How to Go From Sedentary to Running in Five Steps

zenhabits.com

As a runner, there is almost nothing in this world that can take me to the places that running does. I find solitude in my running, I find my thoughts and my peace, I find energy and motivation, I come up with my best ideas and solve my toughest problems. Running transforms me.

I try to encourage others to run, but even if they want to do it, they don’t know how.

Today, I’m going to give you my advice (as an intermediate runner, not an expert) on how to go from sitting on the couch to being a true runner. I won’t say that it’ll be easy, especially in the beginning. But I will say that it won’t kill you (assuming you don’t have major health problems) and that it will get easier and even fun in a few short weeks.

I will start with the standard disclaimer: Before starting this program, get checked out by a doctor, especially if you have any health risks, such as heart or lung problems, major diseases, pregnancy, or the like.

If you’re fit enough to walk for 20 or 30 minutes, you should be able to do this program.

The Benefits of Running

Why should you even consider doing this program (or running at all)? Lots of reasons. Just a few to start with:

1. You’ll get healthier. There are other ways to get healthy, of course, including dozens of other types of exercises. But running is one great way. If you stick to a moderate running program, I can almost guarantee that you’ll get slimmer and your heart will get stronger and your cholesterol will go down. Your diet is a big factor, of course, but more on that in the next benefit.
2. You’ll eat better. When you start running — and this can take a few weeks or more — you start to realize that what you eat is fuel. And you realize that burgers and fries and soda are not the best fuel. So you start to eat cleaner fuel, and it can start to be a lifetime habit. This doesn’t always happen, but I’ve seen it happen a lot. It may take awhile before you get a really clean diet, but the desire to change starts relatively soon.
3. You’ll want to quit smoking. It’s hard to keep smoking if you really get into running. Some people keep smoking while running, but I’ve seen tons of runners who quit smoking, because they know that smoking doesn’t jibe with their lifestyle. If you’re looking for a good way to quit, start with running.
4. You’ll find solitude. In the hectic bustle of everyday life, many people have trouble finding time for themselves, time to think and to find peace. Running will become your oasis of peace, a time you look forward to each day.
5. Races are super fun. Once you’ve been running for a month or two, you should sign up for a 5K. It’ll be a great time. The camaraderie among runners, slow and fast, young and old, is a wonderful thing. The feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line is unbeatable. And after awhile, you might try 10Ks, half marathons, maybe even a marathon. There’s nothing like doing road races.
6. You’ll lower your stress levels. It beats smoking, drinking, vegging out in front of the television, almost anything else I can think of, for getting rid of the stresses of your life.
7. You’ll think better. Running is the time when my mind is clearest. It’s hard to really think about things when you have the noise of the modern world around you, but when you’re alone on the road, you can’t help but think in silence.
8. You’ll find the warrior within you. There is something about running that transforms you. In the beginning, it can be very difficult, and there will be times when you feel like stopping, but if you can beat that little negative voice inside you that wants to stop, you will learn that you can beat anything. Running will teach you to overcome your doubts and negativity, and that’s a gift that will take you to new heights in anything you do.

The Rules

Before we start, I’d like to offer a few rules:

1. Start small. This is mandatory. Many people make the mistake of starting too hard, and they get burned out or injured or discouraged within a couple of weeks. This program is designed to get you running for life, so if you have lots of enthusiasm when you start, that’s great — but you MUST rein it in and start small. That enthusiasm that you have to hold back will keep you going for much longer if you don’t spend it all the first week.
2. Increase gradually. Another mandatory rule. If you don’t follow this rule, you shouldn’t follow the program. Trust me, I know how it feels like the rules of increasing gradually don’t apply to you … I made that mistake when I started out and got injured. Your mind (and even your heart and lungs) might be able to handle doing more, but your legs might not. It takes awhile for your muscles and tendons and ligaments and joints to adjust to the stress of running, and if you progress to rapidly, you’ll get injured. Increase but very gradually.
3. Enjoy yourself. Very mandatory. If you don’t enjoy yourself, you’ll never stick with it. So try to have as much fun as possible. Enjoy getting fit and healthy! Enjoy burning off your fat! Enjoy the sweat! Enjoy the relaxation of burning off stress! Running should be fun, not torture.
4. If you can, get a partner. This is not really a rule but a suggestion — if you can find a reliable partner, it makes it a bit easier. First, having someone to talk to while you walk (and later run) makes the time go by extremely quickly. Second, if you make an appointment to meet that person for your walk (or run), you’re more likely to stick to the appointment rather than wimp out.

