I apologize for how negative that sounds! It’s been 3 months. I unfortunately can’t be as consistent as I’d like because of chronic utis. I currently go about 8-10 km/h for 20 mins at a time, 2-3 times a week when I’m healthy. I keep at it because I’ve noticed a boost in my general energy and mood, but I hate pretty much every second of actually running. I read that that’s normal as you start out, especially if you start from zero like I did. But I’ve also read you eventually start to tolerate and then later enjoy it. How long did it take for you to get to that point?
Edit: 5 month update on case someone stumbles across this. My progress is slow, due to frequent breaks due to my frequent colds and UTIs. I’m at 30min 5k. Running still sucks, in part, but it also feels…powerful? I’ve learned to pace myself and run slower, so I’m not all spent after 10 mins. It’s difficult, but I think running too fast really was the biggest problem. Now what I feel during a run is a mix of ‘ughgh I hate cardio’ and ‘this is amazing, I’m powerful, I can do anything I want’. That’s enough to keep motivated. The reason I keep it up is that the former feeling ends soon after the end of the run, but the latter one persists. I try to run twice a week. If I have the time, I go on a hike instead (I live in the mountains). I enjoy those a lot more, but they take up several hours as opposed to 30mins for a run. It’s helped me tremendously with my depression, so it’s so worth it.
Tldr: I still don’t enjoy every second of running, but pacing myself made it more enjoyable than before. And it’s SO worth the mood boost and extra energy (even on rest days). I have depression and I’ve never felt this good in my entire 10 years of being an adult.
One thing that made me forget about the bad aspects of running is running on a treadmill while watching action movies. The increased heart rate works great for both of those, and having the treadmill to keep my pace steady allowed me to run farther than I had in other situations like running outside or running while listening to audiobooks.
Also, running in nature is more enjoyable than running around the parking lot or whatever.
Some people never enjoy running though, and just tolerate it for its benefits. Maybe that’s you?
I’ve never been on a treadmill, I might have a look at some gyms! So far I’ve been put off it because it feels like paying for something I could have for free, but if it does the trick, it might be worth it.
That last point currently resonates. I do hope I’ll grow to enjoy it, but accepting that it’s also ok to do it just for the benefits might also help!
I bought a used gym quality treadmill for my home, though they are pretty big and not everybody can reasonably do that. Because it’s always there I also sometimes take meetings on the treadmill at a walking pace. It’s great during the winter where I live because I usually don’t want to go out in the snow, and having the treadmill helps me exercise, even by just walking, when I would otherwise be wasting away.
Haha maybe once I have more than 13m^2 of private living space I’ll look into that