Lost momentum with running longer distances after injury (now completely better) - tips on breaking the laziness barrier?

[soulinablackberrypie]

Running is one of my sports and I've been using Strava to record my runs for nearly a year. I know I'm slow and I never try to compete with anyone except myself.

At the start of the year I was training for a half marathon in June. It would have been my first. My pace for a flattish on-road run usually hovered around 8 min/km for anything over about 5K (it can be much slower on trail runs with obstacles and mud but that didn't worry me). I had Covid very mildly in April, and after taking a couple of weeks off running I was able to carry on exactly as before, no breathlessness and no difference to my pace.

Just before I should have run my race in June I tripped over on a trail run and bruised some ribs, so I wasn't able to take part. I didn't run at all for 5 weeks and didn't do any sustained running for about 8 weeks. Since then, I feel like I've lost momentum. I have no problems at all any more from the injury itself, but I stopped running for so long it's been hard to get back into the swing of it. I still haven't done more than 10K and that was a hard slog. I've also noticed that my pace is either slightly slower than it was before, or when it is about the same, that feels really fast (more conscious effort to be "fast" than it was before). I think it is more that I don't believe in my ability to push myself any harder than that I physically couldn't do it if I felt as motivated as I did earlier in the year.

I've now entered another half in March, to give myself a reason to push myself a bit more. It will be a very flat and easy course, much better for a first time than the one I didn't do last year. If I could just get up to about 15K I'd be reasonably confident I will be able to work up to the rest by March. But I'm still putting off the moment of really starting to increase my distance.

It crossed my mind that this could be just the ageing process (I'm 56) but I know of people who have not only run halves much older than me, but taken up running older than me and gone on to run halves. I have no obvious age-related conditions, in fact no underlying health conditions at all.

How do I push through and get back to running longer distances when I seem to have lost my self-belief?

Maybe try running using some apps like Couch 5k but longer distances? I used one and even after completing the cycle I still use them as u find motivated listening to voice while running. Also running listening to the music you like

Take part in community or park runs

Have a look at the runners world training plans for a half. I find having it written down like that makes it easier/more real!

Mmm, interesting. I am a similar age and not a fast runner (about 7min/km atm). I started running about 5 years ago but strength training is my main thing. In lockdown 1, I focussed on running and built up to 14/16k regular runs but they took me best part of 2 hours with a walk to warm up etc (I was a bit faster then).

I am now running 8k - it fits better with my strength training, leaves me less depleted, takes under an hour, leaves me fresh the next day etc. I know I could build up again to longer distances but I don't feel it is right for me at the moment - so that would undermine any attempt to. Could anything like that be affecting your self-belief? What benefits do you feel there are for you for running longer distances?

I'm jeffing post-injury to get the strength and stamina back up. I run shorter distances, but the walk breaks tend to ease the impact and keep it mentally easier.

Sometimes when mojo is low and there's no training on the horizon, I'll do a "bingo card" of varied runs, different lengths, terrain, things to spot, run types and that helps to keep it fresh.

Thank you to all who have responded so far. Jeffing is a great suggestion - it was what got me up to about 19K shortly before the half I didn't do.

I'm afraid I can't run with earphones - they just fall out. I think I have weird shaped earholes! I could possibly just read and learn the times and distances for the C25K-like thing, if it is available as a website rather than an app - I'll do some research on that.

I do do parkrun sometimes and my "default" local run is about 5K too. But right now I would prefer to work on distance rather than speed.

What benefits do you feel there are for you for running longer distances?

I never intended to go up to longer distances permanently. 10K is/was probably my favourite distance to run (I get into a groove somewhere around 5-6K and can plod along on autopilot for a long time, which makes it kind of a meditative experience), and I got to the point where anything up to about 13K wasn't much harder. The half was a mad-impulse challenge - a friend and I, both 10K enthusiasts, were going to do it together. (Not sticking together all the time, because she's a bit faster than me, but going together and hanging out together afterwards.) In the event, I wasn't able to do it and she didn't have a very good race - she made the mistake of starting too fast trying to keep up with some people she knew, and was really struggling towards the end and about 15 minutes slower than she'd hoped. So we both wanted to enter another one to see if we could achieve what we didn't last time - for me, doing it at all, and for her, running the race that felt right for her. I was only ever going to do one half, a sort of bucket-list distance, and now I intend it to do it in March. The only way I would ever consider doing it again after that is if this one goes really well - if I struggle, I don't think I'll feel like my friend did, I'll just think "this is obviously not for me but I'm glad I got to do it once." So it's not about the regular benefits of doing longer distances, it's just about achieving one particular thing that I would just like to see if I can do once. After that, I'll be very happy with 5-10K distances and possibly a bit longer if I genuinely feel like it.

Get some aftershokz if you can't keep headphones in, download a good audio book and run.

I listen to books on all my long easy runs. 3 hours fly by

@soulinablackberrypie snap about ears 😀. I wear old fashioned over the ear headphones, nothing shifts them. Not tried aftershokx.

I see about the event. In that case, I think I would try jeffing or similar, focus on getting a comfortable, happy 10-12k in next couple of months, then do some 15ks by the race, and walk the rest if needed? Take the strain off mentally a little perhaps? And try not to worry about pace at all while you are building distance.

The age-sex calculators like run bundle show whether you are actually slower taking age into account than you were in the past, but I would just focus on enjoying relaxed, longer runs for now.

Try some bone conducting headphones, there are cheap brands available on amazon, and you can still hear traffic and birdsong

Try running somewhere really exciting! A new city, a new hill, or something

Try running with other people, like Maverick run club, or similar

Try "runthrough" or similar, cheap middle distance events

Try "medalmad" - the cheapest of the virtual runs, you can join a challenge with a group of friends and see each other's progress, even while running separately.

Park run, definitely. Parkrun had helped me get my motivation back many times over the years. Maybe try some new parkrun venues?

Try hill sprints, a lot of training condensed into a very short time

Just go! right now, go and do something, even half a mile is better than nothing

Good luck, and let us know how you get on x🎖🏆

Definitely aftershokz for awkward ears.

Thanks all, you are really helpful and encouraging!

It's my day off tomorrow and I'm planning a run that would be about 12K if I do it all, but giving myself permission to change the route or walk a bit. There's an incentive to do it early because then I can do something interesting with the rest of the day.

Having looked at the price of Aftershokz, I think I might be asking for some for Christmas.

Join your local running club.