3 Helpful Hacks for the Novice Runner

If you have been joined me in my journey via Instagram stories, then you’ll know that I was in Salt Lake City, Utah visiting my family for the past few weeks.

It was such a blast especially since my bro and his wife flew in from Paris, so the whole fambamily was together, including my pup-in-crime Brooklyn who made the drive with me. Okay, okay…so I drove just so I could take her, but with a face like that could ya blame me?!

Anyways, while I was there I began my training for the La Jolla Half-Marathon training starting with some light jogs around the neighborhoods of Salt Lake. One thing our city has no shortage of? Hills! My family lives on the East benches of the valley so there are plenty of rolling hills to choose from at varying degrees of difficulty.

If you are new to distance running like me, then it can be hard to push yourself past your limits. This may comes as a shock to you, but I actually kind of hate distance running, and if you’d asked me several months ago if I had any plans of running any races, even a 5k I probably would have laughed at you. Well, joke was on me – because the only thing I hate more than distance running, is saying no to a good challenge, so when the girls at lululemon called me to sponsor me during the La Jolla Half, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just say yes!

So to kick things off, today I am sharing 3 essentials I immediately picked up to start my training on the right foot, and survive the race in style:

A Killer Workout Playlist

The first thing I did was set up a playlist on Spotify – when I started running a little more than a year ago, I discovered that the secret to running was as simple as good music. Seriously, it makes a difference! I love using Spotify Premium and Shazaam so every time I hear a good song I find out what it is, and add it to one of my playlists. Now I actually look forward to running every day just to I can bump my music! If you need some inspo to get you started check out my Half-Marathon Playlist, I’ll be adding new songs every week up until the race.

The Right Running Gear

While I was in Utah, I broke in my new sleet sprinter jacket and fresh tracks running leggings from lululemon – they are the perfect running companions because the material isn’t too heavy and works great in a variety of climates from treks in snowy terrain, to distance runs at sunset on the beaches of San Diego. Plus, they are super cute for off duty days too – they don’t call it a coffee run for nothing! 🙂

Fresh Air

Most of the time, I pound out my 3 miles on a treadmill because I love counting down the minutes and seeing how fast I can run my sprints. Now that I am taking on distance running, and 13.2 miles outdoors, its time to take my routine out into the fresh air. This has always been one of my biggest challenges because I never used to have the right gear so I felt awk AF!

It sounds fun to enjoy a sunset while running, but more often than not I would hold my phone before because I never had pockets in my leggings, and the sweats I would wear wouldn’t keep my phone secure so I kept dropping it. I tried the arm bands but then I got this hideous tanline, ew. Thankfully lululemon solved this problem with zippered pockets in their running leggings, tried em out and LOVE THEM!

Stay tuned for more tips, including my running plan and diet for the next 14 weeks, since I am a novice at this running game we are kicking things off with cross training today, and a 2 mile run. If you have any suggestions or survival tips for me, I would love to hear them! Drop a comment below, and don’t forget you can shop this look below!