Ever felt like you're running in place, no matter how many miles you log? I've been there, stuck at a maddening plateau, and it's a battle I'm sharing with you today. On this episode of "Brian's Run Pod," we don't just ruminate on the frustration of stagnant progress, we're tackling it head-on. I'll be discussing those sneaky culprits that can halt your progress—whether it's the overzealousness that leads to overtraining or a routine that's too comfortable and screams undertraining. And let's not forget the toll of mental stress; it's like running with a weighted vest you can't take off. But together, we'll explore recognizing these roadblocks and dismantling them piece by piece.
Then, we shift gears and map out the route to overcoming those pesky plateaus. Setting achievable goals can light the way, but I'll also talk about the energizing effect of running with friends and how a structured schedule is your secret weapon. We'll dissect the benefits of mixing up your running routine with hills, tempo runs, and intervals, and why strength training might just be the missing puzzle piece in your regimen. Remember, plateaus aren't dead ends—they're just a signal that it's time to refocus and revive your training. So lace up your shoes and let's break through those barriers together.
Plus, we have a new feature on the podcast you can now send me a message. Yep you heard it right- Brian's Run Pod has become interactive with the audience. If you look at the top of the Episode description tap on "Send us a Text Message". You can tell me what you think of the episode or alternatively what you would like covered. If your lucky I might even read them out on the podcast.
Ever felt like you're running in place, no matter how many miles you log? I've been there, stuck at a maddening plateau, and it's a battle I'm sharing with you today. On this episode of "Brian's Run Pod," we don't just ruminate on the frustration of stagnant progress, we're tackling it head-on. I'll be discussing those sneaky culprits that can halt your progress—whether it's the overzealousness that leads to overtraining or a routine that's too comfortable and screams undertraining. And let's not forget the toll of mental stress; it's like running with a weighted vest you can't take off. But together, we'll explore recognizing these roadblocks and dismantling them piece by piece.
Then, we shift gears and map out the route to overcoming those pesky plateaus. Setting achievable goals can light the way, but I'll also talk about the energizing effect of running with friends and how a structured schedule is your secret weapon. We'll dissect the benefits of mixing up your running routine with hills, tempo runs, and intervals, and why strength training might just be the missing puzzle piece in your regimen. Remember, plateaus aren't dead ends—they're just a signal that it's time to refocus and revive your training. So lace up your shoes and let's break through those barriers together.
Plus, we have a new feature on the podcast you can now send me a message. Yep you heard it right- Brian's Run Pod has become interactive with the audience. If you look at the top of the Episode description tap on "Send us a Text Message". You can tell me what you think of the episode or alternatively what you would like covered. If your lucky I might even read them out on the podcast.
So you're thinking about running but not sure how to take the first step. My name is Brian Patterson and I'm here to help. Welcome to Brian's Rompod. Welcome back to Brian's Rompod.
Speaker 1:
I'm your host, brian Patterson, and today we're diving into the common challenge faced by money runners the dreadful running plateau. This refers to a period where, despite maintaining a consistent running routine, you cease to see any progress. It's a common that I'm personally experiencing right now, but it's something we can work together. So, just going over the show notes, this week we'll have a look at why does running plateau happen, so what are the common causes and what are the strategies we can adopt, and then we'll finish it all off with a nice summary. So what does running plateau, or why does it happen? If you are not experiencing a running plateau, you likely have or will at some point in your athletic career or your running career. So why does this happen and what can we do about it? Let's take a look at some of the more common reasons you might find yourself facing a running plateau and what you can do in that particular situation. As I was preparing to write this, I naturally started reflecting on my own runs and I realized something both interesting and startling that I am going through a plateau myself, so hopefully this episode will look behind the curtain and give you some clues as to why we are plateauing and what we can do about it.
Speaker 1:
First, it's important to realize that there are several reasons, and all runners might hit plateau during their training. Logically, the strategy that will probably work best for you then will depend on the underlying cause. So what are the common causes? Well, there's over training, so terms suggest. Over training is what happens when you push yourself a bit too hard, and this could mean you're running too much or at too high of intensity intensity. Either way, you're demanding more of your body than it's capable of self-seafly delivering. In some cases, you might also experience some aches, pains and injuries when you're over training, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes, your running progress just sort of slows you down.
Speaker 1:
The solution here is both straightforward and counter intuitive. You may need to take it easy. This might even mean taking a few days and some situations up to two weeks off to fully recover from the stress of your body has been experiencing. I know this feels wrong, but the reality, though, is that athletic progress, regardless of the sport, does not happen during the workout. It happens between workouts, when you're recovering, and your runs simply provide a stimulus telling your body I need you to adapt to this. So those adaptations, though, take time and energy for your body to complete. So if you are noticing you aren't making progress, it may be that you need to take some time away from the sport so your body has a chance to catch up and make the needed changes. Then we'll discuss this later on as well.
