Tips to beat the lazy demon’s Everyone has their own running/training/whatever schedule built around their daily needs and duties.It’s all about getting the balance right to cater for your concerns. These day’s you can pretty much read anything about anything and find something that will tell you that what you are doing is either right or wrong. Your reading this for example. For those reading that know me it’s probably easier to make an educated judgement as to how right or wrong or relevant the content is. For those that don’t know me and stumble across these pieces, some might think “yeah, thats great”, whereas another might think “this guy’s full of shit” or whatever. My point is there’s bucket loads written on the subject of running and training and mountains of advice and counter advice from whatever corners you choose to take it from.
There are some sweeping comments that pop up from time to time. Some can be quite helpful but others just leave you floating in mid air!
"Do what suits you best" – A nice piece of advice on the face of it. Unfortunately if I was to do what suits me best I’d be coming home for dinner and dessert, put the kids to bed and throw the feet up for an hour before downing a few pints to send me to sleep! The reality is in order to "do what suits you best" you need to run a lot and experiment a lot before you start to learn the optimum workloads your body is capable of dealing with to get the most out of your training. So really the advice to "do what suits you best" is really geared towards the experienced runner; The thing is, he/she already know to do what suits them best and dont need to be told. So until you know what suits you best, keep on running and think about what you are doing (some people keep a diary, which is probably a good idea). There will be good day’s and bad day’s but there is alway’s a reason for both, when you get back from a run, think about why it felt hard or easy or good or bad, think about how your feet hit the ground, think about the Kenyan with the Olympic medal round his neck; How does he run?. Sometimes the answer is obvious, maybe it was a late night for a bad run or after a few weeks looking after yourself coupled with concentrated running you’ve had a good run. This is how you learn "what suits".
What do you do when your conscience wants you to go for a run but your other side is saying no. We’ve all been there, your plan to go for a run at 5 hasn’t worked out and the evening is slipping by, sitting motionless in front of ‘Fair City’ is’nt going to get you fit. So, how do you make that first step off the couch and head for the wet and windy outdoors of an Irish evening? Here’s a few way’s to fight the excuses.
– ‘I’ll wait and see whats on next’, With all the channels we have access to, most of them are shite. Mind numbing serial t.v and constant spin provided by our news broadcasters are no match for a 30 min. (or more) run. Mentally stimulating and physically demanding (to whatever level you want), The person coming in the door after a run is always a different person than went out.
– "Its pissing outside, they’ll think I’m mad if they see me out in that", dead right. So what. Its rarely as bad as it looks from the kitchen window. If its summer rain, throw on a tee shirt and shorts, go out and get wet. you might find its hard to beat the sensation and you’ll have the place to yourself. If its winter, wrap up and enjoy the sound of the rain on your jacket. It’s hard to beat a hot shower and hot tea after that.
– "I’m expecting a call", don’t worry they’ll leave a message or they can ring you back. Maybe they’re gone out running!
– "I must finish that assignment/email", whatever, leave it till later. chances are you’ll be far more tuned in and less likely to make mistakes after a run.
– "That beer in the fridge looks nice", Leave it there till later. when ya get back you’ll go for the hot chocolate.
– Enter a race, a fun run, whatever. Once you’ve entered, the fear of finishing last or worse than your last outing will be enough to keep you going. (b.t.w there is no shame in finishing last or slower than your last outing but there is always a reason.)
If that doesn’t cut it and your stopping at the thought of getting changed, break it down.
1 – Get up
2 – Go to where you keep your gear.
3 – Get changed
4 – Get out
5 – Run
If you can manage to get to step one, nine times out of ten you’ll manage step five.
When you do get out, take it easy. Each run doesn’t have to be a p.b. Don’t worry about who can see you. Chances are, when your running at a pace that you think is fast, to the onlooker it will look the same as when you think your going slow. Not every town has a Mo Farah you know.
Looks like Cork to Cobh is my next day out on the 7th of October. Looking forward to it, an iconic sort of race down these parts, I’ve never ran it. 15 relatively flat miles finishing on the sea front in Cobh. Now, where’d I leave my shoes?
Kealan
There are some sweeping comments that pop up from time to time. Some can be quite helpful but others just leave you floating in mid air!
"Do what suits you best" – A nice piece of advice on the face of it. Unfortunately if I was to do what suits me best I’d be coming home for dinner and dessert, put the kids to bed and throw the feet up for an hour before downing a few pints to send me to sleep! The reality is in order to "do what suits you best" you need to run a lot and experiment a lot before you start to learn the optimum workloads your body is capable of dealing with to get the most out of your training. So really the advice to "do what suits you best" is really geared towards the experienced runner; The thing is, he/she already know to do what suits them best and dont need to be told. So until you know what suits you best, keep on running and think about what you are doing (some people keep a diary, which is probably a good idea). There will be good day’s and bad day’s but there is alway’s a reason for both, when you get back from a run, think about why it felt hard or easy or good or bad, think about how your feet hit the ground, think about the Kenyan with the Olympic medal round his neck; How does he run?. Sometimes the answer is obvious, maybe it was a late night for a bad run or after a few weeks looking after yourself coupled with concentrated running you’ve had a good run. This is how you learn "what suits".
What do you do when your conscience wants you to go for a run but your other side is saying no. We’ve all been there, your plan to go for a run at 5 hasn’t worked out and the evening is slipping by, sitting motionless in front of ‘Fair City’ is’nt going to get you fit. So, how do you make that first step off the couch and head for the wet and windy outdoors of an Irish evening? Here’s a few way’s to fight the excuses.
– ‘I’ll wait and see whats on next’, With all the channels we have access to, most of them are shite. Mind numbing serial t.v and constant spin provided by our news broadcasters are no match for a 30 min. (or more) run. Mentally stimulating and physically demanding (to whatever level you want), The person coming in the door after a run is always a different person than went out.
– "Its pissing outside, they’ll think I’m mad if they see me out in that", dead right. So what. Its rarely as bad as it looks from the kitchen window. If its summer rain, throw on a tee shirt and shorts, go out and get wet. you might find its hard to beat the sensation and you’ll have the place to yourself. If its winter, wrap up and enjoy the sound of the rain on your jacket. It’s hard to beat a hot shower and hot tea after that.
– "I’m expecting a call", don’t worry they’ll leave a message or they can ring you back. Maybe they’re gone out running!
– "I must finish that assignment/email", whatever, leave it till later. chances are you’ll be far more tuned in and less likely to make mistakes after a run.
– "That beer in the fridge looks nice", Leave it there till later. when ya get back you’ll go for the hot chocolate.
– Enter a race, a fun run, whatever. Once you’ve entered, the fear of finishing last or worse than your last outing will be enough to keep you going. (b.t.w there is no shame in finishing last or slower than your last outing but there is always a reason.)
If that doesn’t cut it and your stopping at the thought of getting changed, break it down.
1 – Get up
2 – Go to where you keep your gear.
3 – Get changed
4 – Get out
5 – Run
If you can manage to get to step one, nine times out of ten you’ll manage step five.
When you do get out, take it easy. Each run doesn’t have to be a p.b. Don’t worry about who can see you. Chances are, when your running at a pace that you think is fast, to the onlooker it will look the same as when you think your going slow. Not every town has a Mo Farah you know.
Looks like Cork to Cobh is my next day out on the 7th of October. Looking forward to it, an iconic sort of race down these parts, I’ve never ran it. 15 relatively flat miles finishing on the sea front in Cobh. Now, where’d I leave my shoes?
Kealan
