It’s a brand new month and you’re feeling excited and motivated. You’re looking forward to getting started with a new strength training calendar and to keep checking off the weeks on your training schedule as you work towards your goal race.
Or maybe you’re not so excited. Maybe you just finished a race, and it didn’t go exactly as planned, and you’re struggling to find a way to pick yourself up and get moving again.
Or maybe you’re in the middle of a long training cycle and you’re feeling burnt out and you need to find that spark you had in the beginning…to reignite that fire that had you so excited weeks ago.
How does one maintain motivation, avoid boredom with their training, or overcome self doubt after a sub-par run? How do we keep the excitment alive and motivating feelings through race day?
It’s very common to get bored or have that “burnt out” feeling, and it’s ok to take a step back and regroup. But we aren’t here just to run a great race. We’re here to get stronger for life. To live a healthier, fitter lifestyle. We want to stay active and look towards the bigger picture.
We want to be a #Runner4Life not just for today.
Here’s a couple tips that will help keep us on track. But this is just a short list… Share what keeps you motivated with the Crew and help inspire someone else to keep going!
- Try a New Loop: Running the same loop over and over is going to get boring. Try going to a local park or track and check out some new scenery. A good site to search find loops near you is on USA Track and Field.
- Run in the Morning: When you put off your run until the evening, you have it sitting on your “To Do” list all day. After a long, tiring day, you might start to see the run as a daunting chore. Avoid this predicament by setting your alarm a bit earlier and running first thing in the morning. Also, crossing something off your list gives you a feeling of accomplishment before you leave the house!
- Don’t sweat a “Bad Run”: Bad runs happen. Anything from what you ate, how you slept, how stressful your day was, how hydrated you are and what the weather is can all affect your run. Try and figure out the cause of why the run didn’t go as planned, take note and move on.
- Plan Your Weeks: We’re all busy, especially this time of year. Take a few minutes on Sunday nights to plan your week. Deciding what days you will run, and when you will get in your strength training will help stay on track. Schedule them in your calendar with reminders just as you would an appointment.
- Throw in some cross training: When you’re feeling burnt out or just plan bored, switch it up with something new. Don’t go crazy and start squatting 200 pounds… but do jump on the bike for a fun, sweaty spin class, check out your local pool and do some laps, or go to that class you’ve wanted to try for a while. Strong is strong y’all…there’s lots of fun ways to get there!
- Just Do It: We all have those times when just don’t want to… But usually all you need to do is get moving. Tell yourself you will do 5 minutes of strength, and get out the door for 1 mile, chances are you will #FindYourStrong and your workout will turn into more than you planned….and chances are you will feel so much better when it’s done. 🙂
The best news is that this month, our workouts are quick. They won’t take hours. They don’t require you to go to the gym. All you have to do is find 15 minutes, MAKE 15 minutes, and it can change your outlook on the entire day.
Let’s #FindOurStrong today and make Monday the best day of our week!
Day 4 exercises: Nike’s Strength Workout for Runners – I will be doing this one for y’all soon and you can follow along with me. But for now, I want you to see it coming from Nike track club coach, Pascal Dobert. Dobert trains top Nike athletes and this 15 minute workout is a staple is his runners weekly routine to build power, strength and speed!
Click here for the Nike Strength Workout for Runners
Day 5 exercises: Quick Morning Workout – This easy peasy “holiday simplicity” workout is a favorite and will get us ready to face the day ahead! Do it first thing in the morning!
Speed Work: That “Magic Mile” – No we’re not talking about the Galloway “magic mile” that helps you find out what kind of easy long run pace you should be doing in training. We’re taking about mile repeats. That
Build Stamina: Runners often develop stamina with tempo, or lactate-threshold, runs (typically 20 to 40 minutes at a “comfortably hard” pace). However, you can break a planned tempo run into mile repeats, with quick recovery, to get the same benefits with less fatigue, a particularly useful strategy for novice racers. More seasoned runners may find they can add volume. Such as turning a planned three-mile tempo run into four mile repeats.
The Workout: Warm up with 1-2 easy paced miles. Then go into a two to six mile repeat workout at tempo pace (about half-marathon pace, or 5-K pace plus 30 to 40 seconds) with a 60-second rest between intervals. Cool down with another 1-2 miles at your easy pace.
The short rest between repeats keeps your heart rate up, but you still get the physical and mental break of the rest period. Taking longer rest breaks brings your heart rate down too much and takes away some of the intensity of the workout. Yes, it’s hard…but you can do this!
The goal is to run each mile at close to the same pace to teach yourself how about pacing and about how to start out the workout at a pace you can hold for the duration. Not sure what pace you should be running? PLEASE PM ME! This is important. If you are running too fast, you won’t be able to complete the workout. If you’re running too slow, you’re doing yourself a disservice and you won’t benefit as much as you should. This is your chance to run hard. Make it count!
How many mile repeats should you be doing? It depends on what you are training for. Want to run your fastest 5K? You should be running 3 mile repeats with a warm up and cool down so AT LEAST 5 miles total. 10K? Go for 4 mile repeats. Half Marathon? 5 miles. Marathon? Go for it and run 6 mile repeats at your tempo pace. These kinds of fast miles mean you need a good warm up and a good cool down, so don’t skimp on those miles. It means you need to run 8-10 miles total. But you are working towards 26.2 right? Put in the work to make the dream come true!
Getting our speed work done properly takes time. An 8-10 mile run mid week takes planning ahead, so right now, take a look at your week and make your plan to get it done.
How do we get stronger? We go looking for it! Be a seeker…go #FindYourStrong!
Strong to the Core 