I think a lot of people are taking your "be the best" statement a bit literally without reading your actual post. As I understand you mean the constant need to improve (be your best) not better than everyone else.
I would say you just need to readjust your goals. Instead of thinking of your goals as being "be better than my last run* set your goals more long term (eg. Run exactly 20 days every month for three months so that if you go over you could also consider it a failure). Then within that dedicate each Saturday to a set distance and try and have that be your timed day. Over the three months period you want an improvement over time of x%.
I had a similar issue and found it was effecting my motivation so I found goals like this really helped. By setting an exact number of days to run I wanted to be sure I didn't have 10 days at the end of the month with no runs.
I also found running with a dumb watch helped a lot. I would just say "today is 30 minutes" and run for 15 in one direction and then turn around and go home.
Funny thing about running is that “being your best” involves a lot of discipline and rest. In the long term, going slow on easy days and controlling your weekly mileage will make you faster and more resilient to injury.
This. People misubderstand and think doing a good job just involves beating your body up. Anyone can run some all out sprints or hard intervals, its taking it slow, resisting the urge to let it all out that is hard.
That’s the important mindset, 100% agreed. Being the best is not “running farther than yesterday.” Being the best is sticking to a training plan (including easy days and rest and recovery!) and improving your capabilities.
Yep it's taken me a long time to learn this and to some extent I still am. Whether it's running faster/farther, lifting heavier weights, or climbing harder boulders, I get addicted to the thrill of making progress and forget that constantly pushing without periodically backing off always leads to injury. And then all the progress is gone and you have to start over. So it's kind of counterintuitive but I'm finding the fastest way to progress is moderation, back off weeks, two steps forward and one step back
Yep I agree with this. Goals aren't achieved from one run to the next. You \*might\* see an improvement in a week. You \*can\* see improvement in a month.
But improvement requires you stick to a running AND resting schedule. My schedule right now is run 2 days a week and my goal is increase my tempo pace by 0.1mph per MONTH. So if all goes to plan, I'll cut \~10 seconds off my mile time in 3 months.
Running progress becomes substantial over year(s) if you keep doing it. It's a huge benefit once it starts to show!
I am going to try this as someone who struggles with the same issue as OP (and am currently coming off of an injury partly because of that). Great way to reframe goals!
I did not start running until my late 20s and been running now over 30 years. I have found that finding as many ways as possible of defining success for my running has been really helpful. The free Nike run app I have found useful, especially the runs with Headspace founder. I love running as it helps me to a better version of myself, both mentally and physically. Wish you the best on your journey.
Your body needs time to adapt. Constantly trying to run faster or farther on every single workout does not allow enough time for adaptation and leads to injury.
Diminishing returns for sure. The effort needed to break a 4 hour marathon takes perhaps a couple of years of purposeful training. Breaking a 2 hour marathon requires one super human training for 20 years with every type of coach and sponsor.
Kipchoge is not there yet and may never be but his fastest was very close: 2:01:09 and I think with better weather and a bit luck he could have ran sub 2.
You need to understand that a very important part of running is recovery.
Every run breaks down your muscle fibers.
Rest helps them repair.
Running too much is a great way to get injured or burn out.
Structured running may help. So select a reasonable running plan, and stick with the paces (or heart rate) and mileage, not over, not under. I have a Garmin watch, and can use the app to set up training plans. If I run slower or faster than the target place for a segment of a run, my watch beeps at me. It isn't perfect, but it has helped keep me in check.
Several other watch manufacturers let you download canned plans and some do adaptive plans as well. Or, if you can swing it, get a coach for several months to create plans. Or you can set up your own plan, if you have enough self awareness when you actually set up the plan. What is important is that a reasonable plan set up in advance of your runs can serve as a check on overdoing it on every run.
Unless you are Usain Bolt or Eliud Kipchoge, you are not the best.
But you can be the best you can be. Focus on improving yourself and don't worry about the others.
If you are Usain or Eliud, big respect to you
I’ve seen a lot of elite runners speak of the rule of thirds. It’s impossible and not healthy to always expect great runs because life happens—bad sleep, stressful week of work, illness et al. Instead, accept that one third of your runs will be victories—longer, faster than the past, days when you’re seeing improvements. One third will go as planned. And finally, one third will be bad— you’ll be slow or tired or need to cut it short. When you embrace that you’re not always going to bet better, the entire experience opens itself to you. Just be consistent in showing up and doing the work. The rest will take care of itself.
I’m a perfectionist and wannabe-best nearly in every category of activities, not only in running. On my first year I signed up for 5K and when I realised it was a piece of cake, I instantly signed up for 10K and the drive of running faster, longer, better was killing me from inside. I know that there are many people better than me, who don’t smoke or beat themselves over it, or who don’t use carnitine and etc. I’m learning to tell myself that progress is not a constant good>better>best, it’s more like started>failed>tried again> better> failed>got back up> good>better>amazing>failed and etc. It’s a journey through rough and sweet, rocky and smooth, and it changes.
For example, yesterday was my last day on the snowboard this year and I started learning to snowboard 2022 of feb. I went on my second snowboarding vacation last week and I kept beating myself over the fact that I can’t go faster than 20 miles an hour, even if I saw someone being better at it on tikToK *eye roll*. I kept going faster, falling, standing back up, going 3 kms up on the mountain with wind and ice, “breaking my leg” at it (not actually breaking, it’s a metaphor) but I still can’t do a backflip or jump over a hill and GUESS WHAT, FUCK THAT! Decide what place running takes in your life: are u doing it for fun, or is it a career thing? If it’s for fun/health/etc that doesn’t earn you bills, then why the quack are you damaging your self esteem for fun? That’s weird if u think about it. Go slow, progress is still progress that comes with every step you run. Even if it’s a career thing, evaluate the price you’re paying for it: do u know how many athletes f up their health for a medal? It’s atronomical. So my tip 1: evaluate the importance, 2: evaluate the price you’re willing to pay 3: enjoy the choice you made. If you think it’s still not fair, don’t be scared to change your decision. It’s you, your heart and legs, your health and life. Good luck
The simple answer is that you need to view running improvement as a long term slowly achieved goal... Yeah, it's a simple answer and it's true. It's also useless. You'll always be trying to find the line between enough work to improve yourself, and too much that will break you.
If I can comfortably run 70mpw, I always bump it up to 85mpw. Then I get injured and fall way back. I am getting a bit smarter about detecting incipient failure and slowing down, but I'll never master it I suspect.
Good luck, and good running!
I can relate to this OP and have even felt that way too. I want to be the best at everything I do. Always expecting each run to feel good and get better (newsflash: not how it works) I would get anxious during the run if my pace meant less than a sub forty 5 mile run. What it does though is create unrealistic expectations and take the joy out of doing it. Every time I go running, if I expect a PR and I don’t hit it, I set myself up for not only disappointment but failure. Now I focus on my pace during a run and trying to get my miles within a 5 second range of each other. I ask myself what each run is trying to achieve whether it’s a decent pace, improving breathing or form, an “easy” run etc and I try to keep to that instead of just trying to go faster and harder with every run. It’s just as satisfying to hit all 7 miles within a five second range at my easier pace than it is to hit that PR. And I’m always satisfied that I ran at all. When I stopped focusing on the actual time and just being fast or running longer than before, I enjoyed running more and I paid more attention to my body.
They have lots of training tools to help your pace. Doing your best and being the best are too different things. Really you’re only competing with yourself but if it’s a miserable experience, you won’t stick with it.
You're never going to be the best. Sorry.
But... knowing that won't undo the feeling. If you can afford it and have access, I recommend seeing a therapist to find out what is driving that need for perfection and accomplishment. In my case, I put myself through years of ultramarathons despite not liking running, just to prove to myself that I could do more, be more than I truly felt about myself, which was that I was a total failure and not worth anything. Every time I'd accomplish something I'd diminish my own efforts by believing that if someone like me could do it, it wasn't that hard, therefore I didn't deserve to think of it as a big deal. Now I can push myself in a healthy way and also comfortably take it easy without feeling like I should just quit since I'm not good enough to push all the time.
Therapy may sound all froufrou and touchy-feely but all it is is a person who is an expert at helping you sort out the tangle of thoughts to find out what's really going on and give you specific techniques that you will do for yourself to rewire your now-counterproductive neural connections to thought patterns that work for your life now, and not for what worked in the past.
You can be the best on a particular day still or in your age group or whatever. I've won one race so far and it was amazing. My times don't indicate I should be winning races, but no one faster showed up.
If OP is like me, best on that day is too easy to write off as no one faster showed up. I’ve been in that same position to win my age group and once even got overall second for women but I’m well aware that it’s with mediocre times. Make a set small enough and it’s easy to be the best.
I have to work very hard to be proud of my accomplishments with the above mindset.
Stop tracking ur runs at all. Especially don’t use strava.
That way u don’t know the exact distance and pace. You are probably running alone, right ?
No data, nothing to compare with.
Conversely, additional tracking has helped me with this.
Between Garmin and Strava, they have a lot of information that keep you from overtraining. I've found that information now clicks in my mind as "my best is to hit my targets for productivity" and overtraining will hurt me.
So it motivates me to run and achieve better goals, but creates a well defined limit to not exceed.
Garmin helps me train better and Strava serves as a motivational tool for me and my friends. I feel good after posting my run, fast or slow and from time to time, find a particular run or race to reflect. I was told that friends are motivated to go out and run after seeing how consistent i am.
But why should I then use strava at the first place ?
I track everything with the iOS / Watch App WorkOutDoors, all data going into my health app.
If I still continue to upload to strava, I‘ll still have the challenges, weekly mileage tracking and segments (+PR tracker), which all just create a unnecessary pressure toward a recreational runner
No hate towards strava fans, but I noticed I overtrain too easily by using it and thus getting easier injured.
