Really, are you serious. ? I mean you; this running audience is over 40, apparently some might say over their prime SOME very close to 50 what does that mean anyway? Step up your game
Hi, my name is Heiko, thanks for joining me on the Advanced Endurance Coaching blog. The show where it’s all about running stronger, better, and developing your mental abilities, your secret powers to give you that special edge in your running.
What does it mean anyway to step up your game? Well if you ask google
– to increase (a voltage) by means of a transformer.
– to increase, advance especially by one or more steps step up production.
– or as an intransitive verb. 1a : to come forward stepped up to claim responsibility. b : to succeed in meeting a challenge (as by increased effort or improved performance)
Strange enough that so many runners’ over 40 tend to be satisfied. Tend to be happy if they have achieved the same time as last year in the marathon. readers up, its statistics speaking out aloud. Apparently, runners between 40 and 49 rank as the most popular age group in terms of marathon statistics. With an average run time for the marathon 42,2 KM of 4:22. This data was collected worldwide, in over 28 countries.
Now I appreciate and respect each runners’ journey and how he has reached the time that he or she considers a personal best. For those of you that came to the running game late in life, perhaps you had to lose some (or a lot of weight first), to others you never lost the habit and pleasure running gives you. Definitely I don’t want to say your personal best is “bad” or “good”.
Don’t laugh, that is a pretty high search query on google and in many forums. “Hi, Dave, here my marathon PB of 3:45 is good”.
What I want to help you discover is the possibility of running longer, stronger and quite possibly faster. Exploring new territories, going for new distances, maybe even completely new events you never thought of before. I am of course talking about run events, not darts, not curling.
Why do I want to talk about running and striving for better times? Because I am fed up of hearing all the lame stories about, just settling or just wanting to achieve a sub 4:30, or sub 4:00 or the same as last year – stories..
Do you not realize that there is tremendous potential? male female runners alike.
Runners like Magdalena Lewy-Boulet..
Who in 2016 won her first 100 miler, the Western state at the age of 42.
We all know Haile Gebrselassie, who at age 42 after a two-decade career as probably the best all-around distance runner in history, set masters world records at 10K (28:00, since broken by Lagat), and the half-marathon (1:01:09).
Great Britain’s Jo Pavey won the 10,000m at last year’s European Track and Field Championships. New Zealander Lorraine Moller’s career at the highest level spanned close to 30 years and four Olympics, concluding with her appearance in marathon at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta at age 44.
Pete Magill, who ran a 14:45 5K at 49, is an excellent example. Magill’s path to becoming an elite master was unique—the former screenwriter once smoked up to four packs a day—it was typical in many respects: He was a solid All-American junior-college runner, then stepped away from running for nearly two decades before picking it up again at 39 for health reasons. Within two years, Magill had run 3:56 for 1,500 meters and 8:31 for 3,000 meters, and was later nearly unbeatable in the 45-to-49 division.
Ok, I hear you say. Heiko, that’s fine they are pro runners’, or they have their unique story. Mine is different. Of course, your story is different, that’s what makes you unique. But nowhere does it say your run time is etched in stone. It is what it is.
Face it, time is passing anyway.
Whether you went for a run today or not.
Whether you are on track with your current training plan, or you haven’t even set a goal for 2020.
Whether you trained hard, or whether you just ran to get it over with.
Time is passing. And there are so many topics in your life that you cannot influence, or where you can change course.
Work, career, saving money, many areas where you have found your niche and face it you are most probably not going to become a surfer at this stage in your life, nor are you going to retire early if you haven’t saved accordingly in the years gone by. But in your running, that is one of the few areas where you can still achieve new frontiers, and get huge improvements.
If of course, you are satisfied with running your current marathon time, ask yourself why?
Why are you settling for this specific time?
Of course, if you are injured or just came back from an injury, that is something else. I am talking about your best times. Are you not brave enough to even think in those terms?
If so, why not?
Is it because of some misconception?
Just hang on before you go down that rabbit hole.
The facts are clear, if you are healthy, and are a middle of the pack runner, there is no reason you cannot aim for your fastest marathon time, in the age group 40+. Enough runners’ have shown that on a physical level the body is well suited for such a distance.
It’s the mind, isn’t it. I mean I see it in the athletes faces, when I ask them: before a coaching session.. really you just want to improve by one or two minutes? You would be satisfied with last year’s time?
And then it starts the story
You haven’t got the time to train, especially the apparently huge miles you need to run every week, or because the training schedule would be taking up more time, and anyway you are spending so much time away from family and social obligations already, investing more time wouldn’t be possible.
Or, your story is that you feel comfortable with the group of runners’ you are training with. Enjoy the speed, and the company, you don’t need to have the best of time.
Well l, have a different opinion “one who wants to do something finds a way; one who doesn’t will find an excuse”. How’s that a little Confucius for you.
Just leave the “age-thing” because and you know this long distance run training has many benefits.
Of course, your VO2 max your aerobic capacity will increase, you will be in better shape, which leads to better sleep, your body will store more glycogen
But honestly, it’s not very inspiring is it?
Why is that? Well so often we are not motivated to go for a new goal. Not even willing to define it, write it down or speak it out aloud. And it is a misconception, motivation will come once I start training. All by itself apparently. Yes, might be, to maintain your current status quo there is enough motivation. But to achieve your best run time, it requires something more than that. Something that a Facebook post will not give you.
Just think back to when you were a kid. I clearly remember doing those things that I really wanted to do. One of them was running. Along a single lane dirt road, soft sand in the middle, and deep tracks left and right lined with huge Eucalyptus trees.
It was a motivation from inside of me, intrinsic motivation to go for a run along that road. And that is the one we need to find again as adult runners. Once we have found it, we need to develop it; we need to harness it, be able to define it precisely.. to be able to achieve our fastest run time.
There is a difficult factor because we seldom get rational thoughts and considerations into the emotional, motivating track.
That means motivation is an emotion and we need an emotion to do something, rational reasons rarely lead to emotion and I need a feeling for where I want to go. That is why when working with an athlete who has an ambitious goal, immediately we create emotional references so that a feeling of a solution develops so that motivation arises from within. And no one can do this for you. It’s up to you.
Enthusiasm arises from within, and the will to go in a certain direction arises from within the athlete.
That is much more than just talking about solutions, that is diving into imagination, sometimes through role play or simply reflecting into the future creating an emotional reference. And then suddenly there is a clear picture of the future and the motivation can grow.
And I personally think that the biggest inspiration comes from the fact that whether you are a runner who just started a couch to 5K or a seasoned ultra-runner, the kilometer is the same length for all of us, and it never ceases to amaze me to imagine great runners’ and the speeds they run.
How great must the level of intrinsic motivation be for a Eliud Kipchoge:
It’s not about the legs, it’s about the heart and mind. or Shalane Flanagan.
A great quote by her: In the midst of an ordinary training day, I try to remind myself that I am preparing for the extraordinary.
Or a Scott Jurek: As powerful as our legs are, as magnificent our lungs and arms are, nothing matters more than the mind.
So don’t waste time, join me at heikostribl.com and select an online course that suits your current level. Whether you are currently injured or looking for consistency, each course is packed with 4 hour video lessons, and study material to help you build your resilience, your intrinsic motivation by using scientifically proven methods only the best of nlp and hypnotherapy. A course designed for runners, to help you become a stronger, better and inspired runner.
My name is Heiko, thanks for reading. Take it easy.