The Five Steps

OK, here are the five steps to becoming a runner. There are some rough timeframes in each step, but the real rule is to increase only when you feel ready, and no sooner. If you need longer for a step, take longer. There’s no rush. But if you think you can do it sooner, I would suggest that you not.

Step 1: Start walking. Start out by walking just 3 times the first week, and four times the second. The first week, you only need to do 20-25 minutes. Increase to 25-30 minutes the second week. After this, you can graduate to the next step, or if you’d like to stay in this step for a week or two longer, that’s OK. If you stay longer, walk 4 times the third week, 30-35 minutes each time. The fourth week, stay at 4 times, but increase to 35-40 minutes.

Step 2: Start run/walking. Do this step very gradually, just a little more each time. For this step, you’ll continue to exercise 4 times a week. You want to warm up by walking for 10 minutes. Then do a very, very easy run/walk routine: jog lightly for 1 minute (or 30 seconds if that seems too hard), then walk for 2 minutes. Repeat these intervals for 10-15 minutes, then do a 10-minute walking cool down. Do this step for two weeks, or longer if you like.

Step 3: Lengthen the running. Once you’re comfortable running for a minute at a time, for several intervals each time you exercise, you’re ready to start running a little longer. Continue to exercise 4 times per week. Increase your running to 1 minute 30 seconds, with an equal walking (1:30 running, 1:30 walking) for 15 minutes. Do this a couple times or more, then increase running to two minutes, with walking for 1 minute. Do this a few times or more, then increase to running 2:30, walking 30 seconds to a minute. If any of these increases feels too hard, feel free to go back a step until you’re comfortable increasing. Don’t rush it. You should stay in this step for 2-3 weeks or more.

Step 4: Follow the Rule of 9. Once you start Step 3 above, you’re basically running with short walk breaks. This can seem difficult, but it’ll get easier. Commit to doing 9 running workouts in Step 3 … after that, it’ll get easier. The first 9 running workouts can be difficult, but after that, it almost always gets better and more enjoyable. Don’t quit before the 9 running workouts! After the 9, try running with only infrequent walk breaks.

Step 5: Take your running to new levels. First of all, celebrate! You’re now a runner. You might be walking a little during your runs, but there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, feel free to keep doing walk breaks as you work on your running endurance. Some runners have been known to do a marathon with walk breaks, running 10 minutes and walking 1 minute. That’s completely fine. Eventually you probably won’t need the walk breaks, but no need to rush.

In this step, you want to continue taking your running to new levels. There are a number of ways to do this:

• Gradually increase your running until you can do 30-40 minutes of running at a time, 4 days a week. Do this increase gradually, as you should be mostly running for 15 minutes at a time by the end of Step 4 … just increase by 5 minutes each week.
• Sign up for a 5K. If you can run for 30-40 minutes, you can complete a 5K. Sign up for one (there are races almost every weekend in many places) and participate with the idea of just finishing. Have fun doing it!
• Once you have increased your running to 30-40 minutes at a time, designate one run a week as your “long run”. Try to increase this by 5 minutes each week, until you can do an hour or more. This is your endurance run, and it is a key to most running programs.
• Once you’ve got endurance, you can add some hills to your program. Add hills gradually, by finding a more hilly course, and eventually adding hill repeats — run (kind of) hard up the hill, then easy down the hill, and do 3-5 repeats.
• After hills, do a little speed workout once a week. Do intervals of a couple of minutes of medium-hard running, with a couple minutes of easy running. Make these speed workouts shorter than your normal runs — if you run for 40 minutes, do 25-30 minutes for your speed workouts. Be sure to warm up and cool down with easy running for 10 minutes.
• Tempo runs are good workouts when you’re ready. That means a 10 minute warmup, then 20 minutes or so of running somewhere between your 10K and half-marathon pace. That means going the pace you think you can race for an hour, but only doing it for 20-30 minutes.
• Run with a group, or run alone. Don’t always run alone or with a partner. Mix things up.
• Find new routes. Don’t always run the same routes. Try running on a track, in a different neighborhood, on a treadmill, on trails.
• After you’ve done a few 5Ks, sign up for a 10K. Then a half marathon. Then a marathon. But do one step at a time.

