Yes, 2019 is just a few weeks old and you made the commitment to get more physical for the New Year. Maybe the goal is to get in better, healthier shape, or lose some of that extra baggage you’ve been carrying around for a few years. In order to accomplish this, you’ve decided to put one foot in front of the other, at a quick pace by taking up running. Well, Good for You! But, do you know what you're getting yourself into?

Running is a sport, just like any other sport that you may watch on tv. But running is a personal, individual, one that basically pits you against yourself. Every time you lace up your shoes, you're going to be competing against your last time out, the distance you ran, how long it took you, how well you ended up. It’s all about how well your body is performing this time out, against the last time you set off, out the door.

Like any new endeavor that you want to commit to, you need to really commit to it! It must become a habit to you, a part of your life, that if you don’t do it, you’re going to have that nagging feeling hanging around you for the day, knowing that you missed your appointed time slot and that somehow you need to make it up!

Starting a new habit of any kind is hard, especially when it’s one you kind of dread can be a little scary. But the trick is, don’t go all in at the start and swear you’ll run six days a week if you’ve barely run before. Create a schedule and stick to it. Another specific that can set you up for failure is don't set unrealistic or hard to attain goals when starting out! This again is just going to set yourself up for failure. You can get to your ultimate goal, but you need to pace yourself and gradually build up your body's stamina and endurance to help you to get there and reach those goals. Most people that take up a running regimen fail because that want to reach that 5-mile mark without breaking a sweat.

First things first, running is probably one of the easier, more cost-effective sports to take up. After all, you basically just need a good, comfortable, while a supportive pair of running shoes. The outfits can come later but you need good running shoes to start, not a fashionable running outfit so you look good out on the road or trail!

The most surefire way to get the right shoes is to head to your local specialty running shop. They’ll put you on a treadmill and analyze your stride to match the right fit and style with how you naturally run. Listen to them, again, color and style do not mean a thing if you’re not wearing a supportive pair of shoes that can go the distance with you so that you’re not injuring your feet when your pounding that pavement, or mountain trail, if that’s the type of running you’re going to be doing. And if you are, then make sure you tell the shoe specialists that so they can fit you with the right terrain shoes for your run.

Remember up above we talked about goal setting? One of the best ways to keep you honest in making sure you really are attaining those preset goals of your is to track them. In order to track them, you need to monitor your daily runs and the best way to do that is with a good, reliable GPS enabled smartwatch/activity tracker. As the saying goes, the only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Now with technology getting better every day, you can measure this for real.

One brand of GPS watches that I like is from Garmin, and their slogan really sums up what I mentioned above. Their slogan is "Beat Yesterday" which with a personal sport like running, that’s really what it’s all about, right? Some GPS watches save your previous times for routes and workouts, giving you the chance to race a previous you. This way you can clearly see your improvements and get motivated to push yourself that little bit harder on every run.

A good beginner running watch that fits this to a "T" is the Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS Watch. Which is a simple, easy to use GPS watch that tracks your steps, calories burned, the intensity of your run and can upload this data to an online community with its free app called Garmin Connect. With the aid of which you can summarily track your progress and if so, inclined can share this data with your running friends and see how you're doing against others. Which provides you with a little more of a competition against others instead of just against yourself. Which sometimes can be a great motivator to push yourself further, thus increasing your personal best! And unlike some other GPS watches, the Garmin Forerunner 35 also comes with a wrist-based heart rate monitor that monitors your heart rate without the need for a chest strap and lets you know just how well you're maintaining your heart rate rhythm while running and also at rest!

And the reliable GPS, which Garmin is known for quickly acquires satellites to track distance, speed, and location without requiring the use of your cell phone, so you have more portability without the need for a strong cell signal.

Keep in mind that you need to maintain a healthy diet, since your running, you’re going to need to eat the right amount of foods, some rich in carbs, fiber and of course protein. But knowing when to eat and what can be another topic for us to write about. Let’s just say you don’t want to eat a big meal before a run. A bagel, or a bowl of oatmeal, or a banana will do just fine. After all, you don’t want your body trying to digest a heavy amount of food when it should be working on breaking down what you’ve ingested into fuel, energy!

