tips to run by

An ongoing list of hot tips for running.

Don't forget to race

The biggest oopsie I made training for my triathlon was not running more races while training! For starters - without all-out efforts, everything is theoretical. Don't run a race every weekend, but I had done hundreds of workouts without ever actually racing.

A little over a month out to the race I ran a baby race - a meager 5k. It was over in 20 minutes and paled in comparison to the nearly 6 hours that I would spend during the Ironman 70.3, but it was worth every minute. In addition to putting my theoretical run pacing to the test, it also just nourished the competitive side in me and got me so excited for my race. I love the competitive nature of these sports and it helped launch me into race planning mode in such a great way.

Self-care as a training strategy

Don't get lost in the noise. There are so many ways to overthink and worry about, and your running pace is so much more than going out and running fast. Here's the top three for me:

1. Get enough sleep. Don't repeatedly wake up early to get your run in if you go to bed at 2.
2. Actually run your long runs slow, and a lot of your runs with threshold periods. If you're bored, put on that podcast and work on quickening your cadence.
3. Drink lots of water with electrolytes pretty much all the time, and practice with hydration and nutrition on your runs.

One of my favorite phrases from the rock climbing world is high-gravity day. These are the kind of day where you'd go to try a climb (or several) and do even worse that you had previously, failing on parts you easily climbed through before.

I'm in the camp of respecting your body and respecting the high-gravity days. Some runs just feel off from the first steps, and never get better. Maybe a pain that you haven't felt in a while, or maybe your legs feel like bricks, your form is off, and you're slamming your feet into the ground.

Don't abandon ship willy-nilly, but don't send the full 10 mile workout if your body is yelling at you at mile 5. Adjust your pace down, or stop and do some stretches or calisthenics, or if all else fails, cut your losses and save your body. You might be overtraining anyway 🤨