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Runners: What keeps you going? What's your motivation for running?
I have been running for 10 years. Since October 2019 I have run everyday without missing a single day. During the week I have little time and run 2-3 miles but on the weekends I try for 5-6 miles. I have made the occasional 10+ mile runs and find that at some point around mile 7 it becomes "How far can I really go today if I get through this mile." The only motivator I have is not breaking my daily run streak, nothing fancy. I know others have motivators to get into shape for a marathon or other event. What's your running motivation?
I run two or three times a week. My motivation is really quite simple... Running lets me eat more without getting fat and has the added bonus of increasing my fitness, longevity (probably) and wellbeing.
Yes! I should have mentioned this. With two bakers in the house and something sweet always available I like to eat without noticing the side effects as much!
Yes running is basically my little calorie goblin. I usually eat back half of whatever I think I burned. That said, when you have those good runs it feels really good. It's an important puzzle piece in keeping my head together.
I love your username. Is that a Bobiverse reference?
Yes it is! I'm actually planning a series re-read on here in the next week or two to celebrate book five's imminent release (no announcements yet, but i'm betting on the end of the year.)
Excellent. I am currently on book two of my re-read. I'm listening to the audiobooks. They are exceptional.
I use the "Garmin Coach" feature with my watch and I like to keep the confidence level of my coach in the high green or purple. I also stick to the schedule set by the coach to keep me accountable.
I have the Fenix 6X but never used to coaching feature. I do pay attention to where my V02 Max stays and if I'm in the maintaining or productive zones. I gave my wife a Garmin watch a few years back just because she wanted to get notifications without having her phone out and the coach started by default and got her running. Now she runs 3-4 times a week.
I mostly run on a treadmill (hold your boos). Would that feature (and a Garmin running watch as a whole) be useful to me, or do you really need to be street/trail running to make it worthwhile? I'm a pretty casual runner right now, trying to build my endurance and speed back up. No specific races or distance goals in my future.
I'm actually 50/50 between outdoor running and treadmill. Coach/garmin watch has no problem with that. It even has a nifty feature for treadmill runs to calibrate your watch with the treadmill. So if the treadmill says I did a mile but the watch only detected .80 miles, I can calibrate to 1 mile. After 2-3 treadmill calibrations, the watch is very spot on to the decimal point with treadmill.
I’m a light runner, I run 3 miles 2-3 times per week. I do it because it makes me feel good! There’s a noticeable difference in my mental health and my days are just better when I’m consistently running. It also of course helps the cardio conditioning for my other hiking and backpacking hobbies.
My motivation is to get better and improve my times. I’m a treadmill runner. I got my Peloton tread last July and I’ve been on it consistently. I like seeing that I’m on a 49 week streak. I also like seeing consecutive day streaks. With the subscription service, they offer scenic runs. I like being able to ‘run’ in other countries. It keeps things interesting. I don’t really do the classes but might should I decide to train for a race
Treadmill running? Wow! For me that would take some intense willpower! I have a treadmill but hate even looking at it. I even put a TV in front of it and played those Youtube videos of first -person-view running and still could not make myself enjoy it. Good for you! Three more weeks for a year! Rock on!
Thanks! You keep up on your streak too!
Seeing those kudos on my Strava, filling in more of my heatmap, and getting better at running long distances. I love knowing that I can step out my door and do 30k without too much issue.
Some of you mentioned boredom on long runs, but running is one of the only times that I’m able to be 100% in the moment and not be bored without looking at my phone or listening to something.
I find it very meditative and a great stress reliever. I like the feeling of being fit and healthy. Also, if I time it right, high-intensity, sustained cardio helps prevent prodrome to full-blown migraine progression, so that's a huge bonus.
Though, I do tend to think of my activity as more jogging. Not out of a sense of gatekeeping or dismissing my efforts. Just.. I'm pretty fair-weather and often don't run/jog for months at a time over winter. I hate the idea of taking part in races/events. I don't track my progress (beyond a general idea of distance) or keep a schedule. I like the casual connotations of jogging :)
Personally I just run 5 miles, mostly because I get bored trying to go longer. For a while I just tried to keep an 8 minute pace and see how far I could go, but ultimately it turns out I can physically run for a lot longer than I have any desire to. So now I'm just trying to get that faster and faster, maybe I'll bump the length up.
I mostly just run to stay in shape for mountain biking, I really like riding, but it's a bit hard to do depending on the weather and because you have to drive out somewhere with a bike. So I just try to run at least a couple times a week so I can keep up while riding with people.
I also don't like running more than once every other day at most, unless I go very short distances it ends up hurting my knees to run that frequently. I guess I could find some other exercise to do but I'm fairly lazy and this keeps me in decent enough shape.
I can understand the boredom on long runs. I live in a rural area and sometimes running long distances can get tedious when I see the same scenery. I really enjoy running when I travel. Running in a new place with new scenery always gets me going for a longer run.
