*While I'm out...: Today, I'm excited to have a guest post from Carly from CarlyBananas! I love reading Carly's blog -- especially because she lives in the DC-area and I can often relate to many of her running stories. Plus, she's hilarious -- on the blog and in real life :) Check out the guest post below and be sure to add Carly to your regular reading list!
I’ve had a bit of a tumultuous relationship with running
lately… so much so that I wrote it a break up letter back in
November. I went from feeling like this about running:
To just totally resenting every run and disliking every
mile. But now that it’s been
awhile, I’m slowly making my way back to running and finding a method to make
it easier on myself. Here are my top tips for getting back into running after a
break – without making yourself crazy:
1.
Go easy.
Think about your easy runs before you took a break and go easier and
shorter. My first few runs back
have been quite slow and based totally on exertion and not time. I didn’t wear my Garmin and I just
turned on my Nike+ app and locked my phone screen and just put it in my
pocket. Think about breathing and feeling comfortable and don’t worry about
time!
2.
Don’t worry about signing up for a goal
race. I know, it’s the opposite of
what most people say when people start running: sign up for a race to motivate
yourself. But I’ve found that the
easiest way to re-burnout is to get right back into planning for a race and
making sure I’m covering a fixed number of miles. This spring, I don’t have a goal race. If I find a race I
want to do then I’ll sign up and do it. It
feels freeing to just run to run.
3.
Try some new routes. Like Ericka, I’m lucky to live near some of the most
gorgeous scenery in the country.
Go and see something new on your
runs. If you live somewhere where
that’s not an option, try running your normal route in reverse or try running
at a different time of day. Even the smallest change in routine can
make a run feel new and exciting.
4.
Try planning your runs in minutes. When I’m fortunate enough to go on a lunch
run during the work day it a nice change to think of my run in terms of
minutes. It doesn’t matter how far
I go or how fast I’m running. I only have a fixed amount of time to run at
lunch, usually around 45 minutes, and I want to make the most out of it. As the time ticks by I wish I had more
time to run before going back to work. It totally changes that “Oh, I need to
run 3-4 miles” to “Yay, 45 minutes away from my desk!”
5.
Remember
that this is a hobby. Sometimes I fall into the trap of taking running
really seriously. But really, this is just my hobby and I will never be any
level of a professional. If a
hobby starts becoming to stressful or not fun, it’s time to reevaluate. A lot of people have really
inspirational running mantras…mine is “This is your hobby and you love what
you’re doing.”
Do you have any tips
that I missed? Have you ever taken an extended break from running and then
gotten back into it?
