Commentary: You’re runners. Get out there and run.

Coach Joe English

You think about your races and are probably asked often, “so what’s your next one” and you’re only too eager to answer the question. In fact, if you get you started, you’ll talk about running all day. Your avatar on Second Life is probably wearing running shoes and your Facebook page might be tattooed with a “I do 26.2″ on it. While you’re not addicted to running, it certainly defines you in some way.

Yet, let’s put this in perspective. For all the talking, thinking, planning and day-dreaming you do about running, how much of your day is actually spent running? For the vast majority of you, you probably devote about one hour per day or less to actually running. Sure, you do long runs on the weekends that take longer than an hour and you have rest days or cross-training days too where you won’t run at all. So on-balance it probably comes out to about an hour a day.

An hour a day.

Now, I’m not here to tell you that that isn’t enough. Quite the opposite. I’m here to tell you that if you only have an hour a day to practice your sport, then you should be getting the most out of that hour. That hour better mean something to you and your training.

You need to do is get the most out of that hour.

I’m going to bottom line this out for you in a simple list. If you ever do any of the following things, you are not getting the most of your limited time:
— You repeat the same workout, at the same pace, day after day, for any extended period of time.
— You drag your way through your workouts, just hoping to get them over with.
— You pick easier workouts, because you know you can do them.
— You cheat yourself in little ways like picking the course that’s more downhill than up when faced with the choice.
— Your workouts don’t have a specific purpose.

Ask yourself, if any of these apply to you. Are you just going through the motions? Are you out there, but not really out there? Are you pushing yourself?

We’re right at the start of the training season for the big Fall marathons and I think it is important to try to intercept just a few of you out there and try to re-craft your thinking about the way in which you go about that hour a day that makes you a runner.

First, it’s about quality, not quantity. Quality means pushing yourself in your workouts — increasing the intensity –so that you get more out of them. Running fewer, faster miles, yields better results with less injuries than slogging through long sessions of slow miles. If you could get in just 25% of your miles faster than your goal marathon pace, you’ll see huge performance gains. (For someone doing 25 miles per week, that’s just 6 of those miles.)

Second, every workout needs to be serving a purpose. Remember, we’re talking about that one hour a day that you have dedicated to practicing as a runner. Your skills are complex and you need to work on many different things — for example quickness, endurance, flexibility, and strength. Every workout should target a skill that you need to work on. That’s what will build you into a well rounded runner. And since there are so many things to work on, you can’t afford to waste any of that hour. If you don’t know what you’re working on, then you’re not making the most of that hour.

Third, you have to learn your pace. From the fastest to the slowest runner, it’s about understanding your pace for a particular distance and mastering that pace. Even if you are one of those people out there that “just wants to finish,” you have a pace to learn: it’s called your “I just want to finish pace” and you need to figure out what that is. Once you know that pace, then you’ll know when you’re pushing yourself and maximizing your workouts. When you don’t know your pace, you can’t figure out how to maximize your workouts. So you need the one to to do the other.

Fourth, you can achieve your “dreams” as a runner, but you need to start by defining those dreams into “goals”. Pick a goal, no mater how long range, so you at least to have a place to start. From there, break it down into smaller parts that you can go after as you step your way toward your goal. You want to run a faster marathon? Start by running 1 mile faster and take it from there. Having concrete goals is what allows you to lay plans to achieve those goals.

The famous running Coach Joe Newton is known to say, “no matter how fast you’re running, run faster.” I have to agree with him. What he’s really saying is that you need to make the most of the time you spend actually running. If you’ve only got an hour a day, you need to make that hour count. Running faster is making the most of that time.

Need ideas for quality workouts? Check out our weekly series called “workouts” that are filed under the “workouts” category.

Coach Joe English, Portland Oregon, USA
Running Advice and News
Running-Advice.com

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