How often do you wake up, throw off the duvet cover, leap into your running shoes and skip out of the door for a run? The answer is probably never!
To be honest, for most of us, just the thought of going out for a run or training session is enough to hit that snooze button, or watch just one more episode of our latest box set.
If marathon training taught me anything, it’s to focus on 1 kilometre (or mile) at a time. You cannot run 10k without doing the 1st kilometer. Chances are if you are reading this tip, running just one kilometer is a fairly easy task.
When your watch beeps, move onto the next one.
It’s a strategy which has worked incredibly well for me in recent races, especially undulating routes. We can often look too far ahead and worry about what’s coming up or how far it is to the finish line.
This approach will inevitably result in one conclusion, giving up early when we still have plenty in the tank.
You might be 6k into your 10k race with 2 or 3 more hills to come. You’ve starting to struggle and the finish line seems impossible, the upcoming hills a living nightmare.
The truth is, your mindset is wrong. You should be far more narrow minded. With my recent race strategy I know exactly where the next kilometre will finish. Even in races that are marked in miles, or without markers, I plotted out the route.
So rather than focusing on the finish line, I was set on making sure the kilometre I was currently running, didn’t ruin my race time.
Long runs can be a grind too. The first few kilometres can often be the hardest as your body and muscles are yet to warm up for the challenge ahead. But start slowly, tick off one kilometre or mile at a time and you’ll be surprised at how you’ll feel later in the run.
This approach applies to speed sessions or hill reps. 20 x 200 meters or 6 long hill reps may seem unachievable at first. But focus on rep number 1 and go from there.
This mindset helps me in other walks of life. When I a have lot to jobs to do with work, sometimes it becomes overwhelming. So I simply list them and focus on 1 task at a time, reminding myself of the long distances I’ve run and how they were achieved by completing 1 kilometre at a time. It’s amazing at how quickly you can smash through that list of jobs with this approach.
So the next time you consider missing a run or giving up in a race, focus your attention to that one kilometre. Nothing else matters. And if you do have a bad kilometre or need a little walk, the next one provides an opportunity to start again and make amends.
