A Running Habit

Running for me is a habit: one that is key to how well I function, how effective I am in the world, and the quality of my relationships.

It is a habit that has been formed over twenty-five years: from a twelve-year old jogging up and down his street in the picturesque Highland village of Carr-bridge, to a thirty-seven year old running a 2.47 marathon in Edinburgh in 2024.

This series of blog posts looks at the benefits of building a running habit, before exploring how to build your own running habit.

The Sporadic Runner

Sporadic : occurring occasionally, singly, or in irregular or random instances

What stops people from building a running habit over time? Very often it is down to a sporadic approach to running. It is an approach that involves an individual running some variation of the following: once a week one week, three times the next, and not at all the third – with no structure or consistency.

I say that without any judgement at all and a recognition of just how hard it can be to carve out time for running (particularly in an endless school summer holiday with children like at the moment!)

Psychologically, this haphazard way of running is challenging: it internally and externally de-prioritises exercise and doesn’t allow for the proactive planning we explored in last week’s blog.

We are, after-all, creatures of the habits and structures we set up. By not committing to running regularly, we just see it as something we fit in over time, and can struggle to trace any positive impacts of it.

What, then, would be the benefits of moving to a consistent runner – before we look at how we can practically do that.

The Consistent Runner

Consistent: marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity: free from variation or contradiction

For me, the most important benefit of consistency in running is how you view yourself as a runner. You move from someone who might go for a run to someone who is a runner. That shift is significant, helping you to prioritise running and having it as part of your core-identity.

There are also the more practical benefits: it gives you a solid running foundation and supports your fitness development; it prevents you from getting injured as your body learns to adapt to the stresses of running. It also allows you to clearly track your improvements and how your running is developing over time.

I’ve kept my running pretty consistent between 40-50 miles a week over the past eight weeks, and focussed on doing similar speed sessions during that time. I’ll resist boring you with the micro details of that – but I was pleased to sneak under 17 minutes for the Edinburgh park run last weekend. It was my fastest 5k in five years – and a significant part of that was down to consistency in training (or was it that my kids came to watch and chased me on bikes for the last section?)

How to Build Running Consistency

I appreciate that is all easier to write than it is to do: consistency is tough and requires real effort. That mindset shift is perhaps the first step to go through. Setting the intention to be consistent has to happen before you can take the practical steps.

Then it is about deciding what this consistency will mean for you. How many days a week do you want to run and what days will they be? What time will you go out for runs on those days? What will those runs look like?

The more micro you can be in that plan, the more likely it is to happen.

You can then help that process by having some kind of accountability partner. It might be a friend who is at a similar stage and wants to be more regular in their running. Check in with each other, offer challenge and celebration and keep each other focussed.

I’ve also found when working with others in a coaching capacity that one of its main benefits is this accountability and support: a coach can help you to design a schedule that works, and be that cheerleader and challenger for you.

Born to Run

Confession: I’m a bit of a Bruce Springsteen obsessive. ‘Born to Run’ has to be the best song ever written about the universality of running:

“But ’til then, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run”.

I appreciate that running is not possible for some people, due to life circumstances or injury. For the majority of us, however, we can run to some degree.

Springsteen has written much about his success and the benefits of consistency. Replace “an audience” with running in his quotation below on and you have the perfect summary of this blog:

Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose and of action over a long period of time.

 So, if you want to build up a running habit – aim for consistency over the next few weeks.

Read: ‘Born to Run’ Bruce Springsteen’s memoir.

Listen: Feel Better, Live More podcast with Rich Roll on consistency.