There are plenty of times when we look at our trail running shoes and think, “no, not today.”
It just seems impossible to lace up our shoes and head out the door to the trailhead.
Believe it or not, even the incredible coaches here at Vert.Run sometimes don’t feel like going for a run.
This is often a short-term feeling, just one of those days when you need to put your attention into other means of taking care of yourself.
The real question is what happens when “just one of those days” becomes a week or a month? How do you maintain or regain your motivation, your enthusiasm, for the longer term?
How do you move past ‘one of those days’ to allow yourself to reach your potential?
Widespread Issue
This is an issue widespread enough that you can look at almost any running or health website and you’ll get some solid advice about ways to maintain your motivation. Often, the advice seems contradictory – you should listen to music that makes you feel good when you run immediately follows advice that you should run without headphones. Or you should run shorter distances and also run longer distances to get out of your rut.
But these only seem contradictory on the surface. The message is that it depends on how you are feeling that day – some days you need to run silently and some you need music. And we all need to vary our training, as the coaching plans here at Vert.Run illustrate.
But longer term, alternating between music and no headphones is not going to be enough for long-term motivation. If you’re in a deep rut or wondering why you are keeping up the training, it’s going to take more than listening to a different type of music when you run to help you out of the rut.
Happens to Everyone
Sometimes when you’re in a training rut, the thought of putting on your running clothes and lacing up your shoes feels like a chore. The trailhead seems so far away and the idea of going up those steeper trails is the last thing you want to do.
This happens to everyone. I’ve been in the middle of a 12-week training program for a trail half marathon and the last thing I wanted to do was a long multi-hour run on a Saturday morning. Or any kind of strength training.
So what did I do?
When I Started
When I started to realize that I was serious about trail running, I did it on my own without a plan and then moved up to using training programs I’d found on the internet to train for and run several trail half-marathon races and even a hilly 25k race over a couple of years. My training, however, mostly consisted of slow Zone 2 category runs (as I now would call them) on the same three trails and some half-hearted hill sessions when I was closer to race day.
Halfway through the training cycle, I’d be running on one of the trails and thinking, “why am I doing this again? If I keep doing the same thing, I’m going to keep getting the same results and my challenge and enjoyment are going to drop.”
I’d been resistant to the idea of engaging a coach up to this point. I’m not a runner who is competing for a place on the podium, or even in the top half of race finishers. I was (and am) running for other reasons, so I figured I would be wasting money paying for a coach.
Short-Term Solutions
I started to do internet searches for how to get out of a training rut. Some of the ideas cited above come from those searches. I tried some of them that seemed reasonable, including the headphones/no headphones idea and it helped, for a little while.
But I didn’t understand how to move past this training plateau I was on and was wondering if I should move on from trail running.
I’d been listening to the Vert.Run podcast, Running Long, and was inspired by the stories these coaches and athletes told about their struggles and lives. I began to realize they went through these plateaus also.
How did they get out of their ruts, I wondered. Then as I explored why I was frustrated, I started to look for answers that would work for me.
Four Ideas
One idea that was reinforced by the coaches on the podcast is that there’s no perfect, “one-size-fits-all” answer to the question of how to move ahead.
So these aren’t the only four ideas that might help you, but they are four concepts and ideas that helped me get out of my training rut.
Tip No. 1 – Change Your Routine, Safely and Sanely.
This is an intuitive idea and you may be doing so without putting this particular name to it. Maybe you are running a different trail or at a different time of day. While this can be a good way to get out of your rut, it’s crucial to always be safe and sane. Don’t just start running at night without the proper safety equipment, for instance.
Tip No. 2 – Run with Others.
Joining a local running club or running with friends is a great way to be around with people who love what you love. I find that my pace is better when I’m running with others but more importantly, I’ve made friends and learned so much from the experience of others.
You can find these groups (at least in the U.S.) on Meetup and sometimes on social media, such as Instagram. It pays to do some research to make sure the group is legitimate and active (some groups never delete their Meetup page, for instance).
Tip No. 3 – Consider an Alternative
The third idea is to think about alternatives. I know this is a trail and ultra-running site, but pursuing other goals can remind you why you run. In his book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, famed author Haruki Murakami ran for years, culminating in completing an ultra-marathon, then took some time to pursue a new physical challenge (triathlon training) before he came back to running road marathons.
Maybe you are curious about road running or mountain biking. Maybe swimming seems like fun. Using new muscles, finding new ways to exercise your body will benefit you in the long run.
Tip No. 4 – Ask for Help
The fourth, and maybe the most difficult of the ideas is to ask for help.
And by “ask for help,” I specifically mean from someone who’s been there and experienced what you are going through. Who can offer you specific ideas to challenge you and help you find new ground to cover, literally and figuratively.
For me, working with a coach has improved not only my running, but my outlook on running. I don’t feel like I’m grasping for ideas or being overly influenced by something that worked for a runner 30 years my junior who is a sponsored athlete.
No One Right Way
These ideas have worked for me. The common theme is that they pushed me in a different direction to reinforce why I love trail running. They took me out of my mindset and helped refresh my perspective.
Seeing others in the running group showed me what is possible. Running a different trail or running my nearest trail at a different time of day shows me new and unexpected vistas. Having a coach gives me a solid, experienced, supportive base.
You will find what works for you. Remember that you’re not alone and that every runner goes through this.
Tony Edwards is a writer and trail runner in Northern California. You can read his Substack on trail running here.
