Welcome to Part 3 of this series of short blogs designed to help you start and maintain a running habit by first focusing on the toughest part, overcoming the barriers that stop you getting out the front door.

In Part 2 we explored reasons why your running habit might not have ‘stuck’ in the past. If you missed this blog, take 5 minutes to think about the real reason for wanting to become a runner, that deep down WHY that drives you and then commit to a running goal that you can achieve within 30 days.

• Run or Run/Walk 1 mile

• Run/Walk 2 times a week

Now reflect on all the reasons AND excuses you have preventing you from starting to run. Capture these in writing too.

Now let’s consider the core question for today:

How can I make my running goal as easy as possible to achieve?

To do that we’e going to look at the goal through three different lenses:

1. Current skill level

2. Your environment

3. Size and scale of the goal

Don’t worry if nothing comes up for the first couple of these lenses, I guarantee you will be able to find something significant for size and scale.

Consider your current skill level…

Can you make your running goal easier by improving your skills or knowledge? On the surface this might sound like a ridiculous question, but here are some examples.

• Could you find out more about your current running gait and research the best shoes to make sure your feet are comfortable?

• Could you learn more about Jeffing and the best run/walk ratio for starting your running habit?

Now consider your environment…

Can you make a running habit easier to start by changing the environment in which you run? This could refer to where, who with, or time of day.

For example:

• Would renting a treadmill for home, make it easier to get on it and start moving rather than having to think about a route, the weather etc. Remember this is just about getting started and the financial investment in the treadmill rental can act as a motivator too!

• Could you find a friend who would be willing to commit to your goal and run with you?

• If you’ve always tried to run before of after work in the past, can you give yourself permission to get out during working hours (and make up the time if you have an employer to keep happy). You can always drop in how much more productive you’ll be after getting your heart rate going!

• Do you need a consistent routine or is it better if you plan at the beginning of each week when you can run?

Now let’s think about the size and scale of your running goal…

First of all, I want to make clear that we are not abandoning the running goal you set out earlier, we are simply exploring ways to make getting started easier. One of the most successful ways of doing this is to start small, ridiculously small, so small that it almost doesn’t feel worth performing the activity.

Here are a couple of examples:

• I want to run 3 times a week becomes I will run once a week for 5 minutes

• I want to be able to run a mile comfortably becomes I will run 100 metres slowly

What will your ridiculously small action be?

Feel free to email and let me know at connect@clubsynergy.co.uk

Good luck and see you soon for Part 4.

Kelly