3 Ways to Improve Your Running Each Week ⎹ Ep 124

In today's episode, Dr. Lisa talks about how you can improve your running, whether it's to improve performance, endurance, or speed week after week. This will help you reach your goals faster and help you get out of your own way.

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS: 

• Foot and Ankle Program: $30 off
• Runners Knee Program: $30 off
• Hip Program: $30 off
• Runners Complete Program: $30 off
• REHAB AND STRENGTH BUNDLE: $297 (Over 50% Off)
• Customized Running Plan: 50% off your first month with code FALL25

Transcript

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Every runner wants to improve their running, but they don't do anything different, which is basically the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So today let's talk through the three things that you can do to improve your running week after week. Before we get into today's episode, this week is Thanksgiving, which means I am having some insane Black Friday sales. All of my rehab programs, runner's knee, hip program, and foot and ankle program are $30 off. And my runners complete program is $30 off. It's from Wednesday until Saturday at midnight, Eastern time. If you want to bundle all of my signature programs, all four of my programs, it comes out to over $600. I am taking over 50% off. If you buy all of my programs in this bundle, it is that is like the most insane thing I have done, but I really want to get my programs in the hands of so many runners. So you get the hip program, the knee program, the foot and ankle program, and the runners complete program for $297 total, which is an amazing deal. Like I said, it's over 50% off. And lastly, if you want a customized training plan, I have the best run coaches. I cannot emphasize enough how amazing they are. They would love to make you a customized training plan. They are not, they do not use AI. They are humans. They are going to talk to you. And I have one that is chasing a sub-three marathon. I have another who's run multiple marathons and an ultra. And I do all the return to runs. So if you are interested in that, you get 50% off your first month, which is again an amazing deal. I will link everything below, but just know the sale ends Saturday at midnight. When it comes to improving your running, I think it really is about taking a big picture, wide angle view at first and then honing in on your goals. I see runners make the mistake of, and I've talked about this before, where you're always having the same goal week after week for the entire year, or you're never adding in some variety into your year-long goals where you're almost like having to break down your goals. When I think of improving your running, I really think of these really small like micro tweaks that you're making that are going to add up. So I really want to talk about them. Today is really more about like wide angle for any sort of running goal, how you can improve your running. I know for me right now, being pregnant and running, I'm having to take a step back. I'm having to reframe how I think about running. I'm having to reframe how I think about just like a successful run, which I know every run is successful, but it's like in my head as like a win if I even go out and run at all versus, and this is something I've really reflected on versus, you know, asked me seven months ago in a really good run for me would be like a hard speed workout or even a long run where you just feel really accomplished. So I think going through these three things so you can improve your running week after week, I really want you to think of them as small tweaks. And this is just so, you know, you can improve your endurance faster, you can build speed faster, or you can just enjoy running a lot faster too. The first thing is to change your expectations. So many runners have these really big goals, which is amazing, but we really need to change our expectations for the timeline to be hitting these goals. I think we get really frustrated as runners when, you know, we have a timeline at that's usually the finish line is or the end of the timeline is the finish line. And I think it's important to tweak the expectations not just with not just with like your training plan and like your time goal, but also what's happening during training. I can't tell you how many times I've worked with a runner who would run like a 215 half marathon, and I'd ask them what their goal is for the next, you know, three months, and they would say run a sub-two, which is a great goal in general, but I think we just need to be a little bit more realistic on our expectations. I think it's always best if we take out the timeline of our goals, and I think it's always best if we are able to break down those goals to make sure that they are extremely realistic, but you're also pushing yourself. I think for me, when we're changing the expectations, it really comes down to hitting a certain pace once and then easily hitting it again. Raise your hand if you have ever done that, where you're like, Yes, I hit this interval pace. And then you're like, dang it, why can't I do that again? Like, I already did it. It's almost like we're we're moving the field goalpost immediately. We're setting the bar high, we're hitting the bar, and then we're moving it again versus trying to just consistently hit that bar time after time again. And then it's almost like, you know, you do the same speed workout, let's say a week later, and you're not hitting those times, and now all of a sudden you're really disappointed in yourself. You almost think of it as a quote, failed run if you're not hitting that pace that you once hit or that you hit previously. You're going to have a range of time, you're gonna have a range of your pace, which is completely normal. You're also gonna have a range in each time. I think that's really important to note because correct me if I'm wrong, but when I was training last summer for Marine Corps Marathon, I remember it being really hot and humid. I could not hit my threshold pace for