August: Persistence

   Non-runners marvel at the discipline of runners, even though it's mistaken awe. Sure, discipline is required to get any training program going. And often it's the only thing that will jimmy us out the door when it's wet and freezing, when we're pressed for time, or when we're distracted by the diverse demands of daily living. But early in any workout program, discipline gracefully bows away to plain old persistence, which is the more powerful motivator. Every workout brings results, and so we want more. We yearn to stick with it.

   Persistence pays, to be sure, but it can also waver, especially when the bounty of early benefits from training starts to ebb. This presents a great time to reassess your goals. You can shave minutes off your mile in the months when you're new to running. But once you're logging a steady 20 miles a week or more, you’ll be able to shed only seconds, at best. This doesn't require you to lower your expectations. It means that you’ll have to become more specific in your goals, more attuned to subtler advances in performance. The same is true of distance goals. Though you can certainly add miles to your weekly long run, you can't double your distance every ten weeks forever.

   Another way that persistence can let you down is when it leads you into trouble. Sometimes it's wise to simply abandon a goal - or change it. We often don't recognize this until a tide of evidence has washed over us. Training brings such steadfast and predictable results that it's easy to believe that any goal is within reach if you just keep working at it. Worse, when desired results fail to materialize, you may find yourself pushing harder than you should, risking injury. It's hard for anyone to face personal limitations, especially when every workout brings some form of improvement, even if it isn't the kind you seek. But running reveals essential truths about who we are. If persistence in your training isn't bringing you closer to your goal, it's time to change the goal.

   Besides, changing it is much less painful than failing at it. It's less painful than nursing an injury provoked by dogged pursuit of an elusive ideal. Both of these calamities can kill any form of motivation outright.

   The best way to avoid this fate is to be greedy for information in your workouts - collecting not only the times and distances you log in these pages, but weather, road conditions, your mood, and level of perceived effort. Stay dialed in to how your body is performing and why. Elite runners don't dissociate. Mid-pack runners, on the other hand, tend to let their minds run to anything other than the discomfort and exhaustion they feel from their struggling bodies. Go ahead and feel the pain. Use it. Analyze it as best you can to refocus and hone your training program. It is the cornerstone to becoming a better runner. It helps persistence persist.