Thoughts About Intrinsic Motivation and Running

As a running coach (click for more information) of both teenagers and adults, I often encounter

something that claims us all: motivation deficits. Whether you are the weekend warrior trying to improve upon your daily five miles or trying to complete your first marathon or hit a Boston Qualifying time, motivation can be an issue. There are days that a ten miler in 95 degrees seems daunting, something that tests not only the body but the inner workings of the soul. We want to be somewhere else, to do something else, and lack the drive and/or faith to maintain our self-discipline. The same can be said when you bring teenagers to school two hours early to get in a run before the sun comes up—they are sleepy, and while engaged with the team, they do not always have their motor turned on. Their goals are the farthest thing from their minds at such moments.

So what can we do about motivation? As much as I wish I could say that there is one answer, there is not. As I have discovered over the years, each and every person responds to different ideas and cues. Some people want to be yelled at for failures, others want to be lauded for the groundwork laid in those very efforts (check out the Talent Code if this topic interests you more), some need to be cheered for, others respond to indifference. Regardless of our ability to be coached or respond to coaching (our ability to be whispered to), most motivation remains intrinsic.The key for all coaches and mentors, as well as their disciples, is to tap into this well.

"Be unrelenting. If you don't believe, then who will?" ~ Kara Goucher

Intrinsic motivation is the key indicator and driver of success. We need to self-motivate.  To be good, one needs to push themselves. A writer must writer, a runner run, and they must find ways to complete these tasks when obstacles (intrinsic or extrinsic stand in the way). Thus, when it comes to finding that daily push, there are a few things one can focus on:

1. Break each task down into segments that have achievable goals. Write 200 (or 2000) words a day to complete your novel. Break a five mile run into five pieces, so if you need to run it in 45 minutes, you have five goals there, each of nine minutes. Hit one, you feel better, hit another, confidence and motivation grows. One run turns into two, two a week, a week pushes you out.
2. Instead of examining a marathon as 14-18 weeks of training, break it down into three phases. Each phase has weeks, each week days, each day has a goal. Meet your days and weeks, complete your phase, reach the endgame, the ultimate goal. This compartmentalization creates moments of success. Like the individual run mentioned above, you get to bask in your glory on a frequent basis. Likewise, in moments of failure, you have another, short term goal to latch onto as you drive towards the long term one. Thus, a novel comes chapter by chapter, page by page. Build a foundation and go with it.
   
3. Share your goals and hold yourself responsible for them. Remember the P90x craze? One of the big things behind the success was that people shared their progress, plastering social media. When you fail to complete a workout detracts and it from your social stigma and your internal motivation grows through external shame. Running groups and writing circles will pull you through. People will comment on your progress, ask you questions, and seek to stand in your way--the latter often pissing you off and creating more drive.
4. Consider a mentor or a coach—they can and will guide you through the process. Even a lot of coaches have mentors and coaches. Guidance and support build motivation.
5. We all have bad days, days with less than ideal conditions or where we fail to reach our goals. Sometimes we don’t wake up in time, meet a deadline or goal, or race/workout the way we want to. Do not wallow in self-pity. Move on and make up for it. 
6. Reward yourself. Take time to look at what you accomplished. When your legs ache and burn after a 40 mile week, think back to when you only could make it through 20 miles. Now celebrate and find a way to reward your efforts.  If it is something material great, a night on the town, or with a scheduled but needed day off. Whatever it is, be sure you take the time to do it.

Varied Training Surfaces and Running

As a coach (if interested in a coach click here) and avid runner, people always ask me about training methods and training surfaces. Today, after frequent conversations on the subject in the past few months, I would like to discuss training surfaces in general. First off there is no one right surface and likewise no one wrong surface.  There are various opinions on surface in general and accepted ideas, some with academic data to back them up, others with less empirical observations. That said, I’m not going to link the bevy of articles to support what I’m about to type, but the reading is out there if you want scientific data; still, one of the best parts about coaching is getting a large sample size to support or refute claims.

So on to the fun:

Road: Typically the least forgiving surface, but a necessary evil in the modern world. Road is fast and fairly flat and even. Your feet do not have to develop advanced proprioception to run on the road, except for ramps and the occasional imperfection aside, the surface is predictable and hazards can been seen well ahead of time. Repeated road running can beat the legs down—they can have the lethargic approach, the exhausted feel as the force generated by running is deflected back into your body. Professional coaches often avoid road running unless their athletes are training for marathon length races and they limit it even then. Common injuries include overuse injuries, sore legs, shin splints, joint pain depending on your running style and form.

Grass: Grass, whether a manicured field, or a green oasis next to a sidewalk is soft. Much more forgiving on the body, the impact of running is absorbed by the surface instead of being deflected back. Your feet are much more alive here; proprioception is needed because each and every footfall is unique. Thus your balance muscles grow, but your feet and core work much harder compared to road. In addition to the extra work, the need to focus on landing patterns can slow you down here or there. We love to use grass for strides post run (always barefoot) and for any speed workout we can. If you are into minimalism or neutral shoes, grass is for you. The more time on grass running fast, the stronger the legs are. Common injuries include ankle rolls, overuse injuries, muscle soreness from repeated use of balance muscles.That said, running around a soccer field or a park creates a set of manicured trails for your use. Use for anything you can do on a track. 400's, 1000's, even mile repeats, especially if training for cross country.