literally weeks, and I was getting extremely frustrated by it. And then it almost like clicked for me. I would still try really hard. I would just get really frustrated and I'd just be like disappointed in myself versus changing my mindset. But when once it, I want to say it was like once the weather dropped just a little, I was not only hitting those paces, but I was like running way, way, way faster than those paces. I think it's really important to not just look at, well, I hit this pace once or I hit this time once, I can do it again. Instead, look at your progress over months span, three to six months. I think that's important. So we're not just like always moving this field goalpost and we're not always trying to, you know, we're never like accepting that we just did something amazing. It's almost like, you know, once you hit, let's say, a sub two half on to the next goal. I want to run a sub 150. And it's like, let's just acknowledge what you did, let's try to like even maintain that, and then go from there. I think it's important acknowledge those hard runs, change those expectations. And this is all mindset, this is all wonderful mindset training, but acknowledge the hard runs. They are meant to be there. Don't get frustrated by them or feel disappointed in yourself by them. That comes down to changing those expectations and really what you're telling yourself when you are going through that. What are you telling yourself when you don't hit that pace like you have in the past? What are you telling yourself when the fourth interval is a little bit slower than it was last week? Coach yourself through it and understand that it's progress over time, not progress over one week span. The second thing is the that the goal is really to look at your running watch less and less. Our running watch should not be our like guardrails. It is to a certain extent, but it shouldn't be like having us on this leash of knowing exactly what speed to run, and I only know this because I'm looking at my watch or knowing which heart rate, because I know I only know this because I'm staring at my watch the entire run, and I ran into a parked car or parked mailbox because I was staring at my watch. Use the watch as a tool. Don't use the watch as something that you have to look at. The goal is to look at your watch less and less, especially depending on what you're working on. So let's say that you're like, all right, Lisa, for the next three months, I want to run in zone two. Great. You are going to look at your watch a lot in the beginning. And then you are gonna start to understand as you get better in zone two, you start to run more in zone two, you're gonna start to know when you're not in zone two because you're building that muscle memory by not looking at your watch as much. This goes the same with racing too. Like if we're looking at a pace, we want to learn this speed, we want to learn this pace, we want to learn this heart rate by muscle memory. You are going in the beginning, just like when you're learning something new, you are going to need more guidance in the beginning. Do not be surprised if you look at your watch more in the beginning. But as you get better and better at it, start to pick up on what your body feels like in that zone range, in that heart rate range, in that pace. You know, start to really pick up, okay, like this is exactly the rhythm I feel, this is the breathing rate I feel, this is overall how I feel. I think that's really important to do because it's going to be really, really, really hard for you to hit a goal time for a race if you have no clue what your race pace feels like. Also, I will say from experience, looking at your watch and and trying to read your pace during a race when your watch is off and the GPS is off, it's just a recipe for disappointment, to be honest. So you really want to know what does this pace feel like? Start to get in that rhythm. Then once you're once you're out of like the staring at the watch phase where you're like, okay, am I in this zone? Or okay, am I in this pace range? Then you can start to just glance at it. Then it becomes a thing where you're glancing at it at it every minute or every two minutes or at the end of the interval. You're not glancing at it all the time. Don't let the watch dictate exactly what's happening. The end goal is to really feel what your body is feeling like. It's also just gonna make running way more fun. Like at the end of the day, the best runs are when you're not looking at your watch. And number three, learn to dissociate. This is huge. Get out of your head. I think that this is huge. I think this is huge if you are doing a hard speed workout. I think this is huge if you are doing a long run, especially a long run. I can't tell you enough how much it saved me to run in a group for my long run, long runs for my first and second marathon, because I got out of my head. I had no clue what the route was. I was just following people, talking to people, listening to my playlist, and I just wasn't thinking about the run as much, which made the run go by faster. I think another fun thing that I've done, like even for Boston, when I didn't run in a group, was I got lost in a podcast. I got lost in an audiobook. I would save certain podcasts or certain books for my run or even TV shows if I was running on the treadmill, so I could dissociate. If you're thinking about your run the entire time you're running, it's gonna be pretty miserable. That's why sometimes those shorter runs can feel harder than the longer runs. We have to learn to get out of our head. There's a difference between going down different rabbit holes and overthinking the run versus coaching yourself through the run. I just think it's so important. Learn to dissociate. Literally, that just means learn to distract yourself. Those are the best runs. All right, I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. I'll drop all my Black Friday deals in the show notes so you can check them out. If you have questions on anything, you can always DM me and I'll talk to you next week.