Begin Again
Have you ever experienced a moment of burnout? Have you ever noticed that the things that you used to like no longer bring you as much joy? Perhaps this has given you the urge to start something new, but you're scared at the thought of being a beginner at something again? Or maybe you simply do not know where to start?! Well, the good news is you are not alone!
Recently, I experienced a huge moment of burnout, leading me to want to start something new, in my case running. Embarking out into the journey of running looks, sounds, and is a bit frightening, however; it is not too late to begin the journey.
Over the course of last week, I started this journey with a mile's worth of interval training and making an appearance at our Terra Trot group run to connect with the running community. Even though the start was slow and there were frustrating moments, last week was so much fun!
In the case of beginning a running journey and not knowing where to start here are some of the tips I have personally found helpful!
Find a time of day that is most refreshing for you.
Search for locations where you feel safe and can enjoy the scenery or views.
If you can, find a community of runners and make new connections.
Start slow! Even if it feels like you will get nowhere, interval training is a huge help.
Make a training goal, no matter how small it may be. The goal provides helpful motivation.
Find a training plan that you can be consistent with. A training plan will give structure while you are new and as a bonus, you will be able to see how far you have come!
And finally, just enjoy the journey and have fun! It may be mentally hard to be a beginner at something again, but you will grow and achieve all of your goals while gaining something new to look forward to. There are so many active and fun hobbies to choose from: hiking, biking, fast walking, roller skating, weight training, swimming, paddling, and running ... which one will you become a beginner at?
Update: Since writing this blog post in March, Dara has already completed her first 5k!
Starting Off Strong
We all know the clichés around the New Year and resolutions; “Everyone has great intentions but give it a few weeks and the follow-through fails.”
And while that may be true for some, the truth is, the start of the New Year is a great time to implement some new and improved habits that stick! Don’t let some people’s cynicism keep you from starting on the road of healthy changes or new challenges.
To help you get started, check out the following tips:
Start simple
A lot of the reason resolutions fail is that people try to change their entire life in a week! Change takes time, especially when it comes to our ingrained habits. Instead focus on keeping your goals a simple as possible. Then add in more goals and habits as you master each new challenge. For example, if your goal is to eat healthier, identify some simple changes you can make to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Instead of jumping in on the newest fad diet and completely altering your life all at once (something that has a high likelihood of failure… and will probably make you miserable), you could start by ensuring you always include a vegetable or fruit with every meal. Or maybe choosing to eat off the smaller sized plates in your dishware set to help regulate portion sizes. Once you’ve mastered that, you can add in something new like cutting down on sodas or desserts, etc. You can do this with almost any goal, not just health and wellness goals. A huge plus side of this approach is that it helps you change your internal narrative naturally over time, something else that is vitally important to creating habits that stick (but we will get to that in a minute).
Make it easy to do the right thing
Our brains are wired to look for the paths of least resistance. While in some situations this can be helpful (creating efficient workflows, etc.) this tendency is often the death-knell to our good intentions. We make up silly excuses and get tripped up by the smallest of obstacles. If you are like me, something as ridiculous as having to walk into the other room can keep me from completing a task, let alone the effort it takes for something like getting ready for and going to the gym. This is why it is very helpful to look for ways to make it easy to do the right thing. Sure, ideally overtime we build up our tolerance for discomfort but especially in the early stages of creating habits, don’t make things harder for yourself. Maybe you have heard of the people who sleep in their workout clothes so that they can roll right out of bed and get to it? This is an excellent example of removing obstacles — however small and seemingly inconsequential! — so that the path toward your goals is that much easier to execute. If you have never tried this strategy before you might be surprised how effective it is! Other examples, can be getting some basic home workout equipment so that you don’t have to get in the car and drive to the gym for your workout (this is another reason why running is such a popular form of exercise! Just lace up and run right out your front door)! Other wellness examples could be stocking your shelves with healthy snacks instead of junk food, doing some basic meal prepping so that nutritious food is more accessible throughout the week, or even parking your car farther away in the parking lot so that you are getting more steps in.
Be aware of your internal narrative
This is something that many people neglect to address when they jump into their resolutions. They see themselves as an unhealthy person (maybe they even bragged to others about how little they cared, that they don’t eat vegetables, etc.) so things that are associated with healthy living feel not only foreign but inauthentic to them. Maybe they try something for a few weeks but internally they feel like a fraud and they subconsciously expect themselves to fail. This is not only a recipe for defeat, it is a cycle that builds on itself. A fresh failure will reinforce that old narrative that they have identified with and will make a new attempt in the future even more difficult. Instead, practice some self-reflection and take stock of your internal narrative. What do you tell yourself about yourself? What kind of person do you see yourself as? What about that person do you like? What about that person are you hoping to grow, even change? What do you say about yourself out loud? If you always say (internally or externally), “I’m not a runner.” Or, “Running always hurts my knees so I don’t do it.” Or, “I hate vegetables,” or “I don’t read,” or “Everyone always leaves me,” you have just made some pretty strong declarations about yourself that will do nothing other than cut you off from growing in the future. Remember that you get to decide who you will be! Old experiences, habits, and narratives — either put on you by yourself or by others — don’t need to define you in the future.
