6 ms·

I never understood running until long ago I was running for some school event and just got into that grove where ... it didn't hurt to run and I felt like I cou

• ptmcc 2y ago
  Similar boat here. I used to hate running and joked that it was playing sports without the fun game part. Why would anyone want to do that?? But then somewhere in my mid-30s something clicked, and now I love it. Like you said got to get over that initial hump of it hurting, doesn't take long, and then it's just soooooo good. I'm not running any races or training for anything in particular. I just run for me and my physical and mental health several days a week. It's my "me" time. I definitely get it now. Also a great way to explore all the nooks and crannies of my city, and find how to link up all the parks and trails and cut-throughs.
• mathieuh 2y ago
  I think it’s the same for all endurance sports. I think there’s about a month of pain that you have to get through when you first start but then you realise you’re actually enjoying it. For me it’s cycling, I do 300-400 km per week now and I absolutely love everything about it. The feeling you get when you find a smooth bit of road on a still day and you can feel is the wind in your face and all you can hear is the swish, swish, swish of your tyres is unmatched. It feels like you’re flying.
  • lostlogin 2y ago
    Flat tarmac, GP5000s, no wind or a tail breeze and it feels like you can go forever. I love grabbing a wheel and switching in with someone of a similar pace. The combined effort boost you both so much. As you say, the sound a nice pair of wheels makes is unbeatable. You weekly distance is excellent. Work and life get in the way of me exceeding 300 regularly, I sit at 250ish.
  • arkh 2y ago
    > The feeling you get when you find a smooth bit of road on a still day If you have not already you should try rowing. When you get some speed on water it feels really good.
    • 11235813213455 2y ago
      Just my opinion, but I feel like these kind of sports are unbalanced, because our muscles are mostly powerful for legs, of course rowing is still using legs, but not much more than arms
      • slaughtr 2y ago
        If you have proper rowing form your arms are almost entirely used just for holding on. The majority of your power comes from legs and core. Not a professional rower, just looked into form when I was using a rowing machine.
      • arkh 2y ago
        As mentioned you are wrong on this: rowing is mostly legs, some core muscle and then a little arm. As you don't have your full weight on your knees it is a good way to get started on working your legs when you're overweight.
        • genericspammer 2y ago
          As someone who rows an actual boat once or twice almost every other summer I just want to say that rowing is mostly upper body and arms, with little to no legwork.
          • arkh 2y ago
            I guess we're not thinking of the same thing when writing about rowing. I'm thinking of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_(sport)#/media/File:Aviron_2015_-_World_Championships_-_11.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowing_(sport)#/media/File:Avi... and if you do little legwork you're doing it wrong.
  • ainiriand 2y ago
    I run but I always wanted to cycle, it is just sharing the road with cars feel super-scary to me. Do you have any advice?
    • mathieuh 2y ago
      I get up really early and stay on back roads. But for cars, there's a lot you can do in terms of road position and so on. For me, if I feel like I'm approaching a dangerous situation I move into the middle of the road. I also generally ride quite far away from the kerb. A lot of drivers will happily pass you way too close if you give them the opportunity, but there aren't a lot of people who will just drive straight through the back of you if you're in the way. That leads into riding defensively. I ride with the mindset that everyone is trying to kill both me and themselves. I expect people to pull out in front of me, I expect doors to open etc. To get a bit more used to being around cars I would recommend getting up early. But really the main thing is confidence. You have just as much a right to be there as anyone else, and in reality the vast majority of drivers are great. I very rarely have bad experiences with cars. Obviously it takes time to build up confidence, but at the end of the day a confident, assertive rider who signals and manoeuvres well ahead of time is going to be safer than a nervous, skittish rider.
    • desertrider12 2y ago
      Look at gravel or mountain biking! If you live near some farmland, ranches or a national forest, there are likely miles of public dirt roads that hardly get any car traffic. trailforks.com is a good place to start to see what's near you.