I remember once I was running and got about 8 miles in and considered ending it there but looked down and saw a blue string on the side of the road. I realized it was baling twine and decided to see how long it was. That added another 3 miles to the run and entertained me a little on the way.
I got to a point where my left knee and hip would ache during a run but changed the brand and type of shoe I wore and it helped a lot. I though about moving to a zero drop on my next shoe and see if I see any positive effects.
My motivations are appearance, improved mental health, and “winning” against myself. I used to be a big runner, then got really ill while pregnant with my youngest and couldn’t run without pain for 4 years. Now that I can run safely again, I’m just loving how it feels to really move my body! Even when a run is shit it’s still better than when I couldn’t even walk to the kitchen. Running is helping me lose the weight I put on while I was so immobile, it’s helping me feel more positive and resilient, and I get a lot of satisfaction from beating my previous time and/or distance. I’m far from where I used to be, but I’m so happy to be getting back there!
I originally started running when the Pandemic started (surprise surprise) with the stated goal of running continuously for 5k. I've succeeded in this goal, but only this year (didn't prioritize the goal before). The next goal is 10k, and I'm at 8k right now, and can do 5k+5k 12 hours apart. So close.
I run for a few reasons.
The fact that it helps me regulate calories is important. I love food, love to cook, and love to eat.
I use cannabis medically via inhalation. In order to mitigate some of the effects on my lungs, I do aerobic activity.
set a positive example for my kids as they grow up.
exercise my 1yo husky. She has lots of energy, and is a great running buddy.
it's meditative. It's 30-50 minutes of rhythmic steps and breathing. As someone who can't sit still, this is as close to meditation as I think I'm going to get.
A year ago, I set myself the goal of qualifying for Boston in 5 years. Still have a long, long way to go, but I think I can still get there. Hardest part is breaking/preventing cycles of push too hard -> slight injury -> long break -> return too fast -> injury.
Health. That's really it. I hate running and prefer other forms of cardio when possible, but do it out of obligation for health. I don't look at it as a hobby to get better at or a goal to stretch. I just look at it as time set aside for improving my health.
3 years out of college (it's now 17 years ago) going in to the doctor to complain about knee and back pain, get told frankly that you are developing diabetes and are grossly obese (never looked like it, I tend to carry weight well as does my family), and she started talking about the near future if I didn't change things.
As an aside, it's really hard to be a very active college student and move to an office job that sucks the life out of you and leaves you with no energy to go to the gym. Add to the fact that your body is used to eating a ton, and the drinking (I no longer drink, not for moral reasons, but because it leads me to not being the person I want to be). So the realignment was hard and took some doing.
After that, I did some thinking, and took up the only "sports" thing I was good at in high school (bearing in mind, that I was in Southern California for 10 years after high school, and picked up surfing, wind surfing, and rock climbing, things that were not easily available in NY). And it was hard, but I put couch to 5k on my phone and just did it . . . I'm gonna be straight with you, it took me 3 years just to be "OK" with waking up at 5am and running for an hour, and another 3 after that to "like" it, and another year after that to join my first marathon.
Now, I'm 2 and a half years out from some pretty major knee surgery and just got (last week) the go ahead to start "serious" running again. What makes it fun at this point is it's the only time in the day I can just let go and be . . . which is valuable to me.
I always found running boring, until I started running barefeet. I feel so much more connected to the ground and it's somehow so primal and interesting. It also changed my form for the better. Of course summer is pretty short here, but I still run a lot more than I used to. Few years ago I did my first 10km barefeet, which was a lot of fun to accomplish. Someday I would like to do a full marathon.
I don't think I could run barefoot. Even on asphalt I can see the glass sparkle as I'm running and the amount of loose metal, nails and screws is enough to discourage it. I have picked loose glass from my running shoes.
That's surprising. I live in an urban area (albeit quite a bit of green) and rarely see glass, definitely not loose metal, screws or nails. Glass is easy enough to avoid. Even if you step on glass, usually the pieces on the ground are rounded from wear so they don't cut when steppin lightly from above.
What kind of terrain are you running on? My conscious mind tells me that human feet are capable of a lot more than we generally put them through nowadays, but a deeper part of my brain is screaming in fear of putting my full weight on a rock at high speed :P
Haha. I mostly run on asphalt and sometimes have to go on small, a bit rocky forest paths.
Haven't had any injuries yet due to glass etc. Your feet will get a bit thicker, but it's a lot more about good technique. Obviously you can't heel strike, but you can't just run only on the balls of your feet either. It's a pretty neutral step. Having a high cadence also helps.
Here's a fun professor from Harvard explaining some of the science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE
And here's a pretty great video about technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSIDRHUWlVo I find his gait just so effortless.
Note that I've been running on minimalist shoes over 10 years, and the transition over from "traditional" running event to minimalist shoes is a process that should be taken pretty slowly. I think a lot of the people who hurt their feet trying just went way too fast trying to adapt. Going minimalist finally also fixed my shinsplints and pain under my feet that I had had for years.