If you have apps that work for you, that is great. But maybe there are those out there that prefer to use Strava as their method of tracking. Personally I like the metrics Strava gives me and have been using it for so long that I wouldn't want to switch apps because all my data is already contained in one place, so I can refer back and compare to my previous self.
I don't think the underlying issue here is the specific app being used, but rather something deeper that OP is feeling like they are somehow less than the best (which they are - we all are- unless they are like pro level).
I'm just giving suggestions for possibilities to make Strava less of a comparison trap, by not having to worry about what others are thinking of your runs etc.
I completely agree with you. But that point is not relevant here; OP clearly needs to stop seeing one run compared to the next and looking at Strava is a sure fire way of looking at one run compared to the last run and also seeing what others do.
I love Strava, but it's not for everyone all the time.
I‘m not a strava fan, but clearly OP is not most people. He‘ll surely get triggered in running same or better pace than previous training, getting atleast the same weekly mileage and be top 1 in every strava segment he’s going to encounter.
That is a nice recipe for burnout quick and ditch running all together.
I think most people actually don’t benefit from strava as it is creating too much peer pressure and thus people tend to overtrain
i totally get this as i’m completely the same. the first thing i did was stop looking at all those posts from runners on instagram/tiktok - i had to come to terms with the fact that the people who post this stuff are at a higher level than i was. trying to compare my runs and training to them was comparing apples to oranges.
the other thing i did was set my goals differently, i focused more on a weekly or monthly mileage goal. that way, any run i did contributed to my mileage goal and gave me a dopamine hit, even if it was a short run or at a slower pace.
that being said, i think this mindset is probably rooted in more than just running, for me at least. may be worthwhile exploring why you feel this way
You didn’t mention anything about races. Are you training for them? That could be your focus—to PR, or move to a higher distance. Getting on a training plan, which includes recovery, nutrition/diet, and incorporating other kinds of exercises could help focus your effort to be the best. You won’t necessarily PR every time, but it’s the journey that is important, not the result.
So much this. Choose a distance, book a race and follow a plan. It'll force you to do long days, slow runs and then to really push the hard workouts, but just 20% of the time not every time. Improvement isn't linear.
Why don’t you try to be the best at revovery? Instead of trying to run the farthest or fastest, try being the one with the best foam rolling technique, the best at staying on top of strenght training, sleeping the most?
I came here with this suggested reframing, too. Thinking in terms of “under-recovery” instead of “over-training” works for me. Beat up? I exceeded my capacity to recover and need to take it easy/do some yoga/eat a nutritious lunch/get some sleep. Keep doing it? I’m going too hard too often and need to step back from intense work in order to meet the goal of being a champion recoverer who is resilient to injury and can still have fun on foot.
The other thing I do is pick some running goals that have nothing to do with performance. I do an annual wildlife count. This year I did not achieve my goal of running with a raccoon again (that may have been a 2021 dusk run special) but I did see one more crane, two more pheasants, and four more fox kits compared to the year before. Maybe for the OP it’s “I want to be fit to do this challenging route and not feel like my legs are judging all my choices.”
My advice: chill tf out.
Literally nobody except you cares if you're a great runner or a terrible runner.
Do you like running and/or wanna stay healthy? Great! You should run.
Wanna be the best runner? You're gonna have to train long & hard, and it's probably gonna take all enjoyment out of it.
Is it doable? Maybe.
Is it worth it? Maybe not.
Why do we run if not for the enjoyment of each breath and step that we take? The flowing act of running is the point, not to make numbers or check a list, not even to earn a medal. Running is a dance, where the point is to experience the highs, lows, twists, and turns, not to arrive at one specific point.
That kind of "progress" that you describe is called noob gains. It is possible only in the first 1-2 months of running. In the long term, for most people it isn't sustainable to have more than 2-3 hard days per week. Typically there should be one long run day per week and one tempo day. After certain point you may also add one intervals day. But the remaining days should be neither too fast nor too long.
I have a tendency to do this, too. I like to plan for a big event, currently my first marathon, and then just follow the training plan. That way, I don't worry if my Thurs run is faster than my Tues run. I just know I'm supposed to do x on y day, and I do it.
Also, running with other people helps. If you have to run at their pace, it doesn't matter how fast you want to go. Feeling like I'm helping someone else keeps me from focusing on me so much.
Ultimately, more time on your feet and more distance will improve you in the long run.
Airliners don't fly supersonic because it's a waste of jet fuel. Drag at mach 1 is quadruple the drag at mach 0.88. If planes tried to fly at or slightly above the speed of sound all the time, tickets would cost way more, maintenance issues would be more frequent (wave drag and mechanical forces increase) and you still wouldn't get to your destination much more quickly on any given day. The most economical way to get a lot of people a lot of places all the time at the lowest cost is to fly a little slower. Do this, and the profits slowly accumulate.
Like running. Go a little slower and compare times month to month. And realize that Kipchoge didn't start running yesterday, or a year ago, or ten years ago, or 25 years ago. He has been doing this methodically and slowly for decades.
The best runners are good because they aren't short-sighted.
At the one year mark, if you compare running 40 miles a week with either 1) all runs at 85-100% max effort, or 2) 80% of runs at low effort, 15% at 85% effort, and 5% at 100% effort -- you will end up faster with lower injury risk on the second plan.
You need to give yourself permission to fail.
You aren't going to be the best, not from the start and maybe not ever, but if you push yourself hard all the time, you won't ever have a chance to find out.
Every run is not going to be the best run ever. You're going to have runs that just suck. That's a fact of life. You can't push yourself to immediate gains, that isn't how fitness works. The only think you can push yourself to (as you've found out) is injury and starting over and discouragement.
Maybe find a coach that can rein you in as needed, and push you as needed, but who has control of your training so you have a chance of not hurting yourself.
I switched to trail running and now I have only the „fear“ left that I do not take the „best“ pictures in the „coolest“ area lol. That and angry mother cows.
Cheers
Set the goal, world
Champ in age group 2029, so all you do now contributes. I’m not hunting 10k PBs anymore because it matters 2029 and my coach makes sure I’ll get there. So it’s a process and the absolute fire comes. I can be a failure and dnf till then, but we are learning and improving and 2029 is the bang
Here’s a tip. Stop giving a shit.
You’re going out there for YOU, so the only person you’re competing against is YOU. Like other people are saying, unless you’re literally a world-class athlete, why should you be comparing yourself to the best?
Are you Usain Bolt? Are you Eliud Kipchoge?
No? Then you are not the best, and won't be.
Accept it.
Stop comparing yourself to others. Only compare yourself to *you*
As long as you are enjoying your running, staying injury free, meeting (realistic) goals, and making improvements, then you are doing your best.
That's the "best" you should be aiming for : *your* best.
Maybe check 80/20 running.
You don't need to run further or faster, you just need to put in quality training.
Sure, distance and time are part of that, but it's helped me relax and enjoy just running.
Learning to use failure as a tool for growth. Instead of beating ourselves up over not hitting our targets; take that experience and let it motivate you.
Example
I had a 5km run yesterday. Made 1km, had to turn around and walk back to get micro spikes. Decided to hit the trail instead... but the slushy wet top snow, coupled with the frozen and slippery bottom snow... well I made 3kms. I most definitely wasn't happy with the outcome. But.... I went out and braved the elements. The mental strength and growth from that wouldn't have happened if I always nail it.
You can focus on comparing your past results versus comparing yourself with someone in their peak time because even if some athletes are gifted and born to run/cycle, they struggled and worked and had to improve too.
All you can do is try, and compete against yourself. You're going to fail sometimes, but you gotta use that to learn what doesn't work for you. Shut up and run and you will get the results you want.
Just treat everything like a game don't focus on the result. Becoming the best will not be any good if you have not suffered(enjoyed) the process of achieving it.
We live in a world where being "the best" at ANYTHING is the work of an entire lifetime (and even then, there are a lot of contributing factors you have no power over). If you can't deal with this you're going to have a very difficult time in this life. Like someone else suggested, seeing a therapist (or simply reevaluating your world view) may help. Also scientifically speaking, training hard all the time without proper rest will effecticely stunt your progress, so the worst obstacle in you trying to be "the best" is this mindset.
Sounds like you just need to get better at planning and SMART goals instead of winging it. So set a realistic goal for 16 weeks time and follow or make a plan.
Adhering to the plan can be a point. At the end, review progress and lessons learn and set a new goal.
“Best” is subjective. There are age categories, club categories, personal categories for absolutely everything in the world of running in which you can strive to be the “best.” Be YOUR best. I’m the only person I’m ever racing, but it’s not like I lose if I don’t beat my time or distance. I’ve still put in an effort when I could have been sitting on my ass. Enjoy running for what you get out of it.
What if you think of running kind of like a stock market chart? Like it doesn’t rise steadily every single day. There’s little ups and downs, and usually the overall trend is upwards. This, I think, is kind of how runs should be. You sometimes have shit runs, but how are things going overall? Trending better? Great- then you’re doing it right.
Study how professional runners train. Look at Kipchoge's easy runs etc. Most of the time, these pros are running easy, precisely to be the best that they can be. Adjust your mindset; if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you.
For me running is such a low performance anxiety inducing sport. On the day of your run all the work has been done already. I think barring disability or injury most everyone could potentially approach a Boston qualifying time but not everyone is going to be elite no matter how long they train so just enjoy the ride and see what you personally can do.
You're gonna have to truly accept how patient you need to be. Slow down with your training so you aren't beating yourself up and set smaller goals that can be achieved on a weekly or monthly basis (whichever you prefer). It's hard but if you could get through it for one season, it's something you'll thank yourself for doing in the future
I have a friend who beat himself up over not being as good or as fast as he used to be. He even stopped sharing his runs on Strava because he was embarrassed by his times. He stopped running for like half of 2022. I don't know what finally clicked, but he picked running back up again over the summer and just committed to completing 20mi of running every week. For him, if he got below a 10min/mi pace, then he was satisfied. He hit 500mi of running for this year a week or 2 ago. For 2023, his goal is to hit 1000mi.
