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Today, I received an email from someone who'd just signed up for our newsletter.
They wrote, "I want to get into running, but I don't know how."
They wrote, "I want to get into running, but I don't know how."
When I received it, what jumped to mind were things I learned from reading @petersagal's "The Incomplete Book of Running."
The book is so great for many reasons, but especially because of this:
The book is so great for many reasons, but especially because of this:
What has struck me is that Sagal’s approach to running is akin to the famous relationship therapist John Gottman’s approach to marriage: he takes something that’s shrouded in mystery for most of us and breaks it down into exactly how it works.
Case in point: if you’re having trouble communicating with your spouse, Gottman would tell you it’s probably not due to some vague irreconcilable differences.
More likely, it’s because one or more of the “four horsemen” has moved into your relationship...
More likely, it’s because one or more of the “four horsemen” has moved into your relationship...
Stonewalling, criticism, contempt or defensiveness.
(Each of us is unique, it’s true — but the problems we experience, in relationships and in other areas of life, are pretty universal.)
(Each of us is unique, it’s true — but the problems we experience, in relationships and in other areas of life, are pretty universal.)
That’s what I find as I read Sagal’s book, too, as he gets down into the nitty-gritty of why running “works,” physically and mentally.
By that, I don’t mean that he delves a lot into the physiology of how our muscles, tendons and ligaments work...
By that, I don’t mean that he delves a lot into the physiology of how our muscles, tendons and ligaments work...
... or in how our endocrine system works to deliver endorphins to our brains.
Instead, he lays out what he thinks are the most important factors to get started with running — and, even more importantly, to keep yourself running.
(Because it’s not going to do you a lot of good to start running for a few days or weeks and then just quit.)
(Because it’s not going to do you a lot of good to start running for a few days or weeks and then just quit.)
They’re what he calls the “three G’s”: gradual, goal and group:
Especially when you’re starting, or if you’ve laid off training for a while, you need time to get up to speed.
You need time for your body to become accustomed to the level of effort you’d like it to expend, and you need time for your mind to accept that you’re going to do it.
You need time for your body to become accustomed to the level of effort you’d like it to expend, and you need time for your mind to accept that you’re going to do it.
As @petersagal writes:
"Most people hate running not because there is something painful or inherently tortuous about running, but because it has been so long since the guileless runs of their childhood that they have lost all capacity for doing it...
"Most people hate running not because there is something painful or inherently tortuous about running, but because it has been so long since the guileless runs of their childhood that they have lost all capacity for doing it...
"You’d hate eating, too, if you hadn’t done it in thirty years and kept trying to put the food through the side of your cheek.”
We have to treat ourselves like third-graders when we’re starting out, because we have to convince ourselves we really can do this.
We have to treat ourselves like third-graders when we’re starting out, because we have to convince ourselves we really can do this.
The 2nd is a goal.
At first, when you realize you really can run after all, you’ll experience pleasure in simply being able to accomplish what you thought you couldn’t.
But sooner or later, that will wear off and you’ll ask yourself: why, exactly, am I doing this?
At first, when you realize you really can run after all, you’ll experience pleasure in simply being able to accomplish what you thought you couldn’t.
But sooner or later, that will wear off and you’ll ask yourself: why, exactly, am I doing this?
That’s when you need a goal that’s within reach for you to achieve, but challenging enough that you’re not certain you can.
If you don’t think you need a goal and you’ll simply keep up the running habit without one, think again.
If you don’t think you need a goal and you’ll simply keep up the running habit without one, think again.