Trails: A subset of grass, trail running also gives a highly productive surface, one that results in diminished impact on the body. Adding to the challenge comes the normal trail elements: mud, sand, and roots/rocks. The first two only force you to work harder, resulting in a stronger runner without the beat down of roads. Mud and sand (beach running as well) simulate hill running as they force you to dig in to generate force and momentum. This digging mimics running up and incline and will thus stress your muscles, building strength. Roots and rocks can create painful falls, but like with grass, focused running on trails will not only work on your balance muscles and core, but it will also increase proprioception and thus, over time, you will have more stable footing. I recommend using trails often, as in as often as you can, for some or all of your runs. Long runs can and should be done on trails to increase the overall training benefit.

Track: We use a rubberized track for training. If using asphalt, then consult the road section above while accounting for added force placed on your turn leg. Timber tracks are somewhere between grass and trail as well. That said, rubber tracks are very soft surfaces compared to the road (they do vary in both quality and hardness), they run fast and tend to push you along. Generating speed on this surface is easy, keeping it as well, it doesn’t deaden the legs right away, but your turn leg often suffers from the stress of constant turning. Typically, the turn leg is called on to generate a lot of the power and can fall into a condition of being over worked. Many track runners complain about having hip pain on their outside leg as well. We tend to avoid the track unless we are doing a track workout in track season, a couple days a week. Even then, we try to switch directions to vary the impact of the stress.

Treadmill: You're inside, on a low impact surface. Typically treadmills have a slight decline, and thus you seem to run faster because downhill running is faster. You are also not moving the air, a fact which makes the running a bit easier, but may cause increased perspiration. Your full running muscle matrix is not engaged, but the workout is still solid. Running at the same speed setting can be difficult though, for off of the machine, you tend to change speeds throughout your run, even if trying to hit an 8 minute mile, while on a treadmill you set the machine and go. Pay attention and be careful not to fall asleep on them.

 

Coaching Nostalgia

First off I consider myself lucky. I coach on the track I ran on in high school. I report to the man who coached me in high school. Not many people can say they have these rights. That said, today was a special day. It was not that I was able to run, I do that nearly every day, but I was able to run with my runners today who normally leaves me in the dust. He is a junior and I have redacted his name, but he is the last of our distance boys. Our girls team is well represented, but our boys fell apart at the district level. On Saturday, April 27, he will run the 3200m in the state meet, he is seeded 11^th based on season bests, but recent results put him in the running for a podium finish in a tactical race.

He was not always this good. I remember him as the awkward freshman that could barely finish a race, much less break 20:00 in a 5k (he runs in the low 16:00’s now). Pain was not his friend, pain was his crutch, his reason not to run. But he grew. The first time he broke 20:00 came on the beach, in a 5k I dragged him to in order to help pace me on a Mother’s Day morning. All he decided to do was win the thing, barefoot. So, we used to run together with little problem. Today, we only do so when he needs to go slow and I want to pick the pace up a bit, meeting in the middle on days where it meets our goals. Today was one of those days, a day where he wanted to recovery from his last speed session of the year and needed some company.

Before I go farther, I didn’t make this runner, in fact I’m not sure any runner is ever made—he made himself. Sweat, determination, and a growing immunity to pain have crafted him into the man he is. But for the last three years, I have been his sounding board. We discussed minimalist running together, barefoot training, and he now runs exclusively in the style, wearing Vivobarefoot Evo, New Balance Minimus, and Skora Form (often he will run workouts sans shoes regardless of the surface). He throws nutritional plans at me, personal training regimens for the offseason (he is famous for going outside our training plans), strength work, and seeks out inspiration. His questions keep me moving, digging, and searching for answers. Over the past few years, I’ve watched him change and grow, and even though we speak daily, the running part has become a distant past.

Today I was able to learn where he is, what he plans to do in his race Saturday—we literally discussed every lap, situation, scenario, and goal. More importantly, he has committed to guts. He wants to run on guts and determination, not just Saturday, but every day for the next 365 days, until his senior season comes to halt at next year’s state competition. Lofty summer mileage goals (700+), time commitments, team goals, and well a lifetime of running mark his mind. He wants to instill the idea in his teammates, to create a program based on want and power as much as natural talent. In his mind, the sky is the limit. Thus the nostalgia—I’ve had the pleasure of watching him grow. I have the pleasure of running on the same track I ran on high school, working for the same man that coached me. Hopefully, it doesn’t change, hopefully this runner reaches his goals, just as I aim to reach mine.

Current Goals:

Guana last year via Speedy Banana

• Break 20:00 again in a 5k. Last time I did this was high school. My recent PR was a 20:06 in February. 
• Target date is Race for the Pies on June 15, 2013
• Drop my marathon time in two stages:
• Stage one, a 3:30 during my July races (two of them: Make it by Midnight Marathon on July 13, 2013, and marathon portion of 24 hour Ultra around the Lake on July 26, 2013
• Stage two, a 3:20 or faster during the Jacksonville Bank Marathon on December 14, 2013
• Run my first Ultra, a 50k, on December 1, 2013. The Guana 50K Trail race.

Skora Cores

Current Shoe Rotation:

• Skora Form for recovery and length 
•  Altra One for recovery and length
• Skora Core for speed and shorter distances 

Skora Phase, a mesh version of the Core.