Struggling to lace up those running shoes with consistency? The internal and external barriers we may have need to be identified, and then we can come up with strategies to overcome them. For older runners, time scarcity, waning motivation, and the ever-present fatigue can hold us back.
Sometimes we don't know why we are having a hard time getting out there, and you just need someone to prompt you to figure it out. Check out the resource section for a quiz you can take which will show you what may be a barrier.
If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.
Struggling to lace up those running shoes with consistency? The internal and external barriers we may have need to be identified, and then we can come up with strategies to overcome them. For older runners, time scarcity, waning motivation, and the ever-present fatigue can hold us back.
Sometimes we don't know why we are having a hard time getting out there, and you just need someone to prompt you to figure it out. Check out the resource section for a quiz you can take which will show you what may be a barrier.
If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.
If you have any running-related questions, please send an email to sherry@wrinkledrunner.com…I answer every one.
Speaker 1:
Today we're going to talk about something that is used by personal trainers in finding out a client's barriers to exercise and go over some of the ways to overcome them, but from a running standpoint. So, first of all, if you have reasons why you don't run consistently or you don't know why you don't, you can use this tool that I'll link to in the show notes and it's like a quiz and it pinpoints what your particular barrier may be and then, if you know that, then you'll be able to find ways to combat that or come up with a plan to get around the kind of barriers that we have. So there's a whole list of barriers and they have been identified as the major reasons why they may not feel that they can run, and the top three have to do with time, energy and motivation. And when we break reasons down even further, we have both the external and the internal. So for older runners, no time, no companions and no facilities are the top three external or extrinsic reasons, and being too tired, not having enough motivation and not having enough knowledge are the top three internal or intrinsic reasons. So I'll go over those specifically and give you some ways to approach them and then go over a few more that some of you may be experiencing, and that's going to be towards the end of the episode. The top reason for everyone, no matter the age, is not enough time. We're all busy, busy, busy, and it's tempting to use this as an excuse to not add one more thing to our days.
Speaker 1:
So, even though it may sound like an exercise in futility, keeping a physical time log for a week of everything that you do can help you identify some periods of time that maybe you'd be able to slot in exercise, in our case, running at least three times a week for 30 minutes, for example. If you kept actual track of the time that you spend mindlessly scrolling through your phone, I bet you'd probably be able to find more than 30 minutes three times a week. If you added it all together, you know how it is. We all start scrolling as soon as we wake up and well, most of us do, and I'm even scrolling in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. Taking all that time that we are scrolling through on Instagram or Facebook or even on news websites or whatever we're doing. That takes up a lot more time than I think we even realize, and things like Netflix, hulu, apple TV time, instead of watching three episodes of a show at once. If you determine, like, maybe two times a week, you're only going to watch one episode, that would open up a whole new world of time, probably for more than just running. You could find time to do other things like start another hobby or, you know, whatever it is that maybe you think you're missing out on because you don't think you have enough time. Those are just some of the ways that we kind of suck our time up without even realizing it, and so keeping a journal of everything that we do and how much time that we're taking to do it can be very helpful in identifying ways that we might be able to tweak how we spend our days so that we get those running times in Now.
Speaker 1:
Hand in hand with this is finding kind of snack size time in your day to get more movement in. So things like walking to work if that's an option, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away from the grocery store those are all things that we can do to incorporate more movement into our day, on top of finding like 30 minute blocks for exercise. A lot of our humanness is continuing in the direction that we are already heading in. So if you make movement a priority, you will try to find creative ways to get more movement in. If we're sedentary, we tend to continue to snuggle on the couch with our tablets and avoid getting up, so you're kind of always going to be going in the direction that you're already doing or already going, unless you determine that you're going to change that.
Speaker 1:
Having no one to run with is another top reason for the older runner. Keep in mind these are also high on the list of runners of any age, so don't just tune me out because you might be young. If you are someone that loves to hang out with other people and that extends to running, there are various ways you can find a running partner, even if it isn't someone you currently know. I am lucky that I run with my husband, a few of my sons and daughters-in-law and some clients. I actually run with enough people that I'm pretty excited when I get to run alone. But if you are searching for someone to run with, you can head to rrcaorg, to their website, and look up your city to see if there's a run club near you that's affiliated with them. There's also Fleet Feet Group Runs, which is a running store located in many towns across the US. Mom and Pop running stores with running groups are also available, and there's a website called joggingbuddycom that will show you runners near you that are looking to run with others, and this will list the age of the person, whether they're a beginner, intermediate, that kind of thing, and like I do it by zip code, like I don't do it to find someone else to run with, but as an example. You know, if I put in my zip code, it will show me all the different people that are available to run and obviously I'll link to those resources in the show notes.
