Vary your training. Running the same miles, at the same pace, in the same place, on the same schedule is a recipe for burnout. Shake up your training by exploring different locales. Improve your performance with a mix of speed, hills, recovery, road, trail, cross training, etc

In your mind start counting starting from 1 to infinity (repeat if your mind wanders or you get fatigued). Gets you in the trance zone!!!

Get plenty of sleep and cut down on sugar. Easy to say, but tough to live!

Some advice I would share is slow down to go fast. Work speed in short focused sessions. The rest should be easy miles building the foundation to allow you to explode when you need to pour it on. You’ll be amazed how strong you feel once the miles start clicking off.

Strength train, strength train, strength train. Makes a world of difference.

When running long distances, you’ll be in pain but eventually you’ll realize that pain doesn’t get any worse. Keep moving and push thru the lows and ride the highs.

Find a local running club. You’ll meet like minded people. Then, seek out the veterans and listen to them and not much of the BS in the major running magazine. I’ve found that running marketing is becoming as bad as bicycle marketing in its efforts to convince us to buy so much crap!

Listen to your body.

Not every run looks like the opening scene of “Chariots of Fire”. It’s okay if it’s boring – that’ll build mental strength. But it’s also good to spice things up: new gear, new music, new trail, new companions, new race registration. Nothing changes if nothing changes.

When I first began running I thought I had to run hard all the time to get faster. Tempo runs followed by too hard recovery runs. Long runs to hard which left me drained and unable to important workouts days later. One of the tools I used was a heart rate monitor. I was astounded to learn that my “recovery runs” were muck closer to tempo runs than to an easy run. So, once you get a good base built and want to do a formal training program, either get a heart rate monitor and use it properly. You will have to find your max heart rate (HR) and a resting HR to calculate your numbers and then have at it. Or you can go by a scale of 1-10. 1-2 is a walk, 3-5 is an easy run (you can carry on a conversation while running), 6-7 is moderate to pre-tempo(can talk in short sentences in between breaths, 8 is your tempo pace(maybe a couple words, breathing harder now), and 9-10 is your repeats or sprints. Maybe a word here and there. To sum it up: run hard when you are supposed to and super easy on your recovery days. Happy trails!!

I think my best advice, and the advice I wish I’d gotten earlier on, is to do whatever it takes to enjoy your running. It seems simple, but it took a long time to realize sometimes that means doing it a lot less, and sometimes changing training dramatically. I find I run least when it feels like a chore and an obligation. Then I switch up the objective and start focusing on different goals like journeys runs, etc.

Find a group or two you can meetup to run with. They will keep you honest, They will keep you encouraged, they will push you beyond what you thought your limits were and will become your closest friends

Set realistic goals, stay consistent, try to find an accountability partner, keep it simple, don’t live by the watch, take care of yourself, take care of your trails, if you come up short don’t beat yourself up, join a local running group, make friends in the running community, X-train, learn your body, take it easy ,& enjoy the ride!

Set realistic goals, stay consistent, try to find an accountability partner, keep it simple, don’t live by the watch, take care of yourself, take care of your trails, if you come up short don’t beat yourself up, join a local running group, make friends in the running community, X-train, learn your body, take it easy ,& enjoy the ride!

If you are moving into a longer mileage training plan (e.g. more total weekly runs and/or increasing long runs) I’ve found that gradually implementing a plan is best. In other words, don’t be in a rush to crank up the mileage and risk injury/fatigue that will set you back. We all want to be running “for years to come”, so what’s the rush?

Just keep runnin’!!!