Building momentum is the most important goal for new runners

I’ve had a hard time getting my road legs back. 

Two years ago, I would have called myself a hardcore runner. A slow, hardcore runner, but definitely an accomplished one. I had run several 5Ks and three half-marathons. And then life got in the way. 

I gained back the 25 pounds I had lost. 

And worse yet, I lost all my momentum. 

While walk-running the other morning, I was listening to an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. Joe’s guest talked about the importance of building momentum, stating that small, regular achievements done consistently were more important than big ones done sporadically. 

I’ve applied that to my workouts. 

Instead of trying to battle through 5-6 miles on the weekend after two years of barely working out on the regular, I am focused on 30 minutes here and 30 minutes there. This morning, I upped it to 40 minutes, but my top speed is 5.0. My average running speed is more like 4.5. 

My current routine is to do 30-40 minutes of walking/running every morning. The goal is to get back to Saturday long runs come January in hopes of again doing the Oklahoma City Memorial half-marathon come April. 

A list of preparatory 5Ks are coming soon.