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Comment by magic_hamster | Hacker News Reader

Never in my life have I understood running or what makes it enjoyable. There's an entire side to the human experience just incomprehensible to me.

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After a few miles some people can get into a zone which is very enjoyable. Personally I failed several times to make the habit, but finally I got a heart rate monitor and realized that I was just trying to go way too fast. If you just go really slowly at first, and even alternate running and walking if you need to, you can build the habit, and your speed and endurance will increase steadily.

To learn more about this, search Zone 2 training (referring to the 60-70% of maximum heart rate zone). It isn’t just for beginners - even elites spend a huge amount of their training in Zone 2 (which is obviously at a faster speed than a beginner)

> To learn more about this, search Zone 2 training (referring to the 60-70% of maximum heart rate zone).

How do I know what my max is (so that I can then calculate (?) the range above)?

There are various methods.

A rule of thumb is 220 minus your age, but that can be inaccurate depending on your fitness level. There are also calculators online that take other factors such as your age or gender into accounts, again being an estimate.

Empirically, run up a hill or sprint hard as fast and as long as possible. That will give you a good number. Wear a chest heart rate monitor, these tend to react faster to your changing heart rate and typically give more accurate results than wrist heart rate monitors.

I'm with you here. I've struggled for years trying to "get past the pain". I'm an extremely terrible runner

For context, I'm physically skinny at 5'10", 135-140 lbs. I trained to run a 5km in 40 minutes. Walking would have been faster, but I promised myself to maintain runners form the whole time which is more draining going slow.

Tried out doors, treadmills, air conditioning, music, youtube, basic programs, running guides, etc etc. Watching video game streams generally helps my mind best from how painful, annoying and how much I want to stop doing what I'm doing right at the moment. And this moving at 6.5 km/hr for 25 minutes. If I had a break in my routine, it takes me about 4-5 weeks to work up to at 3-4x/week.

It's all terrible.

I have high blood pressure so exercise is a requirement for me. I'll keep doing it regardless.

Have you tried Zone 2 training (referring to staying in the 60-70% of maximum heart rate zone)? Even though you are going slowly you might be in a high HR zone which makes it unenjoyable.

Ya, I am a runner myself but I have heard this from some other friends. They all can play sports involving a lot of running but cannot seem to enjoy running for it's own sake. It might be personality thing, I am introverted so tend like running more because it doesn't need people or coordination. Plus it is highly accessible wherever I go.

Not sure about most of the people, but for me it's the high. I kinda get the same high from long walks (20km+) though, and since I don't really enjoy running, that's my gateway to achieve the same result. On an average day when I have 4-5 hours to kill, the last 30% of the walk feels beyond amazing.

Like a lot of stuff it’s fun once you’re good at it. But getting good at something, that can be tough.

I didn't either until I got myself able to run more than 5 miles at a time. Then it clicked.

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