RunningUrge Blog - Running and Motivation Tips

Running Brings out the Best of Us

2011-07-23T16:34:00.000+02:00

One of the most common questions that arise in our mind is the comparable effect of running with other methods of physical training, like exercises, aerobics, yoga, etc. The most important point with running, as well as other forms of physical training is either you like them or you hate them. For certain people, these activities could even be a love-hate relationship.

To some people, running appears to be tedious, exhausting, and painful. Let us first analyze why we want to run. Normally, running is undertaken as an exercise to lose weight or to tone up the leg muscles. However, the benefits of running do not there. The overall improvement in the physical health is the biggest outcome of running. Very few people realize that the lifestyle of a runner is unique in several ways. It is high time we ponder how running brings out the best in us.

Initially, most people start running to lose extra weight that they had accumulated or to maintain their present weight without putting on more weight. It is widely accepted that running is one of the best processes for fat burning. Studies reveal that running is able to burn more calories every minute, compared to all other types of cardiovascular exercises. Only cross-country skiing had been found to burn more calories than running. Cross-country skiing would not be possible for all of us and hence the second best choice is running, which could be practiced where we are without any strain or additional expense.

Our bones become weaker if we do not provide regular activity to them. Working in front of a computer is one sure method of weakening the bones. Running helps all the bones to remain healthy. Running is a high-intensity exercise if done regularly and it keeps not only the bones but also all the parts inside our body young and in good shape.

Aging is controlled by running. Further, running promotes the natural growth hormone inside us. Celebrities spend thousands or millions of dollars in hormone injections to retain the young look but you could achieve it without spending any extra money through running.

Further studies had revealed that running limits risks of breast cancer and stroke. Doctors usually advise people in early stages of diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis to take up running as a treatment option. Since running enhances the elasticity of the veins and arteries, making them expand and contract about three times more than normal. This strengthens the heart and blood circulation, while lowering problems of blood pressure.

Additionally, running improves the use of our lungs by 50%, which goes to waste otherwise. Running also leads to increase in the HDL (good) cholesterol levels in our body, leading to less blood clotting risks. The creation of lymphocytes or white blood cells that fight diseases in higher concentrations in our body gives us more immunity.

From the above points, it would be clear that running definitely brings the best out of us. When our bones and internal organs become strong, when blood circulation and good cholesterol levels increase, and when immunity and overall health of the body improves, running should be accepted as an exercise that tunes our body to the maximum. It enables us to be fit enough for undertaking our daily activities with more vigor and enthusiasm.

Cheers

Why Are You Running?

2011-07-15T11:03:00.000+02:00

If you ask any runner why he or she is running, that person would not be able to give you an immediate answer. The reason is simple. Running is a multi-faceted activity that it is not easy to come up with an easy answer or a single reason for running. The thought processes that motivate a person to run are endless. They could be philosophical, unique, intriguing, insightful, and special, if we explore deep into the reasons for running. Most running would only say that they feel exhilarated when running regularly and feel bad and depressed when they are unable to run.

Before you decide why you are running, you should understand the fundamental truth about running or any other physical activity or exercise. All of them are intended to make you fit, healthy, and strong, with more energy to attend to your daily activities. At the same time, fitness is something that always remains a temporary phenomenon. You could not store fitness somewhere and draw from it whenever you need it like money in bank. Further, the physical fitness, good health, and weight loss achieved by you after months of running could be lost completely in a few weeks, if you remain inactive. As such, once you start running, in a way, you are forced to continue that habit on a permanent basis. This is where most people fail, since they do not sustain the momentum.

Most runners feel that running makes them highly sensitive to the exact condition of each and every part of their body. They feel even minor changes in their bodies, with particular awareness on reduction in fitness or decay of any body part. Running makes you a better person today than what you were yesterday and this endless process continues with each passing day. The physical sensation of well-being, the mental relaxation, the self-esteem, and the self-confidence should be experienced personally if you are to understand the full benefits of running. You actually get the feeling that you are accomplishing something new everyday through running. You feel empowered in a special manner, when you realize the increase in the strength of your legs and other body parts. Your image gets a boost in your own eyes.

