a busy working day comforted by a hot shower and a good breakfast.
It’s true: running, soon after waking up can sound as a sacrifice, but if you don’t try you cannot seize the benefits in terms of stockpiled energy and emotional reward.And, suddenly, the idea of lacing up your sneakers disappears. Or at least is far more acceptable!
Now, these are the 4 basic tips to start:
1) Shorts,sneakers, water, keys: everything ready!
Remember what your parents used to say at school times? “Get you books done and don’t loose time to check your homework at the very last moment?”. Yes, it also applies to running: double-check all you need, before going to sleep.It is important to have all you need near your door, so to optimize precious time, call excuses off and wait for the second alarm clock ( the real one :) )
2) A quick warm-up
Even if you are an enthustiastic, jumping from the bed to the running route can be traumatic and shouldn’be immediate.Reserve 5 to 10 minutes to warm up: muscles always are affected by the stiffness of the awakening; mildly warming up legs, arms and spine muscles with quick and adequate exercise is a good way to favor transition from rest to physical activity.
3) Don’t do it alone
Running on your own can be boring and thus not motivating at all.When you start doing something hard and new, without any help or encouragement ,frustration is usually the first barrier to overthrow. It’s more or less like that sense of obligation to joing the gym, ‘cause deep in your soul you know you’re never going to do abs or crunch by yourself at home, when the recurring thought is hitting the couch and set your tv on.That’s why scheduling running with a friend on a training same level is important. Next, you will get a step ahead: joining a group.
4) Enjoy your reward
Rewading for your workout is a benefit that helps building an habit and considering morining running a pleasure, instead of a suffering. Yes, your mind goes to that chocolate bar but there’s a bunch of healthy and yummy food to choosefrom, useful not to vanish all your efforts and training and perfect to gratify yourself.
We will get deep into this topic in our next posts.
Photo Credit: Sonja Langford
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