Whether you’re an experienced runner with five marathons under your belt or a newbie to the sport and just finding your love of the open road, running monotony has likely struck you at one time or another. You know the feeling: plugging along, a few miles into your run…absolutely bored out of your mind! Below, we discuss a few tips to help you get out of the rut and back into running with excitement and energy!
- Set a Goal – Sure, this one may seems slightly obvious but it makes a world of difference to your ability to power through a run. Setting a goal doesn’t mean that you won’t hit bouts of boredom in your training, but it means you’ll be able to see the finish line you are working so hard for in sight. Working towards something meaningful to you will push you through those moments when you feel like quitting.
- Visualize Beauty – Visualize a scene that’s beautiful to you to keep you going. It could be anything! It could be running through the finish at race on your bucket list or even just running around in a field of dandelions with your dog. Pick a setting you love, see it in your mind, and let it move you – literally and figuratively!
- Do Something Different! – Doing the same old workout, where you run the same old streets, at the same old pace is one of the easiest ways to fall into a boring running rut. The next time you go for a run, pick a street you’ve never noticed and run down it. You may get lost, but so what? You’ll run your way back. If this doesn’t work for the area where you run, find a hill – running up and down will exhaust you and prevent you from getting anywhere close to bored! Vary everything you can – doing the same routine day in and day out is boring for anyone!
- Run with Music – Running with music is one of the easiest ways to help keep your mind in a state of flow. Not only will the music engage you and perk you up, it will also help you get into a natural rhythm with your run. SonicSole’s running app is great for this: you can listen to a variety of different music styles and even run to the tempo of the track.
Remember: everyone hits ruts in their running every now and again, the important thing is to find ways to work through them and keep moving forward!
