Ep #356 Why You’re Not Making Progress with Your Running

Jill Angie:   Hey Runners, I have a little surprise for you this week. I’m bringing back an episode that was really popular in the past because A. I think it’s a good one, and B. I have a hunch there’s someone out there who needs to hear it again. So I hope you enjoy it and I’ll be back with a new episode really soon.

I’m your host Jill Angie, and today we’re talking all about why you are not making any progress with your running, and then I’m going to give you three steps to help you fix it.

Now, I know that maybe you’re making progress now, but you struggled in the past, or maybe you used to make progress and now you’re struggling to move forward, or maybe you’ve just started and you’re like, what the fuck? I am not getting any better at this.

People come to me all the time with this problem and kind of the three things most people have issue with is they say, “I’m trying, but I can’t seem to get faster. I’m trying, but I can’t seem to go any farther, or I’m trying but I can’t seem to stick with it long enough to see any improvement.”

And so when you think that way, when that’s your belief system, you feel frustrated and defeated and you just keep thinking, gosh, if I only knew the secret thing to do. If somebody would just tell me the secret, I would do it, and then I would get stronger, feel stronger, be motivated.

Here’s the thing; I’ve been teaching you the secret in this podcast for months. I even talked about it last week. And the secret is not having a perfect training plan or knowing the exact sprint workouts to do, or having a personal trainer to kick your ass, or even getting signed up for the dream race that’s going to motivate you to stick with your training plan.

All that stuff is awesome and it can help, but the secret to feeling better when you run, to feeling stronger, to breathing easier, to getting faster, to actually following your training plan instead of skipping your training runs, the secret is pretty simple. You have to be willing to do something you’ve never done before. You have to be willing to do the things that aren’t easy.

Because the easy stuff you’re all in for. You’re like, well, I’m just going to go out there and run my miles, and I don’t understand why I’m not getting any faster. It’s because you’re just getting really good at running the pace you’re at. So if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.

And I think I totally messed up that grammatically, but it’s a quote that I see all the time on Facebook and in Pinterest and Instagram, and it’s really true, especially in running. If you continually run the same route at the same pace and effort level, you will get really good at running that route at that pace and effort level.

And if you never run in the rain or cold, you get really good at running in nice weather. So let me phrase this another way. We get really good at what we practice. And if you practice doing things you are comfortable with, you will get really good at being comfortable. You will get really good at avoiding doing stuff outside of your comfort zone.

You have to be willing to do new things to get new results. If you want to get better at hills, you have to be willing to run up hills, and you have to be willing to suck at it. You have to be willing to only be able to run 10 seconds uphill the first time, and then maybe the second time you run 12 seconds. You have to be willing to not be great at something and to do it over and over again and suck at it to get better.

The same goes with sprints. If you want to get faster as a runner, you have to practice going faster. Strength training will for sure help you, but if you don’t teach your feet to move faster, they won’t go any faster. Speed doesn’t happen by accident. Endurance doesn’t happen by accident.

You have to push yourself out of that comfort zone and do the things that you’re like, gosh, I might not be good at that. It might be hard, it might be difficult. I might not feel good when I do that. You have to be willing to do all those things if you want to improve.

And motivation, feeling motivated, exactly the same thing. If you’re constantly sleeping through your alarm and saying, god, I just don’t feel motivated right now, I just don’t feel like it today, you’re going to get really good at sleeping through your alarm.

If you want a different result, which is to get up when the alarm goes off, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable. It does not feel good to get up when your alarm is going off and it’s 5am and it’s dark outside and it’s cold. Doesn’t feel good. You’ve got to be willing to do it anyway.

You’ve got to stop expecting everything to be simple and easy and effortless. You can make things simple and easy and effortless by working on your thoughts, but again, working on your thoughts means you have to go outside your comfort zone and start exploring how your brain works a little bit.

So if you want to create motivation for yourself, if you want to create things to be easy for yourself, you’ve got to work on your mind. And I don’t mean beating yourself up for not being able to do it. That’s not working on our minds. That’s just mean.

I mean actually looking at what you’re thinking and then start practicing those thoughts that make you feel motivated or the thoughts that make you believe running is easy. I mean, I’m going to use a strength training example now, but if you want to get stronger, you’ve got to lift heavy things.

