I just finished reading Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin. It was such an enjoyable read (I love self improvement) and packed with common sense analysis about why certain strategies for habit formation work better than others, and better for some people than others.
The Motivation Strategy to Watch Out For: The Finish Line.
As Gretchen Rubin explains in her book, whether we sign up for a race, start a 30 day “cleanse” diet, or give up something for Lent, we’re putting an end-date on our habits. That finish line, once crossed, is an invitation to quit for good. It’s a stopping point, and it’s often harder to start the habit a second time than it was the first. Diets have a particularly poor track record. Losing weight doesn’t matter if post-diet you immediately resume the eating habits that facilitated weight gain to begin with. Better to make a gradual life-style change you plan to stick with forever, whether it’s a green smoothie for breakfast three times a week, or only vegetables or fruits for snack.
This “finish line” phenomenon is especially relevant for running, because we often have to take a break after a long race. We taper beforehand, and recover afterwards, and that can result in several weeks when we’re barely running. A break like that can be hard to come back from.
I’m not usually tempted to give up running after a big race, but I do know that long distance races wreak havok on my ability to form a running habit. When I am training for a half marathon, I need to schedule a long run for the week. It’s hard to find a 3 hour block of time to dedicate to running, stretching and showering, and I usually don’t run the day before or afterwards. There were plenty of times in the past when I would have liked to have gone for a run, and had time, but chose not to so I wouldn’t jeopardize a long run scheduled for the next day. Then something would happen so I had to reschedule my long run (sick kid home from preschool, change in weekend plans, etc.) and I’d be out TWO runs instead of just the one… and still avoiding any difficult workouts in hopes of squeezing that long run in as soon as possible.
I find training for races to be motivating and rewarding. It’s rare that I don’t know someone at the start line, so they’re often social opportunities, too. Knowing I plan to run my 6th half marathon in the fall motivates me even now, months from the start line, because I need a good running base before I even start training for that distance.
That said, a race might be a great way to start your habit, but the real test is what happens after you cross the finish line. Will you stick with it enough to feel happy, and not guilty, about your running habit?
Like racing? Here are a few strategies to keep your running habit intact in between events:
Sign up for your next race before you hit the start line: If a race is what motivates you to get our running shoes on and get out the door, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it might help you to sign up for another one before you cross the finish line
Have a reverse taper schedule: Decide, in advance, when you’re going to start running again. Allow some wiggle room for adequate recovery and how your body is feeling after the race, but have a game plan. Runner’s World has some suggestions for half marathon and full marathon recovery plans: http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-can-i-recover-from-my-half-or-full-marathon
Have “off season” goals: Decide that you’re going to run 3 days a week, at least 10 miles a week even when you’re not training for a race, or whatever. Pick a baseline goal to help keep you healthy, happy, and ready to pick up your training for the events you enjoy. Make it a manageable, minimal goal that fits in with your lifestyle in between those motivating races.
Schedule a run with a friend a week or two after your big race: This works particularly well for what Gretchen Rubin refers to as “obligers” or people who find it easy to uphold expectations other people have of them, but hard to follow through on expectations they have of themselves. If you’re an obliger, you may find it easier to follow through with your reverse taper schedule if you plan to meet up with a friend for a run, because you won’t want to let them down. Just getting out there again could be all you need to jump back into your running!