Hacker News Reader

Comment by ganonm | Hacker News Reader

I've been a lifelong runner and a great psychological trick I've shared with people to help get you into your shoes and out the door is this:

"Have you ever regretted going on a run?"

Invariably, the answer is no. It's amazing how effective this is at getting you to just suck it up, no matter how cold it is outside, and get running. You'll be glad you did.

View on HN

This maybe works for people who are only runners, but almost every time i go for a run, about half an hour in I start thinking about something else i'd rather be doing.

In the summer i wish i'd gone biking instead, in the winter i wish i was skiing.

That may be so for passionate and experienced runners.

I have certainly regretted going for a run (and broken off the run after a few hundred meters). Not often, but at least twice. It's no surprise that I stopped running some time after that.

Yup, that works only for those who have run before and like running. For anyone starting off and/or not really fit enough to run for a few minutes without difficulty, it's easy to give up quickly. Walking is a less strenuous activity for such people (though getting out to walk may itself be a difficult action to take).

And the corollary how many times have you been driving somewhere and seen someone running by and thought - ah, I wish I'd gone out for a run today. Or that feeling that the more time you take off - the more days you skip - the worse it's going to be when you finally want to go out for a run.

Yeah, in about 95% of cases, I start regretting after the second km, and don't stop until about 2h after the run is over. When I was relatively fit, regret would start on the 3rd km though.

> "Have you ever regretted going on a run?"

When I'm cooling down and that niggle I ignored really starts to set in as I realize that I'm not going to run again for two weeks, then... yes

Reply on news.ycombinator.com