Running is the cure for my depression. I need it. This is common.
Just run, and everything will be okay.
In November 2018, I wondered why I was feeling so miserable, then realized it had been a while since I'd gone running, remembering how much that has helped. So I went trail running, 15 minutes, 1 mile, half walking. A few days later I wondered why my mood was so good, and remembered the running. This has happened to me over and over.
In March 2021, after not running much for years because of a knee injury from doing too much too soon while hiking mountains, and having done a lot of walking to fix my knee: For two days, I ate well, I used my rowing machine, I walked in the woods for an hour. I was still crushingly depressed. So I ran the 2 minutes 18 seconds back to my truck. And my depression was gone. So, I run.
An article on running vs. depression and anxiety.
So many youtube videos on the effectiveness of running to fight depression.
Humans are made for running. Nothing can run as far as we can.
I think a lot of people are discouraged from running by preconceptions that running should be fast, or not include any walking. Running should not be miserably hard. You should be able to easily carry on a conversation. If you can talk comfortably, you're doing aerobic exercise. If you can't, you're doing anaerobic exercise, and nobody can sustain that. Slow down. Or you're going to burn yourself out and give up.
Trails seem to make people happier than road running. Swoopy trails may be better. Varying your route seems to help. Treadmills are right out. Put on more clothing and go run in the rain or snow, it's fine. Get microspikes if you live where things freeze.
I highly recommend starting off with working up to being able to walk comfortably, maybe half an hour every other day. Then maybe try walking fast, just as much.
From there, I started doing, every other day, walking as much as I feel like in the run portion:
| Run # | Warm up walk | Walk | Run | Cool down walk |
| 1 | 5 minutes | 25.0 minutes | 5.0 minutes | 5 minutes |
| 2 | 5 minutes | 24.5 minutes | 5.5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| 3 | 5 minutes | 24.0 minutes | 6.0 minutes | 5 minutes |
| 4 | 5 minutes | 23.5 minutes | 6.5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| 5 | 5 minutes | 23.0 minutes | 7.0 minutes | 5 minutes |
| ... | ||||
| 50 | 5 minutes | 0.5 minutes | 29.5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| 51 | 5 minutes | 0.0 minutes | 30.0 minutes | 5 minutes |
This plan is optimized to give me gradual adaptation to avoid injury, while also giving me the full brain chemical benefits of running, by putting all the running together.
This should not be miserably hard. Going fast is fun. Do what's fun. Run till you don't feel like it, walk till you feel like runnng again, repeat. If this is a struggle, just walk, until it isn't.
On the other days I try to do some other kind of exercise, like bicycling or hiking. Strength training is a good idea for avoiding injuries.
"Success in running is an injury-prevention game." - Anton Krupicka, two time Leadville 100 winner.
A lot of runners get over-use injuries, by doing too much too soon. Almost always avoidable by paying attention to your body and taking a few days off when it needs it.
Everybody recommends starting out with the Couch to 5k plan. I worry about plans causing people to push through pain / early stages of injury, into serious injury.
Avoiding injury is way more important than sticking to a training plan.
I think the most important thing for people to learn is how to tell what running your body is up for today. So I think the most important links I can give you are on injury prevention:
Something feels a little funny? Take a few days off! It won't hurt your progress, and it may very well substantially benefit your progress by keeping you from needing to take a lot more time off.
Less injury = more time running = faster. 60-80% of runners get injured every year, mostly from doing too much, too soon. Why?
I also get the impression that a lot of runners run too fast / hard. You Shouldn't be Winded. You should be able to recite a few sentences comfortably. Otherwise you're not getting aerobic exercise, you're getting anaerobic exercise, which is more work without more benefit, until your gains from aerobic exercise have leveled off, which takes longer than Couch to 5k.
Just running is great, and if that's what you're happy with, do that. But there's a definite limit of how fast you can increase the amount you run without breaking yourself with over-use injuries. But I think your distance running speed is mostly related to your cardiovascular health, which you can improve with no-impact exercise, which you can ramp up a lot more quickly. Like bicycling, swimming, and rowing. Bicycling and rowing have popular indoor options, some with great HRM capabilities. There are also ellipticals.
The idea is, if you run without shoes, your body can more easily figure out how to run right, which results in less impact force. Which may reduce injury.
My much larger page on how to be happy.
Shin splints mean you need to run less:
In talking about a beginner's marathon training program, Noakes has this to say:
"From weeks 4-17, you may experience certain symptoms for the first time. These include persistent calf-muscle soreness and discomfort along the border of the shin bone, the tibia. This condition is known as tibial bone strain (shinsplints). Both tend to disappear with time, without recourse to the more involved treatment regime described in chapter 14. Symptoms
like these indicate that training, however light it may seem, has been too intensive and, at least for a few weeks until the symptoms abate, your body will need more rest days. You should also decrease the the distance that you run. " Lore of Running 4th ed, p 336.
AskReddit says science still hasn't firmly established an opinion on barefoot vs. shod running.
Great video on (natural) running form.
Robert Ullrey's Couch to 5k podcasts.
Traditional running shoes prevent the foot from moving naturally, increasing injuries. Most people seem to argue that the benefits of running barefoot are mostly that it requires less conscious effort to run with good form, and that those benefits can also be applied to running with traditional shoes by using good form (only requiring more effort). This article is interesting because it claims traditional running shoes cause more injuries by preventing the foot from moving naturally.