This is something that everybody seems to understand. We don’t magically get stronger if we don’t lift heavy things. But we don’t seem to understand that we don’t magically get faster if we don’t practice running faster, or we don’t magically feel more motivated if we don’t practice thoughts that make us feel motivated.

So basically, to improve at whatever it is you’re trying to improve at, and in this case it’s running, you need to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone if you want to change. Physically and mentally because most of the problem with you improving your running skills is actually in your mind.

It is not that you don’t have the ability. You’re not too fat, you’re not too old, you’re not too uncoordinated. Your brain is resisting doing something new, especially if it perceives that there might be a challenge, physical or mental. This is all coming down to your brain being an asshole and saying, I don’t know, that doesn’t look like fun, let’s just not do it, and then being a little bitch when it doesn’t get the result that it wants.

So for sure, this is something I’ve been learning for myself during marathon training because I’ve been shifting my thinking from this is really hard, when am I going to get better, I don’t know if I can do it, I’ve had a lot of those thoughts. I’ve been slowly shifting my thinking by practicing it over and over and over again to, this is outside of my comfort zone, let’s do it.

Now I am seeking out opportunities to do things that make my brain uncomfortable because I know the only way I get better at stretching outside my comfort zone is to stretch outside my comfort zone. To do the thing that makes me want to barf. To do the thing I might fail at.

And then if I fail, to be willing to do it again and again and again until I get what I want. Humans like to be comfortable. We like to know what’s going to happen. We like to be able to predict the future. This is why we worry all the time because we don’t know the answer about what’s going to happen and so we’re like, shit, I’m so uncomfortable, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

We think, mistakenly, that we need to predict the future so we don’t have to worry. We think if something isn’t easy, we should avoid it because we might fail. So I’m going to give you three steps today to help you start doing the shit that you need to do to become a better runner.

I’m not going to tell you all the individual steps. It’s part of what you need to do. So step number one of what you need to do to become a better runner is to figure out what you need to do. Actually do some research and say, alright, if I want to get faster, let me figure this out. Let me talk to my coach. If you’re in Run Your Best Life, let me talk to Jill and ask her, what do I need to do to get faster?

Help me come up with a plan. Figure out how to do sprints. Tempo runs, strength training, figure out what your cadence is. Come up with a plan to increase it. Don’t just expect that you’ll magically get faster just by putting in comfortable miles every week. Comfort does not create growth. Comfort creates stagnation.

Let me say that again. Comfort does not create growth. Comfort creates stagnation. So you need to do your research. Figure out the actions that you need to take to get the result that you want. And I promise you, if you don’t have the result that you want right now, it’s because you’re not taking the right actions.

So instead of saying, what’s wrong with me? I’m not getting where I want to be, you just say, alright, what do I actually need to do? Let me figure this out. Let me talk to somebody who knows what they’re doing. Let me talk to somebody who has that result already or has helped somebody else get that result and ask them. And then look at what I’m doing and see if I matches up.

Now, if you resist – this is step number two. If you resist doing the things you need to grow, like say you’ve talked to me as your coach and okay, what do I need to do to get faster? Here’s your plan. I want you to do sprints on these days, I want you to do strength training on these days, here’s your cadence plan, we’ve figured it all out, and now it’s time to do the doing, this is step two.

If you resist doing those things that you need to do to grow, now it’s time to do your thought work. So you know what the actions are that you need to take. Most of us are like, I know what I need to do, I just don’t know how to make myself do it. Step number two is really important.

So do a thought download, a TDL. When you have strength training on your calendar and your brain says I don’t want to do it, or when you have sprints on your schedule and you’re really in the mood for running easy miles, no one’s ever in the mood to run sprints. I guarantee it. It’s not something that people wake up and say, I want to make myself throw up from running so fast. Nobody says that.

So when your brain is like, I don’t want to do this right now, I’m not in the mood, and it has all its excuses, you don’t just say oh, I’m not in the mood, and then wonder why you’re never in the mood. The reason you’re not in the mood is because you’re thinking thoughts that create unmotivation, that create demotivation, that create – I don’t know what the word is.

Somebody’s going to write in about this and say I know what the word is you’re looking for, but I can’t remember it right now. But it’s the opposite of motivation. So you don’t just accept it and say I don’t know, I guess my motivation has left the building. We talked last week about the motivation fairy. She doesn’t exist. Motivation fairy, tooth fairy, both not real.

