Train Yourself – Part 3

This is the last of a three part series on how to train yourself. I am not talking about what exercises to do or how far to run. I am talking about how to train yourself to make running a natural part of your lifestyle. My first post dealt with the fact that you are an animal and hence can be trained to behave in a certain way using the same techniques that animal trainers use. In the second post, I discussed the two most important training methods - the methods that are used to teach Shamu to do tricks. First, you must ignore mistakes, bad behavior, and any lapses in achieving your goals. Second, you need to reward achievements, good behavior, reaching your goal.

Now, how do you apply this to yourself? The first step is somewhat easy: Ignore failures. The trick here is to set progressively harder goals that you are pretty certain to reach. If you set out to run ten miles the first day of training, you will probably fail. Good training programs build in progressively harder workouts so that the participant gets a sense of achievement and feels good about the progress being made. If you are training on your own, you still need to apply this technique. Accept that there will be good days and bad days. Willie Nelson has a song that coached, “Remember the good times they're smaller in number and easier to recall/Don't spend too much time on the bad times/They're staggering in number and will be heavy as lead on your mind.”

The second step is to get positive feedback on your activity. Again, a good running program should provide that. The coaches and other participants should encourage you to come to the group runs so that eventually you feel good about running even when they are not present. You may also throw yourself a “treat” when you do well. A lot of people look forward to a group breakfast after a long Saturday run. You could buy a new running outfit or go to an out of town race. I always wear my medals for a few days to let others know what I have accomplished. You need to find what works for you.

The bottom line is that you cannot be a successful runner if every run is a test of your will power. You must enjoy the training or you will fail. Yes, sometimes you have to force yourself out the door but most of the time it should be something you look forward to doing. Follow the above two techniques and running will become a natural part of your life so that not running will seem strange.

Keep Running!