Majority of runners express that the reduction in physical and mental stress while running is tangible. As you keep running, your mind analyzes the problems in your life and usually comes up with appropriate solutions automatically. This is due to the fact that you take a look at the issues in your life as an outsider, while you are running. This helps you to arrive at unbiased decisions. The tension melts away without your being aware of it. Further, when you are angry or feel aggressive, the best answer is to run hard at high speeds. Your energy drain would bring you back to a calm frame of mind. These are some of the major reasons why people love to run and they never give up the running habit once they had started it. They find it difficult to live a life without running due to the immense advantages reaped by them through the running process. It is possible that you could come up with several other motives to run, if you do a fair self-analysis.

Goal Achieved! What's next?

2011-06-20T22:12:00.000+02:00

Running just like all the other things in life needs constant support and motivation in order to ensure that the person continues to pursue it. If you want the ball to remain in action, you have to keep on dribbling it. Motivation of the right kind will ensure that even after you have successfully achieved your running goals that you had chalked out for yourself, you still have more to achieve.

Raise the benchmark. There can be nothing more exhilarating and will keep you moving in the right direction then raising the benchmark so as to give yourself a new challenge to pursue. The right kind of achievable and realistic challenges given to yourself will ensure that you are able to go on and achieve far more than what you had originally set out to.

Get fired up. There might be days when you want to be lax and laze around under the shadow of having already achieved your running goals. Those are the days when you need to ignite that motivational fire in your belly in order to ensure that you are able to keep up the tempo. Break up your goals to be achieved into bite sized chunks. When you do so they will not seem daunting enough and help you to be able to achieve far more than you would have usually done so.

Make it into an exciting form of play. When you are able to pump in the right amounts of excitement, newness, and novelty into your running goals, you are more likely to take yourself through the motions with a renewed fervor, which might not have been likely otherwise. This will enable you to be able to get yourself off the couch, slip on your jogging shoes, and go for it.

Write down your goals that you want to achieve to be able to tick them off with joy when you are done and have achieving them. There can be nothing more rewarding then to get your goals down on paper in black and white. It gives your goals the added crystal clear objective, and then as you set to achieve them you can strike them off. There is bound to be the inner glow of achievement as you strike them off your list.

Competition will get the best out of you. There is nothing more wonderful then healthy competition. You will be able to achieve this if you get yourself in a team in order to strike out for the runs together. Each one of you will be able to motivate and goad the other one on when they are tired or lagging behind. The team spirit will carry all of you together in one enormous surge of a wave and you will love that feeling of bonding and togetherness that it goes on to create for you.

10 Essential Steps to Get Back on Track

2011-06-06T23:05:00.001+02:00

Whether you are a fresh runner or an old hand in running, remember that dropping the habit of running happens to the majority of people all over the world. At one point in time, you might find yourself without any motivation to run and you might stop running altogether. This is when you need help and assistance to get back on track and resume the practice of running regularly. Ten major steps to help you get back on the running track are presented here.

The first step to get back on track when you have stopped running is to remember how you used to feel when you ran. You were at peace with yourself, new ideas and thoughts came to you while running, and solutions to problems appeared on their own in your mind. Running transformed you. When you concentrate on these memories, you would be back on track without further delay.
There are several ways to stay healthy, which includes various types of exercises and workouts. However, moderate running is better than all of them. You lose excess weight without too much strain, your heart gets strengthened, and cholesterol levels come down. When you contemplate on the benefits of running, you would be motivated to resume your running again.
Do not indulge in excuses. Your mind would give you hundred reasons why you should not strain your body by regular running. Never listen to that. Make running part of your life. If necessary, write it on the wall in big letters.
When you had broken off your running habit, do not start where you left off. Start slowly with mild jogging and proceed to medium pace running before returning to full running. Create a fresh running plan. Start with procedures and steps of running as if you have never run before.
Analyze the reasons why you stopped running and eliminate them from your fresh running program. Set new goals and fix a running routine that would help you continue running without stopping again.
Since you have left off running, your legs would have become slack and your lung capacity would have been reduced. Start with leg strengthening exercises and breathing exercises to get back into shape before resuming your running habit.
To pep up your running, you should participate in running races once in a while. Even if you do not win or even come within the first 10, the camaraderie that develops among runners is a huge motivating factor. The sheer thought that you are competing with the best runners will inspire you to continue running.
Keep track of your progress. You could reward yourself with small diversions or gifts when you run again regularly for additional inspiration.
Overcome the negative thoughts and ponder again deeply about your running and health goals. Look at running as an essential part of your life instead of another routine chore and this would motivate you to become more determined and persevere in running.
When you keep it in mind that you are not running to improve and maintain your health alone but the morning run gives you a feeling of satisfaction, enjoyment, and accomplishment, you will automatically be on track to run again. The most important step is to get your mind back to all the effects of running.

