I’ve started to read Atomic Habits by James Clear and it hits everything I’ve been feeling ever since I started a workout goal. Creating a big plan to achieve your goal, hit specific milestones, just having everything go according to plan…but then after the first few weeks the excuses start to feel valid and skipping workout days starts to be part of the big plan you’ve created. Is there really any reason to skip workouts? I thought I really wanted to achieve my goals but here I was and am. What happened to this big plan of mine? I have all these thoughts “running” (ha!) through my head on if this really is important to me anymore. The book highlights all these feelings and pitfalls that can happen for any habit you’re trying to form. Everyone should read the book themselves but the one thing to takeaway from this post is the greatest achievers find ways to cut through the bad days and show up regardless to how they feel.
I can go back to when I first started running before all the nagging injuries and really knowing what I was doing. I had my best half-marathon time of breaking the two hour mark and have yet to reach it since. What changed from then to now? I was more consistent even on the terrible days. I ran in the snow. I ran on ice. I ran when it rained. I ran in sub-freezing temps. Since then, I’ve skipped plenty of runs with half-assed excuses. Threshold runs were skipped because “I didn’t want to injure myself” when in reality I really didn’t want to push myself. Tempo runs were skipped just because I wasn’t “feeling it” for that day when I should’ve done a replacement run at the bare minimum. When I finish races I look at how I stand out from my age group and am always disappointed I’m never near the top. How do I go about changing this? Embrace the suck, get one percent better every day, no days off, etc. It starts with consistent training habits.
All this is to say where I’m at training is better but needs to be taken day by day and not lose sight of the big picture. Right now, we’re getting strong in the weight room to build a strong base for injuring prevention. I’ve been running injured far too long and been running way to tight. I’ve started new habits of stretching alongside getting to the weight room every day. The training starts today and not tomorrow. Progress won’t be noticeable some days but it builds regardless if you see it.
A quote of a quote from the book stands out perfectly for my goal and runners alike: The last mile is always the least crowded.