Running skills
Make it STICK
The ultimate guide to making running a lifelong habit
Words: Anna Harding
For many people, running is more than just a way of keeping fit or moving their body; it can become a journey of self-discovery. But the first step to running enlightenment is to incorporate it into your regular routine. Once you’ve built it as a habit, it tends to become second nature to go out for a run during your week, whether you’re training for a goal race or just doing it for fun.
In this month’s Running Skills, we’ll be giving you some more information about what habits are, how to make good ones, and we’ll give you specific tips on how to form a habit in running.
What are habits?
From a science perspective, habit formation involves the basal ganglia, which is a part of the brain associated with motor skills and procedural learning. As habits become ingrained, they shift from needing conscious thought to becoming automatic behaviours. In this way, they’re thought to be a way for the brain to conserve energy. Once a behaviour becomes a habit, the brain doesn’t have to work as hard to execute it, allowing for more efficient use of its resources.