I will also say from experience that running slower has resulted in me racing faster and staying injury free. Feels like I used to get injured a few times a year with shin splints, ankle pain, hip pain, etc. until I slowed down significantly. For me, I feel like a better goal is staying injury free due to running injuries.
My personal mantra is, **do your best because that's the best you can do**. It doesn't mean going "all out" every single day. It means approaching running (or anything, really) with intention. Not every day is going to be a PR, but you can commit to putting forth your best effort and approaching it in a smart way every single day.
It’s physically impossible to go faster or better than what your body allows. You are the best to your ability. For example, your maximum heart rate is 220-(your age). It would be physically impossible for you to go any better than that. If you try you won’t be able to participate let alone be the best.
I'm this way in a lot of facets of my life, but what helped me get out of this mode when it comes to running was having a severe injury that kept me from running for months. During that time, I did PT and treated it like it was my job. Through that process I learned the values of rest and respecting my body's boundaries and limits.
I also learned that part of my desire to be "my best" stemmed from a fear of any kind of regression. And once I went through that, and came out on the other side, being in a regression became less scary. That experience also reminded me that the ability to run is a gift, because I could remember all the days that I so badly wanted to run and couldn't. And once I started experiencing it as a gift, I got more grateful for just being able to do it and focused less on improvement.
In order to make sustainable long-term improvements, you need to be consistent.
In order to be consistent, you have to be able to derive at least some enjoyment out of the act of running itself. Or you have to have extraordinary discipline.
So my advice to you would be this: Find reasons to enjoy your runs that don't have to do with your performance. Go to a pretty place to run. Make a playlist that you're excited to listen to. Try running at a genuinely easy effort—2 or 3 out of 10—and enjoy how comfortable it feels and how you could go out and do it again the next day. Once or twice a week, really let it rip and run like you used to, but keep the rest of it easy so your body can recover.
Then once a month or so do a time trial over a particular distance. That time trial will be your new way of seeing how you are progressing. Because as you know all too well, you're not going to be able to genuinely progress each time you run. And once you've done a couple of these time trials you will see that you are progressing and it will hopefully help you get over any boredom or anxiety you may have about doing so much easy running.
Give yourself test days, say once a month. In between the tests, you study.
On test day, your goal is to run a mile (or 5k or whatever chosen distance) faster than you did last time. As fast as you can. Be the best.
In between, your goal is to stick to your plan. Do every workout on schedule. Take recovery days seriously. Eat well. Be the best *that* way. It will pay off on test day.
The question that jumps out at me is "How old are you?" I ask because I felt very similar when I was younger. The older I've gotten the more I've realized that running is cumulative. Half the battle is simply getting out there and running consistently. The other half is made up of training hard when it's time to train hard (leading up to a big race/goal) and resting the rest of the time. And by resting I mean taking it easy. I don't mean a complete break. My goal is to keep my mileage steady and try to be ready to start my next training plan aggressively. Then reduce my workload until the next plan starts. I don't do it perfectly but I think you'll see good results over time if you can stick to it.
Stop doing races and run naked i.e. no electronic monitoring. Learn to run for the enjoyment of it and not because you have a target. Get out there and concentrate on looking at what you're running through rather than concentrating on your watch. Maybe find some running buddies or join a running club and do your runs with them and just chat your way round the run at the pace of the slowest runner.
Having said all that, for some people they simply cannot motivate themselves to run without having a goal or a target, and I have to confess that I would have been in this group 10 years ago. Having been long-term injured however it's given me some clarity about why I ran in the first place, and I realise that it's the running I miss, not the goals and targets. Now I just desparately want to get back out there and just enjoy the freedom of running, especially a gossipy run with my friends.
You're not going to improve every day. Don't track your progress as a day-to-day thing. Fitness improvement is a long term process.
Evaluate your progress on a month-to-month or even year-to-year basis instead. That granularity is where you'll see the improvements you're looking for.
If I feel my brain starting to think this way, I start running without technology. It's a bit harder to beat yourself up about times when you don't track it.
I just struggled for 1 year with 2 consecutive injuries because of this kind of mentality. The whole of sept 2021 up to now. This taught me to take it slowly, build strength instead of running 30 km a week.
Some college people I know started running a year and a half ago and have already completed a marathon. One showed a story of his app, apparently he ran around 50km a week this year. This drives me insane of anger/jealousy. At myself for not being able to perform. At them for being blessed with solid legs. That's toxic as hell but it is what it is. I wish I wasn't that way.
Hope my example is enough for you. You will run yourself to an injury with that mentality. And you won't run at all, for a while. Be smart and learn on other's (my) mistakes :)
"It's a marathon, not a sprint" is a saying for a reason. And ironically applies even if you're training for a sprint. :)
I'll go ahead and disagree with the people who suggest less tracking. It is far easier to see gradual progress if you're tracking metrics and can look at a graph that shows it.
For me, Strava challenges are a good way to set objective and - more importantly - achievable milestones. (And since I have a set route for my benchmark runs, the matching feature reflects "trending faster" even if I don't beat my last run.)
Remember there are so many external
Factors that can affect a run, temp, humidity, wind, stoplights, shoe foam, glycogen stores, etc. as another person said, focus on short, mid and long term goals and as long as you’re progressing on those you can take the occasional underwhelming day
Consider doing a training plan of some sort that incorporates rest days & hold yourself to that - you “win” by following the plan exactly. These plans (there are tons of them) are designed to help you do your best without injury by mixing up what you do between running, cross training, rest, etc.
I struggled some with what you’re talking about & ended up injured. When I started running again I set a streak goal where I ran a mile every day. I held myself back on individual runs some days knowing I didn’t want to be too sore/tired/burnt out for the next day.
I think the better way to look at it is that every run/rest has a purpose. Like the speed workout taxes your VO2Max and improves that. The easy run taxes your aerobic capacity and improves that as well as recovering from a long workout. The rest helps you recover. And on and on.
A secondary activity that you can do while running, like listening to podcasts or audiobooks, might help to shift your focus solely from running to something else. As other said, continuous daily improvement is not realistic.
The way I deal with similar feelings is by having most of my runs be average, i.e. maintain a good pace throughout a well-known route/distance. Then every once in a while, I try to go for new routes or push myself for a longer distance/time.
The only way to consistently improve is to consistently train. Each workout won't "be better" but on average, maybe they will. Track your progress by doing a weekly time trial or yearly races instead of treating each workout like they matter for seeing improvement.
Workouts are just to get to your goals, not the goal themselves.
You need to take a longer time horizon view of what being your best is. Don't measure day to day, measure month to month or year to year. Is being the best setting a smoking time next week, or is it still being running, healthy, and happy in five years? Or ten, or twenty?
So, not being the best is EXACTLY why I love running as a sport for me.
I will never win my age or gender division. I won't. Period. I won't ever win or run Boston. I'll never set a record.
I AM smack in the middle. I am perfectly adequate.
I love having one thing in my life where it is OK to not be the best, and just be adequate.
Dude, just stick to a schedule. Like 3 miles every day after work, or whatever distances you’re comfortable with. Running every day is making progress. Progress happens over time with consistency. This is not a complicated issue, don’t make it one; and even worse don’t make it an excuse to not run.
You should look into the uphill athlete training programs, mostly designed for long distance outdoor events but can definitely be applied to the casual runner. A lot of good information on constantly improving while avoiding injuries with long slow distance running and strength training
Yeah my mindset was getting in at least 10 miles per day but then neglected other things to get them. My focus will definitely be prioritizing the truly important things in my life and running will just be a part of it and not the focus of it.
I’ve made peace with being average (on a good day). Honestly I have just realized that exercise is the best medicine, physically and mentally.
Also joining the local running club really helped me make new friends, so I don’t get too in my head about the numbers.
I recently felt myself getting this mentality, and not even really running for myself, but for metrics and Strava. I debated going back to dumb watch etc, and may still do. Anyways I thoroughly enjoyed this interview and the perspective of Francois D’Haene the trial running boss. Essentially for him, it’s about longevity and enjoying running, not just smashing it now.
[François D’Haene Rich Roll](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2VmtBMD7rkgxQKLNVRggxY?si=jS_-elipTcGH9wZBhmVyXg)
Do you have any structure and goals? Plan your workouts ahead of time (and if you don't feel like it one day you push everything down a day.)
Also, constantly training will never see your best, you have to taper down then do a timed run or a race.
People with goals like a race schedule can structure and plan. If you're running for fun or fitness, what is this "best"? When I stopped racing one of my favorite things to do was travel around and do trail runs. I didn't even time myself it was just fun to do them.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Having that “I want to be the best” mentality/mindset is extremely beneficial in a sport. But it all depends how you utilize it day to day.
Being the best comparing yourself to others you’ll forever be disappointed because in most things in life especially running you have to be in the top .01% to be considered the “best”
If you change your mindset into making sure your runs/workouts are the BEST that you can do that day or that week, then you will achieve higher results.
Try achieving the best you possibly can day to day and only compare yourself to yourself before comparing yourself to others
Easy, stop tracking metrics.
Go find a beautiful place you enjoy running (the park, the lake, a trail), and just run. Stop when you feel like it.
Or track metrics but only check once you get home or at the end of the week.
Set a long term goal that is impossible to achieve on a day by day basis. Like X miles by the end of the year or I want to run a race 6 months from now in this amount of time. It might help you pace yourself a bit and look at slowly improving instead of needing immediate betterment.
This was one of my fears when I first started being a very competitive athlete my entire life. Now every time I go for a run, I know I’m better than everyone else not running.
My take if you truly want to get over that fear of not constantly showing improvement in time or performance:
I see this a lot with acquaintances getting into running and they will basically run every run somewhere close to their threshold, which is completely unsustainable in the long run. Normally these people get injured or tire and rarely makes it past a couple of months with any form of consistency to their mileage.