Most of all, enjoy your runs!

Geek to Live: The Usable Home

Lifehacker.com

by Gina Trapani

As a computer programmer in a new apartment, I've taken the same approach to setting up my home as I would developing a software application: with a focus on usability. Like any good software package, my home should be a tool that helps me get things done, a space that's a pleasure to be in and a launch pad for daily tasks as well as my life goals.

Whether the task at hand is to relax after work, phone a family member, or keep track of a dry cleaning receipt, there are lots of simple ways to create a living space that makes getting things done a breeze.

I'm no home organization expert, but here are a few tips I've gleaned over time that can help make your house a Usable Home.

Create space for incoming stuff

Every day you walk into the house with your hands full of mail, pockets full of change and a cell phone that needs recharging. Instead of dumping that pile of bills onto the coffee table, scattering a mess of pennies and dimes on your dresser and tossing the phone onto a table, create useful places to drop off stuff without having to think. Say, a large change jar that goes to Coinstar every few months, an indoor mailbox for you and your housemates, and a phone-charging center with an easily-accessible plug. Fact is, after a long day at work, you don't want to have to think where to put stuff when you walk in the door. So make it a no-brainer.

Put items you need to remember in your path

Make it hard to forget where you put your keys, your cell phone, that check you're supposed to mail or the dry cleaning receipt. Section off space near the door where you can easily pick up items on the way out. Hang a key rack. Place a snail mail outbox nearby for letters and bills that need to get dropped at the post office. The door of my old place was metal, so I kept a few magnets stuck to it to hold receipts, mail and notes I'd be sure to see on my way out the door.

Stow away stuff you don't use; put stuff you do within easy reach

Surround yourself with the things you use and either get rid of the things you don't, or stow 'em away. For instance, if you've ripped all your CDs to MP3 and only listen to them in that format, then why line your living room walls with CDs that never get touched? Box up your CD's and put 'em up on a high shelf in the closet and make room for the things in the living room that you do use often. Or, simply enjoy the extra space. In the kitchen, if you rarely make waffles but you're on a grilled cheese kick, put the waffle-maker on the top shelf and leave the Foreman grill at eye level for easy grabbing.

Strategically place items to make tasks easy

One of my favorite life hacks ever published on this site is the a sheet-folding hack: fold up the flat and fitted sheets in a set and place them inside one pillow case. The convenient packages preclude the need to rummage through the linen closet matching up sheet sets when the time comes to make the bed.

There are lots of ways to make tasks easier with strategic placement. Keep fresh bathroom towels in or just outside the bathroom so you don't have to dash across the apartment undressed and dripping wet to find something to dry yourself off. If your telephone directory is digital, print out a copy and leave it by the phone at home so you don't have to consult your cell phone or boot up the computer to find a number. Make recycling easy by placing the bin in the area where the most paper or glass is generated - say, the home office or kitchen. If you're bleary-eyed and fumbling for the TV remote each day to check the weather, give yourself a break. Invest in a cheap thermometer and place it in the bedroom window just by your closet, so you know what kind of outfit to choose without any hassle.

Make task-based centers

As per this previous post on Lifehacker, place all the items you need to complete a task in an area sectioned off for that activity - like a computer repair center, a bill-paying center, a gift-wrapping center. Having all the tools at hand in a certain space helps you get the job done without having to work any harder.

