Priorities in Running and Racing
In last month’s newsletter I wrote about Why I Run. My reason is that I love being able to run really fast and hard sometimes. For me, ripping a hard workout is one of the best feelings in the world. In order to do that, I need to maintain a certain level of fitness and train consistently.
We all have a reason (or reasons) why we run. It could be one or many of the following, or something else:
get a PR
maintain a certain lifestyle
mental health
physical health
be part of a running community (social reasons)
to compete and win
work toward a goal
Our reasons for running (whatever they may be) should constantly guide our training decisions in order to get the most out of our efforts.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot since my own training has been kind of a downer recently. I generally love running in the summer and my favourite training days are workout days. But lately I have been waking up with one thought: “Today feels like it should be a day off.” Many days I have simply not been able to wrap my head around the planned run or workout.
So… I don’t do it.
As I’ve experienced extra fatigue, lower motivation and on many days no desire to workout, I mentally reviewed my priorities to determine how to proceed.
I have a goal race on the calendar coming up, but the race is not my “why.” If I reduced my training it would certainly affect my preparation for the race. But I realized I don’t really care that much about my race result.
My priority is to run because I love being able to run fast and hard sometimes, and I love being fit.
What did I need to do in order to protect those things? I needed to keep training - consistency is important. But volume really isn’t very important for me. Knowing this made it easy and guilt-free to skip a couple of my long runs entirely and instead take a day off.
That allowed me to feel rested and excited for my workouts days (my favourite part of training).
Of course, if my “why” was to run a PR in the half marathon, I would certainly not skip the long runs! If my “why” was to be part of a running community, I would keep meeting up with my group and instead reduce or skip any solo running.
As a coach, my goal is to help runners consider what they really want to accomplish through their training. These reasons dictate the way I write each individual program and help me adjust when things aren’t going to plan.
Nicole Sifuentes is a full-time Running Coach for adults of all ages and abilities. She is a former professional runner and 2-time Olympian, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Read more about her services, and schedule your free coaching consultation.