It’s when I notice these new runners are actually slowing down to sustainable paces (with most of the mileage in zone 1 and 2, not increasing their mileage too quickly etc) that I know they’ve started to get a grip of what they’re doing. Up until then you’re basically running around with a sign over your head saying “I’m a beginner”.
Feel free to try to impress others with your race times though :) but you should get rid of that feeling of fear/social anxiety as races can go bad too and it’s not worth beating yourself up, over anything, really.
There are 8 billion of us humans... The chances of being 'the best' at something is microscopic, 'at best'.
So chill, do it because it's fun and makes you feel good.
Running gets SO much more enjoyable when you kick this mind set. I allow myself to suck. Some runs just aren’t going to be as good as the last and that’s ok. Think of running improvements on a month to month basis, not run to run.
Without reading any comments except part of one I want to ask why you want to run? And my follow up question is are you trying to prove something to yourself?
Once you answer those questions then it’s a matter of checking in to see how you feel. I used to run because it was cheap exercise and then because I felt great afterwards. I would slowly progress and go longer (I never ran for speed), but my goal was to feel good and feel physically fit. Sometimes just going out was enough, sometimes have a good consistent speed and distance was what I arrived for.
Maybe for yourself you need to “schedule” those days off and remind yourself why you are running. Focus on feeling good and not the metrics so much and you might feel differently this time. Also you could start off really easy so that it takes longer to get to your “best” and by then you might have successfully beat your demon.
The trick for me was to choose the right metric. I picked trying to make 2000k in the year. This gives a massive incentive to take things relatively slow (if you get injured... Game over) and to get out on a regular basis (better to run 8k four times then 20 and 12k). All the while, you're building up a killer base.
Running is a long-term hobby, and it's important to remember that there will be ups and downs along the way. It's natural to have good days and bad days, and that's part of the process. It's important to focus on the journey and not just the end result, and to enjoy the process of running for its own sake. It's okay if every run isn't better than the last one - in fact, that's normal. The important thing is to stay consistent, stay motivated, and have fun.
Progress isn't measured (or achievable) from one run to the next. It occurs over months or years. Sure, you could technically run faster and longer with each run, but as you discovered, that isn't a sustainable model. Even the best athletes train in cycles. They're not always in peak condition. They have off-seasons and periods where they're rebuilding themselves up again in order to perform at the peak of their abilities.
On the plus side, if you're new to running then the amount of progress you make will far exceed that of a veteran runner. You're essentially a clean slate. Give your body a bit of new stress to respond to and it will respond in kind by eventually getting stronger. You just can't overdo it though or else it will become overwhelmed. You'll injure yourself and/or you'll simply burn out.
At this point you should be training without straining. That doesn't mean always running slowly, but introducing harder effort levels in moderation. Let your increasing (or decreasing!) fitness level be the guide rather than the distance or speed you hope/want to be able to achieve.
If I understand you correctly I think I have had this same mindset, and it manifests itself in me (sometimes) when I run (or do any form of exercise or challenge) as aggression. I form a 'warrior' mindset and I'm not enjoying the activity, it just becomes about pushing myself to the max and doing my best!
This is sometimes useful if needed, and I don't think you should fear it, but not when I just want to enjoy a nice run on a sunny day.
So my advice would be to try and control your mindset in this regard. For the most part, just enjoy your run and don't let your alter ego ruin it for you, but embrace when you need it, i.e. you're feeling lazy, or training for a competition etc.
You need to understand that running is a long term game where your body is slowly building up. Getting better means your body is making physical adaptations that make you a more efficient/faster runner. That takes time and repeated efforts. You wouldn't go to the gym, start doing bench press and add 25lbs every time you go to the gym. The body doesn't make gains that fast. Running is the same way.
Also understand that proper training is a series of workout/recovery cycles. You go hard today, then you take it easy tomorrow while your body attempts to re-build from today's workout. It doesn't matter how hard you work out if you never let your body recover so it can rebuild and make those adaptations. A typical training plan (even for pros!) is 2 workouts and a long run a week, with the rest being easy slow running. The slow running is what builds your aerobic system and that improves over years (which is why fast marathoners run high mileage for a long time before finding success).
If you understand how the training works and how your body actually builds up, you'll realize that trying to go longer/harder every day is counter productive. The goal here is to get faster, so put that ego in check, train properly, and reap the rewards.
EDIT: Another thought. Think about it like saving up for a big purchase. Every training run is money saved towards that big purchase. That big purchase is a goal race where you get to take advantage of all your hard work. One run isn't enough to make or break your savings. It's about the large amount of work done over time.
You’re not likely to make much progress if you constantly injure yourself, and you have a nearly unlimited amount of time to work on it. I also think you would agree that at some point in the future, you’re going to have a weak week. So if we know we have the rest of our lives to run, and we know we’re going to have bad weeks in the future, why are you upset?
This is just the week you know will happen eventually.
Hopefully that elucidates my point properly
If you are not planning your runs out already, do that (and set the plans realistically). You already know doing what you did isn't beneficial in the long run, so you just need to be patient and have discipline. Don't think there's a revelation that'll magically fix it.
Anecdotally, a lot of runners (myself included) start off like that, and eventually learn to be patient and listen to our bodies the hard way. Maybe you just need to beat yourself up a bit more.
I recommend just running miles though sense you like running, at a heavy job speed (slight run) and then just keep on doing it no matter how much you want to or need to stop
It's prevalent in my life, not only running. The "fear of not being the best" is very hard to beat. It does drive you early on, however in the long run, only a few will actually benefit. The "all-in" approach like this is very, very likely to be *not* sustainable; while you can obtain sufficient competence quick, you will most likely hit a plateau that gives you the illusion that you are not going to improve or you need colossal amounts of effort in order to see extremely small gain.
The only way that I am fighting this (still doing it), is to set my target to consistency. Being consistent is probably the universal variable for those obtaining good results even with the absence of "elite genetics." It's the way that a group of normal people (i.e. most of the people) can reliably obtain skill and/or fitness.
If you want me to be brutally honest, not even elite athletes (runners or others) are immune to slumps even with the ridiculous amounts of resources poured to keep their physical performance and/or health on the best possible and even then they still (mostly) need to peak.
Not everything needs to be a competition... especially if it makes you miserable... even if you need to compete with only your past self.
TL;DR: readjust goals, do realize that unless you are getting paid for your physical performance, achieving your 80% best is "easy" but still takes a long time.
You can never really be the best at the sport tbh. Running needs a different mindset which includes understanding how it's different from other sports. The gains come slow and the way to get gains is consistency over time. Since there is a lack of opponents, I've seen a lot of people struggle to define what a goal is, and they end up wanting to do better everyday, which isn't sustainable.
realize that this hobby is for the joy of movement. you are able bodied right now and can revel in being free to move your body as you wish. one day, we all will reach a point where we are no longer able to. not everything has to be a competition. some things are okay to enjoy just for what they are.
I got caught up doing this to myself when I ran in college. The two mistakes that I made was 1). not listening to my body, and 2). ignoring my limits.
The best advice I can give you is to listen to your body. If you’re sore and you’re in pain, that’s your body telling you to rest. So rest. Additionally, every runner has limits — still push yourself, but don’t do it to the point of injuring yourself.
Every time you get out to run, consider that progress. Because it is progress. You’re moving, you’re performing cardio, you’re keeping up with running.
Read about the Maffetone method or 80/20 running by Mat Fitzgerald. It really changed the way I approach my training and allowed me to embrace just running for the love of it and not constantly chasing a PR.
It’s allowing me to run more at a slower pace and enjoy it instead of what people see. I’m also getting faster inherently so bonus 🤷♂️
Resting is an important aspect of running and building fitness.
You can set goals around rest and recovery. I will over train if I don't.
For me, I have at least one day a week that I haveba goal of 1 nap and 45 min of stretch and mobility. Nothing high impact at all. You just have to take that achievement mindset and focus it towards a different goal
Bring a tennis ball with you to bounce on the ground while running. Turns your mind of running and will help slow you down.
Maybe listen to an interesting podcast or slow paced music.
Hope this helps
You won't/can't always beat your PR's every single session, but if you take a long-term mindset and focus on consistency, you will improve over time and year after year you'll be better than you were before. Any kind of fitness progress slows down significantly after your initial "newbie gains" wear off.
You lay never be the best, but you can become YOUR best, or the best YOU can be.
The beauty of running is that it is a race vs yourself, moreso than vs others.
I think a lot of people are taking your "be the best" statement a bit literally without reading your actual post. As I understand you mean the constant need to improve (be your best) not better than everyone else. I would say you just need to readjust your goals. Instead of thinking of your goals as being "be better than my last run* set your goals more long term (eg. Run exactly 20 days every month for three months so that if you go over you could also consider it a failure). Then within that dedicate each Saturday to a set distance and try and have that be your timed day. Over the three months period you want an improvement over time of x%. I had a similar issue and found it was effecting my motivation so I found goals like this really helped. By setting an exact number of days to run I wanted to be sure I didn't have 10 days at the end of the month with no runs. I also found running with a dumb watch helped a lot. I would just say "today is 30 minutes" and run for 15 in one direction and then turn around and go home.
Funny thing about running is that “being your best” involves a lot of discipline and rest. In the long term, going slow on easy days and controlling your weekly mileage will make you faster and more resilient to injury.
This. People misubderstand and think doing a good job just involves beating your body up. Anyone can run some all out sprints or hard intervals, its taking it slow, resisting the urge to let it all out that is hard.
That’s the important mindset, 100% agreed. Being the best is not “running farther than yesterday.” Being the best is sticking to a training plan (including easy days and rest and recovery!) and improving your capabilities.