Leave writing material everywhere

Place pens and pads all over the house: by the phone, on the kitchen counter, on the night table, in the bathroom. You never know when a thought that needs to be recorded will strike. An idea, a forgotten to-do, the solution to a problem you were having at work, a dream you want to remember, an image or drawing, a phone number. Easily available capture tools help you get anxiety-inducing pop-up thoughts from cluttering your mind and help you focus.

Set up an inbox

Make a place to put real-life items that come streaming into your day so you can process them at times you determine instead of letting them interrupt you. Snail mail, receipts, business cards, random paperwork, notes you've scribbled to yourself should all get shuttled into your inbox for later sorting and processing. I picked up a cheap metal office inbox at Staples to use as mine; any kind of box or even designated desk space can work just fine. Bonus points if you get can get your housemate or partner to get an inbox too; that way you can leave things for him/her to see without an intrusive interruption.

Collaborate with housemates

Simple tools can make sharing household tasks easy. Place a magnetic dirty/clean flippy sign on the dishwasher so everyone knows when it has to be emptied and when it has to be loaded. Stick a magnetic whiteboard to the fridge with an ongoing shopping list. You can use it to leave notes, or to-do's, too - ie, Call back plumber about the toilet! 555-3456. A magnetic whiteboard calendar is also a handy way to keep track of household schedules, as detailed in this previous Lifehacker post.

We are what we buy?

"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever."



... and George Carlin's brilliant insights. RIP.

Quote of the Week

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett

Getting Unstuck: How to Jump Start a Listless Action List

from tools-for-thought.com

Making a list of next actions can be motivating, but then there’s the reality test. When it comes time to decide what to do next, every option on the list may look as unappealing as the others. While it’s unrealistic to assume that every task we need to do will be something we just can’t wait to do, it’s equally unrealistic that out of a dozen or more tasks, nothing on the list seems doable. There are a few systemic errors that people make that cause them to gradually become disengaged from their task management system.

The list isn’t reviewed regularly. In this case, it’s not the list that’s the problem, but the fact that the brain knows that the list won’t be examined on a just-in-time basis, forcing the brain to pick up the slack by holding onto the list in memory, defeating the purpose of writing the list down in the first place.

By regularly I mean whenever you’re in the physical context of the corresponding list — as opposed to reviewing the list mentally. When you’re at home, you don’t think about what to do next; you look at your @Home list. Looking at the appropriate list when it’s time to decide what to do next should be as automatic behavior as looking at a clock when wondering what time it is (notwithstanding those brave souls who’ve trained themselves to correctly guess the time).

The list isn’t sufficiently granular. This is where “next action” is actually a multiaction task, like “Purge book collection” instead of “Tag unneeded books.” Without first separating the books to purge from the books to keep, the tendency is to look at the book collection as a whole and resist following through on the purge. It would be more effective to put “Purge book collection” on project list — the list of successful outcomes — and track the more precise next action separately.

Defining next actions is an art, not a science. Some people would consider “Write article” a next action. I would never use “write” as a next action, since it congeals a number of preliminary tasks: reading a manual, calling someone for an interview, outlining the article, or drafting it. On the other hand, “Boot laptop” would be ridiculously minute. We’re looking for next actions that are sufficiently, not absolutely, granular. If you find that the project is still on your mind after defining a next action, reexamine the next action as you’ve defined it and see if it has an unidentified dependency.

The list contains legacy issues. One reason a next action might have been sitting on a list for weeks is that the reason for doing it no longer applies, or the context has changed. Circumstances can evolve so subtly that it can take an act of will to notice the drift. Maybe an increase in gas prices has made that road trip less appealing than it seemed a month ago. Maybe its becoming clearer that upgrading a piece of software that works perfectly fine is just creating activity for its own sake.

Once it becomes evident that the project or action is past its timing, don’t let it sit on your list. Save your project and action lists for genuine commitments that you’ll respect and honor. Just because you commit to something now doesn’t mean you’ll have reason to stay the course five minutes from now, especially given the rapid flow of information in most office environments.

