Start a Running Streak!
One of my training strategies that has been most helpful is to run in streaks. That sounds kind of funny. What I mean is that I commit to myself that I will run on certain days of the week—no matter what. I also commit to running a minimum distance on each of those days. In my case, I run at least one mile every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. It becomes a streak when I do it for many weeks in a row without missing.
So far I’ve been able to stick to this goal for 16 months without missing once, whereas previously it seemed like I could not stay consistent with my training. Part of the reason is that there’s no wiggle room, no gray area. Five days of the week, I just run. No questions asked. I don’t have to think about it. I just do it. And my personality is such that if I don’t feel like running on a particular day, my streak motivates me to do it anyway so I don’t break the streak I’ve accumulated. Who wants to miss a day when you’ve kept a perfect streak for 16 months?
On days when I run only a mile, do I get much physical benefit from it? Mental benefit? Probably not much, if any. However, the key is that I usually run substantially more than a mile and that the consistency adds up over time.
Last thing. Notice that I didn’t say I made a goal to run 5 days a week. I made a commitment to myself. For some reason it helps me to think of it this way because commitments seem less flexible than goals.
Leave a Reply