Mental Tips to Stick with a Long Run

Everyone’s definition of a long run is different, depending on where you are in your running story. For me, it’s the 5 miles I conquered today. That distance will seem easy in 6 months when I’m approaching the half marathon, but seemed impossible a few months ago, so it really is all about perspective.

Five miles felt a little impossible before I got started this morning. I was very nervous heading out for this run! Since I was already dressed in the cute little skirt, I got out of the car and tackled it, but I definitely spent a lot of time thinking about the mental hurdles we overcome when running.  I thought I’d share some of the mind games that helped me get over my mental roadblocks today and on other runs, in case they’re helpful to someone else. For me, it is crucial to drown out those “I can’t” voices that pop up far too often. Every moment I spend thinking about something other than “I can’t“, my feet continue to chew up the miles, bit by bit. I just need to get my brain out of the way!

– Commit to ten minutes. This is really common advice for exercise reluctance, but you hear it over and over again because it works! Just the act of getting dressed and driving to the park made me feel like I had to get at least a little workout done, right? I find this really helpful, personally, when I’m doing a treadmill run at the end of the work day. I’m already tired and my brain is shifting to “mom mode” and all of the things I need to take care of when I get home. I tell myself to do at least ten minutes and then I can quit. Of course, like all the articles tell you, when you finish the first ten minutes you’re a lot more likely to finish the workout. 🙂 If you don’t, then you still got at least ten minutes done. This morning, I didn’t have to use this one because I was greeted with this view on arriving at the park and knew that even if I couldn’t run the whole thing, I was definitely going out there.

– Take notice of your surroundings. This is helpful for distracting the “I can’t” voices in your mind when you’re working outdoors. It’s also important from a safety perspective. Appreciate the mist coming off of the water and the golden color of the grass in the early morning sun. Notice the bunnies hopping across the path and think of how excited your two year old would be. Appreciate that you and your body are here in this moment, doing something good for you.

– Think about your goals for this particular run. Today, are you working on running faster? Running the whole workout? Practice fueling and running simultaneously? Working on your form? Thinking about  your goals is the opposite of the kind of self-defeating thoughts that can short circuit a workout. Remembering that I have goals helps motivate me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is also helpful as you go through the run and find yourself reassessing the workout. If what I really want is to run the whole thing, then it’s okay if my jog slows to a 4 mph shuffle. If I’m working on speed, then a walk break is okay because it may help my overall pace. For today, I really wanted to run the whole thing. I have had some serious doubts about my ability to really cover the mileage on a hard surface since I’ve had a lot of long runs on the treadmill and know from past experience how difficult a hard surface can be on my speed and endurance.  Beyond this particular run, think about why you’re running at all – skinny jeans, diabetes risks, the chance to wear a tutu and run through the Castle at Walt Disney World. Why are you doing this instead of sleeping in?

– Think about your form. Take a moment to stand up straighter, drop your shoulders (my particular problem) or concentrate on your foot falls. These self-checks help your form overall and are a quick distraction. I did this about once each mile this morning.

– Pick up the pace! My husband thinks this is nuts, but it really works for me on the treadmill and outside. When I want to quit, first I speed up. I tell myself if it is going to be a short workout, then a higher speed interval will make it more effective (plus, it helps me finish faster, right?). Really, I find the extra effort is enough to get me over the “I wanna-quit-hump” so to speak and when I slow back down, a) it feels like I’m getting to rest, b) I feel like a rock star after just running so fast and c) the pace I recover to is usually a little faster than I was going before the little pick up.  In terms of overall training, it’s also useful to practice for speeding up on tired legs to have a strong finish.

– Do a mental body systems check. Are you really hurting somewhere? How do your quads/knees/calves/feet feel? Are you thirsty? How is your gear working for you? It’s helpful to take stock while you’re actually running so you can analyze any patterns and make any changes you need. My water bottle was leaky and I ended up dropping it on a bench early on in the run. My visor, on the hand, performed way better than I expected (first time taking it out for a long run) – no sweat in my face, because it all got soaked into the visor! I didn’t realize how much I’d been sweating until I took the visor off at the end:

Check out that sweat line!

– Fantasize about your post run reward. For me today, a giant bag of grapes, which doesn’t seem like much of an indulgence but really is since I love fruit and have been trying to rein in my massive fruit consumption these last couple of weeks. Also, I promised myself Starbucks.

– Stop and stretch. At the halfway point, I stopped and stretched out my hamstrings and my calves. Things were nice and warm by then, so I feel like I got a really good stretch in and it felt like a very purposeful pause, not a defeated pause.

– Gratitude! In the fourth mile, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the things I was grateful for and dedicating those steps to those things. I may be a little selfish, but the first thing was actually to be grateful to myself for finding the courage to finally take care of my health. I was also thankful for my husband, who is generally absolutely fantastic but specifically really supportive of my running and our lifestyle changes (and the blog – which was his idea) and am so thankful for my little boy, who reminds me that running in the park is fun because you see bunnies and that snuggles are awesome. After a mile of this, I suddenly looked down and only 0.8 miles left to go and knew I could absolutely do it!

I cycled through all of these things repeatedly today and they really helped me get over my own mental blocks. There’s still a huge part of my brain that apparently doesn’t think I can do this, but step by step I proved that voice wrong this morning. 5 miles in 57 minutes!

How do you eat an elephant? Bite by bite!

How do you stick with it mentally?

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