‘Motivation’ Articles at , Page 14

Running Patient Keeps You In the Sport and WILL Reward You…In Time ;)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Cait — 18 Comments ↓

Running is wrought with the ‘two steps forward, one step backward’ tests and trials. I’d call it logic, but let’s be honest, most runners lost all logic about 5,000 miles ago. 😉

Progress forward is HARD fought, once you’ve been running for awhile it then come in seconds and tenths rather than minutes. Each new PR ushers you into another realm, and in order to break through and run through to that next level it takes more work than before, and the cycle continues.
deck of runners

Eventually you’re working to improve by 1 or 2%, and by that time it takes more than just running harder and running faster. One must run harder and faster of course, but also SMARTER, be more ATTUNED, and then PATIENT.

All that patience sure does wear on a runner’s mindset. Typically we want those rewards, those PR’s NOW…but failing to be patient and look long term usually winds you up either 1) hurt or 2) limited.

* Hurt: By running harder and faster smartly that means allowing the body to recover between those hard and fast workouts. If you don’t recover on your easy days then you start greying the line between HARD and EASY. You might think that going harder more often will help, but in fact you wind up being too tired to really NAIL those hard workouts. A bunch of grey running just leads to a bunch of grey racing, not sharp, quality races and workouts. Well, that is if you don’t wind up injured first. I’ll include overtrained under the hurt category, because watching your times slip really does hurt too.

* Limited: By limited I mean you’re not looking at the BIG picture. To gain those ‘little’ percentages forward means you need to widen your scope beyond just running miles. It means having an actual PLAN, including core work, drills, strength work, stretching, injury prevention techniques, eating better...all those ‘extras’. Running SMARTER means being curious, and learning about all the other ways you can improve in addition to running harder and faster.
runner by tree
Distance Paradigm

The other thing about training is there needs to be a balance between just running MORE and running FASTER. Volume and consistency is important of course, but so is being able to get QUALITY out of those miles.

If you DO care about getting more PR’s (someone asked me, so I’ll explain that as Personal Record) then you need to have a speed component in all that running. Some runners fail to think about running more quality, and get lost in the competition to just run MORE. That’s okay, but if you want to run faster you’ve got to get used to running faster, make sense?

Looking long term and being PATIENT means you can’t have it all, all the time. Get your mileage up to a decent level, but from there focus on getting more QUALITY out of those miles. Speed workouts will hurt, duh, but it’s the kind of thing that us runners are a little crazy about and sickly enjoy. Well, enjoy after they are done.

Stepping forward and back, parallels the HARD and EASY days…let the paces step back so you can recover and then jump forward again.

Stepping forward and back also parallels this disgusting thing called an injury; they are unavoidable to even the most patient runner. Take them in stride, get through them and be prepared to step forward again.

Running steps forward every time you get a new PR or hit better times in your workouts; on the heels will be the times when you take steps back with bad races, off days, and horrendous blow-ups of workouts. They happen…don’t let them derail you…because if you are running SMARTLY you can’t ‘lose’ your fitness after just a bad race, dispute that mental thought, it’s a lie.

Runners often want those gains NOW. But sadly, those gains have to be earned…earned with hard freaking work and loads of patience.

1) Fill in the blanks: I recently took a step forward _________________ and was prepared to take a step backwards __________________________.

2) Fill in the blank: I really want to run faster NOW, but looking long term I recently incorporated __________________ to get faster, the payoffs may take a little time.

3) When an injury DOES crop up it tests my patience but I get through it and grow as a runner by ___________________________.

Running Mentally Engaged: Keeping your brain in check when the pain sets in

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Cait — 18 Comments ↓

Running is tough. Racing is tougher…downright painful. The brain has a funny little way of dealing with that pain, it gets sneaky and tries to coax us into slowing down.

Runner Brain: “I want to run a PR, dang this hurts, but I’m going to put the work in and stick this out.”
Annoying Tired Brain: “Well, fine, if you’re not going to listen to my complaints and willingly slow down I’ll just find other ways to trick you into it!”
your brain on running
Oh the brain, you slippery little eel, you.

