Video footage of my 10Km finish...

[JSoftware]

Might sound like a silly question, but how do you stay motivated?
I tried, several times, to start training but always from one reason or another I stopped. The longest I’ve been able to persist was about 1-2 weeks..
Actually I (tried) to start a routine only 3 weeks ago, thing is that routine lasted for less then a day (gave up while running the 2k :roll: )

I seem to have exactly the same problem!

[savage]

The only way I stay motivated is to book myself into a race, so I therefore have a goal. I've noticed that if I don't have a race coming up, that my motivation drops off and I start missing traning sessions.

Even if it's a short race it then gives me a goal. My first goal is finishing, then my second goal is to try and beat a previous/anticipated time.

I also found that having some kind of training scheduled helps me. I have been using the ones from Nike ( http://www.nike.com/bowerman/ then click on "Train" ) where they have schedules for Beginner and Advanced for 5K, 10K and half marathon. Make sure you build up your distances. I've been to the try too much to soon school and have suffered for it with shin splits and hip pain. You don't want to go there.

The key is to get into some kind of daily/every second day routine and to run when you are least likely to get interrupted. I have found that I need to do my traning first thing in the morning, so I tend to wake up at 6:00am and go for a run then ( during the week ). If I miss the 6:00am run it is virtually impossible to find the time to get that run in. Everything else just takes precedence. So I do it first thing in the morning and get it out of the way before either family or work can interrupt it. The other reason for doing it first thing is that I think that is when the air is least polluted in London, from all the car fumes, which I hate.

Also I've found that if I don't get my endorphin kick, I get grumpy both from lack of the endorphin and also from that fact that I don't feel I've achived anything, which then means I'm tense around the house. What a vicious cycle .

In the end no matter how you choose to do it, it takes disciple. Once you've got the disciple side sorted, everything else almost takes care of itself.

[tanffn]

Ok a few more (silly ops: ) follow-up questions:
1. How should I update the schedule if my only option is running up hill (back down hill).
2. I know the definition of run, but how should I "jog", even looked it up in wikipedia and that’s what it says:

Jogging is a poorly-defined term which generally refers to a type of slow running

3. week 6, steady/easy what do they mean by that.

[JSoftware]

3. Run(or jog?) all the way for 20 minutes

[cairnswm]

Many years ago (about 18 ) I was one of the top runners in my School. In the army (2 years conscription) I did a lot of running as well. Once I went to university and started work and got married I stopped running completely. In fact for about the last 5 years I have done practically no physical activity at all.

At the beginning of the year my wife and I joined Run/Walk for Life (http://www.runwalkforlife.co.za) which is basically a weight loss through exercide program. We go three times per week (Monday and Wednesday at 5pm and Saturday at 7am). My wife and I have committed to attending as many RWFL sessions as we can.

I run about 10km at each session.

By joining a group like Run/Walk for Life and commiting to be there as much as possible, I have been able to keep the motivation.

Ever since I was a small kid I have had a dream to run the Comrades Marathon (http://www.comrades.co.za) I now have the opportunity to do so. Its a lot of hard work and needs complete dedication to get to that level.

Finally. I have changed the priorities in my life. Usually I work really hard, put in many hours of overtime etc. This year I have placed work as a low priority, putting my family, hobbies and running ahead of work in my priority list.

[savage]

Ok a few more (silly ops: ) follow-up questions:
1. How should I update the schedule if my only option is running up hill (back down hill).
2. I know the definition of run, but how should I "jog", even looked it up in wikipedia and that’s what it says:

Jogging is a poorly-defined term which generally refers to a type of slow running

3. week 6, steady/easy what do they mean by that.

1. Hill runs are good but should be done infrequently, as you probably saw in the schedules. Are there no flat areas in you neighbourhood, maybe a running track ( though that can be boring for some )?

2. Jog is an easy run in my book, where you are able to hold a conversation without straining yourself while jogging. Run also varies in intensity but my criteria is not being able to speak more than a few words at a time to not being to speak at all when sprinting.

3. Steady means at an even pace. And easy should be very relaxed. As your fitness improves you might see that certain shedules talk about Farleks which basically involves sprinting followed by jogging repeatedly over a particular distance. For example I have a small lake near by that is about 500m all the way round. So sometimes I sprint 1 lap then jog the next lap to recover and repeat the sprint/job combination until I've covered about 6Kms. Though I probably won't do any of that in preparation for the half marathon as that is more for trying to improve your speed and right now I just want to be able to finish it.

[cairnswm]

I've been told to always start a training run by running uphill - it slows you down for the rest of your run

Have a look at this link:
http://www.runnersworld.co.za/calculator/training.php

It allows you to put in a distance and a goal time. Based on these values it shows you the various different paces you should be running in training.

So my 21.1km done in 1:57:01 leads to the following values:
Your easy run training pace is: 6:25/km
Your tempo run training pace is: 5:21/km
Your maximum oxygen training pace is: 4:50/km
Your speed form training pace is: 4:28/km
Your long run training pace is: 6:25-7:14/km

It includes an explanantion of each category as well.

My training pace (I consider as my easy run) is usually about 5:50/km which gives me about a 1:45 21kmwhich I dont think I'll get to in the near future

[tanffn]

Thanks for the link! made things much clearer.

Dom there are a few semi-flat areas but they are very short.. I can ride my bicycle to the valley.. I'll figure something out

:idea: Maybe we can open an online-motivation-group, define a goal and if one of the members don’t report back the entire community sends that person all of their spam mail! (or any other evil act :twisted: )

[savage]

Have a look at this ]http://www.runnersworld.co.za/calculator/training.php[/url]

That is indeed a great link.

[cairnswm]

I broke the 5min a km barrier over 10kms this morning. I finished my 10km race in 49:31!!!! Yay!