Speaker 1:
One external barrier and the last two fall into that category as well is a lack of facilities, and for runners that's kind of a non-issue sort of. We can always head outside and so, provided the weather is cooperating, even if we don't have running equipment or belong to a gym to get to a treadmill, there's always the outdoors and we might have to postpone some runs, but running definitely has an advantage over some other methods of exercise when it comes to whether there's facilities available. An internal reason many older people don't run is that they are too tired or that they feel that they are. Many times when we start a new program of movement, we actually find that we feel more energized. So giving into that idea may help us start the process, and then we're going to find out that we do feel so much better and more energized when we're actually doing more movement.
Speaker 1:
There are so many physiological changes to our bodies when we run that, unless there are some underlying health issues that we may or may not know about, we should feel better and less tired as we begin to run. Now, that's not to say you're not going to feel fatigued. You know, I ran today and I'm pretty tired. My legs are pretty tired, but you shouldn't feel like super fatigued or super like you can't go on with your day if you're running properly and smartly.
Speaker 1:
One thing that helps me eliminate the barrier of feeling too tired because I do tend to feel like I'm tired all the time, and I always have is to run first thing in the morning. I don't have time to come up with any excuses, because I just get up, get ready and get out the door. Now I have the advantage of eliminating the no companion barrier in hand in hand with this, because I run with my husband, who generally has a very busy work day. So when I run with him I have to get up earlier than I normally would. So rolling out of bed, getting ready and getting out the door is kind of what I do so that I can run with him. But on days I don't have someone to run with, I lay out my clothes and get out as soon as I roll out of bed, maybe after a cup of coffee, but I try not to sit around too much.
Speaker 1:
If you're definitely not a morning person and can't fathom doing a run when you get up and you don't have anything going on for the day, putting on running clothes as your outfit for the day, so that when you do feel like it, that's one less thing you have to do to get out the door If you work, take your running clothes with you, put them on before you leave, and then you can either stop at a trail or a park or other interesting running place or come home and immediately go out for a run. Because once, especially on a work day, once you get home from work and you sit down, it is very hard to want to get up, change those clothes and then go back outside for a run clothes and then go back outside for a run when we feel like we're too tired, we will also definitely have a tendency to have a lack of motivation, which is another barrier. There are all sorts of reasons why our motivation goes away. So with running, we have to make it more of a routine so that when we don't feel like it, we still get out there and go for consistency. We still get out there and go for consistency.
Speaker 1:
Having a running coach plug for my profession here can help with motivation. Just by having that accountability that comes with hiring someone to help you, training plans, check-ins, someone to run with. If you opt for in-person, all these things can get you past a lack of motivation. When you are paying for something, you're going to elevate it in your mind and you're gonna wanna check off that box, which brings us to a lack of knowledge. If you don't feel like you know what you are doing, you're not gonna do it. Several of my kids, when they were little, would try something once and if they couldn't do it right the first time, they had a very hard time pursuing mastery of it. They were always so happy when they did.
Speaker 1:
You know, take the time to learn something, but getting amped up to do that means we need to acknowledge that we may not know everything about something that we are wanting to do. In the case of running with the internet, we have a whole host of ways to find out about what training means and how to run smartly. There's plans and websites with loads of information, facebook groups there are just all kinds of ways to get an education about how to run. Now, make sure that whatever you're looking at is reputable, and I will say I ran for a lot of years, even with internet access, before I really knew anything about it besides, just go out and run. So if you do run and you haven't done any research into it, a great motivator is to learn about all the things that go into training, workouts, planning, etc. And then, once you gain that knowledge, you will have more confidence to go out there and do it.
Speaker 1:
Some of the other reasons we may have barriers to exercise or running may be that lack of confidence and, like I said, learning about it can help with that. Fear of getting injured is another reason. Again, knowledge or having a coach goes a long way to injury prevention, or having a coach goes a long way to injury prevention. If we don't run right or smartly, that is definitely a recipe for injury. If we're running too much too soon, if you're going for a goal of, say, running a 5K and the first few days you get out there and you try to run that 5k in practice without gradually going up there, yeah, you're probably going to get injured. You're also going to get burned out and then you're going to quit. So find out how to do these things in a productive, scientific way so that you don't get hurt. Another barrier is lack of encouragement. If the relationships that you're in don't support you becoming active, then you're going to need to carve out your own time and perhaps look into finding a run club or group to help in that area.
Speaker 1:
Cost is another barrier, especially when we're talking about a gym membership or equipment.
Speaker 1:
Now, with running, yes, it does cost money. You don't have to go all out, but you do need good for you running shoes and I have episodes and things on the YouTube channel and on my website that talks about how to find running shoes, technical fabrics those are always a plus instead of your basic walk-around tops and bottoms. If you want to race, if you want to coach. All that costs money. Now, there are ways to budget for all of that and be economical. You just may have to search a bit on how to do that.
Speaker 1:
Now, if you are finding you're wanting to run or to learn to run, but you're struggling with some of the things that I mentioned, take the advice to heart. And if you want a little more help in this area with ideas, send me an email and I'd be glad to help you. And if there are other things that are causing you to not run, let me know what those are and perhaps I can also help you. Come up with ways to work around these barriers or, you know, actually hit them head-on and eliminate them. Head to the show notes for more resources on this topic.