My Keys to Running Success

It’s been a while since I blogged and I wanted to write a post on some of my keys to running or achieving goals and what has helped me the past few years and this year.  Below are what I find are the three biggest things that have kept me motivated and running great this year and I think are some of the most important things you can do in running and in life to achieve your goals.

1)      Find a way to way to have joy with running.  It’s easy to set goals and strive towards those goals and we can easily find joy when we accomplish them, but if you want to have success with running it has to go beyond that.  You need to find joy in running every day, it can’t just be based on successes or goal races.  It’s really important to have goals as they help us have something to strive for but we need to find a way to love running.  In 2016 I can truly say I have found utter joy in running.  I have missed goals, I have swung for the fences and missed, and I have had some really bad races but I can say I have had so much fun and I love the chance to go out every day and run again.  It’s the single biggest reason to me this year I have been able to keep going strong and race as often as I have.  From great times at races, to group runs, to track workouts with everyone struggling together every time out on a run is a joyful occasion.  I have had the luxury to meet so many friends this year through running and it’s that type of happiness to keeps me coming back for more.  If you can do nothing else for yourself, when it comes to running find a way to absolutely love it aside from just running personal bests.  Or you will find yourself struggling to ever satisfy yourself, because in the end there will always be another goal to achieve and we will never find ourselves happy.  Running for most of us is a hobby we do and not our full time job, if you make it like your second job you will find it may become too much for you.

2)      Consistency – Just like with everything in life the more consistently you do it the better you become at it and running is obviously no different.  The single greatest you can do to become a better runner is just be consistent.  Day in and day out, week after week.  Put together a good week and follow it up with another good week.  Sometimes as runners we get too bogged down with fitting in the perfect workout, or making sure to get in a long run and hit these splits and we get so overwhelmed or tired we end up missing a couple days or burning out or worse getting hurt.  Instead sometimes it’s just important to just keep putting in the work.  If you are sore go slower but get in the run.  It’s hard with running sometimes to stay consistent because the gains we see are usually not instant.  It sometimes takes a long period of consistency to start hitting the times we want, but if you keep with it you will reach your goals.  Running is the great sport that the more you put into it the more you get out.  If you start anywhere with improving your running, be consistent as you do that start fitting in workouts and other stuff from there.

3) The last thing I’d say that is a key to success is just determination.  It kind of goes with joy but it’s just having that desire and fire to be your best.  Determination is something we all have in any aspect of life, it’s what makes us push extra hard to accomplish something when faced with adversity.  It’s what helps us run that extra mile or push through the pain.  When you have a goal you want to achieve you now need the determination to do whatever it takes to reach it.  Having joy with running and being consistent are keys to getting you there but you have to want to get after it.  Only you can control your desire to achieve the goal and what you are willing to do to accomplish it.  In the end the goal you set needs to be something you are willing to push your body to achieve so make sure to never set your goals to something unobtainable.  Set goals that you know you will be determined to achieve not just something that sounds like you should do.  That way you will force yourself to get after it.  For me in 2016, I was determined to PR at every distance from 5k to Marathon and I even added some Ultra's to the plan.  I've wanted to have range at all distances and that goal has allowed me to stay determined all year to try and achieve it.

It’s been a while since I did a recap of my training so here’s a shorter version of what I have done in September and October.  September and October now rank as #1 and #2 all time on my mileage months.  I hit 340 miles in September and 366 miles for October.  In September I had a pretty intense 22 day stretch where I ran 274 miles, 4 races and 4 workouts and 3 long runs all in that period.  It was the most intense period of training of my life but it was worth it when it was all done.  During that period the 4 races I ran were Parks Half Marathon where I was 11^th in 1:18:06 on a really hot day, 34:53 for Race for our Kids 10k for 5^th place when everyone showed up to get paid, probably one of my best races of the year the Charm City 20 miler where I ran 1:56:23 and got 1^st and 5 days later followed that up putting myself among the greats of Falls Road winning the RM Classic 5k in 16:20, now linking myself to Ryan McGrath for the rest of our lives.

As the clocked turned to October the training ramped up a little more.  Running some pretty quick workouts on the track and getting on the trails more often to get ready for JFK.  Probably the most fun I have ever had during a race was during the Baltimore Marathon Relay, where Falls Road put 6 Legends of the Hidden Temple teams in to all race one another.  I decided to run the entire Marathon with my relay team(Blue Barracuda's) and then running the last leg as hard as I could finish.  The team did a great job and I managed to pull us into second place among Falls Road teams and passing the 1^st place Mixed Team with 800 meters to go, winning the Mixed Relay for the squad and a sweet Baltimore Cheese Platter pictured below.  But it was just a fantastic day in Baltimore seeing so many friends and family running or cheering along the course.  I ended up running about a 2:52 marathon that day, and 8 days later I was off to Atlantic City to run the AC Marathon.  This was my first race in NJ since 2003 back at Monmouth.  Even 8 days removed from a marathon and doing a long run the day before I was able to get 4^th in the Atlantic City Marathon and run a evenly paced 2:37:53 a new 3 minute 27 second personal best on a really windy day.  I finished up this 3 week stretch with another solid workout and long run and now it’s just time to get the body ready for JFK 50 Miler on 19 November.  I can't wait!

A lot of fun in the past two months of running and even a fun experience working at the Baltimore Expo selling some shoes for Falls Road and getting yelled at by my boss for two days.  Check out the pictures below!  I hope you enjoy.