* Self-Defeatist Thoughts: This would be when you’re running and your mind starts screaming in your ear, “You seriously can’t keep this pace up for any longer.”
* Dwelling on the Future: This is when your mind has on repeat, “Umm, and HOW much further do you think you’re going to be forcing me to do this? Think again buster, you CAN’T last that many miles more!”
* Bargaining: When your runner brain and your ~~sane~~ tired brain get into a war, your lame-o brain argues, “C’mon, just ease up a little, trust me you’re not going to feel guilty or regretful about it, just ease up.” This is also known as a lie, because your runner brain knows you’ll feel regretful.
* Wandering: This is when your brain full-on goes on vacation, if you catch yourself mid-race thinking, “Wow, I really like the zebra print on that lady’s shirt, you see her, the one sitting on the 20th row of in the stands.”

A Wandering Mind = A Slowing Body

See, when the mind decides to check-out and wander like that what inevitably ends up happening is the pace starts to lag. Running through pain takes a special kind of focus, focus on forcing yourself to relax, to keep pushing, to stay ENGAGED in the race.

When your mind wanders it is sneakily distracting you from the ~~battle~~ race at hand. My latest article at Competitor.com is all about staying focused during a race so you then, race your best: “Got a Wandering Mind? Here’s How to Stop It”

Read the article, but I’d like to add that a wandering mind is much different from zoning out during a race.

Aww, c’mon, I’m only joking…kinda. 😉

I’ve talked about how zoning out is a mental trick to pushing through the pain. Zoning out:
* Locked Eyes Ahead: Find a runner ahead of you, stare at a single spot on their back and refuse to let any distance open up between you and the spot.
* Breathing and Form: When you zone out you think only of the tangibles you can control and NOT the pain from lactic acid. Thinking about standing tall, keeping your form in check, and breathing controlled are all tangibles to think of.
* Think Relaxed: When you zone out you want to let go of any tension; don’t have your fists and jaw clenched, don’t have your shoulders in your ears.

Finally, zoning out is the epitome of being ENGAGED in the race, you’re single-mindedly in it.

A wandering mind is where you’re brain is anywhere but in the race. It is, in reality, just a backwards trick that your tiring brain is using to get you to slow down.

Don’t fall for it. Running often comes down to mentally ‘beating’ your own brain. Push past the pain, get through those intervals, drive for the finish line, and stay present in your race…because THAT is how you improve as a runner. THAT is how you set those wonderful PR’s. 😉

1) What is an example of a trick your brain has tried on you to get you to slow down?

2) How do you one-up that slippery little eel of a complaining tired brain?

3) What is an aspect of zoning out? How do you stay zoned during a race and stay ENGAGED throughout?

Rule Your Running Terrain: Because races aren’t done on a treadmill

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Cait — 18 Comments ↓

Unless you’re racing on a track, there’s SOME kind of terrain you’ll need to be prepared for come gun-time. Even during track season athletes have much to gain from varying the terrain on their workouts.

Power and Speed: Hills build strength and when taken to flats that translates to speed. That same kind of logic applies to doing repeats on grass, the times may be ‘slower’ but you’re working harder and building strength.
Injury Prevention: Running on softer, more forgiving surfaces helps reduce impact and thus lowers your chances for injuries in the long-term.
Diversity: Running is a very repetitive action and mostly only working in a single, horizontal plane. At least by varying things slightly you’re able to give your body a bit of diversity; if you fail to do this, smaller muscles get weak and imbalances become injuries in waiting.

