Don’t worry, this article will offer you more than the advice of ‘just run!’ We all know it doesn’t work like that. Unless you can reach the heights of your talents with a simple routine and an ability to work out perfectly to 80s power ballads, á la everybody’s favorite boxing champion, it may require a little more thought.

I’m not saying you can’t just do a Rocky routine and be done with it, but he was already pretty fit at that point, so definitely bear that in mind.

In order to really crack this running thing, and assimilate it into your everyday life, the attitude you adopt towards it is crucial to determining how much you actually want to succeed, and how much you actually just want to think about succeeding without doing too much to try to achieve the goal.



Very few people become good at something overnight, so there’s no need to stress about being among us mere mortals. Exercising well is like almost any new task you choose to pick up: it requires practice, time and patience to get good at it, and you must not give up early.

You won’t remember of course, but you didn’t just learn to walk overnight. Babies don’t just reach a point where everything is immediately upright and they never fall over again, and the same applies to your exercise routine.
If you set goals too high, you’ll end up feeling disappointed that you didn’t reach such lofty heights, and feel disheartened even though you may well have covered a good distance.

At the other end, if you don’t lay down a strong enough purpose to motivate yourself towards an end-goal, you may not even get up off the couch. If you can do it with your eyes closed, it’s time to take it to the next level.

The right mental approach is usually somewhere in the middle of all your thoughts, after all of the athletic superstar-status dreams have been tempered by a glance at your figure in the mirror. The aim of all of this has to be long term, not an expectation of waking up ripped the next morning. Increase your expectations incrementally, and let them develop alongside your fitness levels.

There is more that can be done than just what’s in your head though, in terms of motivating yourself to the finish line. Knowing yourself like you do is paramount to finding what makes you tick best, and what will keep you going for longest.

Knowing the aspects that usually let you down is the best approach, as it lets you come up with solutions to keep running and not present yourself with lame excuses.

Keeping it guilt-free is great for your mental health. Don’t rebuke yourself for having a pig-out weekend at a friend’s birthday barbeque, nor should you worry about the odd excess of cocktails. If you miss an opportunity to run due to other events, it isn’t the end of the world at all. In fact, the way you react to these situations can determine how motivated you actually are, which can help get you into the right frame of mind.

If you know you are most likely to slack off on weekends, tell your friends and insist that one of them comes along for the adventure, and you could end up with your own running buddy if you can both keep to the same pace. If a friendly face and a quick pep talk is all you need to keep going, get it done.

Should injuries present a fairly frequent disruption to your running endeavors, it is best to treat your body right. Depending on how your feet are shaped, they may need some assistance. Memory foam shoe inserts are said to provide arch support, which could reduce how intense the workout ends up being for your feet. If you allow yourself the best chance of recovery, it will be easier to get up and go tomorrow.

Another tip considers a fairly weird phenomenon that is doubtless explained pretty well elsewhere by psychologists – the sense that a journey feels longer if you haven’t done it before, or you aren’t really sure where you are going. When you know where a place it, it doesn’t necessarily feel that far because you know how much effort is needed to put in to get there. So check out maps and plan a route before setting off, so you can pump all the way to the finish line.

To actually succeed, have some well-defined goals of what success actually is to you, and what you would be happy with. This is your fitness regime, and you are the only one who can succeed at it, so you may as well listen to yourself!