Speaker 1:
In an article written by Jonathan Thompson, he goes on to say, relating to his experience in the weightlifting world, and I quote in the weightlifting world, this is a common practice. Over the years, I've noticed a rhythm in my own lifting progress. After about a month or so on a specific routine, I started to plateau and stop making the progress. If I can try to push through without changing anything, I might even start to slide back wood in my lifts and losing strength, but if I take a week or so off, do some cross training and focus on recovery, I can usually return to my routine and even lift more than when I last attempted, because the same physiological principles are at work and running. The same proliferation is applied. Sometimes I just need to take a week or two away from running. So the malice adaptable machine that is the human body, the human body, can do its work.
Speaker 1:
If you've been working hard in your runs and start to notice a lack of progress, coupled with aches or pains and general lack of motivation, chances are is that you need to take some time off to recover end of quotes Under training. Well, to understand why, let's think about the idea of adaptation we briefly discussed earlier. Your workouts provide a healthy amount of stress which triggers an adaptation response in your body. So when you meet the same challenge in the future, you are faster, stronger and just generally better prepared for it. If your workouts don't provide enough of a challenge, say by only focusing on easy runs and ignoring anything that really pushes you, the odds are pretty good you find yourself at a plateau. I think I found this to be the case, as is easy to focus on the recovery runs of maybe three to five K.
Speaker 1:
Having to push harder in intervals is sometimes something I might shy away from, so thankfully, the solution is a simple one I need to push harder, but safely, in situations like mine. The goal is to use more challenging workouts to bust through the plateau. The exact nature of these workouts, though, will depend on your usual routine. Typically, the idea is to incorporate something currently lacking from your routine that challenges you in a new way. For me, this means interval runs, which I'm going to schedule as part of where I've done here, but for you, the problem might be the opposite. Maybe you feel your endurance is waning, so the likely solution would be to focus on that aspect of your fitness by running gradually greater and greater distances. Either way, the goal in this case is to challenge yourself in a way and break through whatever aspect of your routine is holding you back Mental and emotional stress.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes, though, the issue is not physical but emotional. Just like your body, you get burned out by cranking out the same old workouts consistently, and your brain can simply check out, or stress in another area of your life may be leaving you drained, so you simply don't have the mental or emotional energy to go to your runs. For me, it's about this time of year that my seasonal depression really starts to crank up, making it difficult to focus or on just about anything. It can be really hard to get out the door when it's dark outside, either in the morning or even in the evening. I remember going back 15 years ago when I was a lot younger and I had the motivation to get up early and go for the long run or tempo run. Now I'm a lot older and heavier and don't recover as quickly. It has proved to be quite difficult Again. In the article by Jonathan Thompson, he explains whatever the cause.
Speaker 1:
During these times of elevated emotional stress and exhaustion, the best solution is to do whatever it takes to make your workouts more enjoyable. This might mean taking some time away from running to focus on a form of cross-training, like Pilates or weightlifting, that you find more fun and relaxing. During especially stressful periods like the holiday season, it's important to remember there's nothing wrong with going into a maintenance mode and just allowing yourself to coast for a little while. But don't worry too much about making progress. Just focus on not losing the improvements you already made. And as run as world article, they described this as being overwhelmed. Everyone has a threshold for what's mentally manageable. So when your head gets overwhelmed with too many tasks balancing a fast paced career, keeping up with the kids, worrying about the ailing relative you can hit the tipping point. Overload usually leads to inertia, like a deer in the headlights. You have so much to deal with that you just freeze Jason.
Speaker 1:
Chris Jason, a mental conditioning coach, says that to think of your life in terms of units of energy, if you have, let's say, 100 units per day where it is spent, a big deadline at your work or financial concerns can sap very high percentage of those 100 units, leaving you with barely enough to do an easy three miler or three kilometers it might be me in my case Let alone tackling hill repeats. Breakthrough would be be mindful of your tipping point. Chris Jason, a mental conditioning coach and founder of the Triathlete Mind, says if summer is your least flexible time of year, for example, don't sign up for the fall marathon, so in the autumn you're doing a marathon. So that will require major time and energy commitment over your busy season. Become more manageable time of year for demanding trainer or scale back your goal and opt for maybe a half marathon or 10K or even a 5K. And if you are already in the midst of training and feel more overwhelmed than motivated by your goal, break your training to do into smaller tasks. So focus your mental energy on tomorrow's workout. Only Spend a few minutes thinking about it, what you're going to wear when you're going to do it. What you're going to wear, you're going to do it, and Jason says being forward thinking and making decisions about those small details will give you a game plan. We'll show hope. You feel in control and less overwhelmed. I can totally sympathise with this. Maybe, if you're a member of a gym, why not take advantage of any personal training office they may have for you? Might provide you with some more multifunctional exercises, and this will help stimulate your mind and body. Look on the bright side and this is an interesting point that brings up interesting thing that can't be ignored.
Speaker 1:
Plateaus are not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, they can be deeply frustrating, and, as athletes and runners, we feel like we need to be making constant and stunning progress in our training. The reality, though, is that it's just not how it works, and that's a good thing. You all have in life, responsibilities outside of running, even professional runners, of other things. They need to be think about and Careful. An occasional plateau, then, is a perfect time to care for those, those other responsibilities, while holding the status quo in your fitness.
