A rough training experience can cause us to utter those dreaded words, “I am never running again.” We commonly utter those frustrations in the heat of the moment, but how do we get through this feeling? We will cover what can contribute to this level of frustration and how to get through it.
Never Running Again as of right now
You’re in the middle of a training run and you are not feeling it. You are too hot, you are not comfortable, or your legs just don’t have the energy. You are only half way done. If you know you are not injured but are lacking the motivation to keep going, these could be a few reasons why:
- Lacking progress: Over weeks of training, you feel little to no progress. You can can’t keep pace or find it’s getting harder to finish the distance for that day. This leads to frustration that makes you want to quit on the spot, especially if you are a competitive person.
- Mental Burnout: An intense training schedule can cause mental exhaustion and losing interest in the training program. A double digit training run can seem like an impossible goal.
- Longer Recovery: Getting older can cause recovery times to lengthen. A double digit training run may suck the life out of you for the rest of the day, where in younger days this was not an issue.
- Lifestyle Changes: Training for a run does require some lifestyle changes and sometimes that can push you past the brink. Time spent training takes away from spending time with family or friends. Next is limiting what you may do the night before a long run or the day after a long run. All can require concessions to be able to get out and run.
- Too hot or too cold: Weather can be a cause and hard to plan for. When the temperature gets too cold, it becomes painful and too hot can lead to dehydration or heat exhaustion. The weather can make you utter those words “I’m never running again.”
Maybe I’ll Run Again
We have all said “I’m never running again”, but many of us for some reason get back out there and try again. Why? How do you get through it? I said it recently on a long run for a half. This is my first race after taking several years off due to starting a family. The time commitment, lack of progress, and mental burnout all took a toll. I told myself I’m never training for a race again. After recovering the next day, I can safely say that statement is not true at all. But in the moment I was thinking about spending more time with my kids and getting out of running so I didn’t feel so tired.
A New Day
I realized before kids, I would complain about long training runs, but never state I’m never running again. To get through this, I found my situation was more mental than anything. It was coming to the realization that my lack of progress was frustrating me more than anything and bubbled up to a peak point. Here are a few things to help you come to the realization:
- Stop and Reflect: This is always difficult to do. Pressing pause on life for a second to stop and look at why you feel the way you do. I try to think about what’s going well, what’s not going well, and what can I do better. It’s a simple exercise that may help you identify the problem.
- Take a Break: Stop running for a day or two or a week. See how that changes your mindset and if it makes you feel better. Sometimes the best medicine for mental burn out is to stop doing it.
- Change your Plans: If you’re not seeing the results you expect from training, change what you are doing. Consider adding in a weight workout, cross training, running indoors on a treadmill, or running earlier in the day to avoid bad weather. Or consider a different day of the week.
Never Say Never Running Again
A frustrating moment or difficult phase can make you want to give up running forever. But nothing is forever. If you find yourself in this moment, get through it and come back to figure out what is going on. It could be a simple as reflecting on what is going wrong to just waking up the next day and starting over. When it’s mental, you can find ways to get through it. If you are injured, make sure you get the help that you need. Running as a sport is just as mental as it is physical, so make sure to give your mind some love. You are never really never running again, right? See you out there!