So, now that you have a few basics, go ahead and get those proper shoes, dress appropriately for the weather and strap on your Garmin Forerunner 35  and get out there and run!

 

Now we know that listening to your favorite tunes while you’re exercising isn’t really anything new. But some studies on the subject have shown that getting into your playlist as you push yourself makes achieving your rep-goals a little easier.

Research consistently finds that listening to music distracts athletes from their “bodily awareness” (read: pain). And a recent study found that not just listening, but controlling and creating music in time to one’s pace had an even more pronounced effect on the amount of effort you’re putting forth during a workout.

Music tends to distract your mind from the strain your putting on your body to achieve your exercise routine goals. While the study did suggest there’s more to it than just distraction, working out with music did make them less aware of their exertion. Such a distraction can benefit athletic performance by up to 15 percent. The faster the better, according to WebMD. Upbeat tunes send more information for our brains to process, which takes your mind off of that side stitch. Some call it a “Zonal Effect” As such as the music increases in tempo, you tend to exert more during your routines. This is especially noticeable when tracking results on those using a treadmill or cycling machine. But, keeping in mind that too fast of a pace is also not as beneficial to you either. Songs between 120 and 140 beats per minute (bpm) have the maximum effect on moderate exercisers.

Everyone has that "Go To" song that gets you “in the zone,” and there’s science to why it works. We associate certain songs with memories, often relating to the context in which we originally heard them, such as the first time you watched Rocky or even Star Wars. Channeling that memory, or even just the emotion of your favorite singer belting out that song boosts the motivational power of the song your listening to and has been shown to improve physical performance.

The rhythm of your workout music stimulates the motor area of the brain as to when to move, thereby aiding self-paced exercises such as running or lifting weights. Clueing into these beat-time signals helps us use our energy more efficiently, since keeping a steady pace is easier on our bodies than fluctuating throughout a sweat session.

Its been shown that you really can’t stop the beat sequence that takes place during those songs that get you moving. Researchers found that when music possesses “high- stimulating” qualities, the brain gets excited and induces movement in the listener. Basically, your playlist has the ability to make you move, no matter how much you’re dreading that workout.

Now to see where I’m going with this, for a time now, a lot of people have been waiting for Garmin to come out with a better way to listen to music, stored, from their smartwatches. The Garmin Forerunner 645 Smart Watch  Is that watch! Since it now pairs well with Bluetooth headphones you can now train without your phone strapped to your arm and still listen to your favorite tunes. With its storage capacity of keeping about 500 songs right in your smartwatch, you can power yourself through any exercise session, or get outside on the trail, where there might not be great receptions to stream your favorite tunes.

Music aside, it’s still a jam-packed fitness watch. It has built-in GPS and GLONASS and wrist-based heart rate sensors. It tracks running, cycling, swimming, with a few of Garmin’s more advanced training features (like training load and anaerobic training effect) worked into the software.

It’s also nicer-looking than Forerunners past. It has a stainless steel metal bezel, a glass face, and an always-on display. Garmin claims its battery life with last up to seven days with normal usage and up to five hours in GPS mode.

And it will work with Garmin Pay, the company’s recently rolled-out NFC tap-to-pay feature, which only works on one other Garmin watch, the Vivoactive 3.

So what are you waiting for? With January just about ending, get yourself that incentive present and start listening to the music that will get you moving and placing yourself in the zone that helps you to hit your goal, each and every time. So go ahead and pick up that Garmin Forerunner 645 Smart Watch and turn up the tempo by listening to your favorite tunes, and “Beat Yesterday” just like their slogan says!

So, next time I see you moving with that look of concentration and contentment on your face, I’ll know your zoning while pushing through your workout. Just like I’ll be jamming through mine!