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Comment by notacoward | Hacker News Reader

Multiple people beat me to the shoelace one, so here's one I don't see yet: running. At 48, I had hated running practically since I had first been able to do it, but I was in a situation where I decided to give it another try. I quickly figured out why I had hated it. I had been doing it wrong all my life. A little reading taught me about pacing and body lean and foot landings, and then ... well, it still kinda sucked TBH. But it sucked a lot less, in the way that anything hard will suck, and I've been able to stick with it year-round for almost nine years since. Still amazes me that I spent more than four decades doing something so basic so wrong. So much for being a smart guy, I guess.

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Along with this, the thing that helped me the most was learning to run much slower. I would always run at an uncomfortable pace that would jack my heart rate up and have me huffing and puffing. Then I learned about "Zone 2" training which essentially boils down to running at a pace where you could comfortably have a conversation and more easily run for extended periods. This now only made it so I could run more miles per week, but it turned running from an exhausted effort to a more meditative, enjoyable one.

Things I think have helped me the most: 1. Correctly fitting shoes (I always wore shoes that were too narrow and short for my feet) 2. Wearing a heart rate monitor so that I could run at a pace that allows me to stay within the heart rate range that improves aerobic fitness while being easy enough to sustain (heart rate zone 2) 3. Increasing my cadence to the 170-180 steps per minute range, which has allowed me to improve my form/efficiency and avoid shin splints.

Do you recall the reading material? You just overcome my biggest barrier to healthy living.

I don't recall specifically, but it's pretty easy to find articles e.g. on Runners World. Practically everyone seems to recommend Born to Run but personally I've never read it. For me it was getting my body lean and foot landing more forward, pushing more than pulling, and sacrificing a bit of stride length for higher cadence. And not being afraid to take breaks, especially when I was first building up to 5K. Any halfway decent running store should be able to help you understand about foot landings and get you the right shoes for your style. In fact, one of the things that has really helped me stick with it is being able to geek out about training and gear and stats. Plenty of room for that, and without it I might have had more trouble especially in the winter months. Good luck!

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