Why is it so Hard to Do What We Already Know?

This is my very first blog post.

Ever.

Writing hasn't really been my thing. Give me a Chemistry textbook with mathematical equations and a scientific calculator (TI-83 please) and I'm in my zone. So, naturally, coming up with a first blog post was a little intimidating. What do runners want to read about? What can people relate to? And what it came down to is this - why is it so hard to execute what we know is the right thing to do? You could probably extend that beyond health and fitness into our daily lives and the fact that it is so difficult in something like health and fitness probably stems from our human nature, but I'm going to focus in on the health and fitness category and the endless list of rules that we know but tend to ignore and offer my advice on ways to overcome those.

1. Strength Training is Essential for Injury Prevention
Why is this one so hard?!?! We know 30 minutes of planks, lunges, squats, push-ups, pull-ups, v-sits, crunches, row boats, deadlifts, glute bridges, etc will help keep us healthy. We know it only takes 20-30 minutes and can mostly be done with no equipment. BUT when you are waking up at 4 AM before work to get that training run in and you have the option to do 10 minutes of core, get 10 more minutes to get ready for work or get 10 more minutes to add 1 more mile onto your workout we almost always choose anything but the strength training. Then, injury sets in. We look back through our pages of training journals and read through all of the Google articles of our mysterious injury when it usually comes down to this - What did you do to prevent this injury from happening? Then after you are a new person, a new runner and you are going to do this the right way! 2 weeks of strength training and then life sets in and time is short. You ditch the strength training. See the cycle here?

2. Sleep...You Need to Sleep 💤💤
You need 6-8 hours of sleep. Actually, it's recommended that athletes get 8 and a half hours of sleep each night to help aid in recovery and promote production of glycogen. I even heard that if you can't get 8 hours each night it is helpful to at least go to bed at a consistent time. So why is it that we are up all night scrolling through our phones or binge watching the latest episode of a TV series?

3. Too Much Too Soon
Most runners are familiar with the 10% rule. Don't increase your mileage by more than 10% each week. If you're reading this thinking, "I don't even know how many miles I ran last week," then you really need to be writing down your weekly mileage. I put mine right into my planner (see image below). In fact I only use my planner for my training and not actually for writing down my important meetings. You know, priorities.

So when coming back from an injury we tend to jump right into our prior fitness too soon. We might get busy with life or with work and have some very low mileage weeks for a month or two and then jump right into long runs from where we left off...two months ago. But still, we look at our training journals and see 20 miles last week and jump into a 30 mile week with a new marathon training plan thinking it will be no problem while upping mileage or intensity too quickly. Then your knee pain starts creeping up and you look back. Hindsight is 20/20.

4. We Are Too Hard On Ourselves
We know that racing in 95% humidity will suck the living soul right out of you. We know that sometimes as a runner you just have a bad day and there's nothing that you did wrong...it just wasn't your day. Expecting a PR out of every race is not realistic. Humans do not follow linear patterns! So when you have a bad race and the weather was bad or you didn't fuel quite right or you are slightly down with a cold then you know in the back of your mind that the conditions are not optimal. In fact, if a friend described the same conditions to you after having a bad race you would probably offer up some reassurance that it was just a bad day and they did well despite the setbacks. So why can't we ease up on ourselves? Why can't we allow ourselves to have a bad day and be okay with it?

5. Fueling
I used to have the mindset that if the oven was burning hot enough I could put anything into it and it would burn as fuel. Over train to over eat, right? WRONG. Okay, if you want to eat a candy bar then eat the Snickers bar but if all you are eating are Snickers bars and Kwik Trip breakfast sandwiches you may have a problem. That goes for this too - if you are only eating chicken and sweet potatoes you may not be getting enough. When running, your body burns about 100 extra calories for each mile. That's  guideline not a fact. We know that our bodies need carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, water, salts and other things but we don't always execute that. I know myself well. After work and after coaching I am usually exhausted...especially in the Wisconsin winters where it gets dark out by 5 PM. The last thing I want to do is cook a meal when I get home. So during the week I end up driving through Qdoba or Panera to pick up a quick meal. So why don't I meal plan? Why don't I make a big grocery store run to Aldi, get all the ingredients ready for the week when I have time? We all know it would save time, money and the endless conversation of what you should have for dinner that night.

Alright so what do we do about it? I'll give you some of my advice that I have found to be helpful for overcoming these. 

