BY With this new normal settling into the daily rhythm globally, borders and restrictions are easing up everywhere as we speak. The race calendars, which gets all endurance junkies excited and ready to train are once again starting to fill up with choice aplenty (and so are the international flight and accommodation prices which are starting to soar).
It’s normal to get caught up with the sudden motivation of having an “A” race and overseas trips to look forward too and start training too fast and too quickly – ramping mileage and intensity up in a short span of time when the body isn’t even conditioned to handle it. How many times have we heard a friend or team-mate go:
“Oh my god, I just remembered I have to run a marathon in just less than a month!”
A common pitfall by many age-groupers is signing up for a race on impulse months before, only to be derailed from their training plan due to work and life commitments along the way. Eventually, starting a last-minute panic training block a couple of weeks out because they totally let slip about the timeline.
As a club coach, I always find myself reminding my own athletes about the same four things when they sign up for a race and commit to a training program:
Build Consistency into your Own Training Regime
Many athletes think that there is a secret formula, training program or workout session that just makes them fast by completing a handful of sessions. Social media paints a beautiful picture of elite athletes getting faster by just doing a core session – but what they don’t see behind the scenes are the number of hours that goes into base training or staple workouts (the fundamental building blocks of every athlete). These sessions go all year round with a strong emphasis on building steady volume through easy running and developing aerobic strength and leg speed.
Find one or two (more if you can) staple sessions that you can incorporate into your training plan week in, week out. These are sessions that you pretty much commit to and dig deep to get it done even on the days you feel off and can be adjusted as your fitness level and goals changes across the season – such as middle-distance track sets or fartleks that provide simplicity and versatility to adjust the variables and effort level to match your ability.
Set Midpoint Goals
With each SMART goal crafted for their race season, I like getting the athletes to focus on setting specific, benchmark goals leading up to their big goal. These big goals can be linked to hitting the world marathon major qualification times or setting new personal best timings. However, setting smaller and shorter process goals – like local park runs, track time trials or even road races along the way, and mentally preparing for incremental challenges – are critical to success down the road.
If you have a big running goal that you’d like to achieve, lay out specific benchmarks to aim for during the process. Setting a goal to run a fast half marathon en route to a marathon, for example, can keep you really focused and motivated! By achieving this mini-midpoint goals, you are also building confidence and mental resilience which are really an additional edge for race day when you toe the start line.
Break Up Training Block
Arduous, draining, exhausting... The list of descriptions goes on when you ask people about the volume and time spent on a marathon training block (it only gets worst when the target timing gets faster).
If you’ve signed yourself up for a race really late into the year, grinding out training and racing for the entire year right from the get-go can really take a toll on the body and lead to training fatigue. I personally like to break up the training year and schedule some mandatory downtime between the macro-blocks for the guys and girls to stay fresh, avoid burnout, and promote longevity in the sport.
It’s also the perfect time to do some cross training, relax and allow the mind to reset and body to rest, recover and replenish itself before coming back stronger for the next (tougher) phase of the training program.
A suggestion is to break up trainings for a big goal into smaller periods of time – say two to three months for example – scheduling downtime after each checkpoint to recover. Adding some variation in training can come in really handy too, for instance planning in some faster track races or taking on the trails. The change in the training and racing environment and intensity will keep things interesting so that you don’t lose focus!
Connect With a Local Community
A cheeky quote goes, “go alone if you want to go fast, go together if you want to go far.” Well, training in a community certainly allows you to go far (and fast) at the same time! By training in a group environment, you’ll find that running alongside – or behind/in-front – of athletes within your pace zones adds a different dynamic and energy to each training session. Longer sets seem to tick by faster and you’re able to push yourself harder and further just to hang on to that runner in front of you or prevent your teammates behind from overtaking.
Don’t underestimate the tremendous positive power of your own local running or multisport community. If you don’t have such a community, find one — being part of a like-minded group adds meaning, support, and context to the pursuit of your individual goals. Keep showing up even when you’re injured or taking some down time for recovery, even if only to cheer or connect with your teammates, build upon the shared enthusiasm, and keep your motivation alive. Celebrating the group wins and staying connected year-round will contribute to your consistency, growth, and well-being as an athlete as well as a human being – you’ll be surprised at the value it brings!
Keep all these in mind and you’ll find yourself having a more fulfilling training block ahead which I’m sure you’ll look back with no regrets. Happy training and may you be blessed with many new personal bests in the months ahead!
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