Pursuit of Happiness {Running}

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Hi, I'm Tina!

I’m the owner of Carrots ‘N’ Cake as well as a Certified Nutrition Coach and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P). I use macros and functional nutrition to help women find balance within their diets while achieving their body composition goals.

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I had an awesome run this morning! Hooray! Doesn’t a good run just make your whole day?

a great run

On my run this morning, I rocked out to “Pursuit of Happiness” by Kid Cudi, which inspired this post. I’m really digging this song lately.

Since the ZOOMA 10K, I’ve really been trying to get back into running. So, for the past three weeks, I’ve slowly increased my mileage, and, today, I added a tempo run. Whoa, look at me! Haha! But, seriously, running is finally starting to get “easier.” Ok, well, it’s never easy, but I don’t feel like death anymore when I’m running.

Usually, when I take a break from running, it only takes me 2-3 runs to get back into the swing of things, but, of course, this time (I took a solid 6 months off from running), it’s taking a lot longer. I promised myself I would enjoy the experience as much as possible and not get frustrated, and, honestly, changing my thinking has made all the difference. Instead of seeing running as something I need to check off my list for the day as part of a training plan, I look forward to heading out with my music and simply enjoying the act of running. It’s crazy how much things have changed for me in the past few weeks.

With that said, here are a few things that have helped me change my thinking about running and helped me enjoy it even more!

Appreciating that it isn’t easy.

If running was easy, everyone would do it. When I’m running and it’s tough, I’ve just come to accept it. Realizing that running takes effort and hard work has definitely helped me come to terms with appreciating the sport and embracing my inner runner. I just keep trucking along and have faith that I’m getting stronger and becoming a better runner.

Focusing on what I love about it.

I’ve spent a lot of time reacquainting myself with running and what it’s all about””feeling my body move, listening to my breathing, being outdoors, letting my mind wander, and, of course, enjoying the post-run endorphins. Instead of focusing on my time, splits, distance, and all that jazz, I’m simply enjoying the act of running.

Keeping my eye on the prize.

I have my eye on two races this summer, so when I’m out running, I think about these goals. Having them in mind keeps me motivated, and, of course, I’d much rather work hard now during my “training” than run a poor race when the time comes. I don’t want what happened at ZOOMA to ever happen again!

Doing workouts that I enjoy.

I know some runners plan specific types of workouts into their training in order to achieve certain goals, but I’m not there quite yet with my running. I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible, so instead of putting pressure on myself with intervals, fartleks, tempo runs, etc., I’m just heading out and running with no set plans. If I’m feeling good””like I did today””I’ll pick up the pace. If my body is feeling kind of sluggish, I’ll keep my pace easy. I want to make sure I’m looking forward to all of my runs, so I pick workouts that I enjoy, which, of course, helps me get out there and run on a regular basis.

Changing my expectations.

As I mentioned in my previous post about the mistakes I’ve made with running, I used to focus a lot of my attention on my times. In the past few weeks, however, I’ve left my Timex GPS Watch at home a number of times, which has helped me take that time pressure off myself. My new running expectations are things like: run 4 miles or listen to David Guetta for 30 minutes, which has made running a lot more enjoyable for me.

Questions of the Day

What’s your #1 favorite thing about running?

Have you ever changed your thinking about running (or fitness, in general)?

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