Where Running Workouts Truly Begin

The true test of a workout is how you manage when it starts to hurt. Ultimately the real benefits come when you start pushing through the pain and running outside of your comfort zone. This holds true both physically and mentally. Physically the point of hard workouts are to demand more from your muscles. Make them give you more than they’d like to. You tear them down. Recovery allows you to build them back up stronger…but it starts with tearing them down. Mentally a runner has to be tough. Tough as sh*t. Have confidence in your toughness, wear it proudly. Workouts are mental tests, they teach you to handle the discomfort so come race day you know you’ve been there. You’ve pushed through that pain before, you know you can handle it again. The workout really starts when things start to hurt. How will you respond? ——- Read tips from the pro’s on MENTAL TOUGHNESS for runners. More MOTIVATION for runners. We may be hurting but we STILL LOOK GOOD doing it! 😉 My latest RunBlogRun Article: “Danny Mackey and Racing Like a Beast” ——- 1) Where do you get your confidence?

Believing, Running, and Lies

A runner’s mind is filled with lies. We live in our own sort of warped reality. I’ve talked a lot about how lies are our little coping mechanism so we CAN stay dedicated and motivated to keep reaching our goals. That lies can be a good thing. The thing is though, not all of those lies are created equal and it’s important to know which lies you should be ‘believing’ and when you need to be truthful. Good Lies * Midway through a workout: “I’m only doing 1 more repeat, don’t worry brain!” * About to start a workout or at the starting line: “It won’t really hurt, I swear!” * In moments of motivation lulls to just START running: “Just run for 5 minutes, if you want to stop then you can. These are the lies that help us tune out the pain and call our brains out when they’re just being lazy. These are AWESOME lies and the ones you should be blasting from a megaphone because they’re coming from your inner rockstar runner. The runner who wants you to achiever your goals…believe everything they say, those lies will fuel your greatness. Bad Lies * Mid-workout brain chatter: “You can’t keep this pace up.” * Starting line: “Holy crap, I don’t belong next to so-and-so, they’re going to kick my butt!” * Mid-race: “They just surged, they must feel way stronger than me…I’m just going to let them go.” These are all the things that weak, insecure, tired, lazy, annoying, complaining brain likes to shout at you. These are remarks your rockstar runner persona needs to refute and call-out as lies. “I am stronger than I think. I belong at this starting line. A race isn’t over until the finish line and I know they hurting too, I Continue Reading →

A Running Contrast: Pre and Post Workout

Nervous…trepidation…EXCITEMENT. …pushing out doubts, finding your STRENGTH, finding your center. Confidence. Remember you’ve DONE this before, draw on the memories of HARD workouts. “You survived then, you’ll push through the pain today.” Collect. Relax. “Can we just START this thing already?!?!” #nailedit #endorphins #confident Funny the difference a mere workout makes. ——— Nervous energy before workouts and races are NORMAL…they actually help boost your performance if you use them right. Posts on NERVES HERE Posts on finding your CONFIDENCE More MENTAL TOUGHNESS TIPS ———- 1) Give one adjective of how you felt before your last workout. 2) Give one adjective on how you felt after that same workout. 3) What is one of the last things you do or say to yourself before a hard workout or race?

#epicfailWIN: Why failures rock

Runners can never, ever fear ‘failure’. In fact, failures are NOT a bad thing. To fail means that you set a high enough goal. You stepped outside your comfort zone, you DREAMED you could achieve something great. Failures are often the most powerful learning tools. Bad race, horrendous workout…you have to not only experience them you have to FORCE yourself to get through them. Soak up the experience, actually feel how much that suckiness that was. Take those sucky feelings and channel them into: motivation determination confidence. Confidence, you say? Yes, confidence. A runner who pushes through when things really suck should be brimming with confidence. It’s way too easy to run an amazing workout when your legs feel like gold. To have a phenomenal race when it happens to be one of those ‘magic days’. Magic days are the exception, legs that feel like they’re running on clouds are the rarity. To grit out a workout and keep your mind IN THE RACE when things are tough, that is mental toughness. The same goes for obstacles and challenges you didn’t expect, sudden curve balls that really test you. Get through them, keep moving forward. Those experiences, those trials, the hard times, even when you put in your best effort and the clock is brutally honest…THOSE are necessary to build a strong runner. You survive knowing you still put in your best and never mentally gave up when things get tough, and that should give you the most confidence in the world. Those should make you think, “Look, I got through it and stayed tough when I felt like crap. Just imagine how well I’m going to run when my body and my legs feel GREAT.” Redefine failure in your mind. After a bad workout or race, yes, you are Continue Reading →