The list contains considerations, not just commitments. If an action list contains things you’re still thinking about doing, you’ll start viewing the whole list as a menu of deliberations. The reason an action list contains more than one action is that it’s impossible to do more than one at the same time. But this list is for tasks you actually intend to do as soon as possible. Some people force this intentionality by limiting their list to two or three “most important” tasks, but this can lead to tracking “less important” tasks mentally. The best practice is to use your list to track everything, but to focus on the one thing you’ve picked from it at that moment.

There’s nothing wrong with deferring things or continuing to evaluate them, but designate their status appropriately so that the trusted system that you keep outside of your head is actually trustworthy. That might entail putting the item up for reexamination five weeks from now on your calendar or in your tickler file. Or it might mean putting it on a list called “Someday/Maybe,” “Incubate,” or “Pending” that you review weekly.

The list is overpopulated. Having 30 items on a list makes it difficult to conveniently scan through the entire list with complete attention. See if you can sense an upper limit of how many tasks you can look at without glazing over. If you find that you’re only looking at the first half of your list, then functionally that first half really is the list. This may involve deferring actions, delegating them, or reevaluating whether or not they need to be done at all. To have a an agile system, you need to be able to take things off of a list as rapidly as you put them on.

The written list competes with a mental list. For me, this was probably the most insidious bug in my list management. Even though my next actions were accurate and written down, my lifetime habit of thinking about what I need to “get done” each day instead of what I needed to do at that moment meant that I when I read the next action (the “do”), I was still thinking on a project level (”get done”). Since it’s only possible to do an action, not a project, I wasn’t taking the action list seriously.

Referring to “virtual” lists in your head is something you have to catch yourself in the act of doing, since our sense of what we need to get done each day is like a second skin. We need to make the choice to either operate from mental RAM or a trusted system, which means shedding that second skin. To keep a clear head, it’s better to err on the side of obsession at first and review you action list whenever you start to doubt that what you’re doing at the moment is the right choice. But this only works if your list is complete, not prioritized, in order to reaffirm that the actions you’re not doing are the ones you shouldn’t be doing.

NRN = No Response Needed in Email

from Productivity Cafe by Susan Sabo

Another quick email tip today – for your subject line… NRN – No Response Needed.

We all agree that a good subject line is the best way to start an effective email. Sometime a subject line is all you need (use EOM then).

When you're informing someone of some facts or updating a situation's progress your can add NRN to the end of the subject line. When used regularly, meaning you've trained your recipients that this is what NRN means, NRN informs the reader that this is an update and they can delete or file after glancing at it. NRN is not as popular as EOM. A NRN Google search turns up some interesting links. An EOM Google search goes right to it's definition. This is useful for emails you send to those people that seem to write "Thank You" to you for all your correspondence to them, too. It's a polite way to break them of the habit, hopefully. Sure, thank you is the traditional way – and it wastes time in a time-strapped schedule. I've even heard about a "You're Welcome" response to Thank You.

Here's an example of an email subject line with No Response Needed incorporated:

SUBJECT: Contract with Austin Supplier will Close on Friday the 13^th – NRN

To refresh you on EOM – End Of Message. Your subject line can sometime be the entire message. So, use it in your messages and those you regularly correspond with will appreciate you helping them breeze through (yet another) email.

Here's an example:

SUBJECT: Tonight's dinner reservation is for 7pm – EOM

Why some people almost always are successful

Published by Henrik Edberg March 21st, 2007 in Health, Wealth & Money, Productivity, Personal Development and People Skills.

Like everyone else I´ve spent some time thinking about why some people are so successful in life. And what factors in success that are under more personal control than others.

Successful people might be intelligent. Or have had a socially well connected upbringings. Or be naturally energetic and open and positive.

But a lot of the factors that make some people more successful at almost anything in life are very much under their control. And much can be improved in anyone’s life by learning from the people that have gone before us.

Here are some of the thoughts on success that I´ve come up with from reading/watching documentaries throughout the years about people such as Michael Jordan, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford. The following factors of success are just a few and I´m quite sure there are a lot more.

