How to get started in running

Want to run, but don't know where to get started? 

Check out this week's episode for an easy 5-step plan to get you started in your running journey! Stacy shares research on the neuroscience of motivation and how to use your brain to your advantage. Check out milemarkermatriarch.com for free tools and templates to build your plan today! 

Let's connect!

Instagram: @milemarkermatriarch

Twitter: milemarkermatriarchm

https://milemarkermatriarchpodcast.com

Email the show at stacycac@milemarkerspodcast.com

Transcript

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Hey there, welcome back to the Myelomarker Matriarch Podcast. It's me, your running buddy, Stacey Cacciatore, and we are on our second episode. What we're going to tackle in today's podcast is how do I get started in running? Before we get started, I want to state that the information in this podcast is for educational purposes only. It's not intended as medical advice, not a medical professional, and my recommendations are shared based on my experience and knowledge as a certified personal trainer, running coach, and nutrition consultant. Always consult with your doctor or qualified healthcare provider before beginning any new exercise program, making significant changes to your diet, or addressing any health concerns. With that out of the way, before you even lace up your running shoes, I want for you to keep in mind that running starts in the mind. I argue that mental training is essential prior to even beginning a running program. I'm going to give you five simple tips on how to get started in running before even lacing up your shoes. My tips are based on the foundation of why, how, what, when, and where. So let's get started. Number one, why? Motivation is your why. Ask yourself, why do I want to run? And why now? If you ask yourself this question, your brain will immediately start to begin calculating the cost benefit calculation and allow you to identify the reasons you want to start running. Let me explain this a little bit more. A study on the behavioral neuroscience and motivation found that our brains run a cost benefit calculation before making any decision. There are a variety of influencing factors and processes that make up the neurological function. But to explain this complicated process simply, essentially our brains weigh the costs like time, effort, and discomfort or pain against the benefits such as meeting our physiological or psychological needs or escaping harm. And then it pulls on three primary levers. These levers are our physiological state, like our stress level, our environment, such as like how accessible or attainable is this to us right now, and our past history. What has happened when I've encountered with this before? In the background, our brains are running this cost-benefit computation, and we have no idea what's going on. All we know is that we feel that drive and that motivation based on that. And our motivation to achieve our goals is primarily good for us, right? Motivational factors can also be detrimental. Several studies, such as this one by Strass, found that psychiatric diagnoses such as depression, CPTSD, and anxiety disorders can affect our motivation. Specifically, these disorders can cause in the moment factors to override that cost benefit calculation. To bring this back to running, let's think about this for a moment. If your overall motivation to run is to be healthier and live longer, that's a wonderful motivation. But what about those in the moment factors? Like let's say your friends want to go out drinking on Friday night, and you know that's going to affect your run in the morning. you may have that in the moment decision of wanting to go out and have fun with your friends override your overall motivational goal of improving your health and running. Or let's say it's raining outside, or you just don't feel like it. Or you would rather be doing a million other things than going out for a run. Those in the moment decisions can be really tough when it comes to motivation, which is why I want to bring you to the next step, which is discipline. So motivate is what initially drives you, but discipline and consistency is what is going to help you be successful. When I first started running, my initial goal was to lose weight. That's all I wanted to be completely honest. I actually didn't care about my health or longevity. I was 21. What I cared about was losing weight and looking good in my clothes. I know that sounds vain, but it's the truth. And maybe some of you guys can relate to that. And the problem with having losing weight as your sole motivation is that it could take a while to see results. And so while motivation can get you started, motivation can feel great in the It's often fleeting. It's often temporary and often unreliable. Discipline is what keeps you going. Discipline is the foundation. And the key to success comes from consistently practicing the discipline in the areas you want to improve. So in running, that means that you have discipline in your running discipline and committing to running even on the days you don't feel like it, even on the days when you're not motivated. So on those days that you wake up and you don't feel motivated, tell yourself, fuck motivation. I'm disciplined and I can do this. And to help you do that, I want you to write down your goals in advance. Research indicates that writing down your goals significantly increases the likelihood of you achieving them. A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that writing down goals increases the likelihood of achieving them by 42%. Another study found that vividly picturing them and describing them and writing them down, people are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals. Another important factor to make sure you're achieving your goals is to make smart goals. And by smart By smart goals, I mean specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-based. As you write down your goals, write down what you will do and not what you want or hope to do. Framing it as something that you're committed to will shift your mindset and make you more likely to achieve your goals. Let me give you an example of a smart goal related to running when you're first starting out. So you might write down, I will run for 30 consecutive minutes by June. through running 15 to 30 minutes, three times a week, and incorporating run-walk intervals and increasing ratios, beginning with 30 seconds of running and two minutes of walking. That is very specific. It gives a timeframe, so you wanna be able to achieve that by June. It gives you a specific goal of running for 30 minutes. It tells you exactly how you're gonna measure your success through the duration of the run, frequency, and measured ratios. And it's achievable. For steps three and four, I want you to write down your when and your where. For example, are you going to run