Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Keep the Faith

We all need to have faith.  Same goes for running and racing.  We need to believe in SOMETHING.  We need to believe that our training is making us better runners.  We need to believe those long runs are making a difference.  We need to have faith in our weekly speed sessions.  Increasing our total mileage makes a difference?  We need to believe it does!  It's easy to lose faith.  Lose that sense of belief in what we are doing.  With running, we basically need to commit to a plan (some training plans are better than others, but SOMETHING is better than NOTHING).  We can't give up faith too quickly.  Keep at it and you'll likely improve.  I quickly give up and switch to whatever I happened to read last night.  The old program was probably just fine, but this new one has more promise...or so we think.  Screw that!  Pick a plan, stick to it, and have faith it will work.

I'm finally learning this lesson...for now.  More days running seems to be making me a better runner.  More weekly miles seems to be making me stronger.  A touch of speed seems to be making me faster.  Last week in the heat I was ready to give up...those 3 running days per week plans looked pretty darn good!  Whatever training plan you research and commit to...needs time to work.  HAVE FAITH.  Give it time.  Nothing worthwhile comes easily.  It takes time and effort to see results.

"Keep the Faith"...courtesy of Bon Jovi:



Bon Jovi has some great running tunes...and this one has great lyrics too.  For everyone out there about to get frustrated with your current training, keep the faith.  Stick to it.

3 comments:

jeff said...

5 in the morning and 2 at night = 7 miles x 7 days = 49 + 1 = 50 miles.

sounds easy BUT....try to keep work hours down and like me, get out the door when you get home in evening. resist the urge to push harder. run gently, run long.

Chris Ⓥ said...

"Run gently, run long"--isn't that a book?

jeff said...

yes, one of my favorites that I reread every once in awhile. it was the book I read in 1976 when I realised I was addicted to running.