How to enjoy running?

get shorts with those knicker liners in. I got serious chaffage with running in a pair that didn’t have any!

oh and dont run too far, too soon.

I was very much the same but running the same trails I ride and with an iPod shuffle attached it makes it a whole lot more enjoyable!

Trevor.

Molgrips – isn’t the second or third running thread recently where you’ve popped up to evangalize about the importance of researching gait?

I’m a bit confused though. You’ve spent (how much?) time researching on the internet and watching youtube…

Personally I want to increase speed. Jogging along for miles and miles isn’t my thing, I like to be fast so that’s what I’m aiming for. Two or three sub 7 minute miles would be great

just so you can run a bit quicker (and with a higher fun quota) over a 14-21 minute run? Seems a bit excessive (and taking it too seriously) if so. You might want to revise down what ‘to be fast’ is. A decent marathon time, sustained over 26.5 miles, would be, what, 8 mins 20 secs or so per mile?

This is the best piece of advice so far on this thread:

phil.w – Member

it’ll be WAY easier and more fun if you are doing it right.

The correct way of running is the one when you don’t get injured (however that may be).

just so you can run a bit quicker (and with a
higher fun quota) over a 14 -21 minute run?

Nothing wrong with that! Everyone’s got their own aims. Some people want to do 20 mins fast, I like doing a good few hours slow (insert stamina/technique gag here)

I’m with Molgrips that, if something’s hurting you, you need to alter something in your running. Our thoughts on what and how are different, but that’s life. Everyone has their own approach, eh?

There’s only one way to enjoy running.

Don’t do it. It was just an essay in pain as far as I was concerned. It hurt during and hurt after. It was slow, boring, annoying, painful and marginally more pointless than riding a bike round in circles.

I can still remember the days of hardly being able to walk after each run. Warm up, warm down, get special shoes, pay some idiot a fortune to stick a plastic wedge in my shoe. None of it made any difference.

One day I was walking through Leeds town centre and my knee just locked. I had to stop dead while Yorkshire folk pushed past me. That put a stop to that.

Amazingly as soon as I stopped running, my knee got better and I got happier. Moral there somewhere.

How can I be taking it too seriously? D’you think I’m doing all this research whilst hating it all and wishing I wasn’t? Why do you think I started this whole project?

We all have different personalities; what one person likes to do someone else might not. Did you not know this?

I’m sure you’re all quite understanding about top athletes committing to their sport and trying to be the best – my aims are not that different, I’m just not as good at it.

Re samurai – I was not doing it, but it always annoyed me that so many other people found it so easy and I couldn’t do it. I hate not being able to do things.

@Pryo. Fair one. But the OP’s stated aims, which were being replied to, were:

stick_man – Member

I’m planning to run more regularly this winter to keep fit and possibly do an off-road race in the spring as a bit of a challenge.

Have you thought about cycling instead? It’s rather fun 😉

@crispedwheel – cheers dude, but the OP also asked

What do you like about running? Can I do
anything to make it more fun ?

I think we all agree that running’s more fun if you’re not injuring yourself, right? So Molgrip’s trying not to injure himself at high pace over a short distance, which he finds fun. I think he probably enjoys the research as well, and I’m very much with him on that, I research routes, pore over maps, obsess over my gait etc… Each to their own.

And of course there’s more than one way of not injuring yourself!

A novice (5 runs) and overweight runner writes:

” should I wear under crackers under my lined running shorts? I don’t wish to do an Alan Partidge and ahem … Come free at the sides”

:-/

Take a look at barefoot running, especially if your just starting out as it will teach you correct running form and is a far more enjoyable way to run. Those who have run for some time in big bouncy shoes with overpriced orthotics should include some barefoot training into their schedule to help strengthen their unused muscles and improve form but often find it difficult to pull back on the training as it really can affect the calves and cause injuries as your using muscles not used before, all about taking time to ease into something.

Go run round a grassy field with nothing on your feet for a few minutes, while landing on your mid/forefoot with the foot striking the ground directly below your body. It’s the way to enjoy it.