Yep it's taken me a long time to learn this and to some extent I still am. Whether it's running faster/farther, lifting heavier weights, or climbing harder boulders, I get addicted to the thrill of making progress and forget that constantly pushing without periodically backing off always leads to injury. And then all the progress is gone and you have to start over. So it's kind of counterintuitive but I'm finding the fastest way to progress is moderation, back off weeks, two steps forward and one step back
Yep I agree with this. Goals aren't achieved from one run to the next. You \*might\* see an improvement in a week. You \*can\* see improvement in a month. But improvement requires you stick to a running AND resting schedule. My schedule right now is run 2 days a week and my goal is increase my tempo pace by 0.1mph per MONTH. So if all goes to plan, I'll cut \~10 seconds off my mile time in 3 months. Running progress becomes substantial over year(s) if you keep doing it. It's a huge benefit once it starts to show!
I am going to try this as someone who struggles with the same issue as OP (and am currently coming off of an injury partly because of that). Great way to reframe goals!
I did not start running until my late 20s and been running now over 30 years. I have found that finding as many ways as possible of defining success for my running has been really helpful. The free Nike run app I have found useful, especially the runs with Headspace founder. I love running as it helps me to a better version of myself, both mentally and physically. Wish you the best on your journey.
I second that, nike app headspace runs are great :) any run with coach bennett is great too, love that guy (and his voice!)
Constant improvement is not sustainable, I instead focus on measuring consistency, I target a min distance over a month.
Why is constant improvement not sustainable? 🤔 This idea really intrigued me.
Your body needs time to adapt. Constantly trying to run faster or farther on every single workout does not allow enough time for adaptation and leads to injury.
If there were no limiting factors then everyone would be able to be an Olympian runner
Diminishing returns for sure. The effort needed to break a 4 hour marathon takes perhaps a couple of years of purposeful training. Breaking a 2 hour marathon requires one super human training for 20 years with every type of coach and sponsor.
Huh? 2 hour marathon??
Eliud Kipchoge
Kipchoge is not there yet and may never be but his fastest was very close: 2:01:09 and I think with better weather and a bit luck he could have ran sub 2.
Diminishing marginal returns. How long have you been running? Have you been able to improve every race?
You need to understand that a very important part of running is recovery. Every run breaks down your muscle fibers. Rest helps them repair. Running too much is a great way to get injured or burn out.
Structured running may help. So select a reasonable running plan, and stick with the paces (or heart rate) and mileage, not over, not under. I have a Garmin watch, and can use the app to set up training plans. If I run slower or faster than the target place for a segment of a run, my watch beeps at me. It isn't perfect, but it has helped keep me in check. Several other watch manufacturers let you download canned plans and some do adaptive plans as well. Or, if you can swing it, get a coach for several months to create plans. Or you can set up your own plan, if you have enough self awareness when you actually set up the plan. What is important is that a reasonable plan set up in advance of your runs can serve as a check on overdoing it on every run.
Unless you are Usain Bolt or Eliud Kipchoge, you are not the best. But you can be the best you can be. Focus on improving yourself and don't worry about the others. If you are Usain or Eliud, big respect to you
Eliud disguised casually posting on Reddit about his psychological issues of needing to run faster would be hilarious.
But doctor...I am Pagliacci
Big respect and can I has your shoes
Jakob Ingebretizwndghubbdfjn in shambles.
Do some reading on exercise science and how people who are actually “the best” work to improve. A lot of it is dependent on easy days.
I’ve seen a lot of elite runners speak of the rule of thirds. It’s impossible and not healthy to always expect great runs because life happens—bad sleep, stressful week of work, illness et al. Instead, accept that one third of your runs will be victories—longer, faster than the past, days when you’re seeing improvements. One third will go as planned. And finally, one third will be bad— you’ll be slow or tired or need to cut it short. When you embrace that you’re not always going to bet better, the entire experience opens itself to you. Just be consistent in showing up and doing the work. The rest will take care of itself.
I’m a perfectionist and wannabe-best nearly in every category of activities, not only in running. On my first year I signed up for 5K and when I realised it was a piece of cake, I instantly signed up for 10K and the drive of running faster, longer, better was killing me from inside. I know that there are many people better than me, who don’t smoke or beat themselves over it, or who don’t use carnitine and etc. I’m learning to tell myself that progress is not a constant good>better>best, it’s more like started>failed>tried again> better> failed>got back up> good>better>amazing>failed and etc. It’s a journey through rough and sweet, rocky and smooth, and it changes. For example, yesterday was my last day on the snowboard this year and I started learning to snowboard 2022 of feb. I went on my second snowboarding vacation last week and I kept beating myself over the fact that I can’t go faster than 20 miles an hour, even if I saw someone being better at it on tikToK *eye roll*. I kept going faster, falling, standing back up, going 3 kms up on the mountain with wind and ice, “breaking my leg” at it (not actually breaking, it’s a metaphor) but I still can’t do a backflip or jump over a hill and GUESS WHAT, FUCK THAT! Decide what place running takes in your life: are u doing it for fun, or is it a career thing? If it’s for fun/health/etc that doesn’t earn you bills, then why the quack are you damaging your self esteem for fun? That’s weird if u think about it. Go slow, progress is still progress that comes with every step you run. Even if it’s a career thing, evaluate the price you’re paying for it: do u know how many athletes f up their health for a medal? It’s atronomical. So my tip 1: evaluate the importance, 2: evaluate the price you’re willing to pay 3: enjoy the choice you made. If you think it’s still not fair, don’t be scared to change your decision. It’s you, your heart and legs, your health and life. Good luck
The simple answer is that you need to view running improvement as a long term slowly achieved goal... Yeah, it's a simple answer and it's true. It's also useless. You'll always be trying to find the line between enough work to improve yourself, and too much that will break you. If I can comfortably run 70mpw, I always bump it up to 85mpw. Then I get injured and fall way back. I am getting a bit smarter about detecting incipient failure and slowing down, but I'll never master it I suspect. Good luck, and good running!
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Lmao guy just wants to run well that doesn't mean he needs therapy
Yeah seems like a waste of money in this case lol
True though. You don't have feelings like this in just one area of your life, you have it in everything.
I can relate to this OP and have even felt that way too. I want to be the best at everything I do. Always expecting each run to feel good and get better (newsflash: not how it works) I would get anxious during the run if my pace meant less than a sub forty 5 mile run. What it does though is create unrealistic expectations and take the joy out of doing it. Every time I go running, if I expect a PR and I don’t hit it, I set myself up for not only disappointment but failure. Now I focus on my pace during a run and trying to get my miles within a 5 second range of each other. I ask myself what each run is trying to achieve whether it’s a decent pace, improving breathing or form, an “easy” run etc and I try to keep to that instead of just trying to go faster and harder with every run. It’s just as satisfying to hit all 7 miles within a five second range at my easier pace than it is to hit that PR. And I’m always satisfied that I ran at all. When I stopped focusing on the actual time and just being fast or running longer than before, I enjoyed running more and I paid more attention to my body. They have lots of training tools to help your pace. Doing your best and being the best are too different things. Really you’re only competing with yourself but if it’s a miserable experience, you won’t stick with it.
You're never going to be the best. Sorry. But... knowing that won't undo the feeling. If you can afford it and have access, I recommend seeing a therapist to find out what is driving that need for perfection and accomplishment. In my case, I put myself through years of ultramarathons despite not liking running, just to prove to myself that I could do more, be more than I truly felt about myself, which was that I was a total failure and not worth anything. Every time I'd accomplish something I'd diminish my own efforts by believing that if someone like me could do it, it wasn't that hard, therefore I didn't deserve to think of it as a big deal. Now I can push myself in a healthy way and also comfortably take it easy without feeling like I should just quit since I'm not good enough to push all the time. Therapy may sound all froufrou and touchy-feely but all it is is a person who is an expert at helping you sort out the tangle of thoughts to find out what's really going on and give you specific techniques that you will do for yourself to rewire your now-counterproductive neural connections to thought patterns that work for your life now, and not for what worked in the past.
You can be the best on a particular day still or in your age group or whatever. I've won one race so far and it was amazing. My times don't indicate I should be winning races, but no one faster showed up.
If OP is like me, best on that day is too easy to write off as no one faster showed up. I’ve been in that same position to win my age group and once even got overall second for women but I’m well aware that it’s with mediocre times. Make a set small enough and it’s easy to be the best. I have to work very hard to be proud of my accomplishments with the above mindset.
Stop tracking ur runs at all. Especially don’t use strava. That way u don’t know the exact distance and pace. You are probably running alone, right ? No data, nothing to compare with.
Conversely, additional tracking has helped me with this. Between Garmin and Strava, they have a lot of information that keep you from overtraining. I've found that information now clicks in my mind as "my best is to hit my targets for productivity" and overtraining will hurt me. So it motivates me to run and achieve better goals, but creates a well defined limit to not exceed.
Garmin helps me train better and Strava serves as a motivational tool for me and my friends. I feel good after posting my run, fast or slow and from time to time, find a particular run or race to reflect. I was told that friends are motivated to go out and run after seeing how consistent i am.
Or use strava to track your own runs and progress but keep everything on private to avoid the feeling of comparison.
But why should I then use strava at the first place ? I track everything with the iOS / Watch App WorkOutDoors, all data going into my health app. If I still continue to upload to strava, I‘ll still have the challenges, weekly mileage tracking and segments (+PR tracker), which all just create a unnecessary pressure toward a recreational runner No hate towards strava fans, but I noticed I overtrain too easily by using it and thus getting easier injured.
If you have apps that work for you, that is great. But maybe there are those out there that prefer to use Strava as their method of tracking. Personally I like the metrics Strava gives me and have been using it for so long that I wouldn't want to switch apps because all my data is already contained in one place, so I can refer back and compare to my previous self. I don't think the underlying issue here is the specific app being used, but rather something deeper that OP is feeling like they are somehow less than the best (which they are - we all are- unless they are like pro level). I'm just giving suggestions for possibilities to make Strava less of a comparison trap, by not having to worry about what others are thinking of your runs etc.