Speaker 1:
Many experienced runners Actually schedule this sort of holding pattern into their yearly, yearly schedule. So is that sort of like that peer at the principle of periodization. So you may, and, like me, like Olympic athletes or any professional athletes, they'll do a set training goal in the winter. Then they may taper off coming up to competition, but maybe in between those times they will Set aside a recovery plan as well. Of course, as we talked about, most plateaus are decided by your body. Still, try to view these plateaus as important messages from your body, rather than just frustrations, frustrations or refusing to make progress for one reason or another. Your body is telling you what it needs and once those needs are met, progress can continue. So why, when you encounter a plateau, then try to calm, accept it and figure out what's really going on.
Speaker 1:
Other strategies to overcome a running plateau. So some of these strategies may occur. We have covered in the past podcast in some form or another. In an article by Run Kingbird, they suggested the following figure out and set a goal. Setting achievable goals is a challenging thing. First, it's important to take some time to think about what your overarching running goals are. Once you identify the big goal, you can set that little goal that you will get you started. Do you want to run a 5k? Then maybe your goal is to run two minutes longer every time you run for a month. Do you want to improve your pace? Then make your goal is to run intervals twice a week. Do you want to run a marathon? Then choose one and then start a training plan. Setting achievable goals is about focusing on why you want to improve and setting a goal that will get you started.
Speaker 1:
Run with a friend Friends, pushes to run a little faster, a little further then you would have otherwise. The social aspect helps us to make time for running or we might otherwise choose a different activity. It takes a lot less willpower to run with a friend Then it does to drag yourself off the couch on your own. Sometimes running with a friend is all it takes to push you to the next level. Create a schedule. A lot of runners just run whatever distance they feel like on any given day, with no thought of improvement. These can lead to plateaus. So if you want to escape and make a schedule, it can be flexible, for example, run one long run a week or it can be a little bit more definitive, for example, run specific distances on specific days of the week. Having some sort of framework helps you push yourself, just like that little bit harder so you can get, as you can start getting stronger again, and it just gives you a little bit more of a direction. Plus, it gives you a plan as to what you're aiming for in the long term. Maybe 12, 16 weeks it could be doing a 10K in under 60 minutes or 50 minutes, or whatever your goal is.
Speaker 1:
Diaryty, says Jane Jacobs in her article on how to break out the running plateau. I will include links to all the articles that I've done research in the show notes. So switch up your runs to include different types of workouts hills, tempo, easy, long fart, looks, repeats, you name it. Progressing is really hard If we continue to do the same workout over and over. The step below can really help you to really focus in on what runs will help you towards your specific race goals.
Speaker 1:
Try interval training. The definition of interval training is running faster than normal for a short period of time and then running or walking or standing until you're ready to do it again. You can repeat that cycle in a lot of different ways. There are no better way to get faster than to run intervals. Intervals are the best way to improve cardiovascular strength, ie strengthen your heart and lungs so you don't get out of breath as easily. They strengthen your muscles in ways that are different from just running a steady distance. They also get you mentally used to running faster than your usual pace. That way later it does not feel weird or intimidating or scary to run fast. Anyone looking to improve their speed should really consider some form of interval training. Again, this is something we have covered in episode five and I will include a link in the show notes.
Speaker 1:
Run Heels this is something we have covered in a recent episode. Running hills uses different muscles than running on a flat ground. Now, it encourages the use of the glutes and abdominals, give greater flexibility in the feet and it might not be activated otherwise. Bonus as those muscles get stronger, you become a better runner and that is take advantage if you do have any sort of hills around your local area. If not, do it on the treadmill if you are a member of a gym. And again, as I said, we did cover this in a previous podcast.
Speaker 1:
Strength Training A lot of runners just run. For some people that works, but adding the right kinds of strength training can be beneficial to any runner, focusing on the exercises to activate and strengthen your glutes, abs, quads, hamstrings and calves and hip flexors can make a huge difference in your running. Runners at every level go through plateaus, but there is always something new. You can try to escape and get better at Hitting a running plateau is an ideal time to refocus. So get out there and create a new goal and make some changes. So, yes, definitely recommend strength training. Some people have said that maybe they don't include enough strength training into their running, but definitely. I think there can only be positives by including strength training as part of your training schedule.
Speaker 1:
In summary, well, we've covered a lot of ground on the topic of running plateaus, exploring the various reasons why they happen and the strategies to overcome them. Whether it's over training, under training or mental and emotional stress holding you back, remember that plateaus are just a temporary roadblocks on your running journey. So the next time you find yourself facing a plateau, don't despair. Instead, embrace it as an opportunity for growth and exploration. Set new goals, mix up your workouts and don't be afraid to seek support from friends or professionals, or keep listening to Brian's Rompod. And hey, if you've enjoyed today's episode and found it helpful, be sure to check out our past episodes for more tips and insights to all things running related. Until the next time, keep placing up your shoes, panning the pavement, chasing those personal records. Remember every step forward, no matter how small, is a victory worth celebrating. Thanks for tuning in to Brian's Rompod. Stay safe, stay motivated and happy running everyone.
