UrbanUpdate

If you're an able-bodied human being, you are a runner. I can see some of you clutching your pearls already. Me? A runner? Heavens, no. But humans evolved to move. Running is one of the most natural integrated motions we can do. Ipso facto: You—yes, you!—are a runner. That doesn't mean you need to run a marathon. Or a 10K. You don't even have to run a 5K. (As you'll see, though, you should probably sign up for something.) But you do need to be able to jog down the block without pain.

Which is where I come in. I've taken plenty of running-haters and turned them into runners. And I had to transform myself too. I grew up doing track but fell out of love with running while still a kid. This isn't uncommon, especially if you play sports. (Coaches use running as a punishment, right?) Then I got injured playing football in college—broke my leg, among other things—and when I graduated, I could barely go for a mile without pain. So I had to reteach my body how to run. Now I've managed to complete three marathons in two years, and I ran my latest in just under three hours with only eight weeks of training.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. In the beginning, the key to running is patience. It's going to take some time. That time is going to pass anyway, and if you do the things that you should do, the results are going to come. And that's the beauty of running: So many things in life are outside your control, and there are so many things in life where you can't tell if you're improving. With running, if you put in the work, you can (literally) see how far your own feet can take you. Mine have taken me pretty far—and along the way I've learned some lessons that I hope can get you moving too.

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Meet Joe Holder, GQ's New Fitness Guru1. Treat Running Like School.

Success comes through structure. That's why school works. You show up every day. Next thing you know, a few months later, you know geometry. And geometry is mind-boggling! The only reason you know it is because you sat down every day. So take the structure of school—which is just consistent practice—and make yourself a student of something you love. It could be meditating, or cooking, or learning to be more emotionally open—or, in this case, running.

2. Force Yourself Into A Framework.

Parkinson's Law says that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” So if your timeline for getting into running is some vague, yet-to-be-determined time in the future, then you'll just…never get very far. But if you sign up for a race that takes place on a specific date—be it a mile sprint or an ultramarathon—well, now you've got a forced framework in which to work. You know that race is coming, and that “Oh, shit, I should probably get off the couch and run” feeling gets a little more urgent.

Running is important to a running regimen, but so is how you rest and recover.

3. Design A Syllabus...

You need to figure out your coursework. Maybe you've never run before. No worries. Start slow. Three years ago I had a client sign up for a half marathon. She was not a runner (yet). The first week, I told her to walk for one minute and then run for 30 seconds. I had her repeat it 10 times, two to three times that week. The next week, I upped it to one minute of walking and one minute of running. The third week, it was one minute of walking and two minutes of running. Before long she was running for 10 minutes straight, three times a week, then 30 minutes without a break. And that's how you get from the couch to a race. (Tellingly, that client is a voracious runner now.)

Even with clients who have some experience but are just getting back into running, I tell them not to even think about miles at the beginning. Instead I tell them to go for time, to get used to increased volume. Do 30 minutes of running three times a week. The next week, up it to 40. Ten minutes doesn't seem that much, but that's a 30 percent increase from what you did last week. Nice work! Life is all about increasing your tolerance. My first training run for the marathon was 40 minutes, and I thought I was going to die. I felt like trash. My lungs hurt. My legs hurt. I was like, There's no way I'm going to get this marathon done.

4. ...And Stick To It...

I divide my schedule between “hard time” and “soft time”—hard time is for obligations that cannot move. So when I signed up for the Chicago Marathon, I knew that every week I'd have to do certain runs or workouts. That was hard time. The great thing about building your schedule around hard time is that it makes you more effective. With finite time to get things done, you don't have time to waste. Those limits can be clarifying. Training for the marathon helped me cut out the things that I didn't need in my life during that period.

5. ...For The Most Part.

Do you get kicked out of school for playing hooky a few times? No. So maybe you didn't feel like running and stayed in bed on a training day. That's fine. But you've got to understand that just because you miss one day doesn't mean you have to miss them all. Consider the first two weeks of running—when you're still trying to establish a habit—your orientation. If you don't get a 75 percent, you can't graduate. Hit at least three out of four of your workouts in those first two weeks. You don't have to be perfect. But you have to be okay. After all, C's get degrees. I got a few C's at Penn, but I still got that Ivy League diploma.

The human body was designed to move. So try to move it!

6. Think Holistically.

What are all the things apart from running that can help you with running? There's what you eat. I gave up booze for 60 days. You don't have to do that, but here is an easy rule of thumb: Eat minimally processed food with no added sugar and get as close to a Mediterranean diet as you can. Also, chew your food. It sounds crazy, but when healthy bacteria in your saliva mixes with food, it has been shown to help produce nitric oxide, which can aid digestion.

The most useful lesson I've learned over the years? The runs aren't the hard part of running. It's: Am I sleeping enough? Am I eating enough? Am I mindful enough? If you optimize everything around the work, the work becomes easy. Because your body is like, “I've been sleeping, eating good, taking care of my mind, and cutting out all the bullshit? Running's easy, man!”

7. Stack Your Habits.

Maybe you're thinking: Starting one habit (running) is hard enough, let alone worrying about eating, sleeping, and being mindful. This is where habit stacking can be helpful. If you're having trouble starting a new practice, pair it with something that's already established. Since my running is hard time in my schedule, and I know I have to do it, I try to pair it with meditation. For 10 minutes after the run is over, I breathe, calm down, digest the run, and assess how I'm feeling. Now, if I left my mindfulness practice to another part of the day, I may not do it. But this way my running rolls right into my meditation.

8. Grade Yourself-Every Day.

Take five minutes at the end of your day to reflect. Did you get your run done? How did it feel? Pay attention to what you ate, what you drank, how well you slept—all the non-running parts of running I just mentioned. Write it down if you want. It'll help you see patterns so you can re-create good days, and it'll also hold you accountable. Know that certain things matter more than others. If you slipped up on a meal, that matters less than missing a run. But if you slipped up on a meal and didn't run? Notice that and try to do better the next day. You don't want to do that several days in a row.

I always say your day can be given one of three grades: a big win, a small win, or a small loss. But you can never have a big loss. A big loss is when you have multiple consecutive days of not eating right, not sleeping, and not running. Avoid big losses.

9. Apply What You Learn.

Running has helped me realize that my body can handle more than I ever expected. And it has helped me find joy in being meticulous and consistent. You can apply that to life. When you're up at 3 a.m. working on some dumb shit because you know you have to get it done, you can power through it the same way you would a five-mile training run.

I've trained clients to run a faster mile or to complete a marathon, and there's nothing more liberating than those moments when they realize they can do it. There's a weightlessness associated with it. You can find joy in having your body do what it was meant to do—there's a real symbiosis of body and mind. Getting in shape is a nice by-product, but running a race can literally change the way you look at yourself forever!

I ran a 5K the other day, and I thought no way I was going to make it. But I'm like, “You ran 26 miles—and you did that by methodically setting yourself up for success.” That changes how you think about what you can do. Once you push yourself over the edge, you fully understand what your body is capable of doing. This is why people get addicted to running. I think it's the closest we get to nirvana.

A version of this story originally appeared in the February 2020 issue with the title "How To Run Your Way Into Better Shape."

PRODUCTION CREDITS:Photographs by David WilliamsGrooming by Barry White for barrywhitemensgrooming.com

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