Mental Trick to Add Distance to Your Running Workout

Add distance at the beginning of a run.

This mental trick will help you add distance to your running workout. It is especially helpful when training for a 10K or half marathon. Those long runs can feel daunting as they increase in distance each week, especially when it's your first longer race. Add mileage at the beginning of a familiar course. Run a loop around your neighborhood before following your regular route or do a couple laps on the local high school track at the beginning of your run. It will help make the longer distance feel easier.

Here is the mental trick.

Adding mileage or distance at the beginning of a run allows the runner to finish her workout on familiar territory. The last mile of a four mile run will feel familiar and conquerable as it is the same mile she usually runs at the end of a three mile run. The runner will think, "I've got one mile to go. I've got this." Adding distance at the end of a route with which she is familiar will do the opposite. The runner will be mentally ready to quit prior to the added distance for the same reasons - she is on the last mile of her usual route. Although the distance is the same in both situations, an additional mile will be more mentally challenging when added at the end of the familiar route.

Try this:

Run a familiar route on Monday and again on Wednesday. On Friday or Saturday run the same route, but add a half to one mile run prior to tackling the same Monday/Wednesday route. The idea of longer distance may be challenging at the beginning of your workout, but by the end when you are on familiar territory it will feel conquerable. You may think, "I've got one mile to go. I've got this!" Your running app will confirm the accomplishment! Follow this same practice for a few weeks and pretty soon you will have doubled the distance on your long runs. Your next 5K race will feel short! It's all about perspective!

Whether you are a beginning runner or a seasoned competitor, this mental trick can help you in other parts of your life. When faced with a new challenge, surround yourself with familiarity. The people, positive practices and places that have helped you achieve success in the past can help you conquer the challenges ahead.

Do you have a mental trick that helps keep you moving? Please share it in the comments below.

Happy Running!
- Carol aka Running Granny Green
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Eating on the run

We all know that it is rude to just eat and run, but in the world of runners, eating while running is a must. When I began running six years ago I could eat nothing prior to a run and my stomach took some time to settle down after a run.  Even drinking water before a run was flirting with danger.  If it went down too close to run time it would most surely come back up.  I eventually learned to sip water mid-run and live.

While training for my first half marathon (read about it here) I learned that I had to eat something during longer workouts.  If I did not, my legs would quit on me.  So began the experimentation with gels and fruit snacks, protein bars and peppermint candy, and gum.  I settled on a combination of gels and fruit snacks. (Yes, regular kid tested by them at the grocery store fruit snacks.)

I have been training with a new running buddy for the Fit for Life Half in Boise on July 12. I convinced her to try eating on the run and we began experimenting again.  We’ve come to this conclusion:

Jelly Belly® Sport Beans are the best mid-run fuel because …

• They taste good.

• The packaging is easy to open.

• You can carry them in one hand and pop two or three at a time rather than consuming the whole package at a water stop.

Gatorade®Prime Energy Chews are a close second because …

• They taste good.

• They are soft and go down quickly, but …

• The packaging is difficult to open. I would recommend repackaging these before the race in snack size zipper bags.

I am still sticking with Power Bar® Protein Bars before and after the run.  My favorite?  Caramel Peanut Fusion.  Yum!

With any luck the mid-run fuel will help to carry us through on Saturday. Oh, and gum.  I can’t run without my peppermint gum!

Happy Running!

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Benefits of a rest day

Ahh!  Rest!

I love a rest day – and it’s not just because I don’t have to run on the rest day.  I actually miss the run, just a little.  Here is what I love about the rest day:

• I don’t have to plan my meals around my running schedule.
• My legs feel stronger and ready to run again after a rest day.
• I don’t have to plan my shower around my running schedule – and believe me, you want me to shower!
• Rest days give me a chance to catch up on the running gear laundry – and believe me, you want me to wash my running gear

• Mostly, rest days remind me that I really enjoy running. 

I miss the friendly chatter with my running buddies on rest days.  We usually check in with a text or two.  In my last post I murmured about half marathon training, but after a day off even the long run wasn’t so very daunting.  In fact, in some ways it felt better than the shorter training runs I had completed earlier in the week. 

The benefits of a rest day are partly physical and partly mental.  I feel reenergized in both body and mind after a day off. Think about it ...

We have been charged with a commandment to observe a day of rest in which we honor the Lord.  Perhaps the correlation between body, mind, and spirit is stronger than many would suppose.

Happy Running!

The goal is so close and yet so far



Will's Hill.  Halfway point on one of our runs.