Cheers

/Dejan

5 Motivating Running Movies

2011-05-23T22:19:00.005+02:00

Perhaps it's raining and you really don't feel like running, eventhough you should. Sit back and enjoy these five great movies and give yourself a mental treat for your next running activities.

1. Spirit of the Marathon
A non-fiction feature movie directed by marathon runner Jon Dunham. This film captures the essence and drama of the 26.2-mile marathon-running event. Six separate stories are intertwined seamlessly, with each runner preparing for the Chicago Marathon challenge. This movie is not just a sports movie but also a journey of perseverance, inspiration, and personal triumph. ‘Spirit of the Marathon’ had influenced and motivated numerous runners and non-runners.

2. Prefontaine
A 1997 movie that documents the life and struggle of Steve Prefontaine, the long distance runner from the United States. The movie was directed by Steve James, with Jared Leto doing the role of Prefontaine. This movie views the life of Prefontaine through the eyes of his assistant coach, Bill Dellinger and Nancy Alleman, the girlfriend of Prefontaine; though the character of main coach, Bill Bowerman, is also present in the movie. Ed O’Neill donned the role of Dellinger.

3. Another movie on Prefontaine, ‘Without Limits’
Produced by Tom Cruise in 1998, is also a depiction of the life of Prefontaine but from the viewpoint of Bill Bowerman and a previous girlfriend of Prefontaine, Mary Marckx. Directed by Robert Towne, ‘Without Limits’ had Billy Crudup as Prefontaine and Donald Sutherland as Bowerman. Both movies bring out the fact that Steve Prefontaine brought glamour and spark to long distance running by his numerous running records, in spite of being slightly opinionated and arrogant in his personal life.

4. Running the Sahara
Another great documentary movie that chronicles the true story of 3 men who ran across the Sahara Desert. Ray Zahab, Kevin Lin, and Charlie Engle travelled 6,290 km to reach the Red Sea in February 2007. The documentary was directed by James Moll. The three runners started their incredible desert running expedition from the Atlantic Coast of Senegal and ran through Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Libya, before running through Egypt to arrive at the Red Sea. This documentary shows that extreme efforts can also succeed if determination and perseverance are present in us. A truly inspirational and motivational effort by the three runners.

5. Chariots of Fire
Another British movie released in 1981, which was based on the real life of 2 athletes who participated in the 1924 Olympics. The athletes were Eric Liddell, a Scotland runner and Harold Abrahams, an English runner. The film was directed by Hugh Hudson. Both runners were motivated by their religions of Christianity and Judaism. Liddell refused to run on Sunday due to his deep religious convictions. Another athlete gave his place to allow Liddell to compete on Thursday. Liddell won 400 meter gold and Abrahams won 100 meters gold in the 1924 Olympics.

... and remember the popcorn!

Remember to Reward Yourself

2011-05-15T20:18:00.001+02:00

We’ve all heard and experienced the carrot and the stick syndrome and know that what really works is the carrot. When you reward yourself in your motivation and fitness regime, you are bound to see success over and over again.

The right kind of reward system really works. The moment you are able to set for yourself achievable and time bound goals, you will be excited when you reach them because a reward waiting for you. This will spur you quicker to be able to reach your goals.

The reward that you promise yourself need not be an indulgence or something really great. It could be a dinner out at your favorite restaurant; an evening spent watching your favorite movie or buying yourself a new pair of running shoes. It could just be anything that will let you know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and if you are able to achieve your short-term fitness goals, you will have something exciting waiting for you. This will get your mind and body to work in sync and push you towards your goals faster.

Ensure that you keep the reward system in your fitness regime going. Every little achievement in a week, the end of 2 weeks, and a month needs to be rewarded. Relish the reward that you give yourself and savor every moment of it. Let your senses seep up the rewards and luxuriate in it. All of this will ensure that you have readied your mind, body and spirit for the next lap. Rewards need not only be in cash or kind but could also be in the form of being appreciated for the way you look by your partner. Your fitness regime will certainly show up in a whole lot of positive ways on your frame and will get you good amounts of complements coming your way.

Here are possible rewards that you could gift yourself:

A sinful slice of cake or ice-cream that you have been resisting the whole week through. You need not eat the whole thing if you are worried. Share it with someone so as to halve or reduce the calories

Relax for an evening and do all the things that bring you great pleasure

Treat yourself to the little things in life such as flowers, chocolates or a window shopping spree

Enjoy the things that you like to do such as watch your favorite shows, listen to music, potter around at home in your night gown.