Halfway Recap of 2016

Halfway through 2016 and it’s time to look back and realize what I’ve accomplished and where I am at as a runner.  I think sometimes as people we get so caught up in hitting our exact goals that we lose sight of everything else that we are accomplishing as a person.  This year so far is a good indication of that for me.  My goal when this year started was to run a Personal Best at every distance from 1 mile to Marathon (not every but the ones run more frequently).  So far I have only knocked out 10M and Half Marathon, but I am really close for 5k, 8k, and 10k and if all goes well a fall marathon.  But if I just look at it like that I haven’t accomplished a ton yet this year however 2016 has been the most consistent year to date of my life.  Coming from a runner who used to live in a world of inconsistency.  In 2016 so far I have run 7 sub 17 minute 5k’s, to date in my entire life I have only run 5 and only been under 16 once.  Until this year I had only broken 60 minutes in the 10 mile 3 times, this year I have done it 5 times.  I have won more races this year than I have in my entire career combined (not counting high school dual meets).  Earlier this year I received my first ever cash award from a race and quickly went over to the Falls Road Running store to spend it all like a kid in a candy shop.  While I have not achieved some of the major accomplishments I have wanted this year I have been so consistent race in and race out and that is nothing to lose sight of.

When I think about what I have accomplished this year, it’s pretty amazing that at 34 I am finally becoming the runner I should have been in college.  A consistent runner who doesn’t blow up or let his mind get him off task (focusing is not my strong point, oh look a blue car).  I used to be called a practice champ many times by teammates, because I could put down really good workouts but when race day came I was constantly defeated by myself and sometimes my opponents.  I remember my earliest example of this was my Senior Year in High School when I was the leading 1600m runner in my county going into conferences.  I had run a 4:29 earlier in the year and in my first ever interview when asked about my strategy I made mention how I sat back 700m, and pushed the next 500m and then just held off any competitors.  Well come conferences I tried to use the same strategy again and had become over confident, so most of my competitors I guess read the same article and all started their moves right before me and broke me.  I ended up running almost 5:00 minutes that day and taking dead last.  It had nothing to do with my fitness it was fine I was just mentally beaten by myself and competitors.   This continued in college, even though I got in better shape I became a hit or miss type runner. I’d hit with a big PR 5k 15:52, 10k 33:13 and follow that up with many 35-36 minute 10k’s, or 17:15 5k’s.  I just always defeated myself when the race got tough or didn’t go my way (Kelly might say I act the same way when things in my life don’t go my way…).  But in 2016 even when races end up getting away from me or not going as I anticipated, I still have been able to run well.  And I think it just goes to show that as I have grown as a person these last 12-16 years it has also reflected in my running to help me do things I thought I’d never do again.  Race in and out I can't make sure things go as I want them to, but I can make sure I still run well and don't let that mentally defeat me.

So when I think about 2016, and while I didn’t hit my goal at Pittsburgh, and still haven’t broken 16 in the 5k, this year has been my most consistent year of my life.  I have been able to go out and even on rough days like Pittsburgh or the Crab Run 5k, where I just didn’t have it, I still ran PR’s or solid times.  And it’s that perspective that I think is important for me and all of us to focus on at times.  All the good that is coming from all these results this year is only making me a stronger runner for the future.  I am raising my ceiling as I keep improving my fitness and am gaining confidence as I go.  Many people asked me this year, “Why are you racing so much Nick?”  I usually joke back that since my wife is pregnant I need to win to save up, or get in all my races before I have my first child.  But truthfully, this year racing has been an utter joy for me.  It’s kept me motivated since early March to get out and grind each week.  And each race is used for an entirely different reason.  Sometimes as a workout, sometimes as an all out effort, or on the rare occasion as a way to sober up after my birthday!  A friend once told me she races to stay in shape, which I thought was a completely ridiculous concept and probably said something rude back to her when she told me it.  But in 2016, the motivation and fun I am getting from racing I can’t replace with any workout.  I missed most of my 20’s with running and didn’t race at all since college so this year is kind of finding that joy with running in a new way.  Meeting tons of friends at races, and mixing it up with some competitors while working hard, it’s been a great year so far.  I am a firm believer that racing to stay in shape can work if you are smart about it and for me in 2016 it has been an experience I have lacked in previous years but has kept me going strong.

Long story short, I think from putting in a really solid early year base (Jan/Feb/Mar) I have been able to keep at it since then and keep my fitness really high for me.  The past few years, I would only race if I felt I was 100% rested, had some taper days and thought I could PR.  I think that lead me to miss many potential races where I could have run really solid or even personal bests, because I was just scared of failing.  But we will never know what our result could have been if we don’t line up and go for it.  We fail every time we don’t actually try.  In 2016 I have made it a habit of going for it and seeing what happens.  Some results this year have been completely unexpected (Tim Kennard 10 Miler) but if I waited for the exact right moment I would have never ran that PR. That said at some point I think in late July I’ll slow this train down for a bit, hit recharge and go after a really exciting fall.  But I don’t want to ever skip opportunities because I think I might fail again.

Last few races:

Crab Run 5k – 16:55 4th Overall

BRRC Meet of Miles – 4:46 5^th Overall

Pikesville 5k – 16:36 – 2^nd Overall

As always some photo's from my past couple weeks and one extra special non-running one.