Why 'being a runner' is better than going for a run
You don’t have to lace-up. But it might change the way you think about things
Bit of a longer one today. Brace yourself, some high-energy stuff here. We're talking process, performance, habit-forming and euphoria.
BTW: Some of these sketches live on insta too - check in to comment or if you just need a quick @youaretheskynow hit (I know, we all do).
Fitness by numbers
If running was a mood (err, not a verb) it’d be my mood for 2021. Slowly conquering hills, flying down them at speed and then feeling momentarily free when right now, freedom is just out of reach.
Sometimes I don’t wanna go. But then I end up going anyway. I can always tag some Post Office/Sainsbury’s faff either side of it and look at my stats while I’m shivering in a queue somewhere.
And the numbers are useful beyond that. They’re a hook to see where I’m at. Something to work on, to make better.
If you’re out to feel unshackled, then strapping a tracker on your wrist can seem paradoxical but for me, the occasional TomTom buzz is strangely reassuring. It makes a run ‘official’, like I’ve done something productive and there’s a bit of data to prove it.
Run done, my wrist beams at me with a ‘good recovery’ smiley face at the Haringey crossroads. Sometimes it even says excellent. Even if everyone else is turning away from each other (and it feels like I’m gonna pass out) all’s right with the world.
Strava’s Local Legends: Dull or dedicated?
For someone who’s not worn a crown much in their life, being told your Strava’s Local Legend - that’s running a single segment the most in a 90 day period - makes you a both winner and the high queen of consistency, right?
Granted, this is peak mundane achievement territory. But with lockdown in full throttle, at least no one can be accused of straying too far from the area for three-months straight.
I cringed when I became a Local Legend on a segment at Finsbury Park in January. And then I cursed when I lost it to someone else - unbelievably someone more dedicated/unimaginative than me - the following day.
Call it human nature but I want it back. Owning the most of anything - even if it’s loops of Finsbury Park - makes you a winner, of sorts.
A virtual crown just for turning up lots - and I actually want one. Great marketing from Strava.
Process: Upping my average pace
I wish I could reveal some secrets here. That I read a book, watched a film, or had a dream that made me faster.
Truth is, I started going up to six times a week - for up to 10k at a time (but mostly round the 8k mark) and over a few months. I went from running about 5:25 min/km to pacing on average just under five minutes. Trips out, little(ish) and often seem to suit me best.
When I started running years ago, I would focus on distance. It just worked with my job and lifestyle to smash out a big couple on the weekends. But the recovery was hard. The more spaced out my training, the harder I found it to lace-up.
Incorporating a few more hills also delivered results over time - we moved house for a while and they just happened to be on one of my routes. Yeh I hate hills, but they make the flats so much more fun. Oh and when the mud eases off this spring, I’ll swerve running so much concrete and give my legs ‘a rest’ on trails.
Sometimes an enforced change (in this case, a new environment and more flexibility away from a desk) delivered the results.
One other thing. HABITS
Cutting my average pace wasn’t a goal before I started. It just happened because running regularly became a habit.
How to make a habit? I found the ideas in Edith Zimmer’s recent newsletter from Drawing Links resonated.
Specifically the part where she pulls learning from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits.
“The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner.”
It’s about acting like the person you believe yourself to be. You can apply this idea to any habit you want to make. A shift in personal identity and mindset make all the difference. I found this out in retrospect but think’s still enlightening and the identity/mindset shift idea can work for anything.
The takeaway
Change can take time or change can happen overnight. There’s really no such thing as failure, just failure to start again.
Make yourself who you want to be by telling yourself that’s who you are. And then do what that person would do.
Lastly, does willpower even exist? (it’s not on my radar) - take comfort if you think you’re lacking, even the experts say it’s overrated.