Get some accountability
Perhaps this the most difficult of all the advice offered here. Getting other people involved immediately raises the stakes on any of our goals; this is the point of accountability! When we involve others in our goals and resolutions, we are forced to define our goals and commit to something; our lack of follow-through can no longer masquerade as indecision. There are many options for accountability: friends, co-workers, significant others, spouses, coaches, personal trainers, run-groups, online support groups, apps — there are lots of options! Some options provide passive accountability, like a running group or a workout class — you know that people will wonder where you are if you don’t show up and that can make all the difference in making sure you go; other options provide more direct accountability, like a friend, life-coach, or personal trainer — they will follow up with you directly on how your goals are going, and may even provide instruction. Just make sure if you are asking a friend, co-worker, family member, etc., that they are truly okay with providing accountability for you. Also be sure to define your goal clearly and request what your hopes would be for their role in that (“would you mind asking me at the end of the week if I did x, y, z,” etc.) and check back in on how things are going down the line.
While it may be true that a lot of people’s resolutions fail after a few weeks, it is also true that this time of year can be an incredibly helpful catalyst to change. Everyone has the ability to move forward into being more of the person that they hope to be and with a bit of strategy, honesty, self-reflection, and help from others, these changes and habits will only come easier and easier!
Cruise Past “Quitter’s Day”with Systems Instead of Goals
Originally published as System vs. Goals in Jan of 2022
It’s the new year and everyone knows that you are supposed to have resolutions… but how long do most people make it with their shiny new goals? Research says anywhere from just 14 to a little over 30 days. Taking a cue from their 800 million users’ data, Strava — the social network for athletes — has even dubbed the second Friday in January as “Quitter’s Day.” So how do you get past “Quitter’s Day” with your still new resolutions intact?
FOCUS ON SYSTEMS, NOT GOALS
New York Times best seller, James Clear, writes about the difference in his book Atomic Habits.
“…goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress.” A goal is what you hope to accomplish but a system is your plan for actually accomplishing it. While this might seem like semantics, the difference is actually quite profound. If a goal is the destination, the system is the list of directions for getting there.
THOSE WHO WIN AND THOSE WHO LOSE HAVE THE SAME GOAL
Clear points out, goals are not what differentiate winners and losers. Olympians competing in an event all have the same goal of winning the gold medal but only one person actually accomplishes that goal. The goal is not what sets them apart, the training is. The same is true when it comes to our New Year’s resolutions. We all want to succeed in keeping our resolution but most people do not. This is why simply creating a goal is not enough to ensure success. We have to focus on the systems that we are employing to guide us to our goal.
FOCUS ON THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION
When employed incorrectly, goals can actually become counterproductive and lead us to take short cuts and develop unhealthy yo-yo patterns. Take the example of losing weight. We want to shed 10 pounds so we go on a month long diet that is completely unsustainable in the long term. We reach our goal but then return to eating the same way that we did before and gain it all back. Instead of focusing on changing our actual lifestyle —eating smaller portions of our favorite foods, adding more fruits and vegetables into our diet and incorporating regular exercise — we focused on the destination at the expense of the journey, the goal at the expense of the system. This leaves us in a worst state than before: discouraged, frustrated and right back to where we started. If we had focused on our system of accomplishing our goal we would have found ourselves with real and sustainable life change.
SYSTEMS LEAD TO GREATER SATISFACTION
In his book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, author Scott Adams writes, "Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do. The goals people are fighting the feeling of discouragement at each turn. The systems people are feeling good every time they apply their system." While goals are not bad, when not paired with systems, they can keep us from feeling the immediate gratification that comes from accomplishing what we set our mind to in the present. When we only focus on goals they can make us so future oriented that we fail to focus on the present in a meaningful way. Systems can help us break out of this cycle by forcing us to evaluate what it actually takes in the present to accomplish what we hope to see in the future.
TO SUM IT UP…
Goals are not bad, in fact they are very useful for setting our trajectory and being purposeful about the direction that we are headed, but too often we focus on our goals at the expense of our systems. To quote a familiar cliche, “a goal without a plan (system!) is just a wish.” So this year, focus on building your systems for accomplishing your goals and cruise past “Quitter’s Day” with ease!
The Importance of Base Mileage
Base mileage is the first step to any specific running goal. In fact, building your running base is one of the most essential parts of any fitness goal. These are the slower, consistent, weekly runs that you do. Whether you want to become faster or enjoy your runs more, base mileage is the first step.
Starting out with consistent, easy runs of three to six miles, three times a week, before building up to five days a week, will help to prepare your body for any harder training plan. Increasing your running speed or feeling like your runs are easier is all dependent upon your running fitness; the more often you run, the higher your fitness will be.
Runners who want to add sprinting workouts or tempo runs to their routine will need a high base mileage to see the most improvement. Similarly, individuals who are getting into running or who are trying to grow their fitness need to develop their base mileage in order to initiate a new healthy habit. Base mileage is what prepares and develops your body, as well as prevent injury. It can be exhausting to run everyday, so it is important to start out with a low base mileage and work from there.
Base mileage is often acclaimed for building your aerobic endurance. This is important because you will want to build your aerobic abilities before attempting any anaerobic exercises (these are fast paced workouts that build up lactic acid in the muscles). Thus, base mileage runs should not be strenuous or fast-paced. They serve merely to grow your endurance and fitness.
I think most of us understand the concept of base mileage. You need to have some foundation, some base level of fitness, to accomplish more specified goals. It can, however, be easy to get caught up with the idea of those specific goals and discount the importance of the slower, mundane, daily run. Nonetheless, working towards those goals will be fruitless without the consistency of base mileage.