Jogging as a New Year's resolution?
Did you have any? Your New Year's resolution is to jog? Great! Running is a great way to get fitter and more balanced. New Year's Eve was a few days ago. How about your resolutions, are you diligently working on your goal or have you already given up or not even started in the second week of January? Thinking about a good New Year's resolution makes us feel good, but beware, to get a more active and healthy lifestyle, willpower is not enough. It must be followed by action! Let's tackle it together.
Define goals
Make yourself a plan, preferably in writing so you can refer to it again and again. And it doesn't matter if it was scribbled on a piece of paper somewhere with a pen or if it was written on the computer keyboard. If it hangs on the refrigerator, it has a daily reminder value. It certainly doesn't make sense for a novice runner to want to run a marathon in the fall of 2017, but participating in a 10K running event in the fall, that's a tangible and doable goal.
Be a team player
With friends together, it's easier to implement goals and continuously keep at it. Once running training is started, it's especially hard to keep it up over a long period of time or even get back into it after a cold. Assuming you are three like-minded people, at least one is always highly motivated and pulls you along, even in bad weather or other excuses. Because there are many of them and somehow you will often find a suitable excuse not to start running. If you don't have to do your running training alone, but have someone to talk to, you often don't even notice the effort you are making.
Training plan
Sounds very professional at first and maybe a bit daunting, but after you have defined the goal, persuaded one or two friends to train with you, you should make a plan that will lead you in small steps to your goal. And a calendar, in which the individual planned training units are entered, can be very helpful.
The rule of thumb that you can develop a habit from a lifestyle after about 21 days has been scientifically researched. So if you're not even a month into your training, you have a good chance of sticking it out until summer. Then the planned 10-km run in the fall won't be far away either!
Even if your resolutions are fresh and you're full of euphoria, start small anyway and don't be afraid to mix jogging and walking. If you're fit enough, you can increase the pace. Always pay attention to how your body feels. So put on your running gear and go:
Day 1: 1 km easy walking
Day 2: 1 km slow jogging, 1 km easy walking, 1 km slow jogging
Day 3: 1 km walking
Day 4: break
Day 5: 1 km jogging, 1 km walking, 1 km jogging
Day 6: 1.5 km jogging, 1 km walking, 1.5 km jogging
Day 7: extensive stretching of the whole body
------- and so the first week is already done.
Day 8: 1 km walking, 1 km jogging, 1 min. walking, 2 km jogging
Day 9: 1 km walking, 1 km jogging, 1 min. walking, 2 km jogging
Day 10: 1,5 km jogging, 1 km walking, 1 km jogging
Day 11: break
Day 12: 2 km jogging, 1 km walking, 2 km jogging
Day 13: 3 km jogging
Day 14: extensive stretching of the whole body
------- Congratulations, the second week is done.
Day 15: 3 km jogging
Day 16: 3 km jogging
Day 17: 3 km jogging, 1 km walking
Day 18: 4 km jogging
Day 19: extensive stretching of the whole body
Day 20: rest
Day 21: 5 km jogging
Now you have gone through the training for so long, so there is no reason to skip the regular running sessions, because you are on a good path.