Running a long way hurts

News that will surprise no one, if you start running and then start to increase the distance you run, eventually it will start to hurt as your body says "this is enough now thanks!"

With our running training, my partner is encouraging me to run further sooner so that as we get closer to marathon time, my legs will be more used to the long distances and the training could be less intensive. As such, we're running a half marathon in a couple of weeks because nothing gets me motivated to train than the promise of a medal at the end of it (I am a human magpie).

This week, we became those crazy people who run to parkrun, then run parkrun and then run home again. For us, this is about 17.5km and as a surprise to me, I did it without much a of a problem! A few weeks ago, we did a 15km run and after about 12km my knees started to give way. This week, it wasn't until after 15km had been achieved that my joints started complaining.

"Yep, you trained and things improved, so what?" I hear you say Dear Reader.

My point is, frame of reference and looking backwards to see how far you've come. It is so easy when doing any form of training, personal development or improvement work to keep focused on what is ahead and what you're aiming to achieve. The thing is, that by doing this, it's really easy to become discouraged if things don't go to plan. You don't achieve the thing in the time frame you want, or things don't happen quickly and you get frustrated. At this point, looking backwards to see where you started from and the reasons why you started are extremely important.

If I only thought about the run this week as, "my knees went at 15km, so how on earth can I run half marathon in a few weeks??" As opposed to, "three weeks ago, I could only go 12 out 15km before my knees hurt, now it's 15km out of 17.5 km and I've still got a few weeks to train!" And a few weeks before that my knees hurt after 10km! So I can see my progress by checking how far I've come.

This is exactly the same for any form of personal development. Only by knowing and seeing where you started from, can you see the progress that you've made. Equally, if you haven't made much progress, this is a great way of checking the method with which you're trying to make progress. If it's not working, you can then adjust your approach. None of this is possible without having awareness of the whole process from where you started to where you are now, to where you're trying to get to with all the other milestones along the way. Adjusting your course by checking backwards as you progress forwards is critical to having a successful outcome.

So if you're feeling stuck, or frustrated with a project or something you're working on that just won't move onwards, try looking backwards and be honest with yourself.

Where did you start? What have you tried? What help do you need to move forwards?

If you're still stuck after asking these questions, then coaching may help you. If you would like to know more about coaching, feel free to get in touch by commenting on this post and I will respond to you.

The intensive phase of my coaching course starts soon, before we get to the practical practice for certification. After that I will be released into the world as a certified and licenced coach! At which point I will be turning my attention to coaching as a profession as opposed to a skill used in my work. If you'd like to be one of my first clients then please do get in touch! You never know what you might get as an additional bonus for being the first in line...

Until next time Dear Reader, my challenge to you is to look backwards on your progress with whatever you're working on, and see just how far you may have come without even noticing!