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How to maintain a consistent endurance training program

This is an excerpt from The Art of Ultrarunning by Ian Sharman.

I am often asked if there are secrets to maintaining consistency. Sometimes this is because the runner is low on motivation, especially if they’re very busy. Other times it’s because they keep getting injured, often due to trying to do too much and not being flexible enough to adjust and correct course before things get out of hand. Following are the best ways to hit that sweet spot of Goldilocks training for maximum adaptation and minimum downtime from injuries.

Create a Routine for Training

Everyone struggles to fit running in, so don’t beat yourself up or think you’re not disciplined enough. Often the problem is that you’ve set up your day in a way that requires more effort to get out the door to run, and changes in your planning could line things up more simply without requiring as much motivation. Think through which patterns tend to lead to doing a run and which lead to it not happening.

If you can identify patterns of activities that lead to desired habits, like running, then you can set up your day to include these as part of the build-up to a run. Author James Clear called this “habit stacking” in his 2018 book Atomic Habits. An example would be telling your partner you’re running at a certain time, then putting on running clothes right before that time. Alternatively, think through habits that tend to lead to the run not happening, such as eating a meal as soon as you get home after work, then feeling too full to run. You can also set up rewards (e.g., you’ll buy yourself a present if you fit in all your mileage for the week) and penalties (e.g., you’re not allowed to watch that movie tonight until you finish your run) to reinforce these habits.

It’s easier to stick to any habit, including running, if you create a regular routine. If you have a predictable daily schedule that allows the run to be done at the same time each day, then consistent training can happen almost on autopilot. When you travel or have big day-to-day variations, it takes more forethought about how and when you can run. Try to formalize when you’ll run, such as picking a place and time in advance, then adding it to your calendar to give that extra level of commitment. Meeting up with friends to run is especially helpful for this and makes it harder to procrastinate and skip the run.

If you can plan your routine effectively, it won’t take as much effort to get out the door because running becomes a habit that naturally fits in. Even if you have an extremely busy and hectic life, it should be possible to carve out the time to train, although you may have to adjust training and racing goals during especially busy periods.

Find Things That Motivate You

Motivation is hard to conjure from thin air, and the lack of it can stop you from running regularly. This is a complex topic that has the entirety of chapter 11 devoted to it, but the main message at this stage is that the more meaningful and exciting your target events are, the easier you’ll find training for them will be. Also, the more enjoyable your training feels overall, the higher your motivation. It’s vital to know why you run and why you care about your goals, since that shapes the day-to-day enjoyment of the sport and the ability to stick it out for long periods of time. Remember that even the best runners struggle to get out the door, and social media depicts an overly rosy picture of everyone else’s workouts and running life.

Don’t Overdo Training

Many runners take consistency too far and turn training benchmarks related to success, like mileage, into the main goal, aiming to maximize the volume at all costs. These data points are relevant, but don’t forget that the aim is to maximize adaptations (and enjoyment), not Strava stats. Don’t exhaust yourself obsessing about fitting runs in exactly as planned, ignoring how your body feels, since this can lead to physical and mental burnout. Be flexible where you need to since a training plan shouldn’t be set in stone and needs to adjust to how you’re responding to, and recovering from, runs. In particular, if you feel more tired or sore than usual, be willing to back off on recovery or rest days and see how your body reacts, learning and refining your ability to judge this better. At times like this, less is more, and backing off can be the smart thing to stop digging yourself into a hole. Adjusting training runs by being flexible is essential to getting the most bang for your buck from training.

Overdoing it is especially dangerous closer to race day, when it’s tempting to squeeze in a little more speed work, another long run, or extra hills. I’ve seen a lot of runners make this mistake by being in great shape a month out and then taking on too much, especially during their taper, and turning up tired for the race. Always be aware of how you feel on your runs and how this varies day to day, particularly during peak training when you’ll be pushing especially hard. Once you reach about two weeks out from the race, it’s best to accept the level of fitness you’ve achieved rather than trying to catch up after an injury, busy work week, or other reasons you weren’t able to do as much as you’d hoped. It’s better to turn up to a start line quite significantly undertrained than even a little overtrained or injured, so allow for a margin of error. Set up your seasons for long-term gains rather than rushing things and getting impatient by cramming in too much. You can’t force adaptations to happen quicker than your body can withstand and recover from training, although this ability rises with more fitness.

Over the years, I can think of many examples where a runner turned up a little undertrained and nailed their race, but I’ve never seen an overtrained runner get near their potential. In fact, the longer the race, the more your success will depend on tactics and mental toughness to make up for a lack of training. Across the 20-plus 100 milers I’ve run, my best races haven’t been the days when I felt I had the biggest training build-up. Some of those days led to mistakes due to my assumption it would be “easy” because I was in better shape.

Minimize the Chance of Injuries

Injuries are the main reason that committed runners tend to miss runs in their training. Running has a particularly high propensity for injuries because of the pounding the legs take. Don’t confuse pain and suffering. Pain, especially if it’s sharp, isn’t normal or desirable, often signifying that your training is unsustainable and may lead to damage that forces downtime in training. Suffering is when things are difficult and your perceived effort increases, which is a normal part of ultras that should be practiced during training. However, the aim isn’t to make training difficult and exhausting just for the sake of it. It’s important for physical adaptations and mental toughness that you push yourself, but it’s also important that you can recover and adapt from the stresses you put yourself through.

Don’t ignore aches, pains, or tightness in your muscles. It’s normal to have small niggles, especially when training hard and as you age, but monitor them and adjust what you’re doing in the middle of runs if they change for the worse. These early warning signs can be the first indication of a more serious injury, and it’s better to make small adjustments now than be forced into more downtime later.

Also, the best indicator of future injuries is past history of injuries, with some causes resulting from your actions and some out of your control. If you frequently get hurt, step back and assess whether you’re doing too much running or have too little variety in your paces, intensities, terrain, and routes. There could be underlying muscular imbalances that need to be addressed with corrective strength training. An objective, independent third party like a physical therapist or coach can help immensely with this, especially if their work is focused on ultrarunning and they are athletes of some type themselves. Sometimes less is more, and backing off training can be the smart thing to stop digging yourself into a hole.

More Excerpts From The Art of Ultrarunning

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