on the treadmill at home or at the gym? In your neighborhood or on a track? Before or after work? What days of the week work best for you? The reason why this step is so important is because what I am now going to ask you to do for your fifth and final step is be negative. You heard that right. I want you to write down everything that could go wrong. There is so much of a focus on positivity that I think we're missing the point. If we go into something thinking it's going to be easy or not a challenge, it's going to make it that much harder for us. Studies show that toxic positivity can be detrimental to our mental health. It can cause feelings of guilt, shame, inauthenticity, and an ability to identify and process our emotions. Instead of adopting toxic positivity when it comes to running, which looks like stay positive. I love running. I love running every day. I'm going to experience a ton of health benefits. I'm going to lose weight right away. Be realistic. Or I like to say, be fucking for real. It's time for an honest moment here. It's not always going to be easy. You're not always going to feel like it. You're not always going to be motivated. It's not always going to be fun. There are going to be runs that suck. There might be more runs that suck than are good. And I'm not saying that to deter you from running. I'm saying that to help you understand you're not alone. I know when I first started running, I really struggled to identify as a runner because all the images I saw in magazines, they seemed like they were super happy to be out there running. In fact, check out any edition of Runner's World and you'll see exactly what I mean. If you want a specific example, I want you to check out an article, Why You Need a Running Class by Donna Raskin on runnersworld.com. No shade to Donna, but this article's picture is full of smiling runners all running together. They're not breaking a sweat at all. They look amazing. They look fantastic. I believe they have full makeup on. There's some guys and girls, but they all look like they're having a super fun time and it's not hot. They're going up a hill. It doesn't look like it's difficult for them at all. They're all in mid stride. No one's walking. No one looks like they're in pain. They look like they're having a great time. And that's great for them. And if you're a runner who happens to be like that, I admire you. That's wonderful. But that's not the reality for me. And it's not the reality for a lot of other runners. You know, I think a lot of people think that getting started into running is easy. I read an article on a sports blog that said, running is easily the most accessible and easiest sport to play. All you need is a good pair of running shoes and you're good to go. I argue to differ. Don't get me wrong. I do think running is for everyone and I do think it's an accessible sport, but I just don't want to create an unrealistic expectation that all you need is a smile and a pair of running shoes and you can hit the ground running. It requires a little more than that, which is why I'm here to help you out. I want I'm going to give you an example of where this mindset came into play for me. And I will share the story of my worst marathon ever. And the irony behind this is my fastest marathon time ever was my absolutely worst race I've ever run. I don't measure success in time. I measure it in how I feel. And my goal at the end of any run or any marathon is to feel good. And I felt like shit. Day of the marathon happened to coincide with my daughter's Girl Scout troops Santa's workshop. Would be as big of a deal if I wasn't the Girl Scout troop leader. The marathon started at around 7.30 a.m. and the Girl Scout event began at 12.30. I told myself if I just ran really fast and went straight home, took a quick shower and got my daughter, I can make it in time and do both the marathon and Santa's workshop. What this did is put me under tremendous pressure the entire time I was running. All I could think about was my time. I was looking at my watch constantly. I told myself, this is going to be easy. I had done a marathon the month before. And so I went into it the mindset of too much positivity. I thought this is going to be easy. I've already done a marathon. I'm going to knock this out and go on with my day. And I wasn't in the moment. All I could think about was what was coming after the run. And that's about the worst mindset you could have when you're running. It was painful. It felt like it took a million years. I have run marathons much slower, but that marathon felt like the longest, even though it was actually the shortest. I went in with the wrong mindset, toxic positivity. I thought everything was gonna be okay, and I held myself to an unrealistic standard, which resulted in absolutely miserable run. So what can you do instead? Well, let's take a lesson from my mistake, and let's actually write down all the things that can go wrong in advance. More importantly, I want you to build a contingency plan. For example, in steps three and four, you wrote down where and when you're gonna run. What are you going to do if you decide to run outside in the morning before work, but it's raining, or you have an early meeting, or your legs are sore, or you just don't feel like it? Shit happens. So what are you going to do? You're going to write down what you're going to do in each of those instances. So maybe if it's raining, you'll run on the treadmill instead. If you have an early morning meeting, maybe you'll run after work. If you oversleep, you'll run on your lunch break. If you don't have 30 minutes, she'll just do 20. If you're sore, maybe make it an active rest day. The key to success in running and in life is not avoiding mistakes, mishaps, and bad days. No, success is in how we handle these situations. The situations are largely out of our control, but what is in our control is how we respond. So until next time, I want you to go to my website, milemarkermatriarch.com for a free download of tools and templates that you can use to complete this five simple step exercise to get you started in running. I want for you to know that I believe in you. I know that you can do this. I have full confidence in your ability to find your why, to set your goals and to see them through to completion. And I know that this time, will be different. I know that because you're here. And you not only have me, but you have an entire community of women here cheering you on. Lala Yousafzai said, I think realizing that you're not alone, that you're standing with millions of your sisters around the world is vital. And you, my love, are surrounded by all your sisters who are actively rooting for your success. If this podcast resonated with you, please feel free to send it along to a friend and have them join our wonderful running community. You can also follow me on Instagram at milemarkermatriarch or on Twitter at milemarkermatriarchm.