Those are all general reasons why mixing up your running terrain is a good idea, but if you know your actual race course will have key elements you’ll need to be prepared for, it’s even more important to introduce those same obstacles in training.
turn left on the track
Hilly Courses

Uphill Repeats: It take power to get up those hills; including uphill repeats into your routine may seem like an obvious but not all runners actually DO hill work, or they don’t mix-up the kind of work that they do. Think of hills in a three-pronged approach, similar to your regular running workouts. 1) Do 100-200 meter hill bursts, allow for full recovery between each repeat; this is your speed session for the week. 2) Longer, 600-1600 meter hill repeats for your endurance-focused interval sessions. You could also do tempo runs uphill (on a treadmill set on a grade if you don’t have an actual course). 3) Including rolling hills into your easy days ‘sneaks’ hill work in.
Downhill Repeats: Many can overlook just how taxing a lot of downhill on your race course can be. If your race has a significant amount of downhills (Hello, Boston Marathon!), be sure to get used to running on the decline; your quads will be working even if you don’t ‘feel it’ right away. You can include some downhill repeats in your training; just be careful in terms of injury because downhill running does increase the forceful pounding of running.
Form: Running hills makes it even more important to have good form; when running uphill maintain the same effort that you would but decrease your stride length. When running downhill, make sure that you’re not tensing up and causing yourself to ‘brake;’ rather, relax and let the momentum of the decline help do some of the work for you.

trail runner
Trail running

Ankles and lower legs: Trail running is about as diverse as running can get, twists, turns, awkward foot-plants aplenty. Here is where you need to be sure your ankles and feet are used to landing in various positions. The way to do that is, well, running trails, taking turns, and including mobility work outside of running.
Core and Mobility: To reduce your risk for injury when running, you want to have a strong core, be flexible, and have as much range of motion as possible. Schedule time for strength training, dynamic stretching, and drills; not only will it help safeguard you against injuries it will improve your running performance.

Tracks, Roads and the Elements

Tangents: Some math logic here, but running longer adds more time to your race results. Road races are measured off of the shortest possible marked distance, so look for those tangents and don’t run wider around turns than you have to. On the track, unless you’re going to be boxed in, do your best to not needlessly wander into outer lanes.
Drafting: Even on the calmest of days drafting makes a difference, mentally it’s much ‘easier’ to sit behind someone else and let them do the work. If it’s especially windy, find a body and tuck in behind them!
Weather Conditions: The conditions of race day can make a HUGE difference in your performance; not only should you take these into consideration for your race-day pacing goals but train in the same kind of conditions. For cold races be extra certain you do a full warm-up to make sure your muscles are properly warm and ready to hit those faster paces.

Until the day that all races are held on treadmills, runners should be mixing up the terrain of their workouts and runs. By tailoring your training to your specific race course you’ll be setting yourself up for even better results. And hey, who doesn’t want to run that much faster and have a bit of an edge over their competition? 😉

1) How do you train for your course? If it’s for the track, how do you add diversity to your workouts?

2) Do you prefer road races, track races, cross-country, or trail races?

3) How do you plan, adapt, or prepare for various weather conditions?

Runners, Superheros, and Princesses Re-defined

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Cait — 6 Comments ↓

In MY version of fairy tales, the princesses all run, with names like Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan. In my comic books the heros wear Dri-FIT racing gear, they don’t need pseudo-names, Dathan Ritzenhein and Meb Keflezighi will do just fine. The truth is in ‘normal people’ land that’s more than enough to fly under the radar mostly unnoticed. The pap’s are too tied up stalking Honey Boo Boo. 😉

Running princesses are sweet but an epic force on the track. Steely eyed mid-repeat, tough as nails. So don’t confuse sweet and nice with damsel in distress, heck, if a runner dude is tanking mid-run they best keep looking over their shoulder because they very will may be passed.

Perhaps the power of the running superheros isn’t so much super strength, super endurance, or super speed, it’s just guts, grit, and the ability to push themselves harder than any sane person would. MENTAL strength is something you can’t teach, or quite explain, that’s what makes it all the more alluring and admirable.

So little girls, don’t dress up in doily dresses, but opt for Tempo Shorts…trust me, there are plenty of fun colors. Little boys, you don’t need to steal your sister’s tights and find a cape, micro-fiber running tights will do just fine.

Runners are, by definition alone, super heros and the most kick@$$ kinds of princesses.

1) When you were a kid, what was your favorite kind of character?
I won’t lie, I was obsessed with wanting to be a mermaid. Ariel and that movie Splash were on constant repeat.

2) What is a way you’ve felt like a kind of super hero in your running experience or journey?