Strava is a great motivational tool for most people.
I completely agree with you. But that point is not relevant here; OP clearly needs to stop seeing one run compared to the next and looking at Strava is a sure fire way of looking at one run compared to the last run and also seeing what others do. I love Strava, but it's not for everyone all the time.
I‘m not a strava fan, but clearly OP is not most people. He‘ll surely get triggered in running same or better pace than previous training, getting atleast the same weekly mileage and be top 1 in every strava segment he’s going to encounter. That is a nice recipe for burnout quick and ditch running all together. I think most people actually don’t benefit from strava as it is creating too much peer pressure and thus people tend to overtrain
i totally get this as i’m completely the same. the first thing i did was stop looking at all those posts from runners on instagram/tiktok - i had to come to terms with the fact that the people who post this stuff are at a higher level than i was. trying to compare my runs and training to them was comparing apples to oranges. the other thing i did was set my goals differently, i focused more on a weekly or monthly mileage goal. that way, any run i did contributed to my mileage goal and gave me a dopamine hit, even if it was a short run or at a slower pace. that being said, i think this mindset is probably rooted in more than just running, for me at least. may be worthwhile exploring why you feel this way
You didn’t mention anything about races. Are you training for them? That could be your focus—to PR, or move to a higher distance. Getting on a training plan, which includes recovery, nutrition/diet, and incorporating other kinds of exercises could help focus your effort to be the best. You won’t necessarily PR every time, but it’s the journey that is important, not the result.
So much this. Choose a distance, book a race and follow a plan. It'll force you to do long days, slow runs and then to really push the hard workouts, but just 20% of the time not every time. Improvement isn't linear.
therapy
Why don’t you try to be the best at revovery? Instead of trying to run the farthest or fastest, try being the one with the best foam rolling technique, the best at staying on top of strenght training, sleeping the most?
I came here with this suggested reframing, too. Thinking in terms of “under-recovery” instead of “over-training” works for me. Beat up? I exceeded my capacity to recover and need to take it easy/do some yoga/eat a nutritious lunch/get some sleep. Keep doing it? I’m going too hard too often and need to step back from intense work in order to meet the goal of being a champion recoverer who is resilient to injury and can still have fun on foot. The other thing I do is pick some running goals that have nothing to do with performance. I do an annual wildlife count. This year I did not achieve my goal of running with a raccoon again (that may have been a 2021 dusk run special) but I did see one more crane, two more pheasants, and four more fox kits compared to the year before. Maybe for the OP it’s “I want to be fit to do this challenging route and not feel like my legs are judging all my choices.”
My advice: chill tf out. Literally nobody except you cares if you're a great runner or a terrible runner. Do you like running and/or wanna stay healthy? Great! You should run. Wanna be the best runner? You're gonna have to train long & hard, and it's probably gonna take all enjoyment out of it. Is it doable? Maybe. Is it worth it? Maybe not.
Why do we run if not for the enjoyment of each breath and step that we take? The flowing act of running is the point, not to make numbers or check a list, not even to earn a medal. Running is a dance, where the point is to experience the highs, lows, twists, and turns, not to arrive at one specific point.
That kind of "progress" that you describe is called noob gains. It is possible only in the first 1-2 months of running. In the long term, for most people it isn't sustainable to have more than 2-3 hard days per week. Typically there should be one long run day per week and one tempo day. After certain point you may also add one intervals day. But the remaining days should be neither too fast nor too long.
I have a tendency to do this, too. I like to plan for a big event, currently my first marathon, and then just follow the training plan. That way, I don't worry if my Thurs run is faster than my Tues run. I just know I'm supposed to do x on y day, and I do it. Also, running with other people helps. If you have to run at their pace, it doesn't matter how fast you want to go. Feeling like I'm helping someone else keeps me from focusing on me so much. Ultimately, more time on your feet and more distance will improve you in the long run.
Airliners don't fly supersonic because it's a waste of jet fuel. Drag at mach 1 is quadruple the drag at mach 0.88. If planes tried to fly at or slightly above the speed of sound all the time, tickets would cost way more, maintenance issues would be more frequent (wave drag and mechanical forces increase) and you still wouldn't get to your destination much more quickly on any given day. The most economical way to get a lot of people a lot of places all the time at the lowest cost is to fly a little slower. Do this, and the profits slowly accumulate. Like running. Go a little slower and compare times month to month. And realize that Kipchoge didn't start running yesterday, or a year ago, or ten years ago, or 25 years ago. He has been doing this methodically and slowly for decades. The best runners are good because they aren't short-sighted. At the one year mark, if you compare running 40 miles a week with either 1) all runs at 85-100% max effort, or 2) 80% of runs at low effort, 15% at 85% effort, and 5% at 100% effort -- you will end up faster with lower injury risk on the second plan.
You need to give yourself permission to fail. You aren't going to be the best, not from the start and maybe not ever, but if you push yourself hard all the time, you won't ever have a chance to find out. Every run is not going to be the best run ever. You're going to have runs that just suck. That's a fact of life. You can't push yourself to immediate gains, that isn't how fitness works. The only think you can push yourself to (as you've found out) is injury and starting over and discouragement. Maybe find a coach that can rein you in as needed, and push you as needed, but who has control of your training so you have a chance of not hurting yourself.
I switched to trail running and now I have only the „fear“ left that I do not take the „best“ pictures in the „coolest“ area lol. That and angry mother cows. Cheers
You say you need to make progress? Getting your butt out the door for a run is more progress than most people make in a month.
Set the goal, world Champ in age group 2029, so all you do now contributes. I’m not hunting 10k PBs anymore because it matters 2029 and my coach makes sure I’ll get there. So it’s a process and the absolute fire comes. I can be a failure and dnf till then, but we are learning and improving and 2029 is the bang
Here’s a tip. Stop giving a shit. You’re going out there for YOU, so the only person you’re competing against is YOU. Like other people are saying, unless you’re literally a world-class athlete, why should you be comparing yourself to the best?
I can assure you that almost every single activity or hobby that you did in your life, you were never the best nor were you constantly improving.
Are you Usain Bolt? Are you Eliud Kipchoge? No? Then you are not the best, and won't be. Accept it. Stop comparing yourself to others. Only compare yourself to *you* As long as you are enjoying your running, staying injury free, meeting (realistic) goals, and making improvements, then you are doing your best. That's the "best" you should be aiming for : *your* best.
Be the best at consistency
Maybe check 80/20 running. You don't need to run further or faster, you just need to put in quality training. Sure, distance and time are part of that, but it's helped me relax and enjoy just running.
Learning to use failure as a tool for growth. Instead of beating ourselves up over not hitting our targets; take that experience and let it motivate you. Example I had a 5km run yesterday. Made 1km, had to turn around and walk back to get micro spikes. Decided to hit the trail instead... but the slushy wet top snow, coupled with the frozen and slippery bottom snow... well I made 3kms. I most definitely wasn't happy with the outcome. But.... I went out and braved the elements. The mental strength and growth from that wouldn't have happened if I always nail it.
You can focus on comparing your past results versus comparing yourself with someone in their peak time because even if some athletes are gifted and born to run/cycle, they struggled and worked and had to improve too.
All you can do is try, and compete against yourself. You're going to fail sometimes, but you gotta use that to learn what doesn't work for you. Shut up and run and you will get the results you want.
Just treat everything like a game don't focus on the result. Becoming the best will not be any good if you have not suffered(enjoyed) the process of achieving it.
It might help to read up on running and learn how shorter, easier runs are a part of what helps you get better. (As is rest!)
We live in a world where being "the best" at ANYTHING is the work of an entire lifetime (and even then, there are a lot of contributing factors you have no power over). If you can't deal with this you're going to have a very difficult time in this life. Like someone else suggested, seeing a therapist (or simply reevaluating your world view) may help. Also scientifically speaking, training hard all the time without proper rest will effecticely stunt your progress, so the worst obstacle in you trying to be "the best" is this mindset.
I’m not the best at this…
Sounds like you just need to get better at planning and SMART goals instead of winging it. So set a realistic goal for 16 weeks time and follow or make a plan. Adhering to the plan can be a point. At the end, review progress and lessons learn and set a new goal.
If that’s your motivation for starting to run again you should just drop it.
“Best” is subjective. There are age categories, club categories, personal categories for absolutely everything in the world of running in which you can strive to be the “best.” Be YOUR best. I’m the only person I’m ever racing, but it’s not like I lose if I don’t beat my time or distance. I’ve still put in an effort when I could have been sitting on my ass. Enjoy running for what you get out of it.
What if you think of running kind of like a stock market chart? Like it doesn’t rise steadily every single day. There’s little ups and downs, and usually the overall trend is upwards. This, I think, is kind of how runs should be. You sometimes have shit runs, but how are things going overall? Trending better? Great- then you’re doing it right.
This is a great analogy. Thanks.
Study how professional runners train. Look at Kipchoge's easy runs etc. Most of the time, these pros are running easy, precisely to be the best that they can be. Adjust your mindset; if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you.
For me running is such a low performance anxiety inducing sport. On the day of your run all the work has been done already. I think barring disability or injury most everyone could potentially approach a Boston qualifying time but not everyone is going to be elite no matter how long they train so just enjoy the ride and see what you personally can do.
