Why My 30-Minute Run Always Steals 75 Minutes

July 25, 2025 | By DLake

The Run Is the Easy Part

The actual run? 30 minutes. Maybe 32 if I’m feeling wild. But the whole event? Easily 75. Every… damn… time.

Because running isn’t just running. It’s:

• Getting dressed (but first, realizing your shorts are in the wash).
• Syncing your watch (but first, realizing it’s dead).
• Picking a playlist (but not that playlist, the other one).
• Finding headphones (under the couch, somehow).
• That weird few minutes where you just… stand by the door in ADHD paralysis (Might be a me thing).
• Warmup drills you promised yourself you’d start doing pre run.
• Waiting for your GPS to go green because if it’s not on there, the run (we all know the rest)

Then you run. And that’s the easy part.

The Lack of Focus Tax Is Real

I used to beat myself up for this. Why can’t I just run and be done with it?

But I’m finally admitting it: transitions cost me more than effort does. It’s not the run. It’s more of the opaque time before and after. That weird floaty space where your brain’s like, “What mode are we in now?” Especially post-run, when my body is buzzed, my brain is empty, and I still somehow have to “be productive.” As Abed from the hit TV show, Community says…

Science has a name for this: task-switching cost. It’s why switching from run mode to, think about what to do mode, to “write emails” mode feels hard. Add in ADHD, and it’s like slower than trying to open a spreadsheet with a Game Boy from 1992.

I Was Never Going to Use That Time Anyway

The “lost” 45 minutes after a run weren’t going to be used for deep work or organizing my taxes. They were going to vanish into Instagram, snack loops, or vaguely re-reading the same to-do list I wrote yesterday.

But here’s something I can finally admit: Running didn’t rob time from me — It rescued me from wasting time in my sleep clothes pretending to be busy.

How I Make It Less Chaotic (Sometimes)

• I prep as much as I can: Shoes by the door, all gear laid out, and the run playlist ready to go.
• I stay off my phone after a run: Even getting into Strava sends me down a spiral.
• I don’t multitask: I treat each task as its own thing. I do the run, then I shower, then I eat. That’s it.
• I plan time for stupidity. If something derails me, it’s allowed because I have slack in the line.
• I give myself a “run buffer” in my calendar now. Like a fake meeting with myself, just for the weird in-between moments.

These aren’t hacks, but instead they make me more consistent, not just with running but with re-entering the rest of my life after.