Floris Gierman runs 13 miles home from work and explains how to start. Pick specific days, keep it easy, pack light (phone, ID, snacks), wear road shoes, and follow traffic rules. The mental clarity alone makes it worth trying.
Chapters
Hey, what's up? My name is Floris Gierman, and today we're going to be talking about the run commute. It's a great way to get some additional miles in during the week, so let's get started. I'm over in my office right now, but I'm actually going to be changing so we can get on the road. Let's do this! A bunch of different reasons why to run commute. For me, it's a nice way to unwind at the end of the day, and it's a good way to get some additional miles in. I live about 13 miles away from work, so it's It's definitely a bit of a long commute. I typically do it on a Wednesday, so right in the middle of the week. It's a little bit past 6 o'clock right now, so let's get started over here. Since the distance to work is 13 miles, the shortest, I only go one way. So I drive to work, run home, and then get a ride with one of my friends into work, one of my coworkers. It's very loud out here. It's the 405. A lot of cars, 16 lanes. I try to see the run commutes as mellow runs, so low heart rate, but also not trying to get there in a specific time. That way you don't have to rush through the traffic lights and you actually don't get annoyed by the traffic lights. Actually just take them as part of your running commute. A few tips to get started with running commutes. One of the first ones is set certain days a week that you're gonna go for a run commute. That way you can help yourself accountable. You just build it into your training schedule. For me, for example, every Wednesday I'm going for a run commute. That's rain or shine. That way there's no excuses. If you're going to be run commuting to work, I'll make sure you have a supply of a few different things to clean up once you arrive at work. So this includes some baby wipes, Maybe a towel. If you're lucky enough, you have a shower and you can bring some shampoo. But if not, even with baby wipes and deodorant, you can make, make magic happen. Also, I would bring some snacks as well. So once you arrive at work, you feel like you've got a good exercise in. Make sure you drink something, and if you're hungry, eat something as well. Sometimes you get so excited about a run commute that all you want to do is run. But one thing not to forget, you are running in traffic. You are going to be seeing a lot of cars, buses, and other vehicles coming by. So although it is light right now, for many of us the run commutes are soon going to be dark as well. So always follow the traffic rules. When I first started run commuting, I got a bit frustrated by the traffic lights. At this point, I know it's just part of it, and so I actually just accept it. So I kind of take a little breath, let the heart rate cool down a little bit, and before you know it, you can start running again. Here we go again. So what kind of gear to bring? Obviously you want to run as light as possible. I personally prefer to run with nothing but my cell phone, my insurance card, my credit card, and my ID. And for the rest, I just leave my stuff at work. So I have some of my running gear at work have some food at work, so I either drive that over myself or I give a package to one of my co-workers and just leave it in the back of the car and grab it when I'm at work. There are a variety of different backpacks that you can run with. I personally haven't really tried them other than my Salomon running backpack, but can't really fit that much stuff in there other than some Guice or some waters or anything. I run with no water or no gels. For me, it's about 13 miles There are a few water stations on the way, so if I get thirsty, I can always stop and drink some water. Honestly, in most cases, for like an hour and a half to 2 hours, you should be fine without any food, with some water, if, uh, obviously depending on how far you're going to run. If the distance is too long for you to run commute, if it's 5, 10, 15 miles, one thing you can do is just partly take your car or your bus or a bike, just park it over there and run in the rest to work. And then on the way back, same thing, you just run all the way back to your car and you basically get home that way. So you can still get whatever distance you feel comfortable with. Most people who run commute actually run on the road, so I'll definitely make sure that you run on road shoes to, uh, handle all the pounding on the concrete. I really think that the guy who created these roads must have been drunk. Check this out. A few different reasons for me to run commute. The first one is I have to get from home to work or from work to home, so I might as well do it while running instead of while sitting in the car. Takes me about 30 minutes by car and about an hour and a half when I run. The other reason that I really enjoy run commutes is that it clears my mind. Either I get to work with a fresh mind or I come home with a fresh mind. So it definitely kind of makes you reflect back on your day and kind of puts things into perspective. So once you arrive at home, you have a fresh brain ready for the evening. 10 miles in, about 3 miles to go. Making progress over here. Typically I bring a lot of clothes to work, so I just have a stack of clothes over there. And I also have a fridge full of food, so when I run to work, I can just get dressed over there, eat some food. And when I want to run home, I just grab some of my running shorts and running clothes, some of my running shoes, and get ready to run home. It doesn't matter what pace you run or what distance you run on your run commute. Even if you have to walk part of it or jog part of it, that's kind of the fun part. There's no rush or anything. It's more the importance of getting outside and getting some exercise in while you're actually commuting back and forth to work. Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen that over here in the Back Bay— a mom coyote with like 3 young coyotes. It's probably not going to be possible to see on the camera, but that's pretty awesome. I just ran into a photographer over here and he said he has been shooting photos of all these baby coyotes over here since they were very little. But yeah, these were definitely 3 baby coyotes with a mom that crossed the path right in front of me, and I didn't have the camera on, of course. Anyway, always stoked to see nature in the fullest effect. I made it back home. 13.1 miles, so 21.1K, half a marathon, in 1 hour 42. I took it easy today, kept the heart rate around 140 beats also, so I would be able to talk to you for a little bit and explain some of this. When you run commute and you get close to work, I would stop a few blocks before work. That way you can cool down a little bit, and once you get into work, it's much easier to adjust that way. I came across this website, theruncommuter.com. The guy writes writes a lot about run commuting. It's actually a solid community from what I could tell. So check out theruncommuter.com. If you haven't already tried the run commute, I can highly recommend it. Some people around you might not really understand it or might even think it's weird. I would say don't listen to them. Just do your own thing. At the end of the day, you only have one precious life, so make the most out of it. Go out there, go for a run, Get active and, um, yeah, most importantly, have fun out there and absolutely be safe on your run commute. All right, have a good one.