Santa Claus too, by the way, in case you were wondering. You all know that. But it’s so funny. We’re like, we know Santa Claus isn’t real, we know the tooth fairy’s not real, we know the Easter bunny’s not real, but we still kind of think maybe there’s a motivation fairy. There isn’t. I’m so sorry, Virginia, it’s over. The story is dead.

So anyway, don’t wonder why you’re not in the mood. You have to create it for yourself. And that is where your thought work comes in. Do your thought downloads, do your models. If you don’t know what a model is, go back to episode 32 or 33 of the podcast, which is called How to Coach Yourself.

Listen to that and do everything that I say in that podcast because you have to be willing to do the things you’ve never done to evolve into the runner you want to be, and being willing to do things means you’ve got to work on your brain to figure out why you’re resistant to them so that you can start doing them. So that’s step number two.

So step number one is figure out the actions you need to take. Step number two is when you resist them, do your thought work. Step number three is keep track of your progress. This is really important too. I want you to keep detailed notes in journals because sometimes we whine and we complain and we say, I’m not getting any better, when in fact, we’re a minute per mile faster than we were three months ago.

So we get all twisted up because it seems like we’re not getting any better, but we don’t look at the facts. We don’t look at the information and the data and really get – I call it getting facty with your circumstance. Just really be specific and detailed in the information that you are evaluating instead of just saying, I don’t know, it feels like I’m not getting any faster.

The fact is never I’m not getting any better. That’s always your thought. The facts are the exact workouts you’ve done, the pace on your Garmin, your heart rate when you’re running. Those are facts and you can decide to make them mean whatever you want.

You can make it mean I’m not getting any better, or you can make it mean I’m getting the exact result that’s commensurate with the amount of effort I’m putting in. And sometimes just looking at the data, you’re like, oh wow, I thought that I wasn’t getting any better but apparently I am.

But looking at the data allows you to decide well, the actions that I’m taking are giving me this result, so maybe I need to be taking different actions. Or maybe you realize you are getting the result you want and you just didn’t notice. This happens a lot.

I’ve had this conversation with so many of my runners when they come to me and they’re like, I don’t know, I’m not getting any better, and we literally look at their training data and they are actually much faster than they were three months earlier and they’re just legit surprised. Because in their mind, they’re not getting faster every week. They’re getting a tiny little bit faster and it’s not super noticeable. But when they look at it over three months or six months, it’s a big difference.

So when you take an objective look at your data, then you can start crafting the thinking that you want. So don’t just let your thoughts go willy-nilly without a basis in reality. And then that could help you decide, if you’ve been doing sprints and still not getting the results, you can just say like, am I actually doing the type of sprints that I need to be doing?

Or maybe I need to up my game on my strength training. Maybe my sprints got me this far but now they feel unchallenging because I’ve been doing the same workout for three months. Maybe I need to up my game. So getting the facts in order allows you to take some of the judgment out of your thinking so that you can evaluate exactly what’s going on and then make decisions from there.

And really, it all comes down to taking responsibility for your results and recognizing your results are just an accumulation of the actions you’ve been taking and the actions you’ve been taking are simply driven by the thoughts and feelings that you have. So you’ve got to take responsibility for what you’re getting instead of wallowing in self-pity because you’re not getting what you want.

You are the one who makes shit happen, my friend. You make it happen. Results don’t just happen. You create them. So the results you have in your life, you have created because of your thinking. If you want different results, you have to think different thoughts.

So this week, I want you to take some time. Really think about what you want, and why you don’t have it yet. So understand, this is what I want. This is my current result. This is how it’s different from what I want. Why do I have this gap? And then how am I going to go get it? And then do your thought work.

Okay my friends, I’m going to share my obsession in just a moment, but first, huge fucking announcement. Huge. The Rebel Runner Roadmap is open for enrollment right now, right this moment. And this is a brand new running course that I created. It’s a 30-day online class. It’s like a power class where you will learn my four pillars to becoming a rebel runner.

These are the foundational skills that will help you run with a strong body and a strong mind. It is like the podcast on steroids. It is a crash course in becoming a badass runner that believes in herself so hard she feels unstoppable.

Doesn’t that sound awesome? I think it sounds awesome. So this is the class for you if you’ve been struggling to get started and improve as a runner. Or if you’ve been running consistently but worry about whether you’re doing it right.

