Running has long been one of the most popular pastimes and millions of us take it with all degree of severity. There’s the ultra-marathoners, who spend their lives training hard and eating all the right foods, and then there’s the more casual among us, that love a glass of wine and will happily skip a run day if we’ve had one too many.
Of course, in the case of the latter, that’s not ideal if you are running towards a goal, whether that be a target weight or a race such as a marathon.
Naturally, you’ll find plenty of tips online for running a marathon, or indeed losing weight, and here are a few you may not have thought about to help you achieve your goals…
Give up the alcohol
We’re starting with a tough one, but one that can be hugely beneficial to your training. Giving up alcohol will not only make you feel healthier, but it’ll also prevent you from missing any sessions due to the effects of it.
What’s more, working out with alcohol in the system, perhaps the day after a night of booze, will also see your training suffer as the body will be fighting harder to remove the toxins rather than concentrating on your fitness.
It’s not an easy task, and for those that do have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, it may be worth seeking addiction counselling or getting friends or family to perform an alcohol intervention in order for you to fully commit to your goals.
Don’t just have one end goal, have multiple smaller goals
End goals can feel quite big and scary, which can then make it much easier to quit and see them as unrealistic. While you should have that end goal, setting yourself smaller goals as checkpoints can be hugely valuable for reaching that overall target.
It breaks your target down into smaller bitesize chunks, and will give you the impetus and motivation to keep going as you hit them, whether that be by losing a small amount of weight, or reaching your first five kilometres, your first 10, and so on.
Don’t do it alone
Share your goals and ambitions with others, it can be just the motivation you need, as well as being the encouragement others do too. Joining a running club or sharing your journey on social media can be really useful for that, and create some really strong bonds and friendships along the way too.
What’s more, nothing quite beats a celebration with others when that goal is finally achieved either.
