Believing in yourself is necessary. Believing in your training is even more important.
You might want to run faster during a long run, but it’s important to keep at a pace almost 1-2 mins slower than race pace. Especially so if you’re training for a marathon. Now with SCMS coming close, it’s crucial that you runners out there are starting to taper and pay more attention to feeding yourself well.
We are all guilty of cheating a little bit during training and race day itself. Here are the 3 most common cheats we make. See if you identify with one of them!
#1 Not working on pacing techniques
How good are you at gauging how fast or slow you’re running? Research indicates that runners misjudge their pace by 32 to 40 seconds per mile. Consider Haile Gebrselassie, who ran the Berlin Marathon in 2008 and became the first person to finish a marathon under 2:04. He attempted another world record in Dubai in 2009, but finished more than 90 seconds slower. All because he was a mere 23 seconds faster in pace. The next time you work on your training, remember to include pace training!
#2 Not increasing calorie intake for recovery
You’ve probably heard of obtaining a racing weight – to be light yet strong enough to propel yourself forward. In the later part of your training as you’re increasing your mileage, you’d be burning a lot more calories. It’s common that runners neglect to track their calorie intake. It’s also not commonly known that optimum recovery starts with proper nutrition before you go out for a run. To avoid making such a mistake, add an extra 300-500 calories, and make sure that those calories are coming from fresh produce and lean proteins.
#3 Panicking after a bad workout
A bad workout is definitely going to come up during your training. You could be running slower than before, or your legs feel sore and achy after just 1 km. The mistake here is when you decide that you should try harder the next day. When your body is complaining, it’s usually going to about giving it enough rest more often than not. Proper stretching, light Yoga, or just walking would do. Apart from that, it’s time for you to analyze why that’s the case. Was it a bad sleep? Was it not having enough food before? Those provide key learning points for future training.
We’re all in it for the long run. So don’t let short term slip ups or hasty pursuits get in your way of that.