Sometimes you might think that you are running toward a dead end, and your purpose for running is lost, try finding some small treats and rewards to help you along.

Cheers and have run,

Dejan S.

Great Audio Books for Enjoyable Running

2011-05-13T20:44:00.000+02:00

Nowadays, we get very little time to read books. The advent of audio books had helped us listen to what we want to read and get the full benefit of reading, even while we are busy with other activities.

Listening to audio books while running is a great way of developing our knowledge or satisfying our interest in reading novels and other interesting books. The iPod shuffle is a great tool to listen to audio books while running. It can be clipped easily to the tracksuit. When such a good listening device that can hold hundreds of audio books is available, it is time for you to enjoy your running and also listen to all the exciting audio books that you have always wished to read.

Still, when it comes to the question of which audio books are best for running, then the answer is a simple one. The selection of audio books is purely an individual taste. You may be the type who likes romance novels or the studious one who wishes to assimilate the latest in management principles. There is no hard and fast rule that only certain types of audio books are best suited to listen while running. The entire decision depends on your interests and preferences. Still, a brief list of the books that present the benefits of running effective and motivate you to continue your running habit is presented here for your consideration.

‘Born to Run’ written by Christopher McDougall and read by Fred Sanders is an interesting book that familiarizes you with a hidden, tribe, the greatest race never witnessed by the world, and super athletes. It is a highly inspirational book on running.

‘The Long Run’ is an attempt by an individual to revitalize his athletic career and also his life by participating in the New York City marathon race. This audio book is co-authored by Matthew Long, Matthew Del Negro, and Charles Butler. A truly motivational book for runners.

‘Run to Overcome’ is another great audio book that tells the inspiring story of the long-distance running quest of an American champion and achieve his big dream. Meb Keflezighi, Dick Patrick, and Jon Gauger have combined to write this gripping audio book. The book is expected to be released shortly.

‘Running with the Whole Body: Your guide to running faster and farther with less effort and pain’ is a must for all runners. Written by Jack Heggie, this book provides valuable tips on effortless and effective running.

Motivate Yourself to Run on an Early Morning

2011-05-11T11:05:00.001+02:00

The thing about running is that you can do it really well in the early hours of the morning when there is hardly any traffic or people on the road. But, in order to do so you need to get yourself out of bed early and that can be quite a pain.

The first thing that you need to do in order to motivate yourself for the early morning run is to prepare for it the night before. Keep your running clothes out and ensure that you get yourself to bed early so that you are not really groggy and grumpy when the alarm rings telling you about time to go for the jog.

Build up the right amount of excitement in the running by having on wonderfully fashionable clothes and the right pair of shoes. When you are able to build up that extra kind of zing and excitement for something you will start looking forward to it. You will be astonished at how the right kind of motivation will work as you might find yourself waking up in the middle of the night checking on your alarm to see if it is already time for the run.

Another thing for you to try and motivate yourself to do is to change your biological clock. Not many people are larks (early risers) in this world as most of the population is made up of owls (night owl). However, if you start going to bed early and rise a bit before the sun does you will start feeling that right burst of energy in you throughout the day. This in turn will motivate you to turn yourself into a lark.

Another way to motivate yourself is to watch out for regular runners and keep them as a signal for yourself that you need to get out and be on the ground running your way to good health. If you notice, there are streams of people and groups out there pursuing their health and fitness goals. You can tie up with them and find the most remarkable kind of motivation coming your way. When you witness the dedication and motivation of others in their pursuits, it will serve as the right catalyst to push you forward as well. Also, you can join someone whose company you enjoy. This will go on to give you the right kind of impetus to jump right out of bed, be dressed in a jiffy and head outdoors to meet the person.

Be a Runner and Share Your Activities!

2011-05-09T09:10:00.001+02:00

Share your running activity on social media and blogs. Share it with friends, family, and co-workers. To proclaim yourself as a “runner” will motivate you to prove everybody that you actually are one!

People who have started the habit of ‘running’ recently, require a lot of motivation to continue the habit. Normally, all of us start running with great enthusiasm but usually the interest tapers off within weeks and we turn from daily running to alternate days, then every third or fourth day. After that, once a week and finally we stop running altogether. This is due to lack of continuous motivation and inspiration for running.