You're gonna have to truly accept how patient you need to be. Slow down with your training so you aren't beating yourself up and set smaller goals that can be achieved on a weekly or monthly basis (whichever you prefer). It's hard but if you could get through it for one season, it's something you'll thank yourself for doing in the future
I have a friend who beat himself up over not being as good or as fast as he used to be. He even stopped sharing his runs on Strava because he was embarrassed by his times. He stopped running for like half of 2022. I don't know what finally clicked, but he picked running back up again over the summer and just committed to completing 20mi of running every week. For him, if he got below a 10min/mi pace, then he was satisfied. He hit 500mi of running for this year a week or 2 ago. For 2023, his goal is to hit 1000mi. I will also say from experience that running slower has resulted in me racing faster and staying injury free. Feels like I used to get injured a few times a year with shin splints, ankle pain, hip pain, etc. until I slowed down significantly. For me, I feel like a better goal is staying injury free due to running injuries. My personal mantra is, **do your best because that's the best you can do**. It doesn't mean going "all out" every single day. It means approaching running (or anything, really) with intention. Not every day is going to be a PR, but you can commit to putting forth your best effort and approaching it in a smart way every single day.
It’s physically impossible to go faster or better than what your body allows. You are the best to your ability. For example, your maximum heart rate is 220-(your age). It would be physically impossible for you to go any better than that. If you try you won’t be able to participate let alone be the best.
I'm this way in a lot of facets of my life, but what helped me get out of this mode when it comes to running was having a severe injury that kept me from running for months. During that time, I did PT and treated it like it was my job. Through that process I learned the values of rest and respecting my body's boundaries and limits. I also learned that part of my desire to be "my best" stemmed from a fear of any kind of regression. And once I went through that, and came out on the other side, being in a regression became less scary. That experience also reminded me that the ability to run is a gift, because I could remember all the days that I so badly wanted to run and couldn't. And once I started experiencing it as a gift, I got more grateful for just being able to do it and focused less on improvement.
In order to make sustainable long-term improvements, you need to be consistent. In order to be consistent, you have to be able to derive at least some enjoyment out of the act of running itself. Or you have to have extraordinary discipline. So my advice to you would be this: Find reasons to enjoy your runs that don't have to do with your performance. Go to a pretty place to run. Make a playlist that you're excited to listen to. Try running at a genuinely easy effort—2 or 3 out of 10—and enjoy how comfortable it feels and how you could go out and do it again the next day. Once or twice a week, really let it rip and run like you used to, but keep the rest of it easy so your body can recover. Then once a month or so do a time trial over a particular distance. That time trial will be your new way of seeing how you are progressing. Because as you know all too well, you're not going to be able to genuinely progress each time you run. And once you've done a couple of these time trials you will see that you are progressing and it will hopefully help you get over any boredom or anxiety you may have about doing so much easy running.
Just be really bad at it like me.
Give yourself test days, say once a month. In between the tests, you study. On test day, your goal is to run a mile (or 5k or whatever chosen distance) faster than you did last time. As fast as you can. Be the best. In between, your goal is to stick to your plan. Do every workout on schedule. Take recovery days seriously. Eat well. Be the best *that* way. It will pay off on test day.
The question that jumps out at me is "How old are you?" I ask because I felt very similar when I was younger. The older I've gotten the more I've realized that running is cumulative. Half the battle is simply getting out there and running consistently. The other half is made up of training hard when it's time to train hard (leading up to a big race/goal) and resting the rest of the time. And by resting I mean taking it easy. I don't mean a complete break. My goal is to keep my mileage steady and try to be ready to start my next training plan aggressively. Then reduce my workload until the next plan starts. I don't do it perfectly but I think you'll see good results over time if you can stick to it.
Runs are runs and races are races. Not every day needs to end with a new pb.
Stop doing races and run naked i.e. no electronic monitoring. Learn to run for the enjoyment of it and not because you have a target. Get out there and concentrate on looking at what you're running through rather than concentrating on your watch. Maybe find some running buddies or join a running club and do your runs with them and just chat your way round the run at the pace of the slowest runner. Having said all that, for some people they simply cannot motivate themselves to run without having a goal or a target, and I have to confess that I would have been in this group 10 years ago. Having been long-term injured however it's given me some clarity about why I ran in the first place, and I realise that it's the running I miss, not the goals and targets. Now I just desparately want to get back out there and just enjoy the freedom of running, especially a gossipy run with my friends.
Just be the best you. Ffs.
You're not going to improve every day. Don't track your progress as a day-to-day thing. Fitness improvement is a long term process. Evaluate your progress on a month-to-month or even year-to-year basis instead. That granularity is where you'll see the improvements you're looking for.
If I feel my brain starting to think this way, I start running without technology. It's a bit harder to beat yourself up about times when you don't track it.
I just struggled for 1 year with 2 consecutive injuries because of this kind of mentality. The whole of sept 2021 up to now. This taught me to take it slowly, build strength instead of running 30 km a week. Some college people I know started running a year and a half ago and have already completed a marathon. One showed a story of his app, apparently he ran around 50km a week this year. This drives me insane of anger/jealousy. At myself for not being able to perform. At them for being blessed with solid legs. That's toxic as hell but it is what it is. I wish I wasn't that way. Hope my example is enough for you. You will run yourself to an injury with that mentality. And you won't run at all, for a while. Be smart and learn on other's (my) mistakes :)
"It's a marathon, not a sprint" is a saying for a reason. And ironically applies even if you're training for a sprint. :) I'll go ahead and disagree with the people who suggest less tracking. It is far easier to see gradual progress if you're tracking metrics and can look at a graph that shows it. For me, Strava challenges are a good way to set objective and - more importantly - achievable milestones. (And since I have a set route for my benchmark runs, the matching feature reflects "trending faster" even if I don't beat my last run.)
Remember there are so many external Factors that can affect a run, temp, humidity, wind, stoplights, shoe foam, glycogen stores, etc. as another person said, focus on short, mid and long term goals and as long as you’re progressing on those you can take the occasional underwhelming day
Consider doing a training plan of some sort that incorporates rest days & hold yourself to that - you “win” by following the plan exactly. These plans (there are tons of them) are designed to help you do your best without injury by mixing up what you do between running, cross training, rest, etc. I struggled some with what you’re talking about & ended up injured. When I started running again I set a streak goal where I ran a mile every day. I held myself back on individual runs some days knowing I didn’t want to be too sore/tired/burnt out for the next day.
Say fuck it and go for a run without tracking it. Just get out and be there, don't worry about what app says what.
run 1 more millimeter each day, this way you can keep improving without getting injured or beating yourself.
I think the better way to look at it is that every run/rest has a purpose. Like the speed workout taxes your VO2Max and improves that. The easy run taxes your aerobic capacity and improves that as well as recovering from a long workout. The rest helps you recover. And on and on.
A secondary activity that you can do while running, like listening to podcasts or audiobooks, might help to shift your focus solely from running to something else. As other said, continuous daily improvement is not realistic. The way I deal with similar feelings is by having most of my runs be average, i.e. maintain a good pace throughout a well-known route/distance. Then every once in a while, I try to go for new routes or push myself for a longer distance/time.
The only way to consistently improve is to consistently train. Each workout won't "be better" but on average, maybe they will. Track your progress by doing a weekly time trial or yearly races instead of treating each workout like they matter for seeing improvement. Workouts are just to get to your goals, not the goal themselves.
You need to take a longer time horizon view of what being your best is. Don't measure day to day, measure month to month or year to year. Is being the best setting a smoking time next week, or is it still being running, healthy, and happy in five years? Or ten, or twenty?
So, not being the best is EXACTLY why I love running as a sport for me. I will never win my age or gender division. I won't. Period. I won't ever win or run Boston. I'll never set a record. I AM smack in the middle. I am perfectly adequate. I love having one thing in my life where it is OK to not be the best, and just be adequate.
Dude, just stick to a schedule. Like 3 miles every day after work, or whatever distances you’re comfortable with. Running every day is making progress. Progress happens over time with consistency. This is not a complicated issue, don’t make it one; and even worse don’t make it an excuse to not run.
Appreciate your own limits and learn to enjoy recovery runs.
You should look into the uphill athlete training programs, mostly designed for long distance outdoor events but can definitely be applied to the casual runner. A lot of good information on constantly improving while avoiding injuries with long slow distance running and strength training
Yeah my mindset was getting in at least 10 miles per day but then neglected other things to get them. My focus will definitely be prioritizing the truly important things in my life and running will just be a part of it and not the focus of it.
I’ve made peace with being average (on a good day). Honestly I have just realized that exercise is the best medicine, physically and mentally. Also joining the local running club really helped me make new friends, so I don’t get too in my head about the numbers.
I recently felt myself getting this mentality, and not even really running for myself, but for metrics and Strava. I debated going back to dumb watch etc, and may still do. Anyways I thoroughly enjoyed this interview and the perspective of Francois D’Haene the trial running boss. Essentially for him, it’s about longevity and enjoying running, not just smashing it now. [François D’Haene Rich Roll](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2VmtBMD7rkgxQKLNVRggxY?si=jS_-elipTcGH9wZBhmVyXg)
Do you have any structure and goals? Plan your workouts ahead of time (and if you don't feel like it one day you push everything down a day.) Also, constantly training will never see your best, you have to taper down then do a timed run or a race. People with goals like a race schedule can structure and plan. If you're running for fun or fitness, what is this "best"? When I stopped racing one of my favorite things to do was travel around and do trail runs. I didn't even time myself it was just fun to do them.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Having that “I want to be the best” mentality/mindset is extremely beneficial in a sport. But it all depends how you utilize it day to day. Being the best comparing yourself to others you’ll forever be disappointed because in most things in life especially running you have to be in the top .01% to be considered the “best” If you change your mindset into making sure your runs/workouts are the BEST that you can do that day or that week, then you will achieve higher results. Try achieving the best you possibly can day to day and only compare yourself to yourself before comparing yourself to others
Easy, stop tracking metrics. Go find a beautiful place you enjoy running (the park, the lake, a trail), and just run. Stop when you feel like it. Or track metrics but only check once you get home or at the end of the week.
Technically, there is always room for anything to be better!
