A little while ago, I twisted my ankle. I couldn't run for a long time and it was very discouraging. Just as I thought I could hit the track again, I came down with terrible cold. I spent days lying on the sofa, coughing and spluttering.

Finally, I'm back to running, but there is a lot of work ahead of me. After nearly a month off running, I've lost a lot of fitness.

Today, I thought I'd write a post on how to get back into running after a break.


Don't expect to be able to run as far and fast as you used to. Take it slowly and work your way up to it. Push yourself, but not so much that you collapse.


If you're not working towards something, it's easy to get lazy. Set yourself small goals to work towards. Once you've hit those goals, make yourself bigger goals. There is nothing like the pleasure of completing a goal and knowing you can do something you couldn't do a week ago.


Like many other things, the hardest part of getting fit is actually making yourself run. Set a certain amount of days a week you're going to exercise a week and stick to it. Don't let yourself be lazy and say, "I'll do extra tomorrow."


This may sound really weird, but it does help. I find having someone say motivational things to me really helps. If I have no one next to me to do this, the next best thing is to do it myself. Find something that motivates you and say it over and over again when you feel like giving up. For me I like to tell myself, "Just keep breathing, that's the key" and "the cow goes moo". It helps me a lot.

What is your advice? Can anyone guess where my motivational words come from (hint: they're not from the same place)?