When you take a break from pounding the pavement, getting back into it is as much a mind game as it is a physical challenge. Ready to hit the ground running?
It sneaks up on you: one day, you spot your trainers at the bottom of your wardrobe and it occurs to you that you haven’t run for weeks, maybe months. It’s not that you’ve been lazy – maybe you’ve been lifting weights, doing yoga, walking. But while you’re active, that feeling of being off your running stride makes you dread stepping up to the start line of that next 5K – or even to your front door
If you’ve ever encountered the mental roadblock that is returning to running after a break, you’re not alone. ‘It’s difficult to fake running fitness, both from a physical standpoint and a psychological one,’ says running coach Annick Lamar. How long it takes your body to get back into it is individual (see How to Bounce Back, page 62), but the mental process also requires training. ‘Running can become a part of how you define yourself, and can make you feel strong, purposeful and brave,’ says Lamar, adding that when you take a break from it, those feelings may also go AWOL.
The reality is, after stopping, it can be tough to get back to running regularly. But if you’ve already managed a couple of jogs this week, the good news is that it will require less effort to get you out the door again. ‘It’s much easier to keep running than to start running, which means you’ll face psychological and physiological hurdles when you’re trying to re-establish the habit, says Ayelet Fishbach, an expert on motivation and decisionmaking, and the author of Get It Done: Surprising Lessons From The Science Of Motivation.
You may even experience what experts call an ‘action crisis’, which is what happens when you’re torn between continuing to pursue a goal and throwing in the proverbial towel. In two separate studies, researchers at the University of Zurich looked at how action crises affected ballerinas and university students. They concluded that the psychological state not only causes stress, but also interferes with overall wellbeing. And that’s exactly what can happen when you’re debating whether to chase those post-run endorphins or allow your trainers to gather dust at the first sign of a stitch. Don’t sweat it, though. Here, experts reveal the evidencebased tools that can help you get back on the road again.
MUSCLE MEMORY
Research shows muscles remember movement patterns. That means returning to running is easier than starting from scratch. ‘When you repeatedly perform a movement, you reinforce the motor pathway,’ says Irene S Davis, a professor at the school of physical therapy and rehabilitation sciences at the University of South Florida. ‘
