Running On Empty? Shift The Mindset For Better Results
Finding reasons to quit or not go out running was getting easier. I was even able to feign frustration over my stories. I had to find a different approach to doing this or quit.
At best, I am a so-so long-distance runner, a middle-to-back-of-the-pack plodder, who began running as a rehab exercise for a groin injury years ago and kept going from there. In 2011, my wife and I began running half-marathons. Since then I have run in about 60 half-marathons and completed two marathons. Running is my main aerobic exercise.
Running those two marathons was the most humbling workout I have ever done. I would have been willing to pay the photographers not to snap off photos instead of memorializing those events.
Why I run
I run between 100 and 150 miles per month. I log about 60 of those miles with my dog, Molly. We run the same 2-mile course almost every morning. It makes the first two miles of all my runs a lot of fun. It is a great way to warm up too.
I run because it is an easy weight-management plan because, regardless of what I eat, if I run (or trot) between 15 and 20 miles per week, as long as my nutrition plan does not include a steady diet of cheese cake, ice cream, and steak 24/7, weight management is not one of my 99 problems.
Keeping the weight under control is incentive for me. However, I was getting bored from following a training program for 18 weeks to build up to being able to run 13.1 miles. It was getting more difficult to make that commitment, especially for the long runs on the weekends.
Most training programs instruct runners to run two to three times per week, Monday through Friday, and to do a long run on Saturday or Sunday. Those long-run days were killing me. However, I knew, from firsthand experience, that if proper training went AWOL, more walking than running would happen on race days. That has happened more than once to me, and I was determined that it would never happen again.
Reviewing My Problem
Running 13.1 miles is not something I can do on a whim. Running that distance renders me useless for the remainder of the day I do it and sometimes the next day as well. I envy runners who make it look easy. Those people are either special athletes or aliens from outer space. I am still trying to figure that one out.
On race days, a lot of those “aliens” work as pace setters, helping their fellow runners get through a race while exposing how average or below the rest of us are.
Those people know a lot about running and are great for doling out tips too. My love-hate relationship with them is a personal issue that I need to fix because on race days, they are amazingly helpful to us slugs who are hoping to earn our finisher medal.
Trying to run all those miles and maintaining an acceptable speed for the race days was intimidating me. My mindset was weighing me down. Instead of being challenged to get out there and do my long runs on weekends, I was apprehensive and anxious.
This led me to making up excuses not to go running. Finding reasons to quit or not go out was getting easier. I was even able to feign frustration over my stories. So, I knew that I had to find a different approach to doing this or I was going to quit.
An Experiment in Approach
When I trained to run my latest half-marathon, I did not focus on distance or speed throughout my 13-week training program. Instead, I just went running for a pre-set time and forgot about anything else.
During a seven-day cycle, I went running three times. I ran for 45, 90, and 120 minutes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, respectively. I did the 45- and 90-minute runs consistently, and on the weekends, as I grew more comfortable, I extended my two-hour runs to three hours. I felt like a different person implementing this slight change. I had a new attitude.
By concentrating on my time spent running instead of fretting over distance and speed, my anxiety, boredom, apprehension, procrastination, or whatever it was my mind was clinging to and messing with me, it was supplanted by me going out, stress-free, and running for a couple of hours. Eureka! This minor adjustment to my process worked wonders.
Results?
I ran well in that next race; I had a good running time and, even better, had fun while doing it. From the quantifying side, my time was more than 15 minutes better than my last race. My stamina was a lot better. My last two long runs prior to the race exceeded 13.1 miles. That was a key factor, Since I was confident that I could run for three hours, I was not concerned about anything else but doing that again.
Perhaps even more important than the running, I managed to drive home without nodding off after the race. My wife and I have had to take turns driving home after races, as adrenaline can fade at the most inopportune times.
A twofold takeaway
I trained my body to run better, but my mind received the best benefit. My self-confidence in applying critical thinking to problem-solving was enriched. Since my wife and I were running another half-marathon the following weekend, I was able to test my new approach for consistency. It happened again. My running time was decent, and I had a lot of fun participating. That was another eureka-screaming moment, making it two in an eight-day period. Yahoo!
Enjoying the moment instead of stressing over it is a trick I learned from Molly, my dog, my life coach, and my best friend and workout buddy.
I learned how to have fun while running again, and that made it all worth a “wow,” a double “eureka,” and a “yahoo” for good measure.
