A new year always brings along new hopes for the season. The beginning of the every year always presents a good opportunity for me to start thinking of what I want to achieve for the year ahead. It’s time to set some running goals and fitness resolutions.
I used to think that setting goals and resolutions is useless, if I am not able to fulfil all of it. However my thinking has changed over the years. Now I think that with a goal set, at least I have a target to work towards it. Even by achieving 50% of all my goals in a year is better than achieving none of it. I know I am actually taking steps and confidently moving closer to where I want to be.
At the moment, 2018 has already passed. Whatever target we missed in 2018 has already passed and there is nothing we can do about it. 2019 now will present us a perfect opportunity to restart our goals and work towards what we want in life.
One of my new year resolutions is to be able to run well this year. Here are the 5 tips that I would like to share on how to run well in 2019.
1. Just Get Started
I used to be a perfectionist. I think that in order to run well, I must have the best training program being drafted out, having the most ideal training gear etc. So I spent a lot of time setting up the “perfect” training program or the most ideal plan. This process takes up so much of my time and I am actually wasting time planning instead running. I also discover that even with the most ideal training program, I would have missed out some of the training days due to illness or unforeseen circumstances.
No doubt having a plan is important, but what is more important is to start running. So while planning for it, just start running. Plans can change along the way. There is no best moment or circumstances to run. Just head out now and start running. Don’t worry about the distance or the duration, just get running. That will be the best start to your new year running resolution.
2. Knowing Your Joy in Running
Anything that you think is a chore, you will procrastinate and dread doing it. Similarly for running, one of the reasons that most of us could not keep up the running is because we take running as a chore.
However, if we can find out and know our joy in running, then the running process becomes easy. It will become the highlight of our day. I can still remember in my university days, I will always look forward to my running training. Even on days where I know in advance that the training will be tough and tiring. Then, running to me is a joy. The training can really take the stress and boredom out of my studies, and I can truly spent time to talk to my inner self. Therefore I always look forward to it and it is definitely a highlight of the day to me.
3. Find a Running Support Group
Alone, it is sometimes very difficult for us to sustain the running discipline. As each of us has a limited amount of discipline. Being in a running support group, there will be encouragements, social support and training team mates to help us when we are tried or decided to slack. My team mates are one of my best motivations to keep me going.
4. Join races
Everytime I signed up for a race, I have actually set up a target for me to work on. I will start training for it. Even if I did not start training early, once that race date draw close, my body clock will tell me to start training for it. So I will naturally head out for a run. Those regular races that I have signed up for actually kept me on the toes and helped me to keep up with my training.
5. Rest well and eat well
Resting well and eating well are part of running well. A tired and fatigue body will generally be more lethargic. It will take double amount of discipline to keep up the running routine. Imagine if you are fully exhausted everyday, how will you look forward to running at the end of the day? Same goes for diet, a good diet will give the body the sufficient and correct nutrients to recovery and to build a fit body.