Whentraining for a long run, which can mean “Milan Marathon” but also “Bread and Chicharrones Festival,” we often put a whole series of different runs on the schedule trying to train the physique for as much effort as possible. In a training plan devoted to building endurance, the runs that are present in greater numbers are those that are relatively leisurely paced and long, but it is often the case that short distances must also be run at a fast or very fast pace. In most cases this means struggling tremendously. Oh, not that slow running doesn’t make you fatigued, but if you’ve ever tried to do ten 100-meter repeats at the most you know that you get more fatigued than running three quiet miles. Then how can you run hard and still have fun?
FIRST THING: DON’T THINK ABOUT FATIGUE
I make it easy, I know. Of course, I also know that not thinking about fatigue while you are doing a lot of fatigue is difficult or almost impossible. But there is one way to do this, and that is to imagine the finish line by identifying it with one of the things you see, for example, a light pole, the line of a traffic signal or a tree. Focus all your attention on reaching that imaginary goal and then, when you are about to reach it, immediately try to create a new one, not too far away. Continue in small to medium steps and you will see that by “only” having to reach a nearby goal your concentration will be all toward that goal and fatigue will not be felt (not too much, at least).
RUN IN COMPANY
An open door is being broken down here. Running in company is always nice and besides being a good way to feel less loneliness and monotony of some runs, it is also a great way to run at a high pace and do it with pleasure. The dynamics of these cases are twofold, because on the one hand there is the desire not to disfigure ourselves with our friends to whom we have proposed doing a certain type of training, and on the other hand there is also the competitive component that inevitably comes up. It is not always possible to run with someone else, and then in those cases you can resort to a virtual partner, of the kind found in sportwatches for the past couple of years. It’s not the same as having someone to chat with (or to just grumble at something or make gestures at!), but even having the constant beeps that let you know that “you‘rebeingovertaken” or that “you’re winning” is stimulating and fun.
REFORMULATES BAD THOUGHTS
When you feel that you are struggling a lot, try turning your thoughts around. If you’re only halfway through what you had envisioned to be a quick workout and you can’t take it anymore, but really anymore, don’t think you’ve wasted what you’ve done so far, think instead about how far you’ve already come. Think about when you started running and couldn’t run two hundred meters in a row, or when the distance you’ve already run in this workout where you feel tired was a goal you didn’t think was attainable, and instead you did it .
You’re tired, it can happen
. Going stronger than before comes – inevitably – from the.
Getting out of one’s comfort zone
, otherwise you cannot improve. So when you are tired and can’t take it anymore, try to think that you are making your body learn something new, and as you think that, smile. If
works for Kipchoge
, why shouldn’t it for you?
(Main image credits: Melis82 on DepositPhotos.com)