Thoughts About Running
Sweating the Small Stuff
As runners, our hopes for the new year may be a little different than the resolutions made by our friends and family members. Yes, some of us still may want to lay off the sweets and lose some weight more than we did last year, yet many of us also have goals for races and runs in the upcoming months. Whether you’re looking to win a race, set a PB or finish your first 10k, these goals are important to set. Without that carrot to chase, training can become tedious, and soon enough you might find yourself hitting the snooze button and opting for some extra sleep rather than going for your morning run.
We’ve deemed this the “Breakthrough” issue. While the great majority of us won’t break any records, we can still have our own breakthroughs. These can be big, like a PB, but breakthroughs can also be smaller. Maybe you consistently ignore your morning alarm and postpone your run until later in the day after work. We’re all going to miss a 5 a.m. run every now and then, but minimizing those missed workouts and limiting them to once or twice a week could be a breakthrough for you.
Do you find yourself heading straight for junk food after a long run? A breakthrough might be as simple as passing on the cookies and grabbing an apple instead. You don’t have to eliminate all junk food from your life, but making a conscious effort to choose healthier snacks more often than not will go a long way in improving your running and health in general.
What about prehab and physiotherapy? I think it’s safe to say a lot of us are guilty of not stretching enough, cutting warm-ups or cooldowns short every now and then or not following our physiotherapists’ orders 100 per cent of the time. Set aside 10 or 15 minutes every day to get your stretching in. Put a reminder on your phone if you have to so you don’t forget. If you’ve developed a bad habit of finishing your track workout and then only running 200 metres before calling it a day, force yourself to jog through the complete cooldown. Yes, you’re tired, and yes, you want to get home, but running the full cooldown will prevent injury and help you down the road. If you’re already struggling with an injury, do yourself a favour and listen to your physiotherapist. Don’t skimp on the workouts or stretches your practitioner prescribes you. Add them to your 15-minute stretch session (seriously, set a reminder on your phone) and make some progress on your path to recovery. All of these minor adjustments and additions to your schedule count as breakthroughs in their own right.
We shouldn’t expect enormous accomplishments from ourselves every day. It’s the small bits of greatness in those daily or weekly breakthroughs that will eventually add up to something bigger. Don’t sweat it if you just miss a PB at your next race or you don’t make it onto the podium for your age group. If you keep at it and continue to work toward those little breakthroughs, there’s likely a bigger one coming your way soon enough.