Running Better - early thoughts

Better Running...

Beginning or starting running is one thing. Continuing it is another.

Being  a patient and persistent (ie. regular) runner will bring improvements - you'll become a better runner. Many, at times, chose to be more proactive with getting better.

I've been working on this specific area the last few days. An area touched by 25 years of coaching, 32 years of running and some 832,000+ kms 

I've thought about it from the perspectives of: Why get better?  How get better?  When will I get better?  What makes be better?  Who can help me?  Where Can I go to get better?  I stayed away from the moral imperatives: should do, must do, ought to, have to, need to. Too limiting. I strayed to the creative – may do, like to, could do, try to, will do. And the powerful – will do.

A long list of "betters" found it's way. For now, this will do.

Running Better...

Running better means different things to different people: going further or longer; running easier or with less effort; going faster; improved pacing and racing; handling hills; changing terrain and surface, combatting heat, wind, cold, rain, wind, snow; bouncing back and staying back after injury...

Getting better came down to being BETTER:

B = Basics: don’t' stray to far away from the principles of good practice and good practise. Oh, and you''ll be best served by running. For the most part - forget the bike, and pool and gym

E = Effort: we can getlittle for nothing these days, yet you can get a lot from a little. It will take energy, and  - yes - some effort

T = Time: give it time, make time and it will come – in time

T = Training: run - practise, rehearse, review, revise and rework – training guides you, and creates your journey from your past, through now, and to your future

E = Effective: aim for sustained long term progress, and be wary the promises of efficient short-cuts, tips, and tricks. The only secret is that there is none.

R = Relationships: with yourself - your body, mind and spirit; with mother Nature – her tests and tribulations; with others – your friends, your team-mates, and competitors. For, ultimately, you may run for and by yourself, yet you will do this amongst, beside and alongside millions of others around the world.

How do you aim to run better?

The Big Race 1

Time goes so quickly.
It's a little after 6 on a Sunday morning. It's drizzling outside. I'm coaching runners at 8am. My sleep has been and gone. So fast.

I check the date.
It's been 3 months since I've been here with you. Not in spirit, because I visit running and running thoughts and running words every day. Just in blog form. Summer has been and gone. So fast.

The date tells me more.
Much of my last 3 months has been planning 2012 (and beyond) with others: with you, with runners, with coaches, with sports-medicine professionals. and with sports-scientists. amongst all that planning there are a few regular questions. One of those asks about your race/s. What is your Big Race for the year?

And, as I speak, one Big Race is about to get underway here in Melbourne. It's not a running race. It does have a run component. It's the inaugural Melbourne Ironman Triathlon. I think it may actually be the Asia-Pacific Championships.

Regardless, with the elite men finishing in a few-ticks around the 8-hour mark, the elite women close-by, and a cut-off time of 17-hours for 1,700 or so competitors. It is a Big Race, in many ways. A marathon is an achievement in itself. Completing a marathon after a 3.8km swim and a 180km cycle capitalises the "A" in achievement.

I dabbled in triathlons through the late-80s and early 90s. I liked to go fast. I liked to run fast. Sprint and Olympic distances were my preference. In fact, there existed only a handful of world Ironman events in those days. And the IM logo never existed. Personally, slugging out 6-, 7- or 8-minute kms is not my idea of racing or competing in an event. More importantly, I certainly get the allure of this for others: it's the challenge, and the promise, and the rebuttal. And the commitment

As Sascha Baren Cohen would have once said as Ali G, "Respect!". As Borat, "Very nice!"

Go you IMMrs.

What makes a race big though? We all have 'The Big Race'.
What's yours?
What's mine?

It's 7.15am, With pre-race nerves now gone, the IMMers are about to "be".

Why do you run?

I've been running for 30ish years.

Running has taken me many places and helped build many relationships.
It has brought me in touch with myself, the world around me, and in touch with many others.


I know people who have just started running, others who have been running for a long time; some who are serious about running, others who dabble; many who run fast, some who run faster, and a few who run fastest.

We run for different reasons. And, the reasons why we begin running aren't necessarily the reasons why we continue to run.


A while back I asked the athletes I coach - the in2running squad - to write down why they run. And then to summarise each reason into a word.


Here is why they run: 
adventure, nature, sanity, gratitude, balance, clarity, passion, fun, fitness, enjoyment, speed, journey, living, friendship, security, discovery, connection, healing, growth, freedom, release, catharsis, isolation, sanity, challenge,  test self, control,  health, focus,  escape,  play, immersion, happiness, time,  feeling,  aesthetics,   efficiency,  routine, community,  choice,  travel,  improve,  competition, well-being,  change, security,  camaraderie,  find,  means-to-an-end, purpose,  fear , inner-child,  endure-ance,  body,  identity, and confidence...
    
We could explore these and find similarities and commonalities, and themes, and contradictions and paradoxes, yet each runner's reason/s is their own. And theirs alone.

 That is the beauty of running: its accessibility, its individuality, its simplicity, its transference.

 Why do you run?    I've been running so long, I don't know how to stop.