Feeling Intimidated by Your Running Plan? Stop Looking So Far Ahead.

I’m in the middle of marathon training. Every week, I open my training plan and notice the numbers getting a little bigger.

24 km.

26 km.

29 km.

32 km.

Even after years of running consistently I still have moments where I look at those distances and think,

“How am I supposed to do that?”

Especially in the middle of summer.

The heat makes every run feel a little harder. Life doesn’t slow down just because I’m training. Between a full-time career, raising two girls, and everything else life throws my way, there are still days when the run on paper feels much bigger than I feel.

If you’ve ever looked at your own training plan and immediately started questioning whether you could actually do it, you’re not alone.

And it doesn’t really matter what you’re training for. Maybe it’s your first 5K. Maybe it’s a 10K. Maybe you’re trying to run continuously without walk breaks.

Or maybe, like me, you’re training for a marathon.

The feeling is the same.

When the next challenge looks bigger than your current confidence, it’s easy to become intimidated before you’ve even started.

We make the whole journey feel heavier than it needs to be

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that we have a tendency to run the entire workout in our minds before we’ve even laced up our shoes. We imagine the hardest kilometre. We think about how tired we’ll feel. We wonder what could go wrong.

By the time we head out the door, we’ve already spent a tremendous amount of mental energy on something that hasn’t happened yet.

That’s when I started thinking about GPS navigation.

Why I think about my training like a GPS

If you’re old enough to remember MapQuest, you probably printed out pages of directions before leaving the house. You could see every turn. Every exit. Every highway. Everything that was waiting for you.

Today’s GPS doesn’t work like that.

You enter your destination, and then it gives you one instruction at a time. Turn right. Continue straight. Take the next exit.

It only tells you what you need to know right now.

Running works the same way.

Your destination might be finishing your first 5K, running a half marathon, completing a marathon, or simply running farther than you’ve ever run before.

But you don’t have to mentally run the entire race today.

You only have to follow the next instruction.

It’s also why I coach this way

One question I sometimes get from my athletes is why I don’t give them their entire training season all at once.

This is exactly why. I don’t want them looking eight weeks ahead and worrying about a long run they aren’t ready for yet. I want them focused on this week’s training.

Because this week’s workouts are what prepare them for next week’s.

Confidence isn’t built by staring at the finish line. It’s built by completing today’s run. Then doing it again next week.

When we focus too far ahead, we create anxiety about challenges we haven’t earned yet.

When we focus on today, we build the confidence we’ll need for tomorrow.

What my own “GPS” looks like

When I see a long run on my plan now, I don’t try to mentally survive the entire distance. I focus on what’s next. Put on my running shoes. Fill my water bottles. Walk out the front door. Start my watch. Run the first kilometre.

Repeat.

Those tiny decisions eventually become 24 kilometres.

Or 32.

Or on October 11, 42.2.

Not because I was thinking about the finish line the whole time, but because I kept following the next instruction.

Even GPS recalculates

One of my favourite things about GPS navigation is that when you miss a turn, it doesn’t tell you that you’ve ruined the trip. It recalculates. 

Running is no different. Some runs will feel harder than expected. You’ll have days where the heat gets the better of you. You’ll miss a workout because life happens.

That’s not failure.

That’s recalculating. The destination hasn’t changed. Only the route to get there.

Your only job today

Whether your goal is your first 5K, a faster 10K, your first half marathon, or a marathon, the principle stays the same.

Don’t let a future challenge steal today’s confidence.

Set your destination.

Trust your plan.

Trust yourself.

Then stop worrying about the finish line and follow the next instruction.

Because every runner who has ever accomplished something they once thought was impossible got there exactly the same way.

One step.

One workout.

One week.

At a time.