Thursday, June 17, 2010

Benefits of Consistent Training

I am nearing the completion of Month 1 of Fall marathon training, and I have been noticing some things I had forgotten about this training thing. they have encouraged me and I hope they will encourage you as well.

The first benefit is fairly obvious, but it bears repeating anyway. Consistent training will change your body and its ability to do what you ask of it in running. I confess that I am guilty of sometimes looking at training as nothing more than an obstacle that must be overcome in order to be  race-ready in three months. I sometimes fail to appreciate the physiological adaptations that training yields. It is truly miraculous to see how your body will adapt to the mileage demands of consistent training and become better at performing it. Tough runs get easier, faster and longer.

Equally noteworthy is the psychological change that occurs during training. Those initial workouts and the fear/uncertainty they brought begin to disappear and confidence takes its place. You begin to realize that you CAN reach this goal. You CAN stay focused and disciplined during training, and that you WILL reach your goal, no matter what it is. This IS truly amazing.

Finally, I have noticed how consistent training jump starts your excitement about running. It's no secret... running consistently is difficult. If it were easy to do, obesity wouldn't exist, nor would the illnesses that follow unhealthy lifestyles. Accept that being consistent is going to be challenging, but thY doing so is worth it. Look at the people around you and vow to make the best use of the body God GAVE you. I firmly believe He intended us to use our bodies to their fill potential.

Stay tuned and keep running. There are countless reasonable why you should.

2 comments:

  1. As I've slowly gotten back to a more consistent training routine I've also noticed that it helps motivate me. It's begins to amaze me what I am capable of and it makes it fun again.

    Glad to hear that your training is yielding results and you're feeling good about it!

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  2. Awesome observation about your training, Amanda. Isn't it strange that when we start to slack off and miss workouts, we seem to get even more undisciplined about it? I have always thought that it seemed as though missing workouts would make you want to get back on track that much more, but the opposite seems to be true. At least for me, it is.

    Good job.

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