The human body is designed to run and surprisingly to me I watched the one show and discovered you are supposed to run on your toes to take the impact away from your knees. I don’t run that way but I still love running and would say the best way to enjoy it is to get fit(do alot of it) and then it can be enjoyable. For me now the first 10-20 mins is not enjoyable but after that I go into cruise mode and do enjoy being able to run for long distances(about 1hr15m on avg)

A novice (5 runs) and overweight runner writes:

” should I wear under crackers under my lined running shorts? I don’t wish to do an Alan Partidge and ahem … Come free at the sides”

They used to have an under-pant lining, but it perished.

Take a look at barefoot running, especially if your just starting out as it will teach you correct one way of running form and is a far more enjoyable way to run, for some people

There you go.

Personally, I think the barefoot style is ‘correct’ but that’s just my personal belief, and I won’t argue with anyone about it. I will however suggest that any beginner look into it as it may prove a revelation, especially to those who have not found running easy in the past. But I already did recommend that – sorry 🙂

I’m with Jamie, the ‘correct’ one is the one that doesn’t injure you.

What if there’s more than one way? I never got injured running the rubbish way either. Plus for me not getting injured isn’t much of a goal – might as well not bother. I want to run to get good, fast and fleet of foot, plodding along for dozens of ten minute miles means nothing to me.

I reckon you’re definitely in the natural runner camp emsz, you probably don’t appreciate how awful running can be for some people 🙂

molly, there’s loads of women in my running club who are happy as lops running along doing 9/10 min miles, they enter all sorts of races, have loads of fun. the idea of gait or barefoot would make them laugh I’m sure. they just want to get away from the telly twice a week.

there’s space in running for every-one, wouldn’t you say?

Dunno if i’m a natural, I luv to run though, and you’re right that I can run fast and can’t really explain or work out why people can’t do what I do. LOL

It hurt during and hurt after… I can still remember the days of hardly being able to walk after each run.

For me, always the biggest blocker. My lower back locks up, I get compartment syndrome in my shins, and my knees – from years of playing hockey on astroturf – are agony.

If I try a steady jog/run of no more than 15 mins, I can barely walk for the next 3 days.

To enjoy running you need to give yourself a good reason. I used to run loads, competed at 5000m when I was much younger but never really enjoyed it. Recently I was challenged by my wife to do a triathlon, I was really apprehensive about competing in a new discipline which gave me focus and enthusiasm to train properly. The result was I really enjoyed the tri and surprised my self that the most enjoyable part of the race was the run. I was also very surprised by my results too. 😀
I know triathlon isn’t for everyone as swimming takes a lot of time and effort.
I would fully recommend one of the mucky duathlons, run, mountain bike, run. Great fun and very friendly events.
You never know where this may take you as now im hooked on triathlon and have a stupid unrelenting desire to do an Iron man 😯
Be careful not to over do it, I recommend an HR monitor and to train in zones so you don’t over train.
Good luck and most of all have fun.

there’s space in running for every-one, wouldn’t you say?

True – my sister in law is as you describe, and I find it fairly puzzling but of course it’s great that people get out and enjoy running.

I was making a few assumptions about the OP, but he did say he was doing it and not enjoying it, so I made a suggestion. The rest of my comments were then about me since people seemed to be telling me off for my character 🙂

Your character is obviously reprehensible, Molgrips 😉

I’m in the camp of ‘vaguely minimalist’ – I now run with a forefoot strike, but in January I didn’t. Old shoes were screwing my feet up badly, and making every run blistery sore-kneed hell. I knew I needed to run more as training for AR, but couldn’t run more than once a week without my legs and feet getting wrecked.

My gait analysis revealed me to be hypermobile, and the motion control in the shoes was what was f’ing my legs up. Shifting me to a neutral shoe started the process and helped me get back to running without pain – and I mean knee, shin, and lower back pain as well as not blistering. From there I could at least run regularly without a week off to let the blisters heal, and as I did my gait changed again from heel- to mid/forefoot strike, which meant at my next analysis (I have one done for every new pair of running shoes), i’d changed so much I could shift into a more ‘minimal’ shoe without over-stressing my calves and achilles trying to get used to them. I still wouldn’t use a completely ‘barefoot’ shoe, a la Vibram or the new Inov8s, just yet, but that’s my choice. I’ll keep getting analysed before I buy, and if one day they turn out to be ‘right’ for me, so be it!

samuri – Member

There’s only one way to enjoy running.

