It may take you very little time to read this article, much less than 10 minutes.
The 10-minute rule, precisely, is to. Paula Radcliffe and if you don’t know who she is and why you should listen to her, know that she was the fastest woman in the world from 2003 to 2019, when her women’s marathon world record was broken by Brigid Kosgei last October in Chicago.
In short, Paula is someone who can say two words in the public square.
Her rule is very simple: although she has been accustomed to training consistently and persistently, even for her some days she did not spin well. The legs were tired, the head was elsewhere. That is why she had said to herself simply:
If after the first ten minutes you don’t feel like it, stop.
Really, nothing could be simpler than that.
I can’t just leave you here though, too easy. Heaven forbid that each time you then convince yourself that you don’t feel like it and in the 10th minute you go home. No no no, you don’t do that. As much as I may agree I use other ploys to complete my training. They may not always work but, from memory, the only training I stopped was after a very robust Easter lunch. In that case, however, I really should not have just gone out, because I loaded my body beyond its limit, especially since it was all focused on digestion (it was a really devastating lunch),
So go with the rules!
1. Ten minutes is a limitation. To be overcome.
I also mentally set this threshold for myself: after the first few miles I check: legs? Breath? Head? Want? It happens to get all negative responses. The legs are tired, the breath is broken, the head has stayed at work, and the will has not shown up. I almost always have a modicum of motivation, though, that makes me say, “Ten minutes is the limit to cross, not the wall I’m going to hit.” Often what holds us back is not a physical limitation but a mental one.
If you get to run ten minutes and enter the 11th you will find that there was no Godzilla waiting for you. The 11th is very similar to the 10th, identical I would say. And you are still alive! You can continue, also because, think about it: you are not the same as you were before. The one from before told himself he couldn’t do it, that he didn’t feel like it anymore. The one from now made it.
Yes, you succeeded. From here on you can continue, always moving beyond the limit: 15 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour, 45 minutes, in a little while you are there.
2. Why am I doing this?
I’m already running and I don’t really feel like it. That’s when I wonder why, at my age, I dressed in tight-fitting stuff colored like a highlighter. What exactly did I have in mind to do? That’s when I go through my personal list of reasons why I run:
– To keep fit
– To take time for me
– To think
– To add years to my life
– To not have to answer the phone (to be offline, finally)
– To listen to music or podcasts (by the way: have you listened to Fuorisoglia, RunLovers’ wonderful podcast yet)?
– To prepare for a competition.
Everyone has his or her own motivations, and it is not at all obvious to remember them from time to time. Because we started running for those. We have an agenda or an idea of what we want to change in our lives, and running allows us to do that, in many ways: physically, mentally, emotionally.
You have to be grateful and then bring home every practice. Subway after subway.
3. How good it feels afterwards
This is one of the things that always motivates. Do you feel all the tension you have accumulated at work? Do you know that it will disappear after you run? That problem that is bothering you will chase you even during your training but you will be able to think about it in a more calm and focused way. Maybe you won’t solve it but you will identify an alternative path you hadn’t thought of. What is certain is that every time you run you are able to think better and after you do you have clearer ideas. You may not have solved all your problems but you will have moved in the right direction to do so.
4. Turn around and look at the road you took
Sometimes it is wise to look back and get a little complacent about everything you have done. Have you ever noticed, for example, the satisfaction it gives you to open theapp you use for running and see the summary of the miles you have run? What an important number! You never thought you’d be able to do that, and yet look at you: you’ve done hundreds, thousands of them. Apps are very helpful in this regard, but keeping a notebook in which you jot down key parameters (day, time, mileage, weather, etc.) can also help you write your personal “running story.” You made those numbers and no one else. Now go out and add more.
By this I do not mean that Paula Radcliffe’s advice should not be heeded. Sometimes you just have to let it go, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, it should not be forgotten that Paula trained every day, several times a day.
If you are not a triathlete then you may well decide that none of your 3 or 4 weekly outings will remain incomplete. You can do it; after all, you are doing it for you. You love yourself, don’t you?