Sometimes, you just need someone to give it to you straight.<\/p>\n
Occasionally Jason Fitzgerald<\/a>\u00a0and I do 30-minute coaching calls with new Run Your BQ members to help them build some initial momentum when they join our program.\u00a0I’ve done a few dozen of these calls now, and in the process I’ve noticed something striking:<\/p>\n Almost every runner’s frustrations are the result of the same small handful of mental mistakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n The good news is they’re fixable: all but one of these mistakes has an easy, obvious solution, once you’ve identified the problem. And that’s what I hope this post will help you to do.<\/p>\n I’ll repeat: at least one of these mistakes is to blame for the frustrations of\u00a0just about every single runner <\/em>I’ve talked to on a coaching call. If you’re not getting the results you want, look extra hard at yourself. Be brutally honest, and see if one of these mistakes isn’t behind your lack of progress.<\/p>\n Awareness of the problem is the first step to fixing it, and a huge one. After that, I’ve suggested a solution to each to get you started on the path to correcting it.\u00a0The rest, of course, is up to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with racing every month, or even every week \u2026 if racing often is your only goal<\/i>. But if you want to get faster, especially at longer distances, you simply can\u2019t put forth a race effort every month. The cost to your body is too high, not to mention the quality training time that you lose to tapering and recovery, and even the race itself (no, that half marathon you raced doesn\u2019t count for the 20-miler on your schedule). This is why marathoners who make their living at the sport often race only two marathons per year.<\/p>\n Solution:<\/b> Decide which you really want: to race often, or to race better. Do you want to be a 50-stater or a Marathon Maniac or a Half Fanatic? Or do you want to run the best race you can? The two goals are in conflict \u2013 so rather than half-ass both of them, pick the one that matters most to you, and do it as well as you possibly can. And if your choice is the latter, one or two big races a year is all you need.<\/p>\n Injuries tend to come when you\u2019re most excited about running. You\u2019re feeling better than ever and loving your workouts (and your progress), so you push just a little harder. Your easy runs get too fast, you start skipping your day off. It\u2019s too much, but of course you don\u2019t realize it until something breaks down.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re injured, you do all the right stuff: you take time off, you do rehab exercises, you ease back into running. But once the pain is gone \u2013 really, truly gone, as best you can tell \u2013 you go right back to the routine that got you injured in the first place. Same quick ramp-up of mileage, same form, same training, surface, and shoe. And surprise, surprise \u2026 same result.<\/p>\n Solution:<\/b>\u00a0 Stop looking at your injury as a fluke, and take responsibility for it. Whatever you did caused<\/i> you to get injured. So if you don\u2019t want it to happen again, you\u2019ve got to change something \u2013 even after you\u2019re back to 100 percent.<\/p>\n Start with form. If you\u2019re not running with a fast turnover \u2013 around 180 steps per minute<\/a> \u2013 then now\u2019s the time to start. How about posture and footstrike<\/a>? Next, think about your easy runs: are they really easy, as in \u201cyou can carry on a conversation while you\u2019re doing them\u201d? How about your overall mileage \u2013 do you have a history of getting injured every time you exceed 40 or 50 miles per week? If so, you\u2019ve got to spend more time building up to that level, and consider strength training, trail running<\/a>, or another change to whatever repeated actions are resulting in injury.<\/p>\n From the time I became obsessed with qualifying for Boston<\/a>, it took me seven years to get there. I had a lot of time to take off my marathon (more than an hour and forty minutes!), but that\u2019s not the reason it took so long. It took seven years because every time I started a training program, I planned to qualify for Boston \u2013 in that very next race. The result was a pace and mileage that I couldn\u2019t sustain, which of course led to burnout and injury. By the time I got to the start line a few months later, I couldn\u2019t wait to take a break. And so I would, until inspiration stuck again, at which point I\u2019d repeat the same routine.<\/p>\n I\u2019m all for ambitious goals<\/a>, but if you don\u2019t give yourself adequate time to make them happen, you\u2019ll keep shooting yourself in the foot.<\/p>\n Solution: <\/b>Remember that we tend to overestimate what we can achieve in a year, and dramatically underestimate what we can achieve in a decade. So take the long view, and practice patience. Decide what it is you want \u2013 to break four hours in the marathon, to break an hour-thirty in the half, to qualify for Boston \u2013 and deliberately give yourself more time than you optimistically think you\u2019ll need. Plan to do it two or three years from now, even choose the race you\u2019ll run, and then set intermediate race goals along the way. Be ambitious and unreasonable in the long term, calculated and reasonable in the short term, and finally, flexible in your approach … and you’ll have a bulletproof plan for success.<\/p>\n Big picture, only two things can go wrong: either the plan is bad, or the plan is fine but fails in the execution.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been conservative in your time frames, chosen a proven training program, and otherwise modeled what you\u2019ve seen to work for others like you, then your plan is probably alright \u2013 and you can always make adjustments as you learn more about what\u2019s working and what’s not.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s up to you to make the plan happen. And here\u2019s where a lot of people get stuck. For whatever reason, they just don\u2019t get out the door to put in the runs they\u2019re supposed to.<\/p>\n Why? I\u2019ve heard a lot of reasons:<\/p>\n And so you miss a workout, then two. Then you\u2019re behind, then you think you need to somehow catch up, then you give up entirely. Until you get frustrated enough with the current situation, resolve to change, and do it all over again.<\/p>\n Solution: <\/b>This is the toughest mistake to correct, because it involves the mental blocks and procrastination and self-sabotage that affect so many people for so many complex reasons.<\/p>\n Can you make the experience less painful or more pleasurable, by taking care of a form issue, getting new shoes, or listening to music or an audiobook while you run? Is your goal compelling enough; does it give you butterflies to envision accomplishing it? Are you starting too big, so that even the first workout is unapproachable? Is there another approach \u2013 say, starting a running streak<\/a>, or using running as meditation<\/a> \u2013 that would represent a big shift for you and make things easier?<\/p>\n Or is there something deeper going on: do you, on some level, doubt that you can ever achieve whatever you\u2019ve set out to do, so your body simply responds by not even trying? As I said, this one is tougher, and it takes some rumination to figure it out \u2013 but often a little thought and re-engineering of the situation can make the difference between disciplined, consistent execution and giving up before you ever really start.<\/p>\n Coincidentally, two of my closest online running buddies put out new programs this week:<\/p>\n These are affiliate links and these guys are good friends of mine, so I can’t say I’m completely unbiased here. But\u00a0I really respect what both of these guys do, in their work with me and on their own, so I hope you’ll check out their new stuff if it interests you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes, you just need someone to give it to you straight. Occasionally Jason Fitzgerald\u00a0and I do 30-minute coaching calls with new Run Your BQ members to help them build some initial momentum when they join our program.\u00a0I’ve done a few dozen of these calls now, and in the process I’ve noticed something striking: Almost every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-fitness","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMistake #1: You run too many races.<\/h3>\n
Mistake #2: You don\u2019t change anything after you get injured.<\/h3>\n
Mistake #3: You want to PR by 30 minutes in your very next marathon or half.<\/h3>\n
Mistake #4: Your plan is sound \u2026 you just don\u2019t execute.<\/h3>\n
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New Running Stuff from Friends<\/h3>\n
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