This Is Your Runner Brain on Stress: The hormonal reason to all those pre-race nerves

The moments leading up to a race are this crazy mix of emotions: excitement, anticipation, terror??, chomping at the bit eagerness, hope, motivation, forced relaxation (attempted??)…flip, you name it! Poised at the starting line, every runner can relate to the feeling that they just may burst if that freaking starter doesn’t fire the gun! CRACK!! Adrenaline, cortisone, hormones flooding the body. This is the internal environment of your body before the start of a race. This is stress on the body. I read an interesting article in Fast Company, it’s actually a business piece and questioning if the brain can actually be addicted to stress. After-all, stress puts the body into that fight or flight mode. I think everyone can relate to the rush you feel when you’ve waited until the LAST second to hit a deadline…some people are even convinced that their best stuff comes under that gun of procrastination. But stress is physical, the brain releases certain chemicals, the nervous system operates differently. The same happens with runners. Many of those same chemicals are coursing through your veins leading up to races, and even workouts. We know those feelings, we know that buzz, and heck, I’ll totally agree that feeling is addictive. Why do you think us runners keep signing up for races, go out to nail that next workout, we love the rush that comes with it. Mostly the rush that comes AFTER…but the whole experience in itself is darn-right thrillingly addictive. The problem though, is putting your body through that entire hormone/chemical crazed onslaught is wearing. Your body would literally explode (well, probably not literally actually) if it was in that heightened state forever. And the body DOES start to deteriorate if you put and keep it in that state for too long. This is where Continue Reading →

Be Fierce, Be Strong, Be a Competitor

Racing is a fierce sport. Take no prisoners. Competition. Racing is thrilling spine-tingling adrenaline pushing pressing competing. Pain. fighting. lactic acid. MENTAL TOUGHNESS Running is a test. Against yourself. Your competitors are there to PUSH you to your best. Competition is a gift. THEY will elevate you, take you places you didn’t think you could go. PUSH you past pain thresholds your mind told you you’d never go. Racing is fierce. It’s better than a blood sport, it’s a game of wills. You are the pawn, the King, the Queen, and dictator. You control what the body puts out. Be fierce. Be strong. Be a competitor. You amped yet? Good luck to anyone and everyone racing this weekend…track season is always so freaking exciting! 🙂 ——– NEVER fear your competition…they are there to help you. Read more… Race day tips HERE A little dark or serious today? More posts on MOTIVATION and CARTOONS 🙂 ——– 1) Finish these sentences: Race day is… 2) When I think of my competition, I… 3) I am in control of my race, I know I’ve put my best out there by…

Runner’s Strip Cartoon Movie Shorts: Hill Repeats

Because we’ve ALL had those prickly bush fantasies in the middle of a workout or race. “I’ll bet hucking myself into that tangle of nettles will be a LOT less painful than what I’m doing now.” It may not always be a prickly bush, but the mind certainly has a crazy way of looking for any excuse to get you to stop running. Fighting those ‘excuses’ and telling yourself to IGNORE that whiney voice inside your head is something ALL runners deal with. Constantly. We know that complainer, that voice telling us that we can’t, will always be there. We start every race and workout aware that the time will come when the pain sets in, but we ALSO tell ourselves that we CAN push much further past what that whiney, compliany, snot-nosed little voice tells us. Run mentally tough…abstain from hucking yourself into that prickly bush. Well, at least until you’ve gotten through all the repeats, then, well, do what you will. 😉 ——— Be a GAMER: How to be confident going into workouts and races Master Your Nerves: How to use pre-race nerves to your advantage More posts on mental toughness HERE More Runner’s Strip Cartoon Movie Shorts HERE ———- 1) What was your last ‘prickly bush fantasy’? A bush. 2) What are some other funny thoughts/fantasies you’ve had during workouts or races? 3) What has become the best way for you to stay mentally tough during workouts and races? What’s your most-used tool?