Even regular ‘runners’ do need occasional motivation, since mood swings are normal for any human being. One sure way of keeping yourself motivated to continue your running habit is to broadcast to all those that you know about your running.

Normally, boasting is not considered good manners but in the case of running, boasting is actually beneficial. When you have bragged to all your family members, friends, colleagues and members of your blogs and social networking websites that you are a regular runner, you will find it very difficult to back off from running. It becomes a matter of prestige and self-esteem to keep running everyday. The feeling of apprehension that you will become the laughing stock of your family and acquaintances is a very power deterrent in your slackness or stopping of running. As such, proclaiming to all that you are a regular runner becomes a serious liability, forcing you to continue the habit for fear of being mocked by others.

Further, when you share your running activity with your family members, colleagues, personal friends and your new friends in social networking websites and blog websites, you definitely get a sense of pride and superiority. These feelings are strong motivating factors to continue your running. Moreover, the other runners in the above groups will share with you their experiences and will encourage you to keep running. This external motivation enhances the internal motivation. Your eagerness to prove that you are a stubborn and persevering individual will spur you to keep running regularly.

When you participate in blog and social networking websites about running, you get valuable tips from other runners about how they train, funny or interesting anecdotes of what happened during their run, their performances in races and lots of other useful tips on running. This kind of valuable information is a huge motivator for all the runners that part of such running blogs or networking websites.

Are You Running to Lose Weight?

2011-05-06T09:41:00.001+02:00

When I started running about 7 years ago, it was simply a matter of health. I was slightly overweight and was in pretty bad shape. In general, obesity is a major global problem at present. Running to lose weight has become an effective method, recommended strongly by physicians and fitness trainers. If you ask whether running will help you in your goal to lose weight, then the answer is a definite yes. Here are some of the tips that helped me out, way back.

Be Consistent in your Running

You should be consistent in your running habit to lose weight and maintain the weight loss. If you run for a week and lose a few pounds, you can gain that back easily if you do not run the following week. If you have difficulty in running every day, you should run at least every alternate day, if you are intent on losing weight.

Do not settle down to a Routine

Even though running makes you lose weight effectively, when your running practice becomes a standard routine without any variation, the body metabolism becomes accustomed to that routine. This results in lower rate of weight loss. If you wish to maintain the weight loss rate, you should vary the running procedure on a regular basis to challenge the body. You can do this by increasing the distance that you run everyday.

Burn More Calories

You lose weight through running only if you are really burning more calories than what you consume. You need to burn about 3,500 calories to lose body weight of one pound. If you run at a steady speed of 4 to 5 miles an hour, you will be losing only about 100 calories for every mile that you run. Physical trainers mention that you should burn around 30% of your daily calorie intake either through running or other physical exercises to maintain a toned body. Hence, you should also keep track of your calorie intake to make running an effective tool to lose weight.

Important Tips to Make Running a Priority Regimen

Morning running is the most effective method to lose weight and it should be done on a regular basis. Running for a minimum of 30 minutes should become a routine.
Strive to get adequate sleep, so that you do not feel reluctant to get up in the morning and practice running.
Consider going to sleep with our jogging clothes or tracksuit on and keep the track shoes near the bed so that you will be motivated to run the moment you get up from bed.
If possible, create a group of runners. It is fun and extra motivation when you have company to run along with you than running alone.

With the above guidelines, you should be able to achieve a toned body within a short period.

Too Busy to Run?

2011-05-05T11:07:00.001+02:00

This is probably the most commonly used excuse I hear - people are simply too busy to run. But running is actually not that time-consuming, compared to other sports or exercise. Ten most important tips to save time and allot the accumulated time for running are presented here.

Have a good night’s sleep. When you have slept well, you will have more energy to do anything you wish to do during the day, including running. Further, starting the day with running after a good sleep keeps you active, fresh and full of stamina throughout the day.Have a good night’s sleep. When you have slept well, you will have more energy to do anything you wish to do during the day, including running. Further, starting the day with running after a good sleep keeps you active, fresh and full of stamina throughout the day.

Check your daily routine. When you carefully analyze your regular activities of each day, you will be astonished to find that you are actually spending your time on lot of matters that are not absolutely essential. These time consuming waste activities can be cut down and utilized for running. If you eliminate all unimportant activities, you will have more time than you need for running everyday.

