My training has tanked at the end of 2022 severely affecting fitness and performance and it hasn’t yet recovered: I need a new incentive to foster some real running accountability.
Twice over the last few months I have gone to ‘A races’ with abysmal volume in my legs. This happened both for the 2023 London Marathon and the ASICS London 10K. Not to talk about my weekly parkrun, where my times have shifted from low 26s without pushing to much to barely below 30 (if even).
After the London marathon, I tried to use a nice, fun race to keep myself accountable. That was the ASICS London 10K. It did not work.
I use a number of trackers because I enjoy numbers and they show me clear info on volume, pace and long term trends. Runalyze is probably the best one, if you wanna check it out. It is excellent, but these tools are not enough anymore.
I use Trainasone, an online adaptive training plan tool: it is not perfect, but it is pretty decent (except the freaking tests, which I hate). It used to work, but then excuses and work come into its way.
Am I really lacking in running accountability?
But I am not really lacking in accountability, right? I love running, I go running, what could be the problem if a few times a week I skip my workout?
Well… what happens is de-training, both cardio and muscle and skeletal adaptations. And weight gain. Both of those lead to significantly worse fitness and performance.
The beauty of data is that it can wipe out all the crap arguments our minds can come up to keep us in our unhelpful comfort zones. So yes, I will put it all out there accepting the public ‘humiliation’.
Ehm, this looks pretty uncontroversial, right? I mean, I’ve never been a very high volume runners, but when training for my first marathon (Manchester 2021), I was pretty good in holding up to 140/150Km months. That’s kind of decent.
Then it slid a bit, but I was monstly about 100K even with less work from home days, I was still following my training plans and routines, which meant I was still improving, getting below 25 mins 5K or to 50 mins 10K, among other things.
Then summer 2022 happened and I never recovered.
But I still run around 50K a month, how could that not be enough to at least retain fitness?
Well, it’s not. Volume is not enough and quality of my runs isn’t either.
One more piece of info tells me without any showdown of doubt: Strava’s fitness score.
The name makes it out to be more than what it is: it is a simple TSS chart, looking at short term volumes versus long term chronic volumes. This is because there is little magic in running performance: it’s all about the slog. Volume, consistency and variety in session quality and focus.
The data is pretty telling: over the last two years my ‘fitness’ has decreased 62%. The marathon was in October 2021, so part of it is the taper and part of it is post race recovery, but it is still at least 50%. If we are being nice.
No debate there, I am in a running rut and I seriously need to step up my running accountability.
Running accountability: excuses, excuses, excuses
Ok, I guess I have to accept I have not been as accountable and consistent as I would have liked to be. I knew that.
But you know, there are a lot of objective reasons why that’s happened, right? No. They are all excuses, we can find the time we need to do what we have to, if we really want to.
| Excuses | Response |
|---|---|
| Not working from home anymore | Run before going to work or after coming back. Plan your days to be sure you have 1h for your training |
| A lot of business travel | Foreign countries have roads and parks as well. Bring your running gear and TAKE IT OUT OF THE LUGGAGE |
| It’s hot | Run early morning or tough it out for a few days and get used to it. Get those shoes on and get out! |
| It’s cold | Dress up |
| Work is sooooo busy | Yes, it can be hard, but even if just for 30 minutes, exercise help manage stress and mental health |
| I am lazy | Shame on you |
| Partner complains! | Let them. Everybody needs some personal time |
Obviously, the worst thing is turning running accountability into an obsession. Life happens, plans change, you will not always hit 100% of your planned workouts. Be kind to yourself.
But life does not happen every week for one year. In that case, they were excuses.
How to get out of a running rut
There are dozens of articles online on how to get out of a running rut, but none of them seems to say anything particularly insightful.
I think is pretty simple, we need to understand what we want to do and be consistent and committed.
Nothing comes easy, good things need to be conquered and deserved.
People tend to choose the easiest option. Short term, it feels good. Long term, it does not help building something sustainable and progressively better.
So here is my totally unqualified and amateurish opinion. If you are going through a running rut:
- Decide what’s important for you. Anything can be prioritised if important enough;
- Be realistic: not everyone needs to run a sub-3 marathon. Find enjoyment in realistic goals;
- Be kind to yourself, but strict and don’t accept your own bullshit;
- Do not obsess. Obsession and anxiety are the enemy of long term sustainable plans;
- Build up gradually:
- Find motivation, a race, a streak, a game, anything;
- Include different workouts in your weekly routine: make things interesting;
- Make a plan, and stick to it to the extent possible;
- Be patient, physical adaptations are not linear and are usually evident only ever 6 to 8 weeks. It’s a long game;
- Have fun… otherwise, it’s not worth it.
My new running accountability journal
So yes, I will start keeping a running accountability journal. Mostly for myself and if someone finds any kind of inspiration, all the better. I think I will do it weekly, with monthly summaries, to keep myself fully honest. Starting with the week ending 16/7 (yup American friends, weeks END on Sundays 😂 )
I will hide it, but you can expend below if interested. Also, let me know if you have any thoughts about my stream of consciousness below, if any. Discussion is always interesting!
UPDATE: I will abandon the ‘accountability journal’. I have other easier ways to keep track on volume and this does not add anything, besides clogging subscribers emails. So long, tools are just tools, I am the only one who can get back on the training train. I am leaving the page up because the content above is still relevant: consistent volume is the main secret of running performance.
