Your training isn’t perfect. Chances are you’re training too fast or too slow, too long or too short, too many or not enough hills, etc. Relax. That’s OK.
We’re not professionals. Running revolves around life, not the other way. For us, it’s part of a lifestyle, one we hope to sustain over time, rather than a rush to a near term championship.
A few seconds doesn’t matter nearly as much to us as it does to a pro where that can mean the difference between winning and losing, making money or not, getting sponsored or not. Sure we want to hit that BQ, set a PR, beat the cutoffs. However, as important as running may be to us, it’s not our life, our job.
No one knows what perfect is anyway. Training is as much art as science. We don’t have the capability to monitor everything going on in your body that would impact performance. Even with the rapid advances in wearables, and even with things that only pros have, even if we had all the data, we don’t know enough about what it all means. Even pros get it wrong and get injured. We can make our best guess at what specific training is needed, but it’s still a guess.
In order to sustain an ongoing participation, commitment, and enjoyment in running, consistency matters more than anything else. Training plans should be guides that we follow, not rigid rules we have to follow.
- Be flexible and adaptable. There’s a saying among Kenyan runners that goes something like – Don’t force a workout when you’re not feeling good. Don’t let a good day go to waste.
- Often, it’s better to err on the side of caution to avoid injury, and stay mentally fresh and focused, rather than training to extreme or pushing ourselves when our bodies can’t handle it.
- Sometimes we do push our limits in order to pursue big goals. Still, it’s important not to push too far and risk injury. Perhaps the most important goal of training is to arrive at the start injury free.
- If we have to miss or modify a workout because of family, work, stress, etc., that’s OK. There are no makeups – It’s fine to switch your schedule around, but don’t double up.
- Training isn’t racing. Go just hard and long enough. For example, don’t go all-out on an interval session or tempo run. You should leave almost all workouts feeling like you could’ve gone a little harder or done one more set. Save your PRs for races.
- If you have to question whether you should do a workout as planned if you’re sick, injured, the weather is extreme, etc., chances are you shouldn’t. No single workout is going to make you – it’s the accumulation over time – but a single workout could break you. Strive for sustainability
Do the best you can with what you know about yourself and training. Adapt to your schedule, life, etc. . Make mistakes, then learn from them. And, most importantly, have fun.
Good enough is often good enough.
Train smart. Have fun. Smile often.
And, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
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