August 4, 2020 – Ruts

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Hi Everyone!

 

My thoughts this week have been around the importance of taking breaks or shaking things up to avoid getting in a rut. I do think this has been one of the outfalls of not having races to train for (apart from those training for Boston or other big virtual races) – it’s easy to just keep plugging along and working hard with not a lot of variance from one week to the next. I have been thinking about how amazing it is that our mental state can have such an impact on our physical experience of energy. But it does. If you do become bored or mentally fatigued this can express itself physically. You’ll feel tired, unmotivated, and your runs might start to feel inexplicably harder.

 

The good news; it’s not too hard to reset. Options are: take a break, change your routine or routes, find a new fitness activity so you can “come back” to running. Or commit to a virtual race and take it seriously – with a training cycle, taper and down-time afterwards. Traveling and running in new places often shakes things up because when we return we have a new sense of appreciation for our old routes and routines. But we aren’t getting away as much these days, so the rut potential looms. I also find a change of seasons helps. But for better or worse, that won’t happen for a number of weeks yet, so best to find some other way to change things up.

 

Many of us started new routines in March with a lot of energy and motivation. It makes sense that these same routines might be getting a bit tired right now. So if you’re feeling this, take a week or two off. Don’t worry about losing fitness – what you gain in motivational and engagement energy will more than make up for it.

 

Workout options for this week:

 

  1. 3-4 sets of 4 x400 with 100 jog and 400 jog btw the sets (Boston peeps I like this for you)
  2. Hills! Any mix or match way of doing them that works for you
  3. 2-3 sets of 4 x 200 w 100 jog between reps and 400 jog between sets (for those that want to mix things up)
  4. Tempo: 20 minutes – slower than usual tempo – ease in and pick up the pace as you go

I am away so will attempt a mix of hills up here. Have a good one guys!

 

Seanna