04/01/2022
New Year, New You? - Pod Blog 1
Okay so it’s that time of year again, when we all make those pesky New Years’ resolutions, one of the most popular is “get more exercise”. It may have other guises such as “get thin” or “lose weight” or my own personal favourite, “do some exercise, lose weight and be super buff!” which usually crosses my mind after watching something superheroey of a weekend.
In reality lots of us give up after a couple of weeks because ….well….I can’t speak for all of you but, here is my previous list of “reasons”
1. My feet hurt!
2. My legs hurt!
3. My muscles hurt!
4. My back hurts!
5. I’ll start tomorrow!
6. It’s dark!
7. My trainers are wet from the last run!
8. My running pants don’t fit!
9. I have nowhere to put my keys!
10. My phone isn’t charged!
11. My headphones aren’t charged (or possibly I’ve lost them)!
12. I’m too old!
13. I’m too fat!
14. I haven’t got the right gear!
15. 9.00am on a Saturday come on parkrun, really!
16. My trainers are uncomfortable!
17. I’ve just had my breakfast!
Etc etc etc, crazy overuse of exclamation marks aside I can give up a hundred times before I start.
I ran a Charity 10k a few years ago, which would be a little brag but here’s the problem I have struggled to run consistently since. I’ve lurked on local facebook running pages, big shout out to those magnificent regular faces I see completing runs every week, (whilst I sit on my bed scrolling facebook). As a Podiatrist who regularly deals with runners and often with their injuries, I am in awe of you, especially those who persist whilst other of us lesser mortals give up (me!).
So being someone who tries to consistently use scientific evidence in their practice I thought I would do a bit of research into why I keep quitting, because to be honest, I’m not a gym bunny, I get grumpy swimming with other people and I actually “enjoy” running so I need a solution. Could science give me a solution? Well, yes and no, it gave me reasons why other people quit running but no solutions, lots of table and likert scales but no real solutions out there. So I turned to Google and was quite overwhelmed with the myriad of responses to “why do people quit running?”
So I have done the only sane thing a person can do in these crazy times, blog about it, mainly for a little cathartic fun, possibly for others entertainment and generally because it may help other people in a similar situation. As it seems to be a topic which is paramount in many runners minds I will start with "Injury". Over the next few blog posts I am going to break down some reasons for exercise injuries and what we can do about them!
