by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: July 01, 2009

Once you get into the habit of running every day you can actually begin to look forward to putting on your shorts, vest and trainers to get out into the fresh air and give yourself a good work out. Whatever time of day you decide to go for a jog you generally get into a routine, which is a good thing because it shows you can stick to a fitness programme, but can also be bad if you start to get bored and find it isn't challenging enough. If you feel that you are not really trying and that running is no longer as enjoyable as it used to be you might want to look for ways of increasing the difficulty of your daily jog so that you start having fun again, as well as increasing your fitness levels further.

Firstly you might want to consider the route you take. It can be easy for you to get stuck in a rut with regard to where you run because it can be tempting to stick to the same route every day, as you know how long it takes to cover that particular distance and know exactly where you are going. However, if you want to increase the difficulty of your jog the first thing you should consider changing is your route.

It helps if you have a number of routes to choose from, as then you can vary your run to fit in with any time constraints or your fitness plan. You can run on surfaces other than concrete; you could decide to run through fields and forests. It is surprising how tiring having to run on grass and mud can be. To make your jog more difficult you could also choose to run longer distances, particularly at the weekend when you may have more time to go exploring. Obviously the greater the distance you cover the more energy you will burn, and thus you need to make sure you eat enough beforehand.

To make your jog more difficult you could attach weights to your wrists and ankles meaning you have to work harder to get moving. You should also consider the pace at which you run. If you are used to jogging at a leisurely pace you might want to step it up a bit so that you're covering more ground. Indeed, you might choose to use the fartlek approach where you alternate your pace incorporating sprints into your jog, helping to increase your endurance.

Another way of making your daily jog more challenging could be joining your local running club, as being with other people may spur you on to try harder and to find different routes, and if you begin to enter competitions you will have to become more focused in your training anyway.

There are plenty ways to increase the difficulty of your daily jog to enable you to stay motivated so that you can work on building-up your stamina and overall fitness, but you have to be prepared to shake-up your routine a bit so you can get the most out of your daily jog.

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