5 tips on how to start jogging

If you are having troubles learning to jog or run, I understand and have some tips.  This is just my experience, but trust me I must’ve tried to get into jogging and running at least twice a year for more than a decade.  I am unfortunately, not a natural runner and will never actually be fast, but now I absolutely love it.  I think the following tips are why I succeeded and stuck with it and hopefully they will be helpful to you too.

1. Don’t start too fast. One problem with my other attempts at jogging was that every time I would go out I would go and run.  Your body can’t take this right off the bat so go slow!  I know this sounds frustrating and it is, but make sure you walk to warm up, then go for a slow jog. You should be able to hold a conversation and not get too out of breath at this pace.  If you need to walk. Walk.  Try and set some amount of frequency, if you can jog for 5 minutes, then try jogging for 5 minutes and walking for 2, then repeat.
2. Set a plan, and run regularly but not too often. You want to set yourself up for success. Try and get out 2-3 times a week.  If you are looking for a plan the Couch to 5K is very well recognized and tons of people succeed on it.  For me I started off going out for 20 minutes every few days. I would jog as far as I could and try and go a minute or two more each time, then walk for awhile long, maybe jogging a bit more if I could. In total I started out with 20-25 minute outings. If you start running too much too fast you are also at risk for injury.
3. Figure out why you want to run. Do you want to get shin splints or wear those hot running shorts?  Didn’t think so. If you are doing it just because you think you should, you probably won’t be able to maintain it. For me, initially,  it was about losing weight.  Running is a very efficient way to lose weight and I wanted to try that. Plus I wanted a challenge.   (I did lose the weight, 10 lbs in about 3 months, I have kept it off since and continued running!)
4. Set Goals. Set yourself an achievable goal and a hard goal. Setting goals has been known to help motivate people, but make sure you start with something achievable.   For me this was to jog a mile without stopping and eventually to be able to run the local 8K race the next year.  (Which I did!)
5. Find somewhere you like to go and run there. For me this is a country seaside road near our cabin. There are few to no cars to get in my way, and few to no people to watch and judge. I find it peaceful and I love walking there so it was a natural choice.  I can also do this route straight from my door which helps make it easy to get out there.

These are just a few things that worked for me. If you are a runner or jogger, why did you start running?  Do you have any tips?

Here are some other great resources for beginner runners:

• Beginners at Runners World
• Beginner Forums at Runners World (I love the Runners world Forums!)
• Couch to 5K
• New Runner Section at Cool Running

P.S. If you want a 6th tip how about buying yourself some real running shoes?