They make decisions and take action
Right or wrong action, they take it. Either way it’s always better than making no decisions and taking no action at all. As Franklin Roosevelt said:

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

They do things even when they don´t feel like it
I think this is a pretty huge factor. A lot of us back down when we don´t want to do something, even though it may eventually bring us to a wonderful experience or goal. Successful people may not always like doing some of the things they have to do. But they do them anyway. And in the longer run that makes all the difference.

They do the most productive thing right now
Instead of trapping themselves in doing productive but not so important tasks or projects they realise what’s most important and do that. And after they´re done with that they do what´s most important again. Instead of just doing a lot of things, they think and plan before they act and try to focus as much as possible of their thoughts and actions on those few very important things.

They do one thing at a time
Many of them don´t seem to multi-task. Some reasons for avoiding that may be that it creates internal confusion, wastes time and spreads the multi-tasker too thinly. Instead, they do one thing and focus on that until it is done. Then they do the next thing until it is done. Focusing 100% on one task at a time will get it done quicker and better.

They have a positive attitude
A negative attitude can be very damaging and limiting to one´s life. A positive one can open new doors every day. It can open your mind to new ideas and input and create or sustain great relationships. It helps you through the hard times as a successful person often sees an opportunity within what others would merely see as a problem.

Have a look at Take The Postivity Challenge for more thoughts and practical tips for creating a more positive attitude.

They have redefined failure
While a lot of people see failure as a way to rationalizing the feeling of wanting to giving up or as a sign that it´s actually time to do something else successful people tend to see it more as useful feedback. They may not like to fail, but they don´t fear it – or at least they have little fear of it - and they know that if they fail they´ve been there before and they can start over again and succeed. This is of course a very useful belief and keeps successful people going while the rest have already given up.

They don´t let fear hold them back
They overcome fear and slay that dragon whenever they face it. Or they may have defined or redefined reality so that fear is substantially decreased or even gone in some areas of their life.

Doing this enables you to take action on your thoughts. This pulls down the barriers in the mind and create new roads and opens up to whole new possibilities. Have a look at 5 Life-Changing Keys to Overcoming Your Fear for more on both slaying your dragons and redefining your reality to contain less fear.

They have found a purpose in life
They are internally driven rather than externally driven. They do what they have a burning desire to do rather than conforming to what others think they should do. Even if what the others think may be positive and successful stuff.

The Michael Jordans, the Edisons and the Stephen Kings have figured out what they want to do in life and are doing it (or did it).

The purpose, I think, is largely why they can keep on going and be motivated while others may tire or just go and do something else that they find more purposeful. The successes love their purpose and when they aligned with it then it seems to push them forward with enthusiasm and energy through life.

They don´t get distracted
When others get too caught up in everyday life to do what they really want to do the successes don´t. They can really focus on actually doing what´s important and what needs to be done. Again, this seems to go back to having a purpose and more clear sense of direction in life.

They value their time highly and plan it out well
A lot of people don´t value their time that much. Successful people have a purpose in life and therefore they do. They have so much they want and an inner urge to do it and therefore need to plan well to use their days effectively.

They´ve got awesome communication-skills
So very much of what we do in life has to do with other people. So it seems quite obvious that to be successful you´ll probably have to have good or great communication-skills (or hire someone that has such skills).

People skills is fortunately something anyone can improve and develop. Have a look at Do You Do these 10 Mistakes in a Conversation and How to Make a Great First Impression for some useful tips.

They have an open mind and are willing to learn
Successful people take the time to study and learn – and often seem to really like doing it - what is necessary to improve their skills. They are open to thoughts, suggestions, solutions, new information and change rather than thinking they already know everything, that there is not much more to learn and that everything should be as it has always been.

What to focus on?
Now, what factors are the most important ones, where should one focus the energy? I am currently focusing on improving my ability to take action, doing what I may not feel like doing and doing the most productive thing right now. To me it seems like these three factors are very important and since they are pretty interconnected they are easy to combine.

I think what you should focus on varies a lot. And it’s up to everyone to figure that out for themselves. But if you´re anything like me you probably already know what areas you need to work on.