3) What do you feel is a kind of super power that is possessed by runners?
I’ll say the people with the most mental tenacity win in my book.

Running For YOUR Epic

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Cait — 25 Comments ↓

If you’re going to do something, why not make it epic? This quote has been running through my mind lately; 1) I’m working on a pretty exciting project, stay tuned for details and 2) It also has to do with THIS cartoon and the story behind it..sorry, Mo, I stole your word! 😉

But back to the quote, and going for epic. Perhaps I should edit it to say: “If you’re going to do something, why not TRY and make it epic.”
peacock runner
Because the truth of the matter is you very well may not wind up making it all the way to epic. I’m not being pessimistic, just realistic. Some people would argue that quote is setting people up for disappointment, “If I’m never going to run in the Olympics, be the best in the world, or set a World Record, then where is the point in all this training?”

True, most people won’t ever set a National or World Record, they won’t come home with a Gold Medal. But the thing is, I’ll guarantee you that you’ll run and set a Personal Record at some point…probably more.

Insert obligatory eye-roll here. But let me continue. The people who don’t at least TRY for epic really are just afraid to step out of their comfort zone. Their comfort zone is safe, it ensure they won’t really fail, it also ensure they probably really won’t excel…they’ll just be nice, safe, *gasp* mediocre. Now, mediocre is totally OKAY, nothing wrong with it at all. But the thing is, if you’re NOT okay with mediocre, you’re always welcomed to TRY for epic.

Running is awesome because it is a sport where anyone can improve with hard work, grit, determination, and self-motivation. The feelings of PR’s and knowing you pushed yourself to new limits are indescribably self-fulfilling. The feeling of KILLING it in a track workout or race are, in a word, epic.

Why not shoot for epic?

Define epic…it is greatness, it is awesomeness, it is rewarding, it is awes-freaking-tastic. But all of those can be different for different people. You see, epic doesn’t have to be defined as setting a World Record or being a total flop of a failure. YOUR epic may be realizing that you much stronger, faster, fitter, mentally stronger than your ‘mind’ told you that you were.
keep running
Quite honestly, you may wind up short along the way. A goal you don’t hit, eventually you will set your last PR…*single tear*. When you hit the climax, what the heck happens if you DON’T hit what, in your mind, was your ‘epic’?

You would be allowed to be disappointed. But I GUARANTEE you that you’re much higher up on the ‘epic scale’ than when you started. Running and training your @$$ off, you maybe didn’t hit the pinnacle you wanted, but dang-nam-it you improved.

You didn’t sit at mediocre. You TRIED.

If you’re going to do something, give it your all. If you truly want it, believe in it, and you find it rewarding…TRY for epic.

What holds most people back? Ultimately fear. Right behind it a lack of motivation…lol.

But I think fear is the root of it. Fear of the work it would take. Fear of failure. Fear you’re not good enough. Fear you’re not as good as you think you are…aha…that one!

That brings up the question: Would you rather stay at mediocre but live with the assumption that if you DID try then you would be awesome OR go out on a limb and try, then be faced with the reality that you didn’t quite measure up? Going with the first one will keep you in the safety bubble of mediocre.
track runner
Don’t let insecurities, fear, failures, hard work, REALLY hard work [umm, trust me, track workouts need a whole new word for REALLY. HARD. WORK.], and set-backs rob you from trying for YOUR epic.

Be different, test yourself, push yourself, be unique, FIND YOUR epic. Hell, go run. 😉

1) Define what ‘epic’ would be for you? Pick a goal, it doesn’t necessarily have to be running related.

2) Define what falling short of that epic would mean to you?
Sure it sucks, but we CAN cope with sucky.

3) What has been something that’s held you back from getting to your epic, or holding you back from TRYING for your epic?

Running and Bunhuggers: All part of sensing it’s GO time

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Cait — 35 Comments ↓

Runners, when the bunhuggers come out it’s GO time.

