Ep #359 Let’s Talk About Pace

Welcome to the Not Your Average Runner podcast. If you’ve never felt athletic, but you still dream about becoming a runner, you are in the right place. I’m Jill Angie, and I help fat women over 40 to start running, feel confident and change their lives. I have worked with thousands of women to help them achieve their running goals.

And now I want to help you.

Hey, hey, my runner friend. Well, it’s official after a long hiatus. I am back with new episodes and I have missed you. So I’m changing things up a bit and trying a new format. So instead of longer episodes where I do a deep dive into a topic, I’m going to do these short pep talks, sort of just long enough to get you through your warmup and ready to start your run.

And each week we’re going to do a different topic. That’s going to help you get your mind in the right space to have a great workout. And here’s what I suggest when you find one that you like bookmark it to listen to when you need a boost. All right. So today’s our first run. Let’s get started. So basically you should be walking somewhat briskly right now, getting your heart rate slightly elevated, warming up those legs, you’re preparing your body, now it’s time to prepare your mind.

So today I want to give you a different way to think about running pace. And spoiler alert, I’m going to tell you that faster is not actually better. Faster is just faster. You’re not a better runner if you’re faster and you’re not a worse runner. You’re just a runner. Okay? So if you’re slower, your pace is quite literally just a data point.

That’s all it is. And unless you’re a professional runner and your paycheck depends on you winning the race, you’re Faster is not better, okay? It doesn’t make you any more of a runner. Running is not a pace. Look it up in the dictionary. There is no pace. There is no minute per mile or minute per kilometer listed when you look it up.

Running is simply a way of moving your body that is different from walking and skipping and other, other forward movements. So the problem is that most of us have heard so often that faster is better that we’ve internalized it. It’s like, you know, the belief that thinner is better, right? We’ve all heard that.

Or we should always be striving to look as beautiful as possible. These are just paradigms that you’ve been taught and it’s been drilled into your head either consciously or subconsciously from everywhere, literally everywhere. And running pace is the same thing. So pace is simply one way to evaluate your running progress.

And being slower doesn’t make you any less of a runner or worse of a runner. I’ve already said that. But also, it’s not something to be embarrassed of or ashamed of. It’s just your pace, okay? So if you’ve been struggling, thinking, I should be getting faster, but I’m not, and I’m so frustrated, and I’m wasting my time, I want you to let it go completely.

As a goal completely for real. I want you to just say fuck it. I’m not even gonna try to get faster I’m just gonna show up and run and that might mean that you have to let go of this concept of making progress as a runner And I know this might sound crazy. So just stick with me We’re gonna be here for a few minutes while you keep warming up and then you can turn me off and put on something else Humans, but especially women are conditioned to think that we should always be striving and we should always be working towards something.

And that improvement is an indicator of our commitment and our value and Ugh, this is such bullshit. And I want you to know you don’t have to do that. You can literally just show up and run and enjoy yourself and not spend a single moment thinking about getting faster or better or making progress. Let this be the one area of your life Where you don’t give a shit, you just get to enjoy it.

And the thing is, there’s probably a lot of things out there that you actually do not strive towards getting better at. Right? That you literally do just because it’s fun and you enjoy it. So think about reading. Now, if you’re somebody like me who reads a lot, When I sit down to read a book, I don’t think oh, I hope I can read this one faster than the last one or I hope I can understand the words more deeply than the Last book I read.

I don’t do reading drills and workouts. I don’t track my comprehension or my words per minute I just sit the fuck down and read and I enjoy it because it’s fun and it gives me pleasure and it’s good for my mental health and it just It just soothes my soul. I’m not trying to make progress to become a better reader.

I just read and I have fun with it. And if you can start applying that way of thinking to your running, I promise you’re actually going to become a lot more consistent with it. And ironically, you will probably start to see some progress that you want, but that’s not a guarantee. I just want you to show up to run because you like it because you feel like it’s good for your mental health and your physical health and No more of this.

I have to get better at it, or I’m wasting my time. All right, let me say that one more time No more saying I have to get better at it, or I’m wasting my time Because it is never a waste of time to pursue something you love, especially when it comes with all of these side benefits of feeling better, right?

Feeling better physically, feeling better mentally, having more confidence, all of those things that come along with being a runner that have absolutely nothing to do with how fast you are. So all of those benefits you get by just showing up by being slow, just running the pace that you run. And enjoying it.

And that is a really powerful way to be a runner because it means you’re going to be running for a lot longer in your life. If you’re not like attaching all of this meaning to it. So that being said, if getting faster is a goal of yours, this is not me saying it’s wrong for you to have that as a goal.

Okay. I get it. And sometimes, you know, somebody might say like, Oh, I just want to see what I’m capable of. So go for it. Have at it, have fun with it. Just be honest with yourself. So if you are saying, I’m going to work on my speed because I want to see what I’m capable of, that is so different from I’m going to work on my speed because I’m embarrassed that I’m slow, or I’m going to work on my speed because I don’t want other people to think I’m not a real runner, right?

So notice the difference between I enjoy running and I want to see what my body is capable of. And I have to be faster so I don’t feel ashamed of myself. That is two different ways of thinking about your pace that are going to get you two different results. So be honest with yourself about why you want to work on getting faster.

And then pursue it or don’t. Give yourself some compassion, give yourself some grace, because running, my friend, is supposed to be fun. It really is. And I don’t necessarily mean like, the kind of fun of like, watching a hilarious movie or riding a roller coaster, right? No, it’s, it’s supposed to be something that you just derive pleasure and well being from, that you feel good after you’ve done it, alright?

And it’s not supposed to be a competition with other people or make you feel ashamed or guilty or any of that stuff So if stressing about your pace is creating a lot of anxiety for you. I want you to have a long think about everything we’ve talked about today. Definitely spend some time on your run right now thinking about it and see what comes up for you.

See if you can’t like shift your thinking a little bit into a place that gives you a little bit more space in your heart when you Are thinking about yourself and judging yourself and all of that good stuff because I know that you’re here At least in a little part because you want to have fun with running So the way to have fun with running is to stop judging yourself and stop having high expectations And just show up and run.

All right, my friends So you are warmed up. It is time for you to start your intervals and go have a great run and I’ll talk to you next week.

Real quick, before you go, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, you have to check out my seven day jumpstart plan. It is a free downloadable guide that will teach you exactly how to start running safely and confidently in the body you have right now. Head on over to notyouraveragerunner. com/ jumpstart to grab it.

That’s notyouraveragerunner. com /jumpstart. I’d love to be a part of your journey.