Have you ever thought about picking up running but don’t know where to start? You are not alone. I’ve been an active person for most of my life, however, I do get into ruts where I stop running and find it hard to start again – it’s just like starting from scratch. Here are some ideas that have worked for me to get a consistent running routine going.

1. Start small

Running is relative to all of us, some people haven’t run a kilometre in their lives, and that’s ok! There’s always somewhere to start. If you’re just beginning to run for your first time, trying running 2-3km. You don’t even have to run the whole time. You can do splits by running for 2 minutes at a time, and walking for a 1 minute. Another option is to use landmarks (e.g. telephone poles) to run to, allow yourself to walk a short distance after reaching a landmark, and then start running again. It may be that you only run 100m at a time, but like I said, you have to start somewhere. The more you try, the longer the distance you will be able to cover.

2. Create a Playlist

I LOVE music, and I love running to music. Make a playlist that motivates you and makes you want to lace up the trainers, get out there, and run to your favourite music – I always run faster when I have my favourite songs on.

3. Buddy Up

Find a buddy who has a similar running background to you so you can train together. This doesn’t mean you have to run everyday together, but maybe plan a weekly run. That way you will want to keep up your running to stay in the same running shape as your buddy and a good way to catch up with a friend. The bonus here is that you will increase your lung capacity if you are chatting while running.

4. Find a Race

Signing up for a race always gets me back into running. It’s a great motivator because there’s a deadline – race day! It’s hard to slack off when you know you’ve paid for and committed to running a race.

5. Record Your Runs

After signing up for a race, I highly recommend creating a running calendar. Personally, I like to write it down, but you can create an electronic one on your computer. You can write the distance, type of run, and even total time of run to see how you are progressing.

Starting something new is always challenging, and some days may feel easier than others, but keep at it and you will notice a difference in your fitness soon enough!

Feel free to comment with other ideas to get started and/or if any of these have helped motivate you :)