I’ve recently started running to improve my fitness, but I’m finding it hard to stay consistent. Some days I feel motivated, and other days I just skip it completely.
I’m not sure if I’m pushing too hard or just not following a proper routine. How did you build consistency when you first started running? Any simple tips or routines that helped you stick with it would be really helpful.
Run easy and never more than 2 days in a row.
Consistency > tempo, pace and intervals in the beginning.
Make a goal at first. Let that be consistency. If you can’t do 30 minutes of just getting out running a week for like … two months, you will NOT be able to do intervals and tempo runs either.
Diciplin and consistency far outweights everyrhing else. Practice those two, and everything else will follow.
Find someone to run with who will break your balls if you don’t show up (and vice versa)
Use a run/walk method to build endurance and consistency.
I’ve been through the same thing when I started running, some days it feels easy, other days it’s hard to even get out the door. What helped me most was keeping it really simple at the start. I stopped worrying about pace or distance and just focused on showing up. Even a short run/walk session counted. Once I lowered the pressure, consistency got much easier.
Also, not running hard every time made a big difference. Easy runs on most days and at least one rest day helped me avoid burnout. And on low-motivation days, I just told myself “10 minutes only”—most of the time I ended up doing more anyway. I think the key is exactly what others mentioned here: build the habit first, everything else improves later.
As an assist, let me offer this, from the 100/100 thread
The “Seinfeld Strategy”
Brad Isaac was a young comedian starting out on the comedy circuit. One fateful night, he found himself in a club where Jerry Seinfeld was performing. In an interview on Lifehacker, Isaac shared what happened when he caught Seinfeld backstage and asked if he had “any tips for a young comic.”
Here’s how Isaac described the interaction with Seinfeld…
He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day.
“After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”
And in the theme of @RandMart’s idea, keep a paper training log, fill it in daily, aim to run two days in every three and if you don’t run put ‘rest’.
If avoidance is ahead in the fight with motivation/determination, say ‘ok’ I will just change into my running kit ‘anyway’, and see if I want to run then.
You don’t even need to do that much, as a newbie
To steal from @501chorusecho (I hope they don’t mind), just make a grid of days you ran and days you didn’t
Theirs is 10x10 (for the 100 days) so don’t feel confined to a “days of the week” format
Remember that - when starting out - “run easy” is meaningless because every run feels hard.
It won’t always be like this, but you do have to wade through a lot of suck until one day you suddenly find you can just bop along and not feel like you’re about to die.
Run/walk is definitely a popular strategy that has worked for a lot of people. There’s a Couch to 5k app that will coach you through intervals of run/walk until you get up to running a full 30mins. There’s another called “Zombies, RUN!” (or something close to that) which gamifies it - it prompts you to run from attacking undead.
Others have made suggestions about calendars or partners, which are definitely helpful for getting out the door. Also just remembering the difference between motivation and dedication: motivation is what gets you excited about running, but dedication is what gets you out there when motivation is nowhere to be found. I run 6 days a week in some conditions that get a little gnarly at times, often late at night after a very long day at work. It’s hard to be motivated to run when it’s 11pm and you’ve just dragged yourself away from your desk after 14hrs, but dedication means my first move is to check the weather, put on some kit, and gtfo.