Runners With Sights on the Boston Marathon

Runners have a love affair with the Boston Marathon. Rightfully so, even if you’re not a marathoner, heck, even if you’re not a runner you’ve heard of the famed race. The hills have names, the stories of races past are epic. I recently wrote a piece for Competitor.com: Four Boston Marathon Tips From Dick Beardsley. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this one for a few reasons, 1) the 1982 Boston Marathon, coined the Duel in the Sun, between Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley defines mental toughness 2) Dick Beardsley was one of the most supportive and inspiring people to me after my car accident. He had multiple accidents that left his legs mangled, yet he is a runner today. He’s one of the sweetest, most positive people and his encouragement through my recovery meant the world to me. In the article Beardsley noted how his parents, both non-runners, had gifted him with ‘to Boston Marathon’ funds upon his graduation from high school. When he finally did get to the starting line he recounts, “I’ve never been to a race where when you step off the plane you can feel the excitement in the air! I’ve spoke with Olympians that have told me they would rather win Boston then a Olympic medal!” Racing brings out that electricity, the nervous excitement of hopes, aspirations, goals every runner has. The goals they’ve staked so much of themselves in, sweat out the miles, the grueling hard workouts, this brings anticipation. The anticipation is mixed with a bit of pressure (you need a little self-inflicted pressure, just enough, not too much though) because the day is finally here. Be it Boston or any race, a runner needs thrives off of that energy, the nerves, it ups the ante, and can fuel your performance. The Boston Marathon Continue Reading →

Runners, Racing, and Kicking Butt

For runners the weekends usually mean two things: races and long runs. In honor of the first I’ve brought you a little running cartoon. Okay, okay, I’m not suggesting we all become snarky, “I just kicked your butt” runners…or, well maybe I am. How about I want you all to go out there and kick@$$ but let’s keep the majority of the snarky comments in our heads?? Oh, even better, you can bring all your runner snark here and let it out! 😉 Go, run, kick some butt! 🙂 ———- Racing ultimately comes down to an inward battle, it’s a matter of MENTALLY pushing further than what your body is ‘telling’ you it is capable of. HERE, HERE, and HERE are all posts relating to improving your mental toughness. More cartoons and my Runner’s Strip comic HERE! 🙂 ———- 1) Pick a race distance, and where does the real pain start to set in? I’ll pick a 5k…that first mile really is deceptively ‘easy’…second mile you start to feel it, then BAM if you were ‘stupid’ that first mile, you REALLY feel it that third. The last .12 then is lost in a fog of, “Where is that darn finish line?!” 😉 2) If you have a race on Saturday, do you come back with a long run on Sunday? Or how do you work a long run in, if you do? I suggest, depending on how hard the race was, you either do a longer cool-down and make Saturday the double-duty race/long run day. Or if it’s early in the season long run on Sunday after race. 3) What does your running weekend look like?

Distance Runners and a Skewed Tired Scale

It’s probably runner elitist of me, but if someone’s not a distance runner and they complain about being tired, I can’t help the little voice in my brain from thinking, “Okay, they’re tired gauge isn’t the same.” Oops, my snark is showing. Distance runners, I’ll open the umbrella to include endurance athletes in general, work off of a totally different spectrum of tired. In fact, we really don’t even START the barometer below a 5 or 6, we’re living in a constant, chronic tired level where ‘normal’ people would probably complain. Above that, a 7 or 8 would encompass darn near every easy run. Those post-hard workout ‘easy’ runs would certainly kiss the 10 realm. We run into an issue at 10; you see, there isn’t a real definite cap to this barometer for a few reasons: 1) breaking through to a new level of mental toughness always redefines what we constitute as tired/painful/hard, “Holy crap, now THAT was certainly the most pain I’ve endured…I didn’t know I could go that far!” 2) Distance runners have learned to cope with our sport by lying to ourselves. Part of those lies include denial: “I’m really not THAT tired”, “I can totally keep going, this is nothing”. After 10 we sort of force ourselves numb…we don’t quantify the tired scale to numbers because it’s best to just NOT know, am I right? Distance runners bury their heads in the sand in terms of ‘tired’…of course we know we’re tired, but more often than not we aren’t going to complain unless it’s at a near cataclysmic level…or we finish the workout. 😛 Is this the most healthy thing? No, not always, there is that fine line between being tough enough to workout and race, and then being SMART enough to recognize it’s best Continue Reading →