Running Identity

Today I present to you another in a series of posts I’m doing in response to frequently asked questions by runners.

Today’s question is very common on the running forums.  It takes many forms.

In its simplest for it is “How do I get motivated for my run?”  From there it evolves into all the reasons people have to doubt their ability to start, to stick with it, and to claim to be a runner.

My premise is that this motivation question is an actual spectrum that runners evolve through.  From the beginner trying to find the motivation to start, to the practitioner trying to stick with it, all the way to the veteran that successfully makes running part of their lifestyle.

I’ll start with a story.

This week was a build week in my training plan.  I was coming off a ‘down’ or easy week of recovery and now there was work to be done.  When I looked at my calendar there were three significant run workouts during the week, interspersed of course with weight training, core work and flexibility.  Then, on the weekend, I had an hour-and-a-half bike ride Saturday and a 16 mile long run on Sunday.

The context here is that I’m training for a 100K ultra-marathon in November and thus the next 8 weeks or so will be the make or break weeks in my training cycle.

This week here was the first of a number of testing weeks to follow.  The point of the bike ride on Saturday was to put fatigue into my legs for my log run on Sunday.  This is part of ultra-training.  You need to be able to run on tired legs.

But I’m old and creaky so I use longer bike ride to put that fatigue in my legs instead of another run.

Back to the story…

Saturday, I got a late start, because my wife and I decided to sleep in a bit.  Yes, heaven help us, I shut of the alarm and we dozed until after 7:00 AM!  Which felt great but gave me a slow start to the day.

When I finally hopped on my bike around lunch time, I was feeling the pressure of having the day evaporating around me.  I was doing that calculus of what I wasn’t going to get done from that long list of things I need to do on a Saturday.

½ mile into my ride the rear tire went flat.  Arrghh.  I walked it back to the house and swapped out the one remaining good tube I had and jumped back on.  Another 20-30 minutes out of my day evaporating like steam from an errant tea kettle.

Then guess what happens?

½ mile in the same tire started to go flat.

Back to the house.

I am out of tubes.  I am running out of day.  How am I going to get my workout done?

Put yourself in my shoes dear listener.  (My bike shoes).  What would you do?

Would you have struggled to motivate yourself to start the workout because you were running late?

Would you have given up after the first flat because, clearly the universe does not want you to do this workout?

Would you give up now?  After the second flat?

And how would you justify this giving up?  Would you say “I just don’t have enough time?”  “It’s too much effort?” or “This workout isn’t that important…it’s only one workout in a 6 month training cycle?”

You would be justified right?  All those lawyerly voices in your head making their case.

I suspect you’ve been there.

I dusted off my old road bike, Fuji-san, which I have not ridden for 3 years, added a bit of air to the tires and a few drops of lube on the chain and did the workout.

Why?  Why was I successful? How was I able to repeatedly deny the friction of a malevolent and chaotic universe to get my workout in?

For me it is very simple.  It is what I do.  It is who I am.  It is part of my identity.  I am that person.  To do otherwise would be to violate my own identity – and that is incredibly painful regardless of the justification.

This is where I’m at now, but this muscle had to be built over time with commitment and consistently.

…

Back to the tactical.

The precursor to identity is habit.

A person becomes what they consistently do.

If you want to increase the probability of doing your workout don’t rely on motivation.

Start with building habit.

Start with decreasing the friction and the uncertainty.

Let’s start with friction.  Friction is anything that opposes you doing that workout.  Friction can be physical and mental.

You can remove physical friction through preparation.  Know where all your gear is and have it laid out the night before.  There is nothing worse than having to search for something in the dark when you’re trying to get out the door for a workout that you already aren’t looking forward to.  That friction can be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.

These physical things can also be habit triggers.  Each of these things and their associated ceremony trigger habits.  Putting on your running shoes is an action that reinforces a chain of actions that supports the ultimate habit of getting out the door to run.

This is not me making shit up.  This is science.  It’s called ‘Habit Stacking’.  It’s not creating the habit of doing the workout.  It is stacking up all the little things that culminate in starting that workout successfully.

Mentally, you can remove friction by removing uncertainty.  Have an exact workout on the schedule to be done at an exact location at an exact time.

This is why having a plan and a coach help.  It removes uncertainty.  The coach gives you a schedule.  You do the workouts.  Remove the uncertainty.  Remove the friction.

You can use self-talk to build up your motivation for the workout.  Commit to it as part of your to-do.  “Tomorrow I will do my workout at 3PM, no matter what, even if it’s raining.”  Don’t let the doubt sneak in.  It helps to remember that you are doing this for yourself.  It is a gift.  There are plenty of people who would love to have your ability to do this workout.  You are lucky.  Internalize that gratitude.  Don’t waste the gift.

Self-talk yourself into the workout.

Use common sense.  Many of us, me included, are self-destructive and we create our own friction.  If you have that long run in the morning don’t stay up until midnight drinking beer and snarfing tacos.

Budget enough time.  Even if it is only an hours worth of exercise, give yourself buffer.  Schedule it.  Actually schedule your workouts into your calendar and give yourself 50-100% extra time buffer.  You’ll need it.  You need to get ready, to get to the location, to stretch a little, to go to the bathroom. Then you need to cool down, maybe take a shower.  Don’t create time constraints that you have no realistic way of obeying.  And yes, this means some of your workouts, especially the long, gnarly ones will have to be done in the morning.

You want proof of what I say?  Look back at your own experience.  Where have you been successful and enjoyed the accomplishment of the workout and gotten the work done?  What were your preparations?  How did you manage uncertainty and friction?   Look at those other times when you weren’t successful.  What got in the way and how can you remove that going forward?

Eventually, once the habits become burned in, you can start to loosen up your friction mitigation.  I will only lay out my stuff ahead of time for certain, high-stakes, early-start workouts.  Otherwise, I wing it.  But even then I have burned in habits and routine.  I know where my stuff is.  I know where and when I can run.

Although sometimes my bicycle maintenance routine can be flawed.

Because this is the point.

Through consistent practice.  Through stacking habits and routines.  The act of doing the workout becomes part of your identity.

And then the thought of whether or not you are motivated is irrelevant.  You become the person who follows the plan and does the workouts.

Then something wonderful happens.

At that point in your training plan where, for the love of God, you’ll need to get up at 4:00AM and run for 4 hours in the dark and cold, at that point, you start to see it as an exciting adventure.  You don’t need to be motivated.  The thing itself becomes the motivation.

That is when it becomes something to celebrate.