Want to Run Better? Astound Everyone by Challenging the Status Quo

Doing the same thing will not lead to improvement.

I just finished my winter running season successfully by earning two 100+ mile belt buckles and setting several personal bests in training.

As I was contemplating my next running challenge, I knew that I finally wanted to go after breaking the twenty-four-hour mark for a 100-miler.

I know some may read this and believe that running faster than 24 hours in a 100-mile race seems pretty easy. After all, Arlen Glick just ran the Umstead 100-mile race in 12:57:11.

I, however, did not get blessed with that speed button in running.

As I continued to think about how I could gain another eight miles from my personal best, I realized that my old training plans needed to change.

The status quo wasn’t going to work any longer and I was going to have to challenge what I knew about running far and fast in order to meet my goals.

Thus began a running journey to add enough speed to the endurance I have developed while continuing to improve my running endurance.

Start With the Basics of Running

I was reading an article from the Strength Running website, Endurance Running Fundamentals: How to Run Longer when I came across a quote from the University of Colorado cross-country coach.

“We have no training secrets. Just the patient development of aerobic metabolism.” -Mark Wetmore

As I pondered that statement, I realized to understand how to increase my speed a little bit to hit my goal, if I focused on increasing my ability to withstand fatigue, I would naturally be able to hit my 24-hour goal.

I appreciated the above article because it really gets down into the weeds of building endurance. I don’t understand all the terms, which is why I am very thankful for my endurance coach. Chris Guerra with Forged Glory Athletics has been instrumental in helping me breakthrough with my ultra-running goals.

Combining the article with the wisdom of an athlete and coach like Chris, I believe the impossible becomes possible, even for an almost sixty-year-old back-of-the-pack runner.

Chris has a number of quotes that always motivate me, but one stands out in starting with the basics of running, rather than starting with the end goal in mind.

“Building the exterior of who you are will get you to the race start line. Defining your internal passions and fears will awake the true sleeping giant.” -Chris Guerra

So endurance begins before your feet even hit the surface upon which you run.

Anybody can download a training plan for their goal race, follow it to a T, and finish that race.

Setting goals for that race beyond finishing requires the really tough training of identifying the why, fueling your passion, and then facing the fears we all naturally happen.

When I begin training, I begin with why and then step into my training more confidently because I no longer have to question why I get up at 4 AM and head out the door for a run before a busy run day.

Speed training, which for every endurance athlete looks differently, no longer is a dreaded day on the calendar. When you know why you are doing what you do, it is much easier to build speed.

Building core is not something you throw in because the “experts” say you need to. The value of a strong core becomes more clear and you devise ways to fit core workouts into your busy day.

Your long run becomes that place where you dial in nutrition and hydration plans as well as relax from a long work week.

Rather than shooting for run streaks, suddenly you will find yourself fighting for consistency in your training for that goal race.

In case you haven’t noticed, I just listed all the aspects of endurance training that will benefit you.

More gifted writers than me, such as Jason Fitzgerald who wrote the above article for Strength Running are very good at defining what it takes to build endurance.

However, every athlete who desires to build greater endurance already has what it takes because it begins with a solid foundation of knowing who you are.

The Final Thought On Endurance Nobody Thinks About

Building endurance without building a body that can run injury free is something many people never think about.

I call this durability.

I read a Better Humans article in 2022 that describes this mystery of durability.

Do These 2 Things to Become a More Durable Endurance Runner has one of the best quotes I have read in a long time. “If you want to improve as a runner, go for a run.”

I love simplicity, but even more than that I admire that Paul Warlowski identified the secret to long-term run enjoyment most people don’t think about.

I didn’t like yoga the first time I tried it. Maybe it was because I was 53 years old and all the people in my yoga fitness class were way more bendy than I was. Maybe, it is a lifetime of hearing how mystical it was.

However, as I embraced the extra flexibility and balance that yoga rewarded me for sticking with it, I found that I could try different techniques of running that I would have never considered before.

In 2020, when the gyms all closed, I discovered that strength training is just as easy to do in my condo with my wife looking on and laughing at some of the strange noises that came out of my mouth as I stretched a plank longer than I had before.

As I embraced this durability though, I also found one of the greatest benefits in running I have ever discovered.

By combining these two durability exercises into the already huge miles I ran, I found the little niggling injuries kept away from me.

I didn’t twist my ankles every trail run. The bruises and aches and pains no longer stayed with me.

My quads ached after a particularly long uphill and downhill session, but a couple of downward dogs and child poses later, I found my quads stopped hurting.

Something must have clicked because the last time I suffered a running injury that kept me on the sidelines for an extended period was in February 2017. For those counting, that means that this almost sixty-year-old body is in year six of running with no injuries.

Seeing as how I am averaging 2800 miles per year and have finished forty-four ultra-marathons in that time frame including three 100-milers and one 200-miler, I think this injury-free running may be a very good thing, even though I sacrifice a little bit of speed in the midst of it.

What do I mean when I say “challenge the status quo”?

I mean that when you challenge what you’ve always done and how you’ve always done it, the results can be amazing.

Challenging the status quo means not just running the same routes you always run, doing the same exercises you have always done, and expecting different results.

I believe that is the definition of insanity, but I run extremely long distances, so I may not be the one to decide what insanity is.