I think sometimes in life we all experience a time where, intentionally or not, we bite off more than we can chew. I feel as if I have slowly fallen into this scenario with my running while training for two distance races, and in this post I discuss what had lead up to me feeling this way and my tips for working through it and preventing it.
This year, I signed up for both a marathon and ultramarathon (50K) in the late spring. Both races are local and ones I never ran before, so I thought they would be good candidates for testing myself in preparation for building up my distance running resume. However in training for them I’ve found I’m having more times when I’m either not into the run when I’m running or having lacking the motivation to even start the run.
The one thing that I knew would challenge me the most is running outside (since I’m without the luxury of owning a treadmill or having a gym membership) to complete all my training. Living in the Northeast, this can be difficult since any running outside can get tricky due to the short days and winter weather. While this winter was fairly mild where I live, I still find running outdoors to be difficult due to an intolerance to cold temperatures. I toughed it out and got through the winter months. Now there are more daylight hours and the temperature is finally staying tolerable—and even get warm now fairly consistently.
In that process of toughing it out and building up my mileage to be properly trained, I think the mileage has taken a toll on me mentally. Last year, in training for my first two ultra’s, albeit both in a late summer timeframe, my main mindset was increasing distance starting at the beginning of the calendar year—which I did successfully and completed one of my highest yearly mileages. This year, with an earlier goal race, I had to accelerate this process again. Comparing this year to last year, by February 1st, I had double the distance. By April 1st, I had an additional 150 miles logged. This acceleration has lead to some burnout though.
In realizing and assessing my burnout, I thought it might make for a good topic to share with others to provide information and ideas.
• Reassess your goal(s)
This topic wasn’t the first thing that came to mind to me, but eventually I learned that generally speaking, this is probably the one of the best things you can do.
Asking yourself “how important is this to me?” and “why am I feeling this way?” are questions that get you thinking from a broader sense and seeing things from a different perspective. If training is becoming stale, too intense, or too boring then completing a self assessment can tell you if you need to take a break, alter your training, or perhaps delay things until another time when you are better able to handle the training volume/intensity (or both) in order to reach your goals.
Sometimes these questions will have difficult answers. And sometimes the answer(s) you arrive at will likely be something unpleasant as you think you should be able to otherwise work through.
In my case, having already signed up and paid the money for my goal races prior to having the feelings of being burnout–and having a strong desire to compete in these events, I didn’t feel like not doing these events at all was the right choice for me.
What I have found is that picking spring endurance events which require me to log more mileage in the winter is probably not best for me. I prefer running in warmer conditions and “forcing” a lot of miles in the winter to train seems like it is not a choice in the long term as by the time spring and longer days with warmer temperatures are here, I have less desire to get out and continue with running. Thus, to deal with my burnout I have turned to my next topic…
• Alter your training
Likely one of the quickest and easiest things you can do with your running is alter the way your approach your weekly routine. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut but doing something fresh and new is a way to bring some vitality back into your running—and there’s a lot you can experiment with such as volume, intensity, location, or the type of workout you complete.
If your burnout is from volume, which can be more than likely, then I’d definitely recommend reducing your mileage and taking a break. Taking a week or two to reduce volume and increase recovery could leave you to having more energy when you get back into your regular routine—and in that time you won’t have lost that much fitness.
For me, right now this is the reason I feel I’m experiencing feelings of burnout. I had to safely but with a moderately quick time ramp up mile weekly mileage in order to get into the longer duration of long runs for knowing how I’ll react on race day of running with tired legs and how to get myself to the finish line when climbs in the last miles make me want to just take a break. Completing this higher running volume when it was colder and sometimes in the dark proved to be near my limits of how much I could push myself before I experience simply not liking running anymore.
Intensity is another aspect that can easily lead to burnout. Again my suggestion is to mix in a week every month of lower intensity, which again leads to faster recovery time. While working on speed is often important to many runners, a lower intensity run will help to build your aerobic base—so don’t think that running slower is not worth it.
Conversely, mixing in some higher intensity running might be good to mix in now and then if you often complete most of your mile at a slow pace, such a during training for long distance events.
Changing the location of where you run is a great way to mix things up too if that is a option for you. I know personally this helps me a lot in getting through some runs. Mostly run on the roads?—why not try a trail or head to a track if you can? Experiment and see what might work for you.
Lastly, mix up your type of running to change things. Completing track workouts, tempo runs, and fartleks can all address some of the aforementioned means of altering your training and help to prevent burnout.
• Review how your changes are working or not working
This may seem obvious, but always take time to review any changes that you make. That way you weed out anything not working for you—which is nonproductive, and focus on what is working for you—so you can use it as a positive learning experience and possibly apply it in other means as well.
Either your mind or body will likely let you know when you’re feeling burnout but try to get in the habit of making assessments, say quarterly or even monthly, of what you’re experiencing with your running—and most importantly prevent burnout before it ever begins!
For me, I have made it through my longest training run with my goal races being now 2 and 5 weeks away. At this point I will be reducing my volume and running at some different locations to work through my feelings of burnout—the worst of which is in the past now. I also am starting to feel reinvigorated from both the warmth outside and all the growth I see in nature when I’m out trail running, each making getting in miles a lot easier!
In closing, I hope some the above tips and advice help if you too have been feeling burnout. My suggestion would be to try one change at a time to find out what works best for you because with altering too many things at once, it is harder to derive at what truly caused a change and know what works best.
