Making a plan and doing the mental prep for your running.
Run with purpose? What’s the purpose? Do you know what you’re running for?
Not all runs are just physical workouts, many times a run workout is actually more for training your mind. You mind controls your body, so to have a stronger, faster, better body you have to control your mind.
We know when running to do a warm up. perhaps that’s a walk first, maybe some stretching or just starting out running slow. This is the physical part. It’s quite brainless. It ofter results in good runs but it can leave you untrained for when the going gets tough. Practicing a mental warm up, getting your mind right, anticipating obstacles, understanding the purpose of the run, this can enhance our running by building a stronger mind to fight when the going gets tough.
What’s the purpose of the run/workout?
Social?
Build Endurance?
Learning to Run on Fatigued Legs?
Interval Training?
Speed Work?
Threshold/High Heart Training?
Each one of these types of run demand a specific mindset. A social run allows us freedom, while a Threshold workout is designed to make us uncomfortable. Interval training and speed work test our capacity to perform under stress, Endurance Running and training to run on fatigued legs test our mental endurance and our discipline to just keep going.
We have to prepare our minds if we want to get the maximum results from these types of runs. For example: when doing speed work, I tell myself: ”it’s time to go to work” I prepare my mind that the task ahead is WORK. It will be difficult, challenging and it must be completed. When training for endurance, I prepare my mind knowing that I will be testing a limit, there will come a time I will want to stop, that’s the point…to build endurance past the point of comfort! The way to better achieve that is to enter the run with the mind prepared.
I practice a deep breathing meditation to focus and ”warm up” my mind. Training smarter to maximize every workout, even the easy and social runs:)
So remember: along with warming up the body, when you’re walking or stretching, be sure to set your mind up for the purpose of the run ahead. Plan for what the workout is designed to achieve. Then Execute the Run! Run With Purpose.