People not in the sport of track and field, or non-runners, have asked, “Why in the world would you want to run in those?!” I’ve heard little kids giggle and balk, “She’s running in her underwear!” Even body conscious women have sneered, “Oh, look at her, who does she think she is?”
running in bunhuggers
Let me explain…bunhuggers are not

* worn in an attempt to steal your boyfriend.
* meant as some kind of ‘in your face, runners are HOT and we know it!’ statement.
* stupid.

Think of running in bunhuggers like running in your spikes.

You know the second you slip your feet into those spikes, lace them up, and head to the line it’s RACE TIME.

I’m sure there is the element of wind resistance, and yes, bunhuggers are comfortable. Trust me, there is nothing worse than racing with a wedgie…or running with shorts that bunch up in the front. My friend used to have a term for ‘those’ kinds of shorts, “My thighs eat them.”

A large part of racing is mental. Part of distinguishing a RACE from any other run is making it FEEL different. The energy, the electric buzz of the spectators, the nerves, the excitement, the competition, all of the feed into the race atmosphere.

Running your warm-up is just as much physically preparing your body as it is MENTALLY prepping you, getting into the zone.

When you kick off those bulky training shoes and slip on the spikes, you FEEL the race coming. As you strip off those sweats to the bunhuggers underneath you SENSE it…it’s almost here.

Run that final stride, poised and set at the line, it’s ON!

“Look good, feel good.”

1) Female runners, what do you prefer to race in? Do you run in bunhuggers, or have you?

2) On the other side, have you made fun of the bunhuggers? Do you find them silly, and not understand why people would run in them?

3) Guys, men get teased for the shorty running shorts in general. What style shorts do you prefer? What do you say to the dorks who make fun of running shorts?

4) What is a part of your ‘process’ in amping up for a race? What is something that makes you FEEL like it’s race time?

Runners and Fatigue: There’s a difference between hard training and digging into a hole

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Cait — 12 Comments ↓

After my last post I think we can all agree that distance runners have a warped perception of tired. Muting out the body constantly telling us, “I’m tired, can we stop please?” is all part of our sport.

Run-Up Grill…not serving any wussies. 😉

However, that post also touched on the ‘sanity line’ and runners sometimes having trouble tuning BACK into what feeling tired really means. There’s a difference between telling your brain to ‘shove it’ in order to push through that last interval and then straight up digging yourself into a hole and being a glutton for punishment. Runners often see admitting they are tired as a sign of weakness.

Like so many other things in our sport, here is yet another ambiguity. Pushing enough, but not too much. Training hard, but not too hard. Doing more, but no, not too much. Sheesh, there seems to never be a definite answer! The truth is, it usually comes down to knowing yourself. With running, a whole part of the process is learning to read your body, be more attuned to it than the average person. To sense things others wouldn’t even notice. To a runner, a slight 5% dip in how you feel is magnified because that may translate to a 40% drop in how you feel when you’re actually running, when you want to PERFORM. We’ll call it the performance magnification…to the Average Joe, they may not notice that 5% because they’re not doing anything to where that margin is an issue.

BAD TIRED

* Prolonged: If you’re in training mode, it’s fairly normal that your ‘easy days’ sort of sound like a contradiction. Or at least the recovery runs after a hard workout. Still, you go easy and come back strong a few days later. However, if you notice a prolonged period where every run is feeling like you’re pulling bricks something may need to be adjusted. A few days, normal, a few weeks…not.

* No Snap: If your hard workouts FEEL harder than the paces should, and you’re running above the effort level for multiple workouts/weeks then something may be off. Here it is often a case of going too hard on your recovery days and not being fully recovered for the days that matter: the HARD workouts.

* All Day: Running fatigue is usually normal, but there is that kind of bone marrow deep tired that lasts all day and is more intense, obviously, when you try to run, that indicates a problem. Here it’s smart to get some blood work and check to see if there is a medical issue, like low iron.

Be a runner down to the bones, but don’t be bone-tired.

DIG OUT OF THE HOLE

It usually takes us stubborn runners LONGER than it should to finally admit that we are tired and something needs to be adjusted. It’s always easier to catch it earlier, because it makes turning things around a LOT easier.