1. Keep a Training Journal/Calendar (See Above)

I used to draw a month calendar on a piece of printer paper with a Sharpie and a straight edge which upgraded to printing the calendar in the monthly format which then upgraded to the nice planners from TJ Maxx or Target. (The progression went from poor college kid to having a salary with health insurance!) I was always a fan of writing something down on paper but there are also online training logs like Strava or Runkeeper that work very well for some people. No matter how you log it, you should be able to see your miles (or time) and intensity of what you were doing. Actually writing it down is like admitting what you were doing. It gives you a moment to look at the week and think, "maybe I took it a little hard this week and should back off a little" or can give you and indicator as to when your nagging knee pain started to flare up and what you were doing and for how long it has been bothering you. The best part of a training journal is looking back on previous training and seeing your progression. That part is most helpful after a failed workout or a bonked race. 

2. Have Accountability 

Whether it's a local run club, an online friend or a coach, have someone holding you accountable. I have an entire team of high school athletes that hold me accountable. As their coach I feel I have a responsibility to practice what I preach. I think twice before skipping out on strength training because I know they are paying attention. I know people are held accountable if they have a running partner or a workout buddy. If they don't show up then they are letting someone down. Where I live does not have an overly active running community so I do almost all of my training alone. When I first ran a marathon I used the Instagram community as my accountability. I would see some online friends go for their run and feel motivated to get mine done and post about it. So if you are constantly skipping your core and strength workouts - start a chain of Instagram Posts about your 20 Days of 20 Minutes of Strength. Post each day about your workout and what you did. Nobody wants to be embarrassed online so maybe that will hold you to it until you can develop the habit.

3. Get Rid of the Non Supportive People and the Haters

You should never feel guilty for taking care of yourself so surround yourself with people who support that and ditch the toxic relationships. People should not be annoyed about your running posts on social media or if you're talking about your next half marathon in the break room. If they are, who cares. There's a whole community of people who care out there in the internet world...go find them. I'm going to throw out a sales pitch for the Oiselle Volee. My community isn't thriving with runners but I was able to connect with other women all across the state of Wisconsin who share my passion. If you find yourself in the same situation I would recommend joining something like Oiselle Volee, Luke Humphrey Running Community (Hanson's Marathon Method Followers) or something similar.

4. Plan Out Your Weekly Meals

Make it a habit to write down 3-5 meals and all the ingredients you need for them. I type into Google, "Quick and Healthy Weeknight Meals" and can usually find some ideas when my brain doesn't feel like it can produce any information. Then take your grocery list and go to the grocery store to get everything. I make my grocery run on Sundays usually. If you don't need anything too specific go to Aldi. If you don't shop there you are missing out. Now, it's a good idea to have your go-to meal at home just in case. Ours is Italian sausage with mushrooms, peppers and red sauce. Nothing fancy but always satisfying. You may be thinking, "Duh, meal planning." BUT here's the extra step. Write down the meals for each day and put it on the fridge so everyone in the house knows exactly what is for dinner that night. No decisions, ingredients are in the fridge and all last minute planning is avoided. I find that my biggest issue is in the morning. I drive a half hour to work each way so I need something that fills me up, is quick, and something I can eat in the car. Smoothies, microwaveable pancakes, cheese and crackers are all quick things I can eat in the morning. If I plan and even portion it out for the week or get my coffee ready so all I have to do is push the button in the morning, then I find that I stay on task with healthy eating and avoid the drive-thru. You don't need fancy portions, you don't need special shakes or protein powders and you don't need special containers. If it works for you, then that is fantastic but it's not for everyone and not a necessary component to fueling properly. Find your balance, take one day a week and get all your meals ready to go.

5. Easy Means Easy

I find in a lot of instances that people are not taking their easy days at an easy pace. You shouldn't be running your goal marathon pace for every run, you're not going to get anywhere. You may be constantly tired and in a cycle of injury wondering what the heck you did wrong. This could be the road to injuries and over training. Take your recovery runs SLOW. In fact, leave the GPS watch at home if you are constantly checking your pace. If you want to log the miles for your latest Strava update then put a piece of painter's tape over the watch face. Recovery runs are about time on your feet and promoting red blood cell production in your body. Your fitness gains take place in these recovery times so take it EASY. If this is a foreign concept for you perhaps looking into a coach is something that would be beneficial to explain these differences and help you out.

Get your strength in, slow yourself down on easy runs, find someone or something to hold you accountable and take the time to plan and reflect while surrounding yourself with positive people. If those things aren't attainable then maybe it's time to put the BQ attempt on hold. I hope I can share some of my insight with you or perhaps you just need to be reminded to follow the rules every once in a while.

Want to know more?

coach.n.fischer@gmail.com 

www.runwithcoachfischer.com