HOW TO WANT TO RUN

I’m someone that pretty much loves everything. I don’t like to be in a bad mood, I like to try basically anything and everything blah blah blah.

But ever since I stopped playing soccer I have not even sort of been a fan of running outside. For the longest time I hated it because I thought it was boring. That’s basically the only reason actually. I preferred to be on the same elliptical every day for 30 minutes rather than somewhere outside but the problem with that was that that also got boring. Surprise surprise.

But, just like with anything else in life, I believe that things are what you make them and you can adjust your mind to like or not like something in an instant. I knew that running would allow me to lose the weight I was hanging on to AND FAST so first I told myself over and over again that I LOVE running outside…!

From there I made sure that I had music on my phone so that my internet wouldn’t give out on Pandora in the middle of my run and make me want to kill myself, and I downloaded a free running app. After the self-convincing all I had to do was make it more exciting to me than watching paint dry.

I did this a few ways.

 I put together a few playlists that made me zone out and set a good pace for me so that I wouldn’t really think about how hard I was pushing myself.

If I needed to get in 30 minutes of cardio I would set my running app to let me know when I had been running for 15 minutes then I would know when to turn around. This way I could go the same way back to where I started and know that I had hit 30 minutes. This took out the annoying aspect of having to continue glancing at the time and it also gave me the freedom to run wherever I wanted rather than saying “I’m going to run to the pier and back” and then only thinking about how far away the pier is the ennttiireee timmmeee.

 If I only had 20 minutes to run I would do intervals to get the most out of my time. I would set my running app to let me know when I had hit 10 minutes and then I would turn around and do the same drills back. I would usually do something along the lines of jogging an easy pace and counting to 45 steps. Then, I would SPRINT but I would count at the same pace I was when I was jogging, but only count to 12. Make Sense? Again, this way you don’t have to keep looking at the clock and you know that you just keep doing it until you hear your running app that its been 10 minutes, then turn around!

Also, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Change it up. Sometimes I hit the ground running from the first step I take out of my apartment, other times ill drive to a random neighborhood in Santa Monica and just see where I end up. This usually leads me to different bridges, overpasses, stairs and pathways (Q the fun, ex out the boring)

Just some tips for running if you think you can’t or if you find it to be too boring! Now I actually really do love running outside, I’ve slimmed down and my playlists are on point ;)

Let me know how it goes!