Effort and Courage are not enough without Purpose and Direction - Robert F. Kennedy

Chicago, New York, Fargo and the list goes on and on it seems. In a world where every race is cancelling, athletes have no confidence that things will return before next spring! So when should we expect to return to racing? How do we progress our training if we don’t have a race to peak or train for? How are we expected to progress and make sense of our fitness?

What if we just got outside to run because we could?

I spoke with a client the other day and we talked about the idea of “training to train”. It’s the belief that right now (and in general) - we don’t need to have an end goal in mind. We need to build our desire to wake up every morning excited, willing to hone our skills and become better at our craft. For many runners, this concept is harder than their first run. Let’s go back to what got you into running - motivation must exist there if anywhere - go back to WHY you got into this right? For many runners, it was the excitement of starting and chasing PR’s in racing that continued to motivate them. This lust for PR’s fueled every run, pushed them through the tough workouts and kept them going when it got tough. As soon as the short term reward of “the next race” is removed - many structured daily runners became sedentary and unmotivated.

A goal accomplished (or removed) is no longer motivating

Look around on Instagram, Strava, and Facebook - runners everywhere are chasing their tails and moving from race to race to keep themselves motivated. The only thing that motivates them is the idea that they are one race away. You’ll see them saying - “next race I’ll go Sub-3”, “I’m going to get my BQ this next time”, “I’m going to PR this next half”, “ I need another medal for my wall”. These are the people sitting on the couch and behind their keyboards pissing and moaning about how they can’t race right now. They’ll be the same people who get frustrated when they show up to that first race and flop. They don’t have skin in the game, they can’t see themselves getting up every morning and putting in miles just to get more “practice time”. These people are externally motivated and simply move from race to race chasing their next goal; they haven’t yet looked inside to understand what truly drives the,.

They may know WHY they got into running in the first place - to lose weight, to meet new friends, to join a group of people in a new area or simply because they have always run since HS. However, they never looked forward and asked themselves - “what’s keeping me running?”

Motivation is temporary and discipline is permanent

Many athletes lost their discipline and patience with the onset of COVID. It’s mind boggling to me that while events were cancelled - the act and practice of running wasn’t. You can still get outside and train - you have more time now than ever! You have time to do pre-run activation, core work, and basic strength with bands or body weight. We’d rather be comfortable in the unknown than be disciplined in the known.

So why are we still upset?

We’re really bad at looking inside ourselves - with the external motivation of a group, of a race start line, a bagel and a medal to hang on the wall - what’s the point? The point is that you don’t need others to get better and improve. You have everything you need inside you.

Understanding my people
I believe that the athletes I work with all share a common trait as they train through the COVID Pandemic. Training isn’t optional to my people - it’s part of our fabric. It’s not a question of IF we’ll get out to train today it’s a question of WHEN. It’s not whether we have time to do it - we MAKE time to do it. To my athletes - training is as important as spending time with our family and friends because to us - training is part of what calls us. It calls us to push harder, work a little longer, and think a little bigger. To me and the athletes that train through COVID - we see that this break is a time to get stronger with a timeline uninterrupted. A free space to work on weaknesses, sleep in a little longer, recover a little better, and become better on the other side. To my people - this is a time we dreamed of to return to our best selves and become MORE.