    • thro1 2y ago
      If you start cycling, don't forget to keep running or start jumping - different muscles are involved. Practice of crashing (judo, aitrack) can't be underestimated. The relative speed between vehicles it's what does matter - keep the flow (or between the waves), the distance and attention (doors, sideways, blind spots, bus stops), be obvious predictable, use your imagination (fly trajectory) and signaling - even take a middle of the road when needed to not confuse someone he can take a chance to overtake you at wrong moment.
  • 11235813213455 2y ago
    cycling on mostly flat roads is not as intense as running to be fair, what I like in cycling is going uphill out of the saddle, I used to do hills repeatedly like that, totalling a few vertical kilometers without refueling nor drinking, that gave great sensations It's always a great idea to do regular cycling no matter the elevation as it's a great "compacting machine" for digestion
    • mathieuh 2y ago
      I meant "flat" as in not potholed to fuck, the roads where I am are completely destroyed I actually live in a fairly hilly area, per 100 km I would expect to do at least 1,000 m elevation
• belZaah 2y ago
  Technique is a big part of it. There’s actually a specific way to fast running engaging your core and making sure all parts of your legs are used in a way most suitable for them.
• dyauspitr 2y ago
  I’ve been running for years and I’ve never got into that groove though I wanted it for so long. Lucky bastard.
• x86_64Ubuntu 2y ago
  I've always wondered what happens psychologically and physically when you hit that state where you can pretty much go forever. It's like I begin daydreaming and I forget that I feel like I'm about to die from the running. One thing I noticed was that it never happened before the 1st mile, it was always after mile 2 that I would mentally drift off.
  • thefz 2y ago
    A combination of being under your lactate threshold, and of course exercise released endorphins. It's fleeting, but nice when it hits.
• potamic 2y ago
  I could never achieve this. Even after months of consistent training, my heart rate tends to shoot up pretty fast and max out even for small effort runs. Cardiologist tests haven't turned up anything and they insist I can continue to do what I'm doing (some even saying I shouldn't be afraid to go beyond max HR, but I don't know about that). If anyone else experiences the same or has some insight into this, do share. EDIT: what my training looks like: zone 2 training with a chest strap monitor. 30-45 min sessions, barely breaking out of walking speed, 2-3 days a week for months altogether, mixing it up with interval runs some times. I've done this many times over in my life, never seeing any improvement. Even today, the smallest of jogs will take me to max HR within 10-15 min
  • fastasucan 2y ago
    Try to use the same effort you have for your 30/45 min efforts just break them down into f.ex 3 min jog then 1 min walking. Start with just the same speed.
  • orobinson 2y ago
    I’m not a doctor but perhaps try running with a smart watch that shows you your heart rate and put in an amount of effort that keeps your heart rate at about 60-70% of max. For now that may be a brisk walking pace not even a jog. As you get fitter your heart rate should come down for the equivalent speed. I also used to go for runs and hit max within a few minutes and stay there for the whole run but ultimately I think I was just pushing too hard.
    • potamic 2y ago
      That's what I do, zone 2 training. I use a chest strap monitor too. 30-45 min sessions, 2-3 days a week for months altogether, mixing it up with intervals some times. I've done this many times over in my life, never seeing any improvement. Even today, the smallest of jogs will take me to max HR within 10-15 min.
      • vasco 2y ago
        Is there any reason for such strictness with your heart rate? I never measured anything and always progress up to a nice speed, and then it's when it flattens. Mix up the trainings and leave the HR monitor at home. Do ones where you just sprint as often as you can and others where you go slow, if you see some stairs during your run just sprint over them, etc. Of course, only if you're a regular person without existing heart issues.
• justinator 2y ago
  I remember the first time I rode a bike for 30 miles, I couldn't even sit down without intense cramping. I ate an entire large pizza loaded with toppings. Within a year, I rode a bike across the US. The body adapts to the load it's given, provided enough time.
