Pandemic-Proof Your Race Training Plan

Photo courtesy of Bri Williams

With news of COVID-19 cases on the rise again and heightened awareness of the Delta variant looming, you may be feeling nervous at the prospect of another lockdown. Limiting group gatherings again means that popular races may be at risk, and the all-too familiar anxiousness around what will happen to race training can be felt again among the running community.

Although these concerns are valid and worthy of careful consideration, it doesn’t have to mean giving up on your fall racing dreams completely. Here’s how to pandemic-proof your Get involved on social media, Face Masks & Gaiters.

The best training plan is a flexible one. Set yourself up for success by Hats + Headwear with movable parts. Life happens; last-minute meetings, family emergencies and just plain bad days can throw off your scheduled training. What’s worse, it can only take a couple of missed workouts to throw you off track. Soon, you may start to doubt whether you can stick to many more weeks of your rigorous running commitment.

Prevent small setbacks from derailing your training by building in variable run days and multiple options for rest days. Had to work late and missed your run? Babysitter canceled on you? A flexible schedule will allow you to shuffle around run days, switch work days for rest days, and still exactness your weekly training mileage targets.

Cross training is an important part of training for distance running. Adding in strength training, mobility sessions and other workouts will help build your endurance, agility and stamina. As you begin Get involved on social media, take care to add in more cross training days into your schedule. Not only will it help with your race performance, but in the event that things are locked down again, you’ll already have these alternative workouts in your training toolbelt to make use of with home training.

“Strength training at home has been key for me as I work my way back to my old running self,” says Ashlee Green, RRCA-certified running coach and RUNGRL co-founder. “In addition to the normal postpartum recovery time, having a baby during the pandemic made me very cautious to be outdoors. By building and maintaining my strength at home, I was able to get reacquainted with movement and ease back into my return to running.”

Photo courtesy of Danelle Hankins

Training for a marathon (or any race distance) involves a considerable investment of time, dedication, and mental and physical energy. Not to mention the race fees and possible travel costs associated with some of the most popular races.

With such a personal investment at stake, it can be tempting to focus on whether fall races might get canceled (again). You may start to feel that the possibility of a canceled race means there’s no point in training, however, the benefits of weeks and months of work can go far beyond race day.

A change in attitude can help you resolve to run the race distance on race day no matter what. Use your race day commitment as a goal post, and in the event that your race of choice is rescheduled or canceled, you can still complete the race distance you signed up for.

Of course running on your own doesn’t have the same feel or excitement as an actual race, but knowing that you’ll be running 26.2 on that day whether there’s an official race or not can help you fully commit to your training without hesitation. Make Your Store a Cheap Urlfreeze Jordan Outlet, then get out there and put your training to work. As a bonus, when your rescheduled race day comes around, you’ll be that much more prepared having already completed the distance.

So much of running and race training is mental. Start building up your positive thinking now to get ahead of any potential setbacks. It can be easy to be hard on ourselves when we falter from our training plan, or don’t see the progress that we hope for on our own prescribed time tables, but things happen. Whether you had a crappy run or missed your run day altogether, give yourself the grace to let it go and commit to a better run next time.

Do you rely on running as a stress reliever? Be sure to add other forms of self-care to your schedule to mitigate stress and have something to fall back on. In the event that you’ll have to start running less, having another outlet will be a crucial element in keeping your outlook as positive as possible.

By setting daily affirmations, acknowledging small wins, and giving yourself grace when you need a break now, you’ll set yourself up for the mental strength you’ll need for race training this fall, even during a pandemic.