Anyone who knows me knows that I love to workout and be fit, but I absolutely despise running. But it's a new year and I want to be well rounded when it comes to exercise. I don't want to always do resistance training and walking. So I ran. I ralked (ran walked ;P) 3 miles and it felt great.
I have always been against running. Not that it's not great and beneficial for many people, I just never understood the appeal when there are so many other forms of exercise. But I think I have a different perspective now that I've actually tried it.
Don't get me wrong, I was exhausted afterwards, but it felt so nice doing something so different. It was this big challenge that I wanted to show myself I could complete. Now it was my first time running in many years, so I only ran about half of it. I wanted to start slow so that I didn't feel like I was killing myself! But it really was exhilarating. The brisk, damp air passing me by, I felt fast and free.
Cardio is so important. It will keep your heart healthy and gets everything in your body moving. It helps build endurance and will even help you have better performance in resistance and strength training. Although there are so many different ways to get your cardio on, I highly recommend you try running. It's not for everyone, but you'll never know if you enjoy it if you don't try something new.
If you think you want to start running or walking and are looking for some motivation, I encourage you to look into Run the Year 2017 by Run the Edge. You register for run the year and the goal is to run 2,017 miles by the end of 2017. Of course, this would be a big challenge to take on alone. So fortunately, you can create a team of up to 4 members and split up the miles. You can log into the website everyday and track your miles, and they even include fun monthly challenges! If you really want to get into it, you can even get a t-shirt and medal!
This is a big reason why I decided to try out running. Since you can create a team, I felt a lot more motivated to meet my mileage goals so I didn't let down my team. I'm so excited to embark on this journey and see how many miles I can accumulate by the end of the year!
Now I certainly won't be waking up every morning and going for a 3 mile run. I still prefer my resistance training. But I want to build endurance and grow stronger in more ways than one. So running will definitely be incorporated into my workout schedule. Don't forget though, stretch after your run! This will help ease soreness and tightness and make you feel more motivated to go for a second run!
Also, be patient with yourself if you're just starting out! Set small goals so you don't get defeated, then slowly work your way up. Any form of exercise is going to be difficult for awhile, but stick with it and you'll see amazing results! Trust me, there's nothing like the feeling of confidence and excitement associated with coming back from a successful run!
Happy running!
-Kelsey Lynn <3
No comments:
Post a Comment