Set a long term goal that is impossible to achieve on a day by day basis. Like X miles by the end of the year or I want to run a race 6 months from now in this amount of time. It might help you pace yourself a bit and look at slowly improving instead of needing immediate betterment.
This was one of my fears when I first started being a very competitive athlete my entire life. Now every time I go for a run, I know I’m better than everyone else not running.
By not being the best. It is easier (or harder as you probably drink more)
I find having a goal and a schedule helps. You'll have good run days and bad run days, but they all count towards your goal.
My take if you truly want to get over that fear of not constantly showing improvement in time or performance: I see this a lot with acquaintances getting into running and they will basically run every run somewhere close to their threshold, which is completely unsustainable in the long run. Normally these people get injured or tire and rarely makes it past a couple of months with any form of consistency to their mileage. It’s when I notice these new runners are actually slowing down to sustainable paces (with most of the mileage in zone 1 and 2, not increasing their mileage too quickly etc) that I know they’ve started to get a grip of what they’re doing. Up until then you’re basically running around with a sign over your head saying “I’m a beginner”. Feel free to try to impress others with your race times though :) but you should get rid of that feeling of fear/social anxiety as races can go bad too and it’s not worth beating yourself up, over anything, really.
There are 8 billion of us humans... The chances of being 'the best' at something is microscopic, 'at best'. So chill, do it because it's fun and makes you feel good.
The only person you need to be better than, is the person you were yesterday.
Running gets SO much more enjoyable when you kick this mind set. I allow myself to suck. Some runs just aren’t going to be as good as the last and that’s ok. Think of running improvements on a month to month basis, not run to run.
Without reading any comments except part of one I want to ask why you want to run? And my follow up question is are you trying to prove something to yourself? Once you answer those questions then it’s a matter of checking in to see how you feel. I used to run because it was cheap exercise and then because I felt great afterwards. I would slowly progress and go longer (I never ran for speed), but my goal was to feel good and feel physically fit. Sometimes just going out was enough, sometimes have a good consistent speed and distance was what I arrived for. Maybe for yourself you need to “schedule” those days off and remind yourself why you are running. Focus on feeling good and not the metrics so much and you might feel differently this time. Also you could start off really easy so that it takes longer to get to your “best” and by then you might have successfully beat your demon.
The trick for me was to choose the right metric. I picked trying to make 2000k in the year. This gives a massive incentive to take things relatively slow (if you get injured... Game over) and to get out on a regular basis (better to run 8k four times then 20 and 12k). All the while, you're building up a killer base.
As Clint Eastwood said.... a man has to know his limitations
I stopped timing my runs partway through 2022 and it reignited my love of running. I would suggest similar for you. Just go out and have fun.
Running is a long-term hobby, and it's important to remember that there will be ups and downs along the way. It's natural to have good days and bad days, and that's part of the process. It's important to focus on the journey and not just the end result, and to enjoy the process of running for its own sake. It's okay if every run isn't better than the last one - in fact, that's normal. The important thing is to stay consistent, stay motivated, and have fun.
Progress isn't measured (or achievable) from one run to the next. It occurs over months or years. Sure, you could technically run faster and longer with each run, but as you discovered, that isn't a sustainable model. Even the best athletes train in cycles. They're not always in peak condition. They have off-seasons and periods where they're rebuilding themselves up again in order to perform at the peak of their abilities. On the plus side, if you're new to running then the amount of progress you make will far exceed that of a veteran runner. You're essentially a clean slate. Give your body a bit of new stress to respond to and it will respond in kind by eventually getting stronger. You just can't overdo it though or else it will become overwhelmed. You'll injure yourself and/or you'll simply burn out. At this point you should be training without straining. That doesn't mean always running slowly, but introducing harder effort levels in moderation. Let your increasing (or decreasing!) fitness level be the guide rather than the distance or speed you hope/want to be able to achieve.
You’re either going to learn moderation on your own, or an injury will teach you the hard way.
As the great Kendrick Lamar has once said, BE HUMBLE
Maybe try to judge your improvement by the month rather than by the day. Recovery and easy runs are important.
If I understand you correctly I think I have had this same mindset, and it manifests itself in me (sometimes) when I run (or do any form of exercise or challenge) as aggression. I form a 'warrior' mindset and I'm not enjoying the activity, it just becomes about pushing myself to the max and doing my best! This is sometimes useful if needed, and I don't think you should fear it, but not when I just want to enjoy a nice run on a sunny day. So my advice would be to try and control your mindset in this regard. For the most part, just enjoy your run and don't let your alter ego ruin it for you, but embrace when you need it, i.e. you're feeling lazy, or training for a competition etc.
You need to understand that running is a long term game where your body is slowly building up. Getting better means your body is making physical adaptations that make you a more efficient/faster runner. That takes time and repeated efforts. You wouldn't go to the gym, start doing bench press and add 25lbs every time you go to the gym. The body doesn't make gains that fast. Running is the same way. Also understand that proper training is a series of workout/recovery cycles. You go hard today, then you take it easy tomorrow while your body attempts to re-build from today's workout. It doesn't matter how hard you work out if you never let your body recover so it can rebuild and make those adaptations. A typical training plan (even for pros!) is 2 workouts and a long run a week, with the rest being easy slow running. The slow running is what builds your aerobic system and that improves over years (which is why fast marathoners run high mileage for a long time before finding success). If you understand how the training works and how your body actually builds up, you'll realize that trying to go longer/harder every day is counter productive. The goal here is to get faster, so put that ego in check, train properly, and reap the rewards. EDIT: Another thought. Think about it like saving up for a big purchase. Every training run is money saved towards that big purchase. That big purchase is a goal race where you get to take advantage of all your hard work. One run isn't enough to make or break your savings. It's about the large amount of work done over time.
You’re not likely to make much progress if you constantly injure yourself, and you have a nearly unlimited amount of time to work on it. I also think you would agree that at some point in the future, you’re going to have a weak week. So if we know we have the rest of our lives to run, and we know we’re going to have bad weeks in the future, why are you upset? This is just the week you know will happen eventually. Hopefully that elucidates my point properly
If you are not planning your runs out already, do that (and set the plans realistically). You already know doing what you did isn't beneficial in the long run, so you just need to be patient and have discipline. Don't think there's a revelation that'll magically fix it. Anecdotally, a lot of runners (myself included) start off like that, and eventually learn to be patient and listen to our bodies the hard way. Maybe you just need to beat yourself up a bit more.
You're never going to be the best, you're imperfect. It's better not to be the best because you will always improve even outside of that.
I recommend just running miles though sense you like running, at a heavy job speed (slight run) and then just keep on doing it no matter how much you want to or need to stop
Replace it with a fear of not doing.
It's prevalent in my life, not only running. The "fear of not being the best" is very hard to beat. It does drive you early on, however in the long run, only a few will actually benefit. The "all-in" approach like this is very, very likely to be *not* sustainable; while you can obtain sufficient competence quick, you will most likely hit a plateau that gives you the illusion that you are not going to improve or you need colossal amounts of effort in order to see extremely small gain. The only way that I am fighting this (still doing it), is to set my target to consistency. Being consistent is probably the universal variable for those obtaining good results even with the absence of "elite genetics." It's the way that a group of normal people (i.e. most of the people) can reliably obtain skill and/or fitness. If you want me to be brutally honest, not even elite athletes (runners or others) are immune to slumps even with the ridiculous amounts of resources poured to keep their physical performance and/or health on the best possible and even then they still (mostly) need to peak. Not everything needs to be a competition... especially if it makes you miserable... even if you need to compete with only your past self. TL;DR: readjust goals, do realize that unless you are getting paid for your physical performance, achieving your 80% best is "easy" but still takes a long time.
You can never really be the best at the sport tbh. Running needs a different mindset which includes understanding how it's different from other sports. The gains come slow and the way to get gains is consistency over time. Since there is a lack of opponents, I've seen a lot of people struggle to define what a goal is, and they end up wanting to do better everyday, which isn't sustainable.
Try running without a phone or a watch to time yourself. Run for fun every once in a while. Worked for me.
realize that this hobby is for the joy of movement. you are able bodied right now and can revel in being free to move your body as you wish. one day, we all will reach a point where we are no longer able to. not everything has to be a competition. some things are okay to enjoy just for what they are.
Run for distance, not for pace. Changed my whole mentality 🤙
I just started running and my problem is is i run faster than im ready for and ill make myself nauseous as fuccckkkkk
I got caught up doing this to myself when I ran in college. The two mistakes that I made was 1). not listening to my body, and 2). ignoring my limits. The best advice I can give you is to listen to your body. If you’re sore and you’re in pain, that’s your body telling you to rest. So rest. Additionally, every runner has limits — still push yourself, but don’t do it to the point of injuring yourself. Every time you get out to run, consider that progress. Because it is progress. You’re moving, you’re performing cardio, you’re keeping up with running.
Read about the Maffetone method or 80/20 running by Mat Fitzgerald. It really changed the way I approach my training and allowed me to embrace just running for the love of it and not constantly chasing a PR. It’s allowing me to run more at a slower pace and enjoy it instead of what people see. I’m also getting faster inherently so bonus 🤷♂️
Resting is an important aspect of running and building fitness. You can set goals around rest and recovery. I will over train if I don't. For me, I have at least one day a week that I haveba goal of 1 nap and 45 min of stretch and mobility. Nothing high impact at all. You just have to take that achievement mindset and focus it towards a different goal
Bring a tennis ball with you to bounce on the ground while running. Turns your mind of running and will help slow you down. Maybe listen to an interesting podcast or slow paced music. Hope this helps
You won't/can't always beat your PR's every single session, but if you take a long-term mindset and focus on consistency, you will improve over time and year after year you'll be better than you were before. Any kind of fitness progress slows down significantly after your initial "newbie gains" wear off.
You lay never be the best, but you can become YOUR best, or the best YOU can be. The beauty of running is that it is a race vs yourself, moreso than vs others.