Depression and Running in Women

Running or other types of aerobic exercise definitely make you feel better but will it make a difference for someone who is clinically depressed? This study was completed in college age women (women are more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms and college age 18-22 typically is the age of 1st onset for many woman). The article is lengthy so the summary of results is :
Young adult women who participated in aerobic exercise experienced a
significant and meaningful decrease in depressive symptoms. Women in the anaerobic
and control groups did not experience a significant decrease in symptoms. Thus, while
physical exercise is an important aspect to overall wellness, the type of physical exercise
should also be considered when working with women, who exhibit depressive symptoms.

Exercise and Depression 1 Running Head: EXERCISE AND DEPRESSION ...

Setting Goals to Stay Motivated

Setting goals is an age old motivational tool. In fact Aristotle advised, "First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal - a goal, an objective."
The most prominent research done in the area of goal setting was done by Dr Edwin Locke in the late 1960s. In his 1968 article "Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives," he stated that employees were motivated by clear goals and appropriate feedback. Locke went on to say that working toward a goal provided a major source of motivation to actually reach the goal - which, in turn, improved performance.

Locke's research showed that there was a relationship between how difficult and specific a goal was and people's performance of a task. He found that specific and difficult goals led to better task performance than vague or easy goals.

Telling someone to "Try hard" or "Do your best" is less effective than "Concentrate on beating your best time." Having a goal that is too easy is not a motivating force. Hard goals are more motivating than easy goals, because it's much more of an accomplishment to achieve something that you have to work for.

After completing my 1st 1/2 marathon I wanted to stay motivated. Following what the research suggests and what I've found worked to keep me motivated for my 1st race I set new goals. First, I signed up for another 1/2 marathon and put on my calender my new training schedule. I follow Jeff Galloway's 1/2 marathon training guide and have found that this is doable, yet challenging at the same time. For my first 1/2 I did not set a time goal, but for my second I have. I also scheduled several shorter races as I have found completing these events keeps me motivated to improve my times.

Setting goals when running will keep you motivated, improve your performance, and more than likely keep it fun.

"I Get to Run."

Feel Lucky About Your Next Run at Runner's World

I did it!

I finished my 1st half-marathon this past weekend. Reflecting on the experience, I wanted to mention a couple of things I went through.
1- Pre-race jitters. I've taken lots of exams both written and oral, had interviews both one on one and group and I must admit that the anxiety I felt the night prior to the race was more intense than any of those experiences. I struggled to keep my thoughts positive, but the things that worked were reminding myself of my training and also I used the mantra "I get to run." I also used distraction that night, I had a good book, a fun magazine, did some knitting, watched a movie. My advice especially if you are away from home is to make sure you bring plenty of distractions with you.
2- The unexpected. So for my 1st half-marathon it was pouring down rain throughout the race. How do you deal with this? I must admit if it is raining I train indoors, so this was a challenge. Along with this I found out my Ipod is NOT waterproof. So no motivating music for 13.1 miles. Positive self-talk was how I dealt with this, and once I was with thousands of people running with me the rain even seemed fun. Music would have been nice, but I realized running a long-distance lets you experience a city in a new way or for the 1st time. I found myself enjoying just looking around.
3-Unhelpful comments. I'll only mention this briefly because the best way to deal with negativity is to ignore it. If you let the comment get to you it can be devastating. I've realized that you cannot expect everyone to be positive. Stick to discussing running with the running community and with people who are positive influences in your life.

My overall experience was a good one and I've signed up for my 2nd half-marathon later this summer.

"I get to run!"