Don’t do it. It was just an essay in pain as far as I was concerned. It hurt during and hurt after. It was slow, boring, annoying, painful and marginally more pointless than riding a bike round in circles.

Plus 1000

this might be the answer

Really appreciate the ideas and advice on this thread.

Think I’m just going get out there and do some regular running without going too mad, and keep it varied with lots of off road stuff and not too much attention to times or speed, at least for now.

I’m a reasonably strong cyclist and have always assumed that fitness will transfer directly to running. Sounds like it’s going to take a concerted effort to build proper running fitness and enjoy it more.

About the ‘how to run’ thing, I like the idea of simplicity, just getting out there and doing it. Nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself though, so maybe if you run like a chump, a bit of thought about technique might not be bad thing. Each to their own I guess!

Well done that man.

Run, have fun, get some professional advice if it hurts (more than it should do). Go to it, and good luck!

I couldn’t abide the thought that I might be doing it wrong. Otherwise I’d be riding around with my saddle too low, saddle nose in the air, tyres at 20psi with a front only tyre on the back etc etc. Cycling would certainly be less enjoyable for me like that.

Pyro – my shoes are billed as having support when you need it and not when you don’t.. no idea what that actually means. I do find my toes rub together painfully after a while though so perhaps it’s time for some 5 fingers. I have run up and down our (smooth) road a few times barefoot though and it feels amazing.

Molgrips – before you spork out on those, try the Injinji toe socks. I ran my ultra in them, feel a bit odd at first, but stopped me getting sand and dirt in between my toes. Worked really well for me!

Hmm, but I do like the idea of my toes spreading out to improve stability and pronation…… Really want to try them but as you say, it’s an expensive experiment.

molgrips:

Pyro – my shoes are billed as having support when you need it and not when you don’t.. no idea what that actually means.

It means the marketing department picked some phrases out of a hat 😉

It’s possible, but they certainly feel better than other support shoes I’ve had, and are generally very good for that kind of shoe I think.

always assumed that fitness will transfer directly to running

Cardiovascular fitness yes. But your legs are all wrong. Which I reckon is why lots of cyclists get injured when starting to run — going into it reasonably fit means it’s easy to push too hard on legs that aren’t used to the different demands. Possibly.

Cycling fitness certainly never did me any favours on foot.

Just getting into it and tbh, really enjoying it. Sure there is a bit of pain involved but there was when I started any new form of exercise I’d not done before. Each time I go out the pain seems to lessen and recovery is quicker. Key points seem to be warm up / down, plenty stretching, listen to your body and know your limits.

High intensity intervals this afternoon I think.

You might want to revise down what ‘to be fast’ is. A decent marathon time, sustained over 26.5 miles, would be, what, 8 mins 20 secs or so per mile?

Maybe if you were going to start commenting on what somebody else calls fast you should have been a bit more ambitious in your definition so as to not look quite so silly!

aracer – Member
You might want to revise down what ‘to be fast’ is. A decent marathon time, sustained over 26.5 miles, would be, what, 8 mins 20 secs or so per mile?

Maybe if you were going to start commenting on what somebody else calls fast you should have been a bit more ambitious in your definition so as to not look quite so silly!

Or perhaps you should just read what he said in the post: ‘decent’ rather than ‘fast’. 8 20 pace will take you around in under four hours which counts as decent in my book. Or were you just looking for an opportunity to willy wave?

Under four hours would put you comfortably in the top third in the London Marathon, which doesn’t sound too shabby to me.

Aracer doesn’t willy-wave too much, not since he ran into the end of a railing in Bristol a few years back.

He does run quite quickly, though.

Under four hours would put you comfortably in the top third in the London Marathon

I think that says more about the London marathon than it does about a four hour marathon time.