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
• leokennis 2y ago
  I've been running for years but never got into that groove. I know and can "sense" my body well enough now that I know I can run for a long time with a 165 bpm heart rate, and I can adjust my speed/effort to not exceed that bpm. But it's never effortless or carefree running, it is really "stoking the engine" with focus and precision... I still enjoy hitting targets, improving my speed and technique etc. but it is never a relaxing process.
  • vasco 2y ago
    Maybe never going slow enough? There should be a pace where you can comfortably hold a conversation as if nothing is happening, specially after years of running. It might just be slower than you think, but "conversation pace" is how I think about it.
    • lm28469 2y ago
      Yep, slow down enough so that you don't sweat and can breathe 100% through your nose. At first you'll be very slow but if you keep on going weeks after week you'll slowly get faster. A big part of it is mental too, if you're in relatively good shape even as a complete beginner your body shouldn't complain too much for at least an hour, if you're experienced you should be able to sustain that for hours That's what I do as an amateur but then again I have no running watch, I run in $15 shoes, I don't care about PR, distance, &c. all I care about is slowly and safely building cardiovascular endurance
  • LeonM 2y ago
    My story was exactly like yours. I have been running for many years, did a few half marathons, but it never got easier. I could never do the 'effortless' carefree running that I heard so many talking about. In 2021 I got COVID and couldn't run since. I'd be exhausted and out of breath after just a kilometer or so, it was frustrating to say the least. To overcome that I proposed a 100-day running challenge with a buddy. We live in different cities, so we just ran our own distance and speed we were comfortable with. No tracking app, no stats, no target time or distance, just go out every day and go for a run. First 50 days were frustrating, it took me weeks to just get up to just 2km and then immediately plateaued. The around day 50 I noticed I could slowly start to pick up distance. I intentionally capped the distance to 6km or so, knowing that a 100-day streak is not great for your body. The last 10 days I decided to run 10km every day, which to my surprise I could do effortlessly. And I noticed something else changed. I did the 10km and then I... just wanted to keep going. I didn't though, knowing that 10km a day was already a terrible idea for someone of my age. After the challenge I took 2 weeks to recover, and then I just went for a long run, see what would happen. I did 16km that day and other than noticing being low on energy at the end, I never felt out of breath. I didn't set that as a target, I just kept going until I no longer felt like going further. I now regularly do a 25km run, but there are also days where I do 10 and feel content. I don't bring my phone or smartwatch, I don't track my time or progress, I don't set targets, I don't care anymore. When it feels good I'll keep going, and if not I'll just do a shorter route, I'm no longer pushing myself. Running has now become my way of relaxing, gathering my thoughts, enjoying being outside. It has become effortless and carefree. Maybe for everyone it's different, but in my N=1 experience I just needed to stop chasing progress, don't set expectations, no targets. Just get out there and enjoy yourself. Sometimes I do still push myself just for fun to see what I'm now capable of, but other than that I deliberately stay below my limit. Not sure what the takeaway from this story is supposed to be, I just felt like sharing. Hopefully it helps someone finding more enjoyment in running :-)
• montebicyclelo 2y ago
  Top runners can run fast and far without it hurting. But when going for personal bests / very fast times, my understanding is that it is painful, for most of the run. E.g. watch some parkrun vlogs, and you'll hear people say things like "after the first 1km it's really painful, so just take things one step at a time, and hold on to the pace", etc.
  • rojeee 2y ago
    "it never gets easier, you just get faster", or so the saying goes
  • 90ne1 2y ago
    Yeah, max effort racing once you're well trained is basically doing math based on your training data to estimate your physical limit, and then spending the majority of the race in agony, telling yourself whatever is necessary to avoid slowing down to hit that limit. If part of you isn't wishing for death by the halfway mark of a 5k race, you've probaly left time on the table.
• 11235813213455 2y ago
  I guess you used highly cushioned shoes?