And I just had a coaching call with one of my clients who said, I’ve been doing this for a while but I think I’m probably doing something wrong, I’m not sure if my running form is where it needs to be. And if you have that question about yourself, you think, yeah, I could probably tweak some things and do even better, again, this is the course for you.

It’s the foundational skills. So it’s also for you if you’re like, running feels awesome, but I have a lot of negative self-talk, inner mean girl bullshit going on that keeps me from going really all in on myself. Like I’ll run one time one week and one time the next week, and then I’ll skip a week and then I’ll run three days. I’m really inconsistent and I’m frustrated with that because I have a lot of negative self-talk about it.

Again, this is a course that will help you address that. So we don’t just address basic running skills, the physical. We address the mental and it’s really a crash course in just becoming that badass that can manage her mind in whole new ways.

So my goal for everyone who takes this class is that in 30 days, you will know exactly how to start running or enhance your current running practice and feel really confident and proud about it. But it’s not just an online class that you watch and do on your own. You actually get live coaching from me every week, you get a private Facebook group with everyone else that’s in the class.

Everybody in the class goes through it together from day one to day 30. And the class itself does not start until January 6th and I know it’s November. But here’s the deal. If you sign up for the class right now as one of the early bonus, you get three bonus video classes and this is my 2020 planning class where I just did a whole class for my clients on how to plan out their best 2020.

You get a food prep tutorial with coach Jen, and then you also get my private webinar on how to combat perfectionism and get it out of your way so that you can run. And you get my curated gear guide that’s all of my favorite gear and why you need it.

So like I said, the class itself doesn’t start until January 6th but Thanksgiving is coming up and Christmas is coming up and Hanukkah is coming up and I feel like there’s a whole bunch of holidays coming up and I know how people sort of get lost in all the kerfuffle of parties and everything that’s going on.

Or if you’re somebody who’s just like, fuck it, I’m going to hide until the holidays are over and I’m going to pop my head back out on January 2nd, again, I get it. So we started enrollment now so that you guys can just sign up now and know that alright, that’s taken care of and I’ve got my plan for January as soon as 2020 starts, I’m going to start diving into really making myself become the best runner I can be.

But we’ve got some stuff to keep you busy between now and then. So you can sign up at www.rebelrunneroadmap.com. The link will be in the show notes for sure, but this is a game-changer of a program. I can’t even. We’ve been really putting a lot of time and effort into this class and again, it’s just 30 days.

It’s not like a year-long program or anything like that. It’s super intense, 30 days, everything you need to know to become that badass rebel runner. So head over to rebelrunnerroadmap.com to sign up and now we got to talk about my obsession.

So I think I’ve actually talked about another version of this before because I love them so much, but basically it’s my OOFOS sandals. But there’s a twist because I found out – somebody in Run Your Best Life pointed out to me a week or so ago that my OOFOS, beloved OOFOS slides come in clog form.

So it’s the exact same shoe but it’s got a full cover over the top. They look a little bit like Crocs but they don’t have all the little holes in them and they’re just plain black. I don’t think they come in any other colors. They’re like, black is the color, and they are a game-changer.

Because I was kind of like, alright, I guess I’m going to be wearing my little OOFOS slides with socks all winter long in public and I will be that person wearing socks and sandals. But now I have the OOFOS in clog form. I’m very excited. They feel amazing.

And I’ve been wearing them all day with my Bombas Merino wool socks and so my feet are so warm and cozy and everybody should just get them. Andy was kind of making fun of me. He’s like, they are the ugliest shoes ever. And I said yes, I don’t disagree with that, but I mean, when we – let’s see, was it when we first started dating?

No, we’d been dating a little bit, a while, but almost two years ago, I had plantar fasciitis so bad that I was on crutches. It was awful. And these, my OOFOS have helped me heal that and now I’m training as you know, unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m almost getting ready to run my first marathon.

So I believe that these shoes have been instrumental, at least for me, in helping me – once I got the plantar fasciitis on the mend, it helped accelerate the recovery and it has helped maintain me not having PF for almost two years now.

So I just love them. The clog form is a game-changer for winter and we will have a link in the show notes to them of course. And that is it for today my friends.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you liked what you heard and want more, head over to www.notyouraveragerunner.com to download your free one-week jumpstart plan and get started running today.