* Easy Days: Make sure those easy days you REALLY make the effort easy, forget about the pace and run for effort. It’s honestly amazing how many people could turn things around or be better if they took their easy days easier…that allows you to get more quality out of your hard sessions and THOSE are the workouts that count come race day.

* Regroup: If you’re flat for workouts, take a few more recovery days. A small step back early isn’t going to cost you that much if it gets you out of the hole and back on track.

* A Break: The deeper the hole, sometimes a full break is necessary. A break should come after a really hard, intense season or race anyways. If you peaked much too early in the season and you’re nose-diving, maybe just take a break and regroup for next season. HERE is my article on peaking too early.

* A Mini-Break: Sometimes you don’t need a full two weeks or ten days off, mini-breaks lasting a few days, or at least a few days of just really backing off or cutting your mileage and intensity, can work some mini-miracles.

So yea, runners can ignore tired like it’s nobody’s business. I’m proud of that, you should be too…because we can push past what most people would even bother with. It makes us better runners, and better people, I believe too.

However, as with all the other running ambiguities, it’s important to be able to tune BACK into tired when you’re, well, too tired…lol.

1) Finish the sentence: I’m proud that as a runner I can push through pain and fatigue, one time I pushed through to a new level of pain was…

2) Finish this sentence: I’m proud that as a runner, I realized it was NOT mentally weak to admit I was tired and I…

3) What is one way you have dug out of the hole of fatigue?

Distance Runners and a Skewed Tired Scale

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Cait — 26 Comments ↓

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.
tired runner
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 to actually cut yourself a break. Of course there is always that line.

However, even with that ‘smart line’ intact, distance runners need to have a different tired/pain scale than ‘normal people’. If not, well, we’d all just be picking daisies out there and wiping the Cheetos residue from our fingers. 😉 [It should be noted that both are perfectly fine, AFTER you’ve gotten your run in for the day…lol.]

——–
Don’t let the ‘wrong’ kind of tired lag on too long, low iron is one instance of the WRONG TIRED level: Get checked if you think something’s off.

A coach is also there to talk ‘smart sense’ into runners if they notice over-fatigue.

Don’t discount the easy days either…make a marked difference between your hard workout days and recovery runs. If not, you won’t be recovering and then you won’t be able to get the quality you want from those hard workouts!
——–

1) Let your runner snark show, in terms of a tired scale and pain tolerance, do you think runners have a different one than ‘normal’ people?

2) What do you rate the ‘base’ level tired is for just the regular recovery and easy runs? To a certain point we’re always working, at least to discomfort, no?

3) How do you then decide between ‘push through it’ tired and ‘I need to back off/reassess’ tired?
It usually comes with learning lessons the hard way, sadly. That said, everyone is different and a whole part of running is learning to read your own body; you take advice from others and then it does take some tweaking to figure out how it best applies to yourself.

Runners Saying it Like it Is: “PR’s are fun”

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Cait — 18 Comments ↓

After running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon in New Orleans Shalane Flanagan Tweeted something all runners can relate to, “Running PR’s are fun!” Succinct. To. The. Point.
kara goucher and shalane flanagan
Flanagan followed it up in THIS Competitor recap with, “I think anytime you can run a personal best, that’s something special. You can’t take those for granted.” So true. The thing with PR’s is they become quite rare. Elusive like that unicorn that poops out gold bricks. 😉

They are especially rare as you improve and get faster. Sure, you start running and the improvement curve is such that you could lop minutes off of successive 5k’s like it’s nothing. That incentive to keep stepping up your game becomes more enticing, you cross the line fresh off of your last PR and think, “Okay, bring on the NEXT!”

From there the PR’s probably still come, but they are in shorter intervals, no longer full minutes. They become more hard fought, you must start reaching into new levels of mental toughness. You get more calloused as a runner both physically and mentally.
peacock runner
It then gets to the point where those PR’s stick for awhile. Weeks, months, years maybe. Funny how much HARDER you must FIGHT and PUSH for single seconds. Tenths of a second. Hundredths even. Regardless of level, elite or mortals of the world, everyone is fighting for those dang seconds.