Remember the old proverb ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. If you are devoting all your time to work and household duties, you are likely to become physically and mentally exhausted. Everyone needs interesting diversions and fun in their life to remain healthy. The time that you spend on running is never wasted but only gives you more energy to attend to your work with increased vigor.

It is always possible to adjust your working and sleeping hours these days easily. Several companies allow their employees to arrive early and leave early or arrive late and leave late to avoid regular heavy traffic hours. You can cut down your travel time to office by requesting suitable working hours. The time saved can be used easily for running.

Evaluate how much time you spend on mobile phone chatting, instant message chatting and sending or reading emails. The latest fad is to connect to social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. All of these definitely consume a few hours of your time. If you reduce a portion of the time spent on these activities, you will get ample time to do your 30 minutes daily running without any difficulty.

Nowadays, several people are proud to claim that they do multi-tasking. However, majority of such people switch between necessary and unnecessary work frequently. Even if you are doing multi-tasking, eliminate the activities that are not necessary to gain valuable time. All of us are susceptible to numerous distractions in the modern work and home environment. Whether it is browsing the Internet for products that you wish to purchase or watching your favorite TV programs, all these are distractions that can be easily reduced or eliminated to create extra time for running.

Eating junk food and untimely eating habits have become the norm for modern career-focused men and women. They not only spoil your health but also provide you with lesser energy. Change your eating habits by switching over to healthy food items. When you have higher energy, you will be able to finish your daily routine in shorter time and you can use the saved time for running.

I hope that you find some of my tips helpful. :)

Start Running (The Easy Way)

2011-05-04T23:34:00.001+02:00

If you plan to start running, it is crucial to build up a strong motivation to sustain the running without breaks. It’s also critical to know the effective steps to achieve running without undue strain to body and mind. Remember that you need to make it as "fun" as possible, and that can not be acieved if you start off with a marathon. Below, I have listed an easy and effective way to start running. (This was the way I started out, way back)

The first 5 steps to a strong running motivation are presented here:

1. Start with Walking

It is very important that you prepare the body first to a certain fitness level that can help you in making the effort towards running and creating the mental motivation. The best method to achieve this is to begin your exercise regimen with walking. You can walk slowly or at a normal speed for about 15 minutes for the first few days. After that, you can increase the walking to 30 minutes and then to an hour or two. You should continue this walking until your body and mind are fully comfortable with the walking and the entire exercise appears easy and natural. This is the first step in your pursuit of running motivation.

2. Proceed with Brisk Walking
After you have become accustomed to 1 or 2 hours of steady walking, you can increase the speed of walking to increase your motivation for regular running. You can practice walking at a brisk rate for 15 to 30 minutes. If you feel any strain, you can monitor your heart pulse rate every 5 minutes. If your heart rate is below the danger zone, you can increase the pace. This is the second step to a strong running motivation.

3. Insert Jogging in Brisk Walking
When you feel comfortable with a very brisk walk, you can insert a few small jogs of 50 meters, spaced evenly in your 30 minutes or 1-hour walk. Walk for a few minutes, jog for a few minutes, resume walking, and then again jog. Repeat this exercise until you are able to jog 4 to 5 times within your walking. This is the third step in enhancing running motivation.

4. Convert Jogging into Real Running
As you gain strength and stamina to jog 4 to 5 times in your walking routine, you can convert the jogging to segments of running at moderate speed. When you are able to run comfortably, you can slowly reduce the walking and spend the entire 30 minutes in running at medium speeds. This fourth step further motivates you in your running regimen.

5. Stepping Up the Speed of RunningWhen you are able to run at moderate speeds for 30 minutes, it is time to increase the running to 45 minutes and then to an hour. It will be ideal to practice all the above exercises as one-week sessions. When you are running at medium speeds for an hour without any strain, then the running speed can be increased slowly until you are running at your peak speed.

These are the 5 easiest steps to achieve a strong running motivation.

Welcome to the RunningUrge Blog!

2011-05-04T23:18:00.000+02:00

Welcome to my new blog! My aim is to be an inspirational and interesting online resource for runners and potential runners. I will regularly update this blog with motivation tips, my experiences, latest trends, and much more. I have some exciting thoughts and tips for you in the pipeline, so stay tuned.

I’m a true running enthusiast, whose passion and determination for running lead to comprehensive study on the subject and on motivation in general. The desire of sharing my knowledge lead to the idea behind the RunningUrge blog. I would say that I am an average runner – not an elite runner, and in my opinion running should most of all be about HAVING FUN.

Cheers and stay tuned,