I’ve hit that point in my half marathon training when I just want it to be over. I’m enjoying my training partner, and I always feel good after the workout, but the anticipation of the long runs and speed work days is starting to get to me.  My legs are tired. We have just over two weeks until race day.  Only two more long runs and two more speed workouts loom before we reach the goal.  I know I can make it.  I just need to get my head in the game – recommit if you will. 

Training for a road race, especially a half marathon (I wouldn’t know about marathon training and I doubt I ever will) is much like any other path towards a goal.  How often do we get so close and yet the end is far enough away that we consider aborting the mission?  We begin to doubt our ability to achieve the goal that once seemed so worthy, so attainable. How can we recommit?

Sometimes it helps me to look from whence I came.  For instance, before the training began I was logging about ten miles per week – often fewer.  I wasn’t timing any workouts so I didn’t know how fast or slow I was running.  After a ten-miler on Saturday I will have logged 26 miles this week.  That does not include walking miles to warm up and cool down.  I have also cut 30-40 seconds off my average per mile pace over a three-mile run.  I have made a new friend in Kelli who has enriched my life.

I made some commitments this summer for which this training will help me prepare.  First is the Fitfor Life Half Marathon.  I ran it last year and I am hoping to beat my time.  We runners call that a PR (Personal Record).  After this race I can cut my mileage back just a bit, but not too much as I am doing the Burley Spudman Triathlon two weeks later with my good buddy, Paulee. My run leg is a 10K (6.2 miles) so I should be well prepared for the distance.  Again, I am hoping to beat my time from last year. Lastly, and probably craziest of all is the Grand Teton Relay two weeks after the Spudman.  My training has prepared me for the distance, but the elevation could be my nemesis! You can expect a full report sometime after I have recovered.

I’m feeling better already!  This quick evaluation of my progress towards my goals has changed my perspective. I can get through the next seven timed workouts.  I can do the long runs and the speed work.  They will help prepare me for the race.

I encourage you to evaluate your progress towards a goal.  Maybe it is possible, after all, to write your novel, kick that bad habit, or reduce your debt load.  Take a look at from whence you have come.  You may be farther down the path than you thought!

Happy Running!

It must be a mind trick

Country running

We ran nine miles today as part of our training for the Fit for Life Half Marathon, but this post isn’t about the long run.  This post is about the short run.  I am beginning to believe the short run is as much about the mind as it is about recovery and speed work. Running is a mind trick.

The first mile of any run is always hard for me.  It takes that long to warm up and get into the groove of running, and from where I start, it is usually uphill.  Slow.  The second mile goes by quickly and then the short run is over!  The end of any run always feels good.

Two days ago we did a short, two-mile run.  Later in the day I found myself thinking, “I feel like I need to run farther.” I refrained.  After all, I’m on a training plan and I’m sticking to it quite faithfully.  A rest day followed the short run and by today, I was ready to settle in for the nine-miler. 

I suppose it’s a little about perspective. When training for a long race, the short run leaves me feeling like there is more to do.  As the long runs get longer the short runs do, too.  I find myself saying things like, “It’s only five miles.”  Only?  Really?  That’s quite far, but compared to 9 or 10 – not so much.

Don’t get me wrong.  I look forward to the short runs, especially those two-milers.  However, they leave me feeling just a bit unsatisfied, like an appetizer they are starters, getting me ready for the main course. It's a mind trick and that is good, because I need all the help I can get to ready me for those long runs.  Like I said, the end of any run always feels good, especially the long ones!

Question: Do you have a mind trick that helps you overcome difficult tasks?  Please share in the comments below.

Happy Running!

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Tempo training in the rain

Soggy runners!

Today was one of those running days that could have gone very wrong, as in I may have opted out!  My bed felt so nice this morning and the birds were quiet because it was raining.  It was the perfect combination for hunkering down and staying indoors. I've been praying for rain. However, I am in training for a half marathon and my running buddy was counting on me.  I could have talked her out of it had we not been training.  That’s the beauty of preparing for a race. It keeps me dedicated. I use the term “dedicated” loosely. 

So it was that we found ourselves on a five mile workout with a three mile Tempo Run in the middle – in the rain.  The rain was actually kind of nice, until we stopped.  The cool down came quickly, as did the shivers! I was soaked through all my layers, but we were under our prescribed pace!

I’m warm now and the rain is still falling softly. I’m glad I did the run and I am very grateful for the rain. I am also grateful for race training – it keeps me moving.  Here is a short list of things that are good about training.

Training keeps me on a schedule.

It gives me goals I might not set for myself.

I get to eat snacks on the long runs.

I actually do long runs.

Rain, wind, sleet, or fire – we run!

If you are having difficulty staying on schedule with your running/exercise routine, maybe committing to a fitness event is the answer.  It works for me!

Question: Do you have a training tip you would like to share?

 

Happy Running!

 

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