Time hangs in the balance, the irony is that as you watch the clock tick down as you barrel for the home stretch on the cusp of what could be a new PR, the seconds FEEL excruciatingly long but they seem to TICK OFF much too quickly. Will you make it to the line in time?

Then there are the days when you know you are a much better runner than the ‘old’ you. It’s been awhile since you dusted off that PR and it’s high time you smash the crap out of it. THOSE races are da## exciting. Running for the finish line you don’t even have to plead or bargain with the clock. You just know.

Those days are what make all that hard stuff worth it. Though the rewards can be tauntingly bittersweet as they don’t come often enough for the distance runner. But it’s okay, you can’t feel too bad for us, because if you STICK IT OUT and then greet that next PR the feeling makes it totally worth it.

Because like Flanagan summed up in a mere four words is quite true and need no further elaboration, “Running PR’s is fun!”

1) Finish the sentence: Running PR’s is…

2) Try to quantify the level of exertion one second of a PR takes to a long-standing PR compared to the minutes you can lop off when you first start.
Hmmm, because I’m the famous mathematician that I am I will say it’s five times the cubed rate of seven factorial.

3) Is there a distance you haven’t raced yet and looking forward to setting a newbie PR streak?

The Greatest Test of a Runner’s Mental Toughness is an Injury

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Cait — 31 Comments ↓

For an injured runner, the HARDEST part of recovery is all mental. Okay, yes, there will be the cross-training, the physical therapy, any necessary strengthening exercises, stretches, icing, massage, etc…that stuff is never easy but the TORTURE is all mental.

Strip the miles from a runner and they feel naked. Half of themselves. A shell. The mentality a runner takes and holds throughout their recovery will either make them stronger or cripple them.

Running is wrought with highs and lows, injuries are unavoidable, as are the lows. Retaining sanity entails keeping the right perspective during the lows and the crappy injuries…because an injury never comes at a ‘good’ time.

Faking Rainbows

I just wrote an article for Competitor.com: “The Mental Side of Recovery”. Do read it but what I’ve said time and time again is that a positive outlook allows an injured runner to 1) be proactive in their recovery 2) gather the strength to keep moving forward 3) makes them even tougher when they do get back to running.
rainbow run
* Staying Productive: Hey, cross-training does suck; but it’s the medicine we suck down. It feels overwhelming imagining yourself ellipticalling away for months, so DON’T. Think of making it through this single workout and that’s it. Deal with this moment before you tackle the next.

* Money in the Bank: Doing that cross-training makes a world of difference when you get back to regular training. You can bust out some dang hard workouts on a cross-trainer; remember EFFORT is what counts.

* Appreciation: These injuries should give you a renewed appreciation for healthy running. When you eventually DO get back to regular training, when you catch yourself feeling ‘greedy’ take a moment to remember that your running is NEVER a given. Also remember on the days you’re thinking about wimping out on those 400’s, remember the hours spent on the elliptical where you thought, “Gosh, I can’t WAIT for the day I can tear it up on the track!” Then…follow through on that.

* The Key to Staying Positive: Faking it. Laughing. Laughing at yourself. Making light of the current suckiness of the situation. Do it. Because it does suck, but turn the suckiness into an ironic, sarcastic, snarky joke rather than let it build into a depressive black hole that sucks you in.

* Runner Mentality: It’s always easy to keep working hard when things are going right. Injuries and the tough stuff is what tests us; an injury is one of the greatest MENTAL tests of a runner.

Will you let it break you? Don’t, because it’s an opportunity to PROVE how much of a runner you are, you’ll get back to your miles. You will again feel like ‘yourself’…even better, instead of a shell you’ll be all that much stronger than the pervious you.
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There are more tips in the Competitor article.

Need to laugh at suckiness? Here are some opportunities.

It’s not all just laughs and giggles, but finding motivation from others helps too. HERE are some motivational posts to revisit.
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1) What’s the worst and longest injury you’ve ever had?

2) How did going through that injury make you stronger?
Appreciation for running…hands down.

3) What are you grateful for about your last run?