The fact I run is a bit of a joke on two levels. It’s a joke because anyone who knew me before January 2022 would be utterly shocked to know I do it recreationally.
I hated running. I hated exercise. When I was fit and able, I preferred to do things that stopped me from being fit and able. I ate crap, smoked, drank, and did a lot of power sitting. I wore that like a badge of honour, laughing at those joggers who go round and round and round. You get the picture.
My running is a joke for those who know me now because I never shut up about it. I talk about where I’ve run, how fast (or slow) I go and where I’d like to run. I post pictures and record on Strava, so eventually, I get almost as much of your screen time as Bradley Walsh gets on Saturday evening television (that’s a joke I don’t really identify with; we never watch normal telly anymore).
Still, I am a runner and while I really don’t enjoy it, it has been vital in keeping me fit. For those who don’t know, I had major back surgery in 2018, and I never thought I’d be ‘fit’ as such. I only started running in January 2022 after another health scare made me realise that I’m not immortal and a bad diet will make you fat and probably kill you, more so when you pass 40 than at any other time in your life. So, I started to run, probably trying to run from my bad diet a bit.
I have seen friends I went to school with taking up running lately, and I’ve seen other people in worse shape than I was thinking that they couldn’t possibly ever run. It made me think that perhaps it might be an idea to share a few tips on how I got into running properly and how I’ve kept it up despite not really enjoying the actual pounding of the tarmac.
Couch to 5K
The first thing you need is to start. That’s easier said than done, and keeping it up is much easier said than done. What do you do, just go out and run? Some people would say yes, but if you are like I was, you wouldn’t know what to do. I tried to start running in May 2021, and with no proper planning or motivation, I hurt my knees and gave up within a week.
That’s where the Couch to 5K programme came in. It’s a simple guide to help you get up to running 30 minutes solid without a break. It’s important to remember it is time-based, so whilst it tells you you’ll run 5k after nine weeks, you might not, but you will run for 30 minutes. By running three times a week, it claims to be able to get you in shape, and it does. I remember laughing at the notion of running for 30 minutes solid and thought it would take nine years.
It didn’t. It took 13 weeks, as I kept stumbling through one of the weeks without being able to complete it, but every time I put on my shoes, I knew I was going to be trying to beat a target. It gave me a reason to run, a purpose, and I think it is why I still run today.
Break Through The Barrier
I mentioned that barrier, and I remember it well. Week five, run two, with two eight-minute runs and a break in between. I failed three or four times, I went away for the weekend and came back, fresh and ready to go again. I tried it with music. I tried it on a treadmill watching a documentary about Derry City. I even tried it in silence. The utter delight when I finally did it (with music, for the record) was like nothing I’d experienced outside of Sincil Bank – I cheered so loud it alerted my neighbour. I had to break that barrier and I just kept going.
It’s not the only barrier you’ll hit. Normally, I hit one within 1km of setting off on every run. It might be needing a wee (funnily, always at the same little field entrance from my house), or it might just be a deep aching you think will continue forever. I find with any run, the first two or three kilometres can be the toughest. It’s a barrier for you to break through.
The barrier I need to break through right now at this very moment is the one that led me to the keyboard: believing advice on my site that maybe six people will read is more beneficial than going out in the rain.
Get Proper Shoes
This is part one of a two-part piece of advice for avoiding injury. You might think that your 15-year-old Adidas Sambas will be fine for running, but they won’t. You do really need to invest in a pair of trainers. The first thing I did when I started was buy a pair of cheap Nike running trainers—pop into JD Sports or Sports Direct, and someone will help you out. If I recall correctly, which I usually do regarding money, they were £30.
Later on, if you start running ‘properly’, it is worth looking at a better pair. I currently have a pair of Brooks Ghost Max, which were something like £120 (I recall far less accurately when it hurt spending the money). A proper pair of trainers will help you avoid injury, and running trainers are designed to help you run. Believe me, taking every bit of help you can is a bonus!
Warm Up and Warm Down
The Couch to 5K has a fundamental flaw – it says you should warm up or down by doing walks. I went by this advice, and as soon as I started running off my own back, I got injured. Originally, I targeted the Lincoln 10k in October 2022, but between June and September, I couldn’t run as I had an unspecified injury. Why? Because as much as I thought warming up was a good thing, I never considered warming down. I even paid for physio and got some stretching advice for my injury, and that’s literally all I use now.
I figure the best thing to do is search the internet for warm-up routines and pick one you think will work for you. I could tell you what I do, but I don’t know what they’re called. They were specific for me, right down to the fact that I have poorer mobility on my right side. The key here is to find a routine and make sure you not only warm up but also warm down. I generally try to warm up all my leg muscles with a routine that’s just five minutes or so, and (touch wood) I’ve been relatively free of injury for a good year, bar the odd age-related niggle.
Find Your Aid
Running is boring. I talk to people who say it clears their head, but it doesn’t do that for me. If I don’t have a distraction and a focus, I just think about how much my legs hurt, how far I still have to go and how much I’m panting and sweating. It’s rubbish.
Therefore, you have to find your aid, the thing that perfectly complements your efforts. Think of it like a bacon sandwich (not the best analogy for running, probably). You’ve got your bacon and bread, but what works for you after that? Ketchup? Brown sauce? An egg? When do you like your bacon sandwich, in the morning? Lunchtime? Sitting at a desk with others? Alone in a corner?
Running is the same. Everyone has a different motivator, whether going out with a running club in the morning or sticking a podcast on and running at night. Me, I like to run alone, and I like to run with music on. I found I was slower with a podcast and couldn’t do 5k if I had nothing at all. Eventually, as I do a lot of road running, I bought a pair of Aftershokz headphones, the bone-conducting ones so I could hear cars. Then, I turned the music up so loud I couldn’t really hear cars until they were nearly on me, which makes me jump. Still, you get the idea.
There are other aids for me. One is Strava. I like to have a challenge, I don’t run for fun. I use Strava to set little courses and segments around where I live, and then I compare the data. I’m miles behind where I was a year ago right now, but then I just challenge myself to be a bit better than yesterday. My base limit is 30 minutes for a 5k, but I always wonder if I can try harder in a certain segment.
Conclusion
Honestly, I don’t find running enjoyable, unlike an actual bacon sandwich, a walk, or a game of pool. However, it just as Mark Renton said in Trainspotting (about heroin, admittedly, but the concept is the same).
“What they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t do it. After all, we’re not f***ing stupid. At least we’re not that f***ing stupid.”
The pleasure of running isn’t getting wet, out of breath or pushing your tired 45-year-old body until it hurts. It’s in the finish, it’s the stretching after a run knowing you’ve done it. It’s the buzz later in the evening when you can reach for a chocolate biscuit, knowing you’ve already run it off (or a bacon sandwich; we’re all different, remember). It’s the feeling you get when actually, you turn down a bacon sandwich (shock, horror) because you’ve been doing so well. It’s the thrill of coming around the bend on the last leg of a 10k run and hearing the crowd cheering you (or me, in this instance), a 45-year-old man with metal in his back, a bit of a belly and a penchant for a bacon sandwich, like you’re Mo Farah going for gold.
It’s the thrill of knowing deep down that you’re doing something proactive to stay fit and healthy for those you love, making them a bit proud because you give a shit enough to pull on shorts and a t-shirt and go out running in a big circle for no reason at all. That’s why we do it, and I hope these five tips help you get into it as well.